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Kim stared up at the horrendously gross sight in front of her with wide eyes. Green goo spilled out onto the ground before her, pooling at her feet. She cringed and scooted back quickly, a hint of disgust on her face.
There is a familiar white hand sticking out of Erica’s chest. The synthodrone glances back in anger, horror, but mostly great terror. There is a look of indifference, but a hint of satisfaction on the alabaster face behind him.
Erica, well… Eric attempts one last time to kill Kim and another fist penetrates him, shooting out of his gut instead and causing more syntho-goo to pour out. Eventually, he’s completely drained and his body withers, becoming husk-like as he topples over on the goo like a wet plastic bag.
He’s dead. Well, was he even alive to begin with?
Kim briskly gets to her feet, her disgust still apparent as she looks down at the sight of Erica’s “corpse”. But then she sees a familiar sight standing ominously just a few feet away from her.
“…Cell?”
“Yes?” he returned quickly, his attention already on her as he flicked the goo off of his hands. “What is it? Are you alright?”
She was confused by the question, but she continued. “Well, yeah… but for starters, what are you doing here? When did you even… I mean, I thought you left?”
There was a weird look on his face when he heard that question like he was about to laugh but he didn’t. She really didn’t see what was so funny about it. He did leave… for like half a year and here he is popping up out of nowhere in Michigan of all places.
Good thing they were in an abandoned place. It would pose a problem if someone saw them together.
“Ah yes, that’s right… I left,” he stated, taking a few steps closer, although side-stepping to avoid the syntho-goo on the floor. He’s looking down at her because of their height difference and there was a small smile gracing his features. “I… had some things to sort out. It wasn’t easy, hence the duration of my absence.”
Kim doesn’t like that he closed the distance between them. For safe measure, she just takes a step back but stays mostly in the same position. She crosses her arms casually as to seem nonchalant and not outwardly unsettled by his appearance. The last half year was so peaceful and here he is crashing into her life again.
“Oh really…” she trailed off, discreetly looking around her for potential escape routes. “So did you get them sorted?”
“I did, finally,” Cell replied quickly. “It took me a while, but eventually I couldn’t deny it much longer. I was only delaying the inevitable, but I must confess it wasn't so terrible. I would elaborate for you, but why don’t we speak somewhere else more…” He gestured around them. “…appropriate?”
Yeah, Eric took her to an abandoned place that stinks of rotting flesh for some reason. That and there were rat droppings and garbage everywhere. Somehow she had forgotten the horrible stench this place had. It must’ve been the adrenaline from before.
Kim was wondering why he came back though, and why he chose specifically to speak with her. But from the looks of things, it probably wasn’t good. Not for her at least since he seemed to be grinning like a young schoolboy.
“It’s not something you can tell me here?”
“I could, but this area is ruining the mood I hoped to build,” he answered with a hint of disgust.
What the heck? What mood? She’s more confused than ever.
“Uh-huh, well, we could go to my…” Kim stopped herself before she could finish. Nope. Not her apartment. She wasn’t bringing him there.
“Your?”
“You know what? Why don’t you pick?” she offered, wanting to get this over with.
“I have just the place,” he said with a glint in his eye.
The unsettling feeling in her gut grows as he says that. Then he held out his hand for her to grab it.
Kim didn’t want to hold hands and reached instead for his arm, but suddenly he grabbed her hand with his own and tightened his grip. It wasn’t a death grip or anything, it was gentle. Her eyes widened briefly at the gesture, but it really didn’t help reduce the unsettled feeling she had.
In fact, it grew.
Soon, there was a rush of air, and all of a sudden she was back at a place she never expected to be.
The clearing where he literally tortured her both physically and mentally. Also training from before she gave him the watch to conceal whatever signal he was emitting. They're at the very bottom of the crater he made last year.
Whatever mood he hoped to build, he just killed it.
“I bet your mind is just racing with questions, especially as to why I’ve brought you here to talk,” Cell began, snapping her out of her thoughts.
His hand was still intertwined with her hand.
“Well… yeah,” Kim confirmed, staring at their hands with a perplexed look. “You pretty much just popped out of nowhere and killed Eric after being gone for like six months. As for your talk… I’m hoping this isn’t any ‘revenge’ sort of deal—“
“Ah,” he immediately cut in, hushing her while leaning, her leaning back. “Before we begin, I want you to rid yourself of any thoughts of me enacting any sort of vengeance on you. I have no such plans nor will I make plans to. Is that clear?”
Kim stared at him with a dumbfounded look.
“Uh… sure,” she answered hesitantly.
That helped her feel a little better, but she still had a bad gut feeling about this encounter. No revenge? Then what is there to talk about? Training? He can’t seriously bring her out here in the middle of the night for that.
But he did save her from Eric. He didn’t have to like that time he let Warhok and Warmonga beat the living daylights out of her.
“Now,” Cell began, his face beaming in a perturbing manner. He grabs her other hand and her confusion starts mounting. “I have quite the good news for you, my dear. It might come to you as a surprise… but I find that you’ll receive it well.”
Kim’s staring at him and their hands, switching glances repeatedly between them. Now, she actually felt… kind of scared. With him, she could handle being unsettled. Uncomfortable, even. Whatever. But his actions and his words are giving rise to that and a new sort of fear.
She has the urge to just take off right then and there.
She started laughing uncomfortably, trying to keep herself composed but her body was betraying her—her heart was racing. “…Oh, I’m not too sure about that.”
“Didn’t I just tell you to erase any thought of me enacting vengeance? I have no such desire,” he said in assurance, rubbing circles on the dorsal surface of her hands with his thumbs in a soothing manner. “Your heart is beating so fast, are you alright?”
Somehow, the softer tone of his voice and his actions make her feel even worse. She kind of wished he was planning some sort of vengeance on her, at least then she could use the containment device on him. Whatever the heck this was… it was bad.
“That’s because you’re not acting like yourself,” she answered.
“And how exactly am I supposed to act?”
Kim mulled the question for a moment, but the sensation of his hands on hers was so distracting because it was so unwelcome and weird and she wanted him to stop.
“Not like how you’re acting now,” she just said. She couldn’t think straight so she went with the easiest answer.
Cell shook his head, closing his eyes as he chuckled softly to himself. “Alright, I’ll give you that one. Though it’s only because things are different now between you and me.”
Kim raised a brow and sent him a questioning look.
“And what exactly is different? Because nothing’s really changed.”
“Oh, but things will change,” he said confidently, his grip tightening briefly on her hands but still ever so gentle. “Because as it so happens… you’ve earned my good graces.”
Kim couldn’t understand.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m saying you’ve earned my favor,” he clarified. “You should know what that means at least.”
For some reason, she remembered the sketchbook incident. When Eric was still posing as her roommate Erica.
Your self-portrait is beautiful.
“I… uh, I still don’t understand,” she lied with an awkward laugh, her gut clenching and pooling with liquid heat from great anxiety.
Kim knew. Or at least she thinks she does. No… no it can’t be that. That’s ludicrous. It just wasn’t possible. It can’t be possible. She's disgusting to him, she remembered that clearly. That one instance in Yamanouchi where he outright told her he would never be interested in that way. Okay, maybe she’s overthinking this. She’s always had a big head, maybe it actually isn’t what she’s thinking.
“Still?” Cell asked, almost in surprise, but then his face melted into a warm, unsettling smile. “Then allow me to be more direct with you.”
Kim’s still denying what’s going down and wants nothing more than to leave this place. It’s not until she notices him coming closer that the realization dawns on her. Her heart raced, but her mind raced even faster to catch up to the implications of his words and his current actions. Extricating herself from the scene is her best option.
He released one of her hands, granting her a bit of respite, but it got erased in an instant when she felt his arm wrapping around the small of her back and pulling her closer, his other hand still intertwined with hers.
He was still moving closer. Her instincts were telling her to run.
Kim leaned back, trying to create distance but it was impossible with his arm wrapped around her. She looked up at him with both curiosity and apprehension and noticed a look in his eyes she had never seen before.
But she had definitely seen it elsewhere with the Moodulator. It was a desire.
Cell’s face was inches away from hers and before he could move his face even closer, Kim ripped her hand out of his grip and slapped it over his mouth. He was surprised by the action, shown by his widened eyes, but they relaxed and she could feel his lips moving against her palm on his mouth. He was smiling.
“Is something wrong, Kim?” he mumbled into her hand, not bothering to remove it.
Wrong? Wrong? He’s asking what’s wrong. This was sick and wrong on all levels! She’s trying to maintain her composure and only barely succeeded in her next response.
“Nothing, it’s just — just—“she stopped herself short, desperately trying to make sense of this madness. “What are you doing?”
Cell’s smirk widened and she could feel it on the surface of her palms.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” he asked, lifting his hand to place it over her hand on his mouth, moving it aside a bit before giving it a light peck, all while maintaining eye contact with her.
Kim felt her entire soul crack.
“Just… can you please answer my question?” she asked, desperately hoping this situation wasn’t what she thought it was, though she was in denial.
Cell gave her a half-nod. “Of course, dearest. Perhaps I should have clarified my words. I really didn’t mean to scare you like that. I apologize.”
Now he was apologizing. First time for everything.
“Okay, uhm, alright, okay,” she struggled out, taking deep breaths to calm herself. “So-so what you’re doing… I mean, what are you…"
“Wasn’t it obvious?”
No. Yes. Yes, actually, she’s just hoping he’ll say anything but the answer she’s expecting. Please let it be anything but what she’s thinking. If the Kais could hear her now, she was hoping desperately for divine intervention.
“Can you please… just answer the question.”
Cell seemed a bit confused by her words, but he decided to finally clear up any misunderstandings with his next response… much to her dismay.
“I was supposed to kiss you—”
Kim quickly wrapped her hand around his mouth again in a panic to shut him up. Turns out she really didn’t want to hear it despite already knowing. Her heart was racing like never before.
Cell abruptly took her hand off his mouth and held it gently, attempting to calm her down with his gentle ministrations.
“You’re not alright,” he said, but it was more of a statement.
Kim could feel her rage coming back despite the circumstances.
“And whose fault is that?” Kim returned, almost angrily.
“Like I said earlier, it really wasn’t my intention to scare you,” he replied, matter-of-fact. “I was only trying to convey my feelings in a way you would understand, and I believed that was the best course of action to take.”
She was shaking her head, incredulous that this was even happening. That any of this was even real. For a moment, she didn't feel real. Like she wasn’t even here and this was all some kind of sick nightmare.
But it wasn’t. It was real.
“You… you couldn't have just told me?!” she asked, her anger still ever so present. “I… I mean this… like-like did you really think that I…”
Kim expected herself to reject him outright but her words were caught in her throat. Nothing discernable comes out, no coherent sentences, just a bunch of words jumbled together that didn't make anything. Just gibberish. She was so gobsmacked she couldn’t even find the words.
Cell didn't seem pleased with her response.
“This isn’t how I thought you’d react.”
Kim stopped gibbering and looked dumbfounded at him.
“What… ho-how did you think I would react?”
“Not like this.”
She was absolutely astounded by his response. What, did he want her to cry out in joy or something?! After everything?! What exactly in her behavior in the past showed the slightest bit of interest? Because she clearly hated him and made it obvious!
“I just… I—I mean, are you sure? That you have these so-called feelings?”
He looked at her funny. "Oh, Kim, I wouldn't be here with you if I wasn't."
Kim's hands were on her hair and she resisted the urge to rip it all out and scream. This was the worst day of her life. Absolutely nothing can top this. This seriously can't be happening. This cannot be happening.
"So, your response?"
She looked back up at him and he was looking at her expectantly, his wings twitching a bit as he did. There's no freaking way he believed she was going to… to accept his feelings. After everything. There's no way. He's not that stupid.
Then again, this was Cell and he was already self-deluded so… it was a very real possibility. It was the only way to explain it.
"I… Okay, first off," she said, ripping her hand out of his grip. "Let me make some things clear to you. The last time we saw each other, all you blabbed about was killing everyone, including me, and blowing up the planet. Did I get that right?"
"That's right."
"You basically tormented me and people around me for like, an entire summer. You even killed some of them. You almost killed my best friend! You — you even said you enjoyed doing it!”
"I remember."
"Then you choked me out like not even a year later!”
"An error I surely won't make again," he returned confidently, hand on his chest for emphasis.
Kim blinked at him in utter disbelief. The audacity. Then, she laughed incredulously.
"I'm sorry… but after all of that… what makes you even think I would return any of your feelings?"
Cell hummed pensively, but briefly because now he was smirking. "So, what I'm hearing is… you'll think about it."
Her jaw dropped. "What?! No! NO! I—UGH! Are you even listening to me?!"
"Yes, and while I take your words into consideration, I must offer a rebuttal," he replied, leaning in very closely and his smirk widening. His current expression sent chills down her spine. "I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."
She stood there, stunned. The next few moments were a haze and she's now at her apartment, seated at her dining table, trying to make sense of what just happened. She's struggling to get her mind up to speed. A plate of very delicious-looking food slid into view.
"Enjoy, sweetest."