[✔️] 𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑁𝐾 𝑂𝐹 𝑀𝐸 | 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐄𝐍

𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑
"𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠."
—𝑀𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑒 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑙𝑒

𝐈
— 𝐷𝑖𝑒𝑔𝑜 —

"𝐘'𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖, 𝐉𝐄𝐋𝐋-𝐎 used to be a delicacy," Elliott, who was sitting on a small chair at the head of the coffee table, began, hesitantly looking around the group.

Diego tried his best to ignore him as he shuffled his knives into the small leather bag he had and glanced over to see that Mara, who was sitting on the arm of the sofa chair he was on, was trying her best to look interested in what the man was saying.

Stupid Mara and her empathy bullshit. Don't get him wrong, he loved her . . . but damn, was that shit annoying. Would it kill her to tell someone to shut up for once? (Other than Diego, of course, she loved doing that for some reason.)

"You know, in order to make it," Elliott continued, hardly noticing the sigh Luther made, nor the fact that Vanya was practically sliding off the couch, "you gotta boil down a whole mess of hooves, you know, horses, cows, pigs, it doesn't matter. But not everybody has a mess of hooves just lying around. It wasn't until, uh . . . a couple of sassy New Yorkers figured out how to dry it out so that the rest of us could have a . . . a chance to enjoy this ambrosia."

He looked down at the large serving bowl in front of him, which was filled with a mixture of canned fruits, sour cream, and mini marshmallows, all of which didn't seem too appetizing.

Diego put down the bag and gave an irritated stare to Elliott as he questioned, "If we have some, will you shut up?"

"Diego," Mara chided as she swatted his arm, though Diego ignored this.

Elliott shrugged. "Maybe. Here." He grabbed a serving spoon and scooped up some of the colourful goo from the bowl in front of him before dropping it into one of the glass bowls.

Luther turned to Vanya, his eyebrows furrowed as he asked, "How you feeling?"

"Pretty shitty, to be honest," replied Vanya, her hand resting over her stomach.

Diego tossed one of his knives in the air, his eyebrows raised as he innocently asked, "Where would you say you are on a scale from one to . . . ending all life on this planet?"

"Really?" Vanya asked incredulously as her gaze turned to him.

"Diego, put the knife away, you idiot," Mara sighed. "She's fine."

"The last time I saw this one, she had me suspended midair, sucking the life out of me with energy tentacles," Diego pointed out, his stare hardened on the woman. He caught the knife and pointed it towards Mara, who rolled her eyes, as he continued, "I think I'm allowed a little time to process."

"Oh, I would love to see an energy tentacle," Elliott said excitedly as he placed down another bowl that he had filled with ambrosia, earning a shake of the head from Luther.

Vanya straightened up, letting out a small sigh as she murmured, "I don't remember what I did, but I'm sorry . . . if . . . if that means anything."

Diego let his hand drop down to the arm of the couch as he analyzed the woman's sincere face, and he exhaled. Even though she lost her memory and had no recollection of the apocalypse, Diego could tell she was sorry.