"You were a human once before, right?"
Romeo blinked at the question-slash statement, looking up from where he was sketching a blueprint. "What do you mean?"
"Well.. In Fred's uh.. Final message about stopping you, he mentioned that it would 'turn you back to how you were' or something. So you must have been human before an admin, right?" Jesse asked nervously.
Romeo looked suprised for a moment before it dropped into heavy discomfort. "Aah, that's-"
"To be frank, that isn't your damn business" a voice snapped, and Jesse flinched at Xara suddenly leaning in the doorway, looking rather angry. "What do you get out of asking that?"
"Xara, it's ok.." Romeo sighed, looking still rather upset but more calm now he had gotten over his initial shock. "It won't really affect anything anymore, all things considered"
"We all know tall, brunette and freaky is still out there" she deadpanned. "And unless you're gonna leave out the biggest parts of our past, you're going to have to bring him up".
"Tall, brunette and freaky?" Jesse echoed, looking bewildered. "What are you talking about?"
Xara sighed. "No one, unless we have a death wish"
Jesse's confusion doubled and Romeo just bit his lip in indecision. "We could tell him about the other stuff, couldn't we?" he asked her after a moment. "And you could cut me off if i start mentioning things i shouldn't"
"...Nothing about me, then" she acquiesced after a moment, looking annoyed before it twisted into something that made Jesse shiver. "Say anything about me before the point i met you and I'll make you regret not killing me"
Romeo looked scared for a moment before it softened into unreadability. "Of course i won't"
She exhaled slowly and closed her eyes. "Go ahead then"
Jesse slowly sat down beside Romeo, eyes full of curiosity.
Romeo breathed unevenly for a moment before slowly beginning to speak.
"I met Xara right after i ran away-"
.
.
.
"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT?!" a man screamed, running up the stairs, feet thundering on each step. The floor above him, a boy with tangled and dirty red hair hyperventilated, blue-amber eyes filled with fear as he clutched a knife defensively. Blood ran down from a cut on his collarbone, dangerously close to his throat, staining his white shirt a steadily drying red.
The door to the room he hid in was flung open, and he screamed at the sight of the silhouette of his pursuer.
Holding a sword.
He tried to back up, face frozen and taut in his terror, only to feel his back hit the wall. The figure swung at him, and he closed his eyes and braced, thrusting his knife out.
He felt something warm spray his face and waited for a death that never came.
When something hit the floor, he opened his eyes.
And dropped the knife he had been clutching.
His father lay on the floor before him, a stab wound in his chest and the life fading from his wide eyes. His sword was half stained with the blood he had drawn from the young boy, the cause of the cut on his collarbone.
Romeo made a strangled cry, clutching at his head before gagging and turning away to throw up.
"It was self defence it was self defence i had to i had to-" he gasped out hysterically, a desperate attempt to lower the magnitude of what he'd just done.
A sort of delusional panic crossed his mind. People would find the body. Would they kill him? Would they beleive it was self defence? He had to go. He had to..
So, in a semi conscious state he picked the knife off of the floor, wiping it into his shirt, figuring it was already plenty blood stained, grabbed an apple from the counter on his way out and sprinted out of town as quickly as he could, trying to ignore the shouts of those who saw him.
He ran into the forest and kept running, even as brambles and thorns shredded at his ankles and he grew a stitch and tripped too many times to count. He had to get away. He-
He tripped for the last time and didn't get up, having sprained his ankle. Groaning in pain he pulled himself to sit up, leaning heavy against a tree. His vision swam and he saw double. Breathing grew harder as the sun slowly set and the air grew cold.
He tried to stand up but his ankle stung so badly, sharp stabs of pain like it was glass being pushed through the skin and muscle and bone- that he screamed and was barely able to stop himself after several seconds.
He closed his eyes.
Only to snap them open as a feeling of warmth suddenly enveloped him.
He looked down.
A jacket was draped over him.
He looked up to see a.. Girl? At least he figured she was a girl. She looked very effeminate if she was a boy. She had short mid-tone purple hair that didn't even reach past her ears and was wearing a black shirt and shorts.
And had... Bruises on her neck?
"...Hi" he mumbled, picking at the jacket. "Why you give me this?"
She blinked a few times. "You were freezing to death" her voice was weirdly toneless and flat. She sounded... Dead.
"Well.. Won't you freeze then?" he frowned. She shrugged. He bit his lip before smiling awkwardly up at her. "Get under here. Shared body warmth is good against cold, i er... Think"
She looked suprised, though even the changed facial expression didn't lift the emptiness in her eyes, then frowned slightly. "Will you touch me?"
He jolted. "Aah- what?! Of course not; i don't even know you!"
She seemed to observe him for slightly longer before accepting his words and sitting down next to him. He lifted half of the jacket to put over her and leant against her slightly. It felt very very awkward but he'd rather share a jacket with a stranger than freeze to death.
And after an hour or so he couldn't help but sleep... Only to jerk back into reality only a few hours later when the purplette started yelling and thrashing, eyes screwed shut and screamed incoherently. He grabbed her wrists and pinned her down when she tried to swipe at him, and when she showed no signs of recognition he slapped her.
She froze immediately before slowly opening her eyes, face pale. "What..." she realised he was on top of her and uppercut him. He fell back, stunned, and felt even moreso at the rage on her face. "YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T TOUCH ME!"
"It's not like that!" he protested, hiding a grimace at how his dried blood t-shirt smelt. "You started freaking out and attacking me so i pinned you! That's it!" he held up his hands placatingly.
She glared at him. "I.. Beleive you" she said hesitantly. "But i won't get back under that"
He looked to the discarded jumper and sighed. "Yeah. One sec"
He moved to pick it up to give back to her but his still pained ankle twisted from underneath him, sending his head crashing into the tree they had been leaning against. She yelped and ran over to him, and he started at the sight of concern in her eyes. Extremely faded, but there. "Are you ok?"
"No" he grumbled, poking at his foot. "I'm pretty much useless for walking". Somewhere in his trousers he felt the blade of his knife press against his thigh from in his pocket. He pulled it out and jummed it into the tree, using it as a stabiliser to stand up.
He grunted and picked the jumper up, throwing it at her, blinking in suprise when she seemed to flinch violently and barely caught it. "Jeez, the hell happened to you?" he asked in bewilderment. She flushed and looked away, clearing closing off as her expression seemed to go utterly neutral. "Nothing. Should i leave you here alone?"
"I mean.. I don't really have a choice in that" Romeo murmered, exhausted mentally as it seemed everything that had happened caught up to him in this moment of semi-respite from the drama that always haunted his life. "I'd appreciate you sticking around since you kinda seem like a runaway too-" she frowned every so slightly but he continued. "So what's the harm in chatting? I have an apple!" he waved the item at her after picking it fron his inventory. She looked hungrily at it before walking back over to him.
Food always wins them over, huh?