Paladin's Return

'Life is pain'

"Ian?"

'Well my life is.'

"Hello Ian?"

'Shit the pain is coming back....fuck cancer'

"EARTH TO IAN"

"HUH? Why're you yelling Mike?"

Ian snapped out of it once the young man, Mike, across from him shouted his name.

"Dude lower your voice or else someone might recognize me", Ian whispered once he collected his thoughts.

"Sorry, I just wanna ask if you were still down for drinking tonight," Mike whispered back with an apologetic look on his face. Despite Mike's average appearance, his innocent apologetic face could melt anyone's hearts, but to Ian, it was another expression that he's seen for almost 10 years.

And unlike his average looking best friend, Ian was extremely handsome despite his sickly pale appearance with unkempt hair plus some untrimmed facial hair and dark bags underneath his eyes. Though they were hidden by his facemask and baseball cap, his ashen hair and silver blue eyes were easily recognizable in the gaming community of the internet, or more specifically his streamer alias, Bellian.

Though now he's retired at the age of 19 before his career could see fruition. Before millions of people could recognize him for his skills and not judge him on his handsome appearance. Before this orphan could prove to the people who abandoned him that he was fine on his own.

Now...terminal stage cancer has claimed Ian Everson. An extremely rare form of cancer as tumors were all over his body even to his bones.

"Of course I am", Ian smiled weakly under his facemask then continued his thoughts, "I just need to take my pain meds before lunch and I should be good to go for later tonight."

Mike smiled in return or tried to smile.

Ian knew the reason why.

It was obvious.

He and his parents tried to reason to Ian to try chemotherapy or any experimental treatments, but Ian refused saying something along the line of 'I'm done struggling against fate...just let me choose how I live my remaining days.' They couldn't give a logical reason for Ian to try as his survival chance was less than one percent.

Months has passed since the terminal diagnosis and now both young men were sitting quietly outside with an umbrella covering over their table from the late summer sun, waiting for their meals to arrive. Both were too tired to strike a conversation despite being fueled by coffee and energy drinks. One was haunted by the thought of seeing his once charismatic best friend dying both physically and mentally while the other was simply counting the days and taking in the scenic view around him. 

The plan for today was getting lunch at an outdoor cafe famous for their sandwiches in Los Angeles then head for Ian's last fan meetup with his community then Ian was going to make dinner at his place with lots of alcohol involved. Of course, they obtained their alcohol beverages legally....kinda. Then the days after, Ian was going to...end his pain in Sweden.

Why there?

To taste the food and sightsee one last time, the northern lights was something Ian wanted to see before his short struggle called life was over. His adopted family wanted to tag along, and though Ian wanted to refuse, he didn't as he owed them for giving him a safe space to grow up and treating him as if he was part of the family.

Speaking of his adopted family, half of his private funds was going to a charity for lost children while the rest was going to the Everson. It was enough to pay off their debts and even give them enough leeway to pursue their dreams. Being a successful streamer and having a lot of sponsorships due to his exotic handsome appearance paid off in the end of his short career. Speaking of dreams...

"Hey Mike I-"

"And here's your orders gentlemen."

The waitress came to their table with their sandwiches and chips, all freshly made with an appetizing look on the sandwiches themselves. The sandwiches had toasted bread with avocado mayo layered on the bread itself with lettuce, pickles, tomato, and smoked beef with smoked Swiss cheese.

The two men thanked her for delivering their meals to which she smiled back and looked at Ian for a second longer than usual since his silver hair was eye-catching, but only a second longer or else the mysterious handsome gentleman might give her a bad tip. After the waitress left, Ian took off his facemask to take his pain medication then eat his meal in silence along with Mike.

His sandwich? Worth the long wait and overpricing as all of the ingredients complimented with each other. Even the freshly made chips was perfectly salted as if the people working in the back were told that a certain celebrity chef was coming to their establishment today.

After they finished their meal, they waited for the waitress to return with refills for their drinks. They could've left, but in truth, they were stalling for time as both were nervous on how Ian's community would react during the last fan meetup. The time for the meetup was 3:00 pm and the current time was 1:55 pm.

"Hey Mike"

"Yeah?"

"...I think you should continue playing the violin and pursue a career in that. And ummm also sing too. You got talent in both of them", the lifeless tone coming out of Ian made it difficult to believe that he really meant it.

Upon hearing that, Mike's usual neutral face slowly turned to visible discomfort and his hands were twitching in response. As to why? Well...

"I-I don't think I can do that e-even if it was your last wish."

Mike's stutter was apparent and he even looked down to avoid embarrassing himself as painful memories came back to him.

"Mike look at me", Ian's defeated and lifeless voice reverted back to his once confident lively one or at least that's what Mike was imagining. 

Then Mike looked up to make eye contact with Ian and saw that the glassy look in Ian's eyes were gone, reverting back to its former confident-filled self.

"I want to hear you play one last time, for old times sake. Forget about that shitty past and just perform the fuck out as if you're the number one violin player-no you are the number one violin player and you can even brag about it whenever you come over to my grave."

Mike felt enlightened and even inspired upon hearing Ian's confident voice coming back, but upon hearing the last few words, he instantly got up his seat.

"Ian, I'll play if you get treatment."

Mike hesitated briefly before saying what came to mind.

"Why should you give me hope when you're the one who needs it the most. I'll see you at the meetup."

Mike's tone was even but there was a layer of frustration underneath it but he refused to let it show as he knew how stubborn Ian was when he made a decision. Then Mike left the cafe. The meetup was at a nearby location that Ian asked to be a part of for his fans and he even paid for the service there out of respect for the sponsors.

Ian sighed at himself for mentioning his own grave and got up to follow Mike right after. He left a generous tip for making the waitress go for refills when they already left. Ian walked past a certain middle-aged man enjoying his sandwich, sadly he couldn't pay enough attention to recognize him or hear the man mutter.

"Finally, some good fucking food"

Outside the cafe, it was a busy Friday with traffic prevalent along with crowded sidewalks, it was to be expected since there was a convention going on nearby, created by Ian's favorite video game developers and where a good portion of his fanbase was attending.

He saw Mike's red shirt in the distance and went after him. Or at best, speed walk over to Mike as his bones were vulnerable enough to break if he put too much stress on them. The fast walk was smooth...too smooth, Ian was briefly confused until he touched his face.

"Fuck me..."

Ian forgot his mask back at the cafe, so now any passersby could see his face. Despite his sickly appearance, he was handsome enough to be mistaken as a model, also his unique appearance was enough for people to clear the way for Ian as if the man himself was splitting the ocean like a certain prophet. 

Ian was walking quickly but steadily since it would be embarrassing to break his fragile bones just days before his trip to Sweden. The people he walked past were either stunned by his appearance or felt that he should pass them.

"HEY MIKE WAIT UP!"

After a while, Ian decided to call out to Mike since he seems to be deep in thought to check his phone. Mike turned his head and sighed visibly from across the crosswalk between them. He shook his head but stayed where he was so that Ian could catch up to him.

The crosswalk just recently turned green so Ian walked quickly towards Mike until...

"Mom look it's Bellian. THE Bellian who beaten Eden Ring entirely without dying once on his first playthrough. But hehehe I didn't know Bellian was short like me."

Indeed Ian was on the shorter side of the male demographic, but his handsome exotic appearance often overshadow his shor-.... his average height. 

Of course, being called short was still a pet peeve for him as he gritted his teeth at the middle schooler who called him out while the kid himself was sprinting full speed towards Ian from across the street and was already halfway towards him too. He was the only one crossing the street from Mike's side despite the light being green.

Why?

There was a truck speeding down the road towards where the middle school boy was.

Badump Badump

Suddenly Ian's heart started racing when he saw the truck was still maintaining its speed despite the red light. He looked around him but noticed the people around him were...filming the truck as if they didn't notice the kid who was about to get hit by the truck. Ian then look straight ahead, only to notice that the mother and a few other people including Mike were running for the kid however....

Despite his sickly pain medicated mind, Ian could still tell that the people wouldn't make it in time and even the people near him were too busy filming the speeding truck to realize the kid right in front of them...or maybe they chose to ignore him as if they were too afraid to act.

Nevertheless, Ian acted despite his illness and sprinted full force towards the young boy. His leg bones felt like they were cracking under pressure once he put enough weight on them, but the adrenaline and pain medicine nullify the extreme pain that Ian would've felt.

Then...

"It's not your fault kid."

He pushed the boy away. Ian could've hugged him and dragged his weight along with the boy to avoid the truck, but inwardly he felt this was the proper way to go out.

'I die saving some brat while traumatizing him. Good way to go out right?'

The bittersweet thought came to mind, but it was hidden by his signature charismatic smile that Ian aka Bellian would give to his viewers and his former circle of friends. Time slowed as the adrenaline was still pumping into his mind, giving Ian enough time to see that his smile was seen by both the kid and Mike, who was possibly shouting his name but he couldn't hear him over his heartbeat.

'I'm sorry Mike, but this looks like the end for me. Hopefully Hank and Jodie can forgive me for tapping out a little earlier than planned.'

Then Ian closed his eyes as his legs gave out and silently waited for the truck to hit him as he turned to face it head on.

Screeeeeeeek

Baaaaaanng

.

.

.

Ian felt no pain.

He wondered if he was already in the afterlife or he somehow got reincarnated into another world because of this lousy truck driver.

But.

"Ian? My little Ian is that you?"

A lovely mature feminine voice resounded out in front of him.

Confused, Ian opened his eyes to see a beautiful ashen haired woman with silver blue eyes, her features were similar to him. She was clad in shining silver armor, beautifully crafted and perfectly fitted to her feminine form with the armored heels included and a blue fur cape with possibly a crest on it.

Aside from her stunning youthful appearance, the next unusual part was the fact that the woman stopped the truck with only one hand while the other was pressing against her hip as if she was posing naturally with the wind blowing her hair and fur cape at the same time. Currently she was scanning Ian with a serious expression as if confirming Ian was the same person in her mind. 

'Is that my long lost sister or something?'

The thought came to mind because the woman had the same appearance as him and looked to be in her late 20s or early 30s at best. 

So, he decided to ask the obvious question.

"Excuse me but are you my sis-"

"OH MY GOD IT IS MY LITTLE IAN! DO YOU RECOGNIZE MOMMY? DO YOU? Oh wait you were a year old the last time I saw you, but I bet these people would think I'm your older sister or something fufufu."

The woman screeched out loud in excitement then lowered her voice while maintaining her happy tone while holding the truck back with one hand. She didn't mind or simply didn't care about the people witnessing her bubbly personality, but she didn't know she was being recorded.

As for Ian, he was too shellshocked to realize how embarrassing this unexpected reunion is.