Disclaimer: All characters belong to NetEase. I'm merely trying to write here.
Helena smiles. Joseph is the hunter and more importantly, he's being friendly. Words cannot describe her relief, having been eliminated in two consecutive matches without a chance to decode. Her darling's loving embrace is just what she needs. But before she can indulge herself, she has to contribute to the team's workload first. She turns to Mini Joseph, her faithful pet. "Let's finish one cipher first then we meet Joseph, alright?"
"Hm," a deep masculine voice answers her.
Bewildered by the unexpected reply, Helena suddenly stops in her tracks towards the nearby cipher machine, looking around trying to find who it was. It was vaguely similar to the Black Guard's voice—could she be mistaken and the camera nearby was just her imagination? Or has she been traumatized by the heart-pounding chase last match against him that she's beginning to hear him even if he's not here?
The same sound comes back in a small chuckle, eerily close. It couldn't be Wu Chang—the Photographer's camera flash has just gone off. But she knows of Fan Wujiu's unmistakable timbre and she'd never forget a voice. Yet, if he's not here, who? No one else is with her—
A realization strikes her like lightning. She's not really alone. She turns to her small companion who is just as disbelieving as her, covering his mouth in shock.
"Helena!" Joseph exclaims once he sees the blind woman running towards him. He encloses her in a half-embrace as she reaches for him, holding her by her arms. "I missed you! What took you so long?" She usually comes bounding up to him whenever he's friendly.
"I just wanted to finish a cipher since I hardly touched one last match," the woman in maroon chirps, but her downcast expression doesn't escape him.
"What troubles you, sweetheart?" He pulls her closer, lifting her chin up with a finger to fully gaze at her. "Tell me. Is there something I can do to help you?"
"Oh, I don't know, darling," she confesses, fiddling with the laces of his leather gauntlet. "I don't think anyone can fix it. Little Jo himself doesn't know how it happened and he's just as distressed as I am."
His curiosity is piqued. Helena hardly has any problems with her pet. "What are you talking about?"
"It's Little Jo," she responds, looking more troubled than she should be as she gazes at the empty ground (in Joseph's perspective) beside her. "He has a voice now… and it sounds like Wu Chang…"
At first, Joseph doesn't know how to feel, blinking slowly as he processes her words. He doesn't really have any gripe with his miniature version—except that he spends too much time with Helena—but he had supposed that if the runt would have a voice it should be identical to his, not to some other hunter.
His expression turns sour. Does the pipsqueak deign his smooth baritone voice too unpleasant to be his as well? Helena loves his voice, so why doesn't the upstart? Or perhaps the problem is deeper than that… The gamemasters might be in league with the squirt, working together to aggravate him with an admittedly trivial but greatly important detail now that it's come to light.
"That is unfortunate, Helena," he finally says, embracing her fully both to comfort her and to temper his irritation. "I wish I could protect you from that horrid imagery…" Simply imagining the jarring juxtaposition is enough to disturb him. With his hands caressing Helena's back, Joseph glares at the spot on the ground where Mini Jo is undoubtedly standing.
You're lucky I can't see you, Little Me. How dare you reject my voice and trouble Helena like this?!
"What if it's permanent?" she whimpers from where her face is buried in his chest. "If he sounded cute or at least like you, I wouldn't mind. It feels wrong to hear anything else from him…"
The answer is rather simple. Hiding his smirk is hard, however. "Then, I believe there's no other choice," he states seriously, still (hopefully) maintaining eye contact with the invisible pet. "You'd have to let him go."
Having been privy to the whole conversation—and despising every part of it—the miniature hunter yelps in alarm. He tugs at Mongol's skirt, pleading with his wide misty eyes for her not to listen to Apollo. He's not too fond of this development, either. Pets shouldn't have voices, especially ones that are deeper than those of their respective progenitors. Having a big booming voice makes him feel strong and powerful, yes, but he doesn't want it anymore if it's only going to irk his big look-alike more and make his master send him away.
"Please, don't…" he begs with his newfound voice, looking up at her with tears threatening to fall from his bright eyes. "Me quiet, no talk…" He shakes his head to accentuate his statement. "Me stay… please?"
Helena softens at his sincere entreaty. Despite the unfitting voice he acquired, he's still her pet and she doesn't want to be without his companionship.
"Aww, don't cry, Little Jo." Kneeling down to his height, she wipes his tears away. "I won't do that to you. You're the only pet for me. I just don't like your voice, is all. I hope it's not permanent."
"Yes, you better hope, Little Me," Joseph chimes in, kneeling down as well to face his unseen doppelganger. His irate eyes stare through quivering identical orbs. "We wouldn't want to upset Helena anymore, right?"
"Joseph, it's not his fault," she chides, petting Mini Jo's white hair to console him. "If his voice stays like that, I'll ask the gamemasters about it. Hopefully, there's an answer to this."
Miniature Joseph eagerly nods, grasping Helena's hands with his tiny ones. He scowls at the hunter who's getting better at estimating his location. Even if Helena won't send him away, he will behave just to prove how good of a pet he is.
"Still, I'm not comfortable with the image of a little me having Wu Chang's voice," the chiton-wearing man remarks as he stands up, his brows knitted in distress. "No, this won't do, Helena." He offers the lady a hand which she confusedly takes, heaving her up to join him.
"Jo—?" Her question is cut off by the man sweeping her off her feet. "What—?"
"Let's run away from the little monster! Somewhere he can't follow!" he exclaims, earning the other nearby survivors' bafflement and the mentioned pet's indignation.
"Me, not monster! Me, good pet!" Mini Jo protests, swinging his sword at Joseph's exposed leg and missing it completely because of his incorporeal status to hunters. He doesn't want his look-alike of all people to call him names; it's not his fault that the game is glitchy as can be. The French in Greek clothes seems to be aware of his displeasure, smiling smugly as he shares a silent exchange with the Mongolian-costumed Briton in his arms.
Helena gasps in obviously feigned fear. "Save me, Joseph! Please, don't let him take me!" She clings to Joseph's neck eagerly, but not before casting a playful smile to her pet.
"Fear not, my lady!" he proudly proclaims, planting a chaste kiss on her forehead to 'reassure' her. "His little sword and deep voice won't harm you!"
The pet pouts furiously when the hunter casts a challenging look in his direction, sneering as he darts away with Helena, "You won't catch us, Little Me!"
"Hmph!" Incensed at the challenge yet excited for a game of chase, Miniature Joseph charges onward with his sword raised high, following the Photographer and The Mind's Eye.
Thankfully, to everyone's relief, it only lasted for one match.