The blood was spurting out his neck like water from a pump. His awareness of the world around him faded, while each moment stretched and morphed in his mind. Memories of all that he had accomplished revisited him… so many of them at the Academy, but now his time had run out. Linhart surrendered to the inevitability that awaited him.
The darkness was with him, for an unnameable piece of time, or perhaps time wasn’t passing at all. His vision was gone, along with the pain of his neck being cut wide open. These things didn’t bother him. But he did hold on tightly to the last sensation he’d felt. The warm soft sensation of Zoey’s body beneath his own. She sure did look good in that uniform.
“I forgot what it felt like to die,” he thought. “I was given a second chance at life, and I didn’t do any better this time around.” He tried to speak, to laugh bitterly, but there was no sound that could pierce this emptiness. “...At least I lost my virginity… and I met some amazing people!...”
He thought about the girls he’d been intimate with. Xenia, Octavia, Zoey, Maeve, Ami, Poppy, Thalia, and Iris. Their names played through his thoughts like a roll-call. Their faces drifted through his consciousness, and in his mind’s eye he remembered every kiss they had shared, and each inch of their bodies he had explored and left his mark on.
He let out an ethereal sigh of contentment. Claiming even one of these would've been enough to let him die happy. Making love to all of them was incredible. Their gorgeous faces, and hot, muscular bodies. He knew they were on a far higher level than he, but they had wanted him just as badly as he had wanted them. And he had conquered.
His thoughts wandered on, and like dark clouds moving in, he thought of the other girls and the regrets he had. Relationships he had messed up. Chloe, the girl he had driven to madness and to murder. He didn't hold it against her. It was his fault for separating her from her sister. Giselle, the girl who tried to protect him and to claim him. It had ended with him torturing her in return and blaming her for what was done to… Serapha. He regretted her most of all. She had confessed to him, showed him her love, but he had never fully accepted her. She’d been loyal, and giving, and perfect. But he didn’t even give her a kiss… not once.
“I screwed up,” he proclaimed to the void, “Not just with her, but my whole life. This repeat life of mine... I lived it poorly. Almighty gods, if you are here, if you’re listening to me… Send me back, and I’ll do better!”
The final words repeated in his mind. A hundred times over, he thought those words, “Send me back, and I’ll do better.”
* * * * * * * * *
It wasn’t clear when he left the dark place. Had he ever been there at all or was it just a dream? He had been reflecting on the life he had just lived, and then he became aware that he was somewhere else.
The warm air and a slight breeze playing across his skin. The sounds and smells of eager young people all around him, moving in a crowd. Someone bumped into him and he nearly lost his balance. He opened his eyes and found a sight that made his heart skip a beat.
He was standing on a path, just outside the Squared Circle. A stream of students in crisp new freshmen uniforms were flowing into the Pit for their class orientation.
“I can’t wait to see the fights, especially if the seniors are demonstrating,” a boy walking next to him was saying excitedly, “I just hope there’s no blood. That’d freak me out!”
Deja vu! Linhart had heard those exact words just a couple of weeks before.
Another boy let out a shriek and replied, “Did you see the Stratega Fighter? She is such a hottie. I would let her wrestle me to the ground!” They both shriek, even higher than before.
Again? They had done that before, too! Those poor delusional boys. Would they still be so excited in two weeks time? Would they even make it that long?
“I’m going to be a melee fighter, all the way,” a plain-looking girl spoke with a suggestive tone to another young girl. She paused as they passed by Linhart, and she smiled hungrily as her eyes met his. “I can’t believe some of these cuties are in the same class as us.”
“Yeah,” the second girl was trying to sound tough, though she looked nervous as hell. “I bet they’re trying out to be sharpshooters, like I am. Boys don’t like to be close to danger, after all. Guess I'll have to stay back and… keep them safe.” The two girls share a raunchy laugh.
The whole scene had played out before, but there was something different. This was definitely the same time and place he had been reset to before. He was back on his first day of school in his freshman year, and it appeared to be the same girl-dominated world he’d just died in. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something small and subtle had changed around him.
Throwing aside that feeling of uncertainty, he began moving with the crowd, retracing his steps from the last time he’d lived out this scene. What a perfect day to start again! The first day of school, a fresh start for everyone, not just for him. Could he influence the events of this world? He was hopeful that he, with his free will and knowledge of the future, could fix some of the mistakes that had been made previously. Otherwise, he'd be living the same life again... able to predict the wrongs and crimes that would happen but be unable to prevent them.
His feet carried him back to the same open spot in the front row. Serapha was there! When he saw her sitting there, emotion welled up in his chest. Relief and joy filled his heart and tears threatened to fill his eyes.
She was sitting restless and alone. Dressed in her brand new uniform, her glasses and mousy hairstyle brought him back to the way she looked before weeks of bullying, abuse, and finally assault. Here in front of him was the pure, innocent version of Serapha with a bright future in front of her.
“Sera,” he exclaimed. He rushed to give her a hug, but ended up falling on top of her in the process.
Her quick reflexes activated and she caught him before they both toppled off the bench, and before she could see who he was. “Ohh, what?…” she froze, unsure of how to react with this boy in her arms. Then she exclaimed, “It’s you!...” and her arms wrapped around him, returning his hug twice as hard.
“Lin, I’m so happy to see you!…” Her excitement was real. Her happiness felt genuine. He was still on top of her unable to regain his balance. She moved his weight to her side and shifted her body, , her soft breasts rubbing up against him, before finally plopping him down on the bench next to her. Just that moment of skinship was enough to leave them both overwhelmed, expectant, and horny.
She didn’t let him go, keeping her arms around him, he felt her heart was beating faster, as she asked, “What’s going on? This is the first time you’ve ever hugged me… I mean, willingly!”
She was so charming! Confident but hesitant, wanting to be close to him, but not to repulse him.
“I just… I haven’t seen you for a while,” he replied, finally releasing his hold on her. “I felt bad about the way I left you last time.”
“What are you talking about… it this because you called me ‘creepy’?"
Wait, he had called her creepy? What kind of history did they have in this world? Linhart examined Serapha’s lovely face and the way her freshman uniform hugged her form so nicely. His former self must have been crazy, this was the least creepy looking girl he’d ever seen.
"I know I took it too far during our last practice fight. I kinda was acting creepy towards you, so I deserved it. Don’t worry about me, okay?”
“Well, I’m going to be better to you this time, Sera, and we’re going to become elite Fighters together, right?”
Her eyes opened wide behind her glasses, and her mouth broke into a big grin. He hadn’t seen her look this happy since they were kids, and he returned that happiness, leaning into her warmth as she threw her arms around him once more, “Oh Lin, I want that more than anything. I really missed you this past month… I thought about you every day.”
With Serapha turned towards him now, her skirt was riding up her thighs, giving him a clear view of her sexy green panties. He could actually feel the heat coming off her body as she pressed closer to him. But a thought in the back of his mind was nagging at him. Something had changed!
“Sera, your underwear… it’s green.”
“Well, yeah,” she laughed, “It’s the Fighter code, remember?… Fighter’s Green!”
Linhart turned around and was treated to an upskirt view of dozens of girls sitting behind them. Most of them were leaning forward on the edge of their seats, their legs spread wide, as bold and lively as he remembered them, but what was previously an rainbow of pastels and brights was now a uniform color. Every one of the girls was wearing panties of the same shade… deep forest green.
“What’s wrong, Linhart?” Serapha asked with concern, her eyes moving down to his nether regions. “Are you wearing the wrong color?”
A brief mischievous look passed over her face and, before he could reply, she saw her opportunity and went for it. Her hand darted out and stretched his pants in front of him. A rush of embarrassment flooded his face, as his hand grabbed for hers a moment too late. If he wasn’t wearing any underwear, she would have had a full view of his dick. Luckily that was not the case. Beneath his red uniform pants, he was sporting a fresh pair of boxers. Their color... forest green.
"Huh, I wear boxing shorts for underwear in this loop?" he muttered to himself. He was glad to note that his penis still seemed to be the same size and just as vigorous as ever. Perhaps this new underwear would keep his dick from getting hard all the time?
Serapha looked closely, analyzing the color of his underwear, then 'ooo'ed as it twitched and grew under her light touch and scrutiny. She had a look of wonder on her face now.
“It, uh… It looks good to me…” she gulped loudly, as though she had used all her courage to get this far and was now frozen, still not letting go of his waistband.
“Are you going to look at my underwear all day, Sera?” he asked quietly.
Her eyes met his, and the two of them shared a strange moment of intimacy, their faces inches apart and her hand tugging at his pants, amid this crowd of excited freshmen. But then, a cheer rose up shattering the lewd feeling between them.
