Confrontation Between Past Friends

Fabian sighed, biting on his thumbnail. What do I do? He wondered, pacing around. Can I really just swoop down there and get Harper? Or should I kill the Godslayer first? Layla, what exactly are you wanting me to do? He frowned even more, narrowing his eyes at the ground. "This is impossible…." He muttered, letting his hand drop.

He fiddled with the button in his hair, multiple thoughts racing through his head. Who exactly is the Godslayer? She seems so generic. And like Layla said, she doesn't seem all that capable. He sighed again, closing his eyes. Damn it, if only I could remember all the abilities of that sword. Layla didn't tell me everything about it.

"Did you need me?" Fabian opened his eyes, looking up and seeing Matias drop out of the sky. "I-I'm assuming you did."

Fabian smiled. "Yup! I just needed some help, that's all."

"With what?" He asked. Fabian simply smiled, staying silent. He walked forwards, running into Matias. Matias tensed slightly. "O-Oh! Um, Fabian?"

"Just… can I have a hug? I'm having a rough time right now…." Fabian mumbled. Matias hesitated for a moment, before finally complying and bringing his friend into a hug. Fabian sighed, calming down slightly. "Is Lucas okay?"

"He's… doing okay, I guess…." Matias replied. "Not the best, but not terribly."

"That would make sense. Learning that you might have to end up killing your friend." Fabian laughed slightly. "You sure know that feeling, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do." Matias smiled a little, knowing what Fabian was referring to.

"Anyways!" Fabian started, shoving himself away from Matias. "I'm going to be doing down there again."

"You are…?" Matias asked, concern appearing on his face. "Will you be okay?"

Fabian nodded. "Yeah, Layla met her! She told me that Miracle isn't all that capable, so I think I'll be fine." He paused for a second. "Plus, I have something that'll make me do pretty well against Hydema."

"What is it?"

"I can't tell you, it won't work if I do!" Fabian smiled at him. "Sorry, but I have to keep it secret for now. I can tell you some time later, perhaps."

Matias frowned. "You've been keeping a lot of secrets from us… am I sure that you're not behind this whole thing?"

Fabian froze at that comment, his eyes going wide. An awkward silence fell between them, Fabian taking the smallest step backwards. "W-Well… um….." Fabian glanced away, cupping his hands behind his back. "L-Listen, I would love to tell you… but I just can't. You never know who's listening…."

Matias sighed, nodding his head. "Right, okay. Sorry for putting that pressure on you, I didn't really mean it. I just… wanted to make sure."

Fabian gave him a soft smile. "No biggie! You're fine! I know you would like to know, I just can't afford any possible mistakes." He paused for a second, his bangs covering up his eyes. "It's not something that can easily be kept secret." Matias went silent, noting how serious he sounded there. Fabian blinked, before his cheery expression returned. "Anyways, if I'm needing any help, I'll tell you!"

Matias gave him a confused look. "If you're down there, how the heck would I be capable of hearing you ask for help?"

Fabian hummed for a second, tapping his lip. He laughed slightly, giving him a bright smile. "You'll know when I do!"

"That literally gives me no context!" Matias shouted.

Fabian laughed again, running away. "Sowwy Maimai!" Fabian turned around, as Matias huffed. Fabian snickered slightly, as he flew up and dove down through the clouds. He was feeling much better after that exchange, having a bit more confidence in himself. Alright then. I can go find them. They can't be too far from where Layla is, since they were just there. I can most likely find them easily, and quickly get Harper. He paused for a second at that thought. Harper, why have you done this? I thought you said that you hated senseless destruction such as this….

~~~~~~~~~~~

Miracle stared at the sky, breathing heavily. "Miracle, we need to continue." Harper spoke up.

"I know, I know!" Miracle sighed, covering her eyes with her arm. "I'm just… tired…."

Harper frowned a little at her laziness, knowing full well that they'd only started training about five minutes ago. She was just acting dramatic. "Miracle, we don't have all day." Miracle sat up, huffing and placing her cheek in her hand.

"Why are we doing this? I have a sword that can kill him, isn't that good enough?"

Harper looked at Miracle slightly surprised, before shaking her head violently. "No no no, you severely underestimate him. He can easily just fucking kill you." Harper pointed out. "He's just under a lot of threat, so he can't really go after you."

Miracle frowned. "What does that mean? Didn't you say that only one person could use it?"

"Try to get your head out of those thoughts, they aren't healthy in this situation." Harper continued. "Just because you're the only one who can kill him doesn't mean there aren't dangers. For instance, all of us could potentially hold him down to a point where he can't do anything, which makes it so you could just kill him. He knows this, and is wanting to get in a safer position before making a move. Does that make sense?"

Miracle paused for a second, before nodding her head. "Yeah… that does make sense…." She stood up, picking up her sword of the ground. "Are we sure about me going after you like I want to kill you? Because I mean… if it goes wrong, it could end up with me killing you."

Harper shook her head. "I should be fine. If anything goes wrong, I can retreat quite easily and fix myself up." She paused for a second. "Are you coming at me? You're supposed to go first."

"O-Oh! Okay!" Miracle stepped forwards a little, holding the sword in front of her face.

"Don't do that." Harper started. "If I wanted to, I could send out some type of magic and slam it into your face. Sure, it won't do much, but it'll still block your vision."

Miracle sighed, shifted the sword to a different position, making the sword face away from her at her hip. "What about this?"

Harper thought for a moment, before shaking her head. "I could do the same thing, and knock the sword away."

"Then what should I do?"

"Try holding it where it goes out the left of your hand? If you understand what that means."

"That's… a really weird arc, though." Miracle started. "Are you sure?"

Harper shrugged. "I don't know, we'll test it out right now." Miracle nodded, shifted the sword around. The tip was pointing behind her, which made her feel slightly awkward. "Hm… I think we'll try it out. Okay, you make the first move."

Miracle shifted around, now quite sure where to move, or how to move in this position. It felt unnatural, and she wasn't sure what to do. She took a small step forwards, before running towards her opponent. She swung the sword out, letting the handle slip out of her hand to spin around for reach. Harper seemed slightly surprised, but stepped back and easily dodged it. Miracle caught it, slightly fumbling, but had returned to her previous situation, "I missed…." She mumbled. "Sorry, I guess that doesn't work-"

"No no, it did." Harper smiled softly. "It worked quite well, actually. We can keep working on that. But first," Harper raised her hand, and threw a small sphere of fire at Miracle. Miracle reacted quickly, hitting it away from her. Harper made it disappear before it hit anything. "Nice reaction speed."

Miracle smiled, twirling her hair a little. "Thank you…."

"No problem. Should we continue?" Harper asked. Miracle went silent, feeling a little uneasy. Harper went silent, tilting her head to the side and dropping her voice to a whisper. "Is there something wrong?"

"I just… I feel like someone's watching us…."

Harper hesitated. "Really…?" She mumbled something, quickly shaking her head and proceeding to look around the area. "I don't see anyone…." She muttered. "Are you sure?"

"Just… I'm not sure…." Miracle replied. "I may just be being paranoid, but I can't shake it off."

"Who could hide this easily…?" Harper wondered aloud, seeming to think for a moment. Her eyes then widened, seeming to make a realization. She quickly turned, as a figure burst through the trees and rammed her into the ground.

"Figured it out too late, Hydema!" Fabian laughed, having restrained her with a similar binding as to what Naomi had used on Bubble when Miracle had first met. "You should have realized that it was me when Miracle said that!"

Miracle's eyes widened in surprised, before she swung the sword forwards. Fabian noticed immediately, grabbing Harper and rolling away from Miracle. He quickly stood up, blocking Miracle's way. "Oh, why hello there, Miracle!"

Miracle flinched. "How do you…?"

"You met Layla, didn't you?" Fabian smiled. "She told me all~ about you! You aren't all that capable, are you?"

Miracle frowned. "Can you all stop calling me that?"

"Why? It is true." Fabian chided, glancing back at Harper. "Anyways, I'm going to go now. You're coming with me."

Harper stayed silent, deciding not to look up. Fabian stayed silent as well, almost as if the two were having some secret conversation in their heads. Fabian crossed his arms. "Are you not going to do anything? Typically you'd just break out by now and hit me."

"I can't do that, and you know it." Harper muttered, Miracle just barely catching it.

"So no one knows…." Fabian mumbled, more to himself rather than anyone else. He quickly shook his head, placing the smile back onto his face. "Anyways! Cya later, Miracle! I'm gonna go take Hydema away, and have a nice chat with her!"

Miracle stepped forwards. "You're not going anywhere."

Fabian raised an eyebrow, a taunting smile on his face. "Really? I highly doubt it, you with your zero battle experience."

"I don't have zero!"

"Against me, yes you do." Fabian countered. "Here, watch this." He clapped his hands together, a blast of fire suddenly appearing. It freaked Miracle out, making her jump. Fabian released his hands, the flames immediately going away. "Hehehe, you sure are skittish, aren't you? It was just a little fire."

"Shut up!" Miracle shouted. "You're not taking Harper away, and that's final!"

"Yeah, well, I don't listen to you. In fact, I don't take orders from anyone!" Fabian pointed a finger at Miracle. "So why don't you shut the fuck up before I decide to light you ass on fire?"

Miracle went silent, glaring at Fabian. Her sense of judgement was thrown out the window, as she ran forwards, quickly slashing the sword. Fabian, having not expected it, got cut across the face. He stepped away, placing his hand over the newly made cut. He brought his hand away, showing the blood that was silently running down his face.

"Oh." He admitted, before he smiled. "I guess not." He sighed, fiddling with the button keeping his hair up, a small laugh escaping him. "Didn't expect that, but I guess you've got a death wish, sweetie."

He flew forwards, colliding into Miracle and throwing her off balance. Lucky for her, Fabian was much smaller than her, so the impact wasn't too much. She slashed the sword down, Fabian blocking it with a small stream of fire. It blocked her view, as Fabian swept her legs. Miracle fell into the grass with a small grunt, as Fabian stood above her. "Nice one." He said, sarcasm woven into his tone.

Miracle glared, pushing herself off of the ground and lashing out. Fabian didn't move, allowing himself to get hit this time around. It cut through a little bit of the fabric of his sleeve, but he decided to ignore it. He grabbed onto Miracle's hand, directing the sword into her gut. There was silence for a moment, as Fabian looked at the glimmering light that had replaced the edges and point of the sword. "Wow~! That's really cool! So, it can only kill me and Hydema then!" Fabian threw Miracle's wrist to the side, stepping back. "Funny, I really would have thought it wouldn't have worked like-" Miracle, having had enough, stepped forwards and got a clean cut onto Fabian, directly on his stomach. Fabian was taken aback by this attack, stepping away.

He stayed silent, not speaking up for a moment. "You… you really went for that?" He said, tilting his head to the side. "Fuck, this hurts. I didn't expect that at all…." He muttered, covering his mouth and the wound on his stomach. "Shit. Why did you… how… you got faster."

Miracle hadn't noticed that aspect at all, wondering how that was happening. She immediately pushed the thought away, deciding to just focus on the task at hand. She glanced at Harper, who was staring at Fabian in horror. Fabian coughed lightly. "Did I misinterpret? Will I actually die?" He said to himself, turning to look at Miracle. Miracle ran forwards. Fabian seemed to panic slightly, lighting the nearby surroundings on fire. Miracle, thinking quickly spun around in a circle with enough force to put out the flames with the wind generated from her speed.

Fabian hissed in discontent, flying backwards. Miracle jumped up, pulling him out of the sky and throwing the two to the ground. Fabian tumbled across the grass, a trail of blood being left across the grass. He pushed himself up quickly, wincing slightly. "I told you, you weren't going anywhere."

Fabian looked at her, standing above him from his spot on the ground. He gently pressed over his own wound, glancing up at the sky for a moment. He stared for a second, before looking back at Miracle. "And what did I tell you?" He started, a smile spreading across his face. "That I don't take orders from anyone. People… take orders from me."

Miracle didn't have a moment to react, as a blade collided with her own, pushing her away. Miracle stumbled slightly, as her newfound attacker was clearly skilled, and was capable of applying enough force to put her off balance and drop backwards. Miracle quickly stood up, her angry expression immediately melting after seeing who it was who had defended Fabian.

"Don't take another step forwards." He said. "Or… I'll kill you."

Miracle couldn't believe those words, not from someone like him. It was so unexpected, that there was only one phrase that could come out of her mouth.

"Matias… what are you doing…?"