A/N: Okay, as promised, the next chapter or a few would be more toned-down on the action. Now this chapter is will explain some things,

Chapter 16: Reflections

“He tried to kiss me! That prat tried to kiss me!”

“So what did you do?”

“I broke his nose.”

-Trisha as she vented to Leon on a boy who she still mistakes his name as Larry-

*************************

“So basically, you control fire?”

“Yup. Being a Master in the Fire element grants me the ability to use Fire-type spells more often, like when we fought Virgil that day?”

Trisha nodded apprehensively, taking in all the information like a sponge. It wasn’t only till after a few days that the fight with Virgil was over and done with that Trisha finds it curious as to why the boys had their own individualistic style of combat.

“But Leon suggested we call ourselves Aces, instead of Master, y’know? Makes it sound more unique,” Jason said from in front of them.

“So you’re a Fire Ace, eh?” Trisha asked Chris, who chuckled.

“In a way. My full title is Ace of The Unyielding Fire. Jason’s the Ace of The Relentless Water,” he answered, Trish’s eyebrows disappearing into her unkempt fringe.

“Makes it sound more glorious than it really is, doesn’t it?’ Jason asked, Chris laughing.

“What’s so funny?” a voice so identical to Chris’s, yet so distinct asked.

“We were telling Trisha here about our Ace monikers. Tell her yours,” Jason said, Ken managing a smirk.

“Oh c’mon. We hardly ever use those names. I’m still surprised I stuck with mine throughout,” he replied, Jason clicking his teeth.

“Oh you c’mon! Yours is just as cool as ours. Well, yours may be cooler, literally speaking,” Jason sniggered, regarding Ken’s specialty in the Ice element.

“Fine,” Ken said, hiding his grin now, and failing terribly. “Mine’s Ace of The Unforgiving Ice.”

“Unforgiving?” was all Trisha asked.

“Unforgiving as in North Pole-unforgiving. Our element’s monikers are named after some form of relevance to its nature,” Peter said as he crossed over to the small group. “Like for example, mine’s known as the Ace of The Roaming Wind.”

“Because the wind travels everywhere. Makes sense,” Trisha agreed. Oh this was very enlightening for her.

“And mine’s Ace of The Everlasting Earth. I don’t really get it…” Eric chimed in.

“Dude, the planet Earth if full of…well…earth, so Everlasting means just as it sounds,” Jason explained, Eric nodding.

This left Trisha feeling curious for one more person, the last Ace.

“So what’s Leon’s nickname?”

“Ace of The Lionhearted Blade.”

The girl didn’t need to turn around to know whose voice that was, always masking his hint of amusement whenever he was mentioned. Still, something buzzed her attention.

“There’s an element on Earth known as the Blade?” she asked, chuckling.

“In a way,” Leon said, sitting down directly in front of Trisha.

“I’m afraid I don’t follow,” the girl said, flipping a lock of her hair backwards. She noticed Leon’s gaze on her hair for a fleeting second before he found the table next to her rather interesting out of a sudden.

“Since when was that in the elemental table?” she asked, her lips curving downwards ever-so-slightly.

“Ah, but you’re referring only to the Western Circle of Elements there, my dear,” Leon said with his index finger pointed at the table in front of him. “My element comes from a different Circle.”

She waited for several seconds to feign herself actually trying to think of an answer before she gave in.

“Alright, I give. What is it?”

“The Chinese Circle of Elements,” Peter said, arms crossed as he nodded at Trish.

“The Chinese?” she asked in return, head cocked slightly to the side.

Leon smiled before answering. “See, there’s one thing in the Chinese Table that makes it different from the Western one that we’re used to.”

“Which is?”

“Metal. Metal is considered an Element in the Table to them. And because we live in one big world, it’s accepted internationally that it is an Element that can be Mastered, like the rest. Only not many choose to take it up.”

“Why so? Sounds interesting, doesn’t it?”

“Because not many are inept in Mastering the Metal Element. That’s why it was given the nickname of The Hidden Element of the Orient,” Peter offered again, Leon beaming at him.

“You know quite a lot about this too, don’t you?” he asked, almost laughing as Peter shone a humble smile of his own.

“I read,” was all he replied, some of the others chuckling.

“So why call yourself the Ace of the Blade? Isn’t it Metal?” Trisha pushed on.

Leon laughed a bit more before answering her.

“Because calling myself the Ace of the Lionhearted Blade sounds ten times cooler that the Ace of The Merciless Metal or something, now doesn’t it? It’d make me sound like I’m some heavy metal band or something.”

The boys, including Trisha herself started laughing at that one. Was this what it was like to be ‘one of the guys’? She felt they all seemed perfectly fine with her being around them, as if she had been in their group for years, really.

“So...if the others can manipulate their respective elements and all that, does that mean you control virtually anything made out of metal?”

Leon shook his head.

“No, not really, Trish. What also makes the Metal Element hard to Master is the fact that unlike the rest, there’s no written-rule on how to utilize its power. It’s different for each person.”

“Like?”

“Girl, you are curious, aren’t you?”

Trisha pursed her lips together as the boys sniggered.

“You know as well as I do that it wasn’t an insult,” Leon said, his dark brown eyes positively gleaming at hers. Oh if only his eyes weren’t so alluring…

Her narrowed gaze at him was a sign of forgiveness, if any. Leon then sat up, content.

He then summoned his M4 in his left hand and his katana in his right.

Leon did the same thing as he did a few days ago, bringing them both together and in a flash of light, they both disappeared, the gun-blade known as Cherisher was all that remained in Leon’s hands.

“For one thing, I can fabricate a weapon of my own creation, like this,” he said, handing Trisha the sword.

She accepted it gingerly, and was utterly shocked that it was so light. Leon read her expression and chuckled.

“And because I created this weapon myself, it’s up to me how heavy or light it can be while maintaining its strength. Neat, huh?”

She nodded whilst still examining the weapon, still quite fascinated by it. She couldn’t find the trigger to the sword, though. So how did Leon shoot those rounds, exactly?

“Well, since there’s no trigger to the weapon, you need to focus on what you’d want it to do, like how a Mage’s staff would work,” Leon explained. The other boys knew this was going to take awhile, so they left to their original seats. Study hall could have been well spent on other things.

“…You really have a talent for these things, don’t you?” Trisha asked suddenly, catching the boy off-guard.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Kicking other people’s asses,” Trisha said with a giggle.

Leon looked perplexed for a second before he spoke.

“You’re better at kick arses than I am, Trish. You managed reach Virgil on top while the rest of us were busy fighting the smaller ones,” Leon fought back with his trademark grin.

“Yeah, but you boys killed that Hydra in the end.”

“But you beat Virgil off in the end.”

“If it wasn’t for you guys I wouldn’t have been able to take him down in the first place.”

“Are you both quite done with your lovers’ quarrel yet?”

Both Leon and Trisha shot dark looks at Shaz, who just approached them. The toothy grin on his face faded as he laughed nervously.

“Haha...looks like I hit a nerve. I’ll be going now,” he said as he trudged off, quickly increasing the distance between himself and them.

“I swear he’s the third person to tease me about this in this week alone” Leon said, burying his face within his hands.

Now Trisha found that odd.

“You used to be secretly happy when people thought there was something in between us,” she remarked.

“That was almost 4 years ago, Trish. And back then some others would always throw it to my face that I never stood a chance,” he mused, now resting his chin on his hands, staring out the window.

Trisha actually glanced out the window for a second, noting that the sky was relatively clear today. She appreciated weathers like these. It was the boy with the cloudy expression in front of her that peeved her mood ever-so-little.

“Hey, cheer up. It wasn’t any of their business anyway. I’ve told you, Leon. You’ll find your girl one day. Destiny decided we wouldn’t be a couple, but just good friends. Nothing more, nothing less.”

He still stared out the window, but the telltale smile that crept up his face was good enough of an indication that he agreed.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he finally said, his eyes shifting to look at her. “Still, thanks, Trish. For everything.”

She almost laughed at him, but decided to hit him playfully on the arm. “Don’t go soft on me now, you hear?”

He frowned at that one.

“But Trish, I’ve always been soft whenever you’re in the picture.”

“Ugh. Stop with the cheesiness already. I like you just the way you are.”

Leon raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t get any funny ideas, Leonhart Woon. You know what I meant.”

“Hey, can’t a guy dream?”

********************************************

Ken was bored.

Seriously bored.

Chris was busy reading a new book he borrowed from Jason.

Jason himself was busy ogling the same girl he had been drooling over for the past 2 days.

Eric was nowhere to be seen.

Peter was taking a well-needed nap. The poor boy did not have any sleep for the past 24 hours. Homework can be blamed for that one.

Leon was still talking to Trisha about some stuff.

Ken sniggered. If he was going to tease them both, he was not going to leave there unscathed.

So what could he do, then? He wasn’t really in the mood to interact with the others.

Should he just knock himself out to sleep too? They still had about 45 minutes of study hall left, more or less.

“Hey, bored?” a voice that was still rather foreign to him asked, and he felt a strong hand pat his back.

What was his name again? Shaz?

“Yeah,” Shaz said with a hearty chuckle. “Glad you remembered.”

Ken gave a half-hearted chuckle of his own and nodded to Shaz’s earlier question.

“Class can be a real drag sometimes,” he mused, the 6-foot boy not responding, but patting him on the back once more before heading off to another direction, Ken plopping his head on the desk.

What a drag...he groaned internally.

Ken then spied at a girl he found interesting several days ago. It was strange how she hadn’t caught his eye before until recently.

Her wavy dark-brown locks that seemed to go on forever, her chocolate-tinted eyes, her mesmerizing smile. She was perfection in his eyes, but that also meant that she was already spoken-for, or just not interested. It was strange –and irksome- how the prettier the girl, the harder it was to get to her heart.

“Pretty gals aren’t exactly an endangered species, Ken.”

He recognized that voice anywhere, and he didn’t need to even lift his head up to answer him.

“And aren’t you busy with your pretty gal?”

This time, he tilted his head to the side to see Leon’s scowl. It was worth the effort. The end results were satisfying enough.

“I thought I’ve already made it clear that I’m not interested with Trisha that way anymore. It wouldn’t have worked out anyway. I’m just not her type,” Leon began, and then his tone drifted off into a sombre muse. He was even staring off into the distance for effect.

Ken tilted his head again to see Leon’s stature and he sighed for the poor boy. Leon was never really happy with the fact that he never had anyone romantically involved with him before. It peeved him sometimes, but he could deal with it. Most of the time, anyway...

“Hey, you’ll get you time sooner or later, dude. Even Peter’s not sulking this much about this,” Ken said. Yes, asides from Leon, Peter was the only one amongst the boys who never had a girlfriend before. It was a common ground they both resented and yet found solace in.

“What bout Rose, eh?”

Leon winced for a second before he smiled ruefully at Ken.

“She doesn’t see me in that way either. All I can do is wait. What else is there?” he said, resting his head in his arms. Ken knew that meant Leon didn’t want to pursue that matter any further. He was always touchy about any subject concerning Rose.

Ken then looked over to see Rose sitting with her friends, laughing about something. He shook his head wistfully and sighed. Did these girls ever know how much it hurt to be in the state of unrequited love? The group of boys were all living testaments to heartbreaks.

“Sometimes I wonder if it’s even worth falling in love if you’re gonna get hurt in the end because the feelings go unanswered,” Ken heard a muffled voice come from next to him, and he breathed out audibly before he too rested his head on his arms, drifting off to sleep.

He didn’t want to stay awake thinking about his chances with the brown-haired beauty anyway.

***************************************

I’m bored. I’m really bored...

Koharu sighed loudly as she plucked out the last petal from a flower she found earlier. She plucked the poor thing and decided to wear it on her hair for awhile until she got bored and decided a fitting end for it.

Her classes ended earlier than usual today and she was stuck here in the campus park, waiting for Leon and the rest. She could’ve just got into the car and hung out with Ben and Gwen, but the fox-girl gathered that staying here was more tranquil anyhow.

And she was right.

Koharu was bored, indeed, but she was tranquilly bored, if that made any sense.

The kitsune was lying on her side, her tailful of fine fur acting as a sort of pillow for her. As half her face was tentatively hidden behind the endless clumps of autumn-coloured fur, she peered towards the lake, in all its sapphire clear majesty.

How she wished she could take a swim in it. She actually forgot the last time she’d been swimming. Would she even remember how to swim?

Maybe she’ll ask Leon to take her shopping for some swimwear, then.

Oh he’d get a kick out of that for sure, she grinned evilly. She would have him judge how well they looked on her. Every-single-piece-she-was-going-to-try-on. Even if it was by force.

While thinking of knots and ways to restrain someone, Koharu heard some grass rustling behind her. Sure, people walked around her as this was after all, the campus park and all, but even a regular person could feel that the distance was just a tad too close to her liking, let alone her heightened fox-like senses.

It was a male. She could sense the masculinity in it, and just that hint of arrogance. Why was those 2 always related to some boys?

“Is this spot taken?” she heard someone ask. Oh brother...like I haven’t heard that one before...she huffed internally. Though she had to admit, it was way better than ‘Excuse me. I’d be lying to myself otherwise, but you’re beautiful,” or some other cheesy pick-up line.

She didn’t reply. Her eyes were still closed, so she could feign the fact that she was sleeping. Hurry up and go away, please. Let me get back to thinking of ways to sweetly torment my affectionate older brother, thank you very much.

It was only after a few seconds did the footsteps begin to shift off, this time into the background. This only could mean that he was walking away, and Koharu wasn’t exactly disappointed about that. She could even sense the disappointment in his mood.

Her innate animalistic senses were one of the many things she was proud of to be a fox-girl. She could easily sense things around her as easily as a real fox would, yet still enjoy the benefit of being human.

She could also easily make out the hormonal changes in people too. The occasional flirting that she exchanged with her brother at times was a release of sorts, for them both.

Still, they never crossed any borders. Even if they weren’t related by blood, they still knew when to draw the line, as blurred as it may be.

“I’m still saving my first kiss for her,” Leon mused once to Koharu over a cup of coffee on the sofa, both of them huddled in a blanket as they were watching some documentary.

“Oh? So I’m just a stepping stone, eh?” she asked, eyes narrowed as her lips curled into that evil smirk of hers.

The boy only scowled, his eyes narrowing too, but not in the mischievous way Koharu’s was gleaming. “You do know that you’re more than that, don’t you? You’re my sister.”

“Funny how you were so reluctant about it a few months ago when it all began, and yet, here you are now, nestled up with me like we’re newlyweds.”

Leon breathed out audibly, pinching the bridge of his nose. He never moved from his position though.

Koharu let out a bell-chime giggle, cupping Leon’s face in one hand as she proceeded to kiss his lower jaw, his cheeks furiously turning red. “I know, Leon. I know.”

“But...” she said, laying her head back on his shoulders. “Isn’t this nice, once in awhile? I mean, I get lonely too, you know.”

She wasn’t looking for someone. She didn’t need to. He provided her the same kind of attention she’d want from a significant other, but without the complications of being in a relationship. A brother with benefits, in a way.

Leon mumbled his agreement as he rested his head on Koharu’s as they both continued to watch the TV in utter silence.

For now, this was enough.

******************************************************

“Ying and Yang. Day and Night. Ebony and Ivory. Red and Blue. Call it what you will.”

Chris was never one to sound resigned. Trisha found it intriguing, to say the least.

“With Ken being the Ice element and I’m the Fire element, it’s a contrast of sorts, right? I mean, we being twins and all that stuff. It sorta fits,” Chris went on, looking ahead as Trisha studied his expression from beside him.

“Yeah...but wouldn’t it be more logical if Ken got the Water element to contrast with you Fire?”

Chris shrugged to that, leaning his chin on his arms.

“Ken just liked Ice more that Water. He found it easier to cool himself off with pure ice on a hot day rather than lukewarm water anyhow. Besides, Ice is still a contrast to Fire.”

All this elemental jargon wasn’t confusing Trisha, but a girl like her can only take so much before she felt the need to give her mind a break.

“I swear, I’m not sure if I feel lucky for not tying myself down to an element like you guys are,” she said before leaning back on her part of the long lecture hall chairs.

Chris scoffed. Now that was new.

“Why not? It’d be nice to have you as an Ace with us,” Chris offered, Trisha shaking her head.

“Tempting as it is, I’ll have to pass on it. Besides, choosing a moniker to go with the element would be a painful process. I wouldn’t want to be known as the Ace of The Unstoppable Bullet or something,” she said, still half-chuckling.

Chris looked thoughtful for a second before he answered with a frown. “But there’s no element called Bullet...”

Trisha actually paused in mid-chuckle to study Chris for a few seconds before she resumed.

“I swear, boy, you’re almost as bad as Leon is.”

“And I swear that I’ll always be just that little bit delighted whenever you call out my name with those sweet lips of yours, Trish,”

She pressed her lips at him, but her eyes twinkled in that telltale sparkle.

“You little flirt. Go bother some other girls,” she said, swatting Leon away.

“Sorry. I’m a one-girl type of guy. Polygamy is for losers anyway,” Leon said, tapping her nose with his index finger. He quickly withdrew it as soon as her teeth playfully clenched for it.

Many boys would kill to be in Leon’s position right now, but he wasn’t affected one bit. He was a close friend to the girl, and that was enough for him to be grateful for.

He put a firm, friendly grip on her right shoulder, a gesture she replied with a soft few pats of her hand against his.

“How many girls exactly have you sworn with to be the Knight for?”

Leon just stared with his eyes half-closed at Jason, who was sniggering with the other Aces.

“Oh come off it,” he growled, the boys only laughing harder.

“You are still -after almost a decade of knowing you- by far, the best person to tease about when it comes to girls,” Ken said, wiping a tear away, the bespectacled Leon actually mouthing a rather audible “Grrr...”

He then took out his sketchbook and began etching some things on it lazily. Trisha though the doodles looked rather nice, considering the fact that Leon was actually drawing them with his head buried in his arms, appearing asleep to anyone else.

*********************************************

Rosemund Wan was bored.

Yes, she was bored.

Study hall was a given, but for crying out loud, she needed entertainment.

Her revision notes were right in front of her, lifeless, yet she could hear them whispering to her, pestering her to read them.

I’ll read you when I’m back home, thank you very much. Studying is *not* my entire life’s goal.

Still, it played a vital part of it, as much as she resented the fact. Intelligent as she was, the girl had her limits, as did everyone else.

She was sorely tempted to satisfy her itch to play an online game, but a laptop was nowhere in sight.

Her peripheral vision then shot a jolt right into her mind. A very free and seemingly sleeping Leon was right next to her.

And he has a laptop.

She leaned slightly forward to see if he was really sleeping or not. He was famous for feigning a short slumber.

She saw the pencil twitching and Trisha staring at something intently from his other side, and realized that he was really awake.

Figures...

She couldn’t see his bag, and was beginning to doubt he had the laptop with him at all in the first place.

She hid a snigger as she knew that the poor boy would have immediately flown off his seat to get her the laptop even if it was back at his home, if she so much as asked. But she wasn’t that heartless.

Still, she figured that asking him if he actually had it with him right now wouldn’t hurt.

“Leon?”

The boy took a good second before rising up slowly, his rich brown eyes coming into contact with hers.

“Hmm?”

He looked genuinely sleepy, his eyes just that little bit glassy.

She couldn’t help but smile warmly at that. He had his moments, she’d give him that much.

“Is your laptop with you, by any chance?” she asked politely, the boy blinking at her once.

“Yeah, I did,” he said, taking the black bag from underneath his part of the long lecture-hall chair and revealing the laptop.

He placed it in front of her and opened it up, setting up everything for mer.

“Thanks Leon,” she said, her voice so gentle and demure to Leon’s ears. He returned that smile to her, his lips curling to the side as his eyes twinkled just as much as hers did.

“You’re welcome. Enjoy feeding your online game cravings, princess,” he said nonchalantly but still retaining that smile, Rose actually letting her jaw fall slack for a good centimetre.

How did he know?

Was she that predictable?

“Just a hunch,” Leon said with the smallest hint of a snigger, Rose biting her lower lip.

She turned on his laptop anyway, avoiding his gaze. Was he expecting some form of appreciation from her?

Peter, who was sitting next to Rose, reading a rather interesting novel about vampires and werewolves, suppressed a chuckle of his own when he saw the tinge of pink creeping up Rose’s cheeks as she typed away on Leon’s laptop.

Some things never change... he thought, reading more about a certain 17-year old vampire boy who Leon gave the nickname of Eddy Cully.

*********************************

This was getting old. Fast.

Rosemund Wan lazily clicked on the mouse, watching as her avatar gracefully destroyed the monsters around her with one fell swoop.

Her eyes sparkled when she noticed something about her avatar in the game. That attack she saw earlier was so reminiscent to the way Leon spun once with Cherisher, those glowing orbs of energy surrounding him before exploding.

She almost felt like face-palming. Hanging out with the boys was beginning to change things. Slowly, yes, but definitely.

The girl wondered if things would be different if she never met Leon, or his friends. Would she still be treated to watching a free spectacle of two individuals, or in the case of awhile back, a whole group of people fighting right on the campus grounds, every now and then?

It was a way of making things interesting, nevertheless. She liked playing random every once in awhile, right? And what was the harm in joining in sometimes? It was like training for her, anyways.

Rose was, after all, one of the brightest girls in her year, and capable of kicking some major arse to boot. (No pun intended...)

She didn’t like bragging, but Leon never ceased to give her credit where credit was due, though.

One avatar near hers was congratulating her on the major amount of kills she got earlier, It was a guy, though. And his compliments were rather...too friendly.

Rose scoffed. Wouldn’t guys just leave her alone? Even in a stupid online game, they were after her.

On the edge of her view, she did see Leon shaking slightly, hiding his mouth in his hands. She knew he could see the flirting avatar and was quite amused with it.

She reckoned the boy needed to have a little bashing, to say the least.

“It’s not as if I was flirting back with him, okay?” she asked, lowering her eyelids at Leon, who actually flinched. Rose was never one to look annoyed or put-off.

“I never said anything,” Leon denied with a smirk. Still, she saw the look in his eyes. She couldn’t distinguish what it was, exactly, but it definitely wasn’t his cheeky self.

“Oh don’t give me that,” she said, nudging him on the shoulder. He was mildly surprised, but still, he smiled a different smile.

She then returned the smile, then returning to the game. It was a difficult moment for both of them, but it was one of many they shared. They didn’t mind it, though. Not in the least.

******************************

Chris never liked beer. But he felt that now was the best time for it, if ever. He hated the taste, though.

“It’ll take some getting used to. I still don’t like it myself,” Peter said, taking a swig of his.

Chris didn’t need to answer. The facade he had been putting on today has been running on for too long, and he didn’t want to do it any longer.

He let out the first sighs of many to come.

He felt that it was fortunate that only Peter and himself were here, sitting on the roof of Peter’s Vortege’, overlooking yet another sunset.

“I can’t say I can understand what you’re going through, but I think I can relate,” Peter said.

It wasn’t the worst thing to say, but Chris had to chuckle.

“What?” Peter asked, studying his friend. Was Chris going mad?

The smile then faded from his face as he sighed yet again. “I can’t take it, Peter.”

Peter pinched the bridge of his nose, heaving.

“Chris, you’re not alone in this. We’re here for you, y’know?” he consoled, gripping Chris’s shoulder firmly.

It took all of Chris’s might to try and hold his tears back.

“I...just can’t do it...”

Peter breathed out audibly, shaking Chris slightly with him.

“You’ll be fine, okay? We can all help you get through it,” Peter said.

Chris didn’t need to reply. He didn’t want to. He felt that by even opening his mouth, he would let the tears, the anguish, and the sorrow flow.

“Well,” he finally croaked, coughing a second later.

“I just need to accept the fact that it’s finally done with.”

They remained silent for a few more seconds, the bitter quiet almost thick enough to be sliced with a blade.

Words didn’t need to be said any longer. As they were practically brothers –all of the Aces were- Peter needed to help Chris out.

He just didn’t know how to fully help Chris cope with heartbreak. He himself wasn’t a good example, for one.

Still, Peter figured that the rest needed to know about this sooner or later.

Chris, on the other hand, wasn’t anywhere near Peter at the moment. His eyes were closed, wandering back to yesterday, playing back the last few seconds he spent with her.

That one final embrace they shared, that one last kiss that would have meant the last.

He could still remember her eyes as they mirrored all the pain that was on his own, those few words he muttered into her ears breaking her heart just as much as it destroyed his own.

Goodbye, Vivian.

**********************************

To be continued.

Weren’t expecting that, now were you?