This is my Kingdom Come

With a groan, he finally pulled back away from the old punching bag, leaning over and resting his hands on his knees. His breathing was heavy and sweat dripped down from his forehead. As he clenched a hold of his sweat pants and relaxed the grip repeatedly, a sharp sting was felt over the graze of his knuckles where - he knew the skin would be wearing raw, even with the protection of his wraps and gloves.

Jason thought about throwing a few more punches, as he'd done everyday since school hours had ended (He'd been here so long, though, he'd forgotten how much time had passed), but exhaustion had gotten the best of him and he sat back on the floor, draining the last few drops of his water bottle, and eventually falling back with a sigh. His arms hurt, his legs, his stomach, his chest... his everything hurt, as he knew they would be. It was a pain he'd grown to love these past few months.

His golden eyes stared up at the roof, at nothing in particular, just the high reaching ceiling that only made him feel smaller. If he was completely honest, being shot hadn't phased him all that much. As far as he considered, after that mission they had all still survived and he was fine; still had that childish mentality that he couldn't be really be killed, or anyone else really close to him. Those things just didn't happen.

But they did happen. And he was badly wounded. And people did die. His father did, literally. And was only brought back by a miracle and sacrifice, although he was still bedridden, and the chance hanging over his head that he might never leave it - something might go horribly wrong. No one was really exempt from these terrible happenings, and that cruel reality scared the shit out of him.

Slowly, over the past time, he'd been coming more and more to the gymnasium; hitting the punching bag or the weights. His long, nimble body that was once thin and slightly pudgy was now hard with muscles. Although he couldn't claim to be ripped - yet - the definition was clear, and could probably go around helping people carry their fish tanks with little problem.

There was no one else around, as far as he knew, but he had grown to not really miss it all too much, or so he told himself. Friends seemed to come easily to him, and he loved to make people smile and laugh, and help new people around the campus; but all that was happening much less often. Even the people he'd thought of as his closest friends, Lotte and Kimply most of all (And a blur of a face who always seemed to escape his first thoughts), he hardly shared a passing glance with. His social agenda reached as far as family and small chit-chat in classes. Yeah, people came and went in the gym, but he usually paid no mind to them - and vice versa.

He sighed, shaking his head and wiping more of the sweat away with the back of his hand, he quickly came to terms with the fact that the cold, hard ground was far too comfortable to get up off of for the moment. Lest something or someone came to peak his interest, this was good.

She wasn't sure what she was doing here.

Evelyn's gaze swept the Gym and all of the equipment scattered around. The young girl had always stayed healthy. She had given up meat almost entirely and often walked around campus to stay in shape, but had never really exercised... well, heavily. It's not like she had any trouble with her health before, so in the past she usually stayed away from the machinery she was sure to mess up in some way.

The girl adjusted the towel draped around her shoulders and looked around, wondering how stupid she looked. She wore a white tank-top - which otherwise hadn't got much use - and red track pants that had been issued by her old middle school. Where to start? This was a bad idea. But what else could she do? She felt restless in her dorm, but always ended up in some awkward situation when she left outside. The girl had convinced herself that she needed something else to do with her time, besides sticking trees with knives or playing piano in that dusty old Studio.

She rubbed her bare arm uncomfortably. At least the place seemed empty. That was good, right?

Then somebody groaned.

Her heart skipped a beat. Had somebody been there the whole time? Suddenly curious, Evelyn ventured further into the room a few steps and peeked over an exercise bike. A boy on the ground, drenched in sweat, and... wait. She knew that face. Jason? Oh no. The girl slowly began to edge backwards, as if she'd stumbled upon a lion's den. Evelyn had entertained the notion that maybe she'd be able to survive the rest of her time at Beata without encountering him again and escape any venomous words he'd undoubtedly have for her.

"You really need to wait up. I'm not going to forget about you."

A blush rose to her cheeks as she tried to shut the memories away. Stupid. Stupidstupidstupidstupid --

Suddenly, pain shot through her foot as she felt her ankle hit something metal. A rattle rang out, shattering the silence that had pervaded the room, and Evelyn let out a loud hiss of pain as she fell onto the lifting bench she'd backed into. Idiot. she wanted to yell at herself as she hugged her injured leg to her chest. Dumb idiot. So much for trying to go out unnoticed.

Jace's head shot up in reaction to the sudden echo, though he couldn't exactly tell where it had come from.  He had thought he had saw someone, but he considered it might've been his mind playing tricks on him - like when you saw someone as a shadow moving in the corner of your eye. He had thought that it was nothing, probably his imagination, but the seethe of pain followed and his gut told him there was definitely someone there and he should check it out.

He pulled himself off of his feet and grabbed his own towel, throwing it on the top of his head and letting it rest on the back of his neck, walking over to the bikes. At first, he couldn't say that he honestly saw her, because he didn't want too; both in regards to her power and his own personal wishes. The last that they had been together didn't end well, to say the least. He wondered why she'd want to train in a place like this, but remembering the strengths in her kicks and punches, he supposed he could understand.

It wasn't that he particularly disliked her for what had happened, he supposed he had that coming, but it seemed afterwords that she had been avoiding him. Jason got the mentality that if she didn't want to see him that badly, then he wouldn't chase after her anymore. Maybe he'd be doing her a favor then.

"You really need to wait up. I'm not going to forget about you."

He had said that, hadn't he? A romantic notion more than anything else, which turned out to be in vain. Every memory that Jace had with this girl the past few months had been slowly slipping away. It wasn't that he forgot any of the times themselves, it was just her, like looking at an old picture and seeing one of the people fade away. You couldn't really remember who they were or what they looked like in detail, only vaguely what they did and what they had meant to you. And those were the days he could be bothered to try to think back on it.

As dearly as he had wished to not forget her back then, now - honestly, he couldn't even remember her name. Consequences of the distance.

"Hey," Jace called out quietly to the young woman curled up on the bench, "Are you alright?" He wondered if it was even worth trying to talk to her, or why he was trying it in the first place.

Evelyn didn't dare look up at him as he spoke. She clenched her eyes shut and ducked her head away, as if bracing for a punch. "I'm f-f-fine." she replied quietly, gently massaging her hurt ankle. Why did this have to happen? The girl always managed to get herself in the most awkward situations. I knew I shouldn't have come here. Now, doubtless, Evelyn have to deal with the consequences that she had been avoiding the last few months. Why'd I have to hit him?

The girl wondered that often whenever Jace came to mind. She had instantly regretted it when she saw him curled up on the floor, but when he grabbed and kissed her like that in the hallway, Evelyn had just reflexively kicked... and then elbowed... and kicked again... and then threw in another punch, for good measure. Maybe she had overreacted, just a little bit, but his movements had been so sudden and unexpected that she'd gotten confused and panicked.

She never did properly apologize. Evelyn simply accompanied the boy to the infirmary before quietly slipping away after realizing how bad she'd hurt him. But now he was here, and there was nowhere to go or hide. The Winter half-opened an eye to look up at him. He didn't look like the same thin and doughy Jace that would get beaten up by little girls, certainly.

Jason thought odd of her flinching, but nodded quietly anyways, leaning up against one of the machines and casting his glance aside. He didn't understand this girl. He thought he did, or that he could, but he didn't and now he wasn't so sure. As long as she said she was okay, though, he didn't suppose there was really anymore reason for him to hang around; Other than the obvious elephant in the room was making this entire meeting awkward and uncomfortable that could probably use addressing sooner or later.

Should he bother bringing it up, though? She could hardly look at him, he thought, so why on earth would she want to talk? In all honesty, though, he did want to apologize. He had tried to play the knight in shining armor to a girl he hadn't really known as much as he thought he did, overstepping a huge boundary in a pretty horrid moment. At first, he couldn't say he wasn't angry at her - even being a bit cruel in his thoughts, like how she was just crazy and not worth the trouble; but looking back on it, he sharply regretted his actions - and even more-so at himself of what followed. He'd lost a friend and probably made her feel worse than she already had, And then he forgot about her.

He couldn't look at her, even if he tried, and focused staring up at the roof again instead. "For what its worth," Jace muttered quietly, "I'm sorry for what happened."

As Jace glanced away and up at the ceiling, she cautiously uncurled from her odd position, sat upright on the lifting bench, and put her hands in her lap. Evelyn wasn't sure what else to do or say now in this whole awkward situation. She couldn't really leave now, could she? The girl nervously swung her feet and stared down at the floor, dreading whatever was coming.

The boy's apology just made her feel horrible, even though it was ten times better than the scathing words she'd been expecting. No, it's all my fault. she wanted to say. I shouldn't have done that - you were only trying to help. I'm sorry. I understand if you don't forgive me. Yet when she opened her mouth to speak, it all died in her throat. "I d-d... um... N-n-, mm... Pl-puh-ple..." Her tongue seemed to twist itself in a knot as she tried to form words, before she just gave up. "...I'm s-sorry too..." she said quietly, scarcely louder than a whisper.

He said nothing for a few moments, simply nodding and letting his gaze trail back down from the roof to the empty space next to her. He'd almost forgotten how quiet and jittery she talked. "It's alright. I've taken worse, I think." Jason forced a small grin to try and reassure her, but it felt pretty hollowed to him, personally - though, that was nothing new lately. He shrugged and stretched his neck out, backing away from the machine he'd been leaning on. "I do have to ask, but you don't have to answer." Jace started with mild curiosity, "Why haven't you left yet?" This place was a death trap, and his life and home - which he couldn't run from, but she could. Why would she want to stay? She couldn't even stay in the classroom that day...

Evelyn wasn't sure how to answer. The situation she had found herself in was awkward enough, and it wasn't helped by the seriousness of the conversation with just the two of them all alone in the big, empty, and quiet gymnasium. She just swung her feet and stared down at her hands, painfully aware of the oppressive silence that followed his question. The girl had often asked herself this. She hated Beata from her second week, and each day had felt like torture and a strain on her mind...

"Um... I..." Evelyn rasped, her mouth feeling parched as she forced the words out. "I don't have anything b-back home... S-so what d-difference does it make where I s-stay...?" At least in Beata she wouldn't be marked as absent for every class, or have to listen to her mother sob and lament, or be forced through the terrible therapy sessions. "B-besides, I don't t-think I'd be let back anyways, heh..."

Her mother had tried just about everything under the sun to "fix" Evelyn, ever since she first caught onto the subtle effects Evelyn had on others. Not only that, though. She wanted to fix her social anxiety, her stutter, and whatever else she found "wrong" in her child, be that through "aural cleansing" from some bogus psychic or whatever other solution she stumbled upon on the internet. Whenever Alice White was blank on ideas, she'd resort to therapy. A different one each time once there were no evident changes, and while her father was always quiet about it, she could always sense his exasperation. Benjamin White was an industrious and quiet man, and it was only thanks to him and his genes that Evelyn was smart enough to make the Winter house and didn't end up falling back into Summer instead.

Needless to say, after a fateful phone call and discovery of the world of Beata Academy and gifts, Evelyn was sent packing in a heartbeat. Of course, at the time Evelyn had been easily persuaded... she hadn't anticipated that even Beata would be of no help. There had been some foolish glimmer of hope back then, that she'd learn to control it and she'd live happily ever after, but that died quickly. Yet even if she told her all of this - something that she wasn't sure she'd even be able to even do - her mother wouldn't listen. The Academy was her last gamble and final fix, so she wouldn't give up just so easily. Four years of highschool in North Dakota for her, a whole state away from home and Montana...

Jason stared at the young woman for a few minutes in thought, though it appeared almost blankly. "Well, that's stupid." He said blandly. He instantly regretted it afterwords, remembering that he was trying to be friends with the awkward girl he just made up with, not insult her. The Autumn boy put on an uneasy face and rubbed the back of his neck. His normally carefree attitude had come back to haunt him, over time, in a more negative manner. He reminded himself to watch that. "I mean, not that I'm calling you stupid or anything -" He struggled to correct himself, "But..."

The blond frowned and crossed his arms, looking for the right words. "The difference being at home - you don't get stabbed or shot at, and its not normal for people to set things on fire - or blow things up with their mind." He made a loose "explosion" gesture with his hands, shaking his head. "And you sound like you gave up on your power a long time ago. So where do you expect to go after you graduate? What are you supposed to do?" Maybe he was starting to starting a bit like an old man, rambling on to the girl - whom he still couldn't remember the name of... It had a 'Lynn' in it, he was starting to remember, but it still couldn't seem to strike a chord in his mind.

Evelyn seemed to wince at his frankness, shrinking up as he spoke. Why did he see fit to lecture her like this? To make her feel dumb? Of course she knew about all the dangers that came with life at Beata. The girl couldn't go a minute without being reminded. It wasn't as if she hadn't realized that Beata was dangerous, after her math teacher died and her guide tried to shoot her for some fame.

The girl curled her fingers into fists as she stared into her lap. She'd never given up on her power; Beata had given up on her. They had her fly away from her family to the middle of nowhere, didn't inform her of the horrible creatures and enemies of the school, and then kicked her out of her Gift Mastery class after ten minutes without giving her a chance. Now she couldn't leave and had to sit there and get scolded by some kid who didn't even know anything about her. Evelyn had never told him a single thing... what did Jace know, aside from her first name and what he could assume? What right did he have to talk down on her like this? It felt like he was taunting her, listing all the reasons she should leave now.

You knew how dangerous and awful it was the whole before, and you never gave me this talk until now. All of the time they spent together and the chances he had to warn her long before Mr. Spion's class, and he never said a word... but after that stupid kiss, he was now talking to her about why she had to go? Evelyn stopped swinging her feet and felt like she could scowl.

"I t-told you, I w-wouldn't be let back..." she said, but still not daring to look up at him. "Even... even if I c-could..." Evelyn slouched more after a pause, feeling downtrodden. "How am I s-supposed to do anything on my own w-with my gift out there, w-whether I grad-graduate here or not...?" There was no hope for her holding any kind of job when it hurt to think of her for too long and she was looked past like she wasn't even there. "W-what would you p-prop-puh... propose I do aft-t-ter g-graduating from a n-normal s-school...?"

"I don't know." Jace answered before he really thought about it. There really was nothing she could do outside the school, at least not with her power constantly holding her back. The school was created to help young gifted people grow in an environment where they could be comfortable and learn to function outside of the world, or at least, that what was on the brochure. He was honestly starting to wonder if there were other motives for all the shit that they were in, or thrown at them. But that was straying from the point. He knew life had to be hard for the girl, still he never stopped to really think how bad she really had it.

The autumn sighed. "I don't know," he repeated, "I would say that it'd be alright and not worry about it, you'd control your gift sooner or later, or find your purpose at least." His face tightened as he stared hard at the ground, "But I'd be lying if I thought that was the truth. I'm not sure what to think anymore." Jason didn't really feel like standing around anymore, climbing over the stationary bike and sitting on the ground in front of it, a foot or two from where she was. "I thought this place was some sort of sanctuary on a throne or something. I mean, we can do things most people only ever dream of. What could happen to us?" He loosened up, falling quieter, his manner solemn. "But its not all that great. If anything, its worse, I just never noticed. What happened in the mountains happens all the time. And what happened to Wray... What happened to Dad..."

His fists clenched in anger. He wasn't already too fond of Spion before, both for what he'd done to her that day and for being an all around prick, but Jace felt nothing but hatred towards the man now. If he ever saw him again...

Jason shook his head, "I guess I thought you might want to get away from here to live? If nothing else..." He laughed lightly and without humor, "Its dangerous to stay here, but they aren't forcing anyone put. It just makes me wonder why more people aren't leaving, like Kimply..."

Evelyn clenched her legs together and locked her ankles as Jace clambered over the bike and sat in front of her in an almost defensive gesture, her heart pumping a little faster when she saw how close he was. For whatever reason, she still didn't quite trust him. Montare had said he was sorry too, after she caught him peeping at her from the trees as a wolf. The girl ran her sweaty hands down her track pants, feeling almost naked without her knife. Evelyn would have taken it, but she figured keeping it strapped to her was a good way to get hurt and keeping it on the ground while she exercised would be a good way for it to get stolen.

The girl looked at him from behind her bangs. He was definitely more muscular now, and his usual happy and carefree face was more solemn. Of course, Evelyn had almost forgotten that his father was the Headmaster... The same Headmaster that was bedridden now. He had to be devastated. She felt obligated to console him in some way, but what could she say to him?

"I d-dunno. M-maybe... they just d-don't realize it..." she muttered. If truth be told, she resented this whole conversation, but she had to say something. "T-the scale of it, I m-mean... I, uh, m-met a n-new girl recent... recently, who didn't k-know anything about..." Evelyn stopped herself, trying to stay tasteful about the whole incident. "Um, w-well, you know... S-she didn't k-know anything ab-bout... yeah... She didn't b-believe me." She sighed as she finally forced the last of her words out, her face red both from the effort of just talking and the memory of the meeting. The Winter had thought she was about to make a new friend, and then something just came over her when they were talking... Needless to say, Evelyn doubted they'd be hanging out any time soon.

With another sigh, she looked up and off to the side, towards a bare white wall. "I'm... s-sorry to hear about... what happened..." she mumbled softly, rubbing her bare arm. It felt awkward to leave it at that, but she didn't know what else to add... Evelyn knew she must be a pain to listen to, speaking so quietly and stumbling over every other word, taking too long to speak and with that slight slur to some of her words. It was best just to leave it at that.

Jason's eyes flicked up as he noticed Evelyn tighten up uncomfortably, glancing at her for but a split moment. He less out another silent, weak chuckle. Maybe this was rather stupid of him. It probably was. Spilling out his entire thoughts to this girl he harassed, and probably didn't even want to see him, let alone bother to listen. He was just being selfish. The autumn boy supposed he should feel ashamed of himself, or embarrassed, or something a long those lines, but he didn't. He'd been longing to share and - in reality - she was one of the few in the school that he felt he talk too; even he didn't exactly remember her, there was still a strange feeling of trust there. He'd always gotten that sort of vibe off her.

His gaze shot the opposite way of hers, towards the center of the room as she glanced at the wall. "Yeah, maybe..." Jace muttered. He supposed that would make sense. He really only knew all the details because - well, obviously - his father sort of played a huge victim. But nothing else was really sort of put in place. Some "old friends" were called in to take care of things and take up Wray's place without much question. He frowned and managed to look at the winter again to see her face a prominent shade of red. "I guess it does sound kinda far-fetched, doesn't it?" He said lightly, almost as if it were a joke.

"Its alright." The young man said quickly, "Its not your fault." Staying quiet for a few moments longer and embracing the awkward silence before speaking again. "I know I'm not really in any position to ask you for favors, some especially not this big, but...?" He paused, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to focus on her - looking if she were open to the idea of helping him any.

The girl didn't seem to register anything he was saying until that last bit. She froze up and turned her head slightly towards his direction with an unsure expression, forcing herself to at least partially make eye contact with him. Evelyn was wary, but undeniably curious as to what he could possibly have in mind. A favor? What kind of favor? Her mind raced with the possibilities, yet she couldn't think up anything. "Um... S-sure, I guess." she answered cautiously after a moment of hesitation, though her interest was plain to see. The intrigue was gnawing away at her, and despite the awkwardness and seriousness of the moment, she couldn't help but feel a little bit of anticipation. Maybe it was that innate Winter mindset that compelled her. "What is it?"

Every gut insrinct that he had told him that he should just go ahead and thros the questions out there, but he was honestly unsure of what to ask first. There was the question of her identity, which he was strongly reluctant on out of a sharp feeling of guilt; easy as it was to ask. And the other, which was probably considered insane and he wouldn't at all blame her if she shot the idea down.

"Well, for one thing..." He muttered lowly, "Could you tell me your name again?"