Chapter Four: Broken Bones

Zach woke up to the hum of electricity and the silhouette of a glowing girl at the eye of his bed which caused him to reflexively squint

"God?" he rasped, lifting a shaky hand

"HE LIVES" Mika shouted, cutting her light and launching herself onto the bed like a missile

Zach's ribs screamed first

"FUCK—" he coughed, a sharp burst of pain ripping through his chest as she landed on him

"Get—off—me—" he wheezed, trying to peel her off with one hand

Mika grinned like she'd just won a bet. "Oh relax, you've got like—what, one good rib left? You can spare it"

Elle appeared behind her, arms crossed. "You decided to fight the rank 2 who's frequently known as "The Earthmover" and you think you have the right to complain"

"Mama ain't raise a coward" Zach said still trying to swat Mika off

"Clearly Mama didn't raise someone smart" Sato said said looking up from the corner "what went through your head that after you felt the first hit that said "yeah I can win""

"I wanted noodles" Zach said giving up on trying to get Mika

"So you decided to get brain damage" Derik leaning on the wall

"I really wanted noodles"

"Yeah? Well now you're getting soup through a straw," Sato muttered, tapping a few things into his tablet. "You've got three broken ribs, a fractured wrist, and a concussion. Congratulations, you're officially Halcyon-certified stupid"

"Don't forget internal bleeding," Elle added. "From when Lucien punched you into the floor"

Zach snapped finger guns at her "but hey can't lie I got a good hit in"

"And for your reward you got a imprint of your face in the floor" Sato said pulling up the picture

Sato turned the tablet so Zach could see.

Sure enough, the tile had a faint, perfect face-dent. Cheekbone, nose, maybe even a tooth.

"…My legacy," Zach whispered

Mika burst out laughing, burying her face in his blanket. "You're so stupid it's inspiring"

"You know the A-Class kids haven't come out of their wing all day?" Elle added, sitting on the edge of the bed now. "Lucien made them look like statues. You made him bleed"

"And grunt," Mika added, nodding solemnly. "Man let out air. That's like, Lucien-speak for 'I acknowledge your existence'"

Zach blinked, then looked at them all. "So what you're saying is… I'm officially the coolest loser on campus?"

"Top tier failure," Sato said. "Ten outta ten."

"You're our idiot," Mika said, flopping next to his leg again

Zach let his head rest back against the pillow, a tired grin tugging at his face. He felt like crap. His whole body throbbed.

But for the first time in weeks, he didn't feel like a ghost

Just a really bruised, half-dead sword boy with a squad

"…I'm gonna take the worst nap of my life," he mumbled

"Careful," Elle said. "Don't go fighting giants in your dreams"

"Yeah, I'm not dragging you out a second time," Mika added, poking his cheek

The lights dimmed a little. The ward hummed on

Zach closed his eyes, the pain dulled slightly by the warmth of everyone nearby a quickly fell asleep

The room stayed quiet after Zach drifted off.

No one really said anything for a while.

Elle sat cross-legged at the end of the bed, absently twirling her bo staff like a pen. Sato leaned against the window, tablet dimmed. Mika hadn't moved from Zach's side—she'd wedged herself half under the blanket like a guard dog.

"…You think he's gonna be okay?" Derrin asked finally.

"He's breathing, isn't he?" Elle muttered.

"That's not what I meant."

Sato sighed. "It's dumb. But I didn't think anyone from our class would be the one to shake things up."

"He didn't even win," Elle said, but her voice lacked bite

"No," Mika added quietly, "but did you see the look Lucien had on when Zach cut him ."

They all went quiet again.

"I didn't think that was in his facial expression," Derrin said

"He's an idiot," Sato added, then looked over at Zach. "But he's our idiot"

Mika smiled at that. "Damn right"

Elle reached over and gently adjusted Zach's pillow. "We should've had his back"

Everyone went silent for a moment

Mika trying to brighten everyone up just let out a playful scoff "Psh yeah right and end up like this guy" she said poking Zach's cheek again which got a sleepy hand swipe "plus I'm sure he would've said get out of my way I got this" she added in a mocking macho tone "he seems like the type"

The room filled with soft laughter as on the other side of the building class a is fuming

"What the FUCK do you mean people are talking about that class d no body" Brett said throwing a chair across his room

"Yup all over the school group chats" Jax said teleporting out the way infront of Brett holding up his phone with a school published article titled "Class d does what class a couldn't"

The sight of this made Brett face physically scrunch up as he clenched his fist and went to punch the phone an act which made Jax teleport

"Don't worry bro we'll get them back" Jax said with a wicked half high smile

A couple rooms down low jazz music and be heard and a imange of Zach cutting Lucien propped up on a hollow wall

"Damn that D class" a girl said butting her near perfectly nails her rose eyes filled with nothing but hate as a spider crawls up her neck "damn him damn him" she says as a glass shard gets thrown at the wall

Across the school in a gym that hasn't been used in a while lies Lucien practicing his steps

"Block down, Parry mid, Punch" he followed those steps and repeated them

"Wowwwww" Kira's voice echoed as the was at the top of the bleachers "this d class boy got you all hot and bothered" she said breaking the lollipop in her mouth

Lucien didn't respond just kept following his steps which caused Kira to smile "careful now if Barbie sees you this worked up she mug he go break your new toy"

this caused Lucien to stop mid motion and sigh and acknowledgement that she was right and he began to walk with a purpose somewhere

"Looks like I got under your skin" Kira said as she jumped off the top bleachers and followed behind him