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Part III

1 month later.

Mary Sue dove, as fast as lightening, narrowly avoiding the fire balls aimed at her head. After the rough impact of landing into the dirt, she rolled around in a frenzy when she whiffed the scent of something burning. She was forced to stop when common sense reminded her she was still in the middle of training.

"Mary Sue, this is getting ridiculous. Cast a damn spell," she was ordered by Kent, her superior.

Mary Sue jumped back up to face Kent. "I only have one counter spell and it always ends with the same results. Aren't you getting fed up with repeating the same scenario every time you train me." Mary Sue waved her hands in the air. "You throw fire." She pointed at Kent. "I make you miss your target." She redirected here fingers to her chest. Her fingers fanned out and she drew out a long sigh. "I am a useless recruit."

"Says who?"

"Dreggo for sure," she mumbled under her breath. And myself, she added in her head.

"Did you know every time I train with you, the range of how far your opponent misses increases by a fraction? Always increases. Do you know how important that can be? Applying that spell not to even just another magic knight but multiple of them?"

Mary Sue swayed slightly. A sudden feeling of heaviness expanded in her core.

"Be proud of what you can create. We train to build and be better."

"I, um, can we have a small break?" She asked, her voice warbling with emotion.

Kent cleared his throat. "Uh, sure. Be back in 10."

Mary Sue ducked away behind the line of trees surrounding their training area. She clenched and unclenched her fists as she paced her steps in-between trees. Her breaths were becoming quick and shallow as her recognition of her surrounding began to vanish. When she could not stand it anymore, she fell to her knees. She wanted to sob. She wanted to scream. She wanted to show her emotions but she never knew if she was truly alone since joining the Gray Deer so she squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed her emotions.

She was smothered with good will, encouragement and praise from her squad mates and her captain. It was a fucking nightmare. After joining this squad she had lost her one outlet for putting her luck at bay. No more petty fortunes. Day in and out she cast her fucking miss your target spell. Her magic wasn't growing into anything more. Julius had been wrong. All she had was petty fortune and the Mary Sue citizen life she was settled into. Asking her to be more? She was a joke and they were too blind to see the truth. The curse of her luck offering affinity for others to like her.

It was a miracle Dreggo still hated her. It was the only sense of normalcy she cultivated while living at the Gray Deer magic knight's base. Julius was the worst of the positive psychos who "believed" in her. Kent came in a close second.

She had tried leaving. She had! But her fate had denied her. It steered her back when she had tried running away. Her conversations with Julius when this was on her mind were always interrupted. She was 'meant' to be here and she fucking hated it. She was close enough to casting a spell on herself but none of them lead her to believe they would offer her an exit anyways.

"Mary Sue!" Kent called after her and Mary Sue cringed knowing her pity party was over with. She drew in a deep breath to collect herself. She had to resume 'trying' again.

When she returned to the open field, she found Kent standing tall with an easy going smile. Welcoming as ever! His smile exuded warmth on top of the boyish charm. His caramel eyes shined with nauseating positivity. She wanted to comb his dark hair over them to mask that.

Mary Sue deflated under his gaze. She couldn't not try when he was being so nice. It was bothersome.

"Alright, now-"

"Kent, we're needed at Hillcrest Village. Diamond kingdom mages are attacking," Dreggo interrupted, flying over their heads on his broom. Mary Sue was immediately guilty over her relief for a break from training.

"Damn it! Come on Mary Sue," Kent ordered, waving his hand to her.

"Not her. She stays," Dreggo sneered. Mary Sue resisted from jumping for joy.

Kent shook his head. "Not this time. Captain's orders, Dreggo."

To her surprise, Dreggo muffled his displeasure before saying, "Fine. You babysit while I do the real work. It's just us. Caulk went out to get more support."

To call for more aid, Mary Sue understood this threat was serious. She even hesitated from summoning her broom, agreeing with Dreggo. She would drag the team down. She was not ready for combat yet.

"Come, Mary Sue, you're riding with me."

"I can fly by myself," she announced, allowing herself some small measure of dignity.

"Then speed it up, idiot," Dreggo commented. "People's lives are on the line and your magic isn't making the difference when we arrive."

"Dreggo, give it a rest. Let's go, Mary Sue."

It was like Mary Sue had a knife to her throat. Or that's how she rationalized it. Make a decision. Agree with Dreggo and use it as her excuse to show Julius she was not worthy…or follow Kent's commands. She closed her eyes for a split second. Something pulled her, she followed its tug and opened her eyes. She was one step closer to Kent. Fate or luck or whatever you called it was showing her the right move. Or the way.

She wanted to resist. To revolt. But…her concern over what would happen if she wasn't there threatened to align with the option she needed to go. Pushy yet sneaky. Luck made her bend to its will, just like her captain.

Mary Sue hopped on her broom and trailed both of her squad mates.

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Casual Note:

This was short but an update so readers know I am still working on this story.

Part III was supposed to be longer. It is about 6k words thus far. But I am still working on it, as the rest of Part III will become Part IV. I am trying to do more research into characters which is why I am taking longer and I am flushing out a battle scene. Hopefully, you're still with me. Also in part IV we will gain more understanding of Mary Sue's backstory. As arubaturos boldly pointed out to me in a PM, Mary Sue is slowly realizing that her luck and desire do not always go together.

Also, please be patient with her character development. Part IV should ignite a turn of perception in Mary Sue's world ;)

Thanks, hope you enjoyed. ~Pixelephant