Readjustment

"..."

Darkness.

"..."

Restlessness.

"..."

Fear.

"..."

Hatred.

"..."

Guilt.

"..."

As Lee's eyes opened, he saw multiple doctors running around him. Many machines were hooked on to him, and there was an oxygen mask on him. He sat up and looked at his hands. They were small and skinny. He had lost most of his muscle mass and almost all of his energy had been depleted. He tried getting up, but then he fell off of the bed. He slammed his palm onto the floor, trying to push himself up.

"Ngg." He pushed and he pushed, but he barely moved. One doctor came to help him but Lee yelled, "Back the fuck up!" He had enough energy to yell and talk, but barely any to move.

"Ruaghhhhh!" Lee yelled as he pushed himself up from the ground. He grabbed onto the bed to hold himself up and he looked around the room in confusion. He looked down and he was completely naked.

"How long has it been?" He asked one of the doctors.

"2 years." She said.

"Fuck. Is the BHPA still around?" Lee asked.

"Barely, everyone has separated and gone to separate continents and countries."

"Fuck!" Lee yelled as he slammed his fist into the bed. But just then, Diana burst in through a door.

"Diana?" Lee asked but Diana grabbed him and pulled him in for a hug. After a few seconds she held him at arms length. Lee was absolutely memorized by her appearance. Her hair had completely changed, it was still orange but there were black stripes on the ends of her hair. Her eyes were bright yellow, and her skin was filled with color. She had all of her muscles back, and actually looked healthy. Her eyes didn't bag, and her breathing wasn't abnormal.

"Lee. You said that you'd never leave me. Not again." She said with tears in her eyes.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry." Lee apologized softly.

"Wow, Diana the heartless demon does have feelings." One of the doctors remarked. Lee pulled Diana away and walked up to the doctor.

"Why don't you shut the fuck up. Y'know, maybe if this world wasn't such a shit hole with people like you living in it, she wouldn't be as heartless. No one would! Listen to me mother fucker. The emotions and actions that a person makes are based on past experiences. This dictates their reactions, manners, and feelings. She has gone through so much shit that you could never have perceived or even been able to happen. I was there with her, for every step of life. Childhood, our teens, granted, I did leave for several years, but then I came back. And y'know what kind of state I found her in? Guess." Lee lectured.

"How, what was she like when you found her?" The doctor asked timidly.

"In a shitty house with a drug addiction because of a gang that forced her into it. And if she didn't take those fucking drugs, they would've violated her body! NOW LISTEN THE FUCK UP!" Lee yelled more aggressively. "I don't give a SHIT! That you all are doctors. Yes, you save lives. You saved my life. But disrespect, or make any stupid remarks like that one, and I will have your head under a fucking Guillotine! And this is NOT A THREAT! IT IS FUCKING GUARANTEED!"

Later on, Lee got some clothes and walked around the city. He studied the landscape, memorized landmarks, and acted out situations in his head. He had a plan for everything. A plan for anything, a plan that would make what happened two years never happen again.

"Lee..." Diana softly said.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Will you stay with me?" She asked.

"Of course, I made that promise to you." He reassured her. "I'll always be your friend."

"No, like, can you be with me, forever?" She asked. The silence was loud, and emptiness was deafening. Lee walks up to her and hugs her.

"If that's what you want, then yes." Lee said.

"Do you love me?" She finally asked.

"Always have." Lee held her tighter. He then felt her hand on his cheek, and then she leaned in for a kiss. Lee gladly accepted it and their lips made contact.

"Zesty! Man's mesmerizing. C'mon my boy! Really haven't noticed her feelings towards you?" Mohammed interrupted from above a broken part of the road.

"Actually no. I've always seen how she acts around me, I knew exactly how she felt. Why do you think I was so protective?" Lee said.

"Aye, hehe. That's the man, the myth, the legend right there!" He said as he went in for a hug, but pulled out a piece of oroborn and stuck it into Lee's abdomen.

"You fucker!" Diana cried as she leapt to Mohammed. Mohammed grabbed her by the forehead and held her there, letting her scratch at his arm. He pulled another piece of oroborn out and healed Lee's wound.

"There, you're a permanent dung beetle until you change it." Mohammed said as he dropped Diana. Lee smirked and held his wrists.

"Dumbass." Lee softly said as he swung his hands up and grabbed him by the neck. "Holy fucking shit! You're light as fuck! You should eat more!"

"I'm on a cut!" Mohammed said while squirming around.

"Nice, nice. I need to bulk up. But I'm a little agitated right now, and it would be nice to not have any distractions." Lee said.

"Ok ok, now will you put me down!" He struggled more and more until finally Lee dropped him.

"You too, Diana. Don't ask me for anything unless it's an emergency." Lee told her, and she simply nodded.

As Lee explored the buildings and houses, he found a particularly large factory. He entered it and scouted for a bit until he heard some strange noises. He hid behind a machine and waited for a few seconds. He peaked around the corner and saw a mutated lizard crawling around.

Lee thought that he could take it on, and so he dashed from the corner and sprinted towards it. But suddenly, the surge of adrenaline stopped him from breathing and he fell to the ground. The lizard heard him and turned around. Is screeched and started to crawl at insane speeds towards him. Lee braced himself and before the lizard could bite him, he kicked it and it tipped over. Lee grabbed a metal pipe and started ramming it into the lizard's skull.

As Lee caught his breath, he saw multiple cultists entering the area from the east. He sprinted out of the building to the others and warned them about the incoming threat.

"There's an entire platoon of cultists entering from the east. If we go north, there is a massive oroborn cluster that will drastically slow them down. There are also tons and tons of debris, so the best course of action is going north. What do y'all say? Lee suggested.

"That's good, but our mobile base is westward, and we need to head back before midnight." Another commander said.

"Fine, I'll devise a plan for us. Just start heading west while I scout the area." Lee told them, and so they started charging west. Lee sat on a building with a dragonfly in his hands. He saw the path and stuck a piece of oroborn into the dragonfly, then into himself. From his back, he sprouted wings and he flew down to them.

"Follow me!" He told them.

"How is he doing that!" One person asked.

"I don't know, but we'll have to announce this to everyone so we don't cause any further problems." Diana said.

Lee then thought of the dangers of only him being able to fly. So he stabbed himself with oroborn covered with dung beetle DNA and picked everyone up. It was incredibly difficult, but he managed to do it. But then he heard a high pitched screech come from above. He looked up and it was Keller! She swooped down and grabbed half of the people. She gracefully swam through the air and bolted to the base. But before that, Lee plucked one of her feathers and used oroborn to grant him those abilities too. He zipped through the air and eventually caught up to her.

"How the fuck!" Keller said.

"I plucked your feathers!" Lee told her.

"You bitch!" Keller cried.

When they got back to the base, we were going to land on a balcony in the food hall. They made a giant boom as they landed. Lee dropped the people he was carrying and fixed his hair. He walked down some steps and announced, "I'M BACK BITCHES!"