“Lola, are you okay?” She had helped Lola get undressed and as she started to step into the steaming hot bubble bath she had prepared. Lola’s entire body seemed to melt like warm butter, she was currently nearly neck deep in the waters, her eyes closed and a soft moan starting to escape her lips.
Her eyes opened up just a tiny bit, “Y-Yes ma’am,” she said weakly. “I just haven’t had a warm bath before and it is…” Lola trailed off as she closed her eyes once more. “It is really nice…” A smile crossed her lips and Destiny could see a few tears spilling down her closed eyes.
Destiny reached over and took one of the three hand towels she had brought in. She lifted one up to Lola’s cheek, carefully wiping away her tears. “I am glad you like it.” Lola’s slight pale cheeks had started to take on more color, she was surprisingly cleaner than Destiny originally thought. She reached underneath the water and helped lift Lola up to a more comfortable position. “As much as I love you enjoying your bath, try and stay awake with me okay? I would rather you not fall underneath the waters and drown.”
Lola raised her arms up giving a long joyful sigh. Destiny could her muscles and joints cracking and twist as they came alive for the first time probably in her life. Lola lowered herself back into the waters, now noticing the mounts of bubbles and suds that were around her. Destiny watched her tilt her head from side to side before picking up a nice handful of suds and throwing it into the air. Her smile grew even brighter as she started to laugh as the softly ran down on her like snow. She did this a few more times before settling back into the water. “Thank you,” she said softly.
“For what?” Destiny asked, motioning the girl over. “Come here really quick so I can start washing your hair.” Although she was not that filthy it wasn’t that hard to see how much dirt and naps were in her hair. She carefully spun Lola around and began to gently run her hands through the girl’s hair.
“For being nice to me.” Lola twitched a bit at first but eventually seemed to melt once again into Destiny’s touch. “No one has really been nice to me.”
“No need to thank me for being nice to you,” Destiny said, taking another tower and as one hand went to work washing Lola’s hair. The other was wiping down her neck and shoulders, being careful to not touch the lasting marks from what must have been a terrible beating. Each time she saw it, it brought that feeling of rage about her friend. Though Lola's presence alone was enough to keep her from getting too upset. It also helped her seal her fate, it was time to find Jessica by any means.
As she finished cleaning Lola’s shoulders and neck. She noticed something odd had happened, unless Lola's hair was not actually brown but a vibrant pink color… she was pretty sure she was not washing the same girl. Her question was answered as she placed a hand on Lola’s shoulder and spun her around. Sure enough, sitting before her was a girl with bright pink eyes, shorter pink hair, and she even had a few dark lines on her cheeks like whiskers. “Hi.” She greeted me with a wave.
Destiny at first was too stunned for words at first. She hadn’t heard Lola take the deep breath she had taken last time one of her personalities had taken over. In fact up until a few seconds ago, Lola’s hair was brown, how she had somehow transformed with catching her eye Destiny had no idea. “Hello…” Destiny greeted back. She thought back a bit before saying. “Your Kate, correct?”
The girl smiled at her one that seemed to be filled with joy, it stretched unnaturally wide. “That is correct,” she said in a higher voice but she still sounded very much like Lola. She let out an adorable sneeze as some of the suds from her hair split down her face and near her nose. “Nice to meet you,” she added, sticking a hand out to Destiny. Her hands were different as well, while Lola had very short nails, this girl had slightly pointed ones that stretched out a bit longer. “You must be the mean lady that is tricking Lola.”
Destiny shook the girl’s hand and tilted her head a bit in confusion. “I don’t think I am the mean lady, and I am certainly not tricking Lola. Who told you that?”
“Big sister, Mystic.” She explained.
“You can talk to the others?”
Kate nodded her head. “Of course we can all talk to each other, most of the tiome we don’t really want to… Well I like talking to others, but a lot of them don’t like talking to me.” The girl held her hands out in front of her and with each sentence she said she lifted a finger up. “Amber says I am annoying. Mystic doesn’t like me wasting her time. Ember is really mean so I stay away from her. Misery is too sad to go and talk to. Angelina is really snotty and smart so I don’t like going near her, and Ravi is too dangerous to go near.”
“That makes seven including herself,” Destiny noted to herself glad to at least confirm there are seven of them in total. “That is very interesting, Kate. Can you tell me a bit more about you all maybe.”
“No.”
“How come?”
She narrowed her eyes just a bit at that. “Cause, Mystic says not to trust you and what Mystic says goes.”
“Is she the leader of you all?”
Her face lit back up and she giggled at that. “She is the first, and I think she is the leader but the others don’t think that.”
“What do you mean she is the first?”
Kate's face twisted a bit, she appeared to be thinking. “I don’t know, I just know that she was the first and I was the 3rd.”
“Who was second?”
Kate shrugged her shoulders. “I just know I am third and Mystic is first.”
Destiny thought for a moment before asking. “What is Lola to you?”
As if the girl’s smile couldn’t get any bigger, it somehow managed to stretch out more. “Lola is my friend, she is my sissy, she is the best, she is everything.”
“And what are you?”
“Joy.” Kate explained.
“Does Lola know you are out here?”
Kate surprisingly nodded her head. “I ask permission to take control and Lola lets me do it.”
If Destiny didn’t know individuals that could breathe underwater or fly, this might be the freakiest thing she had ever seen in her life. She was grateful that Kate seemed a lot more chatty about certain subjects, but was closed enough to not spill everything. “So what made you come out today?” Destiny asked.
“Lola was really happy, she has never been that happy before, and I wanted to meet whoever was making my sissy happy.” As Kate finished saying that, Destiny barely had time to jump out of the way as she ducked her hands underneath the water and went to splash her! Destiny watched as water splashed onto the white tiles of her floor. Completely drenching the bathmat she had placed down in front of the tub. “Why did you move, you are ruining the game?”
“The game?” Destiny questioned reaching out and taking the girl’s hands before she tried to splash her again.
“Yeah I wanted to splash you and you splash me back.” Kate explained as if it was the easiest answer in the world.
Destiny held back a laugh as she let the girl’s hands go. “How about instead of getting the bathroom soaking wet, I get something much more fun instead. Have you ever played with bath toys before?”
Kate shook her head. “We didn’t have toys… well we had a tennis ball that we used to play with but then they took it away from us.” For the first time since meeting this girl, her eyes dropped down into a sad looking gaze.
Destiny didn’t know why but something about seeing this little one so sad, was actually making her feel sad. In an attempt to make her feel better, Destiny reached out and ran her hands against Kate’s sides giving her a small tickle. “Come on, I don’t like seeing you sad, Kate.” This awkward action seemed to do wonders as Kate immediately began to giggle with joy. Her body shaking and bright laughter bringing new life into this once silent house. “Let me go and get those toys I was talking about and I promise we will have much more fun than splashing me.”
That was how a 45-year-old woman found herself kneeling on a bathmat, playing with an old collection of bath toys that had once brought her child so much joy. Playing with a pink haired girl who's laugh could even cause the devil himself to crack an honest grin.
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Once Lola was completely dried and changed into a pair of fluffy pink pajama pants and a matching shirt. Destiny had gotten the child sat down on the couch and gave her a long explanation on how to use the television. It had been so long since Destiny had flipped through some of the younger channels on the television, she was starting to remember why she secretly hated musical numbers. Once Lola was situated with a nice movie, Destiny headed into her kitchen and began to contemplate what to make Lola for her first dinner at her house. It was hard to believe that it was already 3:45 in the afternoon. She was still trying to figure out how she went from being alone with Malika, to making dinner for a 10-year-old girl in less than 24 hours. Destiny looked through her still kind of empty pantry and fridge, now realizing that she didn’t really have anything that could be satisfactory in a good first meal. “Ordering Pizza it is.” She decided, making a mental note to use one of the many delivery apps to order groceries tomorrow morning.
Once she had gotten a basic cheese pizza, and a sausage pizza on the way (in 30 minutes or less.) She took a seat at the table for a moment, placing her hands on her face and let out a long sigh. The lack of sleep she had gotten was starting to hit her in brief waves, and thinking about Jessica was not helping her. That was gonna be just as exhausting, especially since she had no idea how she would even begin her search. If one of Lola’s personalities, Amber, had been to run from whatever base Jessica worked at. Then she had to be at least nearby, as strong as Amber was claimed to be. Even though she knew that that girl had some kind of limit, the wounds on her body suggested that she had been injured no less than an hour ago.
However, that brought new problems, since Amber could be much faster than Destiny could imagine. Perhaps she managed to run through states for an hour before exhausting herself. It wouldn’t surprise her if Jessica had stayed on a low profile in Chicago and Destiny just didn’t know it. Her friend had the spirit of the deadly stone fish, an animal that while might not look deadly, but it had one of the most dangerous toxins in the animal kingdom. It was also known for its amazing camouflage, it could stay in plain sight and no one would know until too late.
It was that spirit that helped Jessica do what she did best. Plot in plain sight and no one would be known the wiser, even with hair that stuck out like a flame in the forest. Jessica could still go unnoticed until she wanted to be noticed, she used to be the hide and seek champion when they were kids. An outstanding archer and stealth expert when they trained, an amazing sniper when they served in the military. If only anyone knew what all that good brought, she was using it and others to get what she was after.
Glory, honor and praise.
Destiny stood up from her seat, knowing that if she stayed sitting she was gonna fall asleep. Instead she got some of the most potent black tea that she owned and began to make a pot of it. Once that was ready, she went ahead and got Lola something to drink as well. She was glad that her addiction to lemonade always kept her having five bottles in her fridge at all times. As she entered the living room to offer Lola this lemony drink. She was once again greeted by a new girl, the small brown haired girl had disappeared. Sitting on her couch was now a girl with fiery red hair that turned into orange near the end. She was laying on her side flipping through channels with an annoyed look on her face. She was taller than Lola as her ankles and a few inches up her leg could be seen now, the shirt fitting a bit more snug than on Lola. As Destiny entered the room, the girl turned her head, and for a moment neither of them said anything.
“Do you want some lemonade?” Destiny asked Ember, Lola's personality of anger, wrath and revenge. “Ember?”
Ember pulled herself to a sitting position and actually smiled at her. “I would love whatever that drink is.”
Destiny took a seat in front of this oddly calm girl and handed her the glass. From the file she had briefly taken a glance at throughout the day. Ember was one of the more dangerous of Lola’s seven personalities. She was really hoping that this girl wouldn’t burn the couch or lord forbid the house down. “What brings you out here, Ember?”
The girl took a few sips of her drink. “This is pretty good.” Ember said quietly, before turning her full attention onto Lola. “You would be surprised how often she lets the door open for me. Sometimes I chose not to take over for petty things, for example when she got slightly frustrated over not being able to turn the volume up. However, you have been the new word on the block, so I wanted to come out with the brief time I have to see what is happening.”
“The brief time you have?” Destiny questioned. “What does that mean?”
“I am sure that horrid woman gave you a file on us.” Ember smirked at her. “Read it tonight or something, it has a lot of our tricks inside of it, but not all of them.” Ember took a few large gulps of her drink before simply tossing the empty cup onto the carpet. “Opps, sorry, my hand slipped.”
Destiny raised an eyebrow at that. “Oh you are gonna be fun.”
Ember laughed at that, a fiery laugh that crackled like fire, much different from Lola’s soft giggles, or Kitten's almost addictive laughter. “I have been told I am the most well behaved of the bunch… well beside Lola but she is different.” Ember fiery eyes locked onto Destiny with an intrigued look. “Interesting.”
“What is?”
“You are, of course, not what I expected.” Ember laid on her stomach and propped her chin up on her knuckles. Her feet kicked up and down, creating a slow and steady beat on the couch. She just kept smiling at Destiny with an intrigued look on her face. “Do you want to know something funny?”
“Sure,” Destiny said.
“How everyone seems to think this is somehow over. Mystic keeps saying over and over how you chased our tormentor away, Kitten is so bubbly right now because she thinks we are safe?” Ember let out another laughter, but then her face became as firm as a marble statue. “It is that foolishness that pisses me off the most.”
Destiny eyes narrowed slightly at the girl, the beat she was creating with her feet began to pick up a tiny bit, and the red jepei aura that was spilling off the girl began to increase just a bit. “You are wrong, I know this isn’t over with my old friend.”
Ember interrupted. “So it is true you are friends?”
“We were once friends.” The beating got a bit stronger and faster, the girl’s hair began to lift in certain places, a bit of it looked to be turning into soft flames. “However, that friend has long since passed, she has done things to others and to myself that I cannot forgive. I am sure that you and I both have reasons for wanting to burn her alive.”
The drumming on the couch stopped as Ember sighed. “I don’t have enough strength to stay mad right now.” She whispered before rolling onto her back, and once again staring at Destiny. “Let me make one thing clear to you, Destiny was it?” Destiny gave her a brief nod at that. “While, I maybe, rage, anger, wrath, revenge, all of that is a fuel that burns so annoyingly quick. So quick that the time I have to take over is so annoyingly short sometimes, so I tend to get a little destructive in that time.”
“I will.”
“I am not finished.” Ember interrupted rudely. “Wait your turn to speak!” It took every ounce of her being to now snatch this girl up by her hair and give her a good talking too. “Just know that when I come out, I don’t like to waste the time I get, and if you are serious about taking care of Lola. Just know the worst anger she can feel, is when she is betrayed. I have slaughtered many people for that reason, don’t make me add you to that list.” Ember’s smile returned as she closed her eyes and her hair slowly began to grow shorter and brown, her arms and legs began to get smaller. “This was a nice talk, Destiny. Next time we meet, perhaps I will be a bit better behaved.”
As those last words escaped her mouth, Lola took a large gasp of air as she sat up. “What happened!”
Destiny reached out and placed her hands on the girl’s shoulder. “It is okay, Lola. Nothing happened, you just fell asleep for a little bit.” She had no idea how Lola reacted to hearing someone else take control of her body, so instead she chose to keep it safe and not tell her. “I was just about to tell you that dinner is gonna be here in a few minutes.”
Lola looked up at her and the last bit of red and orange faded away. Her light silver eyes took their place. “What are we having for dinner?”
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