Sentry of the Arcane

Chapter 12: Fitz

(A/N: This chapter is a major Sophitz chapter, and you might laugh at the cheesiness. Either way, hope you enjoy it!)

Steven grins as I make my way over to him. "Wallace gave me a copy of Michelle's death photos," he explains as I try not to cringe at Michelle's bleeding corpse. "And the autopsy report. But we'll start by looking at the death photos and noting down all of the visible injuries."

I nod as Steven hands me a tablet in a thick casing. The screen lights up with the Michelle's corpse-picture being shown. My muscles tense as I zoom in on her face. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Steven do the same. Taking a deep breath, I announce out loud, "Obviously, the killer cut an X into her face. Although the blood covers her skin, I can make out a boot imprint and some bruises." I pause, exhaling sharply. "This means that she was hit in the face with an object and was kicked or walked on."

Steven nods in agreement. "That's everything I've taken note of on her face. I guess you and the girl are the Percipients?"

I hesitate, surprised at how he knows that Sophie and I are the Percipients. Realizing I haven't replied yet, I nod. "Yes, that's correct," I say, nodding in agreement as well. Hoping that the subject will be dropped, I furrow my eyebrows as I examine the body in general. I see the multiple stab wounds that were covering her body, along with more boot prints and bruises. I'm about to say something when I hear:

"So-about that Sophie girl..."

My head immediately jerks up from the tablet, my eyes wide. "W-what do you mean?" I ask unsuccessfully, simultaneously smacking myself mentally for my sudden stutter. Just as those words leave my mouth, I begin to dread Steven's response.

"Well," Steven draws out the word, making my muscles tense again. He sees my reaction and smirks, "You and Sophie are the Percipients, I'm assuming. And don't think I didn't see the two of you blushing as we were walking here," he adds teasingly.

Although I haven't looked in a mirror yet, I can tell that my eyebrows as raised to their fullest peak, and that my face is already beginning to blush at the thought of where this conversation is going. "We- we're weren't blushing," I attempt to say, suddenly wishing to not be in this room.

Steven laughs. "Like that's true," he says, smirking at me in a rather suspicious way. "Anyways, I was meaning to ask- do you like her?"

It's truly baffling, how one simple question can make my face turn into the shade of a strawberry. "W-what?!" I stutter, looking anywhere but him so my blush can die down...eventually.

Steven laughs more, placing his tablet down onto the table so he can clutch his stomach and laugh more. Meanwhile, I feel my blush finally fade away. I then glance down at Michelle's death pictures, hoping this conversation has ended. Instead, Steven only asks, "So does that mean that you two are dating?"

"Dating?!" I exclaim, my blush returning. I step back as Steven bursts into a fit of loud laughter. "I- What!?" Yet still, my blush and stutter on this topic only makes him laugh more. I begin to wonder why I'm blushing so much at this.

At this, Steven seems to genuinely frown. I raise an eyebrow in response, awaiting for his next question. After exhaling loudly, Steven asks me with a serious expression, "So, Fitz. Does that mean that the two of you are are looking to get married in the future?" His serious face cracks, as his lips struggle to not smile. "You- you two seem...awfully young to be engaged."

And at that moment, I'm so sure that I haven't blushed this red in my entire life. I don't even need to check my pulse to know that it's skyrocketing, and it's still increasing. "E- engaged..?" I sputter, my arms slowly giving out. If I was currently drinking a beverage, I would have spit it out by now. "I-I'm sorry, but MARRIED!?!" Apparently, the blood flow to my brain must've been cut off since I feel the tablet slip through my arms, bouncing on the ground from its thick case.

I don't need anyone to tell me that I'm blushing like crazy, since I can tell. When I see Steven nod between his storm of hysterics, my face burns from embarrassment as I swiftly pick my tablet off of the ground.

But before Steven can possibly make me blush more, I hear someone shriek, "Marriage?!" as something clatters on the ground. I turn to see Caroline chuckling as she picks up an empty sample tray from off of the ground. When she stands up, she bursts into a fit of laughter, tears of merriment running her face as she stares forward.

I follow Caroline's gaze to find a madly blushing Sophie step back, her hands delicately covering her mouth. "What marriage..? And with who..?" Sophie asks, her blush somehow becoming more visible. When Caroline points at her and nudges her head in my direction, I can't help blush at what she's implying.

Sophie turns to see what Caroline's pointing at. When Sophie and I find ourselves staring at each other for a long period of time, the scientists' implication dawned on both of us, causing us to blush a dark red. Sophie stumbles backwards as I drop the tablet- again. This time, when I pick the tablet up again, I look anywhere expect the female Percipient. And the times when we do meet each other's eyes, we find ourselves blushing- Sophie more than me.

Then we both look away, hoping our blush will fade away.

And Steven and Caroline's nonstop hysterics weren't helping.

...

As we walk back to the conference room to meet with the Altruistics and Sovereigns again, my mind races with the memory of the scientists already teasing us romantically. I don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that neither of our faces has gone back to its normal shade yet. "I- That was," I begin to say, feeling my face burn from my ongoing stutter.

When I turn to look at Sophie, she reddens more at the chemist and pathologist's antics. "It- um... I-" And just like me, she couldn't say another word without blushing.

At a loss for words regarding that topic, I gratefully take the opportunity to change the topic. "Before that happened," I say, stopping in my tracks. As Sophie stops as well, I continue, "Did you learn anything?"

Sophie nods. "Kind of," she admits. "We were about to set up our side of the lab when she changed the topic. She apparently had a sample of her blood, which is AB positive, by the way," she adds. "But she said something about an article that might explain why and how she had cyanide within her." She shakes her head. "She wasn't specific."

I nod my head in agreement. "Same here. I found multiple stab wounds, cuts, boot imprints, and bruises that signify that the killer didn't want other to be able to identify her." When Sophie shudders, I say, "I know. But after that..." My face warms a bit. "You know what happened."

She also nods, her face wearing a light pink blush. "..Yeah.."

With another awkward silence in the air, I shake my head and open the door. But before I fully open it, I suddenly turn back and whisper, "Sophie, are we going to tell them about..?"

Her face immediately flushes as she shakes her head. "I personally don't want to- most likely we'll be tortured forever from that!"

Realizing that myself, I nod in agreement and open the door completely- as if nothing ever happened.