Last chapter, the perspective changed to Elio and the story went back to 20 minutes after the crew's attack on a Hopian Army training base for conscripts.

After a close call with another gang- Elio, Amandeath, Metallic, and Quilline headed back to their base of operations. Elio was suspicious after seeing so much blood on the crew's bodies, as well as due to them not having the super-weapon that they claimed to be going for- and he confirmed his suspicions after catching Quilline in a lie.

Now the crew continues to walk up the flights of stairs to where Seric and Karia are, with Elio being disgusted and confused as to what he should think of Amandeath now...

Elio's P.O.V.

***

"The hell have you four been? Couldn't have given us a warning before you left in the middle of the night?" Karia asks as soon as we open the door to the floor's hallway that Seric's boat is crammed in on. Can't see the kid himself though but Karia's standing outside of the boat with her arms crossed at least.

"Wonder if she heard us coming." I think to myself.

"We were scouting out the area around our hideout to make sure no other enemies were around. You're welcome, even if you didn't deserve it." Metallic says with a scoff... nah. I'm not letting the three of these guys get away with this, even if I have to be subtle.

"For the whole night? Also the blood on your hands is telling me another story." Karia notes... wait did he seriously not clean it off??? I turn my head towards him and, yep- still there. Guess we didn't pass by anywhere with water though but... hm. Still.

"We came across some robbers, and I dealt with them quickly. I shouldn't have expected someone like you to be grateful, what a fool I am." Metallic says, and I slowly shake my head to say "no" and hope Karia notices and probes some more.

"Hm? Got something to say Elio?" Karia asks- oh fuck, why did I expect her to be subtle about it too.

Metallic swings his arm around my neck and pulls me to his side, "He has nothing of importance to say, just complaints for being put to work! Sheesh, you'd think for us taking him in he'd be more grateful!" Metallic says with an awkward laugh as he tries to crush me into him- obviously a threat. But it doesn't hurt at all so.

"...Screw it. Amandeath may be even worse than I thought, my life sucks being a hostage here- and I may die soon anyways. May as well help take these guys down when I have the chance."

"Will you get Seric to protect me if I tal-"

"QUIET!" Metallic shouts.

"Yeah, I will. Seric! Come out here, need you for something important. Please." Karia shouts while kicking on the boat behind her, and Metallic seems to be having a breakdown and is twitching with a look of horror on his face.

"NO! Stay wherever you are, Seric! You think you're so clever Karia? That's probably how you were able to defeat Kodan, dirty tricks- just like Restroid. I'll just slay Elio here and now before he can talk, what will you do then?!" Metallic says- which does make me feel a bit scared after hearing it out loud... shit.

"At least I'll redeem myself this way." I note as I close my eyes. Don't want to see this.

"Whooooa whoa whoa. Metallic, you're not gonna kill Elio." Amandeath comes to my rescue, and I open my eyes again as she steps in front of him and actually seems- well un-numbed now.

"Why not? Argh right you like him, fine then. What else am I supposed to then! You're smart, think of something pal! Now!" Metallic demands from Amandeath... she only shrugs in response.

"Sorry, bud. Not sure if there's any other ways out of this... even if you somehow got Elio to not talk, they'd find out sooner or later from the billboards broadcasting news reports whenever they went outside. Thought you realized they'd find out sometime soon... sorry. Might've told you not to come if you told me ya didn't want them to find out in advance." Amandeath says with a sigh as she stares down at the ground again.

"...Amandeath, how much would you hate me if I did deal with Elio? I... I'm balancing between two pals here. You and Seric." Metallic whimpers.

"I'd be on team Seric and Karia if ya did. So yeah, pretty pissed. Would recommend the other option, Seric'll probably be more understanding than I am- and we need Elio to boost our odds of getting out of here."

"...Fine. FINE! I'll confess, not Elio- he'll probably spew some lies into his "truth". We ambushed a Hopian Army base to get revenge for Amandeath's lost eye, and to also give us a few days of mercy from the army while we continue with our plans. Elio displayed a warning to the army that told them we will strike again if they don't respect our three day grace period." Metallic tries to say quietly so that Seric won't hear I guess, but regardless Karia looks disgusted.

"I-I don't even know what to say anymore. You're all monsters. All of you!" Karia shouts.

I start to defend myself, "What? I just helped you th-"

"And you helped the rest of the fuckers too. Especially now, Hopian Army bases are definitely gonna be protected by some sort of energy field. Your Blessing is the only way the other three could've gotten through it. So don't act like you're the hero here. None of you are coming in this boat for the next while unless it's a life our death situation, me and Seric need to talk in private. Use one of the shitty apartment rooms for now or the hallway, I don't care." Karia says as she shakes her head, asshole.

"They lied to me though, I thought they were trying to get a stupid super weapon or some shit!" I give my one last defense, but Karia doesn't even reply as she turns around and starts to walk to the side of the boat so that she can climb in it I guess.

"That didn't go according to plan. Least I still have Amandeath though... maybe." I think to myself.

"What makes you think we'll agree to that missy?" Karia gets teleported right in front of Quilline- which surprises her for a sec, but Karia regains her composure pretty quick as Quilline grabs her chin and tilts her head up.

Karia bats her hand away, "Seric gets to pick and choose who stays in the boat. And if you try to threaten him, then Metallic will get pissed- and you don't want that. And if Metallic tries to threaten him himself? Then well, that's just another thing that'll make Seric hate him. So yeah. Not scared of you this time Quilline." Karia says as just she glares up at Quilline who's grinning, but it looks like there may be some anger hidden under that.

"Damn. Gotta respect her a bit." I think to myself. Being tough against Metallic is one thing, but being ballsy against a psychopath like Quilline who's skilled in torture? Hell no, I couldn't- probably not even when I can't feel pain.

After Quilline doesn't respond, Karia turns around and starts walking by the big-ass tears in the floor, and gets back to the boat that's weirdly squished into the hallway ahead of us.

"And Elio. If you really were coerced or tricked into helping them, then fine- you can maybe talk with me and Seric later. Not now though. If Metallic goes apeshit and tries to hurt you in the meantime though, call Amandeath- and if that doesn't work, just scream and we'll come out to help you I guess." Karia says... well. Still a crappy deal after everything I just risked but, still better than nothing.

Quilline tries to get the last word regardless, "We've got many rounds left in our game here Karia. Don't expect to win many more~" Quilline makes a final taunt with a hum, and Karia almost raises her hand up to give her the finger I'm guessing- but she surprisingly stops. Instead she just gives Quilline a glare, and hurdles herself over the raised edge of the side of Seric's boat

A few seconds later Quilline scoffs, "Buzzkill. Welp, looks like we may be hanging out in the metaphorical doghouse for a bit. But that doesn't mean we need to groan and moan, we can still have the meal of champions to celebrate our victory that those two are too close minded to get! Tensions might be tight between some of us four even, so me and Elio can head out to go and pick up our food. I know just the right place nearby..." Quilline says enthusiastically as she licks her lips and no one reacts- well it does make me perk up for a millisecond though. Of course until I remember I can't even eat or taste anything anymore. Awesome.

But still, wanting to get away from both Amandeath and Metallic for now- I reluctantly shrug to agree with her. Never did the day come that I'd rather be with a serial killer than Amandeath... I've gotta talk to her after this though. To find out if she really is too far gone or not.

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"Ta-da! Meal of champions, amirite? Right nearby too, just had Elio go grab it from one of the less-than-legal shops nearby and they didn't suspect a thing as I hung out in the shadows like a boogeyman." Quilline says with a grin as she opens the disgustingly moist and grease stained cardboard pizza box we bought, and shows off it's nasty ass contents to Metallic and Amandeath. The "contents" being an even greasier cheese and only our Gods know what other kinds of toppings, pizza.

"...Is this truly food?" Metallic asks which almost makes me laugh- but I'm already on very thin ice with him so, not right now.

Amandeath shrugs and takes the first piece, and walks away from us right away- and opens the door to one of the many abandoned rooms next to us.

"Wait- why don't we all eat together pal?" Metallic asks as I run after her, and I stick my hand in the door before she can shut it closed- it's now or never. She doesn't even try to hold the door shut though as I open it back up, walk in, then shut it again to give us some privacy.

"Maybe later, Metallic." Amandeath says as we can hear Metallic start to stomp towards the room too from the hallway.

"O-oh... ok. I'll be right outside if you change your mind." He says right after his stomps suddenly stop, one problem handled at least.

"Amandeath. Let's talk- I don't want to hate you if I don't have to. Seriously, tell me- what the hell were you thinking going after that base? Did you follow the logic of wanting to get us a grace period from the army? ...Or was it for fun? Who came up with the idea?" I start to interrogate Amandeath as she lies down on the dusty carpeted floor of this empty room, and takes a bite out of her disgusting slice of "pizza".

"Nooooot in the mood for a lecture Elio. Final warning, change the topic or piss off." Amandeath says after swallowing, she's just staring up at the ceiling like an idiot... I'd be taking a deep breath right now if I had lungs.

"Before I get pissed at you by the way, just want to say- thanks for standing up for me to Metallic. And I mean that but- Amandeath, I'm not letting up here. Why did you agree to do it, and was it Quilline who came up with the idea?" I ask Amandeath and cross my arms as she takes another big bite of her pizza slice.

"You're gonna die soon, ya know. First with that Magic Girls husband, then with Metallic just now- and now me too. You never know when to just shut up. And clearly you also know I don't play nice, so are you really gonna risk pissing me off here when I'm already in a bad mood?" Amandeath glares at me. I'm not scared though, even if that hurt.

"Best part about dying once, is that you're not so scared of it the second time around. You gonna try to kill me if I pry too hard?" I taunt her, if she really is too far gone then... I don't have much to lose.

"Yep." Amandeath says coldly.

"Well damn. Alright then." I shrug, and bend down towards her as she drops her food and slides back on the ground- aiming her arm that has her sniper attached to it right at my face. Right after that I grab her armed arm, and pull it towards me so that the barrel of the sniper is touching my forehead. She furrows her brows, and looks super confused at that as she pushes the upper half of her body off the ground.

"Amandeath, if you're really willing to kill me over something as small as talking with you- then I don't want to be here anymore. Pull the trigger. You're the only thing I have to look forward to nowadays, so if you're just turning into a monster like Quilline who doesn't care about me at all- not even just as an ex-fuck buddy who listens to me rant about tech out of pity? Then I don't want to live anymore, not if I'm gonna be forced to stay with you all." I say, and mentally applaud myself for my courage there. I was always too afraid to stand up for myself against Restroid, but now I feel like I've regained a part of my old self. Even if just a little.

And I feel some hope fill my chest somehow- as Amandeath lowers her gun and starts to tear up, "Ah, fuck. Like Quilline... shit. Already felt bad before but, damn that stings. You're probably right, at the rate I'm going- I'm gonna end just like her crazy ass someday." My glowing white eyes open a bit wide- and she continues,

"I mainly agreed to help her attack that base in the first place because I enjoyed the thrill when Aora was chasing us, and wanted to test out my cybernetics. Hell that was a big part of why I invited Quilline to our group in the first place, I wanted to be able to have more "fun" without getting hurt. And that sounds a lot like her line of thinking to me... damn. Noooo fucking way am I gonna end up like her after seeing what I did today." She finishes as she wipes some tears out of her eyes with the hand she was just holding the pizza with, nasty but- now's not the time.

"Exactly. So? If you're not just lying to make me shut up, what are your plans to well- NOT be like Quilline? I'm ready to forgive you someday if you really do want to change." I ask as I put a hand on Amandeath's shoulder.

"I mean... I dunn- oh. I know actually. I'll only kill when I need to from now on, but besides that- I did kinda let Quilline trick you into helping us by following along with her lie. A-"

"Kinda? That's literally exactly what you did." I say sternly, I'm not letting her find any loopholes or some crap here.

"...I kinda use "kinda" in a lot of different ways but anyways. Either way, I wanna apologize for that. And to actually prove I mean it, I wanna try n' do something for you in return. Anything that's doable in the next day or two before we go to Fixed Reality and escape to Dalkan at least- or after we get there I guess." Amandeath says which surprises me...

"Something I'd want in the next two days? What could even be done that quick, and what can I even enjoy anymore? Oh- something for my raps? ...Nah. My artificial voice in this body may still sound like my original body's voice but, that doesn't mean it's really mine- it would be cheating to sing as a cheap robot. What else..."

"Stumped? Guess I can give you a bit more time to decide but- the more complex your "task" is, the more time I'll need to do it. And we still need to actually plan out our specifics for when we get to Fixed Reality Casino so... times on the clock." Amandeath says as she leans back and lies her head on the floor again.

"...Oh. Think I got it now. Saying complex and specifics reminded me of my brother Xalen. If I can, I want to see him one last time before we go- with you working as my bodyguard I guess. But- oh... wait. Huh... but then Nancite..." I look down at the carpet in guilt. Shit. Who should I abandon?

"Nancite?" Amandeath asks.

"Would rather not talk about this but, guess I don't have a choice. So, the New Red Fists abducted a bunch of kids to induct into the cult when we were there. And Nancite was one of those kids. And I... I directly helped Restroid take him away from his parents in a really screwed up way. ...I won't act like I'm perfect when I'm criticizing you for your sins, so yeah I'll confess... I killed the kid's mom when we abducted him."

"Daaaaaaamn. Yeah that's kinda fucked, but I'm pretty sure I've killed parents before too so- you're not alone there. But anyways, so you want to save all of the kids or just Nancite? I guess I did murder a bunch of the group, and Metallic offed Restroid so... yeah maybe the kiddos are kinda stranded and alone right now." Amandeath says what I'm worried about our loud,

"All of them would be ideal but... actually... no. I may not need to. We always had some older members in our group who would watch over the base and kids, so Nancite and the rest of them should still be alive right now. Also, even though they're members of a sketchy cult- the New Red Fists were decent people to members of the group at least. The kids should be taken care of, if things got too rough they'd leave the kids off at an adoption center or a house- or something. Pretty sure Restroid himself actually mentioned that one time as a contingency." I say- and I do think most of it's true but, I really hope I'm not just trying to lie to myself here.

"OK, if ya say so. So Xalen then. Great, I get to meet your scumbag parents. Is their apartment really far from here, like can we get to it within a few hours or less of walking or?" Amandeath asks and I nod,

"Cool. Gonna depend on you to use your Blessing to scout out the path we take there though, especially if we don't have Metallic or Quilline with us. Also to break slash sneak into the place as well. Guess we'll head out after some planning today with the rest of the group, since it won't take THAT long to get to your place it looks like." Amandeath says, and I nod again.

"What am I even going to say to you, Xalen?" I think to myself in a haze... will he hate me for abandoning him and leaving him with "Mom" and "Dad"?