Avani had collapsed, right as the portal came into view, but she had made sure to aim the moving rock into it and speed it up as much as possible. Once through the portal they had been discovered by a group sent by headquarters to investigate why the radios had stopped working and if the teams were in danger.

She had awakened in a hospital bed the next day. Her arm was bandaged, and they had given her medicine for it, not that they seemed to know what they were actually dealing with. It was unlike most wounds because it had been inflicted upon her by some kind of spirit corruption. Her eye had been treated and had a white patch put over it. She had been given a lot of nutrition once she woke up.

They hadn’t required Avani to stay in the hospital for long. She could stay a couple of days if she wanted too, but she’d rather get home to her own bed. The doctor told her to come back if the arm changed for the worse. The news that she was in the hospital had barely gotten out to her family before she had been released, so she had had no visitors.

There were a few from Kasai’s police department that had decided to harass her though, implying that she may have planned this end result all along. She clenched her teeth and held back tears at the thought that she had intended to kill her own friends. They had let her go when ordered by their superior, but not without argument and asking they get to “interrogate” Avani. 

She hadn’t returned to the hospital to visit Kasai, nor had she sent anything to wish her she would get well soon. Avani doubted Kasai would acknowledge anything that had happened now that they were back in Republic City, each with their own people. She had decided to never contact her again.

Avani had taken to drinking away the loss of her friends. She had spent the week at bars, and then mostly at home when people began to ask questions about her arm and eye. She had the patch they had placed over her eye replaced with a black leather version. The arm didn’t get worse. She gradually became able to move it more and more with each day.

However, trying to forget Kasai and not to think about her had had the opposite effect. She thought more about her now that she figured they would never talk again than she had before. Avani had no high opinion of the truth of what Kasai had told her when they were alone, how she didn’t mind being seen with her and how they could have dinner together. There was a gnawing thought that kept telling her that maybe the woman was better than she gave her credit for. Maybe she deserved to give her a chance, to either live up to her words or turn her down.

The gnawing thought had led her to the park in front of the hospital, on the day that Kasai was supposed to be released if she had the right information. Avani sat on a bench, wearing black pants, and a black leather coat that was open to reveal a black crop top and her midriff. She was drinking from a sake bottle, which raised eyebrows and made people frown at her. There was no alcohol remaining in it though. She had drunk that days ago and replaced it with water. She was sober for once this week after getting out of the portal. 

Her motorcycle was parked next to the hospital, where it should be visible by anyone coming outside. If Kasai was as good a detective as she claimed she should recognize it as Avani’s. It was what she had driven to the spirit forest on the first day they had met. 

She hadn’t decided what to do yet, sit there and watch Kasai look at her and pretend like she didn’t exist, or go up and greet her so she could do the same. Once a couple of members of the police arrived she decided to sit and stare at her. She knew it may be a bit creepy, but she wanted to be proven right without talking to the woman in front of everyone she knew. Another part desperately needed Avani to be proven wrong, so she would get to hold Kasai just once more.