“You ready? It’s almost time to go out.”
Akila looks up from where she is fastening her shoes to see Mina pushing aside the thick curtain and walking through the doorway, massaging her wand hand. The two are in their usual dueling attire: identical dresses that match their corresponding green and brown color schemes. Tightening her braids one last time to ensure their stability, Akila stands up, plucking her wand off the small table to her right. Shooting a small smile toward Mina, she approaches where the other girl is standing.
“We’ve practiced for ages in order to get here. I’m ready.” Mina grins at the response, intertwining their arms and leading Akila out of the room and into the long hall leading to their side of the arena. For a few moments, the pair stands there in silence, trying to mentally prepare themselves for the duel ahead. Ever since joining Hogwarts nearly two years prior, they had been attached at the hip. Their shared eagerness to rise to the top of the dueling club certainly did not aid in any attempts at separating the pair.
As the announcer calls out their names and they are ushered forward into the arena, Mina squeezes Akila’s hand once before letting go.
“Don’t worry,” Mina whispers as they come face to face with their opponents. “We’ve got this. I’ve got your back.”
Holding their wands at the ready position, Akila risks a glance over at her partner, thankful for the words of affirmation. “I know. And I’ve got yours,” she responds. The signal sounds for them to begin, and their wands glow with magic.
The two are able to get an early lead, barely breaking a sweat as they work flawlessly together. With a quick cast of Nebulus, Akila obscures them from the sight of their opponents as they plan their next move.
“Okay, here’s the plan,” Akila whispers, eyes flickering back and forth as she watches for any opponents. “I’ll go left, and you go right. We shouldn’t give them the chance to use Incarcerous in order to incapacitate us. After we split, I’ll use Inflatus so they won’t be able to dodge your Stupefy.” Nodding once to show her agreement, Mina breaks off and begins running to the right side of the arena. Lifting her wand, she begins readying the Stupefy charm, waiting for Akila’s signal.
The mist begins to clear, and Mina hears Akila’s shout as she casts Inflatus, watching carefully for the sparks of magic that signal its activation. Once she sees them through the remaining fog, she flicks her wand rapidly in the same direction.
“Stupefy!”
With the mist now gone, she can see that their casts had only struck one of their two competitors, blasting them unconscious outside the dueling platform. Their other competitor remains unharmed, minus the injuries procured earlier in the duel. He is standing in the back corner of the platform, his left arm hanging limply at his side while he breathes heavily. After processing his teammate’s defeat, Mina notes that he looks panicked.
No, that’s not quite right. It’s more like…
“Mina, quick, we’ve almost got them!” She hears Akila exclaim and glances over to see her partner readying her wand to cast another spell.
“Expelliarmus!”
Ducking quickly to avoid any incoming blasts of magic, Mina looks around for the source of the cast, recognizing the voice as their opponent instead of Akila’s. He’s using his right arm to hold up his left, which Mina now recognizes as the one also grasping his wand.
“Ghrrk,” Akila groans, crouched on the ground cradling the wrist her wand had been zapped out of. The object in question had been blasted off to a far corner of the platform, not easily accessible to either girl.
Mina turns back to their remaining competitor. “Go get your wand, Aki, I’ll try to finish this!” As she studies their opponent and considers which spell can end the duel the quickest, she finally realizes what emotions are displayed across his face.
Desperation and… anger.
“Piertotum Locomotor!” He shouts, magic sizzling through the air and causing the hair on Mina’s arms to stand up.
“Wait, that’s not–!”
Mina’s protest is cut off as the statues surrounding the arena shudder once and come to life, waiting for commands to be given by their reanimator. The boy in question simply directs his quivering left hand to point at Akila, who is staring at him in shock. He swallows thickly, hooded eyes darkening as he simply orders: “Kill.” The statues, responding to his command, drag their swords behind him as they hop off their pedestals and make their way toward Akila, now crawling desperately for her wand.
“Stop the duel!” Mina shouts, whipping her head around to locate the officiator, who appears outraged at the blatant breaking of the rules in an attempt to end another student’s life.
“Call off the statues, or face severe punishment,” the officiator orders, raising their own wand to solidify the threat. The boy simply smiles cruelly in response, finally giving in to his injuries as he falls unconscious.
“Oh no, oh no, this is bad. This is really, really, bad,” Mina mumbles to herself as she pieces together what has just happened. Without the caster to cancel the command, there is no way to stop the statues that does not end in a fight. And while she may be confident in her abilities at spell casting, Mina knows she is not nearly good enough to defeat multiple armored statues before they can get to Akila. She raises her wand anyways.
“Confringo!”
The spell blasts its way between the statues, some exploding into small pieces of jagged rock at the powerful impact. The officiator is casting spells of their own, and Mina notices the number of statues steadily decreasing. It’s all right. She can do this.
“I’ve got you, Aki,” she calls out to her partner, rapidly firing more spells at the approaching statues. “Either we defeat these stupid things, or we go down together. I won’t leave you.”
Akila groans from her position, standing a few feet away, still trying to shake off the effects of the disarming spell used moments prior. “I know, Mi, and I trust you with my life. Just give me a few moments to get my wand and shake off this spell, and I’ll be right there to help you.”
“I appreciate the sentiment, but it may be better to focus on protecting yourself. You’re the one they’re after, not me. I can’t stand the thought of losing you in case something goes wrong.”
Mina hears Akila chuckle from somewhere to her left. “I’ll be fine, I’m not made out of glass. I just want to help.” Mina scoffs at her partner’s selflessness, turning to face her. The sharp response she had formulated dies on her tongue at the sight of an armored statue standing directly behind Akila, poised to strike. It must have crept up from the back of the arena, past both of their detection.
“Akila, move! Protego Totalum!” Mina cries, the charm shooting from the tip of her wand to cast a protective barrier around her partner. Her only response is a painful, choked sound. The statue had already struck in the time it had taken for the barrier to form. Its sword, a heavily tarnished blade of silver, has been sunk through Akila’s back, the tip sticking through the front of her dress and dripping with blood. Now believing their command to be fulfilled, the statues return to their original stance, feet shoulder-width apart and swords poised steadily in front of them. The sword in Akila’s stomach is retracted as quickly as it had appeared, the statue following the actions of the others and once again becoming devoid of life.
Time seems to slow down. Frozen in place, Mina simply stares at her partner with wide eyes. The arena is completely silent as Akila’s hands slowly move to hover above her wound, eyes staring straight ahead. Her mouth opens, but no sound comes out. Slowly, so slowly that one may not even notice the faint movements without looking closely, Akila’s eyes glide over to meet Mina’s. In them, Mina sees confusion. Pain. Mina’s heart is beating so harshly that she swears she can feel it on her tongue, in her brain. Saliva builds up in her mouth, but she can’t seem to swallow it.
Akila staggers backward, her fall caught by the very statue whose sword was still coated in her blood. She slowly slides down the front of the stone. The fresh blood seeping from her back leaves bright crimson streaks on top of the already drying reddish-brown liquid as she makes her descent. Mina’s brain finally catches up with what is happening as Akila settles on the ground, her sense of time returning to normal and sound rushing to her ears.
“Oh god, Akila, no, no, this can’t be happening-” Mina rushes to Akila’s side, hands shaking as they drift over her partner’s body, unsure of what to do.
Try to stop the blood flow. Put pressure on the wound. Pressure.
With a strong tug, Mina rips off a large portion of her brown coat, bundling the fabric up and pressing it onto the large wound on Akila’s stomach. The latter keens with pain, hands pushing feebly at the fabric in an attempt to stop the agonizing pressure. Despite Mina’s attempt at staunching the blood flow, the substance merely soaks through the fabric and spreads across her palms.
“I can’t, I can’t,” Mina sobs, tears streaking down her face as she watches her partner's eyes become increasingly glazed by the second. She rips a second chunk out of her coat and brings it to join the rest, pressing as hard as she dares. Akila cries out once more, wet sobs cut off as she begins to choke on her own blood. The offending substance slowly begins to dribble down the corners of her mouth, staining her teeth and making its way down her face through the wet tracks left by her tears.
“Mi, please, make it stop-”
If it’s possible to sob any harder, Mina does so at the sound of Akila’s pleading, broken voice. “I know, I know. Stay with me, Aki. I can’t lose you. Please, god, don’t leave me,” Mina nearly collapses, hunched so far over Akila’s body that her tears drip on the fabric she’s using to try and stop her partner from bleeding out. Akila whimpers softly and brings a trembling hand to rest on the back of Mina’s head, trying to rub calming circles into her hair. Somewhere during the battle, their hats had been lost, and Akila’s braids have come undone. Small specks of red adorn her sandy blonde hair.
Mina moves back so that she can meet Akila’s eyes, the latter’s hand sliding limply from Mina’s hair and landing on the ground beside the two. A small amount of clarity has manifested, but Akila’s gaze is unsteady, going in and out of focus. Her gaze travels downward, and Mina follows it. They both stare at Akila’s stomach and at the small puddle of red spreading outward around the pair.
Akila dips a shaking finger in the crimson liquid, observing the stark contrast between its darker color and her dress's light greens and yellows. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Akila rasps. “But honestly,” she raises her finger to hover next to Mina’s tear-stricken face, “red has always been your color, not mine.” Mina brings up her own hand to grasp Akila’s, and the two are silent for a few agonizing moments. And then, in a voice so small that it makes her partner sound as fragile as porcelain, Akila asks: “Mi, am I going to die?”
Mina’s sobs begin anew at the feeble question, and she shakes her head rapidly in denial. “No. No, no, Aki. I’ve got you. It’s going to be okay.” The sentence hangs heavily in the air, and both know it’s a lie. That doesn’t stop Akila from doing her best to smile at her partner as if she were reassured. She has stray hairs plastered against her face with tears and blood, and Mina brings up a hand to gently brush them away and then cups her cheek. Akila tries to say something but is cut off when harsh coughs start racking through her body, and Mina can do nothing but grip the fabric still pressed to Akila’s stomach and pray.
“If, if I don’t make it-” Akila starts, and Mina’s head snaps up.
“Don’t say that. Don’t you dare say that.”
Akila smiles sadly in response, waiting a moment before continuing. “If I don’t make it, you need to know something. I-”
“Where is the injured student?” A frantic voice rings throughout the arena, and Mina turns to face the entrance. A professor she doesn’t know the name of–one that teaches upper years, her brain supplies–barges into the room, followed closely by the officiator and a handful of students who had been watching the duel. After spotting the pair on the floor, he rapidly makes his way over. He glances at Akila and then turns to face Mina.
“Move,” he commands, concern evident on his face, “I need space in order to cast the spell.”
Mina attempts to move away but finds that Akila has her hand, the one clutching the fabric over her wound, trapped in a vice grip. Based on the glazed look in her eyes and lack of acknowledgment of the newly-arrived professor, Mina assumes that Akila can no longer process very much. Removing her other hand from Akila’s face, Mina softly tries to remove Akila’s so that she can allow the professor to save her partner’s life.
“You’re safe, Aki. Can you hear me?” she tries. “He’s here to help you, you need to let him help you.”
Akila, only understanding that Mina is trying to back away, shakes her head with unfocused eyes. “No, I need to tell you, I need to tell you that…” She slowly tapers off, her head falling limply backward to rest against the statue. Her eyes, so hooded now that Mina can only see fractions of her irises, are unseeing.
Mina feels bile rising in her throat. “No, no, Aki?” No response. “This… this isn’t funny. Say something. Say anything. ” There’s no snarky response, no sign of her playful, sarcastic partner. Akila doesn’t even twitch. Mina gazes, slack-jawed, feeling herself going into shock. She’s roughly shoved away from Akila and simply stares on as the professor takes her place by Akila’s side. He lifts his wand.
“Vulnera Sanentur!” Her wounds don’t close, but the blood flow slows to a stop. Mina absentmindedly notices that a large portion of her skirt is soaked through with blood. Akila’s blood , her brain reminds her. Akila still lies propped up against the statue, unmoving.
“Vulnera Sanentur!” The large hole from the sword that skewered her body begins to close, but barely. Mina hears the professor shouting orders at those around them but can’t seem to understand what he’s saying. Is he speaking English? Akila still lies propped up against the statue, unmoving.
“Vulnera Sanentur!” Now the wound completely knits itself closed, but nothing changes other than the large scarred tissue that has replaced the hole. A group of people wearing uniforms from their hospital wing burst through the doors, carrying a stretcher between them. Akila still lies propped up against the statue, unmoving.
Mina watches as they hoist her partner onto the stretcher, carrying her from the room. Her heart feels like it’s trying to crawl up and out of her throat, but her brain is unable to process the situation and simply fills her mind with the image of Akila’s unseeing eyes every time she blinks.
‘I’ve got your back.’ She can hear herself saying. ‘I’ve got you. It’s going to be okay.’ Except it’s not okay, and Mina doesn’t know how it can ever be okay when the most important person in her life was just carried, unmoving and unresponsive, out of the room and to who-knows-where. How could she have let this happen? She had promised…
‘I trust you with my life.’ Echoes in her mind like a mantra. The way Akila had softly caressed her hair as if she weren’t the one dying. ‘Mi, make it stop-’
Mina stares down at her quivering hands, upturned and stained with blood. Absentmindedly, she wonders if she will ever be able to know what Akila had tried so desperately to tell her in her final moments.
Mina clutches her heart and tries to remember what breathing feels like, her chest feeling as if the statue's iron sword had stabbed it through as well. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the still-unconscious body of the boy that had destroyed the lives of her and her partner.
Without thinking about what she’s doing, Mina raises her wand. She inhales. The tip glows brightly with magic.
‘Mi, am I going to die?’
She exhales.