Hurricane and Shadow

Memories

  35 Chapter 21: Memories
Memories

Three weeks later

Elisha had never been a warrior of many words. She preferred to remain silent and never felt the need to fill silence with meaningless babbling. Even when she worked with other warriors on a hunt she barely spoke. But when she said something, it sounded calm, polite and important. Stillness gave her more authority and respect of that she was sure.

However, at the headquarters she spoke even less than usual. The pure presence of the organization was so intense that she always felt uneasy in the stone halls of the organization. For Elisha the headquarters were a place of darkness and despair. It reminded her of the painful transformation, the cruel days of training and the psychological torture she had endured for six years.

Yet her face never bared even the slightest sign of uneasiness, when she was at the headquarters of the organization.

It was raining. The weather fitted her mood. Even though she was soaking wet, she stood calm on the plain in front of the stone buildings. For her, for every warrior, rain was indifferent. By adjusting her body temperature she didn't feel the cold. It was simply there. Nothing more.

The Number 5 was waiting for her handler to come back with her new assignment. Two days ago she had eliminated two Awakened Beings very close to the organization and had reported every detail of the fight to the men of the organization, just like requested. The fight itself had been a matter of minutes. Two low class monsters, which had probably been in the forties, hadn't been a challenge for her at all. The report, however, had taken over half an hour.

Elisha didn't understand why this mission had had any significance to the organization, but she understood even less, why they had wanted such a detailed report. But she was in no place to judge her superiors. If it had been important for them...Fine. She wouldn't question the actions of the organization.

Then her thoughts were interrupted by some trainees fighting each other. The two were making quite some noise while fighting. Their training claymores clashed together over and over again. Elisha's only thoughts were how uncoordinated and sloppy they were fighting, until one of the trainees suddenly said laughing "What's the matter? Already tired?"

The top-ranking warrior's eyes widened slightly after she had heard those words. She had heard them before in the same teasing and arrogant tone. Right here at the headquarters...

...

"Agh..." the girl groaned when she fell to the ground. Her short, straw blond hair was messy and full of dust, just like the rest of her body. Trembling Elisha tried to get up, but then a foot hit her stomach and she fell on the ground two meters away. Some tears were running down her cheeks, while she sat up. She wiped them away. Suddenly she saw some bloodstains on her sleeve. She was bleeding. The girl tasted the metallic taste of blood. "Ow..." she whimpered silently.

"What's the matter?" the boy who had kicked her laughed "Already tired?" Her expression darkened when she looked at him. The tall boy had dark blond hair that slightly touched his shoulders. His arrogant grin was broad. The expression in his silver eyes made it clear that he had no intention of her leaving her alone, even after beating her for at least twenty minutes.

"Richard! Don't you think that's enough?" the smaller boy behind him said. He wore his silver hair as a short ponytail. The tall trainee grinned. "Oh come one, Raphael! This is way more fun than fighting with our other classmates! Besides this is the first girl ever in the organization. Would be rude not to give her a proper welcome, don't you think?" Raphael raised his eyebrows and said "She has been here for over a month now. She had her welcome."

Richard sighed. "You're no fun. This is a girl, Raphael! Don't you want to find out, what's so special about her that they made her into a warrior?" he paused and looked at her "Although I haven't noticed anything special yet. Actually she sucks. She's even worse than Sergei." The small boy mumbled silently "You shouldn't mess with her. I don't like...how she feels." Raphael looked briefly at her. For a second Elisha was sure, that there had been...fear in his eyes. Fear? But why in the gods' names should he be afraid?

"You're coward!" Richard answered. He turned his head back to her. "Well, I'm not finished yet" he said and raised his hand to proceed beating her. Frightened she covered her face with her arms.

"S-Stop! STOP!" a voice suddenly said. Surprised Elisha opened her eyes and saw Nila standing in front of her. The small girl was slightly trembling, but her look was determined. Her white curls fell into her face while she was looking at Richard, who was about one and a half heads taller than her.

"What the hell? What are you doing?" he asked annoyed. It took Nila a moment to answer. "I w-won't let you hurt Elisha again! You will leave her alone!" she answered, but her voice was trembling a bit.

Richard just burst out laughing, while Elisha looked at Nila completely shocked. How could she be so stupid to get in his way? Like this he would hurt her too.

"And what are you little girl going to do if I don't leave her alone?" Richard teased still giggling. Nila bit her lip. She hadn't thought about that, it seemed. "I...I...I'll...hit...smash your face!" she answered after a while. The uncertainty didn't really make her threat convincing. Richard just laughed even harder.

"Seriously! You are quite funny!" he said, while catching his breath "But I think you'll be the one getting her face smashed!" He grinned and raised his hand to hit Nila in the face. Elisha jumped up and shouted "NO!"

"What?" said Richard and looked at Nila, who was standing next to his arm trembling but unhurt. "I...missed?" "No, she...dodged!" Elisha thought amazed. Suddenly, while Richard was still wondering about what had happened, Nila clenched her right fist and hit him straight into the face.

The tall boy hit the ground three meters away. When he got up, Elisha saw that he was covering his nose with his hands. Suddenly she saw that blood dripped from his face to the ground and not just that. Nila had literally shattered his nose. It looked ugly, violet, bloody and deformed.

"You...You BITCH!" he shouted, while Raphael was helping him up. The small trainee looked quite worried about his friend. Then he took him by his arm and both boys left.

Elisha looked completely shocked at Nila. The girl with the white curls looked at her right hand. Some of Richard's blood was still on it. "Ni...Nila, you broke his...his nose" she said. "But...but" Nila turned around and the surprised expression on her face was almost comical "I...didn't hit him...hard at all."

...

The Number 5 bit her lip. Even back then Nila had been there to protect her. She had always been like an older sister. Tougher, stronger and braver than herself. Someone she could count on no matter what. And yet...

The guilt almost overwhelmed her. How could she have said that Nila was mentally unstable? How could she have humiliated her in front of all those warriors? Elisha had wanted to protect her from the three top-ranking warriors, but...what had gotten in to her, to say something like that?

"I have to find her and apologize to her" she thought "Right after this mission." Finding Nila wouldn't be a big problem, unless she was intentionally hiding her aura, but she usually never did that. But getting the Number 4 to listen to her was a completely different task. Nila was a very proud warrior. She wouldn't let her simply apologize and then forgive her. Regarding that, and only that, she behaved quite like a human.

"Right after this mission..." Elisha said to herself and looked up at the clouded sky, wondering if Nila was alright and how mad she was at her.

Sorry for taking so long, but don't worry. The story is already finished so I can update the last chapters more regularly.