The grounds outside Alfea's boundaries were quiet, the nature resuming on its course as if it was never disturbed by the dangers lurking between its woods.

Amber knew it was hopeless to stand by the border and try to track the Burned One that had attacked Silva. But she had to try, she owed it to him. However, even standing for hours each day for the past week, trying to reach as far as she could with her magic, did nothing but drain and spite her.

She couldn't feel it. Professor Harvey said that it was rare for them to stay at one place so that monster could be miles away from the school, but Amber couldn't bring herself to give up just yet.

Tap, tap, tap.

"You know you don't have to check up on me every day, right?" She said with half a smile. Her eyes were still shining with an emerald blaze as she turned to look at the blond-haired specialist.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna apologize for looking out for you," Sky said, standing in front of her. "I want to find it, too, but you shouldn't be doing this for so long, Ambs. You look exhausted and frustrated."

Amber raised an eyebrow, "Great, at least now we are matching," She responded and gestured to his messy attire. Her tone was light and playful, yet she knew Silva's state took a toll on him, too. Sky rolled his eyes, amused but still slightly worried.

"I meant what I said, though. You really don't have to check up on me," Amber started, watching as Sky's mouth began to form a reply but she beat it to him before he could, "And I'm only saying that because my parents literally sent someone to do just that."

Sky's frown was immediate, "What?"

She motioned to a spot behind him, directing him to where a brown-haired specialist was standing, watching them attentively. He was there every time Amber went to the barrier, trying to stand out as less as he could, whether by pretending to read a book, work out, or do his homework. His efforts could have been nice if it weren't for his presence that pissed her off so much.

"That's Jaden. He's one of the castle guards, or basically a glorified babysitter if you like that name better," Amber informed the blonde, bitterness coating her words.

Sky remained silent for a few moments, he seemed almost angry even, before it was replaced with a look of concern as he spoke up, "Aren't you worried your suitemates will find out? That guy is kind of a dead giveaway,"

"The odds are unlikely. Most of the Eraklyons are fighters and soldiers, so I have to be more careful around the specialists, and luckily, you're the only one of them I want to be around." The earth's fairy eyes finally returned to their normal dimmed shade of green.

"Flattery will get you nowhere." He flatly stated, but then the bright smile on his face melted all the fake seriousness away.

"Tell that to your roommate. Although he's probably too busy kissing his own ass to listen,"

They both laughed together and continued bantering until Amber noticed how he slightly clenched his jaw for a moment. She knew that look, something was bothering him. "What is it?" Amber asked, confusion written all over her face. He looked at her apprehensively, his gaze dropping to the ground. "Sky, what is it?"

"The other night..." He started but trailed off. She knew that conversation was coming eventually.

"I'm fine now." And it was somewhat true. She had some headaches but that could also be from using her magic every free moment she had to track the Burned One. But whatever had happened that night was over.

"But you weren't then. Stella told me all about the bangle but maybe I should have tried harder to—"

He looked guilty, as if he was sure there was something he could have done to help, to somehow reach out to her. "Don't. There was nothing you could have done. I barely remember what happened in those moments. Stella was right to activate the charm."

She could see the storm forming in his blue eyes, trying to find a different solution, just like he had been trying to do with Silva.

"Have you two talked?" Sky asked, referring to her and Stella.

"Nope," She answered shortly. She hadn't. Truthfully, she was still angry at her. And maybe both Amber and Stella needed to apologize for what happened the other night, but Amber couldn't bring herself to be the first one to do it.

"Amber—" Whatever Sky was going to say was cut off by Amber's phone, alerting her about getting ready for her classes (at least to those she had decided to not skip).

With a rushed goodbye, Amber left the blonde specialist, and Jaden was quick to follow her trail.

~~~

Terra's voice filled the air after Ms. Dowling had given each fairy their class assignment. "So, it's like the perfect pear, right? What you want me to do. You know how if you ever wanna eat a pear, it's always rock solid, and you wait and you wait..."

Amber tuned her out as she read her assignment. She heard the auburn-haired girl sigh in what sounded like boredom and disappointment. Amber peeked over to see that Beatrix's task was to make tendrils of electricity strong enough to make a small stone elevate in the air, yet precise enough to not harm or break it.

She did it within moments and with ease. However, instead of looking proud, a tiny frown was plastered across her forehead.

"You don't look so happy compared to someone who just nailed her assignment."

Beatrix narrowed her eyes, "Those tasks are for children. I literally did that as a child."

Amber tried not to let the jealousy bubble through to the surface at her words, "I don't think the rest of the class find them as easy."

"Maybe." The air fairy replied and focused back on her task. She sounded bored when she added, "Or I'm just better than the rest of the class,"

Amber let out a quiet snort and sarcastically asked, "Why bother coming to Alfea then?"

"I'm obsessed with this place and its history." Beatrix's answer was instant, almost as she had said it many times before, but then she paused for a moment, "And meeting hot guys and partying,"

The blonde girl had to place her hand on her mouth to stop herself from chuckling out loud at the girl's blunt answer, "Wow, you're going to get so well with my sister,"

"Is it a compliment or an insult?"

"A little bit of both,"

"Speaking of your sister, I've been meaning to ask about her. What—"

But Beatrix was interrupted by Miss Dowling, who scolded them for talking as she wandered around their shared workstation. She then complimented Beatrix for her work, "Impressive, Beatrix. Keep it up."

"Got it, Miss. D." The girl said but quickly corrected herself as the headmistress stilled, a disgruntled look washing over her face, "Headmistress Dowling."

Amber smirked to herself in amusement, but the grin faded away as Miss Dowling stood behind her, waiting for Amber to complete her task. Her assignment was to mend small, broken stone pieces into one intact rock. Amber breathed in, trying to figure out how to get her magic to do it.

"Breaking a rock is easy. Can you bring it back to what it once was? Focus on the connection between the pieces. The smallest details you see and feel." Farah guided softly, gesturing for Amber to begin, "At some point, they were united as one being, concentrate on that feeling."

She listened carefully to the headmistress' words and brought the stones closer to each other with her magic. The fragments sailed through the air, like puzzle pieces trying to find their perfect match. The spaces between them started to glow in green as if the unit was gluing itself back together.

But then the pieces fell, and despite Amber trying to connect them together once again, she failed.

She felt her cheeks getting warm as Farah breathed out a sigh of dissatisfaction. "It's practically impossible. I can't do it."

The older fairy remained indifferent to Amber's grumbling, instead leaning over her shoulder, eyes shining brightly as the stones were united to a smooth, complete piece at her silent command, "Not with that attitude. Come to see me at my office after your classes."

The earth fairy sunk slightly into her seat, gnawing anxiety at the back of her mind. Beatrix was the one who snapped her out of it.

"Dowling's method limits you." The girl said quietly, as Ms. Dowling left them and wandered toward Aisha now, "She makes you look in one direction when the possibilities are endless. Your magic can go both ways, you just have to press harder."

Beatrix placed the mended rock in her hand, "Go the opposite way now."

And so she did. Amber's palm was now filled with small pebble-sized pieces. Breaking stuff definitely was not the issue there. But that wasn't enough for the air fairy.

"That's hardly anything," Beatrix narrowed her eyes in a challenging demeanor that practically screamed troubles, "I know you can do better, I saw what happened in the Stone Circle. Push yourself harder and let the real magic out."

Amber glanced at the stones gingerly. For the past year, all she had done was push down any urges to lash out. And now she was asked to do the exact thing she tried to avoid. But Beatrix... Beatrix had control. And Amber wanted that desperately more than any other thing.

Amber closed her eyes as her magic traveled from her spine to her fingertips. When she opened them, tiny particles of dust swirled above her palm, drizzling remains of the once solid stones that were ground into the air.

A glint appeared in Beatrix's eyes, smugness tugging at her lips. "Good. Now imagine if you could do it to other stuff,"

Amber's smile vanished. Wasn't it just a stupid challenge? Why would she want to do it again? To destroy something completely there would be nothing left of it? Before Amber could question her, Beatrix slung her bag over her shoulder and walked away to her next class, leaving Amber with a sinking feeling in her gut.

~~~

SKY

i'm going to visit silva

do u wanna join?

AMBER

on my way rn. Duralor kept us in class till last minute.

See u in 10

"You know it'll be much easier for the two of us if you just told me where you're going instead of me following you to find out," A voice complained from behind her, but she didn't bother to turn around, instead she kept walking and hoped he could finally give her a break, or better, leave her alone for good.

But Jaden was stubborn, a quality she might have appreciated in any other Eraklyon warrior, but with him it was just dreadful.

"Come on, you know it's just going to look weird if I just keep tailing behind you wherever you're going." He added, finally catching up to her and walking by her side as they were crossing the training yard, as if they were friends having a normal conversation.

"I miss it when I didn't know about your existence," Amber stated flatly, her gaze set toward the Greenhouse, refusing to truly acknowledge the guy beside her.

"Ouch." Came his dry reply. "But it's not my fault. You practically forced me out by sneaking outside of the barrier and wandering in the corridors during nighttime, princess."

That got her attention. She shot him a sharp, piercing look, "Keep your voice down!" She hissed, looking at the specialists around them. Hopefully, none of them were close enough to hear him. "You can't call me that here!"

"Right. It's a secret," Jaden's dark eyebrows creased in fake confusion. Like he genuinely didn't understand why it was such a big deal to her. "What would you prefer then? Your Highness? Your Majesty? Or maybe Yo—"

"Shut up!" She gritted her teeth, glaring at him. If it kept going like that, she would have to activate the charm, and she wasn't really looking forward to feeling emotionally drained so soon again.

"Relax, Rackley. I won't do anything stupid that will give us away,"

"Oh, so, it's us now?"

"Well, I am sort of training to be a specialist here, and being known as the not-allowed-to-say-this-word-out-loud's bodyguard is not the biggest compliment a guy could have. So, yeah, I'll do you a favor."

He was doing her a favor? She scoffed.

"This is serious, Jaden!" Amber snapped at him, she was feeling the ground all around her and could almost sense the earth beginning to shake beneath their feet, just waiting for Amber to allow it.

She was already placing her hand over the emerald gem (noticing how Jaden's eyes quickly dropped downwards to follow her movements) when someone cleared their throats behind them.

"Everything alright here, Barbie?"

She let out a sigh, she was never gonna catch a break, was she?

"Everything's fine, Riven." She replied gruffly, annoyed at his interference.

His face hardened at her cold response, whatever weird will he had to help left him as he rolled his eyes and turned the other way. The irony that out of all the people, Riven would be the one to offer help was not lost on her. But actually... she could use his help. Sort of.

"Wait!" She called, smoothly sneaking away from Jaden's side (she saw him frowning from the corner of her eye) as she slightly jogged to catch up with the dark-hair specialist.

Riven looked at her with an unimpressed look, not really buying the blonde's sudden change of heart.

"I need a favor," She started and Riven scoffed.

"Thought you said everything was fine."

"Well, I changed my mind." Amber shrugged simply, shooting a quick glance at Jaden to make sure he was far enough. "I do need your help. Just need that next time you get to spar with Jaden, please kick him in the ribs for me."

Riven let out a short chuckle that quickly died down when he noticed Amber didn't crack a smile, "You serious?"

She nodded. If Jaden was truly a palace guard as he claimed to be, he could handle Riven. And even if he couldn't, it might give her a break from him for a few days. Maybe then he would understand that she didn't need protection in the safest place in Solaria.

"I know I've gotten the reputation of a bad-boy here, but you do realize I'm not actively looking for troubles, right? Takes all the fun out of it. Besides, what do I get out of it except detention?" He asked her, crossing his arms over his chest.

There wasn't something she could give. But... "Fine. Kick Jaden's ass and I won't tell Silva about the weed stash you hide under that bench,"

Now, she wasn't completely sure if the hidden drugs she could sense were really Riven's, but considering the bench she was pointing at was the one she noticed he and Sky usually occupied the most – it was worth a shot.

"What the fu—" Riven started, eyes wide open at the earth fairy. "Went from asking for a favor to blackmailing really quick, huh?"

She didn't reply, instead, she just raised an eyebrow, carefully waiting for his answer.

Riven brushed his hands through his hair, contemplating, before he breathed out an angry sigh and said, "Fine."

"Great. Thanks, Riv." She said with a slight smile and started to head towards the Greenhouse again.

If she hadn't left so quickly, she might have heard the troubled specialist mutter quietly to himself.

"It's always the crazy hot blondes. Something is really fucked with you, Sky."

___________________________________

So as much as I would like to say that Amber is not a violent person, Jaden really pisses her off. So hopefully Riven keeps his word, right?

My biggest problem with the first season was the lack of relationship-building between the characters. Most of them just felt so so rushed so I'm definitely adding my own original in-between scenes. But I'm still sticking with the show's plot, so progress might be a little slow.

Next chapter won't be up so soon as I haven't really started writing it AT ALL and some college assignments are now suddenly dumped on me so I'm busy until next week, but in the meantime, I'll probably write down more plot points to get the story up and running once I'll have time to write again.