Selcouth - (OCxEric) ON HOLD

Are You A Masochist?

"Um, my name is Lucy," I told the blonde nurse. My fingernails dug in to the skin on my palm, and my face grew hotter, a side effect of my dishonesty.

The blonde took a step closer to me, "Oh you're Lucy!" She said with a smile, "I'm friends with your brother Chris, we had initiation together a couple years back. Its weird you look nothing like he described."

I mentally cursed myself and bit my lip. I was in too deep, and saying anything in an attempt to calm this lie would only make things worse.

"Well, I have to go," I said walking towards the exit, "bye, thanks again."

I all but sprinted out of the infirmary, paying no regard to my now throbbing back. Once I was back in the dorms, I laid down and applied the ice pack.

The coolness that it brought, along with the icy beads of condensation soothed the ache, and within an hour of originally being slammed down by Eric, the majority of the pain was gone.

Just like he had said.

I decided not to let myself think about what the nurses were saying too much. There was bound to be other Alanas in this faction, and even though part of me wanted to believe that I was the one she was referring to, I couldn't bring myself to think that way.

After lying awake for too long, I decided to brush off the troubling thoughts that I had, and tried desperately to get a few moments of shut-eye before we had more training.

When I woke, I found that it was courtesy of the sound of clanking of metal. A sound that I had not come to miss since I began training early in the mornings with Eric.

I looked over and saw the young leader standing by an initiate who was trying to continue sleeping. The boy had his pillow over his head, and was curled into a small ball. The position he was in was practically an invitation for Eric to start harassing him.

Just as I had predicted, Eric began tormenting the boy as a slight smile creeped on to his lips. He was enjoying this. I watched closely and chuckled seeing him do what he did best.

Eric looked up from harassing the boy, towards me to catch me staring.

He smirked and raised one of his eyebrows, "How's your back?" he mouthed.

"Good," I mouthed back before taking off the ice pack and standing up.

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Myself and the other initiates spent the entire day prepping for our final fights. It was clear to me, that we were all out for blood.

Angus didn't even see human as he destroyed one of the punching bags. His fists moved so swiftly and with such force, that it all looked like a blur. Four actually had to come over to him and tell him to move bags so that they wouldn't have to replace the one he was currently demolishing.

I felt sorry for whoever was going to have to fight him.

After going over the possibility in my mind that I could be fighting Angus, my nerves kicked in. I would be dead in seconds if I was put in the ring with him, and even if the defeat that I faced was not severe enough to kill me, I would be factionless without a doubt.

I shook the thought out of my head,and turned back to the punching bag that I stood by. After throwing multiple punches, I found that they were the quality of my hits from the first day I learned to fight.

What was going on? I couldn't fight like this tomorrow, I was too overwhelmed and too nervous.

I felt my breathing become heavier and my heart beat quicken. I couldn't be factionless. I had no concept of a life outside the structure of a faction. Not to mention how embarrassing it would be to be eliminated during by the first stage, and by the hands of the most animalistic initiate.