<span style="font-style: italic">Aid</span><br/><br/>It would be a lie if she didn’t admit to herself that she missed her childhood nickname, however much she used to hate it. It brought back simpler times. Ones that Aideen missed. Thinking back brought a small throb in the forefront of her mind. Aideen was still feeling the side affects of getting hit over the head and it took all her willpower to pay attention to what Lucas was saying.<br/><br/>“I do want to help.” There was a tightness to her voice that Aideen tried to hide. Reluctant to show any sign of weakness, Aideen brought her hands to her temple, rubbing on both sides. The blood in her hair and on her clothes had since dried, but the tight quarters did nothing to help the smell she brought with her. It was almost as bad as her headache.<br/><br/>“Come out of my shell?” Aideen whispered the words through a smile. Lucas almost sounded like his old self, if ever that were possible. A warm chuckle vibrated through the air from Aideen’s throat at the thought. “Perhaps you are right, but with all that’s happened, I feel as if I don’t have a shell anymore.” It was meant to be a joke, but her words were all too real, and instead hung heavy in the air. In the silence, Aideen did her best to listen to the outside. While her senses were better than that of a human’s, it was a challenge sitting beneath the earth.<br/><br/>“Do you have a way to contact your people? I don’t know if they would have left a running vehicle out there.” Come to think of it, Aideen couldn’t just waltz right in to their camp. The thought was almost comical. Of course, she could always<span style="font-style: italic">pretend</span>to be human. Having to hide it the majority of her childhood made her an expert, but that was no way to gain trust of anyone, if Lucas was the example. Aideen shifted, trying her best to stay decent in a skirt, not that Lucas could see anything. “Stay here, I’ll go see if they’re gone or not.” Not leaving him room to protest, Aideen was out of the cave and covering up the opening.<br/><br/>Outside the sun beat upon the yellow sand. Aideen was forced to squint, her headache worsening. A pained growl reverberated in her throat as she half walked, half crawled up the sloping dune. Looking to the, now destroyed, outpost, Aideen looked among the colored lines that weaved between each other. There had been a lot of demons, but from what she could tell, none of them had stayed. No doubt they left, looking for her as they went. With the wave of Aideen’s hand, the sand fell from the cave’s mouth, signaling that it was safe for Lucas to come out. With one hand on her hip and the other shielding her eyes from the sun, she called to him. “Your vehicle is still down there, but I don’t know if it’s of any use.” It had been flipped on it’s side, something both she and Lucas could correct together, but Aideen didn’t know if anything had become jostled in the turn.