| Fan Fiction |
by GreenHammock
“Deloris, prepare a hot bath,” were the first words out of his mouth when they arrived at his manor. Deloris was not in the room, but she must have heard, for as soon as he had said it, Six heard bustling upstairs, and the sound of water sloshing against marble.
Hero turned to her, eyes ablaze. He moved to remove the scarf he had died around her torso, but she promptly took a step back and said she would do it. Hero shushed her, untying it jerkily. Once off, he set it in the coat wrack – a large closet holding more coats than Six had ever seen – and removed his shoes. Six took this time to notice she was not wearing shoes.
Six stood awkwardly in the large entrance, wondering what about it felt so familiar. Maybe, it was the way the air smelt – it smelt like J. No, she reminded herself sadly, it smelt like Hero. J, she lamented mentally, was dead.
Hero busied himself with something setting on the stand entrance way, leaving Six to stand in the entrance way, tempting her to throw opened the door and run. She didn’t want to be there, in that demeaning room filled with shoes; she didn’t want to be anywhere anymore.
Hero turned to face her, grabbing her gently by the shoulders and smiling. “Are you hungry?” he asked her, to which timidly shook her head. “No? Sleepy?” Again, her head shook, and Hero found himself grasping for straws in the air. “Want to watch a movie?” he offered, only for her head to shake again. Six stood uncomfortably with his hands on her, staring at her feet for fear that something terrible would happen the moment she looked away.
He raised his fingers to rub a smudge off of her cheek, obtained somewhere between U Know’s hideout and Hero’s home. Her muscles tensed under his hand, and he squeezed her shoulder gently to loosen the strain, “Come on, then,” he murmured, taking her hand and pulling her up the stairs. “Come have a bath.”
Hero deposited her in the bathroom with the woman she could only assume was Deloris, standing with a speculative glimmer in her eyes. When Hero left, Deloris gestured to the tub, and Six understood that the woman intended on staying in the room for the duration of her bath.
-
After being bathed and dressed in clothes that Six was sure did not belong to her, Six was escorted by a portly balding man down the hallway. Six’s eyes followed the walls, lined with empty picture frames, each evenly spaced apart, until they landed on a solid white door. The man held out a hand towards the door, as if presenting it to her – as if she knew what to do. Six stared for a while, until the man sighed with annoyance and opened the door for her. Go in, his eyes read, impatient. Go in.
It was a bedroom. Six noted the canopy bed, large closet, and deep red throw carpeting with interest, though the thing that caught most of her attention was the wall farthest from here. The entire wall was a bookshelf, filled to the brim to be overflowing – around it, on the floor, were stacks of books.
Cautiously, Six tiptoed around the room, uncertain what the purpose of being left here. The wall mirroring the bookshelf – the one with the door she had been ushered through – had large, dark wooden doors. When sliding one to the side, Six found clothing – woman’s clothes. Stacks of boxes, more books. Without closing the door, she slid opened the other one, finding more boxes, more books, and men’s clothes. The smell that wafted from them was familiarly that of Hero, and Six realized then that this must be his room. Six fingered one of the garments – a soft cashmere t-shirt – sadly. She had seen a lot of these articles before; back when she was human, and Hero was J.
Six removed on of the sweaters she recognized and placed it on the floor, kneeling beside it and pressing her forehead to the ground. She rose back up moments after and stared at the garment, mourning a loss. After a while, she could hardly stand to look at it.
Six walked to the bookshelf, looking over the titles that seemed to be placed in no particular order. Pride and Prejudice, Dream of the Red Chamber, Water Margin, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Jane Eyre… They sounded all so familiar. Frowning, Six sat herself down next to a stack of books, carefully lifting the first off of the top. It was red, bound backed, leather, and read in small golden writing ‘She Stoops To Conquer.’ Sounding familiar enough, Six read through the forwards and first chapter, realizing slowly that she knew this story – knew it well. Refreshed and remembering, Six placed the novel down and picked up another – Wuthering Heights – and cracked it opened. She was sure she had never read it before; still, she grew familiar with the tale as she read. Placing it down, she picked up another, and another…
It was when she was on her sixth that she heard a sound from the door. Startled, she dropped the book and looked timidly up at Hero, standing there in the doorway with a smirk on his face. She dared not speak, pressing her lips together in a thin, firm line.
“It’s late,” Hero said, to which she nodded sharply. He cleared his throat and gestured to the bed, as if indicating she should go there. Six rose without hesitation and followed his orders, sinking into the thick foamy mattress. She squeezed her eyes shut and curled into a little ball, losing consciousness so quickly that she didn’t feel the bed sink down as Hero joined her.
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21.07.09.