Miska rears back, his mouth open and his eyes wide. We're both breathing like we just ran a triathlon. I fall back on the pillows, but I ignore the pain because I'm staring at Miska. He looks so confused, I almost frown. Isn't he the one that kissed me? The door clicks again, but it doesn't open. I can hear someone cursing, and ramming against the door, slightly hard. Miska obviously takes this time to leave via window. He doesn't even look back.

I'm staring at the window like a fish, my hands in my lap. I hear the jammed door slam against the wall, and from the corner of my eye, I see Cal leaning against it, muttering something like, "Damn door." My breathing calms down, and I ignore him. I hear him fumble around, and he takes several steps towards the bed.

"Kisk?" he asks. I finally look at him and he has this really confused look on his face. His hair is kind of messy, and he looks like he could collapse any second and sleep all day. He's slouching over, but he grins.

"Hey kid," he says, smoothly. I clear my throat.

"Hi," I squeak, and wonder is he notices that I've just had another person's tongue down my throat. More importantly, a guys'. Does that make me gay? I did used to have this crush on this one girl. I was nine though. She had really nice hair. Why am I having this conversation right now??

"…and then she told me you were here. Are you okay?" I look up and shrug, making it look casual. Then it occurs to me that I don't even know whose house this is. I just feel totally lost right now.

"Cal?" I don't even know what I'm going to say.

"Yeah?" He leans slightly over the bed. I twirl the little piece of string hanging from the blanket, making it tight against my finger then uncurling it. I leave little lines against my pinkie.

"Can you stay the night with me?" I look up into his eyes. He blinks and nods, but he doesn't say anything. I don't know what to do next so I smile, and that makes him smile too. I lean back against the pillows again and bring the blankets to my chin. He laughs.

"You're gonna spill your food." His eyes are twinkling again.

"Doesn't look good anyways," I lie. Any food looks good right now. As on cue, my stomach gives a deep growl. I ignore it and give an embarrassed chuckle. He smirks.

"I'll see if they have a kitchen around here, okay?" He actually asks, and I nod. I still don't feel too good using my voice. He leaves the room and closes the door with a click while I sigh my ass off. While I'm lying on the pillows I have my eyes half closed, and I'm there, almost asleep, when I hear the door slam.

It's loud, and I flinch at the sound. Almost immediately I can hear heavy footsteps walking up the stairs, along with some yelling that sounds vaguely like an argument. Then the noise is directly outside the door. I can hear the voices in a horrible attempt at a whisper.

"It will work."
"Will you fucking shut up?? God damn, you probably woke him up—"

"Good! He needs to be awake."

Then the door just slams open and hits the wall with the loudest fucking 'clang' imaginable. By then my mind is still hazy, and woozy, and you'd just think I'd be awake by now. In the doorway is this fat woman, or man? Er, 'it' has this huge cloak thrown over itself, a worn gray one—a real eye catcher. It's bald, um, the man, and there are wrinkles on his forehead and as he looks around the room, I see the wrinkles on the back of his head. Gross. I'm guessing 'he' is holding this thick black book in its left hand, and by its side is a thin man, with black hair and a crooked smile on his face. He's all dressed in black, and in his hands is a wide tray full of tiny little bottles. In the bottles are several different colored liquids.

I somehow manage to take in the appearance of the strangers before my mouth is wide and open in shock.

"Who the fucking hell are you?" I blurt it out before I do anything else. Then I bite my lip, because my face is so red right now. Graceful, Kisk, fucking graceful. Cal comes from behind them and gives me a sharp glare. Then he turns towards the men, and waves his hands around.

"Ah, gentlemen," he emphasizes the word and gives me a look, that can only mean he wants me to get their genders right the first time. "This is him," he says simply, jerking his thumb at me. The fat man walks up to me slowly. He looks at me like a hawk looks at its prey. He's inspecting, and his fat lips twists in thought. Then he steps to my side and grabs the side of my face roughly, turning it this way and that.

And I swear the moment I raise my hand to push him away and say something smart, he shouts, taking everyone in the room by shock.

"What—"

"Perfect!!" Everyone jumps, including the thin man, though he gives a sigh at the end as though he should be used to it.

Cal steps forward. "Perfect?" He asks, scratching his head lazily. The man nods vigorously, though I have no bloody idea why.

"Paco, get bottles." He points to his assistant. "You know the ones. We got lucky this time, I guess Cal gives good measurements. Maybe we should use him more often, eh? Ah, no no no!" He shakes his head and waves his thick hands around his head. "Not the red one—not yet." He pauses. "Use the clear one first, and then mix it with the red one. Ah ah! Afterwards." Then he turns around and shifts his gaze towards me. He has a strong loud voice, and I almost cover my ears and show Cal, as a joke.

"Kisk." I stare at him expectantly, and in the deep little depths of my mind, I can't believe I'm not freaking out about this. There is a strange fat man who knows my name. I should be slightly scared? He says something and brings me from my daze.

"What?" I ask, a dumb look on my face.

"What? Not too bright? I asked you how you felt."

"Oh," I say stupidly. "I didn't hear you," I mumble into my chest, but I see the skinny man give me this really weird look. Cal clears his throat, in aggravation. Geez, that guy is always mad at me, isn't he?

"Well," he continues, "are you going to answer the question or not?"

"Horrible," I say automatically.

He nods his head solemnly. "I thought so...Paco!" Everyone jumps at his voice, and you can hear the jingle from the bottles clinging together. He grabs a certain bottle from the man, inspects it with his chubby fingers, and smiles. "Thank you Paco. Maybe he won't die." I turn white. What the hell was that?

He turns towards me. "Okay, this shouldn't hurt, unless we fucked up. Anyways, open up, and close your eyes." I shake my head and lean into the bed.

"It won't hurt Kisk," Cal repeats.

"Hold up now!" I burst. "I don't even know what you're going to do! Some really freakin weird people barge into the room, and want me to down poison? Hell fucking no." I cross my arms, and remind myself to keep my mouth closed at all times.

Cal waves his hands at the man, and he takes several steps back to give us some privacy. Cal leans down till his mouth is at my ear. I think I might melt there.

"Kisk, I wouldn't do anything to hurt you. Just do what the man says, and I'll take you for ice-cream tomorrow. Please?" He asks and I almost throw myself at him, ready to give him my soul.

I nod. He leans back but I tuck on his arm, and now instead of his mouth at my ear, they're aligned with my mouth.

"Uh—w-well, how will you do that? I mean, get the ice-cream. In case you haven't noticed, I've broken almost every bloody bone in my body. I can't prance around anymore." I forced a small chuckle, and he smirks.

"Just see, okay?" He stands up, and as he walks towards the back of the room, the fat man gives him a strange look. He shugs it off and walks to me.

"Made up your mind yet?" I nod.

"I'm ready." Though I have no idea exactly what I'm ready for. He laughs, a loud bellowing sound.

"That's what I want to hear!" He pops open the bottle, and a slow line of blue smoke trails from the container. Gulp. "Paco, have the other bottles ready." He looks at me, and motions me to open my mouth. While I do, my sweaty hands are griping the sheets so hard. I mean, I don't want to be turned into a goddamn frog or something. While he holds the bottle over my mouth, he pauses.

"I want to let you know, just incase we send you to the gates of heaven, tell the good Lord Ilio meant well." Before I can do anything, the cool liquid is trickling down my throat. I'm staring at Cal, hoping that if I die, my gaze will be on his conscious. I don't have time to do anything else, because a burning feeling is exploding in my stomach, and that's the last thing I can remember.

¤¤¤

When I wake up, to the same room, I instantly feel a sharp tingle in my throat.

"Are you okay?" It's Cal's voice, but at the sound I jerk in my bed. I didn't expect him to watch me sleeping. I sigh, and I open my mouth to tell him I'm fine, when no sound comes from my mouth. I blink, and give him a nervous smile. He's staring at me suspiciously, his elbow resting on his knee. I try again, but there's nothing coming from my mouth.

Then I panic.

My arms are flailing, and at the same time clawing at my throat. I'm not even lying down anymore. I'm standing up and jumping up and down, and shit if I've never acted more scared in my life. I'm freaking out, because my fucking voice is blown to smithereens.

Cal stands up with me, and tries to calm me down. "Kisk!" He's yelling my name and grabbing my hands but they somehow find their way to my throat again. "Kisk!" He keeps yelling my name, and saying things like 'calm down.' Fuck if I'll calm down! I won't calm down! I shove him away and frantically point to my throat. There are tears running down my face, and while my mouth is open and supposed to be screaming, I can taste the saltiness.

Then he just grabs me by my arms and pushes his mouth against mine.

He didn't even have to do anything afterward, because I would have fainted then and there if I didn't feel his lips move against mine. His arms are now wrapped around me, warm hands at my waist, while my arms conveniently find their way to his neck and shoulders. God, his taste is…wow. He tastes like orange peels and mint, and everything wonderful together. I start to feel dizzy again.

He pulls back and my hands are tugged away from his hair. How did they get there? I make myself a mental note to reprimand my arms for having a goddamned mind of their own. When I can stand on my own, I look at him, while he takes a great interest in the floor.

"Ah, I couldn't think of any other way to shut you up." He says it, and I blink.

Oh right. I have no voice.

I don't even know what I'm about to do, but he explains quickly. Actually, he sits in the same chair he was in when I woke up. He rubs his face, and runs his hand through his hair. I wipe the dry tears from my face and look at him. I'm such a baby cry.

"Ilio's a healer, he heals people. Look, I knew him from a while back, and talked to him about your condition. He agreed to set up an appointment for free, and I asked him to take care of you. Haven't you noticed how you can walk and jump and do all these things without having a heart attack? Ilio healed you, and I just wanted to do this for you. I'm sorry. Ilio's still here, and I can ask him to fix your voice."

I have the breathing down again. I didn't have a heart attack, either. Yes!

Okay, so I'm healed. I wonder how I didn't notice that in the first place. I mean, I didn't expect a healer to look like that. I don't even know what I was expecting, I'd never seen one. But to test the theory, I run in place, and jump on the floor. I grin when I notice I didn't fall apart. I open my mouth, and should have been telling Cal how cool this was, when nothing but silence came out. I guess I looked shocked, because Cal reassured me.

"Don't worry, Ilio can fix your voice, he has the potions for it. Please don't be mad?" I look up at him and give him a weird look, because it sounds strange for him to tell me these things. He laughs and shakes his head. "You're hella scary when you're mad, okay?" I nod, and lean in to kiss him on the cheek. He blinks and chuckles.

"Kid, you are the strangest person I have ever met." I shrug, and fold my arms. I'm about to tell him that I'm hungry, actually I do tell him, but the door opens and Ilio stands there in the doorway.

"Hey!" he bellows, "little Kisk is feeling better? How's the body? Nice, eh? Feel good as new?"

I glare at him, and Cal answers for me nervously.

"Actually Ilio, he's lost his voice."

"Ah well," he shakes his head, "This happens all the time. People lose their voice, can't talk, can barely laugh, and I swear! It's so funny when they say the only words the potion allows them to say. I once knew a man who could only saw "polka dot" for two weeks straight. Haha, but really, it should wear off soon."

"Ilio," Cal licks his lips and glances at me. "He doesn't have his voice…at all."

Ilio stares at me for several seconds before saying anything.

"Shit," is all he can say, and I laugh, without sound, because that's my trademark cuss word! He leans out the door and yells loudly for Pedro. Pedro comes in, and Ilio whispers something in Pedro's ear.

"Dios mio!" he exclaims quickly, his hand on his heart, his face white as ever.

Five minutes later I'm sitting on the bed, my mouth open and currently being examined by Ilio's large hands. When he's done, he gives me something to drink, and I swig it down like a bottle of beer. Er, not that I know what that would be like. Hehe?

He sits on the bed beside me, and sighs.

"Kid, I don't know how to fucking tell you this, but—"

"He'll never speak again?!" Cal yells my thoughts and I nod my head to agree with his statement, or question.

"He may speak again," I give a happy sigh. "But, it will be difficult."
"What's so difficult?" Cal asks. I glare at him as if to say, 'Shut the fuck up and let the man continue.'

"Well," there's a pause and a heavy sigh. "He needs a part of his soul to be purified and poured into a flask made from pure crystal." I blink.

"But that's—"

"Almost impossible. Damnit!" Ilio bangs his fist against the wall. Everyone is quiet. My heart is beating fast and my hands are sweaty. I wipe them on my pants.

My soul? As in…my soul? How can you do that? Take away some of someone's soul and go through all of this trouble? And for a stupid voice? Do I even want that anymore?

I walk to Ilio and put my hand on his meaty shoulder. He glances over his back and narrows his eyes. I shake my head to tell him I'd rather keep my soul than get my voice back.

He grunts.

"It's not that easy. This isn't just your voice we're talking about. You have a rare condition that, ah!—when we healed you your body responded by taking your voice away. You'll lose function over your body over time unless we can seal the part of your soul. I don't know why you reacted like that. It's very rare. Hold on. Paco!" Paco scrambles in out of nowhere, holding a huge ass brown book. Ilio opens it, and skims pages until he finds the one he's looking for. He reads over it slightly, after putting on a pair of tiny glasses that you're supposed to place on the bridge of your nose and leave there. What are they called?

"Aha! In the old days, people would seal some of their soul before being healed. Only healers did this, because according to their law the body would allow healing to be done after some of your being had been taken away. Sort of, to give healing powers, you must give something in return. This was usually after a sacred ritual was done, though." Ilio holds the book in one hand and scratched his head with the other.

"There are hardly any people left who contain these powers. Usually the powers were inherited from the father." He glances at me. "Who was your father?"

I tell him I don't know. But then I shrug. I want to ask all these questions and I just hope Cal will have the sense to ask them for me. I catch him glancing at me, and then back at Ilio.

"But Kisk isn't a healer. He couldn't heal his own body when he needed it most. Why is he reacting like that?"

Fair enough.

"Kisk is a healer. Simply being a healer doesn't mean you can use your powers anytime. Sometimes it can't even be triggered through a traumatic event or near death experience. In past times, the father would perform a ritual to the son, and the healing powers were passed on. However, if we found an original healer…"

Paco makes strange motions and signs with his hands towards Ilio. Ilio nods gravely, his hand caressing his chin, then turns back to us.

"We know of a man…Deep in the mountains on the continent across the sea. He lives in a small village, there. He is a true healer. We could take Kisk there, and pray to the gods that it will be enough to save his soul."

"Do it," says Cal, quickly and rather forcefully.

I look at him, and he glances at me with a strange glint in his eye.

"It's the best solution if we want to save you," he explains. I don't care but take a step backwards, eying him carefully and trying to figure what he's gaining from this.

Sex, probably.

A/N:
First of all, I'm sure people do not in real life taste like mint or orange peels or other wonderful things. I mean, they probably taste like that hot dog they just ate or leftover macaroni. Please. Mint?
Will Kisk ever stop fainting his ass off?
Anyways, this went a little fast, but then, I'm always doing this story half-assed in some little way. I couldn't give the story a real complete ending, but I'll do better next chapter. Promise?
Though I admit it was funny.