Through Potions and Books it's still, you isn't it?

Chapter twenty-eight

When she opened her eyes she hadn't expected to face a teenager, in a completely white room no less. The floor was padded and the boy in front of her was a little hunched over on himself, one hand firmly pressed against his rib cage. It was a peculiar sight, he couldn't have been older than sixteen, eighteen at best and even then you'd have to squint with both eyes to make it make sense.

The bare feet padded on the matted ground, a futile attempt from the teen to lunge at her. She ducked and quickly punched him in the ribs again, taking him down with a simple kick and keeping him on the floor with one foot set on top of his chest. Dull-looking blue eyes looked back at her, something so very tired and hurt in his expression. Almost broken. Resigned. It made her frown.

Didn't they say everyone that was to face her had joined their cause out of free will? Shouldn't her opponents look happy about getting to train with her? More energetic? Ecstatic, even?

This wasn't the face of a motivated soldier. This was the face of someone who had potentially seen the darkest sides of Death's realm. Confusing.

She lifted her foot from his chest, instead crouching down and offering him a hand to get up. The boy looked at her with an unreadable expression, eyeing the hand wearily before gripping it tightly and hoisting himself up with her support. He wobbled a little but quickly caught himself on his feet, pulling out of her grip before making a weird hand gesture. The flat hand started with fingertips on the chin. Then it moved down and away from his chin.

A weird expression which had her cock her head and scan over the boy's face once more. They must've gotten to him before, the busted lip, swollen eye and bruising being proof of that. They had always gone hard on new recruits, it was efficient, and they needed to learn after all. And what better way to learn than to give a couple of demonstrations?

Her curiosity was sparked, something in the back of her mind prodding her, outright demanding to talk to the young soldier. It was a weird sensation, almost as if there was a second voice in her head screaming for something entirely different. Now that she actually focused on it there was another voice. How peculiar. She brushed it off, surely that was just a side effect of the mortal body.

"What was that?"

The boy was startled by her sudden talking, that much was clear. He flinched back, wincing slightly at the movement which undeniably hurt his ribs. They were most likely bruised. Or broken, they preferred to have the new recruits a little less strong in the beginning. It'd build up their character to heal from the injuries while training and continuing with the daily routine, XD had said. Who was she to disagree with their sibling? They had always been right, after all.

He hadn't answered yet, just looked at her with a frightened expression, mouth agape before audibly clicking shut again and starting some more weird movements with his hands. They were black. For some reason. Huh.

She almost flinched at the sudden pounding headache she got, though her expression remained the same. No sign of weakness, that's what her sibling had drilled into her. Weakness wasn't something to show to the new recruits, only in the presence of the Egg or XD was she allowed to let down her guard (the weird voice was screaming bloody murder at that).

"What are you doing? The whole gesture thing, I mean," she tried to ask again, watching as frustration spread over the young face.

Why wasn't he talking? Didn't he know that it was rather rude to ignore questions, from higher ranks no less?

The teen sighed, resigned, and then waved her off. He waved her off as if there wasn't an underlying command in her question. The command to explain what the weird hand movements were.