The Boy With The Arrows

C H A P T E R • S I X T E E N

Sapnap fell into step beside me, but neither of us spoke a word until we were back in our roped off area, safely out of earshot from anyone else.

"I know what you're gonna say," said Sapnap, before I could say anything.

"Do you?" I asked.

"Of course I do, Lex, I'm not dumb. I know Rae's trying to wind me up."

"And is it working?" I retorted.

His cheeks coloured a little at this, and he smiled.

"Maybe?"

"Sapnap!" I groaned. "Then why are you letting it happen? She came straight for you, she brought up the fights, she turned it into a game against you. I'm calling it that she has an ulterior motive, and if you walk into that arena we've got no power to haul you out again if it goes wrong. They don't see you how they see Dream. They see you as expendable, an advisor or bodyguard who can easily be replaced. But you know it's not like that, Dream needs you alive. I need you alive!"

Sapnap sighed, and shook his head.

"I'm not gonna die, you're overreacting," he stated. "In the event that Rae actually manages to beat me, she wouldn't kill me. Not only is it frowned upon, she's a nice person."

"And how do you know that?" I rolled my eyes at him. "You've known her for barely thirty minutes. Sap... you're a brilliant warrior, I know you know that. But like she said, anything can happen in a fight."

"So... what are you saying?" He asked. "You don't want me to go into the arena at all?"

"I'm not saying that," I shook my head immediately.

"Then what are you saying?" He asked. "Because that's what it sounds like."

"Just be careful, okay?" I sighed, smiling at him ruefully. "Don't let her get to you."

"I won't," he shook his head, laying a hand on my shoulder. "You're forgetting I've fought plenty of beautiful girls before. I've fought you, haven't I?"

I rolled my eyes at him.

"I told you to tone down the flirting," I giggled. "If you want Rae to take you at all seriously. Wait... do you?"

"I dunno," he shrugged. "We'll see how the rest of the night goes. But... she's great, Lex. She's not just a pretty face, she can give as good as she gets. She seems like lots of fun."

"You sound like you're asking for my blessing," I smirked at him.

"Maybe I am," he laughed. "I've never dated anyone before, not seriously, anyway..."

"I know," I said. "Me neither. Yet here we are advising each other on our love lives like we're the most experienced people in the kingdom."

"Maybe we'll get beginners luck or something," he chuckled. "Hey, speaking of your love life..." Sapnap turned towards the arena, and peered over to see how the fights were going.

"Does he look tired?" I asked, only half joking. "Should I challenge him yet?"

"You better," Sap laughed, shaking his head. "It's a good excuse for him to end his own battles as well. I wonder what George is doing."

"George should challenge him," I stated. "Those two are always entertaining to watch."

"You're just trying to tire him out more," Sapnap laughed. "If you still lose after all this talk you will never hear the end of it from him, you know that don't you."

"I'm aware," I rolled my eyes. "Come on, we should go if I'm going to challenge him. You'll have to come down to the arena with me."

"I can't believe they have all these tridents," I said quietly, my hand running over the handles of all the weapons that were available in the armoury, before pausing on a blue enchanted one. "Why would they have a riptide enchantment available?"

"Who knows," Sapnap shrugged. "I guess sometimes they allow water battles down here."

"These tridents had to have been donated," I mused. "There's no way they found all of these. And there must be exactly the same options available in the armoury on the other side of the arena. It's insane!"

"To be fair, they aren't good quality tridents," said Sapnap. "Look at this one, it's really bent."

He gestured to a yellow enchanted trident.

"Channelling tridents are easy to break though," I said. "It's interesting that they don't allow multiple enchants for the battles. Suits me, all I need is a loyalty enchant." I lifted the purple enchanted trident from the wall, running a finger over the ends. "Blunt as hell, but it'll do. I'm not tryna kill him anyway."

"You sure?" Sapnap teased me. "You know, single enchants work better for you than for Dream. His usual axe has a tonne of enchants on it. Did you see which one he picked? When you were out there before?"

"He was using a red one against Quackity, that's sharpness isn't it? But that doesn't mean he'll use sharpness against me."

"What else could he use?" Sapnap wondered.

"The blue one, efficiency? Allows him to swing faster?"

"True," Sapnap shrugged. "I guess we'll see. You better put your armour on, Lex. You need to warm up."

I hated fighting in leather armour. The yellow padding felt stiff around my shoulders and elbows, and was slightly too big for me - something to be expected when using armour not specifically tailored for me. The leather did not adapt to my movements as well as the netherite I was used to wearing, and as I swung the enchanted trident at the test dummy, I let out a groan as it failed to stick. Sapnap chuckled at me. He was seated on the wooden bench in the fight club's armoury, and had been watching me try to work with the leather on for the past ten minutes.

"Still feeling cocky?" He asked.

"Shut up," I muttered. "Maybe I should have fought Dream first. He's gonna be used to the leather by now."

"Hindsight is 2020."

"Hilarious. Help me warm up, idiot."

"If you say so," Sapnap rolled his eyes, before jumping up, and grabbing a sharpness axe.

The two of us spent the next few minutes trading blows, nothing particularly hard since we were only warming up. I grew used to the pull of the leather armour on my limbs, understanding its limits, and trying to remember that whilst it wasn't what I was used to, it wasn't what Dream was used to either. It was strange warming up without him - I was used to him being right there, teasing me about a lazy swing with my trident, or raising an impressed eyebrow at a good one.

"I think I'm ready," I stated, after a while, when the familiar spark of the battle began to hum within my veins.

"Okay," Sapnap nodded, lowering his axe, and giving me a smile. "Good luck."

A/N: sorry it's a bit of a shorter one. Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)