The End of the Littlest One [Completed]

1. There's no way

Dante doesn't joke around when sparring. He never has. Ever since he became aware of the Royal Academy, he had found his goal. Now that he made it, he made sure he did the best he could. Maybe even better than that if he was in the mood.

Once he was out of this place, he'd have quite the accomplishment on his resume. After landing a good job, he would finally be able to properly help his dad and sister out. Just like they have done for him countless times. It would be the right thing to do.

Jun was not paying as much attention as Dante. The last couple of days were exhausting and sparring against Dante didn't do great things for his confidence either. On top of that, he had other things on his mind.

The moment Jun's defense was down, Dante took his chance and kicked Jun right in the stomach. Jun wasn't tightening his muscles, and as a result he fell down to the ground.

'Stop, stop,' Jun said.

Jun was laying on the ground, panting like a dog on a warm summer's day. Dante was doing fine. It was like he never even moved a muscle.

'Am I too strong for you?' Dante teased.

'No, I just want a break.'

'Because sparring with me is too much for you? Because I'm too strong?'

'Shut up.'

Jun stood up with a groan. He dusted of his pants and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He was still breathing faster than usual.

'Let's take a break then,' Dante said.

Both walked to the bench against the wall. Jun welcomed the absence of the freezing wind and plopped down next to his friend. He closed his eyes and tried to regulate his breathing.

'Can I ask you something?' Jun said after a while.

'Depends.'

'On?'

'On what you're gonna ask.'

Jun kept quiet. The outside training was nice, but not today. Not for the past, and coming, few weeks. The cold was terrible and made the trees on the other side of the large courtyard look more dead than usual. They were just a bunch of grey and black sticks poking out of the ground.

Birds flew around without a care in the world, though. It annoyed Jun, just like Dante was annoying him. He was a great friend, but he was frustrating to train with.

He always won. He never did bad on purpose so the other person would win. Sparring for fun was dead serious for Dante.

Dante looked over to Jun. His friends' eyes were still closed, and he breathed heavily. When looking around the courtyard, he saw a few others training in the snow. Since the Academy closed its practice room during weekends, training outside was the only option for students.

This option was awful in the middle of winter and the middle of summer. You're either dying from hypothermia or dying from dehydration. Neither pleasant for obvious reasons.

'What do you do on Sundays?'

'Why?'

'We don't see you for the entire day,' Jun said. 'I was just wondering.'

Dante didn't respond. He had gotten this question more than once in the last few weeks. He never answered, dodged the question entirely or simply lied.

'You're not gonna tell me?'

'No.'

'Why not?'

Jun opened his eyes and looked at Dante. They made eye contact. Dante looked away first.

Not so strong outside of a fight, huh? Jun thought.