Sunrise
Part 4: Lost Souls
It wasn’t long before I decided to get out of Sector 2 altogether. Funny thing is, I actually missed it when I finally left. It was the only home I’d ever known, after all. But Sector 7 was a big step up from that hellhole, and with the preacher-man gone, I needed some other means of supporting myself. And believe it or not, there are a few things even I wouldn’t do for money. So off I went.
I eventually ended up in Wall Market.
Now that was living. Between the bar and the Honey Bee Inn, I was having the time of my life. Gil was easy to come by… just lift a little off one of the visitors from the Plate. Yeah, they deny it, but some of the people who live up top just love Wall Market. And those kinds of people always carry cash and plenty of it.
So I spent most days sitting in the bar, drinking whatever swill they were selling at the moment, picking fights, getting thrown out, and coming back once I’d sobered up. Nights – big surprise – were spent at the Honey Bee Inn. And guess who I found there the first time I walked through those doors…
She was dressed up in one of those cheesy little bee outfits they make the girls wear. Never much cared for those costumes, but I’ll admit, they do give a guy a nice view of the merchandise.
I almost didn’t recognize her, but she knew me right away. ‘Course I guess I do kinda stand out just a little. Wasn’t expecting to run into her again. I honestly never thought she’d ever get out of her dad’s house. But there was Angel in the Honey Bee Inn, all dressed up waiting for the next guy to walk in. And wouldn’t ya know it, I was the next guy…
So long story short, it got to the point where I became one of her regular customers. Found out she’d killed her dad when he came after her with a knife and then run off to Wall Market. Ya ask me, he had it coming. She shoulda done it a long time ago. Hell, I would’ve done it for her if she’d just asked. Kume joined up with Shin-Ra’s army, and Angel said she’d only seen him once since then. And apparently Jazep was a drugged up junkie somewhere in Sector 7. I never bothered to find him.
Angel and me, I guess you could say we were friends. I mean real friends… I more or less trusted her, and she more or less trusted me. The whole incident with Yolin’s goons we put behind us after awhile. I think she was genuinely sorry for just leaving me there like that. I doubt I’d have gotten such remorse from Kume…
Somehow I ended up as Angel’s unofficial bodyguard… Sort of. Anyone who roughed her up, I tracked ’em down and beat the crap out of ’em. It was a nice little arrangement. I scared off most of the assholes, and she waved her usual fee when I showed up at the Honey Bee. A few of the other girls were… appreciative… as well. Life was good.
There were downsides, of course. Don Corneo being one of them. That fat slob had a bigger ego than even the preacher-man. And he was the one guy in town I couldn’t smack around for getting a little rough with the ladies… not if I wanted my skin to remain intact, anyway. He had a hand in everything that went on in Wall Market, and even if he was a spineless piece of gutter slime, the guys he had watching his fat ass weren’t exactly pushovers.
Anyways, by the time I was seventeen, I was pretty well settled in Wall Market. For once I had almost everything I thought I wanted… and for what I didn’t have, the bar was a reliable substitute.
But life’s funny, ya know? Just when you think you’ve got it all pretty much the way you want it, something new comes along and changes everything.
-end part 4-
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