His black hair is messy. Short, yet somehow able to break every law of physics I know to stick up in the craziest way possible. There’s a wall destroyed to his left, rubble still crumbling down from the top of the huge hole. He’s dwarfed by the scale of the destruction in the wall, and it makes my mouth go dry. His blue eyes don’t seem to care, they’re cold as he looks at our rag tag group of five. We could fight Thomas, that’s fine. We can make it past guards, not a huge issue. But none of us could move while we stare down Leonidous Carter White, the real life grim reaper. TJ’s still asleep in Nia’s arms, Jasmine is knocked out in Crystal’s. I’m the only one that can fight him. I take a step forward, my legs shaking slightly as I put my fists up and get ready to die to give the rest of them a bit more time to her away.
“Theta.” Mr. White starts flatly, a knife seeming to appear in his hand out of nowhere, like he just glitched. His face is impossible to read, and his eyes are impenetrable. “Talk. None of you leave until I say.” I feel a sudden numbness in my throat, and when I feel my throat my hand comes away with blood. I realize he slightly nicked me. I couldn’t even react, I never saw him move. We’re all dead. I turn around and look at the others, Nia’s eyes wide as dinner plates and Crystal having fallen onto her knees. I’m stunned. They all have a small cut on their throats as well. “Mercury Theta, don’t ignore me. Explain. Now.”
“We’re leaving the school.” I find myself saying, unable to think of any witty retorts or clever lies. I’m not supposed to be the one who does most of the talking in these situations. That’s TJ’s job, so…“Wake up damnit.” I mutter under my breath with a sideways glance to his sleeping body. An alarm still blares in the distance behind us. The night air is suffocating, and the silence from Mr. White forces me to keep talking. “We’re running away, and TJ’s got some plan or another. The Principal is evil. The final shots have some Vein mixture that allows him to kill and track us forever. We can’t let that happen. So we’re leaving.”
“Any plans of your own? Or is Jay going to think for you instead of the Principal.” His words are full of malice, and I didn’t realize how unnerving it would be to hear him refer to TJ as ‘Jay’. I’m not letting TJ think for me instead of the Principal, am I? I’m me, and I’m doing exactly what I want. That just happens to be helping out TJ, and running away with each other. That doesn’t seem like the perfect answer, but I can’t think of anything else to say. I don’t have to.
“We’re going to come back, and expose the Principal, defeat him, kill him, and disband the school.” Nia pipes up, determination on her face and a warm fire flashing in her crimson eyes.
“Really? Are you really going to do that?” He asks slowly, walking towards us as though he has all the time in the world. An incredible pressure seems to emanate off of him and crush my chest, making it hard to breathe, much less move. “If you’ll kill the Principal, the least you need to be able to do is fight me.” He throws his hands in the air, exposing his chest and prodding us to attack him. “Or you’ll die.” Nia slowly places TJ on the ground. And we exchange glances with each other. It’s do or die. And we aren’t going to die.
My lungs are tight, they can’t get enough air into them. It feels like my ribs are compressing against my chest and preventing me from moving as freely as I’d like. My arms are on fire, my head is throbbing, my legs may as well be made of lead, and yet I still need to force them to move faster than they ever have before. Mr. White doesn’t look remotely fatigued, while me and Nia are both drenched with sweat. Nia’s sweat evaporates as soon as it forms due to the flames encasing her body, giving her an ethereal white aura in the dim night. My hands are white and cracked, covered with a thin layer of frost, and the frost licks up my forearms and barely ends at my bicep.
“You’re not using your abilities in synchronization with your strength.” He lectures us, talking smack before we die, like an asshole. He’s basically a cat playing around with mice before killing them. I cover the ground in a layer of ice, Nia sliding across it at a super speed to try and land a blow on Mr. White who dodges as though he could see the future. I follow up, reaching desperately trying to grab him, only to freeze the air in front of me after noticing his blade abruptly taking up my eyesight. Somehow his arm isn’t caught in the explosion of ice, and he manages to avoid my defense, he ducks under Nia’s surprise kick without even looking at it. “You’re too basic and straightforward with your attacks. Adjust to your opponent,” He takes an instant step to Nia who’s fallen after missing her attack, and he kicks her to the ground. I dive at him to get him off Nia, trusting her to defend me when she’s freed from his pin.
He grabs me by the throat. Instinctively I grab at his hand around my neck, and before I know what’s happened I’m forty feet away with my back wrapped around a tree. I cough up blood, spit out a tooth, but don’t have time to wallow in pain. “You rely on your Emblem too much. You’re human, no matter how Evolved. Only I qualify as being an entirely new species.” He announces with a dangerous expression. As pretentious as he sounds I can’t come up with a rebuttal to him. He’s ridiculous! We’ve been coming at him with everything we have for over ten minutes, and he’s kicking our ass without looking tired at all. To make matters worse, he’s been critiquing us the whole time.
“Shut up!” Nia exclaims with newfound vigor, as flames burst around her while she charges him again. He steps back and begins easily dodging each attack, sidestepping and jumping away from all her attacks. However his vision is locked on her, giving me an opportunity to make him slip. I freeze the ground, getting the frost over to his feet, and I see him slip! Nia’s fist is inches away from contact with him when he abruptly disappears. Is his Emblem teleportation!? This is bullshit!
“Better.” He says casually, patting out some embers that Nia ignited in his hair. “Not enough.” He says flatly, reaching into his pockets and putting out his tablet. We can’t let him tell the school where we are! I force my dead legs to move, and drudge towards him with Nia. When we reach him and start our attack, he avoids us without looking, using his tablet the entire time. “Physically, Mr. Virgo has done a terrible job of teaching you.” He says casually, finally putting the tablet away and looking at us once more.
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“Always go for vitals first.” He weaves between an attack the two of us throw, and slices both of our throats at once. I feel blood beginning to spill out, warming my throat and staining my shirt, making it weigh heavier on my chest. Am I going to die? “And always protect your vitals. It’s human instinct to do so.” He remarks, acting like this is a class. He was never a teacher of anybody anyways, maybe he’s doing this so he doesn’t feel as bad about killing us.
He turns, wielding his knife and approaching the two of us again. I put a wall of ice, protecting my heart and head as thoroughly as I can. Intentionally or not, I’m taking his advice. Instead I feel sharp pain in my elbows and knees, and find myself on the ground, unable to move my legs or arms. “Which is why your opponent inevitably protects their vitals, leaving open their limbs. Incapacitate them, usually from the elbow or knee, to fully prevent resistance in upwards of eighty-five percent of cases.” He sliced through my tendons, or ligaments, I don’t know which, but I can’t move! Damn it! My vision is getting blurry, I’m losing too much blood from my throat, and my headache from overuse of my Emblem isn’t helping matters.
If I can freeze things I touch, why can’t I freeze myself? I’m already touching myself. I inhale deeply and focus, forcing my Emblem to activate inwards, and slowing down my blood, stiffening my body. I don’t know how it worked, but it did, and now I’m able to force myself back to my feet. “When encountering an exception…” Mr. White murmurs with a predatory smile, looking at me with blue eyes that flash with malice. “Prevent them from running away.” He reaches down, and I get ready for him to throw something at me.
Fuck. How did I forget about TJ? Mr. White holds a blade against his throat, holding him by his hair in the air. “Usually you prevent them from running away by abusing what knowledge you have of them, and if you don’t have knowledge, get it. Now, Nia, continue to tell me.” A small bead of blood escapes TJ’s throat, leaving a crimson trail as it falls down his throat. “You’ll disband the school? Kill the Principal? Do you still believe you can do that?”
Nia tries to get back to her feet, but still can’t move her limbs. Crystal appears out of thin air next to her, helping Nia up. I feel as frustrated as she looks, but more than anything else I’m exhausted. Why is TJ still asleep?! Even Jasmine’s still sleeping, and I don’t understand why. If anybody needs a nap it’s me.
“We will defeat the Principal. We’ll kill him if we have to. Once we get past you, we’re going to become strong enough and smart enough. We will! We would’ve. It’s not fair, just one week! If you let us train for just a week we would’ve been able to surpass you!” She shouts at him, a powerful expression of determination and confidence on her face even in this situation. She’s so stupid, such a stupid teenager.
“I wouldn’t even need a week.” I add on, facing Leonidous with newfound power and adrenaline in my body. “I could beat him by myself after only three days! And as things stand, we could take you right now.” This adult is supposed to be more mature than us, he’s supposed to be smart, and instead he’s just an unfair asshole.
He stares us down, his face unmoving, in total control of himself. I feel bubbles building in my chest, my face feels hot. It’s so unfair! We were so close, and as soon as I heard Nia say her words I knew they were true. We just needed a little bit more time, we would’ve been able to do everything!
“Leo?” His eyes widen, and his neck snaps down to focus on TJ. “Oh, hey Mercury. Hey Nia. You two look terrible, what happened?” TJ asks, and for whatever reason Leonidous trembles while holding TJ. His blue eyes glisten in the night, his jaw is clenched, and his hand that smoothly was holding the knife earlier now shakes slightly.
“Mr. White…He was trying to kill us, to stop us from leaving.” I murmur in response, in disbelief that he can’t put the dots together. He’s such an…“Idiot.”
“What?” He calls out, tired, his voice sounding muffled. He bats Mr. White’s hand away and takes a few steps towards us. “Leo wouldn’t do that. He’s a softie.” TJ makes it to us, and finally seems to realize that we’re in immense danger. “Oh! Crap, we gotta get out of here! Let’s go!” He exclaims innocent, leaving it up to interpretation if he realized via the blaring alarm or because he just remembered. He starts jogging away, leaving all of us baffled.
“Jay.” All of us except one. Leonidous appears in front of TJ. “You can’t leave. Principal’s orders.” He says flatly. I can barely move right now, I’m simply far too exhausted. Unable to give TJ support, I watch as he exchanges words with Leonidous.
“Oh Leo.” He starts, putting his hands on his hips. I know without needing to see that he’s giving Leonidous a huge grin. “Come on. You’ve helped me out a lot, and I really like you. I’ve never met somebody like you. So stop trying to fit into the crowd, don’t kill me because you were told to. If you want to kill me, try me, but if you don’t. Perfecto. I’ll meet you in the outside world.” After TJ says that, he claps Leonidous’s shoulder, and turns around to us with the classic TJ grin.
A small smile shows up, one that’s subtle and defeated. He sighs, and takes a seat on the grass. His blue eyes have a warm light that looks fondly at us while we watch him. “Well. Go on then.” His eyes lock in behind us, and after he does that I can hear some footsteps echoing in the halls. People are still after us, besides Leonidous. “Remember my lessons. I’m not the best teacher, but hopefully it’ll help you guys.” TJ comes back over to us and marks us all with his Emblem.
“You guys look like you’ll run a little slow.” He brings up, eyes flickering back to the exit of the building and us. “So, I hope you don’t mind if I have you fly with me.” Afterwards I feel him lift us all in the air, and we all slowly float towards him.
“Thank you, Mr. White…?” Nia says quietly, either unsure of what to make of our situation or just tired.
“Yeah, thanks Leonidous.” I mumble too. If TJ can decide to take a nap at the most inopportune time, so can I. It’s really easy, and I feel myself starting to go numb as I fall asleep.
I’m barely able to hear Leonidous’s response to our gratitude. “No problem.” He says, getting back to his feet and walking past us to stand in front of the door. Truly I know I’m exhausted, because I hear things. “But…call me Leo. Leonidous dies tonight.” My eyes are starting to shut, and I’m tired enough to start seeing things.
I swear I see the Principal standing in front of Leo. Tons of other people as well, armed to the teeth. Several of our classmates, and all of our teachers are standing there too. Delirium is probably setting in though, there’s no way Leo would stand his ground in front of the whole school just for us. The last thing I can remember before falling asleep is the wind. The wind, and the bubbling optimism in my chest. For the first time in my whole life, I’m free.