Dia tries his luck and fires another burst of air at Kita, but she manages to raise her hand and dissipate it- He used fewer souls this time around, is he running out?

"What the fuck, Kid?" Kita grunts. "You realize they're trying to hurt you, right?"

"No, you are!" Dia rejects

"How am I the one trying to hurt you?" Kita sighs.

"They give me food and a place to stay... And they make me stronger!"

"They're only doing that so they can use you…"

"So?" Dia scoffs. "It's only fair that I help them too,"

"That's not-" Kita stammers, unsure of what to say to him. She glares deeply in his shadowed eyes and doesn't see him falter in his words. He genuinely wants to stay… But, Kita can't let them have what they want… What the dark one wants.

Do I kill him?

No! Kita argues with herself.

"Just leave me alone," Dia says.

"Kita!" Caity yells from the hallway, running with Ms Eeve in their direction.

"Why are you back!" Kita yells.

"We have a problem," Caity calls out with a worried look on her face.

"Leave Madam Eeve alone!" Dia yells as he turns his hand towards Caity.

"Dia!" Kita chides, taking a step in Caity's direction.

"Kill her, Dia!" Ms Eeve yells, stumbling behind Caity.

Fuck.

Kita stumbles as she watches Caity's worried expression turn to fear, and Dia's expression turns to fury. He's going to-

Kita's heart races as she tries to think of a way to counter it. Drawing on all the ideas and memories she has but nothing rings as the solution. She's never had to stop a soul from being stolen, is that even possible?

Dia's hand tenses and his fingers slowly curl as Kita can see he's cast the spell in his mind. Caity's body briefly convulses when a thunderous crash rings through the entire house, prompting Kita to close her eyes and flinch. Gripping her ears and curling over in a moment of vulnerability.

Once the echoes subside, Kita turns her head in a panic to see Caity getting onto her feet and Ms Eeve covering her ears as shock spreads across her face whilst looking over Kita's shoulder.

Kita turns around to see Dia on the floor with a bullet wound through his neck and a small puddle of blood building around his head.

"Looks like I saved you, this time," A tall, athletic, dark-skinned man grins, "Huh, Caity?"

"What did you do?!" Ms Eeve yells out as she runs towards Dia's lifeless body.

Kita can't take her eyes off Dia, watching as Ms Eeve drops to her knees and lifts Dia's head into her lap. Kita thought she could save him… She thought he'd want to be saved but in the end, she just got him killed.

"Finally found you," The man chuckles.

"Chevo, wait!" Caity yells as she grabs the man by the shoulder as he stomps his way over to Kita. But a few of the goons that he'd bought along with him restrain Caity from her efforts.

"This one's gotta debt to pay," He snarls, grabbing Kita by the shoulder and throwing her through the nearest pane of glass.

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The sharp sting in Kita's hip brings her out of her daze, moaning in pain as she crashes onto sharps of glass and feels the wet river of blood seeping from her side.

"You think you can just run from consequences, huh?" Chevo barks as he charges towards Kita before she can get up. Grabbing her by the locks this time and throwing her through another glass wall.

Another shard impales Kita's shoulder, piercing out of her upper chest.

"Gah!" Kita screams in pain as she rolls over and gets on her knees in an adrenaline-fueled panic.

"Go on," Chevo says," Heal so I can start from scratch,"

Kita looks up at the man's face, his goatee and a scar crossing his eye triggers a familiarity within Kita. A realization of who this man is, and an accompanying emotion of dread.

"Chevo, stop!" Caity yells under the firm grasp of Chevo's subordinates.

"Why should I?" He scoffs, stepping in front of Kita and placing the barrel of his gun underneath her chin. "These soulless need to be reminded of death,"

"You killed him," Kita grunts, as she tries to maintain her concentration under the blurring of her vision.

"Still worried about someone else?" Chevo raises an eyebrow, "Imma kill you too, Kita,"

"What for?" Kita stammers.

"That's a serious question?" Chevo frowns. "You fucking with me?" He presses the gun into Kita's throat, partially strangling her as she tries to shift her head away.

"Oh, right. I heard I killed your piece of shit, Son!" Kita barks, "I have a hard time remembering unimportant crap,"

The butt of Chevo's gun cracks into Kita's cheek, throwing her to the floor. She spits out blood as she looks at Chevo with a rage-filled look in her eyes. This bastard knows me. Kita has tried casting multiple spells at this point, but none of them were successful as she can feel her body instinctively prioritizing regeneration.

"Old habits die hard, huh?" Chevo chuckles, "Hundreds of rotations and you still ain't learn to control your nature,"

Chevo turns his head to Ms Eeve, who kneels by Dia's side, running her hand through his hair. "You the one who fears nature, huh?" He scoffs.

"Nature is a tool," Ms Eeve sighs.

"Nature is nature," Chevo responds, walking over to Ms Eeve, "Death is a part of nature, and these soulless ones ain't part of that,"

"He was just a kid," Kita scoffs.

"Wrong. That ain't no kid," Chevo denies, "That's a monster in its conception. I would know, I spent plenty of time thinking they can be like us,"

He glares at Kita, before holding his gun to Ms Eeve's head, "It just ain't their nature,"

"Chevo, wait," Caity calls out, "I need Ms Eeve alive,"

"What for?" He raises an eyebrow.

"To pay off a debt to Reiku," She responds.

"And why should I do you any favours?"

"B-because," Caity stammers, "I did what you told me to,"

Kita looks over at Caity with a look of disdain as she comes to realize what's happened. The large shard of glass slowly squeezes out of Kita's hip, and the wound zips closed before her body gets to work on the glass impaling her shoulder.

"After you betrayed me, and sided with this devil,"

"No. That's not true, it was all part of the plan," Caity argues.

"And you expect me to believe that?" Chevo chuckles. "You think I'd forget that you and this one have history?" He says, passing an irritated glance at Kita.

"You were using me this whole time?" Kita asks Caity, sighing in frustration.

"I-" Caity stutters, caught between the line of her truths and lies. "I still love you, Kita… But… I'm in too deep here," Caity's eyes gloss over and her cheeks flush as she holds back her emotions.

"So what was the plan?" Kita grunts as she gets to her knees, "Use me to get even with Chevo and Reiku, then make a break for it so you could be 'free'?"

Kita pulls the remainder of the shard out of her shoulder and throws it on the ground before the wound slowly seals.

"N-no…" Caity sighs.

Kita stands to her feet, noticing she has eighty-eight souls remaining. She faces Chevo and sparks a flame in her hand, preparing to throw a fireball when a bullet exits through her chest- One of Chevo's assassins from behind.

The flame in her hand extinguishes and Kita drops to her knees, coughing blood and gasping for air.

"Kita!" Caity calls out.

Chevo laughs, entertained by Kita and Caity's desperation. He waves his gun at Kita, kissing his teeth like a teacher scolding a student, "You should know better than that,"

"She doesn't remember anything, Chevo!" Caity cries, "She's changed,"

"Oh, have you changed?" Chevo asks mockingly, as he walks over to Kita, "Have you stopped consuming souls?"

Kita looks up at Chevo, struggling to say anything and hardly getting a full breath of air. She looks back down in pain as her hand presses again the exit wound.

"I'll take that as a no," Chevo scoffs.