Chapter 24: The Twisted Encounter
Chapter 24: The Twisted Encounter
It was a tired John and Alice who made their way home. John had a slight limp, no broken bones thankfully due to the cloak coat, and he was thanking the plot armour gods even though he felt every blow he took. It did nothing to dampen the pain, and probably only made it so it was spread out over a longer time to balance out its defence. But even so, John was just glad to not have any broken bones.
Alice tried her best to seem her upbeat and bouncy self, but it's clear she was also worn from the fight, and her muscles had been put to their absolute limit. She was still moving, probably fuelled by her madness and determination to keep going. Her dress was once more entirely pristine, not a single speck on it. This answered his question about the outfits from the changes; they do seem to clean and self-repair. True, an absolutely useless piece of information, but still something he found interesting and satisfying to know.
"Go take a shower. The warm water should help your muscles slightly. I'll make us some supper. It won't be anything fancy, but we should have something before we get some rest. I'll take the first watch tonight this time so you can get a decent rest. I'll make sure to wake you if something happens," he told her, dragging the spider creature's corpse to the garage before heading to the kitchen. He heard a faint affirmation from Alice.
Half an hour later, a now clean and clearly tired Alice entered the kitchen, slowly drying her hair. John was dishing up some crumbed chicken fillets and fried potatoes, with an array of sauces and seasonings spread on the table, along with a large glass of coke for each of them.
"Even after a fight like that, you still make sure we eat, huh? Your tum tum telling you to fill up?" Alice joked, poking his stomach lightly, getting a tired look in return.
"Clearly, the shower did you good. You're back to being your old self. And no, it's not to fill my stomach, well not entirely. The last time we ate was breakfast. Now honestly, I'm pretty used to eating only once before supper, but we had a big fight. We might not feel it, but our bodies need something in them to help them settle and recover a bit. Speaking of which, come over here. I remember you took a nasty hit to the arm from a claw that you were slightly too slow to dodge," he told her, pointing to the chair in front of him, with a medical bag at his side.
"It's fine. I already bandaged it and everything," she told him, getting a harder stare before giving in, looking like a kicked puppy as she did as she was told. She rolled up her sleeve to reveal a badly wrapped bandage and the gash poking out slightly at the top. Removing the bandage, John gave it a serious look before getting a small tube of super glue. Alice gave him a confused look, but before she could ask, he squeezed out a bit and applied it inside her wound. She winced, biting back her pain-filled moan as he held the wound closed. After a few seconds, he properly applied some antiseptic and bandaged it up properly, with a little bow, knowing she would like it. Then he headed to the sink to wash his hands.
"Now you can eat and enjoy. The super glue is something used in old times in war, a quick and easy way to close wounds. I'm far from confident in giving stitches, and this should be good enough, I hope. Keep it clean and try not to put too much strain on it. Enjoy the meal," he told her as he sat down after making his way back and enjoyed his own meal. Alice did her best to try and make conversation in the form of bad jokes, but John wasn't much interested. Like that, time passed.
John took a shower, and Alice got a small rest. Admittedly, he had to lock the bathroom door to keep Alice out, as she didn't seem to understand privacy. Regarding sleep, he had to explain repeatedly to her that he would not be sleeping with her and would not be her snuggle teddy. Eventually, he had to relent and accept that she would sit and cuddle up to him when it was her turn for watch.
Checking his phone that somehow survived, no doubt something Fae had done through her class, he couldn't help but frown. There was still no word from her. He didn't like not having contact with his friend anymore, even if it's only been a single day. It felt like a year already. He left a message telling her he hopes she's okay and to message him as soon as she can to let him know she's okay. Putting the phone away, he began to think about all that's happened up to this point. It had only been a night and a day so far, but it felt so much longer. From the reunion and the dragons to his near-death at the scythe user, then the passing of his family—something he didn't want to dwell on because Alice would no doubt go to extremes to pull him out of it. He realized he didn't have the luxury to grieve now.
His thoughts then turned to the rest of the day—from the old man from earlier to the fight. Looking back, he questioned what he could have done differently. Perhaps they should have laid some kind of trap or used surprise to push the spider beast into the fire before it spotted them. Looking back, there were many options they could have done, should have done. Promising to do better next time, he began thinking of what he should do to improve. Perhaps he needs to try and get a small smithy thing going and try to create some armour or better defence for them? Then again, it would probably end up being a long-term thing. As much as he would love to magically make super strong armour or weapons, he would be realistic. It takes time for that to happen, unlike in novels and other media. Maybe his class would kick in at some point for smithing as well. It could be useful in the long run and profitable to continue forward in this new world. Weapons would definitely become a good commodity for sure.
While thinking, he still made sure to keep his ears and eyes open and looked around. A faint noise drew his focus to the kitchen. Gripping his dagger, he decided to try and face it himself, knowing he could wake Alice with a yell if needed. He slowly made his way over, flipping on the switch, holding the dagger at the ready. He was rather surprised at what he saw. There, in front of him, was what looked like a small little girl, her brown hair scattered around her as she had fallen back in fright. Wide brown eyes stared at him as she slowly backed up, her clothes torn to shreds, only keeping her modesty intact.
"Who are you?" John asked her, staring down at the young girl, eyes hard, and looking around as well to be careful. Such a precaution saved John as he swung the dagger to the side, holding back and trying to not show how sore he still was from the last fight. The dagger's tip stopped at the throat of a small winged fairy the size of a small cat. His hair was deep red, and his eyes were glaring at him. He held a nasty-looking needle in his hand and a green poncho covering its body, looking between the two John was making sure to be extra cautions not wanting to risk a third hiding and waiting to attack should he make a move first, but not feeling a need to wake Alice just yet.
"I'm only going to ask one more time before I call my companion, so answer me honestly. Who are you two, and what are you doing in my house? I still have morals, but I can promise you my companion will have no issues with cutting you down with a smile. So make sure you don't lie to me," John tells them, looking around but keeping enough focus to remain aware of his surroundings.
"Don't hurt us, please. Greeny is just my protector. My name is Jess. Please, please don't hurt us. We only just escaped from some bad adults and tried to hide here. I was just really hungry. Please don't tell me you're also so cold-hearted as to not even let a defenseless little girl have some food," the girl now known as Jess tells him. The green fairy flies over and stands at her side, having slowly slipped away from the dagger's point while Jess had been speaking.
"Alice, please wake up and come here. We have some guests, and I figured you would want to be here too," John pauses for a moment, trying to think of appropriate words to use. "Greet them warmly." He finishes, having a sleepy Alice come through, using the scythe as a support with one hand and rubbing her eyes with the other.
"Wait, please. We told you what you wanted us to tell yo—"Jess started to say, her voice trembling a bit, and Greeny raised his needle, pointing it at John.
"I also said to answer me honestly and not lie to me. Yet, you're trying to have me believe a twelve-year-old little girl is in my kitchen right now with a little fairy protector. Honestly, I think some would have fallen for your act, but I know what happened to those under a certain age. So it's impossible for you to really be twelve years old or be here. Leaving two options. Option one, your part of an illusion whose caster is waiting for an opening but unable to properly strike, not expecting Alice here. And I doubt they're strong enough to mask themselves, so it would be a large object in the kitchen that doesn't belong," John says, getting wide eyes again from Jess. She's sputtering and failing to make a proper sentence.
"Option two which honestly seems more possible, is that you are a lolicon, chosen such a class and became able to change into little girls, no doubt thinking it would give you a paradise but instead turning you into what you desire instead, now don't get me wrong, Legal loli's are okay in my book, those that are over 18 but don't look it like you see in some anime, but it seems you're the other kind who likes little kids. So one last chance, tell me honestly who you are, or I will end you, I know already you would try to use the innocent child act to bring people to you to try and 'protect you' like you have done this little fairy well secretly plotting or stabbing people in the back, turning them against each other." John says sneering slightly, slowly moving closer to Alice and gently taking Mr stabby stick from her before slowly Approaching Jess who began to sweat heavy.
"Your wrong, I just woke up and things where different, mean adults tried to hurt me, your just like them it seems, cant you even let a little girl go? All I did was try to eat some of your food, just for the rest of the night, please let us stay just for the rest of the night and you will never see us again, I promise." She seemed to beg and plead, in normal situations John would no doubt have caved, going so far as to help any way he could, but he knew he couldn't do so this time, not in this hellish world, having looked around already and seeing nothing out of place he knew this was no little girl but a monster in human skin, swinging as hard as he could he had the blade slice into her head ending the young girl quickly and painlessly, Alice having already grabbed and disarmed the Greeny before it could react.
"How could you do that to a child! You are truly a monster, all she wanted was to live and you ended her!" A surprisingly feminine voice came from the fairy. Shaking his head John pulled the scythe out and passed it back to Alice after signalling to let it go.
"Call me what you want, I don't care, but it seems you're really naive, this isn't the world you came from little fairy, humans can be far worse than any monster and some show their true selves when they die, this one here was trying to use you and would have led you to your end. I did give them multiple chances, but they didn't take it." He says as he leaves the room, a loud gurgling noise as the body began to melt, in its place a body far fatter than John now occupied the place Jess was, before being able to notice or make out any features the body bloated and popped letting out a black screeching smoke.
"Nooooo, my body, you destroyed my carefully created body! You psychopaths, I will be back, and you will pay for destroying my favourite shell! And you little fairy, I will make sure to come back for you as well hehehe, this new world can't protect you, just like the rest of your race you as well shall be mine hahahahaha." And so with a final laugh the black smoke seemed to dissipate, a wide-eyed and shaken Alice looking at the black puddle on the floor, the fairy seemingly crying and fallen to their knees, John having left before all this had no idea what his actions had done or what had been set in motion, rather he was throwing up in the bathroom, the weight of what he had just done getting to him.