Zari’s Gym and Lev’s Dream
Warning: Transphobia, Violence
“Hey Ash! Hey Lev! What classes do you guys have next?” Candi says as they are all walking out of Jack’s class.
“I’ve got a strength training course at the gym.” Ash responds while looking at his schedule.
“No way! That’s what I have too! What about you Lev?”
“...Um…” Lev pulls a crumbled wad of paper out of his jacket pocket and unravels it. “...It…looks like I also…have that…”
“Awesome! What are the odds of that happening?”
Violet Newton overhears Candi say this and walks towards the group.
“Why would that be strange? We are all first year students and we all had the same teacher for our previous class. They probably just want to train us as a group so we can also work on our teamwork skills together.”
“That actually makes a lot of sense!” Candi responds with a big smile. “You’re really smart! You know that Violet?”
Violet becomes flustered after hearing this.
“...Um…Of course I am intelligent! Someone from a family as prestigious as mine better be! It’s basically genetic at this point!”
Violet sounds mad, but she isn’t actually angry at all. She just didn’t know how to respond to such a blunt compliment.
“Oh, look. We’re here.” Ash says as he points to the door of the gym.
“Alright students, do any of you know what we are going to be doing in this class?” says a black lady with a curly pompadour and a long black sleeveless jacket.
“...Uh…Isn’t it just a strength training course…” Ash says with his hand raised.
The teacher burst out laughing. After about a minute she wipes a tear from her eye and continues her introduction.
“Sure kid. I guess it is a strength training course, but it isn’t just any training course. This is MY training course! Do any of you know what the difference is?”
The gymnasium is silent for about a minute. Everybody basically knows the answer, but no one wants to say it though.
“The difference is that this is one of the top three toughest hero training courses in the country. I want to make the future of this world a better place in any way that I can and my job is to make sure that all of you are ready for anything this world has to throw at you. Days are going to be long and hard, but stick with it and before you know it you won’t believe how much you have improved.”
She looks over at the clock and then back over towards the students.
“The names Zari Xango.” she says as she slams her fists together. “Welcome to my class.”
Lev raises his hand.
“...Um…Since it is our first day…shouldn’t you go easy on us…at least for now…”
“Kid.” Zari walks up to Lev and puts her hand on his shoulder. “That’s not happening. We only have so much time and we all need to make the most of it.”
She looks towards the other students.
“Nobody leaves this room until they do at least 500 push ups.”
“...But…but I don’t think I have done that many push ups in my entire life combined…” Lev says dumbfounded.”
Zari turns back to Lev.
“Then you better get started.”
Maka stretches her arms above her head.
“I thought this was going to be a challenge.” She says with a giant smirk that shows off her sharp, shark-like teeth.
Lev had finally finished. It took him hours to do so, but he is finally done. Everyone else left about an hour ago at least. All except for Candi, who was waiting for Lev to be done.
Lev feels like he is going to die. Or maybe he is already dead. Who knows. He sure didn’t.
“Alright friend. Let's get you out of here.” Candi says with a small yet gentle smile.
She pulls him up off the ground and puts his arm around her shoulders.
Candi helped Lev walk all the way back to his dorm. He didn’t know what to expect on his first day of class, but it sure wasn’t that.
‘Maybe I should just quit’ He thought to himself. ‘I knew that this would be tough, but I didn’t think that it would be THIS HARD!’
He puts his backpack down and stumbles off to his bed. Right as he lays down he falls asleep almost instantly.
A younger Lev is seen in his parent’s room. By the way he looks one could assume he’s probably about eleven or twelve years old at this moment. He was still quite skittish, but his parents weren’t currently home so he didn’t think that he had to worry too much. After making sure the coast was absolutely clear he sneaks into his mother’s closet. He looks around at her clothes until he finds something that catches his eye. It is an aqua blue sundress with a light pink floral pattern on it. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.
After he is finished putting it on he looks over at a tall mirror off to the side of his mother’s closet. He isn’t sure what exactly he is feeling. Excited, scared, a little melancholic perhaps. Maybe it was a mix of all of these emotions.
Before he had time to think about anything further than this he heard the front door of the house quickly swing open followed by quick footsteps that were leading directly to the room that he was in. He didn’t think that he had time to leave so he tried to take off the dress, but he isn’t exactly used to wearing them so that would be easier said than done. Instead he opted to just try to hide underneath his parent’s bed.
Just a few seconds later the door to the room swung open.
His heart was beating out of his chest. His breathing was steadily increasing. He has never been this scared before in his entire life. He covers his mouth to try to cover the sound of the deep breath that he is making.
He wasn’t really paying attention to what his parents were saying. Whatever it was would have been the last of his worries during that moment.
Time felt like it had slowed to a crawl. He was just waiting for them to leave the room so that he could get out of this dreadful situation, but who knows how long that would take. For all he knew it could be hours before they leave this room. He started making peace with his new home, which just so happened to be underneath the bed of his parents.
Suddenly, he heard something that sent a shiver down his spine.
“Hey honey, why are your shoes just lying on the floor? Go put them in your closet please.” His mother said nonchalantly.
“What shoes?” His father replied.
“Those ones right there.”
“Those aren’t mine. Those are Lev’s shoes.”
“Why would Lev’s shoes be in our room?”
“You know how messy kids can be dear.”
“Fine. Whatever. Just go take them and put them back into his room.”
“Whatever you say dear.” He said as he went to reach for the shoes.
What he didn’t realize is that Lev was still wearing the shoes in question.
“...Hey. wait a second…”
Lev is pulled out from under the bed.
“Son, what are you doing under…”
“...”
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING!?!”
His mother quickly gets off the bed.
“Who are you talking…WHY ARE YOU WEARING MY DRESS!?!”
Lev couldn’t move or say anything. He was frozen in place and didn’t know what to do.
“GET UP AND TELL US WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW! OR ELSE!”
“...Or…else what…” Lev meekly responds.
“THAT’S IT!” Lev’s father takes off his belt, pulls him off the ground and onto the bed backwards, and uses his arm to make sure that he can’t get up.
“THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE! TELL US WHY YOU ARE WEARING YOUR MOTHER’S DRESS!”
“...Be…Because…I…I thought…that…it…looked…pretty…” Lev manages to choke out between sobs.
“IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO TEACH YOU A LESSON YOUNG MAN! ONE THAT YOU WILL NEVER FORGET!”
“DAD…DAD PLEASE DON’T…” Lev yells between sobs.
After the first hit from his dad’s belt, Lev’s eyes glow and bright red.
Lev bolts awake in his bed surrounded in cold sweat.
‘Oh. It was just a dream.’
He looks over to the clock. The time reads 3:27 AM.
“...That’s it! I don’t care how hard this school is!” Lev yells to himself as he throws his pillow across the room. “I am NEVER going back there again!
After a few minutes he lays back down on his bed.
“I made it through the first day. That’s usually the hardest part.” Lev says while looking up at the ceiling. “There’s no way that this can be any tougher than what I have already gone through. How hard could this be?”