Page 163 of A Soul to Touch

He was trying to distract her – especially since she usually let him.

“Let me guess. It suits me? Looks better on me? I should wear it more often?” Her snarky tone gave him hope.

“It looks easier for me to get into,” he said, thankful his orbs were beginning to go back to their normal yellow. He was forcing them to as much as he could. “But I do think I much prefer you in pants. You don’t appear like yourself dressed this way.”

The corner of her mouth twitched, the nag of a smirk teasing her lips before her expression fell.

“Is the salve helping you?” she asked as she reached up to ghost her fingers close to his crack, but thankfully never touching it. “Your left orb looks much smaller than the right.”

“I’m unsure of what it is like without it, so I don’t know if it is assisting with the pain.”

“I can make more, so let’s not find out.” Her lips tightened momentarily as her eyes danced across all his features – from his orbs to his horns to the rope and cloth covering his snout. “I tried strapping your face together while you were unconscious, but I heard a cracking sound and stopped. I wish there was more I could do for you.”

Faunus grabbed her hand and held it down against his sternum, hoping she could feel his heart radiating beneath it.

“Just being with you is enough for me.”

Her gaze was mingled with far too many deeply conflicting emotions for him to truly understand all of them.

“But it’s not for me,” she croaked before burying her forehead against his chest.

The way she clung to him felt wrong.

It was filled with warmth and tenderness, but there was a slight tremble to the way she hugged him. She was fisting his fur tightly and, since he smelt no fear, he knew it was anxiety.

He was causing her distress. He wished he was selfless enough to put distance between them when he knew what the inevitable was. To help make this easier for her.

But he wasn’t selfless. He knew it the moment he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her to him like his life depended on it.

Days had gone by, but they felt like nothing more than seconds to Mayumi. Time was flowing on a set construct she couldn’t change. One where she was watching the grains of sand beginning to sprinkle through a time glass belonging to a being who was meant to be given an unlimited amount.

It was delineated, painting the very boundary of fate’s tethering of a person to this world.

To watch those fate strings beginning to unravel, to know those glittering pieces of sand were running out, was arduous and punishing to witness. Especially when there was nothing she could do to help.

She didn’t understand how immortality could be so fleeting.

Despite the constant bitterness this gave her, she was thankful for it. At least Faunus wasn’t alone.

She was thankful the Demons had mostly stopped coming since she’d been trying to kill them with as little blood spilt as possible. Especially since, over the course of the last few days, both their minds had aligned to do nothing more than spend time together.

And with the sand running out, she showed him all that shecould. They’d built snow creatures, hers being a snowman and his being a snow Duskwalker. They’d played every board game she had available.

But, perhaps the most tender of moments had been Mayumi bringing Faunus into the cluttered, uselessly sentimental room of her ancestors.

Even though she’d vowed to never go rifling through things that were better left forgotten, she explained the history of everything she had knowledge of.

What painting belonged to whom, which great-grandparent wrote some sappy or depressive poem. Why there was a single, small left shoe but not a right.

For most, this may seem like an unimportant task, but Mayumi had wanted to finally share why this room kind of... scared her a little. To know she may be the last one to live in it, to pass this information on to another, was cruel.

The fate of her bloodline rested in her hands, and instead, she’d gone and fallen for a monster – one who may not be here for much longer.

She was someone who was repulsed by affection from humans but revelled in it from him. How was she supposed to settle for some lesser score after all this?

No one and nothing could compare to the greatness that was Faunus.

Of course, he’d given her his complete and undivided attention. Whether or not he was feigning interest was beyond her care. It was better than them both sitting there in deafening silence and dwelling on the bleak future.

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