Zack and Kaiden slept apart, as the bluish sun rose again in a reddish blaze of anger and confusion.

The previously blue-soaked furniture and walls were now scarlet.

Kaiden saw nothing but red, bright red fading with the opening of his eyes.

He reached for the prosthetic, removing it.

His left eye was now just an empty socket.

"So surreal," he muttered to himself as he washed it at the sink and reinserted it.

The bathroom was styled in a bright blue and white, and Kaiden grabbed a toothbrush, taking his usual place on the toilet.

 [7:48 AM]

 With a sigh, he said in a soft tone, "I should start moving slowly."

Exiting the bathroom, he looked once more at the scarlet sunbeams, surveying the surroundings. His hair flew back, as did the snow-white curtains, as Kaiden's hand clad in a dark gray uniform gripped the window.

The colorful city drenched in red, with decaying buildings.

Bewildered, his face displayed shock as he said, "Not a decaying sky but the sea again?"

A hissing sound and then a bang, but the room was already empty.

"Hey, Kai!" Elly said, her face beaming with an infectious smile.

"Hey," Kaiden replied.

The others were already out of their rooms, waiting for Zack. The redhead and the blonde locked eyes. Blue to green. One looked normal, yet somewhat confused, while the other clenched his teeth and abruptly looked away.

The others just sighed. Mark whispered to Ren, "Is everything okay with them?"

Ren replied quietly to Mark, "The usual..."

Kaiden and Zack, separated since yesterday, were also apart during the jog to check out, maintaining as much distance as possible.

Mark asked Ren again, "But this isn't normal, right?"

Ren responded, "It'll be fine..."

 They walked for several kilometers, crossing a long bridge spanning a gorge, dozens of meters wide and several kilometers long.

Down below, only black emptiness. The sky was still covered by the sea, the red light forcing the six to bend their faces downward or shield their eyes with their hands. Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes into hours.

Zack, jogging with Ren and Mark at the front, while Kaiden was trailing behind the girls. Elly often tried to talk to Zack, but he either refused or the conversation quickly ended.

Eventually, Kaiden approached him from behind when Elly asked him to. "Talk to my brother," she said.

Approaching Zack, Kaiden found silence at first.

"We shouldn't disturb," Mark and Ren said as they slowed down and went further back to the girls, while Mary, staring into the distance, twitched and jolted several times.

"Hey Zack," Kaiden said tentatively, but Zack ignored him at first.

"Zack?"

With a longer pause, Zack responded, "What?" with a somewhat annoyed tone.

 

"I don't exactly remember what happened, but I want to apologize," Kaiden said.

Zack had no words, only looking away from Kaiden. After many steps across the cold, gray bridge, Zack asked, "But it wasn't the first time.

Twice today and daily before...," Zack's gaze, now normal, fixed on Kaiden as he continued,

"You always act so strangely. I lightly hit your back, and you hit me. I ask you why you always drink cocoa, and you look at me angrily, then sadly into nothingness. Last time, I admit I went too far, even if I acted foolishly due to prejudice and ignorance. But I can't take it anymore. I like you as a friend, and you know that, but hitting me, beating me up, or doing anything else when I meant no harm..."

 Taking a deep breath, Kaiden continued,

"My glioblastoma, the tumor, has various symptoms that affect me, and one of the things you've dealt with the most are the mood swings. If I'm thinking of something sad and you suddenly interrupt, it makes me a bit angry, and it makes me even angrier. And that anger builds up."

Taking another deep breath as they continued jogging, he added,

"The cocoa, for example, has a deep meaning because of a friend I lost in Florida. Or the last time I hit you, when I was staring emptily into the sky, thinking about my brother whom I haven't seen in a long time. Of course, and I understand, I overreact, but most of the time, better yet, every time, it's because of my tumor. It may sound like an excuse, but it's not..."

Zack, after hearing this speech from Kaiden, didn't exactly look at Kaiden with new eyes, but rather with concerned eyes, as Kaiden suddenly had to vomit.

"Hey!" they heard from up ahead.

Elly, barely managing to bring her voice forward again, "Are you guys okay again?"

Looking at Zack, waiting and full of curiosity, Kaiden was silent.

"Everything's fine!"

he shouted to the others, who were falling behind.

"You better catch up!"

Zack shouted again, which brought a smile to Kaiden's face, even though he looked a bit worse and felt nauseous.

But ignorance, confusion, and amazement, as well as bewilderment, overflowed with emotions and expressions, from everyone.

 Suddenly, as they ran, a massive fog emerged. Warm yet somehow cold, it gave them goosebumps.

"What's going on here?!" Mark yelled loudly.

Light beams appeared beside them, bright, glaring images in white quickly followed by loud impacts. Several times, accompanied by rain and very strong wind. They were no longer moving at a fast pace but like hikers ascending a mountain.

Hair and uniforms were thrown back, drenched in moisture, with electric-like balls roaming around. Vapors as hot as oases. In the unrecognizable gray distance, white mass seemed to emerge beside the white swift images.

Snow like sand at the sea, followed by yellow and reddish sand.

Kaiden held his arms over his eyes and mouth, wondering, 'What the heck is happening here?'

The question screamed out by Zack.

The sudden voice of Mary came, "No matter what happens, keep your eyes and ears closed! The only thing that matters is to keep running forward!"

With particular emphasis and a loud voice, she screamed, "Run for your life!"

Before she could finish her sentence, however, Kaiden, who looked worried with his fingers in his ears and eyes seeing black with sudden and numerous bright lights, shouted.

"Mary!?"

"Mary!"

"Mar..."

A sticky goo invaded Kaiden's trembling lips, desperately trying to get out without words.

He screamed and screamed, but no sounds escaped his vocal cords.

Repelling and repulsing the goo, sound waves penetrated deeper into Kaiden's being.

'What?!'

'What's happening here?!'

Questions upon questions bombarded Kaiden.

He found himself in a room, but a familiar one. A neatly arranged bed and a somewhat smaller room. Empty, except for a few books in the corner along with a few pens.

"I know this room from somewhere," Kaiden said, his eyes bewildered.

"I remember now!"

But the thoughts and memories blurred just before the door opened.

A voice, also familiar but growing distant, and Kaiden's eyes grew heavier.

"Kaiden..."

"Come on, Kaiden, wake up."

Coming to his senses, Kaiden saw only a young man around his age, blonde, wearing an apron, ruffling through his blond hair and smiling.

"Kaiden, someone's waiting for you. Get up and get ready."

Confused, Kaiden stood up and looked forward, a boy on a bike waving to him, looking sporty as he once knew him.

His smile, along with his hazel-brown sparkling eyes, clad in blue jeans and a white shirt.

"Come on, Kaiden, we're going to be late for class."

Frantically looking back and forth between the blond boy and the brunette, tears flowing.

A back-and-forth movement of heads together with rolling tears.

To the blonde and to the brunette, to the blonde and to the brunette. To the blonde and back to the brunette.

With tear-filled eyes, a nose running like a waterfall, and biting his lip.

Looking again and again, but he only saw his brother Arthur and his friend Leon.