"Get up!"
Laurence awoke, startled as Ruri pulled him up and out of his bed.
Normally, he would have noticed the heavy shuffling of feet coming towards him, but he was out like a light on this particular night.
Perhaps it was because of all that had happened?
Either way, as he looked confused at Ruri, he noticed that she had a serious look on her face.
"Lucy and the valkyries are on their way here; I asked a spirit to tail her and it seems I was right to do so."
Laurence frowned and walked out of the room with Ruri, into the hallway where Thomas and Birdy were standing with sleepy, yet grim expressions.
"There's no time to argue; we'll leave the store and you should remain here for them. Hana wants to talk to you."
"Have we been betrayed?"
Laurence was referring, of course, to whether Lucy had sold them out, but Ruri shook her head.
"No, but remember that this is supposedly the first time you're meeting her. Don't arouse suspicion from the other two and act as you would if you were surprised. Also-"
Ruri had the braces in her hand and gave it to Laurence, who quickly took them.
"-Put them on just in case. They'll be here any moment, so bye."
Ruri didn't even wait for a response and started pushing out Thomas and Birdy through the backdoor.
They didn't even bother complaining or ask for any more questions, as Ruri's fast-paced behaviour was already something that they had gotten used to.
Besides, if they had any questions, it would've been answered by Ruri outside of the store as they hid away.
Laurence sighed as they walked out the door and moved to the main store, attaching the braces to his limbs.
At the flicker of the familiar blue flame, Laurence looked at it with mixed emotions.
This was Yuna, her soul.
That being said, he had no time to think about that now, as he crouched behind the counter, awaiting the visitors.
If he were to act as though this were unexpected, then he felt it would've been right to be guarded, as though he thought they were enemies.
He waited there, watching the front door with anticipation, but-
"What the hell!?"
-the group of girls had appeared right before his very eye, materializing just above the floor.
Lucy hadn't quite explained the powers of each of her comrades, so this came as a genuine surprise to Laurence.
His eyes immediately locked onto Erika, as he knew this was the first thing he needed to do.
Then, he slowly blinked, a little flame being thrown out from his braces; each small movement with the purpose to show surprise.
"...Erika?"
Laurence spoke the word with as much confusion as he could muster, but he didn't lower his guard.
The small, blonde haired girl, who fit Lucy's earlier description of Hana, stepped forward.
"Calm yourself. We haven't come to fight."
Laurence looked to Hana, then back to Erika and finally, Lucy, who gave an apologetic look when she was certain the other two weren't looking.
It appeared as though she didn't want to come back here so soon, especially with the rest of her group.
Laurence finally looked back to Erika, who gave a gentle smile.
"It's nice to see you again, Laurence."
"...Is everyone here a mutant?"
Erika nodded and Laurence stood up a bit, allowing his guard to lower ever so slightly.
He knew that nothing would come from being on guard all the time, so using the mistaken assumption that Laurence was a mutant, he knew that this would allow him to progress the conversation.
If he acted like he trusted them too quickly, however, then he was worried they would be suspicious.
"...Alright, I'll bite. Why are you here, or rather, how did you find me?"
Hana looked around in response and eyed up the comic books inside the store.
"Well, considering you were calling yourself a hero earlier, wouldn't it be obvious to check a place filled with them?"
"...I suppose."
Now that I think of it, staying here was a really stupid decision, wasn't it? Laurence thought.
In the corner of his eyes, he could see Lucy sigh.
"That's why I stopped by the first time, but you weren't here."
Lucy explained it to Laurence.
Naturally, they needed to be careful with their words when communicating with each other right now.
Laurence answered appropriately.
"You were here earlier?"
Lucy nodded without elaborating further.
She was clearly going out of her way to avoid things Laurence was already aware of, but Hana, who was unaware of this, explained.
"Since we had wanted to speak with you, Lucy decided to go and follow a hunch as to where you might be."
Or she simply wanted to talk to me without letting her teammates know.
"You wanted to see me?"
Hana nodded.
"Right now, the city is in great danger. A group of mutants called 'the Chosen' are planning to launch an onslaught with the goal of wiping them out. The worst part is that the normals are completely unaware of this and I doubt they'll listen to anyone, with trust being a hard thing to find. That leaves it to the ones who know about the attack to stop it, wouldn't you say?"
"And you're asking me to help?"
"Yes, that is exactly what I'm asking. Would you assist us in preventing the worst and destroying the evil in this city?"
Laurence knew what she meant, but he needed to ask anyways.
"Destroy the evil?"
"Mm. If we leave them alone, they will still attempt to kill the normals. In order to stop them once and for all, we need to end their lives."
Laurence frowned and shook his head.
"I don't plan on killing anyone."
Hana gave Laurence a stern look.
"Not even to protect the innocent?"
"No one's innocent in the city; I've done as much wrong as everyone else, but I'm still alive. I believe people can change."
Hana narrowed her gaze at Laurence, as though he had done something wrong.
"So you'll just let them kill all the normals if they don't decide to change?"
"No, I'll protect the normals so that no one gets killed."
"That's impossible. You're just one person"
Hana scoffed at Laurence's words.
"So then why don't you help me protect everyone, rather than kill the chosen?"
Hana just ignored Laurence's question completely and spoke frustratedly.
"Why can't you understand!? They'll just try again if we leave them alone!"
"Maybe you're right, but even so, I won't kill them."
"Why not!?"
Laurence thought back over what he had discussed with Ruri and the others and decided to make a gamble.
"Don't you think something's been off these past couple of months?"
He asked the question with an unguarded posture; if he wanted to convince Hana, he felt he needed to be as honest as possible.
Of course, if she didn't see anything wrong with what was going on, then it would be much harder to resolve this conflict.
Hana still looked frustrated as she responded.
"'Off'? What are you talking about?"
Laurence sighed; his gamble didn't work.
Nonetheless, he couldn't give up.
"Like... it feels like everyone's acting. Like they don't really want to kill or hurt anyone."
Hana's glare showed anger, and Laurence knew she was no longer listening.
"'Acting'? Acting, you say!? Do you know how many people have died since the apocalypse? Do you know how many were killed by the chosen? You call that acting!?"
"No, what I me-"
"They are evil! It's plain to see and yet you're chasing the delusion that somewhere deep down they don't want to kill anyone, after everything they've done!?"
"Just lis-"
"Idiot! There is no other way to resolve this than by killing them before they kill innocent bystanders! They have no remorse and won't stop until mutants are the only thing remaining in the city!"
Hana was throwing a tantrum and Laurence was at a loss.
It was safe to say that convincing her was going to be a pain in the ass.
Just as Laurence was about to give up, Lucy decided to interject.
"Wait... I think I know what he's talking about."
Hana swiveled her head around and looked at Lucy with a blank expression.
"You... agree with him?"
"Nope. But I've been seeing things with my powers as of late; I thought I was just imaging things, as I couldn't identify it, but... It's definitely there. Something has been feeling off for the past few months."
Laurence could tell that she was lying, not by looking at her, but by the fact that she probably would have mentioned it sooner, when she had visited them before.
Lucy was willing to go this extent to try and take a peaceful approach in stopping the chosen.
"Is... that what you mean?"
Lucy asked the question to Laurence, who followed up on the chance.
"Yes. It appears that something's been going on for the past two months... maybe more, and I believe it has something to do with the way people are acting right now."
Hana went quiet and took in what Laurence just said, finally seeming to listen.
She shook her head after a brief moment, however.
"...Even so, that doesn't excuse what they've done before these past few months."
"But it might have been more than two months, is what I'm saying."
"Do you have proof of that?"
"...Yes. I have a friend who can communicate with the dead."
Laurence made another gamble, and Hana's expression visibly changed from being serious to being surprised.
"You know Birdy's twin sister?"
"As do you, it seems."
"What does she have to do with any of this?"
"She tells me that the only people dead are those who died since about two months ago."
Visible confusion appeared on the faces of both Hana and Erika, as well as Lucy, as she wasn't told that fact yet.
Hana and Erika didn't appear to know what it meant for this to be the case.
"But that's impossible. Isn't she lying?"
Erika asked bluntly, to which Laurence shook his head.
"I believe her. I have a friend who can tell when someone's lying."
"And what if he made a mistake?"
Hana asked, her tone bitter.
"Let me re-phrase; I have a mutant friend who can tell when someone's lying."
"...So then what does it mean?"
Erika asked.
"Well... I have an idea, but it's not exactly-"
"Tell us!"
Laurence was cut off by Hana, who impatiently wanted an answer.
There was no doubt that she was frustrated by the fact that the conversation wasn't going according to how she imagined.
Children tended to be that way.
Laurence looked at the three before resting his gaze on Lucy, an unsure expression across his face.
There was only one thing he could do to proceed the conversation, and if he said it, then Lucy would have to make a choice should things turn out poorly.
Lucy closed her eyes and nodded, realizing Laurence was being considerate of her situation before answering the question, resolving herself for what happened if things didn't work out.
Laurence turned back to Hana and didn't hesitate.
"If nobody's died prior to these two months, then that would mean that our memories are fake. We're being manipulated by something."
The silence that befell them was filled with various emotions; Lucy was tense, hoping that her friends would at least consider the possibility, Erika was blankly staring at Laurence, as if he had said a bad joke, and Hana's brow furrowed in anger.
"Or someone has taken the souls of the dead away."
Hana's angry retort was spoken in a voice below a yell, which made it even more unbelievable to Laurence and Lucy as to what they heard.
She had spoken it without screeching like a child, which they had expected from the way she was starting to act, and even worse, it was a reasonable explanation for someone who didn't see or feel anything wrong with how people had been acting.
Maybe Hana herself truly was smart, regardless of how much of her personality and memories were false.
Either way, this was the worst possible outcome for Laurence and Lucy, as neither could come up with anything else that would convince her now; She didn't think anything was strange, she was stubbornly set in her ways, and she had denied Laurence's in a logical manner rather than an irrational one.
The thin line of her upset mouth made it clear that she was through hearing Laurence's point of view.
"You would come to a conclusion that would deny who you were without considering that possibility? Are you stupid?"
Hana's voice had turned disrespectful, no longer looking at Laurence like a comrade or a fellow mutant.
"It feels wrong though! All of this!"
Now it was Laurence who was acting like the child, frustrated that Hana was unable to see the discrepancies between the last two months and the time before that.
Hana didn't take well to this.
"Enough! It's clear that you're willing to delude yourself enough to find the good in people to the point where your own feelings don't matter. We don't need someone like you in our group and I hope you'll stay out of our way in the time to come."
Hana spoke the words sternly and authoritatively, regaining some of that sense of a mature person she had lost for parts of the conversation.
Erika looked sadly at Laurence and put her hand on Hana in preparation to leave.
Lucy, however, had moved away from Erika's reach and this had warranted a look of confusion from the faces of Erika and Hana.
"Lucy, we're leaving."
"...Mhm, I know."
Lucy said that and looked at Laurence with a pondering look, her hands balled up into tiny fists.
It was no secret that she had problems with helping a plan to kill anyone, now that their lives up to the point had come into question.
So, she stayed still, right where she was.
"Lucy?"
Hana no longer had an expression of anger, instead of genuine worry.
Lucy looked back at her, the weight of betraying Hana and Erika's trust finally sinking in as her fists shook slightly.
Even still, she wouldn't move.
"I... I told you I had doubts, right? I knew something was wrong even before Laurence told us anything, even before he told us anything about the dead only having people from the past two months. I noticed things that had absolutely nothing to do with that, that had to do with the people around us so... I... I'm staying."
*Whack*.
It was a sharp noise, one you couldn't believe was produced from such a small hand striking a similarly small cheek.
Hana had walked up and slapped Lucy as hard as she could, then grabbed her by the collar and forced her to look at her.
"Ah."
Lucy saw completely disbelief in Hana's eyes, which was much worse than the hurt expression she was expecting.
"What are you saying? Are you feeling alright? You may be strange but you've always believed in me, so there's no way you'd turn your back on us here because of something a random stranger said, right?"
"It's not because of what he's saying."
"So you're going to leave us because it's something you were going to do anyways?"
Lucy held back from saying 'no' after realizing that there was no good way to explain herself to Hana as she was now.
It hurt her.
She had to end this right now because she couldn't bear looking them in the eyes if she went along with what they were doing.
"Yes. Even if Laurence didn't say anything, I would have left you two eventually."
It was the truth as someone who was aware of the strange feeling of wrongness in the city.
She didn't want to say it in such a way, but trying to save face with her friends was all but impossible, she felt.
Hana gave a small laugh, still disbelieving what Lucy was saying, and pinched her cheek.
A wide eyed expression came across her face and her mouth became a large frown.
"Huh. I was sure that it was merely a nightmare, but you're actually betraying us right now?"
Lucy looked at Hana in the eyes, never daring to look away as she nodded sadly.
Then, finally, Lucy saw the expression she was expecting; a hurt, betrayed expression.
"All because you trust your paranoid feelings more than you trust your friends- no, your family!?"
"Hana-"
"I don't want to hear it!"
Hana shook her head fiercely and turned around towards Erika, who stood shocked as she viewed what just happened.
"This isn't a very funny joke."
Erika stated flatly, to which Lucy nodded.
"It really isn't."
Lucy's response made Erika frown.
Hana grabbed onto Erika and glared at Lucy.
"Even for you, this whim is too much. You'd better be prepared to apologize on your hands and knees when you come back. Erika, let's go."
The words were spoken hastily, as if Hana wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, and they were gone in the blink of an eye.
The silence that followed the whirlwind of uncomfortable emotions left Lucy and Laurence standing there for a while.
Both were thinking of the same thing and turned to each other.
"Didn't that... go far too quickly?"
As much as the event hurt Lucy, she spoke the words first.
Since they were very close, one would have thought that both Hana and Erika would stay a little while longer in an attempt to understand and persuade Lucy.
Even if they were betrayed, the time they took between learning that they were and giving up was far too short.
"I don't know them personally. Can they tell when your minds set on something?"
"I... I suppose that's possible. Hana said that this was one of my 'whims' as she was leaving, so it's as good a guess as any."
Lucy didn't want to think about the matter any longer, giving a onceover of the comic book store before setting her gaze on Laurence and changing the topic.
"Anyways, we really need to move our base of operations."
"'We'?"
"Yes, 'we'. Like it or not, I'm stuck with you guys for now, as someone who understands something odd is going on here. By the way, why on earth did you choose the only comic book store in town to begin with?"
"Well... it just sort of happened?"
Laurence scratched his cheek thoughtfully.
"Idiots."
Lucy huffed that insult as the sound of a door opening in the back could be heard.
"I heard that!"
Ruri's voice could be heard calling from the back in response to Lucy's insult.
"You, or your 'spies'?"
Lucy asked that question as she ignored Laurence and entered the back.
Laurence gave a sigh and followed, realizing things were going to be much more hectic from that point onward.
* * * * * *
Now I know what you're thinking; where, oh where is the part where I, Narrator, come into this currently bland and overrated story?
Well... right now, actually!
I'm currently sitting down in my little hideout, giving you all the basic details to bring you up to speed, but I've decided to pull back the curtain a little bit on some things going on.
I may have over explained everything to the point of giving you guys headaches, but I can't help but wonder what would happen were an idiot to pick this up, so I've decided to put even more information forth, possibly ruining a future plot-twist!
Dun, dun, dunnnnn!
...Well, in actuality, I need to hint at this before it happens, because it will come out of nowhere for everyone else unless I introduce her now.
"Is now a bad time?"
Ah, one of my pawns have arrived, no doubt catching me deep in thought; coincidentally, she's the one I need to talk too in order to hint at it!
Wow, it's like I planned this to happen at this exact moment!
"No, no, no, you're actually here when I wanted you to be! There was only a 13.467 (and numerous other numbers) percent chance of you not showing up at this time!"
I stated gleefully, my pawn giving me a look of exasperation.
Ah! She's so wonderfully boring!
Her narrow eyes and dark circle, short black hair and haunting look... She's absolutely, completely cliched as a creepy girl, one that looks like she'd hex you!
"You're making fun of me in your head again, aren't you?"
Why yes I am!
"No, of course not!"
"...Whatever."
She strides into the room after closing the door, her suspicious gaze over me.
Oh!? Does she actually know how to curse me?
There was a 0.456 (ect, ect) percent chance of that being possible, so-!
"I came in here to ask you about the girl."
Of course, it seems like everything's going according to the higher percentage.
How dull.
"Offff course you did."
"I'm guessing it was the most likely outcome?"
"Not guessing. And as for the girl, let's just say that I needed to remove her from the equation for things to progress the way they are now."
I waved my hand dismissively at her.
I won't bother with her name as of yet, since you'll find out sooner or later.
"Really? Is her existence that important?"
I turn to my pawn and give her as serious as an expression I can muster, despite the fact it ruins my beautiful face.
"More so than you can possibly imagine."
And that's pretty much it; an important character to this story is currently here in our vague hideout, removed from what's going on.
Now this may not seem like much, but there are a few hints here and there that will surely satisfy the common skeptic for when said plot-twist happens.
...Ah, of course this might seem like it came completely out of nowhere, considering we were in the middle of the little break-up between Lucy and the Valkyries, but I've gotten bored doing nothing but narrating other people's lives.
Still, it's not like I'm entertained by much these days anyways.
Even now, I'm getting bored again, despite the fact that I finally get to speak without the restraints of describing what others are doing and perhaps thinking.
My current role is very limited in what it can do, because I need to stay here and narrate for all of you observers so that I may get the results I desire.
...Ah, I used a plural. Spoilers.
Well, just consider it another gift I'm imparting onto you, as the plot will only start getting more and more confusing as we proceed.
Perhaps I need to retract my earlier statement about stupid people reading this; I need to make certain that anyone reading this understands what's going on completely, or I'm completely screwed.
If anyone misunderstands, then that could alter the course of events we are proceeding on, and that would be disastrous to me and my allies.
In other words, however you perceive the story has an impact on what happens.
Now then, let's just check back up on our fake hero before I ramble on some more.
* * * * * *
Timeskip time!
I said check back up on him, but the following takes place the next day, after they moved out of the comic book store into a different location a few blocks away.
It didn't take much convincing for them to move, as they were trying to hide their base of operations, but Thomas was a little hung up on the fact that they had to leave all of the comic books behind.
It was a minor loss in the overall picture though.
Birdy had scouted out the new place, another apartment complex, before they moved; it had residents hiding away on the 3rd and 4th floors, but they still decided to inhabit the empty basement.
Another unspoken rule I have forgotten to mention was what happened when there were already people living in the same building you sought to live in; You just moved in.
Regardless of where you lived, you still ran the risk of hunters raiding your home, or networkers selling where you lived, so it was ultimately up to the person whether they stayed when another was present.
Naturally, you didn't ask them for permission either, as they would then be aware of who was living with them, on top of being suspicious as to why you would give that courtesy when the world was as it was.
So there wasn't really any need for them to be wary of who was in their building, since nowhere was completely safe anyways.
* * * * * *
They brought all the necessities; things to sleep on, valuables, and personal items.
When they finished moving, the basement was still relatively bare and dark; it was most likely a room dedicated to laundry before the apocalypse.
The floor was a cold concrete and there was webbing all across the white, unsmooth ceiling, making the room seem overall uncomfortable, but with the help of a lantern set upon a small stand and a blanket depicting a starry night sky spread across the floor, it was as good a place to call home as any.
The addition of some folding chairs helped too, as Laurence unfolded one and set it on the concrete, not wanting to dirty the blanket.
As he sat down, he let out an exhausted sigh.
"There, we've moved. Now what?"
Laurence was not interested in postponing the problem anymore than it had to; currently, there was a two person group planning to launch a suicide attack on a much larger mutant group, and he had no idea when and where things would come to a head.
Once the fighting started, someone was sure to die.
Ruri gave a curious look in Laurence's direction.
"Nothing."
"...What?"
Ruri stated it so bluntly that it was almost comical, but her expression was serious.
"I'm saying we do nothing. I asked some spirits to follow them back, so we'll know what their planning when they come up with it."
"But Erika can teleport. How could you follow them?"
Lucy interjected.
Ruri looked blankly at Lucy for a moment.
"The spirits followed you back to your base the first time, so they already knew where to go."
"Oh... so you saw all that then?"
Lucy frowned, referring to the mutant that Hana had killed.
"I did. I won't fault you for that one, as betraying your friends then meant helping that man escape, and that would've been difficult as he wasn't in his right mind. Although I doubt you thought of it that way."
Lucy flinched at Ruri's piercing words, which seemed to completely see through her, but before the mood turned completely sour, Birdy whapped Ruri on the back of the head, an 'Ow' leaving her lips as Birdy scowled.
"Be nice."
Birdy spoke the words much like a mother would, and Ruri pouted as she turned to face her.
"We're the same age..."
Ruri complained quietly.
Birdy ignored this and took a folding chair as well, sitting down next to Laurence.
"Well, why don't we get to know each other in the meantime? It might be a good change of pace to actually have friends and not business partners for once."
"Oh."
Ruri looked suspicious of Birdy sitting so close to Laurence, but she seemed more surprised that she came up with the notion of character buildi- (Ahem) building bonds between allies.
"That sounds like a good idea."
Ruri admitted.
"So wait, are we just going to sit around here talking about ourselves while a potential massacre is in the works?"
Lucy asked the seemingly ridiculous words with a slight edge to her tone, as she also wanted to focus on stopping her friends from getting themselves killed.
"Yeah, that sounds about right."
Ruri stated.
"Are you all stupid? No, wait, you were in a comic book store; of course you're all stupid."
Lucy sighed and rubbed her temples in frustration.
Laurence frowned in agreement with Lucy, but Birdy was obviously in support of her sister's course of action, being family.
That left the tie-breaker on what to do next up to the fifth person, who was uncharacteristically quiet for a while.
"Thomas, what do you think?"
Ruri asked the question, snapping Thomas out of his own little world, as he was in the corner starting at a crawling ant near a small hole in the wall.
"...Well... As long as Ruri has eyes on the rest of the valkyries, I don't see the harm."
Thomas had spoken, making it 3-2 in favor of character development.
"I can't believe this..."
Lucy threw her hands up in frustration, turning her back on the group, but making no attempts to move out of the basement.
It was more or less an action to show her discontent.
Laurence didn't look pleased either, but he knew that Thomas made some sense; if anything truly important came up, then Ruri would inform them via the spirits.
"Fine."
Laurence sighed, giving up the point.
Ruri gave a grin, happy to have gotten her way.
"But... how are we supposed to learn more about each other if our memories are altered?"
"Ah."
At Thomas's point, both Birdy and Ruri realized the flaw in talking about one another.
"...Honestly."
Laurence shook his head and stood up, making his way to the door.
"Well... I guess we'll just learn more simply by being around each other anyways... where are you going, Laurence?"
Birdy had seen Laurence putting his hand on the doorknob, and called out to him.
"I'm just going to be walking around for a bit."
"I'll go with you."
Lucy, already near the door, followed after Laurence, leaving Birdy and the others behind.
"...Well, we're off to a great start." Thomas stated, still watching the ants in the corner.
* * * * * *
Lucy and Laurence were walking down to the crossing streets, where they intersected in the very middle of the city.
There wasn't any real reason, Laurence told Lucy, just that he felt like it.
The streets were busy as usual, packed with people moving for a purpose; to kill, to trade, and to survive.
But when they looked at all the people they passed, they noticed the strange habits they had; looking around without any suspicion or malice, some having a passing interest in what others were doing...
This wasn't the heartless city that Laurence and Lucy remembered growing up in.
"Looking at them now... it's more like we're anti-social rather than cut-throat."
Laurence nodded at Lucy's observation.
"But that doesn't mean that we aren't dangerous. I... killed three people during last month, because I was supposedly that type of person."
"Hm... then what type of person are you now?"
"I don't know. Even now, when I'm trying to stop people from killing each other... it's like I've more or less given myself something to do, since I lost my reason to live."
Lucy looked up curiously at Laurence.
"So in the end, we're doing exactly as Ruri suggested , huh?"
"...Yeah."
"What was your reason to live?"
"To protect the life between me and someone else, but... they died last month, as a consequence to my actions."
Lucy readjusted her cap, purple like her long hair, and looked at Laurence with some pity.
"...Apparently I'm not the most emotional person, but I'd like to say I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thanks... I guess."
Laurence looked at a scuffle that they were approaching; apparently a woman and man were arguing about what to have for dinner in front of a trade center, where an irritated line-up waited patiently.
Just as they were about to pass it, Laurence stopped and looked on, while Lucy, noticing the lack of movement, turned questioningly towards Laurence.
"...It's strange, isn't it?"
Lucy looked at the couple after hearing Laurence's words, but still didn't understand.
"What, the arguing?"
"No, that the line-up is even allowing them to continue that argument. If the world was what we thought it was, then they would've straight up pushed them out of the way, right?"
"But it's an unspoken rule to not cause trouble in line-ups."
"Which that couple is breaking."
"Ah... but then that would make the arguing exactly what's strange, right?"
"I guess so."
Lucy sighed and turned away.
"Idiot, at least think before speaking."
"That was uncalled for."
The two walked away, continuing their aimless walk towards the crossing streets.
"It wasn't uncalled for; you've been taking care of things as they've been coming along, right? Impulsively, might I add."
"What does that have to do with thinking before speaking?"
"There isn't much of a difference between that and thinking before acting, as speaking is an action."
"What about you? You decided to abandon your friends almost immediately-"
Lucy turned around and punched Laurence in the gut, eliciting a reaction from the people surrounding them almost immediately.
It was so sudden that Laurence didn't have time to react, and Lucy pulled him by the collar down to face her.
Her face was red and her breathing was heavy, as if it were taking everything she had not to do more.
"...Idiot."
Lucy spoke the words slowly and with as much of a clear tone as she could muster.
"I can think clearly enough to know that what I just did was an act of anger on my part; an emotional response caused by your words which I felt were tactless and insulting. I am also aware that I am a kid, so maybe I'm the one in the wrong here, but as sudden as my decision was to betray my friends was, it was a difficult one. Why wouldn't it; they were the people I've lived with for my entire life, as far as my memories are concerned, so I tried not to think too much about it until this point, as it was what I felt was right at the time. So don't ever speak casually about my decision to leave them."
Laurence was stunned, staying exactly where he was even as Lucy let go of his collar.
Lucy looked irritated at this reaction.
"What? Are you unused to being told off?"
"You're crying."
"Hm?"
Lucy brought her hands to her eyes, and sure enough, she felt something wet trickle down her cheeks.
Now it was Lucy's turn to be stunned, but she had the wherewithal to cover her face with her bag and move towards Laurence to hide the vulnerable expression.
"I thought you said you weren't emotional?"
Laurence spoke that, once again, without thinking, and Lucy headbutted his gut while covering her face.
"Idiot... just find an alleyway... please."
Laurence led Lucy by hand to the nearest alleyway, despite all the curious looks from everybody around them.
He could hear her starting to sniffle, threatening full out tears, and quickened the pace, and made his way deep into the alleyways where they were out of prying eyes.
"I think we're fine here."
"...Thanks."
Lucy took her bag away from her face, and it was now scrunched up in sadness and even redder than before.
"I... I'm quite embarrassed right now. This type of weakness can kill someone here."
Through choked up speech and tears, what Lucy said was still coherent.
She sat down on the dirty ground, which still had trash lying around and brought her legs up to her body, hugging herself.
Laurence took a seat across from her in the narrow alleyway, and watched her as she wiped her nose along her forearm.
"...You're sad too."
At Lucy's words, Laurence immediately checked his eyes for tears, as unlikely as it seemed and found none.
He cocked his head at Lucy's statement, and she laughed amidst her tears.
"It's my power... I can't see emotions, but I can see the changes inside the body when it feels a certain way... no, I guess that would mean I can see emotions, huh?"
Lucy wiped her eyes with her arm and looked at Laurence with somber eyes.
"If you didn't know that you were sad... then maybe we have no idea what our own feelings are. I certainly didn't expect to cry over something so suddenly, or even lash out at you like that."
"...By the way, you really hit me hard back then."
"Sorry."
"No, I deserved it. I didn't think before speaking."
"You mean what I told you to do?"
"Yeah... that."
The two then became silent as they sat in the dirty alleyway.
The emotions they were feeling should have been something familiar to them, yet they were having trouble because of them; acting out impulsively and changing their minds at the slightest change in their lives.
To say they were acting emotionally would have been an understatement.
"It's like I've never felt this way before... but that can't be true."
Lucy had calmed down to the point where she only sniffled a bit, but her face was still bright red.
She looked at her stained bag, and frowned.
"...We really do have fake memories. I wouldn't be so upset if that wasn't true."
"You didn't believe us before?"
"Of course not, but I didn't doubt that your group believed it. At the very least... I felt like I could trust you guys when it came to doing the right thing."
Lucy got up from the ground and brushed off the back of her pants.
"I know that my faith in that regard wasn't misplaced."
She offered a hand to Laurence, which he took and pulled on, although this only made Lucy fall ontop of him.
"Ah."
"Oops."
Lucy quickly got off of Laurence and laughed.
"I'm too used to pulling up Hana, since she... she isn't all that athletic and falls down a lot."
The mood soured yet again, but Laurence got up and patted Lucy on the head, to which she stared at him with a shocked expression.
"We're going to save her too."
The words left Laurence's mouth with ease and he didn't ease up on his patting of her head.
Lucy looked up at him with some curiosity, then sighed softly.
"...I've never had my head pet before... but..."
"I used to do this to Yuna all the time when she was feeling down. Is it weird?"
"No... it feels kind of relaxing, although it is strange... I've seen your hand, studied its components and yet I never realized how big it is compared to my head until now."
"You don't usually compare your head to things, do you?"
"That's... a fair point."
Laurence pet Lucy for a few more moments, and Lucy regarded him with warm eyes.
"You're a kind person."
"I don't know myself enough to argue with that, so if you say so, then that must be the case."
Laurence removed his hand from the capped head of Lucy, and she readjusted it, giving a grin.
"I feel giddy inside now. Maybe I should cry more often so that you comfort me more?"
"Please don't. You can just ask me to do that, since I don't really mind."
"Oh, then I'll take advantage of that offer later. I would've asked you it again at this moment, but-"
Lucy gestured to both sides of the alleyway and Laurence looked, finding that some figures were approaching.
"-we are currently being hunted."
Laurence cursed, out of his own stupidity for letting the hunters surround them, as well as taking Lucy far into the alleyways so that no one could have seen them.
He wondered why he did that?
Normally he would have at least stayed in sight of a street so that they could escape easily, but when he saw Lucy crying, he thought that she wouldn't have wanted to be seen.
He let his emotions win against his fading hunter's instinct.
He looked around the alley for a ladder to climb onto, and found one near the group approaching from their left.
"Lucy-"
"I know. Run for the left group on go. ...Go!"
With their (supposed) veteran instincts, Lucy and Laurence knew the best plan was to aim for the ladder before the hunters got there.
Of course, if they managed to be too close to the ladder, then there was no way to get up there safely, which would mean they had to get past the group.
It was better than being surrounded completely, however.
It was also a simple enough plan that they didn't need to talk about it beforehand.
As they took off running, they knew the group to the right would run right after them, making the time frame even shorter for when they had to take out the left group.
Still, they didn't have any choice, as if they were completely surrounded, it would have been over.
The left group had three people, as they approached them, and they were already at the ladder, as Laurence had misjudged how close they truly were to it.
Of course, the plan Lucy and Laurence had was easily seen through by the hunters, because of how simple it was.
Rather, they must have been expecting this scenario, as it was the only logical way of escape.
"Laurence, I got the left two!"
The two on the left had knives at the ready.
"Are you-"
'-sure?' Was what Laurence never finished.
He saw Lucy pulling out two towels with a tab sticking out between them, then he saw her bite down on it and pull them away from each other.
The tab was attached to a translucent plastic, pulling away at a sticky substance on both towels.
The spectacle distracted Laurence and they were almost upon the group, so he knew he just had to believe her.
He ran towards the man on the right, who started to swing the metal bat he had in his hands.
Laurence scoffed at this irony; he used a metal bat until just recently himself.
The narrow alleyway didn't have much space, so coupled with the fact that he was already starting to swing the bat, Laurence knew that the man was going to hit him from above as he reached him.
Laurence was running pretty quickly, but he managed to halt his pace just out of the bat's range, grazing his foot.
All the forward momentum he had before he grinded his feet into the ground propelled his upper body forward, despite his intent to stop, however.
He ended up headbutting the hunter, who hadn't moved away fast enough, and grabbed the bat out of his hands while he was momentarily stunned.
He hadn't planned on doing that, but Laurence's instincts were good, fake memories or not.
The impact of his head against the hunter had completely stopped him momentum now, and Laurence struck the man's chin with the handle of the bat; a solid hit that knocked the already off-balance man onto his rear.
"Sorry!"
Laurence offered that apology as he pressed his foot onto the man's face and stomped it onto the ground, hindering him enough for Laurence to run by him without anymore hinderance.
To his surprise, as he looked ahead, Lucy was right there, a few steps ahead.
He hadn't looked to his left, despite the narrowness of the alley, as he needed to focus all of his attention on moving past the hunter.
There was no time for an explanation on how she got past them, however, so he just continued running until he noticed even more people coming down the alleyway.
"What the hell!?"
Laurence was shocked that there were more of them, as groups of hunters wouldn't usually have enough people to catch their prey if they escaped the initial ambush.
"Get back to the ladder!"
Lucy shouted that and didn't even blink, pivoting around and running back towards the group they had already passed.
As Laurence followed suit, he noticed that the two hunters Lucy had dealt with were peeling off the towels from their faces, looking pissed off as they readied their knives.
Oh, so that's what the towels were for. Laurence noted.
The man he had dealt with previously was fortunately unconscious from Laurence's earlier actions, leaving only the two men with knives.
Lucy was already taking out something else from her bag, and Laurence still had the bat, which had longer reach than the knives.
There was no other option but to hinder them to the point where they couldn't stop them from going up the ladder.
"Laurence, hold your breath."
Lucy spoke that hastily as she brandished a small makeshift ball that seemed patchy and homemade.
She said it in a volume that only Laurence could hear it, so he knew it was something that would be advantageous to their escape in some way.
He didn't question it and held his breath as they came upon the men.
Lucy saw this and threw the ball down onto the ground as the hunters they approached charged.
*Poof!*
An explosion of smoke covered their immediate vicinity, making it nearly impossible to see anything.
Laurence felt his body pushed to the side and almost grabbed the assailant, before realizing they were so short that their head could only reach his lower chest.
It was, without a doubt, Lucy who pushed him to the wall of the narrow alley.
She grabbed onto his hand and pulled him towards the direction of the ladder, then she pushed his hands onto the wall.
Laurence guessed she was telling him that the ladder was there, and lifted her up.
He felt some irritated struggling, but it quickly subsided as her weight was suddenly lifted from his hands.
Laurence then jumped up, missing the first rung of the ladder but banging his hand against it, making a loud sound.
Knowing where he was aiming for, he jumped up again and grabbed onto it this time, pulling himself up.
Just as he was pulling himself all the way up, however, he felt a hand grab onto his left ankle.
"!!!"
The noise that he made from banging the first rung also served as a guide for the nearby hunters to know where they were.
Before Laurence could curse, he felt a sharp pain rip into the sole of his feet, going all the way through to the other side.
"Ahhh, son of a-!"
He had been stabbed through the foot.
The immediate reaction he had was to lift his foot up, but the hand still held onto his ankle, the knife proceeding slowly down to his toes.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, LET GO OF ME!!!"
The hunter didn't let go, and Laurence still held onto the rung for dear life, even as the pain of having his foot ripped in half seared into his nervous system, screaming a pointless warning to get away.
Laurence could feel Lucy's tiny hands futilely try to pull him up.
"Laurence!"
Lucy's eyes were full of fear.
She couldn't see what was going on in the smoke, but she was right in the face of his screaming.
Laurence bit his lip until it drew blood and choked his wails.
He needed to pull himself away from the hunter before his friends used the screams to locate, and help pull him down to his death.
Laurence knew that, but no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't shake the grip of the assailant, his malicious attack almost to the point of cutting his foot in half.
That's when he looked at Lucy one more time.
She had just finished crying earlier, and he didn't want her to go through that again, even if he barely knew her.
....I.... barely know her? Laurence, in the middle of all the pain, felt like something clear had surfaced to his head for a moment.
An image of a pouting girl, sitting with her head in her hands, her purple hair lazily hanging at her sides without the cap Laurence usually saw her with, sitting at a school desk.
Then he felt another hand grab onto his other ankle, pulling him down as well.
The slight confusion he had over that moment of clarity distracted him, and he lost his grip the exact moment he said a nickname he never heard before, yet felt so familiar.
"Lulu?"
The world turned a smoky white as Lucy screamed Laurence's name in vain.