~SCARLET~

"Fuck," I cursed, scrambling to my feet, but staying in place as my eyes scanned around me. Fuck...I'm surrounded.

"What a show. I'm impressed." The green haired guy emerged from behind his group of men; a triumphant smile on his pride filled face as he slowly approached me, gun in hand. I lifted my hands, moving back slowly to keep distance between us. He stilled, raising his gun at me.

I froze, trying to think of a way out of this.

"Why don't we make this quick before you do something mesmerizing like you did back there? By the way, if you'd cooperated, maybe we would have had some group fun. Too bad, you're a cutie. Though, I’m really not feeling the orange hair," he pointed out.

I frowned, rolling my eyes. "It's my natural hair color, bud. Can't compliment me and not accept all of me. Geez," I mumbled, biting my lip as I prepared for what I knew was to come.

"Any last words, Miss Orange?"

"Fuck you, green haired, brown eyed ugly piece of sh—" I rambled before the trigger went off. I closed my eyes, preparing for the impact when a loud click followed. What?

"What!" I heard green hair dude yell.

I opened my eyes; something silver was before me – a sleek silver scythe with grey outlines. My eyes trailed along the scythe, noticing the intricate design of multiple colored roses from pink, purple and gold.

My eyes landed on soft delicate hands – pink nail polish with gold stars. Wait. This can't be.

I lifted my gaze to see a familiar woman, but her appearance was very different from the person I knew. She had long, navy-blue hair; the tips shifted to a light purple that seemed to glow with energy. She wore blue faded jeans shorts; her bare legs covered in multiple markings in the shape of roses.

The markings glowed a dark indigo blue; the soft glow demanded attention. I glanced up to her neon pink t-shirt with the words Milkshake Princess and noticed similar markings peeking out from her short sleeves and running down her arms.

The most outstanding part of the woman before me was her massive, transparent wings that fluttered behind her – the blue, purple, and silver glittering light flowed off them as they fluttered at a rapid rate.

I finally reached her face – an intricate tattoo traced from her temple down the right side of her face and around her neck.

Her eyes locked on mine – midnight blue orbs met mine.

"Midnight?" I whispered.

"Hello, Scarlet. What did you do to cause all the commotion?" she asked; her monotone voice hinted at a bit of her curiosity as she tilted her head.

"Um...I was minding my own business when those guys attacked me. That guy over there said he doesn't like my hair," I revealed. My mind too fuzzy to attempt to explain everything in such a short time.

Midnight glanced over at the green haired male who aimed the gun in her direction.

"Why do you hate her hair?" she asked.

He gave her a confused look. "What? Because…it's orange!" he yelled.

"So?"

"So, what? I don't like orange."

"You have green hair," she countered.

"Green hair is the new trend!" he argued.

"But how about if I didn't like green," she suggested.

"You can't hate green!"

"Why not? You hate orange. Why can't I hate your green hair? Regardless, that's not very nice to try and kill my friend over here because you don't like her hair."

"Are you fucking lecturing me right now?!"

"I'm not lecturing you. I'm just stating you shouldn't go murdering people over your dislikes. It's common manners. I haven't murdered you, even though you're ugly, now have I?" she retaliated, stepping in front of me.

"I'm not ugly!" he shouted.

"Uh huh. Well...you’re not very attractive, buddy. Sorry. I guess I have higher standards." Midnight shrugged. "Scarlet, lay down please," Midnight ordered.

I didn't question; I just pressed my body to the ground.

"FUCK! Kill both of them!" he screamed, pulling the trigger.

Midnight did a quick twirl, her scythe slicing through the air. I braced for the impact of the shot in all directions, but nothing happened.

I lifted my head to see every single bullet inches from hitting us – as if we were in a mini-bubble and they couldn't penetrate the invisible barrier.

I glanced up to see Midnight's hair glowing a bright purple; magic leaked off her in waves that made me want to quiver in fear. Holy shit...how does she hide that much power on a daily basis?

I could hear the multiple gasps before more shots were fired, but it was no use – they all hit the invisible bubble around us.

"You have two options. Apologize to my friend and surrender OR have a good time with Lucifer. I heard he's accepting new souls in hell," Midnight suggested.

"I'm not apologizing to your fucking orange haired friend, and Lucifer can kiss my a—" he began, but a bullet went through his head.

I gasped, looking at Midnight who tilted her head, looking just as confused.

"That wasn't me," she mumbled, glancing up at her right.

I followed her gaze – a second pair of midnight blue eyes locked on to us as the person rose to their feet, rifle in his hand.

"Ethan? Wait...his eyes...are like yours, Midnight."

"Dark fairy? Hmm...interesting," Midnight commented.

"FIRE! KILL THEM ALL," another voice announced.

Midnight sighed, looking exhausted. "Stop wasting my time!" she yelled, raising her scythe and doing another twirl – the frozen bullets blasting outward, heading straight back to the senders.

Multiple cries of pain echoed as the four groups surrounding us dropped to the ground.

Midnight sighed. "Jeez. What a waste of energy. I'm tired." She yawned, rubbing her eyes.

"You're telling me." I sighed in relief, glancing back up at where Ethan still stood; his eyes surveyed the area. Once satisfied, he jumped off the edge – the motion caused me to gasp.

He landed with ease; a magic circle appeared beneath his feet which created a cyclone of air to ease his landing. He walked towards us; his eyes still midnight blue.

When he reached our side, he looked down at me; those blue orbs scanned my appearance.

"Scarlet. You okay?" he asked, his voice low – the difference between Ethan's usual voice and his seemed polar opposite of one another.

"I'm fine," I reassured him.

He frowned but nodded, turning his attention to Midnight who was eyeing him closely.

"Only Elias knows. Can you keep it that way?" he asked her.

She frowned. "EliaseAnne," she countered.

They shared a look before he narrowed his eyes.

"Fine. Other than that, no one else for now."

"Sure. Not my business anyway." Midnight shrugged, looking uninterested as she looked around.

"Elias and the others are coming up the hall to your left. You should go meet them before they bring this entire building down," Ethan suggested.

"Will do. Bye, dark fairy friend. Scarlet, see ya around." Midnight waved goodbye before beginning to walk in the direction Ethan instructed her the knights would be.

"Wait. Uh. Thank you, Midnight!" I called out.

She stopped, looking over her shoulder. "We'll always come to your aid when you need us," she promised, giving me a smile, turning to her left, disappearing from sight.

I tried to get up, but my muscles didn't want to cooperate. Ethan noticed, kneeling and pulling me into his arms.

"You’re not Ethan, are you?" I asked.

"Onyx," he replied.

"Onyx? Like the Pokémon?" I asked.

"...Why does everyone compare me to that clump of rock?" he grumbled.

"It's a Pokémon," I pointed out.

"Nyx for short cause I think Pokémon is stupid," he mumbled.

I smiled, snickering. "Nyx," I repeated.

We shared a moment; my hand finally cooperated with me – raising it to brush against his cheek.

"I'm okay. Thank you for saving me back there," I whispered.

He sighed, leaned in and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips – the action was unexpected from him compared to Ethan, who’d asked to kiss me. He pulled back. "You’re welcome, Scarlet. Till we meet again," he bid farewell, closing his eyes.

I had so many questions that needed to be answered, but when he re-opened his eyes, lime green met my confused gaze.

"Scar...thank goodness, you're okay," he whispered, pulling me into a hug.

"I'm tired as fuck though," I mumbled, relaxing in his embrace.

"I know, love. C'mon, let's get you to a healer. I think Makoto’s gonna need one too," Ethan suggested, lifting me up.

"Where are the others?" I asked, resting my head against his chest.

"Dealing with the chaos outside. Moonlight found me and showed me a way inside. Once I was in, I knew where you were," he confessed.

"Sorry," I whispered, frowning. I didn't think our last day of vacation would turn out into a messy battle.

He glanced down at me. "It's not your fault. In fact, it's good you and Makoto were able to take them down. Another team from PINC has been working on tracking down this team for months. They planned to steal Cassandra, sell her and have enough money to build a bomb that they thought would be perfect in the subway line downtown," Ethan explained, beginning to walk.

"We did well then?" I asked, fighting off the exhaustion and darkness that begged to claim me.

"You did amazing, Scar. Mako and Midnight did superb, as well. I'm sorry I couldn't be here earlier."

"You came just in time," I whispered.

We were silent for a moment before I decided to ensure I would get some answers regarding his conversation with Midnight.

"I just have a lot of question that I doubt I can stay awake to have answered," I admitted; my eyes struggled to stay open. I really wanted to learn more about Dark Fairies, especially after the whole display.

"I'll explain when we go on a date," he reassured me.

"You're just finding an excuse for us to go out."

"Pretty much. Admit it, you want some alone time with me."

"Hmm...I guess." I giggled at his frown, closing my eyes as a nestled in his embrace as he continued to walk.

"Scar."

"Hmm?"

"Excellent work, as always," Ethan praised, kissing my forehead.

I grinned, allowing myself to be claimed by the darkness.