// ODSAHF YOU REALLY DID THIS TO ME, general trigger warning of descriptive gore and such
"I was wondering, considering our familiar behaviors, if you’d mind being my partner"
Ace Rayan-Erebus-Inferni-Ecuador. That was his full name, Naomi knew it, she had memorized it, something she did in her free time. She enjoyed memorizing long things, he had 4 last names, she had no last names, they were different. However, when she joined, Ace had greeted her, Mr. Ace had greeted her. She hadn't payed attention much then... she didn't need to pay attention much then, she had no job to do.
However, this changed, and it changed rather quickly. Naomi had never considered really when Ace's and Naomi's 'friendship' started, but it was around the same time one of Cory's daughter's, Olympia, was brought in to the Ruins as a captive. She had slipped on the ice, Ace had helped her up, cared for her. This was when Naomi realized they were similar. Their speaking patterns, their emotionless attitude, their behavior, they were all the same. Yet... why would Ace find interest in her? Was she special in some way, she had always been looked at like she was special. But... this was different. Ace found her weak, fragile, but he also found her someone he needed to protect.
It was then when the scavenger hunt was held. Ace had helped her... ace had helped her win. She had never really won at anything physical before... but ace helped her, gave her points, gave her those bones so she could reach victory. It was a new experience that Ace allowed her to have. However, Naomi wasn't grateful she couldn't be grateful. She faked smile, faked her thanks to him and moved on.
But he got closer...
Ace became a pillar for Naomi. The kitsune was almost never seen without him anymore, and everywhere she went it was almost like Ace would show up beside her, helping her keep her balance. She missed that, where did he go? That didn't matter to her.. because nothing mattered to her. Ace went further and further, until finally, he had confessed his... feelings... toward her? Feelings... she didn't have those. Love... she couldn't have that. But, Ace wanted it, ace wanted to be her partner, why her? Was it because he wanted to continue helping her? She didn't think much about it at the time, she didn't want to think about it at the time. She wanted to eventually talk to Ace about what she could and could not feel... but...
Ace and dropped down from his position. That was ok, she knew how stressful being an hp could be. But... Ace was still there, he would appear beside her every now and again, wanting to be her pillar, something she of course didn't understand. But... life moved on, he kept silent for the most part, healing from the stress he had went under and Naomi continued her life, because she couldn't feel that stress, she didn't need a break.
Then Naomi got captured, tortured by Helix. She had visited The Exiles once again after her months of being away. There she met Corruptimelines, who was that? He spoke about someone... spoke about someone... spoke about Ace. At the time, Naomi stayed silent about her and Ace's relationship in front of Cory, because it truly didn't matter. Corruptimelines talked about his infinity to bring his father into the clan and kill him in more brutal ways than she could imagine. She didn't believe him, she didn't believe anything Cory promised.
And she was right.
She heard the call from a distance, it was one of the newer members, Henri's child that showed up at the border awhile ago. People died often around here, that was well known from the corpse border each member crossed over. Blood and gore was something she was used to, not only being a Ruiner but being a medic. Her slow pace walked over, a slow pace her and Ace would walk at as they made their trips patrolling the territory. Her limp was barely noticeable anymore, she had been healing for a week now, and with her powers it was becoming much faster. But... then it changed.
"Junko, that is my partner!"
Those were the last words she remembered coming from him. Of course, there was some small talk between then and now, but that was different. Those words were more important to her. Her lilac hued eyes finally saw the broken parts of Ace, on the stick that Arya had placed in the sand by the Nile. Bloody, brutal, Ace's blood lying in puddles on the sandy floor. She hated sand, she hated sand. She hated sand, she hated sand. Why was she thinking about sand? Shouldn't she be thinking about Ace? Ace's body, Ace's dead body, Ace was dead, Ace was dead. Ahahah... Ace... was... dead...
Naomi wasn't one to be concerned over someone's death date. She herself didn't care when she died. She didn't believe it when Ver Million died, and it turned out her suspicion was correct. However back then she had wanted to see Ver Millions dead body, in parts, many many parts, to prove to herself that her love was dead. But this was different... Ace had never hurt her... Ace had never wanted to hurt her... Ace wasn't her love? But... he was supposed to be.
The order. She liked memorizing. It went his head, mouth open, body, limbs, and finally his eyes. Head, mouth, limbs, eyes. Head, mouth, limbs, eyes. One, two, three, four. Rayan-Erebus-Inferni-Ecuador. Rayan-Erebus-Inferni-Ecuador. One, two, three, four. They both had four parts. But... no... there was much more than four parts of Ace. On the ground, his guts, his hearts, everything he needed to live was on the sand, sand she hated, for everyone to see.
And... deep inside her... she wanted to take it. His head, his golden retriever head, covered in blood, she wanted to wear it. She wanted to keep it with her, have it always, eat it, be it, his heart, his eyes, she wanted it. They were her's. She was his partner. They were hers. They. Were. Hers.
Everything about Ace was her's in a sense. And, everything about Naomi was also Ace's. The sensation of pain she wanted to feel, that was Ace's. Would he enjoy that to? Like Naomi did? Was that what he wanted from her? Was that why he was so nice to her? Then... Naomi would let him feel that pain, he would tear him apart and he would expect Ace to do the same to her. However... it was alittle to late for that now... huh?
Sitri and claret were a blur, everyone was always a blur to her. She didn't care about anyone, anything. A day ago she had seen Umbral's body lying on the sandy floor, she hated sand. She didn't care about Umbral, but then again she wasn't as close to Umbral as she was with Ace. But... how could someone with no emotions become close to someone, like she did? She couldn't... she wasn't able to... she would never.
Should she be sad? Was that what everyone expected?
She couldn't be sad. She couldn't be in grief. She couldn't do anything. She felt nothing, numbness filled her inside, numbness filled her outside. She looked empty, like she always did. If someone only saw her face, they would think nothing was wrong. The Ruins expected her to be sad, she did agree to be his partner, so shouldn't she be sad? Shouldn't she do anything, anything, anything? She couldn't... she couldn't...
She sat down, she flicked her tails, she yawned, she blinked sleepily. She did this everyday, nothing was different, now Ace was dead. Ace was dead, Ace was dead. Rayan-Erebus-Inferni-Ecuador was dead. She couldn't do anything more than repeat that in her head. She was getting a headache, Ace never wanted her to have a headache. Ace would protect her from having headaches... but now... she had a headache.
Then why was she crying?
She had never really cried before. She didn't notice it at first, but tear drops lay in the sand below her as she sat down. She hated sand. Tear drops that meant... what? Why was she crying? She wasn't sad, she wasn't angry, she wasn't happy, she felt nothing. Was that how she should be reacting to it, should she be crying more and more? It wasn't many teardrops, but it was enough to fill her eyes so the blood coming from Ace's body looked watery to her. She got closer to him. He was her's. Her teardrops fell into his blood. Teardrops that meant nothing. Teardrops that meant nothing?
The scent...
Ace had tortured a man by the name of Kirsch. Kirsch? Kiiisschrsh? Was that correct? She didn't care, she truly didn't. But everyone else did, Arya... did... it was their family. Family that meant nothing to Naomi. She had no family. Ace was dead. She had no family. But... then Arya left, she was no longer welcomed here. Naomi led the patrol to make sure she was gone. What? Naomi led the patrol to make sure she was gone... forever. Did she do a bad job? Because... Arya wasn't gone, she was here. Her smell among Ace's dead body.
So... Arya did this. Right? Right right right right? Can someone tell her, she couldn't tell. Yet... she could tell. Everyone seemed not want to notice it. Was that on purpose? Or maybe... only Naomi knew this? Was it because of her powers, was it because of the only thing she had that was helpful? "I..." she couldn't talk, her throat couldn't talk... that hasn't happened before. What did she want to say anyways? She didn't care about Ace, she didn't care about Arya. But, somewhere, somewhere... she kinda wanted to kill Arya. She kinda wanted to rip out her insides and show them to everyone, take her head and wear it, make her feel the same pain Naomi was so obsessed with. Maybe then, Arya would do it to her. Then they would both go through the torture, the torture of not liking Ace... because how different was she from Arya. Naomi had no feelings towards ace and Arya seemed to not like him. How much different was that? How much? Maybe Naomi should be dead for her thoughts.
Maybe she should be there instead of Ace. Her head on the stick and her eyes out of their sockets. She would enjoy that, much more than Ace was at the moment. She wanted Ace, she wanted to be Ace right now, yet... the tears kept streaming. She had no feelings... her vision was beginning to blur much more than what her 'fake' tears were doing. Her headache kept growing. Ace...? Ace??? Ace where are you. She needed to lean on someone right now... she needed a pillar. Weak, fragile, she needed more help.
"I don't think I like Arya Tormenta-Million"
// tl;dr: fuck man Naomi goin' THROUGH IT. anyways she's about to pass out. Good luck reading that its 2 am while I wrote this ಥ_ಥ