Insanity

Chapter 5- The Noble

   She took a lengthy drag from her cigarette, the sickening sweetness pooling on her tastebuds in a swirl of grey. Her memories from the earlier events began to grow foggy and distant, only certain flashes finding their way to her conscious. But this was what she always did to forget, drugs and pleasures, all the same. She acknowledged she was a bad person, one who reveled in the destruction and manipulation of her foes. She couldn't even remember who she was before the Underground molded her into who she was now; it was a sad thought, but she didn't mind, all she could remember was misery anyways. Spade closed her eyes before taking another long drag of the blunt; she could still feel the poor souls blood drying on her skin, the sound of his screams; it was the same for every fight she endured. Her eyes were heavy, long black lashes low as she stared out at the cityscape and all the shadows that circled it. The paper from her blunt blew away in short flecks of ash as she pursed her lips and let the smoke flow out. The morning air was cool, the only warmth given to her in a silken roll of white paper and sweet smoke. Dawn had barely started to surface, but pale colors had already made their way across the sky in a painting of light grays and silvery blues. Thunder rumbled above the clouds like a stampede of oxen; it seemed like every day ended or began like this, stormy and glum, a cool mist caressing her skin. There would be a lot of death today, secrets lurking in the dark, hidden from the public eye just like always. 

 As she raised her cigarette to take another puff, she paused, sighing as a bitter smile snaked across her bright red lips, "How can I help you, Pandora?" Her voice of velvety allure turned bitter with annoyance as her gaze swung around to face the fat old lady. Her red hues narrowed under the blanket of darkness before she flicked the blunt away with a skilled movement of her delicate fingers.

  "I would like you to meet someone." Pandora had the voice of a chain smoker, her accent fairly distant, yet it was there all the same. Her gray hair was slightly purple, her skin saggy and scarred. Spade always thought she was ugly, inside and out, but enough of that, her pessimism was showing again. Her gaze flicked to the person behind her trainer.

  She looked taken aback, a breathless laugh clawing its way out of her throat as she grinned with a slight edge of hysteria. The boy looked a bit younger than her, his frame lithe and wiry with mousey brown hair and pale blue eyes. His face was extremely recognizable, anybody from the underground would notice a nobles face.

 Her crimson hues snaked over him, assessing him hungrily, like a predator hunting its prey. "Why did you bring me a little scrap from the Gossamer family?" She never let her eyes leave him, her hues burning into his skin as if she were trying to light him on fire, he seemed to shy away under her fiery gaze as she stared him down. This was utterly ridiculous, was this a test, was someone watching her?

 "Spade." Pandora snapped. 

 A long moment of silence dragged out before she broke the blazing glare she had on him and faced the old woman instead, "Fine. Now, explain."

 "You're going to take him under your wing." Her words were so simple, yet they sent the fighter reeling.

She let out a crows caw of a laugh, it was bitter and filled with poison. Her voice echoed through the alley's, swimming over the walls as she spoke up, "That's a joke, right? You think I'm going to take a spoiled brat from the Gossamers, and watch over him? I'm not a babysitter, old hag. And I don't take orders, especially from you." Spade didn't take much notice of the young boy flinching at her harsh words, she didn't care much anyway. Her chest filled with hatred as she flipped out another cigarette, and lit the tip. 

 "You don't have much of a choice. Admiral's demands to please his concubine." The mention of that disgusting bastard and his manipulative wench made the sweetness of the smoke turn acidic against her tongue. She knew these things filled her lungs with tar, but she didn't want them to actually taste like it.