Snippet #2564847

Boyfriend.

Autumn did not have the pleasure of hearing the word up close. Rather, it was the spirits who informed her as that had always done. Apparently, Harper had no qualms about making his relationship public this time.

Boyfriend.

It was such a petty thing to be upset about, too. Autumn was well aware that there were lives at stake and that she shouldn’t be concerned with relationships at the moment but she couldn’t help but clench her jaw and scrunch her face. Adrenaline kicked in as she felt the heat of anger rise from her stomach to her head.

Such raw emotion only fueled the spirits further. Their attacks grew more aggressive, leaving visible wounds on the cyclopeans below. The frenzied nature of the attack, if anyone but Autumn could see the spirits, seemed not to coincide with her emotional state but rather simply feed from it. If anything, it was disorganized and sloppy. No doubt the spirits were abandoning her comrades in favor of sucking the energy out of whatever cyclopean they felt like. It was luck of the draw if a spirit happened to be helping a warrior.

Such was her anger that she hardly even noticed when the Goliath appeared. Such was her anger that she hardly even cared. It was odd, actually. In most circumstances Autumn would have been terrified. Rightly so. Kit, too, felt a great sense of dread simply by looking at the beast from afar. Autumn could see it in his eyes. Yet, she felt no fear.

This was not bravery at work. This was a lack of a proper reaction. Her mind was still so focused on anger that she wouldn’t even fear death itself. It was a bit of an odd, empty feeling. As if something was forced.

Seeing Harper and Xabier on the platforms only further enforced this. Autumn scowled, looking away from the two as if they were pox marked. Harper, after everything he’d done, asked Odine not to make a scene. What a hypocrite. She could have screamed in frustration.

It was Kit who reminded her of the task at hand. He tapped her shoulder lightly, causing her to swivel around. He instantly regretted the action. Autumn glared at him with eyes of ice, something he had never seen before. Still, it wasn’t as if Autumn was a threat. Though the action startled him, he wasn’t scared. He coughed and pointed at the Goliath.

If there was a way to cough sarcastically, Kit had it mastered. Despite Autumn’s obvious anger, Kit couldn’t let the opportunity slip by him.

Autumn scowled, but returned her focus to the grotesque cyclopean approaching them. She mumbled under her breath for the spirits to attack the giant in particular. They obliged in a frantic manner.

The darker spirit that had been content to remain next to her seemed to approve. It didn’t say anything, but Autumn could feel it.

The spirits attacked as commanded, leaving the occasional scratch and scrape on the colossus.

Then, with a large bang, it was over. The cyclopean fell and the crowd cheered. Autumn, with nothing else to do but simmer in her own anger, sat down.

Kit, for a moment, was silent. He almost couldn’t believe it. Then, in a way that seemed very not like him, he started to cheer.

“BLOODY FUCKING HELL YES!” He exclaimed loudly, his first instinct being to embrace Ryou in the same way a bear trap might embrace ones foot.

“Can you believe what these assholes pulled off!? Goddess damned kids can’t get along for more than a minute but damn can they kill!” Kit grinned, now firmly grasping Ryou’s shoulders in an attempt to steady himself. If he had a hat, he would throw it. For the first time in years, he was truly overjoyed.

He turned around to look at the group, finding that many had fallen. Autumn slumped over and lay on the ground, her cloak covering her like a haphazard blanket. So she had fainted, too.

Kit wasn’t too surprised by this. It wasn’t the first time that overexertion had caused her to faint. After all, at the end of the day the spirits did prefer human energy. Autumn had made it clear that they could get by on cyclopean energy, but their services were still part of an energy trade and draining cyclopeans of their energy was merely part of the service. At the end of the day, their payment was still her energy. Kit couldn’t help but wonder how much she paid for what she pulled off today.

Autumn lay on the floor, breath shallow but present. She twitched from time to time as the energy passed from her to the spirits.