(Book 2) Neferpitou and the human Royal Guard

Chapter 3 I can't think of a good title.

"Oh... alrighty."

We stop talking for a few minutes, and after I finish eating that arm, I stand up and say "Time to move. I don't want anybody to start worrying about me for being gone so long." I then pick up the corpse at my side, and start walking off.

Don groans as he does the same.

I slow down a bit so he can catch up, and after about a minute of silence, I pop the question "So what is your story, Don? How'd you end up at odds with these guys?"

"Oh yeah... that... Ya know how I call myself Honest Donny?" he starts.

I nod, waiting for him to continue.

Continuing, he tells me "Well see, that's my problem, I'm too honest, and the bosses don't like that too much, which leads me into a lotta sticky situations. You ask me if I think that suit makes ya look fat, I'm gonna tell ya you do if I think ya look fat in it. Ask me if I think yer plan is stupid, ya better believe I'll tell ya if it's stupid or not. Well one day I was honest about the wrong thing, which was the last straw for the mob, see. Long story short, I let something slip when I was talkin' to a mole in the group, and that somethin' cost a lotta money. And as ya probably know, the mafia ain't too fond of losin' money because of loose-lipped shmuck like me. As punishment, some boys roughed me up, put me in the bag, an' dumped me off here, where I met you. Thanks again by the way."

"No problem." I say.

At the castle

(Imagine this image, but at night instead of day)

"Woah, wasn't expectin' all the webs. Well, not exactly sure what I expected to be frank with ya. Maybe a big ant hill, ya know, since yer ants." Don comments.

"Yeah, it's a work-in-progress, but I think it's turning out nicely." I say.

Before Don can comment, Pitou arrives right in front of us, having launched herself here from the top of the castle, freaking out poor Don.

"Jesus J Chrysler!" he yells. "You tryin' ta give me a heart attack?!"

Pitou ignores him and looks to me. "Well you certainly took your time getting back here, Allie. I was beginning to think that you might have been taken out by some humans. Who's you're new friend?" She then asks, gesturing to Don.

"Name's Donny." he answers her before turning to me and saying "I thought yer name was Alejandro, but this cat just called ya Allie."

"My real name is Alejandro, but Pitou-chan here calls me Allie for short." I tell him.

"Oh, got it. Is it cool if I call ya Allie?" he asks me.

"Call me that again and I'll snap your neck." I respond.

"Woah woah woah! Easy there bud! Just an honest question, no need to get rough." he says while putting his hands up defensively. "So Pitou-chan is the only-"

"Only I can call her Pitou-chan. You can either call her Pitou, or Neferpitou." I assert.

"R-right. Sorry. I'll just uh... I'll just shut up for now." He says, making me feel slightly bad.

Pitou ignores my overly possessiveness as she notices the corpses we're carrying. "You should probably get those to storage soon. Don't want our food to go bad, meow do we?"

"Right, see you around, Pitou-chan." I say as Don and I head to the storage. Minutes later, as we're walking the halls of the new castle, I apologize to Don. "Sorry about earlier, that was out of line."

He simply shrugs and says "Nah, it's cool, no hard feelins'. I'm guessin' that was yer gal?"

I nod, smiling.

"Yer a lucky guy then. I bet I'd be a bit protective if I was with a lady like her." he admits.

"Still, I took it too far back there. That was overly aggressive of me." I tell him right as we make it to the freezers. "Alright, here's our stop." I then begin looking for any empty freezers to put the bodies in.

"Holy crap!" I hear Don yell.

"What's wrong?" I ask as I see him looking in one of the freezers.

He just looks in amazement, saying "I... I know ya said ya killed some Troupe members, but I didn't expect to see... him."

"Please close that one up. That is to be King Meruem's meal at a later date." I request.

"S-sorry." he apologizes, promptly closing the freezer that corpse was in.

After we both find freezers with the room we need. I look over to Don to check on him. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah... It's just a bit of a shock, ya know, seein' that man's dead body, especially after hearing how easily he and the Troupe took on the mafia in the past." he admits. "I was worried about bein' hunted down by the new Shadow Beasts, but after seein' everything I saw today, I'm more worried about what happens ta them than I am for myself. Offing the leader of the goddamn Phantom Troupe is... it's unbelievable, but I just saw it with my own eyes..."

"To be fair, it was a rather difficult battle." I hear a voice behind me say.

Don just yelps as he spins around, clearly startled.

The voice turns out to be Pouf. "Sorry, human. It was not my intention to scare you." He says.

Don responds, now holding on to his chest "Whew... you guys gotta stop poppin' up from outta nowhere like that, else I might actually end up havin' a heart attack." he quips with a nervous laugh.

Pouf looks to me and smiles, asking "Shall I escort this man to King Meruem? I'm certain you're itching to spend some time with Neferpitou again by now."

I smile in return, nodding. "Thanks, Pouf." I then turn to Don, telling him "Well, see you later, Don. It was good to get to know you."

He gives me a thumbs up. "Likewise, pal. I owe ya one." He says before heading off with Pouf.

As I'm walking through the halls, I come across Pike as he's taking a nap in the middle of the hall. As I approach, he suddenly wakes up, turning to me and frantically apologizing "So sorry sir! Please don't be mad at me! I was just resting my eyes for a moment, and then happened to pass out. I will get right back to work, I promise!"

"Woah, take it easy, Pike. Don't push yourself too hard, okay? I'm not mad, just passing by on my way to see Pitou-chan." I calmly explain.

"Oh, you are most kind! Thank you for understanding my plight! I will now double my efforts to make you all proud!" he declares as he speeds off to work again.

"You don't need to-" I start, but he is gone before I can finish. I then sigh, simply saying "Whatever." to myself before I start making my way to Pitou again...