"Well, as nice as this has all been, I think there is currently an apocalypse underway, a militia on their way, and a little Star that needs to be anywhere but here," grunted Envy as I clutched Teddy close to my chest.
"And two step-brothers somewhere around here, looking for me," I muttered, completely forgetting about Shit Stain One and Two until this moment. It was starting to feel like the world was against me for a moment, with everything piling up on me.
"Then the first step is to get out of this God-forsaken house," sneered Pride as I paused on the other side of the front door. "But not through that exit. Envy was a bit late with the militia warning. Someone is standing on the other side of the door."
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a knock sounded on the door, startling me.
"What do I do?" I hissed. Père had never let me open the door before, but he was dead, and the other two weren't around.
"Open the door," growled a voice from the other side of the wooden barrier. His instructions were perfectly clear, but I couldn't bring myself to actually follow them.
"Père wouldn't like it," I called back to him. Sure, Père was dead, but they didn't know that. "I don't wanna get in trouble," I continued, dropping my face onto Teddy's head. The poor bear was just as bruised and beaten as I was, and I hoped that I wasn't making it worse for him.
"Your Père will want us inside," murmured the voice. "You know we are bonne amies." There was still a growl to it like the man had eaten a bear or something, and it was trying to use him to speak. "I promise you; you will not get in trouble for opening the door."
"No," grunted Greed with a sneer of his own. "You will only get in trouble because of the blood. I don't suppose you have a good excuse for that, now do you?"
My heart spiked at his words, but then I nodded my head. Right, the blood.
"I don't know where Père is," I started, my hand reaching out to unlock the first of six locks on the door. We didn't have much, but apparently, we had enough money for locks. "You'll tell him this wasn't my idea?"
"You are safe with us," said a second voice on the other side of the door. His words might have said one thing, but I couldn't suppress the shudder that went down my spine. If the first man sounded like a bear, then this one sounded like a snake.
And I knew that if given half a chance, he would bite.
"I believe you," I said innocently. I raised my head just enough so that I was staring forward. Most people couldn't stand my milky white eyes on them, but I also knew that if I hid them, I would be beaten for being disrespectful.
With one hand, I slowly opened the door. 'Seeing would be helpful,' I grumbled in my mind as the humid outside air burst into the house. My nose wrinkled with the scent of the men in front of me, but something told me that there was more than just the two who had spoken.
The moment the words were out of my mouth, I could smell the peppermint breath of Greed as his invisible arms wrapped around my shoulders from behind. "Your wish is our command," he murmured in my ear.
I stiffened for a second, worried that the others could hear him, but I shouldn't have. However, the second he touched me, I was able to see from a much greater height than was possible.
The first man in front of me must have been the one who ate the grizzly. He was almost as tall as Greed, with a military haircut with grey hairs starting at the temple. His eyes were narrowed as he looked me up and down, and I had to force myself not to react.
He wore what looked to be black military pants and a black long-sleeve shirt that was way too hot for the weather. He had a massive gun cradled like a baby in his arms.
"Why are you covered in blood, Hattie?" he asked, his Northern accent sounding so much hoity-er than the rest of us. I used Greed's eyes to see him wrinkling his nose like he smelled something bad coming off me.
Then again, I couldn't remember the last time I bathed, so maybe he really was reacting to my smell.
"I was killin' a chicken for dinner," I muttered, trying to wipe something crusty off Teddy's head. Of course, Greed's eyes never left the man in front of me, so I had no idea what was stuck to Teddy.
Hopefully, it wasn't blood.
"Where's the chicken?" asked the second man, his voice feeling like oil over my skin.
Greed turned his head to look at the second man, and I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose. He wasn't as tall as the bear was, but he wasn't that far off. He was also as skinny as a stick and held the biggest gun of the two of them.
Of course, he was dressed the same as the bear, but I was wondering if that was a standard militia uniform. Père didn't have one, but he had been trying to get into the local militia for as long as I could remember.
Apparently, he didn't have enough guns to qualify. I thought it might have been that he wasn't smart enough for the Northerner, but I was smart enough not to ask that question.
I let my face turn pale as a look of fear flashed over my face. "Merde," I grunted, letting the fear soak into my voice. "I heard my brothers calling for me, so I hurried inside. The bird is probably dinner for the gators now."
I felt Greed humming in approval behind my back as the two men stared down at me, trying to figure out just how truthful my words were.
"And where is your Père, Little One?" grunted the bear, sounding a lot like Greed for a moment that I almost melted toward him. However, the real Greed wasn't having any of that.