Sam was wandering the streets aimlessly, dragging her feet along the gravel and licking an ice-cream on a cone. Life was so boring sometimes, especially when you’ve just jumped off Freedom Tower and been caught by an angel in the last second. That was an adrenaline rush unlike any she’d felt before. Well, except for those near-death experiences you sometimes got during missions. Except, those involved pain and pain was seldom as fun as pure excitement. It was quiet in People’s park, the protests of the gravel only interspersed with the sounds of lovers kissing in the dark. Sam rolled her eyes and imitated the sound mockingly. She would have preferred the screams of people in danger… but unfortunately the afternoon was calm and everyone was being nice and tame. And boring. 
 
A flicker of light, the sound of a calm breath rippling the air. Sam’s ears perked up and a hopeful smile crept up her face. She picked up her pace and soon enough a silhouette came in sight, some 100 paces away. Though his back was turned to her there was something in his walk that left no doubt that he was a trained fighter, always ready for action. And that’s all the sign she needed. Sam reached into her pocket, pulling out a small marble-like ball that was her Instrument. Kissing it theatrically she aimed and launched it straight at the head of her new playmate. 

Of course she was right, her potential new playmate was trained, but far beyond her comprehension. The man, dressed in black, didn't even turn around as the ball speed towards him. His right hand shot right out of his pocket, and effortlessly caught the speeding ball of light in the palm of his hand. His catching arm lowered itself towards his hip, where his hand opened to reveal the sphere. "Nice candle-light, kid..." Replied the man with a hoarse voice.

Sam’s smile grew larger at the attention and she started at the man. “It’s called Sameda. Have you seen it before?”

The man was starting to feel it's power in his hands. "Heh, a fragment... an Academy punk then..." Suddenly he turned around, revealing his face to her and in a blink of an eye, he threw it back at her, straight at her mouth.

Although she had expected him to do just that, what Sam didn’t expect was the speed with which Sameda would be flying her way. It was too fast for her to dodge so she had to immediately drop that plan and improvise. As it approached her Sam moved her ice-cream in the way of the speeding ball and made Sameda itself softer than the frozen good. It hit with the dull sound of a rattling ball and splashed ice-cream over her face. 
Sam laughed and her eyes gleamed with excitement as she lifted her gaze to the stranger and licked the strawberry off her lips. Recognition flashed across her features. She knew the guy, by descriptions and pictures at least, and she was sure there was no mistaking it. 
 
“Solus! Solus Grim! I thought you were dead! You up for a duel?!”

The man she referred to as Solus raised an eyebrow. Slightly surprised that despite his long 'trip', his name still held sway in this world. "Heh, a duel...? Are you sure?" He asked calmly.

“What, why not?” she asked, honestly surprised. Her lip twitched upwards at the next sentence. “Are you scared I’ll miss my curfew?”

"Well..." He said. "We don't wanna piss off your headmaster now, do we...? But something tells me you couldn't care less..."

The girl laughed, squeezing Sameda in her fist, the light pulsing of its core picking up and sending shivers of anticipation down her spine. She could barely contain herself, looking at the man. Solus Grim, the legend, right there in front of her! The grin on her face almost threatened to split in in halves. 
 
“Are you kidding, I wouldn’t miss that opportunity, even if it meant having to drop out of the goddamn place!” Her foot was beating the ground impatiently. “Weapon of choice?” 

"I will be using my hands... You can use whatever you want, kid... Let's see just how good you are." He crossed his arms, waiting patiently for her to begin.

Sam didn’t wait for another invitation. Her body already felt like a high-strung spring that urgently needed a release. So she propelled herself forward, her fist aiming straight at Solus’ jaw. 

Yet her fist collided with nothing but air. One moment he was there with his arms crossed, the next he simply vanished. Sam turned her head to see that he was now standing behind her, with the same expression he had before. Though she wasn't unprepared. Despite her fist hitting nothing, essence charged down her right leg as she twisted her hips to aim it at Solus' head. Again, her magically charged foot sliced empty air. Yet again, he was gone.

"Too slow, kid..." Solus' words echoed into her ears from behind her.

The girl laughed gleefully as she picked up the speed of her attempts. However, it soon became obvious that this strategy just wouldn’t work – as expected of a legend he had skill behind his fame. Still, her time was not wasted – she had scanned the environment and remembered all the trees, bushes and benches around. Now she stepped back and made use of that knowledge.
 
With an invisibly-fast movement Sam reached into her pocket, pulled one Sameda out and launched it at Solus’ image. As expected it went straight though his image, and just in case his moves were predictable, Sam spun around to punch behind her as soon as Solus’ silhouette disappeared from in front of her. 

She didn't surprise him, or catch him off guard. As he moved in behind her he leaned back, letting the punch swipe the air again. Solus was testing her mettle, her endurance. He wanted to see how long she would last before annoyance and frustration took hold and forced her to use her fragment, her instrument. He wanted to see what it could do.

However, Solus wasn’t the only one who liked to screw around. She was perfectly aware of the condescension with which she was treated, which could only mean the opponent was underestimating her. And while she didn’t enjoy the thought, she wasn’t going to indulge him by being predictable. She kept playing his game for another ten minutes, her movements never slowing, the second part of Sameda still tucked safely away in her pocket. Still, she kept the first part of it bouncing around, a crisp metallic ring accompanying every time it touched a tree or bench before lurching at Solus.

It was at that point that Solus noticed the fragment's trajectory. Where it was heading every time and what it touched. She was guiding it, attempting to him as he evaded her strikes.

His feet suddenly slammed into the ground, he bent his knees and leaped, a good 35 meters away from her, his launch kicking dirt and gravel in all directions. That sudden surge in power in him seemed demonic in some way. He landed with a thud, straightened his back, and dusted himself off.

"I have entertained you... But Sameda seems more eager..."

“We’re both more eager.” Sam caught the ball and put it to her ear, enjoying the final tunes of its sound. “But no, you haven’t entertained me just yet, Master Grim. You’ve just left me to entertain myself. You need to try harder.”

"I'm not here to entertain you... And this is starting bore me. I know there is more to you than that..."

"It's mutual then, because you're boring me too!" She snapped. "So, are we going to get serious or am I better off looking for fun elsewhere?"

"I have been waiting for you to start since you threw the first punch..." Replied the man with a smirk.

Sam rolled her eyes at him and threw her hands into the air irritably. She knew she wasn’t supposed to show off her powers here and there – after all, no matter his fame, who knew of his current state of mind? Who knew what he was thinking now? 
 
But then again, who cared really? Those were questions to ask later, now was a time to act. A dream could come true and the time to grasp it was now! 
 
“If I show you what I can do, will you show me what [i]you[/i] can do?” 

"We'll see. En guard..." Replied the man as he prepared himself.

“Show-off.” She commented but didn’t seem really bothered. Tapping her foot Sam slowly took the other Sameda out of her pocket and gently let it slip out of her hand. Hitting the ground, the ball produced a low, deep thud that repeat itself as the ball bounced back and Sam tapped it down again. A rhythmical beat started that she was sure would reflect Solus’ own heartbeat. It was steady at first.. and then started gradually slowing down. As the tempo slowed, he would feel calmer and calmer – a feeling [i]almost[/i] natural, like drifting off to sleep. The man would feel his heartbeat literally slow its pace as the drum slowed too, a sense of tranquility washing over him like the treacherous embrace of a snow-demon. 

And then, in the haze of the moment, another sound started – a dissonant one, lively and energetic, erratic and unpleasant. The second melody would try to enter Solus’ mind like the voices of a dozen screaming creatures, their pleads indistinguishable yet only enhanced by the underlying tranquil sound. 
 
Solus suddenly felt... slower. His feet seemed to drag along the ground as he moved. He grasped his chest and realized what was happening, what that fragment was doing. His heart had slowed it's pulse, but at same time that pulse was unsteady, erratic. He knew if this went on for too long, his heart would stop...

He closed his eyes for a moment as he channeled something within him, something to dull out the sound. Not only what he was hearing, but what he felt as well, trying to steady his heartbeat. But not by his own blood. With something else.

Within his body a black thick soot overran the blood that pumped through him, and his heart suddenly stopped. It wasn't needed. The dark corruption within him would keep him alive for now. After all, it was a parasite, a living being in it's own right, and it will protect it's host to survive, providing oxygen and moving by itself through his body, giving that ample supply of air that he needed. Solus opened his eyes again and the flames that once burned brightly from his face were gone. The parasite, the black tar, dripped from his mouth, nostrils and eyes. He stood there for a few moments, before his fist suddenly appeared just before Sam's nose, heading towards her at a speed that could lethally break a demon's neck in one blow.

Sam couldn’t have expected that development and reluctantly she had to admit that she’d become a bit caught-up in her own music. She had to admit it when she noticed the black tar a second too late, a second long enough for the man’s fist to impact her barely shifted shoulder and crack the bone in an explosion of pain. A second long enough for one of the Samedas to whiz past her and roll away harmlessly. But at least after that one second, she had a second of her own where she could use her damaged arm to pull Solus’ arm down, grab the remaining Sameda and attempt to smash it in Solus’ face.

Which failed. Solus grabbed her attacking hand and twisted it, forcing the remaining Sameda fragment out of her hand. With that thing out of the way, he threw Sam aside, away from the fragments.

Sam attempted one last kick before she was pushed away and forcefully parted from Sameda. She propped herself up, wincing as she put weight on her shoulder and shifted to relieve it. A part of her, an instinct, told her to attack again, no matter the consequences. Another part, however, a slightly more sober one, reminded that this wasn’t a life-or-death situation. That thought was enhanced by the sharp pain from her shoulder. That wasn’t going to magically get better – if anything, it could only get worse. She was already severely incapacitated and Solus, the bastard, wasn’t even damaged once. 
 
Extending her hands Sam shot out a string of her own essence and pulled Sameda back to her and moved her shoulder experimentally. The pain was still dulled by adrenaline and it was still sharp enough. She stood, shaking the gravel off her hair and her scraped face and stared at Solus, wondering if he’d have a go at her again. If he gave her a reason, she’d be more than happy to go all out. Their fight wasn’t settled, not yet, not until she made him hurt too.  

Whether she noticed or not, the black ooze was gone. His flames had returned and he stood there, relaxed with his arms crossed, staring her down with a smirk. "You want to keep going...?"

“Especially when you give me that condescending attitude!” She exclaimed. People said you need to know when to give up. Did she know when to give up? Yes, she knew she should give up [i]now[/i]. That there was “only so much you can fight”, “only so much you can risk”, “only so many you can defeat”. Yet… Knowledge and impulse were very different. Knowledge caused pain, and so did impulse, but they hurt in totally different ways. One stopped you from doing things – the other urged you to. She tried to move her arm back for a swing but a shot of pain and a burst of stars settled her dilemma.
 
“I’m fine.” She hissed, despite herself. Then she was over it, she straightened up and grinned at the man. “Glad to have you back.”

The man chuckled. "I never left..." He walked past her, ready go to wherever he was going before he was interrupted, but stopped and turned around to address the young Academy student. "Pretty relentless. That's good. But you still have a lot to learn..." And then he continued walking away, leaving her behind him, another challenger defeated.

Sam shamelessly followed him, chirping at his side. 

“Well, I enjoyed myself, and that’s what matters. You provided some good exercise, and maybe you could do it again. We could use someone like you at the Academy, you know.” She waited for him to throw her a glance before she grinned and added. “As a punchbag. That punches back.”

The man did glance back. "Me and Hazumi don't see eye to eye..."

"So? You don't have to." She blinked.

Solus stopped. "Look, kid. I don't like the way the Academy is run, and what Hazumi is doing. I would rather avoid that place, for everyone's own good."

"It's not for everyone's own good, though. It would be good for us students to have you. I mean, it's up to you but the Academy won't cease to exist just because some people don't like it. All you can try to do is contribute to making it better. Besides, let's face it, there are plenty of interesting people there to keep your old muscles well toned." She giggled, poking his biceps.

He stared at the girl for a while, seemingly in thought. Then he said, "Not interested." and continued walking, leaving Sam behind.