[h1][b][i][color=FF9A4F][center]Leah Jordan[/center][/color][/i][/b][/h1][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ktEJkOK.png[/img][/center][center][/center][hr][center][color=FF9A4F][b]Location[/b][/color]: Hedge Maze > AA [color=FF9A4F][b]Gear[/b][/color]: A bloodstained dress and a sword [color=FF9A4F][b]Skills[/b][/color]: [url=https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F20%2F04%2Fa4%2F2004a4b876602c0022363b57b15b2bdb.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=c0437569cdd10c6f1efae9b432477e0a7c4a4e95121921ac9145c77044f26d1b&ipo=images]Oh god oh fuck[/url][/center] [hr][hr] She was mad. Leah had attacked and killed the creature that could have swallowed her girlfriend whole, and Sabine was [i]mad.[/i] It was obvious, right? Leah wasn’t crazy for assuming based on the icy attitude she suddenly had after being so pissed at Nimue, was she? She wasn’t overreacting and making a mountain out of a molehill by filling in blanks that weren’t even there, right? Leah said absolutely nothing when Sabine walked off, and she couldn’t. There was this knot forming in her chest, a small note of dread that was only getting worse the longer Leah just stood around, doing [i]nothing.[/i] She was such a god damn fool, a fucking [i]moron![/i] Of [i]COURSE[/i] Sabine would’ve manipulated his memories to calm him down! She was in his [i]HANDS![/i] There was no possible reality in which Leah could’ve [i]POSSIBLY[/i] killed him quicker than she could calm him down! Did she have trust issues? Did she not trust Sabine to use just powers properly? No, of course she did. She saw dad beating she shit out of Leah once- But that was by accident- No, shut the fuck up and [b][i]CALM THE FUCK DOWN![/i][/b] Leah needed to move, or she’d be here all night. April needed someone right now. She was crying, and Leah was still here moping over a dead dog. Leah was an absolute fucking [i]joke[/i] of a girlfriend, screaming loud enough to shake the heavens when April was scared and vulnerable, and not stopping to think about the cost of vengeance. And now, she was just sulking. Hee grip around the sword tensed up, threatening to shatter the hilt, before she took in a deep breath. [i]She doesn’t hate you. She doesn’t. She doesn’t. She’s not mad, she’s just stressed out and doesn’t want to think about it anymore than you do. It’s going to be fine.[/i] She could tell herself that all night, and maybe she could fool herself into thinking it might work if she tried hard enough. Leah finally managed to turn her gaze away from the corpse and walk out of the doors. Tonight was a disaster, and it would’ve been so much easier on everyone if she had just listened to her own pitiful paranoia, and stayed in fucking bed. Leah could’ve saved everyone the trouble of embarrassing April, killing an innocent creature and now having to face all of her little fuckups if she didn’t have the hubris to think she could enjoy one night without a care; Why did she deserve to associate with people in a party? The one time she tried, she made everything so much worse. The hallways were quiet, everyone was either dancing or in their dorms right now. Leah walked past hers, and stopped when she saw that there was a switchblade stuck in the door. A folded up postcard was nailed to the door by it. Leah stared at it for second, wondering why someone didn’t just tape it or something. She learned her new sword against the wall and unstuck the postcard, letting the knife clutter to the floor. She opened it, and her blood ran cold. It said it was from Oslo, Norway. And there was nothing on the inside by two simple words. [i]Mayra Pavon[/i] There were only two people alive in the universe who knew that name. Sabine was one of them, and Leah tried to kill the other one. The world around her fell away, like old quarters down a well, and there was only black around the edges of her vision. Leah was a grain of sand in a desert. A drop of water in an ocean. She was incomprehensible small, unfit to stand against the weight of the world. He found her. She was running out of time. [hr] The low drone of the fluorescent lights held her attention long enough that she didn’t notice the needle, until after it had left her skin. She didn’t know what it was that he had put in it, but she didn’t feel like asking. Mayra didn’t feel like eating, either. But she was hungry. [color=gray]”Your wrist will heal in four days,”[/color] he told her, in a tone that she had long since come to understand as disappointment. [color=gray]”And your training will continue in two.”[/color] Imperator fixed a look at her, which she didn’t see, because her eyes were cast down to the floor. Then there was a pause. [color=gray]”Look at me, Mayra.”[/color] Her eyes snapped up to meet his, a pair of blood red orbs. Redder than all the blood she lost today. [color=gray]”You had better start impressing me, before I break you down [i]every day.[/i] Your mutant powers can rip a volcano from the earth, and today, you could barely push a cinder block. That is [i]miserable.[/i] No daughter of mine is going to have such a sad excuse for control over her powers.”[/color] She couldn’t look away, or he’d snap her legs again. Or maybe he’d put another hairline fracture in her skull. He could’ve done a thousand things to her before she could blink, sometimes… And he could tell she was shaking. It only made him scowl. [color=ff9a4f]”I…”[/color] She tried to say something, but quickly felt her voice die in her throat. The lab became dead silent. The lights weren’t loud enough. [color=gray]”Speak up, girl.”[/color] She couldn’t. He’d kill her if Mayra talked back to him. She looked away. [color=gray]”Say it,”[/color] he demanded. He [i]hated[/i] repeating himself. She could feel herself choking. Imperator’s grip on her arm tightened. The fact that it didn’t hurt told her that she was in danger. Silence. Suffocating silence. [i][b][h3][color=gray]”NOW!!!”[/color][/h3][/b][/i] He screamed, and Mayra flinched as if he had punched her again. Her eyes screwed shut and did not open. She was going to die, she just knew it. It was stupid to try and speak, but it would’ve been stupider not to listen to him. [color=ff9a4f]”It’s too hard- I can’t- I-I can’t do it. I’m tired, it’s too much. It’s too hard to move anything else…”[/color] She was worthless. Dead weight. A waste of resources. Imperator glared through her, Mayra could just feel how much he hated looking after a hopeless brat like her. [color=gray]”If you’re too weak train, then you’re too weak to eat my food. Fix the rest of your injuries, and don’t take too long. You have work to do.”[/color] He didn’t give her the chance to argue, not that she would have. He stood up, and walked out of the doors to the lab. The elevator whirred into silence as he went back up to the surface. Mayra doubled over on the bed and finally broke down into tears. She sobbed, and trembled like a dying animal. If he had seen her cry like this, he would’ve shot her between the eyes. So she didn’t allow herself to shed too many tears. [hr] The door to the dorm opened slowly, and Leah stepped into the room to the sight of her “friends,” by someone’s definition, consoling April. Leah looked tired, dejected and lost. She held her sword and the veritable death knell with her birth name in one hand. She didn’t have the right to be here. [color=ff9a4f]”…I’m sorry,”[/color] she said, weakly, to April and Sabine. The least she could do was pretend she deserved their love.