Song inspiration: The Calling Wherever you will go.
Happy Noodle Boy makes somewhat of an appearance...
Jenny couldn't tear her eyes away from her own shop, her very home for the last several months, as her heart hammered inside her throat.
She had almost died in that shop, and it was the last place she wanted to be right now.
But what other choice did she have? If she wished to be free again, then she had to face her fears. She had to face her enemies and take back control of her life.
That was what NNY told her, anyway, and despite the fact that he wasn't the NNY who she had fallen in love with, at least he was by her side again.
After all, he confessed that he was once a wastelock too, and the news still rattled Jenny.
Were there many others? Had NNY's experiences been just as nightmarish for him too? The possibilities were endless.
Someone always had to keep an eye on the monster's fluctuations, containing all the ugliness that humanity created. And then when it all gets too much, they have to flush it into oblivion.
Jenny had almost died as a result of being a wastelock, but miraculously, she survived in the end.
Had NNY almost died too? She couldn't stomach the possibility of him dying. It was one thing to be hurt herself, but the idea of NNY being hurt too made her heart pinch in pain.
She peered his way. They were both watching her shop from across the street on the roof of a building. Night had long since fallen, and the moon was out and full.
NNY was as quiet as a statue, and for a moment, he almost resembled a gargoyle. He never took his eyes off Jenny's shop, her very pride and joy.
Jenny loved that shop. Ever since she was a little girl, she had always dreamed of being a florist. So when she finally had the chance, she bought her very own shop using the money that her grandmother had left for her in her will, turning her dream into a reality.
But now she could never go back.
Jenny no longer had a home, and she shuddered, wrapping her hands around her arms. Goosebumps popped along her skin.
If only she had a coat. It was awfully cold on the rooftop. She was still wearing the blood-stained dress, an awful reminder of her horrific ordeal.
NNY barely flinched from the cold. The only part of him that moved was the cape of his black coat as it flapped in the breeze, and he truly was formidable.
How he can stay so strong and resolute at such a terrifying time truly fascinated Jenny.
It took a lot to confess her story to him, and she thought she had almost seen a little of the old NNY again as his hard face cracked slightly, betraying a sliver of emotion.
NNY's eyes rolled towards her, and Jenny quickly looked away, blushing bright red.
Shoot. She didn't mean to stare at him for so long. She shivered again, keeping her hands around her body.
He sighed. "I know it's not the most comfortable location, but it provides the best view of your shop. Someone will soon arrive to collect the body of the one you killed. I'm positive."
Jenny shuddered at the memory, and NNY looked her way. He moved his mouth to say something, but then he thought better of it, fixing his gaze on the shop again.
She focused on his proximity. He wasn't too far away from her, and it took her back to their second date when he offered her to sit closer to him so she wouldn't get cold.
There was no way he would allow her to stand so close to him now. The NNY she knew was gone.
Those awful men had taken him away from her...
NNY stole a quick glance in her direction again, but Jenny didn't meet his eyes. It hurt to look at him. It was so easy to forget that he had no recollection of her anymore, and she didn't want to slip up and step too close to him.
There was no telling what he would do to her. He was a homicidal maniac; he could kill her.
What she would give to be able to be in his arms, kissing him again. Life just wasn't fair.
Well, at least the memory of their short time together lived on inside Jenny. Those memories were all she had left of him.
They were what fuelled her, giving her the courage to take on her enemies.
Jenny would be free and happy to live her life again. She just wondered what would happen once they defeated their enemies.
Would she and NNY go their separate ways? Would they even survive tonight?
It wasn't worth thinking about.
"So, uh... who taught you how to use a knife?"
Jenny froze, peering up at NNY through her eyelashes. "Y-you did."
His eyes bugged. "I did?"
"Yes... I wanted to be able to protect myself in case my enemies ever came back for me. You refused at first since you told me that I had no need to protect myself. I had you, after all... But then I convinced you in the end after I told you that you may not always be around and, well... it looked like I was right. I did need to protect myself in the end..."
NNY blinked, stupefied by her words. Then he exhaled, looking back across the street. "Well... it's a good thing I listened to you. You can't rely on anyone in this world, Jenny. That's what I learned a long time ago. It's better to always protect yourself."
Sadness laced his tone, and all she wanted to do was reassure him that he had her to rely on. She would never leave him, but there was no point.
He didn't remember her; he couldn't even recollect the amazing time they spent together.
All the times they'd kissed...
Now the idea of touching her sickened him.
How could someone be so close, yet still so far? It was too much to bear, so she shut her eyes, resisting the temptation to lean across and take his hand.
NNY would only push her away, though.
Of course. His hand! How could she have forgotten?
Jenny looked down at his hand, gasping when she saw the bandages, and the remorse she felt next hit her like a freight train. "I'm so sorry I cut your hand earlier... I didn't mean to—"
"It's fine. Don't you worry about me, Jenny. Worry about yourself."
"But—"
"Someone's here," he said, cutting her off, and Jenny looked across the street.
A man dressed in a white lab coat peered inside the windows of her shop, and instinctively, she leaned closer to NNY, hiding behind him for protection.
Luckily for her, though, NNY didn't seem to notice. Instead, his eyes flashed, and then he whirled away, skulking toward the fire escape at the side of the building.
Jenny followed him, but he stopped her. "No. You wait here. We'll meet back at the car once I'm done with this guy. I'll give you the signal."
Her heart pounded at the idea of being left alone on the rooftop, but she shook the silly thought away, nodding her head.
She was a big girl. She could take care of herself.
Besides, she had no choice. Only NNY had the strength to take that man on. He had been kidnapping and knocking people unconscious for years.
"Okay. B-be careful down there..."
NNY stepped down the rungs of the ladder, looking up at her pleasantly surprised. It was almost as if he didn't expect her to care so much about him, and he almost looked touched.
But it was just a trick of the light. This version of NNY didn't care whether she was worried about him or not.
He was too cold.
"Of course," he finally replied, giving her one more curious look before he finally departed, and Jenny was finally alone.
All there was to do now was wait.
NNY
Knocking the guy out had been the easy part. Using one of his trusty Tasers in the end, NNY had managed to put him out in seconds, and now there wasn't much else to do but look around.
According to Jenny, he used to visit this florist all the time when they were 'dating', but nothing was familiar to him.
Nothing jumped out at him, and maybe she really was deluded. The place smelled nice, as one would expect from a shop that sold flowers. But it wasn't enough to mask the stench of blood and death.
NNY jumped over the counter, kneeling down beside the dead body of the murdered orderly as he checked for a pulse. Yep. Totally dead, despite all the bleeding orifices that covered his flesh, making him resemble a lump of grotesque Swiss cheese.
Jenny had done a real number on this guy, and NNY shuddered as he recalled the moment she arrived at his house, covered in blood.
It was hard to believe that that angelic little girl could best a full-grown man like this. The man was at least twice the size of NNY, and Jenny must have been really frightened.
Guilt tore at his insides, and it wasn't even worth thinking about. It wasn't NNY's job to protect her.
Besides, if this bloodied corpse was anything to go by, then Jenny didn't even need protection. She could look after herself.
According to the pink-haired female, it was NNY who had taught her how to use a knife, and he still found it hard to believe.
As if NNY would teach anyone his secrets...
That's when his eyes latched onto the knife that she'd supposedly used. He plucked it up off the floor, staring at it in shock.
It was one of NNY's knives.
He would recognize the pommel from anywhere. It had a smiley face. All of NNY's knives had smiley-faced pommels...
Shit.
Could Jenny be telling the truth?
His heart pounded, making the blood rush through his head.
No, it couldn't be real; there was no way on this cruel earth that Jenny was telling the truth. She was just a sad and lonely woman, one who had dreamed up an entire relationship with him.
Still, NNY could see the semblance. The last girl he had fallen for had worked at a bookstore, and this one owned a flower shop.
NNY couldn't imagine why he had ever felt the need to step into a florist, but according to Jenny, they had met at the CD Cesspool just up the street.
He went there all the time, even though the guy who worked there was a complete asshole.
His fingers squeezed the handle of the blade. No. It was all a lie. No one had really taken away his memories...
NNY refused to believe that he had fallen victim to amnesia again.
If that were the case, then why was he even helping her? If he truly didn't believe Jenny, then why was he here?
He didn't know her; he didn't even care about her.
Maybe he was doing it out of principle. For all the wastelocks out there, past, future, and present, it was in NNY's best interests to help her out and hunt down her enemies.
Whoever was hunting her, they obviously knew about wastelocks. They were exploiting them for their own personal gain, and NNY had no choice but to get involved.
He had to get to the bottom of this mystery. That was one thing he could believe from that girl's lips at least: no one would lie about being a wastelock.
It was time to haul this guy out of here. Jenny was waiting on the roof and was most likely worried sick about him, and she truly was a sweet girl.
Sweet to the point where he could almost believe her lies...
No, she wasn't lying, but she wasn't speaking the truth either.
He stowed the bloodied knife away in his pocket, then dragged the unconscious guy across the ground. Luckily for NNY, this one wasn't too big, so carrying him away shouldn't be a problem.
It was time he left. Who knows when they'll send more men here?
Still. There was one more thing he wanted to do before he left. NNY had to Find Jenny some new clothes.
Her dress was looking a little bloody, and she needed a jacket too. He had almost given her his coat earlier and he must be going crazy.
She said her apartment was upstairs, so he made his way up there, breaking through the door. It was a nice place once he stepped inside, and it looked like the type of apartment that Snow White would live in.
He entered what he presumed was her bedroom, finding a simple blue flowery dress in her closet. It was best they dressed in something black for stealth reasons, but Jenny didn't own anything remotely black by the looks of things.
NNY shuddered, gazing around. She really did love her pastels. There were even stuffed bears on the bed, and he shivered again.
Again, he found it hard to believe that he would date someone so... colourful... She was too feminine for NNY, and too much on the saccharine side.
NNY was fucked up, pretty much, and he liked his girlfriends the exact same way.
Then again, she was probably more like him than Devi ever had been. She was verifiably insane, and she killed people...
Plus, she was an ex-wastelock, just like NNY.
It was disturbing how similar they actually were, yet... also different.
Jenny only killed out of self-defense, whereas NNY killed for pure pleasure. Plus, she was warm and kind, while NNY was cold and wretched.
In fact, he couldn't understand why she had ever been interested in him in the first place.
Grabbing the bright blue dress, he heaved a sigh, exiting the bedroom. That's when his eyes landed on her antique vanity.
It was full of cute little knick-knacks that told him more about what kind of person she was: sweet things like china dolls, a music box, and romance novels, but it was the photograph that stopped him in his tracks.
It was a picture of NNY and Jenny pulling faces in a photo booth, and he yanked it up, crushing it in his fingers.
NNY looked so relaxed in the picture, sticking his tongue out at the camera, and it turned out they did make a pretty cute couple after all.
No. It couldn't be... Jenny's story was complete bullshit! She was crazy and lonely.
This photo had to have been edited, somehow. Insane people go to extreme lengths, after all, just to make their delusions a reality, but the picture looked pretty convincing.
Jenny's entire story was beginning to get a little more convincing by the second, and it was best he just left before he saw something else he didn't like.
Such as the signed love letter by Happy Noodle Boy (there was a doodle of the infamous stick figure himself).
Dear love entity...
Roses are blue, violets are CHEESE! You make me want to jump off a skyscraper and explode into ravioli!
You're beautiful. Lick my teeth!
Mom, the moose is laughing at me!
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Definitely Happy Noodle Boy's handwriting, and it seemed that being in love made the stick figure even more whacked than usual.
Even NNY didn't understand him anymore...
He would just go on and pretend that he didn't see anything. He only came in here to grab a dress for Jenny. Nothing more.
Still, he tucked the photograph away in his pocket just in case. And don't forget the signed love letter by HNB too.
He rushed back downstairs, hauling the guy over his shoulder once he returned. Then he left the shop. When he stepped outside onto the pavement, he peered up at the rooftop across the street.
His heart stopped when he didn't spy Jenny's pink head peeping over the ledge. Shit. Had something happened to her while he was gone?
Did someone take her?
A dark prickle shot up the sides of his ribs as he searched the street. It was empty. There was no single soul in sight, which was odd. This end of town was normally busy, even at three am in the morning.
Now the only sound NNY could hear was his thundering heart. If someone had taken Jenny, then surely, he would have heard her scream...
Unless they had crept up behind her, muffling the sound from her mouth as they dragged her way.
Fuck. He should have given her a knife or something.
No... he shouldn't have left her alone at all.
Honestly, it was a miracle he even cared. NNY had got what he had wanted. He could ditch Jenny tonight and wash his hands of her. All he had to do was torture this guy for information, and he would get what he needed.
Jenny was just baggage, and NNY needed no baggage. He was a lone wolf who didn't desire or feel the need for company.
Just why was his heart hammering? If the photograph he'd found in her apartment was of any indication, then she had once mattered to NNY.
NNY, apparently, had been very in love with that strange, pink-haired girl at some point, yet he couldn't even remember.
He gritted his teeth. He can torture this guy later; he had a crazy, pink-haired woman to find.
Rushing to his car, NNY opened the trunk, shoving the unconscious guy inside. His fingers may have got caught in the door once NNY slammed it shut, but there was no time to dwell.
Jenny was in trouble.
At the end of the day, Jenny was a nice, sweet girl, and she didn't deserve his indifference. Out of principle, NNY will find her.
He sprinted across the street, keeping to the shadows. Then he reached the fire escape to the roof. Jenny had told him to be careful, and it still baffled NNY why she even cared about him.
There just wasn't enough kindness in this world, and NNY really hoped she hadn't perished.
He reached the rooftop, scanning around. She wasn't in the corner where he last saw her, and a lump formed in his throat.
According to Jenny, NNY had once sworn to protect her like some gallant knight. But it looked as if he had failed to live up to the archetype.
Always the villain of the story.
Villains don't get the princess after all...
He cleared his throat, whispering in hushed tones. "J-Jenny? You here?"
No one answered, and now he was really worried. Had something happened to her?
There came a small sound, and he glanced at a nearby vent, spying a familiar pink-haired figure.
NNY rushed to her side. "Jenny... why are you...?"
He stopped short. She was frozen, wrapping her arms around her legs in a foetal position. She was absolutely terrified, and NNY had never felt so ashamed of himself.
He had let her down.
There were people out there hunting her down, yet NNY left her all alone...
Fuck. This was worse than all those times when he killed those people. At least most of them deserved his awful treatment.
NNY kneeled before her, shaking her arms. "Jenny? It's NNY. Wake up."
Her eyes shot up. "N-NNY?"
He tried to smile as best as he could, hoping it was a reassuring expression. It was a gesture he hadn't made in a while. "Yeah..."
Her pupils blew out. Then she threw her arms around him, sending him onto his ass.
"Thank goodness! I was so afraid..."
She shivered, and NNY could feel the vibrations of her jittering nerves all the way to the marrow of his bone. He swallowed next, his mouth dry, and he couldn't move.
He kept his hands at his sides, and he didn't know what else to do. She had shocked him into a stupor, and now he had lost the ability to speak.
Even though he'd vowed to never touch or be touched by another human being, he found that he wasn't all that repulsed by Jenny.
In fact, certain emotions he thought he'd buried long ago were stirring deep inside him, and then his vision swirled as he felt all fluffy inside.
Her hair brushed his face, tickling his nose, and all he could smell were the rosy pink petals of a cherry blossom tree.
That smell... He had definitely sniffed it before, and maybe he and Jenny had known each other. There was photographic evidence, and don't forget the knife with the smiley-face pommel
NNY had given her all of those things, he must have. Yet he couldn't remember.
He balled his fists, having only one goal on his mind now.
It was time to kill the ones who'd taken his memories.