Interference

Even though she had realized it quite easily before, S was once again reminded of the selfish, bloodthirsty nature of the Jeux.

She recalled the time prior to the start of the Jeux, when she signed her contract with Natsume. She had explained the brief concept of the Jeux to him with a rather unsuitable tone – her usual cheerful voice – without knowing the true nature of the game.

That statement alone made her rethink. No. This definitely isn't a game. This is a dangerous reality, and there's no backing out. It's between life and death for us.

Had she not been struck with fear from the knocking of the door, S would have cursed herself for underestimating what she had gotten into.

Knock. Knock.

"Can you read the mind of the thing outside?"

She blinked her tears away as she nervously turned to Natsume – who was directing his stern gaze at Koko.

"…" The brown-haired male remained silent, still shocked from the fact that their hiding place had been discovered.

"Hey, Koko…" Sumire started – her voice barely trembling as she placed a hand on his shoulder and shook. "What the hell's going on?"

It shook him out of his stupor – and to the confusion of the other three in the room, he glanced at them with an expression of urgency before standing up.

"We have to get out of here. Now." He whispered hurriedly as he grabbed Sumire's wrist and made a motion for the others to follow him.

While S watched him worriedly and comprehended his every gesture without hesitation, Natsume was unsure of what to think. He still didn't completely trust the duo despite their trade – S hadn't supplied Sumire with all the information she desired due to obvious reasons, and he was anxious that the tables would turn for their alliance due to that fact – and a part of him wondered if it was some sort of trap.

But no matter how suspicious he was of Sumire and Koko, the knocking on the door definitely meant bad news.

As soon as the knocking became stronger, he confirmed his statement as Koko ushered him and the others through the back door.

Natsume hadn't realized that S was gripping his hand with hers – hard – as they ran, but instead of flinching he continued to pull her with him as they heard the sound of the door being blasted off its' hinges.

Yet another petal fell from the flower bound around Hotaru's thin wrist. Though she was satisfied by the fact that there were now three more teams for her to defeat, she knew that along with the defeat, another team had gained a new power. Despite her everlasting confidence and determination, she knew that the winner of the fight would be a threat – a small one, but still a threat – because they were most likely the team with the most powers, besides her and N.

All she was certain of was that defeating that team was a priority.

Hotaru quickly glanced at the magenta-haired female trailing her begrudgingly – this impression of her was based on her expression rather than her movements, as Hotaru did not remove her soul-sucking power's effects yet – because she had agreed to the ebony-haired female's order.

Not that she had much of a choice – Hotaru made sure of that.

She opened her mouth in order to explain the plan to the slave girl, but she paused in her steps when she was met with a strange sight in front of her.

There were odd markings on the ground which Hotaru deducted were side effects from a team's power – subtle cracks on the ground which were focused on one small area despite the large playing field provided for the teams who fought there. However, the cracks weren't the main oddity which she noted with suspicion.

She barely squinted to notice that there were not four trails of footsteps visible in the ground – there were countless. The majority of the trails were leading in circles around a certain point – all around two pairs of footprints.

After a moment of thought, she figured it out.

Judging from the fact that one of the entrapped pairs of footprints had ceased, while the one next to them had followed another duo of markings, she discovered that the fight had occurred there – and it seemed like an easy win. Many of her fights involved the exploding of trees and many other objects nearby, but the only evident proof of destruction were the cracks in the ground as well as the minor spilling of blood.

But the image which made even Hotaru Imai worried was the fact that she could see what the winning team's power was – one of them could duplicate themselves.

"Now tell me…" Natsume huffed, exhausted from the urgent escape from whatever was at the door. "…why the heck did we run?!"

The four had taken a temporary refuge within another forest despite their less-than-pleasant memories from the last time they ever seeked shelter from a dark, tree infested area.

"Turned out that I could read its mind – or rather, his." Koko replied grimly.

"We already figured that out earlier due to your reaction, so tell us!" Even Sumire was becoming irritated from not knowing the situation.

He turned to S and Natsume. "You know how we were previously ordered to get rid of you guys by n Elder Faierie? Well the Good Folk they requested to replace us was at the other side of the door."

The two were visibly shocked by the news. "Eh?!" S gasped, terrified. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. I read his mind – it was as easy as reading anyone else's. It seems he struck a deal with the same Elder Faierie in order to regain his memories, like us… and he's determined to keep to his plan."

Natsume, after comprehending the information, clicked his tongue and ran his hand through his hair in exasperation.

"…We're screwed."

"You're such a hopeless case!" The inky haired girl hissed at her Madé faierie, kicking his leg. "When will you ever wake up?"

Of course, she hadn't been referring to his sleeping patters as he – like all other Madé faieries – did not require sleep. She was becoming more and more irritated at his incompetency in enslaving the humans they defeated – as well as everything else.

"Sorry, my lady!"

Ugh.

If it wasn't for having another team be eliminated in the Jeux and her opportunity to test the powers she had claimed from her former opponents, the human would have passed the whole fighting and enslaving ordeal as pointless. Her hands were covered in blood after every fight, and waiting forever for her unreliable Madé faierie to enslave the humans almost outweighed the benefits.

Almost.

She crossed her arms as she continued to be carried on the back of the brunette boy as she started to think to herself – anything to temporarily forget the anger she was internally expressing for the boy she was sitting on at that moment.

"The powers I've obtained…" She decided to voice her thoughts in order to make sure that he was ready for the next moves she would use. "…the one I used in our previous fight, before you pathetically tried to enslave that faierie-"

"Sorry, my lady!"

"Don't interrupt me!"

"Yes, my lady! I'm sorry!"

She clicked her tongue at the repetitive apologies which obviously were worth nothing, but continued in her explanation. "This definitely gives us an advantage, no matter how powerful that other strong team is. Combined with your power, we're unstoppable – no matter how incompetent you are."

"Yes, my lady-"

"Why are you going into the forest?! Go left!"

"I sense someone there."

"Someone as in one person?"

"Yes, my lady."

"What?! Turn left, now! It might not be a team! What if it's the faierie with no human?!"

She didn't entirely believe the rumor, but a lone faierie within their 'battlegrounds' in Fay was definitely something to fear. She didn't care if the unknown person was a human rather than a faierie – for the first time since she decided to participate in the Deadly Jeux, she opted to stay safe.

"Yes, my lady!"

"Don't bother, I can see you already." An unknown voice called out to the team.

The inky haired girl turned to see – as she suspected – a faierie. However, his wings looked stronger than those of her Madé faierie.

"What are you?"

"I'm a Good Folk. And I'd like to help you out."

After an hour of walking around, searching for a team to defeat, Hotaru finally sighted one – a tan-skinned man with hair cut dangerously close to his scalp, and a small Madé faierie with long, indigo hair.

"A team's over there. Now, you're going to do this perfectly, otherwise I might revoke my statement of helping you out." Hotaru ordered her slave as she pushed her forward, towards the team in their vision.

"No need to push, I'll do it, okay?" The magenta-haired slave muttered as she walked forward.

After I defeat this team, there'll be two left. I will win this, and get Mikan back. No matter what, she internally declared to herself as she bravely stepped forward, grasping the hilt of her iron dagger firmly.

S, Natsume, Sumire and Koko had taken refuge far away from their previous hiding spot, near the meeting point of the forest and the clear green plains.

"We don't have much time… there's only four petals left, and that's including our own." S sighed as she scratched her head.

"Isn't that a given, we need to start defeating teams now, otherwise we'll go berserk!" Sumire scoffed, throwing her arms in the air. "Are we gonna move or what?"

Natsume could barely hear the two females arguing as he relayed all the explanations which Koko had given him. The fact that not only would they have to win against the other teams who obviously had more powers than their team – who hadn't defeated a single team – but they also had to watch out for the Good Folk out to get them, wasn't pleasant news.

I have no choice but to trust them, he groaned to himself as he looked at the two Good Folk accompanying them – Sumire was trying to ease her irritation with the help of Koko – and somehow, I have to trust her as well, he also admitted as he glanced begrudgingly at his Madé faierie, who was staring at the ground worriedly.

Because in order to bring Ruka back, I have to win this Jeux. Even if he hates me for using underhanded tricks in this game – if he ever finds out about this crazy ordeal – bringing him back is my only goal.

Autumn Win-Dow