Chapter Text
The sun was beginning to set in Crossroads, and the Inpherno’s most dangerous criminal was dumpster diving for food. After running away from the Church, she had decided to go to Crossroads. It wasn’t as dangerous as the other factions, but you still needed to stay on guard while you were alone at night. The constantly being on guard thing was even worse for Scythe, because she had a pretty high bounty on her head and knew any inphernal who was down on their luck and on the streets would take it. “I look ridiculous right now” Scythe mumbled to herself, but she still continued to rummage through the dumpster. She was currently craving carrot soup, but knew she wouldn’t find any just laying around in a dumpster. My gosh she hated being pregnant. As she pushed her hand down back into the mound of trash, she heard a familiar voice say her name.
“Scythe?” Katana said, his voice a mix of confusion and shock. Her horns had been shaved down to look smaller, she wore a big black coat, an all black outfit, and she no longer had her hat or eye gear that helped her aim, but it was definitely her.
Scythe just stared at him for a bit, trying to find the right words to say. After a few seconds of awkward silence she pulled her hand out of the trash pile and began to speak “Hey…. how ya been doin’?”. She tried to sound casual, but you could still hear the panic in Scythe’s voice when she realized she had been recognized.
“What are you doing digging through a dumpster?”
“Why are you walkin’ around alone, it’s gettin’ late?”
“You’re trying to avoid answering my question”
Scythe tried to avoid making eye contact with Katana, but she knew that he wouldn’t leave her alone until he got his answer. Scythe took a deep breath and began to speak, “I kinda… uhm… ya know I uh… left the Church”.
Katana felt a mix of relief and confusion wash over him. He was glad his best friend left that cult, but was also curious as to why? Scythe had always been loyal to the Father, so why would she leave? “I see” Katana said as he looked back and forth, unsure of what to do. He didn't try to pry, he understood it was probably a thing she would rather not talk about.
“Do you want to stay at my apartment?” Katana asked. He did not understand what compelled him to offer Scythe shelter, when he was pretty sure she still hated him.
Scythe thought about it for a minute. She didn’t have anywhere to stay, and it’s cold outside. Would it really be that bad if she just crashed at his place for one night?
“Sure, I got nowhere else to be”
“It’s just down this block”, Katana said as he waved for his old friend to follow him.
On the way to Katana’s apartment, many questions were moving through Scythe’s mind. Why was he doing this? How could he not want her dead? Could Katana tell she was pregnant? She would really like to have as little people, or nobody if possible, know she was pregnant. It was embarrassing for her and a connection to a certain inphernal, who Scythe wished she had never seen at that bar. She really hoped her clothes would hide her growing stomach well enough.
Once they made it to Katana’s apartment, he unlocked the door and held it open for her. As she walked in she was amazed by how meticulously clean the apartment was. While she was staring at the place in awe, Katana offered to hang up her coat for her. She politely declined, the old coat was her only way of covering her stomach. She was almost 4 months and knew that her pregnancy would be noticeable once she took it off.
“You can sleep on the couch, I can get you some blankets if you need any”
“Thank you… for lettin’ me stay here”
“…Your welcome Scythe”
Later that night
It was dark outside when Scythe started to feel nauseous. She tried to go back to sleep and ignore it, but the feeling just wouldn’t go away. Eventually she couldn’t hold it in any longer and raced to Katana’s bathroom. As she began to vomit into his toilet Scythe could hear a person rushing over to see what the noise was about.
“Scythe, are you okay?!” Katana shouted as he saw her hunched over his toilet bowl.
“It’s what, like 11 pm and I’m throwin’ up, what do ya think?” Scythe said in a clearly annoyed tone. After realizing what she said to her host she quickly apologized to him, “sorry, I didn’t mean to be so rude to ya”.
“It’s okay” Katana stated as he bent down next to her before continuing, “Are you sick? I think I may have some Ibuprofen if you need any.”
“No” Scythe replied as she wiped some vomit off of the toilet seat. Scythe pondered for a few seconds on what to say. She really didn’t want to tell him, but at the same time she felt like she needed to get it off her chest.
“If I tell ya the truth, do you promise not to tell anyone else?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Do ya wanna know why I left the Church and why I’m currently here?”
“Yes”
“Then swear ya won’t tell a soul”
“I promise to tell nobody anything”
Scythe stared at him for a bit before the words left her mouth. She wanted to keep this whole ordeal a secret so badly and yet, it felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders when she said it out loud.
“I’m pregnant and it’s Grappling Hook’s”