A New Start (Chapter 1)
Hello! If you're either new or one of my old readers✨ I am currently re-writing this story, and this is the very first chapter.
I will still have the old chapters up, I don't want to delete them all but I will also make a new masterlist for this in a few days.
This story, Together We Fight, is the story of two siblings, Kaen and Iya, and their friends they make along the way.
There won't be any NSFW in any part of it, I'm still not decided on the romance aspect, but I will appreciate it if you respect the characters' canon romantic/sexual orientations as it is important for me.
Taglist is at the end of the page, if you want to be tagged you can just tell me. ^^
I'm always open to asks, questions, messages and tag games. I love making friends here.
My writing might have some mistakes, and errors as I'm still a learner in English. If you see me using a word or phrase incorrectly, you can correct me but please be nice if you do so. 🥺 (sometimes I do not know using something might be inappropriate or rude. Please do say so if I do, I don't want to hurt anyone!) ^^
A New Start
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Dorm complex 17, second floor.
His dorm room, that he would spend most of his next five years if everything went right.
Kaen felt the hesitance tug at him all but physically . It wasn't too late… he could go back, go back home to his family.
"I want to do something" his previous thought while enrolling into the school came back echoing. "I can't just sit and watch people suffer like us"
He glanced once more at the note he took from the front desk, before he sighed and opened the door with the key card they gave him.
The slight creak of the door hinges cut the conversation inside like a knife, a half sentence hanging in the air as the tall girl sitting on the chair looked at Kaen with question in her eyes.
“Are you our other teammate?” a cheerful voice asked, and Kaen turned to see a curly head poking out of the door at the left. “Wait you must also be my roommate, cool, come on dont stand there” he added before Kaen could answer.
Biting his lip as he stood on the doorstep, Kaen took a hesitant step inside. He could feel his fingertips tingling with the nervousness, and couldn't focus on anyone in the room.
“Yeah… I think I'm the teammate you're looking for…" he murmured and just hoped they heard him. "That's the team…71-12, right?"
He really hoped he wasn't at the wrong place.
"Yeah"
"That's the code they gave us"
The tall girl gave him a slight wave, “I’m Reyna” she introduced. “Can you close the door?"
"Oh, yeah, sorry"
"Thanks, no worries"
With that, she turned her focus back on her phone.
"Name's Niran" the other girl said, with a warm smile that reminded Kaen a bit of Iya, "Nice to meet you"
Kaen smiled back at her, "Nice to meet you too" he said as he kicked his shoes off next to other pairs standing there, and put his bag down, "I'm Kaen"
"Sup Kaen" the boy grinned, this time fully out of the room, holding his hand out for a handshake. "Veir, nice to meet you"
Kaen frowned at the formal gesture, before just shaking his hand. "Yeah… thanks" he said quietly.
"Come on, I'll show you the room" Veir said and having nothing else to do, Kaen just grabbed his suitcase and followed him. It was better than just standing in the middle of the common room awkwardly, right?
As they walked into the dorm room two of them would be sharing for next five years (at least) Kaen felt a tang of sadness, already missing his home.
This place wasn't his, yet, nothing like his room back at their apartment.
"It's quite small, but like, I guess that's what you'd expect from a dorm room, right?" Said Veir with a chuckle, sitting down on the bed which had an open suitcase on it.
"We all arrived at the morning gathering. But a late start is better than not starting. Also, we are probably in the same class too"
His roommate was definitely talkative… Kaen didn't know what to feel about it, but he didn't want to come off as rude on their first day at least.
He was also really friendly, which gave Kaen an unease down in his stomach.
There were always a few nice people, right until it was clear that Kaen wasn't the type of person they were hoping for.
He couldn't risk being excluded out of a four person team though, that left no place for him to hide with that few people. He had to be careful and build trust…
Kaen rubbed his face, grunting, "Yeah… my sister was dropping me off and we got stuck in traffic" he gave Veir a short explanation, enough for now. "Sorry I kept you guys waiting"
Veir shrugged, "It's good by me. I took this side of room, hope you don't mind" he said, busying himself with folding a suspiciously expensive looking pair of pants, "Our leader didn't arrive yet too"
Kaen nodded mindlessly. At least he didn't have to introduce himself alone now. "No I don't mind… you came first anyway" he murmured.
He carried his suitcase and duffel bag to the room, and put the backpack, then a small crossbody bag next to it, and looked around the room, taking everything in.
It was a normal sized room for two people, everything had an identical twin, the beds, desks, wardrobes, even the chair, and the small boxes that stood on the desks.
Two little windows around where their desks were let in the afternoon light.
A lot of light, actually. Why didn't they have curtains?
Pearl would have loved to nap on that windowsill… Kaen thought, as he started unpacking the backpack.
"Oh and also" Veir spoke again, "Those boxes on the desks, it's our textbooks apparently, girls got the same thing too, we're taking the same classes as a team"
Kaen hummed and nodded.
He tried to answer Veir's bubbly chat, as best as best as he could. But Veir just kept on opening new subjects, glancing up at him every now and then. Veir looked like he had so many clothes to unpack, actually having trouble fitting them into the small wardrobe.
The sunlight had already changed its color into warm oranges when the door opened again, and with curiosity, (that was probably their team leader, after all!) All four of them walked out to the common area.
A tall man stood at the entrance, looking a bit tired, but still, a happy but nervous expression was on his face.
"Hello, team" he said, smiling when he saw all four of his students were already there.
Kaen honestly wondered why three out of five people in their team were so tall, as he glanced at their leader.
The guy was tall, and Kaen guessed he was pretty strong, with close cropped brown hair, and some white markings on his tan skin.
"You're our leader, right?" Veir questioned.
He hummed something and nodded, as he walked in, glancing at the common area, "I swear they made those rooms smaller somehow" he said with an easy laugh, "When I was a student they were bigger"
"You were also a student here?"
"Yeah, quite a few years ago"
"How old are you?" Reyna asked, with the same tone he greeted Kaen.
"Jumping straight to meet and greet huh?" The guy said with a raised eyebrow, and sat down on one of the chairs. "Alright then… gather around kiddos, time for a proper meeting"
Veir's face was bright with a grin as he sat down on the small couch. Niran sat down next to him.
Kaen just took another chair, and looked down instead of risking making eye contact with anyone as Reyna just leaned against the wall, one leg lifted to put her foot on the wall, her arms crossed.
"My name is Conrad Aillard" he started, "I am your team leader and trainer… so we will be spending lots of time together in training. It's my first time doing a full time training job… so I will try my best, but we will learn together on the way, sounds good?"
When he got four nods, and a few smiles as a response, he smiled back, "Now let's hear your names and powers. They gave me a file with your information, but I wanted to meet you first before reading it"
"Me first!" Veir jumped, his enthusiasm almost making Kaen laugh but he held it in.
"I'm Veir Bren Tindol, but I want to request you call me just Veir please" he said, "I have speed manipulation and telekinesis powers"
"Cool… that's a really good power combo" Conrad nodded. "Next?"
It was Niran this time, "I'm Niran Saoirse" she said, "I have a mid-level healing ability… they advised me to be a team medic while enrolling"
It looked like Conrad was relieved to hear they had a healer, "That's amazing… we have a healer" he said with a nod, "Did you get any training on your ability before or?"
Niran shook her head, "My old school didn't qualify for medical education" she said. "I don't have any training besides most basic"
"It's alright, that's why you're here, to learn"
"I hope so, thanks"
"And you?" Conrad asked, and Kaen jumped when he noticed everyone was looking at him.
He must've zoned out…
"Uh.. um sorry" he blurted out quickly, "I'm Kaen Roht" he introduced himself.
"My ability is high-heat pyrokinesis"
"Oh, we have a fire user, interesting" Conrad cheered, before he frowned, "You said your surname is Roht?"
Kaen looked up, his brows furrowing together, "Yeah, Kaen Roht" he repeated, "Is there something wrong?"
Conrad shook his head, "No it's just, you reminded me of someone with the similar surname"
Kaen lifted his hands like saying he didn't know, and Conrad smiled, "Don't worry, I think it's a coincidence. Alright, last one, grumpy girl, you go" he said, looking at Reyna.
Reyna huffed at the nickname, but unraveled her arms, "Reyna Declan" she said briefly. "My power is cryokinesis…"
Veir's eyes jumped between Kaen and Reyna, "Now are you telling me, we have a fire user, and ice user in our team?" He asked with an excited expression.
"Apparently" Conrad nodded. "It might be interesting, we will need strategies, so you two don't cancel each other's powers while working as a team"
All four teens looked at each other, and Kaen felt like if Conrad wasn't there, there might be some sort of snappy comments would be jumping around, especially from Reyna.
She really looked annoyed, leaning at the wall with her arms crossed and watching.
Kaen had a thought that if he fell behind the team, she wouldn't be very nice to him. None of them would be happy to have a teammate dragging them down, to be honest.
He really hoped he didn't make a wrong choice…
***
Turned out, Kaen was way more out of shape than he considered himself to be.
Funny it took him until he was kneeling down on the gym floor with his hands on the ground, trying to catch his breath after just three rounds of running, to notice that.
Lights were too bright, it was loud with all the teams working in their corners, the closed up space smelled, and Kaen was just so, so dizzy.
A hesitant hand landed in his shoulder when he closed his eyes, making him flinch suddenly.
"Alright there?"
Kaen looked up to see Conrad leaning forward in front of him, a concerned look on his face.
"... I'm…I'm fine" he muttered, before a wave of nausea hit him and he put his hand over his mouth, stifling it barely.
"Let's get you outside buddy, looks like you need some fresh air"
Kaen nodded, compliant. He heard Conrad tell the others to slow down and wait, as he also helped him up, and walked him out the door.
The moment they were in warm, late summer air, Kaen just sank to the ground, his head between his knees. The world was still spinning, though not as bad as before.
He could feel his hair sticking to his forehead and neck with sweat. The light workout shirt did the same and stuck to his back. The sensation of it made him want to curl up and cry.
Conrad was back next to him after an endless minute, "Brought you some water and orange juice" he said, placing two bottles next to Kaen. "You need some sugar, and hydration"
"Uh… thanks…"
"Are you sure we don't need to go to the infirmary?"
Kaen shook his head.
Honestly, he didn't want to end up in the infirmary after the very first training.
"No it's… it's just…" he murmured, rubbing his face, "Just got a bit overwhelmed…"
"Do you want to sit this one out?" Conrad asked and sat next to Kaen, "You look a bit out of form compared to others, maybe it was a bit heavy"
"It's okay" Kaen argued. "Just… didn't sleep good at night"
He couldn't afford Conrad to consider him weak. No excuses… he could be like Reyna and Veir… they were the same age after all…
"Sure"
Conrad sighed. He didn't sound convinced, "But you need to tell me if something is hard or easy for you. That is the whole reason you're divided into small teams. So we can observe you better and adjust"
"I'm fine"
He pushed himself up from the ground, sipped some of the orange juice Conrad got him. (Honestly, their leader seemed a lot nicer than he expected)
"Thank you" he said, now the dizziness was fading a little, with the help of fresh air. Kaen didn't want to go back to the atmosphere of the gym, but he had no choice.
If he was out of form, it just meant he had to work more and catch up with his teammates after all. Physical training worked like that.
He ignored the throbbing in his temples, and walked back inside with Conrad.
Taglist: @irathgo @myfriendcallsmeasickwoman19 @callaeidae3 @kurochan @girl-of-the-sea-and-stars @nkwashere14 @whither-wander-whump
(I'm honestly not sure if this is all or I'm mistaking URLs, since I'm not home right now and my taglist is on my notebook, I hope I didn't bother anyone out of nothing 😬)