Persephone woke up the next morning feeling tired. Very tired. And also very guilty. She hadn't meant to leave like that, she thought while curling into a ball and hugging her pillow to her chest like it would protect her from the world.
She had been shocked when he asked about her family. She hadn't known what more to do than to simply run away.
'Yeah,' Persephone said, 'Just like I run away from everything else in my life'
She stood from her bed and went to look herself in the full body mirror. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and smiled, "You can do this. You can do this. You can do this"
'All you need is confidence…..'
Her rituals that morning blurred together into one long endless stream of static. Her bath was forgettable, as was her dressing, and the fact that she had run into Cassandra again in the elevator. There were no thoughts in her head as she walked across the bridge leading up to class building 1. Until she found herself in front of her classroom door with her hand hanging in the air.
She paused. Should she apologize? It felt like the right thing to do. She had walked out on him when he had simply been polite, so it was only right that she apologized to him.
'Brother wouldn't apologize' she thought, 'He would probably make him apologize instead'
"Ah-Hem"
"Ah!" Persephone yelped and turned around to see Helios standing behind her. He took out the earbud from his ears and pointed to the doors.
"Maybe you can ponder on the secrets of the universe inside?"
"O-Oh! Sorry, sensei!" Persephone quickly opened the classroom door and rushed to her seat. Helios then walked in just like he always did. Like he owned the place.
"Morning my ever loyal minions. I trust your nights were fruitful, enjoyable, and at least more interesting than mine"
Adrain sighed, "And what exactly did you do last night, sensei?"
The smile Helios gave the class made them all shiver.
"Oh. I'm sure you'd like to know," he leaned on the table, "But alas. I can't tell you every detail of it." he put his hand on his head and adopted an extremely apologetic expression.
Adrian's brow twitched and Persephone felt a small laugh bubble out from her chest. Helios smiled.
"Although, I can say good luck," he looked at each of them, "Trust me. You'll need it"
Helios then put his earbuds back in his ears and began walking out of the class. As he went he sent a glance towards Damian and smiled at the glare he received in return. How cute.
"I still wonder what that man does," Damian said, "He doesn't even teach anything"
"Actually he doesn't need to," Adrian said, "It common practice for students to get used to seeing at least one teacher constantly. This allows us to become as comfortable with him as possible."
"I don't feel very comfortable. I would rather talk to Callista"
Adrian snorted, "Of course you would,"
Persephone covered her mouth to prevent the laugh that threatened to come out from escaping. Damian blushed a bright red, "I-Its not like that!"
"Surrre"
The door to the room burst open and Deacon walked in. He walked over to the desk and stood in front of it. He had on a light green tracksuit and had a folder in his hand.
"Good morning everyone," he greeted, "My name is Deacon and I'm going to be your combat instructor for the foreseeable future"
He looked towards Damian, "Some of you already know me, and some of you don't. But know that I do not take laziness lightly. I will push you to your absolute limit, to the very brink of death. Don't worry about dying, I have someone that could bring you back if necessary.
All three students were silent. Deacon pointed to the back of the class, "Your gym clothes are in bags behind the class. Grab them and follow me"
All three students moved to the back of the class and saw three gym bags arranged in a line. Damian's bag was black with a three-headed dog on it. Adrian's, light blue with a lightning bolt on it, and Persephone's bag a dark blue with a trident. They took them and followed behind Deacon as he left the class.
They took the elevator to the ground floor, and rather than go towards the main door leading out of class building 1, they turned around and began walking in the opposite direction. Damian had never been to this side of the class building before, but from how both Adrian and Persephone looked, they had probably come through here already.
Deacon led them through a door and into a hallway leading to another door. The second door opened up to open-air with a new bridge that stretched out towards a bigger building. Deacon moved over it and the students followed after him.
"Hey," Damian called Adrian, "Where are we going?"
"The general building," Adrian answered. His bag was slung with one hand over his shoulder, "That's where most combat-based classes are done"
Damian shrugged. He didn't know enough about this place to know what Adrian was really talking about. But he supposed he would find out soon enough.
Behind him, Persephone held her bag in front of her while having an internal debate.
'Why can't I just talk to him?' she thought, 'He's right there. I just need to apologize,' she squeezed her hands together, 'But brother wouldn't apologize. Brother would make him apologize instead'
Deacon led them into the general building and Damian's eyes widened once he saw what was on the inside. It was abuzz with motion. The walls were painted white and gold and there were tall cylindrical tubes arranged at various corners of the walls, taking people up.
Some of the students walking about stopped to stare and point at Damian and he self-consciously put his hand over his collar.
"This way," Deacon said to them and then led them over to one of the elevators at the corner of the wall. They all piled in and Damian watched the people on the ground grow smaller and smaller as he went up.
They stopped three floors above the ground floor and Deacon led them through the corridor and to a door with the word 'Combat Room' written on it. He opened it and entered.
It was a large room fashioned like a dojo. There were three large fighting mats spread side by side in the room and a door leading to a locker room at the other end of the room. A boy was sitting on a bench beside the locker room door taking off some bandages from his wrist. He looked up as they entered. He had green hair and black eyes that narrowed once they landed on Damian.
"Sensei," he said.
"Tybalt," Deacon said, "You shouldn't be here"
"Sorry sensei, was just leaving," Tybalt said as he stood from the bench and grabbed a bag from the side. It was yellow with a sun drawn on it. The symbol of Apollo. Tybalt moved across the room, and as he passed the students, he eyed Damian with the most disgusting leer Damian had ever seen.
"Scum," he muttered.
Damian's hands squeezed into fists and he shook in rage. Deacon moved deeper into the room.
"Take your bags into the back and change. Boys on the right, girls on the left. You have two minutes."
Adrian and Persephone quickly moved towards the locker room to change. Damian scowled and mechanically moved away with them.
They came out a few minutes later with their gym wear. Damian had on black sweat pants and a black top with the three-headed dog printed onto the right side of his chest. Adrian had on light blue sweat pants and a light blue top with a lightning bolt printed onto it while Persephone had the same in dark blue with a trident printed on her chest.
Deacon was standing in front of a mat when they came out and once he saw them, he pointed to Adrian and Damian, "Get in the ring," he said.
Damian balked, "W-What?"
"Don't make me repeat myself," Deacon scowled, "Get in the ring"
Damian swallowed thickly and then entered into the ring with Adrian. He watched Arain stand opposite from him with a bored expression on his face.
"On the count of three, I want you to attack. Putting your opponent on his back gives you the win,"
Deacon and Persephone both watched Adrain get into a loose fighting stance. He had both hands at waist level, with one forward and the other backward. Deacon counted down.
"Three!"
Damian's eyes widened. What sort of stupid countdown was that!?
Adrian charged at him like a freight train. Damian's eyes watched Adrian like a hawk. He saw Adrian come close to him and grab him by the hand, he saw Adrian put one foot in front of his own and twist his body around. He even saw the expression of pity Persephone had on the sidelines as she watched him bend over Adrian's shoulder like a cloth.
But seeing what was happening to you and being able to stop it were two different things entirely.
Damian fli[pped over Adrian's shoulder and landed with a heavy Thud! on the floor. He groaned and reached a hand back to rub at his tailbone.
"Ugh," he said.
"That was terrible, Damian," Deacon said and at that moment Damian had his very first thought of murder, "You didn't even last three seconds," Deacon wrote something down on a book in his hand, he then waved Adrian out of the ring and told Persephone to go in.
"Good work Adrian," Deacon said while looking at the book and ticking something off, "But try to work on your footwork,".
Adrain nodded to him then turned and watched Damian pick himself off the floor with a groan.
Damian turned towards Persephone and saw her standing with a very serious expression on her face. She brought one hand forward with her palm facing him and took the other one back. Damian swallowed and got into a faux boxing stance, hoping to at least hold her back for a while.
"Three!"
Persephone moved.
In future, Damian would remember that he had actually thought for a moment that Persephone, being a girl, wouldn't be as strong as Adrian. He had hoped. Intensely hoped that she would at least not be able to take him head-on in a test of strength.
He had been right about that.
What he had not taken into account, however, was her speed.
Persephone vanished from his vision. Really, one second she had been right in front of him, ready to go, and then in the next moment, she was gone.
Persephone, meanwhile, knew she was not as physically strong as Damian. She knew she couldn't take him down in one flip as Adrian had. That would be asking too much of her tiny body. Instead, Persephone ducked low and to the side. She slid to a stop beside Damian and corkscrewed up with her elbow extended. The tip of her elbow slammed into Damian's ear, making him lose both his balance and his glasses.
She twisted down and swept his leg out from under him and then continued with the motion of her twist, shooting her leg into the air and driving Damian's body to the ground with a Slam!
Adrian blinked in shock.
Deacon marked something off from his book.
Damian coughed in pain.
Persephone's eyes widened and she quickly jumped back to her feet in shock, "I-I'm so sorry!" she said while waving her hands towards Damian quickly, "I-I don't know what came over me!"
Damian groaned and rolled over like a dead animal.
"A-Are you okay?"
Damian groaned and rose a shaky thumb up. Persephone sighed in relief.
"Okay, get out of there," Deacon called out to Damian. He then looked towards Adrian and told him to get into the ring, "Let's see you two go at it. And don't hold back as you did with him," he pointed his pen at him, "I'm watching you"
Adrian nodded and entered the ring.