XXII ‖ common uncommon 

White curtains, soft sheets. 

I recognised this scene and immediately realised that I was brought back to the dreamscape where my nightmares were manifested upon. Seized by apprehension, I closed my eyes back and waited for a pair of hands to touch me in the most torturous tender manner while caging me in a body warmth that felt all too familiar even after five whole years. 

Yet, there was nothing. 

I was all alone this time and when I opened my eyes again, the surroundings became clearer each time I blinked. Sitting myself up, I tried to scan around the room through the sheer white canopy that draped over the bed. For the first time, I noticed that this room had a door and I quickly struggle out of the sheets and went towards it. Carefully pushing it ajar, I stuck my head out and saw a long, bright passageway filled with an uncountable number of doors that flanked on each side. 

My heart thumped nervously, overwhelmed by a sense of fear at the sight of this endlessness. Every door was identical, spaced out evenly and lined symmetrically on each side. When I took a step beyond the room I was in, my feet were immediately drowned under a thin layer of mist that swirled and tingled against my skin. I moved down the empty passageway, trying to figure out any signs of irregularity that may help me escape from this realm. 

Unnervingly, not only did I not find anything, I realised that I had already lost sight of the one that I had originally exited from. Swinging my hand through the air, twinkling dust of varied colours danced in the exact motion. Wondrous as it seemed, I could only ponder what it meant for me to be trapped in this space. The dust eventually fused together into an illuminated sphere ahead of me and drifted fast in a general direction. 

Surprised, I called out, "Wait!" 

Lifting my feet into a run, I quickly followed behind. I don't even know how long or how far I've run but by the time I caught up with the light, I was already huffing breathlessly. My brows knitted together in utmost annoyance and I lifted my head, wanting to spew a stream of expletives at the damned sphere before I realised that I stood right in front of a door. 

This door didn't look any different from every other one that stood along the passageway but an unsettling feeling rose within me. Placing my hand on the knob, my heart raced while I contemplated if I should enter. My wrist turned and my shoulder pushed against the door but my eyes were blinded by the piercing lights that shone from within, forcing them shut immediately. My hand instinctively shielded over and I was finding it hard to breathe. It was a moment of nothingness because I finally caught a sharp inhale and my body jolted right up. 

I was wide awake back in my own room in my loft apartment. My head turned, still confused by the unsettling dream as I grabbed hold of the alarm clock from the nightstand beside my bed and realised that it's only half-past six in the morning but all the intention to return back to sleep had vanished. Vexed, I shifted out of my bed and headed into the showers. 

I quickly got ready and stashed some of my clothes into my bag before swinging it on my shoulder and left for Lethe. 

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LONDON
February
Location: Elysium, Lethe 

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"Surprised to see you early," Jax commented as he entered the gym at half-past seven, thirty minutes before the time we were supposed to begin training together. Ignoring his remark totally, I swung my fist into the punching bag in an attempt to exhaust myself and get those frustrating thoughts out of my head. 

"Iva," he called me. 

"What?" I huffed, rounding a forceful kick towards the punching bag and the sound of impact echoed resoundingly through the entire gym. 

"Is something wrong?" he asked, concerned. 

"Nothing," I hissed through clenched teeth, trying to regulate my already ragged breathing. "Nothing that you need to be concerned of." 

"If something's bothering you, please talk to me," he offered and raised his arm to removed the bag strap off him. Resting his stuff on the bench, his hands moved to bunch on the hem of his black sweater as he lifted it off him and revealed the fitting grey top underneath. 

Still catching my breath, I ripped open the strap of my boxing glove with my teeth and settled on the padded mat. My eyes had drifted towards his direction involuntarily and thankfully enough, he had his back facing me and that gave me a guilt-free chance to admire how those muscles on his perfectly toned arms ripple as he moved. I scowled internally. Quit looking like a Greek God who descended from the damned heavens. 

The second I sensed him turning around, I hurriedly dropped my head down and focused on untangling the cloth wraps on my hand. They were supposed to come off easily but I had somehow made a mess of them. I heard Jax chuckling as he walked towards me and lowered himself to sit right in front of me. He reached for my hand and continued to laugh funnily, "Are you always this clumsy?" 

"Are you always this rude?" I tutted as heat crept their way up to my face. 

I lifted my gaze towards him, wishing so badly to wipe that annoying smirk off his face while watching him carefully unknotting and removing the cotton wraps from my hands. Every single time his fingertips grazed across my bare skin, the butterflies in my stomach fluttered their wings relentlessly and I was constantly reminded of the heat of our kiss the night before. 

Honestly, if I was brave enough, I would've pinned him down on the mats and claimed those full, kissable lips once again. Unconsciously, my throat worked on a swallow and I was too swarmed by my own fantasies that I didn't even notice that he was done getting those infuriating pieces of cloth off my hands. I had only came to my realisation when his head lifted and those greyish-blue eyes stared right into mine, fixing me in his unending gaze. He said my name in a low voice, "Iva?" 

I snapped into attention immediately and lifted my hand over my mouth as I let out a dry cough to dissipate some awkwardness. I scooted away from him and stood up. Pulling on my towel which I hung on the ropes of the wrestling area, I buried my head into it and asked in a muffled voice, "What's in for today?" 

He mentioned, "Theories." 

I threw the towel aside and my shoulders dropped in disappointment. I complained, "Really, mentor? I thought you loved me?" 

"Correction, I love you, not loved. And I promise you that this would be exciting," Jax let out a resonant laugh. "So, come here and sit down, sweetness." 

"Your love doesn't sound genuine, Jax." I rolled my eyes. "Regardless, do enlighten me." 

"I only speak truth to you, latreía mou." He pushed himself up and walked back to where he placed his stuff to take out a tool bag. As he returned, he explained, "I have to teach you how to hunt a diabolo with critical accuracy." 

Daggers, needles and bullets of different kinds were on full display before me as he rolled our the tool bag. But none of them looked peculiar to me. In fact, I had spent so much time experimenting with weapons during my free time in Styx that I almost knew each and every one of them that existed within the Elysium inventory. Frowning, I asked, "Aren't these common weapons?" 

"Common?" Jax threw a question back before picking up one of the daggers. His fingers traced on a mark on the dagger before throwing it towards the mannequin across the other side of the wrestling arena, aiming straight through the chest. The dagger pierced right through and after a split-second pause, the whole mannequin exploded into a million pieces of dust and ashes. 

Holy crackers. 

My jaw dropped and my eyes gleamed with wild excitement as I attempted to grab onto one of them to try it for myself. Disappointingly, Jax slapped my hand away right the second I was about to lay my hand on those mythical babies. 

"Gods, hold up for a second!" he laughed, grinning widely and revealing those attractive dimples that matched perfectly well on his charming face. "You're so much like a kid." 

"I'm not a child!" I complained, rubbing on the back of my hand to ease the sting of his hit. "Plus, how much do you actually know about a child to compare me to one?" 

Surprisingly, Jax didn't exercise his usual witty comebacks. I smirked, about to gloat over my victory but got interjected by his warning, "Say one more word and I'll kiss you." 

I choked a little, unsure why the back of my mind actually formed the words: Not that I mind. 

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a/n: this felt like a filler chapter but something is definitely coming up.
any theories on iva and/or jax?