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“My shoulder’s free.”
I jerked my head up to see Sylus sitting on the reclined driver’s seat ever so calmly with his crimson irises darting from the windshield to this…messy state of mine. He’d been sitting there so quietly that I’d practically forgotten about his company. For a man that is so busy attending to his own (shady) business 24/7, he was perhaps catching up on his sleep.
We were in one of his surprisingly run-of-the-mill cars—“To blend in,” he tersely explained. Couldn’t argue with that logic, really—and was parked on the curb of the street between Linkon City and N109 Zone. Must’ve sucked to be him, though, as the car didn’t seem to accommodate his height very well.
Sharp and constant pangs jackhammered my head. I’d been burying my face in my hands for the past thirty minutes, and the blast of the AC promptly violated my rubbed-raw eyes. He was probably getting irked by my endless sobbing—like the nuisance I always am in his eyes. Ugh, now that I think about it, I’d probably woken him up from his goodnight sleep, too.
I’m an awful, awful hunter, aren’t I? An annoying one, to boot.
I’d been on my evening stroll around Azure Square when it happened. A Wanderer, huge and grisly-looking, went berserk on the city. It came out of nowhere. The smaller ones I could handle easily, but this one…this one had a grip on me similar to how it was 14 years ago. Fear snubbed me out of my own Evol, and yet my hand moved like it had a mind of its own; I pressed 6 on my Hunter’s Watch keypad—6 being Sylus’s emergency contact shortcut—and dialed him.
To this day, why it had to be him remains a mystery. So, not only did this awful hunter right here not do her job properly, but is also chummy with the enemy. Great. Just great. If that day ever comes, how will I be able to make a convincing case for this to the Association? “ Oh, sorry, I didn’t call for back-up because I was scared out of my mind and called for the leader of Onychinus instead ”? Sounds like a call for immediate expulsion to me.
(And if you’re wondering, yes, he did come to my rescue…at the expense of being spotted by people. After all, he has such an eye-catching Evol no one could ever miss.)
“You’re allowed to cry on it,” he added, adjusting his seat back to its upright position before turning the AC off. He flexed his shoulders and neck and crossed his arms, all the while he was looking out of the window.
A beat of silence followed. I wasn’t sure if it was one of his many strategies to shut me up, but it was definitely working. He was astonishingly aloof towards whatever I had going on at that time, though that’s just how he is on a day-to-day basis. Taking a deep stuttering breath, I leaned my head against his shoulder—uncomfortably so with the gap between our seats and our height difference.
He was…surprisingly warm, even after being hit with the gust of icy cold wind from his AC for the past thirty minutes. I could feel my body relaxing bit by bit after being so tense for so long. My eyes couldn’t help but settle on the glowing handcuff around my wrist and the matching one around his, which burned brighter and brighter as the distance between the pair became shorter and shorter. It somehow became a therapeutic sight for my sore eyes, despite the fact that its adverse effect says otherwise on my daily life.
“What happened, hm?” he asked, offering a handkerchief as dark as night without even sparing another look at me. An elegant burgundy ‘S’ is embroidered on one of its corners, and I would’ve laughed at the poor excuse of Mephisto’s likeness—not my best work, I admit—on another corner if I wasn’t feeling so down in the dumps.
(I remember him smirking at it and said, “this would fetch a pretty penny at the auction, sweetie.”)
The question was short but its solemnity undeniable. Underneath it was a layer of tacit understanding instead of his usual teasing lilt. It was like he knew something . He always does.
Absent-mindedly, I accepted his handkerchief and fidgeted with it instead, fingers busying themselves on pulling at its four edges. It felt cool to the touch. “I…I was…s-scared,” I replied. “I had a…a past involving the Wanderers, and this feeling that I haven’t had for a long time just suddenly…resurfaced.” I looked up to see his reflection on the window, hoping for some sort of reaction to find comfort in, but to no avail.
This time, though, his head swiveled, and I was caught rather off-guard when he looked at me with those intense eyes. There was no malice—and neither was pity. His features seemed…oddly gentle. Definitely a look that I was a stranger to.
He then sighed, the expression crumbling faster than light. “What would you do without me, huh, sweetie?” he said, his usual teasing tone making its return.
Normally, I would’ve retorted back at him, but because I wasn’t in the mood, I just looked down onto my lap, tears beginning to cascade down my cheeks again. “I would've…I would’ve…,” I trailed off, not wanting to state the obvious. That Wanderer was so vicious the thought of finally meeting my end did cross my mind. I shut my eyes, wishing the noise in my head would just vanish.
All of a sudden, there was something weighing my head, and newfound warmth started to spread from it. I looked up again and realized that Sylus had his hand on my head. His fingers tangled themselves through my hair, and a frown was plastered on his face.
“You were not going to die back there, not when we’ve only recently resonated with each other. I’ve personally requested the Grim Reaper as such,” he joked… except that there was no hint of humor in it. He was drop dead serious.
I rolled my eyes at that, thinking that it was one of his greatest deadpans—I’ve steeled my resolve not to fall for his antics. Despite that, the way he said it had somehow lifted a huge weight off my chest. “Right. And how did you manage to do that, Mr. Onychinus?” I responded nonchalantly—as best as I could anyway with a heavily congested nose.
“Haven’t you realized, sweetie? I’m the Grim Reaper,” he declared, a smirk slowly forming on his countenance. The lack of light made it a bit difficult for me to see anything else except his face, but I definitely noticed his black and red tendrils swirling around him as a dramatic effect. “It’s not that hard to keep you alive anyway, and I pride myself in being a man of his words.”
“Okay, but you do realize that people would have caught you on camera when you showed off like that?”
“The world's a stage, kitten, and I gave them the show… of a lifetime .”
I let out a chuckle. “You’re not a crow. You’re a peacock.”
“Strutting my stuff from time to time does feel great. Linkon City needs to keep an eye out.”
“You’re not all that, Sylus.”
“And you are, so that’s why I saved you, sweetie.”
I felt my cheeks heating up at that. Silly me couldn’t stop the smile that was forming on its own on my face! “That was terrible.”
His expression softened, smirk gradually turning to a sincere smile. “Now that you’re smiling again, we’ll have to train tonight so you can properly escape when you really need to.”
I slumped backwards on my seat. “Nooo, I’m tired.”
“Expect an all-nighter tonight.”
“Noooo!”