Reconnecting with Friends Pt. 2

Alrighty, so I've been tailed for a week now, not really sure by who, but whoever they are, they sure as hell are persistent, could be the sniper from earlier, could be somebody entirely else, whoever they, I hope they know that they're playing with fire.

Anyways, back on topic, while I was away, our dear Minxie provided a write up of our meet up from her perspective, mentioning some things that I myself forgot, or didn't get to, you can feel free to read up on it here.

After playing a rousing game of tag with her in the darkened alley for a few minutes after all the proxies had been dealt with, she was finally able to spot me with the light of her phone, specifically after I muttered: "But then again, friends never forget each other."

Once she spotted me, she immediately dropped the phone on the ground, making sure to use her free hand to steady her rifle on me: “I remember more than ever, 'friend'”

You could hear it in her voice, see it in her eyes, I couldn't believe it, after so many years, she finally utilised his training and teachings to a point where it came natural to her, looking at her, standing there, all ready to blow my brains out without a second thought reminded me of him, I got a bit melancholic even, but only for a second, because my joy was far more overflowing with the fact of how proud I was of her!

And rightfully so, I mean, just looking at the countless acts of murder she committed in those alleys was enough, but hell, it goes further than that, she was fresh from committing arson on one of their bases! Which by the way was my card to use against her, I could hear the sirens in the distance: "I believe I've wasted enough of your time here for the cops to be able to quickly follow the trail of dead bodies and catch you."

After which I offered her my hand with the promise of a quick getaway and an opportunity to catch up with an old friend.

She left me hanging for a bit, as she proceeded to sling her rifle back around her shoulder and then carried on taking the dead proxy's wallets, little scavenger. But eventually she did shake my hand, with a pleasant admittance: “It’s actually nice to see you”

The feeling was very mutual, while we were shaking on it, I asked my darling to open up a sewer grate that was positioned behind me, which she did fairly quickly, after which I stepped aside and waved Minxie to go on in.

She shimmied down the ladder quickly. “You look the same, but kind of different. What’s up with that?” She noticed, my new body, only reason people usually don't, is because they usually have barely any time to take a good look. But yes, this body was different, bigger than the original I had, when I was alive, but I didn't want to go into detail of my rebirth, so I just jokingly remarked that going to the gym has it's benefits, while I was climbing down the ladder.

She didn't take kindly to my sarcastic remark and rattled the ladder whilst I was climbing down. I must admit, it did surprise me, I thought the ladder was about to fall, but of course it didn't and as I climbed down, I promptly let Minxie know that nobody likes smartasses.

"It’s true; even I don’t like me." She was walking in step with me, examining some minor scrapes on her arms. “But.... thanks for your help. I was in some tough shit there. Any idea where we’re going?”

Honestly, I had no idea, my main plan was to just as far as possible from all the commotion upstairs, but I was also looking for a place for us to simply stay put in and relax, so on occasion as we would walk past sewer grates above us, I'd ask my darling to take a peek through the grates, by extending her high up and tell me if where we were.

Whilst I was doing that, I also made sure to keep the conversation going: "No problem, anything for a friend, I gotta say, I'm impressed, you were almost able to get away from them, I specifically liked the fuse box trick."

"Didn’t really see much of what happened after I set it up. Usually I set up barriers and traps like that, but I’ve never electrified one before. Hopefully their deaths were relatively quick and painless..." Such a wasteful wish, in my personal opinion, those losers deserved all the suffering they got for being so careless and full of themselves, I swear, at some points during their chase, they were talking about ascending the ranks due to the deaths of their comrades, pathetic. "Although if you enjoyed it, then they probably weren’t. Well, it was effective. That’s all that really matters." Oh how I wish she would have expressed more enjoy in disposing of such worthless beings, but oh well, at least it doesn't really bother her anymore, which is good, such minuscule creatures shouldn't even take a second of one's thought.

However, I did want to prod a little further "Really Minxie? Quick and painless? No satisfaction at all from the fact that you killed people, who would've later done much harm to someone else who didn't deserve it?" Funnily enough, as I asked that, we've reached a good spot to get out at, so I signalled her to climb up the ladder, whilst still waiting for an answer.

"Of course I feel satisfaction." Minxie began to climb the ladder "In fact, I’m pretty grateful you didn’t intervene until it was totally necessary. You don’t kill-steal like most rescuers do. But I can’t say their suffering in the process would mean much to me. Yet." Ah, so it's the thrill of the hunt, at least, that's what I got from that, the opportunity to learn from one's hardship, it's a good outlook to have, assuming of course that's what she meant. Yet, there was that "yet", I assumed it was some form of doubt lingering around, but in any way.

Once we climbed up, the sirens were fair long distance away from us and right in front of us, was a pub, it was a regular looking pub, nothing special about it. I simply, as a good friend, figured that, that little game of tag Minxie was playing earlier, must have worked up quite the appetite, so this was my treat, which gave us ample opportunity to catch up as well, without any disturbances.

"Give me a second." She unzipped her rucksack, pulled out a hoodie, dissembled the rifle and chucked the components and Colt inside. She took a wipe out of the bag and quickly scrubbed the blood off her face with it, then shrugged on the hoody. "Deep down, I wouldn’t call it doubt so much as just a-" For some reason she cut herself off, still walking alongside me towards the entrance, I could pry but decided not to, whatever made her stop herself, seemed like it was done on purpose and who am I to question people's desires to keep quiet when they feel like it?

I myself put on a slightly simpler disguise, asked my darling to extend the collar of the jacket and cover my head, turning into a pretty long hoody, covering the entire top of my face, after which I began to unwrap my bandages, since they would attract attention. I saw Sanna squinting at me as I unwrapped my bandages, must have been surprised to see the lack of burning marks on my face, that's the beauty of the new body, it's far more physically fit than my old one AND it doesn't look like someone was trying to cook me alive, although I do miss my scars, they were beautiful.

We went inside the pub, picked our seat near a group of teenagers, all playing pool, judging from the conversations they were having amongst each other, those must have been some sort of students, who all were in the same class, or attended same courses, I picked the seat next to them, for a reason, but I will get into that in a bit, firstly, orders had to be placed.

"Haddock and chips, salad side, cider- wait, no, I shouldn’t. Pepsi. Or Coke. Whatever they have. Do you have to eat? Like, is it... medically necessary for you to eat?" Now do you people understand why I call her the Curious Minx? This is how our friendship began, for those of you who are not in the know, when Minxie first started her old blog, I wanted nothing but to torment and then kill her, just for fun really, no deep, personal reason. But despite making my intent clear to her, she couldn't stop asking me questions about all sorts of things, her curiosity in the face of a clear threat and fear intrigued me enough to post-pone my original plan, which eventually turned into this messed up friendship, funny how life is? Also, the answer to her question was that I personally don't need to eat, but this body does.

I went to the bar, to place the order and as funny as it was watching the barkeep give me all sorts of dirty looks over my appearance, it was far more intriguing to keep an eye on Minxie from afar. Even with the promise of a calm get together, she was still on her toes, looking around, I assume she was taking notes of the nearest, possible exits, clever, looks like my lesson of not trusting anyone also stuck around.

Once I got the food, I went back to our table, right past the noisy teens, setting the tray with food on the table, I took my seat and tried to calm her nerves "You need to calm down, if we were being tracked, I would know." I looked at the students playing pool next to us "Enjoy this small moment of normalcy for as long as you can, my gift to you." That's why I chose to sit next to those students, I wanted her to be around normal people for a few minutes, to remind her that there's more out there than constant survival for the sake of survival. I may have admired Sergei, but he's path was he's path, I don't want Minxie to go down that path, not because of how tragic it is, but simply because, I feel that, it simply isn't her. I wanted her to realise, or remind her, that despite all of us being haunted by the supernatural monsters that want to rip us apart, life for others still goes on, ignorant as swans (Until I end existence of course) and because of that, there's more out there, than just survival, I don't know if that got across to her, or not, if it did, she didn't show it.

Then we began to properly catch up about our lives, I will not go into detail about that. I refuse to share, because this was a conversation between two long time friends, what was said at that table is between friends, if Minxie decides to share I won't hold it against her, nothing of utter importance to my plans was said anyway, I just want the only place for this "catch up" to be preserved is our memories.

I will however, share one titbit that amused me greatly, our Minxie outright stumped me. At one point she was asking me about my return and how it was possible, although I've pointed this out before, I felt like I had to point it out to her again, in case she forgot, that the current Kelevra that is using this blog, is not the original, the old me died by Sergei's hands, I simply inherited Kelevra's memories, feelings, goals, everything, to carry on his work. To which she followed up with:

"I’m aware. You ever worry about the original coming back?" I never even thought of that scenario before, it's funny to think about, what WOULD the original Kelevra do if he were to ever meet me, the current Kelevra? Would we try to rip each other's throats out? Would we team up? I guess we'll never find out, unless... you know, he actually returns, which, I don't exactly know how he would pull it off, but crazier shit has happened before.

Time passed, our meal slowly disappeared, the students began to wrap their game up and the pub was nearing closing hours and I guess it was time for us to take our leave as well: "Well, I'm stuffed and I need to run in a few minutes, great things await my doing, care for a short walk?"

As we neared the doors, she asked me: "Great things? You mean bloodshed?" It was weird, when she said it, there was this "amused" tone she would exude, in fact, I picked up on it a while back during our conversation, specifically every time we talked about something violent, it was just less obvious than it was when she asked me that question. It confused me, she seemed to flip flop between not wanting to needlessly hurt anyone, yet still experienced a form of joy when she did.

"Oh most definitely, would you like to be a part of those plans to end everything in existence?" I asked her as seriously as I could, I was curious as to her answer.

She met my stare fearlessly, slinging her bag onto her shoulder. She seemed to be deep in thought "Normally I wouldn’t consider it. Bloodshed can’t exist if you end existence..." doubt in her voice, I was in disbelief, didn't even let her finish.

"Well that's funny, didn't even think you'd entertain the thought..."

"Then why did you ask?"

We continued to walk down the street whilst talking, I could hear sirens in the distance, but they weren't coming closer to us "I was expecting some sort of snarky retort, like you usually do, why the sudden blood lust?" Something was wrong here, inconsistent even.

"Sometimes you have to be around death to know you’re alive. I mean if you’re in this kind of life, you’re stuck. Might as well embrace it. As for your expectations, well - I learned from you more than anyone to stay unpredictable." And there it was, she was throwing me off guard, playing me, legitimately confusing me! I was beaming with pride!

I smacked her on the back as hard as I could in a show of comradery, scheming to take advantage of the situation and protect her interests even if it's your friend. She knew exactly what to say to confuse me, she manipulated the conversation to throw me off guard and if she were to take advantage of that, she'd have a pretty big opening in that moment. But there was one issue with that, it wasn't a guarantee that her attack would succeed, or if it would be effective.

This is when I would divulge my gift to her, what you thought I came to visit an old time friend without bearing gifts? What was the gift? It was the knife she gifted to Sergei right before he took off on his final mission, a knife made from an Archangel's bullet, fully capable of hurting the living shit out of me and my darling, and any Azoth, or any other creature.

When she opened the box, her reaction was priceless "This is..." She was very emotional, her eyes were glassy, but she was strong, held back those tears no problem “Holy fuck. Holy shit. How did you get this? Did you find... what was left?”

Oh I wish, no, the thing is, when Mendella received Sergei's severed arm all those years ago, for some reason he left out the part that it wasn't just holding the tape recorder with Incognito's last hours recorded onto it, it was also holding this knife and so he buried it, along with his arm. So when I dug out the arm to burn it, I found this knife and remembered that this was the gift Minxie gave to Sergei. I figured he'd want her to have it, he's not going to be using it anymore and it gives Minxie a fighting chance against people like Star, or me.

"I’ll gladly take it. Thanks." Her eyes darkened at the mention of Morningstar, for obvious reasons, the scars from the torture he exposed her to were still there, she gripped the knife tightly, good.

"Yes, that's right, that's the feeling you need when confronted with any opponent, not just Morningstar." I began to pat her shoulder, pure hatred for even daring to stand between you and your goals, that's the kind of thought process you need, before going into a deadly confrontation with your enemy, no matter who it is, no matter how stronger they may be, if fear isn't holding you back, nothing can "FUCK FEAR!" I yelled out in the middle of the street, clearly entranced in my own explanation, good thing it was night time.

Funnily enough, she joined me in my optimistic outlook on deadly combat "FUCK FEAR!" she yelled out after me, dare I say, it seemed to be even louder than my own yell, I saw some lights come on in some of the buildings, woops.

And that was that, the last bonding moment between me and her, it was time for me to run, this was arguably the last time we would see each other on such friendly terms, I hope not, but I have a feeling that moving forward, I will be making nothing but enemies, so I offered a fist bump and left her with a final bit of advise "Remember, no decision you make is wrong, even if it seems like it and nobody stands in your way, got it?"

"Got it." Good, she looked determined when she said that, bumped my fist with conviction too.

But then, her eyes began to get misty once again, she zipped up her new gift and spread her arms, after which, she uttered arguably the nicest sentence I had ever received: "We'll always be friends, OK? Even if we're about to kill each other. Us being friends won't get in my way, I assure you. But I can't pretend like you don't know me better than anyone else, or that I'm not who I am today because of you, and I can't pretend that I hate you, or that I wouldn't be sad if you were gone. So, I consider you a friend."

You remember how I said that I choose to feel today? That I can give it up any moment? The only reason I'm "feeling" is because I don't want me and my darling to become just yet, I reserve that moment for the final steps of our plan, so usually I have a pretty strong handle over my emotions, selectively choosing when to allow myself to feel and when not to. This moment? One of the few instances where my handle slipped, looks like the old me's memories were a bit too strong to handle, for a second there, I began to think of myself as the original Kelevra, luckily I got a handle on it pretty quickly, before completely forgetting my newer self.

I embraced her in the hug, whispering into her ear that we will always be friends, no matter what. Then I ran off into the nearest, darkest alley, I didn't want to leave, but I had to, my goals awaited, but before I disappeared I made sure to look back and wave at her, a final goodbye, after which me and my darling took our leave, disappearing into the night.

And that was that, Minxie is on her own path and I'm on my own, will they ever cross again? And will that crossing be on such friendly terms? I don't know, but, I hope they will cross again, no matter on what terms.

Seeing my friend is always a treat.

Thanks Minxie for indulging me.