Without any hesitation, Tom launched towards the monster with his flicker chopper.
He couldn't understand why his heart twitched so badly when he saw Maria being hurt. They always quarelled and hit each other most of the time.
He rushed towards the monster while his blade clashed with the monsters katana. The monster deflected his every move but Tom didn't give up.
Everytime he attacked, his mind led him towards a series of emotions, he thought he had forgotten. A drop of tear escaped from his eye as his mind replayed the memories that had been locked up in his heart for so long.
*****************Flashback***********************
Give me my candy back!" a little girl of about five years, was crying on the ground, bullied by two older boys that looked tough.
Then another group of boys came about. One of them was a bright blonde boy. He was hanging out with his kiddo friends when he saw that chubby little girl crying.
One of the boys was teasing her.. "If you want it, come get it from me." licking her candy.
The girl cried even more.
He felt a sense of sympathy for the little girl who was about his age. Without any second thoughts he went over to the girl while his friends protested and told him not to mess with the bullies.
The girl was startled at first when she saw someone standing before her in a protective stance. "Don't mess around. Buy her a new candy at once." That bright blonde boy said to the two bullies sternly. That brought a smile upon the little girl's face.
She had no friends and didn't expect anyone to help her.
'Yay! My knight in shining armour.' She inwardly thought.
"Get out of the way." The bullies were definitely enraged. By this time, his friends had ran away. But his spirits weren't let down.
"Leave the girl alone." He stood up to them, receiving a punch on his face.
"Noooo..." The girl ran over to her knight(she called him so) who had been pushed to the ground.
"I'm okay." The boy smiled at her and ran back to the bullies. He got beaten everytime but he didn't give up.
"Do you ever give up?" The bullies were tired of his game and walked away.
"This seems to be your lucky day." They sneered at the girl.
The girl crawled to the boy who was still recovering from the last blow. "Hey, are you okay?"
She looked at him concerned.
"Yeah I'm fine." The boy meekly replied with a grin.
"Thank you. Oh, my name is Maria." She held out her hand.
"That's a lovely name. My name's Tom." He held out his hand but noticing his hand was dirty, rubbed it with the brim of his shirt and shook his hand with hers.
"Hey, I'll buy you a candy." Tom suggested.
"Nah, you already helped me too much." The girl said innocently.
"Aww come onnnn!" Tom literally dragged her to a candy shop and bought her one.
"Thank you. Arigato Tom." Maria sorta blushed.
They sat in a wooden bench beside a park together for sometime. Then the time came to say their good-byes.
"Maria, let's play tomorrow together, shall we? " Tom asked her in high spirits.
Maria looked a bit forlorn.
"I...I'm not so sure Tom." Maria looked down.
"My parents are very strict. "
Tom never lost his spirits. "Please Maria. Can't you convince them? I'll be really sad if you don't come."
"Okay, I'll try..."
"Yay!!" Tom didn't let her finish. "Meet me here tomorrow. Byeeeeh!"
Maria had felt happiness for the first time in her life.
But she had to forget about him because her parents were moving on to the city, which was miles away from this village.
Tom waited for her everyday after school, but he never saw her again. After about a year, he decided to forget about her...and to move on. That day was the first time he lost his hope of meeting her again.
"How could you do this to me, Maria? Wherever you are, I hope you stay happy." Tom said his good-byes on the same spot they last met, because his family was moving on to a different city, too.
**************~end of flashback~*************
Tea helped Maria up. Maria stood up but her eyes were fixed on her savior. He was battling it out with all his strenght. The monster deflected his every move and after a while, Tom looked like he had lost every ounce of his energy. He was about to give another go, but Kai stopped him.
"Tom, I know what's going on in your mind..""Tom pushed him away. "No, you don't..."
Everyone was a bit startled but Kai didn't lose his calm attitude and blocked him again.
"Tom, he's not the enemy. We need to save our energy for the real enemy. I know you care a lot about Maria. But it was an accident on her part. We are here to train, Tom. "
"Are you saying, that this is her fault?" Tom was still mad. The others couldn't believe that he was actually taking sides with Maria.
"No..." Kai began but Maria interrupted. "Yeah, Tom, it was my fault."
That finally calmed him down. Tom went towards her with a face that none of them ever saw before. The expression that showed true concern, guilt and sympathy. "Are you alright?"
Maria couldn't help but smile in appreciation. She had no words to express her emotion as tears softly poured down her cheeks. All this while, the rest of them looked at the duo with that lingering realm of happiness.
Without saying a word Tom hugged her. Maria was surprised at first but hugged him back, muttering a soft "Thank you".
Tom whispered into her ear. "Why didn't you come back after that day?"
Maria immediately knew what he was talking about.
"I'm sorry, Tom. I wanted to...but my family moved on to Asakusa the next day itself. We moved back after two years. You know I was so happy to come back. I asked everyone about you but you had already moved on...."
She wanted to say more but Tom put his hand on her lips. "It's okay."
"So, let's carry on with our training. Leave the love birds alone." Genus ushered them away from the duo.
Tom's face flushed red, and Maria's even redder. They hurried back to their friends. Maria walked towards Sara and Tom to Kai.
"Geez! So you guys are like together now?" Sara asked her apprehensively. She knew Maria had feelings for Tom. She just didn't show it.
"I don't want to talk about it!" Both Tom and Maria shouted at the same time, annoyed by the questions.
"You knew each other before we met and didn't even tell us. We are definitely mad at you. " They pretended to look away from the duo.
"Okay." Tom casually said after a sigh. He briefly stated everything that happened from the incident. So, apparently, when they moved to the US, Tom and Maria found themselves in the same school. But they refused to recognize each other and kept their past locked in their hearts. If it wasn't for them, turning out to be in the same group, they wouldn't have this moment today.
"That wasn't wise of you guys. " Tea said.
Both Tom and Maria looked apologetically, so they shrugged it off. Now wasn't the best time to discuss this.
They continued on their training each of them handling their own monster.
Kai seemed to be getting his flow right. As usual, he seemed calm about his actions manuvering his very action with precision. He gave a direct hit with one of his swords, while he maintained a defensive stance with his other sword. He preferred using two swords in combat.
Charles let out a sweat as he battled his monster with his twin blades. Striking the monster, blows after blows.
Everyone was exhausted, but they didn't give up.
Suddenly a crash was heard and everyone turned around to find out the source of the noise. They were startled when they discovered that Kai's monster had vanished. Where did it go?
"Seems like I've finally defeated it." Kai said in a serious tone. "You can do it too, guys. Don't lose faith."
The rest of them were encouraged by his success and battled out their monsters with more confidence. Within moments, they pounded their opponents to dust, a smile of victory spread upon their faces.
"Well done!" The holy priest's voice emerged again.
"Now that you know how to use your weapons effectively, you'll be heading to the next lesson."
"Bring it on." An excited Tom holered.
"Hmm let's move on." Kai remarked.
The voice continued. "Always remember that to be a true warrior, you should not rely on your weapons or strenght all the time. It's no use if you don't have enough faith in yourself. The next lesson will help you in earning your patience. Many brave and skilled warriors lose only because they lose their calm and patience easily. Your enemy is very cunning, my children. They will try to manipulate you and play with your mind. So, don't fall for such traps."
They listened to the priest attentively and nodded in understanding.
*A/N : This chapter was mainly a filler chapter. Hope you guys like it. Please let me know what you think of the story. ^^
The song for this chapter is "Those Nights" by Skillet. It goes out for Tom and Maria. :)
Every single step they take is leading them to uncover more parts of the mystery. Stay tuned, guys. You're really gonna love the next chapter.
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