Exitium {Destruction}

Arya woke up with a startle as she heard a loud scream. Her hands instantly flew to her sword and she grabbed it and exited her room quickly as possible. Many others had woken up as well and they were trying to rub the sleep from their eyes.

"Is everything all right?"

"Who was screaming?"

"It must have been pretty serious..."

Arya could hear sobbing and it was becoming louder by the minute. She followed the voice and ignored the stares she was receiving. Clutching Anaz she slowly opened the door to see what was happening inside.

A girl lay on the floor and her face was covered by her hair so Arya was unable to see her face. All around her clothes had been scattered and most looked tattered and torn.

"What happened?" Arya asked in a serious voice.

The girl looked up surprise to see Arya standing in front of her. Tears were glistening down her cheek as she hiccuped the story. "-I came back and all the clothes were ri-pped. These were some of my most precious clothes! What is my papa going to say?"

Arya didn't know what to do with her crying figure but she felt someone else come into the room. Turning around Arya saw that it was Silvia still dressed in her sleeping suit although she seemed wide awake.

Good. Arya though internally. Silvia would be able to take care of her.

"Take her and get her cleaned up immediately." Arya commanded to Silvia.

Silvia nodded as she gently coaxed the girl up and out of the room. Once they left Arya walked around the room trying to seek clues as to who could have done this. She took a carefully look at the clothes and was surprised to see they had been cut in an unprofessional way. If the true intent was to destroy the clothing, clearly the person lacked knowledge about clothes.

Arya kneeled onto the ground in order to carefully inspect the floor. She looked everywhere but it seemed that the culprit had not left any clues. She was about to get up from the floor when she notices something, it was very thin but her sharp eyes had been able to spot it.

It was a short dark strand of hair. Arya knew it could not belong to any of the girls because they all had long hair and while there were a couple of girls that had shorter hair, they had lighter colored hair. Arya had a pretty good idea who had done this and she was going to prove her theory correct. She left the room only to bump into Yasmin who was standing outside the door.

"Where are you going?" Yasmin asked.

"To settle a score," Arya replied before she brusquely walked away to the opposite hallway.

Normally, Arya was not one to cause a big scene but this moment she wasn't fighting for herself but on behalf of another. She started banging on the room doors of all the Narvanian boys.

"Come outside you cowards." She yelled.

Most of the girls had followed her to watch what was going on as well. Many had actually brought along weapons as well. The boys came out of their rooms slowly trying to process what was going on.

Arya kept her eyes opening trying to find that boy with the same colored hair she had found in the girls room. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aaron come out of his room. He looked quite surprised to see Arya standing in front of him.

"Why are you making all this noise?" He asked.

Arya ignored him and continued parading through the hallways in search of the culprit. She kicked open the doors that remained closed and whenever one of the boys decided to open their mouths she shut them up with a cold glare.

Arya had almost given up her hope of finding the boy which made her rethink her theory. It was a possibility that she could have been wrong... if she was then it would be a great embarrassment but one the Arya was willing to endure for her failure to sniff out the truth. Arya made it to the corner of the hallway when she felt movement behind her.

She quickly turned around to see a boy with the matching hair colour from the girl's room. He stride quickened as she held the boy with his collar.

"You," she said in a deathly calm voice. "Did you vandalize one of the Narvian Academy rooms by shredding someone's clothes?"

Her Aztec eyes bore into his eyes as she watched him shiver in fear beneath her.

"Answer me."

"Maybe," he mumbled out.

There was a collective gasp and Arya once again saw movement in the corner of her eye. The girl whose clothes had been vandalized came rushing through the corridor with a sword in her hand. Based on her direction Arya knew that she was about to attack the boy she was holding.

"Don't!" She cried out but it was too late.

The girl was mere inches away from the boy's ribs when a hand shot out and grasped her wrist tightly. It was Aaron and he was looking coolly at the girl. Arya had never seen the expression on his face but it made his blue eyes look dark almost navy like the color of the ocean during a storm.

"I don't take too lightly having a comrade being attacked by a member of another academy." He said stonily.

"Well then we don't take it lightly when someone harms one of our own." Another voice called out in the back.

"Do you have proof of him vandalizing anything?" Damien asked.

Silvia glared at him head on. "Of course Arya would have proof. And even if she didn't her instincts are usually correct."

There were more mutters of outrage and before Arya knew it there were people arguing everywhere. Some had even draw their swords and other weapons and were about to go at it. Arya knew the situation had clearly gotten out of hand very quickly.

She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a very loud voice.

"What on earth is going on here?" Lady Zelie's voice boomed though the corridor.

Everyone paused what they were doing to look at Lady Zelie. She was dressed in a robe and it was clear that she had been sleeping previously. Prince Zander was at her side and he looked much the same.

"Whose idea was it to cause such great ruckus in the middle of the night? Are you trying to wake up the guests in the castle?" Prince Zander asked.

Everyone looked down in shame. There were murmurs of apologizes throughout the crowd.

"Never mind what happened. We will discuss the problem in the morning." Lady Zelie emphasized the last part.

Prince Zander's eyes swept over the crowd. "Everyone go to sleep we shall see you over breakfast."

With that the twins were off leaving only the students of the Narvian and the Narvanian Academy behind. The two groups gazed at each other warily before the girls moved to their side of the hallway and slowly started entering their rooms. Arya knew that most of them would not be sleeping yet instead they would be discussing what had happened.

Arya on the other hand was exhausted so as soon as she put Anaz on the side of her bed her head hit the pillow and she feel into a deep slumber.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That was extremely unacceptable behaviour!" Lady Zelie said as her eyes scanned over the entire table. "You are supposed to be setting an example of how the Narvian and the Narvanian Academy are, not destroying the reputation. You are extremely lucky that nobody else heard the noise and Alfred had the common sense to inform and Zander and I."

Everyone looked guiltily amongst themselves.

"What was the reason that you were fighting amongst yourselves?" Prince Zander asked.

Everyone looked at Arya to provide the answer. "Your highness, it was late at night when we all heard a scream. Thinking that something truly terrible had occurred I went to investigate. When I arrived at the room in which the sounds were coming from I was surprised to see Rachel." Arya pointed to the girl.

"She was lying in a pool of clothes that had been torn. Silvia got her cleaned up while I inspected the room for clues. When I further examined the room I was able to find a dark strand of hair. Immediately I ruled out that it could not belong to any of the girls since they all had long hair. My next guess was one of the boys from the Narvanian Academy." Arya continued.

Lady Zelie and Prince Zander seemed to be listening to her story very carefully.

"I knocked on the door of the boys trying to find the one with matching hair. When I did so I confronted him and that is when things got a little out of hand." Arya looked pointedly at Aaron.

"That is the understatement of the century." Prince Zander muttered.

Lady Zelie shot him a glare at his comment. "Very well, Arya could you please identify the perpetrator?"

Arya did not like pointing people out so she said to the entire table, "Would the person responsible for vandalizing Rachel's room please step forward."

There was silence until Arya could hear the sound of a chair creaking as someone got out. "It was me your highness."

To say that Prince Zander was shocked was an understatement. He looked downright surprised. "Why would you do that?"

"Isn't it clear?" Lady Zelie said intercepting. "I remember him. Rachel defeated him yesterday he was trying to take revenge."

"Zelie shut up, and let him talk." Prince Zander said in a harsh voice.

Arya winced. It looked like Prince Zander had pulled Lady Zelie's final button. "You may be my twin Zander but you have no right to talk to me like that. Especially since your students are so disgracefully."

"Don't you dare insult my students!"

"I will do whatever the hell I want when it involves my students!" Lady Zelie said.

The two twins began exchanging harsher words and silence crept through the entire table. Everyone was absorbed in watching Lady Zelie and Prince Zander go at each other. It was like watching a ping pong match while the ball was being thrown in each court but returning to the former.

Arya exchanged glances with Aaron. She was pretty worried for the two of them. She had not seen them fight so viciously and she knew that if something else would tick them off, they might actually start fighting physically. Arya knew that if it came to that, nobody would be able to stop them. She also knew that this would not send a good message to the foreigners if they were caught.

Arya was vaguely aware of someone entering the room and was partially thankful that it was Sir Samuel. He would know what to do.

His eyes went over the twins before he made his was to Arya and Aaron.

"What on heaven's name is this?" He asked his voice gruff.

"They got into an argument about the two academies..." Arya trailed off. "We don't know what to do."

Sir Samuel sighed. "They are still troublesome as ever."

Aaron looked at him and pointed between the prince and princess. "Aren't you going to do something?"

Sir Samuel shook his head. "Nah, it's better to leave them be. Trust me I learned the hard way. I'll step in if they starting becoming physical."

It was at that moment when the three of them heard the clear sound of a sword being unsheathed.

"You mean like right now?" Arya said haughtily.

Sir Samuel grimaced. "Excuse me, I'll be right back."

Before any other words could be exchanged Sir Samuel had planted himself in front of the two twins.

"Move Samuel," Prince Zander snarled as his hand held a glistening blade.

Sir Samuel calmly lifted his hand. "Zander lower down you weapon, there are people around you, namely your students."

Prince Zander glanced around the room. Arya could see movement behind him.

"Zelie don't sneak up behind him." Sir Samuel reprimanded her.

Lady Zelie had a sheepish smile on her face while Prince Zander was shooting her a glare.

"Why don't the two go somewhere to cool off and I'll take care of the students."

Lady Zelie and Prince Zander looked as though they were about to argue but then thought better of it. The two of them left the room leaving everyone in the hands of Sir Samuel. He turned to the group of students in front of him.

"You'll have to excuse the two of them. They have a very fierce rivalry and their hot heads got the better of them."

The students looked surprised at how Sir Samuel had addressed the two twins. Arya on the other hand knew that the three of them shared a very special bond which is why they were able to address each other in such a causal manner.

"Anyways, you are now dismissed and you can go wherever you need to. Please try not to cause any problems and if something does arise I'm sure you can take it up with either me or Aaron and Arya." Sir Samuel finished.

The students nodded and began trickling out of the room. On the other hand, Arya remained firmly rooted in her seat. She had a bone to pick with a certain students of the Narvanian Academy and she was sure that justice would be paid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And on the right we have Aaron Henderson!" The knight announced.

The crowd roared with delight. Arya sat in her seat eager to watch the battle. Earlier in the day she had discussed with Lady Zelie how they would deal with the vandalism issue and Lady Zelie had agreed it was for the best to send the boy home. Although Lady Zelie did not wish to do so, the boy had already been kicked out from the dueling portion of the Heres Gladii and to avoid further trouble he had been sent back to the Narvanian Academy.

Prince Zander had not been pleased with the decision but after speaking to the boy privately he had decided that it was the best course of action. In addition, Prince Zander had taken responsibility for the boy so all the clothes that had been ruined would be personally replaced by him. When Arya had told the girl there had been tears glistening in her eyes as she repeatedly thanked Arya. Arya had accepted her thanks but then had fled the room because she was not very good around tears.

Arya had been in her seat for more than an hour but she didn't mind it. Today had been a battle packed day as well as she had gotten to see Silvia, Jennica, Walter, Damien and countless others in battle. Silvia had won her battle which had delighted the girl because she had believed that she would not win. Arya had believed the same a number of times during the match but Silvia had been able to pull through. Now it was time for Aaron to fight and she was excited to see what he had in store. She had no doubt that this was going to be an exciting battle.

"You may begin!" The female knight shouted.

As soon as the words escaped her Aaron started delivering blow after blow. His opponent was able to dodge most of them but she seemed to be having trouble doing so. There had already been too many close encounters within the five minutes.

"He's good." She heard a voice say from the bench under her.

His friend rolled an eye to the man who had spoken. "Did you expect any less? He is the champion of the Narvanian Academy as well as the son of a very celebrated knight Sir Letholdus Henderson."

Arya's ears perked up at the information. She did not know that Aaron was the son of a knight. Although that could explain as to why he was such an excellent fighter. He must have had practice from his father.

The crowd certainly loved him as they chanted louder and louder every time that he had attacked. It seemed that he was a fan favourite. Arya glanced up at the balcony to see Lady Zelie pursing her lips. Arya couldn't help but understand her dilemma. Seeing Aaron in front of them proved how much of a struggle winning could actually be.

Aaron was exceptionally fast and a wonderful fighter. He was able to interpret the moves of the female student while making sure that his moves remained hidden as well. Not a move was wasted as he either pushed forward or stood in his place. Somehow seeing Aaron like this ablaze, fighting like a true warrior, Arya knew he was still not pushing to his full potential.

A part of her was frightened to see what that would be like if he actually unleashed it. Prince Zander meanwhile had a smirk on his face as he was no doubt proud of his student. Sir Samuel had the same look giving Arya a very queasy feeling. A part of Sir Samuels's job was to scout for Kalvarian Knights and if his smile said anything at all, he was thinking about requiting Aaron.

Arya was snapped from her thoughts when she heard the crowd yelling loudly. She looked down at the area to see that Aaron had finished dealing with his opponent. Not a scratch lay on him while the girls had bruises and a large wound that was dripping with blood. They rushed the healers onto the area to take the girl away.

Aaron raised his sword into the air and the crowd burst into thunderous applause. In the midst of so many people Aaron's sliver-blue eyes met with Arya's Aztec ones. His mouth was curled into a smile as if to say bring it on.

Arya wasn't one to shy away with a challenge so she didn't look away but instead starred at him straight on. If he wanted it to be on, it was definitely on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for getting HOTS to #280 in Fantasy! Anyways, what did you think of the chapter? The fight between both academies? Background information about Aaron? Love to hear your thoughts. Please remember to vote and comment. :)