Chapter 11

Zephyr was not expecting a reply as the question was solely meant for his..self. However, he heard a reply.

"It is nice." Ethan replied, causally taking a seat right beside Zephyr.

"What?" Ethan asked when he saw a horrified expression on Zephyr's face, it looked as if he had seen a ghost.

"You were the one at the.. room." Zephyr acknowledged, not being able to elaborate as the re-encounter was too sudden.

Ethan let out a small snicker before leaning his head back on the brick wall. "I saw you before while escaping. It wasn't you, was it?"

Zephyr glanced at the boy beside him, he had soft crimson red hair and bright grey eyes, remarkably different from Dion's. He oddly reminded Zephyr of the sun.

"You're sharp." Zephyr remarked. He had seen the boy before when he was still in possession of his body, it was when they had met at the laboratory chambers. However, events that had happened there, he could not remember.

"You glared at me as if I was a nuisance." Ethan paused. "However, after that..you said something along the lines of miracles do happen. And you insulted me after that and walked away." He elaborated with a scary smile as if he still could remember the insult very clearly.

"You also have a good memory." Zephyr complimented with a robotic tone, still focused on the view.

Ethan mentally face palmed himself, he honestly felt as if he was talking to a brick wall, no not even a brick wall, a cold metal wall. If it wasn't for the expressions Zephyr had shown, he would've sworn that the boy was a robot.

"What you said..helped me through my times at the laboratory. It gave me hope of escaping the place, I didn't know why." Ethan confessed, his face slightly turning red as he felt like Zephyr had only said the three word phrase without the intention of it being taken too heavily. Just a small little encouragement that is meant to be forgotten overtime.

"The insult got you through the lab?" Zephyr questioned, terribly confused as to why Ethan had taken an insult as his fragment of hope.

"Are you stupid?!" Ethan remarked, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was so ridiculous that someone could be so.. clueless. "Miracles do happen, that's what got me through. NOT the insult that I totally didn't even bother remembering."

"Oh." Zephyr uttered, nodding before focusing his attention back to the moon.

They both stayed silent for a while. It was a comfortable atmosphere while they both enjoyed the night breeze.

"Miracles do happen. Interesting." Zephyr said, interrupting the silence with his enchanting voice.

"You're like a robot." Ethan insulted with a smile, feeling glad that his acquaintance did not ridicule him for taking a mere phrase so seriously.

"Woah woah, you're a cheater, Ethan!" A familiar voice said dramatically, a tall silver haired boy with aqua coloured eyes revealed himself from the shadows. He wore a bright radiant smile while he took a seat beside Zephyr.

"Why are you here?" Ethan said with disgust in his voice.

"So harsh to your senior. Anyway, my name is Castiel Neverland, and I'm 13!" Castiel introduced himself to Zephyr with a chirp.

"I'm Zephyr, 12." He introduced with an awkward smile, trying to seem a bit more pleasant.

"I haven't introduced myself either! Ethan Lozano, 12." Ethan barged in.

"What were you two doing out here so late in the night anyway?" Castiel asked.

Ethan scratched the back of his head while he glanced at Zephyr and back at Castiel who was looking for an answer.

"I was curious where we were. I saw a great view here and took a seat. Then, Ethan came along." Zephyr answered when he saw that Ethan wasn't taking the initiative to do so.

Castiel raised his eyebrow at Ethan, feeling suspicious of his junior's behaviour. "You stalked him didn't you?" he asked bluntly with no filter over his mouth.

"I was told to watch over him by DAMIEN, just in case he ran away or show some symptoms throughout the night. I am a light sleeper so I obviously heard his footsteps and murmuring." Ethan said, proving his innocence.

"Alright, you guys should probably sleep. Tomorrow we'll be the one collecting the food for them. I can't sleep in peace if I know you guys are out here so late into the night." Castiel sounded genuinely sounded concerned for the duo, almost like an older brother.

Zephyr didn't know what collecting food had meant but he obediently nodded and stood up, flickering dusts off his white lab uniform and walking back inside the warehouse before turning back and yawning. "Night."

Ethan and Castiel continued sitting down outside at the grass patch together.

"So, how was meeting him?" Castiel asked, knowing that Ethan was rather interested in meeting Zephyr. The clues were obvious, constant mentioning of Zephyr and asking Anesthesia when was he going to wake up.

"He's dense, almost like an airhead. However, it seems like he's the exact one I saw when I was younger. His presence and aura was as ominous as I remembered it." Ethan remarked with a warm smile, remembering their short conversation earlier before Castiel interrupted it.

"I see. So have you guys become friends yet?"

Ethan let out a gasp when he had completely forgotten the purpose of approaching Zephyr in the first place.

"I'll do it tomorrow." Ethan replied.

Castiel stood up and wiped off the dirt from his pants and placed his hand out to assist Ethan. "Let's get to bed. If you can't wake up tomorrow it'll be my fault. Besides, the food collecting, remember?" he reminded.

Ethan stood up and nodded, walking inside the warehouse and stretching his arms before heading to bed. He felt a sense of relief knowing that the person who gave him hope was still alive. It may seem childish to take something so minor as a important meaning, but the person Zephyr, was a gleam of hope in his dark world back then.

Soon, daylight arrived while the sun took the place of the moon. The first person who awoke due to the bright light was Zephyr, he was not used to seeing so much light that blinded his eyes. He sat there and be finally got a clearer view of what was in the warehouse. Beds with people sleeping in it, some he could recognise but the rest were new faces.

Before Zephyr could even look around more, a deep voice from behind him scared him to the core.

"Damien." He introduced, ruffling his hair. It was obvious he had only just woke up. Messy clothes, untidy hair and drool still dripping from his mouth.

"Uh, yes?" Zephyr replied, he wasn't sure if he should introduce himself as he knew that the person had already been aware of his name, judging from their earlier encounter.

Damien looked around and still saw everyone asleep, he sighed and glanced at Zephyr. "I've left some clothes for you in the upper floor for you to change into. So how are you feeling?"

Zephyr awkwardly stretched his body about to see if he could notice anything strange with it. "The usual." He replied.

"Great, I'll help you change into your new clothes and wake up the other two. We need you guys to collect food, it shouldn't be too hard of a task." Damien said, standing up from his bed and assisting Zephyr off the bed.

"Collect..food?" Zephyr asked.

Damien smiled and nodded, "I think it'd be a great experience for someone who has been trapped indoor all his life, right? Zephyr."

Zephyr quickly stared at Damien and took a step back. "What?"

"My higher-ups has told me about your background. I mean no harm." Damien quickly said when he saw Zephyr backing off and staring at him as if he were a threat.

Zephyr kept quiet and followed behind Damien to the upper floor. Obviously uncomfortable with knowing that the people he were with, looked up on him. How did they gather such information when he was never shown up or recorded in official documents. Even the government didn't know of his existence before he was infected.

This was not the case for Castiel and Ethan as they both had been registered as citizens into official documents even before the pandemic started. Therefore, their names had been recorded before and were removed and only known to government officials.

"Creepy." Zephyr stated, letting the man know what he thought of him.

Damien let out a chuckle before nodding. "They're the people who will save us but they are indeed creepy as you said."