As this wasn't my first bathroom fight I had somewhat of an idea of what to do.
Wrapping the towel around my hands as he charged at me, I caught his fist with it.
As he tried to yank his fist out, I headbutt him.
Arghhh
That hurt way more than I thought it would.
As my head spun and I staggered back, he rushed at me.
As I had no way to defend myself, I did the only thing I could.
I dropped like a sack of potatoes.
He stopped as he reached me and looked down at me on the ground.
-Bam!
I kicked him in the crown jewels.
Those shiny pearls quivered on their last breath sending him reeling back clutching his nether regions.
Smack-!
My vision swam as something collided with the back of my head.
Staggering forward I turned back to see a second fist coming my way.
Thud-!
Falling on my back I nearly blacked out as someone pinned me down.
Looking up through bleary eyes I saw Goon 2 who I hadn't noticed sneak up on me.
As he began pummeling me with his fists, I raised my arms and blocked as best as I could.
As my vision started fading, I tightly controlled my thoughts.
'C'mon Isaac!'
'Get up!'
'Get the fuck up I say!'
'Is this all you've got?'
'After everything, we've been through that's it?'
'Pathetic.'
Suddenly anger boiled in me as I realized the helpless state I was in.
Although I was weak and had an unhealthy body, I still had to fight.
"Your fly is down." I managed to choke out.
"Huh?" he let out looking down.
'Moron.'
Smashing my head forward once again, I headbutt him.
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if I had brain damage.
Oh well, my head can't get any more messed up anyway.
As his grip loosened, I used my entire body and rolled to the side, knocking him off.
I quickly took a scan of my surroundings as I pinned him.
Goon 1 was still out cold and their leader was just now recovering from his testicular massage.
Punching my fist into his face, I gave him a few good hits before making sure he was out.
After making sure he was done for, I got up and staggered my way over to Mr. Wheezing.
Grabbing my towel off the floor I attempted to smack him with it however he blocked it and punched me in the abdomen.
Letting out a small wheeze, I collapsed with the towel in my hand.
As he prepared to punch me again, I suddenly twisted and wrapped his neck in the towel before pulling hard from behind.
His eyes bugged out and opened wide as he struggled to breathe.
Not letting go, I tightened my grip and pulled back more until he no longer made any noise.
Letting go, he collapsed to the ground, his stomach heaving in measured breaths.
It seemed he was out cold.
Dropping the towel, I sat down against the bathroom wall in my cubicle and let the hot water run down my back.
As I silently sat there gazing into nothing, a powerful feeling of helplessness that I hadn't felt in a long time engulfed me.
I was suddenly dumped into this world with no explanation and had to figure everything out by myself.
The world was my novel but it was also changing so I was no longer sure if what I knew was correct or not.
I had been attacked multiple times and have barely had any time to rest since coming here.
Nothing seemed to be going my way.
Everything just hurt and felt bad.
It felt empty and lonely.
A few tears rolled down my cheeks as I buried my head in my knees silently.
On that day in the men's washroom, the mask of sanity a boy had so carefully crafted began to crack.
***
After cleaning up I changed into my school outfit and left the bathroom.
As I passed through the main hall I noticed only one person was still training this late at night.
Luke was still hard at work, the sound of his grunts echoed through the empty hall.
As I looked at him I formed a small amount of respect for him.
Despite everything that had happened to him, he decided to keep pushing instead of falling down and not getting up.
Leaving him in the training hall I made my way out into the chilly night air.
I shivered slightly as I made my way toward the shuttle stop.
As I arrived at the stop I noticed someone else sitting there.
***
Anna was sitting at the bus stop shivering.
She had just finished her workout and was waiting for the shuttle to arrive to take her to her mansion.
As her family didn't have much money, she was elated when she found out she had made it into the top 10 of her year.
It meant that all her expenses were paid for and she got a mansion equipped with all kinds of special equipment.
Even her meals were cooked by a 5-star chef at her convenience.
Since her mother left when she was 10, she had been taking care of her family.
She had learned how to cook and had to cook for her family every day, therefore she was glad that she now had someone else to cook for her.
She would miss cooking however she could always cook as a hobby.
As she was thinking suddenly a stray thought crossed her mind.
When 'he' pushed her against the wall her heart raced for the first time in a while.
However, what scared her most was how he knew she was a half-breed.
If anyone else found out then she would be persecuted as she didn't have a strong backing.
Suddenly someone else arrived at the shuttle stop.
Turning her head she saw the familiar gaunt face of the very same boy she was thinking about.
As he stood there waiting, it seemed he was intent to not look at her.
However, suddenly a small trail of red ran down from his nose.
When Anna saw this her sisterly instincts kicked in and she pulled out a few tissues.
Her siblings had their noses bleed before and she had to take care of it.
"Here," she said, offering the tissues to him.
Turning his head to look at her, his eyes gazed at her coldly.
She shivered slightly, his eyes looked exceptionally cold right now.
"Keep them, I don't need them," he said, before turning away.
"You clearly need them, your nose is bleeding," Anna said exasperatedly at his attitude.
"I'm fine," he said uncaringly as the lights from the shuttle appeared in the distance.
"Oh for god's sake!" she said, angry at his stubbornness.
Reaching out she attempted to wipe the blood from his face, however, his ice-cold hand caught her wrist.
"I said I'm fine," he said coldly, his eyes glaring at her.
The shuttle stopped in front of them and Isaac let go of her and got on it.
As the shuttle pulled away, Anna was left sitting there infuriated.
"Gahh! Why is he so annoying!" she yelled into the quiet night.
However, she didn't notice that his hand had been trembling when he grabbed her wrist.
***
In a private office far away, low light was emitted from a lamp as a woman with platinum blonde hair and ice-cold eyes played a video on her computer holographic screen.
Valeria Cross, also known as the 'Ice Queen' rarely took an interest in her students.
Most students fell into generalized categories, such as the talented second-generation kids born from high-ranking Mages.
Valeria had long ago given up on the idea of a 'True Mage'.
Today's Mages were all about being flashy with a little skill to back them up.
The school was formed to train the next generation of Mages in order to preserve humanity however they ended up twisting it until it became a show business where the flashiest and moderately talented succeed.
Therefore she was pleasantly surprised when during the training she saw Luke working hard during MSM practice despite his low ranking.
However, when she saw a frail-looking boy fall asleep in the middle of the field she was once again disappointed and shocked as no one had deigned to fall asleep during MSM practice before.
She was even more pleasantly surprised when she saw Luke training all night at the training facility.
She planned to give him some tips as well as to tell him that he needs to rest as well tomorrow.
However, she had come across something interesting.
As the video taken from the boy's bathroom played in front of her, she couldn't help but be surprised by the frail-looking boy fighting in the video.
He had managed to take down three 2nd years through sheer tactics and tenacity.
Despite them being the qualities of a great Mage, he also showed laziness like in the training which confused her.
Flicking to a video taken in the school hallway, she saw the boy purposefully push Aaron causing him to attack Luke who was standing there.
Sighing lightly, she took out her holophone and dialed a number.
As the line connected she said.
"Finn, I'm going to send you some names, they fought and need to be punished."
"Oh dear, should I be worried?" came a teasing voice from the other side of the speaker.
"No, it's not too serious just get it done," replied Valeria coldly, annoyed at the speaker.
"Okay! If you say so, Valy!" came the cheerful voice of Finn.
Hanging up the phone, Valeria rubbed her temples.
Finn always knew how to get on her nerves.
Moving her eyes back to the screen she replayed the video.
"Hmmm… it seems this batch of mages will be interesting," she muttered.
*Really? Yes, Really.*
Umm just letting you guys know I'm posting the illustration of Isaac since you guys asked for it. as always, Hugz <3