"She's going to be okay, Nico. I promise," Reyna promised as she gripped her phone, trying hard to keep the panic from her voice. "Lupa wouldn't let any of the league doctors touch her, and she is taking her to the hospital with Annabeth. The one down the street."
"I should have been there…" Nico whispered to himself. Reyna heard several loud stomps and the slamming of a door through the phone's receiver. Nico had volunteered to stay behind and do something with the gym's inventory. Nico was supposed to be done already, but he must have hit a snag.
"Nico, deep breaths. You can't help Hazel if you crash the car rushing there," Reyna chided gently. "We won't know anything until they do some tests. Just drive carefully, okay?"
"I'll drive carefully," Nico swore through his breaths. "Are you staying with Frank?"
"Yeah. Hazel didn't want me to come with," Reyna answered, trying to mask the frustration from her tone. It was fine that Hazel wanted Annabeth to go. Totally fine. "Annabeth went with her. Text me when you two get there. I'll be there after Frank's fight."
"I will," Nico promised, and he ended the call. Reyna sighed and put her phone into her pocket. She rubbed her forehead as a migraine started to grow. Reyna was so worried about Hazel, and she wished she was going to the hospital with her.
Reyna closed her eyes. It wasn't fine that Hazel didn't want her there. In fact, it hurt a lot.
"Does Nico need a ride to the hospital?" Octavian asked. Reyna opened her eyes and turned to look at him. He had the same look of concern on his face that probably mirrored her own.
"No," Reyna answered.
"I'll get Frank then," Octavian offered.
"Don't worry, Octavian. I'll get him," Reyna offered, stopping the man. Worry gnawed at her gut as she replayed the end of the fight over and over in her head. The way that Hazel just crumpled and clutched her leg. How she was crying not just because of pain, but also because she had been injured and blamed herself. It wasn't her fault. Those things just happened.
"Are you sure?" Octavian asked. Reyna nodded. "How are you going to break the news?"
"I'll figure something out," Reyna said with a shrug. Octavian didn't look convinced, but he finally relented. Reyna walked toward their locker room. As she made it to the door, she stopped her trek. A deep breath left her as she closed her eyes. As she let all of the emotion drained from her face, she opened her eyes and stepped into the locker room.
Frank was in the middle of his stretches. He turned upon seeing her and smiled, "Hey. Where's Hazel?"
Reyna hesitated for a moment. The last thing she wanted to do was distract Frank from his fight because he was so worried about Hazel. She also didn't want to lie to him about it. Reyna chewed the inside of her lip, and Frank frowned.
"Is something wrong?" Frank questioned.
"Hazel is with the doctors," Reyna said after a moment. "Annabeth is with her."
"Is she okay?" Frank asked in concern as he stepped forward. Reyna held up a hand.
"You know how the doctors are here," Reyna replied as she tried to skirt around the subject. "The most important thing is that Hazel won her fight, just like you're going to. Are you ready?"
"I am," Frank promised. Reyna nodded and heard a knock. She opened the door and saw an official from the league.
"Is Mr. Zhang ready?" the official asked.
"Yeah. We were just about to walk out," Reyna answered. She looked back at Frank, and he walked toward her. Together, they left the locker room and followed after the official.
"Lupa is with Hazel?" Frank guessed as he fixed his gloves.
"She is," Reyna confirmed. "I'll walk you out and be in your corner during the fight. Not that it's going to last that long, right?"
"It won't," Frank answered with determination as he took a deep breath. He whispered to himself quietly enough that she barely heard it. "I can do this. I can do this."
The two of them stopped at the curtain, and Frank closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, and when he opened them, he looked focused. The official nodded to them and opened the curtain. Reyna walked out with Frank, but she made sure to stay a few feet back to keep all of the attention on him as his name was announced for the first time.
Frank made it into the cage and looked back at Reyna. She nodded to him and spoke, "Remember to attack both sides. Don't focus on just his blind side. Attack like you were fighting anyone else and don't let up the assault."
"I won't," Frank promised. Reyna grabbed his shoulder and squeezed it. She stepped away as Frank walked into the cage. Reyna leaned on the edge of the ring and turned to look at Will. The team doctor was already in their corner and was scratching at his arm nervously. Reyna stepped towards Will and saw Ethan being led by his trainers toward the cage.
"Will, are you okay?" Reyna whispered.
"Nico is going to blame me," Will whispered. Reyna frowned.
"He's not," Reyna promised. "Why would he blame you?"
"Because I'm the doctor of the team. I should have been able to do more for her. Instead, I was useless," Will muttered. Reyna grabbed his forearm.
"Will, you're an amazing doctor for this team. You've helped me anytime that I need it. There was nothing any of us could do, and it was a freak accident. Not to mention that no one is going to get in Lupa's way when one of her fighters is hurt," Reyna tried to laugh off at the end. Will just shrugged and looked down.
"Is Nico okay?" Will asked.
"Just worried," Reyna told him. She turned her head back to the ring as the two fighters were announced as they stood in their respective corners. The official signaled for the fight to begin, and Frank walked toward his opponent. He held out his glove.
Ethan didn't have the height of Frank, but he was more muscular. A black eyepatch rested over his missing eye, with his gym's logo imprinted on it. Ethan tapped Frank's glove and gave him a nod. Reyna crossed her arms to keep herself from checking on her phone during the fight.
Frank quickly took a step back and raised his arms in a defensive position. His breathing picked up for a moment before he took a deep breath. His head started to move to look at Reyna, but he quickly focused back on his opponent. Reyna still gave him a confident nod, in case he could see her out of the corner of his eye.
There was silence as the two fighters faced off. It wasn't from the anticipation of two fighters going to war. Rather, the energy had been sucked out of the crowd when Hazel was injured. It wouldn't take long for the crowd to get back into the action.
"Did Frank ask about Hazel?" Will questioned. Reyna glanced at him and saw Will had taken his medical gloves off and was chewing on a nail.
"He did," Reyna answered. "I told him she was with Lupa."
"You told him she was at the hospital, right?" Will asked. Reyna didn't answer. She watched as Frank slowly approached Ethan. The two seemed to still be sizing each other up. Then, Frank lunged toward Ethan's legs for a takedown.
Ethan easily dodged it, and a small scowl twisted his lips as Frank had put most of his weight towards Ethan's blinded side. Ethan tried to knee Frank in the face, but Frank was already back on his feet and creating distance between the two.
Frank still needed to work on his speed, but that was hard for someone his size. Strength was more his forte, and they were working on his wrestling skills. Still, he needed to have explosive speed that would allow him to strike first and fast.
Frank closed the distance between the two and started to throw out punches like he was in a boxing match. Reyna kept her arms crossed and clenched her fist. Annabeth had made the plan for Frank, and it was a simple one. It was solid, though.
The plan was for Frank to target Ethan's blind side, just long enough to get him comfortable. Then, Frank would fire off rapid punches to both sides and not let up the assault until the bell rang or Ethan fell. And if Frank managed to knock his opponent off balance, he was supposed to take him to the ground and beat him into it.
Reyna knew Frank could do it. She uncrossed her arms and rested them in her pocket. Frank kept his punches up, focusing on Ethan's blinded side. Ethan's foot shifted, and Frank instantly turned. He blocked the punch that would have caught him flush in the mouth. Then, he delivered a crossbody shot that nailed Ethan square in the nose.
Frank went on a tear from there. His punches came out as fast as he could manage. His punches were high and low, but he attacked both sides of Ethan's body, alternating with each punch like a missile salvo. Ethan's good eye shot around as he desperately tried to block or dodge anything, but he was forced to backpedal and try to make space.
Frank pressed his attack forward and did not let up on the punches. Ethan backed right into the cage, and his eyes widened as he brought both hands up to protect his head. Frank turned his attention to beating Ethan's gut into a pulp.
Reyna could see the panic as Ethan brought his arms down to protect his center. Most of his fights were spent with his opponent either going straight for his blind side or attacking it not long after the bell rang. Ethan was always prepared for that, but he seemed stuck in the thought that every fighter would attack him like that.
When someone attacked Ethan like Frank was now, the man just crumbled. Frank moved his punches back towards Ethan's face, and he threw a few stray shots at his gut again. Any punches that Ethan threw out were from his good side, and Frank blocked all of them as he pressed his assault.
Frank brought his fist back and hit Ethan hard in the stomach. The man folded and collapsed against Frank. The official jumped between the two and pulled Frank back as the crowd roared in celebration. A grin exploded onto Reyna's face as she watched. She was so proud of Frank.
Not only did he bounce back but he dominated the fight. Frank was getting better, and all he had to do was keep up his training. Frank turned towards Reyna and had a huge smile on his face as the official called the end of the match and Ethan's doctors ran to check on their fighter.
Frank bounded out of the cage and pulled Reyna into a hug. Reyna laughed and hugged him back. She spoke, "I'm so proud of you, Frank! You did amazing."
Frank pulled away and nodded. His face was covered in sweat, and he was breathing heavily. Frank's eyes widened, and he rushed back into the cage and walked towards his opponent. Ethan was slowly getting to his feet and still looked winded. Frank stopped near him and held out a hand.
Ethan looked at him and glared, but he still shook Frank's hand. Frank said something that caused Ethan's posture to relax, and he said something back. Reyna glanced at Will as the celebration continued.
"I'm going to talk to Nico," Will began. Reyna nodded. Will walked away at a brisk pace. Reyna watched him go and looked back to watch Frank celebrate. He didn't stay in the cage too long and made his way toward her. The grin was still plastered on his features.
"I actually did it," Frank said breathlessly. Reyna smirked and followed him toward the backstage area.
"I told you that you could, Frank. I don't think he hit you once," Reyna supplied. She gripped Frank's arm. "I'm proud."
"Thank you," Frank wheezed. He looked like he was on a high that he would not come down from for a long time, but she still had to deliver the news about Hazel. Reyna would give him a few more minutes to savor his victory, though.
"I can't believe I did that," Frank admitted as they stopped outside of the locker room. He looked at Reyna. "Thank you for being out there. It meant a lot to see how confident you were that I would win."
Reyna nodded and smiled. Frank reached his hand out to push open the locker room door, and it looked like his hand was shaking from adrenaline. Reyna followed him into the locker room. As they walked in, she saw Octavian pacing around with his phone in his hand. He turned towards them.
"Annabeth and Lupa made it to the hospital with Hazel," Octavian reported. Reyna froze in place. Frank instantly lost his smile. He tensed and slowly looked at Reyna.
"I thought Hazel was with the doctors here," Frank spoke after a moment. He glared as he focused on Reyna.
"Hazel went to the hospital," Octavian corrected. He frowned and looked at Reyna. "You didn't tell him?"
"Tell me what exactly?" Frank asked in a quiet voice. His hands shook worse than they had before.
"Hazel was injured," Reyna answered softly after a moment. Frank fully turned towards her. "They took her to the hospital after her fight."
"You said Hazel won her fight," Frank challenged. His voice was calm and quiet. A little too calm and quiet. His face was getting redder and redder, resembling a tomato.
"She did. But, Hazel crumpled as soon as her fight ended. She hurt her leg on the winning kick," Reyna explained.
"You didn't tell me," Frank stated. His face was beyond that tomato red shade and starting to go into purple. His glare felt like it was going to drill a hole through her.
"I didn't want to distract you from your fight," Reyna began. "I-"
"You didn't think to tell me that my best friend was hurt!" Frank suddenly yelled. Reyna flinched at his shouting. "What the fuck is wrong with you!?"
Reyna remained silent. She wanted to tell Frank, but he would have lost instantly with a distracted mind. Loss aside, he might have also been hurt if he didn't have any kind of guard up and ended up flat on his ass.
Reyna took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down to keep from yelling back. She was worried about Hazel too, but she was also worried about Frank. Reyna tried to speak, but Frank just shoved past her as he stormed toward the door.
"Frank, stop!" Reyna ordered. Frank stopped walking, but he tensed. "I told you that I didn't want you to be distracted in your fight, and-"
"Not everything is about a goddamn fight!" Frank snapped as he turned back towards her. He crossed the distance between them, and Octavian started to step forward like he could separate them. "There is more to life than fighting."
"I-"
"There is more to life than fighting!" Frank interrupted as he firmly repeated himself. "But, you don't seem to understand that. I don't give a shit about my fight if Hazel is hurt. You don't have the right to hide that from me."
"Frank, just list-"
"How about you shut the fuck up!" Frank spat venomously. Reyna flinched as the words felt like a punch to the gut. Octavian stepped forward and swallowed painfully as Frank turned towards him.
"Let's go to the hospital, Frank. I'll drive," Octavian offered. Frank nodded stiffly and stormed out of the room. He slammed the door shut behind him. Octavian rushed towards the door. As he opened it, he looked back at Reyna.
Reyna shook her head and looked away to hide the tears that were stinging her eyes. She cared about Hazel just as much as the rest of them, but no one treated her like it. Frank yelled at her for making sure he was focused on his fight. And Hazel didn't even want her to go with her.
Octavian hissed like he was drawing in air to speak. Instead, the door closed a moment later. Reyna closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she was left alone. It took her a few moments to open her eyes. She needed to get to the hospital, but there was something she needed to do first.
Reyna carefully packed Frank's duffel bag and ensured his wallet, keys, and other items were there. Then, she swung it across her chest and did the same for Hazel's things. Reyna gripped the second duffel bag and left the locker room. She had Hazel's key in the duffel bag, so she would probably stop by her house and get her a few things for her stay at the hospital.
Reyna just hoped that Hazel would be okay.