Pain courses through Jack’s body, blocking out every sense and thought while every cell in his body screamed in pain. Jack’s bones were ground to dust, and reformed, his muscles, tendons, nerves, and organs exploded before reassembling themselves. Jack focused on staying conscious, while desperately writhing on the ground, unable to even scream as his body rapidly evolved. Many seconds passed and Jack stopped moving, laying silently next to Val, who couldn’t see him due to her inability to turn her head.

“Jack?”

Val asked cautiously through her mask, confused as to what was wrong with him. There was no response. The booming steps drew closer, shaking the ground beneath the pair of bodies lying on the ground, and Val prepared herself to die. She knew that she would die one day, and probably not of natural causes, and was just thankful she died by the hands of a monster than in her sleep, it fit her personality better.

Valkyrie number one had always been alone, not because of some tragic backstory, but because of her personality. She preferred to be alone, not needing to worry about someone else’s well-being, not having anyone to lose, or anyone being sad when she died. Over the past few days she had grown accustomed to being around Jack, and had even started to care about him, but he was dead now, and no amount of caring could bring him back. She regretted nothing, therefore she had a good life and a satisfying death, there was no reason to look back.

Val told herself these things as tears streamed down her face, reacting to the pain she felt in the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t stop thinking of Jack, memories of conversations they had, the bland jokes he made, and how he treated her like a human, rather than a robot. She didn’t fear death, but she didn’t want Jack to die, and all she could do was lay on the ground, weighed down by the this damned suit that had saved her life on many occasions.

A creature about ten feet tall with grey skin and tusks approached Val wielding the trunk of a tree that was about three feet in diameter, and eight feet long as it’s weapon, and wearing only a loincloth. The orc gave out a deafeningly loud roar that filled Val’s ears and raised the trunk over it’s head. Val thought she noticed a slight movement next to her, but was distracted by the tree trunk descending rapidly towards her. She felt a violent jerk, and closed her eyes in anticipation of what comes next.

However Val did not die, and decided, hesitantly, to open her eyes, and what she saw through her tear-filled eyes were beautiful pink irises surrounding a black pupil. They were Jack’s eyes. He had apparently moved her when the orc attacked, and was now leaning over her, and resting her head on the ground gently. After he finished, he stood, and that’s when Val noticed something off; his left arm was hanging limply, and moved more like a noodle than an arm.

“Don’t worry.”

Jack said calmly.

“I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you.”

Jack turned to face the orc, who roared in frustration, beating the tree against the concrete which let out a series of vibrations into the ground. The orc’s eyes, which had been black previously, began emitting a sapphire blue light, staring at Jack with a twisted, angry expression. Sparks lit up the orc’s body, flowing through the tree trunk, and into the ground, shooting out occasionally to strike nearby objects as the orc began to approach it’s target. Jack edged away from Val to keep her safe from stray attacks, and began moving towards the orc, his own irises glowing pink in defiance.

A bolt of electricity lashed out towards the boy, and struck the ground where he stood, but Jack had already moved, faster than a normal human could see, he shot straight toward the monster. The orc barely had time to bring the tree trunk up to use as a shield, but the orc’s opponent was much smarter than the beasts it had fought in the past, and sidestepped the tree coated in electricity, and continued the attack. Jack stood directly in front of his opponent, who stared down in shock at his immense speed, his face blank and almost dazed, swaying back and forth as if he was barely standing, his left arm just a lump of flesh. The orc smiled seeing Jack’s weak state, and chuckled, bringing it’s leg around in a sweeping motion. The boy vanished. The orc’s eyes widened as Jack’s knee came in contact with it’s nose, causing it’s face to dip inward and it’s skull to shatter into it’s brain. The electricity exploded out, knocking the boy straight up in the air, and blowing the orc’s head in every direction, coating it’s surroundings in assorted internal structures.

Jack’s body fell to the ground next to the orc, landing on his feet, and standing up straight before stumbling, too weak to stand as the adrenaline disappeared. Val, whose movement was returned when the orc died, quickly approached him, catching him as he collapsed unconscious.

Jack woke with a start, sitting up rapidly as the adrenaline hit his system, memories flood back into his head as he remembered his situation. Jack’s eyes searched for the monster that should be nearby, but instead of the dreary back alley he was expecting, what he saw was the inside of his room. He spent a couple of minutes controlling his breathing to settled down as he realized there was no threat, laid his head back down on his pillow, and rolled over on his right side, closing his eyes. His nose tingled as warm air collided with his face, and he reached up to scratch his nose with his right hand, when it collided with something warm and soft, almost like a heated cushion.

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In confusion Jack opened his eyes, and, two inches from his face were a pair of eyes, which were closed and sleeping. His eyes followed the person’s figure down, seeing a small frame wearing only one of his shirts hanging loosely on a delicate body that looks like it could break with the slightest touch. That was obviously not true though since his hand had brushed up against this person’s stomach, pushing the shirt up, and painting a pretty erotic picture.

“Hmmmn...”

The person stirred, silver hair that hung almost down to the figure’s knees shifted as the breathing became deeper, and the owner moved. The person lifted themselves up, with still closed eyes, and Jack got a clean view down the shirt. While still underdeveloped, it was undeniably a girl. Jack removed his hand, and tried to slide away, but the girl, who had lifted herself up in a daze collapsed on him, and returned to her deep sleep while clenching her fists against his chest, which was heavily bandaged, and resting her face on her hands.

“Jack? Are you here?”

Oh shit, Jenny was here, and looking for him, if she walked in on this, she might kill him. He looked down at the sleeping beauty who was sleeping peacefully with a blank expression, and tried to figure out what to do.

“H-hey, you have to wake up.”

Jack placed his hands on the girl’s shoulders, and whispered in her ear. She stirred, and her eyes flickered open, looking up at his face, while turning bright red, and started trembling.

‘Oh no... this is going to end poorly.’

Jack braced himself for a scream, but nothing happened. He looked back, and only saw her eyes become glassy, and tears began to form at the base of her eyes. Jack noticed her eyes were not a normal color, they had a golden irises, which alarmed him a little bit, but they showed no signs of hostility, so he remained calm.

“Jack?”

Jenny was still looking for him, and his apartment wasn’t that big, so it wouldn’t take long before she would discover them.

“Um... I don’t know who you are, but you need to hide, like right now.”

The girl considered his words, blinking away the tears that were forming while he anxiously waited, before shaking her head vigorously, and wrapping her arms around him. Jack stared for a second, and then quickly tried to pry her off, being careful not to hurt her, but her grip just tightened in defiance.

“Jack, you wouldn’t believe the kind of day I-“

Jenny opened Jack’s bedroom door, and froze, a shocked look on her face, that rapidly turned into anger that was poorly hidden by a smiling face.

“Jack... who’s this?”

’oh, shit.’

(Jack! Run! Enemy! Enemy!)

Jenny was far scarier than any monster he had seen so far, approaching at a terrifying speed, hence Ellis’s warning. Jack slid to the back of his bed, and propped his back on the wall behind him, raising his hands in submission. Jenny stopped, eyes growing wide as her anger melted, and the blanket fell away. Jack looked at her face for a moment, then followed her gaze to his left arm, or lack there of. Just below his elbow, his arm was wrapped with a white bandage, but ended much sooner than it was supposed to. His arm was cut off at the top of the forearm.

“Jack...”

This was the first time Jack had ever seen Jenny become speechless, but he didn’t blame her, he couldn’t quite grasp it himself.

(I told you, if you forced magic through your body while injured, there would be consequences.)

Ellis’s voice was soft as she explained what happened, but Jack already knew, and had prepared for this outcome when he decided to fight the orc. At least he’s not dead, and compared to the options he had during the fight, this was a small sacrifice.

“My...fault...”

The silver-haired girl’s voice caught the others’ attention, drawing their gaze. She had still not let go of Jack, and was hugging him tightly with her face against his chest.

“It’s my fault Jack lost his arm.”

She spoke clearly the second time through, and Jack thought Jenny’s head was going to explode as her angry-but-smiling face returned, this time directed at the girl, who cowered , burying her face in his chest. Jack thought hard, trying to remember what happened before he passed out, and quickly grasped some of his memories, just flashes of an orc, followed by pain, then Val standing over him.

‘Speaking of which... Where is Val? She must have survived since I made it back home...’

His eyes drifted over to the girl next to him, but he shook his head, dismissing the ridiculous thought.

‘She said it was her fault I lost my arm. Surely the orc didn’t turn into this... them maybe she was controlling the orc? No... she likely wouldn’t let me live after completely disabling me, not to mention Val wouldn’t trust her enough to bring her here.’

Jack tried to figure out the connection between himself and this girl as Jenny slowly approached them with killing intent directed towards the girl, and that’s when his he spoke again.

“I was going to die, and he sacrificed his arm to help me.”

The girl seemed to have collected herself a little, and spoke with a flat, but not exactly uncute, voice.

Jenny’s killing intent lessened. Maiming intent popped into Jack’s head, but he decided against saying this joke out loud.

“Val?”

Jack looked at the girl, who lifted her face and matched his gaze.

“Yes?”

“You do know her!?”

Jenny’s anger was beginning to fade into surprise as shocking revelations kept on popping out.

“Yes, I live with him.”

Val responded before Jack could with the truth, blunt and unashamed. Jenny just stood there for several seconds, looking back and forth between the two, a wicked smile forming across her face as an idea popped into her head. She approached the bed, and wedged her arm between the two in in bed, then proceeded to pry Val off Jack. It took several minutes, but Jenny, with the help of Jack were able to pry her off. Val’s face remained unchanged, as Jenny carried her under one of her arms.

“I’ll go get her some clothes. When I come back, we are going to have a talk... for real this time, no matter what your missing, or who you have in your bed, got it?”

Jack nodded, submitting to Jenny’s demands. Jenny turned and walked out of the room, with Val under her arm, closing the door behind her.

“Are you going to kill me?”

Val asked once Jack was out of earshot. Jenny praised the girl in her mind, she had already figured out her personality, but she still didn’t understand her obsession.

“No. Jack trusts you, and that is something he doesn’t give out easily. What I want is to talk.”

“About what?”

Jenny’s smile returned.

“About Jack.”