“Mallory, now!” Hector yelled. He swept his foot across the ground in front of him.

A blast of fire lifted from underneath Mallory before sending him over the ground horizontally. Mallory had his hands outstretched in front of him, ready to grab Charlotte.

Hector then punched forward with his fist, shooting a stream of fire toward his sister.

“Jon!”

Jon perked up from the ground, listening carefully to Hector’s instructions over the roaring flames.

“I need you to get close to Charlotte, okay? I’m gonna cover you! Can you do it?”

Jon nodded. He wanted to stand, but the way Hector was spewing fire meant that Charlotte was probably gonna retaliate sooner or later. He instead went onto his knees and slowly crawled to his target, letting all of the flames deal with themselves above their head.

“That’s smart, Jon!” Hector announced. “Keep yourself low and hidden!”

Mallory the projectile had missed Charlotte on his first attempt, but another wave of fire shot out before Mallory left the circle, lifting him high into the air.

A dangling line of fire lowered from the roof, catching Mallory by the wrist. Mallory gripped the makeshift rope and swung back towards Charlotte.

Charlotte made shrills and giggles as she dodged the swinging mage.

Using her other hand to hold off whatever Hector's spells were trying to throw her way.

Jon appreciated this new devil-may-care attitude from the duo, especially since it seemed to be allowing him to make his goal.

He was finally a small distance away from Charlotte’s feet.

“Are you trying to look under my skirt, Jon?” Charlotte asked, her attention still pointed at the ceiling.

Jon stopped and hesitated.

Charlotte punted the air with a small kick.

A ball of fire left her foot, catching Jon and sending him back towards Hector.

Jon crashed into him and they tumbled to the ground together.

Hector losing his concentration meant that Mallory lost his tether as well. Being mid-swing, his momentum sent him towards the end of the circle.

Whelp. Jon was ready to accept defeat when he felt something warm attach to his body.

“Pull!” Hector yelled.

Jon grabbed the manifestation of fire mana that had gathered in front of him. The other ends of the flames were connected to Mallory’s body.

He pulled together with Hector. There was a strong yank from the other end of the fire and Mallory’s momentum stopped right before he left the circle. He fell face down to the floor.

Jon and Hector also fell back on top of each other.

“Never… again…” Hector muttered before coughing.

Never again… Jon wasn't foolish enough to think that Hector was talking about the spell he just used, although using the spell together was really painful. Hector was probably thinking about the Period of Power. Even if Hector hadn’t lost his Period of Power match, he was still thinking of ways to circumvent a loss.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown… Jon wondered where he heard it before. He wondered why he even thought it. Things like that didn’t come his way easily.

Who said that? Jon wasn’t gonna be able to put a face to the name. He focused on regaining feeling in his chest as he sat up.

“Mallory!” Hector yelled.

Jon watched Mallory stick a thumbs up from the floor.

“Impressive, Hector!” Charlotte yelled. “You really are a mage. Looks like I’m gonna have to move from the center for once."

“I’m not a- oh shit!” Hector hopped back onto his feet. “Move!”

Hector turned and dashed away. Jon was too stunned to move. He hadn’t ever seen Hector run away from something.

“Jon, move!’ Hector yelled again.

Where? Jon wondered. He then saw a wheel of fire spinning his way.

Jon dived to the side. This time, he was able to orient himself so that he tumbled properly, rolling over his own head and back before coming back onto his feet.

Yeah! Jon ended up losing a bit of his balance on his feet, but he was happy enough that he rolled away properly. He turned back around to just see the wheel extinguishing and Charlotte landing gracefully from its center.

“Which way shall I go now...” Charlotte put her finger to her chin thoughtfully and looked around the circle.

Jon had seen enough. If Hector was scared enough to avoid a physical confrontation with her, he would gladly acquiesce. But when he started jogging away, it suddenly occured up to Jon how tired his body was.

He ended up limping while trying to catch his breath. Unfortunately, he saw the orange glow from Charlotte's flames grow brighter and brighter as she moved closer to him.

“Move!” Hector ran in between Charlotte and Jon, stopping his sister's advance.

Jon heeded Hector's instruction and dashed away, feeling a little ashamed that he couldn't do more, but also understanding that it would be better not to get in Hector's way.

Mallory was waving further away in the circle, so Jon jogged his way towards him.

Jon took a quick glance behind to see Hector attempting to fend off Charlotte up close. He silently prayed for Hector's success and turned back to Mallory.

“Okay, so here’s the dealio,” Mallory said as soon as Jon was near. “We gotta catch Hector.”

Jon thought there was a lot of catching today. Jon couldn't follow up with a question about why Mallory expected such as Hector's body was already flying towards the both of them at high speed.

Jon braced himself for impact as much as he could. Hector collided with the wall that was Jon and Mallory.

He thudded on the ground, a hard landing, but less hard than if he had continued as before.

“Look at that!" Charlotte cheered. "You caused me to toss you the wrong way! YIppie!”

Jon heard the signature groan before Hector sat up. He clearly didn’t like being outmatched by his sister.

“I got a new plan,” Hector said. He looked at Jon.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

Jon didn't know why he was asking until he assessed that his own shoulders were rising up and down from being out of breath. He didn’t know if this was a result of him not having the gun, or if an exercise like this was just this exhausting.

Jon nodded.

“Alright.” Hector looked between the two boys. “We’re gonna split back up. This time, me and Jon are gonna split. I know my sister. She’s gonna come for Mallory next. As soon as she does, we rush back in and take her. Are you okay with being bait?”

The last question was directed to Mallory.

“Of course.” Mallory nodded. He was breathing hard too, although he had more composure than Jon did. Jon chalked it up to experience.

“Now, now, now!” Hector and Jon ran in opposite directions. Jon loved knowing that he could choose a direction and trust that Hector would react in the right way.

Jon didn’t get very far when he realized that Charlotte wasn’t chasing them anymore. She had her hands braced for what looked like another projectile.

Mallory! Jon pivoted immediately on his foot and ran back.

There was a hard hit to the head, and Jon was laid out on his back, with a big throbbing in the corner of his forehead.

Was that a fire spell? He sat up and rubbed the aching spot.

Across from him, Hector was doing the same thing. He also looked like he had no idea what had happened, and he was holding his head as well.

Charlotte had started approaching them, but not in an aggressive manner. She was towering over the boys in a few moments, clicking her teeth and shaking her hand.

“Boys… boys… boys… first to act, never to think.” She focused her attention on Hector.

“Hect, I know you like to make all the big plays and stuff… but, sometimes, being a leader means knowing when to let someone else make the save, yeah?”

According to Charlotte, both Jon and Hector had gone back in order to save Mallory. That was probably because they collided and ended up on the floor. What Jon didn’t get was why were her comments directed only toward Hector. Jon had made the decision to go back and help Mallory himself.

Jon was gonna say this out loud when Hector jumped to his feet and brought his hands together.

A fire tether launched from his hands and attached itself to Charlotte.

Jon felt a lurch in his gut, and he followed it. He leaped up to Hector’s side and grabbed at his hands.

Mallory had done the same on the side.

The three of them leaned back and pulled.

Charlotte stared at the three of them as they strained to move her even an inch,

“Hector, Hector… always relying on your physical strength, even when using a spell…”

Charlotte walked forward.

The three of them lost balance and fell backward out of the circle.

“Aw damn…” Hector put his hands over his head. Not in pain this time, but in shame of losing.

Jon couldn't help but feel helpless. It felt like he was pulling at a wall the entire time.

“That’s okay.” Charlotte walked up to the boys. “You did really well this-”

“It’s not enough!” Hector slammed the floor. He stood up.

“Fight me!” He raised his hands up in front of him.

“Hector, it’s done.” Charlotte gestured to the others. “Everyone’s tired-”

“You barely broke a sweat! Now come on!”

Charlotte grimaced. “You just want to fight? You’re not in any condition. Physically and emotionally. And besides, I don’t want to fight my family.”

Jon felt something in Hector break.

“Don’t you want me to get stronger?” The shout was enough to shake Jon.

“Of course. Just, I don’t think beating you up-”

“So I’m not worth it?”

Charlotte regretted to words by the reaction on her face. “No… I mean.”

“All this family ever does is hurt me anyway,” Hector said. “So, if you’re not willing to hurt me, it’s like we’re not family.”

The hurt was strewn across Charlotte’s face instantly. Jon never thought to see someone take Hector’s insult on a personal level. It was a bit of a shock.

“Come on, Hector,” Mallory said. “That was uncalled for.”

“I’m going in my room…” Hector started walking back to the hallway.

“He’s just frustrated about losing,” Mallory tried to explain to Charlotte.

“Hector… Hector!” Charlotte followed after him.

Hector had turned into the room and slammed the door behind him.

Charlotte stopped fright in front.

“I can make lunch!” she said. “Aren’t you hungry?”

“No…”

Charlotte frowned. “Hector. Hector. I can’t. I’m sorry. I’m-”

“It’s okay. I’m not angry. Just need to be alone.”

“Okay…” By her facial expression, Jon could see that Charlotte didn’t like the answer, but she was at least to receive something from him.

She turned to the boys with a glum look on her face.

“We can take care of lunch,” Mallory told her. “You get some rest.”

Charlotte nodded silently. She then walked to her room, the door closing gently behind her.