The Hunter Academy

~Çhapter Thįrty-Ønę~

I groaned as I lugged my very heavy backpack to the library; we had so much work to do and a lot of the work I needed aid from the library and Zac to complete.

I sat down at our usual table but Zac wasn't there, that was odd because Zac was usually early or on time but never late.

I waited for sometime before I got bored. I decided that Zac wasn't coming. I got up and went to find the books I needed when I tripped up.

I cursed and stood up, I was about to carry on walking when something caught my eye. I knelt down and traced my finger over the floor. One square in particular wasn't in the floor properly; the passageway that lead to the safe room. I grabbed the ladder and began my descent.

I landed on the floor and saw Zac curled up ono of the sofas in the safe room. I heard a sniffle as I stared at Zac.

"Zac?" I whispered cautiously.

His head snapped up to look at me and I gasped. His eyes were red and puffy as well as filled with tears, there were water trails going down his face and his hair looked like he tried to pull it right out of their roots. I dropped my school bag and ran over to him.

"What happened Zac?" I whispered and he sniffled.

"It's not fair, Chase," he looked at me and rested his head on my shoulder."It's not fair," he said louder this time.

I waited for him to elaborate but he didn't, he just carried on muttering under his breath,"it's not fair."

"Zac I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong," I whispered and he choked out a sob but the sound was muffled by him burying his head into my shoulder.

"M-hiccup-M-my dad...he's...he's been sent on a-hiccup-Suicide M-mission."

My heart stopped beating for a moment and I froze before reanimating."Suicide Mission," I echoed to make sure I heard him correctly.

He nodded."M-my mum said he w-was acting weird for the p-past week, when he went on his mi-mission she looked at the file. I don't even know how he died, my mum won't tell me," he looked up at me and saw my confused expressions. "Every Hunter gets a missions file f-from the Council and a w-week to prepare," my lips twitches up for a moment, he's going through a literal life crisis and he's still explaining stuff I have no clue about.

"My m-mum checked the file and s-she said it was an impossible missions. A S-Suicide Mission. He didn't tell her and n-now he hasn't come back from his m-mission."

He laid down on the chair and placed his head in my lap. I carefully stroked his hair as he sobbed while I slowly processed his words and rubbed his back soothingly. He's there for me all the time and now it was my turn to be there for him.

"Impossible?" I asked and he didn't answer except for a small nod."Well I won't say I'm sorry because that's not what you need to hear right now but I will say this," I took a deep breath in.
"You have friends here Zac. You have friends here who will beat the hell out of you for crying in here alone once they find out."

He let out a shaky laugh.

"But they'll be there for you, they'll probably do something really stupid but what are friends for?"

I got my backpack and pulled out my History of Hunters book and flicked through the book, looking for the desired page.

"What are you doing?" Zac asked and I smiled.

"I saw a map in here of the school grounds and-ah ha," I said as I found the page."Look there's a lake on the edge of campus," I said pointing to the page."We can all go swimming even though Julian might just freeze the water."