Juncture 3.9

After my mission was completed, life went back to normal. Or, at least what had passed for normal ever since I had arrived at the OST. I got back on my daily training regimen, began sparring with Avice again, and I went back into otherwise almost total seclusion.

Don’t get me wrong, I still saw Derry occasionally over the next couple of weeks, and I talked to Siegfried once in a while – I even exchanged cold stares with Hans a few times, but I didn’t get to meaningfully spend time with any of them. Most of my day was spent wordlessly, breathlessly trying to not let Avice beat the crap out of me, or watching movies in my room.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t feel lonely per se. At least, not at the beginning. The seclusion was nice. Having a room to myself was nice. Not getting bothered or woken up in the middle of the night was nice. But I began to want to hang out with people, to just sit and relax and talk to friends.

I wasn’t going to get that here. Derry kept her distance, Siegfried was in charge of me, and from what I could tell, neither Avice nor Hans had any noticeable emotions. They were all hard to relate to. Plus I hadn’t seen Jake since we talked that night. From what I could tell, he was the closest in age to myself that I’d met.

I missed my friends from school, as distant as they felt when I was actually there. I wanted to sit next to Josie and let her doodle all over my hand. I wanted to mock Jock for his accent. Hell, I’d even hang out with Simon at this point, I was that bored.

Luckily, those types of thoughts only plagued me at night. I was too busy during the day to worry about loneliness or friendship. Avice’s training schedule kept me busy. Every time part of it got easier, she would make it more difficult to keep me struggling. I would be able to breathe after doing a set of push-ups, and she would add another mile to my runs. I wouldn’t have stitches in my side after running, and she wouldn’t hold back while fighting.

It was when I was alone in my room watching a movie, or in the cafeteria eating that I felt lonely. I threw myself into my training more so than ever. I started studying the material I was taught, even outside of the room with the monitor. The maneuvers and tactics used in the wars started to make sense. The politics I was learning; the rights of succession, the coups, the holy wars, all began to crystallize in my head.

When I managed to beat Avice in a spar I knew that I needed something else to do. She was clearly out of it that day, and I was trying my hardest, but even with that, there was no way that I should have been able to land a hit on her.

I remember it really well. We were fighting barefoot on the soft grass. Neither of us had weapons, and we were both tired from the day’s exercise. Avice swung at my left shoulder, and I ducked down to dodge, bringing my right arm up toward her chin in an uppercut. She danced back, light on her feet, and dropped into a sweep with her left leg. I jumped over it, just barely too slow.

She brought me down, hard. I turned my fall into a roll as best I could, and Avice managed to get back on her feet. I saw an opportunity – when I landed on my back I pushed my body up with my arms, flipping onto my stomach and sending my legs in flying arcs at Avice. One connected to her arm, the other hit her leg. When my legs connected to the ground I pushed down and used my body’s momentum to get back onto my feet.

After I recovered I saw Avice on the ground. She was getting up, slower than normal. I grabbed for her arm – missed. Grabbed again for her other arm, got it and twisted it back. She fell back onto the ground and struggled. Finally, after I held her down for what seemed like an eternity, she tapped the ground. Once, twice, and I let go.

She started to pull herself up with her arms, then snapped her legs apart, pushing my legs into a split. She hooked her feet around the back of my outstretched legs and snapped her legs forward, bringing me down onto my butt. I landed hard.

She stood up, scowling, her brow furrowed.

“You’re done for today.” She said. Before I could answer, or even stand, she stalked away. I got up painfully, and left the fields. I had a whole day all to myself. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but then an idea formed.

I walked in the direction of Major General Siegfried’s office. When I got there, I knocked on the door. Hans was there, so I asked him if Siegfried would be by anytime soon. Hans said that he should be back in about two minutes, so I could wait there.

Once Major General Siegfried got back, I asked him my question. He mulled it over and nodded. He said I would have to get the clothes I had when I arrived, but that shouldn’t be too difficult to do, so yes, I could. He then said to meet him back in his office in one hour to depart.

I went back to my room, excited. I decided I would take a quick shower before I left. I jumped in, finished in record time, and got back out. Sure enough, my grungy clothes from the day I had gotten stuck in the time loop were on my bed. I got dressed and walked back to Major General Siegfried’s office.

I was going to go back home.