Lights Out, Mr. C

Blood engulfed their sights. The walls were painted red.

The head before them had detonated into a scatter of brain matter.

Overseer Chamuel was now dead.

Venus wiped his hands across his pants, as they'd been excessively imbued with blood. While doing so, the headless body dropped to the floor.

"That's at least one Overseer out of the picture," Midas said.

Venus let out a faint laugh. "I told you we're stronger than the Overseers."

Midas smiled. "Can't say so for the rest of them just yet, but I guess we can for Chamuel." He knelt down next to the fallen Overseer, observing the blood that surged from the gaping hole in his face.

"His All-Knowing-Vision is impossible to take on alone. So, thank you Venus. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you."

Venus snarked at the lighthearted words. "Of course you wouldn't have. You needed me." But upon scratching his head, he was provoked with thought of the battle; the support and planning Midas had provided inevitably bringing about their end-goal. "But I guess you weren't too bad either, Midas."

For the first time ever, Venus had thanked him for something. It was a shocking revelation to Midas.

"There you go not being yourself again."

"Tsk... Shut up."

Midas laughed, "It's okay, I appreciate it." He looked into his palm. The concentration of Chamuel's emotional essence still remained, slowly draining away.

"I've still got some fuel left to use. It'd probably be a big help against Jophiel and Ariel."

"Oh, you're right," Venus recalled. Those two Overseers had ran towards the bay just earlier.

"I hope the others are fine. If Chamuel was this much of a hassle alone, I can't imagine two Overseers at once," Midas worried.

"Those other imbeciles are probably already dead—"

"Shut it." Midas shot him an eye.

Venus laughed it off. He turned around and began walking back towards the bay. "You coming?" He asked Midas, who stayed still.

"Go on ahead, I'll catch up," Midas observed his surroundings.

"Why?"

"Have you forgotten why we came here in the first place? To find the keys. I'll look around, so just go back and provide the others with help for now. I'll be there as soon as possible."

Venus rolled his eyes. But he continued to walk, and soon disappeared around the corner.

Midas exhaled. "Keys? Who am I kidding." He looked around. The entire hallway was demolished. Indents and craters lined the corridor, marking destruction all about. The initial pile of dead Angels was now nowhere to be seen. "Must've been blown to smithereens after Venus unleashed that massive blast…" He continued to look around. But after scaling the entire area, hope was lost.

"Goddamnit Venus. If only you'd aimed better maybe those bodies wouldn't have evaporated into thin air." He sighed of frustration, "So there goes the keys…"

But then he remembered; the only remaining dead body that laid before him.

"How could I forget…" He reached into Chamuel's labcoat and began searching. Through the numerous pockets, he looked until only one remained. Reaching into, he felt the touch of cold metal.

They were keys, and its markings matched those of the vehicle's keyhole.

"Bingo." Midas felt accomplished. "So this wasn't for nothing after all. Thank god."

He looked back down at Chamuel. Although dead, and nearly unrecognizable, he sensed within himself a feeling of gratitude. Gratitude for the Overseer that had taught him over the last two years, of how to control and use his ability to its very pinnacle.

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to kill you today."

He dangled the keys over the dead body, without taunting intent. "Thank you Chamuel, for bestowing me a great power with great control. Although you sought the opposite, you've helped in our escape, by providing me these keys to freedom. Thank you."

Midas turned around, ready to depart his long-time teacher. But the concept 'teacher' brought a sudden realization to his mind.

"You were my teacher…" Midas concentrated his thought. The statement brought about memories of the teachings Chamuel had provided him over the last two years in A.X.A. But digging deeper into his memory, was a newfound recollection of what truly once was.

A classroom.

A desk.

A wall-plastered screen.

The Blood Moon.

"Ah…" Midas turned back around. He recognized the similarities. He connected the dots.

What was once a large gap in his memory was now being filled in.

As proper understandings came to draw, the rift in his mind closed its severance.

The way he acted, the manner he spoke, and the style he taught, it had been all too familiar.

Familiar to a nostalgic individual from Midas' discovered past, who always seemed to be able to read minds.

"He's good at guessing," others would always say. But what if he wasn't just guessing, but knew?

All-Knowing-Vision; the only explicable reason behind those flawless 'guesses'.

Midas accepted the truth. "So you're Mr. C after all…"

Chamuel's gouging neck continued to ooze.

"You were my teacher in Education back in Pactolus."

The Overseer's eyes could be seen laying elsewhere.

"And you took me in after that incident with my parents…"

Blood dripped from Chamuel's metal wings.

"And then…" Midas held his thought. But as he pestered for more, he couldn't bring it about.

"So that's where my memory was cut off, huh…"

He continued to watch Chamuel's dead body, now confirmed to be the same dead body of his former teacher Mr. C.

But was it really former?

"No," Midas answered himself. "Both a former and current teacher, Chamuel and Mr. C are the same person." It confused Midas; "If you're an Overseer down here, why were you a teacher up there?"

He pushed off the floor, standing back up. "And why... Why did you pull me under such a heavy fate Mr. C?"

The corpse remained silent.

"I guess it's too late to ask now," Midas sighed.

He turned around, securing the keys in his pocket, and rounded the corner back towards the divergence in the bay.