People I Don't Like

“I don’t want another partner,” Eos said quickly taking several steps to stay at his Major’s side. Eyes ahead, keep your cool Words that echoed through his head.  Words that weren’t his. It had been three years since his partner had died. Four years he preferred to work on his own. Four years….Four years all alone in this wretched world. A Hunter without a Keeper was unheard of. How could one keep from going hollow? Even Eos didn’t have an answer for that. Since his partner passed all he had was a shard of his lantern and his name to uphold. Jinhae. A name that wasn’t his own. A name he clung onto hoping that if he kept it alive he would be able to see him again someday. All he needed was his soul.  Just a shard and Eos could bring him back. 

“I don’t believe I gave you an option, Jinhae,” Major replied simply. How did she hold such grace and lack of care? Eos sighed thinking to himself how he could ditch this new partner. He didn’t need it. He was fine by himself. He had no signs of hollowing, he was loyal to the oath. This was dumb. But Eos held his tongue knowing best out of everyone that Major held great power over them. He could only imagine what the boss themselves was like, “Trust me, you’ll like this one.”

“That’s what you said last time you tried forcing a bond.”

“Your personality is finicky. Incompatible with most other Keepers. Astraeus was a special case. I may not be able to give you a bond like that again…but just give it a shot. Ok, Jinhae?”

Astraeus. Eos hummed to himself. He hadn’t heard that name in years. A codename that had fallen to dust. He brushed that off following her down the hall into the meeting room. There sat his new partner. A young keeper from the looks of it. Golden blossoms adorned his head. Bright. He was smiling as he spoke to a soul that rest in his hands. Something about the way his eyes glistened pulled at Eos to give him a chance. Young. Innocent. He must be new to this life. 

“This is Yue. He’s one of our newer transfers. Like you, his partner went missing on the field.”

“Astraeus isn’t missing.” Eos hissed at Major tossing that thought aside for a moment. He hated how death in this life was simply dubbed ‘missing’. It was more than that. Dying in this life sent you to limbo. A place where no one ever crawled back out of. Finding a lost soul was almost impossible especially when hidden by another’s lantern. Eos took a step forward reluctantly holding a hand out to the other. Yue simply smiled taking his hand to shake it, “It’s nice to meet you Jinhae! I’ve heard a lot about you-”

“You talk too much.” 

Yue went silent but retained that smile before laughing, “Ah…You’re just like him.”

“What…” Eos muttered pulling his hand back and shooting Major a look. Major simply smiled and spun around.

“You two have fun getting acquainted. I’ll get a field mission set up to set in the new link.” Major said giving them a slight wave before leaving the room. The door locked behind her leaving them to get acquainted. Eos groaned rubbing his forehead as he looked back to the kid in front of him. Bright golden eyes and pretty golden flowers. Casual wear. Six blooms. The Seventh had seemingly fallen off. Three blossoms in his hair. Cute yellow hairpins. Short wings. He seemed to be someone who fought a lot looking over the damage. Tall. Too tall. Lantern was a similar tone as his flowers.

Yue slowly sat on the table tapping the edge of his lantern as he looked away. “So…Jin-”

“Jinhae.”

“Jinhae. How long have you been a hunter?”

“None of your business.”

“Ah.” Yue rolled his eyes looking back to the other “As your new partner it is my business. You only have one bloom and none on your wings or tail. Which means to me you’ve been using your magic nonstop-”

“Shut up. What do you know? You’re just a soul keeper who’s lost a bloom. That’s pitiful. Overexerting oneself to the point of losing their wings and their bloom? And you’re scolding me over only having one? At least I haven’t harmed myself to that point.” Eos growled back. It’s like that dumb keeper had a death wish. Eos would be happy to grant him a quick release. Yue however was unphased as the other jabbed at him. He stood back to full height slowly backing Eos into the wall.

“Hm? Just a Keeper? At least I’m not a dirty Hunter who lost their partner. A hunter losing their keeper is unheard of you know? Keepers lose their hunters all the time….but losing a keeper? That means you weren’t looking out for them huh? You left them to die didn’t you?” Yue’s hand hovered next to the other’s head pinning him against the wall. But Yue had gone too far with those words. Eos lost his cool pushing Yue off of him and to the ground. Chain blades materialized in his hands about to strike the other’s head. But Eos paused before hitting the other. Why the hell was this idiot still smiling?? And the slight red tint on his cheeks. Eos realised he was straddling the other’s waist now and something was pressing up against him. 

“Are you into this?? What the hell is wrong with you??” Eos said disgust lining his voice as he stood and kicked the other instead. Yue grabbed the other’s ankle to keep him from doing it again, getting up onto his knees and laughing softly.

“Picking on you? Of course Mr Hunter. I adore playing with my superiors.”

“Let go of me creep!” Eos snapped trying to pry the stupid brat’s hands off of him. Another glance over the younger. Pervert. He supposed everyone had their thing…but out of all the Keepers that needed a Hunter why was he paired with this idiot.

“No, I don’t think I will. You’re stuck with me now! You might’ve lost your last partner but I’m not going to let you lose me~”

Eos bit his tongue before prying Yue’s hands off of him, dragging him up as he did. Stupid ass kids. “I hope you die in the field.” Yue’s smile never faltered. Fuck. Stupid. Idiot. Looking. Brat. Drown. His thoughts were all over. Peonies. That’s what his flower was. Eos found his hand stroking the other’s flowers before suddenly pulling away. What the hell was this shit. He turned around to the door trying to get the keypad to unlock it. Yue sighed sitting back on the table.

“Already tried that. I’ve been here for a couple of hours.”

Eos groaned glaring back at the other, “Lemme guess. You got us locked in here for however long the stupid thing takes to reset.”

Yue laughed shaking his head, “No no! Ah…Maybe. But then Major came in and told me to stop trying to escape and locked it with her handprint.” The way Yue looked off to his hands as he spoke. Astraeus used to do that. Maybe it was a keeper thing. Eos stretched. He supposed they were going to be stuck in here for the night. Knowing Major she probably forgot they were even here. He walked over to the glass window looking at the world below. The fog covered most of the city leaving it mostly up to Eos’ imagination to what it looked like. He had never gone down to the city. Those that lived down there were mostly Reborn souls that served headquarters or souls that got a second chance at a peaceful life. Retirement. That’s what Major called it when Hunters were sent down to live in the city as guards. Eos gently put his head against the cold glass. Astraeus often spoke of life in the city. What it would be like when they retired. He always spoke of getting a cat. Eos snorted. Well, now he had a cat. A very touchy one at that. Sadly Astraeus wasn’t around to meet this dumb cat. Eos glanced back seeing that Yue was playing with a petal in his hands. 

“Do you know how to teleport with those?”

“Huh? Oh no. My partner was the sole user of magic in our link. He didn’t want me to lose any more petals than I already had.”

“They grow back you know,” Eos said with a bit of an eye roll putting his hand out to the other. Yue sat the petal in his hand placing his other hand on his hip.

“I’m aware. But blooms once removed don’t grow back.”

Eos looked over the other before looking back to the petal, examining its magic potential. This should be enough. He reluctantly grabbed Yue’s wrist before looking to the glass window in front of him. He crushed the petal and blew the pieces at the window creating a rip in their dimension. In front of them now lied a peaceful cliff. Somewhere in Japan. Eos dragged the other through whether he wanted to or not. Screw waiting around for Major to unlock the door. If he was going to bond with some dumb kid he was doing it on his own terms.