"I thought it would be fun to take the kind of character that nobody would like, none of our readers would like, and shove him down their throats and make them like him." – Stan Lee
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Chapter VIII: The Chase
Ariel stared at the sign on the diner and café door that blinked the word "Open" in little red and blue lights. Her brown eyes shifted to gaze through the glass of the window to see a man and a woman eating at a table, and as if on cue, Ariel's stomach growled in hunger. She swallowed nervously and pushed her way into the diner, her nose immediately greeted by various aromas that caused her mouth to water. The clanging of kitchenware echoed from somewhere towards the back of the diner and boys and girls shuffled around behind a bar, handing plates of foods to customers seated on barstools.
"Hello, welcome to the Oakwood Diner! Just one today?" A voice startled Ariel out of her daydreaming about food and she met eyes with a young man wearing a nametag, a small, black apron tied around his waist.
Ariel simply nodded at him and he smiled, grabbing what appeared to be a list of the food they served and began to lead Ariel towards a singular table by a window. She sat down, keeping one eye on the unfamiliar man as he set the menu on the table in front of her and sent her yet another bright smile that she soon found to be irritating. Why is he so happy?
"I'll give you a minute to look at the menu. In the meantime, would you like something to drink?" The man asked her.
Ariel's eyes flicked down to the menu and noticed a section that contained a list of drinks accompanied by pictures. She noticed a picture of a white mug with a black liquid inside it that looked familiar and she smiled slightly when she saw that it was labeled "coffee." She pointed to the picture and looked up at the young man, who now seemed to notice Ariel doesn't speak. He seemed to disregard it quickly and smiled in response.
"Alright, one coffee. Would you like sugar and cream?" He asked as he began to turn away and Ariel simply nodded, dumbfounded. There's only one way to figure out exactly what sugar and cream look and taste like, and that is to eat it. "Okay, I'll be right back with that," the man added and rushed away to what Ariel assumed was the kitchen.
As she was once again left alone, sitting at a table near the back of the small, nearly empty diner, fear began to set in once more. She was all alone, a familiar feeling, and had nowhere to go. She no longer trusted the team of heroes she had met before, at least not at the moment. Taking her back to a place she feared simply to trigger unpleasant memories in her did not sit well in her stomach. She did not want to know about her past anymore. She wanted to find a new home and start over, pretend she was never found on a beach as some strange unconscious girl with no name.
The image plagued her mind once more, a disturbing flash of blue and white wrapped around her wrist, slicing into the skin angrily. Subject 29A. 12/01/68 - Murcia, ES. A migraine began to form as she tried to understand what Murcia, ES meant. Surely the numbers represented the day of her birth but what year was she even in currently? There were some questions she could ask the residents of the town she sat in, but there were others she felt uncomfortable even thinking about. Everything was a vicious circle of confusion and she began to feel that familiar heat of anger boil up inside of her as she remembered she knew little to nothing about not only herself but the world in general. How was she meant to make it on her own? Could she really ever trust anyone at all? She didn't know much about the world but from what she had learned so far, the people in it were fake, wearing masks of innocence to disguise their true intentions of evil.
"Here's your coffee with cream and sugar, miss. Have you decided what you would like to order?"
Once again, Ariel was dragged from her deep thoughts by the suspiciously happy waiter, standing before her with a notepad and pen in his hands after he had set the mug of coffee down. Ariel simply glanced down at the menu and pointed to the first thing she saw, a stack of circular objects topped with a fluffy white substance and sliced red fruits. It looked pretty and it said on the menu it was a customer favorite, so Ariel figured it must taste good.
YOU ARE READING
Retrospect『 avengers au 』
FanfictionWhen a young woman mysteriously turns up on a beach on the Eastern Seaboard, it's hard to believe that she is still alive after what must have been weeks out at sea. What seems like a simple case of a helpless girl being lost and not remembering wha...
