Submerged: The Earth's Remains

Chapter 7

Responsibilities

Phoenix's POV

Phoenix sits alone during lunch on a long white table. Completely isolated, Phoenix eats the food prepared from the cafeteria.
She notices her team staring at her with worry in their eyes. She stares back with calm eyes, trying to tell them that she's fine. They nodded hesitantly, still slightly worrying about her.

"Yo." Abruptly, Ares comes to sit at Phoenix's table, directly at the opposite side of her. He starts to become comfortable in that seat, confusing Phoenix even more. She raises an eyebrow, wondering why he's sitting with her.

The students sitting near  around the two start whispering to each other.
"Why's he with her? Didn't Phoenix make a deal with the president?' 'The president's going to get mad if we talk to her."

Ares scoffs. "The President my ass." He comments, mocking Aluna.

"Why are you here?" Bluntly, Phoenix asks, taking a bite off of her food.

"I'd like to help you with your problems. I have my problems with the student council anyways." Ares suggests, smiling. He places his hands on the table.

"I know you won't do it for free. So what's the price?" Unamused with his suggestion, Phoenix asks.

"Your love." Phoenix spits out her food onto the table, accidentally choking from hearing his bold statement. She wipes off the food from her mouth and raises an eyebrow once again.

"No way." Without hesitating, Phoenix gets up and takes her tray, preparing to leave.

"Wait." Phoenix turns to see Ares smirking.

"What." She replies, very annoyed. Once again, she raises her eyebrows, trying to hold in the urge to roll her eyes.

"Nothing. You're just interesting." He laughs slightly, annoying Phoenix. "Oh and I was joking about wanting your love. But now, I think I've changed my mind." Mischievously, he says.

"Oh, you were here." Quietly, Ares's friend, Jasper, a dark blue haired boy with dark blue eyes, sits himself down beside him. Ares and Jasper are total opposites but still somehow are best of friends. Ares is a very cocky and talkative man while Jasper is the silent but sweet type.

"Did you hear what I said?" Ares turns to look at Jasper, anticipating his reply.

"No." Confused, Jasper replies.

"That's too bad." Ares whines with a cheeky voice.

Confused, Phoenix takes her leave, thinking she has no business with them.
Phoenix does not know how to feel or react to Ares's abrupt confession since she does not understand the concept of 'love'.

_________

A week later after the confession

Phoenix's POV

Phoenix lays down on her white bed in the night, waiting for her team's border patrol to end. Even though Phoenix is extremely bored, she does not participate in the patrols as she made a deal with the president. She feels as if it is unfair. In fact, she knows it's unfair but she can't go against her deal as it'd put trouble on her teammates. She does not want Callista and Amethyst experiencing the pain Oasis did.

I can't sleep. I already got used to staying up late because of the patrols. Now I have nothing to do...

She gets up, and leaves her bed, wanting to take a walk since she can't fall asleep. She puts on her high knee boots and heads out, locking the door on the way out.

Leaving the girl's dormitory, Phoenix stares at the starry night sky admiring it as it reminded her of someone.
Her.
Someone she loved dearly.

She takes a walk around the two dormitories, admiring the view outside, afterwards, passing by the boy's dormitory. Since she's never been at the boy's dormitory, she decides to take a detour around it.

Abruptly, she meets her classmate, Jasper, holding his double edged spear, a pudao, all bloody. Even though Phoenix knows that it isn't her concern, she still approaches him anyways.

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be fighting?" Phoenix asks as she has nothing better to do, crossing her arms.

Without warning, he drops to the floor and faints, panting heavily. Fortunately, Phoenix manages to catch him in time. With the back of her hand, she feels his forehead. As she touches his forehead, she notices that the touch of his cream skin burns hot as an inferno would.

Even if he has fire abilities, he's way too hot than he should be. And besides, Jasper looks exhausted.

"You have a horrible fever. Is that why you went back to the dorms early?" Unusually worried, she asks him.

He shakes his head while breathing heavily.
"No, I was going home."

"You don't live in the dormitories?" Phoenix inquires.

"Yes, but it's none of your business." Jasper manages to mumble under his breath.

"Okay, but we have to take you to the infirmary." As Phoenix tries to pick him up, Jasper merely fights back, struggling in her arms.

"No I need to go home. I need to!" While he tries to pick himself up with his hands, he winces and he grunts, feeling pain in his body and head.

"I'll go to your house then. But in this condition, you can't go anywhere." She tries to explain to his stubborn head.

"I barely even know you." Bluntly, he comments with a confused look in his eyes.

"Well you're gonna have to trust me." With serious eyes, Phoenix stares at Jasper.

"F-Fine. I live near the school, inside a brick apartment, room 405 on the fourth floor. Tell my little brother that I'm sleeping over at the school." Overwhelmed by her stare and sense of responsibility, his face turns bright red like a tomato.

"Okay." Phoenix replies, putting his arm over her shoulder.

Using all her strength, she lifts him and his sword, supporting him as he limps into the academy. Shoulder to shoulder, they both limp through the calmness and the quietness of the dark hallways. Phoenix doesn't mind though as she likes the darkness. After all, her magic abilities are based off of shadows and darkness.

Phoenix notices that it is 10 PM by the time they arrived at the infirmary. Since no school nurses are available, nor any student medics, Phoenix takes care of him in their stead. Even if Phoenix does not have the responsibility of being a healer in her team, she still has adequate medical skills.

She places a cold wet towel over his head, cooling him down a bit.

After a while, Jasper manages to relax a little around her. He stops acting tense like he usually does.

"Thanks... You're very reliable..." Jasper whispers quietly as he closes his eyes and manages to fall asleep. Phoenix smiles a little in the darkness of the night.

Phoenix heads towards his house to run his errands. She knocks on the door to see a little boy opening the door slightly, most likely in Junior High whom looks exactly like Jasper but younger and cuter.

"Who are you?" In defence, he asks her, hesitant open the door any further.

"I'm Phoenix. I'm Jasper's 'trusted' classmate." Phoenix says to the boy, trying to gain his trust. He slowly opens the door and allows Phoenix to enter.

At her stay in his house, she decides to cook for him as Jasper would probably be ill for more than a day.
Afterwards, she returns safely to her dormitory after saying her goodbyes.