THE BOND OF MAGIC (writing now)

CHAPTER XXVIII

And now it's clear to me

That everything you see

Ain't always what it seems

SAPPHIRE

The day didn't seem like anything but normal. The sun rose from the east. January was as cold as ever. The pack was on its daily schedule. And I might as well die today. It wasn't likely, I had confidence in my abilities ( at least I thought I did) , even if my opponent had more power. But I didn't want to rule out the possibilities. And even if I would never admit it to Lionel, the fight was going to be tough. I knew that.

I had never seen Gloria in action, and the only things I knew about her power came from what Lionel had told me. And I hated not knowing things. Now, that I had been training with Lionel for the past few day... I understood how much physical strength werewolves possessed exactly. Sure he was an Alpha, but Gloria wasn't no Omega either. and just a few hours before the fight, I was getting jitters.

It was about 5 in the evening... I had just two hours left before I would have to show up in the training arena, where the duels took place in front of the whole pack. I wondered if the pack would even want me to win. Would they prefer a Luna who was a werewolf (despite, being slutty as hell), over a witch who had betrayed the pack? Probably yes... I could never be sure. Only, their reaction tonight could reflect that, if I could witness it.

I sighed as I stood at my bedroom window, overlooking the whole pack. Only, yesterday had I been super-confident in my abilities and today, two hours before the fight I was questioning my decesions.

No, I have to win. It wasn't a choice for me... this is place it wasn't  my home, but I did care about it and could, no way let it fall in the hands of such a person. Besides, there was Lionel to think about. I didn't know how much he cared about me... sometimes I wondered if he was still uncertain of me, but he needed me, that much I could tell. It was obvious.

****

LIONEL

"You okay?" I asked Sapphire as I poked my head inside her room. My sudden appearance seemed to startle her.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she gave me a tight smile. But I could tell she wasn't, by the way her shoulders stiffened, or how she wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Uh, just another hour left, you should get ready. Seven, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just remind me how her powers work once more, will you?" she looked me in the eyes, and I could tell she was nervous. Her question itself was an indicator of that... she never forgot anything.

"Every time you hit her, she gets stronger. The full moon accelerates her powers. Touch but do not be touched." I explained once more.

"I'll be there soon... you should go." she sighed.

"Just tell me if you need something, okay?" she nodded in response, but her mind was a thousand miles away.

SAPPHIRE

I decided I would rather scout the field rather than do nothing and stare into emptiness. Right now I stood, in the middle of the battle field, looking around at the seats that circled the arena. Half-an-hour away from the fight, the stands were slowly starting to get filled. The people watched me curiously, but I didn't mind; I was used to being stared at.  But the way they whispered under their breaths it felt like I had worn a banana-costume to the fight or something. To be honest, my outfit was pretty normal, if you excluded my breast plate... But hey, I wore it almost 24x7 so I guess that's pretty normal for me. I just hoped the fight rules allowed me armour.