Warriors of Animus

Chapter Two

Pitch black.

Nothing but black. It was dark. It was cold. In the corner of my eye I saw a figure. I blinked. Gone. I shut my eyes for a few seconds before opening them. Right in front of my eyes, I saw a face staring at me. A man. 

 He looked familiar. Although, I couldn't figure out who he was. Which ticked me off.

My eyes widen in shock. I screamed. Then everything faded away. Instead of staring into the face of the mysterious man, I was staring at my ceiling. White ceiling. No more darkness. No more faces.

 It was just a dream, Rose. I thought to myself. Nothing to be afraid of.

I looked at the clock and it was nearly 5:00am. The café wouldn't open until seven yet, and I couldn't fall back asleep so I just went to get ready.

I sent Chris a quick text, aware he still may be sleeping. What time will we meet? 8? 9? I set my phone down on the bed and hopped in the shower.

 Fifteen minutes later I got out. I changed into a regular a white tank top and skinny jeans. I wore my favorite black leather jacket and tied my hair into a high ponytail. Then I heard a noise coming from my phone. Meaning someone texted me. "Chris." I said to myself.

It was 5:32am. He probably just woken up. 8? I'm gonna go get ready. See out there :-)

I had two and a half more hours until I go. "What should I do." I muttered. Then a thought came. I grabbed my bag and ran out of my room and towards the training room. I figured, I'll only have one last day here. Why not?

 I set my bag down and punched the punching bag in the corner of the room. I trained for about 30 minutes when I heard the door open.

 My good friend, Hannah had walked in. She saw me and smiled. Hannah was really pretty. Blonde hair and blue eyes. Barbara happened to be her Aunt.

Unlike Hannah, I had wavy brown hair with light brown eyes. Ordinary.

 "Morning." Hannah greeted.

 "Good morning." I responded.

 "You're here so early." She said.

 "Yeah. Yeah. I'll miss this place. We've been training here for a year now. I'll miss everyone." I stared into her eyes. "I'll miss you. A lot."

Aside from Chris, Hannah was my other best friend. I didn't know who I'd get assigned with, but I would be happy with either one of them. But once I get one, I lose the other.

Hannah smiled. "I'll miss you most of all."

She was reaching her arms out, supposedly to hug me, but I stepped back. "No, no. Not now. You're going to make me cry." I chuckled.

She smiled at me before stepping off to her own hitting dummy. Hannah was strong. Beautiful, strong, smart. Boys dream. I always felt jealous around her. But I loved her.

After training with her for a while. It hit 7:54. Time to meet with Chris. 

We said our goodbyes and I headed off for the café.

By the time I was there, Chris was already sitting there, on his phone with coffee and a donut near him.

When he saw me, he smiled and gestured towards the chair near him. I sat.

"Here you go." He pushed a glazed donut and juice towards me, knowing I didn't drink coffee.

"Thank you." I said before I drank my juice.

He nodded.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" I asked.

He set down his coffee and smiled at me. "Well today's the last real day we get to hang here. Lets make the best of it."

"Which will be?"

"Come with me." He started to walk off but noticed I still had a full donut and half a cup of juice left. "After you finish eating."

I tried to eat the donut in one bite. But it was impossible. I took a normal bite and saw that Chris was looking straight at me. Studying me. I felt uncomfortable. I hated when people stare at me while I'm eating. I resisted the urge to throw my donut at him, but realized I still wanted it. I quietly took another bite of my donut and sipped my juice. When I looked up from the cup, he was still staring at me. Annoyed, I chugged down my juice and grabbed a napkin to wrap my donut and bring it with me to wherever he planned for us to go.

"Alright." He said. "I knew that would work."

I ignored the comment. 5 minutes into the walk, we reached the stadium. The stadium was a place in this academy when every Friday, we have a little friendly fighting competition between the other students. It was to help our training. 

I usually won my battles. It was hard, though. The students here are really good.

"Why are we here?" I asked.

"No reason. We're just going to walk around the whole academy."

My eyes widened. "What? This campus is huge!"

"I don't care. I love this place. It's where I met you." He said.

I smiled at his last comment. "Okay. But you're going to carry me if I get tired."

He laughed. "I'll be glad too."

We spent hours walking around the Academy. Eventually, he did have to carry me. We stopped for food, talked to a couple friends and he helped me pack my things.

"Thank you for helping me. But you should go to your room now and pack."

It was nearly 7:00pm.

"I don't mind. Besides I already packed most of my stuff last night."

"Alright."

We stayed silence for a whole until I heard him say, "Rose."

"Hm?" I said without looking up. I was packing pictures.

"If we don't get assigned together, do you think we'll still be in touch? Like... Friends?" He said.

I looked up. "I don't know. I really don't. You may on the other side of the world from me. But let's just hope for the best."

"Can you answer my question with a yes or no?" He gave me a fail attempt smile. I felt bad.

"Truthfully, No." It was true. If we were assigned in different parts of the world, we'll be too busy to webcam or make friendly calls. We'll be in protective mode 24/7. Plus, even if we did have a chance for talking, I don't think we'll still be 'Best Friends.'

His face went down. "Alright."

"I'm sorry."

He smirked, it was his real 'Chris' smirk. "Let's just cross our fingers and hope we'll get assigned together."

I nodded. "Let's hope."

Before I could get back to packing, he kissed my forehead. "Friendly kiss." He smiled.

"Okay." I kissed his cheek. "Friendly kiss." I mocked.

His smile grew bigger. I loved being the one who made him smile.