A\N: Tara over at PRUnited made me a banner for Alone. It. Is. AWESOME!!! And, of course, my bunny bit me. So now this is gonna be a series of oneshots, kind of like my Windows Into War series, only hopefully without the plothole issues. Anyway, enjoy!
Ziggy was at her fingertips.
Tenaya smiled, pressing her hands to the wall on either side of Ziggy's head, letting herself revel in the thrill of the hunt. "So, once again, you prove to be the weakest link, Ziggy. I wonder what Dr. K has to say about that?"
Ziggy considered, then dug around in his pocket and held something up.
"Want some candy?"
It wasn't often that Tenaya 7 was confused, but for two point eight seconds, her brain had this to say:
What.
The.
Hell?
"There are no words possible to make that more confusing." Tenaya settled for responding.
"Yeah there are!" Ziggy chirped mischievously.
Tenaya pressed her hand to his mouth.
Ziggy grinned.
Tenaya waited, then released him. "I don't want to hear it." She told him, standing upright again.
Ziggy offered her the candy again. Tenaya hesitated, then took it, popping it in her mouth. It tasted vaguely like metal, and it was sour, but it tasted enough like watermelon to make her like it. "Mm. Interesting. You humans eat this?" Tenaya asked.
Ziggy nodded. "I like those. Dr. K hates them, she says Jolly Ranchers taste too much like metal, but I like it. It tastes sad, like those candies in the kid book about Opal and her dog."
"You're right, there are more confusing things." Tenaya said, rolling her eyes.
Ziggy laughed. "That's my specialty!"
Tenaya shook her head. "Is it April Fool's day and I forgot to set my calendar?"
"What, me being nice to you?" Ziggy replied. "No."
Tenaya frowned. "So why aren't you running in terror?"
Ziggy shrugged. "Well, you work for Venjix, and that must really suck, and I noticed that you keep attacking me even though I'm not really a threat to you, and I wondered why, and Dillon and Summer said you had a crush on me even though you don't--"
"Damn straight I don't." Tenaya shuddered.
"Yeah, that's what I told Dillon and Summer. Anyway, then I started to wonder why and I noticed that every time I make you laugh you keep chasing me more, so I thought maybe it must suck to work for a genocidal psychopath like Venjix, and maybe you just want someone to be nice to you." Ziggy finished.
Tenaya considered.
"Maybe you just amuse me." She said, still mulling over what he'd told her.
Ziggy grinned and popped a candy in his mouth. "Yeah, but I like hanging out with you. You're nice too."
You're nice too.
The whisper of memory leaped up in her like a bolt of lightning.
She didn't know what it meant. She didn't know why it had chosen then to leap up. She just knew that it hurt. More than anything had ever hurt her in her life.
"Aya?" Ziggy asked, frowning. "You okay?"
Something snapped.
"Don't call me that!"
Tenaya's eyes glowed red as the boy below her slammed into the wall, his head striking the concrete. "Ow!" He protested. "Okay, okay, I won't call you--"
She struck him.
He went flying, not responding when he finally landed. Tenaya watched him, a strange feeling growing inside of her, like a threatened bobcat.
It felt numb. Empty.
She turned and carefully stepped on the bag of candies.
"I'm not nice." She said, walking away.
The crunching sound had been so sweet.