Threads of the Soul

Astra stepped forward, not bothering to wait for the beast to lower its head, as she dropped off it and plummeted towards the ground. The road cracked underneath her feet as she landed, sparks of electricity arcing from her body. The dramatic entrance immediately quelled the growing panic and replaced it with a crushing air of concern and confusion at the situation at hand.

She slowly straightened up, taking a few measured steps forward. Her eyes, which were pulsating with a low and rhythmic glow, pierced Sirius with a glare utterly devoid of warmth. The streetlights around them flickered sporadically as the power within the electrical grid around them was constantly disturbed. Every footstep reverberated through the still and dead covered streets as dozens of eyes looked on with growing anticipation.

"Sirius, Just the man I was hoping to see."

When she spoke, her tone was flat and completely emotionless. It seemed as if she was barely raising her voice, yet in the deafening silence of their surroundings there was not a single observer who didn't hear every single word of what she said and the ensuing conversation. All eyes turned from the chilling living storm and focused on the man with the dazzling golden eyes.

A multitude of questions filled their minds and desperately wanted to leap from their tongues, yet none dared mutter or whisper. Many, under the intensity of her electrifying gaze and the pressure of the atmosphere, forgot even to breathe.

"O-oh? And why would that be exactly? Trying to show off your kill to me? I guess I should be flattered that you're trying so hard to catch up to me."

His smile was forced, straining from the nerves, but he quickly found his voice and began to melt back into his charismatic performance. Yet there was still a slight tremble in his voice, his golden eyes often darting towards her and her new 'ride' as beads of sweat gathered on his forehead.

She had to admit, he was playing the crowd very well. Garnering nervous laughter from the observers as he tried to soften the atmosphere.

It was almost working, right up until another bolt leapt from Astra and struck a nearby streetlight, causing a roar of thunder to drown out the laughter and once more replace it with a deafening silence. But this time, the silence didn't last long. Having finally found traces of their confidence, or simply unable to hold themselves back from gossip any longer, the 'mortal' corpse collectors began to whisper and mutter amongst each other.

"Did you see that?"

"She must be pissed, I've never seen her react like that before."

"Of course she's pissed, why else would she do that?"

"Do you think it's a lovers spat?"

"Are they together??"

"I always thought they made a cute couple~"

Astra flexed her blackened fingers, taking a long and measured breath as the scowl that had a permanent residence on her face deepened ever so slightly, her eyes pulsating with more hidden power as she glared daggers at Sirius. However despite the ongoing murmurs and gossip, which was quickly losing focus and drastically veering off into a land of fantasy, Astra was focused on none of that. She wasn't even focused on Sirius himself, despite how much of a death glare she was giving him. To her that was just a normal look that held a small amount of annoyance.

Not annoyance at him… Okay, maybe a bit. He did have a very punchable face after all and constantly got on her nerves. No, it was more of an annoyance at herself. Annoyance at accepting this weasel into her ranks, letting him worm his way into the hearts of those around him and staying passive as he propped himself up as a hero. All because she needed his power and didn't want to drive anyone with it away.

However even with that internal berating of herself, she was focused mostly on the surging storm of energy within her. You see, despite the mutters around her, the electrical outbursts and constant sparks of lighting were not from rage or even annoyance.

They were simply her powers recovering after being stretched so far by her previous attack. Like the electrical equivalent of burps after gorging yourself at a buffet. It was embarrassing really.

As another bolt arced itself towards a streetlight, Astra clenched her fist and intensified her glare, which only made a river of sweat run down Sirius' back as he increasingly felt like a mouse facing down a tiger.

"No. Not that. I have someone I think you should meet."

Without another word, she turned so that she was facing the colossal lizard as it began to lower itself. All other eyes followed her, everyone focusing on the terrifying beast as it lowered its head like a scorned puppy, letting figures clamber down its towering neck or slide down its legs, before it grew completely and utterly still. Suddenly seeming as if it was just another corpse waiting to be cut up and collected by the powerless cleaners.

Narrowing his dazzling golden eyes, Sirius examined the disembarking group with utter befuddlement. He naturally ignored the ones he recognised from the library, like Cynthia and the overtly sweaty blue boy, and instead focused on the new faces since clearly one of those were the one Astra was referring to.

There was a strange man whose face he absolutely didn't recognise, because it was completely covered by a creepy skull mask that weirdly resembled a bird's skull. Where he got such a garish and edgy piece of clothing, he had no idea. But there was no doubt in Sirius' mind that the guy was a weakling simply pretending to be tough and scary, definitely not someone to care about unless he proved otherwise.

Next was a man that had to be supported by the grey haired swordsman, every step taking a mountain of effort as he slowly limped his way forward. Even from this distance, Sirius could see the cacophony of scars covering the poor man's skin and his deathly pale complexion.

Finally, there was a skinny, clearly harmless, one armed man with a strange bird on his shoulder and an, admittedly, adorable looking puppy brushing against his leg as he walked forward. What was it with all the birds today?

As he examined the group closely, a lightbulb finally lit up in Sirius' head before he confidently strode over to the mixture of familiar and unfamiliar faces with his signature charismatic smile on his face.

"I see now… Don't worry, I understand. You're safe with us here friend, nothing can hurt you anymore."

He gave a dashing smile as he slapped his hand on the injured and scarred man's shoulder, utterly confident in his assessment of the situation. Of course they wanted to introduce him to this unfortunate soul. What better way to make him feel safe than to introduce him to their most powerful warrior and know that he is now under the protection of the golden god Sirius?

However, a sliver of doubt entered his mind as, when he glanced around to see the impressed expressions at his masterful skills of deduction, he was instead met with an incredulous look from Fox and a look of utter rage. Before he could voice his question at their expressions, he heard laughter echoing out from behind him.

At first it was nothing more than a soft chuckle, but quickly grew until it was an endless slew of gut wrenching laughter as if someone had told the most hilarious joke in the world. Glancing over his shoulder, he shot a piercing and seething glare at the laughing, skinny man behind him.

"Is something funny?"

"Hahaha, More than you know. She meant me, not him."

"Oh, Well… Nice to meet you, friend."

He straightened his clothing, brushing himself clean of imaginary dust as his face turned a faint scarlet hue. Turning to fully face this newcomer, he held out his hand for a handshake. Yet instead of showing proper manners, he simply received another chuckle in response.

Looking down at the hand presented to him, at the right hand he was supposed to shake despite not having a right hand of his own, Seth could only laugh. Shaking his head, he let out a long sigh, a swirling cascade of emotions inside of him finally settled on the only appropriate response. Pity.

"Unbelievable. Truly, It's amazing how firmly planted your head is up your own ass. Does that produce its own light too? Hark, what light through yonder arsehole breaks?"

"What did you say? You better watch yourself buddy, or I'll happily teach you how things work around here."

Sirius' face twisted with petulant anger as he stepped forward and poked Seth in the chest, intentionally using his superior stats to 'accidentally' prod him too hard and send him stumbling back.

"Pathetic…"

"What did you call me?!"

He stepped forward again, glaring down at Seth. Yet when his eyes started to glow threateningly, all he was met with was yet another chuckle. A sound that grated at his nerves and sounded like nails being dragged across a chalkboard to his increasingly bruised ego.

"I called you pathetic. Because that's what you are. You really don't recognise me, do you?"

"Pfft, should I?"

"Go on, take a good look. See if you can jog your memory and think about something other than yourself for once."

The glow in Sirius' eyes increased once more in intensity, but on a whim he decided to see what this worm was talking about. He examined his features, taking in his face. He had to admit there was something familiar about the little runt, especially his eyes. But he would have definitely known if he saw black and silver eyes before.

It was only when his eyes trailed down to his stump on a whim, when he saw the marks of seared flesh where the limb had been lost, did the penny finally drop.

Stumbling back, the rage melted from Sirius' face as his expression twisted into one of abject horror and dread, as if he was seeing a true ghost for the first time in his life, not as if that would be odd in this day and age. The blood drained from his face so much that even the injured man wasn't as pale as him.

"Th-that's n-not possible. You're…You're…"

"Dead? That's what they told me. Guess it didn't stick."

Seth gave him a half hearted, clearly sarcastic shrug before smirking at him. That smirk, that shit eating smirk, was the final nail in the coffin. Something in Sirius' mind snapped, his wounded ego clashing with the consequences of his lies. All he could focus on was this wretched little worm who was supposed to be dead. Why wasn't he dead?!

"I can fix that."

He hissed through gritted death, his golden eyes burning in his skull like two radiant suns as they blazed to life once more. Their glow rapidly increasing before letting loose a pair of searing golden beams.