A/N: Aurora, your resident crazy authoress here! This is a new story that I have the pleasure of collaborating on with my friend Nox. So far...we're having a hell of a time writing it, and we've decided to share it with you guys (well, she gave me permission to do so). I've, for safety, rated it "M" for language and future violence. Enjoy Oh and as a sidenote, all odd-numbered chapters are written by Nox, all even-numbered chapters are written by me.

Chapter 1

Darkness had finally settled over the land, but those inside of Sir Lawrence's Tavern hardly noticed, if they did at all. The shutters had been closed for hours, making the only light inside the dingy bar available from the large fireplace (as well as the three grand chandeliers and the plentiful lanterns scattered about). Sir Lawrence's was a common hangout for the shady and the underpaid, but every now and again some members of the king's court could be seen sharing a pint with the empty chair next to them. That night, a group of squires from the castle were seated at a table near the only window facing the street.

"I heard that the king was intending to end the war," one of them stated flatly, taking a swig from his beer. He appeared to be about seventeen, with mussed blonde-brown hair and a muscular body. The boy's light green eyes narrowed as he continued. "It's a stupid thing to do, really. I can't imagine why he's ending the war before we've conquered the elves."

The squire to his left, the one with his long black hair tied back, raised an eyebrow. "Why is that such a bad thing, Rad?" he asked, pushing the few locks of hair that fell over his azure eyes out of his face with his thin, tan hands.

Rad's annoyed glance turned to the one who had just spoken. "Andy, you can't be serious."

"I am. I don't see why you're griping."

Rad rolled his eyes. "Don't you see? If we don't take over them, then the war will have been useless."

"Plus," the one to Andy's left added, "you won't get to fight."

Rad turned toward him. He stared hard into his friend's light amber eyes, ignoring that one lock of similarly-shaded hair that kept falling into the right one, to see if he could find the trace of amusement that always lingered on his colorless face when he decided to play devil's advocate. He could. "You're damn right I won't get to fight," he informed, slamming his mug onto the table for the extra emphasis. "You're only sixteen, Hani, what do you know?"

"You act as though you're so much older and wiser than I," Hani snarked. "I'm not listening to any war talk unless it's from Rudo."

At that moment, the three younger squires turned to the oldest of the group (who happened to be only a year older than Andy, at nineteen years). Rudo's tan, muscular body shifted uncomfortably under the stares of his friends. His hands combed through his dark black hair, brushing the short hair out of his cafe irises. "I don't know much about the war," he stated after a long silence. "I just do what Agro and Cedric ask of me."

"You're such a wimp," Rad stated factually, rolling his eyes in an annoyed fashion. "When will you ever develop a backbone?"

The group laughed rancorously. Flit, however, hardly cared about the conversation after that, and flew off back toward his table. He got nearby, but wasn't able to completely reach his seat before a large, pale hand shot out, grabbing his thin emerald wings.

"What did you find out?" the black-haired hybrid immediately questioned in a nonchalant tone.

"How about you let go of me first?" Flit snapped, kicking wildly at nothing in particular in a vain attempt to free himself from the elf-vampire's impressive grip.

"Now, now, what do we say?"

"Let go of me or I'll kick you in the eye?"

"Flit."

"Phoenix."

"Oh, Phoenix, let him go," one of the two girls sitting with them, the red-headed one, whined. "You know how it bothers him--"

"It'd bother you too if you were only eight fucking inches tall!" Flit snapped angrily, making a mad attempted dash toward the girl. Phoenix, however, still hadn't let go, so the little fairy was jerked back into his muscular arm. Flit turned his forest green-eyed glare toward Phoenix; Phoenix returned the glare, only his was more menacing due to the fact that his left iris was white with a blood-red ring around it and his right iris was dark purple with the same blood-red ring around it. The odd combination of color always caused Flit to break his stare; it was just too strange.

"Well?"

The annoyed question came from the last girl at the table, the nearly-black haired werewolf. Her arms were crossed over her thin torso and her aquamarine eyes were narrowed in an impatient glare at the two males. "Well?" she repeated.

"You know my rules, Luna: I don't divulge information when people are using my stature to their advantage," Flit informed flatly, crossing his arms in a mocking fashion.

"Phoenix, let go of him," Luna ordered, clearly annoyed.

"But it's fun to torment Flit; he freaks out so easily," Phoenix laughed, releasing the little fairy, who quickly fluttered to the other side of the table and picked up a tiny pint.

There was a pause during which Flit took a draught of his drink.

"Well?" Luna prompted.

"Oh, right," Flit murmured incomprehensibly through his drink. Putting the thimble down, he said, "The squires said that the king's thinking about ending the war."

"Why?"

This question did not come from Luna; it came from the other, red-headed girl. The sixteen-year-old human girl had her head cocked to the side slightly, allowing a bit of her dark-red hair fell into her emerald green eyes. Her pale hands brushed it out of the way quickly.

"I don't know, Flika," Flit gurgled through his drink again.

"There has to be a reason," Luna reasoned before taking a swig from her pint. "Did they mention anything else that could lead us to a reason?"

Flit shrugged.

"Probably because the war seems racist," Phoenix assumed aloud. "I mean, think about it. We're at war with a nation of elves. Our army has every race imaginable--except elves--"

"And fairies," Flit interrupted.

"Well, that's because all of you fairies hide out in Avalon Forest, except for you," Phoenix replied without missing a beat. "So it seems that the war is to suppress the elf race, and King Crius can't have that slander all over his good name."

"But the war is for land and the good ports on the warm sea," Flika tried. "It was the publicly-released statement given by King Crius at the war's initiation."

"He still looks like a racist," Phoenix decided, taking a victory sip from his booze.

"We should tell Damon about this," Luna murmured after a silence. "Come on, let's get out of here."