From 2 and 22

Part 1 - The ex-couple

-What did you bring me to this place for?, Colmillos.

-You'll see, Aerosol trusts me.

We were walking through a forest near the city, Aerosol had been asking me for a long time where I was taking her, but I didn't want to ruin the surprise.

-The last time you told me to trust you, Colmillos, I found you without a leg, you were almost killed, and I had to give you a drink of my own blood.

-Yeah, that last part I quite enjoyed.

She stopped dead in her tracks.

-Colmillos if you'll take me to some romantic, I'd rather we leave it at that.

That had hurt, because I was having a hard time putting up with wanting to be with her.

-No, I brought you for that Aerosol... you could stop saying things like that to me, maybe it was easy for you to get over it, but for me it hurts, I hurt a lot and you know I hate pain.

Aerosol came closer to me, hesitated to touch my shoulder, and finally hugged me.

-I'm sorry I took it out on you, I was a fool, work and what happened with Hide has me very stressed, I know that's not an excuse, well I don't ask anymore, I'll follow you.

Although Aerosol's hug was warm, the damage was done for me.

I took her off me carefully, I was hurting and because of my condition that pain felt very strong inside me, it was a huge struggle between the disappointment and the love I had for her.

-Let's move on, Erika.

Without realising I had called her by her real name Aerosol, but thanks to that I had understood the message.

We continued into the forest, as it was night, I could see much better, my eyes adapted very well in the dark.

-Fangs, don't be so far apart, I remember that I can't see in the dark.

-I forgot, grab me by the jacket then, so that we don't get separated.

-Jacket? You don't miss a chance to grab my hand or my arm... I guess it's better that way.

-Yes, I think so too. -I said coldly as I walked.

We went on for a while longer until we came to a clearing.

-From now on we'll talk quietly, or they might hear us.

-Hear us? Who?

-They, the V.T.A. people.

I moved a couple of branches so Aerosol could see.

They had set up a couple of labs connected with crawler tunnels between them, also near the lab were some huge trucks.

-That's why we never found these sons of bitches, they were always moving from place to place, I usually go through this forest because it calms me down, four days ago that lab wasn't here.

Aerosol looked at me carefully.

-What do you want to do, attack them?

-You know me better than that, you know that if I wanted to do it, I would have simply done it, but I wanted to show you her, the woman who is in the courtyard smoking, I'm afraid of her, Aerosol, even more than Hide, I feel that if I go near her, I would die on the spot, besides, don't you feel that there is something familiar about her.

-You're afraid of her, I only see a twisted scientist addicted to tobacco, and I assure you that Hide is scarier than her, but at least I'm glad, that you didn't do something stupid like attacking him alone, you idiot, we don't know if there can be experiments with them.

While we were talking in whispers, Aerosol moved and rustled a branch, it was the loudest damn branch I've ever heard in my life.

The woman looked over to where we were, and suddenly the tree next to us shattered as if by magic.

The woman came closer to where we were.

-Nothing, maybe it was my imagination. - Said the woman as she blew smoke out of her mouth.

I had managed to move so fast, I was behind another tree while holding Aerosol and covering her mouth.

-Miss Venus, everything is ready to start the new experiment.

An older man in a white coat came out of one of the labs, calling out to the woman.

She took another drag of her cigarette, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it.

-I will go at once, prepare the child.

-As Venus ordered.

I waited for the woman to go inside, to release Aerosol.

-That was close.

-What the fuck was that? -She made the tree burst out of nowhere, as if a crushing pressure had been put on it.

-Aerosol I know you don't like this, but hold on tight, I'll get us out of here fast.

-Please do it Colmillos, get us out of this shit.

-Now do you understand why that woman scared me?

-Yeah, I know, I was wrong for shit, I never had to hesitate if you told me I was scared, I'm just worried about what we're going to do now Colmillos.

-I'd rather do this just the two of us, I wouldn't want to involve Sonar or Peach who hasn't been doing well at all, let alone bother Hikaru and his group, maybe we can count on Noir.

-I think you're right Colmillos, I see that you've matured... listen to me, it wasn't easy for me to break up with you either, in fact it's not even easy at all.

Part 2 - The sad man.

I was outside the same bar I always used to visit, before arriving I swore I had seen that blue haired girl with a boy, the one that Colmillos brought to our facilities when he wanted to talk to that failed experiment of that woman, they even gave a name to that monster as if it was a pet, what the fuck are they thinking, those delusional people?

I entered the bar in a bad mood, as always the old-fashioned 60's jazz music was playing, but it made me feel at home.

There were very few people, inside the bar and they were all locked in their own world.

I approached the bar, where an old, but stocky man with a pointed beard and a thin, but long, moustache was standing.

-A John Collis, Noir?

-Yes, the usual Caesar.

In less than two minutes I had my drink ready on the bar.

-Tough day?

-No, a normal one, as usual, boring and distant.

The bartender started to wipe the glasses with a cloth while he was talking to me.

-Not bad I guess, but you should look for a little more seasoning in the world, don't you think, mate?

-No, the world no longer has anything to offer me, now I'm the one who has something to offer the world.

I handed him a white envelope that I took out of my clothes.

Caesar was shocked in a bad way.

-Are you sure about this? You understand that if you do this, there is no turning back.

-Yes, I've made my decision.

-Noir, I'll ask one last time, are you sure you want to betray your friends?

Noir shattered the glass of whiskey he was holding, hurting himself, but he didn't flinch.

-Friends, they betrayed me first Caesar, they allied themselves with a damn experiment, knowing what they have done to us, for all we had to suffer for them, I could let Fangs go, because they did the same to him as we did, but to take more of them, when 12 happened, is already being stupid, it's laughing at our misfortunes Caesar.

-My friend, you should relax a little.

Caesar, I grab my hand to check it.

-That's going to need a couple of stitches Noir, come on, follow me, behind to heal you and get you to calm down, your yelling is scaring the customers.

I turned to look, and I was right, all eyes were on me.

I apologized to Caeser for the outburst and followed him into the cellar, where there were a bunch of crates with bottles of wine, rum, and various spirits.

Caesar left me alone for a few seconds and came back with a needle and thread, alcohol to disinfect me and a scissors.

-Come on, sit down there.

Caesar kicked me to a stool, I proceeded to sit down so he could cook the wound.

With great skill, he cooked my hand, it didn't take him long to do it, in fact I was intrigued watching him.

-I want you to know, Noir, that I don't agree with what you want to do, but I will do it, after this, I don't owe you anything more.

-How about if I can ask you out on a date Caesar?

Caesar looked at me with an astonished face, it was hard to see him putting an expression on that tired face.

-I'm sorry Noir, I have to turn you down, especially if you ask me to sell your friends to modoruvite.

I had to stretch to get past the bad taste of being turned down.

-I guess you're right, I'll leave for today, I'll come back or another day to drink.

-Yes, you'll always be welcome as a friend Noir.

-Yeah I know, Twenty-two.

I was about to leave, I turned around and saw Caesar take a drink of whiskey which was strange, since, he had let me drink.

-Noir before you go, if you get back on track, fix yourself up inside, and regret doing what you have planned, come back and ask me, I'll be happy to go out with you, Seven.

I let out a laugh, walked out of the bar and watched as I was engulfed by the lights of this snowy city, sometimes there was a great mysticism in this urban setting.

I started to walk when I passed by one of the shop windows, I saw again the monster that I was, or rather I imagined it, because there was the reflection of nothingness, of what those bastards did to me, and of what I'm going to do to those sons of bitches, I didn't mind going to dinner in hell, if with that I took all the bastards with me, especially that woman: Venus.