Elias was now done with the initiation rounds. All 5 of his battles were completed and he had won the last one so he wasn’t being expelled. All of his battles took place in the span of one week. Everyone else either still had their 2nd round to fight or had just finished their 2nd. It would be another week and a half before everyone else would catch up. Elias was going to do two things over this time. One he would be spending a lot more time with Becca. Second he would start learning and practicing another sword form. Form 3. Elias figured that he would rely on Form 7 when he was actually in close combat and use Form 3 to deflect and block any ranged attacks while closing the distance. He hoped that this would get him through some of the preliminary rounds. He wasn’t exactly expecting to get into the championship rounds.

Elias was using a rapid fire baseball machine to help him train his Form 3. He wasn’t able to block any of them. He held his sword in a reverse grip. Leaning forward with his left arm out in front of him and his right arm back pointing the sword towards his left shoulder. A ball went flying towards him and he swung his sword to block it. He missed. The ball flew forward and it him on the forehead with a force strong enough to knock him onto the ground.

He heard a soft giggle behind him and smiled. He got up and set his sword on the bench next to Becca and took a seat next to her. She leaned against him with a giddy smile. “I need to find a sharpening stone for that thing. It’s starting to get really dull on the edges.” Elias breathed.

“I think you need a new one entirely. One with some really cool features in it. It’s just a normal sword, there’s nothing special about it at all.” Becca responded.

“That is true. That’s the sword the school gave me. Not that they didn’t have anything else of course. All of their weapon handouts are very mundane and they only let you choose one. You have to make or purchase one on your own.”

“Do you have a job to make some sort of money?”

“No. I haven’t applied for one. Figured I’d be too busy with school to work.”

“You know SDA has plenty of partnerships with companies that understand the students schedule.”

“Really? I did not know that.”

“Yea! So I’m sure it won’t be a problem to set one up!”

“Are you going to get a job too then?”

“I figured it would be better to wait until after I was done with my Initiation Rounds.”

“So... any suggestions where I should work?”

“Uhhh... the supermarket?” Becca shrugged her shoulders with her response.

“Well it’s that or a restaurant.”

“Delivery guy?”

“No, I don’t really want to end up delivering to a house that had paid my family to have their “fun” with me.”

“Oh... right. Sorry I didn’t even consider that as a possi-“

“It’s ok. You’re just trying to help.” Elias smiled at her and kissed her on the forehead. “Now today’s Saturday so what do you say we head to town and just hang out?”

“So it’s a date then?”

“I guess it is.”

“I’d love to Elias.” The two went to their room to put Elias’ sword away and told Aaron where they would be if anyone needed them and left towards town.

Elias and Becca began walking towards a hot dog stand. “I... I don’t have money.” Elias stopped and began looking at the ground.

“So how do you get lunch at the school?”

“The school requires that all students eat and charge the parents regardless of what the parents want to pay. But my parents are so filthy rich that the food bill isn’t even worth noting. But they don’t give me money to hang out or anything. Not that they would really let me anyway.” His eyes quickly became empty again.

“Hey don’t worry.” Becca smiled noticing his eyes. “I’ll take care of you. I can pay for both of us.”

A little life returned to his eyes as he lifted his head and smiled back. “You do more for me than you need to.”

She playfully poked his head. “And I am going to keep doing it too!” At that they walked to the hot dog stand and ordered their food. They sat down on a bench to eat and took a stroll in the park when they were done.

“Can I pry a little more into your childhood?” She asked carefully.

“You know all of the dark stuff I think so go for it.”

“Since you weren’t allowed outside or even have any friends and you were ignored by everyone else. What did you do to entertain yourself? Watch tv? Play games? I’m really curious.”

“Hiding.”

“Hiding?”

“Yes. Hiding. I didn’t want to be found by anyone in my family or anyone associated with them. Being seen wandering in the halls would result in two outcomes. They would ignore me or beat me. But when they decided they needed to make some extra cash off of me they would just have my sister locate my position with her mind. They would find me and beat me for hiding. Then I would be sold off to someone for some “fun” and then sent back.” Elias didn’t really show any emotions when saying all of this. Just a blank stare at the scenery around him.

“Is there a way to bring justice onto your family?”

“My family has influence in all of the courts and according to the government I don’t even exist.”

“But you can’t be enrolled in a school without a government record.”

“Any law can be broken with enough money.”

“There must be someway for them to get what they deserve.”

“I appreciate the thought Becca. Really. But I don’t want you to get involved with my family. I’m keeping you a secret from them for your safety. You’re already in enough danger by being my girlfriend. I don’t want you in anymore danger than that.”

“Ok. Thanks for thinking of my safety Elias.” She grabbed his hand and interlaced their fingers. “So does that mean you’ve never seen a movie before?” She began to get a huge smile on her face.

“Only parts of a movie with really bad views and uncomfortable positions.” Her smile just became even bigger and she began to pull him in a different direction.

“Gah! Where are we going?” Elias called out as he was violently pulled another direction.

“We’re going to the movies!” Becca beamed getting excited. She was about to be the first person to watch a movie with Elias.

“W-wait what?! Hold on Becca I don’t thi-“

“Nope! You’re not changing my mind on this one.” She continued to drag Elias into a nearby theater. She payed both of the tickets and the popcorn. Then forced Elias into the room and into a seat. All of this with a giant smile plastered onto her face.

The movie began to play after a few minutes. Becca watched Elias for a reaction. His eyes were glued to the screen and wide. Like he had never seen what a movie even was. Becca smiled at this and leaned against him while reaching for his hand. Elias hesitantly leaned on her and accepted her hand. “This... this is what a date felt like... This is what having a girlfriend is like... I like it.” Elias thought in his head. The two continued to watch the movie. Elias was enjoying everything about the two hours. He was watching a movie with comfortable seating and a good view for the first time in his life. But the best part of it was the snuggled up form next to him.

The moment had to end at some point and that it did. Elias and Becca stood up and left the theater. Becca clung to Elias’ side like he was her life support.

“Thank you Becca... that was a really nice thing to experience.”

“Someone has to let you experience the things you missed when growing up.” Becca smiled at him. They locked eyes for a moment. They didn’t say anything to each other nor see a reason to. Getting lost in each other’s eyes was good enough.

“We should head back to the school now.” Becca said as she closed the distance between them and gave him a tight hug.

“Yea... I guess we should. Elias returned her tight hug and they continued hand in hand towards the school until they passed a dark alleyway.

A figure peaked out and looked directly at Elias. “Hey you! You’re Elias right?”

Almost immediately Elias became soulless. “Who’s asking?”

“Hey now... calm down! I don’t want any trouble. Look you need to follow me. Someone has been looking for you and I’m taking you to them.”

“Why should I follow?”

“Trust me on this... you will regret it if you won’t.”

“Elias I don’t trust him. We should keep going.” Becca warned.

“Oh don’t listen to your girly friend! I promise you everything is fine and no harm will come to you.”

“Becca... you go on ahead. I’ll catch up later ok?”

“Eli-“

“Becca please. If this has something to do with my family... I couldn’t forgive myself if-“

Becca put her finger on his lips and nodded in understanding. “Ok. Be safe please.”

“I will.” Elias began to follow the mysterious man. Becca silently followed as well but kept her hands heated in case things got dicey. She was glad Elias was concerned for her safety. But she was concerned for his safety too.

The alleyway went into twists and turns until it finally came to a dead end. The man stopped and lifted a trash can lid 4 times and then lightly kicked it. The wall opened up revealing a secret passage. Becca barely slipped in behind before the wall closed up. The passage went deep and was poorly lit. Until they entered a giant bright room. There was a woman standing at a work bench and she was using a blow torch.

“Miranda... I found him!”

The woman, who Elias and Becca assumed was Miranda, turned around and lifted her welding mask up. Upon seeing Elias her face grew into instant shock. Elias’ eyes widened as he recognized her.

“Elias?” She said surprised.

“M-mom?”