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It is a lazy sunday afternoon and the customers trickle sparsely into the Cous Coussier. Nonetheless, Chiyoko buzzes to greet each new person that walks through the double doors and guides them happily to empty tables. Gotou loyally follows in her footsteps, offering her any assistance that she may require. You take the lull in business as an opportunity to lounge in a cool corner of the restaurant. Lazily, you drum your fingers against the table and rest your chin on your hand. You have been watching your phone ceaselessly in hope that someone, anyone, would message you. Apparently your patience is rewarding because the little screen on the top of your phone lights up displaying "1 new message" and the whole device vibrates gently. The sudden alert jolts you and you nearly bite your tongue in surprise. With your free hand, you grab the device and flip it open. A small smile turns up the corners of your mouth as you see who the sender of the message is.
Your brother has been messaging you nonstop because he knows how worried you get about him especially after the previous "missing person" scare. He wants to assure you that he is indeed "all there". Your brother's sweet personality is surely a relief compared to that of the one who inhabited his body for quite some time. However, after "that one"'s resurrection, he seemed to maintain and prefer a separate body. (Yet it still looked exactly like the appearance he took when he "possessed" your brother. He just got too attached.)
'At the market today. Want anything?' Was what the text read. Oh how considerate your brother was! You shudder out a sigh and punch in a response, requesting him to buy more milk and apples because you were running low. After pressing "send", you shut your phone and rest it once again on the table.
Chiyoko unexpectedly settles by your side, meriting a shocked eep from you. Gosh, you were on edge today.
"Hina, honey, you look bored!" She grabs your cheek playfully and tugs you so your gaze meets hers. She is forcing a faux frown and awaits your response. She looks all set to reprimand you for not working.
"Oh- no. Besides I was just about to get back to work." You stand up, embarrassed at being caught taking advantage of the shortage of customers. Chiyoko grabs your wrist with an apologetic look on her face.
"No I wasn't saying-" Chiyoko huffs out a sigh and purses her lips, letting go of your wrist before smiling up at you. "Feel free to take a break for a while. I think Gotou and I have got today covered." She gives an unsatisfied look, insinuating her displeasure with the amount of today's customers. "Besides, Eiji and Ankh-y should be back any minute-" Her voice trails off, distracted, and almost right on cue, the double doors swing open, pouring in warm sunlight as Eiji and Ankh walk in, Eiji with a slight limp but a smile on his face and Ankh staring coldly at the floor. You immediately run up to Eiji and place your hand on his shoulder, stopping him from his route to his makeshift living quarters. Giving him a sympathetic look, you ask,"Eiji, are you alright? Did you get hurt, I noticed your limp... Oh goodness you aren't fighting anymore are you?" Your brow creases at that realization. The Greeed (except for Ankh) haven't shown themselves for months and the Yummy threats and incidents have only been fairly minor, meaning that there is indeed still danger. You just wish that all that would vanish! You are tired of the belts and medals and yummies and Greeed and want to just dismiss it as if it were a bad dream. Of course, you did make a frien- (well you weren't sure if THAT feeling was mutual) an acquaintance that has changed your life. Not exactly for the better, but he definitely has impacted you a lot. You give that someone a small smile as a greeting but he continues to stare at the floor, not even acknowledging you.
Eiji returns the shoulder grasp to you, patting your shoulder and laughing while beaming at you. "Nah, I'll be alright. I just tripped during a hunch-chase after a Yummy."
"Do you need anything? Water? Ice? Ice candy?" You grin devilishly at the last item of the list because it certainly caught Ankh's attention. The mention of his favorite human food caused him to snap up and peer curiously towards you and likely curses you under his breath for toying with his attention. You purse your lips and attempt to suppress a giggle. Still same old Ankh.
"Ice would be alright," Eiji admits as he begins to hobble off to his room, Ankh trailing after him. Chiyoko runs up behind Eiji and ruffles his hair in an affectionate way as she greets him. She appears as though she is about to do the same to Ankh but then he shoots her a glance that could stab right through stone, as if to say how dare you even think about touching me. Chiyoko laughs nervously, withdrawing her hand before turning her attention to a couple of customers who just walked in. As Ankh passes you, you see the medal case you got him tucked under his arm. He's clutching it rather possessively. Just seeing him being so protective of it makes you much happier than it should and you can't help but smile at him, which is returned by a quick glance.
You make your way to the cramped kitchen which is quite empty even the fridge and freezer taking up a very miniature section of space. The freezer housed the ice you were after. You bound the ice in a plastic bag as well as a few towels to prevent the condensation from leaking. Something else catches your eye: a half full box of ice candy that Ankh has no doubt been plowing through. You sigh and snag one of the candies for yourself, because today was an unreasonably hot day and no way were you going to die of heatstroke even if that meant being shunned by Ankh for a few days.
"Here you go," You prop Eiji's leg over the bundled up bag of ice, making sure he is padded and comfortable in his bed. He gives you a grateful nod and winces slightly and you withdraw your hand guiltily, realizing you may have been too hard with positioning his foot.
"It's okay!" Eiji assures you, lightly shaking his hands in front of him to show that it wasn't a big deal. You pat his leg, making sure not to hurt him and then begin to leave the room. It takes you a moment to realize that Ankh is not sitting up on his raised bed, and when you do you quickly pan around the room in search of him. Alas, he is nowhere to be found. You twirl around to Eiji and cock your head to the side looking like a confused puppy.
“Where’s-” apparently that is all you need to say because Eiji just nods understandingly and points to the back window. It is open and the sheer curtains are billowing lightly due to a breeze.You instinctively rush to close the window, scolding no one in particular under your breath about how to not leave windows open on hot days. “If you need anything, just call!” You chirp to Eiji as you rush from the room. The ice candy in your hand is getting a bit melty and you better eat it soon. However that is not what is on your mind at the moment. You don’t know why but you wanted to find Ankh. You know exactly where he is right of course, but you knew where he was more often because if he and your brother have anything in common, it’s that they can both make you very, very worried. Not only that, but he has been seeming a bit distant to you lately. It is rare to spark up a full conversation anymore because he always looks distracted or extremely annoyed and most of his responses to your questions are simple shrugs or occasionally a “tch”. You hate to admit it but you kind of missed talking to him.
Without thinking, you whisk yourself past Chiyoko and Gotou, who almost fall in a shocked daze. You burst through the Cous Coussier doors, hardly remembering the scorching heat outside. The sun is beginning to set which makes the view at least enjoyable. The purples and crimsons that streak across the sky remind you of the colorful plumage of a peacock. Speaking of birds… you turn around to face the Cous Coussier and look up. And there he is- perched up on the roof in a very avian manner, staring blankly at the sky. You had no plan of how to approach him. What would you say? Wow you are unprepared. You sigh and walk to the back alley of the restaurant. A high chain link fence serves as your ladder up to the roof as you hike up the skirt of your dress to get a better foothold. The only difficulty was climbing while holding the ice candy in one hand. Regardless, climbing it is easy because of your strength, so you scale the fence with ease and before you know it, you are standing at the edge of the roof. You put on an encouraging smile. That smile isn’t for Ankh. It’s for yourself because heaven knows you are going to need courage for this. You delicately and noiselessly tread over to the peak of the roof and settle a few feet from Ankh, looking nervously at the sunset. A few minutes pass and neither of you say a word. You muster enough courage to hold the ice candy out towards Ankh and say,
“Here, I brought you this.” You didn’t really. It was actually for yourself but whatever. You figured that maybe it would come in handy as a peace offering.
He examines it and then picks it swiftly from your grasp. He precedes to take a large bite from the top and offer what you receive as a muffled “thank you”.
“You don’t have to do that, you know,” You sigh and push a lock of dark hair out of your face. He looks at you quizzically, stopping mid-bite.
“What?” He turns fully towards you now so you can see the whole of his face. His brows crease and his eyes search yours as he tries to make sense of what you mean.
“You are still making your hand look human,” You gesture to his right hand, which he flexes instinctively. “I don’t mind it, you know. Your real hand.” you place emphasis on the “I” in hopes of that establishing a more personal connection with him. His expression hasn’t shifted but he has taken the ice candy away from his mouth so he can purse his lips in realization. Then he grins condescendingly and lets out a scoff.
“The first time you saw my real hand, you ripped me off of my host and slammed me into the ground with the force of ten gorillas.” At least he’s smiling, even if it is at his own stupid wittiness. His use of “my host” instead of “your brother” makes you squirm inside with anger, but you don’t let it show. Instead, you laugh along.
“Yes, but I’ve gotten to know you a lot better and now I couldn’t even bring myself to slam you into the ground with the force of even three gorillas,” You laugh a bit at your response but Ankh is stone faced. I guess he only finds his own jokes funny. However, he sighs and relinquishes the human appearance of his hand, revealing his red hand that is tinted with green and swirled with patterns of wings and feathers. Then you match his expression to show you that you are both on the same level in this conversation. You set your hand down beside you and realize you placed it on something… warm? Oh- you set it down right on top of Ankh’s right hand. He flinches at the sudden contact but doesn’t pull away so you take this opportunity to grab his hand and just hold it up a bit. You try to look him in the eye but he turned his head away and has gone stiff.
“Hey, look at me,” You say. He does, with a face as confused and questioning as ever. “I don’t think this is weird. I think it’s unique. Everyone has something unique about them. Yours it this-” You hold up his hand in front of him and it flinches a bit in your grasp. “And mine is my strength,” You smile and scoot a bit closer to Ankh to try to get your point of acceptance across. He seems to understand and the corners of his mouth are turned up into a slight smile. Oh gosh, you missed that. You missed how his eyes would light up and his eyebrows would raise when he would smile. And this smile looked nothing like your brother’s. His was fatherly and welcoming while Ankh’s was child-like but mischievous. Come to think of it, this is what made their faces different to you as well. You had come to distinguish them quite some time ago and have even reached the point where you are hardly reminded of your brother at all when you look at Ankh.
“...Thank you. I- I guess.” He shrugged and then finished the last of his ice candy, twirling the stick around in his fingers. At some point, he was grabbing your hand back so the two of you had your hands awkwardly entwined but you didn’t care because it felt nice. It felt nice and just… right to be close to him again.
The sun dipped just below the horizon, spreading fiery colors across the clouds and sky. It was truly a beautiful sight and you were silently in awe of it because you hardly ever took the chance to enjoy such a thing.
“Hina are you up there?” Chiyoko’s voice calls to you from somewhere down below and you shoot up, unintentionally tearing your hand out of Ankh’s.
“Yes!” You respond hesitantly.
“I may need your help- a party of ten came in and their kids are being awfully rowdy!” Chiyoko sounds distressed and rushed but waits patiently for your answer.
“Oh, of course, I’ll be down in a minute.” You call back. Ankh is standing now as well.
“Guess that’s your call, then.” He says, face as cold as when you first came up on the roof to greet him.
“Yeah.” You sigh, looking down at your feet. When you look up, Ankh has a shocked and urgent expression, one you know far too well. It means that a Yummy has been created. He begins to bolt down the roof, but you catch his arm, a bit harder than you mean to, because he the pain distorts his face. You loosen your grip, but not enough for him to get away, so you pull him into a hug, arms wrapping around his frame as you rest your chin on his shoulder. His dull blonde hair slightly brushes against your cheek as you do, and it reminds you that he is actually there, that it’s HIM- not your brother, or a Greeed, it’s just Ankh,a and he is alive and a person, not just some pile of core and cell medals.
He attempts to tear from your embrace but that just makes you squeeze tighter. Then smile and chuckle a little at his attempts to escape.
“Please be careful. I can’t go through with…. “that” again.” Just mentioning the incident sends flashbacks of Ankh sitting at the base of a tree, medals spilling on his stomach, and the broken corse medal that contained his consciousness. You never want that to happen again.
He silently nods into the side of your head and slowly pull away from the hug because he isn’t trying to run away, but you know that if it is a Yummy case, there is indeed a sense of urgency. So you decide to say briefly, “And don’t forget what I told you.” You pause to reach for his hand and he doesn’t even flinch, he just stares at you. Taking his right hand in both of yours, you whisper, “Everyone's unique.”
He smiles understandingly and you even feel a small squeeze of his hand grabbing on to yours. Then you begin to walk towards the edge of the roof to climb down. He calls down to you and says, “Bye.”
“No, not bye. Later.” You correct, smiling. It makes you happy that the last thing you see of him that day is his smile.
But you hurriedly climb down so that Chiyoko can’t scold you for neglecting customers.