As we were climbing the stairs to Fresh's "throne room", Mordecai turned towards me.
"Are you nervous?'
'Terrified.'
"Why? It's just to meet him."
'After what I did last night, there's no way he won't punish me, right?'
"(Y/N), He gave me a free mind, that's the most he can do to help you, if you were to be punished, why would he give me a free mind in the first place?"
'Well-' I stopped. He did make sense. If I were to be executed, there's no point giving Mordecai a free mind. Same if I were to be corrupted, in those situations, a free mind would be just... unreasonable. If he were to kill Mordecai, why would he give him a free mind first? At first I thought: "to make sure that when he dies, I'll be more distraught" but then I quickly erased that possibility. Was he really going to let me go unpunished? But even so, I quickly erased that possibility too.
'You're right"
"I'm always right"
'No you're not, you thought carrots grew from trees until you were fourteen.
"I wonder if Fresh's awake now."
'DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT KAI'
"Ahem. I wonder if Fresh's awake now."
I sighed. 'What time is it?'
"It's uh... 11."
'PM or AM?'
"AM.'
'Ah. He probably is then, but then again, it's hard to guess.'
When we walked onto the roof, I held onto Mordecai's shoulder for support as the wind shot right through me. Even though it was supposed to be the early afternoon, the sky was still dark, so Fresh wouldn't be woken up by the non-existent morning sun. I fell asleep wearing the same clothes as yesterday, they didn't do much against the wind, but then I realised that unlike the Corrupted that first took me to Fresh's "Throne Room", Mordecai actually froze in place, gripping me for support too. We hung onto each other as a particularly strong gale blew through us, before we started slowly moving. I looked up at the towering Amps, which gazed back down at me like stone judges. Though, I couldn't see Fresh anywhere. Where was he?
Then, the wind died down, and we could finally hear our surroundings.
Coming from "seat" of the amp "Throne", was the sound of a man snoring.
"Did he fall asleep up there? Isn't he afraid of catching a cold?" I exclaimed, confused and shocked. "And... how do we get up?"
'Beats me.' Mordecai mumbled. We just looked at each other before we decided to ascend the towering amps. He was gotta be at least 20 feet up.
"Fuck it." I mumbled as I grabbed the edge of an Amp and started ascending the wall.
All of the amps that formed Fresh's "Throne" were about the size of a full grown man, so no doubt that it proved extremely difficult. I felt myself having to use muscles I never knew I even had in order to haul myself up the cliffside of the Amp mountain, before reaching down and helping Mordecai pull himself up. Then, the cycle repeats with me climbing onto Mordecai's shoulders, getting onto the amp edge and pulling Mordecai up. After what seemed like an infinite amount of Climbing and Pulling, we finally reached our destination - where a Sleeping man was sprawled out across a section of the large amplifier.
It baffles me how stupidly courageous Fresh was, right now, my knees were trembling as I gripped onto Mordecai's shoulders for support (and him with mine). Not from the climb, I used mainly my arms, but rather from the sheer height. I looked down, and I almost fell over. Don't. Look. Down.
With how the Amps were arranged, it seemed to be extremely unstable, like a single step out of place was enough to send the entire thing toppling down to our demise. I don't know if the slight wobbling under my feet was real or just my mind.
Mordecai and I approached the sleeping man, and I noticed that now, Fresh had a white bandage across his forehead, with a small pink stain on the side of it. He's not dead, his chest's rising and falling, I don't know how to feel about that. Fresh was sprawled out on his back, and he no longer wore his plain shirt or his leather jacket, he just lay there wearing nothing but that ripped t-shirt I saw in the cave, as well as his pants. Strangely enough, he didn't take off his boots.
I nudged his shoulder with my foot, and Fresh snorted.
"Fresh?" I called out. "Fresh, wake up"
'Go awaaaaaaaaaaaaaay...' He mumbled as he rolled over, and shortly after, he started snoring again.
Are you kidding me? I thought to myself as I started nudging him more.
"Fresh, Fresh! Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh"
He rolled over onto his back, sprawled himself over the entirety of the centre of the amp, and opened his eyes. He looked up, stared for a moment, and smiled.
"Well, ain't this a lovely sight to wake up to"
I raised my eyebrow confused until I realised what he was staring at.
Following this, I immediately stepped away, pressed my dress close to my body and felt my cheeks go red.
"WERE YOU STARING AT MY PANTIES?"
'Hey, it was in plain sight, how can I not?'
"YOU PERVERT"
'Could you really blame me? I woke up, looked straight up and I just saw it.'
"You're delirious from that blow to the head"
'Delirious?' He scoffed. He sat up, yawned and rubbed his eyes. 'Honey, I've just woken up.'
Fresh's eyes looked fine, only slightly dazed, tired and dull. It must be more from the fact that he had just woke up than the blow to the head, but something about the look in them suggests that it may be from something else entirely.
He looked around and spotted Mordecai standing nearby.
"Oh, hey, Kai!"
'Mor-Mordecai.' He blinked.
"Mordecai, right, sorry, so how're you feeling?"
'I've got a bit of a headache, but other than that, I'm okay. Yourself?'
"Well, everything's slightly wobbly, but I can manage." He smiled. "I see it was a success?"
'It is.'
'What is?' I butted in.
"Mordecai now has free will." Fresh sighed. He doesn't seem to be too happy about it. "It's the most I can do since I can't uncorrupt him"
'Why? Why did you give him free will?'
"Why?" He laughed. "Well, I was afraid you would tear my head off if I didn't."
Something about his voice suggested a lie.
'Aren't you gonna punish me?' My forearms pressed themselves against my chest.
Fresh just laughed.
"Punish? Sweetheart, I'm in the wrong here, you just acted because of my mistake."
'What mistake?'
"I corrupted your boyfriend there, I'm pretty sure that-"
'Boyfriend? Fresh, Mordecai's gay.'
A moment of silence passed as the word Gay echoed through the sky.
"What?"
'I said he's gay.'
"...Wait, as in Homosexual or extremely happy?"
'Homosexual, Oh my God Fresh, how long have you been sleeping in that cavern for?'
"...Oh."
'Are you against it?'
"Nononono, I'm not, I fully support him, I just- You seemed awfully passionate about his corruption."
'...He's one of the few people who treats me like a person.'
Fresh fell silent and his expression darkened.
"...Mordecai, you may leave now."
'Okay, Why?'
The expression on Fresh's face suggested that he wasn't accustomed to a Corrupted questioning their orders.
"I need to talk with (Y/N) privately."
'Okay, hurt her and you're dead meat, alright?'
"I know, same with you."
'...How do I get down?'
Fresh muttered something under his breath as he stood up, strode over to his servant, and literally lifted him up over his head. Mordecai obviously didn't know how to react to this, the look on his face says it all, I'm pretty sure this was the first time he was ever carried by such a large, muscular dude, and I just blinked.
Then Fresh walked over to the edge, and literally threw him off.
"MORDECAI!" I screamed as my feet mindlessly stumbled towards the edge, and I was just about to jump off after him when Fresh hoisted me up with his big, warm hands, holding me back and putting me back to a safe distance from the edge. I could vaguely hear Mordecai's own surprisingly high pitched screaming, before a THUD
Followed several seconds later with a: "Oh Hey, I'm okay!"
I looked down and was expecting to see a pink pile of crumpled broken limbs, but instead I saw Mordecai on his two feet, not even phased from the height he just fell from. Mordecai's probably one of the clumsiest people I know, and yet he landed on his feet, without a single bone looking broken, gracefully like a cat.
"Next time you get off my throne, take the shortcut, the scenic route takes too long!" Fresh called out. After he made sure that Mordecai was out of sight, he finally turned towards me.
'What's gonna happen, are you gonna tell me- Aaah!'
Fresh interrupted my sentence by yanking my wrist from my body and holding it out.
I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears and palms start sweating. Why was he doing this? I don't feel safe, I want my wrists back against my body.
"Sweetheart," He began. His voice was quiet and soft, expression dark and his free hand clenched into a white-knuckled fist. He eyed my wrists carefully with mixed emotions swimming in his pink eyes. Anger. Disbelief. Pain.
"I want you to tell me how you got these scars."