Chapter 11: A Challenge
It was a good hour before tired feet made their way back into the centre of the camp, their owner searching for the bathroom; it seemed he couldn't hide and sulk forever when he had a full bladder. Atem's mind was still running in circles over his encounter with Jack, as the soreness in his jaw slowly receded. It certainly wasn't quite something he had expected from the blond, but then again, he shouldn't have been surprised. Jack was a very strong willed guy, and it shouldn't have been hard to pick out that if you messed with his friend, he'll give you a piece of his mind.
And his fist, Atem grumbled to himself as he rubbed at his jaw once again. Deep down he knew that he shouldn't have punched Yusei, but in the end, it achieved what he wanted, didn't it? Now it was just a matter of where to go from here. He certainly didn't want to run into any of the trio from his cabin soon, but it was inevitable considering they shared a living space and all. At least with it being their day off of training he wasn't stuck with his squad, but that also meant he had no idea where they could be lurking in the camp.
Most of all though, he dreaded facing Yusei again. What would the guy say? Would he have anything more to say to Atem? The teen found himself running through possible scenarios in his head as he watched leaves crumple under his feet. There was a high chance that Yusei would be angry with him, he thought, which lead Atem to thinking of ways to counter act that. He tried to reason with himself as he wandered through the camp, not only had he been a pretty terrible cadet-even with Yusei's help-but he'd probably been a pretty big burden to his bunk mate, which was all the more reason to leave.
It was at that moment that Jack's voice floated through his head once more. Prove me wrong.
An aggravated growl then tore across those lips as Atem looked skyward. The sheer idea of being able to do that was like a delicious challenge, yet when faced with the reality of the situation, the teen found himself shaking his head. I can't do this, he thought, there's no point.
Before the teen could think further however, a snarky comment pulled him out of his trance, as he noticed a regretfully familiar figure walk by him.
"Hey Sennen, don't you want to see your boyfriend getting flogged?" Allister smirked as he walked in the direction of the training area.
Atem had barely registered his words when he stared to reply, "He's not my-" It had taken a moment, but then his mind ticked over, "Wait, what?"
Allister stopped to turn back to him, crossing his arms with a devious smirk, "Didn't you hear? Rishid's got him on the assault course as punishment."
Atem brows we're already up under his bangs, "What?" but Allister was already continuing on his route towards said course, and Atem was left standing there dumbfounded. What on earth would Yusei be getting punished for?
Biting his lip, Atem found that his curiosity outweighed his previous aversion to seeing the teen, and he set off at a jog to see what was going on, letting out a defeated sigh as he did so. He had a feeling that the drama for today wasn't over yet. As he followed the burgundy head of hair, he soon came across a large group of people gathered at the front of the assault course. Atem was beyond confused now, it was the weekend, so there shouldn't be any form of training going on, that's the idea for a rest day. Just as he reached the back of the group through, straining his neck to see over the crowd, he saw those familiar yellow stripes of hair as a figure darted by.
You've got to be kidding me, Atem was practically standing there with his mouth hanging open. Yusei was certainly on the assault course, though it looked to be a lot tougher for him than usual. That may have had something to do with the heavy bricks strapped to his gear that were weighing him down.
Then, a loud booming voice came from the supervisor's platform, where a proud Rishid stood with his hands on his hips. "You wanted to use your gear, Fudo," he laughed, "still in favor of breaking into the shed?"
The assault course was a tough run of obstacles that was meant to challenge your speed and agility; something Yusei was usually quite good at. There were various wires that the participants would trip, causing various objects to come flying at them that they would need to duck out of the way from. Atem's squad hadn't actually run this course yet though, that wasn't until next semester, so Yusei didn't even have an idea of what he would come across before it happened. Atem could barely imagine himself getting more than twenty meters into this thing, and yet Yusei had managed to get pretty far, though still struggling to dart out of the way of these obstacles with all the extra weight he bared. Atem could see the guy slowing down in his exhaustion, only barely making it out of the way of a net that was just shot at him. But he just kept going, the guy wouldn't give up; he had this hard look of determination on his face that left Atem dumbfounded. How can he just keep going like that? More than anything though, Atem wanted to know what on earth Yusei had done to deserve this.
Some light footsteps behind him then brought Atem out of his thoughts. "Happy?" the familiar voice asked.
Atem turned in surprise, to see Crow standing just behind him, his arms folded across his chest. "What?"
The shorter teen nodded his head over at Yusei, "It's because of you that he's up there." Atem merely blinked at the teen. "After you stormed off this morning, someone saw Yusei trying to put all your gear away, and he was caught. Don't you remember you were breaking the rules, getting into the storage shed every morning?" Crow didn't sound very happy with him at all, and Atem almost readied himself for another punch, but nothing came.
Atem turned back to the scene in front of him, "But...why aren't I getting punished, then?"
The other teen simply shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno, ask him." Another nod in Yusei's direction before Crow turned to leave, no longer wanting to watch his friend struggle through the course. A few steps away though, he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Oh, and Atem," the man in question cast his eyes back to grey ones. "Don't think that I won't kick your ass if you take Yusei for granted again." And with that, the teen walked off, disappearing behind the eating hall. The way he had said that though, gave the impression that he knew Atem would stay. But why? Nobody had convinced him to yet.
And then, Atem found himself rethinking his own thoughts. Yet, he had thought. Did he want someone to convince him to stay? To get down on their knees and say they needed him? Of course everyone would like the feeling of being needed, but Atem wasn't after that. He wanted everyone to just step back and let him leave, didn't he?
The man turned back to see Yusei slowing down even more on the course, his mouth hanging open as he took ragged breaths, his movements becoming less and less coordinated. It was almost painful to watch someone who was usually so swift and sure with his movements, become a sloppy mess. Yusei's movement was brought to halt however, when a heavy tree branch was flung into his gut, sending him flying back into a tree trunk. He let out a pained grunt as he hit the tree, and he didn't even bother trying to use his gear to stop himself from falling to the ground. A loud clunk and the cadet was left flat on his stomach, as Rishid jumped down from the supervisor's platform to decide whether he'd had enough yet. The group of people who had been watching were already filtering away by this point, but Atem stayed right where he was, watching as Rishid barked a few more harsh words at the teen, before telling him to put his gear back in the shed and not to get it out on his own again.
As Rishid walked away, Atem stared across the course to Yusei. Everyone had left, and his were the only set of eyes left on the teen, who hadn't moved since he hit the ground. God damn it, Atem growled at himself, before regretfully pulling his feet forward, starting off across the course to Yusei. He knew the feeling that was swelling around in his gut was guilt, but he wasn't going to address that just yet. After jumping over a few logs, he reached the teen, who had pulled himself up onto his elbows, panting down at the dirt in front of him.
"Why?" Atem demanded.
The teen on the ground simply looked up at him in confusion, "What?"
Atem folded his arms, still staring down at Yusei as he pulled himself into a sitting position. "Why'd you take the blame?"
Yusei looked down at his gear for a moment, before moving to unclip it all from his belt as he thought about his answer. His breathing still wasn't back to normal as his chest rose and fell at a decent pace, and he knew that the man standing over him was becoming impatient.
He finished with his gear and looked back up at Atem, "Because it was my idea."
This didn't seem to be the answer the teen was looking for, as he growled down at Yusei, "That's bullshit and you know it." Yusei hadn't quite expected such an answer, and for a moment they both just seemed to stare at each other as thoughts ticked over in both heads. After a moment, Atem sighed and moved to pick up Yusei's gear, still weighed down by the bricks strapped to it.
"What are you-"
"I don't know," Atem grunted, turning to carry the heavy weight back to the shed. "Just go back to your cabin."
Yusei raised an eyebrow, "It's yours, too, you know." There was no response, the teen just kept walking. "Atem!" he tried calling out to him, but it was no use, he just kept moving forwards, carrying the heavy gear over his shoulder. With a sigh, Yusei fell onto his back, staring up at the clouds above him. "Why do I have to have the most complicated room mate?"
...
It was late afternoon, and luckily Atem hadn't run into any of the trio since their last encounters. He'd spent most of the day avoiding everyone like he had originally planned, but seems he had already seen each one of them, it wasn't quite the same. He found himself sitting on the platform of one of the water tanks behind the eating hall, his feet dangling above the ground as he admired them, leaning forwards with his elbows resting on his knees. He could hear various cadets chatting as they moved through the camp, but none of them could see him. There was a wooden fence that wrapped around the water tanks, the only gap being just before it met the building. His spot was conveniently tucked away, yet right in the middle of the camp. It was perfect.
He could hear footsteps moving around him, and he shifted, accidentally knocking a loose piece of wood from the platform. The footsteps stopped. A moment later, a strikingly feminine voice spoke up.
"Jamie? Are you sleeping behind the eating hall again...?" Atem looked up just as head of brown hair peeked around the corner, and the girl looked surprised when her eyes landed on him. "Oh! I'm sorry!" she squeaked, "I uh, thought you were someone else-" she gripped the edge of the fence as words seemingly spilled out of her mouth, but luckily she was interrupted.
He raised a hand, "It's alright."
The girl then bit her lip, giving him an apologetic look, "Right, I'll just uh-leave you al-"
He ignored her rambling, as he tilted his head to the side ever so slightly. "You're Mana, aren't you?"
The girl had been in the process of leaving, but she stopped, still holding the edge of the fence. "Uh yeah, that's me."
Atem definitely remembered this girl, it was just a matter of whether she remembered him. "I'm-"
"Atem," she answered for him, letting go of the fence, "I know. A lot of people know about you, actually."
The man looked to the side for a moment, there was no need to ask why, for he was sure he knew the answer to that already. "Right. Well," Atem found himself rubbing the back of his neck, "I'm uh, sorry for being a dick to you all those months ago." His eyes cast down for a moment, surely this was as silly as he felt.
Mana let out the slightest chuckle, causing him to look up again. "It's alright," she replied with a smile, "Everyone as a rough first day."
Atem let out a dry laugh, "If that's a good enough excuse then I guess I've had a rough five months."
Mana stepped forward so that she could lean on the fence, "What do you mean?"
Atem looked down for a moment, before throwing his arms wide, "still an asshole!" he proclaimed, before dropping his arms back down to his side.
Mana had an amused smile on her face as she stepped forwards, before jumping up to sit on the platform next to Atem. She had a history of playing peacekeeper among her squad, and so this wasn't really new to her. Mahaad had joked around about it, calling her the group councilor once. "Alright, what'd you do this time?" she asked.
Atem seemed surprised that she had decided to join him, but he was also quite grateful. It would be nice to talk to someone outside of the whole situation, he thought. He cast his eyes over to the distance as he replied. "It's more like, what haven't I done. I've pissed off a lot of people." He turned to Mana, who gave him an encouraging look to further explain. He let out a sigh, "I may have punched my room mate in the face."
She simply chuckled, "That's not the first time."
Atem raised an eyebrow, "...How do you know about that?" He certainly remembered his painful encounter with Allister and Valon, but he hadn't told anyone about it, and he doubted that they would have mentioned his swing when bragging about how they completely owned him.
Mana shrugged, "I heard Allister complaining about the damage you did to his jaw," she said with an amused smile, "If you ask me, I think he deserved it."
Although Atem agreed with her, he didn't want to linger on the subject, "Yeah, well, I deserved what I got for swinging at Yusei." Upon Mana enquiring about what happened, Atem managed to give a brief explanation of the situation, and how he had wanted to leave. It turned out Mana was a really good listener, and so it was quite easy for him to quickly run through the events of the last week or so. He didn't mention anything about his nightmares or lack of sleep causing some of his trouble however, just that he had been training like shit and it made him feel the same way. When he was done, Mana raised a hand to her chin, seemingly thinking about what he had just said.
"You're not very good at dealing with people, are you?" she asked.
This caught Atem off guard, "Uh, well, no I guess not," he replied, fiddling with the edge of his shirt.
Mana then continued with her real reply, "Well, if you left the cadets, what would you end up doing?"
Atem shrugged, "I'd probably go work on one of the farms," which in actuality was one of the last things he wanted to do.
"And what's the reason that you wanted to join the military?" she asked curiously. Atem simply stayed silent as he looked into the distance, and Mana decided it was probably best not to press the matter. "Well, whatever the reason, if it's worth more than what you would get out of working on that farm, then you know what your answer should be." She then jumped down from the platform, "But don't let anyone else make that decision for you, you're the one that's going to be miserable if you choose the wrong one." She then moved to walk back to the edge of the fence, before turning back to him with a smile, giving him a half hearted salute. "Councilor Mana, out," and she was gone.
Atem stared at the empty space where the girl had been standing mere seconds ago. Even if he couldn't figure out his answer right now, he still had time to consider over the weekend. He also knew that sooner or later he would have to go back to the cabin and face the trio once again. At least he'd had some time to cool down now, and his head felt much clearer than it did that morning. Despite his aversion to the whole idea though, Atem found himself jumping down from the wooden platform and wandering back out into the camp, his hands in his pockets as he did so. For some reason though, his feet didn't lead him back to the cabin, instead he found himself wandering up to the main gathering area at the top of the camp, where a spectacular view lay before him.
The sun setting over the horizon was casting warm orange and yellow rays across the clouds, and it was all clearly visible over the trees from this vantage point. Just as Atem reached the top of the hill where all the wooden benches sat, admiring the view, he noticed a familiar head of hair sitting on one of the benches, and he shook his head. What a fluke, he thought. After taking a deep breath, the teen silently wandered over, before plopping down on the bench beside Yusei, not daring to take a sidewards glance.
It was silent for a moment as they both sat there, looking out at the sunset. Atem felt like the scene fit into some cheesy romance story, and he had to stop himself from grimacing. After a few minutes, it was obvious that Yusei was not going to say a word until Atem did, so the teen took advantage of the silence to choose which sentence to break it with.
"You can return the punch, if you want."
Atem could hear a small expel of breath as Yusei cracked the slightest of smiles, and whatever tension that had thickened the air seemed to instantly dissipate, making him feel a lot more relaxed after a whole day of being wound up. There was only a heart beat of pause before the man answered. "That won't be necessary," he murmured, an amused smile sitting on his lips, "I heard Jack already did that for me."
Atem then found himself cracking a smile, as he rubbed at his jaw almost absently, "I've got to say, he has a mean right hook."
Yusei shrugged then, still looking out at the colourful sky, "Years of living on the streets." The comment was a light hearted one, but the information it bared caused Atem to almost do a double take. It was then that he realised he really didn't know anything about these guys, but if he decided to stay, maybe he would fix that. There was the thing though, if he decided to stay.
He then let out a sigh, "Look Yusei, I still believe every word I said this morning."
The other man was fiddling with a dry leaf in his hands, as it crunched within fingers. "So you still want to leave?" he asked, his eyes not leaving the object in his hands.
At first, a nod was his only response, before Atem turned to look straight at Yusei for the first time since he sat down. "Not unless someone can convince me otherwise."
And there it was. The set of his expression, that glint in his eyes, the tone of his voice. It was a challenge. Atem had practically dared Yusei to convince him, and the teen was more than happy to accept. As lips parted to spill out all the words that had sat in his head all day, Yusei knew that this time Atem was willing to listen, and that meant that hopefully by the end of it all, this time Atem would be willing to stay.