Chapter 4
"What do you mean you know there is another Wraith here?!"
Todd had been yelling from his restrained position on the bed since he woke up that morning. He hissed as a paperback romance novel collided with his face on several occasions. Izzy hadn't appreciated being woken up by his whining. After being reassured on the radio they were aware of the situation, she went off to freshen herself up. She smiled to herself, loving her shower and the feel of being dressed in clean clothes. She then reluctantly returned to her post, the sergeant she'd ask to watch him in her absence running off as soon as she came into his eyeline.
And that's how this new squabbling match started.
"I'm sorry, I thought you could speak English. Did I stutter there big guy? Or did I suddenly switch to German?! Sprechen Sie Deutch?"
"...what?"
"Exactly, fish face. Exactly." She huffed, dropping into her seat and narrowing her testy blue eyes at him. "You still floundering there, or you back to 'normal'?"
"I am well again, yes. So touching that you care."
"Well I'm nice that way." She forced a sarcastic smile across her face, picked up her book, and glared at the pages.
"Where is the Queen I sense? To which faction does she belong?"
"Oh, that." She hid a smirk behind the book. "The round table. She's been ordained by Merlin and Author and everything."
"...what?"
"Sorry." She lowered the book to grin at him. "I should have explained the rules to you first. See." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "If you as a stupid question, you get a stupid answer." She beamed a grin, leaning back and returning to her book.
"...you think my question was stupid so you warranted it with a ridiculous waste of air?"
"Yup, that's about right." She bit her lips in amusement and turned the page.
"There's a reason your at the bottom of the food chain." Todd shook his head on his pillow, deciding this particular human was quite bizarre.
"Awwwwww. You hurt my feelings." She snorted, turning the page and crossing one leg over the other. She raised a brow when he chuckled at her, a grin flashing briefly over his lips, before it was gone. He turned his head away from her, looking around the rest of the room. "So you failed." At that he snapped his head back to her. She timed it so her eyes darted back to the page as he did this.
"I have not failed anything. The atlantians failed. And your people also failed to run the proper tests on that compound. If they had they would have seen that it wouldn't have worked."
"Really? I thought it might be the guinea pig's fault."
"...what did you just-"
"Good morning sunshine!" John waltzed into the room with a big grin on his face. "How you feeling? How was the service? Warm and fuzzy?" Todd glared at him, clearly not amused. "Well I could hear your yelling from the other side of the base, so here is what I can tell you." He put his hands together, trying very hard to be as condescending as possible. "Well poppet, there is a Wraith Queen here. We seem to have made another ally that will be more useful than you. She's prettier too!"
"You cannot trust a Queen Sheppard." Todd hissed, struggling against his restraints again. "You just can't."
"Right...well." John looked around him, then comically put his hands on his hips and shrugged at him. "I think we'll risk it."
"Grrrr!"
"Oh stop tormenting the dog will you?" Izzy groaned. "You're not the one that has to put up with his pining and snarling 24/7. Give me a break sir?"
Todd almost pouted. He had never felt so underappreciated in his life. He was a genius killing machine, and they were poking him like a tied up kitten doing something funny.
"Am I going to leave then?"
"Yup, as soon as possible."
"I will be glad of that. Although...I was looking forward to some quality time with Isabelle." She was already unhooking his regular restraining belt from the bed arms. "What a shame."
"Oh yes of course. I'm personally heartbroken." She rolled her eyes, grabbing his shoulder and yanking him into an upright position on the bed. "I mean, we were going to talk long walks down the beach, fly a kite, maybe go splash in the sea. And then there was the picnic! Good times." Sarcasm oozed from her snarky tone, her hands roughing working to get him on his feet and out the Stargate ASAP. "Maybe next time?" His boots hit the floor and his form towered over hers. He leaned over her, darkening the mood around them all. John even stopped grinning and poised his hand over his sidearm.
"Next time we meet could be on the battlefield, Isabelle Reynolds." She didn't say anything to that. she knew that that meant. The intensity of his insane toothy grin told her exactly what that meant. If he met her in the field, she was dead. "I will look for you." He whispered by her ear, some of his earthy musk teasing her nostrils as his dreads fell in front of her face. His breath was on her ear as he whispered huskily in her ear. She could almost feel the smirk on his lips. "Imagine the fun we'll have. You won't be smirking then, Izzy..."
"That's enough." John fisted at his shoulders and yanked him off her, making the taller man stumble to get his balance. Izzy was frozen in place, her features fixed onto her poker face. On the inside however, she was a mixture of fear, anger and anticipation. That's what be made her feel. John was dragging the grinning Wraith backwards, when she spoke up.
"Hay fish face!" John stopped in the doorway, Todd cocking his head to one side curiously at her. she'd put a big cheeky grin on her face and pointed at him with her thumb up, and one finger 'aimed' at him. "Just so you know, I'll be looking for you too. Probably down the barrel of my p-90." Todd started cackling with amusement, finally dragged out of the door towards the gate, where a sack would no doubt find its way over his head.
After 5 minutes she released all the air from her lungs and sank into her seat.
That was intense.
She rubbed her hands over her face, hoping her lingering worries would vanish with the action.
If only they did.
"Oh...i see." Mina gulped, haphazardly collecting everything she would need for a therapy session/ mental evaluation.
"Is this going to be alright? I did ask Dr Royen first being the head of the department and your senior, but she refused."
"And I am the only other female psychiatrist left. I understand." She pulled a bobble from her draw and tied her hair into a high ponytail. She fussed with her fringe, cleaned her glasses, took a drink of water and then turned to the commander, who was looking at her with concern. "I'm sorry I didn't answer your question. Yes." She let out a deep breath, collecting herself and putting her shrink face on. "I am more than capable of being professional and efficient with this patient. You have expressed her willingness, and her inability to feed on me, so I will simply do my job." She nodded, and followed the sceptical blonde haired genius to the room they were keeping her.
The Queen Wraith.
The base was abuzz with talk of the Wraith they'd found in one of the labs. Over some moonshine wine and candles only last night was Mina speculating over this development with Izzy. That, and the relief her temperamental brunette friend was feeling about Todd's departure.
But not she was going to be face to face with the Wraith.
As she was face to face with the door, she steeled her fear and nerves, and nodded to the guard to open the door.
Immediately her eyes found the ethereal creature sat on the bed with eager red eyes. She was now wearing what could have been one of Izzy's uniforms, black boots, green camouflage trousers, black leather belt and a long sleeved black t-shirt tucked into her trousers.
"Greetings Mina." Her voice was a lot softer than she'd been expecting, she thought. Mina looked her over, seeing she was indeed sat on the bed, but her hands were on her knees and she was leaning forward slightly. She was clearly excited, or eager to begin. She was also smiling brightly...something she also didn't expect.
"Good morning. My name is Dr Mina Swift."
"I am aware." She nodded vigorously, her snowy hair falling forward over her shoulders as she did so. "Oh, forgive me. I assumed I was to call you by your first name." Mina blinked at her, feeling very uneasy. "I sense that I am supposed to show respect for your title and refer to you by your title and family name. I will obey this in future." She nodded again, and pointed to a chair. She'd dragged it over from the dressing table, and put it opposite her.
Very close, Mina thought. "Oh, you can move it to any desired distance of your pleasing. I am also called Gwena now."
"Now?" Mina finally crossed the threshold, flinching only slightly as the door locked behind her. she grabbed the back of the chair, pulled it away so it was twice the distance from her as it had previously been, then sat in it.
"Oh yes. My name is difficult to pronounce in your tongue. Your folds are not accustomed to it. I have chosen the name Gwena for its similar phonetic pronunciations. Well, 30% similar. I also like it." she nodded, her red eyes eerily bright. Mina was sure her patient was smiling so much to try and put her at ease.
If anything it was freaking her out more. Then again, perhaps I'm just too used to Izzy's pouting and scowling?
"Who is Izzy?" Her blue eyes snapped to the Wraith. "Oh, I am very sorry. I assure you I am not entering your mind. I am trying to ignore your thoughts, but those who are unaware of their mental capacities, such as humans, are unable to shield their thoughts." She chuckled nervously and started to play with a lock of her long hair. "It's like someone at the other side of the room is having a conversation, and despite you trying not to, you overhear what they are saying. It's more evident when there is an emotion attached to the thought.
"She is a friend." She answered, starting her usual form. "I'm going to start this session with some questions. Is that all right?"
"Oh yes. That will make you more comfortable." Gwena smiled and nodded to her to being, her hands returning to her lap. "I am Gwena." Mina had opened her mouth to ask for her full name, blinked, and wrote Gwena down instead. "Ignoring my time in stasis I am 16." Mina almost fell out of the chair.
"You are WHAT?!" It was very rare for the keen eyed, intricate woman that was Mina Swift to lose her mental balance like that. "You are seriously 16?"
"Yes, ignoring the stasis time. I am unsure as to how many thousand years I have been in stasis. I approximate it to be 10,000, give or take." Gwena picked up a brush next to her on the bed and started to tend to her hair. "It is very thick now." she answered the mental question of 'why is she doing that now?'.
"Right." Mina recorded the age, and jumped out with the next question before the Wraith could read it from her mind. "Do you have any health issues I need to be aware of?"
"Oh no. Dr Carlson Beckett examined me before you arrived this morning and says I am as fit as a fiddle. He didn't however explain what a fiddle is, but he was smiling at the time so I assumed that it has an acceptable level of fitness."
"Ok." Mina wrote no. "Now the questions have been customised to your situation. When you require more sustenance, do you feel the same level of hunger as a Wraith?" this was not a topic she was comfortable with...
"Oh, well, before I went into stasis I found that be eating four power packs a day I maintained the same level of hunger as a human when they are hungry. I do not feel 'the hunger' if that is what you are asking." Gwena cocked her head to one side, her eyes penetrating Mina's and making her feel a chill all over. "If I was starved of nutrients I would feel the hunger, but I am incapable of getting sustenance from anything but the..." she started to giggle into her hands. "I'm sorry. Your scientist Rodney McKay as called them power packs I believe?"
"And you find that amusing?" Mina couldn't help a small smile on her lips at that. this woman, if she wasn't blue, could have fooled her to be a lovely young lady. She's 16! That thought just kept boomeranging around her head. It both astonished her, and worried her.
"Yes I do. It's very crude, in an endearing sort of way. Rodney McKay appears to be very fond of naming Atlantian technology. They are, by my best translation into your tongue, called nutrient pouches. I mentioned that in front of him once and heard him sulking in his head. He believes his name for them are cooler. Would it be best in the endeavour of befriending him to appease his need to call them power packs?"
"It would help with a man like Rodney." She chuckled, putting her pen down for now. Perhaps talking casually like this was the best way. That way she might not be able to jump the gun with what to say. Mina wanted to see her natural responses. Spontaneity was the best way to see this. "Is it important to you for him to like you?"
"Well, it's important for everyone to like me. I want to help everyone, after all. While ever they fear me, I will be locked in this room." Gwena slowly rose to her feet and walked over to the dressing table, making sure to stick to the wall line to give Mina as much space as possible. She put the bush in the draw, and picked up a glass. "Would you like a drink of water?"
"Yes please." Mina watched the Wraith walk over to a kitchenette area, grab a clean glass and pour them both a drink. She then walked back over to the dresser, put Mina's drink there, and returned to the bed. "Thank you." Mina retrieved her drink, thankful the woman wasn't going to make her take it from her hand... Mina then furrowed her eyebrows and pointed to her as she took a sip of her water. "Why are you drinking water?"
"Hmm? Oh, not for nutritional needs. I simply...enjoy it. I guess it's an old habit." There was a sadness in her crimson eyes, which lowered to stare down her glass.
"I see...are there any other old habits you still do?"
"I am unsure. Within myself I feel as if I am the same as before. It's only when I look at myself, or other people look at me that I feel...different."
"Do you miss being human?"
Ordinarily Mina used a more gently gently approach to getting her patient to trust her and volunteer their thoughts and feelings. But so far Gwena had been totally honest and wearing her heart on her sleeve. This kind of woman clearly didn't see the value of keeping secrets, or being discrete.
"Of course." She smiled sadly. "If I hadn't don't this I would be with my father now." Her eyes were watering, and her hands were trembling around the glass of water. "If I hadn't been so rash I could have left with my father and ascended with him."
"You think your decision was rash?"
"Well." She looked up and smiled sadly, a tear falling down her cheek. "It was certainly badly timed." She laughed sadly, putting her glass down on the floor.
"Yes, I have been briefed on all the information you have already provided us. The project had already been scrapped in favour of evacuating the city before you..."
"Changed?" she offered, smoothing her hands down her legs. "Yes, you are quite right. My father was so...I might have well have died when he had to leave me behind...the way he looked at me..."
Mina watched the woman, no, the girl put her face in her hands and sob. Her shoulders shook with it, and the urge to go and comfort her was strong.
Her self preservation was stronger.
"I didn't mean to upset you Gwena."
"No, no it's ok." She sniffed and wiped her face with her hands. "I promised myself I wouldn't cry anymore. I cried for 3 months after they left, before I got the courage up to enter the stasis chamber." Mina felt her heart ache for the girl.
Her people didn't just leave her, they left her alone. They left her to enter the sleeplessness of a stasis pod, alone. It didn't take her years of training to see the girl before her was incredibly lonely.
"You have been very honest with me Gwena." That caught her attention. "We've made progress today and I'd like to leave it there."
"Oh, ok." She smiled at her sadly, only to frown when Mina collected her things and headed for the door. "Oh, so you're leaving then?"
"Our session is over. I'll be back tomorrow."
"In-in the morning?" Gwena got to her feet and took a couple of desperate steps, before forcing herself to stop. She could sense Mina tense up from her approach. "Or you could stay a while." There was a desperation in her eyes, and it hurt Mina to stay her ground. But she was a professional.
"I'll be back tomorrow morning Gwena. Take care." She waved her off and knocked on the door. The guards opened it, 6 guns aimed at her. Mina gulped, let one of them grab her bicep and rag her out, before locking the door again. One of the armed soldiers grabbed her wrist and yanked her down the corridor. "You don't have to pull me so hard Izzy."
"What?! I don't, do I?" Isabelle jerked her friend to a stop, stomping her foot and pointing at her face. "You just had some alone time with a freaking Wraith Queen?! You never mentioned this little arrangement last night!" She hissed, fisting her hands by her sides and aiming her sharp blue eyes at her slightly amused friend. "What?!"
"I found out this morning Izzy." She giggled and patted her shoulder, calming her considerably. A trick she learned quickly after befriending the ticking time bomb. "Come on. let's go get coffee and I'll tell you nothing about it."
"...spoil sport." Izzy sulked, hating doctor patient confidentially. She always said that the perk of having a shrink as a friend was surely the juicy gossip. Somehow that line never worked for her... "Could be worse."
"Oh, how so?" the women sat in the canteen with cups of coffee. Mina jotted down notes about her session with Gwena, but held the clipboard at an angle so her curious friend couldn't see.
"Well, at least the Wraith you're having sessions with isn't Todd. That guy is fucking scary." Izzy pushed a stray lock of brown hair behind her ears, having it down on her shoulders today. "I practically told me he wants to see me on the battle field so he can kill me."
"Nah." Mina sipped her coffee, cool as a cucumber. "He'll torture you for days first." Izzy almost spat her coffee out. "Trust me. I saw how he was looking at you. Psychopaths look at their victims that way. Half way between hunger and lust." Mina giggled at her wigged out friend, who was doing a very cute impression of a gaping gold fish. "Well, it was either that or he liked you."
"...ew...somehow the prospect of Todd wanting to get his jiggy on with me is worse than the prospect of excruciating prolonged torture and death."
"Yes, I thought you'd think that." Mina grinned with glee and snickering to herself. Izzy had just physically shivered all over at the thought of Todd.
"ew ew ew."
3 weeks later.
"...come again?"
"Oh lord." Mina pinched her nose and took a depth breath. Sam smiled when she pushed her glasses up her nose, much like Daniel did when he was about to plead the case of yet another civilisation of people they need to save. "I have been visiting this girl-"
"Wraith." John Sheppard cut in with maximum snarky bad boy charm, his speciality.
"..." Mina almost channelled Izzy and glared at him. "girl, Colonel. The patient is a 16 year old girl, trapped in a Wraith's body."
"Like I said." John folded his arms and grinned sarcastically. "Wraith."
"SHE." Mina stopped herself, having raised her voice out of frustration. "Ahem. Gwena in my professional opinion is not dangerous. I have had daily meetings with her for 3 weeks and she fits the profile of a teenage adolescent with severe abandonment issues and the desperate need for approval." Mina had her business face on, and as this was business, focused on the Boss lady.
Mina was stood before the unofficial council of Atlantis. Sam, the head, John, her second in command, Teyla, the heart, Ronon, the military adviser to John, and Rodney, who...well he was Rodney. He had to be present for everything to fix everything.
"Not dangerous." Ronon laughed with disbelief. "The Queen Wraith is not dangerous?"
"She wasn't born and raised a Wraith. She has been transformed into one. Her mind is still that of a 16 year old girl." Mina folded her arms, becoming really annoyed with all the arduous resistance she was getting. "Who's people were under threat of annihilation, her father's life work being what she believed the answer to their problems. Her need for reaffirmed approval started with a wraith queen killing her mother, and then she watched as her people were being picked off. Her father believed his project was the answer!" She threw her arms around, gesturing passionately with her hands as she spoke. "He said he would do it if he was a woman. It would only work with females and Gwena is a female. She thought she was doing her duty to her father and her people."
"Becoming a Wraith was her duty?" John raised a brow at her, and shared a 'still don't get it' look with Ronon.
"She sacrificed herself for her people." Teyla leaned forward on the desk and shared a sympathetic thought for the girl. "An admirable quality we all share."
"Thank you!" Mina had at least reached someone. "And she is incapable of feeding off humans, right?" she rounded on Rodney who pursed his lips, as if reluctant to release his words into the room. But alas, this was Rodney McKay. His expert opinion and findings were always relevant.
"Yes the local databank in the lab supports that she can't feed off of humans. We're not on her menu."
"So what threat is a scared little girl? All she wants is someone to care about her. There isn't a violent bone in her body."
"Erm, Doc." Ronon piped up again. "She's a waith. Their bones are violent as standard."
"Wow, that was good big guy." John high fived him, despite the heated glare he got for the immature display from Sam.
"Regardless." The commander finally spoke up. "If we agreed with you that she no longer had to be guarded 24/7 by an armed squad of guards, we couldn't take all eyes off her. she'd need watching. And...if she really is 16 she needs a guardian." Sam rounded her gaze on the doctor and questioned her conviction. Mina nodded, knowing what she'd have to be willing to do.
"I'll take her."
The room was silent. "Well, no one knows or trusts her more than I do. I can also remain objective and spot the first signs of anything worrying in her behaviour. I'll be her guardian." She felt a massive weight of commitment suddenly plummet into her stomach, making worrisome knots there and gnawing at her common sense. Did she really just agree to 'mommy' Gwen? Apparently she had.
"No offence, but if she does pull a fast one, and let's be fair here, she's a Wraith. That is very likely to happen. If she does turn coat." John raised a hand, stopping Mina from interrupting him. "I said if...then you're not equipped or trained to handle the situation. Spotting it is one thing. Dealing with it is another thing entirely."
"..." he had her there. What could a Shrink do against an enraged Queen Wraith? A Super Queen Wraith no less?
As she was panicking and the images of Gwena in a holding cell for the rest of her life appeared into her mind, there was a knocking at the door. All eyes turned to it, and Sam got up from her seat to open it. Her curious eyes fixed into a 'oh really?' look when she found a fidgeting Isabelle Reynolds stood there.
"Now before you court marshal me for eavesdropping, I came by thinking you'd be done to pick up Mina. She's my friend. Has been for 6 years. Mam." She saluted her commander and gulped deeply. Sam folded her arms and opened her mouth, sarcasm dripping from her every word.
"...you usually say 'before you court marshal me' and follow it with a reason not to do so. Not why you were eavesdropping in the first place...?"
"Oh right." She coughed to clear her throat, not daring to lower her hand from its respectful position by her forehead. "I'll do it."
"...you'll do what exactly?" Sam side stepped and allowed the rest of the room to see and hear her.
"I'll be the guard that shoots the wraith if she freaks out, Mam."
Mina dropped her face into her hands. Why couldn't Izzy just let her deal with it on her own? She knew full well that Izzy had been hiding behind the door the whole time. She didn't do anything by accident.
Now she's going to get herself dishonourably discharged. Damn it Izzy!"
"Are you alright with that Dr Swift?" Mina's eyes widened and she snapped her head out of her hands to look at the commander.
"...yes. That's fine."
"You'll have to all live in the same quarters?" Sam walked back to her place in the middle of the desk, ignoring the astounded faces of disbelief from her colleagues.
"That's fine commander." Mina nodded frantically, amazed at what just happened.
Despite her hate for wraith, Izzy had just volunteered to live with one for Mina's sake. She would so owe her one for this.
"Alright then. I'll arrange for you all to me moved to a secure location away from everyone else. Just need to find the right place with 3 bedrooms. Step forward Reynolds."
"Yes Mam!" Isabelle marched forward and stood to attention before the commander.
"...this is your last chance. Understood?"
"Yes Mam. Thank you for the opportunity Mam." she saluted her again, like an obedient little dog. Sam resisted the urge to smile.
"You will of course be unarmed around her. we can't risk her getting her hands on a gun."
"Yes Mam." Sam regarded her, then looked to Mina who was showing her anxiety.
"I'm only agreeing to this as your specialism is hand to hand combat."
"Yes Mam. Thank you Mam."
"...go back to your quarters for now. I'll let you know when you're moving."
"Yes Mam. Thank you Mam." Izzy turned on her heel and marched out of the room, hooking arms with Mina and dragging her all the way to her room. She pushed the redhead inside and waited for the door to close behind them. "You fucking nutter."
"Thank you for volunteering to be her guard Izzy." Mina prepared herself for a good 30 minutes of being snarled at. She'd probably tell her every reason why they shouldn't do this, before telling her they were insane, and then question why she'd agreed to help her. Her friend would then finish with something along the lines of 'you owe me big time missy', before they'd be perfect friends again.
"What the hell Mina!" She hissed, pacing the room and running her hands back through her hair desperately. "A Wraith! We're going to be babysitting a freaking Wraith!"
"She used to be human." Mina added, despite the fact her friend wasn't listening. She decided to wait out the storm on her bed, picking up Gwena's patient file and adding to it.
"She could eat us! Like, in our sleep!"
"She can't feed on humans. Only power packs." Mina added boredly, wondering if she'd be allowed to go and tell Gwena the good news tomorrow, and how soon they'd be able to move in together. That girl was in a crucial stage in her development where she would solidify her perspective of right and wrong. She needed a parental role model to give her positive reinforcement and help her secure her morels accordingly. She hadn't particularly planned it being her...but she smiled. She was actually looking forward to it. these last few weeks had been very amusing.
"Like, hands nom nom nom!" Mina spared a cynical look to her ranting friend, before returning to her thoughts. She remembered the second time she'd turned up for a therapy session. Gwena had put a pair of oven gloves on her hands, stating that she might be more comfortable around her if she thought her hands were incapable of hurting her.
The third time Gwena had made her a sandwich. A pickle sandwich. It was literally just bread and a long piece of green pickle in the middle. She'd beamed a smile and said that the guard said that this was his favourite sandwich, so she'd requested it for her.
Every time after that Mina had opened up to the young woman, unable to remain stoic in her presence. Once you looked past the ancient-turned-wraith exterior, she was just a 16 year old eager to please and desperate for company. That's when she'd started to stay after their therapy sessions. Mina also brought things like jigsaws and board games with her to play with. Monopoly had been her favourite. That made her giggle.
"I am unsure about the pieces of this board. I do not recognise the items, except for this one. This seems to be some sort of canine and that is a piece of clothing."
"Yes Gwena, that's a top hat."
"Well of course. Where else would you put a hat but on the top?"
"...No it...it's called a top hat because of the style of hat it is."
"...is there a style where the hat goes on the bottom then? That is very strange."
Mina suppressed the urge to actually giggle at the memory and tuned her friend's ranting.
"I mean, I panicked. I heard you being grilled in there and I acted." Izzy at lowered to her bum on the floor holding her head as she shook it. "I always do that. I never think before I act. It's inherited you know, not thinking first. My dad was the same."
So we've reached the 'I'm insane' and why I did it part. Right, not long before she accepts it then.
Mina put her book down and started to think about bringing Gwena some books. Would she be able to read English? I suppose I could ask around to see if there is a way of translating English into Ancient...
"I want you to promise me we're going to be careful about this." Mina rejoined the conversation at that, her friend finally addressing her directly.
"Of course."
"I mean it because this is some serious shit we've signed up for." Izzy pointed at her with a worried yet determined gaze. "I won't let her hurt you or anyone else."
"We'll be careful. And don't worry. Once you get to know her you'll like her too. She's a sweet girl really."
"...sweet human eating girl...sure..."
"Oh Isabelle." Mina snapped, contemplating throwing the damn book at her. "She. Does. Not. Eat. Humans. She consumes that goo in the power packs."
"...right...sure..."
"Just try to like her? please?" Mina walked over to her friend and knelt before her. She put her hands on her shoulders, getting her friend to look at her reluctantly.
Izzy hated when she got her in 'the look'. Her glasses would slide halfway down her nose and her baby blues would almost stick to hers. "This girl has been through hell. She needs people to believe in her. she needs role models. She needs friends and family. We can be what she needs, but looking at her as 'a human eating wraith' is only going to hurt her. she doesn't deserve that."
"but-"
"Isabelle." Her tone was strong but filled with compassion. It stripped any of her arguments from her tongue. "This 16 year old girl ended her life as a human as she knew it to save her people. Her people then abandoned her. Her own father left her here to rot. He looked at her like she'd died. And yet she still only wants someone to actually care about her. she is still sweet. She is still good." She raised a hand and pushed a stray lock of brown hair behind her friend's ear. "It's already a miracle this girl doesn't have resentment issues. All she needs is some goodness. Can we be that goodness for her?"
"...i'm a bitch though..."
"True."
"Hay!" Izzy pouted angrily, only for her friend to chuckle at her display.
"You're a good bitch though. You'll be a strong figure for her to look up to. I'll do all the motherly things."
"Oh, good." Mina then smiled, patted her head, and returned to her bed and her book. "...wait a minute..." Izzy jumped to her feet comically and pointed at her friend. "If you're the mom then I'm the dad?! I'm NOT being her daddy figure!"
"Of course you're not." Mina licked her finger and turned the page of her book. She had answered in perfect monotone, indicating she hadn't believed a word she just said.
"OOOoooOOOOoooo!" Izzy hissed and stormed towards the door. She turned and had her last two cents before making her dramatic exit. "You owe me BIG TIME for this missy!"
Mina smiled to herself as she looked to the next page, alone at last.
