Page 192 of A Soul to Touch

He was silent for a moment, but she watched as his lips thinned in thought. It was hard to figure out what he looked like since she was only getting glimpses of him. She thought he may be attractive, and his ears were pointed and poking through inch-long hair.

“Tenebris is... beautiful,” he finally answered quietly, but with a depth to his voice that revealed his care. “I made it so to keep the souls happy. It is dark except for where a soul lingers, and then it is bright for them. I guide them so they do not have to wander through nothingness and instead find peace in the world I have created for them. Maintaining it is draining, but it is better than being forced to hear them weep in fear and confusion. It makes it easier for them to accept that they have passed, and sometimes they don’t realise they have died at all – some forgetting what it was like to have lived.”

“If it is so beautiful, I hope I never see it then.”

“It appears you won’t, for now.” He turned his face to her with his lips curled upwards. “He has accepted your soul, and it has allowed the part of him that is here to strengthen through the bond so I could force the lost fragment back together in that powerful moment.”

Her brows knitted together. “But his eyes are still gone.”

“I’m sure they will appear, give it time,” he said as his form hovered backwards, a leg forming only once. “Since I’m no longer needed here, I will leave while I still have power from the soul I have consumed. Spooking my mate in this realm tickles me rather deeply, especially since I can’t do so very often.”

“How can you be so certain he will return to normal?”

When she received no response, she looked back to see he hadn’t been stepping away to give Faunus and her space but to leave.

Whatever.Mayumi shrugged as she faced Faunus once more and even stepped a little closer, although warily.

After minutes of having the world silent other than the rustling of leaves and a random bird squawk in the distance, she finally noticed a change.

Two pinpricks of yellow light formed just as her soul crested through the centre of his bony forehead. But they weren’t the only changes that happened.

The gold she’d used to stick him together began to melt, pouring down his cheek and from his nose hole. It flattened and forked throughout the bone like it was seeping into tiny fissures she hadn’t been able to see.

The excess was dripping away from him like her soul was a heat source that was binding him together properly.

When her soul fully emerged, it threw out both its arms. Black strings, like goopy ink, shot from the top curl of his ram horns and threaded around her hands and forearms. Then her soul pulled, and pulled, like it was trying to force his skull back together itself until its arms were crossed over its chest.

Finally, it curled and folded its legs underneath itself and laid its head against the middle of its arms.

Once it was done, his orbs flashed into large rotating swirls of fiery vortex that started fast before gentling in velocity.

His body shunted forward like he was taking a proper breath for the first time in ages. He looked one way, then the other, before leaning back on his hindlegs so he could lift his claws to stare at them – like he couldn’t believe they were real or that he was alive.

Mayumi stepped forward while dipping her body to the side as she assessed him. “Faunus?”

He lowered his hands and twisted his head at her.

“Mayumi?”He ghosted his fingertips against the crack in his skull before braving touching it completely.“I am not in pain. How is this possible? I know that I died.”

“It’s a long story,” she lightly chuckled, the relief she felt forcing the laugh from her.

She gave him a moment to collect himself when his body shifted from monstrous to the form she hadn’t seen in days. The human-formed one that could stand with ease.

“You are bonded to me. I can feel it.”

He lifted his hand further and wrapped his hand around her soul. He pulled it until the strings stretched and eventually broke apart so he could hold it and then look upon it. When he let it go, it floated back up to be between his horns and reassumed its prior positioning with new strings attaching as though he’d never touched it.

He’s back... truly back.

Just when she was about to tackle him and hug the ever-living-fuck out of him, nuzzle that soft fur, and take in his delicious lemongrass and lime scent that she already missed, he did something that had her paling.

He grabbed the horn on what had been the bad side of his face and then fucking yanked on it like an idiot!

“What are you doing?!” Mayumi yelled as she ran forward and tugged on his arm to stop him.

He pushed her away to the point she almost fell and continued to yank as hard as he could on his horn. His body repeatedly dipped under the force.

“It’s not breaking,” he uttered with awe in his voice. Then he turned to the very tree behind him, placed his hands upon it, and rammed his face against it. A joyful laugh exploded from him. “It’s not breaking!”

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