Voices in your head can be scary

Yang Ji Hye

Ji Hye made a sound of fright as Lysander looked about with wide eyes. The boy had pushed himself flat against the back wall, looking as if he were trying to melt into it. "Are...Are they..." he took a few seconds to calm down. As Ji Hye wondered what had happened to make him so terrified, there was another muted pulse of that unidentified presence. Suddenly, the fear and shock went right out of his face, at a speed that was so fast that bordered on disturbing.

"Wow, that thing has a lot of eyes." To Ji Hye's horror, Lysander was looking right at Yeoleot.

"You can see them?" her voice was faint. She listened, frozen as he seemed to have a conversation with his own spirits, unable to think of anything besides the fact that this shouldn't be such a surprise. Other people had seen them, of course. It wasn't like she was the only person in the world with Dark Sight or a version of it. But most of those other people had run away screaming. Some even ran back with weapons and that was...

She shivered. The spirits might not have liked her but this bond she had with them was a contract. Both parties were bound to carry it out, no if's or but's. Ji Hye's sole term was for safety. The spirits' terms were housing, a source to feed off of -her magic- and occasionally, something far more bloody.

Talag. That one scared her the most. There had been times when Ji Hye had woken up in the aftermath of one of its possessions, before everything had been neatly dealt with.

"So, this is how your spirits look like, huh?" Lysander looked at her. She was prepared to see accusation in his eyes but... He just had the same expression that he had worn for most of the conversation.

kill kill kill eat! Leolkeo screeched.

WILL TODAY'S WONDERS NEVER CEASE? Shourou rumbled. WHEREVER DID THAT PHOENIX COME FROM?

Such bothersome pests, Aoi no Ue hissed. I loathe those creatures.

Eh, those uptight bastard ruin everything, Mengyan agreed. Hey! It stumbled as Aoi no Ue lashed out at it.

Do not agree with me, akaname, the nure onna said. Such a thing shared with a lowly creature like yourself only mocks my opinions. It lashed out again. I.will.not.be.made a fool of!

Kyoushi Sama flicked its whiskers, watching the fight with great interest. Xunhuan eagerly bounced around the two creatures before throwing itself in, biting and clawing at both combatants.

I like phoenixes, Imouto said, seeming to be sulking. It was the sole spirit there who did.

"I-" Ji Hye looked around her, from the spirits glaring down to the ones fighting and then to Lysander. The tsukumogami were making bets in the background. When the major spirits went to rest, she knew that the lesser ones would break out of the sub-plane in full force from all of the day's excitement.

She whimpered at the thought. "It's like this every day! And these are only the ones on this plane..."

Yang Ji Hye

"Strange," Ji Hye heard Lysander say through the noise and all she could think was Yes, yes, I know! I'm so sorry, there's just no helping it! She kept waiting for the horror of it to all sink in, for something to suddenly click in his head and make him realize that he should hate her but the more time that passed, the more that she was beginning to think that it wouldn't happen. Oh. It was a fervent, suffocating hope that squeezed her chest.

Just as she was getting used to the idea that there was somebody who could see her spirits and was actually okay with it, Lysander seemed to realize Imouto's presence. The little spirit waved back happily as he greeted it, tipping back its head to look at him with its normally hidden black eyes.

Hello! Imouto said cheerfully to the boy. I like you! You're nice to Ji-chan! Embarrassed, Ji Hye patted the spirit on the head awkwardly.

"They're not allowed tell me what their real names are so I thought up different ones for each of them," she explained to him. "This one's Imouto. It's a zashiki warashi. Um. Basically, it's a household spirit. Not my family's, though. Imouto's real family has a guardian angel now so it can come with me." She flushed heatedly in nervousness. "I really like having it around! It's nice!"

Imouto gestured with its arms and made a sound of agreement.

Yang Ji Hye

Ji Hye winced a little at Lysander's question, genuinely not knowing. As Dark Sight was a hereditary trait in her family, her parents had given her some basic knowledge about the most common spirits before they had died. But that hadn't been enough to stop her from accidentally running into all of the malevolent spirits that she did. Nine year-olds aren't good at retaining information, she thought, as sadness jolted through her.

If her parents had lived, how different would have things been? That was a question she often thought about. Certainly she wouldn't have chained Shourou that night. Maybe she would have never chained a spirit. Life could have gone on normally, or as normal as it could have for people like them who were constantly on the run from things that most others couldn't see. The Academy might have found her, eventually. Even if her Soul Chaining hadn't appeared, her Dark Sight had manifested itself at birth. It would have been nice if they could have met Lysander with me... Ji Hye thought that her parents would have maybe liked him, even the presence of his spirits probably would have made them nervous.

"There's a lot of them out there," the girl said, finally responding. Oppa and Imouto had attempted to fill her in on all of the different kinds of spirits years ago but she hadn't been able to handle it all back then. She thought that was still the case, too.

She eyed a few of the manifested tsukumogami hanging on the fringes of bout between Aoi no Ue, Mengyan, and Xunhuan. They were small, faint spirits. Not entirely on this plane and not entirely on the sub plane either. It was hard to make out the objects that they had been but Ji Hye could tell on instinct that there was an Ungaikyo, a Chouchinobake, and three Minowaraji. They always seemed to be the gamblers of the group and truthfully, sometimes it was a relief to be able to concentrate on something other than the major spirits.

"We are not eating anything, Garrick. Get used to that," Lysander said. Once again, Ji Hye found herself having a surreal moment. Now those were awfully familiar words. The tone was different, though, commanding rather than meekly trying to find justifications.

The mention of food, unfortunately brought the attention of the major spirits. eat? eat eat eat! Leolkeo crawled over, form settling on an arachnid body with a human neck and head. There was a starving, wide-eyed expression on its face. food food food food food!

Shourou stepped on it. Ji Hye squeaked in shock, even though she should have been used to things like this by now. Leolkeo's limbs twitched as it snarled at the larger spirit.

THAT, Shourou said, leaning down to speak to it face to face, IS MY PREY. YOU ARE GREATLY OVERESTIMATING YOUR PLACE, TSUCHIGUMO. EVEN IN A HIERARCHY AS LOOSE AS THIS ONE, THAT SHOULD BE CLEAR.

The gashadokuro then glanced at Lysander, bones rattling slightly with the faint sound of bells. Alarmed, Ji Hye edged closer to the boy. Imouto hurriedly scrambled into her lap to avoid being crushed.

I WILL TELL YOU THIS, it said, BECAUSE I SEVERELY DOUBT YOUR ABILITY TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. YOU AND THE GIRL MAY NOT BE OF THE SAME MOLD BUT THERE IS A TENDENCY FOR CERTAIN SHIFTS TO OCCUR IN POWERS LIKE YOURS, INFREQUENT AS IT IS. THE PHOENIX IS ONLY MAKING THE SHIFT MORE LIKELY. YOU ARE CURRENTLY UNTOUCHABLE TO ME BECAUSE OF THE DIFFERENCE IN OUR PLANES. NOW HOW WILL YOU PROTECT YOURSELF IF THAT WERE TO CHANGE?

Yang Ji Hye

Ji Hye jumped from the bench as she felt something unfamiliar flare up from Lysander. The wariness she had harbored when they had initially met was back now at full force, causing her heart to hammer in hard, slow beats. She didn't know what was happening, but she could guess. It had seemed to her that Lysander's spirits were more benign than her own but now she simply couldn't be sure. If his possessions were anything like hers, however, she thought that it might be best if she were to flee. Even if he didn't hurt her -she didn't want to think he would, she really wanted to like Lysander, and wasn't that such a startling thought- Shourou and the others might take it as an invitation to hurt him.

Even when Lysander appeared to come back to himself, Ji Hye edged away slowly. Meanwhile, her spirits had gathered around in a tight ring, Shourou's knee bone striking against her back. Too loud. She winced and put her hands over her ears. A bunch of spirits were screaming at each other but it was impossible to make out each individual shout. It was a familiar situation, so familiar that it was almost comforting. But then she let it sink in for a few more moments and it went straight back to physically painful on her head and ears and plain terrifying.

SILENCE! a voice commanded, cutting through the sound with razor sharp effectiveness. At once the shouting match descended into uncertain, broken mutters as the speaker manifested itself onto the plane. What is the meaning of this?

Hitori formed out of the nothingness in the amount of time it took to blink. The qilin had chosen to take up position directly between the monstrous spirits and Lysander, glaring disapprovingly at both parties. Well? it demanded impatiently. I did not leave the unattended Corrupter simply because I wanted to!

Yang Ji Hye

Ji Hye wanted to run away. That was her default answer to every problem she came across, barring the obvious ones that it wouldn't work for. Lysander had gone past frightening her with his latest rant and her emotions toward him now were simply terror. Or more specifically, it was utter confusion mixed with fear for the boy and blind, heart stopping horror towards the situation itself. I didn't want it to go this way! she screamed in her head. Her lips wouldn't move, though, and the girl was sure that her voice was gone anyways. There were only the voices in her head and his now.

She watched as Hitori warily approached Lysander, wondering what was happening. The other spirits, they had said something about a phoenix hadn't they? Was that one of the spirits in his head? What was it even doing to him? Or was it another spirit which was making him act the way he was? There were so many questions running through her mind that she felt light headed.

Immediately after that realization, Ji Hye shook her head furiously, eyes wide and trying to stay conscious. No! If I faint now...Here... It would be bad if that happened. It would be really bad. Even if no harm was done, they'd lock her up for sure after that.

Now what is a phoenix doing bonded to a human? the Qilin mused, sounding coldly annoyed. I would recommend that you not devour the girl. She happens to fall under my protectorate, as unlikely as it may be, and I am not responsible for the actions of the rest of her host if they were to come loose.