He could feel the black form at the foot of his bed. Black Mist covered his head to keep himself hidden from the thing; he knew what he would see.

"D...add...y..." the thing whispered. "I hu...rt..."

He pressed his hand to his mouth, suppressing a sob. He wouldn't cry anymore, no matter how badly he missed the boy. Don't look at him. He'll go away soon.

A sob. "Dad...ddy p...lea...s-"

The door opened; the thing's presence left. Even so, he refused to come out. What if it was just another one of the haunted ones? 

"Black Mist, come out," Nue called. 

He breathed a sigh of relief and made sure he kept his emotions in check. Then, he came out. "Yeah?"

"What were you doing down there?"

"...Nothing." He wasn't about to tell her that he was hiding. He refused to acknowledge the shadow at the end of his bed.

"Then why were you under your blanket?"

"Just trying to get some sleep." Black Mist managed to smile convincingly. "Can't really rest when the room is so bright."

Nue rolled her eyes, but she didn't seem annoyed. She pulled up a chair beside the bed and sat down. "So, how's your recovery?"

"Same track even after my rampage," he replied. "I'm shocked they haven't found any new injuries. What about the orphans?"

"They miss you, and they send their best wishes." Smiling, she pulled from her pocket a beautifully colored card with words scribbled all over it.

Black Mist took the card gently, his eyes watering slightly. "They're so sweet." He smiled, but that smile soon melted away. I can't let them die. Not like he did. Will I have to distance myself from them?

"Is something wrong?"

"No...nothing."

"You're saying that a lot. Are you sure everything's fine?"

Mist sighed. "I just wish I could have saved him. I-"

"It's not your fault," Nue scolded before he could start beating himself up about it; she knew he was about to start with that. "Look, none of us could stop the accident. We'll give him a proper burial, and-" She suddenly noticed the haunted look in his eyes. "Um...Mist? What's wrong?"

"I can't remember him..." he whispered. "I can't remember him!"

Of course, he expected this, but he didn't realize it would just slip out of existence!

No, don't give in. Don't give them what they want.

Black Mist took some deep breaths to calm down, pressing his palms to his eyes. "I'm okay..." he finally whispered. "I'm fine."

"You sure?" Nue asked worriedly. "You looked like you were going to break."

Black Mist gave her a weak smile. "Yeah. I can handle this."

While she doubted this, she didn't want to trigger some kind of breakdown. Even so, she planned to talk about this when he was able to come back to the orphanage. "Promise to talk about it at home then? You can't keep it bottled up."

"Sure." But he didn't really mean it.

~.~.~

That night, as Black Mist was sleeping soundly, the deformed one appeared at the end of the bed again. He began floating closer and closer, reaching out to touch the Number's face, but something held him back. Some kind of barrier kept the deformed one from touching Black Mist. Behind him, the other children snickered.

"How can he sleep soundly after making you die?" one asked.

"He really is heartless!" exclaimed another.

The deformed one felt tears running down his cheeks, but they weren't for the Number before him. No, they were for himself. While he couldn't remember this one, he knew that it was this 96's fault that he died. Somewhere deep inside, though, he could feel part of him weeping for the Number. "Can we kill him?" he asked.

The other three looked at him like he was crazy. "Kill him? We can't really touch him, now can we?"

"No, we can't. But there are other ways of killing him. He did this to us."

The children started nodding in agreement. Yes, it was his fault they were like this. They were in pain, they had no memories, and they couldn't even form into proper Shadow Creatures. Perhaps if he died, they could-

Someone drew near. Like frightened birds, the children hid within the shadows to watch who would come in. To their surprise and disgust, the 39 entered the room. They further shied away; his light was too much for them to bear. It wasn't just his energy, either; it was how much he loved and cared for the 96 even though he was killing everyone. How could he keep caring? He was bound to be next, after all.

The 39 remained beside the 96. After a moment of silence, he pulled out something from within his armor. "This should help with the demons. Then maybe they'll leave you alone."

No, thought the deformed one. Panic rose in his chest. No, he can't keep us away from him! He needs to suffer!

But try as they might, the children couldn't so much as touch the 39. It was as though he had a barrier around him that kept everyone out. Didn't the 96 love him as his father? Didn't he care about him enough?

Obviously not. The children were helpless as they watched Hope pour a potion into Black Mist's mouth. Mist coughed a little but eventually started drinking from the vial as though he were drinking something pleasant. Only a few minutes later, he got up and left.

The children watched him leave, making sure that he was gone from the area before coming out to inspect the damage. Unfortunately, something stopped them.

"The barrier," one whispered. "It's not letting us out of here."

"So we're stuck in the shadows?" the deformed one asked.

The other three nodded in defeat. The deformed one pouted, pacing around and around. What could they do until the barrier went down?

Well, the only answer was planning their tormentor's death. While the other three children were content to just bother him for fun, he didn't plan on letting any more die and experience this pain. He was putting an end to this one way or another.