Blue Nexus #40 - A Strange Case of Quiet

The locker door slammed shut, jarring him. He could still hear almost all of the footsteps tapping against the tile floor of the second level. The sophomore boys who screamed and shouted at each other were so clear he could swear they stood next to him. The hallway was tight and hot around him. Someone approached him head on when he leaned against the locker, rubbing his temple.

            “Hey, Kyle, you doing okay?” Mira asked, reaching out for him.

            Kyle sucked in a breath and nodded. He released the tension in his muscles and exhaled. Two beads of sweat rolled down his temple and dropped down onto his arms. He nodded again, but this time smiled at Mira.

            She looked different than when he last saw her two days ago. He wasn’t sure if that was due to his vision and head finally being cleared, or if she really did look different. Her hair was a bit shorter, cut to her shoulders, and was a darker shade of brown. She was also wearing less make-up, with a small blue shirt and grey sweatpants on to complete her getup. She tilted her head when he braced himself against the locker, then pushed himself away and headed for the metallic double doors.

            “Looked like you were about to die for a second there,” Mira said. “You sure you’re okay? You’ve been sick for, like, weeks now.”

            “Yeah, I know, I don’t get it,” Kyle said. “I don’t even feel sick, well I do but not, like, sick-sick. It’s weird.”

            “Even keeping up with conditioning hasn’t helped?” Mira asked, pushing the door open for them. Kyle nodded to her and stepped out. The weather had warmed only a bit since the early morning, and the sun shone bright on the campus courtyard.

            “Well I’m not dead, so maybe,” Kyle said. “I don’t know if this was something I could beat through exercise. I’ve been pretty good about getting over a sickness before.”

            “Yeah that’s great, but getting over all that schoolwork you missed?” asked Mira. “That’s rough.”

            Kyle shrugged. They walked over to a double set of stairs, taking the same route down when the minute-bell rang. Mira nearly jumped out of her flip-flops.

            “Ah, shoot, didn’t even realize it was that late,” she muttered. “Sorry, Kyle, I gotta run the other way. See you after class!”

            She leapt down the last few stairs and ran back the other direction, making a hard turn into the hallway. Kyle did the same but crumpled to the ground. He played it off and slipped toward the hallway, swinging open the doors and stumbling into the hallway. He almost fell again but braced himself against the brick wall. His fast footsteps echoed in the hallway.

            He burst into the room just as the tardy bell rang. His new English teacher, Mrs. Tali, smiled at Kyle as he walked into class before dropping her smile the second she saw two girls on their smart phones.

            “Nice timing, Mr. Raiden,” she said. “Have a seat, we’ll get started right away. And not on our phones, young ladies.”

            The two girls dropped their phones into their laps, and with bored expressions placed their head into one hand while using the second to text in their lap. Mrs. Tali grimaced at them.

            Kyle saw stars when he dropped into his seat. He let his backpack roll down his left shoulder near his foot. His ankle twitched and he kicked the top right chair of his desk. Mrs. Tali glanced but ultimately ignored Kyle, who had to catch his breath after the action.

            He shook his head, blinking three times to refocus his vision. The boy next to him gave him an odd look. When Kyle glanced at him, the boy just looked away immediately. Mrs. Tali clicked her tongue against her teeth.

            “And no Sandy today, that’s two weeks in a row, what is going on with that young woman?” asked Mrs. Tali.

            As if on cue, Kyle saw on a boy’s scrolling Twitter feed in front of him that the new superheroine Violette and even newer super hero Prism took down the revived villain group the Toxics, mostly in memory of Toxo, a super-villain Kyle defeated way back before even Alucard appeared. The feed was too fast for Kyle to see Violette or Prism’s outfits, but Kyle couldn’t help smile to think of when Sandy showed him the outfit.

            “Freeze, criminal!” Sandy had shouted in her suit, standing at Kyle’s door. Kyle was at the worst part of his illness, but the surprise of her standing there woke him out of it.

            She was holding her bow up with a magical magenta arrow drawn. Her suit was indeed violet. Her shirt was sleeveless and was more than likely some kind of Kevlar handed down by Phoenix, padding around the side of her torso. It was zipped in the back and covered half of her neck. She wore violet pants as well, though the separation between torso and legs as almost seamless. Despite her archer theme, she had no quiver since her arrows were created by her—confirmed by Brenda—combat styled magic. Similar to Kyle’s Nexus form, though, she had purple line marks on her cheeks. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, though it hadn’t changed color at all. Her combat magic marking, too, was on her right forearm.

            Kyle had braced himself against the door. Sandy kept up her wide smile.

            “Oh, wow, Sandy,” Kyle said. His voice was deep, but he could hardly hear himself. His stomach convulsed and is sickness started to catch up.

            “What’d you think?” she’d asked. “Phoenix helped me put it together. It’s actually not that hard to get in and out of, and it’s pretty easy to hide when I’m in normal clothes. I just have to somehow learn how to make the bow out of…”

            The memory began to blur from there. Kyle snapped back into the classroom, where Mrs. Tali was scribbling something onto the board. He squinted to see what it was, but when he saw it was nothing important, ducked his head again.

            His bracelet scratched against the desk. The glow was faint, and the line that travelled around it was slow. Kyle sighed when he looked at it. Just like him: tired.

            The two girls in front of him began whispering to each other, but it sounded almost as clear as if they were talking normally. Some of their vowels grated against his ear. Someone else scratched their leg near Kyle, and Kyle could hear the nail against the skin. He gritted his teeth as his ears turned red from aggravation. His nose clogged momentarily before it began to pour out. Kyle touched it, and upon feeling some warmth, stood up immediately to move toward the water station in the back of the room.

            Mrs. Dali, along with the rest of the class, looked at him for a second before ignoring him once again. Mrs. Dali began to talk about what they were reading, Hamlet. Kyle washed his hand then dipped a paper towel into the water and wiped away the blood. Only one rivulet came down from his nostril, thankfully. He tossed away the paper towel and exhaled, gripping the counter tightly. His hearing returned to normal, all he could hear was Mrs. Dali going on about some monologue.

            When he returned to his desk, a piece of paper slipped onto it. Kyle looked up to the girl who delivered it, who cocked her eyebrow. Curiosity swelled within Kyle, only to be replaced with dread when he saw that it was a pop quiz.

            “Erm, Kyle, can I have a word?” Mrs. Dali asked after class. Kyle nodded and walked over to her desk. He knew he bombed the pop quiz—he did do the reading but his illness was clouding all knowledge—but that couldn’t be what Mrs. Dali wanted to see him for. And he wasn’t late, so she couldn’t nail him for that, either.

            “What is it, Mrs. Dali?” Kyle asked. “If it’s about the nose-bleed, uh, sorry it just happened and I didn’t want to make a mess.”

            “No, that’s fine, it happens,” Mrs. Dali said. “What doesn’t happen is that I have students missing for two weeks without anyone telling me about it. I know you’re friends with Sandy, do you have any idea where she may be? I’ve tried calling home but nobody’s picking up. The county has also tried contacting them and nothing has happened. I’m worried about her.”

            “Well I wish I knew, too,” Kyle said. “I can try running by there later today? I know some pretty bad stuff happened to her over in East City when it was attacked.”

            Mrs. Dali nodded condescendingly. “Oh, really? Tsk, I’m sorry to hear that.”
            “Yeah, so, I don’t know, maybe she had to leave town for a few weeks to recuperate. I’ll keep you posted if I hear from her,” Kyle said when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Mrs. Dali didn’t notice, and instead just nodded and let Kyle be on his way.

            A message from Sandy popped up on his phone. Kyle sighed, and swiped it to see what it was about. Not paying attention, Kyle almost walked right into a locker, stubbing his toe in the process.

            “Ah, damn it,” he muttered, looking back to his phone.

            It was a message asking for some possible help. With Brenda still off doing her quota up in space—plus to keep Mr. Aplin off their backs the Zanderia suggested postponing alien activity until they could work something out—Sandy had no reliable partner. Kyle wondered what was going on with Prism or what sort of fight she was facing that required his help, but had to decline. Again. For the fourth time.

            He took a quick look at his Nexus bracelet before putting his phone back in his pocket and continuing on back to his locker. The Nexus bracelet which, for the last two weeks, had not seen any use. When he became ill, and painfully at that, Kyle’s use as a super-hero was minimal. He couldn’t help in the condition he was in, and the Nexus bracelet would only be a temporary cure. Each time he entered in, his body would just shut down again thanks to his sickness.

            Brenda never got this memo as Kyle preferred for her not to. She was needed on other planets and to keep hostility with Aplin low for now. He could, and somehow did, manage through it quite well.

            Yet now, with his body getting back to normal and him getting back into the swing of things, he began to notice just how much changed while he was out of commission. Namely that the super heroes of the world were growing in their roles, and they were big. Two major corporations that would have screwed over millions of innocent people were destroyed separately and another small-scale alien invasion was defeated.

            Phoenix and Riko were handling the Zanderia like a pair of masters, and on occasion Kyle could even help by giving advice to some of the new guys via Eclipse. He never went back up to the Moon base so that he wouldn’t get anyone else sick (also because zero gravity plus being seriously ill just sounded awful) but was happy whenever one of the Zanderia chimed in.

            The four times that Sandy asked Kyle for back-up all seemed to occur just so that she would have a partner to fight crime with. None of her missions were ever that serious, and the partners she did pick in place of Kyle did the job just fine. Not as fast, but nobody got hurt and the missions were still completed.

            He began to notice that with Alucard defeated, and no other major Black Nexus-level threats set to appear, that the Blue Nexus was perfectly fine where he was: gone. Nobody was crying out for him, nobody was wondering where he was. There were dozens of newer heroes seeing that the Zanderia, or maybe some other smaller groups, were just as welcoming for them. Aplin’s own meta-coalition was growing in popularity, but not necessarily in size. Kyle never paid attention whenever news of them broke, as it was just their way, or the media’s way, of trying to create unwanted animosity between super heroes. The Zanderia ignored it, and did their best to ignore those metas in general.

            Not to mention that Kyle was happy again. Very happy. He missed getting to see Brenda and being around some of the Zanderia members, but he also missed Kip, Luke, Mira, and even some of the lacrosse players he would be with more without the Blue Nexus. In the weeks that they spent trying to find out what was going on with the Benefactor and Boomer, Kyle rarely got to see Kip and Luke, and only saw Mira after his fight with Thunder and Lightning Tiger. After Alucard and since coming back to school? Every day. It was great and refreshing.

            Though with that happiness came the typical aspects of high school. Graduation was growing frustrating and Kyle had applied, without even remembering he did so, to just one college so far while the shouts around the halls were about kids getting accepted into the main Virginia universities and how excited to finally leave Adelita they were. Not to mention the sheer amount of busy work his teachers handed his way. Most of it was just padding between tests and quizzes and all of it mundane. Mira’s proclamation about him having a lot of makeup work was daunting on its own without his mind’s constant meltdowns to worry him some more.

            He got to meet up with Kip and Luke after lunch for a brief time, though. Luke was leaning against a pillar when Kip bumped into him after talking to a pretty younger girl. Kyle approached the two as Luke helped Kip with some papers that plummeted from his floppy textbook. Kip stood up straight, nodding to Kyle when he arrived.

            “Isn’t she in our film-lit class?” asked Kyle. The girl turned around once, with a bit of a glare, before returning her attention to her phone.

            Kip nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think so. Sophomore? Sophomore, yeah. But man does she look like a senior…”

            His voice trailed. The three boys’ attention was caught. A man strode across the campus that was barely fitting into his clothing. His arms were humongous and his head was the size of a watermelon. His legs looked almost like horse legs. He was also bald.

            “So how many punches from Blue Nexus you think he could take?” asked Luke.

            “Who is that guy?” asked Kyle.

            The man walked right up to Coach, who had gained a little weight since Kyle last saw him. Coach was in his usual polo and khakis, but was now sporting a visor and a grown bald-spot on his head. He also had the faintest beard forming on his face. Coach smiled and shook the man’s hand; or he had his hand swallowed by the big man’s, that was what Kyle saw.

            “I don’t know,” Luke said. “Have you heard anything about a new assistant or something for the team?”

            “No,” Kyle said. “Brian’s off-planet for now, so maybe Coach just decided to replace him since he’s been gone? But to replace him with that guy? Good God…”

            “I would advise not pissing him off, then,” Kip said.

            “Good plan,” Kyle said.        

            The man patted Coach on the back, forcing Coach to buffet forward a few steps. He grimaced and waved the larger man off. The large man smiled, with perfect white teeth, and headed for the cafeteria. Kyle noticed that he had to carefully open the door, so that he didn’t bring the door off its hinges. Kyle shook his head and then nodded to Kip and Luke, continuing into the hallway. He looked back, noticing Kip hesitate for a second and then leave as well.

            Once school was over, Kyle hung back at his locker for a second along with Kip as they waited for Luke. Luke said goodbye to one of his friends from the previous class when he entered the hallway. Kyle made one last look through his locker to make sure he wasn’t missing anything. Again, though, the sound of his books scraping against the metal locker rung sharp in his ears, like someone were grating his eardrums against the metal itself. He gritted his teeth but kept his face hidden from Kip and Luke so they didn’t notice his expression.

            The campus emptied out fast. A three-day weekend was coming up and people wanted to get home to get work done so they could just relax on their extra Monday off. Kyle felt the same way, as if he could go home. Since he missed two full weeks plus a couple days—a couple days spent in pseudo-Hell and saving the world—he had a lot of catching up to stay in shape with the rest of the varsity lacrosse team. Kip and Luke promised to start helping him more after practice like they used to before Kyle became the Blue Nexus.

            Mira rushed past them when they landed off the stairs, rushing for the band room and holding a piece of paper against her stomach. The boys eyed her curiously until she spotted them and waved at them. Kyle shrugged and Kip led the group to the gym-class locker room. Because the soccer teams were now in swing, the two lacrosse teams were temporarily subjugated to the regular gym-class locker rooms in the auxiliary gym. While it did mean that he didn’t have to pay that stupid fee for renting a locker, it did mean that, like today, his stuff could get moved around.

            Luke spotted it only three columns over and a row down. Kyle changed his pants and slipped into his cleats that Brenda helped fashion for him. They were laced with her magic so that his feet wouldn’t get sore. He stripped off his shirt.

            “Man, I can’t get over that marking,” Kip said. “It’s pretty dope.”

            “It would be, if it weren’t evil as all hell,” Luke said.

            Kyle smiled and looked down to his Demon mage tattoo plastered on his shoulder. After using Wave Two against Alucard it shrunk significantly, so that it was only on his shoulder and not spreading closer to his bicep as it had before. Kyle put on a tight-fitted undershirt and rolled the sleeves up to his elbows, to keep his body still warm enough, before putting on the smelly shirt that had been in the locker for far too long. He ruffled his hair and shook his head.

            “Ah, God this smells bad,” he muttered.

            Kip slapped his arm, pointing to the captain of the team, Andreus.

            “Check it out,” Kip said. “Andreus got a pretty slick tattoo.”

            Some of the other players huddled around their monster of a captain. Andreus was significantly taller and bigger than Kyle, but for some reason he respected Kyle. Then again, most of the team seemed to share that sentiment. Andreus and Kyle played the same position, too. They’d met over the summer during a small trip to a lake that Kyle took with Brenda to show her around. Andreus was new in town and showed his physicality there, able to jump off the rope-swing several more feet in the air and perform various flips and tricks while there. He was very similar to a gymnast in that regard.

            Kyle raised his eyebrow at the sight of the tattoo, though. It was on his right bicep, and not too large. It was also a light shade of purple, the same color as Sandy’s markings that ran up and down her arm after her use of combat magic.

            “Wonder where he got it,” Kyle muttered.

            His eye was caught by something else, though. The burly man from before stepped into the locker room, also looking over to Andreus. Kyle’s eyebrow remained raised, and he took a step toward Andreus. The burly man nodded and walked away, but Kyle kept going. He slipped into the crowd.

            “Nice tattoo, Andreus,” Kyle said, holding his hand out. Andreus clapped and shook it. Kyle’s body twitched unnoticeably.

            “Thanks,” Andreus said. “Got over the weekend, guess nobody else noticed.”

            “It bothering you at all?” Kyle asked.

            Andreus hesitated. “Not that much.”

            “Alright cool. See you on the field, man.”

            Kyle brushed past him, his shoulder colliding with Andreus’s bicep. His arm quivered again. The two glanced at each other momentarily before Kyle kept going. Kip and Luke called out to him and he waved back at them.

            Mira met him on the field, standing next to Coach and the physical trainer. Mira was basically the closest thing to a teacher in the field as she could get at her age, superior to all the other students and even called before the actually physical trainer. She was the fastest responder, too. She managed to memorize most of the medical conditions of all the athletes that were in season, something Kyle found rather scary. He wondered if, should they go out somewhere, she would advise what he could and couldn’t get.

            Kyle was the first one out on the field. Mira noticed him and smiled, but Coach noticed him and his face turned red.

            “About damn time, Raiden!” Coach yelled. “Been missing you for two and half weeks. You know how many laps you owe me?”

            Kyle grimaced. “Not enough, Coach.”

            Coach opened his mouth to scream again, then hesitated. He pointed to the field. “Ten. Make them fast.”

            Kyle nodded with a smile and took off, feeling Brenda’s healing magic ail the soreness in his feet the whole way.

            By the end of conditioning, Kyle was ready to collapse and never get back up again. He walked with a limp back to the locker room, leaving him all alone behind the pack. He stole a glance to the Nexus bracelet, which still refused to glow. He looked away disgusted, bracing himself against the wall before headed into the locker room.

            When he came out, someone leapt next to him. Mira was gripping her textbooks tight, and she nudged him with her shoulder. He waved one of the books in his hand at her.

            “Feel dead?” she asked.

            “Forgot to eat my Wheaties this morning,” Kyle said, his labored breathing making it hard to even speak.

            Mira patted his back and took a step ahead of him. Or Kyle slowed up, he couldn’t really tell anymore. He just wanted to eat and sit down, and probably sleep for a good while, forgoing homework completely.

            “You want a ride home?” asked Mira.

            Part of Kyle’s heart leapt up. “Oh, please. Please oh please.”

            Mira laughed. “Alright, I’ll run ahead and move the stuff in my car around.”

            She dashed ahead. Kyle was amazed that she could move so fast, considering how low on energy he was. He dragged his feet to Mira’s small car as she moved some of her papers and books to the backseat. She tossed her backpack in the back and gestured for Kyle to do the same. He did, then opened the door and sat down so relieved.

            Kyle slouched down further in the seat on accident, but felt his legs tighten up and he shot back to a normal sitting position. Mira sat down as well, triggering the ignition and almost immediately backed up. Kyle’s body froze at the speed.

            “Oh, sorry,” Mira said. She sped out of the parking lot, then stopped at the turn out of the school, looking prolonged both ways. “Shoot. Um…before I get home, I actually need to get the mall. Do you mind if I take you? I promise I’ll, uh, get you food!”

            Kyle smiled faintly. “Alright, fine. As long as you can take my B.O. for the car ride.”

            The windows suddenly slid down. Kyle rolled his eyes as the car swerved to the right and shot down the road. Kyle once again braced himself against the sheer speed. He should have been used to this…or it should seem far slower, considering how fast he’d flown before.

            The mall was a quick drive from the school. The Sun had dropped below the hills, but Kyle was staring up the beautiful dusk sky overhead. Mira kept her focus on the road and her crazy driving, singing along to some songs. They made some small talk, mostly about practice and how Kyle was feeling of late. When she brought it up, he felt a little more ill, but the sky’s serenity helped him much more.

            Mira pulled in and sneezed the second she got out of the car. Kyle did the same, noticing some wisps of something roaming the air. Mira swatted them away.

            “Someone dump a lot of dust here or something?” asked Mira. “Achoo!”

            Kyle covered his mouth and limped after her. He smelled pretty bad underneath his shirt, but didn’t really care as his stomach demanded he follow the pretty girl who promised the foods. The wind pushed them toward it as well. The two walked faster than normal toward the building, with Mira obviously reaching the double doors first.

            The mall was small, with not too many vendors in the food court and still not too many shops throughout it. It was tall, but only had two levels. The second level was mostly for the lone movie theatre and some other, taller department store areas. Mira said they would be in and out of the shops so that they could grab a bite to eat, despite Kyle’s stomach insisting that they eat first.

            Mira hung a right, which Kyle knew had more stores that were based around clothing venues than anything else. Nothing really caught his eye, though at the rate Mira was moving, Kyle didn’t have any time to stop and look. They stopped at the other end of the mall, just in front of a larger department store.          

            It was a vitamin place, where one could buy energy drinks and foods as well as various other minerals. Kyle wondered how much of that he would need to get back into regular shape. Well, probably enough to overdose and kill himself.

            He sat down in one of the nearby chairs, only to stand right up again when Mira walked out with two large bags in hand.

            “Had to get some stuff for back home,” Mira said. “We were running low.”

            “Didn’t know you drank that stuff,” Kyle said, biting his tongue when he realized his tone was less than nice.

            “I like it,” Mira said. “Tastes funny at first, but, it’s really helped me out. I’m surprised you don’t, actually. Andreus uses it.”

            Kyle almost physically felt that little jab. “I’ll think about it, then. Mind if I just take some now, then?”

            He reached down for the bag, but Mira yanked it away. She bumped him to the side, nearly knocking him into a tall pillar. Kyle bounced off of it, slightly jarring his head.

            “Not a chance,” Mira said. “Kinda stupid to steal from someone that’s about to buy you food, isn’t it?”

            “You hardly gave me a choice,” Kyle said.

            “Come back and buy your own, then!” Mira said.

            Kyle caught up in stride with her and waved her off. His left leg clenched but he ignored it and walked it off so that by the time they reached the food court, it was a little better. He took a deep breath in and looked around.

            “Pick whatever you want,” Mira said. “Uh, I mean, in terms of stores. Nothing expensive, a large fry at most.”

            “What? There are rules? Lame.”

            Mira pushed him forward. “Deal with it or I starve you.”

            “Now you’re just being rude.”

            Mira sneezed behind him once again. Kyle felt something tingle on his arm, and swatted away what felt like sand. He looked around.

            “Mira, you see this?” he asked, showing some wisps of sand on his arm.

            She stepped up to him, covering her nose with her hand, but banged her head on his forearm when she bucked to sneeze again. Kyle looked around, leering. Sand? There was only one beached theme store, but it was across the way and had no sand actually in it. Kyle felt the sand waft by again, this time even stronger.

            “It’s like someone had a bucket of sand or something,” Mira said.

            “I’m hoping it’s not what I’m thinking,” Kyle muttered. He looked around more, this time at the people. Who would…

            The glass walls of the mall shattered immediately. Kyle and Mira fell back, but Mira was quicker than Kyle to move, pushing herself behind a pillar in the food court. Sand piled in by them, but they were on the edge of it. A man leapt through the broken windows, landing on a cloud of sand before touching down.

            Mall security, in their small vechicles, soared down the hallways but were stopped by two walls of sand. The meta-human looked around, then walked forward, approaching the food court. Everyone else made a run for it except for Mira and Kyle. Mira, surprisingly, was on her phone, and speaking frantically.

            Kyle stole a look to his sleeve. His arm wasn’t giving off any tingles, so this guy definitely wasn’t a mage. He stole a look to his Nexus bracelet, and his stomach seemed to do a flip. He dropped to all fours, feeling a gag.

            “Really? Everyone just runs away?” shouted the man.

            Kyle squinted at him. Sandstorm. He was a slippery super-villain. Riko often contended with him, but his ability to meld with the sand and move at the speed of the wind with it, or slither along the ground, helped him escape all of their encounters. He would be no match for someone like Brenda, who could trap him.

            Sandstorm looked over and saw Kyle still on the ground. The sand began to swirl around him until a purple arrow shot through it. Sandstorm cried out in pain.

            Sandy leapt through the glass. Her hands were glowing violet and the bow was the same color, though an arrow wasn’t nocked. She dashed at Sandstorm, punching him across the face and sending him to the middle of the food court.

            “Violette!” Kyle shouted.

            “What the hell are you doing here?” Sandy shouted back.

            Mira reached out and tugged on Kyle’s arm. “I just called the police and…are you okay? You look super pale.”

            “Sorry, just a little freaked out right now,” Kyle said. “We need to go.”

            He braced himself against Mira, then watched Sandstorm stand up and begin to approach Sandy. Kyle looked back and nodded to his friend, who nodded back. He nudged Mira and the two sprinted forward. They were almost to the double doors when Kyle felt a gust of wind against his back and he went airborne into the opposite glass wall, cracking it.

            Blood filled his mouth. Mira called for him but all he could hear was a high-pitched noise. His fingers hovered over the Nexus bracelet, but the gagging returned again. He fell forward again, this time unable to keep himself up because he lacked the power. His right arm throbbed, and he got to his feet.

            “I’m okay,” Kyle said, glaring up to Sandstorm. A rivulet of blood ran down from his forehead.

            Sandstorm’s eyes widened and he pulled back his arms again. Sandy shouldered him away, though, then straddled him and held her bow over his head. He slithered away, out from where he came. Sandy shouted and pursued him for a minute, then stopped short.

            “Let’s go,” Mira said, tugging on Kyle. “Come on!”

            Kyle nodded, following Mira. His legs buckled, though, and she could barely support him. Instead, she fell to the ground with him.

            “Hey!” she exclaimed. “Come on, Kyle, you can make it!”

            A blood bubble burst in his mouth, and his right arm throbbed even more. He could use that power, he could run over and help Sandy. Once again, he glanced at the Nexus bracelet whose glow was almost completely gone.

            But not as the Blue Nexus. Not anymore.

            They reached the car, and Kyle braced himself against it. He almost punched it, but instead clenched his fist tight. He realized when he tightened up how dizzy he really was.

            “Sorry, Mira,” he said. “Sorry for being a nuisance.”

            “No, don’t worry about it, I’ll get you a doctor,” Mira said

            “Just take me home, please,” Kyle said. “Thank you.”

           

That night, under the gaze of the stars, Kyle watched as Prism flew by to meet up with Violette at the scene of the crime. He imagined Phoenix telling them what to do and how to handle the press that was undoubtedly there as well. He imagined Riko kicking himself for not having previously defeated Sandstorm. And he imaged himself there as well, as the Blue Nexus.

            But what could he have really done? What secret techniques did he have that would contain Sandstorm, that wouldn’t just create more property damage in the mall? What help could he have provided?

            What use was he, really, as the Blue Nexus anymore? He couldn’t even look at the Nexus bracelet anymore without feeling sick, and the Demon mage in him was fit to burst back there right in from of Mira and Violette.

            Kyle leaned against his shed, crossing his arms. Maybe it was just that time to put it all down. He was closing in on a year of doing this, and in that year, so many others were now available, but the world was all the more tense. Without going out as the Blue Nexus, too, he was doing much better with his friends and grades and athletics. The world was almost all the way back to what it was, too.

            Still, the problem was that he could not transform, even if he wanted to, into the Blue Nexus. He looked at the Moon above, which was full tonight. There had to be someone up there who could help him. Someone had to.

            Or there really would no longer be a Blue Nexus.  

Next time: Is it really over for Kyle as the Blue Nexus? Riko and Lalay try to come to his aid, but he may already be too far removed for any help in "Blue Nexus #41 - Feeling Blue"