Chapter 10: Blow
The first sight that greeted Nyx Cage as he woke up was the sight of the ceiling light, shinning mercilessly down at him. He moves his hand to his brow to cover himself from it. He soon came to the realisation that he was, in fact, in a bed.
It was a uncomfortable, it's surface not hard but not soft enough to snug into. It's white sheets reminded him of hospitals and doctors offices. Though he soon realised where he actually cause of the lack of sterility that usually fills such places, or the fact that he could see the Beacon courtyard outside.
It was the fact that his team were sitting around the foot of his bed and playing cards.
The obvious smugness on Esmeraldas face made it clear who was winning.
"Oh, come on! This is the third time! How are you so good - are you cheating?" accused Caelia with a pout, point at Esmeralda from the other side of the bed. Azul sat at the end of it, not talking but sillently fumming. He was clearly as bothered as the faunus girl next to him but was better at hidding it.
It was him that noticed that Nyx woke up, the slight shifting of the smaller boys legs telling him so.
"You're up." said the man, not as a question but rather as a pure statement of fact. The two girls stopped their rather one-sided bickering, turning to their teammate.
Caelia gave Esmeralda one last wry look before turning back to Nyx, her face splitting in two as she gave him an shit eating grin.
He shuddered. This will be ugly.
"W-what happened?" asked the boy, throat feeling a bit soar. "The last thing I remember is getting ready to find Pyrrha Nikos…" He rubbed his forehead. Man, something really took a crack at him. He felt like he got hit by a truck.
"You lost." explained Caelia. "In less then a minute."
Nyx let out a painful groan.
"I never saw someone getting wrapped up their own weapon after it got blocked.." added the girl, her voice tintent with slight amusement.
Nyx let out an even more painful groan.
"Only to be then knocked out by one shield bash straight to the face, mid-lunge no less! You feel over like the worst greatest chicken wrap." Finished Caelia, bursting at the seams. Esmeralda had turned away to watch the wall, the quivering of her form definetly not cause by worry for Nyx health…
Azul only showed a slight, amused grin.
Nyx rubbed his forehead, this time more out of annoyance then the throbbng pain, which was still there. "So, that bad huh?"
Azul shrugged. "To be fair, you opponent was The Pyrrha Nikos. Losing against her is not a shame." He seemed suprisingly okay with Nyx's loss. Nyx himself assumed that his leader would be a bit dissapointed.
"Losing is in less then thirty seconds though…" added Esmeralda, still giggling slightly.
Nyx shot her a mean look with which she just responded by with even more giggling.
He sighed, laying his head back onto his pillow. "Still feel kinda bad about it." He interlocked his fingers, putting his hands comfortably on his stomach.
Caelia gave him a slightly sympathetic look. "Hey, you can't win them all. Sometimes, y'know, it just dosen't work out. Just don't worry about it."
Azul nodded in agreement. "Tommorow everyone will have forgotten about it anyway."
Nyx paled a bit." E-everyone?"
The three shared a look, Esmeralda and Caelia glaring at Azul who closed both his eyes, mouthing a silent "Dammit."
Nyx sat up,giving Azul a glare. "What happened?"
It was Esmeralda that answered. She straightened a bit, puffing her chest out - not that he was looking at it! - her expression neutral. "Well, some people found it funny, which it was!"
"..How many?" asked the boy, his voice barely among a whimper.
She rubbed the back of her neck. "Uhhh, most of them?" she tried.
Nyx fell back to his bed. "Kill me, just, kill me!"
"That would make look bad, Mister Cage." The voice came from behind Azul, from the door frame of the infirmary door.
A woman walked in, a clipboard in her hand. Taking into account the fact that she wore a white medical jacket Nyx assumed that she must be the school nurse. Bright red hair was set in a profesional bun. Purple eyes regarded for a moment before she returned to scribbling something down on her clipboard. "And we would not want that, now do we, Mister Cage?"
Nyx looked at his team for a moment, then back at the Nurse. "Uh, no?"
She nodded, scribbling down some more. "No brain damage~"
Nyx tried to ignore his teams snickering faces, and his slightly twitching brow. He scratched the back of his head. "So, what is the progno-" - "Diagnosis" - "Oh, yeah, diagnosis?"
She kept scribbling down stuff. "Nothing."
He tilted his head, a brow raised. "Nothing?"
She stopped scribbling, looking him in the eye. "You got hit in the head. Yes, you got hit almost hillarously" - Nyx grumbled to himself - "but there is nothing wrong with you."
"B-but the chart!" exclaimed the boy pointing at the clipboard.
"I was playing Tic Tac Toe." admited the woman, showing a clipboard filled Tic Tac Toe games. Strangely enough most of them seemed to be a draw…
Nyx looked down at the sheet. "Hmmm, kinda anticlimactic…" muttered the boy as the nurse walked closer to his bed. She grabbed into her breast pocket, retrieving a band-aid and slapping it on his forehead. "There better then ever. You're free to go~"
Nyx rubbed his forehead again, the ugly ducking band-aid for the whole world to bear. "Uh...thanks, I guess." He stood up from the bed. Team CWNE waved their goodbyes to the good Doctor before leaving the Infirmary.
"It's gonna fall."
"No, it isn't."
"It is though."
"Azul, you gotta learn to believe."
"Believe in what? This?"
"It can hear you, y'know?"
The boy gave her a deadpan look, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "A tower made of food does not have the abillity to 'hear', Caelia."
The girl turned away and pouted. "These days everyone is a critic…"
From the otherside of the table Esmeralda gave the two a small laugh while Nyx kept stabbing his food with his fork, a neutral expression on his face. Esmeralda noticed that, leaning slightly towards him. "You okay there, lil' guy?" Despite he usual teasing her voice seemed compassionate.
Nyx at first seemed a bit hesistant but he eventually relented. "Just a bit… I dunno." He put down his fork trying to find the right words to describe how he feels. "This is the first time I lost. Or rather I lost so utterly."
She nodded adding a faint "Yeah, she did kinda make you her bitch." Nyx shot her a glare while she gave him the most shit eating grin he had ever seen.
"You suck at pep talks." Esmeralda only snickered, putting a bite of her chicken. It was in those moments wished that he was better at reading people, or at least guessing their intentions. "I just wish I made a better first impression, is all"
The girl shrugged her shoulders. "You're focusing way too much on that one fight. Yes, you got beaten but come on. It's Pyrrha freaking Nikos! There a people that would kill for a chance to spar with her."
Nyx straightened up a bit more, his mood improving. "...It is pretty cool that I got to fight against her." admitted the boy, smilling shyly.
She smiled at him, teeth white and perfect and slugged him in the shoulder." That's the spirit. Now eat up so we can go back to our dorm. I need a shower.~" The boy only nodded before joining the others conversation.
"You're gonna get sick from all that, y'know?" warned Azul as he watched his teammate digest this REALLY volatile loking mess of the culinary arts which would have to be described as a meat tower. Cow, pork, chicken, turkey and most interestingly, fish. One would argue that fish does not count as meat.
One would be a gigantic idiot - but that's not the point.
The point, it's huge, meaty and a bit too fatty for even a meat maniac, like Nyx, to find appetizing.
And Caelia is just tearing through with the wrath of an angry god. Nyx wondered if she ate anything at all today. The red head shrugged his shoulders glancing at Caelia with slight distate.
Esmeralda seemed far more understanding." Well, after we all were done with our daily match we went straight to the infirmary."
"Oh, makes sense."
"Cause you got wrecked."
"...Okay, I got it."
"In less then a minute…."
Nyx gave her a dry look, saying nothing. His attempt in intimidation where obviously not working cause as they kept up the eye contact Esmeraldas cheeks suddenly puffed up and she began to laugh.
Nyx felt his brow twitch.
As she laughed she leaned foward, pinching his cheek. "It's adorable how completly and utterly incompetent you are in being threathening."
Nyx felt an involutary blush spread across his face, her teasing doing wonders in driving him up the wall. Esmeralda was the last straightfoward person of the team. She and Azul were night and day but still seemed to get along so well. Well as well as you can be with someone like Azul…
He sighed, holding his head as he took a bite from his chicken. "Anyway, sorry for that."
Caelia waved it off, her mouth full of food. "Dghonth mhenthion ight."
Azul shook his head, a smile spreading onto his face. "Charming." which earned him a piece of bread to his head. He took it with stride, starting to eat it.
The four kept eating, filling the sillences with casual banter, mostly directed towards Nyx loss. The boy had to admit that he didn't mind their teasing that much. There was a fun note to the teasing that makes it feel like he belonged. A sense of camaraderie which he shared with those people he will spent the next four years with.
Made him almost forget about the spar.
Almost.
"Hey, if it isn't our little fighter!" came a voice from behind of Nyx, making the boy stop in his track and the fork still in his mouth. He turned around slightly only to be greeted by the sight of a rather large boy. He head scruffy red hair that went to his chin. Interestingly the further down it went the darker it became. His violent looked at the Nyx with a kinda of mirth that rubbed him wrong.
"Uh, do I know you?' asked Nyx, raising an eyebrow at the stranger. He remembers seeing the guy around in class but he didn't really catch his name.
"Well, you don't but I certanly do. Actually most of the class does." said the boy as he approached Nyx. Nyx cursed inside of his mind. Why is everyone so stupidly tall! Someone, send him a person that is shorter then he!
"...Most of the class?"repeated the smaller boy, despite being already aware of the answer.
Of course most of the class would know what happened. They all watched the match, as it was the norm in combat class…
"Well, actually, the class…" he procured his scroll, showing him the screen. A clip from the fight. In the down corner you could see the length of the actual footage.
49 seconds
He had lost in fourty nine seconds. He swalloed, his throat feeling very dry. How many people saw that? He looked down at the table, his brow furrowing as he felt heat rise to his cheeks.
The guy seemed to notice that. He put his hand on Nyx shoulders, the smaller boy glaring down at the table. "Come on, there wasn't much that you could have done anyway."
Nyx stood up, glaring at the redheaded boy before heading out of the Dinning Hall.
There was a distinct sillence before the boy turned to the rest of CEWN
"Was it something I said?"
Nyx was frustrated.
He knew he shouldn;t be. He knew that losing in spars is normal and nothing to be ashamed about. His grandpa took great care to hammer that lesson inside his grandsons head.
Yet here he was, trudging through the corridors of the academy. He had his hands inside his pocket, while his tail moved slightly from side to side as he walked.
Now that he thought about it he realised why he was so angry at losing this time. Usually when he lost he could at least take some lesson, something he could change or improve on so he could become better.
What the fuck is he supposed to learn from this? Not fight tournament champions when it's the whole point of the class? Say no to Goodwitch? Yeah, fuck that idea.
Now he became a laughingstock for the whole class, if not school.
He sighed as he made his way down the corridor, passing a couple of students. T hey watched him for a second before starting to giggle. He didn't turn to face them and instead hurried around the corner, cheeks flaring in embaressment.
"Good job, Nyx. Now you look even weirder." Socialising with people was much easier back home. There everyone knew everybody, so when something happened people weren't very judgemental. They'd laugh about it for a day or two before returning to regualr business.
He really really hoped this would be the case here too.
Nyx raised his downcast gaze to see that he finaly reached his dorm, entering quickly. Being alone he quickly took off his jacket, hanging it in his section of the closet - Why Beacon gave them only one is beyond him. - and threw himself onto his bed.
He sighed, looking at the ceiling, noticing two things. One, the ceiling is pretty. A nice pristine white which must be a bitch to clean up if someone where to throw spitballs at it…
Hmm, food for thought for later.
Two, he must find a way to get people to forget about his loss. Something so completly amazing, or stupid, or outright hillarious that they GOTTA forget about it.
Maybe he could play a huge prank? The sight of a very, very agitated Glynda Goodwitch came to mind, smacking her hand with her riding crops.
On the other hand that might be a really bad idea…
He let out a frustrated growl as he ran his hands through his hair in frustration - wow his hair is soft! Esmeraldas shampoo does wonders! - before inhaling and exhaling slowly.
Maybe… maybe he should prove himself.
Yes, the more he thought upon it the more he liked the idea. Losing a fight caused this whole winning one might fix it. Though it will have to be impressive. Not like Pyrrha beating him, that would be impossible. His fighting style unfortunately didn't work like that. He just had to prove that he didn't suck ass.
Should not be that hard, right?
...Right?
Nyx sighed, fiddling with his tie - worst accessory ever! - and looked at the mirror with a mopey expression. He had to admit, one of the good sides of being depressed is that you sleep like a rock. He felt refreshed, in a sense but still sucky.
He felt a hand of his shoulder.
"You okay Nyx?" asked Caelia, giving him a little shake."You seem kinda out of it." said the girl, combing her hair.
The boy shrugged nervously. "Me, out of it? Pffff, don't be silly" said Nyx waving her off. He hurriedly finished getting ready.
His partner didnt seem to be buying it. "Are you still hung up about yesterday?"
He cursed his apparently very easy to read face - he got that from his dad - and put his hand inside his pockets. "Nah, just not much of a morning person." It wasn't a complete lie. Getting used to waking up this early would prove to be a drag in the long run. And short run. Any run in particular.
Running sucks no matter when ya do it!
Caelia nodded, slinging her arm around the smaller boys shoulder. "Can't wait till the weekend." She waved her other arm in a wide arc, as if slowly showing Nyx something totally baller. "Imagine it Nyx! Not waking up at seven thirty. Not having Azul nag- Oh, Azul, you are here." said the wolf faunus, looking at their team leader who was not even 6 feet away from them.
His answer, beside giving her a dry look, was throwing his pillow at her.
"You're no fun."
If the insult got to the boy he didn't show it. He instead put on his jacket. " Don't be late." he ordered before heading out of the dorm room.
"...He is trully a ray of sunshine." droned out Nyx.
"I am blinded by his radiance." answered Caelia, letting go of Nyx and throwing her brush to the bed. "Anyway, wanna go eat?"
"Eh, sure. By the way, where is Esmeralda?"
"I dunno, she was already gone when I woke up."
Huh, weird.
The classes came and went, ending up being mostly uneventful. Esmeralda had finnaly joined them after missing breakfast. When they asked where she were she just shrugged it off, telling them that she had an something to do.
They all decided to not push further, not that Nyx payed much attention, even if he pobably should as a teammate.
He was looking foward to combat class.
After his crushing - great, now he started too… - defeat at the hand of Pyrrha Nikos he itching for a chance to polish up his image. Or at least not seem like a complete and uttery push over.
So, when combat class came along he all but bursted with excitement as he waited for his turn. And boy did he wait. Half the class got to fight before his name finally appeared on the screen, which he regretted the second he saw his opponent.
Nyx Cage vs Azul Chamenos
Nyx could feel his team leader stare at him, shooting him with the same intensity that he shot Eden yesterday.
This won't be pretty…