Looking For Group

Part 10

Twilight didn't see the point of going to class if all he was going to do was stew in anger. He sat in his chair, staring off into the distance, a scowl planted firmly on his face. His peers noticed his ire and pointedly took seats away from him. Even the professor felt the tension in the room. He carried on his lesson, throwing cautious looks over to Twilight every five seconds.

Time refused to tell Twilight the name of the Hero.

"Out of respect for his family," Time had said. "They deserve their anonymity."

"Are you kidding me?" Twilight hissed at him. "This was our brother in arms! I have a right to know his name!"

"No, you don't."

When Time used that tone of voice, Twilight knew he was never getting answers out of him. The old man was like a brick wall. Twilight ended up excusing himself from Wind's orientation early just to avoid poisoning the atmosphere with his anger.

Hours later and Twilight was still angry about it. He's spent the entire class repeating Time's words over and over in his head, hearing not a single thing the professor had to say.

Bah. Sitting here was useless. Twilight suddenly stood up, startling the class. The professor stopped in mid-sentence, choking on the last word. Twilight grabbed his book bag, slung it over his shoulder and left swiftly, much to the relief of everyone.

Outside the world was dark and cool. Ah, the curse of having an 8PM class. The campus grounds were empty of bustling students, and the majority of the surrounding buildings had no lights on. Twilight shivered, zipped up his hoodie and started walking back to his room. He needed to talk to Warriors and Sky, see if they know anything.

Twilight walked through the empty quad, keeping an eye out around him. Though very little would dare threaten a Hero, walking alone in an empty university campus was never a good idea.

He spotted a group of people about fifty feet away. He continued to look at them as he walked, feeling a little relieved at the sight of other people on campus. Twilight would never admit it out loud, not even to himself, but he didn't like being alone. He always felt better knowing someone was near by. The job unfortunately often required isolation, so he swallowed his fear and dealt with it. People were looking to him to feel safe after all.

The group appeared to be of five people. It was hard to tell in the dark. All of them were carrying beer bottles. Even from this distance Twilight could smell the alcohol. He was just about to leave them to their fun when he paused, taking a more scrutinized look at them. It was four men and one woman standing around.

No, Twilight thought darkly as he turned and began to walk towards them. It was four men surrounding one woman.

He picked up his pace. The closer he got, the more of their conversation he could hear.

"Look, we just wanna have some fun."

"Please, I don't want to-"

"C'mon, don't be like that."

"We're being nice. Stop acting like we're doing something wrong."

"Is there a problem here?" Twilight said loudly, catching their attention. "I noticed that... Charles? Is that you?"

It was. Twilight had not seen the young man since the ceremony last week. There was gauze still wrapped around Charles' right hand. In his left he carried a beer bottle. Charles stepped away from the young woman, his handsome face twisted in an ugly glare as he faced Twilight. "Piss off, Hero. This isn't your business."

The woman, seeing an opportunity, broke out from the group of men and ran over to where Twilight was, ducking behind him.

"Did they hurt you?" He asked her.

She shook her head. "I just want to go."

"Go ahead. I'll stay to make sure they don't follow."

She ran off. Twilight watched until she was no longer visible and turned back towards the group. Though they reeked of beer, none of them looked overly drunk. They did however appeared annoyed Twilight took away their toy.

"Charles," Twilight began. "What the hell, man? You're better than this."

"Obviously not good enough," Charles said, holding up his bandaged hand. "So I thought to myself, what's the point? It's already been decided I'm a lousy piece of shit."

"It's not about being good enough," Twilight said. "It's about soul. If you have-"

Charles threw his head back and groaned. "Oh my goddess, shut up! I heard enough of your crap last week!"

"Fine then," Twilight said. He turned. "Just don't let me catch you again harassing women-"

He barely dodged the beer bottle thrown at his head. The bottle shattered on the ground next to him, sending cheap beer and glass shards over his shoes. He turned, his mouth bearing a snarl, when the other men threw their bottles as well.

Twilight had to drop his book bag to move out the way swiftly. Three bottles shattered loudly at his feet, soaking the cuffs of his pants.

"I don't want to fight you!" Twilight yelled at them. That was a lie. He's been angry for the past couple of hours and a fight would feel so good right now. However it was unethical to fight civilians no matter how angry he was. "Back off!"

"Make me," said Charles. He and the other men charged.

Twilight shifted into a stance, letting a small smirk creep on his face.

The men surprisingly were experienced fighters. Of course he'd expected Charles to be. The man was a potential Hero. The other three nameless morons were just as good. That was fine, Twilight didn't mind a challenge. Twilight blocked every blow, ducked every punch, avoided kicks and wild hits like he was dancing in a ballet. He didn't want to hurt the men, but none of them were letting up. It was best to let them tire out, realize this was useless fight and they might back down.

"Oh, fuck this..." He heard Charles hiss. Twilight twisted, bringing up his arm to block another punch, when the sharp edge of a knife sliced across his forearm.

Twilight yelped in pain and staggered back. In Charles' hand he held a switchblade, soaked with blood. The sudden pain distracted Twilight long enough for Charles to come at him again.

Goddamn it. Twilight shouldn't have been holding himself back. He needed to end this quickly-

He was cut again, this time across the shoulder. Then again, across his cheek. Blood splattered in his eyelashes, partially blinding him.

Charles was not playing around anymore. The man meant to kill him.

-then Twilight would have no choice but to kill him first-

"Charles, stop!" Twilight yelled out. He had to give Charles one last chance. "You're going down a dark path and you won't like where it leads!"

"You're the one who showed me the door," said Charles. He held the blade high. Twilight readied himself, already imagining grabbing the blade and shoving it into Charles' chest.

"Hey!" Cried out a familiar voice.

Wild suddenly came out of nowhere, kicking Charles' still burned hand, cracking it like an egg.

Charles screamed and dropped the knife. He stumbled back, clutching his 2x ruined hand to his chest.

"Bastard!" He yelled angrily, spittle flying from his mouth. "You bastards!"

Wild put himself between Twilight and the other men. "If you want to hurt one of my best customers, then you have to go through me first!"

Twilight choked. "I'm your what-?"

One of the men held up his hands in defeat. "Man, I don't want to mess with two Heroes. I'm done."

The others agree. They gathered Charles and helped him to his feet.

"I'm not done with you, yet!" Charles screamed as he walked away, tail between his legs. "Goddamn Heroes! I'm not done with you yet!"