Chapter Text
The ride to Doli would take a few hours. Colt’s home was set up on the outskirts of a smaller town in Rokario; Necessities were only 5-10 minutes away, but in order to find anything more than that, a trip to the city was necessary. The amateur hunters had left a few days prior to see each other off, Kite staying behind to take more time to prepare. He was lacking combat ability now, after all. He could recall some of his combat prowess, but being nenless and weaponless left him feeling more vulnerable than he liked. He had taken some time to train on his own, but he was well aware that he’d have to rely primarily on Koala for protection if something came up, and that frustrated him. He never liked to be the one being protected in the past.
The car ride was silent. Kite didn’t have much to say to Koala, and Koala didn’t have much to say to Kite; It was perfectly fine that way. Koala was there to atone for his sins, not make friends. …How he may react to finding out that the girl was, in fact, still around, Kite did not know. He figured he should tell him eventually. The girl wanted him to know, he felt. She wanted him to feel the crushing guilt that he did not, in fact, save her soul. It was just a question as to when they should tell him.
Kite wasn’t given much time to mull it over, the ride soon coming to a screeching halt. The car spun out onto the side of the road, the glass windshield shattering onto the slumped-over body of the driver. It seemed he had been shot.
“Looks like we got ‘im, boss!” A voice called from outside. On the drivers’ side, Kite suspected. Whoever it was hadn’t noticed there were passengers yet, thanks to the car’s tinted windows. “Now lessee what we got…”
Kite glanced at Koala, who had already leapt into action, raising his gourd to his mouth and firing a water bullet at the unsuspecting assailant’s temple. He dropped dead right there. Kite’s gaze was unflinching on the act that unfolded in front of him, eyes strained from not blinking. Kite was no longer the one in the driver’s seat. The girl took his place, frozen in what felt like a mix of anger and fear stirred up by memories.
Koala looked to her for guidance. No, he was looking to Kite for a command. It only made sense — He had thought it was Kite who ordered him to stay by his side. He had confessed he was always a man of doing, following orders like a dog, even as a human. Kite may have been able to provide advice in this situation, but she couldn’t — and wouldn’t — give him any order other than to do what he already knew to.
“Protect me,” she said in an urgent tone. “Kill them.” They were burgulars, bandits — the type to kill without remorse and pilfer what valuables they could find. They deserved to die.
Koala did not need to be told twice. He carefully and swiftly exited the vehicle. The girl heard some commotion outside, and then it was quiet. The quiet did not extend to her head. It was loud, full of static, of fog, and she couldn’t hear herself think over replays of her own memories; she just wanted to go to sleep again. But for some reason, she was stuck there. The way out was too thick to pass through. She could hear Kite far less than she usually could, and she could barely hear him on a good day.
“The coast is clear,” Koala opened the door and poked his head inside. “The driver’s dead, though, and the tires have been slashed. We’re going to have to go the rest of the way on foot. I apologize for the inconvenience, Mr. Kite.”
“I’m not…” She whispered, her eyes screwed shut and hands over her ears.
“What’s wrong? I’m truly sorry this happened, I should have noticed we were being tailed—”
“Not Kite…” She whispered again.
“...Pardon?”
“I’m NOT Kite!!” She shouted. Her head hurt even more. “He’s been keeping me from you!! I’m not Kite!!! You’re supposed to be apologizing to me!!!”
She didn’t see Koala’s reaction. Her eyes were still closed. All she heard was a barely-audible gasp cut short by a more audible exhale. The car shifted as he sat down. It was silent for a few moments.
“...I see. You didn’t escape after all…”
The girl opened her eyes. Koala sat next to her, his legs positioned out of the vehicle and his gaze resting on the mountainous backdrop. The sky was clear and the sun at its peak, making a mockery of the messy and unclear situation they were in currently.
She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to comfort him. She didn’t need to comfort him. So, she stayed quiet. It was on Koala to continue.
“I’m… truly sorry. I stand by what I said to Kite. I will follow you and atone for the rest of my life. I thank you for giving me that chance.” He continued after several more moments of silence. He turned to look at her as he spoke, his brow furrowed. “Can you tell me your name, so I can refer to you properly?”
“My…name?”
What… was her name? As readily as some of her memories — mostly the traumatic ones, she noted — came to her, she… She didn’t know what her name was. She had memories of her father, of their pet chickens and goats, of a picturesque day playing in the sun becoming a chaotic and terrifying massacre, running for her life only to be gunned down—
“I—” Her response caught in her throat, tears welling up in her eyes. “I… don’t know…”
“That— Uh, That’s normal. A lot of us don’t remember our human names immediately, some don’t remember them at all.” Koala seemed a little out of his element dealing with this, but he tried his best out of obligation. “I still don’t remember my name.”
The girl fidgeted with her hands in her lap, not bothering to stop the tears from falling. She supposed that was right, but not knowing her name still meant a fundamental part of her identity was missing.
Now was no time to sit and feel sorry for herself. Maybe it would come to her soon… That’s what she’d tell herself to feel better for the time being. Koala helped her out of the car and the two began quietly walking in the direction of the City, their belongings secured on their backs. Koala knew better than to try to strike up a conversation with her. He could tell she wasn’t in the mood to talk jovially with the man who killed her, she thought.
Eventually the sun began to set, and the two had decided it would be best to rest up for the night. They found a decently sheltered spot and Koala got to setting things up to make a fire, leaving the girl alone with her thoughts. Well, not alone. She had felt Kite’s presence a few times while they were walking, but it seemed like he wasn’t able to take control of the body back from her. That, or he decided not to. She couldn’t tell what his intentions were yet.
Leaning against a tree, she closed her eyes and attempted to ‘connect’ with Kite.
‘Mr. Kite, are you there…?’ She thought, her voice reaching into the depths of their shared consciousness. ‘I feel really lonely. Please respond to me.’
There was a reply. She couldn’t process the words that formed in her head, though — it just came out as noise. The channels through which these thoughts of Kite’s were processed didn’t seem to be tuned to her own… but for some reason, she felt a little more comfortable.
She looked up at the moon. A memory danced in her mind’s eye, her father smiling down at her.
What does your name mean? Well, Chantha means moon. You were born on a full moon, you know.
“Chantha…”
Koala looked up from the work-in-progress fireplace. “What was that?”
“My name,” she replied. “It’s Chantha.”