"Marcus! Where are you?" I called out.
I had been searching for him for a few hours now with no sign of him. He couldn't have gone far. At least I hope he didn't. The farther away he was, the more powerful the Grimm were going to be. That why I had to find him. I had to find him before he got hurt. Or worse...
I looked around at Signal, but he wasn't there. Now I was searching outside the area, wondering how far he could've gone.
And then I saw him in the distance, sitting alone against a tree. Carefully, I walked up to him.
"Hey Marcus," I said.
He looked up at me and immediately got to his feet. "Mr. Xiao Long! How'd you find me?"
"I did some looking around. Now, how about we get going? The longer we stay out here, the more dangerous it'll get. There are some powerful Grimm around this area," I told him.
He shook his head. "No. I'm not going back. I wasn't making any progress at that school! I knew becoming a huntsmen was way out of my league. I'm a failure."
"You're not a failure," I insisted. "You've been making some progress. We just haven't found what you're good at yet. And learning does take time. You understand that, don't you?"
"I can't fail again. I'm not going back. You're going to have to make me," he said, getting into his fighting stance.
I sighed. I knew he was going to be difficult, but I wasn't anticipating a fight. Still, maybe a fight was what he needed.
I got into my fighting position.
"How about this. If you win, I'll let you go and you never have to attend Signal again. But if I win, I'm taking you back. Sound like a deal?" I asked.
Without a word, he started to charge towards me. He tried to send a kick to my stomach, but I dodged easily and countered my punching him in his chest. He staggered backwards and fell.
Before he could get up I heard a loud screech in the distance.
I recognized that cry well. Nevermores.
"Marcus! Get up! We've got company," I told me.
He stood to his feet and glared at me.
"What are you talking about?"
A Nevermore was flying straight at Marcus. I quickly leapt in front of him and caught the Nevermore by its neck. Before it could do any damage to me, I snapped its neck and the entire beast went limp and disintegrated soon after.
"You... saved me," Marcus said.
"Of course I did. I couldn't bear it if something were to happen to one of my students. Now, how about we return to Signal? There's still plenty of training you need to do."
Marcus sighed and replied, "...Fine. Let's just go."
Together we walked back to Signal. Class was close to being over, but I could still train Marcus a bit.
"Hey, Marcus," I said.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Ready to begin? We need to work on you punches."
He groaned. "Do I have to? I'd rather work on my kicking."
"We can do that once we practice punches for a bit. This first type of punch is called a jab. It's a pretty quick attack designed to keep your opponents at a distance. Here, I'll show you," I said, demonstrating how to do the move. "See? Try it."
Marcus tried a few jabs, they were a bit slower compared to mine, but otherwise, it wasn't too bad for his first time.
"I still think this is way over my head. I don't think I have it in me to be huntsmen."
"Nonsense. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. We just haven't found your strong point yet. We could try to improve your kicking next time, if you'd like," I told him.
He glared at me and shook his head. "No. Coming back here was a mistake. I can't be huntsmen. I just can't!"
"Yes you can. I believe in you, Marcus."
"Ugh! Just shut up!" he yelled.
He then sent a strong kick to my ribs. I winced in pain and fell to my knees.
"Marcus... please. Let me help you," I begged him.
"No one can help me. Not even you. Just leave me alone!"
He ran out the door before I had the chance to say anything else.
"Marcus..." I whispered.