"Does the idea of fighting to the very brink of death intimidate you any, Fang?" Zelos asked, drawing his sword as he looked across the field at Fang.

The teenager had his sword held up, steady and vigil.

"No."

"Really?" Zelos smiled, his feet moving in fluid motions that made it seem like his legs were a separate part of his body. If you just watched Zelos from his waist up, the only thing that gave away his movement was the changing background behind him.

The redhead pulled out his dagger. His shield was strapped to his forearm and he kept circling Fang, eyebrows lifted as he awaited his answer.

"Every battle I've ever been in has been to the death. The only difference about the battle with the Jabberwocky is just the fact we've got a way bigger target," the teen commented, his feet matching Zelos's in pace but going in the opposite direction so they were making a large clock-wise circle.

"That's a good thing to keep in mind," the older man shrugged.

"Are we going to keep pacing until we make a crop-circle or are you going to-" Fang was going to finish the question with 'spar' but he was cut off to find Zelos charging and the dagger coming down swiftly. Zelos had been aiming for Fang's heart.

Fang barely managed to lift his large sword up to block the attack.

The two blades clinked together and Fang glared up with earnest brown eyes currently clouded from the adrenaline. The brunette grunted as he tried to thrust upward enough with his weapon to knock Zelos off his feet and make him back off.

Zelos pulled his shield up, pressed it up to the blade to replace the pressure from his dagger and pushed at Fang's sword. Fang stumbled back from the unbelievable strength behind the attack, knocking himself into a tree.

He had about two seconds before Zelos charged and jumped at him with his legs spinning, looking to clock him right in the face if Fang didn't duck fast enough.

The avian-hybrid pressed up against the tree with his back and knelt down fast. Zelos's dirty cream boots slammed into the bark and Fang heard quick CRRRACK as the tree got hit. The plant seemed just as caught off guard from the attack as Fang had been; it stood motionless for about five seconds before the trunk split in half and fell to the ground.

He turned, staring at the tree in shock and then Zelos's foot made contact with Fang's shoulder blade. The kick brought Fang down to his hands and knees. Angrily, he let his wings flap hard and heavy a few times. The wind that occurred at least inconvenienced Zelos because the redhead backed off to try and avoid the force of the air-blasts.

"Can your fairy wings do that!" Fang snapped, pushing himself off the ground and slamming his sword down to try and hit the redhead.

Zelos blocked it with his shield but found himself suddenly on his back at the force. Fang kept pressing the blade downward on the shield. Maybe it would crack and break. Maybe Zelos would realize Fang was a bigger asset than he seemed to think. Maybe, just maybe, this would earn the redhead's respect and conversation could be filled with a little less bickering.

Brown narrowed eyes glared down into the bright blue abyss of Zelos's irises. The Tethe'allan's eyes were wide, seeming surprised at being forced down to the ground. If he didn't get out of this position quick enough, Fang would think he was hot stuff for making a cute little Zelos-shaped hole in the dirt.

That would just not work for the more experienced warrior.

Zelos tried to pull his knees up to his chest, using the shield to cover his limbs. Fang was quicker though and used those long gawky legs to knee Zelos and then hold the ex-philanderer's legs down by his shin pressing tight against the losing man's lower thighs.

"You think you're hot stuff, kid?" Zelos snarled, looking a lot angrier than Fang felt comfortable with.

He almost wanted to let up in the battle but he had a feeling Zelos would know if he went easy on him and he didn't want to feel that wrath either.

The teenager kept Zelos pinned, "Personally, I think I'm winning, old man."

That nickname probably hadn't been the most intelligible thing that had ever left Fang's lips.

Zelos let out an angry battle cry and started to try and force Fang off with more power than he'd been showing before. The exphere, the one that Whidmore had seen and used to identify Zelos with back in Palmacosta, was glowing now.

Fang didn't know how Zelos did it, but he managed to muscle his way back to his feet just long enough to change the score.

Now Zelos was on top of him, his knee slammed into Fang's abdomen and the teenager gasped in pain while Zelos glared down at him. Fang made a move to try and look down at his stomach to try and estimate how much of Zelos was bearing on his body and to see how he might get loose. When his chin lowered was when he felt the cold press of metal against his throat.

"Instant kill," Zelos was smiling down at him now that he had won the spar. "I am the victoooooor."

Fang scowled, "Barely," the brunette snipped.

"There is no such thing as 'barely' winning," Zelos stood up, putting his sword away with a smile as he held his hand out to help Fang up. "You either win or lose. In our battle, we'll either live or die."

"If I hadn't called you an old man, you wouldn't have gotten pissed off enough to get me off of you," Fang insisted.

"We can 'what if' this all night, whiney bitch," Zelos had his hands on his hips, grinning at Fang despite being a little out of breath and the sweat that was running down his cheeks. "I won, though. If that had been a real battle, I would have sliced your neck."

"Uhuh," Fang huffed, crossing his arms over his chest after putting his sword away.

"I think you're very ready, though," Zelos suddenly said, his smile fading as he looked at Fang.

The teenager blinked, staring at Zelos like he had to have misheard him. "We're ready?"

"Yup," Zelos replied, hands still on his hips as he looked up at Fang. "You're ready. We'll make the plan tonight during dinner and then we'll go and make our way to Meltokio once again to kill the dragon."

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really pumped up," Fang was smiling dorkily down at Zelos.

The smile wasn't returned, "I wouldn't be," and the redhead turned to go wash all the sweat off of him.

Author's Notes: Alright, please tell me I managed to make this fight-scene not gay. There's a lot of body-parts touching in this and I'm trying not to write a slash fic here. Sometimes people just assume two main guy characters are just gonna get together. That's not the case in this fic. I would like to think the anger Fang and Zelos consistently show for each other would scare off any ideas of slash but some people like to think of that behavior as flirting. (I'm not against slash, so don't anybody dare flame me for shit like that. It's just not the point of this fic.) So, comments on my first ever written fightscene? I want to know what I need to fix because the next fightscene is going to be the big bad dragon and I want that to be perfection.