Wrath of the Archangel

"Is that your hand on my girlfriend?"

It all started on the walk to Professor Steele's class. Tanner was escorting Violet, after all that was his job. Even though they weren't official yet, he would make sure that others didn't have any misconceptions about Violet's availability. Or at least he thought they wouldn't...

They were just crossing one of Beacon's larger outdoor areas when a third year student, one Cole Crimson, made a potentially fatal error. Not realizing, or perhaps not caring, that Tanner was escorting the girl, Cole grabbed her rear as she passed.

This obviously wouldn't have been a good idea under any circumstances, even if she and Tanner weren't together. Violet could take care of herself, but with Tanner there... well let's just call it a moment of monumental stupidity.

As soon as he released his grip, Violet turned around, ready to do some serious damage to the man. She never got the chance.

"Is that your hand on my girlfriend?" Tanner's normally calm voice remained so, at least on the surface. Violet, who had learned to identify his emotions, instantly recognized the hidden anger in his voice. She had learned that Tanner's anger didn't burn, instead he seemed to freeze over when angered, becoming sharp, cool, and very deadly. His fury would remain contained and under control, and that made him far more frightening than even Hruska in the depths of a berserk rage.

Cole didn't register the subtle threat though. After all, what could a third year student possibly have to fear from a freshman. "Oh, is she your girlfriend, shorty?" he asked with a sneer.

Tanner didn't react to the poor attempt at an insult, he could care less about his height. After all, it was a strength not a weakness. "I suggest you apologize to the lady before I skewer you. If you choose not to, then you will apologize after I finish.", Tanner's voice still had that deadly calm to it, he wasn't threatening the man. He was simply stating facts.

The older student wasn't intelligent enough to realize how much trouble he was in. He still thought the younger student was a typical freshman. His inability to pick up on the severity of the threat that Tanner represented was about to cost him. Dearly.

"Well if you think you're such hot stuff, how about you make me apologize?"

"Isn't that what I just said?" Tanner didn't wait for a reply, instead he drew Nox and charged.

Cole simply yanked a small stick out of his pocket. The stick rapidly unfolded into a halberd as he met Tanner's charge. Or thought he did, instead his halberd went straight through the illusion that had charged to meet him. The real Tanner, who had charged a split second after sending in the apparition, hopped up and stood balanced on the blade of Cole's halberd for a moment. Before the man could react or even move his weapon, Tanner had struck him across the face with three quick slashes and jumped into the air using the halberd as a platform.

The force of Tanner's jump drove the point of the halberd into the ground, and Cole was forced to abandon his weapon as Tanner attacked relentlessly.

/

How is he so fast! He is on every side of me at the same time, I can't defend myself against this! Cole finally made a desperate dash for his halberd, but before he reached it, Tanner skidded to a stop just behind the weapon. Before Cole could decide how to respond, Tanner slipped his toe under the shaft of the halberd and kicked it up into his free hand. Without missing a beat, he then hurled it straight at his opponent's head.

Cole dodged the throw, just barely, but his halberd continued its flight, and ended up embedding itself in a tree. It buried itself all the way to the shaft in the wood of the tree, and at that moment, Cole realized exactly how monstrous his opponent truly was.

The man had finally decided his only hope was to run. As he turned to make his escape, Tanner appeared directly in his path once again. Without giving the third year time to react, Tanner drove his sword into the fleshy part of the man's calf, pinning him in place.

"I suggest you apologize now.", Tanner's tone of voice still had that subtle hint of death in it.

Cole turned to Violet, who had been watching the whole fight with an expression of pride, and perhaps a little fear. She had never seen Tanner come even close to letting loose before now, and she suspected he still hadn't been fighting at full speed. But this hint of his true ability had been a sobering experience to say the least. She now realized that no other man she had ever met could even threaten Tanner, not even her father's bodyguard could have dealt with what she had just seen.

Cole finally seemed to regain control of his vocal cords, "I'm sorry. I won't ever do it again."

Violet intended to let it go at that, but Tanner had different plans. "You're sorry for what?" he asked the man as he slowly twisted his sword, which was still embedded in the man's leg.

Cole could barely speak through the pain, but he finally managed to get the right words out, "I-I-I-I'm so-sorry for gro-gro-groping you."

"You forget your manners. You see, Lady Violet is a noblewoman, isn't that right milady?" Tanner asked her. He still had that icy calm to his voice, and he hadn't stopped grinding the sword against Cole's wound.

"I'm sorry for groping you, Lady Violet!" the unfortunate third year finally shouted out. He said it in such a rush that it sounded like one word, but it seemed like he had finally satisfied Tanner. The former duelist finally pulled the sword from the man's calf and sent him on his way, smacking him across the rear with the flat of his sword to speed his departure.

"Don't worry, that was just a flesh wound. I made sure to stab him in the fleshy part of his calf. It'll cause him terrible pain, but it isn't permanent. His aura should heal the wound fairly quickly, and he won't report me. He would rather die than admit to an instructor that a freshman did that to him.", Tanner said as he watched the man leaving, limping away is more like it.

/

As soon as Crimson was out of sight, Violet looked at Tanner, "I'm your what now? Cause I could have sworn you called me your girlfriend, but I sure haven't heard anything about me having a boyfriend."

Tanner gave her a nervous laugh before responding. "Well I was actually planning to ask if you wanted to make this official today anyway. Then this happened and... well it just seemed like the right thing to say." Violet arched an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"So... do you wanna be my girlfriend?" Tanner asked hesitantly.

"We'll see." Violet said before she turned and walked away. But as she left, she looked over her shoulder and winked at him. It took Tanner a moment to recover, sometimes he just couldn't handle her purple eyes.

Author's Note: First and foremost I would like to thank my new Beta Reader KnightWriterRLK. He did a fantastic job of helping me out on this chapter.

Well with that out of the way, I would like to point out that this chapter is actually based on a song. And there is another reference hidden within as well. Anyone who can tell me the two easter eggs gets virtual author's points (redeemable only at participating stores.)