Day Two: Evening

[Android 17]

A heavy silence had lain in the air for the last hour or so, and despite the burgeoning sense of trust between the two warriors, neither of them had bothered to interject amidst the journey with small talk. The desert was now long behind them, and the terrain they had now entered into was a rolling expanse of knolls and other assorted prominences. It was a welcome change from the sweltering heat of the southern wastelands, although neither of the two warriors would be willing to admit to the immense physical discomfort they had been in for the last day.

“What happened to you skin,” Minoshia suddenly interjected, ending the perpetual silence of the last few hours. The remark caused the android to pivot on his heels to face the young konat, and with a furrowed brow, Seventeen lifted his hands up to his eyes.

“I’m blue,” the machine-hybrid mumbled, his eyes widening as he wrested with the impossibility of the situation. “Why am I blue?” Seventeen shouted, his azure digits clenching into tight fists as he turned his fiery eyes toward his mohawked cohort. For the life of him, Minoshia could do little more than cross his arms over his chest and stare at the android’s mutated physical complexion. With a scowl, the cybernetic warrior began to violently stomp the soft blanket of grass beneath him.

“Heh,” the konat remarked, his arms swinging back down to his sides as he walked away from the android. “Looks like you got something to work out, so I’m going to scope out the area for some new prey,” with that, Minoshia was gone, vanishing down the hill before the cyborg had a chance to interject.

“You know,” a new voice replied from behind the android. “You really shouldn’t throw a tantrum like a little child,” spinning around, Seventeen found himself staring into the eyes of his girlfriend. Paige was standing a few feet away, a coy smile spread across her delicate facial features. “Even are children are better behaved than you are,” she added, shaking her index finger at the android as she closed the distance between the two of them.

“Wh-what?” Seventeen stammered, leaning away from the woman as he tried to process the situation. “You can’t be here…I’m perfectly sane,” he added, his voice wavering as he scanned his surroundings for any signs that he had slipped into some sort of pseudo-reality or subconscious dream world. When he saw nothing but a lovely panorama of hills showered in the warming glow of moon, he found himself turning back to face the mother of his children.

“Yea…” Paige muttered—her voice a droning slur that was accompanied by a rolling of her vibrant green eyes. “You’ve never been mentally sound, love,” she replied, smiling coyly as she stepped forward and slid her arms around the android’s neck. “I’ve been watching you,” she whispered, placing her chin on her boyfriend’s shoulder.

“Why are you here?” Seventeen rasped, his cold tone of voice wavering for the first time in nearly two days.

“To tell you that you’re a failure,” she whispered as she planted a soft, sensual kiss on the android’s ear. The remark caused Seventeen, who had spent the last day and a half fueled by rage and hatred, to falter for the first time. A snicker escaped the thin lips of the woman as she began to plant light kisses across the android’s neck. “You don’t have what it takes to make it in the abyss, lover. You think you can just take on this big, bad boy moniker and vow you’re going to strike down your friends, but in the end, you’ll fold like the big ole woman you are. Look at you, you try to be all jolly about killing Bujin, yet you’re girly subconscious is trying to take it out on you.”

“Shut up,” Seventeen murmured, his lips quavering as he fought to ignore the woman’s words. “You don’t know me,” he mumbled, his voice a frail whisper as he stared at the moon. As he tried to fight against the desire to break down, he took the woman by the shoulders and pulled her out in front of him. “Stop tormenting me,” he shouted, his eyes starting to flicker with a primal fury.

“I know you better than anyone, lo—” the woman’s words were cut off by the sound of bones breaking. A gasp escaped Paige’s small mouth as her eyes fell down to see the forearm of her boyfriend jutting through her thorax. “Well played,” she murmured sadly as a trail of blood began to trickle down the corner of her mouth.

“I don’t need you, so stay out of my way,” the android growled, leaning forward and planting a kiss on the woman’s blood-stained lips. On that note, he wrenched his arm free from her innards and shoved her to the ground. With a thud, Paige hit the ground and simply blinked out of existence.

“What the hell is going on?” Minoshia shouted, having heard the android’s shouts and rasps from the bottom of the hillside. As the konat reached the apex of the hill, he noticed that his partner was glaring at the ground with a strange sort of animalistic fury. “You’re skin is normal,” the dark prince muttered, rolling his eyes as he filed the situation away as one of the android’s bizarre tangents. “Could probably do for a tan, but meh…”

“Let’s go,” Seventeen said, looking down at his bloody forearm. Despite standing only a few feet away, Minoshia was seemingly oblivious to the gore that stained the android’s arm. “I…I-I need to hurt something,” he growled as small flames of red ki began to glow to life around his body.