The more that Mia had thought about it, the more strange inhuman Jack was. After all, it didn't exactly make much sense that Jack could suddenly regenerate his injuries, that he had such a friendly relationship with what was clearly a monster, and also his superhuman abilities.
Yet, at the same time, despite the paranoia settling in, Mia just couldn't consider Jack to be a monster. He simply felt too human to her, to the point that even if there was proof that he was a monster, he still wouldn't feel that far from a human in the first place. At least to her.
Thinking about it logically, she found that it made no sense since realistically Jack was far more terrifying than anything that Jessica had done. And yet, there was this strange charm that he had that Mia could not explain.
She chalked it up to his childish demeanor, that made it feel like he could never truly have any malicious intentions.
While she was stunned in thought, Jessica had caught up, sheepishly raising one hand.
"H-Hey, Mia?"
She stopped despite still being two meters away, almost like she was afraid of scaring off a wild animal. As for Mia, she didn't turn around, opting to stand still and look at the ground. Her lips parted, but no words came out in the end.
Jessica blinked a few times before speaking up rather sadly.
"D-Did I do something to hurt you? I'm really sorry if I did, sometimes I... I really don't understand why but it's so hard to control my actions."
A moment of silence lingered.
"Mia?..."
After taking a deep breath, Mia swallowed hard. She didn't turn around, but responded for once.
"N-No. You didn't do anything like that."
At the very least, she didn't want the misunderstanding to be too egregious. Though it seemed to have the opposite effect. Jessica took one step closer.
"You don't have to lie to me if I did. Whatever it was, I swear I can make it up to you."
Mia uncontrollably flinched hearing the steps come closer, prompting her to scream louder than she intended.
"It really isn't!"
Realizing she was a bit loud, she quieted down the next moment.
"You don't have to apologize for something you didn't do... Stop worrying about it."
Jessica furrowed her brows. She didn't understand, because from her perspective, this was the only thing that it could've been. Memories of her past crept up, both recent and from long ago that reminded her of the things she did.
Those experiences only further solidified her bias.
"Then, why are you being like this?"
Jessica spoke softly, and in return Mia couldn't respond back. She didn't know how to say that she felt like it was a monster her words were going to, not a human. If she called out the monster, wouldn't that be bad?
In the end, this was what confirmed it in Jessica's mind.
"Mia, I'm really sorry for risking your life for the sake of my own. I'm not sure what I did, but it's been a problem that I've always had for a while now."
This caused Mia to turn around slightly, a bit curious about this "problem" that was apparently had.
"...what are you talking about?"
Jessica blinked a few times, seemingly not ready for this conversation. Still, she hardened her expression and began speaking.
"It's just... I have a record of hurting other people for my own sake."
Her face began twitching as she clearly started to lose it somewhat.
"A-And I don't want to do it, but it happens before I can even get in control of any of it and-"
Suddenly, she became expressionless, with just a dull look. A moment later, her brows furrowed and Jessica looked around as though she had just woken up. She pressed three fingers to her forehead and pressed her eyelids together tightly.
"I... I was talking about..."
She suddenly froze up once more, but was clearly struggling against whatever it was that was inhibiting her. Mia saw this and felt both confused, afraid, and yet concerned. Before she knew it, she had turned around and sheepishly reached out, but in the end was too afraid and pulled back.
"A-Are you ok?"
Jessica took an aggressive deep breath while pressing the fingers to her forehead needlessly hard.
"I... I'm fine."
Eventually, she gradually calmed down, and sat down. After a moment of hesitation, Mia decided to do the same. Jack, who appeared clueless but also curious, got Seedy to bring him next to them as he awkwardly sat down.
Jessica was still taking deep breaths forcing herself to calm down. While she still appeared to be struggling, she appeared to be more or less in control of her own actions.
"I... I killed my best friend."
Silence lingered for a little while after she dropped this statement out of nowhere. After recovering herself, Mia spoke up cautiously.
"Y-You did? But why?"
Jessica took in deep breaths one after another, calming down her anxiety enough to speak.
"We... we were being chased by a monster not long after we first entered this place. For so long, we just ran and ran. There were times when we thought that we had lost it. So we took a short rest. Yet, it showed itself not long after, making us run over and over again."
Her eyes began glistening from tears that formed on the surface.
"We... were so exhausted. I didn't know what to do. Running didn't matter to me anymore, I just wanted to give up. Then... I just pushed him into the monster. It didn't make any sense, I wasn't even thinking of that. And after I just ran without stopping, no matter how much it hurt or I wanted to stop."
She closed her eyes and let the tears fall.
"I was in shock even when it happened. It all felt like a dream, but the sounds... I heard behind me were enough to tell me that they weren't. There was so much screaming and painful noises."
Jessica cleared her throat, trying to get herself into a somewhat calm state.
"I don't know why I'm like this, hurting people I don't want to and doing things I never wanted to. It's... like some sort of instinct that just prevents me from dying even if that's what I want to do."
Mia couldn't help but reevaluate how she looked at Jessica hearing that. She furrowed her brows slightly and thought about it for a while.
"I guess when I think about it, there are times when I see things differently if I know my life is at risk. Maybe it's just the adrenaline that makes it harder for you to think properly and instead do what you need to."
Jessica furrowed her brows before shaking her head.
"But... it never feels voluntary. It just happens suddenly, and before I know it, it's all over."
Mia hesitated for a long while before slowly reaching over and gently patting Jessica's shoulder.
"I don't really understand what's wrong, but it sounds like you have no bad intentions. If it's really like that, then there's no reason to blame yourself."
Jessica gave a small nod, but didn't look all that reassured.
"Regardless of intention, I want to be in control of my actions. I don't want some other kind of instinct to be taking over."
Mia couldn't help but think of Jessica's earlier freakish display. She shivered a little recalling it, but this appeared to align with whatever Jessica was talking about. That there was something else controlling her, forcing her to live on.
She pondered over it. There was a certain degree of life-or-death sense that had saved her life before, but never was it to such an exaggerated degree. Perhaps that kind of thing was still possible by instinct alone? Mia didn't think it was possible, but there were also countless other things she didn't understand, The House of Cards being one of them.
Seeing it from this way, she felt a little bad about fearing Jessica, since it seemed that she was just a bit different.
Well, perhaps more than just a bit.
Regardless, she felt it was unfair to judge someone as she had.
"...In truth, I was a bit scared of what you did earlier. It just didn't really look like something that a normal person would do. Seeing you fight that crow was scary, like you weren't really you."
Hearing that, Jessica looked quite concerned.
"What? How was I acting when I fought with the crow?"
It was Jack's turn to interject, raising a hand enthusiastically.
"You were twisting around so fast and moving like all whooshy whoosh!"
Despite his lacking description, his actual erratic head movements and body movements where his elbow was kept next to his waist. Mia gave a small nod.
"It was something like that. Your head was never on your shoulders properly, jostling around and... your arms and legs moved so strangely, like a crabs."
Hearing this, Jessica realized that something was wrong.
That her problem might stem from something bigger than just instincts.