Exam day with a twist

Hands falling flat on a desk, the noise cutting loudly through the brouhaha inside the Arena. There's a silence following the sound, as people turn their attention to the blond guy at the welcoming desk. The lady behind the desk seems suddenly nervous as the face of the boy in front of her grows red in anger.

-WHAT DO YOU MEAN, I CAN'T TRY OUT UNLESS I HAVE A PARTNER ?!!!

The lady obviously wants to be anywhere but here. She seems pretty nervous but more so scared.

-Well, like I said, because of the number of deaths from last year, the Collectors Headquarters decided to implant a new rule for this year's exam. You cannot participate unless you have a partner to protect your back.

-''Well'', Salamander quote with a snarl CAN'T YOU MAKE AN EXCEPTION ?!

The lady shakes her head and she jumps slightly when she sees flames erupting from her client's hands.
She swallows nervously.

-CAN I CHOOSE ANYONE ?! IS THERE A REQUIREMENT IN HOW I CHOOSE MY PARTNER ?! If his glare could melt the lady, it would. The stare is intense and the secretary barely holds it.

-W-Well, not-not really. As long as you both agree to be par-partners and sign the papers to-together...Her voice is very shaky.

Salamander turns around sharply and looks around. The people that are alone seem to run or disappear somewhere where they won't be forced to partner up with this crazy tempered blond. The others are very relieved to have already a partner but they seem still wary. Who knows if that angry boy won't try to force someone to sign up with him.

-Fucking Marino deciding to come with Luke... he mumble under his breathe, but because he's loud,
everyone can hear him.

Jumping out of her bed, Sofia rush changing her clothes, brushing her hair and teeth before shoving her feet in her boots. Oscar rolled in his sleep and snuggle into the pillow that he had stolen from her in the middle of the night. She chuckled at him and pet his head before leaving the room to head down the stairs. Her father was standing there looking very upset.

"Sofia, I am not allowing you to enter the exam."

"Why not father?"

"Because I do not want you to end up like your mother."

"I want to honor her memory father. I want to be a collector like her."

The two argue back in forth for a few minutes, but Sofia finally made him crack as he ran his hand through his hair. He could not keep arguing with his only child and make her end up hating him for the rest of his life. A grumble sigh sound left his mouth as he begins to speak to her again.

"Fine. Go ahead. Just be careful Sofia. For me."

Sofia was late to the exam day as she had a habit of waking up later than normal and needed Luke to wake her up. She was a little pissed off at him because he last minute had picked a partner without asking her first. They were always the type to do things together, and this just made her feel lonely that she have to have a stranger as a partner for the exam. She made it to the building and hurried up the stairs to the door.

The door whoosh open as a short white hair girl enter the exam room. Her green cape trail behind her as she enters with a graceful and cheerful looking face. People stare at her being that she was someone that everyone knew. She just waved at the people and smiled at them as she usually did for others. Her bright almost white eyes looked at the front desk lady or were cringing from the boy in front of her. The girl put on her best smiled and walked over to the desk lady.

"Hey, Sabrina." The desk lady immediate ease up upon seeing the snow white hair girl.

:"Hey Sofia. I am surprised to see you here." The girl just giggles at that and shakes her head.

"I want to be a collector like my mother. My father cannot stop me from that. Anyways, I want to sign up, but it seems I do not have a partner." She leans on her staff that was on her hands. It was taller than her and was well crafted as a gift from her father from her 16 birthday.

"Yes, Sorry." The lady looked sadly at the girl.

"It is fine. Luke decided to ditch me the last minute." She chuckles and begins to have small talked with the lady.

"I want to be a collector like my mother. My father cannot stop me from that. Anyways, I want to sign up, but it seems I do not have a partner."

Salamander's attention is immediately turned towards the fragile white haired girl who passed him to go talk to the lady at the desk. When their eyes met, he shyly diverts his attention elsewhere, with a frown and a slight blush on his cheeks. Of course he remembers her, she was Charlotte's daughter after all and she's Luke's best friend. Not that he cares. He glares at the room harder, as if it would convince anyone to work with him. Salamander gets a bit antsier. People just ignore him harder or run away before they can be dragged into his mess. His hands form fists and he grumbles. He has no other choices, even if it's hard for him to admit.

"It is fine. Luke decided to ditch me the last minute."

He growls and thinks,

*Stupid Luke and Marino*

He turns around and because he never really left the desk, he's close enough of Sofia to rudely grab her left arm. He scowls at her, his fierce red eyes searching for her delicate icy blue eyes. For the people looking, it's exactly as if a wolf cornered a poor sheep. Sofia looks surprised that the boy suddenly decided to grab her like that. Quite roughly too. His face is red but for the people looking, they're quite uncertain if it's from anger or embarrassment.

-YOU, ME !?

It's exactly like talking to a barbarian, honestly. Salamander gets redder at his own lacks of words. He repeats, harder;

-TEAM UP ?!

Despite asking her, he doesn't wait for her to answer and already grab a pen to sign up the exam registration form. When he finishes signing his name, he held the pen to her, his eyes glaring very impolitely at her.

Sofia felt her arm being pulled as she forced to turned to look into the boy's eyes. Her blue eyes widen in shock and stare into the red eyes before her. A blush form on her cheeks which made her looked even more adorable than she was already. Her head tilts to the side in confusion a bit after the shocked passed through her. She notices everyone around her was whispering and seem very scared for the girl. It embarrassed her a bit being this close to a boy who used to be a pain in the butt to her and Luke.

YOU, ME !?

His face was getting redder as she speaks which she could not help but bit her cheek from not trying to giggle at his reaction. It was sort of cute. Her face could not get any redder as she was not completely as red as she could get.

-TEAM UP ?

! Before she could answer him. He had already dragged her over to sign the paper. He was the first to sign and held the pen out to her. She ignores the glaring and takes the pen with a smile.

"Alright. No need to be brash." She gives him a genuine smile before writing her name in her nice neat hand writing.

ѕσfια αмєℓια

Sofia smiled at the lady who was utterly confused at the girl who was not even scared of the boy. It was like she did not notice or care that he was a pretty scary person. She just gave the lady a smiled as usual and felt herself being tugged away into the exam room. She matches his pace with ease as she was not a slow walker at all.

"Alright. No need to be brash."

He gets even redder and he let go of her arm, avoiding her eyes. The secretary at the desk send an impressed stare at Sofia and everyone around them seems to be fascinated at how calm she is being despite being forced to become the partner of such a crude boy.

Salamander glance down at the registration form and he blinks at Sofia's handwriting.

ѕσfια αмєℓια

He looks at his own signature who's so simple and unpolished. He scratches the back of his head and looks away again, quite embarrassed by how she's so refined compared to him.

She barely finishes to sign up the registration form that he grabs her arm and pull her away from the desk to tug her towards the Exam room where everyone is waiting. He turns towards her while walking and smile excitedly at her;

-WE'RE GOING TO DESTROY EVERYTHING AND WIN FIRST PLACE!

Without caring about who could listen to him, he screams then;

-LET'S BEAT ALL THOSE WEAKLINGS!

____________________

When they enter the waiting room for the exam, they are greeted by Luke and Marino who seems to be also waiting their turn inside the Arena.

Salamander immediately let go of Sofia's arm, as if too flustered to be seen by people they know holding a girl's arm. The minute he let go, his fist fly straight to Marino's face. The boy barely dodge the punch, chuckling;

-You didn't waste time, my friend.

-YOU TRAITOR !!!!!!!

It seems to be Marino and Salamander's way to bicker.

-WE'RE TOTALLY GOING TO BEAT YOU BOTH !!!!!!

Luke laugh at Salamander's fury and slap him on the back playfully, which totally send Salamander to the floor because of his insane strength.

Salamander curses loudly from the floor.

-WE'RE GOING TO DESTROY EVERYTHING AND WIN FIRST PLACE! He ended up screaming which made her chuckle lightly at him.

"You are very optimistic. I am sure we will do very well." She said in a soft tone and nodded her head at him.

-LET'S BEAT ALL THOSE WEAKLINGS! He screamed again as she just shakes her hand at him and enters the room.

When they got into the room, she felt her arm being let go by the boy which made her blush as she forgot that he was holding her arm the whole time. Her eyes went wide as she saw Salamander fist curled up as he aimed to punch Marino the dick in the face who had barely dodge the hothead's fist. A gasp escaped her lips as worried filled her face. Fighting between people always made her slightly worried that both people will get seriously injure.

-You didn't waste time, my friend. Marino seems to be mocking him.

-YOU TRAITOR !!!!!!! Salamander retorted back.

-WE'RE TOTALLY GOING TO BEAT YOU BOTH !!!!!! He said proudly.

She notices Luke who waved at her in excitement and went to give her a big hug which she avoided quickly. Sofia had learned to be quick on her toes around Luke as she did not want to be squished to death or having to result in shocking him a little to let him know that he was hurting her. It was not something she liked to do because she hated hurting other people, but she will if she had to. She gave Luke a quick hug, fast enough that he could not use his strength to strangle her to death.

"Sorry Luke, I am not going have ended up shocking you like last time to stop you from hurting my back. I think almost fried what left of your brai.... nevermind." She stops mid-sentence as she remembers that she was almost letting out the sassy beast within out to play.

Luke begins to laugh at Salamander as he slapped Salamander's back which resulted in Salamander falling on the floor. Sofia put a hand to her face to try to hide the giggle forming behind her lips. A few giggles escaped her lips. She held her hand out for him to help pulled him up with one of her big smiles on her face.

"Need help?"

From the ground, he hears someone giggling. It's a very delicate laugh, something he's not used to hearing. He lifts his head from the ground, his chin pressed on the hard floor. He grumbles. He's ashamed every time it's clear how stronger Luke is compared to him. And worst, he was sent flying to the ground right in front of Charlotte's daughter. He scowls hard and tries to get up when a hand presents itself in front of him.

"Need help?"

His red gaze catches the clear blue eyes of Sofia and he blushes so hard it extends to his neck. He clumsily avoids her hand along with her stare and gets up on his own with a swift swirl of a cape. He scoffs, not even bothering to answer her or excuse himself for avoiding her helping hand. He avoids Marino's curious glance too, stubbornly glaring at the wall, like a sulky kid.

That's when the soldier at the door clear his throat;

-Now that everyone is here, it's time to start the examen. We will proceed this way; Pairs will go in the order of their registration and after each complete task, they will be sent back here for another team to take over.

Salamander took the opportunity to ask, quite loudly;

-IS THERE A REWARD FOR THE TEAM WITH THE BEST SCORE ?!

There's an awkward silence, but the question was on everyone's mind, Salamander was just the only one to have no problem asking.

-It's an examen determined to evaluate your skills, not a competition. The man answer quite coldly. It earns him Salamander's glare.

-Now, the first pair to go-

________________________

Salamander is waiting impatiently for their turn, walking in circles in the room, like a lion in a cage. He growls like one too. When it's Marino and Luke's turn, he grows even more restless. He taps his foot on the floor, bothering everyone by how loud he's being. Even Sofia is not able to calm him.

When Marino and Luke come back, Salamander and Sofia's names are finally called.

-FUCKING FINALLY, I WAS GOING TO DIE FROM BOREDOM HERE !!!!!!!

He seems to be so pumped that smoke comes out of his mouth. His hand immediately reach for Sofia's arm and he squeezes it in a reassuring way, something he probably didn't mean to.

-WE ARE GOING TO BLOW YOU ALL IN THE WATER !!!!!

Ironic that he's talking about water because the next minute, both Sofia and Salamander are staring dumbly at a pool full of water where fishes swim without any care in the world.

The extravagant host in the Arena explains the rules of the task in his mic. That they need to catch at least one fish. The rules are followed by each team's scores, etc.

It takes a minute for Salamander's brain to reactivate. It's when he hears the white haired girl at his sides mutter;

''Fishes don't like me...''

In a very defeated tone that he finally understands what he has to do. He glances at his partner who's so tense she's nearly breaking the fishing rod she's holding in two. His hold on his partner's arm tightened before he let go completely.

He grasps her right shoulder and pushes her back, away from the pond. He cracks his fingers loudly and fires start appearing around his fingers.

-Stay back He grunts in a more calm tone.

When he's certain that there's enough space between his partner and the pond, he screams so loudly that you wonder how he didn't lose his voice just then;

-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He dives both hands in the pond and there's a massive explosion from below the surface of the water. Scorching water explodes out of the pond and starts raining around the basin. Despite being sprayed with hot burning water, his skin merely reddens at the contact. While he's throwing fire balls after fire balls into the water, he screams enthusiastically in crescendo;

-DIE!!!! DIE!!!!! DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The water is boiling harshly and it takes only a few seconds before the corpses of the poor fishes start appearing at the surface. The fire mage starts cackling madly and removes his hands from the scalding pond. He retrieves the dead fishes with swift movements and when they have enough to be largely in the lead compared to the other teams, he gets back on his feets and smiles cockily at Sofia. He stares at her for a minute before turning his gaze to the crowd that is losing their shit and celebrating their victory.

He doesn't hesitate and takes Sofia's hand in his, lifting her arm in the air with his, in a victory pose.

-WE ARE GOING TO DESTROY THE COMPETITION !!!!!!!

He proclaims to the crowd when it was confirmed earlier that there's absolutely no competition, to begin with. He seems to not care about the rules at all.

-Now that everyone is here, it's time to start the examen. We will proceed this way; Pairs will go in the order of their registration and after each complete task, they will be sent back here for another team to take over.

-IS THERE A REWARD FOR THE TEAM WITH THE BEST SCORE ?!

Silence filled the room as if people were wondering the same thing as he was. Sofia was not in it for an award of some sort. She wanted to be like her mother and be a great collector, not some person who was here just to show off. Her ideas of helping people by being a great collector like her mother were more satisfying answer to her than some flimsy award.

-It's an examen determined to evaluate your skills, not a competition. The man answers quite coldly. Sofia glance over to see Sal glaring at the man and let out a light huff of air

-Now, the first pair to go-

People were coming and going into the arena as some of them looked defeated and tired from the events they had to go through. She was patiently waiting against the wall as she twirls her too big for her staff in front of her. Her eyes watched as her partner was pacing like a wild animal in a cage as he walked around in a circle. She lightly flinches every time he growls as she felt the frustrated seep out of him. He got worse seeing that Luke and Marino was next and felt like he was going to crack any second. Sofia wanted to go over and tried to calm him down, but she can tell that even she could not stop him. He was now tapping his foot to loud which was irritating other people in the room who were waiting as well.

Luke and Marino had exited the arena and looked both pleased from whatever they achieve in there. The guard that was in front of the entrance to the arena finally said their name

"Salamander and Sofia, you are next."

-FUCKING FINALLY, I WAS GOING TO DIE FROM BOREDOM HERE !!!!!!! Salamander practically scream out loud. Smoke was coming out of his mouth as she grabbed onto Sofia arm once more. Her face turned bright red feeling the hot flesh boy touch her icy cold skin. He squeezes her arm in a reassuring way which did not help her not turn into a tomato.

'Geez, at the end of the day, I will turn into a tomato for real.' She thought as she was dragged into the arena.

-WE ARE GOING TO BLOW YOU ALL IN THE WATER !!!!! She was started to adapt to his loud talking as she just shakes her head at him.

A pond sat in the middle of the arena as the announcer speaks about them having to fish. It was Sofia worse fears as she could not for the life of her fish. She was too gentle when it comes to harming creatures and ended up just not able to find herself able to harm them. The pond was filled with fish, and two fishing road lay to the side of the pond.

The extravagant host in the Arena explains the rules of the task in his mic. That they need to catch at least one fish. The rules are followed by each team's scores, etc. THe whole time Sofia is frozen in fear as she tried her hardest to catch the fished. They just kept getting away she had was not the strongest person. She let out a sigh.

'Fishes don't like me...'' Sofia looked down at the fishing rod in her hands which were shaking from the stress. She tried to hide it was an awkward smiled. The next thign she knows is that he had grab her arm and said.

-Stay back He grunts in a more calm tone.

"I don't think..." He was not listening to her.

-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sofia walked far enough away from her partner as she watched him begin to scream loud.

He dives his hands and started to heat up the water that rush between his hands. It started have a massive explosion which took her by surprise as she stepped back and let out a small quiet yelp. The pond was now boiling by the time he removed his hands from the pond. The way he was cackling madly made her a little scare, but she figures it was just how he acted by now. He was beginning to gather all the fish as fast as he could.

"Poor Fish." She watched as they flopped from their uncoming death.

She smiled at him seeing his cockily smiled as he turned to her. A blushed form through her face as he was staring into her icy blue eyes. He had returned to looking at the crowd who was celebrating super hard from them gathering the most fish. Her small hand slipped into his larger hands as he lifted her arm along with his in the air.

-WE ARE GOING TO DESTROY THE COMPETITION !!!!!!!

'What have I gotten myself into.' She said as she felt how proud he was about winning this small task.

When they come back to the lounge where every pair is waiting, Salamander is smiling proudly at anybody who stares too hard at him. Marino doesn't waste time coming to see him;

-By your smile, you two probably did well in catching the fishes. But He flips his hair in a flamboyant way, looking so haughty. As if he doesn't believe one second that his team would lose. you certainly couldn't have done better than us.

Salamander's grin grows ferocious and he sticks his nose into Marino's face. They are cockily staring at each other, both confident in their own victory. Even if, like repeated earlier, there's no competition. Before Salamander can retort to Marino's provocation, Luke laugh cheerily.

-No matter who wins, I'm just so happy to team up with you, Marino !

Marino's face seems to catch on fire; His entire face grows red and he seems to have lost his voice suddenly. Salamander stare at his friend in confusion and, while stepping back, ask Marino;

-Why are you so red suddenly ? He's totally oblivious to what's happening and to his best friend's attraction to Luke.

Marino is thankfully saved from answering his friend's question by their names being called for the next task. He scrambles to the arena, pointedly avoiding Salamander's confused glare. Luke follows behind.

Salamander crosses his arms on his chest, scoffing.

-What's with him ?!

_______________________

Unlike earlier, while they are waiting for their turn, Salamander is quiet and not as fidgety. He seems to have been satisfied by his violent outburst in the first task. His EP is coming back to him slowly.

He's currently sitting next to his partner. He glances at her calmly. Despite her smile, her form is kind of tense and she's sitting too straight. He growls under his breath and slaps her shoulders. A bit too roughly,
but it wasn't meant to be violent or to hurt her. He looks away when she stares at him in confusion.

-It's going to be okay. You're with me, after all. His voice is in a comfortable intonation. He avoided being loud for her sake, probably.

Sofia was a relief to be finally out of the arena. She notices that Marino had to wander his way over to them.
"By your smile, you two probably did well in catching the fishes. But..." The damn guy flipped his hair in the sassiest way. She tried to not giggle at how dumb he looked doing that. "you certainly couldn't have done better than us."

She rolled her eyes at him before walking past the two and glance to see them in each other faces about each other victory. It was something she could never understand as she stood next to Luke who was too dumb to even see the situation.

"-No matter who wins, I'm just so happy to team up with you, Marino !" Marino's face was on fire which made her giggle a bit seeing the guy. Seeing the annoying boy confuse was priceless for Sofia as she burst out laughing seeing his reaction.

-Why are you so red suddenly?
Her laughter got worst when Salander was confused. She could tell that Sal was not the brightest, but this was making him look dumber than before. Her laughter ceased when she heard Luke and Marino's name being called to enter the arena.

"I ship it." She slightly whispers just enough for the two to hear while they walked way. Luke stared at her confused as ever but shakes it off and followed Marino.

-What's with him ?! She snorted and tried to stop her laughter to begin again.

"He doesn't get the hint at all.' Then all sudden her nerve kick in thinking that they were next after Luke and Marino. She never thought her issues would kick in during the arena. She was worried that she would not live up to her mother image. She was the split image of her mother..well other than her hair is much shorter than her mother's. She was not focused on her partner who was staring at her calmly. She puts her best smile on her face at him and sits up straight.When she felt him slapped her should, Shock ran over her body as she looked at him.

-It's going to be okay. You're with me, after all.

A true smile plasters her face and she nodded her head at him. It was taking a little longer than usual for Marino and Luke to come in. She knew it was Luke who probably was the one that was making Marino frustrated that they were not finishing fast enough. Wink Wink. She watched as they finally left the arena with Luke looking stress out as hell. He must have had to use his pea brain for something.

"Sofia and Salamander."

They were up next as it was her turn to grabbed his hand and dragged him into the arena. She notices that it was set up with 3 puzzles. It was a pushed and pull time of puzzle with rocks that needed to be set into the one flooring that mark where the right stone should go.

"This is easy." She said as she listens to announcer talk about the puzzle and what needed to be done.

When Sofia answer him with the most honest smile, he almost gets blindsided by it. He freezes up at the sight of it and quickly looks away. He feels like his heart sped up a bit, but he's confused as to why his own heart would do that. He's not in a fight, after all. He's then distracted by Marino and Luke coming back from their task. Luke looks drained while Marino looks kind of irritated. Salamander feel his hands tenses up.

*I have a bad feeling about the next task...*

His partner abruptly takes his hand into hers and Salamander note how cold her skin feels against his. He didn't really pay attention earlier, but their corporal temperature is totally the opposite of each other. He only has time to blink before he's dragged into the arena.

At the sight of the puzzles laid on the ground of the arena, he winces. His earlier foreboding was apparently justified.

He listens to what the host of the task is saying, but his brain is totally empty.

"This is easy."

Sofia's voice stir him from his torpor and he puffs his chest proudly. If he's nervous right now, he certainly will look ridiculous to his partner ! After all, he said ''It's going to be okay. You're with me, after all'' to her ! How embarrassing to get cold feets now !

He slap both his hands on his own cheeks, in a way to motivate himself and release a really loud scream;

-I CAN DO IT !!!!!!!

He glance at Sofia who is already starting her puzzle. He stomps towards his own puzzle and looks at it with a snobbish expression, arms crossed on his chest. He seems to mull over what he should be doing about it. Unfortunately for him, he chooses the hardest one first and it's too late to switch puzzle. He would look like an idiot if he decides to finish the easiest one now.

He takes so much time on his own puzzle that Sofia already finished the one she started with and the second one. She is walking towards him, probably to come help him.

Salamander's face gets all red from shame but also from anger. He kicks one of the stone, which sends it flying, probably where he shouldn't put it. He doesn't care, however.

-FUCK IT, I AM DOING IT MY WAY !!!!!

And it's exactly what he does; He lift the key stone with his bare hands and start walking towards the end of the puzzle. His legs are trembling, which says a lot about the weight of the stone, and he's groaning from the effort,

-GRMMMLLLL!!!

But he keeps at it. He's rewarded in the end when he successfully finishes his own puzzle. Without delicacy, he let go of the puzzle piece on the right spot and the stone lights up.

Salamander's breath is quite laborious and he's hunched over, hands on his knees.

The host congratulates them loudly for passing the task. This time, Salamander is not celebrating it, as if ashamed.

-I CAN DO IT !!!!!!!

Sofia had the easier time finishing the middle puzzle as she used her quick thinking. She moved in a fast motion as she pushes the stones in the right position. Then push the right one all the way with some difficulty back to the spot it needed to be. She decided to do the easy one as well and push the rocks aside before pushing the stone through to the end. A smile was on her face as she finished that within 3 minutes taking 2 minutes just moving the rocks around. In all together she had done 2 puzzles in 6 minutes. It was a proud record for her as she put her hands together and looked at the crowd who was cheering for her.

Her partner had chosen the harder one which she had ignored him because she was to focus on doing the puzzles. She didn't even notice she finished easy one before she finally gave up on figuring his puzzle and was causing him some trouble.

Sofia walked over to him and notice he looks upset that he was having trouble with the puzzle. He had kicked the stone which went flying and made her flinch a bit hearing it hit the walls.

-FUCK IT, I AM DOING IT MY WAY !!!!!

He began to lift up the key stone with his hands and walked to the end of the puzzle. He looked like he was struggling a bit which made worried crossed over her face. She had stayed at her spot and watched him with both hands to her mouth.

-GRMMMLLLL!!!

He kept going until he was at the end of the puzzle and dropped the piece onto the spot. She ran over to him when she saw that he was hunched over. Her soft small hands went on his shoulder as she looked at him with worried.

“Are you okay?” She glances into his red eyes with her soft icy blue eyes which were filled with worried.

“You could have hurt yourself. It is okay if you can't do things on your own. We are supposed to work together. We are a partner after all.” She gives him a light hug before pulling away.

“It is nothing to be ashamed of.” She walks grabs his hand and led him out of the arena. As they walked out, she was still holding his hands which Marino took note.

She instantly let go of his hand when she saw the blue hair jerk wakes over. Her face was completely red which made Luke looked worried over at her. He had interrupted Marino by tugging Sofia over to him and poking her in the face.

“Your face is all red?” When Luke said that she felt herself begin to blush even redder.

“I am-m fine.” She waved him off before she heard Marino mumbled something.

“Peasant has a crush.” Which made Sofia slapped him lightly on the shoulder.

“Say the one who was blushing over Luke.” She sasses him back before walking over to sit away from them.

She had pulled her cape to cover her face from being embarrassed that she was blushing like crazy from hugging Sal. Her soft body against his hard abs was too much for her. She has never been in such a situation. She had hugged others people before but never felt like a blushing mess from hugging someone.

Because he's hunched over, his stare directing at the ground, he doesn't really see Sofia coming over to him. Only when her cold hand grasps his shoulder that he lifts his gaze to stare at her. He's still a little out of breath, but out of pride he straightened his position and stand up squarely. He even puffs out his chest,
but he's obviously still gasping for air. His red gaze glare at her, defying her to say anything.

“Are you okay?”

Salamander search her soft blue eyes with his crimson stare and when he only sees worry in her eyes, his glare softens and he scoffs.

-'Course I'm okay

He's about to say something else, this time probably louder, but she speaks before he has the time to do it;

“You could have hurt yourself. It is okay if you can't do things on your own. We are supposed to work together. We are a partner after all.”

He can't even look at her anymore. She's right but he can't possibly tell her that. His hands form nervous fists and his jaw clench shut, to keep himself from yelling incoherent stuff at her.

Because he's looking at everything and not her, the hug takes him totally by surprise. Someone has to wonder how he didn't pass out yet from all the blood rushing to his face. He gets so red there's smoke coming out of his ears. His whole body gets stiff and his hands are stuck in fists at his sides. His eyes are bulging open and his jaw clench even tighter as he groans uncomfortably through clamped teeth and tight shut lips. He totally doesn't know how to answer to this hug, his thoughts totally spiraling out of control as his entire body warms up and his heart increase in speed.

*WHAT IS GOING ONNNNNNNNNN ?!!!!!!*

And just like that, she releases him from the hug. However, she takes his hand and leads him towards the exit. He follows dumbly, his thoughts still chanting ''What The Entire Fuck'' in his mind.

They barely get out of the Arena that Luke and Marino comes towards them. Salamander is so out of it that he doesn't even register Marino's taunts at him. His best friend seems to find it odd how Salamander is only standing dumbly on his feets, not even acknowledging his provocation, looking stunned. In his mind right now there's little versions of Sofia running around his head, with little angel wings, chanting ''We are partners after all'' in a choir way. His mind also doesn't fucking stop replaying the hug over and over.

He's pulled out of his daydreaming by Marino who repeatedly snap his fingers in front of his face. Salamander stare at him for a second or two, looking hella confused, before scowling and trying to bite Marino's fingers off.

-STOP IT, YOU ANNOYING TWAT !!!!!!!

-Hahaha, there you are. I was getting worried.

Salamander growls back at him, like a dog. They bicker for a bit before Luke and Marino's names are called. Now alone with Sofia, Salamander gets a bit tense, but he shrugs his nervousness off.

*I hug my sisters all the time, no big deal*

He turns his head towards his partner-''We are partners after all''

He grits his teeth as his mind keep torturing him. He shakes his thoughts off.

-I am going to sit down He tells her.

He doesn't waste time to sit down. He needs to recuperate from his stupid move earlier.

“You could have hurt yourself. It is okay if you can't do things on your own. We are supposed to work together. We are a partner after all.”

He closes his eyes and scowl. He senses Sofia sitting on the chair next to his. He grumbles towards her;

-Next time, I'll tell you if I need some help. He probably won't, but he can't help but feels guilty about how worried she was being earlier.

Exam day with a twist Ffb362956e92a9e7a547fae1dbee890d1f72c542_hq

Sofia nodded her head before removing the cape from her face and looking over to the guard who was mumbling something about being the last event of the day. She felt excited knowing it was almost over, and she can go home soon. Oscar must be very worried for her which always ends up with a giant cuddle session with the tiny boar. She shifted her cape as people were being called into the arena.

'I miss Oscar.' She clutches her cape that was still in her hands.

It was a long wait this time because it seems to be a harder challenge as many people seem come back looking really tired and holding a wounded arm or any wounded body part. It started to make her worried that she may end up hurt. She knew he probably is alright, but she cannot help but worried about the fighting. Her ice and lightning skill was one of the best in the town. Her confident in fighting was severely lacking as she never could find the heart to harm creatures.

'Maybe, I should not have taken up being a collector...' Her minds wander to the worst part of her secret doubts of her life.

"Next." Sofia snapped out of it knowing it was there turned now. She quickly got up from her spot which she almost fell because of her nervous nature shining through her usually happy face. No one knew that deep inside she was a broken girl who had anxiety from the loss of her mother. She was just good at hiding her true emotions.

That was all she was thinking as she walked next to Sal into the arena. Three big large wood doors rest against the wall. It looked the most plain from the lack of anything on the ground. People looked on edge in their seats, waiting to see what will happen next. She heard Sal say something that really just went over her head as she was more focus on the door.

The announcer begins to say a few words before the doors swing open and slimes came piling in. She quickly grabbed her staff and ready her self. She was focused on the right side as she moved her hand to the ground sending spikes of ice in a line toward the monster. She had to freeze them as they became solid ice statue.

"Someone look all frozen up inside." She said jokingly as she watched as Salamander took care a decent amount of the slimes. She was debating slashing the now melting slimes. She was a bit too kind to harm the poor things.

'I probably should. Sorry so sorry.' She looked sadly at the half melted frozen slimes

Shrugging her shoulder, she switched elements as lightning started to form around her as she felt the lighting form on the tips of her fingers. She moves her hand toward the line of frozen slimes as her lightning burst from her hand and shocked all the slimes around making them all of them die from the shock.

Some bunnies came out of the doors, Sofia let out a giant smiled seeing the bunnies. They avoided her as if she was one of them.

"Bunnies!!!" She squeals at the bunnies. It was the loudest she ever been in front of people. Cute things were her weakness. Sofia had gently picked up a bunny and snuggle into it fur. The bunny just instantly started snuggling back into her. For some reason, animals did not want to harm her even the most agressive ones like boars.

Sofia doesn't seem to have heard what he said. He frowns and opens his mouth to say something else, to ask if she's okay, but he closes it shut when it's announced that it's their turn to enter the Arena. The wait had been pretty long and Salamander saw how everyone exiting the arena were wounded somewhere. Some were even so badly wounded they couldn't walk back to the waiting room and had to be carried. Salamander was BEYOND EXCITED because it meant it wasn't a stupid puzzle and it may be a real tough fight. He cracks his fingers loudly and cackles as he gets on his feets. Man, he's SO ready for a fight. Salamander will never lose against anyone ~~unless it's against Luke~~ so he's eager to prove his skills to the crowd once again. Not only that but pummeling something with his bare fists and ravaging everything with his flames will allow him to release some steam. He doesn't even think he can lose, despite how many people came back wounded.

*It's because they're all weaklings.*

He snort in amusement. He's not like them, he trained for this day. Hard. Without letting his body catch a break. At the end of the day, everyone will remember how much he looked cool and hopefully, the puzzle task will be swiped under the rug.

He glance at his delicate partner however as they enter the arena. She looks already close to fainting. She's so nervous she's shaking.

-H-Hey He try to get her attention, but she's so distracted by her thoughts that she doesn't hear him. He frowns but he shakes his head and looks ahead, towards the heavy wooden doors.

*She can handle it.*

When the heavy wooden doors open, his hands start to create flames in his excitement. He's so happy he cackle crazily and loudly;

-HAHAHAHAHA, FINALLY !!!!! SOMETHING TO KILL !!!!!!!

Everyone can hear him and everyone can sense his blood lust pumping from his killing aura. He looks dangerous as flames start appearing on his arms, barely reddening his skin.

He releases a wave of fire balls from his hands and Slimes melt completely from the heat. Salamander isn't the only one showing off, however. Sofia is faring extremely well with her Ice magic and she even uses a Lightning skill to finish off the Slimes she had frozen.

That's when a wave of furballs made of cuteness comes from the doors. Salamander's mouth starts to crackle, his saliva starting to create flames, in a totally obvious intent to burn the little fuckers. He's interrupted by a fangirl-ish squeal from his partner;

"Bunnies!!!"

Salamander choke on his flames and cough harshly through smoke, one hand on his own throat. He doesn't waste time to glare severely at the girl who is literally getting covered in furballs. He blinks one or two times. Sofia has bunnies all around her, a few on her lap and even one on her head. It's...

*SO FUCKING ADORABLE, WHAT THE HECK*

He cover his eyes with a hand and groan. It reminds me of that time where his younger sister called his name for the first through her baby babbling. The same warm feeling in his guts.

From where he stands, Sofia seems to be totally mesmerized by those little fuckers. He needs to man's up and deals with it or else they will never finish the task.

He walks towards the pile of cuteness, fire crackling at the tip of his fingers. When Sofia catch his hard as steel stare, her soft blue eyes start tearing up. He stops right in front of them. The bunnies don't even attack him, they merely chew on his shoes. He looks down at the bulging black eyes of the little animals, then at Sofia's teary eyes. The crowd is even worriedly completely silent. He grits his teeth in anger,
his crimson eyes burning in anger.

*WHY EVERYONE IS TREATING ME LIKE I AM THE MONSTER HERE ?!!!!!!!!!!*

Despite his anger, however, his flames start to dwindle under the pressure of those stares until the flames completely vanish. He scoffs but his hands begin to fidget nervously at his sides. He's standing very tensely. There's still so much tension in the Arena. He finally snaps;

-YOU KNOW FUCK WHAT ?!!!!! The ''Fuck'' is there only because he likes to swear.

He pulls two of the nearest bunnies and fucking throw them in the crowd. Soon, it starts to rain balls of sunshine into the crowd. There are screams but the bunnies are honestly harmless. Soon, there are no furry creatures in the ring.

Salamander breathe harshly through his nose, smoke coming out of it too. He turns his glare to the host in the Arena who gulps nervously at his stare;

-WE ARE NOT DISQUALIFIED BECAUSE I DID THAT, RIGHT ?!

The host seems to fumble with his papers with the rules on it. He seems to want to tell him that no they are disqualified because of what he did, but-

-WE ARE NOT, RIGHT ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When Salamander repeats it again, his face loses all color. Salamander seems ready to fight him personally if he disqualifies them right then. He nervously announces that they technically didn't break any rules, that they technically ''cleared the Arena'', in his mic. The remaining people in the crowd who didn't leave after the incident with the bunnies start clapping loudly and whistling.

Salamander scoffs but a huge grin appear on his face. He looks at Sofia and without any delicacy or shame, says;

-Here, I didn't burn your shitty furry friends.

Before they can celebrate further their ''victory'', the host suddenly announce;

-BUT THE TASK IS NOT FINISHED! OR ELSE IT WOULD BE TOO EASY, ISN'T IT ?!!!!

As he finishes his speech, the wooden doors open once again and new adversaries enter the ring. Bees immediately flies out, searching preys to sting, while plants with creepy smiles make their way under the cold hard ground.

Salamander doesn't waste any time before spitting out flames that burn them to crisp pretty easily. He ignores the bees completely in his task, thinking at the back of his mind that Sofia can totally handle it like how she handled the slimes.

But that's not what happens.

When nothing is left of the plants but ashes, he turns towards his partner and he's shocked to find her covered in stings. It's not like she's not fighting them; There are spikes of Ice everywhere around her and there's an obvious circle of glaze on the ground around her. It's just that the bees are too fast for her spells to hit them. He snarls and doesn't waste time joining her sides.

He walks towards her at a fast pace, his foots thaw the Ice on the ground as he walks on it. The temperature grows blazing hot and his crimson eyes seem to be melting from the intensity of his anger.

With a swift movement, he covers her entirely in his red cape, one arm firmly holding her against his left side. He can feel her head moving against his chest but he doesn't pay it any attention. He growls loud and lifts the arm that isn't holding Sofia's hostage. Suddenly, he shouts;

-METEOR !!!!

There's a fucking huge ass rock coming down from the sky. Then another. They don't hit the bees directly, but the intensity of the heat completely burn their wings and when they hit the ground, the remaining flames coming from the fallen down Meteors finish burning their bodies completely. One after another, Meteors falls down to crash on the hard ground. The spikes made of Ice that Sofia made earlier in her fight has since evaporated.

Salamander's body is covered in sweat, probably both from the Skill and the scorching heat. Sofia is protected from it by the red cape, but Salamander's body is very warm.

In the end, after such an overkill technique, the wave of bees is completely defeated. There's even nothing left from it. Salamander remove his cape covering Sofia when the flames completely died out and glance at her. His arm holding her is shaking. He lets go and step back.

He won't ever admit it, but when he saw her being wounded, it reminded him of the day he learned of Charlotte's death. The overwhelming feeling of hopelessness.

Right now, his EP is so drained that he can barely hear the host announce their victory in his mic.

Exam day with a twist Anime-anime-gif-anime-girl-blond-hair-Favim.com-1958179

A reaction of confusion hit her face when she felt the rabbit being lifted from her and tossed over to the crowd. People were freaking out by the cute fuzzy creature being flung at them. She got up from the floor and stared with disbelief at Salamder. Her laughter filled the air when she saw the bunnies munching at people in stands. After a few moments, she looked at her partner who had smoke coming out his nose.

-WE ARE NOT DISQUALIFIED BECAUSE I DID THAT, RIGHT ?!

She wonders that as well, but she knew some the rules of the arena. Her father was one the people who come up with the basic of the things. He used to tell her the rules for the sake that she would stop asking him so many questions about the arena event.

-WE ARE NOT, RIGHT ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She could see that he was losing it and walked over to him and glances up at him with another one of her constant worried looks.

"No, you did not break the rules."

The remaining people in the crowd who didn't leave after the incident with the bunnies start clapping loudly and whistling. She looked at the people who were clapping at them and gave them a smile before hearing Sal say something to her.

-Here, I didn't burn your shitty furry friends.

"Thank you for not hurting them." Her eyes twinkle at him as she smiled big and happy at him.

-BUT THE TASK IS NOT FINISHED! OR ELSE IT WOULD BE TOO EASY, ISN'T IT ?!!!!

"Not the Bees!" Sofia tried her best as the bee came straight to her which seems to be a surprise to people. If bunnies avoided her wouldn't bees, they for some reason were out for her blood. She tried her best to use her ice magic on the bees which easily dodge her and ended up with her trying to use her staff as a way to block the bee's stringer. It resulted with her ending up getting stings every time she tried to use her magic at the annoying creatures.

Tears formed in her face as the pain from the stings made her want to cry. She was about to give up entirely on the idea of fighting the bees when she felt her partner covered her with his red cape and pressed her to his left side. Red blush took over her face and made her move her head against his chest as she was hiding her face from him.

-METEOR !!!!

The fiery rock came from down upon the bees which burnt them so bad that they fell to the ground and begin to burn to a crisp on the dirt floor. It repeated until all the bees were dead on the ground. Sofia felt none of the heat because of the cape covering him. A bit of steam came out from both them being so close. Her cold skin and his warm skin made steam come from both of them. All the bees were dead, and they should have been over. For her though, she felt that this was not the end. A bad feeling had hit her hard as she did not notice that Sal had to remove the cape of her.

Then it all happen.

They should have been done.

A huge.

Huge.

Slime enter the arena with a happy looking smile on its face. Sofia knew that her partner was so exhausted from the fight with the bees to deal with it with magic anyway. She was the first to attack the creature as she felt her magic form in front of her taking a lot of her ep as she summons snowman and cloud. The snowman was small with a cute little smile on its face. It looked at her and shake back in forth in a hyper way. The other creature was a cloud with lightning coming out of it, and it too had a very cute smile on it. She pointed at the creature without saying one word. The snowman went for an attack with it tiny punches doing small damage.

Both Salamander and Sofia thought that once the fight finished, they would return to the waiting room until the last task. Oh, boy were they wrong...

Something huge slips through the wooden doors and stare at them with the happiest smile known to mankind.
Salamander blinks at it, shocked. It's a gigantic green slime. He barely dodges the thing as it flops towards them. Salamander is so magically drained after his last feat that he doesn't have the strength to uses fire. He glances at Sofia and thankfully she seems to be in a better state than he is. Despite her wounds, she summons successfully two creatures; one tiny snowman and a weird flying cloud with a happy face that reminds him of the Green Slime they need to take down. Both creatures swoop down on the gigantic slime, hitting it. Unfortunately, their attacks don't seem to make much damages, but they are relentless enough that they may succeed wounding it in the long run.

Salamander takes a deep breath. He doesn't have many EP to spare anyway, so he decide to bet everything on his last skill;

-BERSERKER STYLE !!!!

A fierce aura surrounds him. The red aura wrapped around him forms a huge muscled form with horns. For someone looking at Salamander right now, it's like he's the one with the demonic red horns.

His crimson eyes glare challengingly at the Green Smile as his hand takes the weapon fixed on his back. The moment the weapon enter into contact with his hands, the lamp lights up with a flame(it's the effect of the weapon, not his magic). Salamander growls as he senses his EP disappear completely. Until he removes the effect of his skill, he's working on adrenaline alone.

He charges at the gigantic slime and scream;

-TITAN'S THROWWWWWWW !!!!!!!!!

Salamander didn't know exactly what he expected with this attack. But certainly not this;

The weapon fucking disappears INSIDE the thing. Like, it swallowed it completely. It doesn't even flinch. Salamander looks helplessly at his precious weapon swimming inside the beast.

He blinks before screaming in a confused tone;

-WHAT IN THE FUCKING FUCK ?!!!!

Indeed, ''what in the fucking fuck''.

-BERSERKER STYLE !!!!

Sofia was too busy to dodging the slime to notice that he was preparing himself to fight the thing. She could see from the corner of her eye a to see a red aura wrapped around him. The horns from the aura made Sal looked like a demon with his red eyes glaring at the monster before him. The flames from his weapon did not help him not looked like a demon. He begins to charge at the creature and scream at it.

-TITAN'S THROWWWWWWW !!!!!!!!!

If he was the demon, was she the angel then. She had no wings or anything, but the way she looked made people called her a gift from the goddess. She thought as she witnesses his sword being swallow up by the slime and was completely inside the thing now. A giggle escaped her mouth as she witnesses him scream at the thing with a confused tone.

-WHAT IN THE FUCKING FUCK ?!!!!

"I guess it is my turn?"

Her voice was cold as ice as she blinks out on sight and was behind the creature as snapped her hands as the two creatures disappear, and her hand started to glow as she summons lightning that crackled off her. She put a lot of ep into the as it did bounce off her and onto the slime during major damage. The thing begins to flatten and grew spikes out of it.

It tried to ram into her with no effort, even though it was almost to her. It did not make it as she blinks away from it and ran around the thing trying to keep its attention on her. Once it was done trying to kill her with the spikes. She switched elements and threw her hand harshly on the ground which causes the ground to completely freeze around.

"Sorry." She said to him as she easily slides across the ice.

Her ep was getting really low, so she had an aura of purple around her and slowly walked around as the creature tried to jump on her. She rolled her eyes at the creature and ice and any other smaller slime.

"Focus."

It was getting very weak and kept trying to use the spike against her which she easily dodges on the ice. It was like she was dancing around on the ice as it was part of her.

She started to charge the move as her icy breath can be seen as her eyes looked colder, and her hair was raising from all the power running through her.

" Ice Spikes."

The ice spikes were small for a second before it speared out to become larger and sharper looking.

It pierces the creature which took the most damage from it and finally fell over dead. A smiled took over her face as she pumps her hand in excitement before she felt her exhausting from blinking so much took over. She collapsed onto the floor and fainted completely. Sofia would have hit the ground hard if someone did not catch her. The warmth of Sal against her cold skin made her feel good as the shadows in her version took over. Her body relaxed against him as her breathe went light from her falling asleep from the fainting.

"I guess it is my turn?"

Salamander turns his attention away from his weapon drowning in the sickly green goo inside the beast to stare at Sofia. Her voice sounds very cold and for a minute, he's reminded of Charlotte's voice when she was getting serious. The two summons disappear as quickly as they were summoned earlier, which shows how fast Sofia is at casting spells, and she begins to glow as thin electrical discharge surrounds her. It crackles loudly like thunder. He steps back, to let her have free reign in the Arena. Her lightning strike seems to cause major damage to the creature and it suddenly transforms itself into a wheel of spikes. It increases in speed and starts spinning into the Arena. It covers the floor of disgusting green goo that Salamander avoid. The thing seems deadset at trying to pierce her with its spikes. Sofia dodges the thing swiftly.

When the Green Slime stops spinning and grows back to its previous form, there's a sudden rain of baby slimes. Salamander glance at Sofia who has her hands full trying to kill the giant slime, so he decides to help her with the small fry. Sofia doesn't even encounter one little slime because Salamander does a great job dispatching them before they reach her. With Berserker Style, his fists pound each slime dead with one hit.

When he's finished with them, he glances back at his partner. He can't describe it very well, but it's exactly like she's dancing on the Ice. She's sliding across the frozen ground gracefully. Because Salamander doesn't have his flames to melt the Ice, he doesn't walk close. He grins as Ice Spikes grows from the ground and stab the thing dead. He grins in excitement and runs towards her. The Ice makes his steps uneasy, but he still runs towards her. He thinks excitedly;

*I wonder what it would be like to fight her dead on...*

He doesn't have the luxury to enjoy their victory as the minute he joins her sides, he sees her faint. He's there in time and grabs her before her body touches the ground. He loses his smile, looking at her unconscious form with a worried frown.

-O-OY !!!!

He's totally deaf to the victory whistles and thundering clapping in the crowd. He only screams harder at Sofia, shaking her a bit in his arms.

-HEY !!!!

He sets his ear near her face, to hear if she's breathing or not. He can her breathe slowly. He sighs in relief when he realizes that she only fell asleep and doesn't waste any more time before lifting her into his arms. Her cold skin contrasts with his own warm skin and it makes him shudder pleasantly.

Paramedics enter the Arena and soon enough, the girl is snatched from his arms. Despite his screaming, they barely speak to him to reassure him that everything is fine but that they need to take care of her and take her to a doctor. It doesn't make him cooperate, but he's totally hopeless about it. He can't even create flames anymore to make them back the fuck off. He ends up coming back into the waiting room after retrieving his weapon still covered in goo.

People congratulate him inside. Alongside Luke and Marino he receives his Collector's ID and a missive giving him an appointment for tomorrow at the Collector's Headquarters. Because he's alone and without Sofia at his sides, people give him confused glances. He barely answers Luke's worries and Marino's questions. He can't stop himself from snapping at the both of 'em before exiting the establishment. Right before leaving, however, he asks the secretary in a rude tone if Sofia will also receive her Collector's ID despite losing consciousness after the fight. When he gets his answer, he leaves for good, scowling all the way.

It's only when he reaches his bed at home that he passes out from the energy he spent.