So it's been a while school n stuff yadda yadda yadda... I would have done it this weekend but I was busy reading instead. (I blew through Tower of Dawn, The Young Elites, and The Rose Society that weekend... fuck those books are good.) I hope you enjoy this! Please please please follow favorite and review, it really means a whole lot!

Assassin woke with a yawn. He felt slightly empty, like there was something important he was meant to be doing but could not quite remember what it was. He pushed himself to a sitting position and blinked several times, clearing the sleep dust from his eyes. His eyes adjusted slowly to the dim light of the warehouse, and he swept the building with his gaze. He narrowed his eyes as he caught sight of Shade, Spider, and Hero talking in the corner in hushed voices. His eyes widened again as he looked at Spider and remembered everything that had happened yesterday.

Suddenly, the emptiness was replaced by a crippling panic. He was a wizard, he could do magic! Why was that terrifying him?
Before he could psychoanalyze himself, he decided to see what Shade and the other two were talking about. He stood up, his blanket falling off of his form. He walked quietly over to the trio before tapping Shade on the shoulder and giving her an innocent smile.

"So whatcha talking about?" He asked, raising his eyebrows in query. Hero jumped and her face took on a vaguely guarded look. Spider raised an unimpressed eyebrow and Shade snorted.

"It's not like you to leave anything alone, is it?" She asked dryly. Sin blushed faintly but Shade waved a hand. "It's fine, it's nothing secret." They way Hero's eyes moved very quickly from Sin to Shade made him a little suspicious, but he didn't mention it. "Spider, you want to explain?"

Spider rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, leaning against the wall. "We're talking about how much Shade's going to bet on me tonight."

Sin furrowed an eyebrow, puzzled. "Bet on you?"

Spider ran a hand through his messy hair. "We don't earn all of our money from nicking stuff, kid. Nah, quite a bit of it comes from the Fights." Seeing Sin's still confused expression, Spider shifted and began to elaborate. "Every week, one of the local dealers holds a Fight a couple streets over. You pay to watch, or you can volunteer to enter. One on one, whoever can put the person on the ground for longer than ten seconds wins half the money from the entrance fees. That's not always enough, though, so sometimes Shade will come down with me and bet on me to win. And I don't lose."

Assassin's eyes expanded in a strange mixture of wonder and nervousness. "Isn't that - I mean isn't that illegal?"

Spider stared at him in disbelief. "We steal things for a living," he said slowly, "You just broke me out of prison - knocking out a police officer in the process - and that's what you're concerned about?"

Sin blushed a deeper shade of pink, but he wasn't done. "How do you win? I mean, it sounds like it's not really a kid's thing."

Spider looked both offended and irritated. He opened his mouth to speak when Shade cut him off.

"Let's not have another Roach, yeah mate?" She told her second-in-command quietly. Spider's eyes met hers before he nodded and swallowed whatever he was going to say. When it became clear that he wasn't going to say anything, Shade stepped in.

"Spider had… self defence lessons -" her eyes darted to Spider's for a moment and he nodded almost imperceptibly - "when he was younger, and everything else was self-taught in the moment. Plus one of Stickler's contacts was a street-fighter once too, and in exchange for an antique carriage clock and a copper's stolen badge, he gave Spider, Hero and I a few lessons. Hero and Spider are much better at it than I am, though."

"Then why doesn't Hero fight too? Surely more of you means more money?"

Shade and Hero exchanged a glance before Hero spoke up. "I don't fight for money. I learned in case I was attacked, sure, but to purposely participate in violence… that's just not for me."

Sin didn't really understand, but he wasn't going to push her. "Can I come? To your next fight?" He asked eagerly. Spider bit his lip and shrugged, looking like he was about to say yes, when Shade cut him off again.

"... I don't think that's a great idea. You're a little young -"

"I was only two years older when I first fought," Spider muttered under his breath; Shade glared at him.

" - and you don't have any training. If someone were to see you there and decide to nominate you… well, Spider said before there were volunteers, but that's a loose term. If nobody challenges, they shove someone in the pit, and I don't want to risk you being in there. These fights are dangerous, and sometimes people go too far."

The three older children's expression were grim, as if they were reminiscing on a bad memory. Sin swallowed; he didn't think he really wanted to go anymore. He just nodded and Hero glanced at her watch; it was dirty, cheap plastic with a slightly cracked face, but it was functional. "Y'know, you can go back to sleep," she said gently. "Get rest after yesterday."

Sin didn't really feel tired, but looking at their faces he knew that he was dismissed, so he just nodded and headed back to his sleeping mat. He crawled underneath his blanket and closed his eyes, Spider's words dancing around in his mind.

"I don't lose."

Spider watched the boy head back across the warehouse, biting his lip in thought. An idea started to form in his mind, and idea that he was proud of and extremely guilty about in equal measure.

"What is it?" Shade said sharply, and he turned around to face her. "What are you thinking? The last time I saw that look, we had to jump into the river to escape the coppers."

"And the time prior to that," Hero cut in, "We had to scatter and rendezvous on the other side of the city four hours later."

"And not long before that, you almost got Toxic stuck back in the orphanage!"

"And before that -"

"I get it, I get it!" Spider interrupted, a little bit put out. Seeing their expectant faces, he sighed. "Okay, so maybe I do have an idea - and perhaps my previous ideas have turned out a little negatively -" Hero snorted derisively; Spider ignored her, " - but this one's different! I swear!"

They both looked at him doubtfully, and he huffed. "For fuck's sake, give me a chance will you?" Shade rolled her eyes but gestured for him to continue. "So Assassin was right. We would make more money with two of us fighting. Plus, I might not be around forever - no, don't look like that, you know it's true. Our lives are dangerous, and with Smitherson out on the streets, mine is especially. But what if we trained someone else to do it? More money, and in case I get bagged?"

Shade didn't look pleased. "I don't like where this conversation is going," she said flatly.

"Hear me out, alright?"

Shade sighed, but looked at Spider as if waiting for more.

"We could train Sin. In a year or two, he could join -"

"Absolutely not," Shade snapped. "Not happening. He is nine years old, Spider! Nine!"

Spider ground his teeth in frustration. "I started fighting at eleven! Besides, he has a huge advantage over everyone! He might not even have to touch them!"

"That's not how magic works, Spider," Shade said wearily. "He won't be able to just blast people to the ground on a whim."

"Yes, but didn't you tell us that you heard of a boy who could? A boy who could get rabbits to turn against their owners? Who could mess with people's minds? Who could talk to snakes?"

Shade's breath caught; she had forgotten about him. "Tom Riddle," she said quietly. "There was a boy fifty or sixty years ago, Tom Riddle, who they said could do that. He could do wandless magic at ten years old without even uttering an incantation."

"And didn't you say that Sin had the most powerful magic aura you'd ever experienced?" Spider pressed. Shade let out a low breath and she nodded, her eyes glazed over in thought. "So if we could get Sin to have that same control, with the power he showed at the police station… he'd be untouchable in the fights. Unstoppable."

Sin didn't remember falling asleep, only the dreams that he had, with Spider's voice playing over and over again in his subconscious. He dreamed of being able to fight like Spider obviously could, to never be in danger of losing. He would never again have to fear people like Uncle Vernon, or Dudley, or the countless other bullies from school. Nobody would ever be able to touch him again.

I don't lose.

He dreamed of Uncle Vernon, but for the first time in his life, it wasn't a nightmare. He wasn't curled up in a ball on the floor while Uncle Vernon rained down countless kicks and punches on his ribs, but instead standing over him cowering. He was the one with the power now. It should have scared him, made him worried that he was turning out to be just like his uncle; but it didn't.

It excited him.

So uh...yeah. If any of you have read the Young Elites, there was a lot of influence from the second book in those last couple paragraphs. Please please review! (Also shoutout to Tiffany Smithi for reminding me about something I'll have to keep in mind when writing the later chapters... please review and maybe you'll help me out like they did!)