Zeta
Zarina... No one had called her that in years. The name brought a tsunami of memories to her brain and she had to gulp them back as not to start crying.
She walked down the stage, much to everyone's shock, and leaded Naya into it. The boy from the 20th was too scared to say anything.
Naya still had her head slightly down. She figured it was because she was afraid of gunshots. The poor thing.
Zeta held her shoulders and hugged her, firmly, tight against her body. She still smelt like incense.
She wanted to talk to her, to cling onto her. She was afraid she'd go again if she let go. But she was still the Leader, and so she had responsibilities.
"I claim this girl for the 6th unit" She said, her voice not breaking once.
A stunned silence filled the room. Then, it filled with incredulous and angry chatter.
The boy from 20th groaned.
"Come on! She hasn't even passed the trials! How come she can belong to the 6th while we can't? It's not fair!"
Zeta lifted her sword with one hand while she held Naya's hand with the other. They had made her mad now. She took a step forward.
"First of all, how dare you talk back to your Leader and question her actions?!" Her voice was so cold the temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees.
The boy turned pale with realization.
"I-I didn't..."
"Naya is a member of the 6th unit" Zeta declared, her voice louder now "you may bow when addressing her"
The boy quickly scrambled on his feet and did a messy bow. Naya let out a quiet chuckle, and Zeta whispered to her, her voice much gentler.
"Before we leave, are those idiots who bullied you still here...?"
Naya shrugged before pointing to a couple of girls in the crowd.
"But it's okay... A-all water under the bridge"
Zeta chuckled softly before speaking again, a bit more stern.
"I need names, cielo"
It took Naya five seconds to reply, gulping a bit of saliva before finally speaking.
"S-Samantha.... A-and Charlotte... They..."
Zeta turned to the crowd and spoke with a firm voice once more .
"Samantha and Charlotte, stand up at once"
Two girls stood up, shaking. Their clothes were bartered, but still, they looked expensive and posh. They blinked, their eyes shifting from Naya to Zeta.
Zeta rolled her eyes at the both of them. She squeezed her friend's hand and spoke.
"For your crimes of high disrespect towards a member of the Leading Unit at the moment, you're hereby prohibited to take part in the trials and therefore kicked out of the Centre at once."
The silence rang loud in the room. The girls turned red in the face. One of them pouted.
"But...! It's not fair! She wasn't a member! She doesn't even deserve to be one!"
Zeta drew her sword once more.
"Someone take them away before I do something I regret"
The boy from the 20th, terrified as he was, grabbed the both and took them away. Everyone seemed truly terrified. Naya looked stunned too, staring at her.
"W-what...? How?"
Zeta smirked and whispered.
"That's what happens when someone bothers my bestie -I mean- when someone disrespects a member of the 6th"
She winked at her before turning the the crowd.
"Everyone else is fit for the trials... unless, of course, my fellow member of the 6th unit has something to say?"
Naya stared at the crowd. She had lost everyone. Or, so, she had believed.
"N-no..." she whispered, smiling.
Zeta then held her hand and walked out of the room. Both of them ran through those white halls she knew by heart, chuckling. For the first time, those white walls seemed refreshing, hopeful.
The two friends stopped after a while, panting and laughing. They rested against the wall and chuckled.
"Never would I have imagined..." Naya started, laughing "you seemed so shy at MUN, when we met..."
Zeta laughed softly "My goodness, I remember... You knew how to give a good speech by heart, and I just had a mess of papers and a huge knot in my stomach."
The other girl nodded "Yeah. You got frustrated and then started ranting in fast Spanish! Haha..."
Zeta gave her a light playful punch on the arm and giggled.
"That girl died long ago"
Naya seemed stunned for a second.
"What do you mean, Zarina?"
Another harsh wave of memories hit her. She turned away.
"Don't call me that. It's just Zeta now"
The other girl gave her an apologetic look and silence fell upon the two of them for a few instants. Then, Naya tried her best to lighten the mood.
"Does that mean I'm N now?"
That made the corners of Zeta's mouth finally turn upwards. She gave her friend a side hug.
"So, tell me... how come the shy messy girl at MUN ended up being the friggin leader of the Centre, the most important organization at the moment?"
Zeta smirked and skipped ahead, turning back and winking.
"Eh... it's a bit of a long story"
Naya chuckled and ran to catch up to her.
"I'm listening"
"Well" Zeta started, her smirk remaining "..."
YOU ARE READING
Way More Than Flesh And Bone
ActionZarina died the second the war started. Zeta knew how to survive, how to escape the monsters that sucked the life out of her bone marrow, both the zombies, the rebels and her own people. She would survive, whatever means necessary. Naya didn't deser...
