He continued to smile, despite the fact that she practically told her who she liked so quickly. Even though she said she didn't need to impress him, he knew that wasn't the case. He was happy. He watched her concentrate herself in the training room for a moment as she closed her eyes.

There was a careful observation from Keele. He noticed that Nessie does seem to turn towards James very often. She does seek shelter to him, and it was admirable that she was using him as motivation. After her deep breath, Keele knew that she could do it. She finally held her Viper powers and will light up the candles upon this training.

She lifted her hands, fingers quickly brushing through the wick of the candle and flames sprung into life and fires flared, dancing and flickering. Keele widened his eyes and began to clap as Nessie cheered; "I did it! I didn't even have to get mad!" Other wicks began to flare themselves to life as she cheered on, each one burning brightly.

Nessie celebrated her success with James by hugging. She looked back at the candles that she hated and cheered on. "I did it! I did it! I did it!" Keele had ceased clapping by then.

"Incredible! You finally did it! Good job Nessie!" He cheered on her before running towards the candles. "Wow, you even managed to lit the other candles. That is really impressive." He waved his hand above the candle, feeling the heat touching to his skin that slowly burnt his hand. "Ow! That was silly of me. Anyway, I knew you could do it! You had it in ya. Good job!"

Nessie's demeanor slowly changed once more, and she glanced down, embarrassed at her display, blushing. "T-t-thank you" She said, her flames seemed to shrink slightly, and the warmth faded a bit.

She blew out the candles, and tried desperately to re-create the flames. She stared at them, her frustration growing as it didn't work. She let out a frustrated sigh, and the wicks flickered slightly, but didn't light.

"URGH" she threw up her hands, and the candles whooshed, flickering bright red, flaming high, growing large, the air growing warmer from the flames, the candles starting to melt.

"Whoah there Nessie! Loosen up!" Seeing the flames burst like that made him a little bit nervous. It was similar to his kind of Viper power. He conjured his Elpis power, holding his hand out and casting a giant flash flood within the area immediately, overwhelming the flame as it grew more violently. "Damn. That's one Viper power you got..." The waters quickly recede once the flames were put out. "Well, looks like you know how to amplify your Viper."

Nessie gave a frustrated sigh, "S-s-see t-that's the p-p-problem. E-every t-t-time u-use v-v-viper, I f-f-feel l-like my e-e-elpis p-power w-wants to p-put it out b-before I s-start" She said, shaking her head.

"I d-d-dont g-g-get how v-v-viper and e-elpis c-c-can work t-together" She said, staring at the now wet candles, and realising the training was over for now.

Now that most of them were wet from Keele's flash flood, candle wax was littered all over the floor dead from any flames. He walked over towards Nessie and James trying to cheer her up. "Hey it's alright. That flood wasn't your Elpis powers. That was mine. You have an awesome Viper power in your hands you know." He wanted to at least be able to touch her shoulder, but he'd rather not make her nervous. It was also probably a bad idea, to do it in front of James.

"Viper and Elpis can work together because opposites attract one another. You know, like magnets. Like how a man is attracted to a woman or vice versa. They have their ways to bond together to become one stronger element. You just got to find out how yours works." He looks around. Yep, seems like there would be no further training. "Before I met you, you weren't able to use your Viper powers. Now that I've seen you conjure it, I think its safe to say that your training was a successful one. Why don't we go and celebrate it with some food from the cafeteria? James, you should go with Nessie too. Have fun with her success!"

"Hey it's alright. That flood wasn't your Elpis powers. That was mine" This made Nessie angry, because she knew that, she had merely been stating that that was what it felt like every time she tried to use Viper. She sighed, her skin warming.

"Before I met you, you weren't able to use your Viper powers." She sighed once more, "I c-c-c-could use it b-b-before, I j-j-just have to b-b-be angry or f-f-f-rustrated" She said in her own defense, stepping closer to James once more.

"W-w-w-we j-just ate" Nessie said, glancing out to the exit, "A-a-and N-nyx is there at the e-e-entrance" She didn't know if she wanted to approach the girl again, and the warmth slowly faded from her skin. She just knew somehow she'd screw it up, and send the girl crying again

So many things happened that it also sent Keele to a sigh. He felt a little tired despite not doing anything too stressful today but thought it might be good for a nap. "Well... I hope you find success in controlling your Viper powers. I'm gonna go take a nap." With that, he turned himself around and made an exit for himself.

James who had been quiet the entire time had simply smiled and nodded hoping to give Nessie as much concentration as possible, "I don't know about that guy...He seemed nice...But...I don't know." James hugged her softly, "I am so proud of you! you did it without anger even if it was only once..." James kissed her softly, "That means it can be done! You proved that!" James blew in a cold breeze, "wanna see me fail at Elpis?" He smiled and stood up still holding her hand, "Come on...I can't do anything..." James laughed while smiling.

She didn’t her eyes off his piercing gaze as it practically penetrated through all of her pores, she stepped forward mid-way through his rant. Her eyes grew wide as she finally realized while his eyes were so guarded, she stepped forward towards him hastily. “Stop blaming the world for something that is far more troubling, you’re guilty about something, very guilty and hurt.” He had broken down his walls unwillingly and she knew that calling him out wouldn’t turn out so well. “I may not act like you, but I’ve been in the same darkness. You try to act like you don’t care but you just admitted to me that you knew you were doing wrong. Stop being in such denial. You may thing we are not the same but you’re not aware of how corrupted I am as well.” She stepped closer, pushing on her toes to get as close as she could to the side of his face. “I still want to watch this world burn..” She pulled away and stared at him for a moments before turning and walking her way down the hall to go get her clothes from the inventory.

So thats it? She is just gonna waltz up like that, talk to him like she knows everything about him then turn and leave? Fuck. No. In a few long strides he covered the ground between them, grabbing her shoulder and whipping her around to face him, his eyes alight with anger. "Then fucking BURN the world for all I care! Im not blaming the world for SHIT! What I am BLAMING is the fact that all my fucking life was nothing but an uphill struggle from day one! Did I ASK for this shit?! FUCK NO!"

At this point he had grabbed her other shoulder with his free hand, and unconsciously began to lift her up off the ground.

"I never ASKED to be a defect! I never ASKED for power I cant control! I never ASKED for the foul looks people gave me when all I wanted was to walk down the fucking street!"

From here his eyes were wild with fury, but the basis of tears were beginning to form in his eyes.

"I never ASKED for the odds to be against me! I never ASKED for the sleepless nights hearing her screams! I never ASKED for the nightmares of watching her burn! But even to this DAY! I continue to see the nightmares of her dying, knowing that I WAS THE FUCKING CAUSE OF IT ALL!!!"

At this point all he could do was hold her there and pant, having lifted her well above his eye level. His wild gaze slowly faded as he realized what he was doing, how he had said too much in his anger. Then once more, his anger went back into its bottle, corked off for later use. He slowly set her down on the ground and backed away, turning around...

"We may come from the same darkness, but you will never understand my guilt... why I can never go back to the light... ever again..."

She jumped as the hand that grabbed her twirled her around aggressively and that strong gaze was once more in his eyes. She relaxed when she realized who it was, but she could feel the intense hold on her shoulders begin to bruise the surface of her skin, she kept her face calm as he lifted her with ease off the floor. Just like that he had opened up like a book, spilled all of his emotions on the table to her, if only she didn't feel so guilty for tearing open all of his wounds and selfishly watched him bleed out on to the floor. She never liked fronts, or when people had walls up, but she was only being hypocritical. Nyx wasn't the girl Alex thought she was anymore, this world thinks she is as innocent as she looks but her past is nothing but tragic, she would never show, never admit, what a black hole her soul had become. She breathed slowly as he yelled in her face, staying absolutely calm and soon watched the anger wash from his expression, she was lowered and released. "Not all things light equate to good, as dark doesn't not always mean bad." She could have gone on, but that should had made it clear enough. He needed more things to think about rather than anger.

This time, he didnt even respond as she spoke, he was tired of her, not even having to try yet he so easily poured all of his guilt out at her... fuck her... fuck her... He clenched his fists and took a deep breath. "Whatever" he said monotonously, "I have a fight to get ready for... I dont need this shit..." and with that, he slowly made his way to the training grounds, only the sound of footsteps being heard as they slowly faded from earshot.

She bit her lip from smiling, but then felt guilt once again. She hoped Alex wouldn't go so hard on him after what she had just learned about him but maybe he needed a good ass kicking as well, but you can only tear someone down so much before it becomes revengeful. She didn't follow him, nor said anything more to him and walked in the opposite direction to finally go find her clothing. She relaxed, and let herself seep back in to her other half, soft and gentle. She wasn't used to behaving that way, it was empowering but she knew it wasn't the right feeling she wanted yet.. it felt fantastic.

Kyron still had about fifteen minutes left before his fight was to start, so he decided to sit down and collect his thoughts before going in. He thought back to all he ended up telling her... damn... why was it so easy to tell her all that? Well, he was in a blind rage... and even if he was angry enough to shatter a wall... he wouldnt hit a girl in anger or cold blood. Even an asshole like him still had a moral compass. He buried his face in his hands and sighed, she seemed to calm when he blew up... it was an admirable trait nonetheless... but the fact she was still one of the many to tried to analyze him still pissed him off, no matter how intriguing the girl was...

"That's a pretty bit of denial you've got there." Alex said, coming up behind Nyx. "Why don't I take that from you now?" He circled around them and through the doors, entering the training hall. Seeing there were other people there already, he stopped in the middle. When Kyron was in the center with him, he raised his hand and a sheet of ice rose from the ground, surrounding them with a good bit of space. The ice was thin enough to see through, but if anyone tested it they wouldn't even be able to chip it. "There are no rules to this fight. We keep going until one of us cannot fight anymore. I'll be calling out the names of the styles I use, so maybe you'll learn something here." He smiled and bowed dramatically. "I'll let you make the first move."

when Nyx came back in a pair of skinny jeans and black v-neck, the boys had already began in the arena. She quickly moved herself inside and groaned at the thick layer of ice, she wandered around to find herself an appropriate seat to watch the two but something made her feel uneasy about watching Alex fight, she wondered if he had control over himself or if this monster he keeps talking about peers out of him, this situation would say a lot, not that it would change anything, she wouldn't leave his side.

Kyron fixed Alex with a cold, unemotional stare as the ice boundaries were put in place, saying nothing until he made the dramatic bow. "There is your first mistake teach..." he said through gritted teeth. Then clenching his fists, he drove both of them into the solid ground, and upon pulling his arms out, they were covered with a layer of solid stone, the end of each looking like blunt mallet ends. He crouched, then sprung forward, using the earth beneath him to speed his momentum as he yelled his battle cry, swinging one arm and then the other in quick succession, dust streaming behind the speed of his attack toward Alex.

Alex easilly dodged the first blow, simply moving his upper body out of the way, but the second one clipped him on the cheek. "Not bad," He said, placing a hand on the boy's chest, "But always be aware of where you are." A jet of water sprayed from his hand, powerful enough to throw Kyron back across the arena. "Jet stream."

Kyron gave a smirk as the second blow met its mark, but all to soon before he was launched back, slamming into the ice barrier at the back of the arena. However hard the impact was though, he merely slammed his fist on the ground and stood back up. Shedding off the rock covering, he placed his hands on the ground, the tips of his fingers digging in. "FINE! Wanna name moves? Try THIS!"

Clenching his buried fingers, the ground began to shake, and suddenly, large stalagmites began erupting from the ground in random succession, with no tell where the next would appear, but making an obvious path to Alex, who would be knocked up and into the wall should one hit him.

"Terra Clash"

Alex immediately covered his body with white flame. "Whitefire Cloak, Level 2." The fire spread outward, and the heat could be felt all the way across the ring. The ground beneath his feet began to melt and turn into magma, which he stood on with ease. "Second lesson. When faced by someone who uses the ground beneath them, a Viper user can turn the ground to Magma, giving him control of it instead." He raised his hand and a stream of the molten rock followed it, twining around his hand and shooting off towards Kyron.