Though tears flowed silently behind my ivory armor, the shock of seeing Totto at this moment somehow halted the unimaginable pain, guilt, and confusion I was feeling. The first thing that shot through my mind also exited my lips. "T-Totto? W-What are you d-doing out here, you aren't at full strength!"
"That's... Not Totto." Alice said slowly, her cold blue eyes scanning 'Not-Totto'. "Similar, not the same... Terra?"
"So, my sister told you about me?" Terra scoffed, "That'd be a first."
"You're her twin!" I said without thinking, making my face heat up as the three of them looked at me. "O-Obviously... S-Sorry." I mumbled. Good thing it was storming, maybe I'll get struck by lightning and turn to dust or something. Dust doesn't look like an idiot or state the obvious.
"... Actually, she's my twin." She gave a smug little smile. It was similar to Totto's, except when Totto did it, it felt playful. When Terra did it, it seemed... Cocky. "I'm older by a couple of minutes. She probably left that out when she talks about me-- and if she said I had a tail, that's a lie. She just says that because I got through the boot-camp obstacle course the fastest in our whole year."
Alice let out a sigh, "Actually, she didn't tell me about you; I know you from your work-- I processed your bounties back in NYC. I saw that you guys had the same last name. I put two and two together." She extended her hand to Terra, who took it and shook cautiously. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna bite your head off." Alice laughed softly at her.
"Is it just the ones who get on you and your fella's bad side?" She gave a nervous chuckle.
Que second awkward silence.
Alice glanced at me and her eyes pulsed that ice blue again. "I have a problem with people hurting my friends."
"Okay!" Jason growled, pressing his palm to his forehead, his eyes shut tight. "Okay. Get this guy where he needs to go. We have to go. I have to get 'Stateside before I have an aneurism." He turned on his heel and walked with an unstable sway toward the building that had been behind him. Terra nodded and, without a parting word, launched into the air with the demon in tow.
Like a light switch was flipped, my mind reset to before I had left. Jason was in pain and I didn't know why. I could apologize for whatever he was confused about later, but he didn't look good... Did I do that to him? I reached out my hand to him, "J-Jason, can we talk--?"
"No. Send me a text." He put his hand on the wall, leaning against it for a moment before chuckling darkly, "Or better yet; write me a note."
With that bitter joke, he disappeared. I could only remember one time in my life I'd ever felt this crushed by something he said. Everything I had feared was true and as my insides twisted in shame, my eyes fell on the only person left in view. "A-Alice, I don't know what he's talking about... When I left, I left him a note telling him where to find me... I-I said I wanted to see him as soon as he was feeling well, y-you gotta believe me." I shut my eyes tight trying to stop the rivers from flowing from my eyes.
"This whole time, you were too much of a coward to show your face and you want me to believe you?" She scoffed, looking down at me as her arms crossed over her chest. "I know he's not your responsibility or anything but if you're going to take his armor and leave him to die, you should at least be woman enough to shoulder the blame."
"I-I..." I closed my mouth, pressing my lips together tightly. Too much of a coward to show your face. She wasn't wrong. I slid the armor off my body and crossed my arms over my stomach. I looked at her through my blurry eyes and, for a second, hers seemed to show sympathy before reverting to cold judgment. "I should've come back... I-I thought he just... got over me."
