A week had passed since Ash told Lita what had happened to her father. Due to circumstances, the school granted them additional time off, provided they completed the homework assignments on the days they stayed home. Lita did them without hesitation; she was basically going through the motions, numbing herself by keeping her mind distracted.
Ash had to keep his grades good before he left for the military academy. Having a strong GPA provided additional benefits and live-in credits for recruits. Ash had one month left before his report date, and he still hadn't told Lita about his enrollment.
He wanted to, but the timing was bad enough with everything going on. He didn't want to add to it.
Lita lay on her side, shoving mini chocolate donuts down her mouth, watching more horror movies. She was ignoring her phone, which was calling her about retrieving her father's body to make the funeral arrangements.
Ash tried to do something to cheer her up. He sat down next to her, trying to massage her legs, hoping she would enjoy it, with her legs probably sore and nearly atrophied from lying on the futon the whole time. He got maybe a few minutes into it before she kicked his stomach to continue watching her show.
"Well, at least that was something different." He said, groaning from the blow to his gut. Lita followed in turn by flipping him off in response.
Ash gave a weak laugh, trying to stay positive. He wanted to help Lita in some way, but nothing came to mind at the moment that would actually work without setting her off.
"Lita, it's been a week now. You can't stay here smelling like sweets and depression. You have to set the funeral date sometime; there's a lot you need to do. C'mon, let's call the hospital and claim the body so we can put the old man to rest."
Ash didn't hear a response from Lita, no, instead he got a face full of mini donuts thrown at him. Lita got up to open the fridge in the kitchen. She pulled a beer out of the fridge. Ash didn't know it was there, nor that Lita had put a six-pack in it, which she got from one of her coworkers as a sympathy present. Ash didn't really pay attention to the fridge because he didn't need to eat anymore; it was an ignorant act that let Lita sneak alcohol into his house.
Lita popped the top of her beer off, trying to chug it sloppily. Ash became infuriated, seeing her trying to drink and damage her body in that way illegally and pathetically after everything she did to get her good grades and chances of college.
"Hey, no! Stop that." He shouted, running up to her to get the beer out of her hands. Lita fought back, trying to keep the bottle away from him. When he took it, it fell to the ground, and Ash was annoyed at having to clean it. Lita didn't care; she grabbed another to chug again before Ash caught on and tried to take the other one too.
"Stop it. This isn't going to help. I'm not letting you ruin your body like this over your dad." Ash scolded her; Lita responded in anger.
"Fuck you!" She yelled as she smashed the bottle on his head, the first time in her life she intentionally hurt Ash out of anger. Hitting him the day she thought he was going to hang himself was from concern, but this was from sadness and hate, angry at Ash for mentioning her dad.
Ash had turned off his ability to feel before the bottle connected, so that he wouldn't be knocked out; not being able to feel pain or sensation came in handy this time. He wiped the beer off his face before it got into his eyes. Lita, with her eyes bloodshot from crying and fury, started wailing on his chest with her fists.
Just hitting him over and over, sobbing, burying her face in his shirt, screaming into it, muffling her pain.
Ash didn't resist; he let her get it out. He knew all too well how much it was needed to get everything out, the pain, the frustration, all the regrets bottled up inside. He knew cause it was the same when Isaac and Amelia died, he needed an outlet for his anger, his only focus was on training to kill the Kraegans, albeit not a healthy way, to get closure.
For Lita, he let her use him, since it was his fault that happened to her dad.
"Happy now? Do you need to keep hitting me?" He asked her, his voice calm and caring.
"Shut up." She mumbled, still having her face buried in his shirt. "It's not fair, it's not fair."
"What is?" He asked her.
"Why? Why now? There was still time. There was still time for him to change. There was still time for us to bury the hatchet." Lita stopped burying her fists in his chest and embraced him. Letting her pent-up feelings pour out like a flood.
"He wasn't the best dad; he was a bastard. But he was still my dad. He used to give me piggyback rides when I would cry as a kid. He would hold me when I was scared of lightning storms. He would cry and be vulnerable to me when he felt guilty after his disbarment. We could have fixed things; we could have talked again like before. I didn't even, I didn't even get the chance to tell him how much I hated him for hitting me, how much I loved him from before. I'll never get that chance back; it's gone. It's all gone. Why does everyone I love leave me?"
Ash didn't realize it till now. But Lita lost more loved ones than he did. When Ash lost his parents, he was sad, but he got over it quickly. He was still too young at the time to understand what loss was supposed to feel like. When Isaac and Amelia died, that was pain worse than hell he would never wish on anyone. It was different for Lita; her mom left her, Isaac and Amelia were gone too, Daredevil's original body died in front of her, and now her dad was gone.
It was like a big gaping hole was in her heart, hurting everywhere inside her body. Ash finally understood why she was so depressed after her father's death. She never got the chance to speak her mind and make him understand her. Ash robbed her of her chance at it; he took away her choice to forgive him on her own terms, forcing his own feelings into their business when he chased her dad down and let the HVA kill him.
Ash hugged her back, holding her tight, not letting her go from his warmth.
"I'm still here. You're not losing me anytime soon."
"Liar." She said, shocking him. "I know. I know about the academy summons. I saw the message on your phone that day you were passed out from whatever you did to look so beat up that night." Lita was referring to the night Ash came home after the Berserker fight. "You're leaving soon, you're going off to play soldier boy. No matter what you do, you won't let it go; you're gonna end up like Isaac, I know it. You think you're the only one hurting, you think you're the only one who feels pain from his death. You're not the only one who's hurting over him being gone damnitt….he was my brother too." Her voice broke down, saying the last words. Ash never knew how much she loved Isaac and Amelia; her love for them was just as strong as his.
Ash picked her up, holding her in his arms, carrying her to a wall in the room, then sitting down and leaning his back against it, rocking her like a child desperately in need of comfort.
"System, I want to trade a soul. I don't know if you can do this, maybe it's me having wishful thinking, but I want a ring, a ring for Lita. Something to keep her safe and feel my love for her. Please, trade me a ring for one of the HVA souls." He pleaded in his heart.
Maybe it was pity, but the system did what he asked. It gave him a ring to hold in his hand, in haste and silence, so that Lita wouldn't notice it. It was black, with bone-white thorn engravings around it.
{Complete. Trade is successful. User has been given the Forget Me Not Ring. Whenever a user gives this to a loved one, the user will be forever bound to the recipient, their fates intertwined, never separated, even in death. User...good luck.}
Ash was taken aback at that. The system had given him a pep talk that was out of character even for the system.
Ash clutched the ring in his hand, taking a small but deep breath. He pulled Lita back to look her in the eyes so he could speak to her.
"Hey, I know this isn't the best timing, maybe the worst at that. But I want to give you something. I hope you won't use your nails to dig my eyes out after this."
Lita wiped her, trying to get them sober enough to see straight.
Ash held out the ring in front of her. Lita gasped, seeing it; she felt like it couldn't be what she was thinking of, but it was in front of her right there.
"Lita, I want to make a promise to you. A promise to be with you forever, to fight every demon in your head to see you smile, to stop yourself from doing something regretful when you're hurting. To be your sword against the monsters and your light when you feel lost in the darkness. Guess what I'm trying to say is, Lita Joan Thorn….I want you to be my dark angel."