A/N: It was difficult to decide where to start off this chapter... (Just remembered in the last chapter Arme left the cake in the oven D=)

I haven't gained any control over the GC characters since the last chapter, sorry D=

Chapter 4: Stepping Stones

They had returned back to the house about half an hour after the show ended, forced to take extra time avoiding the hordes of fans attempting to get to the two who had preformed. They couldn't imagine fans getting their hands on an unconcious Amy would be a good thing, so the group had made it back as quickly as possible. Jin had some questions regarding Arme, though those were quickly pushed off until Elesis and Arme could return from the violet mage guild, where they had needed to rush to. Upon arriving Elena had welcomed Arme inside, where several people sat expectantly, most older than Arme herself. She had partially expected them to shun her for her age, but the group had in fact welcomed her. They had ended up discussing the basics of magic, and she was taught her first simple spell, firebolt. Casting the flame was easy for Arme, but sending it away from her body had been a problem. They had let her go on the basis that she come back every day for the next few weeks.

Upon going back to the house she had stared at the gate for roughly an hour, trying to decide how to get in. The staring hadn't gotten her anywhere, but the yelling and pounding on the gate that followed was a sucess as far as gathering the attention of several of the neighbours and Elesis, who came out to drag her inside. When she entered the kitchen the entire group excluding Lass was sitting at the table, munching on the previous night's left overs and staring at her. The pink haired girl in particular appeared confused, as she had been asleep the previous encounter with the purple haired girl. It had been Ronan who had decided to start the conversation, a small comment of 'So. Lass brought a girl home.' That had the red-headed boy choking on his food, Amy gasping in shock as she stared at Arme, and Arme herself burying her face in her arms on the table so she wouldn't have to look at anyone else. A few moments later Elesis had been the one to clear up the confusion, explaining that Lass had simply found her lost on his way back, seen her potential as a mage, and brought her back. A variation of the actual story, but one Arme didn't quite feel like pointing out at that time.

"Oohh!!! So she's a mage~?" Amy had asked questioningly, leaning forward with a sparkle in her eyes, a large grin on her face.

"Well... Kind of, I guess..." Arme replied hesitantly.

"Show me!!" The other girl demanded. The others simply sighed, most likely used to the pink haired girl's energy. Arme carefully pulled out her staff, and with much concentration she had created a smaller version of the fire ball she had created at the Mage's Guild earlier that day, hovering lightly over the staff.

"You learned that in one day? Woah." Ronan was the only one to comment. She had also learned earlier in the guild that Ronan was one of the few who was able to combine magical skills with melee, and therefore highly respected in both fields. Of all the people in the room, she supposed he would be the one to know the most about difficuly learning magic.

"That's so awsome!!!" Amy cried, clapping her hands gleefully as she watched the flames spiral around and wave in the still air, extinguishing when Arme was no longer certain she would be able to keep it controlled. The rest of the group nodded quietly, and the purple haired girl bowed her head gratefully at the complement.

"How long's she staying with us?" The red haired boy who had been introduced as Jin earlier asked. Elesis looked up thoughtfully at the question.

"We're really not sure... Depending on her progress before we leave town if she wants she might come with us... But that also depends on Lass' opinion. Ryan's too. You guys run into him on the way back?" She asked. Both Amy and Jin shook their heads.

"No, it was a bit too far out of our way, if we went we wouldn't have arrived on time." Amy replied, "But he should be back soon, right?" Ronan and Elesis both sighed at the question, the redhead leaning back in her chair and signalling for Ronan to answer the question.

"Not sure... He said he'd be back by the end of the month. Lass is at the Asassin's Guild, by the way." Ronan added unexpectedly. Arme breathed out of relief as the topic slowly began to move away from her.

"What?! No way! He found all the shards in two weeks?!" the pink haired said, standing up to look at him incredulously. Ronan nodded.

"He ran into a couple problems on the way back though. Gaikoz's soldiers are getting pretty close to the border, we need to head down there after we leave." He explained. Amy frowned.

"Close... How close?"

"Just to the shack we use for when we go to collect the shards... Lucky you, Jin. We'll probably have to build a new one for when you get your Tonfa fragments." Jin gave a small cheer from the side, and Elesis began grumbling. The two redheads stood up simultaneously and Elesis motioned to the door.

"So, ready for a spar?" She asked. Jin nodded, and Ronan stood up as well.

"Mind if I join?" Elesis grinned.

"Yay! You hardly ever spar with us!" She cried, practically dragging the blue haired boy out the door by his arm. As an afterthought, she turned to Amy, "You wanna come too?" She looked apologetically at Arme, though the purple haired girl already understood she would have been in no shape to spar with the others. Amy looked up with her head rested on her folded hands.

"Hm? Nah, not today. I'm still a bit tired." She waved the group off and stood up streching as they went out the door. When they were gone she turned to Arme and smiled.

"So, I heard you can cook!" She said, pulling the purple haired girl to stand with her. Arme nodded lightly.

"Okay, then! Would you mind... Maybe teaching me a bit?" The girl asked quietly.

" I can cook a little, but it's not much. I'd like to be able to cook stuff for my friends that they like!" She smiled. Arme nodded again and the two walked over to the fridge.

"Anything you want to make in particular?" She asked, peering into the freezer. The pink haired girl hesitated.

"Hmm..." She paused for a moment, "Could we make blueberry cheese cake? It's Jin's favourite!" She asked somewhat shyly, a light pink covering her cheeks.

"Yeah, probably!" Arme opened the fridge and confirmed that there were in fact blueberries before turning to Amy.

"Okay, let's get started!" Once the instructions had been laid down by Arme the two girls began rushing around the kitchen, grabbing the required ingredients. It was only once they had begun mixing the ingredients that the purple eyed girl heard the melody the other had been humming. Her eyes were closed as she mouthed the words to her song contentedly, swaying lightly from side to side.

"You have an amazing voice..." Arme murmured, remembering the song on the cassette. The pink haired girl turned to her in shock.

"Oh, that was you listening to the songs!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah." Arme confirmed, "It sounded beautiful... I'm sorry I wasn't able to understand it though..." Amy blinked.

"Ah! It's a language that's kinda gone out of style now, it was used a long time ago in the Xenia continent. I really wanted to learn it, although it took a while... Would you like me to translate for you?" Arme nodded, and Amy took a deep breath.

"That day, my heart collapsed soundlessly,
Even though I shout as I break, these unremovable memories,
And this darkness will flood my eyes...
I still can't see these colors, so I'll still feel sad tomorrow.

I searched endlessly for the day we could understand one other.
I'll keep on living now just so that I can lose it.
It's impossible to be alone, even if I embrace this loneliness.
If you turn on the lights…
I will reach for the light.

These feelings we keep hoping for will one day change color
You said that to the person who keeps going inside my heart.
Nearly everything is inevitable inside these colors that were born.
One more time, I am ready to color tomorrow with my hands."

Her voice began to fade out as she looked over at Arme.

"That was a beautiful song, Amy..." She whispered, her closed eyes opening. Another smile settled on the Pink haired girl's face, and she began humming another tune as they continued to work. It was Arme who began the conversation next.

"Umm... Lass leaves randomly a lot...?" She asked quietly, her eyes cast downward as she stared at the bowl in her hands.

"Oh? Yeah, why?" Amy asked, taking the bowl from the purple haired girl as she began to pour it into the cake tin. Arme shook her head.

"No reason! I was just wondering..." Amy stood still for a second as Arme reached over to set the oven temperature, and then she turned to look at the shorter girl.

"Tell you what~ When we finish this cake I'll let you in on a secret you might wanna know!" She winked, preforming a little spin with the pan as she slid it into the oven. Arme blinked confusedly, but didn't bother asking as they returned to the table to wait for the cake to be done. Arme couldn't think of anything to say, so she simply sat there and listened as Amy hummed contentedly. She had almost fallen asleep by the time the small buzzer rang to let them know the cake had finished. Amy shot up out of her seat and ran to the oven, hesitating at the door. She then stood and looked at it as Arme had gotten up out of her seat.

"Do... Do you think it turned out okay?" She questioned, looking anxiously at the purple eyed girl. Arme opened the door and allowed them both to peer in, where a nice looking cake stood waiting.

"It worked! It worked!" The dancer cried, slipping on oven mitts to yank the cake out of the oven. She quickly grabbed a knife and was about to cut into it before Arme stopped her.

"Amy! It needs to cool first!" Arme exclaimed.

"Hm? Really?"

"Yes, really!" Arme said, and the two stepped back, "We can call the others in now though, right?" She asked.

"It'll take about five minutes before the cake can be eaten though..."

"Perfect!" Amy rushed to the door, Arme behind her with no idea why they were running. The door swung open, and Arme was allowed her first proper view of the training area. The large area was mainly filled with dummies, though further out there appeared to be a section where several different terrains lay, as though the land couldn't decide wether to be a desert, forest, or ocean. She could briefly hear yells coming from that area, and the two girls began walking to it. Just before they had walked into the forest they had heard some one yell 'Amy!!'. They turned to see Jin running towards them, though before he could reach them Elesis had flown out of one of the trees and towards the girls, her spear pointed. Her expression was shocked, as though she hadn't expected to see them there. Pulling back her weapon, the red haired girl managed to land right infront of them, Jin getting there a few seconds later.

"You almost hit Amy!" He gasped. Elesis shrugged.

" I didn't though, did I?" She murmured. She then turned into the forest to yell, "Ronan!!! Come out!! Amy and Arme are here!" It was silent for a moment, followed by Ronan decending from the tree directly next to them. He gave a wave to the two girls and went to sit at the base of the tree.

"So? Decided to join our practice?" Jin asked. Amy shook her head.

"No! We made a cake!" She exclaimed. Elesis was the first to begin running towards the house, not stopping to ask questions. Jin was next.

"Elesis, you pig! Get back here! You're gonna eat it all!" He yelled, managing to get closer to Elesis to tackle her to the ground. Amy and Arme followed, Ronan keeping a liesurely pace as war broke out between the two redheads. Arme almost stopped to ask about it, but the other two just kept walking past the battle, entering the house and leaving them outside. As Ronan walked over to the counter, Amy held Arme back.

"Hey! The secret I wanted to tell you!" She leaned closer so she could whisper without Ronan overhearing.

"Lass likes Cherry Pie!" She said quietly, grinning at Arme's confused face.

"Lass... Likes Cherry Pie? Why is it important for me to know that? Hey, why do YOU even know that?" Arme asked, staring at Amy. The pink haired girl smiled.

"I'm sure you'll find a use for that somewhere~ It was on Lass' survey from one of the ones the Knight Master gave us! I kinda took a look at everyone's~" She said, turning around to welcome Elesis and Jin in from the training field. Arme just blinked and wondered what kind of Knight Master would put 'favourite type of pie' on a survey for fighters.

Lass was back. They had all gone to sleep after the cake, and Arme had been the first to wake up. Decending down the staircase in her pajamas, she had been suprised to find Lass crashed on the couch, his head on the backrest and arms hanging off the sides. On the small table next to the couch were his daggers, and loosely held in one of his hands was some kind of blade. He looked tired, so instead of waking him Arme went into the kitchen to begin preparing the breakfast she was certain would soon be demanded. It was when she had begun putting pancake batter in the pan that Lass had entered the room, his feet shuffling across the floor and his hand rubbing his eyes. In his right hand the blade was clasped more firmly.

"Welcome back!" She called, turning to him to hand the first plate of finished pancakes. Mumbling some sort of unheard response, he accepted the plate and walked over to the table. Once the plate had been put down, Lass rested his head on the table to just stare at the food, clearly lacking the energy and motivation to eat. Arme only noticed once she had finished preparing food and was setting the table.

"Hey! Don't sleep on the table!" The purple haired girl said, poking his head in an attempt to get him to move. When nothing happened, she sighed and picked up his fork. Cutting a piece of his pancakes, she stuck one in his mouth, watching as he slowly made ate the piece.

"See? It's not poisoned or anything!" She said, realizing shortly after how suspicious that sounded. It didn't seem to bother Lass, though he still made no attempt to move. He simply opened his mouth when he was finished, his eyes still closed. Arme hesitated before offering another piece, which he promptly ate. This was how Arme unknowingly began feeding Lass his breakfast, and this was how Elesis found them five minutes later, when she bursted down the staircase following the smell of food.

"Yay!!!-- Lass, you're back!!!" She exclaimed, running over and promptly jabbing him in the cheek. Lass made no acknowledgement of the girl, and continued chewing his breakfast.

"Fine! Ignore me!" Elesis said, turning to one of the chairs and sitting in it. As she heaped the pancakes onto her plate, she glanced up at Arme.

"Don't feed him, you're encouraging him!" She exclaimed when she noticed Arme cutting the pancakes up. Arme looked down at the somewhat dead looking Lass and back up to Elesis.

"Elesis... Is he sick or something?" She asked, ignoring the previous comment and feeding Lass another piece.

"Sick? Nope. The Assassin's guild leader just doesnt like him or something like that. He gets worked so hard there that whenever he comes back, Lass is like this." She explained. Arme could hear some noise in the floor above her, and assumed the others were beginning to get up.

"Wow..."

"Yeah, he doesn't visit his guild much. Could just be because he's from Grand Chase though, we all get worked harder than the rest of our guilds for it." Elesis said leaning onto the table. A moment later Ronan was in the kitchen, observing the group at the table.

"Lass is back." He stated, walking over. In stead of taking a seat, he pulled the sword from Lass' loose grip to inspect it, Lass not bothering to make any notice of the action. Almost as soon as he picked it up Ronan dropped it on the table, staring at it. Confused, Elesis picked it up and balanced it in her hand.

"Lass, this is way heavier than your daggers! Are you gonna be able to fight with this thing?" She asked, wandering over into the other room and returning with the pair of daggers balanced in one hand. The silver haired boy finally made a move, lifting his head off the table and stretching back in his chair.

"Yeah, I'll be fine..." He yawned. He looked at Arme for a moment.

"Hm... Thanks. Did you go see the guild yet?" He asked, getting up to snatch the blade from Elesis.

"Yeah, I took her! You talk to her but not me or Ronan?" Elesis complained lightly, the smirk on her face giving away her actual lack of anger. Lass sighed and twisted the sword in his hand, not bothering to retort as he walked out the back door to the training area.

"As conversational as ever..." The redhead murmured between forkfuls of her pancakes.

"He's like that all the time?" Arme asked, looking at the door he had just departed from.

"Yup~!" Everyone turned to look at the staircase, where a very energetic Amy was, dragging a very tired Jin behind her. They joined the group at the table when they got into the room.

"What's on the schedule for today?" The pink haired girl asked, looking over the others. Ronan appeared to concentrate for a moment before answering.

"Elesis and I were going to pick up our necklaces from Elena then go check on the villages near the border to see if there have been any attacks. Lass' schedule will probably consist of practicing his new weapon and sleeping, and Arme has to go visit the Mage Guild." He said.

"What? That's no fun!" Amy cried, splaying her arms out on the table infront of her. Jin gently tapped her shoulder.

"Amy, you have to practice for your violin concert tonight anyways, remember?" He said, causing Amy to turn over and stare at him.

"Oh yeah! I forgot!" She exclaimed, grinning. Arme stared at her.

"Another concert tonight? How many concerts do you do, Amy?" she questioned.

" Alot! We only really stop travelling for about a month at a time, so in that time I need to get as many concerts done as possible." Amy explained. Jin nodded.

"I don't normally take part in the shows, but for this town we normally put on a special preformance because it's where our main home is."

"Ah..." Arme murmured, "I think I'm gonna go look around a bit before leaving to the guild, okay?" She said, walking away and leaving her pancakes on her plate. She walked up and into the room she was staying in, resting on the bed. She turned on her side and reached for the magic book, looking at the odd letters for a few more frustrating moments before giving up. She had tried several times to understand the images, but nothing gave away how to make the spells shown. Arme let out a frustrated sigh before putting the book down and changing into her outfit. When she was changed, she went over to the window,. Though it was mostly the training ground, she could also see a rather large lake that lay beyond, making the view appealing. The training ground! Her eyes began searching through the many rows of dummies and the large terrain areas, finally settling upon who she had been looking for. Lass was standing in the midst of several dummies, the sword taking large chunks out of the dummies it cut through. She simply watched for a while. They all train really hard... Arme thought remembering the several times Elesis had went out training since she had arrived.

Pushing away from the window she wandered into the hallway, where the melody of a violin could be heard filling the air. The purple haired girl listened for a moment before going downstairs into the abandoned kitchen. She walked over to the door and stood for a moment before hesitantly pushing it open. Even though Lass was a large distance away from her at that point, she could see him look towards her for a moment before looking back at the dummies without faltering in his attacks. Arme walked a bit closer, to the point where she was pretty certain she wouldn't be cut open by an accidental swing in the wrong direction, before sitting down on the grass. She still had her staff on her, so she held it out infront of her a small ammount before concentrating on circulating her mana. Once the staff had lit up, she conjured the flame again. With less people around she felt more free, as though she wouldn't have to worry about burning anyone.

The flickering flame was less noticable in the daytime, but still substantial enough that Arme could keep an eye on it. Focusing a bit more energy, she made the flame a slightly larger. Pushing the flame away was the difficult part, but she tried anyway and was pleasantly suprised to find she could control it until it was three dummies away from her, where it flickered out quietly. Excitedly, she summoned another ball of flame, which got to about the same distance before dissapearing. Another idea came to mind, and Arme made another fire ball. Instead of trying to push it away from her body, she stood up and began walking away, keeping her eyes trained on the flame. The flame didn't go out until she realized she had hit the house, her back making contact with the wall and making her loose focus. At that point she realized the trick was visualizing the spot where the flame would go. To keep it in one spot was simple, but to think the path of the flame without any gaps in concentration was throwing her off.

This in mind, Arme sat back in the spot where she had been previously, the grass warm from the heat of the fire. Understanding the basic ideas of the flame made it much easier to control, and the next flame she summoned was able to get almost eight dummies away from her before dispersing. Satisfied with the improvement, Arme closed her eyes and wondered what else she could try to do. The first thing that came to mind was the shield from the first day she had arrived, that had protected her from being attacked. Her eyes squinted shut as she tried to envision the shield surrounding and protecting her, the odd green colour and the light white symbol on the front of it. Envisioning what she wanted to create seemed to work the best; when she opened her eyes she was surrounded by the familiar green light.

I wonder how much it can take? She though. Well, I could always ask someone to attack me... The thought seemed to unnerve her, even though she doubted they would actually go to hurt her. She then remembered Lass was also in the training area, and looked over to where he was fighting. To her suprise Lass was no longer swinging his sword, he was simply leaning against one of the training dummies and staring at her. When he saw her gaze he stood up properly and stretched, walking the short distance over to her and kneeling down next to her.

"You have to go to the Mage Guild soon?" He questioned. Arme nodded, reaching out with her staff to create a new flame ball. This one she sent near Lass, making wide circles around him. The silver haired boy watched it for a moment, until it dispersed unexpectedly. Arme blinked, a light blush coming to her cheeks.

"I don't have it all down yet..." She murmured. Lass shrugged.

"Learning to use a weapon is difficult." He said, standing up again. Once up, he grabbed her arm and pulled her up with him. She stared at him confusedly as they began walking to the house.

"Lass! Where are we going?"

"You said you have to go soon." He responded as they entered the kitchen, heading to the front door. "And I don't really trust you can make it from here to there without being picked up by a creep if you don't have an escort." In the front hall he took his own jacket from the coatrack and threw it at her, opening the door and leaving no room for a protest. Following, she threw the jacket around her shoulders. They arrived at the fence, and Lass somehow managed to balance Arme in one hand and the Simitar in the other, getting them over the fence. When they landed on the ground on the other side of the fence Lass put her down, Arme staring at the sword.

"How heavy is that thing, anyway?" She asked. Without answering, he held out the blade for her to take. Once the blade was in her hand her knees buckled immediately, her whole body falling under the weight of the blade. She managed to stand back up with it, holding it precariously about a foot away from the ground. After a second Lass took the blade back, swinging it over his shoulder. Arme gaped at him as they continued walking.

"I know I'm not exactly strong, but how do you even carry that thing?!" She cried.

"I'm stronger than I look, and the simitar is a good weapon." He answered, not offering any further explanation. It was then that Arme looked around, her arm still firmly in Lass' grip. She noticed that all the people on the street had turned to look at them, none bothering to make their stare discreet. She pulled at the edge of Lass' shirt quietly.

"I think people are staring..." She whispered urgently, the eyes of the town people making her uncomfortable. The silver haired boy chuckled lightly.

"No, really? You've been seen with a member of the Grand Chase every day for the last three days, people are obviously going to begin suspecting things. If you do become a member, you'll have to get used to this." Arme was silent for a moment.

"I was told that was a decision for everyone to make... Lass? Do you want me to join?" She questioned quietly, her voice timid. Lass continued walking without giving an answer, leading them to the guild. Arme carefully watched their surroundings, trying to memorize the path from the house to the guild and ignore the slowly sinking feeling she was getting in her stomache. Unable to focus, she let her eyes wander to the ground as she was led blindly by Lass. She hardly noticed when they stopped walking, the door of the guild in sight. Releasing her arm, Lass turned away and began walking, stopping only for a second.

"I think things would be more... Interesting with you around." She heard, but by the time she turned around Lass was already gone.

Returning home, Arme stared defiantly at the gate.

"I can do this!" She said to noone in particular, thinking back on that day's lesson.

"Arme, I'm sure you've been having a bit of trouble with the gate infront of the Grand Chase house, so today we're going to teach you how to teleport!"

"Teleport? Isn't that... Dangerous?"

"Dangerous? No, ofcourse not! Since the body and soul are attached, unlike some believe, there is no danger of your body being moved in one place and your soul being left in another. What there is, however, is the danger of teleporting yourself to the wrong location. It works by thought of a specific location, so as long as you can picture where you want to go and it isn't too far away, there shouldn't be a problem. Since it works on absolute location, you cannot use directions such as 'I want to appear next to Elesis' unless you know Elesis' exact location. You must also not be confused about which location you want to go to because it takes alot of energy to preform, and if you end up in an unfavourable place there's no gurantee you can teleport yourself out. These are some of the base stepping stones for a mage, but still, the spells I'm showing you may be difficult!"

"Eccelent, Arme! Three sucessful teleports in a row!"

"It seemed simple enough..."

"Passing through solid objects may be more difficult though, so be careful!"

"Just... Picture the other side of the gate... The door, even!" Arme opened her eyes to get a view of the door as she was teleporting for a more accurate idea of where she was going when a flicker of colour from the side of her vision caught her eyes.

"Lass, this isn't funny! Get me down!!!" Arme cried from the top of the extremely tall wall surrounding the house, the small cat that had caught her attention purring contentedly as it rubbed its head on her lap. She had been out there for half an hour when Lass had noticed her, just as he was going outside to train more with the simitar. He had come over and stared at her, and Arme was almost certain he was about to run inside and tell everyone else to come out and stare at her too. He slowly shook his head and sighed.

"How did you get up there?!" He called back, looking at her amusedly. Her grip on the ledge tightened.

"I was trying to teleport through the fence! Please, Lass! I'm afraid of heights!" She cried back down, her eyes squinting shut.

"Hm? You shoulda said that sooner." Arme's eyes flew open suddenly, and she realized Lass was sitting next to her, leaning close as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"It's a pretty far drop, you might wanna close your eyes." He advised quietly, lifting her into both of his arms as he stood up on the fence. She did as he said, and opened her eyes again only once she felt the impact of landing on the ground. Lass set her down and turned back to the training area without a word, giving a slight wave. She watched after him then walked into the house, more determined than ever to learn how to teleport properly. He seems to end up carrying me around alot... She thought as she walked through the kitchen, stopping for a second as her eyes hooked onto the a second she just stared at it, and then, without much though, she opened one of the cupboards and pulled out a pie tin.

Lass entered the house hours later, completely exhausted and with the full intent to fall asleep as soon as he got to his room. As he was about to leave the kitchen something on the kitchen counter caught his eye. Walking over to the counter lazily, the blue eyed boy's eyes widened when he saw a small note resting on top of a pie.

Thanks~ Arme

P.S. Don't eat this, Elesis!

He grabbed a plate from the cupboard and cut a slice of the pie for himself, sitting at the table and sticking a piece in his mouth.

"Cherry, huh?"

A/N: Not really how I was expecting this chapter to turn out, and I'm pretty sure when I read it over some of the sentences are going to be really badly structured, but oh well~ This was really late, so I owe it to you guys to update!

And PLEASE! If you like LassxArme (which I'm assuming you do if you've made it to chapter four of this story), please check out this site!

http:// lassxarme .piczo .com/ (without the spaces)

It's a good site, and alot of people put alot of work into it!

Aside from that, we all know that reviews make for motivated writers! If you have the time I'd love to hear what you think of the story!

-Utsuro