Let's talk about the darkness?

5 days later...

Brian opened his eyes and noticed a white ceiling, at first he thought he was in a hospital room, but the system informed him of what was happening:

'Good evening, sir! The current time is 23:40. You have been unconscious for approximately 5 days after being defeated by the man codenamed "Ghost". You are currently in a hideout of the villainess called polly.'

Brian felt himself aching all over his body from releasing all his limits, which eventually overloaded his muscles.

He took a deep breath and spoke to the system:

"Thank you."

Brian stood up and looked into the simple room with a single bed and quickly opened the door and left the room.

As he walked out, he saw a woman sitting in a chair as she slept.

He quietly surveyed the scene and noticed a door leading to the exit and began walking to it.

As he walked, Brian heard a voice behind him:

"Are you going already?"

Brian continued walking and replied:

"Forget everything you saw today."

Brian opened the door and left the house.

Polly sighed and got up from her chair, she had already done her part, now it was all up to him.

Brian left the house and noticed that he was on a street and started walking looking for a bar.

After an indeterminate amount of time of searching, he finally found an establishment that looked like a bar and went inside.

As he opened the door, a 'Ding' sound was heard and the bartender looked at a boy who was all beat up and thought:

'The first customer of the day...'

Brian walked over to the counter and said as he sat down:

"The strongest whiskey."

The bartender nodded and took his bottle of the strongest whiskey and gave Brian a shot.

He drank the shot quickly and asked for another, the bartender obeyed and served him again, and this kept repeating for a while until they heard another 'Ding'.

Brian did not turn around and continued to look at the empty glass and said:

"One more."

The bartender nodded and just as he was about to serve another shot, a woman sat down next to Brian and said:

"He's had enough."

Bartender obeyed and began to clean some bottles.

Brian continued to look at the empty glass and said:

"What are you doing here? Amanda."

"You were missing for 5 days, we thought you were dead..."

"Hm... How's life? Are you thinking about getting married yet? Or having kids?"

Amanda was beginning to think it was a mistake to have worried about Brian. She took a deep breath and asked:

"Are you okay? It's hard to see you all beaten up like this."

Brian answered her calmly:

"I'm fine, just some headaches."

Amanda put her hand on Brian's chin and turned his head and began to analyze his condition.

Brian looked into Amanda's beautiful purple eyes as if hypnotized as he waited for her to finish.

After a few seconds she let go of Brian and said:

"You're going to live... So are we going to go back? Your parents are waiting for us."

Brian looked at the empty glass again and said:

"Do you remember when we were kids and we didn't care if our hair was nice, if our clothes were clean, if someone thought you were crazy. I liked those days, things were easier, the world was perfect in my eyes. I believed that one man could distribute gifts to all the children of the world in just one night. And I also believed that somewhere there was a rabbit that made chocolate eggs. I believed that under my bed were evil monsters, and that hiding in my closet was the worst of them. I remember if I closed my eyes, I could go to Mars and talk to some aliens, or I could be a superhero, like in the cartoons. I could be whoever I wanted, the president, Superman, I could own the world and also the candy store in the mall."

Brian sighed and said again:

"Today I know that Santa Claus was just a story, that chocolate eggs are made by a factory, that under my bed there is only dirt, and on the clothes in my closet, today my imagination is controlled, I fly but I can't go to Mars, I learned that for everything you need money, to be president you need a campaign, to own the world you need three times the money Bill Gates has, and to own the bakery you need financing. Before everything was easier, prettier, and more fun..."

"Why are you bringing this up now?"

"Hm... Remember that time when some kids were beating me up and you got in the middle of them and tried to defend me?"

"Yeah, but it didn't do much good..."

Brian smiled and spoke:

"They just ignored you and kept hitting me and you kept crying, but after a while, they stopped hitting me because your crying was annoying."

"All I could do was cry, since I had no strength to help you."

Brian turned to Amanda and said:

"That's the thing, when we were kids, even an action as simple as crying could help you win, but now I don't know what to do, I feel like no matter how hard I try, I feel like I'm still going to lose. I'm afraid Amanda, afraid of losing again, afraid that something will happen to you, afraid that I'm not strong enough, afraid that it's too late."

Amanda felt sorry as she realized all the trouble Brian was going through because of them, but she couldn't tell him anything. Amanda had no words to comfort her friend, all she could do at this moment was hug him tightly.

Brian, feeling the embrace, decided to receive the warmth he hadn't felt in years, and the two of them stayed like that for an indeterminate amount of time.

After a while, they heard a piano sound and stopped hugging each other and looked at the sound and noticed the bartender playing a piano.

The music was romantic and slow and the bartender said to the two:

"Why don't you two dance?"

Amanda looked at Brian and replied:

"That sounds like a good idea to me."

"What, but I don't know how to dance."

The bartender slowed down even more and said:

"Right hand on partner's hip and left hand holding partner's right hand. You being the leader starts by taking the first step."

Brian swallowed dryly and stood up and said as he extended his left hand to her:

"Amanda, will you grant me this dance?"

Amanda smiled and took Brian's hand as she replied:

"It will be an honor."

But suddenly, they heard a 'Ding' and everyone looked at the door and saw a man wearing a suit.

The man who had entered, looked at Brian and said:

"Good evening, Mister Brian, good to know you are alive."

Brian let go of Amanda's hand and asked:

"Who are you?"

"I am a subordinate of balthazar, he asked me to inform you in case he died."

"So balthazar died..."

Brian suddenly remembered something that balthazar had given him and quickly opened his system inventory and picked up the envelope.

(The others thought it was some kind of space ring: space rings can have objects inside them.)

He quickly sat down and tore the seal from the envelope and began to mentally read the contents:

'If you are reading this, then it means I am dead right now, but don't cry, your old friend is resting in the beautiful clouds, now let's talk about the darkness...'