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 #11: Summer Rain

This chapter was released on my birthday. Yay me.

 Chapter 11: Summer Rain

The clouds began to fill the sky and darken as rain began to pour and wet the streets and sidewalks of downtown Riverside, the rainfall was heavy enough to cause nearly an inch of rain within the hour. Maria walked across a crossroad as she silently padded through the streets through town. Gale manifested on a shoulder as he spoke to her, her hair and shirt becoming wet from the rain. “Where are you going?” He asked, Maria sighed and took a turn on a sidewalk, watching as the traffic turned their headlights on for more visibility.

“Still figuring that out.” Maria responded, her voice seemed weaker than before. Almost like her will was chipped away and she was actually a bit hurt by that entire thing. “Well.. you should find a place out of the rain, you'll get sick.” He replied calmly, Maria looking at the wet sidewalk as ripples of raindrops smacked against it at full speed. “I don't think I care at the moment, Gale.” She stated, taking another turn and walking from the city area and more into the suburbs.

“Well... okay. I just wanted to warn you.” He meekly replied, Maria gave a light nod and continued on her way. She walked down that one road until she saw a parking lot. She walked up to it and observed the sign sitting in a patch of grass where the sidewalk would normally be. It said 'Rivercrest Boarding School” carved into the black painted wood, gently tracing her fingers along the letters before walking over to a wall to lean on it. Using the small walkway overhead to block the rain. “This was the school I lived at when I got out of the hospital.” She quietly spoke to Gale, he nodded and looked up at it, the bricks it was made of were very bland and gray, with the occasional wooden or metal fixture to break up the monotony of beige.

“It's not really the best looking place...” He observed, Maria nodded and walked under the walkway around the school to a nearby oak tree. She gently rubbed her hands around the bark of the tree until she found a much smoother spot. She walked around it and saw the bark chipped away to show the smooth wood underneath, slightly dented inward. “Yeah... This place isn't for rich kids, I was nowhere close to being one.” She said before standing on her toes with a couple of light bounces. She balled her fists together and began smacking her fists into the tree with quick, snapping blows while she spoke.

“This was the tree I always practiced my punches at.” She said, quietly counting her punches between when she spoke. Landing a quick combo on it before dipping away with quick foot movements. “Why did you practice on a tree?” Asked Gale, watching her and gently flapping in the air to keep himself aloft. “I went to a boxing class for a week when I went here,” Maria replied, quickly spinning away and landing a back fist into the tree that was hard enough to knock some leaves loose. “I couldn't afford the lessons, but I knew the basics. I wanted to replicate the heavy bags they let me train at, so I used a tree.” She said, stopping her boxing and looking at her not bandaged hand. Looking at the old healed over scars and rough, calloused skin on her knuckles and back of her fingers.

“It tore my fists to hell, I remember always cutting them open when I was done practicing. I learned to tape them up to not make the damage as bad, but the damage was still done.” She explained, he nodded some and chuckled. “You must have really enjoyed this boxing thing.” She nodded and sighed, crossing her hands under her arms and trying to shrug off the cold she was feeling from the water. “Yeah... I always watched boxing on TV when I was younger. People would always change it to kid shows but I was always wanting to watch the 12 round title fight instead. Also, kid shows suck.” Maria quietly mused to herself. Gale just listening as she spoke. She was so angry earlier, but she seemed different than before. Like she was much more vulnerable than her normal grumpy self.

“I was so happy when Lily took me to see a boxing match on my 12^th birthday, the ticket keeper was iffy on it because we were both so young, but he lightened up as soon as he heard her name. It was kind of the benefit of being friends with someone who's well known, even if it was only her last name.” She said, feigning a soft laughter of amusement before it just turned back into a sulking frown.

“So why did you come here of all places?” Asked Gale, Maria looking at him and shrugging her shoulders, turning away and beginning to walk down the road. “I don't know, it's not closed or anything. I just... need more time to think.” She admitted, she felt lost inside at the moment and wasn't sure what she was even doing. “I guess that makes sense...” He agreed, flying along side her as she got more and more soaked from the rain. Her dark red hair was beginning to get drenched and cover more of her face from her keeping her head down.

“So... Can you tell me about your parents?” He asked timidly, knowing it was kind of a hot button topic for her, he knew what he took away from her life. Maria just walked in silence for a few minutes, and he felt uncomfortable. He was going to apologize, but Maria began to quietly speak. “Lorrie was really sweet. She knew I had trouble getting friends when I was in school, but she always encouraged me to go out and talk to people. I thought she was being pushy, but I realized that she just didn't want me to be alone all the time.” She responded, putting her hands in her pockets to try and quell the feeling of the late summer rain.

“It's why I became friends with Lily. I was like 8, Some guys were beating her up and calling her names and all I did was stand up to them and tell them to back off. They beat me up for it, but Lily was so upset someone she didn't know went up and took one in the face for her instead.” Maria quietly explained, looking along the road and scanning left and right for something as she spoke. “She was kind of strict on me, but that was only because I was doing something stupid. Like when I tried to climb on the house. She yelled at me and I ended up falling right off.” He giggled a little at that, she looked at him with a small sense of amusement as she walked closer to something.

“Mike... He was fine for a dad. He didn't really like to talk about himself much, and he usually was at work or asleep when I came from school. I haven't heard her or dad argue that much unless it was over something stupid, like who got the remote that evening.” She replied, looking ahead as she saw the local graveyard approaching from a distance. “I have some questions as well.” Maria commented, looking up at the transparent orange phoenix floating it's way along with her in the rain. “And that would be?” He said, looking at her with his glowing garnet eyes.

“What are the rules for your uh... occupation? Where do you go when you aren't here?” She asked, putting her cold, wet hands into her pant pockets. “My eyes and ears are your own when I'm not manifested. I decided to leave your thoughts to your own out of respect.” Maria narrowed her eyes and glared at them, feeling confused. “Out of respect?” She questioned, he looked at her and sighed softly. “I'm not trying to plan anything, so you'll have my full disclosure.” He admitted calmly, his voice did seem wholesome as he explained. “I technically am possessing your body. And I could make my consciousness overwrite yours unless you tried to push me back.”

Maria suddenly opened her eyes wide, glaring up at him and clenching one of her fists. “Are you kidding me!? I was in danger all this time!?” She shouted at him, pointing an accusatory finger even though to everyone else, she was probably yelling at the air and nothing else. “It's a pretty risky situation, but honestly I just want to continue to exist, but I don't want to fight you for it.” He clarified, looking a little sad as he spoke. “I took enough things away from you in a fit of rage, I don't want to take your livelihood as well.”

Maria furrowed her brow, he seemed honest, but she felt like she only had more questions raised than answered. “What's your angle?” She said in suspicion, he just looked at her as they walked. “My... angle...? I don't follow.” He spoke, confused. He might have based his knowledge on some of what Maria knew, but his speech was a bit antiquated to know what she meant. “You could have my body as yours if you wanted, but you chose to let me be myself. What do you get out of any of this?” Maria asked, feeling a bit irritated by the sudden revelation.

“Atonement.” He replied briefly, hoping it would be enough for her to understand.

Maria gritted her teeth and glared up at him. “You know, Repentance isn't going to undo how much my life got fucked up by you, Gale.” Maria snapped at him, The bird's eyes showing more anger when he replied. “When the body I became the host of was killed, I had many options. I could have just passed on into the ether, not knowing what was beyond. I could have taken over your body in a somewhat easy feat and do as I wished with no one to inhibit me. Did I pick either option? No. It was MY choice be a manifestation, unable to affect the world around me and watch as you suffer every day for a mistake that I made.” He declared, his voice somewhat indignant.

“This isn't irony, or destiny, or prophecy. No, this is a punishment. A burden I gave myself in hope that one day that you could forgive me, but only after I can forgive myself. And you know what, Maria? It's a pain I am willing to bear because I know deep down inside that you're hurting more than you've been letting on, I know because I've spent every minute of your life with you since that event. But I will see this through, I want only to see you move on with your life knowing that what I've done is truly past you.” He added, Maria just staring up at him, feeling unsure of herself. She didn't know how to reply.

“So what is my angle?” He asked, hypothetically. “I hate myself, but want to live long enough to see you happy. That is my angle.” He finished his rant, but Maria just gazed at the floor, unsure of herself as she made it to the entrance of the local graveyard. It was small and filled with concrete pathways between each gravestone, though the graves were so small it was probably all just ashes instead of caskets.

Maria walked inside and walked along the pathways, gravestones left and right of her on each side as she quickly glanced over the names. “Why are we here?” Asked Gale, Maria turned to stop, looking at two pairs of gravestones next to each other. “I've never visited my parents before since they... left.” Maria explained, leaning down to read the tombstones in the rain. One said 'Laurette Judith Roth' the one beside it said 'Michael Blake Roth'. Maria crouched down and lightly traced her fingers along the names in the stoned, closing her eyes and giving a sad sigh. “Yep... Seems like the place” Maria said, placing her other hand on one of her knees as she looked at the name.

“Do you miss them?” Gale asked her, hovering just behind her as she watched. “Yeah, no thanks to you.” She said, glaring back at him for a second before returning to just staring at both tombstones. Gale just sighed and let her do what she wanted to. “Hey, if I asked you not to listen to me, would you do it?” She asked out of nowhere, but the bird seemed befuddled. “Uh... Why?” Gale questioned, but Maria looked up at him. He gave up and sighed once again. “Alright, I'm just going to ignore whatever you're about to do.” He conceded, floating off a couple of feet from her and just looking at trees.
Maria leaned up and stared at the gravestone of her mother as she spoke. “Hey, mom... I'm really sorry I haven't come here before.” She spoke, knowing that no one was going to reply.

“I know you don't really believe in this kind of thing, I don't either. But well.. if that huge rift in the sky stands for something... I guess it means anything can happen at this point.” Maria admitted, before reaching up to wipe a tear from her eye. She tried to keep her composure and expression as she spoke. “I feel pretty terrible for not showing up before... I guess I just didn't want to admit any of this was real.” Maria said, closing her eyes and hugging her own knees as the rain continued to pour on top of her.

“I miss you n' dad every day, you know... ” Maria admitted, her voice cracking as she gripped onto the side of the tombstone. “Sienna does too, but shes too focused on me being a complete fuck-up to actually tell anybody. I know I pretty much have nothing important in my life at this point, but I'll manage for as long as I can... for your sake.” She shook her head and sighed, standing back up. “I'll come here more often, I promise you both. I just.. feel bad I never spent time to get to know either of you. I was always too busy with something stupid and childish...” Maria mused, She crossing her arms, looking at the bloody bandage just under her sleeve. She must have broken it open from boxing that old tree a little while back.

“Y'know... now that I think of it, I don't think I've made much progress from doing stupid and childish shit.” She shook her head, looking at Gale and watching him try to count how many leaves were passing by. “I should cut this short, I'm getting really goddamn cold.” She admitted, she was completely soaked from the rain and the wind was starting to pick up and it was giving her the chills. She turned away and walked back to the entrance as Gale began to follow her. “I'm not entirely sure they could hear you, Maria.” He commented, Maria quickly glaring up at him dismissively. “S-sorry.” He apologized, looking away from realizing what he just said.

Maria took a deep breath and paused, turning back to walk back to the boarding school before she heard a loud honk sound. It was so loud it caused her to jump and spin on her heels, a van idling in front of her with it's low beams on. The window rolled down and a hand gestured to come in. Maria looked pensive, but approached the window. In the window was Ashley, her long black rough hair and eye patch over one of her eyes as she inspected Maria.

“Well you look like you're having fun.” She commented sarcastically, Maria was soaked to the bone, her hair a short wine colored wet mop covering her eyes, bloodshot from holding back tears welling in her eyes in her attempt to be tough, the rest of her so wet like she looked like she crawled her way from a swimming pool after spending an hour underwater. “Yeah. Fun.” Maria said deadpan, barely holding back her exasperation. “So why are you here?” Asked Maria, suspicious of why Ashley would be there. “Get inside already, I want to speak with you.” She replied with a request, Maria sighed and walked around to the other side of the modern black van, pulling the door open and taking a seat.

Since it was a new car, it was pretty well furnished. A full functioning electronic readout and dashboard combo that had those fancy touch pad things Maria saw in car magazines. Though, the interior was completely filled with beige coloring on every wall, even if it was warm, dry and snug... It was still beige and Maria felt petty about the whole situation. Ashley shifted the gearbox and the car slowly began to roll forward as she released the brake.

“So why are you here?” Asked Maria, watching out of the window of the car as the rain got swept away by the windshield wipers almost hypnotically. “I'm taking you back to Spectrum.” Ashley explained, spinning the wheel to go around a corner. Maria became confused, looking up at her. “Why? Sienna jumped down my throat that I wasn't fit for it.” Maria stated, Ashley looking at Maria as she slowed down for a red light.

“I don't answer to her, I'm making this decision on my own.” Ashley replied, looking at Maria as she spoke. “It's true that how you've been preforming isn't what Spectrum wants out of you, but Sienna took the easy way out... She gave up on you.” Ashley explained, it stung Maria to hear that, so she began to look out of the window. “But I feel like that isn't the way we do things in this academy. We take people's flaws and we polish them until away they're talented upstarts worthy of protecting people.” Ashley said with a gusto, but Maria just scoffed at it with a brief laugh. “And did you read that out of a pamphlet?”

“No, I'm being legitimate. I feel like you just need some work to make you something better, Sienna is wrong.” Ashley countered, Maria looking at her with some sense of anxiousness. “What makes you say that?” Ashley chuckled and ruffled Maria's wet head. “Well, I was kind of like you when I was your age... I had a chip on my shoulder and constantly expected everyone to respect me, even if I was a brat who made hasty decisions all the time.” Ashley explained, Maria narrowing her eyes and pouting at her since she took offense to some of those comments.

“But... My instructor didn't throw me on the street, He ran my ass into the ground; Made me work until I pretty much didn't have the energy to complain anymore.” Ashley said, her voice tinged with inspirational amusement. “And what did I get out of it?” She asked Maria, who was listening but still not in the best of moods. “A broken ass?” She quipped sarcastically, but Ashley smirked and gave a chuckle. “I'm one of the best damn instructors they have at that academy. I even taught your sister everything she knows and now SHE'S an instructor. Admittedly still green, but an instructor.” She corrected Maria, keeping her hands on the wheel as she drove through the street. “...And a broken ass.” She added jokingly, before breaking out into a healthy laugh. Maria slipping a short chuckle with it as well.

“You remind me so much of myself I couldn't help but do something like this for you.” Ashley commented, Maria just observing her as she drove. “But I have to make sure this is your decision, with that I have a proposition.” She said, Maria nodding her head and placing her arm on the armrest. “What is that?” Maria asked pensively, Ashley reaching up to pad her on a shoulder. “You join my team, and I'll let you show Sienna that you weren't a failure like she thought.” She asked of Maria, Maria looking a little confused by it. “I traded Florence and Erika to Sienna's team in exchange for Lily coming over to mine, and now I'm down one person, you could fill in that slot with no issues since everyone knows you already.” She proposed, Maria nodding her head gently as she explained. “If you think I can do that... What about Sienna?” Asked Maria, still unsure of herself. “She holds no sovereignty over you as of today. An instructor's job is only to look after their own students and nothing more.”

Maria nodded again and sighed. “I'll do it...” Ashley smiled at her and leaned her seat back just a bit as she drove. “You can do this Maria, I'm choosing to believe in you instead of throwing you away. You'll even get to stay in a different dorm.” Ashley stated, Maria nodding before leaning her seat back up. “How did you get that eyepatch?” Asked Maria, Ashley shrugged her shoulders and looked up at her. “I fought a rift fallen tiger one on one... I didn't win, so now I'm an eye short. Lily was lucky, her eye got only slightly damaged and she'll get her vision back eventually, I lost the whole damn thing.” She explained. “My depth perception is shit, but I try and compensate for it.” She continued, shifting a gear to go up a steep hill.

“Can I ask something, Ashley?” Maria said, Ashley glancing at her and giving a nod. “Can we stop a couple of blocks up? I want to see my old house.” Ashley nodded and fell silent as she drove up to the home in question.

She got out of the car at her old home. The yard and the walkway were both the same, the grass was slightly overgrown and there was a sign of a real estate agent trying to advertise the house to buyers. She looked up the walkway to the home and it was completely repaired, but repainted a maroon color and looked to be completely vacant on the inside. The lack of blinds on the windows didn't help the case. She sighed and walked slowly up to it and placed her hand on the cherry wood door, gently sliding her hand down it since it was the same one as before. She sighed a bit and gently walked along the side of the house, hoping the gutters would catch the rain.

She went around to the other side and walked along it until she was shocked by something smacking into her foot. She yelped in pain and began to hop on one foot as she hissed a sharp inhalation through her teeth, looking down at what she hit. It was a pair of wooden doors to a walk in basement or crawlspace It normally had a padlock, but it seems to have been broken off. Possibly by the people who came and stripped the house of most of it's belongings after Maria moved out to the boarding school.

She knelt down and flipped open the doors to the basement, sending some dust flying as she peered into the dank hole. It was dark, but the light of the overcast sun was enough to make it dimly lit. She assumed it didn't have electricity because who would pay electricity for an unoccupied home. It was dim and empty, the floor was covered in particle board, and the ceiling was coated with what appeared to be fiberglass insulation.

She dipped her head down so she didn't hit her head on a water pipe or something, but felt her hair begin to hit the spider webs set up in the dark. It was nearly impossible to see until she felt her eyes slowly become accustomed to the darkness. Making everything dim and not too colorful, but the outlines were visible.

She wandered around curiously, she didn't really understand why she went into the basement, maybe she was curious? Maybe she was just sick of being out in the rain for the last couple of hours? She didn't really know, but suddenly an object grabbed her attention. She reached down and felt it with her hand. It felt smooth to the touch, so she grabbed it and picked it up. It was some kind of cloth, fairly long. But she couldn't make any details of it. She walked closer to the entrance of the basement to get more light as she realized that she was holding a scarf.

It was a bright red color close to a shade of crimson, but it was tattered and frayed at the edges with the occasional hole along it's roughly 7 foot length. Maria concluded that it must have been moths eating away from it to have it so damaged after a couple of years. “The movers must have dropped this...” Maria said quietly to herself, remembering suddenly that this scarf was her mother's. A small couple of tears began to roll down her face, and she had to hold back a heave as she dusted it off and wrapped it around her neck. It was kind of a long scarf, the back of it going to nearly her waist as the other side was wrapped on her neck and shoulders, wide enough to cover most of it. She stood up and climbed back out into the rainy outdoors. A free hand dusting her hair free of cobwebs as she walked back to the van that was waiting for her.

She opened the door and got back into the passenger's seat. “Where did you get that?” Asked Ashley, Maria looked up her and softly ran her hands along the tattered fabric. “It was something that belonged to my mom... I didn't expect something like that to be here.” Maria replied as she looked up at Ashley, hoping to get herself to calm down a bit as she was driven back to the academy. After 20 minutes of silence, they arrived at the academy, shutting the doors and heading back inside of the dorm facility.

She walked past Maria's old dorm, went across the hall and used the key to open the new dorm room, where Jonah, Gabriel and Lily were all standing shoulder to shoulder. “Welcome back, Maria.” Lily said with a soft smile. Her bandages her gone, replaced with a black eyepatch, the claw marks were closed up with what appeared to be dissolvable stitches.

“What's with the scarf?” Asked Jonah, Maria shrugged her shoulders as he walked up to inspect it, pulling it off of her. “Hmm.. This is kind of ratty.. maybe I could fix it.” Maria stared at him as the red scarf fell off of her shoulders. “Fix it?” She asked, Jonah grinned at her and wrapped the scarf around his arm. “I was the leader of my textile club back in high school.” Jonah boasted proudly, but Maria just snickered quietly to herself. “Leader of a textile club...? That's the girliest thing I've ever heard.” She said with a smirk, Jonah stuck out his tongue and complained at her. “Hey! Don't dismiss the almighty powers of sewing.” He complained, Maria shaking her head and lightly bopping him in the shoulder with her fist. Nowhere near enough to hurt. “Appreciate it.” She commented quietly, and he just smiled at her.

“So... Why did you leave the team?” Asked Maria, the water soaked teen walking over to look at Lily as she looked down at her, Lily sighed and shook her head. “I just didn't feel like staying in the same room as Morgan, we have a long way to go after that fistfight we got into.” She replied with a tinge of regret, Maria tilted her head and leaned onto one of her legs as she inspected the room. It seemed nearly exactly the same as her old one, though she assumed all her stuff was packed and moved here while she was absent. “I guess I understand... Do you hate Morgan?”

Lily shook her head and looked away regretfully. “No... Not at all. I just feel like I'm not ready yet to spend more than a little time with her. I'd like to be her friend, just... I want to give her space.” She explained, looking at Maria, crossing her arms over one another for her frilly sleeves to show a little more. “Anyway, I'd rather be with you than three people I barely know.”

Maria nodded some and cracked a slight smile. “Yeah.. we go way farther back than anyone else here.” She replied, Lily came up to hug Maria tightly, her face pressed into one of her shoulders as she sighed. Maria returning the hug quietly before letting go. “Am I always this short?” Maria commented from being able to compare their heights for once, and being nearly 5 inches shorter than Lily. “Yep, You are.” Maria sighed and let go, when suddenly she was tapped on her shoulder. Maria spun around and Ashley was holding up a belt with two crossed scabbards, blades resting inside of them.

“These are the weapons I used to use before I changed out. They do a damn fine job at what they're supposed to do.” Ashley spoke, presenting the blades. Drawing one from it's scabbard and showing it to her. A pair of red handled short swords roughly 20 inches a piece, fuller down both of them to save weight, both of them having dark metal colored cross guards. They were straight, and the blade smoothly tapered to the point.

She handed one of the blades to Maria, letting her hold it by the grip. She lightly held it out and swung it up and down a couple of inches. “These are heavy.” She commented, and Ashley nodded. “They have thicker steel than normal swords this size. Mostly so even a little bit of speed is enough to hack something off a monster.” Ashley explained, Maria placing it back in the sheathe and taking the belt, strapping to her waist and placing a hand around each blade. “It's also super ergonomic.” Ashley added, Maria nodding her head some as Maria spoke. “Whatever ergonomics is, I'm all for it.” She grinned and took it back off, placing it in a closet for now until she had a much more safe place to put it.

Ashley smiled and rubbed Maria's head. “This weapon was called 'Sangris' when I used it. As for why.. I just thought it sounded like a cool name for a weapon. But yeah guys, I need to leave. I hope all of you get along.” Ashley said, before closing the door, leaving the four people in their dorm room. Jonah looked at Maria from head to toe and noticed that she must have been in the rain for a while. “So uhh... Do you want a towel?” He asked her nervously.

“Yeah.. I kind of need a towel...” Maria replied, sick of being wet and muddy and covered in dirt and leaves.