Wicked [Super 4]

XVII.Aftermath

Leonora

Morgi and I got out of under the table with Alien after waiting a few minutes, just to be sure that the witch wasn't coming back. Luckily, it turned out to be safer than it looked to hide there.

--Uuuugghhhhhh--Ana complained from the pile of rubble she was on--. I feel like Ian Malcolm in the first Jurassic Park movie...

I glanced at what once was a counter. Karma was getting up and Ruby was in front of it, kneeled down on the same spot where her father last was. What was his name again? Rubén? Something like that.

Karma was checking that her staff was alright and Morgi was using fancy insults to cuss out Elo- I mean, Scelesta when Ana suddenly spoke in a crying voice:--Girls...

--What's wrong?--Karma quickly asked her.

--I lost my extension!--She then pointed at one of her buns, which didn't have that long strand of hair falling from it--. My hair's uneven now!

--Is that your only worry right now?!--Ruby spat at her with disdain.

--HEYYYY it's not my fault your f...!

--YOU TWO BITCHES CALM DOWN RIGHT NOW!--Morgi yelled, interrupting Ana.

--Yeah. Fighting won't get us anywhere at all--Karma said, serious expression on her face--. And it has happened more than enough times already.

We went back to awkward silence and dusting off our clothes until I got a rather brilliant idea. I approached Ruby and whispered to her:--There's a thingy to talk to Gene in each of the islands, right?

There was no answer, but I could see her whole face light up. Obviously, my mind was just good like that! She slowly got up from her kneeling position and started to walk around like a mad woman, Alien quickly following her. At some point, she found Ana's missing hair and threw it to her face.

--Shit--Ruby muttered once she stopped searching--. It's absolutely fucking wrecked--she showed us some very damaged metallic pieces.

--Ahem!--Ana drew our attention to her, before speaking pridefully:--. I could help you with that. I happen to know a thing or two about these little bitches. Just hand me over the pieces and I'll see what I can do.

The pirate, Alien, Karma and her looked for the rest of the device's remains, something that Morgi and I obviously couldn't do due to our royal nature.

--A rather unpleasant thought just happened to go through my mind--Morgi commented at some point--. Pirates will feel a strong sense of curiosity and will come here. The door's fucking opened and they probably have guns that are bigger than their dicks.

--Girl don't worry, my guns are way better--Ana answered.

--I bet your ass is still sore from hitting the wall TWICE, how will you fight a bunch of adult men with more weapons than sanity?

--Ouch. Fine, I'll go close the door...--Ana went up to the entrance and stopped right on her tracks and then turns around go face us again:--This got obliterated too.

Ruby sighed and kept on searching around.

--Okay, here's what we'll do--Karma suddenly started--. Ruby, go get some food from the kitchen. Don't hold back, as much as you can get.

The pirate obeyed, out of fear I think. She didn't usually take orders from girls.

Karma continued:--I'll watch over the door, Ana and Morgi handle the tech stuff. Leonora, you go help Ruby.

I was a bit skeptical about it, just like I had been with the suggestion of wearing pants, but yet again I found myself having no choice.

In there, she didn't give me too much conversation. How boring! She just told me what to take and where to put it. So I naturally had to find something else to talk about:--I'm sorry about your father.

Ruby just looked at me weirdly and then went back to what she was doing.

[Yap alert, just so you're mentally prepared]

I tried again, a different topic this time:--I would've never guessed she'd go this far. Eloise was a nice kid... I think. She never gossiped with me, which was a little boring, but she always had something more interesting to say anyways. Although she got punished a lot for insinuating "the promotion of dark and demonic practices"...

Her silence continues.

--I remember that one time she found a bird nest with all of the baby birds still inside--I attempt to get her attention again--. While many of the other kids in the palace would've kicked it and such, she climbed that same tree every day at the same hour to observe the babies growing up. When they were old enough to fly, she was there to watch them--I didn't even realise I was smiling. But it faded once I got to the last part of the story--. One of the birdies didn't fly properly and it fell to the ground. The other children, including myself, were utterly disgusted, but she... she looked at it and I could swear her wonder was enormous. When I asked her about it, she said something about blessings that I've already forgotten...

--I'm sorry too--She finally broke her silence. She then left, carrying all the food she could with her.

She hadn't told me what she was sorry about, though. It could've been everything, or maybe nothing at all.

I got out of the kitchen too shortly after. Ana and Morgi said that they had enough pieces to try and make Gene's thingy work again, so we had nothing to do in Gunpowder anymore.

We left the establishment and walked all together to the ship Ruby and Ana had come in. The night had already been long enough, and it was finally time to rest.

Franz

We caught the fairies in some sort of festival last night. Even if the colorful lights looked beautiful in the night sky, it bothered me that we had to wait. They let me have Ruby's spot for sleeping again, but as I said before, parasites.

--Don't fear, my bro!--Brock spoke up--. Rock Brock will save the day!

He then proceeded to hug me, which caused a very weird..? feeling in my stomach. Like when I wanted to puke after trying fairy food for the first time, but in a good way instead of in a "I wish I could rip my intestines out" way.

--See, Franzy? I can work as a pillow! ROCK BROOOOCK, he's got his bro's baaaaaaaack!!

Brock always snores and we were both on the ground, so it wasn't a silent night at all. But it was way better than the last one, I'd rather have him by my side like that than having him trapped inside a cave full of furios.

Today, we're finally going to enter the castle. Even with everything that's going down, I still find it an amazing opportunity to learn from the best, although I have to confess something... When Alex congratulated Twinkle, it felt as if he was talking to a little kid. And Gene didn't expect her to come up with a good theory, or maybe not even a coherent one. I wonder if it's always like that...

Twinkle and Brock wave goodbye to us from the Chameleon while Alex, Gene and I walk away. The fairies aren't nice (speaking from experience), but I trust the Super 4. They walk pretty fast, or maybe I'm too slow because of the fact that my legs hurt from sleeping on the floor. I have to try to stay close to them at all times, though, fairies other than Twinkle scare me.

The castle is as huge as I remember. All of those floaty towers still amaze me to this day, because they're something that logic could never aspire to explain. Something that Technopolis could never give me. We enter through the gate while the faeries judge us with their looks.