Freak ~Juuzou x Reader AU~

Chapter 22: Waking Demons

~Juuzou's POV~

2:02 (in the morning).

Wow. It's that late already?

I reach over my head, stretching as I yawn, the warm breeze blowing my hair. It feels nice up here, though still kind of muggy. Not horrible, though. And the skyline is pretty. All these lights shining below. It's nice. It reminds me of home.

Rei...

A shiver runs down my spine. Those kids...they have to be at one of those three locations. They have to be. And once we find them, I'm going to slaughter every last ghoul there.

Wait.

I can't do that. That's not how we handle this. We find those kids and we save them. That's the first priority. After that, we apprehend the ghouls – only exterminate any that are hostile.

I frown. That sounds incredibly boring to me. In my opinion, if a ghoul is there, it's for no good reason and they should just die anyway. Right? It'll keep them from committing a crime later.

Twenty good boy points...

My fingers pinch my lower lip and pull, tracing the stitching. Mama's been on my mind a lot lately. It has to be because of this case. The women. The missing kids. All of it. It wreaks of human-pet trade stench. And it all ferments and rattles in my brain.

Memories that I've pushed to the side have begun to resurface. Memories of cold stone and dark cellars with the foul odor of rotting meat and stagnant water. It's almost as if I'm back there, the blood just barely cleaned from my hands.

And her voice rolls through my memory just like it rang through my ears that night. Telling me I had done so good. That I had killed that man just like everyone wanted.

That I had entertained them all.

And as a reward, she gave me twenty good boy points. Good boy points that were traded in as she inflicted more torturous pain on me. Torture that...that...

Rei...

I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling the wind kiss my face. Sometimes, I think I'm right back in that moment, Mama hovering over me as she hurts me...taking pieces of me.

My fingers move to my cheeks, tracing them. The skin feels smooth and even, just like a baby's. Like... They continue to feel my cheeks, then fall to my jawline. Softly edged and contoured, any baby fat from my childhood melted away. But it's not etched in the same way as other men's. It is not a hardline defined by harshness. It is much too...soft for that.

Much too feminine.

I think we'll make you a girl...

I exhale, dropping my arms and looking to the sky. We have to find those kids. We have to save them.

No.

No, that's not it.

That's not how this will go.

We will find them. We will save them. We will bring those kids home. And we will complete this mission. That's all there is to it. We'll find them, and we'll save them.

We will save them. We will. Those kids will come home. They won't end up like me. They won't be subjected to that same hell. They won't...

Come here, Rei, and Mama will brush your hair...

I swallow. My fist clutches my shirt, squeezing. It hurts. It still hurts. All this aching in my chest. I don't like it. I want it to go away. I want it to go far, far away. But I don't know if it ever will.

I guess I'll have to learn to accept that. I don't want to. I don't want to accept it, but that just might be the reality. Maybe. I don't know. It's all so messed up and screwy. All of it.

"Why'd it have to be kids?" I ask, the breeze blowing. "Why'd it have to be kids..."

**Ello, ello lovelies! Bit of a Juuzou POV. Honestly, didn't know where this was going. Partly because it's taken me a week to write this. I'm only chill about that because, at the time of typing this (04/23/2022), chapter 8 just went up (yesterday). Still, I like the look in his head. Feel like it adds to the story. In random news, today is hot. We are in the 80's here. It's only temporary. It'll drop back to 60 in a few days, but man, it feels so good. And it's a beautiful sunny day. Might go sit on the porch later. But yeah, thank y'all so much for joining me! See ya in the next chapter! Wuv yous!! <3**

-Noel Ross