" That...must be very awkward..."
Roxxy had been real quiet since she
told them a story about her and Toshi.
The girl sat in a depressed gesture. At the same time, Jody felt the heat of anger from her too.
" Wow. So this is you 2 years ago? Wow."
" I happened to learn later who he was either. I feel glad I did not belong on his girl's list. "
" So that's why you jumped on him when you saw him with your brother?"
Asked Sera.
" Yes. And that motherfucker DESERVE all of it."
" So you send him to the patient ward after that or what?"
" I wish I could."
She sighs,
" Only a slight injury. That asshole has the technique that can fake the dead. So he used that to escape 'til things settle down."
" Toshi owns technique? Like your brother's ability to swap the object's property?"
" Yes."
" Don't lie. You did manage to beat him in the end."
Said Jody.
" Oi, mate. That didn't count. He let me just because he's talking about those "sorrY RoxxY I DeseRve it". DOGSHIT. He's a fuckin' trash, mate."
Roxxy pointed at Jody's face, swearing.
" Wait... So you did send him to the hospital after all, ain't you?"
"..."
" how long?"
"... I don't care. It's not worth memorizing."
" The file said 1 month."
Jody answered that for Sera. She knew because she had read it.
" 1 month??? What the hell you do??? Ripping neck or something?"
" Want me to answer for you?"
Jody asked for Roxxy's opinion.
" Zip it, Jody. Or I'll beat your ass."
" Woah...when you're aggressive, you're like Syd. Calm down"
" Sera... Don't say that."
Suddenly, Roxxy got rubbed on the head by Jody Johanson. The girl felt a sudden calm had been sent through her palms.
At that time it was like her anger just got vanished.
Jody staring at her in gentle sights, a slight smile shows the good intention she had for her.
That time, a picture of her mother fades in.
" She's more mentally older than him though." said Jody, putting down her hand.
" That. I agree."
Sera nodded,
" So why you cut your hair though?"
" It's more flexible. And easier to take care of."
" Really? I thought you were like...being a heart-broken gal for the first time so you do your stupid shit like...walkin' to the mirror and cut your hair."
" I won't do that dumb shit."
" Even though All of that... Even though all those events... how come Toshi still flirting around you?"
" I don't know. Maybe his brain got flipped aside, or maybe because I kicked his nuts too hard it affected his thinking process Who knows? "
" You kick his WHAT???"
" Screw it."
Roxxy cut her off.
" Tell me. aside from all that, Don't you feel anything after he broke up with you that day?"
"...."
Roxxy was embarrassed to answer the question.
" I don't see how it is useful to the mission we're doing. Can we please get off the topic right now?"
She tried changing the subject.
" Never, unless you answer me first."
".... UGH..."
She can't stand the wink in Sera's eyes.
"... Maybe crying?" asked Sera.
" A little bit."
" or Listening to sad music, perhaps?"
" M..Maybe..."
" punching the sandbags? "
" Well.... That's-"
" Sobbing?"
" ... "
" Like. Sobbing alone at 3 a.m. ?"
"...."
Can not argue with that. Roxxy was more depressed than before.
" Aight. Done. I've said it all. That's it. No more."
Roxxy opened the laptop back to work, then talked to Jody while typing.
" About you, Jody. I'm pretty sure you're quite proud of your new ability huh?"
" I haven't yet to figure out what I can do."
Replied Jody.
Must take more time.
Then, suddenly, the door has been opened by the people outside.
It was Syd Barrett and Toshi Ishii turning back.
"....."
But as Toshi stepped into the room, He noticed a weird stare towards him from Sera and Roxxy. Like he had done something wrong.
"...."
" What?"
asked the boy, innocently.
.
.
.
.
.
3 hours later.
Since the evidence, Sera had duplicated plus the electronic ones were such a huge data that it needs a longer time for analysis than usual. The group didn't go anywhere but around Mickey's patient bed.
All of them had already taken a shower and changed their clothes to the usual ones.
Toshi was sleeping on the same Sofa as Syd Barrett next to Mickey because they're boys, so they're socially forced to let the main space for the girls to take a nap. Sure they had their personal rooms in the other section, but they chose to stay here.
Seraphina Gilmour was also sleeping, she slept with her arms and head splaying on Mickey's bed, right next to him.
Right now the only people still awaking are only Roxxy Barrett and Jody Johanson. Even though Roxxy was almost gonna follow those threes, She questioned herself whether she was so tired or Jody was a fucking robot? Because she's the only one fully active.
The big screen in the room displays usual youtube videos. But in Roxxy's pov, the noise started to fade because she's about to close her eyes right now.
Roxxy said with face down to the couch.
" (*Yawns* ) It's 11.00 pm... Jody, What are you, owl? Why are you still active? -"
Before she was about to follow that sentence with 'Anyway, I'm gonna sleep now'. Jody Johanson said something up that caught her off guard.
" Because actually, there's another name caught up my eyes when I read you guys profile."
"....."
The volume has been lowered down so that Roxxy can hear it clearly.
The menacing atmosphere was formed around Jody and her. It was summoned without realization.
Jody turned around to the girl she knew hasn't slept,
" Who's "Cadence" And "Cascade" ?"
Being stared menacingly, Roxxy can feel the touch of the superior flow of energy, the energy of ELEMENTALIST.
" ....Another agent, I guess..."
Replied Roxxy.
" You guess?"
"...."
"...."
" Why are you so damn curious about it? (Yawns)"
" You know that I can feel the air, yes? "
".... Yeah. I know that. What's the point of bringing that up?"
" Breathe deeper if you want to fake a yawn next time."
"...."
Jody smiles, stone cold.
" Maybe I was wrong...I'm sorry for pushing you. But how am I going so far?"
"... Jody you're fucking scary now."
"You avoid answering me again?"
" I don't have anything to say about that. I don't have anything to say about Cadence or whoever you said. What you expected?"
" No. That's not what I'm asking. I asked you how am I going?"
"...."
"...."
" Good... For a civilian."
" I can go further than scary."
".... Yeah, I believe that-"
Roxxy raised the head from the couch with a response by leaking her own energy, Ain't no sleeping now.
" But are you threatening me?"
" I wouldn't dare. You can beat me down the ground anytime. I'm just a 'Civilian'."
"...."
"...."
Roxxy was laughing in the throat, what did Jody just say.
" Bullshit."
She knew... That was true...but It'll be true as long as Jody remained untrained. But not anymore...
Jody is like a sleeping beast. She's like Eagle with the sharpest claws, All it takes is someone to teach her how to 'Hunt'.
" Things had changed. You and Sera are now halfway into the organization... In one day. You both will be trained... Like us..."
" I know... It's inevitable."
Said Jody, " But don't change the subject. Please."
".... Jody...You're the most...ambitious person I've ever known."
"....."
Roxxy Barrett gazed over her brother, Syd, who was still sleeping quietly as if she was afraid if he was active.
" But I'm not in the position that can tell you other agent's info, unfortunately."
" Can't you really tell me? I just want to know what kind of person that got labeled as 'Be compatible' with "The Barretts"..
"... Well, People like...those"
Roxxy turned her face to the others who're sleeping.
" I thought so."
Jody grins, " But that person was... No longer alive anymore. Not like Denji."
" ... "
" And weird, That person only appears under Syd document. But not yours. Which to me, is unlikely. Because whoever is compatible with you, will be the same as him... But not this person. Her information was 'Encrypted' by someone... Someone powerful enough to have a privilege to ask Thrak to do this... "
"... Jade told you that?"
" It's the summary from what she told me."
"...."
" And I see... My cute Barrett siblings are very. Very close to each other. And it's impossible for you to not know that person."
"..."
" Unless Syd hid it from you. Like you had hidden Toshi from him. Which is unlikely. Because he sucks at lying to his intimate... How ironic."
" Or maybe YOU are too good catching liars."
" Or Both."
"... I have told you all in my scope. Jody, I'm sorry. But as she told. Cadence and Cascade have been encrypted. Everybody was prohibited to talk about it. It's the rule. But what I can tell you... The furthest I can help... I can say you're getting a lot closer to it. That's all."
" I think so... you'd have told me ten minutes ago if it wasn't that 'rule' "
" So what's the point of asking me then?"
" To make sure the rule is actually a thing."
"... I'm sorry."
Hmmmmm...Hmmmmm,
They heard the voice of Syd Barrett, moaning from the Sofa. Jody and Roxxy found he's not awake yet. Maybe he had a weird dream.
" I think Imma about to go asleep again...*Yawns*..."
" Oh, this time the air goes deep. So you didn't fake."
" [Yawning] Because it's real, God damn it."
Roxxy changed the posture to fully laying on the couch. Peacefully descending to sleep.
"...."
Jody raised from another couch and headed to the water dispenser outside. She planned to have another glass of water before going to sleep.
*Tick*
She doesn't forget to turn off the light for them.
She opened the door, walking out of the room. But then, as she faced away from the door, her corner of the eye caught something standing inside the spot she had just left.
At the instant moment when the door which can be opened from both sides swings opened and about to move back to its initial spot, splitting Jody from everyone in the patient's room...
A familiar line of "Red hair" outstands from the darkness in the room. Ain't no mistaken, Jody was very sure of that. There was SOMEONE in the room she had just LEFT.
Her instinct forced her to turn back, and she found...
The Red hair woman was standing right behind the "SOFA BED" Syd Barrett and Toshi Ishii were slept on.
HOW...?
Jody's eyes are wide open, at a brief moment, Jody saw her green eyes.
And they are STARING right back to her.
Then the door swings shut. Jody quickly grabbed the doorknob and pushed it all the way in.
*Tick*
Jody turned on the light... She saw nothing but her friends. And they're all sleeping. Behind the Sofa bed was nothing. It's empty.
"....."
But Jody must be certain it was empty.
She walked back into the room, going straight for the Sofa bed.
She then peeked behind it...
No one.
Nothing.
"...."
The door had swung shut not even a second long... Someone can't get away that fast...
" She again..."
Jody began to question herself.
Is she crazy? Or Is it real? What is that thing?
"..."
Seeing there's nothing. Jody left the room once again...but this time nothing happened.
"..."
Considering about it over and over... Jody walked down the stairs which are not very high...only 5-6 steps just to divide the area, then continued walking through the walkway tunnel then made her way out of the patient ward to her room.
Jody arrived at her room. She came here to pick her accessories like a tablet and charger. While in the head always thinking about the red hair woman. Jody can still remember the loud scream from that time.
The red hair lady was coming with her.
She...is not human.
And always present whenever Syd was around.
Then, Jody remembered what Roxxy had asked while on the jet.
"Did anything strange happen to you recently?"
" ! "
Or this is what Roxxy meant? But how? How could Jody know? She probably means other things.
It is vague ...and raised a lot of questions. However, She never has fully encountered that thing for more than 3 seconds... The timing is almost impossible... It's too short for her brain to realize it was her whenever she saw her.
"...."
On the way back to the Patient's room, Jody must walk passing the long walkway tunnel. Checking on the wristwatch, it's midnight.
" Hey, Jody."
" Hey."
Jody replied to the scientist's greetings before they passed each other.
This place always opened all the time. If the clock on the wall is moved, then nobody could tell the time for sure.
While her head was blanking, Suddenly... Her eyes caught up with something at the end of the tunnel.
It was a "face" of a person...only half of it was reaching out of the corner glaring over Jody from above the stairs... The first thing that Jody's eyes automatically recognized was... The RED hair.
" ...?.... !!!! "
That face was pulled back as soon as Jody spotted it. As if it was watching Jody from the distance away... Which makes Jody felt super uncomfortable.
And Jody DOES HEAR the running noise coming from that open space.
.
"!!!!"
She started sprinting.
Jody remembered that path. It's connected to the Patient ward.
She quickly headed over that end and make a turn in the direction the face was reaching out...
She couldn't go fast due to her condition, The osteogenesis imperfecta. She headed up the stairs... couldn't rush up or else she'll break her legs.
But strange... Why did the footstep sound was getting closer to her?
Wasn't supposed to get further and further?
No time to think of that.
The sound got closer...closer...closer and... Finally.
Jody made a turn, she grabbed over the corner's wall and pull herself forward it.
Without knowing that there's another person is coming towards Jody at a high speed.
" Shit-?!"
B A M!
Both people collided. The collision was so strong that Jody was hardly pushed (So as that person). Jody lost balance... But behind her was no ground... So jody fell all the way straight down the stairs...
C R A C K!!!
Her legs hit the floor, it broke down instantly. The cracking sound was even heard from around there.
" AHHHHH--!!!!!!! "
The pain of broken bones she hasn't felt since she had learned the swapping technique raised.
" JODY?! "
It's a girl's voice.
Jody aimed her finger with air bullet spinning at that person. She lifted her face, she found out that the person who hit her was…
Seraphina Gilmour.
"...s...sera? ngghhh....agghhh..."
She moaned in pain. Put her hand down, covered her broken legs instead.
" OH FUCK!... Jody, I'm so sorry! "
.
.
.
.
.
Though people around there offered Jody help, She got Sera with her. So no need.
" Hey... Are you alright?"
The good intention officer asked her.
" Don't worry..." Jody pressed down the pain, " I got my own medic."
" Who's your medic?"
Ser shook her head, then began to take responsibility. Heal her up.
Jody sat on the stairsteps with Sera using her ability to heal her legs.
" I don't know you're there..."
Said Sera,
" Me neither..."
Jody replied, " ... What happened? Why does a heavy sleeper like you wake up in midnight? "
Jody was not the first one using the term heavy sleeper to describe Sera.
But it's unarguable.
".... Well..."
"..."
Seraphina had become silent like she wasn't sure if she should speak it or not.
" You wouldn't believe me..."
"....."
Sera doesn't look like a person who had just woken.
"... What is it?"
"....."
Sera looks hesitant, however, she decided to tell Jody anyway.
.
.
.
.
.
[ After Jody had gone out for taking her accessories in her room. ]
*Tick*
The American had turned off the light and left the room.
Seraphina Gilmour was deeply asleep like others...
However.
Within the silence,... For some reason, Her body jiggled. Sera still closed her eyes, but her consciousness was awakened.
She had woken in the middle of the night. Something Sera rarely does. Even though she didn't question anything and did what normal people do, trying to go back to sleep, Her ears caught a noise where at first she wasn't consciously registered.
But after she let it continued, on and on… around her, Sera's conscious began to realize that something was "off" with the sound.
Because it's not the sound of an air-conditioner or the medical tools working.
It's a person's "breathing". And it is about right NEXT to her.
That made Sera got hooked out of the sleepiness.
" ! "
Someone was breathing on her head. The creepiest part is that Sera felt the steam of breathing hitting on her skin...
In her head, thinking who would it be?
(...If it's not Mannix then who would it be??? ... )
And that's impossible. Since Mickey Mannix's body was lying in front of her.
The second person that came into her mind was Syd Barrett... Then Toshi Ishii.... But... It's also impossible. They may be as ass, but they're not that kind of person.
The only choice she had left was to... Turn around. To see who exactly was it?
Sera quickly turned her head around, thinking to surprise that person... Without them being aware.
But she's wrong.
Sera was fully STARED right into the "GREEN" shining Eyes. And that Green eyes were so intense that it freaks Sera out...because it STARED right back.
" GUH---!!!! "
Only a second after that, Sera sprung up... The room was still dark and silent as usual. No breathing sound. Or any green thing around.
"......"
She doesn't know whether to call it a nightmare. Sera looked around again. She saw nothing strange at all.
"....."
But she was panting.
Sera touched on her forehead, felt a lot of sweat running down her face...even though inside the room was cold.
"....."
Before jumping to a conclusion that it was a semi-awake hallucination, Sera changed her mind real quick as she gazed over the shining light through the door's window from outside the patient's room.
Sera saw a figure, standing over the other side of that window. It was not clear since the window was a frosted glass type. At the same time as her eyes adapted themselves to the darkness, she only found Roxxy lying on the couch. The boys lying on the sofa. And they're all asleep.
So that figure must be Jody, Sera thought. Since she's not here. Or if it's not Jody it maybe a medic team... But wait... is this a time they had to come to check on Mickey???
No.
They just finished check-up hours ago.
"..."
Sera stared on the shadow behind the frosted window... But it had no sign of moving...
That's when the creepy vibe kicks in.
The figure has nothing that could convince Sera it was Jody.
Jody has long hairs...but this figure is not.
And it was just standing right there...like it wants to come in... No gesture of talking to someone on the phone... And it was alone...
"..."
Sera gave it an opportunity, she looked at it without blinking. What will it do?
"....."
None.
It did nothing.
" This isn't right..."
Sera decided to raised...then walked to it. Along the way she got up and approached the door, the figure remained no sign of movement even the slightest.
" ! "
Sera swung the door opened... Light comes in, But it was empty outside.
That shocks the British. It impossible to get away that fast.
Sera peeked out the room, there's no one outside.
There's the officer wearing an outfit walking within the area. But he was too far from here.
Only a moment after that, as Sera gazed to the right, She found a lady with "Red hair" was walking away from the room. That immediately pressed the replay button in her head.
Sera recognized her... It was the same person she found back in The Lab in Norway. She was the same person who pointed Sera to another entrance which because of that, Sera could help Mickey in time. And to recall...that woman also has a green eyes.
(... That person!... How did she get here?! )
" Hey! You! "
But the red hair girl does not turn around. She kept walking. And she looked pretty normal.
She's a tall woman. Taller than Sera just like Jody, Maybe they both sharing the same heights.
She wore a black dress. But there's a part of a skin that has been revealed under the light on the hallway.
She has skin the color of honey. Sera can see it by her revealed arms.
" Hey! You! There!"
Sera started to follow her. When she speeds up, that girl already turned to the corner ahead.
" Shit!"
At least she could say a thank you.
Sera was fully rushed. But as she made a turn... She bumped into JODY who had just arrived at the top of the stairs, thus, making her fall down and broke her legs.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Jody was completely shocked to hear that. And she had just known that Sera also saw that Red hair lady too.
"....."
Sera who saw Jody completely bewildered began to sense that something was not logical.
" Jody? "
"That ain't make any sense..."
" Why?"
" Because I also see that 'Redhair' lady too..."
" !!!!!!!!! "
" But it was opposite... I saw her peeking at me before she disappeared behind this corner...a moment before we bumped..."
".... That's bullshit... But I saw her running into your way! "
Sera tried arguing with her.
" I could say that too. Because from my perspective, She was going in your way...Sera."
"... Jody...You're scaring me..."
" I'm not." Jody said, " In fact, I've seen her before... Back there...in London..."
Sera didn't want to believe what she just saw. And she couldn't believe what Jody told her too.
"... Did we just...see a Ghost?"
"...."
Even Jody couldn't think of an answer to that.
Now they're sharing the information.
The lady they saw share something in common.
A "Red" hair. And "Green" eyes.
But the difference is Jody didn't see her skin while Sera did. And Sera just realized she couldn't hear any sound from that lady like Jody does.
Jody saw Ponytail whereas Sera was not sure.
Both got back to the Patient's room before they went back to sleep, Jody and Sera gazed at Roxxy Barrett...
Who is that Red hair lady exactly?
Roxxy claimed she couldn't say anything further than she already did.
They then aimed at another person who may have known about this thing..