Night Seventy Five
Age 1991
Squad Six Dorm Room...
"Oh God my face hurts..." Hero groaned sitting up and rubbing at his bruised face.
"Oh good you're up..." Hero opened his eyes, which were badly swollen, in front of him sitting on the bed was Ken who had a bottle of Life and a wet rag with the liquid that she was using to rub on his face easing his wounds. "I was beginning to get worried."
"Ken?" Hero asked slowly. "Why are you rubbing my face?"
"Because unlike me you can't just heal your wounds. Duh." The silver eyed girl said rolling her eyes.
Hero shook his head for a moment. "That's not what I meant... I mean why are you the one who's doing this?"
"Kitsune didn't want to, and Light did want to, but I figured you didn't want him to."
"You were right to think that..." Hero nodded. "But what I meant was why isn't Ir- Hey where is Irene?" He asked looking around.
"Ahh she ran off." Kitsune said. He was sitting in front of the t.v playing one of his anime cartoons. Light was also seated listening to it since he didn't appear to have anything better to do.
"Yeah." Light nodded. "Sorry Big Brother but her and Ken had a fight so she ran off. She's been behaving kind of weird ever since we got back. I figured it was a good idea to let her have her space."
"What!" Hero said with wide eyes. "You just let her walk off on her own?" He asked.
"Yeah..." Kitsune said folding his arms as he raised an eyebrow. "What's the big deal? I figure she'll mope about and figure something out on her own-"
"If you care so much Hero why don't you go find her." Ken said standing up and stretching her body out. "Go talk to her. I'm sure she wouldn't mind."
"Ken..."
"Is it really a big deal Devil Arm?" Kitsune asked.
"Yes... It is..."
Kitsune opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it. His eyes slowly widened. "I've made a horrible mistake!" He yelled out.
"That was all it took to change his mind!" Light asked with wide eyes.
"We need to find her fast!" Kitsune announced jumping up to his feet and raising his Katana up. 'I finally get what is going on here...' He thought as a sly smirk crossed onto his face. 'Devil Arm and Irene are having some kind of bad moment... I bet if I get to her I can sweep her off her feet and get her to fall in love with me! She isn't a cute girl like Ken but Irene, is definitely good looking! Way to good looking for someone like Devil Arm to have!' Kitsune's smirk grew as his flaming ears and tails formed on him. "As a Samurai it is my duty to help a friend in need!" He announced. "I shall help her."
"Well..." Kitsune looked up seeing Hero was already at the door about to leave. "Come on then... I have a feeling I know where we can find her." Hero said flatly as he eyed the Fox teen up and down. 'What are you planning...' He thought.
"R... Right..." Kitsune said shifting under Hero's gaze.
Hero turned away as he opened the door. 'Did I do this... I knew she was behaving weird ever since she saved me from becoming a Fallen One... Ever since there was that Dragon... Dragon... Why does that word sound familiar to me?' He shook his head as he stepped out the door.
"You're not gonna follow?" Ken asked once Kitsune, and Hero left.
"Nah..." Light said leaning back in his chair. "I've been having some memory issues for a while... It's so weird..." He shrugged.
"Hmm..." Ken hummed as she took a seat in front of the t.v and watched Kitsune's weird show.
***
"Gah! This is so hard!" Irene said collapsing to the grass bellow as she placed her hands on her head and let out a frustrated groan. "Okay... So. I need to get stronger! But I can't use 'that' power yet as Hero would pull me back... So I just need to get rid of Hero right... But why does that sound so hard? Is it fear, fear of what? Or is it something else? How do I get more strength while staying like this... I can't get much stronger than I am now. Dad said so himself and this is his power... I'm stuck... Unable to protect the things I love." Irene rolled up into a ball as she let out a sigh. "This is so hard... I get why I'm afraid. I get that I will have to train hard. I get that I need a goal... I have all of those things and understand them... Yet I still have no idea how I can gain more strength... Or... Or how I can gain the courage to push forward. Who knew being an Enforcer would be so hard. I want to see him. I want to save him again and again. Not just Hero though. Kitsune, Light, even Ken. A world where humans don't need to fight Bestia Macht huh..."
"Umm...Are you alright?"
"Ahh!" Irene jumped into the air as she held her arms up going into an awkward battle stance.
"What are you doing..."
Irene stopped suddenly as she blinked a few times trying to come up with an answer. "Nothing." She said staring at the three people who were now in front of her. "Just... Dreaming..."
The three of them all raised an eyebrow as they stared at her. The first person, which was the one who spoke, was a young sixteen-year-old girl, with long platinum-blonde hair, and blue eyes. She wore a very elegant winter coat. The second was a boy who looked to be seventeen. He hovered behind the girl and stared at Irene with a serious expression not once taking his eyes off of the girl. He had red hair, and black eyes. And lastly was a young fifteen-year-old boy who was nervously following behind the two, as he awkwardly twiddled his thumbs, he had a paint brush tucked behind his ear. He looked away when Irene glanced at him. All three of them looked kind of familiar. Maybe other new recruits?
"Umm so..." Irene said trying to steer the conversation away from where ever it had been moments ago. "Nice weather right?" But her attempt failed miserably. The three teens continued to stare at her. "What?" She finally asked letting out a sigh of defeat.
"I came to check on you... you were yelling at yourself and folded up into a ball? Are you alright?" The girl said folding her arms up as she let out a heavy sigh. "Honestly I don't know why I bothered... You're a very rude commoner."
"Oh... You're a Noble..."
"Is that a problem?"
"Are you going to continue to insult me by calling me a commoner?"
"Yes."
"Than yeah. It's a problem. You can just leave..."
The girl rolled her eyes. "You should be more like Shuncong." She said gesturing to the nervous boy behind her. He flinched jumping away when Irene turned to look at him.
"...Not happening..." Irene said flatly.
The girl let out a sigh. "Very well." She said calmly. "My name is Reine, heir to the Noble family of Antoinette." She announced proudly.
"I'm Irene Glacious." Irene announced equally as loud as her to spit the Noble. "Why have I not met a decent Noble yet..." Irene wondered out loud.
"I beg your pardon!"
"You heard me." Irene let out a sigh and shook her head. "Sorry... I'm having trouble managing my anger lately... Let's start over-" She went to hold her hand out to the Noble girl but was stopped when the other boy suddenly jumped forward.
"You mustn't touch Lady Antoinette." He announced in a serious tone putting himself between the two girls as he held his arms out. "I shall not allow it."
Irene's eye twitched as she stared at the man. "One day... I'm sure I'll met a decent Enforcer..."
The girl let out a sigh as she shook her head. "Sir Schutz, please stop..." She said speaking sternly and hitting the man over the head with her fist.
"But lady-"
"Schutz!"
"Yes, my lady..."
"What just happened..." Irene said blinking rapidly as she processed what she just saw.
"Don't mind Schutz." The Noble girl said waving her hand. "He's nothing to be afraid of. Just a bit overprotective of me. I came here to become a better Noble and join the Enforcers. The three of us are all a part of Squad Three. I'm hoping to rise up through the ranks and show off the power of my family. Unfortunately, some people don't seem to understand that, that means to stop holding my hand!" She said loudly as she glared at Schutz.
"My lady. I already informed you that-"
"Blah, blah, blah!"
Irene watched the three people with a look of confusion as he slowly took another step away from them. 'These guys are weird...' She thought as she frowned. 'I'm gonna leave before they fully realize who I am... I already let it slip what my name was, and after seeing Hero in such a bad condition I'd rather not fight one of them... Especially if they're a part of one of the three top Squads... Let's just walk away before they-'
"You said you're Irene Glacious right..." The shy boy said. "You and those four other recruits went on that mission right?"
'Damn it! Why did I tell them my name! I'm acting like Kitsune and Hero now!'
Irene stopped as she glanced over at the quiet boy who had outed her. The other two also stopped as he shrunk down taking a step back when he noticed everyone was looking at him.
"Umm. I mean... You're... You're on Squad Six... And umm... You were on that big mission that everyone knows about, but nobody knows what happened on it exactly. Also. One of your teammates is a Nine, another one has the same name as a Captain, and another one is a Seraphin right... You're on 'that' Squad right?"
"What's a Seraphin?" Both Reine and Schutz's said in confusion.
"Uh yeah? That's me." Irene said a bit nervous now. Small wisps of ice covered the palm of her hands as she got ready for a fight. "Why do you ask."
"You must be really strong right..." The shy boy muttered out as he stared at the ground in embarrassment. "I want to get stronger too..." He said slowly. "Strong like that boy on your Squad."
"Hero?"
"N... No the other one."
"Light!?"
"N... No..."
"...K... Ken?"
"I'm talking about the Noble... Kitsune Nine..." The boy said shyly. "He's so strong and says what's on his mind. I want to be like that..."
"Well... I guess Kitsune is strong..." Irene frowned. "Stronger than me at least... But there's this other boy with a demonic arm, and a fourteen year old girl, who are both way stronger than him. Than again seeing what Ken can do I'd say she's the strongest one on our Squad so that fourteen year old girl is no joke to be fair..."
"What?"
"It's actually why I was muttering to myself earlier." She responded as she looked down at her hands in shame. "I'm trying to figure out how to get stronger. I need to draw more power but I can't figure out how. I'm hitting a wall... At my limit. I know what I have to do in order to get stronger but I don't know if I'm strong enough to get stronger. Something is causing me to hit this rut..."
"What do you mean?" Schutz asked raising an eyebrow as he stared at the blonde girl.
"Well... I know how I can just get stronger but I don't know if I can go through with it... During the mission, we fought a very powerful opponent. It was close but we won. But after words, it really sunk in how outmatched I was compared to what everyone else did... Then after I got back, I was only reminded of how little I really grew. It's weird but... I think I was actually stronger when I fought that monster... I don't know how, but I was able to use more power in that fight, and I was calmer, in the fight I was able to react more than I can now. Power I can no longer use... It's like I was able to draw out my all... And that still wasn't enough... There's a goal I want to reach. A road I want to walk. People I want to save. But I just don't think I'll be able to..."
"Wow. Sucks to be you!" Reine replied casually.
Irene dropped to the ground as she let out a sigh and slowly got back up.
"It sounds like you already have your answer." The bodyguard of the Noble said slowly as he crossed his arms.
"Umm? What?"
"The answer you are looking for. You've found it already."
"I have!" Hero said in surprise. "It's gonna be something stupid isn't it..."
"Tell me. During the battle did you consider for a moment how outmatched you were. Did you consider the fact that you would die? Did you stop and allow yourself to feel fear?" The man questioned.
"I... I guess I didn't. I was too busy fighting and trying to save He- I was busy fighting. I didn't consider it."
"Exactly. You're trying to find out how to get the strength to complete this goal of yours. Well, you've found out the answer. Besides. You're saying that this single battle terrified you right? What about your friends. Do you think they are scared? Are they running around in a panic thinking about how they weren't strong enough? Or do they already know the answer. You want to get stronger? You fight."
"How does that help?"
"When you are fighting to protect someone, or something, that's when a person can really go all out... I bet if you were to fight the version of you that tried to protect your friend, you would lose, you even said it yourself, you think that you had more power when you were on the mission. It's because at that point you weren't considering the difference in power. You want to complete this goal of yours. Than keep fighting. Fight to protect whatever it is that you are holding onto. Whatever person, whatever object, whatever memory it maybe. Fight for it. Even if it means letting it go to get stronger. Let them go so you can save them. If that's what you really want. You want to improve but feel they will stop you than let them go."
Irene was silent for a moment as she hung his head. "I never thought of it like that..." For a second the image of Hero came back to her mind. "But you're right. I know he would do everything in his power to save me and stop me... And I would listen to it because I... I was afraid at first. Afraid of shutting him out and never being able to see him again... But I would rather never see him again than learn that he died... I guess in a way North was right... My powers are unreliable. I'll need to use 'that' if I want to stand by his side at all..."
"Wait what are you talking about?" he bodyguard asked.
"Not important..." Irene said shaking her head. "I know what I'm going to do. I made up my mind... I was afraid of shutting him out so I could evolve my own power but I see that there is no need for that now. When the time comes for me to walk down that path, if I actually cared about him, I would walk down it even if he asked me to stop. If I have to use that, then it means we're in danger... So when the day comes I'll use him trying to pull me back as my way to go forward with it. I will save him. Not just him. My family, Squad Six. Every person in front of me."
"You do that." The bodyguard said letting out a chuckle. "Oh. By the way. If you ever need a sparring partner, come find me in the Squad three dorms."
"Will do.." Irene said flatly as she walked off.
"That was kind of bad of you..." Reine said frowning. "Handing advice out to a rival like that?"
"I just told her the truth," Schutz said smirking. "After all." He turned flashing her a slight smile as she turned away from him with a light blush. "I have something to protect as well..."