Tobias' POV
The nurse didn't even flinch when she saw us.
"Fractured ribs. Dislocated shoulder. Second degree burns. Torn ligaments… mild concussion. Hmm."
She clicked her tongue, then looked up with the warm smile of someone who saw this every day.
"You're all cleared to train," she said. "But keep it reasonable. No near-death scenes, please."
Then she stepped forward and tapped each of us on the forehead. It might have just been me, but her finger seemed to linger on mine.
A cool rush pulsed through my skull, down my spine, then into my chest. Fatigue vanished. Just like that. I blinked, stunned.
I glanced at the others. Joints relocated. Bruises vanished. Burns healed.
"What ability can do something like that, with a casual touch?" I asked.
"Trade secret," she said, smiling. "Now go rest before someone actually dies."
She hadn't asked for details. Didn't scan, didn't run diagnostics. Just a touch, and somehow she knew what was wrong—and fixed it.
Only Milo and Erik had taken real damage, but she still checked all of us. She looked way too young to be working in Aegis academy. But one touch, and I could see why.
As we stepped out of the clinic, I let my eyes drift across the group.
Milo walked with a limp. Erik stayed quiet, his expression unreadable.
My gaze lingered on him.
His ability to completely restrain someone with monstrous strength like Raika. It was… unnerving. To make it worse, it was still active after he passed out.
Abilities usually required consciousness. Focus. Intent.
So how did his keep going?
I let out a deep sigh. I guess you can only learn so much from textbooks.
"You know that was insane, right?" William muttered to Milo. "We're supposed to train, not have death battles."
Raika turned. "You want to get into Aegis, with that determination?"
Her voice wasn't loud. But it cut.
William stiffened. "What's the point of training if it breaks us worse than the enemy ever could? Physically, mentally?"
"So you'd rather be fragile? Fall apart the first time you're hit for real?" Raika said, folding her arms. "This isn't a playground. If you want comfort, transfer out."
William scoffed. "Easy for you to say. You don't know what it's like to be on the other end of that beatdown."
"No, I don't," she replied. "Because I train harder than you can imagine, to always be on the giving end."
"Calm down," Zoey said gently. "We're all just tired."
No one listened.
"We're supposed to lift each other up, not tear ourselves down," William snapped. "We're supposed to be a team."
"It's not that serious," Milo added, still holding his side.
Still ignored.
"Then act like it," Raika said. "That includes not whining."
"Why don't we all take a deep breath?" Liam said.
His voice wasn't loud. But it carried.
"We can't be fighting now. The test starts in less than fifteen hours."
He looked at Milo. "We took it too far. Maybe. But it wasn't personal. We had to push. We had to prepare."
He faced the group. "Better to bleed now than be blindsided tomorrow."
We walked in silence.
The academy grounds stretched out around us—sleek hallways with digital displays, soft neon tracing the ceiling. The Training rooms were in the eastern sector, near the Vanguard Field. Past the windows, the night sky shimmered with quiet stars.
The rest room sat tucked at the end of a hallway. Vending machines lined the back wall. A soft hum from the vents filled the silence beneath the clear roof. On the far side, a mural of past Vanguard squads stared down at us in grayscale.
We got drinks. Sat.
It was Zoey who broke the silence.
"Why'd you all apply to Aegis?"
Raika: "There's someone I look up to. I just want to stand where they stood."
Liam: "Vanguard Division. Sentinels might give safety. But the vanguard? They give us hope."
Milo: "Fame. Fortune. Free food. I don't see a reason not to join."
Erik: "Didn't really plan on applying. I just couldn't let Milo go alone."
William: "I want to make a difference. I want my name to matter."
Zoey: "To change the system. From the inside."
They looked at me.
I shrugged. "I want to protect people who can't fight back."
They stared. I couldn't blame them. I was just spouting bullshit.
Then Milo laughed. "You don't act like someone with dreams like that."
"How do I act?"
Raika smirked. "Do you really want us to answer?"
"It can't be that bad."
"It can," Erik said.
Liam stood up, dropped his voice an octave, and mimicked my blank expression. "Feelings are inefficient. I don't have trauma, I have tactical disadvantages."
The room cracked up. I let it happen. Even smiled, maybe.
We stayed like that for a while.
Talking. Laughing. Letting the walls down, just a little.
One by one, they fell asleep—Raika curled on the couch, Milo halfway off a chair, Zoey leaning on Erik's shoulder.
William stayed awake. At first.
But I slept last.
I sat by the window, arms crossed, staring at the stars.
My thoughts didn't come out loud. But if anybody saw me then, they would have known.
What if this was real? What if this feeling could stay?
But good things are like smoke.
You see it. You breathe it in. But try to hold it… and it disappears.