STUCK ME WITH THE SICKNESS,, freya

Nell was steadily walking, focusing on getting the heck down the hallway when she heard the muttering. With a gasp, she started waving the gloves wildly. ”Go away, pretty please! I don’t want to fight!” She stopped her flailing when she heard the apology. She looked closely at the girl. Her name was…Freya right? A Fire student? Apologizing? Well, that wasn’t right. Nell dropped her arms and stared wide-eyed for a few seconds before shaking the shock off. ”Oh, it’s okay, I didn’t either. Sorry. Kind of paranoid.” Understandment. Hardcore understatement.

The Fire girl knew her name as well, and she was only a bit surprised. A lot of people knew her name as well. ”I’ve uh…heard your name around.” Nell said, blushing a bit. It was awkward talking to a Fire student who was supposed to be her enemy. She only did that with Josh. And that was awkward, too, in a different way. But she was always one to give a person the benefit of the doubt. Even if they were supposed to be enemies. ”Mind if I call you Fred then? I like that nickname.” It was probably dangerous how Nell could be so amiable with people. Fire. Enemies. But… This girl wasn’t trying to kill her. And that’s a-okay in her book. And plus, Freya’s awkwardness was actually cute and made Nell chuckle. ”Hi to you too.”

Shuffling her feet, the Earth student decided to bring up something that would probably increase the awkwardness in her eyes. ”So…why aren’t you try to kill me right now?” That’s what people in the enemy alliance usually did. They attacked and hurt her and she ended up with quite a few wounds to show for it. ”No that I don’t appreciate it,” She tacked on as way of a joke. ”It’s just…odd for me right now.” Very odd to be faced with a Fire student she didn’t want to run away from.

Nell nodded as the girl confirmed her nickname with an airy laugh. Oh jeez, this was so strange. Like this encounter shouldn’t be happening in this universe. No matter how kind and calm this girl came off as, she was still the enemy. She could still hurt her when she felt like it. And she very much doubted Freya would be one to turn like Josh had. At least he had known her beforehand, no matter how awkward their relationship truly was. Freya didn’t know her, and so Nell couldn’t really think of any reason for her not to kill the Earth student everyone is trying to get their claws in. Unless…she was truly that merciful. Nell really hoped that was it.

Freya seemed off-guard when the question came, and Nell tilted her head curiously. But the words that came from the other girl’s lips managed to wind dread through her stomach, even though she was at least already somewhat aware of this fact. ”Yeah,” Nell replied, more nervous now than anything. She had a feeling that this statement was a precursor to her being burned or grabbed and taken to the guy himself, and so she was ready to bolt. ”It would seem that way.”

But the girl didn’t make a move toward her. In fact, she managed to shock Nell even more with her next words. ”You…didn’t know?” Was she not in the mess hall the morning the leaders swooped in with their announcement, literally declaring a hunt for her blood? Which meant murdering her. Dead. But as Freya seemed to cagily inspect the area, Nell ducked her head, and said, ”Well thanks for not buying into the bull of war. I know it doesn’t count for much, and it’s a little too late to be saying this, but I just want to tell you…I didn’t kill Cynthia. I don’t know why they think I did, but…it’s just not true.” She felt pathetic trying to convince someone of this, but Nell just wanted to get her side out there. She never had before—especially not in America—and so she now felt the need to go around and tell everyone how innocent she was.

”Don’t worry about that,” the Earth girl replied easily. ”My life these days is much too exciting without classes, anyway.” She was sadly starting to make a habit out of skipping classes, sometimes out of fear, sometimes because her father didn’t understand that he wasn’t supposed to call her when she was in school. ”But I would like to get away from the dungeons, so uh…walk with me, talk with me?” She looked inquisitively at the girl, brown eyes no longer wary. Nell could trust Freya, right? Or maybe Nell was being naïve as usual, but…she felt good vibes from this chick at least. Turning on her heel, she started down the hall.

Nell laughed at the girl’s words, relieved now that it seemed Freya truly believed in her innocence. Thank god, thank the good almighty lord above! At least this was one less Fire student to worry about, in a multitude of others. ”Nah. I was planning to use them for self-defense against the Thunders, but…cleaning gloves aren’t that very protective.” Hopefully the girl would see her as less weird now. She wondered what she’d do with them now and just figured that she’d dispose of them or give them to someone who needed to wash some dishes.

Why did those words have to always make her sick? Even this Fire chick couldn’t believe Nell had a killer bone in her. And she was wrong. She didn’t kill Cynthia, though. The guilt was for her mother. But Nell laughed easily. ”How can I take that the wrong way? I’m glad I don’t look like a psycho murderer. That way the outside matches the inside. Plus, they’re not too attractive either.” And this is how she avoided serious things, through joking like this. How she lied, because if the inside matched the out, Freya would see that she was a killer.

Freya agreed to come along, and Nell was actually finding she enjoyed the other girl’s company. Nell felt surprised at something that seemed rather martyr-like to her. ”T-thank you.” Yes, it was very surprising. Little did the girl know, it was very reassuring. Nell lifted an eyebrow wearing her signature half-smile and said, ”You’re not like other Fire students, Fred, that’s for sure,” she said, shaking her head as she continued down the hall. If they were to be skipping classes, might as well get away from the Academy. In the back of her mind, Nell again wondered if she should be trusting the Fire girl so easily. Too bad she became way too easily attached to others. ”If you don’t mind me asking, is your family Fire too?” She wondered if it was in the blood and that’s why the kind girl turned out to be Fire. Nell deceived her genetics by turning up as Earth.

Nell figured the gloves would be quite the interesting thing for Freya. She became aware of how stupid they were a little too late. But the girl liked to consider herself an innovator. She was very crafty when the time called for it. But in this case, her cleverness apparently failed her. "Unfortunately, I thought of that afterward." Then she chuckled. "But I didn't think of going Wonderwoman." That's the image it conjured up for her, at least.

Freya looked like she was very flattered by Nell’s compliment, which made the latter smile brightly. She truly did love seeing others happy, especially when she made it so. It wasn’t even for her own satisfaction. It was just so that other people knew that they were amazing in her eyes. Everyone was incredible according to Nell. Except when you were trying to kill her or lock her up in prison. Then you were something less-than-amazing. ”I try,” she said breezily, finding it strange how much she was enjoying this Fire student’s company. It shouldn’t have been this way, but since she could sense zero mal intent. Well…she supposed she really was too trusting.

Nell caught the hesitation, and looked at the girl curiously from the corner of her eye, not fully looking in her direction. It seemed like everyone had family problems in this school. Everywhere, as a matter of fact. Since she’d been so hidden from the world before, she never realized this. But she learned to empathize with people in spite of it (or because). No, that wasn’t right. She didn’t learn how to do these things—she felt like she was born connected to people. Nell sometimes compared herself to one part of an ecosystem, like a tree in a forest connected to all the other vegetation. But that was probably her Earth student mentality speaking.

Foster child? Oh, that would explain the hesitation. But Nell didn’t apologize for that. In her mind, people didn’t want pity for something they offhandedly mention, just a passing remark. And they didn’t want pity in general. She certainly didn’t want that, which is why she so easily hid her own personal life. Nell nodded as she explained these things, her own lineage including her fostered one. ”I suppose you don’t know much about your real family, then,” Nell asked, a look of sincerest curiosity on her face, kindness in her voice telling Freya she didn’t need to explain anything she was uncomfortable with. ”I understand what it is like to have parents from two different Elements, though. My mother’s family is Water and my father’s Thunder.”

The girl really should have felt honored to have gotten this information from Nell, something she rarely talked about. And it’d be the only information about her family that Freya would get. Anything else would be much too uncomfortable. Especially since Nell both disliked talking about herself and disliked the family she spoke of. But something about Freya made her feel at least somewhat okay about revealing even simple personal information like that which would have usually been withheld.

Turning on her heel and walking backward now, she informed Freya, ”Anywhere you want! Since we’re skipping, I suggest it be somewhere away from the Academy…” Nell was usually a good student. Usually. But during a war where everyone was out to get you, she felt she at least deserved a little break. After all, she’d been working hard for a while because of her late enrollment. Of course she had Josh to help, but that didn’t eliminate all of the stress. ”Anywhere in particular you would like?”

It had been a while since she even thought of her birthday. Not like she ever celebrated with her mother, and it had never felt like a day to celebrate without Tilly. It took her a moment to even remember when it was, in August. ”I’ll greatly appreciate it,” Nell replied with a crooked smile, a permanent fixture on her face. ”I’d like to be fashionable while saving the world.” Though she didn’t think Wonder Woman had a cape, it actually sounded like a good idea. Yes, she was seriously considering going around with a cape, just because she thought that Batman looked cool with one and she actually had some comic books in her apartment.

She gave Freya her full attention while the other girl explained that she didn’t know much about where she came from. Nell didn’t necessarily wish for that kind of life, but something similar. It would be nice if she had never met her family, didn’t know where she came from. ”Well, you never know…some things are better left alone.” It was her way of comforting the girl who may have been aching for answers about her family, and something Nell knew from experience. If Freya looked, she may find things that displeased her. Of course, curiosity killed the cat, and if Nell was in her place she’d definitely be searching for answers to her lineage. ”But if curiosity ever gets you, have you ever checked the records?” Unless her parents’ were illegal immigrants, that would be a good place to look. She could trace back the Sinclair family far if she wanted to, but she was very afraid to find who she would be related to. Nell already had a feeling John Gotti was a relative of hers.

At the question, Nell merely nodded silently. ”Romeo and Juliet at its finest.” She had finally read the play, and had to wonder how people ever thought of it as romantic—two teenagers falling in love and threatening suicide whenever they didn’t get what they want? Too add, it reminded her too much of her parents. The enemy families, the idiotic teenagers falling in love too soon, but it didn’t end quite the same. It ended with a matricide. Nell lifted a quizzical eyebrow. ”No problem,” she responded, thinking how oddly sweet it was for Freya to be thanking her for saying something about her family.

”You don’t mind the lake?” she asked, soft voice curious. No, not many of the Fire students liked it around there, and Nell would have counted Freya among them. ”Are you sure you’d be okay…?” Nell was very concerned that Freya might get hurt. Even though she was being so kind to the Earth girl, the others probably didn’t know of this kindness. She didn’t want the girl who showed her such generosity to be attacked by Water students. The Earth girl felt like she would defend her and that would cause a few problems. Then she’d be retaliating against people who were protecting her. Why does it have to be like this? All these alliances and the pedantic style of war—it was incredibly ludicrous, especially now. ”I know I’ll be fine with my gloves and all.”

Nell didn’t know what it was like to be adopted, so she could only relate on her natural empathetic level. However—if the law had gotten to her—she would have been placed in a foster home. Looking back, she didn’t know whether or not it would have been a good idea. But it was too late for ‘what if’s and so she didn’t entertain those kinds of thoughts for too long. Instead, she offered Freya an encouraging smile as she said, ”I’m sure you’ll get used to it once you stay in one family for a while.” She herself didn’t know how a normal family functioned, so she couldn’t give much advice on that front. All she had were her observations now of seemingly normal family, who quite possibly could have disturbing problems beneath a shiny, white-picket façade. She guessed only time could tell with Freya, and she truly hoped that the girl found the family that she needed. Freya posed a very good question, and the Earth girl took some time to truly consider it. ”Well…if you ever do find them and wish to speak with them, I’m sure you could sit down and ask them questions. Like why they didn’t look for you.” Whether Freya actually went searching for these people or not was her own prerogative.

Tilting her head with the other girl’s words, Nell had to disagree. ”Everyone’s a target in this war.” Sure, she may have been the main quarry, but that didn’t exempt others from being attacked. Including Freya. She was sure the girl may have been a target at one point or another. ”Well then, Miss Reckless, is it possible to deter you from your ways?” Though Nell said it jokingly, she truly didn’t want Freya to get hurt. Even though she was the enemy, Nell at least gave her the benefit of the doubt for now. ”I’ll do my best to defend you too,” the Earth girl said with great enthusiasm. She didn’t want anyone to be hurt so she’d try her best to split up a fight. Which usually wouldn’t end well. ”But, since it is so dangerous to be seen together…” Nell looked into the other girl’s eyes imploringly. ”Maybe we shouldn’t be seen together going to the lake. I know that you’re neutral and all, so it would be better to avoid each other…” Then, realizing how this may come off, Nell waved her hands. ”N-not that I don’t think you’re nice or anything, you really are! I’m just worried about your safety, is all!” Even though she was Fire as she kept reminding herself, she really worried about everyone’s wellbeing.

Nell honestly didn’t think it was worth the risk. She didn’t think she was worth any risk, but putting someone in danger… Well, that went against everything she tried to stand for. She simply bit her lip pensively at Freya words, nodding a bit while she looked off. At the mention of Josh, Nell laughed a bit and shook her head. ”Yeah, he can get a bit overzealous…” But she was thankful for his support, and even more so worried that he was putting himself through too much. ”But I completely understand your concern—I mean, you are their ally. So…” Nell took out a pen from the books in her arms, and made a beckoning motion with her fingers, gesturing for Freya to hold out her arm. ”Since I like you and all, we can hang outside of school if you want.” She didn’t necessarily trust the girl, but again—benefit of the doubt.