CHPT 51: He’s awake

VWOOMP!

Ursula stepped through the portal filled with an almost overwhelming amount of emotions, failure....rage....anxiety...fear, they all had found comfort in her mind over these last couple weeks.

She stepped down the stone steps and out of the portal room, the portal behind her continued to make odd sounds as more students stepped through behind her rushing to get to class.

Since her and the rest of her Training class returned from the Deviant, the University's whole atmosphere changed slightly. The Professors knew something about it all, she could tell by how tense some were, and the way they whispered and looked at eachother. The students also slowly began to change, the ones that were in the Deviant with her all seemed to still be in a light state of shock— their change in character along with the death of the two students affected the other students like a virus.

"Is this why they let us escape? Instead of killing us all, they let us come back and put fear in the hearts of everyone?" Ursula thought to herself sickeningly. She continued down the hall now full of students and humming with light chatter.

She now found herself waiting in class along with the rest of the students that were in the Tangents class with her. The room she was in was one of the smaller rooms she'd seen at the University. It had the signature black and orange tiled floors and eight rows of black rectangle tables with matching chairs. The sides of the room had bookshelves with books and cases that held loot from Tangents donated by various Heroes who must've graduated from the University.

The showcased loot she liked the most was the Tangent Diamond which was a rare variation of the Tangent Crystals people used to strengthen their weapons and armor. Bosses dropped Tangent Diamonds— strong ones at that, which caused her to wonder who had the strength and sufficient amount of gear and resources to be able to donate it. She often found herself looking at it before class started. It looked like a large diamond that reflected the color of the sea and it emitted a pure white aura that flowed brilliantly.

"How can something so beautiful come from death?" She thought.

***

She didn't know many people in her first period, so she was left to deal with her own troubled thoughts and insecurities. No matter how hard she tried, she came back to the same painful memory, seeing Claude in an enraged trance while he carried her out of danger.

"Useless."

Her fathers voice sounded in her head every time she thought about Claude having to fight alone in the Deviant.

"Fuck." She said through gritted teeth.

Woo....crackle...crackle..ppop

She looked down at her arm and noticed little patches of ice and frosted mist covered her fist and lower arm. It filled her with excitement as she felt the cool and electrifying ice solidify and spread. She raised her fisted hand up to her face with a determined smile. She loved that the element that chose her was ice— a good portion of that was because her father had so much pride in the red chaos of fire. But she found herself preferring ice's capabilities and uses over the other elements the more she used it.

"I'll get stronger, I have to. Then I'll fight alongside him, so he doesn't have to fight alone." She told herself as the ice continued to crackle and pop on her hand.

"Ursula. Hey."

Ursula turned around and faced a young dark skinned teen, he smiled faintly but sadness lingered in his eyes.

"Hey, Warren." She responded.

They both sat at the table in the front of the class in relative silence as they waited for class to start. Ursula liked Warren, then again she didn't have much of a choice in the friends she made. Most females shunned her in an unspoken way due to her somewhat masculine build and personality which was akin to that of a tomboy. Males did the same either from being intimidated or grossed out....probably both.

She slowly learned that Warren was a bit of an outcast as well due to his fear, but she found that he was growing on her. They both held a new level of determination in training and studies for their own reasons but they had the same end goal. She wanted to fight alongside the guy who made her feel the weakest and he wanted to remove his label of coward, and replace it with something she wasn't yet sure of.

"I see your making progress with your element. What you did earlier looked effortless." Warren said without looking at her.

"Yea, soon enough I'll be throwing glaciers at people." Ursula said to try and lighten the mood. Warren chuckled lightly and rubbed his face like a tired old man. She noticed Warren also changed in another way. He lost his clever and comical flare. He now held a constant look of sorrow and embarrassment. She knew he took a big step when he spoke up against Samuel and Tai— unfortunately they weren't listening to reason at the time. But it proved one thing. He was braver than everyone else aside from Claude in that Deviant. She realized then that he has potential to be more than he is right now.

"Hey, you can't blame yourself for what happened in....there. I saw, alright? They practically forced you out." Ursula said, referring to what happened in the Deviant to try and comfort him.

"You tell me not to blame myself...but don't you do the same? And I know you saw... it's not you I'm worried about, Ursula." Warren said while chewing away at his fingernail.

Ursula swallowed hard after realizing he looked unnaturally anxious, "What are you talking about, Warren?"

Warren looked at her for the first time as he responded.

"I heard one of the Doctors in the Infirmary say that the student who was asleep for two weeks suddenly got up and left without a trace on Saturday night....Ursula. Claudes awake."