{White Rose} KEVLAR

"I need to admit, Walter.. you definitely don't look like someone who can cook that well, for real."

"I need to admit, my dearest, you most definitely don't look like someone who treasures politesse,

for real.."

"You really gonna keep up the 'dear', huh?"

"Tell me why I should not.. In the eye of an outsider we might as well seem like a married couple-

Just look at how I put the blanket over you. The two of us being here, alone blanketed by the dark ambience-"

"We're in a nurse's office, Cherry.."

"This is called the 'treatment room', thank you very much"

"Oh, whatever forget the room's name and tell me why I have to sleep here in the first place. Everyone else-"

"Leigh, your wounds reopened, I'm not going to let you sleep in the dorms with the others,

so that you can bemoan your pain all night and steal their scarce hours of sleep

while you're staining sheets red."

"Okay, I can understand that, I guess.. But is that the only reason?"

"Yeah. ...Well, that, and-"

"And?"

"In case you need anything, I'll be able to bring it to you. Hence, why it's just the two of us here, yes. We won't disturb but ourselves here, right?"

"Oh Cherry, are you hitting on me?"

"When have I not? Did I ever stop since the mansion?"

Leigh avoided eye contact, but did not hide her blushing, thinking:

"How can he say that with a straight face..?"

"Thinking why I can speak my mind so freely?"

"How did you-"

"Us young folk are so preoccupied with such trivial things that we tend to forget that we don't live too long, eh? We should try to get over out anxieties as fast as possible to get the most of our lives, I think but that's just my view.

There's a curse I'm currently living with.

Someone with a strong Will placed this curse on me..

and the result is me only having a year left to live."

"You're shitting me"

He shook his head.

"Stop joking around-"

"I'm not. You can ask Rosh if you don't want to believe my word.

My time's been limited more than others'."

Leigh stared into his eyes. It was actually the first time Leigh realized it that she was able to see his complete face and body. A clean shaven face, black hair with bangs long enough to reach the brows and short and sharp sideburns. He wasn't blind anymore, as well, which made Leigh smile, she saw right into his brown eyes. She cut the fear of loss. "Cherry..", she whispered and leaned back in bed, "Make sure not to die, somehow, if you really want me. Promise me not to die", closed eyes.

He sat on the stool beside the bed and spoke after giving a kind smile: "I promise, I will not die."

Trusting his words, she held out her hand to be held by his, turned her face the other way,

away from his, and fell asleep. The warm lights in the dojo, they went out, one by one.

Slow breaths, as Cherry was letting himself fall asleep, resting his head on the bed,

he disliked the sound of Leigh's pained breathing and looked up one last time at her wounded state.

"Goodnight.."

The following morning would lead to her awaking to a sight she hadn't expected:

Her hand was gently held by Cherry's. "Was he seriously..", she stopped thinking aloud,

"by my side the whole night..?-" Her hand felt the slight movement of his hand. The sign of his waking, she thought. And, she was right. He looked up, chin on the mattress, she had to think of a small puppy and laugh, while he yawned in confusion. A brief moment, in which she had that weird feeling again, this time it was not about whether she knew him from somewhere, but maybe some kind of affec-

"How're you feeling?", Cherry drew back his hand and sat upright, hair messy and equipped with the look of a cute, stray dog.

"Uhh.. yeah, I think better than yesterday.", she lost herself in his eyes.

He reached for his cap which matched his black hair and before he could fixate it to his head again:

"Can I..", Leigh held out her arm with an undetermined hand. "Huh?", holding the brim with his fingers. "Can I touch your hair, maybe?", she asked. "Heh, where's this coming from?", lowering the cap in his hand and tilting his head froward, anticipating Leigh to fulfill her request.

At first she hesitated, she did not know where this desire had come from, what its intent was, what it meant. Yet, upon seeing Cherry's hair uncovered by his cap, and being a single existence, she wanted to touch the real Cherry. Fingers ran through his hair with a slow speed. "Like fur..",

her mind told her, closing her eyes as some singular strands tickled. "Uhhm, wha-"

Her eyes jumped up, his head drew back and received the cap like a rose wore its thorns.

"Kelly, why up so early?", he began talking to the person standing in the door, Leigh pulled back her arm, ignoring their talk. With her other fingers she tried to emulate the sensation of strands tickling her palm, not understanding why she did that.

The eventful start of the morn was followed by everyone enjoying themselves a nice breakfast.

"Speaking of Master Rosh.. didya hear about it?" "Wassup?" "Now, well, apparently, she is going to train Leigh personally." "There's no way" "Yeah, sounds like a rumor to me.." "You know why, I also think that's false? 'Cuz the last student she trained personally, is our top student right here", she punched his shoulder. "Didn't have to hit me out of the blue, Sonja. Now there's tea all over my shirt." "Ah you deserved that punch", Sonja murmured. "Jealousy is poison for the self", driving the chair back, he stood up, "And clinging onto that poison will kill you." Everyone was silent when he spoke those words and the talking only began again once he was out of the room. "What was that about?" "I don't know, are they in a fight or something?" "Beats me.." "I'm not fighting with him, there's nothing to worry about, guys, really..", Sonja continued eating after calming the fuzz down a bit, thinking to herself, his cold words.. "Screw you, Cherry..", bit into the dry bread.

His footsteps were light and soundless when nearing the voices that came out of the Master's room.

Placing an ear on the closed door, blacked out his vision and listened with a now heightened auditory sense:

"Godsent Lucifer Leigh..", the master and her were sitting opposite each other, atop cushions of darker colour, inside a darker room whose illumination was thanks to a few, carefully positioned candles which shone in a comfortable orange. As was the tea they were having, it helped calm Leigh's nerves as the tension did seem to get to her a little more than she'd liked.

"Do you know who I am?", the master finished her sentence and poured some tea into her cup to refill what was missing. "No, ma'am. I can't say.. I do.",

the white-haired sternly pressed both her arms against her thighs and when she felt the weight increasing, she lifted both to reach for the cup's handle.

"That's alright. I will tell you but what I will tell you, is going to be changing your world-view you're surrounding yourself with.", a gentle sip, "As a man whom I met once said so eloquently

and barbarously at the same time.. 'Your reality is made up of your own head'.." "There's no absolute." "Correct" "Someone I know- I.. I knew believed in that firmly." The person the master was referring to decided not to speak his name. "Rosh G. Renwick", the master spoke, making Leigh stop drinking the tea for a second. Her brows narrowed as her mouth was about to spurt out her associations to the 'G' in her name. "Indeed, it is as you are assuming. I am part of the Godsent-Family." "But everyone's dead, I murdered everyone with my own hands, I-"

"This world is different, Leigh, remember. The faked reality has been taken care of, and that unleashed new good, and new evil. Both returned to this world, the real world." Leigh sipped tea to calm her nerves for what Rosh was going to tell her next. "The Godsent-Family is alive."

Leigh closed her eyes, she feared to hear something like this, yet still she let out a defeated sigh. Then her eyes flung open, her mouth questioning:

"If you're a Godsent, where's your white hair, and your golden eyes?"

The master simply answered with asking Leigh to take a closer look at her.

It was like her eyes were fooling her the entire time, but somehow, someway, Rosh suddenly appeared to have both main traits of a Godsent. "It's because of my Will. I conceal the true nature of my looks to avoid unnecessary questions and potential conflict between me and my students. We.. Godsents have a bad reputation, being the World Military's 'elite-force' or rather manipulated and abused dogs." Leigh was fixated on her white hair tied to a bun and the framing strands of her hair, her glowing golden orbs, t'was alike staring into a mirror, truly. White fading into darker shades, rapidly becoming more and more like it was before, the same with her eyes, both were dark again now. "To make things worse, I've received information about how the Layla-Clan rescued the Roses and escaped from the battlefield of the Res Novae War, and how all Godsents have been instructed to hunt down the traitors for good. I know this from my pupils who've been interrogated in Kingston by one of the WM's search parties" "Meaning, they're actually out for my blood."

"Meaning I'll have to train you. If you fought the way you did the day you arrived at my dojo,

you'd die in your first encounter with them." "Hmph.. Why are doing this, though? Why are you willing to train someone like me?" "Katherine asked me to" As the surprise hit Leigh, a sudden tear zigzagged down her face. "My mom?" "My sister asked me to keep my identity a secret from you, I'm sorry I didn't reveal myself sooner, Leigh." "Your- Wait, no way. I.. have an aunt? I actually have a..family…?", more tears. She didn't comprehend that bursting feeling of a fire of emotions pulsating in her heart, exclaimed through eyes.

"I ask you to keep our relation by blood a secret from my other pupils." "Of- course", she watched Rosh pour tea into her empty cup and held it out to Leigh. With shaking hands she accepted the tea cup and drank what would calm her nerves again, but she started shivering. One could see that, if they were taking a look at her shoulders. Unsteady. But the hugging arms of Walter from behind strangely calmed her down a lot. "Huh-" "You could have waited a bit longer.." "Sorry, 'couldn't stand watching her like this." "Alright, alright, get off me, Cherry", he let go slowly and tipped his cap, saying:"My master also asked me to keep her identity a secret from you, I do apologize."

"Yes, I am, too.. very sorry for what I had you go through." "Forgive me, Leigh, for not releasing you back then, when you asked me to untie you." Her tone of voice was a slow and hot one, filled with the calmness of the tea itself. "Fuck you. Really, I don't get any of this, whenever I see you, it's like my face is burning up,... and the insides of my stomach are turning, and whenever you speak in that tone, I think to myself 'Please, shut the fuck up'- When I asked you to release me back then and you declined, I really wish I could have cut your sack, but- dammit yesterday, tsk.. today's morning- And the time I've spent with you in your mansion in that little forest or the time you showed me your garden with those pretty lights- Fuck, I'm starting to think that this is what love feels like."

Warm tears were filling both pairs of eyes.

Leigh had to laugh, she couldn't believe she had actually, clearly spoken her mind.

Walter had to join her, a hearty chuckle as he went down on his knees.

"There's no need to worry, Kat. Your daughter's safe now."

Leigh was given a room to herself, a room in which Cherry would stay by her side during the night.

She'd started to train under her aunt that day. Meditation, concentration, focus,

the art of cutting, learning stances- The way of the sword was to be drilled into her head. Starting, of course, with the bokken. Strategy was the knowledge of the samurai, and cutting was the art of it. In the backyard, Rosh asked the other students to move inside, for this would be where Leigh's training would start: in the cold. Cherry was with them, Rosh opposite Leigh, holding also a bokken, a wooden practice sword. Alright, they were about to have a practice match with no Will involved. In comparison to all the opponents Leigh's defeated, she actually had respect and did not expect to win this fight. In fact, she had been striving to defeat Leo in a match, deeming him the one person she couldn't beat, and she liked to leave at that, meaning she had to win against Rosh eventually. Bokken in her right, she flipped it twice but did not smash it against the ground, nor did she tap it. There was no reason, no. Rosh was the calmest person she encountered in a fight, she reminded her of Leo who didn't even flinch when she cut through the half of his throat.

Was it fighting spirit so great, they were sure of winning, or what exactly stopped their hearts from beating so much- Leigh had to take deep breathes..

"Whenever you're ready, you may come at me.", Rosh spoke, right foot forward, pushing snow,

left foot drawn back a little, both were not straightened. Leigh mimicked her stance, but took her time adjusting.

"When you're enemy is calm, observe them. They're plotting against you, using the time in which they don't move", said Walter before their master could say it. "I'm impressed by your memory, Cherry." "Well, a dear friend of mine used to say a lot of those kinda saying, so naturally,

they're all in my head." Their master ignored that sentence since Leigh came closer and closer, then

Rosh swiftly moved her blade downward, but it seemed like Leigh intended to jump to the side away from her swing, so she hesitated completing her attack and lessened force when Leigh swung against her bokken with a forceful energy, almost smacking the bokken out of Rosh's hands,

had she not been prepared for that move. She read Leigh and had to chuckle a bit, "Now, Cherry be a good boy, and tell me the truth.. Are you the one responsible for my scrolls being out of order in my shelve?" "What scrolls are you referring to, master?", his voice sounded insincere. "My scrolls about combat and stances, of course.." "Ah, well, I might have shown them to Leigh from time to time. But not all of them-" "It's fine, I'm not mad, but interested in your growth, Leigh. Being able to pull of that move from just observing illustrations is truly impressive. Those skills are very different from what we are instructed at the facility." "Yeah, I noticed that. Over there, you'll learn how to mercilessly murder. Here you have skillful movement which are more effective but just as lethal." "Well spoken-" "Leigh, watch out!" The master's standing leg changed as she moved forward, as if simply walking, whilst banging against Leigh's bokken, driving her back, cornering her. She had to match those strong blows, and she had to do it know, otherwise she wouldn't have any space to lunge out.

The only person who had gone toe to toe with Rosh was Walter.

She raised him, but did not teach him the way of the sword, but rather let him play with whatever he wanted, teaching him how to use Willpower to manipulate anything he was playing with. Things such as chains. Eventually,

chains had become his weapon of choice, but he did carry a revolver with him when he was going out, away from the dojo. A blow, a smack, wood on wood, again and again, Leigh tried to drive back the master, using both her hands to make the next move unexpected: Again, her bokken was lunging out to his Rosh's bokken, only now did she let go with her one hand, forming a fist and leaning to punch her master in the rib cage as her own bokken hit hers. But the punch was grabbed by Rosh. Her black hair was dancing in the wind, as was Leigh's. She tried to free her hand of her grip but her fist seemed to be trapped, now she'd have to somehow-

She jumped, landed her feet on Rosh's legs as she was still tightly held by her, she tried to pull her onto the ground, she pulled and pulled, then got let go of.

Leigh got dropped into the snow layer with the commiserating sound of Cherry. Tried to get up, but she couldn't for the enemy bokken's tip was right in front of her throat. "Such tricks won't work on me. You shall try them on others, but not real opponents, Leigh." "Damn, she's tough. Beating Sonja was real easy, but she's on another level.", Leigh grabbed the bokken, pulling the master down with speed and holding her own blade in front of the master's throat.

Their eyes stared widely. "This would be where we'd use Will, right?" Two smiles. "You are correct.. But do not think of this as a tie, if it were a real match, even without will, once you were on the ground, I would've draw a line between your head and body, understand?" Leigh gave a nod, agreed and admitted defeat just like this, unconditionally. "Strength and speed, Leigh. You may already posses both of these, you may be able to call upon lightning, you may have broken the sound barrier,

but all at the expense of your body. With no Will, you are a lot weaker and unprotected. Leo's gone now, you have to accept that he won't up your Will anymore. That has to be done by none other than you."

After a short walk in the mountains, Rosh had led Walter and Leigh to the waterfall where all her pupils would come to meditate. All skies were cleared, the temperatures were still frosty. Albeit that however, Leigh's skin had somewhat adapted to the cold. She could not believe her eyes, there was actual flowing water coming from high up, and it was not frozen. Instinctively, she got closer, kneeled and stuck her hand into the pit before the waterfall. A white flashed before her upon touching the water, but her vision returned once Walter pulled her back. Leigh was breathing heavily when he was scolding her about recklessly sticking her hand in the water. She looked at her hand, confused about what just had happened.

"The waterfall will test you spirit, your Willpower, your will to live, basically", he grabbed her arm and pulled her back on her feet,"If you're too weak, you'll lose consciousness. Pass out here, and you'll drown or freeze to death- That's why we always come here in at least pairs.", he winked.

"Oh, gimme a break", she punched his shoulder. "This is going to be your daily task from today on. Every time you lose against me, you'll come here with Cherry, and meditate over there..", her index finger pointed at the small elevation where the students would sit and let the water flow on their heads. "Meditate for pain is a vital part of mortal life, try to understand it." Both looked at Rosh, those words carried heavy truth in them as they revoked memory of lethal battle,

the white-haired felt it in heart, even. Looking back at the waterfall, she thought about how she must become stronger than her current self. How did this waterfall work? How was there flowing water in the middle of the cold North, water which made you pass out, if you were not able to resist it?

Nature

Turning her back: "Meditate until you can't withstand the pain anymore. Cherry, please-"

"Don't you worry, Rosh. I shall be in Leigh's company until death decides otherwise."

"If you can't hold your promise, I'll cut you"

The master had began her walk back to the dojo, anticipating, she'd have to calm down the envy of the other students. Leigh was, after all, the only one being instructed by their master personally.

As Leigh got closer, her heart began beating faster and faster, the white shirt she was wearing had short sleeves, too. "Goddammit." "Are you okay?", he was walking behind her. "Tsk, I guess I have to be, or else I'll die." "No you won't. Don't think that you're still all on your own" Flashing images of Ray and Leo in her head, Shanna and Charles. "Death..", she thought about Bruce. She wanted to surpass that giant. The puffy, transparent clouds from their mouth, as they breathed in and out. She stopped, so did he. "Hey, uuuhm- Walter?" "Yes, what is it?" "Can you do it? Touching that water without passing out?" His mute expression gave her no answer. He gave her his cap to hold it so he could take off his shirt, took the cap back on his head, adjusted it, then continued to simply walked to the brim of the pit.

He watched her face appear over his shoulder in the reflection of the water's surface. Then- A splash of water and Leigh was unsure whether to trust her eyes or not.

He walked in the pit's water as walking on normal ground. Walking seemed so trivial, so boring, so heartless and became a forgotten skill, once humans invented all kinds of machines for transportation.

Left foot stood, pull forward and let the right foot be the one in front, stabilizing the stance. Walking.

"Don't think, this doesn't cost effort!", his words were rivaling the rush of the waterfall but Leigh could understand him just fine.

"My Will is currently focused not on the water itself but something you'll have to understand once you get to it. Hence, the meditation exercise!" "How long did it take you!?" "About a year!"

"A year?!" "Did a year make you fold?!" Her golden eyes sharpened, it was not provocation, she knew that, her impulsive behaviour had bettered at least a little so far. She walked toward the elevation which kind of resembled a bench upon closer inspection, plus, the bench was just in the right position. You'd sit there and had the water hit your head. "No doubt about it, now. Rosh must've made this." She held her shriek in when Cherry's head casually split through the thin layer of falling water. It looked like a loose head pinned to a wall of water. "Oh, pardon-" "Nah, it's okay, I just wasn't expecting that." The rest of his body came through, he pulled himself up and sat on the bench cross-legged, facing Leigh.

"Are you ready?", he smiled gently, "I'll sit here, beside you, no need to worry about anything." Leigh didn't say a single word, but nodded.

In her mind, there were countless hesitations, she needed to cut through all of them to allow herself to grow.

All the little doubts were holding her back, flashes of the war where her Will only worked with the help of Leo. But no, I'm not alone right now, I've got Cherry right here. There's no need for anything, not a thing to worry about. The only thing I need right now, is simply not to hold back.

"Strip yourself of worldly desires, money, custody, warmth, comfort, doubt, hunger and the cold",

she told herself.

"So what if others have other morals and ideals they live by?

Our reality is defined by our self.

As long as we strive to be free, no one can chain us down in our world.",

Cherry looked up at Leigh, her golden orbs meeting with his.

"This is me", she said.

"This is all you, but remember, I'm by your side", he added. She nodded, first sat like Walter, then turned around to let the water hit her head from above.

Upon contact, the white began to cover the whole of her field of vision. It's like ice-cold water being poured into your ears, feeling how the freeze was eating away at your brain, loosing the feel of your legs, your arms, you organs- the beating of your heart. But her breathing didn't stop,

she wasn't giving in, fighting against the water, to reclaim the feel of her body which was shaking irregularly. Her mouth moved as if she was trying to breathe underwater, it was so surreal.

He must've looked like that at first, as well, Walter thought, rooting for Leigh without making a sound. Her ears felt like they were going to fall of, she couldn't began to meditate like this, not like this, no, I can't, how're you supposed to ignore the enemy right in front of you? The white was about to consume her mind, when Walter pulled her back and clearness reverted to her sight.

The ceiling of this cave-like place had thousands of fine lines running into each other,

hand-made, assumed Leigh. Her breathing calmed and looked at- "Che-rry, t-thanks"

"It's all good, don't worry. How was it?" "Fantastic!" They laughed, "Well, well, you did better than on your first try" "Ah, that's good, I guess", her wet hair hung down in a tuft, resembling a brush for painting. "Hey, wait, how come your cap's not wet?"

"You handed me my cap back after I walked through the waterfall, remember?"

"Huh, no? I gave it back to you, once you took of your shirt-"

"Leigh, this waterfall seems to be messing with your head a little too much."

Her face was a mix of confusion and a little anger. "No way, a bit of water can mess with my head this bad", grabbing onto the bench, she turned herself again so that her head was hit by the waterfall.

Reflexively, her right arm which was reaching out, missed Walter's arm as her body leaned forward to fall down into the pit. She slid off. Her arm was quickly grabbed by Walter, then she was pulled back up.

Both stood on the bench, her head over his shoulder, trying to catch her breath, he hold her tightly. "Please, don't ever pull a suicide move like that again..", he whispered, still in shock. Her warm tears flowed from her face down to his back, running down slowly.

"Sorry..", clenching her teeth, deep breathes,"I'm sorry", she drove her frustrated fingers into the skin of his back,"I'm sorry.."

The rush of the waterfall was then, the only source of sound.

"Again, I'm sorry-"

"No, stop, please. You don't have to be."

"I can't quite express just how grateful I am for my son to have found someone like you, Ray."

"Mr. Roseblood, I want to thank you for calling me like this. There's hardly any people here I can trust, unfortunately. I keep having doubts whether I can trust the people around me or not, you know?"

"You're a strong one, Ray, I can tell by the sound of your voice that you've managed to push through the pain. But.. I can also tell that you've been lonely and sad."

"Sir, if I'm being honest. I- I keep having nightmares almost every night about the, the war, the losses. I feel so guilty-"

"About surviving, right?"

"..yeah. I- I keep seeing Leo in my dreams. It's like a- ugh- constant reminder, that may I should have been the one to die."

"I know just what you're talking about there. When Leo was abducted ten years ago and my wife left me, I felt as if everything was my fault. And I kept doubting myself and telling myself that I can't have title of King this way- I mean, what kind of King am I? Letting my child get abducted like that."

"But Mr. Roseblood.. It wasn't your fault that he got separated from you."

"Well, neither is it your fault that he died, right? Yet.. we keep blaming ourselves in spite of fact.

It's the human side of us. And dealing with our trauma will only be harder from here."

"I know.. acceptance is the hardest step and- I don't think I'm ready for that yet."

"There's no pressure, Ray. Work at your own pace and soon you will come to find the answers you seek. One must be able to love oneself before loving another."

"There's just a lot of stuff I haven't really taken care of mentally to be frank."

"Oh, Ray.. you can't neglect you mental state like that. It will only grow worse over time if you don't let your wounds heal."

"I know, Sir."

"Oh, by the way. Do you guys get the newspaper by any chance down there?"

"I- ughh, not us prisoners, no?"

"Alright, let me tell you something that might cheer you up:

I have moved Leo back to Londinium. He's in his bed right now."

"Wait, you moved his body?"

"The newspaper, the police, everyone is searching for his body as I suspected.

I don't exactly know what their motif is and I don't know if they picked up what I've picked up but it seems like Leo is in a state between life and death."

"Sir?!"

"Don't get hopes up but don't lose them either. I just wanted his body to be safe from anyone else once I noticed this strange phenomenon."

"I want to see him."

"I knew you'd say that."

"Sir, you don't know how much I want to talk to him again."

"Then get out of there, as soon as you've learned to understand yourself. In your current state you're nothing more than a love-crazed who'll die because he's forgotten to take care of himself first."

"Uh-"

"I apologize for the harsher words there, Ray but you have to understand. You talk as if trapped in obsession. I could get you out of UKR easily, don't misunderstand. But you have to overcome your self first. Your love for Leo has been tainted with guilt and greed."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Roseblood. I didn't mean to become like this.."

"Hmpf, it's already a step forward that you're so understanding. Thank goodness for that.

Keep going like so and soon you'll understand that arm of yours, too"

"You mean my left arm, right? It's been that way ever since we've been here..."

"Does it hurt you?"

"No, Sir, it doesn't. But can you tell me what happened to it?"

"That arm of yours reveals that you have promising potential. They call it the arm of Hades-"

"Hades? I remember Cherry telling us something about Hades and Eden..?"

"It's sort of a chart I usually use to explain how Willpower works. Glad to hear he took after me"

"So.. there's destructive energy within my left arm?"

"You're sharper than you let on, Ray. Your left arm is a body part of yours which cannot hide your strength. However, one must be careful. If you cannot control it, it will start to devour you and your body. You'll become a killing machine and go beserk."

"I won't let that happen, Mr. Roseblood, I promise. With this destructive power I can nullify bad things, too, right? So I can make mishaps undone and help people I care about."

"You've a good heart, Ray. Still I must say, there is no reason not to let loose and use your destructive powers how they are originally meant to be. I'm not telling you to go around and kill everyone but it's no use trying to suppress your undealt with anger"

"Gosh… You're really not holding back with the truth bombs, eh?"

"I won't beat around the bush when time is of the essence. I am still curious about why your Will headed down the Hades path. To me, you certainly don't seem like the type to destroy stuff, albeit being a Blackwood manipulating fire."

"Is it actually bad? Does- Does it mean I could potentially hurt Leo-"

"Oh no, I didn't mean to make you insecure, forgive me please. I was.. simply wondering and do not worry about it being bad or good, I'll tell ya something: I'm a Hades user as well if you didn't notice back in Kingston. My right arm and a bit of my chest are darkened."

"..."

"There's no reason to be concerned too much. Focus on getting out and once you're

back in Londinium, we can talk face to face."

"You're right, Sir. I need to deal with my self first, then I'll come to you, I promise.

See you soon, Mr. Roseblood."

"See you soon, Ray. I'm proud of you."

*sound of hanging up*

The blonde boy had found himself speechless for a moment. He felt acknowledged.

A feeling he had missed ever since the loss of his uncle. Ray was son who was never praised my his father and even lesser 'seen'. So naturally, Jack's words just now made him feel appreciative.

Putting the receiver back into its place, standing against the wall in his room, leaning his head against it, he tilted his head a little to the window. Pushed himself away walking out of his room, he asked the servants to prepare the lunch boxes for the orphans, Jack would visit later.

The King did not only teach in the schools, helped with anyone's renovations and protected Londinium but, too, raised orphans the best way he could. He wanted his home to be safe and a good place to live in.

His steps echoed as he climbed the staircase upward, driving his hand against the railing, catching what little dust had settled on it. He stopped a moment afore entering through the light-looking but heavy doors.

There he was, lying in bed on the back, surrounded by pillows and his plush lion, blanketed with thick blankets in this room too big. "Leo..", Jack squatted as the illusion of his hope vanished. Staring at the floor, he hated defeats like these. Death was so unreal, lurking around every corner, the causalities were not required to be logically sound. An author could die before finishing their book and that would be it, the end. Just like that, gone without warning.

He drove two fingers along his right Hades Arm. A king on knees. Leaving things to as fate would have it was definitely not an option, not for those who chose to rebel against their lives. Hope had not been lost yet, no. Here, in the hometown of the strongest wielder of Wills made a call to remind everyone fighting their battles to have a heart stronger than death. He rose.

"Hey-Hey who were you talking to, man? It's rare that they let you talk to someone outside of UKR" "Huh? Ah, just.. someone related to Leo." "Oh ah I see, man, hey if you ever need anything, tell me, I'll be there." "Yeah, thanks..", a tight handshake. Once again, Ray was in the company of fellow criminals. People who respected Ray as a sort of leader. The blonde walked them to a section of the underwater prison which was intended to be a small room for working out. Unfortunately,

the UKR-staff did not hand out even light dumbbells. This was an empty room, and the gang behind Ray grew curious, asking him what his business here was. He simply replied with: "We'll work out a bit." "Huh?" "With what..?", collective laughter filled the emptiness. "We have plenty of weight here. Someone sit on my back", Ray let himself drop forward, absorbed the impact with his arms. Everyone looked at him being in the position to do push-ups. "If ya'll just gon' act act like he's speaking another language..", M walked to Ray and sat on his back. In response, the blonde impressed his audience by successfully pushing up his M's weight several times, before announcing the need for a break. Standing again, he noticed the others of his gang had imitated him.

"Yuh, let's go!" "Come on, push!" "Urgh… I- Get off me!"

Feeling his left arm, Ray turned back to look at one of the guards at the door. Their observing eyes talked to Ray. 'One wrong move and you get executed'. Ray supposed there really weren't any cameras inside the shower rooms. "Ey, guys. C'mere real quick", he said. "21..22.." "Lester, come here, already! Jeez, you had no one sitting on your back, too" "Yuh, whatever. Tsk. What's up, Ray?" Whispered words had some astonished,

some dumbfounded and some filled with excitement.. and some guards suspicious of them.

A fresh tank top she wore with a pair of sweat pants- the clothes she'd sleep in.

"Very creative of you", she commented. Cherry mirrored her outfit. "You're the one borrowing clothes from me" "I'm the one letting you sleep in my bed" "I'd keep my eyes on you, either way",

he was hinting at what she tried to pull today at the waterfall. She understood the euphemism,

exhaling a heavy weighted breath as she sat atop the bed, looking to him. "I swear, I won't ever try something like that again." "I hope you'll keep your words, even after I'm gone." "A year..",

she thought. A small shiver of sadness was sent down her back. "When you're gone, I really wouldn't know.." "Wouldn't know what?", he came closer. "Ah, forget it, don't know where I wanted to go with that sentence.." "It's fine, really.. There's no need to be sad about loss. Death is something which teaches you to value life" "Aren't you a philosopher", by hand movements she told him to sit next to her. "Time's you most valuable currency in life. There's no way to generate it, it keeps decreasing until you're out of it, so choose wisely what you spend your time on..", he leaned backwards to let the soft mattress soak up his back pain. Carelessly she replied with: "Then I choose to spend my time with you as long as I can"

Seeing time as an antagonist of life made sense to her. "Fuck.", hand over her face, dropping herself onto her back, next to him. "Oh whatever, I never thought, I'd like you this much", she scoffed.

"Oh? Where's this coming from-" "Tsk. 'Oh', quit it with that saying, already" "Pardon me, but you expressing your emotions is rather rare..", a small pause,"What you had told me earlier this morning- That was unexpected, as well.. for I thought I'd be the one to first confess their feelings,

but here we are.." "So do it, sweet-talker" "I love being in your presence. When you were dying on our floor in the training hall, you couldn't see my smile upon realizing it was actually you. It felt like a miracle to be frank and.. I'm glad, no- very glad to have met you, Godsent Lucifer Leigh..

I love you, you know? The way you fight for yourself, the way you won't let others' ideals and norms take over your own perception of reality. You're the strongest person, I know. Not giving up after such a hard and rocky road- It's hard to describe how I feel about you, and calling it simply 'love' is kind of underwhelm-" "Fuck offff", she scratched her head wildly with the tip of her nails,

"I didn't think you'd actually go off like that-", --- --- --- ---

With a small sound his lips left hers, slowly, as their faces were close to each other. "Uhm-" "I was the first one this time", he spoke as her face turned bright red and turned away from the one on top her. He chuckled, she had to join him. "Pff, dammit. I actually thought about kissing you to get revenge on you, ahhh.. My heart's beating so fast right now" "I'm glad I shared my first kiss with you Lei-" "Would you PLEASE stop talking for a second for my heart's sake!"

"Funny of you to say that, 'cause.. I'm the same way, here touch", he led her weak hand to his chest. "UH- Oh.. hey, your heart is beating in the same rhythm as.. mine..", she mirrored him,

leading his hand to her chest. They shared this moment in silence. "Okay, now please keep talking, I need to calm down, Cherry. You know this is new to me and- and I don't exactly know a lot of things about relationships and the love and..." "I'm quite the same as you" "By the.. way, it was also my first kiss and.. uh.. I'm glad it was you." He let himself drop next to her and just smiled.

The lights went out, now.. they were under the cover of darkness.

A jab, another jab. They tried to hit each other for they was no punching back. Squeaks of their shoes bruising against the floor's surface echoing. Eyes of the security guards followed every motion of them. A few of his crew imitated smoking with their finger's positions and mouths forming a small O. M noticed the blonde sitting on the floor by himself. "Whassup?" Ray got back from his fantasies. "Oh hey", their hands shook,"Everything all right?" "That's what I was gonna ask you, man. Why you all by yourself?" "Oh, don't mind me, I'm just thinking.." "Thinkin 'bout your love, eh?" Ray's gaze told M. "How did you know?" but then his eyebrows reverted to a neutral pose. "I guess I'm bookmarked as the guy who was with another guy but then lost his guy, eh?",

grabbing onto M's arm to stand back up. "You know a lotta peeps are gonna hate you for just dating another guy" "I couldn't care less, frankly" "We know", M laughed, "We been known, dawg. Ain't no one of us tryna beat you up about that, so tell me: What's been botherin my brother?"

Ray had to take a brief pause. "I.. hate being alone- And I don't mean to disrespect you guys,

I'm glad all of you are here with me supporting me at all times, but-" "I know. No one can fill that hole in your heart."

.

.

..Ray gave nod.

"How about a round to get your thoughts clear?" "Game of chance?" "Nah we can play that later at lunch… 'Was talking about boxing" "I don't know, I feel as if I can't hold back-" "Oh so you saying, you confident? Ahhh gotchu, gotchu" "M, I'm serious.." "Then prove it, blondie"

--- ------- ---

"Can you breathe with that thing?" "Sure, if I want blood to go down with my meal", M took the spoon into his mouth, white rectangles over his nasal bridge. "God damn! But did ya see Ray's jabs?" "Carlie..", Ray said while eating, sitting opposite of M. "You weren't kidding about being pent up, huh? You even messed up my left eye, I think. It's kinda blurry." "I'm sorry, M.. Oh, I know, we'll fix it with Willpower" One of his crew imitated a buzzer which was to tell Ray that he was wrong. "We're at UKR, remember?" "Oh", the blonde made, looking over at the one whose nose he broke. "Anyone of ya know how long it takes for a broken nose to heal?" "Nah" "Uh-Uh"

Ray shook his head, "We could play a game of chance about it?"

M's eyes were as dead as a corpse's,

looking at Ray expressionlessly, while the others were laughing merrily.

Leigh awoke. Another person's calm breathing was above her.

He's here, still. Somehow, that makes me feel grateful. It's hard to put it into to words. What I'm currently experiencing is best described by one's own senses, I believe. But, truth be told, never ever would I have expected myself to let myself be comforted by another. The position I'm right now- my skin against his- Me embracing actual comfort, trusting another person like this-

was this really me? I felt a little different from my usual self. Right now, I only wanted to be covered by this warmth; my excitement so great, I didn't notice my fingers playing against the skin of his back. I didn't want him to move. I wanted to feel his his breathing against my head a little longer, this was something I had never felt in my entire life. This type of comfort was the most beautiful feeling on this world. I felt to free, so so free from everything here, and I would make sure to earn that again. Standing before me was again, Rosh. With both our bokken in hand,

we were facing off, Cherry with crossed arms on the sidelines; cold wind hitting my eyes,

treasuring the memory of this morning even more. "Alright, Leigh. Whenever you're ready..", she said. As if I wasn't ready to battle the day I left the WM-Facility made for enslaving Godsents.

I flipped my sword once as I noticed Sonja and a couple of other students watching this match. I knew I wouldn't win today, either. Not before I could win against the waterfall. But still, it was good practice for me to fight against someone I couldn't cut down with a single strike.

I was not even close, I got my ass handed to me:

I launched forward, stopped like two metres before her to prepare my stance but she'd just smash her bokken against my left leg- To be honest, it felt as if she had cut through it, so naturally, I went down on my left knee and saw her wooden blade coming directly for my head.

But she stopped a few centimetres before impact. I knew she'd say something along the lines of "

If this had been a real fight, I would have ended it right here and now yatayata.."

Leigh didn't have to get told by her aunt Rosh, she grabbed Walter and made her way to the waterfall. "Leigh!" She stopped to look back, catching a real longsword in her left hand. Curiously she inspected the longer version of a regular katana, noticing the black cloth wrapped around its handle. It turned out to be a blindfold wrapped around the rusty, metallic blade. "Practice wielding that with one hand!"

"With one hand? Those things are made for two-hand-wielding-" "Do as I say and you'll defeat me!" "I think I'll try it, then", Walter took the sword from her to have a look at it himself,

"What about that blindfold?", Leigh shouted. "Practice with no sight" "This woman..", the white-haired thought to herself, then got interrupted by her master shouting:

◆ "Practice, until you can cut through kevlar" ◆