Aoba's POV

Despite how shitty he was feeling, Aoba had to admit that the scenery before him was beautiful. The window before the blue haired man gave off a view of nature in it most natural state From the clearing that the cottage was situated in, he could see that they were on a incline; the trees loomed over the clearing with their branches ominously dancing in the breeze and, in the far distance, you could see a mountain topped of with snow standing there, looking as if it was a god among the peasants with such an imposing aura it gave off.

Aoba was slightly startled when a pair of small birds suddenly passed by the window, seemingly chasing one another in a game of tag. At an unspoken cue, Aoba walked away from the window with a small sigh, heading towards the slumbering blond not to far away from the window. He knelt by his side and gingerly removed the folded up towel on his forehead, dunking the fabric into the wash bin that Kain left beside Noiz's cot, and squeezing out the excess water. Aoba dabbed at Noiz's face, mopping up the sweat that accumulated there and proceeded to fold the towel back up and place it back on the blond's forehead. With that, the blue haired man settled back onto his knees, sitting there quietly with his thoughts, feeling immensely guilty over the entire situation that he landed Noiz and himself in.

It's all my fault, the young man thought to himself, not for the first time. If only I was paying more attention to my surroundings or something...

At times like this, Aoba wished that his brother was by his side. Ren always comforted him at times like this, always having the right words to say to him to cheer him up no matter what the situation. But he wasn't there. It was just him, a unconscious Noiz, and a mysterious deviant.

Aoba pursed his lips at the thought of the masked man and shifted in his seat until his legs where crossed in front of him. The blue haired man didn't know what to make of the deviant. Deviants are, by nature, very social creatures and so they have very tight cliques amongst themselves and other people; it's rare to see a deviant living all alone like Kain. Aoba frowned thoughtfully as he went through a mental list of most deviant tendencies and the masked clad one that was currently housing him didn't seem to fitting quite so well in any of them. That very fact didn't sit too well with the blue haired man. Kain seemed okay enough, but putting as much trust in him as he was could prove to be an extremely fatal mistake on his part. But he had no choice in the matter. Noiz was too injured for Aoba not to go the mysterious vigilante's abode. The young man once more cursed himself for his carelessness. It was nothing more than pure luck that there happened to be a pair of bobcat hunters near by to put the feral beast down. They were the ones that told Aoba about Kain in the first place. Since they themselves didn't have their first-aid kit, they insisted that "Kage" was the go-to person for a situation such as Noiz's - "Kage" should be able to fix him right up. Aoba was hesitant, but the hunters seemed sincere enough in their words. So following their directions, Aoba carried Noiz to seek the help of this "Kage". He later wished that the hunters would've informed him that Kage's home was halfway across the mountain.

On the way there, Noiz's wound became terribly infected, despite their best efforts, and fever began to set in. It was just icing on the cake when the blond passed out on the last leg of their trip, causing their travel time to lengthen. Everything seemed to be coming apart at the seams for Aoba. So when the woods suddenly gave way to a clearing with a homely looking cottage smack dab in the middle of it, Aoba almost cried (and dropped the unconscious man on his back) in relief. The blue haired man rushed to the cottage as quickly as he could with dead weight on his back and laid Noiz down before proceeding to knock on the door. His spirits began to dampen when there wasn't any answer. They withered away after knocking and yelling didn't bring anyone to the door. The young man walked back to his partner with heavy shoulders and slumped over the blond. He nestled Noiz's head in his lap, making sure that he was a comfortable as possible and then proceeded to bawl his eyes out. After a while, he somewhat manage to calm down enough to get his bearings together (if Ren saw him loosing hope so quickly, he'll be disappointed). That's when he noticed the footsteps nearing him. He quickly looked up and promptly lost his shit, screaming when he saw blood all over the incoming person's body.

"Gide damn!"

"St-stay away!"

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Aoba was left alone with Noiz when Kage walked out to find the misplaced antibiotics. The blue haired man listened to the sounds of random things being tossed to and fro about the house as the masked man looked for the medicine, cursing every now and then each time he didn't find what he was looking for. Aoba knelt beside Noiz's head and brushed away sweat strands of blond hair plastered on his forehead. Aoba pursed his lips as he thought of the situation that he was presented to. He honestly didn't know what to make of Kage. He didn't seemed to care too much about the duo in his home, but he seemed insistent on keeping them here away from "the unforgiving whelms of Mother Nature and her children". It seemed that there were many sides to the masked man... That put Aoba on edge. But it wasn't as if they were going to get any help anywhere else, so the young man had no choice but to trust him, for Noiz's sake at least.

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So here he was, waiting for Kage, Kain, to come back with this supposed "miracle flower". Aoba sighed and stood up from his perch on the ground, stretching out his body for a moment before deciding to venture around the deviant's home for a bit. Upon exiting the room, the young man was in the hallway. To his left was the living room and, by extension, the kitchen as well as the entrance to the house along with a back door. In front of him was the bathroom and to his left was the end of the hallway with a door on either side of it. Aoba went to the left, heading towards the door on the left of the wall. When he opened it, he was greeted by the sight of a regular hallway closet, filled with miscellaneous items such as blankets, winter wear, and an occasional heater or battery powered fan. The door on the right wall seemed to be Kain's room since there was a bed with the covers messily strung about it. Keeping in mind that he was in another person's room and that he shouldn't be snooping, Aoba stepped into the doorway and surveyed it.

He could see that, despite the mess the deviant made of his bed, Kain was quite a clean person. Every thing was put together in a neat and orderly fashion. In front of him on the right was a bed with a nightstand next to it. To his left he could see a window with a small bookshelf under it. Beside the window was tall oak chest with a desk right next to it. On the desk seems to be a closed laptop with a couple of files sprawled about it along with an earpiece and some miscellaneous items. Despite his better judgment, Aoba walked further into the room towards the desk. He began to reach for one of the files when something on the wall next to the desk caught his attention. It was several pictures taped to it. They seemed to be pictures of his friends, or family, but they never contain a snapshot of the person that might be Kain, however.

Strange... Is he that paranoid of people seeing his face? Aoba couldn't help but to think as he straightened up.

With that, the blue haired male turned on his heel and left the room without a backwards glance. He never looked through the files.

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After scouting out the rest of the house, Aoba returned to Noiz's side and began to change out the rag on his forehead once again. Upon placing the cool rag onto the blond's forehead, the blue haired male was ceased by a sudden sense of paranoia causing him to tense up. He carefully listened for any out of place sounds that didn't belong in the wilderness but couldn't discern anything that may have sounded suspicious. He flinched when he saw a sudden shadow pass over the window, blocking out the fading daylight momentarily. Aoba began to stand up, but faltered when he caught sight of the unconscious Noiz- he didn't want to leave him alone and defenseless. Hearing the sound of footsteps leaving from the cottage caused the male to whip his head towards the room's entrance: whoever it was that was here just left.

It should be okay now, right? He thought as he began to leave the room.

His hand grazed the light switched as he exited the room and was startled when he was shocked from touching it

"What in the hell?" Aoba murmured as he clutched his hand, staring at the light switch in slight apprehension.

That's when the lights began to flicker.

Maybe, I shouldn't leave...

Despite his worries, Aoba continued out of the room and began to walk towards the back of the house, where he thought the sound of footsteps had traveled to and fro from. The blue haired man stopped in the kitchen when he noticed that many of Kain's kitchen appliances were working overtime as the lights continued to flicker.

"Maybe I should unplug one of them since it seems he's having a power shortage," Aoba thought aloud as he walked towards a toaster that had smoke wafting from it, "It's be a shame to have them all short out..."

Aoba shivered at the sensation of static in the air as he reached towards the plug-

That was when he heard the sound of Kain screaming.

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{AN: *le gasp* Oh mai gosh, it's an update~! *Angels begin to sing in the background* I'm rather surprised at myself for finishing this one as quickly as I did, actually! Heehee~ Anywho! Enjoy the update! Hopefully, I'll be able to pump out more chapters since I'm not swamped to finish the writing assignment for the art school I'm wanting to attend!

So, see you on the next update!