Photo credit - Wood Wave Cafe
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"How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Not go insane by your demon!" (Y/N) giggled, taking a sip of her drink.
She watched the person sitting across from her at their table shrug her shoulders and bite into her toast. Her red hair in its usual top bun was slowly coming apart from being put up haphazardly. "You get used to it after a while. Believe me, if this job makes you go insane I would be in a psychiatric ward by now."
"That's good to know..." (Y/N) sighed and leaned back into her seat. She relaxed her stiff muscles and closed her eyes.
Blythe raised an eyebrow at her, wondering what was troubling the woman. "Is there a reason you asked?"
(Y/N) scrunched her eyebrows a bit. "It's just- I don't know if I'm cut out for this kind of work... Ki and Akai are alright but so much to handle."
"Every Keeper says that." The redhead sang, taking a sip of her coffee. "Even that old man on my floor. He's been a Keeper for 46 years now. You'd think after that long he'll be a bit more chill."
A waitress stopped by the table and lowered a bowl of grits covered with a fried egg and butter on the small table in front of (Y/N). The woman sat up in her seat and thanked the waitress before she left and scooped some of the grits onto her fork. "Yea but- I guess it just wasn't what I expected. I mean I'm honored to be able to work within my dream career field, even though it's dangerous and my sister had no clue about it-."
"You really do need to tell her." Blythe spoke with a mouth full of toast.
"I will! But I'm scared of bringing this up to her and she says that she told me so. Maybe I should've just been a doctor like her..." (Y/N) shoved a fork full of grits into her mouth anxiously.
She's been having doubts about her job for the last two days. Not enough to make her pack up and quit but enough to make her really think about where she's going with her life. Maybe it's that post-college crisis thing she's heard about.
Blythe pointed a piece of toast toward her friend which made the woman lookup. "You already spent the last four years training for this. You can't just back out when you haven't even spent a year in the field yet."
"Well, what was your first year like?" Blythe was so professional that (Y/N) couldn't imagine her having these doubts like her. She seemed to love her job.
The redhead hummed in thought as she finished her toast. "Well if you want to know, my first year was- quite eventful actually."
She had this pondering expression as she thought back to her first year working as a Keeper. "Believe it or not I wanted to be a Researcher. But I had to take extra years in school to achieve that but I didn't have the money to so I just went straight to being a Keeper. The first demon they gave me was this C-class."
(Y/N) couldn't help but snort. "You had a C-class?! How did you go from that to an A-class?"
"You tell me!" Blythe exclaimed. "I expected another C or maybe a B like yours. Was like a culture shock moving to the A floor. The demons are much bigger and more aggressive."
"Anyways, I miss that little guy. It was this animalistic demon that looked like one of those fluffy things that bathe in dust-"
"A chinchilla?" (Y/N) asked.
Blythe snapped her fingers and pointed to her. "Yea those. I was able to just hold it in my hands and after it had gotten used to me and didn't try to bite me I would just let it sleep on my desk and play with the pencils while I worked. Its lab name was J13 but I called it Paul."
"Paul?" Giggles erupted from the younger woman which made the older one roll her eyes. "Yes, Paul. It reminded me of the janitor who worked at my orphanage. Always slept on the job but would take time out of his work to make us kids laugh. He was sweet."
Blythe grew a small smile thinking about her childhood. It wasn't the best but there were those who tried to make it better not only for her but for the other children with no parents.
"What happened to Paul? Demon Paul, I mean."
Blythe's smile fell a bit as her eyes moved down to the coffee cup in her hands. "Not sure. Paul went in for some minor experimentation and never came back. The Scientists said the experiment went wrong but that was it. Then after a few days, I got that creepy nightmare fuel I'm working with now. I9 doesn't do much but you never know."
As Blythe went to sip her coffee she was quickly replaced by her corpse that had black tears trailing down from her black eyes and red tentacles that waved about behind her before she was soon back to her alive self.
(Y/N)'s eyes widened as her arm pushed the bowl full of her breakfast onto the floor. Everyone in the cafe turned to her including Blythe who looked surprised. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"I- I..."
(Y/N)'s eyes looked around the cafe. Feeling deja vu from being here before. She remembers this day. Her and Blythe decided to have breakfast somewhere different before heading to work. This was the table they sat at, the food they ate, the conversation they had. (Y/N) quickly shook her head and bent down to pick up the bowl she had knocked over. A waitress came over to help clean up the mess to which the woman quickly said apologies for making a mess and a scene. "I just- got a little startled. That's all..."
"Oh, from what? Did you see something?" Blythe turned in her seat trying to spot whatever startled her best friend.
Once the bowl was cleaned up the waitress offered to bring another but (Y/N) declined. She didn't have an appetite all of a sudden... "It's nothing-" (Y/N) stammered.
Blythe raised an eyebrow but decided to let it go. "Ok...?"
The cafe patrons went back to their breakfast and conversations. Like it was just a normal day in the Zones. Blythe went to check a message she received on her phone while (Y/N) slowly eased back into her seat and look around.
What was this? This wasn't what happened that day. Her friend would instead be telling her about her first few months with I9 to then soon give her advice and encouraging words to help her feel less doubtful about being a Keeper. (Y/N) used her fingers to feel the table. She felt wood. She smelled the air. The strong smell of coffee, pastries, and breakfast meals wafted through the air. The sounds of the cafe door opening and closing, the chattering of people, the cashier taking orders, and the baby with his mother in the corner who was beginning to cry from having a fork taken away from him. Even the taste of grits, eggs, and her drink covered her tongue that made the woman touch her lips. Upon doing so she noticed her fingers were not black in color.
She raised her hand to examine them closer and they were... normal.
Her head turned to the glass window next to them to see her reflection. It was her younger self 6 years ago. The hair she had before. The normal Keeper uniform she used to wear. Her eyes that weren't yellow. She was her 23-year-old self. Everything was like before...
She already lived this. This was just a memory. But it felt so real.
Blythe looked so real.
Just like before, the redhead would get a message on her phone after their conversation ended and roll her eyes. And as (Y/N) remembered it, Blythe rolled her eyes and shoved her phone back into her purse. "We should get to it. Work's calling!" She had fake enthusiasm, it was so familiar.
(Y/N) stayed seated despite the redhead getting up. She was confused. Was she dreaming? Did she activate her abilities on herself? How could something so fake seem so real? Even she couldn't make something like this.
"You know-" (Y/N) looked up at the sound of Blythe's voice. Something she hasn't heard in so long. "You should wake up."
The woman's eyes widened.
"I know you're tired but you shouldn't let your guard down like this. Dog can only do so much with the mindset he has."
"Bl-Blythe...?"
When the redhead turned her head to face her friend her eyes went black. She didn't look angry or decomposing or trying to kill her for her body. Just the black eyes. Blythe shook her head. "It's just a memory. You're dreaming."
(Y/N) stood up quickly, tears pricking her eyes and she stared incredulously at her friend. Or who she thought was her friend. "What do you mean I'm dreaming?!"
Blythe shrugged and took the last sip of her coffee before setting the cup down. "You fell asleep. How else do you dream?"
"WHO ARE YOU?!" (Y/N) yelled.
The two stared at each other for some time, neither speaking. One calm and observing the other who was on the verge of screaming again. Blythe took in a deep breath and soon grew this expression that showed empathy. The look made (Y/N) hitch her breathe and grip the table underneath her hands that were soon turning black. She was starting to age. Shifting into her present 28-year-old self with the accompanying scratches and bruises, her hair that hasn't been managed in days, the veins in her hands turning into a black color, and her eyes shifting to a yellowish (e/c).
Blythe observed these changes. Watching them almost regretfully. It took a second before she met (Y/N)'s eyes that were dripping in tears.
"We'll talk soon. I'll tell you everything. Just wake up."
"What do you-" (Y/N) couldn't finish as Blythe turned around and started walking to the café entrance. "Where are you going?!"
The redhead stopped and turned her head slightly. The LED light from above shined down on her that cast a harsh shadow that covered her entire face in darkness due to her bangs. (Y/N) felt her arms shake and teeth clench together.
"Wake up. Or you'll get us both killed."
A sharp pain struck the woman's mind that made (Y/N) grab her head and fall to the ground. Screaming out in pain like someone had stabbed a sharp object through her brain. She gripped her hair and felt the world around her spin and spin to the point where she felt nauseous. Her eyes could barely open at this point but it felt like cold fingers had pressed into them and tried to force them open. (Y/N)'s body resisted this but the fingers were infinitely stronger than her.
(Y/N) gritted her teeth and tried to fight back but the fingers grabbed harsher and yanked her eyelids open.
(Y/N) awoke in a pool of sweat as she jumped up from her sleeping position. The chains connecting her arm to the bed clanged against the rusty metal which echoed into the halls.
Her eyes moved around the room to find that she was all alone. Yama was gone and so was Dog. Not even Ki or Akai was around.
Her breaths were heavy as she tried to stable herself and rub her aching forehead that felt like she woke up to a horrible migraine that was beginning to subside. As she started to settle down she was able to finally start thinking.
Was that a dream?
*cling cling*
The woman quickly looked up at the sound of something tapping the bars.
Yellowish (e/c) eyes met the grey one of Lamya who had a hand resting on her hip, the other holding onto a long metal pole that was sharpened to a point, and two lackeys who stood behind her waiting for orders. "Get up. He wants to see you."
"Zan-Zankoku...?" (Y/N)'s voice was parched. Like she hasn't drunk any water in a while.
"I won't ask again, human." Lamya spoke with authority. "Don't try anything stupid either."
The woman watched the demon before easing her way up and stumbling a bit from just waking up. She carefully walked to the bars and waited for Lamya to open the barred door and use her manipulator ability to grab onto and pull (Y/N)'s arms without having to touch her.
(Y/N) was forced to follow her into the halls with the two lackeys following behind. Making sure the human wouldn't try anything.
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Author's note:
Sorry for the wait😅
I'm working on both this story and trying to get my art commissions back up that I've been a bit more focused on. As well as Spring cleaning that I'm glad to be done with.
Anyways, I hope this chapter didn't cause any emotional damage to anyone lol