My body hit the ground hard, my back colliding with the cold floor and sucking the breath from my lungs. I had let out a groan as my limbs were quickly pinned down, my eyes scrunching closed as I waited for oxygen to refill my lungs. My chest rose and fell quickly as I caught my breath, hearing a chuckle rumble above me before a kiss was pressed to my neck.

"Looks like I win." Louis said softly, my eyes opening to see Louis above me, rendering my limbs immovable from his weight. Another kiss was given to my lips before Louis rolled off of me, helping me up from the mat on the floor.

Louis and I had been sparring in the gym for several days as part of my newly developed training routine Minerva had made, and every single time we did, Louis ended up winning. Every. Single. Time.

"You alright?" Louis asked in consideration as I stood up, huffing and stomping over to where our water bottles were. He laughed as I used too heavy of a grip on the water bottle cap, making some water spill onto my workout clothes. I groaned in frustration, choosing to sit down on one of the available chairs by the wall.

"I want to win." I told Louis, who smiled and took a seat beside me, his water bottle in hand.

"You never answered my question. I was referring to your body, not your ego." Louis rolled his eyes, making me sigh before nodding.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just had the wind knocked out of me for a bit is all." I assured him. Louis would always ask if I was hurt or not feeling well after we would spar, always making sure I was alright. Nevermind the fact that I was a protector, practically indestructible, he always made sure I hadn't hurt myself after we fought. I figured it was probably just him trying to be a good boyfriend.

"I want to win at least once." I sighed and looked at Louis, who was taking a drink from his water bottle. After he finished, he shrugged. "Without you going easy on me."

"You have defense down, your protector talent makes sure of that. Your only problem is attacking. You get too impatient and leave yourself wide open when you go to strike." Louis told me, lifting his top a bit to wipe the sweat off of his forehead. I was more interested in his chiseled abs than his fighting advice just then, but I still nodded when he looked to see if I was paying attention.

"Can we try again?" I asked Louis, who chuckled at my determination.

"Maybe after lunch, Butterfly. You've gotta be starving after all that." He smirked and pulled my head closer to give me a kiss.

~•~

"I just want to beat him once." I had told Imani and Kaguya as we sat at a table at a café in town, my eyes watching Louis refill his drink across the room. Apparently it was a tradition of theirs for everyone to head out for lunch after their morning training. Liam, Niall, and Zayn were chatting about something on the opposite side of the table, while Harry seemed to be writing something important down in a notebook he brought along.

"I mean, I want a hot Italian boyfriend with amazing abs and lots of money, but that's not gonna happen either." Imani commented, making me sigh.

"Hey, don't think too badly of yourself." Harry suddenly butted in, taking a moment from his writing to include himself in the conversation. He must have caught my thoughts. "No one has ever beaten Louis in sparring training. He's just too good."

"No one?" I asked in amazement, Harry's words making me feel a bit better. Harry shook his head no, his long fingers pushing some hair out of his face as he returned to his writing.

"No one, not even Zayn, and he can make anything out of his imagination." Harry pointed out, Zayn nodding from across the table.

I bit my lip as I thought about it. The greatest sorcerer ever...it would make sense. I figured I should at least be proud that I held my own for a while, at least until he would win.

My gaze turned to Louis at the drink station, wondering what was taking him so long.

My heart had nearly melted when I saw a little girl trying to reach her cup up to the drink machine, her arm not quite long enough. Louis had noticed her struggle after he had gotten a straw for his drink, setting his cup on the counter and talking to the little girl. She had happily handed him her cup and pointed to the drink she wanted, Louis filling her little cup with a red soda and grabbing her a straw before handing her the cup back. She had told him something and skipped away happily, Louis taking his drink and coming back over to us.

He had slid into the booth seat next to me, taking a sip of his soda. I had smiled and kissed his cheek.

"That was sweet of you, helping that little girl." I softly said, noticing the adorable way Louis' cheeks faintly blushed pink before he coughed and tried turning his head away.

Harry had a happy smile on his face as he finished what he had written, quickly tearing the paper out of the notebook, folding it up, and handing it to Liam. Liam had seemed surprised, taking the folded paper into his hands.

"You already finished it?" He had asked Harry, who nodded and set his pencil and notebook to the side of the table when our waiter came with our food.

"What's that, Harry?" I asked, who only shook his head with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"N-nothing." He mumbled, causing Liam to laugh before I watched his hands conjure up a small blue teleportation vortex, the folded paper flying inside. The vortex closed as soon as the paper disappeared, Harry thanking Liam right after.

"Harry here met some Terran girl and has been writing letters to her while she's at college. Apparently Harry has a friend named Ed that can teleport objects who works at a music shop or something, and the girl gives him her letters to be sent to Harry, while I send Harry's letters to her." Liam explained as we all got our food. The waiter had asked if we needed anything else, everyone thanking him before he left to wait on other tables.

"Aw, that's so cute Harry." I smiled at him, who's already light pink-tinged cheeks turned a darker rose. "What's her name?"

"Maisie." Harry simply answered before he took a bite of his sandwich.

"What's with everyone getting into relationships now? When is my knight in shining armor gonna come for me?" Imani pouted, Louis rolling his eyes before I lightly hit his arm.

"You'll find someone, Imani." Kaguya assured her before picking up the salt shaker and handing it to Niall, who I assume was about to ask her for it.

"Well it feels like I never will with Harry acting like a lovesick puppy and these two!" Imani pointed at Louis and I, still incredibly frustrated with her lack of a special someone in her life. I had only shrugged before taking a bite of my burger. Louis and I had gotten the same thing, Louis recommending one of the burgers on the menu to me as it was his favorite and I had no idea what to order.

"What's wrong with us?" I asked Imani after a sip of my soda.

"Louis has turned into a total baby ever since he found you. Before, he would do whatever the heck he wanted and stay out late and party with us. Now he's all 'MiraMiraMira, oh what's Mira doing right now? Isn't Mira lovely? Mira's so pretty she's so great dear spirits." Imani exaggerated, sticking her tongue out and making a disgusted face at my boyfriend, who only shrugged and ignored her.

"I remember when he killed me in the Seven Shot Series, and now I bet he wouldn't even get past the first one." Imani jeered, but I was confused.

"Seven Shot Series?" I turned to Louis, who explained for me.

"At one particular bar here in the Rift, they have a contest for two people. There are seven shots placed in front of them, each one representing what Terrans call the seven deadly sins. The first competitor to down them all wins." He said, my head nodding in understanding.

"Is it hard?" I asked, Louis shaking his head no while Imani scoffed.

"Not really. Each shot makes a person see a situation of some sort that relates to the sin, and once they pass it, they come back to reality to take the next shot." Louis said, taking some fries from my plate to eat. "I always win against Imani."

"He takes the longest time with wrath, the last shot. Lucky." Imani huffed, "I usually take a while with the first few shots, which make me lose."

"You never had a chance to beat me." Louis taunted, Imani's brows raising.

"Oh really? Want to try again?" Imani offered, Louis smirking at her.

"Of course."

Later that evening, I was a bit excited and worried for Louis as we all walked to the bar Imani had talked about. Louis didn't seem to be fazed at all, his mouth kissing over my knuckles as we walked side by side. Niall, Liam, and Zayn were all placing bets on who they thought would win, while Harry and Kaguya were the ones collecting their money for the bets. Kaguya wouldn't tell me who was going to win, and it was the most frustrating thing.

The bar was on the edge of the Rift and seemed to be a fairly nice one, a multitude of tables and seats inside and lots of people already drinking and having a good time. The lighting wasn't too dim, and Imani seemed to be a regular at this place since the bartender knew her.

"Imani! Nice to see you again." He smiled at her as she took a seat at the counter.

"And you too, Tristan." She smiled. Tristan was fairly attractive, his eyes a light green color and his skin a bit lighter in color than Imani's. He was built, muscles strong and hardened under his button-up shirt and his smile was constantly focused on the beautiful African girl in front of him.

"What can I get you and your friends, darling?" Tristan asked, Imani smiling wickedly at Louis.

"The Seven Shot Series, please. I need to beat this cocky bastard once in my life." Imani told Tristan, who chuckled and began preparing the shots for Louis and Imani. When Tristan wasn't looking, I nudged Imani's arm. She looked to me, a wide-eyes expression appearing as I mouthed that he was into her. She had only shaken her head no before her eyes had flickered back to the bartender and then to the countertop when Tristan looked up towards her.

Louis took a seat next to Imani as the shots were placed in front of them, the glasses labeled with each of the sins they represented. Pride was first, then gluttony, sloth, greed, envy, lust, and lastly wrath. It was easy to see how Imani would struggle with the first few shots, there was no one more prideful in herself than her, and Imani loved endless drinking and eating. I wondered how Louis would struggle with wrath though, he never seemed like a very vengeful person.

"Okay, you guys know the rules, right? The shots have to be taken in order, you can only drink one at a time, you must drink all of it, and you must turn the shot glass over on the table when you come back to reality from the hallucination to take the next one. The first person to drink all seven and turn the last glass over wins." Tristan explained, Louis and Imani nodding while the boys behind me were practically bouncing around in excitement.

My heart was racing, I could hear it pounding in my ears as Tristan was about to start them.

"May you conquer the seven deadly sins...ready?" Tristan asked both competitors, Louis and Imani nodding.

"Go!"

Just like that, Louis and Imani both had downed the first shot named pride, their eyes closing as the hallucination began. Their hands still held the shot glasses as per the rules, and amazingly it had seemed like barely any time had passed before Louis' eyes opened and he turned the shot glass over, picking up gluttony next. He drank it quickly, coming out of the hallucination just as quick as the first one and turning the glass over. Imani had just come out of pride's hallucination when Louis picked up sloth, the hallucination not lasting very long for that one either.

Louis was quick, getting past greed and envy with ease before taking up the shot labeled lust. Imani was right behind him, having gotten past sloth and greed fairly quickly.

Lust took Louis longer than the others before it, Imani taking the shot of envy while he was still stuck in his visions. Louis' lip was bitten roughly as his eyes opened and the lust glass was turned over, the shot labeled wrath taken in his hands. The alcohol was starting to daze him, making him furiously shake his head for a moment to clear his mind before he tipped back the last shot.

My hand reached to rub his back as his eyes suddenly scrunched closed tightly, his hand fisting the wrath glass so tightly I feared it would shatter.

Just when my hand touched his back, my vision changed.

I saw Louis wide-eyed and in disbelief in a blank void of white as he stared at a figure in front of him dressed in shadowy black. The figure chuckled and stepped forward into the light, my heart sinking when I saw Allister.

"How sad, Louis. I'm afraid you were too late." He said before stepping to the side, my own eyes widening when I saw me.

My body was crumpled up on itself, blood covering my limbs, my hands, my face. It ran in red trails over my runes, weak cries of pain being heard from my doppelgänger as Allister chuckled.

My doppelgänger's bloody hand had reached out towards Louis', weakly falling to the ground soon after. Her breathing was ragged and rough and gradually slowing as her eyes started to shut.

It was a painful sight for me to watch, let alone Louis. He was about to cry, his hands were shaking, and he quickly ran over to my copycat. He shoved Allister out of the way and took her hand, looking fearfully over her battered and broken body.

"Lou..." She started, but couldn't say much more. Her eyes kept drooping closed, Louis' eyes soon hardening and his body crackling with electricity as he began to turn around and lunge at Allister for hurting my lookalike.

I suddenly understood it all. This was wrath: testing Louis' desire for revenge should anything happen to the one he loves. While I wasn't sure how the hallucinations stopped, I figured Louis hurting Allister wasn't it.

I was surprised to see my doppelgänger reach her hand out once more towards Louis, barely grazing his leg. Louis froze, turning around to stare at her.

"I'm tired, Lou." She said, and I watched in awe as Louis' sparks fizzled and died before he sat down and picked the broken Mira up, gently settling her in his lap as he held her tight. He was extremely careful with her, kissing her forehead and whispering words to her as her eyes were about to close.

"I'm scared." She whispered, Louis shaking his head and keeping his tears back.

"Don't be. I'll be with you soon, Butterfly." He whispered as the broken Mira closed her eyes and passed, the golden runes suddenly stopping their glowing and fading to a dull color.

Louis' tears flowed freely now, uncontrollable sobs breaking him apart as he held the now dead Mira tight, his hands shaking. I could hardly hold my own tears back, watching as Louis' head raised and looked to Allister. His eyes were watery, his skin was pale, and he looked like all the life had been sucked out of him. He had only one request of Allister.

"Kill me too."

I was brought back to reality at the same time Louis was, both of us gasping for air and looking around. Louis had turned over the glass on the table and sat back, his breathing still heavy and his heart racing.

I faintly heard cries of praise and happiness as Liam cheered when Louis won, Imani slipping out of her wrath hallucination a few moments after Louis. I faintly heard everyone cheering and being happy, but I couldn't care any less about it.

Louis still looked a bit shaken up from the hallucination, and I quickly stepped into action. My hands were on his face, forcing him to look right into my eyes.

"It's okay. You're okay, I'm okay, nothing is wrong." I assured Louis, who sighed heavily in relief before closing his eyes and hugging me tight. I kissed his neck, feeling his pulse racing.

"I love you, I won't let anyone hurt you like that." I told Louis, who seemed to clutch onto me tighter before he gradually relaxed. I had asked Tristan for some water for Louis before looking into my love's glassy and still watery eyes.

"Ever?" Louis barely mumbled, his gaze never leaving mine as I kissed his cheek.

"Ever." I agreed.

A/N: Dedication goes to @Bauhard7 for their lovely comments!

Also, I'm very excited because I've entered Sorcery into the Wattys2015! Be sure to check out @TheWattys for the rules and way to vote in August!

Vote and comment! -Maddie