Chapter 4: A Hand in the Dark
A Hand in the Dark
Frozen in place, Selena remained when others moved on.
Over one shoulder fell a curtain of silver-white hair. Her blue eyes, puffy from tears, held no light.
She didn’t understand.
𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
Why her?
Why couldn’t any of the department leaders see something worth picking in her? What made her seem off to every one of them?
Fingers clenched, turning knuckles pale. Like a sudden strike across the face, truth landed.
Broken was the hope of growing powerful. Gone now.
She had no followers. Just the path ahead - years spent working at the school. Hauling buckets each morning. Swinging axes through frost-heavy logs. Scrubbing floors under dim lanterns. Perhaps, after seasons of silence, something like training could come... assuming she made it that far.
If nobody picked her...
Her skill level turned out to be shockingly low.
A life such as that seemed barely within reach.
Cold air settled in the space where warmth had been.
When sadness started to spread through her ribs -
A shape in white came to a halt in front of her.
Stillness hangs in the air. A slow breath after darkness begins to fade. Light creeps forward, soft and low.
Selena’s heart jolted.
Her head began to lift, inch by inch. Then came a pause, just before the chin tilted up.
A quiet figure stepped forward - the division’s youngest leader, someone few had heard speak before. Long strands of dark hair fell past his shoulders. His eyes, a soft violet hue, held something calm yet impossible to pin down.
Leon.
Quietly, his words arrived - calm, even. A hush carried each syllable forward.
"Are you willing to take me as your teacher?"
Lightning struck - suddenly, there was hope.
"I am willing. Student Selena greets Teacher..."
Knees touched the ground before her head dipped low, a pause too long might draw attention.
There, where shame hung thick in the air, it was only because of Leon that she didn’t lose herself completely. One fragile string still tied her to pride - a single exit still unsealed.
Should she choose to follow him, opportunity waited. A path opened only if she stepped onto it beside him.
Fury found its chance now. It could happen.
Though just a boy... though unaware of his strength... she still believed
Even though he led a division, someone who taught at Celestis Academy saw him clearly. He stayed in charge, yet known first for teaching.
Right here, right then? Not later.
Head tilted slightly, Leon looked down.
"Well. Come with me."
Off he went, stepping away from the main hall.
Running close behind, breath tight in her chest, Selena froze as a sudden laugh - cold and sharp - snapped through the air just steps away.
Shera’s voice.
"Haha. A trashy teacher took in a trashy student. What a powerful alliance. As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. It’s a pity the thousand-year legacy of the Amethyst Summit Division will be ruined in the hands of these two mediocrities."
The words echoed.
A heartbeat stopped in her chest.
A weight pressed into her ribs, thick with not knowing. Heat built beneath that, slow and quiet.
Footsteps falling heavy on the path, Leon moved forward, silent, though the unrest at his back pressed close. Quiet tension followed each stride.
He paused then. Later on, silence took over.
Selena almost walked right into his path. He stood still, just inches away.
"Teacher?"
Out came the word, without thinking.
A quiet look passed over his face as Leon shifted position. She met his gaze without speaking.
"You heard what they said just now. What do you think?"
A pause caught her, air jagged between ribs, pain curling into something sharper. Not surrender. A quiet fire sparked where ache had pressed too long.
Who gains by dragging their name through mud? Mocking without thought - what’s behind that ease?
It wasn’t clear to her just how strong Leon could be. Still, one thing sat firm in her mind:
She stood alone, though everyone else walked away
He didn’t.
Her voice steadied.
"Teacher, I don’t know any great principles. But I know one thing. A teacher for a day is like a father for life."
A quiet inhale filled her lungs, pressure building behind her eyes. The air caught in her chest, weight pressing down from within.
"When no one wanted me... you gave me hope. I will use my entire life to protect Teacher’s reputation. I will never shame Teacher - even if I am consigned to eternal damnation."
Fragments of light broke the heavy gray. A quiet strength began where sorrow had settled.
"Teacher, don’t worry. I will work hard. One day, I will prove to them that Teacher is not mediocre. And I am not trash."
Fists formed slowly, her fingers tightening, shaking yet steady.
A quiet weight lifted in Leon as he looked at her.
Yes.
Mistakes weren’t what shaped his path.
Down the hallway, maybe a stand was possible for those skilled - yet given how things sit now, defeat waits regardless.
From the group that remained, his pick came. He looked at faces held back by chance or choice, then settled on one.
A person picked when everything had fallen apart... held thanks as if it were metal forged in fire.
Everything she’d hand over without a second thought.
He nodded lightly.
"Very good. Let’s go."
Words stopped there.
A shimmer ran along the blade as it materialized from his wrist movement. The sword sat there, quietly pulsing.
Hand in his, Leon walked beside Selena.
Footsteps lifted into open air when the blade surged upward, slicing through cloud cover on a path aimed at the far jagged ridges of the Amethyst Summit Division.
Fate held tight to start and finish - yet what unfolded inside slipped free without warning. Quiet shifts rewrote the middle while eyes stayed fixed on edges.
Each one gets their share. What matters goes to both.