C304 - Courage
The recruits had been forced to read about the Kred after Istrone's rebellion. They knew that those aliens reached physical maturity quickly. Yet, the theory was different from reality, especially when it used words that were so easy to misunderstand for humans.
The students didn't think about the Kred when they heard Khan's revelation. Their minds stopped at the word "ten", and their stomachs clenched as they absorbed it. Their knowledge quickly allowed them to connect that age to a fully-grown alien, but the bitter feeling inside them remained.
Khan wore a sad smile as he saw hesitation, emptiness, and stupor replacing the curiosity that filled the recruits' faces. A slight tremor ran through Cora's grasp as she tightened and relaxed it depending on her worries. That was the exact reaction he wanted from his students, but obtaining it didn't make him feel good.
"I'll leave now," Khan stated. "I hope to see you all the day after tomorrow."
The statement forced the recruits to snap out of their stupor, but only a few managed to look at Khan. Many continued to divert their gazes, while others remained deep into their thoughts as they tried to imagine how it felt to kill someone so young.
Khan stood up, and Cora followed him. She let go of his arm, but she remained at his side, and their shoulders often touched as they left the canteen and reached the camp's streets.
Cora remained silent. She felt guilty for having awakened bad memories, and her gaze wandered on the street. Still, her body moved toward Khan on its own, even if she tried to distance herself whenever their shoulders touched.
Meanwhile, Khan went over various thoughts. He still recalled the emotions that had tried to make a hole in his mental barrier when he learnt the Kred's young age. His first kill had been awful, but a long time had passed, and far more blood had fallen on his hands.
Khan could review Istrone's events with greater clarity now. He had long since accepted that the rebellion had left him with no alternatives, and he had even acknowledged the dark areas of his personality. Liiza had even allowed him to appreciate the murky depths of his character. He could be a monster if the situation required it, but he took no joy in that.
'I hope they understand it now,' Khan sighed while thinking about his students. 'I have probably done it. I have created a crack in their innocence. I should get a reward for my teaching skills.'
His thoughts had ended up in a mock. Khan didn't like what he had done, but his actions felt necessary, especially in his mind. He knew what his students could face, and they had probably understood that now.
'Why does the world look so dark?' Khan cursed in his mind. 'Why can't I find a light as bright as you?'
Cora stopped walking and forced Khan to snap out of his happy memories on Nitis. He turned only to find his friend looking at the ground and holding her right arm. Her grasp twitched, but she tried her best to make her fingers pierce her uniform.
"What is it?" Khan said in a helpless tone as he bent forward to make his head enter Cora's field of view.
"Why are you accompanying me home tonight?" Cora whispered.
"The curfew is close," Khan explained without straightening his back. "We don't want you to face troubles, do we?"
"But I messed up tonight," Cora complained. "You don't have to force-."
Cora couldn't finish her line because Khan hugged her. She didn't know how to react to that sudden gesture. Part of her felt guilty for enjoying something like that after what had happened. However, Cora couldn't find the strength to push Khan away anywhere, so she abandoned herself in his arms.
Khan didn't really think before hugging Cora. His mood had grown a bit sour after the recent events, but he knew that the slightest gesture would mean the world for Cora, so he went for it. Reasons, problems, and consequences failed to reach his mind in time to stop him.
"Come on, we went over this," Khan chuckled while caressing Cora's long blonde hair. "We are friends. Stop worrying about these small things."
"You are way too good with me," Cora whined while moving her head left and right in a desperate attempt to dive deeper into Khan's chest. "Why?"
"I'm always good," Khan joked, but Cora grabbed the sides of his uniform and tightened her grasp. She wouldn't let him go, not through emotionless words at least.
"It's hard to explain," Khan sighed as he accepted that he had to be honest. "You have already suffered even if you didn't deserve it. I don't want you to have it hard again."
"Am I only someone who needs your protection in your mind?" Cora questioned.
"You have stopped needing it near the end of Istrone's rebellion," Khan explained. "This is just me being selfish. I want to be good with you because I don't like to see you suffer."
A tremor ran through Cora before she froze completely. Khan could sense her heart beating faster, and a whisper eventually vibrated on his chest. "You have no idea how good you make me feel."
Cora finally lifted her head to watch the effect that her words had on Khan. She felt a bit pleased that he had remained speechless, and a satisfied smile even appeared on her face.
"You should be careful about what you say," Khan said while diverting his gaze from her large green eyes.
"Why? I'm speaking the truth, and you know it," Cora declared as her tone gained some confidence. "You have known since Istrone."
"Yes, I know it," Khan sighed. "But you also know how I feel toward you."
"Yes, I know," Cora whispered as her grasp on his uniform tightened.
"It's not you," Khan honestly explained. "You keep finding me in bad moments. I was barely myself on Istrone, and now-."
"Now you are still lost over the Niqols girl," Cora concluded, and Khan couldn't help but move his surprised gaze on her.
"How can you be sure of that?" Khan asked.
"Khan, I watch you," Cora responded. "I could see the layers of pain you kept hidden on Istrone. I saw how much it hurt to play the part of the cold hero. I might not have realized it back then, but I had a lot of time to think, and seeing you again without that mask made everything clear."
Khan gulped as he diverted his gaze again. He had initially believed that the change in his behavior had only surprised Cora, but it seemed that the event had far deeper repercussions.
"I think part of me always knew," Cora explained. "That's why I tried so hard to support you on Istrone. That's why I knew I couldn't claim a place in your heart when you were so worried about your friend. That's why I'm certain that only someone capable of shaking parts of you that no one else has ever seen could make you decide to love."
"I never said that I loved her," Khan replied.
"But I can see it here and now," Cora giggled as a single tear fell from her eyes. "It's the reason why you are trying to push me away. It's the reason why you look so sad whenever someone mentions Nitis. It's the reason you are sealing your heart so deeply under the layers of pain that you keep accumulating."
"Cora, I don't know what to say," Khan spoke to break her flow, but Cora seemed unstoppable now that her feelings had exploded.
"You know, I'm really timid," Cora smiled. "You might think that I fell for you due to how strong or reliable you are, but the truth is different. I love you because you give me courage that I never thought existed inside me. The same courage that has forced me to abandon my hesitation now."
"I can't give you what you want," Khan almost begged. "I don't want to see you suffer while you wait for something that might never come."
"You have no idea how happy I would be to make a single smile appear on your face," Cora chuckled sweetly. "My life would feel whole to know that I've granted you a single peaceful second. Just give me that chance. Don't cut me away out of fear of the pain I might experience. I can assure you that nothing would ever make me hate you."
Khan sensed his self-restraint crumbling. That situation felt similar to what he had gone through with Delia, but Cora's emotions made it far different.
Cora was warm. Her sweet voice could melt ice and make water boil. She wanted to give so much, but Khan had forced her feelings to slam on thick walls. Still, she had persisted until her emotions had exploded and had fallen on him.
'Why did I even hug her?' Khan cursed in his mind. 'Why did I let her get so close? Why do I keep desiring to feel good when I have already experienced true bliss? Why do I still feel bad whenever I think of someone else? Why did you leave me with this curse? Why am I about to trust her?'
"You messed up big time," Khan stated in a cold voice that made Cora's face freeze. She actually felt scared for a second, but everything disappeared when Khan trapped her in a deep kiss.
Cora gave Khan complete control of everything she had. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let him do whatever he wanted. His fingers tried to stab her lower back as he pulled closer to his waist. His tongue barged violently inside her mouth as if searching for the source of her sweetness.
Khan's kiss became almost suffocating for Cora, but she didn't care. She bent backward as he kept diving on her. Intense redness filled her cheeks when she felt something hard hitting on her waist, but her shyness couldn't reach her mind in that situation. She belonged to him, and she didn't mind if he broke her as he searched for his happiness.
Khan took a while to come back to his senses and leave Cora's mouth. She breathed roughly, but she still forced herself to wear a smile and fix her gaze on him. He noticed the faint trace of tears in her eyes, but they didn't seem to come from her sadness.
Cora's lack of experience in those matters was evident. She had tried to go along with Khan's kiss, but she had been clumsy, and he had been too aggressive for her to understand what to do.
"It's better if you return on your own tonight," Khan stated as his eyes ran over her figure. "I don't know what I might do."
"Y-you can do everything you l-," Cora mustered the entirety of her courage to say that line, and her cheeks even reached a new realm of redness during the process, but Khan kissed her before she could finish.
The second kiss was soft and sweet, something that made Cora melt and accept Khan's words. When he let go of her lips, she nodded and wore a sweet smile before turning to run through the street on her own.
Cora was basically escaping now that her shyness had returned, but Khan knew that her mind was going through complete happiness. He could sense it in the mana inside her body. Her energy was playing a cheerful tune that appeased even some of his most profound doubts.
'Fuck, I ended up doing it,' Khan cursed as his hand reached his lips.
Cora's taste was still there. Part of Khan minded that flavor, but another felt happy. He didn't know if that feeling came from the incredible moment he had given to Cora or from something inside him, but he decided not to think about it that night.
His mind could only go over a few deafening lines as he reviewed what had happened. Khan's thoughts almost shouted as they made him swear a simple promise. 'Cora can't be another Delia. I need to do this right.'
A message reached Khan while he was still immersed in his thoughts. He picked up his phone almost unconsciously, but his attention felt forced to move on the screen when he saw the words "Headmaster Pitcus" on top of the notification.
'The meeting with the families will happen tomorrow then,' Khan summarized after reading the message. 'I really can't take a breath. Luckily I know how I want to handle this part.'
To be continued