“ARGH! Where the fuck did he go?!”
After roaming the crowded streets in search of Reina and her kidnapped, Fayth was becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of clues that would lead to their whereabouts. She was also finding her silent tagalong annoying, as he offered no help at all in her search-and-rescue mission. He was, however, a convenient target for her outburst of anger over the helplessness of the situation, and as such, she turned her irritated attention to him.
“And you aren’t helping, so why are you even following me?”
She was once again met with silence, which fanned the flames of her fury into a devastating inferno of aggressive emotions that spilled out from her. Caught up in her own rage, Fayth failed to notice that her intensive and hostile emotions were influencing the people passing by her and the blind tagalong. Her mental influence wasn’t coercively strong to reflect back upon her, but it was enough to shift behaviours. People became temporarily harsh and unfriendly, as apologises turned into insults and nudges became shoves. Thankfully though, most of them simply went on their way after their brief hostility with each other.
A hand pressed down on her shoulder, to which Fayth immediately responded by turning around and using her momentum to throw a punch at the person stopping her. Not surprisingly, Fayth had punched the blind man following her. He fell to the floor, clutching his now bloodied nose. His face looked panicked and his unfocused eyes were darting everywhere, as if trying to see the world all at once.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!”, Fayth almost screamed at him. But despite her heated words, they did not reach his ears. Fayth was about to turn and resume her search, but she caught his eyes as they focused back upon her and their gazes met for a brief moment. It was long enough to halt Fayth as her mind flashed back to a memory buried deeply some time ago. In her mind, the frightened eyes remained the same as the scenery changed, and the face of the blind man warped into that of the bully who had harassed and assaulted her younger brother. Just as the facial features re-emerged, the memories of guilt and shame came rushing back to her as she was reminded of the bully’s fate, done by her hands. Although she had not known about her powers, she used them to destroy the bully’s mind, as guided by her intent and will. The bully, only slightly older than her brother, would now live his life in a comatosed state for an indefinite time. Once again, Fayth remembered the extent of her abilities and how destructive she had acted, as those panicked eyes shocked the foundations of her emotions. Tears started to well up in her eyes and she began to speak but only managed a stutter before breaking into sobs. She crumbled to the ground and avoided the gaze of the blind man, as well as ignoring the presence of people passing by and their now concerned thoughts.
A lone presence drew close to her and she felt arms surround her, pulling her gently into the comfort of their own body. Their close proximity felt almost intimate and warming, but Fayth's body and heart welcomed the reassurance and safety that it desperately needed. Their hand found the back of her head, stroking it gently as they made quiet, soothing sounds. Fayth leaned closer into the hug and stayed there for an entirely while her torrenting emotions began to gradually settle down. Once she was feeling calmer, Fayth looked up, only to be surprised to find that it was the blind man hugging her close to him. His face was a bloody mess and his nose was slightly out of shape, but the bleeding had stopped, and she found his eyes staring blankly down at her.
"W-w-why?", she asked timidly, as the sight of his face reminded her of how she had treated him only moments before. But her question was met with his usual silence, but rather than irritate her as it had done before, Fayth greeted it with gratefulness. She was reminded at how Reina would have similarly comforted Fayth during her emotional breakdowns, and although they had only recently met, the blind man was offering the same comfort to her despite not knowing each other. It was at that moment that Fayth realised that the blind man genuinely meant to assist her find her friend, and his additional presence would be helpful than if she was on her own.
"Um, thank you. I'm...sorry about...your nose.", she apologised awkwardly as they both rose gradually from the floor and attempted to fix their chaotic appearances.
"Let's go. My friend still needs me.", as she once again met that silence expected of the blind man. They both set off down the street, and Fayth was silently glad that she had a companion backing her in this search.
-
"Wait."
Fayth stopped upon the command of that single word, but rather than wait for her blind companion to explain, she instantly bombarded him with questions.
"What? Did you find something? Are we close?!"
But her desperate questions were met by his typical silence, which although she had become accustomed to, irritated her on this occasion. Instead, she saw his answer by the movement of his arm and out-stretched finger, pointing at the source of the blind man's halt. Fayth followed it and found that he was pointing at a busy trail of ants. Fayth looked closely at it and saw that something was different about the trail. It was a neatly formed line of ants, moving in a singular formation towards one direction, and their movements was exactly and strangely precise to each other, the motion of one ant was the same as any other in that trail. Following the trail in the direction that it was moving, Fayth saw other trails of ants joining with the singular line and they moved as one towards their particular direction.
"Follow the trail of my beauties, if you see to see your friend, alive...".
As that recent memory resurfaced within her thoughts, a spark was ignited as the words fuelled her with anger and reminded her of the person who took her friend away. Despite their futile search, the peculiar sight of the ants became a reassurance that she would find her friend. It was only clue they had come across so far, but Fayth knew deep down that this phenomenon was not a casual coincidence. Her upsurge of rage began to transform into a fierce force that she thought she had been losing for some time now.
Hope.
“This is it! Come on!”, Fayth almost screamed as she grabbed the blind man’s hand and dragged him with her, following the trail to their unknown destination.
