Chapter Eleven

Six months later

Lucy raised her fists to face level, narrowing her eyes at Nobu. His face was a sheen mask of concentration, he turned into another person when fighting.

"You guy's know the rules!"Jace shouted. "Fight!"

They circled around the snow, Lucy was trying to pin point any weak spots. Nobu faked a punch to her right, she ducked down as soon as he threw another punch, trying to aim for her face. She tumbled backwards momentarily before regaining her stance. Again they circled around each other like feral animals waiting to pounce and deliver the kill.

Lucy focused, she heard whispers in her head. Her spirit's faces popping up like ads in her mind. Memories of fighting, those helped her. As a Master she held their memories in her own brain, the moment they signed the contract, it evaporated and became apart of her. She searched for Capricorn, she had practiced at muscle memory. It helped her train, and at times like this.

It helped her be better.

She raised her leg, feigning a kick. Nobu raised his arms, ready to deflect the kick that never came. Instead she punched his ribs as much as she could before he punched her back in her stomach.

He knocked the air out of her, but he held his side in pain. Wheezing with every breath he took.

"Hurts doesn't it?"She wheezed back and took a deep breath. "Capricorn packs one hell of a punch."

The downside of it all, is that she had shown Nobu how to channel his spirits muscle memory as well. He grinned a feral looking grin.

"So that's what it was.."He muttered, his eyes glazed over. Lucy stretched, readying for his spirit. He only had four silver keys, but one of his keys was a fighter. Troy.

Everything was in slow motion as she was barely able to stop his kick, she hadn't been able to see it coming. He was moving around the fighting ground so smoothly she could barely see him.

Concentrate. Loke voice was like a whisper. Their connection was so faint, it was barely even there. She hadn't opened their gates, but they understood. They were with her everywhere she went, she had put that veil that separated her mind and theirs down. She could communicate with them, without having them physically. And for now, that would suffice. There. Her pupils dilating as they caught the blur that was his hand clenched in a fist.

She crouched low on the snow and kicked his ankle, tossing him into the snow. "Eat snow."She grinned at his back, his face in the snow. She pushed him further into the snow with a barefoot over his back.

"I don't think so."He rolled over quickly and grasped her calf, tossing her into the snow. He threw his weight over hers, hoping it was enough to keep her down.

"You're forgetting Taurus.."He heard Lucy's whisper, it was almost mocking and challenging. "Gah!"She kicked forward, kicking him aside. He grasped his stomach in pain, she had hit his ribs already. Lucy crawled over his torso and clenched her fist, letting them hover over his bruised ribs. "You move, and I'll break your ribs."

"That's a dirty trick.."Lucy could hear Iris growl out. She looked up at her.

"There are no dirty tricks against Phantoms."

"You sound just like Satoshi, that it pisses me off!"Nobu punched her in her nose. Lucy swore she heard a crack, she brought her hands to her nose, blood running down her nose. She tasted blood in her mouth. Nobu was already up on his feet, he swirled and kicked her jaw.

She could see stars, the sparkles of the snow were so pretty. The snow against her hurting nose felt so good. "I'm so...happy..."She laughed softly to herself.

"She's out of it.."Nobu chuckles to himself. "Maybe in a year or so you can try again."

"Nobu wins!"Riley shouts. Jace ran to the fighting ground and rolled Lucy on her back.

"Help me carry her to the infirmary.."He told Satoshi who stood in the crowd. Satoshi tsked and grabbed her like a rag doll.

"Watch with her! She's hurt!"Jace followed after him as they walked toward Oli's office.

"She'll be fine."Satoshi muttered. They had been having competitions, he had been preparing his trainees to fight against Nobu's trainees. Lucy had beat all of them, except Nobu himself. Now it was time for Riley's group to fight against Alex's. He had especially trained Lucy for two hours every day, but now...now he'd make her pay for making him look like a fool. He'd make her train day and night.

"She sure has gotten stronger huh?"Jace looked at him proudly. "I remember just a few months ago, she came in looking I don't know..lost? And now she looks so much more better..so much more beautiful."

Satoshi had to agree. But he didn't verbally tell Jace that. He nodded and opened the door to Oli's room. "Got you another patient.."His voice was gruffer than intended.

"What did you guys do with this poor woman..?"Oli sighed lowered his glasses from the bridge of his nose to his neck.

"She fought against Nobu."Jace replied.

"Huh..is that so? So that was all the commotion.."Oli grabbed his small flashlight. "Put her on that bed. I'm sure more are coming in later tonight."Satoshi sat her on the bed, she blinked as Oli flashed the light over her eyes. He handed her a small soft towel to press onto her nose. "This is going to hurt."He told her and put his fingers on each side of the bridge of her nose.

"Ow.."She groaned as he began applying pressure. Crack!! Her eyes teared up, she blinked rapidly to reign the tears in.

"I'll medicate some pain meds, the swell should go down in a few weeks. But you'll be alright. It'd be a lot more helpful if I could use my magic to fix it."Oli breathed. He specialized in healing magic, it was a shame he couldn't use his magic here in the border of Seven. "Let me clean that up and patch you up."

"I lost."She grumbled.

"Well, Nobu has had years of fighting off Phantoms. Not to mention Nao trained each of us. You can't beat us so easily."Satoshi's voice was calm. "That's why you'll be training rigorously from now on."

"I thought you were already doing that."Lucy squinted her eyes at him.

"We're kicking things up a notch. Let's go. We're restarting your training today."

"Give her a break, she just fought all of Nobu's trainees."Jace followed after Satoshi back out into the cold.

"No, you give her a break. You follow her around everywhere like a puppy. She needs to focus on her training. She's not going to break. She can't sit on her arse every time she gets hurt."Satoshi glared at him.

"Are you jealous because now she seems to have taken a liking to me after half a year?"Jace scoffed. "It's that..your petty jealousy. Or is this you trying to prove to Nobu you're stronger? Because you are, but only because you're a Phantom."

"I would watch my mouth, Jace."Satoshi snarled at him and pushed him back.

"If we could use magic, we could beat you down to a pulp."Jace hissed back. "But I know what this is about. You like her. You liked her the moment she stepped into that mansion that day. I saw you. I was watching you. But you can't love anyone, because you don't even like yourself. Because of what you are, because of who you are.."

"Shut up!"Satoshi punched Jace, and threw himself over him. Delivering punch after punch.

"I don't like her!"He shouted into his face. "I could never like a weak pitiful girl like her! She's weak! She's weak! She's weak!"He roared.

Jace spit into his face, saliva mixed with blood.

Lucy stood behind Satoshi, her features darkened with the shadow of her bangs. "Is that really what you think of me?"Lucy's voice void of any emotion.

Satoshi's fist halted mid air, before colliding with Jace's swollen face again. He sat back on the snow, defeated. He took in deep breaths, not turning to face her.

"Yes."He shrugged nonchalantly. Though his heart felt like it was burning in his chest. He glared at Jace and leaned in. "There. You got what you wanted."He hissed and stood up to leave. "Get someone new to train you. I'm done."He told Lucy.