Li sat there at the large bay window.
He stared unblinking out into the city, the sun setting now. Only then did Li realise just how long he had been here trying to recover.
No-one had bothered him, he knew why; the bay window he was currently residing in was past the library, up 3 flights of stairs and round a corner. The only room the route led to was a room to store old books that had had newer versions replace them in the library.
Li knew his place was his own, and he was glad to have a place to get away from everyone, to collect his thoughts and recharge after a day of dealing with other people.
Li continued to sit and watch the sunset, occasionally taking out his tablet to snap a picture of the beautiful scene, and uploading the pictures to his home computer.
It was starting to get dark when he heard movement behind him, Li turned to see amber eyes stare for only a second before turning back away and hurrying off. 'Great', Li thought, 'another person I've scared off'.
Soon after the darkness closed in all around Li, he finally felt calm enough to make his way back to the room. He hoped that his teammates were asleep or out socialising, to make his night go easier.
As he was making his way back to the room, he realised just how late it was when he noticed all the first years in and around the ballroom entrance.
He walked by without a second glance, hearing some shouting and the sound of a small fight. "Arrogant freshmen showing off again" thought Li.
He understood why they may fight, the first few days at Beacon are crucial to all first years to ensure their four years at the school are decent. Li remembered back to his first few days at Beacon. He almost felt happiness wash over him, almost.
Even if the first few days are successful, sometimes it just doesn't work out. Fate can be cruel; Li knew this more than most. He pushed the thoughts and memories from his mind and continued on to his room.
He listened intently at the door, trying to determine whether there was anyone else inside; he could hear some movement, but no talking, and so he assumed the three teammates were asleep. He was wrong.
He opened the door silently and slowly, trying not to wake up his teammates, however they all noticed the door slowly creeping open, and so when Li emerged from behind, all eyes were on him.
Even though they were awake, Li was grateful that it was only his three teammates, talking to each other and socialising.
Peter looked at Li with disdain, then sighed and motioned for Li to join them; clearly they were having a team meeting. Yu and Michelle both gave beaming smiles towards Li, although whether or not they were sincere, Li was unsure.
Li cautiously approached Peter's bed, and at the spot Peter had motioned to, sat softly. Peter started, "Okay, we are all here, and we are all ready for the New Year." Peter spoke hard and bluntly, there was no questioning tone. "We each have a number of areas we need to improve on, to give team PLYM a chance in the tournament at the end of the semester. Yu, you need to work on your positioning and timing. Michelle, your long-range attacks and your supporting roles need bolstering. I suggest you take the relevant classes to help with this, in addition to anything else you feel will improve yourself, try to limit taking classes because they are easy or because there is some boy you like in them, please."
Peter was an apt leader, and he knew his teammates well, well most of his teammates. Peter turned to Li, sighed and continued, "Li, you need to improve on a number of classes, the main ones being communication and teamwork," Li nodded along, knowing that he had a lot to do this year, "and I will want you to learn some weapon maintenance skills, so that you can support all our equipment and gear in the field if we ever need it.
Li looked up, eyes widened slightly, and he took a deep breath, "I.. um.. I am actually quite okay, with.. ma.. maintenance already. I learnt a lot from my father, and he alw.." Li caught himself, before he let slip any more about himself. "He taught me about forging, so I can do that already for you guys."
He finished abruptly, and softly, hoping they didn't probe any further about what he said. Peter and the twins all looked at each other, nodded, and said nothing else about it.
Li felt like his part was done, and moved over to his own bed in the other corner, Peter didn't protest and so Li took that as permission to go to sleep.
As Li tried to close himself off from the world, long enough to fall asleep, he knew the others had continued to talk, but he did not listen, instead tried his best to will sleep to come. It did come. Eventually.
Li woke up when he wanted to, no alarm could ever succeed in waking him, so he stopped using one long ago.
Normally Li would wake up slowly, needing to go through his morning routine before being considered living. Today was different though.
Today his eyes shot wide open as soon as he regained consciousness. A dreamless sleep last night. He was pleased with that, but it worried him. He always had the same dream. He put it out of his mind and sat up.
With eyes unblinking, searing at the light that they were absorbing, he stood, and walked out the door.
The rest of team PLYM stirred as the door slammed shut, a very out of character act for Li. The twins locked eyes and seemed somewhat concerned, but left it alone and went back to sleep. Peter never looked up, but only shifted in his bed.
Li walked. Just walked. He was still wearing the same casual clothing he had worn yesterday, never changing out of it before collapsing into his bed.
He saw some first years rushing to the locker rooms and felt curious, he was sure he could follow them and go to the emerald forest, but he knew that wouldn't be a smart idea.
Instead he walked out the front gates, and wandered about the city of Vale. It was 5:00 when Li had woken up, and it took him just over an hour to reach the centre of Vale; he stopped in the central courtyard.
He stayed looking out to each and every street for a number of minutes, taking it all in. After some time, Li walked to the street on his left, heading east, straight towards the Vale police station.
Li walked up to the double doors, lightly pushing one open a whisper, to see who was behind the front desk.
Once he saw short brown/blonde hair and cloudy blue eyes, he pushed the door open fully, if not a bit restrained.
He walked up to the desk making no sound at all, but the sound of the door closing behind him alerted the officer to the visitors presence. Without missing a beat, and without looking up from his computer, the officer spoke, "Good morning citizen, how may I help you today?" The officer spoke with calm courtesy, but with no compassion. Clearly having to go through the same motions day in and day out left this officer broken.
"I have come to see an old friend," Li replied in a cold, fearful tone. "I'm not sure he will want to see me though."
The officer's eyes widened as he recognised the voice and understood the meaning. "Li..?" he said, eyes still not moving from the screen, but not seeing anything either. "I haven't seen you... in almo... exactly a year."
"You haven't seen me at all yet, Jun." Li teased, trying to break the awkwardness with a very out of character joke.
The officer, whose badge stated he was 'Officer Westtree', finally looked up at Li.
Li was cursing himself for even coming in, and was preparing to run out the door as soon as Jun started to berate him, however when Li looked up from his suddenly interesting feet, he noticed Jun's beaming smile.
Li was taken aback by the happiness emanating from Jun, and even told him so, "why are you so happy to see me?" Jun's smile changed from one of joy, to one of jovial spirit, and he wheeled around the desk and spun at Li's legs. Jun beckoned Li to bend down to his own height, about a metre off the floor.
Li cautiously knelt down, still expecting some assault or trick, when suddenly Jun's arms crashed around him and brought Li into an embrace that he had not felt since being a young child in his father's shop. "Because I have missed you, and I am so glad to see you, Li!" beamed Jun, in response to Li's absurd question.
Li and Jun spent some time talking, never bringing up their history, but instead only joking with each other and talking about what they have been up to.
Li still being the way he was, never let too much slip out, and skirted over any personal questions, always trying to flip the question back onto Jun. They both knew that the other wasn't quite letting it all out, but they both knew the other couldn't let it out, and may never will.
Li had missed Jun more than he admitted; he had never found anyone he got along with so well, not for a long time at least. It was nearing 9:00, when Li and Jun noticed the time, both having places to be, they parted ways once more, but not for long, they knew they would be seeing more of each other.
Li made it back to class by 9:30, opting to jog back rather than saunter the way he had when leaving Beacon that morning.
He was late, and Oobleck chastised him for it, and he heard snickers and felt eyes on him, but as he often had, he ignored it all, but for the first time, simply let it all slide right off of him, rather than absorb it all.
He sat after issuing a formal apology in the form of his signature salute to Oobleck, and began listening intently, and copying down all the notes he had missed out on. It being Oobleck, there was a lot he was missing, however, staying a few extra minutes at the end, gave him the time to copy it all down.
The rest of the day went by in a haze, he listened and took notes in all his classes, but for once, he felt something else as well, pride? No. Happiness? No. whatever it was, Li relished the real emotion, and let it wash over him.
He ended his classes and headed off to sit on his favoured bay window.
Today he looked out over the city and instead of feeling empty; He felt something... else. He still did not know what it was, but he knew it was something. It was new, and exciting.
It was late afternoon when he had gotten to the bay window, and since then, he had heard the ceremony for all the new teams being created. He couldn't hear names or any words, but he heard cheers, laughs and a soft hum of the small talk as the courtyard had emptied. He wondered if anyone had a similar experience to him, when he was assigned teams. He doubted it. There were no sullen sounds, or solemn claps, it seemed to be a positive ceremony. He envied that, but he felt glad no-one else would be feeling how he felt, at least for another year.
Another hour or so passed, and he heard a somewhat familiar rustle behind him. Li turned to see the Amber eyes staring at him again, but this time they were not fearful eyes, but curious.
"Hello there!" Li said casually, not realising that he had a smile smeared across his face.
"Hi..." the amber eyes replied cautiously.
Li patted the seat to beckon her over, and laid out the bay window rules, "This is a secret place. This is a quiet place. But most of all, this is NOT a private place. Not anymore. If you want to sit and enjoy silence, then join me. As long as you follow the rules, I won't bite!" Li was even surprised by his own forthcoming nature.
It must have worked, as the Amber eyes moved forwards, to reveal a tall slender woman. She was clad in black and white battle gear, and sported an adorable bow upon her head.
Li realised she must be a freshman, as only a freshman would still be wearing their combat gear in the school today. Li shuffled his legs into a crossed sit, back against the wall, and he turned trying to ignore the beautiful girl beside him, to follow his own rules.
She sat softly and pulled up her legs to her chest, looking out over the city. The two sat in silence for hours. Neither looked at the other, only the setting sun. The only interruption was Li taking out his scroll and snapping some more pictures for today. She noticed it, and seemed curious, but she did not forget the rules, and left it be.
Li decided he should be the first to leave; this freshman clearly needed some time alone to think, so he bid her a quiet goodbye, saluting and whispering, "You are welcome here anytime, but please don't tell too many people about it!"
The statement was more a plea than a demand. Li could not imagine losing his own personal quiet area so quickly in the semester. Li slowly walked back to his room, content, for the first time in a long time. He reached the room, and found it empty; he changed to his sleeping garb, long grey pyjama trousers, black beanie, and a deep navy long sleeve tee.
He found sleep easy tonight, and he dreamt again. He couldn't decide if that was a good or bad sign.