(☄ --straight up magic)

[Ranger of the North]

Woo! LET THE BOSS FIGHT BEGIN! *waves hands dramatically*

[MonstrousMarrow]

YesyesyesyesyesyesYES!!!!AMAZING!!!!i ♥️ It

[Magixx]

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（quatre！）（quatre！）（quatre！）
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|total word count- 3162 | notes- sorry it's been a while! I'm Magic, another author of Straight Up Magic|

A familiar banging that echoed through my jail cell woke me up. I expected someone to say "Good morning", or at least a sincere "Wake up you prison scum", but I was greeted with silence. I rolled over, pain shooting through my body from the bruises given to me by the guards a few weeks ago. Normally injuries from the guards would put me in a terrible mood, but these made me smile. I had accomplished the biggest rebellion in this prison for a long time, and I had a lot of fun. The other prisoners had really done a number on those guards. I heaved myself up to a sitting position and grunted as an acknowledgment to the banging. Footsteps began to head down the hall.

"Well good morning to you too!" I yelled after the fading footsteps. I knew it was Gary, but he had not spoken to me for a few weeks. I would say I was glad that he wasn't talking to me but I don't like lying. Gary is the closest thing to a dad I had ever had in a long time. He hasn't spoken to me since the incident in the cafeteria. Even though his silent treatment hurts, I'm worried about Ace. Nobody has seen him since the incident in the cafeteria a few weeks ago. Kiara has been getting an earful from me about it. She keeps reassuring me that they won't do anything bad to him, he is only a newbie. But if they aren't hurting him, then why is it taking so long to release him?

I shake my head, shooing the negative thoughts from my mind. I look at my surroundings, trying to send the black dots of sleep away from my vision. To my right was a barred door, the way I got in and out of the cell. Straight ahead of me was a dusty old wardrobe that has too many screws loose. To my left was a small bathroom, with a sink and a toilet, no shower though, you have to wash your hair in the public bathrooms. That way you can't plot your escape through the shower head, because we are all criminal masterminds with the body of a snake. The staff convince themselves that anything wider than several inches will give the prisoners a chance to escape. With my vision clear I stand up and head to my bathroom. I hum to myself as I get ready, then wait for Gary on the edge of my bed. After 10 minutes I become impatient, knowing that Gary is very aware of how angry I get when my breakfast is delayed. The footsteps return from the hallway and the door to my cell swings open violently, banging the wall behind it. I don't even glance up at Gary as I pull my aching body off my bed. If he can't forgive me, I'll just act like he isn't there. I grunt and walk out the door. Neither of us speak as we walk down a long hallway with nobody else around, and I begin to think about punching him in the gut until he has to scream at me to stop. Luckily for Gary, we turn into the hallway leading into the cafeteria with plenty of armed guards that would shoot at me if in the blink of an eye if I placed a finger on him.

The cafeteria was located in the northwest wing. I know my cell is located in the north wing, I have seen glimpses of maps of this god forsaken place when I peek into break rooms. The north wing is where the hold the most dangerous ones, it's were the amount of security is the highest. Around almost every corner we turn there are soldiers. The first few days I was here, I began to think of this place as a home. Then I realized that most people don't have thousands of guards in their house with direct orders to shoot you if you step out of line. We take a left and we are greeted by the double doors to the cafeteria. Gary opens the door for me, like the gentleman he is, and I step inside not even bothering to say goodbye.

"Joslyn, wait." Gary says, without a hint of smile in his voice. I take a deep breath, realizing that these were the first words he's actually said to me in the past few weeks. Took him long enough to talk to me.

"What?" I asked, proud of how stern my voice sounded. I wasn't going to let him hear any hope in my voice.

"You have... um.. You have a.. checkup ten minutes before the end of breakfast. I am picking you up early." He says. My heart deflates, he hasn't forgiven me. I didn't know what I was expecting, I'm just someone he has to keep in check. I stare straight ahead, fighting the urge to turn around and slap some sense into him.

"I'll be sure to eat fast." I say coldly. I walk away fast with my shoulders held back. As soon as I hear the door close I practically deflate like a balloon. I make eye contact with Kiara, her eyes widen and she motions with her fork to come over. I don't even bother getting my food as I briskly walk over to her table. I plop down in the seat next to her and sigh. She looks at me, her face filled up with rubbery pancake.

"Wat iz wog?" She manages to get out around her mouth full of mush. I sigh again and rest my elbows on the table, I put my head on my hands as I try to control a pounding headache.

"I don't know Kiara. Ace hasn't shown up in weeks, Gary isn't-" I am cut off by muffled girlish screaming from beside me. Kiara's eyes are like saucers and her cheeks are stuffed full with her pancake, some syrup dribbles down her chin. Kiara is fangirling, already shipping her OTP. She quickly swallowed her pancakes and she began to start her speech on how we are 'meant to be'. I tune out right away. While I have been worrying about Gary and Ace like a grownup, Kiara won't stop talking about how cute Ace and I were during the battle. She kept saying how cute it was that we stared into each others eyes for twenty million hours. I corrected her and said it was about ten seconds. She always shrugged and continued talking about how dreamy he was, and how head over heels in love I was with him. I had barely talked to him whatsoever, so none of this made any sense. I denied it, telling her that she was crazy. Although, I couldn't help feeling like maybe some of the things Kiara was saying, had some truth behind them. I barely knew him but my heart did start pounding when I shook his hand, and my heart went all fluttery when he winked at me, but that can't be more than just a childish crush. Just like my crush on- actually... never mind.

I took a deep breath and forced a smile on my face. "...And that is why you two are going to get married in 23 days." Kiara finished.

"Kiara, the only thing I know about him is that his name is Ace." I said rolling my eyes, and leaning back in my chair. Kiara narrowed her eyes at me, as if she was scanning me. Impossible. I kept a blank slate, emotionless mask on, but on the inside I was panicking. What if she really could tell I liked him. I mean I barely knew him, so is it not reasonable for me to like him with such little knowledge? She squealed and fell back in her chair, pumping a fist in the air, wiggling her butt around.

"I KNEW IT, YOU REALLY DO LIKE HIM!!!!" She screamed. Everyone was staring at us. I glared at everyone that made eye contact and they all turned away quickly, no one wanted to piss me off. Except for Kiara apparently. I turned my glare on her and her smile quickly slipped off her face as a look of pure terror slipped on.

"Joslyn, time to go!" A voice hollered from the doorway. I groaned, while Kiara laughed at my expense. I glared at her while she stuck her tongue out a me. I stomped my way over to Gary and met his eyes.

"One of these days I am going to teach you about proper timing." I muttered. He didn't respond but his face showed one thing. Guilt? This was all too familiar. I hated the look of guilt, it was the last thing all the teachers at my school showed me. I stopped walking and stared at him, my gaze hard and the gears in my brain grinding. Something wasn't right.

"We aren't really going for a check up, are we?" I growl, clenching my fists. He looks at me, an emotionless mask covering his reaction. When he didn't say anything I tried again.

"WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME GARRET?" I screamed. Using his real name always hit a soft spot. He hated it. His gaze hardened as he grabbed my wrist. Before I could do anything a pair of steel handcuffs were around both of my wrists. My mouth gaped open, that jerk! I closed my mouth and grit my teeth as I recognized my predicament. These handcuffs were the electrocuting kind the doctors here had made. I growled as he motioned for me to move forwards.

"Where are we going Garret?" I asked calmly, even though I wanted to wrap my hands around his neck and strangle him. I stared at him and kept an emotionless mask on my face.

"It's a recent experiment, and you, being the person with battle skills in her brain, will be used as their first subject." He said, with no expression in his voice. Fear built inside of me, but I quickly pushed it down. If this test experiment had to do with my abilities, I had to be ready.

"I won't do it, you know I won't." I said. He looked at me and his emotionless mask slipped. He looked worried and regretful.

"Joz, you have to, I don't know what will happen if you don't." He said, suddenly serious. I looked to the floor.

"Garret, I won't do it." I said, I had made up my mind. Gary scoffed. A door swung open to my right and a buff guard emerged.

"Hey Gary. Is this the girl?" asked a man with a thick, black beard surrounding an amused smile. Gary nodded, but kept his gaze on the floor. The beard man turned his gaze onto me, his eyes suddenly glittering.

"Come on in." He said opening the door wider for me. He moved to push me in but I locked my knees to keep him from pushing me inside. The man sneered.

"C'mon sweetie, I'm sure your friend only wants to talk to you." he smirked and my eyes widened. My 'friend'?

The man just cackled and motioned to Gary to bring me into the room. Gary pushed me so hard I went flying into the room, hitting the ground with my hands still handcuffed in front of me so I had nothing to cushion my landing. Someone yanked me up by my hair and made me look at a screen in front of me. I howled and the person let go of my hair.

"Roll the cameras." The beard man said. The screen flickered and a black and white video came up on the screen. A boy was tied to a chair, hunched over breathing heavily. I tilted my head slightly, trying to see the boys face, but I couldn't. A man in a white lab coat approached the boy holding a syringe and a clipboard. The man said something to the boy, and the boy began to shake, maybe with laughter? Suddenly the man jabbed the syringe into the boys arm and the boy screamed, throwing his head back. As he did this, I was able to see his face. I felt dizzy from the rage that swiftly entered my body. It was Ace.

"WHERE IS HE YOU JERKS?" I screamed. All the men in the room began to laugh. Someone pushed me against a wall, rather roughly might I add, and took off my handcuffs. Not a smart move. I sneered and spun around to face the people in the room.

"Sweetie, Sweetie, it's not going to be that easy." The beard man said shaking his head with a grin, as if I was a dog that kept running into a glass door, over and over again. I fell into a offensive stance and raised my fists.

"Are you sure about tha- WOAH!" I said as the wall behind me suddenly opened up into a completely white room. Someone sitting in the chair next to me pushed me into the room. I fell on my butt on the white floor. I growled and frantically scrambled up and ran at the door, but before I could reach it the door vanished and a wall appeared.

"Welcome sweetie, don't worry he'll be right there." the bearded man's annoying voice that filled the room said. I could hear the enjoyment in his overconfident voice. I glared at the wall I had emerged from, he was going to be a sorry man soon. I was about to scream back at him when a familiar blonde boy was shoved inside the room through the wall on the other side.

"ACE! I was so worried!" I screeched at him even though he was merely ten feet away from me. I let out a breath of relief, he was ok. I walked across the room and stood over him, expecting him reply. He was hunched over muttering to himself. I reached my hand out to touch his shoulder. He shoved it away with such force it made me stumble back.

"Ace?" I gasped, my arm was red and stung like five bee stings. He looked at me with a sneer on his face. His once piercing blue eyes, were now a terrifying black hole. I began walking backwards, holding up a shaking hand in front of me. This was not the Ace that I constantly had dreams about and would wake up in a cold sweat.

"Wh-what did they do to you?" I stammered. His sneer grew wider. Before I could react, he had took long, dangerous strides toward me and hammered me in the gut. With the wind knocked out of me I bent over holding my stomach. He shoved me to the ground, and looked down at me like a useless little ragdoll. I didn't know what to do. How could I possibly fight him when he had fought with me a few weeks ago? I was confused and knew that I would regret what I had to do. I swung out my legs and knocked him to the ground. I scrambled up and fell into an attacking position that felt natural to me.

"Ace, what are you doing??" I screamed at him as he began to slowly get back up. He looked at me, his horrible eyes narrowing at me. I tried convincing myself that he wouldn't hurt me, that there must be some of the old Ace left inside of him. He ran at me faster than a track star. When I fight, I barely have to do anything; it's like I slip into another state. As I was fighting Ace, I began to slip out of that state. This has never happened before, but I tried to not worry about it and focused on dodging his punches. Soon his fists were moving so fast I couldn't even keep track of where they were. He took advantage of my daze and swept my legs out from under me. I fell to the ground and moved my arms up to protect my head.

"Ace!" I yelled, trying to get him to come back. He didn't say anything in response.
"Ace, this isn't you!" I pleaded as I began to loose my vision. "Ace, please." I said. My head was pounding and black dots began to fill my vision. This was the first battle I had ever lost. For the first time, I started to accept that Ace, or whatever was inside of Ace, was going to kill me. I would die in a battle with a guy my best friend swore that I would marry just minutes ago. Suddenly the punches stopped and I looked up. Ace's eyes were blue again but he was still clenching his fists. Yelling and shouting filled the room when the guards began pouring in. They grabbed Ace and pinned him against the wall.

"Joz, I am so sorry, so, so, so very sorry." He called out through clenched teeth. His eyes began flickering, from black to blue. I focused on my shaky breathing and I tried to lift myself from the ground to help free Ace.

"Don't come near me Joz, I'm a monster, I'll only hurt you." Ace began shouting. I ignored him. I continued walking towards him. I was almost there when I tripped over my own feet and was about to meet the floor when a pair of strong arms wrapped around me and I was lifted from the ground. I didn't care who was lifting me up I only cared about helping Ace. Ace looked like he was in so much pain.

"Joz, are you ok?" The person carrying me finally spoke. I managed a small nod in response. I couldn't stop looking at Ace and the pain in his blue eyes that vanished when they flared to black.

"I HURT HER, YOU MONSTERS MADE ME DO THAT TO HER!" Ace yelled, trying to break free from his guards. A man in a white lab coat prepared a syringe and forcefully jabbed it into Ace's neck. He then went limp.

"Shhhh, the worst is over Joz." A voice whispered.

"Gary?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's me, Gar-Bear." The voice replied. I managed a small smile but I immediately regretted it. Pain went shooting down my face, into every part of my body.

"Am I dead Gary?" I asked, turning around and nuzzling into his chest. Gary began to chuckle as he walked towards the exit to the room. I stumbled forward as I had to force myself to move my legs.

"No Joz, you aren't dead."

"Can I be reborn as a fish, or a little poodle maybe?" I asked, my mind heavy with fatigue.

"No, but I can tell you everything will be ok. You just need some rest." Then everything went black.

[Ranger of the North]

Oh gosh. Poor Joz