***NEED WORK

"North Wing, Elders Hall." Zavius commanded to the teleportation Ward Crystal.

We stood there, waiting for the Ward to whisk us away to our destination.
"Honestly, I don't get why they call it the 'North Wing' when it's actually a whole big group of towers that's facing north." Zavius thought out loud.
I really couldn't give a damn what the called it. But I guess I kinda get what he meant.
Ava shrugged nonchalantly as she tugged her uniform trench coat over her shoulders.
"Aren't you hot in that?" Zavius asked.
Ava tugged crisply at the dark fabric with one hand and popped the collar up.
"No," she said, giving no more information.
"But you're wearing a long-sleeved training gear under it. You can at least take that off, you know." Zavius pushed.

I looked at them both. Ava looked rather annoyed with his persistence. It was rare for Zavius to be so pushy about other people's business, especially with Ava. Why should he care what she wore?

Ava turned a dark piercing gaze toward Zavius.
"I'm fine," she said.
And that was all she said before the Ward kicked in. The tingling sensation crawled up my legs and up my torso, up until it reached the top of my head. My sight went white and the sound of a breeze blew against my ear.
Again, it was my feet that found the ground before my senses. The whiteness thinned and the surrounding took its proper shape, shade and color. Within seconds, we were in a vast, bright-lit space with columns that stretched all the way to the ceilings. I looked to the left and saw Ava and Zavius had arrived and was recovered.

I turned my gaze down the long pass way of Elders Hall. It seemed empty from where I was. But I felt a presence somewhere, now where the hell was it coming from?

Suddenly, Zavius let out a hissing breath and started to march forward in long gliding strides.
"Zavius? What the..." I trailed off, when I caught a glimpse of his angry scowl that caught me off guard.
I turned to Ava, who was just watching Zavius storm off with tired irritation. She caught my gaze and nodded pointedly down in the direction he was heading.
"We have an unexpected company," she said, the exasperation seeping in her tone.

Oh joyous, breaking out hell already.

Quickly we started to follow him. I had to be in a light jog just to catch up to him and keep up. Ava didn't even bother and kept to her own pace, getting left behind as a result. We reached Chief Elder Ravador's desk in half the time it would have taken us if we had walked. Zavius stopped abruptly, leaving a couple of feet in between himself and the desk. It was obvious where this mystery person was now that we were closer, and I kept my eyes on the chair behind the desk that was turned away from us.

Zavius spoke out, breaking the surrounding tense silence.
"You have no right to be standing where you are, Varsalo." he said darkly to the high back of the turned chair.
My eyes went wide as I saw the chair slowly turn around. And sure enough, there sat Varsalo, one of our many Angel Guard Slayer comrades.
Who just also happens to be Zavius's arch rival and our worst enemy. Yup, I'm enemies with the devil himself.
"Varsalo, you ass!!" I heard myself snarl, not really thinking before actually saying.

Varsalo had himself propped in Ravador's chair, looking comfortable and regal. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of us and smirked, his shaggy dark hair coming over his left eye. He was still leaning comfortably in the chair with an authoritarian air about him.
"Hey, what do you know? It's the great and famous Slayer Prince! What brings you up here instead of being surrounded by your adoring fans?" he called in a sickly false tone. He placed his elbows on the desk and rested his chin on top of his clasped fingers.
He pointed down at the desk briefly, shamelessly smirking right at Zavius.
"Oh yea, and I'm sitting, not standing. And I can sit anywhere I please, thanks."

I felt Zavius bristle next to me, his anger hitting me in vibes. I stepped forward and put a firm hand on his forearm, trying to calm him down.
"Zavius, calm down! He's not worth it," I hissed, almost begging.
"Zavius, you brought a fan with you? How adorable, it suits her." I heard Varsalo muse in amusement.

Hold up; was that last one to me?
My temper flared, but I fought down the smart comment that was itching to come out screaming. That definitely wasn't setting a good example for Zavius to follow. Instead, I settled with a cold glare. I grit my teeth, almost in pain from not being able to punch him when he laughed.
"I would watch that temper of yours if I were you. Keep it up and you'll lose more ranks until you find yourself back in the Institute with all the newborns, faster than you made it out," he said coolly.

I felt myself freeze; I don't know if it was out of shock, or out of this strange mixed feeling that was taking over my body.
How did he know about my de-ranking?

I must've dropped my harsh glare into some sort of shock-written expression because Varsalo took one look at my face and started to laugh. He didn't even bother trying to cover it; his whole body was shaking in laughter.
But I couldn't even feel angry for some reason. I forgot that my hand was on Zavius's arm until he grabbed my arm and shoved me behind him, snapping me back out of my shocked trance.
"How the hell did you find out about my de-ranking?" I demanded, warily glancing from Zavius to Varsalo.
Varsalo shrugged care-freely.
"My little secret. Besides, it's not like I was exactly surprised with the news anyway. You don't deserve to be a Slayer, never mind one of an Aequitas rank." he said.

I felt my face burn with fury and part humiliation.
I was about to retort back when Zavius stepped forward. I could feel his Energy angrily spilling out from him. The pure strength of it was as if he was suffocating me.

I can't lie, Zavius was scary when he was pissed. And, lucky me, he was pretty damn close to detonation, with me standing only a foot away from him.
I looked up at his face, and winced. His eyes were changing color from a cool aquamarine to fierce emerald green.
With the give-away color change of his eyes and his already icy glare, hell, I was ready to drop dead.
I didn't know what to do so I just stood there, brainstorming possible solutions to get Zavius and Varsalo away from each other without drawing blood.

Try talking him out of it?
Funny, Miv. Like he would listen.

Pull and drag him away by force?
Hmm... Zavius is probably a bit more than a whole good foot and a half taller than I am...

Heroically diving in between the two, taking both their blows?
Brilliant, if I was crazy or suicidal.

Face it, the one person that can stop them without getting hurt and that was presently here was taking her dandy old time getting to the conflict. Some help she was.
I looked back to see how far Ava actually was... and to my horror, she was nowhere to be seen. You've got to be kidding me...
Things just couldn't get any worse--- my ass.

"Have you no shame, Varsalo? You disrespect our heroes by trying to place yourself amongst the Elders. Get the hell out of Sir Elders place of sanctuary. You of all people have no right to be where you are." Zavius hissed, venom in his voice.
I flinched at his tone, even though it was not directed at me.
Varsalo smirked, and lifted himself from the chair.
"Anything for the Prince," he sneered, giving Zavius a dramatic bow.

Then, as I watched, horrified, he leaped up and stood on Ravador's platform desk, walking across it slowly before jumping off. I was gaping at him as he brushed himself off and looked straight at Zavius, a crooked smirk playing at his lips.
I wasn't surprised at Varsalo's bold and intentional move, but I was hoping that it wouldn't happen anyway. I was afraid to look at Zavius but I forced myself to look up at him. His face was expressionless, but his eyes were dark. The emerald color seemed to glow as he glared at his worst enemy. I nearly jumped when he suddenly spoke out.
"Of course. you never had dignity to start with. You just happened to drop into existence as shit, right from the beginning," he said icily.
Varsalo's expression froze.
"Oh but even so, Slayer Prince, you can't tell me what to do. You're pathetic." he said, sauntering down the steps of the raised platform and approaching us.

Zavius stayed put, completely rooted to the spot. I was starting to get pissed. Where was Ava?!
How the hell am I supposed to take care of this?
Who gives a damn; it's your funeral, my mind taunted.

So I did the first thing that came to my mind...

I took what seemed like my last living breath, and stepped in between the two.
Okay, it was more like squeezing in between the two, and with all the growing tension, I deeply regretted it.
"Dammit, you immature freaks! Don't you think here and now is not a great---"
"Move, Mivian." Zavius growled dangerously.

I bristled, not turning around but then shook my head.
If he thinks he can tell me what to do, especially when I was not in the top shape, he best get it through his dim brain of his that it isn't going to work.

A snickering laugh recaptured my attention to the conflict.
"Playing hero, Mivian? Since you can't be in reality?" Varsalo sneered.
Zavius leaned closer, his chest pushing against the my resistant hand.
"Leave her out of this; it's pathetic to see you run away from a fight you started."

Oh ouch. There's a point to Zavius. But was that good for my own safety?
I was already struggling to breathe between the two of them as I attempted rather poorly at shoving them apart. I saw Varsalo's eyes twitch, his mood rapidly changing.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, his fist came straight for Zavius's head. Zavius simply cocked his head to the side, avoiding the blow effortlessly. He jumped back into a stance, creating a distance between himself and Varsalo.
And that left me, standing in front of him.

Without a fair warning to me, Varsalo grabbed me by the collar of my trench coat and lifted me off the ground. My hands swiftly found his wrist and grabbed hold of them. I heard him snarl.
"Move out of my way, bitch," he spat, his voice low and dark.

Before I could do anything, I was thrown roughly to the side with great force. The air was punched out of my lungs, and I was airborne. I heard Zavius yell out, followed by a sound of clashing metal.

Then all I saw was blur of colors. I was anticipating the pain of when I came in contact with a solid surface. I didn't know whether it would be the floor or the opposite wall. I was flying through the air and covering a great distance.
It should be coming soon...

And it came.
I went crashing into something that was apparently in the course of my flight. But surprisingly, I was in no pain. And the thing I had crashed into wasn't as solid and hard as I had expected.

In fact, it had arms and it grunted when I had executed my fancy landing into it. Even after the crash, I felt myself moving back.

I didn't open my eyes.
But then I became aware of the arms holding me and that I was pressed against something that felt like a brick wall. I heard breathing right above my head.

I came to a stop.

Slowly, I pried my eyes open and looked up.