"I've been meaning to do this until you have no souls left," Chevo chuckles, "I'm curious to know what'll happen,"

Kita looks at the stream of blood seeping out of the bullet wound in her chest, hiccuping for her breath as her lungs regenerate. She glances at Dia's lifeless body in Ms Eeve's hands. Kita tries to speak to her but is unable to make any sounds beyond a hiccup.

"Maybe we'll find out with this one?" Chevo shrugs, shaking his gun in Dia's direction.

"Find out what?" Ms Eeve asks.

"Seriously?" Chevo chuckles, glancing at Kita, "Should we show her?" He asks as he raises his gun to Kita's head.

"Leave her alone!" Caity yells.

"Aw," Chevo grins, lowering his weapon, "She's working so hard not to lose everybody. She's so desperate to show you that she definitely wasn't selling you out,"

"Fuck you!" Caity yells as Chevo steps up to her, "We had a fucking deal,"

A firm backhand collides with Caity's face, and Chevo grabs her by the cheeks to look her in the eyes, "I trusted you!" He bellows in her face. "You don't think I know what you and your brother have been up to?"

Caity huffs in anger, trying to shake her face out of Chevo's grasp.

"You took advantage of my kindness more than once. I gave you one last chance…" Chevo pats her on the face before stepping away. "You tried your luck. So, here we are,"

Chevo walks back to Kita, raising his gun to her head again, "How many souls have you got?"

"U-u y-you," Kita chokes.

"What was that?" Chevo chuckles.

"F-fuck… you," Kita repeats.

"I do believe stubbornness is a trait of her kind," He cocks his weapons, "Time for a little demonstration of the power these soulless ones truly possess. Ready, Kita?"

Kita ignores Chevo's remarks and directs her attention to Ms Eeve, "H-how many souls did he have?" She stuffers.

"I'm not sure," Ms Eeve sighs, "I don't let them keep many… He might have had five or so-"

"It's fine," Kita stammers, sliding on her knees in Dia's direction, "I can save him,"

"Uh-uh," Chevo interjects, kicking Kita over, "Why would I allow that?"

"He's just a kid," Kita says.

"Hmph," Chevo drops his shoulders, "You just don't get it,"

He raises his gun to Kita's head, and with no hesitation- he pulls the trigger. Kita briefly hears a loud eruption before-

Darkness.

°•°•°•°

"Kita!" Yells Caity's voice from across the small, one-hundred-person camp of tipis and tents. Grabbing Kita's attention as she devours a bowl of meat soup as she sits at the camp's food stand.

"What?" Kita mumbles with her mouth full.

"Are you serious?" Caity grunts in frustration, "We need to go… Now,"

Kita says nothing and simply holds her finger up, signalling Caity to give her a minute and shaking her head as she grins at the chef- who's just observing their kerfuffle.

"No," Caity mumbles, grabbing the back of Kita's shirt and lifting her off her stool.

"What the fuck?" Kita protests.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Grow up," Caity argues, "We were supposed to see him at sunrise,"

Kita looks up in the sky, to see the soft gold and blue of the morning sun sitting slightly higher than sunrise.

"We're not that late," Kita shrugs.

Caity glances at the chef, who shrugs his shoulders too and starts chopping some vegetables to avoid eye contact, "You're a part of the problem too, Chef,"

"Leave Chef out of this," Kita says, looking endearingly at Chef, "Tasting your recipes will always be my priority,"

"Thanks, Keet," Chef smiles, before tilting his head over at Caity and shrugging his shoulders again.

Kita looks at Caity and sighs, "Fine," She dusts her clothing off, "Let's go then,"

The two of them walk through the camp, towards the center. As they go, they are greeted by a multitude of comrades and allies that they've spent the past one hundred rotations travelling and fighting with.

In the centre of the camp, a large tent with its doors closed and various sizes of steel boxes lined up outside of it. They walk right up to the entrance before zipping it open and stepping inside.

The cool breeze of old technology chills Kita's body as she enters, bringing her attention to how hot it is outside. The tent is split into three rooms, the main one in the centre- where Chevo is stood over a desk with papers scattered all across the top and artistic decorations from a city that Kita doesn't recognize, hanging from the ceiling. Behind him is a zipped-up doorway that presumably leads to his bedroom and the other is a kitchen with no doorway to conceal it.

"You're late," Chevo's voice rumbles in a slight frustration.

"It's all Caity's fault," Kita says as she winks at Caity.

"The soup stain on your shirt must be a coincidence then," Chevo says as he looks up at Kita.

"We're sorry for being late," Caity says, "It won't happen again,"

Chevo sighs, and looks back down at the papers on his desk, "Yes it will,"

"Yeah," Kita chuckles.

"So, how can we serve you?" Caity asks.

"Serve?" Kita interjects, "He's not god, y'know?" She adds, chuckling.

"I'm being respectful," Caity scoffs, "You could learn a thing or two about that,"

"Okay, Okay," Kita says, surrendering both her hands in the air, "I'm just teasing you,"

"Are the two of you finished?" Chevo grunts.

Caity says nothing and simply glares at Kita who passes a confused look at both Caity and Chevo. "I have a feeling it would be disrespectful for me to say 'no'?" Kita chuckles.

"Ugh,” Caity sighs.

"I need the two of you to go and talk to an old friend of mine," Chevo begins explaining, "He owes me some pieces of old technology,"

"Is it a debt?" Caity asks.

"Yes," He responds.

"We'll need a few others to help carry-"

"No need," Chevo responds, "He doesn't have what he owes me,"

Kita nods her head, "So by 'talk', you mean-"

"Yes," Chevo responds, without looking up from the notes he's writing.

"Excellent," Kita exclaims, rubbing her hands together in anticipation. "Who's your friend?"

"An engineer," Chevo says, shuffling his pages before returning to writing, "Goes by the name of Reiku,"

"Why send the both of us for just one engineer?" Caity asks. "Seems a bit overkill to send even one of us,"

"Caity," Kita interrupts with an over-dramatized disdain, "Do not question his highness. We are here to serve,"

Caity shakes her head and plants her forehead into the palm of her hand, "You're so annoying,"

"He's no fool," Chevo says, "He may not be a fighter but he's certainly an escape artist. I'm not the first person to want him dead,"

"Where will we find him?" Kita asks.

"He was recently seen working in Kal," Chevo answers.

"Anything else we should know?" Kita asks.

"He's good at hiding," Chevo says, "But if you can catch wind of the people who know him, you'll be lead straight to him,"

"He isn't expecting anything, right?" Caity asks.

"No," He responds, "He'll think you're customers,"

Kita and Caity both nod at one another before Caity confirms, "Alright. Leave it to us,"

"Mace and Chef have prepared your travel kits," Chevo says, pointing below the desk where the backpacks are seated.

"Thanks," Kita says, reaching for the bags and passing one to Caity.

"You should leave now," Chevo responds, "It'll be quite the travel,"

"How long?" Caity asks.

"Two moons to the northeast," He responds. "You'll need to return before the next rotation,"

"Understood," Caity nods her head, prompting Kita to follow suit.

"We'll handle this 'Reiku'," Kita confirms before leaving the tent.