Having no intention of standing, she decided to continue walking. "I'm sorry, please excuse me."

"Says the one who I heard summoned Nix to Zoar." Ayanami wiggled her brow.

She and the other high ranking students had been alerted to the havoc that had been caused in the city by a rumic–those who had chosen to use their magic for evil.

"Oh!" Gia's voice toned down. She had remembered the news which had been circulating within the academy.

Ayanami's team had lost three of her teammates that day, with the exception of a male and a female, who are still in the infirmary.

Gia's brows knitted, she wondered why she was in a good condition while the rest wasn't. It almost looked like she had never left the academy's vicinity. Neither did she carry the air of sadness or grief about the dead teammates.

"Are you alright, Ayanami?" Her voice warm and soothing.

"Umm... yes?" She was momentarily stunned by the randomness of the question, but decided to play along with it.

"I see." Gia looked down, nodding her head at some wild thought in her head.

She only hoped that the variation of the story she had heard was nothing more than rumors.

'Not one of them never knew this tragedy was going to befall them. It's purely coincidental.' She kept chanting in her head until it stuck.

"I would have wished we were present that day, what fun would it have been to help out one way or another." She squealed.

'What about your teammates?! Who would ditch a mission to see some fire gift, narcissistic, attention lover?' Her thoughts screamed.

Gia had a poker face the whole time, not pleased by the fact that even her senior was interested in him, with little disregard for the ones who are still alive and in a critical position. "You barely know him."

"So does everyone in this academy, it's been three days since we had arrived after he had courageously defended our school singlehandedly–"

'Single handedly? Isn't that a little too much?' She grumbled.

"–So we are all rooted deep in this together." She clasped her hands, grinning.

Gia was starting to have second thoughts on why she was approached by this senior.

"Did you just want to talk with me because of my little interactions with him? Or was it because of Mr Gaviel's compliment?" She narrowed her eyes.

"I needed to get to know you more, after all you are the one with the most interaction with him," she smiled. "Excluding that loud mouthed red haired." She muttered the last part to herself, masking it with a nervous laughter.

Gia increased her pace, she was starting to get agitated by the fact that if this news does continue to spread, she would be known as nothing but someone who summoned Nix to the Zoar.

'What would happen to my skill as a magician? Flushed down the drain, because of him?!' She sighed.

Ayanami noticed that whatever she had said had incurred a reaction from Gia and not one for the better. "I didn't mean that I came in search of you because of that." She increased her pace to match hers.

"We all have our strengths and weaknesses, but that doesn't just define us, we do so ourselves." Ayanami spoke. "My time with my teammates taught me to take life as it is, risks and friendship are meant to be taken or built before it's gone just like it came."

'Touching!' Gia nodded her head, wiping her eyes by pretending to be moved by her story.

There was definitely something she was hiding, the tone in her voice didn't carry any form of grief or regret.

Finally being able to catch up with Gia, she wrapped her hand around Gia's shoulders. "I was just so happy to finally meet another protege."

"Uhuh!" Gia grunted, but she wasn't going to be easily swayed that way.

"Can I introduce you to my friends, some other time?" Ayanami batted her lashes, hopeful about her answer.

'Some other time, sounds like a great plan.' She had a smile present on her lips.

If saying yes could make her leave, so she could go to her dormitory with a calm mind, then she would gladly do so. "Yes, sure. Maybe some time."

'I hope we don't interact in the future.' She sneered, putting on a smile.

Until she knew her true motives, it was best to steer clear of Ayanami.

"Great!" Ayanami squealed. "Well it was fun talking with you." She waved, shapeshifting into a quetzal, it's wings displaying its iridescent blue hue and its white colored chest and belly as she flew away.

–––––––––––

'They actually think they are looked upon as individuals here!' Nix scoffed at the thought, shaking his head and dragging his feet as he walked.

He had not forgotten about the experiments his mother had been working on. All he could see the school as was a grooming center, a place to cultivate their powers and gifts.

Once that was done, they are sent on a suicidal mission in the form of saving the city and these makeshift heroes were nothing more than fodders to a sick plan by the organisation.

'This needs to end soon.' His hand tightened on the edges of the pass, Nix sighed. Shoving it back into his pocket. The time he had spent in the academy was becoming much more agonizing with the passing day.

He wanted nothing more than to be handpicked by the organization, giving him much more access than the one he was limited to in the academy.

There was still the issue of hiding his passive gift, he wasn't sure how long he could hold that up.

"What the heck–" He shook his head, trying to shake off the unsteady feeling he was getting.

'Mune!' He closed his eyes, momentarily losing his balance and landing on the floor. He winced as the cold floor struck the back of his knees.

[Master, what's wrong with you?] Mune was concerned. She had seen Nix's reaction after she spoke to him. It was unlike him to be in this state, especially when he had been so active during the week.

Using the wall as a support, he got back to his feet, brushing himself off the dirt as best he could. He would have liked to tell her what had happened, but he didn't understand what was going on either.

Dizzy, his vision was blurring, so was the movements on the floor, as a glow emanated from his right arm branching in the form of veins trailing down his arm to his fingers.

Fluctuating, as it throbbed painfully.

"Aaargh!" He held his hand, leaning on the wall, his breathing tense and strained.

[You have been marked] Mune gasped in horror.

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