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It had been only three months now, since Leah enrolled in this school and blended in with normal people.  It had been… [i]interesting,[/i] in a way. They gave her a specific set of clothes she had to wear like a lot of the schools only rich kids went to. Leah had to give the school demonstrations with her earth powers and her strength, which she displayed by beating the shit out of robotic test dummies. They had asked her about how she learned to fight like that, since she tore one’s head clean off with a high kick, and she didn’t give them a real answer.

It was enough that someone decided Leah didn’t necessarily [i]need[/i] a beginner’s course in combat, but could still benefit from learning from “official” instructors. So she was put in a group of people her age who had, for the most part, never thrown a punch in their lives. One absolute twink of a boy flinched every time someone went for his face, it was painful to watch. But eventually, she stopped being the only one among them capable of some amount of fighting.

And this was the part of it that Leah [i]really[/i] didn’t like.

A few times a week, the whole class was lined up, and their teacher would pick someone at random. They’d pick someone to fight, and the whole class would watch to “learn” from them. 

He picked that bitchy blonde who always looked too fragile to even be here, today.

The bitchy blonde in question was Sabine.

Full of anger and condemnation for the world at large, Sabine’s time at school started on a rough note. She made it everyone’s problem. Despite how good she was in the classwork she would often make remarks to the teachers, to other students, even to those she was considered a friend to. Sabine felt the icy chill in her veins, the same feeling each time she was accused of doing something she never would. Her mother made sure she understood the risks, but now she was gone. And despite her father being alive, he was gone too.

She didn’t care if people disliked her. People already judged her so she may as well lean into the villain she was painted out to be. 

She watched in classes, seeing others fight over and over again. She knew she was not physically the strongest, but she was damn sure she surpassed everyone else in intelligence. So when she was picked to fight in class, she stood in front of her target.

She knew very little about the girl in front of her apart from her hair looking ratty and unkempt, much like her overall demeanor. Despite this, Sabine knew the girl could hold her own. There was anger behind her fists. So Sabine knew the battle started even before the first punch was thrown.

[color=A2797E]”Excuse me, but could you maybe pick someone else? It seems like life has already beaten her down to a pulp and I would feel just so guilty if I made it worse than it already was for her.”[/color] The intention being: knock her down first. 

[color=ff9a4f]”Did anyone [i]ask,[/i] you stupid bitch?”[/color] Leah spat. [color=ff9a4f]”You don’t even belong here… I’m picking her.”[/color]

Leah was sick of her shit. The rich girl always had some bitchy comment or look to give her, always had more makeup plastered on her face than personality in her brain. She walked over to the space where fights happened and gave Sabine a death glare.

[color=ff9a4f]”Get over here. Now.”[/color]

[color=A2797E]”That’s the difference between you and me. Leaders don’t wait to be asked. They just do. But sure, scream into the void what a bitch I am. Only makes you look weak.”[/color] Sabine strode forward to the space she needed to stand in. [color=A2797E]”Never mind. I’ll gladly take part in this, if for no other reason than to put the garbage where it belongs.”[/color]

She clenched and unclenched her fists. Sabine met Leah’s glare with her own. [color=A2797E]”Bring it on, dirt.”[/color]

[color=ff9a4f]”Dirt?”[/color]

Leah angled her arm into a ninety-degree angle, and made a fist. A piece of the floor tore itself open, as a rock shot out, appearing in front of Sabine’s face.

[color=ff9a4f]”Fine.”[/color]

The rock exploded on a molecular level, turning into a small cloud of dust to cake Sabine’s face.

She wanted dirt, she got dirt.

As the dirt hit her face, Sabine shut her mouth for once, letting the debris cake her. She had asked for it. Sabine opened her eyes and wiped some of if off with her hand. She nodded. [color=A2797E]”Cute. My turn.”[/color]

Sabine launched her psyche into Leah’s mind. There was an intense emotional block, but Sabien found anger easy to get through because the brain was going a mile a minute. Once she got through Sabine picked a memory at random, one that seemed to be on the top of Leah’s mind.

And, for a moment, Sabine hesitated. But she got through it. The bitch wanted a fight, she would give her a fight.

Sabine amplified the memory; the moment Leah heard the gunshot that took her mom. She increased the sound, having it echo throughout the memory. She added a voice. [color=A2797E][i]”It’s your fault. Your fault she died. You could have saved her but you are too weak. Your own mother. Pitiful. Weak. A monster. You are a monster!”[/i][/color] The words would play through Leah’s mind. 

Sabine pulled back out, letting the memory take control for however long. Sabine prepared for retaliation.

Leah went inside herself, closing off the world for a second. On the outside, it looked like she just blinked and didn’t react… Until her face slowly twisted into a scowl.

The floor rumbled, and there was a [i]snap.[/i] Leah rushed her down, pushing off the floor and leaving a dent in it. She got in Sabine’s face like a dog going after a cat, dropped low, and swung an uppercut at the sassy fucker’s jaw.

How fucking [i]dare[/i] she bring that shit back up?

[color=ff9a4f][i]”Fuck you!”[/i][/color]

Sabine arched back, avoiding the uppercut but falling flat on her ass. She scrambled quickly, getting back in Leah’s face. [color=A2797E]”What, you get to fling dirt around but I can’t? Mine just happened to be better. If you can’t handle your own trauma what good are you?”[/color] Yeah, big talk Sabine, pull the other leg now.

[color=A2797E]”Count yourself lucky that’s all I did. You just need a therapy session and you’ll be all right I could have permanently bedridden you while you eat mashed potatoes out of a tube. So step off with this bullshit pretending you know what you are doing. You’re lower than worthless, how the hell did you even get into this school?”[/color]

The answer to that was a falling elbow aimed directly at Sabine’s diaphragm.

[color=ff9a4f]”I fucking chose this, you idiot,”[/color] Leah answered. [color=ff9a4f]”You probably wouldn’t come here unless your fucking rich dad paid someone to let you in.”[/color]

Sabine felt the wind knock out of her as Leah elbowed her. Sabine started coughing, grasping at her throat as Leah started screaming at her. She barely heard a word though she did catch that last bit.

Sabine took a breath and, once she was able to do so fully, stood back up, cocked her fist, and punched Leah in the eye.

And it hurt like a bitch. But if it hurt Leah, it was worth it.

She rubbed her now bruised hand, but she pressed on. [color=A2797E]”I auditioned, same as you. The difference being I’m not a scholarship applicant, one the faculty took pity on. Hell, maybe use you in advertisements. ‘If we can accept her, we can accept anyone.’”[/color]

Leah had rolled over and, with muscle memory, gotten to her feet while basically blinded by a punch to the soft parts of her face. It was a miracle the bitch didn’t lose her hand by hitting her hair.

Leah swung both her arms upwards in a table-flipping motion. The spot on the ground where Sabine was laying shot upwards, with the intent to springboard the fuck out of her.

[color=ff9a4f]”It doesn’t even cost fucking money to go here, are you fucking stupid?!”[/color]

Sabine felt her feet lift as the earth beneath her shot upward, sending her flying backward, landing on her back. Not only did her hand hurt, but now her upper back was throbbing. [color=A2797E]”All the more reason you’re a pity applicant! No one in their right mind would have you here.”[/color] Sabine launched her psyche back in to Leah, this time instead of grabbing a memory she wanted to do as much damage as possible. If she couldn’t beat her from the outside, she would do so from the inside. 

Sabine let out a psychic burst, intending to cause a massive migraine headache, a ringing in Leah’s ears that wouldn’t go away quickly. Anything she could hold on to to break her was up for grabs.

Leah clenched her head and wailed like an animal that just had its leg broken. Her head throbbed, her vision started blurring. This bitch was one of those telepathic assholes that played with minds and didn’t actually fight back.

With a growl, she stomped the floor and caused a miniature earthquake that shook the whole room. It sounded like a fighter jet was roaring over their heads.

Sabine and the other students, the teacher, all felt the rumble beneath their feet. Some fell over while others braced. Sabine fell to the ground on her knees as the mini earthquake erupted. She knew she was hurting Leah, but Leah was holding out. Sabine tried not to be impressed, but couldn’t. Leah was strong.

Sabine let go of the psychic hold she had on Leah and stood up. [color=A2797E]”There’s no need for collateral damage.”[/color] It was clear Leah outmatched her in physical strength, but Sabine was sure her mental aptitude was far beyond Leah’s. Almost equals. Possibly friends if life experiences happened another way.

[color=A2797E]”I’ll yield if you do.”[/color] Sabine took some deep breaths. She wouldn’t admit it, but this was a lot of fun for her. No one ever challenged her before. But she wouldn’t admit it. Not to her.

Leah’s face was a scowl.

Who did this bitch think she was? Digging up those memories that Leah had [i]tried[/i] to bury, then acting high and mighty and wanting a fucking [i]draw?[/i]

She stomped over to her and drove an elbow into the blonde girl’s jaw.

[color=ff9a4f]”Fuck you. I win, it’s over.”[/color]

And the teacher [i]immediately[/i] got between them about it, calling Leah’s behavior unacceptable and unheroic. As if that mattered.

Sabine wasn’t surprised. She knew the fight would have ended with both of them exhausted, beaten down, and possibly in need of medical and psychiatric care. So when Leah ran over and decked her she knew it was coming from a place of genuine anger. 

Sabine knew. She saw Leah’s memories. She knew Leah was hurting and she pulled on that string. She didn’t feel bad about it. She was challenged to a fight and she used what was at her disposal.

Sabine took a beat, took a breath, and stood up. 

She wiped the blood off the side of her mouth. She would be bruised. [color=A2797E]”Fine. You win. Enjoy the hollow victory.”[/color] She looked at the teacher and nodded, signifying she was all right. [color=A2797E]”After all, a villain isn’t going to just give up. They are going to do whatever they can to bring the hero down. Like, for example, concede defeat and let the hero beat them. Let that one person punch them as they stand there and admit they lost. Imagine what that looks like, to see someone you think of as a hero beat down someone willingly accepting the loss. Well, that person would be a monster, wouldn’t they?”[/color]

Sabine cracked her neck. [color=A2797E]”Seems I am in need of a cold compress or something. I would get something for that eye also. I’ll go to the nurse’s office.”[/color] Sabine turned and started to walk away. But she stopped and turned to face Leah again. [color=A2797E]”I had it right, you [i]are[/i] a monster.”[/color]

Being petty, Leah stomped the floor and made a chunk of stone fly up to smack Sabine over the head.

[color=ff9a4f]”I’m not the one who fucks with brains, bitch.”[/color]

Sabine felt the rock collide. It hurt, again. She took another breath. [color=A2797E]”Are you quite sure about that?”[/color] And she continued to walk, leaving Leah to sit in her feelings.

And she had a lot of them.

She stood there in the middle of the room, surrounded by others who were watching in shock or dismay at how disordered the fight was. Leah had a mean, [i]unheroic[/i] look on her face. Sabine was right, she wasn’t much of a hero if this was how she handled petty shit like that. She wasn’t much of a hero if she responded to a surrender with a punch to the face.

And she was right about what she saw, too. It [i]was[/i] Leah’s fault.

The teacher was giving her a [i]look.[/i]

[color=ff9a4f]”Yeah. I’ll fix it.”[/color]