The rattling of the door handles interrupted Arya's grumbling, making the four of them in the room freeze. Banging followed soon after, the rhythmic pounding soon being interrupted by the sound of voices. "They're in here!"

"Brilliant." Velvet muttered. "This is all your fault, Arya."

"What?! Why?"

"If you hadn't made a racket, we'd still be incognito!"

"Yeah!" The voice outside called. "She's definitely in here. I can hear her."

"Arya too?"

"Yep."

Arya's shoulders slumped. "Flynn's out there, isn't he?"

"That sounded like him." Everly said, smiling ever so slightly. "Seems like big brother Flynn is here to tell you off..."

"I haven't done anything this time!"

A scoff sounded from the corridor.

Her hands banged against the door. "Hey!"

"Arya!" Velvet hissed, watching as Everly flipped the small window open. "Come on, unless you'd rather spend the day in Black Division Headquarters again!"

"Again?!"

"Where do you think you were yesterday?" She asked, staring sceptically at her for a few moments. "Oh, wait. Amnesia. I forgot."

The wooden door clattered to the ground, making the pair of them shut up and sprint for the window, Arya vaulting seamlessly out of the window, Velvet tripping up as she landed.

"How are you so good at that?" Velvet grumbling, catching up to the group in an instant.

"Practice."

"Do a lot of rule breaking at home, then, did we?"

"No. It was just part of my training with the Monk."

"You were trained by a Monk?!"

"Oh... I guess I didn't mention that in conversation..."

"Never mind." Velvet grumbled, realising the Disciplinary Committee was still hot on their heels. "I'll meet you outside Training Hall Seven once you've ditched your tail." She said, shoving Arya down one corridor while she took the other for a reason which soon became clear as the Disciplinary Committee split into two, a certain blonde having decided to follow her instead of Velvet.

"Oh, come on!"

"Give it up, Ari." Flynn called, his brown eyes locked on her as she sprinted through the maze of hallways, having no idea where the hell she was going.

"I haven't done anything wrong!"

"So why are you running?!"

"Because I know you'll stick me in a cell no matter what I say."

The brunette with the blue streak in his hair shrugged as he ran alongside the other Commander. "She's right." He said, raising his voice. "So just give it up already. The faster this is over with, the faster we can go our separate ways."

"We'll be going separate ways anyway!" Arya yelled, launching herself off the nearest wall, practically flying down the next corridor. Losing two Commanders from the Disciplinary Committee wasn't as easy as that, though. Scowling, she burst through a door into a much wider hallway which looked vaguely familiar to her. Thankfully for Arya it was pretty much empty apart from the two guys and the small girl walking in her direction.

"Oh look..." The blonde said, his brown eyes fixing on her. "A student."

"It might be better to speak with an older student." The small girl fiddled with the few strands of inky black hair that'd fallen out from her twin ponytails. She popped the blue lollipop out of her mouth, revealing an incredibly blue tongue. "Arya Cross has only just joined us as a special student."

"Oy, kid!" The blonde turned to face her as she ran by. "That way's a dead end."

She skidded to a stop, twisting around so fast she nearly broke her ankle. Her feet were moving in a flurry, shoes squeaking against the tiled floor as she raced back the other way. "Just call me human already. Calling me special makes me feel weird." She said, racing past the door she'd burst out of only minutes before.

"Velvet..." The girl shook her head. "That girl never does as she's damn well told... Oy, Arya!"

"What?"

The little black-haired girl smiled, throwing a lollipop at her. "Hurry up and get out of here, otherwise Flynn might be getting some help."

"Huh?" Arya glanced back in confusion, carefully placing the sweet in her mouth.

"Flynn's a Disciplinary Committee Commander now, isn't he?" The black-haired guy mumbled, staring off into space, blinking as the blonde vanished from his side, earning a set of rolled eyes from the incredibly bored looking man. "I keep hearing about him from his..."

"Rulebreaker." The blonde stood in front of Arya, blocking her path with a staff which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

"Ryu has an obsession with following the rules." The girl called, giggling ever so slightly. "He was on the Disciplinary Committee when he was here." Her green eyes fell on his brown ones, a smile twitching at her lips at the faint blush spreading across the blonde's delicate features.

"You remember..."

"Of course."

Arya inched to the side, freezing when his gaze snapped back to her.

"Where do you think you're going?!"

"Arya!" The girl called, her dark green eyes twinkling with mischief as she threw another staff towards the panicking girl.

"Oh, thanks." She said, catching the long black rod.

"That's hardly going to do much, Wren." The black-haired one said, casting his grey eyes on the pair who were adopting different stances.

Arya backed up slowly, freezing when a set of doors slammed open, a familiar blonde skidding into view with a shout. "ARYA!"

"Uh oh..." She muttered, running towards the blonde blocking her way, slamming the butt of the staff into the ground, smirking at Ryu's shocked expression as he realised what was she was doing a second too late. He spun on his heel, taking a step after her, only to be yanked to a halt by the hand holding the collar of his coat, only able to watch as the girl ran away, laughing as she did. He blinked, barely registering Flynn as he sprinted past, only able to stare at the girl's back which slowly morphed into another's. Sandy blonde hair whipped across a set of dazzling light green eyes twinkling with mirth as his head turned around, sticking his tongue out at the man staring at him in shock.

"Monk..." He whispered, blinking as the image was replaced by a fifteen-year-old girl with far longer hair.

"Come on, Ryu."

"OK..." He mumbled, turning away, not bothering to watch as the girl named Arya Cross ran away from half of the Disciplinary Committee.

Arya was far too busy sprinting around corners to realise his eyes were no longer boring into her back. They had, after all, been replaced by another set. She had no idea how she was going to lose her pursuers. All she knew was that she couldn't keep running for that much longer, let alone sprinting, and the blonde on her tail showed no signs of relenting. She rounded the corner, a plan forming in her mind when she spotted the line of lockers and the blonde man walking down the corridor. So, when Flynn rounded the corner a few moments later, she was nowhere in sight.

In fact, she was simply listening as lots of sets of feet pounded by. Her eyes were closed for the same reason her lips were pressed against another set. Her back was pressed into the lockers, one hand wrapped around the blonde man's back, the other knotted through his golden locks.

"Blair..." A voice sounded. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes, can we?!"

Arya released the blonde, swiftly pulling the black staff from the locker she'd stuffed it in, having recognised the person speaking as none other than the other blonde stickler for the rules.

"YOU?!" Ryu blinked, staring at her in shock as she shuffled away from the blonde she'd just kissed.

Arya winked, running to the other side of the corridor, unlatching the nearest window.

"What are you doing?"

"Leaving." She grinned, sticking her tongue out as she leapt out of the ridiculously high window.

***

By the time Arya made it to Training Hall Seven the sun was setting, and yet Velvet was still waiting there for her with a wide grin. "I knew you'd make it."

"I got lost."

"I know." She smirked. "Come on. Everly and your friend Lexie are inside." She said, pushing open the large doors that led to a humongous room. "This place is only really used when we have guest teachers from up North, so we don't need to worry about anyone coming."

"Why are we even here?" Arya stared around the training room. It was pretty much the same layout as the one she was in for Defence, but on a slightly larger scale.

"I want to show you something else." Velvet said. "I was going to tell you in the classroom, but you gave away our position before I could."

"What's so important?"

White thorns whipped behind her, extending out from the backs of her legs, having burst out from her skin without even drawing blood, as though it were natural. "This." She grinned, presenting one of the thorny vines to the girl staring at her in shock and horror.

"You..." She mumbled. "She... No." She stepped back, breathing heavily as the image in front of her seemed to distort, like a television that'd lost signal. White thorns were replaced with green ones, brown hair replaced with long blonde locks. The brown eyes of her friend were gone, replaced with green ones that glittered with delight as she stared at the blood drenching her green thorns.

"ARYA?!" Dimly, she became aware she was being shaken back and forth, brown eyes peering intently into her own. "Oy!"

Blood leaked down her arms and legs, her vision slowly fading as she slumped forwards into the arms of her wide-eyed best friend.

"I need to get her to Rian..."