Disgust

As the light filtered through the windows barely covered by curtains, a person gasped inside the dimly lit room and held a hand to their mouth. The person was a young woman, looking anywhere between her late teens and young adulthood. Her face held a collection of freckles with yellow eyes and hair of the same colour and she stood by the windowsill, her eyes widened in disbelief. There floated a small yellow cube behind her, making a constant whirring sound as one of its faces displayed an overhead view of the training field.

It was none other than Rachel.

Her eyes expressed wonder and surprise as she scanned the figure of Winston Heath, the outlier as the Angel had described him. It made waves in her psyche and filled her with an inexplicable and strange sense of foreboding and perhaps even a fleeting insecurity.

Is that how an irregular is supposed to look like? Effortlessly outperforming anyone near them? She clenched her fist and a resolute expression marred her facial features.

Suddenly, she shook her head. Winston...

She observed the group outside for some more time and watched as the rest of the onlookers crowded all over Winston and rained him with praises and admiration. There were also a lot of questions about his strange powers that he had displayed and how he had managed to do what he had done. Of course, Winston played around with his words and avoided answering any of them.

And after about an hour, within which the two regulars of the team, Novick and Ran were taken by Michael to be treated, Winston and Khun headed towards the building.

Rachel calmly watched all of this, part through her lighthouse and part through the window.

With a strange expression marring her face, she sat down onto the bed and covered herself, continuing to watch their movements through the lighthouse.

Some time passed, and after half an hour, it occurred to Rachel that Winston and Khun were both heading up the stairs to her room.

Seeing that, she sat up on the bed and made herself presentable for the act.

~~~

Winston and Khun walked up the stairs with relaxed dispositions. Although in Khun's gait, there was a sense of dissatisfaction and rage that Winston could visibly see. His ether body was displaying emotions of anger and disgust the closer they got to their destination.

When they got to the room, Khun stepped up and knocked on the door.

"Rachel? It's me Khun." He said.

The response came with a second of delay.

"Come in."

Khun opened the door and peered inside. Then, with a smile he addressed the young girl.

"There's an old friend that came to visit today." He chuckled. Rachel tilted her head at him, expressing puzzlement.

Khun opened the door completely, revealing Winston who was wearing a long flowing tailcoat with a white linen shirt underneath and black pants. He flashed a charming grin as he stepped into the room.

"Do forgive mu intrusion. How have you been?"

Rachel's eyes widened a bit in an act of shock but just as quickly, a smile overtook it's place.

"Ah! It's Winston! When did you arrive here?!" She asked with a cheerful fit of laughter.

Before Winston could reply, Khun spoke up from behind him, "Winston is here to check up on us. More specifically, on you. He wants to see how you've been fairing up after... The incident.

"Anyway, I'll be downstairs in the mean time. You guys catch up." Khun waved his hand and turned back to shut the door behind him.

As he left and silence returned to the room, Winston chuckled and said, "I just arrived some time earlier. It hasn't been too long."

Rachel smiled and nodded.

"How have you been? I saw articles about you on the box. You seem have gotten very competent teammates."

"Well, yes. They are truly fascinating people." Winston grabbed a chair from beside the window and sat down after dragging it over to the side of the bed.

"But enough about me. What about you? How are you fairing after everything?" Winston flashed her a charming smile. Rachel lowered her eyes and seemed to contemplate something.

"Truthfully, I'm still a bit hung up on everything. It all happened so fast. I can't still bring myself to accept that Bam's gone." She said with a slight hiccup.

Winston shook his head, "You can't be too hung up on the past anymore. Bam was what brought us together. You must be strong enough for him at least. We will take you to the top of the tower and fulfill your wish, and Bam's."

As Winston's small speech landed on Rachel's ears, Winston saw her emotions get brighter. Elation. Joy.

Suddenly, she sprang up and exclaimed.

"Really? You'd do that?" Saying so, she sprang towards Winston with her hands and her hands embraced his shoulders. Winston's eyes widened as he so wished to recoil in shock and disgust. Her head nestled into his chest as her chest heaved up and down, giving the feeling that she was crying.

Winston could not help but narrow his eyes as he wrapped his arms around her with a strange robotic motion. He expertly controlled his facial expression, displaying a deep sense of sympathy and encouragement.

"It's all right." As he said this, he could not help but flash a grin.

It's all right. All your problems will be solved when I become a Parasite. At that point, all you'll have to do is wear a monocle.

Suddenly, Rachel pulled back and looked at his face with a strange look.

"Winston..." She called out.

Winston raised a brow at her, motioning her to continue.

"Will... will you truly take me to the top of the tower? Will you be my companion? Will you..." Her words clogged in her throat. Then, she continued. "I admire you. I do deeply admire you."

Winston almost extended his hand and killed her. Almost. But he stopped. Why? It was his intuition. It screamed at him to stop.

'Not now. The time will come.' It told him. And so, he did. He did not still have any idea of what entity Rachel had on her back, but it was above the level of a ranker at the very least, it seemed.

"Where is this coming from?"

Rachel chuckled self deprecatingly. "Truth be told, even I don't know. I suppose I am a bit too hung up on Bam's death after all, to be honest with you."

Winston stared at her for some time before he got up and walked to the door.

"You do seem a bit too tired. Have some rest." Saying that, he left.

As he stood outside her door, he could not help but glance at his shoulders. He felt plenty disgusted right now. The magnitude of emotion was so large it didn't even make sense. He wanted to ask her some things, but in the end, he just walked out.

Shaking his head, he headed down.

~~~

"What did she say?" Winston heard Khun's voice as soon as he stepped down the stairs.

"Nothing too useful. Just rambling about how she's been unwell after Bam's fall and how she has trouble sleeping sometimes." Winston lied through his teeth as he watched Khun who was staring at him with a dead serious face.

"That's disappointing. And here I was thinking you would be able to figure out her intentions."

"I can't read minds."

"You can't?" Khun had a genuinely surprised reaction.

"Not yet anyways." Winston mumbled under his breath and quickly shifted the topic.

"How long are you people going to stay here?"

"Probably another 2 years. I want to be prepared for the next floors. I also have to be completely sure I can take on whatever she has to offer and that she has no chance to escape once I decided to take action."

Winston nodded in acknowledgement. "That's fine, I guess."

"What about you?"

"I was thinking of continuing the small break for another half a year before moving on. I hear the workshop battle's drawing near too. I missed the previous one, might as well focus on this one." He said.

They continued to talk about the next course of action for some time before Winston decided to take his leave. Khun did try to convince him to stay for a few days, but Winston was not comfortable with that.

And so, after that, Winston left the residence and started heading back to the 29th floor. The digestion was going to be completed soon. And the ritual had been prepared. He would ascend to sequence 5 soon.

~~~

A/N: Very short chapter. Only 1500 words this time around.

Honestly, I may have projected some of my hate for the yellow haired bitch in this chapter. The exact words I had planned for her was "I think I love you." By Rachel to Winston, both in an attempt to bring him to her side using her pitiful appearance as an excuse and using an emotional leverage.

Of course, it wouldn't have worked regardless, but I just couldn't bring myself to write that man. I'm above that at this point.

Anyway, as always, do take the time to drop some stones and maybe leave a review?