Hello everyone! I just wanted to let you know that after this chapter I will be undergoing some edits with previous chapters (Alongside the character and information page) and won't post a new one for a while most likely until those are done. This is all due to the recent video Camila Cuevas posted, information about Glitchtale's world, landscape, magic, and many other things. In order to fit in with it all, I feel like I should edit a few things in many of the chapters and it could take some time. Thanks for understanding!
Boukyaku and CC stepped forward towards the hulking metal of pure technology and power, hooked right in the air by four long tubes that would've drawn in and out electricity if it was powered. The whole thing was shaped like one massive skull of an unknown creature, the shape and structure resembling eye sockets and holes where the nose would've been. On its sides were two more tubes, supposedly meant to draw out magic, especially determination.
This was the DT Extractor, hidden away in the lower levels of an abandoned and eerie section of the lab. The place completely struck Boukyaku's creepy list. The place smelled of sweet lemons and mildew, its culprit being the fog lingering in the air with water droplets latching onto the wall. It seemed to all come from the ventilation system, possibly an unfixed issue. In fact, there were a lot of issues with the place being run down; There was barely any light, the whole place was a dark and sickly green, cracks littered the tiles, the wallpaper showed age and molding... it didn't help that it always felt like someone was watching.
And it turns out there was.
There happened to be life actually lingering around, much to the corrupted humans' surprise. Boukyaku clones, remnants the true one failed to kill off. Apparently, not everyone that had been in search of the DT Extractor had returned to their pocket dimension to give the good news, right before he had killed them off.
Thankfully, for them, the clones weren't hard to dispatch. None of them expected to be swiftly killed off by another Boukyaku of all people, they all had instead been excited to see him and CC; That was until their constructed souls were quickly shattered into magical dust. A pile of pitch-black corpses and pools of purple glowing blood would be their only lasting impact, the corrupted humans being quick to disregard them after that.
"I feel like a doctor could sneak up on us next, this lab is just teeming with technology." Boukyaku joked. His eyes would suddenly widen and he would quickly look down at CC. "Oh god, there's one right now!"
"I'm not even a fucking doctor," CC's face scrunched up in confusion, "I'm an alchemist."
"Eh. Tomato Potatoe."
"Whatever. Now that we got your clones out of the way, I can have my moment." CC grumbled.
"What moment?" Boukyaku openly wondered with a playful grin.
"The one with the Spirit Extractor as you shut up for a minute..." The corrupted child huffed, fuming at his ally's antics.
Boukyaku nodded and did a zipper motion across its mouth, going mostly silent. It didn't stop him from cackling behind his teeth.
"Insufferable..." CC muttered under his breath before turning towards the DT Extractor in all its glory. To him, this was a buried treasure he and Boukyaku had found, he was a fanatic when it came to technology and magic and this massive metallic structure fitted both criteria. He knew what it was capable of, right down to its base design. It made him feel giddy to his core observing it without distraction. An excited blush came on his face as he moved closer to it and placed a hand on its skull-like plating.
"Ah, at last we've found you! Your sheer power is unrivaled by most technology, I've studied your blueprints front and back nearly every day! It's amazing your creator made something like you..." CC leaned forward, his eyes darkening, "You'd make a perfect addition to a new plan I've been stirring up. All I need to do is get you out of this stuffy lab and somewhere you'd be of true use. No spirit will be able to handle what forces I can manifest from you."
The corrupted child was a fan of soul-based technology to say the very least, derived from his obsession with studying souls and magic through experimentation. While Boukyaku saw the DT Extractor as just some important object they needed, CC saw it as some kind of holy grail. He was beyond ecstatic to finally stumble across the machine; he wasn't lying when he said he had studied its blueprints– even if they were a little outdated the more he looked at the real deal.
"Flirting with a machine..? Man, you're desperate." Boukyaku interrupted, holding in a laugh.
CC possessively gripped onto the DT Extractor and scowled. "What did I say about shutting up..?"
"Hey! I only agreed to shut up for your 'moment', which is clearly over now!" Boukyaku patted CC's shoulder, earning him a hard slap on the wrist that only encouraged him to do it more. "And as much as I love your monologues – rambling and such –...I don't like labs."
"And that's my problem because...?" CC could give less of a damn what Boukyaku's feelings were. Often at least. He didn't like how they often were ruining what little happiness he was trying to display either.
"Okay- Well- How long is it going to take for you to dismantle this thing off?" Boukyaku asked, tapping the DT Extractor, "Cuz, you know, we need to get it into a portal to do that thing you want to do with this! Whatever that thing is. Sooner the better, amiright?"
"Well..." CC trailed off, finger under his chin then proceeding to lightly gnaw at it a few seconds later. He studied the advanced structure, eyes shifting around from place to place before he'd conclude, "It'll take me around four hours to dismantle the Spirit Extractor off the Lab's ceiling..."
"Four hours?!" Boukyaku exclaimed in astonishment. He clearly never figured it'd take so long to get the DT Extractor out of the lab, having barely considered it throughout his thoughtless plan. "That thing has like what? Four tubes connecting it to the god-forsaken place? Why do you need to waste an hour on each? Can't you just cut it off?!"
"Absolutely not! Those tubes are essential, I'd have to spend way longer fixing it than taking my time to get it out of here in one piece!" CC growled. "You think this is some in-and-out operation?"
"Well, duh! Especially Impa and Jessy. You know how they are: impatient. Impa especially, she can hold a grudge!" Boukyaku sighed and moved away from CC, dismissively waving his hand. "Well, if it's going to take you that long I'll just be hanging around until you're done. I saw a vending machine around here! I think."
"You know we could speed up the process, right?" CC summoned a dark green tile of magic in his hands, letting it slowly reform into a pair of purely magical pliers. "I know for a fact you have a decent idea on how to dismantle technology like this given your experience."
"I know? I mean- of course I know!" Boukyaku awkwardly laughed and grabbed one of the pliers. He looked up at the DT Extractor and its complicated structure. The more he looked at it the more he realized there might be a couple of boring and tedious complications, mostly with the internal structure. He had no idea how dangerous it would be to move this thing, let alone sever its tubes from the ceiling. Too much work for him. "But...I haven't done this in forever, you know?"
"You're the one who came up with this whole plan, now you need to take responsibility for it." CC accusingly pointed at Boukyaku, "Surely you're not too rusty."
Boukyaku's usual smile faltered a bit. He was more experienced in a lot of things than he liked to let on, but that also meant he didn't like to utilize his skills. He lived on the idea of doing what he wanted to do rather than needed to do. "Yeah, but- Like- This kinda stuff is boring to me."
"That's the problem?!" CC rubbed his temples. "If you'll complain so much, why not get a clone to do-"
"NO." Boukyaku immediately shot down without skipping a beat "I'll Help..... I don't want to duplicate myself for a while after the shit they pulled. Plus, as you saw, there are still some stragglers. I wouldn't want them interacting with a new batch."
"How many are left?" CC asked as he leaned up to the nearest tube of the DT Extractor, using his free hand to summon a saw blade. He placed it near the tube and forced it to spin, cutting through the exterior within seconds.
"Well, the ones in my dimension are all dead, so as the ones here now, so probably just a handful! But they'll die out." Boukyaku followed CC's example, summoning a knife of perseverance and cutting through the outer shell of the tube, slowly exposing the internal wiring and mechanics. "They all barely have a shred of self-preservation. They're all expendable and they know it. I just have to wait for them to die under that belief they'll be respawned later."
He stopped to look at CC, smiling at them. "This is probably for the best honestly, they might've fucked up taking this extractor down."
"Yeah, I'd rather not have the only technology capable of extracting an entire spirit's magic ruined..." CC muttered, drawing no attention to his ally.
"Too bad this is coming at the price of Impa and Jessy getting pissed."
"You'll live."
"Without arms?!" Boukyaku laughed.
I've heard enough.
Two Boukyakus thought to themselves as they watched their true self and CC work on the DT Extractor. their swirling eyes burned with fury from within the shadows.
I'm so sick of all this purple. Agni padded down the twisted hallways of purple, what was supposed to be the corridor to the throne room now completely infected with broken perseverance. Everything was that same, wretched color. It was getting to her. She wanted to put an end to its cause by whatever means necessary. She was terrified of it, of what Boukyaku had altered, to the point she couldn't handle it. If she allowed it to continue any further, who knows what'd happen. She was afraid of what he was planning, knowing what he was capable of.
It took a lot of self-convincing to bring herself towards Mount Ebott, entering into the Underground required even more. To be here was a feat in and of itself given how absolutely scared she was of encountering the deranged and unpredictable human. Maybe she mustered enough bravery to make the journey, or maybe she was scared into taking action. Either reason had led to her current situation.
Boukyaku's laughs echoed down the corridor from the throne room, spooking Agni into looking behind herself. No one. She took an unsteady breath and adverted her attention back into walking down the long room. There was a creeping suspicion of that smiling trashbag was watching her, but she didn't know where. Nerve-wracked, she would hide behind the pillars and quickly hurry towards the next every time she needed to move onwards. And every time she would peek around each one, just to ensure nothing saw her.
For some reason this was way more terrifying than when she encountered Sicko, that on corrupted loox responsible for nearly decimating all of Hate's friends and Betty. It didn't take a minute for her to figure out why when her eyes trained on a black figure at the end of the hall. Back then she had allies to back her up, not like now where she was all alone and soloing. She had to face her target without any handholding.
Anxiously she would summon a dark orange spear to her side, staring hard at her unsuspecting opponent. She knew it was Boukyaku, it couldn't be anyone else with such a dark figure and that pulsing purple face that would turn and look in her direction. Her heart skipped a beat. Quickly she hid her face back behind the pillars.
Agni needed to make her move, fast before they got the chance to see her. She needed to get the drop on them if she wanted to stand a chance. I have to kill him, there's no turning back. I made my choice the moment Gaster turned his back from me...
Her eyes darkened and she inched her hand further down her weapon's handle until it rested comfortably within her palm. Raising the spear up, dark magic flowed into its body, filling it with explosive fear. Looking back at the Boukyaku around the corner, he hadn't noticed her charged-up attack. She could feel her heart racing with anticipation. It was suffocating.
The horrible feeling in her chest pushed her to leap out into view and throw her spear with incredible force, straight towards her enemy.
He turned around, wide-eyed, and formed a star milliseconds before impact...
Milo sat down in the middle of the alleyway of flowers and graffiti, between the twin warehouses, phone in his small paws as he struggled to not sob over voice call. Besides him was a torn piece of notebook paper with words inscribed, being the source of his distraught nature. He was close to losing it, but he forced himself to remain composed as he talk to the only friend he knew he could turn to: Tom.
"Milo, Tom sure she come back... If der's anything two take away from dat note, ish dat she needs time. Or, at least time two find way two cope." Tom said in a hoarse and tired voice.
"Without bringing me? Or at least telling it to my face?" Milo croaked out in sorrow. He didn't know what Mila was thinking, running off without a word or warning. He was terrified she was going to do something harmful to herself, it wasn't in her nature to pull such a drastic stunt by herself. She was always known as a rational human to the froggit, one who made thoughtful and reserved decisions, not ones like this. If she really was finding a better way to cope, why did she exclude him from helping? He didn't know.
"As monster from coleg with hooman studies bachelor's degree, pepole like Mila nu handle stress well as monsters... dey do boonkers things when in a bad moob." Tom said weakly.
Milo didn't understand. Mila had been barely active throughout the days since Our Town burnt down and her parent's death, but all of a sudden she was active and running off? Were humans just unpredictable like that? Why did it have to be on the day I was going to help her? A lot of questions ran through his mind trying to wrap his head around his lover's actions. He felt like there was an empty space in his heart, slowly filling with despair. Monsters don't do these things! "But why?"
Silence filled the phone for a thoughtful second. "...There's no exact reason," Tom finally said, "but theories suggest determination plays a role. Willpower. It could be she's aiming it in the wrong direction."
Milo already knew determination had a mental effect on humans that made them, well, human. It wasn't just magic or a trait, it was a powerful emotion they easily displayed. What he didn't know was that it could sway Mila like that, to take such a crazy direction. Did she have a surge of determination without his knowledge? "And we don't suffer this?"
"We quick two redirect ourselves in da right path through our hope and da compassion of others," Tom explained, followed by a squeaky cough and a dog-like whimper, "Ish why we so attuned with magic, our physical manifestation of emotion... We have natural skill to align ourselves, ish not a learned trait like with humans. Ish y you've gotten over those u lost so easily, u know der are people u can lean on. She doesn't."
"That's true I guess, ribbit..." Milo felt as if Tom was smiling from the other side of the line. For some reason it made him feel worse than he already felt. He's trying all he can to help...
He supposed they made sense. He didn't fully understand, but he was getting the gist of what they were saying now, partly thanks to his prior knowledge. If determination kept humans from moving on as easily as monsters, then who's to say that same emotion can't have other negative side effects such as Mila making decisions she normally wouldn't have had? He just had to know they wouldn't take it too far, it terrified him to know she could go down a bad path if she wasn't careful enough. He couldn't afford to have them get hurt. Speaking of which- "Hey...are you doing okay?"
"Well, Tom nu fallen down, so dat gud." Tom took a second to themselves, giving out a strained sigh from what Milo could only assume was some aching pain. "Tom might actually make full recoovry in few weeks, great write?"
"That's good to hear, I was really horrified when I learned what happened to you. I'm glad you're making it through." With his parents dead, Mila suffering the same situation as him, and so many inhabitants of Our Town dead – Just to label a few – having some light shine from recent events was relieving. He felt like he would've been feeling way worse if they were gone too. He had enough of losing friends and family, Mila was being the tipping point.
"Lower body burnt, paws crushed, smoke in my lungs, a concussion... I was lucky, honestly." Another pause from Tom. Then, out of nowhere,
"Hey, Milo?"
Milo was taken aback by Tom's change in voice. Temmies don't speak that way. Normally. "Y-Yeah?"
"We lost a lot of friends and family recently, haven't we? And our home is gone..." A sigh left Tom.
"Yeah..." Milo peered out of the alleyway and into the long-gone town. The remnants of the apartment complexes, houses, and other buildings were still there, granted most of them were burnt down or sustained heavy damage. Barely anyone could've survived the fires from what he knew, combined with those strange swirly-eyed beings attacking. Tom wasn't wrong about his survival being luck.
"You're looking out into town, aren't you?" The froggit nearly dropped his phone at those words, Tom could hear him fumbling and laughed. Then coughed. A lot. It took the monster a good minute to recover. "...I know you've been depressed as much as your human girlfriend. I've been too with all my injuries...But stay determined, okay? Don't ponder on the past."
That struck a cord in Milo.
But how? Better yet, how can he move forward now? Milo was stuck stressful situation with Mila out in the unknown, it wasn't easy to be without her. He felt dependent on them. Why move forward when everyone clearly hasn't? Regardless, he promised to his hospitalized friend, "...I will."
"There's the Milo I know. Determined!" Shuffling and creaking could be heard, presumably Tom shifting in his hospital bed. "I'm gonna go and rest now...Text me sometime, okay?"
Milo instinctively nodded. "Yeah, go do that. You deserve it. And...Thanks for listening to me."
"Anytime." The call clicked off.
The froggit would sit there for a long moment, staring down at the ground. What do I do without Mila? This doesn't feel okay! They could be doing something stupid right now and I'm not there to do anything...I don't want to lose them... He felt like crying again. The conversation hadn't fixed anything.
But just as he felt his tears overcoming him-
"So she left...?" An unknown voice echoed down the alleyway.
Lifting his head(s) up, his eyes would quickly train on the newcomer. It...It certainly wasn't the average human he was seeing. They were familiar. Far too familiar in an unfortunate sense. "Y-yes?" he mewed out of surprise as his mind took in the details of the stranger.
White collar, royal blue button-up dress shirt and skirt, a streak of gray hair slowly fading to blue on the left side of her face, her appearance was well known to monsters and humans alike. Her presence was offputting to say the very least, she had garnered a negative reputation from monsterkind with her biased standing as the leader of the Anti Monster Department. She was seen as a sort of devil with her department's antics being a sort of special hell of blatant disregard for those with an upside-down soul. To call her group a department rather than a radical organization was sugarcoating their hate for monsters like Milo.
And now this radical devil was standing before him. Jessica Grey.
Drawing fear in him, he immediately worried he was in huge trouble. Nervously he shifted his eyes to look behind her, he saw no one but... Tulah and Null? Why are they with her?
"Don't worry Milo, she's tame! For now." Tulah called out as they all approached the froggit, "She's just here to talk about a few things. Important things!"
"I-Important things like what?" Death threats? Why else would she want to talk to a monster?! Milo was clearly on the verge of freaking out, making a hybrid of wary low croaking and cat-like rumbling noises.
"A few things regarding Mila, you, and her parents. I promise it's nothing bad." Jessica said. She stopped in her tracks once she was only a yard or two away from the small monster, gazing down at him with her faintly blue eyes. Terrifying.
"Also me and Null are standing here so you'll be A-OK no matter what!" Tulah stated out loud in an upbeat manner, Null lingering behind with his magical fingers forming into knives.
"O...kay?" But why am I in the mix? Milo didn't really have any affiliation to the AMD unlike Mila and her parents. He never participated in the organization, not that he could anyways, but he also never really interacted with them at all. The worst thing that ever happened between him and the organization was a negative interaction with Mila's parents in the far past, but that's it! So why is the leader here, wanting to talk to him?
"First: What happened to Mila? I overheard she's gone?" Jessica straightforwardly asked, arms crossed. Definitely not the kind of attitude making Milo calm.
"S-she left a few hours ago..." It hadn't been long since Mila was gone, but it was definitely long enough for Milo to become a heartbroken mess in the alleyway. Even now he was still terribly sad, past his fear and shock the leader of the AMD was talking to him in person.
"Bad timing honestly." Null dully commented.
Jessica sighed, "Well she can't be that far, right?"
No response. From anyone.
"...Right?"
Milo spoke up. "She's probably dozens of miles away by now. She can- uh- fly. Like. Really fast." Nearly at Mount Ebott by now if her magic is working properly... He really hoped she was fine, sure she was strong and capable of being independent, but that didn't stop him from believing she could get hurt in some way. It was all the more reason he wished he was with her right now rather than being left in the dark.
"Fly?" Jessica raised a brow. Oh. Right. That's not a common human thing, is it?
"Justice and Integrity magic," Milo ribbited, "It's a bit complicated."
"Powerful too, I've heard." Jessica, satisfied enough with the answer, wasn't as much satisfied with the outcome of Mila's absence. A frown left her face as she shuffled out two files. To the froggit's horror, one had his face clipped on it. "Did you try to go after her?" Her words suddenly felt more threatening despite having not changed in tone or demeanor. Why does she have a folder of me?
Feeling like if he said the wrong thing it'd be the end for him, Milo was feverish to defend himself, back arched up with a low rumble in his throat. "Of course! I wouldn't abandon her! She was far gone by the time I realized, I know where she's heading but I can't catch up to her even if I wanted to."
Jessica blinked. "Sorry, I didn't mean to assume anything. I'm well aware of your...relationship with her." She took Milo's words completely out of reality, believing his defensive act was from genuine compassion for Mila rather than fear of her. Of course, that wasn't the case and she may have had dropped an unexpecting bombshell on the poor monster.
"W-What?" Milo's cheeks flushed red. She knows!? He thought he kept his relationship with Mila under the wraps pretty well, he didn't anticipate someone, let alone Jessica, to figure them out.
"Oh come on Milo, It was on everyone's TVs!" Tulah laughed.
"Mila's name 'Miller' wasn't the best choice for aliases either, not to mention her face wasn't obscured." Jessica watched as Milo's face turned blank, a sudden realization hitting him like a truck. "I got to hand it to you two though, hiding her identity with yellow contacts? Could've fooled a few."
"Yeah, it wasn't a foolproof plan like we all thought it was." Tulah added, mischievously grinning.
"Naming yourself 'Milo' months ago to match Mila's name wasn't so smart either." Null topped off.
So all those humans and monsters who watched me and 'Miller' on that show...Know she was actually Mila? Milo wanted to crumble into dust right now. He could only imagine the shock from members of the AMD, dating the daughter of two former employees. If that didn't get him on their hitlist he didn't know what would. "Uhhhhh- M-moving along! Um, what did you want with Mila?"
Jessica stifled a chuckle, the gray strip of hair on hers fading ever-so-slightly into a bluer hue. "Well, I wanted to inform her about her parents' funeral as well as offer her and you temporary housing,"
Mil wondered if he just heard her correctly, hardly able to believe what was coming out of her mouth. "Me?!"
A roof underneath his head without freeloading in Tulah and Null's home was nice, especially considering their warehouse had no air conditioning or heating alongside a lot of basic necessities, and somewhere away from the saddening sight of a now-gone town would be ideal. He wasn't one to oppose an offer like that if there wasn't a catch, but this was the AMD leader offering. What she said totally mismatched his original perception of her. "Sorry if this is rude, but why would you want to help me?"
"I know it's shocking, I haven't exactly put a good reputation on myself towards your kind," Jessica sighed and held out the folder with Milo's picture clipped on. "but that's exactly why I'm asking you." Seeing as Milo was reluctant to take the file, she shook the folder a bit as if it was a box of dog treats. "I'm trying to change."
Milo took the file, gripping it in his paws. It was light, but it was clear to him there wss something more than just paper in there. He decided against opening it for, focused on the human's integrity. "S-so does that mean you don't hate monsters anymore?"
"I'd be lying if I didn't say I hate some still." Jessica said in a near mutter, "But I realized they aren't all bad..."
"You're a little late to realize that." Tulah playfully commented.
Her facial expression soured in reaction. Probably not the best response, Tulah.
Milo thought it'd be best to shift away from Jessica's personal thoughts and reasonings, it wasn't something he thought he should barge into – even if it was strange how different it made her out to be. She wasn't the demon he knew her as. "W-Well, Uh, I'm going to need some time to process but...Um...I-I'll think about it once Mila is back." he awkwardly stated followed by a ribbit.
"Oh yeah, btw, are you still gonna carry out that plan?" Tulah asked "You were pretty excited to do it awhile ago."
Milo shrugged, clueless. Mila had left and put a hard stump in his attempt to help her. He couldn't exactly help his girlfriend if she wasn't there at all. He didn't know if she really was coming back either, there was a lot that could go wrong that he couldn't help but panic over, even if there was a minor chance of any of them happening. "I don't really know, I have no idea when she's coming back... And who knows? Maybe she'll come back feeling fine and there'd be no reason to do it."
"Awwww!" Tulah wasn't about to take 'no' as an answer. Her eyes glowed a faint purple. "but you could still do it as a welcome-back gift!"
"I suppose so..." Milo said just to get the insensitive Tulah off his back about it. If she does come back...
He felt a void in his chest for a split second, irrational worry and fear coming and going. He shivered. Where it came from was unknown to him but it was intense – ominous even. Sweet Deltarune, I hope she's okay! Once it passed, he blinked and looked at everyone.
Everyone seemed just as shaken up as him for some odd reason, but they were equally as quick to recover. All of them were quick to push it aside aswell and forget it happened, although a sense of unease lingered in both Jessica and Milo. He could see a glint of orange in her otherwise gray eyes.
Jessica adjusted her collar and held out the second file to Milo, returning back to the conversation in a notably less than professional manner. "Well- Perhaps- Maybe...Maybe when she comes back, you could add this to the 'gift'?"
"Oh, um, of course!" Milo took the file and looked down at it. It was similar to his own, except there was a picture of Mila attached to it rather than him. Some extra paper seemed to be sticking out of it too.
"Thank you." Jessica turned away and waved, making her way out of the alleyway without batting an eye at anyone. "I must get going now, I didn't want to take up too much of your time and I have some other important matters to attend to. Stay safe."
She then proceeded to stumble right into one of the garbage cans filled to the brim of with flowers. An inaudible curse was made and she quickly pranced away before it could topple on her.
"...You too?" Milo could believe he was in a fever dream right now if everything didn't feel so real. Mila disappearing and meeting a friendly AMD leader wasn't how he pictured any of today going, it seemed like everything was going off the rails, including those around him. What was that horrible feeling anyways? I hope it's just my imagination, but it's like everyone felt it too... I hope you're safe, Mila.
The froggit's eyes trailed to the note beside him then back at the files. His mind itched with wariness, only to be offset by Tulah grabbing him by the scruff. "Come on, let's get set up before Mila returns!" Before he could even think of opposing her, Milo was dragged lifted up and away, leaving behind the note.
Hey Milo,
if you're reading this, I'll be gone for some time. I don't know how long, but long enough to get to Mount Ebott at least. I just need some time to myself, I'm sorry how sudden and out of nowhere this is. After everything that has happened, I haven't been able to deal with the reality until now. I've been lying down for too long and lying to myself too much. I'm sure you've realized what I was doing wasn't healthy either, so I'm leaving until I get a grasp on myself.
Love you. -Mila.
Jessica opened the car door and instantly fell flat onto the front seat. That conversation...It was more taxing than she expected, she presumed the froggit would've had a much more negative reaction to her presence like lashing out or shouting at her. Maybe she was just lucky this time, he certainly seemed to be more open than she anticipated. Then again, it should've been expected from a monster with the guts to date someone affiliated with the AMD.
For some reason at that last moment she felt utterly terrified right before she had given Mila's file to the monster, like all trust had been thrown out the window... Was she really still that reluctant towards monsterkind?
Shaking her head, Jessica decided there were more pressing matters at hand. This wasn't the only thing on her checklist. A special someone she worked for had something she wanted, and she did for them too.
The AMD leader moved her hand to the nearby armrest and opened it up. vials of dark powder, a whole set of them. Some of them weren't filled though, which she need to change. This better be worth it. She took out the empty vials and closed the armrest. Her eyes darted towards the Glistening Thicket surronding the remains of Our Town. Just one last thing before I can leave.
Super Short Story!
Oh wow. That's a lot of blood! The pain was near unbearable, even though Tulah had suffered way worse, she could feel her whole chest on fire and begging to be ripped apart as if that'd fix the suffering. It wanted to split open, crack, and shatter into nothing. Her soul wanted to die. It demanded to, but she wouldn't let it.
Another cough of blood left the teenager's mouth, spilling onto the concrete sidewalk and next to a bag of junk food. It wasn't the ideal time for her to feel like dying when moments ago she was excited about a cup of french fries. She'd make a joke about junk food killing her if her mouth wasn't filling to the brim with red crimson. Ugh...I better not die of blood loss! That'd be a disappointing death. What's going on with my soul anyways..?
Tulah shoved her hand onto her chest and ripped out her soul. She held it up in its heavily cracked state, gandering at its current condition. "Okay, what's wrong with you now? Crying because of little damage?" She mocked herself.
It didn't seem to like her words because immediately after a shard would fall off her soul, sending her into an agonizing surge of pain. She gritted her teeth and stumbled forward, her body losing balance. More blood would rise from her throat and right out her mouth, hacking up more of her life force. "Ack! Ow! Ow! Dammit- ugh!" Oh. I'm falling apart!
Was she actually dying this time around? Would this be her end? On a sidewalk with a takeout bag? Certainly it felt like it, especially with a large portion of her soul detached from the rest. It felt like there was something lost in her, an indescribable feeling that she outright hated combined with the pain. She felt like she was withering away, and fast. Her knees felt heavy and she would kneel down, coughing and staring as her broken-off soul shard laying on the ground. She could die here any second... But Tulah was too stubborn to go out like that out of nowhere.
Something called to her, told her to not die yet when she still had so much to do, like a subconscious thought at full volume. It echoed in her mind, telling her to persist and persevere. She still had a goal to achieve after all.
Her eyes burnt with intent as she bent down and grabbed the piece of soul that had fallen off her very being and forced it back into place rather violently. It didn't just slip off and fall, in a split-second decision she had her aura surrounding her soul, forcing it to be kept together for as long as she needed it to. It worked, gluing back everything into one, although the cracks remained as always. "That...That should do it for now. I can't have myself dying now."
With the pain subsiding, she wiped her mouth, grabbed her bag, and walked away from the pool of blood she had coughed up. So much blood. Her perseverance kept her already-dead body moving. She didn't seem to care though, she only wanted to move forward with her life.
Notes:
• All Boukyaku clones have a mind of their own.
• Agni has a fear of physical harm.
• Humans and monsters act the same but for different reasons due to the construct of their souls and determination.
•Milo is maybe a little too attached to Mila.
