Chapter 19: Chapter V15: Violent Thoughts

“I won’t beg.” “Good.”   **Inaudible Noise*   “Scatter, if one Mediator found us, the rest are sure to follow.”   “Should we dispose of the bodies?”   “No, leave it as an example. We need to let them know we mean business, and to think twice before ordering an Execution rite.”   -Adin Kurugi after executing an Oathkeeper.

 

 

 

Chapter V15: Violent Thoughts

 

Jack woke up in a bad mood, unlike the other days he didn’t wake up feeling well rested. The nightmares were back, and back in full force, but unlike the previous times, Jack didn’t wake up to the sound of his own screaming.

He was tired, yes, but there wasn’t a feeling of anxiety or fearfulness that usually came with the nightmares. Instead, his feelings of panic were replaced with apathy. 

 

It was still scary, but something in him had clicked, making him just not care anymore.

 

Getting out of bed, Jack felt starved for the first time. He was hungry, very hungry. So much so that for the first time in a long time he went downstairs and began doing something he hadn't done in a long time. 

Cook his own food.

 

“Well, this is a surprise, what's with you being up so early?” Angelica said, entering the kitchen, as Jack stood over boiling water.

 

“I’m hungry.”

 

“I can see that dingus, but since when did you cook?”

 

“I’m cooking because I’m hungry,” Jac growled, annoyed at what he perceived as Angelica’s badgering.

 

A sudden smack on the back of his head caused Jack to immediately flare up with anger.

 

“Don’t growl at me, I only asked you a question fucker,” Angelica said, walking by Jack and grabbing her holster from underneath the table. 

Jack’s hand began to subconsciously curl around the boiling pot handle as he stared at Angelica’s backl.

 

Looking at the woman was infuriating him, to the point that he began to imagine her skin boiling and popping from the heat of the water. 

Jack could picture her writhing in pain and smiled thinking about it. The best way to incapacitate her and inflict excruciating suffering before easily bashing her skull in with the pot. 

 

It was easy, he could do it, after all, why not? She deserved it. Didn’t she? Jack reasoned with himself as the pot began levitating off the hot stove.

 

Feeling Jack’s stare, Angelica turned around.

 

“Are… are you looking at my ass?” She asked with a visible look of disgust on her face.

 

“What?” No!” Jack exclaimed, snapping himself from his thoughts and placing the pot back down.

 

What the hell am I doing? Jack thought to himself, horrified at what had just played through his mind. When he looked back at Angelica, a sudden urge to attack the woman bubbled within. 

 

Releasing the handle, Jakc quickly beelined out of the kitchen leaving the water still boiling.

 

“Hey! You can’t just leave the water boiling like this!” Angelica called out to the fleeing man, but he paid it no mind as he ran to the door.

 

Being in such a rush, to put some distance between him and Angelica, Jack didn't notice the red-headed woman coming down the stairs and collided with her.

 

“Watch it!” The woman snarled, causing Jack to flinch and nearly trip backwards.

 

“S-sorry,” Jack offered, trying to skirt around the woman.

 

“No! No!, it’s uh my fault. I really don’t do well in mornings!” The woman quickly apologized, realizing that her reaction was severe.

 

 

Jack was feeling hot. He needed to get out of here, there were too many people yelling at him, and making him feel anxious. Usually, he ignored the usual morning antics and disputes, but something was wrong. 

 

There was an itching sensation in his eyes that seemed to be extending through to the rest of his body, making him feel both hot and cold.

 Maybe I am suffering from a mental breakdown after all, Jack reasoned. If he wasn’t an Awakened what else could he be? Was he even special at all?

 

Maybe he just needed some air. Yea, some air would do him good, Jack thought to himself as he ignored the woman trying to apologize to him and made an attempt to run outside.

 

Contrary to his expectations of the door opening at his touch, the door remained sealed. Trying the keyboard, the AI showed no reaction to Jack’s touch. Getting frustrated he began to tug at the door handle to the point he yelled in frustration and ended up punching it.

 

“C’mon stupid door what's going on?!”

 

“The door power is on the fritz jackass, calm down!” Angelica yelled, emerging from the kitchen holding a box of Jack’s uncooked macaroni. “There was a mana influx last night, it shorted a lot of the neighborhood, techies are coming out in the evening to fix everything.”

 

“What?’ Jack said in confusion. Maybe it did have something to do with him and he wasn’t going insane Jack thought briefly but it was dashed by Angelica’s follow-up response.

 

“News on the net says they’ve been having mana regulation issues for the last couple of days, which is why everything died yesterday, which you’d know if you paid attention,” Angelica snickered, before pushing Jack to the side and opening the door for him using the emergency lever.

 

As soon as the door opened, Jack didn’t wait around to listen to any more of Angelica’s condescending tone. Ignoring the hunger in the pits of his stomach, Jack bolted through the doorway, somehow managing to dodge Angelica as she tried to grab him to get him to clean the mess he had made in the kitchen.

 

“Get back here you ass!” Angelica yelled as Jack’s figure began disappearing into the distance. A loud frustrated yell could be heard behind Jack before it was punctuated by the sound of a door being slammed shut.

 

 

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POV SHIFT/ANGELICA

 

“I’m so sorry for him,” Angelica apologized to the woman.

 

“Eh, it’s my fault really, I have a hard time seeing through my lenses, and don’t operate well during daytime, ugh, why is it so bright in here.” Julie groggily complained, taking off her glasses to pop the lenses out and replace them with color-tinted ones she fished out of her lab coat.

 

Angelica had invited the sleepy woman over as a plus one to Jack's birthday party, which admittedly she did feel bad about trashing considering it was an important day.

 

In fact, after thinking about Jack’s reaction, it made sense that he’d snap at her.

 

Ugh, I should apologize to him, Angelica said to herself, promising to do so when she had the chance. 

 

Julie had spent the night after being too drunk to head home after the party. Nothing romantically happened between the two, much to Angelica’s disappointment, but the pair did seem to grow closer.

 

Angelica’s day had started ok, despite the hangover, but after her interaction with Jack, her mood began to sour. Luckily Julie was there with her to help calm her nerves.

 

Or at least that’s what she thought, but the woman was lethargic at best, displaying the same tired and worn-out expression she had when Angelica first met her. 

All traces of the excited party girl who was drinking and swearing about her superiors while talking about designs and blueprints were gone. Replaced by a hunched tired woman who reeked of alcohol. Oddly enough she just seemed tired and not hungover despite out drinking Angelica the night prior 

 

“Well, we have water boiling, could I make you some breakfast?” Angelica offered, holding up the box of macaroni.

 

‘That would be lovely,” Julie replied, blinking several times through her rose-colored glasses. 

 

“Let's eat some mac then.”

 

After a few minutes, the couple was sitting around the table eating macaroni.

 

“Thanks for letting me use your bed” Julie shyly thanked Angelica while taking a bite of mac.

 

“And uh, holding my head as I puked.” Julie continued slightly flustered.

 

“Don’t worry about it, you’re my guest. It was the least I could do.”

 

“Admittedly if our situations were reversed, I probably would have left you vomiting on the floor,” Julie admitted a bit embarrassed.

 

“I considered doing the same thing to you, to be honest, but you covered in vomit on my floor would ruin the cute image I have of you in my mind.” Angelica teased, causing Julie to pause for a moment before sinking into the chair and shoveling more macaroni into her mouth.

 

“I see haha,” Julie blushed and laughed nervously, before trying to change the topic. “So that was your brother huh?”

 

“Jack? Yea, he’s legally my brother but like, not my brother, sorry I should have been more clear about that when I invited you over.”

 

“Oh, no. don’t worry about it. I just find it interesting.” Julie said, pausing between bites with a thoughtful expression on her face.

 

“What? That he’s Asian?”

 

“No, I mean your house is surprisingly diverse and James was nice, it's not every day you meet a fellow Awakened who isn’t a blood-crazed idiot or depressed.”

 

Angelica was momentarily caught off guard by the word fellow to respond for a few seconds.

 

“Oh, I… I thought you knew?” Julie said, pursing her lips. ”Or that Captain Ophelia would mention it.”

“No, I wasn’t aware, I skimmed through the personnel directory yesterday but it didn’t tell me you were an Awakened.”

 

“That’s not gonna change our friendship, will it? I know some folks don’t like our kind, it’s sometimes hard to find friends, I’m sorry for not disclosing this to you.”

 

“Oh no! Not at all, I don’t mind! In fact, I’ve always been envious of Awakened.” Angelica hastily admitted, trying to make the woman feel better, but at the same time, Angelica had to stop herself from bombarding the woman with a ton of questions that were beginning to form in her mind.

 

“Oh, well that’s good I suppose, lot of people kind of ignore me or start asking me a ton of questions,” Julie replied awkwardly. A weird tension settled in the room before Angelica cleared her throat and asked how the macaroni was.

 

“It’s good, I like the salt that you added,” The woman responded before suddenly smiling. “Fun fact I actually helped to locate and design the salt brines that the Kagawa clan uses for a lot of their productions.”

 

“Really?” Angelica offered.

 

“Yup, actually, I was on contract with the Kagawa clan for a few years before I got an offer from the military. I helped to engineer and oversee a lot of their technological developments prior to their big expedition.”

 

“Oh? Why’d you quit? Sounds like a much better gig than the military.”

 

“Oh, cream cheese, it was! Brilliant minds, good hours, great benefits, but they weren't interested in technologies that could benefit humanity or working towards strengthening our soldiers. Just profits, profits, profits. Though I will admit the salt brines were a good contribution to humanity.” Julie said, holding a spoonful of macaroni in the air, causing Angelica to smile. Yea I knew I liked you for a reason. Angelica thought to herself.

 

“I haven’t gotten to get the full tour and my hands on anything just yet because of well… you know who, but was there anything new that I might have heard of that you’ve worked on?”

 

“Actually yes! That wheelchair your brother uses, I actually helped to design the machine that processes the material to craft the parts for it!” Julie said, finishing off the bowl of macaroni.

 

“Really? Well, I guess I have you to thank for giving my brother the ability to move around then,” Angelica replied, standing up and offering to take the empty bowl from the woman.

 

“Mhm, it must be hard having only brothers, especially when two of them are Awakened.”

 

“It’s alright,” Angelica said truthfully. Despite her attitude and treatment of her siblings, she did care for all her brothers, even Jack, though she probably wouldn’t admit it outloud.

 

“They can be a pain in the ass, but I car- wait what?” Angelica sputtered, catching herself mid-sentence as she realized what Julie had said.

 

“What?” Julie replied puzzled.

 

“You said two of them are awakened did you mean Seth and James?” Angelica asked slowly, making sure that Julie heard her properly.

 

“Uhm no, I mean James and the Asian fellow that left.”

 

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