CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

[mortal combat]

"i want to kick some kuroki ass"

Simon leaned against the wall in the same hallway Maria's dorm was located. He managed to make the necessary arrangements that she requested as well as obtain an authentic-looking passport. All he needed to do was wait for her to walk by. In the meantime, he was playing it cool, pretending to skim some indie comic he borrowed from Marcus the night before when they were all hanging out.

Finally, after a few minutes longer, Maria turned the corner. The Latina stuffed her hands in her pocket as she approached the Londoner who pushed off the wall to meet her. The two remained silent as they walked back the way Maria came to a quieter, more secluded area.

"Here," he said softly, handing her the comic with everything she needed inside. "Remember I was talking to you about this one? I thought you'd like to read it for yourself."

Maria took the thin book from his hands and gave a light laugh. "So now your stealing Marcus' stuff?"

Simon shrugged. "Maybe he isn't as lame as I first gave him credit for. Besides, if he starts looking for it and asking questions, I'll just blame it on Andi."

Maria shook her head in amusement as she opened the comic and saw the passport and paperwork inside. She looked back up at Simon, tears welling in her eyes, unable to speak her gratitude.

"You don't have to say anything," Simon started softly. "Just send me a postcard whenever you get where you're going... to let me know you're okay." He gave her one last comforting smile.

In a way, he wanted to cut the cord, to start trying to get over the beautiful girl in front of him now because her leaving was inevitable. With Chico locked up in the library, this was her shot to get as far away from Soto Vatos and that asshole as possible.

Before he could walk away, Maria reached out to him, her delicate hand clasping around his wrist. "Simon." Hearing her say his name in a gentle, accented voice almost hurt. He was stupidly head over heels for the one girl he could never have. His heart hurt to let her go, but he knew that it was for the best. Maybe he just loved the pain.

Simon turned back to Maria, the hint of a thankful smile on her red-painted lips. She signed and glanced around them before pushing herself up onto her tiptoes and giving him a light peck on the cheek. As she rested back on her heels, the dark-haired girl gave Simon's hand one last comforting squeeze. "Thank you," she said, holding back tears. "Without Andi, Saya, and especially you, I don't know how I would've gotten through all of this."

The taller boy gave her hand a comforting squeeze in return. "Don't doubt yourself. You're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for. You may not be as blatantly intimidating as Saya or as confrontational as Andi, but that doesn't make you any less capable. Sure, I'll worry about you when you leave. I can't help it. But, I know that you can take care of yourself. You're a survivor, Maria."

A single tear slipped down her cheek as Simon pulled his hand away from her grasp. She quickly wiped it away, mindful of her makeup. With one last look, Simon turned away down the hall as Maria watched him go, her hands fidgeting with the comic he gave her.

Simon did not look back as he continued back to his dorm. Lost in his own thoughts, he did not hear his name being called.

"Aster!" the heavily accented voice called. "Hey, wanker! I'm fucking—ugh, Aster!"

Simon scrunched his eyebrows and turned only to see Lex pushing past students to get up to him. "What, Lex?"

"I'm trying to give you this," the boy with the spiked hair said, holding out an envelope, his skateboard tucked under his other arm. Simon grabbed it from Lex's outstretched hand. "It's for Andi but since she's in detention today I'm giving it to you."

Simon shot him a confused look. "Why not just leave it at her dorm?"

"Oh, right, didn't think of that..." Lex started sarcastically. "No shit. But so soon after the whole Mellow Yellow incident, I thought it'd be best to avoid Brandy and the others for a bit."

"Aw, Lex. That doesn't sound like you," the taller boy teased. "Isn't it like your job to perpetually be a pain in everyone's ass?"

"Funny. But, I'm a little short on backup at the moment. Billy's MIA and Marcus and Petra are in detention too."

Simon sighed. "All right. Well, I'll make sure it gets to her." Lex hurried off on his skateboard, leaving Simon to examine the envelope again.

Andi never got mail. Her mother did not bother to keep in contact with her and anyone else she was even remotely close with was already at the school with her.

He looked over the envelope. The front was bare aside from Andi's name, just her first name "Andrea" so her whole identity was still unknown to anyone who might come across the piece of mail. When the Londoner flipped the envelope over, he hesitated, recognizing the symbol embedded in the wax seal.

An Ouroboros.

Simon gulped roughly, his nerves on edge. Without another thought, he quickly finished his walk back to his door room. This letter was not leaving his sight. As soon as Andi got out of detention, she needed to see this.

Andi's blue eyes fluttered open, her vision blurry as it refocused. Her body was cold, the hard concrete chilling her and eating away at her body heat as she laid unconscious on the floor. Ignoring the throbbing pain in her head from when Saya's Kuroki cousin decided to try to crack her skull off the wall, the blonde pulled herself onto her hands and knees.

Another body laid next to her in the basement hallway and it took her a moment to realize who it was. Crawling to him quickly, she rolled Marcus onto his back, checking his breathing and pulse to ensure his injuries were not fatal. Unconsciousness was typically not a great sign.

When she felt his faint breaths on her hand and the gentle thump of his pulse beneath her fingers, some of her initial worries melted away. Not all of them though. He still was not awake and Saya had just been snatched up by her crazy family to be taken back to Tokyo.

"Marcus," Andi tried, careful to keep her voice low but firm. "Marcus, you need to wake up. Saya needs us. We have to go." As she tried to get the Arguello boy to come to, something whispered in the back of her mind to just leave him. To leave him and go rescue Saya before it was too late. But, she could not just abandon him on the cold concrete. There was not a chance she would survive against both Kurokis alone. Even as untrained as Marcus still was, he could help. That is what she told herself anyway, not willing to admit that she would feel like such a piece of shit if she left him there and his condition worsened somehow. If that happened, she did not know if she would be able to forgive herself because she did, in fact, care about him.

After only another minute of her talking to him, hoping that he would hear her and come to, his warm brown eyes finally opened to meet her cool blue ones.

"About time," she joked through the worry.

Marcus sat up slowly, remembering what happened. "Saya?" he questioned, concern littering his voice.

"I know," Andi replied. "If you're good enough, we gotta go. I want to kiss some Kuroki ass." Marcus nodded, wincing slightly at his own headache.

Standing from her spot next to him, Andi held out her hand to help him up. Once they were both steadily on their feet, they took off back down the hallway. Approaching the gate that had once separated them from their salvation when Chico locked them in the basement, they were relieved to see that the lock had been broken, the Kuroki's using the route to escape.

The two teens reached the end of the hallway and opened the door. On the other side was the Chinese restaurant that existed as one of the school's covers. They only had seconds to take in their surroundings, however, as Lin was locked into a standoff with the demon-masked duo.

Andi quietly darted into the kitchen, passing Marcus an iron skillet as she grabbed the knife that sat out on the cutting board. Hurrying back out into the dining room, Marcus launched himself off of a booth and slammed the skillet down onto the red-masked man's head, causing him to drop a limp Saya as he fell to the ground.

Saya woke in time to catch herself, her katana skittering to the floor a couple of feet away.

Lin, with his own sword, went after the other cousin. The two were quite equally matched and that worried Andi. She had never seen someone give Master Lin such a run for his money. Her dark-haired friend also trying her best to remain in one piece.

Andi and Marcus stood helplessly to the side, hopelessly and hilariously out-sworded in a fight where razor-sharp blades were flying around. Finally, Andi saw her opening.

The blonde ran up behind Lin, calling for him to duck as she threw the butcher's knife she had been wielding. It did not hit its mark, but she had been expecting that. The black-masked man dodged out of the way, narrowly avoiding the flying knife. While he was distracted and thrown off balance, Andi jumped onto a nearby table and threw a kick to his face.

Again, he blocked her, recovering quicker than her usual sparring partners did. Though Lin was right beside her, attacking the man again just as he had focused his attention on the blonde teen.

Out of the corner of her eye, Andi could see Marcus had jumped in to help Saya, but she did not allow herself to focus on them. She was more concerned with her own deadly opponent.

The fight came to a halt as a strangled cry rang out through the restaurant. Andi heard Saya's labored exhale and the shrill unsheathing of her blade accompanying the other sounds. Monks rushed the room and the black-masked man swiped once more before jumping past Andi and Lin and running out the front door.

Andi finally allowed herself to look back at Saya and Marcus only to see Saya's blood-coated katana and her cousin's dying form fall to the floor. Saya stood as Andi moved toward her. The Kuroki girl stepped forward and pulled the red mask from her cousin's face.

Saya looked down on him for only a few seconds before her face scrunched up, desperately trying to hold back the tears. Andi rested her hand comfortingly on her friend's shoulder as Saya let out a loud sniffle and wiped at her face.

Andi wanted to comfort her friend. The blonde knew what it was like to lose someone close to her. She knew the pain that came with it. She wanted to be there for the Kuroki girl and help her grieve. But, this was different.

Sure, Andi had lost loved ones before, but she had never been the one to kill them. The blonde knew families could be complicated; that was one thing she did understand. Although the Kuroki Syndicate, and family alike, was rampant with discord and power struggles, it did not necessarily mean that there also was not affection and respect.

Saya could not be in the room anymore, not that Andi blamed her. Without another word, she walked back toward the basement halls, eager to distance herself from the scene.

Andi and Marcus exchanged a look, both wanting to do something, anything, to help their friend. It was only when Marcus nodded that Andi moved to follow her.

"You go," he said. "I'll talk to Lin and the monks about getting Petra and Vik to the infirmary."

The blonde nodded back to him with a tight smile. She thanked him but wasted no more time trailing after her friend.

Thank you again, everyone, for your continued support of this story!

To the Guest reviewer from the last chapter, I wanted to say that yes, this story is also on Wattpad with a handful of others. I'm currently working to have both platforms carry my stories.

Let me know what you think!