"Where the hell have you been?! It's been like four days! And none of these jackasses would tell me anything! Do you know how worried I've been?!" I clench my jaw as I listen to Jazzy's complaints the second I step into the room she was being held in. She had been laying on her back on the bed, but the second I'd stepped in the room, she had jumped up, stomped over and started her assault on me.
"I'm sorry, I got caught up in something." I say, closing the door and shoving my hands in my pockets. She had her arms crossed and her hip popped out and was glaring at me like I was a child in trouble. I was biting my tongue because I know she was just worried about me, otherwise there was no way I would just let her berate me.
"Caught up in what?" She presses, clearly not satisfied with my purposely vague answer.
I sigh and bend down to roll up one of my pant legs. "I had a run in with your little friends." I say as I expose my now metallic leg to her.
"Jesus fuck, what the hell happened?!" She exclaims, closing the distance between us to drop to her knees on the ground. She reaches out, smacking my hand away to see how far up it went. "You're such an idiot." She complains as she pulls the other pant leg up. "Both of them?! I thought you lot were supposed to be like trained super ninjas or something?!"
"It's not like it was on purpose." I mutter, shooing her away. She rolls her eyes and rises to her feet, resuming her glare at me. "They ambushed me. I can assure you I did my best to avoid getting hurt. But they had weapons that made it impossible for me to heal." I held back a lot, like the fact I had gotten away from them by a goddamn hair. She was already worked up about this; I didn't need to add fuel to the fire.
A look of recognition flashes across her face, and she moves back to sit on the edge of the cot Aster had put in here for her to sleep on. I can see her eyes flicking around, her mind working.
"Do you know something about this?" I ask.
"Well. Maybe. I don't know, it could be nothing." She says hesitantly after a moment. "I just… when Tabitha and I were with them, they'd talk in front of us sometimes. We overheard them one time talking about a key ingredient they'd just found that could help them with their war against the Reapers. That was actually one of the reasons we broke away from them, when I started to realize they wanted to find you to hurt you."
"Do you have any idea what it could have been?"
"No, I don't know. But from the way they were talking, it sounded more like a person. They kept saying they had her locked up tight, and there was no way she was getting out."
"Huh…" I say lamely, not sure what to do with what she's told me. I needed to tell Aster. I bet he'd have some insight on this."Okay. I'm gonna go relay this." I say, turning to leave.
"Wait, hold on!" Jazzy jumps up then, rushing across the room to grab my hand. "I haven't seen you in days, you come back with less body parts then you left with, and now you're just rushing off! You can't stop for five minutes to have a conversation with me?"
I sigh, turning back to her. "There's a lot going on right now, I don't have time to entertain you."
Irritation flashes across her face. "Okay. Well, when the hell am I getting out of this damn room? I'm sick of being locked up. And where is Tabitha? Is she okay?"
"You have so many questions." I groan, closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose. I was trying to be understanding and patient, but she was acting like a brat, and it was starting to piss me off.
"You're damn straight I do!" She huffs. I opened my eyes, shooting her a look that suggested she dial it pack a couple of notches. She shouldn't forget whose fault it was that we were in this situation in the first place.
She at least has the common sense to look embarrassed. "Sorry." She mutters. "I'm just… bored and worried and anxious." She steps back a little, hugging herself and looking down.
Guilt floods through me at the sad look on her face. While she may have been the one who got mixed up with the Portal Hoppers and the one who went completely off the rails and started murdering people to try and get to me, it was me who sacrificed himself for a stranger. It was easy to blame her, because she had made so many stupid, selfish choices.
But so had I.
I had thrown my life away for someone I didn't know, for no real reason at all, and left her completely alone. And then I had made the mistake of coming back, letting her see me, ultimately sending her down the path she was stuck on now. If I had never followed Tabitha out of that bar, if I had never gone back to my apartment for a stupid sock full of money, none of this would be happening to her.
"I'll work on getting you out of here soon, okay?" I say, reaching out to ruffle her hair. She was still my little sister, and I would always love her.
Even after she forgot about me.