Love Lost Scream

I didn’t want to waste more time.  I pushed the door open, holding it for Sveta, and then took her hand.

I picked her up and flew.  When I was higher than any of the buildings in the area, I paused to turn around in mid-air, looking down at the headquarters.

*

I wanted to ask, but I heard another scream. I could see a distortion in the air, as colors pulled away from trees and buildings as if they were watercolor or the color was multiplying, casting the surroundings into shades of red and purple. The effect was brief, and the distortion faded. No damage had been done to the surroundings.

I could feel the effect of it, even from a distance. My heart rate picked up, and for a moment my thoughts and feelings spooled out. There were a hundred things I was holding in my heart and head that had to sit there. There were worries, irritations, traumas, and causes for outright fucking fury that I couldn't do a damn thing about. Just being on the periphery of the effect made them swell up and jostle together.

Sveta's arm tightened around me. I could hear the thump, thump, thumpthump of her tendrils against the inside of her body.

I met her eyes. I could instantly tell that she'd been affected more than I had.

I was resistant to emotion effects, because I generated them. Snag had hit me hard because he'd hit me where it hurt the most.

My rage? It was there, beneath the surface, but it wasn't a weak point. It was a regular point.

Changing course, I flew straight for the nearest rooftop. Sveta let go of me and dropped down the moment we were close enough. She was unsteady on landing, and after her legs didn't keep her upright, she landed on her hands and knees on the roof's surface, which was covered in black shingle-like tiles, four feet across. Puddles of water settled in the parts that were lower than others, waiting to be evaporated by the sun.

I kept my mouth shut as the emotion effect subsided, and walked over to the roof's edge.

- Shadow 5.3