ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 36: Making Amends

Chapter 36

Making Amends

To say that the rest of the first week, where there was a full sophomore class, was uneventful would have been an understatement. The pack themselves did well, breaking down into multiple groups. Nine created their own baseball team. This was an instant success, as they were allowed to constantly play against the established Junior and Senior dominant team. Five others joined the track and field team. While the remaining four found kinship in four individual sports.

While everyone had expected the large pack to create their team, as was the case with softball. The school found it odd that some of the girls were independent enough to strike out on their own.

In the end the women that were still traumatized by the events, but wanted to reintegrate quickly, joined the baseball team. Those that still felt a strong tie to their wolf instincts found the allure of Cross-Country appealing. The others all had a previous dabbling with the other sports, and thus felt a need to reconnect.

As for Alexa, she made short work of healing. In fact, her work was so short that eventually Clara decided to close shop and allow her and the girls to just go to any and all sporting events they wanted. With that, Alexa decided to sit and watch her twin play Super Football. Or at least the version of Super Football that the school could muster. Basically, anything and everything went when it came to powers, so long as it wasn’t lethal.

That meant a player running with the ball could surround themselves with a ring of flames, so long as they did not direct the flames at any individual.

This also meant that players like her brother, could play blind safety with ease. The only condition was everyone had to be in regular positions at the start. Then as soon as the ball was snapped, everything could go.

As the name implied Luke was playing as blind safety, a position held for people with the Invisibility ability. The idea was he was the wild card for the quarterback. The ultimate person to make a quarterback second guess a throw to a perceived open receiver.

“Hey, that’s her? That Aruka healer?” A few voices called out, as they noticed the three healers sitting on the bleachers.

“Yeah, that has to be her.”

Hushed whispers.

If Alexa wished, she could focus her hearing to follow those voices.

“Looks like they are talking about you.” Gina said.

Alexa just nodded.

“Oh, they get like that. They link a new person to their Super persona, and they feel like they are Columbo.” Clara St. Brown, the school’s old healer said.

“Who?” Gina asked.

Clara looked like she wanted to say stop messing with an old woman but seeing the genuine look of confusion on Gina’s face, she stopped.

“You know what, never mind. Just the rantings of an old woman. But they are right, you do stand out quite a bit.” Clara St. Brown said.

“I’m not going to stop healing.” Alexa said.

At that, both Gina and Clara looked mildly shocked at the depth of emotions coming from Alexa. It wasn’t much, most would have considered it to be a halfhearted attempt at faking emotions. But for Alexa, compared to how she normally was, that was a lot.

“You feel that strongly about this?” Clara asked.

Alexa nodded.

“Very good then.”

“I personally think it is wonderful. I wish I could help out.” Gina said.

“Actually, I was hoping you could come next time. I could use the help.”

Clara looked at the two. “I think something could be worked out. Gina of course would also need to wear a Super outfit, that way people wouldn’t start making assumptions when they saw a random 6’2 female when they recognized Gina.”

Alexa and Gina both nodded at that.

“What do you think? Me all dressed up in tight leather. Should I go for passion red? Or pink?” Gina said, as she shimmied and posed.

Clara looked like she wanted to say something but was cut off by Alexa’s unusual remark.

“Either would be fine, so long as your mask showed your eyes.” Alexa said.

With that both Clara and Gina looked at her with a quizzical expression, so she elaborated. “I like your eyes; they are very expressive.”

At that Gina just blushed slightly, “well then it is official pink with a mask that shows off my eyes.”

“Actually, for your set of powers, Mind Reading, it is generally understood that you would wear a purple leather outfit. At least until your real class comes in.” Clara said.

There were a few more conversations after that. Most between Clara and Gina. Alexa, despite sitting in the middle of the two was content to just sit back and listen.

“Hey, is it just me, or is that boy constantly staring at us?” Gina asked.

When directed, she pointed to the boy from the dungeon pass class. The same one that Alexa saw every day.

“It is likely because of me. If you will excuse me, I need to apologize to him.” Alexa said, as she gracefully got up from the seat in the bleachers then began gracefully moving down with catlike grace to the practice field.

“Oh, wow, she’s coming here.” A few of the male students called out.

Alexa for her part kept eye contact with the boy from her dungeon class. The one who, like all the others in attendance last Friday, were cursed to endure a harder version of the Trails of Ascension if they had gone into the dungeon that night. Of course, none of the students had gone into the dungeon as it was declared too dangerous.

The boy she was looking at was tall, well taller than most. He was still smaller than Alexa’s 6’2, but close, maybe a 6’1. He had a darker skin tone that was offset by hazel eyes and brown hair.

“Yo, Malik, she is staring you down.” A friend next to the man Alexa was staring at intently said.

Alexa registered this, as she was right next to the group, a chain link fence separating her from the group of students.

The boy, Malik, just stood and watched her approach.

Silence.

The chatter, and talking that had been happening moments ago stopped, as the school’s only four field magic user, and most recent Super in training came forward to talk to Malik.

“I wanted to apologize to you, for my actions on Friday. I apologize if my actions caused you any undue stress or concerns. That was never my intent.” Alexa said, giving a sincere bow.

Fence jingle-rattle.

The fence rattled for a second, as Malik put one hand down over the fence then hopped the chest high fence like it was nothing to be on the same side as Alexa.

“It’s cool. But, if you don’t mind talking for a bit, I did have a question or two for you.” The boy said, gesturing for them to go back to the part of the stands where Gina and Clara St. Brown were still sitting.

Alexa nodded, then held out her hand. “Alexa Thyme.”

At that the boy just laughed, as he held out his hand to shake Alexa’s then replied with, “Malik Blackman.”

Alexa for her part just cocked her head to the side.

“You didn’t really need to introduce yourself. Everyone knows who you are on campus.”

With that Alexa nodded as she made her way up the bleachers. Once again going for the graceful walk up the rows of raised seats, until she was back at her spot with Gina and Clara.

Malik for his part just sat on the row in front of Alexa, then turned around to face the trio.

Gina for her part had on a harder expression than usual.

“Relax, I’m not going to steal her from you.” Malik said, as he held up his hands in a calming gesture to Gina. “Everyone knows you two are a thing.”

“They do?” Gina asked.

“Yeah, ever since Alexa here stopped accepting applicants on her date consultation page, we realized we never stood a chance.” Malik said.

At that Gina turned to face Alexa.

Alexa for her part just shrugged.

“The boys here have a hard time following the rules. So, I momentarily stopped accepting applicants.” Alexa answered.

With that, Malik just smirked. “I heard something about that.”

Malik was of course referring to the multiple eyewitness accounts of one Paul Boyd who tried to inadvertently ‘run into’ Alexa from behind. This was the pretense for the boy to ‘accidentally’ touch Alexa’s behind. He had made his move while his friends were recording. Better still Alexa had stopped to tie her shoe. This was the perfect moment, and one he had been waiting the entire evening for, so he darted forward I an attempt to accidentally run into Alexa. Of course, what Paul had not been accounting for were the exceptionally fast reflexes of Alexa. Alexa managed to not only move out of the way, but she also then watched as Paul fell down a flight of steps, that he had failed to notice due to his preoccupation with making the attempted contact.

Of course, his friends who happened to be nearby recorded the whole thing. From there some of the date consultations tried wilder and more outlandish stunts. None failed quite as poorly as Paul’s attempt, but there were some close seconds.

Then after a moment’s pause, Malik continued. “No, I couldn’t help but notice that after your stunt. You went into the dungeon, then came back with a new school of magic unlocked. A school of magic that is already at the master tier. My question to you is, how?”

Alexa paused, as she took in Malik.

“I can tell you but know the path I took was mine and mine alone. That it will not work for you, at least not as you are now.” Alexa said.

Malik paused for a moment, before responding. “I see. So, let me guess you have some type of slotted class? Or is it an artifact?”

“Slotted class.”

With that both Gina and Clara gasped with surprise, while Malik just nodded his head as if expecting this answer.

Of all the questions Malik could have asked, only Alexa found the next question understandable. To Alexa, this was the most logical question to ask. Which was why she had her reply ready, when Malik asked the next question.

“How?”

Such a question could be considered blasphemy. Alexa could use this knowledge to create a family of supers that would be unstoppable. Instead, Alexa just locked gazes with the boy in front of her and nodded her understanding.

“I don’t know what the exact requirements were, but I can tell you where I was in my development process.” Alexa offered.

Clara for her part, pulled out pen and paper, as this type of information was extremely valuable.

Malik nodded.

“Over 500 dungeon entrances. Not just floors, but times entering a dungeon. Maxed out pre-awakened Attributes.”

Malik nodded; it was well accepted that most students here would have reached the 150 point attribute cap in each of the six main attributes.

“Three Titles for Attribute Increases.” Alexa said.

Gasps.

This was a myth, a legend, really. Titles for Attribute increases were an unseen, un-trackable statistic that followed how many attributes over the 150 cap a person managed to raise all their attributes again. There was no hard and fast rule, but the general consensus was that an additional one hundred attribute increases had to be registered for all six attributes, in order to gain the title once. However, these titles were nothing to sneeze at, each iteration offered a stacking 10% increase in attributes and their effectiveness. This meant Alexa’s three titles meant that even compared to regular students who had also met their attribute cap, she would still be 30% stronger, faster, smarter, perceptive, and everything else that went along with the attributes. Also, her attribute perks would also be increased by that percentage as well.

Of course, these were titles that could only be achieved by the pre-awakened. As the Attribute restrictions were removed once a person fully awakened. This Title was seen as a consolation prize for those who pushed themselves harder than their peers. Most got the title once, and then called it a win, knowing they would forever be stronger than someone at the same rank as them. For Alexa to have already earned the title three times, showed a level of dedication that went beyond the realm of normal, or what most people would consider healthy.

Alexa then paused, before adding the last part. “Then I got infected with Lykanthropy and eradicated the wolf.”

Silence.

If what she was saying was true, then what she had done was something truly monumental. Not only had she fought off the wolf, but she had eradicated it, as in removed all traces of the wolf from being within her system.

Clara St. Brown was the first to speak. “I would normally say that eradicating the Lykanthropy virus by yourself would be impossible, as most of the time it’s influences would be too subtle to notice at first. But given your condition, and if what you say about your titles are to be believed, I could see this happening.” She said, as she stared off into the distance.

“Wait, how long ago did you get this slotted class?” Gina asked.

Alexa paused, “three weeks ago.”

“Wait, you had the three titles before the class, have you earned any more since then?” Gina asked.

Everyone waited with baited breath for an answer that would never come.

"Right, too personal, I get it..."