The corridors of Deck-B were crowded and full of conversation. Some of it sounded excited while other people in the crowd seemed nervous. Neither of these groups fit Fera. Her party would consist of solely herself, a quiet girl that stood in a corner and avoided everyone around her. She had her reasons for this, but it still didn’t make her feel any better about how different she actually was from everybody. She expected this coming in, but she did have a small hope that there would be a few people like her, a few people that were scared of what they were and what they could do. Anita, while somewhat comforting in the way that she instantly took to Ferain, only served to make this separation all the more evident. Anita skipped through the halls, spun on her heels to beckon Fera to walk faster or to simply laugh and joke, and would greet everyone that they came across.
Fera could not do that. She could hardly even look at the other people, and had pulled up the hood of her jacket after only a minute of walking through the corridor. She had her hands in her pockets, her eyes either facing down or watching Anita’s back, and there was no smile to be found on her lips. She felt too out of place and too frightened to even look another student in the eyes. When they arrived on Deck-A, Fera heard something explode and jumped from the noise. Anita was instantly in front of her with her hands raised. Fera felt a small gust of wind and heard a whirling as a bunch of kids gasped around them. Fera opened her eyes and saw that there was something hovering in between Anita’s hands, something small and made of metal. It looked like a coin that had green electrical currents running around it, crackling every so often from the power.
“Nice catch!” a boy shouted, rushing forward to collect what must have been his coin. He held out his hand to take it but instead of handing it over nicely, she waved a hand and the small object shot towards his forehead. “Ow!” he gasped, rubbing the reddening impact zone as the coin clattered to the ground and began rolling away.
“You could have killed my partner.” she said, and the smile she had on was one that actually scared Fera.
“Sorry, it got away from me. Still, great reflexes though.” the boy replied. He then turned to Fera and bowed his head. “Sorry about that.”
“Be more careful from now on. It would suck to start hurting each other before we even got to the school.” Anita stated, putting a hand on her hip.
“I know, I know. Anyway, sorry again.”
Anita shook her head as she held up her left hand and twirled her finger at the boy. He was instantly surrounded by a swirling gust of wind that turned him on his heels and shoved him lightly forward. He stumbled a few steps before looking over his shoulder at the two girls.
“Come on, Fera, let’s go find the cafeteria.” Anita then said.
Fera followed closely behind her, trying her best to avoid the gazes of the other students. Like the guy from before, there were plenty of people showing off their powers. One person was turning a part of their body invisible, another was clinging onto the walls as if he was some kind of lizard, and another girl had her mouth open and a very small stream of fire was coming out of it, like a weak torch of some kind. Despite her fear of her own ability, Fera actually found everybody else’s powers fascinating. She loved wielders, she just hated the powers she got stuck with. Electric or lightning-based abilities were some of the hardest to control, some of the most powerful to harness, and some of the most challenging to train with. Fire was up there as well, but lightning just had a bit more of a wild, sporadic nature. If you didn’t have a good bearing on it, there wasn’t much to be done. Even Fire had a weakness in water or sand, but lightning was so fast, so random, that it could strike and kill a person without any chance to stop it.
Her own past was proof enough of that. It was this simple danger that caused her to be so reluctant to use her abilities as a wielder. It also didn’t help that after the incident ten years ago, she was always treated as a monster. Nobody got close to her after that, not even her grandmother, and she never had proper training in how to use her powers. Instead, she was taken out of school and had to mostly teach herself out of workbooks and pre-recorded classes online. Throughout all of that time, she hardly ever used her powers willingly. Oh, there were some nights where she was tempted to try, but that resulted in shorting out the breakers in her home one night, blowing up every lightbulb in her house another, and even catching her worksheet on fire during a study session. Her desk still had the scar where a small strand of lightning shot forth and scorched it. There were other occasions as well, but they all ended in the same way, failure.
After a while, Fera eventually began to believe everybody. Her powers were not a blessing, they were a curse, a burden, a blight that should never be messed with. She stopped using her powers after that, but unfortunately, this didn’t seem to completely help either. Instead, this seemed to store up the power so that it was overloading within her. She suspected that this was part of the reason, if not all of it, that she suffered random outbursts. Fera’s eyes found Anita, and she felt envious of her. The pretty girl skipping ahead of her seemed to have everything she didn’t, and it bothered her. Obviously, she didn’t know Anita very well yet, but judging by the boots the girl wore, she had money. She seemed happy, she had a good power that was useful and she had the training to use it. She was beautiful and seemed popular, or at the very least, easily likable. And judging from all of this, she must have had a good family. It wasn’t right for her to feel contemptuous of a practical stranger, but she couldn’t swallow down the unpleasant feelings rising within her.
“Cafeteria, this way.” Anita read, pointing at a blue sign that was posted on the wall of Deck-A. A white arrow was pointing upwards at an angle, showing that they needed to keep going up. “It must be up on the same level as the deck. There was a lot of stuff up there that I didn’t explore when I arrived here. I decided to take a shower first.” Anita said, putting a finger to her cheek and staring at the sign. Her stomach then growled loudly and she groaned while her expression became pouty. “Man, this is rough. I should have eaten first, and then washed up. Come on, Fera, or I might start eating you.” the girl said, turning and hurrying towards the stairs.
Fera nodded and followed suit, as she had done since leaving her cabin. She skipped up the stairs and met Anita at the top. They were back on deck after leaving the ten or so foot long corridor, and they were met with vast blue skies, clear and sunny, a subtle winter wind, and the smell of the ocean. They didn’t leave the docks yet, but people were rushing around and getting things prepared for their departure. The ramp from the ship to the dock was already pulled up and Fera noticed that some of the families were still down on the harbor, waving or calling out their farewells to their children before setting off. Ferain then wondered what that would be like, to have her mother down there, waving her off before she left for almost an entire year.
“Fera?” Anita quietly asked behind her. “Something up?”
“Is your family down there, Anita?” Fera questioned.
“My family?” Anita said, putting her left index finger to her cheek, which Fera could already tell was a habit of hers. “Nope.” she then answered, more bluntly than Fera expected.
“Really?” asked Fera.
“Really, really. My family never has time for me so they are not there. They’re never there. But, they do it for the family so all’s good, I suppose. It’s just how it is.” So she said, but Anita certainly didn’t sound happy or understanding while saying it. She sounded frustrated and pouty instead.
“How did you get here, then?” Fera inquired, unable to stop herself.
“Our driver. Or, my driver, I suppose. His name is Regi, and he’s a bit more like a friend than an employee. He ought to be, he’s been driving me around for ten years now.”
“Really?”
“Uh-huh. Believe it or not, I was his first job. He was sixteen and just got his license. My parents hired him part-time to take me wherever I wanted to go, within reason, of course. They weren’t around and didn’t have the time to take me shopping for things like clothes. Instead, they gave me Regi and a credit card. I almost feel bad for him, having to put up with a stuck up kid when he wasn’t even out of high school yet. To my amazement, he stuck around.”
Ferain bit her lip for a moment and then asked another question, one that made her feel as if she was prying too much, but she couldn't help it. She felt something about this girl, a similarity between them somehow, and she needed to be sure of it. “Are your parents even home?” she questioned.
She expected Anita to scoff and tell her to stop asking such personal questions, but instead, the girl smiled grimly and shook her head. “No, they’re not. They went on a business trip to the Crown Nation. Said they wouldn't be back for a few months. Heh, didn’t even say goodbye. I woke up yesterday and they were gone. But, water under the bridge. That was yesterday, today is today. Who needs parents anyhow, I have you now.”
“Have me?” Fera said.
“Yep, you’re all mine.” she said, lunging forward and trying to hug Fera. Fera ducked under the reaching arms and danced away, but Anita was fast and started giving chase. “Come back!” Anita called out running with her arms outstretched as Fera ran away from her.
“Stop, Anita!” Fera cried out, looking over her shoulder to see Anita making kissing faces at her. “Stooop!” she shouted, but she wasn’t sure she even wanted Anita to stop. For some reason, Ferain was grinning stupidly at the game of tag they seemed to be playing.
Fera hurried through a doorway that led into the main building on the ship’s deck, and then felt a gust of wind blowing around her. It was starting to push against her, making it difficult to run any further ahead. Eventually, she couldn't fight against it anymore and was blown backwards. Anita caught her with a tap on the shoulder and then laughed.
“Got you.”
“That’s cheating.” Fera said.
“No rules when having fun.” Anita pointed out, and then she looked ahead. “Look at that, you found the cafeteria.” she said, pointing to a sign over a door a little further down the corridor. “Let’s eat.” she said, giving another pat on Fera’s shoulder before walking past her.
If the corridors of the lower decks were busy, this place was full to bursting. There seemed to be hundreds of people, but that might have been Fera’s anxiousness that was making it seem like such a high number. Still, it was nothing but noise, ranging from clattering silverware to loud conversations that had to keep rising in volume to be heard over the other conversations going on around them. In short, it was chaos, but a controlled sort of chaos, if that was possible. People were in orderly lines to get food, everybody was sitting at tables, and nobody was really causing any trouble. It was just chaotic in the way that it was overbearing for Fera to withstand it, being the shut-in that she is. If it wasn’t for Anita dragging her in further, Fera might have just given up and returned to their cabin.
She stood in line, closer to Anita than any other person, and collected a tray of food that consisted of some beef nuggets and a side helping of rice, all drowned in a soy sauce. It wasn’t Fera’s usual preference for food, but it served well enough. Personally, though, she would have preferred just the rice and a lighter amount of the sauce. She wasn’t against eating meat, but cooked meat had a habit of making her sick whenever she smelt it. If not for the soy sauce overpowering the smell of the meat, she might have already gotten sick, but for now, she only felt a tad bit queasy. It was easy enough to push down when she sat with Anita at a circular table with four chairs around it. She set her tray on the black surface and began eating the rice, primarily. She took a couple of small pieces of the meat, but pushed it aside after that.
Anita seemed pleased enough with the meal. It wasn’t her instant ramen, but it appeared to be satisfying enough. In the end, Fera slid over her tray after finishing the side and let Anita have the rest of the beef. There was a rowdy table not far from her own that caught her attention.
“I’m going to be a level-1 for sure.” said one of the boys, who had bronze colored hair and chocolate eyes.
He had a confident look to his youthful face, and she knew that he was probably a first-year, like herself. He had a thin figure and was wearing a black coat with some jeans and a sweater underneath it. The boy he seemed to be talking to was of similar age and had black hair with eyes the color of bones. It was an off putting sight, to be sure, but they both seemed nice enough at first glance, even if they did sound a bit arrogant. There was also a girl sitting with them, one that was wearing a one piece dress that ended in a short pleated bottom. It was primarily black with white horizontal stripes around the skirt end. It had long puffy sleeves and some lace around the collar. Her hair was sleek and long, and it reminded Fera of a raven’s feathers, thanks primarily due to the sheen and dark color. Her eyes were almost indigo, and she had a sneer on her face that made her seem extremely self-important, like she was above everybody around her. Instantly, Fera knew she didn’t like this girl. Her most noticeable feature, one that even Ferain had to admit was cute, was a silver pin in her hair that was in the shape of a raven.
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“A level-1?” asked the girl, sounding doubtful. “I’ve only known you for half an hour, Copper, and even I know you aren’t that strong. Now me, I’ll be level-2 for sure. I wouldn’t be arrogant enough to claim I’m level-1 material, but I refuse to say that I’ll be at the bottom.”
“That certainly makes you sound modest,” said the second boy. “I think I’ll shoot for level-3, but if I get higher, I won’t complain. I hope we can stay together though, Copper, it would suck getting put in classes without you.”
Copper shrugged his shoulders. “If it happens, it happens. No big deal. We were lucky enough to be partners, that’s about all you could really ask for.”
“That is pretty lucky,” said the second boy. He then looked at the girl. “What about you, Raven, what’s your partner like?”
The girl grinned and tossed some of her hair back. “Well, she’s pretty strong. She is able to control water, which is pretty useful when we’ll be out in the middle of the ocean. She even showed me that she can pull water out of the air, but not much of it right now. As for me…” the girl said, and when she waved her hand around, a black feather appeared in it, like when a magician pulled a card from out of nowhere. It was glossy black and had a sharpened pin at the bottom. Even the edges of the feather seemed sharp somehow. She waved it in front of her for a moment before stabbing it into the table. “I’m plenty strong myself. I see us having an eventful year here.” said Raven. “At the very least, more so than you two, Marrow. I don’t see much coming out of you.”
“You don’t really have to be worried about us, anyway.” Marrow said, ignoring the insult. “I’ve heard rumors already about some of the fresh blood this year. Apparently, some of the scholarship students are really powerful. There’s even two lightning users, or so I’ve heard.”
“And where did you hear that from?” asked Copper.
“My older sister. She said that she was helping Professor Topp with some of the applications over the break and pointed them out to me. Do you remember that story from ten years ago, the one about the girl that killed her family?” he asked, almost making his voice hushed, but it was still loud enough for Ferain to hear since she was focusing on it so intently now.
“Yeah, I think so.” Copper said.
“Not really. People die all the time, what’s the point in remembering that one story?” said Raven.
“Well,” started Marrow. “One of those lightning users is apparently the girl that did it. I didn’t recognize the name but my sister said that Professor Topp seemed wary about letting this girl in. She said that it was a mistake on Headmaster Hakamura’s part.”
“So, this new girl is a murderer huh? And they just let her join the school?” joked Copper, waving a dismissing hand in Marrow’s direction. “They wouldn't do that. I mean, I’ll be the first person to go and fight them, I’m not scared at all, but I doubt the headmaster would actually permit a murderer to attend.”
“She was never convicted.” Marrow pointed out, trying to make his friend believe him. “My sister said that it was written up as a mishap with her powers, and–”
“…rain?”
“Huh?” Ferain gasped.
“Ferain? Are you okay?” asked Anita. “You’re sweating bullets. What’s going on?”
Only then did Ferain notice that her breathing was heavy, her shirt was soaked in sweat, and her body seemed to be in a state of panic. The buzzing of her powers was loud in her ears but it was slowly simmering down again.
“Nothing.” she said, perhaps too hastily because it only seemed to make Anita more worried.
“We’re partners now, Ferain, you can talk to me.” Anita stated, setting her fork down. Anita followed the direction Fera was looking in previously, and saw the talking group of kids. “Did they say something? I wasn't paying attention.”
“No, they… Nothing. They said nothing.” Fera said, and she quickly started to rise from her seat.
She started walking away but tripped on the leg of the table and gasped. The sound of the table shifting caused several other groups to look at her, which only made her more nervous. Ferain pulled up her hood and crossed her arms over her chest, burying her hands under her armpits to keep herself as small as possible as she left the room. After leaving the cafeteria, she found a secluded spot around the corner and leaned her back against the wall. Her breathing had grown more out of control, and she was starting to feel wild, like her powers were about to erupt out of her. She gritted her teeth and slid down the wall into a sitting position.
“Murderer.” she heard again.
She then heard a gunshot, which made her wince and close her eyes. She moved her hands under her hood and took in fistfuls of her messy hair while curling herself up into as small a ball as possible. She pulled her legs against her chest and buried her face into her knees. Another gunshot went off and she felt the pain that still haunted her memories of that night. A loud crackling began radiating around her, and she pulled herself tighter together.
“It was an accident.” she murmured. “Please, stop.” she begged, but the noise only got louder until it drowned out everything else.
She recalled the screaming, from herself, from her mother, and then remembered the smell all too clearly. She felt like she was about to be sick, and her powers were growing even more unstable. Arcs of bluish-white light started snapping around her, striking the polished ground and leaving scorch marks wherever they hit.
“Stop.” she cried, pulling on her hair and trying to force her powers to go away.
The lights in the hall began to flicker and she was growing too tired to keep up the fight any longer. Too much of the memory was coming back. Too much power was starting to leak out.
“I will kill her in your arms if I have to.” a man said. It was a ghostly voice, slightly distorted from time, but she would never forget the face it belonged to.
“She’s not your daughter, not anymore!” a woman wailed, sounding just as distorted as the man’s tone did.
“Stop.” she begged, almost tearing her hair out of her head and breaking her teeth as her jaw clenched tighter.
“Ferain?” It was Anita’s voice.
Fera opened her eyes and through her blurred vision, she saw the silver haired girl crouching down in front of her. She had one hand down to help support herself, and the other was holding some of her hair behind an ear to keep it out of her eyes. She didn’t seem scared, even if Ferain was absolutely terrified. Lightning was coursing around her violently and the smell of burning wood filled her nose. There was also some glass around her, and she guessed that the light she had sat under exploded from being overloaded with power.
“Fera? Calm down, okay? It will be alright.” Anita said.
“Stay away.” Fera murmured. “Please.” she pleaded, and lowered her gaze again.
“Hey.” Anita said, causing Fera to look back up into those storm gray eyes, the ones that were now much closer than they had been before. Anita had dropped to her knees and was reaching out with one hand to take Fera’s. Despite the sporadic cracks of lightning, Anita managed to grab her hand and pull it to her chest. “It’s okay. Calm down.” Anita then winced as something stung her hand, and Fera knew what it was at once. Still, the girl held on. Anita then gasped as another bit of Fera’s power burned her.
“Let me go.” Fera demanded.
“Not until you calm down.” Anita said, through gritted teeth.
Fera then felt her squeeze harder as another powerful bit of energy ran through her. This time, Anita almost released her, and she even saw a bit of smoke escape through their clasped hands. The smell of burning meat was in the air now, intermingling with the wooden odor, but Fera had no time to think about that. She had to stop. If this kept up, Anita’s hand would be badly burned, or worse, she would be dead. Fera closed her eyes and then took a deep breath. She tried her best to quell her powers, but instead, she heard Anita scream, felt her hand release her, and then heard a thud.
“No.” Fera groaned, opening her eyes to see Anita on the other side of the small hallway. She was slumped against the wall, smoke rising from her hand and arm. She was not moving either. “No, no, no.” Fera said, repeatedly, and she began crawling towards Anita.
She didn’t dare put her ear against her body to hear if she still had a pulse. Instead, Fera watched the girl’s chest as closely as possible, trying to see if she was breathing at all. Fortunately, while shallow, she saw the girl’s body slightly rising and falling. She was still alive, but she had to do something to help her. Fera was left in a panicked state, and was left wondering what to do next. Should she leave to get help? Should she stay there and wait for help to arrive? Should she try carrying Anita to a nurse’s office? Did they even have a medical office on this ship? As Fera was muttering to herself, trying to think of what to do, she heard a soft giggle hit her ears, a girly one, one that she recognized.
“That was something else.” Anita muttered, her voice weak and shaky. “I’ve never felt something like that before.”
“You’re okay?” asked Fera.
Anita nodded and slowly opened her eyes. Fera then gazed at Anita’s hand and saw that there was no burn or anything. She was confused, to say the least.
“I’ve always been tough, Fera.” Anita said. “All wielders are pretty resilient, but I in particular don’t get hurt that easily. You really pack a punch though, I wasn't expecting that.” She trembled as she sat up, keeping her back against the wall for support. “Your lightning is gone.” she then pointed out, and when Fera examined herself, she saw that it was true. In her panic, she somehow managed to disable her powers.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Fera asked, since she had to be sure.
“For the last time, I’m okay.” Anita answered, smiling and speaking as kindly as she could. “I’m more worried about you. You rushed out of there in a hurry, and then I find you huddled up here, looking like a lightning storm. What happened? Was it something those kids were saying?”
“Partially.” came a girl’s voice, one that neither of them recognized. It had an odd accent to it, the accent of the Crown Nation. It was light, but still noticeable. “It is also something that she is not saying.” the stranger said.
Both girls looked over and saw a fifteen year old girl standing there, her hands clasped behind her back, and her kind eyes staring intently at Ferain. She was about Anita’s height, but had a larger chest than either girl. Her figure overall was curvy, and Fera knew she would grow up to be a beautiful woman. Her hair was short, spiky, and as black as a moonless midnight. Her eyes were a similar yellow to Ferains, though slightly darker, and had a mixture of black and bronze. She was wearing a shorter skirt that was dark blue, a pair of black tights, a white button up shirt, and a hoodie that resembled a panda that even had two tiny round ears atop the hood that rested against her back.
Both Fera and Anita seemed to be at a loss of what to say, but the girl smiled even wider at the silence. “Mana’s name is Mana.” she said, kneeling down and holding out her hand to Ferain, who was reluctant to take it. “No need to be frightened. Daddy uses lightning as well, so Mana is used to it. Here, take it.” she said, waving her hand again, as if it was a treat she was using to entice Fera into something.
Ferain did so, and there was no spark between them. Nothing happened, and this gesture seemed to elate the odd girl.
“Now you.” Mana said, turning and holding out her hand for Anita to take it. “Are you okay?” she then asked, when Anita took her hand. “Mana knows that their powers hurt. I’ve experienced it.”
“From your father?” asked Fera, recalling what Mana said seconds earlier.
“Nope. Mana was with a lot of bad people when she was young, and they used it on her. Anyway, you two are okay, and I am hungry. Good luck, Hirigaya.”
“Wait, how do you…” started Ferain, but before she could finish, Mana stood and skipped towards the cafeteria, humming a song that she did not recognize.
“She was an odd one.” Anita stated, rising to her feet and brushing off her clothes. She then held out a hand for Fera to accept. “Here, I’ll help you up. Don’t be scared, you won’t hurt me.”
“But I already did.” Fera said, weakly.
“It was nothing but a scratch. Come on, up you go.” Anita reached down and took her hand by force. Using her wind, she hoisted Fera up and then smiled as she patted her on the shoulder. “You reeled them in. That’s a solid first step on the road to controlling your powers. Now, we just need to get you used to using them. Our powers can’t be pent up like yours are, they need to be used. Lightning users especially have a hard time with this. That energy needs to go somewhere, and unless you can control it really well, it will burst out on its own at one point or another. You need to start using them so that doesn’t happen anymore.”
“Do yours do the same thing?” asked Fera.
“Yes, they do. All of our powers do. Every wielder has to let it out. Remember, we were created for war originally, so our powers are meant to be used. You can’t be afraid of them anymore, Ferain, or they will destroy you. Now, I’ll make it a point from this time onwards to help you get them under control. Also, we have a lot to talk about, apparently. That girl was strange, but I’m pretty sure she was telling the truth. You’re not telling me everything, and as your partner from this point on, we need to be more honest with one another.”
“From now on?” asked Fera.
“Yep. The random assignment of cabins and roommates determines our partnerships for our duration at the academy. You and me, we’re stuck together like glue now. So, when we get back to the cabin, I want you to tell me as much as you feel comfortable with. I understand that it might be a bit personal for you or even a bit pushy of me to ask, but I want to know so I can help you. Is that okay?”
Ferain was reluctant, but she nodded. It was only natural. She would tell her what happened. When they got back to the cabin, Fera and Anita sat next to each other on the couch, and Fera began the retelling of the worst night of her life.