Chapter Text
“I’m gonna bully you every single day from here-on out.” He smirked, the bratty six-year old cornered the small girl.
Her eyes lit up, a fire crackling. Her fist clenched. She looked at Mr Henderson. He was distracted.
She could send him flying right now.
“Huh? What’re you looking at? Scared?” He sneered, he was much taller than her, but even she didn’t know if they were really the same age.
She lifted her fist — Momentum building. He was confused. She was fast. Her fist grazed the hairs on his face. He braced for impact.
But, she kept it there. She kept her fist hanging in the air. And eventually, it swung down.
”Hah?” He smiled, “So you’re just a coward!” He picked her up by the collar; the only reason she didn’t hit him was because of her mother’s saying.
“Don’t let your emotions guide your fist.”
Only she was in trouble right now, so she wouldn’t have an excuse. Her friend stared at her empathetically, she knew that if she stayed near the pink-haired girl, then she’d have a target on her back.. So she ran off. Leaving her ‘friend‘ with his goons.
“Bossman! Doesn’t she look fun to mess with?” The one with the tall haircut chuckled, patting the one with buck-teeth on the back.
She hated them. She hated him. Mama’s a liar, Papa’s plan won’t work.
So she needed to be smart.
The next few years, that’s all she focused on.
Brains.
Grades.
Top score.
Imperial Scholar.
Not a single Tonitrus Bolt to her name.
She was always first in exams, so she became an Imperial Scholar easily.
She didn’t need stupid plan B. That plan had died eight years ago.
Fourteen years old, the first Imperial Scholar in her House. There was a party thrown for her, but she left after half an hour.
Studying. That’s what she needed to do.
Her goal was no longer just plan A. She needed to best Damian Desmond in anyway possible.
He had soon got caught bullying her after a year or two, which earned him three Tonitrus Bolts. She was ecstatic at the news. But he was back on his A-game. No Desmond would go without being an Imperial Scholar.
The boy’s physical and mental state declined.
He suffered.
He suffered way too much for him to handle.
He’d come in with bandaids on his elbow. It was from hitting it, he would say.
She knew the truth.
It was his father, choosing the most inconvenient place to punch him.
Maybe his knee. He’d fall over a lot to make his stories more believable.
Everytime he’d say that, she could see flashes of the bug-eyed man kicking his shins and knees causing his son to kneel on the ground in agony.
Everyone thought that he was finally fixing his relationship with his dad, as he’d get calls in the middle of the night to go and meet him outside of the dorms. She knew everything.
He was a liar too.
And she supposed she was as well.
—
Enough was enough.
She had caught them. She saw the beatdown in action.
It wasn‘t just physical.
He was shouting.
”Nonsense child!”
”Useless.”
”Disgraceful.”
She watched as he was forced to endure it.
Endure it, she had to endure it too.
Endure the anger surging through her body.
What was he doing to her?
She had hated this boy from the first day. He was always so cocky and arrogant. So why was he taking this?
No.
Why was she like this?
All the hatred for the scion immediately got overruled by the face of his father. This man was despicable, she knew that.
She knew he was awful since the first day, he hadn’t even shown up for the family photo.
Its a common fact that he only appears at Imperial Scholar meetings, but not even for his own child’s induction day?
It was disgusting.
He may be rich, but she had something the boy didn’t.. and wouldn’t.
A loving family. Maybe hers was fake and it was all for a mission to take down this despicable man, but she could atleast relish in their warmth and happiness, even if it was a lie.. Even if she had been so heartless.
From this distance, his muffled grunts weren’t loud, but his thoughts were. Disheartening things. Things that she didn’t even want to listen to anymore.
He suddenly turned to the side, her presence finally becoming clear to him.
He made eye-contact with her.
Hazel to green.
It was the girl who ruined his life.
And she knew it.
If she had waited a year or two, maybe the scion would’ve been the first Imperial Scholar, her next.
But no. She’d been selfish, and now he was suffering for it.
She felt sick to her stomach.
It was all her.
She was the root of his suffering.
”How can a stupid commoner girl beat you? A Desmond?!” The man shouted, enough to have authority over him, but not loud enough for anyone to hear.
”You’re an insufferable little brat.” He continued, “Demetrius made me proud. And what are you doing? Being an idio-“
He paused, lecture over for now.
”What’re you looking at?” He finally caught onto the boy’s stare. She locked eyes with the bug-eyed man. He looked like an owl.
His face contorted into one of pure rage. He noticed her Imperial Scholar’s cloak, he didn’t know who she was though. But he was to find out.
It wasn’t an everyday occurrence that you’d see the most important man in Berlint staring you down. It’d cost more than 10,000 dalc to even see him if you didn’t go to Eden. So right now, she was the luckiest girl in the world.
”You.” He snarled, “How old are you?”
A lump in her throat, she wanted to find help. Who could she call? Why couldn’t she swap her telepathy with mind control?
”U-um.. I-I.” She stammered, the smartest girl in the year was at a loss for words.
She looked over to the boy, his face filled with pure fear. He didn’t know what was going to happen to her. But all he knew was that the girl was in trouble.
”Well?” He quickly brought her attention back to him, digging his sharp nails through the cloak his son craved.
”.. An..Andrea Folier.” she bit her tongue from the anxiety.
His nails dug deeper,
”A-Anya Forger!” She screamed, alerting the curiosity from the boy’s henchmen.
They left their window open to hopefully snoop through their conversation.
His father noticed this and spoke quietly so it wouldn’t reach the lounge.
“Ah. So it was you.” He couldn’t risk being there another minute, he heard the shouts of excitement from the dorm.
”Forger. I hope you know there’s a target on your back now.” He snarled and stalked away from the scene just as the two boys, tall and short, sprinted out of the dorm.
They didn’t see anyone there, since the boy had long ran away, grabbing her by the hand. She didn’t know why he tried to hide her away. She had ruined his life.
But, as they got to a far corner of campus, she held him in embrace.
“Don’t stay at that dorm anymore.” She whispered, “I’d let you stay at my house, but Papa wouldn’t be happy to see a boy coming home.”
He sniffed, unsure on why she’s showing him so much kindness. He caught on soon enough though, she had witnessed that whole spectacle.
“I-It’s fine. I won’t go again.” He shivered into her warmth.
She pulled away from the hug and took off her cloak. It felt weird without it, but she gave it to him.
”You can wear it.. until Monday, I guess.” She huffed, her face puffed up and red.
Snot ran down his nose, as his knees were red and elbows blue. He nodded slowly with a soft blush staining his face.
They stared at eachother for a minute, before she excused herself to go get bandaids for him.
He had it rough, and she wanted to support him through it.