• T H I R T Y •

"I've found more horrors in the light than the dark and more beauty in this dark than the light."

• • •

Nekoda's POV

• • •

Being here, at this illegal fighting competition, is all sorts of thrilling. I love reading and watching movies and books and comics about superheroes and these people, these fighters with powers are just like the superheroes I love the most. It's amazing to see the fighters that I'd only heard about through online chats with other fanatics.

I suppose I could've gone to see the fights on my own, but I really didn't have a reason to go. I guess, too, I was scared. Scared of the unknown and the rumors of how terrible these rings are. Now that I'm here, though, it really isn't scary at all. Or maybe I've just changed that much.

Watching Rage fight is an incredible, beautiful torture. Watching her get burned was physically painful for me. Not only could I vividly imagine how bad that would hurt,but my stomach and heart also hurt at the thought of Rage in pain. But no one could deny her incredible talent.

Rage's style of fighting is fierce and warrior-like, just like Rage herself. My eyes are fixed on her as she moves on stage, her suit of lava now a shiny black rock as she storms over to the other fighter and begins blasting her with flame after flame. I wince instinctively. Her opponent is an ice elemental just like me and I can just see how easy it would be for Rage to defeat me in a fight like that. But I know she wouldn't. I trust Rage so much, more than I've ever trusted someone in my life.

She looks out on the crowd and I grin, knowing she's looking for us. Her eyes stop somewhere else, though. I try and see what she is looking at but can't. When I turn back to Rage, she is standing there pale. So pale. Her already pale skin is white and her eyes are wide with fear.

What could shake Rage?

Quickly exiting the stage, Rage stumbles slightly in her rush. Unconsciously, I begin shoving my way through the crowd as I try to get to her. When she disappears out of sight, I'm snapped out of my almost trance-like state and I run for her. I run for Rage.

Recklessly pushing everyone out of the way, I get to Rage far before the others.

"Rage!" I shout, causing her to whirl around, her yellow eyes wide in surprise. "What just happened?"

"Nothing," She snaps. "Calm the hell down, Nekoda."

"Don't lie to me," I tell her angrily.

I normally hide my emotions, conceal all feeling. But not tonight. No. I feel it all. All for her.

Rage's eyebrows raise even higher and she slowly says, "I just saw someone that I know. Can we be done talking about this now?"

I don't want to let this go, but I know that she needs to not think about it anymore.

"Come here," I mutter and hold out my arms.

Rage collapses into my arms, tightly holding me. I can feel her sigh deeply, tiredly.

"Thanks, Nekoda," She murmurs before stretching up and placing a light kiss on my lips.

Startled, I blink rapidly, completely stunned and caught off gaurd. I quickly snap out of that though. No way can she get away with just a tiny kiss like that. I kiss and push her up agains the wall and she threads a hand through my hair as I cup her face gently.

The sound of footsteps has us breaking away from each other as the rest of my brothers come.

"Will you guys go out with me?" Blurts Rage before anything is said.

All of us freeze and fall silent. Poor Rage's eyes are growing wide and sad but we're so frozen we just stand there for a second.

"Dammit!" Kolton exclaims, raking a hand through his golden hair. "We were going to ask you that!"

"I told you guys all that planning was useless," Boaz snorts.

"You guys planned to ask me out?" Rage said, her black brows arched once more.

"Yeah," Gage admits, fidgeting with the zipper of the leather jacket Victoria managed to convince him to wear. "Nothing too big, though."

"Oh, crap! We better cancel the fireworks and marachi band!" Asher exclaims, his brown eyes wide.

"What?!" Rage shrieks, her eyes wide with horror.

We all burst into laughter and Asher, through his own laughter, assures her that he was just kidding.

Rage rolls her eyes and crosses her arms as she waits for us to calm down.

"Well, I have one more fight tonight," She tells us. "We can either do something tonight or tomorrow."

"Why not do something tonight?" Darkon says with a shrug.

"Since you asked, you get to plan it!" Boaz inserts cheerfully, grinning widely.

With a dangerous smile, Rage asks, "Is that a challenge?"

Just then, Victoria bursts into the hallway where we are all gathered.

"Rage! There you are!" She says, panting heavily. "You don't have long before your fight!"

"Isn't the hallway not that far at all from where we were?" Asher asks, furrowing his brow.

"I ran!" Victoria exclaims.

"Don't be mean to Victoria!" Boaz exclaims. "That running shit is hard!"

"Alright, I'm heading out!" Rage calls, walking out of the hall. "See you guys later, if I'm not too busy! I've got some hot dates!"

Chuckling at the Rage's fiestiness, we explain to Victoria who is demanding answers.

"DOES THIS MEAN I GET TO DRESS YOU ALL?!" She shrieks excitedly.

"NO!" We all exclaim in horror.

• • •

Rage's POV

• • •

I quickly ended the fight, stunning the audience.

I'll admit it. I wasn't too focused on the fight. I came, I saw, and I laughed. I mean, I beat him without much thought or effort. So I conquered.

I hurry out of the ring as medics rush into the ring and text Victoria my plan and what I need her help with. Shoving my phone back into backpack, I head out into to the crowd to look for the boys.

"Hey, Asher?" I call out to him mentally. "Where the hell are you guys?"

Asher chuckles and replies, "After the fight, we decided to hurry off and get changed back into our normal clothes. I'm at your place now. Kolton was supposed to text you, though and let you know our plan."

"And who trusted the ditz with that job?" I laugh.

Kolton certainly isn't the brightest, but now that I've helped him secretly get contacts and have been tutoring him, I can clearly see that he's not an idiot. He's actually almost smart, he just doesn't put his mind to use. At all. Kinda like Boaz. So, while we all tease him, we all know that he is so much more than his "dumb" exterior.

"Alright, I'm headed home now," I tell him before severing the mental tie and morphing into shadow.

Darkness is everywhere, especially the later it gets. The more darkness, the faster I can travel and I get to my house in next to no time at all.

Once there, I quickly shed my disguise and am Rage once more and Raven is gone. The short, green wig is replaced by my natural black hair. The brown contacts come out to reveal my yellow eyes. I wash the makeup off and my pale skin is left alone and natural.

I suppose it would make sense to wear makeup on our first date, but I don't want to pit in the work and it won't make too much sense for the date I have planned.

Both of us ready, Asher and I head to the place where I told everyone to meet for the first part of our date.

The ice cream shop.

Who doesn't love ice cream? A twenty four hour ice cream shop is the best idea in the world and exactly where we're heading.

Asher opens the door to the shop for me, earning a smile from me as I enter to find Gage, Nekoda, Darkon, William, and Boaz already there.

"Where is Kolton?" I ask curiously as I approach the large table their sitting at.

Darkon shrugs and responds, "I'm not sure, but he was muttering under his breath. Apparently, he wants to make an impression."

"Doesn't he know that he's already made an impression on me?" I laugh before saying, "More importantly, how did Boaz beat... anybody?"

"Two words," Boax says, holding up two fingers.

The motion jars me and sends a jolt of fear through me. Quickly, I toss the emotion behind me.

"Ice. Cream," Boaz finishes. "Oh, and, it's a date with you, Rage."

"Why don't we all sit down and wait until Kolton gets here?" William suggests with a smile, his electric green eyes glittering with excitement.

"Sounds good," Gage agrees with a nod.

Together, we take a seat at what is really a bunch of smaller tables pushed together.

After talking together for a few minutes, Nekoda lets us all know that Kolton is just a minute or so away now.

"About time," Boaz groans. "That ice cream is just calling my name!"

"Oh, leave Kolton alone," William says. "We only have one first date with Rage. I mean, I don't understand what on earth could be taking so long, but whatever."

"He probably ran into his dad," Gage estimates.

"That motherfucking tool," Nekoda mutters, angrily.

I look at him, somewhat surprised by the display of blatant hatred for Kolton's father.

"What?" He says, seeing my stare. "My parents might be distant jerks, but his dad is an involved jerk. In my opinion, that's even worse."

"Pick your poison," Gage snorts, his hazel eyes dark.

"Or maybe I can be your poison!" Kolton exclaims dramatically, flinging open the door to the ice cream shop.

My jaw drops slightly at the sight of him. His golden hair is combed back neatly and he is wearing a blue suit that brings out his bright eyes and causes him to cut an impressive figure.

"While I was a bit disappointed to find that this address was an ice cream shop making me completely overdressed, the work is definitely worth it for that look, Rage," Kolton says with a wink.

I have to fight back blush as I realize I was totally checking him out.

"Well, it's about time!" Boaz grumbles. "I'm getting my ice cream now."

"Overdressed is completely understating it," Asher says with a chuckle as we head for the buckets of ice cream.

"Don't listen to them," I murmur to Kolton. "You look amazing and we can always wait a few minutes for you."

I press a kiss to his lips before my nerves get the better of me. Quickly, I turn to go pick out my ice cream flavors.

We eat our ice cream quickly. As everyone is finishing up, I announce that the second part of our date is now ready.

"So? Where are we headed?" Darkon asks eagerly.

"And does it have anything with that text you just got?" Gage asks with a raised eyebrow.

I stick my tongue out at him and decide to just keep my plan to myself until we are there.

"Well, come on then!" I declare. "Let's get going!"

• • •

Q: What country do you live in and do you call it soccer or football? ⚽

A: I live in America, but I am fixated on knowing this for whatever reason.