ADRIAN HUNTER


    The link finally broke, but not before the bear managed to slash and destroy the nest’s core in its manic frenzy. Adrian was thrust off of its back into a pool of purple blood, and watched as it scampered off into the distance, leaving the scene of the dissolving mass of concentrated spirit energy behind.


    “Damn it!” he exclaimed, gasping for breath.


    “We’re not chasing after it,” Alex said, tapping him with his foot.


    “...Didn''t plan on it. My whole body hurts.”


    He took a long sigh as Alex and Isabelle pulled him up to his feet. All around them, the mist was dissipating, starting from where the core used to be. As more of the forest became visible, so did the true state of the destruction caused. There wasn''t a single tree that hadn''t been stripped of its leaves, and the overcast sky made the whole environment look like something out of a horror movie.


    “What now?” Isabelle asked, “What do we do, um…a-about the bodies?”


    Adrian looked at the ground, and bit his lip, remembering the gruesome scene he saw.


    “Well,” Alex said, walking away, “Let’s tell Mr. Harrows for starters.”


    “Actually, can we make a stop before heading to school?” Adrian asked.


    Turning back and giving him a sceptical look, Alex motioned his hands at his purple and red bloodstained clothes. “You want us to take our time getting back while we look like this?”


    “I just wanna go talk to the Winchesters before heading back," he pleaded, "Mr. Harrows won''t let us out again if we head back to school looking like this. Please.”


    Alex looked surprised for a second then turned away while scratching the back of his head.


    “Most of the blood is on our jackets though!” said Isabelle, stepping forward. She took off hers as an example and used the inside as a rag to wipe her face and arms. “See? Totally normal-ish looking.”


    ‘Normal-ish’ was the right word. It was still super obvious she''d been fighting thanks to the bruises and cuts on her arms. Adrian copied her and laughed with her at the minor scale of the improvement they''d made. They then turned to Alex and watched his expression shift from one of indifference to one of reluctant acceptance.


    “Let’s make it quick then.”


    <hr>


    ALEXANDER CALLOWS


    They made sure to call the police and get the area where the bodies lay in the forest sectioned off before heading over to the Winchester''s house. There wasn’t much that they really had to tell the Winchesters in all honesty. Alex figured that reassurance was the main thing on Adrian’s mind, simply because that was the kind of person he was. Always sticking his neck out for others no matter what. It was a flaw.


    He and Isabelle stood right behind him while he talked to Ray''s parents. Of all the events he carefully explained to them, he specifically left out the details regarding Charlie and Ali’s bodies. Probably so he didn''t set Mrs. Winchester off again like what happened during the interview.


    “...I see,” Mr. Winchester said, holding his arm around his wife, “So what do you think the next steps are going to be?”


    “Our teacher is probably gonna ask us to each write a report on what happened,” Adrian said, turning back to them, “Um… After that we’ll probably be on more investigations like this one based on any new info we might get."


    The man gave a weak smile and nodded his head. His wife, on the other hand, hadn’t said a word or moved at all the whole time Adrian was speaking. She still looked just as dishevelled as she did when they came here earlier in the day. Alex could tell he was waiting to hear something from her the most after her small outburst, but personally, wasn’t counting on anything. Surprisingly though, she was the one to interject during the silence.


    “I want to apologise for the way I acted,” she whimpered, brushing her hair away from her face, “It’s just been… Um-”


    “T-there’s no need!” Isabelle blurted out, “Like I said before, it''s all understandable."


    Mrs. Winchester gave them all a weak look and said, “I got into an argument with Kaya before she left on that day, you know? She left her room in a complete mess. It was such a trivial thing to blow up about. Having that be my last conversation with her… As her mother, especially, It’d be too much.”


    As her mother, huh? Alex’s body tensed up.


    She was about to continue but stopped and looked down to her side. Ray appeared, squeezing in between his parents with an earnest and desperate look in his eyes.


    “Can you do it?” he asked, looking up at Adrian, “Is there a way to find my sister?”


    Adrian kneeled down to Ray’s eye level. Alex had a suspicion of what he would say, and was sure it’d be the wrong thing. Something like, “we’ll see what we can do” is what he should have said. With the info they currently had, that was the only thing they could say. Anything else would run the risk of giving false hope, but he also knew that those things weren’t on Adrian’s mind. He was operating under the assumption that saving Kaya was a given.


    “You have nothing to worry about!” he told Ray, “I promise I''ll find her.”


    Ray''s eyes beamed with enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Alex was internally sighing after hearing Adrian''s declaration. They said their goodbyes to the Winchesters not long after, and were given warm waves as they continued on their journey back to school. Alex found himself distant the entire time.


    You''re probably gonna trap yourself making promises like that. I’m sure even you know that, but...


    At the end of the day, It wasn''t really any of his none of his concern, was it?


    “...Yo,” Adrian said, hesitantly, “Can I ask you guys something?” Alex and Isabelle looked at each other, wondering what he had to say. “Have you... ever seen a dead body before today? It feels like I had a totally different reaction to you two back there.”


    Isabelle’s face dropped as she turned back to the path ahead of them. She awkwardly played with the sleeves of her jacket before saying, “My dad started forcing me and my sister on some of his missions two years ago as part of training. One of the first ones we had was to stop this illegal trade that some bounty hunters organised.”


    “A trade?” Alex asked.


    Isabelle nodded her head and took a deep breath. “A-apparently things like that fly under the radar a lot, but somebody tipped off our family, and my dad took the case. I don''t know what they were trading, though… We fought them. Well my dad did. I was too scared at the time and..."


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    Her eyes became more and more empty the more she recounted her memories. Her mouth was open slightly, trying to get the next words out, but choking each and every time.


    “It’s alright, Isabelle,” Adrian said, “We get the gist.”


    “...Yeah.”


    Her and Adrian then turned to Alex and waited for his answer.


    “I was just being realistic,” he sighed, “From the moment Ray told us about Kaya’s friends, I kind of expected something like this.”


    The heavy atmosphere that followed his answer was almost palpable. He kept his eyes facing forward, and distracted his mind by listening to the cars whizzing by, not wanting to see what kind of expressions the other two were making. A slapping sound then caught his attention and he turned back to see Adrian hitting his face with both hands before composing himself.


    “Kaya''s body wasn''t there,” he said, seemingly back to normal, “That means she’s still out there somewhere.” There were a million holes Alex could have poked in that statement, but when he tried to, he got cut off instantly. "I''m not tryna hear all that, not gonna lie. I made a promise to Ray, and I''m gonna keep it. That''s all I care about.”


    “There''s only so much we can do right now,” Alex sighed.


    “The thing to do is obvious.” He ran ahead slightly and started skipping backwards with a fat stupid grin on his face. “The other three should still be training right now so I''m taking no breaks. Soon as we get back I''m joining ‘em. Then later, I''ll get Isabelle to help me.”


    She had a bewildered look on her face as Adrian lifted her arm and shook her hand. “...H-how about we move that to tomorrow, ‘kay?”


    That was the point that Alex slumped his shoulders and gave up on whatever he was trying to say. The right answer he had in his mind was for him, and obviously wouldn''t make sense in Adrian''s head. That’s just how fundamentally different they were.


    <hr>


    ADRIAN HUNTER


    Where to start, where to start?


    Adrian had talked up a big game about training but actually putting his words into practice was more nerve inducing than he thought. Especially after everything that''d happened.


    Gotta be more calm and collected, he thought, Fake it till I make it.


    After finishing up their written reports of the nest incident, Alex and Isabelle went to their rooms to rest up, while he wasted no time in getting to the training grounds to start training with the other three. He could hear the repeated sounds of explosions coming from outside, and discovered that Melanie was the source once he exited the door.


    She was dodging around the swings from Neil’s training sword, using her explosions to zip around him and attack from his blindspots. Neil was keeping up with her trigger-happy performance with movements that were a lot more quiet and less bombastic than hers, but almost just as effective.The spirit energy in his blade was perpetually fluctuating, always spiking up slightly just before he blocked an incoming attack or when he sent out one of his own.


    They were complete opposites in terms of fighting styles, and even though Neil was on the defensive most of the time, his meticulous observational abilities were just as impressive to Adrian as Melanie’s fast-paced, wild style of combat.


    Just next to the door, Lyla was sitting on a bench, and silently watching the fight. She seemed distant, twirling a strand of her hair while the rest of it got pushed around by the wind.


    “Yo,” Adrian said, taking a seat next to her.


    “Oh, you came back," she said, quickly switching to a more upbeat demeanour, "Did the mission go well?”


    “It went somewhere for sure. Dunno if ‘well’ is the word I''d use… How about training?”


    "Ah, well..." She laughed awkwardly and tried to keep the smile up for a little longer, but quickly gave up, turning to look at the ground. "I realised that I can''t keep up with them,” she said, slowly swinging her legs, “So… I came here to sit out.”


    Not really knowing how to respond, Adrian nodded his head and looked back to the ongoing fight that showed no signs of slowing down.


    Smoke from Melanie’s explosions lifted up into the air, and an even darker smoke, thanks to his dark affinity, was eerily emanating from Neil''s training sword whenever he slashed at her. A thought then popped into Adrian''s head. Melanie had a flame affinity like him, but he had no idea how she was creating explosions like that in the first place. His flames always came out like a flamethrower, but hers were much more concentrated and potent, hence the explosions. If it was something that he could learn, then he wanted to do so, asap.


    “Oh, before I forget," Lyla said, "Melanie wanted to ask you something."


    “What’s that?”


    “She’s been fighting at full capacity for about twenty minutes now. Do you think you, Izzy or Alex could match that?”


    Adrian perked his head up at Lyla in astonishment. “Hell no! Isabelle maybe, but… How does she even have the spirit energy for that?”


    “She really is crazy. In more ways than one.” Lyla looked down at her hands and started twiddling her thumbs. The tone in her voice also became shakier; frustrated perhaps. “She has too much spirit energy for someone our age. The amount you''re born with is random, but she still manages to be an anomaly… Neil most likely has the least out of all of us. But that still doesn’t stop him...”


    Adrian looked back to Neil, remembering the fluctuations of spirit energy in his blade. "But he’s super efficient with what he does have, right?”


    “And above average physical strength, for a spirit hunter our age too.” She raised her head and looked ahead with a hollow smile. “I can hardly even grasp the basics. Spirit links, especially, are completely alien to me... Maybe I should just...” She paused for a second then shook her head and stopped speaking.


    Adrian lingered on her pained expression for a second.


    “Should what?”


    He wanted to ask, but for some reason couldn’t bring the words to leave his mouth. A quick slap on the back of his head snapped him out it.


    “Surprise!” Said Melanie, looking at him with a grin.


    Her and Neil stood in front of them after finishing their sparring match. Adrian would have snapped back at her for hitting him usually, but there was something more important on his agenda at the time. “Melanie, how’d you do that explosion thing? Teach me."


    "Teach...you?" She said, giggling, "You''re kinda crazy, though. I dunno if I should just teach you how to blow stuff up on command, man."


    "Crazy calling crazy, crazy." Neil said.


    "Yeah!" Adrian said, squinting at her, "Why try and act responsible now? We''re in the same boat."


    She groaned and gave him a guilty look then rolled up her sleeves, giving him a better look at the damage they’d sustained. There were patches of skin that had peeled away, revealing a faint pink colour underneath. She clenched her fist hard, then started rubbing at the burns with her other hand. “Owiee!”


    ''Disturbed'' couldn''t even hope to do justice to the way Adrian felt. He turned to Lyla, who had the same dumbfounded look on her face then back up at Melanie, who was now grinning like an idiot. “Nevermind us being in the same boat. You''re worse.”


    “Don’t start getting on to me! I looked cool when I was zipping around, right?”


    “Oh, Melanie,” sighed Lyla, “You find a new way to make me question your sanity every day.”


    “I told her not to,” Neil said, placing himself on the bench, “But she still did. Because she’s stupid.”


    “Oh my God, our bodies are tougher than normal people’s, right? It’ll heal!” she groaned, “It can get dangerous if I use it willy nilly, though.” She looked off to the side, with a hint of stress in her eyes then spun straight back. “...And I don’t wanna be responsible for anything so, again, I ain''t teaching shit! Figure it out on your own. That''s how I did it."


    Slumping back against the bench, Adrian closed his eyes and turned his head up to the sky. Not learning Melanie’s crazy technique was probably for the best. It would just be another thing on top of spirit links that he had to learn before the festival on the twenty-fifth. A knot formed in his stomach the more he thought about how close it truly was.


    “...Everyone seems kinda tense,” Melanie said, “You guys good?”


    Nobody but Lyla said anything back, mumbling the word, “Yeah,” under her breath.


    “Well, that was a lie,” she snorted.


    Adrian''s eyes shot open as he felt Melanie slap his shoulder. She loomed over him and Lyla with a beaming grin on her face. “Let’s train then! You can take your mind off things that way!”


    “I-I think I’ll do some drills on my own-”


    She ignored him and turned her attention over to Neil.


    “We just finished sparring,” he scoffed.


    “But you’re gonna stay anyway, because I told you to, ‘kay?”


    “...Too tired to walk away," he groaned, "But also too tired to argue.”


    "But never too tired to run!"


    "Shush."


    The jokes and commotion seemed to have no effect on Lyla, who was still staring blankly into nothing. Another tap on her shoulder from Melanie brought her back into the current moment. "Huh? Oh, training? I-I''ll try too then..."