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| Sadly "Female Protagonist Fight" isn't as fun sounding as "Catfight" |
Chapter 6: Porcelain Facade
Lily climbed up the hill just behind the school, reaching the top and seeing her teammates standing around and conversing together as the morning sun shined it's brilliant glow. Jonah sat by himself, Robin was speaking to her little brother, Florence. Morgan was adjusting her blue bandanna around her forehead, wrapping it on her hair to keep her long hair from getting into her eyes. Maria was laying in the grass somewhat asleep, Sienna and Ashley were talking besides a couple of backpacks laying on the ground. Erika was quietly speaking to Gabriel, who was trying to make a whistle out of a blade of grass.
“I'm here, everyone.” Lily stated with a smile, surprised that she was the late one. Ashley grinned at her, adjusting her eye patch and lifting one of the backpacks on the ground and tossing it her way. “Glad you made it, take this.” Lily nodded and lifted up the backpack, it seemed study and made of a durable olive colored canvas. This was less of a school backpack and more of the rugged survivalist type.
“Everyone, line up!” She said, everyone slowly broke their attention away from what they were doing, walking in front of the two female instructors and standing shoulder to shoulder. Ashley and Sienna began to grab the other three bags and tossed them at the feet of the entire group. “These are essential for what's going to come up next.” Ashley said, her voice stern but informative. “I'll allow my co-instructor, Sienna Roth explain what's going to happen next.” She said, backing up one step and letting Sienna have the floor.
“Every member of this class has taken part in a couple of fights between each other to test and gauge your strengths and weaknesses.” Sienna started, pacing slowly back and fourth through the entire group of students. “But that isn't all that's required to be a functioning member of Spectrum Academy,” She continued, stopping and turning on her heel, placing her hands in front of her and looking up at the whole group. “The second half of what you need is actually two things. Adaptability and teamwork, these are essential in forming a proper team as communication and decision making are what wins fights on the battlefield, not just combat skill alone.” Seinna continued, peering from left to right with her sharp eyes.
Ashley nodded, stepping up as Sienna gestured to her, her voice was deeper and had a sense of commanding to it as she spoke. “Many people sign up for Spectrum in hopes to help, or get recognition or fame, some people even sign up because they hear we pay them. Those people aren't welcome here, we need warriors, we need fighters. We need people not afraid to put their lives on the line to defend the people of this world every single day they're capable of doing so. This test is designed to weed those with selfish ambitions and foolish goals out of our system.” She added, pointing to the floor and gesturing with her finger. “Open the bags at your feet.”
All of the students looked down at the bags, some of them reaching down to undo the buttons and pull it open. “In each of these bags are several things. Two sleeping bags, a map, two thermoses, A first aid kit, and two vitality trackers. The vitality trackers will go on each student's arm. It's a combination heart rate monitor and GPS device designed to let us know if you ever happen to become injured or in grave danger. It was also designed to keep track of your hunger, thirst and sickness levels thanks to very slight changes in your skin.” She explained, each of the students attaching it to their arm while the instructors spoke. Lily adjusted the straps on hers to make sure it was snug, but not overly tight. She unfolded the map to take a quick glance at it.
“Your mission is to take you and one partner of your choice through the Elmsworth Forest to the north to retrieve one of four trophies hidden in an underground temple at the base of Mt. Firewind we've called the Pradgarth Depths.” Maria quickly asked, putting on her own armband, before undoing her tie around her neck. “Like... Relics in the temple?” Sienna shook her head and raised her arm to point at her. “Nope, we put the trophies there specifically for you to take them.” Maria rolled her eyes and shrugged, putting her arm on her hip and leaning to one side. “Well that makes it more boring.” She quipped, but Ashley quickly corrected her. “Actually, it's quite treacherous. It's a 59 mile hike over forests full of wild animals, steep hills, rivers and a pretty dangerous temple that might possibly have creatures dwelling within it. With the rift wide open like it is, an attack can happen at any time and we need you on your toes.” Ashley lectured Maria, tapping her foot and shaking her head as Maria just shrugged her shoulders.
Sienna continued for Ashley as Lily zipped up her backpack, pulling it over one shoulder. “You have 72 hours to get to that temple and retrieve one of the trophies. If your vital tracker shows signs of you being injured or ill or if time runs out; You will be extracted quickly via Helicopter, you will not be promoted, and you will be placed in our basic training program unless your teammate succeeds.” Lily raised her hand to ask a question. “What's that?” She asked simply, Sienna began to pace the eight students, looking up and down at them. “It's pretty much standard basic training, but you will not be sent to any missions and you will have to forfeit your weapon until you are ready to take this test again, that time is a minimum of 6 months so do not take this lightly.”
She placed a hand on Lily's shoulder and smiles at her, Lily smiling back as she nodded and went back to pacing the group. “You can choose your own partner, if you find anyone else while in the forest, you're free to travel with them. But getting the trophy is a guaranteed pass for both you and your partner, even if one has been extracted.” Ashley stepped aside and began to walk over to a nearby chair as Sienna finished, as she began to talk in her place. “Once you're done finding your partner, we will send each of you out at random intervals, your countdown starts when YOU start, not when anyone else does. Keep that in mind as you find your partner.” She said, finally going quiet as the group began to talk to each other.
“So... We have to pick a partner of our choice...” Erika said to Lily, looking around as people began to group up already. Florence quickly ran to his older, yet somewhat shorter sister, but that was a given, Morgan just crossed her arms and waited as the people began to thin out. She looked over a shoulder and noticed Maria was quietly speaking to Jonah just behind Erika's shoulder. “Did you think of who you wanted to be with?” The ginger haired girl asked, her voice somewhat quiet from being so timid around a big group. Lily shook her head, her brow furrowing a little bit. “To be honest, I'll just pick whoever doesn't get picked. I feel like we'll most likely turn into one big group anyways.” Erika nodded and looked over to see Gabriel approaching them both. “Hey there, Missies!” Gabriel said with a bright smile on his face, pulling out a hairband and pulling his long chestnut red colored hair into a loose ponytail.
“Hey there, Gabe.” Erika said with a smile, Gabriel waved happily at them both and stopped in front of the. “Hey Erika, hey Blondie.” Lily blinked a couple of times before speaking up. “My name is Lily, you know.” She said, clarifying.
“Oh, I forgot. My bad!” Gabriel apologized, bowing his head and rubbing the back of his head. “It's kind of a coin flip when I forget stuff like that.” Lily huffed quietly at that. “Obviously.” She said flatly, tilting her head and addressing him proper. “Well, did you want to ask us something?” Erika spoke up, looking at him.
Gabriel began to fiddle around with his whip, currently curled up on his belt and a bit tangled, clearly you don't want a tangled whip when you have to pull it out to use later or it'll be absolutely useless. It was almost like he picked an impractical weapon. “Well, I wanted to ask Erika if she wanted to be on my team.” Erika looked at him and smiled. “Sure thing, Gabriel!” Gabriel grinned at that, hugging her tightly and lifting her off the ground. “Awesome! We're gonna get this done in like 4 hours!” Erika chuckled, before dropping back down onto the ground.
“That's a bit... Overzealous.” Lily commented, Gabriel just stuck her tongue out at her for a bit. “Well, Gabe and I need to get ready, good luck in finding your partner, Lily!” Erika said, walking off as they both went to sit down on the grassy hill, either discussing strategy or comic books, she had no idea about which one from how far away they were. Maria seemed to finally pick Jonah as her partner, probably because she didn't want to speak about her going bonkers and messing up the room earlier today to anybody who she happened to live with.
She looked around and smiled at the three teams, before looking over to see Morgan leaning against a nearby pine tree, watching the pines sway in the gentle summer winds. Lily swallowed her pride, She didn't like Morgan, but she would tolerate it until they find Maria or someone else in the forest. It wasn't going to go too wrong, was it?
She began to approach Morgan, opening her mouth to speak, but Morgan quickly cut her off. “So, you did the same 'wait and see' strategy that I did, huh?” She asked, Lily nodded gently and crossed her arms, leaning away from her. “Y-yeah... I felt like we'll find other people quickly.” Morgan nodded at that, standing up and walking right past her, not even looking at her as she spoke. “Let's just hurry up and find other people when we go, okay? I want this to be brief.” Lily looked at the ground and sighed some. “Fine, I guess.” She replied, walking just behind Morgan and standing shoulder to shoulder as everyone else lined up.
“Alright!” Ashley said, standing up and clapping her hands together once. She strolled over to the front of everyone and rolled back the sleeve of her white jacket. “Welp, Looks like now is a good time to start, We've done enough talking.” She said, pointing to Morgan and Lily. “You two go first, the next pair go in 15 minutes.” They both nodded, but Morgan just started to walk down the hill almost at nearly the next moment. “Just follow me and keep quiet.” She said, bemoaned. arms behind her head as she gave a stretch. Lily just double checked her scimitar. Just to make sure it was still in there snugly, which it was.
They began to walk through the forest, it was oddly quiet between the two of them, nearly no words were spoken and all Lily heard was the cracking of small pine needles and branches underneath her feet. The trees slowly thickened as they headed into the forest, it didn't seem like there were any trails or pathways cut through anywhere, but there was a clearing she could walk through. Lily guessed that it could have been a deer herd all traveling the same routes.
The sky slowly got covered by the canopy of trees, as the forest grew more varied, the only light that would occasionally break through was enough to give shadows with the shape of leaves filling the rest of the residual light. There was occasionally an animal to look at, or a thicket they had to walk past. She assumed as they headed farther away from civilization the paths would get more and more rough and unsteady.
“So... How about that inheritance?” Morgan commented out of nowhere. Lily's suddenly turned her head to look at her, furrowing her brow once again.
“Excuse me, what?” Lily asked, perplexed by what she meant. “Your fathers inheritance details hit the news a year ago.” Lily shrugged some and turned away to keep walking. “I'm not sure that's anything important, Let's keep going.” She said, but Morgan gripped her shoulder firmly enough to convince her to stop. “For me, it is.” Morgan replied, slightly perturbed by Lily trying to brush her off. Lily sighed and turned to her as she still felt confused. “What do you mean?”
“Your father has a trillion Geld empire on his hands and a complete monopoly on the Ash weapons market, shutting down other sellers by calling their goods 'Illegal' for not being sponsored by the military and Spectrum like he is. His inheritance involves pretty much pumping all of his money into two things, the military force and YOU. You're getting 50% of that wealth when he dies the government isn't going to tax any of it because they're in his pocket and benefit from him.” Morgan clarified, both of them stopped walking and turned to face each other. “Where did you learn that?” Lily asked, feeling unsure about what Morgan might do next.
“We're talking about one of the biggest money transactions in history, Lily. It was covered by the news as soon as the details were leaked.” Morgan shook her head, pointing a finger at Lily as she spoke. “But that isn't what I care about. I care about WHO and WHERE it's going to.” Lily frowned at that, crossing her arms and looking at the ground. “You and your father have all this money, but all you do is fucking sit on it or use it to strengthen the military and Spectrum. People in destroyed neighborhoods could USE that money... But your family just sat on it and we had to wait until the SYNDICATE actually helped fund the rebuild.” Lily scoffed, a look of agitation forming on your face.
“YOU took money from the Syndicate!? They murder people and sell drugs! They steal from my fathers weapon shipments by pepper spraying the driver and then raiding the whole damn thing, they even kill the witnesses. People took money from them to help rebuild the houses?” Lily asserted, leaning forward to yell at the raven haired woman. Morgan glared down at her and laughed mockingly. “They still responded faster than you or your father did.” Lily gritted her teeth and shouted back at Morgan as she walked away. “I didn't know people were that desperate, I would have helped them if I did.”
Morgan stopped and began to laugh at that, looking back at her and shaking her head some, not believing this girl. “But you didn't. You sat there and pretended like you were blind to the whole damn thing. Intention isn't action, Kiddo.” She remarked, Lily looking even more frustrated. Lily raised her voice, barking back at her. “What do you mean by that!? I would have helped if I knew how.” Morgan growled, turning around and pointing firmly against her chest hard enough for it to sting. “You don't ever fucking help ANYBODY.” Morgan started, looking straight pissed off now. “You sit there and twiddle your thumbs and hope for the best, or completely ignore the problem altogether. You have the potential to actually help these people, yet you do NOTHING.” Morgan exclaimed, pointing at her chest again to make her feel uncomfortable, backing up one step as she talked.
“You're just a trust fund baby. You don't have to work for ANYTHING to get a good life, it just fell into your lap because your dad capitalized on a tragedy to make a profit.” Lily clenches her fists from that, but refused to say anything to that. “And all you do is procrastinate on it, you were probably raised by him so to be honest, as soon as he's croaked you're just going to be the exact same as he is.” Lily growled and began to walk away, deeper into the woods. “That's enough out of you, let's just find the damn temple.” She said, her voice trying to hide how irate she was.
“Hell, you already did that to Maria, didn't you?” Morgan asked, Lily's jaw dropped and she looked back at her.
“Don't involve Maria in this, please.” Lily quietly demanded, but Morgan shook her head and began to walk back up to her. “No, because Maria is a walking example of your ignorance.” Morgan started, her voice had a certain smugness to it. “Maria was your FRIEND. Her parents were killed and she got put in the hospital, and now she's crazy and smashed up our dorm just 4 days after sending HERSELF to the infirmary. Do you know what would have probably made her much more sane?” Morgan asked, Lily looked at the forest floor again as she talked. “IF HER FRIEND SHOWED UP TO SUPPORT HER!” Morgan proclaimed, Lily just bit her lower lip, not even looking at her.
“You couldn't even do that for her, you failure.” Morgan said scathingly, Lily began to cry just a bit as she talked, turning around and walking away. “Wow, you don't even have a response, you coward.” Lily stomped her foot, turning around and roaring at her. “SHUT UP!” Morgan quietly walked up and spat right in her face. Lily began to shake, before shouting and lunging toward her, smashing her elbow into Morgans face, sending her backwards and having them both smack into a nearby tree before spilling to the ground.
“Shut your damn mouth!” Lily said, punching Morgan, who was still quite shaken right in the face. “You know absolutely nothing about me!” She said, speaking between each punch. “I had NO FRIENDS except for Maria! I was ridiculed and insulted every single day! My father barely even fucking spoke to me! I was ALWAYS alone ever since mother took my sister with her!” She said, decking Morgan just repeatedly, blood starting to come from Morgan's nose and mouth. “I grew up pampered but in the end no one would have given a shit if I wasn't his daughter. My only friend growing up was Maria because everyone else would beat me up and insult me!” She explained, grabbing Morgan by the tie and smashing her head into Morgans, making her dizzy for a second.
“I didn't see Maria because I didn't want to see her die. She was in critical condition and was poisoned by Ash, I didn't want to see the only person in the world who actually gave a fuck about how I feel die miserable and in pain, okay!?” Lily yanked Morgan's tie, pulling her closer. “Or is that not okay for you!? Am I just a coward because I didn't want to see anyone suffering? I admit you had me on not donating to neighborhoods in need... but that was because I just didn't know how bad or desperate it got. I WOULD HAVE HELPED IF I KNEW!” She said, punching her in the face once again.
“IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU!? Or do you wanna keep insulting me!? I can take it! I've heard much worse from everyone for my entire life! Everyone makes assumptions about me like they know who I really am... but they don't even know me!” Morgan snarled and elbowed Lily in the face, making her stumble onto her back as she got up. Morgan grabbed the collar of her dress and lifted her to her feet, before slamming a knee into her stomach and forcing her to double over and slamming her elbow in the back of Lily's head, making her slam into the ground.
“What is going on!?” A voice shouted from a nearby clearing. Morgan looked over to see who said that, and saw that it was Robin, along with her little brother Florence. Morgan said nothing, Lily slowly standing back up, rubbing her face and looking at her hand to notice that her face was beginning to bleed. “Robin ran up to them both and grabbed onto Lily's shoulder to help stand her up, making her face Morgan. “Look, I might not understand what you were talking about, but if you two are fighting this needs to stop immediately, we're a team! We can't just keep fighting each other.” She contended, trying to diffuse the situation.
“You're not my mother, Robin.” Morgan murmured, rubbing the blood from her mouth on her forearm. Robin frowned at that, but let it pass. “Do they always do this?” Florence wondered. Robin shook her head and sighed. “I don't rightly know, I've never seen them fight before.” Morgan sighed and began to walk again.
“Let's just go.” Morgan demanded, walking along the pathway they found, Florence slowly walking behind them both. Lily eventually began to follow, and things got quiet again except for when Florence would point out how beautiful the forest naturally was, with its natural earthy blues, greens and browns.
After an hour, Lily stopped to speak. “Wait, everyone.” Lily quietly inhaled and walked between the three other members of their small group, taking off the backpack and placing it on the ground. “What is it, Lily?” Florence asked her, wondering why she dropped the backpack. “Well... I quit.” Lily quickly stated. Robin frowned, walking up to her and rubbing her shoulder. “You don't need to quit, honey...” Lily sighed, gently turning away from Robin. “Lily reached down to grab her own canteen, but nothing else. “I know what I want, Robin. I give up.” She said, slowly walking the direction from whence she came. “You can keep the backpack, Morgan.” She said, slowly disappearing into the forest.
“What the hell was with her...?” Morgan said under her breath, gesturing for Florence and Robin to follow her.
Lily walked alone, she felt sad and dizzy, but just picked up the pace so she couldn't think about it. Looking straight at the floor the entire time but occasionally looking back up to see if she was heading the right way. She walked and walked quietly through the forest as she began to talk to herself. “Is delaying all I really do?” She shook her head and slowly walked over to a nearby tree, leaning against it and slowly sliding down into a sitting position as she hugged her skirt clad knees.
“I don't know anymore...” She sighed quietly, burying her head in her palms and stares at the ground quietly. She felt like she lost all of her energy along with her motivation, She just wanted to sit there until the sun set, she wanted to make sure everyone at least passed her so she could just quietly head back on her own. After about an hour of just sitting there, her fog was suddenly cut away with a voice.
“Lily?”A female voice said to her, Lily looked up and saw that Maria and Jonah were looking down at her. Maria walking forward and crouching down. “M-maria? How did you find me?” She asked, still feeling quite upset. Maria reached her hand out and Lily grasped onto it as she pulled her back up to look at the shorter redhead. Maria smirked some. “You're wearing a white dress, I could see you from like 1000 feet off from how badly you stand out.” She nodded and chuckled some. Jonah looked at her and walked up beside Maria. “Hey... she's bleeding, Maria.” Maria looked down and noticed that her forehead got cut open, along with some blood coming out of your mouth.
“What happened?” Maria asked, gently patting her on the shoulder to tell her to come walk with them. “Something happened... It's a long story.” She briefly explained, Maria nodded to that and she kept walking. “And what at you planning to do now?” Lily looked at the floor, rubbing her arm nervously as she explained. “I'm going to forfeit.” Maria frowned at that. “You shouldn't quit.” She stated bluntly. “At least not just yet.”
Lily shook her head some and wiped another tear from her eye. “What else am I supposed to do? Maybe I'm not cut out for doing all of this.” Maria stopped Lily, grabbing her on the shoulders and looking at her straight into her green eyes. “I'll listen to you and see how I can help.” Her voice was kind of soft and stoic sounding, but Lily quietly just stared at her face as it dawned upon her. Maybe Maria hasn't changed as much as she thought. She quickly hugged her tightly, instead, Maria not really hugging back but not pushing her away either. “Thanks... Maria.” Maria smiled and gave a reassuring nod “Don't worry about it.” Maria said, letting Lily keep hugging her. “Just follow me for now, alright?” She let go and nodded “Alright...” She said as they ventured deeper into the forest together with Jonah following just behind.
“So, what happened?” Maria asked simply. Lily sighed to herself, crossing her arms over her own chest as she looked at Maria and Jonah. “We got into a fight.” Maria sneered at that and shook her head. “What a bitch...” She commented, but Lily shook her head. “She had a point... But I couldn't take the constant insults. And I just launched at her and started to hit her.” Lily explained, Jonah looked surprised by that, walking a little faster to look at her face when he talked. “Wait, YOU hit HER?” He asked, she just nodded and sighed. “I'm not proud of it either, Jonah.” Maria unfolded the map as she spoke, checking their directions again.
Lily climbed up the hill just behind the school, reaching the top and seeing her teammates standing around and conversing together as the morning sun shined it's brilliant glow. Jonah sat by himself, Robin was speaking to her little brother, Florence. Morgan was adjusting her blue bandanna around her forehead, wrapping it on her hair to keep her long hair from getting into her eyes. Maria was laying in the grass somewhat asleep, Sienna and Ashley were talking besides a couple of backpacks laying on the ground. Erika was quietly speaking to Gabriel, who was trying to make a whistle out of a blade of grass.
“I'm here, everyone.” Lily stated with a smile, surprised that she was the late one. Ashley grinned at her, adjusting her eye patch and lifting one of the backpacks on the ground and tossing it her way. “Glad you made it, take this.” Lily nodded and lifted up the backpack, it seemed study and made of a durable olive colored canvas. This was less of a school backpack and more of the rugged survivalist type.
“Everyone, line up!” She said, everyone slowly broke their attention away from what they were doing, walking in front of the two female instructors and standing shoulder to shoulder. Ashley and Sienna began to grab the other three bags and tossed them at the feet of the entire group. “These are essential for what's going to come up next.” Ashley said, her voice stern but informative. “I'll allow my co-instructor, Sienna Roth explain what's going to happen next.” She said, backing up one step and letting Sienna have the floor.
“Every member of this class has taken part in a couple of fights between each other to test and gauge your strengths and weaknesses.” Sienna started, pacing slowly back and fourth through the entire group of students. “But that isn't all that's required to be a functioning member of Spectrum Academy,” She continued, stopping and turning on her heel, placing her hands in front of her and looking up at the whole group. “The second half of what you need is actually two things. Adaptability and teamwork, these are essential in forming a proper team as communication and decision making are what wins fights on the battlefield, not just combat skill alone.” Seinna continued, peering from left to right with her sharp eyes.
Ashley nodded, stepping up as Sienna gestured to her, her voice was deeper and had a sense of commanding to it as she spoke. “Many people sign up for Spectrum in hopes to help, or get recognition or fame, some people even sign up because they hear we pay them. Those people aren't welcome here, we need warriors, we need fighters. We need people not afraid to put their lives on the line to defend the people of this world every single day they're capable of doing so. This test is designed to weed those with selfish ambitions and foolish goals out of our system.” She added, pointing to the floor and gesturing with her finger. “Open the bags at your feet.”
All of the students looked down at the bags, some of them reaching down to undo the buttons and pull it open. “In each of these bags are several things. Two sleeping bags, a map, two thermoses, A first aid kit, and two vitality trackers. The vitality trackers will go on each student's arm. It's a combination heart rate monitor and GPS device designed to let us know if you ever happen to become injured or in grave danger. It was also designed to keep track of your hunger, thirst and sickness levels thanks to very slight changes in your skin.” She explained, each of the students attaching it to their arm while the instructors spoke. Lily adjusted the straps on hers to make sure it was snug, but not overly tight. She unfolded the map to take a quick glance at it.
“Your mission is to take you and one partner of your choice through the Elmsworth Forest to the north to retrieve one of four trophies hidden in an underground temple at the base of Mt. Firewind we've called the Pradgarth Depths.” Maria quickly asked, putting on her own armband, before undoing her tie around her neck. “Like... Relics in the temple?” Sienna shook her head and raised her arm to point at her. “Nope, we put the trophies there specifically for you to take them.” Maria rolled her eyes and shrugged, putting her arm on her hip and leaning to one side. “Well that makes it more boring.” She quipped, but Ashley quickly corrected her. “Actually, it's quite treacherous. It's a 59 mile hike over forests full of wild animals, steep hills, rivers and a pretty dangerous temple that might possibly have creatures dwelling within it. With the rift wide open like it is, an attack can happen at any time and we need you on your toes.” Ashley lectured Maria, tapping her foot and shaking her head as Maria just shrugged her shoulders.
Sienna continued for Ashley as Lily zipped up her backpack, pulling it over one shoulder. “You have 72 hours to get to that temple and retrieve one of the trophies. If your vital tracker shows signs of you being injured or ill or if time runs out; You will be extracted quickly via Helicopter, you will not be promoted, and you will be placed in our basic training program unless your teammate succeeds.” Lily raised her hand to ask a question. “What's that?” She asked simply, Sienna began to pace the eight students, looking up and down at them. “It's pretty much standard basic training, but you will not be sent to any missions and you will have to forfeit your weapon until you are ready to take this test again, that time is a minimum of 6 months so do not take this lightly.”
She placed a hand on Lily's shoulder and smiles at her, Lily smiling back as she nodded and went back to pacing the group. “You can choose your own partner, if you find anyone else while in the forest, you're free to travel with them. But getting the trophy is a guaranteed pass for both you and your partner, even if one has been extracted.” Ashley stepped aside and began to walk over to a nearby chair as Sienna finished, as she began to talk in her place. “Once you're done finding your partner, we will send each of you out at random intervals, your countdown starts when YOU start, not when anyone else does. Keep that in mind as you find your partner.” She said, finally going quiet as the group began to talk to each other.
“So... We have to pick a partner of our choice...” Erika said to Lily, looking around as people began to group up already. Florence quickly ran to his older, yet somewhat shorter sister, but that was a given, Morgan just crossed her arms and waited as the people began to thin out. She looked over a shoulder and noticed Maria was quietly speaking to Jonah just behind Erika's shoulder. “Did you think of who you wanted to be with?” The ginger haired girl asked, her voice somewhat quiet from being so timid around a big group. Lily shook her head, her brow furrowing a little bit. “To be honest, I'll just pick whoever doesn't get picked. I feel like we'll most likely turn into one big group anyways.” Erika nodded and looked over to see Gabriel approaching them both. “Hey there, Missies!” Gabriel said with a bright smile on his face, pulling out a hairband and pulling his long chestnut red colored hair into a loose ponytail.
“Hey there, Gabe.” Erika said with a smile, Gabriel waved happily at them both and stopped in front of the. “Hey Erika, hey Blondie.” Lily blinked a couple of times before speaking up. “My name is Lily, you know.” She said, clarifying.
“Oh, I forgot. My bad!” Gabriel apologized, bowing his head and rubbing the back of his head. “It's kind of a coin flip when I forget stuff like that.” Lily huffed quietly at that. “Obviously.” She said flatly, tilting her head and addressing him proper. “Well, did you want to ask us something?” Erika spoke up, looking at him.
Gabriel began to fiddle around with his whip, currently curled up on his belt and a bit tangled, clearly you don't want a tangled whip when you have to pull it out to use later or it'll be absolutely useless. It was almost like he picked an impractical weapon. “Well, I wanted to ask Erika if she wanted to be on my team.” Erika looked at him and smiled. “Sure thing, Gabriel!” Gabriel grinned at that, hugging her tightly and lifting her off the ground. “Awesome! We're gonna get this done in like 4 hours!” Erika chuckled, before dropping back down onto the ground.
“That's a bit... Overzealous.” Lily commented, Gabriel just stuck her tongue out at her for a bit. “Well, Gabe and I need to get ready, good luck in finding your partner, Lily!” Erika said, walking off as they both went to sit down on the grassy hill, either discussing strategy or comic books, she had no idea about which one from how far away they were. Maria seemed to finally pick Jonah as her partner, probably because she didn't want to speak about her going bonkers and messing up the room earlier today to anybody who she happened to live with.
She looked around and smiled at the three teams, before looking over to see Morgan leaning against a nearby pine tree, watching the pines sway in the gentle summer winds. Lily swallowed her pride, She didn't like Morgan, but she would tolerate it until they find Maria or someone else in the forest. It wasn't going to go too wrong, was it?
She began to approach Morgan, opening her mouth to speak, but Morgan quickly cut her off. “So, you did the same 'wait and see' strategy that I did, huh?” She asked, Lily nodded gently and crossed her arms, leaning away from her. “Y-yeah... I felt like we'll find other people quickly.” Morgan nodded at that, standing up and walking right past her, not even looking at her as she spoke. “Let's just hurry up and find other people when we go, okay? I want this to be brief.” Lily looked at the ground and sighed some. “Fine, I guess.” She replied, walking just behind Morgan and standing shoulder to shoulder as everyone else lined up.
“Alright!” Ashley said, standing up and clapping her hands together once. She strolled over to the front of everyone and rolled back the sleeve of her white jacket. “Welp, Looks like now is a good time to start, We've done enough talking.” She said, pointing to Morgan and Lily. “You two go first, the next pair go in 15 minutes.” They both nodded, but Morgan just started to walk down the hill almost at nearly the next moment. “Just follow me and keep quiet.” She said, bemoaned. arms behind her head as she gave a stretch. Lily just double checked her scimitar. Just to make sure it was still in there snugly, which it was.
They began to walk through the forest, it was oddly quiet between the two of them, nearly no words were spoken and all Lily heard was the cracking of small pine needles and branches underneath her feet. The trees slowly thickened as they headed into the forest, it didn't seem like there were any trails or pathways cut through anywhere, but there was a clearing she could walk through. Lily guessed that it could have been a deer herd all traveling the same routes.
The sky slowly got covered by the canopy of trees, as the forest grew more varied, the only light that would occasionally break through was enough to give shadows with the shape of leaves filling the rest of the residual light. There was occasionally an animal to look at, or a thicket they had to walk past. She assumed as they headed farther away from civilization the paths would get more and more rough and unsteady.
“So... How about that inheritance?” Morgan commented out of nowhere. Lily's suddenly turned her head to look at her, furrowing her brow once again.
“Excuse me, what?” Lily asked, perplexed by what she meant. “Your fathers inheritance details hit the news a year ago.” Lily shrugged some and turned away to keep walking. “I'm not sure that's anything important, Let's keep going.” She said, but Morgan gripped her shoulder firmly enough to convince her to stop. “For me, it is.” Morgan replied, slightly perturbed by Lily trying to brush her off. Lily sighed and turned to her as she still felt confused. “What do you mean?”
“Your father has a trillion Geld empire on his hands and a complete monopoly on the Ash weapons market, shutting down other sellers by calling their goods 'Illegal' for not being sponsored by the military and Spectrum like he is. His inheritance involves pretty much pumping all of his money into two things, the military force and YOU. You're getting 50% of that wealth when he dies the government isn't going to tax any of it because they're in his pocket and benefit from him.” Morgan clarified, both of them stopped walking and turned to face each other. “Where did you learn that?” Lily asked, feeling unsure about what Morgan might do next.
“We're talking about one of the biggest money transactions in history, Lily. It was covered by the news as soon as the details were leaked.” Morgan shook her head, pointing a finger at Lily as she spoke. “But that isn't what I care about. I care about WHO and WHERE it's going to.” Lily frowned at that, crossing her arms and looking at the ground. “You and your father have all this money, but all you do is fucking sit on it or use it to strengthen the military and Spectrum. People in destroyed neighborhoods could USE that money... But your family just sat on it and we had to wait until the SYNDICATE actually helped fund the rebuild.” Lily scoffed, a look of agitation forming on your face.
“YOU took money from the Syndicate!? They murder people and sell drugs! They steal from my fathers weapon shipments by pepper spraying the driver and then raiding the whole damn thing, they even kill the witnesses. People took money from them to help rebuild the houses?” Lily asserted, leaning forward to yell at the raven haired woman. Morgan glared down at her and laughed mockingly. “They still responded faster than you or your father did.” Lily gritted her teeth and shouted back at Morgan as she walked away. “I didn't know people were that desperate, I would have helped them if I did.”
Morgan stopped and began to laugh at that, looking back at her and shaking her head some, not believing this girl. “But you didn't. You sat there and pretended like you were blind to the whole damn thing. Intention isn't action, Kiddo.” She remarked, Lily looking even more frustrated. Lily raised her voice, barking back at her. “What do you mean by that!? I would have helped if I knew how.” Morgan growled, turning around and pointing firmly against her chest hard enough for it to sting. “You don't ever fucking help ANYBODY.” Morgan started, looking straight pissed off now. “You sit there and twiddle your thumbs and hope for the best, or completely ignore the problem altogether. You have the potential to actually help these people, yet you do NOTHING.” Morgan exclaimed, pointing at her chest again to make her feel uncomfortable, backing up one step as she talked.
“You're just a trust fund baby. You don't have to work for ANYTHING to get a good life, it just fell into your lap because your dad capitalized on a tragedy to make a profit.” Lily clenches her fists from that, but refused to say anything to that. “And all you do is procrastinate on it, you were probably raised by him so to be honest, as soon as he's croaked you're just going to be the exact same as he is.” Lily growled and began to walk away, deeper into the woods. “That's enough out of you, let's just find the damn temple.” She said, her voice trying to hide how irate she was.
“Hell, you already did that to Maria, didn't you?” Morgan asked, Lily's jaw dropped and she looked back at her.
“Don't involve Maria in this, please.” Lily quietly demanded, but Morgan shook her head and began to walk back up to her. “No, because Maria is a walking example of your ignorance.” Morgan started, her voice had a certain smugness to it. “Maria was your FRIEND. Her parents were killed and she got put in the hospital, and now she's crazy and smashed up our dorm just 4 days after sending HERSELF to the infirmary. Do you know what would have probably made her much more sane?” Morgan asked, Lily looked at the forest floor again as she talked. “IF HER FRIEND SHOWED UP TO SUPPORT HER!” Morgan proclaimed, Lily just bit her lower lip, not even looking at her.
“You couldn't even do that for her, you failure.” Morgan said scathingly, Lily began to cry just a bit as she talked, turning around and walking away. “Wow, you don't even have a response, you coward.” Lily stomped her foot, turning around and roaring at her. “SHUT UP!” Morgan quietly walked up and spat right in her face. Lily began to shake, before shouting and lunging toward her, smashing her elbow into Morgans face, sending her backwards and having them both smack into a nearby tree before spilling to the ground.
“Shut your damn mouth!” Lily said, punching Morgan, who was still quite shaken right in the face. “You know absolutely nothing about me!” She said, speaking between each punch. “I had NO FRIENDS except for Maria! I was ridiculed and insulted every single day! My father barely even fucking spoke to me! I was ALWAYS alone ever since mother took my sister with her!” She said, decking Morgan just repeatedly, blood starting to come from Morgan's nose and mouth. “I grew up pampered but in the end no one would have given a shit if I wasn't his daughter. My only friend growing up was Maria because everyone else would beat me up and insult me!” She explained, grabbing Morgan by the tie and smashing her head into Morgans, making her dizzy for a second.
“I didn't see Maria because I didn't want to see her die. She was in critical condition and was poisoned by Ash, I didn't want to see the only person in the world who actually gave a fuck about how I feel die miserable and in pain, okay!?” Lily yanked Morgan's tie, pulling her closer. “Or is that not okay for you!? Am I just a coward because I didn't want to see anyone suffering? I admit you had me on not donating to neighborhoods in need... but that was because I just didn't know how bad or desperate it got. I WOULD HAVE HELPED IF I KNEW!” She said, punching her in the face once again.
“IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU!? Or do you wanna keep insulting me!? I can take it! I've heard much worse from everyone for my entire life! Everyone makes assumptions about me like they know who I really am... but they don't even know me!” Morgan snarled and elbowed Lily in the face, making her stumble onto her back as she got up. Morgan grabbed the collar of her dress and lifted her to her feet, before slamming a knee into her stomach and forcing her to double over and slamming her elbow in the back of Lily's head, making her slam into the ground.
“What is going on!?” A voice shouted from a nearby clearing. Morgan looked over to see who said that, and saw that it was Robin, along with her little brother Florence. Morgan said nothing, Lily slowly standing back up, rubbing her face and looking at her hand to notice that her face was beginning to bleed. “Robin ran up to them both and grabbed onto Lily's shoulder to help stand her up, making her face Morgan. “Look, I might not understand what you were talking about, but if you two are fighting this needs to stop immediately, we're a team! We can't just keep fighting each other.” She contended, trying to diffuse the situation.
“You're not my mother, Robin.” Morgan murmured, rubbing the blood from her mouth on her forearm. Robin frowned at that, but let it pass. “Do they always do this?” Florence wondered. Robin shook her head and sighed. “I don't rightly know, I've never seen them fight before.” Morgan sighed and began to walk again.
“Let's just go.” Morgan demanded, walking along the pathway they found, Florence slowly walking behind them both. Lily eventually began to follow, and things got quiet again except for when Florence would point out how beautiful the forest naturally was, with its natural earthy blues, greens and browns.
After an hour, Lily stopped to speak. “Wait, everyone.” Lily quietly inhaled and walked between the three other members of their small group, taking off the backpack and placing it on the ground. “What is it, Lily?” Florence asked her, wondering why she dropped the backpack. “Well... I quit.” Lily quickly stated. Robin frowned, walking up to her and rubbing her shoulder. “You don't need to quit, honey...” Lily sighed, gently turning away from Robin. “Lily reached down to grab her own canteen, but nothing else. “I know what I want, Robin. I give up.” She said, slowly walking the direction from whence she came. “You can keep the backpack, Morgan.” She said, slowly disappearing into the forest.
“What the hell was with her...?” Morgan said under her breath, gesturing for Florence and Robin to follow her.
Lily walked alone, she felt sad and dizzy, but just picked up the pace so she couldn't think about it. Looking straight at the floor the entire time but occasionally looking back up to see if she was heading the right way. She walked and walked quietly through the forest as she began to talk to herself. “Is delaying all I really do?” She shook her head and slowly walked over to a nearby tree, leaning against it and slowly sliding down into a sitting position as she hugged her skirt clad knees.
“I don't know anymore...” She sighed quietly, burying her head in her palms and stares at the ground quietly. She felt like she lost all of her energy along with her motivation, She just wanted to sit there until the sun set, she wanted to make sure everyone at least passed her so she could just quietly head back on her own. After about an hour of just sitting there, her fog was suddenly cut away with a voice.
“Lily?”A female voice said to her, Lily looked up and saw that Maria and Jonah were looking down at her. Maria walking forward and crouching down. “M-maria? How did you find me?” She asked, still feeling quite upset. Maria reached her hand out and Lily grasped onto it as she pulled her back up to look at the shorter redhead. Maria smirked some. “You're wearing a white dress, I could see you from like 1000 feet off from how badly you stand out.” She nodded and chuckled some. Jonah looked at her and walked up beside Maria. “Hey... she's bleeding, Maria.” Maria looked down and noticed that her forehead got cut open, along with some blood coming out of your mouth.
“What happened?” Maria asked, gently patting her on the shoulder to tell her to come walk with them. “Something happened... It's a long story.” She briefly explained, Maria nodded to that and she kept walking. “And what at you planning to do now?” Lily looked at the floor, rubbing her arm nervously as she explained. “I'm going to forfeit.” Maria frowned at that. “You shouldn't quit.” She stated bluntly. “At least not just yet.”
Lily shook her head some and wiped another tear from her eye. “What else am I supposed to do? Maybe I'm not cut out for doing all of this.” Maria stopped Lily, grabbing her on the shoulders and looking at her straight into her green eyes. “I'll listen to you and see how I can help.” Her voice was kind of soft and stoic sounding, but Lily quietly just stared at her face as it dawned upon her. Maybe Maria hasn't changed as much as she thought. She quickly hugged her tightly, instead, Maria not really hugging back but not pushing her away either. “Thanks... Maria.” Maria smiled and gave a reassuring nod “Don't worry about it.” Maria said, letting Lily keep hugging her. “Just follow me for now, alright?” She let go and nodded “Alright...” She said as they ventured deeper into the forest together with Jonah following just behind.
“So, what happened?” Maria asked simply. Lily sighed to herself, crossing her arms over her own chest as she looked at Maria and Jonah. “We got into a fight.” Maria sneered at that and shook her head. “What a bitch...” She commented, but Lily shook her head. “She had a point... But I couldn't take the constant insults. And I just launched at her and started to hit her.” Lily explained, Jonah looked surprised by that, walking a little faster to look at her face when he talked. “Wait, YOU hit HER?” He asked, she just nodded and sighed. “I'm not proud of it either, Jonah.” Maria unfolded the map as she spoke, checking their directions again.
“She was upset that me or my father
never preformed any acts of charity... she has a point. I mostly
didn't think people were as desperate as I thought... But my father
has a different story altogether.” Jonah nodded as Maria began to
check for any upcoming hazards on the map. “Ever since mom divorced
him, he just buried his face so deep in his business the only person
who actually spends any time with him is his advisers. I never hear
more than a sentence from him... He didn't even care that I was
joining Spectrum or anything.”
Jonah nodded and looked a little sad at that. “Yeah... Charity is nice and all but your dad doesn't even seem to want to have anyone around, I don't think anyone's going to get money from him while he's still breathing.” He stated, Lily shook her head and sighed. “I'm going to do my best to help people when I can... I don't want to come up with excuses.” Jonah sighed and looked at her. “Charity isn't supposed to be out of obligation, Lily. Charity is out of kindness for your fellow man, only donate if you feel like you want to help them, not because you feel like you just want to save face.”
Lily nodded gently. “That's what I'm going to try and do when I get the chance.” Jonah smiled at that as Maria cut into their conversation. “We're about 3 miles out from a pretty big river, We have to cross it or else we'll have to head 30 miles to walk around the lake it feeds into.” She stated as a matter of fact, Jonah spoke up to ask a question. “How wide is the river, do you think?” Maria shook her head some. “I don't really know, just wanted to give you guys a heads up” She said, folding up the map and placing it back into her backpack and taking a swig from her canteen while they continued to hike.
Jonah nodded and looked a little sad at that. “Yeah... Charity is nice and all but your dad doesn't even seem to want to have anyone around, I don't think anyone's going to get money from him while he's still breathing.” He stated, Lily shook her head and sighed. “I'm going to do my best to help people when I can... I don't want to come up with excuses.” Jonah sighed and looked at her. “Charity isn't supposed to be out of obligation, Lily. Charity is out of kindness for your fellow man, only donate if you feel like you want to help them, not because you feel like you just want to save face.”
Lily nodded gently. “That's what I'm going to try and do when I get the chance.” Jonah smiled at that as Maria cut into their conversation. “We're about 3 miles out from a pretty big river, We have to cross it or else we'll have to head 30 miles to walk around the lake it feeds into.” She stated as a matter of fact, Jonah spoke up to ask a question. “How wide is the river, do you think?” Maria shook her head some. “I don't really know, just wanted to give you guys a heads up” She said, folding up the map and placing it back into her backpack and taking a swig from her canteen while they continued to hike.
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