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Feb 18, 2014

Run In - an Amberbel fanfic

oh god I did not expect this to happen. dammit I just wanted to write something for femslash february how did it end up with so many words. also holy crap it's been a loooooooooooong time since I actually wrote down properly any fic with a cast not entirely skylords. but yay. have a not overly well done imo hateshipping fic that I don't even know what else to do with. I'm going to go lie down and plan something else because I apparently hate relaxing.

Run in number one was definitely an accident, the two of them had decided. If anything, it was never intended to happen. Isabel was walking jauntily down the middle of the road, kicking a stone along and whistling sporadically. It was strangely empty in the streets of Icaria, especially considering it was nearly lunchtime. The pirate racked her brain; she should probably eat soon as well. Let’s see, had anywhere not kicked her out and banned her for life yet? Hmm. Bloody skylord laws, ‘prohibiting purchase of goods by wanted criminals’. It really could be a pain in the arse sometimes. Maaaaaaaaybe she could put on a disguise, or get someone to help her sneak in or something. She could usually persuade someone or other, through violence or otherwise. She was pretty sure The Newborn Bat hadn’t recognised her for ages last time: too dark in there. Wait, actually, there was someone at the end of the street. She quickened her pace and made for the bald figure approaching her at an equally fast pace.

Crap; that was a skylord. Isabel slowed her pace, turning nonchalantly to a door on the left side of the street, pretending to examine the number on the door and brushing some of her dark hair over her features. It would be plain anticlimactic to have her career ended because she was a little peckish.

“You know, Isabel, you probably shouldn’t stand outside my house if you’re trying not to get noticed by me,” sighed a voice to her right. That cleared up who the mysterious skylord was then. She smiled and tucked her hair back behind her ear.

“Who said I was trying not to get noticed by you, Jasper?” she chuckled, pulling her sword from her belt and casually playing with the blade in her hand. “Seems that stopped working rather a long time ago, hmm? Like pre-war long ago. Pre-war-pre-war long ago.”

“I wasn’t alive pre-war-pre-war long ago, dunno ‘bout you.”

“Hah!” Jasper peered about at the empty street.

“Soooooooo, why are you even out here?”

“Lunch, obviously. I’m off to The Newborn Bat if you care to join.”

Jasper was facepalming. That was probably not a good sign. “Do you even have a calendar anymore?” he giggled. “It’s a public holiday, idiot. Everyone’s at home stuffing their faces and nothing’s actually open. No point going anywhere!”

Isabel raised an eyebrow. “You’re out here,” she stated.

“I was also going home, so if you would move your butt away from the door-” There was a shout from up the street and Isabel shook her hair again so it covered half of her face; hair was great for emergency obscuring! Oh great, another skylord. Luckily this one was another safe one, unless Lysander was now tutoring his underlings to pretend hats were cool. Because they still weren’t and never would be. “Oh, you finally caught up!” taunted Jasper languidly, turning a key in the lock of his front door.

“Yes, thank you, and you appear to have mutated into a dual form of yourself while I was away: congratulations.”

Isabel and Jasper shared a tired look. “Are you trying to get us to ask which one of us you’re talking to?” droned Isabel. “Because you do that every time you spot me and it’s really gotten old over the years.”

“I don’t do it that often!”

“Yes,” chirped Jasper. “Yes, you do.” Lysander narrowed his eyes at him, before returning his face to neutral.

“Does this mean you’re trying to steal food off of us?”

“Hun, she didn’t even know we were having food.”

“What? How could you not piece that togeth-”

“She didn’t know it was a holiday either.”

“Really? It’s on the same date every year; how could you not-”

Isabel tapped her sword on the cobbled ground angrily. “Are you two going to stand there and just argue in front of me?”

“Yes!” came the synchronised reply. Isabel huffed. Of all the skylords who were okay not killing her on sight, why was she stuck with the totally incompetent ones? Well, she supposed that if everyone was at home, then everything was therefore abandoned: no guards! The two skylords standing in front of the house were still arguing, and listening in to a few words Isabel could tell they’d already moved onto insulting each other instead of her. And the laws keeping her out of pubs didn’t extend to keeping those two out of anywhere within earshot of civilisation. A pity, really. She turned and began to locate another stone to kick along the street. There were a few posters and adverts on a notice board attached to a building on this side of the road. The building wasn’t very important looking, but some of those notices... hmm...

Aside from the usual sheets of paper looking for potential cat owners (she could have sworn that that exact poster was used in Mistral before it got torched and looking closer she could see burn marks around where the pins were) and advertising brothels and chat up lines (she knew precisely no one who had ever called the latter and she knew a lot of people), apparently they were now issuing wanted posters. Looking through them... ah only two others she recognised of the five there. And at least hers was the only one without graffiti. Honestly if it were any other way she would have to make a point to track down whoever gave her glasses and a curly moustache and see that they suffered a slow and bloody death. Nice to see the idiots about ten metres away, still shouting at each other, had kept mum about her name; if that got out it would totally ruin her image, being associated with a bunch of templars!

“It’s a good picture, is it not?” sneered a female voice from her right. Isabel turned slightly, tightening her grip on the sword in her hand. There was another sword pointing directly at her throat. Damn it. And for crying out loud, another skylord? Was this just a city of skylords now; had everyone else just packed up and left? “You certainly haven’t left us many clues to go off though; I’m surprised we managed to capture your likeness as well as we did.” Isabel glanced back at her poster. That looked suspiciously like one of Jasper’s drawings, that utter prick. Back at the skylord again. She certainly looked very confident; sadly, however proud her posture was it did not make up for lack of suitable bone structure or boot heels and she found herself towering over the woman somewhat. Doubly sadly, the woman did not look particularly easy to beat in a fight however, and seduction didn’t look an overly promising concept either; both had been pretty much thrown out at the rather noticeable lack of hesitation at threatening her with cold steel. Cold steel was surprisingly uncomfortable when pressed against your jugular.

Well, to be fair, seduction was just about possible. The skylord looked to be expecting her to speak up anyway. Time to turn on the charm! “To think, you’re not even going to ask my name before flirting with me?” Isabel simpered, looking away with a small smile. The skylord’s expression didn’t change. Damn.

“I already know your name, ‘Dread Pirate Norris’, or at least the only name you’ll tell me if I ask.” Okay, she was keeping up. That hadn’t happened before. Mind you, there hadn’t been posters with the name of her alias hung up before either. “And I believe I was comparing your appearance to a picture of yourself.”

“And beautiful it is too, if I might say; it appears there are cultured ones among your kind yet.” The skylords eyes flashed; oh good, she could pick up backhanded compliments too. “So, am I to discover your name before you go comparing me to works of art?” If she was going to go down by being outsmarted by a skylord, she was at least going to find out who it was.

“I think it would put me at a greater risk if I did, my dear Dread Pirate.” She was chuckling darkly, looking very pleased with herself. Looking back at the five wanted posters, Isabel could guess that was five major criminals that the skylords hadn’t managed to catch, so she did have a reason to be gleeful. Well hopefully none of them were too murderous. “I would prefer not to have your lackeys set on me if you do somehow escape. After all, they’ll find me far quicker if they know my name, will they not?” Damn it. That was a brilliant back up plan not yet reached by herself and already totally trashed by a bloody skylord of all people.

“Wow, aren’t you the prepared one!” Flattery got you everywhere. “I can only marvel at why you seem to think I could ever live up to such high standards of yours.”

“I do not see any other way you could have eluded capture so long.” The expression on the skylord’s face had become focussed and deadpan. Well, until a door was slammed some way away. The one to Jasper’s house probably; the shouting had stopped a while back. Alarmed, the skylord jerked her head to the side, glaring into the space behind Isabel’s head. Sensing her opportunity, Isabel jolted her sword arm upright and brought down the butt of her own unsheathed weapon upon the skylord’s elbow, quickly leaning back as the woman yelped and her grip on her sword loosened. The pirate didn’t pause before snatching the handle out of her hand and pulling the blade far out of reach. The skylord glared furiously at the sword now pointed at her own neck.

“Perhaps I’m still around because I don’t let the idiots hiding in that house over there trick me off guard, hm?” she grinned as she stepped back, back, and the skylord wasn’t fidgeting or looking for another weapon at all. With a pointed wiggle of her eyebrows Isabel spun on one heel and sprinted off down an alleyway, hurling her aggressor’s sword through the already smashed window of an old mill.

***

The second time they bumped into each other was probably still in accident territory, they had just about agreed on, or at least if it was by someone’s autonomy, then it sure as hell wasn’t by theirs. Amber had been dragged off to a pub by two of her colleagues (i.e. two people that you should probably not go anywhere public with if you value your sanity but they insisted anyway), and the three of them were now sitting in a corner table, for the most part obscured from the rest of the establishment by an errant wall clad in various pieces of art: only the truest sign of a place that served food trying to be classy. Amber swallowed her drink and replaced the glass on the table.

“Let me get this straight with you,” she said, voice terse. “You have both run into easily the most wanted criminal in the whole of Minecraftia multiple times without being compromised in anyway yourself and yet you have made precisely no attempt to arrest her?” Her colleagues nodded, gingerly. She ran one hand through her hair. That would make an awful lot of sense, all things considered. “Honestly, I wouldn’t expect both of you to be so totally enamoured with our pirate friend-”

“Enamoured?!” Lysander was now standing, heels of both palms planted firmly on the slightly sticky varnish of their table. A few people across the bar in the limited view still allowed by that stupid wall were staring. Clearing his throat, he sat down again. “She is merely a childhood friend-”

“Who you totally have the hots for, yep.” Apparently Jasper had felt the need to add his opinion. That may have been a bad move considering the death glare now being shared between the pair. Amber took another swig of her (non-alcoholic, practically irritatingly) drink and let her gaze travel across the bar: no one and nothing of interest in sight. Surreptitiously she fiddled with her belt, where her sword should be and currently wasn’t. Hers had been utterly shattered all of three days previous and the blacksmith was away on holiday. She would have to try and push through an incentive for new craftsmen sometime; she couldn’t possibly be the only person encountering this problem lately. A particularly loud customer entered the pub, and Amber barely heard the door shut behind them. She didn’t recognise the loud voice, though she could swear she’d heard the quieter, marginally higher pitched voice replying before. Before she could hear any snippets of this new voice, it was drowned out by the voices of her colleagues that were rapidly increasing in volume. She thinks the voice from the other side of that wall is getting louder though, and before she realises this means that the owner of the voice is moving towards them, a face pops round the side of the obstacle, almost dislodging one of the many canvases.

A far too familiar face.

“Thought I heard you guys,” she sniffed, before her line of sight switched to Skylord Amber and she froze.

“Isabel Peculier, so we meet again.” Isabel’s eyes narrowed and she instinctively reached for her sword, as did Amber. Both their hands scrabbled at empty air.

“What.” Ms Peculier’s head spun round, just in time to catch sight of a woman brandishing what Amber recognised to be the pirate’s sword, currently aimed directly at the bartender’s chest. Oh dear. “Oh, so that’s why she wanted to come here specifically,” the pirate muttered under her breath with mild curiosity. “So, Amber, what do you propose we do now?”

Amber narrowed her eyes. “How the devil do you know my name?”

“How did you know mine?” Their eyes locked, and as one they glanced towards Jasper and Lysander, who were currently competing to see who could slide furthest under the table without actually falling onto the floor. “You guys are terrible at keeping secrets, you know.”

The barkeep being held up at sword point had begun to protest upon realising that there were in fact three skylords currently sitting in view, barely taking an interest in the fact that armed robbery was taking place. The barkeep had in fact begun to protest rather loudly. Jasper and Lysander took one look at each other, before quickly scooting their chairs back and running over to help, their own swords already in hand; well, it was better than being glared at by both sides of the law. Isabel and Amber were now left sitting quite still, Amber holding her drink and sipping it occasionally, and Isabel staring absently at her face.

“Are you going to stop doing that?” snapped Amber, already quite tired by the excursion. “It feels as if you’re going to bore a hole right through my forehead; I would far rather keep my brain intact, thank you very much.”

“Sorry, it’s just it’s the most interesting thing to look at in here.” Amber gestured to the poncy art on the poncy wall. “All that stuff’s either really depressing or really romantic. Seeing as I’ve just lost my date for the evening, I’m not even going to give that stupid wall a second glance.” Oh, so the woman the other two skylords were desperately trying to restrain at the bar was her date.

“How exactly did she even steal your sword without you noticing?” Amber scoffed. If she remembered correctly, Isabel had extremely good reflexes.

A beat passed before Isabel answered, shoulders rearing back in defence. “She didn’t steal it, I just lent it to her!”

“No, you were surprised when you didn’t have your sword; if you knew it was gone you’d have just taken someone else’s, surely. And I would currently be dead.” Isabel shifted, slightly uncomfortable, and stared at Amber’s drink.

“Can I have some of that?” she eventually asked.

“Absolutely not.” Isabel glared. “Kindly purchase your own drink.”

“Well I would,” she returned sarcastically. “Except at the moment the guy at the bar has fainted and is unlikely to be serving any more drinks.” Amber looked past Isabel. She was right; Jasper was trying (unsuccessfully) to rouse the bartender while Lysander was still restraining Isabel’s date with a panicked look on his face.

“Maybe in the future you could avoid bringing criminals into bars; I’m sure it would save you many dates in the future.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much the same advice Jasper gave me last time it happened,” Isabel mused, drumming her fingers on the table. “I think you lot might actually just be a hive mind?”

Amber blinked. “I am going to pretend I didn’t hear any of that last part.”

“Yeah, that’s what Jasper said too.” Skylord Amber made a mental note to reprimand Jasper at the next possible opportunity. Finally Isabel stretched and made to stand again, causing her chair to screech backwards. That was a very irritating noise.

“Where, pray tell would you be going, Ms Peculier?”

“Out of here,” chuckled the pirate, raising an eyebrow in response. “If you want to keep me here, then sure, I’m flattered, but as it turns out, skylord, you don’t have a sword.”

“And neither do you, dread pirate,” shot Amber. Isabel chuckled again, stepping back, then back again. Amber’s eyes narrowed as she appeared to trip, and ducked down; she stepped back up, with her original sword in hand, which she had apparently picked up from where it had skidded away from her now restrained date.

“Guess again, Amber.” She smiled and swivelled on one foot, whistling happily and barging past other drinkers. Amber’s eyes darted left and right. It didn’t look like anyone else in the building was armed, and even if they were, they didn’t look as if they were going to try and stop Isabel. Lysander shouldn’t move himself or his sword, as doing so would result in the escape of a (no longer armed) robber, and that would be terrible. Jasper was still leaning over the bar to frown at the unconscious person slumped over the wood; he would be useless if chasing Isabel in her stead as second hand information had made very clear, but she supposed he could still be useful.

“Jasper,” she shouted, trying to shoo away curious onlookers. “Pass me your sword!”

He looked very confused. “Huh? What, d’you want the whole belt or-”

“Just the sword, thank you.” With a questioning sigh he pulled his weapon from his belt and lobbed it across the room, narrowly missing several innocent citizens. “And please throw your sword in a safer manner in the future!” she shouted over her shoulder, having already grabbed the handle as it clattered to the floor, and dashing forward, scolding a bunch of drunks who had found it hilarious to stand in the way. She spotted Isabel, rapidly nearing the exit, but turning round at the sound of her approaching footsteps and adjusting herself into a stronger stance. It would’ve been foolish to assume there wouldn’t be a fight in this confrontation. The two women stood on the balls of their feet and circled sluggishly, the hubbub of the crowd dying down so that the only things to be heard were their breathing and the argument between Jasper and Lysander over whether there was a safe way to throw a sword at somebody. Both of them were making terrible points. Amber lunged forwards, aiming at Isabel’s sword and slicing sideways in an attempt to knock it out of her hands, but Isabel appeared to be a step ahead, literally stepping ahead and to her left, completely avoiding Amber’s swing and making one of her own. Amber quickly jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding a hit to the thigh. Lesson learned; Isabel was far more set on injuring her than vice versa. With another sidestep Isabel swung again, sword tip grazing the skylord’s stomach, the latter’s sword just managing to bat away the other weapon.

“As much as I hate to do this, my dear Amber,” drawled the pirate, jumping with surprising agility backwards then forwards to land another thrust that barely missed Amber’s arm, “I really think that attack is by far the best defence, hm?” She interrupted herself as her attacker accidently crashed into a chair, sending it flying to knock a wobbly table and prompting the unfortunate shattering on the floor of a (very poncy) flower vase incredibly close to the dread pirate’s foot. Amber shrugged apologetically. Another lesson learned; Jasper’s sword was much lighter than her own and putting too much momentum into using it was causing problems. Isabel coughed, eyes flicking momentarily around at the sniggering onlookers that other than the nominal sniggering, were doing precisely nothing. “Anyway, if you would surrender and quit trying to arrest me because seriously I’m not appreciating it, perhaps I’ll let you off without too many injuries!”

“This is my job, Ms- ow!” Amber shot figurative daggers as Isabel made a very sudden lunge forwards with a considerably more literal sword aimed directly at her side and making contact, tearing through jacket and shirt and into flesh. Amber stumbled back and into another table, free hand clutched over the wound. Isabel made for her again, this time aiming for the hilt of her borrowed sword. Amber jerked her arm away, again misjudging the weight of the weapon so as she brought it in an arc past her face the sword enjoyed its second freefall across the room, thankfully landing on the floor and skating around before colliding with any people. She hissed a quick apology before turning back to Isabel, who now had a massive smirk on her face and was aiming a glinting blade directly at her neck. This was becoming alarmingly familiar a situation: ‘cut-throat’ pirate indeed.

“That’d be the Dread Pirate Norris to you, skylord,” she sniffed, eyes flaring momentarily. Amber, her back still pressed almost over one of the (now completely vacated) tables, looked around pleadingly to the faces in the crowd. Really, they were literally just going to watch all this; were they all just too scared of angering Isabel or did they derive some sick satisfaction from seeing a politician suffer? Judging by the fact she could make out someone eating popcorn a few metres into the mass of people – her hands curled painfully into fists – she could only gather that the latter factor was at least a part of it. That was it; she was banning this place from ever selling snacks again. “No point looking at that bunch of lemons for help; everyone knows I’m way cooler than you, and waaaaaaaaay more popular,” Isabel chuckled, shaking her head in amusement. “Let me ask you a simple question, ‘cause you guys like words, right? Given the fact that you will die if you refuse, do you surrender?” How anyone could sound so cheerful while talking about this was quite beyond the comprehension of Amber. She swallowed and considered her options. She did not have a lot of options to consider though, and all of them eventually led to the ‘Dread Pirate Norris’ in front of her successfully resisting arrest.

Amber brought two shaking hands upwards in a silent admittance of defeat. She would rather not die over this.

“Oh good,” said Isabel smoothly. “I did so want us to come to an agreement. It really would be a shame to get rid of you, as irritating as your intentions are.” She winked, cheekily, and backed delicately with a slight wiggle of her hips over glass that ground beneath her feet. The door creaked open behind her and she strode straight down the street, her half skirt streaming in her wake. Crowd noise was beginning to fill the room again, as if a bubble somewhere had just popped. Yes, a bubble made of giggles and awkward stares and frightened mutters and-

Amber suddenly realised with some disgust that her left hand was stained dull purple-red where it had been clasping her side. Trying not to panic she looked down at her side; her jacket was of a shade that revealed next to nothing. Dimly she heard someone trying to get people back to their tables and “quit crowding the front bit”, in a very eloquent manner, obviously. Skylord Jasper eventually burst out of a wall of unmoving customers and grinned worriedly at Amber, taking one look at her side and hand and grimacing. Tentatively she leant forwards to stand up: ouch.

“Uh, you should probably get to a hospital,” commented Jasper, offering one hand and thanking an alert stranger who was handing him his sword back. Amber guessed they had kept up with who the thing belonged to by nearly getting hit twice. She rolled her eyes at her colleague. She would be fine with walking by herself, thank you very much.

“Is Skylord Lysander still with the suspect?” asked Amber, trying to get something back on track and into a damn routine.

“Yeah, but he might take a while to get the woman into custody though...” Amber raised an eyebrow in question. “She’s trying to flirt with him.”

“So?”

“He’s threatened to kill her right then and there about... six times already because of it.” Amber rubbed her temples with exasperation. She could definitely see the ‘pirates are cooler and more popular than skylords’ side of the eternal debate presented by Isabel. Bracing herself she walked alongside Jasper out of the pub and into the biting night air. After a minute of silence Jasper groaned, “you’re gonna try and arrest her again, aren’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Nooo, just don’t do it, just... just don’t get involved, or you’ll get drawn in too-”

“Like you and Lysander you mean?”

“... ... ...”

“I’ll take that as a yes, and,” Amber growled, “if you warn Ms Peculier of anything your pay is being docked to nil for a year, do you understand?” Jasper looked rather crestfallen.

“Yes, ma’am.”

***

Obviously by the third time they met, no one was doubting that this was deliberate. Skylord Amber walked cautiously through the docks in clouded moonlight, occasionally tapping her pockets to check the pair of handcuffs was still there; of course it was. Her dominant hand was clasped firmly over her newly replaced sword. There was likely another fight in store and she was definitely going to be more prepared this time! A sailor tripped past her, almost knocking her to the ground: a drunk, probably. The sailor was being very quiet and it was very dark after all. But someone was ahead, a silhouette that looked about the right size and shape for her target. Carefully she drew the sword, making sure to move without noise, and held it aloft in front of here. The silhouette was facing away from her and up at the mast of one of the ships and she edged forwards, raising the blade and ultimately trailing her arm around her shoulders. “Hello again, Ms Peculier.”

Isabel let out a low chuckle and tried to turn. Amber tightened her arm, trapping the other’s shoulder. “I can’t say I wasn’t expecting you; honestly I’m surprised you took quite so long,” Isabel chattered, perfectly conversationally. They might as well be talking over a cup of tea and a slice of cake. Amber rolled her eyes and fiddled in the darkness for the handcuffs she’d brought. She’d placed them in an inside pocket in her coat, forgetting later that it was actually really cold on the seafront thanks to the wind, and as such doing up all the buttons on the ruddy thing; unbuttoning a jacket one-handed with your freezing cold, numb, non-dominant hand was difficult to say the least as it turned out. “I mean I’m leaving in two days, so I was almost starting to worry you wouldn’t show up again at all! I’m glad my hope wasn’t completely misplaced-”

“Ms Peculier, are you drunk or is this always how you act when you’re at an imminent risk of being put away for good?”

“Ms Amber, am I drunk or are you admitting that on the two occasions you’ve tried to arrest me before, there was noooooooooooooooo danger of me being arrested?”

“I... I admitted nothing of the sort!”

“Really? Hmmmmmmmmm?” Amber really wished she could see the pirate’s face, to judge her reactions of course! “Are you sure you’re even here now to arrest me? I would’ve thought you’d have brought back up or something, seeing as you keep failing to keep me in one place!” Amber glowered at Isabel’s neck. She would glower at her face quite happily, but she was still just getting her handcuffs out, and she’d rather keep Isabel’s hands in sight before turning her round.

“You have no idea whether I did in fact bring reinforcements, Ms Peculier,” smirked Amber, as she finally pulled out the handcuffs. And failed to open them. Crap, that bit should be movable. Ugh, this was not her intention.

“Huh?” Isabel sounded pensive. After a second of thought she whistled sharply. “Oi! Tinman!” Amber followed Isabel’s tilted head. There was the outline of a person in a window of the terrace of houses opposite the docks. A dull light reflected off of the body; Amber was unaware Isabel dipped her crewmates in molten metal, and the result didn’t seem to be worth it. “Any skydudes round ‘ere?!” The figure in the window (‘Tinman’? Interesting...) appeared to shift and soon a bright green bar of light raked over the landscaped and made the room the robot –it had to be! – stood in glow eerily. The masts of the ships rattled and clattered in the wind.

Eventually though ‘Tinman’ sounded a long string of beeps which Isabel seemed to understand just fine. “Yeah, nah, that one’s with me!” she giggled. The light at the window vanished. “You were saying Amber?” The skylord ground her teeth and stared at the handcuffs which still would not open for pity’s sake. The hand holding up her sword was becoming quite tired now; she was unwilling to lean on Isabel too much. “You sound a little frustrated back there... something wrong?”

“Oh do be quiet!”

“Whatever for? You got a headache? You tired?” Isabel paused, whether in thought or for dramatic effect Amber would never again be able to pin down. She sensed a light movement. “You afraid I’ll do this?”

Amber almost immediately felt herself being shoved backwards, arms batted aside and feet stumbling over slick cobbles. She stabilised within a matter of seconds and looked up at Isabel. The latter replaced her foot on the ground and her hand on her sword, quickly drawing it, and turned, the smug smirk on her face verging on flirtation.

“You’re pretty desperate to hang onto those, huh?” mused Isabel, gesturing with the tip of her sword to the handcuffs hanging from Amber’s fingers on an arm dropped loosely to the side. With possibly the most dramatic sigh ever she tutted out a, “I think you need to catch me first for those to work though.” Despite the fact that it would go against several laws of physics, as she began to stride forwards again, Amber could have sworn the moonlight glinted over the eyes of Isabel’s shadowed face.

Isabel smiled, though she was pretty sure Amber wouldn’t catch it, and sprang backwards into a sprint, pricking her ears for, yep, footsteps coming right at her. Good to hear she was still keeping up, hopefully not hurting herself too much – she wasn’t sure how badly she’d actually cut the skylord, seeing as in hindsight she might have gone just a touch overboard. Not that Isabel really blamed herself; if Amber hadn’t been so determined to fight her then maybe it wouldn’t be quite so bad. But back in the present, in foresight she could tell that her head start and the beautiful element of surprise were all that kept her in front. Both of them were now armed and even with a wounded side Amber was marginally faster over flat ground. The pirate’s eyes scanned the buildings facing the sea and spotted an opening. Over flat land, sure, Amber had the edge, but what about the back alleys; skylords had a habit of being too scared of venturing there regularly enough to know the area (or at least that was what her informers told her, heh, heh). To the back alleys then! Isabel pressed off hard with one boot, frowning to herself as she skidded just a little too far as her heel failed to dig in properly. Ah well, it took a second for her pursuer to register that yes, she had actually changed directions and she was again a good way in front.

It really was quite dark in the back alley. Apparently nothing had changed in terms of lighting while she was away at sea. In fact what had changed while she was away at sea was the number of boxes strewn across everywhere; someone had probably moved into one of the buildings at last. Annoyingly that also left the other end of the alley completely blocked off. Seriously who does that; this was a completely functional escape route all of three months ago, but no! Swearing a permanent vendetta against abandoned kitchen units, Isabel glanced around, then up at the mostly hidden sky. Well, those buildings might be tall, but at least there was a fire escape (rusting and covered in more sodding boxes though it be) and plenty of handholds. She looked over her shoulder before running and leaping, grabbing hold of the railings of the steel staircase hugging the building, just about missing the gap where several steps had dislodged: from general weathering, she presumed. Gleefully she tugged herself up and lurched forwards up more stairs, being as careful as she could not to get her toes caught in the perforated surface. She stopped as she reached the next floor of the building, leaning over the railing there with a bored expression. Back down at ground level Skylord Amber was... shoving the boxes around. What the actual hell.

“Wow,” she drawled, tapping on the railing. “A skylord afraid of a little acrobatics?”

“Correction,” snapped back Amber. “A skylord making use of the most reasonable solution.” She let go of a final box on top of the others and stepped onto one of the lower ones, allowing Isabel a confident grin and a low chuckle. Already she had broken back into a run, practically hopping in her ascent, and Isabel set off again, kicking away boxes as she went. A shout rang out from one of the windows near the staircase, a woman in a bright pink dressing gown slamming open the frame. Surprisingly, Amber didn’t seem to respond for once; if Isabel was gonna go by the last fight, Amber should have squeaked out an apology or something. As it was...

“You know, you could do a few impassioned yells while this chase is going on. Just a quick ‘hand yourself in or die, pirate scum!’ or something like that!” Isabel couldn’t actually see Amber’s face, but she imagined she was burning holes in her back for her incredibly overdone mockery of her voice.

As it turned out, Isabel’s imagination was spot on it its assumptions. Amber ground her teeth and mumbled, “yes, and I supposed you’d love that seeing as it would completely give away my exact position.”

“That isn’t the only reason I’d love it skylord!”

“Hasn’t it ever occurred to you that some people like to enjoy their adrenaline packed moments quietly?”Amber growled, accidentally dislodging another box, this one rather heavy and wooden from its perilous perch on the edge of the stairs, just by a broken piece of railing. It plunged downwards with many a loud clang and clatter that civilians would complain about for weeks. Another few shouts were heard from previously sleeping people in the surrounding houses.

Eventually they had reached the roof.

The pitched tiles beneath their feet provided little purchase to boots already slippery with sea spray; both women automatically redrew their weapons and tried to steady themselves, both checking to see whether any other (non-deadly) exits from the roof existed. Both checks came up a resounding negative. Smiling innocently Amber lunged forwards, finally experiencing an advantage over her rival – wait, when had she begun to think of Isabel like that? – with her better gripped boots and slightly lower centre of gravity keeping her a firmer hold on the battleground. Sure enough, Isabel’s foot caught on a loose tile and she barely blocked the blow, feeling her sword try to buckle under the strain. Blinking hard she jumped upright again and double checked there were no roofs she could plausibly reach. No, this terrace was between a wider road and the alley they had just climbed out of, which Amber now stood firmly in front of. Less confident of herself, Isabel swung her sword, aiming for Amber’s leg.

Apparently she’d remembered from their last confrontation and pre-emptively dodged to the side, again thrusting at Isabel’s sword arm. She grazed the skin of her upper arm as Isabel swerved her body, losing balance and crashing to the stone slope, pretty much squeaking as she realised she was very rapidly sliding down to the edge. She desperately grabbed onto a mercifully weighty, squared off gutter to the sound of several gasps from the street below. Amber raised an eyebrow. So they had an audience now, did they? With her sword still in hand she cautiously marched towards the pirate, grabbing the handcuffs from her pocket. Right, she couldn’t lose now; either Isabel would have to surrender and be officially captured, or she would plummet right off the edge of a four story building. Amber knew precisely one person who would ever choose the latter on principal, and as far as she was aware it sure wasn’t Isabel. She knelt, meeting Isabel’s eyes, and stilling.

No, that wasn’t right. She tried again. Still kneeling she met Isabel’s stare and her hands froze around the handcuffs. She sighed angrily. Obviously she was just psychologically buffering herself for trying to work the stupid handcuffs again. She glared at the handcuffs and tentatively pulled open the hinge: victory, sweet temporary victory. Once more, this time with a small smile she met Isabel’s glance and failed to close the handcuffs around her wrist.

Why this.

Come on Amber, the woman in front of you clearly isn’t pleading for anything; heck, she’s wearing a seriously good poker face.

“Thank you very much, Amber.”

“Stop intruding on my private monologue!”

“Stop publicising your private monologue then!” Why is she giggling? Giggling is not an appropriate response to being left for a considerable while hanging from a rooftop. She sighed, and shifted slightly, renewing her efforts to end this now, feeling several tiles come loose beneath her, rolling her rather efficiently into open air. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad! In a split second she had released the handcuffs so that they crashed to the road and the bystanders an actually quite dizzying distance below and was now hanging precariously onto the gutter alongside Isabel. Her feet scrabbled wildly at the wall just too far away to push off from as her arms felt as if they were going to dislocate any seconds. More people were screaming from the ground. “Thanks for dropping in!”

“Now is not the time, Isabel!”

Isabel raised her eyebrows and swung her legs, with her just being tall enough to utilise the wall to haul herself back to the relatively solid surface of the roof, smirking irritably. Amber took a deep breath to focus herself, then attempted to pull herself up, arms shaking with the strain. Soon a stabbing pain in her side winded her and she fell limp again, feeling the gutter begin to seriously cut into her fingers. She must have emitted a noise of some sort, as Isabel jerked around with a look of concern. After a slight pause she knelt down, clearly biting the inside of her cheek. She put out a hand.

And grabbed Amber’s wrist to pull her up.

There were a few spatters of applause from the bystanders, who presumably were beginning to dissipate now. Amber rolled over and lay flat on her back, just staring at the sky over the sea and focussing on calming her breathing back down to a more normal rate. Somewhere higher up on the roof she could sense Isabel shifting around then sitting quite still.

“You... you do realise if you had let me fall then you would quite literally have no one bothering you whenever you’re in Icaria?”

“Trust me,” chuckled Isabel, “that is exactly why I didn’t let you fall.” Amber continued to blink up at the sky in silence; Isabel huffed. “Don’t tell me you don’t think this was fun? Jeez you’re uptight.”

“I concede that this little affair was exciting,” growled Amber, grinding her teeth a little, but not really making an effort to stand up, “but-”

“But what? It would be better if it was forced to stop because you hit the ground too quick? Hate to say it, Amber, but you really ain’t thinking straight on this one!”

The skylord shook her head in exasperation and patted on the tiles for her sword, smiling when she found it and replacing in the scabbard at her waist. “I don’t believe your logic is much better, Ms Peculier.”

“At least I admit I enjoy keeping competition around.” At last Amber found the will to turn her head, this time careful not to lose her grip. “It’s true right?” Isabel grinned. I never knew someone could wear such an aggravating smile, even when upside down. “Just then you could’ve just shoved me off the roof and it would all be over, you’d be free of me and no one would question your morality.”

“They very much would question my professionalism however-”

“Which would explain the handcuffs instead sure. Shame you kept deciding not to actually use them.”

“They were stuck!”

“And I saw you unstick them on try two!” The two glared at each other, everything strangely tilted from the pitch of the surface they were on. “Basically you don’t want to kill me; I don’t particularly want to kill by far the smartest rival I’ve ended up with, so I suppose we can come to an agreement?”

Amber paused, tilting her head back forwards and composing her face – if she was going to wear a poker face, then the favour was going to be returned! On the one hand, yes, this was certainly more interesting than her usual routine, and she had enjoyed it more than she cared to admit. On the other hand, she was pretty sure someone was still going to get injured (especially herself considering what she’d already sustained) and really this was sending an incredibly faulty message to-

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by the sensation of lips pressing against her forehead. Suspiciously upside down lips.

“Ms Peculier, will you stop imposing an emotional bias on my decision!”

“Not if you’re gonna take this long about it, holy crap.” Isabel huffed and made to stand, twirling her newly recovered sword absentmindedly. “I’ll leave you a couple months to decide, huh?”

“’A couple months’?” said Amber in confusion, prying her upper body off of the roof.

“I’m off at sea pretty soon; I’ve already told you this!” Ah, Amber had forgotten that little detail. “So I guess we’ll be continuing this then, hm?”

“I suppose so,” sighed Amber, finally making it back to a standing position without losing her balance. “Try not to die before you get back.”

“Well then, try not to injure yourself before I get back. Seriously, you squeaked so loudly when you put any strain on your side, I thought my ears were gonna bleed.”

“Is that supposed to embarrass me, Ms Peculier?” laughed Amber, smiling menacingly. “Because last time I checked a squeak in poor health is nowhere near as bad as one in full health.” Isabel paused, squinting furiously.

“I don’t squeak!”

“Well you did. But have fun with your resolution to sound less pathetic in the future.” Sticking her tongue out, Isabel turned on her heel, muttering something under her breath and beginning to stalk off. “Yes, yes, I hate you too,” Amber smirked under her breath as the pirate made the short distance between the roof and the top of the fire escape and hissed for someone to get out of the way. The skylord sighed and paced off to follow her, raising an eyebrow as passive aggressively as she could as her line of sight cleared the corner into two faces with very sheepish, very wide eyed expressions.

“Exactly how long have you two been standing there?” she barked, folding her arms as the two other skylords giggled nervously.

“About that...” stuttered Lysander before Jasper butted in with a,

“I don’t suppose this gets us off the hook for not arresting her ourselves?”

Amber continued folding her arms but looked past them now instead, scanning the ground of the alleyway below them. Isabel was walking jovially back to the docks, nudging something small that must’ve fallen from one of the boxes around everywhere and whistling out a few random notes. She looked back at her colleagues, who appeared to become more concerned with each passing second. “Not yet; give me a couple months and maybe I’ll reconsider.”

#amberbel #isabel peculier #skylord amber #earthdeep does fanfiction #wo I have apparently never tagged amber before #I am sorry this monster isn't so great the characters keep running away from my control #and I haven't exactly perfected the art of getting isabel peculier written down #I should try more often isabel peculier is badass #soi sauce

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