"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
"Yeah?"
"Never mind," Lucien sighed. Then, he said, "Get your running shoes on. I'll be waiting for you outside." He walked away from the freshman, making his way out of the locker room.
Cody watched as his squad leader left the locker room, raising an eyebrow at him. He couldn't help but notice that Lucien was making an odd face. The Lucien he met is usually a laid-back and ruthless troublemaker who always does what he wants. However, this version of him was anxious and spaces out for some unknown reason. It made Cody wonder if Lucien Nanami was just misunderstood, but he shook his head at the thought. He decided not to dwell on it for the time being and would inquire later.
After removing his boots and slipping on his running shoes, Cody stood up from the bench and picked up his water bottle. He walked to the exit but stopped to look at his reflection in a nearby mirror. His current fitness wear was a black tank top underneath a brown jacket with yellow stripes on the sleeves, brown knee-length running shorts over black leggings, and his running shoes, which were black with yellow soles. Yet, Cody was once again fixated on his face in the mirror. As he looked at his reflection, he glared at it as he inhaled through his nose. Then, he felt that unwanted clenching feeling in his chest as he balled his right hand into a fist. Cody hated looking into the mirror, but he was suppressing the urge to punch the glass for some reason.
Suddenly, he heard someone clear his throat behind him. Turning around, Cody saw a taller and muscular boy with dark skin wearing a dark gray tank top, shorts of the same color, and white sneakers with gray accents.
"You good, bro?" the taller boy asked with concern.
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine," Cody replied with a nod.
Looking down at the floor, Cody finally walked out of the locker room, where he found Lucien leaning against a wall near the doors. He was looking down at his right hand with a blank face. But then, Lucien looked up to find Cody standing in the doorway. Putting both his hands in his jacket pockets, he pulled himself away from the wall and walked up to Cody before grinning at him.
"Ready to get started?" Lucien asked.
"Yes, sir," Cody replied with a nod.
With that, Cody and Lucien went to an empty mat near the edge of the others, both standing on opposite sides as soon as they got there. Cody had to put his water bottle down, though; he placed it near the edge of the mat.
"So, where do we start?" Cody asked.
"How about we start with something simple?" Lucien replied before tapping his chest with his hands and spreading them out. "Go ahead and try to hit me."
Cody nodded in response and then charged at the other boy. As he got closer, he curled his right hand into a fist and pulled it back, aiming it at Lucien's face. But when he got closer, he threw the punch at him, only for Lucien to dodge by slightly moving his head to the left. Then, he jumped back a few feet away from Cody, who was taken aback as he stared at the mat with wide eyes. He looked up at Lucien, who mischievously smirked at him. He charged at him again to try punching him again, but the other boy once again evaded his attack by jumping to the right.
"W-what are you doing?" Cody stammered, furrowing his eyebrows at the eyepatched boy.
"Today's objective for you: try landing at least one hit on me," Lucien replied, maintaining his smirk. "But if you step one foot away from the mat, you fail."
With a huff, Cody lunged at Lucien, sending several strikes from his arms. But with each attempt, Lucien kept avoiding them by moving his body left and right and even ducked. When Cody would aim at his chest or stomach, Lucien would jump back four feet away. There would even be times when the eyepatched boy would block his punches by grabbing his hands. Cody even decided to use both hands to hit his squad leader in the legs, but Lucien jumped upward, flipping over him as he stuck his tongue out and pulled his bottom left eyelid down at him. The dark-haired boy was left confused by his partner's gesture as he watched him land on his feet behind him.
"Had enough yet?" Lucien asked mockingly.
"No," Cody replied with another huff. Then, he charged at him to send another punch, but he was avoided again when Lucien slid to the left, nearly going over the edge of the mat.
"Usually, people always say, 'I'm just getting started' or 'I'm just warming up'." Lucien put his hands behind his head.
"In that case, I'm just getting started." With a yell, Cody lunged at the other boy and sent a flurry of punches, each of them being dodged with seemingly no effort.
Meanwhile, all of the other trainees stopped what they were doing when they took notice of the sparring match between Cody and Lucien. One by one, they all turned to their spot and clamored with awe at Cody's perseverance. They all watched as the dark-haired boy tried to strike Lucien in the chin with an uppercut, but that was dodged immediately. The trainees marveled at the sight of the eyepatch boy doing a double backflip. Lucien landed near the edge of the mat as he felt something touch his right foot. He looked down and saw Cody's water bottle, which he could have tipped over if he moved his foot any further.
Lucien looked up from the water bottle to see Cody running up to him, a determined glare on his face. As he got closer, Cody pulled his right arm back and threw another punch, but Lucien dodged him again. Then, the dark-haired boy fell to his hands and knees as he was starting to feel exhausted. Lucien was too quick for him, for he always evaded his attacks no matter how many punches he threw. Yet, Cody knew he wasn't the problem in his current situation. No, it wasn't Lucien Nanami, it was his human body.
When Cody was a Raven Eldritch, he would fly long distances for a lengthy amount of time, almost to no end. Fatigue was almost a stranger to him back then. But on the day he ate his friend and became human, Cody began to understand the meaning of being tired. His first moment of tiredness was when he fought and killed the Scissor Eldritch. He didn't know if it was his leg wound or how he would attack that monster, probably both now that he thought about it. Cody would also get tired during his jogging sessions with Evan after a long-distance run. Finally, there were the moments with the Gorilla Eldritch and the trio of Worm Eldritch during the Hawk Tower Incident.
"Stupid human body," Cody angrily muttered to himself, wiping sweat off his forehead with his left wrist.
When Cody looked up, he froze upon seeing the other trainees surrounding him and Lucien, watching their harmless skirmish. With wide yellow eyes, he looked around to see some staring at him and his partner while others were whispering to one another. Cody started hating big crowds even more now that everyone in the night training area was watching him. Now stiff, he started rapidly breathing in and out of his mouth as he kept looking around at everyone. That is until someone from far away called him.
"You got this, bro!"
Broken out of his trance, Cody looked up to see someone from earlier: the boy from the locker room. He had his hands around his mouth as he shouted, "You got this!"
Suddenly, Cody looked around at the other trainees, who were cheering him on the same way as the locker room boy. This gave him the motivation he needed, so he pushed himself back on his feet and turned around to look at Lucien. Meanwhile, the latter looked back at Cody and whistled at him with his hands behind his head. Bringing his right hand down, Lucien gestured at his partner to come at him. Immediately, Cody got the message.
Dashing up to Lucien once again, Cody screamed as he sent another flurry of punches at Lucien, all of them being dodged one by one. He swung a fist aimed at Lucien's forehead, but the eyepatched boy ducked and rolled on the floor until he was behind him again.
"These punches are starting to get old," Lucien said, turning around to look at Cody again. "Show me something new."
"Something new, you say?" Cody muttered. "Okay, how about this?"
Lunging at Lucien once more, he lifted his left leg and swung it at the other boy's neck. Meanwhile, all of the other trainees were clamoring and cheering for him as if they were at a baseball game. But as they watched Cody's foot go near Lucien's neck, the latter grabbed it with his right hand and he gave his ankle a tight grip. As the screams of joy ceased, they all watched as Lucien held Cody's ankle with both hands and threw him over his shoulder. Those who were near the edge of the mat moved out of the way as Cody was slammed between the soft blue surface and the cold tile floor. As the crowd groaned in disappointment, the dark-haired boy grunted, pushing himself onto his knees before realizing what happened.
With a sigh and his hands in his pockets, Lucien looked at Cody and said, "Sorry, Cody. You failed."
While Cody hung his head low as he heard those two words, the other students were whispering to each other. This time, they didn't sound happy with the sparring match's outcome. Then, Cody balled both his hands into fists.
"You got guts, I'll give you that," Lucien continued, smirking again. "Maybe with a little more practice, then you might one day land a blow on me. But I guess today wasn't your day. Don't beat yourself up, though. I promise you, Cody, I'll keep training you until you're strong enough to slay even the biggest Eldritch out there. When that day comes, you and I will become unstoppable. We will fight-"
"STOP ACTING ALL HIGH AND MIGHTY!" Cody shouted with fury, making everyone gasp in shock, even Lucien, whose smirk turned into a wide left eye and a frown. "I SWEAR TO GOD, EVERYONE I MET IS RIGHT ABOUT YOU! YOU JUST DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT WITH NO REGARD FOR OTHERS! NO WONDER WHY EVERYBODY HATES YOU!"
Everyone in the area gasped again as their mouths gaped open with shock. As for Lucien, his breath hitched at Cody's demeanor, his shoulders dropping as he fell silent. With a scowl, Cody turned his head around to scold Lucien some more, but his face softened when he saw his current expression. Then, the eyepatched boy looked down as his surprise turned into a face of sadness. Bug-eyed himself, Cody turned his head back around and put his hands over his mouth as he realized what he just said. But he pulled his hands away from his mouth, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He stood from the mat and walked to his water bottle so he could pick it up.
As Cody stepped away from Lucien, so did everyone who surrounded him, leaving him standing alone at the center of the mat. Lucien looked up to see the dark-haired boy walk away from him with no turning back. With a chuckle and a sad grin, he muttered to himself, "I know..."