home

search

Chapter 24: One for Another

  The next day was silent. Too silent.

  There was no class for Class A. No assessments. not a thing.

  It was afternoon.

  Roy was sitting on a bench inside the giant park in front of the main gate, his eyes closed, his arms stretched on the bench, taking it all for himself. He was thinking.

  'What was I thinking, accepting that fight? That's the dumbest thing I've done until now.'

  Cutting his thought was a large shadow that covered him.

  He started opening his eyes and found a very big, wide man looking at him from above.

  "Is that a walking wall?" he said as he continued opening his eyes to see that it was Darius. In that moment, in less than a second, he sat straight and put his hands beside him.

  "Stand up. I want you." Darius gave a command and started moving.

  "For what?" Roy asked, still sitting.

  Darius glanced back over his shoulder.

  "You'll know. Now come."

  Roy stood up, thinking, 'My only wish is that it isn't about yesterday.'

  Then he followed Darius.

  They walked in silence until they finally reached the training ground of Class A, the same place where the last class had happened.

  Darius moved to the middle of the platform, turned around, and took a fighting stance.

  Roy understood and went in front of him, taking a fighting stance.

  "What kind of special training is this?"

  "The way you move is the same as a soldier with experience, and the only way to get those people to talk honestly is in a fight."

  The moment Darius finished, he threw a punch at Roy, which he dodged with a sidestep.

  "Looks like you have a lot of experience dealing with soldiers."

  Roy counterattacked with a punch just above Darius's extended arm, which was easily blocked.

  "For a good amount of time, I was a soldier myself. It was both the best and worst time."

  He released Roy's hand, and they both returned to their starting stances.

  "From how old you look, it was in the Great War?"

  "People say I look good for my age."

  "You need to cut the liars out of your life—" Roy's comment didn't get to end before being followed by a kick to the head that Roy blocked, but it still threw him away.

  "What are you afraid of?" Darius asked, putting his leg down and jumping toward Roy for a second kick.

  "Summer, its clothes don't look good on me," Roy answered as he grabbed Darius's leg.

  "You're still hiding." Darius took his leg out of Roy's hand before he could do anything.

  Roy made the first move this time and jumped in close to Darius as they began exchanging blows, with no successful ones.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  "You can't hide forever, and you've already begun to slip up."

  Darius moved his leg, and Roy's eyes caught it. He knew where it was going.

  Darius kicked Roy's feet off the ground, making him fall.

  "You saw it coming. Why didn't you do anything about it?" Darius offered a hand to Roy.

  "Sometimes, letting it hit you hurts less than stopping it." Roy accepted it.

  As Roy stood up and was face-to-face with Darius again, Darius continued talking.

  "You still don't trust me. No, you don't trust anyone here."

  Roy took a step back.

  "I thought I hid it better than this, but how did you know?"

  "I told you: fighting is the only thing you won't be able to lie in." Darius crossed his arms, maintaining eye contact with Roy.

  "So, are you ready to be honest outside of combat?"

  Roy didn't answer. He just looked up to the sky without talking.

  "If you're afraid that I'll tell on you to anyone, I promise I won't. And even if I tried, the people you don't want them to know about you don't like me and won't take anything I tell them seriously."

  Roy took a deep breath and looked back at Darius. Roy's eyes looked different when he looked back down: dead.

  "It isn't that I don't trust you or anyone here, but will they be able to hold the weight of me being honest with them?"

  "Who knows if I can take the weight? I don't know what your problem or secret is, and maybe you think you have it figured out."

  Roy couldn't help but let out a small laugh at this.

  Darius ignored it and continued.

  "But you're still a kid, so why don't you hear an old man's opinion? Maybe you'll find it helpful."

  Roy began thinking. Darius, seeing this, added,

  "How about this: you tell me one of your secrets, and I'll tell you one of mine."

  Roy gave it a second of thought. Normally, he would just leave at this point, but now he won't. He took a deep breath, the cold air moving in his body until he exhaled it.

  "Okay, but your secret first."

  Darius uncrossed his arms.

  "I didn't come here to be a normal teacher."

  Roy raised an eyebrow.

  "I came here to train the best in the new generation to be the ultimate security team for humanity. A team that will be ready to destroy the government itself and ready to stand against the strongest people in the world and win."

  Darius was looking directly at Roy's eyes when he said this.

  "So that's why you care. You want me on that team."

  "Precisely. And it would be a legal team, so there won't be any need to hide."

  "A legal team ready to destroy the government? That doesn't sound right." Roy stared back at Darius's purple eyes.

  "Because it isn't. No one knows that part. Even the principal herself doesn't know about that."

  A moment of silence.

  "I told you mine, so what about yours? Why are you hiding your power?"

  Roy took a deep breath.

  "Okay. I'll show you what I have to deal with; that made me want to never use any power again. So be ready."

  Darius didn't know what to expect, but he straightened his back and cracked his neck.

  "Okay. Give it to me."

  "Don't say I didn't warn you."

  With this, Roy closed his eyes for a second and extended his arm, ready to snap his fingers.

  Then he opened his eyes. Their normal dark brown color changed into bright gold for just a second, and in that second, he snapped his fingers.

  The moment he snapped his fingers, Darius didn't hear the snap. He didn't hear anything. His vision turned into complete darkness. Then he began to hear them: voices with no source, speaking to him.

  'Kill them.'

  'They don't deserve the life they have. Burn them.'

  'Everyone is a liar. Don't trust anyone except yourself.'

  And with the voices came visions of a burning village, an alley that had nothing in it except for corpses.

  His breath became unstable. His heart could be heard by anyone beside him.

  The visions blurred together from how fast they were changing between each other.

  'We are the same. Those kills are yours too.'

  The last voice came, and with it, a rolling head of a girl came to Darius's feet.

  And with that, the visions and the voices ended. Darius returned to reality, his breath still unstable.

  He held his chest in pain, and then he looked up at Roy, who was just standing there with no emotions on his face.

  Darius went to Roy and took him in his arms.

  "You're a strong kid," was the last thing Roy heard before losing consciousness from exhaustion from using that power.

Recommended Popular Novels