Never Change

Chapter 13

His scroll vibrated in his pocket, jolting him out of his reverie. He was about to reach for it when he noticed her.

An irate Glynda Goodwitch was in front of him, eyes narrowed, "Mr. Jackson, please pay attention to the class. This is the last spar of the day, I believe you may be able to glean something from this."

He looked up, seeing an amber-eyed, raven-haired woman on the floor of the arena.

Cinder Fall.

His suspicion peaked, and he leaned on the edge of his seat, gripping the sides of his chair. There was no way in hell she didn't have some kind of plan in place with less than noble intentions.

"I would like to test myself against a skilled opponent. Weiss Schnee."

His hand latched onto her wrist.

It was all Percy could do to restrain himself from jumping into the arena to confront Cinder himself.

"What?" Weiss sounded confused.

Fuck.

Percy had nothing. He couldn't start up a scene in front of everyone and make it so painfully obvious to Cinder that he knew what she was doing. He couldn't give himself away like that. It would invite a deadly response, one that he was confident he could fend off, but not confident that his team could.

He grit his teeth slightly.

"Nothing."

He forced his fingers to release her wrist, "Just... be careful."

Weiss blinked, before tossing her white locks of hair over her shoulder. There was a light dusting of pink on her cheeks, but she wore a confident smile.

"I'll end this spar quickly, don't you worry Percy," she gave him a brilliant smile as she turned away, sashaying towards the arena.

Still, despite his teammate's confidence, he couldn't help but find comfort in twirling Riptide in pen form, grasping it between his fingers.

His friends cheered her on, telling her to kick ass as they supported her loudly. He did the same if only to avoid suspicion, although he couldn't put any heart into it; the gesture felt hollow, and out of place.

She wouldn't win... not unless Cinder intended for her to. Cinder was a dangerous factor, one that Percy so desperately wished he could eliminate out of the fold entirely. And yet here she was, preparing to spar against Weiss, his own teammate.

"The usual rules apply, of course," Goodwitch explained, pushing her glasses up. She caught his eye briefly as her eyes roved over the crowd of students, and he tried to convey his sense of worry to her, and she nodded imperceptibly in response as she continued.

"You will fight until surrender, ring out, or until your aura reaches the red, at which point you will cease immediately. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am," Weiss nodded, taking an Atlesian fencing stance with her rapier.

"Understood," Cinder only moved a foot back, bending her knees slightly.

She wasn't using her weapons, Percy realized. Because he'd fought her that night at the CCT.

She was changing weapons and fighting styles every time, from using her fire semblance and dust during the first encounter with Torchwick, to utilizing glass during the night at the CCT, to now simple martial arts.

When Goodwitch called start, Weiss was the one who struck the first blow.

Glyphs flashed beneath her feet, and she cut across the arena in a brilliant streak of white, Cinder being pushed back from the sheer force of the move. She attacked with power, forcing Cinder on the backfoot.