My Lovely Nue Ehr Chapter 2
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"No, I can't go on any longer...go on without me, you guys...I can't go on...I'll just lie here and wait for the end..."
"Sora, get your lazy, melodramatic ass off the ground or I'll drag you myself, or maybe just get someone else to do it because you're fat and heavy."
"But I'm huunnnnngryyyyyy...Please please PLEASE can't we find somewhere to eat?" Sora rolled over and stared into the night sky that forever engulfed Nalar Town. They'd been there almost a month now and they still hadn't found a permanent resident nor had they found any way to earn money to eat. Leon's savings were beginning to dry up and the store clerks were getting tired of having to convert Munny, which was the currency of all of Leon's savings, into Viro, which was the currency of Nalar. Leon's shoulder blade twitched and he whirled on Sora, grabbing a handful of his hair and yanking him to his feet, ignoring his sobs of pain and shock.
"Unless you want to sell yourself on these streets for money, which I doubt will happen because not even the most desperate old lecher would go for a skinny loud brat like you, then we won't be eating any time soon!" he snarled in his face and threw him to the cold, hard ground. Sora lay on the ground, whimpering to himself and swiping at the tears flooding his face, some seeping inconspicuously into his mouth. His eyes widened at this and he coughed harshly, giving himself the image of a pathetic toddler. Leon glared cynically at him, resisting the urge to kick him when he was down, but he still had his honor to consider. Ever since he and Sora had had to flee Traverse after Heartless attacks began getting out of control, Sora had been increasingly rebellious in public and increasingly depressed when he was alone...or when he so thought he was alone. Leon never had the patience to deal with children and he wasn't going to develop that patience now, not with Sora. He took a rough hold of Sora's collar and pulled him to his feet this time.
"Now, look, I'm not trying to make you cry, I'm just telling you the truth. I don't have money for us to eat; I have to save the rest of the money for an emergency. So if you're really that hungry, which I doubt seeing as we ate this morning, then I suggest waiting outside back kitchen doors and see if they think you're cute and give you free food. As for me, I'm gonna find us a place to sleep tonight." He held Sora closer to his face and waited for some kind of reaction
"I'm sorry Leon...Please don't hurt me anymore Leon, I'm really sorry." There were smears of red blotching Sora's face from crying, but his eyes were dark and masked, having expended all of his emotion on crying for days on end. This, of course, was not nearly the expression that Leon had expected and his expression softened without his consent. He dropped Sora and turned away quickly, holding his hands to his face to hide the blood that was overtaking his cheeks. 'I hate children, dammit! Brainwashing little demon!!'
"I'm going to find something to eat, Leon. I'll be home later, okay?" Sora got to his feet and dusted himself off, flashing a calm smile in Leon's direction, much unlike his trademark toothy grin. Leon didn't so much as turn around, but stalked off, obviously losing control of his emotions again. Sora watched him stumble off and turn the corner before he turned around and scanned his surroundings. The angel-shaped clock tower in the distance read 10:57, the inner workings visible through a small window below the 6 winding in preparation to chime the hour of 11. At this hour, most of the restaurants in town were closing their doors and heading home to their families. They had no idea how lucky they were, to have a family to be welcomed home by, to even have a home to go to. A night bar across the street from him was just opening its doors, a young woman in a white coat slipping a block under the door to keep it open. Seeing as it was the only place open within his current eyeshot, Sora waltzed right in, slinking a bit expecting to be caught for being underage. To his surprise, the woman who had opened the door seemed to be the only one working at the time. Sora loitered in the door for a moment, ready to dash out if the woman realized he was far too young to be in a bar.
"Are you coming in or staying out? If you're coming in, take a seat. If not, then stop blocking my door." She called to him, not even looking up from the glass she was wiping clean. She shook out the rag she was using, which didn't need cleaning at all since it was whiter than her coat, folded it, and stored it under the counter, setting the glass out in front of her. Sora crept up and had a seat in front of the glass, peering up over his eyes at the woman in front of him.
"Well, you certainly don't look familiar. What'll it be?"
"Do you have any food? I'm not that thirsty, I'm just hungry."
"Food? You came to a bar looking for food?"
"No place else is open. It's almost 11 o'clock. There was no other alternative, so I thought I'd ask...I don't really have any money, so I guess I'm looking for handouts. I'm sorry to bother you, I'll leave now."
"You know you could have some manners and wait for a lady to answer before stalking off into the cold again. I've got no interest in making a profit off of this place, I only do this to feed myself and have something to do with my free time. As for your dilemma, of course I have food, I live here. I just don't normally have customers who come in here looking for anything other than a beer barrel and the occasional fan service seeker. Fortunately, I have a security system that rivals the flames of Hell itself. Give me a moment; I can cook you up something. Any requests?"
"I dunno, maybe a sandwich or something..."
"How about pancakes?" she smirked.
"You have pancakes!? Yes, yes please!" Sora put his hands together and begged gratefully.
"I thought you'd like that one. Give me a second; I'll be back with it. You stay put, all right?" she crossed to the other end of the counter and exited, taking a flight of stairs to the upper floor and disappearing. Sora stayed on the stool, kicking his feet around in boredom, watching as a few more customers filtered in, most being old, bearded men who most likely had a fancy for the beautiful bartender. They all sat at least 2 seats away from him, whispering to each other about the 16-year-old kid in the bar, that being Sora. He folded his arms on the counter and laid his head down, his consciousness slipping away with the comforting warmth of the bar......
"Hey kid! What the fuck are you doing!?"
Sora's head flew up, the loud voice waking him with a start. Had he fallen asleep? That's embarrassing...and it seemed that the pretty bartender had returned. She was bending over, peering into his face, her coat falling forward with her so Sora could see down her shirt. She had plenty of cargo to hide too. Sora's face flooded with red, both being him blushing and the blood raining from his nose. He snatched up a napkin and stuffed it at his face, peering meekly at the bartender.
"Kid, why did you fall asleep on my counter?" her eyebrow twitched in suppressed rage, though it seemed like a silly thing to be angry about. The room was so comfortable, and Sora hadn't slept well in weeks, always tossing and turning from nightmares of his past.
"I'm sorry, miss, I will so tired and I—"
"Not miss, do not ever call me miss, just Yue will be fine."
"Uh, okay, Yue, I'm sorry, okay? Can I have my food now, please?" Sora pouted for a moment then took on a begging look. Yue looked displeased.
"You sure could work on your manners a bit, but yeah, here's your food." She set a plate of pancakes in front of him, a stack 7 pancakes high, and a take-out box in a plastic bag. "I made some sandwiches for you and your friend so you don't end up coming to me time and after time for food."
"My friend?"
Yue jabbed her index finger in the way of her front door, Sora's head turning in tandem to look in that direction. Indeed, Leon was sitting just inside the doorway, sound asleep. Sora's expression switched to shock. The thought of Leon caring about him enough to come looking for him and stay in a bar with actual people, which he could never stand, touched and disgusted him together. He cared for Leon indeed, but coming to look for him after his behavior that evening was just hypocritical. He banished the confusing thoughts and shoved a forkful of pancake into his mouth.
"How exactly did you know we were friends?"
"You mumbled his name in your sleep right when he walked in. I think he heard it and looked kind of surprised, so I figured there had to be something going on between you two, good or bad." She retrieved the cloth from beneath the counter and drew out her glass as well, going about her entertaining task of scrubbing the already clean glass. Sora nibbled humbly at his food, every now and then stealing a glance back up at her to find the status of her coat, but she tugged it up roughly every time. Sora tried one last time, but this time saw Yue's nose twitch, as if she smelled something unfamiliar. Right in tandem, a glass shattered in the back kitchen.
"I knew they'd break something eventually. Always so clumsy when I'm not around they are." She turned in that direction and shoved her hand on her hips, keeping her glass and rag. "I'll be back in just a second, hun. Gotta take care of the mess back there."
"Can't they do it?" Sora seemed confused. If her employees had broken a glass, who he assumed had broken it, weren't they capable of just getting a broom and cleaning it for themselves?
"Yeah, but then things get complicated. Never mind, I'll just be right back." She set down her precious glass, shoving the rag in it as if planning to return to it shortly, and stalked to the back kitchen. Sora watched her go, since her ass seemed as fascinating to him as her chest. Not that any 15-year-old normal boy could control himself, so he didn't feel too bad. As he watched her leave, he saw something black rush down the stairs just as she passed them. It rushed in back of her and stalked her from behind, stealthily keeping pace as if waiting to pounce at any moment. Sora latched his knees to the stool and leaned back to get a better view of exactly what was following Yue. The long antenna and tiny black body confirmed it to be a Shadow. He was obviously surprised since he wasn't aware that there even were Heartless in Nalar, but all the same, it was his job to get rid of them. He unlatched his knees and flipped gracefully from the stool, summoning his Keyblade in the process, pursuing Yue crouched half.
"Yue, look out!" he cried. Yue whirled around quickly enough to see the Shadow jump at her, looking like it wanted to land on her face. Sora dove for it, preparing to slash it in half in midair, but his plan was dismembered when a heeled foot struck his abdomen, sending him crashing to the floor on his right temple. The shock sent flairs of white into his vision, but he rose to his side to see Yue on the floor, cuddling the Shadow like it was her only child. The strangest thing was, the Shadow seemed to be frightened and was holding tightly to her as well.
"Kid, now what are you doing? What in the world did she do to you!?" Yue was livid now, rising fiercely to glare down at Sora on the floor, his hand to his throbbing temple. This was just too much to deal with at this time of night.
"Wait a minute... 'She'? What makes you think that thing has a gender?" Sora rose as well, though her height was far more threatening than his own. His Keyblade lay forgotten on the ground still.
"How dare you call Juka a thing!? I can't believe that insensitive, rude little monkeys like you still exist!" she boosted the Shadow she had named Juka up onto her shoulders, where "she" held onto her hair and snuggled it, pleased with its scent of lavender.
"Why are you protecting that thing!? They'll kill you all and then destroy this entire town!" Sora was now as frustrated as her, not being able to comprehend when someone would protect such a monster. Such monsters that had destroyed everything he held as familiar, taken everyone he loved, annihilated his life and broken his mind. "They've killed far more people than you can comprehend, why won't you let me kill them!?"
"Don't mix Juka in with the others! Juka and Taro and Nyko are my only companions in life, what you do to the others don't matter to me, but keep away from them!"
"You don't com close to understanding the destruction and havoc those things wreak, there are none that are different, they're all the same! I can come back tomorrow and they have you dead by then! There's no point in protecting them, they're just pretending to like you so it'll be easier to win your trust! They can't be trusted at all!"
"I'll bet they didn't do a thing to those towns! You're the reason those people die, you destroy those towns, doing what you think is justice! It's your fault they all die!"
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Yue-Moon in Chinese, but you probably knew that already.
Good? Bad? Sorry this took so long to write, I just transferred schools so it's difficult for me right now, and I'm not the best ahead of time plot writer...it's all kinda by-the-seat-of-my-pants plot. Thankfully this one's longer than chapter 1, but still pretty short. I'll just make it a long story with short chapters, how's that? You can probably figure out who the bartender is, my suspense writing sucks. / I'll explain everything in Chapter 3 if I need to. Please review! Reviews make me happy and when I'm happy, I write faster! I'm gonna go to sleep now yawn Thanks for reading, nighty night!