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When the phone had crunched under his thumb and gone dead, Jordan had just stared at it for a few more seconds. Then he'd flung it across the room and stalked out, snarling under his breath. After everything, after all the times they'd talked, all the progress he'd thought Rep had made at not ******** alienating every person they knew, after what Rep had said to him earlier, now this? He might feel guilty about the phone later, but now all there was room for in his head was a hurt, frustrated red fury. He needed to break something he could legitimately break before he broke something else he'd have to pay for, one way or another.

He only half registered the other figure on the field. Not a threat, the back of his mind said, and he paid no attention, summoning Ferros and bringing the weapon crashing down on one of the training dummies, splintering the wood and straw and driving the hammer's head several inches into the dirt.

Jordan jumped when his name was called and swung around to face Dakota, hauling Ferros out of the ground almost reflexively. When he registered the question, he nodded. "Good guess. I don't know what he thinks he's doing --
" He cut off the sentence, gripping Ferros's handle tightly and taking a deep, controlled breath in an attempt to calm down. "You too, huh?"

Jordan nodded and wiped the back of his hand across his eyes, blinking hard. "Jesus. I just -- for the last two weeks, being half sure he was dead, knowing he brought it on himself, and then he wakes up and, and now this." He shook his head. "I broke my phone a few minutes ago."

He raised Ferros and fell into a fighting stance. "I'd feel better, yeah."

"Harrison told me what happened, but we haven't ... talked much." Jordan's swing was half-hearted, far short of the mark. "Things have been weird. I don't know what went wrong."

He took a short swipe off to the side, hitting nothing, and laughed bitterly. "I don't know what he was thinking. That's the problem, isn't it."

HP: 60/60
Dmg: lolwut
Charge: 0/3

"I know. I'm not asking you to. I thought -- I thought the same." Chama's point sliced through the surface of Ferros's shield, and the passing sting shocked Jordan back into awareness. "Sorry, man."

He swung, harder and more accurately this time. "I can't make excuses for him either. That's part of why I'm so pissed. He ******** up, and people look at me like what was he thinking, why didn't you do anything about it, why do you even care about him? Like I can just stop."

HP: 54/60
Dmg: 7
Charge: 1/3

The blow sent Jordan staggering backwards, but what bit deeper were the words. Until it's all you got out of this. The phrase reached in past his careful defenses and hit something deep in his gut. It was followed instantly by an image of brutal clarity: desummoning, standing mute and defenseless until the blade bit through the last of their shield and sliced in, trailing a bright arc of red through the air --

The thought made him sick, made him choke on nothing as a shocked sort of panic overrode anger and twisted pain into something he barely recognized. What was he thinking? What had he become? What have you done to me?

He caught his balance and backed away, clamping down on the emotional freefall and schooling his face into a careful blank mask as Ferros fell from his hand and dematerialized. "Dakota," he managed. "Sorry, I can't. I have to." He couldn't finish, unable to think of anything to say to complete the sentence. He turned and walked away instead, his steps picking up speed until he was running, out towards the beach, away from everything.

HP: 42/60

Jordan slowed to a halt finally as he reached the first edges of the dunes, finding a mostly-buried log that had been flung high onto the beach by some storm and dropping down to sit on it, burying his head in his hands and giving in to the urge to cry, huge, wracking, silent sobs that shook his whole body. He hadn't heard Dakota, the only thought in his mind that he had to get away, be alone, not let anyone see when he broke.