Author Notes: So much for posting faster because of break :(. Oh well here's chapter 6 hope you enjoy!
What It Takes
Chapter 6: Closed Off
Their weapons clashed together, the sound of metal on metal echoing around the sparring room. Porphyrios swung his sickle at his opponent's head, stepping forward to try and force his opponent into submission. His plan partially worked: his opponent moved backward, but also moved sideways, causing Porphyrios to continue moving forward with no target in front of him. He turned sideways to see Basil's trident stabbing towards him. Porphyrios rolled forward quickly to avoid the attack and to keep his momentum.
Smart, thought Porphyrios as he got up from his roll.
Basil started charging forward, now the attacker in the match. Porphyrios readied himself for a stab, but was surprised as he saw Basil spin around and swing his trident at Porphyrios. Clumsily, Porphyrios moved and blocked the blow to his right. Staggering slightly, he was unprepared for the kick to his left, sending him tumbling. Getting up, he saw Basil charging again at him.
He's fast, I'll give him that, Porphyrios conceded.
Once again Basil swung his trident at Porphyrios, but he was prepared. He blocked the blow cleanly with one sickle and swung his other straight at Basil. However, somehow Basil was able to corkscrew away from the attack and retreat a few feet away from him, a glowing green aura surrounding him.
Got you now, Porphyrios thought as he charged at Basil, sickles ready.
Basil, with almost no time to react, spun his trident to block the two sickles from Porphyrios. As he continued to attack with his sickles, Basil constantly kept blocking attack after attack, spinning and swinging his trident this way and that.
Finally, Basil tried to stab at Porphyrios' midriff, but Porphyrios blocked with his sickle, causing Basil to spin around again. Porphyrios waited for Basil to turn back around, and hooked his sickle around Basil's neck.
"I win," he declared a smile on his face.
"Have you?" asked Basil.
Porphyrios suddenly became aware of something lightly digging into his body. He looked down and saw Basil's trident pointed straight at his stomach.
"Hmmm," grunted Porphyrios lowering his weapon, "decent enough."
He walked over to the edge of the arena, grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off his brow.
He is certainly getting better, pondered Porphyrios as he drank from his water bottle, no sense in letting him get a big head though, besides I was going easy on him.
Basil walked over to where Porphyrios was, and chugged his water bottle, sprinkling some into his hair to cool off. Basil put his jacket back on, ready to continue on with the day.
"So," Basil began, "what are your plans for the rest of today?"
Porphyrios sighed. For whatever reason Basil was always trying to socialize and hang out with him and Porphyrios couldn't figure out why.
"I was probably going to go to the library and study," replied Porphyrios.
He was really going to go and read his book in the library, but he knew that if he brought up studying Basil would back off and leave him to his own devices. He had been doing this for the past week, considering Basil's frequently wanting to hang out with and get to know him. Unfortunately, it seemed like it wasn't going to work as well this time.
"Again?" Basil asked, appalled, "you're going to work yourself to death."
"Well, we have an exam next week and I want to be prepared for it," Porphyrios responded bluntly, "Port doesn't exactly teach us much in his class."
"Yea but its Saturday," argued Basil, "you're supposed to relax on Saturday. Besides I'm sure you're already plenty ready for the exam."
"You can never be too prepared," declared Porphyrios as he walked out of the sparring room with Basil at his heels.
"Fine, be boring! I'm gonna get some lunch and enjoy myself today," and with that Basil was off.
Good riddance, thought Porphyrios as he headed for the library, maybe he'll get it through his head that I don't want to hang out with him.
Porphyrios sighed. He's always too nosy, trying to get me to open up with all of his questions, mused Porphyrios, actually I think I will get some studying done today. Might as well be even more prepared than before.
And with that, Porphyrios was off to the library to study for the upcoming exams.
"I just don't get him."
Basil was in the cafeteria eating lunch with Namra as they had planned beforehand. They hadn't seen each other in a while, so the two of them decided having lunch together would be a good idea.
Basil was eating a cheeseburger with fries, while Namra quietly sipped at her tomato soup. They had been talking about how school was going for the past week and how they were both getting along with their teammates. Other than the issue between Namra and Sylvia on the first day, she had had virtually no problems with any of her teammates, except the occasional dispute over the shower. Basil however, had several complications with his team. Aurelia seemed to dislike him a lot, probably due to the fact that he acted distant towards Celestia. Basil and Celestia had gotten along okay despite the occasional awkward moments in between them, which was his fault. And then there was Porphyrios.
"I mean he is completely antisocial to the point where some days he doesn't say anything," Basil complained, "All he does is sleep, eat, study and spar."
Namra swallowed her soup, "Well, maybe that is just how he is. He might be just the strong silent type."
"I've thought of that," replied Basil, "But my instinct tells me there is something more to it than that. There has to be, otherwise he wouldn't be ignoring me when I try to hang out with him."
"Maybe he feels uncomfortable around you," reasoned Namra trying to help her friend, "either that or he doesn't like getting close to people."
Basil sighed, "I certainly hope neither is the case. I know I hate being alone and I can't imagine anybody wanting to be alone the entire time."
Basil shook his head, "No, nobody wants that. He's just being stubborn about this whole thing."
Basil put a fry in his mouth and chewed it slowly. He swallowed and then said, "I got to get him to open up, but I can't get a chance to try."
Namra sipped at her soup again and then had an idea: "What if instead of trying to get together with just him, you make it a group outing," Namra spoke enthusiastically, "Then he'd have to join in. Make it a teambuilding activity."
Basil looked at Namra and smiled, "That's a great idea Namra!" he cried, "we can go to get more supplies, because we are running low and just turn it into a group outing, cause why not!?"
Namra smiled, "Sounds like a good plan."
Basil grinned wider, "Thanks a lot Namra, you're a good friend."
Namra shrugged, "I try."
They continued to talk throughout the rest of their lunch. When they finished, they both returned to their respective dorm rooms, Basil ready to implement his plan for today.
Porphyrios sat in the library, pouring over his textbook about the Grimm. He wanted to be as prepared as possible for the exam next week.
I'm not gonna let my grade drop just because Port is a bad teacher, decided Porphyrios as he reviewed the weakness of the Grimm for the third time that day.
He looked at the clock. It was 2:30 in the afternoon. He had been studying since he had left Basil at 11:45 in the morning.
Maybe I should take a break and read a book, he thought knowing that pacing oneself was always a good idea when studying.
At the exact moment, Porphyrios glanced at the door and saw the rest of his team heading into the library.
Wonderful, thought Porphyrios sarcastically, can I not get some peace on quiet on a Saturday?
His three teammates walked over to his table with wide smiles.
"Hey Porph!" Aurelia said cheerfully.
"I told you that's not my name," grunted Porphyrios.
"Well I like Porph better," replied Aurelia with a smirk.
Porphyrios was about to argue when Basil cut him off.
"Listen, we were planning on going to downtown Vale for a while," Basil began, "We need more munitions anyway so we thought we would make it a team adventure. We could grab some coffee on the way, shop around and just hang out for the day."
Porphyrios scowled. He knew where this was going, but he still wanted to see if he could get out of it.
"Well you three have fun and I'll stay here actually doing something productive," declared Porphyrios in a blunt voice, "also don't forget my ammo, I'm running low too."
Basil looked back at Aurelia and Celestia, both of them were scowling at Porphyrios in anger.
"I don't think you understand the point of this being a team outing," Basil stated, "a team outing means the entire team participates, which includes you."
"Well I'd prefer to not do something as pointless as going around downtown Vale doing whatever catches our fancy," Porphyrios grunted.
"Fine," stated Aurelia, "then we won't get your ammunition."
Porphyrios glared at Aurelia and was met with a glare of her own, showing not intimidation, but determination.
"Fine," Porphyrios mumbled conceding to his team, "coffee would be good for me anyway."
"Good," affirmed Basil, "Let's go!"
So far the outing was going smoothly. It was a bit chilly, but not enough to not enjoy the outside. Aside from some small talk from Basil, Porphyrios was able to avoid most of the conversation. They had already gotten the munitions that they needed and were about to go grab a drink from a local coffee shop. Porphyrios himself ordered his coffee black like he always did. Basil took his with two creams and two spoonfuls of sugar, much to Porphyrios' distaste. Celestia was no better, taking hers with one cream and two sugars. Aurelia was the only one who shared Porphyrios' taste in coffee as she also ordered it black.
How can they stand drinking something so sweet? Porphyrios questioned, it's disgusting.
They continued walking, sipping on their coffees, until Celestia and Aurelia saw a store that they wanted to check out. Not interested in the shop, Basil and Porphyrios voted to stay outside while the girls went inside. Basil and Porphyrios both sat on a bench on the opposite side of the store, waiting for the girls to be finished.
For a few minutes there was silence as they both drank their coffee, enjoying the warmth it gave them on this chilly day. Almost inevitably, Basil started trying to make conversation.
"So," Basil began, "pretty nice weather out today."
"Mmmm," Porphyrios grunted in reply.
"Definitely better than Vale usually is around this time of year."
"I guess."
"Did you grow up in Vale?" asked Basil.
"Moved here," Porphyrios said, almost regretting sharing even that little information.
"Cool," replied Basil, "I grew up here. It's certainly nice in the city but it's also quite noisy sometimes. So do you have family back home or did they move here with you? Also where did you move from?"
"Why do you care?" asked Porphyrios in an angry tone.
Basil looked taken aback. Porphyrios was annoyed by the line of questions and wanted to finally ask why Basil cared so much about his life.
"I'm sorry?" Basil said in a questioning tone.
"Why do you care so much about knowing about my life?" inquired Porphyrios, eyes still angry, "you keep trying to get to know me, but why do you do that?"
Basil looked puzzled, confused as to why Porphyrios was asking him that. Basil faced his coffee, took a drink from it and then replied to Porphyrios.
"Well, I feel that getting to know somebody and caring about how they are and what they're doing helps form a bond between people," he said taking another sip, "and that bond helps to create structure in a team, allowing for more unity and greater communication."
Once again Basil drank from his cup of coffee, having said his piece. Porphyrios, however, thought something completely different.
"Bonds are broken though," he retorted.
Basil turned toward Porphyrios, listening to what he said.
"Very easily bonds are broken, and then what are you left with?" snapped Porphyrios.
"Well when bonds are broken," Basil replied, "you still have fond memories from the experience to look back on."
"Memories are merely thoughts of regret," Porphyrios chuckled, "just thoughts of hope that things will return to the way they were."
He drank the rest of his coffee and then spoke.
"People are either there to be friends or to deceive you. And I would rather just assume everyone is here to deceive me than to learn it the hard way."
He then walked away from the bench and threw his coffee away. Before he left he turned back to Basil.
"I'm the leader of this team," he stated, "which means I care for my teammates enough to get through this school. But nothing and nobody else is worth caring about. You can only trust yourself in this world, no one else."
And with that, Porphyrios walked back toward Beacon, knowing he wouldn't be followed this time.