Crazy Has a Team Color

Lyra soared through the air toward Xander, her entire body trembling from the sheer speed she was traveling.

Xander twisted instinctively, trying to avoid her, but it wasn't enough. Her fingertips barely brushed his shoulder.

The tag.

Momentum carried her forward, and she made no effort to recover. She hadn't saved any strength for the landing. Her body slammed into the ground… once, twice… before skidding across the stone floor in a brutal tumble. Finally, she came to a stop, unmoving.

Xander was the first to reach her.

"Are you okay?" His voice was tight with concern as he crouched beside her.

"Yeah…" she groaned, still lying flat. "I just need to stop crashing into things at high speeds."

She pushed herself up slowly, brushing the dirt from her arms. "I'm definitely getting tired of it."

Xander chuckled, a bit of tension leaving his shoulders. "Yeah, I watched your last duel. You definitely seem to lack a self preservation instinct."

"Winning is more important," Lyra replied, stretching her limbs and shaking out the ache. She still hurt, but the worst had passed.

"Maybe that's why we lost," Xander muttered. "I like fighting… but I don't think I could go that far."

"Don't worry," Lucian said, approaching with Malik. "There aren't too many people who are her type of crazy."

"You say that," Malik added, lightly punching Lucian's shoulder, "but I can think of at least four from your team that qualify."

Lucian turned his gaze on him, his expression unreadable and eyes as empty as ever. "Eight of us," he said flatly.

Even Lyra blinked at that. Eight? And he included himself?

Lucian ignored their surprise. "Let's go. The team will want to talk about the match."

Without waiting, he turned and walked off, leaving them standing in silence.

"Y'all are crazy," Xander said, watching Lucian's back retreat into the corridor.

Lyra gave him a look and a shrug. "Correct." Then she jogged after Lucian, vanishing from view.

They returned to the waiting room, their team all excitedly waiting for them. 

"Before anything else… congratulations," Jace said, raising his fist in salute, an old habit by now. Lyra met it with her own, knuckles tapping solidly. 

"But more importantly," Ethan pointed dramatically, eyes wide, "you can go invisible?!" 

Lucian actually let out a small chuckle, a rare crack in his usual deadpan. "Yeah. Did you think I got into Rank 1 just because I have some barriers?" 

"Well… no… but still, that's sick," Ethan admitted, his grin spreading. "You've been hiding that from everyone, haven't you?"

"Obviously," Lucian shrugged. "It wouldn't be much of a hidden trump card if I told everyone." 

Felix leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees. "So how long have you been able to use that spell?" 

Lucian looked at him for a beat. "Long enough."

"Ever the mystery man," Selene muttered under her breath, though a smirk tugged at her lips. 

While the group was discussing with Lucian, Aurora stepped past them and approached Lyra. 

"That tag was risky," Aurora said quietly. "Reckless even, what if you had missed?" 

Lyra rubbed her shoulder, still sore from the impact. "Maybe, but it worked." 

"It did," Aurora admitted, nodding once. "Still… If you hadn't caught him, you'd not only have a limp, you'd have a loss." 

Lyra let out a genuine laugh. "Then it's a good thing that victory heals faster." 

This time it was Aurora who actually smiled at that. "I'll remember that next time I'm laying on the ground." 

Their talk got the other's attention. "Can we also talk about the literal cannonball dive?" Astra brought up, still watching the scene on the replay screen. "It was insane. You looked like you were attempting to break the arena." 

"She nearly broke herself," Orion scoffed, shaking his head. "For real though, that timing was sick."

Selene leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms. "You know, at this point I'm convinced half our team is allergic to conventional tactics."

"That's because convention doesn't win matches," Lyra said with a grin, finally taking a seat.

"Still," Orion added, "we should definitely review. The tag was sick, but if Xander had been a little faster…"

"Then she would've just crashed into him instead of barely tagging him," Felix cut in, "Face it, there was no Plan B there, sometimes you have to send an all or nothing."

"I think having a Plan B means you think that Plan A is going to fail." Lyra said, with a shrug.

"I mean… That makes a strange amount of sense," Jace said, chuckling a little. "Wait… That invisibility spell… Can you cast it on other people?"

Lucian thought for a second. "Technically, yes. But I haven't actually tried, it would take more mana to do, but definitely doing."

Jace's eyes lit up. "Oh we could have some fun with that."

Lucian just sighed, not looking forward to having to talk that much.

Aurora glanced at the replay again, pausing the footage during Lyra's dive. "We are definitely going to want to study this later."

"Yeah, study how Lyra has the strongest legs I've ever seen," Orion muttered.

Astra raised her hand. "All in favor of getting Lyra some sort of enchanted crash mat for the next match?"

Everyone's hand instantly shot up, except Lyra and Aurora. However, even Aurora slowly raised her hand. 

"Cowards," she said with a proud smirk.