[ Soft hands reach for Lottie's face. They brush over her cuts, her bruises, her swelling, and each touch feels like a knife. It's what she deserves. It's what she wanted, right? That's why everyone, including herself, let Shauna hit her.

There's a dampness trickling over the stranger's palms. Lottie reaches up, her own hands trembling, so she can peel his fingers from her eyes, one by one. So she can hold his hand. So she can see. It's all tangled up inside her, pressing on her bruised ribs, and the only person who can set it right is lying on the ground in front of her. ]

I have to. It doesn't matter, I - I can't leave her again.

Please. [ Lottie joins Yoshiki in prayer, their voices a sickening, miserable chorus. ] I'll give you anything you want if you just stay.

[ The thing does not hear, and it does not listen. It sits up, impossibly, and regards the token. The ash covering its body falls away, replaced now by bitter frost, and the hair left covering what passes as its head turns short and white. ]