When Stars Collide || On Hold

5.

"THIS IS IT," he said, his sapphire eyes scanning over the graduating class as a smile spread across his face. "Today we embark on our journeys, we begin our futures. Today we get our wings, we earn our places."

Every one of them had already walked across the stage, they each shook the hands of Headmaster Goldiva, Assistant Headmaster Adalius, and their King, Jokim. They had each received their diploma, gotten a roar from the crowd and taken their seats again.

Thistle and Sage had been tied for Valedictorian, but she allowed him to take it. She knew if she had made the speech, some might think it was merely because of who her father was. She also knew that the speech meant a great deal to Sage, so she took herself out of the running. She couldn't help but feel a sense of pride as she watched him speak, she could feel it radiating through the whole auditorium.

"We all chose this path for different reasons, some of us are legacies and some of us are first generations, but from this day and forever more, we are all Guardians." He looked around the auditorium, his eyes scanning across all the friendly faces full of pride. Thistle couldn't help but do the same, it was overwhelming, seeing how many people were this proud of them. "This is the moment the last ten years has been leading to, graduation day. This is the largest graduating class GTS has seen in many generations, and I couldn't be prouder to be apart of it.

"I've gotten to know a lot, if not all of you, over the last ten years and I've made friendships that will last a lifetime." His eyes found hers, the smile spreading wider across his face. "We wanted to make a difference, to help people, to be apart of something great. And that's exactly what we're going to do. So, friends, family, everyone who has helped us achieve our goals, here's to you," he said, looking around the crowd. "And here's to us!"

The auditorium erupted into a roar of cheers, whistles and clapping. The entire graduating class stood up and suddenly it was a sea of gold and white caps in the air. Everything was so loud, between the audible roar of the crowd and the roar of emotions that she could feel, it was all so loud.

She felt arms wrap around her as the person jumped up and down but she was too distracted inside her own head to tell who it was. In all the excitement leading up to graduation, she didn't allow herself to realize the toll it would take on her abilities. Everything was overloading, like too many currents running through a circuit, her mind was shorting out.

Her head felt heavy, like a bucket with too much water in it. The ringing in her ears grew louder, louder than even the emotions from everyone in the room. She looked to the left of herself, looked at all the smiling faces that weren't paying attention to her. When she turned her head to the right the room spun, a blur of the gold and white caps and gowns swirling around her. She felt her left leg step back, trying to find her center of balance, and then she felt something crash against her leg.

A chair, she realised. That's sure to leave a bruise.

Her back slammed against the marble floor with a thud, knocking the wind from her lungs. She tried to lift herself back up, but she couldn't even move her arms. And if her arms were moving, she couldn't feel it, she couldn't hardly even see it. She opened her mouth to bring attention to herself and the hot, sticky metallic liquid seeped into her mouth at long last. She couldn't make sense of what was going on, she couldn't even figure out how to cry out for help with all the blood pouring into her mouth.

Why is there so much blood? she whimpered, her eyes fluttering as she fought to keep them open. There was a scream and she felt the vibration of feet moving through the ground. Everything was muffled, like her head was being held under water, but she could feel the vibrations, she could feel the panic in the room, she could even feel a set of strong arms wrapping around her and lifting her off the ground.