Chapter 7: Awakening

The Hound turned its back to Anna, growling madly as flames bellowed around its paws. Takabi paid it no mind. His eyes were on himself, questions boggling his mind.

What's going on… Why did I heal like that? His mind flashed back to the bullets that fell from his body.

It's a part of who we are. Our body. It's starting to reawaken, The Voice spoke.

A brief flash rushed through his brain. A young image of him in a white void. Grass was barely under his bare feet. The young version of himself held his hand out in front of his body, a small white flame igniting as a result and shooting at least fifteen feet ahead.

I… I know this.. So that means…

The Hound's eyes widened, and it rushed towards Takabi. "No! I can't allow you to remember!"

He snapped back to reality. Takabi looked suddenly at the hound, eyes widening. As he did, white flames ignited on the floor, before shooting up like quills and piercing the Hound. The demon roared in pain, rolling aside as it began to cough up blood.

Takabi narrowed his eyes, crouching and exhaling, raising his left palm, flames beginning to bellow wildly in his grasp.

Anna watched in shock, unsure of what to make of the image before her. "Takabi… Is that… How are you controlling fire.."

"No clue." He replied, "But I think I've done this before somehow."

"Boy, you must stop this! Listen to your elder!"

"You killed one of my friends and hurt another." He exhaled, hair surging up with flames. "You're no elder of mine."

His powers… They're soaring so much higher than mine ever could! This… This isn't normal at all! The Hound inhaled, pleading between the shortening of its breath. "Takabi, please stop! You… You don't have it in you to kill!"

Takabi didn't speak. The flames died down a tiny bit and the Hound exhaled, feeling it might've been spared.

"You don't know a single thing about me, Hell Hound."

The demon's eyes widened. It locked eyes with Takabi as the flames roared, swirling around the cave and washing over it. The Demon was swept up, arms and hind legs turning to ash as the fire coated its fur. No sound, no screams of pain, nothing. The Hound was just swallowed, and erased in the fire, dirt in the wind.

The Flames ripped apart the cave around them. It pierced upwards, nearly ripped into Carlos and his mother as they rushed through. Stopping after the fire began to rip through the soil by their feet, they turned and quickly retreated, watching as the flames began to bend and twist, then explode in a massive mushroom cloud, the force causing the trees nearby to rip from their roots and soar through the air.

"Mom!" Carlos yelled, tackling her aside as a tree flew over them. The ground's shaking slowly began to die down moments later, and heavy winds from the explosion calmed. Carlos picked up his head first, crawling and looking over into the crater below.

"What do you see," Mrs. Rivera asked. She crawled over next to him, eyes falling on Takabi as his hair dropped down to his shoulders again. Anna, who was covering herself, somehow survived the explosion unscathed, and took a deep breath. Her eyes shot up to her brother and mother, and she yelled, "Hey! We're down here!"

Takabi looked over his shoulder at Carlos. There was a slight violet glow in Takabi's eyes, a strong surge of the intent to kill in his expression. Carlos didn't recognize Takabi, simply from that one gaze. That one, dark and cold, evil glance.

Yet Takabi faced the two and smiled dumbly, before falling back and passing back out from exhaustion.

----------------------------------

"I said I was fine." Takabi insisted.

Takabi, Carlos, Jewel and Rose were in a hospital room back in the city. Mrs. Rivera called for help the moment Takabi passed back out in the forest. Once the police arrived in a helicopter, along with paramedics, they picked up Anna and him, whisking them off.

Mrs. Rivera took a couple officers with her and Carlos back to the campsite to pack up, and waited for another helicopter escort.

The second they got to the hospital, Anna was rushed to another hospital room for her ankle. Takabi was brought to the OR, but having found no internal damage, put him in a normal room for monitoring. He woke up a few minutes later, as Rose and Jewel rushed in, having been called by Mrs. Rivera.

Rose sat in a chair next to Takabi's bed, tapping her finger worriedly against the arm.

Takabi at the moment, was filling his stomach with the seemingly endless amount of food the hospital brought him. "How can you eat so much," Jewel asked as she closed the bathroom door.

"No clue," He replied, swallowing a massive lump of chicken meat. "When I woke up, I was starving. Feels like I can eat an elephant on my own."

"Even though you basically did just now," She commented, and sat next to Carlos.

"Hey, I can't help it." He said.

Carlos shifted uncomfortably in his seat, glancing at Takabi as he spoke. The image of him from before plagued his mind. The evil glare. Was that really his best friend? They seemed like night and day based on how he's acted before then and now.

"So what happened," Rose asked.

Takabi's posture changed. He didn't want to think back to it, any of it. No one would believe it anyway, so why would he bother? "I can't remember much," He lied. "There was an accident, I think.. Anna and I got lucky with minor injuries when we found Carrie.. She didn't get so lucky.. Guess the bears got to her."

"And the explosion," Carlos asked.

"We found an old bomb storage. A bunch of old world war landmines and stuff just waiting to go boom."

Carlos didn't believe that. He could tell when Takabi was lying, but now wasn't the time to press it. "Where's your mom, anyway," Jewel asked and Carlos shrugged.

"She left around an hour ago. She said she'd call me when she got home. I'm honestly really worried about her."

"You should've gone with her," Rose suggested. "She needs you now, more than ever."

Carlos lowered his head, his eyes glancing at Takabi as he began to drink from his water bottle. Once his eyes dropped to the floor, Carlos stood. "Y.. You're right.. I'll see you guys later."

"Sure," Takabi said, swallowing and wiping his mouth. "Be safe on your way home."

"Yeah… I'll try."

There was something in Carlos' tone that made Takabi feel a little uneasy. Not only that, his mind constantly raced back to the cave. Each time Jewel and Rose paid him no mind, he would will a small white flame between his fingers, staring at it before snuffing it out and putting his head back on the pillow.

What was that feeling? That power. It was different from anything I ever experienced. He grit his teeth and clenched the bed sheets in his hands. That demon too. It knew me, wanted me. Why? What for? I probably should've asked it before I killed it.

"Takabi," Rose said. He looked towards her and Jewel, the pair standing in front of the door to leave. "We're heading home now. Make sure you rest up safe. Call me when you need a ride home, okay?"

"Yeah, I got it. Thanks, Rose."

They waved to him and left the room, closing the door quietly and moving down the hall. Takabi sat up again, his face holding a serious scowl as he held his hands out in front of him.

"That power. It's dangerous… Why does it feel like it wasn't the first time I've done something like this though?" He paused a moment, as if waiting for the voice in his mind to speak to him. When it never did, he sighed and rolled over, facing the window. "You wanna talk all that time before, but when I have a general question you stay silent?" He blinked and mulled over his thoughts. "Shit, maybe I'm crazy."

Scoffing, he closed his eyes, letting his body slowly shut down and fall into a deep sleep. On the chair in the corner of the room, in his pants pocket, his phone buzzed with tweets about the incident, as well as a couple unknown direct messages.