A week later, Fun Ghoul, Diamond, and Agent were sitting in the main room of the diner. Party, Kobra, Jet and Pony had gone off on a supply-finding frenzy and had managed to convince Dr. Death to allow Missle to go with them. Ghoul and Diamond stayed behind to make sure Agent was doing okay and keep him company, as he was still healing and upper body movement was a little difficult to do without hurting.
"So do you remember anything else about your past?" Diamond asked.
Agent shook his head, "Well, not a whole lot...I mean, I remember a bit of my childhood but...other than that...not much."
"Nothing about your family?" Ghoul questioned.
Agent hesitated, "I just remember my dad, my mom, and my sister. And before the disasters, everything was happy but...after it was all just...death and blood. And mom died...and dad was screaming. He was in an office, with me and my sister...and the whole room was white...and he was screaming at someone sitting at the black desk...a man...in a suit...but I can't remember his face. It's in the shadows. And after, he was...different...the Better Living people treated him with...respect...and I knew that my sister...Nora, I think her name was...and I had to get out of there...but that's all I've got. Nothing new." he fell silent after that, slouched over, arms and hands flat on the table's surface.
"That's great that you remember that much." Diamond put one hand over Agent's and the boy looked up and met her eyes with a wary expression. She smiled softly and he felt himself smile in return.
"Have you considered that seeing something from your past might jog your memory?" Ghoul considered, not oblivious to Diamond and Agent's flirting but choosing to ignore it for now.
Agent shrugged, "It's not like I have anything from my past to do that."
"Maybe you do," Diamond said, taking her hand off Agent's to dig in her pockets for the ID card. She found it and handed it to him. "This was with you when we found you."
Agent took the card and studied it. The slightest hint of realization hit his face before it was replaced with tight, forced indifference. He handed the card back to Diamond.
"I remember seeing that before." He said, his voice hard, "But I don't want it. I don't remember anything else about it. Keep it." He hurriedly thrust the card towards her.
Diamond took the card, a little shocked by his reaction. Clearly the card meant something that he really didn't want to talk about. Maybe later he'd open up about it. She pocketed it, deciding to keep it with her just in case.
Ghoul immediately decided not to trust the boy. He was suspicious, very guilty. He had some sort of past with BLI, and from the looks of the card and how he'd talked about his father's involvement with the company; he had a big part in the company. The story of being a Killjoy could very easily be a cover-up, and the memory loss was a convenient excuse as to why he couldn't explain more of his past.
"What did you dream about last night?" Diamond asked, interested. She put one elbow on the table and Agent linked their fingers.
"Another Killjoy memory." He said calmly, eyes focused on their joined hands, "It was when I first met Combat Baby and Doomsday Device."
"Weren't there five of you in your group?"
"Yeah. I guess we found Revenge Runner last."
"So what happened?"
"Not much. We just kind of got acquainted and...I remember..." a blush crept up his face as he continued to stare at his hands, "I remember I thought she was really pretty."
Diamond smiled sadly. Obviously this Combat Baby was very important to Agent, and it was sad that he would probably never see her again if she was captured by BLI. Very few Killjoys made it out of BLI, and even fewer made it out with most of their sanity intact. The fact that the Fabulous Killjoys had done it numerous times was just another testament to how fabulous they really were.
"What else?" she prodded a bit.
Agent shook his head, "Not a whole lot. They...Combat Baby and Revenge Runner...they showed us their hideout and asked us if we wanted to be part of their team...and I remember...I held Combat's hand."
Diamond looked down at their hands and her lips parted as she tried to say something. Before she was able to speak, Agent tore his hand from hers and darted out of the booth with a shaky, "I have to go to the bathroom". Diamond watched his back as he rushed to the bathroom and nearly slammed the door shut.
Diamond turned to Ghoul sitting next to her. He was looking at the bathroom door, but turned towards her when she spoke, "Did I do something wrong?"
Ghoul chewed on his bottom lip as he searched for an answer, "No," he said, "No you didn't. I think the hand-holding...it just jogged his memory a bit too much."
"I feel awful," Diamond said sadly, looking down at her hand still on the table, palm facing up and fingers curled, "Should I go talk to him or-?"
"I think its best we leave him alone for a while," Ghoul said, putting a comforting arm around Rose and looking back at the door suspiciously.
Agent laid his head on the cool porcelain of the toilet, kneeling over and clutching his stomach. It seemed like the bathroom was the only somewhat clean room in the diner, and he was thankful for that. He tried to slow his breathing and prayed the nausea to go away.
Holding Diamond's hand...it had made him remember so much about Combat. He moaned in pain as the longing in him grew, and the pain of loss became sharper. He remembered, after they were kidnapped, how Combat had held on to him. How she'd made him promise that everything would be okay, that they would make it out alive.
He remembered what it had felt like to just sit with her, holding her hand as they talked about whatever they felt like talking about, or simply didn't talk at all, just enjoyed each other's company.
He knew he would never see her again, that the chances of her being alive were small and the chances of her mind being intact were even smaller, not to mention finding her would be next to impossible.
And then there was his sister, Nora. Sun Kissed. His world since she was born. He'd done everything possible to be a great big brother. He'd tried his hardest to help keep her happy and safe and away from the dangers of the world. And what had happened? She'd been kidnapped too. And most likely killed. He'd failed. He let her down.
It was foolish of him to think that the world was anything to be hopeful for. It was stupid of him to think that these days were anything but dangerous, and that love could last and prevail.
With that thought, the contents of his stomach were emptied into the toilet.
