Chapter Thirty-six

The clash of ringing blades pierced her ears and she watched as the two bodies pulled away. One of the men who was dueling she recognized was Terrence. Her metallic blue eyes watched him and noted the hold on the hilt and the how his arms bent and snapped forward as he parried and moved forward to slice. He had gotten over his fear for his body moved so fluidly that one may have never thought that he never feared the blade in the first place. She smiled at him as he deflected the other crashing man's blow.

"He's gotten better." Gareth murmured quietly aside watching him from her right.

She glimpsed Felix's yellow hair bob to her left as he said, "Yep."

Elia only nodded, not wanting to tear her eyes from the fight. Watching them fight made her fingers itch wishing to grasp her longsword. Every though fighting had consequences; she found it exhilarating none-the-less. It was almost like a dance, each step was one of a waltz and the music was the rings and scraps of metal against metal. Almost.

Terrence swung his broadsword quickly taking the advantage of the opening his opponent left out. And she watched with impressed eyes as his blade slammed against the other's hilt making the other man stumble back. Taking no chances, Terrence's back hilt hit the man's stomach making him tumble over and before he could regain any sense of thought, the blade was hovering over his neck.

Applause brought the sword away. Terrence turned from the scowling man on the ground and bowed humbled by the praise before three other bodies distracted him by their presence. One of them was unfirmilair to her, perhaps an officer of some sort. But that wasn't important. Her eyes settled on Durante as his head cocked to either side with a hand at his side. As his hand brushed away she noticed that we was wielding a small, sheathed dagger. This surprised her, she never thought of him as a fighter. But then again, who wasn't? There was a war going on.

Elia flicked her eyes towards the back of whomever Durante stood by. She watched the crystallized swords of his float in harmony around him. Noctis said something to Terrence. His lips hardly moved as he spoke in a low murmur and as she pondered at his unheard words she decided that it was harmless because an uncertain but grateful smile made Terrence's lips curve. She smiled and looked away not wanting her to stare thoughtlessly.

When the men drew away, her body went edgy with the building excitement as Terrence and his partner resumed again and it was at the echo of metal that made she smiled. She smoothed out her dark dress and fidgeted at the clashing steel as if it was a siren's song. If the blades hit at one spot the sound would give away like a silver chime. And hearing thousands of those bounce off the walls of the arena sent a chill over her in an enigmatic but lovely way.

Fingertips, cool as marble yet soft as a feather touched her bare skin of her shoulders, "Why are you so tense?" asked Noctis quietly.

Elia gripped the seat firmly at the touch and cut off all oxygen in a big breath. She hadn't heard him approach or even move. Her hearing doubled just in time to hear Durante slid next to Gareth and heard the shifting of Noct's clothes as he moved from behind her. When she was positive that she wasn't going to scream, she let out a gust of an exhale.

Breathe, she told herself, Just breathe.

But how could she, when he practically murmuring right against her ear? Her skin crawled feeling his breath, warm and slow and could almost hear his lips brushing against each other.

"Hm?" she whispered, her eyelids drooped as if caught in a lullaby.

"I said, why are you so tense?" He asked again.

Her tongue seemed to swell in her mouth forbidding her to answer. She bit it, swallowed, then spoke, "I just like the feeling of sword fighting." And you're right behind me for Etro's sake!

Noct's fingertips left her shoulders but she still felt the spots of where he touched burn. She stared straight ahead aware of his presence as he settled down besides her. She couldn't look at him or else he'd use that charm of his and captivate her into staring. Elia scowled feeling like an idiot but her eyes peeked at his direction.

Too late.

His blue eyes engulfed her and she stared at him locked into his eyes unable to find the willpower to escape. Noct didn't break his gaze from her (much to her pleasure yet disappointment) and she felt her mind return to its empty state. She wished that he could at least look away or close his eyes to break the spell he always seemed to hold on her. But his eyes were so…deep. Filled with emotions she couldn't understand and just as quickly disappear beyond. It was like another world in there filled with emotions like a lake or a sea. In truth, his azure eyes captivated her more then anything. That was his weapon along with his good looks.

Then he blinked.

Elia blinked unsteadily and looked away hoping that no one else seemed to notice. Her cheeks flamed with heat and she kept her face downward and used her dark hair as a curtain to hide them. Her stomach flipped that didn't help her already spinning head. Now was not the right time to be nauseous!

Felix finally broke the silence over them other then the clashing of the blades at work, "I see that you guys are back to normal."

Her back stiffen and her grayness from the blue of her eyes glinted, "Define: normal."

His brown eyes noticed the sudden tension and a nervous laugh escaped from his teeth, "Ya know, being friends and all." Again the laugh that he let out wasn't so carefree, "Like a couple of days ago, Noct was being all untouchable and everything…" Felix stopped himself because Noctis turned his upper body slowly to look at him.

No, glare at him.

Gareth covered his large hand over Felix's mouth, "What this idiot," he clearly emphasized the last word, "is trying to say is that you two weren't really as close as you two were before. Ever since Sera—"

"—Who is a 'B' with an 'itch'!—"brought up Felix before muffled again by Gareth's hand.

He rolled his gray eyes at him and then continued, "—spoke with you, Noct, it's been weird—"

"But now its not!" Felix finished breaking Gareth's sentence. There was the sound of a fist hitting against bone making Elia wince. Felix flopped backward clutching his blond hair letting out a muffled groan.

Noctis's eyes slid toward Elia's briefly and then back at Gareth, "It's all in the past now." He said, "I apologized."

Elia smiled. More like got down to one knee and begged for forgiveness apologized!

"You apologized?" Gareth's eyes broadened. And even for a lanky man, Felix's eyes were bigger then she'd ever seen them. Durante too stared but not as wide as the others. Their eyes mixed together on her face making her cringe back.

"Is that a problem?"

Noct's voice brought them back to their senses, "Naw." Gareth said finally stroking his ragged chin, "Just surprised, that's all. You're not really the…apologizing type."

Noctis frowned at him and turned his body away from them to focus back on the sparring warriors. Elia sighed and tried to focus as well but her friends' gaze wasn't helping much. Then she felt their eyes leave her back and when she peeked back, their face held nothing of interest. Except Felix, who threw her a cocky smile before looking away towards a different direction. Even though she couldn't see his lips, his eyes were exceptionally bright.

She sighed unable to help herself. Great, that's all she needed…another Myles.

She held her face into her gloved hands and rocked herself slightly. As her eyes studied the ground at her feet, she noticed the silver chain. She remembered Myles then, more clearly and more intensive then before. Now three people knew about her crystal now: Andreas, Noctis and Myles. If more people were going to find out she would just shout it out to the entire world!

Why is my life so complicated? She asked herself. It could be worse, another voice told her, one that reminded her of something Myles would say. She stifled a laugh and smiled her own foolishness.

But she did agree. It could be worse. She could have been in Andreas's grasp right now perhaps under torture but then she wouldn't have met: Sera or Laus. But then there she wouldn't have met: Felix, Gareth, Durante or Myles. And Noctis. She couldn't forget Noctis. Never.

Boos and hisses snapped Elia out of her thoughts, her head lifted to Gareth whose hands cupped around his mouth and Felix on his feet.

"Come on!" he shouted throwing punches in the air, "Dodge. No wait…duck!" He groaned as one of the men they were watching fell to the ground. "Oh come on!" he shouted, "Put some back bone into it!"

"Felix…" Elia warned.

"Hey, watch it buddy! Keep your eyes on the prize!"

"Felix."

"Woah! Foul! That was so uncalled for!"

"FELIX!"

Felix looked down at her, "Jeez, bring it down a notch Elia. Sheesh, its just practice!"

Her jaw dropped staring at him dumbfounded. Wha? He was telling her to be quiet when he practically shouting his lungs out!?What's up with that?!

"HEY!" He shouted at the dueling pair, "Show him what you're made out of—" he yelped as she pulled hard at his ear.

"Sit—down." She hissed.

His knees buckled and he sat down rather oddly due to the fact her fingers still pinched his left her. "Ok, ok I'm done." He gasped, "Just let me go, honestly! See? I'm sitting, I'm sitting!" He groaned cupping his ear, "Holy mother Etro!" he murmured.

Gareth let out a bark of laughter and punched Felix's right shoulder. Felix cringed, "Stop it! I'm fragile!"

"Fragile?" The muscles on his forearms tensed as Gareth flexed and threw a cocky grin at Felix, "You? Ha!"

Felix muttered quietly to himself mimicking Gareth's words and scowled.

"Sorry." Elia apologized and gingerly patted his ear, red around the edges, "You were getting out of control."

"How could I not?!" Felix grumbled throwing his arms up in the air exasperated, "They just like….man, I just want to get out there and show them how its done!"

"They're newbies." She hushed him, "Swordfighting, this is all new to them."

"I know." His shoulder sagged, "I know." His brown eyes stared at the fighting men. Then Felix lifted his head and grinned at her, "How about we show them how it's done?"

Elia's dainty eyebrows knit puzzled, "But I already showed them what they needed to do."

"Well…" Felix scratched his chin, "I want to see how good you are actually. I mean," he added in a hurry at as her eyes fell into slits, "it's just that I want to fight against you. We could get some training in before the battle, ya know? For fun."

"For fun?" she repeated. So basically get a black eye, several cuts, travel to the hospital and rest there for a few days, just for fun?

"How about after the men are done with their training? This place will be empty."

She studied him, his smile that seemed almost cocky and then she nodded with a teasing smile, "Alright…but don't blame me if you end up cryin afterwards."

"Excellent!" he shouted standing up, "In fact, I'm going to start working out right now!"

Elia grinned at his cockiness finding it refreshing. O Etro. Please don't make me accidently kill him.

Sorry for this being slow to update. Just busy life ya know? Working on the next chapter! Again please tell me what you like about it! (This is going to be all the chapters now because I like what you guys think! XD)

~Animangame02freak