"Overconfidence radiating off you in waves, yes?"

"Whoever said I was overconfident?"

"The look says everything."

Eve snorted. "Yeah, okay," she answered, reopening Sundance's book to a newer page. They only had a mediocre four spells and one could only utilize them so well. "Sundance, pay attention! Upra!"

Sundance tried to turn around, return a glare, but he raised his forearm to block Ophelia's uppercut, then stunned her with a surprise blast of red paint. Not only was she unable to evade it, but it scorched a majority of her hand and burning through the fabric of her romper simultaneously, sizzling nastily. Ophelia shook her hand, struggling to ease the pain. Sundance watched on with pride until she jumped him, snatching him, one-handed. She dragged him, forcing him–facefirst–into the snow. He kicked and flailed, trying to regain his footing. A drowning man.

"Well, you have to admire his persistence," Lilja noted.

"Can you not–"

Sundance flung himself free, propelling himself backward in a successful bicycle kick. Ophelia landed on her burned elbow, then released an unearthly screech at the sour sight of her arm. Once momentarily safe, Sundance staggered into the bridge post, breathing heavy. He was sweating and his nose was starting to bleed again.

"You wasteful little...vermin." Ophelia screamed, pointing at Sundance. He was still breathing heavily. Not paying Ophelia any mind. He placed a hand on his neck, checking the flutter of his pulse. Then, he switched the hand under his nostrils when the stream of blood became too heavy. "I refuse to disgrace my family name by losing this battle."

Sundance lowered his hand. "Huh?"

"My family name," she repeated, indignant. "Unlike yours, mine meets something." Sundance rolled his eyes, which was weird to see, then resumed hold on his nose.

"Just your face. Those eyes. You nauseate me." Ophelia said, her face twisting in an animalistic sneer. She led a hand over her abdomen, clutching her damaged ribs. By the criticism, Sundance hardly looked affected. "You remind me of those humans. Of my own partner. How he's such a failure. How all these partners will all fail you in the end."

Eve was tempted to jump in. To instinctively defend Caleb, she'd been doing it for years, but she said nothing.

"Seems you have deep-rooted issues," Sundance noted, withdrawing his hand again.

"Deep-rooted. Deep-rooted? Please don't make me laugh, small child. When you have a bloodline so near and dear to your soul as mine and so horribly mistreated for years by their hapless partners, you do not have deep-rooted issues. You learn to get even." she informed, offering him a grand smile. "Why would I have to sit and cry and tear my hair out, strand by strand, when I can simply bring that trauma to others? I refuse to be humiliated any longer, and just because you're content in your place in an orphanage with mice and molded bread as your only company doesn't mean everyone else is satisfied with something so inferior. Your partner may desire family and mine may seek a life alone, but does that mean we can always get what we want?"

No one said anything. Sundance froze, but only for a second. Ophelia was on him in the next minute, tackling him into the remains of snow, an arm pinned over his throat. Her grin was a terrible gray. Sundance was struggling to wrestle her arm off his windpipe. If she elbowed him, it could do serious, irreversible damage.

"Did I ever say I was entirely truthful?" she retorted through laughter. "The mind is a delicate thing, boy. You must be moronic to not know!"

"You're kidding yourself if you think you got me with that," he muttered, squirming free from under her. Sundance was lucky in that instance. The only reason he was able to battle on-par with most of his opponents was (partly) because of his prime evasion, but his size certainly did have its drawbacks.

"Maybe not you. Fortunately, the humans are easier targets." Ophelia insisted, using a hand to motion. Caleb was still looking peculiarly adrift. Eve was starting to show similar signs. Their expressions were eerily similar, but he couldn't exactly place them. And by his distraction, Ophelia sent him to the floorboards with a thunderous kick, which caught him in the temple.

Ophelia snagged him by the shirt and yanked him close to her face. "What happened? I thought you had a plan. What happened? I thought your partner was your everything."

Sundance attempted to headbutt Ophelia, but she flung herself away at the last second, cackling, a dance in her step.

A shove in the shoulder alarmed Eve. "Stop what you are doing."

Eve blinked. Startled. Lilja was glaring at her. In the fading sunset, her eyes appeared greener. "Wait...wait? What?"

"You are acting foolish. The world can see. Be someone. Be his partner. How many times must you hear that?"

Eve looked away. "I don't know anymore."

Lilja narrowed her eyes. After a pause, her voice returned. "Do as you are told, Eve."

"Yeah, whatever, I always do," she muttered, returning her gaze dutifully to Sundance's book. Sundance caught Ophelia's elbow with his own. "Lomas Bleez!"

Sundance's forearm transformed into a shimmering rainbow boomerang, but with Ophelia as a distraction, the release was awkward. It swung in a drunk circle before dispersing. When Sundance attempted to climb back to his feet, Ophelia shoved him backward, his back slamming heavily against the bridge rail. Eve couldn't contain a gasp.

"This battle is becoming so tired," Ophelia said, dragging a hand down her face. Her braids had come undone and her arms were charred, but she was appeared mostly unharmed. The remains of snow had finally begun to evaporate. "Caleb, if you can do anything useful, please be...something and give me my final spell."

But Caleb hadn't answered. One of his hands was relaxed in his pocket. He was staring downward. His mouth quirked. Expressionless.

"Eve?" Sundance called over, quiet.

"Ramando."

There was a sound of ice being refrozen. Sundance made a tiny sound of horror. His feet were re-encased underneath the ice. Like, their previous battle. Caleb finally lifted his face. An empty gaze.

"Right where we want you." he said.

"Hi…"

"Oh, hey, what are you doing back?"

"I…I don't know."

"Did you forgot your jacket or something?

A pause deeper than any trauma.

"Is everything okay?"

"No, no–I don't know. I'm sorry…I'm here, I don't know why–I'll leave–"

Sundance was clawing and kicking and flailing, sounding near-tears with fear, unable to successfully free himself from the solidified ice. Caleb flipped to the back of the back of the book. The light filled his face. "Rau Ramando!"

Further horror. Ophelia hummed, closed her eyes, and lifted her hands ominously. The sky lost color and became an ugly, ravenous shade. From underneath the bridge, a roaring komodo dragon materialized, sparkling ice scales and sharp-tongued and a glittering gaze. Levitating, so it wouldn't crush the bridge whole. Ophelia directed it forward with charm. With a ferocious cry, Sundance kicked and freed his legs altogether, a burst of icicles and an arc of sparkling water spilling across the bridge front.

"He did it!" Viola said, applauding gleefully.

"Smart boy," Lilja praised.

Sundance stumbled back to Eve's side, clinging to her like a toddler. His ankle still ached terribly. "Eve, our final spell! We got this! Remember what you told me!"

"No…but that dragon–" Eve answered, shaking her head, still resilient. "Caleb, I don't know–"

"It doesn't matter–"

"Yes, it does, Sundance!"

At the sound of a horrific, ear-aching screech, they turned to see Ophelia's ice dragon looming, preparing to strike, stretching itself. "Eve, please, don't do this to me again." he said, lowering his voice.

Save their lives or kill Caleb. No pressure. Whatever. Eve looked at the book in her hand and took a breath. Honestly, it was not even worth it. She wanted to let the dragon consume them. She didn't want to hurt Caleb. Caleb was her best friend. For years, no one looked at her, talked to her. Anything. People probably still laughed at her. Not that it was a big deal. If she could go back in time for a few minutes. Back when Caleb was such an innocent thought, when her mother made homemade iced tea to commemorate summer and said "Stop frowning or your face will freeze that way", ad when listening to angry pop music was the only thing that made her happy.

But Caleb. He was always there. Three years. Through everything. He was her everything.

"The fourth spell…Rau Laine!"

"You still haven't said anything."

"I…um–"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"No. You know what? No, I'm not."

"Well, do you want me to call some–"

"Because I…I think I'm in love with you."

Shorter chapter than usual, but I hoped to cover a bit. The next chapter is going to finish up the Resh/Itosagi/Tyson battle and a few other things. As this arc ends, we're also going to explore deeper into the histories of Sundance and Eve, who won't be as prime of a focus as they were in this arc and may just begin to drift apart over the incoming chapters. Stay tuned!