Raziel’s face hardened and her eyes narrowed to a focus on the girl in front of her. “I knew you were smarter than you looked.”

Albaer and Lialah snapped their eyes toward the disguised demoness as soon as she gave up the secret, their lips parted at once to object or protest until Raziel’s hands fell to each of their knees on either side of her and gave a reassuring squeeze.

“There’s no point in pretending, is there?” Raziel asked pointedly and leaned toward the red haired girl and her shimmering emerald green eyes. She glanced around as covertly as she could, with only the smallest twitch to see if they were being watched or eavesdropped on.

While the fact that Albaer had two pretty girls with him drew definitive commentary and many a wayward glance as rumors no doubt began to spread, his outcast status kept some distance from them at least, so she was able to whisper comfortably after seeing nothing amiss. The babble and noise of other cliques was substantial enough that no birds landed on the nearby branches, and nobody seemed inclined to approach the table. Students lounged around on the grass, against the occasional tree, or at other gray stone tables.

Lisa’s heart began to pound in her chest, she couldn’t meet Raziel’s baleful stare for long, the memory of the talon tracing over her face, threatening to tear her open… the promise of being dropped from high in the sky to a quick and brutal end… both were fresh in her mind.

Still, she faked her confidence as best she could while her courage held and said, “I don’t have to be that smart. You told me you had a sister, now Albaer shows up here with two girls who act very close to him? I’ve known him my whole life, I’ve never heard of Isadora or Isabella or the Blackworth family… which by the way has real edgelord Goth Topic vibes…”

“Hey, I like it.” Raziel said, briefly distracted from the exposure she crossed her arms in front of her chest, “It’s like that family from the Hylarim game… the one with the secret society…” Raziel trailed off when Albaer started to crack a smile in spite of himself.

“She’s got a point… it’s an obvious reference. I like it… but I’m a nerd so…” Albear shrugged.

Lisa rolled her eyes at his interjection.

“So what happens now, are you going to try to expose us?” Lialah asked, leaning forward toward her, “You wouldn’t do that, you’re a good person at heart…”

“You’re her sister… can I… have your real name?” Lisa asked, the warmth of the blue eyes was heart melting, she felt like a child that had been caught about to do something bad, but was being comforted rather than scolded. The rapid pace of her heartbeat began to slow down, and this one, this one she could look at directly and without fear.

“Lialah… if you want to know.” Lialah answered and reached across the stone table, without thinking, Lisa took it.

“It’s a nice name… I won’t say anything? I’d rather not die… and even if I said anything, who would believe me? What am I supposed to say?” Lisa snorted, “‘Oh those two beautiful girls aren’t real humans…’ I’d be locked up in a crazy house the same day.”

“Not for long, you wouldn’t be.” Raziel said, her stare was not even broken by a blink.

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“I won’t say anything… I promise. I promise.” She repeated herself again, “I’m sorry… I really am, and I’ll do anything to make it right with you.” She said, looking at neither of the two who sat beside Albaer, but only at Albaer himself.

“Even if you could, how could I forget it?” Albaer asked, “You made a choice, Lisa. Even if I forgive it, how am I supposed to just let it go like nothing happened?”

“I…” Lisa thought it over, then lowered her head.

“If I stood by while you were getting beaten up, would you really ever look at me the same way?” He asked.

“No… I-I don’t know.” She answered, her eyes welling up, “But still, I want to make it up somehow.”

“I don’t know what to tell you.” Albaer answered, “And it might not matter anyway, I may not be here for long. Things are different…”

Before he could explain just how, Lisa’s mouth opened and she screamed, “Look out!”

All the martial arts in the world were inadequate for the simple act of being ambushed from behind while seated at a stone table, particularly when unintentionally trapped by having others seated on either side of him.

The basketball hit Albaer hard in the back of the head, knocking his face forward a bit, the shock of the blow briefly stunning him, it rebounded away, and even before he looked, the ‘who’ came immediately to mind.

He turned his head to look, and there was Jason, standing there with a smug, shit eating smile on his face about twenty yards away. For a brief moment Albaer was impressed, the shot hit him right in the center of the back of his head. “Sorry. It was an accident!” Jason lied, and without even thinking about it, while others chuckled or laughed, Albaer knew that the idiot would be believed.

“Albaer! Are you alright?!” The trio shouted as he stepped over the stone bench. He didn’t answer, he turned around while they were still standing up, and he ran.

Not away.

He ran toward his smug, smiling tormenter.

“Fight!” Someone shouted, and Albaer vaguely heard the others, the sea of students, but it was like static from an old television, mere white noise, background, meaningless.

His arms pumped and his heart raced, all he could feel was an overwhelming sense of hatred and the smug smile disappeared off of Jason’s face. Ages of frustration boiled over as he ran bellowing down on the young man.

Raziel and Lialah barely had time to realize the nature of his intent before the gap was closed, but their intent to rush to his aid died when he did the unexpected.

Jason took a wide, crude, untaught swing toward Albaer’s face, only for Albaer to drop with one leg back and hit Jason’s solar plexus with the palm of his hand… and as the boy bent over and started to gasp, Albaer spun on the forward heel to plant himself into a side stand and brought his other hand up to smash into Jason’s nose, snapping the boy upright again and sending him falling onto his back.

From there, Albear jumped over top of him, shouting, raging, he couldn’t hear the cheering of “Fight” anymore, he brought his hands down in open palmed blows that avoided damaging his fingers, while under him Jason flailed and tried to rise or hit anything he could.

Albear grabbed the young man’s hair at the top of his head, yanked it back to tilt his face up, and then brought his fore and middle finger down in a V shape that dug both fingers into Jason’s eyes.

The tormentor screamed like a wounded beast and clawed at Albaer’s fingers, his cries became pleas that went on until Raziel and Lialah reached him and pulled Albaer back. ‘Albaer is going to kill him… we probably shouldn’t let him do that…’

Jason lay flat, breathing hard, crying, clutching at his eyes… “I can’t see! I can’t see!”

Albaer stopped yelling, he was breathing hard, still glaring hatefully at the defeated and broken unfortunate Jason, his body began shaking in the aftermath of his adrenal rush, and only then, far too late, did a teacher come rushing outside.

The teacher, Albaer’s teacher… she saw Jason, saw Albaer, and paled. ‘I wonder what she’s thinking… maybe wishing she’d said something when she saw what he did to me before…’ He wondered, his glare shifted to her as her face paled when she beheld the damage to the writhing boy on the grass.

‘This is your fault, bitch.’ He thought while she pulled the broken boy into her lap when she knelt down beside him.

“Let me see! Move your hands!” She shouted in a panic down at Jason and then turned her head away from Albaer, “Someone go get the nurse!” She cried as she forced the young man’s hands away..

Only then did Albaer look around further, and saw far less than cheerful faces in every direction… a mix of dismay, horror, and mute fascination… but the fun… that was over.