I know I shouldn't say this; but I kind of managed to give myself a bit of feels during one scene in this chapter. I won't say anything more than that...
Anyway, forget what I just said and enjoy the chapter!
One week. It has been one week full of nightmares, bad thoughts and an overwhelming feeling of guilt. It was hard to avoid the nightmares when the last time she saw her, she was told straight to her face that she is no friend to her before said girl stormed out of the already unpleasant conversation. It wasn't easy to avoid thinking bad thoughts when every night she helped putting even more people in jail, not to mention their horrifying looks, knowing it was only a matter of time before she will encounter them.
There was one easy thing however; it was easy to feel guilty every time she stepped into her room, or woke up in the morning if she could even sleep to begin with, and saw her bed standing empty in its place, right in front of her own bed.
No matter how hard she tried and how busy she was, Honey couldn't shake the recent events off of her mind. How could anyone shake away the memories of their best friend screaming at them that they are no longer friends if they were asked? That fight was probably the worst thing Honey has ever gone through, and that includes all the Super-Hero fights she has taken part in.
Her change was clear to everyone who knew her. Julieta noticed ever since the morning after Go-Go's arrest that her daughter wasn't the same; she thought the scholarship and the new guy she met at the factory managed to return her to her former upbeat and cheery self, but even though Honey smiled more often, she was still depressed by the entire thing. Julieta herself wasn't fond of what happened with Go-Go either, treating the young woman like a family member for so long, but she reminded herself that what's done is done and nothing could change it.
Honey's friends were quick to notice her new depressed behavior as they were upset about Go-Go being in jail too; but they knew the sadness they felt about the matter was nothing compared to what Honey was felling. While Hiro, Fred and Wasabi were all good friends with Go-Go none of them were as close to her as Honey was, not to mention that she was the one who caused this to happen. Even if the person deserved it, sending your best friend and roommate to jail will leave you scared; and Honey got scared really badly.
Despite how rough the last week was, Honey did found herself involved with one happy occasion...
It was a regular day up until that point; waking up, feeling guilty, picking up Hiro, meeting up with the guys, attending classes and heading towards the factory. The point where things took a turn for the better was during her work with her mother. Besides spending more time with the mother who recently started disappearing from their house more and more due to her work, Honey saw these times of the day as stress killers where she got to work with all the chemicals she knew before even memorizing the capitols. Those were the only times of the week when she didn't think about Go-Go, and was actually happy.
Honey worked carefully, not pouring any liquids into any lab bottles unless she was told so. Alongside her in the lab were some of the other workers who watched her mixing and matching the chemicals in front of her based on her mother's words, impressed with how much accuracy and professionally she pulled off the job.
"Okay Natalia, give me one more drop of the nitrogen…" Julieta asked of her from a nearby room as she typed in the entire information about the cure into her computer. Honey did as she was told and waited for another failure to take place once her mother will inform that the medicine will most likely kill the one who will take it, forcing them to start over. Once the results appeared on the screen, Julieta gasped in shock and her lips shaped up into a smile. "I can't believe it! We've got 97% of success!"
Surprised by the positive results for the cure, all of the workers present at the lab cheered as they saw the end result displayed on the screen. Honey was probably the most excited one there, due to her mother's countless efforts in perfecting the formula finally paying off.
Not wasting any more time at the lab, Julieta stormed into Aron's office with a big grin on her face. When he saw the woman in the white lab coat at his door, the CEO jumped a bit in his chair before instantly shutting down his laptop where he worked on matters related to the company. "Julieta…" He said, hiding his surprise and un-comfortable feeling behind the same soft and low tone he was always speaking in. "What is the meaning of this? I didn't call you, nor did you ask for a meeting."
"Scold me later, Boss." She told him with a big smile. "We have reached a breakthrough. The results are 97% positive."
While Aron's cold expression hadn't changed at what she had said, his actions and words more than made up for it. "Are you serious?" He asked Julieta, who nodded at him with the same smile getting only bigger. At her response Aron started to smile a bit while lightly throwing his arms in victory, his big project was now one step closer to becoming a reality. "How long before we could get a prototype going?" He asked Julieta, again supporting his serious face.
"Well, test subjects could start in about a week and after that we've got materialization and duplications… I'll say about a year and we are in the market." She gave him her assumption to when the medicine will be out.
Hearing the information, Aron sat back in his chair, still in shock. "I can't believe we have a product…" He said to himself, still not believing to the reality he was in.
"Hold on there, Boss…" Julieta said while putting a hand on his shoulder. "First let's open up those Champaign's."
In celebration of the success of the formula results, all the workers were told to head to the cafeteria for a special gathering. Once everyone gathered together and congratulated each other on a job well done, Aron entered the cafeteria with Julieta by his side and gathered everyone's attention.
"Today we mark a big step for the company." He started his speech with the same low voice he was known for having. "Today we have reached a breakthrough on our brain functionality improving medicine." The announcement of the milestone coming from the boss himself caused a few cheers and claps to be heard among the scientists before Aron signaled them to stop. "To celebrate this occasion, I'm giving everybody a day off right after this small gathering comes to an end." He announced before raising a small glass of Champaign and even giving everyone a tiny smile. "Great work everyone. For Medicamentum!"
"For Medicamentum!" Everybody else followed before sipping from their glass and showing themselves to more drinks and even some food.
While the workers partied and talked to each other about how wonderful the entire situation was, Honey found herself receiving complements from the scientists who saw her walking around the place. Among the praising were declarations that she's just like her mother, how grateful they are to her for helping making this possible, some parents for young fans of Big Hero 6 asked for pictures or voice messages and it was overall a fun time.
Though even at the highest point of success she could have achieved in her position, Honey started to feel bad. It may have been nice to be a part of another great thing and for people appreciating your work; but what was it worth when Go-Go wasn't there to be happy for her with her? Actually, what was it worth when all of this seemed to happen because she put Go-Go in jail? There it was again; guilt. No matter where she went or what she did, it always caught on to her.
Feeling like she needed a bit of a time off for herself, Honey left the cafeteria and sat down against one of the walls in the hall. She sat with her chin making contact with her knees and her legs being warped up by her arms. As she was about to take another drop into her own depression, a voice caught her attention. "Are you alright?"
Turning around, Honey saw the tall form of Lucas looking down at her with concern. "Uh… yeah I'm fine." She tried to lie. "Just needed a bit of time to myself, you know?" She let out a giggle in order to hide her depression.
"I thought you of all people would be used to the attention with the entire Super-Hero thing." He said while sitting down next to her, causing her to avert her eyes in order to hide the built-up sadness. "Honey, I know something's bugging you. You can tell me about it if you want to…" Lucas offered, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder and making Honey face him. "Is it about Go-Go?"
That question made her face drop down to the floor again, giving a pretty clear answer to it. "How did you know?"
"Your face pretty much told me something's wrong." He explained. "And since every time she's brought up you become sad, I just put two and two together."
At his words Honey let out a sad sigh. "That actually sounds like something she would say." She told Lucas, surprising him. "She could always tell exactly how I feel just from my face… and I could do the same with her."
"Sounds like you were pretty close…" Lucas told her based on what she said, earning a nod as a positive answer.
"We were sisters to some extent." Honey said, causing Lucas to look even more surprised and more sympathetic. "I would never forget that one day, around a year after we met and she moved in…"
Honey sat down in front of her computer and typed down the last few words of her essay which was due to the following day. She typed quickly, wanting to get this thing done and over with. She couldn't believe she had put off that assignment for so long and was now in a rush to finish on time. As soon as the last word was typed on her document, Honey pressed the save button and let out a relaxed sigh. The work was done.
With her essay ready and being printed, Honey decided to go online in order to kill the time. Her mother was at work and her roommate was also out doing something she wasn't ready to talk about yet, so she might as well enjoy herself during that downtime. Honey was looking around various websites for some new make-up equipment and cloths she could order in time for the new semester. As she looked and looked, even founding something which she could have described as the dream kit which she couldn't afford, even with the so-called "International Sister Day" sale, her roommate returned home.
"Hey, Honey." She said as she entered their shared room.
"Did you seriously start calling me that as well?" Honey asked while still staring at the computer, referring to the nickname she has received from one of their friends.
"I prefer it to Natalia." The black haired roommate stated with a giggle. "And besides, you've been calling me Go-Go for months now."
"Don't blame me, it fits…" Honey giggled back before turning her chair around. After she faced her best friend she noticed that she was holding a large bag. "Woah! What did you get there?" She asked curious.
Go-Go's eyes widened a bit before she looked at Honey again. "I hoped you wouldn't ask…" She said, making Honey feel uncomfortable. Was it something Go-Go didn't want her to see? "But you already did so, what the heck?" As Go-Go shrugged her shoulders and pulled the bag's contents out. To Honey's surprise, Go-Go was holding the same make-up kit she has just saw was too expensive for her to get. While she was indeed surprised, Honey couldn't figure out why Go-Go would buy this. She didn't care for make-up as much as Honey did, so why would she get that much of it? Unless… "Happy sisters' day!" Go-Go suddenly greeted before giving Honey the large kit. "I heard you talking about this thing on and on to end… so I decided to get it for you so maybe you will shut up." She said with a smile, making it obvious she was half joking.
Honey still stared at her present with utter awe. Seconds later she realized that her mouth hung open and she placed the kit aside. "Why would you get me a sisters' day present?" She asked Go-Go. "We aren't sisters…"
"For the last year? We kind of were…" Go-Go suddenly claimed. "We share the same room in the same house, I see your mother more than I see my parents back home…" She trailed off before re-starting her sentence. "Actually, I just realized this has almost been a year since you allowed me to live here and I planned to get you a gift for that. When sisters' day was close and they started all the special sales, I used it as an excuse to get it early." Go-Go said quickly as if it was no big deal while Honey still stared at her surprised.
"I… I don't know…"
"It's okay." Go-Go cut her. "You don't have to get me anything in return. Like you said, we aren't really sisters."
All the sudden Honey moved from her chair to holding Go-Go in her arms, warping her in a tight hug which even caught the always prepared Go-Go by surprise. "Thank you. Thank you so much…" Honey didn't plan to get sentimental, but her tears had different plans.
"Thank you for helping me back then." Go-Go returned the hug.
"She got you a sisters' day present?" Lucas asked, surprised by the story and Honey nodded at him.
"Even if it wasn't her original point, I started to consider her my sister ever since that day."
"Did you get each other presents in the later sisters' days?" He asked.
At that question, Honey thought for a bit. "I think I may have gotten her something in the year after; but after that we stopped. Even if I consider her that, we aren't actual sisters." She said before another harsh memory attacked her brain. "And based on our last talk, she was pretty clear that we are not even close to being that."
"It will be alright." Lucas told her. "She won't be in there forever, after all. She'll probably come around after she'll be released."
"I still put her there though…" Honey pointed out a flaw in his optimism.
"But once she'll be out of there where would she go?" He asked, causing Honey to look questionably at him. "Right now, she lives at your home and she'll have to return there, even if she'll decide to move out, in order to pack her things. I'm sure that once all of this will be over you two will go back to being the same way you were from just one talk."
He gave her his best smile which seemed to be influencing her a bit. At that specific moment, Honey could notice how much Go-Go and Lucas were similar when it came to her. Both could read her thoughts just from her facial expressions and both also knew how to cheer her up with pep talks whenever she felt down.
On instinct, Honey warped her arms around Lucas, surprising the guy in front of her. "Thanks, Lucas." She told him with a smile.
"You're welcome." He said while returning the hug.
Those few peaceful seconds soon came to an end once a coughing sound was heard in the hall, causing Honey and Lucas to break apart and turn their heads sharply in the direction of the noise. Above them stood none other than Aron himself, making the two of them feel even more awkward. "Am I interrupting something?" He asked with a slight twitch of sarcasm in his dry voice.
"Uh… No. We were just here to clear our minds from the celebrations." Lucas replied quickly, causing Honey to quickly nod in agreement.
"I see." The CEO said before going quiet for a few seconds, making the entire situation even more awkward. "I was actually looking for you Lucas. Can you please bring my special Champaign from the staff closet? You know which once I'm talking about?"
"The one in the green bottle, am I right?" Lucas asked for clarification, earning a nod from the buff man in the suit. "Okay, I'll be right back." He said before he got up and headed towards said closet.
Being in Medicamentum for so long made Lucas an expert at navigating through the many halls and floors of the factory. He has heard a lot about this staff closet even before he received the scholarship, whenever his father would bring him to work and show him around. Back then he wasn't allowed access to it, but now he could recite the code for it by heart.
Lucas made it to his destination and found said bottle standing on one of the shelves along with few other documents and papers. "This thing better be good if it's hiding with all of those important files and stuff." He mumbled to himself once he grabbed the bottle and examined it. When he turned around, however, he accidently dropped one of the folders which was on the same shelf.
After picking it up, Lucas noticed the name of said folder and his eyes went wide for a bit. "Top Secret – Disposed Chemicals" it said. Lucas felt like he shouldn't open this folder, it was probably none of his business to look inside but he couldn't help but be curios about what would be inside of this folder.
Greeting Lucas, once curiosity got the best of him, were pictures of all the failed experiments developing the cure which was the cause of a party right now, and maybe even a few others, being dumped right into the San-Fransokyo ocean which was located right beside the factory itself. Actually, when he took the time to examine the angle of the shots Lucas realized that these pictures were actually taken by one of Medicamentum's own security cameras. The fact that there were dates and times of the day written on these pictures also gave away the fact it was no regular camera.
Seeing these pictures and realizing what this meant in reality, Lucas shot the folder close. Millions of thoughts were running through his mind at the moment about what he just saw. The truth behind Medicamentum…
Cue the "Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn" music!
What does this ending mean for the rest of the story? Will Lucas share the information with Honey? What's happening with Go-Go back in jail? And what is this talk about Lucas's father? Find out all of these questions(Or most of them...) tomorrow!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Waiting to hear from you in the reviews!
