I'm the Last One That You'll Ever Remember
Chapter 214: I Too Was A Prize
Frank, Masika, Michael and his big brother Gerard enjoyed the rest of the week of Comic-Con together in peace. They even went as far as to shop together at a nearby store that sold cheap last minute costumes just so they could all say they went to the convention in theme together at least once. Their fourth and first full day together at Comic-Con was elected to be the Justice League team. Masika went as Wonderwoman, Michael as the almighty Superman, Gerard as Batman and Frank as Aquaman.
When the Way brothers began to bicker on whose cheapest costume was the best cheapest costume, Frank was left alone alongside Masika. In that time period, he would end up hearing the tale of how Masika and Michael ended up getting together within the Killjoy.
“Boys will be boys, won’t they?” Masika murmured as she watched the two brothers quarrel like two children. She shook her head in disapproval, her ebony curls swinging left and right.
“It certainly looks so.” Frank couldn’t resist agreeing as he too watched in half-fascination and half-embarrassment at the two grown men going at each other over something so minute. It made him wonder if he had a younger sibling growing up if they would squabble over trifling things such as cheap costumes. He supposed he’d never know, and was fine with that. He selfishly loved being an only child.
Masika’s brown eyes drifted to Gerard’s husband sitting beside her on a small green hill at an open park with a torrent of small family restaurants to choose from. In fact, that’s why they were there, to grab a bite to eat. Only Gerard and Michael were too busy bickering with each other to get in line like everybody else! “I don’t suppose you have any siblings, do you?”
Instantly becoming leery as to why Masika would ask him that, Frank gave her a reserved glance. “Why do you want to know?”
Reading his mind, Masika smiled forgivingly at him for suspecting the worst of her query. “It’s not because I want to kidnap them and play Doctor with their insides, you can be assured of that.”
Her smile was so palpable, and it made Frank feel guilty for even having such ghastly suspicions towards her. Lowering his gaze to his lap in shame, he apologized for being so distrusting. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to jump to conclusions like that.”
“Don’t apologize, Frank. We didn’t exactly meet under the best of terms.” Masika reminded him with a casual shrug, not the least bit insulted by his distrusting ways. “No matter how comparable our introduction to the Way brothers was.”
“What do you mean by that?” Frank inquired with a curious frown. How was their meeting of the Way brother at all comparable when he met her AS a Killjoy?
“I mean, I too was a prize sold at a Killjoy auction.” Masika divulged to him with a bright sunny smile.
Frank gawked at her like she just announced she had all the world leaders locked away in a cellar on her property.
“It’s true.” Masika confirmed it with a nod before comfortably detailing her past to him. “I was a foster child tossed from home to home because nobody’s husband knew how to keep their hands off of me, and I was always blamed for it in the end by their wives. My last foster parents were particularly horrible people.”
“They were?” Frank asked, inching closer with growing interest. As appalling as Masika’s life was when she was a young girl, he couldn’t deny how curious he was to learn more about her. Even though she was a cold-blooded murdering Killjoy, she had to come from somewhere, right?
“Fuck yeah. I’d been around them long enough to find out about all the shit they were up to before the Killjoys showed up that fateful night.” Masika recalled, leaning her head back to soak in the sun with her eyes closed. “I had run away from their house earlier that day, and came upon some trouble that had me returning back to that shithole again. I walked in and…saw everything.”
Frank visibly shuddered with fright and revulsion before cutting her off there. “Let’s just glaze right over that part, please. What happened next with the Killjoys?”
“What you would expect. I tried to defend myself against them when they came at me. I was outnumbered so they got the jump on me real quick. Next thing I knew when I came to, I was being sold at their little auction. Dash was the one who originally purchased me…” Masika told him before raising her head and opening her eyes to stare at her man who was allowing Gerard to go off on a rant. “Only Kobra wouldn’t let him have me. He took me for himself. Unfairly.”
“Did he…were you…” Frank stuttered, unsure of how to ask her on what trauma that had certainly happened next by the hands of the Killjoy’s leader.
Masika smiled at his struggle, and shook her head no. “No, Michael didn’t rape me. He backhanded me once, but that was the first and final time. I was soon clothed, and fed much like you were. Obviously he never tried to kill me, he couldn’t bring himself to do what always came easily to him. In the meantime, he looked after me until he could figure out what he was gonna do to me next. And somewhere along the way, I fell in love with him. I can’t remember how or when it took place, but it did.”
Frank stared at her gorgeous face with a dreamy expression. What should have been a traumatic recollection looked to be a romantically prized one. It shook him, because that’s how he looked now when it came to his own husband. It would be hypocritical of him to judge her for falling in love with her kidnapper when he went and did the same damn thing. Frowning to himself, Frank asked. “So…what did you do about it when you found out you were in love with him?”
“I’ll admit I tried to use my newfound love to take advantage of Michael, to gain his trust so I could escape their evil lair.” Masika laughed softly at her former stratagem against her now fiance. “But as you can see, that didn’t work.”
“Why not?” Frank spurred on, practically on the edge of his seat of this thrilling romantic tale. “Did he figure out your plan of escape before you could make your move?”
Masika shook her head slowly. “No. We…ended up getting closer. The closer we got, the less I wanted to leave his side.” She paused for a long moment before her eyes met Frank. “I never had a happy life before I met Michael and so…as crazy as it sounds, getting kidnapped into his Killjoy family was the most stability I ever had in my whole damn life.”
Shocked by this revelation, Frank gaped at her, his jaw dropping.
Laughing at his reaction, Masika nodded in agreement. “I know! It’s fucking crazy! Even after being a Killjoy for so long, I still think it’s crazy as hell.”
Frank had to shake his own head in disbelief, but then remembered how hypocritical he was being by doing so. Their love stories to the Way brothers weren’t identical, but they were very similar.
Lightly nudging Frank with her elbow, Masika leaned over to ask another question of her own. “Say, do you ever find yourself looking back on how you and Gerard met? Do you also feel the same way about it, like it’s too crazy to believe it ever could have happened the way it did?”
“I-I don’t really look into the past much.” Frank denied with a shake of his head, his hazel eyes wandering to his husband who was rolling his eyes to Michael ranting away.
“How come?” Masika inquired with a pout, finding it sad that he didn’t reflect on their love.
“Because I’m…” Frank wavered, then sighed. Masika was open to him about her life, perhaps he should be too. After all, she’s marrying into the family so he was bound to see a lot of her. “I’m scared one day I’ll wake up if I ever do. I don’t want to become terrified of my husband again. Right now at this very moment, I’m in love with Gerard and I want to be with him forever. But…what if this ends up all being a dream? If so, I don’t ever want to wake myself from it.”
“Me neither. That’s one thing we both have in common.” Masika backed him with a nod.
Soon after, the two are interrupted by the Way brothers marching over to them with fast purpose to their steps. As soon as their shadows snuffed out the welcoming sunlight from their lovers, the brothers demanded each of them to vote on who they believed to be the best member of the X-Men. Both Masika and Frank snapped their eyes in the other’s direction, and as soon as their orbs met, the two burst out laughing at the exact same time, stunning their Ways into confusion.
When the Way brothers began to bicker on whose cheapest costume was the best cheapest costume, Frank was left alone alongside Masika. In that time period, he would end up hearing the tale of how Masika and Michael ended up getting together within the Killjoy.
“Boys will be boys, won’t they?” Masika murmured as she watched the two brothers quarrel like two children. She shook her head in disapproval, her ebony curls swinging left and right.
“It certainly looks so.” Frank couldn’t resist agreeing as he too watched in half-fascination and half-embarrassment at the two grown men going at each other over something so minute. It made him wonder if he had a younger sibling growing up if they would squabble over trifling things such as cheap costumes. He supposed he’d never know, and was fine with that. He selfishly loved being an only child.
Masika’s brown eyes drifted to Gerard’s husband sitting beside her on a small green hill at an open park with a torrent of small family restaurants to choose from. In fact, that’s why they were there, to grab a bite to eat. Only Gerard and Michael were too busy bickering with each other to get in line like everybody else! “I don’t suppose you have any siblings, do you?”
Instantly becoming leery as to why Masika would ask him that, Frank gave her a reserved glance. “Why do you want to know?”
Reading his mind, Masika smiled forgivingly at him for suspecting the worst of her query. “It’s not because I want to kidnap them and play Doctor with their insides, you can be assured of that.”
Her smile was so palpable, and it made Frank feel guilty for even having such ghastly suspicions towards her. Lowering his gaze to his lap in shame, he apologized for being so distrusting. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to jump to conclusions like that.”
“Don’t apologize, Frank. We didn’t exactly meet under the best of terms.” Masika reminded him with a casual shrug, not the least bit insulted by his distrusting ways. “No matter how comparable our introduction to the Way brothers was.”
“What do you mean by that?” Frank inquired with a curious frown. How was their meeting of the Way brother at all comparable when he met her AS a Killjoy?
“I mean, I too was a prize sold at a Killjoy auction.” Masika divulged to him with a bright sunny smile.
Frank gawked at her like she just announced she had all the world leaders locked away in a cellar on her property.
“It’s true.” Masika confirmed it with a nod before comfortably detailing her past to him. “I was a foster child tossed from home to home because nobody’s husband knew how to keep their hands off of me, and I was always blamed for it in the end by their wives. My last foster parents were particularly horrible people.”
“They were?” Frank asked, inching closer with growing interest. As appalling as Masika’s life was when she was a young girl, he couldn’t deny how curious he was to learn more about her. Even though she was a cold-blooded murdering Killjoy, she had to come from somewhere, right?
“Fuck yeah. I’d been around them long enough to find out about all the shit they were up to before the Killjoys showed up that fateful night.” Masika recalled, leaning her head back to soak in the sun with her eyes closed. “I had run away from their house earlier that day, and came upon some trouble that had me returning back to that shithole again. I walked in and…saw everything.”
Frank visibly shuddered with fright and revulsion before cutting her off there. “Let’s just glaze right over that part, please. What happened next with the Killjoys?”
“What you would expect. I tried to defend myself against them when they came at me. I was outnumbered so they got the jump on me real quick. Next thing I knew when I came to, I was being sold at their little auction. Dash was the one who originally purchased me…” Masika told him before raising her head and opening her eyes to stare at her man who was allowing Gerard to go off on a rant. “Only Kobra wouldn’t let him have me. He took me for himself. Unfairly.”
“Did he…were you…” Frank stuttered, unsure of how to ask her on what trauma that had certainly happened next by the hands of the Killjoy’s leader.
Masika smiled at his struggle, and shook her head no. “No, Michael didn’t rape me. He backhanded me once, but that was the first and final time. I was soon clothed, and fed much like you were. Obviously he never tried to kill me, he couldn’t bring himself to do what always came easily to him. In the meantime, he looked after me until he could figure out what he was gonna do to me next. And somewhere along the way, I fell in love with him. I can’t remember how or when it took place, but it did.”
Frank stared at her gorgeous face with a dreamy expression. What should have been a traumatic recollection looked to be a romantically prized one. It shook him, because that’s how he looked now when it came to his own husband. It would be hypocritical of him to judge her for falling in love with her kidnapper when he went and did the same damn thing. Frowning to himself, Frank asked. “So…what did you do about it when you found out you were in love with him?”
“I’ll admit I tried to use my newfound love to take advantage of Michael, to gain his trust so I could escape their evil lair.” Masika laughed softly at her former stratagem against her now fiance. “But as you can see, that didn’t work.”
“Why not?” Frank spurred on, practically on the edge of his seat of this thrilling romantic tale. “Did he figure out your plan of escape before you could make your move?”
Masika shook her head slowly. “No. We…ended up getting closer. The closer we got, the less I wanted to leave his side.” She paused for a long moment before her eyes met Frank. “I never had a happy life before I met Michael and so…as crazy as it sounds, getting kidnapped into his Killjoy family was the most stability I ever had in my whole damn life.”
Shocked by this revelation, Frank gaped at her, his jaw dropping.
Laughing at his reaction, Masika nodded in agreement. “I know! It’s fucking crazy! Even after being a Killjoy for so long, I still think it’s crazy as hell.”
Frank had to shake his own head in disbelief, but then remembered how hypocritical he was being by doing so. Their love stories to the Way brothers weren’t identical, but they were very similar.
Lightly nudging Frank with her elbow, Masika leaned over to ask another question of her own. “Say, do you ever find yourself looking back on how you and Gerard met? Do you also feel the same way about it, like it’s too crazy to believe it ever could have happened the way it did?”
“I-I don’t really look into the past much.” Frank denied with a shake of his head, his hazel eyes wandering to his husband who was rolling his eyes to Michael ranting away.
“How come?” Masika inquired with a pout, finding it sad that he didn’t reflect on their love.
“Because I’m…” Frank wavered, then sighed. Masika was open to him about her life, perhaps he should be too. After all, she’s marrying into the family so he was bound to see a lot of her. “I’m scared one day I’ll wake up if I ever do. I don’t want to become terrified of my husband again. Right now at this very moment, I’m in love with Gerard and I want to be with him forever. But…what if this ends up all being a dream? If so, I don’t ever want to wake myself from it.”
“Me neither. That’s one thing we both have in common.” Masika backed him with a nod.
Soon after, the two are interrupted by the Way brothers marching over to them with fast purpose to their steps. As soon as their shadows snuffed out the welcoming sunlight from their lovers, the brothers demanded each of them to vote on who they believed to be the best member of the X-Men. Both Masika and Frank snapped their eyes in the other’s direction, and as soon as their orbs met, the two burst out laughing at the exact same time, stunning their Ways into confusion.