Hunters X and X Heroes

The X Sleepless X Night X Continues

"Shichi. Shichi, are you listening to me?"

The girl rolled her eyes as Wistle's chattering was beginning to wear down the walls of her focus. The bombs would go off soon. Crimson sent out all of the Zakuya files to the Alliance just moments ago and now, it would be their turn to act. But now, now, that the pressure was strong and the stakes were high, Wistle wanted to talk. "Hey, can you maybe shut up for the next," Shichi looked down at her watch, "Three hours?"

"Wow, so snarky," Wistle huffed when she snapped at him, "I get it. You're nervous."

"Nervous?" Shichi hadn't even considered the idea. Her? Nervous? Did Wistle have any idea what she had been doing for the past fifteen years of her life? There was no way she, Shichi Tsujou, Seven of Division Eleven would ever be nervous.

Wistle grinned at her as if he had caught her off guard. "Yeah. Nervous," Wistle repeated and before Shichi could knock that smirk off his face with her right fist, Wistle pulled off the cerise globe that had never before left his neck, "So I came up with a solution!"

She raised an eyebrow at the mystifying action, but now that the orb was held up in the air, she could see the light passing through it. Even the cheap, white, cold lighting of the Zakuya could not take away from the necklace. Wistle held it out in front of her and she stared at him stupidly.

"It's a good luck charm! I'll give it to you!"

This beautiful object that Wistle had always held so close to him seemed to glow with Wistle's same friendliness and warmth. It was okay to give something like that to someone like Shichi, right? Wistle was like the sun. Real. Warm. Something that Shichi always tried to reach but could never. Shichi was the fake, fluorescent lightning. But this necklace didn't lose it shine because of something like that.

"Pfft...," she turned away, acting like she was laughing too hard or that Wistle's face made her crack up, "What the heck? You seriously think those things work? You know I don't believe in good luck charms."

Wistle's pout only lasted for a moment before he suddenly reached over to fix the necklace around her and she flinched at the boy's touch. She would have jumped away and yelled at him if she was not afraid of breaking the cord while he held it. So instead, she stayed there and yelled at him, half-aware of the flare of heat across her face.

"Hey, what are you doing-"

"Just hang on to it for now," Wistle chimed gently, lifting his gaze from the globe to Shichi's eyes and setting her off into a new, different kind of unnatural panic.

What was this? She felt so, so... weird. She felt like she had been overloaded with energy; she could somehow hear her heart pounding much faster than normal- after it stopped for a second that is- and somehow with the new burst of energy, half-forgot to breathe. She could think a lot faster, way faster than Shichi knew she was capable of but all her thoughts were useless, jumbled, and undecipherable. If she jumped or screamed or something maybe she could release that energy? But she'd look so stupid in front of Wistle-

"You can give it back to me when this is all over!"

-

Shichi leaned against the tiny, minimal balcony and it's rusted old rails.

Shichi eyes felt dry in a scratchy and gritty way. Her arms were as heavy and lifeless as steel and her legs were sore.

She blinked twice, her eyes were unpleasantly dry, like she had kept them open for too long. She even shut her eyes closed for a few moments but they still bore an annoying sensation that was void of moisture. She gave up and continued to stare down at the city that was always moving, always lit.