Chapter Thirteen: The Heat of Battle

Agni's P.O.V.

I flew in the air with the help of my flames, flames firing out of my feet as if they were rockets. I avoided Bobina's waves of lava as best as I could, sometimes using waves of fire on her attacks to help me, but that only slowed them down. I knew she could kill me with ease if she really wanted to, but she was holding back. I knew because of the look on her face; blank, yet hesitant at the same time. Her face reminded me of my sister. Due to the fact that I'm the fire element, I'm much more resistant to heat than any normal human would be. Though if I was touched by her lava, it would be the same as boiling water falling on a normal person.

I spun around like a drill, encased in my flames. I flew through one of her waves of lava and barrelled to her. I knew if I wanted to beat her, I'd have to get close and use hand to hand combat, since my flames rarely affected her unless I went all out and made them as hot as I could, which was about 1500 degrees Fahrenheit then. The most that would do would give her light burns though since her lava was 2000 degrees Fahrenheit at its base and could go up to 2500 if she really tried. I didn't know how I was supposed to beat her if my flames couldn't even get that hot.

Flames encased my fists and swiped my arms and legs at her, but she avoided and parried them, almost elegantly. I managed to grab one of her arms however and pulled her to me, my other fist encased in flames, about to punch her, but I stopped, my breath hitching. She was unnaturally beautiful up close, and her eyes, they showed fear. I recalled my sister's face once more.

I shook my head and jumped back. I knew I had to beat her, but the better part of me would never let me hurt a woman like that. I didn't want to see a bruise on her face. My instincts told me to protect her, not attack her. I expected her to attack me again, like she usually did when this happened, but she was just standing there, staring at me. "Why did...you stop..?" She spoke quietly.

I shook my head. That wasn't the first time this had happened. Whenever we met I always avoided hurting her much, and she did the same. Neither of us really wanted to kill each other. I sighed a bit. "Why did you join that side anyway? I feel like our roles should be reversed."

"It's not like anything would change if we were..." She poked her fingers together nervously. "And...it was because they all accepted me, happily. Our group isn't as bad as you might think..."

"Yeah, neither is ours, but it's not like we have much choice..." I sighed, flames encasing my body once more.

"Mm..." She muttered, raising her hand and several balls of lava formed around her. I fired a wave of flames at her and she fired her balls of lava, easily going right through my flames. I quickly dodged the lava balls, the lava burning holes into the ground I was standing on. I rushed her, ducking when she fire lava from her palm and dropping to the ground as I reached her. I swiped her legs with one of mine, making her yelp as she fell back.

I quickly pinned her afterward, not noticing my hands were still on fire, and she winced as her wrists very slightly burned. I quickly put out the flames, but kept her pinned. "There... Now I can't fight you and you can't fight me." She could just summon lava right above me if she wanted to and I could've lit her on fire, though neither of us were planning on doing either of those things.

"So what now...then..?" She averted her eyes, backing down as if my words were true. I noticed her cheeks redden from embarrassment, my cheeks also a faint red. It's not like I had never had a girlfriend before, but it had been a long while since then, and Bobina was unnaturally beautiful. Lava to me was always a beautiful thing, just extremely deadly. Just like Bobina; unusually gorgeous, but deadly all the same. She reminded me of my sister far too much for something like that though. Not to mention she was on the enemy's side.

"Well...we can talk I guess." I let her go and sat down beside her.

"About what..?" She stayed where she was, not budging an inch.

"Whatever we want..." I laid back as well, staring at the sky.

There was a long pause before Bobina suddenly spoke. "Since we're opposites, does that mean you enjoy fighting?"

I shrugged. "At times, yeah. When your life isn't on the line and you're just letting the stress out, it's nice. I don't enjoy this kind of fighting at all... I was always a trouble maker in my school years, getting into lots of fights and such." I let out sigh.

"I honestly hate fighting... It's scary...and I don't like hurting people..." She muttered.

I glanced at her and she too was staring at the sky, a sad look in her eyes. I looked back up at the sky, swirling my fingers a bit to create a little fire show above us. "I only hurt people who I think deserve it. So far, you don't seem to fit my standards for that at all, other than the fact that we're on opposite sides."

She stared at my fire, watching as it created images of the things I had in mind. Bullies picking on little kids, robbers, thieves, and just evil, vile people. I showed an image of myself beating those types up, helping those who are innocent. "Did you used to do a lot of art? You're really good at that..."

"A bit, but my sister was the real artist..." My gaze darkened slightly as I spoke of her.

"I'm sorry... I made you remember... Don't be sad..." She rolled over and touched my arm. I don't know why, but I expected pain, thinking she might be attacking, but it was just her warm skin.

I looked at her and she stared into my eyes, nothing but concern in her gaze. I lowered my guard a bit and looked away. "I-I'm fine. It's been a few months now..."

"About five months since we both turned... How many times have we fought since then..? Well...fought..."

"Several times... I never counted..." I muttered. I spread out my arms into a T, continuing to stare at the sky. I felt Bobina's eyes on me, but didn't look at her. I noticed a couple balls of lava floating over me, roughly turning into a little girl and a little boy, dancing together awkwardly.

I blinked and glanced at her. "I've never really been good at art...but um...do you think we've ever met before..? You remind me of someone I knew...a long time ago..." She muttered, blushing a faint red.

I looked back up at the lava figures, my cheeks reddening from embarrassment, a memory resurfacing in my head. This was a memory I had buried deep into my mind: a dance I had gone to with my little sister at her school. She was having a blast, dancing with her friends, and I was there to kick any kids' asses who got any funny ideas. However, I ended up getting distracted. I ended up seeing another girl there, older than my sister but still younger than me. I was only about 13 at the time and the girl was 12, if I remember correctly. My sister was only 11 at the time.

The girl was one grade above my sister I believe, and she was alone. I noticed she kept looking at me shyly and looking away whenever I caught her doing so. She was so cute I just couldn't resist back then. I asked her if she would dance with me even though I didn't know how to, fearing some other boy might ask her first, and said yes with a face redder than a tomato. Not only was it extremely awkward, neither of us knew how to properly dance. We stepped on each other's feet a few times and we ended up stumbling every now and then. At one point I ended up completely falling over.

It was the most embarrassing thing I'd ever experienced, but the girl didn't laugh. She knelt down and asked if I was alright, to which I gave her a surprised look and simply nodded. She giggled softly in response, helped me up, and we continued dancing, getting better throughout the night. We had a great night together, laughing and smiling the entire time, and my sister even teased me about it when the dance was over. I never saw the girl again after that though. I didn't even get her name.

I looked at Bobina, confused. "That's my memory of dancing with a boy at a dance I had to go to... It's my only happy memory." She averted her eyes. "I had to move and change schools right after that... It made me sad... I thought I'd never see him again. But now..." She looked to me again. I didn't know how to react, nor what to say.