Code Collector

It was Allen, Gary, and Kyle left outside of the ICU while waiting for Jeremy to wake up. They made the girl follow Gwen to the room so they could sleep while the boys wait.

"How did you guys know Jeremy?" Kyle found himself asking. It was too silent between them that he couldn't stop himself from doing so.

For Allen, this was the most perfect opportunity to milk out some of the lost parts of his memories. All he had were pieces, gists, and scenes but the entire picture was left unsolved.

"I met him through Dante," Gary answered, looking at Allen.

"I met him through Gwen," Allen muttered after. "They're colleagues and I happened to met Gwen before. The three of us talked for a bit and slowly became close."

"I can see that," Kyle smiled. "For us, Jeremy was the boy who had big dreams. He was the kind of person who persevered even when he was facing a giant storm ahead of him. He's a nobody from the south, a little country called San Antonio. Then he worked his way up here in Lancaster.

"His goal was to become the Minister of Defense," Kyle continued. "He was quite obsessed with the title too. He graduated top of his class from an academy in the middle nowhere, and rose to become one of the most prominent police officers in the region."

"He's famous too," Allen added. "The girls would fawn over him, flocking like birds— no, vultures while looking for a dead body."

"Jeremy is indeed a handsome man," Kyle smirked. "But he had always loved one person. I don't think I should share this. Yeah, I should stop before Irene kills me."

"Is that person the reason why he couldn't rise in the ranks?" Allen asked, catching Kyle off guard. The boy tilted his head and narrowed his eyes while looking at Allen.

"How did you know he can't rise through the ranks?" Kyle asked, returning the surprise to Allen.

"I just knew," Allen said without losing his confidence. "It's not really a big deal considering he's been in the service for years, yet he only has that rank."

"Well," Kyle trailed off. "Yeah, I guess. And yes, the person he liked was the same reason why he couldn't get promoted. It was a pretty huge deal back in the day."

Allen wanted to further question Kyle, but it would make him look too suspicious. Especially since Gary was around, he can't just blurt information that only a very few would know.

There was a moment of silence after their exchange of words. Nobody tried to break the silence until they door of the ICU flung open, a doctor came outside and took off her mask. She was the doctor who came inside just a few minutes ago to check on Jeremy's condition.

"Where are the friends of Officef Jeremy?" the doctor asked. The three men stood and walked over to her, crowding her and towering her petite stature. "Too tall. But anyway, he's in a better condition now. I just checked in with the healers and their confident that he'll make it."

A collective sigh of relief escaped the trio's mouths. They looked at each other and smiled, joyful that their friend was safe.

"But I still don't get how he would sustain such injuries," the doctor said. "He had three holes in his body. One small one on his right arm, a bigger one on his right thigh, and a large portion of his right stomach was emptied. What kind of person would attack him?"

The door opened again and a tall man came out. He was big, buff, and his platinum blonde hair was reaching his lower back. He also has eyes that were light gray, almost white, paired with his pale skin as though it was snow.

"There's a lot of beasts in the wild, Doctor Flemming," the man said, narrowing his eyes while looking at three. "But the worse beasts are humans. The one who did this to an officer was something who's not afraid, and they're pretty capable.

"Such injuries can only be received from at least a Grand grade weapon, held by someone who can ascend to either Paradise or Eternity," the man said with a sigh. His eyes relaxed and he offered his hand forward, but to no one in particular. "I am Sebastian Lincoln, Grand Healer of Camp Triton, that's in Eternity."

It wasn't long before the three realized that this man was blind, or at least his vision was very bad. He was looking below him, considering he was gigantic, but his eyes didn't look at one person in particular. He was looking at the space between Allen and Gary.

"My name is Kyle," Kyle took the man's hand and introduced himslef. "And these are Dante and Gary."

"Dante…" Sebastian repeated. "Gary. Nice to meet you two. As you can see, my vision is very low. I underperform in such task."

"Mr. Sebastian, let us go. Your group is waiting for you," Doctor Flemming said before excusing themselves and leaving the three there.

"That man was from Eternity," Kyle whispered, suddenly jumping high up in the air. "It's my first time meeting such a person. And— now I realize who he is. There're only less than a hundred people in Eternity, why can't I forget?"

"Who is he then?" Allen asked.

"Sebastian Lincoln, Healer from the Heavens," Kyle said. "He's a man who's capable of healing people even when they're already at Death's Door. The only thing he cannot heal is the dead, he's basically a legend."

Allen was sure enough to ask Jack about Sebastian. He felt like he could make some kind of connection between them.

"How come I didn't feel strength coming from him?" Gary asked, making Kyle smirk.

"The string can hide their powers well," the grinning boy replied. "That man healed Jeremy who lost a portion of his stomach. That in itself is a marvel, worthy of him getting a statue."

"But he's not stronger than the Primordial Beast Bearers, is he?" Allen asked.

This made Kyle scrunch his face, "No. They're on a completely different level. But for he's a man who's a step behind the eleven of them. And he came here to Haven to…"

Kyle suddenly paused, his eyebrows met and he pursed his lips. A question loomed over his head that made him rethink everything he just said not a minute ago.

"Why did such a legend come down?" Kyle asked. "He has a hundred V's in VIP, why would he try to heal a mere police officer? And at Haven, not to mention."

"Oh, yeah," Allen seconded so he wouldn't look suspicious. "I also wonder why that is possible. Jeremy, even when he works at the police station, was visited by such a prolific person."

"Maybe Sebastian came here to visit, so they asked him for help?" Gary asked.

"I'm going to ask Selena and Irene," Kyle said. "They cannot believe this. They're not going to believe this. I swear to you."

The boy left Allen and Gary outside the ICU while he ran through the corridors to look for his friends. Allen sighed and sat back on the seat, massaging his forehead while he thought for another plan.

"That man is crazy," Gary chuckeld. Allen watched him sit on the chair beside him and realized that there was something missing from Gary.

"You look incomplete," Allen said. "What happened?"

Gary stared at the boy for a moment. He then smirked and gestured behind him, trying to point out what was missing.

"Oh," Allen formed an O with his mouth. "Your gun. Where is it?"

"In the shop," Gary said. "It's a Code weapon, so the blacksmiths are still trying to figure out how it broke when I condition it well. I don't let that gun get an inch of dust, let alone let it lose at a speck of its integrity. Then why did broke? That was their question."

Allen was curious about the reason too. He had heard of weapons breaking, some even went completely shattered, after they lost their integrity, but Gary's gun was fine. It didn't even look old or fragile, yet it was split in half.

"How do you feel right now?" Allen asked. "That gun was special to you, wasn't it? And it suddenly broke."

"The gun wasn't special to me," Gary said. "But the person who gave me that gun was. She was the love of my life."

"Is she still with us?" Allen asked to which Gary answered with a shaking of his head. The boy instantly got up and had his hand pat on Gary's back. "Sorry."

"It's okay," the man smiled. "I'm not upset at all. I just know that everyone comes and goes, and nothing is permanent in this world."

Before Allen could even say anything, Gary fled the scene while covering his eyes. Allen wanted to go after him when he felt a hand on his shoulder. The hand was big, and it was cold.

When he looked behind him, Sebastian Lincoln was standing there, staring at the empty space in front of him.

"You're trying to hide the Snake," Sebastian said, making Allen's world stop spinning. "But with how you do it, you're doing a lousy job."