"Is she a demon?" Jericho asked solemnly, ignoring the dead man at our feet.
I shook my head and approached Julie. This was all my fault. How long had she suffered at this man's hands? What did he mean by 'the change in her eyes?' Would they get dark and purple like Meliodas's did when he went into demon mode?
I carefully pushed some of the hair out of her face and picked her up. I began walking towards the exit with Jericho trailing behind me. I glanced at the table and saw a journal, that could provide us with some helpful insight into what he did to her.
"Grab that journal Jarko," I said and continued walking.
She didn't even yell at me for calling her the wrong name, she could tell I was upset. She stepped over the corpse and grabbed the notebook chasing after me.
We went back to the inn we had stayed in yesterday and I placed Julie on the bed. Jericho sat on the floor and opened the journal to the first page.
"Specimen number 36, Julie Page, acquired from Ravens' Slave Trade. No notable family or friends." Jericho read out loud.
I checked to make sure Julie was still breathing and then sat next to Jericho to look at the journal. My face paled looking over the first entry. It was dated over nine years ago. She's been here for nine years? She had been taken a year after I had left. If only I had come back for her, or if I had never left...
"Ban you need to read some of this stuff it's crazy. He injected her with fairy blood, giants', demons', even goddesses' blood?! This guy essentially made her some crazy super hybrid race!" Jericho flipped through the pages, her eyes wide at the man's written words.
"She looks exactly the same." I muttered.
"What?" Jericho's eyes bulged at the new found information. "You knew her?"
I glanced at the sleeping girl on the bed, "we grew up here together, I left ten years ago to become immortal, never came back to check on her. She depended on me and I left, and look what happened to her."
"You can't blame this all on yourself." She responded.
I left it at that and continued to flip through the journal. He wrote all the things down that he did to test her body in gruesome detail. I didn't care to learn the details of her torture, I just wanted to know what had happened to her, what to expect of her when she's awake.
Othello wrote that there were no physical changes present consistent with the giant race, clearly, if anything she looked smaller than I remembered her. One passage was particularly interesting.
I do feel bad, leaving her in these conditions while I pursue my tests, however if she were to learn and hone the abilities that come along with the races she has inherited, she would be far too powerful for me to continue experimentation on. I theorize that she will be stronger than anyone alive on this planet. With the strengths lent from the blood of demons, giants, fairies, and goddesses, she is sure to be unstoppable. I almost feel bad for those who will deal with her wrath after I have passed. She will look weak and helpless at first, but undoubtedly after some training and instruction from experts, she will wield much power. I'm afraid the emotional damage I will leave behind with her will leave her a thoughtless and dangerous being. Hopefully I will not be around to experience that.
He really thinks that she is going to have overwhelming power. I scoffed at him 'feeling bad.' He clearly did not feel bad enough to let her go. He seemed pretty ok with keeping her in a fucking cage for ten years.
"So, were you guys.... Did you..?" Jericho stumbled over her words trying to figure out our past without being too intrusive.
"We were just friends, I did kiss her before I left, but that was it."
She whistled, "You really are a heartbreaker."
I glared at her, "I am not. We knew each other since we were kids, we were always going to be just friends. Also, I didn't tell you to fall madly in love with a taken man."
Her face blazed red and she shook her head, "I DO NOT like you Ban. I know you're in love with a dead chick... You think she will remember you?"
She had skillfully transitioned the conversation to avoid admitting her feelings for me.
Would Julie still remember me? I would hope so.
I shrugged to Jericho's question, "Hopefully."
Would she even still be the same girl I had known? It had been a long time and her living conditions had been suboptimal, to put it lightly. Would she still be the outgoing sarcastic teenager I had grown to trust?
Somehow, this was the only thing that had taken my mind off of Elaine for some time.
I felt conflicted.
As soon as I had seen Julie in this condition, my protective side had come out of hiding. I had spent so many years by her side protecting her as best as I could. Seeing her like this, it truly feels like I had failed her. And these feelings towards Julie make me feel all the guiliter about Elaine.
We will help Julie, but still focus on reviving Elaine.
I stood up, grabbing the notebook from Jericho and went to sit on the bed instead as I read a bit more. The next passage I read was from a year or so after she became a lab rat.
She's a pretty little thing, resilient too. While getting her to become acclimated to the fairy genes has proven challenging and time consuming, I know it will be worth it but, God, she cries a lot. At the very least she has stopped screaming out for "Ban," in the middle of the night. I must have finally worn her down.
I bite my tongue at this. The thought of Julie waiting for me to come help her and me never coming is nauseating. I feel horrible.
I'd like to note some of the psychological side effects I've noticed in the specimen. Perhaps in the future I'll be able to curb them a bit. The specimen faces night terrors, severe anxiety attacks, and flinches at just about any noise or movement I make. I enjoy feeling powerful, but I'd like her to have some confidence at some point being that she'll be such an impressive and powerful being. I don't want these silly habits to restrict her from growing stronger.
I grit my teeth reading the awful things, and eventually, while reading all the horrible passages I fall asleep on the bed besides her, while Jericho falls asleep with the pillow I tossed to her on the ground.
All that was left to do was to wait for Julie to wake up. I don't know what I'd do if she didn't.
