When Beauregard and I finally got to the city, we couldn't help but look up in wonder. There were lots of huge buildings everywhere, cars drove around, and people walked about. While it was pretty loud and pretty strange, I couldn't help but feel a weird sense of... pride as I saw this place? I couldn't explain it, I felt strangely proud as I saw that the city was doing well. I also that Beauregard, while clearly not sharing the same sentiment, was mesmerized as I was. Suddenly, though, the beautiful moment was shattered by a loud scream. Snapping out of our reverie, we saw that a woman pointing and screaming at us before she ran! Confused, we saw that more people were doing something similar!
"Huh, I guess we're not too popular here," said Beauregard.
I sighed sadly.
"Guess not..." I agreed.
Holding onto me tighter, Beauregard quickly rushed off. As Beauregard ran, more and more people panicked, which made me feel horrible.
Why are they so scared of us...? I thought sadly.
Beauregard rushed past tons of people, causing a lot of chaos in the process. After a bit, he ducked into an alleyway. He then promptly (but gently) lowered me down and peeked out. I peeked out as well. At first, nothing had changed. After a bit, though, the police appeared and searched the area. At that, Beauregard and I shrank back, but not too much. The policeman in front looked from left to right for a bit. Seeing that no one was there, the cop turned to his colleagues and shouted some orders to them. They then got back in their cars and sped off. Beauregard and I sighed in relief, though, in my case, it was laced w/ a hint of depression.
"Phew, that was close! Guess we're going to have to lay low here," Beauregard said down to me.
I looked down sadly.
"Yeah... /..\"
Beauregard gave me a soft look.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
I sighed and shook my head.
"It's nothing..."
My stomach then grumbled.
"Oh, shit. Looks like we're going to have to scavenge for some food."
Beauregard gave me a funny look before shaking his head.
"You have a point."






...





We spent the rest of the day mostly in hiding. Beauregard and I mostly kept to shadows, trying to keep out of sight. When it came to food, we opted to dumpster dive. I know it sounds pretty low, and I honestly hated the idea quite a bit, but we needed to eat so we didn't really have a choice. We searched through different dumpsters, looking for the most relatively fresh food we could find. It took a long while, but we eventually managed to scavenge some lunch and dinner. It wasn't exactly easy, but we managed, despite my lack of a left arm and right foot. (For anyone who'd like to know how we ate the food, we could somehow phase it through the parts of our faces that should've had mouths. Don't ask me how). Another thing that happened was Beauregard slowly remembering spells. At some points, Beauregard would mutter something, tap on the brim of his hat w/ his wand, and something would appear. The things that appeared ranged from simple flowers to bursts of purple magic. Each time he discovered a new spell, I couldn't help but be amazed (even if Beauregard could only do a few simple spells at the moment). It was also a treat to see Beauregard messing around w/ his cards as he gained better control of them. Finally, there was the incident that happened just before dinner. Beauregard and I, after doing a bit of espionage window shopping (don't judge), hid in an alleyway again. Before we could dig into our relatively decent food, we saw something in the distance. There were lots of explosions of different colors. Some were yellow and electrical, some pinkish-purple ones, some whitish ones, etc. For me, I looked at the explosions in wonder.
The other heroes are doing well, I thought.
I shook my head. Where did that thought come from? I looked up to see Beauregard's reaction. He had a strange, mystified look. I immediately flinched down when I saw it. It looked eerily hungry and stoic at the same time. I gulped.
"Uh, Beau?" I asked nervously.
He stayed quiet for a few seconds. After that, though, he slowly shook his head.
"Oh, huh? Yeah, I'm ok, why?" Beauregard replied.
I hesitated for a bit.
"You looked kind of... hungry, back there..." I said softly.
Beauregard chuckled.
"Oh, Neo, of course, I'm hungry. It's dinnertime, afterall~."
Beauregard then pulled back into the alleyway, going over to the dinner pile. I turned to Beau, an unsure expression on my face.
That wasn't hunger for food... I thought.
Beauregard looked up at me as he phased a sandwich through his face that he pulled out of a container.
"Mm, you comin' or what?" Beau asked w/ some food in his mouth.
I shook myself and went forward.
It's probably nothing, I thought unconvincingly.
Choosing to ignore these feelings, I kneeled down and took a contained sandwich as well.








...



That night, Beauregard and I looked up at the beautiful night sky while lying on our backs.
"Hey, Beauregard," I said.
"Hm?" He asked.
I paused for a bit.
"Do you think things will get better for us?" I asked.
Beauregard laughed.
"Of course, I do~!" He said boldly, "I mean, sure, today wasn't the best, but, I mean, hey, tomorrow always has the chance of bringing something better. Even if it doesn't, though, well, at least I have you by my side to make it more bearable~."
I looked over at him at that.
"You mean that?" I asked w/ a blush.
He turned his head to me and made a sort of smile face w/o a mouth.
"Of course, I do~."
Giving each other more mouthless smiles, we turned our gazes back to the stars. After a bit, though, the soft yet persistent lull of sleep eventually pulled us under and we were out like lights...