While I'm still looking at the unmoving Ella, Raven draws his gun, and point-blank fires at the Hodded attackers. "Wait this is-"
*B-B-Bang!* Pushing the cat-human out of the way, the other hooded figure hand blocks all the bullets. Stretching her hands into claws, it lunges at me.
Unsheathing my sword, I clash with her razor claws. Hearing the rushed footsteps on the stairs, the hooded figure pulls down its hood, revealing a scaly and almost dragon-like face.
"Dragonoid!" Getting knocked to the ground by Raven. I see him take the fiery breath head-on.
"Raven!" Seeing the hooded beasts jump out of the window, I hear Raven yell. "I'm fine! Go after them!" Jumping out after them, I see them running across the rooftops.
Leaping over a gap, the Dragon one opens its mouth. Hurling their fire at me, I lay on the ground. The fire melts pieces of the soft metal and my clothes feel like they're gonna burst into flames.
How the hell did Raven withstand this heat?! Suddenly feeling the air get cold. Large ice wall forms on the edge of the building. "What are you waiting for?! Move that lazy body of yours!"
Jumping from an air vent to the wall, Raven practically flew over the gap. Not wanting to be outdone, I quickly follow him. Seeing him engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Dragonoid, I see Raven pull the dirtiest move in the book.
A single, yet powerful kick between the legs brought it to the ground.
"That well... wierd....." Raven comments.
"Marie!" Jumping to her side, the cat spreads her arms apart, shielding her friend with her whole body. Starting to have a bad feeling about this, I watch Raven pull out his gun.
"What did you do to Ella?" Trying to say something, Raven yelling at the Depraved makes my question silent.
"We didn't do anything, I sw-"
*Click* Pulling the hammer down, Raven tried to ask again. But before he could, I felt something lightly blue fly past me. "Raven stop! They didn't want to hurt me!"
It's Ella, now standing in front of the cat female. Still pointing his gun at the cat, Raven finally gives in and holsters his pistol. "If they didn't want to hurt you why did we find you on the ground unmoving?"
Jumping to Ravne's side, I join in on the questioning.
"Look, I invited them to my room for some food. But I couldn't have expected her to suddenly grow wings and carry her cat friend into the room! I just stumbled back and hit my head!" Now confused, I ask if I heard correctly.
"Her?" Looking away, Raven rubs the back of his head. "When I kicked it, I realized..... it lacks a certain male part...."
Finally getting up, the dragonic woman jumps back into a fighting stance. "It's fine Marie, we don't have to fight anymore." The cat Explains.
Raising my hands, I start to ask. "Okay, so... What's going on, and how did we get here?"
Standing up, the Dragonoid woman named Marie spoke up. "We were invited by your friend here for some food, so I flew into the room. But she got started and hit her head."
Nodding my head, I finish the explanation. "And then we found you over her unmoving body."
Thinking I understand everything, I suddenly hear Raven.
"Okay, but what are you doing here? You two are clearly not infected, you're descendants of a Depraved human, and to my knowledge, Aquaria has strict policies to deal with you all."
Looking at Raven I feel like something bad is about to happen.
"We were in a refuge camp for the neutral city of Barou, but we were attacked by a weird group of golden mask-wearing-"
Cutting her off, I yell. "Golden maks? Was he tall?-" Seeing her shake her head, I hear.
"No, a woman was leading them. I don't know her name but, most of us were killed, Lucy and I barely escaped. Lucy is the cat."
Feeling down, I feel Raven's hand on my shoulder. "Lilith, she's known for her hatred for you people. Hate which she and I share."
"Raven!" Ella and I yell out. Raising his hands in defense. "Sorry! But..... I just... Don't like you, Okay? I don't care what Ken or Ella think about you, but I... I hate you."
Turnign around, Raven tells us to meet him back at the cafe, as he's off to finish his breakfast. "I'm sorry for my friend, I don't know what got into him." Telling me it's fine, I still feel like it's wrong.
Trying to lighten up the mood, Ella tries to invite the two for some food. "Do you not remember what happened a few minutes ago?" I ask. Nodding her head, she suddenly lights up like a lightbulb. Grabbing me and Marie by the hand, she starts to drag us in the direction of her store.
Stopping outside, she asks us to wait and runs in.
Standing around in silence for a second, Marie decides to break it. "You look weird." Brought out of my thoughts, I try to think of and reply.
"What?" But that's all I could come up with. Grabbing me by the hand, her claws start to turn into soft, normal hands. "I can see emotions, it's a weird thing so don't think too hard about it. When your friend was speaking of his hate for us. His hate didn't come from the mind but from the heart."
Not understanding she looks at Raven that's sitting alone, eating some waffles. "Most people hate us just because that's what they're taught, but he carries true hate, hate from the heart. It's not something that was taught to him, but something he saw in person. My guess is that a Depraved one hurt him. Hurt him badly and now he hates every depraved."
Pulling my hand from the grasp, I ask what that has to do anything with me.
Smiling, she replies. "Simple, I don't want you to hate him just because he's racist towards us, he's just miss guided."
Wrapping her hand around her neck, the cat girl tells Marie to stop philosophizing. "I'm sorry, she just likes to speak nonsense like this. She has something with her eyes." Trying to laugh the serious tension off, she also wraps her hand around my neck. Bringing us into a large hug.
"What is this?" I asked. I'd never done something like this.
"It's a group hug, you do it with your friends!" The cat yells. Lightly nodding my head, I close my eyes. When was the last time I felt like this? The warmth of another living being.....
Ah... It was at the Dojo, back when everyone was still there........
Feeling something hot be pushed against my face, I see Ella with bags filled with waffles.
"What are you doing? Let's eat!"