Finding Ankh actually wasn't as hard a task as Hina thought it would be, and at the same time, every step seemed like it was taking her further and farther away. Maybe after so much time, where all she had to do was turn and there he was had made the distance very unsettling. Stepping into the woods, there just seemed to be something...off. Just...something, she couldn't put her finger on it though. But it made her tread carefully.
"Ankh..." His name came out as soon as she saw him. She couldn't help smiling and she would've run right to him - if not the look on his face. So she settled for hiding behind a tree as Ankh turned his head.
"If you've got a problem, let's hear it." Ankh sneered, flexing his talons.
That strange man with the doll that like Chiyoko-san walked in, high and mighty like...like he was a King. "Ankh, it seems you've become too human." He turned to the doll. "Although I suppose that was what you desired."
Hina furrowed her brows together. Desired? That sounded like...Ankh, Ankh wanted to be human? After all the bad things he'd said about her brother and the stupidity about the customers from the Cous Coussier - he wanted to be human.
Ankh laughed - but it wasn't the laugh he normally used. It was dry, weak - a lie. "What are you talking about? I'm still just a pile of Medals."
The man's gaze wouldn't leave the white doll. "I'm no longer going to use you as the vessel for the Medals."
The sentance came together a bit quicker in Hina's head than in Ankh's, because when the man threw an energy blast at Ankh, the bird Greed was being shielded by his host's little sister. Ankh had turned from human to Greed to human and then he just stood there stupified, watching the violet energy surge over the girl's body.
Hina felt her strength spread through her skin, absorbing the pulsing pain. The energy balled in her chest and blinded her and with a deep breath, she felt it break. And that attack left her falling to her knees. And with the next breath, she fell back to Ankh's arms.
Maki formed back into the Professor he was and turned to his doll. "I was hoping you would be more suitable than the other Greeds. But it seems I overestimated you."
It was an easy shot to knock the doll off his shoulder with a fireball. It ended up somewhere in the woods away from them and that was all Ankh cared about. Maki ran after it and left Ankh looking down at the struggling human girl.
"You...what are you doing here?" He could feel and hear his voice shaking and the strange thing was he couldn't bring himself to care about the shame of it.
Hina forced her throat to swallow the liquid in her mouth. She didn't know if it was blood, but it was filling up her throat and made it hard to breathe. "I...I wanted to talk with you again." She took another swallow and stopped half-way through to bubble out a laugh. "Looks like I found the thing I'm good for."
Ankh scoffed. "Ah - throwing you in the middle of something that doesn't concern you." With his right hand under her knees, he heaved his weight to one foot in a move to lift Hina. The reaction was for Hina to scream out in pain - a scream that felt like it broke Ankh's ears. So he set her down again and asked if she was alright - very untypical of him.
Hina swallowed and nodded. "I'll probably be okay if I just...rest here awhile."
Ankh felt everything in him go rigid. That blast needed to be treated right away, but if it hurt enough that she couldn't move...
Hina was dying.
He didn't know what was happening. If it was his host's emotions pushing forward - because he could see the detective crying and screaming at him, telling him to do something already and that this was all his fault. - or if Maki was right and he truly was becoming more and more human. Because there was nothing he could do - simple logic told him that all he had was to wait for Hina to pass. And it made him feel terrible. But he couldn't let her know that. So he cleared his throat and flicked his hair, staring at some random stupid tree. "What did you want to talk about?"
Her body went through a spaz and she clenched onto Ankh's jacket as the pain raced up and down her spine. She didn't notice as Ankh's hands did the same around her. After the attack, she looked up at the blond. "Ankh...is there ever a chance...you and Eiji will be friends again?"
That? That was what she wanted to talk about? Not about her brother's body I'm using, not about the impending end of the world. She's worried about me and that idiot? Ankh had to scoff again. The selflessness of humans - it was remarkable to him. Then again...this girl had jumped in front to protect him. "Who knows. Maybe when that idiot no longer gets himself into trouble, we'll see."
"I see." Hina lowered her gaze onto her own tree. They both were silent for a while. "Ankh...I'm dying, aren't I?" Ankh's eyes shot down on her and if she looked, she would've seen shock and fear. But the silence that he could only muster was answer enough. She...she smiled. She freakin' smiled! What idiotic human smiled in the face of death?! What kind of stupidly strong stupid idiot was this!? "In that case..." Hina's hands let go of Ankh and the Greed watched it shift around in her bag. "You never got to look at this, did you?"
Out she pulled the red wrapped present for his host's birthday. She held it out for him to take. He would not, for the fear (however stupid) that if he let go, that would be the last thread and she would die. She pushed it into his chest, very lightly. "Ankh...let my brother see it, please?" The gentle sentance was something he could not disagree to.
Ankh slowly and strategically un-wrapped his arms from around her and grabbed the present. With one swipe of a talon, he pulled the tissue paper off.
But it wasn't a present for her brother. It actually was a present for him.
Hina, with her art skills honed from fashion designing, had drawn him (at least the form he took from her brother). And the picture was framed, with a single red feather captured alongside it.
"Do you like it?" She forced out.
Ankh blinked and blinked, wondering what response would be proper. His arms wrapped back around her and he leaned down. His lips pressed lightly against her cheek, just like she did after the birthday party, before this whole mess happened. Hina sighed and her smile only got bigger.
And her body went lax.