45 Moring After

"With the death count at thirty six and rising and the number of injured still being counted, the PRT still refuses to give any comment on the health of the injured Heroes in yesterdays disaster, but it has been confirmed that Epic and Tiamat are among the number of the deceased. A loss that will surely be felt across the whole city as we all mourn their passing.

"This disaster has been unlike anything our fair city has ever seen before and with the number of capes in the city dropping so drastically, the question on a lot of peoples minds right now is, where is the parahuman who was in the centre of this tragedy. Where is Tear, what is she going to do next and most importantly, what will that mean for us? This has been James Theodore, coming to you from CNN with more at six."

Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I try my best to recall what happened yesterday, the images of the destruction I apparently caused doing little to help me.

A few hours ago I woke up behind some dumpster in a dirty alley with very little recollection of how I got there and with nothing being apparent around me to say that the show is still going on, I assumed it to be over and headed home for a nice long shower.

Only after getting washed and into a fresh change of clothes, making sure to put my new 'uniform' to the side to be washed since only the edges are flayed and I want to keep wearing it, did I make myself comfortable on the couch and turn on the spare TV that I hid from mini James.

That lead to me seeing the news and getting rapidly confused by my own memory, or lack thereof.

I remember the fight, the beautiful, 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 fight and I remember the villains winning and Cu Chulainn talking to me, but that's when things get blurry and everything after that is just blank.

It doesn't help that the news is only showing the aftermath of the fight, rather than the fight itself, which I'm pretty sure Fool would have been recording.

One thing I do notice however is that I feel 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨, like I just got the best massage in all of time.

That's probably part of why I'm content to just wait here in the house for my fellow Clowns to get here, assuming they will even come here.

Either way, I am beyond comfy and fully willing to just rest and relax for a while.

Before I even realise it, I am jolted awake by the sound of a door slamming, not even having realised I fell asleep.

Idly noticing that the news is still talking about my play, something that makes me smile, I turn to the source of the noise which was the back door slamming shut and am greeted by the sight of mini James running up to me with a thousand watt smile.

Only for him to trip over his own feet and faceplant, letting me know that Jinx is here before he even turns the corner, but little James isn't bothered and just gets right back up and jumps at me, giving me a big ole hug, one that I return, spinning us around to disperse his momentum.

Pulling back from the embrace, he looks at me with stars in his eyes, shaking from excitement.

"That! Was! AWESOME!!!" He all but yells at me, making me smile even wider.

"Hell yeah it was~ I am pretty awesome after all~" I say, not even needing to think to know what he's talking about, my voice filled with exaggerated ego in order to hide the actual ego underneath.

That is when Jinx walks into the room, also with a smile on his face, one that holds too many emotions for me to properly understand.

At least, he's happy. That much I can tell and that's all that really matters.

"Yo~ when you said you had a good show planned, I gotta say that I never expected it to be quite as... 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 as that, though I certainly enjoyed it." He says as he meanders his way inside.

As he is moving closer, Jinx instinctually takes a sudden side step, avoiding the light bulb as it disconnects from the ceiling and falls right where he was standing, shattering on impact.

All three of us stare at the shattered bulb on the floor for a moment.

"...Are you gonna pay for that?" I ask, my voice as dry as the Sahara.

"Did 𝘺𝘰𝘶 pay for it?" He returns with a raised eyebrow, and I can only concede the point with a nod.

Mini James happily takes the opportunity of the lull in conversation to but in, speaking a mile a minute.

"Hey, what was that thing you did where you turned into a giant monster!? How come you never did it before? Can you do it again? I wanna see! Show me! Show me!"

I cut of his energetic rambling by grabbing his face so he can't make any more noise, looking down at him with a smile.

"Slow down you little tyke, I literally have no idea what you are talking about, what do you mean I transformed into a giant monster?" I ask, genuinely curious.

However my words make the both of them give me funny looks as if they aren't sure whether or not I'm being serious.

"...This is a joke, right?" Jinx says, sounding uncertain.

Raising one of my eyebrows I turn to him.

"Are you laughing?" I ask.

"No."

"Then obviously it isn't a joke. After all, I'm hilarious. If I was making a joke, you'd be laughing." I say, my voice full of mock seriousness, and I am vindicated when Jinx lets out a humours snort.

"See? That was a joke, and you laughed." I say, chin raised with an exaugurated upper class tone of voice. "Now, would you actually explain to me what you mean when you say I transformed into a monster?"

As I say that, I realise that Jinx is just standing there staring at my face and not responding.

Assuming he's lost in thought or something, I decide to get his attention by using what is closest.

That just happens to be mini James who I pick up and lightly throw at Jinx, making them both fall the the floor with a yell.

"Oi! What was that for!" Jinx yells while little James just starts laughing on the floor, clearly enjoying having been tossed.

I can't help but think that Gimli would be disappointed.

The thought makes me laugh, which I think makes Jinx think I was laughing at him. Not that I am going to bother correcting him.

"You weren't answering me, so I had to get your attention.~" I say, my voice saccharine sweet, making his brow twitch.

"By 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 James at me?" He pointedly asks, his angry face doing a poor job of hiding the amusement in his tone as he clearly found it funny as well.

I just shrug in response to his glare.

"He was the closest throwable object.~" Is my blithe answer.

"Normal people don't consider other people as throwable objects." He counters blandly.

"Normal people are boring." I state, matter-of-factly.

He ponders for a moment instead of responding before grudgingly nodding his head.

"Touché, normal people 𝘢𝘳𝘦 boring." He agrees.

With that out of the way, I decide to bring things back on track a little.

"You still haven't answered my question."

Smiling in what seems to be light embarrassment, he scratches the back of his neck.

"Ah," he says, "sorry 'bout that, it's just that I realised that this is the first time I've actually seen your face without the mask."

That brings me up short as I think to myself, is this really the first time?

A moment of though provides the answer that yes, it is the fist time he's actually seen my face.

Then again, we have only known each other for like, a week or so, so it's not really all that surprising.

Damn, it really feels like it's been longer than a week.

Hell, I've only been a cape for like, three months or something but so much has happened that it's felt like years.

Shaking away my memories, I focus back on Jinx and give him a lascivious smirk and lean forward slightly towards him.

"Well?~ Do you like what you see?~" I whisper as seductively as possible, ignoring the way mini James fake gags off to the side.

Jinx doesn't even miss a beat before responding.

"Ever hear the phrase, 'don't stick your dick in crazy'?" He says with a smirk of his own.

The response was so unexpected that I let out another laugh, which he mirrors with a chuckle of his own.

"Still though, I 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 actually like to know what the hell you guys meant about me turning into a monster." I ask, serious for once since this is kind of important.

He still looks quizzically at me for my question.

"Do you really not know? How?" He asks, seeming genuinely baffled.

I give him another careless shrug of the shoulders.

"No clue. I remember up to Cu Chulainn talking to me, then everything kind of blacks out and the next thing I know I'm waking up in some abandoned alley." I patiently explain, wanting to know how my show truly ended.

"Well, better to show you than just tell you." He says as he takes off his backpack and sets it on the table, me and mini James joining him on the couch on either side.

At first I am confused when he opens the bag and starts taking out bubble wrap, before he takes out a laptop that is wrapped in even more bubble wrap and I remember exactly what his power is.

I suppose, having lived with it long enough, he makes sure to be prepared.

Booting it up, he opens his own website, FoolsNet, and clicks on the archived livestream of yesterdays events before skipping ahead to the end, where my memories end.

"Here, watch and see." He says as he hits play.

Watch I do and the more time that passes, the closer my jaw gets to hitting the ground as I watch myself transform into some kind of Lovecraftian nightmare.

Holy fuck, that looks so cool. Is that really me?

When the video ends, the other two are both looking expectantly at me.

"What?" I demand, "this isn't like in the movies, I'm not just going to see this and suddenly get 'flooded with memories'. I still can't remember jack shit about this, which sucks cuz that looked cool as fuck."

Jinx just looks amused, but mini James is as excitable as ever.

"Can't you do it again!? I wanna see! Pleaseee?" He chirps, going as far as doing the legendary puppy dog eyes.

I just roll my own eyes at him in response.

Obviously I am going to try and replicate it, he doesn't need to say anything to make me.

Closing my eyes, I focus on my power.

The first thing I feel is an odd sense of freedom, like anything that was holding me back before is gone now.

The next thing I notice is that I no longer have only one 'source' of whatever it is that my extra limbs are made up off, instead I now seem to have four.

The one I've always had is located in the small of my back as it has always been, then there is another one beneath it, where my tailbone is. The other two are higher up on my back, one between my shoulder blades and one higher, nearly at the back of my neck.

With a building excitement, I focus deeper on my power, gathering my mind, and then I start to 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭.

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

Someone commented in an earlier chapter, predicting that her kakuja was going to be a copy of kaneki. I assume that was cuz've the torture scene being like his, but that was literally just for two reasons.

One is because I wanted the black nails and Two is because I needed to give Tear a reason to make friends instead of just being alone forever.

P.S I totally forgot that Eto's kakuja mask is basically exactly the same as Tears, I swear on my balls that that was not intentional, I was trying to make her kakuja somewhat original, and I just thought it was cool. Ah well, I'll change it up later to not copy.

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