As much as I adored Athan, from his adorable little heroic ideals to the way he could fill a suit, I had to admit, sometimes things were a whole lot more fun without him. Especially in this town, which had some truly bizarre culture I could get behind, as well as surprisingly strict leash laws.

I gave the leash a little yank. "Don't dawdle," I chirped, singsong at my pet.

There probably was an approximation of worry inside me, coming from whatever worry gland I was supposed to have. Athan had, after all, been 'rescued' like I had, like Karu had. Soran, of all damn people, had just shown up in the middle of the battlefield and chucked us into next week, across two states.

He had a pretty good arm. He should've considered going pro. Perhaps his tendency to murder people and drink their souls might have an impact on his signing prospects, but on the other hand, baseball was pretty boring anyway, so perhaps that was just the spicing-up the sport needed.

"Come on," I said, yanking the leash again. "We're almost home." My pet growled at me, and I gave her a withering glare, pointing a finger in her face. "No growling. Bad."

The few seconds I was with Soran were also...a heck of a thing. I'd only had moments to peek inside his mind before he hucked me off, but in that time, pheew. There were some monstrous inner workings going on there. I could hardly see through the outer layers of his thoughts, but he was considering everything, constantly. Carefully measuring how he held himself, how he spoke, every tedious quality of every action was exacting, painfully precise. I'd been able to dig out a few juicy tidbits, but for the most part, just madness.

So yeah, he seemed completely insane to me. Probably a bad combination to pair with being able to absorb new powers constantly. Just underneath his incredibly-constructed exterior dwelled a churning, burning, white-hot black ball of hate. Irritation and anger at all things, perfectionism and OCD taken to the next level -- one of those real psychos who would kill you for chewing too loudly or not eating your food off your plate clockwise enough.

I thought we should hang out more sometime. But if he insisted on blowing away XPCA and chucking me out of a bad situation into this one, I could take that too.

"What?" I snipped as my pet started dragging again. "Do you want to sniff that tree? Do you need to pee again? What?"

"This is demeaning beyond words," Karu growled at me from the other end of the leash. "I cannot even begin to consider how I can repay you for this injustice."

"Shush now," I said, yanking the leash and Karu with it, pulled along by her choker. "Good bitches don't talk."

She tried to say something back at me, to bite back, but instead her eyes watered in frustration as the compel held and she bit her lip hard enough to draw a bead of blood. I fished in my purse -- a pointlessly expensive minaudière I was bearing to go with my nouveau riche couture -- whipping out a tissue and wiping that up for her, enjoying how the tan of her skin contrasted with the white of her eyes and the red of her very, very, very embarrassed face.

We finished our walk and got back 'home', which was again, embarrassingly expensive; just a house I'd walked into and informed the owner was now mine. It was a nice little rowhouse, quintessential San Francisco, from its brightly-colored walls to the chintzy little chandelier which hung in the too-small foyer area, which was pretending badly that it wasn't just a useless part of the living room.

"Wasn't that good walkies?" I asked Karu, squeezing both of her cheeks affectionately as I unclipped the leash. With it went the compel, and immediately, she grabbed hold my neck and squeezed until I heard and felt an unpleasant, painful cracking, my own face flushing red as I wheezed through my crushed windpipe.

I let her do that a few more times until she dropped me and settled for swearing and berating my utter void of morals. Which, being utterly void, were unphased by the berating.

"You'll get arthritis if you keep that up," I said, as she clenched and unclenched her hands at me like she was ready to go another few rounds with my neck.

"I will go mad if I do not."

"Oh you're already mad. All sorts of ways."

Her face twitched, not at all like a crazy-persons, and she bit back a retort and cleared her throat. "What I wish to know is why you insist on prolonging this humiliation? Why will you not simply let me go my own way?"

I picked myself up and headed in towards the rest of the house. "I've told you a thousand times sweetcheeks," I said, giving her butt a firm swat as I passed, and getting punched in the back of the head in turn. "Ow. It's because you owe me."

"Yes, we have established that. You heroically connived and manipulated others to your wiles in order to provide me with the medical services I required to stay alive."

"And food and housing. And clothes."

She glanced down at the trashy goth ensemble I'd put her into, a sheer top over a v-neck with extremely distressed jeans. It really brought out her curves.

She swallowed again. "Yes, of course. As I said, I am obviously grateful for the medical assistance. However, when you stipulated that I owed you something in return, I anticipated...something of value. An enemy to be crushed, or an exchange of wealth or technology. Something...meritorious. Something…"

"Not this?" I said, swinging the leash around my finger.

Her eyes darkened. "Not that."

"Well, plum puddin', you should know by now, enemies of mine don't live very long. Things I want, I don't have a problem taking. And it's not like I ever need anything. Biggest problem for me, by far, is being bored."

"Bored," she echoed.

"Yep. So it's almost downright offensive to me that you'd put so little value in your own entertainment value. These little walks around town have been the highlight of my day."

"But I have so much more capability to offer," she pleaded. "I am strong and competent...allow me to...to find something else...anything else…"

"Oh honeydew," I cradled her chin lovingly until she twisted my finger backwards with a snap. "Ow. I am playing to your strengths. You're so messed up inside your head, it's lovely. I don't just drag you out there to parade you around, you know? It's all about the reaction."

She froze, her seething glare burning into me. I started to bend over backwards as more of my fingers were twisted and snapping painfully.

"Reaction how?" she growled.

"Ow. How? More like how not? You have this whole masochistic streak going on--"

"I do NOT."

"--and never in your life have you ever been a fan of someone else ordering you around. Except your ol' pappy, so that brings up some mixed feelings--"

"I rescind this line of questioning."

"--to say nothing of the fact you honestly get off on attention of all kinds. Good, bad, you don't care--"

"I understand your meaning!" she shouted. "Desist!"

"And you hate me. But your brain's getting all confused by all these signals, good, bad,, subservience, hate, shame." I batted my eyes at her. "Arousal."

I woke up on the floor and giggled as she clenched and unclenched her hands a few more times.

"Told you you'll get arthritis from doing that."

"...how much longer?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"Won't be long now. What day is it?"

"The fourth of May."

"Then after tomorrow, I guess," I said, stretching and standing again. I went as far as the luxurious and uncomfortable couch before falling over again, glancing back at her one more time before I slumped down.

Not because I needed to see her face to know what she was thinking, but because I knew what she was thinking and wanted to witness the face that went along with it.

She was a conflicted mess over there. She was mostly surprised to hear there was an end in sight. But as that ebbed away, her cynicism and that delightful Exhuman-hate set in, and she began to question what kind of 'end' I had in mind for her. Scenarios flitted through her mind of all the ways things might get better, or worse.

Foremost was obviously, if I'd just kill her because she'd lost my interest. A close second was the fear that this may be coming to an end, and I'd be forcing her to do something even worse in exchange. Whoring jumped immediately to her mind, which I found unfair to assume of me. It's not like I really ever wanted more people thinking vile things around me at all times.

My favorite by far was the small part of her that had gotten used to our little walks and was sad to see them go. I wasn't lying about her being a messed-up little masochist. Even the back-and-forth we'd developed had become somewhat routine. Even counting the killings, she'd had a lot more fire in her when I'd started this. Nowadays she was mostly just pleading with me instead of spouting pointless threats.

It'd been a fun little diversion, but the truth was, it really was coming to an end after tomorrow. I'd seen the glimpse of it in Soran's mind, unsure whether he'd chosen to show it to me or it was just a happy coincidence, but it was there, and he was powerful enough that I didn't doubt it for a moment. It made for a nice vacation, really, just waiting for that date to roll around.

"So...you do not jest? There is no lingering compel or stipulation or demand you would levy on me?" she asked.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"I wouldn't mind if you could lay off the killing. It is kind of a huge waste of time." She started to respond and I cut her off. "I know you've promised me a death more painful and eternal than ever before, yes, yes. Just pretend you did that. I did you a solid, you entertained me for a few weeks, I think we're all even without anyone needing to die."

Her mouth closed, and then opened, and then closed again, where it stayed for several seconds as she mulled it over. I could see her thinking that's fair, but also not willing to let me get off without something brutal and devastating as her public humiliation had been. But then, of course, technically I had saved her life, and I'd also allowed her to vent her frustrations on killing me as much as she wanted...ineffective though that may be…

It was fun to watch her go. I hadn't spent a lot of time with Karu ever, and for the longest time she'd insisted on filling her head with that obnoxious jingle whenever we were together. Athan tended to think things through in a sort of backwards, goal-oriented way: Start at where things should be, and trace backwards from there to figure out what course of action to take. Karu, on the other hand, was much more experience-based; she had a lot of things she'd tackled in her past already, and tended to focus on comparing those experiences to any current situation she faced.

It was a fun mind to follow because I got a bunch of vignettes as a bonus. As she sat here and pondered, her mind flickered back through other difficult decisions she'd had to make, her time at basic, signing her first hunting contract, her apprehension at choosing to clear a technopath's lair solo. And as they flashed by, I got to see through these little windows into her past, like a clip show episode that didn't suck.

But in the end, she just nodded tersely at me, resolving that whatever trick I was going to pull, she'd deal with it when it arose. It did her no good to antagonize me, and...honestly, what we both knew from the start, with her brain in the palm of my hand anyway, it wasn't like she could refuse or stop me if I wanted anyway.

And then she sat opposite me, watching me, just thinking.

Waiting.

Staring.

This was how we'd spent most of the last few weeks. At first I thought she was just doing her righteous crusader duty to make sure I wasn't setting orphanages on fire or anything...which was a ridiculous notion, as setting orphans themselves on fire got much better results. But as the endless hours passed, and I got more and more bored with just eavesdropping on the people around us, I found myself turning in on her more often.

And of course, found her thoughts all focused on me. Most of them unflattering, and most of those well-deserved. But also a question haunted her which she wanted more than anything to ask, but also knew she would never get a straight answer for. It was driving her crazy, and frankly, driving me crazy as well.

Because I wasn't quite clear on the answer myself. In fact, it was quite plausible I'd invented this whole 'pet' thing just to provide a dismissive explanation for it, so I wouldn't have to think about it too hard. But then blondie over there ruins it all by thinking about it hard enough for the both of us.

So. Why did I save her?

At the time I hadn't even really given it any thought. She'd been fighting alongside us, she'd been willing to fight and die against the XPCA for the sake of Athan, Lia, Moon, Tem, and Whitney. Or, at least, willing to benefit them while she worked out her own psycho urges. But whatever her reason, she was part of the team, and after she and I had been saved by the skin of our teeth, it seemed only natural to continue treating her as such.

Being 'on a team' was kind of a new and neat concept for me, and it was just a wee bit unnerving how easily I'd found myself falling for it. But that was ridiculous, wasn't it? Neither she nor I were fully on-board team Athan, because I was just doing it for fun and she was a psycho bitch.

Except I'd been in her head for a while now and she didn't seem like a psycho bitch to me, and I didn't seem like I was just doing it all for the giggles either. It was a little frustrating that both of us were all wrapped up in these personae we'd cultivated carefully, and neither of us even had the fun of having our disguises pulled off by Athan so he could admire the bare naked beauty of the 'real' us underneath. Instead we were the girls who sat at the edge of the party until our costumes got a little too hot and then took them off, apparently.

I held my face in my hands. I was overthinking this. Like I overthought pretty much everything, pretty much always. Horrible habit to have, picked it up when I had nothing to do but think for a bit there. 'Course, at the same time, it was keeping me from having to address the real question, so I guess that was productive.

I'd just about resolved to get one of our neighbors irrationally pissy at her husband for not doing something he'd promised to do months ago when Karu broke my little reverie by speaking.

"If we are at the end of this...whatever this has been...I feel as though I would be remiss should I not at least ask the burning question."

I moved my hands off my face and looked at her. Prim and poised, despite the punky clothing I'd put her in. Her hair was growing in again, and looked like a miniature blonde version of those british guards' hats, just hair kinda going in all directions in the general shape of a head. Her eyes blazed green at me, and I went back behind my hands.

"I told you. A thousand and one times now, it'd be more boring with you dead than alive. I only saved you so I could have my way with you, that's all."

She smiled grimly. "Saga, as slick as you think you are, you consistently underestimate something."

"Oh?" I swiveled to match her gaze. "And what's that? Your rigid mental discipline? Your piercing insight?"

"No," she smiled. "Your own powers. We have been paired for weeks now, in near-constant contact, and your powers are more of a two-way street than you believe." I frowned at her, but her smile wasn't mocking or triumphant, it was stony, still, resigned. "As much as you have seen me pondering this question in my head, so have I seen it turning over in yours. And with our parting soon at hand...I urge you to think it over."

"And why would I want to do that?" I asked, standing up to leave. "It was clearly a mistake."

"You say that because you believe me better off dead?"

"I say that because this conversation would be skipped if you were."

I reached the dining room, as small but packed with affluence as the rest of the house, and heard the clicking of boots as Karu followed me. I closed the door, and it reopened in my face, with her standing in it.

"Take a hint," I told her.

"I do not see why it is so difficult for you to answer one simple question. To face one simple question, even."

"I do what I want, and I don't wanna do it. How hard can that be to understand?"

"It is hard to understand because you are making it exceedingly so. Look at you, storming through the house like a child fleeing from chores. I thought you considered yourself a bastion of mental fortitude, and yet faced with this--"

She cut off as I clenched a fist at her, her train of thought suddenly derailed by my powers. She sputtered stupidly for a moment, glaring at me in frustration.

"Childish," she spat.

"What of it, huh? Child is the last thing I was in this shitty world, I figure the world owes me a childhood still."

"Do not change the subject and mark yourself a victim. We are discussing--"

I cut her off again, and in turn she punched me in the side of the head, dropping me painfully through a chair. Something cracked, and I think it was not the chair.

But I wasn't in the mood for playing her games right now. When she came at me again, I dropped her consciousness from under her, watching her stagger as the urge to sleep overwhelmed her. She blinked blearily at me.

And in falling forward, thrust her head out so she'd slam her crown into my spine, breaking something else and the spell I had on her. She came to in an instant, still on top of me, and got her fists punching.

It felt like an hour the two of us rolled through tablecloths and shattered expensive vases and glassware on each other, almost always with her doing the pummelling, barking the questions at me, while I just tried to get one second to myself to put her down.

Because fuck her, if she was asking why I saved her dumb blonde ass by beating the hell out of me, the answer was obviously going to be 'oh, my mistake.'

But it wasn't an hour, and I didn't kill her. It was maybe ten minutes, and by the end of it she was punched out, panting for breath, cuts and bruises all across her arms, with one crimson gash on her cheek where she'd caught a piece of glass. She glared and smoldered, chest rising and falling with dramatic movements most men could only dream of. And while she'd stopped, while she was tired and sore and cut up and her arms hung heavy, her eyes never stopped burning.

Me, I was practicing my home DIY, making a nest out of a perfectly ordinary household table, and several liters of homemade blood. It was a work in progress, but I thought it'd make a good conversation starter.

"Why, do you do that?" she hissed through clenched teeth.

"Do what?"

"Your stupid jokes. Narrating your own life like everything in it is a mere fucking joke all of the goddamn time. You observe nothing with reverence, least of all your own being."

"You heard that?"

"I hear most things you think, I informed you."

I frowned at her, honestly a bit embarrassed. Talking still wasn't exactly natural for me, so it was a pretty solid filter to make sure only the best of my work made it out for the public to enjoy. The works in my head were exactly that for a reason.

"Again," she hissed. "Again you are doing it."

"It's not something I turn off, okay?"

"Just be honest with me for one minute of your goddamned existence and tell me what I want to know."

"WHY," I shouted at her, physically and mentally, seeing her flinch at it. "DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?"

She seemed unsure herself for just a moment, and then grinned, looking a proper blood-streaked maniac. What I saw in her mind pissed me off all over again.

"YES," I shouted. "I CAN BE SERIOUS. You've PISSED me off, and now I'm SERIOUSLY PISSED OFF. Keep it up if you want your head caved in, because I'm really close, you understand? You keep pushing me, and pushing me, and pushing me, and yeah, I'll get pissed. So fuck off!"

She clenched and unclenched her fists, her arms too heavy to lift, but the smile never left her lips, triumphant that she'd finally gotten anything out of me. Smug, cocky, little bitch, I could show her just what kind of pain she was calling down. She thought a leash was humiliating? Next time she'd be naked, with the fucking leash sticking out of--

"I need to know," she said, her triumph fading back into seriousness "...because it means everything to me."

"That's stupid," I told her.

She glared at me. "I agree. But that does not change the fact that once upon a time, I believed all Exhumans villainous and craven, until I met one who was both honorable and courageous, and he showed me this by challenging me--" she gestured down at the ensemble she was gussied up in "--and by showing me mercy when I did not deserve it."

Oh.

"The notions that he awoke in me through his actions terraformed my entire world, replacing preconceptions I had held since birth. Eventually, I changed to accept the new facts I could not account for in my old model. It was painful, but liberating, and I have never been so happy nor so free. Yet now, there is another who has spared my life, whom I considered irredeemably evil, whose very thoughts I share, and yet, I know not why she chose to do so."

Oh. Goddamn.

"So you see. I wish to know if I have another revelation coming, or another mid-life crisis, or catharsis...or if it truly all just is randomness and games for you. I wish to know very badly, and though I am loathe to...open up to you, as it were, I do not believe there is any other way for me to get my answer."

Well. Shit.

I looked at her, all blazing with passion and fire and...maybe for the first time, even had a little respect for it. A teensy amount, if any. I'd liked who Karu had become since her transformation, comparatively, and yet, I was still completely blindsided that she was this introspective about it. Most people just changed gradually, bumping along life and having their edges worn down until they were a comfortable shape. Karu...didn't do things that way.

The crazy bitch.

I leaned back into my nest of table-rubble and thought at her, spending just a moment to really ponder...why. If she could open up to me, I could give her that, at least, I thought.

But in the end, both of us were left looking at each other with shaking heads.

"Sorry," I said, at last.

"I understand."

"I'd like to know, too," I admitted. "I just...did it. I guess."

She smiled, and to my surprise, extended me one of her arms, heavy and battered though it was. I took it and she pulled me up easily.

"Do not apologize, and do not worry. There is earnesty and honor in acting without thought."

"I know," I sighed. "Athan does it all the time."

"That he does. Perhaps if there is any concern to be had, it should be that you wind up exactly like him."

She was grinning at me, so this time I punched her in the head, though it only made her laugh. What a fucking joke, me, winding up like Athan.

I laughed, and Karu laughed. But in the open mind we shared, the both of us also thought.