Waves of vertigo plagued Violet as she stumbled out of the locker room and down the hall. Her body felt as though it was the heat source of a sauna. Agitation radiated from her as she was bumped several times by the shoulders of invisible characters within the thick crowd of people running back and forth.

"All the screens are down! Dammit, I don't know how my fighter is doing!"

"Does anyone know if Yoshiba took the win?!"

"Who cares about that? He always wins with his axe! What about that kid, Zushi!?"

Violet groaned as people continued to scream for information on their fighters as the staff rushed around trying to fix prompters and aid the help desk receptionists. Paused at a corner, she tried to remember where Hisoka wanted to meet.

"Th-the north stairs..."

Once the crowd thinned further, and her rest seemed partially successful, she ambled along with the wall for support. Ignoring the trembling in her muscles, she raised her head and tried to appear strong. It took far longer than she would willingly admit to near the meeting location. However, the time allowed her body to regulate itself better, and it wasn't as difficult to move unaided.

The north corner was far from the livelier sections of the fighting floor, and the quiet was welcomed by Violet's ears, which still mildly hummed. Just as she was going to round the last bend, a familiar voice halted her gait.

Curiosity, a dangerous emotion far more so than love or fear combined, flowered within Violet. Even her better judgement couldn't overcome the desires fed by her inquisitiveness. She hugged the wall and stood straight, listening to the men speaking in front of the north stairwell.

"Very well. I have the location. Are we in agreement with my requirements? ~♦"

"Yes, that should be fine," said an unfamiliar voice. It was soft and alluring in a charismatic way. If sirens were male, Violet imagined that's exactly how they would sound.

Violet frowned as her curiosity reached an all-time high forcing her feet to shift forwards again. Rounding the corner brought her face first with the well-known red heart and diamond symbols on a green background of Hisoka's overshirt. Casting her eyes upward, she locked onto shining golden globes. His coy smile spread outwards. The glee at seeing her hid something of concern behind the curtain expressions on his face.

"Hello, little toy~♥"

Her frown deepened. He hadn't referred to her as a toy in months. "Hisoka... What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, of course, little fruit~♥"

A sinister feeling caressed her body and sang, luring her to look beyond Hisoka's stature for the source. The energy disseminated from a man with eyes of such a deep brown that they were nearly black. His forehead was covered in a bandana that allowed his ink-black hair to fall over it, where the ends fanned out a touch at his high cheekbones. She couldn't escape their locked gaze and her brows knitted as the man smiled with vicious amusement and never stopped walking towards the hallway, perpendicular to where she stood with Hisoka. As the man radiated power and danger, he locked more of Violet in place, and she felt herself freeze as his head turned to scrutinise further.

The moment was just that, a moment. It could have lasted longer, but Hisoka stepped in front, breaking the trance, for which Violet was thankful. He placed a hand below her chin, and only then did she notice his sombre expression. Annoyance sprang forth within Violet as he turned her head back and forth.

"Let's go~♠" He released her chin to turn her by the shoulders and started guiding them down the hallway she appeared from minutes earlier.

"W-wait. The stairs are that way." Violet tucked around Hisoka slightly to point out the north stairwell. The man from before was gone, like the ghost he seemed to represent, without a trace.

"Are you even capable of walking up forty-three flights of stairs?~♠" The concern was rich in Hisoka's voice. It took Violet several long seconds to realise it was due to her status.

I must look just as great as I feel. "Well, no. But my room is only nineteen flights away. I want to collect some of my things."

Hisoka sighed. "Fine, but you're unsteady. The elevator isn't far."

♥♠♦♣

Back inside the apartment she once fought so hard to earn on level two-hundred and twenty-one, Violet shifted nimbly through the wreckage. It was an absolute disaster with the couches and chairs turned over and the stuffing vomiting from within the furniture frames. The neutral décor paintings were knocked from the walls, which had pieces of drywall missing randomly.

"Thanks so very much, Zanko. Stupid yankoff."

Hisoka had left strict instructions for her to sit and recover while he collected food and water from the canteen levels below. She sighed at the impossibility of that request when every piece of furniture was in pieces with springs dramatically displayed on the outer surfaces.

Violet left her shoes on, a dirty habit she never partook in, no matter which building or dimension she was living within, but there was no option with debris scattered so thoroughly across the floors. She turned right to walk down the short hallway to her bedroom. There was little improvement to the chaos within her sleeping quarters. Clothing remained abusively tussled around the room and closet but was mostly unscathed otherwise.

The articles that wouldn't need mending or washing were all she collected. Violet tossed the remainders into the closet before entering the en-suite washroom. It was the least affected room. The drawers were opened, and their contents scattered around, but she could quickly right most of the room. There had never been many objects within her water closet to disturb.

"Oh, good. They didn't find the hidden compartment I made."

Violet reached in to pop the false bottom she made using one of the unused kitchen drawer bases. A few Jenny coins were glued on top of one another in each corner to create a small space once the false bottom was placed on top. Popping the wooden slat out, she found her original cell phone and ID cards safely waiting. The wallet she picked up from the gang member in the park also collected dust near the back.

I forgot about this thing. I should burn it now.

A deep sigh escaped her lips as she carried the hidden treasure and false bottom towards the kitchen. The polished space remained exquisite and untouched, beyond pulled-out drawers, which were as easy to replace as the washroom ones. She brought the false bottom back to a lower pull our cupboard she never used and grabbed a large metal pot walking it and the secret items to the balcony.

Paused, she admired the view atop her fighting pilar. The sky blazed with blue hues meeting sunset yellows as dusk approached. Whispy clouds reined sparingly within the sky, teasing the sprawling city below. Soon the lights within it would shine anew as night fell. Do I enjoy the fight as much as I think? To look out at the sky in a cosy chair like we had at Hisoka's hotel room and watch the world pass by. Well, he had. Still, it sounds nice.

Violet shook her head as darker thoughts and memories nipped at her short-lived peace, as they always did when she lost focus. Relaxing was nearly impossible since Yorknew. It always seemed worse when Hisoka was absent. Although she enjoyed the thought of a short reprieve from his ever-watchful presence, she missed him. Nothing, including her own mind, could harm her when he was close.

The pot clanged when she set it on the cement patio floor. One last flip through the wallet was all she needed before dumping it into the basin, filled partway with cooking oil and spare paper debris she found on the ground. Throwing a lit match from a distance, fire exploded to life with veracious flames, ready to devour everything within. Violet distracted herself, shifting through her old IDs from her time as a demon huntress and her short stay in Scotland.

She chuckled. "Oh, my Lothian bus pass. I definitely won't need you anymore, my white and red friend. What a horrible picture! It's worse than a passport photo." She tossed the plastic card into the inferno.

After looking through the rest of the cards and disposing of all but her old phone, still in hand, she turned the device on for the first time in nearly eight months. I cannot believe I've been here this long already. Time flies when you don't even have a chance to breathe.

As the reliable palm-sized smartphone came to life, Violet smiled at the grey and white moggy cat still holding her Queen-like position in the background. I hope you made it out all right, little street friend. I'm sure you found someone else to offer you food after I left. Maybe you had a hard time with the vortex situation, but who better to survive a planet-ending event than a feisty little kitten like you?

Violet clicked into the gallery photos as the fire beside her crackled and popped, hissing each time it bit further into the feast she offered. Images of striking greenery from Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland took most of the gallery space on her phone. It was too breathtaking not to snap beautiful photos. She had chosen Scotland to settle in for various reasons, but the nature and landscapes were a large part of it.

The photo flipping halted as she reached a picture of a pale black-haired girl. Her bright glacier blue eyes and blood-red lips smiled back. There was such sadness in her striking orbs but glimmers of hope as well. She had stumbled across the young woman in a sad state. It didn't seem supernatural, but Violet couldn't let her go without help. She used her connections and resources to get the girl a passport, money, and a ticket on the next flight out of Europe. Selena was her name, I think. I hope she's safe and, above all, happy. She wanted this selfie. I look so deer in a headlight.

She chuckled at herself, remembering the young woman asking her to text the photo so she could use it as a background before she safely boarded her plane. Violet never heard from her again but thought no news was good news for a woman in a domestic abuse situation. It was better that she disappeared.

Switching to another album, Violet found images of relic textbooks, ancient scripts, and numerous grotesque supernatural beasts. However, it wasn't all bad. Some were the pictures her team took after each successful job. Violet shivered despite the warm air and realised for the first time she was freezing. The inferno her body once radiated had long left. A gasp escaped when she moved to the next photo.

Sammy... Frozen for several minutes, her eyes shut with shame and frustration once she gained enough willpower to steady her mind again. Why were you manipulating me? I thought we were friends. I was so clouded by my feelings for you. What is it women say to men? Stop thinking with what's below the belt. But I didn't, and you used it against me, even though I never acted on my crush. I don't understand why... I still feel so guilty for your death and didn't do anything. Fuck all this.

Violet sniffled and wiped the tears cascading down her cheeks. "Enough! She doesn't deserve my tears. No one does! I can only rely on myself!" Flipping through the gallery faster, she stopped, horror-struck. I didn't realise I still had any of these photos.

A hard swallow gave her the strength to look through more of the images of her condo in Sweden she shared with her husband and their child. She stopped at one photo and zoomed into a shelf, aware she was torturing herself. It was the image Jason burned. Hot tears stung her face, but she ignored them, desperate to see their smiling faces one last time. It was a useless effort, and she couldn't remove the image pixels.

"I miss you both. But I can't keep stuck in this misery. It's making me a victim of myself and horrible people like Jason. I have to save others from his disgusting desires. I need to find that stupid artefact before he does." Violet paused before raising her hand over the delete button. "I- I- I need to move on. I love you both, but I'm not finished with my adventure yet."