Tempus {time}

For a moment Arya and Aaron both stood frozen in shock. It was as though time itself has come to a standstill. But after the second was over, both of them went into a more appropriate stance. Aaron unsheathed his sword while Arya lifted up her dress to remove the knives that were strapped to her knee.

They both gave each other a glance before running into the palace. Everything had gone into frenzy inside. There were knights running through the hallways but Arya knew right away that most of them had been given the evening off. Those who hadn't would have to be in the ball.

"Has anyone been injured?" Aaron asked a knight as they ran by.

The knight shrugged his shoulders. "We don't know yet but the priority is making sure that the royal family is safe."

Arya wanted to smack herself with the hilt of the knife. She had left Lady Zelie alone in the throne room without any personal guards. She knew that Lady Zelie would be able to defend herself but Arya wasn't she if she had brought any weapons with her. If anything were to happen to Lady Zelie, she knew she could blame herself.

As they entered the right wing, Arya saw a masked man dressed in black running in the opposite direction. She dashed forward and slashed the man across his right calf immobilizing his movement. She was slower than she should have been but that was due to her dress.

Aaron joined her moments later as he held the sword under the man's neck threateningly. "How many more intruders are there?"

"Fourteen," the man croaked.

Arya nodded before hitting him on the hand with the hit of her knife effectively leaving him unconscious. Arya couldn't believe that fourteen assassins had been able to sneak into the castle. But she did know that since the Heres Gladii was an open event for all the different countries, they must have snuck in as representatives of different countries. But that possibility only existed if they had come on the orders of their monarchy.

Arya and Aaron moved forward trying to get rid of as many assassins as they could. As Arya turned around the right corner, she was nearly attacked by another man but she was lucky enough to step back allowing the man to merely swing at the air.

The man had a sword while she had knives, which put her at a disadvantage. The only thing that would help her in this battle would be her speed. There is a reason as to why only the fastest and most nimble fighters used knives as their weapon of choice.

Arya raced forward and met his blade with her two knives. The two metals clashed and sparks flew from the collision. She gritted her teeth and firmly planted her feet into the ground to avoid being pushed backwards. Arya suddenly stepped back taking the man by surprise as she charged forward she saw Aaron had already cornered him from the back. They had gotten him.

For the next few foes, the pattern was the same. Arya and Aaron would both take turns attacking and then they would swap their position after every enemy was defeated. After what seemed like hours the hallways were quite once more.

As Arya and Aaron kicked open the door to the ballroom they were relieved to see that the royal family was fine. Sir Samuel stood by them while a number of assassins had been tied in the corner of the room. Kalvarian Knights were armed in the place making sure that nobody made a move.

When Arya looked up to meet Lady Zelie's gaze she saw relief. She turned around to look for Yasmin and Silvia and found them also safe comforting other guest who had never dealt with traumatic experiences before.

The door opened once more and Lady Vivian entered the room. She ignored the looks from the other guest and went straight to Sir Samuel. The two began whispering frantically before turning to the King to explain something as well.

The King's face looked shocked before he composed himself. It had been a brief moment of weakness but Arya had caught it. Something had gone terribly wrong but the King wished to keep it a secret for the moment.

King Rupert spoke to Lady Vivian and Sir Samuel for a few more minutes until her turned towards the rest of the guest.

"It seems that the hallways have been made safe once again. You will all be escorted to your rooms and the Royal Kalvarian Knights will be posted outside your room." The King raised his hand to his heart. "I promise on my honour, I will not let anything happen to you."

The royal guest and delegates still looked shocked as the Kalvarian Knights began escorting them outside one by one. Pretty soon the only ones remaining in the ballroom were the students and royalty.

Lady Zelie turned to address the students. "Lady Vivian and Sir Francis will be escorting you back to your rooms. They will also be guarding you. Prince Zander and I cannot stay with you, so I will trust that you will behave yourselves with the knights." Her eyes swept over the students making sure that they all under the instructions.

Many of the students still looked too freighted to give a proper response. Instead, they slowly got into line, the dresses and tunics of the evening now clearly ruined and wrinkled.

As Arya was about to get into the line Prince Zander's voice echoed through the room, "Would you please stay back for a moment, Arya and Aaron."

Arya nodded and then exchanged glances with Aaron. He shrugged his shoulders as if to indicate he had no idea as to why the Prince was asking them to stay behind. The students exited the large brass doors leaving only the Arya, Aaron, Sir Samuel and the royal family.

Aaron and Arya both walked to the dais waiting for further instruction. To Arya's utter surprise, it was the king who spoke.

"There has been an incident." He said warily. Arya could see the night had taken a toll on him and he was doing his best not to show it.

"There have been two casualties," Sir Samuel said bluntly.

"Who is it?" Arya blurted out.

Lady Zelie gave her a sad look, "a boy and girl from the Narvian and Narvanian Academies."

Arya heart plummeted. She didn't expect it to be children. Looking over at Aaron she could see that it had a similar impact on him.

"We haven't told anyone yet. The palace is already in chaos and we would like to inform the parents before anyone else. That way, we can hold a funeral for the two of them in the castle if the parents agree." Prince Zander explained.

"Why?" Arya asked.

Lady Zelie looked at Arya with sad eyes. She knew what Arya had been asking. Why were they telling them?

"Your job will be to keep the matter quiet. Students love to gossip but we would like you to steer to conversation away. The parents should have the right to mourn quietly first." Lady Zelie explained.

"We understand," Aaron replied for the two of them.

The King nodded. "I would also like to thank you for your help in taking down many of the intruders in the hallway. You have my gratitude."

Arya and Aaron both bowed to the King. "It was an honour," they both said in unison.

"You both can head off to bed. We know it has been a long evening so get some rest." Queen Marie said gently. That was the first time the Queen had addressed Arya and Aaron this evening. There was something about her green eyes that made Arya feel a lot calmer than she had felt the entire evening.

The said their goodbyes and left the ballroom. Arya and Aaron walked together, their strides matching each other. They weren't touching one another but Arya could feel the warmth from Aaron's body radiating onto her.

Once they made their way to the wing in which the students were staying, they both parted ways giving each other a lingering look as they did so. When Arya arrived at the girls section, she saw Lady Vivian standing outside her fingers still grasping the pommel of her sword. Arya knew that everyone was on edge and she was pretty sure that half the girls were not sleeping at the moment.

Arya nodded polity in Lady Vivian's direction before opening her room and collapsing on her bed. She laid there for a few moments starring at the ceiling. She never would have predicted the evening to end in such chaos. After a while of lying there wearing her dress, Arya decided to take it off and change into more comfortable clothing.

Once she returned back to her bed, she crawled under the covers seeking the warmth they provided. Arya was physically tired but her mind just wouldn't shut down. It continued to play the memory of the moments earlier and that's when Arya knew that it would be one long night.

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

Arya starred at the two caskets in front of her. She just could not believe what she was seeing. She didn't want to be wearing black, and she certainly did not want to attend a funeral. But Lady Zelie has insisted that they all be present at the burial site in order to give the two students a proper farewell. The King and Queen had also made an appearance and Arya knew it was partially to the fact the King felt responsible for not being able to protect the students to the best of his ability.

Arya knew that everyone felt guilty in their own way. Heck, the students were guilty as well. They had left the ball and went to a secluded place where there was almost no one. None of their friends had known about their disappearance either. Arya couldn't help but think that she and Aaron had done the same thing but they weren't the ones in the coffin.

The men in the front began lowering the casket and Arya starred on. She didn't know what else to do. She had never attended a funeral before and after seeing this one, she hoped that she would never have to. Arya couldn't bear to look anymore and she tilted her head to the right to stare at everyone else expressions. Unfortunately that didn't help either because there were a group of girls sobbing as they held each other. Arya could only assume they had been friends of the deceased.

The funeral finished moments later and people began leaving the venue. Arya found herself frozen as she watched people brush past her. There was a chilling feeling in her bones, something that was telling her that this funeral was just the beginning of something greater.

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

As Arya placed the last book back into the bag she heard a light tap on the door. On instinct, her fingers instantly flew to her sword. She made her way towards the door an opened to see Aaron standing on the other side.

Surprise was clearly etched on her face. "What are you doing here?"

"Good to see you too." Aaron replied. "To answer your question, I was wondering if you would like to take a ride with me."

Arya thought about it for a moment before agreeing to his request. It wasn't as though she had anything special to do. Arya told him to wait for her at the stables while she returned back into her room to change into clothes that were more suitable for riding.

When Arya arrived at the stables, she saw that Aaron had already saddled Eclipse and he was sitting on his own horse. Arya untied Eclipses reins before mounting on the stallion.

As the two of them left the stables, Aaron turned towards Arya. "Are you okay with going back to the lake?" He asked her.

She nodded and the two of them rode side by side until they reached the beautiful lake, Sepultusque Cordis. Thereupon, they both dismounted their horses and tied them to a nearby tree. Aaron took Arya's hand gently and led her toward the lake.

Arya felt strange holding Aaron's hand. It was calloused like hers, a hand made for work. It was as if their hands fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. They both sat down on the ground yet Aaron still didn't let go of her hand.

Arya starred at the lake in front of her before she spoke, "The lake can add two more souls to its mourning list."

Aaron looked at her carefully from under his sliver-blue eyes. "It's seems insane huh? It feels as though we are living in a dream and in a moment we will both just wake up to find out it was all a nightmare."

Arya nodded along to what Aaron was saying. It seemed that the loss had hit him hard as well. It was something that the two of them had in common.

"Their deaths will not be in vain. It will serve as a reminder to become better and stronger warriors so we can make sure that nobody else has to die."

Aaron sighed before closing his eyes. "Can you believe it? Tomorrow the two of us will be heading our separate ways."

"It seems as though it was a life time ago when we first met," Arya said softly.

Aaron smiled slightly. "You mean back it the woods in which you didn't tell Damien and I your real name and then you stormed into the camp to save the children?"

Arya nudged him with her shoulder. "In my defense, Lady Zelie told me not to reveal my name."

"Well you did anyways." Aaron commented.

"Yes, I figured you would remember my name clearly when you would go to spy on the Narvian Academy."

Aaron laughed slightly. "It wasn't as though you did not go to spy on my academy as well."

Arya shrugged her shoulders, "I guess we are both even now."

"We are," Aaron agreed.

Arya starred at the water in front of her. She was going to miss this place. It had been quiet, serene and majestic. She found her eyes shutting down on her as she struggled to keep them open.

"Didn't get much sleep last night?" Aaron asked.

Arya replied with a no. Aaron patted his shoulders. "Come on, put your head here and get some sleep."

Arya looked at his shoulder suspiciously. She did not feel comfortable doing what he had asked. As if noticing her expression Aaron spoke, "I'm not going to bite, besides your extremely tired. I'll wake you up in a few hours."

Grudgingly Arya agreed. She laid her head on his shoulder and snuggled into the warmth that he was providing. She felt safe here, something she had not felt in the last twenty four hours. Just as her eyes were about to close, she felt a soft brush against her forehead and Aaron whispering in a low voice telling her to go to sleep. She was knocked out a few seconds later.

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

You guys got a kiss on the forehead, happy? I loved reading your angry comments last chapter. Anyways, what did you think of this chapter? Aaron and Arya working together to defeat the enemy. A storm is brewing and its coming quickly. Although we might not see Aaron for a couple of chapters since the academy is going to be leaving pretty soon. Please make sure to vote and comment per usual!