The Cold Shoulder
Warning: Transphobia, Transphobic Slurs, Violence
After such a big realization Love was hoping the next couple of days were relatively calm in comparison, which they were for the most part. That was the case for a while, until today that is.
Love, after finishing another long day of classes and training, heads back to her dorm.
Before she could make it there though she sees Calder walking by himself. As soon as he sees her he sends a glare in her direction.
Love was starting to get tired of Calder’s mysterious reactions so she decided to confront him head on.
“...Hey Calder…are you alright?” Love began the conversation normally enough.
He shrugs with a neutral expression on his face.
“...It’s just that…I’ve been noticing you…staring at me whenever we are in class…” She takes a moment to think about her next words before saying them. “...Are…are you angry at me…I don’t know what I did…but I apologize if I accidentally did something wrong.”
Calder rubs the back of his neck and thinks about his response.
“Not necessarily angry. I am just curious about something.”
“...What…what are you curious about?”
“You introduced yourself as a boy at the beginning of class, but I have never seen you do anything even remotely manly.”
“...Yeah…Do you have a problem with that?”
“That depends.”
“...D…depends on what?”
“Are you really a boy or…”
“...O…or?”
“Or are you one of those tranny freaks?”
A chill just went down Love’s spine.
The only people she has come out to so far would be Maka, Violet, Candi, and Ash. Nobody else knows about it yet. At least that is what Love thought up until now.
She looks at her surroundings. Nobody else is around, it is getting dark, and Love is all alone besides the person standing right in front of her.
“...Uhhhhhh…”
This is all Love is able to say at the moment. She isn’t a good liar, but she also doesn’t want to tell Calder the truth. So instead she decides to do nothing. She just stands there as frozen as a statue.
“Hmm. Interesting. I’ll take that as a yes.” Calder says as he puts a hand on his chin.
He slowly walks towards Love. She slowly takes a few steps back and is currently scared for her life.
Calder turns his right arm into an icicle.
“Want to see what I think about your kind?”
“...N…no…” Love somehow manages to squeak out.
“Well, isn’t that too bad.”
He runs forwards and attempts to stab Love through the heart with an icicle.
Love dodges this attack, but Calder isn’t done yet.
What follows is a dance of sorts with Calder slashing towards Love and Love dodging for dear life.
Love trips and falls on the cold grass.
“...Why…why are you doing this to me?” Love slowly stutters out.
“Because you are a freak!”
Calder kicks Love in the chest.
“A predator!”
He kicks her again.
“And a threat to the natural order of things!”
He is about to stab Love right through her skull. Love tries to block the oncoming attack with her arms.
‘Is this is?’ Love thought to herself. ‘Is this how I die?’
As soon as Calder is about to finish her off he hears a yell in the distance.
“Get the fuck away from my friend!”
Calder turns to see an absolutely furious Maka running right towards him.
Maka uses her water powers to surround both of her arms. She now has two fists made of swirling streams of water.
She sprints towards Calder and attempts to punch him in the face.
Calder blocks the attack using his icicle arm.
“Did you say friend!” Calder tries to suppress a laugh. “You mean to tell me somebody actually likes this thing?”
Maka is absolutely furious. Calder manages to push Maka back during their clash, but Maka pounces right back towards him and destroys his ice in one swift clawing motion.
“What the hell did you just say?” Maka says with a snarl.
“All I said was…”
Before he could finish that sentence Maka decks him right in the face. This sends Calder flying back about fifteen feet. After rolling for a bit he slowly gets back onto his feet.
Calder wipes blood off his mouth using his thumb.
“That’s fine. I guess I’ll just have to kill you both!”
He proceeds to send a wave of icicles towards Love which Maka automatically jumps in front of.
Maka braces for impact with her eyes closed tight, but before anything happens Maka automatically feels a sudden source of intense heat right in front of her.
She opens her eyes to see Ash defending Maka and Love from Calder’s attack.
After melting the entire wave of icicles with an intense flame Ash turns back at Maka and Love with a concerned look.
“Are you girls okay?” He questions.
“Girls… Wait, you know?”
Maka turns towards Love.
“...Yeah…He kind of helped me discover who I was…”
Maka turns back to Ash.
“That true?”
“Yep.” Ash says with a knowing smile.
“Badass.”
The trio all look back towards Calder.
He is still standing there with his never ending smug grin.
Maka and Ash both start to stomp towards Calder.
Calder doesn’t move from his spot. He only continues to smile.
“What is wrong with you bro?” Ash demands Calder for an answer.
“Just correcting nature’s mistakes.” Calder shrugs nonchalantly.
“Oh that is it!” Maka and Ash yell in unison.
They surround their fists in their respective elements and dash towards Calder to beat his ass.
Calder puts up a wall of ice.
With Ash using his intense flaming fists and Maka using water drills they break through this with ease.
Calder creates a mountain of snow underneath himself. Once he reaches the top of it he starts sending giant chunks of hail down at them.
Ash and Maka trudge their way up the hill and easily dispatch whatever attacks Calder sends at them.
Before they reach the top Calder starts to think that he might not be able to win this fight. He encases himself in a prison of ice.
Ash sets his fist on fire and puts his palm onto the ice until it is completely melted.
He then grabs Calder by his shirt caller.
He spins around and tosses him in Maka’s direction.
Maka proceeds to hit Calder with a clothesline while her fist still has the swirling water around it.
Calder tries to get up, but he keeps slipping on the water beneath himself.
Ash and Maka stand over Calder.
Maka cracks her knuckles.
“Never mess with my friend again or else!”
Calder somehow has the guts to respond to this.
“Or else what?”
Maka grabs Calder by the shoulders and lifts him up.
“Or else I won’t go so easy on you next time.” Maka practically spits out at him.
Maka drops him and Calder falls on the ground with a big thud.
“Now get your punk ass out of here before I change my mind!”
Calder doesn’t need to hear this twice. He tries to stand up, trips, successfully stands up on a second attempt and sprints away from her.
After making sure Calder is gone Maka and Ash go to check on Love.
Love was sitting up on the ground watching the entire rest of the fight.
“Love.” Maka huffs with her hands on her knees taking a breather before continuing. “Are you okay? Did that piece of shit hurt you?”
Maka kneels down to check on Love.
Love nods as tears start to form at the corners of her eyes.
“That bastard! I’m gonna kill him!” Maka jumps to her feet and prepares to chase after the coward.
Ash puts a hand on Maka’s shoulder.
“Maka. Calm down. Take deep breaths.”
Maka is hesitant at first, but eventually listens to what Ash is saying.
“Breath in…and out…and in…and out one more time.”
“Fine. I guess I won’t kill him. Assholes are not worth my time anyways.”
“Good, because revenge may be sweet in the short term, but try to look at the bigger picture. Do you really want to put a target like that on your back?” Ash gestures towards Love. “Or hers?”
Maka thinks to herself.
“...N…no…”
“Thanks for being reasonable. I know that Calder guy is an asshole, but look around you. Whose side do you really think a court would take right now. I mean you’ve been watching the news right?”
“...Yeah….That…that makes sense…” Maka rubs the back of her neck.
“Now then.” Ash claps before continuing his statement. “We should probably get out of the cold. I am freezing my ass off right now.”
“That’s right. You don’t like the cold. I forgot.”
“Let’s head back to my place. I am going to assume that Love’s dorm would probably not be safe for the next few days so you guys are welcome to crash at mine.”
“...Yeah…yeah that sounds good.” Love meekly responds.
Maka extends out an arm around Love and pulls her in for a hug. Love accepts this and Maka helps her up.
The group heads back towards Ash’s dorm room to lay low for a while.