•Azure•

I grimaced, watching Blaine be thrown against the rocky wall for the second time. A red crystal was protruding from his shoulder, puncturing the flesh around it.

"Motherfucn..!" Blaine grit his teeth, "Why is this one more painful?"

My gaze went to Cerise who was waving her crystals back to her position. They whipped around in a circular fashion, soaring to their owner and following the delicate motion of Cerise's hand.

"Well I have to increase the pain slightly so you don't get used to it," she shrugged.

Blaine groaned as he attempted to sit up. He got about halfway there, before wincing and slouching back against the wall.

I still wasn't a fan of this training method. It seemed brutal and a tad inhumane.

"You don't have to do this Blaine," I spoke, leaning against one of the protruding rocks. I didn't want him to feel pressured to access his power this way. Especially when there were other options. "It's your choice."

"You also have the choice to not be a pansy like Azure and suck it up," Cerise added.

I rolled my eyes, glancing at the brunette. Her amber irises were hard, malice laced in her expression. My mind started racing at all the ways I could fluster her cold disposition.

I turned to her, a jeering grin on my lips, "You know you don't have to insult me to get my attention, right?"

She scoffed, "It's laughable that you think I want your attention."

"Do you not?"

"I don't know how to make it clearer to you that- I. hate. you."

"Ok, I know my line is 'I hate you too'." I waved away, "But what's that saying? Hate, love, and a thin line?"

"That does not apply to this situation," she retorted flatly.

"Is this more fatal attraction then?

"Oh I'll show you fatal."

"Does that mean I get to demonstrate attraction?"

Cerise's jaw ticked, "I'm not engaging with your stupidity!"

There it was: irises flashing at me and cheeks slightly flushed with frustration. I couldn't help the small smirk pulling at my lips as satisfaction ran through me.

"Hey, I know you guys are busy doing your routine," Blaine called, "But will one of you get this thing out of my shoulder!"

We both turned to Blaine who was panting, while trying to keep his shoulder from touching anything.

"You heal him," Cerise huffed, before stalking towards the mouth of the cave. "I'm gonna check for Umbra."

My eyes followed her, as she all but stomped away from me. I shook my head in amusement. I was pretty sure there was steam coming out of her ears.

Blaine hissed from across the sandy clearing, bringing my attention back to him. I stood up and quickly made my way over. It was time to refocus and do my job.

"Alright hold on," I stated, summoning my crystal essence. "Because this isn't a wound caused by my crystal, the healing process is a little different."

Once I felt my power drawing from my chest and flowing into my hand- I knelt down and placed it on Blaine's shoulder. A blue glow emitted from my palm.

Blaine began to shift uncomfortably.

"Sorry, there's gonna be some discomfort," I explained, "It's harder to heal what another Celestial has done. This is a small injury so I can heal it, but something more critical would have to be healed by the Celestial that caused the damage."

"Just get it over with," he breathed sharply, seemingly bracing himself for the coming pain.

I nodded, concentrating on the task at hand.

After a moment, the blue glow faded from my palm. I pulled my hand away to see Cerise's red shard now encased by a blue film.

I gripped the small crystal and began to pull it from Blaine's flesh, careful not to brush any bone. He hissed as I tugged, before being able to smoothly remove the object from Blaine's shoulder. I tossed the shard to the ground with a clang. I then placed my hand back over the wound to heal it.

When I was finished I stood, helping Blaine to his feet and patting him on the back.

"All good?"

Blaine rotated his shoulder, testing it for any other injury.

"Yea, thanks man."

"No problem."

I picked up Cerise's crystal shard, and glanced at the mouth of the cave. My senses reached out to make sure there were no Umbra present. All I sensed though was Cerise's signature. Her essence was at a normal level, indicating she wasn't using her powers to fight or anything.

"Why did you do that?"

I turned back to Blaine who had begun jogging in place- probably to keep his body warm.

"Do what?"

"Poke at her," he nodded his head in the direction Cerise had gone.

"Oh," I gave a dismissive wave, "It's just something we do."

Really it was like second nature- no matter what the conversation entailed.

"Yea I've witnessed your bizarre flirty banter."

"It's not real flirting," I elaborated, "We use it in battle as a tactic to throw each other off."

"But you guys weren't physically fighting just now," Blaine pointed out, "So why do it?"

"Well because..." I trailed off, not actually sure of the answer.

Why did I do that?

Because I wanted to get a reaction out of her.

Right. Cerise was just fun to tease. I enjoyed breaking her out of her controlled demeanor. She was witty too. Bantering with her was exciting, and there was always a certain challenge in it. I supposed it was kinda strange, that in the current situation, we'd removed the physical fighting but kept the banter. Although we did still verbally fight...and last night it got physical once more- but nevertheless the teasing seemed to be a constant.

Maybe I just didn't know how to act differently around her. Besides getting her attention, without the variable of her killing me, was new. I liked it.

Hm. I cocked my head at the revelation.

How ironic that I teased her with wanting my attention. It seemed it was the other way around- I wanted her's.

"It's entertaining." I shrugged. And it was, although it was strange to recognize how much I enjoyed it.

I supposed it also served as a distraction. It felt so normal to tease her. It made me temporarily forget about the Umbra and Cerise's secret revenge plan.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of soft footsteps heading back into the cave.

I turned to see Cerise walking back into the clearing. Her expression was already back into her cool and collected demeanor. I'd noted that she always wanted to stay on task, and it didn't take long to re establish her focus.

"No Umbra," she updated.

"Good." I tossed Cerise her red shard, which she dissolved as soon as it was in the air.

Her gaze then moved to Blaine, who was still lightly jogging in place.

"We have time for one more round," she informed, "You up for it?"

Blaine slowed to a standing position before nodding, "Yea. Let's do it."

I sighed, mentally counting down the time. If we weren't successful this morning, we'd have to keep practicing expediting after school. Blaine only had about ten minutes left to figure this out.

The two quickly took their positions on opposite ends of the clearing. I moved to stand behind Cerise to get a less angled view on the action.

"This time don't continue to try and avoid the crystals until you physically can't," Cerise advised. "Use your adrenaline to pinpoint your crystal energy."

Blaine blinked, brows cinching together, "How?"

"I can see in your eyes the exact moment you realize you won't be fast enough to avoid the next crystal," I said, "It's already too late then. You've done this a couple times now. Concentrate on the time leading up to that moment."

Cerise nodded her head in approval at my words, "Let the growing urgency motivate you."

"Ok," Blaine replied, digesting the advice thrown at him. A steel determination entered his brown orbs, as his attention locked on Cerise.

She summoned her red crystal shards, placing them in the same neat line as before.

Her eyes darted to Blaine, "Ready?"

He nodded his head once.

She didn't waste any time shooting her crystals at him. The same pattern began with Blaine dodging: right, left, left, right, right, left.

Just like the two times before, Blaine easily avoided the crystals for the first two rounds. He didn't seem to struggle much the next two rounds either.

As Cerise sped up however, I saw something in Blaine shift. Usually he became determined to move faster and anticipate quicker. This time he almost slowed down a bit.

He barely avoided the next shard, and his rhythm appeared almost a beat behind. As he stepped to dodge the incoming shard, he was now directly in the line of fire for the next one.

This crystal shard would hit him square in the chest.

I expected him to attempt to dive out of the way, but instead he planted his feet completely. I watched him curiously. It seemed he was intentionally placing himself in danger...or he was raising the stakes and adrenaline.

Blaine closed his eyes. The crystal shard was now sailing towards his open form. It soared closer and closer to its target and then- Blaine vanished.

The red shard collided with the cave wall like all the others. Its crisp and dry sound ricocheting around the cave.

Cerise and I looked to the left where Blaine's crystal energy now circulated. He was standing there- about ten feet away from his original spot, his eyes wide in shock.

Slowly, the corners of his mouth turned up into a wide grin as he looked over to us.

"I did it," he stated, excitement growing, "I really did it!"

Cerise nodded at him, a pleased glint in her amber eyes.

"Well done," she acknowledged. She waved her hand dissolving the rest of her crystal shards.

"Good job Blaine," I complimented, impressed and slightly surprised. That actually worked.

He moved back into the clearing, a bump in his step. He was clearly energized by his success.

"That was incredible," he raved, "It felt like I was flying or catapulting across the cave!"

I hummed in amusement, "Well there's more where that came from."

"See if you can call on that energy again," Cerise suggested, before pointing to another area of the clearing, "Try to expedite to that rock over there."

Blaine eagerly attempted the challenge. He closed his eyes, brows furrowing. I could sense the essence coming off of him as he utilized his crystal power.

After a moment, he vanished once more-

-and appeared exactly where Cerise said to.

"This is so cool," Blaine commented, with a small laugh.

He began to practice a few more times, getting used to the sensation and action of activating his power.

Cerise and I stood back and watched him expedite all over the sandy cove. There was child-like wonder in Blaine's eyes each time he expedited. It was a lot of progress in very little time. This method really resonated with Blaine.

"I have to hand it to you Cerise," My eyes went to her next to me. "You were right."

Cerise quirked a brow, before lifting a hand and cupping it around her ear, "What? I didn't quite get that."

I felt the corner of my mouth turn up in amusement.

"Alright, I can admit when I'm wrong," I gave a soft chuckle. "But really, you did a good job. Your observation of Blaine was spot on and your idea worked."

Cerise's eyes widened slightly at the praise. Her orbs then scanned my face carefully. She seemed to be examining for any sort of sarcasm or teasing.

When she found none she averted her gaze, and shifted on her feet.

"Thanks," she replied, before lifting her eyes back to me.

The natural color to her cheeks darkened the slightest bit. It was so subtle, I almost couldn't see it.

I smiled at her, "You're welcome."

•••

In the next two days, Blaine's signature fully transformed to Celestial status.

His essence was now trackable by Umbra. Cerise's and I's signature would no longer overpower it, which meant: we had to go to school with him.

Cerise and I hadn't attended since the Umbra attack, but it was necessary to protect Blaine and the school. He was still pretty vulnerable, being newly trained- not to mention the couple thousand kids that were defenseless here.

As we walked through the doors and into the crowded halls of Freemount High, Blaine wouldn't stop asking questions regarding Akaian magic. He barely noticed his peer's eyes drawing to the three of us like a magnet.

Blaine had become more interested in learning to wield his power. The past couple days involved perfecting expediting, and teaching him how to sense other Celestials and Umbra.

"So Azure said you're the fastest," Blaine recalled, brown eyes falling to Cerise who was walking in between us. "How do you go faster?"

Cerise shrugged, "Well a lot of it depends on your body mass and weight. However, there are certain techniques you could learn to become faster."

"Like what?"

As Cerise explained the different ways Blaine could expedite faster, the back of my neck seemed to tingle slightly as I became acutely aware of all the eyes that were gathering on us. I'd never been to a human high school before this mission, but much like my first venture with Cerise- everyone seemed to be watching. It was a curious thing, really.

This was the first time Blaine was seen with the two of us. The school's quarterback naturally drew attention, but it seemed every student in the hall was looking our way and whispering amongst themselves. Heads turned and gossip flew as we walked past the pods of people.

We eventually reached his entourage that were hanging out by his locker. They all began to notice the three of us as we got closer, but Blaine was fully focused on Cerise. I extended my hearing to his friends Max and Philip. I was curious what their reaction would be.

"Oh look there's Blaine," Max nudged Philip. "He's with the newbies."

Philip stopped talking to a blonde girl, that I believed was Natalie, and turned towards us.

"Blaine!" He called, waving him over.

Blaine looked up and glanced at his friends at the sound of his name.

When he saw them he smiled and waved, "Hey!"

He then turned back to Cerise, "Would learning other abilities effect how proficient I am in sensing signatures?"

"Well sure, the more you learn to control your powers the better you'll be at all aspects," she answered.

The three of us kept walking down the hall and past Blaine's group of friends. Max and Philip looked confused at Blaine's dismissal of them. They glanced at each other, and then watched Blaine continue to walk away from them.

Natalie looked slightly offended, and suddenly very alert. Her eyes wandered to Cerise who was speaking to Blaine.

A large scowl settled on her face. Cerise didn't notice the death glare being sent her way, continuing her conversation. Although, even if she did notice Natalie I doubted she would alter her behavior. Cerise was extremely hard to intimidate.

"What is he doing with the new students?" Natalie crossed her arms bitterly.

Her friend Hazel shrugged beside her. "Making friends with them? They seem pretty cool."

Natalie frowned, "They're not that cool."

I focused back on Cerise and Blaine as we rounded a corner. Blaine's friends seemed very attached to him. I briefly wondered how him spending time with Cerise and I would affect his relationships with them.

"I didn't expect using my crystal to be this easy," Blaine commented, as we walked into our first class. It was currently bare of any students.

"Well it's a natural function for you," I reminded, settling in to my chosen seat. "While some abilities will take longer to master, most of it will be easy to grasp."

Cerise nodded in agreement, as she slid into the seat beside me. Blaine propped himself on the desk in front of us, letting his feet rest on the chair.

"When will we begin more offensive training?"

"Soon," Cerise replied, "It's been a couple days since we've last encountered any Umbra. They won't continue to stay dormant."

The reminder seemed to dim everyone's mood. A very real danger existed in this beach town. Innocent people were at risk, and we were the only ones with the power to protect them.

The sound of footsteps moving towards the classroom, made me glance at the clock that hung on the wall. We still had about ten minutes before class started. From my understanding of high school, students didn't come into class until absolutely necessary.

At first two male students trickled in, both were long and lanky. The one with light brown hair- curled into a mop like shape on his head- walked up to Blaine. The two exchanged a quick fist pump.

"What up Blaine," the guy greeted.

"Hey Jacob," Blaine nodded

Before I could blink, more students were entering the classroom. Blaine swiveled on the desk as he exchanged greetings with various people.

It felt like the whole football team and cheer squad had filled the room. I glanced at Cerise to see a small frown on her lips, as her amber irises eyed the chaos around her with disdain.

All of this was very foreign to both of us. It wasn't exactly an environment we were used to handling. There was complete lack of protocol or organization until the bell rang.

A group of guys on Cerise's side were being particularly loud. Truthfully, I think they were trying to get her attention- but she was clearly not interested.

She began to shift slightly closer to me- in a subconscious effort to create distance- but then stilled like she'd been stung. She seemed to realize what she was doing.

Her brows furrowed as bewilderment flashed on her face for a split second, but it was gone as soon as it came.

She calmly scooted back.

I rose a brow at her, "If you want me closer, you just have to ask," I teased.

"Shut up Azure," she hissed, "I'm simply trying decide which annoyance I'd rather be nearer to."

"And what's the verdict?"

"Well I scooted back didn't I?"

Before I could respond, a balled up piece of paper landed on her desk- courtesy of the rambunctious boys to her left.

If any of them were going to try and say something to her, they didn't act quick enough. Cerise grabbed the ball, crumpled it violently, and tossed it in the trash- not sparing a single glance in their direction.

"Still set on your decision?" I asked.

Cerise crossed her arms and simply glowered at me in response.

Her eyes then darted to the clock on the wall. Five minutes remained until the bell rang.

"Do you think Blaine's entourage is going to follow him everywhere?" She frowned.

"It's likely," I replied, "Blaine's not only popular, but he's a Celestial. Human attraction to him isn't surprising."

"I say we interact with Blaine's friends as little as possible."

I hummed in agreement. It was the most reasonable course of action. Involving ourselves with Blaine's friends wouldn't do much for our current objectives. That could change, but as of right now it wasn't necessary.

"Alright, I can agree to that."

Cerise nodded in satisfaction, "Good."

My attention fell behind her, where that same group of boys was increasing their volume once more. It seemed they were getting ready to try and gain her attention again.

I felt myself become slightly annoyed. She shouldn't have to put up with this. Even if I could understand them being enamored by Cerise's beauty.

I paused as the thought registered in my head.

I glanced at Cerise next to me. Her wavy dark hair was up in ponytail, with the shorter front pieces framing her stunning amber eyes. Her skin was flawless and olive toned, looking almost as soft as her full pink lips.

I supposed I always knew she was attractive. When she's trying to kill you, it's not something you really think about. But currently....

Maybe I was spending too much time with Cerise.

My thoughts were promptly interrupted by another paper ball sailing towards Cerise's desk. I acted on instinct. Before it could land, I reached over and caught the balled up paper. I sent a sharp glance towards the boys, before tossing their second attempt in the trash.

Instead of letting my hand fall back to my side, I moved it to rest on the back of Cerise's chair.

She eyed me questioningly, and I met her gaze awaiting her direction. I'd move my arm if she wanted. All she had to do was tell me- and I knew she would if that's what she desired.

I was honestly expecting her to, but I wanted to offer my assistance.

She opened her mouth, but before she could speak the boy's voices increased once more. I couldn't even really tell what they were on about- it just involved snickering. Perhaps they were waiting to see Cerise go off on me.

She shut her mouth after a moment. I could see the wheels turning in her brain as she registered the boy's reaction.

Her gaze then fell on my arm, and understanding seemed to pass through her orbs.

She didn't protest my actions. Instead, she simply turned her head towards the front. I relaxed, and faced forward too- pleasantly surprised by her silent acceptance.

The boys quieted down and when I glanced their way, they'd shifted their attention to something on one of their phones.

They didn't bother Cerise again.

•••

Sorry this is late!
I've been super busy, but I finally found some time to polish and post :)

Azure and Cerise seem to be getting along...of course there's many issues still to be addressed, but for now we've got a fragile peace in place! I will be posting again on Tuesday so until then...

As ever, Berly