Morningstar

Icarus returns as expressionless as ever. Ilya feels more fear towards him now than she did before. He knocked out Phoenix, hanged her upside down, and left her to bleed out. Ilya once feared him when he told them that he was going to kill two people from their group, but now the fear is more intense.

“Rin, Zanna, you can let her down when it is lunch,” he says. “For now, we play chess. Since now we are nineteen students, someone will have to play with me.” Everyone begins to move and before Ilya realizes, they all had paired up. “That leaves you, Ilya, with me.”

Ilya tries to nod as she sits down. She takes the white pieces and begins to place them on her side. Icarus sits down, causing her to tense. She does not look at him as she moves one of her pawns. His first move is a knight, which is odd. Usually people move a pawn near the king or queen as their first move.

“Have you seen a knight before?” Icarus asks. Ilya can tell that he is not asking about the chess piece.

“Of course not,” she answers. “They are characters of stories, nothing more.”

Icarus does not answer. He continues playing against her. “What about assassins?”

“Well, you are one,” she answers. Her queen moves closer to his king.

“Then why am I allowed to be real, but knights aren’t?” he asks. She looks up for the first time at him, but he is not looking at her. He is concentrated on the game.

“Is this a philosophy class? Like why am I alive, but a tree or a cloud or a rock is not?”

“No,” he says. “What I am saying is that maybe knights are real.”

“I doubt it,” she says. “I cannot imagine men defending a king with swords and shields only. I mean, women should be there too.”

“And who says that there are not women knights?” Icarus asks. “Maybe you can even become one.” He moves his knight. “Checkmate.”

“That’s not fair,” she says, realizing now that she has not seen that knight. “You tricked me. You entertained me. I was not paying attention to the game.”

“There are many factors in battle, Ilya,” he says. “All of them will try to make you lose your focus and leave you wide open for an attack.” He looks at the rest of the tables. “Wither, switch with Ilya. Let’s play.”

Ilya stands up. She knows that she somehow will remember this conversation in the future.

***

Wither feels his leg jumping, trembling. He does not like being near Icarus, even less share something with him. He looks at his left and towards the window. Phoenix is still unconscious, hanging upside down. He has never spoken to her before, but he knows that she does not deserve such punishment. He wonders if she might even withstand bleeding upside-down until lunch.

“You are distracted,” Icarus says. Wither returns his sight to the game. They have only moved four pieces each. “What’s troubling you?” Wither does not answer. He does not know if his question is a trick. “Let’s do something. If you win, I will let you take Phoenix down.”

Wither looks at him for the first time. He has never seen him directly in his eyes. “W-What if I-I lose?” he asks.

“You will join her,” Icarus says.

Wither feels the need to ask Yenta what he should do, but he is not here. He will never be here. He searches for Lexan, but he is sitting a few chairs away, playing against Rin. He returns his sight to the chessboard. He is alone. He needs to make this decision on his own. What would Yenta do?

“All right,” he says as he nods. “Deal.”

He moves his pawn. He concentrates on the game. No more distractions. He needs to block the fact that Phoenix’s destiny is hanging in his hands. He has to ignore the fact that he is playing against Icarus, that he is playing against the assassin that killed Yenta.

Wither decides to play aggressive. He usually plays depending on how the opponent plays. That way, he can play defensive and strike when there is an opening. This time, he won’t. His bishops dominate most of the field. He will not let him advance.

“Check,” Wither says. Icarus moves his king away. Wither moves his knight. “Check.” Icarus moves his king again. Wither moves his queen, preparing to end this. Icarus moves his queen also away from his king and towards Wither’s side of the board. Wither moves his queen again. One more move and he is done.

Icarus rises his sight. “Good game,” he says. He hits his king and they watch it fall. He has surrendered.

“What?” Wither asks as he sees the chessboard. Icarus’s queen is one move away from checkmating Wither’s king. He could have won. He let Wither win. “You let–”

“Wither,” he says. “You won.” He pulls a dagger out and hands it to him. “You can cut Phoenix down.”

Wither accepts the dagger. It is completely black and heavy. He feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks and finds Lexan standing behind him. “Good job,” he says.

Lexan is not the only one standing behind him. There are others. He did not hear them stand up. He did not feel their presence. They watched him play and he did not feel frightened.

“Rin,” Icarus says. “Go with him.”

With one last look at the chessboard, Wither stands up to help Phoenix.

***

“Wake up,” Rin says, slapping Phoenix softly on the cheek. She opens her eyes.

“What?” she asks.

“Hold still,” Rin says as she places her arms under Phoenix’s armpits. “Wither, go.”

Wither cuts the rope in one swift move with Icarus’s knife. Rin holds her ground when Phoenix falls. She holds her weight until Phoenix stands up. She wobbles on her feet and holds the tree for support.

“How long was I out?” she asks.

“About one or two hours,” Rin says.

“Then why does it seem…” Phoenix reaches for one of her cuts. “Ah, he left me to bleed out. That’s why I feel so weak. If I was left more time hanging, I would have some more serious damage.”

“Then you should thank Wither here,” Rin says. Phoenix lays one arm on Rin’s shoulders for support. “He made a deal with Icarus that if he wins a chess game against him, he had to let you go.”

Phoenix pats Wither’s shoulder. “Thanks. I owe you one.” In Wither’s face appears a shy smile.

They make their way back to the room 23. Rin helps Phoenix on the stairs, while Wither continues following them with an odd distance between them. Once they get to the room, everyone looks at them. Tilray has a smirk on her face while Hakea looks concerned.

Icarus moves towards them, holding a roll of bandages and a first aid-kit. “I am guessing that you know what to do with this,” he tells Phoenix. He hands the things to Rin before telling her, “Help her.”

Rin walks away with Phoenix and they head to the bathroom in the first floor. Luckily, no one, except for them, are using the Draconic building. Phoenix sits on the lid of the toilet and begins to take off the pieces of armors on her chest.

“I hate him,” Phoenix says. “I hated him when he killed Meer, but now I do more.” She rolls her shirt up.

Rin has never had any problems with wounds or death. Apart from her shooting, she has specialized on healing. She has liked helping people heal up, and she thought that knowing healing techniques would help her in a future.

“How is it?” Phoenix asks, referring to the wounds.

“They are deep,” she says. “You are going to need stitches on both.” She searches for a cloth inside the bag of first aid. She stands up and wets the towel in the sink before kneeling again in front of Phoenix.

“Why do you think that he did it?” she asks. She winces when Rin passes the wet cloth through the cut.

“You mentioned Quin,” Rin says. She also mentioned that he was dominated by her, but Rin won’t mention that. “Maybe he does not like you invading his personal space.”

“The hypocrisy, isn’t it?” Phoenix says. “He knew about us before we met him. He invaded our personal lives, and now he cannot stand someone invading his?”

“And he might already know about Drano,” she says as she places the cloth on the floor. Phoenix looks at her. “Sorry.” She does not like anyone mentioning his name. “All that I am saying is that you do not like someone mentioning Drano, but you do not understand that Icarus does not like you mentioning Quin. You two are much alike than what you want to admit.”

“No,” Phoenix says, but Rin speaks quickly.

“Bite something down,” she says. “I have nothing to numb your pain.” She is going to begin stitching.

“I’ll hold on,” Phoenix says. She waits for Rin to insert the needle. She bites her bottom lip, holding back the pain. After Rin pulls the string for the first time, Phoenix continues talking. “He is not like me. We are nothing alike.”

“If you say so,” Rin says, concentrating in her work. She knows that she cannot argue with Phoenix. She is stubborn and she won’t hear opinions unless she asks.

Phoenix sighs. “What are you thinking?”

“Do you remember how Drano treated you at first?” Rin asks. She does not care if Phoenix does not like anyone mentioning Drano. She was the one to ask for her opinion. “He messed with you. He liked to see you get mad at him. He said that your skin turned a shade of pink when you were mad, and he liked that.”

“What are you getting at?” Phoenix asks. Rin takes the scissor and cuts the string. She moves to the second cut.

“That Drano also pushed you to be better,” she says. “He wanted you to be the best, even better than him.” She stops to pull the wound together. Phoenix bites her bottom lip again. “Don’t you think that maybe that is what Icarus is doing?”

“What? Do you really think that he likes me?” Phoenix asks.

Rin laughs. “No,” she says. “I do not think that he likes you romantically, but I think that he likes you as a friend. Remember the first trial. He was going to kill me, and he could, but instead he wanted to test you. He wanted to see what you were capable of, and when he saw your humane side, he let me go. He could have killed us both easily.”

“No,” Phoenix says, ignoring the rest of what Rin said. “He does not like me.”

“Come on, Nix,” Rin says. “Any other assassin would have killed me, and not just me, but you and Zanna.” She cuts the string and forces Phoenix to stand up. She rolls the bandages around her waist. “Come on. Let’s leave this in the past.”

***

Icarus sends everyone to lunch. He does not watch them go. He hears their steps as he walks towards the desk. His green apple is still sitting there.

“Aren’t you going to eat that?” Phoenix asks. Icarus turns to find her standing at the end of the room. She is the only one that hasn’t left. Her back is against the back wall.

“I should,” he says. He turns again. He grabs the apple and lifts his mask a little before taking a bite and pulling it back down. He is so hungry, but he does not want to admit it. He places the apple back down and turns again.

“Don’t you let anyone see you without your mask?” she asks.

“No,” Icarus answers. “And no one will.”

“Why?” she asks.

“I thought that I was clear about the personal questions,” he says. Phoenix nods and looks down for a second. Icarus wants to know what she is thinking. He usually knows how someone will act or how someone thinks, but it is taking him a while to get to know Phoenix. He thought that she was going to shoot him and Rin for sure back on the trial, but she did not.

“His name was Drano,” she says. It does not take long for Icarus to know that she is talking about her ex-lover. “He was my world. He was a little childish, always searching for ways to make me laugh.” She smiles as she looks out the window. Her smile disappears as fast as it came. “But then he and a bunch of his friends decided to escape Morningstar. He told me about his plan, and I was on board, but the night of the event, Morning caught him. I do not need to tell what happened next.”

She walks towards the front of the room, towards him. “I… I am sorry for earlier,” she says and heads to the door.

“Phoenix,” Icarus says, grabbing her hand. He quickly pulls away after he realizes what he did. “I am sorry about Meer.” Phoenix nods and leaves the room.

***

Kobo is swallowing his food almost without biting it. He is hungry, way too hungry. Beta stares at him until he stops and looks at her.

“What?” he asks with a mouthful.

“Can’t you at least chew your food?” she says.

“No,” he says and bites again. Then he stops and swallows. “I need to go to the bathroom.” He stands up without a care in the world and sprints to the door. He knows that the nearest bathroom is one building away. He sprints towards it. He enters a booth and lets out a relieved sigh as he releases himself.

He opens the tap in the sink and washes his hands. He then wipes his wet hands on his clothes and walks out. He does not bother running back to the lunchroom. His food is almost over, and he still has more than half an hour of his lunch break.

“Look who’s here,” someone says. Kobo recognizes his voice. Heigl is coming from the right with Kimber, Miles, and Zarf. Kobo ignores them and continues walking. “Where are you going beastie?”

Kobo accelerates his pace, but Kimber appears in front of him. He takes a step to the left to walk past her, but she steps in front again.

“Are you trying to run away?” Zarf asks. Kobo turns to the left, but he is there. He turns around, but they are all surrounding him.

“Come on,” Heigl says. “Do something animal.”

“Leave me alone,” Kobo says, trying to walk past them. Zarf pushes him back and then Miles pushes him again. He falls on the grass.

“Come on,” Heigl says as he kicks him on the stomach. “Growl for me.” Kobo gets to his knees but Heigl kicks him down again.

Kobo takes a deep breath. He won’t growl. He won’t act like the animal that they want him to act. He is not in here for their amusement. He stands up slowly and when Heigl kicks him again, he moves to the side to evade it.

“I said growl!” Heigl yells. He punches Kobo on the face. Kobo does not react. He pulls to punch him again.

“What is going on?” someone yells. They all turn towards the voice. East is heading towards them. Slier is standing a couple of feet away.

“Fuck off, East,” Heigl says. “This does not concern you.”

“Actually, it does,” he answers. Kobo sees his rifle and submachine behind his back and his other guns around his waist and across his chest. “You see, that guy over there is in my team, and no one messes with my team.”

“You think that you are so big,” Zarf says. “And we all know that the strongest of you two is your little girlfriend.”

East shrugs. “First, she is not my girlfriend, and secondly, I agree, but that does not mean that I can’t kick your asses. You are nobodies, after all.”

He kicks Heigl on the knee. Heigl falls on the ground. Kimber pulls out her katana, but East is already grabbing her by the arm and pushing her towards Miles. Zarf pulls out his gun, but East’s fist is already on his face.

Heigl stands up, taking several limped steps back. “You are dead, Kobo!” he says and proceeds to run with his crew.

“Are you all right?” East asks.

“Yeah,” Kobo says as he touches his cheekbone. It is not bleeding but it must be bruised. “Thanks.”

“Why do you let them bully you?” he asks.

Kobo shrugs. “Violence is never the answer.”

“In a place like this, it is,” East says. He places a hand on Kobo’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get back to the lunchroom.”