Heroes in the Shadows

Chapter 12 Burning Hearts & The New Girl

As the sun rose once again to the start of the school day, Nya was anything but at peace.

She quietly dragged herself inside the school. Most of her face was concealed in her short hair, to hide the scrapes and bruises from her battle last night. However, her colleague most likely had it worst. Everything after their battle was abit of a blur. Nya remembered taking Phantom into an alley to check her wounds, but the girl was already waking up.

What happened!? Where's my...

Here, it fell off when their leader punched you.

Phantom then took the mask and started to stand.

What are you doing!? You need treatment!

Leave me alone... I don't need your help!

Nya didn't stop her because she knew Phantom was most likely angry and embarrassed about her situation. Nya herself was too embarrassed to face her brother. He had warned her not to fight crime. And when Elemental Masters became outlawed a few weeks ago, Kai even tried to stop her by putting a lock on her window to the fire escape. However, she started using her other window thanks to her new grabbling hook. Nya also started using extra precautions to ensure her brother never finds out that she's still going out. She would double check that her door was locked and even put in a recording of her snoring. But now that she did exactly what her brother feared, going toe to toe with that Elemental Gang, she didn't have the confidence to tell him.

Nya pulled her hood farther over her head as she made her way through the school hallway.

After arriving to her first hour, she did a tiny hello to Jay. Nya took her seat, making sure not to face her lab partner. Jay, though, wasn't buying any of it.

"Nya? Are you okay?" Jay asked with genuine concern. The raven haired teen didn't respond. She simply nodded and hid her face into her arms. Recently, Jay has grown to be more of a friend to her. Nya didn't know what changed, but the freckled face teen just seems to be more confident lately. He would rarely talk to her before. Now, he's a total chatter box towards her, and she found it kind of cute. Jay leaned in, so no one else could hear him.

"Nya, you know you can talk to me if you want, right?" He asked quietly. Nya remained where she was. She wasn't sure how she could possibly explain anything to him without giving away her secret identity, but as the silence continued between them, an idea soon formed in her mind.

"Okay, just... don't freak out," Nya answered slowly before lifting her head up. Jay's jaw nearly dropped once he saw the scratches and bruises all on her face.

"Nya.. what happened to you? You look like you tried to fight a truck?! I mean... It's not that bad... uh..," Jay stuttered before giving himself a face palm.

"No no, it's okay. I know it's bad," Nya replied while trying to cover parts of her face with her hair.
"I got into a fight with this... girl. My brother keeps telling me to just ignore her, but she's a total jerk towards me and other people. I can't just stand there and do nothing, you know?" Jay nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, you're really brave for doing that. I've dealt with bullies before, but I've never been that brave. Well, when it was just me being picked on I mean," Jay inputted with a smile. Nya responded with a grin of her own.

"I bet you were alot more brave than you think," Nya complimented. A blush quickly crept on Jay's face, but he turned away just in time.

"T-thanks, Nya," He replied quietly.

RRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!!!!!

Later on that school day, Cole could be seen sitting by a tree at lunch time. He was doodling in a sketch book while munching on his sandwich. He focused on his drawing of a dragon until a shadow formed over it. He glanced up to see Seliel. Her face is calm, but the faintest bit of annoyance is clear in her gaze, which is normal for her.