Just a few different things in one

Chapter 63

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

4:56 pm

(Ivan's POV)

I look down at the container with a water gun. The water gun was teal on the top half and white on the bottom half. The gun has two handles, one in the very back of the gun and near the middle. The handle near the middle had a little slot so that the handle can slide to the front. The gun had two orange nozzles near the front. On the top was a small orange cap. I look down at the water gun and stretch out my arms so that I could have a better look.

Why does Wayne even need a water gun?

5:30 pm

I walk through the woods, the woods cleared as I came across a familiar dirt building. I walk towards the entrance and peer inside the building. A chill went down my spine as I was only met with a pitch-black void. I take out a flashlight and point it to the inside of the building. The darkness moved around the beam of light. I turn off the flashlight and put it back in my Inventory. I step to the side and lean by the doorway. We have to tear this down, or at least brighten up the place. Maybe we could use it for something?

I slide down the wall and onto the grass. I take out a book as Wayne came out of the woods. I groan as I put my book back into my Inventory. I stand up and take out a water gun. The sound of water going from side to side could be heard coming from the gun as I stretched out my arms to hand it to Wayne. Wayne took it with a smile. He turned the gun in his hand and pointed the gun at the sun.

"Is that really all you wanted?" Wayne nodded and pointed the gun to a nearby tree. He opened the cap and pressed the trigger. A jet of water flew out of the water gun in an instant. The stream of water curved and looped around the tree. The water quickly flew over in Wayne's direction and swirled around his body. Blinding light bounced off the water, I covered my eyes with my hands as the water grouped up to form one thin line of water. The water went up into the air, the water aimed for the water gun's cap as it fell. The water fell into the water gun with ease. Not a single drop of water missed the hole. Wayne happily nodded his head.

"Couldn't you just get one yourself? Don't you go see your mom sometimes?"

"I do visit my mom sometimes, but I can only go on certain days." He pointed the gun up into the sky. He pumped the gun and pulled the trigger. A tiny stream of water flew up into the air, the water formed a small sphere before changing back into a small thin stream and falling back into the gun. I watched his hands as he pulled the trigger again. The water formed a miniature typhoon in the air. I notice that he wasn't the hand signs that he normally used. Wasn't using magic without hand signs supposed to be hard?

"How come you don't use those hand signs everyone uses?" I ask as the water fell back into the gun. He put the cap back on and rested the gun on his shoulders.

"Don't you do the same thing? What's wrong with me doing it too."

"I just thought it was hard."

"It's not that hard."

"Then how come anyone else is not doing it?" He shrugged.

"I don't know."

"Can you do anything else other than water?"

"Nope, just water." I nod and create an ice cube in the palm of my hand.

"How about ice."

"That's isn't water."

"It's frozen water."

"It doesn't feel the same."

"Have you ever tried?"

"I can't even control ice normally." I point up to the clouds.

"How about clouds?"

"Why clouds?"

"Because clouds are made up of water, sometimes ice."

"Maybe I can, but clouds are also gases. I can't really do gases.

"You can control fire, fire is a gas."

"That's different though, I can visualize it but I can't visualize something I can't see."

"So you can't do anything else?"

"I just said no."

"I just thought you could." I look at my watch and look at the time. "The water gun was all you needed?"

"Hmmhmm." He said with a bored tone.

"I'm going to go then."

"See you later then." I turn around and start to walk away.

"Hold on Ivan." I roll my eyes as I turn around. "I'm sorry for pushing you into the mud the last time." I glare at him as I felt a wet feeling go down my back. I felt my chest tighten as I remember my shirt and hands being caked in mud. I turn back around and leave without a word.

I almost forgot about that.

Friday, February 7, 2014

4:53 pm

Sweat poured down my face as my hands were planted down on the ground with my body pushed off the ground. I struggled to balance my body. To my side, a medium-sized boulder, maybe the size of my school desk, went up and down into the air. Goldie stood right in front of me. Her hands were stretched just in case I lost my balance while doing the head stance. I felt the wind move around the boulder as I constantly lifted and let go of the boulder. I take a deep breath. I groan as I bend my arms. I let out a loud wheeze as my body was inches away from the ground. I breathe heavily out of my nose as I struggle to straighten out my arms again. My legs heaved from side to side. I quickly force myself to straighten out my legs. My legs were straight for just a moment before my legs began to lean forwards. I bend my legs as my spine curved. My arms grew weak. I felt the boulder get heavier and heavier the more I tried to balance myself.

The boulder fell as my legs fell over my head. My arms shook under my weight as I struggled to balance myself. I take a deep breath as I focus on straighten out my legs. I bite my lip. My arms screamed for my body to fall. Sweat fell into my eyes as my legs inched towards the ground. My arms collapse under me as my feet fell forward onto the ground. My face met the grass along with the rest of my body. A heavy feeling fell over my arms just seconds after I fell. I took rapid shallow breaths while Goldie looked at me with a proud smile. I move my arms reluctantly beneath me. I slowly sat up and looked up at Goldie.

"That was five minutes, that's good for a beginner." I don't bother to respond, I just wanted to catch my breath. "Get back up, we're going for ten-minute sprints." I force the wind into my lungs and quickly get up. I grab my left arm with my right hand and stretch it across my body. My arm was overcome with a sore feeling. I switch from stretching my left arm to stretching my right arm. I let go of my arm as Goldie turned around and looked over her shoulder. She pointed her head towards a dirt trail to her side.

I slowly nod as Goldie started to jog on the dirt trail. I follow a few feet behind her. She looked over her shoulder and quickly looked forward. She sped up her pace to a sprint. I look down as I quicken my pace. Goldie had no problem running. My lungs burned as I slowly caught up with her. I took slow deep breaths as I kept my pace. I was able to maintain my pace for a few minutes. Sweat poured down my face as my feet hit the ground. I felt my lungs begin to slowly run out of air. I quickly focus on the wind and force air down my throat. A jittery feeling rushed through my body. I felt lighter as soon as the feeling was gone.

The light, high-like feeling quickly disappeared after a few seconds. In just half of a minute, my body was back to feeling heavy. I somehow maintained a steady pace. I gasp for air as Goldie sped up. I grit my teeth as I force my legs to speed up. My Stamina bar drained quickly the more I tried to keep up with Goldie. I slow down a tiny bit as my Stamina bar filled with gray.

I felt a gust of air surround my body the second my Stamina bar turned gray. The bar instantly filled with Yellow. I speed up just a bit. I felt weightless as I ran. I take a deep breath as I look around the trail.

I stare at the forest, I spot some deer runoff as I and Goldie passed them. I saw thick large tree roots stick out of the ground. Some of the roots began to crowd the trail as we went deeper into the forest. I move to the side to avoid tripping over the roots. Unlike me, Goldie decided to jump over them. Goldie suddenly sped up.

I groan as I speed up my pace. I notice a root coming up in front of me. I jump over the root and quickly land on a nearby root. My foot slid off the root before I could catch my balance. I yelped as my foot slipped onto the ground on its side, a numbing sensation went up to my leg as I felt something in my foot pulse with pain. Goldie looked over my shoulder, she stared at my foot before deciding to look forward and keep on running. I glare at her back while forcing my other foot to hit the ground. I reluctantly put my injured foot on the ground and keep on running. I winced as another tree root came up. I jump and land on my injured foot again. I loudly groan as I ignored the pain. I let out a gasp of air as the pain grabbed my leg and squeezed tightly. The roots cleared up and went back to a normal dirt trail. My shirt soaked up my sweat as Goldie stopped a few feet away from the roots. I hop over the last root and stop dead in my tracks. I rapidly gasp for air before taking a deep breath and breathing out. I take calm, deep breaths. Goldie turned around and stared down at me.

I grabbed my shirt and wiped my face. I take out a bottle of water and drink it all in one gulp. Goldie stretched out her hand towards me.

"Can I have a water bottle please?" I quickly take out a water bottle and hand it to her. She happily opened the water bottle and drank a quarter of the water as I lifted myself up into the air to give my legs a break. I take a deep breath as I hovered in place. Goldie put the cap back on the water bottle and wiped her lips. She lifted up her foot and grabbed it. She pulled it towards her back. She left it there for a few seconds before putting down her foot and doing the same to the other foot. Once she let down her foot, she lifted up one finger. A tiny piece of rock went up into the air, she stretched out her palm and placed the pebble into her hand.

"You said you can control the ground right?" I nod as I turn my body sideways and float around aimlessly. I stretch while Goldie responded. "Have you ever felt any discomfort when controlling the ground?" I turn my head towards her with an alert look in my eyes. I do remember my body feeling heavy, it also felt weird compared to when I use Aerokinesis or my Cryokinesis. Even though my Mp bar was full, I still felt like I didn't have any magic left.

"I don't use it much, but when I first did it felt like I ran out of magic."

"It felt weird, almost tiring even though you just started?" I nod.

"How did you know?"

"I've seen it many times in people who start using magic."

"So, Am'I doing something wrong?" She shook her head.

"No, but I don't think you should be controlling anything relating to the ground."

"Why shouldn't I? I can already control it, why not practice it? I already have to skip the hand signs." She sucked in air through her teeth.

"When you first started using magic, you didn't feel anything when you used wind?" I give a curt nod. "Then you felt nothing when using ice magic?" I give another nod. "But when you tried to control the ground, you felt tired." I let out a loud sigh before I responded.

"I already told you that's what happened," I said as I stared at her with an annoyed look. Her eyes looked up to the sky as she thought of what to say next.

"Well, think of it as learning a new subject. You might be really good at some subjects, but you might have some trouble understanding other subjects. Magic, just like your talents, might be easy to learn, or be difficult to learn." I thought about her words for a second. I frown as I understand that learning Geokinesis wouldn't be a good idea right now.

"So can I learn it later? Or should I not bother learning it?"

"No, you can definitely learn it. You can start learning today, but only with those," she held up her hands and did air quotations as she said her next words. "hand signs."

"How are those hand signs going to help me?"

"Those hand signs calm our body. Most demigods can only use their magic when they are relaxed. Most other demigods have their own ways of using their magic, but praying to the gods or meditating are the most common ones."

"So those hieroglyphs the Egyptians use, it doesn't calm the body?" Goldie shook her head.

"The Egyptians infuse objects or surfaces with magic. They can use magic like other demigods, but it is more difficult for them to use magic normally."

"So, when I don't use my hand signs magic is supposed to be harder to control?" Goldie nodded. "So is it like using training wheels." Goldie smiled and nodded.

"That's exactly it, when meditating your magic is controlled for you. But you skip the whole process, you're controlling magic on your own. You use less magic when you do the whole process, but when you skip the process you use more magic but it's faster and more powerful. It could be less powerful if you don't have practice but if you practice it's going to be stronger than when you use the hand signs."

"So is it better to start with the hand signs than practice from there?" She nodded.

"That's what I want you to do, you can either try practicing without the meditating or you could use the hand signs and see if that gets you anywhere." I look down at the ground and think. If I could try using the magic the way I normally do, or I can do what everyone else does. One is faster, but the other one is easier. I know Alice has Geokinesis. She can sink into the ground and life dirt out of the ground, she also helped a lot with the movie night buildings. If I can learn what she could do, then I can make her work on other stuff.

"I think I'll just stick to skipping the whole process."

Saturday, February 16, 2014

12:15 pm

I grab a thick, long metal pipe from a huge pile of metal pipes and slowly lift it onto my shoulder. My back ached as I put the pipe into my Inventory. I bend down and grab the middle part of the pipe with two hands. A group of three people walked up to my side and bent down to pick up a pipe. They lifted one pipe onto their shoulders and walked away. I slowly lift the pipe in my hands onto my shoulder and put it into my Inventory. As I end down to pick up another pipe I notice how brown my hands were. I wipe them on my pants. A patch of red appeared where I wiped. I groan as I ignore the stain and pick up another pipe.

I strain my arms while lifting up the pipe and putting it in my Inventory. I look down and frown. I stomp my feet as I felt someone put their elbow on my shoulder. I turn my head and glared at whoever touched me. I smack my lips when Alice casually leaned on my shoulder while looking at the pipes.

"You need help?" She asked. I look away at her but I still felt a ball of anger in my chest. I slap her arm away from my shoulder. She turned towards me with an annoyed look as I answer.

"Help would be nice, can you help me lift up the pipes so that I could put it in my Inv-" I instinctively stop myself from saying Inventory. I don't think she has to know.

"In your what?" She asked as she walked over to the pipes.

"Nothing."

"It sounded like something." I ignore her as I grab one side of the pipe while she grabbed the other side. I was surprised by the weight of the pipe as we lifted the pipe at the same time. It was kind of heavy when I did it by myself but now it feels weightless. I quickly put it in my Inventory. "How pipes do you have?"

"That should've been my tenth one."

"Why so many?"

"I can carry a lot at once, so why not just carry pipe to where it should be." She shrugged and sighed.

"So how many more pipes do you need?"

"I was just going to do five more but now that you're here, probably ten."

"Why not come back for it?"

"Because that would be a waste of time." I stomped her foot before bending down towards the pipes.

"Fine, just hurry up." I nod as I picked up one pipe.

In two short minutes, we were able to put ten pipes into my Inventory. We both stretched as an aching pain went down our backs.

"Do you still need help?" Alice asked. I shake my head.

"I just have to drop off these pipes then I have to talk to my brother." She nodded.

"I'm going to go help other people then." She turned around and quickly left. I grab my shoulder and massage it just a bit.

"Where would Qaid be right now?"

2:45

I and Qaid walked through a long dirt tunnel with a series of pipes running along the top. Tiny pillars of dirt supported the bottom of the pipes. Qaid traced his finger along with a map as we walked. We passed groups of people slowly walk through the tunnels with pipes on their shoulders. A group of people walked towards us. I stepped to the side but Qaid didn't notice. I roughly tug at his shirt and bring him to my side.

Qaid looked up from his map with a confused look.

"Why?" He said with a confused tone.

"You almost ran into people."

"Really?" I nod my head. "You almost walked straight into them." Qaid stared at me for a quick seconds before going back to staring at the map. I sigh as we keep on walking. I look up at the pipes and notice a slight crack. I grab Qaid's shoulder and point towards the cracks. Qaid looked up, a sour expression formed on his face.

"How do we even fix that?" Qaid asked.

"We could replace it or wield some other piece of metal onto it. Maybe tape would help?"

"What kind of tape?"

"Duct tape?"

"You think that would work?"

"I don't know, it would probably just be better to replace it."

"It would also be better to just wield another piece of metal onto it."

"I like the wielding idea more," I said. "But do you know anyone that could wield?"

"The children of Ishikori-dome no Mikoto could help if they wanted to."

"I could try talking to one of them." Qaid looked over in my direction. He waved his hand, I quickly recognized that he wanted to keep on walking. Qaid looked down and took out a pen from out of his pockets. He scribbled something down on his map.

"Do you know where you can find them though?"

"I could ask around." He rolled his eyes as we went deeper into the tunnel. I look around the tunnel. The walled were lined with lanterns, the lanterns barely lit up the place. The lanterns were shabbily placed on the wall the deeper we went. A lantern beside us suddenly went out as we walked by. Qaid slightly jumped at the tunnel becoming slightly more dim.

"You know, even if when we finish this whole thing, we have nothing to power it." My eyelid twitched as I thought about all the work I put into the project only for it to be useless because of no electricity. I felt my back tense up as ideas quickly rushed into my head.

"Actually, I don't think we're going to need electricity for this place to work." Qaid looked up from his map with a confused look on his face.

"That sounds impossible to me."

"It would be impossible normally, but mostly everyone can use magic right?"

"Most people." He muttered.

"And what do we need for this place to work."

"Working pumps, and something to power the filtration process. Also, we need some way to pump back the water into the treatment plant. If you have a way to do all of that I would be very impressed." I smiled as I shared my idea.

"This won't a permeant solution but I think it's a good one." Qaid stared at me with a blank look. "We get some people who can control water, those people will make sure that water moves through the pipes. We don't even need that many people anyway since we built everything on a hill."

"Then what's the next step?"

"We can then use the other people who can control water on the actual treatment process."

"Then what are we going to get the water back? There needs to be a way to get that water into the treatment plant." I frown as I realize that I failed to think about that part.

"We-we-." I stutter as I try to think of what to say next. Qaid had a look of curiosity as he stared at me. "We can just make everything look normal." Qaid raised his eyebrow. "We put in all the normal stuff, stuff like drains pipes but they won't do anything. We can make it look like it's doing something but we're actually going to be putting buckets inside the drains. Then we can make someone pick up all the buckets late at night."

"There are so many things that can go wrong with that though. What if people use too much water and the bucket overfloods? Or what if someone walks in on the person picking up the buckets."

"That's why it's a temporary solution, eventually we're going to finish everything."

"I rather finish it correctly the first time. There's no point in rushing things. We can finish everything here first, then move on to building something that can generate electricity."

"How long is it going to take to finish everything here then?" Qaid stayed silent for just a moment.

"Maybe six more months." He said under his breath. "Yeah, six more months at most." He said in a loud, confident voice. I grit my teeth. I don't have six more months to live, if I can't finish this in time, then there's no point in doing this.

"I think we should make it look complete and make a temporary solution first. Then we can work on this and on other projects. Plus it will make us look good if we finish it quickly.

"I don't care about looking good," Qaid said through gritted teeth. "I care about this working."

"I want to work on other projects other than this one, I don't care if it doesn't work like how it works everywhere else but if it works then I don't care."

"There's literally no point in rushing it, I don't know why you're so insistent on rushing it. If you still want to rush everything then you're an idiot."

"I know I'm not an idiot, I still want the camp to have modern technology. With magic, we could easily take a few shortcuts."

"With magic, we could easily take the proper steps to make sure that it actually works," I say quietly and glare at Qaid. He glared back as he folded the map and put it into his pocket.

"I thought you would be smarter than this, I actually thought you were going to do something important, not something that was obviously rushed," Qaid said with a hostile tone. I take a step forward. Qaid lifted up his chin. Qaid took a deep breath. He took a slow step back.

"This clearly isn't working out, instead of arguing with each other live idiots. Why do you think you should rush it?" I stay quiet as I had no real answer other than the time limit other than Coach's. I agree with Qaid but I have no real way to convince him. If I don't somehow convince him, then Coach is going to kill me.

"I think just think that if we can spread out our resources and people, then we could get a lot done quicker."

"For me, I think that if we do something right the first time, then we could worry about other stuff without worrying about it." I dig my fingernail on my index finger into my thumb as I think of a response.

"I agree without on some parts, but wouldn't it be better to save as many materials and parts as we can. Buying everything was really expensive and I don't think I can buy more if we run out." Qaid nodded.

"Oh, so that's why you wanted to take shortcuts. Sorry for yelling at you then. If you can't get any more stuff then we have to take shortcuts." I shake my head and stretch out my hand.

"It's my fault, I should have just said that first." Qaid shook his head.

"Let's just try to forget about this." I nod as Qaid started to make this way through the tunnels.

I'm so glad I somehow convinced him. As we walked Qaid turned to me.

"Why do you want to finish it quickly?" I bite the corner of my lip as I try to think of a response.

"Coach said if we finish it in less than six months he would help us."

"Really?" I quickly nod my head. "Then why didn't you say so sooner?"

"I didn't want to rush you and Jax."

"You're not lying about this?"

"I would never lie about something like this."

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

12:20 pm

(Michael's POV)

I jump up and grab a branch of a nearby tree. Weiss was a few feet away sitting under a tree. She stared up at me with a blank look as I position my hands on the branch for a pull-up. I take a deep breath as I begin to lift myself up. I tense up the muscles in my back as my chin reached past the branch. I slowly descend back down while doing my best to keep my body from swinging. Once my body was below the branch I slowly begin my ascent back up again. Weiss stood up and stretched. She bent down and reached for her toes. She grabbed her toes and stayed like that for a while while I did my pullups.

My arms tensed up as I neared my tenth pull-up. Weiss put her leg up a tree and slowly hopped closer to the tree on one foot. Her leg slowly went up the tree the closer she got to the tree. Soon, she was doing the splits on the tree. Sweat fell down my face as I slowly began to lift myself up. I groan as I forced my arms to push my body past the branch. I slowly descend my body back and gasp. I take in a loud gasp of air before forcing myself to do repeat the process. Weiss put her foot back down and repeated the same stretch with her other foot.

Once I reached my twenty pushups I let go of the branch and land roughly on the grass. I breathe heavily for air before jumping back up and grabbing the branch. I lift myself up onto the branch and sit on top of it. I put my legs close together and tightly grab the branch. I lean back as I tightened my leg's grip around the branch. I hang myself upside down for a while before calling out to Weiss.

"Weiss." She lookup from her stretch.

"What?"

"Can you give me some weight?" She hummed in response as she made a thick, heavy circle made out of ice. She groaned out in discomfort as she took her foot off the tree. She walked over below me and handed me the circle. My fingers twitched as I brought up the weight up to my chest. My fingers went numb with pain as I began to lift my body up. I let out a grunt as my nose touched my legs. I let my body down and hang for a while. I grit my teeth as the cold around my fingers got more intense. I do a quick sit-up before hanging upside again. I squeeze my eyes tight as sweat dripped into them.

I tightened my grip on the weight as I bring myself up. My stomach screeched out in pain as my nose touched my legs. I throw the weight to the side and lift myself back up onto the tree branch. My stomach felt like it stretched as I poked it. The area around my pelvis felt weak as I jumped off the branch. My body leaned over to the side when I landed. I quickly regain my balance as Weiss lifted her leg over her head and straight into the air.

I sat below a nearby tree as Weiss did her stretches. My head hanged low. My head felt dizzy as I leaned back on the tree. A heavy, numbing sensation went through my body. I stared blankly at Weiss.

"Hey, Michael?" I look over to Weiss as she put down her leg and repeated the process with her other leg.

"Yeah?"

"Maybe for one day, we could do something else other than exercise" I frowned when I heard those words. I don't want her to be bored but I need to become stronger. I close my eyes and think of when Ivan took me to my mom. Her sad expression, her worried look was all clear in my mind. I stare at Weiss and give my response.

"You could go if you want, but I wanna stay here." Weiss sighed as she put her leg down.

"Why. Doesn't it get boring doing the same routine over and over again?"

"It does, but... what else is there to do? I might as well get really strong before doing anything else."

"But it gets so boring! I'm bored, how are you not bored?" I shrug.

"I dunno."

"Can we at least get something to eat? We always forget to get food than when we do remember, everything is closed and we have to wait until morning. Then it just repeats itself!"

"I guess it does get a little boring, but at least it's good for us."

"Doing something else might be good for us too."

"We went out to meet some other people awhile back."

"That was a month ago though."

"It was still different." Weiss stared at me with a look full of annoyance. "Then what do you want to do then?"

"Maybe buy a few things? I don't know, I just know that I want to spend money."

"How much money do you have then?"

"Only fifty dollars." I widen my eyes.

"That's a lot of money." Weiss smiled.

"I know it's a lot." Weiss let down her smile. "How much do you have."

"Nothing." Her face filled with empathy

"I'll buy you something."

"Thanks, Weiss."

3:34 pm

I take a few quick sips of my coke as Weiss happily walked around from stall to stall. I kick down at the dirt as I take more sips of my coke. I follow Weiss around. She stopped in front of a stall with shiny rocks. Some were bright green and some were dirty black.

"Hey, Michael what do you think people use this for?" I shrug as Weiss already moved on to the next stall. I quickly follow her and notice a fifteen-pound weight on one of the stalls. I grab Weiss's shoulder and point to the weight. She frowned at her first glance.

"You don't need that."

"But I want it."

"I can literally make your weights."

But Weiss, do you know how much touching ice hurts? My skin feels like it's going to freeze every time I touch ice. I just don't like it when you make your weights. It's all cold"

"At least it's still something." I lean in closer to the weight and point to the weight.

"Please, please, buy the weight. I never knew how easy it was to hate ice." Weiss shook her head.

"Just buy gloves then." I widen my eyes at the thought. Weiss obviously noticed. "You idiot."

"I just didn't think of it."

"You don't think in the first place." I roll my eyes as Weiss looked around.

"We could try finding gloves, I don't know where to find some though. Let's just walk around." I nod as Weiss already began to take off. I follow behind her. We passed stalls selling food, some were selling books, some were even selling wood. As we walked, I noticed how many stalls were selling wood. They were all selling the same type of wood. Weiss noticed when I pointed it out.

"Why do you think there's so much wood? There used to be so much more stuff. Not much, but it was still more than just wood." I said to Weiss.

"I dunno, I haven't been here much. I know some people are chopping down the trees on top of the forest. I don't know what for though."

"I've heard of it."

"They hosted a movie night but I didn't get to go."

"They did?"

"That's what some people are saying."

"What are they doing on top of that hill anyway?" Weiss shrugged.

"Probably nothing important," she said as she stopped by a stall littered with jewelry. The gems in the stall were all dull, they had no shine to them; it didn't help that the gems were all the same dirty brown. It didn't look like gems, it looked like someone decided to put regular rocks into jewelry.

"They're all ugly." Weiss nodded in agreement as we turned to leave. Before we left I noticed Ivan standing at a stall looking at boots.

"What do you want to eat anyway?" Weiss asked.

"Wait hold on." Before I could make my way to Ivan I felt Weiss grab my shoulder. I look over my shoulder with a confused look.

"Can we, maybe not talk to Ivan?" I stare at her for a bit with a little bit of shock.

"Why not?" She shifted uncomfortably.

"I just don't talk to him much." I stared at her, I couldn't help but be disappointed.

"That's it?"

"I know we came from the same school, and we talked a bit outside of school. But I get... weird vibes from him."

"What's wrong about him?"

"I don't know, I just have this feeling."

"He's fine Weiss," I look over at Ivan. He picked up the boots and put the bottom of the boot to the bottom of his shoe. The boot was slightly bigger than his shoe. I don't he knows that we're here.

She shook her head as she backed away ."Just because you said he's fine doesn't mean I'm going to trust him." I roll my eyes as I make my way towards Ivan. I look over my shoulder and saw Weiss shift uncomfortably. She hunched her back as I neared Ivan. She just has to talk to him more. I walk up behind Ivan and quickly grab Ivan by the shoulders. He hopped just in place before turning around with an annoyed glare. He looked up at me but didn't bother saying anything. After a while he finally acknowledged me.

"What do you want Michael," he said in a quiet voice. He looked back towards the boots in his hands and put them back on the stall. His usual sharp eyes were now a dull unfocused brown. He slowly blinked before turning to me. "What do you want Michael?" He repeated.

"I just wanted to say hi." Ivan waved his hand slowly. "You look tired," I stated.

"I don't feel tired," Ivan said as he reached up below his eyes and rubbed them. "Are there any bags?" I shook my head. His pupils widened before retracting. His eyes returned back to their usual sharp look. "How do I look tired?" He said as he rubbed his eyes.

"You look normal now." Ivan glared at me. He softened his look before talking.

"Hey, have you seen anyone named Wayne?" I quickly shook my head. He gritted his teeth, I noticed his fingers twitched as his eyelid starts to twitch. His eyes dulled before returning back to normal. "Can you tell if you hear about anyone named Wayne?" I smile and nod.

"Sure." Ivan nodded.

"Thanks, Michael." Ivan nodded as he turned around. He looked over his shoulder and towards me with a tired look. "Anyway, see you later Michael."

"Wait hold on." Ivan spun on his heel and looked up at me. It took me a while to notice just how tiny he was. He barely reached up to my shoulders.

"What Michael." Ivan looked at his watch. "I don't know if this is going to sound rude but I don't have much time. Can you hurry this up?" I suck in air through my teeth as I respond.

"I was going to invite you to come with me and Weiss," I say as I turn around and point at Weiss. Weiss shifted uncomfortably and started to walk over to us.

"I would love to," Ivan said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "But I have to go."

"Nah, that's fine. You wanna meet up later?"

"Depends when."

"A week from now?"

"I might be able to." Weiss walked up to Ivan and faked a smile.

"Hi, Ivan," Weiss said with a fake happy tone. Somehow, Ivan didn't notice her tone. I stare at Weiss with a look of confusion. Why does she hate Ivan so much? Maybe it isn't hate but she definitely doesn't like Ivan.

"Hey, Weiss." Ivan tapped his foot as he checked his watch again. His eyes widen.

"Fuck, I have to go."

"What are you doing?" Weiss asked.

"I have class."

"You mean, like at school?"

"Yeah." He said with a hint of annoyance. He turned around once again and flew up into the ground. He looked over his shoulder and looked in my direction. "Let's meet up later though." He said before quickly taking off into the air. I look towards Weiss, her eyebrows were furrowed in anger.

"How come he gets to go to school?" She said while stomping her foot.

"I dunno."

"Do you think he actually goes to school?" She asked with curiosity.

"I think he does? He's taken me outside camp before."

"How?"

"I don't know, I blinked and the next second I was back in my room."

"Doesn't that sound odd?"

"Why do you hate him so much?" Weiss cracked her neck as she responded.

"I don't hate him, I don't like him either. But ever since I came here, I just keep getting weird... I just keep getting a weird feeling from him."

"Do you even talk to him?"

"No."

Tuesday, March 4 2014

5:34 pm

(Ivan's POV)

I walked through past stalls and turn the corner. People pushed past me and I pushed past them. I grit my teeth as I fly up into the air and look around for Wayne. I finally spot him walking in a group with four other people. I quickly fly over to them and land in front of them. I ignore the people with him and stare up at Wayne.

"Wayne, can I talk to you for a second?" His eyes widened, he quickly made a confused look.

"Do I know you?" He said with a panicked look in his eyes. An older kid with the body of an athlete took a step forward and stopped right in front of me. He towered over me a lot. He quietly circled around me and put his hands on my shoulders. I look up at me with a confused look, I look back at Wayne with a suspicious look. This doesn't feel right. My body tensed up at the tall person holding my shoulders tightened his grip.

"What do you want with Wayne?" He said in a deep, hostile voice. I look back up at him with a glare. I use the wind and quickly pry his hands off him. I send a strong gust of wind towards his chest, he was knocked off his feet as I took a step forward towards Wayne. Wayne's mouth opened, he mouthed words but nothing came out. I suddenly felt a sharp pain squeeze my head, I put my hand up to my ear as I felt something drip down the side of my head. I touch the side of my head and feel something wet on my fingers. I bring it up to my eyes, a tiny red mark stained my head. The people behind him mouthed words but I couldn't hear a single thing they were saying. I wince as another sting stabbed my ears. I suddenly felt the back of my head vibrate. I turn around only to see the tall dude wind up his arm with his hand forming a fist.

His eyes filled with anger as his fist approached my nose. I quickly duck just in time, his first wet over my head. Time stopped as he tried to lift his foot up for a kick. I calmly walk over to him and weakly punch him in the gut. Time resumed as he hunched over. I grab his hair and yank him down. I make a hammer made out of ice with my free hand. I bring up my hand. Before I could strike his hand, my hand was suddenly engulfed with water. I look at Wayne. He looked back towards the people with him and said something I couldn't make out. I look back to the guy I was fighting and let go of his hair. The guy backed up with hate in his eyes.

I felt Wayne tap my shoulder. I look over my shoulder and see him tilt his head towards a nearby alley. He held up his hand and quickly formed several hand signs before bringing his hands up to my ears. I felt the pain in my head lose its grip. I heard the voice of the people walking through the market. Wayne leaned in towards my ear.

"Sorry about my uncles." He said quietly before leading me towards the alley. I look back towards his group, they all just stood around waiting for Wayne. I and Wayne walked deep into the alley before we stopped. I look up at Wayne with a furious look.

"Your friends are dicks." Wayne's quivered as he looked down.

"I know, but trust me their good people." I bring up my arm and wipe the blood off my cheeks.

"Is that why they burst my eardrums?"

"They didn't burst your eardrums." He said in a quiet, unsure voice.

"I literally couldn't hear anything. There was even blood coming out of my ears. I'm hundred percent sure they burst my eardrums."

"I-I'm sorry," Wayne said.

"Anyway, I really need your help with something."

"With what?"

"Before I say anything, do you know anyone else that can control water?"

"My uncles why?"

"You mean the people you're with right now?" Wayne nodded. How are they his uncles? Maybe it's something he just says? Or it could just be the way their godly parents are connected. It doesn't matter either way. "So you know how I'm building a water treatment plant?" Wayne slowly nodded with a curious look. "The thing is, I don't have any way to power it." Wayne's facepalmed.

"Shouldn't that be the first thing you should do?" I frown at his statement. I should have thought of that first, but Coach's treats and Alice's sister asking for a water plant didn't help. It was still stupid of me to not think about it.

"I know that should've been the first thing I should've thought of but," I stop for a second to think of an excuse. I couldn't think of any. "I forgot. Several things were going on I just didn't think about it." Wayne nodded.

"So you want me and other people to transport the water from place to place until you can find a way to power it." My eyes widen at Wayne's quick thinking.

"That's exactly what I was going to ask for." Wayne smiled. "Well, are you going to help?"

"I'll help if you can get me something." I sigh as I predicted what he would say that. He always wants something.

"What do you want?" Wayne fumbled around with his fingers and looked around nervously. He looked over his shoulder and back to me. He shifted uncomfortably before stepping close to men and leaning in towards my ear.

"I want weed." I slowly blinked as Wayne took a step back. I look up at Wayne with a long, hard blank stare.

"Do you know what you're asking for?" He slowly nodded with a guilty expression. "Is that- is that literally what you want."

"Y-yeah," he said in a tiny voice. "Um, can you not get it or?"

"I don't know, it's is illegal. It's a big step up from some water gun. I don't even know where to start searching."

"I can ask for something else if you want." I shake my head.

"I can try looking for it, but you shouldn't even be asking for that. Why would you even ask me that of all people?" Wayne shrugged.

"I was just wondering, I guess." I roll my eyes and look behind me. I quickly turn back toward Wayne.

"Why would you even want that."

"I just want to relax?" He said with an unsure tone. I glare at him and run my fingers through my hair. There are much better way's to relax. And he chooses that?

"I'll try, I don't know if I can, but I'll try." Wayne nodded. I take a quick step towards Wayne and jab my finger into his chest.

"Don't tell anyone about this." Wayne quickly nodded as I took a step back. "Also don't pretend you don't know me next time. Just make up some excuse. Next time I'll make sure to do something way worse than just punching them." Wayne narrowed his eyes with a hostile look.

"I'll make sure then." He said with an intimidating tone.

"When do you want to meet up again then?"

"Just come around to my cabin anytime. Just ask around for the Suijin cabin." I nod and turn around. I look over my shoulder and towards Wayne. I glare at him before leaving.

He better be at his cabin when I look for him.