Chapter 648: Hilarious

Grey stood in front of the mirror for a long while without saying anything, one hand resting against the edge of the sink while the other moved up to his hair. There was still a bit of moisture on his fingers from washing his face, so he ran them back through the white strands and slicked them away from his forehead, staring at the crimson eyes looking back at him.

He had never really stopped to question why his hair and eyes had changed colors in the first place, and at this point it felt a little late to start caring. Compared to everything else that had happened since entering the Genesis Games, waking up one day looking like somebody’s final boss barely cracked the list.

Still, Grey didn’t move.

Some of the pressure was starting to get to him.

When it was only his life on the line, none of this mattered very much, Grey had already died enough times that the whole concept had lost most of its intimidation. But Elowen had almost died too, and something told him that throwing himself off a cliff and asking Prometheus for a reset wouldn’t magically give him another chance at fixing that.

If they had methods capable of killing him for good, why wouldn’t they have ways of doing the same thing to everyone else?

Then there was Earth.

Amunet’s answer to the Genesis Council potentially using the planet against him was apparently to drag everyone into the Games, giving them system protection before someone else could interfere. Grey understood the logic, but there was something deeply fucked about the solution to billions of people being in danger becoming putting billions of people into an entirely different kind of danger.

He stared at himself until the pressure behind his eyes started to feel physical.

Grey had people around him now, more than he’d had when all of this started, but somehow he still felt alone in a way he hadn’t expected. Brad could fight, Mauve could handle people, Amunet knew things he didn’t, and Elowen had an entire empire under her now, yet when it came down to actually solving this mess, Grey couldn’t think of anyone he could hand it to.

Nobody else could build what he could build, nobody else had Prometheus, and apparently nobody else was stupid enough to keep stumbling into the sort of shit he did.

Grey exhaled slowly.

"Nut up."

That was about as much therapy as he had patience for.

He pulled on a white shirt and a pair of grey sweats that had been left in the bathroom, neither of which he recognized, but they fit well enough that he didn’t bother questioning where they came from. By the time he stepped back into the room, Mauve and Elowen were talking quietly near the bed, though both looked over almost immediately when they heard him.

"I’m going to focus on getting some things done for the next day or so," Grey said while pulling the shirt properly over his shoulders. "The Elementals I wanted to use for everyone’s mechs are kind of... dead, but I can still build out the shells now and finish the integration once I find replacements."

Mauve gave him a nod, already seeming to mentally reorganize whatever plans she had around that information. If there really was an army coming, Grey couldn’t afford to wait for perfect materials anyway, and having most of the work finished before they found another source of Elemental energy would still save time.

"Grey."

He was almost through the door when Elowen called after him.

Grey paused and looked back.

"Speak to Amunet."

He waved a hand behind him and kept walking before she could add anything else.

Grey released another long breath once the door closed and headed down the hall toward Amunet’s room, trying not to think too deeply about how much he would rather go fight the incoming army. By the time he reached her door, he had somehow managed to convince himself that soloing an army of millions might actually be easier than whatever conversation he was about to have.

His hand rose toward the door.

Then stopped.

Grey stood there for another second, considering whether knocking once and immediately leaving counted as trying, only for the door to suddenly swing open before he could decide.

Amunet stepped out quickly enough that she nearly walked straight into him.

She stopped.

Grey stopped too.

For a long moment, neither of them said anything, Amunet looking more startled to see him than Grey had ever seen her, while he searched through several possible opening lines and rejected every one of them as catastrophically stupid.

Naturally, he chose something else that was also catastrophically stupid.

"What do you think would make you happy?"

Amunet stared at him.

Grey immediately regretted speaking.

"... Where the hell did that come from?"

His lip twitched, and for once he actually considered lying.

The truth was probably going to make this worse.

Unfortunately, Grey had never been particularly good at choosing the safe option just because it was available.

"Elowen said women aren’t that complicated," Grey admitted, scratching at the back of his head. "Apparently you just have to make them feel wanted, so I figured I’d ask what that means for you."

Amunet’s eyes slowly narrowed.

Grey already knew he had fucked up before she even spoke.

"You came here," she said carefully, "with another woman’s advice... to try and flirt with me?"

Grey kept scratching the back of his head.

Amunet stared at him for another second.

Then she broke out in complete laughter.

Not one of the little chuckles Grey had managed to drag out of her before, or the occasional amused breath she tried to pretend wasn’t one, but a full laugh that doubled her over enough that she had to put one hand against the doorframe. Grey watched in complete disbelief while she tried to speak, failed, and started laughing even harder.

"What the hell is so funny?" Grey asked.

Amunet wiped at the corner of one eye, still struggling to get herself under control. "You look like a fucking deer in headlights, I’m crying."

Grey’s lip twitched.

She laughed harder.

He just stood there while Amunet nearly folded in half, laughing so violently Grey started wondering if she was going to need a lung transplant by the time she finished.

Was it really that fucking funny?