The Suicide Girl [Completed]

Chapter 22: The Four Attributes

Somebody should've killed me.

Tristan thought it was best for me to crash at his house since Leo knew where I lived. Yet after what just happened, my mind began to wander off. And I didn't like it at all. He was becoming so attached to me, not that I minded. But he was really pushing my limits over the edge. He's always.. so close. Yesterday, he called me his princess. Today, he told me I made his heart explode. And what was worse was that I remembered the things Leo had told me when I was first at the base.

"I can see why Tristan finds you attractive."

I thought that was just some sort of bluff to distract me. But then he also said something else.

"I guess I should say I've been watching you for a while and feel the same way about you as Tristan does towards you."

I knew for a fact that Leo was in love with me, or at least the thought of me loving him back. Shortly after that, I told him that Tristan and I were just friends, but now I wasn't so sure. I'm not sure about much anymore. All of this was so confusing, but I was getting used to the rushed topics around me. I just thought too much about it. I groaned and slammed my head against the wall of the bathroom. Tristan told me to go wash up, but so far, all I've done was stare myself down in the mirror.

How could anyone find a suicidal girl like me attractive? I rolled my eyes and glared into my reflection. Maybe a psychopathic bitch like Leo, but Tristan of all people?

I stopped myself and sighed.

I need to stop thinking about this. It's really getting into my head. I should hurry before Tristan thinks someone kidnapped me in here.

~~~

"Do we really need to train for this?" I asked. Tristan was sitting on a chair in front of me, carefully wrapping bandages around my hand. We were both outside in his backyard, sitting on the chairs of the patio. It was cold outside, but snow wasn't falling just yet.

He nodded. "We might as well take advantage of the two other attributes you got from Julia."

A shiver ran down my spine, and I gulped suddenly. "I had honestly forgotten that I had Marionette and Summoning from her.." A small, lifeless smile appeared on my face. "Maybe because I don't want to remember that I killed someone."

Tristan stole a glance from me, and his eyes blanked. We remained silent for a while. I guess he thought I didn't want to talk about it, and maybe that was partially true. This morning, Leo had nailed a white flag to the front door of my house, signaling for a retreat or truce for a period of time. It wasn't going to stay like that forever, so Tristan decided to start helping me get used to all four attributes.

"Is that good?" he asked, holding my hand up to examine it.

I nodded, reassuring him. For a moment, he seemed to zone out, deep in thought. He stroked my fingers gently, kissing my knuckles, as if wishing me good luck. "E-Eh?" With my hand still at his mouth, he looked up at me innocently. My blush deepened, and I quickly looked down at my lap.

"Alright," he said, letting go of my hand. He stood up to his feet and grinned at me. "Let's get started."

Summoning came first. I admit, to think that somewhere in a space-time continuum, weapons were being summoned into our world— that was a little freaky. Especially when it was hard to summon a dumb knife. Tristan stood in front of me with his arms crossed, making sure I was doing everything right. I didn't even know he helped kids in orphanages with their attributes, but he was applying those exact skills on me.

I looked at my hand and stared at it. Concentrate.. I closed my eyes and closed my hand into a fist. Concentrate. A knife blazed out of nowhere, but in the wrong direction. Instead of the handle, I had gripped onto the blade of the knife.

"Ow!" I let go of the knife, and it disappeared before it fell into the white snow. Tristan laughed a little, obviously amused. "Hey! Stop laughing at me!" I exclaimed, pouting childishly.

He put a hand to his mouth, trying to stop laughing. There was a funny glint in his eyes, making my cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"This might take a while," I heard him laugh lightly.

~~~

"WHY IS IT FUCKING FOLLOWING ME?!"

After Summoning, Marionette was next. It was easier than Summoning, except for the fact that I had to give it orders within my mind, almost like telepathy. That was complicated. Instead of golden string like Julia, I controlled the marionette dolls with silver string. Currently, I had created a snow monster. It wasn't huge, only being about the size of an elephant. And it was chasing me. Tristan held his arms wide open, and I jumped on top of him. He seemed to be enjoying my fear of my own creation because he was laughing his ass off.

"Just order it to stop," he replied, wrapping his arms around me.

"'OrdEr iT tO stOp' he says," I mumbled sarcastically. I glared at him with my arms crossed, "I can't even transmit a message to it!" The monster stopped in front of us, and I squealed. "Make it go away!"

I hid my face in his shirt, and he smiled, patting my head. "So you aren't scared of death, but you're scared of a cute little snow monster?"

"Cute?" I exclaimed, looking up at him with a startled expression. How— "Little?! That THING is FAR from cute and little."

The snow monster sulked at my words.

"Aw, see, Cheryl? You hurt its feelings," Tristan said, shaking me slightly. "But if you really want me to.."

He let go of me and swiped his arm through the torso of the monster. It screeched and withered away quickly. As I watched, my heart suddenly fell apart. "Okay," I mumbled, "Now I feel a little bad..."

Tristan put his hand on my head and ruffled my hair. "Too bad. No sympathy or empathy for the enemy." My cheeks puffed out in annoyance, only making him grin. "Let's practice Rank Zero Telepathy to enhance the Marionette."

~~~

I didn't think training would be enough. Practice makes perfect. Bullshit. If Tristan and I failed, the world would be taking the beating. William Kei and Leo will have won, and all of hell would ascend on us. Even if Leo was on our side, our odds of winning wouldn't have changed. I sulked and took a bite out of my burger. But we can't give up. The world needs to know that we tried and didn't bail out on them.

"You're getting better," Tristan commented as we ate lunch together.

I looked up at him from my plate. He peered at me and smiled proudly. My cheeks turned and red, and I looked back down at my plate.

Why is his smile so damn attractive?

"I guess," I murmured.

I huffed and put my arm on the table, my elbow being used as a stand. A variety of weapons appeared in my hand, only to blur and recreate a new weapon in its place. This isn't enough. I placed my hand down and closed by eyes, taking another bite of my burger. The whole world is depending on us without even knowing.

Suddenly, a hand held onto mine.

I looked at Tristan as he stared out the window. He must've noticed me staring at him because he turned his head and asked, "What?"

My cheeks warmed up by his fake innocence, and I smiled shyly, shaking my head. "Nothing." I glanced at our clasped hands. "Nothing at all."