Thunder crashed, rain splattered and his heart beat irrationally in his chest.
Was he really about to do this?
Was he really about to do this?
He was an entity haunting an abandoned hotel, a being of abilities no human could ever compare to. A being of-
Who was he trying to kid? Even with all the power in the universe, there was nothing to fill the expansive void his soul consisted of, nobody to turn to.
In return for his abilities, he was given the ability to feel empathy, as well as an insatiable bloodlust. He was stuck in a rut, and one human had answered his prayers.
Earlier that day, when a human had entered, they had dropped some questionable loot: a bottle of pills.
He was no idiot, no optimist and no coward; he knew what it was he had to do and he was going to do it today.
Finally, an end, a way out, an escape from his body and his suffering.
Twisting the lid, Halt's hands trembled.
Nobody likes me.
Why am I hesitating?
Not a single entity would miss me.
To think that anyone would spend even a second mourning my death is laughable.
My body will be left to rot in my hallway, and the others will trample it into the carpet without a further thought.
I'm no entity! I'm no heartless killer! I can't do this, I just can't!
So, why am I hesitating?
Breathing out a sigh, Half snatches a sheet of paper and a pencil, scrawling down a suicide note. It's illegible, his handwriting sloppy and atrocious, as he wrote through his swelling tears.
"Why am I hesitating?!" Half screamed, snapping the pencil in half with his right hand.
He cups his face as his hands grow wet with the tears. This is it, no turning back.
Twisting the cap open, Halt took a handful of the pills and chucked them into his mouth carelessly, swallowing them.
Giving up, Halt leans against the wall of the hall. He doesn't even want to fight the effects, when they do eventually take a toll on his body.
He waits for hours, tears streaming down his face and, eventually, everything goes black.
Halt, this is the end.
_________________________________
No, Halt.
Wake up. Wake up, please!
Please!
I can't bear the thought of losing you!
You can't do this!
Not you, I can't lose you!
His weighted eyelids pushed open with some force. With a dull shine in them, Halt awoke in an infirmary bed, his body numb in some places.
Am I...dead?
Nobody would care if I were gone, so this has to be some kind of heaven or projection of my desires.
But, why does my body ache if I'm...
...
I'm not dead, not yet, am I?
Squinting his eyes, Halt glanced weakly around the room, unable to prop himself any further up. Everything was naught but a haze, a mix of watercolours, bordered with a blur of black.
"Halt, Halt!" A grey shape called out to him, overpowering the loud ringing in his ears.
To Halt, it was nothing but a smudge of grey. He could barely comprehend his survival, the thought of his failed suicide lingering on his mind.
"Where..." Halt managed to slur out, his voice drowned with drowsiness.
"Oh, Halt...!" The deep voice cried, the likelihood of tears in the figure's eyes increasing with every emotional second that scraped on by.
Two arms firmly gripped him, but it wasn't anything violent. The intentions were...of a kind nature. There was a concern, a regret, a self-directed hatred, an anguish, a rage and a smidge of relief in the person's tone. No entity was capable of that; no entity had the capacity to believe in anything or anyone greater than themselves.
No, a human wouldn't dare to aid an entity, dying or not. That would only result in blackmail or manipulation.
"Halt, can you hear me?"
The voice was low, having a familiar undertone to it, a familiar growl to it. Each word pronounced in a way that could make one assume he was everyone's father, a man who took pride in caring for others.
No entity could possibly be created to hold compassion, ruling out the possibility of him being alive.
The touch felt so real; the sensation of his skin coming into contact with this other beings was what Halt had longed for his whole life. This intimacy, this trust, this emotion...
If only he had known someone was able to express themself like he could. If only he had known there was someone to discuss his human emotions with.
Well, now there was.
Whoever it was sitting by his bedside.
"Who..." Halt started, his tongue failing to comply for long enough to choke out a full, comprehendible sound one could call a sentence.
"It's Rush. The fast one, remember? The one with black smoke and eyes?" He, Rush, reminded with an untypically fatherly demeanour.
Rush was so close to him, his arms locked around Halt's neck. Was it his failed attempt at a way out or the opportunity of breaking free of his rut without losing his life that was making his eyes water?
This...hope. A tenacity grew within him, a flame to fight on reignited by this revelation that he was not alone.
"I'm here for you, Halt. We'll get through this together, and I'll be here every step of the way." Rush promised, a determination in his voice.
And, that determination was all Halt needed to hear to get through his issues. He had someone to rely on, a friend or more to trust with his life and soul.
"Rush..." Halt murmured, struggling to say the words as they hung on his tongue,"...Thank you."
"Halt, I'm not leaving you in a time you need someone most. I may ruthlessly kill humans, but we're supposed to be a team, us entities. To think we allowed you to feel this way is sickening." Rush scowled, disappointed that it could escalate to such a painful and disturbing extent.
"I felt so low, so alone and so, so alienated. I'm a nobody! I can't do my job properly or even interact with anyone else." Halt managed to cough up, the tears in the corners of his eyes trekking down his cheeks.
Taking both of Halt's hands, Rush looked him in the eyes,"You're a somebody to me, and that's what matters. I'm not losing you of all people, Halt. You're irreplaceable and I couldn't sow myself back together if I were to lose you."
Heaving out a sigh, Rush ran his thumbs over Halt's backhands,"I should've made it more apparent that I held you dear, that I adored you or that I was desperate to keep you safe. I'm sorry I failed you then, but I'm not failing you now."
Halt couldn't help but break into tears at Rush's little announcement.
As Rush held him tightly, Halt realised he wasn't alone.
And that void in his soul had been filled by the love and consideration of someone he would never have anticipated,
Rush.
