Chapter 50

After Officer Palau left to accommodate his daily job as an overground police, the sudden realization hit Demetrius like a rock to the face.

"Damn it, I forgot to ask Palau to grab some reports in the Nullifying bullets."

He turned around and looked towards the kitchen counter, where he saw that Palau left some eggs sitting on the open frying pan, which were the aftermath of him either forgetting them or leaving them for him out of the kindness of his own heart.

"At Least he left me something to eat."

He grumbled as he approached the stove and grabbed a plate from the overhead cabinet, before picking up the wooden spatula sitting beside the pan and scooping him some eggs. 

He then looked to his right where another small cabinet sat near the pan, which had a label written on yellow, old paper; "condiments." He opened the cabinet and saw the series of spices, sauces and other ingredients neatly arranged in different sections of the cabinet, but he simply grabbed some pepper and salt, before sprinkling them into the eggs and taking a seat.

The quiet creek of the door was heard as I stepped out of the darkness and into the kitchen, rubbing my eyes as I adjusted to the sunlight beaming through the open window.

"Morning."

He greeted me with a smile and a nod, I gave him a sleepy smile and a nod back.

"Morning…"

My voice was groggy and hoarse due to the fact that I just woke up, but my throat also felt clogged up like a dam.

"My throat is killing me."

I joked as I instinctively opened the upper cabinet hoping to find some cereal, but the realization that we're in the 1600's and not the 21th century made me sigh.

"Looking for something to eat?"

Demetrius asked me, looking up from his plate of eggs, I nodded slowly in response.

"Do you know where…like, any food is?"

"Look at the labels, I'm sure you'll find something."

He said as he pointed to the cabinets with the yellow, old paper glued to the cabinets in indication of their materials inside. My eyes washed over the cabinets, hoping to find something worth my appetite, and my eyes lit up when I saw the note "pastries."

"Someone's got a sweet tooth, eh?"

Demetrius jokes, taking in a mouthful of eggs, I turned around to face him, my cheeks slightly red from his joking statement.

"K-kinda."

I opened the cabinet and took out a metal tray, which had a half dome covering over it to ensure no mice or small critters got into it. Upon picking up the covering I saw an arrangement of assorted pastries, some blueberry flavored, some chocolate, some strawberry.

"Damn, you're a lucky kid, usually I only ate those on special occasions when I was a kid."

He chuckled as he reached his hand out, beckoning me to bring the tray over. I looked towards him and nodded, bringing over the tray and putting it on the table.

I saw Demetrius lick his lips as he picked up a blueberry pastry before throwing it into his mouth like a piece of popcorn, chewing it quietly before swallowing.

"Good old days."

He smiled as he rubbed his belly, a reminiscent expression on his face, his expression started to give the illusion that he was starting to zone out of reality and into his own mind. 

But I just ignored him and bit into a chocolate pastry, and I could feel the chocolate filling spilling out into my mouth, melting onto my tongue and making me feel all warm inside, one of the only times it's happened since I've been transported here with my accomplices.

"Demetrius!"

I heard Cattleya call out from the hallway, before stepping in and glaring at us up and down.

"Those pastries were for Madame Fitzgerald's meeting tonight, I had to take them to her place!"

She groaned as she rolled her eyes in visible annoyance and disappointment.

"I didn't do it, the kid did!"

He barked back, glancing towards me, his expression was a mixture of disappointment, annoyance and sympathy. Heat rushed to my cheeks as I pushed away the pastries, letting out an awkward chuckle in response.

"S-sorry Cattleya."

My voice was low and mumbling, like a reprimanded animal. Her expression softened as she approached me, laying a hand on my shoulder. 

"You're ok, sometimes I can't control my sweet tooth. But did you know those were for a special occasion?"

I nodded, looking down at the ground. Cattleya simply smiled and nodded her head.

"Well, mind helping me make more?"

My eyes lit up as I instinctively licked my lips.

"Sure!"

She smiled at me, her attitude and expression completely different as she walked over to the cabinets and pulled out a series of ingredients.

Flower, baking soda, milk, strawberries, chocolate, blueberries, butter and vanilla extract.

"Luckily the Katshin Empire has been doubling their trades, so eating those pastries wasn't too big of a deal."

She reached over and opened a worn out cookbook with silver lettering on the cover and a worn out spine, a few pages fell out of the book and onto the floor scattering around the kitchen area.

"I got it."

Demetrius called out as he reached under the table and grabbed a few loose sheets, before standing up and going around the kitchen, collecting more rouge papers.

"Thank you."

Cattleya nodded as she took back the papers, stuffing them back into the book, before flipping to page number 182, which had the recipe for Backland Pastries.

Cattleya sighed and smiled as she took out a large bowl.

"I haven't had these since I was a little girl, my mother always made them for me."

Her expression suddenly softened as she grabbed the butter and broke off half of the stick, before placing it into the wooden bowl.

"I never had anything made for me, besides useless canned food."

I mumbled, my tone laced with a sudden disappointment that made Cattleya turn towards me.

"Were you poor growing up?"

She asked, her voice gaining a new emotion, one of sympathy. I nodded slowly before answering her question in a dissipated tone.

"My family didn't have much growing up, they only really had canned food from the dollar store, luckily my father got a new job that made me move to Japan."

Her eyes softened, before an aura of confusion arose in her body.

"Didn't you say you were from the Indun Empire?"

I had the urge to nervously shuffle my feet and laugh, but I had to tell her the truth one way or another.

"Well, I'm actually not from there, I'm not even from this place."

She raised an eyebrow as she grabbed a teaspoon of cinnamon, pouring it into the bowl with the butter.

"What do you mean?"

I gulped loudly, and Cattleya watched the lump sink down my throat, her expression slightly faltering after noticing I was nervous to speak.

"I-I'm from…a different world."

Her eyes suddenly widened as her jaw slightly hung, she looked towards Demetrius, who's expression was not like hers. It was placid as if I never spoke about the matter to begin with. 

"A different world?"

Her voice was now astonished as she ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to ease her boiling questions, but I guess she couldn't hold it in as she started to bombard me with them.

"What's life like back there?"

I didn't really have the words to answer her question, so I pulled out my cell phone from my pocket, showing it to Cattleya who took it with wide eyes. 

"What is this?"

I answered her question, leaning against the counter in an attempt to act like a professional historian or something of the trade.

"A cell phone, it's a device that can do almost anything."

"Anything?"

She repeated my statement, as she pressed the button on the side of the phone, but the dead battery icon only showed up on the black screen.

"I don't see much of anything."

She stated, tapping the screen like an innocent child in an attempt to "wake up" the device. I simply chuckled lightly, a little amused by Cattleya's cluelessness. Usually she was the know-it-all, but seeing her play around with a phone like a toddler made me chortle a little.

"It's dead, and has no power to function right now."

I said as I took back the phone, placing it back in my pocket. Cattleya watched me do so and rolled her eyes.

"Well, I don't know how to charge it in the meantime, but I think we should get back to the pastries, imagine Madame Fitzgerald's disappointment upon finding out you don't have anything to bring with you to your meeting."

My tone was exaggeratingly clear and bold, but Cattleya noticed my sarcasm and laughed a little.

"Well, I suppose we should get back to our little baking business, shall we?"