Love Through Death Aaron x Clay

The Lost Knight~ Part Two

Aaron's P.O.V.~

I was hyped for the next task.  Clay looked proud of me during the first challenge, and I wanted to prove to him I was worthy of wearing my armor again.

Amber looked so pissed off after the first challenge.  Still, we followed Clay out to the open grassland the Fortrex stopped at, awaiting the next task.

"For this challenge, I need to see how well you can shoot moving targets. In a minute, a couple dozen squire-bots will start running all over the area. Again, like the other challenge, whoever hits the most targets wins," I caught a slight voice of boredom in Clay's tone at the last comment.

Still, I shook the thought away. There was no reason to be thinking into his voice. We weren't anything in this time.

There's a chance you could be something, my thought argued, but I decided to let it go as I watched the squire-bots carrying targets above their heads.

Amber got the first target, but I answered with three targets. That seemed to describe how that contest went. Needless to say, I won easily.

The female growled in rage, gripping her bow so tightly, her knuckled turned ghostly white. She muttered curses under her breath, only stopping when Clay chuckled.

"This last one's for Aaron only." The brunette pulled his claymore sword off of his back. "All you have to do is knock me down."

The female archer gave a hurt noise. "Why can't I participate in this challenge?"

Clay smiled kindly at her, which made my blood boil in jealousy. "Amber, you and I have spared before. You haven't been able to knock me down yet. I just want to see how Aaron fairs."

The girl huffed at me.  As she passed by, she purposefully bumped into my shoulder, muttering, "Like he could do better."

Needless to say, I decided to ignore her.  If I did have a chance with Clay again, I didn't think it would be a good idea to snap at something so small.  Though the animal inside- that monster Aeron -wanted to do something, I bit the inside of my mouth to stop myself.

After a second, I met Clay's confused gaze.  "We gonna do this, or are you just enjoying the view?" I smirk, adding a wink when he shook his head.

The knight didn't waste any more time talking.  He struck the Blaser-Bow in an instant.

I backed away, trying to remember what Clay's weakness was. Before we were even a thing, I never knew his weakness. That is, I didn't know his weakness until I watched him now.

The way he walked... his knee seemed to lock. Did he always have that? Was it something he had in this time?

Still, I had a target. Might as well use it to my advantage.

"So, Clay," I say, "what made you want to be a knight? I have a feeling I might be able to guess how long you've wanted to be a knight."

His blue eyes met mine with an odd expression. He hesitated in his steps, which gave me the distraction I wanted.

I charged him, using my bow to lock around his wonky knee. Our eyes met as I took the claymore sword from Clay's grip before pulling my bow towards me.

Clay grunted as his back made contact with the ground. He tried untangling his knee from my bow, but when I pointed his sword at his neck, he halted any motion he had. For the first time in my life, I had taken Clay Moorington down.

"No fair!" Amber shouted, taking the sword from my hand to point at me.

I couldn't take it anymore. "What about this isn't fair? The fact that I was able to take him down when you know you can't?"

Amber glared daggers at me. "You brought up something about him that is personal. No one mentions the reason he became a knight. It's not your place to say those things."

Anger swelled up in my chest. My peripheral vision was turning red until I heard a deep laugh. Both of us turned our heads downward to see Clay smiling.

Without a question, he held his hand out to be helped up. "Amber, that was totally fair. Aaron saw I have a locking kneecap, and decided to use words to blindside me." As I dropped the bow and helped Clay to his feet, he smiled kindly at me. "Maybe we've found the Lost Knight."

Everyone surrounded us in an instant. I had to take off my headphones because I couldn't hear a single beat over their confused and excited comments. The only one not happy about the predicament was the black knight.

Amber met my eyes, mouthing something that made my blood both go cold and boil.

'He'll never love you like he loves me.'

Clay led me away before I could react. Soon enough, I was standing in front of my armor.

Joy had spread through my body, but I was also nervous. If this wasn't my armor...

"Relax," Clay gripped my shoulder. "I'll leave you to change. If it fits, I'll have to tell King Halbert the good news. There just may be a celebration in your honor, Aaron."

With a nod, I felt the knight leave my side. I didn't waste a moment longer. I started pulling the armor on piece by piece. It was when I lifted my bow and shield that I looked in the mirror.

I looked like myself again. I wasn't some random stranger in a world I don't belong in. At last, I felt I was playing in a role in this crazy world. I was a knight again.

In that moment, I saw a note taped on the back of my shield. All it had written was something that shocked me.

'You'll find me in the mountains

~A. Fox'

I couldn't let my hope get to me. There was no way Ashton was here. She was in Ninjago all my life. Although, things have changed a lot. What if they changed for her too?

Before I could dwell on the note long, the door opened behind me. "Wow. You look like a completely different person in the armor."

I turned around to face Clay with a smile.  We stayed in silence for a few moments before the blue knight came over to me, causing me to hold my breath.  He tilted his head, but I couldn't help but wish he'd do something with me.

My wish came true to say the least.  Clay leaned his head down, bringing his face so close to mine that I could feel his breath on my lips.  My eyes stayed on his lips, watching and hoping for the slight movement for our lips to touch.

"I'll see you later, Aaron Fox," he pulled away from me, turned to the door, and left just like that.

A tear seemed to fall from my eye.  I was heartbroken. 

I chided myself for hoping something would happen so soon.  He doesn't even know me.  He has something going on with Amber.  I shouldn't think he'd do something behind her back.

Not unless it happens just like I remember our first kiss did.  I need to get someone to dare him to kiss me.

That, or I just hope one day Clay will love me again.