Cassius could only describe how he'd felt at the end of that day as completely and utterly defeated. He'd run after Katherine only to fail to find her in time and in the process abandoned every back at the arena which had subsequently been torn apart. The fact that no one he knew had died was a miracle. Some people had, but at least they hadn't been his responsibility so to speak so he tried not to let it get to him.
But the days went by and he still learned nothing about what had become of Katherine. It was driving him insane. He needed to do something, and in the end, he had only one lead. Rurik. Clara had said they'd fought, so Cassius figured he might as well direct all his frustration at him...
. . .
Meanwhile, Rurik showed up for school after the three days of time off ended. He knew he still didn't have to show up til' next week, but he figured Bak wouldn't be happy if he waited any longer. Also, he hoped that perhaps Christine would be there by some miracle.
Neither Bak nor Christine were who greeted him, however. Rather, he found a small mob led by one of his least favorite people.
“Rurik, hey there, buddy!” It only sounded friendly, of course.
“Caleb... hey, so, can we just fucking not?” Rurik replied tiredly.
“I'm wounded,” Caleb said, the mirth already draining from his voice. “And so are you, it seems. What happened to your arm?” Indeed, Rurik's arm was bandaged tightly and done up in a crude sling to keep it immobile. Meredith's healing had only done so much, spread thin as it was.
“Well after everything, I just really needed to relieve some stress and overdid it,” Rurik spoke deadpan, earning a few disgusted faces from the crowd.
“You really never change, huh?” Caleb frowned.
“What do you want?”
“Oh nothing, I just wanted to make sure your head didn't get too big,” Caleb told him. “Your tournament showing wasn't all that great in the end, you know.”
“Ah, OK. I get it. Look, it's OK that your tournament showing was non-existent, I won't judge you. You see, that's really what I was planning, you know. Didn't want you to feel bad so I held back.” Rurik smiled. “Gotta keep that tiny glimmer of hope that Christine might fall for you alive, you know?”
“You know what, Rurik? Fuck it. I wasn't gonna kick your ass today, but now I just can't help myself.”
“Always knew you were beyond help.” Rurik sighed and set his feet. This wasn't going to be fun. He didn't waste time; the second he saw Caleb begin to move he fired a bolt at his face... but the boy saw it coming. He raised his arm and the bolt glanced off of it. Slowly armor spread out across his body from his hands until he was covered in an insectoid suit of chitinous armor.
Rurik really hated that fucking armor. It was way too good at dispersing impacts... which was most of his attacks.
Rurik fired a few more futile bolts as Caleb rapidly closed in. Caleb threw a punch and Rurik threw up his shield to block... but Caleb handled the reflective property surprisingly well, planting his feet and then throwing out his other hand clamping it around Rurik's throat, Rurik having no options to stop it.
Rurik could only quickly press his one good hand against Caleb's chest and release all his energy at once. It tore Caleb off of him... but as Rurik fell on his ass, Caleb slid back and fell only to a knee.
Rurik tried to gather up more energy to defend himself but Caleb charged at him once more. Rurik tried to trip him up by aiming at his feet, but Caleb suddenly jumped, locust wings sprouting from his back. He took flight and grabbed Rurik's shoulders and abducted him up into the air.
“Try not to land on your head!” Caleb cackled and then not just dropped, but kicked Rurik back to the ground. He landed with all the air knocked from his lungs on impact.
Rurik coughed as he fought to get his airflow reestablished, “I'm gonna... kick your ass... when I get back up...” he wheezed.
“No. No you won't.” Caleb alighted back on the ground.
Rurik did his best to pick himself up off the ground, but Caleb was already on top of him by the time he began to get his feet under him.
“Hey! Hold it!” Spoke... neither of them. It seemed someone had seen fit to interrupt them. Wait, Rurik kind of recognized the voice. “I need to talk to him.” It was Cassius. The boy had finally managed to follow someone to the Mephisto's school grounds.
“Cool. Sorry Caleb, we'll finish this later. Good fight though. Let's call it a draw,” Rurik said and tried to limp off but Caleb wasn't having it.
“Great, you two can have a nice long chat after Rurik wakes up in the nurse's office,” Caleb grunted, but Cassius thrust himself between the two.
“I don't care about your fight, I need to talk to him now!” Cassius insisted. In response, Caleb grabbed the boy by the shirt collar.
“You know, I really don't have a problem kicking your ass too,” Caleb growled.
Cassius just sighed, “Three...”
“What? Really? Counting?”
“Two...”
“And what are you gonna do-”
“One.”
SNAP Cassius's hands shot up with rocket propulsion and smashed Caleb's hands away from him and then he thrust both his fists against Caleb's chest.
SNAP! BOOM! And so Caleb was sent blasting off into the distance, slamming through a stone wall and then sliding to a stop about a hundred feet away.
“Now...” Cassius turned back to Rurik... who was stealthily trying to walk away. “HEY!”
“Ugh.” Rurik's shoulders sagged and he turned around. “Fine, you got me. What?”
“Look, I haven't seen Kath since the tournament. I know you saw her. Do you have any idea where she is?”
“Hm... nope.”
“Bu- w-well, some guy named Thobias was involved too, right? What about him?”
“Nope.”
“You're not even try-”
“Look pal, I don't know where your fucking girlfriend is. And considering I'm pretty sure I hate her and Thobias, I'm not sure how much I care. Pretty sure it's not a lot, though,” Rurik raised his voice, speaking over Cassius as he weakly attempted to interject. “Got it? OK, good.” Rurik attempted to walk off again, but the next thing he knew, he was spun around and Cassius was now grabbing him by the shirt collar.
“No! We're done when I saw we're done! You're not telling me everything!” Cassius shouted.
“I'm sure you want to believe that.” Cassius's attempt to be tough clearly hadn't impressed Rurik. “Now let me put this a way you'll understand. One. Two-”
But Cassius quickly pulled a fist back, the air beginning to distort around it. “Three?” Cassius said icily. Rurik's head lolled back and he let out a long, tired sigh. And then his head shot forward in a sudden, vicious headbutt that had enough power packed into it to send Cassius sliding across the ground on his back.
“Oh, I'm so sorry,” Rurik said with exaggerated and feigned concern. “Did I kill your momentum there, tough guy?”
Cassius's eyes were screwed shut with pain. He was pretty sure his nose was broken. He finally sucked in a deep breath and managed to half open his eyes. This was nothing, he'd had worse. He just hadn't expected it.
Snap! He didn't bother speaking again, just throwing his fist out and letting a explosive burst of flames roar toward Rurik. However, as the flames dissolved into smoke, he noticed no sign of his target.
Then the next thing he knew he got a boot to the ribs and was sent tumbling again.
“Your attacks have a hell of a tell you know,” Rurik taunted him from his new position.
This time Cassius used his flames to blast himself back to his feet and then charged at Rurik. The other boy dodged with unnatural quickness, but Cassius stayed on him. He used his flames to launch a super-fast backhand that Rurik raised an arm to block, wincing from the impact. Cassius then grabbed his wrist and jabbed him in the ribs before twisting his arm behind his back until it hurt.
“Pretty cocky for a guy who clearly doesn't know how to fight properly!” Cassius growled.
“Mhm...” Rurik grunted through the pain.
BLAM! And then Cassius was promptly blasted away, having plenty of energy charged up to shoot out of the very hand Cassius had trapped behind his back. “Says the guy with the memory of a goldfish who forgot how my powers work,” he said as he turned to find Cassius once more sprawled out on the concrete. “Would you stick your finger in the barrel of a gun to stop it from firing?”
But again, Cassius just grit his teeth and started to get up again.
“OK, kid...” Rurik shook his head. He looked down at his sling-bound arm and frowned. He clenched his fist and then the sling exploded off of him. He flexed his hand a few times and found that it felt a little stiff, but it'd work.
Just as Cassius had regained his footing, Rurik burst forward and cross the distance in a instant. For a split second, Rurik appreciated the shock on Cassius's face before he hooked his foot behind the boy's ankle and took his leg out from under him while planting his palm on Cassius's face and loosing another point-blank blast to slam Cassius back to the ground he'd just left.
“I think we're done here.” Rurik rolled his eyes, making to take his leave for the third time.
“Wh-what's wrong with you?!” Cassius coughed the words out, clawing at the ground as he tried to get himself off of his back. “She's Christine's sister and she was hurt! How could you do that!?”
Rurik glanced back at him, expression neutral as always, “Judging me now, are we?”
“Of course I am! Look what you did! Who wouldn't?!”
“Yeah? Well I don't want to hear it from someone who wasn't even there.”
In the end all of Cassius's struggles had just left him face-down instead of spread-eagle. He was struggling – suddenly his arms just felt weak. Twisted as it was, the truth in Rurik's words hurt. The pain became a burning deep inside, growing until it seared worse than any burn he'd ever suffered through in even the most heated battle.
But that burning became the strength he needed to move one last time. He pushed with all his strength to rise to a knee, ignoring as his knuckles ground against the concrete.
“Seriously?” Rurik groaned. “Just give it a rest. I
will keep hurting you and I
won't feel bad about it. Like, at a-” But Cassius threw his arm out and with no warning a tendril of flame lashed out, wrapping around Rurik's neck. “WHAT?!”
Cassius pulled and yanked Rurik off his feet and face-first into the ground. As the flames unwound from Rurik's neck, Cassius stood, now having two whips of pure flame hanging from each of his arms.
“OK...” Rurik wheezed in pain and shock as he tried to gather himself. “That's it... I'm breaking every bone in your body... see if you get back up after that, smartass-”
CRACK But he was just sent tumbling as Cassius with no hesitation proceeded to test his new-found power. An explosion sprouted from the end of the whip as he lashed out at Rurik.
This time Rurik forced himself back to his feet with a burst of energy. He stumbled a few steps, not having had time to regain his wits, but knowing sitting still was a bad idea. He could only dash frantically as he tried to avoid Cassius's explosive whip lashes. However, off-balance as he was, tripping up was all but inevitable. He clenched his eyes shut as his staggered and waiting to be sent flying, but all he felt was a wave of heat gently roll over him.
He cracked an eye open and saw a cloud of smoke dispersing a few feet away. Cassius also looked confused, staring at his whips. Actually, they looked a little shorter now, and seemed to be slowly fizzling out. Well, Rurik wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. He unleashed a barrage of bolts Cassius's way, but to his dismay Cassius began fervently swinging his new whips, smashing the bolts out of the air. Some of the transparent projectiles still snuck through, but Cassius just pushed his way through.
Oh... oh shit. Indeed, Cassius had pushed through and was now back in range. He leapt forward and struck out with both whips. The tips of the two fiery tendrils met and with another crack let out a tremendous blast that sent Rurik shooting back. The boy was left there, a high pitched squeak coming from his mouth as the air slowly leaked out of his lungs.
Meanwhile, Cassius felt like he was on fire. The whips continued to burn down, shorter and shorter until there was hardly anything left. The closer they got to burning out the hotter he felt, as it he might combust on the spot.
It didn't scare him. His whole life had just been him intermittently burning alive. No, he just embraced it. A flame greater than ever before was burning within him, burning to get out. He gathered that flame as the whips burned away and let it loose. He raised his hands and it was like a small sun was born between them. He then brought it crashing down and the whole world went silent for a moment for the sound that was let loose was beyond what mortal ears could handle.
Rurik had just gotten to his feet when the shock-wave hit. It was quite literally stunning. This was unfortunate because he hadn't had even a second to spare and now a wall of fire and death was barreling toward him. He didn't really even have time to despair, only instinctively throwing his arms up in front of him and hoping in some way he'd be able to shield himself from it.
Now, thanks to Katherine, Rurik had many times felt a kind of heat few people ever got to experience. Being engulfed in fire like this, however, was something else entirely. Strangely though, he held his ground and kept his feet. The heat was there, the burning was there, but somehow it was as if there was a space between him and it. And only a moment later his terrifying ordeal was over and the smoke began to clear away.
When he could see again, he saw that Cassius looked just as confused as he felt. The ground all around him was charred black but he himself was fine... mostly. He was still in quite a bit of pain and struggling to breathe between his concussed lungs and the painfully hot air.
“What... iszat all you got?” Rurik panted and coughed. “Got another in ya? Come on... I can take it...” Having just lived through
that Rurik felt a strange high coming over him and was perhaps feeling a little cockier than he should have.
This was proven when Cassius just steeled himself and the air around him began to waver as he began cooking up more fire and explosions.
“Oh come on! I was joking...” Rurik deflated immediately and just did his best to set his feet even as his arms hung limply. And then the next explosion roared free and Rurik had to decide. Left or right? Wait, did he even have any energy stored up? Shit. He'd have said he felt justified in being a little off balance, but that wouldn't save him from being lit on fire.
What did save him, however, was a sudden set of spectral jaws darting in and literally eating the entire explosion.
“Oh no...” Rurik muttered under his breath as he saw his “savior”. Cate Accia, the woman who had brought him to Mephisto's over two years ago now. The woman who had nagged him for a month or two and then seemingly dropped off the face of the earth when he failed to live up to her expectations or something.
He'd always been stuck between blaming himself and feeling abandoned. In the end, he just chalked it up to the school being what it was. The students all sucked, why should the faculty be any better?
"Well, this is perfect then. Do me a favor and keep my student there from being burned alive. I think this trespasser will prove to be an excellent first test of your capabilities as potential council members," Cate said. It seemed she hadn't come alone.
"What? I-I mean I know I'm trespassing but I'm only here for-” Cassius looked a little nervous now. He was probably tired and certainly hadn't been prepared for more opponents.
“I don't care why you're here. Just that you are...” She told him. She then approached Rurik, leaving Cassius to the others.
“Hello, Cate... I had it under control, you know...” he panted. She frowned at his less than formal greeting.
“We'll discuss this later.” Was all she had to say. He was already in a bad mood and perhaps understandably on edge so he was unable to hide the bitter expression that grew on his face.
“Since when do you ever want to discuss anything?” He wondered if he shouldn't have tried a little harder. He didn't know Cate as well as he probably should have, but he had a feeling he shouldn't make her too angry. However, rather than anger, he was met with only mild surprise.
While he was distracted by her, he missed the start of the ensuing fight. However, suffice it to say that Cate had found some students that were strong enough to make the already tired Cassius's life hell. It wasn't going to be a long fight.
“Oh for fuck's sake...” Rurik groaned, earning a curious look from Cate.
Meanwhile, Cassius screwed his eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable impact... but it never came.
“Oi, uh, good work and all, but as an actual current member of the council, I've got it from here. Rich kids you know? We beat him too badly it comes back on us.” Rurik had popped out of nowhere and put himself between Cassius and his new opponent. He then grabbed Cassius's arm and began dragging him off. The other student looked back at Cate in confusion, but she just shrugged and waved them off.
“Wh-what?” Cassius stumbled along as Rurik lead him by the arm.
“Would you prefer I leave you to get minced?” Rurik muttered, not sparing Cassius a glance as he spoke.
“But why?”
“Because I don't wanna hear about it later.” Cassius knew Kath who knew Christine, because duh, and he was already dreading his reunion with his girlfriend. He wondered how long that title would remain.
“Just thinking about yourself again...”
“Listen dumbass, do you have any idea who Thobias is?” Rurik shot a withering glare at Cassius.
“How should I know!? Uhh, wait, wasn't he her ex or something? She really doesn't like talking about him.” Now that he was forced to think about it, the name did seem familiar... ish.
“He's a teleporter.”
“Wait, what does-” Cassius was silenced as they reached the edge of the school property and Rurik shoved him forward.
“Do the math and get out of my face.” When a very bewildered Cassius turned around, Rurik was already walking away. This time he let him. It was a fight he didn't really want to start up again.
Do the math? So Kath's ex could teleport, but that just meant they could be anywhere! Though... anywhere did include safety, didn't it? If he was an ex, did he still care or did he resent her? All these things he just couldn't know and so now he was just left waiting again.
However, maybe with just a bit more hope than before.
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