Honesty is the Best Policy {Comic Edition}

Chapter 39: Sacrificial Soup

"Hey, Hearts?"
It felt weird to say that name again. That was her, but then again it wasn't. Not anymore. Honest sat down beside her Anti self on the wooden steps. Hearts scooted away, but Honest just sighed.
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna ask about the 900 anymore. After all, that doesn't matter now, not really. I'm more interested in the current plot- er, what's going on with you."
"The current..." her twin whispered. Hearts turned her way. She had a look of simple curiosity. "You're really my Mobius equivalent?" She smiled and laughed as if she couldn't believe it. "What's the other world like?"

"For one-" Honest pointed up to the sky. "There's this thing called a sun there. It's warm and bright. And the sky is blue."
"So some sort of utopia?"
"I mean, it's not perfect, but it's better than this place. No offense."
"None taken." Hearts looked curiously off into the distance before turning back to Honest. "What are you two doing here?"
Honest blinked. You two... was she talking about Shadow and her? How did she know Shadow was also not from her world? "Um... well, Fi- er, you probably don't know who she is... Scourge's girlfriend stole the Phantom- er, you probably don't know what that is either... Scourge's girlfriend stole a powerful gem and is using it to take over this whole dimension."
"And you're here to stop her? Are you some sort of hero where you're from?"
Honest gulped. Since when has the word "hero" become a trigger word for her? Heroes by themselves were alright, no, more than just "alright". They were great, they were a good thing. Heroes are good people. The "heroes" that Honest didn't agree with weren't heroes, they were posers.
"'Hero'," Honest said with a noise bordering on a scoff and a chuckle. "The only reason I'm going to stop her is because she's encroaching on Scourge's property. That, and she's infringing on Scourge's title of ruling monarch."
"'Ruling monarch'? That makes it sound almost official."
"It is." Honest crossed her arms with a huff. "And we're gonna defend that title until the end of time."
Hearts's eyes widened. "Oh, wow." She then looked thoughtfully at her twin. "Why are you defending someone else's title, though? Especially a Moebian's."
"Because we're allies. He's been living in our world as part of an agreement he made with No Zone police for years. During that time, I've kind of..." Honest looked troubled as she searched for a word. "Grown to like him. And before you say anything, my 'like' for him is not baseless. His whole situation is a huge..." She started looking for a word again, this time waving her arms wildly as she did so. "Conundrum. Not just where the different dimensions are concerned, but in his backstory, the very nature of his existence, everything. That makes him uber interesting." Hearts looked about to say something, probably to make some sort of assumption. So, Honest tried hard to cut her off. "Uh... What do you think of Shadow?"
Hearts looked startled by the sudden topic change. "Oh, um, he's cool... But is he always so... unpleasant?"
Honest laughed. "If you're asking if he is always a pain in the backside... no. Or yes. It kind of depends." Honest started looking all thoughtful again. "When I introduce him to people, I usually describe him as 'hard to get along with'. He almost always rubs everyone the wrong way. However, I suggest that everyone try to put in a little effort to get to know him. Friendships with abrasive people are almost always very rewarding, I think."
Hearts narrowed her eyes, looking very displeased by what Honest had just said. "That makes zero sense. What's the reward for making friends with a rotten, obnoxious guy?"
Honest smiled in what Hearts could only describe as both pleasant and mischievous at the same time. "You think he's a bad person? I think that he's so good it's annoying sometimes. He's a perfectionist but only when it comes to the most boring and tedious things like being overly thorough in his secret agent work and doing chores and preparing dishes with too little meat and too many vegetables. Bad ones too, like cauliflower and celery." Honest stuck out her tongue. "If smelling like an overhyped, foul-smelling purple weed constitutes as rotten, then yeah, I'd say you're correct about that. Or perhaps smelling like stale coffee. He's really quiet actually, so I'd say obnoxious doesn't really suit him. The most obnoxious thing about him might be the frequency of his flashbacks to his childhood and the many times he will cry about the death of his childhood friend, 'cry' as in deeply stare into a cup of coffee like his life depends on it." Honest paused to see if Hearts would say something. Instead, she heard snoring. "Hearts?"
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