A Leader's Duty

ch.10

"What are we even supposed to do here??"Blaze asked and huffed. He had been completely bored that whole morning. Neither was he allowed to use his power nor do anything as they feared that he might mess up things.

"Well." Gempa smiled, actually waiting an opportunity to talk to them about this since yesterday but just couldn't seem to find the right time. "We were sent here to improve our ability as a team, so how about we train together?"

"May I remind you what happened when we last trained together?"Solar said unimpressed.

"I'm aware, but we can give it another try. Afterall, training is one of the many way to improve a team's compatibility,"Gempa explained.

The team looked at each other, clearly having their own doubts. "It's worth a try?"Gempa added, hoping to convince them to atleast try it.

"Sure, it wouldn't hurt to try right guys?"Taufan said and smiled at all of them. As much as he hates Halilintar's guts, he doesn't want Gempa to be affected negatively nor be punished for it.

"Sure, why not? I get to use my power this way!"Blaze agreed happily, though the other were rather concerned by that statement.

"Fine by me,"Ice yawned and Halilintar gave a little nod.

"And you Solar?"Gempa asked with hope.

"We could try,"He replied.

So, they prepared everything they needed to train. And just to make sure nothing goes wrong for the first training, Gempa asked them to not use their power. This goes especially for Blaze.

"Why is Halilintar teaching us combat again?"Taufan asked in a disgusted tone, not hiding his dislike for Halilintar at all.

"As if I'd willingly teach you,"Halilintar grumbled and rolled his eyes.

"Let's not fight now."Gempa stood between them, not wanting it to escalate any further. "How about we just begin hm? I could train with you Taufan if you want."

"Yes, please."Taufan replied with a groan and glared at Halilintar for one last time before he and Gempa went to the other training field that they had created.

"Thank god I created two fields."Gempa thought and thanked himself for the idea. This way there won't be any fight between Halilintar and Taufan. And he had asked Ice to watch over Blaze, so he doesn't have to worry as much about him. All that he has to do now is check once every five minutes to make sure nothing goes wrong.

"Wah-!"Thorn fell with a thud, his arms held firmly behind him as Halilintar stood on him.

"You rely to much on your power, you have to work on your combat skill,"Halilintar adviced.

"Mhm, I will."Thorn cried on the inside, not used to the burning feelings of exercise as like Halilintar had pointed out, he relies mostly on his power.

The latter let him go and fought with the next one without any issue. "He seems to finally want to engage with us. I'm glad.."Gempa mumbled.

"Just wait til his anger issue kicks in,"Taufan commented coldly, the complete contrast to his usual cheerful voice.

"Ah- did I say that out loud?"Gempa akwardly laugh when Taufan nodded.

"But as I said, watch out for his anger issue. Who knows what he'll do to us if we anger him."

"I'm sure he wouldn't hurt us on purpose.."Gempa mumbled, not too sure about it either. He barely even know Halilintar, who is he to know that?

"You never know."Taufan shrugged and took a sip from his water bottle.

Gempa continued to watch the others when a thought occurred to his mind. "Talking about Halilintar, why do you hate him so much?"

His question made the latter froze for a quick second, but he quickly came to his senses. "Well.."

"Oh, I'm sorry you don't have to tell me if you don't want to,"Gempa reassured after seeing his uncomfortable reaction.

"No, it's fine."Taufan shook his head. "You deserve to know, afterall I've caused so much trouble to you because of it."

"I don't mind really, it's my duty as a leader to watch over my team,"Gempa reassured which made Taufan sigh.

"You're too nice, you know that?"He smiled and sat next to him on the tree log while looking at Halilintar. "You know... there was once a time when me and Halilintar were friends."

"You were friends??"Gempa asked, not expecting that answer from him.

"We were.."In his blue eyes shined something similiar to longing. As if something precious was stolen from him. "We were very close until he suddenly left."

"Left?"Gempa asked in confusion.

Taufan nodded sadly. "One day he left without even saying goodbye. I waited years for him to return! Yet he never came.."

"But he's here now isn't he? Why don't you guys become friends again?"Gempa asked.

"That's what I had tried when I saw him again at the academy, but he..."He clenched his fist, his sadness now replaced by anger. "He didn't even recognize me!"

"Oh.."Gempa's eyes softened as he understood Taufan's anger. He tried to reach for him, but Taufan stood up before he could.

"Sorry, I need some space."Taufan quickly said before leaving.

"Poor Taufan.."Gempa mumbled and turned to Halilintar once again. "I wonder why he left..?"

After Taufan returned they continued to train and Gempa didn't say a word about Taufan's past with Halilintar, understanding that he didn't want to talk about it any further.

"Maybe I could try to bring them back together?"Gempa wondered as he watched them back and forth.

Now that he paid more attention to Taufan and Halilintar, he couldn't help but notice how Taufan would secretly glance at Halilintar when he wasn't looking. There was no anger in his eyes, there were only... pain?

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Hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading! ^^