Slugterran Saviours

Chapter 12

Author's Note: sorry if this doesn't go out by monday, I've been sick and tired and my sleep schedule is fucked up, like i'm talking vomiting, dizziness, constant headaches, and waking up at 7:30am for no reason at all so bear with me, my shit writing and my typos thanks. also, it's almost cny and we gotta do some spring cleaning shit to prepare for it so im sneezing like crazy with all the dust

24th September

Junjie's POV

"Junjie, why don't you hate me?" The young boy asked as we both sat down at our table in the bar. The honey yellow streaks in his reddish brown hair stood out from hair that looked ebony black in the sunshine yellow light. Lively jazz music played as blood red wine swirled in their glasses, every song to their own tune that all collided into one lively beat. His emerald green eyes were glassy and filled with sorrow as he took another drink from the wine glass, his face starting to redden.

"Because it does not matter who your parents are, Taddius. Everyone deserves a chance to redeem themselves." I told him truthfully, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Everyone deserves a second chance, no matter how horrible they were in the past. No matter how many lived they ruined, give them a chance and they'll fix it.

If no one gave me a second chance, I would be gone.

"I wish everyone thought like you." He muttered, finishing his half filled cup of wine, popping open the whisky.

"Oh, I would not wish that upon anyone, Taddius." I scoffed, leaning back on my chair as I took a sip of wine myself.

"Why not? You're a good person." He asked curiously, and I nearly spit out my wine at that statement. How much did he drink? How could someone like me be considered a good person? No amount of alcohol could hide how I failed to save my own caverns, my own best friend. No amount of anything I did could justify what I felt, what I still felt. No amount of alcohol could justify the fact that I was a pedophile.

"Why do you think I go to the help group, Taddius? To laze around?" I asked after coughing and hacking out the remains of the wine, before I blalantly reminded him,

"I'm a pedophile, Taddius. I should be imprisoned." My heart ached as the words fell from my mouth, and I looked downwards, ashamed as I stared into my reflection in the red wine. Tad sighed tiredly as he asked,

"You are a pedo, but you shouldn't be imprisoned. You save lives, man. You haven't raped anyone, have you?" He asked.

"No, what on earth-" I began, but he cut me off,

"You don't want to fuck kids, right?" He asked, and I stared at him, appalled at the idea.

"Of course I don't want to! That is absolutely repulsive! Who would commit such a crime?!" I exclaimed angrily, but before I could list down exactly why it was wrong, he continued,

"Fucked up people would, but my point is, you're not as fucked up as you think, Junjie. After all, it's only towards her, not any other kid. And hey, everyone can make themselves better if they wanted to." I nodded in agreement, refilling my glass with red wine before I raised it, concurring,

"I'll drink to that last statement." He raised his own glass filled with whisky, the both of us downing it at the same time before he put his glass down, before I put down mine.

"Enough about me, dear friend, how is Blakk Industries going? I heard your business is flourishing." I asked the young man, and a minuscule smile grew on my face when I saw his emerald green  eyes fill with happiness and eagerness as he started to ramble excitely,

"Oh, it really is! Our shares doubled in worth in four days, and we found a way to make mechabeasts that run on electricity, instead of slug energy. That way, they can't be corrupted, and the purified slug energy can be used for other purposes, like healing victims of dark energy infections! We also got Vance Volt and Max Jackson to advertise for us, how awesome is that?!" He enthusiastically beamed, his eyes shining with joy and eagerness whenever he talked about his business. He was trying to turn Blakkk Industries into a transportation company, building mecha beasts, trains, ships and more, trying desperately to change what people thought of the Blakk name, to repair the destruction he left behind.