Spectum Chapter #15: Ephemeral

Just when you thought Spectum wasn't going to get any more depressing.

Chapter 15: Ephemeral

Morgan, Erika, and the Goldshore's were heading back to their dorm room, they passed Maria's team and Sienna stayed behind them for a short while as Morgan went back inside to take a rest. She went into her dorm room, now renovated for quite some time as she slid her long claymore into it's sheathe and put it back into the closet. Erika popped the door open as Morgan began to do some stretches after practicing how to use Pulse for the last couple of hours.

“Damn... I can't believe Sienna had us up at 4 AM to practice.” Erika commented, hanging her axe up onto a rack and taking off the strap she needs to carry it around on her back. Erika used to barely be able to hold it. Now that she's gotten used to it, while to be honest, she wasn't capable of swinging it like it was like a huge axe shaped balloon, she could actually use it properly now. “Well that's one thing Sienna has going for her as an instructor, she beats her regimen into your forehead so hard people mistake it for a tattoo.” Morgan stated with a chuckle, taking off her leather jacket and hanging it up on the coat rack.

“Discipline is second nature to progress.” Sienna commented as she pushed the ajar door open enough to swing it wider. Her long, wavy red hair framed by a black beret resting on her head. She hung instructor jacket on one shoulder and leaned onto a door frame. “Yeah, I know that Sienna... Just I need sleep or else I'll start looking like a sick cat.” Erika added, Sienna shaking her head lightly as Morgan checked the mini fridge near her bunk bed for a soda, only to be disappointed since they didn't restock it just yet.

“So... Did you talk to Maria?” Morgan asked, Maria had this look on her face when Sienna showed up that was almost like disgust, it was clear that they haven't spoken since Maria quit the team. “I don't think I can.” Sienna replied, looking at the floor. “As soon as I looked at her, she glared at me with eyes that... made me think she's not my sister anymore.” Sienna admitted, she didn't think her decision would cause such a rift between her and Maria, but Maria was a different person than the little girl who just wanted to be an adult like everyone else.

“The couple of weeks I had with Maria made me realize that she's pretty damn tough for a little pipsqueak like her. Maybe a little too tough for her own good... She could use you to help her soften up.” Morgan turned to, Sienna and slowly walked up, her long and rough shoulder blade length hair lightly swaying with her steps. Sienna quietly sighed and shook her head once again. “I guess so.. I just don't think patching up is even an option anymore.” She opened up to Morgan, but Morgan lightly shook her head, placing her hand on her shoulder as she tried to attempt a heart to heart. “People her age get defiant with everyone, it's kind of second nature. I think all you need to do is listen to how she feels for a little while, it might do you both some good.” Morgan attempted to incite some courage back into Sienna, Sienna giving a faint smile and nodding some.

Sienna didn't look like she shared traits with Maria, but she realized that both of them had a similar aspect to their personality where they looked tougher than they really were. Maria would play the role of a furious, brash and sarcastic antisocial dick, she was really just looking for something she could care about and protect since she lost everything powerlessly. While Sienna would try to play the cool leader who makes all the tough decisions without looking back, but deep down all she was just a pile of self doubts and self set standards. 5 months taught her all this by being around her all the time and learning how she thinks, along with spending every weekend with Maria in the fighting club. “I'll try, Morgan... Just no promises.” Sienna said, turning around and walking off back to her own dorm room since tea time was about to begin.

Morgan shook her head and sighed, turning back to Erika who was just watching both of them speak. “Do you want to get breakfast?” Morgan asked, Erika giving her kind of a big grin along with a nod. If there was one thing they both enjoyed, it was warm food. Spectrum actually had an alright cooking staff, it was probably better than anything either of them got while they were in school. “Sure thing, Morgan! Let me get m-” She was cut off by a loud ring tone coming from the pocket of Morgan's leather jacket.

“...Do you mind if I get that?” Morgan asked, Walking up to her coat and pulling out her cell phone. It was just a cheap, foldable phone for phone calls. There were more expensive ones on the market for sure, but Morgan wanted a phone and not a tiny computer she can poke with her finger until it gets covered in fingerprints. She flipped it open and quickly hit the button without checking the caller ID before she spoke. “Hey there, Morgan speaking.” She answered, before the voice on the other line shocked her.

“Hey, Morg.” The voice spoke, it was somewhat wispy sounding even though it was deep. She understood who it was almost instantly from the sounds of it. “N-Nick!? Holy shit dude, Where have you been? It's been like 9 months now...” She said, speaking as a sudden weight got taken off her shoulders. Nick gently sighed and continued to speak. “Yeah, I'm sorry, Morgan.” He apologized wholesomely but kept speaking before Morgan could ask more questions. “I'm outside of Spectrum, can we please meet in private?” This question he asked confused Morgan, they've never been secretive around each other since they were little kids.

“Why?...” Morgan asked, but didn't heard any reply. “Nick...? Bro?” She said, shaking the phone to see if it was dying on her, but it most surely wasn't. “Shit.” She said, closing the phone shut as Erika stared at her out of confusion. Morgan grabbed her jacket to put it back on, since it was still very damn cold outside and she didn't want to feel it on her skin. “What was that about?” Erika asked, but Morgan quickly rushed past her and out the door of the dorm room. “Something came up, Sorry Erika.” She spoke in a rush, walking down the hall and heading down the stairs before going outside. He didn't seem to be on campus at a glance, so she walked down the sidewalk and up to the front gates.

The metal bar swung open and the hydraulics whirred to push the gate open for her as she approached it, she walked out onto the sidewalk and looked both ways down the sidewalk to see if she could find her brother. She began walking to the left of the school as she continued to look around for him. There was a small alley on a gap between fences two of the houses on the same road as Spectrum. And suddenly a hand was placed on Morgan's shoulder which yanked her into the alleyway with him. “What the fuck!?” She exclaimed as she was quickly turned around to see the familiar face of her elder brother.

He had long black hair like hers, but it was greasier looking, but more combed than Morgans somewhat frizzy looking mop. His skin was pale, with dark circles around his eyes as it seemed like he's been spending many nights sleepless. He was wearing a trench coat with a collar up past his neck and nearly covering his mouth, along with a pair of cargo pants and boots as well. “Sorry sis, this is important.” He apologized once again Morgan glaring at him as she punched him gently in one of his shoulders. “What's with the stalker get-up, Nick?” She asked at the strange attire, she knew he didn't dress like that at all.

“Unfortunately this is a necessity.” Nick replied, he was always down to business and if he was wearing something so suspicious, there had to be something up with him.

“So what was with the absence?... Why are you here?” Morgan asked out of confusion as Nick looked at the floor with a feeling of shame suddenly washing over him. “Look... This is the last time we'll be able to talk to each other. I'm leaving for good.” He finally said, Morgan looking both shocked and surprised as she grabbed him by the shoulders to stare him in his eyes. “What do you mean by that?” She asked, Nick sighing softly as he looked up at her. “Look... I know you and I were never the most savory people to be around. We're both not innocent, but... I recently got myself into something I don't think I'm able to leave.” He confessed, but Morgan just looked distraught and confused by that, leaning up to look at his face to tell he was being honest.

“What the hell does that mean? You know I hate this ominous crap, Nick...” She complained, but he just sighed quietly and slumped his shoulders. “I guess I'll just have to explain myself the best I can for you, Morgan.” He continued, looking around silent to see if there was anyone who followed him around. “Have you heard of Silent Fall?” He asked, but she cocked an eyebrow at that. “I heard them stealing from a metalworking factory about a month ago, what about it?” She wondered, He sighed and looked at the ground. The slight shiver up Morgan's back began to feel heavier as she began to speculate in the right direction.

“I'm a member of Silent Fall. I have been one for about 2 or 3 years now...” He admitted, though he didn't seem particularly proud of it. Morgan seemed shocked, is that why he hasn't been able to see her as often anymore? Was he too busy blowing up buildings and dealing dope to speak to her? “Are you serious? Is that why you left the orphanage when you were like.. 16? You decided to become a terrorist AND a criminal?” She asked, clearly upset by this. He nodded just a bit. “Please, hear me out, alright?” He pleaded, as Morgan sneered, crossing her arms over one another as she listened. “It wasn't always terrorists... We were just a gang working for the syndicate, we would just gofer packages between two places and I'd get money for it.” He continued, Morgan just blankly watching as he spoke.

“But this new guy people call Wolfe became the boss a couple of months ago.. and I swear he might be completely out of his goddamn mind. He broke us away from the syndicate and has us robbing people, assaulting them and destroying buildings. It's been hell but he's spouting his anti-cooperation bullshit and people are starting to believe him and get behind his cause.” He spoke, shaking his head. “I wanted to quit.. but the last time someone quit they found him in a back alley with his throat cut and over 47 stab wounds to his chest.”

Morgan looked upset, lightly placing her hand onto your shoulders and looks up at him. “So... You can't leave or they'll off you?” He nodded a little bit. “I'm so sorry Morgan, I just.. I don't want you to worry about me anymore. Please just think I'm dead, at this point I think I'm pretty much damned if I do and damned if I don't.” He pleaded, but Morgan sighed and let go of him. “Are you serious...? We've been through so much shit together, can't you just tell somebody or go to the authorities?” She asked, trying to help him think of a more rational solution.

“Unfortunately, they're not bound by jurisdiction, I think all that would happen if I went to protect myself would be they would have massive collateral in killing me, potentially killing others. Or even worse... People might start to come after you instead.” He spoke calmly with a somber tone, looking at her as he tried to hold back the tears. “I couldn't forgive myself if they hurt my little sister for my mistake. Me leaving is the best for both of us. So please, don't think of me too often to save you the trouble of grieving if I blow myself up or get arrested, I'm so sorry... I'm going to leave for good.” He said, heaving a bit and placing his mouth and nose in his sleeve to keep himself composed. “I'll miss you so much, Morg... Have a good life, okay?” He finished, before turning around and slowly walking away. Morgan growled out of frustration and started to shout at him as he tried to distance himself.
“Nick... please stay here for a minute.” She stated to try and get him to stay, but Nick broke out into a run, using his speed to break away from her and leave her in the alleyway. She broke into a slower run in hoping to get him to stop “NICHOLAS! TURN AROUND YOU STUPID FUCK!” She broke into yelling at him, though he didn't even turn around to hear her. “I'M NOT GOING TO GIVE UP, I'M GOING TO BUST IN THERE AND SAVE YOUR SORRY ASS MYSELF! YOU HEAR ME YOU SON OF A BITCH?!” She shouted, clenching her fists and gritting her teeth. Her hands and legs started to shake a bit, tears rolling down her face as she realized he was too far away for her to catch. She could go get her motor scooter and see if she can chase him down, but who knows where he would have went when she did.

Morgan bit her lower lip and turned around, lowering her head and slowly walking back to the academy, trying to be quiet so she could calm herself down. “Sonuvabitch..” She muttered out of frustration, walking underneath the walkway of the second floor of the dorm room as a voice rang from behind her. “Morgan? Was that you who was yelling?” She asked in her gentle but somewhat proper sounding voice. Morgan turned around and was met with Lily's face. The side of her face having three faded claw marks running down the entire thing, her light blonde neat and proper looking twin low ponytails to her shoulders as she glared with her bright eyes. “...Yeah.” Morgan replied flatly as she tried to sound like her typical self, low and stoic with a bit of her self confidence thrown in with good measure.

“Are you okay...?” She asked with concern, Morgan doesn't usually shout so loud Lily could hear it from the parking lot. Maria and the rest of the team just went back to the Dorm, but she stayed out for some final practice before wanting to head inside when she heard her. “I'm fine.” She said, looking at the floor and trying to hold back a sigh. “You don't look fine... You're crying.” Lily pointed out, and then the very soft wind blowing on her face felt cold just to confirm that little fact. “I guess I'm not fine, then...” She tried to joke, but Lily stepped up another step so she could be closer. “What's wrong, then?” She asked, Morgan turning away and gesturing Lily to come walk behind her as she spoke.

“Do you know how it feels to have something important taken away from you?” She asked, Lily looking somewhat puzzled as she looked over one shoulder as they spoke. “Uhm... Not recently.” She replied, expecting Morgan to jump on her about being a rich girl once again. “...It hurts, Lily.” Morgan stated bluntly, her long hair starting to cover her eyes from how low her head was sunk. “Never let it happen to you, you'll never be the same.” Morgan warned, Lily lowering her brow as she pouted out of concern. She reached up to grab Morgans shoulder, forcing her to lightly stop in her tracks.

“Morgan... I wanted to apologize about how I've been treating you... Hitting you was a big mistake and I felt like the 5 months we could have known each other was squandered by our petty grudge.” She stated, Morgan lightly lifting her hand to brush Lily's off of her own shoulder. Lily frowning some more as Morgan started to walk once again. “Morgan... Please... I realized I never want to be in a position to help people and choose not to do it. If I did that, I don't deserve to be here!” She pleaded with Morgan, who just gave her more silence.

“I want to be your friend! I want to help you in anyway I possibly could... I failed to be there for Maria when she needed me, but at least let me be here for you just so I can do something in my life that isn't sitting on my thumbs! Please, Morgan!” She shouted at her, but Morgan just stopped and turned to face her. “...It's fine, Lily... Really.” She spoke quietly to calm her down. “You can be my friend, okay? Just stop sounding so wussy...” She said, trying to add a little of humor at the end of it since well... It was her style of doing things. Lily smiled but shrieked as Morgan suddenly pulled her into a tight hug. “Eep!” She stammered, Morgan sighing and letting go of her after a couple of seconds.

“Thank you, Morgan...” Lily said with a somber smile, Morgan giving one back as she slowly walked back to her dorm. Morgan continued with the silence as she popped the door open and slowly scanned the room, before pulling Lily behind the staircase so they could talk without being interrupted. “So... Why where you yelling so much?” Morgan frowned, looking at the ground a bit. “My brother decided to leave me for good, because he got into trouble with unsavory folk.” She said, Lily looking concerned as she lightly began to pace the floor. “And he's okay with that?” She asked, Morgan looked away and sighed.

“No, he's not okay with it. He feels trapped and I want to help him get away.” She replied, Lily looking up and smiling at her as she stopped her pacing of the floor. “I'll help you the best I can, okay Morgan?” She replied, Morgan smiling a little at that as they shared a friendly nod at one another. "You know, I'm sorry too." Morgan added to Lily's apology from before as she looked up at her face once again. "I was being too hard on you and was trying to use you as a springboard for all my problems with corporations. You're just a person and I need to see you as one." Lily smiled a little and bowed her head to respond. "I'll forgive you to-" She was cut off by someone walking behind the staircase with the both of them.

As it turns out, it was the angry, short, redhead of a girl, Maria. Her eyes as big as figurative saucer dishes as she spoke to the both of them. “I don't know what the hell you two are doing, but it's currently nacho hour at the cafeteria, so you two better hurry the hell up and come with me so we can all have nachos in a big... nacho group.” Maria said with the utmost of seriousness, Morgan and Lily just stared at her out of confusion as Lily piped in to ask a question. “...Nachos?” She asked, and Maria got a shocked look on her face out of surprise. “What the hell do you mean by 'Nachos?' Nachos are nachos! We need to get some fuckin' nachos!” She complained at Lily, Lily still just not sure what Maria was talking about.

“Uhh.. I don't know what Nachos are...” She said, Maria gasping and grabbing her by the forearm. “Okay, fuck explaining this. I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU SO MANY GODDAMN NACHOS!” Maria shouted as Lily stumbled away behind her and back out the front door. “You're squeezing my hand too hard!” Lily shouted before giving a kind of girly yelp. Morgan wiped the last couple of tears out of her eyes and released a sigh of relief, as she slowly began to walk behind them.

“Eh... I guess I could use some nachos.” She said, closing the door behind her from the completely random interruption by Maria and all her rudeness.

Spectrum #14: Smile

Spectrum: You put that **** on everything.

Chapter 14: Smile

Maria yawned and sat up out of her bed, now on the lower bunk instead of the top because she constantly fell out of it. Snowy climbed off of her lap and ran over to drink some water as Maria rubbed her eyes. She felt extremely sore, but she was pretty used to waking up feeling like she was about to split in half from just how much they've been forcing her to work out along with training and sparring with the fighting club. She didn't bother to make her bed and just pulled open her drawer to find her uniform for the day.

She glanced up at a mirror, realizing that she hasn't cut her hair in five months as it was getting down to her neck and shoulders in length, but was still somewhat unkempt since all she did was comb it. “Morning!” Lily spoke from a desk with a small chair to Maria's left. She looked up at her while rubbing a free eye. She was sitting at the table, writing in a small book with a cup of coffee in a white mug sitting beside it. She took a sip as Maria walked over to glance over her shoulder. “What are you doing?” She said, groggily.

“I kind of forgot I was supposed to do a journal.. I guess all the working out got me distracted.” She replied and sat the mug back down while writing in the journal. Maria felt kind of cold since unless you shut the blinds, the cold early winter air would start to seep through the big window in their dorm room, so she started to put on her shirt and jacket along with her dress pants to have less skin hitting the air than her normal sleeping gear of pajama pants and a tanktop. “Journals are for children, Lily. Aren't you old enough to not write one?” She said, leaving her jacket unbuttoned as she sifted around for her scarf.

“Well.. I chose to write one because I could. You're never truly too old for anything.” She argued with a friendly tone, shaking her pen since the ink is slowly beginning to run dry. It was the same one she was using for her history classes. “Well I'm just condemning you by saying it's pointless.” Maria snarked back, slinging her long red scarf around her neck. She wasn't usually the type for style, she doesn't wear make up or do much to make herself look any different from day to day, but she wore that scarf nearly every day since it was repaired.

“...Where did Jonah go?” Maria asked, noticing that he was oddly absent, he usually wakes up at about the same time she does. Lily finished her coffee and turned her chair to face Maria. “He left early to go see Ashley.” She answered, Maria walking to the door and pulling it open as Lily quickly got out of her chair and stared up at her. “H-hey! I'm not ready yet!” She stammered, but Maria lightly shrugged her shoulders as she turned to face her. “I'd rather just get this over with.” Maria answered before shutting the door behind her.

Lily huffed and finished the rest of her journal quickly, running out of the door to catch up with Maria, who was just walking down the red carpeted staircase. “...What do you want for your birthday, Maria?” Lily asked Maria, as Maria's birthday was actually only a couple of days away. “My birthday...?” Maria drifted off a bit when she spoke, she actually forgot her own birthday was coming up so soon. “Yeah Maria... Your birthday, it's on Memoria, remember?” Lily reminded her, Maria looking away as they head out the front door. The blast of cold air hit both of them and made them shiver. It was cold, but not snowing. It's the kind of sharp cold you could only get when there was clear skies.

“I can't believe I forgot...” Maria commented, was it not that important anymore? She was born on a national holiday so it usually overtook her birthday in importance, but she's not sure she celebrated a birthday since the year her parents passed away. It was quite miserable in that hospital she stayed in.

“It's fine Maria. People usually pick the national holidays over some random person's birthday.” She consoled Maria, who shrugged her shoulders as they walked down to the parking lot, the area they were supposed to meet. Jonah was sitting on a chair as 5 more people were speaking to each other and began to walk away from him.

It was consisting entirely of familiar faces, Sienna, the instructor. And her students, Erika, Florence, Robin and Morgan. They stopped just beside Maria and Lily to speak to one another since it didn't appear that Ashley had arrived. “Hello you two.” Robin said with a smile, Lily smiled and nodded her head. “Hey Robin!” She greeted her with a smile, but then turned to face Morgan. “Hey, Morgan.” She also spoke, she was still trying to get Morgan to slowly try and make up with her by just being friendly, Morgan lightly nodded her head to acknowledge her. “Hey.” She replied flatly, there was no disgust or disdain like there used to be, but it was still nowhere near a friendly atmosphere.

“Sienna taught us so many cool things, Lily! I didn't know pulse did so many things.” Florence said with the excitement of a school girl, bouncing on his toes and clenching his fists in joy. Lily gently nodded and gave a friendly smile. “I'm excited, too.. I can't wait to actually learn how to fight monsters like a real Slayer.” She replied, gently brushing some of her blonde hair out of her eyes as the winter winds blasted the cold morning air. “Good luck, you two.” Morgan said, reaching up to punch Maria casually on the shoulder as they left.

Well, most of them left, Maria usually just chuckled at Morgans light roughhousing since it was a friendly gesture, but she couldn't break her stare from Sienna. As she was just glaring down at her younger sister with her icy blue eyes. Maria glared back at her, slightly narrowing her eyelids as they quietly leered at one another with no silence. While this was only for a brief couple of seconds, it felt like almost an hour for both of them, including Lily. The air got uncomfortably cold for Lily, the hairs standing on the back of her neck as she knew the situation between the both of them was never patched up. It was just a glare of disrespect for each other.

“...Later.” Sienna spoke tersely, breaking eye contact and walking away without saying a single word more. Maria watched her leave as Sienna lightly slung her long white coat over a shoulder, turning a corner to get back to her own group. “W-what was that for?” Lily quietly asked Maria, who just turned back and walked toward the bench with Jonah sitting in it. “It doesn't matter right now.” Maria shrugged off the question as Jonah smiled, standing up to wave at both of the girls. “You finally made it!” He said with a mixture of joy and impatience, his longer hair pulled back into a somewhat loose ponytail to keep his long bangs from getting in his eyes.

“Yeah, sorry we're late Jonah. Maria slept in again...” Lily commented as Maria quickly glared at her with a grumpy sneer. “Hey, screw you...” She complained, but Lily just gave a teasing chuckle as Maria folded her arms and looked away. “Eh, it's fine really. She isn't here yet anyway.” Jonah commented, standing up and stretching as Lily walked over to sit on the same bench. “What were the others here for?” She asked him, her arms resting together on their lap as Maria started to practice her shadow boxing with the air while Lily and Jonah spoke to each other.

“They just got done with the instructor teaching everyone about how to use pulse, Sienna didn't want me to interrupt them so I just kind of sat here until they were done.” He explained, Lily stretching just a bit as she watched Maria try and smack around the air like it owed her some money. Lily glanced up and saw Ashley walking up with a large bag slung over her back, walking around Maria and placing it at their feet. “We're gonna need your weapons for this.” Ashley stated as she unzipped the bag, revealing she got all of their weapons beforehand.
Maria stopped striking at the air and knelt down to pick up her twin short swords, they were on a belt that wrapped around her waist, the sheathes crossing to make an X near her back to quickly pull out and slash in one motion. She quietly strapped them on as Lily grabbed the scabbard to her straight sword, holding it in one hand while Jonah grabbed his sword and buckler as Ashley began to address the three of them.

“Now, I didn't tell you three this since we were so busy with physical training.” She started, everyone now with their weapons properly sheathed and standing so their feet pressed together, backs straight on the cracked pavement of the parking lot. “And that is, I think you need to all understand the reality of this situation before we continue.” She added, lightly looking over the three of them. It's only been a week since Gabriel was forced to leave and Lily and Jonah were put down by it, though she couldn't really read Maria about it. “Gabriel is just an example of how things can never really go your way, so I feel you all need to know this final warning before we even begin to progress.” She warned, everyone looking at her and not yet asking a question. The air once again grew heavy as her expression grew dour.

“I want you to keep one thing in mind, do not be a hero. Heroes are reserves for comic books and children stories on the television. Heroes are the thing people tell you when they want you to feel like you have the potential to be special just by eating your vitamins and saying your prayers. You are NOT special, you will NEVER BE special. Just because the world is from your own perspective doesn't mean you're exempt of it's rules. You burn, you bleed, and you die.” She stated, slowly pacing between the three as they didn't break their gaze from her.

“Don't focus on being a hero, focus on your own self preservation; Because at the end of the day, your body is all that you get and there are no refunds. Every single time you get hurt is a bigger risk of you dying, and since dying is something you probably don't want.. keep this in mind. If you think that risking death is worth it if you become a hero, then you don't deserve to be here and you can leave if you wish. I implore you, please don't risk your life for a cause you don't believe in. I'd hate to see any of you get killed because of it.” She finished, stopping to look at the three of them. They gingerly nodded at her in agreement, though it seemed like no one was second guessing her speech.

“I want to hear from each of you the true reason why you're here, be honest about it and don't give me any bullshit about duty or honor... Everyone in life has a goal and being here isn't the place to hold your regrets.” She asked of the rest of them, Lily raising her hand so Ashley would recognize she wished to go first. “Go ahead, Sterling.” She observed, Lily taking a deep breath as she looked back at Maria. “...My father changed when my mother divorced him. He drowned himself in his own work that I don't think he could ever escape, he completely pushed me out of his life and.. every single day I realized that all I was to him was pretty much an extension to the lifespan of his company. I was just another Sterling, the fact that I'm Lily didn't matter.” She started to confess, Ashley placing her hands onto her shoulders as she listened, Maria lifting a knee onto the bench to rest her chin on it since she didn't feel like standing in the salute position for an hour.

“I... wanted out.” She stammered, gulping quietly as since it was the first time she admitted this to someone else, and it was proving to be a bit difficult. “But... No matter where I went, all I would be known as is the heir to someone who's holding a death grip on an entire market so he's the only competitor.. I would be a laughing stock if I tried to work somewhere modest like a library or a restaurant, they would see it as some kind of publicity stunt.” She continued, the cold making her shoulders shiver softly as the cold wind swept through the flat parking lot, making the leafless trees begin to creak behind her.

“I felt like Spectum was the only place where I wouldn't live under his shadow anymore, everyone knows I'm taking this seriously when I help rescue them from a burning wreckage, or a monster infested home...” She looked straight as Ashley as her eyes shone with a mixture of somber determination. “I'm here to earn everyone's respect, I'm here because I want to feel like this is a difference I've made in peoples lives without having to sling money at every problem and hope it goes away like the rest of the world tries to do.” She finished, walking back to the bench and take a seat. “That's plenty good enough, Lily.” She said with a smile, looking at the other two as Jonah stood up for his turn.

“Uhh... Well...” He stammered, trying to come up with the right words to say, before lifting a fist to his mouth to cough into it awkwardly as everyone stared at him patiently. “Uhh... Okay, here goes.” He recollected himself, smacking his cheeks with his face once or twice to get himself to focus. “My family history consisted mostly of people who entered the medical field. When your parents are super into something, you kind of pick up some knowledge from them before you even attempt to get training.” He spoke calmly, putting a hand on his heart to make it seem more important to him.

“Though... Eventually it got to the point where entering the medical field was pretty much family tradition, But, I was born with an immune deficiency and I grew up sick for most of my childhood. I was bullied and every lunch I had to pop down 10 pills along with the lunch my mom packed with me, I ended up being stuck with 'Pillboy' as my nickname.” He said with a forced chuckle at his own expense, though he didn't hear anyone laugh with him which made him quickly stifle it.

“It got bad enough that I had to drop out at 14, then I was pretty much stuck being home schooled while my mom and dad groomed me into being a doctor. I didn't like to have a constant expectation floating over my head that I'm forced to meet. It felt like I didn't get to choose what I wanted my life to turn into.” He explained, lightly lifting his arm to lightly rub his other shoulder in a fit of awkwardness. “I wanted to break away from the predestined thing and gamble how well I do, I'm tired of just being the school wimp...” He bowed his head, walking back as Maria stood up to take the spot he was in, though the look on her face just looked incredulous.

“...Do I really?” She asked, with some semblance of disrespect, she thought the entire thing was just cheesy and stupid, and to be honest she shouldn't really bother. “Yes, you do.” Ashley replied, leaning her weight onto one leg and shaking her head as she waited for her. “Why?” Maria asked in annoyance, Ashley chuckling and patting her once or twice on her head. “Having a goal is the most important thing you could have to actually make you work your best, You might as well give yourself one.” She chastised, Maria groaning and rolling her eyes before attempting to come up with a reason to be here.

“I'm here because I want the Riftfallen dead. They took something important away from me, they took something away something important from so many people that they deserve WHATEVER is coming to them. And I'm planning on giving them hell personally...” Maria began to rant, glaring back at the three people surrounding her as she spoke. “Yet, People always try to deter me from getting what I want. The teachers at the boarding school advised me to wait a couple of years before I joined because apparently this wasn't the wisest decision... They can go fuck themselves. My sister tried to take hold of my life and force me out of doing this in hopes to protect me... Fuck her too. Even the head council at Spectrum have chastised me for both my age and how I've been acting;” She continued to raise her voice, pacing the ground back and fourth as she used expressive gestures with her arms to facilitate her emotions. Her slightly rough but young voice becoming a bit more coarse as she yelled.

“And they can go fuck themselves too! I'm fucking sick of people telling me WHAT I WANT! I know what I want! I want them dead! Every single fucking one is on my list and I swear to the maker that I'll BURN THEIR EVERYTHING THAT THEY HAVE EVER LOVED! I WILL BURN THEIR FAMILY, AND THEIR WORLD, EVEN THEIR OWN GOD WITH MY OWN TWO FUCKING HANDS!” She began to scream at Ashley in a furor, Lily beginning to shivering from Maria pretty effectively losing her shit in front of her. “Is that enough motivation for you, you motivational book reading fuckwit!? DON'T YOU EVER DOUBT ME AGAI-” She choked before the last word as a pain began to erupt up her entire back, causing it to constrict along with her shoulders as a pain formed on her face.

She dropped to her knees and fell forward, face planting into the rocky asphalt underneath her as she began to growl in pain, hands lifting up to her face to keep it up. She began to cough viciously, an uncomfortable amount of blood spraying onto the ground below as she effectively hacked up a lung. “Maria!” Lily shouted, getting off the bench and kneeling down to place a hand on her shoulder, hoping to maybe help her out. “What's happening!?” She squeaked in a panic as Maria kept coughing up blood, before it finally subsided, though she was in enough pain to roll into one side and curl up into a ball.

“I forgot Maria suffered from Ash Syndrome.” Ashley stated, reaching down and rolling her onto her back so she looked up at the sky. “A symptom is severe pain along with some internal bleeding, which can either because at random times or caused by periods of extreme emotions...” She explained, Maria coughing some more before settling back down. “Knowing Maria's instability... It's kind of a lethal cocktail.” She stood back up and walked over to look at a nearby tree. Sticking her fingers into her mouth and blowing for a sharp whistling sound.

“What do we do!?” Lily asked still afraid of what was happening, holding Maria in her arms as she tried to push her off, she didn't like having people so close when she was pissed off. “It will subside, leave her be for now.” Ashley stated, Lily nodding her head and letting go of Maria as she shivered in a ball on the ground. From behind the tree, a man walked out. He was tall with a broad physique, his hair was a short but slicked back dark brunette, he had a scruffy face full of stubble, but not yet a fully grown beard. His eyes were brown and he was wearing the standard Spectrum student uniform. In one hand he was holding a large heater shield, in his other and he held an Axe, about big enough to swing with either one or two hands.

“Wow, I could hear one of you yelling from all the way over there.” He joked, placing his hands on his hips as he looked at Maria currently trying to recollect herself on the ground. Jonah looked up at him and squinted just a bit as he actually looked kind of familiar. He didn't exactly know why just yet but it was still a feeling he was getting. “Uhh... You okay miss?” The man asked, standing much taller than anyone else in the group. He even had 5 or 6 inches over Jonah in height, as he was the tallest one of the four by a couple of inches.

“Shit...” Maria muttered under her breath, finally feeling the pain subside as she stumbled back onto her feet, Lily offered to help, but Maria just lifted a hand to push her away. “And who the hell at you?” She asked as her eyes caught him in a glance, her arms rubbing her chest from it being still pretty sore. He grinned at her, pointing a thumb at himself as he announced himself like everyone knew who he was already. “Caleb Callahan, a pleasure to meet all of you.” He claimed, Jonah's face suddenly just sunk into a huge frown from the realization. “Oh god... Not you.” He exclaimed quietly as the tall brown haired man walked up to look down at him. “Hey there, Pill boy!” He said jokingly, Jonah just glaring down and away as he looked at him. “Oh come on, Jonah... No love for an old friend?” He wondered, Jonah looking up at him with a glare. “You were more of bully than a friend, Caleb.”

Caleb raised his brow at that, tilting his head to one side and lightly stroking his beard. “Oh come on, Jo. You're just exaggerating, aren't you?” He tried to brush it off, but Jonah got frustrated and pointed at him in accusation. “You beat me up and took my money whenever I had any, you called me names constantly and on top of all of that, you STUFFED ME INTO A LOCKER 17 times!” Jonah ranted, Glaring up at him as he raised his arms up and lightly waved them both to try and get him to back off. “Okay, okay, fine. I was pretty bad when I was a teen, okay? I had time to cool off..” He said, he was only 18 but it's been nearly 3 or 4 years now, at least they could admit that they've both matured.

“I dropped out and became home schooled because of your crap!” Jonah yelled at him, his hands trembling just a bit as he felt like his spine started to come back him. He felt like Caleb was going to punch him in the face, but it never came. “Wait, THAT'S why you left?” He wondered, being somewhat surprised that he could have had such a profound effect. “Yeah, I left because of you... You dipshit. Why are you even here?” He asked with some venom in his voice, some of Maria's derisiveness rubbing off of him after being around her for months at a time.

“I was actually here for about 2 years now, I heard you've joined from your parents only a month ago and I wanted to join your team when you had a spot opened.” He explained, Jonah frowning and looking away. “Gabriel left because his sister died and his parents wanted to be with him...” Jonah spoke with agitation, wondering how long he waited to take an opportunity. “I'm sorry about that, but you were down to 3 people, you can't be a team unless you have 4 or more people. This is so you guys don't get strapped with a stranger.” He tried to justify his actions, but Jonah just turned to walk away from him and walk over to the brick walled outskirts of the academy at the side of the parking lot. “I'd rather have a stranger.” He commented.

Caleb sighed to himself as Ashley shook her head from annoyance, looking at her students and speaking in a loud, commanding tone. “In line!” She shouted, they have had that command burned into their minds by the 5 months of military style training they've been undertaking, and all drop what they were doing to stand shoulder to should while Ashley began to pace between the four of them. “Caleb already knows this, but I'm gonna introduce the rest of you to the concept of Pulse.” She began to explain, looking up at everyone as Maria seemed to have calmed down and was listening as well.

“Pulse was invented by a man who realized that he had powers when wielding it, and eventually this was turned into one of the biggest advantages we have over the Riftfallen in the 40 years the rift has been opened.” She explained, vaguely mentioning Lily's father, Alexander Sterling. “The way pulse works is that having Red Ash near you allows you to propagate your own natural energy into two different forms. The first is the Pulse itself, the next is what can be referred to as 'magic.' The actual scientific term is long and boring and pretty much no one uses it unless you want bonus points for being formal on an essay or some crap.” That last comment got a chuckle out of Jonah, since he was used to practicing formal writing whenever his mother made him write anything.

“The most basic one is Pulse, which will be the one we learn first.” She said, stopping and drawing her blade to let it dangle in front of her while it rested in her left hand. “Pulse is comprised of the natural energy your body and soul uses to allow you to do basic functions. This is the same energy you use for your stamina, which means it's technically based on your metabolism. Making sure you have a decent sleep schedule and diet is crucial as it allows you to use your pulse and stamina more effectively.” She spoke to all three of them. To Maria, this all sounded a bit absurd to her, she's never seen how it works at all and it seemed so abstract and stupid that she couldn't wrap her head around how it could even work. “Keep in mind that using Pulse drains your stamina, so you each need to find a balance between magic, pulse and physical combat that suits your fighting style. Unless that is... you want to pass out.”
“Channeling your Pulse allows you to repel objects away from you, like an invisible armor. Though crafty Spectrum members have found out they can use Pulse to repel THEIR ENTIRE BODY away from the ground. This allows them to dash and leap at insane speeds, along with dampening their own descent speed to survive long falls with little to no damage, it's kind of like being your own spring loaded catapult.” She said, walking up to the tall Caleb and patting him on the shoulder. “Leap over that wall.” She ordered, He nodded and stepped forward.

“Caleb is going to show you guys an example, that wall is about 10 feet high and nearly impossible for someone to leap over. But with Pulse...” She trailed off, as Caleb broke into a run, planting his legs on the ground and bending his knees as what felt like a gust of wind blasted beneath his feet, before launching himself nearly 12 feet into the air, clearing the tall fence of bricks like it was just a speedbump. Maria just looked confused as much as Jonah was, but Lily's eyes lit up like diamonds. “Woooooooow!!! THAT WAS AWESOME!” She shouted like an excited 12 year old, hands to her face and bouncing on her feet to try and contain her joy. As Caleb leaped back over, landing in a 3 point stance before dusting his coat off from any excess dirt. “It's not a problem.” He said, finishing the sentence for Ashley.

“So... How the hell do we do it?” Maria asked, Pulling her twin swords from the scabbards strapped to her waist, spinning in both of her hands and using her typical reverse grip style, since they seemed more comfortable to her that way. Ashley smiled and gave a short laugh. “I enjoy the enthusiasm to try already... Focus your mind and imagine a fire near your heart. Push it away from you and towards wherever you need it.” She explained, lightly patting Maria on the shoulder as she was glad to see her fully recovering back to her normal, if grumpy, self.

“It's pretty abstract at first, but eventually it becomes something you don't even think about doing. It's kind of like breathing that way.. it becomes a thing on it's own.” She continued as Maria tried to concentrate, before breaking out into a run. She bent her knees and got ready to jump, but as she leaped, she realized that she DIDN'T USE PULSE AT ALL. Smashing face first into the wall hard enough that Lily thought she might need to be peeled off. She fell back onto the ground and stared up to the sky as her vision blurred from being suddenly dizzy.

“Well.. We have a lot of progress to make.” Ashley said, reaching down as Maria's vision realigned, leaning down to stick out her hand and help Maria back up. Maria stood back up and shook her head to try and recover a little faster.

“Well that was bullshit..” She commented sardonically, before Ashley went to begin the true training.

Spectrum Intermission: Winter

This chapter takes place between 13 and 14

Intermission 1: Winter
Decem 14, 534 Post Bellum
Journal Entry #39

“It's been so long since I've written in this journal. The last time I wrote in this was when I decided to leave for Spectrum. I can't believe it's been six months since I ran off from my home. There are so many things you lose track of when you join here, and one of those is time.

The next five months after we got accepted were devoted entirely to physical training and conditioning our bodies to actually be ready to fight real threats at the our physical best. We were woken up at 5 AM every morning by our instructor, typically with some kind of air horn which at first I feared to be waken up by, but eventually I became desensitized to it and it just started to get on my nerves. It got me up pretty consistently, so I guess that the airhorn is doing it's job.

The first thing we would do is go for a 10 mile run, this was required by everyone who was enlisted by Spectrum and mostly a requirement for the 4 month physical training period. The entire run would take about an hour, though at first it took me more than an hour due to just not being used to it. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised at how out of shape I actually was.

I mean, I thought I was healthy but as soon as I got about a week in I realized I'm kind of... weak. Eventually I was able to keep pace with Maria, I'm kind of surprised she spent so much time on her physical rehabilitation, but I guess when you have no family and spent all of your time cooped up in the hospital, all you do is run or work out.

The next thing was running along a pretty big obstacle course, it was full of things like jumps, swings, stuff to climb and sidle across to pretty much test your maneuverability. The first time I completed it.. I was in the bottom 20 with my total time. Keep in mind that there is currently 852 students at the academy so... that's pretty dismal to be honest. Maria eventually got into the top 40 times, since it's mostly a speed and agility test and she has that down pat. Jonah also scored as low as I did, though Gabriel managed to hit the top 100 as well.

After that, We do this weird thing called Yoga, it's mostly just stretching and breathing exercises. The rooms tend to fit about 50 people and ours is ran by a guy named Joseph Page, he seems excited about everything especially when it comes to doing glute exercises. Something about holding back the hands of time, that notion makes absolutely no sense and I wonder why they hire such eccentric instructors for all of these sections of physical training.

After that is sparring, we had wooden versions of our weapons made, though I swapped back to a straight sword when I realized that the Scimitar wasn't working out. Luckily for me, my fencing training is starting to integrate with the sword training I've been getting from Instructor Willows, I pretty much always win our little practice sword fights with other first year students, though sometimes I'm still surprised by how many different fighting styles people seem to have. It pretty much means I have to memorize each person's fighting style and how to beat them, which can be pretty mentally taxing and I'm sure no one else thinks about these things that much.

After all of that is EVEN MORE RUNNING, another 10 mile run to top it off. I understand that we need to be in fighting condition, but I was starting to get really bad blisters on my feet from just having to run constantly all day with only one break for eating lunch.

Maria's starting to get a little better, she still has her moments where she'll get mean or upset for no particular reason. She has this weird habit sometimes of not sleeping all night, just leaning against a chair and sipping a glass or water or a cup of coffee and not really looking at anything in particular. She's told me that it's mostly her not being able to sleep, though one or two times I heard her mumbling to herself, almost like having a conversation with someone who wasn't there. She doesn't seem to be getting worse or anything, so I guess you take the bad with the good.

She does a couple of things that seem just absurd to me if she's pretty much burning about 6 hours of workouts every single week. On top of that, every weekend she puts in about 2-4 hours in that fighting club she joined. At the end of the week, she's so drained I pretty much have to pull her out of bed. I guess the good thing that comes out of that is she just doesn't have enough energy to complain to anyone anymore.

Jonah is a bit odd sometimes, he seems a lot more solemn than he lets on. It's like as soon as he's done interacting with people he'll just sink his head and wander off somewhere alone for a couple of hours before coming back. I don't really know if something is bothering him because every time I ask, he'll just say everything is fine and thank me for caring. But how am I supposed to know what's wrong if he doesn't tell me?

He enjoys knitting club though, I'm really glad he's found something in his life that he can enjoy even when hes going through troubles like he is now. Otherwise, he's just been struggling with his physical training, apparently he was sick most of the time when he was a little kid and he grew up missing months of his school just not being able to leave the house. Luckily, his parents are both doctors and taught him a lot of stuff themselves.

Morgan is very taciturn with me, I don't think we've ever had a conversation longer than 2 or 3 sentences ever since that fight during our initiation exams. I could understand why with how irrational I got when she accused me of being a crook, but well.. You think one of us would try and patch it up already. I've tried but to be honest I'm actually a little nervous to do it, I keep thinking I'm just going to end up making things worse...

I'm not sure I've interacted much with Erika, though she seems very kind and helpful to her team and everyone seems to tolerate her pretty well, I would like to come hang out with her once all this physical training is done, to be honest I've been working out so much that every day has become kind of a blur in my own head consisting entirely of me running, it's absurd.

Florence and Robin come to visit us sometimes and both seem to be pretty enjoyable to hang out with. I am kind of jealous of Robin's bravado sometimes, I wish I could become as passionate as she is when it comes to dealing with other people's situations. I sometimes see her with me whenever I go to my history class for college credits. She keeps me awake after that one time I fell asleep during class and ended up with a piece of paper attached to my face. That doesn't seem to be a problem after autumn began when it started to get colder

Since winter kicked in, I realized that I didn't pack any winter outfits with me when I moved out of my dad's manor. I guess I assumed that the dorms were heated enough for me not to worry about it, but my hindsight makes me sound like a complete idiot. To be honest it would make me miss home if it wasn't so cold and dead where I've lived the past couple of years. But I digress, this isn't really the point of this journal.

Gabriel's sister's home was destroyed by invading Riftfallen, he got the phone call just this last week. His parents got a hold of him and requested him to leave Spectrum academy and he acceded to leave. He was very upset about the entire thing because well.. He spent enough time with us to actually consider us his friends. So unfortunately that leaves us one person short, but Ashley spoke to us yesterday about finding a new person to join our team. Apparently he's been here for about a year or so and knows what he's doing. He left his own team to join this one, but I'm not exactly sure why, so here is my reminder to remember to talk to him about this. If I forget, I'm stupid.

This entire thing is just a reminder to me that we're in danger nearly every single day by just being here while the black split in the sky looms overhead. You can have a normal day and then just have it ruined by what seems to be a natural disaster. It isn't ever out of malice, it's just... doesn't care what gets destroyed. Both this and what happened with Maria are only reminders of the times we live in now.

Oh, I forgot to mention the fact Maria is alive. I'm kind of wondering how I wrote about Maria's mood improving when I thought she was dead for two and a half years and that her being alive would be a much higher priority. It makes it sound like I found her corpse and it's behavior is 'better' than before. Well, Maria's alive. There, I said it. Maybe I'm just so used to her being not dead that I forgot I thought she was dead; Life is weird.

She really loves her cat.. Which she's called 'Cat.' She refuses to call it Snowy for some reason, even when I asked her to get it's nametag and collar she insisted on calling it 'Cat' instead of Snowy, luckily I superseded her and managed to get it's proper name printed on it's cute pink collar. Then I found out it was a boy... My bad. It's actually funny, Snowy climbs onto Maria's shoulders like a parrot when they are together, it's the strangest sight I've ever seen.

At first I missed my home, but eventually I got used to not having all of luxuries I got accustomed to, at first I didn't know how to live without all the things I was used to. People to clean up my room, cook my food, parcel out my day into a schedule, tell me where to go, tell me what to wear, tell me what to say... And all of that left in an instant, I still have access to my savings account, which is probably more than what most students have here since Maria never seems to have enough money for her own food some days without my help.

But after a while, it's been kind of freeing. For the past couple of years I knew that my father didn't really see me anything more than just my last name. As soon as he passed away all I would have is ownership of the company, but I'll still be living the same way I live now, with everyone picking everything best for me. I don't consider myself a rebel, but I don't think I could go back to a life where I don't get an option to decide how I live.

It's all thanks to my butler, Alistair; who probably acted more like a father to me than my own dad ever since he divorced my mother and bent the rules so they couldn't take any of his claim. He got me out of there, gave me my bags and gave me places to go. Because of what happened to Maria, I felt like I should do something that felt more real... defending others instead of sitting behind the scenes, ignoring everyone and everything like they're ants on an anthill.

My therapist told me that these were originally to help me cope with my life issues in a clean and timely manner, but as I was writing this I kind of wondered why I continued to write them.

Sometimes at night I do think that maybe being in Spectrum will kill me, it keeps me up and makes me restless in my bed until I'm forced to get out and walk around until I calm down. I guess that's a fear everyone here has, but at the same time we're the only people with tools to help stop them. A new doctrine was passed with heavy financial backing by my own father to make it so these tools can only be used by people affiliated with Spectrum, Sometimes I feel like I'm writing my own memoir instead of a journal...

I'm still not 100% sure about how Rosewall treats weapons. Back when they had much looser laws, we nearly erupted in a civil war after the Astrians invaded, and suddenly these weapons used to combat Riftfallen were stripped from anyone who owned them. Maybe I don't know enough about ethics to actually comment, there are professionals for these things and I'm just some rich girl trying to fight alongside with a bunch of people willing to risk their lives.

Today is the day our physical conditioning ends and we enter specialized combat training. Apparently Ashley is going to introduce us to the new team member along with showing off something that is supposed to be the entire reason the Ash weapons allow us to fight off Riftfallen, it's pretty interesting to see that in action, but it's also really exciting for the possibility to use it myself.

I should stop here, Maria's annoyed that we're going to be late to go see Ashley.

Things to do:
Meet sister and mother
Think about job after Spectrum
Buy clothes that aren't REALLY INAPPROPRIATE FOR WINTER – Priority.
Help Maria find hobby that doesn't involve punching strangers in the face. – Also a priority."

BONUS JOURNAL
Maria Journal Entry #1
Decim 15, 534 Post Bellum
Journals suck.

What am I, twelve?

Spectrum #13: Class Act, Part 2

I'm back and schedules will slowly return to normal, thank you everyone who decided to be patient.

Chapter 13: Class Act, Part 2.

The smell of charred flesh filled the air as cold vapors of carbon dioxide spew from it's cold, plastic maw. Dousing the flames of hatred and cooling the very air itself in a dense fog akin to the cool nights of the north country. The fog began to settle as it formed a chill down to the very core of your soul, a feeling that was never felt before in the beautiful crimson eyes of the young female...

In actuality, someone just sprayed a fire extinguisher onto the pan of burning meat. “Miss Roth! What is the meaning of this!?” The man holding the fire extinguisher shouted at Maria, currently clad in an apron covering over her chest, it had singe marks on it from being so close to the flame.He was wearing a white double breasted chef's jacket along with a toque draped on his head. He had a huge curly mustache and appeared to be entering his 40's if one could guess.

Maria looked down at the charred remains of her food sitting on the stove, the burns singed away the wallpaper on the back and the smoke was slowly being sucked away by the fume hood. It was probably the only burnt one of the rack of brushed steel stoves lining each side of the wall. “Uhh... The meat didn't act like I thought it was going to...” Maria complained, sounding unsure of herself.

“Well, not only did you mess up your heating element, you've damaged the wall, and the stove itself! Why did you turn it up so high?” He said, his hands on his hips as he expressed indigence for the new recruit. He knew it was her first day, but he didn't expect a disaster as big as hers to show up on recruitment day. “Well Mr. Stevenson... The meat wasn't heating up fast enough and I thought it would help.” She explained meekly, trying to shrug off the stares of other students who looked at her in fear.

“...And you didn't warm the pan up first?” He asked, confused by how she decided to even join advanced cooking when she didn't even know that very basic thing. “Well... I didn't think you'd have to. I turned on the burner, put the oil in and tried to cook the meat like you asked me to.” Maria said, trying to justify her actions to the instructor.

“And yet you turned the burner all the way up, igniting the oil.” He chastised, Maria sighing a bit and looking at the charcoal that was her meat. “Yeah I friggen know already.. I tried to put it out, though!” She complained, but he wasnt hearing any of it and raised his voice. “YOU CAUSED AN EXPLOSION BY THROWING WATER ON IT!” He shouted, Maria blinking and raising a finger as she spoke. “Actually, I think it was a conflagration.” Maria observed, but that seemed to just enrage the cooking instructor even more.

“I don't care about semantics, You lit a bunch of things on fire!” He declared, but Maria started to grow annoyed, furrowing her brow as she glared at him. “Look man, it's mostly wallpaper damage. I'll clean up and we can reset the te-” The sprinklers spraying the entire classroom cut her off, quickly getting her and everyone else wet and just made Maria even more unhappy. “...Damn it.” She commented, looking up at him and placing her hand onto the now wet stove.

“You're going to have to pay for both the fire AND the water damage, by the way.” He explained, but Maria just pulled her thin lips into an even bigger frown. “Look, Miss Roth, maybe advanced cooking isn't for you.” He observed, Maria quickly pulled her apron off and stuffed it to his chest, making him quickly grab onto it and jerk back as she turned to walk away out of the classroom. “Fine, I concede.” She admitted, closing the door behind her as Cassandra chased after her out of the door, Maria started walking down the white and red colored halls as the white haired girl caught up to her. “Oh don't worry, Maria... There's always regular cooking!” She said, trying to cheer her up.
“I'm not sure I'd be allowed anywhere near a stove while I'm still here.” Maria commented as she walked up to her own locker, twisting the combination and popping it open to pull out the schedule for other elective classes. “I guess that could be a problem...” Cassandra commented, Maria waiting for some students to pass before pulling it open and reading it over. “Do you know what other hobbies do you have that you could turn into a class to join?” She asked, Maria slipping through the pages. “You know, I didn't realize I didn't have any interesting hobbies until just now...” Maria admitted from embarrassment, looking away and flipping the next page as she kept looking at classes she wasn't interested in.

“Hmm.. Maybe just pick a random one and hope for the best?” Cassandra suggested as they continued to walk one of the long hallways, Maria stopped walking as she inspected one club opening that she recognized. “Those assholes who grabbed your hair... What club did they say they were going back to?” Maria asked with curiosity and an agenda, Cassandra looking at her concerned as Maria kept glossing through the pages.

“Why? Isn't that whole ordeal over now...?” Cassandra questioned, wondering what Maria was planning on going to do. But Maria just looked up at her with a pretty serious glare on her face. “I need to go and talk to them in private.” Maria said somewhat menacingly, but Cassandra gently shook her head. “It was the fighting club, but... couldn't we just report them to faculty? They'll get an indictment, or something.” She countered to try and dissuade Maria for whatever she was going to do. Maria just shook her head as she slid her hand along the pages of the book until they stopped at the fighting club. “Unfortunately for you, I made up my mind already.” Maria commented, closing the book and tucking it under one arm as she broke out into a jog and starting to outpace Cassandra's walking.

“Wait! Come back..!” Cassandra shouted at her, but by the time she called out, Maria was already lost in the crowd of students crossing between classrooms. “Don't do anything crazy...” She said in defeat, clearly quiet enough for Maria to not even hear her. Though she just assumed Maria was going to ignore her anyway.

Maria went down the stairs to the room the fight club was being held, a fairly large room on the first floor with a sign on it that said 1-08. She grabbed the door and twisted it open to find a pretty large facility. The floors were made of polished wood, with blue mats resting on it for sparring or working out, on one side was what appeared to be a full boxing ring. There were students in rows jumping rope, along with an older man in his 40's punching and kicking on a heavy sandbag to practice various different combos. When the door swung open and smacked into the wall behind Maria, He looked at her with a big goofy grin.

“Well hello there! Welcome to my special fighting club... for fighting!” He said through a thick accent. He might have been from Ingrand, the country to the south which was known for being... lively to say the least. The semi-old man walked up to the short grumpy teen, hands on his hips as he looked down at her. “What brings you here?” He asked, Maria glancing around the room to see that girl she confronted earlier, but not seeing her just yet. She might be in a different area, since it was a pretty large gym.

“I'm looking to join your fighting club.” Maria stated calmly, the guy kept his goofy grin as he walked to her and placed a hand on her shoulder and pushing her forward just a bit. “Oh, then you should pay close attention to what I'm gonna tell you!” He said, not being able to keep his voice below shouting level.

“Back in my day, I was a bouncer at a club! Then I became a boxer and punched a lot of ass! Then I joined Spectrum and kicked a lot of ass! Now I'm here, Teaching people how to hit people in the ass.” He explained, leaving Maria completely confused. “Uhh... I'm not sure that helped me.” She trailed off, not exactly sure what he wanted to hear. He walked in front of her and crossed his arms. “Well I'll give you the simple version.” He said, preparing to explain, his hair was shaved completely bald to possibly cover up the fact he had a receding hairline, he had tanned skin and a blonde stubble on his face to match his light hair color.

“This is a club for ass kickers, a club made for ass kickers to fight other ass kickers when we're not fighting Rift Fallen. If you wish to join, I'll get the papers and sign you up, but then we'd need to begin initiation.” He said, walking away from her and heading to another door, but not before turning to face a random man who was just standing and watching the scene going on. “Two hundred push-ups, Jeffery!” He demanded in a surprisingly commanding voice. Jeffery sheepishly nodded and dropped to his stomach to start doing push ups as the strange man closed the door behind him to grab paperwork.

“Yeah... Sebastian is weird, he knows a thing or two about fighting though.” A girl commented behind Maria, who quickly spun around to come across a familiar face. It was Morgan, sporting a black eye, her black hair in a shoulder length mess and strapped into a rough ponytail. “Morgan, why are you here?”

Morgan slung her backpack over one shoulder and grinned at the shorter girl. “Oh, as soon as I heard this club was an elective I joined pretty much immediately. If you were going to join, what took you so long?” Morgan asked her, giving a yawn and stretching as Maria replied. “I went to the cooking club and they asked me to cook up a streak; I made fire instead.” She said sheepishly, crossing her arms. Morgan gave a chuckle to that and patted her on the shoulder. “Eh... Cooking was never my thing, either.” She said to try and console Maria for her massive failure, but Maria lightly pulled her hand off of her shoulder and looked up at her.

“Off topic, I know. But why did Lily attack you?” Maria asked from nowhere, Morgan sighed and looked at the floor for a second while Maria continued to stare her right in the face. “I just.. hate the types who have the potential to help people out and just squander it. Maybe it was just an assumption on my part.” Morgan replied rationally, as Maria reached up to stroke her own chin.

“But you don't really know if Lily is that type or not.” Maria replied honestly, Morgan putting her hands on her hips as they stood across from each other, just in front of the door so no one could hear them. “That's a possibility, but when you're the daughter of a mysterious dude who runs a conglomerate you kind of make the assumption she's been groomed to his agenda...” She stated, Maria glaring up at her and sighing. “Look, I've been her friend for like.. 7 years now, She isn't like that.” Maria contested, not actually raising her voice for an argument once in her life.

“I need time, Maria. Don't force us to reconcile just because you don't like it.” Morgan replied firmly, Maria looked away as instructor Sebastian came back into the room with a clipboard and pen in one hand, spinning it around and handing it to Maria. She started to quietly observe it as he spoke. “You'll need to sign these papers, it's pretty much telling the school board that you're okay with people caving your face in with hilariously hard kicks.” He explained, Maria just looking dumbfounded when she stared up at him, hand grabbing at the pen while she just felt the wave of confusion wash over her.

“...Excuse me?” Maria said incredulously, Sebastian placing his hand on his hips and giving a hearty laugh. “It's a fight club! You're supposed to get kicked in the face.”

Maria just blinked and slowly slid her head back down to look at the contract, a bunch of small print legalese she didn't even want to bother reading into. “By the way, Maria. It's pretty true, I got kicked in the face like eight times.” Morgan chimed in casually, but Maria just stared at her like she'd just gone mad. “Morgan... You need to get checked for a concussion.” She said, before popping the cap off of her pen and quickly signing her name on the dotted line. “I'm in.” She added, before handing it back to Mr. Ritters. He looked it over, pulling a small pair of spectacles from his pocket to see the fine print.

“Wow, Ms. Roth... Your hand writing is terrible.” He casually snarked at her, Maria glaring up at him and watching him fold the paper up and setting it aside on a nearby table in quiet annoyance. “I'll process those later,” He said casually, Maria giving him an unblinking stare while he used one of his hands to wipe off his nose, before placing his hands on his hips. “Welcome to the fighting club... What brings you to the ring, Weasel?” He asked matter of factly, Maria lifting a brow and tilting her head slightly from the confusion she had. “...Weasel?” She questioned, He chuckled and pat her on the shoulder. Maria quickly grabbed his hand and lightly pulled it off. “Yeah. You're small and fierce like one of those weasel types! I think it fits perfectly.” He tried to explain, though Maria didn't even want to bother with an argument.

“Yeah... Whatever.” She shrugged it off, crossing her arms over her chest and looking to the floor. “I was uhh... looking to improve my fighting.” She said to try and cover up the fact she wanted to join to call someone out. Sebastian frowned at her and shook his head in disappointment. “Nuh uh, little missy.” He said, bopping her on the head with his hand like she was some kind of dog who just piddled on the carpet. “You didn't look me in the eye, so you're lying.” He deducted with his strange moon logic, Maria stared up at him nonplussed as she admitted the truth. “Fine, I want to beat someone up without getting in trouble.” She said with a hint of humiliation in her voice.

There was a lull in the conversation, before he suddenly made her jump with his loud response. “Good enough to sign up!” He shouted boldly, Maria reaching up to try and quell the ringing in her ears. “Jeeze... Really?” She asked incredulously, not believing that was literally all the reason she could need to join. “Yep, just tell me who's ass you wanna kick and we'll set up a little quickie-fight for the two of you.” He said enthusiastically, Maria blinking a couple of times and looking around. “Is there an 'Elaine' here?” She asked, and instructor Sebastian just pointed to one side.

There stood the girl lightly jumping ropes with quite a bit of finesse. She had caramel colored skin with dark brown chin length hair and sharp green eyes. She probably was taller than Maria but that isn't a surprise to the disgruntled redhead anymore. She was clad in a black tank top and a light white pair of sweat pants and quietly counting to herself as she jumped rope. “Just head over there and challenge her to a fight, she's never said no before this.” He commented, Maria gulping slightly and getting enough resolve to walk up in front of her as she jumped the rope.

“101...102...103..” She muttered with each jump, it was surprising that should keep up with how fast she was skipping, but when she laid eyes on Maria, she stumbled and got tripped up enough to almost stumble. She sighed and balled up the jump rope into one hand before throwing it aside. “Damn it, You threw off my rhythm...” She complained, looking up at the short angry redhead currently glaring daggers at her. “Oh, you're the kid from earlier.” She stated flatly, Maria tilted her head slightly and shook her head. “We're gonna fight.” Maria replied coldly, not really wanting to mince words with the jerk she met earlier.

“You must be pretty brave to follow up on what you said, and you need even more guts to challenge me on home turf.” She commented with a small sense of respect hiding under her disdain.

“Yes or no?” Maria asserted, Elaine snickering a little bit and putting her hands on her own hips. “Wow, you mean business.” She casually mentioned, Maria glaring up at her as she talked. “There has to be something in it for me before I give any of my time, kid. What's it gonna be, Money.. a dare...?” She asked, Maria shrugging her shoulders before replying. “Loser quits the club.” She declared calmly, the girl grinning a bit in her over confidence. “Now we're talking!” She replied with a grin, walking over to the boxing ring and shouting at the redheaded male she was with earlier. “Hey, Eddie! Get me my gloves.” She requested of him, he walked over to a small cupboard and promptly grabbed a pair of padded 6 oz gloves that covered the knuckles with a layer of padding, but allowed the fingers to stay free, along with that pair, he also slung a second pair in for Maria that bounced off her head when they smacked firmly into them with a skilled toss.

“OH YEAH! I love impromptu fights!” Sebastian shouted, quickly running his way into the four sided boxing style ring and getting in between both of them. “Look ladies, if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it right.” He said, looking between the both of them as Maria slipped her gloves on. She gently punched her own fists to feel their fit, it was slightly loose on her hands but nothing too serious. She took a deep breath to calm her quickened heartbeat while she observed her opponent as she warmed up.

“Alright you two. No elbows, no headbutting, no hitting the groin, no grabbing the ropes. This will be for three rounds of 3 minutes. As there are no judges in this impromptu fight, if this fight finishes at the third round then this will be considered a draw.” He explained the rules to them both, they both nodded their heads as he left the ring to stand upon the apron. “Each side will have a coach for advice and throwing in the towel if need be, you can win by knocking your opponent out, making them submit or getting knocked down three times total, if you're down for 10 seconds without defending yourself, you'll lose.” He continued, before turning to address the 15 or so people attending the class that day.

“HEY! WHO WANTS TO BE THE WEASEL'S COACH?” He shouted to all of them, Maria groaned and reared her head back at him to shout. “You dick!” She muttered sharply, and Morgan raised her hand for her.”I'll do it!” She replied with her somewhat deep female voice, climbing up the corner and grabbing the turnbuckle. “Alright, that's good enough for me.” He replied to her demand, turning back and looking at them both. “And... Fight starts with the bell!” He announced, grabbing an electric timer of the small timekeeper table. Along with that, he grabbed a small black hammer used for striking the bell resting just beside it attached to a small chain. The bell rung out nice and clearly as Maria suddenly charged out of her corner.

She shouted and caught Elaine off guard, shoving her to the ropes using her shoulders by spearing her firmly in the stomach. This was enough to make the heavier girl smack into the back of the padded turnbuckle as Maria reared up her punches, spreading her legs and planting firmly into the ground to launch upper cuts at Elaine's face. She growled and swung like a wild animal as Elaine pulled both of her arms up to guard the punches. Her fists smashing into her arms and making both Maria's fists hurt from smacking into the forearms, and the clear bruises on the forearms from the punches making it tender.

She lurched back and planted a boot into Maria's chest, forcing her to backpedal and not fall over, as that would count for a down. Elaine reared back for a haymaker, but Maria quickly slipped to one side to deliver a sharp hook to her liver. “That's right, Maria. Be a tiger! LITERALLY BECOME A TIGER!” Morgan shouted at her, but the sentence seemed like complete nonsense as Maria backed away from Elaine to glare at Morgan. “Morgan, what the hell does that even mean!?”

Maria sighed and turned back to suddenly get blindsided by a running kick to the jaw by Elaine, her head feeling like it just nearly got pulled apart by the force, she got launched forward and landed on her face after sliding a few feet. “Down!” The instructor shouted, heading back into the ring and pointing to Maria as she rolled onto his stomach and slowly pushed herself off the ground, shaking her head as the ringing in her ears began to fade. “3! ...4! ...5!” He counted roughly each second, she lightly slipped her finger between her lips and pulled out to check for blood, but there was none. Before quickly getting back onto her feet and putting with Elaine's nearly instant dive toward her.

Maria dipped a right hook and landed some jabs, bouncing on the toes of her dress shoes to try and begin to circle her with jabs, hoping to get her to turn her shoulder and land a straight to the face. She fell for the bait and shifted her feet to turn and face Maria, but predicted the swing and duck it to land a hard body blow to Maria's stomach. Maria groaned as she felt her feet lift slightly off the ground, dropping onto her feet and getting smashed in the side of her head.

She began to stumble off to one side, feeling like she was about to fall before realizing what just happened, planting her foot wide and crouching down to keep standing. Suddenly, Elaine stepped in for an uppercut as Maria leans her head away just fast enough for the glove to only graze her chin and nose. She couldn't even breathe a sigh of relief as Elaine spun her hips to launch a high roundhouse kick at her. Maria deftly grabs the swinging leg and grabs it under her arm, causing it to firmly slam into her side. “Screw you!” She growled and shoved her leg to force her to fall onto her back, Maria collapsing ontop of her and quickly scrambling to land mounted punches to her face.

Maria grabbed her by the head and smashed her dominant hand; her left hand straight into Elaine's face over and over again until a small amount of blood began to spill from her mouth. Suddenly, the bell rung and Mr. Ritters grabbed Maria by the shoulders. “Round's over, cupcake.” He commented, Maria spitting onto the mat underneath her and walking back to her corner, where she see's Morgan awaiting her. “What the hell was with the tiger comment?” Maria asked as she walked back to her corner for the 90 second break. “Well... I was messing with you.” Morgan stated outright, Maria glaring daggers at her as she promptly reached down to pull out a crunchy chocolate candy bar from her pocket and unraveling the wrapper to take a bit out of it. “Mhhh.. Chocolate rice bar.” She said serene by the melty crunch of a cheap vending machine candy bar.

“Really? A chocolate bar?” Maria complained at her, she nodded and glared at her. “Hey, coaches always have chocolate on them, it's tradition.” She argued, but Maria quickly swung and smacked the chocolate bar out of her hand, having it fly through the air and smack on the floor, some of the pieces falling off of it and touching the floor. Morgan looked unamused by this altercation as she glared at Maria. “...I'll resent that.” She replied firmly, before slinging a towel onto her shoulder and leaning up to inspect Maria's face. “How bad are you roughed up?” Morgan asked, Maria shook her head and crossed her arms. “That kick to my face hurt, but I'll live.” She replied, leaning back as Morgan rubbed her shoulders some. “So uhh... advice on how to beat her in under 2 rounds?” Maria asked, Morgan looking up at her and watching her talk to Eddie.

“Well... She has the reach and power advantage, but if you stay REALLY close, she can't use her full swings anymore.” Morgan observed, Maria nodding and standing back up to get ready for the next round. “And don't forget to be crazy.” She added as Maria walked back to the center as a student got ready to ring the bell. “Don't worry, I'm always crazy.” Maria commented jokingly as the bell rung. Elaine charged out of the gates for Maria but she responded by quickly ducking her punch and landing her own cross-counter at Elaine's full running speed, drilling her in the jaw and forcing her onto her knees as she slid onto her back. “Down!” Sebastian shouted as she looked at her spilled on the floor.

Maria turned her back and was getting ready to lean back against the ropes to wait until she got up, but before she got there, a sharp pain started to grow in her right arm. She quickly clutched at her forearm and doubled over to hiss in pain. The punch she just landed hurt her arm pretty easily before a suddenly burst of clarity formed in her head. 'Fuck... It's the wound I got from the exams, It hasn't healed yet...' she thought to herself, looking down and notices small drops of blood forming on the clean white bandage.

She started to clutch it as Elaine slowly stood back up, putting her fists back up at the count of 8. “You hit pretty hard for someone your size... But I still hit harder.” She stated to try and taunt Maria, who weakly balled her right hand into a fist while her left one clutched much harder. She has no choice but to swing left punches or else her wound will open again. She leaned in and tried to follow Morgans advice and get too close to her so she couldn't swing full punches. Maria threw a faint with her right before landing a sharp hook straight in the chin, but any other punches she would through were blocked once again by a full guard. Maria dipped down and tried to swing another punch at her stomach, but Elaine responded by hiking a knee upward and bashing it into Maria's temple.

Maria's head got smashed backward, standing her up and feeling like her head was in the clouds. She lightly began to stumble randomly around the arena, but was still seemingly able to keep her balance as Elaine launched herself in for the killing blow. Maria shook her hair and gained enough composure to grab her arm and slam her into the ground face first, then grabbing her arm and pulling it up to wrap both of her legs around her neck to try and choke her out and yank out her arm at the same time.

“GIVE UP, DAMN YOU!” Maria shouted with a dizzy slur in her voice, yanking firmly to try and dislocate Elaine's shoulder, but she just groaned and slowly got onto her knees, making Maria's legs lift slightly into the air. She then got onto one knee and lifted herself back onto her feet, Maria dangling off while trying to keep hold of her arm and neck. She then began to slowly walk to the center of the ring, lifting her arm straight into the air with Maria still grasping onto it. “...SCREW YOU!” She shouted back at Maria, falling forward and slamming Maria straight onto her back. She screamed in pain but only tightened her grip on her head and shoulder, forcing Elaine to stand back up and smash her into the mat once again with a dull thud.

Maria was getting her back smashed into the ground from a 7 foot drop over and over again, so on the second time she was slammed, she was forced to let go. She slowly clambered back onto her own feet, since that didn't qualify as her getting knocked down, but the slamming knocked the breath and some of the consciousness straight out of her. She struggled to put up her fists, but tried her best to fight her off. Elaine was fortunately hurt as well, trying to adjust her shoulder and neck to shake off some of the soreness, but the bell rung once again and Sebastian stood between them once again. Maria limped back to her corner, which Morgan grabbed a nearby stool just before Maria collapsed into it.

“That was insane.” Morgan commented, Maria lurching over to try and catch her breath. “F-fuck...” Maria coughed out, trying to get rid of the sharp pain in her lungs. “My body is giving out on me.” She continued, rubbing her arm and shaking her head. “Another three minutes and we'll draw, if that's any condolence.” Morgan expressed, But Maria pulled the stool out of the ring and growled as she turned to face her opponent. “I'm going for a win, not a draw.” Maria replied, standing up and rubbing the soreness out of her neck.

“Well, you could try punching yourself in the face over and over again to confuse her!” Morgan commented, but Maria didn't even bother to look at her this time since last time she just got kicked firmly upside the head. She walked to the center of the ring before the break was over. Elaine was sitting in her corner as Eddie tended to her sore shoulders. “You hanging in there?” He asked her, She just looked up at him and gave a chuckle. “She's tougher than I thought... But this still shouldn't be a problem.” She commented, standing up and stretching just a bit as the bell rang and they met up in the center of the ring.

Maria was forced to keep her right hand on the defensive, making all of her jabs completely useless since she can only throw a straight with her other arm unless she swapped her stance around. Elaine through a rough punch with her weakened shoulder, making it falter and allowing Maria to dip under it, plowing an uppercut firmly into her chest that was hard enough to make her back off a step. She pulled her left hand back and smashed her fist firmly into Elaine's face. Elaine gritted her teeth and smashed her fist back into Maria's face, but Roth returned in kind. This turned into a punching contest in the center of the ring, where each person threw their best left to bash each other in the face.

They reared fully back for each slug until each one had a swollen up and blackened eye on the same side of their face, Maria backing off and trying to flank her by charging to one side and smashing her fist into the side of her head, but Elaine quickly spun around and smashed a back fist into Maria's face. Maria groaned in pain, but pushed through the stinging feeling in her face. She leaped up and wrapped her arms around the back of Elaine's head, pushing her head down and drilling a knee straight into her face.

She pushed her forward, leaning her into the ropes and bashing her knees over and over again into her chest as she kept trying to overpower Maria and get herself free of the constant wall of kicking. She pushed Maria onto her back, but Maria quickly rolled into her shoulder and stood back up. Elaine dove in to land another knee, but Maria pushed it aside with an open palm, reaching up to smash her into the stomach with her forearm. She leaned up, taking a quick swing on the face but using just perseverance alone to shrug it off, nailing her again and again with hammering lefts as she tried to not use her right arm.

Elaine pushed her off, kicking her firmly in the stomach and forcing her to bend down so she could try to bash her in the back of the head, but once again Maria eluded the strike and backed off into a free corner. Elaine grinned and charged at her, but she tucked her head and bent her knees down in response. Elaine couldn't stop thanks to her own momentum, and was forced to watch Maria dip back up and slam a punch straight into her jaw. This rattled her hard, forcing her to stumble backward step by step to keep her balance from toppling backward. Maria took this as an opportunity, running up and leaping to smash her knee straight into Elaine's chin with enough force to send them spilling onto the floor together. “They're both down!” Sebastian shouted when both didn't follow up on that attack, Maria smashed the back of her head into the ground below and was just as shaken up, so she stumbled on her feet and clutched the back of her head as Elaine was stuck on the floor.

“5! ...6! ...7!” He counted her out as Maria turned around to walk back to her corner, pretty sure that it was finished until she was shocked by what she heard. “9... She's back up, Roth!” He said, Maria turning around and quickly getting back into her fighting stance as Elaine made a mad dash at her, smashing her fist into Maria's face and pushing her back into her own corner to begin to wail on her.
Hooks, uppercuts, straights, smashes, body blows came in flurries against Maria as she got rattled in the corner, she pulled up a block and tried to take it, but felt like she was fading out. She couldn't even see where the punches were coming from. All that she knew was her legs were getting heavy and she was becoming less and less able to feel the dull pain from each strike growing collectively on her. She slowly began to sink her guard as she got pummeled.

'DING' sounded the bell, as it signified the end of the final round, Sebastian pulled Elaine off of Maria as Maria leaned back into her corner to keep herself standing, her vision slowly coming into view as she observed Elaine speaking to her instructor. “Sorry, time out means a draw.” He replied to something Maria was still too woozy to understand at first. “Really? She dropped her guard! I thought it was over.” She complained, but he shook his head. “I'm sorry El, this was a draw, not a victory.” He rationalized calmly, She sighed and walked up to Maria, pulling off her own gloves and extending a hand. “Look kid, I know you wanted to defend your friend and all.. but it's a bit much for just some insult tossing.” She mentioned to Maria, Maria pulled off her own gloves and took a deep breath, gently shaking her hand for only a brief second.

“Everything isn't black and white, Elaine... Cass was an orphan and was raised by Rosewall parents instead. “Elaine spit a spot of blood onto the floor as she sighed. “You guys need thicker skin, I got shit talked all the time when I first moved here since my parents were originally Gebyrian.” She complained, trying to make it sound like it was less malicious. Maria knew about Gebyria, it was to the southwest across a pretty big ocean, it was pretty much a huge mixture of desert, jungle and islands. All of it hot as hell and unpleasant to live in. “Look, I heard from Cass about what happened to your dad... It's fucked up, but that doesn't mean every Astrian killed your dad...” Maria tried to reply, Elaine looking somewhat frustrated and looking at the floor.

“I'm old enough to realize that, kid.” She replied resentfully, looking up at Maria. “I respect you for actually wanting to fight me, but don't try to pull this PSA preachy bullshit on me. I did it because it made me feel better, okay?” She ranted at Maria, returning a dissatisfied glare at the Gebyrian as she replies. “At least give her a chance, okay?” Maria asked, but Elaine just sighed to herself and exited the ring to leave the club for now. She hasn't lost, but she at least needed some time to cool off. Maria gave a sigh of relief as she turned to walk up to Morgan. “Hey Roth, Good fight.” Morgan said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out another chocolate bar from her hand and holding it out for Maria.

Maria smiled a little and grabbed the chocolate bar, inspecting the wrapper a bit as she replied. “Wow, thanks Morg-” She got cut off, as Morgan swung an uppercut at her hands to punch the candy bar, making it fly through the air and land somewhere behind her. “W-wha!?” Maria stammered from her own confusion. “HOW DOES IT FEEL!?” Morgan shouted at Maria to spite her over the destruction of her previous chocolate bar. “YOU HAVE BEEN FORCED TO TASTE THE SHAME OF LOSING YOUR CHOCOLATE.” She continued, but Maria just blinked and looked completely confused at her. “Bad...” She replied, pouting at her as Morgan started to break out into a laugh and pat her on the shoulder. “Well... Training starts next week Roth, see you then.” She said, grabbing her chocolate bar on the ground , putting it back into her pocket and leaving the room as well. Sebastian walked up to speak with Roth last.

“Your papers still need to process, so you should just head home for now.” He explained, Maria nodded and exited the ring, leaving the club and heading back to her dorm to rest. Hours later, Jonah was walking back to the same dorm room with a repaired dark red scarf wrapped and folded over his arm, twisting the knob and heading inside to quite a strange scene. Maria was sitting in front of a small television resting on a nearby desk, sitting on a reversed chair and resting her arms on the front of the chair as she watched a man on the television. He was fat and depressed looking as he quietly was trying to make nachos using cheese sauce and chili and put it into a small microwave to the left side of him. “So then we uhh.. put.. the cheese stuff in the microwave... and uhh.. Be careful because hot things are hot.” He stammered, hitting buttons on the microwave and turning it on so it began to quietly hum and rotate the bowl.
“Ya know... I might have put too much cheese in there since... I'm horrifically alone and I assume that anyone watching this is gonna microwave by themselves. Don't microwave this much cheese unless you're going to sit alone and... I don't know, watch a movie or something.” The fat man said on the TV, Jonah walking up beside Maria to look at her, her face was in a dull trance glaring at the TV like she just saw a war crime on the television. The cat climbed up in front of the TV and curled up against to start falling asleep, Maria suddenly snapping out of it to look up at Jonah.

“This is the saddest thing I've ever seen.” Jonah commented, staring in pure shock as this strange man continued to cook in just behind the small white kitten. “I have been watching this for 3 hours.” Maria said, her voice flat and empty as that man's soul as she stared blindly at the lights flickering through the cat's fur. “May I ask why?” Jonah requested, Maria leaning back and shaking her head quickly to try and break the emotional monotony. “Uhh.. Lily found out from Cassandra I got banned from the cooking class for 6 months, so she bought me a TV and EVERY COOKING DVD she could find. Every single one is hosted by this guy named Butterburg... He's this fat lonely guy who owns a pizza chain in Rosewall or some crap.” She ranted at him, he placed her scarf onto her lap and smiled down at her.

“The people at the knitting club were so nice, they even helped me fix the scarf and even made it fireproof!” He said with pure enthusiasm, Maria lifting the scarf and looking it over, running the smooth fabric over with her thumb to realize that the ratty frayed scarf was now smooth and silky. “Wow... This is actually really good.” Maria admitted, lightly curling it around her neck and having it hang off her shoulders. “Glad you like it.” He replied with a smile. “So what were you doing today?” He asked, Maria leaning back and rubbing her still sore face as she looked up at him. “Well.. I joined a fight club and got to punch someone's face.” She spoke brazenly, though he just looked confused at her. “What? I thought you joined a cooking club.” He argued, but Maria shook her head and sighed. “Uhh... I made fire instead of food.” She admitted sheepishly, looking up at him and watching his reaction.

“HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?” He stammered in confusion, She just placed her chin into her palm and sighed some. “Uhh.. Don't underestimate how bad my failures can be, I guess.” She commented, Jonah facepalming and looking up at her. “Well.. just be ready for training next week, they're gonna run us raw with how much they're going to make us work out.” He warned, Maria stood up and turned to face him, crossing her arms together and nodding.

“I'll be ready.”