[31.2] Zephyr: The Damsel in Distress

Zephyr ordered a handful of kabobs and went running back to the group when he caught sight of a juggler tossing around knives. Seeing the sharpness of the blades, his eyes lit up with excitement. He scampered over to the group of onlookers, happily indulging in the food and sights.

In the middle of the show, someone suddenly bumped into him.

Zephyr turned to the man in a long trenchcoat and growled, "Watch where you are going, trash!"

The man snickered, "Looks like someone's owner didn't teach you manners."

Zephyr glared, "I'm not a pet you prick!"

Two men followed behind the other, shoving Zephyr violently. They both laughed, "Dumb familiar. It thinks it's human! Hah!"

Zephyr growled with his hair raised, but he forced himself to smooth it down. He clicked his tongue, "Humans are so stupid."

He turned to leave when he realized the coin purse was no longer at his side.

"W-Where did it go?!" He looked around hectically but couldn't find it on the ground. His expression paled, "Crap! Crap crap CRAP! Reika's going to think I spent it all on food again!"

He retraced his steps when he suddenly paused.

"Wait… I had it until those guys…" He trailed off. His lips curled into a snarl as his blood-red eyes pulsed, "Oh. They are SO dead!"

He sniffed the air with his nose until he finally found the trail that led to them. He followed their scent all the way to a dark alley where a group of guys was all looking at their stolen goods.

One laughed, "Familiars are so easy to steal from!"

"What are they even good for?"

Zephyr stepped toward them waving his kabobs at them, "Oi. Dumb humans. Give me back that purse! Or else!"

They all stopped and turned to him, towering over him easily. They smiled threateningly, "Or else what?"

Zephyr stared back unafraid, "Or else Reika is going to find you and go all corrupted crazy on your a**!"

One rolled his eyes, "I'm so terrified."

Zephyr immediately felt annoyed, "You should be! The last person who stole from her lost a hand!"

They all surrounded him, but he didn't seem to realize how outnumbered he was.

One spoke, "It won't matter. Your owner will never know who took it."

Zephyr clicked his tongue, "She will too! I will tell her!"

One laughed, "Oi. You dumb fox. We mean that you're not going to be able to tell her."

Zephyr was shoved onto the ground forcefully, knocking his kebabs out of his hands. He cried out, "My food!"

Another grabbed his hair and hoisted him up, "You're going to lose a lot more than your food."

A body suddenly went flying through the air, crashing into the wall behind them. Zephyr was dropped to the ground and turned in surprise to see Hazel with a deadly aura around her. She held out her fists, ready to start pummeling the other men.

She growled, "Let go of my fox."

"I don't care if you're a girl or not-" One of the men threw a fist at her, "I will teach you a lesson!"

A loud smack echoed off the walls.

However, it wasn't from a fist hitting a face.

Rather, Hazel stood with dull emotionless eyes as she nonchalantly held the fist of the man attacking her.

A strange grin crossed her face, "Tsk tsk. I guess there's no such thing as chivalry anymore."

With one fluid motion, she twisted his fist and used her other hand to break the man's arm at the elbow.

He collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony.

Hazel's eyes pulsed with thrill, "Give me more. Come on! Is that all you got?"

Zephyr watched in excitement as the small and frail-looking girl, easily overpowered the gang of men, beating them nearly into a pulp.

__…__

I arrived just in time to see a body fly towards me. I ducked in a panic, barely missing the body thrown at me. I watched in surprise as Hazel continued to attack the remaining men using only her fists.

Seeing she was outnumbered, I pulled out my wand to help.

But as soon as I tried to throw a fireball…

Nothing happened.

I stared at the wand in dazed confusion.

Eh?

What's wrong?

Why won't it work?

I smacked my wand in frustration.

Cyrus suddenly appeared behind me and moved my body without warning, "Watch out!"

Another body flew over us. We looked over in a panic to see Hazel fighting without mercy.

...Luckily, I didn't even need to help as they were easily subdued without any use of magic.

Hazel is seriously…

Seriously scary.

How does she know how to fight so well?! Surely that can't come from just watching street fighting in her free time.

She looks like a seasoned fighter!

Hazel used one of the men's shirts to clean off the blood from her hands before walking over to Zephyr and smoothing down his hair, "Are you okay?"

Zephyr looked back up at her with his mouth agape. He nodded breathlessly, "Uhuh."

Her dark and dull eyes were looking hatefully at the remaining men, "Leave or die."

The other men helped picked up those who were nearly beaten to a pulp before turning around and running away.

Hazel snapped out of her glare and looked at Zephyr in a panic as if realizing what she had just done. Her murderous gaze turned soft and innocent, "O-Oh! T-That was- Um! I didn't mean to fight! Ah… I was... Listen, that was-"

He stared up at her with wide eyes, "-That was hot."

Her mouth clamped closed as she blushed and helped him to his feet.

Cyrus frowned, "You're not supposed to do that, Hazel. What if one of them knew your identity? You could get kicked out of the Kingdom. Or worse!"

I looked over at Cyrus in shock.

Why doesn't he seem surprised by her sudden strength?! He's acting as if it's normal!

She looked at her feet with a guilty conscience, "I-I didn't mean to… I just saw them grab Zephyr and I- Um… But… You won't tell, right?"

He let out a sigh, "Why would I tell? That wouldn't benefit any of us."

I ran over to Zephyr and checked him over. Once I made sure he wasn't hurt, I noticed him looking at Hazel with a strange look. I smiled mischievously and whispered to him, "Ohoho~ Does someone have a crush?"

He continued to stare at her with a lustful gaze, "N-Not at all! Why would I have a crush on that human?! Disgusting!"

I laughed, "Zephyr. Do you realize how you're looking at her? You're even drooling."

He wiped his drool, "T-That's from the chicken."

"Mhm. Sure." I brushed the dirt from my skirt, "Well I think that's enough excitement for tonight. Let's call it a night before anything else happens."

As we walked away, I noticed the little girl from my class walking unnaturally into a dark alley. Behind her, the other children in my class followed, shifting awkwardly as they walked.

I furrowed my brow.

What are they doing?

Did they eat too much candy?

I left the group and followed them. Once I got close I called out, "Oi. Kids. What are you doing?"

The girl stopped almost mechanically. Her head slowly turned to me, revealing a tearful expression. She sobbed, "H-Help me!"

"Huh? Help?"

Before I could react, spider webs shot out of the darkness, covering my entire body. The webs covered my mouth and forced it to shut so I couldn't let out a scream. A crawling sensation covered my skin, causing my vision to turn black.

F*ck. I hate spiders.