Aster (Hiatus)

3 - Home

I followed after my creator down the cobble streets, stopping to pet the occasional kitty. Despite what happened earlier, I felt that Mahonia was a pretty nice place. There were a lot of people wandering the streets in the main strip of town, and a lot of unique shops. Sadly we couldn't stop at any since we needed to walk home. There wasn't a giant black crystal to magically transport us back, which was a bit inconvenient. They were illegal, so that's to be expected.

We were traveling back through the way we came. Minty was planning on avoiding the woman we encountered earlier. I was on board with that plan. Not feeling at all like seeing that hateful glare. I tried to match pace with Clementine as we walked, slowing down to make sure she wasn't walking to fast to catch up with me. She already seemed to be worn out from our walk, which didn't really seem that long. Twenty minutes at most.

"I could carry you." I suggested, hoping to lessen the strain on her human body.

Clementine shook her head, denying, "No, it would just bring us unneeded attention... But could you carry the kitty?"

I nodded and happily took the cutie cat. Clementine seemed to struggle just a bit less, which made me glad. I looked down at the injured kitty and noticed it's eyes were open slightly. I pointed the cat at Minty, walking backwards for her to see, and she grinned widely. "Aww! Kitty is awake now!"

We let ourselves relax, being nearly out of the town. It was just a few blocks away from the forest where we started out time in Mahonia. What we didn't expect was to hear a voice calling out from behind us, "Over there!! It's that witch!"

"Ugh... I hate hearing that word." Clementine and I turned around to face that angry old lady from before, as well as several other people who were coming out of the surrounding buildings. Some of them were carrying kitchen knives, and garden tools. I had a feeling we weren't going to be doing any gardening.

I passed the cat back to Clementine and stepped forward, bowing my head. "I apologize, we met under unpleasant circumstances. Please give us a chance to be friends."

"What!? After what that witch did to me?" The angry woman shouted out, stomping closer to us. She reached out and grabbed onto my hair, she pulled it harshly, my scalp feeling like it was being stabbed by a million needles. She yanked my hair back toward her, causing me to fall down to the ground.

"Aster!" Clementine growled, "Stop this, now. While I'm still holding this cat."

This only caused the woman and her people to get more agitated. I pushed myself off the ground again, returning to my bow. "Please forgive us for before. I'm sorry for however we've wronged you."

"This one is a witch too, just look at her hair. Capture her." The woman ordered, and the others complied, grabbing hold of my arms. The forcefully pulled me away, but I resisted. I was stronger than the humans and managed to set myself free. I ran toward Minty, but one of them knocked me to the ground, a man. I felt my face scrape against the pavement, the material covering it being torn. I shoved the man off of me and backed away, my arms held defensively in front of me. The crowed of people all gasped at once.

Clementine grasped onto my wrist and dragged me along behind her as she ran. We burst out into the forest and hid behind a large tree. Clementine reached into her pocket and pulled out a small black crystal. "This is the last one I have... I didn't want to use it..." Clementine gripped my wrist tightly, pressing the crystal into my synthetic skin. I felt the crystal grow warm and saw the world around me shift. The crystal broke and we found ourselves out behind Clementine's home, by the giant black crystal. It's surface now fractured, presumably from use.

Clementine didn't even glance at me as she stomped into the house, I followed in after her and watched as she lay the cat down on the living room couch. She continued moving through the house and went toward her lab. I heard the sound of clanking metal, and soon she returned with a tool box. I just stood there as she reached her hand up toward my head, pushing it back behind my ears. I heard felt a strange energy pass through my head, and shortly after I fell into Clementine's arms, unconscious.