ꗃ ⋆ ࣪ . 𝙋𝙪𝙧𝙧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘾𝙖𝙩𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘤 - 🖇️ 𖥻

💬 𝟬𝟲┃𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙠𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙮'𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 ✰

⋮ ❛ Soundtrack: Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex ❜ ⋮

- - - 🐾 - - -

"What do you want from me?"

Such a question is usually asked with emotion, particularly negative emotion.

Yet, Kai asks it so plainly, harboring no anger or aggression in his query.

Aloisa doesn't understand.

"What do I want from... you?" She repeats, moving her hand away from Kai's hair to rest on her knee.

He nods with unwavering eye contact, not a shred of hesitation in his voice when he clarifies: "You took care of me, so what is it that you want back?"

"What is he going on about?" Aloisa thinks, unable to fathom why he'd treat her gesture of kindness like this, nonchalant as though he's engaging in an everyday transaction. "Does he think this is a deal or something?"

Fidgeting with the quilt beneath her, she struggles for an answer. "What do— What do you mean? What would I want from you?"

"What?" The old bed creaks under their weight when the hybrid shifts to look at Aloisa fully, arching an unimpressed brow. "Shouldn't you be telling me that?"

"No? I was being a decent person," she says. "I don't expect you too—"

She leaves her sentence unfinished.

There is something she wants from him:

Answers.

"Actually," she crosses her arms, "I want you to explain."

"Alright, what else?"

"That's it."

Kai's jaw hangs low. "That's it?"

This time, it's Aloisa who quirks her brow. "Um, yeah? What else would I want?"

"I dunno— I..." The young man's voice nearly breaks, utterly devoid of understanding. If she's not mistaken, Aloisa thinks she even hears gratitude seep through his tone too. "I thought—"

"Mhm?" Waiting for her companion to piece a sentence together, she steals a glance at the window, curious about how much time passed since their confrontation with Milah.

She never bothered to check when they arrived at the cabin, having been preoccupied with relocating both Kai and herself. Lugging him off the stairs already proved to be a tedious task by itself, but managing to move him out of the complex was another level of difficulty.

A small, melted path extended several feet out from her door, most likely made by the witch before she forced entrance into Aloisa's apartment.

Although there was still a mound of snow to shoveled aside, the leftover path reached far enough for the ravenette to get near her car, which was parked along the sidewalk. To say she was grateful when she laid her eyes on its polished, obsidian-black exterior is a tremendous understatement. She's sure they wouldn't have gotten far without it.

Luckily, the employees at the automobile repair shop are always kind to her. Aware that Aloisa only owns one vehicle, they tow it to her complex to save her the long walk back to the shop, and as with previous occasions, her keys were hidden in the soil and leaves of the prayer plant.