Young Writers Society

I giggled. The students who thought they were the best were quickly taught that they were very wrong. In the corner of my eye I could see Master Alex and one of the novices enter the training area. Something was wrong I could see it in Alex's eyes.

I walked towards him to see what was happening.

Alex:

The girl was beautiful, he would give her that, but no exceptional talents. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Velna enter the arena. He wanted to be near her. He wanted to feel her in his arms again. He sighed. She was still furious with him. He could see that. He smirked, she wasn't going to forgive him.

The girl was twirling her hair in her fingers, either playing dumb (which he doubted) or she was dumb. But Alex really didn't care at the moment. He wanted a distraction. It wasn't his normal routine to flirt with girls...unless he was doing a job. But there was always exceptions.

He grabbed the blond, Beth, around the waist and showed her how to move her body, whispering softly in her ear. She seemed to like that. She turned her face slightly. Suddenly, he felt her lips on his. He let his emotions shut down, and kissed her back, then pulled her away.

"You really need to concentrate." He informed her.

"You make that really hard to do." she giggled.

"Try." He begged. She nodded, and they continued working on new moves.

Dali:

I saw Ryder walk out of the arena. He seemed worried, stressed. For some reason I wanted to reach out and comfort him.

I strode quickly over to him. "Hey, what's up?" I asked with a smile.

He looked at me, a frown still on his face.

"Don't tell me I'm that ugly!" I teased. He was still serious. "Well, I suppose I don't blame you. I am pretty ugly."

I watched Alex practice with the novice girl. Alex lacked inner peace. In fact all of the masters except Altair. It was strange only if you have true inner peace may you become a master, yet here we are. I guess the brotherhood was really desperate.

I sighed, but then a smile came on my face. I walked over to the fighting ring. I stared at Ale and caught his attention.

"May I fight you?" I asked him.

Ryder-

Ryder did his best to keep a serious look on his face, how could she possibly think that she was ugly. Of all things, she was deffinatly one of the more attractive girls around here, he didn't really know what to say though. He had never really talked ot her much, they were always gone when the other was around it seemed. He decided to just smile,

"Now I wouldn't exactly say that." He smiled, "And why would you think that?" Might as well get his mind back onto something other then Velna's problem, he wasn't supposed to be this annoyed inside.



Velna-

Velna watched as the girl kissed Alex and he kissed her back. She rolled her eyes, this was getting really annoying. A master shouldn't get involved with a novice.

Why do you care? A voice nagged,

I don't, She snapped back,

Yes you do! IT laughed. She rolled her eyes and moved to where the punching bags and pulled on some gloves clobbering it with all she had. She needed to get rid of some stress and maybe anger.

ALex:

He smiled. He knew what this master thought of him. But he really didn't care. He was a people pleaser. What could he do about that? he smiled.

"If you wish." He bowed. No one except the grand Master had actually seen how well he could truly fight. This was going to be fun!

Dali:

"Well...because...I just am!" I stuck out my tongue, a very childish thing to do, but she couldn't help herself. Something about Ryder made me feel like a child. I had never really been a child! But...he was causing that reaction...and I couldn't help it!

I smiled. Alex had excepted my proposale. The novice girl walked out of the ring, a sense of dissapointment in her eyes.

I pulled out my sword- staring into master Alex's eyes. He was excited, and so was I.

"Alright lets see which master is stronger." Alex announced.

I nodded." Yes, lets see."

Ryder-

Ryder crossed his arms and burst out laughing, was she joking!

"Well, now, I still say you are wrong. Though I doubt I'll be able to prove to you otherwise!" He grinned, she was truely beautiful. Maybe she was just joking around, she had stuck her tounge out. So maybe, just maybe it was all just a big joke.


Velna-

Velna walked away from the punching bags and looked towards where Alex had been. He was now fighting with another one of the masters. She frowned, she should've beat him the first time she fought him and left. But now he was stuck in her head. She hated when she was beat by someone other then Ryder, and for some reason wouldn't let it go. She growled inwardly and walked towards the door, but stopped. Maybe he would get beat, that would be nice to watch.

She walked to one of the other rings and started practicing with someone else watching him out of the corner of her eye while skillfully beating her oponit.

Alex:

The other master was anxious. He was glad. He actually wanted some competition! That would be wonderful.

He grinned as the other master spun and twirled in front of him. Alex was not pompus enough to think that he would win...but he had a lot of training. His father used to be high up in the organization. It was only proper that he teach his son everything he knew. So, Alex was a skilled warrior.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Velna. She was watching him, wanting him to fail probably. He started paying more attention to his opponent. He really didn't want to lose!

(Hey, Miki, would you mind if he did win? And surprised everyone? Just wondering. XD)

Dali:

I grinned. He thought I was joking. "I'm not joking, if that's what you are thinking. And I don't know how you could think otherwise! I'm hideous! I'm too fat, and not at all what I should look like!" she grinned again, "Though, it is nice to hear someone who i know is not trying to..."I trailed off. He didn't need to know that. I blanched, the old feelings returning. I grasped my stomach, it was suddenly hard to breathe. All the old thoughts came, wounding, hurting. I fell to the ground. Why was I reacting this way?! It had been so long ago...I gasped for air. His arms were around him, pulling me up, supporting me.

After a minute I managed to thank him, but I was still dazed. My head was throbbing. Why? Why now?!

*sure, but... she'll want payback!*

I twirled and struck at Alex. He dodged with much grace. We looked as if we were dancing. It was quite fun. He was giving me his all... and yet I was too destracted. But why?

His fist came towards my stomach, and contact was made. I spat out saliva. Alex placed his sword on the back of my neck; when I bent down. He smiled.

"Hhhow?" I wondered.

Alex lifted his sword, and all of the spectators clapped. They had enjoyed are fight.

(Okay. XD)

Alex:

He grinned. No one expected him to be that good. It was fun seeing all of them react. They hadn't expected him to be able to do that good of a job. After all, this was the guy who all the stupid girls wanted...why would he be any good? But, of course, they had prejudgements. Alex tended to take the shortest, easiest way to do things. But in fights like these, he gave it his best effort.

"Maybe we can try again later?" he offered kindly. He was not about to be an pompus idiot.

He looked over at Velna. She was not pleased. That was okay. She would be...eventually. He sighed. Oh well.

"yes, that would be entertaining." I responded.

I exited the ring. Still stunned that I had lost. No wonder that most cannot be masters without inner peace. It is a constant distraction and wieghs them down.

I sighed. The only way to get stronger was to exsept what I had done. Anyways the group information gathering mission was soon going to begin anyways.

I headed towards the meeting room, and waited for the others who would join me on this mission. I couldn't help but remember the past.


flash back-

I was heading towards the castle. Master Al Mualin had ordered everyone to gather for a meeting in the court yard. Running as fast as I could I met up with everyone. A rumor had gone around that Altair had returned but it was false.

"My brothers and sisters! Its time that peac began!" Master Al Mualin yelled.

Everyone watched him. He held a silver orb that began to glow. A flash of light was the last thing I saw- then I was surrounded by darkness.

End of falsh back-


I sat down in a chair and rested my head on the table. Maybe I could get some rest before the others got here.

Ryder-

Ryder caught Dali. He carried her towards a tree taht was close by even though she weakly protested. After he had leaned her against the tree did he put his hand on her forehead.

"Are you ok?" He asked softly, she was smaller then her close let someoen thing, but he ignored that lookign at her pretty face hoping she was ok.


Velna-

Velna frowned when he lost. She walked out of the arena and waited until he came out.

"What do you think you were doing, you killed my guy. I had everything under control you had no right and no need to do that." She said in a lowered voice keepign her voice calm but stern. She didn't know why this guy got under her skin so badly, and why was she suddenly getting drawn into his eyes. They were such a cool mixture of grey and blue. She blinked and focused her mind, what was going on, she was mad at this guy.

Dali:

He was leaning over me. Protective, worried. It was nice. I still felt sick, but it was going away, all the memories, the pain, it was slipping back into my protective form.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied. "Thank you." It felt comforting, under his gaze. No wonder his sister was always with him. I wanted him to hold me close, and for the first time, I wanted to cry. I wanted the emotions to come out. But I couldn't! I was an assassin. My past didn't matter, only the present. My wall was back up. Blank again, how I always was.

"Sorry to freak out like that." I smiled, but it didn't touch my eyes. "I don't know what came over me." I didn't know how to walk away, his arms were still supporting. "Um...I'm okay now." I continued to lie. It was better than having someone know who I used to be...

Alex:


"I'm sorry. I just wanted to get out of there. I was afraid that if I didn't act quickly, you would murder me yourself." He smiled warmly. She was still frowning, but it looked forced. it looked as if she wanted to smile in return. And her eyes were locked into his. They were gorgeous. A brilliant blue. He reached down and swept her hair behind her ear. Her hair was soft, fluffy. He stiffened. What was he doing?!

"See you at the meeting."

He stalked off. If he had looked into her eyes anymore, he would've kissed her. THen she would truly resent him.

Ryder-

Something in Ryder didn't believe him, but maybe it was just because he didn't want to leave her side. He had to find Velna and get her to the meeting though, he didn't want to. He stood up and offered her a hand up.

"Alright, if you are sure, you should probably get back to your house and get some rest, your still a tad pale." He said brushing hair from in front of those beautiful eyes. He snapped his hand back, what was he doing, was he insane! "I need to find my sister, I'll see you later, take care." He smiled and walked towards the arena glad to see Velna standing there even if her face showed utter anger. ALex was walking the other way and Ryder rememebered his problem. He had to figure out what Alex had done.

"Velna, we have to get to a meeting, let's go." He said grabbing her arm and leading her towards the meeting house.

Velna-

Velna growled inwardly, why hadn't she hit him, kept him from touching her. What was wrong with her. She followed Ryder with out a word. She wanted to kill Alex, but at the same time she wanted to get lost in his eyes. Why? Why did she want that of all things, she ahted him, she couldn't like him. She lothed him, didn't she.

When they walked in the meeting house she saw Alex, she tried not to look at him, but didn't suceed very well. She clenced her fists prying her finger nails in her skin trying to think of something else.