Everything was going fine. Black Gold took down the first attacker with one kick and immediately turned towards the next person. She climbed on that person's back and swung back before projecting the attacker in the air. Black Gold was flying at this point and it looked as if she had repeated this choreography for years. Everything just looked too perfect and Camie forgot for a second that this was a real fight.
What woke her up was Phoenix's fire's heat. Feeling it lick her cheeks forced Camie to back away and her gaze got attracted to Phoenix for the first time. His fighting was way uglier than Black Gold's. It was just as powerful but it just looked... Improvised. It was still nice to watch but Camie by far prefered Black Gold.
No matter how they were fighting, the most important thing was that they were winning. However, Camie didn't expect that the fact that civilians had been evacuated wouldn't only be positive. Now that there was no one to protect, Phoenix was fighting next to Black Gold and their fighting techniques were too different. None of them were paying attention to the other and it seemed more as if they were fighting separately then together. At some point Phoenix even crashed into Black Gold inadvertently. It was only the beginning of their partnership so they weren't used to each other yet. This destabilized Black Gold who didn't expect any attack to come from Phoenix and she fell to the ground.
The archer took advantage of the situation to aim for her. But Camie couldn't have Théa get hurt. Then she would have done all of this for nothing. She didn't have time to think and rushed out of her hiding place to run towards Théa.
"Arrow!"
Hearing the scream made Théa look up and Camie didn't have time to understand the face she made before she threw herself on her. Camie didn't have time to think and used her own body as a shield. She thought that she wouldn't feel anything because of the adrenaline but she really didn't feel anything at all and when she opened her eyes she realized that she wasn't on top anymore and that Théa had made them rotate to protect Camie from the arrow instead.
"What?"
Camie didn't have time to ask what had happened because the next second Théa's powers got out of hand and dark smoke engulfed the field. Théa protected Camie from the smoke with her own body but Camie could hear the attackers scream in pain. And the next second, nothing. Everything calmed down and Théa straightened up. Camie was still too shocked to say anything and she couldn't have even if she wanted to because Théa started screaming at her:
"What were you thinking? You could have died!
-I..."
Camie couldn't see her face behind the mask but her voice sounded really angry. Angrier than she had ever heard her before. Be it in the visions or in real life. The only thing that was visible from Théa's body were her eyes and Camie had never seen them so cold. This selfless hero's eyes turned completely black and Camie was sure that she would have seen her eyes shining even from under a mask.
"How can you be so reckless? Why would you do this? You can't put yourself in danger!
-I just wanted to protect you...
-I am the hero! I am the one who needs to protect others!"
Camie thought she would cry for some reason:
"Then who will protect you? They were aiming at you! I didn't want you to get hurt!"
Théa got so surprised that she froze. Her eyes suddenly went back to piercing green. Camie couldn't see her face but she could imagine the expression she must have been making.
"I'm sorry... I just wanted to help... I..."
Camie didn't have time to say more because she suddenly felt something warm on her cheek. She raised her hand and when she touched it she saw blood on her fingers. Camie immediately grabbed Théa's shoulder which made the hero grunt.
"You got hurt! Quick, let's call an ambulance!"
Théa shook her head:
"It's okay.
-It isn't! It must really hurt! I should have been the one to get hurt. Why?"
Camie suddenly felt a hand caress her cheek. She didn't notice that she had been crying.
"I am glad you're okay.
-But you... You..."
Théa pulled Camie close to her chest:
"Sh, it's okay. You are okay.
-But you are not...
-It's okay."
Théa continued caressing Camie's back slowly. However they soon heard people approaching and that made Théa freeze.
"I have to go.
-Wait! You have to see a doctor. Please.
-I can't. They can't know who I am.
-I will help you hide. Just have them check you out.
-I can't show them any weakness.
-But your shoulder...
-I will be fine. Don't worry."
Camie didn't have time to insist more because Théa turned around and left. Paramedics appeared behind Camie the next second and they checked her making sure that she was okay. She did get a survival blanket and warm tea but they told her that she was completely okay. Once sure that her life wasn't in danger, Camie's friends got finally let closer and they panicked seeing Camie in a blanket:
"What happened?
-You said you would never run into a fight again!"
Topiary pushed Emma with her elbow:
"Stop yelling at her. She is the victim here."
Camie shook her head:
"No, she's right. I'm sorry. Because of me...
-You don't have to apologize, Camie. Anyone could have been caught by those villains. We are just glad that you got saved."
The three girls stayed with Camie for longer before Camie got let go by the paramedics. As soon as they walked away from the ambulance, the girls got surrounded by cameras and microphones got pushed into Camie's face. Her friends tried protecting her from them but the journalists were way too many.
"What happened on the field?
-Is Omen getting closer to victory?
-Did you get abducted by a villain?
-Did you beg Black Gold not to hurt you?
-Did you get threatened by Black Gold?"
Camie was really confused but her friends quickly pulled her into a building, saving her from the questions. Now that they were finally alone, Camie sighed:
"What was that? What were those weird questions? Black Gold threatening me?"
Camie laughed awkwardly but seeing her friends turn their heads away awkwardly made her frown:
"What? You know something I don't."
Nylora took out her phone from her pocket and handed it to Camie. It seemed journalists had been very quick and there were already articles on the net with pictures of Camie crying while grabbing Black Gold's arm. What shocked Camie however was the headlines:
"Innocent student begs Black Gold not to hurt her? What is this?
-It got posted a few minutes ago. We thought you took shelter. Do you know how scared we were when we saw this picture?
-She didn't hurt me! she saved me!
-We know, we know. But you know social media...
-This is not okay."
Camie turned back towards the door with a determined look. Her friends knew that look and they were scared:
"What are you going to do?
-I am going to tell everyone the truth. Black Gold saved my life. Without her I would be a drainer.
-Okay, okay. We will tell everyone about it later. For now you should calm down.
-No. I'm going to tell them right now.
-Camie, we know you. You are not going to tell them. You are going to hit them.
-I could do both.
-Camie!"
But her friends couldn't hold her back anymore and Camie ran out of the building.