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Trigger Warnings - violence, eating
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Neither of them would emerge the same.
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The memory was so sudden, so unexpected. Rune thought she had forced those memories out of her mind. She was not ready to relive that part of her life.
"Miss?"
Rune turned to the voice. The man who had previously been at the front desk was now standing beside her.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Rune forced a smile onto her face.
"Yeah. I'm fine."
The man - what was his name? - didn't look convinced.
"Okay. Do you want..."
He - Karl! - seemed unsure of what to offer, but Rune didn't think he would leave her alone. And honestly, she didn't want him to.
"Do you have snacks here?" Rune asked.
Karl grinned, seemingly very happy that Rune asked for something he could provide.
"Yeah, follow me."
They walked up to a door Rune had not yet noticed. In fact, that was probably the point, as it blended in quite well with the mahogany walls. Karl produced a key from one of his many pockets and slid it into the lock. It turned with a satisfying click and he pushed the door open. Karl led Rune into a brightly lit room. It was simple, nothing like what Rune had seen so far.
"It's a breakroom for everyone who works nights. There should be some snacks somewhere in... here!"
He opened a cabinet full of chips and candy and other simply packaged foods. Rune grabbed a granola bar and Karl grabbed a small bag of colorful chocolates. They sat on the plain wooden chairs and munched happily.
"What's up with your boss?" Rune couldn't help but ask.
"What do you mean?"
"Y'know, why is he so..." she didn't know how to finish.
"So himself?" Karl finished for her.
"Yeah."
"He's really stressed at the moment. He's trying to hide it but I can tell. I would ask but it's not my place. All I can do is try to make his job easier."
"You really care about him, don't you?"
Karl nodded. He opened his mouth to say something else but a ringing from his pocket stopped him. Karl pulled the small device out of his pocket and flipped it open. He brought it up to his ear and began to speak.
"Hi Quackity!"
Quackity said something on the other end of the phone. It was too garbled to make out.
"Breakroom 2." Karl answered the unheard question.
Quackity said something else and Karl laughed.
"She's with me. I'll bring her to you."
Rune heard a small beep from the phone and Karl flipped his phone shut.
"Come on, the boss is looking for you."
"Why?"
Karl shrugged.
Rune followed Karl back into the main lobby. She expected to see Sam waiting for her, but Alex was the one there instead.
"Come with me."
Alex began to walk away without even checking to see if Rune was following. Karl sat back down and settled back into his desk . He gave Rune an encouraging smile and continued with his work - whatever it is that he actually does. Rune scowled at the man who walked away from her with such confidence, but followed anyway.
Rune caught up to the shorter man quickly, her silent strides easily matching his. He pulled a small card out of his pocket and waved it up next to a panel by a glass door. Another door. The clouded crystal slid to the side, allowing the pair to walk through. They traversed through a couple more doors similar to the first one until they came upon a door that was different to the rest. This one was completely opaque instead of completely clear like the others, while still maintaining its crystalline beauty. It also had a keypad in addition to the key card sensor. Rune smiled when she recognized the design as the exact same one as the panel next to the door of the room she first woke up in.
The door led to an office. And quite a big one at that. Large stacks of papers covered the grand cherrywood desk and leather couch that sat along the wall. Alex motioned for Rune to sit in one of the two wingback chairs that resided just in front of the desk. Rune assumed Alex would sit in the chair behind his desk, but he instead walked over the giant shelf of books on the left side of the room. He ran his finger across the spines, presumably looking for a particular one.
"Why did Sam bring you here?" Alex finally asked.
"I asked him to." Rune stated, simply and assuredly.
"So, Sam does whatever you ask then, is that it?"
"No. Not at all."
"But he cares for you?"
"I think so."
Alex was getting more and more frustrated with every answer Rune gave.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Rune. I-"
"I don't care about your name!" Alex slammed one hand against the shelf. "I care about who you are. Why you're here. Because we both know you don't belong here."
"How did you..." Rune began to panic. How did he find out? I haven't even told Sam!
"Las Nevadas is not a place for pretty, young, innocent girls like yourself. It's pretty obvious you don't belong." Alex answered the question before Rune could even finish.
Rune let out a quiet breath. He doesn't know. At any other time she would have been offended by being called "innocent" but right now she had other things on her mind.
"I didn't realize Sam would bring me to this trash bin of a town."
Alex finally moved away from the shelf and walked over to Rune so he was standing over the chair she sat in.
"Don't."
Alex was finally close enough to Rune that she could see a thin scar running down the right side of his face. It began at his forehead and ran down through his eye until it made its way below his lip.
Rune smirked.
"What happened to make that?"
"This?" Alex asked, motioning to the long disfigurement, "some loser tried to fight me. I crushed him, obviously."
"Are you sure? You look a little red."
Alex scowled and Rune knew she hit a sensitive topic.
"Who was it? Who beat the powerful Quackity?"
Alex clenched his fist.
"What? Are you gonna try and hurt the pretty, innocent girl who doesn't belong?"
"Don't test me."
"Why not? It's obvious you won't actually do anything."
Alex swung his fist at Rune's face. She easily dodged it, grabbed his arm, and twisted it behind his back. She shoved him against his desk, scattering quite a lot of papers onto the floor. Alex grunted as his stomach hit the solid wood.
Rune leaned down and whispered in Alex's ear through gritted teeth.
"The reason you lost to whomever made that scar is the same reason why you lost to me. You're pathologically arrogant. You underestimate your opponent. You only focus on winning the fight, not why you're fighting in the first place."
Rune let go of Alex's arm, letting him push her away. They scowled at each other from across the room, the tension only breaking when Sam walked in.
"Rune? What are you doing here?"
"Hey, Sam. Alex just had some things he wanted to show me."
Sam looked to his employer inquisitively. Alex nodded. He didn't look entirely convinced but Rune could explain more later.
"Well, I figured it out." Sam told Alex, "It was an easy fix, figuring out what was actually wrong took the most time."
He turned to Rune.
"Ready to go?"
Rune nodded, glad to finally get away from this place.
~~~
1248 Words