Lapse

Vollax woke up in a cold sweat, his head throbbing and pulsing with pain.

Opening his eyes, Vollax found it hard to keep them open in response to the overly bright light glaring at him from all sides in the nurse's room. And so Vollax rubbed his eyes with his hands and just left them in that position to hide from the blinding light.

'The gift is as shitty as always...' Vollax thought to himself bitterly. It turned out like this every time he overused his gift. One would think that Vollax would be used to it by now. But he wasn't. It just never got easier for him. Every time he would try to brace himself. And every time he would end up like this.

"....You're awake." A cold voice spoke out to him beside him.

Despite her soft voice, Vollax still felt a stinging sensation strike his brain through his ears like someone jammed their finger in there.

"Arghh, please shut up for a while," Vollax snapped as he clamped his ears shut trying to ease the pain. Though to do that, Vollax had to remove his hands from his eyes. Now another problem popped up and Vollax spiraled down a staircase of misery trying to ease his pain.

Luna just watched silently as Vollax switched between his ears and eyes constantly with almost comedic timing. A trace of pity flashed past Luna's eyes as she decided to keep quiet and waited for Vollax to basically stop punching himself in the face.

30 minutes later, a tired and worn-out Vollax stared at the ceiling blankly. He had finally reached a compromise and covered his eyes with his pink bangs while cupping his ears with his hands to lessen the sound.

Shifting his head slightly, Vollax finally asked, "Did you have fun watching me?"

Luna couldn't see it, but Vollax stared with judgment in his eyes. Although he wanted to know why the girl was still here after knowing that he tried to peep into her thoughts, he wanted to know something else even more.

'Did she find my suffering funny...' Vollax thought to himself as he waited for an answer, all the time his gaze never left Luna.

While Vollax could just read thoughts, he relied more on his natural ability, to tell the truth from lies. After all, he didn't want to end up in a hospital bed every time he wanted to know if someone was lying.

While Vollax was sure of his ability, he was not so sure if he could find out about Luna. After all, even after observing her for over a week, Vollax still couldn't tell what she was thinking of. This made him less sure if he really could tell if Luna lied or not.

After a few seconds, Luna finally gave Vollax her answer.

"....I didn't..." Luna answered while shaking her head. Right after, she looked Vollax straight in the eyes as earnestly as she could to tell him that she wasn't lying.

Vollax started back at her. Neither of them said a word until Vollax broke the silence with a sigh. Shifting his head to face back at the ceiling Vollax thought to himself.

'I guess I'll just say she didn't lie.'

While Vollax wanted to believe what Luna had told him, something just prevented him from doing so. But in response to Luna's earnest gaze, he just decided to compromise with himself.

"....why did you want....to know my thoughts so badly?" Luna finally asked after a silence had already settled in between the two.

"It's just a habit," Vollax answered flippantly.

"...." Luna just stared at Vollax in silence but this time she didn't say anything.

Shaking her head a little, Luna wordlessly got up and started to leave.

"Wait. Before you go. Why did you help me to get to the nurse?" Vollax asked curiously.

Luna paused in front of the door and answered Vollax without turning back.

"Because I know how bad nausea can be."

With those words, Luna left Vollax all alone in the small room.

'Wierd girl.' Vollax thought for a second before returning to his observation of the ceiling.

------------------

Luna headed out and decided to head toward the training room. She had already missed a class due to Vollax and she decided that it was better to train for the rest of the time instead of attending a class halfway.

'Vollax huh? He must have had some traumatic experiences..' Luna thought to herself as she navigated the hallways.

'Aggressive, defensive about some things, and acts without regard for others.'

'Maybe it's related to his gift.' Luna concluded as she finally reached the training room. Changing into a set of gym clothes, Luna headed out of the changing room to the weapons wall.

Picking up a staff, Luna twirled it in her hand to get a feel for the weapon.

Satisfied with her initial assessment, Luna started to go through some movements. Rigid to smooth. Flowing to abruptly stopping. Luna practiced all sorts of different movements to warm up.

Finishing up, Luna moved on to a set of exercises related to her family's martial art. Going through the motions, Luna moved with mechanical accuracy, replicating the exact movements of the art bringing out its deadly potential with even just a staff.

'Alright time to add my gift to the motion,' Luna thought to herself and activated her gift.

A faint ringing of chains resonated in the empty training room creating a faint chorus of eerie sounds. Gray chains slid out of the ground and attached themselves to the staff. Luna let the other end of the chains attach them to her forearms. Still holding onto the staff with one hand, Luna started to go through the same exercise to practice the martial art. But this time, with the added chains, Luna expanded the number of steps.

Whipping the staff from overhead, Luna let go and the staff continued on its downward trajectory. Yanking the upper end of the chain while letting the lower end lose, Luna changed the staff's entire momentum making it spiral up and back into her hands.

Spinning the staff, Luna loosened the chains and the clinking sounds resounded even more powerfully in the room.

Making phantom movements with the staff, Luna directed the chains connected to the staff to attack, defend, and just flow for her.

Finally finishing up with the movements, Luna paused to catch her breath.

"WOW! That was so good!" A voice called out from the side of Luna.

Luna whipped her head to the side to see a girl standing there with literal stars in her eyes.

"...thanks," Luna just managed to get out before the girl rushed over to her and started to pepper her with praise.

"That was amazing!"

"How can you move like that?"

"Are those chains part of your weapon?"

"I just wanna say it again, but that was an amazing demonstration!"

"I wanna go up against that just to get a feel for it. Is it okay with you if we have a spar?"

Luna observed the girl in front of her with a guarded expression. Light brown hair spilled over from the bun that was tied up on her head while clear brown eyes gazed at Luna with interest.

The girl was still in the academy uniform while bouncing in excitement to have a spar.

But the most unusual thing about her was...

'A bow...' Luna thought as she shifted her eyes to the weapon clutched in the girl's hands.

"So? What do you say?" The brunette interrupted Luna's thoughts and asked once more.

Impatience sparked from her eyes as the brunette urged Luna silently.

'Should I really.....' Luna's thoughts trailed off after seeing the girl's excitement.

".....sure..." Luna finally responded, not wanting to dampen the girl's enthusiasm.

"Yes!" the girl exclaimed. "My name is Tea by the way. I already know you though. A new transfer student always creates a buzz." Tea shot out while moving to the weapons wall.

Luna followed, barely being able to keep up with the conversation. Tea laid her bow on the ground and paused in front of the wall of weapons.

Luna watched, confused as to why Tea would not use her primary weapon.

"If you're wondering why I'm not using the bow is because it isn't my main weapon," Tea responded after feeling Luna's eyes on her.

'What? How did she-' Luna started thinking that Tea might have some sort of mind reader gift like Vollax when Tea spoke up again.

"Oh, and I get asked that a lot."

"...."

"Now what should I pick?~"

Tea scanned the wall once more and then decided to pick up a spear.

"Alright, let's get down to business!" Tea exclaimed and moved to the center of the room.

Luna followed wordlessly and both of them got ready. Tea took a standard stance with the spear while Luna readied herself according to her family's martial art.

Impatient to start the fight, Tea moved first closing in the distance between the two.

"Don't go easy now!" She shouted as she thrust the spear to try to stab Luna.

Sweeping the staff, Luna parried the attack and stepped back.

Following up, Tea moved up and continued to attack relentlessly. Thrust, sweep, diagonal wave, and other patterns and forms of attack. Tea threw all of them at Luna settling into an upbeat and fast rhythm of attacking.

But Luna just parried each attack and dodged the ones that were too hard to block.

'I guess that's it....time to counter.' Luna concluded her analysis of Tea's attacks and decided it was time to attack.

Parrying the next thrust, Luna suddenly moved forward this time. Using the other end of her staff, Luna swung it at Tea's head. Ducking, Tea dodged the attack only to collide directly with Luna's knee.

"AH," Tea exclaimed in pain and reeled backward.

Luna followed up hitting Tea's hand making her drop the spear. And finishing the movement, Luna knocked Tea to the ground and placed the staff on Tea's neck.

Gulping audibly, Tea hit her head back onto the ground in defeat.

"Alright, you win," Tea sighed in defeat.

"..."

"That was awesome! How did you move like that? Could you give some pointers?" Tea started to ask Luna while still on the ground.

"..." Luna didn't answer Tea. Still holding the staff on Tea's neck, Luna's mind was elsewhere.

"Do it."

"Just kill her."

"Stain the floor with her blood."

"Free us."

"DO IT."

"KILL-"

Luna snapped out of it just in time to see Tea staring at her with a pale face.

"Um, could you let me go now?" Tea could barely speak with the end of the staff pressing down on her throat.

"Sorry!" Luna exclaimed in shock and backed away.

Still clutching the staff, Luna breathed out trying to calm herself down.

Tea sat up rubbing her throat.

"So about those pointers-"

"... It's not...a good time now." Luna interrupted as fast as she could. Dropping her staff with difficulty, Luna grabbed her uniform and rushed out while still wearing her training outfit.

Pressing her lips into a line, Tea muttered out loud, "Did she find me too annoying or something?"

Luna rushed out breathing erratically. Her palms felt slick as she hugged herself trying to warm up. Her body continued to be ice cold as she tried her best to warm up.

*Thump* *Thump* ** ** **Thump ** *Thump* *Thump* *Thump* .....

Like a cluster of bells ringing, Luna felt her heart beat hard, in fact, she could almost hear it in her ears.

Bumping into someone, Luna shot forward, trying to avoid talking to them.

Like that she barreled through groups of people, sometimes avoiding them and other times walking straight through them. Each time, Luna just dipped her head and continued to make her way forward. Her mouth seemed to have sealed itself shut, even making a single noise seemed like an impossible exercise for Luna.

An unknown amount of time passed and Luna found herself walking out of the academy gates, towards a building that she had been to quite a few times in the past few days.

*Thump* *Thump* ** *Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

Luna's heart rate almost returned to usual as she stood outside Spectrum Hospital staring at the entrance.