Page 179 of A Soul to Touch

He wasn’t prideful. He didn’t care who took the final swing as long as the goal had been achieved.

“Shit,” she breathed.

She thought it would be the last thing to come out of her mouth. Shit, what a graceful final word.

Suddenly Faunus emerged like a moving, towering shadow behind him. Or, at least... part of him.

The moment was slowed in time, everything growing eerily quiet as she tried to register what was happening.

What Mayumi saw was a cloud that was partially physical, while the rest of him was a floating mass of black sand that swirled to the ground. He was a plume of glitter.

A small fragment of skull was hurled backwards, while the rest fell forwards. She watched as his red orbs burst into an explosion of small fires in front of his eye sockets before they dispersed.

Faunus was approaching by a long leap, while Jace’s sword was inches away from her head. That moment seemed the longest, as though minutes, months, possibly even years passed. Even her quick and sharp gasp was echoed as a long inhale that burned in her chest while her next heartbeat was slow to come.

Then everything sped up.

Jace’s body almost crumbled upon itself sideways when he was thrown to Mayumi’s left, his entire back torn to shreds past his spine and into his organs.

With Jace gone, Mayumi was showered in the black, glittering sand of Faunus’ essence. It was surprisingly warm against the sweat-coated skin of her face, like a final lemongrass and lime smelling breath. His skull fell through the middle of it as though it had suddenly been dropped, and it landed not far from her feet.

The lightest part of him was face up, and she saw the gaping hole in his beautiful skull. The blood that had been streaking across it in little rivulets began to glitter into dust as well, leaving behind nothing but pure white bone.

The black sand never truly made it to the ground, fading away into nothingness with sparkles.

She stared down at what remained of his skull in shock, her lips parted in horror. “No,” she whispered.

A part of her splintered when she understood that Faunus was gone. That he wasn’t going to come back.

No,her mind repeated.

She’d thought she’d be given the chance to at least get to say goodbye. Instead, he’d obliterated into fucking glittering dust! Gone. Poof. Never to be seen again.

Cordon’s bellow behind her was a war cry.

There would be no chance to grieve.

She would be given no chance to breathe in this everlasting painful breath that didn’t seem to end, no matter how much she huffed and panted.

She was almost choking on it, and all the things that were left unsaid... she wanted to hurry and utter them now in case his spirit, at least, was still here to hear it. Her dreams, her hopes, her stupid feelings she’d been too freaked out by.

The way Cordon’s yell ignited her into an inferno of vengeful fury was so sudden that she screamed when it felt as though lava had replaced her blood.

The usually silent, stoic Mayumi was a screeching banshee as she turned to the Head Elder.

You wanted me to live, Faunus?She mentally asked whatever remained of his spirit, sprinting towards Cordon with all her might.Then I’ll fucking live!

Caked in dirt and sweat as she darted, the screech she produced was broken in the middle of her tones – wanting to be high with her grief but deep with her determination to have retribution for the loss this had all caused. It scratched at her throat.

Mayumi had no weapons. There wasn’t one between her and Cordon, who was moments from slashing his sword across her torso.

Using the slick of the snow, she tipped her body until she was sliding on the side of her left leg while using her palm to steady herself. Going underneath the sword, she dug her fingers into the dirtied snow and turned her body just enough that her legs tangled with Cordon’s.

When he realised he was coming down above her, he directed his sword towards her body. She bent her knees to get his under hers and bashed his blade with her arm while throwing every bit of her weight behind it.

She managed to reverse their positions until she was above him.

Then, with her lips pressed tight and curling downwards like a snarling grimace, her front teeth gritted so tight behind them that she thought they’d shatter if she pressed any harder, she knelt over his torso. Mayumi shoved her thumbs into the only part of him she could see, his callous, icy blue eyes.

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