Burning Grace

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Aaron

The walk out of the combat room is silent except for a few whispers and a rare snicker. Word is already getting around about Blue Team's leader getting thrown into a wall by a girl with a robotic leg. However, as we walk by, nobody says a word. The entire squad moves without a sound as we head into the forest and to an amphitheater roughly three hundred yards in.

The amphitheater consists of a dozen levels of semicircular seating facing a large white bandshell and is easily large enough to comfortably seat a thousand people, twice the size of our student body. Administration decided to put it there about six months after we arrived as a response to a few students that had cracked from the pressure and began fighting each other and their instructors. Apparently, they thought a good way to help us relieve stress in a constructive manner would be by "encouraging" us to learn to play instruments. At first, most of us simply saw it as more work they were trying to force on us, but once we each learned the basics of music and they let us move forward in whatever direction we saw fit, it became a means of self-expression and bonding for all of us. Maybe it's just because we can't see the academy from here because of the trees and that the staff have never invaded this "safe place" unless we give them good reason to, but it has famously become a place for squads to go during their free time when they want some peace and quiet in between classes and on the evenings of particularly stressful days. In a sense, it is the designated "time-out corner" of the academy.

I look around the area and check for anyone else. There are usually a few people here at any given time playing music or just talking but right now it's empty, apart from us. Over the years it has become the squad's meeting place whenever something important comes up. After the little show in class, this certainly qualifies as one of those moments. We stop at the lowest and smallest level, on which the others sit, moderately spaced out. I retrieve a fold-out chair from the bandshell and place it facing them all as I think about what just happened.

She risked breaking my ribs and maybe killing me for a joke? Does she think she needs to prove something to the rest of us? A need to find a place in some perceived pecking order? Is she somehow mad at me about what happened that night? Does she think that what happened to her was my fault? Then there's the problem of having a squad member attacking their commander. Administration won't like that at all... I don't plan on saying anything and I'll deny it but still... I sit and think about this for a while until Lydia speaks to me and I snap back to reality.

"Sir," Lydia says with a concerned look on her face, "are you ready to start the meeting?"

Sir? She never calls me sir. She must be pretty on edge.

Looking back at her I nod and stand. "Thank you all for coming out here with me." I say, nodding to each of them, "As you know we are here to discuss a potential issue. The issue, of course, is Cassie," I finish and turn around to face her.

Her face, which had previously been showing a triumphant smirk, turned to shock.

"Me?" She sputters, "How am I a problem!? Are you just mad because I beat you on the mat?"

I gently raise a hand and am about to clarify but don't get a chance. Sarah jumps to her feet and looks outraged.

"HOW ARE YOU THE PROBLEM!?" Sarah screams at her, "YOU are the problem because YOU almost killed him! It's a miracle he doesn't even have any broken ribs! If it wasn't for the padding on the wall and all the enhancements we have, he might have died! So please excuse us if we don't just ignore the fact that you almost killed our friend and leader. The same person who, in fact, risked his life to save yours years ago because you were too stupid to avoid a freaking tree!" Sarah finishes this with her face an angry shade of crimson I've never seen on her before and with her hands clenched into fists by her sides. She's breathing heavily and looks like she's either about to start shouting again or lunge at Cassie and tear her head off.