Felicity's Beas Chapter 161: Legend??

Chapter 161: Legend??

The blanket landed over Exile’s coils, exile froze not the way a man froze when startled. The way an animal froze when the world abruptly made sense again everything in him changed. The sll hit hard enough that even Snow Team felt the shift secondhand before Leaf Team fully did. Felicity, soft fabric and sleep and skin and the warm, impossible sweetness that belonged to her specifically, saturated into the blanket in a way that made absence feel less abstract and far more cruel.

Exile’s eyes widened in a way that would have looked ridiculous on anyone less terrifying, his coils gathered around the blanket without crushing it, the motion instantly, disturbingly careful.

Marx put both hands up, "before you guys tackle , she gave

her blanket Victor is my witness."

Every head turned.

Victor looked briefly like he wanted to walk into oncoming traffic. "Sadly," he said, "he’s right."

That should have been the end of it, it wasn’t because now they could all sll her the scent spread as the fabric shifted, not overwhelming, not enough to make the road unusable, but enough. Enough for Richard’s expression to alter, enough for Dawn’s pressure to deepen in a way that had nothing to do with the environnt. Enough for Thane’s flight to break entirely for a heartbeat before he corrected. Enough for Dimitri’s gaze to sharpen into sothing almost openly hostile toward the concept of inconvenience itself.

Enough for Snow Team to realize with unpleasant clarity that Leaf Team did not rely "want alliance."

These n liked her, they wanted her, no it was worse, they were already orienting.

Victor recognized the danger at the exact sa ti Damien did.

Damien’s expression flattened further "yeah," he said quietly. "That’s bad."

Kai looked between them. "How bad?"

Damien did not look away from Exile, "scaled beasts cling, predators fix, strong teams don’t let go once they decide a thing matters, "so... very bad."

"Comforting," Voss said.

"It should not be comforting that you understand them," Ivan replied.

"It isn’t, it’s useful."

Legend moved toward Victor, slipping out of formation without hesitation, his leopard form quiet and deliberate in a way that imdiately drew attention. There was no awkwardness in him, no second guessing, which was exactly why it was a problem. The zip lock bag hung from his mouth, swinging slightly with each step, and Victor noticed it before anyone else did.

Victor saw it.

Then he saw what was inside it, and slt it.

Then his entire expression went flat in a way that ant sothing had gone very wrong, then, loudly, with absolutely no restraint, "How the fuck.." he looked at legend like he grew two heads.

The words cut through both teams, every head turned.

Legend stopped in front of him and set the bag down with complete calm, like he had just placed a tool on a table instead of detonating the entire atmosphere.

Victor stared at it, then at him, then back at it. He dragged a hand down his face slowly, like he was trying to reset himself and failing. "You horny fuck," he said again, quieter this ti but sohow worse, "I did not expect you of all people to do this."

Snow Team leaned in.

Leaf Team went still.

Legend didn’t react "i didn’t ask for it," completely unbothered, "it helps."

Victor made a noise under his breath that sounded like sothing between disbelief and deep, personal regret, then, without hesitation, he bent, picked up the bag and imdiately set it on fire.

The reaction was instant.

"NO!!" Legend lunged forward in actual, visible distress for the first ti since anyone had known him, the bag went up quickly, the plastic warping, the contents inside blackening before they could even be properly processed, the scent cutting sharp through the air for a split second before burning out.

Legend stopped short, staring at the ground like sothing sacred had just been executed in front of him "that was useful," he said, flat and accusing.

Victor didn’t even look at him. "That was a liability, also she would not like you having that."

Sarge barked out a laugh, loud and imdiate, "wow."

Tommy turned toward him, eyes wide. "What?"

Sarge jerked his head toward Legend "the man who always looks like he has zero problems.."

"had the biggest problem," Kai finished, almost delighted.

Tommy blinked, looking between them, then back at the smoldering remains on the ground, "WHAT WAS IT."

No one answered him.

Voss made a low sound in his throat that suggested he absolutely knew and was choosing not to say it.

Ivan’s expression didn’t change, which sohow confird everything.

Pope snorted quietly.

Ash looked away, like he had decided this was none of his business and also entirely his business at the sa ti.

Above them, Thane circled once, then slowed, then said, very calmly, "I know what it was."

That did not help.

Marx whipped his head up. "Great, fantastic and love that for you, care to share?"

Thane didn’t answer imdiately, his gaze dipping down briefly toward the blackened patch on the ground, then forward again, like he was choosing his words and deciding none of them were worth the outco.

"No," he said.

Tommy made a strangled noise, "that is the worst possible answer."

Sarge was still grinning, "use your imagination."

"I don’t want to use my imagination," Tommy snapped, "that’s worse."

Victor finally exhaled, slow and controlled, like he was actively choosing not to make this worse than it already was "we’re moving," he said.

Legend was still staring at the ash, just mildly inconvenienced "that was mine," he said.

Victor didn’t even glance back. "It was not."

Ivan coughed loudly "Technically it was mine and Felicty’s."

Behind them, the faintest trace of scent lingered for a mont longer before the wind pulled it apart completely, and the way both teams reacted to even that brief existence of it didn’t explode outward, it didn’t turn into anything loud or obvious or easy to call out.

Richard’s grip on the cart shifted by a fraction, not enough to slow him, but enough that the tal fra creaked under the pressure for a split second before settling again.

Dawn’s presence deepened in a way that had nothing to do with the terrain, the air around him growing heavier, more saturated, like sothing vast had leaned closer without moving.

Thane’s wings faltered once.

Exile took the bag.

Leaf Team well Leaf Team changed.

Richard’s jaw tightened.

Dawn’s pressure deepened so hard the air itself felt thicker.

Thane nearly lost altitude.

Dimitri closed his eyes for exactly one second, which on him was the equivalent of swearing.

Exile pressed the bag against his coils like sothing sacred and catastrophic.

And Snow Team finally understood that whatever they had thought this alliance might look like, they had underestimated just how quickly Felicity had stopped being a possibility and started becoming a crisis.

Victor looked at Dimitri.

Dimitri looked at Exile and how close it actually was it did not settle If anything, it deepened the mont the blanket hit Exile and the scent spread, sothing unspoken passed between both teams, sothing that didn’t need language to be understood. It wasn’t just recognition. It was confirmation.

Victor exhaled slowly, his expression flattening just slightly as he processed the situation. "We’re in trouble," he said, not loudly, not dramatically, just plainly.

Damien, still near Exile, didn’t look up, but he answered anyway. "Yeah."

There was no humor in it.

Sarge sighed "if they react like THAT to the sll of her, wait till she does one of her dreams."

Draco and Shadow couldn’t help but to laugh, "oh when that first happened to us, oh my god."

Dawn stared at them "What happened..?"

Shadow stared at Dawn smirking "you will see, then you will join the light."

"ANOTHER BELIEVER, CAN YOU PAINT?" kai scread.

Victor didn’t let it linger. "We pick up pace," he said, and the shift was imdiate, both teams responding without argunt, the line stretching slightly as movent accelerated, the road ahead no longer sothing to cross but sothing to cut through.

Voss moved closer to Victor as they ran, his voice low, threaded with sothing that wasn’t quite concern and wasn’t quite irritation. "What are we going to do about them."

Victor didn’t need clarification, is answer ca without hesitation. "Nothing."

Voss’s gaze flicked sideways. "That’s it."

"There is nothing to do," Victor said, his tone steady, controlled, leaving no room for interpretation. "This is not sothing we manage. It is sothing she decides."

Ivan’s voice ca from behind them, deeper, quieter. "And until then."

Victor’s gaze stayed forward, "we protect her."

The word settled differently between the two teams, heavier, more absolute.

Dimitri heard it, of course he did. His pace did not falter, his form remaining perfectly aligned with the path ahead, but his voice carried back, asured, deliberate. "I had intended to suggest joint training refinent," Dimitri continued. "Understanding structure before engagent."

Tommy let out a breath that might have been a laugh. "Bit late for that."

Dimitri ignored him. "That is no longer efficient stopping now creates vulnerability," he added. "Disruption without control."

Dawn nodded once. "Agreed."

Richard adjusted the cart slightly. "Then we don’t stop."