Separate Ways/Worlds Apart (JJBA: Battle Tendency)

Chapter 10: Only Solutions

Chapter 10: Only Solutions.

Santana didn't know what to think at this point. He had genuinely expected to see Journey when he took a slight detour from his escape. It wasn't that he was disappointed, far from it actually. The youngest pillarman was a solitary creature by nature, but he knew that his superior very much was not, and would not take kindly to losing out on gorging himself upon those who dared think they could contain them.

But he was wrong. Journey was nowhere to be found, yet his scent still lingered all over that human and enough to trick even his keenest of senses. Sure, he had just woken up from an overextended nap, but he severely doubted it would dull his senses. Then again it didn't really matter either way. What did matter was that one of his kind had mingled so closely with a human, at least enough to leave a lasting impression of his scent. He hadn't mated with her, had he? The idea was immediately dismissed, an individual of his caliber would never fraternize with such a lowly being in that way. It was as preposterous as a human mating with their cattle's feed grass. He snorted at the mere thought of it all.

Either way, that ring on her finger was-. He stopped for a moment, ears pricking up as he identified some type of scuffling in another area of the building. They had just now noticed he was missing. Fools, he had been strutting around freely for at least fifteen minutes, perhaps more. Did they think feeding him like a pet would have made him stay still? Hah! He was not some dog, if anything they were the pets, which brought him back to the woman who smelled like Journey. It was odd that her hair was the same color as Wamuu's. He had never personally seen a human with any color that was not a mute shade. Perhaps he kept her for that very reason, the ring was nothing more than a decorative collar. He couldn't believe he allowed it to bother his psyche for as long as he did.

After he escaped this stuffy place, he would never see Journey, his domesticated animal, or any other pillar man ever again. He would head south towards the jungles, that was assuming there was no one else who had claimed the territory already, which was unlikely. Then he could just laze about, eat when it was necessary, perhaps even head towards the west coast. He was pretty sure there was a stash of stone masks in that area so he wouldn't have to eat as often. Nothing would be better than being alone without any overbearing superiors or epic quests to be undertaken. Oh, how the uppers hated his blasé behavior! It was the very reason he had been left on this god-forsaken continent alone while the others went off to the new world. Only Journey had even bothered to come back and help him prepare to hibernate. Kars never bothered to teach him anything about how to live other than second hand feeding techniques. He'd have died long ago from over exertion had it not been for Lord Journey teaching him how to hibernate in the stone. Perhaps it was this reason he had thought to seek him out at all instead of escaping directly. Even still, despite his guidance, he wanted nothing to do with that being, or any other ones for that matter.

Now that he thought about it, he felt like killing everyone in this underground and camping here for a week or so. He may even bother to specifically find Journey's pet and tear her to pieces, it sounded like a wonderful idea now. He would have the extra energy after eating everything else here, might as well enjoy himself before being lazy for the rest of eternity. He probably should have done it earlier though, by the time it came down to it he would probably find it too tedious, just like everything else. He wondered briefly if her nutritional value would be higher because of that ring, if Journey had been taking good care of her, it may be the case. Might help keep him awake longer, since he had no intention of hibernating for a very long time.

He yawned and stretched, taking a moment to adjust to the mass acquired from his massive meals today. He felt his leg bones expanding, skin and muscle stretching to make space for the growth. He probably should have waited to do this because he soon found his ticket back into the viewing room where the obnoxious, and still shouting, Stroheim was held up. The air vent would be a cozy fit, but it was better than squishing himself under the sealed doors. The buffoons should have kept all of the exits shut as soon as they decided to awaken him. Though he'd have escaped one way or another anyways.