205. Unique Twofold
There was nothing but darkness around him. He couldn't see what he was standing on, but it seemed to be a smooth surface. There was wind swirling around of him, gently caressing his cheeks, messing up his hair. He took a deep, silent breath. Silent? Suddenly he realized how quiet it was. Too quiet. He should be able to hear the wind, his breath, … anything. But there was nothing. It was oppressing. He gasped, suddenly the wind picked up, ripped at his clothes, pushed and pulled him. He began to struggle to stay in an upright position. He had to go somewhere, but he didn't know where to, everything was black, there was nothing in front of him, nothing behind him, there was just nothingness. He began to scream, but no sound escaped his lips. The wind became too strong. He stumbled forward on the suddenly uneven ground, trying to orient himself. There was just darkness and silence. He fell to the ground, making the first sound. It was a loud crack and simultaneously everything around him shattered into pieces. Shards were picked up by the wind, whipped against his skin. And then he fell.
Ritsuka jerked up into a sitting position. Panting heavily, he rubbed his eyes and tried to calm down. Groggily, he searched for the light switch, but his fingers only met with a plain metal nightstand next to his bed. He tensed up and looked around frantically, trying to figure out where he was. He could make out the vague forms of a bare room, two rows of beds, little nightstands next to them. The only source of light was coming from the moon shining in through the window. Why wasn't he at home? Why did his limbs feel so heavy, his mind foggy and his whole body drained? Something had happened; he knew about it already. He was sure that all he had to do was start thinking about it. He had the vague impression that he didn't want to remember, his body and mind yelling at him to just go back to sleep... to just forget...
But the train of thoughts could not be stopped anymore. Slowly but steadily the fog in his mind lifted and his memories returned: Soubi walking away with Seimei, the fight with his mother, his ignored good-bye, the encounter with Speechless and finally his arrival at the school. He began to tremble slightly, reliving each one of those moments, replaying them over and over again. After some agonizing minutes – or had it been mere seconds? - Ritsuka managed to block the images and took a shuddering breath. His head snapped up as he heard a sudden voice come from his right. "Concluding from your reaction, I assume that you remember yesterday's events." Ritsuka's eyes found a figure sitting not far from his bed. How could he have overlooked him? He could make out Minami Ritsu's tall and lean form, sitting upright on a typical plastic hospital-chair; a lightly-colored blindfold was covering his eyes. Ritsuka remained silent as the teacher continued, "It took you long enough. Don't expect me to always be as patient with you. Don't get used to it." There was a little pause as if Ritsu expected Ritsuka to counter something.
"Alright, on to topic. I've been told that you fought alone against Speechless. Where was your fighter?"
Ritsuka stared intently at the blanket and didn't reply. He flinched when Ritsu commanded in a sharp tone:
"Answer, kid! As mentioned before: I am not a patient person." Ritsuka kept his eyes locked on the creases of the white fabric and mumbled, "He... isn't my fighter anymore. My br... Seimei picked him up." - his voice was barely a whisper.
"Explain! What happened? I want to hear about it in detail. "
After Ritsuka's forced explanation Ritsu's lips turned into slight smirk, "so, this means Seimei has no more interest in you? Am I correct?"
Ritsuka closed his eyes and nodded once.
"I can't see you!"
Ritsuka clenched his hands into tight fists, "yes, Sensei."
"Pity. Would've come in handy."
"I'm not some sort of bait!" Ritsuka spat. He was now seething with anger. Seemingly unaware of the boy's distress, Ritsu ignored him and went silent for a while. Lost in thought, he talked to himself: "... hmmm.. Soubi won't be here then... that changes quite a lot of my plans..." Something odd was laced into Ritsu's voice – was it disappointment?
Ritsuka began to calm down. For the first time he was glad that Soubi wasn't with him anymore. He would've hated every second of his stay at this school. Last time, even with direct orders, he had been reluctant to accompany Ritsuka.
Ritsuka was snapped out of his thoughts, when Ritsu started talking again.
"The reason why I persistently sent out teams to pick you up and bring you to the academy, is that your battle frequency is quite... interesting. It's not the normal sacrifice-frequency but something stronger. It has a different tone. You shouldn't be able to make it out since it's your own... Anyway, yesterday's incidents finally put some light into that. In retrospect, I don't know how I could have missed it. It's so obvious and simple – yet so brilliant."
Ritsuka looked up confused. He was able to make out other team's frequencies, but he had never felt a difference between sacrifices and fighters. Why had nobody ever told him that there was something weird about him? How come there was always something odd about him? Couldn't he at least be normal in the fighter-world...
Ritsu went on:"You are not a mere sacrifice. You are more than that: You are a fighter as well." - Ritsu was almost fidgeting in his chair. Leaning forward with a – for Ritsu unfitting – excited expression, he somehow seemed to stare intently at Ritsuka through the blindfold. Ritsuka's eyes widened. "What? No, .. what? That's not possible.. Soubi?"
"Exactly - Soubi: He wasn't there when Speechless attacked you. Doesn't it strike you as odd that you've been in a battle all alone?"
"Uhm.. not really? I mean, Soubi fights alone all the ti.. "
"Yes, because Soubi is a fighter", Ritsu cut in. As Ritsuka continued to look at him confused, the teacher huffed annoyed and began to explain: "Didn't Soubi teach you anything? Sacrifices aren't able to fight alone. They only take the damage, they can't hold up the battle field nor can they direct spells. Their purpose is to be the architect, the strategist of the fight, as well as taking the responsibility for it. The execution is up to the fighter. He is the one who makes it all work. That's why fighters can fight on 'auto'. Sacrifices on the other hand aren't meant to fight; their job is to stay focused on coming up with good tactics and to make sure their fighter can concentrate on their task without being held back by any physical damage. Thus, if a fighter is able to take upon the sacrifice's responsibility, he can fight alone."
"But I didn't fight back! I can't be a fighter."
"First of all, if you weren't, you wouldn't be able to hold up the battlefield and the fight wouldn't even have happened. What did you think? Such a field can't just appear out of nowhere. It feeds of energy the two opponent fighters emit. The stronger the fighters, the bigger the field. Sacrifices don't emit energy, so they are of no use for the field itself. Secondly, you did fight back." Ritsuka opened his mouth to protest but Ritsu went on without hesitation.
"I believe it was subconsciously, but you did cast a spell. Speechless told me you said 'stop'. I must admit, I am quite astonished myself that this simple word turned into a spell, without you even meaning to cast one. It was pretty weak, but it was able to keep the.. fireball – wasn't it? - from burning you completely. No sacrifice should be able to do that."
"So... I am not a sacrifice, but a fighter now?" Ritsuka looked at Ritsu perplexed. The teacher groaned.
"Did you not listen to anything I just said? It's not something temporary, you've been this way since your birth. Also, you are not only a fighter. You are a fighter as well as a sacrifice. You worked as a sacrifice with Soubi, didn't you? If you were only a fighter, you wouldn't have been able to take the damage for him. A fighter can either fight on auto or with a sacrifice, but they can't suddenly become a sacrifice for another fighter. You are the exception to this rule, which makes you quite valuable – which is if you use your abilities accordingly. Thus, you will be trained at this school in both fields. It's a shame you didn't arrive here earlier. Due to your resistance you are far behind the other students your age. I expect you to work hard to catch up and to surpass the other students; you will also receive special training. I will inform you about details tomorrow. As for now, go to sleep! You should be good enough to be released by tomorrow. Come to my office right afterwards. I hope to have your schedule planned by then. Why does the day have only 24 hours? " That little, half crooked grin was gracing the older man's lips again.
"But how..." Ritsuka didn't even know what he wanted to ask. He quickly snapped his mouth shut as Ritsu blocked it in its tracks.
"No more questions. Welcome to the academy. Good night."
He got up abruptly, grabbed his cane and walked straightly to the exist of the infirmary. He stopped once more by the door but did not turn back to Ritsuka.
"Oh, one more thing: No more painkillers for you. They impair your thought process significantly."
AN:
I am very, very, very sorry for letting you wait for such a long time. I've had a really stressful year (final year of school) and I had a major writers block.
I don't know if you even remember this story. I understand if nobody wants to read it anymore.. I just read through all of your lovely comments a couple of weeks ago and got motivated again.
I really hope to update some time soon again, tell me if you are interested.
Apologies for all mistakes - I am still no native speaker and at the moment my beta is unavailable. Please point out errors, I really want to improve!
Thank you for reading, I've missed this fandom