STORMWEAVER II: Chapter 30 Sneak Peek (Patreon)

Fake smile. Fake laugh. Fake energy. All of it fake.

And Logan could see right through it.

He’d wanted to rush from the railing the moment Viv had been taken away on the stretcher, wanted to sprint for the stairs and be there in the tunnels when she came to. Unfortunately, he’d somehow managed to catch the eye of none other that Major Reese as he’d turned—who hadn’t even bothered to stand from his front-row seat to watch Viv’s match—and the man almost been smirking as he’d “kindly” reminded Logan that “Cadet Arada would be find” and there was “no reason to get distracted from the upcoming fight”.

The fact that Reese was technically right on all counts had made it impossible to argue, even when the reminder of their impending Wargames match stoked Logan’s hard-wrangled anger for a moment.

And so, seething and worried, he’d return to his own seat with the rest of the squad, consoled himself only mildly by firing a message off to Viv letting her know it had been an amazing fight and he hoped she was okay, and waited.

It was almost 10 minutes later that she’d finally appeared at the top of the underwork stairs, and the moment she turned to look at them Logan’s stomach had dropped.

Her smile was bright. Her smile was wide. Her smile was strong.

And her smile was fake.

Oh no… was all Logan could think before Catchwick, too, caught sight of Viv and lifted an arm to wave her down.

She joined them as though nothing in the world was wrong, even graciously accepting every congradeuatlions on a good fight and every assurance that it had been an incredible, incredible match to watch. Even the other members of Valormade—Vademe was still warming down, apparently—leaned around Firesong to echo the praise, with Red Crown and a couple of nearby second and third years doing the same. Viv accepted it all, laughing and thanking everyone in turn and assuring them that she would do better next time. To almost anyone else, it might have seemed like she was basking in the attention and proud of her display.

To Logan, it was like watching a glass statue crack a little with every pasty that touched it, its strength and beauty and poise nothing more than a varnish for the impending disaster of it’s collapse…