Of Good & Evil

VIII. Back to Work

The next morning, Time and Scopes had recuperated fully, Hardy was sober again, and Passion was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. She was trying to piece this whole thing together, wondering how everything fit, but she felt like she didn't have all the pieces. Something was out of place, and she couldn't put her finger on what it was.

She wondered if Wisp was still alive. She said aloud to herself, "Maybe he dropped it on the way in or something? ...But no, that wouldn't make sense. He would have realized it and picked it up." She thought about how they defeated him, thinking there was no way he would have been able to escape. She knew she felt Time's attack pass through and dismantle her shield.

Passion thought about the whole scenario. She had him trapped in the bubble. Xenon rolled off his hand just as Scopes was applying the ice to his feet, then Time's attack blasted forward, breaking her barrier, taking Wisp with it.

There was no room for debate, and everything in that event fit into place. Wisp was gone.

She stood up and left the room. She was planning to go to the training room. The fact that Time's attack had so easily passed through her barrier really got to her. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for her guild mates for achieving greater power, it just meant she needed to become stronger too.

Before she walked to the training room, she decided to try a different approach. She walked to up to Time's door and knocked on it. He opened the door a few seconds later and said, "Hey Passion, what's up?"

"I want to train with you," she said, "I need to make myself stronger."

"Yeah, sure," he said, turning back into his room, "Just gimme a second and I'll be right down."

"Alright, thank you," she said, turning and walking down the hall toward the training room. She rounded the corner that lead to the main hall when Time phased next to her. The two walked the rest of the way to the training wing. When they arrived at the training room, Time stood, looking around.

He said, "So... what do you need me to do?"

Passion shrugged and said, "I'm not really sure, to be honest."

"What are you trying to work on?" he asked.

"Yeah... I'm not really sure of that either," she answered honestly.

Time laughed and said, "Alright, well, why don't you work on making your shield stronger. That's super important when we're all fighting together. I mean, you saved our lives more than once on our last mission with that."

Passion smiled and said, "Thanks. And yeah, that sounds like a good place to start."

The two began working to improve Passion's ability to protect both herself and others. Passion started by blocking attacks thrown at her by Time, then practiced protecting a sparring dummy from his attacks. After half an hour of this, Passion stopped protecting the sparring dummies. Time looked at her, confused.

"This isn't doing anything for me," Passion said disappointingly.

"Why don't you tell me what's really on your mind," Time said, walking up to her.

"Your attack blew right through my shield with no trouble at all," she said, "What if something like that happens on a mission and I can't protect you guys."

"Then we'll figure it out," he said, "Look, the only person I've ever seen even survive my strongest blast is Judais, and he's a freak of nature. Don't sweat not being able to block it."

She smiled and looked at the floor, saying, "Thanks, that means a lot."

Time patted her on the shoulder and said, "You're already really strong. Don't worry so much."