The Mortal Arts: New Beginnings

Chapter 7

Zero's Pov:

Liberty was acting weird and I wanted to talk to her during English but another classmate was partners with me instead. She was talking to a blonde girl that was dressed in Athena robes but math was starting in a minute so I nudge her. She says bye to the girl and follows me out of the classroom, holding my hand.

We saw Asher and Brad on the way and talked to them for a minute saying that the teacher for math was a very nice older man. Liberty was being fidgety the entire conversation, she finally succeeded in pulling me away and into the class. She froze when she saw a group of Nemesis students by the door color draining from her face.

"Hey Liberty, you okay?"

I said looking at her with a very concerned face, She suddenly made a run for it just as the group took of running towards us! I stand there watching my precious Liberty run for what looked like her life!

"Brad! Asher!"

I yell back at them they hadn't made it to far so they looked at me and ran towards me but I didn't wait for them I just ran chasing after her I saw her dodge through students and saw that Minnie girl catching up to her I look behind me to see Asher and Brad right behind both now noticing Liberty.
I saw them run outside and didn't hesitate to follow. Finally she stopped running and stood in the middle of a field, she was pale and looked scared but she got herself into a defense fighting stance and faced off with Minnie, we caught up with the rest of the Nemesis and held them back so it would just be Liberty and Minnie. One look and I could tell this would be a bad fight, Liberty was good but she liked being able to come up from behind or using her parkour skills to get away. But this was an empty field and it looked like Minnie liked that. Minnie immediately went of the offensive and attacked Liberty did her best to block the blows but only succeeded in blocking a few. I could see her lip bleeding and I wanted nothing more than to go help but I knew she wanted to do this by herself. She tried to kick Minnie's legs out from under her but only managed to make her stumble back but it was enough for Liberty, while Minnie got her senses back she punched her hard in the face and then the ribs and then a round house kick to the stomach. Minnie was laid out on the ground probably knocked out. Asher was now by Liberty's side and had an arm around her Brad and me walked towards her and knelt down beside her. I gasped when I realize how bad she got beaten, She had a gash on her forehead, a bloody lip, and had a black eye, and she was crying tears streaming down her face as she sobbed into Asher's shoulder.

Just as I placed a hand on her shoulder she jumped up and bolted I was going to go after her but Asher help me back. I felt like crying now I didn't know where she was going and when she was coming back, was she okay? I took a deep breath and turned to my other friends and began to walk back to the school. Hoping she would be okay.

Asher's POV:

I could tell I would enjoy our combat class right when I walked into it. It was in this cave-like building with rock walls. Built into the rock was a rock wall that you climb just like the ones at theme parks. There was a parkour set up at the far end of the room. The setup was quite amazing. I loved parkour and I knew Liberty was really into parkour as well. If not, more than I did. We were partnered up with other shadowhunters to fight. We were told to knock our opponents out or until we were commanded to stop. Liberty was paired up with a boy with long blonde hair who we earlier became friends with. His name was Jamie. I was paired up with Kaya ; Brad and Zero were also paired up. Kaya and I stepped up I the mat where we would fight. I eyed her body type: short, skinny. I looked at her arms and legs to see how much muscle I had to prepare myself to fight. This would be an easy fight.

We moved in a circle as if we were wrestling. I waited for the right opportunity and stuck my leg out and wrapped my foot around her ankle making her trip. I had just became friends with her yesterday and didn't want to ruin our friendship by hurting her. I then remembered that our instructor told us to fight until one of us is out. With that, I punched her in the face causing her to touch her nose to feel the damage made. I would feel bad if I broke her nose and gave her stitches. I didn't want to mess up her face! I heard Brad, Liberty and Zero cheer me on and to finish the fight. I knew they were right. Just get it over with. I ran over to where she was. She threw a punch but I blocked my face with my forearms. Kaya was now close to me so I took it to my advantage. I was about to lifted my knee. I had laced my fingers around her neck. I pulled down on her neck and took my knee up in a strike. She squirmed looking for a place out. I gave her what she wanted: a breath. I came up from behind her a knocked her on her back and punched as hard as I could hoping that she would black out so I wouldn't have to put her through much more pain. I got up as Kaya was carried to the med room where two nurses are staffed.

"Well that was a quick fight! Asher wins this battle. Nice work, but we need to work on keeping you focused on your main goal: winning. You were too nice. Brad. Zero. You're up."

I exited the platform and stood by Liberty a few feet away from the mat. I had total faith in Brad for winning against Zero. I knew it wouldn't be easy or pretty.

I was expecting there to be more blood than there ended up being. Brad had won, but was left with a split lip and a blacking eye. Right after Brad walked over to me, I asked him if he was okay.

"Yeah I'm fine, I just feel bad that I had to hurt my best friend."

"What about me?" I asked sounding hurt.

"I said best friend," Brad said as if what he had said explained it all.

"I know, I thought I was"

"No. Your my girlfriend."

"Am I now?"

"Well aren't you?"

Brad started to turn red of embarrassment as I left him hanging there. Laughing, I said

"Why don't you ask me the question?"

He took his hands and placed them on my hips pulling me closer to him and asked

"Asher Laderndale, will you be my girlfriend?"

"Ummmm, well, yes! Of course I will!"

"Thank gosh! I thought you were about to say no for a second!"

~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~
(To the end of the day)

Zero was in the med room for a half hour after he was knocked out. The nurses had given him medicine to wake up sooner, and gave him a couple pain relievers to soothe his head from the fall. Liberty was sitting in the chair at the foot of the bed waiting for him to wake up. She had told me last night when we played Call of Duty that she didn't really believe in love. I thought Zero and her made a cute couple. She's so quiet but when she's with him, all of her worries seem to be gone and she relaxes a lot more.

Brad, Liberty, Zero and I were leaving the combat area when Kaya and Jamie approached us. They wondered if they could hang out with us. We all agreed after Liberty and I apologized just in case if they were still hurt. We were now laying in the living area of Liberty and I's apartment. Brad and Jamie were playing Xbox and Zero was sitting in a chair with Liberty on his lap. She was still shaken up by the Nemesis tribe for hunting her down. I didn't blame her- I would be too. Kaya and I were making a quick snack to bring to the group before dinner was called to the dinning hall.