Lee

As his Danny dragged him around the city to distract him of the events that occurred, right after Alexis had left to find where Karin and Monique ran off to, his heart felt as if it had sunk so low, his intestines were practically processing it away. They had stopped at a Japanese Tea Garden in a place called Golden Gate Park and decided to partake in the tea house. This is where they were originally going to rendezvous. For whatever reason, Lee kept thinking of Monique and wondering if she would've stayed if they had teleported here instead. They took their seats and ordered what they needed; Lee however was in no mood to partake in anything.

Danny: Hey man, relax. They’re at some dim sum place talking things over. We’ll be bouncing outta here in no time.

Lee was silent, as if replaying the events in his head over and over again. Wondering what could’ve happened. What could he have done better?

Danny: Bro, I know what you’re thinking. And look, the fact of the matter is nothing you could’ve done would’ve made anything better. She is who she is man.

Lee stayed there, still silent.

Danny: Don’t make me say it man.
Lee: Say what?
Danny: You’re still not over Alice, are you?
Lee: What!? What does Alice have to do with anything?
Danny: She has everything to do with it.
Lee: No, she doesn’t.
Danny: Then why is it that I finally got your attention by just saying her name?
Lee: Alice and Monique are nothing alike. They aren’t even similar to one another. She was a bitch, and you know it and I’m just genuinely concerned about –
Danny: About how you screwed up the savior part because you are indeed trying to save her from her troubles just like how you were trying to save Alice from hers only this time, the troubles are real and not just a figment of lies produced by heavy handed tricks?

Lee was going to raise another point but found himself dumbfounded.

Danny: You know I’m right.
Lee: I hate it when you’re right.

Lee slammed his forehead on the table, creating a loud enough thud for the entire restaurant to hear yet not care enough as it just looked like a couple of kids dicking around.

Lee: You’re annoyingly right so what am I supposed to do? Just let my kid sister and some behemoth of a woman take care of Monique?
Danny: No, you’re going to let two women convince another woman that there’s a life way better than the one she has here and let them figure out the logistics so its very clear that this isn’t just some scam into her pants or whatever the flavor of the week is for you.
Lee: I wasn’t trying to take a pass at her.
Danny: Oh, then, were you trying to date her?
Lee: No. I just…wanted to help.
Danny: Annd?
Lee: And I wanted to satisfy some curiosity. Dude, I talked about her literally all day yesterday.
Danny: You’re obsessed with her.
Lee: Probably.
Danny: And that can be dangerous or good if you’re falling in love with her.
Lee: What? No, I’m not in love.
Danny: Oh? So, you weren’t crushed that you’re not showing her the nicer things in this world?
Lee: N-n- Shut up.

Danny’s face bloated up as he tried not to laugh. Lee’s face was riddled with red. As if there was no other color being splattered all across his face.

Danny: You’re so easy to read.
Lee: Shut up.
Danny: Speaking from experience, you are going to have to figure out how to figure yourself for falling for a heathen like Alice.
Lee: How does one even do that?
Danny: Maybe getting rid of the ever-accumulating stuff in the guest room is a good starter.
Lee: But…what if Monique needs it because she doesn’t really have any clothes.
Danny: Lee, no.
Lee: But what if?
Danny: You’d be hanging on to a past that was filled with sorrow and pushing her into a position that never should be. You know and I know that you should have burned that stuff a whole long time ago.
Lee: But
Danny: No butts, I’m having Ken and Terra tear through all that old stuff since you’re having a hard time doing it yourself.
Lee: What! Wait why!?
Danny: Oh, wait that’s something I wasn’t supposed to tell you. Whoops.
Lee: What’s going on?
Danny: Karin’s going to put Monique up in the guest room.
Lee: Why!? We literally fought like 2 hours ago.
Danny: So? Just apologize.
Lee: You guys are also going to be gone for the next six to eight months what am I supposed to do??
Danny: I don’t know, but whatever you do just don’t be an asshat or a whoremongering teenager about it. Be reasonable, she didn’t have anyone like Karin to run to like you did. She also lived an entirely different life than you did.

Danny took a sip of his tea then stared straight into Lee's eyes as Lee listened closely to him.

Danny: Look, Alexis’ illusion magic has gotten stronger and stronger these days. When they manifest, she can hear the very last thoughts in their minds. Did you know what went on in hers at the time? The time when you and her teleported somewhere?

Lee shook his head.

Danny: It was some guy’s voice…I think he retardedly called himself Ezekiel and claimed that Monique belonged to him and no one would ever care for her like he did or some shit. That we were stupid for trying to save her or protect a monster like her. That in the end, she'll always come back to where she belongs, with them.

Lee’s eyes widened as he looked at Danny. Was that why she was freaking out? Was it cause she knew he was there?

Danny: Anyways, Alexis heard his voice lingering inside her head. Saying shit like “you’re not good enough”, “they’ll leave you like the rest”, “you’re broken pieces within nothing left to fix”, “no one’s ever going love you”, “you’re unlovable” and “They’ll turn their backs on you. They always do.”
Lee: W-why didn’t she tell me?
Danny: I don’t know, maybe the entire night spent outside camping and running away from really threatening teens in emo colors probably didn’t spark a good time to tell you that she lives with homicidal idiots. Also, I’m pretty sure she keeps to herself at most times. She looks like the kind who would be the quite kid sitting at the corner of the classroom.
Lee: You’re right.
Danny: And when have I ever been wrong?
Lee: Outside of this conversation, a lot of times.
Danny: Moot point besides are you really going to not apologize to her? You’ve barely known her for a day and already she’s calling you out.
Lee: How do I go about apologizing.
Danny: Normally “I’m sorry for being a dick” is an appropriate go-to.

Lee heavily sighed, rolling his eyes at Danny. A message dinged on Danny’s end, signaling their time on this world coming to an end.

Monique

As she was practically dragged across the city, Karin rushed her inside of a store.

Karin: First things first, we need to get you a change of clothes.
Monique: What’s wrong with what I’m wearing
Alexis: The jacket isn’t yours and I’m assuming Romeo gave you the jacket to be a weird form of romantic.
Monique: Who’s Romeo?

Karin covers Monique’s ears.

Karin: How insensitive! You know she was lucky enough to skip through that drole play.

Alexis removes Karin’s hands from Monique.

Alexis: Don’t worry about it. It’s a play not worth watching.
But I wanna watch it.
Karin: Besides, that’s like Lee’s favorite jacket, I’m surprised he gave it to anyone.
Alexis: Yeah, I am too. He never even gave it to Alice no matter how cold she was.

Monique looked puzzled as they talked about this girl whom Lee had been with before. Karin shook her head and pushed her towards the clothing section. Monique had picked out the only things she had ever been comfortable with her entire life, a dark-blue hoodie, and a pair of black jeans. Karin looked a tad bit disappointed.

Karin: What about this?

She picked out a pretty sleeveless dress with a silky feel.

Monique: Sorry, I’m not exactly that comfortable with that stuff.
Karin: Why not? You’d look cute in it.
Alexis: Yeah, come on.

Alexis grabbed Monique’s hand and the jacket she wore slipped a little. Scars had covered the entirety of her arm. Some of them looked self-inflicted while others look as if someone had tortured her. As soon as Alexis saw, her face filled with rage as her she crunched up her hands to fists, trembling with anger.

Alexis: Who did this to you? Was it that Ezekiel freak??

Monique nodded, giving off a dejected face.

Alexis: UGH I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL THAT KID.

Karin whispered into Monique’s ear.

Karin: She gets really upset about how people treat other people like objects rather than living beings.

Alexis begins to mock Ezekiel.

Alexis: OH I’m Ezekiel I think I’m the best at everything! Give me my monster of a woman back before I cut your limbs off! HAH! Fucking retard!
Monique: Uh..uhm..I don’t mean to ask…but I’m curious enough to know, what happened back there?
Karin: Alexis managed to utilize a ginormous amount of magic and manifested an illusion of you, we pretended to lose and give you up.
Alexis: Joke’s on them, that illusion only lasts for another 12 hours. I got Karin to rig it with poison to. They’re going to be barfing and shitting their pants for fucking days.

She took a couple of black pants, some black hoodies and long dark colored long t-shirts and forced Monique to change outfits. After Monique figured what size and combination of clothes worked out for her, Alexis took Monique by the hand and led her to the cash register. Karin happily followed.

Alexis: Listen, like hell I would ever actually give you up, but there wasn’t much we could have actually done. I wanted to slaughter each and everyone of them but because they’re native here, there are stupid procedures.
Monique: It’s okay.
Alexis: Best I could do was just poison them, even then I might’ve put myself in trouble.
Monique: Thanks. I...I honestly really appreciate that.

As they walked up to the register and paid for her things, Lee and some other guy walked through the door. The other guy had short carrot orange hair and eyes that shimmered like shamrock gems. Man, these guys stand out.

Other Guy: You guys are a lot harder to find.
Lee: No, this fucking city has too many damn hills with too many fucking blocks and corners. Y’all done here.
Alexis: Just about.

Karin took Monique away from Alexis, taking her to a dressing room.

Karin: We’ll be back don’t miss us too much.
Monique: Uhh?

Karin pushed Monique into a ddressing room, giving her the items, she needed to change into.

Karin: Here, you’ll need this too.

She handed Monique a jar with cream inside. It smelled of lavender and sunflowers.

Monique: What is this?
Karin: It’s cream, for your wounds. It’ll help heal most of the damage caused on your skin. However, the deeper it is, the more likely it’ll just leave smaller scars. Smaller than the ones you have.
Monique: You sure you want to give me this?
Karin: Of course! And if you need more feel free to ask for me. It’s what friends do after all.

Monique blushed as she undressed and applied the medicinal cream all over her hands, ignoring the ones that were scattered on her back. She then put on the clothes she bought and exited out of the dressing room, with the items she dressed out of. Karin took them and placed them in the bag that contained something else at the bottom.

Monique: I’ve never had friends before.
Karin: Well, consider me your first.

Lee had overheard them and pouted. Karin stuck her tongue out at him.

Karin: It’s okay, you can be her fifth friend
Lee: Fifth!?
Alexis: Yeah, I’m second and Danny’s third.
Lee: So, who’s fourth!?
Alexis: Probably either Ken, Terra or Ben when they meet her.
Lee: That’s so unfair, they aren’t even here!
Karin: Wait, if they are here then they’d put you at….
Alexis: Seven. He’d be her seventh best friend.
Karin: Ahh good old lucky number seven.
Alexis: Don’t worry seventh, you’ll still have to look after her over in Eridelium. Monique: Huh??

Danny had given Monique her belongs as well as gave Lee back his communicator as they all exited the store. Monique had confusion all over her face as Lee was practically pushed onto her.

Karin: I’m so sorry, but we’ve been reassigned. Lee can fill you in on the rest as he takes you home.

Danny: Don’t worry about it so much though. We’ll be back soonish
Alexis: Give or take, a couple of months so take care of her for us, yeah?
Karin: We’ll give a proper welcoming party when we get back!

They all set afoot to their new journey, disappearing once turning the street corner, leaving Monique and Lee left behind.

Lee: Look…

He broke the silence as the two set foot back to where they needed to be.

Lee: I understand if you don’t want to talk to me, but I do have some sort of duty to take you home.
Monique: Home?
Lee: Yeah, your new home.

He opened a nearby door, a flash of brilliant light shone through. Flutters of what seemed like fairies wandered to and fro, leading them through the pathway.

Lee: You ready to go?

He reached his hand out to her, she took without a second thought.