He looks up at me in surprise as I sit down next to him, looking over his books.
"You know, you'll probably feel better if you go and watch." I whisper in the library. He sighs, not answering. "It's not like your actually getting much work done. Are you sure you don't want to come?"
"I just thought he'd mess up more if I were there." He mutters and I shake my head.
"I think he's gotten over that since your duel with Jaden. I think he'd even be more motivated if you were there." I wonder aloud.
"… I have to study." He says as a final excuse and I smile at its uselessness.
"Let's see…" I take a quick look at the titles. "The difference between amateur and professional duelling… well Alexis said Crowler's hired professionals to duel Jaden and Sy, so surely watching would be of greater help to your studies than reading that you can do any other time?" I put forward slyly.
He sighs, putting his pen down. Then he starts to log out. I smile lightly, stacking up all his books before going to loan them out for him, and let him take them in one arm while holding my hand with the other as we leave.
"I can't believe you." He says quietly, though he has a smile on his face.
"It wasn't very hard really. I could even guess you never wanted to be there in the first place." I laugh as we get closer to the duelling arena. "I wonder who they're duelling… it isn't like Crowler to do anything half-hearted."
"That's why I'm worried." Zane says as we enter, and we lean on the railing, unlinking hands.
"Now without further ado, allow me to introduce our guest tag team duellists!" All of a sudden two men come somersaulting onto stage and I squint my eyes in disbelief.
"…is that?" I mumble in question.
"…The Paradox brothers!" Crowler announces.
"This is terrible. I don't think anyone here could beat them in a tag duel, it isn't even something first years study!" I exclaim, outraged.
"This, is as bad as it could be." Zane mumbles, and I push back the urge to curl myself around him.
"They'll be underestimated though. They can use that to their advantage, and wait till they can pull out a powerful enough monster to defeat them." I say, thinking through the possibilities. Jaden's all about his monsters, and since his personality is the more outgoing one, Syrus will be pulled into the same strategy. If they can use both of their strongest monsters together, that's where they'll be most powerful.
Our eyes survey the duel from above, as the duel starts fast for the Paradox brothers, getting a level seven out soon with practiced ease. However it's a tough duel for Jaden and Syrus. We watch in silence for the majority, waiting for the verdict. Syrus makes… too many mistakes, and each time I glance at Zane. Screw private, I place my hand over his, clenched round the railing. The brothers summon Gate Guardian, and my brow furrows.
"Their skill can't be argued with, they know what they're doing." Zane says, and my heart sinks.
"We can't rule out Jaden's motivational speaking though. Just give it time." I say. I wait patiently.
"I summon Drilloid in attack mode!" Syrus says.
"Yes!" I mutter, seeing him as confident as one could hope. He can use Drilloid to attack, and at least their defence wall the brothers summoned will be destroyed, leaving more options to destroy their gate guardian. Even though they lose life points for it, it's worth it, and exactly what I would bargain their best strategy is. "They can get through this."
They do just that, and it seems Syrus has something more up his sleeve.
"I activate the spell card, shield crush!" Syrus says. "That's right! And just like its name it can destroy any monster that's hiding in defence mode!" A smile graces my lips. That was a good move.
"Don't celebrate too soon. The tag team duelling book I recommended to Jaden and Syrus was on the paradox brothers. They'll have something more to give, for sure." Zane tells me and I bite my lip in response.
And sure enough, the brothers play Dark Element, allowing them to summon Dark Guardian, with 3800 attack points.
"It's invincible in battle as well." Zane tells me. "I doubt they know of many ways to defeat it, yet alone have the means to in their near-future draws." Drilloid escapes a near death, with the help of A Hero Emerges, but my breath is shallow as the duel draws out. This is not a safe position for Jaden and Sy to be in.
"It's Jaden's turn, we can count on him to fight back." I say, and sure enough Jaden uses Fusion Gate to summon his elemental hero Tempest. "Hopefully Jaden will be playing his usual with his monsters, they won't let him down."
And then Skyscraper comes out, giving Tempest the same number of attack points as Dark Guardian.
"He's attacking, why is he attacking? Sure Tempest's special ability will keep him alive by sacrificing a card, but what's his purpose?" I wonder aloud. The duel carries on, and by using a trap card the brothers force Tempest to attack Dark Guardian, forcing Jaden to get rid of Skyscraper to keep Tempest on the field, and they go down to 200 life points.
"It's a good move. They need Tempest on the field. Zane says, and my eyes widen.
"So Sy…" I mutter. So Sy can get a stronger fusion monster out.
Sy sacrifices Drilloid for UFOoid. Then he plays Power Bond, and fuses Tempest with UFOoid, to get Roid Fighter with 4000 attack points! Even though Dark Guardian can't be destroyed, the brothers attack points are only at 3500, so with Power Bond doubling their attack points to 8000, the brothers are done for.
"Yes! They won!" A broad smile opens onto my face and I turn to Zane, who also smiles at me. "You should go and talk to Syrus. Congratulate him, they did well."
"He should know that himself." Zane replies, huffing and looking away. It's kind of adorable how he doesn't like to show his feelings, and gets embarrassed.
"All right then, I guess it was good enough of you to watch. I'm gonna go over to Alexis, I kind of ditched her for you." I say to him and he nods. "See you later." I finish before walking down the arena, my hand trailing after letting go.
"Jay! Great duel! You too Syrus, that was a brilliant combo at the end!" I say as I wave closer to the gang.
"Thanks Azure!" Syrus beams up at me and I smile in return.
"10 pages? How am I going to live long enough to write that! Azure you have to help me!" Jaden groans and I laugh.
"Jaden, just write big, and talk through all the moves you and Sy made. It'll be easy, just treat it as a way to go through your strategies." I attempt, to little result. "Sorry for ditching you Alexis, but I saw you were with Bastion anyway."
"That's fine, you managed to bring Zane to watch which makes up for it." Alexis replies. "Besides, Bastion's great company!"
"You brought Zane to watch?" Chumley asks aloud and I glance at Syrus hesitantly before answering.
"Yeah, he attempted to study, but it wasn't hard to get him to come and watch. He liked the duel too." I say, and Syrus continues smiling.
"Really? Thanks for getting him to watch Azure!" Sy says.
"No problem." I reply.
"Let's go back to the dorm Azure." Alexis says, and we take our leave.
"Say, those two ended up working brilliantly together." Alexis says as we eat breakfast the next day.
"I agree, I wonder whether Crowler will touch base with their match today in class, though he may be too sour." I reply thoughtfully.
"Well, I for one hope he does. Tag duelling in always glossed over, so whenever I've done it, which isn't often, it's more like four people against each other rather than two teams." Alexis complains.
"Azure! Azure Azure Azure!" We turn around and sure enough Mindy, closely followed my Jasmine, is running up to us.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Alexis asks. They cram themselves onto our table before leaning forward to whisper.
"You, young lady, have much to tell us." Mindy says, eyes furious.
"…I do?" What on earth are they talking about? We talked yesterday, they definitely weren't acting like this.
"Yes, hurry up and take your damned black coffee up to your room." Jasmine says, though she just looks excited.
"I'm confused guys, what's going on?" Alexis asks, apparently just as in the dark as I am.
"We just caught wind on some very interesting rumours about our lovely Azure here." Jasmine starts.
"Rumours, which she NEEDS to come clean about!" Mindy finishes, before taking my arm and dragging me back to the rooms, taking my key card from my pocket by force, closing the door firmly behind us.
"Okay, what is going on with you two?" I ask incredulously.
"So, Azure, there has been talk that a very tall, dark, handsome, and wanted boy has started dating." Mindy says. "There hasn't been any confirmation or anything, just a few sightings, but we were wondering what your input was."
Oh. Okay then. Let's see how do I… how do I do this? I know we mentioned not minding if a few people saw, but this is a little more than what I expected.
"Wait, backtrack a second I'm still lost. Who are we talking about?" Alexis asks.
I let out a large sigh.
"It's Zane Alexis, he's been spotted cuddling up, walking around with a girl around his waist." Jasmine whispers not so subtly.
"Okay guys, this is exactly what we didn't want." I say, and three pairs of eyes look up at me, wide.
"Oh my Lord…"
"Wait a second…"
"So it's true?" Mindy launches at me and I take a few steps back. Brilliant.
"Yes, it's true." I say.
"Wait, you're dating Zane?" Alexis asks, finally catching on.
"How long has this been going on? Why didn't you tell us?" Jasmine asks, though luckily they don't seem crazily angry or anything.
"We didn't want to make it public, we're both quite quiet anyway, we never meet in public places anyway, we don't really hang out with the same people, and there was no reason." I explain. Mindy lets out a shriek.
"Oh my god you're dating Zane Truesdale. This is amazing! Top duellist of our year, top duellist of the third year… have you kissed? How long have you been dating?" Mindy gushes.
"I guess… we've been together since towards the end of the tournament." I say quietly.
"Two months? Two whole months?" Mindy's amazed.
"So have you kissed? Have you?" Jasmine asks and I shake my head at their antics.
"Yes, we've kissed. What were the rumours you heard anyway?" I ask them.
"Some Ra yellow guy saw you two walking to the arena from the library with his arm around, and then saw you holding hands whilst watching. When did you first kiss?" Jasmine says.
"…a while back." I answer, a blush on my cheeks.
"Wow, and all this time without us knowing?" Alexis says, and I smile sheepishly.
"And, if possible, I'd prefer if not everyone knows this by lunch break. If you guys couldn't confirm it to anyone it would be much appreciated." I ask shyly.
"On one condition." Mindy says.
"What would that be?"
"You tell us everything. Where have you been on dates?" Mindy says, and the gushing resumes.
"A few places… the library, just when we happen to go to the same place at the same time." I answer, definitely not revealing the lighthouse nor his room.
"Does he like to hold your hand?" Jasmine asks, Alexis chilling in the corner,
"He… usually prefers his arm around my waist. So do I actually." I answer.
"Who makes up most of the conversation? Neither of you are really talkers." Alexis states.
"Both of us equally I guess… we both have our touchy subjects, he usually shuts up whenever Jaden and therefor Syrus comes up, but other than that he asks questions too." I say. I look at the time. "Come on guys, we can do this later, class starts in fifteen minutes and we haven't even left."
"Fine, but tonight!" Mindy says, giving me a knowing look. Oh these guys…
"Hey." I say as I pick up a call.
"Hey. I don't know if you've noticed, but someone's started passing round that we're dating." It's Zane, and I let out a sigh of relief, having not seen him today and dinner is already over.
"I know, Mindy and Jasmine cornered me this morning. Alexis knows as well, but I think I managed to convince them not to go shouting it to the world for now." I reply, getting back into my room.
"Where you okay? They can be quite… demanding." Zane says and I chuckle.
"Yeah, but I think I got through it… without panicking too much. I was hoping to see you today, but I'm not sure how long they'll keep me up tonight to get me to spill, so I may not be able to meet up." I say sadly. "Since I didn't really want them finding out about the lighthouse. It seemed too private."
"Mmm. I agree with that. But I want to see you." He says and I smile at his straight-forward tone. "If, and when they're done, come to my balcony. Tomorrow's Saturday, no need to get up early either." My heart flutters as I realise he intends for me to sleep at his as well.
"Should I really? Straight after people first know? I mean, I feel like Mindy and Jasmine will be watching my every move…" I say doubtful. "I'd rather not draw any more attention to us, though I do want to see you."
"They won't expect you to do anything since they just found out, it'll be fine. It's up to you though, if not I'll be sure to see you tomorrow. Bye." Zane says before hanging up.
"So… was that Zane?"
I jump out of my skin as the voice approaches, and breathe a sigh of relief as I see Alexis come up to me.
"Alexis… don't scare me like that." I plead and she laughs.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me, but more I can't believe I didn't notice you two… the signs were there." Alexis says shaking her head. "Come on, Jasmine and Mindy want to do all the works, paint nails, facials, so we better get going." I nod, and follow her to her room.
-A good few hours later-
"So, he kissed you after your duel with Tom?" Mindy squeals happily. "You two are already so adorable. And I can't believe you danced with him at the ball without us knowing! After all those set-ups…"
"Do your brothers know?" Jasmine asks, as she paints my toenails a muted brown to match my fingernails.
"Hunter does, he talked to Zane about it before he left. Though, I guess I should tell Tom, before this outbreaks completely." I say.
"Definitely, he doesn't seem like the type to take surprises well." Alexis says and I nod. "Though I'm pretty sure no one actually knows. The Ra guy barely saw you other than your hair, mostly Zane because he's so recognisable. And he was blocking you as well."
"The only reason we thought it was you was because, well, there's only one younger blue-haired friends with Zane person I know." Mindy agrees. She then lets out a large sigh. "If only I were to fall in love so effortlessly like that…"
"…"
"…"
"Wow, take a few large steps back, who said anything about love?!" I suddenly shriek, her words not registering in my mind for a few moments.
"Really? It has been two months… but I guess I wouldn't know. Do you love Zane?" Mindy asks and my face goes fire red.
"…love… um… er…" I stutter as the three girls' eyes stare at me. "Mindy are you feeling alright, maybe you had something off for dinner…"
Jasmine bursts out laughing. "Don't be so forward Mindy, if she knew she would've said so already. Anyway guys, it is almost one, and since Crowler's been in a bad mood lately we do have that ghastly five page essay."
"I agree, I'm just glad it isn't ten pages like Jaden's, but if we want to spend Sunday at the beach, we should get some sleep so we can get the essay done tomorrow." Alexis says, and Mindy, Jasmine and I stand awkwardly, not sure whether the nail paint was dry.
"See you guys tomorrow." I whisper as we head back to our own rooms. Once I get inside mine, I quickly check my nails are dry before heading to my closet. After what happened last time, I'm certainly not going to endorse my skirt's relationship with that tree any longer, so I change into a dark grey oversized sweatshirt with some lose short shorts underneath. Then thinking better of returning sometime tomorrow in just that, I grab a pair of jeans and an off-shoulder long-sleeve black tee before opening my window and heading out.
The cold doesn't bother me as I silently take the back route to the boy's dorm, heading through the trees before reaching the tree up to his balcony where Zane sits on a sofa, reading a book. I take careful steps before catching his attention, where he moves over to the railing, waiting for me to climb the tree. When I've reached him he takes my arms and pulls me over into an immediate hug, his hand stroking my shoulders.
"Hey."
Yay, new chapter! I'm sorry if anyone wanted more of the details of the tag team duel, but I couldn't bring myself to write down any of those awful rhymes the Paradox brothers' use. In case anyone can't realise, I'm trying to mix equal parts of the actual duels and parts of Azure's life (mostly love life lol), so if anyone has any tips on how to make it a little smoother, please review!