Part 15 - That hurt

Y/n

TW!!! INJURY AND BLOOD!!

"Hey guys!"

Bianca's head turned at the sound of my voice, and she smiled as I approached the group.

"Hey girl, get over here."

She welcomed me with a small hug before I went to go stand next in between Kent and Wednesday, while Eugene stood a little out of the circle, probably nervous about joining.

I tried not to look at Ajax, as I knew it would cloud my mind, and right now I needed to focus on winning. But I could see him out of the corner of my eye glancing at me occasionally.

Bianca turns to us.

"Guess the nightshades are back."

Enid and Bruno walk up, pushing Eugene aside as they insert themselves into the circle.

Okay, rude.

"Bruno and I want in."

Them saying that gave Eugene the courage to speak up.

"So do I."

Ajax clicks his tongue, sighing as he looks at them with a mock apologetic look. He gestures with his hand to our half of the circle.

"Aw, man. I'm sorry. This is a Nightshades-only team."

Enid glares at him, while I snort under my breath.

Okay so maybe he was able to move on after all. I admired his pettiness. 

Everybody else didn't seem as fond of the way he talked. They were just giving him dirty looks and glares.

He looks at me, being the only one who wasn't annoyed at him right now. Well, at least not for that. And I just shrug. He sighs and turns back to Enid and the others.

"But, sure. Go ahead."

I look back and forth between the group.

"So what's the plan."

Ajax turns his attention to me.

"Well we can guard the zephyr. I'll stone and you can siren anyone who gets near us."

...

What.

Okay, I was all for outrageous plans, but this was down right insane. He knew how I felt about using my power, and there were two other perfectly good people who could do the same thing as me, so why the fuck would he choose me.

"Uhm.."

I was getting a few looks from the others. Some sympathetic, some confused. 

My gaze wanders to the crowd behind us, and I spot Pugsley, who was looking over here. As soon as we made eye contact, he held both if his hands in a thumbs up gesture and smiled at me.

Fuck it.

"Yeah, sure."

Ajax nods and gives me a small grateful smile.

I know it was a risky move agreeing to this. But there's gotta be a good reason he chose me. Plus, if I had said no I would've let the team down.

Enid then speaks up after we established the defense.

"The rest of us will be on the attack."

Everybody seems to agree on the plan, now it actually had be put in play and get us to victory.

Kruger calls out from behind us, which catches everybody's attention.

"Good luck freaks."

He stares over here with a creepy smirk before turning back to his cadets.

He shouted at them once again, something about a strike team, and defeat is not an option.

Wimps. We'll win easy peasy, then they can run home crying to their mommies.

Once both teams assigned their respective tasks, Principal Dort fires the starting gun, and the battle begins.

Each of the teams runs in the opposite direction to different parts of the woods.

Our team ran until a fork in the road, and since Eugene was on the attacker side, I call out to him and he stops momentarily.

"Hey! Be careful okay?"

He smiles and holds his fist out to me. I bump it with my own before returning the smile.

"Winners, yeah?"

He nods.

"Winners."

Ajax calls out to me from further down the path.

"Y/n come on!"

Eugene and I both go our separate ways, and I shout back at Ajax.

"Yeah yeah keep your panties on!"

I run down the path with him, making our way to where our zephyr to protect had been stationed.

««« ♪ ♪ »»»

I still didn't get it.

I mean, I got it. But I didn't get it.

I knew there was some reason that Ajax wanted me to be the one he teamed up with. But it had been 10 whole minutes out here,

And nothing.

Not a single word spoken.

I felt like I was going to go insane if this silence lasted any longer.

We had found where the zephyr was, and we had been standing around it for the last 10 minutes, looking around for enemy attackers.

But if we didn't talk to each other then what was the point of being out here alone without any prying ears. Neither of us had taken our focus off of our surroundings, knowing that even if for just a second, looking away could cost us the win.

But it's not like we had to look at each other to have a conversation. Especially when the conversation needed to be had. There hadn't been any sign of an enemy around, but still, maybe if I just...ugh why is he making this so difficult for me??

I really didn't wanna have to be the one to talk first, but...

"Is this seriously how it's going to be?"

...

His voice came from behind me.

"What?"

I sigh.

"Are we really just going to spend the whole time out here in silence? Just seems like a waste to me. We both know we want to talk about it."

I hear a deep breath from him.

"I'm thinking."

Was he serious?

"About what? It's been almost 2 days. That's plenty of time of think about it."

He scoffs.

"Yeah, I know that. But I just don't know what I'm supposed to say, it's kind of a hard conversation to start."

"An apology would probably work."

I hear a loud groan.

"Can you not right now? Okay? I'm trying. I am, but you being snarky with me isn't going to help."

Okay, he was right. I take a deep breath, still without taking my eyes off of my surroundings.

"Okay, I'm sorry. You're right, but I don't know what to say either."

There was silence for a few seconds before another sigh.

"...I shouldn't have said what I did. I know that. It was wrong, I knew it was wrong the moment I said, and I regret it deeply. I should never have used that against you. Not after everything. I'm sorry. But I just got caught up in the moment. You were getting so worked up over me being worried about Enid, and I got defensive. But that's no excuse for saying what I said."

...

Wow.

I'm actually impressed. That's exactly what I wanted to hear, and the feeling weighing down on my chest lifted a little.

But I wouldn't feel completely okay until I apologized for my own words.

"I'm sorry too. I don't think you're clinging onto Enid even after she found someone new. I saw how you talked to her today. You seem pretty moved on. And I'm sorry about how she treated you, it was shitty, and you didn't deserve it. And don't think I didn't notice how down you were feeling about it. You haven't called me birdy once since you found out about them."

He huffs.

"Haven't I? Huh, I didn't realise. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll start again soon enough. And, thanks...but, I still don't completely understand what made you get so riled up about it. I just want to know why, that's what's escaping me. I've been trying to wrap my head around it but I just can't think of why you felt that passionate about it."

Shit.

I was really glad he couldn't see my face right now, because I was panicking.

I didn't think this conversation would end up like this. I figured we'd just say our apologies and go back to normal, why did he have to dig further into it.

"There's really nothing else to it. I was in a shitty mood anyway, you know me. I just needed something to get mad about."

He scoffs.

"Be honest with me, please. If we're gonna have this conversation, I'd rather you just tell me the truth instead of just lying to my face. I know when you're in a shitty mood, and that night was not one of those times."

I mumble to myself, but loud enough that he could hear me.

"I'm not lying to your face I'm not even looking at you.."

"Y/n."

Oh come oonnnn. I can't say no to him. Not when he talks like that.

"I don't want to tell you."

"So there is something more to it."

I tap my foot against the ground.

"I didn't say that."

I could practically sense the smirk on his face.

"You didn't have to."

I stay quiet, he chooses to press further.

"Just tell me. If it's nothing then I guess it isn't that important, so tell me. Come on, aren't we friends?"

I take another deep breath. This guy was really testing me today.

"No."

"Tell me."

OH MY GOD.

"It's not that simple!"

I turn around to face him, just for a moment.

"I-"

I shouldn't have let my guard down. I knew that, but my mind wasn't thinking clearly, and I lost focus. That split second was all it took.

A sharp pain in my leg, and the feeling of my stomach dropping.

My sudden stop made Ajax turn around to look at me.

Time felt as if it was slowing down around me, as I look down at my leg.

And right there, straight through my left thigh,

A crossbow arrow.

But I felt no pain. The only feeling inside of me was pure shock. Fear? No, that wasn't it.

"Y/n!"

Ajax's voice sounded as if it were miles away, my brain was going foggy, and before I knew it I was on the ground.

My legs had given out from beneath me, making me land on my hands, trying to keep myself up as I looked down at my leg again.

Blood was starting to seep from the wound, trickling down my thigh and past my knee.

Out of the corner of my eyes, my vision was still able to pick up the fact that two cadets had run out from the bushes, grabbing the zephyr and running off. One of them looked awfully similar to that guy that had winked at me earlier...

Ajax had tried to stop them, but he was panicking a lot more than I was about my leg.

Once the two cadets run off, Ajax turns back to me and rushes over, kneeling down on the ground next to me with his eyes wide in fear.

"Y/n!"

My brain finally comes back into focus, and time was now continuing at it's regular pace.

And that's when the pain hit.

The arrow must've gone through muscle and tendon, because my thigh felt like it was practically on fire.

My hand grabbed onto the closest thing, which happened to be Ajax's shoulder. The panic was setting in now with how much agony I was in.

Ajax let out a small groan with how hard my hand was gripping on him, but he didn't say anything about it as a pathetic sound of my own escaped my mouth.

This shit fucking hurt.

His hands shook as they hovered over the arrow, unsure of what to do.

His voice was just as shaky as he spoke to me.

"Okay, it's gonna be okay. I'm gonna have to pull this out, okay?"

Oh god.

He shifted my leg so he could access the arrow better, and I sucked in a quick bit of air through my teeth. 

He broke off the back of it, so it was easier to glide through my leg.

"Okay, 1...2..."

I couldn't look, I turned and hid my face in his shoulder as he counted 3.

As much it hurt, I didn't let myself scream. 

I felt pressure, and then a tiny bit of relief as I could tell it was out now.

But it still hurt like a bitch.

I still couldn't bring myself to look down at my leg again, because I knew what I'd see.

I was starting to feel dizzy again, and without even registering it, Ajax tossed the arrow aside and took of his hoodie, wrapping it around my leg so it would slow down the bleeding a bit.

My breathing had become more labored as my vision went blurry.

I felt my weight be lifted off of the ground, and there was a distinct feeling of support, both under my back, and under my knees.

The warmth next to my side made it clear enough to me that Ajax had picked me up after I spaced on the verge of passing out.

The bounce of his walk brought a small comfort in my current state, and I heard a voice from above me.

"You're gonna be okay, it's okay,"

The pain in my leg was starting to fade to the back of my mind, and I let myself lean into him.

"I've got you."