Years had passed since Rebecca had last stepped foot on this platform; Nobeoka, ever a popular destination for daring Freelancers and adventurous GMG personnel.
Rebecca had been one of the latter years ago - lost, angry, and numb to the pleasantries of life. She had found her sanctuary here once but was now only visiting, and standing by the bar on the lookout for the reason that had brought her back.
Rebecca only felt an abject sense of disgust and pity as she thought back to those days. How she had fooled herself, convincing herself the barely sweetened taste of but a singular droplet could help her ignore the bitter, earthy root of the problem she tried to bury. That she was okay with the fact that the only people she had left after that hellhole had never bothered reaching out as long as they were doing fine themselves. Further still, that she was okay with the fact that the only face left of her childhood hadn't cared enough to try and talk to her after all those years up until the moment she served a purpose.
How could Rebecca have ever been so blind to it all stunned her as she stood by the bar, a glass of water in her hand, the ice floating around the ring at the top of the glass.
And yet as she raised the glass to her lips and felt the icy coldness spread on her lips, a voice shot out through her head. The voice of a woman, a voice she thought she had forgotten a long time ago. The woman's voice was laced with a venomous hatred as the thought slithered through her brain.
"The fact you're so surprised by that when
you have yet another glaringly obvious truth lying in front of you
that you've been blind to all this time is honestly pathetic.
Then again, what does that make me, Becks?
Considering we both know you're now
experiencing what you did to me."
Suddenly, the bitterly chilly sensation of her drink was nothing compared to the ache she felt as she recognized the voice in question. She could barely bring herself to bring up the name belonging to the voice in her mind as she felt her stomach sink.
The voice continued on, the soft tenderness that Rebecca was used to hearing from the voice nowhere to be found. Just the acidic hatred that felt like it was capable of melting through the hull of even the most armored battleship consumed the voice that belonged to someone she was willing to kill and die for at one point.
"Lost for words, love?"
"I'm disappointed."
"I expected some defence"
"Some explanation for being led on."
"I'm sorry."
Was the only thing that Rebecca could even bring to mind. Words that were they spoken, would have came out weak and barely more than a whisper falling flat the moment they were spoken. Guilt didn't even begin to describe it, the sharp pain felt in her heart hearing the venom directed her way almost hurt more than the flames from Erie.
"You deserve all of this, Rebecca."
"Look where you are now."
"Showing up after all this time."
"Coming to someone who cared, maybe still does care."
"And it's all just to pick up Gav's cap."
"Not to say sorry. Not to say anything that might matter."
As much as she'd love to have some response, some justification, nothing came to mind for Rebecca. However, the same couldn't be said for the voice of Kels that was nestled in her mind. The voice that had years of pure hatred ready and primed for such a chance, and it wasn't about to waste it's chance.
"If Gavin was the best of us,
Do you know what you were, Rebecca?"
"The worst."
"Did you ever even care?"
"Or were all the times you started a fight,
over some perceived insult to us just an excuse?"
"An excuse for you to indulge in the thrill?"
"No wonder Jace abandoned you."
"No wonder Lynchie wanted nothing to do with you after the war."
"No wonder Oz' never trusted you."
Rebecca couldn't do anything but close her eyes and grit her teeth. Desperately trying to process the emotions that were overwhelming her. There was a time where all this would simply serve as a match to what seemed like a endless source of rage and anger. But, that source wasn't endless, and with it having been all burnt up, all that remained was a crushingly depressing pit of emptiness.
"You know what you deserve?"
"That feeling of loneliness."
"That's what you deserve for all you've done."
"And I'm glad you get to suffer that."
"This Kris lad deserves better."
"And I bloody know from experience one thing."
"There is nothing easier in this world,
then finding better than you."
"I just hope he actually gets to get away from the madness."
"So he can actually spend time with Levan in peace."
"They deserve it..."
The sudden jump to current events was enough to bring Rebecca to open her eyes again, her grip on the glass tightening as she did. It was likely she might have shouted something if it wasn't for the sight she saw as she opened her eyes. The extended palm of a Kusarian woman with neon red hair, standing two inches shorter than her and dressed like a street punk.
The palm connected with Rebecca's left cheek, and left a red imprint. The sudden sting of the slap was enough to cause Rebecca's grip on the glass to go slack as she immediately brought the hand holding her drink up to her cheek. The glass crashed into the ground, shattering with a loud smash.
"Where the fuck were you?"
"And what the fuck are you doing back here?
The Kusari woman hissed the words as she cradled the hand she'd used to smack Rebecca with, clearly not used to actually using her hands to hurt someone, the mark of someone who was used to either not fighting at all, or only fighting in space or with a gun. Rebecca could only muster two words as she stared at the woman. The barrage she had just endured from a voice brought back to life by her head leaving her filled with an uncertainty and only leaving her with a weak way to even begin the conversation.
