Frustration hit Cynth as though she had just impacted with a brick wall. Before she could even think about the consequences of her rather intense actions, her hand was arcing through the air and making contact with the anguis's shoulder. There was little time left to process exactly what she was doing, only that this dumbass wanted her map.

The moment that his bronze eyes trained down on the weathered paper in her hands, Cynth knew that he wasn't going to leave without it. Determination had creased his brow, and there was something else within his expression that wasn't quite so easy for Cynth to decipher. All she knew, all she needed to know, was that whoever this moron might be, he had no plans that didn't involve stealing the map that she had rightfully earned.

So many times, hibri had faced the rather rough impact of her fist. The reaction that her hit garnered was quite similar to that of the other hibri and patrias she had attacked in the sense of how shocked he was. A low grunt surfaced from him as he was knocked back a few steps, and before he even had time to calculate his next move, Cynth was moving forward once more.

There was an assortment of things she could have done next, but the singular one that would work the best in her mind was solely getting him onto the sand. With the uneven terrain, it might just make it all the easier to disarm the anguis of his whip, which was clasped in his right hand and prepared to strike.

In a move that took him by surprise, Cynth rolled onto the ground and grabbed his ankles with her hands. Effortlessly, Cynth slammed him down onto his back, easing back up onto her knees and bracing her thin, silver dagger in her hand. She was damn well prepared to strike at his hand to loosen his clasp on the whip, but he rolled over and she missed, her knife plunging into the porcelain sand.

Once, Zoya had told her that the sand was all disintegrated hibri and patrias bones. That humans had slaughtered more hibri than could be counted on this very beach. That no matter wherever she walked on this beach, she was walking on someone who was considered far more inferior than her.

And now, she was fighting someone who was far more inferior than her.

"Dammit," she scowled in annoyance beneath her breath as she lunged back toward him. To her shock, the anguis didn't immediately strike back. He coughed up a thick cloud of sand, which fluttered through the air for a few beats, some of it dusting across his torso. Cynth flew forward, meaning to hit home using the knife.

The anguis's eyes were frantic, blown wide and confusion swimming through them. Cynth didn't expect him to actually accomplish anything for a few beats. It would have been easier if that was the case. Most fights Cynth was involved in were effortless, but this hibri didn't plan on that being the case.

He snapped his wrist upward, and in one swift, surprisingly fast motion, Cynth's hands were subdued. The metallic surface of the whip caught the reflection of the sunlight as it tightened around her wrist like mock, flexible handcuffs. Anger rushed through her veins as she tried to undo the binds which now secured her wrists.

Distractions seemed like they would be the route she had to take in this situation. The horror in his eyes when she had shot his faber companion had practically jumped out at her, which meant it was a sensitive topic. All the better to poke at in an attempt to lower his guard. He raised his arm and yanked her from her knees onto her side, giving her a face-full of sand.

Even through the grimy substance caking half of her face, Cynth managed out a bold laugh. "Don't even try it, anguis." She spat the words with venom. "One wrong move and you'll be shot to hell and back, just like your friend over there."

For a heartbeat, surprise hit him as if it had electrocuted him, but after that, he was snapping his whip away from her and advancing toward her with steep footfalls. This barely gave Cynth time to leap up as though she were jumping off of a flight of stairs. Ocean tides, lush green trees, and pearly white sand all blended together as she aimed for his jawline with her knife.

The knife slicing through the air was like a lightning strike against the shimmering blue sky, void of all clouds aside from those that their fight caused. With little time to spare, the anguis dodged her hit, and was back on the ground in an instant. Like dust that had been undisturbed, a thick mushroom cloud of sand puffed up into the air.

A few seconds of sand that was thicker than fog passed, and the anguis only seemed to be getting more and more panicked by the time it cleared. Good. He was beginning to realize that once someone messed with Cynth Leeyung, there was no worry about getting out of it alive.

Death was practically confirmed and force-fed to them on a silver spoon.

Instead of automatically submitting to her knife, the hibri unraveled the whip once more and whirled it toward her. There was a great shriek as it shred the empty air around it into fractured pieces. In the middle of this, Cynth's hand involuntarily flinched up to her brow. She didn't notice as she gave into her compulsive need, all too quickly strengthening her grip around her knife and barely dodging the whip. As it missed her, it returned to its place that was floating in the space between his two hands.

The repulsive scales dotting his neck and arms glinted underneath the scalding hot sunlight when Cynth changed her position to make another attempt with the silvery knife. "Just — " she snapped as she plunged the knife into a clump of sand, scarcely missing his neck, "fucking accept it! Hibri like you can't fight." A sharp cackle invaded her sentence at the midpoint, ricocheting through the space like one of the lasers she could shoot from her gun — which had malfunctioned way too long ago.

He would have already fallen dead at the hand of a red shot had it not broken. No, it wasn't like the humans were supposed to make the guns so overpowered to begin with, but the default, which limited how many red shots could be fired for certain amounts of time, was a bullshit ordinance that was a waste of Cynth's time. She could tear through a crowd of hibri within a second should the rule not be in place, which was why so many humans changed guns to make them work more... in their favor.

Their favor being more dead hibri, of course.

The anguis was practically unaffected from the bash at his character, returning to dodging her advances. With each slash Cynth made, the more annoyed she became at his fast reflexes and general movements.

His amber eyes wavered right down to her waist, where she had strapped the map. It was hardly hanging onto her belt at that point, the scuffling and rolling around having caused sand to invade the clasp she had secured around it. Loosening, the map fell to the ground.

Cynth's anxiety instantly imploded, and she threw herself onto the sandy ground. Discarding the sand that was in her wig, in her eyes, and in her airways, Cynth released a rattly cough when she secured it. The whip was dangerously close to her arm, and in the instant that it hit, it might just leave a trail of mangled flesh in its haste.

She did not want to be injured by a tasteless, goddamned hibri.

Her hand clasped around the map, wrinkling it in her hand. Before she could even comprehend what was happening, there was a howl through the area as the whip soared toward her. A tide crashed against the shoreline as the whip managed to wrap around one edge of the map. Cynth's iron-tight clutch on the map combined with the pulling of the whip caused everything to shatter in a heartbeat.

The sandy floor sunk out from beneath her as the map tore.

In half.

Right before Cynth's cold, empty silver eyes.

"You fucker," she snarled viciously as half of the map wound up in his hand. The whip recoiled around his wrists, and he only tilted his head at her. There was a sign of two dimples, barely even present, but they were there. He had the nerve to smile at her. If Cynth wouldn't want to risk losing the knife, which was currently her only weapon, she would have nailed him into the rocks behind him by lodging it through his throat.

If Cynth wasn't already livid, she certainly was now.

She didn't even take the time to analyze the map prior to shoving it down the front of her shirt, which was thankfully tucked into her leggings. The map would stay there, hopefully without falling out into his reach, until Cynth was sure it was safe to pull it back out. Her fist flew through the air and slammed into his opposite shoulder, making the whip loosen. Not missing a beat, Cynth grabbed it and pulled it forward, using the brute force of her arms to yank him onto the ground once more. She pinned his free hand by his side by pressing her heel into his wrist, hopefully disabling him for the time-being.

The map was still in his other hand, and Cynth leaned forward toward it, only to be swept off balance by his ankle. She hit the back of the rocks with a grunt, ready to knee him in the gut. When she did, it didn't exactly go over too well, only catching him off guard for what felt like half of a second.

When he regained his breath and prepared to hit her with the whip again, he was suddenly forced back onto the ground.

Cynth wondered who the hell in the crowd had enough strength (beside herself, of course) to pull that one off.

Her eyes fluttered up, and Will, the same Will who had just been paralyzed on the sandy ground, stood there with her hands still hovering in the air. Bewilderment clouded her violet eyes as she stared apprehensively at what she had just done.

There wasn't any time for Cynth to be surprised. There was only time for action. And so she moved faster than she could think, the wing tearing through the strands of her wig as she latched onto the portion of the map in the hibri's hands. It came without much prodding. Cynth stumbled back to ensure he wouldn't grab the page. More words than map, it wasn't necessary to the other half Cynth had stowed away, but it had to be important for something if it had been Tercy's.

"Finally, the moron shows promise. Make yourself fucking useful for once, you goddamned idiot!" Without a second to waste, Cynth thrusted the map into Will's hands. It was poor, horrible judgement, and Cynth knew that, but this anguis had already ripped the map in half.

And she couldn't risk it happening again.

"Go, you dumbfuck, before I reconsider," Cynth spat vilely at the suspicious girl. Will whirled on her heel and began to pedal through the thick piles of sand, her footsteps sinking into it. It took her far too long to get started, but at least she was moving.

Willa Fen, actually providing help. Cynth wondered if Selino had lost one of its six moons, or possibly all six, that this was such a rare occurrence. The blue-haired girl no longer had time to consider this topic however, because things went to shit faster than she could imagine.

Another anguis (all problems seemed to source from them as of late) was currently slithering after Will into the depths of a forested background. A moment passed, and Cybele sent Cynth a panic-struck look. Cynth released an exasperated sigh before waving her hand and giving the Valloma daughter the go-ahead to follow Will. Cybele was surprisingly faster than Will, and disappeared into the heavy cover of the undergrowth after the two of them.

In her distracted state, the anguis below her had already wrapped his whip around her and sent her spiraling to the ground much faster. She hit it on her side, lip curled in distaste as she flipped upward to face him. The knife was still in her hand, and the map, despite being covered in sand, was still secured. At least there was that much to be satisfied with.

Cynth gave him a blank, emotionless look as she flung the knife upward at him. It made contact with his ear, and slammed directly into the rock behind him. The blade lodged within the rock, taking a small portion of his earlobe with it. It wasn't anything major; just enough to leave a scar, if that, but the cut certainly made hot blood trail down his neck and onto his collar.

Blood that was so thick, so scarlet red, that it would leave a stain in its haste.

Cynth stared him down for a few beats, and then all of the sudden, a flood of people burst onto the beach. The tussle had already become frantic and chaotic enough, so newcomers were not what any of the people present needed.

Cynth and the anguis both paused in the middle of their rough, action-motivated fight, turning to face those who had just arrived. It was a group of eight human advisors.

Before Cynth even had time to register their faces, she growled below her breath in a combination of anger and dismay, "Those fucking advisors could go to hell and I wouldn't bat an eye."

Her eyes roved from the right to the left, catching onto all of the familiar faces. Blythe, with his brown hair, which was infested by a streak of surprisingly natural white. Evern and Sare, the most insufferable set of twins that Cynth had ever laid eyes on. Sonal was also there, who only added onto how insufferable the group was to her. The others, she didn't recognize.

At least, she didn't recognize anyone else but one, and he was the person leading the group.

The purple bastard had returned, and it was pissing Cynth off more than she had the capacity for. His eyes, which looked like the wet bark of oak trees that had been overrun by moss, bored directly into her own, cold as ice. Each second they stood there, with the advisors only getting closer and closer, Cynth's heartbeat sped up. Just like their footfalls did.

They were going to bring her back to Leon and Zoya.

Ryatt Chess was approaching her faster with each longing second, the fellow advisors only quickening to match his newfound pace.

They were going to lock her back in that torture chamber that was called an estate.

Cynth pulled one of her lashes out, and it fell to join the remains of the hibri bones on the ground.

Holy burning hell, she was screwed.

She was frozen, unable to move as Ryatt and the others only got nearer to where she stood. Adrenaline screamed as it pumped through her veins, from the fight, from the close proximity to the people who wanted to bring her back to her goddamned parents which would only use her for their own gain.

Cynth's feet slipped outwards on the wet sand as she leaped up onto the rocks, entirely ignoring the anguis who was still standing there, caught in the net of surprise. Low gasps fell from Cynth's lips as she scuttled over the rocks, before hurling herself off of the other end.

Surprise hit her like a tidal wave as she collapsed on the ground, but she was hastily picking herself up again.

The advisors were in pursuit, and Cynth had a feeling that they wouldn't stop until she was back, locked in a cage with the key thrown away, under her parent's exploitative glance.

If Cynth Leeyung had it her way, they would be the ones being exploited by her before they even knew what was going on.

｡･ﾟﾟ･｡

With ominous smiles, purple Google features, and thanks to the unhinged-yet-talented cressio,

Gay Failure Clique

(G.F.C.)