A Flawed Alliance

Chapter 6- Ace Ashfeld

"Don't assume I'll be awake the whole time to help you," he replied, observing me.

I assumed he was older than me and that he probably made a lot of excuses to get away from taking The Auxiliary's Evaluation.

A slight annoyance shook through me. "Alright, thanks for the help anyway," I said.

"You're Iridian Cantor?" he asked me, his eyes in a half-dazed state.

"Yes, that's me," I replied, warily.

"So, you're a Phoenix Auxiliary." His eyebrows furrowed harshly.

"How did-"

He continued cleaning his area around his bed. "I'm Ace Ashfeld."

"Ace?" I asked.

A frown returned my question. "Should I carry an ace card around to emphasize?"

"What does that even mean?"

"I'm really not in the mood for this."

"Then what exactly are you in the mood for?" I teased. I stared at his hands swiping at the clothes on his bed. "Cleaning?"

"Maybe."

"You're lying."

"That's because I'm talking to a stranger."

"Really?"

"Maybe if you went to your bed, you would have already saved five minutes before Aaron comes over."

"You said, yourself, you wouldn't help me."

He scowled. "I never said that."

My eyes swerved away from him and toward his bed where I saw a picture of him and a taller man in front of a town with a deep sunset. Columns of Greek architecture loomed behind them, casting large shadows across their faces. Blossoms of pink flowers flowed past, blurring most other parts of the scenery, however I could still make out lush green hedges, boulders, and pagodas that looked like they made up some sort of oriental garden.

Ace wasn't smiling in the picture. He was more like shouting at the man while the man smiled toward the camera, his arms around the back of Ace's shoulders. Ace's eyes gave it away though. There was a small spark in them that made me see he wasn't actually mad at the man.

"Why were you shouting?" I asked, pointing at the photo on his bed.

Ace snatched the photo and tucked it in his suitcase. "Sometimes you need to shout in order to get someone's attention. Or else they won't care about what you're saying."

"Or say it nicely and they'll listen."

"Okay, then, please leave me in peace to my cleaning, lovely lady," Ace drawled. "I'm slightly busy so only if you have another business to take care of with me, I suggest you leave."

"That was pushing it."

"You're pushing me."

"You are a very harsh person."

"Trust me, harsher than harsh."

When I began to tune out Ace's deep voice, I heard a progressively loud murmur coming from the corner of the housing. I turned my head around and noticed everyone else had gathered around a holographic screen on someone's empty bed. They were so engaged in their activity that even when I got closer to see what they were looking at, their eyes never wavered.

I tried to squeeze my way in through the crowd, just barely having room enough to see what they were looking at. A video was flashing dark colors. I moved a little more and then saw more clearly.