Outside the stadium, Leon sees his friends waiting for him.
"Leon, you're not hurt, are you?' bouncing over she looks at Leon with big wet eyes. Her cute face creased with worry.
"I'm fine Lydia" after his reassurance her cheeks gain some colour and her disposition improves.
"Did my bro win?" Victor comments, with both him and Albert having caught up.
At seeing the slight frown on Leon's face, Albert pipped up.
"Making it out alive against one the Noble six's heirs has to be counted as a win, why don't we go celebrate that?"
"Should we head to the mess hall, there's not a lot of ways to celebrate?" Leon replies.
"I've got an idea, it will take some time to get it ready though. You should probably head to infirmary and get your leg checked out first" Victor responds, a glint in his eyes.
With the group agreeing to meet up at Victor's room late in the afternoon, they each split off. Leon heads towards the back of the academy at a slow speed.
After some time spent walking around Leon eventually finds the building he was looking for. Taking a quick look from the outside, Leon could see that the infirmary had two levels and was likely quite sizeable inside.
Walking in, he shows a man at the front his injury before being directed to one of the side rooms. Sitting he waited for the nurse to walk in.
After a few minutes a young woman walked in, wearing a white scrub. While Leon thought she was beautiful her eyes showed that she looked overworked.
"Hello" Leon cheerfully greets her
"Hi, I'll get you fixed up in no time" gathering some energy she quickly grabs a few things to treat his leg"
"All done" having tied off the bandages on his leg she smiles.
"Thanks" standing up, Leon remembers something "The woman that came in here before, is she awake?"
"You mean the noble girl, yeah she regained consciousness shortly after getting admitted" tapping her cheek in thought. "Did you want to go see her?"
"Can I?" Leon asked unsure of the protocol.
"You can knock on her room and ask if she is taking visitors but you will have to do it soon. Only the patients are allowed to stay at night."
"Thanks."
Following her directions he heads towards the staircase and ascends them, leading him to a hallway with a dozen or so rooms.
'She said it was the closed room at the end' walking on he found the door with a card on it.
'Hela Reinhardt' seeing he was in the correct place he knocks on the door.
"Its Leon."
"You can come in."
Walking in Leon sees a small room. Hela is in a gown with her hair down and is looking out the opened window.
As she turns her face round to meet Leon's eyes he softly asks "are you ok?" Her previously bright and raging eyes seeming to have lost some of their strength.
"Yeah, we Reinhardt's are tough, and they gave me medicine. I should be fine when I wake up tomorrow."
"That's good to hear."
As the room goes silent, Leon's eyes drift over Hela's body. The once undamaged skin now kept the vestiges of the battle. Even with the likelihood of them fully healing he still felt upset. He felt they were a clear sign of his failure, with that thought he prodded himself to speak.
"I'm sorry about the fight, I should have planned better, if I knew Galatea's abilities we wouldn't have lost."
With his words, her mouth opened, a series of mixed emotions appearing on her face.
"Why?" her voice trembles slightly.
"Why?" Leon responds in a sombre tone, waiting for her to continue.
"Why do you blame yourself instead of me? I was useless. I thought if I could beat Galatea, they would let me back in. Not only did I fail twice, I brought you down with me." Tears start to run down her eyes making her stop to wipe them.
Seeing her like that Leon, sat down on the bed and hugged her, rubbing her back warmly.
"I am finished, they won't ever let me live this down. Rumours will spread that I am weak and stupid. A woman who doesn't know her limits and brings about her own failure. They will tear me down." With a bit of fear in her voice she sobs.
"Four years ago I made an oath that no matter the cost I would protect the weak and make sure they all have a brighter future. Until you feel you have regained your strength I will protect you, this I swear." Taking her predicament most seriously Leon vows in her heart to help Hela.
"Thank you" her hands grip his shirt tighter as she meekly asks "then can you come to my families ball this weekend." She holds her breath, waiting for his answer.
"Can we leave the academy?" Leon first asks, unsure how they would get there.
"It will be fine, a carriage will be sent and they let students out for such commitments."
"Then I will go with you" as he answers her grip softens.
"Thank you Leon" hearing her voice brighten he slowly releases his hug.
"Shall we train tomorrow, for the duel next week?"
"Yeah that sounds good" nodding in agreement. Knowing she will likely be fully recovered and waiting till the afternoon would mean avoiding unnecessary complications at class.
"Alright I will come and get you tomorrow afternoon, you should stay and rest up in the meantime"
"Mmm, I will" she softly purrs.
"Then see you tomorrow, bye Hela" giving a small wave Leon heads out the door
"See you Leon."
As Leon leaves the Infirmary, headed towards the boy's dormitory, their eyes follow him.
****
Hello everyone. How have the chapters been? For now I have run out of my previous copy, so I will have to start from scratch for the rest. This may affect the release schedule, but hopefully not. Are any of you keeping pace with the chapter release and do you read author thoughts?
Also there are more R18 chapters coming soon.