A/N: ...twenty six reviews. Is there some kind of conspiracy like "let's give the author a heart attack" that I don't know about? And these reviews weren't just the "PLEASE UPDATE XOXO!" reviews either. They were thought provoking, kind, and interesting reviews. Like wtf you guys are too good for me.
Sorry this took so long. Enjoy the hints. Enjoy the ship teases.
Lots of stuff in the bottom A/N. Try to read it? Thanks. ;)
Enjoy.
Alex barely noticed where his feet had taken him. His mind was in a daze, reality seeming more dreamlike than real. All her could hear was her voice...her voice, over and over and over and over again. He called her number, the same voicemail that he had already memorized playing over again. If he could close his eyes he could almost imagine she was here, beside him like she usually was. He heard her voice, not the apathetic, ever echoing one of her voicemail, but her voice, full of life.
.
"My name's Alex. And you?"
"...Elliot, but I'm sure you already knew that."
"Elliot, huh? Well, I hope we'll get along."
"...Mm. Whatever."
.
"You know what, I don't think the name Elliot suits you. Doesn't El fit better?"
"...El? What's with that..?"
"Ahah! I knew you could smile. I saw that already, don't try to hide it~"
"...oh, shut up."
.
"Hey, El, we're going to be friends from now on."
"...friends?"
"Yep! You'll be here for me, and I'll be here for you. That's how friends work."
"Hm...is that so…"
"Oi, oi, what's with that lackluster response? Where's the sudden epiphany and dramatic music as you realize how important I am to you~?"
"...eh."
.
"Ah, thanks Alex."
"No problem. What would you ever do without me, haha?"
"...I wouldn't know anymore."
"..."
"..."
"...s-stupid, now you made things awkward. You're supposed to be all like 'I can survive without you, Alex' and then I wail about the unfairness of life."
"...you're ridiculous."
"But you love me anyways~"
.
"Ah, I found you, El. Were those girls...were they bothering you again?"
"..."
"...El."
"...it's nothing much, I'm used to it."
"You stupid idiot. I've told you once and I'll tell you again, I'm your friend. And I'll always be here for you. Always."
"...really?"
"Forever and forever."
.
"Uh.. I don't think I can do this, Alex."
"Don't be silly, I know you can, El. You're...you're strong. And what guy wouldn't like you?"
"You're too good for me."
"..."
"Thanks for always being my friend, Alex."
"...yeah, yeah, El...just get going before you use up all of your courage."
.
"El? ...El? Ah, there you are."
"..."
"Look, I'm sorry El. If I had known that he didn't like you I wouldn't have…"
"It's fine, Alex. I guess that my background and lack of femininity scares everyone away."
"No...no, El."
"...Alex?"
"I'm here. I'll..I'll always be here."
"...Alex? What do you mean by that? H-hey, where are you going? Idiot, wait for me. Wait a minute...are you blushing?"
"...shaddup."
"Awwwwww, how cute."
"I-I said shut up!"
"You're being very...what's the term again? Oh, yeah, tsundere."
"So you were listening to my rants! There's still hope... we'll make you into an otaku for sure!"
"..."
"Oi, I am not a tsundere."
"Whatever you say, Alex."
.
"Hey... Alex?"
"Mm?"
"Why did you nickname me 'El'?"
"Ah...well... I just thought it suited you, I guess."
"Is that so? ...should I call you Lex or something then?"
"Nah. Sounds too close to 'Elex'."
"...were the guys teasing you about me again?"
"A bit. Don't worry about it."
"... Alex, you don't need to hang out with me. I get it if you leave."
"...El, I'll say this again and again. I'm your...your best friend. I'm not going to just leave you. And don't you go leaving me either."
"Of course not, idiot."
.
"El...El? God, El, are you alright? I heard about...about your father."
"Yeah, I'm sure the media is having a field day right now…"
"El...are you alright?"
"I don't know. I...I really don't know. He...he was my dad, you know? I can't just...just...forget about him. Even after everything, he's still my dad."
"El…"
"...Alex?"
"Mm?"
"You're not going to leave me, right?"
"Never. And you're not going to leave me all by my lonesome, right?"
"...right."
.
.
He was dialing her number again.
"Hi, it's Elliot. I'm not available right now, so please leave a message after the beep and I'll get right back at'cha…"
"God," he muttered. "No...no...please…she...she's...it can't be…she...she is..." His expression crumbled. "One more time. One more time. One more...one more...please." If he could redo everything that had happened so far, if he could exchange his happiness with her pain, if he could...if he could just see her again, even for a second...
Yamuraiha woke up in a start. For a moment, it felt as if she was in her past life all over again: she was in bed, waiting for Alex's daily phone call that always greeted her at the start of the day.
(Oh God, Alex...he had always been there for her, always…and now she wasn't there for him...she could hear him, his laughter, his voice, always full of warmth...his smile that always comforted her..)
And then she remembered where she was and shut her eyes, shaking away those memories. She didn't want to think of that life, not now. Because...because then, she'd have to think about all the people that she left behind.
She was Elliot. No, she was Yamuraiha. She was El. No...she was Raiha.
All these names swirled in her head, each identity tugging at her, begging for her to assume their mantle once again. Yamuraiha forced herself to push all of them out of her head. She probably could've brooded for a much longer period of time, but all her thoughts were interrupted by several hurried knocks on her door.
"...uh, Raiha? Are you up yet?" Sera's muffled voice called.
"Coming," she answered, struggling out of bed and getting ready as quickly as she possibly could. Alyasa had awoken from the knocking as well, and the two of them simply ignored each other as they got ready to go outside.
After a few moments of rushing around, Yamuraiha finally deemed herself satisfactory for going outside and opened the door. "Yeah?" she asked, struggling to tame a few unruly knots in her hair.
"They're posting who passed the entrance exams today, and then right after that they'll be doing one last thing to sort us into groups," Sera informed pleasantly, and Yamuraiha nodded before briefly meeting eyes with Lynn, who was standing behind the white haired boy. His teal blue eyes were studying her with such an intensity that she was momentarily thrown off her guard. Yamuraiha quickly shook it off, though, and addressed him.
"...ready to see my name above yours?" She challenged.
"You wish," Lynn rolled his eyes. "I'll have you know that they're doing magical combat today, and that's what I'm best at."
"Oh, yeah? We'll see about that."
"Keep dreaming. You'll never beat me."
"I wouldn't say seeing you in my sleep is a dream. More like a nightmare."
"You just wish you could dream about me."
"Keep telling yourself that."
"I don't need to convince myself that I'm talented. I know I am."
"Arrogant, much?"
"Remind me again...who was the person who kept provoking their interrogator? Who was the person who I had to drag all the way to a Healer again?"
"...I like to test my limits."
"Sure. So you probably figured out how low your limits are."
"STOP FLIRTING!" The exclamation was enough to make the two of them shut up immediately as they both turned to see the source. "Both of you…" Sera growled. "If you two start arguing one more time, I'm going to throw you out of the window."
(Their mouths, which had opened to deny his assumption that they were flirting, shut firmly.)
"Been there, done that," Yamuraiha drawled, but she forced herself to tone down the friendly (...maybe?) competitiveness. As soon as she said so, Alyasa emerged from their room, grumbling something under her breath about how early they had to wake up. Yamuraiha didn't feel as disgruntled as that thanks to the numerous times when she woke up early to help out in the kitchen back in Musta'sim. And the times when she'd wake up early to practice magic.
"Let's just...go," Sera said dejectedly, rolling his eyes and pushing them along. "You two are hopeless. Alyasa, are you coming?"
"Of course I am," Alyasa sniffed, and she marched past them. Yamuraiha couldn't help but sweatdrop at the action but just shrugged and went along with it. Lynn muttered something about the stupidity of teenaged girls like Alyasa, and Yamuraiha had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.
"Ah, here they are!" Sera pointed at a crowd of magicians congregating around several bulletin boards. He turned around to Yamuraiha and explained, "These are just the temporary rankings right now. After the magic combat part, then the positions are finalized. Thus...uh, well, the magic combat round can get pretty bad, considering people are desperate since it's their last chance to get in the Academy or into whatever group they want to be in."
"So, basically, we should expect dirty fighting," Lynn surmised.
"...uh...yeah…" Sera trailed off awkwardly. "Professors Marth, Edith, and Feiste are the proctors, but each of them are supervising over three matches each at the same time, so they miss some stuff. Plus, there's not actually any official rules, and they want to see your 'creativeness'."
"Hm…" Yamuraiha hummed. "Just three, though?"
"Sometimes Sir Mogamett or other high ranking officials come to watch and see if any of the new recruits are talented," Sera informed. "Well, Sir Mogamett almost always comes because he's the head, but I heard that some other important people were coming today."
"Ah, Sera, our ever reliable information source," Yamuraiha said mournfully.
"What would we ever do without you?" Lynn added.
"You two are so stupid." Sera rolled his amethyst eyes. "Looks like everyone's seen the rankings. Let's check it out."
Magnoshutatt Entrance Exams (initial-theoretical-mental)
...
…
5 ~ Lynn Vastilga (30-244-95)
5 ~ Raiha (30-253-86)
note: Miss Raiha, please remember that you are "six" for the sake of convenience.
…
…
14 ~ Sera Alhara (27-234-78)
…
…
19 ~ Alyasa Seréa (25-227-50)
"..."
The three of them stared at that list for a long period of silence.
"...um, congratulations you two?" Sera said hesitantly.
"...Erik, that sadistic bastard," Yamuraiha growled. "I bet he planned for my score to be exactly enough so I'm tied with this idiot just for his entertainment."
"Congrats, Sera," Lynn offered, twitching at the insult. "You're in Group B right now. If you do well on this part there's a good chance you can move up."
"Thanks, Lynn, but I'm pretty alright with staying in Group B right now. I don't think I'm good enough to be part of Group A yet," Sera laughed awkwardly. "And I think it'd be too much pressure on me for my first year."
"Do whatever you think is best for you," Yamuraiha advised wisely. "I just want to learn as much as possible right now because I can." That was a half lie, considering she had to have some info for Musta'sim soon, but Yamuraiha honestly was the kind of person to shoot for the stars rather than just the moon.
"Same," Lynn shrugged neutrally. "By the way, my name's above yours."
"Alphabetical order, Lynn. It's just because of your name."
"Touché."
"All applicants, report here now," Feiste's voice boomed, and heads turned to see the man standing in front of a marble pillar. Slowly the crowd began to move, and once everyone was there Feiste continued. "We have drawn lots to determine the matches. The combat round will be administered in a tournament style. We have made a change this year to the normal testing routine in which only one match will go on at a time, and all applicants shall be watching and studying your fighting style. Keep in mind what you want to reveal of your skills. Sir Mogamett and other officials are here today, so if you want to impress them, do your best. However, your opponents will also be able to see your repertoire, so be wary. Our proctor for each match will rotate cyclically, and the other proctors will watch from the side and give you scores."
Marth, ever recognizable by his blue hair, explained, "The scores are cumulative: a maximum of 30 points per match, so try not to get out. However, your skills will determine how many points you will get. If you win but battled with little skill or tact, the loser still may get more points."
Edith, the only female proctor, stepped up. Two slips of paper lifted from the box in her hands, and her eyes scanned over the papers before announcing, "Our first match for today is number 17 and number 53!"
.
.
The match was between a cocky looking black haired guy and a shivering brunette. The guy, ranked 17th, ended up winning, but considering he continuously mocked the girl and humiliated her, only twenty-five points were awarded to him instead of thirty. The girl, despite her lackluster performance, got a surprising score of fifteen. She had to be carted off to a healer.
.
.
"44 and 98."
"71 and 15."
More and more people were called up, in almost all cases the higher ranking person winning. The only exception was a match between 27 and 38. The former had gotten cocky and basically had his ass kicked. 38, of course, was awarded a lot of points.
.
.
"14 and 12," Edith called, the high numbers making many people turn back to attention.
Yamuraiha blinked. Wasn't fourteen…
Sera gulped. "Uh...wish me luck?"
"You can do it," she said, squeezing his shoulder. "You're resourceful enough."
"Keep a level head and look at everything before acting," Lynn advised.
"Thanks." Sera hurried off.
.
.
"And...go," Feiste drawled. Immediately, Sera jumped back just in time to avoid the Sound waves sent towards him. Interesting. A Sound Magician.
He recalled that they could possibly control minds with the sound waves, and that their second affinity was Water Magic. That'd be troublesome.
Sera noted the Sound Magician's loud breathing after the attack. Not enough stamina, but judging by the damage the waves did on the ground, he was a heavy hitter.
Sera experimentally shot a wave of Air magic, which was repelled by more Sound waves. Hm. Intriguing. Sera wanted to analyze Sound Magic more, but knew that he didn't have enough time anymore.
A large amount of wind began to swirl around the training ground, picking up dust slowly before it began to accelerate. It essentially blocked the rest of the fight from the audience, although Feiste (who was proctoring) and the judges would undoubtedly find a way to see it all. Sera was lucky enough to be born in the desert. Sand storms, or in this case, dust storms, were hardly new to him.
He shot forward, towards the figure or the Sound magician and sent several Wind bullets. The magician flailed, his hands grasping for his staff, but Sera easily kicked it away from reach.
"You can't tell, but my staff is aimed at your throat right now. Do you forfeit?" he asked coolly.
"Y-yeah," the magician choked.
The storm came to a stop, and the magician coughed before glancing at Sera in surprise. "You...no...staff?"
"If you had been paying attention, I was raising my staff the entire time to maintain the storm," Sera informed. "Thanks for forfeiting, though. I hate violence."
He could faintly hear the cheers of his friends behind him.
"...I give, you won fair and square," the magician sighed. Sera offered his hand and pulled the magician up to his feet.
"Your Sound Magic is really powerful," Sera complimented.
"I need more practice. Haven't been doing it for very long. Using the ground was pretty smart, though," the guy laughed. "Good luck on the other matches. The name's Lex, by the way."
"Sera." They nodded at each other.
.
.
"78 and 90," Edith announced as Sera and his opponent returned.
"Nice work," Lynn high fived Sera. He glanced over at Raiha, who looked preoccupied. "Oi, moron, aren't you going to congratulate him on his win?"
"...it can't be…" Raiha mumbled. Lynn's eyebrows creased at the strange comment.
"...what?" He asked, but instead of responding, Raiha took a few shaky steps forward before breaking out into a full run, dashing past them and plenty of other magicians. Lynn and Sera shared one look before they ran after her.
After a few moments of searching he spotted teal hair and nudged Sera. They quietly creeped up to the scene.
"Alex," Lynn could barely make out the name that slipped out of Raiha's mouth in a hushed tone. In her voice there was a hint of...something that annoyed Lynn. "Alex...is that you?"
"Uhhhh...I think you have the wrong person…? My name's Lex," Sera's opponent introduced himself. Lynn noted his emerald green eyes and ginger hair distantly. "I guess the names are similar, though?"
"Ah...I...you…" Raiha mumbled. Clearing her throat, she said, "Sorry, I thought you were someone else. He looks a lot like you. The name's E...Ya...Raiha." She offered her hand. Lynn noted that her smile was wobbling precariously, but when Raiha noticed his close scrutinizing any uncertainty washed out of her face, her eyes sharpening and guard up again.
Lex took it, laughing sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "No problem. Although that's the first time I've heard that. Gingers are pretty scarce."
"I meet interesting people," she shrugged. "Oh, and Lynn and Sera? Don't just awkwardly watch us."
The two magicians coughed awkwardly and joined the scene. "Yo, I'm Lynn."
"Nice to see you again, Lex," Sera said warmly.
"Ah, yeah." Lex rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and laughed, but Lynn wasn't really paying attention to him. He was watching Raiha: her eyes were flickering with such a large myriad of emotions in such a fast pace that he could barely keep up with them. The most prominent of the emotions though...was…
Regret.
Lynn was familiar with that look.
To be honest, he was familiar with most of the expressions Raiha wore because...well, he saw them everyday in the mirror. They were alike, scarily so that Lynn wanted to deny it.
(But his conscious whispered that he couldn't deny the similarities, seeing the dark circles under her eyes everyday from little sleep, the random walks in the middle of the night because of nightmares, the constant drive to do better.)
"Oi, they're announcing the next match," Lynn pointed out. "We should go back."
"Ah, yeah. Um, it was nice meeting you, Lex," Raiha bowed her head towards the ginger before following Sera back to their original position closer to Feiste. Lynn turned around and began to follow them, but heard a faint chuckle from the ginger haired magician.
"Same as ever, El…" he murmured, and when he noticed Lynn staring, his lips turned upwards a fraction. "Take care of your friends. It's... it's pretty rare to find people like them. Make sure she's... they're...happy."
"I...uh...yeah." Lynn nodded, honestly a bit confused. He decided to go along with it. "I will."
His lips curved upwards. "Good. I'll hold you to your word."
Lynn wasn't sure how to respond to that, choosing to bob his head awkwardly. Lex nodded back at him and disappeared in the crowd.
(He never saw the strange ginger haired magician again.)
"6 and 3," Edith read, and immediately people's heads turned at the high rankings.
"I'm taking bets," someone called, and Sera turned to see a proctor with olive green eyes smirking at the crowd. Edith and Marth sent the man scathing glares, but made no move to stop him as they focused on the two contestants entering the arena.
"Five drachmas on third," someone in the crowd muttered, handing some money to the man.
"You're on," Sera shot at them, slapping several coins into the man's hand. "Fifteen drachmas on sixth." Raiha would win, he believed in her. He glanced over at Lynn, who simply stared at the man, contemplating something. The blonde's blue eyes were narrowed as he suddenly stepped forward, hands shoved casually into the pockets of his robes.
"And you, Erik? Who might you be betting on?" Lynn asked, casually slipping a bag of coins into Erik's hands. "Thirty drachmas on sixth." The crowd muttered among themselves at the large amount of money.
"You know, kid, I have a reputation to maintain," Erik drawled. "Every time I bet on someone, they lose." Behind him, Sera noticed that both Edith and Marth were nodding at the comment. Seeing that the blonde was undeterred in his stance, however, Erik sighed. "Sixty drachmas on sixth."
The crowd ruffled at such a high amount of money being placed on Raiha, and soon after emboldened individuals decided to bet money on the second place magician. Erik noticed Sera glaring at him and snorted. "What, kid? Do you think I jinxed your friend or something?"
"I…" Sera started.
"She doesn't need luck," Lynn cut in, eyes still unwavering as he searched Erik's expression. "That's what you mean, right?"
Erik's lips curled into a smirk. "I knew there was a reason why I liked you, kid."
"Lynn?" Sera spoke in a hesitant tone, and the blonde turned around and explained, "He was Raiha's interrogator for the mental trial. The sadist has no respect for human life."
"Oi, now I'm hurt," Erik crossed his arms. "I have a deep, profound respect for humans. They're quite interesting."
"Quit speaking like you aren't one," Lynn snorted.
"What if I wasn't? Maybe I'm a Fanalis, one of the near extinct superior races of humans?" Erik suggested, olive eyes glinting.
"Fanalis?" Sera tilted his head questioningly.
"You're definitely not," Lynn dismissed easily, and at Sera's surprised look the blonde quickly added, "I've read about them. They have red hair, and your hair doesn't seem dyed. Plus, if you had extraordinary strength you would've used it in the mental trial to test Raiha." Sera nodded at the information, storing it in his mind.
"Anyways, the match is starting," Sera reminded, and the three turned to watch.
"Pathetic. I'm going to be facing a nine years old for my first match?" He sneered, glancing at the teal haired girl from head to toe.
"I'm almost ten," she added helpfully, but there was a sharp glint in her cerulean eyes that made him put up his guard. Offering her hand, she said professionally, "Raiha, number six. It's a pleasure. And you are?"
"Peré, the best Wind Magician around, and the person that is about to kick your ass," he smirked, accepting her hand. Without warning, his muscles tightened and he threw her easily into the air, shooting out several bullets of wind at her.
To the girl's credit, she evaded the wind bullets easily, her body easily contorting into several positions and narrowly dodging the lethal attacks. But he wasn't done yet.
Wind rose, and unlike the other Wind Magician from before (what was his name? Sita? Sesa?), it didn't just stop at a dust storm: slowly, the girl was surrounded by a tornado.
"Scared yet, kid?" He taunted. "Iiiidiot, who tries shaking hands with their enemy?"
He shot her into the wall easily, her body hitting the concrete with a loud thud, the strength making the stone wall crumble upon itself. He smirked, waiting for the dust to abate.
"Creative," the girl's voice sounded, and he blinked in surprise when he saw several pillars of earth erected from the ground, shielding the teal haired magician from the falling debris. She looked almost contemplative. "You readjusted the spell Asfal Riih and instead made the currents constantly change, thus forcing the tornado to move."
"Gravity magic...a Strength Mage, now are you?" He sneered, inwardly filing in that the girl at least knew some stuff. The girl gave a neutral shrug. He continued, his hand grasping onto his staff, "Well, if you're not on the ground then you're useless."
The tornado reappeared, sucking the teal haired girl into the air. He laughed, seeing her flailing body. "Sucks to be you." Glancing around the arena, he registered several other things that could help him. "Hope you're not afraid of water," he called. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see some of the magicians in the crowd muttering uncertainly.
The surface of the pond rumbled, ripples appearing before wind made all of the water rise out of the pond and shoot towards the tornado at dizzyingly high speeds.
Feiste, the proctor, was standing tensely at the sidelines. Peré briefly wondered why he wasn't interfering yet, for the man had done so with other matches when magicians got out of hand, but chalked it down to the judges wanting to see the soon-to-be-number-one magician show off his skills.
He grinned, sure that this final trick would earn him enough points to get first. "The Second Affinity of Wind Magicians is Fire Magic. Most magicians don't learn to use other Magic until they've mastered their own, but lucky you, I can."
He summoned several infernos and noticed a glowing light from in the tornado. He inwardly rose his eyebrows, but then again the girl was sixth for a reason. Even if she wasn't that much of a challenge for him. "Oh, so you can dabble in a bit of Light Magic too. Unsurprising, since Strength Mages do have a Second Affinity towards that. But I…"
The fireballs shot towards the tornado, which was now so obscure that one couldn't see through it at all. Spheres of water formed above his hands, hovering and waiting for him to shoot.
"Can also use a bit of Water Magic," he finished, and with that he took a step back to throw and-
-he was...being choked? By tendrils of water? His arms flailed out uselessly, and somehow his fingers managed to grope for and find his staff. Dispelling the tendrils of water, his eyes widened when he noticed the tornado had completely disappeared.
"Impressive, I must say," the teal haired girl mused, looking slightly battered but overall more amused than anything. "I've never experienced such an interesting battle. You have quite a skill set for someone coming into the Academy. You probably have taken the entrance exams several times in the past. Most likely it was your theoretical score, if any, that didn't allow you to pass before. Your battle tactics were commendable, although I really suggest not assuming things about your opponent. Underestimating your opponents will only lead to your downfall."
"So you can do a few parlor tricks, so what?" Peré laughed. "I'm still better. Don't go getting cocky just because you landed a hit on me."
"I'm warning you, don't provoke me," the girl called, and although her tone was friendly, her eyes resembled chipped ice.
"Do you honestly think you can take me? Sho~oo~rtie?"
The girl threw a look towards Peré's left, which he realized was towards Feiste. "I warned that son of a-"
"Language," Feiste reminded, looking unperturbed.
"-gun," the female magician finished before snapping her fingers. Her staff, which had been thrown far away from her in the tornado, came flying into her hands. Perhaps it was enchanted already? There were strange characters etched on the surface of the staff that Peré couldn't make out. Her face darkened as she turned towards Peré and snarled, "Sorry, but you've gotten on my nerves way too much for me to let you get off easily."
She muttered something under her breath before the earth began shaking.
Peré laughed. "Another earthquake? Do you really think that'd scare me? I've faced Strength mages with your Gravity Magic skillset before and came out on top. You're no exception." He blinked and realized that the girl had disappeared. He whirled around but saw nothing, his heart pounding loudly in his chest. Where did she go?
Above, left, right, behind, in front...below?
He glanced downwards but saw nothing, his paranoia only increasing. He shoved the emotion down his throat, narrowing his eyes, searching for his enemy
"They say that people rely too much on their eyes," a voice resounded from behind him, but when he whirled around there was nobody there.
"Sad to say that the statement's pretty much true," her voice commented to his right.
"Where are you? Are you using a voice amplifying technique? You coward, come out of hiding," he sneered, hoping that he'd rile her up enough to reveal herself. Instead, she chuckled at the notion, the noise coming from above him. He glanced upwards, but once again there was nothing.
"What are you talking about? I'm not hiding, you just can't see right."
"Shut up, where are you?" He growled.
"Oh, alright. I'll shut up. But then you won't be able to find me." Amusement was clearly laced in her voice as she fell silent. Peré closed his eyes, listening for footsteps, but there were none. Shifts in the air, then…
There.
He shot several wind bullets up into the air and felt the air whoosh past him, as if she was dodging. He smirked. Peré was going to win this, he could already feel the exhilarating anticipation of a victory coursing through his veins. "Tough luck, sweetheart, but I'm going to win," he called as he closed his eyes, willing the Rukh to comply with his wishes.
Water began to condense and form a dome over the arena. He snapped his fingers, and the water turned into sharp blades of ice. "Well? Do you give?" He called.
There was no response, so he glanced over briefly to see that Feiste held an apathetic expression as he summoned a Borg before things could get messy.
With one final push at the Rukh, the blades of ice hurled towards the spot where he could sense the girl standing. To his surprise, he saw her materialize (he still didn't understand how she did that, to his annoyance) and simply smirk as the icicles came towards her.
Was this another trick?
No, apparently it wasn't. The icicles stopped one centimeter before her face, still unblinking. Her lips twitched, and suddenly she broke into laughter. "You...ah, gosh, I can't help it...this is just so hilarious."
"Stop laughing," he snarled, mind running to figure out why the icicles had stopped.
Her expression froze mid-laugh as she stared at him, eyes narrowing and mouth turning downwards into a scowl. Without warning, the icicles had snapped around, additional blades of ice forming before they all shot at him. Summoning a Borg just in time, Peré winced as he tried to maintain his Borg against the immense force of the icicles hitting it. The icicles melted, leaving water floating in mid air, and before he could react the water encircled his Borg and drove him upwards, him and his Borg trapped inside a circular orb of water.
"I like to call this the Water Prison technique, as it was inspired by...ah, something." The girl's twitching lips told him that it must have been an inside joke. "Right now, you have enough air in your Borg to live. But will your oxygen supply run out first? Or will your Borg? Because I promise you that I can maintain this prison for as long as I need to."
"Impossible, maintaining a spell that's not even your main affinity for that long is impossible," he barked, attempting to dispel the prison but failing at doing so.
He could barely make out the amusement that flashed through her features through the distortion of the water prison. "Oh my gosh, this guy is hilarious," she gushed, and for a moment Peré didn't see a nine year old girl anymore: he saw a jaded, talented magician who was ready to kill him at a moment's notice. "You don't get it yet, do you? A bit slow…"
He was sweating, arms trembling from maintaining his Borg while also under the additional pressure of the water prison, which seemed to be trying to constrict him.
"Iiiiidiot, who tries attacking a Water Magician with water?" She asked mockingly, imitating his earlier jibe at her. Her grip on her staff tightened and the Water Prison shrunk, squishing Peré's Borg and forcing it to constrict. He gritted his teeth, knuckles white from holding onto his staff as he tried to keep the Borg from shrinking further.
"Judging by the way that your pupils are dilated and the extremity of the tremors your body is making, you'll only be able to maintain the Borg for about two more minutes," his opponent noted. "If I increase the pressure of the Water Prison, I'd say you'd last forty five seconds. The pressure right now is enough to kill you if your Borg breaks. Do you give?"
"Who...who are you?"
She smiled, and although there was nothing in her words that indicated anything of the sort, Peré saw a predator: a huntress about to capture her prey. "Why, I already introduced myself in the beginning of the match, don't you remember?" At the lack of response, she frowned. The Water Prison suddenly disappeared, and Peré collapsed in a heap on the ground. Cheerfully strolling over to his twitching body, she pointed her staff directly at his head. "You can call me Raiha. Now, do you give?"
"The match is over," Feiste's voice interrupted. "Raiha, remove your staff. I've called Shinya over to heal."
"Roger that, sir," she saluted. The thump of the butt of her staff hitting the ground resounded through the entire stadium.
The arena was deathly quiet for a moment. Then people were cheering, celebrating or mourning the loss of their money from betting, and sending both admiring and calculative glances at Raiha.
"Also...Raiha?" Feiste asked, and when she turned to face him the proctor quietly inquired, "Where did you learn all of this?"
Her smile didn't even flicker for a moment. "I stayed with number 14, Sera, for awhile. We experimented with a lot of magic, and since his grandmother owned a bookshop that, along with Musta'sim's grand library, assisted me as well."
"...hn."
"I told you she would win," Yamuraiha heard Sera's voice practically oozing with pride.
"Never doubted it, kid," Erik snorted.
"That match was...alright," Lynn admitted, his arms crossed over his chest as he observed Shinya and two other Healers escort Peré out of the stadium.
"Aw, and I thought you didn't care, Erik," Yamuraiha cooed, casually approaching and segueing into the conversation. "And you all are so cute."
"Nice work, kiddo, you just won me 120 drachmas," Erik commented lazily, sending her a thumbs up. Standing up lethargically, the man yawned and said, "I'll be off to the judges' booth now. You kids will get in no sweat. Oh, and Raiha?"
"Mm?"
He offered his hand, olive green eyes slitted. "Congratulations."
"Thank you," Yamuraiha smiled cordially, accepting the handshake. The two nodded at each other before the older man swaggered off. She turned to Lynn and Sera, casually fingering the slip of paper the man had given her and slipping it into her robe. She addressed Lynn, "You're going to be up, soon, huh? After all, you haven't fought yet."
"Yeah, probably," Lynn shrugged casually, not looking that concerned.
"Confident, much?" Yamuraiha snorted.
"No, Lynn's very adept at magical combat," Sera added his own two cents into the conversation, and both Yamuraiha and Lynn turned towards the white haired boy in surprise.
"How do you know that?" They asked in synchronization. Immediately they scowled at each other when they realized that they had spoken in sync.
"It's not like I can just sleep through every single time when you wake up in the middle of the night and go off training," Sera deadpanned, staring at Lynn. "Honestly, your nightmares wake me up every night." He blinked and immediately shut his mouth. "Sorry, shouldn't have said that."
"Nightmares?" Yamuraiha rounded about and stared at Lynn for a response.
The blonde shrugged, mumbling, "Just a few now and then. Nothing serious."
Yamuraiha was about to reply to the blonde haired magician when she heard Marth call out, "The next match will be between 2 and 5."
She blinked.
Then blinked again.
And slowly both Sera and Yamuraiha craned their heads to look at Lynn.
"Well, nice knowing you, Lynn," Sera said kindly.
"We'll miss you. Actually, scratch that. Sera will miss you. Rest in peace," Yamuraiha grinned at the blonde.
"...oi, oi. What happened to having confidence in my abilities?" Lynn grumbled as he headed off to the field. Yamuraiha's smile wavered for a moment as he left.
When the blonde was out of sight, she mumbled to Sera, "Shame I have to miss the idiot's match: tell me about it later. Wake me up when my next match is announced. Look for the healer Shinya, brown hair. Red eyes. Can't miss her."
"Yeah." Sera and Yamuraiha had spent enough time testing their limits and the extent of their magic together for the white haired boy to know that her physical body couldn't handle using that many spells yet. She had been bluffing with Peré: she probably could've only held the Water Prison for another thirty seconds before her body gave out on her. Luckily, the match had ended before then. She wobbled uncertainly on her feet for a moment before promptly passing out.
She felt Sera's arms steady her body before she hit the ground and then everything went dark.
A/N: Welp. That was long. Lots of dialogue and short sentences LOLOLOL but that's just how I roll when it comes to action. Romantic here, my action scenes are pretty badass. In my head. Not so much when writing. LOL.
I casually shall address some points you guys might be interested in. Please note the majority of this chapter was BS I made up myself because honestly the canon Magnoshutatt tests were too pathetically easy to call tests. Plus, well...Magnoshutatt's in war with Musta'sim rn, so wartime procedures throw everything off. Deal with it.
No, Raiha is not invincible. Yes, she will get more badass scenes. Yes, she has several character flaws that I hope are becoming apparent as I continue writing. Yes, I know exactly what a Mary Sue is, and honestly if you'd like to debate with me about that go ahead and try me.
1) There shall be lots of Alex flashbacks (uh...perspectives?) as we watch Alex unravel El's death, backstory, etc. It's my way of hinting OC backstories. LOL. Can't promise more Clara, but Alex'll be there.
1.5) Speaking of which, you noticed Lex. Go ahead and make your guesses/theories/etc.
2) My God all of you are jumping off and on ships. I see a few loyal shippers and the rest of you are trying to jump ship but are being swallowed by the ocean of romance instead. Note that while ship teases will be apparent, there probably will be no established relationship for the majority (if not, all) of the story. Kudos to TheBlueEspeon for sticking with a ship (although I can't do that myself).
3) High fives to the MM fans out there, and my sympathy to those who the game has glitched on.
4) Kreuz13 had several interesting theories about Raiha, or as we know now to be Elliot's, past. Close, but not close? Idk that WAS pretty close?
5) Yeah, so Yamuraiha still hasn't shown up in Sinbad no Bouken so I'm still in the dark. Timeskips are cool and all, and there'll be a one year timeskip eventually sometime during Yamuraiha's stay in Magnoshutatt.
6) I do not know which canon characters will be introduced yet. If things go to plan, all of Sinbad's group will be. Raiha should be eventually meeting a large portion of the Kou Empire if things go my way. The Reim Empire is a stop I want to take as well eventually in the story.
7) Thank you to those who pointed out the errors in the story. This author is a lazy ass but she'll probably fix them sometime. ^^;;
8) Thank you to all of your kind words about the story/my writing/etc. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Please don't hesitate to PM me and talk to me about it, because it's actually very fun to talk about Raiha and co. with others.
9) Special thanks to Heitor because omfg you literally wrote an essay of a review that had the most thought provoking comments ever. Like it's not even a review anymore, more like an essay. And then you, you wonderful person, decided to write even more to me via PM. Thank you.
But yeah, so I honestly have no idea what to say because I honestly started this story on a whim and suddenly it's my most popular one? Like what? And I'm starting to get people who are like "yo so I read your other stories too" and I just feel really honored.
Also, huge thank you to some of the reviewers because I secretly stalked your profiles and looked at all the favorite fanfiction for new OC stories. If you can recommend any good ones, I'm open for suggestions. (Badass Sakura stories from Naruto are my guilty pleasure, although I've read a lot, fyi HAHAHA.)
What else...AH YEAH.
For Christmas, I've decided against the MM thing because I'm working on a Christmas collab for my Akatsuki no Yona fanfic at the moment.
.
.
Thus, for Christmas, I've decided on a Truth or Dare thing with the characters? Ask questions to Raiha, Lynn, Nick, Sera, any of the canon characters, etc. Basically it's a Q&A session in disguise where you get to tease the characters about your ships because we all know that's how it's gonna go. You can submit as many Truths or Dares as you wish, although try not to overwhelm poor Raiha with 10 questions about why she doesn't like Sharrkan yet. LOL.
It'll end up something like:
"Who did you choose at the end of the 100 review special/Cinderella omake? -theauthor20"
Yamuraiha stared at the piece of paper for a long moment before glancing up at Ja'far. The white haired boy shrugged and pointed at Sinbad, who nodded grimly. She had to answer. She closed her teal eyes, trying to regain her composure as she felt her cheeks heating up.
"I..."
Everyone leaned in closer.
"I...I chose..."
They were on the edge of their seat.
"...Mogamett. And rode off happily in the sunset with him."
Yep. OK. That's all. Thanks guys. ;D But seriously, I'd love to talk and make friends with all of you~ PM me with any of your thoughts~ Your ships~ Requests~ Truths/Dares~ Thoughts about all of the story ideas I have on my profile (which include OC!Ladybug from Miraculous Ladybug, OC!Kikyo from Inuyasha, etc.) or story ideas you might want me to consider?
Idk I just want more friends is that too much to ask LOLOLOL? Anyways, thanks for reviewing. Thank you for favorite-ing. Thank you for following. All of you guys, cheesy as it sounds, really do make my day when I see that you like this story. ;) Hope this update made yours.