Constellations

Chapter Two: Memories

"What level?" she asked.

"The highest," he smirked. Her eyes widened. "What, you scared?"

She turned to the Gladiator and replied, "You wish."

Astraea took her stance as he pressed the start button. The Gladiator's head lifted as the yellow light lit up and the ends of the staff glowed. It charged her as she ran at it. The Gladiator slashed its staff across, but she jumped on its arm and pushed off of it almost instantly, landing behind it. She pulled out her short swords from behind her back and drove them through the Gladiator's chest before it could react. The robot shut down as Keith looked at her with an impressed smirk.

"Nice," he chuckled, picking up his bayard. "Let's see if you can beat me."

"As in... spar with you?" inquired Astraea. Keith nodded. "Alright, let's do it."

Keith walked to the other side of the room and took a firm stance, his bayard turning into a katar. She also took her stance on the opposite side of the training deck and pulled out her astoisium swords.

"On the count of three," Keith declared.
"One... two..."

"Three," they said simultaneously.

Keith and Astraea charged each other. When they reached the center, their blades collided as sparks flew. Keith, being stronger, pushed his blade into her two short swords. She grunted in effort as she was being pressed onto her knees. With a shout, she thrust her blades up and stood. Keith's bayard was thrown into the air and landed at least three yards away from him due to the force of Astraea's strike. She ran at him, her swords slashed as he dodged. He hooked his hands in each arm and pushed them downwards where he kneed her in the stomach, causing her to instinctively let go of the short swords. He wrapped both his arms around her waist to keep her from escaping. Their bodies flush against each other. Astraea jerked from side to side and stomped on his feet in an attempt to find a weak spot in his "arm-barrier" but to no avail.

Unbeknownst to both of them, the door slid open revealing Freyja, Maeve, and Krolia. Freyja smirked at them and looked at Maeve. Maeve simply rolled her eyes at Freyja's childishness. Astraea kept on writhing and kicking, looking like a toddler having a temper tantrum, but she didn't care. All she wanted was to win, she refused to lose; especially to him. Keith was struggling to keep her restrained, with all the thrashing around that was stinging his arms and the strong, forceful blows to his toes and shins, his skin began to take on a lilac hue as his eyes became yellow while letting out an animalistic snarl. Krolia, watching the two spar, raised her eyebrow.

"I spy with my little eye..." grinned Freyja, getting the fighters' attention. They both froze. "something that starts with 's'."

"Is it," started Krolia. "sexual tension?"

Freyja looked at Krolia and smiled, "I like you."

"Likewise," Krolia smirked back.

Astraea and Keith went red as Keith turned back to his regular human appearance. They jumped away from their position, looking incredibly embarrassed. Keith scratched the back of his neck as Astraea teetered on her heels and looked at her feet.

"I totally won that," smirked Keith smugly, standing next to her. She lifted her head and glared into his piercing dark blue-gray eyes.

"Don't get cocky," she snapped. "I was just tired from the Gladiator."

"As I recall, you took it out in less than thirty seconds," he replied.

"And it would've taken you thirty days," she added.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I can't hear you. I'm up here."

Astraea glared at him. He was about a head taller than her. She took a fistful of his shirt and pulled him down to her level.