As I flew over the city to the Ryukyus agency, I thought about what to do with the Children of the Scarlet King. Sure they were annoying like the foundation but at least they didn't try and control what I did, or try to contain me to freak out over me making city size craters, like come on guys it was onetime, and it hadn't even been on purpose. The Children on the other hand could be useful, according to the one guy I talked to they just wanted to help me 'ascend' whatever that meant, plus I'm sure they would take orders from me if I asked, but I'd rather not get involved with that cult of lunatics that had somehow followed me into this new life, neither group for that matter.
As I landed on the roof, Nejire came out to greet me and we went back inside to Ryukyu's office where two new additions were waiting, Ochako and Tsuyu had also picked her for their work study and had already been given a tour as I took my time getting here just enjoying flying around. "Great, now that you're all here we can get down to business." Ryukyu said, clapping her hands as she explained how things would work. "So for your work studies, you will mainly be going out with various sidekicks since you've proven to be able to take care of yourself, remember though that even with a provisional hero license you can't fight villains without express permission." she said, looking pointedly at me.
"Other than that you may go on solo patrols once or twice before you leave, but don't push yourself too hard as there is something in the works right now and I might be called upon to go help, in which case you four will go with me." she said as they nodded and moved to store their things. "So why does Carter get his own room while we have to share the dorms?" Ochako asked Nejire as we took the elevator, "That's because he's the only guy here, even though Ryukyu trusts him and most of the women here are somewhat familiar with him, he stays in there sulking and muttering in his sleep." she said fake snoring and mumbling as the girls giggled. "I like my privacy." I simply say while glaring at Nejire "And stop watching me while I sleep, it's weird and one of these days I'm going to burn you." I scold but she just waves me off "I watch everyone sleep." she says as if that absolves her of anything as we leave the elevator.
As we go on patrol over the next few days not a lot happens, Nejire bonds with the girls immediately while I mostly stick to solo patrols or go out with Ryukyu and train with my various forms. "I still don't like this one, it's too cold." she complains as I shift into my Icewing form, "Then learn to breathe fire like a real dragon." I snort as she lunges at me, we continue fighting for another hour before she finally wears out and gets a call. As she listens I shift back to my human form but stay as an Icewing since the wings look really cool, and it's fun to freeze Nejire with them, Ryukyu is not amused however as she hangs up the phone. "Remember that thing that I mentioned might be going down?" she said and I nodded "Well it's going down and they need some backup that can do the heavy lifting." she said as she led the way back inside, "I'll call you guys when it's time." she said before shutting herself in her office.
With nothing else to do I went down to the kitchen and started making dinner, as I was cooking Nejire walked in with Ochako and Tsuyu, "Ooh whatcha cooking? Can I have some pleaseeeee??" Nejire whined giving me puppy dog eyes as I smacked her sneaking hand away with my tail as she recoiled from the cold and the spikes that formed on the tip.(Icewing tails have spikes.) "Ouch!!" she cried as Ochako laughed taking a seat at the table "Good luck getting food from him, even Katsumi almost lost an arm when she tried to take his food once." she said as Nejire looked at me with shining eyes "Oooh you've never mention Katsumi before, is she Your girlfriend? How did you guys meet?"
I glared at Ochako who stuck her tongue out at me, "She is not my girlfriend, we are friends nothing more." I say as I shift my wings back to their Nightwing form. Tsuyu tilts her head in confusion "But I thought she liked you? ribbit She certainly seems to with how she treats you compared to the rest of us." she said as I exhaled a small plume of fire in frustration. "She does like me, even I can tell, I'm not dense and she isn't really known for being subtle." I say as I crank the heat up trying to ignore them. Ochako and Nejire are persistent however and keep pushing, "I've seen how you are with her, I thought you liked her too?" I remain silent and focus on not burning my food as Ochako keeps talking "She even came up to me one day and just sorta dumped how she felt about you onto me, talking about some talk you guys had on the roof of the dorms?" she looks at me and quietly asks "She told you, didn't she." not a question, she knows what happened.
"I don't want to talk about it." I say as I finish cooking my meal and serve myself, sitting across from Ochako who gives me a look. "You can't just ignore how she very obviously feels about you." she says but I focus on eating, one bit at a time. I eat in silence as the girls just stare at me, with even Nejire being unable to talk with the only sound being the scaping on my fork as I finish my meal.
Putting my plate in the sink I ask without looking, "How is she?" knowing that I won't like the answer. "She's hurt, and thinks that she's done something to upset you, it's all she can talk about between us, you're all she talks about." I was afraid of that, it's why I kept my distance even from Cathleen who reminds me of my own mother, and that is something I've been avoiding for a while.
As I leave the kitchen Ochako stands up and grabs my sleeve stopping me, "Did she do something, or do you just not care how she feels?" she demanded as the temperature rose sharply, turning slowly. I face Ochako who gulps and takes a step back letting go and she looks into my eyes, gone are the human eyes that draw people in, she now stares into the gaze of a dragon. "I can't afford to care about her, or anyone for that matter. Do not speak to me about this again, human." I say barely holding back the rage that builds up from having such a lowly creature lay hand on me. Ochako shakily nods her head and I leave noticing but not really caring as my wings and tail turn into that of an icewings as jagged horns that gleam like icicles sprout from my head.
Reaching my room I close the door and exhale a small plume of frost breath that drops the room temperature as I get a notification from the system.
[Congratulations host! You have reached 100% of your Icewing form, and can now undertake the Trial of Ice.]
'How convenient, I was looking for a boost.' I think as I lay in bed 'I'm ready for the trial.' I say as I'm pulled into my soul space and find myself in a blizzard, with snow and ice raging around me in my icewing form. I look around and see nothing but soon another icewing arrives, she is much larger than me and wears a crown that looks like it was carved from ice itself "Follow." she says before leading me through the storm, we enter a forest before coming up to a large mountain and stop at a cave entrance where another icewing around my size is waiting. "Enter the cave." she says and I follow the other icewing who hands me a spear with a strange glowing ball tied to it, as we cross the threshold of the cave the system pings again,
[Welcome to the Diamond Trial, your objective is to survive.]