170 Lost girl, lost again

Mia was continuing her path towards the stones of Avebury in her attempt to find out where the demons that could increase her power to face Hana were hiding while she continued to wait for her eventual fight with Ellie in a couple of days.

Her journey was going much smoother right now since that voice in her head that kept singing pop songs and talking to her pretending to act like they were mother and daughter suddenly got quiet.

"... Evlin...?" she whispered.

The voice of Evlin was in fact so quiet that it made Mia worry and wonder if she was still even there.

The girl with ponytails couldn't help her curiosity and took a dive into the white void to check on Evlin's state.

Like always, the place was looking completely empty with nothing but white no matter where you looked.

The only thing that stood out was a small seven-year-old girl that was just sitting on a corner and hugging her legs while burying her head in them.

Mia approached the girl and touched her shoulder, "Evlin...? Evlin!"

"What do you want??" the girl responded. She appeared to be in a bad mood from the tone of her voice. 

Mia just stared at her for a couple of moments. It appeared that Evlin was still shaken from her small scare at the sight of the dark void. Mia wondered if she would need to stay by her side again. The last time she did so, she had to wait for hours until Evlin started to feel better. She really didn't want to go through that again.

"Why do you still look like this?" Mia asked.

"I don't know... Who cares?" Evlin responded, still not lifting her head.

"I care! If you are looking like this is because you are still afraid! If you are afraid, your negative emotions will start coming over to my body, and I will turn into a demon!" Mia shouted.

Evlin then lifted her head to properly look at Mia.

"I need to know if you can get back to normal so I won't have to worry about you!" Mia added.

Evlin glared at her visitor, "It's always about you... Isn't it?"

"Eh...?" Mia tilted her head.

"I need to avoid becoming a demon! I need to visit grandma! I need to die while fighting someone! I need to find a bunch of demons to play bowling with! I need this! I need that! It's always about me, me, and me!! Do you ever take some time to think... Dang! There are other people in the world besides me!?"

"What are you babbling about?" Mia asked.

"I'm hurt, you goddamn moron!!" Evlin shouted.

"Wha...?"

"..."

"I need someone to help me! To comfort me! To tell me everything will be ok! Someone to be by my side... But all you can talk about are your goddamn stupid freaking demons and your idiotic quest to find someone to help you kick the bucket!! Don't you think there might be things more important than just your own problems?" Evlin shouted.

"Excuse me??? You think your problems are more important than mine?? I've been stuck in a body that can't die for ages and with each passing day, I forget more and more what's like to feel anything! Every day I get closer to turning into an empty shell! Meanwhile, you got scared a little because of your bad history with crowds and you want ME to comfort you??" Mia shouted back while pushing Evlin as well. 

"Oh, boo hoo, let me play a sad song for you on the world's smallest violin! If you're so afraid of forgetting what's like to feel anything, why were you trying to push me away!?"

"Because you were annoying the hell out of me!! You kept trying to talk to me about pointless things while I was just trying to focus on my goal!"

"I was trying to talk to you, you idiot!! Trying to help!" Evlin stated while stomping her feet.

"Help?? How could you possibly help me??"

"I was trying to inspire you to give up on your dumb idea and stop trying to destroy yourself by trying to connect with you and becoming your friend!"

"Why!!?? Why do you care!!?? I never asked you to be my friend!"

"Because nobody cared about ME when I needed help!! And I don't wanna be like these people!!"

"So this is all about your dumb pride?? You wanna use me to prove that you're better than them?"

"Oh my God! Why is it so hard for you to just accept someone else's help??"

"Because I don't need your help!! I needed you to end me and you couldn't do it! Now I just need you to stay out of my way so I can find someone who can!"

"Why do you need to be ended!!?? Why can't we just try to work together to find another way??"

"BECAUSE IT'S TOO LATE FOR ME!!!!" Mia shouted, even louder than before.

Evlin just looked at her unsure of what to say next.

"It's... It's too late for me..." Mia continued while crouching. This time, she was the one hugging her own knees, "I caused too much damage by this point... I ruined and killed many lives... I can never have a happy life again by this point..."

"..."

"All that's left is to keep causing more damage... Until I can find someone that can stop me..."

"..."

Evlin took a sit by Mia's side and kept staring at her while hugging her knees as well. She noticed that the ponytailed girl was crying.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you..." Evlin whispered.

"It's fine... You tried your best..." Mia responded.

"..."

The two continued to stay side by side for a while. Evlin assumed that Mia would try to leave anytime soon now that the conversation was over, but she simply continued to stay there.

Evlin then approached the girl and began to hug her.

Mia just looked lost, "What are you doing...?"

"You're hurt, you moron... You need someone to comfort you..." Evlin replied.

Mia pushed Evlin away and stood up right after that.

"I'm not hurt! These are YOUR emotions! You are the one who's making me feel sad and depressed! You..." Mia then realized that she was feeling what Evlin was feeling once again, "You're feeling sad for me..."

Evlin just stared at her.

"You really care about me...?"

"If I didn't... Do you really think I would have felt so bad about shooting you?"

"But... But..."

"You think its too late for you... That if you tried to take another chance at life, you would just get rejected... That you would be abandoned... And that you would no longer have a reason to smile ever again..."

"..."

"The same way you used to be when you lived with your family... A life that should have everything to work... But for whatever reason, it just doesn't..."

"..."

"I know it sounds hard to believe... But don't you wanna try at least trusting in me?" Evlin suggested while placing her palm on her chest, "you know I would never try to trick you with something like that... You know I'm not that kind of person..."

Mia did indeed knew. She could feel everything that Evlin felt, there were no lies in her words.

She wondered about that idea. Even if the whole world abandoned her, Evlin still wouldn't, no matter how insane she would appear for doing that to those around her.

Still, a lot of doubt was planted in Mia's heart.

She had no guarantee that even if Evlin tried, she would find a way to unlock her emotions from North's contract. And even if she did, Mia had accumulated so much cursed energy inside of her over the years.

What if she got her emotions back and started to remember all the deaths she caused? All the people she hurt? All the pain she spread? Would she be able to bear all that guilt, that shame, that regret?

What if her remorse was so strong that would cause all the cursed energy in her to change her into a demon and lose all her humanity?

Mia trusted in Evlin's good intentions, but she extremely doubted herself. She had no doubt that she would never be able to live with the weight of her own sins on the back of her mind. Two-hundred years of sins. Two-centuries of damage.

"You can't help me..." Mia whispered while looking at the blank floor.

"... Maybe..." Evlin agreed.

The seven-year-old then approached Mia and lifted her chin.

"But I can stay by your side... Until you can learn how to help yourself..."

Mia stared at Evlin with her eyes wide open. For some reason, despite all logic saying otherwise, Mia felt like she could trust in Evlin.

Was that a side-effect of being merged and feeling Evlin's emotions? Was she feeling that she could do it because Evlin felt she could do it? Should she really deposit her faith in someone who was declaring that would do something impossible?

Should Mia take that gamble?

But before she could answer, the two of them were startled at the sight of the door to the dark void suddenly coming out of the ground once again.

"Mi- Mia...?" Evlin asked while shaking.

"What the...?" Mia questioned as well, looking just as lost as Evlin.

The door suddenly opened out of nowhere with a green vine coming out of it and latching onto the young Evlin.

"Agh!! Mia!! What's happening??"

"It's not me!!!" Mia affirmed.

Evlin started to get pulled by the vine with absurd speed towards the dark void, where she saw once again the sight of the myriad of lost souls that Mia had collected over the years.

"Mia!! Miaa!!!" Evlin continued to scream.

"Evlin!!" Mia started to feel Evlin's despair invading her emotions and became worried about the state of her body, "Evlin!! Don't get scared!!!"

Mia tried to rush to grab hold of Evlin, but right before she could take her hand, Drya exited the dark void and stood between the two.

"Drya!!!?? How did you-" Mia gasped.

"Miaaaaa!!!" Evlin screamed as Drya's vines launched her into the dark void where her cry continued to echo everywhere.

"EVLIN!!!" Mia shouted as she tried to go after the girl and jumped into the dark void as well.

But the moment she did so, she turned around to stare at the door, and there she saw Drya standing just grinning at her with psychotic eyes.

"Have fun!" the plant girl said right before she slammed the door and locking both Mia and Evlin in the dark void.