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An engine rumbling, rattling, echoed out from the distance… and there it stayed echoing, stayed waiting.

He didn\'t even hear me agree… that\'s the thing about it. Dad said just enough to entice, to wonder, to the point he had no doubt that I\'d go strapping in the seatbelt myself. 

And he was exactly right.

Except I didn\'t go as readily as he would have hoped. For the next minute or several, I left him rumbling and rattling there still as I retreated back into the house because obviously if I just up and left without first informing Ash about it… well, I don\'t even have to say anything, I\'d just be a complete retard. End of story.

Our family only shared a singular bathroom amongst ourselves, and it was always obvious when it\'s currently in use \'cause soundproofing isn\'t a real concept in our household. And as I went up the rickety flight of steps, I couldn\'t hear the shower running at all. If she\'s done bathing already, then there\'s only one logical place she could have gone.

I knocked on my bedroom door. "Ash?"

Inside, faintly, I heard a quick scuffle. "Y-Yes? Come in, Master."

I opened the door slowly, and for a brief second, I let myself be overcome by a wave of nostalgia. 

Last night I was so preoccupied dealing with the Harry situation, I just essentially pressed the skip button on anything sentimental. Like the most I ever thought about my room back then was when I offered it out to Adalia and Ash as pretty much free real estate.

But now, having a chance to breathe, some time to really settle in… without going off on some soapy melodramatic tangent… it feels good, man.

In a way, my bedroom was like me if I had four walls and a ceiling for a head. Plain, simple, and also utterly devoid of any defining character traits.

Okay, that\'s not entirely a fair assessment. My childhood years sat atop a drawer gathering dust in the form of figurines and toys of what was popular at any given time and that\'s how you get Gandalf the Gray fighting side by side with Master Chief.

My teenage years had comic books lining a miniature shelf, an old game console I was gifted once for Christmas, and a modest game collection to go along with it. For some reason, I always had a thing for horror media. Still do too. Maybe that\'s why my wardrobe options always consisted of black, lighter black, or just very, very dark gray.

Really, there was not a single thing atop a shelf, inside a drawer, that you can find that could even be considered special.

Except for her.

Ash simply just was, full stop. 

In her presence, just seeing her clumped together along with everything else, made even the blandest of things that much more poignant. 

She was sitting upright on what used to be my bed. It was a bizarre sight seeing her in a place that made up 80% of my life.

Her hair was still soaking wet from her shower, in snowy-white clumps draping over her shoulders. I saw as her bright, glowing emerald eyes followed me across the room as I took the short journey towards her.

She was dressed in blue, navy blue, a long, floral summer dress that weirdly reminded me of…

"Is that my mother\'s?"

Ash nodded. "Last night, she generously bequeathed some of her clothing to me citing that she no longer had any need for them. Though I suspect her reasons and intentions aren\'t entirely as pure as she would have it seem."

"You\'re telling me..." I muttered, still taking in her sudden change in color scheme. "So, you got any idea why she felt extra charitable with her wardrobe all of a sudden?"

"I surmise that she thinks that you would find them to your liking," She replied, sounding just the slightest bit more stiff. "If… well… should I choose to… wear them, that is." 

At once, my eyes stopped wandering around to focus on her face, and just how red it\'s gotten.

"Well?" She slowly asked, glancing up at me with clear uncertainty. "Is it… truly... to your liking, Master?"

The fact that she was even asking me this. Seriously, Ash… you could be wearing a goddamn trash bag 24/7, and I\'d be there fighting tooth and nail to every fashion magazine editor in the world demanding front-page coverage.

"My liking?" I gave a little chuckle. "If I had an infinite sheet of paper to describe everything I like about what I\'m seeing right now, I\'d run out of pages."

She smiled, her stiff demeanor quickly relaxing. "You flatter me."

"Well, you\'re easily flattered," I remarked. "Doesn\'t matter what I say, you\'ll always like everything you hear from me," then I took a seat beside her, smiling back. "Just like how I\'ll always love everything I see from you."

Her ears twitched, and her eyes grew tender and soft, but before either of us could say anything else, I heard a distant honking from outside, her ears twitched again, clearly Ash heard it too.

"Anyway, right…" I quickly began. "My dad and I will be going to town for a bit to pick up some stuff and we\'ll be right back soon enough."

"Oh, I see," She began to shift. "Then I shall…" 

I raised a hand, stopping her before she could fully rise. 

"We\'ll be right back, Ash," I repeated. "I\'ll see you in a bit."

"Oh," She said, slowly sitting back down. "I see."

"Don\'t worry, I\'m sure you\'ll find something to do in the meantime," I assured her. "In fact, it seems like you already had, considering you didn\'t come back down straight away. What were you doing up here all on your own?"

I could think of a few reasons, actually. Snooping around my room gathering intel on me was one of them. Could explain the little scamper I heard earlier before I came in.

But of course, the truth couldn\'t just be as simple as that.

"I was conversing with Sera."

I felt my eyes slightly go wide. "Conversing?"

"Mmm, perhaps that is not exactly the appropriate term to use," She went on to explain. "Simply put, I can feel her, Master. How precisely I would know her every thought without ever speaking a word? That is how. Not through our lips, not through our voices, but through the very essence of ourselves."

A blink, a nudge, and I think I kinda get it. "What? Your souls do the talking or something?"

"If that is how you make of it, then yes. It needn\'t matter the distance, the time, if she ever desires to converse, I am capable of sensing her wishes, and may choose to indulge her if I please, and I to her, if I wish to do the same."

"You can hear her voice?"

"Indeed."

"Like her voice, her true voice, like how she really sounds like?"

"And she can hear mine just as clear," Ash affirmed. "That is just how it works."

Wow, so in a way, I guess this was the magical equivalent to telepathy. Only more, uhh… mystical, I guess. 

Her voice, huh? I wonder how she sounded like. So far all I got to go off of were growls and groans, and honestly, that ain\'t really that much.

Wait, hang on a moment.

"She can do that? She can speak? Then why, what? The, what?" I sputtered, confused. "Why hasn\'t she been doing that for me then?"

All those times I had to strain my eyes for the slightest body language. All those instances I was wracked in agony having her violate my body to speak to me… and she never mentioned there was a safer, pain-free alternative? Are you serious?

"Alas, Master…" Ash began, already a dour note to her tone. "I know not the exact intricacies, but I believe she may only converse with those she bears a very close attachment to. In my case, she already forged a prior bond with me… but as for you, Master, well…"

She trailed away, seeing as there was nothing more to be said. I understood loud and clear.

After what I did, what I chose… no way was that happening anytime soon.

"Right," I nodded. "So it\'s only you, then?"

"For the time being, yes."

Outside, I heard another honk, louder, longer this time. Guess I better go.

"That\'s my cue," I said, pacing back towards the doorway. "Well, tell Sera \'hi\' for me, would ya?"

Ash was quiet for a moment, and when I looked back, she was staring at me blankly, kinda like Adalia does… until she blinked again, and then she was back.

"I conveyed your message," She said, then blanking out and blinking for a second time. "And she has acknowledged it."

"Did she say anything back?" 

"Yes," Ash gave a smile. "She wishes you the best, and hopes you are doing well wherever you are."

Something punched at my gut. Well, at least that\'s what it felt like to me.

"Tell her, tell her, uh…" I breathed out, forming a smile that I didn\'t feel.. "Tell her I said thanks."