HP: The Arcane Thief
Chapter 71: One wish

"Renervate."

Since his business with Tonks was done, Axel renervated her and removed her bindings.

"?!!!"

But... he didn't anticipate her reaction. As soon as she woke up, the first thing she did was to punch him in the face.

WHOOSH

And that punch… It turned out to be strong enough to cave his face in! Fortunately, Axel somehow managed to deflect it in time.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He demanded as he glared at Tonks, his knife already at her throat. Axel was really a but scared this time. He didn't know if he could have avoided that punch without the training/beating in Hand-to-hand that he had received from Akiko. And what was with that power?! He thought only he was supposed to have super strength here.

Tonks seemed to have come to her senses by now, "HolyMorgana!I'msooosorry!" She exclaimed frantically as she checked his face where the punch had barely grazed him. And Axel couldn't help but notice that the skin of the hand she had hit him with had been darkened and hardened, in case the insane power alone wasn't enough to destroy her victims.

"...." If that punch had connected, he would have been in trouble.

Tonks rubbed her temples, "I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to hurt you. It's just…" Tonks was quite surprised by the situation herself. Her head was throbbing with pain and she was feeling very disoriented. Just now, when she had woken up in this darkness with her thoughts in a jumbled mess, not recalling how she was here, she had lashed out after suddenly seeing someone so close. Only after a few seconds she recall what had happened and how she had ended up here.

Axel realized that her reaction just now must have been due to his forceful intrusion into her mind. He had managed to avoid detection using the system's method, but his proficiency was still low. Anyways, he can't blame the girl for this. Looking at Tonks who looked to be on the verge of figuring out that she had been mind-raped, Axel quickly got up.

"I'll go now. Don't follow me anymore," Before Tonks could respond, Axel had already left the place.

Tonight, he hadn't caught the criminal, but he did get some important information.

'Atlantis…'

He recalled what he already knew about the place. Unsurprisingly, everything he knew was taught by Professor Gorski, their previous History teacher. Now it makes sense why he'd know about it. Gorski was a member of the Organization, and the Organization turned out to be from Atlantis. Of course he'll know about Atlantis. Too bad, that source is no longer available. It would seem Axel will have to find out about it some other way.

….

The next day, Akiko was once again found training at his spot.

"Are you ready?" She asked, getting into position for another sparring session. She looked determined to beat him again.

"Can't you teach me ninjutsu today?" Asked Axel with a sigh.

Akiko shook her head, "No ninjutsu until you've mastered Hand-to-hand," she said seriously.

"... Whatever."

Axel could only shrug as he got into position.

Tilting her head slightly, Akiko looked at Axel like she was looking at a rare animal. "You're ready for the pain?"

Yesterday, after getting used to his surprises she had beaten him quite badly. And today was probably going to be the same. This was her grandfather's method of making her back down whenever she forced him to teach her something risky. Had her resolution been weak and lacking, she would have quit very easily. So, she thought that it would be easy to make Axel quit.

On the other hand, Axel was a bit confused by her question. "Pain?" Was yesterday's training supposed to be painful? That was pain? In comparison to the Crutiatus, it was nothing but a massage.

"I don't really care about the pain. Let's begin," he replied to Akiko as he got into position. He was eager to learn ninjutsu, but he didn't mind mastering close combat first. After all, it did save his face from being bashed in last night, didn't it?

But Akiko, who didn't know all this, looked skeptical. She didn't believe he wouldn't give up if she made it more difficult. "Alright, let's begin."

And begin they did, fighting with a ferocity that would leave any onlookers shocked. Axel was now reaping the benefits of all the hardships he had suffered in maintaining such a tasteless but expensive diet and the grueling training he had been doing throughout the year. With his body at the peak of human endeavor, he can now easily keep up with someone like Akiko, who has been receiving the best guidance since early childhood. Combined with his insane pain tolerance, he was an unstoppable force in a sparring session.

They only stopped when Akiko was too tired to continue. Panting for breath, she looked at Axel who still hadn't shone any signs of backing out. When her grandfather had used this trick on her to make her give up, she had only persisted because her drive had been very strong. She wanted revenge against the Organization who had killed her parents. But, she couldn't understand why the boy in front of won't quit.

"Why... Why won't you give up?" She asked in between her panting.

Axel, who was using [Heal] on his wounds, couldn't be bothered to answer,

"...Just cause." He replied, a bit short for breath himself.

"Fine!" muttered Akiko as she left the clearing in a huff. He'll give up soon enough. She'll have to make him. She has no time to train someone else when her goal is to destroy the Kraken.

...

After coming out of the clearing, Axel went to the training ground where all the students had gathered. But this time, he didn't go to Daphne. He first looked for Martina. To find out about Atlantis, the first person he could think of within his reach was her. Axel knew if anyone would know about a mysterious magical place, submerged underwater, with outside entry banned, it would be this curious but powerful geek.

Now that he has a lead on the organization, he was very eager to capitalize on it. He didn't even mind the attention he'd draw to himself talking to her in public like this.

Axel found Martina easily enough, you just had to follow the crowd. Wearing a purple workout outfit, she was doing some light stretching, unknowingly drawing the eyes of half of Hogwarts male population towards her. Around her were a group of Ravenclaw girls, fiercely guarding her like a national treasure.

When they saw Axel, they all glared at him, but no one stopped him since everyone knew about them being close. But, that didn't stop them from sending threatening and warning looks his way as he approached her.

"Martina." Axel called out making her stop.

Martina was doing some warm up before the physical training starts. After witnessing first-hand the effectiveness of high athletic ability during Axel's fight with the Basilisk, Martina had decided to take this class seriously. Hearing Axel's voice, she was pleasantly surprised.

"Axel?!"

"Yeah, I need your help."

Martina was actually glad to hear that. She had yet to think about how to repay him for his help in the Chamber of Secrets. So, she quickly sent the Ravens away for some privacy.

"So, what did you want my help for?"

Axel sighed. "It's about Atlantis. What can you tell me about it."

"Atlantis? Why do you want to know about it all of a sudden?" Asked Martina in surprise.

Axel shrugged, "Do you know or not?"

Martina sighed regretfully, "Actually, I've already tried researching about it multiple times before. I'm quite curious about their civilization. But, I haven't been able to find out much."

"What are you guys talking about?"

At this moment, someone interrupted their conversation. Coming to stand by Axel's side. It was Daphne, who couldn't help herself from coming over after seeing so many students already pointing at Axel and Martina and manufacturing new sets of rumors.

Martina nodded at Daphne, "Heiress Greengrass. It's a pleasure as always. Axel was just asking about something important to tell." Whenever she was in front of outsiders, she would revert to her pureblood princess mode which had learned from her mom.

But Daphne, who was already misunderstanding Martina's intentions, thought that Martina was showing off her closeness to Axel to her. 'Flexing in front of me?'

Putting on a surprised and apologetic look, she said, "Oh, am I interrupting something important? Actually, Axel had asked me to skip classes today since he was going to give me some 'private training'. I came here wanting to discuss that."

Even though Daphne was trying to flex in a different context, her words did erupt quite a lot of jealousy in Martina.

'Private training from Axel?!' This was the same person who had killed a Lethifold and a Basilisk. Of course she also wanted private lessons from him! But, she wasn't thick-skinned enough to ask about joining them.

Axel shook his head, "Not today. I haven't found the right place to train yet."

The things he was going to teach Daphne were rather secretive. Not only does it have to be private since he's going to teach her Occlumency, but it also has to be spacious for the physical training. And the clearing was no longer an option. So, he planned on finding such a place today.

Martina, who was feeling regretful after not being able to help Axel, perked up after hearing him. "You need a place to train?"

"Yeah."

Martina smiled, "You don't need to worry about that anymore. I happen to know just the right place," she said, putting a privacy charm around them.

…

"I still think she made a fool out of us," voiced Daphne, looking at the wall across from a tapestry of a man attempting to train some trolls for the ballet.

Axel rolled his eyes, "You can't even give her the benefit of doubt? And here I thought I was the one with trust issues."

Daphne clicked her tongue, "I'm not saying I can't trust her. I just can't help but wonder, if there really was a place as wonderful as the one she described, why would she so easily reveal it to us. Is she stupid or what?"

Axel shook his head, "She's not stupid. She could have told me about such a place last year as well, but she didn't. She did it this time because she owes me." At least she thinks she owes him. But Axel wouldn't reject it if he was being offered a good place to train.

Daphne narrowed her eyes, "She owes you as well? What did you do for her?"

"Nothing much, I just saved her from a scary monster once."

"... Well, don't tell me if you don't want to," huffed Daphne, thinking that he was being sarcastic.

Axel shrugged. He tried. It's not his fault if she didn't believe it.

"So, we just have to pace back and forth while imagining the kind of place I want, right?" He asked, turning his attention back to the door.

Daphne nodded, looking excited as well. After such a long time, it's going to be just her and Axel. She wondered if it could be called a date? She imagined a romantic place, where Axel would personally train her. They'd slowly, slowly grow closer, and then—

"It's here!"

Unfortunately, Daphne snapped out of her fantasy when a door appeared out of nowhere and Axel unceremoniously pushed it open.

"...." Inside was not the romantic place she had been imagining. But a spacious room with lots of training dummies, weights, and other training equipment.

"This place…" she began.

"It's perfect," said Axel, stepping in as he looked around. "It actually worked."

'Perfect' wasn't the word Daphne had in her mind for this place, but nevertheless, she still followed Axel into the room as the door closed behind them.

"So, what are you going to teach me?" Asked Daphne, looking at Axel with anticipation.

Axel frowned. "Do 10 laps of this place first."

???

Daphne couldn't understand the situation, but unable to deny him, she still did what he had asked.

"Hah…Hah… Done…" This room was quite big. Big enough that 10 laps was enough to make her weary.

"Do 15 push ups now."

???

"I…" Daphne wanted to say something, but in the end, she still got down on all fours as she began to do push ups.

"One… two….— fifteen… hah… "

"20 sit ups now."

"What?!"

"....—Seven…hah….Eight ….. hah…hah…hhah… Can I stop now?"

Axel watched her indifferently with his hands folded. "Do you want to give up already?"

"No!... It's just…."

"Just what? You expected me to teach you something good. You didn't expect it to be difficult, did you?"

"I…" She did expect it to be quite a bit different. Or more like, she was just too excited by the prospect of him training her that she didn't think much about this.

"I won't lie. I do have a lot to teach you," admitted Axel. "And those things are quite unique as well. Not this bullshit I'm having you do right now."

Daphne looked up at him from the ground. She really couldn't understand what was going on, "Then, why?" She asked, looking to be on the verge of tears. Why make her go through this for no reason? Was he just having fun in making her suffer?

"Because….I want to be sure that you're determined. I will only teach if you are serious about this. This is not a picnic, Daphne," replied Axel coldly.

"You always say that I don't trust you with my secrets, don't you? Well honestly, you're too weak and immature for me to tell you anything."

!!!!

That hurt. But Daphne had no words to deny him. She had always been trying hard to catch up to him, but no matter how hard she tried, the gap between them only seemed to be increasing over time. It has now come to the point that she can no longer tell just how strong he actually is. So, Axel WAS right. He's actually teaching her, giving her a chance to be able to stand beside him in the future, and here she is, only thinking about useless stuff. She just wanted to punch her earlier self now. She wondered if he's regretting teach her now.

'Damn it.' Looking at the dispirited Daphne, Axel wondered if he had said too much.

'Was I too harsh just now?' He wondered, misunderstanding her regretful look as signs of her giving up.

Actually, him offering to train Daphne, it wasn't entirely for her benefit. It was for his own selfishness as well. He wanted her to be strong, so that she doesn't randomly gets done in by one of his enemies in the future. He wanted her to have a good Occlumency defence, so that he can tell her stuff without having to lie and keep secrets for even the smallest of things. So, he didn't actually want her to quit. He wanted her to train seriously. So, very reluctantly, he decided to make a concession.

"Oi..."

From her collapsed position on the ground, Daphne looked up at Axel with her eyes glistening, seemingly on the verge of tears. She was afraid that Axel wouldn't train her now. Though... what came out of Axel's mouth was completely different from what she was expecting.

"One wish."

???"W-What?"

"If you actually succeeded in training to the level I deem passable... I will fulfill your one wish within reason."

Daphne: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...

A.N.: Powerstones. Thanks for support.