16: Smart Guy

                                    

                                          
^^^***Danny concept art included***^^^
Nyx knew exactly what to write to Nate. The night after her fight, she groaned and massaged her still burned shoulder as she sat down at the desk in her room and wrote it all without breaks. Without thinking. She folded up the finished letter, leaving it on her desk so she didn't forget to give it to Matt. She planted herself in her bed, wincing slightly from her muscles being sore from the fight. It was then that her mind started racing.
Why was Anthony acting like that?
Why did he say what he said?
"You don't want to know what they do if you don't fight seriously."
What did they do to him?
Nyx brought her hand up to her face and wiped her eyes, leading to her pinching the bridge of her nose. She didn't want to fight him, she didn't want to fight anyone honestly. Then again, at least she didn't have to fight Nate. Her brow furrowed with worry. She didn't even want to imagine what a fight between them would be like. Would he actually fight her? Or would he throw the fight so no one would get hurt? These thoughts carried her for a long time until Nyx finally fell victim to sleep's gentle embrace.
~~~~~~
It was late afternoon when Nate finally got back to his room the following day. He let out a long yawn as he turned the key in his door. When he opened the door and stepped inside, he heard the sound of paper rustling. Nate looked down and his eyes went wide and an involuntary grin spread across his face. He bent down and picked up the yellow notepad paper that was folded in thirds. It had his name printed on the outside of it.
He quickly shut his door and sat down on his bed. He opened the note with excitement and had his whole attention sucked into it.
Nate,
I'm sorry for taking so long to respond. I was honestly debating on what the hell I would say to you. I guess I should say this first of all, what happened to us was not your fault. It's mine. I was sucked in by Zachariah's charm and you saw right through it. You tried to warn me and I didn't listen. This is on me.
Secondly, I'm assuming that you saw my fight yesterday? I'm not gunna lie, I was scared. I didn't want to fight him but honestly, it felt good to finally cut loose and see what I can do. I didn't even know I could send a blast through my foot through a kick like that. It just came naturally to me.
I'm just glad I didn't have to fight you...I don't think I could bring myself to hurt you. And I'm afraid to find out what they do to people who pull their punches. Anthony said something to me when we were fighting, he said "you don't want to know what they do when you don't fight seriously." I'm not sure what he meant by that but I'm not very eager to find out. Either way, I hope you're doing okay. I miss you.
(And I can't wait to see you kick ass in that arena.)
-N
Nate was smiling by the time he finished the letter. She missed him. He missed her too, a ridiculous amount. But the way he saw it, the only way he was gunna see her was in the arena. Nate rolled over onto his side and stared out the window, he could barely see the stars in the sky because of the bright floodlights that lined the outer walls of the compound. They never turned them off at night, to keep a watchful eye out for nocturnal runaways. It made sleeping kind of difficult, in fact, it took at least a few hours for Nate to actually fall asleep.
He was awakened the next morning by a firm knock at his door. He jolted awake and got up sluggishly.
"Alright, alright!" He yelled out as he lumbered to the door and opened it. His hardened gaze softened slightly when he saw Danny. "Oh, hey man...what are you doing here so early?" Nate yawned out as he scratched his own head. He noticed the bruise on Danny's face, which had turned a darker color.
"I'm always up early." Danny replied with an even tone, "I'm here because I think I've truly figured out Nyx's ability." Danny finished as he pushed up his glasses by the bridge and locked eyes with Nate. Nate's eyes widened with a heightened clarity before he stepped aside and wordlessly allowed Danny inside. Danny stepped inside and sat down in Nate's desk chair as Nate shut the door and quickly sat down on his bed, facing Danny as he crossed his arms and loosely crossed his leg over the other.
"Well? What do ya got?" Nate sounded impatient.
"Well," Danny started as he took his glasses off and breathed on them before continuing while he rubbed the lenses on his jumpsuit. "I stated previously that I suspected her of having control over gravity itself. And while that is still a possibility, there's another possibility that she truly does have simple telekinesis, but has proven to be capable of not only moving objects or people. But moving pockets of space, or creating gravitational anomalies in a space." Danny finished as he put his glasses back on. Nate was left dumbfounded.
"Woah, you really think so?" Nate said after a short and silent moment of gripping eye contact.
"I do. My first suspicion was when she attempted to thrust her hands forward to throw him back and nothing happened. If it were simple Telekinesis, it should have worked with no problem. Especially considering you mentioned that she has become very strong and had a firm grip of her ability. That would imply that she was mistaken with the fine details of her ability, and she needed to focus on a specific place in space, not a specific object." Danny switched legs that were resting on the other before continuing. "Secondly, as I already mentioned, when she brought the weapon to herself she also brought surrounding rocks and dust. These rocks didn't move from normal inertia or momentum, no no. They were brought all the way to her, alongside the weapon." Danny finally finished his concise explanation, leaving Nate dumbfounded again.
"So...you think I should tell her this in my next note, don't you?" Nate asked him quietly.
"If you want her to stand a chance in the arena. She got lucky with her opponent this time, but next time? She could be pinned against a seriously powerful S Class and she won't stand a chance if she doesn't truly understand her ability." Danny glared into Nate's eyes, hoping to convey the seriousness of this situation. Nate gulped as he was locked into Danny's empty looking grey eyes. Nate looked down for a moment, then stood up swiftly.
"Move." Nate said quietly, Danny understood that he meant no malice by it and moved out of the way, he knew that Nate had a letter to write.
~~~~~~~~
The next morning, Nyx heard a knock on her door just as she was waking up. She lumbered out of bed and started walking towards her door before a flash of yellow appearing from under the door caught her eye. She looked down to see another letter, for some reason it put her on edge. It was definitely his handwriting, but it looked rushed like he had written it frantically. Nyx quickly opened the door and poked her head out, looking left and right. The hallway was empty, she made a confused face before going back in her room and shutting the door. She sat down on her bed and opened the note, she read it thoroughly, shock slowly spreading across her face. Then she read it again, and again, and again. Until she dropped it on the ground and stared blankly into space for a few minutes, processing the information she had just learned.
I can...manipulate gravity?
Her mind was racing, that would explain so much, like why it was so difficult to grasp her ability. She slowly started to understand why she was placed in A-Class. However, after she shows her true mettle in the arena...they might change her class. Still though, she needed to get stronger,
Time for some practice.