Men And Monsters: The Silent Killer

Pinkamena woke up, her face nuzzled into Starlight’s collar, having fallen asleep in her embrace. She tried as gently and quietly as possible to slip out of it without waking her. Other than a groan and rolling over, she was still deep asleep judging from her heart beat.

She dangled her legs off the edge of the bed, her right hand clutching her necklace to reassure herself it was still there. Her face is still somewhat sticky from the crying, and she could tell that sleeping in the tight bra she was wearing left some red indentions in her skin that would be annoying to deal with, but she felt significantly better than last night.

Not like that was a high bar to meet.

Whether that was genuine or not didn’t matter, not as long as she could keep herself distracted like she’d been doing. She had far too much to do to let herself completely break down, her friends needed her and she refused to abandon them again.

Her body cracked and popped as she stood to her feet, reaching for her phone in her hoodie pocket only to remember that it was in the bathroom. She had such a one track mind last night that it hadn’t even crossed her mind, nor the fact that with the mixture of the rain and the fight she was in, it might not even work.

Either way, she needed to go to the bathroom if at least to wash her face. She tried to open the door as quietly as possible, but there was a distinct creaking noise she couldn’t avoid. Starlight moved around on the bed again, but Pinkamena didn’t bother checking if she was awake and entered the bathroom.

By some sheer stroke of luck, her phone was mostly unscathed. She knew her phone case was waterproof, but it wasn’t even in consideration when she was fighting TSK, so it wouldn’t have exactly been surprising if the screen was broken beyond repair.

It was about eight in the morning, ong past time to go to school, not that she intended to anyway. She hadn’t received any text, so she just immediately dialed in Maud’s number.

“Pinkamena? I assume since you’ve called me that you didn’t go to school today?”

“No, I’ve got more important stuff to do. Listen, I need a new set of clothes so I’m going to swing by in a bit, so can you have them ready for me when I get there? I wear-”

“Light gray hoodie with leather jacket, white t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. I assume you’ll want a clean set of underwear too. Yeah, no problem.”

“Thanks. And Maud?”

“Yes?”

“Thanks for putting up with me, seriously. I love you.”

Maud actually took a few seconds to respond, either not having expected her to say that, or was taken aback by the sincerity behind it. She let out something that could have been a chuckle, or could have just as easily been a sigh, it was impossible to tell.

“I’m your older sister, it’s my job. I’ll leave the window open for you, I love you too.”

Knowing Maud, she probably would. Pinkamena still wasn’t entirely sure why she chose to enter through the window that night, maybe just to see if she could. It didn’t make much of a difference though since she wasn’t sure if she’d do it again, it was kind of fun like mountain climbing. At the same time, it takes more effort to do than its worth.

She put her phone in her jean pocket, taking the towel off the mirror and leaving it hanging off the side of the sink. She washed her face and dried it with the same towel, looking up and seeing her face for the first time since last night. Some part of her was holding the smallest shred of hope that her appearance would go back to normal, but her right eye was still red and her hair striped pink and black like some kind of carnival zebra.

In fact, it seemed to have actually gotten worse.

On the left side of her head the pattern changed, one of her strains had converted to black like the rest, having done so overnight. Pinkamena knew it had to have happened sometime last night as she got plenty of chances to see her reflection in rain puddles when she was hunting down Rainbow, and something like this would have been noticeable.

Even so, without knowing why her hair and eye had mutated, there was nothing she could do but watch for it and pay attention to any patterns.

As she reached for the door handle, she caught something out of the corner of her eye. It was easy to miss it before, but now in the light it was more obvious. The coloring in her right hand was gone, faded to gray like someone had taken a picture of it in a black and white filter. All the pink, even right down to her fingernails, had vanished. The strange dulling cutting off abruptly at her wrist, the rest of her body remained the same.

Great, now another part of her body had changed without any apparent explanation, which meant she had no way of preventing it from spreading, just like her hair. Soon, she wouldn’t even be able to recognise herself, not as if that was an easy task now.

Pinkamena dismissively shook her head, deciding to deal with it when her best friend’s life wasn’t on the line. She opened the door, unsurprised that Starlight was awake and on her feet, undoing her hair ties and letting her hair down.

Her back was facing Pinkamena, glancing over her shoulder at her when she heard the door opening. She pulled her hair out of her onesie she was still wearing, turning to face her.

“Oh, hey. Are you...doing okay?”

Starlight’s arms rest awkwardly at her sides, apprehension etched on her face. Pinkamena could tell she was terrified of saying the wrong thing, stepping on the metaphorical landmines. She couldn’t exactly blame her, she had completely broken down, tears, snot, and all. Not to mention what she said at the end in a moment of weakness, all she could do was hope Starlight hadn’t heard her, as slim as those chances were.

“I’m...better, I guess.” She said as she shut the door behind her. “Not nearly as bad if you hadn’t been there for me. If you hadn’t shown up, I…” Pinkamena glanced to the side, grimacing at the events of last night. It was taking everything she had not to break down again at the memories.“I don’t know what would have happened to me. Even in the state I was in, you brought me to your home, gave me clothes, and let me sleep in your bed. Star, I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for me.”

She brought her eyes to Starlight’s, trying to give her the best smile she could muster, which felt forced and wrong considering how long it’d been since she’d given a genuine one. “You’re the first real friend I’ve had since I got dragged into this world, thank you.”

Starlight blinked rapidly and sharply inhaled, blushing and shocked at the sincerness in Pinkamena’s tone. “You don’t have to thank me, really! I just…” She dismissily waved her hands, breaking eye contact with Pinkamena as she stammered. “I wanted to help you however I could, there’s no way I could abandon you when you needed someone like that. Especially not when I promised to. I really shouldn’t be saying this, but I’m a bit biased when it comes to you.”

It was a little strange to see this more girlish side of Starlight, but not all that surprising either. Starlight had times where she tried to remain professional, but moments like this or when they were just casually talking were where her personality really bled through. Honestly, it’s probably the part of her that she had developed a crush on. If The Whispers were right about that, anyway.

“Then…” Pinkamena embraced her in a hug, the warmth of her body heat was comforting in ways few other things were. “Do you mind if I rely on you more when I need it? The only other person I trust as much as you is Maud, and I...can’t let her see me like that.”

Starlight hesitated to respond, her body noticeably tensing up and heart beat quickening when she made contact, making her think she messed up in doing so. Then she hugged back, albeit somewhat awkwardly. “As your friend and therapist, relying on me is partly what I’m for. Just remember that no matter how alone you think you are, I’m always here for you.”

She then pulled away from the hug, her reassuring smirk dropping into a disapproving frown. “Even so, something like last night...it can’t happen again. I won’t ask you the details, you can talk about it when you’re ready. Regardless, I know you’re going to be regretting it for the rest of your life, and that you feel like you’ll never forgive yourself. If you do something like that again, even if by accident, all the sleepovers in the world couldn’t help you, no matter how much I tried or wanted to.”

Starlight’s words were stern and serious, her grip tightening on Pinkamena’s shoulders as she spoke. What she was saying was undoubtedly true, every bit of it. Yes, killing Scootaloo was an accident, but it was her own desperation and ignorance that caused it to happen. Murdering her was by the far the worst thing she’d done so far, carving a scar into her soul that would never heal.

Yet she could only keep moving forward. She hated herself right down to the core of who she is, but there were people that cared about her and only she could save, she’d be damned if she left them alone again.

“I know, believe me Star, I know.” Pinkamena murmured solemnly, stepping away from her and hiding most of her face behind her hair. “I want to say that I won’t become Igneous, but if he went through things like that...I find it harder and harder to blame him. He was a monster, and he became that because horrible things kept happening and he couldn’t take it anymore. All I can hope for if he could turn into that...is that someone kills me before I do something worse.”

Starlight remained silent, listening with something between a grimace and a frown. She laced her fingers together, sitting back down on the bed when she finished. “Pinkamena, I swear on my life I won’t let that happen to you. I was there for Igneous, I saw all the signs, but I didn’t want to see them. I was stupid and inexperienced, I could have saved him! I…” She paused as she lowered her head, her hands shaking slightly as she lay them on her lap. “It’s one of my biggest regrets, and I refuse to let it happen to you.”

It was both touching and painful to hear Starlight say that:Touching because she was willing to go so far for her, but also painful because she’d been carrying guilt for the actions of someone else. The worst part was that even if she completely dedicated herself to preventing Pinkamena from going over the edge, with how things were going, that may prove undoable even for her.

Pinkamena gave her a curt nod and began walking for the door. She knew that the longer she remained here in one place, the harder it’d be to distract herself and prevent another breakdown.

“Hey, Pinkamena?” Starlight said as soon as Pinkamena touched the doorknob. “Do you...remember what you said before you fell asleep?”

She froze up, an earnestness in her voice that made it impossible to ignore. Pinkamena should have expected she’d heard it, there wasn’t a single thing she could have said that Starlight wouldn’t have intently listened to. Of course, she could have lied, that she had said something else and was misheard. She wouldn’t do that. Starlight was the one person she never wanted to lie to no matter what.

“Yeah, I do.”

Her heart beat noticeably picked up, Pinkamena could tell she was nervous. “I know we have an...unprofessional relationship, even compared to the rest of my patients. If I was a legitimate, official therapist, and not a part of a criminal underground, last night would have broken so many rules. But, I’m not. By all technicalities, I’m only a therapist because I call myself one, I’m not actually. So, if that’s the kind of relationship you want with me, then we need to have a long talk about that when everythings settles. First…”

She peered over her shoulder at Starlight, who was still sitting at the edge of the bed, her legs slightly fidgeting and twiddling her thumbs as she glanced at Pinkamena, somewhat bashfully dropping her gaze when they made eye contact. “You need to think about this: Do you like me for me, or do you like the idea of me?”

Despite how cutely meek Starlight was being, there was an unwavering seriousness to her last statement. Pinkamena wasn’t sure if that meant Starlight too had some kind of feelings for her, or if she was just trying to find a polite way to turn her down. She had next to no experience in romance, still struggling to tell if what she felt for Rainbow was anything more than platonic.

The ex-party planner elected not to say anything, more out of fear of saying the wrong thing than anything else. She left Starlight’s apartment, knowing she wasn’t going to be able to stop thinking about what she said.

___

“Do I like her, or the idea of her? What does that even mean?”

She’d been pondering on that question her entire time free running towards her house, recognising her surroundings as soon as she exited and knowing which way she needed to go.

“God, you really are hopeless.” The Whispers said as they appeared in the form of Igneous, floating in the air beside her like they have before. Pinkamena barely even responded, having gotten so used to them showing up randomly that she almost expected it. “Do you even know why romantic relationships between a therapist and their client are banned?”

She furrowed her eyebrows in thought, trying to recall what she could about the intro to psychology class she took a year ago. “Because it creates bias?”

“Well, yeah, it does. However, it’s not the main reason.” They laid on their back with their arms behind their head, turned to face Pinkamena and a condescending smirk drawn on their face. “Your therapist is supposed to be the one person you confide in and tell everything, knowing you better than you know yourself. They see you at your absolute worst, and if they actually have half the knowledge they should for their degree, then taking advantage of you would be too easy.”

“You’re saying…” Her eyes widened as she looked at them out of the corner of her eyes. “Starlight’s afraid she’d be taking advantage of me?”

“In a nutshell, yeah. To her, dating a client would be the same as having sex with a really drunk girl: It feels wrong. You’d have to convince her that she’s not taking advantage of you at all. Not to mention she’s not as experienced in dating as you think she is. She’s only ever been with one person, and it’s a miracle they even got together at all. When it comes to romance, she’s relatively inexperienced and is probably trying to figure out if she feels anything for you and how to approach it.”

Pinkamena’s feet landed on the rooftop of the building beside her house, zoning in on it and listening for heartbeats. There weren’t any from what she could tell, which was surprising since Maud rarely left the house. She didn’t mention anything, so it must not have been important, like a grocery run or something.

“Really? I thought she said that she could date whoever she wanted in highschool?” Pinkamena asked as she hopped off the building and entered her home, seeing it was the same as usual.

“Could does not mean she did. Starlight’s actually really insecure, both in physical appearance and her personality in general. Sure, she knows how to use sexual appeal when she needs to, but in reality she’s just as self conscious about her body as most girls.”

That briefly reminds Pinkamena of the first encounter with Starlight where she was basically seducing guys to try to prevent a riot, giving her a very different impression of the woman than what she had now.

“So, do I only like the idea of Starlight?” She hesitantly asked as she began walking up the stairs, hearing them follow her from behind. “You’re the one who made me aware of my feelings and told me I should confess if at least not let it fester, even if that’s not exactly how things played out. The least you could do is give me some advice.”

He heavily scoffed. “I told you that because of the exact reason I said you should: Life’s too short to get hung up on ‘what if’s.’ I’m not going to help you out either. Of course I could tell you the answer, but then I wouldn’t get to watch you try to figure it out, and that’s way less fun.”

“Yeah, I don’t know why I expected anything else.”

She really shouldn’t have. The Whispers have been annoyingly inconsistent in when and what they wanted to help her with, her life would be so much easier if they weren’t so stubborn.

“You know, you’re being significantly less of a bitch than I thought you’d be after what happened.”

They reached her room that she shared with Maud. Pinkamena turned to face him, narrowing her eyes in a near scowl. “Look, I get that you and Alice are ‘two sides of the same coin’, or whatever. But with how different you two are, I can’t help but see you as separate. Alice is an apathetic, manipulative bitch who enjoys pretending to be a child. You are a sadistic bastard that gets your kicks from disguising yourself as my father, who I fucking hate, and you’re just as much of an arrogant prick as he was.” Pinkamena said the last part with occasional stern pokes to the chest, which had a sensation similar to punching a brick wall. “You’re both irredeemable pieces of shit that make my life a worse fireless hell than it already is. However, out of the two, you’re the more tolerable piece of shit.”

She was half expecting to get a brain aneurysm from that. Instead, what she got was the widest, smuggest grin she’d seen from maybe anyone. “That’s the closest to a compliment you’ve given me since we started talking.”

Pinkamena gave out an exasperated grunt and flipped him off, turning around and opening the door to enter her room. Her clothes were folded neatly on the end of her bed, so clean it looked like Maud had just bought them from the store, which she might have.

Her mind drifted to her talk with Alice the night prior, stopping on a question it brought up that had been bugging her since.

“I would ask how exactly Igneous figured out who TSK was, “ She paused as she lifted her bra and shirt off and placed it beside the other clothes, swiftly slipping on the new ones. “But at this point I’m just assuming you don’t want to for shits and giggles.”

He crossed his eyes and closed his eyes, as if pondering some deep question, though she’d learned he only did that as some sort of act. “Actually, I wouldn’t mind all that much to tell you, considering dear old daddy is dead. Only problem is that it would kind of force me to snitch on Discord. As fun as that sounds, there are some things you aren’t ready to learn yet.”

Hearing his name caught Pinkamena’s interest, she paused after unbuttoning her jeans and turned to him. “Discord? What does he have to do wi-”

“I’ve heard of people talking to themselves, but you’re having a full on conversation, that’s new.”

Pinkamena almost quite literally jumped out of her pants, quickly spinning around to the source of the voice. She relaxed a bit when she saw it was Tempest, coming out of the shadows like an assassin, which she might have been.

She looked about the same as she’d seen her last time, with her condescending gaze and constant frown, Pinkamena could not think of a better example of a resting bitch face.

“How long have you been there?”

“About ten minutes. I came by here to give you the report on Juno, Maud was leaving to go somewhere and told me you were going to be coming by to get some clothes. I decided to wait here, though I admit watching you argue with yourself like you were practicing for a scene in a soap opera was not on my list of things to do today.”

Pinkamena paid close attention to her body language and heart beat, not the slightest shift in either as she spoke with that same stoic tone. It was more out of habit than anything. She knew that if she understood what Tempest did for a living, lying would have become second nature to her, or she likely wouldn’t have come as far as she had.

She also needed to keep in mind that knowledge of The Whispers existing wasn’t common, maybe three people counting herself who knew about them. If she wasn’t more careful then people were going to start thinking she was crazy, which wasn’t....entirely inaccurate, to be fair.

“I don’t understand, how did I not notice you?”

“I’m a spy, it’s my job to remain unnoticed.” Tempest said bluntly as she crossed her arms. “Besides, I got plenty of practice with your father. I don’t think I could take a chimera in a fight, but I think I’ve figured you out enough to where you can’t find me unless I want you to.”

That was somewhat hard to believe, then again, she knew Juno. It was hard to tell her age, but Tempest was clearly hardened by her experiences, there was likely very little that could genuinely scare her. If Juno could find a way to stay hidden from her, Tempest being in the same room without Pinkamena knowing wasn’t that far fetched.

“Whatever, I don’t have time for this. Just…” Pinkamena turned back around. “Read it to me while I’m changing.”

Tempest raised an eyebrow. “You don’t mind that I’m here seeing you change?”

Pinkamena scoffed at that as she slipped off her pants, her underwear soon following and being replaced. “Temp, I’m so desensitized to that that I could probably hold a conversation with you while maintaining eye contact and totally naked. Seeing me naked doesn’t bother me, just don’t touch me, and we’re fine.”

“Temp?” She asked curiously, her eyes widening in the most facial expression she’s made since Pinkamena almost killed her.

“Yeah, Temp, short for Tempest. I’ve always had a habit of giving people nicknames, don’t like it?”

“No, it’s just...never had a nickname. Most people are too scared of me to talk to me casually. My boss is basically it, though it’s more talking down to me than anything.”

There was a very obvious hostile tone in her voice and a distinct scowl on her face as she mentioned her boss, which was more annoyed than angry. This made it clear to Pinkamena that they didn’t have the best working situation. It wasn’t any of her business, but it did further reinforce that she didn’t want to meet said boss. She was getting the impression that he was just as arrogant and stuck up as Igneous was, and she didn’t need to deal with anyone else like that more than she does already.

“Whatever, just give me the report.”

“Very well.” Tempest said as she reached behind her, pulling out a CSI style folder Pinkamena had seen in various police shows with the name Juno on it. She opened the folder, only a couple of pages were in it, which was less than Pinkamena was expecting.

“Juno Rabold. Male, twenty two years old, and has no record of diseases or disorders of any kind. The only exception to this is he has something called synesthesia, which means he perceives colors in a different way than most do, though it does not hinder him in any way. Caucasion, brown hair and eyes, A+ blood type, and no kinds of serious injuries besides very minor development issues caused by malnutrition from his childhood.

His parents, Gerald and Rose Rabold, were criminals. Gerald was a loan shark, Rose was a con artist. They would have Rose seduce someone, and then Gerald would come in as the boyfriend who intimidated them into paying or else he would kill them. He also gave people loans that had almost double interest, and would go up every day the money wasn’t paid when it was meant to be. They both died when Juno was six, having been arrested for child abuse and neglect, then sentenced to death when the rest of their crimes came to light.”

The last part struck a chord with Pinkamena, her body freezing up as she slipped on a sneaker. Tempest saw this out of the corner of her eye and glanced up at her, slightly furrowing her eyebrows.

“..Continue.” Pinkamena said as she took a deep breath and put on the other sneaker.

Tempest nodded and lowered her gaze back to the folder, turning the page to a different one. “He didn’t learn more details until later, and hates his family because of it, preferring not to use his lAR name unless he has to. Juno was put into the foster care system, but never got adopted as he escaped the orphanage. He lived on the streets until the age of eight, having successfully pickpocketed Discord without him noticing, a feat very few can say they got away with.

Discord took an interest, and decided to hone the potential he saw in him. Juno was put through something vaguely similar to what most operative’s are, except that Discord saw over it personally and pushed it to extremes. He was not allowed to move on from any simulations or scenarios until he’d mastered them. He is proficient in many close combat weapons, but has an affinity with knives. He makes his own kinds of poisons, rarely are they lethal unless his mission is to kill someone. He also knows more than most about firearms, but is very reluctant to use them.

While there is very little he hasn’t done and he has a one hundred percent success rate, Juno has quite strong morals. Killing children and lying are at the top of things he will refuse to do. When it comes to free time, he spends much of it sharpening his arsenal of skills, and much of the money he earns on charities that relate to children or funding orphanages.

His place of residence is two zero seven Bullfinch Street, though he is rarely ever there. He has a kill count of forty three, which is by far the largest for any individual in his field. Yet he sticks out in the sense that he has a very open personality and has shown to be able to get along with nearly everyone he’s ever come across. He has no known enemies and overall very friendly relationships with his co-workers.”

“And...what’s your relationship with Juno?” Pinkamena asked curtly, slipping her arm through the sleeve of her hoodie.

“...What makes you think I have any kind of relationship with him?” Tempest asked as she raised and narrowed her eyes in a glare.

“Nothing. I just assumed since you two do very similar work and are also in the same city, you might have come across each other once or twice.”

Tempest stared at her for a few tense moments before abruptly shutting the folder, her face relaxing back into the blank expression she always wore. “You would be right. We’ve met, I can see why he has the reputation he does. I don’t have a particularly strong opinion of him either way, however he’s taken a liking to me for whatever reason. He very obviously flirts with me, despite the fact that I’ve told him I couldn’t be less interested in something as trivial as romance.”

The thought of Juno and Tempest together wasn’t disturbing so much as surprising. In terms of personality, they were near polar opposites, but maybe that’s why they would work? It was hard to say, Pinkamena isn’t exactly an expert considering she barely understood her feelings for Starlight. She shouldn’t be wasting time wondering if relationships would work between others when she didn’t know if her own would.

“Hm.” Pinkamena grumbled as she adjusted her clothes. “Thanks. I think after all of this is over, I might have to rely on him for certain stuff, I just needed to confirm he’s as reliable as some people think he is.”

“I would not recommend trying to use him to research things like we do. He’s better for acting on information, not gathering it. Plus, I’d be losing a consistent and deep pocketed customer.” Tempest blatantly remarked as she turned to the door. “If that’s all, I’ll be departing now.”

“Wait.”

The orchid spy halted in the doorway, not even giving so much as an over the shoulder glance.

“If it isn’t too personal...how’d you get that scar?”

It was nothing more than conjecture and could have been nothing more than a coincidence. But the more connections that have been revealed to her, the harder it’s been for her to believe in coincidences. That scar on Rainbow’s eyes was almost identical, other than how straight they were and that they were on opposite sides, the only other difference was that Rainbow’s had been a lot fresher.

Maybe there was a reason, or maybe not. At least she’d know.

The room almost got colder, tension thick enough to grasp. It was the first time she’d ever seen Tempest truly be angry, and it sent a raw wave of fear across her body. Tempest’s entire upper face scrunched up, eyes narrowing into a slow, belligerent scowl. Her fist clenched tightly, and for the first time since Pinkamena had met her, her heartbeat picked up.

“Disobedience.”

Her voice was gravelly and deep like subdued thunder, her fixed gaze relaxing as she looked away towards the door. She walked out and turned to the left, the opposite direction of the stairs. After a few moments, her heart beat had just vanished and she was gone. Pinkamena was starting to think that she was doing something to make her heart beat completely silent and that’s how she was able to disappear like that, which was a terrifying thought.

She had decided that, in that moment, Tempest had just skyrocketed to the near top of the list of people she didn’t want to piss off.

___

After that...eye opening encounter, Pinkamena was making her way towards Rainbow’s apartment. She wasn’t wearing a mask, she didn’t need one. Hunger was beginning to set in as her body tried to replenish the blood she lost from last night, with a strong preference for meat. She stopped by a convenience store and bought a few bags of beef jerky, snacking on them while she was free running. She was being careful with it enough to where she wasn’t overly worried about choking.

She was in the middle of tucking an empty bag in her hoodie pocket and pulling out the last one when she landed on the rooftop of a building, her shoes skidding as she forced herself to a halt. Juno had entered her hearing range, and was approaching her quickly.

Pinkamena watched as he climbed up the side of a building with the expertise of a mountain climber, getting to his feet with a nimble front flip, which was totally unnecessary. He removed his face mask, face recently shaven without a single hair as he eyed the bag of beef jerky in her hands, then flashed her a toothy grin.

“You mind sharing that? I kind of ate all of my snacks like, thirty minutes ago.”

She grunted as she tossed him the bag, pulling out her last one.

“Thanks.” He said as he opened it, reaching in and grabbing a handful.

“Why didn’t you help me last night?” She asked as she walked past him, sitting on the edge of the rooftop with her legs dangling over the edge.

“Lsh night?” Juno asked, his mouth stuffed with dried meat. “I wsh busy.” He mumbled as he swallowed it with an audible gulp, plopping down beside her and moving his legs back and forth, resembling an excited child. “You’re still here though, so whatever happened worked out, right? Besides, I thought you wanted me off your ass anyway, huh?”

She didn’t have a response to that, she knew some part of her was just trying to blame whatever he could on last night’s events to someone else, even when she knew no one else deserved to carry the guilt but her.

“Why’d you show up now then?”

“I saw you met Tempest earlier, figured she’d crawl out of the dark to meet you sooner or later. I also saw you cash in your freebie and got a report, I was just curious what it was about.”

It was tempting to say ‘you’ just to see how he’d react, but she held her tongue. “I asked for a report on myself, actually. I wanted to see what they had on me, also so I could tell for myself if they are as accurate and efficient as they claimed to be. As it turns out, they are. Terrifyingly so.”

Juno’s joyful demeanor dropped into a more grave expression as he glared at her suspiciously out of the corner of his eyes. “You didn’t talk about me at all?”

“I didn’t say that. I did end up asking her if you two had come across each other at all since you worked in a similar field, she had a few things to say.”

His eyebrows raised as he leaned a bit closer to her. “Really? What’d she say?”

“Probably the same thing she’s been telling you: That she doesn’t think of you fondly either way, and isn’t interested in anything romantic.”

He blew a raspberry and dismissively waved his hand, grabbing the last few pieces of beef jerky and placing the bag down. “She’s just being a tsundere. If she really didn’t want me flirting with her, she’d be a lot more aggressive about it. I’ve seen her break a guy's finger for saying her scar was hot. I might not be the first one to try to get with her, but if I’m persistent enough, I’ll be the last.”

His confidence almost made her want to support him, if the pairing off those two wasn’t nearly ridiculous to think of. She was also surprised Juno knew that term, he didn’t strike her as the type to watch anime that often. Just further reinforced she really couldn’t form consistent opinions on anyone in her life.

“Well, if that’s all you came to talk about, then I’ll be going. I...have to talk to an old friend.” Pinkamena mumbled solemnly as she stood to her feet.

“Wait.”

Juno stopped her by her sleeve, standing up to meet her. “Wanna know a cool fact about me?”

She was fairly certain that it was going to be something she already knew, but she couldn’t let him know that. She turned to him and raised her eyebrows in mock interest. “Sure, I guess.”

“I’m synthestetic, which means I experience colors differently than most. I don’t know how it is for other people, but I can...see them as emotions. Like, I can still tell they’re colors, but also feelings? It’s…” He closed his eyes briefly as he furrowed his eyebrows, struggling to think of the right words. “Hard to explain. For example: When I see yellow, I see both the color and the emotion of happiness. It’s only when combination’s come out that things get..weird.”

Juno stepped forward and grabbed Pinkamena’s left hand, examining it like a gypsy reading her fortune. The sudden physical contact caused her entire body to seize up, memories of Blake pushing themselves to the forefront of her mind. She sharply inhaled and forced her eyes shut, trying to resist the urge to push him away and swallowing her fear, she needed to get over him.

“Pink is the mixture of red and white. Red being anger and white being innocence, the definition of duality. Pink can mean love, passion, understanding, a variety of things. That’s why I can’t get a read on you, yours is a shade I’ve never seen before and I can’t tell, it's infuriating at times.” Juno rambled as he let go of her hand, not even noticing the distress he had caused by touching her so suddenly.

The tension left immediately after he let go. She let out a shaky breath, one of her black bangs came loose into her vision. She tucked it behind her ear, though it did spark a question.

“What emotion is black?”

Juno’s smirk dropped into a frown as he grimaced. “Are you sure you want the answer to that? It’s not a good one.”

The tone in his voice was a serious one she’d only heard once or twice, making her apprehensive to hear it. Pinkamena peered down at her right hand, shaking her head after wondering what gray was. Some part of her didn’t want to know.

“Yea, I’m sure.”

“Black...Black is,” He paused as his mouth opened and closed wordlessly, an uncharacteristically uncertain look etched onto his face as he turned away from her. “Black is deep rooted, unforgettable pain.”

___
Disobedience

Black is deep rooted, unforgettable pain.

Do you like me for me, or do you like the idea of me?

Their words echoed in her mind like they’d just been said, each one a piece to a different puzzle, none of which was showing a full picture that she enjoyed. However, she didn’t have time for those, there was another problem she needed to solve before any of the others.

How to keep Rainbow Dash alive.

She was overjoyed that her friend is alive, yes. But that emotion was buried under a deep layer of fear and worry for her, since she was currently The Syndicate’s number one target.

Now Pinkamena was standing outside her apartment, barely any time having passed since her and Juno parted ways. It was strange, even among the dozens of heart beats in the building, she could make out Rainbow’s as easy as pointing out a red balloon among white ones. Quite frankly, it scared her. She had been a chimera for just over a month, and she was still discovering new things she was capable of.

Instead of going through the door like last time, she opted to enter through the open window again, rather than dealing with that sleazy old man again. Odds are he might try to cop a feel once more, and there’s a real possibility she would kill him if he did, she didn’t need more lives on her conscience.

She jumped into the building, a loud thud as she landed on the ground. She had expected Rainbow to pull a gun on her or something, but no. Instead, she was sitting on her bed, gritting her teeth as she fit her broken arm into a makeshift cast of gauze and cut sheets. She did little more than glance up at her when she arrived, giving her a brief death stare and then turning her attention back to her arm. She resembled a hardened warrior with her demeanor and scars more than her vibrant, athletic friend, which just dug the knife in her heart deeper.

“You look fine, what with your mutant healing powers or whatever. Did you come here to kill me?”

“No. No, I didn’t Dashie.”

She visibly flinched at that name, and not just from the pain of her arm. “Then what did you come here for?”

“I came here…” Pinkamena extended her hand. “To save you.”