Unlikely Friends: Volume Two

Chapter Eighteen

Before

Perhaps it would have been a comical pairing had the demoniod boy and cute kitten met under better conditions. But instead Pando was standing at the end of a corpse littered street, observing the gruesome scene before him. The scent of fresh blood hung thick in the air like an invisible fog. It smelled like a mixture of iron and something sweet that Pando couldn't quite place. The orange kitten sat perched on his shoulder as his long, black wings spread out lavishly behind them. The two dramatically stood out as they silently began walking amongst the dead; a terrifyingly beautiful creature with his adorable, tiny companion. Their faces showed neither emotion nor surprise. A complete blank slate of indifference to the horror laid out before them. Pando had lost count of how many streets they had cleaned up by now. All of this almost seemed normal at this point.

Each day Pando would fly through the city, reviving the dead and helping random mutants. The kitten whispering in his ear every time, urging him to save the fallen souls. Pando was hesistant the first time, knowing that he'd likely have even more relentless stalkers but the small girl was persistent.

"You can save the world," she had said one day over a shared meal. They were sitting with their backs against the wall, a small can of beans in his big hand. Pando took turns between feeding the girl and himself. He watched as she slowly licked the cold food from the spoon he was holding. She was in her human form, long orange hair spewed wildly from her head. She lifted her green eyes to meet his and Pando quickly shifted his gaze. His cheeks flushed red, embarrassed to have been caught staring. He scooped a spoonful of beans and plopped them in his mouth, focusing on chewing. Pando could feel the girl's eyes still on him, waiting for him to respond.

"You can make things better," she said after a few minutes of silence, persistent as usual. "You can save people." Pando sighed, remembering the woman with a gun. She had looked right at him, she begged to die. He certainly didn't feel as if he made that situation better. What if saving people wasn't in their best interests?

He finally gained the courage to face the girl. Pando studied her face, the way her whiskers twitched slightly. She was looking back at him with hopeful green eyes. He had saved her, hadn't he? She seemed to be better off despite the fact that she wouldn't leave him the hell alone."I don't need any more stalkers," Pando spoke before shoveling another spoonful of beans in his mouth. "Stalkers?" the girl's cat ears perked up and her glowing eyes widened. "What happe-" she began to ask before he shoved a hearty spoonful past her open lips, interrupting her nosy question.

"You talk too much," he said, tilting his head back against the wall. "Change it," the dark voice urged. Pando held his breath as he tried to shove the thought away. There was no point in changing anything. Everyone was fucked up, likely to ruin society all over again.

"Change them," the voice argued. Pando chewed his lip, trying to imagine himself saving the world. There would be no more suffering, no more wars, no more death. It would be a perfect utopia. Was he really capable of reaching such an unrealistic dream? It's not as if he could just blink every bomb or  gun out of existence.

Or could he? Pando recalled how the blond woman's pistol had magically changed to a squirt gun. Could he do something similar with the entire planet? Pando looked down at the can of beans in his hands, willing them to change. He blinked and the small girl gasped, staring wide eyed at the item in Pando's hand. He couldn't look away either and they both silently gawked at the transformation. A gallon of ice cream was sitting where the beans once were. If he could change food, what else could he alter?

He handed the small girl the ice cream and she immediately feasted on the magical, sweet treat. Pando, on the other hand, looked around the dusty room with broken furniture. "Change it," the dark voice instructed once again. Pando took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

-

Pando opened his eyes and admired his work. He had awoken the dead and they now stretched their bodies, inspecting themselves in disbelief. The kitten on his shoulder purred loudly as she proudly beamed at her master. Eventually the humans would turn to face Pando, sensing his power as it pulled them to the boy like a magnet. Their skin would begin to itch, urging them forward until he was surrounded. Pando noticed they all had the same look in their eye that the cat girl would get whenever she looked at him. The people stared up at Pando in adoration.

"They're devoted to you," the dark voice said.
"You're saving the world," the tiny angel whispered from his shoulder.

Pando gave one last look at the swarming crowd before flapping his dark wings and flying away to the next street.