(Asurah's POV)
"Asurah? What are we?"
When Joseph asked me that, I had no idea how to respond. I knew precisely what he had been asking, I just...I didn't know the answer. How could I? Love was as foreign as Earth was, to me. And, what I felt for him couldn't be love. I didn't want to be in love with anyone. I didn't want to end up like my parents had, dead because love overrode their logic. I definitely was infatuated with him, I knew that much. Definitely attracted to him, as well. But surely that was more lust than love, right? But...when he had been shot, all I could see was red. I didn't know why I reacted so violently towards Jack. Hell, I didn't attack him because I had been shot, I had attacked him because he dared to hurt Joseph.
And that terrified me. I had been worried about Joseph. Much more so, than if he had been a colleague of mine. Sure, I would have been worried regardless, but with him, it was like everything around me screamed in agony when I saw Jack pull the trigger. It was if I had been shot myself...which, I had, but I hardly felt it. But, I had nearly fainted when Joseph had been shot. I didn't know why. At first, I thought it was because he was my friend, and I cared about his wellbeing...but then I got to thinking, and I realized it was a little more than that. I didn't want it to be more. I didn't want to be caught up in the cesspool called love, it just wasn't my style.
And yet, you get giddy every time the guy kisses you, I argued with myself, my self conscious calling me out on my bullcrap. My subconscious was right, I probably liked the guy a little more than I had anticipated, even before the whole betrayal thing. Maybe I'm a masochist, putting myself through this crap. I snorted to myself, pulling on my clothes that I had, at long last, found stuffed in a cubby. I glanced over my shoulder at Joseph, watching as he ran his long fingers through that curly hair of his. I wonder what it would feel like to run my fingers through those silky locks, I wondered, nibbling at my bottom lip.
I sighed to myself and shook my head, clearing my throat when I was done getting dressed. Joseph looked at me with those chocolate colored eyes of his, nodding as he stooped down to pick up Jack's gun. At my raised eyebrow, Joseph shrugged, tucking the gun behind him. "Well, I couldn't bring a gun of my own, since there were scanners around. How Jack managed to sneak it through, baffles me."
"He probably had help from the inside," I sighed, pushing my hair back over my shoulder to get it out of the way.
"That's what I'm worried about." I watched as Joseph pulled something out of his ear, setting it down before he pulled me over to the side. "I have a feeling Olivia is working with him. She may be acting all innocent now, but I believe she's going to give up our location once we're on the move. I have no doubt that she's wanting the money you're worth."
"And that's stupid. Do you humans always sell other beings for profit?" I asked with a pout, crossing my arms over my chest. I had felt so offended when Jack told me he had the intentions of selling me. I was not an object to be bought and sold. I was a Glacic, a being who had emotions and feelings just like everyone else did. We laughed, we cried, we got angry over little things, we got stressed. We were no different than humans, in that aspect. We lived, we died, simple as that. It seems that humans were more selfish than I had initially intended...well...some of them. I glanced back over to Joseph, who had gone back to the table to retrieve his communication ear device.
He walked over to me and grabbed my arm, pointing to one of the vents that was nestled near the ceiling. He didn't speak outright to me, only mouthed his words in order for Olivia not to hear. "There's no camera in the vents. We're lucky since this vent is out of the way of the cameras in here. So, we'll go through there."
I nodded and walked over to the vent, standing on a table in order to reach it. I pulled the cover from the wall, coughing as dust flew into my face. I then sneezed, my eyes watering from the force. I heard Joseph chuckling, and when I glared down at him he shrugged and mouthed that he would tell me later. He better. I wanted to know what was so funny. Besides, keeping secrets from friends was mean. Not to mention I had a sneaking suspicion he was laughing at me because my sneezes may...or may not sound like a sound some kitten would make. It's not my fault I sneeze like that. Blame my body and it's weird noises. Ok...that sounded weird, back to escaping.
I climbed into the tiny vent, having to bend a way I never had to bend before in order to get my body fully in there. I already knew that trekking through the vents was going to be a tedious task, especially if I had to do so in a way that made even contortionists weep with shame. I wondered how the heck Joseph was going to get in here. Sure, we were the same height, but he was much buffer than I was. I actually felt kind of bad for him. Hehe.
I moved away from the entrance as Joseph pulled himself in, grunting as he managed to wedge himself inside, breathing heavily. "What the crap was I thinking? I am way too big for this crap."
I giggled and poked him. "Well, it was your idea, Einstein."
"...You know who Einstein is?"
"Not really. I just heard a lot of people say it. Why? Did I say it wrong?"
Joseph was silent for a moment as he pulled the cover back onto the vent, his position making even me ache in pain. Gosh, he must be extremely uncomfortable. "You're so freaking adorable, you know that?"
I blushed darkly, averting my eyes as my heart leapt weirdly in my chest. I bit my bottom lip, not knowing how to respond as I maneuvered around so that I could go further into the vent. "Um...we should probably get going before the creep finds us."
"Agreed."
I began crawling ahead, wincing every time my head hit the top of the vent, my body aching as I moved, not used to being contorted in such a way. Joseph was probably in a worse condition, judging by how heavily he breathed. We came up to a fork in the vents, one going up while the other one steered to the left. I glanced back at Joseph the best I could, only seeing a mop of dark curly hair. "There's a fork ahead of us. One goes up and one goes left. Which one do we take?"
"Going up will probably take us to the roof, and as much as I want to get out of here into fresh air, our main priority is getting completely away from this building."
"Didn't you take an elevator down? Wouldn't going up take us to the ground floor?"
Joseph paused to consider my words, before he sighed and nodded. "You're right. This vent is messing with my head."
I smirked, resisting to laugh out loud at the poor man. "What, afraid of tiny dark spaces?"
Joseph scoffed. "As if. I just have...you know...an allergy to dust, is all. And damn if there isn't a heapload of dust in here. Don't they clean their vents? Unsanitary, I swear."
"Didn't peg you to be the germaphobic type." I joked, crawling over to the other vent so I could stretch my legs for a moment. I stood up and sighed with relief as my legs were finally able to stretch. I peered over the ending of the upper vent, and saw that it went on for about a few feet before teetering to the right. "Ok, so this one looks like it goes to the right." When I got no answer, I frowned. "Jo? You alright down there?" I gasped when I felt hands on my thighs before Joseph's face popped into the vent. Even without much light I could see how sweaty he was, his hair matted to his face as he panted for breath.
"Move so I can stretch my legs. I feel like they're about to fall of from no feeling."
I nodded, my cheeks red as he used my thighs to drag himself into a standing position, our noses nearly touching from how close we were. His hands were now on my hips as he stood there staring at me, and I wouldn't be surprised if he saw the blush on my cheeks. I don't know why, but it was like my heart was going into overdrive, the organ beating so hard in my chest that I wouldn't be surprised if it broke free from it's confines.
"Huh...you have freckles."
I blinked, knocked out of my thoughts at the random statement. "Uh, what? Freckles?"
Joseph nodded, gently placing his fingers on my cheeks, which didn't help with my overly beating heart. "Yeah, they're faint, but they're there. It's actually kind of cute."
I gulped and cleared my throat. "Um...cool, I never knew I had freckles. So...we getting out of here, or what?"
Joseph blinked, clearing his throat and nodding. "Right. I keep forgetting that we're in the middle of an enemy base. The dust is probably messing with my head more than I thought." He laughed nervously, clearing his throat. "Well, let's get the heck out of here. The sooner we leave, the better."
I nodded, wondering about Joseph's reaction before I replied, nibbling my bottom lip. "Agreed."