Ivan Kal - Olympus

A few moments later the first enemy came into view, Adrian followed him with his sight but didn’t fire, he waited a few moments more until two more arrived. When no one else arrived, he aimed his rifle at the last one in their formation, and took him out with a well-placed shot in the chest, immediately he moved his rifle to the next closest and took him out as well, it all happened in less than a second and he then moved to fire at the last one, which had already started moving towards cover, Adrian’s first shot missed, but his second struck him in the lower back. He fell on the ground, and turned firing his rifle blindly, and Adrian finished him with a shot to the chest. He then jumped down from his hiding spot and started running back towards his team starting point.

His retreat was unfortunately interrupted by someone opening fire on his back, the first shot missed but the next hit him in the leg, and he went down, he rolled over and tried to aim in the general direction of his attacker but another shot found his right shoulder, and pain spread through his arm, the suit freezing its movement, a moment later another shot found his chest and he was completely frozen in his suit.

“Match over. Team Viper victory.” A voice rang out inside the arena, a minute later Adrian’s suit unfroze. He got back on his feet and went back to the changing room.

He was first to arrive as he was the closest to their changing room, a minute later the others started to arrive, Adrian was already out of his suit and was sitting on one of the benches when others entered. They removed their helmets, and Adrian noticed their somber expressions, they were all accustomed to wining, they took the top scores in other challenges and believed that team vs. team would be no different. They took off their suits, changed into their regular uniforms and started leaving the room to go back to their team room. When Bethany started for the doors Adrian got up and grabbed her hand. She turned angrily to him and started to say something but the look on Adrian’s face stopped her. The rest of had left the room with Noah being the last, he noticed them staying back.

“Adrian? You com—” He started before Adrian interrupted him by closing the door. He took a deep breath and turned towards Bethany who stood in the center of the room, her hands crossed over her chest.

“What is your problem?” Adrian asked, trying to keep his voice controlled.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. It was a good plan, they ju—”

“I’m not talking about the stupid match!” Adrian yelled interrupting her, he started to get agitated, his breathing picking up speed, he managed to bring himself under control in the silence that followed his outburst. When he had enough control he meet Bethany’s startled eyes and stepped closer to her.

“I’m talking about this thing you have against me.” He said.

She opened her mouth then closed it.

“I have nothing against you.” She said slowly.

“Don’t. We both know that there is something, this feud between us is only hurting our team, and our chances at graduating. So why don’t you just tell me what it is, and maybe we can try to work it out.” Adrian said.

Bethany just looked at Adrian silently, but he could see her holding back something.

“Bethany. Please, just tell me. I have spent days trying to remember if had ever done something to make you dislike me.” Adrian said pleadingly, he was growing tired of the tension between them.

Bethany’s face scrounged up in grimace.

“It’s nothing you have done. It’s me.” She said angrily. Adrian was taken aback with the vehemence of her response.

“What do you mean it’s you?” He asked confused.

Bethany sighed, the anger going out of her, she sat down on one of the benches.

“I was jealous, at first, and I hated you. You must understand, I have trained and studied for this my whole life. I always wanted to be a soldier, since I was a small girl, I would look at my father and later my brother, they were my heroes, and I wanted to be just like them.” She said, Adrian knew that both her father and her brother were in Olympus military. “I would train day in and day out for the single purpose of being the best, I wanted to make my family proud. After I graduated elementary I went to the military school. And there all my hard work paid off, I was the best, and my training led to me being invited to join the fleet, something that was new, were I could leave my own mark. I was so proud of myself, as were my father and brother, I learned that only the best were invited to join the fleet, and everyone else I met was the elite, and I was the best even among them. And then I met you, an 18 year old kid. Someone who was so good that they recruited you before you even went to specialization school. At first I thought that you were being favored, but quickly I realized that you were just that good. So I made it my mission to be better. But then I realized that I wasn’t better, so I tried to alienate you from the others, I didn’t even realize what I was doing, it all just happened. And then when we came here, and you told me off, it was like a fog lifted of my mind and I saw how I treated you.” She said with a sad look on her face. “Then I hated myself, I tried to apologize, but didn’t feel like it was enough. I was embarrassed and didn’t know how to talk to you after that, I was uncomfortable around you, and I didn’t want to lose my pride, so I tried to limit our interactions, it just became easier than talking to you.” She finished softly. Adrian looked at the ceiling. “How much easier this all would have been if we only talked to one another.”

“That is one thing I will never understand about humans, how can beings so reliant on communications with others of their kind, be so deaf and ignorant of one another.” Iris said.

“I don’t know.”

“What?” Bethany said softly. Adrian looked at her and realized that he answered Iris out loud. He went on his knees in front of Bethany and took one of her hands in both of his. He smiled awkwardly.

“We are such idiots, you and I.” He said.

Bethany looked at him funny but didn’t respond.

“If only we talked sooner we could have put this behind us a long time ago. There is no need for you to feel inferior to me, or to be embarrassed, it was my fault as well, I was too scared to talk to others at the Academy, I didn’t even know how. I am not like you and the others, my age isolated me from the rest of you. And I didn’t make any attempt to bridge the gap between us.” Adrian said.

Finally, she released a nervous laugh. “Yes, we certainly are alike in that manner.” Bethany said.

“You don’t need to avoid me, or to blame yourself for what happened before.” Adrian said, he smiled and stood up, he still held Bethany’s hand, so he pulled her to her feet. Adrian looked her in the eyes and said.

“Are we good now?” Adrian asked.

Bethany let out a relived sigh and nodded. “And I am truly sorry for the way I treated you in the Academy.”

“It’s forgotten.” Adrian said.

“Thank you.” She said relived.

They shared another moment, and then Adrian started towards their room with Bethany walking beside him. When they entered the room their teammates looked at them and released a collective sigh of relief. Bethany and Adrian looked at each other, then at them, and said simultaneously.

“What?”

They all looked at each other and Sakura responded.

“We thought that you killed each other.” She said dead pan serious, Adrian tried to keep his face straight and not reveal his amusement, which was fuelled even more by the fact that they could have killed each other. He kept a straight face and put a hand on Bethany’s lower back pulling her closer to him.