There was a long, heavy silence. All of a sudden Aria realized that they were alone in the Arena, the rest of the Institute’s student body having finally cleared out. Her voice had carried, echoing back at her slightly in the vast emptiness of the covered stadium, and the quiet that followed extended so long she started to get nervous again.
Then, finally, Ward exhaled in a resigned sort of way.
“I didn’t lie to you,” he grumbled, sitting back in his own seat and crossing his arms to mirror her. “And I haven’t lied to anyone. Well… Maybe some half-truths here and there. I just gave them a plausible reason, and let them run with it.”
“You’re good at the bait-and-switch,” Aria acknowledged with a nod. “I’ve experienced it for myself.”
Ward managed half a smirk at that. “Maybe. Still… Can’t say I’m all that surprised some people are watching me as closely as you claim. It’s not like I can hide my CAD-Rank.”
“Or your evolutions,” Aria added with a snort. “Twice. Twice in the first two months of term. I’m half-expecting to see another change any afternoon, now.”
Silence answered her.
“Wait. Seriously?!” Aria demanded, leaning towards him across the cushion next to her. “I was just kidding!”
Ward shrugged again. “My first change was six ranks after assignment. My second was three after that, at E7. I’m due to hit D0 any day, now. Won’t be surprised if it’s sooner than later.”
Aria gaped at him. She supposed she shouldn’t have been that taken aback—she’d already been aware of everything he’d just said, after all—but still… To hear the confirmation of it from Ward’s own mouth…
“It’s the top rankers, isn’t it?”
His question cut across her bewilderment.
“What?”
Ward wasn’t looking at her again, frowning at the ground between his knees. “The ones who are keeping an eye on me. It’s the top rankers?”
“Oh,” Aria caught up. “The ones I’m aware of, yeah, though you shouldn’t limit watching out just for them. There’s a lot in the higher levels that are eyeing the first year bracket at Sectionals. I’ll bet most of them are keeping tabs on you.”
The boy nodded slowly, still staring at the marble. “I guess if they do the math, I would be some kind of threat. Guess that explains Kay’s sudden interest in me… Dammit.” He grimaced. “This is exactly what she warned me about.”
It was Aria’s turn to frown again. “Who did? Kay Sandree?”
Ward opened his mouth to answer, then shut it again. “No. It’s not important. Just someone who’s keeping track of me as closely as the rest of you lot, I think.”
“Are they the one helping you grow so fast?”
Ward blinked at that, then looked around at her. “Helping me?” Something seemed to click for him. “Is that what people think is going on? That I’m getting outside help?”
It was an unsettling response, and Aria watched the boy much more carefully as she answered. “I couldn’t tell you what anyone else is thinking. It’s not like I rub shoulders with a lot of our classmates. But if you’d asked me ten seconds ago what I thought was going on with your CAD, I would have said you have an impressive Growth spec, and someone powerful willing to help you take advantage of it.”
Ward’s face darkened as he registered his slip up. “And now?” he asked her. “What if I asked you what you thought is going on now?”
“I’d say your Growth spec is probably more than impressive, and you just have the temperament to squeeze every ounce of value out of it.”
They stared at each other for a long moment, Ward’s grey eyes meeting her green like slate scraping against emerald. She could tell he was sizing her up, trying to read her expression, but Aria made sure not to let so much as a hint of her internal amazement shine through, much less her suspicious confusion.
He was the first to speak again.
“Let’s say you’re right. Theoretically. What of it?”
Aria opened her mouth to answer, but no words came out. She tried a second time, and again only silence offered itself to her.
This was the hard part. This was the point in the conversation she had been dreading.
“Laurent.”
Ward said her name like a warning, his eyes narrowing a little, and she knew then he wasn’t about to let the subject go. Why would he? She had been the one to finally break her distant study of him after a month. His being called out by John Markus that morning had done the trick, had given her the courage, but it was she who had broached the topic.
What of it? Ward had asked.
And yet the words just wouldn’t come.
After another 5 seconds of tense silence, Ward grunted, then pushed himself to his feet.
“If all you wanted was a confirmation of your suspicions, I could have saved you the time. I’m not gonna pretend those watching my rank closely enough won’t know something’s going on, but I’m also not about to put a target on my back by explaining to you why the admissions board let me into Galens. Not even Catcher knows that.”
“But Arada does?”
The question eked out unbidden, and Aria wished she could have snatched it back, feeling the blood creep once more into her cheeks.
This time, though, she didn’t hide her face.
Ward frowned down at her. “Viv and I have known each other since we were fourteen. We got our CADs together. So yeah. She knows.”
Aria nodded, still struggling to form the question she wanted to pose. It was important. So important. Ward was obviously on edge about being marked by the other top rankers for the speed at which he was catching up to the class, but he didn’t seem to have registered yet that there was more than one way in which he could be targeted.
First. She had to be the first, or at least find a way to put herself at the front of the line.
“Listen, if you got what you wanted out of me, I’m gonna go. Viv and Catcher are waiting for me to—”
“Wait!”
As the boy turned away from her—offering nothing more than a lifted hand in farewell and taking a step towards the stairs—need outweighed pride. The earnestness in her exclamation must have come through, because Ward looked over his shoulder at her, and Aria found herself getting to her feet to face him.
“Look…” she started, hands in fists by her sides as she fought to get the words out. “I… I don’t have a lot of friends…”
Ward watched her blankly for a moment, clearly expecting more. When nothing else came, he cracked an uncomfortable grin. “Yeah… I kinda noticed that. You’re a little…” He hesitated.
“Unapproachable?” Aria finished for him, feeling a lump build in her throat. “Yeah. I know. I don’t mean to be. Everyone in our class just… doesn’t seem keen to try and talk to me.”
The grin fell into a frown, and Ward turned to look at her head on. Before he could say anything, though, Aria continued.
“I know I should try more but… I have a hard time feeling like I need to get closer people who shrink away from me whenever I get too close. Don’t get me wrong,” she brought up a fist to look at it, “I’m proud of my rank. I’m proud of my specs. But how would you feel if all anyone ever seemed to want to do was either avoid you or crush you on the field?”
“Kinda shitty,” Ward answered promptly. “I get that… Actually, I kinda got that impression the first time I saw you, when Captain Dent put you on display in front of everyone at the Commencement Ceremony.”
It was like a cool breeze had suddenly churned itself into being within the bright confines of the Arena, sweeping over the stands to set Aria’s skin atingle. She stared at the short boy, momentarily at a loss for words, recalling the exact moment he was describing. She remembered how she’d felt, standing in front of everyone like some prize fighter put to auction, remembered the jealousy she’d harbored for the students she could see exchanging whispers and quiet laughter as Val
era Dent had spoken at her side. It had been her responsibility—her duty, rather—to hold herself tall and proud before her class and show them what could be, what should be. Still, it had made her feel like a mannequin, dressed in the black-and-gold of the ISCM, envious of the living souls ogling her from their seats.
And here was someone who had seen right through all that…
“I…” she started, finding it hard to speak again. “I… Yeah…” It was all she could manage, but Ward seemed to be picking up on her struggles now.
“Honestly… It was one of the reasons I was so eager to fight you,” he said with a sigh, reaching up to pull his cap off and run a hand through his white hair as he looked away from her, like the admission was a little embarrassing. “I remember thinking it must have felt kinda cheap to be put on a pedestal like that. I wanted to see what you could do.” He snorted at the ground. “Earned me a spear in the gut for my trouble.”
“It was fun.”
Again the words slipped out, but this time Aria wouldn’t have taken them back even if she could. As Ward looked up at her in surprise, she pressed on.
“It was fun,” she repeated. “That was the first time—the only time, actually—I’ve had fun in a real match. I know it sounds stupid, but that was… It was important to me. It’s the reason I started watching you in the first place.” This confession she thought might chagrin her later, in the solitude of her room, but in the moment she only kept on, latching to the momentum behind her words. “All summer all I’d done was train and sleep and train and sleep. I was looking forward to the camp. I was so looking forward to it. But when I got there…”
“The other top rankers weren’t keen on making nice,” Ward said with a nod. “I’ve been getting that impression, yeah.”
“Exactly. And then term started, and Commencement happened… I admit I wasn’t thrilled when the captain matched us up at first, but by the end of our fight…” Aria trailed off for a second before finding her courage again. “It’s not even that I almost lost to you. I mean that’s a part of it, but… The moment you threw that damn hat.” A smile tugged at one corner of her lip. “I don’t know… I guess I kinda realized you weren’t on that field with me because you wanted to beat me—well, not only because you wanted to beat me.” She corrected herself as Ward opened his mouth to interject. “I felt like you wanted more than that. Or something different. Does that make sense?”
“Not even a little bit,” Ward said with a light laugh.
Aria exhaled in frustration. “Ugh… Well it’s not like I’ve figured it out for myself completely, so I guess that’s hardly surprising. But listen…” She took a steadying breath, and finally offered the most important of the questions she had come to ask. “Could we fight again, sometime? It doesn’t have to be anytime soon, but—”
“Hell yeah!”
His eager answer cut off what was likely to have been a list of rambling excuses in case he didn’t want to, and Aria gaped at him. She’d expected to have to convince him, had expected the difference in their ability to have translated into anything but enthusiasm. She was a C-Ranked User, and he hadn’t even made D yet. For her to be challenging him, even informally… If anything, anyone who caught wind of it would have just called her a bully.
And yet there Reidon Ward stood across from here, grinning like a madman with an equally manic glint in his eyes, having just fervently agreed to face her on the field again.
“… Really?” she asked, and she hoped to the heavens the question didn’t come out as disbelieving as it sounded to her own ears.
“Absolutely!” Ward practically yelled back, his voice almost shivering with excitement. “Is that what you wanted to ask me?! You should have just come out with it! I’ll take you on anytime you want! Right now, even!” He looked down at the field, his face alight with anticipation. “Maybe we can even use the main floor to—!” He stopped himself, some of his excitement draining away. “Oh. Damn.”
“What?” Aria squeaked, afraid he had changed his mind. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t right now,” Ward grumbled, eyes lifting to the Arena’s far exit. “I just told Viv and Catcher I’d meet them at the East Center to train.”
“Oh,” Aria made sure to sound disappointed, but in truth she was just relieved he wasn’t bailing on his assurance. “No problem. We can always have a match another day.” She hesitated, but couldn’t to stop herself from asking. “Do you… Do you and Arada train a lot?”
“Every day.” Ward nodded absently, his mind still obviously on his dissatisfaction with the fact that the two of them couldn’t have it out there and then. “Whenever we can.”
“Oh…” Aria couldn’t decide if she was more impressed or alarmed. “Well… I guess that’s one way to spend time together…”
Ward appeared about to agree with her again, but stopped, then slowly looked at her, his expression bewildered.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh…” Curse her pale complexion and easy embarrassment. “I mean… It’s got to be hard to find time, right? For a couple to get to see each here at school must be… be…”
She trailed off, because even as the words had left her lips the look on Ward’s face flashed a myriad of emotions. Confusion turned to realization, realization to horror.
Then horror to hilarity.
“HA!” he howled, covering his mouth with the back of one hand to try to stem the laughter that followed this. His amusement was as confusing at is was awkward for Aria, and she had to shout to get him to stop.
“What?! What’s so funny?!”
It took a moment for Ward’s apparent delight to subside enough for him to look at her straight, and when his hand fell from his face he was smiling so wide he looked like his cheeks were hurting.
“Do me a favor: don’t ever let Viv hear you thought we were dating, okay?”
Aria blinked, surprised. “You’re… not?”
“No,” Ward almost started laughing again, but managed to control himself. “Definitely not. She’s like an overprotective sister, and I am so not her typical type, in more ways than one. Oh.” He seemed to shiver. “I got a cold chill just thinking about it. No way.” He cocked his head at Aria. “What gave off that impression, though? I don’t think we’ve done anything that would make people thing we’re going out?”
“Uh…” Aria squinted at him, not sure if he was serious. “Are you joking?”
His utterly blank face spelled out very much that he was not joking.
“Okay… You always sit in class together. You always eat together. You walk everywhere together. You just told me you two train together every night. You change together in the locker room—that’s not suspicious at all. I heard you somehow ended up as roommates. You two are never far from—”
“Okay, okay!” Ward interrupted her in alarm, throwing his hands up and waving them frantically to get her to stop. “Man… When you phrase it like that you make me feel like we are dating…”
“Uh… Yeah. That’s kind of my point.”
Ward nodded, then snorted. “All right. I admit to fueling the confusion, then. But no. Definitely not dating. We’ve just known each other forever, and she would get seriously more grossed out that I am if you suggested otherwise to her. Also,” he cocked an eyebrow at Aria and crossed his arms again, “you’ve been conveniently leaving out the fact that I said I train with Viv and Catcher every day. We also eat together most of the time. So unless you think all of this—” he gestured to his short frame with one scarred hand “—is sexy enough to be seducing two very good-looking examples of opposite sexes at the same time, you really should reconsider your theory.”
Aria gave herself a moment to clear those images out of her head before trying to navigate the conversation to more manageable waters.
“All of you train together? When?”
“During evening leisure hours.”
Aria frowned. �
�What about studying?”
Ward shrugged. “We get it done. Mostly on Sundays.”
“That’s it?” Aria demanded in disbelief. When the boy nodded slowly—like he didn’t understand why she sounded so confused by the concept—she considered finding something to throw at him. “No way. There’s no way.”
“I make a pretty mean tutor,” Ward answered her incredulity with a chuckle.
Aria could only shake her head, half in disgust, half in disbelief. “Seriously, what are you?”
“Viv would tell you I’m an overdeveloped six-year-old. Catcher would be nicer. He’d probably just call me ‘still growing’, or something.”
Aria couldn’t help it, and she sniggered. “They sound fun.”
“They are fun,” Ward assured her with a smile. Then he paused, taking her in more intently all of a sudden, as though struck by a thought.
“What?” she asked him, abruptly nervous again.
He hesitated a moment more, but when he spoke Aria felt a small flame of excitement leap into being in her chest.
“Well… About East Center… Want to join?”
CHAPTER 25
“… if you make it, remember that good friends can be hard to find in the world you’re about to share.”
- Major Albert Connelly
“Okay. So I’m going to summarize, and you’re just gonna stand there and tell me if I have this all straight or not. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Great. So Aria-friggin-Laurent drags you off after the special assembly, and ends up admitting that she has, indeed, been basically stalking you?”
“That’s a pretty extreme exaggera—”
“Yes or no answers only, Rei.”
“… Yes. But that’s still an exaggeration!”
“Fine. Regardless: she then asks you—you, an as-of-yet E-Ranked CAD-User—if you could have a match.”
“Well I’m basically a D0 at this—”
“Dude. For being so smart, you’re really bad at following directions.”
Iron Prince: A Progression Sci-Fi Epic (Warformed: Stormweaver Book 1) Page 39