Kita and Raya arrive back at their hotel in the middle of the night. Still a little bit pumped on adrenaline and alcohol, they both make quite the ruckus reenacting parts of the fight as they walk through the halls.
"The guy was huge!" Kita yells, "His fist would've taken my head off,"
"It almost did!" Raya chuckles, "I was watching,"
"Oh, so you were just going to watch me die?"
"Wouldn't be my first time," Raya winks.
They arrive at the door to their room where Raya briefly struggles to find their keys before she unlocks the door and steps inside.
The energy between them immediately shifts when they notice two figures in the room, and raise their arms in defence. Kita flips the torch on the wall, casting a light that reveals the twins standing in their room staring back at them
"The two of you have no respect for privacy," Kita scoffs as Caity and Alex's faces come into focus.
"Privacy?" Caity rolls her eyes before placing a leaf in her mouth and chewing. "I've seen you naked,"
Kita feels her cheeks flush at the feeling of being exposed, which causes her more frustration. Especially at this sassy bitch. It's like talking to a mirror, but the reflection rolls its eyes at anything Kita says.
"Do we have a problem?" Kita asks.
"Now's not a good time to get into that-" Alex stammers.
"Yeah," Caity snaps bluntly, stepping up to Kita as she shifts her golden hair behind her ear.
"Then say it with your chest," Kita barks, returning a step forward.
"Hey you two, let's all just calm down," Alex chimes in.
"So it always has to be me that communicates?" Caity rolls her eyes
"What?" Kita grunts.
"You just left! Without saying goodbye or even breaking up with me first,"
Alex taps Caity on the shoulder, trying to get her to relax and hear his words whilst Raya drunkenly chuckles at the ensuing argument.
"No-no, Kita just fucks off without saying a thing to the people that care about her and then pops up again three hundred rotations later as if nothing happened," Caity says, with a genuine look of irritation in her eyes and a sharp tone of voice.
The silent-treatment-girl is suddenly very talkative, and angry. Kita presumed that she doesn't say much, but acts out instead. Yet here she is, voicing all of these emotions and memories that Kita has no idea about.
"Huh?" Kita grunts as she processes what Caity just said. "Break up?"
"What, After three hundred rotations you can't remember shit?"
"Nope," Raya adds after a good laugh, "She got her brain cut in half," She says, leaning a little too far forward and stumbling onto the bed.
Caity's head flips back to Kita, her purple eyes widened with worry and shock at this newfound information.
"So you went to fight the dark one alone?" Caity sighs. "Again,"
Kita doesn't know how to respond. She knows the answer but knows nothing of the events leading up to it. "I, uhh… Yeah,"
"And you died?... again," Caity asks.
Kita nods, slowly comprehending Caity's distress.
"I told you there was a good reason," Alex adds, also taking a seat on the bed.
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"Good?" Caity scoffs. "She still left without saying a word. This could have been avoided,"
Something about this argument feels familiar, but Kita can't determine if this is because of the topic at hand, or the familiarity of arguing with Caity.
"So… We're a couple?" Kita asks softly, feeling the weight of disappointment in her memories as she momentarily perceives how Caity might be feeling.
"We were…"
After the repeated bickering, the room suddenly draws silent. Creating an awkward tension between Kita and Caity that prompts them to step away from one another.
"Are the two of you done?" Alex asks, sitting on the bed beside Raya.
Neither of them answers. Caity simply sits on the bed beside her brother, chewing anxiously on the leaves she'd eaten.
"Did the two of you manage to find Vlad's hideout?" Alex asks, initiating a more productive conversation.
"Yeah," Kita mumbles.
"He wasn't there but we figured out why they came to River City," Raya says. "Take a look at this," She adds, hopping off the bed and opening the drawer of the counter.
She tosses the Jar with black smoke floating within it to Alex.
"Is this…" Alex stammers, analyzing the content as he shows his sister.
"A soul," Raya confirms. "Although I'm not sure how many are in there,"
"Feels like ten," Kita adds reluctantly- participating might expose her to direct conversation with Caity.
"No way," Alex whispers as he holds the jar up to the light of the wall torch.
"Why do they need them?" Caity asks.
Raya takes the next item out of the drawer and holds the small capsule in the air to display the soft glow eliminating from within it. "To make these," She answers, placing the pill into Caity's hand. "Apparently, whoever takes one of these is granted fifteen thousand rotations of immortality,"
Alex and Caity's heads shoot up in sync as they both exclaim, "What!?"
"We met a woman named Ms Eeve. It seems as though she purchases the souls from Vlad, and uses them to synthesize the pill,"
"Ms Eeve?" Alex reiterates, looking back down at the pill. "Isn't she just a botanist?" He asks Caity.
"As far as Chevo's aware," She answers. "I heard she has a strange obsession with children,"
"I presume Ms Eeve is going to purchase Jan from Vlad so that she can produce the souls without a buyer in between,"
"Hmm," Alex mumbles. "This may be the reason Chevo wants Jan,"
"He's here to take Jan?" Kita asks with a worried voice.
"No…" Caity answers, "He's here to kill him,"
What reason could Chevo have to kill a kid?- Scratch that, some kids are annoying as hell. But, Jan is great.
"Why?" Kita asks.
"Well… He thinks it's sacrilegious," Caity answers.
"He'd rather kill all of the soulless than allow this to enter the market," Alex adds. "That includes you, Kita,"
"There are bigger problems to worry about," Kita says, slowly clenching her hand into a fist.
"The dark one is here," Raya says, "He's using Jan's soul as a vessel,"
"The dark one took Jan's soul?" Alex asks, prompting Raya to nod.
"He wants chaos," Kita says.
"Why?" Caity asks.
"I don't know… He said it was to get back at me specifically, but I'm not sure I believe that,"
"The dark one always wants to hurt you specifically," Raya adds.
"There's more to this than he's admitting. I'm not sure what he's planning, but it worries me," Kita says. "We need to make sure this deal doesn't go through,"
"Putting a stop to this deal won't be enough if the dark one can just keep creating more soulless," Alex says.
"I don't care. I need to make sure Jan doesn't get hurt," Kita scoffs. "I'll face the dark one if I have to,"
"I don't know," Raya chimes in. "We need to make sure Jan is safe, stop the war, and take out the dark one,"
"That's a lot for the four of us to pull off," Caity worries.
"Saving Jan might do half the job for us," Alex adds. "If we save Jan, the deal will fall through. Chevo will have no reason to attack and Vlad will have wasted his time,"
"What about the dark one?" Kita asks.
"I have a plan," Raya says. "First and foremost, we need to find Jan. If we can get to him before the trade then we can control the playing field. We'll use him to lure out the dark one, and deal with him whilst ensuring that we have the upper hand,"
"Ms Eeve," Caity says. "What better place to hide him than your mega-wealthy and trustworthy buyer,"
"That'll be up on the third floor," Alex notes.
"Okay, then we go through Ms Eeve's shop, grab her, and make our way up to her home,"
"Sounds like a plan to me," Says Alex, as Caity and Kita both nod.