My eyes stay focused on my soul, wondering how I made that...force field.
I held my arm out, but when I tried to do it again?
It fizzled out. Like I couldn't even put anything up at all.
I can't help it now. The wind is going on around me. Blaring, arrows whizzing by. None of them are coming towards me, though, because most people can't aim close enough to hit me, especially with the light.
I'm supposed to act like a beacon.
A light.
A ray.
A beam of hope.
No.
A distraction.
I'm a diversion, a blinder. From where Jae, Ruby, and Cay are standing, they're not facing where my beam is, so they can fire freely, especially from the high leverage of the building.
Are they killing people?
How many people have they killed before?
Do they have blood on their hands?
Do I have blood on my hands?
The radio goes off on the walkie-talkie Cay left me, in case of emergency. I haven't really thought about it. Hell, I didn't even mention it while he tossed it in my hand before he dragged me up here.
A little bit of static, before a whiz goes by on the other side, "Princess, what's it looking like up there?"
I take a gaze at my surroundings.
I can see them, clear as day.
They're dotted, sporting some sort of red jerseys.
"Red shirts, about to come where I'm shining," I explain calmly, flashing another beam where they are.
Can my beams have some sort of mass to them?
Could I hit people with my beams? Like a physical hit?
Could I even bring myself to?
"Good, gotcha," he grunts again. "What color was it?"
"Red."
Ruby hisses, "Crap, the Vampires?"
Jae huffs, "Got our work cut out for us. You wanna keep holding out till reinforcements?"
Ruby groans over the walkie-talkie, "We got no choice. If anything, our best bet might to let Princess here just blind the whole area."
"Yeah, but we'd be sitting ducks. The reinforcements wouldn't even be able to find their own way here," I point out, hiding behind the stone armament. "So, what should we do?"
Cay hums, thinking up something.
"Try shooting a beam straight up. If you hide, they won't be able to hit you, but the reinforcements'll be able to get here quicker."
Ruby snatches the radio, which is followed by a ton of rustling, before scoffing, "That'll put Princess at risk."
"And what happens if we lose the base here?" I bite back.
"...fine. But I swear, if you still end up getting hurt, you got nobody to blame but yourself."
I nod, and she takes the silence as acceptance.
"Well...here goes nothing."
I hold out my soul a little higher, before a gigantic beam shoots out from its center into the sky, probably high enough to reach the Sky Towers.
There's no way anyone could miss that beam now.
~~~
Crap, I messed up.
I hiss, keeping my position.
I decide to keep the beam going, but hold my soul attached to me, like with an infinite string. Nobody can touch it unless I let them, so it's safe for me to leave for the time being.
I've been shooting beams to show them where it is, but that's not working. Just letting the three of them down there know what's going on isn't helping anyone.
I've gotta help them, don't I?
No doubt.
I take a deep breath, and another, before my eyes flicker down to the ladder. It's made of solid steel, so I can't really go down it in any way. It's too high up to jump off of, either.
I gulp, deciding to head down the ladder as fast as I can and hope for the best.
A few arrows whiz by, but are too far from me, landing on the rooftop with a slight clank to it.
Come on, come on, come on, faster!
I feel my feet clash with the floor, and I instantly whirl around to hop down the staircase.
"What are you doing, here, Princess?!" Ruby scowls, frustrated. "I thought we told you to stay up there!"
I bark back, "And is that working? They're all still here, and all still getting closer!"
She puts her hand on her hip, glancing outside the window, "So what do you propose we do?! We obviously can't blind everyone, and that beacon of yours up there isn't going to help anyone if everyone's down!"
Cay locks eyes with me, and narrows his eyes, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
I blink, shrugging, "You got somewhere where I can see an entire side? Like broadly?"
"There's the area up top, but that's unprotected," Jae grunts, loading up another net with a pile of rocks. "There's also the balcony, but there are some spots where they'll be able to hide behind buildings. If you shine your light there, it should be fine."
Cay grabs my wrist, and I nod, "You got me?"
"Always will," he smirks, leading me past the bedroom and kitchen, nodding curtly to Ruby and Jae. "You really think this'll work?"
"It's our best bet, don't you think?" I offer, and he seems to take the answer. "So, here's what I thought. If I were to blind an entire half of them, by just blasting light everywhere, you wouldn't need to worry about me finding where they're coming from. You'd only have half the places to look through, and it'd fully immobilize half of them."
He stops, skidding before stupidly staring at me. Aren't we in a damn invasion? Can't this wait?
He cracks a grin, clicking his tongue, "You're a damn genius, Princess. Where'd you get that brain of yours?"
I stick out my tongue as he leads me closer to the balcony, "Hey, if I have some privilege, I'm not going to waste it by saying that I'm a normal girl. I wanna be, but I can still use this for myself, you know."
"So you're not an angel," he teases, and I flush. "Just a devil in disguise."
"Never was, Cay," I hum, satisfied.
As the two of us step onto the balcony, my eyes widen at the sight. It's not a bloody, gruesome one.
It's beautiful. A night sky as far as the eye can see, stars above us, gentle spots of blue and red. I see murals, spray paintings on walls, everything.
"Princess, you got a job to do," Cay urges, and I hum, rolling my eyes.
"Fine."
I hold up my hand, and like a yo-yo, my soul comes back to me, "You might wanna get back for this one. I'm going to have to blind the whole area."
But before I can use my soul, I'm interrupted.
"Crap!" I hear a cry of anger. "They're in!" My head whips around, and Cay's does in turn.
"What's going on?!" He hisses, whipping out his knife. "Princess, stay here!"
Jae calls out, roughness even harder in his voice, "Take bunker. We've gotta try to make a barricade before they get in."
The two of them sprint in, and I curse, "Crap, how many of them are there?!"
"Too many," Cay scowls, humor gone in his tone. "You got any ideas?"
"Not much," I groan, looking out the window. It's too high for us to jump off of. "Are we really just sitting ducks?"
"I've got nothing," Ruby glares. "If you didn't get stuck with us, we'd be fine, but NO, we have to just hope that backup comes!"
"This isn't the time to fight each other, idiots," Jae interrupts harshly, holding up the gauntlet that he'd fitted onto his fist.
One of them enters.
They're not wearing the same colors as Ruby or Cay or Jae.
It's red.
~~~
Time stops, almost.
A deep breath.
The room around me feels like it turns...blue. A light blue hue.
None of them are moving. Not even the Vampire member. But I can feel them.
I can feel their heartbeat. I can feel their breathing. Their emotions.
Their soul.
I can see them all. I can see Ruby's.
There's a lot of purple. Not an overwhelming amount of Misery, but more than I'd ever seen in the Sky Towers.
But there's a lot of Mirth in there as well. Shining, bright and clear as day.
I wonder how much she looks at it. Does she know what she's doing? I wonder how she feels.
But both her Mirth and Misery pale in comparison to the burning flames that I see. The Morality.
Smoldering flames that encompass the entire soul, swirling around it in ropes of inferno. It's practically a whole bonfire, alight with beautiful blue strands of string within.
She's been nothing but disdainful to me this whole time...but she's got a strong sense of duty. I shouldn't blame her for this, should I? I gulp, wincing at how brightly it burns.
I can see Jae's.
Long story short, his is filled with some sort of inner jubilation. A ton of Mirth. Bucketfuls of it. There's twinges of Misery that I can see, and a few flames above, but they're drowned out by the sea of shine.
And Cay's?
I blink.
I take a step, but they're all still frozen. I take another one, and the floor beneath me feels like glass, a clacking sound the moment my foot touches the ground.
I gasp, and the moment I touch his soul, adrenaline rushes through me.
I whirl around, my heart pounding at the sudden rush of energy and sudden awareness of my surroundings.
The Vampire Member. His bow and arrow.
His hand not on the string. It's in the middle of firing the arrow.
It's pointed right at Cay.
...
It's like nothing is moving. I feel everything around me, living and non-living. I know the arrow's coming for him. I know the arrow's going to meet its mark. I know it all.
I see Ruby and Jae's fearful eyes. Their faces are stoic, but their emotions are flaring.
I see the resolve in Cay. I see the determination and duty in the Vampire members.
I have to protect him.
I take a deep breath.
My eyes open.
~~~
"Stop!" My voice is booming, and I hear echoes that aren't mine. "Get away from him!" Again, layering voices that I don't remember belonging to me.
That's the sort of shriek I was going for before I got knocked out. That was the kind of scream that I'd been aiming for with the crowd in the Towers.
That was so much more than I can remember. That scream did more than I ever thought it would.
In a flash, the barrier that I'd formed to protect us in the watchtower came once more, but this time as a gigantic bubble that encompassed the four of us.
The arrow gets stuck in the barrier, right at the intersection of the hexagonal pattern. I can see the barrier sheen.
"Yo, what the fuck?!" Ruby gapes.
"That's what I said," Cay breathlessly whispers. "Princess, are you sure you don't know how to do that?"
"Seems like she knows what she's doing just fine," Jae hums, curiosity seeping into his voice. "Can you keep it up?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Ruby gets her bearings, gesturing to my legs, and I can't help but follow. They're shaking violently, and I hadn't even noticed.
"Crap, it's probably taking her a bunch of energy to stay standing," Cay observes. "Jae, get --"
"Already on it," he interrupts, quickly picking me up. "That better?"
I weakly nod. I look around me, and I feel the barrier pulsating. I take a deep breath, and it slowly closes in on us. There's still a good amount of room to breathe, but that's it. It's enough room to protect all of us.
"Damn it," The Vampire member hissed, grabbing his phone and answering into it. "The Pure Soul is at my location."
"Princess, how much longer can you hold this up?" Cay asks, and I meekly shrug. "Damn. Jae, I've got an idea."
"Where are you?" The member's phone statically screeches. "Wait, damn, there's a --"
Static, thudding, and a little bit of rustling.
The man in red, lanky and confused, stays still.
I feel the air inside the barrier whiz by me, as Jae charges at the man with the barrier.
"Well, that's one way to do it," Ruby whistles, staring at the man's knocked out body.
"Jae, hand 'er 'ere," Cay urges, to which the muscular man does. His tone turns softer as he looks into my eyes, and I just let myself be carried by him. I can't let myself fall asleep. I'm using all of my energy to keep this barrier up.
I have to protect them. I have to keep them safe. Until I know they're okay.
"Hey, Princess?" Ruby grabs my attention. "Your nose is bleeding."
"We're going to bring you to the others, okay?" Cay coos. "Some of the other Vultures are here. We'll take care of you there and head to our main base, mmkay?"
"What about this one?" I yawn, but my consciousness is already slipping.
"Oh, this is just our patrol base. Y'know, the one we use to watch out for anyone falling down. It's only us three here, since we can handle ourselves most of the time and since it's not a big enough threat for most gangs to come towards and threaten. Since we're the strongest of the Vultures, we didn't bring our equipment."
"Though we should've," Ruby snorts. "Didn't think we'd rope a Pure Soul into this."
"Rest for now," Cay advises. "We'll wake you up later."
As I close my eyes, I hear a few words before I drift off, "So, did she pass, Ruby?"
"Mm...I guess. But if she gets in trouble, she's handling it herself."
"Not gonna let that happen."
"God, you're an idiot."