Lee and Alura walked into town side by side. They were both in a good mood but Alura seemed to be particularly happy. Right as they were entered town they stopped by a tavern. Alura said “just wait here, I’ll be right out in a few minutes”.

Before Lee could say anything she rushed inside. He decided to use the time waiting to think of what to do. They could go play some games. Maybe pay a singer for a song. Just walking around the town itself would be nice too. But where would be a really good spot to eat?

As he was pondering this he saw Alura step out of the tavern. When he saw her his jaw dropped in surprise. She changed out of the clothes she had used to train and spar with him before and was in a very beautiful white dress with matching heels. It was the first time he had ever seen her wear such a thing. He was surprised by how well it looked on her. He never thought of her wearing clothing like that.

She looked at him in silence as if waiting for him to say something. Finally she asked “so, what do you think? Does it look good?”

Lee smiled “It really does, I’ve never seen you in a dress before. I thought you said you didn’t like all that girlie stuff like dresses and dancing.”

She rolled her eyes “people can change their mind you know. Not everything we say at 8 or 9 is how we'll feel for the rest of our lives. As it so happens, I usually don’t like those things just for your information; but for certain occasions they can be fun. To be honest, it isn’t that bad except the heels are a uncomfortable and hard to move it”.

Lee said “If you want, you can take them off.”

She gave Lee the kind of look where he felt she might slap him over the head. She simply answered “you know Lee; sometimes you can be really stupid. Are you sure you’re 14 today and not 10?” Before Lee could answer she sighed and said “just forget it, so what do you want to do? Let’s be sure to have fun today. That's the most important thing after all”.

This whole conversation threw Lee off a bit. The buy time to think of how he should react to that Lee asked “so where are the clothes you were wearing when we walk into town?”

Alura answered “the girl who works here is a friend of mind. She's holding on to them for me”.

Lee still wasn’t sure why what he said wrong. He decided it was best to ignore it and move on with plans for today. “Well, I was thinking we could go and find some games to play. There isn’t a fair in town but I know where they have a few 'fair like' games year round that I always wanted to try”.

She smiled and said “well then, let’s go. Today is your birthday so I’ll do anything you want” she blushed and then said “I mean, I’ll go do the things you want to do. Games and activities and things like that”.

Lee laughed and said “well of course, it’s my birthday after all. When it’s your birthday I’d do anything you’d ask me”.

She shook her head and said “Lee, just show me where the games are”. As they were walking Lee thought he heard her whisper “anything?” When he asked her what she said she insisted she didn’t say a word.

Once they arrived at the games booth Lee made sure to give them both an equal chance to play. One was a game involving tossing rings around bottles. Another one they played was throwing darts at a target. If you got any in the middle you'd win a prize. Lee found it nearly impossible to do. In the end he used just a little bit of wind magic to help him hit the target but made sure not to get caught using it.

He gave Alura the prize which was fluffy bunny doll. The man who ran the games said “I just want to say, I think you two make such a cute couple”.

Before Lee could tell him they were just friends Alura said “thank you so much!” to the man and grabbed Lee to pull him away.

Lee asked her “Why did you say that?”

She just shrugged and said “Why do you care so much if he thinks we’re a couple? Does it matter to you what he thinks?”

Lee said “I guess not”.

Her brow furrowed together as she asked with a hint of annoyance “Then do you think I’m not cute enough to be someone’s girlfriend?”

Lee said “Of course not, you look really cute, especially in that dress. I didn’t mean it like that at all!”

She smiled at that and said “thank you Lee. You know, a lot of guys recently have started to say how cute I look. I’m turning 14 as well in a month. What do you think about other guys asking me out?”

Lee said “I don't know. I guess I never thought of it. Have you said yes to any dates?”

Alura said “Why do you ask? Would you care if I did?”

Lee answered “Well, I suppose I’d like to meet any guy you’d like to date. I don’t want you with some jerk or anything”.

Alura was a bit annoyed by the answer “Well, just for your peace of mind, I haven’t gone out with anyone. I am very picky about the kind of man I’d let take me out”.

Lee said “picky how?”

Alura paused for a long moment and said “It’s a secret!”

Lee said “Fine, be that way. Anyway, I’m hungry. There's this particular tavern I want to eat at, but it's on the other side of town. I heard it has really good chicken”.

Alura said “that’s a long way to walk around the main street. Can we cut through the alleys?”

Lee answered “I think we can. I should be able to at least get us close and then we can find it easily on the main street. It's such a pain the main street is in a U like shape in this town”.

Alura answered “well, I’m pretty hungry too so let’s see take the short cut.”

They decided to go through the alleys. There were a lot of houses back there that were rented out and a few small shops, but not many. Lee wished he went to town more. Lee hoped it would be a nearly straight path but there were more turns here than he thought there would be. Lee asked “I feel like we keep getting turned around in here. Do you want to just go back to the main street?”

“Well hello there kids. What are you doing here? Did you get lost?” A man in a black clothes asked.

Alura answered “we're just trying to find the main street. Is it close to here?”

The man said “the main street? Well, you must have gotten turned around a lot. You're nowhere near the main street young lady”.

Lee didn’t like how he said that. He saw the look on Alura and saw she didn’t like it either. Lee said “Well, then we'll just find our way back then. “

Another man came out from the shadows “why do you want to go back so fast? You're being mighty unfriendly.” As he said that 2 more man appeared from around the corner.

Lee was now looking around at the area more closely. This was clearly a part of town you didn’t want to be in. He only saw abandoned homes and business. “Tell you what, for being so rude how about you compensate us? Everything you have on you should do it. You really hurt my feelings after all”.

Lee said “I’m not giving you anything. If you’re smart, you’ll walk away. You’re picking the wrong people to try to rob”.

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The 4 of them laughed “you talk pretty tough; trying to impress the young lady no doubt? I can see why. She's a very cute girl”. He gave Alura a long look up and down “your boyfriend is about to get very badly hurt. Maybe you could convince us not to hurt him too bad if you decide to be really nice to me behind this alley..”

She gave him a deadly look “you know, I was going to tell you to walk away for your own good before you said that. Now I've decided I’m not going to let you walk away unharmed”. She pointed at him and turned to Lee “I want to deal with this one without interference. Can you take care of the other three for me?”

Lee rolled his eyes “fine, just be sure to not get blood on your dress. It looks expensive”. Lee faced the other three men.

Just as the man was about to say some remark Alura interrupted “I’m pretty hungry, let’s get this over with quick”. He was enraged by her comments but more by her lack of fear. He charged at her looking to give her a good punch in the stomach. She stood her ground and simply pushed his hooked punched down towards the ground. He was knocked off balance by his own swing. His momentum making him slight tip forward and left.

Alura elbowed him in the jaw and nose as he fell downward increasing the force of the impact. Blood gushed from his mouth and nose and 2 teeth feel on the pavement. He covered his face laying on the ground giving out muffled screams and moans as blood fell through the gaps in his fingers and gathered in a small puddle on the ground.

The other 3 men charged at River seeing their leader hurt; one head on and 2 from the sides. The one charging River straight on drew his arm as far back as he could and then through his punch at River. Lee ducked it and using his momentum he brought his knee up towards the man’s stomach. The attacker clutched his stomach and sank to the ground, perhaps a rib broken or two.

With the other two quickly closing in from either side he extended his arms towards them and opened his hands. He shot wind magic from both hands that pushed them back hard against the alley walls. Lee walked toward the man on the ground who was clutching at his chest to deliver a knock out blow.

The man said “please, no more! I already have a few broken ribs. I give up!”

Lee said “you were going to rob us and then let your friend have his way with my companion. All that and you think you can just walk away without learning your lesson?”

The man said “please! I didn’t know he was going to say that. I just met these people recently. I need the money for my sister. I lost my job and had no choice but to steal to bring us food till I find a new one. All I wanted was a little money. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. After hearing what he said I would have left this group and never have come back. Can’t you please understand? Isn’t there someone you would steal for to feed as well?”

Lee hesitated. He bent down towards the man and asked “how badly are you hurt?”

Te man was holding his stomach and replied “you broke a few ribs at least. It’s hard to breath”. He doubled over even more in pain turning towards the ground.

Lee said “look, I can use healing magic to help-“ the man snapped up from his position and struck Lee in the stomach. Instantly Lee noticed It felt very odd. He had never been hit like this before. Way did it feel different? He looked down and he saw on the end of the man’s hand was a knife. At least it was the end of a knife. Where was the rest? Why was he holding a broken knife against him? Why was the area around it turning red? He felt an odd, cold sensation.

The man pulled the knife out and blood from Lee’s stomach began to spill on stone pathway of the alley. Alura screamed “LEE!” she tried to turn and run to him but in her haste to do so her heel broke. She had turned too fast and with too much force. She felt herself fall off balance and used her hand to brace her fall. As she was pulling herself up to run towards him she felt a strong kick in her side.

The man she elbowed in the face was now standing up. The force of his kick sent her slightly in the air and knocked the wind out of her. She tried to get up but he kicked her again. She grabbed his leg and tried to pull him down to the ground but was unable to breath and didn’t have the energy to force him off his feet. Just as she was trying to do it one the men Lee used wind magic on was on top of her and grabbed her.

“Feisty little bitch isn’t she? Look what she did to your face.” He said.

The man she struck spit blood on the alley floor and said to her “you're going to regret ever pissing me off”. He pulled a knife out and slide it across her cheek drawing a little blood. “I am going to make sure no man will ever want to look at your soon to be deformed face again. “You better enjoy what I'm about to do to you, cause I’ll be the last guy to ever touch you”. He kicked her over and over again.

She tried to block and fight back but with the other man holding her down it was impossible. He was much stronger than her and she was already hurt. After they were sure she couldn’t fight back the man said “I’ll go first, you’ll all get a turn after. I’ll wait till after we're done to cut her up”.

The man next to him said “what about the other one?”

The man with the bloody face grabbed Alura by the wrist and began to drag her into the alley. “Check him for money. If he dies tell me, I don’t want to leave any witnesses in that case”.

Lee was on the street bleeding and being kicked and punched by 2 men. Now that the initial shock had passed he knew he had been stabbed and was bleeding badly. He managed to turn on his front and put his hand over his wound. He felt the others kicking and hitting him.

He closed his eyes and blocked it out. He knew he had to help Alura. His hesitation got him stabbed and caused her to go off guard. If anything happened to her it would be his fault. He tried to ignore the beating and pain as best her could and focused on healing his wound. He needed to stop the bleeding before anything else. He felt their hits letting up as he laid still.

Someone asked “did he pass out?” Another said “he might be dead, maybe you got an artery or something. There is a lot of blood after all.”

The stop in the attack made it easier for Lee to heal the wound. Though they beat fairly badly besides the wound they didn’t do that much debilitating. They were not true fighters. They didn’t know where to aim for weak spots or the best ways to attack vulnerable areas. A lot of kicks had hit his arms and he felt his ribs were at most cracked but he could still move somewhat. The wound was now healed in his stomach and Lee was breathing more easily.

He heard Alura’s voice ask weakly “Lee, are you okay?”

He heard a couple large slaps “Still fighting? It’s useless you dumb bitch. You’re only making this harder on yourself!”

He heard Alura grunt in pain and start to scream out cry his name. He felt an anger rise up inside himself he’d never felt. The other 3 were huddled a little away from him asking what they should do if he was dead. They probably would need to kill the girl too they decided. Lee turned on his back and looked up at them with pure hatred “you’re all going to die”.

His body was in bad shape but he still had a large amount of mana. Before they could react he used a powerful gust of wind. It blew them high into the air up over 10 feet and into the wall behind them which was over 15 feet away. He heard bones crack on impact. As they fell to the ground they were all he saw at least 2 of them had legs bending in unnatural ways. He didn't know if they were alive or dead. He didn't care.

Lee picked himself up and walked toward the Alley “Alura?!” He limped as he walked slowly. His palm faced the alley. Out walked the man holding her in front of him with a knife to her throat. Her dress was ripped but still on. Lee was thankful for that.

The man said “you make one wrong move and I’ll slit her pretty little throat”.

Lee walked closer and closer. The man yelled “stop walking towards me or I’ll kill her!”

Lee chanted a spell while looking at the man. A small and shape looking wind spell now rested in his hand. Lee said “if you hurt her, I’ll cut you into tiny pieces… slowly”.

Alura with all the strength she had left used her hands to grab the arm holding the knife and pull it up and away from her. It was only a few inches but it was enough. Let shot his spell at the man’s hand. He dropped the knife, his wrist was over half severed and blood poured out of it. He screamed and let go of Alura. He tried to rip off part of his shirt with his good hand and wrap it around his wrist.

He yelled to Lee “Look what you’ve done! My hand, oh my god it hurts. There’s so much blood. I don’t want to die!”

Lee walked towards him still holding up his palm. The man said “please, I swear I won't ever appear before you again. I didn’t mean it. Please, you need to take me to a hospital. I'm worried I'll bleed out at this rate”.

Lee said “I swear, I’ll never hesitate to protect someone again”. With that he used a large gust of wind to push him hard against the a nearby alley wall. The man hit it and went limp. Lee turned to Alura he asked “are you okay? I’m so sorry about this. It’s all my fault”.

She weakly said “it’s not your fault Lee. Don’t blame yourself. In any case, I fought him and he didn’t get what he wanted. I think my father would be proud of me”. She smiled at him trying to be brave but tears were in her eyes. Lee bent down and held her. She put her head against his chest and cried.

“Lee, thank you. I was so scared. I thought you might be dead. I called for you but you didn’t answer”. She cried more “but I knew you’d save me. You promised right. And you’d never break a promise to me. So I knew I would be okay”.

Lee felt pathetic. He knew a large part of them getting out of this was luck. His mistake almost cost him his life; but more importantly, her life. Lee said “I’m going to heal you now, hold still”. He began to run healing magic all through her body. Healing his knife stab before cost him a lot of mana, but he would be damned if he wasn't going to heal her completely.

He closed his eyes and focused his mana and control. He felt himself starting to run out but he pushed though. He wasn’t able to sense how bad her injuries where anymore. He was too exhausted. Soon she shook him “Lee, you can stop. I’m fine now”.

He looked down at her. He could tell she was fine. The internal injuries were all gone; all that was left was a little bruising and the small scar on her cheek. He put his hand over it to try to heal it but he had no mana left. Lee said “sorry, it looks like I can’t heal the scar on your cheek. I hope you can forgive me”.

She said “It’s fine Lee, now heal yourself”.

Lee said “I’m tired. I used too much…” he fell to the floor unconscious.

Alura cried “Lee? LEE?” He didn’t respond. She got up and ran to get help.