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“Oh hey Kidd! Don’t go yet!”
Was what the young brunette boy heard called from behind him. He stopped, turning his body to see the green aproned girl calling to him from the school entrance. He watched as she ran up, almost tripping on a crack and falling over from her sheer speed she was running to catch up.. He tilted his head, now this was odd. He had already gotten the flower from her, her mission was over, he had done all he needed. Now why was she running over trying to catch up to him? He couldn’t say that was something he ever expected.
The dark skinned girl smiled meekly, almost as if she was somewhat nervous. Her hands clasped together, her thumbs twidly together like some sort of mad scientist.
“I know that you’ve already done so much for me but..”
She began, looking down at her twidly fingers. Kidd raised his eyebrow almost immediately. What did she want now? He already did all she asked of him, now she wanted one more thing in return? He thought that she would be better than that, he thought-
“Could..you walk home with me?”
She picked her gaze up from the floor, her dark purple eyes sparkling with curiosity and nervousness. Kidd could tell though that she was trying her best to put on a confident front, which it seemed to Kidd that she was good at doing anyway.
Oh. Well…he guesses he could do that. He’s never..been asked that before, definitely not by a girl. Usually, he just talks to people in front of the school when he’s done with their mission, getting what he was owed and saying a quick goodbye. He can’t say he’s had any real want to do it either. He preferred to go home and rest before he had to wake up and do the exact same thing again. But for her, he kinda wanted to spend more time with her.
“Today was..bad.”
Emmy nodded towards him, of course he was well aware of this, he did watch it all happen.
“I just think I would feel more comfortable if I had someone to walk home with. If that doesn’t conflict with your plans of course!”
She added sweetly, her smile growing into a sweet, toothy grin. Kidd couldn’t help but blush slightly, finding the request kinda cute. He nodded, turning his back towards the girl, letting her follow him. She smiled happily, running up next to him and intertwining their arms together
“Oh great! Thank you Kidd, it’s nice to know that ALL of you new kids aren’t so bad.”
She said with a soft chuckle, letting Kidd settle into the hold of her arm. Emmy let out a soft humming as her and Kidd began to walk up the road, passing by many blooming flowers and blossoming trees. The weather was pleasant, spring was in full affect as the budding trees began to bloom and flourish in
The clear spring air. For a second, it made Kidd forget about everything. Just walking arm and arm with maybe the nicest girl Kidd had ever met. It was lovely.
Emmy seemed to have been drifted off in a world of her own as she too had fallen into silence. It seemed as those she had become preoccupied with all the blooming plants and flowers to really talk about anything.
“Oh! Kidd look at those!”
She chimmed excitedly as her and Kidd passed an especially pretty looking flower bush. Her smile had grown completely wide as she pulled herself away from Kidd’s grasp
“Those are Camelias! Aren’t they just so pretty?”
She asked, her hand coming up to gently poke at the petals of the flower
“Did you know that these flower bushes can live for a really long time? They can live till like..a hundred years!
She chimed back towards Kidd, clearly a little cocky about her knowledge on flower facts. Kidd shook his head, watching her smile grow and grow as she spoke so excitedly about flower facts and trivia. Kidd couldn’t help but admire her, she was obviously so passionate about gardening. Kidd wished that he could feel so strong about something as much as she did about plants. But then, she seemed to remember something. Her smile faded slightly, and she looked down at the flowers with an almost regretful look on her face
“I’m sorry I-“
She stops. Not saying anything for a moment, clearly thinking very hard about something. Kidd couldn’t help but frown, feeling saddened by her fading excitement.
“You know..I didn’t want that to happen..”
She finally spoke after a bit, stepping back towards Kidd and standing in front of him. Her voice grew soft, almost like she was worried that someone might hear her.
“Didn’t want what to happen?”
Kidd asked, tilting his head to the side curiously listening to whatever she had to say.
“T-the thing with Cindy. I-I didn’t want that to go that far”
She said meekly, her voice heavy with a mix of regret and almost fear. Kidd gently placed his hand on her should, nodded towards the near by bench. He guided her to sit beside him, his body turned towards her to give her his complete undivided attention.
“Believe or not. Something like that has happened before.”
She began, looking down at her lap avoiding Kidd’s curious gaze
“I-it was with a girl that used to go here. We used to be friends. She used to help me in the garden.”
Emmy spoke softly, almost unbearable to the naked ear unless you listened really closely
“We used to have such a good time togehther, we were about as close as you could be.”
Her voice trailed off, tears welled up in her eyes. It was apparent that this story wasn’t going to have that happy of an ending. Kidd didn’t know what to say, or how to respond, so for the time being he was just silent. Listening to every small detail that she spoke and added to her story.
“But..something changed..I don’t know what but..she suddenly started acting different. She started being really mean to me, saying all these hurtful things about my garden, how I didnt take care of it as well as she could.”
Emmy turned her gaze from the floor to Kidd’s eyes, tears forming at the edges of them. Kidd simply stared right back, fearing that if he disengaged from their eye contact that Emmy would burst into tears. He didn’t want that.
“I-“
She began back up again, her pupils shrinking in what looked like fear about what she was recalling.
“I..I took it really harshly..I-i couldn’t begin to image that someone thought that I was a bad gartener. I’ve never been so happy about anything else, so..to hear her say that she thought that I wasn’t good at it..broke me..”
She stopped once again, her eyes briming with tears as she struggled to get her words out. All the while, Kidd watched with wide, yet understanding eyes. He didn’t want her to feel this way, seeing her sad like this made his heart ache in a way he couldn’t really understand.
“To be honest..hearing that just made me want to die..I-i didn’t-“
She stopped, tears streaming down her face as her breath caught in her throat
“I didn’t want to live anymore..I-I couldn’t deal with it. I-“
“You what?”
Kidd cut her off, trying desperately to keep his usual monotone tone but failing miserably. He felt an overwhelming since of dread hanging over him, like he was fearing the absolute worst. This wasn’t a feeling that Kidd was alien to, but..he thought that by now he would have been able to block it out at least a little bit. But for some reason, right now his whole body was overcome by that fear and terror
Emmy let out a big breath, almost all the air trapped in her lungs immediately running away. She knew that she couldn’t keep stalling anymore than she already had, Kidd had done so much for her today..she had to be honest with him.
“I-I..I went up to the roof..and tried to jump..Kidd. I tried to kill myself.”
It felt like a hundred bricks had fallen right on top of his head. It felt as though the janitors mop had crushed into his skull over and over again. He couldn’t believe it, why was this feeling so strong? This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, the almost same thing had happened to Lily. But..that was different, that was back when things were DIFFERENT. Back when all he knew was a couple of names and a giant list of directions. But now here..right here with the pretty browned skinned flower girl, he couldn’t stop the feelings from pouring out of him.
“Oh Emmy..”
Was all Kidd said as he pulled her close to him, letting her rest her tear stained cheek against the fabric of his shoulder. Kidds hand gently rubbed up and down her back, trying desperately to stifle the violent sobs coming from her shaking body. Kidd wasn’t good at comforting people, but he knew for Emmy that he had to try.
“I-I didn’t want that to happen again! I-I didn’t want to have to go through with that again! I-I needed another answer..another way out..”
Emmy spoke between softened sobs that she cried into Kidds shirt. Her grip as tight as possibly as she held on for what felt like dear life. Kidd quietly shushed her, him remembering that Lily sometimes did that when she was dealing with a saddened Nugget or Billy in need of comfort. All he wanted more than anything was for her to stop crying, to stop being so sad
After what felt like an eternity, Kidd spoke up, his voice..soft? As soft as he could muster it at least
“It’s over now, Emmy. It’s alright.”
He gently tilted her chin up, those beautiful, clear drops trickling down her face.
“Neither of them can hurt you anymore. No one can hurt you anymore. I’ll make sure of it.”
Tears once more filled the flower girls eyes, but not ones of sadness or fear, nor tears that clouded her eyes and made her see only red. They were tears of relief. Utter, simple relief
He promised, knowing damn well that it was all a lie, that no matter if he liked it or not. Emmy would get hurt again, he knew she would. Maybe not today, or tomorrow but she would eventually. But right now, with him, on this faithful Wednesday, she wouldn’t have a fear in the world.