Thursday, 02:00
Arcade Blues > Undisclosed Location > Han Household > Williams Household
Arcade Blues closed around nine at night, so when Greyson arrived closer to eleven, he wasn't expecting anyone to be there. Just an empty building full of arcade machines and petty cash. It was the kind of place where a young criminal could get an easy start; the soft takeoff of brains trained to hunt human prey to strip their wealth. What today may've been illicit substances and racketeering started here - Stealing boxes of prizes to resell to other kids for their hard-earned quarters.
Greyson still remembered the day they changed policy. How the bank people came to take the boxes of quarters away, and how the owners changed their shop to a fully token-based economy. They had to change the way they were playing the game then, and it was Luna's score which settled them up. A ticket cash-out scam, thanks to the theft of a dozen ticket rolls of various colors, meant they had plenty of tickets to cash out each day.
Rather than selling tickets directly to other kids, they decided to take things slowly. Spending a bit of money and hanging around the place for a while threw off the suspicion when one of them or another came to the counter with a fat wad of tickets.
Radios, RC Cars, the occasional grand prize, all able to be resold to the kids who craved them but could never spend enough to get the tickets. The mindset turned into snack resale at the middle school cafeteria, to downright extortion and number running, quarter and dollar games where they could exist…
She had been there all the way. Desperately, Greyson and Luna wanted to impress a world which they felt heir to. As adults, both found themselves still in that world, and successful in their own right.
But it was in this dark arcade, whose rear door and its easily jimmiable lock had provided clandestine entry for so many years, that two criminals first truly caught the bug. And it was here, now, where Greyson decided he wanted to meet Luna.
If House of Cards was reaching its last rope, He wasn't about to let anyone take care of his Sister but him. His arm squeezed his shoulder holster tighter, feeling the shape of the gun. Thinking about using it. About what the White Suit could do to save her.
It's partially why he didn't
plan on killing her. He had deals and pleas, plans for the future if she would just step back and let what was going to happen happen…
But he couldn't let her go without a guarantee… And for that, he was prepared as well, certain that if it came to that, he couldn't trust her Apparition. He could hear the Temple contact's voice in his head.
”This shit isn't for playtime, Edict. It's serious shit, and if you use it you'll pay for it. I can spare one shot.”One shot. One single .45 caliber bullet with a gel-tip full of one of the nastiest Lux Suppressant drugs he'd ever seen tests for. Straight from the minds of Project Eden, the Temple's crackpot team of technomancers, he'd seen videos of Leon allowing himself to be tested upon.
It wasn't pretty for Adjoined… While not meant for Adepts, the drug worked best on Aberrations whose connection to their powers wasn't a direct part of them. It was supposed to get “in the cracks” between an Apparition and their host, isolating the former and completely cutting off the connection to the latter for a short period of time. Effectively, a temporary Severing as the apparition dealt with the overload offered by the drug.
One bullet he absolutely didn't want to waste… And it'd be better if it wasn't Luna… But that bullet was chambered in his pistol. And as he waited, he prayed. Prayed for a sensible Luna. For an easy time helping her understand. For her soul should things end here.
He was standing at the main prize counter, realizing now that they'd swapped over to digital credits.
Geeze… Not even tickets to steal…
An Hour Earlier…
“You're not going.”Valencia flicked her cigarette with impassive eyes as she stared across the booth's table at Luna. She was dressed in a fur scarf over her suit, and was not about to budge despite the pleading fury in Luna's eyes.
“We've known each other forever. There's no risk in it.” Luna said, pressing her hand on the table.
“There's all the risk in it. We've got an in with the Elite. We've got an in on those notes. If word got out, if you became compromised…”Valencia shook her head, her eyes cold.
“I don't care what you think about Edict and the Devola Family. They'll do nothing but interfere and jeopardize what I've been striving for for our family.”
“You saw them at the funeral. They want nothing more than to work with us.”Valencia shook her head again.
“You don't get it. You weren't there. Your friend is the reason why Mother is dead, God rest her soul.”Layla was silent, chewing over her words, before she responded.
“We've been friends since we were kids. He wouldn't betray me. He knows nothing. This is probably something about Father Wolf.”Valencia took another drag of her cigarette, before leaning forward, resting her smoking hand's fingertips on her forehead. A slow exhale of smoke curled around her as she thought. Before she shrugged, and half-waved her fingers dismissively.
“Fine. Do what you want. But you're not going in there without backup.”Luna shook her head.
“No backup. I'll carry my pistol, and I have the White Suit.”Valencia narrowed her eyes.
“If this goes south, you know I'll never forgive you.”Luna was silent for a moment, finding herself unwilling to meet Valencia's steel gaze. The seconds ticked by, until Valencia sighed.
“Fine. No backup, but you're taking this with you.”Valencia waved over one of the bodyguards stationed in the room, and he walked over with a suitcase. Once the suitcase was popped open, Valencia fished out one of the devices from its foam encasing, and held it up for Luna.
“You'll go in with one of these. A molar casing filled with a paralyzing toxin. You only have to bite down and breathe out, and anyone “troubling” you will inhale it and collapse.
“Though, inhaling it yourself, and you'll be stuck like a fish out of water.” Valencia explained, the disinterest very clear on her face.
Luna made a face, but nodded.
“Fine. Then I can go?”
“Yes, see what he wants. More importantly, what he thinks he knows. If he's caught wind of our little operation, I want you to bring him in.”Luna openly grimaced at that, but slowly nodded.
“Got it, Mother.”
“Then off with you. Get that installed by the doc before leaving.” Valencia said, placing the molar casing in Luna's hand.
Unbeknownst to Luna, as she slipped through the back of the Arcade Blues, a car idled across the street at the front of the building. Watching, waiting, hoping Luna wouldn't need an extraction, but were willing to storm the old building guns blazing if it came down to it.
There was a tap-tap of heels as Luna approached the prize counter, dressed elegantly in a
short, black silk dress, silken shawl wrapped loosely over her arms and an encrusted clutch held in her hand.
She traced a finger over the glass of the counter, safeguarding little prizes that she had once been so fond over, before looking over to Greyson.
“My, my, this brings back some memories, doesn't it? …Why are you standing there so stiffly? Loosen up, Greyson.” Luna said with an easy smile, holding her arms out for a hug.
“Last I remember, we were taking shots of sake at the Elder Lamb. I don't know what you did, Greyson, but they didn't chase me out at the meeting. So I got something going for me, at least.” She said, that rare smile still on her face.
He was stiff. And he had his glasses on his head… It may not have been immediately obvious, but it was so he could snap them into position as quickly as possible without actually wearing them. Without obscuring his eyes to his true friend. He cleared his throat, but couldn’t bring himself to speak the necessary truth. So, he reached into his pocket and pulled the cigarette pack from his breast pocket.
Maybe it was a little quick… Maybe too fast to be comfortable.
But in the blink of an eye, he was huffing on his own cigarette, the icy taste of menthol chilling his throat and lungs.
”Yeah… Yeah, you really must, Luna. Something big. I’m happy for you.” he said sheepishly, subtly lowering his tone into conspiracy mode. Colombo had nothing on Greyson in detective mode. A long diatribe usually caught the subject off guard.
”Whennnnnn we were young… I remember Billy Touse. Bully kid. Knew not to mess with us. That was always a benefit in those days, huh? Being ostracized, isolated from our peers, locked out of normal social interactions? ‘Cuz kids knew who our parents were. They knew we were Connected, their parents made sure to tell them that they couldn’t be around us. Shouldn’t be. Wound up being something like a self-perpetuating cycle, didn’t it? They didn’t respect us: They feared us. And sometimes we tried to make friends and found them to be oh so cold. Unloving. So we hated them, didn’t we?”Pausing, he drew his cigarette in and let a cloud out into the dark, inactive arcade.
”We made a promise to one another. I remember it. We’d take everything they didn’t nail down. ‘Their money is our money.’, I think you said. And then, when we were… Oh, maybe twelve? I’d Kindled by then… And all those kids who didn’t want to be our friends were suddenly our friends. Do you remember what I said when you confronted me? About how I’d taken control of them? How they weren’t really our friends?”He paused again, expecting their lips to move at the same time.
”Cake or Pie. You can’t have both on the plate. It just isn’t done.”Greyson let the comment linger in the air. He’d heard his Uncle say it a million times, even at that age. He knew what it meant: No double dipping. You get what you like best, and you stick with it. There was honor in that. Truth and love in that ideal.
”You want people to love you. But you expect them to do so knowing who you are. We can’t have both, Luna.” he lingered again, eyes looking at her clearly through the dim moonlight shining through the glass skylights.
Luna gazed back, before she grew a bit wistful, and turned, hands clasped with the clutch behind her back, staring at the dark arcade machines surrounding them.
“I remember that day. I was furious. ‘Konoyaro! You think you can just win all your battles by enslaving them? They have a right to feel, to think, even if they hate us!’” Luna recounted, causing her voice to enunciate the words dramatically, gesturing out the scene to her captive arcade machines.
She sighed, turning back to Greyson.
“In the end, I had to agree with you. It was better to be loved than feared, and you accomplished something that would have taken me decades to force or coerce. I could inspire fear, but true loyalty was always in love, wasn't it?”She took a step back to the counter, eyes carefully watching how Greyson was inhaling that cigarette. Something was… off.
“If the Coven thinks I'm a sweet little thing, then perhaps we're all better off for it. But…”Her voice dropped a note.
“Dredging up memories of childhood. You trying to relive the glory days, or are you gonna tell me why you really asked me here?”Greyson's voice wavered slightly.
”I'm desperate for your honesty, Luna. Frothing insane, praying to all manner of monsters and creatures that when you look at me, you see a friend. A fucking Brother. You understand that that's how I feel for you, right? You're my sister. And I left St. Portwell, and I left you here with your own Family, because I was too much of a piece of shit to think that you'd leave with me. That you would leave them.”He did his best to hammer their connection home, trying to live in that mindset he'd thrived so easily in when they were younger. The emotional plea.
”Are you… Is it punishment? Is that why you're doing what you're doing? You're trying to hurt me, right? Because you're mad and upset, you think you can split your just deserts on my watch and I won't find out?”His tone was slowly climbing, highlighting his frustration in sweeping tones as he tried to explain what was eating at him.
Luna could feel herself internally recoiling, but held firm, refusing to let it show on her face as it fell into cool neutrality.
“The fuck. Are you talking about.””The. Fucking. Notes. Go ahead, open a little path into that brain for me, I'll show you exactly what I know… How you've withheld their location, how the HoC is working to translate them under the Coven's nose… Luna…”Greyson spoke her name through closed, gritted teeth.
”And don't you dare get fucking cagey with me: If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead. My stupid fucking problem is that I don't.”A million thoughts flooded through Luna's mind. Greyson could practically see them through her widened eyes. He
knew. And the fact that he knew, meant the House of Cards had an information leak. Who was the mole, though?
Valencia's cold eyes flashed in Luna's mind, and her gut twisted. Her next course of action was obvious, but she found herself reluctant. Greyson didn't deserve it. They were friends. Old friends. Practically family.
When she was a kid, she would have whined and moaned about Greyson finding out about her schemes, or being upset that he had brainwashed their friends. But now? She had a mantle of authority to wear, one that didn't allow her the luxury of complaining and then moving on with life. Indeed, Valencia had made her the Underboss. And with that title, her heart was forced to be cold.
The rage that simmered in Luna's face slowly dulled, and her entire demeanor changed. Her weight shifted, widening her stance a little.
“If you know about all that, Greyson... then it only means one thing…”Immediately, her wings unfurled, beating once as she stepped back, gaining a bit of distance. In the same instance, she popped her clutch open, revealing a snub nose revolver pointed directly at Greyson. Three shots fired off in rapid succession, two aimed for his right and left shoulders, one aimed at his left thigh.
“Don't put up a fight, Greyson!” She growled, the revolver still pointed at him.
“You're coming with me!”Her eyes were wide, watching his movements. Out of the two of them, he was the sneakier one.
Except he hadn’t expected her to come out shooting… Sure, maybe she was nervous. Maybe she wasn’t prepared to have him spring that on her. But the pain of the bullet that clipped his thigh was enough to bring him down, leaving his right shoulder grazed and his left shoulder untouched, save a small nick that cut through the coat and shirt to draw a notch across the flesh.
Bone broken? No, a meat shot… Pushing against it, he screamed just about as loud as the moment she actually hit him, but he could feel his knee moving like normal and there wasn’t any recognizable lack of motion. Just a flashing pain, and the searing behind it. Wriggling around on the floor in agony did have the slightest perk; with his face pressed against the ground, he managed to wriggle it far enough onto his face that he could feel his Pink Lux start to funnel through it.
”You… You shoot me?! Use your fucking words, Luna Inoue, what the fuck is wrong with you!?” While Power Word: Numb may have already started to kill the pain, it wasn’t going to do him much in this state. Things were going to get way too centralized where the wounds were, which left him down an arm and a leg completely… If he wanted his gun, he was going to have to wait for the perfect chance. He had to hope she wasn’t going to try and pat him down, or that he could at least distract her in some other way.
As his tendrils quietly probed her emotional field for an entrance, he wasn’t confident there was going to be one… Alas, there wasn't. Not at the moment.
He managed at least to push himself up to his knees. His hip felt like a cloud of glass scraping against itself.
”A-are you fucking crazy!? What happened to the fucking Coven, Luna!? What happened to being a part of them!? It’s like you didn’t even give it a fucking chance! Were you ever in it!? Do I mean nothing to you!?”This was the Dead Gangster’s Pose. No spell was going to stop the next one from scooping the brain out of his head. He could only hope that she meant it when she said she was going to bring him somewhere…
But not with the fucking gun. He couldn’t give them the bullet… Even if he had to waste it…
Luna gritted her teeth, Greyson's words impacting her like slaps across the face. Rage bit around every word she uttered as she stared him down with her gun.
You think I enjoy this? You think I want to hurt you!?”A painful swallow.
“You have no idea what's waiting for me if I disobey my orders. What the House does to those who disobey, especially now with Valencia in charge…
“First, you get the pleasure of being hunted down by the House Fox, and turned into a puppet. Then, your ass is hauled to an unknown destination, where the Black Death is performed. Valencia's specialty.
“And no, it's not something you survive. It's… something you beg to end your life.”There was a slight tremble to the gun as Luna's hands clenched it.
“And you know what my orders were? Take you in if you knew anything. I really hoped you didn't. Hoped you'd at least lie. Make my life a lot easier…”Just then, the back door smashed open as three suited men stormed the building. Luna whirled to snap her gun at them, but when she realized they were House men, she cursed under her breath and brought her gun back to point at Greyson’s chest.
”Of course…”The men surrounded Greyson in a semi-circle, each with their own gun pointed at him, mirroring Luna.
Luna stared with a somber look, before she said in a stern tone.
“Slowly remove your glasses, put them on the floor, Greyson. I don't want to hurt you.”Greyson was filled with pain. Not physical, though that would come later: The mental anguish of looking up at her face and seeing the same little Luna he'd always seen… And now she wanted him dead. To protect what other people told her to.
”Why are you gonna make me do this…” he groaned, his safe arm slipping up and pulling the glasses away. Curls of pink smoke followed it, Greyson's pupils returning to their normal hazel from the magenta they tended to take when he channeled.
He dropped them on the floor. Not necessarily out of arm's reach, but far enough he hoped Luna wouldn't at least have her men smash them.
”You really think… You really think that after this, I won't do worse things to you than Valencia? That sheltered fuck… The both of you…” he grunted and winced as he tried to stand back up on the power of one leg. The other one was, unfortunately, barely good to stand on.
He could feel it a bit better now, and knew that there was a chip in the thigh bone, and a few fractured pieces of shrapnel still embedded in the leg. It was bleeding pretty badly…
”I fucking love you, Luna… You're like a fucking sister to me. So you tell me right now-” he shuffled forward slightly. Menacingly, despite the slow stiffness.
Luna would be able to see the veins in Greyson's neck turning bright pink, slightly luminescent in the darkness of the mostly empty arcade.
”-why do you think I came here? Huh? To hurt you? I wanted to give you the fucking chance… To come clean to me, and avoid what's coming! Dollhouse!? The end of us!? Our world!? You shortsighted fucks!”As he spoke, he was channeling raw and wild. A pulse of Pink Lux shot over Luna's head, slipping into the minds of her guards. She, of course, wasn't subject to it. Neither was the White Suit.
From behind her, Luna may've been able to hear their grunts of pain and confusion as their brains nearly rattled from their heads.
“N-gh… Nu-u-oh! Ggg-”
There was a struggle. A gun went off, and a stifled plea. Then the gun kept firing and firing, as one of Luna's guards began to empty the magazine into another.
The third lurched forward, both hands grabbing around Luna to try and wrestle the gun from her grasp. Greyson's left hand awkwardly slipped into his coat, unbuttoning the holster and very openly sliding the pistol out into the open. Flipping it in his still good hand, it was now pointed at Luna as she struggled with her men.
The one that had been firing saved the final round on Greyson's dictation, and flipped the barrel into his mouth before ending it all with that last round.
”Blinds!? You stupid fuck!? Blinds!?”He hoped that the last guard would be able to subdue her. He wouldn't… The White Suit was too much. So there were no more options.
He aimed downrange.
The impact of the round was just like any other hollowpoint. Burying itself in her gut, the bullet's tip ripped itself apart into a dozen petals of hot, searing metal. Enough to put a normal person down, but the resilience of an Adjoined was not to be underestimated.
But it being a normal bullet wasn't the dangerous part for Luna or the White Suit. For a moment, the metal trapped inside her body had the chance to react with the metal shreds, causing them to begin bubbling and hissing.
Little pale bubbles began to leak from the wound. Now, after a great deal of time only experiencing things through Luna's senses, the White Suit would have a chance to scream and writhe in pain. The metal's incredible properties included a special magical addition that even Greyson was foggy on the origins of. But he knew, as the Temple had told him, that it was a surefire way to incapacitate an Adjoined Apparition.
So now Luna was subject to her own new pain, and the pain of her Apparition Partner as its Lux was slowly but surely infected by this cursed foreign pathogen.
The second shot, he aimed at her hand with the gun in it and pulled the trigger again. This was a normal bullet, at least, but that didn't save her hand. Fingers evacuated their sockets, and the mangled snub fell to the floor with a thick metal clunk.
The third killed the last guard, severing his and Greyson's connection.
They were alone again. He stood there, menacing her.
”Feel stupid yet?” he asked her weakly.
She froze there for a moment, lips parted, trying to speak. Before she stumbled back, and collapsed to her knees. Her mangled hand reached up to touch her gut, and her gaze dropped as her hand lifted, revealing missing fingers and slicked with crimson blood. Warm, sticky. And flowing at an alarming rate.
She wouldn't make it.
In her head, she could feel the White Suit screaming incoherently, providing catharsis for her own pain. It helped her think, helped her realize what Greyson had just did. What she had forced him to do.
Already, her vision was blackening around the edges. She could only look up at those pink eyes. Those cold, pink eyes.
The drip of tears fell, curling down her cheeks and meeting the floor. Her voice was a rasp, speaking through the pain, feeling the numbness softly encroach.
“...I'm… I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Grey…son…”The back door opened one last time as Luna gave her final plea for forgiveness. Demos and Fox ran into the room, guns at the ready, just in time to see Luna lean, crumple, and collapse on the cold floor, blood pooling around her. Her eyes on Greyson as the lights…
…Slowly faded.
A beat, pin-drop of silence, before the expressions on both Demos’ and Fox's faces contorted into dark rage. Demos raised a hand, and a small, volatile black hole appeared in front of Greyson. It collapsed, creating a point-blank explosion that would send Greyson sailing back, over the prize counter and into the glass cabinets, shattering them head-first.
Fox was quick on the follow-up, sending iridescent hooks out that dug into Greyson's neck, chest and limbs, effectively overtaking him, the hooks disintegrating into the flesh, embedding themselves deep, immaterial.
Demos stood over Greyson's immobile body. There was a painful
crack as his foot smashed across Greyson's face.
“You fucking monster… You're coming with us.”It was far too late to leave any sort of impression on him: He was already out cold from blood loss.
Cleaners had already been dispatched at the Arcade Blues, the House having paid off any police stirred by the gunshots to disregard the matter entirely. The cleaners made quick work cleaning the precious blood spilled, using chemicals to ensure no trace was left. A fee to cover the damages would be sent to the owner of Arcade Blues in the coming days.
Luna's body was zipped in a body bag and placed in the back of a hearse, sent off to a funeral home on the House's payroll to be made presentable for her funeral, also in the coming days.
All of this was entirely irrelevant, though, for the man that was slowly coming around. Greyson would find himself in an expansive dark space, chained securely to a metal chair by his wrists and ankles. He would find tension on the skin where bandages wrapped around his wounds, one on the thigh, the other on the nick in his shoulder.
The hooks Fox had placed in his skin had since been removed, allowing Greyson the freedom to wallow in his constricting situation. A powerful floodlight was set at his feet, blinding him right in the eyes, making it hard to see.
There was a low scraping that resonated in the darkness, coming closer, and closer. A metal chair, scraping against the concrete floor, as a silhouette spun the chair around to land with a
thump in front of Greyson. And the silhouette sat down, coming into view enough to block out some of the floodlight.
It was Valencia. And she was
pissed.
“My, my. My instincts were right. We could never trust you, Devola.”She lifted a hand, revealing a summoned knife, hovering in her palm, light glinting off the blade.
“There's something you're going to tell me, if you want to make it out of this with your sorry life intact.”The blade was pressed gently against Greyson's neck, sliding slightly to cut through the first layer of skin.
“Who told you about our alliance with the Elite, and our contract with the notes?”The knife pressed a little harder.
“Speak up.”Edict: Noun. An official order or proclamation issued by a person in authority. He’d introduced himself as such during the first meeting of the Families he’d held in the Twin Cities. Ten crews, hands in the pockets of just about everything one could think of in the cities. He was the Edict of the Abiding Law, constituted and enforced on behalf of his Father: Don Luigi Affenzo Devola. The entire persona was built upon authority he could only muster in his magic.
Greyson Devola was a miserable, two-timing rat. A bastard child of a man who didn’t really love him… Who loved the
idea of him. Some sick and twisted desire of a Father unfit to raise children. Who inserted himself into the middle of things he never really should have.
He wanted his cake and his pie on the same plate, and shat where he intended to eat later on.
And he hated it.
And he hated them.
And he was Edict Devola. And he’d have their heads. He was the word, and the law.
Pain flooded his mind, almost blocking out Valencia’s words. It made it easier to be mean. To be venomous.
”Ask your fucking Mother, Val… I’d say they’re in the same place.”Of course he wouldn’t go down without a fight: Almost immediately, Valencia would be able to feel the pink tendrils of his magic as he pushed through the pain. Wild Casting was never as accurate or as powerful as proper Channeling, but it didn’t need to be for her to know he was right there… Prodding for any opening it could find in her Emotional Field.
He only had to hold out long enough to do what he did best…
Bullshit.”What, you gonna cut my throat? Lose your lead? You better get someone Magic in here, and they better be able to suck it out of me with a fucking straw…”He spat what little saliva he could at her.
”Vaffanculo!” Go fuck yourself!Valencia could feel the pressure against her emotional field, and her eyes glanced at the shadow behind Greyson. As Greyson spat, it would be his last move with his freewill, at least for now. Hooks dug themselves into Greyson's limbs and neck, hijacking his movements, suppressing and smothering his power.
A light hand fell on Greyson's shoulder, and Greyson, against his will, was forced to look up at Fox, illuminated by the floodlight.
“Let's try that again, shall we?” He murmured, his eyes cold.
Valencia leaned back in her chair as Greyson's gaze was forced to look forward again, and she wiped the saliva off her face, the knife disappearing.
A smirk.
Valencia stood, and pulled a metal cart forward from the other side of Greyson. It was brought in front of him, and he'd be able to see what it was in his peripherals. A basin. A water table. A torture device.
A hose was shoved into the basin, and a slow walk to the wall as a creaky faucet was turned on. Cold, clean water filled the basin from bottom to top, Fox giving Greyson a few anticipating pats on the shoulder.
The hose was shut off, and Valencia came to stand in front of Greyson and the water table. Her smile widened, looking almost hungry.
“You're mad. Good. Anger is fairly easy to break down. We have all the time in the world, after all.”And she gave a nod to Fox, who glanced at Greyson. And, against Greyson's will, he would begin to feel himself slouch forward, head tilting down, staring down into the water just an inch from his face. Before Fox commanded that he move with speed, and Greyson's face plunged into the water.
Fox had done this many times before, and he listened to the emotional state of his caught prey, listening for when Greyson would tell him he'd had enough.
Greyson's Emotional Field was struggling to push back the invasion of his body, maintaining things like breathing and heart rate regulation and leaving them to the brain to handle. He was thankful for that, at least… That he was an overly-cautious Pure-Pink who had a decade to think about all the awful things that may one day happen to him.
The ol’ Swirly. Intentional drowning. The only thing that really threw him off, and made it different than the thousands of other times he'd subjected himself to this treatment, was the strange feeling of doing it to himself. So long as his Emotional Field held, and he kept holding his breath, he was fine… But he could feel it digging. So close to getting underneath it all and opening his lungs to a deluge of water.
He couldn't struggle, couldn't fight it. He felt the suppression of his Lux in every corner of his body. It wasn't natural… and for a moment, he could only think about killing this guy. A long enough moment that a ripple passed over his Emotional Field…
And the hooks got a little deeper. He felt a gulp of water get in, and swallowed most of it… But the little bit down the wrong pipe forced him to bend. Forced him to struggle enough that Fox would be prompted to pull him out. As if he were some softie who would give up that easily…
He just needed a moment. Just a moment to regain his composure and think about something else. A breath to clear the mind.
He was pulled out, invisible strings straightening him to a sitting position. Valencia was watching him carefully, before her eyes narrowed.
“Talk. Who told you?”Greyson let them babble as he struggled a breath. Strangely, his mind turned to Lynn. To their coffee shop meeting. He was
dead in almost all of her futures. There were some pretty bad ones where he was still alive, but… None of the ones that made sense had him alive.
Kind of a freeing prospect. He felt a little bit of warmth from within him well up. A small surge of Pink to embolden his Emotional Field…
Time to try again.He grinned.
”I… The… Ah, fuck, y’know, I lost it... Put me back.” he said sarcastically, anticipating the dunking again. He kept telling himself that he needed to be strong and hold on. That they'd get bored or sloppy like he knew they were prone to… He'd save all the energy he could for it.
Unfortunately for Greyson, Valencia was made for torturing. Only a glance of her eyes was all that was needed, and Fox puppeteered Greyson's face to dive into the water again. Valencia watched impassively, before flipping her wrist, revealing a small watch on the inner side.
“Keep him under longer this time. Let him think we're gonna kill him. I'm counting the seconds.
“We're at ten, eleven…”Good thoughts had to get one through drowning… At least until there wasn’t enough air to keep you alive. Since the first time he wound up falling off the dock outside their home on the bay, Greyson had been fairly scared of the water. At first, it kept him from doing things the other kids were doing. Led to bullying. More than he wanted… So one day, he forced himself off that dock again. Just like the first time, he struggled. But he was taller. It wasn’t so deep. He learned to float, and paddle and swim…
And then nothing was too deep. Now, part of his fitness regiment was dedicated to swim-based cardio. He considered himself a swimmer. Saved a young cousin from a riptide in the islands a few years prior…
Fear was easy to overcome. You forced yourself into it. You desensitize. Numbed, deadened, the emotion can’t escape if it doesn’t exist. This practice of Exposure Therapy, while he didn’t realize it at the time, would become a very natural part of Greyson’s life as he became a more skilled Pink Lux Adept. It was, after all, all he had. It was enough for Blinds, enough to get by against the unsuspecting…
Unfortunately, he wasn’t in charge of himself completely. No, no, this was an aggressive Pink that one could only achieve by using a different Lux on top. Pink driver; Red muscle car. He chose to breathe or not, but the fucker was holding his mouth and nostrils open. He couldn’t block his esophagus enough to totally prevent water from leaking into his lungs.
He was going to need to cough soon. There just wasn’t any getting around it.
It wasn’t good. Close to a minute on, and he didn’t have a lot of other options.
Do or die, there is no try. I’ll be home soon, Brit. Just help me out here…He thought about her as the lights started to fade. As his self control faded more and more, the window was closing. One last Pink spark quietly clambered its way up and out, traveling down the cable of the hook meant to drain it. But this particular spark had a plan: A job. A
heist. A plan to hijack the controls, and redistribute the Lux in his favor.
Two Pink Lux users, caught in a death grip. Of course neurons were going to get crossed in a situation like this. Pink Lux was interesting, ethereal in nature, mental. And when that spark ignited, traveled, it created a pocket both could see in their connected mind.
It was a dark space, illuminated by taunt pink strings. Greyson would see the strings embedded deep in his flesh, branching out and connected to each nerve ending. And in the distance, across from Greyson, holding the strings, was none other than Fox.
The spark arced down the strings, before it slowed, and came to a crawl. Fox was pushing raw Pink Lux into the space between them, simultaneously tightening his grip, trying to suppress Greyson's mental activity.
”You're a feisty one, aren't you…?” Greyson would hear Fox's rumbling voice in his mind, emanating from all the spaces in this mental plane.
The outer struggle stopped, marked by a decreased response from Fox as he was forced inward to defend his position. Greyson felt the hooks buried deep, burning his projection and sapping the Lux away from him slowly but surely. It was intense; a bit more intense than he had actually trained for… But this is when skill, talent and raw power all came into play at once. He’d found the Driver; it was time to take the wheel.
”You know what I love? I fucking love my job. I love breaking fake gangsters in cheap suits you fuck!”He closed his eyes, letting the feeling of Fox’s Lux flowing through him. The threads between them, and the hooks within, began to wrap tighter and tighter into Greyson’s projection. They spiraled up, tugging Fox toward him with a lurch. An intimidating, sudden and very
hard jerk.
All at once, the darkness lit up with countless scenes of horror as it happened. Greyson’s Pink Lux was still coursing through Fox’s connection… It was never his to begin with. Bolstered by his own returns, he was already breaking and crumpling Fox’s mindscape.
”Come on! You think I’m fucking stupid? You’ve never met a motherfucker like me, have you!? Mangia merde e morte, Cocksucker!” Eat shit and die, Cocksucker!Outside, in reality, there was something bubbling under the water… The air in Greyson’s lungs, filling with thick pink smoke as his Wildcasting began to sear his lungs, leaked out and bubbled up to the surface in wispy curls.
In the mental scape, Fox's reaction was instant. Jerking back, as if he had touched something hot. But it quickly became a game of ‘who held who’, and in this instance, it was Greyson who held Fox. Hooks spun off into the distance, trying to disengage, but the connection was still there, raw and vulnerable.
In reality, Valencia looked up to see blood seeping from Fox's nose as he took a step and collapsed. Cursing under her breath, she shoved Greyson out of the basin, rolled the basin away, and dashed behind Greyson’s chair. There lay a car battery and some jumper cables, ready and waiting, along with a small gauge. She took the end of the cables, tapped them once together, causing sparks, and attached them to the back seat legs of Greyson's chair. As metal's conductive, Greyson would feel the raw voltage of an undiluted car battery course through him, desperate to complete its circuit and uncaring of the electrical burns it left in its wake.
She stared for a long moment, before she turned down the gauge to a bearable hum of electricity. Enough to let him think, but not enough to let him cast.
She took two steps and stooped by Fox, fingers pressed against his jugular.
”...Fuck.”Slow, but alive.
A quick tap of feet, and Demos appeared by Valencia's side, hoisting Fox up into his arms, and carried him away. Valencia stared grimly, before she turned to glare down at Greyson, hanging limply in the chair as he was.
“You really think you're slick, huh? No matter. You're just making this harder on yourself.” She said, returning to her own seat opposite of him.
“You're forgetting I have all the means and desires to hurt you. Save yourself the trouble…”A long, sharp stiletto knife materialized in the air in front of him. Six inches of pure pain. Waiting for the command to cut Greyson open.
Her eyes narrowed.
“And tell me how you know about the notes.”Dealing with the constant electrical current, trying to listen and think through the pain and the discomfort of the great neurological scramble. His grey matter felt like soft eggs in his head, every thought burdened by the constant nervous reaction. Muscle spasm wracked him like a taser.
He couldn't feel cables directly attached, rather the pain was coming from the increasingly hot cuffs that were cooking his wrists and ankles. The smell of burning hair and flesh was rising, and were it not so painful, Greyson may have had the chance to feel sick. But here and now, he had no choice.
His body rattled. The chair rattled with it, unbound to the floor.
One shot.
During a particularly bad shaking fit, Greyson did his best to throw his own weight upwards. The chains weren't entirely cooperative, but he managed to awkwardly fling himself and the chair. As the attached cable tugged, he hoped to sever the connection, or better yet drag the ensemble off wherever it was sitting to smash off the floor.
He'd be in pain and prone… But if it was gone, the Pink Lux would immediately flow back up his throat and out of his lips.
And this time he wasn't playful.
”YOU MADE ME KILL LUNA YOU FUCKING BITCH! I LOVED HER LIKE A SISTER, AND YOU MADE ME DO THAT!? DEATH ISN'T SLOW ENOUGH FOR YOU!”A surge of mourning: Love in Loss. A powerful love. One to drive the last spell he may have the chance to cast… The same one he'd used on a mostly unsuspecting Phantasia.
”SUBTLE ADVANCE: LET ME THE FUCK IN VAL!Valencia would feel a bomb blast of Pink Lux rush against her Emotional Field, a very real point of pressure forming as the force behind it continued to ramp up. The field concaved, stretched, but it wasn't stopping… Valencia would only have another moment to think fast before the roots of the Lotus broke through by force.
Immediately, Valencia’s hands dove into her pockets, holding up a chain in one hand, and a controller in the other.
The controller was flicked on.
”AAAAARGH!”Valencia's body quaked as electricity took its course through her muscles, neurons, and synapses. The chain in her hand wasn't a chain at all; it was a shock collar. Obviously an idea from Phantasia. But this time, it would work.
Valencia glared, baring her gritted teeth as she towered over him, trembling with convulses.
”You are the one to blame for the death of Luna; not me, not the House! You should have never interfered in business that wasn't yours!”She managed to kneel, pocketing the controller through her quaking, and slipped the shock collar around Greyson where he lay prone. Once again, Greyson would find him engulfed in electrical pain, no control over his body with the convulsing that exhausted his muscles.
The stiletto hovering in the air multiplied by seven, and all seven blades dove, burying themselves in Greyson's bicep, forearm, thigh, and calf.
Valencia leaned down low, staring Greyson right in the face.
”I think we're done talking… Have you heard of the Black Death, Devola?”Slowly, the knives began to twist in Greyson's skin and muscle.
Greyson choked on the pain. The buzzing from the collar was practically nothing compared to the blades. The spasming muscles tensed and wriggled around without his control, ripping the wounds open unintentionally… She was going to kill him…
I’m gonna die, right? That’s what the future said. Lynn. Sweet lady. Shame I’m not into white chicks…”FUCKING… DOLLHOUSE! VAL! LUIS COX!”Just stop with the knives… For two fucking seconds, stop with the Goddamn knives. You’re killin’ me here, Val.Every single bit of effort was being put into staying conscious… To not black out. May as well lie and maybe buy a moment of time to think. To find anything else.
There was a short draw of breath in, then held. Instinctively, Valencia's head turned to face the darkness of the rest of the space. And, faithfully, emanating from the darkness was one sharp click from a clicker.
A lie.Immediately, the back of Valencia's hand struck across Greyson's face. She ignored the temporary electric current, instead glaring down at the man.
”You really wanna die here, don'tcha, Devola? You don't have anyone waiting for you? That Britney chick, hm? Maybe I'll kill her after all, after I'm done with you.”The knives dug in a little deeper…
She had a lie detector… Something out in the dark, lurking with the spark of truth in spite of… Well, his Emotional Field was practically ineffective. He was never going to be able to lie and cover it like he may… But that meant he knew what the truth was. Or, at least what a lie was.
”Val… Don’t… Don’t do it! P-please… You know I can’t, but- But it’s bad! It’s bad, and y-you don’t… You don’t want me de-EAD! VALENCIA! A-ask! I-I’m tellin’ the t-ru-th! You kill m-me… It all goes! All of it!”He had to tell her something… But the code was never going to let him tell. Not the whole thing. It was too close, but he couldn’t let her do it. There had to be something that broke. At least this would bottom the playing field out.
If she didn’t have the balls to test the Dollhouse’s plan, at least.
Valencia waited, until the sound broke the silence and cries. The clicker. But this time, two clicks.
The truth.A slow exhale, Valencia staring hard at Greyson.
”You stubborn fool. Don't you realize your enemy is my enemy?”One by one, the knives disappeared.
”You could at least ask for help instead of killing my people.”Ah. Despite all her effort to become emotionless and ruthless, the opposite of her Mother… Some bits had stuck around.
Valencia stood, shoving her hands in her pockets, thumb running across the still active controller.
”Don't let me see you later today, Devola.”And she turned over, and shut off the floodlight, plunging the room into pitch-black darkness. Only footsteps could be heard walking away…
For a long, long moment, Greyson laid there still cuffed, collar around his neck buzzing like a son of a bitch… He just felt it. The pain.
What was a little more? In the dark of that room, there was a whimper, and the sound of the chair scraping against the floor. Tapping. Wrapping. Snapping. The telltale sound of bones breaking in the dark. With one last scream, Greyson ripped his shattered hand through the handcuff.
Forcing half-broken fingers to stay stiff wasn't possible, so tremendous pressure was put on the shattered base by the wrist. He pawed the back of his neck. Once, twice, thrice- There was tremendous relief as the machine clattered to the floor and skidded away from him.
Now the wounds hurt… Now the blood loss sucks. He felt sluggish and bruised like an unwanted banana. But there was a pained, triumphant laugh.
And an explosion of Pink Lux filled the room to the brim… The only pain now was a burning throat. His kind of burn.
I'm going to gut you, Valencia Vorpal…The broken hand could reach the cellphone pocket. Cram, scream, scoop, slide to the working hand. It trembled as he slid his finger across the screen and started a phone call with the first person in his phone. It rang, and rang again… Then clicked.
”H-hen-ri… Bring… Bring a fucking medical bag. I need you.”He hadn’t bothered waiting for the call to pick up before moving to the navigation application and grabbing a link for a pin. It was hard to see the phone from the angle he was at, and everything was a bit foggy overall, but he took a deep breath and managed to hold his finger down long enough to copy the link and paste it.
”H-here… Bring Linqian. Be careful. F-fuck it… Aryin too. Teleporter from… 317…”His voice was weak. He let the phone sit there, speakerphone inactive. He didn’t want to hear Henri’s questions. Didn’t need them.
”Just fucking get here…”Pushing up on his elbow, he felt the wound in his shoulder throb. He screamed.
In a building not too far away, there was a thud, followed by muffled swearing.
”Fuck, fuck, could you not’ve picked a bigger fucking painting on the ground- FUCK! Get off me!”Linqian shoved the unsuspecting Henri off her, before scrambling away from the spot below the small painting they’d come through. It was thankfully just a bit up the wall - so Henri hadn’t actually hurt her, just winded her by falling onto her. At least they were both out of the way enough for Alex to come through.
”Tell me again what the fuck we’re walking into, Yi-er?” Linqian hissed when they were all through. They were right next to a window, and she was able to look through it about enough to figure out where they were going. Roughly.
”I’m not sure! Greyson sounded really hurt, like almost dying hurt!” Henri threw up his hands, frowning. He wore a worn rucksack that he’d shoved all the medical supplies in their house into - which was mainly a first aid kit, a bunch of painkillers and a whole bottle of Isopropyl. He hadn’t had time to grab any of those magical healing packs before they went through - but he’d absorbed enough light to stabilise Greyson if he needed to!
”Fuck, so could be fucking anything- he was going to meet Luna, that means House of Cards. Guns. So you two,” Linqian gestured to Henri and Alex.
”Stay behind me. Also, can you-” Linqian pointed at Alex.
”-Carry the painting we came through?”“You’re going to make me do work,” Alex groaned as they pulled the painting off the wall, “yeah, I can carry it. Just what I needed today. Work.”
Linqian rolled their eyes. She was already regretting bringing along this teleporter - who she’d taken to be the lesser of two evils when the other option was Louis. It was made even fucking worse by the fact
Aryin’s lazy ass wasn’t even here.
”I’ll make you dinner again sometime.””And I’ll teach you how to get good at Star Wars battlefront!” Henri piped up.
”Alright, enough with this, let’s go- both of you stay the fuck behind me.” Linqian reached behind her, to her waistband hidden underneath her jacket and pulled out… a kitchen knife. One of her best.
”Whoa, Jie, why’d you bring that?” Henri asked as they made their way out of this building. It was still early morning, so it was thankfully empty - though with how quiet the whole area was Linqian wouldn’t be surprised if it was abandoned.
”To slice people’s throats with.” Linqian turned her head to narrow her eyes at Henri. She wasn’t in a good mood at all, being dragged out this fucking early - especially after she’d literally just gotten home having some mind clearing
fun.
”Are you going to keep asking stupid fucking questions?” Henri recognised the look, and shook his head.
”No, Jie.” They’d reached the bottom of the building, and Linqian straight up kicked the locked side door open with an icy foot. Henri pulled out his phone, quickly figuring out where they were and pointing to a warehouse like building a few along from them.
”You can stay outside if it’ll make you feel fucking better- or safer,” Linqian said to Alex, as she began to lead their little rag tag group towards the building in question - sticking to walls as she did so.
”I don’t want to drag you into our fucking business- fuck, I don’t want to drag either of you, but Yi-er’s our fucking healer.”“Outside is scary, like what even is that,” Alex paused as they pointed towards the moon.
”You don’t know what the moon is?! It’s the reason we have seasons! Without it the earth would actually spin on its side and-” Linqian’s eyes rolled up towards the sky as Henri started to spout random facts about the moon. She just let him go on and
on without giving anyone a chance to get a word in edgewise until they were almost at the building in question.
”Shut up,” she hissed, interrupting Henri as he described the moon phases in great scientific detail. He shut his mouth immediately. Linqian carefully approached a door, gesturing for the two to go against the wall behind her.
Obviously, it was locked. But a locked door wasn’t exactly a problem… Linqian’s hand started glowing and she shoved it through the metal of the door, physically tearing it open. She quietly stuck her head round - an empty, dark corridor. That was good. If a bit fucking unnerving.
”It’s clear,” Linqian whispered, leading them both inside. The whole place was dark.
”Yi-er, can you make a light?””Then I won’t have enough to heal Greyson! I only got a little bit before we left,” Henri replied quietly.
Linqian frowned. Great.
”What about you, Alex? Any magical painting lights? Or a way to locate a person inside a dark as fuck building?” Alex looked at Linqian before they looked at the dark room. They adjusted their glasses as they took in a deep breath. “Let me check with the big guy upstairs real quick,” Alex paused as their eyes rolled back into their head. It wasn’t some spooky display of power, Alex was just bored and wanted to make it seem like they were having a conversation with their apparition. A second later their eyes rolled back to normal. “Maybe,” Alex paused as they summoned the magic of their apparition. Their eyes quickly lost their normal brown, instead a stained glass like color and pattern filled their iris as they held up a hand. All around the group reality shifted. What was once a darkened and dull warehouse became a vibrant tavern of old, where once alone they soon found themselves surrounded by various patrons, and when the darkness was lifted by the soft glow of various candles the group could see much more clearly. The patrons were a mix of humans, elves, and anthropomorphic animals who walked, talked, and dressed like the people around them. None seemed to pay any attention to Linqian, Henri, or Alex. Anyone outside the building would see a dome that spanned two blocks overtop the building.
Linqian raised an eyebrow as she looked around. There was more to look through, but it wasn’t dark. It was still in the same shape as the warehouse - like some kind of illusion painted across it.
”Whoa, that’s so fucking cool, can I-” Henri’s hand reached out towards on of the candles, before Linqian grabbed it.
”Don’t touch anything. Let’s just find Greyson…”“Do not touch, do not interact, and do not piss off the inhabitants,” Alex said as they looked genuinely scared of what reality was shifted to. They could feel their apparition laughing in their head, gleefully aware of the danger it put the group in.
Henri’s eyes widened, hands moving to his side.
”I- I got it!”Linqian didn’t feel anymore relaxed with a now lit path - after all, there were more obstacles.
”Stay close.”She started to make her way down the corridor, trying to ignore the panicked urgency clawing in their chest. This helped with light, but not with the actual finding- did they really have to try every door? Fuck, she’d do it. Greyson wouldn’t die in that time… he was a hardy fucker. They all were.
”Can you dispel it when we get to him?” Linqian asked Alex, as she carefully opened the first door they came across. Nothing real, only bar patrons. She moved on.
”Fuck, where would you lock up a fucking prisoner if you were a mafia?”“Yeah, as long as I’m not put in any danger the ghost man will release his grasp on reality,” Alex said with a cautioned tone, “probably in a room. Maybe in a room. If I was a mafia goon I’d totally lock up my prisoners in a room because rooms have doors that can be locked. Or in a basement.”
”I’ll kill anything that’s a danger to you,” Linqian intoned, knife glinting in the candlelight.
Henri was thoughtfully silent. Weighing up if Greyson had sounded close enough to dying that it was worth going a bit faster, at the risk of Linqian killing him anyway.
”It’s probably a basement. Someone in the centre of the building, so nobody outside can hear any screams.” Linqian paused, turning around to glare at Henri.
”Has Greyson been showing you his fucking mafia torture basements?!””N- no! He just showed me around some of the places- empty! They were empty-””Oh that asshole is going to wish he was dead when I find him,” Linqian hissed. It was an empty threat - spark of anger fuel more than anything. A way to push down the fucking anxiety she didn’t want to feel. When the fuck had she started to care about Greyson enough to be this worried he was going to fucking die?
She changed course a bit, following whatever bit of the corridor seemed to take them towards the centre. Eventually, they found stairs down.
”Fuck, I’m surprised we haven’t been shot at yet- Is it the same art dimension down there?”“Yes,” Alex paused as they looked down the stairs, “parts outside are also the art dimension right now as well,” a second later reality in the stairwell was twisted once more and the group would see the staircase descending into what looked like a world inspired by the Relativity painting by M.C. Escher. The gravity defying stairs stretched as far as the eyes could see, with various people walking them. The sound of the tavern was still very present behind them indicating that only the path forward had changed.
”... I think I prefer lightless reality,” Linqian muttered. But this way meant that anyone still in the building - any House of Cards members - would have a harder time getting to them. The only way was forward.
But fuck was it trippy.
Linqian started to go down the nearest stairs as quickly as she could, while also keeping away from any of the art world denizens as she did. Henri stuck right behind her. It felt like they just kept going and going… This was definitely longer than the actual stairs were. Fuck, how were they supposed to figure out where the downstairs rooms were with the place like this?
”I feel a bit sick,” Henri groaned.
Linqian shook her head at him, managing to make her way to a door. She pushed it- it was locked. Another burning hand later, it wasn’t so locked.
”Fuck, not here either- I can’t fucking figure out this shit.””There’s another door!” Henri pointed to one above them. At the same time, he rummaged in his backpack and pulled out… a flashlight.
Linqian turned to him with a heavy scowl.
”What the fuck, Huanyi, you had that on you this whole fucking time?! You didn’t think to fucking say?!””You didn’t ask!””Dispell it-” Linqian said to Alex.
”Now.”Alex raised their hand and the art dimension slowly melted around them until all that was left was reality. Alex’s eyes still remained in their stained glass form. The nameless apparition still very present, Alex sighed as they looked towards the flashlight. How much simpler life would be if they had one of those. “At least the door is not above us now. Thanks Alex, your power is so cool Alex.”
”I was going to thank you till you said that,” Linqian said, holding out her hand for the flashlight. Henri reluctantly handed it over to Linqian. It was an old one that he’d pulled out of the cupboard, and at least had the brains to put a fresh set of batteries into. It took a few overly frustrated slaps from Linqian to actually jump into life.
They shone the beam of light in front of them. A much shorter corridor - only two more doors. If Linqian was going to guess, she was going to guess the one right in front of them… the one that had been above them before.
”I’m sorry about her, she’s in a bad mood,” Henri whispered to Alex as Linqian once again turned her hand into a metal melting device. This door was much thicker, so it was taking her a while to get through it.
”I think your magic’s super cool. So cool. Maybe one day when we’re both free you can show me round?” “She’s always like that though,” Alex paused as they looked at Henri, “do you get used to it? And that’ll be fun. We can explore all the weird paintings around this town. Some people have some real freaky stuff hanging in rooms they think people will never see.”
”Yeah, you get used to it- but she’s normally not this bad! Just… after my brother died y’know…” Henri trailed off, before forcing himself not to think about that. Instead, he latched onto the art dimension trip.
”Whoa, like the kinda shit you normally only see on the internet? That sounds like great fun… we’re definitely doing this. It’s just gotta be when she’s out.”He tilted his head towards Linqian, who’d kicked off one shoe to use her foot to also melt through the far too thick metal door.
“Oh yes. I’ve never understood why people like them but the others seem to laugh a lot when they see ‘em. They’re like a moth drawn to the light,” Alex paused as they looked towards Linqian, “you need help? I got nothing but wanted to check.””a
”Yeah, I don’t really get it either,” Henri shrugged.
”Yeah, Jie, maybe I can… hold the flashlight so you can use both hands!” ”I’ve got it,” Linqian gritted her teeth. Finally, she got her hand through. She pulled it to the side to completely destroy the lock, before forcing the door open with a pretty horrendous screech - which was dampened quickly by Henri absorbing most of the sound.
As reluctant as she was to admit it, he was handy to have around.
She shone the flashlight into the pitch black room. It was mostly empty… chains, like a real torture dungeon… a broken shock collar- fuck!
”Greyson- fuck, this is going to fucking hurt- Huanyi, get the fuck in here and heal him as much as you can- Alex, take the fucking flashlight.” Linqian threw the flashlight at Alex, before her hands started glowing. She melted through whatever cuffs chaining him to the chair remained, she sliced through them with a hot finger so the molten metal fell onto her hands rather than him as much as possible. As it did her hands’ temperature shifted, going freezing cold before the metal could melt through her flesh.
It still fucking hurt - and the extreme temperatures near him would hurt like hell too. Less than being coated in melted metal, though, even as frost burns covered Linqian’s hands and crept up her arms from the constant temperature shift.
As she cut through the last one, half destroying the chair in the process, she shifted her body to catch him with it.
”What the fuck, what the fuck- WHAT THE FUCK?!” Henri wasn’t prepared for the scene he was met with, hesitating at the door where Linqian had immediately powered through and started helping. But he managed to push through it, even though he was crying like a baby by the time he got over to Linqian and Greyson. His hands glowed with a soft light that began to heal Greyson - enough to stabilise him, stopping him from slowly bleeding to death but not much more before he ran out of fuel.
Greeeeeysooooon… Wake up, Mr. Edict. No time like the present.Greyson heard the strange voice in his head guiding him up toward the warm light. He felt like a fucking lizard. Had he died? Reincarnated as someone's paludarium feature? His throat was dry, muscles ached on an individual basis, each one screaming at him in a specific tone. Even the eyelids…
He came back to them how he left: Screaming bloody murder. Even healing, the raw sensation of new nerves being created was enough to kill anyone's mood.
”NNNNNNNNNGHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!”There was only enough windup for him to catch a quick breath. Probably wound up jumpscaring the others… But he was alive and breathing.
”Ohhhh… Oh f-u-GGAAAAAD DAMN IT! V-V-ALEN-CI-AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”He wasn't all there yet. Every face looked like that wretched fuck. This was new torture, right? It had to be… But it wasn't. It was taking everything Henri had just to make sure the wounds were sealed over. So the severed veins stopped giving up their life force.
And then he passed out again. This time fully from the shock of pain. But he was visibly breathing, and he *had* woken up once… But carrying him was starting to look like the main option. Glancing over him, between the bullet wounds and knife wounds, he had roughly ten new holes to contend with. His overloaded brain didn't even get a chance to deaden it.
It simply shut off again.
”MY FUCKING EARS,” Linqian got the brunt of Greyson’s screaming, practically cradling him against her as she was. The healing did shit all before Henri couldn’t do anymore - he was going to eventually bleed out. Possibly on the way back, cause they still had to make their way through that fucking art dimension.
”Give me the fucking first aid kit, Yi-er.”With trembling hands, still sobbing, Henri pulled out the red bag from his backpack. Linqian didn’t even bother with any of the shit like antiseptic or isopropyl- who cared about stopping the wounds from getting infected when they could magically heal it later. Right now it was just about stopping the bleeding a bit more. Linqian efficiently bandaged everything she could, as quickly as possible. It rubbed her own burnt hands raw, but that didn’t really fucking matter.
At least she was a little more confident he’d survive the journey.
”Between us we can probably carry him,” Linqian grimaced, looking up at Henri. Thank fuck she’d gotten Alex to bring a painting along.
Henri shook his head.
”I got this, Jie.” Henri put his arms under Greyson’s legs and back, fueling himself with a slight amount of sound continuously to give him enough strength to carry another fully grown man. With a grunt, he stood up, perfectly bridal carrying Greyson.
If Linqian had been in a better state of mind, she probably would’ve found it funny - but worried, tired and covered in Greyson’s blood as she was, she could only grab Henri’s backpack for him. Then, she took the flashlight back from Alex.
”Keep him alive with this,” Linqian shone the flashlight at Henri. They didn’t exactly need the light to go through the painting. Henri nodded, light dimming as he started to absorb it and channel it into light healing. Linqian then turned to Alex.
”Take us back through the painting- to the one in my living room.”Alex was looking at the far wall, watching a spider move across its surface. Suddenly they thought they heard someone talking to them. Their eyes slid over to Linqian, an eyebrow raised, and they took a deep breath in.
“Oh were you talking to me?”
It was very difficult for Linqian to not just lose her temper there and then. The only thing stopping her was the fact that they needed Alex to get out of here. They dug their nails into their burnt skin, the pain pulling them back down from an explosion.
”Yes. Take us back through the painting and to my house- before he fucking dies.”“Oh yeah, I gotchu,” Alex said as they put the painting down onto the ground, “remember the rules,” they warned as they touched the frame, “let’s go,” they finished as they activated the portal and simply dropped into the art dimension. It was a short fall into the realm below and Alex landed on their feet with ease.
”I’ve been through this shit three times, have I ever broke the fucking rules?” Linqian snapped as she fell in behind Alex, before clearing the way for Henri, who came last cradling Greyson in his arms as if he would die with the slightest shake. He was otherwise silent and… still crying. It was a shame he couldn’t absorb and use water for anything useful.
”Let’s go, quickly,” Linqian said to Alex, trying to sound polite rather than snappy. It was
fucking hard when they clearly didn’t understand the urgency.
“Yep, no I know you follow the rules but these paths are paved with the blood and bones of those who did not,” Alex responded in a surprisingly grave tone, “follow me.” Alex took off in a slow jog, head constantly twisting back around to make sure they were staying within sight of the group. The path beneath them snaked to the right sharply and Alex slowed as they took the turn, and a few moments later they were in front of the painting that led to the living room. “Can you heal him, or do you need help?”
Linqian looked over at Henri, who was still keeping Edict alive with the pitiful beam of light. He met her gaze and nodded.
”We can heal him. Probably better he doesn’t wake up with any more unfamiliar people around- he’ll try strangle them or some shit,” Linqian said. They had the green goop, and it seemed like a real risk with how Greyson was when he first woke up. She went to step through the painting then paused, looking at Alex.
”Thanks. I was serious about cooking for you again sometime in the future. Maybe before you and Yi-er go on your painting adventure.” “I’ll hold you to it,” Alex said as they yawned, “do you need anything else? I need to get back to gaming.”
”You’ve done enough,” Linqian said genuinely, before stepping through the painting.
”I’ll call you again if we do!” Henri said, voice cheerful even though he was
still crying. He then followed Linqian through.
”Put him on the couch- ” Linqian cleared away the mess that was left on the couch by Henri. He put Greyson down on the couch.
”What do we do now?!” Henri was clearly still panicking, the lights that Linqian had turned on in the living room flickering.
”I don’t know if I have enough fuel to heal him- Jie, what if I can’t do it and he dies?!””It’s- Where’s the green shit?” Linqian crouched down beside Greyson, using her hands to put pressure on two of the worst looking wounds.
”Did you bring anymore in when you healed us?””I- I- in my room! I put some in there in case!””Then go and fucking get it!”Henri ran out of the room, his thudding footsteps up the stairs echoing in Linqian’s ears. She shifted, narrowing her eyes at Greyson’s prone body - he was still breathing. Thank fuck. The brief moment of silence let her think about how the fuck they were going to get this shit into him. Did she just fucking stuff it in and hope? That would fucking choke him… what was it that they used to do to get Greta’s potions down people? Some neck massaging shit.
”I got it!” Henri ran back into the room with two packs of the weird green shit. Linqian held out her hand for one.
”Come here,” Linqian patted the floor beside her. Henri knelt down beside her and she put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it.
”I need you to massage his throat for me while I feed him this. Just… not so hard you kill him.””I- I don’t think I can, Jie, can I not feed him?!” Henri looked down at Greyson, bleeding out, then at Linqian with wide arms.
Linqian snorted, opening the package of green goop.
”You’re not going to be able to do it that way I plan to. Unless you want to fucking shove it in there and choke him. Hands on his throat, massage.”Popping open the packet, she put some into her own mouth. She used one hand to open his mouth before leaning in, pushing the green healing goop in as best she could from her own mouth. She kept doing it bit by bit, Henri doing his best to do as instructed.
It wasn’t long before Linqian would feel Greyson’s hands grip at her arms in pain. Mouth to mouth, he was conscious and screaming like he had when they’d initially closed the wounds up…
Only at first he was screaming directly into another person’s mouth. As predicted, his reaction was violent and fast. Every muscle was screaming in pain as Henri’s half-patch job was completed by the Temple’s Key-Lime. First her arms, then her hair. He yarded back until their mouths were finally apart, and he could scream properly.
”OH GOD JESUS FUCK!” he shouted at the top of his lungs as he flung Linqian away from him. There was always an adrenal boost with this stuff… There had to be. The brain simply wouldn’t function under this kind of pain without it. Like watching someone experience a full body cramp. Linqian would know it well from the incident with Scott Reese…
But after a moment, after his eyes stopped rolling into the back of his head and the shaking started to subside, he came to the realization that the faces were friendly. And then it came back to him… The whole night.
”G-gha… Fuck… H-henri! O-oh, oh Jesus… This ain’t a sick fucking… This-”His hand, still fixing the many mashed bones, tried to fumble around in his pocket until it produced a sharp spring-loaded blade…
Which he promptly proceeded to cram into his own leg. He screamed
again. But this time, pain done unto himself by himself gave him a clear and acceptable margin of this being reality. Not Heaven, not Hell, not some fucking Apparition’s trickhouse. The knife came out, and he tossed it far off to the side of the room before surging forward.
One arm wrapped around Henri. The other around Linqian… And he wept. As the pain continued on to heal his wounds, he wept like a lost child.
”Thank you… My friends… F-fucking… Thank you…””I’m- I’m just glad you’re alive!” Henri sobbed. He’d been crying since they found Greyson, as if he had an unlimited supply of tears. He completed the hug circle by wrapping his arms around both Greyson and Linqian and pulling them in.
Linqian grunted, dealing with her own pain as the green goop she’d absorbed while passing it to Greyson did its work on her burnt hands and arms.
”You’re both fucking babies. Can’t take a little bit of pain, Greyson? Well, if it makes you pull my hair like that-””JIE?!” Henri shouted, looking at her in shock… then he somehow hugged them both tighter.
”She was just as worried as I was! More worried! Really fucking worried!”Linqian didn’t deny it, unable to even really look away awkwardly trapped by them both as she was. She just redirected.
”You need anymore of that green shit, or was that enough?”It didn’t take him long to be his pugnacious self, wiping away the tears and holding out his hand.
”Gimmie the shit, Linqian. I fuckin’ paid for it.” ”Technically the Temple put it in my fucking car,” Linqian rolled her eyes, shoving the packet at him.
”Go on, you can suck down the rest yourself.””You know, you’re such a fucking bitch… I almost die, and you-”He crammed the packet into his mouth, wrapping his fist around the bottom end and squeezing it all into his mouth. One big gulp, but he wasn’t going to get it all down. Dropping the packet on the floor, one hand stretched out to cover Henri’s eyes. The other moved like lightning, grabbing Linqian by the hair and cramming their mouths together in a fairly aggressive kiss. Of course, to part off with the rest of the healing gel… Nothing to do with the massive bloom of Pink Lux that rattled across the room.
Pulling away, he still had her hair wrapped up in his fist.
”-I needed that…” he panted.
”Fuck.” Linqian gulped down the rest of the healing gel, gritting her teeth as the nerves and skin on her hands were fully reformed, and all the other bruising across her body fixed.
”What, the earlier one that had you throwing me on the floor wasn’t fucking enough?” Linqian snapped, though contrary to her aggressive as normal words, her body was pretty lax. She even leaned her head against his hand.
”You should almost die more often if you’re gonna be like this- but stop with the fucking casting.””Wh- What, what, what?!” Henri wailed, Greyson’s hand over his eyes not exactly providing the best covering.
”B-b-but, what?! What- WHAT?! But- what about- WHAT?!” ”Shut the fuck up and spit it out!” he snapped, lowering his hand and staring at Henri.
”BUT YOU'RE MARRIED TO BRITNEY?!” Greyson’s eyes slowly narrowed. Very
very slowly.
”That… Is cute…” he spoke hesitantly, almost sizing his trainee-in-crime up.
”What the fuck gave you that impression?” he questioned, a monotone delivery making it hard to read where the question was coming from.
The Pink Lux didn’t let up either. He was still feeling the effects of the Gel, and Wildcasting was practically negated by it. So, it was just a lot of wasted lux being thrown off into the air and making the room into a slightly
warmer place.
”W- well the other night! When you came round cause Jie was acting crazy- OW, don’t hit me when you’re still healing, Jie- you were talking bout going back to Britney. And I said something about how you’re a guy who likes going back to his wife, and no one corrected me! So- so I assumed you were married?”Linqian snorted, holding back a more mocking laugh at that.
Greyson sat for a moment longer, his stare unwavering. He was trying to build enough connections to understand where Henri was coming from.
”I didn’t say anything because it was a dumb comment. But you don’t know me, so… No, Henri. She’s not my wife. One day, maybe, but I’ll never be a one-woman man. Monogamy ain’t part of my culture.”Now it was Henri’s turn to sit there, staring and buffering. It wasn’t so much the concept of non-monogamy - he knew all about that thanks to the internet and college friends - but the
culture comment. What culture? Greyson wasn’t a secret Mormon, was he? No, no, that didn’t make sense.
”Italian culture? Are all Europeans like that?” It was the one continent he had very little experience with.
Linqian pressed a hand against her forehead, Henri’s fucking idiotic questions stopping her from thinking too hard about whatever the fuck Greyson had said. Yeah, sure, that shit was a bit obvious, but also kind of implied they were more than just friends slash fuckbuddies. Whatever.
”Pretty sure it’s not a fucking Italian thing, Yi-er.””What is it, then?””It’s a Mediterranean thing. Throughout history, quite a few polygamous traditions have spawned from different reasons… Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians, Turks, Egyptians, every culture you see that touches those warm, sunny waters? They’re fuckin’ Henri. And they’re doing it wherever, whenever they can. My family? Naples. Specifically in the spirit of La Cosa Nostra, a man is generally assumed to have two women in his life: Your Wife, and your Comare. One is the mother of your children, the woman you marry under the eyes of God. The other… It’s the trophy-”As soon as the word left his lips he knew he was in for it. He didn’t even turn his head to look at her. Just braced.
”The fucking what, I should’ve left you to fucking die in that shithole.” Linqian’s temperature dropped, hand shooting out to punch him right in the stomach. Her other hand grabbed his shoulder, cold fingers digging in. The cold was enough to hurt him without being properly damaging.
”Or did you just want me to be the one to fucking kill you?”Henri watched with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth, feeling like he’d been thrown into some kind of sitcom.
After the night he just had? The Gel was still vaguely circulating. He simply craned his neck to look at her with a disapproving scowl.
”History Lesson, Linqian. Do I need to give you some sort of fucking disclaimer that it’s a historical tradition and in no way reflects the relationship between us? Or do you want me to insult your intelligence and spoon feed you the information like a child?” he growled, the pain getting a bit more intense the longer she sat there.
”Are you calling me stupid? I know it’s fucking historical- but it also seems like the kind of shit you’d fucking like, so it’s fucking hard to tell.” Linqian snapped back, neither letting go of his shoulder nor changing her temperature.
”Am I not allowed to feel proud of having my arm around you? For the little bit of time we spend around one another and we’re not screaming at one another? Or is it hard to imagine that I always had feelings for you, and that now that I get to double dip a little bit I’m fucking ecstatic?”His face was almost pleading…
Almost. ”I don’t think you’re stupid. I think you’re smart enough to know that we’ve got more going on than me thinking you’re some fucking trophy. So quit getting huffy everytime you think I don’t have more going on! I am a complex man! I have a great deal of feelings and I’m doing my best to deal with them! God damn it Linqian…”Linqian was shocked into silence. Her hand flew up, ice cold fingers pressing into her own face. What? Fucking what? Sure, he was right, she was smart enough to know that but… well… she’d just been fucking ignoring it. Ignoring it enough that she hadn’t done what she normally did when she slept with people and mostly cut them out of her life. Why?
And why had she been so genuinely fucking concerned that he was going to die. Sure as shit wasn’t about his money anymore, cause she’d signed a contract that gave her that either way.
”... I don’t… fuck.” Linqian visibly struggled the words to say anything, as if she’d just fucking lost the ability to speak English out of nowhere. It was always a thing at a certain point- strong emotions, confusion- where speaking her technical third language was a pain. Not that she knew what she was fucking thinking or wanting to say anyway.
”You- ah fuck- - always? Seriously? This whole time? Yeah, that is pretty hard to- no, Jinhai knew, fuck. How-” Linqian swapped to Chinese midway through speaking before pausing, having turned away from Greyson to spot Henri still sitting there, watching. Silently. Knowing if he said anything it’d be his head on the chopping block.
Linqian’s hand pointed towards the door.
”Go to bed.””But Jie, it’s like six in the morning, I-””Did I stutter?”Greyson cleared his throat.
”Just go, Henri… You’ve got packing to do, remember? We’re moving in together Friday. Tomorrow… I guess… Just trust me, you don’t want to see what comes next. Thank you for answering your phone, and I’m proud of you. You’re a good younger Brother.” He gave him a sincere look, one hand climbing slowly to usher him out.
Henri looked at Greyson, then at Linqian, then back at Greyson. As much as he’d been enjoying the show, he knew when he wasn’t welcome. But he grinned brightly at Greyson.
”I’ll answer and save you everytime!” He paused on his way over to the door, turning around to narrow his eyes at them both.
”The walls are thin.” Then he was gone, though his thudding footsteps up the stairs were audible.
”He’s started talking back too much,” Linqian muttered, giving herself a moment before she regretted sending her brother out the room- should she fucking leave too? Kick Greyson out, pretend this didn’t happen, not talk about it?
”You were being serious about all of that? It wasn’t just some weird shit you said in front of my brother?” Linqian, eventually, turned back towards Greyson - it was hard, for once, to tell how she was feeling. She didn’t know how she was feeling.
”Really?””I’m pretty sure I was dead at some point there. I don’t know… Life’s too short to lie, isn’t it? You remember that hallucination thing at Wilson’s place? Mine… It was at the farm. I really love it there. And Britney was there, and we had a couple rats. But I got the distinct feeling that you were there. Somewhere nearby. Like you were helping, or maybe you were watching, I don’t know… But I knew I wanted you in my life like that. I always thought you were sexy, and the whole bitch thing is fun and funny and… You’re what Britney isn’t for me. The other puzzle piece.”He lingered there for a moment, just looking at her.
”I never wanna tie you down: Wild horses run. You know? But I’m not some old school Gangster whose gonna try and rope you in… I ain’t my Father. You’ve got your life, I’ve got mine, and where we cross in the middle… Ain’t that love all the same?” he asked fairly gently.
”Is it? Really?” Linqian's head dropped forward to press into her hands and she processed it. What was her experience? Bianca- not wanting anything but her. Then… Marcus… Complete control of her life. Love? She’d lost a lot of it then. Since she’d avoided any feelings like the plague. Never let herself sit with it long enough to consider where shit was going. Just denied it. What did she even feel here? It was… enough for her to not be telling him to fuck right off, at least.
”I don’t know. That’s not how I’ve ever experienced it. If you really don’t plan to tie me down, and it doesn’t turn into some fucking ‘I can fuck around but you can’t situation’, that’s fine. What does it really change?” She pulled her head back out of her hands with a slight smile towards Greyson.
”Save the sappy shit for Brit, though. Don’t expect any of that shit from me- just take me not fucking killing you for the shit I normally would as whatever that fuck it is I feel.””Then keep on not killing me, and I’ll make sure Britney knows to pull your hair harder next time…”A devilish grin formed across his face, bloody and torn shirt still half clinging to him.
”Speaking of which… I should get back to her place and make sure she knows I’m not dead. I uh… I’m not gonna tell her I needed to be, y’know, brought home in a bucket. Is it between us? And him… Obviously…” Greyson laughed to himself.
”Yeah, yeah, fuck off, you know where the fucking door is,” Linqian rolled her eyes, though she laughed too, making a dismissive gesture with her hand. It wasn’t so much that she actually wanted him to fuck off- cause after that kiss earlier, fuck- more that she cared enough about Brit to not have her deal with that worry.
”You’re fucking lucky I’m tired enough and like Brit enough to let you leave, so, get the fuck on with it.”He grinned at her a little bit more before moving forward and planting another kiss on her lips. It was playful.
”You saved my fucking life tonight… I get to fight a little longer still… Protect her when I’m gone, that’s all I want.”He winked at Linqian, pulled his hands away from her waist, and slipped from the room with a gentle clicking of a shutting door.
”Henri! Come here…” he shouted.
There was some thudding, the sound of something dropping and another door opening, before Henri appeared at the top of the stairs and ran down.
”Wow, that was quick! What is it?”He laughed.
”We didn’t fuck, you little Gremlin.”Reaching into his coat pocket, he was surprised to find that the fake fucks who had bagged him in the first place didn’t bother stealing from him. Probably something to do with the few people left in that organization who still follow the
actual code.
So a wad of cash came out. Greyson’s hand extended and took Henri’s, then slapped it into his hands. It was heavy.
”You did good. You did what you had to, and you made it so I’m still alive. You’ll make a real Made Man one day, Kid.”A free hand took Henri’s head and brought it forward slightly. Greyson’s lips met the young man’s forehead.
”Funny… You probably know a lot more about love than all of us do. Too bad you ain’t Pink.”And then he ruffled Henri’s hair and laughed.
”Make sure when you’re done packing your shit, you head over to my apartment and start boxing shit up. No need to carry anything, just boxes and tape… And padding if you think something may break, like use your brain a little bit. Capice?” he grinned, slapping his cheek playfully.
”Got it! But- if I did good, does that mean I can get a gun?” Henri asked cheerfully.
Conspiratorially, Greyson turned his head to look at the door he was hoping Linqian was still stunned behind. Then it turned back to Henri.
”Dude? You cried. You cried on the phone, you cried when you saw me, you cried all the way home… Can you shoot a man in cold blood? Can you really?””I was crying because you were hurt! I could if someone was going to hurt you, or Jie, or Brit, or Aryin- well that’s not really cold blood, is it…” He frowned thoughtfully, before answering honestly.
”I couldn’t if it wasn’t to protect someone.”Still resting his hand on Henri’s cheek, he pinched it playfully.
”Then may-be when we get some more hair on our chin…” he almost mocked Henri, but had a wide smile on his face now.
”I’ll teach you how to use one, but I’m not going to be responsible for giving you one of your own until I know for sure you won’t accidentally kill your own goofy ass… Now go! And I want receipts from what you spend that money on, you hear me motherfucker? If three grand goes missing and all of a sudden I see you on Instagram with your shirt off holding up a Switch, we’re gonna have problems.”Henri nodded, taking two steps back up the stairs before pausing, turning around to look at Greyson.
”Why would I take my shirt off? Why would I need a switch when I gotta PS2 and an Xbox at your place? What is this cash even for anyway?” Greyson smiled to himself.
”For a job well done, you Nut… Do what you can and get some sleep: Tonight's gonna be just as long.”Of course, unless they took it… His car was still parked outside Arcade Blues. Thankful for a cellphone, he reached into his pocket to start a call for a ride.
[Hr]
It'd be another couple of hours before Greyson made the less and less harrowing trek through the Nightmare Garden of Britney Williams. He was fond of her little house, how cozy it was, and how everything he saw reminded him of her. Even the perfectly scattered leaf cover that hid the five meter deep holes full of spikes.… Part of it was probably the glowing radiation of avoiding death; the warm little center bolstered by a second-chance high.
He'd been back to his own apartment, finding most everything already boxed up and ready for the move. Mostly, he wanted to fuck with Henri by telling him to show up there at some point… But he still managed to shower and get a clean set of clothing, along with a fresh duffle bag full of cash from under his bedroom closet.
And another ride, with someone instructed to pick up the vehicle he left.
It'd later be revealed that House of Cards had disposed of it in a lot not too far away from the scene. At least it was recovered…
But now Greyson was at the door to Britney's, unlocking it and stepping into the only real solid ground on the property.
”Brit!? I'm back… You home!?” he called. At almost ten in the morning now, he was sure she would still be home. But he parked out front, and didn't bother peeking to see if her truck was around.
After a moment, Britney called back.
”... Greyson?!” A few moments later, the door opened and Britney Williams presented herself… fully nude. She tilted her head at Greyson, and said,
”Oh Lord… you look like you been through hell and back…”She awkwardly laughed, keeping that forced smile on her face.
”... How’d it go? Did Luna see the light orrrrrrrrrrr…?”For a moment, he just stared at her. She'd easily be able to see the wisps of pink smoke curling out of the sides of his mouth. He didn't say anything for several seconds.
”Coming home to you makes it worthwhile…” he said, clearing his throat a little bit. The duffel hit the table with a thud.
”She saw muzzle flash. And I spent ten thousand dollars on a bullet just to get a night of garbage anyway…”He frowned.
”I was too soft about it, Boo…”Happy to be in her company, Greyson pulled his shirt off and exposed some clearly fresh wounds still in the process of healing.
”They nailed me. Had me in a box for a few hours, trying to get me to give up our new friend… The contact. They got piss in their eyes. But, I didn't get Valencia. So, I think they're gonna be expecting us tonight…””Oh Greyson…” Britney said, extending a hand to Edict’s shoulder, she sighed as she said.
”I’m so sorry to hear all of that… I know Luna’s a bastard, but I know how much she meant to you.”She paused for a moment,
”But… if she was, at the end of the day, always going to be loyal to the House of Cards, there was no other way this was going to end. Well, not with you getting kidnapped, I mean the whole thing with Luna - you know what I mean.”Greyson just laughed at Britney's frantic correction.
”You mean a lot more to me… Tonight made my priorities that much clearer. You, Linqian… Her goofy ass little brother. The family you build is the Family you fight for. And I want to build with you. Fight for you some more. I love you…”The radiant Pink Lux was thick like fog around him. It was hard to tell if this was a natural reaction, or if House of Cards had…
Done something to him.He knew the answer, of course, and Greyson coming on strong wasn't out of character… But he did seem rather
insistent about it.
Britney took his hand, and looked him in the eye as she said,
”... I love you, too.”
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