AHA I'M BACK BEEEETCHES
Chapter 12
The first thing I smell is breakfast when I wake up, which tells me Joice is back. I might actually get something out of her today, if I'm lucky.
So I get out of bed, making sure not to kill my broken toes all over again, and limp over to the kitchen. At first, I debate on whether to even say hello or anything to her, because I'm tired of this bullshit she's been giving me.
She's still cooking when I limp in, and at first I think I see something flash across her face, but I'm hungry and angry and shit, so I think it was just a blur of my vision.
"How'd you get hurt?" She asks sharply, and I could almost puke at her demand. "Why should I tell you?" I nearly snapped, though I managed to keep my voice blunt and guarded.
She winced, which almost made me rethink what was going on, but no. "Fine," She sighs, "What's messed up with your feet?"
I grunted. "Broke a few toes."
She bent down, muttering a 'geez.'
"What are you doing?" I asked, and she answered. "Bracing your toes so they set right, unless you'd rather they be all twisted and fucked up for the rest of your life."
She fixed my toes up with broken chopsticks - damn her, those were my favorite ones - and gauze and stuff. I guess it was pretty cool, but I'm still steamed at her for not telling me anything about her apparently fucked up social life.
Suddenly she grabbed her gun, as if she was going to leave.
Oh no.
"I'm headed out; see you whenever."
Oh fuck no.
I stared her down. "Where are you going?"
"Out."
Bullshit, you're not just going out! I wanted to scream at this woman, damnit!
But she'd already walked out. So, disregarding everything else, and my father's words about not following girls around, I followed her, from a distance. It proved to be fairly easy, and I'd followed her down, down, down into the sewers until I hear -
"So how'd it go? Is she dead?"
Aw man, wha'd she do now? I couldn't help but wonder... So I made sure I was out of sight - hopefully at least - and listened.
"No, her skill was superior to mine." This was Joice talking, as I looked around a bit. There were pipes everywhere, that made me feel like I was in some sort of factory. And what's worse - I felt this terribly strange presence that I just couldn't shake off...
Joice and the stranger continued to talk a little bit, until I felt the hairs rise on my back as these dark shadows surrounded her. "Failure is inexcusable, Joice." They warned. I nearly died. The hell is this?!
"Yes, Mr. Pride, I know." Joice replied tightly. For a second, I wondered if she already knew I was there.
I might've gone home okay if the next thing that happened didn't happen.
The creepy presence got worse; this blond man stepped in, bearing a strange aura around him. "Enough, children." He spoke. Damn! It was worse than when I first met Joice, his voice was. So cold. I could shiver.
They continued to talk about things I wasn't a part of until Joice was apparently dismissed, so I ran for my life - until Joice grabbed my arm. This was it; I'm gonna talk to her.
"You fucking idiot." She seethed. "Do you know what the hell you've done?!"
Like I care what the hell I've done.
I turned to her, my expression harder than rock. "What are you up to, Joice? Who were those people?!"
"I can't tell you."
That's bull. I just wanna grab her by those skinny arms she has and... and - I shook her. "Joice, stop feeding me bullshit. What the hell are you doing?! Who were those people? What were those creepy shadow things you called Pride?! Who were you talking about, what girl did they want dead? Why won't you tell me anything? Don't you trust me?!"
She sighed. "Fine Kay. Just... let's get home. I can't tell you here."
To be honest, I'm fuming right now. But this is a little promise. So we head home, in silence.
And once there, I sit down to face her in the living room, trying to think of what the hell's going on.
"Those people you saw..." She began, "They were immortal beings called homunculi."
Oooh nooo, whenever you get mixed up with bull like that it comes down to.. wait.
"Immortal?" I repeat, my jaw dropping. What?
"Yes, Mr. Kay, now let me finish." I nodded, letting her continue. "A couple years back, when all this started, it was because Mr. Envy—the one that looks like a palm tree—approached me and introduced me to Mr. Father, that old dude that's got no emotions. Creepy bastard." She grinned at me. "I'm going to become immortal, Kay, and all I have to do is kill for them. Isn't that great?"
...
No, it is not great! Th-that's crazy! I think I'm gonna puke or shoot rockets outta my eyes or something - what?! What is this?! I - I don't understand!
...
...
...
"Uh... Mr. Kay?"
I blinked. "Y-You're... Are you serious?!" She sighed. "Yes, Mr. Kay, now will you please calm down?
Calm down? How the hell do I do that?! "Calm down, calm down?!" I freaked out. "How the hell do I just calm down?! Y-You're telling me you can just go off to- a-and... what the fuck?!"
She smiled at me, reassuring me it'd just be two more years or whatever. I managed to shut my mouth...
"So, let's go out and do something, neh?" She asked, smiling. "Let's just hang out; I'm bored as hell. All I do anymore is go out on these stupid missions."
... "S-sure..." I stammered. "I guess." Something to relax myself with, right?
So we go steal shit. I guess it was awkward with her standing there, but it was nice... I guess. At some moments it felt like a date - which it wasn't - and others we just felt like friends.
Because that's what we are. And that's why she's still here, right? We're... friends?