Six Will Stand (First Draft)

Chapter 25

"Na, na na na na na na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na na na na," Fai turned to dodge one of Cade's stabs, smirking. "Na na nana na na na," the redhead flung his sword arm upwards, knocking Cade's blade out of his way. "Na na nananana." Fai continued to hum the random song he had forgotten the lyrics to as he stepped to the side to avoid another of Cade's attacks.

"Jeez, stay still, will you?!" The blond hissed in rage and grit his teeth.

Fai snickered, locking blades with his opponent. "Aw, but that's the whole point, isn't it?" Cade growled and hopped back, making the redhead nearly fall over from the sudden loss of something to hold him up.

Cade 'helped' him with that, though. The blond took a step closer again and swept out a foot, knocking Fai's feet out from under him and making the redhead completely fall to the ground on his back. Cade pointed the tip of his blade at Fai's throat and growled, "You're dead, idiot."

The redhead just snickered. "You sure about that, Artie?" Cade only had a moment to process Fai's words, and the confusion etched in his face was quickly replaced with surprise as Fai used his knee to knock the blond's blade out of the way, then used his other foot to trip Cade, rolling over and putting his foot on the blond's chest, right hand on the ground holding the redhead up and left hand holding the edge of his sword to Cade's throat. Fai laughed. "Now, you're dead."

Cade growled again in frustration, swiftly whacking Fai in the face with his free hand. The blond yelped in pain as he accidentally scraped his wrist against Fai's (somehow) extremely sharp teeth.

"Ow, are you kidding me?!" Cade shouldered Fai off him, sitting up and putting his other hand over the long cut on his arm. The blond growled at Fai again, glaring daggers at the redhead.

"Heh, um...sorry, Artie..." Fai leaned back on his knees, examining the cut from a distance. "Oh wow, that's a really long one..." The cut went from the middle of Cade's lower arm to a little past his wrist, and it had been sliced deep enough to draw a good amount of blood.

"No duh, idiot." Cade hissed. He wrapped his arm in the loose material of his shirt, trying to stop the bleeding. "Ugh, jeez, this is the second time..."

Fai laughed nervously again, running a hand through his tousled red hair. "Yeah...sorry..."

"Here, let me." Rin came over with a bandage and a damp cloth. He began to clean and dress the wound. His mother had sent him over to the arena a while ago, as she thought that Fai, Cade, and Marion would do better with a familiar but less hostile face around. However, these were probably the first words Rin had spoken since he got there, except for a brief greeting and explanation.

"Um, thank you..." Cade sighed in exasperation. "Are you here to pick us up, then?" The blond growled as the bandages around his arm were already beginning to soak through with blood. "Seriously?!" He put his hand over the wound again, trying to put pressure on it. "Come on, it should've stopped by now..."

Fai laughed nervously. "Heh, yeah...sorry..." He suddenly put two fingers over his nose, trying to not smell something. "Ugh, uh...we stink." The redhead gave Cade and Rin a nervous smile. "Jeez, I can't be the only one to suffer, right...?" Fai lowered his head, gagging softly. "Ugh, it's like...really strong...blegh..."

Rin wrinkled his nose slightly, but still didn't say anything, holding the bandage to Cade's arm and applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

"Heh, yeah..." Fai continued to hold his nose as he looked away from the two, turning to Marion and Yrin.

Cade hissed at his arm. "Seriously?! Even the ones you did before haven't healed?! They should've at least closed by now... It's almost like they're still fresh..."