Disclaimer: Sadly, I own neither of the mages. Not so sadly, I don't own Takhisis. Thankfully, I don't own the pickup line.

What Mages Wear

The next morning was school again. Dalamar, usually rather perky in the morning, was much more subdued than normal. Jess seemed to be avoiding Maeg, and because of that, Maeg was also not her usual self. Raistlin was surlier than ever, if that was possible. He kept shooting death-glares at Dalamar.

By this time, all of the people involved in the war on Raistlin's side new to get to class quickly, lest Takhisis change the bells so they'd get caught out of class. Before they sat down, Dalamar noticed Maeg's face take on a haunted expression at the reminder of her failure. He squeezed her hand gently, and she looked up at him, grateful. Suddenly, her expression changed to one of extreme determination. She nodded to him, and they took their seats.

"Well, I hope you all had good weekends." Takhisis' voice was honey-sweet, and she shot a malicious glance at Maeg and Jess in their respective corners. Maeg fought her emotions, and forced a carefree smile on her face. "Think of Dalamar, think of Dalamar." She told herself this, trying not to concentrate on her grades.

"Oh, what a pity, you did." Takhisis looked miffed that none of the impromptu warriors seemed upset. "Well, I suppose its time for a pop quiz again." She handed out the quizzes.

Maeg looked at hers. As usual, it was her weakest point – recalling exact dates, and asked for about twenty random people she'd never heard of. "Are you guys going to bother?" Now that she knew how to do magic, Maeg had found that she could use a magical form of telepathy to communicate with the others.

"No." Raistlin was the first to reply, and his mental voice was scornful to the extreme.

"I'm going to, just because she screwed up this time and gave me questions I can actually answer." Jess gave a slight mental laugh at the goddess' fallacy.

"Unlike Jess, I have no idea who Suryavarman II is. Even if I felt like it, I couldn't." Dalamar sounded wry.

"Hey, could we switch papers? Because of studying for a test really hard last year, I actually remember that one. If that's all of last year's work, I may actually know it." Maeg sounded pleased that she wouldn't have to embarrass herself again.

"Be my guest." Maeg's paper disappeared from her desk, and she called Dalamar's from across the room. She smiled as she looked at the new test, which did indeed consist of material from the year before, a good portion of which she actually remembered.

"No talking, children." Takhisis' sharp voice broke through the silent room, where there hadn't been the slightest thought of conversation, save the telepathy. Everyone involuntarily flinched and looked up at the unexpected interruption, and when they did, Takhisis caught Maeg's gaze, telling her she knew exactly what happened. Maeg fought to keep her face carefully innocent and puzzled, and prayed that Takhisis was just bluffing because she felt magic in the air. When it came down to it, however, Maeg felt in her heart that Takhisis truly did know.

A minute before Maeg was finished, Takhisis told them to hand in their papers. As she rapidly glanced around, she saw that Jess and Dalamar were also still working, and she realized that that was how the goddess would deduct the points this time. Raistlin, however, was sitting with his pen down, hands folded. His facial expression reminded Maeg of a cat who'd just eaten a mouse. With a smirk, Takhisis collected the papers. For the rest of the class, she continued her lecturing.

When they left the class, Dalamar came over to Maeg. "I really admire my Shalafi." At Maeg's questioning gaze, he elaborated. "He is so brave. On his quiz, he didn't just not write anything. He actually insulted her. He insulted a goddess! A goddess!" Dalamar repeated himself in envious shock.

Maeg didn't like where that thought was going – it reminded her too much of the ending of War of the Twins. Feeling only a slight pang of guilt, she changed the subject on him. "What are we waiting for? When are we actually going to drive her away?"

Dalamar needed no explanation for who 'she' was. "It benefits neither of us to move too quickly. You'd have to ask my Shalafi to be sure, but I think we will probably do something once the school year ends. We'll have to think on it, because the best possible course of action would be to draw her away from here to somewhere where we'll have the advantage."

They walked into English class. During English, and for the rest of the day, Dalamar, Jess and Raistlin saw a strange sight. With focused energy, Maeg applied herself to something, allowing everything else around her to pass her by. She was obviously listening, because when a teacher called on her, she was able to answer easily. However, her usual fervor for class participation had completely disappeared. When asked what she was doing, all she would say was "my part."

Finally, it was lunchtime. As in all of the previous periods, Maeg was diligently bent over a textbook. After fifteen minutes of constant annoyance, Maeg gave in. "Stop bothering me. I'm memorizing every fucking person and date in this textbook. She will not make me give in because I know it's hopeless anyway. I may not actually be hurting her, but I'm doing my best to fight. Now, if you will allow me to continue?" Maeg's voice became harsh and acidic. All of her friends, surprised at the change that had come over their normally cheerful friend, subsided into a shocked silence.

For the rest of the day, feelings within the quartet were even more strained than they had been that morning. Finally, it was time to go home, and it was not a moment too soon. Maeg dropped some of her books in her locker, keeping out the books she'd need for homework, as well as her Global book, even though she'd already done the homework for that class. After angrily slamming her locker, she went over to Dalamar's locker to wait with him.

Had Maeg been a dog, her hackles would have gone up when Catalina walked over, swinging her hips. Dalamar saw Maeg's angry glance, and looked up at Catalina, a look of disdain crossing his face. "Yes?" His voice was sharp, but she ignored the dismissal and came over to link her arm in his.

"So, what do mages wear under their robes?" Maeg was practically growling now. She'd seen Catalina holding the Legends series while the popular girl thought that no one was looking, but Maeg hadn't thought she'd do anything that drastic. Seeing that Maeg was ready to leap at the other girl as her temper snapped, Dalamar put a quelling finger on her lips, and turned to Catalina.

Though he wasn't doing it intentionally, had Dalamar been able to see his own face, he would have recognized the expression as one that elf lords used to frequently wear in his presence. It was an expression that told anyone caught in its gaze that they were lower than worms, who at least had a place in nature. It was an expression that said that the person wearing it would step on the person caught in its gaze, save for the fact that they wouldn't dirty their boots with such slime.

Dalamar looked down at Catalina with that gaze, but she seemed not to notice it. She was still smiling seductively up at him. Dalamar blinked. "You're not that big."

Catalina looked at him, puzzled. She had a feeling he'd just insulted her, but could not figure out what about. Suddenly, in a burst of insight, she realized he was talking about her chest. For a few seconds, she could do nothing but sputter. Finally, she found her voice, and pointed to Maeg. "Well, if I'm not, she definitely isn't!"

Dalamar took on a tone that was reminiscent of a teacher explaining something for the hundredth time to an especially dull student. "Be as that may, she didn't try to use the cheesiest pick-up line on both your world and mine; a line that only works if you are 'that big'. Now, if you will excuse us, we were just leaving." He took Maeg's hand and led her away. Maeg could only gape in astonishment.

"Now, aren't you glad you let me handle it?" Dalamar's voice was wry as he tried to cheer his friend up.

For the first time that day, a true smile lit Maeg's face. "Yes. And, I'm very glad to know that you didn't actually fall for that pick-up line itself. I've always worried."

"I'm not that shallow." The two bickered companionably for the rest of the day.

Over the next week, Maeg got a slightly drawn look to her, as she spent all of her free time studying the Global textbook. Finally, Takhisis gave another pop quiz on Friday. Maeg had been careful never to let Takhisis see her with the book, and Catalina's group didn't notice anything different about her behavior, since she always was doing extra work. When the goddess of Evil handed out the test, it again was names and dates.

Maeg smiled. Finally, something she knew. She finished the test quickly, too quickly for Takhisis to call time. When it was collected, she too had the look of satisfaction that Raistlin always wore after writing a page full of insults. Finally, all of her work had paid off.

A/N: Yeah, I know, its short. I'm sorry! I'll try to be longer the next time. If not the next chapter, I can promise the chapter after that. Hope you all enjoyed, and are about to press that nice blue-ish button at the bottom of the screen that says Submit Review: Go!

Jade Limill: Well, we can't have people thinking that I'm showing Dalamar unfair favoritism, now can we? As to the girls ages… I don't think I said directly, but they're both in eleventh grade, which makes them seventeen.

Kurai Catt: Glad you're intrigued so far. And yes, the mental picture of Dalamar on a motorcycle is rather nice, isn't it? Oh, and if you don't mind the shameless plug, I noticed you like both Drizzt and LOTR. May I point you to ESGAME written by Nightwing Writers? It's a humor piece I co-wrote with Petalwing. Welcome to my story!

Guan: Good point about Raistlin, but I think even he would blush in that situation. If not, I apologize! Glad you liked my little debate.

Elvengirl10: Oh, apologies for that. Yes, I do know that they're not demi-gods, it was just the easiest explanation I could give without going into the 10-page summary of Middle-Earth mythology. Sorry again, I'd been hoping no one would notice and/or mind! Blush Hope you liked otherwise.

Childlike Empress: Glad you enjoyed that. It was very fun to write, as was the "they all look like skeletons" part. And truth to be told, even I'm not sure when Raistlin is actually going to grow some balls… Looks around nervously I didn't say that…

Hilary: No problem about missing the last one. Yeah, sometimes I do feel bad for doing that to Dalamar, but I got so many complaints about Raistlin being too nice in the beginning…

Alien21xx: Did I ever mention I love you? Anyway, sadly, your so funny it wasn't made perfect sense to me. I was actually between laughing and attempting to hug an insubstantial thought of Dalamar as I wrote it. Thanks so much for saying this is your favorite fic – that means so much to me! And hopefully, this will have been soon enough that I'll escape any unnatural burns. Thanks for your lovely reviews and continued support!

Pet: Yay, you're back! Here's responses to all of your loverly reviews: 14) You know, I never actually saw that show. I really should, though, because so many people joke about it… 15) So, you liked my pillow… er… toilet talk? I'm glad you think that this scene took away from Maeg's sueishness. About her grade, she didn't think she was getting an A, but its one thing to know something, and quite another to see it in print. 16) Why do you think the job got dumped on Dalamar? You don't think that "I" would be crazy enough to do something like that, did you? Too true about them being our devoted slaves. I mean, take Dalamar for example: he threatens to leave my Mary-Sue, I threaten to ban him from ESGAME, and then remind him he's chained to the bed…chair that is, of course!