Emily tried to hide her smirk... didn't bother him that much? It might have been true, but Emily couldn't help but feel as if he wasn't telling the whole truth. And well within his right. Heck she was stubborn enough to pretend she was fine, and so she was.. because she was just that tough. But either way it was still funny.

Merlins Beard! He was blushing!... she saw him blush, she couldn't miss it. That was definitely without a doubt... a man-blush. What was he blushing for? Was it because he went all Healer on her? Men..

She couldn't help but think of everyone she would have to face on her way back to the office... and in the office itself. Walk of Shame here she comes... though really there was only one person she wanted to avoid. She didn't want him to see her like this... a failure, and needy. Not that she was needy, she wasn't, she was fine.

Emily took the bottle of Essence of Dittany, and shoved it into her pocket. Well she could do with a change of clothes...
Grabbing her wand from the floor where it had dropped she directed it to her clothes, and within seconds they were as good as new. At least now she didn't look so much like a wreck. "Thanks," she said again, offering Brad a small smile of her own...
"I guess I'll see you around then Bradley."

And with that she braced herself and left the training room... aching... but all the wiser for it.

It had been a long time since he had last dueled, and that was most likely the reason for his sudden nervousness and pacing before the large door.

...And he didn't particularly feel like standing still while he waited for Emily.

.......And there were so many thoughts of the Ministry and its conniving ways running through his head that he felt he had to pace just to keep up with them.

.............And four cups of coffee and a mocha never went down well with sitting still.

Needless to say, he hoped he didn't wear himself out before this all started.

This was brilliant, she was in a mood for a good duelling, what with all the happenings with the Cult recently and MLE being unfairly targetted... Emily had A LOT of energy she could burn. And a lot of anger with it.

Either way she was pleased Sabel had agreed to the duel. It would be good practice for both of them, and while she enjoyed duelling with the more experienced employees- because they were more challenging, having someone on her level to tango with would be good. Mostly good for her ego, because it would be a more even match up.

Striding down to level three, Emily made her way to their training facility. It really was wonderful, and it was a shame it wasn't used very frequently.
"Sabel," she said brightly, nodding in greeting. He looked nervous. Was he nervous?
"Hope I havn't kept you waiting."

Visualising the duelling arena she had used the last time- only in better condition, Emily knocked on the door three times, and watched it open.
"Hope you're ready for this," she said mischievously and entered, descending the stairs to the flat rectangular area below.

Sabel's head came up at the sound of another pair of footsteps besides his own in the corridor. It was only a weak smile that he could manage to force at his co-workers greeting; distracting thoughts made it hard to bring forth anything more. "No...just been....thinking."

It was tempting to ask her if she knew of an 'off' switch for the active mind, but he was given little opportunity as the doors opened and she started through them. Eager beaver.

As for being ready. No...no he certainly was not. Hence his hesitation in following. Merlin! He needed to get his wits together.

Emily inderstood where Sabel was coming from... there was a lot to think about. So many questions, and so few answers, but if there was one thing she was good at was distracting herself. If she thought about something too hard and for too long the migranes would kill her, so knowing how to compartmentalise her thinking helped. Right now, all she was focusing on was her surroundings, her opponent and her body.
"Mmm I know what you mean," she mused, taking a turn about the duelling area.

After pacing a few times, she pulled off her jumper and threw it to the corner of the room. Even in her black T-shirt she wasn't cold. Summoning her wand she twirled it between her fingers before letting her arm drop to her side.

Time to focus Em...

Unlike Emily, Sabel took a lot longer into getting settled, if one could call his half-stance settled at all. His eyes took the longest to settle on his opponent, fluttering about the room in an attempt to take in and calculate his surroundings.

In the end he gave up trying to comprehend everything and mush it all together in alongside everything else that was compacted inside his overworked brain. He would just have to wing it. Hip-hip-hooray.

Letting out a slow breath, he called his wand into his hand, holding it loosely. Now the question was, who would make the first move.

Emily was aware that Sabel was... not quite alert. But he'd perk up soon enough, or at least she hoped he did. She didn't want it to be a walk in the park, that wouldn't be fun at all.

She'd keep him on his toes.

Taking her stance she bowed in Sabels direction... not an all out bow, it was more of a bend at the knee, lowering herself slightly, and inclining her head- her gaze still focused on her opponent.

Heh...

Now it was time for some action. Without a moments hesitation Emily cast her first spell.

"Confringo!"

She always like a good Blasting Curse.

So there was one thing that could wake a person up real well, and apparently that was fire. And a lot of it.

The very utterance of the spell startled him from the half-distracted bow he had engaged in, causing his wand to snap up and do the first thing it thought logical. A shield.

Yes, it saved him a good deal of heat and warmth so early in the morning, but at the same time the roar of the fire around the thin barrier was almost deafening and it was, well still hot.

Needless to say, he was now awake.

As soon as there was a safe opening in the flame, he dropped his shield and flicked his wand at the feet of the girl, a stream of water shooting out of his wand followed by an abrupt freezing charm.

Fire and ice. How fitting.

Emily was highly amused by Sabel's reaction. At least least he was waking up now, that was a start. Though she wondered how he would react, she would be ready though, she was in her element.

And speaking of elements... fire and ice? heh. Yeah, that pretty much summed them up, how very appropriate. One hot head and one... well... not so hot head.

Emily sidestepped the passage of ice, raising her shield as she did so.

Now things were heating up .... or cooling down- depending on how one looked at it.

It was a good thing the training centre was like the room of requirement, she wouldn't have liked to return to the one she had left with Brad... everyone was in ruins. How? she had no idea.
But as it was, everything was- for the time being- in good condition. The pillars surrounding the flat areana area, tall and errect. But not for long...

As swiftly as she had side stepped Sabel's freezing charm she targetted the pillar positioned directing behind Sabel...

Time to make things interesting.
"Bombarda Maxima!"
She felt like giggling, as she watched the pillar crumble..........

......

So there was one thing for certain that he knew as he felt more than heard the distinctive crack of stone behind him. This girl was more destructive than any other student or person he had dueled before. However, that character trait was nearly the last thing on his mind as a frigid shiver shot up his spine, echoing the fissures that separated the stone and sent them tumbling down towards him.

Whether things were actually moving slow or fast, he didn't know. All Sabel knew at that moment was memories had been awakened, and none of them were pleasant. Thankfully it was that cold shock through his entire being that kept him from getting squished. It brought his body spinning around and his wand up, 'Avifors' falling from his lips before he had a moment to think about it.

As if from some magical dream, the falling rocks suddenly twisted and burst into a flock of brightly colored birds. Some were of brilliant reds and yellows while others were of dark black and blue. Some were large and others, small. Some pulled up with surprised cries of their own, while others took a moment more to draw out of their descent, claws and beaks snapping alongside their wings.

The few scratches and scrapes he earned from those birds that had difficulty correcting their paths was a welcome alternative to the bruising and crunching of bone he surely would have received from the stone; a luck accented by those few pieces that hadn't been hit by the spell cracking apart into dust upon the dueling floor.

There had not been the time to form a counter attack, but at the moment, Sabel was simply happy to be in one piece.

Making sure she wasn't standing in one place for too long, Emily moved swiftly around the side of the duelling arena, putting a bit more distance between them. A small smile played on her lips as she watched the crumbling stone turn to ... birds. Points for creativity Sabel, she thought. But honestly, wasn't he going to retaliate? She was even almost tempted to turn the birds to stone again. Heh.

She had expected better from him, but she wasn't complaining, perhaps it was a testament to her training, the sessions with Bradley, and Isobel had probably helped, they had definitely not held back, and it showed, she was alert, and on her toes, with her game face on.

Giving Sabel a little time to recuperate- because she didn't want the session to end so soon, Emily paced a little, weaving in and out of the pillars.

But alas, the show must continue.
"Verdimillius!" she cast, watching the streak of green lightening flash across the room.

Despite the kindness that it was, Sabel couldn't help feel slightly irritated at Emily's delay in her next attack. It made him feel weak, unsettled and all around inexperienced. Which no he shouldn't have been so distracted and memory should be locked away during a duel, but still.

So whether it was the green light or that frustration, Sabel found himself moving a little quicker. It helped to have a lightening bolt chasing his tail as he darted behind one of the pillars, yet again hearing the crack of stone and splinter of dust. This time however, he waited for nothing to settle, bolting out from behind the pillar where the lightening had just hit, through the dust and right at Emily.

"Baubillious!" He wasn't sure whether the bright bolt of white light that flared from the tip of his wand was decorative or offensive, but either way it shot towards Emily in counterstroke.

BAH! bout time he did something... though Emily was slightly confused as to what the point of white light was. Then again, it had taken her by surprise and as she jumped out of the way, behind a pillar she managed to trip over her own feet and fall face down on the hard concrete floor. She could feel her bones protest with the shock of the fall... and a little graze on her cheek.

Merlin!

Quickly regaining her composure she sidled out of Sabel's view, then moving as swiftly as possible sought him out from between the pillars and retaliated.

She would not rest until everything in the room was rubble, dust and ash. Though perhaps she'd leave Sabel in tact. Smirk.

Aiming down toward her colleagues feet... or legs.. around there she sent a brilliant jet of red light. "Reducto!" It was pretty sort of like electricity... only red.

The spell had quite the effect, and he filed it away in the back of his mind as a handy little tool for future reference. Though the fall it induced certainly brought a wince to his expression.

It was nothing in comparison to the sudden surprise and shock he got however, when the Reducto curse was shot at his legs. It was a hop, a slip and a scramble almost up one of the pillars and a shout of surprise that had him moving faster than he had before. Was she trying to de-limb him?!

In the process of his scramble about the pillar, he made sure to fling a few blasting curses back over his shoulder, aiming at the bases of two of the pillars near Emily. If anything he hoped the explosion of rubble would distort her enough that he could get back to some respectable motion.

Restraining herself from laughing she watched as poor Sabel did some sort of jig and practically cuddled one of the pillars in response to her curse. This was just too funny.

But of course she hadn't laughed and if she had it wouldn't have been for long, because before she knew it she heard the cracking of not one but two pillars behind her, Briskly she turned on her heal.
"Aresto Momentum!" she cast, before running out of harms way. Of course she still hit by some of the smaller bits of rock, giving her more scratches, on her arms this time. The rocks slowed considerably before dropping completely and landing with a...

THUD.

She was impressed, seemed as though Sabel was starting to get the hang on it. Emily wasn't impressed by the state of her clothes and hair though... her once black jeans were now grey with dust, as was her hair- making her look... ridiculously old. Ugh... Sabel would pay for this.

Opting for more stealth-which was something she sometimes lacked, Emily cast two stunning spells after Sabel.

Apparently his spells hadn't worked out as he had quite planned, given by how short of a time he had to hug the pillar with the two stunning spells streaking towards him.

While casting a simple shield spell would have been the easiest and probably safest idea, Sabel took to running again. Down the path the spells were going. A very, very dumb idea. And only naturally, it was followed up by another rather stupid idea. As he had done moments ago, he spared no hesitation in flicking his wand in the same casting, except this time at the pillars just behind and to the sides of him rather than those near Emily.

Rock and dust exploded around him as if explosives set in the pillars themselves had gone off as the blasting curses hit their marks. The stunning spells were no longer his greatest concern as he cast one last blasting curse at the pillar in front of him. The spraying rock and tumbling sections of stone did well to block the curses from him; purple streams of light screaming out of existence into the rising dust and smoke.

It was the falling pillar in front of him that held most of his concern, especially given he had no time to hesitate or consider the wiseness of his actions. Dropping down into the dust and amongst the rubble on the floor, he hit the ground at such as speed and angle that his body met no resistance in sliding along the floor. It was a close call between his head and the bottom of the crashing pillar, but it was barely given any thought as he came out of the slide into a roll. Then, it was a matter of scrambling to a different point before the dust settled. A different point being behind yet another pillar.

But there it was. And there he was. Dead still. Waiting. Trying not to breathe too hard.

Well... this wasn't exactly what Emily had expected. She was about to run after Sabel, hoping to get a better shot off on him, when he ran at the spells? and blasted the pillars around him to rubble? ....

Emily watched as everything came crashing down, horrible sickening thuds and crunches could be heard. The sound echoing off the walls making it sound worse... and louder. She hoped the A&C employees couldn't hear them. Mrs MacMillan had been super nice to let her practice here... she wouldn't want to get on the womans bad side by... assisting in the destruction of their training room.

And she thought it looked bad when she and Bradley were done... that was nothing in comparison to this. Emily coughed, covering her mouth with her hand and squinting through the dust cloud. Was Sabel ok? Did he get out? ... or was he.... a little squishy? She swatted the dust in front of her, trying to see.

"Sabel?" she asked slowly...

Duel or no duel... she didn't want him to be seriously injured. Damien would likely kill her if Sabel was seriously harmed. She drew her shield, not taking any chances... and edged forward, climbing over the rubble and swatting furiously at the dusty air. It smelled horribly like dirt and ash in here now.

It was when he was crouched, waiting in as dead silence as he could, that he realized how lucky he had been to make it out alive. Or how unbelievably stupid he had been to pull a stunt like that. Not to mention manipulative.....when had he decided to use Emily's 'concern' against her? That wasn't in his nature.

....Or was he simply attempting a distraction?....

....He could see now where shades of grey existed. Especially when she called out his name in what sounded like concern. That right there nearly got him to stand up and wave his arms, shouting that he was indeed alive and, for the most part, unscathed. However, she wasn't making any haste to check on him which told him this was still a duel. And he didn't wreck half the room and risk his life simply to pop out of his hiding hole like a gopher.

So, he crouched lower and strained his ears as much as his leg muscles. Each crunch of her footsteps gave him the vague idea of where she was, or at least how close she was to him. It took a lot of effort and a very slow pace to start moving again; watching where each of his steps went, being utterly careful to disturb nothing. And by that process he slowly began to pick his way around, in the hopes of flanking her.

Either it would work, or it wouldn't. It was simply a matter of how close he was when she noticed where he was. If she noticed....

Emily paused... shield still raised.

She listened out for any sound... any inclination that Sabel was still... alive.

It was quiet, but her gut told her everything was fine. She scanned the rubble in front of her, the dust was setting, it was easier to see.

She took a couple of steps back, being careful not to make too much noise. She had never liked hide and seek games.. she wasn't very good at them, she was always the one looking- but never finding. It annoyed her to no end.

But out of the corner of her eye... she saw something. Or thought she saw something.

Aiming at the large fragment of rock- where Sabel was possibly hiding, she flicked her wand, sending a non-verbal blasting curse.

One way to find out right?

Emily continued to step backward, wand at the ready, producing her shiel within seconds. She didn't like the quiet... it wasn't natural.

While he was under the impression he was doing a good job of sneaking about, the sudden blast of rock and rubble that burst directly behind him at chest level in the pillar where he had just been standing, was an indication he was perhaps moving too slow. Needless to say that, and a rather hard hit of something to the back of his neck got him moving, and clamping his hand over his mouth so that the surprised squeak that wanted to escape was trapped within.

Thank goodness for the noise of the blast covering some of his less-than-ceremonious escape as he scrambled on the scattered rock to regain his footing. And even when he had, he found himself dropped down into a low kneel behind a larger section of broken pillar, peeking under it and through the dust at what he presumed were Emily's feet several paces away.

Now, came the real test. With a wince that expressed his lack of favor for the faint hissing sound it exhibited, Sabel gradually cast what he hoped was a slow 'Incarcerous' spell. He had never tried casting it gradually and it didn't particularly heed to his ideal command as it jerked and strained in an effort to reach Emily's feet fast.

The rock exploded... spreading even more flint about the place, and dust... oh the dust. Someone was going to have a tremendous amount of cleaning to do... or would it clean itself? She really couldn't be bothered. Heck the one thing she really wanted right now was a shower! she felt like she was wrapped in cotton wool. Completely covered with dust. Disgusting, that Merlin only Sabel could see her like this, and even he was in much the same situation.

But anyway...

Twisting on the spot, Emily tried to get a good clear view of her entire surroundings. She really couldn't see anything... she couldn't see Sabel. In fact she couldn't hear anything. The pit of her stomach dropped even further than she thought possible. She was thinking the worst now.

But not for long....

"Eeeeekkk!" she yelped as her feet were dragged out from under her.

Acting on instincts she thrust her wand at the rope and decided- for some psychotic reson- that it would be wise to burn it off. Subsequently setting fire to the hem of her jeans.

GAH!

"Aqua Eructo!" she cast putting it out as quickly as she could.

BAH! so he was alive! sneaky.

In all honesty, he hadn't expected it to work. So his reaction in jumping up like he had planned was delayed. Even more so that when he finally realized he should be jumping up, he smacked his head on the pillar he had crouched under.

That put him behind a delay and a half and gave him some trouble in scampering over the fallen pillar and to where Emily was. In his mad dash of klutziness, he had seen flame sprout up from the corner of his eye and it had, in truth, made him move a little quicker: he didn't particularly want to be on the receiving end of the rope when the fire got to it. But by the time he got to Emily, or stumbled over to stand above her in haphazard, half-stable fashion, the fire was gone and so was some of her pant leg.

And some of his attention apparently....

Thus cue the delay in raising his wand and aiming it at her. And cue his forgetfulness in the proper words so that all that came out was a sloppy and delayed, "Check."

In all the rush and confusion with the rope and then the fire, Emily hadn't noticed that Sabel came out of his hidey hole. Wherever that was.
She frowned, his wand pointing at her chest. And her's still clutched in her hand, but not posing much of a threat.

...

She was tempted to pout, but instead, she got a wicked... and very stupid idea. Either way, her gut was telling her to go with it. And as Damien had yelled at her on so many occasions she needed to stop thinking and start acting. So she would...

After releasing a sigh, she spun on the spot, like a ninja- only less graceful, her aim was to knock Sabel off his feet. She might not be able to win, but she wasn't about to lose either. If she was going down, she was taking him with her.

"Mate." She uttered.

Emily couldn't help but laugh lightly... it had been... quite an ordeal.

While her spin might not have been perfect, it was enough to get the trick done. Both feet were swept out from under him without so much as a warning or inclining and he fell, hard on his back and the rather rocky surface of the floor. Training had taught him not to let go of his wand when he went down, but apparently it was still lacking in the 'distance-perception' field.

With a groan half from being winded and half from having several pointy things jabbing into his back, he let his body flop out of tension. Her laughing helped with that, but even if she had decided to jump up and attack again, he couldn't say he would have had the drive to counter attack.

Ever so slowly, a light chuckle of his own joined hers though it held a certain lack of breath and a few coughs here and there. What a bloody mess they had made.

After laying there for a minute or so... trying to process what had happened Emily managed to prop herself up on her elbows. Not without great difficulty. Her arms were pretty badly cut up, perhaps she whould have worn her jumper. She scanned the room... how in the name of Merlin had they done this? It was almost unrecognisable.

Aware of the sharp pains in her elbows, her ribs and her back she strained to sit up properly. Well now this wasn't what she had expected, but at the same time she didn't know what to expect to begin with. But the rubble, the dust, ... all the mess in general was not what she had planned.

"You alright?" she asked Sabel, turning to smile at him briefly before continuing to assess her injuries. They were superficial... easily healed. The thing that annoyed her most was all the dust. And she definitely needed a shower.

Emily picked off a section of caked on blood thickened by the ashy dusty substance from the pillars.
"Well that... was certainly... insightful," she managed to say between breaths as she heaved herself up from the floor, dusting herself off. Wand still in hand but limp at her side. She extended her free hand to Sabel to help him up... if he wanted it of course.