"Batter, we need sleep."
The man blinked at me with two eyes. I doubt he was expecting me to speak at that moment, or any other moment really. Truth be told, we didn't communicate much other than my curt deliveries of orders. I told him what to do, he obeyed, and that's just the way it was. It wasn't that I was full of myself or had some sort of dislike for the Batter, but rather my own unease in the situation. To be fair to myself, we were on a killing spree, and had in fact, just finished off a horde of Spectres that was plaguing some poor, defenceless Elsen. I was confused, I was disorientated, but most of all, I was tired. I had completely lost track of time in this strange, dull world, but judging from my body clock, it had been approximately two days since I'd last slept, and the effects were very clearly starting to show.
"Sleep?" he asked me, confusion clouding his deep, French-accented voice.
"Yes, sleep. Have you not heard of it Monsieur? It is what one does when they are tired," I explained sarcastically, "which I happen to very well be."
"I see," he stated. Though he had four eyes, I was quite sure he could not, in fact, see my point at all. "Very well," he said, shifting his weight around on his legs uncomfortably, "sleep."
"What, here?" I asked, taken aback. Seriously, did this man not know what sleep was?
"What is wrong with here?"
"There's no bed. Or couch. Or mat. Just metal and plastic. I can't sleep here," I explained, rubbing my eyes. "Have you never slept before?" I asked him. "Never been in a bed?"
"I have been in a bed," he told me. "It is purely for the enjoyment of another's company in the most intimate fashion. Or perhaps, is this what you meant by 'sleep' ?" he asked me, curiosity now evident in his words.
"Um no, I did not," I assured him. "Sleep is nothing like sex. It's more like a very temporary death, or a short-term, comfortable coma."
"Why would you want to die or be in a coma?" he asked, shocked by my explanation.
"My body needs it. It helps it maintain strength and alertness. Things which I need if we are to purify this world, I'm afraid," I told him. "May we please find a bed so that I may rest?" I asked him politely.
"You are my superior on this quest; if you wish it, then so it shall be," he said solemnly.
"Glad you see it my way amigo" I yawned.
"Please do not repeat Zacharie's words dearest player, hearing them once is more than enough," he mumbled.
"Can't say I disagree," I chuckled light-heartedly. "He is quite strange, that Zacharie," I commented as I looked around. We were in the residential area of the Elsens. Finding a place to sleep probably wasn't going to be that impossible after all.
"Strange is one word to call him," the Batter told me, motioning with his free hand towards an open door down the road.
"Oh? And have you other words to call him, Monsieur?" I asked.
"Several."
"Enlighten me," I encouraged. This was probably the longest conversation I'd had with the Batter. I was surprised to find he was not at all boring to talk to, even if my words were starting to slur with fatigue.
"Deceitful. Unreliable. Manipulative. Perverse."
"Perverse?" I repeated questioningly, with a raised eyebrow. "How so?"
The Batter dragged his shoes uncomfortably as he followed me. "He has… made comments in passing."
"About you?" I asked, slightly taken aback. One would have to possess quite the nerve to toy with such a muscular man, especially considering he was clutching a baseball bat, which he'd continuously proved to know how to handle.
The Batter cleared his throat. "Yes… and about you."
I tensed. I was of course, not entirely oblivious to Zacharie's… lecherous nature. He had made jokes, but most were of no concern, and certainly nothing to label him as perverse. But perhaps he shared the stronger words with the Batter, unbeknownst to me. "Has he now?" I asked softly, pushing the door open the rest of the way.
"Yes. Frequently, and improperly," he assured me.
"I see… What sort of comments, might I ask?" I inquired.
"Impure ones," he replied simply.
"You consider sex to be impure?" I asked, running my hand across the wall to search for a light switch. My fingers brushed against something solid, and a second later, I'd turned on the lights. They weren't very bright, but it was infinitely better than the darkness.
"No, not at all. Sex is one of the sincerest forms of self-expression and acts of affection. I see no problem with being connected to another being on that level of intimacy, given the correct situation." The red in his eyes seemed to deepen as he spoke, but that was probably an effect brought about by the shadows. Then, as if he remembered what had spurred this train of thought, his eyes narrowed. "It is the merchant's foul wording and desires that I find so foul and improper. To wish them upon me is one thing… It nauseates me, but I can endure it. To wish them on you however… It is disgusting; blasphemous."
I furrowed my brow. "Why is it so bad for me, but not for you?"
"I am merely a purifier; a servant to the one true cause. You, my dearest player, are purity in itself. You are the highest state of perfection that can ever be achieved." He surprised me by placing both his hands on either side of my face, holding me lightly in place as he spoke. "To think that given his way, that boy would demean your purity with such vulgar acts… It sickens me. I am in constant conflict with my desires to cave his skull in and wipe that smirk of his mask."
I stared at him open-mouthed. This conversation had taken a completely different direction than the one I'd imagined. It had never occurred to me that this man felt so strongly about my integrity. His words bordered on religiously fanatical or devout. "You speak as if I'm some embodied god, Monsieur," I told him in hoarse whispers, as I placed my hands over his. "Why do you hold me in such high place of honour?"
"Not a god perhaps," he mulled, "but something similar… a higher being than I or any other, without a doubt."
I gulped. "I did not realise you felt so… strongly about me, Batter." I averted my eyes as I spoke. His were beginning to blaze with the intensity of his words, and the devotion leaking from his irises was searing right through me.
"You are the epitome of sanctity, and it is my mission to carry out your will." His hands were suddenly gone from my face, and as if the current chain of events wasn't surprising enough already, he dropped to his knees before me and clutched at my shirt. "Being in your capable hands has given me a fulfillness I could never hope to achieve otherwise."
"Batter…" I whispered. Without knowing, I'd placed my right hand atop the baseball player's hatted head. "I'm just a girl… A stupid girl from the roughest part of a run-down city… I'm nothing special, and certainly nothing as divine as you seem to think."
"No," the Batter denied, pulling roughly at my shirt and burying his face in it. "No, you are pure. You are my player. You are pure."
He was mumbling incoherently into the fabric of my shirt when I sighed and pulled his hat off. Soft, blonde locks greeted me, and I ran my fingers delightedly through them as I spoke. "Oh sweet Batter," I whispered lovingly, "you would put your faith in someone as weak as me?"
The man nuzzled my shirt and leaned his head back into my hand. "You are not weak. You have led me so far without falter. The road has not been without challenges, but you excelled at all of them. Tell me then, how can I not trust you blindly after all you have done?"
I had nothing to say to that. After all, what he said was not a lie. I had successfully managed to pull us through the scraps the spectres seemed to revel in. I had even made short work of that frightfully rude character, Dedan. He'd threatened the Batter and tried to demean him. Though it hadn't clicked at the time, his actions had caused something in me to snap, and I'd instructed the Batter to launch attack after attack at the vile-mouthed adversary. Alpha, the circular spirit, had been the one to deliver the final blow, under my instruction. I'd still not come to grips with the behaviour or nature of Alpha, and now Omega, who seemed to morph into existence whenever the Batter or I were in trouble. As soon as the conflict ended they melted away, back into the shadows, to await the next time they were needed.
I wondered… Could I call them at will? I closed my eyes, still caressing the top of the Batter's head, and willed them into existence. "Alpha…" I whispered. "Omega…" At first, I felt nothing. Then after a few anxious seconds, I felt a slight agitation in the area around us. The air seemed to hum with vibrations, and ever so slowly, our spherical allies came to life around us. The temperature seemed to escalate from their raw energy, and I felt an aura of serenity engulf us as Alpha and Omega began to emit their ghostly glow.
"Alpha?" The Batter questioned, sensing its presence. "Omega?" He lifted his head to look at me. "Player, are we in danger from the Spectres?" he asked me urgently.
"No dear Batter, calm yourself," I urged him, placing a gentle hand on his tense shoulder. "I was merely curious to see if I could call them at will. It turns out I can after all."
"You see?" The Batter sighed, looking at me with even greater admiration. "Do you not see the power you hold? Only one such as you can call these beings into existence when they please. Only the purest of the pure."
He looked innocent and childlike as he spoke, his voice awash with awe. But I could not stand to see this great man on his knees for me. "Please, stand Batter," I begged him, placing my hand beneath his chin and steering his sight up. "It is odd to have you submit to me in this way."
"It is the rightful way," he insisted, though he did stand, and once more, he towered above me. We were restricted by space, courtesy of the hovering spirits, so that his chest pressed up against mine. Perhaps it was the buzzing of the spirits that I was hearing, but I could swear the Batter's heart had begun an assault on his ribs.
"Your heart is on the right hand side of your body, Batter?" I asked him curiously, placing my head against his chest to hear its strumming. Its rhythm was oddly fast when compared to my own, as if it were trying to break out of his body.
"Yes," he confirmed, moving his hand to the back of my head to hold me to him. "Can you hear it?"
"I can."
"It beats to fulfil your quest. You are its purpose," he whispered into my hair. A shudder went through me, and almost instantaneously, through him as well.
"You felt that?" I asked. I was still being held against his chest, and I was finding it hard to breathe. Not because he was grasping me tightly, but because of the scent emanating from his body. Its effect on me was euphoric, and I was terrified of what it might do to my senses if I inhaled copious amounts of it.
"Of course I felt it," he told me. "We are linked, not unlike puppet and master. Whatever emotion or sensation crosses your body, crosses mine as well."
The tempest in my brain seemed to spread all of a sudden to every extremity of my body. The Batter's scent was pumping my blood faster, filling my vision and blinding me with desires I did not know I wanted. Until now. My fingers itched, my body came alive as if a fire had been lit on my skin and only the Batter could quench the aching flames. I wanted to leap at the man holding me; rip the clothes separating our bodies and give in to the burning desire now coiling in my stomach. Alpha and Omega were vibrating faster now, growing smaller and smaller with ever inhalation of my breath. They were forcing us closer, and with each passing second, the intensity of my urges increased with incalculable ferocity. I gasped, and this time it was my turn to clutch at the other's clothing. I breathed heavily from the aches in my barely-restrained body. I looked up and found that the Batter had opened his other pair of eyes, just as bright a red as the other one. Both were staring at me with unconcealed longing.
"What do you feel now?" I breathed, struggling with the strain of controlling myself, just that little while longer.
He ran his thumb over my lips, and my knees threatened to buckle. "Love," he whispered, "indescribable, uncontrollable love."
I didn't hesitate; I kissed him, and in that moment, Alpha and Omega chose to constrict even further so that I was moulded to the Batter's shape. I could not handle the intensity of proximity any longer, and as I pulled my lips away from the Batter's I banished the spirits back into the shadows.
"Come to bed with me," I begged him. "Please."
I hadn't noticed there were tears streaming out of my eyes until the Batter kissed them away with a gentleness I would never have guessed he possessed.
"Of course my love," he whispered against my dampened skin, "of course."
His arms encircled me, and I was lifted off the ground.
The next thing I felt was the softness of the bed as he lay me down.
Then, him.
