Nythe (3)

“Evan…what the hell!” Were the only words Midori could manage at the moment.

Standing where the medical tent had been was the young man she had grown up with, who cried when he couldn’t chase fireflies, and now was covered in the blood of three people Midori had shared meals with.

Yet he looked as if he had merely swatted a bug, the smile on his face reserved for her only.

And it made her shudder.

“What? These three betrayed the teachings of the Lord Shozo, they had to be punished.”

He pulled the helmet off his head and it was then she could see the crazed look in his eye; it scared her, but strangely she felt like it was one she had seen before.

It was as if he did not realized he’d killed someone or—what Midori feared the most— he didn’t care.

“You killed someone Evan…a person! He was a person!” She pointed to Beau whose corpse had only moments previously stopped twitching.

“That’s…no, I mean…he just wouldn’t be quiet. Kept calling me a monster,” he looked to be getting angrier and angrier, and the armour he wore almost seemed to grow additional spiked protrusions.

“I just wanted him to shut up!”

His eyes then fell on her and she couldn’t help the involuntary step back her body made.

“Why…why do you look so scared of me?” There was a scowl of pain on his face, but as Rune next spoke it turned to one of anger.

“Because you’re scaring her.”

“Stay out of it you savage!" Evan waved his arm wildly as he spoke, " Midori’s never known what she wanted.”

She winced, the words stabbing at her mind like a needle.

They were so familiar.

Where had she heard them before?

“I’ve known her only a short time, but Midori is as strong as she is stubborn. She knows what she wants, and what is scaring her.”

Midori did not realize that Rune had moved closer to her and was now standing slightly in front of her.

Evan’s eyes darted from Midori to Rune and then back again before he let out a twisted, mocking laugh.

“Seriously, Midori?”

“What?” She said, her head starting to pound again making it difficult to think straight. What was his issue?

“You’d rather sleep with some ape than me?”

Shock, confusion, anger and disgust were all in contest for purchase on her face, leaving her instead stupefied by the question before being further angered and insulted by the content.

“What the hell are you talking about you creep! I would never sleep with you!”

Anger smeared across his face which had turned beet red in rage, the spikes on his armour growing even longer. Evan unleashed a shout of pure, entitled anger before lunging toward Rune, hands out like he wanted to wring his neck.

But Oda and Toma were suddenly there to prevent that.

Their thick stone clubs collided with the chest of the charcoal armour sending Evan flying backward with a gasping shout.

“Midori, are you okay?” Rune said, looking to her as the pair dashed after their quarry.

“I’m…I’m alright. But Rune he’s…he’s my friend, I think anyway. He was... So just...please don’t kill him.” She looking at Rune with pleading eyes, and the smile he gave her was all the reassurance she needed.

“I’m just going to knock some sense into him and make him apologize.” He brushed his lips against her forehead before turning and dashing off to contribute in the combat.

-----

Rune felt anger flooding through him. Although he longed to give in and unleash the Flame within he tempered it with the image of Midori’s smile and the feeling of her warmth.

And as he did a strange, newfound strength flowed through him.

Fire licked at his hands but instead of the raging and crackling crimson he was used to it was a gentle blue, it felt cool along his knuckles before slowly engulfing the entirety of Rune’s hand.

“Well that’s interesting,” Rune said to himself making sure to stow the feeling away to explore at another time.

Now was a time for violence.

Evan had somehow grown in size once more, and though it was only slight the increase to his strength was far greater with the spikes in the armour now protruding outward almost a foot in length making it even more difficult to approach.

Oda’s club had been shattered after colliding with Evan’s fists and so the larger man had taken to skirting the area picking up the remnants while Toma—still large but arguably the smaller of the pair— took to the frontline.

They worked well together as Oda hurled rocks the moment before Toma struck making sure that Evan’s attention was constantly frayed.

They seemed to be making small, incremental progress as barbs of the armour snapped off after every few attacks.

“Oda, Toma. Watch my back, I’ll take it from here.” Rune received a nod of approval as the pair stepped back, taking a more reactive role.

“You’ll take it from here?” Evan laughed, “what are you going to do short stack?”

Rune smirked before twisting his body slightly and punching the laughing goon in the stomach sending him reeling backwards.

This power surging through him was akin to when he unleashed the Flame normally, but it felt more controlled now.

As Evan launched himself back at Rune the pair engaged in a flurry of strikes, fists crashing against each other causing small aftershocks from every strike.

“Interesting, I didn’t think a savage could match the strength I was given from Lord Shozo.”

Rune said nothing, only twisted himself in midair to place a foot on Evan’s shoulder, kicking off up into the sky.

Taking a deep breath he let out a yell of resistance, a shout of refusal to accept another’s rule.

“Cheeeeeeeeee-hui!"

Letting gravity take hold he fell, the air whistling past his face as he crashed toward the ground. 

Like the explosion of a cannon his fist collided with another as Evan brought his to match. Rune could feel the bones in his fingers breaking as he pushed harder, followed by the cracking of armour.

With a shout of pain Evan flew backwards, his arm flailing like it had been broken or dislocated. Rune touched down gently to the ground, small droplets of blood tracing thin streams down his fingers as the blue flame of his hands slowly dissipated.

“No, no, no, no!” The armoured Evan shouted over and over again, like a child throwing a temper tantrum. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to go!”

When he whirled around Rune took an involuntary step back at the sight before him.

Having swollen in size to nearly double that of an average man Evan had somehow developed incredibly dense muscles that caused the armour such strain it looked fit to bursting yet still would not break; bits of his skin had poked through the small gaps but with every movement the metal cut into flesh, small rivulets of blood streaming down the armour.

And though his right arm appeared to be broken he still had his left, and it was with incredible speed he closed the distance between them before snatching Rune up with his hand.

“If you hadn’t gotten in the way she would have understood,” Evan tried to close his hand causing Rune to scream in pain as several bones inside were suddenly broken and strained.

“She’s always been this way! She’s always just led me on! She wouldn’t do that if she didn’t want me!”

Tears streamed down the mans face mixing with the blood from the armour that now cut even deeper into his flesh.

“That’s what you said to me too…”

Though the voice was soft, the building anger in it was audible and carried her words even further than possible drawing the attention of both Evan and Rune.

Midori stood nearby, a look of horrible understanding on her face, like she were a detective having finally uncovered a murder mystery.

But the most striking thing was the way her hair seemed to float around her as if she were underwater.

“Midori, no…” Was all Rune could manage to say but she could not hear him.

Her braids moved in an invisible current as a violent whirlpool of water slowly began to form at her feet.

“That’s what you said the day you tried to rape me!”