Soul Rings [HIATUS]

Chapter 1-2

"Hey, Wendy, which turn were we supposed to take again?"

"You would've understood what she told you when you were listening earlier, Cloud."

Two people walked down the road, one young boy whose right eye is covered with a bandage wrapped around his head balancing the umbrella on his shoulder while reading the map and a woman in her early twenties holding one overhead with an unamused look on her face.

"And if only you could use the map properly, we could've got to the school as early as we can and get some paperwork done." The woman named Wendy, sighed.

"If only we could talk to ghosts for directions." Cloud analyzed the map for the umpteenth time. After a brief moment, his face lit up and pointed to the road heading to his right.

"Let's go here!" He said cheerfully as he walked towards the direction he pointed at, and the woman followed.

"Are you sure it's this way?" Wendy tried to peek over his shoulder, but he turned away.

"Yeah! No need to worry!"

"I just hope you're--

She was cut off as she bumped onto Cloud's back, causing her to lose grip on her umbrella for a brief moment. But still caught the handle with both of her hands before she got the chance to be partly wet.

"There's a limbo spawn nearby."

Right after he said that, Wendy's nose caught a foul smell floating in the air, but there was no black aura around.

"And it seems it's skilled in concealing physical presence, but not the smell." She rolled her eyes.

Cloud chuckled in response as he continued walking forward. The adult followed, both of their guards up in case the limbo spawn shows up.

"Man, this place sure is gloomy. I rarely see people around and the rain feels like it's been here forever."

"That's because they're probably in the city working, and who knows, maybe the rain just got here before we did."

"Maybe you're right, maybe we could meet som-bah!"

Right when Cloud had walked in front of the mouth of the alleyway, a certain brunette had crashed onto him before could finish his sentence. As he fell, he lost his grip on both of the map and umbrella.

"Cloud!" Wendy caught up to Cloud and the brunette, who was on top on him.

The raven-haired boy winced for awhile, and slowly opened his right eye to see bright blue eyes, but he couldn't make out the face since it was dimmed by Wendy's umbrella and... are those scratches on that face?

Scanning the face again, he found him self locked on the girl's eyes. It seemed... ethereal.

At the same time unnatural since, no one had eyes that could be as bright as that. However, the staring contest was over when the brunette looked away and stood up.

"--S-sorry." He heard her murmur as he was being pulled up by the adult.

Since he fell, Cloud couldn't help but shiver that his backside was wet from the puddles of rain. Looking back at the brunette, he was surprised at her complete state.

She looked like she has the same age as him, but she was a wee-bit shorter in height. Wet brown hair sticking onto her face and uniform, ripped patches on her blazer, one ripped gap on her skirt, black stockings which were easily ripped and her blue eyes was shadowed by her long bangs. As he stared at her dimmed eyes, it seemed like it was clouded by fear, but it was also mixed with hope.

As he heard Wendy clear her throat, he immediately grabbed his umbrella from the ground and sheltered the brunette from the rain.

"Are you okay? Why aren't you using your umbrella? You'll catch a cold." He asked, wondering how she got into this state.

She stayed silent for awhile, which made Cloud curious.

"Hey, Are you ok--"

"Oh little missy~ Where are you?"

He saw the brunette stiffen.

"Y-you should run away... I-it's not safe around here." She murmured, her head slowly rising up to meet his eyes.

'She can hear them?' Cloud asked himself, curiosity increasing.

After a moment, a foul smell lingered in the air, making the three tense up.

"Miss, I think you should go ahead... and change. He's right you know. You'll catch a cold." Wendy spoke, trying to get the brunette go away. Cloud took it as a signal.

"Here." The silver-eyed boy removed the jacket wrapped around his waist and placed it around the brunette's shoulders. "This should keep you warm from the chilly rain. You should open your umbrella too." He smiled at her.

"B-but--"

"Found you~" a lump of numerous heads popped out from the shadowy entrance of the alleyway. It towered over the three, probably twice the height of a stop sign. Not to mention the foul smell was so stagnant the 3 overshadowed people had to cover their noses. The brunette covering hers in fear, trembling at the same time, while the other two pinched theirs.

"More prey?" The in humane being seemed to smile with it's deformed... mouth?

"I guess I ordered extras for my dinner."

=

A/N:

ending it here cos y not

update times are irregular :^I

[26/1/16]

[Edited: 20/2/16]