Ch 4: Hospital's Suck. Their Diseased, Like me!

Being in the hospital made Sunny uncomfortable for various reasons, all of which were obvious to those who knew his… coloured history with hospitals. Having the Hospital staff look at you as if a miracle occurred because you were alive again also set the vibes way off, considering it wasn't much of a miracle, moreso than it was a sin—considering his situation, anyway.

Well, if they knew how it happened, anyway. That, and he'd be pretty sure that the town's clergy would get on his case for merely existing if they found out. Faraway, as he found out, knew next to nothing about Devils. And, because of that, if they found out, they'd probably try to cast him out.

And… considering a good majority of the population of Faraway were, at the very least, Catholic… yeah, that wouldn't end well for him.

But hey, looking on the bright side, they didn't know, and they'd never know if it was up to him. And, even better, at least he wasn't a patient at the hospital… again. If he was, that would've made things even weirder, and a hell of a lot more awkward.

The kind woman at the desk told him where to look for Basil Summers, which was in room 404 of the medical wing. He remembered why Ms. Polly took him to the Hospital, that being to put him on suicide watch. He knew that Basil probably wasn't feeling very suicidal anymore, what with the only reason why he felt that way being because of The Suicide Devil, he couldn't leave until a week passed as per hospital regulations.

He honestly felt really bad for Basil, especially considering what he… they had been through. The last four years have been absolute hell and a half, and, if Sunny could, he'd take it all back. But, time marched on endlessly, and there was no way to take back what happened. But… with it all behind them—mostly—he was going to hopefully patch things up with Basil. After their fight… he didn't know whether or not they had been on good terms.

Especially since… the incident.

Placing a hand on the door to Basil's hospital room, Sunny narrowed his eyes. How was he going to do this? Just walk in and say "Hi Basil, remember me? You know, the guy who jumped off the hospital rooftop and splattered all over the ground, all of which you saw? You know, Sunny? The kid who killed himself in front of you? Well, guess what! I'm not dead, obviously!" Yeah, right, like that'd be good for his mental state.

The black-haired teen sighed, recollecting his thoughts. As much as he wanted to delay this, he knew he couldn't. His hand travelled to the door handle. He had to do this. There was no sense in prolonging the inevitable. Basil was going to find out eventually, and he'd rather it be through him saying it, or being there, rather than someone like Kel off-handedly mentioning it to him in passing.

Pushing down on the door handle, the door opened, and as he stepped into the room, he was greeted by both Ms. Polly and Basil, the latter of which stared at him with wide, crystal-blue eyes.

Once he was fully in the room, Sunny closed the door behind him and stayed right where he was. If he were to be blunt… Basil looked like shit. His hair was all over the place, he was as white as a ghost, and he could've sworn that the boy had lost at least 10 pounds since he last saw him. And that… probably wasn't a good thing…. Basil was already pretty thin, so seeing him even thinner than he was before was bad, especially since he looked gaunter than thin—hell, his cheeks looked slightly sunken.

"Good god… Basil… what the hell did you do to yourself?" Sunny thought, his eyes flickering with concern.

"Y-You… y-you're…." Basil stammered, his eyes watery, his lips quivering. He was on the verge of crying. Sunny didn't even think, he just walked up to the boy, and hugged him. Basil broke, crying. A strong wave of guilt washed over him as he tensed. His eyes burned with a thousand embers, but he told himself over and over that he wouldn't cry. Even if Basil held onto him like he was his final lifeline.

"I'm…. I'm sorry…." Sunny muttered, ignoring the cracks in his voice. "I'm so… sorry…."

He couldn't hold back anymore. He cried as well….

"Cry-baby."

"YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!"

"Fine, jeez…."

He only noticed the gentle embrace when Ms. Polly hugged them both, comforting them. Sunny didn't mind, he was just so… so goddamn tired of it all. He wanted them to all be friends again. No more divides. Nothing. He just wanted to go back to the old times. When they'd all hang out in the park and eat sandwiches.

They stayed like that for minutes on end, until they couldn't cry anymore. Sunny sat next to Basil's hospital bed, in the chair that was right next to it, using a tissue to wipe at his nose. When things all calmed down, Basil remained silent for a few minutes. He looked… conflicted. Sunny could see why, and understand why. He just hoped that he didn't cause any more unneeded trauma just by showing up again.

Gods… no one needed that.

Another brief moment of silence, and finally….

"How…?" Basil's voice was hoarse, but not to the point where it was unrecognizable. Not only that, but he just sounded…. Tired. Way too tired for someone his age to feel. They were only 16 and 15 respectively. It wasn't normal for kids like them to feel like adults.

Yet… he did. He had to grow up… far too fast.

School was starting in three weeks…. He'd actually have to go to Faraway High School for the first time…. Ever.

"Not important…." Sunny thought, glancing at Basil.

"How are you… alive? I… I saw you fall… your… your body crumpled… you… you looked like a pancake…. There was so much blood… it… it was…." Basil started to tear up again, but a quick and gentle grasp of the shoulder got him to calm down. Sunny gave him a small, genuine smile.

"I'm alive… Basil…. Don't be upset… it wasn't your fault," Sunny said as he looked over to Ms. Polly. "Thank you for taking care of him…. Ms. Polly."

"You're welcome, Sunny…." Ms. Polly responded, smiling. Sunny looked back to Basil, and let go of his shoulder. "So… Sunny. What are you going to be doing now? You came to visit like I said you should. You're a bit… late. What happened on your way here?"

Sunny sighed, before tapping on the badge on his shirt. When Ms. Polly looked at it, her eyes widened. "Sunny… no… why?"

Sunny raised an eyebrow, his eyes gleaming in confusion. "What?" Sunny asked, causing Ms. Polly to frown sharply.

"Why… why did you… why did you do that? I don't get it. You…." Ms. Polly continued, as she let out a shaky breath.

"What is it, Ms. Polly?" Basil asked, worry lacing his tone of voice. "What's she talking about, Sunny?" Basil turned to face Sunny, who even he didn't know what she meant. Ms. Polly sighed, placing her hands on her jeans, grabbing onto the knees of her pants, her knuckles going pale white with tension.

"Sunny…. Do you know… what a Devil Hunter is?" Ms. Polly asked.

"They hunt Devils," Sunny replied, his tone blunt.

"Yes… they Hunt Devils… and… do you know what Devils are?" Ms. Polly asked.

"You didn't yesterday…. Do you know what Devil's are?" Sunny asked in return, as Ms. Polly pursed her lips, exhaling sharply.

"No… I mean… yes. I do. everyone from the Big City knows what Devils are. I just… didn't know you could make Contracts with them," Ms. Polly responded. "Before I moved here… three years ago…. I… my son… He was a Devil Hunter," Ms. Polly said, looking at the floor as she continued. "He… his father was… killed by The Wolf Devil…. And…. And he wanted to kill it. But… he underestimated it. And… he…. He…." Ms. Polly's breath hitched, choking back a sob. "He was 19…. And, and… I tried to warn him to not go after it… to just grieve and move on…. But he couldn't. He got cocky and… and he confronted it… and he died…."

Sunny felt his heart lurch, and a pit grew in his stomach. He felt bad for Ms. Polly. Losing a family member…. it was no wonder why she cared deeply for Basil. He probably reminded her of her departed son.

"The Wolf Devil is dead…." Sunny said, gaining Ms. Polly's attention. "I killed it on the way here. It kidnapped Kel and… tore up his arm pretty badly. I was lucky to find him when I did… if I was any later, he'd be dead," Sunny continued as he traced his left wrist. There was a scar starting to form there. Lovely. "It won't be hurting anyone anymore."

Basil looked at Sunny, eyes wide with confusion. "You… killed something?" Basil said as Sunny looked at him. Sunny nodded, sliding his hands into his pockets. "But… I thought that…." Basil trailed off. Sunny didn't respond to that. He knew where Basil was going with that aspect of the conversation and just shook his head. "S-Sorry…." Basil said as he looked away from Sunny's face, before glancing at his arm. His eyes lingered on his arm, and then, his eyes narrowed, before he spoke. "Sunny… your arm… it's…. darker than the rest of your body."

Sunny's eyes lingered on his arm, which made him raise an eyebrow. Basil was right. Compared to the rest of his snow-pale body, his right arm—the one that got swatted off of at the elbow by The Wolf Devil—was now slightly tanned, but, unnaturally so. In fact, the tan ended right around the elbow….

Then he put two and two together, his eyes widening. "I… I know why…" Sunny said, frowning, his eyes returning to the same bored expression. "When I fought The Wolf Devil, I let my guard down, and it at swatted me. I blocked with my arm… and… I lost my arm."

Basil gasped, covering his mouth, his pupils shrinking in horror. "Y-You—you lost your arm?! But… then… how did you…?"

"Blood," Sunny responded, taking a deep breath. He didn't typically talk this much, but… he had to convey the full story. So…. "I'm…. according to the mayor, I'm a Hybrid. Part Devil, part Human. The contract with The Grief Devil I have made it so. It's why I'm alive. It brought me back to life. And, now, I'm part Devil. By drinking Blood… I can regenerate. Kel had an open wound… and if I didn't…."

He let the implication sink in, making both Ms. Polly and Basil uncomfortable. Sunny cleared his throat, before looking at Basil. "That's why… I'm alive. I… really did die when I…. jumped. It was sheer luck that I… I'm alive now…."

When he said that, Sunny stood up. "I'm… going to go visit Kel…. When you get out of the Hospital, Basil… I want you to meet me at my… house. Oh… and…." Sunny turned to look at Ms. Polly. "The Mayor compensated me… I have enough money to buy my house back. I… wanted to thank you for the offer, Ms. Polly. But… I'm going to have to turn it down."

Ms. Polly nodded silently, a small smile on her face. "I understand."

Sunny turned around to leave, but before he could, Basil grabbed him by the right wrist. "Wait! Don't go! I… I still have questions!" Basil said, as Sunny looked over his shoulder, which prompted him to continue. "W-Why? W-Why did you throw yourself off the roof of the hospital? I-if not because of me…. Who?"

Sunny looked away, glancing at the floor. "I… It was because of a Devil…. It… already killed me and… took over my body. It then… threw my body off the roof. I was already dead…. And… the only reason why I'm here now is… because of The Grief Devil." Sunny then looked up at the ceiling, looking over his shoulder again. "It was the same Devil that goaded you into… um… trying to hang yourself, as well. The same Devil that blew out the front wall of your house. The Suicide Devil."

When Sunny said that, he wrenched his wrist away from Basil, before rubbing it a few times. "You were… squeezing pretty hard…. Sorry about that," Sunny stated, shoving his hand back into his pocket. "Now… if you excuse me, I have to go see Kel…."

Sunny was about to leave again, heading for the door, and turning the handle. Before he could, however, he looked over his shoulder, looked at Basil, and smiled. "Oh… and… I'm surprised you didn't notice my eye," Sunny said, pointing at his returned eye. Basil looked at it, opened his mouth, closed his mouth, then smiled.

"I'm… sorry about that…. I wasn't…." Basil stammered, rubbing his upper arm.

"Apology accepted. We… both weren't thinking," Sunny replied, turning to face the door. "I'll see you in a bit… Basil." And with that, he exited the hospital room. That… could've gone way worse than it did. He half expected Basil to lose it…. But, he kept himself composed, which, was good! Really good, actually. A strong improvement from stabbing his fucking eye out. God… he… was never going to get over that, was he? No matter how much they patched things up, even after he accepted the apology, he was never going to get over that. Ever.

But… that was behind him. He could move past it and focus on rebuilding that friendship. Now… he had to go find Kel, which didn't take him long to do. Kel was in room 202, second floor, medical wing, which was a quick elevator ride and a short walk. He had to thank a passing nurse for telling him that.

Once he got there, he peeked in through the window of the door and saw that his friend was asleep, his arm wrapped up in a cast, which probably had a myriad of stitches underneath. A part of him wanted to just walk in and speak to him. But… at the same time, he knew that now wasn't a good time.

After all… he seemed terrified of Sunny. And… Sunny couldn't blame him for it. He saw him go into his Hybrid form, and… well, that wasn't exactly a pleasant thing to see, now was it? It involved his head peeling like a goddamn banana, and his hands exploding into globs of barbed chains. If it wasn't for how much he just… didn't give a fuck about, well, just about everything, he probably would never get used to it.

Turning from the door, he was about to leave, when his eyes widened. Yet again, another shock to the system, as he stared down Kel's mother. Small and stout, with short brown hair done up in a ponytail, and dark brown eyes, the around 38-year-old woman was dressed in a green shirt and white shorts and was wearing black high heel shoes. If Sunny had to guess, she had just come here from Church, otherwise, she wouldn't have been in such fancy-looking clothing. It was Sunday after all.

"Sunny… is that you?" The older Desoto asked, her tone of voice confused, which was understandable.

"Yes," Sunny replied, turning to walk past her. "I… I'll explain later. I need to fi—" he was stopped when Kel's mom wrapped him up in a hug, squeezing him like he was a teddy bear. She let go of him, making him stumble, before then karate-chopping the top of his head lightly, giving him a headache.

"The hug was for coming back to us," Kel's mom started, then, she put her hands on her hips, and gave him a disappointed look. "And the chop to the head was for throwing yourself off that building in the first place, young man. What were you thinking?"

Sunny rubbed the top of his head, his cheeks red with embarrassment. "I… wasn't…."

"Literally."

"Apparently," Kel's mom quipped, before smiling. "Oh, chico estupido… there are people in this town who care about you. If you're ever in need of talking to someone, especially if you're feeling like that, my husband's a therapist, he'll talk to you for free any day of the week, okay?" Kel's mom said, placing a hand on his shoulder as Sunny nodded. "Good. Now, I don't want to keep you too long. Besides, I gotta go talk to my son. He probably broke his arm playing Basketball… again…."

"No…" Sunny said, making Kel's mom, which if he remembered, her name was Susie, stopped to look at him.

"Oh? Then, what happened?" Susie asked, as Sunny bit his lip. If he just up and said a Devil attacked her son, she'd think he'd be making a joke. A joke in poor taste, mind you, but a joke nonetheless. So… he went with a half-truth.

"A… wolf attacked him… I… scared it off before it could do any serious damage… but… his arm was… bitten a lot… and there was… um…. a lot of blood…." Sunny answered. It wasn't a lie, it was the truth…. Kind of. It was The Wolf Devil, but…. It was still a Wolf. Wolves were wolves, no matter what they were. Though, technically, if he were to be overly accurate, The Wolf Devil would be considered a Hell Hound.

"Oh my god…! My poor boy!" Susie said, gasping as she covered her mouth. "I… thank you, Sunny. You saved my boy's life! I…." Kel's mom hugged him again, this time it was less of a bear hug and more of a genuine one. When the older woman let go, she smiled. "Tell you what, how about I invite you home for dinner? I'm sure you haven't had one of those in… well, since you were considered dead, right?"

Sunny bit back a laugh at her rather dark joke, and nodded. "Yeah… um… thank you, Ms. Desoto…."

"It's not a problem, young man. Take care!"

And with that, the two parted ways. He was surprised she didn't see the badge…. Maybe she wasn't paying attention? Oh, whatever. She'd probably notice it at the dinner he was now invited to. Oh well, it wasn't his problem.

After a few minutes of walking around, taking the elevator, and sanitizing his hands, Sunny exited the Hospital and made his way to the housing agency in town. He was going to buy back his house… and then, he was going to get some furniture delivered from The Big City, and one of those new fancy Playstations, and perhaps that game called Crash Bandicoot….

Yeah. That was what he was going to do….

[3rd person POV (???)]

"Uh… Miss, I… have some bad news…." A man in a plain black shirt, grey sweatpants, and red sneakers said, earning a sidelong glance from a woman in a black trenchcoat and black flattop fedora, which hid a majority of her hair.

"Hm?"

"Uh…. You remember The Wolf Devil, yeah? The one you… uh… captured and sent to Faraway… I got word that it got killed…."

This made the woman raise an eyebrow. "Oh? Who?"

"Some kid… one of our guys said that he had…. Chains sprout from his hands and—"

"The Grief Devil…." The woman muttered, clutching her hand in her pocket. "And what about Lake and Shadow? Are they still alive?"

"Affirmative, ma'am. But… uh…. Why do you have them there anyway? I thought you wanted to keep The Devils out of Faraway," one of the other people in the room, a man in a red suit and tie, asked as the woman in the trench coat fished around for a pack of cigarettes, her coal-black eyes staring at her rainbow and star decorated lighter.

Finally finding what she was looking for, she shook the Malboro branded box. One left… she'd need to buy more later. Getting the last one out, she put the cancer stick in her mouth, and lit it, before staring absently out the window of a room, located within a high-rise in The Big City. Taking a long, drawn-out drag from the cigarette, the woman frowned, blowing smoke through her red lips.

"I'm testing them…. It's been four years since that day. They've lived in peace long enough, right? It's about time they figured out what the rest of the world has to deal with on a daily basis," the woman said, taking another drag from the cigarette.

"Ah… I see. Very astute of you, ma'am. But… uh… what about… uh… our little problem. That boy is probably going to get in our way, yeah? Why don't we—"

Suddenly, the man's head burst open in a shower of blood and viscera, and the sound of a bullet being fired echoed throughout the room. Yet, no gun had been shot. It was almost as if that it was merely a gust of wind, localized entirely within the small room, that had enough power to pop his head like a cherry. The man, the one in the black shirt, slumped forward, blood from the stub of his neck spilling all over the designer carpet. "Clean it up. Take his body to the parking garage, and make sure no one sees you."

The man in the red suit calmly nodded, picking up the corpse and leaving the room. Taking another drag from the cigarette, and sighing with a plume of smoke, the woman turned to sit down on one of the couches. "How long has it been… since we made that contract…. Gun."

"Four Years."

She would never get used to its raspy voice. But, nevertheless, they were a contractor and contracted. It was mutual, and all she had to do to use its power was use up a nail clipping, of which she had plenty of stored up in several jars within her apartment.

"How long until I have to renew the contract?"

"Two Years…. My question is why? I thought you hated me."

When she met The Gun Devil, she had every reason to hate him. But… nowadays, she thought him less of something to hate, and more of a necessary evil. Even if she only had access to around 5% of its power, that was more than enough. The woman scoffed. "At the time, yes. But… I think I understand now. Tell me… what do you think I should do, Gun?"

The Gun Devil laughed. "I think you should pay Faraway a visit. But… only after The Lake Devil is encountered. I doubt that brat could handle it. Besides… what was our contract again? Something about—"

"You don't have to remind me. I know it off by heart."

"Good…. Don't want to make The President upset, would ya?"

"The President can suck my left tit," the woman spat, putting out her cigarette in the ashtray on the coffee table. "I never agreed to him using me as his gun. At least the pay is good…. 'Sides, don't you hate him, too?"

"Yeah, I do. But, the majority of me can't do shit. Being contracted to you gave me part of my personality back. So, thank you for that. Plus, I find the ultimate irony in the fact that you're a Devil Hunter, who also hunts other Devil Hunters when they get too big. That has me interested. But, keep in mind, that when I lose interest…."

The woman scoffed. "Whatever. Not that I care all too much. I can just contract with one of the other Devils under my beck and call."

"Touche…"

The woman reclined in her chair, as the man in the red suit came back. "It's done, Ma'am."

"Good…. Get into contact with the one who's got the Contract with The Shadow Devil. Let them know what happened, and who their target is. But… make sure they know one thing…." The woman started, before gaining a deadly seriousness to her voice. "I want that boy, and his Devil here, alive." As the woman said that, the man in the red suit bowed.

"Anything for you, ma'am." And with that, the man in the suit left yet again to make a very important call….

-To Be Continued-