Shadow Angel: Volume 1

Night Training: Part 2

"So, what do you want?" Lucien asked, crossing his legs as he sat in his chair. He had been called to the headmaster's office to speak with Xander.

"I want to talk to you about your latest squad member," Xander answered.

"Oh?" Lucien grinned and raised an eyebrow, interested.

"The superiors at DEA and I have spoken to each other. I want to inform you that we decided to allow Cody Byrd to join you and your squad on missions."

"That's great!" he exclaimed with joy.

"There's something else, too," Xander continued. "We have also assigned him special night training."

"Night training?" Lucien repeated, his grin replaced with a frown.

"Yes, night training. And as squad leader, it is your job to be Cody Byrd's instructor. No one else but you."

"Right." Lucien leaned into his seat and crossed his arms. "Is that all or am I free to leave now?" he asked.

"Just one more thing before I let you go," Xander said, his face slowly shifting into a glare. "You and I know of Cody's predicament as a late bloomer. He is still navigating through the world of Slayers, and his powers will keep evolving with enough training. Teach him well, Lucien Nanami. I expect you to go easy on him."

~~~~~

"Lucien? Lucien!"

"Huh?!" Lucien jolted and looked at Cody again. He had just finished showing him around the night training area. He first brought Cody to the Sparring Chamber, where researchers will bring two students to fight each other using only their abilities and observe them. Next, Lucien brought him to the break section, where the Slayers-in-training rest while either grabbing a snack or drinking some water. Then, he showed Cody the infirmary, where they saw the curly-haired boy from earlier being treated by a medic. Natsu was there as well, but she gave Lucien a dirty look upon seeing him, so he and Cody immediately left. Finally, the tour ended when the boys entered the locker room, where Cody was assigned a locker; he was also told where the showers were.

"Are you okay?" Cody asked, still holding his bag as he stood in front of his open locker. "You were spacing out."

"I..." Lucien trailed off before he continued. "I'm sorry about that. I was lost in thought."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Cody asked as he pulled his running shoes out of his bag. Then, he zipped it closed, placed it into his locker, and shut its door.

"Not really." Lucien shook his head.

"That's alright." Cody picked up his water bottle and went to a nearby water fountain. There, he removed the bottle's lid, put it on top of the adjacent taller fountain, and brought its mouth to the short one's bubbler. Pressing the push bar, Cody watched as the bubbler spewed out cold water, which slowly filled his bottle. As soon as the water nearly touched the rim, he pulled his hand away from the push bar and picked up the lid so he could twist it back on.

Lucien watched as the freshman closed his bottle shut, holding his left arm with his right hand as he looked at the floor. "Actually, Cody..." he trailed off again as he got the latter's attention