Furious, with a cast of ice incasing his right arm, exhausted from the training, and an overwhelming hatred towards himself for not being smart enough, for being too weak, Astrape could feel more and more anxiety building up. Memories of various events and past actions that to him, proved he was just those things, flooded his mind. He could not maintain composure and eventually took it out on the ground, hitting the floor over and over.
"Why me?! Why me?! Why me?!", he thought to himself while punching the floor hoping he'd break the cast of ice on his arm, but it was to no avail. He continued to punch and punch and punch more aggressively each time. The room was filled with static electricity, until the chandeliers hanging over his head burst rendering the room dark. But that didn't stop him from continuing his tantrum.
He continued to punch and punch, not stopping to care for the lack of light around him until the blues sparks reappeared around his arms. This time so bright it seemed it lit up the dark room. Fearing he would invite an unwanted audience, he tried to extinguish what could soon be flames, but it seemed they were here to stay. The sparks just got stronger by the second. The cast of ice lit up the room, a crack split the frozen block, light flaring inside it. Then, in the next heartbeat…
Light tore through the cast of ice, shattering it into a spray of glittering shards.
His eyes glowing blue, the rampage of his Essent didn't stop there as light surged through his whole body. Then, finally, lightning erupted, wild and uncontrollable from every pore of his skin. Burning his clothes to ash and leaving him as naked as a new born baby. His muscles twitching, Astrape fell to the ground.
His body twitching from exhaustion he looked around to see if he attracted any unwanted audiences before quickly hurrying back to his room, grabbing a table cloth to use as a towel on his way.
"This would be much easier if I wasn't butt naked. And how did this even happen anyway? Well at least I know my Essent still works, I might just survive this after all", he thought.
He banged his room door open waking up his roommate. "Dude what the heck?", asked Danny.
"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry man but a lot just happened".
"Wha… a lot happened? Ahh, who cares, just turn the light off when you're done because I really need to get some sleep right now``".
"Yup, way ahead of you".
With the sun rising came a new day and Danny, seeking answers as to what happened during Astrape's latest night escapades, did not waste time inquiring, "Rise and shine dude, you're going to be late for class", said Danny.
"Okay I get it. Now stop bugging me and just give me five minutes, alright?"
"We both know the five minutes you're talking about will last way more than five minutes. So just wake up already".
"Ah, you can be so annoying sometimes", said Astrape as he sluggishly got out of bed.
"Wait, dude it's only five in the morning, what the heck?" he added.
"I know, sorry about that. But this is the only way you could actually tell me what happened last night without getting us both late for class".
"It's so annoying the way you find entertainment just from listening to stories about my bad luck".
"Yeah, but this time it's more than that. I could tell something different happened", said Danny in his own therapeutic tone.
"Was it that obvious?".
"You literally barged into the room in the middle of the night naked and breathless. Plus, you were…".
"Ok, I get it", Astrape interrupted. "So, listen whatever I tell you now should not leave this room, alright?", pleaded Astrape as Danny nodded in agreeance.
"As you know, I was out practicing like I usually do, trying to get my Essent awake again. But this time Selena found me. I was so freaked out I had no idea what to do".
"So, what happened? Did she let you go with a warning or something?".
"Ha-ha", Astrape chuckled, "We both know that's just not how Selena rolls. Long story short she froze my arm in some cast of ice. I guess that was her way of saying don't do this ever again or something. I got angry, maybe too angry and everything seemed all fuzzy from that point. The last thing I remember is waking up on the floor, it felt horrible, my body was aching and my muscles felt like they were on fire".
"So, the good part is that… well I awakened my Essent, so I might actually survive this whole tournament thing after all", explained Astrape as he tried to laugh it off.
"Wow, you actually got it to work this quickly. Well, you had some help but still I thought it would take way longer and then you'd have to forfeit the whole tournament y'know?".
"Seriously man?".
"I'm just playing, it's good you got it back and all but still… Astrape, this thing with Selena, don't you think it's gone too far?".
Danny knew just how much suffering Selena had caused him ever since they arrived at Vex Academy and so he could tell at least to a certain degree how much she had hurt him and how good he was at hiding it. Astrape knew Danny could see right through him but chose not to pry, as that was likely to only cause more pain.
Danny sat in silence as he looked at Astrape's arm, bruised as it was as Astrape ran his hand over it. It did not look as bad as he expected, but it still stung him that despite witnessing what Astrape goes through, he was powerless to help.
"Astrape, you're being physically abused, you have been for a while. We can't let this go on. I told you a long time ago we could report her to the board, finding evidence won't be a problem. Once that's done, we could…".
"Listen, we both know we can't afford that. Both your parents work under her family's company. If we report this and it goes big, there's a huge chance they could get affected by all this. Plus, you know I wouldn't like the attention anyway", Astrape answered.
He sighed "It's funny isn't it, it's like she did her research before picking her perfect victim. Although, I do see your point, this can't go on. I'll figure something out", Astrape assured him.
Leaving Danny feeling helpless yet again, "GOD help us" he whispered. "Is there something anything he did that she's held against him all these years", he thought, taking an early leave to class.