The stage was still quiet and Killian preferred it. He quickly removed himself away from the arena, looking around to find his friends.

His eyes darted left and right, mostly watching the legs of the people he passed until he met someone familiar. He moved through the corridor, and the crowd parted like the Red Sea.

No one made eye contact or spoke with him as he passed. He even heard a few sighs of relief. Killian’s shoulders lowered as he left the areas around the stage. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He rested his back on the walls and slowly dropped to the ground. "I hate this...."

It would’ve been better if he never came to the academy than to have arrived and people avoided him like he was the plague. Just because he arrived in messy clothes.

"You are thinking too simply, Killian. People fear what they don’t understand and you can be quite hard to understand."

’It is just blood. What’s so hard to understand?’

He frowned, pushing his head into his hands. He heard footsteps close in on him, and he raised his head, expectantly.

Three boys he didn’t recognize stood above him, looking down at him like he was a dead cockroach. Killian looked away. He wasn’t surprised classism existed in the academy, but it still sucked.

"Did you lose your match and end up like this, newbie?" One asked with a little worry in his tone. He was an older boy, and dressed in Warden’s uniform, so Killian guessed he was a coordinator.

The boy lowered himself to the ground and hummed. "You got beaten up pretty badly. Are you alright?"

Killian nodded, even if he couldn’t agree on being the beaten up one. "I just need to find the ones I came with. I will be fine."

The older boy nodded with a soft smile. "Name? I’ll help you."

"Killian Dominic."

The older boy left the ground. "I will be back. Stay with the coordinators, okay?" He pointed at his friends. "And you two, stay with our friend while I ask the teachers from the other regions about him. Be nice." He turned and left.

The other two agreed dryly while Killian rested his back fully on the wall, waiting and looking closely like a lost child. One of the coordinators closed the distance, looming over Killian awkwardly.

"Don’t just sit there or you’ll stain the wall. Get up."

The thought never crossed Killian’s mind and he sped out of the spot immediately, looking at the walls that were already smudged with red stains. He quickly unbuttoned his jacket.

"What the fuck..."

Killian turned to the boys. "Oh, sorry I didn’t know I already stained the wall..."

"Did you see the speed he moved with?" The second coordinator stepped away, moving behind the one that asked Killian to move. "Are you a Wind User?"

Killian blinked once. Twice. "Huh?"

The one that stood above Killian sighed, looking him over with no expression in his eyes. "This piece of shit, are you flexing on us?"

There was hostility in his tone that confused Killian. Hadn’t their friend just told them to be nice? He started moving backwards, then spun on his heel and continued ahead.

"I will find my friends myself."

"Hey!" The boy held his arm firmly. "You stand and wait. He already said he will do the finding for you—"

Killian shoved his hand away, and surprisingly pushed the older boy backwards with the quick shove. He pulled his arms out of his jacket and threw the cloth over his shoulders.

"I will be fine. See, I took the jacket off so there’d be less blood." Killian marched off, ignoring the surprised boys who were wondering how the young boy’s arms looked under his jacket.

The second one moved to the first one, nodding. "Yep, he’s that type of newbie you don’t hear about and then they suddenly dominate the trials. That kid was definitely flexing on us."

.

.

"Uh...?"

Killian stared back at the black figure standing in front of him. He knew a human stood behind black cloak but the cloak was only four feet tall and he wouldn’t expect such a small person within the academy.

Only a pair of bright blue eyes were visible under dark hair. Killian hummed, closing the distance. The figure had just blocked his path suddenly and stood there like he expected something.

Killian took a step to the right, and the figure followed, blocking him. It had already happened twice before and Killian wasn’t interested in playing a game with him.

He looked upwards, sighing inwardly. "Could you move—"

"Is that your blood? It smells tasty."

Killian dropped his gaze to the figure who sounded like a boy his age, even if he didn’t look like it. He noticed that the boy’s blue eyes had narrowed on the folded jacket on his shoulders.

"Does it?" Killian stared at his jacket, as if expecting it to turn to something that would make sense to be tasty. He looked back at the boy, and slowly understood why he looked expectant.

Others had avoided him because of how he looked, but the boy seemed to be interested in blood.

"Can I have it?" the boy spoke again. "I will do anything."

The offer was weird but Killian tossed the jacket to the boy and watched him grab it mid air. His hands were oddly muscular for the image Killian had in his mind.

"Thank you. I owe you," the boy made a curt bow, and the black cloak floated away.

’A Wind User?’ Killian watched the boy leave, before going ahead. His only goal was to find his friends or a bathroom, or preferably both. His current appearance dragged weirdos to him and he didn’t appreciate the attention.

"Yet you gave the weirdo your jacket. Do you think you are very normal either?"

"He wanted the jacket. And I didn’t want to beat him out of the way. The jacket is ripped anyway." Killian’s phone rang, just as he heard footsteps behind him.

"Evelyn," he answered the phone quickly. "Where are you—"

"What happened to you?" her voice came from behind him. She grabbed his arm, looking at his bloodied face. "Did someone beat you up? Show me who did it!"