Lunch in the Dining Hall

Elated by her success and buoyed by her challenge victories, Sky had come here to the dining hall in the Tower. She had decided to eat here. After all, she was a student too.

Taking a deep breath and straightening her shoulders, Sky marched in. She found an open table and headed towards it. It was for four people but all of the tables for two people were taken. She sat amid the silent glares of the forty or so other students. Grabbing the scroll from the center of the table, she wrote what she wanted to eat. Then, she looked around.

From the mix of white and black uniforms, Sky could tell there were both AR and regular students present, although most of the regular students wore red bands on their left biceps. She saw Dain and West staring at her along with the two other slightly glowing creatures at their table, both of whom had red armbands. Dain was looking at her with surprise and West was frowning. Sky smiled at them. West's face became more severe. Dain hesitantly smiled back.

Sky's eyes then found Instructor Drakkon. He looked angry as usual. She didn't try smiling at him. She looked for Aven and Jin but they weren't present.

The chair beside hers scraped out and Sky looked in surprise to see Dain standing there with one hand on the chair. He had a hopeful expression on his face.

Blushing slightly, he asked, "May I sit?" Sky smiled warmly at him.

"Of course." Sky looked back at his table. West had remained there, and his face was grim. "No West?" She asked turning back to Dain. His mouth bent down.

"I- he doesn't believe you should be here." His eyes fell to the table as his frown deepened. "Did- did you want to sit with him?" Sky smiled.

"Oh, no. It's just that you two are always together, that's all." Dain's jaw clenched and he peeked up at her.

"So, you don't mind sitting with just me?" He asked timidly with another slight blush.

Sky frowned, "No, of course not. I like you, Dain." Dain's eyes widened and he turned bright red. He mumbled something unintelligible. "So how did your second challenge go?"

Dain stammered, "Well. I won again." Sky beamed at him.

"That's great!" He reached for the scroll in the center of the table and wrote something on it. Then he looked up at Sky.

"I heard you had some trouble with Alyssa." Sky sighed heavily.

"Yeah, she and a couple girls from your class cornered me in the bathroom yesterday." Then she thought about what Alyssa had said. "Did something happen to Rage?" She asked. Dain's eyes widened.

"You don't know?" Sky shook her head. Dain grimaced and said, "He got seriously injured when he was torturing you and he said you did it. When he pressed the Chancellor to punish you, he was given almost the worst punishment he could have gotten, cataloguing in the vault." Sky's mouth twisted.

"Well that explains it." She said.

Dain continued, "He told Alyssa to take care of you. He said that if you disappeared, no one would look into it." Sky sighed again and pulled her elbows off the table as it began glowing. Their food appeared before them. Sky frowned at her plate. Her happy attitude had vanished. "I could- I could challenge Nyx to have him keep Alyssa from trying anything again." Dain offered in a tiny voice. He looked pale and a little shaky as he picked up his fork.

Sky smiled sadly at him and said, "Thanks, but I don't want you risking yourself for me." Dain's right hand clenched in a fist around his fork.

"I'm not weak." He said firmly.

"I don't think you're weak." Sky replied with a frown. "I think you're gentle and kind and you shouldn't have to fight for me."

Dain's hand clenched tighter and his face darkened as he said, "I'm not kind or gentle. I am a strong male. I can win."

"Yes but-" Sky began.

"No! I am going to fight him for you. And then I'll-"

"Just what do you think you're doing?" A cold voice demanded. Dain and Sky both looked up to see a relatively short, delicate male with teal-violet eyes glaring at them. Sky's eyes took in his feminine appearance. With his teal tinted, chin length black hair, large eyes, and slim build, she would have thought him a female if he'd been in a girl's uniform. Even his voice was a light tenor.

"I am eating lunch." Sky replied cautiously to his question. Her eyes roved over the two males flanking him. To his right was Uriel and to his left was a devilishly handsome male, who screamed of sex from his messy, bright red hair to his tight-fitting uniform. Just looking at him was doing odd things to her, so Sky quickly looked back at the doll-like male.

"Humans can't eat in the dining halls-" He began.

"I didn't see a sign." Sky replied cutting him off. A pink flush stole into his cheeks as his eyes narrowed on her. Sky looked at his left bicep. He had a red armband so did the handsome male to his left.

"Look Syn, it's just for today. Just this once, okay?" Dain hurriedly said.

Sky looked at him with irritation and snapped, "No it's not. I'm a student too. I can eat here whenever I like." A panicked look came over Dain's face.

"Skylar, he's the Chief Advisor to the High Officiant." He hissed to her softly. Sky just looked at him blankly. "He's the second most powerful regular student in the school. He's part of the student governing body and answers directly to it's head the High Officiant." He explained. Sky grimaced.

"Skylar Maren?" The redheaded male asked flicking his hair out of his eyes with several long fingers. He peered at her.

Sky looked up at him and said, "That's right." She ignored the butterflies in her stomach.

"You're the cheating murderess?" Syn, the doll-like male, asked with a small smile.

"I didn't cheat, and I certainly didn't kill anyone." Sky said firmly. Her right hand tensing. "I won those challenges fairly."

Uriel sneered at her, "You think just because we haven't gotten rid of you yet, you belong here. You think your just as good as a creature." Sky flinched and ducked her head. "Well?"

"I am." Sky whispered.

"What was that?" Uriel asked.

Sky's mouth set into a firm line. Lifting her head, she said, "I do belong here. I am as good as any creature. I'm- I'm better because I'm not a racist, elitist, arrog-" Dain put a hand over her mouth.