Lonnie didn't know what to make of her situation. One minute she and Mal were having the single greatest swordfight ever, and the next, Evie was pulling a sword away from her throat. She looked up from the floor, dazed, to see Evie rubbing Mal's upper arms.

"Mal, it's okay. We're in Auradon. She's not here. She's a lizard now, just a little tiny lizard. It's okay." Mal wasn't responsive, so Evie just kept talking. "Lonnie didn't know. She's not out to get us. She's not Uma. You were just sparring," Evie smiled a little as she gestured to the crowd of boys watching from the sidelines. "just showing the guys how strong a swordfighter you are." That seemed to break Mal out of whatever was wrong before. She put her face in her hands, and Lonnie wasn't sure if she should look away.

"E, I- That was so weak. I just, I felt the sword on my back, and I was on Wharf, and-" Mal looked up at Evie again in alarm. "Oh no, Lonnie!" She looked around to see Lonnie on the ground and immediately came over to help her up. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Lonnie nodded, still trying to process the situation. Mal was starting to ramble now. "-anyone but Jay in a long time, and I didn't even think-" By now the two boys had noticed that something had happened, and cut their match short to come and see what was going on. Jay pulled Evie aside.

"What happened?"

"Lonnie hit Mal's shoulder blade when they were sparring. I was able to stop it before it went too far, but they're both shaken up." Jay clenched his fist and puffed out a breath of air in agitation.

"Okay," he said. "Get Lonnie fixed up. Carlos knows where the first aid kit is."

"How should I answer her questions?" Evie asked. "She seems more confused than anything, so I know she's going to ask."

"Be as vague as you can. I'll try to help Mal." He shook his head. "I'm not good at this kind of stuff," he complained as he went to go comfort his sister. Evie took that as her cue to gently grab Lonnie by the arm, and lead her away. She nodded at Carlos to get him to follow.

"Carlos will go get a first aid kit, so we can get that cut dressed. Did you get hurt anywhere else?" Carlos ran off at Evie's not so subtle request, and Lonnie blinked at Evie's almost maternal tone.

"I think I hit my head." She paused for a minute, trying to get her bearings. "What just happened?"

"Oh, you just finished your match with Mal. You did really well. The only people I've seen take her on like that are Jay, Uma, and Harry. Good job!" Evie said almost too perkily.

"No," Lonnie protested, still dazed. "I mean, what happened at the end of the match?"

"Oh," Evie said less happily. "Mal just remembered something and reacted on instinct. Old habits die hard, you know," she laughed nervously. She sat Lonnie down on the bench. "Does anything hurt? Do you have a headache?"

"No, I'm fine."

"No nausea? Dizziness?"

Lonnie gave her blue haired friend a funny look. "No."

"Can you follow my finger, please?" Lonnie nodded, and proceeded to follow Evie's finger from left to right with her eyes.

Ben had been concerned when Evie left to intervene in Mal's match with Lonnie, but he was even more so when he noticed Jay and Carlos approaching the three girls, too. The only thing that kept him from investigating what happened himself was Taylor's hand on his shoulder. He was confused when Carlos ran off, but when Evie brought Lonnie back to the bench, he couldn't just stand there anymore. Ben headed over to where Evie was sitting by Lonnie just as Carlos came back with a box. He noticed it was a first aid kit.

"Hey, is everybody okay? What happened?"

"Oh, you know, typical post-sparring injury check," said nonchalantly without turning away from Lonnie. "It doesn't look like you have a concussion, but if you feel nauseous, dizzy, or develop a headache have someone take you to the nurse."

Lonnie frowned. "Okay." She seemed stuck on something. "Wait, do you check for concussions every time you guys spar?"

"No?" Evie said, grabbing an antiseptic wipe from the first aid kit to wash out the cut on Lonnie's neck. Luckily it wasn't very deep, and Mal hadn't cut her anywhere near her carotid artery.

Ben's confusion was even more obvious than Lonnie's. "Then why did you have to check now?"

"Better safe than sorry." Evie paused as she applied antibacterial ointment to the small wound. "Mal's a difficult partner. Jay's probably the only one she's never hurt in a sword fight at some point. We probably shouldn't have let her spar with anyone but the three of us, but we never really sparred for fun with anyone else so we didn't really think about it."

Lonnie frowned, a little insulted. "But I spar with Jay all the time. Half the time I win. Why would this be any different?"

Ben nodded, wondering the same thing.

Evie hesitated. "Well, it's different, because Jay's not trying to kill you. Not that Mal wants to kill you," she quickly added at the surprise on Lonnie's face and the horror on Ben's. "It's just, you can't touch Mal's back when you spar with her. She had a bad experience and lashes out when it happens." She gave Lonnie a sheepish smile. "I don't know how good you are when you aren't holding back, but I do know that Jay doesn't use half of the power and speed he can fight with at Swords and Shields tournaments."

Lonnie's surprise quickly turned to anger. "You mean he's been going easy on me? On everyone? This whole time?" She turned to Carlos, who'd been sitting there silently. "What about you? Have you been letting us win this entire time, too?"

"N-no!" he stuttered. "We haven't let anyone win! It's just, different. We don't wanna stab you!" Evie patted him on the arm to calm him down and tried to take control of the conversation, again. "We're all used to fights where you want to hurt your opponent as much as possible-"

"Yeah," Carlos interjected. "We just need more time to concentrate on not doing that, so we're a little slower than usual."

Ben was still bewildered. "So a minute ago you and Jay were trying to kill each other?"

"No!" Carlos protested. "We just- we know that we won't kill each other. We're used to fighting like that, so we can take it."

"And we can't?" Lonnie challenged.

"No!" Carlos nearly yelled. "Your lives have never almost ended because you made a mistake in a fight. You've never watched somebody die in a swordfight, or been the one to kill them. We make a mistake in Swords and Shields and we lose the match, but if you make a mistake in a real fight-" Carlos stopped.

"If you're fighting on the Isle, you're fighting for your life," Evie said quietly. "It's like I said earlier. Old habits die hard."

"But the swordfight on the Isle when we went to get Ben was fine. No one got hurt," Lonnie said.

"That fight with Uma and the Wharf Rats was nothing. We were trying to keep the bloodshed to a minimum. The Isle's version of gym class was more cutthroat than that," Carlos tried to joke.

"Even so," Evie added. "A couple of the Wharf Rats ended up in the water with Tick Tock, so who's to say if anyone got hurt."

Lonnie looked white-faced, and Ben looked a little green. "I didn't know that," he said.

The two Isle kids exchanged a look. "They were kind of asking for it," Carlos said with a shrug.

Evie gave a small sigh. "They knew what they were getting into when they started the fight. It could've been worse."

"And this stuff happens all the time on the Isle?" Ben asked, his face scrunched up in concern.

"Well, yeah." Carlos said. "I mean, it's a whole bunch of villains fighting over a small island. What did you think it was like?"

Evie elbowed Carlos in the side and spoke over his short cry of pain. "Should we finish up the tournament, or do you think we should stop for the day?"

"Let's finish the tournament," Lonnie decided.

Everyone sat on the bleachers to watch Mal and Jay spar for the last round. After Jay had talked her down, Mal had claimed that she felt okay enough to spar with him. Evie took herself out of the tournament on the excuse that Jay and Mal always beat her anyways. Taylor had raised an eyebrow at that, remembering their match from the first round, but wisely didn't say anything.

Lonnie called out the commands for the start. "Assemble. Salute. Lower the point. Masks down. On guard."

The sound of metal scraping against itself echoed through the arena as their swords clashed, milliseconds after the last word. It was incredible. Jay attacked around Mal's left arm, and she used his approaching sword as leverage to throw herself up on a block behind her, immediately swinging at Jay's shoulder. He caught her sword with his own and another clang rang through the air. Jay ducked and swept at Mal's feet with his sword, but she flipped off the block and over him to slash at his back.

Several minutes passed by, and Carlos and Evie found themselves narrating the fight for the Swords and Shields team as Jay and Mal seemed to pick up speed. They had each gotten a few hits on each other, but Mal was protected by her leather gear, and Jay didn't pay any mind to the cuts where his uniform left him open. At one point, Mal's sword made a graceful arc above her, but before anyone could clap or congratulate Jay for having disarmed and beaten her, she shoved Jay to the ground with a kick to the chest, and leapt to catch her sword. Jay managed to stand again as she landed and their swords clashed again. The match lasted almost a half an hour, the two Isle kids more evenly matched than any of the previous matches. Then just as the sound of clashing metal seemed to become normal, the fight suddenly ended. Mal held both swords in her hands.

The Swords and Shields Team erupted in applause, and Jay turned around to give a theatrical bow. He grinned and gestured for Mal to take a bow, as well, but she just smirked at his antics and crossed her arms defiantly, somehow managing not to cut herself while she held a sword in each hand.

"You're losing your touch," Mal teased as she and Jay joined everyone else at the bleachers.

"Me? I almost disarmed you a handful of times."

"Key word being 'almost.' Who's holding two swords right now?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Ben threw an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders. "That was amazing."

Mal blushed, "Thanks."

"You should really consider joining the team next year," Taylor jumped in. He turned toward Evie. "You too, princess. We could really use your skills."

"No, no, no!" Chad protested. "They can't join the team, because it has to be a 'captain and eight men.' No girls allowed."

Ben frowned. "I think it's time we change that. I officially know more women who can best me in a sword fight than men, so it seems silly that they can't join the team. I'll talk to the Auradonian Knights of ROAR and see what they have to say." He nudged Mal. "Maybe if they see how spectacular my Lady is, they'll realize how silly it is."

Unsure how to deal with the all of the public praise, she gave an uncomfortable smile. "Alright. I'm outta here. I'm hungry and I want food, so… bye!" She turned around to stroll out of the arena without Ben and Evie.

"Uhh, I'm gonna go, too. See you all later!" Ben said quickly before running to try and catch up with Mal.

Evie fondly shook her head at the pair. "It was nice sparring with you," she told Sanders and Taylor. She gave Jay and Carlos each a brief hug, and then gave a genuine smile to Lonnie. "Thanks for letting us come today. It was fun."

Lonnie smiled back, replying with an "of course," as Evie gracefully left the arena. "Okay, we have another forty minutes of practice, so let's grab some practice swords."

A/N: Unfortunately, this marks the end of Swords and Shields. Thank you to all of you who have reviewed, favorited, followed, and kept interest over the years.

On another note, I am slowly adding my works on AO3, so if that's your preferred site, you can find me there, too. :)