Final Fantasy XIV: Ashen Dawn

Vengeful Cut

This tournament was going to need an intermission.

Everybody who had already foughten seemed in no shape to continue on to the quarterfinals, even with the abundance of healers that had arrived to make things flow better. Romani, though clearly not a fan of most of the contestants for arbitrary reasons, realized this, and called for one that would last for about an hour before they moved on to the next batch of fights in the Melee; those being the last three bouts of the preliminaries and all of the quarterfinals in their glory. Before it could go into effect, however, he was stopped by a metal clad hand being placed upon his shoulder. Up against his leg soon brushed a tail, and when he turned around, he was faced with none other than Alenka Fenrir. Tataru had signed her up on her behalf, and though it seemed like she was going to be a no-show originally, she arrived just after the end of the last fight and wanted to fill in the quota given to her; one last battle before the intermission, against her signed opponent, Cadbur Strun.

"And you areeee…"

The man took a moment to overlook his list.

"Alisa-"

"Alenka. But, um…call me Maeve."

Tataru overheard this conversation and looked towards the platform the two were on, giving the Miqo'te a thumbs up to which she received a slight smile in return.

"Kinda roguish, but uh, if that's what you want-"

Romani quickly scribbled the original name off and replaced it with her requested name, raising an eyebrow from underneath his mask.

"Could I ask why, though?"

She pat his shoulder twice before walking ahead of him, a hand on the hilt of her soon unsheathed greatsword. 

"Yadda yadda, turning over a new leaf and all that. I did some stuff I'm not proud of at one point, and now I'm trying to prove I'm not that person anymore. Starting with working this injury rust off-"

She shook her left hand and stuck the sword out forward, grinning over at Dariya.

"And changing my name. That, and paying back the Warrior of Light."

"H-huh? For what?"

"For sneaking onto your ship when you were going to Meracydia."

The Viera looked over at Y'shtola, who just shrugged her shoulders.

"When I lost sight of her, I thought she was just wandering Ishgard. You must have noticed she was there."

"I thought you and Urianger fully healed her! You mean to tell me that she did all of that while injured!?"

Maeve only laughed, putting her greatsword on her back once more while Strun stood up from underneath a nearby tree, closing his book and sitting it down at its stump.

"I will say, this has been quite the spectacle. But in my time watching and learning, I've grown admittedly restless."

He put a hand on his hip, turning to Hirosch who was quietly leaned against that very same tree.

"You best not leave me out there if I need assistance after the fact."

The Hrothgar only scoffed in response.

"As if that's even a possibility. Just don't let her embarrass you, man."

Embarrass him, huh? Strun took that as a challenge, and Maeve took it all the same. 

When the two of them made it to the ring, they both took a moment to scan the other as intently as they could. One thing they had in common was hoping to derive from the ideas that came with their fighting styles, what with Strun being a Red Mage who actively prioritized being anything but overly graceful and Maeve being a Dark Knight who avoided all that black magic drivel. They just wanted to fight, and though it may have seemed unorthodox to most onlookers, what mattered most is if it would get them a win.