Day's first light reached through the partially open blinds, slowly illuminating a beige couch covered in a rainbow knit blanket. Clothes strewn carelessly about made a mess of the otherwise spotless living room. A large, plant-filled terrarium sat on a table wedged into a corner by a dresser. The only audible sounds were the sharp tweets of an orange reonth bird and the soft snores emanating from another room. 

Three quick raps on the front door cut through both sounds, the bird taking flight. Further rapping soon becomes banging, accompanied by a pleading voice.

"Ko! Ko, come out baby. I wanna talk."

Inside, a white door painted with flowers was wrenched open. A tall, bleary-eyed woman half-stumbled through her living room. Her smile at the now wriggling blanket was interrupted by a wince as her bare feet touched the night-chilled entryway tiles. Wicker orbs jostled in their carved, decorative bowls set on a shelf above the front door as the banging against it grew stronger. Addled by sleep, she fumbled with the brass knob. A click sounded, and she staggered back as the door was thrust into her. She looked up in indignation, preparing an epic rant about the sanctity of a good night's rest, but stopped as her muddled vision focused on the intruder's face. Recognition flared within her mind. 

'Oh shit.'

"Where is she?!"

The intruder frantically pushed past the woman, knocking her against the wall. The wicker orbs spilled from their shelf, bouncing on the floor as they rolled after him. A head peeked up from the blanket just in time to see the man enter. Eyes widening in terror, the second woman scrambled from the couch only to find herself falling, legs tangled in her bedding. 

With a face rapidly twitching between relief and anger the man rushed up to her.

"Ko! You're okay! What did you think you were doing; running away from home? From me?"

"I-"

"Did Lasora tell you to do this? That bitch has always been interfering in our relationship! How could you let her do this to us Ko? You're not to see her anymore, okay baby." 

His bulky, hoodie clad form crouched over Ko's trembling one, hand clutching her face in a painful grip he had always insisted was loving. Ko stared up at him, both of them dyed red in the light from the blinds. She had dreamed of seeing him again. Always imagined catching sight of him on a bright street, surrounded by people. She would calmly walk up to him, inform him in person that they were over and would never see each other again. Then she would walk away, never having flinched or shown any other weakness, and spend the rest of the day watching cheesy movies with Las. She would never think of him again. Never wake up from nightmares of him chasing her. Never curse herself for agreeing to move with him away from everyone she knew. 

Perhaps some of that might have gone as she planned. If they were in a bright, public place. If there were others around to restrain him. That was not the case now. Now she was frozen. Unable to do anything other than hope she would soon wake to the sizzle of her best friend's stovetop, and the smell of honey as Las cooked them both pancakes. Any moment now.

A gust of cold wind blew through the open door, setting the orbs to rolling once again. Brown leaves joined them, some finding purchase in the tall woman's hair as she pulled herself up from the tiles with a look of anger to match that of the man.

"Get out right now you deluded manchild. Or your uncle won't be able to keep so much as a strand of your hair out of gaol." She said with a strong, firm voice.

Though she'd never say it out loud, Lasora had always been afraid that her friend's recent bout of clear-headedness would end, and Kola would go back to him. It had happened before. Somehow that disgusting abuser always knew what to say; how to act. She had felt so helpless, sitting with Kola in that cafe as her friend happily told her how he had changed. Then a week later, horrified as ghastly yellow and purple bruises were uncomfortably explained away as something they enjoyed together. It had been a tremendous relief when Kola showed up on her doorstep a year after they moved away together, begging Lasora to take her in.

She couldn't let him talk to Kola; convince her to go back with him. Lasora had to keep his attention on herself, and hope her friend was calm enough to call for help. 

The man that turned towards her with an almost animalistic snarl would never touch Kola again.

"You. This is all your fault. We were happy. Ko listened to me until you sabotaged us! I thought moving away would be enough, but no! You took her away from me!"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

By this point he was screaming, spittle almost filling the air between them. Eyes bloodshot, hands clenched so tight that his veins seemed almost entirely free from his bones. Then… he relaxed.

"That's it. That's how I can fix everything. You're the problem. I just have to remove you."

Reaching under his hoodie, the man pulled out a minute handgun. Fingers almost too large for the trigger, he raised it to point at Lasora.

"I can fix everything."

He pulled the trigger. 

The world.

Went.

Grey.

Kola pulled herself up using the couch and an adjacent coffee table. Shakily she moved past the man, stopping at a bullet frozen in the air. Reached out to touch it-

"Heya." A cheerful voice flowed from the blinds, accompanied by a red-orange mist. It poured down the wall and onto the floor, quickly blocking the latter from view. It was the only colour in the apartment, other than Kola herself she realised, and she leapt onto the couch to avoid it. 

"What is going on?!" She nearly screeched.

"Weeeell. I thought you might want a little help. Though if you don't, I'd be happy to leave and let things take their course." The voice responded, now rising from the floor.

Their words stood out oh so starkly in the otherwise hushed room; cutting through the silence no longer filled with birdsong, insectile chirping, or electrical humming. All those background sounds only ever noticed when gone.

"I- I do not un-"

"You've got two choices. Actually, teeechnically you've got a few thousand. Buuuut I'm going to keep things simple for ya. I'm nice like that. You can decline the deal I'm about to offer you and hope that after Lasora dies, Zair decides to leave without causing any more harm. Oooor. You accept my deal and save your best friend. She'd be very thankful I'm sure."

Kola swallowed, eyes flicking to the suspended bullet. She had no idea what was going on, but Las could not die. Not after taking her in. Not to him. Not… if it was her fault.

"What do you want?"

"Ha! The second worst question you could've asked me. I'm prone to going off on completely unnecessary tangents that always seem to end with me explaining divine classifications and politics. We're both very lucky that I'm so focused today because I don't really feel like explaining the motivations behind every action I've ever taken, and you are not in the right state of mind for any kind of extended lecture. Of course I could just fortify your mind with Loebsum's Arrangement; it being the best easy option for your specific trau- I'm doing it again."

If the voice had a head, Kola could imagine it would be shaking it and sighing at itself.

"Let's just skip ahead a bit. Gimmie your soul and I'll save Lasora. Decline, and you get firsthand experience as a murder witness with a promotion to murder victim guaranteed before next quarter. I'm sure it'll look great on your resume, enough high-paying jobs these days have braindead as an unwritten requirement."

Now, as a lifetime atheist and proficient church-avoider, Kola had never really believed in souls. The fact that a bunch of talking red mist with the power to stop time wanted hers made her reconsider.

"What happens to me if I lose my soul?" She asked cautiously.

"Hey! That's a good question! Congrats!" With a somewhat proud tone the voice explained. "If properly disconnected, a person won't even notice their soul being removed, and I can gua~ ran~ tee~ ya~ I am more than capable of that."

As Kola pondered, the mist ceased pouring from the blinds. Rapidly, where it once carpeted the floor, it began to dissipate. She almost slipped as she dashed towards the largest remaining pool of mist, swirling beneath the bullet.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Kola called out desperately.

"Weeell, I'm hardly gonna stick around while you make up your mind. Seems a bit demeaning to me, a cosmic being waiting on a human."

The mist was disappearing fast. By the time the last pool was smaller than her foot, Kola, mind hastened by panic, begged.

"Wait! Wait! I agree! Take my soul!"

The mist vanished, and the world regained its colour. Kola was almost physically struck with sound and smell. One hand drunkenly snapped out to grab the bullet. However, not only did she grab the wrong place, her efforts were rendered useless by two other factors. First, it was a completely impossible feat for her or any other human on her world. Second, Zair missed. By five centimetres.

Emboldened by the recent insanity, Kola charged Zair, hoping to somehow steal his gun. She had been willing to give up her soul to save her best friend. Lasora would not be dying today.

Distracted by Kola who, to his perception, had teleported in front of him, Zair failed to fire again. His hands shook and twitched. In his vision she became larger. Somehow he could see her more clearly than ever before, even while the rest of the room went out of focus. The adrenaline powering him was running out concurrently with the stobic he had taken earlier. It had given him the courage he needed to go through with all this, but now he realised it was killing him. The batch his uncle had given him must have been bad! That he had failed to reclaim what was his made him want to rage, but he was all out of anger. Zair died watching the bitch hug his girl as things got weirder.