Rogues

Episode 22 | The main event

Em sat to the side, watching Bismuth and Sunshine argue. The Multi ghoulette's reaction to Valerie's presence had not been what Bismuth had expected.

"Why would she want to help us?" Sunshine screamed. "We're actively trying to take down the cult she's a part of. She has no reason to support what we're doing here."

"Reason or not, we need her help. She knows where Prince is." Bismuth yelled back.

"Oh, does she?" Sunshine replied sarcastically, folding her arms across her chest.

"Yeah, she does." Poppy answered. "I can smell it. She knows where he is."

Sunshine growled a warning at the Earth ghoulette, who took a slight step back. "Regardless," She hissed, "We shouldn't trust her. It's not worth the risk."

Em glanced over at Valerie, who had her head bowed sadly and her gaze focused on the ground. It was clearly hurting her to know how little she was trusted and Em frowned.

"Sunny, you're the only one who thinks that." Bismuth continued. "It doesn't matter if we can't trust her. So long as she knows where Prince is, we need to keep her around."

Em snarled quietly. She was starting to hate how they were talking about Valerie like she was only worth the information she had. Granted, she was part of the same cult that had done heinous things to Sprite and kidnapped Prince, but she clearly wasn't a bad person herself.

"Bismuth, let's be real for a minute: You could easily just hypnotize her, get the information, make her forget all of this ever happened and send her on her merry way." Sunshine argued. "So why are you really trying so hard to make me trust her?"

The room fell silent and all eyes turned to Bismuth, who looked like a deer caught in headlights. Em saw the slight blush that played at his cheeks and her ears pirked up. "How the fuck are you in love with her after a single day!?"

Valerie suddenly glanced up and Em could hear the small woman's heart pounding in her chest.

Sunshine growled at Bismuth, suddenly striding over and grabbing Valerie by the arm. She pulled her up from the bed with ease and marched back over to stand in front of the shocked Air Infinity ghoul. Tightening her grip on Valerie's arm for a moment and making her wince, Sunshine flung the girl onto the floor between them, holding Bismuth's gaze the entire time.

Em suppressed a growl at the sight of Valerie kneeling on the floor, absolutely terrified and shaking while holding the arm Sunshine had grabbed her by gently.

Bismuth couldn't help the concerned and pained expression that crept onto his face. He wanted to just bend down and scoop the scared woman into his arms and hold her, comfort her and tell her she was alright, but Sunshine kept flicking her tail behind her aggressively as a warning not to move.

"You need to choose, Bismuth." Sunshine growled out. "I either let you keep her and we leave now without Prince. Or you fucking get over yourself, get the information we need from her, make her forget everything and we can go save our friend."

Em didn't even bother keeping back her growl. Frankly, she didn't care how upset Sunshine was that Bismuth was trying to keep Valerie around. Leaving Prince was absolutely not an option.

Bismuth whimpered, staring down at Valerie who was clearly trying not to cry from fear. "I can't-"

"Now, Bismuth! Make your choice. We don't have long till the sun's up and we need to be gone by then." Sunshine bit back.

Bismuth wined, sighing and kneeling down in front of Valerie. The young woman glanced up at him, clearly still terrified. "Bismuth?" She stuttered out.

He gazed into her deep black eyes, relishing in their beauty for a moment before the purple reflective glow invaded their colour. "Which room is Prince in and how do we get to him safely?"