Finish the Fight 00: A Fresh Start
AN: A one shot conceptualization of what would eventually become this fanfic. Enjoy!
Louise was furious.
She had been outside, sitting at a dining table by herself, simply minding her own business as usual, tea in hand, when she caught wind of her stupid, undignified, disrespectful, goddamned insane familiar challenging a mage to a duel. It wasn't just any mage either.
It was Tabitha.
"I'm going to kill that no good, rotten, sleazy commoner if it's the last thing I do," Louise growled out, making her way to the Vestry Court. But despite all her anger, Louise couldn't help but feel the need to hurry, hoping to stop him before he, or even the mother that had come with him, killed them all.
As she neared, the crowd of people had surrounded the duo, who stood not further than two meters apart. Tabitha, uncharacteristically, had no book in her hand, but instead was staring down the young man standing before her. He stood some inches taller than her, his arms crossed, a cocky grin etched deep into his features as he looked at the young prodigy. The entire crowd whispered of her familiar's impending and obvious defeat, yet not wanting to turn away from the very rare spectacle.
A commoner challenging a triangle class mage... what a story to tell! That commoner is going to get destroyed!
Only Louise knew just how wrong they truly were.
"Avalon! That's enough!" Louise barged through the crowd, catching the attention of the onlookers, but not her familiar and his opponent. They kept their eyes locked.
"Ah, Louise, you're just in time. I'm glad you could make it,"
"What are you talking about, you stupid dog?" Pulling him roughly away from Tabitha, she lowered her voice while staring him sternly in the eye. " Of course I'm not glad that you basically just signed Tabitha's death warrant! What in the world are you thinking, challenging her to a duel?!"
Avalon simply chuckled.
"You know, it's that kind of faith in me that you have that made me want to do this in the first place. That, and little Tabby here is supposedly the strongest in your grade. I wanted to see for myself," he said, motioning for Louise to step back. She refused, keeping firm at his side, but Avalon didn't falter.
"Avalon!"
"Relax, would you? I'm not going to kill her, I'm just going to see how strong she is. No harm will be done, not to her, and certainly not to you or your classmates. I promise."
They stared each other down for a few more moments, before Louise let out a frustrated sigh, stepping back to join the crowd. Avalon grinned, turning back to his opponent.
"You hear all that? I know you were listening with that spell," he told her. Tabitha's eyes narrowed, and she slowly nodded her head. How did he know?
"Good. But don't think I'm gonna hold back..." Pausing dramatically, the world became silent as Avalon lifted up his left hand ever so slowly.
"Tabitha the Snowstorm!" Tabitha's eyes widened as she felt her battle hardened instincts kick to life, and she shifted her footing in a way that only a true warrior would notice. Yes. This is what he was looking for. Not these pathetic little mutts in their pen. That's all these so called nobles were to him. But she was different. She was like him. She was a fighter. And he wanted to test her, come hell or high water.
"Allow me to introduce myself in your ways," he went on. Then, before everyone's eyes, the temperature began to drop, their breath becoming visible, a whirlwind of ice and snow forming at Avalon's fingertips. The entire crowd gasped and cried out in shock as the ice solidified, extending into an elongated shape. Avalon grasped it firmly, and the ice shattered, leaving a Glaive in his hand. It was beautifully crafted, with a serpentine golden dragon etched into the two meter long, sapphire blue pole. Affixed to the head of the pole was an elaborate, silver socket-shaft, a straight, fifteen inch, single edged blade inserted firmly inside. What kind of metal was that? Tabitha couldn't be certain.
While the others awed, Louise groaned. That liar! He said he would hold back!
"My name is Avalon the snowfall. Tabitha the snowstorm, can your winter's fury match my winter's riposte?"
Leaving no time for a reply, Avalon firmly grasped the butt of his weapon with his right hand, dashing at Tabitha with blinding speed. However, the young wind mage didn't falter, and dodged the blade as it was swung in a wide, upward arc. She took the time to admire the beautiful blade; it was a design that was unlike any she had ever seen. It definitely wasn't Halkeginian, just like Avalon, she suspected.
As she regained her footing, and the crowd began to cheer, Tabitha raised her staff and retaliated, firing shards of ice at her attacker. The grin on his lips became animalistic, and with deadly accuracy, Avalon retreated, cutting the shards out of the air, a menacing shing with every slash. He flourished his weapon theatrically, twirling it several times before returning it to a resting position behind him.
"Come now, Snowstorm, that can't be all you have! Show me your true strength! Scream, Yukikaze!" With a powerful thrust, Avalon pushed his weapon forward, shifting his one handed grip to the middle of his Glaive. A horizontal tornado of ice raced towards Tabitha, leaving a cold snowy path in its wake. More shouts were heard and Tabitha immediately dodged, allowing the attack to strike the wall. Instead of freezing the wall like she thought it would, the ice shards hit the wall and scattered its deadly shards in every direction. The crowd scampered away on sight, the shards coming dangerously close, but no one was hurt. Tabitha erected a wind barrier to deflect the ice.
Her eye's narrowed. He was serious.
As Louise, who had retreated as well, watched the fight go on, she couldn't help but feel a little giddy. She knew her familiar was strong, but this? Even though she had never been on a battlefield, her experiences with her family had given her the foresight to see that Avalon was a dangerous and skilled warrior. The look in his eye. The finesse of his swing. She had summoned such a powerful familiar! She wasn't a failure!
...She summoned a powerful familiar, that could have killed her at any time. And she ignorantly abused him, verbally and attempting physically, whenever his mother wasn't around. He had played it off casually, seeing her antics as something to be admired, her determination amusing, but she realized at that very moment, if she had truly threatened him, truly hurt him during their three days together, he would have killed her, and laughed while doing it.
She was so glad his mother wasn't here to see this...
...Oh no.
"Avalon! What in the world is going on here?!"
Stopping dead in his tracks, Avalon's gaze darted towards the source of the mature, powerful, and most importantly, angry, female voice. There stood a tall, fair skinned female, long blonde hair falling down to the middle of her back like liquid gold. Her eyes were a piercing green, and her outfit a modest, yellow, one piece dress that reached down to her ankles. Her hands rested firmly on her hips, her fingers tapping.
But what made the entire crowd silence was her long ears. Whispers began circulating, and Louise groaned again.
"M-Mom!" The heads of all the other students snapped towards Avalon as gasps and cries escaped from their mouths. Some even fainted.
Ignoring them completely, Avalon's mother walked up to him, each step closer making Avalon shrink back in fear.
"You and I will have words, young man." To Louise's surprise, Avalon's mother firmly grasped him by the ear, tugging him toward's Tabitha. Avalon let out cries of pain as she did so, trying to pull away from the death grip his mother had on him.
"How dare you?! How dare you disobey me and start a fight! Did I not strictly tell you to avoid that roguish attitude?! Challenging the poor girl like you did, what were you thinking?!"
"Gah! Go to hell you hag!"
Normally, if it were anyone else, Louise would have expected to see them dead. Anyone with the guts to challenge an elf like he did would expect such. Instead, Louise had the immense pleasure of seeing Avalon's cheek being pulled this time, instead of his ear.
But a thought occured to her; was that what she looked like when her elder sister Eleanor pulled her cheeks like that? Dear Brimir, it looks awful!
"I'm sorry for the trouble that my son has caused you. I will punish him thoroughly for his mistreatment. Feel free to observe his spanking. Avalon blushed deeply in embarassment.
"Oh, come on!"