Team Nightwatch

The Start of It All

     I heard every joint crack as I sat with the girls in the stands.  I could walk just fine but I'm going to need to properly stretch at some point.  Destiny looked at me when she heard my joints and smirked.
     "You alright there, grandpa?"  She said.  Isabel snorted into her popcorn, and Leah cracked a smile.  I looked back at Destiny but found that I didn't have anything to say.
     "You survive a blast like I did, then come talk to me Des," I replied.  "And pass the popcorn, some of us might be a little hungry...."  Of course she ignored me but I didn't expect her to actually pass it.  Besides, I've got the money to buy some myself.
     "And now we're back for the next round of the semifinals," Oobleck announced.  "Andrew and Ivory have decided to call their fight a draw and both have stepped out of the running
!"  If he wasn't one of my favorite teachers, I might just beat the crap out of him for that comment, but I'll let it slide.  "Our next fight will be between Miss Yang Xiao Long and Mr. Mercury Black."  Yang smiled and waved, making finger guns at her team and Mercy just smirked at everyone.  "Vale versus Mistral for a spot in the finals.  Take your place combatants."
     Yang and Mercury took their respective fighting stances.  "Begin!"  I'm going to be totally honest, I wasn't watching the fight.  It's one thing to be down there in the thick of the action, but I find it boring to watch.  Despite what you may think, being in a crowded stadium with thousands of cheering people, I had no problem getting lost in my thoughts and look around.
     Something just made me feel a little uneasy, but that might just be the fact that I'm still recovering.  At least, that's what I thought until my eyes ran across the stadium.  Emerald was staring intently at the battle going on...or was it really that simple?  

      "Anyone else feel like something's a little off?"  I asked.

      "Not really," Destiny said through a mouthful of popcorn.  "Maybe your still just tired and paranoid.  Here, have a drink."  She passed me her untouched drink and I took it.  If I didn't feel fine, I might've been more ready to believe her.  Maybe I just had to let my mind figure out that I might not be totally fine.  

     Leah leaned over and took a drink from the straw while I was lost in thought.

      "What?" she asked when I looked at her.  "You weren't drinking it, and it is kind of tilted this way so I thought that you were offering it to me."  I opened my mouth to reply, but found that I had nothing to say.  The only way to make me speechless is to make a good point before I can start ranting and raving.  

     I put the straw to my lips and suffered my quick defeat in silence, not even thinking about it.  Not gonna lie...this counts as an indirect kiss from her, right?  "You've got that face on again...."

     "What face?" I inquired.

     "Your thinking face," she answered.

      "I don't have a thinking face," I told her.

     "Yes, you do," she countered.  "Your eyebrows scrunch together and this really intense look that appears behind your eyes...." It almost sounded like there was a little more to that sentence, but I'm not the kind to push things.  "So what's on your mind this time...Cinder, Roman, your nightmares?"

     "I might just be paranoid," I began, "but Emerald looks like she's paying way too close attention to the match...."  She followed my gaze where we saw Emerald staring at Mercury and Yang...wait a minute...Yang.  I looked at the fight, noticing that Mercury was sitting on the ground, obviously beaten before Yang walked over and slammed her fist into his knee.  

      A sound rang through the stadium, the sound of a bone cracking and feet moving.  Atlesian soldiers surrounded Yang, guns raised at her chest and she looked surprised as the crowd booed her.  

      "What just happened?"  Isabel asked, stunned.  "Yang's aggressive but she's not like that...."  Emerald had run to Mercury's side, waiting as two medics carried him away on a stretcher...one of them looked a little short for a medic.

     "Get to the dorm," I ordered.  "I'll be back in second...I've got something to find out...."  I jumped out of my seat and ran out of the stadium, hoping to catch the medics before they left and I would have fly after them.  

      Mercury was whining about how much pain he was in as he was loaded into the ambulance, the taller of the two medics looking around to make sure no one was following.  I thought I recognized a pair of gold eyes, and she blew me a kiss before they flew away.  I watched the ship fly away, people moving around me so as not to knock me over.  That tall one was familiar...I've seen those eyes before...the only face that popped into my head was a beautiful woman wearing a red dress with long black hair.  

      I don't have time to sit here like an idiot, the others will be waiting for me.