"Only a girl, she is only a girl!"

Dìl-Eques' voice echoed in Dìl-Aeternia's head. Those words managed to stab through her heart still, even though it had been weeks since that awful day on the combat yard. The wounds on her back healed over and no longer stung but those words cut her so much deeper than any disciplinary belt could. Of course she had heard worse from many within the Emerald ranks. But hearing those words come from Dìl-Eques, her first and only ally, crushed her.

She hid within herself, cowered back from pointing fingers, disappeared as much as was possible because she felt broken. Any spirit she once had seemed to have flitted away from her, making her become almost an empty shell, all she did now was go through the day-to-day motions.

If she ever saw Dìl-Eques she would walk the opposite way, avoiding him at all cost. She didn't think she would ever be able to face him again. Until one day when she had no other choice.

"Dìl-Aeternia, stop!" she heard Dìl-Eques' voice command her and felt a strong hand grip her upper arm before she could vanish again. She bowed her head and became still like a statue - the only defence mechanism she was able to muster under the pressure of that moment. "Look at me." She didn't dare to move. "Dìl-Aeternia, look at me!"

She lifted her head and looked at him; not wanting to hear what he had to say, she only stopped to shut him up. Her expression was stone cold, untrusting, the small spark that she once possessed was now extinguished. She didn't say a word.

"Please, Dìl-Aeternia," Dìl-Eques struggled to find the right words. After a few awkward seconds he decided to add, "I'm sorry."

Dìl-Aeternia pressed her lips together as she stared up at him, she tried her hardest to suppress her true emotions, knowing well that if she dared to speak, they would spill out and the mask of strength that she was faking would be instantly snatched from her.

"Please, I want to fix... to fix..." Dìl-Eques bowed his head as the awkwardness between them weighed him down.

Dìl-Aeternia shrugged and tried to walk away, but of course this encounter was far from over.

"No." Dìl-Eques grabbed her again, but firmer this time as he held her still with a hand gripping each shoulder. "Don't go, don't run away from me, please."

Dìl-Aeternia squirmed in his grasp.

"I want to be your friend, please. Dìl-Aeternia, what they made me do tore me up inside. I'm hurting." The scowl that Dìl-Aeternia gave him caused his heart to miss a beat. He racked his brain for an explanation to help him climb out of the hole he managed to find himself in. "I know, I sound ridiculous. You were the one punished for nothing. It was you who was really torn. But that was the last thing I ever wanted to do, especially..." Dìl-Eques hid his face into his extended upper arm, so to not allow the Emerald Army's only female to see the tears that managed to fight their way out of his burning eyes; with a small, strangled croak he finished his sentence, "to you."

Dìl-Aeternia let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes, focused on the feeling of Dìl-Eques' hands holding onto her shoulders - steady and unwavering.

Her eyes opened and seeing the boy's desperation moved her heart in a way that it had never been moved before.

"I don't understand you. Not one bit," she said quietly.

Hearing her voice caused his lips to quiver and stretch into a relieved smile. "You don't have to understand me. Just believe me. I care about you."

"Why?"

"I see you."

"What do you mean by that? What do you see in me?"

"A strong, courageous girl who has been dealt the worst hand from the start." Dìl-Aeternia's eyebrows slammed together as she looked into the strange, older lad's intense, kind eyes. "I see who you really are. Not the lies that have been told about you. For that's what that stupid curse is- a lie."

Hearing this made Dìl-Aeternia's tough exterior crumble. She didn't know where to look or how to hold herself. She was glad for the physical support he was still giving her, for his hands still held her shoulders on the brink of an embrace.

"Dìl-Aeternia, you don't need those idiots constantly putting you down, treating you as if you are less than human, like you are tainted." The passion in his words amazed her and lit a new ember within her heart.

"In fact you don't need this place at all!" he said with striking determination.

"What are you getting at?"

"Run away with me."

Dìl-Aeternia's jaw fell.

"R-run away? Dìl-Eques! We can't desert! We must be loyal. It's the first rule of the Army. We were literally renamed as loyal members of the ranks!" Dìl-Aeternia's words tumbled out of her in a panicky rush and her volume increased as anxiety punched its way out through each syllable.

The fear in her voice and a faint sound of movement from a few feet away caused Dìl-Eques to be mindful of their surroundings. He looked about them, making sure that they still had privacy. He inwardly kicked himself for being so reckless. Believing that they had been in the same place for far too long, he put a finger to Dìl-Aeternia's lips and indicated that they should move on with a jerk of his head.

They both made their way to Dìl-Aeternia's dorm - watching over their shoulder the whole time to make sure that nobody was following them. Once they were both sure that they were completely alone, they began to relax in each other's company. They sat on the floor by the door in darkness- so to draw the least amount of attention to that room. They knew that if anybody overheard them talking, trouble would fall on their heads like an avalanche of rocks weighing a ton each.

In fact, it was a miracle that nobody heard them thus far.

"Listen to me. You owe this place nothing!" Dìl-Eques continued, hopping back onto his soap box. "You were forced into the ranks as an infant and they all decided you were evil before you could even talk. It's disgusting how they have treated you. It is criminal how your own parents turned their backs on you just from hearing a rumour from some old man."

His words resonated within her mind and churned at her insides. "What is it that each new recruit is told about me exactly?"

Dìl-Eques answered her with no hesitation, for he knew that she had every right to know what had been said about her.

"Every new recruit is told the same thing. They are warned of the evil that is harbouring inside your eyes. We are told that it is because of that evil that your eyes are that violet colour and that the power in them is prophesied to destroy light magic one day." He carried on listing all that he was informed of on his induction day, "that you were conceived under the power of Noir-Astra, born under a blood red moon and that you bear the mark of the royal seal of official warning." Dìl-Aeternia's hand automatically flew to her side and she gently stroked the place on her ribcage where an enchanted old scar still burned on contact.

"You really are told everything. That's what I've been told every day of my life - that I am the light destroyer, the cursed spawn of Noir-Astra." Dìl-Aeternia's shame caused her words to come out as a whisper.

Dìl-Eques shook his head in disgust and began to rant again, "I found it unfair. Unfair! That you were not even given a chance. Well I refuse to stoop to their level and I refuse to believe that some old coot's words can set an individual's path for them."

Dìl-Aeternia guffawed nervously and leant her head heavily against the wall behind her.

"Seriously though! It is unjust how you have been treated. I want no part of it. My goal is to put an end to it." Dìl-Eques then turned to the dark-haired girl sitting beside him. "Run away with me, we can live a life out there, free, together, if you want, as friends. Just us two against the world." Dìl-Eques' thoughts then took him to a peaceful place far in the future and a contented smile played on his lips as he was sucked into a daydream.

Dìl-Aeternia let out an overwhelmed sigh and she looked up towards the dark silhouette of Dìl-Eques sitting beside her in the dim space around them. "I always did wonder what it was I was meant to be so 'loyal' to..." she managed to say eventually.

"Dìl..." Dìl-Eques scoffed, "Loyal... it's laughable really. They have to name us Loyal to make sure we remember to be just that. Well screw them! I say we give ourselves our own titles!"

Dìl-Aeternia laughed out in shock. "What?"

"You know what I am saying. Loyalty should come through choice not through force. I say we strip our manipulative titles and give each other new names for us to use!" He spoke with such excitement it made Dìl-Aeternia smile. "What do you say?"

She thought about it for a second, and she only needed a second, for there was no way she was going to turn him down. "Okay, let's do it," she said, as her smile grew wider.

"Right!" Dìl-Eques jumped to his feet, took his light orb out of the green pouch that hung at his belt. He blew into it and waited for it to grow so that it filled his hand. He then went back to his seat on the floor beside his friend. The bright white light cast its glow on both of their faces.

Dìl-Aeternia's eyes grew in awe at the light magic that radiated from his palm and her heart leapt into her throat. Never before had she seen light magic so close. Nobody has ever taken their light orb out in front of her. It was forbidden for the Emeralds to do so, for it "tempted fate"- that's what each recruit was told. She overheard a group of boys say as much in panic before shoving their own lights into their pouches.

"Are you alright? Sorry it's just, I can't give you a name without properly looking at you," Dìl-Eques brought his friend out of her sudden trance with an inviting smile. Dìl-Aeternia gave him a rushed nod and a shy smile in response.

Dìl-Eques put his finger to his lips and sat their pondering for a while, playing around with different words but eventually landing on a word that would not leave his mind. He removed his finger and said, "Got it!" with pride emanating from his features.

"What is it?" Dìl-Aeternia giggled.

"Ah ah, no, you rename me first," Dìl-Eques, waggling his index finger at her.

"What? Why?"

"It was my idea! Now, what's my new name?" Dìl-Eques pushed.

"Erm... I don't know."

"Go with the first thing that comes to you, as long as it's polite!" A glint came to his light blue eyes. "Come on you can do it!"

"Err well, the first word that comes to my mind is," she paused, embarrassed. But a quick jab in the ribs caused her to blurt it out, "True!"

"True? Really? Why True?" Dìl-Eques asked her curiously.

Dìl-Aeternia could not meet his eye.

"Because I, erm, you are the first and only true friend I have ever had a-and you speak to me from the heart." Her cheeks burned and it took her a few minutes to pluck up the courage to meet his gaze. He looked at her with such a beatific expression that her shy smile evolved to a radiant grin.

"I like that," he announced and held out his free hand for her to take. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am True." Dìl-Aeternia's delight exploded out of her in a sudden laugh. "It's perfect! Thank you," he said, before gently kissing her on the back of her hand.

"Okay. Now what's my name?" she asked, jumping up and down.

"Alright! Someone's eager!" Dìl-Aeternia gave True a playful punch on his arm. "Hey now!" he chuckled as he rubbed the place where she struck him. "I'll tell you, don't worry!"

"Hurry up! I'm dying to know!"

"Okay, okay," True sighed, finally giving in. "I just hope you like it."

"Tell me!"

"Astrid! I want to call you, Astrid."