Chapter 22:

I honestly didn't know what I was expecting as I stumbled back onto the academy grounds, but General Harrison waiting right outside the gates for us wasn't it. "Primrose, I'm glad to see that you're... alive." He said, tilting his perfectly groomed blonde head at me as his icy blue eyes took in every inch of my body. The bright red phoenix perched on his shoulder seemed to narrow its beady eyes on me as I gave a slight bow of my head in respect. Xavier, on the other hand, stood as stiff as a board beside me. He didn't offer a single ounce of any sort of respect to his direct superior, and it instantly put me on edge as the two of them seemed to eye each other with something closer to barely contained violence than anything respectful. "You're just in time for challenges." The General called, breaking their stare off, and I looked up at Xavier, but that mask of cold calculation had fallen back over his features, hiding any sort of emotion that would have played over it before. "Primrose, you're first up today." He called over his shoulder, and my breath caught in my throat. How the hell was I supposed to survive a challenge when I could barely stand on my own?

Xavier glanced down at me for just a moment before locking those sharp eyes right back onto the General. "With all due respect, sir. Take one good look at her and tell me that she's fit for challenges." My whole body went stiff as Xavier all but growled at the man. While I was grateful for it, he was already going to be in deep shit because of me. The last thing we needed was him digging an even deeper hole just to try to defend me. 

The General whirled on him, coming right up into Xavier's face, and while I backed off a couple of steps, Xavier didn't budge in the slightest as he just held the man's icy glare, countering it with one of his own. "She is still walking, and last I checked, it was still Harrison as the commanding General of this facility, not Knight."

"And last I checked, the rules of this facility clearly state that students with serious injury to their person are unable to represent themselves in a challenge until healed. Under that list are head wounds and broken bones, of which she has both. Therefore, I have to question, General, if you're overstepping your control over this facility by attempting to force an injured student into challenges." The General grinned at that, a wicked gleam shown in his eyes as he eyed Xavier. 

"She hasn't been seen by a healer on the grounds, and I was therefore unaware of the extent of her injuries. Knowing that, are you offering to represent this student, Knight? Keep in mind that you've more than earned a challenge of your own after what you pulled on the front lines." 

"Yes, I will represent this student and accept any challenges that you deem fitting," Xavier answered as the General just continued to stare him down for another moment before turning on his heel once more and leading us forward. I quickly made my way back up to Xavier's side, looking up at him as he just watched the General's back as he walked through the open gates. 

Placing a hand at the small of my back, he once more gently guided me forward, but I wanted to punch the gorgeous man. He just volunteered to not only take on a challenge of his own, but also take mine on as well. They weren't stupid around here, and even I knew there was no way they were going to throw Xavier in the ring against a student like they would've with me. He was walking in from traveling and fighting for over a week, only to be thrown straight into another battle, but this one honestly had far worse opponents, because of me.

"You shouldn't have done that," I whispered to him as we followed the commander through the doors to the arena. 

"It was the only option, and you know it. You're in no condition to even think about fighting right now. If I hadn't taken that, he was going to throw you in with someone that wouldn't have stopped at just incapacitating you, they would have killed you out there, Ari. I've seen it happen before. Now, are you going to be able to make it up into the stands with your friends, or do I need to carry you up there?" I swallowed hard. Would they really have done that? I thought back to the look the General had given me when we walked up, how those icy eyes had taken in every little thing about me. The sling across my chest wasn't the only indication of my injuries; I had caught my reflection in the pond we had stopped at last night to camp out. Not to even mention that until he had come up to Xavier like that, I had been leaning the vast majority of my weight into the warrior. 

"I can make it; they like to sit in the front row. Thank you, Xavier." I answered him, and he just looked at me for a moment before gently pushing me towards the stairs that led up into the stands. He watched as I made it to the top of the stairs and through the door before he continued walking towards the gate of the arena. 

The second Lexi and Genie spotted me, they were by my side, helping me to the closest seat in the student section as Nova flew just behind me, only landing on my lap once I was sitting. "What the hell happened to you?" Lexi asked, whispering to me as they got me settled, and I gave them a probably rather manic sounding huff of laughter. 

"Where would you like to start? Cause believe me, there's a lot... Maybe the fact that I was stuck in the worst possible camp for women to ever even be in the vicinity of, taken from said camp by a group of Beastial soldiers that were none too nice," I carefully lifted my broken arm slightly to prove my point. "Sat in one of their prisons for I don't even know how long, alongside several less than mentally stable people, before Xavier finally found and rescued me somehow. Now I'm up here after he took my place in challenges until I'm healed. Oh, and that's not even touching the whole Xavier situation right now, because I don't even know what happened there, but we're not talking about that right now." I told them as they both just gawked at me. "Yeah, I know." 

"Oh, shit," Lexi whispered as Genie just continued looking at me like I had just sprouted a second head. 

"Oh, and the only reason Xavier is taking on my challenges is because the General just met us at the gates and essentially said that if I'm still walking, I had to participate unless someone else did in my stead. So Xavier, and his hero complex, mouthed off to the General and essentially took my place, but we all know they're not going to put him in the ring with a student like they would've with me. So, I'm really not sure what's about to happen, but whatever it is isn't going to be pretty." I added, and Genie was the one who gave me a knowing grin.

"You're worried about him." She said, and I instantly felt my cheeks heat before I hid my face as best as I could with my non-broken arm. 

"I mean, yeah, I'm not the one that had to hold my ass on a dragon for essentially five out of the nine days total that we were gone, fight on the front line with an army of absolute assholes, and did I mention the literal rescue of my ass from an enemy prison? And now he's going into full combat once more. Yeah, I'm a little worried." They both grinned at that one. 

"Fair," Lexi answered before I completely ignored them as Xavier walked out onto the field. Even after everything, he still looked just as good as the day we left to anyone that didn't know him, but after spending nine days with him, I could see the exhaustion he was hiding from everyone else. It was in the slight dip of his shoulders under Bane's weight, the slight dullness to his normally knife-like gaze. "I mean, at least he still looks fine," Lexi whispered to me, and I just gave a very subtle shake of my head. 

"He's exhausted, he just hides it well," I whispered, and they both leaned in closer to me as if I had all the answers that they didn't.