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“H-huh…? What just happened?” Ssyelle trailed off as she surveyed the—well, now a stadium that looked like a battlefield. After Key had ignored her and used one of his signature moves (one that she hadn’t seen before and was really really cool, but that’s besides the point!) smoke billowed from the net that went up in flames. Then she looked closer and saw one of the players blackened and being tended to—
“Key!” she yelled and started sprinting toward the carnage. But as she got closer she figured out it wasn’t him. It was Casper.
“Oh my god, are you okay!?” Ssyelle went to Casper’s side but was stopped by Mr. Sunspear.
“He will be soon enough, no thanks to you knights,” he spat, like he had to force the word out.
She shook it off. “But what happened? did Key…?”
Sunspear took a deep breath and seemed like he would blow up and lash out at her but hesitated. “Yes, yes he did. He’s just like his mother.” Ssyelle watched as he turned away and picked up Casper, carrying him off the field. Key did this? Numb and confused, she watched all the chaos unfold around her.
Milo and Ameline ran up beside her, Odward curiously absent and nowhere on the field. “Where’s…where’s Key?” Milo asked, out of breath.
“I don’t know,” she answered.
“Footprints,” Ameline said, and walked away from the two of them and pointed at a charred footprint. Now that she looked, a trail of footprints led to the stairs that left the stadium. “Key ran.”
“Oh Key…” Ssyelle sighed. Would this have happened had she not told him to hold back? No, that’s not productive. If anything that ref was useless today. Either way, Key needed her. “Well, I’m going after him.”
“We’re right behind you, right Ameline?” Milo said, and he Ssyelle turned to find that she had disappeared.
“I don’t blame her. This is a disaster,” she said, dragging a hand over her face. “Let’s go, Milo.” They both jogged over to the stairs and took two at a time almost bowling over a big man. He looked oddly similar to—ah ha, Key’s dad.”
“Mr. Nagatatsu? Have you seen Key?” she asked hurriedly.
He looked exhausted, and bent over catching his breath but perked up slightly at her question. “Yeah, he’s running toward Asterock. I tried to stop him. Tell him I understood, but I screwed up. Listen, are you two going after him?”
She and Milo nodded.
“I never told Key how his mother died. Do you guys know?” At she and Milo both shaking their heads, he continued. “Long story short, when Key was just a baby his mother came back to Kal Asterock to demonstrate her tama and to teach a new team. She…” he covered his face with both hands and breathed in deeply. “I don’t know how or why, but she seemed to lose control of her tama. It injured a lot of people, students included. She lost her life fighting her own tama.”
Stunned, both her and Milo stood there in silence. After a few moments, Ssyelle spoke softly, “that’s awful, Mr. Nagatatsu. I’m so sorry.”
He shook his head, weakly swiping his hand through the air. “It’s old news. Unfortunately, the hurt sticks with you. And worse yet, he had to hear it thrown at him by Sunspear instead of me. I let him down. Go. Go show him he still belongs.”
Ssyelle nodded and stepped past him, patting his shoulder. “You did your best Mr.Nagatatsu. Leave the rest to us.”
His body shuttered as he angled his face away from her, probably totally not crying or anything. “I—y-your father…he raised you well, Ssyelle.”
Um, she didn’t know how to respond to that. So…she just turned on her heels with Milo in tow and sprinted toward Kal Asterock. The halls were strangely empty and quiet, their rapid footfalls echoing against the stone pathways as they rounded corner after corner.
Come on Key…please be here.
She wasn’t absolutely positive he hid in his dorm room, but it’s the only place she could think of that he’d go to be alone. He could also be up on the Dragon Eyrie, but of all times he wouldn’t be using his tama now. He could be at the Knights house, but that’s still too public. She just hoped he didn’t go back home, home. But she had heard he blew that up too, so…it was anyone’s guess.
“A-are we even sure he’s here?” Milo asked, his voice shaky and nervous.
“I don’t know for sure, but that’s where I’d go if I were him.” They rounded the corner to Key’s room. They both stopped a few steps from the door. She glanced at Milo. He just bit his lip and shrugged, then knocked on the door. Ssyelle stepped forward and cupped her mouth against the door. “Key, are you in there? We just want to know if you’re okay. So…” she trailed off, shifting her weight to one hip, kicking the ground with the toe of her shoe. “Key, please. We only want to help. I—we’re worried about you.”
After a few moments of nothing but silence, she walked over to Milo hanging her head. “I don’t think he’s in there,” she breathed out, frustrated.
“I don’t know…what if he is? Then we would be running around in circles all day and—”
“Let’s check,” a small voice said from behind them.
“”AH!!!”” the two of them yelled in sync, Milo jumping into Ssyelle’s arms. “M-Milo, I-I can’t-” Ssyelle strained and then the two of them collapsed in a heap on the floor.
“Okay?” Ameline asked, blinking her eyes and hovering over them.
“Peachy,” Ssyelle groaned, shoving Milo off of her. “Ameline? What are you doing here?”
“I help!” she squeaked, waddling over to Key’s door and…sticking a lockpick into the keyhole.
“Why do you have that?” Ssyelle said, pointedly.
“Emergencies,” Ameline replied, distracted with the act of breaking into a student’s room.
“Great, yeah, emergencies. Got it.” This girl was an absolute enigma.
They patiently waited, and a few minutes later Ameline had the door open to a completely empty room. No Key in sight. “At least we know he’s not here for sure now,” Milo added, likely trying to lighten the mood.
Ssyelle pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “But now what? We just have to think like Key. Where would he go if he was stressed, wanted to be alone, and not found for a short while. And probably somewhere no one would think to look.”
“Gym,” Ameline said, as if it was the next obvious place to look.
“The gym? Why would he be at the gym?”
Ameline starred blankly at her. “Warded against tamas.”
Ssyelle’s eyes widened. “And…no one would think to go there because no one uses the gym during or after a gorotama game! Ameline, you are a genius!” she declared, lifting Ameline up and spinning her around until she giggled.
“Alright, let’s go get Key guys,” Milo said, pumping his fist. “He must feel horrible. I mean, he injured Casper, maybe even scarred them.”
“Now, now, let’s not jump to any conclusions. And certainly don’t mention that around Key.” Ssyelle turned to Ameline who she had set down. “Ameline, do you want to join us?”
Ameline nodded and suctioned herself to Ssyelle’s side. “Heh, I’ll take that as a yes.”
As they entered the doors to the large gym, cool air rushed past them, chilling their bodies to the core. The lights were off and no one was in sight. Ssyelle winced at the loud squeaking noise Milo’s shoe made against the gym floor.
“S-sorry,” he whispered, rubbing the back of his neck.
Ssyelle whispered, “I don’t see Key anywhere. Ameline, are you sure he’s here?”
Ameline pointed at the gym closet. “Key in Closet.”
Ssyelle narrowed her eyes, “The closet?”
The three of them approached the closet, as quietly as possible. Ssyelle stopped walking a few strides away. “Something wrong?” Milo asked.
“No, it’s just…we probably shouldn’t swarm him, right? If you wanted to get away from everyone, including your team…geez he might even believe we hate him now or something.”
“Do you really think so?” Milo asked. “That’s pretty extreme, even for Key. He knows we have his back.”
“Key is all about the extremes. I’ll talk to him first, okay? I will let you guys know know when you can come in.” Ssyelle waited till she got both nods from them and turned to face the door.
Okay, Ssyelle, you are captain of the knights for a reason. And, well…Key needs a friend instead of a captain right now. So, he doesn’t need my best. He just needs me. I can do that, sure. Here goes nothing.
She knocked on the door, the three knocks echoing off the four walls of the empty room. “Key, I-It’s me, Ssyelle. Are you…okay? We’re just worried—I’m worried about you.” she breathed out a heavy breath and placed her hands flat on the door. “Key, I’m coming in unless you tell me not to. One. Two. Three—”
Ssyelle pushed the door open and let it close behind her. “Key,” Ssyelle breathed out at the sight of him. He was curled up in the corner, knees to his chest, leaning against the stone wall. His hair was down and disheveled, charred in multiple spots. The knights uniform he wore was also singed and frayed at the ends. Worst of all, he wasn’t looking at her.
She gripped her other arm as she slowly approached him, hoping that he would do or say something, anything. A few steps away from him, she hesitantly kneeled do—
“Don’t,” he said, his tone which would’ve been commanding if not for how his voice cracked at the end. “Don’t come any closer.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll just…stay over here then.” What could she say? How do you even begin to approach someone in distress like this? She had done it before but, somehow, every time it happened she just forgot what to do. But that was the kicker, wasn’t it? Key wasn’t any of those other cases. He was a friend, a teammate, and they had been in this together since the very beginning. He was the entire reason she got into Kal Asterock in the first place. They were a team, and teammates lifted each other up through thick and thin.
“Can you look at me, Key?” she asked, softly. And to her pleasant surprise, he did. His eyes were red and had halfmoons below them, because he usually had trouble sleeping before the big games. She knew that because she did too, and once ran into him walking the halls at night, way past curfew. What she could see of his forehead was also red, something they would have addressed later.
For a few moments, it seemed like he wouldn’t hold eye contact with her, but the longer she kept watching his eyes, the less and less he tried to find anything else to look at. They were brown. She knew this already, of course. But it felt different to acknowledge in the moment. She smiled at him, trying to mold it into something sympathetic, friendly, and hopeful…which was a tall ask for a single smile to convey, she knew that. She would certainly try. Trying has got her here so far.
“Why are you here, Ssyelle?” He said, his voice angry but clearly weak from exhaustion. “Have I been expelled?”
“No, I’m here because I was worried about you.” Gently, she continued, “I care about you. Is that…so hard to accept?” She noticed him close his eyes tight.
“You-” he swallowed hard. “You should leave. I’m too dangerous to be around.”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
He instantly opened his eyes wide, meeting her eyes in surprise. She scooted closer to him, and he backed up into the wall, one of his eyes flashing red, then blue, then back to brown. “S-stay away, S-Ssyelle. I don’t want to hurt you.”
She crawled closer, her knees and his shoes inches apart. “P-please, don’t do this. I don’t—” he held up his hands, as if to keep her away, like how he always kept everyone at an arms reach and never closer. “Please” he pleaded.
Her heart drummed away in her chest, eyeing his palms as they flickered and sparked redhot. As she scooted closer, her knees went slightly past his feet as he slowly retracted his hands closer to his face.
“I know you won’t hurt me,” she stated. Instead of grasping and trapping his wrists (she hated when her aunt did that) she nudged them aside so he wasn’t covering his face anymore, revealing his wide, terrified eyes that were flickering with fire. When he realized she was reaching for his hands. He stuffed them in his armpits and closed his eyes. “Don’t-don’t touch me.”
He didn’t tell her to buzz off, so they were getting somewhere.
“Okay. Can you at least look at me? Am I ugly or something, cause you keep snapping your eyes shut at the sight of me,” she chuckled to hopefully lighten the mood.
He let out a weak laugh, opening one eye, then the other. “You are far from ugly, Ssyelle.”
Huh? “O-oh, I-I am? She squeaked, her smile wavering and her composure crumbling. “Thanks? I-I wow,” she blushed and chuckled nervously, her finger wrapping around her hair.
He audibly smacked his forehead. “Gah, I didn’t mean—no, I totally meant it but-Oh man…I don’t want to make things weird, so let’s just forget I said anything.”
Still blushing, but trying to get her train of thought back on track, she held out both of her hands, palms up. “Give me your hands.”
“W-w-why do you want to hold my hands so bad!? They’re literal firecrackers right now. I’ll burn you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Take my hands or I’ll have you back on defense. You wouldn’t want Odward to be point, would you?” she said, her voice firm but mostly teasing.
“Yeah, no way I’m playing defense.” He took a deep breath and put his hands in hers. She could feel his hands were warm and slightly tingly feeling. But it didn’t hurt and she was fine.
“See, nothing to worry about,” she said playfully, and squeezed his hands.
“Well it’s—because it’s—“ he mumbled, and she only caught a few words.
“What? I didn’t catch that?”
He blushed and said, “It’s—nothing, don’t worry about it. Anyway…” he exhaled, his shoulders lowering as the tension left them. “I don’t know what to do, Ssyelle. I-I hurt Casper, bad. I wanted to, at the time, but I didn’t—I didn’t want that. But, no one wants me here anyway.”
“I want you here.”
His eyes snapped up to hers and held her gaze. It felt like he was testing her, seeing if he could get her to look away first or get her to flinch by purposefully making his eyes glow with fire. But she wouldn’t break so easily. “They were right, you know.” His tone was low, sad, and implied he believed what he said.
“About what?” she likely knew what he meant, but wanted him to say it.
“Y-you know, about my mother. I’m—” he paused and sucked in a shaky breath, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. “I really am like her. They were right.”
Instead of responding right away, she let go of his hands and reached behind her head and slowly worked out her hair tie. She figured it might help him feel more like himself. “Ssyelle, what are you…?”
Her hair fell down past her shoulders, as she handed over the hair tie. Key took it, though he seemed confused. “Why are you giving me your hair tie?”
“You looked like you could use one. W-wait, that came out wrong! Great gourds, I can’t believe I just said that!” Ssyelle pulled at her hair in frustration.
“Great…Gourds?” Key asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice.
“Gah! Stah-ha-op!” she squealed, hiding behind her curtain of hair. “Don’t tease me. That just slipped out. A bad habit I thought I had painstakingly squashed.”
“Squashed?”
She was probably crimson at this point, completely embarrassed beyond belief. “This is so embarrassing.”
“I think it’s kind of cute.”
And there goes her train of thought. Right off the tracks with the whole thing. Every single car derailed by one single fluffly word. ‘Cute.’
“I-you think I’m c-c-cute…You’re just—you’re just trying to change the subject!”
“Why can’t it be both?” he said, voice way too fricken casual and smug.
She started to stand up, trying to hide her burning cheeks. “Look, I should probably tell the others that you’re—”
“Ssyelle, wait.” He reached up and nearly grabbed her wrist, but stopped himself. She took his hand and pulled him up. He stepped backward to create some space. She stepped forward. A few different emotions she couldn’t pin fluttered across his face.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me, Key.”
“Huh? I-I’m not though?”
“Then prove it. Hug me.”
“W-wh-woah, woah, woah, excuse me? Hug you?” he held his hands up like he was surrendering to her or something.
Ssyelle put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. “You’re acting like I’m asking you to commit treason. It’s just a hug. I want you to prove that you can be close to me without combusting…okay.” she pinched her nose. “Another bad choice of words, but you understand, right?”
“I guess…maybe? I guess I’ve always wanted to give you more space rather than less. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable or feel like you’re in danger. I tend to do that to people.”
“I already said I’m not afraid of you. Now stop stalling and hug me before I tell Ameline to eat your soul.”
“One, Ameline doesn’t eat souls, she eats tamas. Two, fine, I surrender.”
“Tamales, tamas, souls…they’re the same thing.”
Key chuckled as he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. “Sure Ssyelle.”
Ssyelle returned the hug, resting her chin on his shoulder. Unsurprisingly, he was warm, radiating heat like a stove. “You smell like charcoal,” she said dryly.
“You smell like…is that…squash?”
“You know…the one time my father sends me the new product he made from your dad’s squashes, and of course I chose to use it today of all days.” She pulled away, and let her hands fall by her sides. She tilted her head, and met his eyes. “It doesn’t matter if they think you’re her, you know. What matters is that you just be yourself, Key. Don’t let them knock you down. Besides, you aren’t facing the music alone,” she smiled.
Key reached with his hands and parted her bangs, brushing her hair behind both ears. “Then who's with me?” he said, his voice hushing into a whisper. “It’s kind of hard to tell with this wall of hair in the way.” His hands settled on her shoulders, but she didn’t really feel like moving them.
She giggled, and found herself getting lost in his eyes again, which was getting easier and easier. She felt herself leaning forward, gravitating toward him with a certainty that should be only reserved for magnets. “It’s me, I’m with you. And Milo, Ameline, and Odward of course.”
“Ssyelle, can I—”
“You can,” she blurted out, giggling. “S-sorry, got ahead of myself.” She leaned in. He leaned in. She closed her eyes and—
“Key! We finally found you, and are you okay!!??” Milo yelped and spun around, slapping his hands over his eyes. Ameline squeaked and put both hands over her eyes, then peaked out through her fingers.
“”AHH!!!”” both Ssyelle and Key yelled and jumped away from each other.
“Y-you, guys! I told you to wait until my mark.”
“W-well, you see…” Milo started. “You kind of did give us the mark. We heard our names, so I thought that was the cue and—”
“Wait a minute…” Ssyelle’s eyes went dark and her expression turned stoic. “I was basically whispering. The only way you guys could’ve heard was if you were eavesdropping.”
“Only peaked,” Ameline muttered.
“Okay, well, I guess we might have eavesdropped. But! You were taking so long! We got worried, so we cracked the door open just a smidge and then we…kept listening.”
The room went silent as the realization dawned on everyone, especially Ssyelle. “I will give you both a ten second headstart.”
“A headstart for w-what?” Milo asked, nerves clearly jellifying.
“One, Two, Three...”
“Woah, o-kay we’re going, we’re going!” Milo and Ameline scrambled out the door, footsteps echoing in the gym as they ran away.
Ssyelle sighed heavily.
“So…” Key said, casualing stepping in front of her as she eyed him. “We were about to…”
She smirked and gave him a wink and a pat on the shoulder. “Nah, the mood was ruined. Come on,” she said, taking his hand and yanking him along. “No more sulking in the gym closet. You can sulk all you want in the Knights clubhouse.”
He put on the breaks with the heels of his shoes as they breached the doorway. “Wait, Ssyelle. I don’t want to face everyone just yet. Could I just stay here? It’s so far away from anything. Anyone”
She took his hands and laced their fingers together, swinging them from side to side. “Release all this tension. You’re always so tense.” She held their hands up between them and looked him in the eyes. “I’m your goalie, right? They’ve gotta get through me, to get to you. And we both know I’m a pret-ty good goalie.”
“Is there anyone you can’t calm down?”
“Odward is a tough one. Though I might be getting close to cracking him.” She tugged him along again. “On with you. I need help with my Gorotama history homework, and you somehow know more than me about it.”
“Somehow!? I’m like the biggest Gorotama fan.”
“Alright, alright, save the ego for the books.”