Though his chaos was still a well of power in his chest, something was wrong. Where the well was once an endless flow at his fingertips, it waned. Rather than having the entirety accessible at once, he had to wait for it to regenerate and it was too fucking slow.
“Have you ever heard the ‘devil you know’ saying, or was your head so far up your ethereal ass that you couldn’t hear it?” Her sharp voice broke the silence and if it hadn’t surprised him, he probably would have laughed.
He liked her fire despite himself. It reminded him of Lytta. Pain seized his chest as her name crossed his mind. He turned his eyes to the stars and found the cluster of five that was his best friend. She deserved more than she’d been given, but it was her wish to be laid to rest within the stars. It was selfish of him to put her to the forefront. She would have wished to spend her afterlife in peace where the darkness could bear the weight of her heavy soul, but instead he placed her amongst the brightest of them all. Her fiery soul had burned brilliantly, and he couldn’t stand to see it dimmed.
Lytta, his best friend.
Gods how he fucking missed her.
“Hello!”
Brooks snapped his attention back to the ball of fury to his right. The outline of Nyx’s body seemed to buzz with rage and it put him on edge, his chaos rushing to the surface to meet her onslaught.
“Do you even care?” Her breathing quickened as a small vein throbbed in her forehead.
“Care about what?”
“Unbelievable,” she scoffed.
“We are getting nowhere,” he sighed, more so to himself than anything. “Perhaps I’ll find someone else to update me on matters.”
“Perhaps,” she mocked. “You should just take a fucking look around, Chaos. Can I call you that? Or should I call you Father?”
“Why would you call me that?”
“I’m not calling you daddy. Fucking forget about that.”
He was done. He and Xia would find somewhere else to collect themselves and gather information. He needed solid grounding in this new world before he could determine what to do. Brooks stood intent on doing just that
“Wait!” she called as he walked away. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m just–”
“A pain in the ass?”
Soft thuds rushed his way before a hand grabbed his shoulder.
“I–” she stopped, her voice cracking at the end. “When I woke up this morning I had no idea how I was going to feed those people in the house. They depend on me. I’m the only one,” she swallowed before trying again. “I’m the only one with nothing to lose.”
Brooks did look over his shoulder at the shame in those violet eyes. She was just a girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Don’t you dare turn your softness toward this pain in the ass,Chaos huffed.
“I served you our last ration of food hoping that my gamble would pay off and you could help us.”
Here we fucking go.
He recalled the beautiful little girl in front of the hearth holding her mother close, her blue eyes glittering in the burning embers of the fire. He thought the gauntness of her eyes was just a trick of the light. It made him sick to think it could be because of starvation.
“We will sit, and you will tell me what has become of this world. I cannot right the wrongs that I do not understand.”
“Fine.” Her tone was clipped as if she had more to say but held back. There was something simmering beneath all of that bravado and Brooks found himself wanting to explore it.
We do not have time for her. We do not care for her. We do not need her.
“Making connections with other daemon wouldn’t be so bad. You never know, you may find one willing to pull the giant stick out of your ass.”
“Do you mean it?” She whispered.
“Mean what?”
