30 The Sun Sets Part 2

The hospital room burns brightly as Noe controls his flames to encompass the door and windows that Minions fight to breach. Sparks of blue appear within the raging fires in Noe's attempt to purify them; ensuring that there will not be enough smoke to cause carbon monoxide poisoning and later death. 

"Any progress, Daniel?" Noe asks calmly as he looks back, arms still outstretched to keep the air tightly in his hold. 

Focusing on the three unconscious soulmates, Daniel pulls up his glasses in concentration - as if staring at them heatedly will rouse them back to the land of the living. 

"I'm working on it," he tells Noe. 

Noe smiles at him as the ceiling begins to collapse.

~

Streams of tears slowly dry on Jinn's cheeks as Feng Mian and Rosalind silently hold him. Captured by each other's eyes, Rosalind, Jinn and Feng Mian, dive into the waters of reserved pain and contaminated memories, swimming through the pools of insecurity revealed in those orbs.

"Wake up."

Jinn jumps.

Daniel's voice reverberates through the field and beyond the high oak tree.

"Is that God?" Jinn astonishes. 

Rosalind sneers, "No it's a comrade of ours."

"Come back," Daniel persists.

Pulling all of them up, Feng Mian infers, "There must be something wrong. We have to go back as soon as possible."

"Jinn, I think your guilt towards James is keeping you here. To leave, you have to let go of it."

Feng Mian counters, "I don't think that's the case. The reason you're stuck is because there's nothing for you to come back to life for. Now that you have the two of us waiting for you, there's a reason for you to reach the tree line and leave the field."

"You guys are waiting for me?" Jinn asks.

"Of course," Rosalind taps his nose. 

Jinn blushes, "What was that?"

"You really aren't masculine at all," Rosalind comments. 

"What is masculine, anyway?" Jinn responds.

"This is adorable but Daniel and Noe are dying to see us right now. We have to go," Feng Mian points toward the trees. "Are you ready, Jinn?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

~

Cracks appear in the walls and ceiling. The dam breaks. Maroon Minions cascade into the room like blood gushing into the devil's mouth. 

Gasping, Rosalind and Feng Mian awake just in time to suppress the surge.

Jumping into action, Rosalind erects a cylinder of water between them and the Minions and freezes it like hail in a storm.

Unable to open his eyes due to muscle deterioration, Jinn only feels the heat and chill that combat each other like fire and ice against the nerves on his skin. 

Within the millisecond Rosalind has gifted her, Feng Mian gains her bearings and flips the Minions' feelings on their heads.

At first, the Minions hesitate in their spots, long ears flapping and snouts oscillating, before they begin to turn against each other. Enraged, they collide with slashing talons, slobbery saliva, and teeth tearing maroon skin to pieces. 

The Minions are cannibalizing one another.

Daniel, Noe, and Rosalind watch Feng Mian in wonder at her ability but she swiftly pulls Jinn's monitors off his fingers, gently traces out the needles in his veins, and brings him into her arms. Upon feeling the warmth of her touch, Jinn sighs. 

"Ngh, mmh," Jinn tries to speak. 

"Shh," Feng Mian tells him. 

Ripping flesh and squelching liquid against tile. 

"I already know," Feng Mian concludes. 

Letting the barrier of ice fall like billowing mist, Rosalind leads the group towards the window.

Minions have subsequently caused each other to fall off the building and permitted the group safe passage out the room. 

Drained by the fear of contemplating what would have happened if Rosalind and Feng Mian did not awake, Noe slumps over to Daniel. Complying, Daniel wraps his arms around Noe's neck as Noe pulls him in by his knees and upper back.

"You can stop thinking about it now," Daniel soothes him. "I promise, nothing would've happened to you, or me."

"How do you know?" Noe asks head slinked to the ground as he stands at the edge of the glaring hole in the wall. In front of them lies a many-mile drop as shorter buildings are splayed in the distance. The wind whistles through the chinks in Noe's hair.

"I... I'm not ready to tell admit it yet," Daniel tells him honestly. 

"That's alright. Are you ready to join the others?"

A few strands slide across Daniel's cheeks. He nods.

Rising out and into the air, they float towards the blue sky and leave behind destruction. As soon as Noe touches down on Rubin's armor, the flames in the room diminish and keep the hospital from burning down. He managed to keep the fire contained to Jinn's hosptial room. 

Feng Mian, Rosalind and Jinn are already waiting for them on Rubin's back.

The Minions clamber up the roof.

Noe wonders why Rubin does not depart until he notices her soft breaths. She is fast asleep.

"Rubin!" Noe calls out to her.

Bounding forward, the Minions leap with all their strength to catch the Ephrenes and appease their Master by doing so.

But, as their fingers graze Rubin's claws, Rubin takes off.

Together, they watch the red monsters dotting the top of the hospital grow smaller and smaller against the building's white and grey. Heavy inhales accentuate the atmosphere.

"We were just about to die but you were napping happily," Noe states.

Rubin only lulls her tail to and fro. 

"I thought we were friends?" Noe asks her.

Feng Mian pulls weak Jinn further into her arms.

Taking in Jinn's current condition, Daniel tells everyone, "He won't make it back to Westville in this state."

"Where can we go?" Rosalind asks an earnest question for the first time in what feels like years.

"I know a guy," Daniel responds. 

Whispering the details to Noe, Noe nods and relays them to Rubin in their unique, telepathic language. 

Settling in for the short ride to be, Feng Mian strokes Jinn's hollow cheeks.

Fortunately, his growth did not stop during his coma and he has become considerably taller, Rosalind thinks. 

"That should be the least of your problems," Feng Mian voyces to Rosalind. 

"Get out of my head," Rosalind tells her. 

"You think because you've shared your sob story with me, I'll forgive you for all you've done to our soulmate? You saw what I did to those creatures in the hospital room. You'll be next if you don't watch yourself."

"I didn't 'share' anything with you. It was forced upon me b-"

"Yes, you did. Why do you think you didn't see any of my deeper memories? You chose to show us."

"Feng Mian, I know that we got off on the wrong foot but everything has changed now. Look at our soulmate. The fact that he exists is enough to prove that there is goodness in the world. I hope you can believe me; I didn't choose to share my memories. If not for me then for Jinn."

"Only for Jinn," Feng Mian glares at her.

Softening, Feng Mian looks down at Jinn and begins to hum a melody so filled with admiration and protection it could curl a flower back into its bud. The more she hums, the more Jinn's face brightens.

The tune becomes one of encouragement and uplifts Jinn's heart. Jinn blinks.

Opening his eyes, he retreats at the dim brightness of the almost setting sun. His eyes are hypersensitive with lack of use, brought to functioning only by Feng Mian's hums.

With every note Feng Mian's voice reaches, another muscle in Jinn's body heals and rolls back into action. 

Jinn sits up and sniffles, wiping his eyes as his hospital gown flows over his shoulders. 

"Why are you crying?" Rosalind asks him against the now twilight silhouetting of the sky.

"The sun," Jinn trembles, "it went down."

Surely enough, the sunset passed in all its swirling colors and has given the stars a chance to shine.