-57-

I stare at Parad as he kicks the ground, looking a bit ticked off. What even happened to piss him off this much? Wait...did Emu do something to him?

"That fucking asshole made me think I died!" Parad exclaims, sounding annoyed. "How can he do that to me? I literally thought I died." So, that is what all that crap was the other day? I felt like time changed too. 

"You know you love and care for him like a brother," I say, rolling my eyes. "What happened? Why was everyone down here the other day not visiting me?" 

"Cronus made Emu's gashat disappear. Kuroto is making a new one for him." Parad looks up at me, giving me a serious look. "Did you know about him going to do that to me? I bet you did."

"Will you be mad if I say yes?" I am too young to die to this handsome Bugster. He should come back in ten years if he wants to do that to me.  "I am also not that worried about the gashat thing. Emu will come up with something to make things right." 

"I can't be mad at you." He looks away and puts his hands in his fluffy hair. "Gosh, this is frustrating!" He removes them from his thick hair and turns fully to me. "Elkie, I know you two want to invite me to a threesome. I felt it." 

Now this is embarrassing! 

"Uh...no, I didn't. Not at all." I look away as my face starts burning. "What threesome?"

"Don't act all shy about it now that I know about it. I don't mind trying out something new. I'll treat it as a game." He really is wanting to go and do that kind of thing? 

"I still..." I can't fight it can I? "Fine. We can do that at some point, but not right now. You're going to have to get rid of Masamune first. Also, were you acting like you were the main character again? Parad, you're not the main character of a show. You're the friend of the main character in the show and you still end up with tons of screen time somehow." 

He looks away from me, laughing a little. "You want me to end him with the others so we can get to the fun? Sounds good to me." 

"You're weird."

"Not as weird as you. You were acting like you didn't want to have a good time with me and Emu. I'm willing to grant your wish. How long have you been wanting to try that? I bet you dream of it every night." He looks back at me, smirking. "Am I right?"

"Don't get it all twisted, okay? I was only curious about having sex with a Bugster. I want to be the first woman to do so." I doubt other ones have done so. They hate humans. "So, do we do it or not after this?"

"Yeah, of course we can," he responds, nodding his handsome head. "I want to do so."

I nod my head. "Okay, good. But I'm not a sexual deviant, okay? I am just curious about you and your body." Bugsters are simply too fascinating not to think about sometimes. 

"I'm sure that is it." He looks away, chuckling some more. "So, Elk, do I need protection for it?"

"I'm willing to do it without it. I doubt we're going to create some human and Bugster hybrid." That would be cool though, right? Teleportation would be nice to have. 

"You're probably thinking about a child with the ability to teleport now, huh? Keep dreaming of that." He shakes his head, his eyes returning to me. "I know it sucks being human because of your lack of ability to do that, but it isn't everything. I can even make an energy shield of sorts to take hits."

"Couldn't you have done that against Emu and survived?" 

"I could have tried, but it probably wouldn't have held up. Emu is really strong," he states. He's not wrong about my true love. "I probably could have done even more to stop him, but I didn't. I didn't think he could win."

That's Parad in a nutshell. He doesn't actually really think about every single possibility. He thinks about what he can do and how great he is. I hope that he starts thinking about every outcome going forward. Not that I'm much better than him when it comes to do. I only think about Emu and what Emu can do.

"You're strong too, Parad," I say, smiling. "I believe in you. You can do the right thing from now on."

"With Emu's guidance, I think I can do so." He steps closer to me and places a hand on my shoulder. "And with you as well, we are going to do great things. We're going to save this place and then save your world."

"Parad..." He really wants to help me with my world?

"I don't want you to go back and have nothing to go back to. You should be able to see your loved ones without any problems," he tells me softly, his voice warm and gentle. "I want you to be happy. Even if you're not with me, you deserve it."

"Admitting defeat to him?" I am glad that he knows he can't win me from Emu. I'm Emu's prize only. 

He nods a little. "Yeah, I can't win your heart. Maybe if it was back then I could have, but not now."

Parad isn't wrong about that. If it was like how it was when I first got here, I would still be with him. Kuroto is the only reason why we broke up. So, if that didn't happen at all we would still be together. 

"You're beautiful inside." I take a step forward and put my arms around his warm Bugster body. "You just didn't know how beautiful inside you were." 

He may have harmed people, but that is because he honestly didn't know better. To him, this is some sort of game. Well, it was a game to him until Emu showed him that it wasn't. I am grateful that Emu made sure to show him it wasn't a game. Even though this is a fictional show, these lives are now real. They're very, very real and that's scary. 

"I am sorry that I ended the lives of others." He puts his arms around me, embracing me back. 'You're such a bright light in my life and I wish I could have done better to make you shine brighter. I hurt you by doing what I did."

"It is fine. We're going to get those lives back one day." I believe that medical science will advance to the point that the Bugster virus isn't as deadly as it is right now. "You will repay everyone eventually. You will atone for your sins." 

"I am truly sorry for ending those lives. I didn't get that they couldn't have continues," he says, his voice breaking a bit. I bet he's not smiling now. 

"Parad, it is fine." 

"It isn't."

I sigh. "You didn't understand what you were doing. You were pretty much raised by Kuroto and that is no way to be raised." Who can truly trust that crazy man in storyline? "Besides, Bugsters were treated badly by humans. It happens." 

It isn't okay to kill someone unless it is in self defense, but I can get why humans and Bugsters were doing so. We're different species, so it is naturally what would happen. Different species tend to fight each other a lot. It is the natural order of things. That doesn't mean I like it though.

"Elkie, I'm so sorry..." 

"Parad..." I wish I could truly comfort his soul, but I can't. He's going to have to work on himself and improve himself going forward. 

"I will fight for humanity going forward. I will try to make a world that can make Bugsters and humans happy," he says, his voice low. He means what he says and I appreciate that so hard.

I pat his back gently. "It is alright. You will do great things with Emu." 

"I hope that I can. Hey, do you want to go outside with me? I think it is safe enough for you to go out with someone at your side. If Emu gets mad, I'll take the blame." 

"How about we go to the top of the hospital?" That is appropriate isn't it? 

He pulls back, staring down at me with his watery eyes. "Yeah, that is fine." His face looks a bit wet as well. Poor thing was crying a moment ago.

I smile. "Alright, let's go." 

We're going to head up to the top and chill out for a bit, I guess.

A/n: Short chapter, but I think it is cute. We're going to have Elkie leaving the hospital and moving around freely soon. I won't keep her down in the CR for too long.

Thank you for reading and see you soon with another chapter (I don't know how soon yet, but we'll see)!