50 Game of Tag

Arius's expression cracked, he let out a jaded sigh. "I know."

Her eyes shifted to the metal chained to her arm and her eyebrows creased. She attempted to break it off by pulling her arm away viciously, but she wasn't strong enough. "How did you break yours off?"

"I'm just stronger than you." Arius teased.

Hearing that, Zuna pulled harder on the chain, though it was no use. Then she looked at Arius with clear irritation, "Well, aren't you going to help me?"

"Of course" Arius took his hands away from her shoulders and without a word lifted his right hand, and then brought it down on the chain with extreme force. "Hi-yah!"

The chain easily broke, but Zuna's face instantly darkened. "You... you dare mock marital arts?"

"I'm not mocking them, what are you talking about?"

"That wasn't even a real move!"

"So? The phrase is real."

"No! That's just in films!"

"Idiot." Arius grinned. "Don't you know? 'Hi-yah' means energy or mood in Chinese. I think..."

She wasn't having it, she stood up and walked away. She originally thought that he was fun, yet in reality he was... she couldn't find the words.

"Zuna! You're overreacting!" Arius was starting to realize just how unreasonable this girl was. Though, as it was, he couldn't even seem upset by her pettiness, due to the uncontrollable curl of his lips. Such a simple thing could turn her against him so fast, how childish. He stood up.

"You awful man!" She yelled as she sped up and dashed down the corridor. Arius began to chase after her.

Unfortunately for Zuna, he was much faster than her. By the time she started climbing the stairs he was halfway down the dark hallway, she glanced back at him and increased her speed.

Arius was able to keep up, though he got slower while climbing the stairs. His stamina wasn't the best but he continued on chasing, even when she bolted for the important-looking door.

By the time Zuna pushed the door open she was laughing at Arius like she was winning a game of tag. As Arius chased her out the door, he did have a passing thought that they shouldn't have left the dark room.

He forgot about that when he saw Zuna running around the bright and beige colored corridor. He watched her disappear at a turn.

Arius was starting to tire out when he turned the same corner and caught sight of her go through a pair of big doors. He looked around cautiously before running to the doors and entering.

He froze at what he saw, Arius released a sigh of absolute dread. It was a library, and it was organized in such a way that it looked more like a maze to him in that moment.

Arius quickly calmed himself and took long strides into the isles of books. He forced himself to use a stern tone. "Come on Zuna, Eirik is going to be furious if you don't take this a little more seriously."

Zuna was silently weighing her options when she was reminded of her dad, however her pride would never allow her to surrender. There was no way Arius would sell her out anyway though, right? Well, if Eirik did indeed become infuriated with her actions, she knew how to pacify him. She snickered.

At some point, Arius was running up and down the isles while Zuna stealthily avoided him by walking down the isles he had already passed through. It was inevitable for Arius to give up, so when he announced that he was done chasing her, Zuna nodded in succession. She had completely forgotten what she was mad about.

If only that was the end of things, as it turned untrue after moments of Zuna standing in debate. She saw Arius turn a corner and head straight in her direction. She noticed by his amused expression that he wasn't the least bit upset with her, and so she decided not to forgive his earlier offense.

As he quickly entered within two meters of her, she directed her fatal misfortune at him. In accordance to this, a hefty book suddenly fell on the top of his head. Arius almost lost his balance due to how large it was.

He raised his head, his expression was no longer that of amusement. His face was blank, and in the midst of it one could vaguely see confusion. That didn't last long however as pain seized him. He gasped and lifted a hand to his scalp.

Zuna stood rooted to her original spot, she had no triumphant look to her, and she had pulled back her fatal misfortune far away from him by now.

Arius knelt down with his palm covering the top of his head. He sat down on the ground with his eyebrows creased together while looking completely disoriented.