A friendly face

Condolence

Rain seeped through the cracks and crevices of the manor, naib watched the dripping water seemingly entranced to never look away. His mind was wandering as if it was jogging through a field of different colorful flowers.

He wasn't doing as well in his matches and he often found himself downed at five ciphers or completely messing up rescues. He often wondered if his teammates hated him for those mistakes, fortunately they didn't hate him they were just a bit annoyed or at least some were.

Suddenly a faint knock was heard which snapped naib out of his trance. He opened the door to see Emily with a small smile on her face. "I just wanted to remind you that we have a match in ten minutes " Naib simply nodded and shut the door again. He wasn't good at talking or being nice, at least with people near him. He let out a sigh and sprawled out on his bed , feeling the soft and cool pillow relieving the nerves that built up from a small conversation .

Naib always felt comfortable and relaxed in his room, it was his safe space. The only problem was the fact that the quiet room made his mind rethink every thing he said or did , which often led him to curl up and sniffle. He didn't like crying, it made his eyes red and cheeks puffy which he knew are clearly visible to everyone else . He can always blame the sniffling on allergies ,a slight flu , or dust .

Another knock was heard , naib slowly got up wishing he didn't have to. Emily greeted him again "hello again, we are all set for the match , do you have your elbow pads on you?"
Naib stared down at his arms and looked back up with a frown. " does it look like I do," he stated blankly. Emily was not happy with the sarcasm but replied with a somewhat cheery voice
"don't worry we got it covered , marg can check the spares for more. In the meantime scutch your butt to the matching room!" She pushed naib forward jogged off to the room.

Naib groaned in displeasure of having to leave his sanctuary but obliged. Emily is such a mother figure to him , he won't admit it though . She's very sweet and always pushing him to be better, he would often catch himself almost saying mom instead of Emily. He has a gut feeling she knows about him 'crying' in his room.

His mind came back to him again as he opened the matching room door and stepped inside. Marg found the elbow pads and put them on the table . Emily was fiddling with her syringe and Kurt was reading his book. Naib quickly took a seat crossing his arms in the process. Emily leaned over to him " hey , fix your posture your gonna hurt your back"
Naib grumbled but complied " do you know who the hunter is ?" Naib whispered
" I think it's the guy with the claws, yknow the tall slender fella. "
naib slowly nodded, his mind wandering to his first match with him. It was cold and snowing, he tried so hard to save everyone, sacrificing himself multiple times. He already got chaired twice , saved by Tracy twice . Unfortunately Tracy got sent back as well as William and victor. Naib remembers collapsing to the ground watching William fly into the air . He was the last to go . Naib knew he couldn't finish four ciphers in time . Naib punched the ground in rage, he has failed again. He let his team down and now his heart was beating . He couldn't hold back his tears as he saw the red light spear in his vision. He looked up to see the ripper aiming for a hit , when he stopped mid swing. The ripper the his clawed hands fall as he crouched down , placing his nine clawed hand on naibs shoulder. "What's wrong boy?" The clawed man questioned . Naib tried to scowl or emit some kind of visual anger but failed as he tried to sarcastically say "what do you think ," it only came out as a quiet and sniffling mess of a sentence.

The clawed man simply sat down next to him and said " let's wait a bit for you to speak properly , in the meantime I'll introduce myself. My names jack, Jack the Ripper. " naib sniffled and let out a nasally " My names naib, "
Jack seemed to smile but it was kinda hard to tell with the mask . " naib is a very nice name, I've never heard that name before . Where does it originate?"
" it's Arabic " ( I looked it up )
"Any meaning?"
" it means someone who is second in command ."(also looked up) Naibs voice began to clear up as the conversation progressed.

The two talked until naib was no longer a sobbing mess and had a clear voice, his face was extremely puffy and his eyes were tinted red. Jack got up and held his hand out for naib to take , naib was hesitant but took it anyways . Jack smiled at how well naib got back to not crying. Naib sighed and said " I guess we gotta wrap this up . I'm assuming you gotta chair me right ?"
Jack chuckled lightly and said "unfortunately yes, I enjoyed our chat though I hope you did too. "
Naib slightly smiled " I hope we see each other again to chat, it was nice"

Naib got a tap on the shoulder snapping him out of the memory. " off in wonderland again naib?" Emily chuckled.
"Maybe I was maybe I wasn't," naib lightly laughed his tone very sweet , which caused Kurt and marg to stare in confusion . "Woah, naib in a good mood. That's surprising, not in a bad way though." Marg said .
Naib recoiled back at the sudden attention, his smile dropping and his stomach turning.

He quickly looked down at the table wishing to escape to his sanctuary. Marg had the look of worry on her face , "did I say something wrong?" She questioned.
Emily looked at her and shook her head no , she turned to naib and patted his back hoping to at least get him calm enough for the match.

Naib sat back up after a few seconds with a familiar scowl on his face , he held his hands together and put them on the table . Silence engulfed the survivors as the crack of glass shattering blacked out their vision.