We made our way out of the city, Julie seemed to have a pep in her step, finally leaving Ravens after living there her entire life. Frankly I don't think she's ever left.
She practically bounced out of the inn. She was overjoyed to see the outside world again. Once we made it to the border of the town, we were at the edge of the woods and her eyes lit up. She always did love nature, always begging me to take her on walks to this pretty lake nearby.
Despite still being a little unsteady on her feet, she was still hopping around; smelling flowers, looking at passing animals, and touching everything in sight. I felt bad, we didn't have any clothes to replace her sad t-shirt and shorts ensemble, she didn't even have shoes, not that she seemed to really mind.
The three of us had been walking for a little while, our pace was relatively slow as Julie insisted on walking herself, but Jericho nor I seemed to mind.
Things had been relatively peaceful until a corpse emerged next to Jericho. They screamed and I mumbled to myself, "So, this is one of the rumored corpses that are coming back to life."
Jericho protectively stood in front of Julie drawing her sword, despite her own fear which I appreciated. The corpse then began murmuring about how he hated women, how all women had betrayed him. It looked as if it was going to attack them based merely on the fact that they were woman.
Hmm, it seems like the corpse had been revived with a sexist vengeance. I pushed the girls aside and the man punched his hand through my stomach, blood spurted out of my mouth. He has some sort of super strength.
The girls gasped. "Ban!" Julie screamed.
I easily killed the man in front of me and turned back to them.
They spoke over one another.
"Are you ok??" Asked Julie
"Ban!" Cried out Jericho.
I wasn't overly concerned about the threat until a presence appeared behind the two. Before it could attack, I pushed them to either side of me. They both stumbled backwards as I was the one left to take the hit, straight through the stomach, similar to the previous attack from the man.
Tch.
My eyes bulged when I saw that the attack had come from Elaine. Elaine who has been dead. Elaine who I had been trying endlessly to revive. She was alive and attacking me.
We stared at each other, and despite everything I was so enamored. We simultaneously leaned in to one another and kissed.
Julie POV:
After Ban had pushed Jericho and I aside it took a few moments to get my bearings. I was still a bit wobbly, so getting up took a bit of effort. However when I stood up, I didn't see Ban fighting off another zombie man, but instead kissing a cute little blonde girl.
My jaw dropped, that seemed highly inappropriate for the situation, and the girl looked to be maybe twelve years old...
I looked across from me at Jericho to gauge a response, but she didn't look surprised, she just seemed a bit upset. I could kind of tell she had a bit of a crush on Ban, but it didn't bother me too much as he didn't seem particularly interested in her.
I could understand how she probably felt, having a crush on him that was not reciprocated, I had dealt with that for many a year. And now, seeing him kiss this small blonde who had just attacked us, I was confused and annoyed to say the least.
"B-Ban?" My voice quivers out.
They finally break their kiss, and she looks up at me and then glances to Jericho.
"I hate them." She says simply and lifts her hands towards us setting off explosions in both our directions. I vaguely hear Jericho scream, but am mostly focused on breaking the fall from being blasted away by this psycho girl. I grunt as my body makes impact with the ground. My scrapes and scratches quickly heal and I glare at Ban and the midget.
"They're not enemies," I hear Ban tell the girl, as he strokes her hair.
"They are our enemies. They're trying to steal you from me." She replied matter of factly.
ME steal Ban from HER? I didn't even know who she was, but Ban and I were inseparable and we've even kissed on several occasions. I wasn't stealing my best friend from this child! Some nerve she had.
"What is all of this?" Jericho demanded, standing up and cautiously approaching them.
The young girl looked as if she was going to strike Jericho again and I tried to hurry up to help, but apparently it wasn't needed since Ban stopped her himself.
"Why are you protecting her?" Blondie asked, and I stared on, feeling kind of useless.
"You're the only woman I love, Elaine." Ban whispered to her. My heart broke. He loved her? He loved only her. All those years with Othello I was imaging Ban saving me and he must have been off with this girl, Elaine, I guess. Tears made their way to my eyes without my permission. When I looked up again Elaine was attacking Ban.
What the hell was going on? I was so fucking lost and confused and upset.
She was attacking him full force, his body was being torn apart. Despite being told he was immortal, this amount of damage seemed irreversible and I began to panic. Jericho attacked the girl unsuccessfully a few times until she finally had her pinned down. I sigh and crumble to the floor.
I hear the two girls yelling at each other, but I have receded into the back of my head, a tactic I've picked up from living in a torture basement.
My breathing quickens as Ban's words repeat endlessly in my head; "Only woman I love."
My possessiveness of Ban kept it's firm hold on me, and his words ruined me far beyond repair. My eyes flicker around the scene, but none of the information is being processed correctly in my brain. Ban is healing himself I think, the other two are still screaming.
Elaine was eventually able to push Jericho off her, and she erupts into some huge tornado thing blasting Jericho away, I feel the harsh wind blow up against my face and I squeeze my eyes shut trying to ground myself.
Then, it all stops. I open my eyes and see Ban holding Elaine tightly. She whimpers, and it looks like he's whispering comforting words into her ear.
I look at Jericho and she looks distraught.
I'm past the point of being sad, I just feel hollow. I stand up and walk over to Jericho silently. I stand next to her and wait for Ban and Blondie's little love fest to stop.
I guess I was just hoping all those years we were apart nothing would change, but I guess it was a little unrealistic to think that. I was just holding onto this false hope that we'd reunite and he'd finally love me, but I guess I should've known better. He came across me by accident and felt obligated to help. If he was really looking for me, if he has really wanted to see me again, it wouldn't have taken so long.
I guess I just needed someone to believe in.
