A Jumping Clown

I was woken up out of dead sleep by the hissing voices of an argument going on around me. 

"Fuck you, an' fuck that," sneered Ronan, his voice causing an unintentional smile to appear on my face. "We's no be goin' to the base. The station be a whole lot closer, an' we's need to know whose survived. We donna leave any of our own behind. I donna care what your girl be whisperin' in yer ear."

His voice was still lyrical, but I could hear the pure rage in his voice. 

"Ooma Loompa, doompety doo, I've got a bad feeling bout you," I hummed, the smile on my face getting bigger as the hissing voices quickly broke off. 

"Did the mean ol' man wake you up, Niblet?" purred Max, his nose brushing the side of my cheek. I guess I was still in his arms, but I wasn't complaining about that at all. 

Unfortunately for all, I now had a song stuck in my head, and there was probably nothing I could do to get it out. Instead of continuing to interrupt what was clearly an important talk, I bit my lower lip and nodded my head to the music in it.

"Go back to sleep, Pet," murmured Désiré, and I could feel his massive hand on my head, petting my hair until my eyelids got heavy again. 

However, after too many years of being primed for a beating, I could fake sleep like the best of them. If the guys were arguing about something, I was going to need to know what was going on. I might not be able to prepare for anything, but at least I'd be in the right head space. 

As long as I could stop the words of Bad Feeling from circling around my brain. 

Closing my eyes, I let my body completely relax in Max's arms, letting him take all my weight. 

"She's rendormie," assured Max, his voice only a bit above a whisper. "Keep yer voices down an' donna be disturbing her again."

I heard a low grunt coming from Dimitri and the others while René let out a long sigh. 

"I donna see why it matters if she be awake or not," he sighed. "We's have bigger fish to fry than the comfort of one little girl."

"Says you," chuckled Luca. "I's disagree. But movin' on. We's be goin' to the station. If yous have issues with dat, feel free to head to the base. We's know where you be goin', we's can catch up."

"Absolutely not," interjected a woman's voice. Why was Alicia getting a say in what was happening when I was relegated to being put back to sleep?

I fumed for the better part of a minute over the unfairness of the world before I realized that I didn't actually have a problem with it. It wasn't like I was butting my nose into places they didn't belong. And if shit hit the fan, then I couldn't be blamed for it either. 

See, it really was a whole lot easier letting others make the decision. When shit rolled downhill, it would hit someone else way before it hit me. 

"And just who be you to tell us what we can an' canna do?" asked Ronan, his voice a little more than a purr. In fact, if it were for his words, I would have assumed that he was flirting with her. 

"I'm the one who knows what's going to happen next," stated Alicia with all the boss energy in the world. I could practically picture her in my head, raising her chin high as she stared down the men around us. 

Hell, she had bigger balls than the two Shit Stains back home and Père combined. 

If everything inside of me wasn't screaming to stay away from her, I might even have a small girl crush on her. 

Too bad everything she opened her mouth; I wanted to stab her. That took away a bit of her attractiveness. 

Meh, you win some, you lose some. 

"An' you haven' be all that forcomin' with that info, have ye?" continued to press Ronan. Man, when he was dominant, I wanted to sit up and follow whatever he had to say. I really thought he was the most laid back of the group, but that was clearly not the case at all. 

"I mean, if you saw this coming, you could have at least warned us before we left for the mission," continued Luca. "Or was it that you wanted us to be killed?"

"I've known all seven of your for over ten years. Do you really think I wouldn't stop you if I knew it was coming?" hissed Alicia. Suddenly, the nice Southern Belle was gone, and in her place seemed to be a woman you didn't fuck with. 

Ah, who was I kidding? That was every Southern Belle.

"I knew what was to come, not when it was," she continued, her voice strong and assured. 

"Survey says: That's a lie," chuckled Gluttony. "She tasted and smells like death. This isn't her first time in this world."

'Does that make her a demon?' I asked, making sure that I kept my physical mouth closed. If everyone knew I was awake, I wouldn't be able to get such juicy gossip. 

Greed chuckled while Lust hummed. "I guess that depends on your definition of a demon," shrugged Envy. "What does your gut tell you?"

'It tells me that I'm hungry,' I complained. It wasn't like I hadn't gone longer without food, but I was pretty active yesterday. I felt my tummy protesting the lack of food in it. I guess some people have their stomachs rumble or some sort of indicator it was time to eat. 

I went from completely fine to wanting to puke in 0.25 seconds.

"Don't change the subject," ordered Pride, and I could feel the very air around him pulse with anger. However, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why he was pissed. Did I do something wrong? 

Taking in a deep breath, I let my mind completely clear. I ignored the music, ignored the voices of the guys, ignored everything, and went deep down into myself and the one place I feared more than anywhere else. 

The creature in the darkness stirred, its bright yellow eyes looking back at me. 

"A jumping clown trying to be more than before."