Spiritmal, The Deadly Glow

22. Shaking resolve

Nearly all of us were in one of the many waiting rooms of Brightlit's stadium. Star, Winter and Jacky were chilling at a corner playing monopoly deal, which Star had insisted I get when we passed by a shop selling board and card games after getting Topaz's bow tie. The three spiritmals have gotten closer over the course of the past couple of days, now almost giving off the vibe of long lost cousins that finally got to meet each other after a year or so. Honestly, seeing them having fun together made me wonder what would happen after Richard decided to part ways with us. Needless to say, I didn't know if I'll want to find out.

It was quiet in the room, save for the spiritmals having their fun at a corner. The television in the room that would usually show a live broadcast of what was happening on stage was turned off at Richard's suggestion, as he didn't want his cousin to have even more unnecessary stress at his first contest in about two years.

I sensed a bit of fidgeting beside me, bringing me back to reality. Felix seemed lost in thought, and there was no mistaking the fact that he was shaking this time round.

"Are you ok?" I asked, slightly worried. He didn't reply. Concerned, I touched his forehead to check for a fever. Nothing. His temperature was normal. Felix did, however, flinch at the touch, almost as though he had only just realized that I was sitting beside him.

"Are you ok?" I repeated my question.

"Fine." He gritted his teeth. Topaz actually meowed upon hearing Felix's reply, surprising me greatly. To my greater surprise, however, Felix seemed surprised at the gesture as well. The lionblitz jumped up into its trainer's lap, curling up on it.

"Hey Felix, you're nervous aren't you?" I questioned.

He didn't reply.

"It's ok to be nervous you know?" I continued, greeted by silence once more. "Besides, you'll be fine, you've been practicing quite some the past couple of days."

"Why did I ever agree to this..." he finally replied. "Is it too late to quit?"

"Kind of?" I replied him. Winter walked over at the commotion.

"Felix, you need to calm down." The wolfabeat winced. "You're panicking pretty badly currently. The last thing we'll need is for you to have a breakdown due to stress."

"He's panicking?" I looked at Felix. He seemed slightly nervous, yes. However, it didn't look that bad...

"Emily, looks can be deceiving." Winter lectured.

"I guess the cat's out of the bag now, isn't it?" Felix sighed.

It was only then I realized that Felix could hear what Winter was saying, and that he had been doing so since a few days ago.

"Wait a second, you can understand what Winter is saying?" It had become so natural to me, I had forgotten that no one else should be able to hear spiritmals talk.

"Ah, that..." Felix mumbled softly. "I was hoping that you wouldn't notice. Maybe it's about time I tell you about it."

"You can do that later." Winter insisted. "Right now you need to calm yourself for the upcoming contest."

"R-right." He was still shaking slightly.

"How's everyone doing?" Richard bounced into the room, his sudden appearance startling both me and Felix. The poor boy actually jumped a little in fright at his cousin's appearance, Topaz nearly falling off his lap.

"Fels! Let's get ready to rock the... ah." He stopped, seeming to realize the plight we were in.

"Geez Fels, calm down. Panicking won't get you anywhere." He attempted to calm down his extremely nervous cousin.

"S-sorry..." Felix stuttered. It was obvious that Richard's very existence was making him even more nervous.

"I think I'll show myself out..." Richard seemed to realize what his presence was doing, slowly backing out of the room. "I'll book the seats in the front row Emily!" He announced, before walking out of the room and closing the door. Felix sighed once more, seeming to calm down physically. However, I somehow got the feeling that he was actually about to break into tears. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen him in such a state since Team Alchama stole Topaz; and honestly, I wasn't too surprised.

"I'm sure you'll do great." I tried encouraging him once more.

No response.

"Hey, you'll be fine." I tried once more, even considering giving him a pet on the back for a second before turning down the idea.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate that." A familiar tweet sounded in my head.

"I honestly don't know."  I replied Star.

It was then a knock sounded on the door. It opened the next second, a female with long black hair in a ponytail behind the door. I recognized her, she was a part of the backstage staff, and the one that showed us into the room we were in.

"You're up soon, Mr Loinheart." The woman announced. "Um... do you know where to go or uh..."

"It's ok, I remember." Felix replied softly as he picked up his spiritmal and stood up.

"I'll... I'll just be going then..." the woman left the room, closing the door behind her.

It was then I got an idea.

"Hey Felix,"

"Yea?" He was halfway out of the room.

"You better show this peasant a good show, or I wouldn't live up to that name anymore." I smirked, a look of shock taking over the boy's face before he gave me back a weak smile.

"Of course." He flipped his hair with his free hand, Topaz growling in excitement as he ran off in the direction of the stage.

"That actually worked..." Winter seemed surprised. "He's slightly more confident now."

"I'm glad." I replied the wolfabeast. Feeling a sense of relief. It was only then I realized that I had been nervous as well. I took a deep breath, calming myself further before turning my attention to the spiritmals in the room. "Do you guys want to watch his performance?"

"I don't want to cause any unnecessary trouble, so I'll stay here." Jacky replied.

"I'll stay with you." Star commented.

"Can I watch?" Winter asks.

"Sure." I replied the wolfabeast.

"Do you two want me to turn on the television? I mean, Felix isn't here."

"If you can, I'm interested." Star replied. I turned the device on, and the machine immediately roared to life, showing another coordinator getting a score of 27 out of 30.

"Let's get going Emily! He'll be on stage any minute now!" Winter jumped up and down by the door, waiting for me.

"Hey, wait up!" I called after Winter as she bolted off as soon as I've opened the door. Sighing as she ignored me, I immediately started running after the speeding wolfabeast.
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Author's note:

Well... someone wanted more (surprisingly) so here's another draft that's been sitting in here for eons.

I don't have many drafts left, so I won't be posting another in a while. Still, I would like to thank everyone for their support on this book. I do have a lot of plans for this, and I would definitely finish this no matter how long it takes. That being said, I wouldn't be very free until around Mid-November, so updates would be extremely slow till then.