Team ALLY

Chapter 20: Shattered

The rest of the night is awkward. Lilac won't talk to me and to be honest I don't feel like being around anyone. The next day I'm walking in the courtyard when I run into Cinder. I turn around to walk away when Mercury and Emerald come up from behind me to stop me. "I'm done playing in your game."

"Oh but you don't even know what we want." Cinder says, as she slowly walks up. "Doesn't matter. I'm done." She places her hand on my chest. "It's rather simple. I just need you to lose your match today. If you lose then everything will be in place for our plan. All you have to do is throw the match."

"I told you I won't help you."

"You forget we hold the cards here. She leans up to my ear. "Wouldn't want anything to happen to your grandmother, would we?" I feel my anger boil. I'm tired of them doing this, using her to hold my hand behind my back. She steps back with a grin. "See you later, tough guy." They walk away. I sense Lilac behind me and turn around. "Now you're-"

"Just shut the fuck up Lilac. For your information that's Cinder, Emerald and Merc-"

"Thanks for introducing me to the girl you were flirting with and her scummy friends."

"Y'know what Lilac since you know everything then why don't you remind me who we were investigating?"

"Don't change the subject!"

"They're the people blackmailing me ya bimbo!"

"Yeah right." She says angrily as she walks off. I'm at my wits end. I don't know what to do. I fly down to Vale and walk into Ms. Flora's shop. "Hey." I say defeated.

"You seem down. Need some womanly advice?"

"Me and Lilac have been fighting."

"What about?"

"I made a mistake. Kept a secret from her to try and protect her. Can't say much but let's say some dangerous people were after me. She called me out and I told the truth. She does the same thing over something, in my opinion, minor. I call her out, she gets spiteful and petty. Now she won't talk to me. Earlier she walked up when-" It's a this moment I have to decide if I go full dive and tell her everything or try to keep my cover. I probably chose wrong. "-a girl was coming onto me. An exchange student who saw the first match. When she got a bit, forward, I pushed her back and said I hoped to see her in the tournament. She talked herself up a fair game so I wanted to see what she could do." I look up at Ms. Flora's face and instantly recognized where I fucked up trying to explain it to her. She uses a vine to grab a cactus and bring it to herself. I run for the door as she starts flinging cacti at me. I fly off and land on a building away from her.

I just sit there, contemplating my choices. On one hand I can betray Leo's trust and let down the team by throwing the match. Or fight my hardest and know winning means they go after the ones I love. But I don't have long to think when Leo calls me on the scroll. "Aries, where are you? The match is gonna start here in ten."

"Just needed some air. I'll be there."

"You'd better. Grandma came to watch her grandchildren kick ass." I hang up and fly over to the arena. I run into the arena and I look up to see her there. Now I can't throw this. It's all in. The randomizer spins and it lands on a thick forest, our home turf. The arena changes and locks in place as Port calls for the match of me and Leo versus Pyrrha and Nora to begin. Leo and I disappear into the forest. "Hey Nora!" She spins to see me and fires her grenade launcher I use my telekinesis to help me dodge each shot. "C'mon. Stop trying to hit me and hit me!" She charges and swings her hammer. I dodge over and knock her into the woods. "You couldn't hit the broad side of a Goliath." She charges me again and I fly deeper into the forest. "Aries you're pissing her off!" Leo says through the link. "That's the plan." I respond. She swings again, the hammer coming within inches of hitting me. "Not a good plan!" Leo responds. I continue to lead her through the forest and use an illusion to disappear. I circle around and manage a blow to her chest. Causing her to fly back. I sense Pyrrha on my right so I dodge. "Leo!" He charges out knocking Pyrrha back with a blow to her shield. Nora stands back up and I fly up and taunt her into following me. I lead her through the woods until I get to two identical trees. I form a net trap out of psychic energy. She jumps right into it and I wrap it around her. "Now that's how we did it back home!"

I start feeling fuzzy. The world around me seems to warp. Emerald must be trying to use an illusion. I see my parents and know what she's trying to do. I block her out and immediately fly over to Leo. "Damn you Emerald!" I shout under my breath

I get close and see Leo clutching his head, red energy starting to flow around him. He looks murderously toward Pyrrha. I reach in, blocking out Emerald but it's too late, he's full blown berserker. I land and yell "SLEEP!" as I use my semblance to hypnotize him. He falls to the ground and I let go of the breath I was holding. "Aries what-" Before Pyrrha can finish I feel a hammer strike me in the chest. Sending me flying. I fly across the center of the arena, crashing into the trees and coming to a full stop against a rock. My aura is depleted and we lose the match. "Damn...you...Em..." I can't even finish as I pass out.

I wake up in the infirmary in roaring pain. I look over and Leo is sitting up on the bed. "Hey man, what happened?"

"Emerald got in our heads. They wanted me to throw the match and when it became obvious that I wasn't going to she forced my hand. I shut her out but I couldn't get to you in time. You went berserk and I had to shut you down. Then Nora hit me with a suckerpunch, ending the match."

"Shouldn't have pissed her off." He jokes. I try to laugh but my ribs hurt too much. "I thought you'd be angry I hypnotized you."

"I'm just glad it wasn't me on the other side of that hammer." He jokes again. "Dude, stop, you're killing me." He laughs as I clutch my side. "So I guess you remembered the fight, huh?"

"To be fair I had it coming. The Blake illusion was a cheap trick." Leo chuckles. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Guess I thought it was no big deal. We've had our share of scuffles. That one just went a little downhill. Grandma got you restrained before you did any real damage. All's well that ends well." Leo knocks on my head. "You sure we're remembering the same fight? Way I remember it you were cut open by a claw strike across the chest and I hit you so hard you went flying headfirst into a tree."

"Okay it went really south. But I'd be a hypocrite to hold that against you knowing what I've done when I lost control." Leo shakes his head. "You are something."

"Well Lilac used to think so. But I don't think I can salvage what's left."

"She'll come around. I think you two might just need some space. I'm gonna go to the bloom festival with Yema in the summer, maybe invite Lilac along."

"If she'll even trust me." Yema walks in alongside Lilac and look at us. Yema starts. "What was that? First off, you had home field advantage. You seemed to be onto the right track by leading them into the forest. Aries even had one down. But then, Aries, you shut Leo down and leave yourself wide open to be taken out. It was a total tactical failure."

"Yema listen. Emerald had him under illusion he was about to go full berserker on Pyrrha. So I set my rule against hypnosis aside to restrain him."

"So I guess your absolute values have limits. Lilac says, cross armed. "Lilac, listen. Cinder-"

"Oh of course it all boils back to her. Y'know what-"

"ENOUGH!" I shout. The IV stand next to me bends and buckles, the tray on the cart crumples along with the can in Yema's hand as she drops it. "Lilac. I think you should leave." Yema says calmly. I look around and everyone's just looking at me with a look of shock. "As unstable as ever, Aries." Lilac scoffs as she walks out. "We're through, Lilac." I retort. I stand up, using my scythe as a walking stick. "I need some air." Leo helps to support me as I walk out.