53 CHPT 53: Black cloud
"Fucking Deviant survivor psycho's." James mumbled while getting up from the frosted ground.
Ursula felt a stab of pain in her heart at his verbal jab, but decided she didn't need to further embarrass him.
"Hehe. Sorry" Ursula said while scratching her upper arm shyly. The complete change in character confused some and charmed others. After a few seconds, an agonizing burning pain on her hand started to scream for her attention. She turned her hand up to her face and saw a nasty burn focused at the center of her palm as clear as day.
"You'll need to get that healed in the Infirmary, Ursula." Prof. Demetria said to her while the students continued to quietly whisper and watch her uneasily.
"Oh no, I'm fine. I can keep going— ah!" Ursula attempted to protest against her Professors suggestion but was quickly shut down by the professor grabbing her hand and tightly pressing her spindly index finger against Ursula's burn.
Prof. Demetria met Ursula's eyes with a proud expression. "Ursula, your tough....and obviously your on a mission to prove yourself so I understand your haste to make progress, which you've made today. Now, even if you wanted to continue— your mana is probably shot. So, you go to the Infirmary and get yourself fixed up....you'll need a good hand for your next class won't you?"
Ursula almost choked at Prof. Demetria's comment. In her battle with James, she forgot she'd be seeing Claude in her next class.
***
She sat in the white walled room —that belonged to the Infirmary, on the bed closed to the door. Every now and then first year students would come in with similar low risk injuries from weapons or the elements. She figured second and third years didn't find themselves in the Infirmary often because their classmates that were Healers probably helped them out on the spot.
"Hello miss, can I get your name and place of injury?" A young Asian woman in a robe that matched the colors of the University asked with a clipboard held in her delicate hands.
"Ursula.....and it's my right hand." She said while showing the burn to the Healer.
"Oh ok, not too bad." The Healer said brightly.
"Oh! By the way, I'll need your full name, Ursula."
Ursula hesitated for a moment before irritatedly responding. "Legrand, Ursula Legrand."
The Healer began jotting it down on the paper attached to her clipboard. She stopped midway and whispered the last name to herself a couple times before Ursula could almost see a light go off in her brain.
"Oh....My.....God"
"God dammit." Ursula thought.
"Are you related to anyone in the—...excuse me, The Grand Knights Guild?!" She asked with an elated expression on her pretty face.
The Healers raised voice attracted the attention of some of the students and other Healers and Doctors within the Infirmary. Ursula clenched her uninjured hand in anger. "Not by choice." She thought before responding.
"Yea, my father is a distant cousin of Rory Legrand." She lied with a warm smile on her face.
The Healers excitement visibly died down as if Ursula lost all importance in that very instant. "Oh....that's very cool!" She said adding a hint of fake enthusiasm.
"Anyway, how about we get this hand healed up." She said.
"Right." Ursula said while bringing her burned hand over to the Healer.
***
Now that her hand was healed, Ursula headed down the stairs with an overwhelming feeling of doom— it hung thickly over her head like a black cloud that blotted out the sun and its rays of positive thoughts and emotions. She couldn't help but assume the worst. Samuel and Tai, who were also out with injuries from those monsters in the Deviant, came back different. They'd always been rotten for all she knew, but now it was brought further to the surface— along with something else. She couldn't explain it fully but everyone was wary of them....like some part deep inside of all the students knew they were incredibly dangerous and unstable. The last thing she wanted to see when she exited the building and entered the training field was Claude like that....rotten...evil...infected with something dark and unrecognizable.
She hit the bottom of the steps and stood in the main hall of the University. She felt like she was going to throw up. While picking at the light wrapping around her healed hand anxiously, she headed down the long thin hallway that led to Training along with a crowd of students.
***
Ursula pushed through the doors and felt the outside air against her skin slowly relaxing her. The temperature was cooler and the sun dropped a bit as late day approached. She opened her eyes and looked at the students in the field with urgency. Her breaths felt quick and erratic while she scanned the field.
"Ah!"
She jumped as the door behind her opened again thinking he would appear right behind her. It wasn't who she thought it was.
"He's not here?" Warren asked as he let the door swing closed behind him.
"No, you didn't see him while you were walking here?" Ursula asked.
"Uh...no. I wasn't exactly looking but maybe he left early, I mean when I saw him he looked pretty terrible."
"It's been weeks, dammit." Ursula said angrily with a defeated expression, before heading to the field and warming up for their group laps with the rest of class.
***
"My second time coming to this class, and I'll be late again. What the fuck!" Claude said angrily while he sped down the steps to get to Training.
His body and mind were just beginning to relax after the events that transpired during his interrogation earlier in the day, and now he had to face his friend that he failed to protect and the students who sentenced them both to death. By the time he hit the bottom of the steps he was decently agitated and anxious.
His thoughts came back to someone he ran into in the morning as he stood in the main hall.
"Prof. Raizen really works here now. I wonder if I'll somehow be able to work with him even though I can't use lightning." Claude thought optimistically
His nostrils flared and his head snapped to the hall that led to the training field. "Honey." The sweet smell filled his nose and mouth as if he was literally tasting it in the air. He focused on the scent and noticed it almost hand an aftertaste—if smells could even have that. Another sweet but electrifying smell came with the familiar scent of honey. Not too different from the scent the doctor was permeating all that time ago when he woke up for the first time.
"[Anxiety. It smells very much like fear.]" Arne chimed in.
"She's anxious." Claude though curiously.
He sniffed again and noticed the alarming scent of Samuel and Tai, prompting an adrenaline rush within him that loosened the grips on his control.
"Breathe....breathe." He told himself in between deep breaths. He turned and looked down the hall, hearing the voices of students as they moved and passed through the grass field.
"Alright, let's go." He told himself as he began to walk down the hallway and head to Training.
***
Claude focused on the pungent smell of Samuel and Tai to let his anger overpower his fear and anxiety as he pushed open the doors and stepped outside.
The students looked at him with barely contained physical recoil. He stood under the sun with a ripped t-shirt that hugged his arms and torso and pants that hung too short revealing his ankles like he grew exponentially overnight. The wind blew causing his long jet black hair to sway in front of his face and slightly mask his enraged expression.
He gripped his bag that held his sword and books tightly as he returned the stares of every student. Despite his complete.....metamorphosis, the students that were in that Deviant knew exactly who they were looking at. This was the student who swore to kill them all if he survived, and they all believed it.
