Chapter Text
It was odd - Zack had killed… well, he had never actually bothered counting (besides for one occasion, where he had gone after a specific group of party goers whose twisted expressions had just, really drove him crazy - he remembers taking toll of their numbers in the beginning, and getting pleasure as that number slowly dwindled the longer the night went on-) but, he knew it was a lot; a lot, a lot.
And he had enjoyed each kill; he had taken pleasure in watching the face of each person contort into one of pain and fear and blood; it always brought a chill up his spine, shook his hands, his bones, it was a feeling unlike any other; he lived for that feeling.
Yet, when an ambush, on a seemingly unsuspecting drunkard, went wrong (He was supposed to go right! He had thought to himself, in the moment, watching in… what was it, fear? As the man took the path leading to Ray, and not the one before him, the one that would lead him to Zack. This is all wrong!) the sight of blood, a face contorted in pain, things Zack knew he was used to seeing (things he enjoyed seeing-) brought nothing but disgust and fear and… a word he could not place.
He ignored his thoughts and went forward.
Later, as they sat in an alleyway, in a makeshift cover with cardboard for walls and a spare garbage bag for a ceiling, he realized what it had been.
Peering down to his left, he could see Ray, curled up and asleep. If he moved his chin at just the right angle, he could see the bandage on her cheek; and the bruise beneath it.
Not again, he told himself, moving an arm to rest along her shoulder. It won’t happen again.
. . .
The Next Day
“It’s okay.”
“...Huh?”
“I said it’s-”
“Are you deaf? I heard you, pipsqueak. I meant what the hell are you talking about. What’s okay?”
“Me.”
“Uh, that makes no-”
“Yesterday. I’m okay after yesterday.”
“Oh, that’s-”
“Don’t blame yourself, okay?”
“...!?”
“It was my fault. I misjudged and… ow. Why did you hit me?”
“It ain’t your fault, stupid. It was… it was mine.”
“I don’t think it was.”
“I-! Will you just let me-”
“Let you what?”
“I swear!”