"I must admit, I never expected to ever be treating you for anything stronger than a headache." Emmara half-chuckled as she sat down before Jace who was holding his injured foot before her. She examined it first without touching it, just to be sure, before taking it gently in one hand and wrapping a bandage tightly around his ankle with the other. Jace grunted in pain at the slightest touch, trying to hide each flinch as she brushed and passed over tender areas that sent small shocks of pain up his leg. "It's just a sprain, thank goodness, but still, how in the world did you get such an injury?"
"Football tryouts." Jace explained plainly between flinches. The very mention of them gave the kind nurse pause as she looked up at him, the look on her face asking him to stop joking. He put on his most serious gaze in response, silently telling her he wasn't, and to please not laugh. At best, Emmara was able to keep it to simply a half smile and exhaling heavily through her nose before returning to her work. "Not the smartest thing for me do, I know."
"Then why even try at all?" Emmara asked curiously as she fastened the bandage, making sure it was taught. "Not to sound insulting, but you never struck me as a sporty person."
"You and everyone else." Jace muttered, rolling his eyes.
"It wasn't to win the affections of anyone or anything, was it?" She asked him, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, if you want to impress a lady, potentially harming yourself is..." She peered over at Liliana, who was helping out with making the tea that day and looking back at her over her shoulder, not bothering to hide the amused look on her face.
"Fat chance." She chuckled softly under her breath, barely reaching the other two.
"N-No, it wasn't anything like that!" Jace denied, feeling his cheeks grow warm. "It was guild business- I had to read someone's mind."
"Oh? Part of a guild then, are we?" Emmara pried.
"No, not really- they just sort of asked me to do something for them... or rather they forced me." Jace explained, sounding bitter. "But I got what I needed. All I need to do is report back to them, and I can be done with this whole mess."
"Well what guild-?"
Before Emmara could even finish, someone else let themselves into the infirmary, not bothering to be quiet about it and allowed the door to swing all the way the hinges would allow before the door made a strained cracking noise. Liliana and Jace flinched, but Emmara only lowered her head, turning away from the door as the new visitors strode in. Jace recognized them right away: Niv-Mizzet and Ral Zarek- the former of the two putting on an almost regal air while the other seemed smug enough for the both of them.
"Ah, good, you've already started making tea. I'll take a large cup, if you don't mind." Niv-Mizzet smirked, looking to Liliana who glared but didn't say a word in response.
"Didn't make the team, Beleren?" Ral asked, turning to him with a sneer. "Not that I'm surprised, I'm just affirming what I already knew."
"Look, I got what you wanted, I'd appreciate it if you didn't-" Jace began to snap before Niv-Mizzet cut in, stepping in front of Ral and putting a stop to whatever argument that would have sprung up between them.
"And we were so very eager to see what you'd found that we couldn't wait for you to come to us." He explained, hardly sounding sincere. "And I suppose it doesn't hurt to check and see if they didn't rip one of your limbs off. That could... complicate things." He looked to Emmara, who was still looking contently at the floor tiles. "I take it his injury isn't severe?"
"U-Um..." Emmara, who usually spoke so smooth and sure, stammered, smoothing back her hair as she struggled to meet the guild leader's piercing gaze. "No... it's just a sprain. He just needs to keep off the foot as much as he can for... a few days, I'd wager."
"Good, nothing too serious, then." He nodded, seeming proud about the fact he was causing the elven woman to stammer and stutter simply with his presence. With the same, proud look he turned to Jace, who pained himself to stare the dragon in disguise in the eyes. "And what of Tajic?"
"Your suspicions were correct: he did take the-" Jace began, but was swiftly cut off as Niv-Mizzet reached out to ruffle his hair, gripping his skull in a warning grip. Beneath projected flesh and bone were massive claws and muscle enough to crush his skull like an eggshell. Jace wasn't quite sure why it was he was warning him to stop speaking, but he was more than eager to obey.
"Good, excellent, you do us a great service Beleren." He spoke in a dark tone that sent a chill up Jace's spine. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid to say your service isn't quite over and done with."
"Wh-!?" Jace exclaimed. He would have risen to his feet had it not been for his injury. "I read Tajic's mind just like you asked! What else could you possibly want from me?"
"Well, now that we know for a fact he's guilty we'll have someone else in much better physical condition retrieve what is ours. You, however, will be put in charge of making sure that brute remembers nothing about having ever wronged us, or what he stole." He explained.
"But... I can't-"
"Now, Jace, don't be so modest. Wiping the minds of others is your specialty, or did I hear wrong?" Niv-Mizzet asked with a sly sneer. "Is that not what ended up landing you here with us in the first place?"
Without warning, Jace stood, putting enough force into his rising that he pushed the bed he was sitting on back, permeating the otherwise quiet room with a loud, metallic shriek. He glared back at the red-head, a look of fury in his eyes that was enough to take even Niv-Mizzet back. No one ever glared back at him like that, not until then. Jace Beleren continued to surprise him.
"Jace, your foot!" Liliana began to warn, but he stood despite the pain, staring down the dragon cloaked in illusion like he was seconds away from decking him in the jaw.
"Don't you ever bring that up again." Jace warned. "What happened before I came here and what happened to get me here are my own business, and nothing to stick your snout into." Niv-Mizzet stared quietly back at Jace, anger burning in his eyes before he snorted in frustration.
"Regardless, you know as well as me this isn't something you can just back out of, Beleren." He growled. "We've discussed this before, you know exactly what is still on the line. All we ask is that you make sure Tajic has no memory of his crimes against us, and then I give you my word your usefulness to Izzet will be over and done with."
For a brief moment, Jace looked to Liliana, who looked like she was ready to defend herself with Emmara's tea pot if she needed to. He knew what was on the line, and as much as he hated having his own powers getting exploited, there were far worse things that could happen.
"Fine." He muttered, refusing, at least, to sound compliant. "How in the world am I supposed to confront Tajic? Mind wiping is a pretty careful process, so I can't just happen upon him at practice or at a game. I need him alone."
"That's your problem." Ral injected, seeming no less smug than when he'd walked in. "You're a pretty bright guy- or at least we assume you are. We trust you can come up with something without our help."
"But-!" Jace began to say, but both Ral and Niv-Mizzet turned away, walking out of the room as if he no longer existed. His troubles weren't their problem now, and they knew he would eventually be forced to deliver. All they really had to do was drop another task in his lap, possibly make him feel as uncomfortable and bothered as possible in that short time, and leave to go do... whatever it was they did behind the backs of the other guilds and students.
"The tea will have to wait, dear." Niv-Mizzet said with a smirk to Liliana, who hadn't bothered to acquiesce to his original request. "Maybe another time." He began to follow Ral out before pausing at the doorway and turning to Emmara, who still seemed worlds more uncomfortable than either Jace or Liliana. She could feel his gaze fall on her once more and dared to meet it.
"Tell me, now that Mat'Selesnya has graduated, Selesnya is busy naming a new guild leader I take it?" He asked, waiting for her to silently nod. "Your name has come up quite a lot in the chatter concerning the matter. Could it be you're in the running for the title?"
"Yes... mostly for my seniority in the guild and my being on the staff rather than being a student. It would... give them a considerable advantage to have me as guild leader since I'm the only staff member who's a member of their guild." Emmara muttered, her voice trembling despite how hard it appeared she was trying. "There are other people to chose from out of the pool, so I can't say for certain..."
"Amusing." Niv-Mizzet chuckled darkly. "To think that, the next we meet, we might meet as equals. Well, equals in name only, that is. You have a long way to go in any other regard, but you have my vote it comes to a guild-wide nomination. I'd rather have an opposing guild be led by an older woman who can't even meet my eyes."
With that he left, turning his back on all three of them and striding proudly out of the infirmary and allowing the door to loudly slam behind him. Only then did Emmara slouch in her chair, heaving a heavy, anxious sigh. Only then did Jace realize just how much pain he was in and sat down, looking guiltily down at the floor and rubbing his injury. Liliana stood nervously before them, unsure of who to comfort first, or what to pry about first. Both of them apparently had baggage they hadn't bothered to tell her, and both of them seemed more than a little troubled about it.
"So... Guild leader, huh?" Jace spoke up, breaking the silence that had fallen between them with a forced chuckle as he tried his best to regain composure. Emmara finally raised her head, giving him a nod and a nervous smile.
"Yes, I was chosen as one of the candidates personally by Mat'Selesnya before she graduated." She explained, and although it sounded like a grand honor to both Jace and Liliana, Emmara only acted disheartened as she told them, clasping her hands and placing them in her lap. "I have no confidence in myself, though. I don't know if I'd be able to deal with the pressure... not to mention having to meet with all the other guild leaders. Niv alone is enough to make me uncomfortable..."
"I'm sure you'll do fine." Liliana entered into the conversation, handing Emmara a cup of tea. "Niv just likes scaring people, don't pay him any mind. We need someone like you as a guild leader: a person who actually cares and doesn't exploit their power and people to get what they want." Emmara looked up at her, a light blush on her cheeks and her mouth slightly agape, words of thanks struggling to make it up her throat where a warm lump had begun to grow.
"Yeah, this is only my first time being used by a guild and I'm already sick of it." Jace agreed. "You'll make a good guild leader." He still looked considerably worried, his own problems still looming over him like a thick, black, ominous cloud. Finally, a smile crept across Emmara's features as she looked shyly down at her tea.
"Both of you are just saying those things to make me feel better." She chuckled lightly, shaking her head.
"Well, is it working?" Lilian asked. The elven woman clicked her tongue in response, the tension vanishing from her shoulders.
"A... A little." She admitted, rubbing the back of her head. "My own worries aside, I'm a little concerned for Jace." She paused, turning to him as Liliana handed him his own cup of tea. "They sort of just dropped this new assignment in your lap, didn't they?"
"It's because Niv's a dick and he loves it." Liliana groaned. "He'll do anything if it means he'll be the cause of someone's misery."
"Well, I can't just call up Tajic and ask him if he wants to chat. Mindwiping is a really delicate thing- if he gets the least bit suspicious it may not even work." Jace sighed. "Me asking to meet him alone might make him paranoid."
"So what are you going to do?" Liliana asked, honestly having nothing to add, despite how much she wanted to. She was no mind mage, and she had no idea how in the world such a person functioned.
"...I'm going to have to ask for some inside help." Jace decided after a short period of silence. "It puts me in danger of being exposed and all of Boros knowing what I'm doing, but it's really the only option I have. I only have the option of appealing to their ethical side, I just really hope it works."
"Who in Boros could you possibly appeal to?" Liliana asked him. "Exposing yourself to any of them is just asking for trouble from both them and Izzet. And, last I checked, Niv doesn't take kindly to failure."
"They've left me no choice but to risk it." Jace explained himself, teetering back to his feet. "Right now I can only hope that going with my gut for once isn't going to get me into trouble with either Boros or Izzet."
"Yeah, and after that little stunt you pulled back there with standing up to Niv and Ral, I can only guess you're walking on hot coals already." Liliana mentioned. Jace chuckled nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.
"I don't think I'll have any reason to worry about that. He's probably long forgotten about it." He assured her, gaining looks of confusion from both Liliana and Emmara.
"Sir... do you really think it wise to have all this riding on Jace being able to mind wipe Tajic?" Ral Zarek asked his guild leader who was walking several paces ahead. Everyone in their way stepped to the side of the hall and bowed their heads, as if meeting the eyes of Izzet's fearsome guild leader would petrify them. "I mean... The boy is talented, we've already assessed that, but I don't recall him having any sort of expertese in wiping the minds of other people. The brain is a very delecate thing- if Tajic so much as realizes someone's in his head, messing with his thoughts he'll-"
"Do you have doubts in my judgement, Ral?" Niv-Mizzet growled, turning to his subordinate with a withering gaze.
"N-No, sir." Ral straightened up, arms practically glued to his sides.
"Then don't question me." The disguised dragon hissed. "Jace Beleren excels at magic involving the minds of other people, or so I've managed to dig up. There's no doubt in my mind that he'll be able to pull off removing a memory from someone's brain- regardless of whether or not he's done so before. He didn't seem to have any sort of qualm at the mention of such magic, so I can only assume it's something he's dabbled in before."
"That fool did manage to make it this long in a norm school." Ral chuckled nervously. "I'm sure he had to wipe the memory of him being a mage from people's brains more than once to make it by."
"Exactly my point. There's no way he managed to stay absolutely covert all these years among regular humans. Not very many people his age are transferred to this academy. You know as well as I do it's nearly impossible to pull off. They probably sniffed him out years ago, they just don't remember it."
"R-Right..." Ral nodded, feeling the dragon's overwhelming presence begin to seep out of his assumed form. It was almost suffocating, and it took a large amount of Ral's concentration to steady his own breathing. He despised how powerless he felt under the thumb of such a terrifying creature. If he hadn't fallen under Niv-Mizzet's command when the two of them entered the academy, gods-damn he would have made his own guild- one that would stand in opposition to Niv-Mizzet's slave-driving cruelty. "Sorry to have doubted you... sir."
The music blaring from Jace's dorm room was exceptionally loud that day, like his roommate was attempting to bring down the very foundation of the building with sound waves. It was an amazing sight, as Jace forced his way through the door and peered in while pressing his ears tightly against his ears, to see Gideon proudly standing before the thumping speakers, his ears unguarded and hardly shrinking even the slightest bit before the overwhelming din. He attempted to call his friend's name several times, but each time, his words were drowned out by the music. He might as well have been whispering into the wall of sound with how easily his words were carried away.
Figuring it best not to hurt his throat or waste the air, Jace pushed forward, knocking Gideon's arm roughly with his elbow, keeping his hands pressed to his ears. He turned to Jace, looking energized by the ear-splitting noises coming from his speakers. Maybe Gideon had simply gone deaf years ago and was really good at reading lips and had learned to sense things around him without the use of sound. Jace could only assume.
"Jace!" Jace could only assume Gideon shouted over the blaring sound of the music. Upon realizing his friend who's eardrums he didn't want to do irreparable damage to had arrived, he quickly found the power button to the sound system, killing the music and leaving the air around them ringing from the lack of intrusive noise. "I half-expected to see you hobbling in here on crutches."
"Sorry to disappoint." Jace chuckled, sitting on his bed exhaustedly, wishing he'd taken the crutches Emmara had offered him, or the shoulder Liliana had lent Walking from the campus to the dormitories on a bad foot had been a process he felt had been unnecessary had he simply decided to toss away whatever pride made it seem like walking on his injured ankle was a good idea.
"Had you told me you were going to try out for the football team, I would have tried to dissuade you from doing it. You made it out with that little injury, luckily, but it could have been much worse. Everyone on that team or trying to be apart of that team are ruthless."
"I noticed." Jace sighed, checking the bandages wrapped around his injury, making sure they hadn't come loose on his trip over. "And the whole... trying out was sort of a last minute decision... it wasn't even my decision, really..." Gideon quickly caught on to Jace's nervous tone, and the welcoming smile quickly left his face.
"Who's the dick who convinced you to try out?" Gideon asked. "I mean, whoever they are, I'm pretty sure it's about time to cut ties with whoever that is. Their bright idea could have gotten you really hurt."
"It's not like that, Gideon. It wasn't someone's idea- I kind of... had to do it." Jace muttered.
"Okay, enough with this keeping me in the dark about why you tried out for football. Pussy-footing around telling me what's going on is making me really suspicious." Gideon groaned.
"I was there to look into Tajic's mind, okay!" Jace finally admitted, throwing his hand over his mouth and looking nervously to the door to the room, hoping he hadn't shouted too loud.
"Tajic? What in the world did you did you need out of that guy's mind? I doubt he has anything that would concern you."
"...Izzet begs to differ." Jace corrected guiltily.
"I-Izzet? What do those nerds want with Tajic?" Gideon cocked an eyebrow curiously.
"It's more like what Tajic wanted from them, actually." Jace explained, nerves clearly audible in his voice as he spoke. "Turns out he actually stole some steroid they were developing and plans to use it to gain an unfair advantage over the other teams and- he hasn't brought this up to you at all?"
Gideon looked back at Jace stunned before slowly shaking his head.
"Look, I know it sounds really farfetched, but you have to believe me here. I looked into his mind during tryouts, Gideon, and it was all there, clear as crystal. I really wish I had more concrete evidence here, but I can really only give you my word as someone who read those very thoughts from Tajic's brain."
"Why... are you even telling me this?"Gideon questioned, the shock on his face matching the shocked tone of his voice.
"Because I need your help, that's why!" Jace told him urgently. "Now I've been charged with the task of wiping Tajic's mind clean of the steroid he stole and if I don't there's no doubt that Niv-Mizzet is going to fry my brain into a bite-sized nugget or something. You're the only person I can confide in to draw Tajic out so I can get a clear shot at his mind. You and I both know that what he's doing is wrong so... For now I need you to forget about your place with Boros and come at this from the perspective of someone who probably doesn't appreciate cheating. I mean, look at it this way: You keep one of your fellow teammates from doing something highly illegal and I keep from getting my brain scooped out with a spoon to be fed to a damn dragon! See, everyone wins!" Gideon responded, first, with thoughtful silence and with each passing second, Jace grew more and more nervous.
"You know..." He began, a smile slowly creeping across his lips. "You talk really fast when you're nervous. It's almost impossible to understand you."
"Look, Gideon, now really isn't the time to be teasing me. Either you help me, or I make sure you forget all about this conversation and I go on to the next person. Time is kinda of the essence here."
"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't help my friend out of a jam, huh?" Gideon laughed. "You're right in saying that what Tajic is doing is wrong, and it's sort of shameful that one of my own would do something like this- both in the case of a member of the football team and a member of Boros. What he's doing could get both the guild and the team in some serious shit, so it would pretty dumb of me not to help you." He slapped Jace firmly on the back, causing a fit of coughing from his friend. "I'm only offended you didn't come to me sooner. I could have had you avoid risking life and limb to get the information you've already gotten."
"Sorry..." Jace bowed his head apologetically. "I just needed to be 100% sure Tajic was guilty before I involved you." He admitted to himself that he hadn't simply decided not to involve Gideon because of lack of evidence- no, it was more due to a lack of thinking. The realization that he could have taken such an easy way out the first time was enough to leave a stinging sensation that hurt more than the pain in his foot.
"Well, what we need now is Tajic, right?" Gideon asked. "The football team is having a little welcome party for the new recruits, so that will be the easiest place to confront him about it-"
"No,no,no, Gideon, if you so much as mention the steroid, he's going to freak out and try running. I just need you to lure him someplace private and secluded. The last thing we want is him getting spooked. I know how you like doing things really offensively loud, but-"
"Hey!" Gideon shot back, taking offense.
"I'm just saying, we need to shoot for subtlety." Jace finished. "I need to know I can count on you. Neither of us can mess this us... especially me... seeing as getting my brain gobbled up by a dragon doesn't sound like a viable alternative here."
"You don't have to worry about a thing, I'm the king of subtle." Gideon proudly nodded.
"Yeah, I mean, just look at all your attempts to woo Chandra." Jace said under his breath, earning himself an elbow to the gut.
"Hey, I'm sticking my ass out to help you here, so could you please lay off the smart ass comments?"
"Sorry, that one kind of slipped out." Jace groaned, holding his stomach in pain.
"Well keep those to yourself." Gideon grumbled. "The football welcome party is tonight, so you better be there or I'm going to look like I'm trying to seduce Tajic, bringing him to a private place with something important to tell him. I've already been friend zoned by Chandra, I really don't want to accidentally be made into her gay best friend."
"I promise, no one is going to be mistaken for being gay here. I'll hold up my end of the bargain if you hold up yours." Jace held out his hand for Gideon to shake to seal the deal.
"God damn, if you weren't my friend, I'd shoot you down in a heartbeat." Gideon sighed in defeat, taking Jace's hand and firmly shaking it. "The next time I'm in a jam where I need someone's mind to be messed with, you'd better be there for me."
"Don't you worry, after this I'll be in your debt for a really long time."