THE COMPETITION

Me and Alex were walking back to Valhalla, tired from a long day of work from the Chase Space. A bag of chocolate coffee beans in my right hand, and Alex's hand in the other, we walked the streets of Boston like normal teenagers. Of course, we knew we could never be normal teenagers.

A valkyrie flew over our heads, carrying a figure with blue hair. Alex seemed intrigued, and pulled me along, urging me to get to Valhalla faster.

Once we got there, I saw Hunding and Helgi. Both had dreamy looks on their faces, the trance was broken when Hunding saw me. Or maybe he just saw my bag of chocolates.

"By Odin's beard, kid!", he dove for the bag of chocolate, cradling it like a baby. Helgi just grunted, then he walked back to the reception table. I glanced curiosly down the hall, looking for the new arrival, but seeing none of him.

"Looking for the new kid, Magnus?", Hunding asked.

Alex was already walking to the elevator, but I decided that I had enough time to get some information. "Yeah, what about him? Why's he got you and Helgi all dreamy looking?" Hunding looked between me and Alex, shaking his head. "You've got competition, Magnus. That new boy will whisk every damsel here of her feet, then leave her like that."

My heart beat like a sports car on asphalt, "Competition? Like, for Alex?" Hunding shook his head, "For every single dame that's in Valhalla." Then he pushed me towards Alex.

"What was that all about?", she asked. Her brown and amber eyes glinting like gems. I shrugged, "Something about competition…I don't know." Alex gave me an amused smile, "Competition? Are you jealous, Magnus?" My lips flopped like a fish, and I might have also spoken fish, but Alex spared me. "Don't worry Maggie, I'll bet e ain't as cute as you."

She hustled into the elevator, me on her tail. "Cute? I thought you said last time that I had a pretty face." Alex shrugged, "You're cute when you're jealous." My face burned, "I'm not jealous." Alex laughed and squeezed my cheek, "Then why are you blushing as pink as my sweater?" It was true, my cheeks were as pink as Alex's sweater, and that was a description I did not need.

We got out, and Alex bumped into a mess of blue. Alex and the blue-haired guy tumbled into a heap on the ground. I grabbed Alex's arm, helping her up, then I saw the other guy's face. It was a clean cut, his blue hair covering half of his left eye, his toothy grin similar to Alex's.

"So sorry about that…miss?" He extended his hand towards Alex, obviously in a gesture of hand shake. Alex took it, a smile on her face. "Not most people get my gender right at first try.", she said. The guy just smiled, "I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. Where are my manners? The name's Jazz, Blake Jazz." Alex crossed her arms smugly, "Alex Fierro."

She glanced over at Blake's checkered, blue-and-black shirt, nodding at his blue-and-black pants as well. "You dress nice…Blake." He held another smile with Alex, "Why, I could say the same about you too." Alex blushed, "Why, thank you."

I felt left out in the conversation, why did I feel left out? 'Because you're standing akwardly between your crush and a potential enemy you idiot', my brain answered. Stupid brain. "Alex? We still need to get ready, it's Dragon Thursday." Alex moved sluggishly, like a snail. "Um, see you later then…Blake." He winked at her, "No prob."

Alex leaned on me, her breath heavy. "Thanks Maggie, that guy had me on overdrive for some reason…oh, crud. I mean…just get me to my room." She looked flustered, out of breath, and totally confused. Not like Alex to be like this… "Are you sure you're okay Alex?" She nodded her head vigorously, "Yeah Beantown, now go. Like you said, we need to get ready for Dragon Thursday. If you can call those floppy Lindworms dragons." I nodded, just as she slammed the door in my face.

"So much for getting ready, at least together." "I heard that!", Alex yelled from inside her room. I blushed, then hastily ran back to my own room.

-5 minutes later

Alex came out of his room, new gender, new clothes, and definitely a new look. He still seemed flustered about earlier day's events, but he was ready for combat. I hoped. "Well, Magnus? How do I look?" Alex sported new green and pink jeans ('Where the hell does he get these clothes?'), and a matching pink and green jersey with the number 13 stitched into the side. "It's…a fashion statement."

He gave me a smile that warmed the room 10 degrees more, "Thanks." Then he whipped out his garrotte and headed into battle, hopefully he wasn't going lindworm riding. He had made me try it before, and it wasn't a very nice experience. It involved a lot of bucking, the smell of rotten lindworm, and Alex having to save me from lindworm belly flops.

I heard someone sneak up behind me, then I saw Blake standing behind me. "Holy Odin!", I yelled. He raised his hands in a 'wait' gesture. "Sorry about that, guess I was a bit creepier than I thought." In his hands were twin cymbals, I really hoped he didn't plan to kill me via cymbal clash.

He glanced at the cymbals I was looking at, "Oh, these? They're great weapons, I tell you. Good as shields, clashing things, or deadly shurikens. They're really great." My adam's apple bobbed dangerously. "Wanna' see it in action?", he asked. "We're floor mates man…" His eyebrow raised up, "Yeah…so what?"

The last thing I saw was a yellow cymbal slicing my neck off.

-right before dinner

I woke up, ravens pecking at my arms like they were made of juicy seeds. "Scram you stupid birds." They flew away, but I could hear their thoughts easily. 'Stupid Frey-son' 'Not even a juicy seed' 'Kaw-kaw!' The last one really didn't make sense to me.

Once I got to the feast hall, the Valkyrie Vision show was already starting. I took a seat next to Alex, who glared at me like, 'Why'd you die so fast, idiot?' I told her to put a sock in it as I took in the video.

It showed Blake playing a violin in the middle of a street, when a big guy took hold of this lady who was watching and carried her into an alley. Blake got up, a cymbal in his hand, then he walked into the alley. The footage was pretty shaky after that, but I got glimpses of blood, a flying cymbal, violins, guitar shrieks, and more blood.

The last scene was Blake being carried by the Valkyrie, his cymbals still in his hand. There was silence when the screen blacked out. Then everyone cheered. I was sure that almost every single Erik in the hall clapped and wept at the gory scene they had just seen.

Helgi stood up and clapped, a tear forming in his eye, "Behold Blake Jazz, Son of Bragi!" A majority of claps went up from the crowd. A frown formed on my face, Bragi…wasn't I supposed to get him to make a poem or something for Jack? Aw, crud.

Mallory's face turned into something with amusement, "Our new hallmate is a son of Bragi? This should be interesting." Alex shrugged, "At least his fighting skills are better than Magnus' skills." "Hey!", I said, offended a bit at her words. She chewed on her beef and blinked at me innocently, "Aw, I'm so sorry wittle-wittle baby Maggie." I rolled my eyes, "You're gonna' get me killed someday", I muttered.

But she just had to hear it, curse Alex's sonic hearing. "What did you say, Maggie?" She put her face inches apart from mine, her lime breath seeping into my lungs. "Well Maggie?" My breath faltered, my heart failed to work. "I thought so.", then she moved away, her presence still intoxicating my mind.

Curse myself for sitting next to Alex Fierro. Well, tommorow was another day. Then I walked back to the elevator to enjoy sleep once more.

(how was that for my 1st chap? Pretty long if I do say so myself, get ready…im uploading the next chap really soon!)