Challenging Asha to a contest of speed was gutsy, even for Blyke, but he was smart to limit her to the rafters. The Headmaster would forgive her for destroying a few doors and windows, and even her own little house, but destroying the main hallways was too much of an offence, even for her.
She moved quickly, feet barely touching the wood beams before she was in the air again, hair streaming behind her. She jumped again, turning around to look behind her.
Asha's eyes widened as the hand nearly closed around her face. She landed before putting more force behind her steps.
"Don't count me out just because you're the fastest."
She snarled, using the wind to speed her up and shove Blyke back. He was in his Amorai's second form, borrowing power right off the bat. She debated switching into her second form, but just sped up. Blyke was no challenge, not three years ago, not now. He was nothing compared to what she'd been running from.
Asha picked up her pace, zipping from one beam to the other, the only time she was visible when she landed and pushed off. She had run faster before.
∽
Daniel ran into the massive hallways leading to the different branches of the school. "What's going on?" he shouted at the nearest student.
"Blyke just challenged Asha to a test of speed," he replied, awestruck, eyes still on the ceiling. "Look! They're already back!"
Daniel's eyes snapped up, seeing the near-teleporting Asha and the black streak that was Blyke. "Oblivern, Second Form!"
The crowd backed up as he spread his huge black dragon wings into the air, one flap sending him straight onto the rafter Asha was about to make contact with. "Enough screwing around," he hissed, reaching for her with clawed hands.
But she twisted, landing in a crouch just off to the side of him before vanishing again.
"This is no fun," Rosaria remarked from behind Daniel, perched on a high windowsill. "New rule!" she shouted, drawing attention to her. Even Asha solidified, perched on a beam at the end of the hallway. "Only this hallway can be used. Requirements for winning stay the same."
Daniel watched Asha's face carefully. He'd learned over the past three years she'd been there how to read her slight expression changes.
But she just nodded, face totally blank, before straightening.
No, thought Daniel as he watched. That's not quite true.
Because the corner of Asha's lips were curling up, into a smile.
∽
Asha took one step, to the edge of the beam, and her form changed into one with black feathered wings, Quetzalcoatl's twin, Tezcatlipoca. God over time. Asha was done playing this little game of cat-and-mouse.
She crouched, then sprang, shooting straight past Blyke to the wall behind, landing before pushing off again. She created duplicates she moved so fast, several Ashas jumping from beam to beam to roof to wall, then back.
This was breaking her limit, a bit, but this was far too fast for Blyke to catch. His eyes tried to keep up with her, but were soon lost.
This game was over.
Asha flew at him next, feet connecting with his back, and she smiled as she watched him fall. "See you never, Blyke."
But then she was falling, too, falling straight through her own shadow, appearing below Blyke. "Goddamn you, Blyke Hagani," she swore as he pulled her to him.
Asha extended her wings, slowing their fall so they landed gently on the floor. "Can you let go of me?" she asked.
"Nope," Blyke answered. "You're my girlfriend now, Phantomhive. Get used to it."
"Asha Phantomhive lost!" Rosaria announced.
"Does this mean he takes Daniel's spot as King?" Asha asked.
"No. This wasn't a battle of actual strength. This was just a brawl," replied Blyke. "Technically, I'm your King now, so--"
Asha just shoved his face away, a look of growing torment and annoyance on her face. "Say it again, Hagani, and you won't have a mouth to say it the third time."
Now Blyke was teasing her. "Oh, come on, just one kissy, Ashie," he whined, making embarrassing smooching sounds that made Asha's face turn pink.
"Why you… SHUT UP!" Asha wrapped her leg in wind, sending a hurricane-level blast through the hall as she kicked Blyke through one of the windows. She grit her teeth as everyone laughed, stalking away. The wind turned into a storm around her, until it obscured her from view.
When the white wind vanished, Asha was gone.
Asha reappeared balanced on the tip of the tallest spire of of school, wings outstretched. She watched the grounds, pushing past her barrier, her eyesight sharpening. As she saw the small specks nearing, she took a deep breath before shouting, "Blyke! Ethelyn! Daniel! Get your asses over here right now!" Barely after she filled her lungs again, she jumped from the spire, shooting toward the ground. Last second, she spread those wings of hers, and she soared over the gates. "Blyke!"
"Here!" he replied, running below her, on all fours like a panther.
"Ethelyn!"
"Present!" responded Ethelyn, riding her Alicorn to Asha's left.
"Daniel!"
"Got it!" He flew up next to her and listed off his Jacks' names. "Amelia! Tim! Rosaria!"
"Here!" they shouted back.
"Do what you will, but do not let them reach the gates!" Asha commanded. "Quetzico, Third Form! Sword of Punishment!" Asha grabbed the hilt of the sword, falling toward the ground. She rolled to lessen the impact before running, matching the others easily.
"That's them! The Guardians of Luminine! The King's Watchdog! Attack!"
Asha just smiled as the mob of people released their power. "Get behind and prepare to attack!" she shouted, readying her sword. As the magic drew nearer, Asha shouted, "Revenge: Counter!" She slashed her sword into the magic and parried, the magic stopping barely an inch from her face before curling and rebounding on the attackers.
Even their combined attacks were weak, knocking back only the front three rows, the rest plowing ahead.
And then they met the cadre.
∽
Blyke delivered skillfully nonlethal blows, rendering his attackers unconscious on the ground. He'd never killed anyone, and he kind of wanted to keep it that way for awhile.
He finished with his group before turning to look at the others. Only, he found something very wrong very quickly. There was too much blood on the concrete, the crimson liquid splattering over two figures.
"What are you doing?" asked Blyke shakily.
A cold glare was Ethelyn's answer as she stabbed her sword into the throat of her attacker. Blood sprayed as she withdrew it to slash another opponent.
Blyke's eyes flicked to the second person. "Answer me. What are you doing?"
An almost sickeningly bright smile was on her face as Asha looked over her shoulder, one of her pale, slender-fingered hands fisted in a man's hair, holding him up.
"You... you'll never get away with this... bitc--"
"You're too noisy." Asha's sword buried itself up to its hilt in the man's stomach. She let him fall to the ground, blood gushing as she took the sword from his gut, slashing another attacker's head off her shoulders. She put her shoe on an injured man, squishing his face into the ground. She turned to Blyke, that smile still on her face. "Do you have a problem?" Her eyes were cold, though.
Blyke bit his lip. He'd been tricked. Tricked into thinking that this Asha, dangerous but kind, was real. The real Asha was the feral, cruel, and cold-hearted one in the tattered clothes and the mad eyes. Just because the snarl had been replaced by a smile... the eyes were still the same.
"Well?" Asha asked, not even looking as she swung her sword behind her, cutting a man across the chest, blood spraying the side of her face.
"I don't have a problem, but this is a new development..."
Asha laughed, the sword in her hand glowing before turning into hundreds of three inch, thin needles that hovered around her. "Quetzico, Fifth Form. Multiply." Asha swept her hand out in front of her, and the needles swirled around her like a swarm of insects, until they shot forward.
It was over before it really started. Bodies littered the ground, bleeding from tiny puncture wounds as the needles circled back to Asha.
She smiled at Blyke. "I thought you know already. I've been a murderer for most of my life. I have no problem killing a few more. Isn't that right, Ethelyn?"
Blyke turned to Ethelyn, who's Amorai signified purity of the spirit, who was often known as the Scion of Light...
Ethelyn nodded, her sword vanishing. "Let's go back. We have preparations to do for the Interschool Tournament."
Asha nodded, unfurling long, black feathered wings from her back, grabbing Ethelyn by the hand. She launched into the sky, heading back toward the school.
Blyke jumped atop Shadower, mind racing as he and the others raced toward Luminine. Now that he thought about it, he really knew nothing about Asha and Ethelyn, or any of the cadre for that matter. He worked with them every day, thought he knew them like the back of his hand... but it turned out that he was only seeing one of the many layers of them.
Blyke wondered just how many layers of darkness he'd have to peel back to see the real, true Asha.
∽
Asha was in charge of cooking, her shocking speed getting the next day's welcoming dinner completely prepared for cooking within four hours.
When she was done, she stood on the spire until sunset, watching the students head to the dorms. She jumped down, securing the crossed crescent moon emblem of Luminine's Disciplinary Team on her cuff.
Asha's favorite part of Luminine was once the sun set. It was quiet, and she could stare up at the moon until it fell and the sun replaced it again.
"Just let me go back to my room!"
"Not until you bow down to me, your loser!"
Asha's temple throbbed and she followed the voices silently, until she stood barely ten feet away in the shadows, watching Keren Willows, a low-tier, get smacked by a mid-tier. One of the longevity animals, probably.
But they were still students out of bed past curfew. And they ruined her night.
Asha sent a sharp blast of wind at the mid-tier, sending him rolling in the grass.
"Who the hell was that? I swear I'll beat your ass--" his eyes widened as Asha stepped under the moonlight, a slightly irritated smile on her face.
"What did you say, again?" she asked.
"N-nothing, Miss Asha! I was just teaching this low-tier a lesson."
"Oh, really?" Asha walked up to the mid-tier, holding out a gloved hand. But as he took hers, a gleeful smile on his face, she fluctuated the air around his elbow.
CRACK!
He screamed as his arm snapped at his elbow, sending him back in the dirt.
Asha frowned. "What? Do you not want my help?" she asked, eyes shadowed.
"O-of course not, Queen," he said, raising his other arm.
Asha narrowed her eyes, this time the air around his neck responding. She looked up, at one of the towers of the school, searching for a figure in black. She grabbed his broken arm, throwing the body as hard as she could into the maze on the outskirts of the school. Nobody would miss a mid-tier.
Her eyes fastened on the trembling low-tier. "Do you remember anything that just happened?" she asked, smiling.
He took a deep breath, regaining his composure. He gave a timid smile. "What are you talking about? I was just talking with you about getting a book from the classroom."
Asha's smile deepened, real this time. "Good. If you have any more problems, Mr. Willows, let me know. Now, off to bed. I'll let you off with a warning tonight." She watched the young boy, no older than her, run off toward the boy's dorm.
Asha walked to the front gates, Oblivinite, a strange metal that gave off black particles that could eat through anything except itself. The gates had been programmed to destroy anything that was on the other side of the gate, unless the particles sensed the Luminine crossed crescent emblem that was given to all of the students.
Asha jumped up onto the top of the tall, looming gate, wrapping her legs around the top and hanging upside down, eyes watching the moon travel across the sky.
The moon shone in the darkness, casting a silver light across the grounds. The light made her almost sad, reminding her of a different shade of silver.
Asha watched the moon glide through the sky, until it disappeared with a new dawn.