Erotomanic Delusions pt. 2

“We're almost to Shinjuku station, MF, why don't you give Mond the details on our job tonight?” The hour drive felt like forever to his aching knees, but heart was aflutter and for once he didn’t feel like conversing was a strategic game, it just came naturally.

“What? You didn’t tell the kid about the ol rattler hunt?” MF shouted up to Sonne, followed by Roses leaning forward to look Sonne in the face, her long legs stretching across the length of the van.

“Hold on Sonne, just how much did you tell Mond? You told us about you two meeting last night and him understanding about synchronicity, but you and I both know that is not enough to get him wrapped up in all this.” Sonne looked slightly nervous for once, eyes fixed on the road, “Well, why don't you let him know what we do here?”.

Roses seemed upset by his response, and Mond listened intently as she sat back down with a heavy sigh, “Listen Mond honey, I get you understand synchronicity and everything it entails, and I really give you two thumbs up for that it’s not exactly the mane straight forward of thought experiments,” She paused and looked to Mahou with a melancholy gaze, “ but were not philosophers, or some conspiracy group. We're essentially a death cult…”.

Vertigo knelt up on bent knees and tippy toes, leaning in to the conversation, “That’s a little dark Roses, I dunno about you, but I don't have any particular plans to go and die thank you very much “ she huffed a little, pointing to her chest with her thumb. “I don't either! I just mean that-” Mond interrupted, the same melancholy infecting his face, but supported by a smile of assurance, confidence, “You don't have anything left, Synchronicity is the only hope you have left, a frontier that is your only source of hope.” An even more saddened smile hit her, the fact that Mond could understand proving to be the horrible truth she had hoped wouldn’t be the case.

“That’s… right Mond, so if you have anything left back there, If wherever you were heading before we picked you up even holds a glimmer of value to you, please…we'll turn you around right now and be okay, I promise.” She fiddled with her long black nails, running a finger along their rough edges, “It wouldn’t be the first time someone found their way back to the real world from us” an idea that looked like it carried some warmth for her.”

Mond thought about his parents, his dad, Mr.Masuda, his life he was sure any of these people would trade the world for, guilt flooding his heart. But something in him knew he would be back here again, back in that dark twisting alley in a moment of weakness, and he would be alone. The melancholy smile remained, and he spoke with conviction unwavering, “ I don't have any future back there, I can’t go back.”

Roses gave one last dejected nod, as if in apology, then breathed away the heavy atmosphere, “Okay then, lets get you caught up on this shitshow.”

Sonne parked the van in an empty construction lot across the street from Shinjuku station, the huge crimson sun lingering low behind the large glass buildings that watched over the deviant party. “Nngh, ahh yeah, that’s the stuff baby” MF’s neck crackled as he stretched it out after unloading from the van, reaching his muscular arms high into the sky. Mond slid out behind him, feeling more firmly on his feet than usual, more present.

Maouh was the last to disembark, seeming more sober than he had been earlier, but with it more wary and guiltridden. Mond gave him a half smile and patted the frazzled man's shoulder, “Hey, don't worry about it ok man? I want to be here, genuinely”. He smiled back, but the grief was still present in his eyes, “Yeah, that's what worries me.”

Vertigo skipped alongside Mond as they all made their way through the dusty work sight and to the back of the station, twilight's hand beginning to creep up and steal away the daylight. Her yellow jacket flopped around, clearly a size or two too big for her, and clashing boldly with her black and white stockings. Rose's wardrobe on the other hand was much like her stride, low key and dark, but exuding strength. A heavy grey coat draped over her muscular yet trim body, covering the black turtleneck and jeans she wore underneath.

Mond felt a little underdressed next to them, sporting only his lime green hoodie and bluejeans, occasionally accented with a stain here or there. Even MF, who only wore a white tank top with bright orange shorts, seemed to make the outfit come off as a bold expression of apparel. He walked on his prosthetic legs , which ended in curved metal sheets as Mond had seen a few times before on athletic channels, with a masterful grace surprising of someone of his stature and build. “Yo Mond, so what’s your deal anyway?”

Mond snapped from his analysis headspace and looked up at MF, who repeated the question, “Like, you obviously caught ol’ Sonne's attention for a reason, the guy doesn't exactly get along with everyone, what got him to bring you along?” He laughed and gripped Mond's arm tightly for a second “and don't go saying it was for your rippling physique!”

Mond thought for a moment, thinking back on the last few days. Man had he let himself slip, after holding on to a comparatively stable life for nearly a year, one afternoon of letting himself lose led to this. He decided if that was how it would be, if after a year he still would be so susceptible to this life, it had to have been the only way he could live. So he took the left perspective of his past, and ran with it.

“I met a fae when I was a kid, a bear on the Moon made of stardust.” MF stared for a moment, a slightly confused noise emitting from his curved mouth, before bursting into another roar of laughter, “I swear that ol’ fart brings in more freaky folk every time, that blonde screwball’s enough to handle, now we got Peter Pan!” He smacked Mond on the back with a good natured shove, sending him stumbling forward more than he probably intended.

Wiping a tear in his eye, MF caught his breath, “Oh but for real, for real, it ain’t like I'm much better” he stretched out one of his converted limbs, hoping on the other for a second as they made their way across the street towards the station, closely behind the rest of the group. “Belive it or not, I certainly do, I ain’t no amputee”.

His words fell into a more serious tone as he spoke, his jubilant nature seeming to take a knee. “ I did this to myself, biological enhancement, makes me run faster, stronger” He gazed down at the contraption, as if he was informing them more than Mond. They looked like any other prosthesis he had seen, although he had to admit MF seemed to use them as naturally as he would flesh and bone.

Mond began to open his mouth to question what exactly he meant by this, when he felt Sonne's gaze on him from ahead of the group, almost in warning. Right, Mond understood… They were like him, they relied on Synchronicity as their last ditch effort in life, on the laws of the Alphatlas. The thought came so innately to his instincts he once again didn’t question the word so alien to his vocabulary.