Chapter Text
“I…l…y…C”
“I…Lo…Cae”
There was an echoing voice repeating a message, but it wasn't clear what the voice was saying.
“Pl…don't…go.”
It was hard to hear what they were saying because it was all static with constant interruption, with a beeping noise. Even with the loud static and beep, the voice is becoming clear and also sounding sad and filled with sorrow. It sounds hurt or in pain.
“Caelus…Please”
There is a sense of familiarity with the voice as though paths have been crossed with this person, but Caleus couldn’t match a face to that voice.
“I love you, meow!”
Meow?
“MEOW!”
Caelus opens his eyes to see his cat, Garb, yelping loudly in his face with his paws repeatedly digging into his upper chest. Caelus turned his head and realised that the beeping noise was his phone alarm saying something, but he couldn't read since he was still waking up.
Caleus slowly sits up from his bed and lifts up the cat and brings him closer to Caleus’s face to the cat's displeasure. “Aww Garby, were you trying to wake me up to tell me that you love me?” He said in a cute voice and rubbed their faces together.
“MEOW!” Garby quickly pushes away from his face, realising themselves and placing himself next to Caelus’s phone. “Ok, note taken” Caelus finally looks at his phone to read the phone alarm called ‘Time for work or WOLFMAN WILL BEAT ASS!!!’
“OH MY GOD! I am going to be super late!” With a hit of adrenaline and panic, Caelus rushes out of bed and grabs any clothes that don't smell of last night's dinner. Finding somewhat clean clothes, he rushes to the bathroom to commence his detailed skin routine. Slapping and washing off every product and cleaning himself off in seconds, runs out of the room, scans his room to see if he is forgetting anything and grabs his bag.
Takes a step out of the door, but is interrupted by a meow from Garby. He looks and finds Garby tapping an empty bowl. “Oh! I am so sorry, your cat majesty,” he said as he grabbed a can of cat food and put it in a Garby bowl. “Will you forgive me?” he reached out his hand toward the cat's face, who returned with a lovely head butt and started going crazy on the food. “Just like his owner. Ok bye baby! Please don't push anything, especially glass!” With that, Caelus closes the door and rushes to the bus stop
With a split second, he gets on the bus and manages to get a seat. Finally able to catch his breath, Caelus seems to think only about his dream. ‘Who was that and why do I feel like I know them?’ was a question he kept asking themselves in his mind. This voice is too deep for Dan Heng and too young for Mr. Yang. He goes through everyone he knows, but no success in finding who the mysterious voice was. The bigger question for Caelus, though, was, Why did they sound so sad? What stop are we at? Thanks to getting lost in his thoughts, he missed his stop.
After getting off the wrong stop and running like his life depended on it because it does, he arrives at his job and opens the door at the Bloodhound Bar, panting like crazy as though he was chased down by hounds. “Sorry…I…am late,” he said, barely managing to get on the seat stools. “Actually, you're on time with 5 minutes to spare” Caelus looks up to see a cheeky grin from the tall Wolfman himself, Gallagher. Caelus is confused, “Wait, I thought you said my shift was at 4 pm?”. “You see”, Gallagher said as he grabbed a glass with various liquids, including a lot of energy drinks, to make a mocktail. “Yesterday, you were in a rush to head homeome, saying you had an important event to attend. Time passed, and I got notified that the streamer IcyMarch7 was playing Dress to Impress with her friends.” Suddenly, Caelus stood up in fear of what Gallagher was saying. “So as I predicted, you stayed up late and most likely will be late. Hence why I texted you letting you know that you start at 4 pm” he slides the colour drink Caelus with a final mark of “Congratulations for coming third, you almost slayed the challenge.” Caleus cringes hearing Gallagher saying ‘slay’. He signed in defeat by grabbing the drink in shame, “You know me too well, Wolfman”.
While Gallagher gloats in his win, he notices something off this time with Caelus as he keeps staring at his drink. “While I appreciate you admiring my drink, you usually drink it immediately. What's on your mind?” He asks Caelus while getting ready for the night. Caelus tried to figure out what to say without saying silly or weird. “I had a dream of someone confessing their love to me” Gallagher was thrown off his blunt truth and dropped everything, leaning closer to Caleus. “Wait, who? Was it Ms.boss herself, Siobhan?” He giggled. “Unless Siobhan suddenly voices drop drastically and sounds like a man, then no, " Gallagher laughed at Caelus.
“It was a man and sounded sad, but I have no idea who it was,” he said, playing with the empty glass. Gallagher catches the glass and gets Caelus' full attention. “You know, I have heard of this. Walk and talk with me,” Caelus got out of the seat and around the bar to start getting ready for the night. “People have dreams of experiences from other versions of themselves.” Caelus looks confused and tilts his head like a raccoon. “Think of it as you from another universe who experiences someone confessing to this version of you”, Gallagher continues to explain to Caelus as it takes him a while to understand from the lack of sleep.
“What you are saying is I experience another version of myself!” Caelus’s eye lit up like a light bulb. Finally figured out what Gallagher was saying, with Gallagher being exhausted from explaining. “What’s the whole meaning behind this dream?” He asked Gallagher, hoping for the answer to solve his problem. “It could be warming or something to look out for, I guess.” Caelus was a bit disappointed with the answer, but more disappointed when Gallagher said, “Now! Let's stop the chatting and get to work.” Gallagher gives Caelus a glass and presents rows and rows of dirty glass that need to be cleaned. “Let's have a good night,” he passes a cloth to Caelus, winks and walks away. “This is good to be great,” Caelus said sarcastically.
***
It was a normal night at the Bloodhound Bar with people coming in for the smooth jazz atmosphere, and of course, the attractive server. Usually, Gallagher gets flooded by several people, and he plays for a good tip. Caelus deals with the aftermath of Gallagher’s customer by picking up several empty glasses and refilling everyone's glasses.
The problem was that Caelus's mind was still clouded by the dream, so he kept overpouring customer drinks. “Hey, kid, you're ruining my drink!” shouted a very tall and muscular man. “OH, sorry about th-” before Caelus could finish, sh he was interrupted by the man. “Make me a new one and a free drink for my mistress. You little punk,” Caelus looked at both customers with a look saying Really? Fine.
The woman chose the most expensive drink and said to Caelus, “Make it extra strong, sweetiey”. Caelus wanted this interaction over, so he made the drinks and gave the free one to the guy, but before the woman grabbed it, Caelus pulled it away. “That will be $23, please,” he put the card machine in her hand. Caelus does believe the customer is right, but that doesn't mean people can take advantage of it. Both were shocked and disgusted with Caelus' response, and Gallagher saw the interaction and knew it was going to be messy. “You want to die, punk?!” The man picked up Caelus by the collar, and the girlfriend was shouting at him. Caelus still had a smirk because here comes the big Wolfman. Gallagher tightly squeezed the man's shoulders and stared at him with a calm and menacing look. “Let's calm down here before things get worse for you. I don't think your girlfriend wants to drag out her body back home”, Gallagher said, staring at the man with his blood red eyes.
However, before anyone could make a move, there was a flash of lightning and soon thunder.
*BANG* *BANG*
The impact of thunder caused the whole bar to shake as it felt like a massive earthquake had occurred. Everyone was losing their balance and falling to the ground, with Caelus being let go, landing hard on the bottom. All the glasses and bottles dropped, causing glass to shatter all over, and the liquids spilled everywhere. “Everyone! Get under tables and protect yourselves with anything!” Gallagher yelled while grabbing Caelus and hiding under the bar. The shaking continued, growing stronger as the lightning continued to flash. Raining came plumbing down, hard sounding like bullets hitting the roof. It only got worse by the second, but for Caelus, it was only the beginning.
A sharp pain appeared in Caelus's heart as though someone or something was twisting it around repeatedly. The pain transitioned to a feeling of something wanting to come out of him. “AH”, he screamed in pain with pressing his hands towards his heart. The pain was only getting worse, with his whole body feeling as though it were on fire. “Caelus! What’s wrong?!” Gallagher reached his arm towards Caelus to help him, but when he touched him, something happened.
“AHHHHHHHH!” Caelus released a painful scream with his eyes changing various colours and his body becoming a beam of light. Gallagher could barely see anything from all the light, but what he could see shocked him. What looked like a sphere came out of Caelus’s body. The sphere couldn’t stop shaking and changing its colour every second. The sphere broke into a million pieces, all flying around the place, with one red piece going into Gallagher. Inside his body, he felt flames consuming his body.
For Caelus, some pieces came together into a smaller sphere, going back into him. The other pieces shot out in various directions without knowing where they went.
The light from Caelus was fading away, and the pain was soon gone. Caelus turned to Gallagher, who was sweating and panting quickly. “Gallagher, you ok?” He rushed to him with Gallagher, opening his eyes with a quick flash of red. “Yeah, I am ok. I have had worse benders,” Gallagher said to bring light to this situation. The two slowly got up from the bar and saw that the place was turned upside down. The bar was a complete mess with glass shards and liquids across the floor, and the chairs and tables had fallen over. Even with what had just happened, thankfully, everyone was safe with no casualties.
The lighting seemed to stop, and while it was still raining, it was much lighter. “Hey, everyone!” Gallagher clapped his hands louder to get more attention. “We apologise for whatever happens, and I think it's best for you guys to all go home. This place is a walking disaster”, he said, trying to still make light of the situation. All the customers were annoyed with this decision, but it was the best solution. Everyone left the bar with the angry boyfriend and girlfriend giving a nasty look and whispering, “Lucky punk”. Caelus waved with a cheeky smile, closed the door behind themselves and turned to Gallagher, who looked exhausted. “No free drinks for them”, Caelus laughs with Gallagher joining in. They continue laughing with Gallagher going off and grabbing a broom and a dustpan. Caelus's laughing was interrupted by Gallagher's putting a broom and dustpan in his hands. “Get to cleaning, we have a long night”, he said with a gleeful smile. Gallagher walked off, rolled off his shelves and started cleaning. I don’t get paid enough for this, he thought.
Caelus signed and hung his head in defeat, knowing it would take them all night to clean up this mess. Cleaning was never Caelus' favourite task, but just for tonight, he only wanted to clean to distance himself. ‘Where did all that pain come from? Did I eat something bad? Did I get heartburn?!’ Several questions were circling his mind again, and like before, there are still no answers. “Less mooping, more sweeping!” Gallagher shouted across the bar.
Before Caelus could start, he noticed on his left pinky finger a red string tied around it. His eyes were glued to this string, and he noticed that the string was potentially connected to something. To make things even stranger, he couldn’t even touch the string as he tried to pull it, but it just remained still. Just like a cat, curiosity got the best of him, and he started to follow the string. The string became more visible the closer Caelus was getting to whatever was on the other end. He wasn’t being deceitful, as with every step he kept stepping on glass or splashing a puddle. The sound caught Gallagher’s attention as see a Caelus lost again in his thoughts. ‘This kid, ’ he thought, as he grabbed a wet cloth to aim at Caelus.
‘Hey kid-”, before he could throw, he noticed a red string going in the same direction as Caelus. He took the cloth out of his hand to also see the same red string tied on his left pinky. “Caelus, wait!” Gallagher caught up to him and grabbed Caelus's left hand. Both men were shocked to see that both have the same red string on the same left pinky. Both strings lead to the back door and seem to continue beyond the door. “The hell is going on?” Gallagher said, scratching his head. “I don’t know, I have been confused all day myself”, Caelus responded. “The weird dreams, that storm, that horrible pain and now this!” Caelus brings his and Gallagher's fingers together. “Something in my gut is telling me the answers are behind this door,” Caelus said. Both turned their head to the ominous door and awaited what was behind that door. “Gallagher, you go first”, he said, hiding himself behind Gallagher
The door opens to the back of the bar, and at first, everything seems normal. Both look again at their pinkies and see that the line goes behind the bins. They caustically go towards the bins, both ready for anything if it means getting an answer. A rubbing sound comes from the bins as the bags start moving. Please be a raccoon. Please be a raccoon, Caelus thought. Gallagher turned his flashlight on his phone as they got closer to the bins. Once they got there, the string led them where they finally found what was on the other end.
There were two men against the bin who were passed out. The one on the left had long black hair with red ends, wearing a traditional Chinese outfit with bandages around parts of his body. It looked like he was in a fight or some rough housing. The one on the right had grey hair with various hair accessories like a weird angelic headpiece and what looked like pieced wings. His clothing makes him look like a priest or some religious figure. The two were breathing, but looked like they had got daylight out of them.
Caelus and Gallagher looked at each other with confusion and looked back to see that these mysterious men also had the same red string tied on both of their left pinkies. The angelic man was connected to Gallagher, and the man with bandages was connected to Caelus. ‘What the actual fuck is going on?’ Gallagher thought, taking a step back, being shocked by the mysterious man. Caelus steps forward towards the man in bandages. He bent down and reached toward the man because there was this weird feeling arising within him. This was different from the previous feeling because instead of pain, there was a sense of familiarity. As though Caelus had met this man before.
“Ah…” The man responds to Caelus touching his face. At the same time, the angelic man makes a sound too. “Ga”, hearing that immediately catches Gallagher's attention as that sense of familiarity comes to him as well. He steps towards the angelic man and reaches his arm towards him as well.
The bandaged man leans his head into Caelus’s hand and lightly grabs it. While the angelic man reached out to Gallagher and hugged him. The two men open their eyes seeing Caelus and Gallagher. The two mysterious men's faces lit up warmness and delight.
“I knew you were really Gallagher”, said the angelic man was filled with joy and hope seeing Gallagher. He was so happy, three pairs of wings popped up and flapped around. Gallagher immediately was off with wings, but his eyes went back to the angelic man's yellow eyes. Gallagher couldn't take his eyes off those yellow sun-like eyes. It was almost hypnotising.
“I found you, Caelus”, the man said with a deep and husky voice. His red eyes were threatening, but calmly at the same time. Even with his hand covered, Caelus felt his chilling, cold hands. His whole appearance looked frightening, but there was this warmness from him that only Caelus could feel.
Caelus and Gallagher were confused and frightened by the introduction of who and what these men were. How these two men know their names even though Caelus and Gallagher have never met them. Gallagher was still wrapping around the situation of a random guy with wings, knowing who he is, hugging him, and even questioning his existence. Caelus, on the other hand, finally got the answer to his dream.
“You are the voice in my dream!” Caelus grabbed his and the man's hands together. “I can't believe it!” Caelus was full of happiness and a sense of relief. Happy that he finally got some answers, but puzzled why he was so happy to see this man. “Alright, I have had my fair share of whatever this is.” Gallagher said, pushing away from the hug. “I would rather ask questions with a cold glass of whisky inside instead of smelly bins. Caelus, bring emo man inside”. He grabbed the angelic man's hand and dragged him into the bar.
“You do something that looks emo, Blade.” Caelus froze in place as he was trying to figure out what had just happened. ‘How did I know his name?’