Riliane woke up as usual, the Ridge feeling like a lifetime ago now, sitting up and stretching her arms before jumping out of bed. Her left foot landed on a surface that was definitely not the floor and snapped under her weight. "Ah!" She activated her semblance to pull the shards out of her foot. The wounds closed quickly and the two teammates in the room got up in a hurry.
Olive was next to her in an instant, "You alright?"
"Yeah, I just stepped on something."
"Maybe you should use your semblance more often," Amelia offered cautiously as she knew Riliane didn't want to rely too heavily on it.
"It was just one time," Riliane insisted. "What is this anyway?" She picked up the largest piece of curved porcelain. In addition to the sharp broken edge there was an oval shaped hole.
"Not mine," Olive pointed out crossing her arms in an "X" and looked to Amelia who shook her head. "It must be Xanthic's then."
"What must be mine?" Xanthic opened the door and walked in still adjusting his school uniform and hat.
Riliane stood and hid the piece of porcelain behind her back until she was in front of her partner. "There was… something on the ground and I, um, accidentally stepped on it… Sorry…"
"Huh? Don't worry about it, I can probably get another," Xanthic said trying to think of what she could have been talking about it.
Then she showed him and Olive peeked over her shoulder, "Really? Cause it looks pretty expensive…"
He recognised the shard instantly and his eyes flashed bright green. None of them had ever seen him so angry before, "What. Did. You. Do?"
"Li- like I said it was on the ground… And… It was an accident. Um… What is it?" She was taken aback by his sudden attitude change.
"My mask." Xanthic took the piece from her hand aggressively. He pushed her out of the way and walked to the space between their beds finding the other parts. Some of them were nothing more than slivers.
"What's the problem? You said you could just get another." Riliane recovered from her shock.
"Of course you wouldn't see the problem here! I didn't realise you had destroyed the most valuable thing I own!" He made to leave but Olive teleported to block the door.
"What's gotten into you, Xan? You never yell." She looked sincerely concerned.
"What's gotten into me is that one of the few things actually important to me is now gone and there's nothing that can be done about it!"
"We can all pitch in to help, surely it's not that expensive." Riliane offered letting his earlier comment slide.
"You don't get it! Just shut up! Sometimes I'd prefer if you were mute instead of blind!" His last word echoed through the room at an almost deafening volume causing all of them to cover their ears in pain and Riliane lost her balance. He took the chance to move past Olive and run out.
Once he was out of the room the noise faded and Olive helped Riliane up and tried to lighten the mood with a joke, "Not a good day for you is it?"
"I guess not," She responded with slight agitation.
"We should get to class…" Amelia said slowly and gathered her things.
"What about Xanthic?" Olive asked despite also starting to get ready.
"I think he just needs some time to himself for now."
"Hm… Alrighty~"
Xanthic had ran to the rooftop of the dorm. He stopped and took in the view of Beacon Tower while panting. He sat down cross-legged and still holding onto the piece of his mask he brought it up to the morning sun, its metallic paint glittered. "You don't need to tell me that," He said bitterly to no one in particular. "But how would you feel if it was your necklace or this stupid hat? Besides… You wouldn't understand…" He sat in silence for nearly an hour, "They'll want an explanation. So are we going to tell them the truth or have you got another complicated lie cooked up?"
The three girls attended all of their classes without any sign of Xanthic. At lunch they sat with their friends of team CODE. "Is Xanthic not feeling well today?" D'art asked.
"No, he probably just needs some space today…" Amelia told them.
"Oh, that's awful," Owen said having read her mind to understand what she meant.
"Care to share with the rest of us?" Celeste asked. Owen's lack of privacy always annoyed her.
Olive decided to take over and used overdramatic gestures, "Liany accidentally broke a really expensive thing and Xan got real upset. He yelled so loud you guys probably heard it too."
"I thought that might have been him," Eve pointed out. "He did something similar during initiation."
"Pardon me," A voice they recognised interjected. Moonracer, the oldest of the infamous quadruplets had sat in the open seat. "I believe someone said they broke something?"
"I don't suppose you're a good handyman are you?" Riliane halfheartedly joked.
"If you're looking for someone that's good with tools then Tigre's the man you want, but I can fix almost anything." He boasted his abilities. Handing a fork to Owen, "Break this in half." They were both silent for awhile and they all knew they were talking telepathically.
"That's awesome," Owen's eyes lit up and he easily snapped the metal fork.
"Thank you," Moonracer smiled taking back both pieces. Himself and the metal began glowing a faint green. They all watched in awe as the fork returned to it's original shape. "My semblance, rejuvenate. So what is it that you need fixed?"
"I broke Xanthic's mask this morning," she explained.
"Any chance you remember the time?"
Riliane turned to Amelia then- "You wake up at 8:12 everyday," Olive pointed out as if it was obvious.
"You memorised when I get up?"
"Yep~ Exactly 8:12. Xan gets up at 7:30. And Amy's precisely 8:10."
Muttering more to himself now Moonracer said, "So then at 8:11 it was whole again… It'll be a bit difficult but I can do it… Just bring me all the pieces later." Moonracer smiled at Amelia before rejoining his brothers at their own table.
After their second set of classes Riliane couldn't sit still in the dorm with her other teammates, but knew very well that she couldn't just search the entire campus. "Do you two have any idea where he might have gone?"
"Maybe it's the same place he goes to in the middle of the night," Amelia suggested.
"What do you mean?"
"Did you not notice him sneaking out at night?" Olive asked.
"N-no I didn't…"
"I thought about following him one time, but I was having a nice dream."
"Right, hmm…" She tried to think of somewhere Xanthic might go to be alone and thought back to their first day. "I'll be back," Riliane called while halfway out the door. The path to the rooftop was still fairly clear in her memory. Her joy ended when she was facing the door and she had to take a deep breath to brace herself before slowly opening it, "Xan-"
"What do you want Riliane?" Her partner was laying on his back with his hat next to him holding what seemed to be a piece of the porcelain mask in his hand. He had also taken off his jacket.
"H- how'd you know it was me?" She hadn't even said a word and she could tell that he wasn't facing her.
"That door only creaks when it's opened slowly, meaning you were cautious and looking for something and I doubt Amelia would be that concerned over me," Xanthic explained duly, clearly showing his current irritation. "Now what do you want?"
"I- I just wanted to make sure you were alright…" Riliane walked over next to him. "None of us have ever seen you act like that before…"
"You've never seen me act any way. Speaking of which, you might not be able to see, but I have quite a view from here so either step back or sit down." Xanthic received a heavy kick to his side but chuckled regardless, "Didn't think you'd like blue that much."
"What's wrong with you Xanthic!? You're usually so sweet and nice."
His laughter stopped suddenly, "I think you mean meek and pathetic."
"No, I mean someone who's compassionate," Riliane corrected. "I always thought that's what you were till now…"
"Sorry for bursting your bubble, princess, but most people with money don't let the public see how they actually are. Thought you'd know that already."
"So this is just- just… The real you?" Riliane got more upset than she knew she should have and forced herself to calm down before speaking, "What's so important about that mask anyway?"
"Hmm…" Xanthic turned his head away from her for a while before turning back. She could feel his gaze scan all the way from her toes to her face. "There's a small list of people that are allowed to know about that and as of right now," He paused and smirked seeing her anticipation, "It's empty."
"Really!? Aren't partners supposed to tell each other things? Do you not trust me or something!?"
"I don't recall that being one of the requirements of enrollment here. I'd rather have enlisted at Atlas then."
"So you just don't care about anyone but yourself, is that it?"
"Yep. Just me, myself, and I." Xanthic sighed and muttered almost inaudibly to himself, "Maybe for once I just don't want to listen to you."
"What did I say?" Riliane demanded, she had tried her best to be a good friend, partner, and leader. "I can't believe you're the same person that gave me advice on this roof the first day…"
"Has it really never passed through your head that I might not be!?" He suddenly jumped up. "Is it really so easy to mistake me for that stammering idiot!? For the love of- Honestly! Owen's probably the only one with even a clue and that's because he's been cheating!"
"Wha- what are you talking about Xanthic?" Riliane took a small step back from his sudden aggravation.
"That!" He aggressively poked at her collarbone, "That stupid name! I'm sick of being called that!" He turned his head to the side as if talking to someone else, "No! I have just as much right to live how I want as you do and I'm done with nobody else knowing it!" He faced Riliane again and somehow managed to lock his eyes with hers. "My name is Nivens." Silence followed his words along with an unexpected wave of relief forcing him to step backwards and allow some distance between them. "I never thought I'd say that here…" A smile returned to his face with a pleasant hum.
"X-Xan- Er… Nivens?" Riliane's anger completely faded and was replaced with confusion.
"Yes m'lady?" Nivens was ecstatic to finally be called by his proper name.
"Can- Would you mind explaining a bit more?"
"Right, of course, though you have to promise me something first." Stepping close again he held her arms and spoke seriously, "You can't mention any of this to anyone."
"Weren't you just upset about no one knowing though?"
"True, but there is a reason why I can't just go about telling everyone. Answers only lead to more questions, and I like to avoid personal questions."
"Ri-right then. Whatever it takes for you to trust me."
"That really does mean a lot. Right, oh boy, I've never had to do this before where to start?"
"The beginning's usually a good place to start," Riliane offered.
"Usually, but neither of us are quite ready for the beginning. Mind if we stick to the short version for now?"
"I'll take what I can get at this point."
"Good. Well basics are I am Nivens, the unknown half of Xanthic Picto and basically the exact opposite. When the little crybaby was even littler he needed someone carry him through the lonely days and by some miracle his imaginary friend became yours truly."
"That… Doesn't make any sense…"
Nivens shrugged, "I think we settled our self diagnosis on some weird split personality disorder. Neither of us really care much about the science behind it. As we understand it; though, we're just two people sharing a body with a lot of similar opinions, but they hardly ever line up exactly. Oh! Probably an important tidbit, we can block each other out and form individual memories."
It took a moment for everything to sink in before Riliane had a sudden thought, "Is that what Olive and Amelia were talking about with your eyes changing colors?"
"I didn't realise they noticed. Probably shouldn't be surprised with those two, you never really know what's going on with them. But yeah, that's something we noticed a long while back, Xanthic's eyes are deep blue like our mom's, um… try to imagine dark and cold ocean water I guess, and mine are a bright green like… limes? Or the energy from my weapon?" He gave a short sigh, "You probably don't really care about that part all too much, though."
"Nono, I've heard a saying about eyes being the window to the soul, so I think it's pretty neat."
"Riliane."
"Hm?"
"Thank you."
"Oh right! I have really good news," Riliane thought back to lunch. "I know a how to fix your mask."
"How?" He was skeptical, "Some of it is just slivers."
"Apparently Moonracer has a really convenient semblance and can fix almost anything."
He perked up, "Really?"
Riliane nodded, "He said something about time and that we just need to bring him all the pieces."
"Then what are we waiting for," Nivens quickly put his hat back on after emptying something into his pockets from it. After briefly returning to their own dorm to retrieve the pieces they nearly sprinted to team SDTM's room. Because he didn't bother knocking Nivens opened the door to quite a scene; they had rearranged the four beds into bunk beds and pressed them against the walls, Dan and Tigre were roughhousing in the middle of the room, and Moonracer was leaning back against Simba, who was sitting in the only clean desk, helping him with his schoolwork. "Moony," He held the shards out to the boy with long hair and lion ears.
"Hm? Oh, you got here sooner than I expected." Moonracer held both his hands out as the pieces were handed over. "If it was in good condition at 8:11 it's now…"
"4:13," Simba pointed out.
"So that's," He tried to do the math mentally.
"8 hours and 2 minutes," Nivens said with only a brief pause.
"Impressive," Moonracer admired his math skill. He closed his eyes, a faint green glow covered himself and all the pieces. The partners watched in awe as the mask slowly reformed itself. Even the cracks disappeared and a clock pattern was revealed.
"Thank you!" Overcome with relief and joy Nivens hugged Moonracer, who was now somewhat winded, before taking back his mask and leaving. He peeked back through the door, "Let me know what I can do to repay you later!"
"Wish I was the one with your semblance," Tigre said as he and Dan had paused from the sudden outburst.
"Chill bro. That's the Picto kid. You wouldn't have a chance either way." Dan laughed and pushed his brother off.
"Doesn't change the fact he's cute."
"Right, well, see you all around," Riliane decided to leave as she didn't really want to know more about how they live together. She was easily able to catch up with Nivens in the hall as he had stopped for some reason. "Nivens?"
"No…" Her partner was looking down at the mask in his hands.
"Oh, Xanthic?"
"Mhm…" He nodded along with the somber hum.
"Is something the matter?"
"I… Y-you don't think I'm st-strange?"
"Of course I do, but why do you make that sound like a bad thing?"
"Bec-cause it is…"
"I don't think so," Riliane moved in front of him and pointed at her eyes. "Unless you think my strange is bad too?"
"Wha- N-no of c-course not!" Xanthic nearly dropped the mask in his flusterdness.
She smiled, "Then what makes your strange so bad?"
"I um… Well, m-most kids make friends wi-with other kids, n-not themselves…"
"I wouldn't know."
"R-right, sorry…"
"But if your parents were like mine, then why did Nivens say you were so lonely?"
"Oh, um… My p-parents and I re-really weren't that close to begin with… Lucent, m-my grandfather, passed when I w-was four and they got really di-distant for a long time. I just… I really didn't have anyone i-in my life until I was se-seven."
"I'm… so sorry," Riliane reached out to her partner.
"Don't w-worry about it," Xanthic avoided her hand and continued walking towards their dorm.
They entered and Olive instantly jumped up to greet them, "Welcome back Xan~"
"H-hey Olive…" After closing the door Xanthic held the brim of his hat and bowed his head, "I um… I'm s-sorry about this morning. I o-overreacted and j-just… Sorry…"
"It was clearly really important to you, so it makes sense you'd be so upset," Amelia accepted his apology.
Olive nodded, "No problemo over here." Xanthic smiled faintly and carefully placed the mask on his nightstand before getting ready for bed.
