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It wasn’t the same.
Javert was not the type to beg. He was too proud. He was a soldier in the service of the Emperor. He was elite. Idly, he remembered Igor’s words. He was no longer any of those things. If he couldn’t fight, then he had no purpose. A bitter sound rumbled in the back of Javert’s throat as he walked. Igor could be dealt with later, if not left for the humans to deal with.
Right now Javert had this damned living body to deal with as his main priority. He hated it. Once that fool had given him food, his body understood hunger. Did the Prince go through this as well? Javert had found him eating a few times. At least he wasn't alone in going through this hell.
The worst of the problem, though, was that every time he managed to find the food the monk had given him, it didn't taste the same as the ones he had eaten. It wasn't bad, but he found himself not liking it nonetheless. He could never eat more than a bite of any that he managed to get his hands on.
It just wasn’t the same, but he refused to go back and beg for more like an animal.
He wouldn’t beg. No matter how many times he found himself standing at the bottom of those stone steps, Javert refused to let the monk be right. Javert took a step back, inhaled, let it out, and turned away from the temple. He moved into the trees, pretending this wasn’t the same circle around the temple he’d walked dozens of times since then. The grass was starting to become worn in his wake. Javert pretended not to notice that either.
He knew if he wandered through certain areas, he might see them. The Ganma, one of the Princess’s pets, the woman who tormented Igor, the humans he’d used as bait... The monk.
He was there, out in the open. For once, the others weren’t around. His guard was down. He was simply sitting on the steps with his eyes closed. Javert could have ended it then and there. He was still weak, but he had enough strength to get rid of a single unarmed human. Even so, Javert couldn’t bring himself to move. He simply let his weight rest against the tree and watched as the monk sat completely still, smiling with his face turned toward the sun.
How could he be so calm? A living body was chaos. All of this world was chaos, destroying and recreating itself endlessly in a cycle Javert couldn’t comprehend. But in all of that chaos, that man was calm. Javert had seen him fear, seen him panic… But he’d seen him rise above, seen him protect, defend… And now he was calm.
At the point that was the most chaotic of all, the monk was calm.
Javert thought about approaching. The calm was baffling to the point that in nearly infuriated him, and he nearly stalked out of the trees but froze again as the monk moved first. Javert thought for a moment he’d been spotted as the monk rose, but relaxed slightly as he simply set something on the steps and returned inside the temple. He waited several minutes before moving from the trees to examine what had been left behind. Sitting on the steps was something wrapped in brown paper. On top was a note, affixed by a sticker bearing the image of Ghost. Javert sneered at it, and pulled the note away with more than a slight satisfaction as the sticker tore in half.
I hope you find this one. Leaving it out in the open like this should help. I just hope someone else does not find it first. But you are probably getting hungry again. I wish that I could offer you more, but I hope this is enough that you are at least comfortable.
-Onari
Javert stuffed the note into his pocket. He picked up the small package and tore it open. Inside was a plastic container with four of the white and black food the monk had brought the last time. Was… this for him? Javert looked toward the temple, then quickly turned and stalked back to the trees, sinking down beside one once he was sure he wouldn’t be spotted if someone came out of the temple. He took one from the container and bit into it.
Javert looked down at the food in his hand. It was good. What did it have that the others were missing? He couldn’t tell. He took another bite, then another. Before he knew it, all four were gone. He waited, then quickly went out to the steps and left the empty container in the spot he had taken it from before returning to his hiding place. He pulled the note from his pocket, reading it several times.
Onari. The monk’s name was Onari. Javert would not forget that.