Growing Hostility

~Om~ 'too late'

" Match start"

My opponent rudely attempted to engage with me immediately after the match started, despite the fact I was currently preoccupied with my cookie. It was really annoying, but he wasn't worth losing one of these cookies for, so I just decided to ignore him and eat the cookie. When he realized I wasn't going to move or react in any way he smiled. He threw a thrust, and attempted to hit me in the smallest possible target for him, my throat. I of course dodged it because, I just needed to take a step the side and boom, attack dodged.

I finally finished the cookie, and let out a nice long yawn as I started actively dodging his attacks. After fighting Luxen, he seemed, well, slow. I didn't have to anticipate anything, and his speed was lower than mine so I didn't have to try too terribly hard to dodge him. Plus his form was revealing itself to be rather, subpar. No, that's not it he was seething with rage, and his form was suffering. ~Yawn~ that's rather odd.

" Is this just a game to you!? I'll make you take me seriously!" Liam Screamed at me and charged forward with reckless abandon.

What was he so mad about? Whatever, this opponent was going to be really easy to beat, so I didn't care what he was going on about. I crouched low, and readied myself to respond. It took forever for him to finally get to me, and I swept his foot, Grabbed his wrist tossing him over my shoulder into the ground. I spun his arm around to his back and applied pressure so he couldn't escape. Casually taking a knife out from my waist, while he futilely resisted, I held it up to his throat, and the match was called.

" Winner, Alice."

I just let him go, and walked back to the others from Elysium. I was a little pissed and I couldn't tell why exactly. Maybe my opponent was rubbing off on me. I didn't know but I needed a nap. As I got back to the group Tanya had calmed down but she did try to scare me a bit.

"Alice~" She called with a kind, not so kind smile that basically radiated malicious intention. Contrary to the reaction she was hoping for or expecting I glared at her. She immediately backed off.

"Who stepped on your tail?" She questioned

I was about to retort, but I just stopped and let out a big sigh, converting all of my pointless irritation into exhaustion. I really needed a nap. I walked over to my bag and grabbed Oreo. With him in my arms I tried my best to fall asleep. I just needed to be done for a minute.

" Tanya, can you wake me up when its my next fight."

" Don't you want to watch your opponents, or your friends?"

" You'll tell me if there was anyone faster than Luxen right? If so, then I don't need to worry. and about your fights, I don't think you'll lose. Also I'll be bitchy for a while if I don't take a nap, and we can't have that, I'm a cat not a dog after all."

"..."

"Not your sense of humor?" I asked

"Your concerning me." Tanya said in a serious tone.

"Hmm, how so?" Her seriousness, was staving off my drowsiness for the moment, mostly because she's rarely this serious.

" Your acting strange, Your more violent than you used to be, and you're getting more and more irrational. I'm ... I'm just worried about you." Tanya had a point. I had been noticing it too. I was changing and that change wasn't for the better. The worst part was I've never had to deal with something like this before. Frankly it scared me, so I tried to ignore it. That clearly wasn't working.

"Aww, Tanya's being cute again." I cooed, trying to get away from the topic. I didn't want to do this right now, I didn't have the courage. She almost took the bate, but to my dismay, collected herself.

" Alice, I'm being serious and I'm not the only one who's noticed. We want to know what's going on. We're all worried about you. We know there's a lot about you we don't know, and that's fine. You will always be the mysterious little cat that popped out of nowhere, but your apart of our family now so like it or not we'll be here to help you with whatever is bothering you. Just keep that in mind." My back was turned to Tanya, she just let out a sigh and walked away, when she no reaction from her little speech.

I'm glad she left, I don't know how long I could have held my breath. I found myself doing something I seemed to be doing a lot lately. Crying. I could feel it, The care and concern in her voice, but I didn't know how to react to it. I appreciated my friends but I put the walls I had always kept to stay safe. I felt the same when Emmy and Caroline freaked out about my initial disappearance caused by my evolution, and when Jacklyn cried back on the first day we met because she lost me in the guild building. This feeling of concern for me. It was warm, but I felt it uncomfortable to touch, it was kind but I found myself afraid of it, it was beautiful but l couldn't stand its presence. It was something spectacular, and I realized, I wasn't worth it.

My tears and silent crying had lulled me to sleep.

" Wake up Alice, This rounds almost over." Lyric had gently shook me awake. I lightly blinked my eyes and realized his head was right above me. Taking in my surroundings, I also realized my head was laying in his lap. He probably put me there, not wanting me to lye my head on the stone seating. What a sweetheart he is, he's too good for me, even as a friend.

I sit up and let out a little yawn as I stretch out and hop off the seat.

" So, Who's fighting now?" I asked looking at lyric for the answer.

" Tanya and a guy named Jack Harkness." Lyric said

"Oh, and how is he fairing against Tanya?" I asked looking toward the fight, halfheartedly

" They're about even." Lyric said, and I immediately started paying attention. Tanya was ridiculously talented with a sword, even with me being a little faster she can still keep up and we can go toe to toe, so long as magic isn't used. For her to be put on the defensive, is honestly astounding.

This boy, Jack. He was impressive. He had a unique weapon too. It was a knife with a chain on the back of it. He was using it expertly, too. He would use the chain to enable him to throw his knife and retrieve it. He used the chain to block and trip up Tanya. They were about evenly matched in skill and strength, but the boy had a more versatile weapon.

They had broken apart and stared at each other for a moment, catching their breaths and anticipating the others move. Jack looked similar to Blake if I'm being honest. The only differences were that he looked younger, more like a guy, and wasn't as pretty. He had an aura that was different, but still seemed familiar.

" Lyric, I forgot to ask, How did your match go?" I looked over at him. I believed in Tanya, and I didn't doubt she would find a way to win. Watching would just make me nervous for her, especially after the first round. I know her little outburst there was because she thought she lost at the last second, but if that was it, she wouldn't have crumbled like that. She would have been able to keep herself from tears. She must have invested a lot in preparation for this this competition, and I didn't want her to lose. That didn't mean I would hold back however. I have a streak to uphold and she would be more hurt if I did.

" It went well. My opponent was more of a tank, but I managed to beat him. He was pretty strong though. The most terrifying part in the fight was the fact that he hit like a truck. If I took one of them directly he might have killed me." Lyric shivered a bit

" That bad?"

" Yes, that bad! I broke one of my gauntlets." Lyric showed me a gauntlet with two of the fingers broken off, and part of the back of the hand bent inward.

"Balor's gonna be pissed." I said looking at the damage, then another thought hit me.

"How did you get that off your hand, for that to happen you must have lost two fingers and half your hand!?" I Said shocked.

" I only had to tear it off and heal it up afterwards, besides the two finger being gone helped the metal slide out a lot easier." Lyric said.

"It had to have hurt though. I'm sorry."

" What are you sorry for, You did nothing and I still won. It didn't hurt any more than being stabbed."

" It's the fact you can say that with a straight face that concerns me. Getting stabbed hurts like hell." I said with a sigh.

" I doubt it hurt nearly as much as you did to your hand the first day we got here." Lyric said

" Yah but still ... wait what are you talking about?" I was a bit confused I don't remember doing anything to my hand. Weird my hand hurt then started to go numb a bit too once he said that. What am I forgetting?

" You don't remember? Your hand exploded and then a massive release of mana erupted into the sky. It was rather perfect timing, almost as if your the one who did it, but there's no way you could have that much mana, right?" I finally remembered. I thought no one was looking, though I do suppose I was a bit preoccupied to check as my hand was gone.

" Um, did you tell anyone else, or see anyone else watching?" I asked meekly

" No, I don't think I saw anyone else watching and I decided to not mention it because you seemed to try and shrug it off like nothing happened."

" Great, thank god, that would have been embarrassing." I said with relief

"Though that explosion was rather intimidating. You wouldn't happen to know what caused the mass of mana to burst would you?" Lyric asked ruining my mood. I couldn't tell if he was genuinely curious or if this was a bated question to see if I was willing to admit something.

"Uh ... Look Tanya's battle finished, lets see how she did." I deflected, and ran over to Tanya that was walking off the ring, with her head down.

" So, how did it go?" I asked

" You weren't watching!?" She yelled, as I covered my ears

" Sorry I was worried so I distracted myself, I didn't feel like having a heart attack seeing your match finish." I said back

"So you were worried about me? I suppose I'll accept that lousy excuse, this time." She said with a grumble.

" Thank you! Wait, why was I apologizing?"

Tanya started laughing a bit, Something seemed off about her though.

"So you lost I take it?"

" How'd you figure that out?"

I just gave her a hug, " There, there You'll just have to beat his ass later alright. Better, I'll do it for you."

" I'm Counting on you then." She hugged me back tightly, She was smiling, and I could tell she was feeling a little better.

" You'll have to be careful, he's pretty strong." Tanya said breaking the hug.

" I'll be careful."

" The Semi-finals will now begin our first match will be Fort Atlas's Jack Harkness against Elysium's Lyric Winter. Competitors please enter the ring."

" Looks like I get to get revenge this time." Lyric said as he pats Tanya on the back.

" Kick his ass Lyric!" Tanya Shouted loud enough for even the audience to hear, through their chatter.

Lyric chuckled a bit as he was walking on to face his opponent.

" Another Member from Elysium, I suppose your friend put up a good fight, I only hope you can match up." Jack started swinging his chain in a circle.

" I wouldn't say I better than her, but I sure as hell am not going to lose." He grinned "You hurt my family and now I'm going to destroy you."

" That seems rather irrational. Fighting because of emotion can cloud judgement." Jack warned

"That only applies if I give into it. I wasn't warning you because I wanted to scare you, I was simply telling you an inevitable truth. Were both gentlemen here, there's no reason to hold a grudge. I simply stated my reason for fighting, and my resolve to win." Lyric responded in a confident diplomatic tone.

" I like you people from Elysium. If only we weren't enemies right now, I'd offer being friends, but I suppose that can wait, until after the fighting ends." Jack said and walked forward towards Lyric. Lyric saw this and did the same to him. The met in the middle and shook hands.

" Try not to lose too fast. It'd be no fun otherwise." Jack moved close, into Lyrics space

" I suppose I should say the same to you. If you lose too fast I won't be satisfied when I do win." Lyric got closer and I had this awful urge to just push one of them and make them kiss. It would have worked perfectly if I did it right. Alas, they were too far away.

Though, even from here I could tell they were both excited to fight each other. They moved back into position, the excitement radiating off of them. I think they would get along pretty well.

" The match between Jack Harkness and Lyric Winter will now begin. Both participants prepare yourselves."

"Start!"

Jack took the first move and threw his knife at Lyric, who caught it and tried to pull him in with it. Jack was expecting him to catch it and pulled as well, The chain simply straightened and no one moved. Jack realized this wasn't going to be able work, and he couldn't disarm Lyric as his hands were his weapons, even without his gauntlets they were still dangerous. Jack pressed forward pulling a kama that was connected to the other end of the chain. Lyric whipped the chain in his hand, causing the kama to fall out of jacks hand. Jack grabbed the chain and pulled, The chain straightened and Lyric stumbled forward into a kick from Jack. Lyric caught the kick and spun throwing him into the ground.

Jack slammed into the ground but he managed to keep a hold on the chain, he even managed to retrieve his Kama. He ran at Lyric again and Lyric prepared himself, but wasn't expecting Jack to run past him. Assessing his situation he realized Jacks plan. Jumping up and back, him managed to escape having his legs surrounded by chains. Jack pressed forward again and so did lyric, they met and jacks kama and Lyrics claws clashed, deflecting each other Lyric followed up with the knife in his hands but Jack managed to wrap the chain around his hand, forcing Lyric to drop the knife to Get his hand out. They both retreated and were back to the beginning.

Jack moved his hands to the center of his chain, and started spinning the two sides fast enough that they started to blur. Lyric and jack clashed again, Lyric could stave off his attacks with ease but Jack kept sending them from various directions, the arcs were also a bit annoying for Lyric to deal with but he got used to them.

Finally they got serious, Lyric got into a grove and started moving faster and finally used a claw art once he got an opening. His hand turned blue and a claw mark flew forward in the sky, then the chains Jack was using, hit the ground and he flew over the attack. As he was descending he spun his chains and they radiated a purple glow. A series of four blades of light flew towards Lyric, which he managed to dodge, allowing Jack to land safely.

Lyric made another assault towards Jack as jack attempted to keep his distance. Dodging and blocking Jacks attacks, as jack continuously retreated and Lyric pressed forward. Jack grabbed the kama end of his weapon and another purple light emerged engulfing the entire chain. The knife at the other end pointed itself at Lyric as it began to act like a snake, twisting and writhing in spontaneous patters attempting to strike Lyric.

Lyric's claws glowed a faint red at the tips as he continued to deflect the snake hitting different parts to change its direction. The red on Lyrics claws disappeared then A flurry of red slashes appeared around him and the Chain was dismembered, Metal falling to the ground. As he finally made it past the chain link snake, he rushed in. His body turned white as he flashed forward and appeared in front of Jack. In an instant Lyric had gotten close to Jack and his claws pressed lightly into Jacks jugular. In the meantime, Jacks Kama pressed against the temple of Lyrics head.