Looking For Group

Part 16

The men's locker room at the gym always smelled like feet. No matter how recent their janitors mopped the floor, it always stunk. As soon as Warriors and Twilight followed Sky into the lockers, Twilight's nose hairs began burning. There were three other men in the room in various forms of undress. Twilight snapped at them, "Get out."

A man in his underwear stood up, waved his bar of soap at them and said, "What? You can't kick us out!"

Warriors turned his gaze to him and in a tone used only for his ROTC cadets, "Hero business, get the fuck out."

That got them moving. They gathered their pants and shoes together in a pile and quickly ran out. As soon as the echo of their footsteps disappeared, Twilight said, "We can't keep this a secret from him."

"That's not your choice to make," said Sky.

"Not our choice? He's a Hero, the sword has declared it so!"

"He didn't give consent and he's made it clear he doesn't want to be."

"I don't get it," Warriors said. "You're the one who always goes on and on about the privilege of being a Hero. How proud you get, how you always insist in asking them if they want to be one. What makes this one so different?"

"Are you kidding me?" Sky asked in disbelief. "Did you not listen to the kid? He does not want to be a Hero. You can't force him to take responsibility!"

"He's been chosen by the sword!"

Goddess, they were going in circles. They had left Wild with Wind, declaring they needed to have an 'emergency Heroes meeting' and ran for the lockers. Subtle they were not. Twilight understood where Sky was coming from. They always ask their potential person if they wanted to be a Hero. Ashi turned them down. They didn't try to 'accidentally' tilt the sword upwards to connect with her hand. If she didn't want to be a Hero, she had the right to walk away.

But things were different here. Wild had already touched the sword and proven himself. It was an accident, he didn't know, but he still willingly touched the sword. Would knowing about the choice beforehand really mattered?

"What about Time?" Twilight suddenly said. "I don't know if you know, but Time found a Hero and chose not to bring them home."

Sky stiffened. "What?"

Twilight explained. By the end of it, Sky sat down on the locker room benches, putting his face in his hands. "Oh goddess, Time, what have you done?" He whispered.

"We have to tell Wild," Twilight said. "Not telling him could potentially put him in danger."

"What's his last name?"

"What?"

Sky lifted his head slowly. He looked so tired. "Wild. What is his last name?"

"Oh... um... well, that's not really something we talked about-"

"Really?" Warriors said. "You're running errands for him and you don't even know his last name?"

"In my defense he probably doesn't know either!"

"And you want him to take on the responsibility of a Hero," said Sky.

Twilight snapped his jaw shut.

"Let's compromise," said Sky. "Wild said he doesn't want to be a Hero. Let's honor that." He raised his hand when Warriors and Twilight began to protest. "However... we also keep an eye on him. Keep him safe. If you feel he might be in danger... then yes. He should know."

*

They trained for about an hour more. Once the sun began to set, Wind told them he had to get back to his grandmother and sister for dinner. They all said their goodbyes, promising to meet up one more time before Wind's departure back to his island.

"Soooo..." Wild began once he and Twilight were outside of the gym. "Are you going to tell me what happened when ya'll ran off or am I supposed to guess?"

"It's nothing that should concern you," said Twilight.

"Oh, that's rich. You all reacted when I touched the sword and then declared a 'secret Heroes meeting.' Obviously it was about me. Heck, even Wind was annoyed you all took off. He kept saying, I'm a Hero too!"

Twilight felt miserable. He didn't like lying, and he definitely didn't like this. "When Sky asked you if you wanted to be a Hero, he broke several protocols. We had to talk about it. It's nothing you did wrong, I promise you that."

"Oh..." Wild said. "Man, you Heroes have such odd rules."