Chapter 12: Observations of the Observational

Zephyren's P.O.V

"Ow!" I cried. "You know, just because my wings aren't there normally, it doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt if they're hit." I rubbed my shoulder which was bleeding. "And you certainly didn't pull any punches either, Tifa."

"What do you mean?" She looked at me accusingly. "I didn't even go after you!"

"Yeah…" I ran my hands through my hair, watching drops of blood fall out of my hair. "But I could feel the energy in your attacks. There was one that Cloud had dodged & the wind that you had propelled in it continued on to me…" I pointed to a rip at the side of my slacks. "That wind would've destroyed my wings if that had been a direct hit."

"Sorry about that, Zephyren. I didn't mean to put that much force into the attack." She smirked. "I was holding back too."

"Y-you were holding back!" I yelled. "How the hell are you that strong!?"

"It's easy." Her smirk turned to a grin. "I have a lot of free time, so I train."

"But you don't even look like you do though!" I was in front of her holding up her arm. "I can't see any muscle at all! Unless…"

"Unless what?" She questioned.

"Are you hiding all that power in your bosom?" I stared at her chest.

"What!" She yelled at me. "Are you serious?"

"Aha! I knew that's why they were so big!" The smile that was on my face quickly disappeared as Tifa punched at me. "Hey, come on! It was a joke!" I hopped left as she lunged at me again. It was a trick! She shot out her leg as I landed & hit me in the chest. Her face turned from anger to concern as more blood dripped onto my face.

"Are you okay?" She asked, kneeling next to me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you that hard."

"No problem…" I groaned as I got up. I ran my hands through my hair again, finding more blood there now. "I got to go get my head checked, I think that fall did more damage than I thought." I staggered, leaning against the wall for support.

"I'll go with you." She put my arm around her neck. "You don't look like you're in any condition to walk all that way alone."

"Speak for yourself." I looked over at her leg which had a deep cut in it. "You don't look like you should be walking with that leg either."

"Dilly dally, shilly shally." She said shaking her head. "Either way, we've got a ten minute walk ahead of us."

Melissa's P.O.V

"That was the best meal ever!" I said, cleaning the blood away from my mouth in the stream. "I mean, how often do you get to eat panther meat?" I glanced over to the tree that Raziel was under. He was still feeding off the Human we picked up earlier. I could hear him gulping down the blood greedily.

"That was good." He said. "He had good blood." I looked at him with my hands on my hips. "What? It tasted good!"

"You're ignoring my question!" I started to tap my foot, shivering when I heard the man's heart falter. "I mean, I know you're hungry & all. But that's the fourth one today!" I looked at my watch. "And we only left Eternia yesterday! You had how many meals in that other city?" I was glaring at him now.

"Okay then, I don't know how often people get panther meat to eat." He said, scratching his shoulder. "I had about seven meals yesterday, & you're right." He sighed. "I've had my fill. We should head back now."

"Yeah, we should!" I said, hiding the shock of him agreeing to return to Eternia so soon. "Besides, the tournament date may have changed. It could be today!"

"You're just saying that to try & convince me to open the portal faster." He wagged a finger in my face. I blinked, not understanding where he was going with this. "Zephyren, you looked so good today! The way you showed that mean old water who's boss!" He mimicked my voice with his hands together. I kicked his shin, causing him to hop up & down.

"That's not why!" I yelled. "Now hurry up & open the portal, dummy!"

"Alright, alright." He sighed, clasping his hands together. A portal appeared in front us & we stepped through, leaving the forest behind us.

Raziel's P.O.V

When we arrived at Eternia we were greeted by two new faces. One was a male with silver hair. The other was a female that had black hair with silver streaks. Judging from the way their hearts beat, I assumed they were Human. But something was off & I couldn't place my finger on it.

"Welcome to Eternia…" The male bowed. "My name is Veil Lennian & this is Lyndis Nelion. We've been expecting your return Mister & Miss Severon." They held out their hands & we shook. Their hands felt weird…not like skin. More like satin.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." I said, not really pleased to even be near them.

"This is normally Cadence & Serenade's outpost." Melissa said, looking around. "Where are they?"

"They're taking a break off of their guard duties to set up the next two rounds of the tournament. We've been asked to substitute for them." Lyndis replied.

"I haven't seen you around before though." Melissa said. "I've even applied for classes to become a guard & I haven't seen either of you in them." I looked at her, surprise on my face.

"We asked for some fresh experience from the field." Veil replied. "And so, we were granted special permission from Reikourin himself."

"Okay." Melissa said. "Well, we won't keep you. Come on, Raziel." She gestured for me to follow her into the Academy.

"I never knew you applied to be a Guardian. Why didn't you tell me?" I asked once I was positive they wouldn't be able to hear us.

"Because I didn't apply to be a Guardian." She sighed. "Are you kidding me? Can you imagine me sitting in an outpost all day?" An image of Melissa going crazy from boredom popped into my head.

"I see what you mean." I snickered. "But then, why did you say that?" I was confused; it wasn't like my sister to say something like that.

"I don't know." She responded, looking at the ground. "I just didn't trust them, y'know?" She shook her head. "Something about them set my skin crawling all over, as if I was constantly changing back & forth between a wolf & a human."

"Yeah, something wasn't right about them." I said, looking behind me. "Their skin felt weird too."

"Mmm-hmm." Melissa nodded. "Their eyes were cloudy also. Do you know what that means?"

"They had a blind person's eyes?" I said, now remembering the cloudy gray eyes of the one called Veil. "But they could see us!" Melissa nodded again.

"We'd best not dwell on it." She rubbed her head. "After all, all this thinking is hurting my head." She winked & entered the bathroom. I continued on to our room, thinking about what she had said.

Cadence's P.O.V

"No!" I screamed at the engineer in front of me. "Move it down more! We can't have the competitors being able to solve this thing easily!" I released my wings from my back letting my grey feathers ruffle in the wind. "Never mind, I'll do it myself." I flew up & dragged the wall several meters so that it'd be closer to some of the other walls.

"Wow!" I heard a girl behind me shout. I turned to see Keira heading towards me. "So this is gonna be the next challenge?" She questioned.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "It's dangerous here, & besides only organizers are allowed to see the next round before it happens."

"Kratos told me to come see if you needed any help." She said, still walking forward. "Doesn't look like it though."

"I don't, now you need to get out of here because these walls are unstable & if one falls you could become a pancake!" I said, releasing the stone I was holding.

"Cadence!" I heard another girl shout. "I heard from Reikourin! He said you can go through with it!" A second later a girl with brown skin & red streaked hair came into the room. She jumped up, revealing purple/black wings & landed on the wall, causing it to fall towards Keira!

"Damn!" I said to myself, flying straight towards the wall. I wouldn't make it in time, but I had to try right? I was cursing in my head like crazy, saying things like 'Please don't die!' & 'Serenade, you stupid little…'. Well, you can finish the rest of that one by adding your own little inappropriate adjective. The room shook as the wall hit the ground. I turned to Serenade, who was flying on the spot & glared at her. She had an 'Oops!' look on her face.

"Well, at least the girl ain't dead." Serenade said, shrugging as I glared at her.

"What?" I said incredulously, looking over to where Keira had been standing. Then I noticed the shadow of a person's head mixed in with the shadow of the wall. I shot down towards the ground & landed. What I saw was unbelievable. Keira had turned into a grey Phoenix & was holding up the wall, not with her hands though. She was just looking at it! The next thing I knew, the wall was being lifted up & after several seconds was back in the exact spot it was before it had fallen.

"Hey!" The Phoenix said. "Does this mean I'm stronger than Zephyren now?" The bird's eyes turned to human ones & I rushed forward to catch Keira as she reverted to normal.

CHAPTER 12 END!