Update A/N

Oh, I almost forgot. I can't decide if there should be a mental connection between Eragon and Saphira. Let me know what you guys think. That is part of the reason I cut the story off where I did.

A/N

Setting Sights-I was actually planning to implement what you were talking about soon...very soon. It's all apart of the master plan...I think.

I mention an exercise a bit later. If you don't know what they are, check out this video. /watch?v=BMAvfw29wi8

The guy is a bit weird in the video, I know. In my defense, I don't watch YouTube videos about exercising. The exercises I do I get from a trainer or I got them from my dad.

So, I proofread, but I feel like I didn't fix something, so if you notice something, please point it out via a review or PM please. R&R please.

Chapter 11

Arya

Music blared in her ears, drowning out the majority of the repetitious beat coming from her feet landing on the treadmill. Normally, she would run outside, but Eragon wanted to strengthen his right arm after getting it out of the cast the day before. They were in the basement. Arya was facing a window, while Eragon was behind her, picking up various dumbbells, working his way up from 10 to test his harm.

Arya would glance over at him every couple of minutes to make sure he wasn't doing something stupid and, so far, he was playing it safe. Arya was finishing on her last 400m, so she decided to pick up her pace. She transitioned to a run until she had 100m left, then turned the treadmill to a full sprint. She opened her form, using every bit of mass in her body to push the speed of her sprint to its limit. A high pitched beep signified she had finished her last kilometer. She hit stop, missing once in her attempt to maintain the sprint the last couple of steps. She looked at her time and smiled. 42:02 was written across the treadmill's screen. She turned to gloat, speaking in-between breaths, "hah, I beat your 10k time."

Eragon was finishing the last set of 21's. It was interesting to watch his left arm have no strain while his right was shaking from the weight. He set the bar down on its rack before speaking and, even then, was out of breath. "What time did you get?"

Arya replied in an as a matter of fact tone. "42:02."

Eragon whistled, impressed. "I've pretty much plateaued at 42:30. Now, in a week or so, come over to this side of the gym and see who wins in a competition."

Arya smirked. She didn't dedicate as much time to weights as she did running, though she could lift more than a lot of the guys at Varden High. "Why wait a week? We could do it tomorrow," Arya challenged.

He laughed, walked towards her and said "we both know that I get some recovery time after getting my cast removed. Speaking of which, I think it's time."

Arya was confused for a moment. "It's time for what?"

Eragon was inches from her as she finished her question, then he whispered his reply into her ear. "It's time for me to drive your car."

A strong stench of Axe infiltrated her nostrils, causing her to push him back. "I'll consider you driving my car today after you take a shower. I'm not getting," she gestured towards his entire body, "that all over my leather." Rather than replying, Eragon tried to kiss her, which only resulted in him being pushed back again. One word came out of her mouth. "Shower."

Eragon accepted defeat and walked towards the stairs. As he reached them, he turned around and spoke in a jokingly arrogant way. "You want this all over your leather." When the last word came out, he had a goofy grin on his face. Arya wanted to kiss him, but the smell of Axe spray deodorant was overpowering, even in the smallest doses.

As he ran up the stairs, Arya yelled after him. "You need to throw that Axe away. That is the worst deodorant ever designed." Eragon didn't reply and Arya went to shower off herself. I can't stand this feeling of grime all over me, she thought as she grabbed clothes she could relax in, but also go outside in, knowing Eragon would want to drive later. She set her clothes down in the bathroom, then went through her morning routine.

She walked out of the bathroom to find Eragon was nowhere in the house. She was about to call him when it dawned on her. He's in the garage. She entered the garage to find him sitting on a rolling mechanic's chair, watching her entrance. Knowing he would want to break the law, she entered the driver's seat, ready to take him to a private course.

As soon as he sat in the passenger's seat, he asked the question she was expecting. His tone was overly saddened. "Why am I not driving?" his voice was falsely breaking.

She gave him a look before following a route she has taken numerous times. "I'm taking you to a place without police, so you can really drive." He grinned and began bombarding her with questions about where they were going. Arya's replied consisted of "we're almost there" and "patience." Eventually, Eragon stopped asking questions and started playing music off his phone.

It was only a ten minute drive before they arrived at the abandoned race track. Eragon looked around while she approached the starting positions.

"What is this place?" Eragon asked.

"It was called Edur Ithindra during the height of the IRC, but it has been abandoned with the URC. It was a frequent racing location before it was abandoned."

Several metal stands for seating were set up around the track, but they were rusting from years of vacancy. There was a tower at the center of the track that could oversee the track, probably for announcers. Arya pulled the car into first starting position, put the car in park, then opened the door. Eragon and Arya crossed paths at the hood and Eragon stopped her. He whispered, as if it were a secret, "thank you," then slowly inched forward to kiss her. Arya didn't reply, content with kissing him. Their lips met for only a few seconds before an impatient Eragon broke off. He was smiling from ear to ear as he got in the car. Arya lost sight of him until she sat beside him and looked to see the former happiness vanished as he gripped the steering wheel.

Eragon

As he situated his hands on the steering wheel, memories flooded him. Memories of his dad and the countless hours Eragon spent behind the wheel as his dad sat beside him. Memories of his mother as Eragon drove her to some insignificant location. He barely heard Arya ask "what's wrong?" but the memories were too loud. The realization that he would never have those moments again hit the hardest.

It suddenly felt as if he couldn't breath and he got out of the car. He didn't even bother shutting the door, but a door was heard being shut behind him. All he could do was walk and look straight ahead. Suddenly, he was stopped by a pair of arms being wrapped around him. He looked down to see Arya wrapped around him, watching his eyes. An abrupt feeling to be closer to her caused him to wrap his arms around her and bury his face in the base of her neck. Not knowing what to do, he sobbed.

He felt vulnerable in this uncontrollable state. All he knew was that Arya was there, playing with the hair on the back of his neck in an attempt to soothe him. Eventually the tears stopped flowing and the memories faded back into the past, but he didn't move. He was content where he was. Without moving either of them, Arya spoke with the slightest hint of worry in her tone. "Are you alright?" she waited a moment, but Eragon didn't speak. He couldn't find the words. "Talk to me," she continued.

Eragon nodded into her shoulder before taking a moment to gather his thoughts. He pulled back to look Arya in the eyes. "The last real memories I have of my dad," he spoke slowly, carefully enunciating each word, "were him teaching me how to drive. How to drift, really." He let out a short laugh at his former self's innocence. I only cared about driving, he thought to himself. "So, when I grabbed the steering wheel, all of those memories flooded back and…" he stopped, not entirely sure how to continue his statement.

Arya broke the silence. "It's hard to lose a parent. I can't even imagine what it feels like to lose both." They were both silent, unsure about what to say. Finally, Arya spoke again, smiling. "You know what I think?" Eragon lifted an eyebrow in response. "I think you should take a couple of laps around the track." Eragon knew her well enough to know she was trying to get him to drive, both to see if he was able to drive now that he talked about it and to try to distract him from his memories.

Eragon decided to at least reassure Arya if he couldn't reassure himself. He smiled as convincingly as he could and said "alright, time to give you a run for your money" in a joking tone. He still couldn't completely get what happened off of his mind and Arya wasn't convinced based off of her facial expression. As they approached the car and entered, Eragon gripped the steering wheel while fighting off the memories.

After a moment to completely focus on driving, Eragon revved the engine a couple of times to test how quickly the RPMs rose. Once he was satisfied he knew the car well, he accelerated as quickly as he could. He needed to know how the torque felt before he started drifting, so he took the first turn slowly, smoothly taking a sharp right by riding the race line from thousands of tires riding over the asphalt. The next was a left turn and, by then, he was confident enough to begin drifting. He accelerated from his comfortable speed to swing the rear end around. He realized how sore he was at this moment as his arms felt too weak to turn the steering wheel fast enough. He was oversteering and released the throttle slightly to lessen the angle on the car. By then, it was time to exit the turn, so he reduced the throttle more and turned the steering wheel back straight. As the car completely straightened and regained grip, he pushed the throttle down to increase his speed. Knowing it didn't matter, he didn't look at the speedometer. There will be better straights later on, he told himself. The approaching turn was another left, so he prepared for it by moving to the left side of the road, then decided to yank the e-brake just after he began his turn, swinging the car's rear end around, yet again, then he released it and slammed the throttle to the floor. He was ready for the weakness in his arms as he lessened the throttle early, the RPMs approaching 7500, as the car maneuvered into the sweet spot. Despite the initial shock, he was smiling. I love this, he thought to himself as he took the car back out of the drift and prepared for the right hairpin. He moved to the left side of the road before he shifted the car up and pressed the throttle to the floor. He fluctuated the pressure on the throttle as he swung the car around as far as he could and still aim the car for the right side of the road. By the time the car gripped its tires and momentum picked back up, he was inches from what would be considered cutting the corner. He floored it, shifting through fourth, fifth, then sixth as he pushed the car to its limit before the wide constant radius corner. Drifting it would be pointless in a race, as you would just lose speed and tire traction. Instead, he slowed the car down and maintained a constant turn around the corner. He exited and accelerated again to the finish. He looked down to find the car was pushing 190 mph before he started to slow down, not wanting to waste the tires trying to stop at the last minute.

When the car came to a stop, he was grinning from ear to ear and his hands were shaking from the adrenaline. He looked at Arya, who had a look as if she accomplished something on her face. "I think I need to introduce you to someone." Eragon was confused and he wanted to ask her to elaborate, but he stunned himself after controlling the car the way he did. Arya pulled out her phone and began to sending a series of texts.

Saphira

She was sleeping in before she got spammed by texts from Arya. They all said the same thing:

Get down to Edur Ithindra. I think our luck has changed.

She groaned into her pillow before getting up and taking a shower. She told her mom she was meeting Arya and left the house. When she arrived at the track, she parked her car in the pit stop. She could see Orik's Viper and Arya's GT-R already there as she walked towards Arya, Orik, and Eragon having a conversation. Eragon being there took her by surprise, who was also out of his cast. When she approached the three of them, she spoke. "What's up?"

Eragon and Orik could only wave as Arya began to speak. "I think we've found the driver we've been looking for."

Saphira closed her eyes and sighed. Great. Another series of tests for yet another person. "So, who is it?" Saphira asked, not putting two and two together.

Arya smiled at her, probably for Saphira not connecting the dots. "It's Eragon." To say she was shocked would be an understatement. She knew Eragon raced, but she didn't know he could race a high-end car. Nor did she know he could drive a supercar well enough to cause Arya to wake her on her day off.

Saphira collected her thoughts before replying. Once she did, she asked "is Oromis coming?"

"Yes, as is Glaedr." Glaedr! she exclaimed to herself. Arya hasn't asked Glaedr to come during any of the previous compatibility tests. She had never met either of them, but she knew that Glaedr is one of the greatest mechanics ever. He set record times in the pits during the height of the IRC. Very few people had ever seen Glaedr and Oromis since the fall of the IRC due to the fact that they went into hiding after Galbatorix took over.

Arya speaking drew her from her thoughts ."Saphira, you will have to control yourself around him. He's basically your role model an-"

Saphira cut her off, defensively. "He is not my role model." Arya gave her a look that said just don't do anything stupid, but Arya didn't say anything else. It was then that Saphira really noticed Eragon. That's unusual, she thought to herself. Normally, he would jump at the chance to have a conversation with Arya. Instead, he was staring at Arya's GT-R with a blank look on his face.

Saphira was about to speak to him when the sound of a car approaching stopped her. She turned to see a bronze-gold BMW M5 approaching with two people inside. She immediately forgot about Eragon and began to anticipate Glaedr and Oromis. Each second felt like two as they approached. Saphira began to get nervous, like a middle school girl before a date. What do I say? Do I say anything? Do I need to change my posture?... She questioned herself until the pair of men pulled up and exited the car.

The first thing she noticed was that one of the men, who must be Glaedr, was missing his left forearm from the elbow down. Arya walked towards Oromis and said on the way "it's been too long," then hugged both of them, though the one missing an arm shocked them all except for Arya by practically growling at the touch.

Oromis spoke next. "It has. Now," he said as he turned to Eragon and Orik. "I don't believe I've been properly introduced to you two."

Eragon had already refocused on the world by now and spoke to Oromis as he shook his hand. "Hello, sir, my name is Eragon."

Oromis nodded before replying. "I have had my eye on you for a long time. Ever since I found out that you were Brom and Selena's son." As the words came out, Eragon became curious, judging by his facial expression that replaced his blank look. "I was Brom's coach before the fall of the IRC. He and his partner, Saphira, were great pupils before she was killed in the fall." Without giving others a chance to reply, Oromis' attitude completely changed. He became serious and began telling others his plan. He doesn't like being this far out in the open, Saphira thought to herself. She knew Oromis and Glaedr remained in the center of Ellesméra, a huge, private neighborhood in Weldenvarden. Oromis only agreed to leave to examine possible racer-dragon connections that could help stop Galbatorix and the URC, which didn't happen often and only took fifteen minutes max. Oromis didn't have to test Saphira, but Eragon and the possible connection between Eragon and Saphira was a different story.

Oromis turned to Eragon and Saphira before he spoke next. "There are two tests I will want the two of you to try. The first will consist of Saphira riding with Eragon, calling out approaching changes and how Eragon should take the change, whether it be to speed up, drift, slow down, etc.. The next will have Saphira and Eragon separated. Eragon, you will drive the course as you see fit while Saphira will have another task in the tower. Before we begin that, we," gesturing to everyone besides Eragon, "will watch how you perform on the track." Saphira was expecting the next part, but Eragon wasn't based on the shock on his face afterwards. "I will be riding shotgun while the others are watching from above."

Everyone was silent until Glaedr starting leading everyone away except for Eragon and Oromis, who were heading towards Arya's GT-R, the car he was most familiar with. Saphira walked while looking back at Eragon. Something is off about him, she thought. I'll talk to him afterwards, she decided as she walked to the announcer's tower in the center of the track.

A/N

Thank you for the story follow LaPrawn. Every follow and review is appreciated.

Sorry for it being late again. Long story short, I had finals, then didn't have service to proofread until about an hour ago. There are a couple of events I have flipped around to try to explain some things more, which will come more in the next chapter. The cliffhanger was a little much. It wasn't even a good one tbh, but I will write the next part of this, hopefully, by Sunday night so I figured it would be okay. I answered the reviews on the chapter update last chapter, so if you're curious about them and joined the story late, there they are.

So, I dropped Eragon's mourning rather bluntly and I did this mainly because I was trying to portray how much Eragon enjoys driving cars and because, once others show up, I wanted to enforce the fact that Eragon was trying to hide his emotions, though Arya and Saphira know him well enough to know something is wrong.