Lunging, Mirage swung his whip. It streaked through the air with an earsplitting crack, but Victor gracefully sidestepped and avoided it.
Unbalanced, Mirage lurched and almost fell flat on his face. He caught himself in time, digging his heels into the Blue Sky's deck, and rounded on Victor again. This time he swung the whip from Victor's right side, trying to take advantage of his blind spot. A dirty tactic, but he'd use whatever he had.
And it was all for nothing. Before the blow could land, Victor whirled around and swept out his sword. The whip wrapped around the guard of the sword, pulling taut in Mirage's hands.
Victor jerked the sword back, yanking the whip out of Mirage's grip. This time Mirage did fall over, landing on his rear with an impact that jarred his tailbone.
Cursing, Mirage hauled himself to his feet. He had half expected Victor to help him up, but his wizard was occupied unwinding the whip from his sword. When he finished, he neatly coiled up the whip and handed it back to Mirage.
Mirage sighed heavily as he accepted it. "You could've tried going a little easier."
"Sorry, Mirage," Victor said, though he didn't seem very apologetic at all. "But in an actual fight, your opponent won't go easy on you."
"I know." Mirage rolled his eyes. "And it's not like you were fighting at full strength anyway. You're just a fiend like that."
Victor's mouth twitched – not quite a smile, but it made Mirage's heart do a funny little flip anyway. "You have gotten better, you know. If I hadn't reacted in time, that last attack would've hit."
"Well, you did react in time, so the point's moot," Mirage grumbled, though he couldn't fight the heat rising in his cheeks.
After all, Victor wasn't one for lies or flattery. If he said that Mirage was improving, he most certainly meant it.
Even so, Mirage knew he was nowhere near Victor's level. He glanced at the whip in his hands, trying not to scowl. Why bother with learning how to fight when he had his illusions? But would they be enough against the Grand Generals?
Against a seraphim?
A shudder raked down his spine. He stiffened his shoulders, cursing his moment of weakness, but Victor had already seen.
"Mirage?" he said cautiously, stepping closer. "Are you all right?"
Mirage's first instinct was to snap at Victor, but he fought it down with all his might. Taking a deep breath, he managed, "I'm fine. Just...even if I train, I don't know what it will accomplish. I'm not strong like you."
"Perhaps not." The frank statement made Mirage snap his head up. Victor gazed back at him, calm and serious. "But you don't need to be. You have your own kind of strength."
"Do you mean my illusions? What use could those possibly have in the middle of a fight?"
"Quite a lot, actually. You could toy with the enemy's perceptions, make it impossible for them to judge where your attacks are coming from."
"Hm." Mirage smirked a little. "I suppose those sorts of tricks suit me the best."
"I wouldn't put it that way," Victor said. "You're not physically strong, that's true. So there's nothing wrong with taking whatever advantages you can."
Mirage breathed out, considering Victor's words. In truth, he'd never considered using his powers in such a way. In the heat of a fight, running around while trying to anticipate his opponent's next move, could he manage the presence of mind to cast illusions?
Well, he supposed that was what practice was for. "All right. Let's give it a try."
Victor nodded, reaching for his sword again. But as he did, a sudden thought struck Mirage. "Hold on. Will this even work on you? You're my wizard, so you'll be able to sense every time I use my Levia."
"Ah." Victor froze mid-motion. "Well, that's...."
"Besides," Mirage said, striding up to Victor, "it's not like you're in any condition to continue."
Victor blinked, looking alarmed. "What do you mean?"
Leaning up, Mirage reached for Victor's face and traced his jutting cheekbone. He tried not to wince when he felt the waxy, almost clammy, skin pulled taut over it. "You...you don't exactly look well. It might be a good idea to take a break."
Victor blinked rapidly. The quiet surprise in his eyes lanced somewhere soft and painful in Mirage's chest. "I – you don't need to worry."
"Quit acting tough." Mirage knocked on his chest. "It's about lunchtime anyway. At least make sure you're eating properly."
More blinking, then – Mirage's heart skipped – a faint smile tugged up the corner of Victor's mouth. "Fine."
Mirage held in a sigh, trying not to let on how relieved he felt. Yet the disquiet clinging to his heart didn't go away. It was fine, wasn't it? Victor wasn't wearing his armor, and hadn't worn it for a while. He'd only gotten out his sword today.
But Mirage wasn't a fool. He knew better than to believe Victor only looked so gaunt because he hadn't been eating enough.
"Mirage?" The sound of his name startled him. Looking up, he saw Victor had already made it halfway across the deck and was glancing back at him over his shoulder.
Swallowing hard, Mirage hurried to join him.
~*~
"Aw man, my brain's gonna explode!" Groaning, Sam leaned back and tossed her arms into the air.
Her dramatics made Theo grin, but he couldn't argue with the sentiment. They'd spent all morning inside the deck cabin, poring over mountains of books and papers along with Meg and Lodo, and so far all Theo had gotten from it was a pounding headache.
The Blue Sky had set off with Gryseld's craft in escort, but Theo didn't have time to enjoy the journey. Not when there was research to be done. Guntar surprisingly turned out to own a few grimoires, but they only contained basic spells, and Meg obviously hadn't been able to bring any of hers from Earth. While she did have a lot of spells memorized, it'd still go easier if they could actually look things up.
Though even that might not help much. Meg had pointed out that she didn't know exactly what a spell to empower a lot of familiars at once would look like, since it wasn't like wizards that weren't named Enson or Ziegler would have much use for such a thing. All the same, they might be able to cobble something together by doing a lot of intense study and cross-referencing.
Sighing, Theo stared at the papers covered with drawings of diagrams as well as their individual components. Across the table, Meg had her cheek pressed against her palm while her other hand idly twirled a pen back and forth. Even Lodo sported a crease between his brows.
"Well, maybe we should – " Meg began, only to be interrupted by a loud knock from the door.
Sam hopped to her feet and dashed to the door, flinging it wide open. To Theo's surprise, Ryan stood there with his hands in his pockets.
"Yo, it's lunchtime," he said impatiently.
"Already?" Sam blurted, and Theo had to admit he felt the same. He hadn't realized how long they'd spent researching.
"Yeah, so get a move on. Unless you want me to eat your share, which I wouldn't be mad about at all."
Sam barreled out of the door so fast she almost knocked Ryan over, shrieking like a banshee. Beneath it, Theo barely heard Ryan's indignant sputters.
Grinning, Theo followed Meg and Lodo to the door. But before he could exit, Ryan stepped in his way.
"Huh?" Theo said, confused and a little annoyed. "What's the problem?"
Ryan didn't answer. Instead, he stared at Theo for an uncomfortably lingering moment, eyebrows doing a bizarre dance, before turning away and dropping his gaze to the floor, which he began scuffing with his heel.
Okay, just what was his damage? "Ryan!" Theo yelled. "Hurry up and spill it! Unless you don't want lunch after all?"
"Oh!" Ryan jolted like he'd stepped on a pincushion. When he looked back at Theo, he was rubbing the back of his head and grinning sheepishly. "Yeah. Uh. Sorry 'bout that. I just...look...I dunno what I'm even...well, Fia kind of made me...."
"Made you do what?" Theo said, perplexed out of his mind.
"Okay, okay." Ryan sucked in a deep breath, then straightened, though he didn't seem to want to meet Theo's eyes. "Okay. Just...just want you to know if, you know, you're having a hard time or anything, you can, uh, just...ask me? Us. For help or whatever...."
Theo stared at Ryan like he'd grown a new head. Hell, he might even be less shocked if that had happened.
"Where is this even coming from?" he finally managed to say. "Thought you didn't wanna help us research."
"Maybe I changed my mind," Ryan grumbled, kicking at the floor. "And it's not just that, okay? It's – I dunno, man. Just don't push yourself too hard, okay?"
Something cold and tight clenched in Theo's chest. Of course Ryan was worried about him; he was a fellow crew member. A friend. And more than that...he might understand better than anyone else what Theo was going through.
After all, he had also lost his familiar.
But unlike Ryan, Theo still had a chance to see Zenith again. Maybe that too was why Ryan had decided to tell him this.
He blinked hard, swallowing the lump in his throat, then took a step forward. "Ryan." To his relief, his voice came out clear. "Thank you."
"Oh. Um." Ryan lifted his head. He looked so disarmed, so innocent, that for a fleeting fraction of a second, Theo understood what Fia might see in him.
Then Ryan whirled around and began sauntering away. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever, let's go before I starve to death."
Theo rolled his eyes. In some ways, Ryan would never change – yet that was also its own kind of relief.