[Silver]

“I can’t believe you thought this was a good idea!” Riley was clearly disgruntled as his brand new boots stomped through the cold snow.

“I’d love to hear it if you have a better one,” Matt said quietly, mostly to himself. He wasn’t too fond of the icy wind biting at his face, either, but he believed in Ouryu’s instincts.

“I am positive that there is a disturbance coming from this direction.” Ouryu reiterated.

It was of great importance that they found the disturbance quickly. Whatever it was, it was affecting the entire world, or at least everything they could see. If it was a spirit, it was by far the most powerful one they had encountered so far. Ouryu was greatly concerned, not only for her shivering friends, but for the fate of the world. If something had this much power already, then perhaps they were already too late to save the world.

[Silver]

The color had drained from the small town they were camping in. Not just the small town, but the sky, the ocean, and everything around them. The boys immediately grabbed some winter gear and headed out after Ouryu’s hunch, but it had already been a few days since then and there was nothing to see in any direction.

They had no choice but to venture deeper and deeper into the cold grey world. Surrounded by nothing but clouds and snow in all directions, it was hard to remember what color even was. Had it come back and they didn’t even notice? Every now and then Matt looked down at his gloves to be sure. They were blue, or so he thought they were. It was getting hard to remember.

[Silver]

“Shame we have lost sight of Suzaku,” Matt muttered into his scarf. Riley scowled at him.

“What?” he said, defensively. “She has the power of fire, right? It would warm us right up.”

“I don’t think she plans so snuggle around a nice cozy campfire with you,” Riley said, rolling his eyes. Last time they had come across her, she nearly torched the both of them. Nonetheless, his brother seemed entirely too fond of her. Of course he did.

Ouryu buried herself further into Matt’s jacket with only her head and the tip of her tail poking out. It was incredibly cold out here, even more so than she had imagined. Maybe it was an ice or wind spirit, kin to Seiryu. If only Riley were more attuned to his Seiryu, he could probably help considerably against the howling winds. Though the thought crossed her mind, she would never speak it aloud.

[Silver]

“What kind of spirit do you think could do this?” Matt asked after a bout of awkward silence.

“It is a mystery, even to me,” Ouryu said. “The cold weather could be a powerful wind spirit, but the color… I am not aware of anything with such power.”

Riley looked down at the snow and kicked some of it around. Wind spirits were the hardest for him to deal with. It was only a stark reminder of how weak his own powers were. He just couldn’t figure it out, and seeing a more powerful spirit of the same type only wore him down.

[Silver]

“Is it even a spirit?” Matt wondered aloud.

“Of course it’s a spirit,” Riley scoffed. “What the hell else could it be?”

“I don’t know, but this doesn’t seem to be very spirit-like. I mean, we’ve done this a few times before, right, but has it ever been like this? Also look at how far we’ve come, and we haven’t found anything, not one tiny little thing!”

“Don’t be like that,” Riley said. He rubbed his brother’s shoulder reassuringly. “Whatever it is, we’ll find it.”

“I don’t know,” Matt said with a sigh. “This doesn’t feel right, something about it isn’t right.”

[Silver]

“Well, then, what do you think we should do?” He was trying to sound accepting, but it came off as too skeptical to be genuine.

“I guess… I don’t know.” Matt admitted.

“What do you think?” Riley asked, turning to Ouryu.

“I agree, this does not feel the same as other times…” Ouryu trailed off. She didn’t want to say it, but she feared the worst. So far their journey had been tough, but seemed manageable. If this was something different, something more powerful, then she had her doubts about whether or not they could overcome it.

[Silver]

“I think we must keep traveling,” she said after a pause. “Even if we do not find what we expect, we might find something. To give up will only diminish what we have accomplished so far.”

“And what is that, exactly?” Matt asked. “We haven’t accomplished anything! It’s so cold and sad and grey!”

“Don’t talk like that,” Riley said. He tried to pat Matt on the shoulder again, but he pulled away, not allowing himself to be touched.

“Why not? This is so hopeless! Don’t you guys see it? Even if we get this spirit, then what? We wander around some more and get another one? They keep getting stronger and weirder until we get killed! Don’t you realize we could die out here? Frozen to death in the middle of nowhere!”

[Silver]

“Matt, calm down,” Ouryu said. She slipped her head and neck out of his jacket and rubbed his cheek with hers.

Matt started crying and tried to rub the tears from his face. His frozen, stiff gloves stung as they touched his face. Ultimately, he collapsed into the snow and continued to cry. He felt completely defeated and being angry about it only made him that much more exhausted.

“Matt, bro, it’s gonna be okay. We’ve never lost before, and we’re not about to start now. Why don’t we take a rest? I’ve still got some supplies, we can have a little snack, maybe a campfire, how about that?”

[Silver]

“Good idea,” Ouryu said. She floated out of Matt’s jacked and dug in his backpack in pursuit of snacks.

“I have some candy,” she said. “If you do not sit up, I will have to eat it all myself.”

“Give me that!” Matt called out. He tried to swipe the candy out of her hand, but he missed and tumbled right back into the snow. “Ugh, whatever, you can have it.”

Riley reached down and pulled Matt back onto his feet. Matt didn’t resist, but he also made no attempt to make it easier. Riley was clearly concerned. Matt wasn’t usually like this, and he considered the possibility that this was more than just regular fatigue.

[Silver]

“Ou, come here for a second,” Riley said. He handed the candy to Matt and took a few steps away so they were out of earshot.

“Do you think it’s the spirit? Making him act like this?” he almost didn’t want to say it out loud, but he had to.

"It is possible that a spirit possesses such a power, perhaps, but I am not sure..." Ouryu twisted herself up as she spoke. "I just don't understand! How could a spirit have so many powers that we have not yet encountered? I can only wonder if Matt may be correct, and this is not a spirit at all..."

[Hunt Recorded]