Days pass and Yuma keeps seeing Shing outside following him, but never daring to come close. Whenever he made an attempt to befriend her, he would be denied. Even though he's determined it never shakes Shing from her sorrow. He doesn't understand why she's so sad. He's trying to get close to her; isn't that what she wanted? That's why she always liked him being close when she had him under her control. This is basically the same thing except with free will involved.
One day while Yuma is walking with Astral, who finally got rid of his nagging headache, they both see Shing. She's standing at a distance, cloak on and hood up, hidden from everyone else but them. Astral, who can sense her desires for the boy, seems uncharacteristically ruffled by her presence. Yuma ignored his friend's almost aggressive body language and approaches Shing again.
"Hey there!" Yuma calls with his usual grin.
Shing stiffened at his approach. Her nails scratching at her arms. The mere sight of Yuma is enough to nearly drive her to his arms, but she stops herself as usual by digging her nails, which sharpen into claws into her arm. He is only being nice to make her feel better. She knows that deep inside he hates her, he just never shows it. After all, Yuma was forced to attack his friends when they didn't know what was going on. Who would forgive her for that?
So she runs. As soon as he starts to approach her, Shing whips around and runs.
Yuma is use to this though. She always seems to run away as if she's afraid of him. Is she scared of hurting him? Or is she scared of how he feels towards her now? He feels nothing but pity for her. He doesn't hate her for what she has done. If anything, it only shows the boy that she is probably very lonely. That's why he's trying to befriend her. She needs a friend, right?
Her trail leads Yuma to a burned, rundown building that looks somewhat familiar. The surrounding buildings are also burned but that's probably the aftermath of the fire that was started on this building, He steps inside warily; a feeling of familiarity washing over him.
There is the chair he was strapped down to when he first arrived. Next to it are the machines Shing used to check brainwaves. Both are melted down to almost nothing, but Yuma can still see their intact forms. He shakes his head quickly; the images disappear. Melted figures replace the intact ones. Out of the corner of his eyes, Yuma sees Astral physically shivering and rubbing his arms. The Astral Being curls into himself, as if recoiling from something evil in the building. With what happened during his short stay here, Yuma doesn't blame him.
They press on though. The deeper they go, the colder everything seems to become. Astral's kneen ears pick up a sound. They twitch one way, so his head jerks in that direction. In his mind he hears Dark say something about a cat, a big one.
"There's something over there Yuma." Astral says, pointing down a different hallway. "Should we investigate?"
"Why are you asking me Astral?" I thought you made the smart decisions here." Yuma jokes. He starts walking in that direction.
Astral rolls his eyes but smiles. He follows his dear friend down the hallway, around some corners and into a dark room with something moving around in it. They both froze, there's growling and snarling sounds. Both sounds were pained though.
Yuma starts walking towards the sounds against Astral's protests. "Make me some light Astral please." The boy says in a hushed tone. "I want to see what's in here."
"It's dangerous, that's what it is." Astral hisses, but he made the light nonetheless.
They both froze again when they see a black panther on the ground, its claws deeply gouging at its own flesh. The arms are dripping with blood. The panther looks up, with green eyes all too familiar. Especially the sadness in them.
The look is quickly replaced with anger. The panther gets up and goes to swipe at the intruders. While Astral jumps back even though he isn't solid at the moment, Yuma remains where he is. If it's who he thinks it is, then she would never hurt him.
Just as he thought, the claw stops swinging as soon as it reaches his chest. The boy is unharmed.
"What are you doing here boy?" The panther growls through pained pants.
"Why are you hurting yourself?" Yuma retorts. "What's got you so upset that you need to do this?"
The panther paces around the boy and the spirit. It seems to be staggering though. "That's none of your business."
"Then why I'm here is none of your business too."
The panther growls and is about to swipes again when it suddenly faints. The form of the big cat shrinks down to the form of a girl in a tattered cloak. Her blonde hair poking out of her hood, but her arms are clearly visible. Blood is quickly pooling around them.
Yuma goes into action quickly. Determined not to let a friend of his die like this. He tears up some of her cloak to use as bandages. Sure, they're a little dirty and soaked in blood, but it would do as a temporary fix. With that done, he picks Shing up and curries her as fast as he can to the closest hospital.
Shing wakes up in the middle of their journey. She looks up and sees Yuma's determined face above her own. Immediately she starts panicking, squirming to get out of his grip. Yuma only tightened it though.
"You need to stop struggling," He says. "You need help right now."
"I'm fine." Shing retorts. "Let me go."
"Do you want to die that badly?!"
"Yes! It would be better for everyone if I just died!"
Yuma looks down at her in shock, but he doesn't stop. "Why?"
"I've caused you so much pain… I don't understand why you don't just leave me to die!"
Yuma shakes his head and looks ahead again. He enters the doors of the hospital. "You're my friend Shing. I don't like seeing my friends hurt like this."
The girls starts slipping in and out of consciousness. She hears what he said, but doesn't really register it. She allows herself to relax for a moment. In her haze she's finally happy.
But something snaps her out of her happiness. People are taking her away from Yuma. She starts screaming and reaching out to the boy, but he does nothing. He doesn't even reach for her until she starts to physically fight back, injuring doctors and nurses in the process. That's when Yuma finally reacts. His eyes widened, his mouth opens to yell at her, and his hands trying to pin hers down. His voice swam; he's trying to tell her something. His mouth formed her name several times, and his tone is slightly panicked. And then she's knocked out with a sedative.