《Rise of the Protector》Chapter 12: Flash to the past

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Ravok groggily woke up from the alarm on his phone blaring out loud. He realized he was still sitting on the couch with his head resting against a pillow instead of the cold stone of the wall. A fleece blanket covered him as he had curled himself into it while sleeping. It was still early enough for him to start making breakfast, he slowly stood up, dreading another day of school followed by work tonight, but at least he knew that it would give them some time to make sure they were hidden away from sight.

He made his way to the kitchen and started his usual routine, cooking breakfast and packing lunch for himself, Sarah and Cole making some extra on the side for Red and Blue. Everyone seemed to be down as they moved down, except for Cole and Red, who were getting along just as well as they were yesterday.

Everyone simply ate, with few words spoken between the group's members. Sarah hurried to her training while Ravok was helping Cole prepare for school. Red and Blue were tasked with cleaning despite Red's protest. This time the group went by foot, walking with Cole as he hurried towards the school building. Ravok looked at him as he entered with a frown on his face. Cole was getting to the age when he did not need anyone to look after him, but ever since their father's disappearance, he remained in this mindset. He would send him to therapy if he could, but they didn't have enough money to do so. Red and Blue took notice of his look yet did not say anything. They didn't need to.

They could feel the same connection and worry that Ravok had ever since their soul linked. His look met that of Red and Blue with some amount of understanding. Perhaps this is why he felt this inherently close to the both of them and why the two of them did not feel the same way about him. Red cared for Blue, Blue cared for Red, and neither of them even knew him. Some parts of that feeling were brought into his own when the soul link happened.

"Do you two think you can entertain yourselves today?" Ravok asked as they walked to his college, which luckily was not too far from the high school that Cole went to.

Red and Blue looked at each other, nodding as they seemed to agree on some sort. "We were planning on studying with you," Blue said, with Red giving a slightly annoyed look at her answer.

Ravok looked confused at their answer, yet after thinking it through for a couple of minutes, he realized at least how they could. "Planning on becoming an Astrologist?" He asked jokingly as he looked at the two. They certainly didn't look like the average ones.

"No, you…" Red squinted, ready to blurt out a swear word before looking around to ensure that Cole wasn't suddenly there. "...f*ck. We want to know more about this world, you know." She said as she crossed her arms, annoyed that she even had to explain herself.

"No, I get it… I would be curious, too," Ravok said surprisingly soft tone. The memories of him as a child came back to him when he used to fantasize about all the worlds that might be just beyond their reach. The passion for those worlds still stuck with him, the reason he chose to study this subject over others. Still, as he grew up, he realized that such a thing would never happen in his lifetime and all he could do was prepare for the next exploration to find the items he had always dreamed of. "Perhaps one day I can see where you two came from!" His voice turned chipper than usual as he realized that one day he could travel to a different world through Red and Blue.

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"If we still like you by then," Red smiled as she moved into one of the many alleyways that littered the main street. Ravok could only laugh back at the comment. The fact that she was as direct as she was was something that Ravok could appreciate. For a moment, he closed his eyes, calming his breath as Red and Blue disappeared instantly. At first, his clothing started changing color but quickly after, it retreated to return to its standard black and white.

As he approached the school, he noticed Brandon and Lily casually talking, but as he moved closer, he could see Lily turning nervous as she met his gaze. "Goodmorning," Ravok said as he waved his hand over. Brandon immediately met his greeting with a simple nod while Lily awkwardly raised her hand. "So…. sick?" He asked as he looked at Lily.

Lily grabbed her arm, avoiding his gaze as she mumbled to herself. "Of Course not… I had to work… it was busy" something about her stance didn't feel right to Ravok, even when she was caught off guard, she would always keep up her confident and warm self, yet today she looked like she was either extremely upset about something or someone, or something wrong happened recently. The only time Ravok could remember her being like this was when he was only a child, right after his mother died in the explosion of this area. He let his mind wander for a moment as he visualized what he could remember that day.

He and his mother were walking home from the park where he and Sarah would usually go and play with the other kids in the neighborhood when a simple black sphere appeared in the sky for a split moment. At that moment, his mother quickly covered both Ravok and Sarah, holding them close to her with her back towards the object as it suddenly expanded outwards. The next thing Ravok remembers is piles of rubble all around him, his mother was nowhere to be found, and he was holding Sarah, who was crying louder than he had ever heard her cry. He waited there for what felt like days until his father and some other police officers came and found him standing there, bringing him towards some form of shelter. All he could do, and all he wanted to do, was to stop Sarah from crying, but she just wouldn't. Only when her cheeks became redder than the color of rose petals and all the tears dried, she became silent.

For the next couple of days, Ravok and Sarah had to talk to all kinds of people, people that asked them what happened, to describe the event, and more. At the same time, others came to check up on how they were doing. After they finally let the two go, he remembers a young Lily approaching him like she did every time they played. But she immediately noticed something was wrong and started talking to him. The first time Ravok managed to cry about that event was underneath the slide, with Lily holding onto him and silently crying with him. In the days after, it was clear that her mood soured. She became reclusive and often only spoke to Ravok and her own family. It took her weeks before she returned to her usual self.

Ravok returned to reality as he looked at Lily, whose eyes gave him a clear signal that they needed to talk at some point during the day. Brandon looked between the two and shrugged. "One of your many lover quarrels it is"

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"For f*ck sake, Brandon," Lily said as she crossed her arms, turning to him as she bent forward. "That won't be fun no matter how often you say it." In a tone only a mother could give, causing both Ravok and Brandon to burst out laughing. Lily tried to keep her angry attitude but broke within only a couple of seconds, joining the two others in their laughter.

The air eased up as the three made their way into their classroom. They showed many problems on the board, explaining how things move and can't go faster than the speed of light, how gravity affects said light and why stuff like lensing happens.

Inside Ravok, Red and Blue made a simple seat for themselves. Blue's chair was simple and had little to no decoration. She could put some paper on a little desk right in front of her. Red had an entire couch, simply lounging like she was watching a boring documentary.

There were many things that they had learned once they arrived here. This world had things like stars, a moon, and a sun. Something that their world didn't have. Instead, their world had a constant bright rainbow in their sky. Their night time was when the darker colors of blue and purple were above, while the daytime was shown through the bright yellow that rose above them. They read up about these objects on the internet and books, books their world had, but something like the internet was non-existent. Yet even that she was not sure about as the only things she had to go on were glimpses and faint images of a past that did not seem like her own.

This made her more curious than ever about how this world worked. She wrote down every single word that the teacher spoke. Little by little did she start to understand all the things being said.

Ravok, in the meantime, couldn't help but think about why Lily was being so strange this morning. His eyes slowly moved away to look at her. Only to be interrupted by Blue calling out. "Please keep looking at the teacher. I can't see anything if you look away." He was shocked for a moment as he moved his head back, keeping his eyes peeled at the screen, slowly writing along with what the teacher was saying.

As such, Ravok did not even get the chance to slack off during class, as each time he did, Blue requested if he could pay attention so that she could keep on writing down what was being shown and what was being asked. Time went by slowly until it was finally time for a break. Ravok grabbed the lunch he packed, ready to eat it in the classroom until Lily gave him a pointed look. Slowly he stood up, moving towards the gate, where they usually hung out when they had to talk. Brandon looked at the two defeated, posing dramatically with his sandwich in hand. "Letting me eat all alone?" He said as he laughed, taking a bite as he waved the two off.

The two arrived at the edge of the gate, moving between the wall and the building itself, where luckily, nobody was currently located. Lily looked up at Ravok. She looked slightly saddened as she spoke. "Ravok... I think…. I need to tell you something" She was fiddling with her hands as she continued. "I…" She looked in the sky for a moment, and once she looked back, it was clear that her expression of determination had soured to that of a sad one. "I am really worried about you.." Her words felt hollow, not like how she would typically express such a worry, like she was hesitant to be truly honest about her feelings.

Ravok smiled at her back, he didn't know why she was worried, but in the last three days, it was clear that his life was changing. But none of this was something that Lily should have seen, especially with her being gone yesterday. "You have nothing to worry about, Lily."

But as he spoke, Lily angrily put her fist on Ravoks chest. Without any force behind it, she put it against him as she bit her lip in frustration. She clenched it for a moment before removing her hand again. There was more to it than what she let on, but she didn't say anything after that as she walked past him, her face bearing a darkened expression as she left.

Ravok ate his food in confusion, listening to Blue explaining what she had learned to both him and Red in his mind. She talked about how she found it interesting that stars can be such vast distances from each other.

The rest of the day went by just as slowly as most of his attention was on his work, letting Blue study with him as he occasionally looked at his empty seat. Lily told Brandon that she wasn't feeling well before leaving. Something felt very wrong, yet there was nothing he could think of that he did that would have upset Lily to this extent.

When the day came to a close, Ravok made his way to his house after saying goodbye to Brandon. He didn't have much time before he had to go to work, so he jogged home without asking Red and Blue to leave his body. The jog wasn't that far, and it would save him some time. When he turned the corner, however, he noticed from the corner of his eye a figure in red with glowing red hair lurking on the rooftops opposite his house. Red and Blue immediately sounded surprised.

"Be careful…" Blue said in the same calm tone.

Red immediately interrupted. "What?!? Be careful. It is someone like us! We have to talk to him!" She yelled, yet Ravok immediately nodded.

"I agree with Red. We should see what he has to say," He said as he hid behind the corner, the figure not having noticed him yet.

"I never stated we should not, yet we should not trust this individual just because it is someone that might share our traits," Blue stated. Red calmed down hearing this as the two of them let out their power. The colors of Ravoks eyes and clothing immediately shifted and changed. Quickly he made his way past the street to the other side, jumping up onto the roof in one swift movement.

"Evening… not looking at the stars, I suppose?" Ravok says as he lands on the roof. The individual quickly turned towards him. His hair was messy and red. Part of it fell over one of his eyes. His eye color was bright crimson, similar to Red's eyes. The clothing that he was wearing did not look like anything he had seen before. It was like he was wearing a smooth one-piece suit that emitted small lines of crimson energy, creating what almost looked like an extra layer on top of the original. The man smiled as he said, "Finally."

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