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She was breaking his trust again. Maybe it was the moon hanging high in the sky or ancient reserves of magic swelling underground, either way the aura of their missing half had become unbearable. So when she was sure Klug had fallen asleep she had slipped out of the house. It was the first day of their week with his body, and Klug had pulled an all nighter the day before, she was left practically running on fumes. Still Aya was left to carry on, walking through the shadows of Primp Town as they kept their form shrouded in their cape. Not many were out this late, save the spare cosmic users, who often practiced spells under the cover of stars. Klug was often like that, perfecting spells to channel the cosmos during the day. Her magic was quite different however, rooted in the remains of their very soul, tied to the wells of magic from within ancient ruins. Sig’s magic was similar, same roots, only missing the crimson their soul combined would have. His house was on the outskirts of town, a small place upkept by an anonymous benefactor, but still his own. The closer they got, the more their stomach and head ached, the more their senses were flooded by the cyan aura. She followed the dirt path around the side, to a window peering in on a room illuminated by moonlight.
They looked inside, eyes scanning the room carefully, their own soul slipping out from behind their form. She caught sight of his sleeping form, and how the spirit started her intently. It could speak, Aya was sure of it, but rarely did it exchange more than giggles with her, like it was taunting her. It simply floated above him, wearing the same smile it usually did. Physically she bit back the sneer it caused, but the face still reflected on the soul Klug’s body could not contain. She rested her hand on the glass, ignoring the spirits taunts and instead on the body… except the sudden pang of guilt made her head hurt more. They had told themselves upon meeting Klug that they wouldn’t get attached to him and his stupid friends, and upon the… incident, they didn’t think they’d be around much longer to get attached. But, circumstances had left them and Klug connected, and so they’d gotten to know Sig as well… Sig, who didn’t seem to care about his half demon traits.
It was infuriating at first, to have the key to her freedom right there, but, the key was a living person who had a life and didn’t seem to be interested in the fact he is missing half of soul like she was. Though from there it had become a dull ache, stuck on planning the next method of freedom while her other half lived a carefree life. Aya let out a long exhale, taking one last look at Sig as she pulled away from the window. She froze however, spying the big black beetle crawling on her hand, before shaking it off with a rather undignified yelp. She scrambled to duck under the window when she heard rustling on the inside of the house, the commotion of the scene no doubt waking Sig. Aya held their breath as the window opened and she could hear Sig’s low breaths. They thought they were in the clear before-
“‘Can see your spirit thing.” Sig murmured and Aya let out a mix between a sigh and a groan. They stood and moved in view of the window, dusting the grass of Klug’s pajama pants.
“It’s not my fault your friend's human body cannot contain all of it at once.” Aya responded.
“‘Don’t think Glasses was expecting a demon to possess him a bunch.” Sig opened the window wider, Aya assumed it was an invitation to enter but she remained where she stood. “You gonna stay outside?”
“I told ‘Glasses’ that I would refrain from being in contact with you, as per our agreement for sharing this vessel. I think entering your dwelling would be a breach of that.” They pretended to be looking at their nails as they waited for his response. Their head still hurt, and the spirit still was smiling.
“You were watching me sleep just a second ago.” Sig remarked plainly and Aya felt her cheeks turn a shade of red.
“I was watching that nasty little spirit that’s tethered to ou- your soul. Its aura has been incessantly nagging at my attention all day.” Aya hissed at the apparition behind Sig.
“Huh…” Sig blinked and then shrugged. “You look tired.”
“Klug pulled an all-nighter last night.” Aya explained, adjusting her glasses, “I feel fine but the body will need sleep at some point.” Aya let out a hum of disappointment.
“‘Got a couch if you want to lay down for a bit.” Sig moved slightly out of the way.
“What part of I’m not allowed to have contact with you was not clear.” Aya sighed indignantly.
“Well seeing as you’re still here ‘could ask you the same thing.” Sig’s expression and tone didn’t shift but Aya could read the sarcasm in the words. They felt their fist clench at the thought.
“You’re a fool.” Aya responded, she didn’t understand what about the conversation had triggered the reflex to push back, “Letting someone like me in your own home, How do you know this isn’t some sort of trick for me to-“
“‘Trust you.” Sig said, cutting off their rant, “‘don’t you’re a bad person.” He reached out his human hand to help her through the window. It felt like an eternity between when his words caught up with her and she took the hand and clambered into the house unceremoniously.
“Why. Why in the name of the Moon would you trust someone like me.” Aya refused to make eye contact with him.
“Cause you felt bad about the stuff with Glasses.” Sig pulled a blanket off his bed, presumably to take to the couch.
“ What…? ” Aya looked at him, bewildered.
“If you were a bad person you wouldn’t have felt as bad as you did about what happened.” He opened the door to a short hallway, Aya wordlessly followed as he guided her to the Living room. “And you wouldn’t care so much about his rules for you.” It took a minute for the words to make it through the sheer amount of pain in their head, and finding tears welling up in their eyes as a result. Sig tossed the blanket on the couch and then turned back to them, just standing there in the doorway. Watching him, so stupidly carefree about how desperately they wanted to abandon this vessel and join their other half, about all the times they had stared at the Record and wanted to burn only stopped by the soul still inside. How they loathed departing this vessel at the end of the week and how they wanted to lock the tome in chains so she could keep living . How could he possibly not care about any of it.
“I hate you.” Aya whispered, tears spilling over her cheek, “I hate you.” She repeated louder this time. Sig didn’t even blink as she repeated it again and again, slowly making his way towards her before wrapping his human arm around them. She rested her head against his chest and balled up his nightshirt in her hands as she screamed.
“I hate you I hate you I hate you…!” Sig didn’t respond, letting them continue to scream into his chest until her throat was raw and her voice was nearly gone. “Go on- tell me I’m selfish- tell me I am selfish for wanting what you have- because I’ve done nothing to deserve it-“ Sig still didn’t speak, they looked up at his face. “It isn’t fair that you can afford- to not care about anything because you got to live .” Tears still flowed, and she felt any energy leave her body.
“You’re insufferable- why don’t you hate me- you should hate me.” She just wanted him to say something, anything, even if it was to tell her to leave.
“You’re hurt.” Sig said after a long stretch of silence, “‘can’t change that. You’ve hurt others, can’t really change that either.” Sig guided her slowly over to the couch.
“You deserve a chance, we’re giving you that chance, everyone.” Sig helped them down, and they brought their knees up to their chin as they rocked quietly. “You could’ve easily tried what you did at the ruins, but you didn’t. You care, and you’re afraid.”
“I- I didn’t take you for the perceptive type.” Aya murmured. “…you’re right. I- I do care and I- I don’t want to.” She avoided eye contact with him as she pulled her cape in on herself.
“There’s nothing wrong with caring about people.” Sig wrapped the blanket around her and began to slowly walk back to his room.
“…hey Sig?”
“Hm?” Sig turned to look at them.
“I’m- I’m sorry.”
“You’re good.” Sig gave the ever so slightest smile.
“A-also if we could- not tell Klug about this…” The thought of Klug seeing her like this, made her shiver.
“Didn’t plan to.” He responded, turning and continuing back to his room. It wasn’t until the door closed behind him that Aya realized their headache was gone, and the aura of his soul had returned to the soft presence at the edge of her mind. Sighing she laid down, mulling over his words until she drifted off into dreamless sleep.