The Air Out Of [Wattys2018 shortlist]

18

SOME WOULD SAY THE WEATHER WAS NICE, ELLIE, WOULD NOT. She looked at the terrible thunderstorm beginning to conjoin at the brink of Covia. It just so happened to be that Queen Luphoria chose this day of all days for the penta to practice outdoors, using a clause that stated, it's good to have different varieties of practice so they can handle whatever is thrown into their faces.

"Hey." She watched a drop of water making its way down a small strand of astray hair that hung at the front of her face. The distinctive noises clattered in the background. She said nothing, however, that didn't work for every member of their group.

It was one in the afternoon, but yet, it looked like a definite one in the morning. The clouds were deathly gray, and the sky was stripped of every color. For the millionth time, Ellie consciously readjusted her suit, it would certainly take time getting used to.

Scar looked at her from the front of their formation to give a shrug, while Jess and Leo were fighting playfully once again. Although she stood for lines behind them, she could still hear snippets from their conversation.

"Look at you, fancy and all." Leo kidded, Jess' outfit was particularly tacky and body-hugging. Sure, some would say that her body from was on pointe, but Leo took it as bait to start playfully teasing her.

Ellie imagined Jess' facial reaction as she spoke, "Oh shut up." She yelled. "At least It's better than yours." Ellie nodded, true.

"Um, ouch." He groans, "But I'll live. The elastic material really suits you, Jess." She takes this as an opportunity so mover her body closer to nudge him in a way it hurts, but not too much. "Okay Jess, I get the hint, you don't have to literally grind your body on mine."

Jess kicks him close to his groin. Ellie laughs, this is borderline hilarious.

Scar coughs, "Can you two stop flirting now?" And at that moment, everything becomes even more awkward for the two, but hilarious for Ellie and Louis who are standing behind. Jess loses her balance and literally falls straight into Leo's arms, she swears, yelling it into the sky.

"Language, Jess." He scolds lightly, in laughter himself.

"I'm so done." She grunts, but she's punching him playfully. Moving back to her position, Aspyn takes this as a queue to approach the group.

Aspyn wastes no time, moving Ellie to a frontier position, right behind Leo, whose brows are knit together in confusion. Strangely enough, she keeps Louis a few meters behind the initial lavine formation "We have a problem."

Ellie's head whipped in Aspyn's direction.

"What?" Leo asked from her front.

"The Avinians have discovered the entrance to Covia." She frowns gaining the attention of every warrior. Ellie felt one of her chipped nails digging into her skin, I guess the time had finally caught up to them, lavine's. It had been two, three, eventful weeks of daily training sessions crammed with information, so much that the five were basically experts in their fields, or so they thought. "Change of plans, I guess the real war starts today."

The shock that it's supposed to cause sinks it quicker than Ellie could've expected. No tears, shrieks, or even shocked faces. Not even from Ellie, herself. Apparently, it's what everyone had already anticipated to happen. But yet, it still felt strange. Covia was at the brink of war, not some endless resort to run to when the reality of being a misfit finally sunk in. Brea sighs from beside her. "Come on lavines, warriors. We've spent the last few weeks leading up to this. Lavine's it's time to see your skills put to the test." She chants. "Come on! We got this, We got this!"

The warriors comply, "We got this. We will save Covia."

From the front, Jess throws her fist up into the air, the blaze in her silvery eyes lighting. "Let's go!"