Muse.

A couple weeks had passed and everyone was settling into their schedules and rooms if they got new ones. Cara was sat between Quinn and Lyle, Liana sat in front of her. The four had somehow all been placed in the same History class this year. Which wasn’t actually too farfetched because they were all set to graduate this year. They had arrived a few minutes early; the teacher hadn’t walked in the door yet.

Quinn chatted over Cara to talk to Lyle. She was leaning out of her desk so far it looked like she might fall flat on her face. Cara was trying to tune her out as she was just lecturing the blond male on how to properly dress for class. They didn’t have uniforms, but it was kind of unspoken that you tried to dress respectably. The Muse class had a notorious streak for not doing this.

“Q chill out, I’m not breaking any rules. Cara and I didn’t have a chance to change before class.” Lyle responded with a shrug. He sent a smile at Cara hoping that she would back him up on their choice to wear workout clothes to class. The dark haired girl sank deeper into her seat and pulled her book closer.

“Oh, oh look! Girlfriend of the month already!” Liana leaned back to speak in a hurried whisper. The groups eyes flickered to the door for a moment. In walked a bleach blonde girl, who had dyed the tips a bright red and on her arm was Wren. “I see he’s taking a Muse for a spin this time. Do you know her Cara?”

Cara’s eyes focused on the girl for a moment more before turning back to her friend. “Rosalin; she’s ranked about 12th right now.” She replied before turning back to the paperback in her hands. She really had no interest in the girl that Wren was carting around now. He had a new one basically every month. The current one was a Muse, not one that had ever gotten along with Cara either.

Liana leaned over to Quinn to gossip about her brother’s new girl. Lyle nudged the dark haired girl lightly. “How far do you think she’s gonna drop in in the rankings now? She’s been trying to get Wren for at least two years, they’re gonna be shacked up for days.” Lyle laughed a little but stopped when Cara didn’t even smile. “Well I mean it’s not really important…she’s probably not even going to graduate.”

“She’ll graduate, she’s good, she’s just not as good as everyone above her; or a few below her, but they don’t try very hard.” Cara stated only flashing her gaze to Lyle for a second.

A cough interrupted Lyle before he could speak again. The bleach blonde stood behind him out of nowhere. “Are you trying to start something Tenorhart?” Her obviously faked high pitch voice grated against Cara’s ears.

“No, I’m not allowed to ‘start something’ with anyone below 8th ranking.” She replied nonchalantly. That had actually become a rule in training; Cara wasn’t allowed to practice with anyone below 8th because they usually got hurt.

A noise of irritation left the girl’s painted mouth. She was cut off by a hand on her shoulder. “Come on Rosa, she isn’t trying to start a fight. Just sit down.” The raven haired male’s voice tried to soothe her. The girl seemed like she wasn’t going to stand down anytime soon.

The teacher walked into the room at that moment though. Mrs. Halar; she was an older woman, very kind, but if you messed around she used to be a muse and she wasn’t afraid to show you. “Alright to your seats; Rosalin leave Cara alone, she’ll kick your ass.” She muttered over her back.

Liana giggled and stuck her tongue out at the girl as she scowled and took her seat. Wren moved his chair closer to hers and wrapped an arm around her shoulder to calm the fuming. “I hate him, but I bet he’s a pretty decent boyfriend…you know while it lasts.” Liana said before giggling again and turning to face the front.

Mrs. Halar began her lecture on some of the first Muse and Mageia; the ones that made Lorne a country and built the academies to teach young magic users about their gifts. It wasn’t anything special; they had all learned these stories since the day they were accepted to the academy. They probably wouldn’t learn anything spectacularly new until next month or so.

The few months before graduation in the winter are kind of a joke for the upper division. They were just finalizing some training and palling around waiting to be unlocked at the ceremony. The rest of the semester until summer is spent working with the real magic that is received after bonding. This training could end with the semester or continue for years. It always depends on the people.

Cara wrote down a few notes on the things she’d forgotten. She still needed to pass her exams to graduate. The exams were written and physical for the Muse. She was going to breeze through them, but the written exams were going to give her a little hell.

After an hour they were excused to leave. Cara and her friends gathered their things and quickly left. This was their last class for the day. The dark haired girl was thinking about going for a run, but she’d need to escape the Friday movie night they always planned. It was a ritual as Quinn and Liana called it. Cara just called it torture. They forced her to watch crappy movies about girls being saved and falling in love. She wondered if girls outside the academy were really that weak. Every girl in the academy was just a fearsome as the next guy.

The group of four all went back to Quinn and Cara’s room. Lyle collapsed on the couch and Liana on Quinn’s bed. The male flicked on the TV in the corner of the room. Not many electronics were allowed at the academy. Computers, music players and TV’s were allowed, but few people had them. Cellphones were prohibited, so if you needed to make a call you had to use the school phones. Any electronics in the room belonged to Quinn; Cara never found a great use for them.

Cara sat on the edge of her bed and pulled on her running shoes. The three questioned and complained at her. She lied and told them Master Cyril had called her out. They didn’t complain much more and let her leave mostly in peace. The dark haired girl picked up a fast pace as soon as her feet touched the ground outside.

The nights were still warm, though they would be getting cold soon. Cara tried to avoid sidewalks and lights that lined them. She wanted to run under the moonlight alone. She enjoyed being completely alone. She didn’t get much of it and as soon as she graduated and bonded, that time would diminish into almost nothing. Being a Dyo basically meant being with that person all the time. From what she heard, it took some getting used to, but they never really complained. Cara couldn’t see herself spending ninety-nine percent of her time with Quinn.

The toned girl took a deep breath as she rounded a corner of a building. She didn’t notice the dark shadow in time and hit the concrete hard. A body had tackled her to the ground. Her head bounced off of the hard ground leaving her mind blurry. The shadowy person got two punches to her jaw before her mind came back to her.

Cara’s eyes focused and her training kicked in. She heaved a knee up into the stomach of her unknown attackers and shoved her over her head. She rolled sideways to try and get to her feet. Dizziness struck her and kept her crouched on the ground. Unlike her, the attacker hadn’t had their head bashed into the rock. They were quickly getting to their feet. They landed a kick to her ribs before she caught their foot and brought them down to her level.

The dark haired girl growled as she wrestled to be on top of them. Whoever was trying to seriously injure her wasn’t nearly as skilled. She made quick work of pinning them. Red hair over their face gave them away. “What the fuck Rosalin?” Cara snarled and threw a punch at her face out of rage. Her fist came back with blood from the girl’s newly cracked lip.

“Who doesn’t deserve twelfth place, huh?” She sneered with blood pour out of her mouth.

“You jumped me in the dark you bitch! You think that makes you better?” Cara replied with another punch to her cheek. She almost aimed to break her cheek bone, the girl deserved it; she undoubtedly had broken one of Cara’s ribs.

The larger girl struggled under Cara’s grip before finally breaking free, tossing Cara off of her. Cara landed on her feet this time and held her ground. Rosalin charged at her, she sidestepped and flipped her back onto the ground and back into a pin. “You don’t even deserve twentieth place.” Cara remarked with a cocky grin, her face was beginning to bruise.

“Hey! Hey knock it off!” A familiar male voice shouted obviously running towards the girls in a fist fight. Large hands pulled Cara off of the girl by her shoulders. She willingly let whoever it was pull her up.

“Oh Wren! She attacked me! She’s a brute!” Rosalin cried as the male knelt down beside her.
Cara’s notorious temper, which was already flared, got the best of her. She pulled one of her knives from her garters; magic quickly built a barrier between the girls. Wren stood back up leaving the blonde on the ground. “Adalyn, you’re better than that.” He stated looking between the knife and her face. “You also probably have a concussion, let me take you to the infirmary.”

“Wren!” The girl still on the ground screeched. “You’re going to side with the crazy bitch that attacked me?”

The black haired male turned as he put the barrier down. He sighed and shook his head. “There’s no way Cara attacked you and then took that many hits. Go back to your room and get cleaned up, we can talk later.” He responded a little harshly. The girl huffed and practically ran back towards the dorms.

Cara was already walking away by the time Wren turned back to her. “Adalyn, wait you’re injured.”

“It’s Cara and I don’t need help. Especially not from you; whose girlfriend just tackled me into concrete.” She grimaced as she took a step onto a stair that led inside. Wren reached a hand out, he barely brushed her arm before she turned on him. “Back the fuck off, we’re not friends and I don’t need your pity.” She growled before disappearing inside.

Wren let his back slide down the glass door until he sat on the step. His hands pulled through his dark hair for a moment. He groaned before making his way towards the dorms as well.

The next morning Cara sported a bruised jaw and a mildly blackened eye. Her head hadn’t been bleeding that bad. One of her ribs had to be reset and that hurt when she walked. Overall she was fine. Quinn fussed over her and said that she’d have to talk to Wren and his choice in woman. Cara had left out the part that he pulled them apart and tried to help her last night.

Quinn finally parted with Cara outside the gym and scurried off to her class. Lyle was immediately inside, waiting for the dark haired girl. “Did you see what happened to Ros…oh my god Cara.” The blond rushed to her and gently cupped her chin. “Did Rosalin do this? I can’t say she looks worse.” Lyle stated chewing on his bottom lip. Worry had glossed over his face.

“She got the jump on me while I was running…” Cara responded sounding like it didn’t even excuse how beaten up she’d gotten.

Lyle almost growled as he pulled her into his chest tenderly. “That girl…I bet Wren had something to do with it.” He accused. Wren did take part in plenty of pranks against Cara, but he’d never hurt her.
“No, no, he pulled me off of her and yeah it was just her being a bitch…” Cara stated pulling away from Lyle’s embrace.

Master Cyril entered the gym and every student shut their mouths quickly. The old man had a presence that demanded respect. “Tenorhart, Kerve; front and center.” Cara grimaced as she was called up with Rosalin. She stood up straight in front of the commanding man. “Fighting outside of training is prohibited. Rosalin your punishment is with Rallar, every other day starting tomorrow. Tenorhart you get our new trainer Augustin; you start today, 7pm.” With that he nodded which meant we had to get started on our warm ups.

Bruised and a little broken, Muse training didn’t care. You ran, you fought, you climbed, you did your job whether you hurt or not. Cara struggled through her day, sitting hurt, standing hurt, there was no relief. One plus was that Rosalin didn’t say a word to her all day. The blonde just clung to Wren’s arm whenever she got the chance and ignored Cara. It was a Saturday so there wasn’t much class besides some training for the classes.

After training was over Cara crawled back into her bed to rest before her punishment was upon her. Quinn laid in her bed picking out a movie. Lyle and Liana tried to baby the dark haired girl in her bed.
“Come here,” Liana patted her lap to have Cara lean into her. “I’ve got a little healing magic. I want to try and make your rib better.” She said as Lyle physically put Cara against her lap. He sat back down with his legs under hers.

“You’re going to make me worse, just stop guys.” Cara groaned trying to escape the twins and their will to keep her there.

Lyle moved his legs on top of hers to try and keep her in place. Liana pressed gently against her rib that had been reset. “Okay, easy does it.” A faint pink magic seeped from her palm. It felt warm as it danced across Cara’s skin. Cara couldn’t say it felt completely healed, but it hurt less after Liana was done.

This meant it was time to meet the new trainer.