Word Count: 1,860
Trigger/Content warning: mention of blood, injuries
"Very good, Alejandro," Joan nodded curtly, brushing himself off, "You make a very good fighter. Your reflexes are going to be extremely useful."
"Thanks," replied Alex, only slightly out of breath as he took his blindfold off.
+50 EXP
"Your turn, Elijah. Are you ready?" Joan asked. He had begun to train them at the same time, giving one a break to catch their breath and practice whatever it was they needed to practice while the other actually trained.
"I guess," Elijah mumbled, trying to remember the 'battle stance' that Joan had taught him.
"Everyone has an offensive power, Elijah. You just have to access it," Joan reminded encouragingly, getting into his fighting stance. Elijah nodded, inhaling deeply.
"On my count. Three...two...one," Joan said, and then there was silence as Elijah tried to figure out who would throw the first punch. Then Joan motioned for Eli to come closer, and Eli threw a punch to his nose. Joan reacted quickly, grabbing Elijah's arm before it could make contact with his face and spinning Elijah around. In less than two seconds, Joan had maneuvered himself to be behind Elijah, strapping his arms around Elijah's chest, trapping any further movement on Eli's behalf. Elijah struggled, arms trapped between his chest and Joan's arms, his hands gripping Joan's wrists, trying to push him off. It didn't work. He gripped harder. Joan's arms continued to squeeze. It was hurting his chest. He couldn't breathe. He flickered in and out of visibility.
He tapped Joan's wrist five times in quick succession, and he was let go: five taps was the signal for surrender. Needless to say, Joan was disappointed.
"Elijah," Joan sighed, "I need you to try harder. You should already have some control over your offensive power, but you don't even know what it is yet."
"I'm trying my best, okay?" Elijah wheezed, one hand over his chest as if that would help him breathe better.
"I know you think you're trying your best, but you'd be amazed at what you can actually accomplish, if you just dig deeper. I need you to try harder," Joan told Elijah; he had meant for it to be encouraging, but it didn't quite sound that way.
Joan got no response. He rolled his eyes.
"Don't do this, Elijah. This is not what your powers are for," Joan warned (though it was less of a warning and more...tired).
Elijah didn't respond. Now invisible, he could walk away, if he didn't make a sound.
"I know your full name, since it's logged in your game console information," Joan threatened. Elijah said nothing. He turned on his heel and started walking toward the creek bridge.
"Elijah," Joan said lowly, "Get back here. And if you're still here, stop being invisible. Right now."
Elijah continued to walk. He splashed some of the (currently calm) creek water as loudly as he could before he kept going.
"Elijah Maxwell Matthews. Get back here right now," Joan said sharply, through gritted teeth.
"You're not my dad," Elijah replied, once he was sure he was out of earshot. He wandered down the side of the creek, stepping on stones, crossing the tiny bridge, and mumbling to himself the whole way. At one point, he picked up a rather large stick and dragged it on the ground beside him, as he walked. He walked for a good three minutes, before he heard something snap loudly, behind him. Despite being invisible, Elijah froze in his spot. He waited a moment until he thought whatever was behind him was gone before turning around to check.
A wolf, one that looked rather similar to the last one, stood there, body lowered, ready to pounce, sharp teeth on full display.
'Another wolf?' Elijah thought, 'How lazy can a game designer get?'
The wolf growled again, and Elijah's brain kick-started into motion. The wolf was getting riled up. He suddenly remembered being taught in elementary school that looking a wolf in the eyes meant 'I want to challenge you, so come fight me' and that he had been looking the wolf in the eyes for several seconds, now.
He turned around and started to run, dropping his stick (which was probably a dumb move on his behalf; he could have used that stick as a makeshift weapon).
He never turned back around to see if he was still being followed. He just ran for a short while before spotting a high tree and beginning to climb it. He was grateful to have seen it: it was a perfect climbing tree. It was one of those trees with perfectly spaced out branches and little notches in the trunk of it that seemed like they were made to be footholes. It seemed to make way for Elijah as he got to the higher, more brittle branches. Once he felt he was high enough, he sat on the sturdiest branch he could find and looked down. The wolf was there, but it looked somewhat confused.
+70 EXP
Then, it looked up at Elijah, who, if he wasn't invisible before, definitely was now. After a moment, Elijah wondered if maybe the wolf could see invisible things. It continued to stare at him. Elijah was holding his breath, exhausted by how much power he had been using, today. He was so exhausted, in fact, that parts of him were turning visible, again, against his will. The wolf growled again.
'You can do this. Hold it together. You have powers. Freaking superpowers. If you were given superpowers, you should be able to freaking use them. Just a bit longer. Deep breaths, come on,' Elijah tried to think of as many encouraging things as he could, shutting his eyes tightly and clenching his fists in hopes that his concentration could keep him out of sight. All he had to do was concentrate.
'All you have to do is concentrate.'
The wolf gave one more snarling growl and then walked away, puzzled and clearly unhappy.
'You did it! You can relax, now.'
Then, the branch gave way.
+150 EXP
-20 HP
'Health points?...'
"Elijah? Come on, man. I saw the trail. I have your stupid stick. You can stop being invisible now," Alex said to nothing in particular, hoping that maybe, just maybe, if he was really lucky, Elijah might listen to him.
"Elijah, this isn't funny. Eli. Come on, stop being such a crybaby, I'm sure Joan wasn't actually trying to insult you, he just-"
Alex had never heard a louder scream in his life, and he knew immediately who it had come from.
Elijah, a few yards away, became visible as soon as he hit the ground, a few leaves flying up around him from the impact.
Alex was at his side in a matter of seconds, kneeling beside him.
"What broke? I heard a snap and-oooooooooooh noooooooooooooooooo."
Alex nearly gagged at the sight of the blood practically pouring from poor Elijah's right leg, seeping through his pants. Something in his shin was sticking out where it shouldn't be sticking out. Alex was pretty sure he could safely assume that it was a bone (or part of one, anyway).
"Eli? Hey, talk to me, what happened?" Alejandro babbled. It was clear what had happened, Alex had seen the branch on the ground next to Eli, but he needed to make sure his friend was responsive.
"What do you think happened, you stupid freaking idiot?!" Elijah yelled.
Yup. Definitely still responsive.
"Don't yell at me, I'm trying to help! Now stay still." Alex instructed, hands moving to Eliijah's leg hesitantly. He had had to snap bones back in place before, he did have seven younger siblings, after all, but that didn't mean he was used to it by any means.
" 'Stay st-'no! Get off me!" Elijah shouted, batting Alex's hand away. Alex didn't budge.
"I'm sorry." came Alex's reply as he grabbed Elijah's leg firmly and snapped it back into place. The scream that followed was truly the worst thing that Alejandro had ever heard in his life.
"I'm sorry! I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry-" Alex babbled, taking his hands off of Elijah's leg in favor of gently lifting Elijah's head. Elijah made a sort of whining pained sound, and Alex winced in sympathy pain.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Deep breaths." Alex continued to ramble, taking his white overshirt off. It was hot outside, he could live with just the cotton undershirt. He lifted Elijah's leg as gingerly as he could, apologizing at every sign of discomfort or pain that Elijah showed. He wrapped the wound tightly with his overshirt, cringing the entire time. The only thing that kept him from stopping when Elijah told him to was the knowledge that this would help more than it would hurt, ultimately.
"I'm here!" Joan panted as he approached them, slowing down from a run to a tired walk, "What happened?"
"Eli broke his leg. I'm wrapping it,"Alex explained hastily, tying the sleeves of his shirt together over Elijah's now wrapped leg, to keep the fabric in place.
"Okay. Give me a moment." Joan nodded. Then, he disappeared.
"Alright! I'm back!" Joan popped back into place about ten seconds later.
"What-...What was that?" Elijah asked, speech slightly slurred. The injuries he sustained by his head hitting the ground were starting to catch up with him, apparently. Alex shushed him quietly, running a hand through Elijah's hair (not in a sweet way; he was looking for injuries).
"I teleported. Let's go. Alex, carry him." Joan said hurriedly, already beginning to walk.
"Carry him? Where are we going?" Alex asked, already picking Elijah up bridal style in the gentlest way possible.
"We're going to visit someone. They can heal him, I hope." Joan offered vaguely, and Alex felt that he had no choice but to trust him. He stood up with Elijah in his arms, following Joan closely.
As they walked, Alejandro looked down at Elijah, who was covered in scratches from branches and hardly able to keep his eyes open. The shirt that Alex had wrapped so tightly around Eli's leg was completely soaked red. Alex wanted to apologize, but he didn't know what he'd be apologizing for. None of this was his fault, but he still felt that he needed to take at least a little bit of the blame.
Elijah became heavier as he passed out, eyes slipping shut and head lolling back. Alejandro knew Elijah wasn't dead, but the sight still scared him.
"So...how far away is this healer guy?" Alex whispered.
"First of all, you don't have to whisper. Elijah may have passed out, but it's not like you have to worry about waking him up. Second, I never said it was a 'guy'. Third, to answer your actual question, it should only take a couple hours to reach them."
"Them? There's multiple healers?" Alejandro asked.
"Not exactly. You'll understand when we get there." Joan shrugged. His breathing had evened, and he seemed quite calm, again. It almost made Alex angry, how not-worried Joan was.
"Alright," Alex grumbled, trying to just focus on not dropping Elijah and making things worse.