Now and Then I Think of When we were Together//SEREN

The breeze of the outside air made itself known to Cade, blasting him with the intensity equal to the winds of a mountain’s summit. What little hair he had on his head was whooshed to its whims, combing it in whichever direction it pleased. Cade didn’t fight the wind, in fact, he was more than happy to allow it to batter his body so.

He stood at the very ledge; a leg propped up upon it. His arms rested over his kneeling knee, in his hands, a letter. There was no better place for a dramatic letter reading. Well, aside from the wind making it impossible to keep the paper still, but that mattered little since he already read the letter, he was now more so musing over its contents. Although, the sound of the paper flapping in the wind tempted him to merely let the letter go and forget that he ever received it to begin with. It would be so much easier to ignore the consequences and continue life the way it was.

The letter was completely unrelated to the ones he received from Ms. Hikaru, the paper wasn’t even native to the island. It came from the outside world, the one that Cade tried desperately to ignore. It was from his parents, his biological ones. Again, they were trying to press charges against Alphonse, his ‘adoptive’ father. The major issue they had with getting the case off the ground was that they at the very least needed a statement from Cade, though getting him to testify would be a sure-fire way to win their case. It was the fourth time they asked him.

Alphonse was always good about covering up his tracks. There was no proof that traced back to him about Cade’s kidnapping besides a testimony from Cade himself. He was literally the turning point for their case, but Cade had no interest in turning in Alphonse. He was mad about it when he was younger, but young Cade was a very different person than adult Cade. Adult Cade had a much better respect for what Alphonse taught him, despite the fact that he was lied to and used. He was still the closest definition he had to a father figure. He might not want to ever see him again, but he wasn’t going to go after him either.

In the meantime, the more he ignored the problem, the more his biological family would resent him. Not that it was a sore spot for him, he only met them a year ago. It didn’t seem all that important to keep them around. He did spend most of his time alone anyways.

As he stood there, Cade got an eyeful of the campus grounds. He remembered that he used to have someone he could talk to about this stuff. Someone that was in on all the craziness of his life. But that was someone that he used to know. Those bridges were burnt a while ago. Now who did he have to talk to, Tem? He might as well be talking to an actual pile of sand.

Once he got his eyeful, Cade stood upright again, and trained both of his hands onto the letter, like he was prepared to rip it in half. “Whelp! It was nice knowing you, but I got my own life. Time to get your own” he loudly announced to himself with an odd sense of pride.

Serenity made her way up to the roof in a hurry, tapping the walls ahead of her with her walking stick as she rushed up the stairs. She had originally been walking around the school grounds when a student had grabbed her and told her that it looked like someone was trying to jump off the roof. Without hesitation she had taken off, who would try to do something so idiotic? No matter, she needed to get there in time before anything else happened. This problem could be an easy fix and she could talk to the person after the fact.

Finally reaching the door of the roof, Serenity slammed the metal door open like it was nothing - frantically tapping her cane on the ground until she was able to get a sense of where this person was. After a second delay, Serenity recognized the change in the sound - moving forward to where Cade was, reaching and grabbing a hold of his wrist with lightening to pull him toward her and away from his original position. "Look, I know it might be hard right now, but you don't need to do this!" Serenity exclaimed. She hoped this person would understand.

Despite the ease that came with ripping such a flimsy material, the paper felt quite heavy in Cade’s hands. His decision was made though, to ribbons it will go. Yet, it didn’t. Perhaps it would be easier if he wasn’t watching it while it happened. As such, the man firmly closed his eyes and prepped his hands once more. Grip tightened, hands of stone. He made the motion, but just as the letter received the tiniest of notches, his hand was ceased. Not of his own volition this time.

The sudden jerk forced his eyelids open again, his head stirring around trying to understand what was happening. “The he-” he blurted in his stupor. Before he could finish his sentence, he was quickly interrupted by the concerns of the woman who pulled him aside. What was she blathering on about?

While he was distracted, he barely noticed that the letter slipped out of his hands and fell victim to the wind. It violently drifted through the air in front of his face, casing a sudden reaction. He jumped for the paper, only to notice the true strength of the woman’s grip. She must workout. No matter, Cade didn’t deem his business done with that paper until he took the proper shredding protocol. Only then could he have the stoic moment of watching the pieces of paper fly off into the distance. That paper did not have his permission to leave. While he couldn’t chase after it, he managed to snag the corner of it with his free hand, though it did require a bit of a stretch.

A sigh of relief exited Cade’s mouth as he brough the paper closer to him. While that wash of relief made its rounds, he turned back to the concerned woman. Who was this broad and what was she grabbing him for? Oh wait, it was that Ms. Hikaru woman. Well, that answered one of the two question.

He had to collect himself for a second. What did she say again? He didn’t need to do this? Did she know what he was doing? How else would one explain her actions? If she was stopping him from tearing up the note… Oh, of course his ‘mother’ was networking with his co-workers. He rolled his eyes as he released a guttural groan. “Oh, let me guess, Nola put you up to this? Listen here, I don’t need her to dictate the way I live my life. I’m sure she gave you some impassioned speech about how what you’re doing is important and how this will result in justice for all of us, but, trust me, once you see past the clouds, there’s nothing she can actually offer you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some business to take care of” Cade answered rather simply, bowing his head in mock-respect and holding his letter up.

The man briefly jerked away from her grip and Serenity panicked, tightening her hold on him. "W-What are you doing?" Only for him to stop and was that a sigh that she had heard? The problem must have fixed itself. She didn't dare let go of his wrist quite yet though, there was a chance that he was relaxing in some attempt to fool her.

That was when the man in question started to talk and Serenity immediately recognized the his voice. It was that math teacher? Color her surprised. She stayed quiet as she listened to his rant, him talking about some person putting her up to this. Unless he was talking about the student, she had no idea what he was talking about. "Unless you haven't looked directly at my face, I can't see anything. I have no idea what you're talking about." Serenity thought for a moment before she continued on - still holding onto his wrist.

"There was a student that said it looked like someone was trying to jump off the roof." She was plain and direct in her words, there was no other way that she could be. "Now, I don't know why you would be trying to do that. What I do know is that I would feel a lot better if we got away from the side of the roof, so come on." Serenity started to pull on his arm then, a lot more gentle then the first time. This pull gave him a bit more of choice on whether or not he wanted to pull away from her. Her grip had loosened, this was a suggestion, not forced.

The more Cade thought on it, the more it started to make sense. Why else would his mail specifically be affected by the school’s courier? Why else would his mail end up in Ms. Hikaru’s classroom of all places? Why else would she tolerate his presence when all other teachers would have kicked him out? It was a setup, all to make him more comfortable in her presence, then she would convince him to go along with Nola’s agenda. And it seemed she got a fairly loyal recruit as well. She didn’t even crack an inch. If subtlety was how this war would be waged, perhaps he needed to play by their rules.

Cade looked to Ms. Hikaru with a suspicious face. “A likely story” he replied to the woman’s admission of ignorance. With his single hand, Cade carefully folded the letter and stashed it deep into his pocket for safe keeping.

He allowed himself to be directed to their next location, following his co-worker’s guiding hand. It made sense for him to oblige, after all, even if it was a misunderstanding, refusing to follow in line might reflect badly on him. It was feeling like a bit of a repeat of their last encounter though, yet again she was strategically placing him where she wanted him to be. If that wasn’t a sign that she was in league with his self-righteous ‘mother’ then he didn’t know what would be.

“Jumping off the roof? Please, I’m not that dramatic” as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he immediately had to pause afterwards. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the most absurdly melodramatic stunt on his list, but at the same time, this woman barely knew him, so she couldn’t call him out on that. Or could she? How much information did Nola feed her? Questions for later.

“Well, if you must know, I came up here to discard a letter. Rip it to bits, toss it to the wind, so I would never have to read it again” he explained like it was a normal routine of his day. He paused, resting an affirmative hand on Ms. Hikaru’s shoulder before adding with a self-aware tone “littering, I know, I’m a monster. But if I just threw it out, I might be compelled to go after it again. When you need to get rid of something, it’s better to not know where it’ll end up.”

Serenity listened to the other teacher as he spoke, not missing the suspicion that was laced in his words. What else did he think she was up too? If he wanted to be mad at her for trying to save his life, then so be it. At his declaration of not being dramatic, Serenity couldn't contain herself - the idea of it seemed so absurd and she had only known this man for a total of an... hour? At most? Then again she was a quick study when it came to people. She had to be.

No matter, the sudden seeming declaration on his part had a bubble of laughter erupting from deep within her chest. She couldn't contain it, after a few seconds the laughter escaped from her lips with a rush of air and tone that was a stranger to her. When was the last time she had laughed? The whole action made her face, ease and soften - emphasizing the feminine qualities in her features that were normally hidden by a stern expression.

It only lasted for a few moments before Serenity caught her breath, "Ripping something up on the roof is something a dramatic person would think of." Either that or setting fire to the paper, that seemed like a better idea to Serenity. When he set his hand on her shoulder, there was two things that Serenity thought of it in that instant - that he was taller than her (maybe by just a few inches? She couldn't quite be exact about it.) Secondly, his hand covered almost all of her shoulder. Serenity blinked, an action - while rare that did happen from time to time.

She had a variety of thoughts run through her mind, before finally grabbing a hold of the teacher's middle finger with her pointer and thumb - lifting the giant hand off of her shoulder that had just suddenly made her strangely uncomfortable. "Well, next time you want to rip something up. Do me a favor and do it at night time so the kids don't think you're trying to kill yourself." Her words intertwined with a sharp tone, if she didn't watch herself she'd get stuck up here in another mind boggling conversation.

Curiouser and curiouser. A normal person would have asked what made this letter so important for him to sneak up to the roof and want to rip it up in the first place. Or at least, Cade assumed so when he structured his last sentence. She didn’t need to know because she already knew the contents of the letter. So, the mask was slipping. What more did she know? How much could Cade find out, that was the better question.

While Ms. Hikaru’s hearty laugh accentuated her feminine features, Cade wouldn’t be one so easily distracted. Behind those soft lips and shimmering moon-coloured eyes was a… beautiful mind. Yes, deceptively beautiful, that’s where his thoughts were headed. It did not break his concentration though; he still had a look of suspicion since he could freely do that without consequence.

After the woman gently removed his hand from her shoulder, Cade maneuvered around her so that he was within her path toward the roof’s exit. It wasn’t a quick motion, more of a meandering sidestep that accidentally cut her off. “Well, have you considered that maybe you’re the weird one? You never have that instinct to do something specifically for the spectacle? I bet you do because deep down you know it’ll mean more to you if you apply that meaning to it. You just don’t act on it. That just makes you boring” he explained as he pointed at Ms. Hikaru in an accusatory manner, his index finger being a mere few inches from her face.

“Right, I should be waiting for night. Instead of scaring the kids, I should come up here when I can’t see my footing, trip up, fall off the roof, and die. That way, I don’t have to try killing myself, the roof would do it for me” Cade logically concluded as he retracted his finger from her face and placed it on his own. “We wouldn’t want that though. I’m sure your employer would have many words for you if that were to happen.”

From his first words in response to her, Serenity could feel a frustration clawing it's way into her mind and body. What did he know about her? Nothing. Then how come it felt like he was challenging her, and how come she felt like she needed to rise to this challenge? Her features hardened as she considered her next move. At this point, he was sounding a little insane.

What happened next, was a matter of moments. A blink and someone could have easily missed it. Reaching forward, Serenity grabbed a hold of the hand that had originally been pointed at her and pivoted on her heel - turning her back toward him as she crossed one arm underneath his and brought her other hand up to grip at the clothing on his upper arm. The movement was quick and practiced, it was obvious that she had done this several times before. With a tight grip and meticulous force, Serenity pulled hard on the teacher - yanking him onto her back only to roll him off and over her, forcing him onto his back. Still gripping his arm, the throw was more than likely to rattle his side than anything else.

"You mean our employer, the Headmistress of this school?" Serenity started off, stepping around him as she let go of his arm. She moved one left combat style boot onto his right shoulder, pushing her heel deep into the muscle as she knelt down to speak with him. "I don't know what shady shit you're on about, but I don't like it. I don't know how you got to be a teacher here, maybe you charmed the Headmistress with your rambling or something but if I find out you're a danger to the students I will not hesitate to put you down." Serenity pushed the heel of her boot in deeper, any more and she was sure she would break a bone. "I especially, do not like being called something that I'm not." Serenity breathed deep , even though her face was down turned toward his - she could have easily been facing somewhere else entirely and still said everything that she did. "If that's what you really want to do, if you really want to die." Serenity leaned in closer, the pressure of her body weight forcing her boot down more into Mr. Lemaire. Reaching down she grabbed a hold of his jaw with her thumb and pointer finger, making sure that he was looking in her direction as she spoke, squeezing his face all the while. "I'll put you down, the right way. Then we won't have to worry about the kids finding you, will we?" Serenity smiled then, a morbid twisted sort of smile before patting his cheek and backing up.

Taking her heel from his body, Serenity brushed her shoulders and arms off like she was the one that had been thrown onto the ground. "Now, with that being said. I have no other reason to be here, I hope the letter ripping was satisfactory."

By this point in his life, Cade should probably be used to having his whole world flipped upside down, both metaphorically and literally, but he honestly didn’t expect his finger waggling to be the center of revolt. He recognized that Serenity was quite the bruiser based on her physical appearance, but that didn’t mean he expected her to capitalize on any vulnerability he presented. Afterall, what kind of psycho would just attack a person like that?

In the textbook definition of a split second, Cade would quickly learn just the kind of psycho, one with two thumbs and the last name Hikaru. The world spun around him as she quickly and efficiently slammed him against the ground, a stray puff of air wheezing from his throat as his back collided with the floor. He’s been thrown around enough times to know when someone was a trained fighter, and Serenity was definitely one of those, and that meant trouble. On a separate note though, it might have proved his theory wrong about her being a mole for his mother, considering that she wouldn’t have approved of such violent means. That wasn’t something very present on his mind though.

Cade writhed in pain at the pressure of Ms. Hikaru’s boot, but kept a tense face. It was far from the worst pain he experienced, but she was forcing her weight on a pressure point, so again, a point in favour of her being a trained fighter, perhaps something a bit more than that. There wasn’t a whole lot that Cade could do in retaliation, but he did have a free hand, the one that wasn’t connected to the pressure point that Serenity was exploiting. He didn’t have any weapons on him, but he did have one way he could fix that. Normally he couldn’t materialize items without one to reference, however, he’s done it before, albeit, only once. It didn’t have to be exact, it just needed to be sharp. He would need to focus a bit, which wouldn’t be that hard considering that Ms. Hikaru took this time to ramble on longer than he did.

“You say that like you think I meant someone else” Cade replied through gritted teeth to contain the pain. “I think the better question is how you got this job? What, did you suplex the Headmistress until she said you’re hired?”

His continued endurance was only carried along the hope in his other hand. Liquid was seeping from his palm, slowly but surely taking the form of a cylindrical object. He returned his gaze to his co-worker, though, it didn’t seem like he needed to considering that she forced him to anyways, grabbing onto his chin and forcing him to look into her eyes. He might have been into it, if impending doom wasn’t twisted into her complexion. He needed her to keep talking though, and luckily, she obliged.

Cade’s head twitched a bit harder, due to the incoming pulse of more intense pain. Again, it wasn’t a new sensation, he actually had that same arm broken before by a woman who found his demeanour disagreeable. “You could certainly… do better” he wheezed in his weakness. The cylindrical object that was forming in his hand altered itself a bit, one end shaving itself down to a point, taking the shape of an enlarged nail. It was a rudimentary recreation and it left Cade’s brain a bit dazed, but it would do. Confidently, Cade gripped the pike in his hand. “That doesn’t even make my top five death threats” he added with a wheezy laugh. In a quick motion of rebellion, Cade threw his other arm at Serenity’s foot, stabbing the pike through the oppressive boot. He severely doubted that it would even draw blood due to her choice of footwear and the fact that his makeshift pike wasn’t that impressive, but he was certain it was enough to make her flinch.

The second that Ms. Hikaru relieved the tension of her foot, Cade made a strategic combat roll down the length of the roof to get some distance. Admittedly, between the pain and having to conjure an object out of nothing, he wasn’t doing the best in terms of focus, but as soon as he collided with the nearest object he reached out for its aid. The flimsy metal hull told him it was an air-conditioning unit. He pulled himself up, using the AC unit as a crutch, though his head was spinning a bit.

Once again, all he did was talk. Was it meant to be some kind of distraction for her? When she moved her foot away from him, Cade made a move to stab something into her foot. Of course he was fighting back, wait... he was fighting back? So, he wasn't all talk. At least, that was the first thought that popped up into her mind.

Damn, she had grown rusty.

Serenity didn't know exactly what he had tried to stab her with, but she had felt it. The sharp tip of whatever it was had made enough impact to go through her boot and stop at the top of her foot. There would be a bruise there later.

She felt excited. The feeling of energy from actually being able to spar with someone had her feeling like the blood in her veins crackled with electricity. Had it been that long since she had an actual fight with someone that she was craving it so much? Sure, she had taught plenty of classes with kids that had frightening abilities. There was some enjoyment to be had in that, but this was different. This was a reminder of her old job.

She needed to stop.

Serenity backed up to the door of the roof, "You really didn't have to do that, but I get it." Opening up the door, Serenity paused for a moment. This wasn't the time and place to get into an actual fight with someone. "Have a good day, Mr. Lemaire. With that, Serenity left the rooftop - making her way down the stairs, a sharp ache starting in her left foot.