I sat on the curbside and sighed, bored. I understood why Vanitas said I should stay put, but this was not fair. I had always been put to the side ever since we had arrived in Mexico, and after I got shot it was like I was deemed useless and ensured I was never allowed to help.
In short, I felt like I was a baby. And from my experience with Gina, Jay's infant sister, I assume this was Vanitas's way of saying I was annoying for him. I sighed and picked with my laces, before I heard a noise nearby. I looked up and exchanged a look of confusion when I heard a few shouts from the neighboring building. This part of the city was abandoned and used as a place for factories. Who could possibly waste their time in a place like this?
"C'mon, we need to make this quick!" A faint voice yelled. I stood up and ran behind the wall, peaking out a bit. I noticed a figure standing in front of a small crowd ordering things. He seemed familiar, his uniform too. But where?
"What are these guys up to . . . ?" I whispered.
One of the people in the crowd noticed me and called me out. "There he is! The other twin!" I laughed shortly to myself and took a few steps back before bursting into a full on sprint after I saw them run. Whoever these guys were, they obviously knew who I was and maybe what I was too.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard a gunshot, and felt something whizz past my shoulder. I took a quick glance behind me to see those same guys holding guns. As if this day couldn't get any better.
Without a second thought I turned around and slammed my hands on the ground, watching them closely as ice spread across the concrete and nearby buildings, creating small yet reasonably sized pinnacles on the surface of the frozen glass. Luckily, it was enough to stop them in their tracks temporarily, and give me the chance to get away as far as I could.
After a while of running, I successfully escaped them and leaned on a nearby alleyway. I groaned and slid down the wall, waiting to catch my breath. What were they doing here in America so soon? I only realized halfway through the chase they were Yuuto's men, but to find out our location so soon? Did we stay with Roland too long?
I groaned again and hugged my knees, lost in thought. This was truly troublesome indeed.
"Oh, what are you doing out in the open like that?" A voice piped up beside me. I jolted and looked up to see a boy with white short hair, his eyes glowing a cream color as they looked at my disheveled figure. "You could get caught and taken away by bad people if you aren't careful." He pointed to my head and back. "Your horns and tail stick out easily, your scent too."
"Wha-" I felt my forehead and felt the familiar bones on my head, before I glanced at the light blue tail curled up around me. I was going to talk again but I noticed as parts of their face darkened; under the corner of their eyes, the ends of their ears, even their hands darkened into a smoky black color.
"No need to worry." They continued, helping me up. "Tell me where you live, I'll get you there immediately."
I raised an eyebrow and took a step back. Well that definitely didn't sound suspicious. "Who are you again-?" I asked, confused.
"Saeva. Saeva Mendax." They introduced themselves and looked around. "Now, where do you live?"
"As if I'd tell you-!" I kinda felt bad, but he was a stranger. And I've had my fair share of meeting strangers since this trip began.
Saeva sighed and rubbed his temples. "I understand if you don't trust me because I'm a Rejitaag, or that you've never met me, but believe me I mean no harm." Rejitaag? I swear there were too many species outside Earth. If I meet Vanitas again I'll need him to tell me all about this properly.
"How can I be sure you won't try to kidnap me-?"
The white-haired boy groaned and glared at me. "Okay, this is pissing me off. Either you take my help and go back to your home so that neither of us get caught, or you get taken by weird scientists or some shit and maybe end up dying. Got it?" I stared at him in shock before glaring daggers right back at him.
"Oh yeah? Why do you suddenly care about my situation? For all I know you could kidnap me and threaten my family for ransom! Or worse, you try to hide me from the world by selling me at the-" Saeva didn't let me finish as he grabbed my shirt and slammed my back against the wall, raising me a few feet off the ground in anger.
"For the last time, I am not an enemy to you. Not unless you want to make me one." He dropped me and sighed. "Alright then, fine. Get up."
"What-?"
"Come on, we're going to my place." Now I had to go to this jerk's place? No thank you. "And if you try to make some witty remark about me 'trying to kidnap you', I will drop you off at the nearest lab so they can have fun poking and prodding at you. How about that?" He raised his eyebrows in hopes I understood not to continuously bother him.
I sighed and trudged behind him, hiding my tail in my pants and covering my horns with my hands. I looked weird to say the least, but what else could I do at that moment? Run while showing I wasn't human and get in deeper shit than I already was? I'm quite angry that I didn't know this until I got kidnapped after my step-brother died. Is that where we all started? Man, that seems like years ago. Where was I going again? Right, to Saeva's house.
I must say, if he was trying to show off his wealth, he surely was flaunting it well. When he opened the door to his condo, it felt like I was walking into a mini mansion. Every room was big and spacious, I was curious why a guy like him was living alone in such an enormous place. Saeva coughed to get my attention and pointed to one of the three doors across the hallway.
"Use can stay in the far end of the hallway. Bathroom's right beside it, you can find the medication to hide your features-" Medication? I thought it was a spray? "-and my room's next door to that if you need anything."
"Oh uh, thanks-" I began.
He took off his coat and sat on the couch, slipping out his phone and looking at something. "You can stay here for a month at most, so long as you pay for your stay. Otherwise I can take you to your family and we don't have to meet each other again."
"Hold on, what are you-" I tried again.
"Oh, and if you suddenly disappear because you don't want to stay here anymore, I don't mind. Just don't steal anything here while you're at it, okay?" He kept interrupting, not looking up from the device."
"Wait a minute, can you just-"
"If you do plan to stay for the month, you'll have to pay a total of around $400. Living here isn't easy, you know."
"Will you shut up for a sec-" I growled.
"No I will not," He looked up from his phone and looked at my coolly. "I don't care what you have to say, unless it's about staying or leaving. Now-"
I glared at him as he continued to blabber on and on. Man, was he annoying. I took off my shoe and threw it at his head. Maybe that would keep him quiet for a bit. I would be glad to think properly for even one second without his voice.
Saeva barely moved and formed a black barrier in front of my shoe, knocking it back towards me, my face in particular. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough like him and got hit right on my nose, injuring it. "It's rude to attack your guest, much less someone of higher rank. You should have learned that by now."
I cradled my injured nasal cavity and tried to scowl at him, but failed. "I don't care what your rank is. I just need you to be quiet for a bit so I can actually think for a second!"
"Oh? Then why didn't you just say so?" I laughed shortly and shook my head, still scowling at him. I couldn't tell if he was acting like an idiot on purpose or if he was really dense as a rock.
I sighed and rubbed my temples, finally getting an understanding of my situation. "Just- why are you being so generous? You don't even know me, you don't know what I can do, y-you don't even know if everything I'm doing right now is an act! I could be so much more evil than you expect-!"
Saeva just chuckled and shook his head. "I'm being generous because you're too much of an idiot to actually hurt me. What you tried earlier proved that. It's true I don't know what you can do, but you never tried to use your powers, meaning you either don't have powers or you can't control it properly. If this were an act and you actually had evil intentions with me, you would've tried better to gain my trust." He got up and flicked my forehead, before going to his room. "Besides, I'm much stronger than you, so no point in trying to make me believe otherwise!"
I just stared at his door before sighing and making my way to my own room. I plopped on the bed and stared out the window, worried. If Yuuto's men had actually come after me, that meant they were after the others too.
But, even if they all did escape, where would they be? Not everyone would just meet a Rejitang or something that would let them stay for safety reasons.
". . . maybe I'm just overthinking things," I rubbed my eyes and yawned. "Besides, it's Vanitas and the others. They'll be fine even without me." After that, I passed out on the soft sheets and into another vision.