A/N: Sorry short chapter! I just had to get this part down, I will upload again soon! R&R!
Chapter 7
Leppun's mutilated body teetered on it's knees for a moment or two, and then slowly slumped to the ground with a thud, trailing driblets of blood after it.
The blood. It was everywhere. It had splattered in an eight foot diameter around the scene, it was still pulsing weakly from the gently twitching carcass, it was spreading in a pool from it. It was covering Greed's hands.
Sage had fallen backwards in shock when it had happened, and now she scrambled away from the crimson tide that was inching its way towards her. Her stomach roiled with revulsion and alarm, and for a moment she couldn't think straight. After staring at what used to be her arch enemy for a long moment, she looked up at greed, horror on her face.
He was looking at his hand, which looked like it was gloved in a dusky silver metal, with claws. It was slick with gore, and Sage felt her stomach threaten to empty. Greed did as he had before, and shook his hand to rid it of the blood. It slid easily off the metal.
Then, even as she stared at it, his hand began to spark and flash, and as if disappearing, the clawed glove shrank down his wrist, up his fingers, and was gone into his fingertips. He flexed his hand, and then shoved it into his pocket. Sage looked into his face.
He was grinning slightly, as he looked down at his handiwork.
"Wow, I've wanted to crush his head for a long time. Felt good!" he popped his neck and turned around, gesturing to someone to clean up his mess.
"Now," he said, beginning his circuit of the room once more, "have we all learned something?" A few people murmured something along the lines of "yes", but most just nodded. "Good. Class dismissed." He said with a sharp toothed grin, and people shuffled out silently. An air of distress went with them.
He turned to Sage and squatted down in front of her. She scooted away from him, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.
"Next time I ask you a question," he said, smiling still. "You answer me. Understand?"
He hadn't let go of her wrist, but held on to it tightly, locking eyes with her. Sage blanched under his unnatural gaze. Though they were smiling, his eyes still blazed dangerously, as they had during the questioning earlier. Sage merely nodded. Looking into his eyes was odd: They could be teasing and jovial, she knew, but now to her, they only appeared to be the eyes of a brutal killer.
"Great!" he exclaimed. "Now. Tell me what happened." He said patronizingly.
After a large pause, during which she tried to bring herself back to her body, Sage explained haltingly. Frankly, it was awkward and embarrassing to try and speak to him about it, especially now. It wasn't like he was going to be sympathetic to her, or pity her. She tried to give him a professional sounding brief, purely the bare essentials of the tale, to get it over with and retain some dignity.
She failed miserably.
Half way through, her eyes misted up, and her fury at herself only made it worse. Finally, she simply threw her head into her good hand and huffed in frustration, trying to compose herself and will Greed away. She had never really understood how embarrassment made people wish to be swallowed up by the earth or to drop dead until now. She sniffled.
Greed shifted, then said, "Yeaaaah…he was a douche. Always had something up his ass. Sounds good to talk about him in past tense, though!" he chuckled. Sage glared at him through her fingers. He was scratching his tummy, looking at the still bloody body of Leppun. "God, I didn't know how much I hated that bastard till now. Welp! Thanks for an excuse to kill the jack ass!" he said brightly.
Sage just looked at him, another few tears slipping down her face, still covered with her hand. He sure blew hot and cold. One moment, he was crushing a man's head with nothing but his hand, the next, he was…was he trying to cheer her up? She slumped her head down again and sighed heavily.
"God, why are you always so down?" he said, rubbing the back of his neck. Sage looked up sharply.
"What?"
Greed rolled his eyes. "You can never take a joke, you're always frowning, you look like hell, and you never laugh— ever. The list is longer than that, Little Hostage, but I don't wanna overwhelm ya." He was drawling again.
Sage was indignant. "wha….Never….Excuse me?"
Greeds grin faltered a bit.
"I! …oh! I was kidnapped….unkindly, might I add, beaten several times, stuffed into a tiny room, barely any food, no bath for like 4 days, treated rudely by nearly everyone I meet, 'the list goes on', and you're mad cuz I don't laugh? Or look nice?" she looked at him bewilderedly. "Well, I do apologize, your highness for, for not having the best of—"
"Yeah whatever, you can stop now, I get the point. But man, haven't you ever heard of looking on the bright side?" he sneered.
Sage glared at him. "Care to share with me what that would be?"
"You have a roof over your head, clothes provided for you, hot showers whenever you like, your worst enemy is dead—you're welcome—there is a lot to be happy about. Jeez." He finished with a "Tch".
Sage just slouched there, looking at him, first with anger and frustration at his lack of understanding, then mournfully. Finally she let her head drop again.
Greed sighed audibly. "See what I mean?"
"Go away." She sniveled.
He didn't. He considered her for a while, and then said "Hey. We're supposed to be friends, right?"
Sage said "Psh. Hypothetically" Under her breath.
He moved behind her and grasped her numb right arm in one large hand, and braced his other arm on her shoulder.
Alarm rose in her and she began breathing hard, saying "Wait, do you know what your doing? I'm not sure this is a good plan to rekindle a non-existent—"
"Deep breath" he said.
She had no choice, so she gulped in a massive amount of air. Mid-breath, she felt a firm pressure, a twist, a shove, and then ceearack! Her shoulder snapped into place and she cried out loud, stars dancing before her eyes. Her already wonky vision wavered, and the only thing she was aware of was the two sturdy pressures on either side of her upper waist, holding her upright.
Finally her senses righted, and her shoulder was only mildly throbbing, which, she assumed, was better than the nothing she had felt only a moment before.
Greed, seeing she had recovered, removed his hands, and then pounded her on the back. "Better?" he asked, again, patronizingly. She nodded shakily. "Good. Roa!" he called.
Roa was at the door in a heartbeat.
"Take her and…do your thing. Fix her up."
Sage turned around, about to say thank you, or something, she didn't know, but he was already walking away.
