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captain-azoren · 4 years ago

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The Spirit Forged: The Swamp Witch - A Legend of Korra Fic

Series: The Legend of Korra/Avatar the Last Airbender

Summary: Raiga searches the Foggy Swamp for the mysterious Swamp Witch who can teach him how to connect his spirit to the great banyan grove tree. Instead, he runs into a certain Blind Bandit, who gives him more trouble than he bargained for.

What I have here you could call a pilot chapter; a little taste of what you can expect from my current Legend of Korra fanfic, The Spirit Forged. Here is the beginning of my fanfic on FFN and AO3.

I’m not posting this sample chapter on FF.Net or AO3 just yet, as this event doesn’t take place until the middle of the story, and I haven’t gotten there yet. This scene is just something I really wanted to write for a while, and I had a lot of fun doing it.

Read it and let me know what you think of my OC Raiga (sidenote; Raiga is not a furry, he has a human shaped face. You can see some drawings I did of him if you look up the tags).

Raiga darted from one tree branch to another, making the leaves rustle with every leap. The swamp’s foliage was thick and damp, but it did little to deter him. Raiga was part human, part cat-spirit; he was made for the jungle. His goal; to find the swamp witch, who could help him make a spiritual connection to the great banyan grove tree at the center of the swamp.

There was one problem though; he had no idea where the witch was or what she even looked like. The waterbenders of the Foggy Swamp tribe had told him she had been living in the area for years, but that she was violent and aggressive. They learned to steer clear of the witch, but that did not help Raiga much. He probably should have stuck around to ask more questions. Luckily, he had a pretty good nose. All he had to do was keep moving until he picked up the right scent, and that was just what happened.

Raiga landed on the sturdy branch of a mango-peach tree and gave the air a good sniff. Amongst the fragrance of the fruit was the smell of cooked meat, along with some vegetables and roots that stood out from the rest of the other dank odors of the swamp. He followed the scent a while longer through the grove until he spotted a clearing in the forest. The ground looked a little damp, but mostly solid, and in the center was a campfire, with a pot of stew cooking over it. It smelled like possum-chicken, and it made Raiga’s mouth water.

The beast-man dropped from the tree and landed softly on the dirt. Raiga slowly made his way over to the boiling pot. The fire beneath it smoldered, and though it gave him some pause, he told himself it was only a little flame. It would not hurt him so long as he was careful.

Raiga reached out for the ladle hanging from the spit when he sensed something come at him from outside the tree line. The beast-man jumped back with a snarl, backflipping and twisting as a rock flew past where he had been standing.

“Hey! Hands off my lunch!” Came a scratchy old voice. Out from between the trees stepped a tiny old woman, with bare feet and a large white bun, wearing green and a grumpy frown. “Even I have better manners than that.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t leave your food out in the open! That’s just asking it to get stolen,” Raiga retorted. He squinted at the old woman and noticed her milky white eyes. She was blind. An old, blind earthbending lady with a bad attitude. “Wait a sec, aren’t you Toph Beifong?”

“Well duh,” Toph replied. She furrowed her brow as she examined Raiga. There was something very different about him. “Is that a… tail?” Toph asked incredulously. “Are you even human, kid?”

“Yeah, I’m human. Well, kind of,” Raiga answered. “I got possessed by a spirit or something, and now I’m like a crazy tiger-man.”

“Uhg, alright, I don’t need your life’s story, Cat-Boy,” Toph said as she approached the pot of stew. “And here I thought I’d seen everything.” She earthbent a clay bowl from the ground into her hand and ladled some stew into it before taking a sip. “What are you doing all the way out here? I doubt you were looking to steal an old lady’s home cooked meal.”

“I’m looking for the swamp witch,” Raiga answered earnestly. “The Foggy Swamp Tribe told me she could help me connect to the big tree. You notice her around here?”

“The Swamp Witch?” Toph whispered, pausing in deep thought. She turned away to look at the huge banyan grove tree in the distance. A wide grin spread across her wrinkly cheeks, unseen to Raiga. “Oh, I’ve met the Swamp Witch lots of times.”

“Great, just point me in the right direction!” Raiga said, but Toph wagged her finger at him.

“Nuh uh, I don’t give her hideout to just anyone,” Toph said and took another sip of stew. “First you’ve got to prove yourself, especially after trying to take my food.”

“Would you just let that go?” Raiga asked with a low growl, his tufted tail flicking impatiently. “Fine, what do I have to do?”

“Tag me.” Toph stated.

“Tag?” He asked with a quirked brow.

“Yeah, you know, like the kid’s game,” Toph went on to explain with a sly smirk. “If you can touch me, then I’ll tell you where the witch is. I’ll even let you have some of this stew.” She swirled her bowl around for emphasis. Raiga scratched the sideburns around his jaw.

“Hm, alright,” Raiga said with a confident grin. “If that’s all I got to do, then this won’t take long.” Raiga stretched his arms and popped his knuckles before crouching low, getting ready to pounce. “Here… we…- “

It was over in mere seconds. Raiga darted at Toph in a flash of tawny-gold fur, and just as quickly the old bender stomped her foot, popping up a pillar of hard, packed earth in front of her. Raiga collided with the dirt with a loud thud. He was stuck there a moment, then pushed himself off with a grumble of disgust as he wiped bits of mud from his face and his chest. Toph let out a hearty chuckle.

“That’s not gonna work, but I like your spirit.” The earthbender said. Raiga bared his fangs in frustration. He dashed to the side of the pillar to try and get around, but Toph raised her arms, palms turned up, taking her signature stance as she raised a wall of earth in front of him. Raiga moved around to the other side, but again he was blocked. Toph easily pivoted and followed him without even spilling her soup.

“That’s it!” Raiga snarled as he crouched down. He jumped at the wall and vaulted over it, sending himself into the air above Toph. For a moment, the old earthbender seemed concerned, until she heard the beast-man let out a roar. Toph pulled her arms in and bent the earth walls closer, surrounding her and her campfire tightly.

Just as Raiga came falling down, the walls bent inward until they formed a little dome with a hole in the top where the smoke from the fire could rise through. Raiga landed on the dome and frowned as he came towards the hole, squinting through the smoke.

“You can’t just hide in there forever.” Raiga said as he approached the hole in the roof. He was about to jump through it when stone bars formed within it, blocking his path.

“Oh yes I can.” Toph shot back from within and slurped her soup. She formed a stone stool beneath her and took a seat.

“Oh no you can’t!” Raiga shouted as he grabbed a hold of the stone bars. With a grunt, he ripped the bars away and tossed them aside. He was about to enter the dome again when suddenly the earth he stood on straightened up and flung him away. Raiga shouted with surprise as he flipped through the air, but he landed on his feet in a lunge. The beast-man huffed as he looked back up at Toph, sitting with her soup. She looked mildly amused, but also curious.

“Hmph, guess you won’t be as easy to beat as I thought,” Toph said as she rubbed her shoulder. “I’m still the greatest earthbender of all time though. You’re pretty fast and strong, but you’ll have to do a lot better than that.”

“You think that’s all I’ve got?” Raiga asked as he flexed his clawed fingers. “I haven’t even started!” He roared as he charged at Toph. All he had to do was tag her, but now his adrenaline was surging. Toph slid her foot over the ground and the earth beneath Raiga shifted. He stumbled for a moment, but his balance was impeccable and he righted himself and continued his advance.

Toph stamped her foot and another wall formed in front of Raiga, but his reflexes were quicker this time as he swerved around it and sprinted for the earthbender. Toph frowned as she raised her hand and bent a taller, wider wall of earth in Raiga’s path, one that he could not easily dodge around, but he did not bother. Raiga thrust his fist at the wall and burst right through it in a shower of dirt. He was almost on her now. Toph knew she needed to act fast.

Taking a page from her old friend Katara’s playbook, the earthbender decided to redirect the energy rather than try and use brute force to stop it. As Raiga closed in, Toph created an earth ramp underneath him, raising him up above her. He was running too fast to slow down, and found himself falling off the edge.

The next thing Raiga saw was a dirt pillar rise up from the ground and strike him in the stomach, sending him flying back into the jungle with a loud shout of pain and frustration. He hit a tree branch, then fell several feet before getting tangled up in a mess of vines, hanging upside down as mango-peaches fell around him.

Toph let out a sigh as she lowered her hands, leveling out the earth around her before sitting back down and stirring her pot of soup. “Well, you got closer than most,” She said with some disappointment. “But after so many years and so many challengers, no one’s landed a hand or even a hit on me. Guess no one’s ever gonna be stronger than me except the Avatar. How sad.”

Raiga fumed as he hung from the vines. He thrashed about, cutting the offending plants with his claws and freeing himself. The beast-man landed on his feet, making Toph’s head snap in his direction. “Like I’m just gonna give up after one scuffle,” He said as he wiped his chin with his arm. “I’ll tag you, and you won’t even see me coming!” With that said, Raiga leapt back into the foliage and out of sight. Toph just snorted.

“I’m blind, you idiot.”

“It’s a figure of speech!” Raiga shouted from the trees before darting off. He was a little bruised, but not too hurt. He could have gone on fighting for much longer, but it was obvious he was going about tagging Toph the wrong way. Raiga needed to go full predator for this task, but evading Toph’s detection would prove a challenge. He was adept at blending into the grass and leaves, but what good was camouflage against one who saw without eyes?

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Raiga kept low to the ground, holding completely still as he peered through the thick brush at Toph. The blind earthbender was in a horse stance and waving her arms in circular motions. Around her, a stream of mud swirled in an intricate formation. She manipulated it like a waterbender, letting it flow seamlessly without interruption.

The beast-man had been watching Toph do this for several minutes now, inching closer and closer until he was right at the edge of the clearing, waiting for the right moment. Toph seemed to be completely engrossed in her form as she began to twist the mud into an elaborate dance. That was his chance.

“Gotcha!” Raiga yelled as he pounced at Toph. He was as fast as a bolt, but Toph had already reacted. The earthbender, without so much as a flinch, redirected the mud at her attacker, slamming it into him and redirecting all him momentum into the ground which shook the earth. Raiga lay splayed out, groaning and caked in warm mud.

“I knew you were there the whole time, you dummy.” Toph said as she continued her form.

“How?” Raiga said as he sat up and rubbed the back of his shaggy head. “Not even a rabaroo could have heard me.”

“It doesn’t matter how quiet you are or how well you’re hidden, Cat-Boy. As long as you’re touching earth, I’ll know you’re there,” Toph quirked an eyebrow. “And now that you’re all covered in it, I’ve got an even better look at you.” She smirked and gave a chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Raiga asked as he stood up cautiously.

“Oh nothing, just admiring that nice, lean body of yours,” Toph cackled. “Hey, if you can tag me before the end of the week, I’ll throw in a kiss too, but if you give up you’ve got to kiss me.”

“Uhg, no thanks granny,” Raiga said with a grimace and a blush before he leapt back into the trees. “I’m not giving up yet!” He jumped through the canopy, looking for a stream he could wash himself in. Toph gave a sigh and went back to her form.

“Tch, boys these days have no taste. I had suitors by the dozen when I was his age…”

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Raiga plucked a mango-peach from a tree branch by the stream and sat down on it, leaning against the trunk. He extended the claw on his right index finger and peeled the skin off before digging his teeth into the juicy fruit. The cat-boy furrowed his brow, contemplating how he was going to lay a hand on Toph.

“Her defense is too good, I can’t just charge in,” Raiga said as he chewed. “She can see me coming from anywhere… as long as I’m touching earth… hmmm…” He stopped a moment to look at the mango-peach in his hands, the pit in the center of the fruit’s flesh. Raiga then glanced at the tree he was sitting in. “But I’m not touching the earth now…”

Finally, an idea came to him. It was not much, but it was enough to go off on. Raiga gobbled up the rest of the mango-peach, pocketing the pit before leaping down to the stream bank. Searching through the sand, the cat-boy found a large pebble. It was time he stopped fighting like an animal and started thinking like a human.

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Toph yawned as she stretched out on a stone bench she had formed and began picking the dirt from her toes. It had been a while since that pesky cat lad had bothered her. She wondered if he had given up already. If he had, it was a shame. She was having a ball messing with him, and he was in great shape to boot. Being a hermit could be quite boring.

Just as Toph was beginning to think the fun was over, she felt a vibration in the earth. The earthbender cocked her head to the side and concentrated on her hearing. There was a rustling in the tree branches. She sent out a subtle seismic wave, focusing in the direction of the sound. The wave made contact with the tree and its roots, its shape becoming clearer to her.

Up on the low hanging branch crouched Raiga, holding an object in each hand. One appeared flat and ovular. The other, however, lit up bright when she sensed it. It was a large pebble, smooth and rounded over time by flowing water. Just holding the stone made Raiga appear to her almost as clear as if he were on solid ground. Toph raised an eyebrow.

“I can still sense you,” Toph said as she stood up and crossed her arms. “You’re connected to the tree, and the tree is connected to the earth. Plus, I can see that rock you’re holding.”

“Oh yeah, can you see this?” Raiga asked before he pitched the stone at Toph. She raised her hand and caught it in her palm like it was nothing.

“Yeah, I can, frisky kitty,” Toph said as she crushed the stone into dust. “I can sense earth wherever it is.”

“Okay, how ‘bout this then?” Raiga tossed the other object, and it disappeared from Toph’s senses. She immediately bent a dirt wall in front of herself. Raiga was not aiming for her though. The mango-peach pit he had taken struck the ground just to the left of Toph, making a hole in the soft soil. Raiga watched as the earthbender flinched, just barely, but it was there.

“Pff, you missed.” Toph groused.

“That was on purpose!” Raiga retorted. “You couldn’t sense that, or else you wouldn’t have tried to shield yourself.”

“And so what?” Toph asked with a shrug. “I may not be able to sense what’s in the air, but I can still tell when you’re tossing it. Besides, you don’t get points for throwing little seeds at me. You only win if you actually touch me.”

“So, it means that even you’ve got your blind spots,” Raiga shot back with a grin. “And I bet there’s one more…” He jumped from the branch to the thick trunk of the tree, sinking his claws into the bark before climbing upwards.

Toph sensed him as he went higher and higher, swinging from one branch to the next. She frowned as the cat lad gradually faded from her seismic sense. The earthbender sent out a pulse with her chi towards the tree to get a better look.

Raiga was reaching the top of the canopy, but his figure was blurry. The vibrations he was making with every hop on each branch grew weaker the further they had to travel down the trunk and then through the earth. Not only that, but with all the different branches swaying at once, it became difficult to pinpoint where exactly he was.

Eventually, the vibrations stopped. Toph could not sense Raiga anywhere. With a mutter, she began to walk back over to her pot of stew for another helping. A light breeze began to blow over the jungle. She reached for the ladle when-

“SPLURSHT!”

“GAH!”

Out of nowhere something heavy hit the ground behind Toph, nearly giving the old master a heart attack. She caught her breath as her adrenaline spiked, and she took a moment to calm herself down. Upon closer inspection, Toph realized that the object was in fact an overripe mango-peach, now an orange stain on the ground. Toph growled and stomped her foot, shaking the forest around her as she tried to get a better look into the canopy.

“Alright, I’m getting tired of this cat-boy!” The earthbender yelled, her scratchy voice echoing through the trees, but there was no answer. The branches of the mango-trees were swaying in the light breeze, their leaves rustling, but Toph could not sense her adversary. There was a rustling in the canopy, but the trees were so tall that her seismic sense could not reach.

“SPLURSHT!” Another fruit splattered the ground a few feet from Toph. She took a horse stance and readied herself. “SPLURSHT!” Another one fell behind her. The fruit kept dropping around Toph. She could not tell from where, only that they came from above.

More than just fruit began to drop now. Old, dead branches shattered against the jungle floor. Vines fell into loose coils and swayed over the ground. Toph bent a flat plane of earth up and held it above herself. There were so many objects hitting the ground at once now, like rain, and it was beginning to overwhelm her.

Toph had to concentrate if she wanted to sense Raiga. She cleared her mind, tuning out all the random noise and confusion, focusing on the trees. A tree trunk shook as something heavy bounced off from it. It was Raiga, visible to Toph only for a split second. There he was again, on a different tree. Toph could sense him now.

Raiga was jumping back and forth across the perimeter of the clearing, shaking down the mango-peaches with each landing, cutting vines with his claws and tearing off branches to throw down from mid-air. He was trying to confuse Toph’s senses, overload them. A smart strategy, but Toph was too experienced to fall for that.

The earthbender waited and listened, looking for a pattern, and she found it. Toph slammed her fist into her dirt shield, shooting a stone out above her at where Raiga was jumping to. The beast-man growled as the shot whistled by him, just barely missing his head. He had to finish this before Toph could zone in on him, and he one last trick.

Raiga hit a thick tree trunk and latched on with his claws, letting Toph see him. She shot another stone in his direction, and he jumped away just before it struck the tree, wedging into the wood. Toph paid attention to the trajectory of his jump, a necessary skill she had developed. He was going to land on the tree to her right. She timed the speed, readied another stone, and launched it where Raiga would land…

It missed. The stone struck the tree, but Raiga was not there. For a brief moment, Toph was stunned. Raiga had disappeared once more from her senses, but she knew he had to be somewhere. She heard a rustling above, a whoosh of air. Toph steadied her defenses and listened, and then she sensed it.

A thick vine was dragging over the ground. It was hanging from a branch much higher up. Toph could not properly sense it, but she knew something was swinging from it. Her seismic sense did not allow her to tell what was attached. Vines made a poor medium for vibrations, especially loose ones. All she could see was the tail end of the vine, but she knew it had to be Raiga.

Indeed, the beast-man had grabbed a loose vine when he had leapt from the tree, and his momentum was carrying him far and fast. Raiga swung in on Toph at an angle, low enough that he could get under her defenses and reach her. Toph followed the trail of the vine as it whipped around her in a circle. If not for that, he would have been totally invisible, but this was his last shot and he had to take it.

Toph sensed the end of the vine. It was far from her, yet seemed to be picking up speed. She only had seconds to anticipate what was happening. The earthbender could not tell much of it, but she finally noticed the angle of vine’s swing, just before she heard another whoosh of air.

Raiga extended his claws to tag the huge bun atop of Toph’s head. This was it; the moment of truth. It was time for this crochety old hag to taste some humble pie. He was about to win, he was so close…

Until Raiga felt a solid chunk of dirt mash into his ribs. The cat-boy grunted as he was knocked into the air once more. He let go of the vine as he went tumbling over the ground, his momentum sending him skidding. Raiga finally stopped at the edge of the clearing as he rolled onto his back, covered in swamp-filth.

Toph let of a long whistle as she lowered her hand and flattened the ground around her. “You’re smarter than you look kid. You nearly had me, but I am the greatest earthbender there ever was or ever will be.”

“Then it’s a good thing… I’m not… an earthbender…” Raiga said between pants as he slowly raised his arm. Clasped in his claws, he held aloft a green crescent. Toph furrowed her brow as she took notice of it, then her milky white eyes went wide with shock. She touched the top of her head, and in that instant her white bun fell loose. Raiga had snatched her hairband right off her head.

“Wha?! You hairy rascal!” Toph shouted furiously. “Give that back!”

“Not until you tell me where the swamp witch is!” Raiga shouted back as he got to his feet. “I won, so cough it up!”

“That doesn’t count as tagging me!” Toph barked as she stomped her foot and bent a slab of earth at Raiga from below him. He backflipped out of the way, waving the hairband teasingly.

“It so totally does!” Raiga sneered with a toothy grin. “But if you don’t want to tell me, I’ll just keep this as a trophy and find the swamp witch on my own. I’ll have proof that I beat the big bad Toph Beifong.”

Toph glared and glowered at the beast-man as he taunted her, but slowly her frown turned upward into a smile, and she burst out in laughter. Raiga was taken back as he watched the earthbender keel over, holding her stomach as she chortled and hooted.

“Ohoh, oh, ahah, sorry kid I just… HAH! I haven’t felt a rush like that in years!” The old woman exclaimed as she began to come down from her adrenaline high. “Finally, someone who uses their head. That vine trick would have impressed Sokka… Ahh, I feel sixty-years younger. Alright Cat-Boy, I’ll tell ya where to find the swamp witch, if only to pay you back for the fun.”

“You will?” Raiga’s ears perked and his tail swished as he dashed up to Toph eagerly. She nodded her head and tied her long hair back into a bun.

“Just gimme my headband back,” Toph asked, and Raiga obliged. She fastened it back on her head and cleared her throat. “Alright, the swamp witch lives… “

“Raiga, there you are!” Came a voice. Raiga looked over to see Korra emerging from the foliage, pushing the vines and leaves out of her face with her staff. Ginger was following behind, wearing the traditional garb of the Foggy Swamp Tribe, and behind her was Varrick recording everything with his mover camera. “You can’t just run off like that, you know how easy it is to get lost in here?”

“Right on time Twinkle-Toes.” Toph said with a smirk.

“Toph! It’s good to see you,” Korra said with a smile. “You’re just the person we were looking for.”

“Huh? I thought we were looking for the swamp witch?” Raiga said as he scratched his head. “Whatever, Toph says she can tell us where she is.”

Toph gave a snort as she tried to keep herself from laughing. Korra growled in frustration as a vein popped from her forehead.

“Raiga, Toph IS the swamp witch!” Korra shouted.

“Wait, she is!?” Raiga asked, bewildered. Toph let out another hearty laugh and wiped a tear from her eye. Raiga bared his fangs as he bristled in anger. “Why didn’t you just say so, you dirty old lady!?”

“And miss out on all that fun? No way,” The earthbender replied. “Why didn’t you just say you knew the Avatar? That would have saved you a lot of trouble.”

“Oh come on, like you would have believed that!” Raiga growled as he crossed his arms and twitched his ears.

“Yes! Yes, I would have!” Toph shouted with indignation. “I’m a truth seer! I know when people are lying!”

The two of them continued to yell and argue as Korra buried her face into her palm. It was going to be a long day.

@wingsfreedom

#Spirit forged #the spirit forged #Korra #Toph #Toph Beifong #Raiga #Avatar #Avatar The Last Airbender #the legend of korra #legend of korra #lok #tlok #atla #fanfic #fanfiction

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paperspell · 6 years ago

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Kingdom Hearts || Three Half Promises

Rating: Teens and up

@mimiplaysgames and @lyssala are most definitely the MVP of this work. That being said, go check out their stuff!

Summary: A character study of Aqua and Terra from childhood to adulthood

Chapter 4: The sweet wilderness | I’ll show you where the dandelions grow

As promised, during the next following days Aqua tries her best, not only to be neutral, but to treat Terra with gentleness. She lets him have first pick at everything, from the food spread to chores to bath times; Terra hasn't noticed at first – he is so used to getting things without sharing anyhow – but soon he grows suspicious of her graciousness. With no preamble to her actions, she sees the confusion sweep through his face, and that in itself she finds wickedly hilarious. Terra examines whatever help she gives with shrewdness, as if she has poisoned the salt shaker, or hid the broomsticks, or flooded the bathroom if it was his turn to wash.

As retaliation, he takes three times the number of books he regularly does from the shelves, leaving her no choice but to work around it and study sections which hasn't been mention by Eraqus yet. Terra also distances himself further until training time. He does more physically taxing warmups, like jumping higher than her, just to show he can. When they spar, he wins without relenting on any of his attacks.

Despite constantly losing, Aqua feels herself gaining the experience Eraqus said they need, not just from a Master, but from each other. She still can't manage a sliding dash the same way Terra can, but her footwork is getting better, her blocks are solid, and the handling of her wooden sword is not so clumsy anymore. Terra seems to sense Aqua's improvement as well, and their matches become fiercer.

One day Eraqus ends their fight early and surprises her with a high compliment on how far she's come in a matter of a few sessions. She beams at this, and although Terra is off to the side, decidedly not happy at this recent development, it does not dampen her spirits.

The Master continues on to give them with another great announcement: both students have more or less gotten the hang of using quick blitz. They are ready to move on to various stunning strikes.

"We will save that for tomorrow, as it is a big lesson," Eraqus clarifies, just as Terra's beginning to strap his armor tighter. "Instead, why don't you two take the time to work on other aspects of endurance? I think a race across mountain path will do."

Since they're already at the summit, the race will finish by the forecourt. Whoever reaches the middle of the base wins.

"Simple enough, I'm sure," Eraqus says, standing at the starting line.

"Yes, Master."

The two of them crouch on either side of Eraqus, Terra to the left, Aqua to the right. As Eraqus begins the countdown, Aqua can't help but feel secretly pleased; she was the fastest girl of her grade in Radiant Garden. On some occasions, she was an even match for the upper years, and so when they held tournaments during summer school, she was always within the top eight. Although Terra is smirking now, thinking the race is his, she plans to give him a small shock by the end of it. Their sneakers grip the grass, their arms poised to take flight–

"Go!"

The two of them sprint past their Master, almost equal in distance before setting a steady rhythm. They rush through the narrow pathway set by the mountains before emerging on the other side. They trample onwards, and Terra inches forward. Aqua tries to keep pace with him, but it's then that she feels something is off.

Whereas she normally is able to get an early head start in any race she's participated in, she can barely keep up with Terra now. It's all wrong – she's losing her sense of balance, can hardly find steady footing on this uneven road. The dirt flies to her face as her feet land and pebbles bounce, hindering her steps. Terra gains more momentum further down the path, leaving her stumbling after him.

Aqua gasps as she trips slightly from a dimple in the road. In an abrupt understanding, she figures winning is not as simple as she thought.

She hadn't expected him to be so quick, especially since she is longer legged than he is. But here and now, there is nothing else to describe him except free flying. His body, so used to years of heading down this area, already knows the swells and dips of the land, whereas hers is just now adapting and learning. His feet do not snag, he leaps through puddles and trenches with ease, and yet still, there's more to it.

Every time Aqua is on the verge of catching up, Terra would dive into an unmarked route, leaving her with full advantage of the smoother road. Not that it matters much, because still, his decision has an unseen advantage of being a shortcut, optimized only if one knows where to precisely put down their steps to make it matter, which he has down to science.

The gap's becoming wider, leaving little judgment as to who is going to win, and so Terra, in one bold move, actually turns his head to look back.

In that moment alone Aqua feels her legs tense, her vision clears. He is ahead, but just a few paces. She begins to time her breathing, widen her sprints and the swing of her arms. Looking for breaks in the ground, she plants her feet where she deems best, never hesitating for more than a quarter of a second. With the evening of her breath, she can feel herself pulling forward now, almost reaching to where Terra is.

He comes in first, reaching the forecourt a full five seconds before she could. They pant for breath as Eraqus comes to meet them, but before he fully arrives, she can see the confident smirk playing around Terra's lips again. Of course, he had expected this, saw his advantage sooner than she did.

"Nice win," Aqua says, once she catches her breath. She reels in her annoyance, remembering what Eraqus had mentioned last night. To show camaraderie, she extends her arm for a handshake.

Terra stops short. His expression turns to one of brief confusion to that of sharp suspicion. He seems undecided, trying to see whether the congratulation she offers is genuine. However, he doesn't have enough time to work through it, because soon the Master is a few feet away, and so he musters up a monotone "thanks" before it becomes too awkward. She drops her hand back to her side.

"A splendid race," the Master intones, "the both of you were neck-to-neck during the last leg. If it stretched on a bit further, I can't honestly say who I think would win."

Terra is fully frowning now. Aqua hides a smirk of her own.

They go in for lunch, heading towards the kitchen, where Eraqus bakes them a loaf of good, warm bread, each a thick slice full of nuts and raisins. There's a pot of stew in the middle of the table, the smell rich with wild game and vegetables. When they seat themselves for the meal, Aqua and Terra both reach for the soup ladle at the same time.

Aqua withdraws her hand quickly, gesturing for Terra to serve himself a bowl. After a week's worth of this, she can now sense Terra's growing annoyance.

"It's fine," he says, voice suddenly sweet as syrup, "you're the guest."

He smiles placidly, but it does not reach his eyes.

"Terra, I would hardly call Aqua a guest," Eraqus corrects, without looking up, still slicing bread for himself. "She's been here long enough, and this is her home as well as yours."

"Okay," Terra nods, and without skipping a beat reaffirms with, "then ladies first."

The two pupils stare at each other, both tight-lipped. Aqua is wearing some of Eraqus' old clothes, from when he was younger. Although the Master had trimmed the ends and sleeves, it still looks too big, and drapes around her like a tunic. She has a feeling Terra sees her as anything but a lady, probably less since the day she's arrived.

She takes the ladle, pouring a generous amount. She drops it just as she finishes, so the moment Terra reaches for it, his hand catches the splash from the broth.

"Sorry," Aqua says, sounding not sorry at all.

"Don't worry," replies Terra with equal coolness, "you can't help it."

The Master clears his throat, and they both settle down. Terra wipes his hand with a cloth. Aqua tears a sizeable chunk of bread to her mouth. With Eraqus mediating in between them, they don't dare to disrupt the peace, passive or otherwise.

At one point Aqua stretches her leg under the table, only to bump it into Terra's. They both jolt before resuming their glare. Terra expects her to retreat back to her corner of the table, but Aqua plants her feet right next to his, since he's on her side, not his own. His legs are invading her space and stubbornly, stubbornly, she's not going to give it up. However, judging from the grim determination of his face, neither is he.

Terra's foot is steadily pushing Aqua's back. In one swift motion, she brings her heel crashing down on the tip of his shoe. To the boy's credit, he did not utter a sound. However, his fingers clench around his spoon so tight she could see the whites of his knuckles. The silent war rages on, both of them becoming more generous with overly polite formalities.

Eraqus sips his tea with a brief sigh escaping his nose.

During the span of the next few days, Eraqus goes on to dividing their chores in a way that makes it so the two of them would be on opposite sides of the castle, or at the very least, separated by surrounding walls. Both morning and evening duties are carefully paced so that Aqua and Terra would be out of each other's way when it comes to cleaning, prepping food, or maintaining the scenery outside. Aqua suspects Eraqus wants the both of them to resolve their issue on their own; he has little desire to step into something that is their responsibility, let alone time to do so.

As of recently, the Master has started traveling again to restock on food supplies and other necessities. Sometimes he will be gone for a whole day, leaving behind food and instructions for his students. After Aqua's measurements are taken, Eraqus visits an old colleague to meld proper armor for her. He also gets something for Terra too, handing the boy a burlap sack one night after dinner. Terra disappears for the whole morning on the day after, emerging from the woods only for lunch.

With so many hours left unsupervised, Aqua is free to catch up on things. However, without any company to urge her forward, she grows tired of spending hours alone, practicing the stun strikes they've just learned or studying more history. Additionally, Terra still hasn't returned the books he hoarded away, and so Aqua spends the early half of the days racing through mountain path alone. She trips less now and can actually brace her feet better on the road. She makes a game out of chasing her shadow, which usually stretches in front of her during late afternoon, when she races from the forecourt to the summit.

On the fourth day of Eraqus' absence, Aqua goes out for her usual run. She stands at the very edge of the circular court and then, mimicking Eraqus' sage like tone, remarks, "This shall do perfectly. Now, on the count of three…"

And when the count ends she shoots past the even floor to the rocky earth. Although she knows she can never catch up to her shadow, she still tries to pursue it with unparalleled gusto, sometimes envisioning Terra in its place. It works her up all the more, and she thinks how next time, next time, she won't even give him a chance to look back.

The air still holds some of the chills of winter. When Eraqus had went to fetch her from Radiant Garden, spring had just started. By the feel of it, in Land of Departure it is still early in the season, with some of the flowers just shy from blooming.

As she speeds onward, she recalls a particular lesson about the seasons, in which all the worlds that Eraqus has discovered so far rotate around their suns at the same speed, always around the same positions and finishing their year with 365 days. The Master had said it's as if the worlds know that had once been one and are trying to coincide with each other.

"Remember, each world does have a consciousness of its own, so it wouldn't be all that surprising if they are trying to replicate the pattern it knew once before," Eraqus informed them, before moving on to the tilt of a world's axis.

The wind rakes its coolness over her hair, snapping her out of the memory. She makes it to the summit in record time, plopping down on grass near the pond, to dip her feet in the water. The stillness of her body relaxing comes and goes, taking away her adrenaline and leaving behind boredom at its wake. There is something else too, something she can't really place until the hush of her surroundings reminds her – she's alone.

For all the peace she sought back when she didn't have it, she wants nothing more right now than the bustling of other children, the midnight whispers and full belly laughter during recess. How Terra can stand being by himself for this long is a mystery.

She opens her eyes in a lazy haze.

Aqua hasn't seen him since breakfast. She had lunch by herself a while ago and swept around the castle long enough to know he wasn't there. Usually, he would make at least another appearance throughout the day before the Master came back at night. She's about to wonder where he is exactly, before she sternly reminds herself that there's no point – because she shouldn't, in fact, doesn't care at all.

The water sloshes as she stands on her feet. She decides to run back to the castle again, just to add in extra practice. She jogs until it comes to view again, but instead of going to the entrance, Aqua finds herself doing a quick turn, upping her pace to a full sprint as she heads towards the pine trees. Her moves become so automatic she doesn't sense him until they bump into each other round the neck of the woods. They both fall to the ground, hard. It takes a mere second, but as soon as Terra regains his senses, he scowls at her.

"What was that for?" he huffs, rubbing his forehead.

"It wasn't on purpose," she bites back. She's rubbing her forehead as well, wincing at the pain.

"Yeah? Well, be more careful."

She doesn't have a good argument for that, but luckily, a pillar of light shines at the front of the castle. Eraqus has returned.

They look at each other for a beat, before scampering off to meet the Master. Without thinking about it, they up their speed down the road until they are racing against each other.

Terra yet again has the lead, however this time, to her immense satisfaction, Aqua notes that the gap is smaller than before.

They reach Eraqus just as the last of his armor fades.

"Master..." Terra wheezes, bowing in a way Aqua knows is less as a sign of respect, and more as an excuse to catch his breath. Although she is in no position to judge.

"W-welcome back..." she chokes out, heaving just as hard.

Eraqus smiles at the sight of them.

"I'm glad to see both of you hard at work even when I'm away. Did you have a good race?"

"Yes sir," Aqua replies, because it's obligatory, and then because she can't help it, adds "I think I've gotten faster."

"Yes, I saw," Eraqus remarks. "Your progress as a whole has improved drastically. Didn't I mention before? You have great potential."

Aqua grins at this. Her smile widens at the sight of new clothes and her very own armor, which Eraqus reveals in a flourish of light. The clothes have little flair, more on the solid and simplistic side, but she knows on sight they'll fit better, and the fact they are completely new and not worn is enough. The armor is in its repressed form, shining as double shoulder bands. They gleam as sunlight hits it.

"Thank you, Mr. Eraqus." She hugs the gifts close to her chest.

"I'm glad you like it," the Master chuckles. "You should put them away when you get the chance. I dare say your closet has been empty long enough."

The Master takes a moment to survey her enthusiasm, before remembering another gift he has yet to give.

"Ah, and Terra, this is for you."

The usual burlap sack that would normally bring delight from Terra, its contents appreciated fully only by him, is now greeted with aloofness. Aqua notes his quiet acknowledgement of the bag, and his utterance of a colorless "thank you."

It comes out quiet, so much so that it's lost under the thumps of Eraqus' retreating steps. When Terra accepts the gift, his left hand clenches the pouch tightly.

Both students hurry off in opposite directions, each clutching their presents with various degree of gratitude.

With Eraqus' business done, he becomes present around the castle again, which means once more the two children are forced to be amicable around each other. Even though Terra's comment has lessened in bite, his mood, if possible, has turned sourer. The fine line between rivalry and contempt has been breached somehow, and Aqua can't pinpoint how or when it happened. Crossing swords with Terra has become dangerous, and he would laugh meanly at her losses. He drops their mocking formalities to openly ignore her, or if the moment presents itself, to rudely correct her on this and that.

Aqua fumes in silence during one particular evening, rubbing at a sore spot where Eraqus' blade had reached her, and where Terra had taken advantage of it during their match directly after. She creeps to the opposite wing, where Eraqus' room is, to ask for some ointment when she hears the Master's voice, stern enough to make her spot at her tracks.

"…and nobody deserves it, least of all Aqua. Understand?"

There's some resistance in the air before a response.

"Yes Master," Terra grumbles, and then because he can't help himself, "but she's alright so far. Why do I even have to help–"

"Because," Eraqus interrupts, before Terra can really voice his displeasure, "if your roles were reversed Aqua would never refuse to help any new students I choose. If I told her to look after you in the same way you were supposed to for her, I have no doubt she would readily agree. She has a certain light about her that makes her reach out to people, not push them away. Certainly not out of jealously, and even less so out of fear."

"I'm not jealous!" Terra exclaims. "And I'm not scared of, of anything."

"My boy, admitting these unsavory facts is the first step to confronting the darkness. And hardly anyone is afraid of nothing."

This time the end of Eraqus' sentence is met with heavier silence, and an even more stilted "yes Master."

Aqua is about to edge away from the scene when she discovers she doesn't have to; Terra rushes out, his face darkened by what had transpired. At the sight of her, he's completely outraged. He opens his mouth, and despite not wanting to, she flinches.

No words come. In the heat of his frustration, Terra stomps off. Aqua hears him going down the steps, follow by the entrance doors being swung open. Feeling guilty, she follows him to the forecourt, where he's pacing away.

"How much did you hear?" he demands, as soon as his surprise wears off.

"Not much," she admits. "Just the part about me. I don't know anything else, really."

He stares hard at her. After some time mulling it over, he drops his gaze.

"Okay." He says. He clears his throat. "Okay."

The lapses of speechlessness between the two are always terrible, but this feels like the worse one yet. Aqua bites her lip.

"But I–" Aqua starts, before her voice catches, "I think we should try to help each other, instead of always fighting. That's what Mr. Eraqus mentioned right? It'll be easier that way."

"That is easier," he agrees, "especially for you. But your light and mine are different. There's no way I can – I can…"

Terra stops pacing. Unable to continue with this line of thought, he gives it up entirely before rounding at her with another.

"And it's not 'sir' or 'mister,'" he says sharply. "It's Master. Master Eraqus."

Although some part of her knew what Terra said was right, Aqua couldn't help but feel a rise of indignation. Terra huffs in a haughty manner, practically embellishing an unspoken so there, now you know, remark. And then, to quite possibility ensure he's getting the last word on things, he makes to go.

"Wait."

"Now what," he sighs.

"I want a race," she blurts out, surprising even herself. As soon as it leaves her mouth, however, she's sure the whole reason she followed him out tonight is to propose a challenge to end all this.

"We're gonna be doing that tomorrow, so what's the point?"

"Practice," she states simply. By the jerk of Terra's body before he halts, Aqua knew she's peaked his interest. Additional training is something he's never refused. "We can race through the same path as earlier, right to the summit."

Terra stands with his arms crossed, deciding whether or not they should, but as she heads over to the starting point, he follows. When she crouches, so does he.

"Okay, so on my mark–"

"No," he says crossly, "on mine."

"Alright…"

Terra begins the count to three. Just as the last count leaves his lips they both burst forward, feet flying over the dirt road. The wind whips around them, hitting their faces as they each pull forward to gain the lead on the other.

Tonight is just as perfect as the last, bright enough to see the path before the shine of each lantern, quiet enough for them to just concentrate on their evening out their breaths as they pump their legs harder, swing their arms faster.

Aqua feels confident. They are neck to neck, and Terra isn't able to build that distance he had during their previous races. Although she cannot see his face, she can feel his shock at her improvement, his pace no longer lax as he struggles to genuinely gain more speed. Still, he reaches the next bridge first, which forces her to splash through the stream.

No matter – she's not afraid to go off path. She'll embrace any route, so long as they led to the finish line. Terra, sensing the difference, tries to monopolize the smoothest road, which leaves her to trend on slippery grass, gravelly dirt, and more ponds to slosh in. Her sneakers are caked with mud by the time the bridge to the summit comes to view. Her chest is aching as she attempts to suck in more air. Despite it all, it's wonderfully, deliriously, fun.

Aqua laughs out loud.

Her mood further heightens as she inches closer to Terra, his back ridged as he detects her moving up, sensing that the impossible is happening. He's startled now, with his vain attempts to push forward, but she knows in her heart she's faster, and so, without much resistance, she breaks free from their matching pace. She vaguely notices Terra's alarm as he falls back, because soon his presence drops from behind her altogether.

Aqua slaps the mountain's base as she slows down to a halt. She gulps down air, wiping the sweat off her face. After righting herself, it dawns on her – she's won the race. Success is sweet on her tongue, and she's flush with triumph. She turns, ready to drink in Terra's disbelief.

He isn't there. Strange, she has expected him to be by her side now.

"Terra?" she shouts, her voice rising in pitch ever so slightly.

"Ergh…"

A low moan answers her, and she twirls around to see the boy lying face down on the ground. He was getting up slowly to a sitting position as she runs back towards him.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he says, rubbing his nose. "Just tripped."

When he removes his hand, she could see blood smeared on it. Her eyes make their way back to his nose, and she's stunned to see a heavy trickle gloss over his lips, to the point of his chin, where they curve and land, with a prominent splatter on his white shirt.

Aqua extends a hand to help him up, which he ignores. He gets up quickly enough, trying to brush it off like it's a small matter. But on his first step, his ankle shakes, and Terra trembles horribly before he falls back down.

"What's the matter?" she asks in alarm. All thoughts of her victory vanish instantly.

"My ankle," Terra hisses. "I think I sprained it."

"You–" She gulps. "You really think so?"

Terra tries rotating and flexing his foot. He winces and lets out a shaky breath.

"I'll go get Eraqus–"

"No," Terra calls out thickly before she can take a step. "It's way past after hours. We could get in trouble for being out so late, and so far away from the castle. The Master…the Master doesn't need to know…"

Terra's a bit white in the face now, with his bloody nose showing no sign of stopping, even when he tips his head up. Aqua reaches for his hand, but he pulls away. He stands shakily on his good foot, but it isn't enough to support him.

"You need help–"

"I'm fine," he retorts firmly. "I've gotten plenty of sprain ankles before. They always go away after a few days."

"We don't have a few days," she reminds him. "We need to get back to the castle now."

Terra chews the inside of his cheek, knowing the truth of her words. His good foot is still shaking, and he's about to lose his balance. He sighs hard through his nose, turning to her. She walks over to his other side, looping her arm around his waist to grab a fistful of his shirt. He leans on her, however begrudgingly, as they match steps with one another. It's the best Aqua can hope for, and she's careful not to brush his arm as they hobble away from the mountains and back to the castle.

The two try to sync as best they can, but what ends up happening is either Aqua's too fast, or Terra's too slow, and they strive on, tripping over every loose rock.

"Watch it!" Terra yelps, at what is the tenth time they nearly fell.

"Sorry…" Aqua mutters.

The wind is picking up, with a hint of chill that wasn't there before. Aqua shivers. Maybe Terra hasn't realized it just yet, but there is a faint rustle in the bushes. Something is howling in the distance, far and yet too close to her liking. Occasionally yellow eyes will blink at them from the dim, and her heart races, recalling the attack that happened so long ago in Radiant Garden. It's tempting to go running back to the castle on her own, away from all this. But there's still Terra to think about, and really, she rather be together than alone in the darkness.

It's quiet when they finally get back. All the rooms had their lights put out. She's glad for the rugs on the corridors; they do well to muffle their steps and Terra's dragging foot. Careful not to stain the carpet, he pulls his shirt up to soak up the blood from his nose.

Terra whispers directions on how to get to the medic room. Up until now, she hasn't been even aware of its existence. On ground floor, they make two rights until they reach the end of the hall to a small room no bigger than a standard bedroom. Two beds are crammed on opposite corners, one of them looks slept in before, and is covered with clean sheets, while the other has no such impression. She wonders how often Terra got hurt, and how little Eraqus knows about it. She sets him down the bed, and Terra has a look of instant relief now that pressure isn't being applied on his bad foot.

"What now?" she inquires.

"I need some ice from the kitchen. It'll help with the swelling," he says, his voice muffled with a rag soaking the remaining blood on his upper lip. He points at his ankle, which is now plump and angry red.

"Okay," she nods. On her way out, she notices a roll of bandages and tosses it to him, which he catches effortlessly.

It's a hard feat, suppressing her nervousness while speeding through the dining hall to the double doors that leads to the kitchen. It's dark, so she has to feel for the ice chest. She opens it, groping for the ice, until she secures a pouch and drags it out. Slowly, almost catlike, she creeps back out of the kitchen. Aqua entertains the thought of running back. After all, Eraqus' study is well above them. There is little possibility of him still being awake at this hour–

The lights flicker on. She nearly drops the bag.

"Aqua," Eraqus says with astonishment. "What are you still doing up?"

Eraqus prods lightly at Terra's ankle, causing the boy to wince. His nosebleed has stopped, gratefully. Despite that, the drops on Terra's shirt are sure tells, and Aqua's confident they haven't fooled Eraqus for a second.

After a few more examinations, the Master confirms that a few days' bed rest is in order. Terra can walk around, but not without a crutch. The ice packet is pressed directly on the swollen joint, causing him to shudder violently.

"Sir, but what about a cure spell? Or a potion?" Aqua asks, once she finds her voice.

"Those are needed only for flesh wounds, my dear," Eraqus explains. "This is a bit more complicated than that. Aside from battle, we must not rely too heavily on magic or aides to help us. The body is also a conscious thing – it needs to learn to heal itself when it matters most."

He goes to check on her as well but does not discover any new marks of injuries. Once the Master notes that both of them are relatively well, he starts pressing them with questions.

"May I ask what you two were doing at the mountain trail, and at this hour?" he asks, quietly but no less serious.

They look away, ducking from the full onslaught of his question.

"We were just training Master." Terra says, but he ruins his confidence with the shifting of his eyes.

"Even though it is midnight?" Eraqus is not convinced. "You should know better, Terra."

"I-I," Terra splutters, tongue tied further as Eraqus raises a questioning brow. "I forgot..."

"That was very foolish of you, my boy. Various wild animals roam at this time of night – fortunately you have not encountered any of them, lest your injuries would have been far, far worse."

"Yes Master," Terra mumbles bitterly. The strands of his hair cover his eyes as his head hangs low with shame.

Aqua peeks over Eraqus' back, remorse clawing her chest.

This is all wrong. It was she who suggested they race through the mountains, she who threw caution to the wind. And yet here is Terra remarkably, inconceivably, taking the blame on both their behalf. She can't phantom why; he's made it very clear he despises her.

But as Eraqus remarks exactly what punishment should follow, it dawns on her.

Terra is not fighting back against the Master. In fact, he embraces it as just another one of his duties maybe because – as absurd as it sounds – he's now fully accepted his responsibility to help her. As the Master said, Terra knew better, and she did not. Now he has to reap the extra chores bestowed on him once he's finished healing.

"U-um..." She coughs. Neither one of them looks her direction. "Mister – uh...Master Eraqus! Sir! I..."

Aqua feels her throat closing up. However, it is too late to retract her call. Master Eraqus turns to face her in surprise.

"It was my fault too," she says, unable to keep the small quiver from her voice. "I challenged Terra to race me. It was wrong, but I told him it was for extra training...even though I just wanted to beat him at something. A-and he got hurt because of me."

Master Eraqus is silent for a while, considering the change of events.

"Is this true, Terra?"

Terra opens and closes his mouth. For the first time, he's looking at Aqua, not with the degree of sharpness she's used to, but with wonderment and maybe a little bit of hope.

"I...yes. It's true Master." He confirms this, still staring at the girl who is curiously sticking by him, even though she's shaking like a leaf.

Even more strange is yet another twist; after a moment of surveying both of them, Aqua swears she can see the corners of Master Eraqus' mouth twitch upwards, just a little.

"How unfortunate Aqua," Master Eraqus continues, "I will have no choice but to punish the both of you, then."

Both students' jaws gape open.

"However noble your intentions, both of you have still broken rules, and on top of that, got hurt doing so." Master Eraqus brushes past Aqua to the doorway. "When Terra recovers fully, both of you will be put in kitchen duty, and you are to sweep dust for both wings of the castle. Understood?"

They snap, ridged in place. "Yes Master!"

He leaves them then, and Terra breathes out a sigh of relief. Apparently, this is considered a light sentence, if his relaxed face is anything to go by. He looks much better than he did, moments ago – still, she feels the need to apologize, mainly because the guilt still hasn't settled right with her; if anything, it's threatening to come out.

"Sorry," she croaks.

"It's not your fault," Terra mumbles. "I mean, I'm the one who fell–"

He looks up to meet her eyes and is immediately startle by the tears pooling around them.

"Wha – stop!" He panics. "Stop crying! S-stop crying…please…!"

Aqua isn't even aware of it. She touches her face, smearing the tears trailing down, and responds with equal shock.

"O-oh," she sniffs, "sorry…"

She swipes at her face. Terra has good enough manners to throw some tissues her way, which she catches effortlessly. Through the tears, she can make out Terra's worried expression.

"Hey," he whispers, "are you…are you okay?"

"Yeah…" She blinks back the tears fiercely. "I-I don't know – why…"

Aqua can't find the reasons for the tears, even after they stop falling. Terra eases up a bit as her face dries, before speaking again.

"Why…" Terra tilts his head to look at the ceiling. "Do you really need…a reason to care about the things that matter?"

They turn to look at his bandaged ankle.

"It was dumb of me to run and fall like that," he says, low to the point she nearly couldn't hear it. "But…well, you were pretty fast."

He admits this with a crooked smile. Sheepishly, just enough to almost be an apology. But whether it is meant to be one or not, it's the first she's ever gotten from him.

"Thanks," she says, once she finds her voice.

Because it's late, and they need dire rest, she leaves him be.

It takes a couple of days, but once Terra's ankle heals and both children finish their punishment, Terra takes her to see his project in the woods. It's a few yards away from the creek bed the Master had shown them weeks ago, the very place Aqua had yearned to explore deeper into. Here is where Terra has stationed his secret place; a bed of flowers and vegetables growing in tilted soil, protected by sturdy planks of lumber that makes a fence. The burlap sacks he had received from Eraqus reveal themselves to be seed packs and fertilizers.

They are surrounded by towering tall pines, oaks and evergreens. However, even with this amount of seclusion, the sun makes its way through, shining past the leaves to cast streams of gold that tickles their hair, their shoulders, their feet. The air is sweeter here, in this small space, and she can hear the songs on birds much clearer.

Terra peers at her to the side, rubbing his neck. She gives him a tentative smile.

His eyes flicker at her expression. His arm drops, and the break from his face, as if something is stirring up inside him, clenches at her. He returns her smile in full.

That's when Aqua sees it, from where he stood – the first dandelion of the year, and she knows; spring has come at last.

#terraqua #kh bbs #kh aqua #kh terra #kh thp

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dreams-of-wings · 7 years ago

Text

Out of Your Time (2/?)

Warnings: Swearing and some violence

Masterlist

‘Thump’

'Thump’

'Sploch’

Both your eyes follow the sound of foot steps to the other side of the arcade machines lined up in a row - probably the only thing keeping the monster from finding the both of you, and the only thing keeping you alive right now. Will doesn’t dare open the door out of fear that the noise may alert the creature to your exact location. Slowly, you turn to look at Will and bring your index finger to your lips, motioning for him to keep quiet. The little boy swallows thickly and nodes his head, eyes darting between you and the spot the noise stopped. You quietly take one step back towards Will, and then another, then another, till you’re a few inches away from him.

There’s a growling noise and the two of you brisle, afraid the monster has caught on to where you’re at. The both of you pause for a moment, waiting to see if anything happens. When nothing does, you turn to look at Will you motion from yourself to the arcade machine infront of the creature. He looks at you with scared eyes and shakes his head while mouthing a silent 'no’. You simply nod in response and point from him to the door.

“When I go,” you whisper quietly - pointing from yourself to the arcade machine then from him to the door, “you go.” Will shakes his head frantically, the fear visible in his eyes. Using your fingers you count down from three.

Three.

You turn to face the arcade machine blocking your view of the Death Flower.

Two.

The hand holding on to the handle of your machete clenches, turning your knuckles white while Will’s hands do the same with the door knob.

There’s a gurgling sound coming from behind the game machine.

One.

You run to the machine and slam into it shoulder first, causing the electronic to topple over from the force and fall onto the monster. It gives a loud screech and flails, in that second you stumble - almost falling with the machine, but you catch yourself before turning to look at the door. You see Will is gone and you immediately sprint to the door, shoving it open and slamming it shut, just in time to see Will turn a corner around the arcade building. Without a moment’s hesitation you follow and easily catch up to him with your longer legs.

The two of you run and run till you see a two story house with a driveway the goes around the back. Patches of brick wall peak though the rot in the first story, and half of the white painted wood is exposed on the second floor.

“C'mon!” Will pulls you by the arm towards the front door and he lifts up the welcome mat to pull out a key. He then quickly unlocks the door and shoves it open - you following not too far behind before he closes the door and locks it from the inside.

“Mike,” he calls out, “Nancy!?” There’s no answer.

“Friends of yours?”

Mike looks at you and nods, “Well, Mike is. Nancy is his older sister.” You nod in reply and look around the vacant home.

“You know it’s just us right,” you question with a raised brow. You really didn’t want to burst this kids bubble, but you also didn’t want him to get his hopes up.

“That’s what you thought, but here I am,” Will stated plainly with a shrug.

Fair point.

The two of you looked around the house for any signs of life. While Will searched the rooms for any clue that his friend was here, you raided the fridge. Only taking things that wouldn’t spoil easily and putting them in your satchel - apples, carrots, Jello, and some bottles of water. You were just moving to the pantry when Will came from upstaires, “What are you doing?”

You paused, bag open and can opener in hand, “Stocking up,” you went back to your forging - placing a can if beans and some SPAM in your bag, “We don’t know when’s the next time we will be able to find food.” He nodded in understanding before helping, placing some items in his school bag.

“Why don’t we stop by the store?”

“We will,” you don’t bother looking at him as you continue to reorganize the pantry in search of more nonperishables, “But the store should be our last resort.”

“Why?” His brows furrowed in confusion.

“Because,” you closed the door before going to situate your findings, “at least we know there will always be food for us at the store, if we go through the houses first we can ration what’s at the store later.” His brows furrowed, taking in what you said as he finished organizing his backpack - emptying it of school supplies and replacing them with cans and containers of food.

“But,” you interjected, “Now that I think about it,” you close your satchel and sling it over your shoulder, “After this we’ll go to the store and leave everything there,” you moved to help him put the backpack on, “then we’ll go see what we can find at the other houses and do the same.”

“So the market will be like a storehouse for food?” Will turned to look at you, jumping slightly and jossling his bag to make the contents rest more comfortably on his back. You smiled in response and nodded your head.

Smart Kid.

“Yes, exactly like a storehouse,” you raised your hand to ruffle his hair affectionately, “But that means we’ll have to go through the perishables before we get to the canned food, so we have to eat the fruits and vegetables first.” His face scrunched up in response.

“I know,” you laughed slightly,“Yuck, but we have to eat that stuff first to make the food last longer.” Hesitantly, Will nodded - he didn’t like it, but he understood the reasoning. The two of you head out, with Will leading the way and you following close behind - machete drawn.

It took the two of you about half an hour to get to the foodmart - though to you, it felt like forever since you had no idea where you were going. Once you were there you examined the condition of the store. The place looked rundown and abandoned, just like all the other buildings, but the glass doors infront seemed to be in the best condition.

Will lead you to the door and attempted to get it open by waving his hands. He seemed perplexed, why wasn’t it opening?

'Crash!’

You threw a large rock through the tall glass door and it shatters. Will jumps nearly a foot in the air, before turning to look at you with a shocked expression, “What are you thinking!?”

“That there’s no electricity, so the automatic doors aren’t going to open,” you walk forward, stepping over the black door frame and shattered glass as you head inside - Will quickly following on your heels.

The twelve-year-old brings a hand to his mouth to stifle a yawn, but you glance back at him in time to see it.

“Tired?”

Will nods.

You bet, you yourself have not gotten a good night’s sleep in a while - just short naps here and there.

“Tell ya’ what,” you sling your bag off your shoulder and plop it on to the nearest checkout counter, “as soon as we’re done unpacking this food,” you dump the contents of your bag, “You can take us somewhere safe to sleep.”

Will stared at the pile for a moment, and then brightened as soon as he caught on, “I know just where to take us!” He dumped the goods on the counter as well before bolting to the door, and you stumble to keep up with him.

“Slow down!”

You hear a garbled roar in the distance and the both if you stagger, looking back in the direction it came from.

You reiterate, “Don’t slow down!”

Both you and the boy make a mad dash in whatever direction Will is taking you, “It shouldn’t be that far! It’s just up ahead!”

You huff, and look past Will to see a one story house in the distance. It rested on top of a small slope and had a wide front porch that spanned from one end of the home to the other. Will scrambled to a halt once he reached the door, you nearly crashing into him as he looked around before picking up a small potted plant next to the door to reveal yet another spare key.

You raise a questioning brow, “Another friend of yours?” Will nods his head in responce.

“Except this friend has a cellar with a steel door,” he glanced back at you, a somewhat smug smile plastered on his face, “With a steel lock and padlock, So we should be safe down there.”

“Not bad,” you made a face and gave a nod of approval, “Not bad at all.” The two of you stepped in and looked around - out of habbit - to make sure no one was home before closing the door behind you and locking it. Immediately, you made a beeline for the kitchen and proceeded to go through the fridge and pantry. Will wandered off somewhere in the house (you assumed to his friends room) before coming back a few minutes later with a small stack of board games. You paused, can of pudding halfway into your bag as you looked at the palefaced boy with an arched brow.

“What’re those?”

A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips, “Board games.”

The two of you situated yourselves in Dustin’s cellar for the night. You both made sure all the doors leading into the house were locked and barricaded with with various pieces of furniture - sofas, the coffee table, stools, and whatever else you could find.

“Okay, now it’s your turn,” Will was currently trying to teach you how to play Dungeons and Dragons - a watered down version of it.

“No now it’s time for you to sleep,” you shook your head and Will pouted in responce.

“Why can’t I just stay up with you?”

You snicker, “Because we have to rest and we need to take turns, so that if the monster comes one of us can wake up the other.” Will simply nodded in response, shifting into his sleeping bag before turning his back to you. A small smile on your face as you watched the boy for a few minutes till his breathing slowed. With a deep sigh, you reached for your worn satchel and pulled it towards you, before opening it and pulling your phone out. It looked dingy - the glass screen protector was cracked in various places and the casing around the electronic was beginning to peel around the edges. You were certine that if you removed the protector, dirt and grime would be caked around the inside if the rubber case. After a moment, you turn the cell on - the screen flickering to life as the logo of your phone company appeared before your lock screen is displayed.

A sad smile etched its way onto your face as you looked at the wallpaper of you and your friends all smiling at the camera. Silently, you wonder how everyone is doing back home. You wonder if Jughead and Betty are doing okay, if they’ve caught the Black Hood yet, if Jug’s father has made it out of jail, and if Archie has managed to say that infamous three word phrase to Ronnie yet: I love you. You then unlock your phone and open up your apps, making your way to your gallery where you swipe through various pictures of friends, family, and important moments. You take in a sharp, shakey breath - vision blurring for a brief moment before clearing up, and you feel a small draft on your cheeks. Slightly confused, you raise your free hand to wipe your face and find that your hand is wet. Wonderful, you’re crying.

You sniffle, glancing up at Will in hopes that you hadn’t woken him. When you see that he’s still fast asleep, you pull out you headphones from your bag and plug them in as you play Imagine Dragons - being sure to only put one earbud in and keep the volume low so you could hear your surroundings. Another drawn out sigh leaves your lips as you tilt your head back against the wall. You stare at the ceiling for you don’t know how long, but you jump when you feel a hand on yours. Your head quickly snaps down to look at the young boy and he jumps slightly from your sudden movement.

“I can’t sleep anymore, your turn?”

You looked down at your phone to see how much time had passed since Will went to sleep and you were reminded that your phone’s clock was stopped. You huffed before looking back at Will and nodding your head, pulling the other earbud out. Battery at 15%.

“What are those?”

You glanced up at Will, “Headphones.” His head jerked back, brows knitting close together.

“Headphones?”

You laughed at his response. Yes, that’s right, almost all electronics around in his time would have been large and bulky.

“Yeah, but we call these kinds, earbuds,” you held the small headphones out to him and he took them in his hands, examining them curiously.

“Earbuds?” He turned them around and held them up in the air - taking in their shape, “Buds as in flower buds? They’re shaped like them…” He was rambling now and you couldn’t help but giggle at his reaction.

“Sure.”

He looked at you after a moment, “Can I listen?” You glance down at your phone before nodding and handing him the small electronic as he slowly places the earbuds in his ears before carefully taking the phone. Will quietly looks down at the bright screen for a moment and examines it, not quite sure what to do.

“How do I make it play?” He looked perplexed, the screen took up almost the entirety of the front and he couldn’t see anybuttons other than one in the center at the bottom. You laugh a bit before leaning forward to look over the screen.

“It’s touch-screen,” you say as you swipe up and down with a finger, scrolling through the various playlists. His eyes widen in shock before he taps the play button in the screen with his free hand and Demons by Imagine Dragons begins to play where you left off.

I want to hide the truth

I want to shelter you

But with the beast inside

There’s nowhere we can hide.

Will smiles and bobs his head slightly to the music as the chorus begins to play, you watch him as you head over to settle into the sleeping bag - a smile on your face as well.

No matter what we breed

We still are made of greed

This is my kingdom come

This is my kingdom come.

“I like it,” he says excitedly to no one in particular as the music continues to blare through the speakers of the earbuds.

When you feel my heat

Look into my eyes

It’s where my demons hide

It’s where my demons hide.

“I’m glad,” you yawn, though you know he can’t hear you since he has both headphones in. You watch him while you lay on your side, his smiling face illuminated by the screen as you slowly drift to sleep.

Don’t get too close

It’s dark inside

It’s where my demons hide

It’s where my demons hide.

Battery at 12%.

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ohmygillygoshoppler · 7 years ago

Text

@bunnythemurderer

i have made this for you! I hope you enjoy it as much as I loved writing it!

Jordi heaved as she bolted down the alley. Police sirens screamed in the streets behind her. Her lungs burned with all the fighting for breath. She felt like her legs would give out from under her; like her lungs would explode. It was dark, but she had a good visual on the high fence in front of her, growing ever higher as she came closer. She kept on running though, and was followed in suit.

A huge hand clamped down on her shoulder as she approached, and Strife was looking in all directions. "Here," he started, quickly shrugging the black backpack off of his shoulders and chucking it into her chest. "Alright, I'll throw you over the fence, and you make a run for it. I'll hold off the piggies until you get to the car. Then, I want you to bring her 'round front here and wait for me, but stay low. I'f those guys brought back up, I'll want you out of trouble."

Jordi scoffed and blew a tuft of hair from her flushed face. Her normally pretty and soft features were twisted into an ugly scowl. "If you wanted me to stay out of trouble, you should have just left me at home!"

He waved her off as she shoved her arms through the straps and turned again for the fence. Strife towered over her, looking back the direction they had come. The sirens still wailed, and they were getting closer and closer. Without any further protest, Jordi started up the fence, grabbing through the diamond-weaved fencing, getting a good final push on her rear by the Horseman's big hands.

With a shove, Strife nearly launched her straight over the fence. She landed on her back with a resounding thud, knocking the wind from her. Strife himself winced at the impact, offering a measly "My bad," when she promptly flipped him off, lying on the pavement. She wanted to spit a curse at him, but couldn't find the strength to do so. She didn't have any time, anyhow. The cops were already approaching. The stature of the nephilim alone was enough to conceal Jordi's shape behind the fence, but she knew if they saw her, they'd be in huge trouble.

"Shit," She hissed, pulling herself to her feet and limping away into the shadows. She didn't turn to see if her friend was alright, she knew he'd be. She focused her intentions on getting to the car like he said. She fingered around in her pockets one more time, making sure she absolutely had the keys.

Jordi quickly circled the complex, weary of flashing lights and officers voices. She heard shouting coming from behind her. She ducked and crawled in a few places, behind cars and trash cans, trying her best to avoid detection. As she stealthily made her way back to where Strife parked his car, she wondered what was in this bag that the coppers wanted so bad. She was half-tempted to look, but after some consideration, she found she didn't want to.

When at last she felt she was safe enough to walk about freely and search, she ran around the parking lot looking for their ride. She couldn't believe she had forgotten where they parked! At a time like this?! Way to go, Jordan, you're a grade-A, farm-fresh genius...

She spotted the dark Lamborghini hidden in the indoor parking garage adjacent to the parking lot. Silently, she thanked her lucky stars and bolted over. She listened as she searched her pockets for the keys. There was still flashing lights everywhere outside, and she still heard voices, but no screams. No gunshots. It sounded like the fuzz were just... talking.

She pulled the sole key out of her jacket pocket, inserting into the driver side door and hopping inside. She immediately started the car and switched off the interior lights. This was actually the first time Strife let her drive his car, now that she thought about it! She could just drive away right now... Just drive off... and leave... Strife... behind... Pick up Simóne and take the car to Canada...

Nah, he had some explaining to do. And her jacket.

She composed herself as best she could and pulled the car out of the parking lot, dimming the headlights and cruising down the street. She kept an eye peeled for her buddy. The squad cars were starting to pull out now. Anxiety threatened to overwhelm her for a moment; had Strife been detained? No, impossible, he's way too tough to be taken down by a few noodle-armed Blues.

Sucking her lower lip through her teeth, Jordi glanced about. She couldn't see anyone other than po-po at this point.

Suddenly, the passenger car door swung open as the car was still moving, a leather-clad nehpilim barging in and scaring the complete life out of his human driver. She had to stop herself from screaming, lest she attract unwanted attention, so she ended up just making a weird yelping sound.

"What the fuck are you even doing? Aren't they still after you?" she hissed, keeping control of her countenance as she continued to slowly drive on by.

Strife was currently shrinking into the floorboards, making himself scarce. "Yeah, but they aren't after you. So just drive."

The blonde youth almost stopped the car at the horseman's remark. "So that's why you brought me here?! To be your getaway driver?! First, you decide to break into the police station and steal- I dunno- important evidence to a crime, or something, and you bring me along for the ride?! Are you out of your mind?"

"Relax, Jojo. I knew you'd be alright tagging along. Besides, I still have to show you the thing."

Jordan hissed through her teeth, rolling her eyes. She didn't pay any heed to his nicknames or his silly mind games. She was fuming. Now, she didn't care if the police saw her or Strife. All she wanted was to get out of this town and go home. It was super late and she was beyond tired. "We are not seeing the thing. We are going back to Simóne's. Then, you're going home. That's it."

She had pulled off onto the freeway now. Strife was arguing with her on something, but she paid it no mind. Every other word was, "uh-huh," or, "yeah, okay," and for about 20 minutes, Strife was quiet. Sounded like he'd burned himself out for a while. He didn't say much, but he did mess around, looking in the backseat for his backpack. Jordi didn't answer when he asked where it was. He found it anyways.

Curiosity snatched her attention away from the road for a split second to see what he had; what was in the bag. She thought for a moment he would take out something horrible, like fingers in a bag, or something even weirder~

She looked back at the road in front of her. Not too many other cars. The streetlight dotted the roads and skies ahead, coming in bright flashes over the dash from time to time. Jordi was brought to look again when she heard the familiar "click, click" of a gun.

It was Mercy. Strife was cradling the mechanism almost tenderly in his two hands, grinning down as he fingered the trigger.

"Don't you dare fire that thing right now." The human youth grumbled.

"I wasn't going to, Jojo..." the other cooed.

"Stop calling me Jojo."

She huffed through her nose, frowning. "Why did the cops have Mercy? Don't you keep your guns close?" she inquired impishly.

After some more fiddling, he brought the gun to his lips with a resounding smack. "Things get stolen a lot more than ya think. Fury says I'm complacent, but I can think of a dozen times where I've actually really lost them. Think they're cursed."

That brought a few giggles forth. Jordi agreed, both with Fury's statements, and the cursed guns. She wondered what had to have distracted him long enough for him to lose his weaopon to the cops. When she asked him as much, he said to just, "consider the fact that nobody was harmed by the nephilim weapon, and all is now as it should be." Strife then started digging around in the rest of the bag. It sounded like boxes and bags.

please no more guns...

"Yo," Strife blurted, startling her.

"What?"

"I take everything back about the Police. They're not as bad as I thought."

Jordan's eyebrows furrowed at that. "What do you mean?~"

A wild smile. "The bag! The thing? It's what I wanted to show you!"

Oh god. Please, no.

"What's in the bag?" she reluctantly asked as she pulled off the exit ramp towards their home.

They stopped at the red light when Strife lifted a plastic-wrapped brick over to her face. "Smell this."

"What the hell is that man?" Jordan squealed, elbowing the arm away from her face. "What the fu-"

"Just smell it, c'mon!"

She slowed the car as she reluctantly sniffed the package. It smelled like... It smelled like...

Simóne? Oh wait...

"Oh my god, I was so scared!" She squawked, laughing as they stopped at a light. "I thought it was cocaine!"

The elder Horseman laughed. "What makes you think- oh shit, no. I was, aha!-" His sentence broke off into a bought of loud laughter. "Nah, cocaine smells like ether, not earth."

Blonde hair fell over her shoulders as she slowly faced him, examining the contents of his bag with a great smile. "What?"

"What?" Yellow almond eyes blinked over at nervous brown ones. He changed the subject. "Hey, you think if I give this to Simóne, she'll finally let me into her sage garden?"

She was driving again now, albeit nervously. She was trying not to be obvious she didn't want to get pulled over. "Not a chance. Her plants are hr babies. She'll give you trimmings. Nothing more, nothing less."

She glanced at the clock on the stereo; 3:15 am. Gods, she was so tired... Did she have to work tomorrow or not? Or wait, did she have to work today? Yesterday, tomorrow today... She wasn't sure anymore. All she was worried about was turning onto the right street to get home. One more street...

She flinched at the sudden pressure on her thigh, accidentally slapping his hand there.

"My bad. Look, I wouldn'a brought you along If I knew they'd throw my baby in a bag of pot. It was there, I wasn't wearing my holster, I panicked and just grabbed the bag. I'll never ask anything of you ever again. Here,"

As the two of them, pulled up into drive to their house, Strife gently tucked Mercy into the hem of his pants, sliding the bag into her lap. She yawned and held the bag up in her fist, " this stuff is pretty much useless to me. I don't think you smoke but you can just give it to Simóne if she wants it."

for the first time all evening, a smile slowly graced Jordan's features. her dark eyes were tired and her shoulders looked heavy but she still smiled. "Okay, sure. I'll see you tomorrow."

Strife leaned over and grinned, shrugging off the large leather jacket. his yellow eyes seem to Glow against the Blackness of the shadowy car, and he looked kind of creepy for a second.

"Hey, if you're not doing anything tomorrow night, maybe we can do something a little more lax, like see a movie or something. I've been to the cinema few times I think it's pretty fun."

A chuckle. "Sure thing, bud. Sounds cool."

Without thinking, she leaned over and placed a kiss on the edge of his temple. Afterwards, she crawled out of the driver side and shuffled her way up the stairs towards her home. The car was already driving away at this point, but she had a feeling he was thinking about her. It was only until she knocked on the door that she realized she had accidentally kissed him. Oh well, she was too tired to worry about it.

Jordan stood there for a moment in silence, waiting for her friend to open the door. The overwhelming smell of the herbs and flowers growing nearby was dreadfully invigorating at this point. She felt like she could smell the sages and the rosemaries as if they were right beneath her nose.

Quietly, Simóne could be heard unlocking the door. She opened it standing in the doorway with her hair down and wearing a long pink nightgown.

"Where have you been? I've been trying to call you all night. I was worried."

She stretched her arms out from inside the house, drawing Jordan in for a great big hug. She smelled like roses.

"Sorry, my phone died and we've been on the road all night I haven't had a car charger..."

"That's alright. You look tired. Come on inside and I'll get you ready for bed would you like some tea?" Simóne asked in a concerned voice.

Jordi chucked again, finally returning the hug. "Yeah. That sounds nice."

#lets do something illegal #darksiders #strife #muse

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ruffsficstuffplace · 8 years ago

Text

The Keeper of the Grove (Part 61)

Weiss and Glynda trained through the afternoon and well into the evening, going through a handful of the many, many games/training exercises meant to help weavers improve their skills.

They kept playing Blast Back until Weiss messed up far too often for Glynda's liking, sending the wrong pressures into the rings, missing them entirely, or even failing to catch the water she was sending over in the first place.

After a short break and several canisters of mana-water for the both of them, it was off to the next game:

“Whip-It”

Here, Weiss had to fish orbs of the water, or knock them down from the air with only a water-whip spell, avoiding certain targets, and minding the pressure after she caught the right ones, or else they would burst.

She played a few rounds, until her arm began to hurt from whipping it back and forth and flicking her wrist for extra control, and the fingers on her other hand were starting to get crooked from her using it to control the pressure.

They took a longer break after that, Weiss getting herself examined by Penny as Glynda explained the last game for the day:

“Ripple Rider”

Here Weiss had to maneuver a little boat through a pond littered with obstacles, only allowed to move it with waves and ripples made however she chose. At Glynda's recommendation, she sat on the edge of the pond, stuck her feet into the water, and tried to move the boat using just her lower body, making sweeping movements with her ankles and feet, and precise movements with her toes.

It was all going well, until a mistimed wave got her boat tangled in a mess of weeds. Weiss struggled to pull out, gently nudging it, trying to blast it out with a rogue wave, then attacking from a different side of the pool, but it just ended up getting more and more caught in the plants.

“That's enough, Weiss,” Glynda said as she put a hand on her shoulder.

Weiss eyed her boat, almost completely unseen for the weeds, and sighed. “Okay…”

Glynda and Penny worked to pull her out of the water, and they went to towel off and rest one last time.

Weiss supposed she was well on her way to becoming an honourary Fae when she wasn't the least bit horrified by how wrinkled and pruney her hands and feet gotten from being submerged and exposed to water for so long, the way her formerly smooth and supple skin had become tough and calloused like her grandfather's from all her farming and walking barefoot everywhere.

On the bright side, her complexion had gone from “porcelain doll” to “rosy white.”

On the downside, she still felt like she'd just gone through a battery of brutal written tests of all her weakest subjects.

“Gaah...” Weiss groaned as she lay spread out on a dock. “Is it time for yoga, or whatever it is you Fae call it…?” she asked.

“That's for physical training,” Glynda replied as she sat beside her. “We use a different form of meditation for magical training.”

“Well what is it?” Weiss asked.

“Sitting under a waterfall,” Glynda replied.

Weiss paused. “Seriously?”

“There's a reason it's a cliché for every martial arts holo,” Glynda replied.

Once Weiss felt well enough to walk, they headed over to a massive fountain built into a tree, niches carveod out o its trunk, on its branches, and even hidden between its submerged roots.

Numerous waterfalls poured out from it, falling out onto several nests for weavers to sit on. Weiss peered into the water below, noticed some of them were under the water, wearing their masks or enchanted cloth tied around their mouths and noses.

She stopped as she noticed some of them not wearing any equipment at all, be they amphibious Fae like Frogs, or even what looked to be various types of fish and other aquatic creatures—fins for ears, gills on the sides of their chests peeking out of slits in their robes, and even some with “hair” made of tentacles.

“During the Fury, the amphibious and aquatic subspecies of Fae generally live in settlements outside of the Bastion, such as Calmwater Commune near the Timeless Depths,” Penny explained. “Those that do live in the city spend most of their time in the Weaver's Terrace.

“While not impossible nor that dangerous to go on dry-land for long periods of time, and they do have equipment and public facilities for it, it's oftentimes painful, uncomfortable, and/or inconvenient for them to do so, to the point where most just choose not to, until the Flood comes.”

Weiss nodded. “Guess that explains why I've never seen them before...” she muttered they looked for free spots above the water.

Weiss was the only one meditating that time, sitting cross-legged with her head under a waterfall; she closed her eyes as it begin to drip into her eyes, struggled to breath without inhaling it.

Glynda busied herself with fixing her posture. “Maintain your form,” she said as she put her hands on her shoulders, pushed them back down. “You won't reap the benefits otherwise.”

“I'm trying over here!” Weiss snapped, before she regretted it as a mouthful of water poured straight into her mouth.

“Breath deeply and slowly, empty your thoughts,” Glynda said as Weiss spat and gagged. “Don't intentionally think of anything, don't dwell on your emotions, just let them come and go as they please.”

“… And above all, please don't fall asleep.”

Weiss mumbled an affirmative noise as she tried to do just that.

A few moments of silence passed.

“You're still not relaxing,” Glynda said flatly.

Weiss pulled her head out from under the waterfall. “I'm trying to reach a state of calm and peace here!”

“Well don't try, that's ruining the entire point of the exercise,” Glynda said as she gently pushed her head back under the waterfall. “This meditation isn't to calm you down, it's to help you become more attuned to yourself and the Flow.”

“The Flow is how Water Weavers refer to the specific wavelengths of Avalon's magic that naturally resonate with them—your alignment, in other words,” Penny explained.

“And the only way you can do that is if you are able to become completely in the moment,” Glynda said. “The Flow isn't a state of mind, a place you have to go to from somewhere else—you are always in it, you just have to know where exactly at any given time.

“Don't think, just be. And before you complain that nothing's happening: the results don't start to become noticeable until at least a month to a year in of daily practice.”

Weiss sighed heavily.

“Just think of it like your physical training,” Penny hummed.

Weiss made a little affirmative noise, and continued to meditate; she tensed up as she felt Glynda's hands on her once more, fixing her posture yet again.

“Be like the water over your head,” Glynda said, “constantly moving and changing, never static, nor exactly the same drop when it falls on you again. Whatever emotions or thoughts are going through your mind, let them come freely, then go freely.”

Weiss didn't reply, focusing on maintaining her posture, ignoring the strong urges to fall asleep, trying to figure out just what letting her thoughts and emotions come and go actually felt like, so she'd know if she was doing it right.

She could still feel the constant hum of power and energy from the Terrace, same as when she had stepped out the Tube station, but she guessed that wasn't what Elder Goodwitch meant.

The experience didn't improve the whole half-hour of her meditation.

Weiss continued to struggle to breath without inhaling water, fidgeted or unconsciously went out of the proper posture, and Glynda constantly had push her shoulders back down, pulled her back up straight, and even made sure her thumbs were just touching each other than pressing into each.

By the end of it, she was soaked, frustrated, and miserable.

“How are you feeling?” Glynda asked as she helped her back up to her feet.

“Soaked, frustrated, and miserable,” Weiss grumbled. “I thought meditation was supposed to make me all calm and peaceful!”

“It's not, that's just an unfortunately common misconception,” Glynda replied.

“Those who have been practicing them religiously for years generally tend to be much more emotionally stable, happier, and less stressed out, however!” Penny chirped.

Weiss glared at her.

Glynda put a hand on her shoulder. “Don't worry, you'll get it right eventually. Most everyone is terrible their first time meditating—myself included.”

Weiss continued to scowl, before she was just too tired to be angry. “Please tell me there's someplace to eat around here...” she muttered as her stomach growled. “I'll take whatever.”

Glynda nodded, and they headed for the Earth quadrant.

Dinner was a “Forgotten Pot,” a Sekhmet specialty that was a stew of meat, vegetables, animal bones, spices, herbs, and a dash of bacteria culture, before being buried underground and left to ferment for at least a month.

“The original recipe really was a pot of stew that had been forgotten in the wake of a cave-in,” Penny explained as a weaver poured Weiss a bowl. “Three months later, the team in charge of reopening the tunnels managed to find the clay cookware intact, and as it happens, their supplies had been raided by subterranean pests earlier.

“Their mender deemed it reasonably safe to eat still, and a staple of every table and feast spread was born!”

Weiss picked her bowl up, looked dubiously at the bones, the meat, and the vegetables floating in the rich, golden stew. “Are you sure this won't mess my gut up?”

“Positive,” Penny said. “The ingredients were originally imported from Sekhmet, but they have been grown locally in the Valley.”

“Try sucking out the bone marrow first,” Glynda said. “Can't speak for it myself for obvious reasons, but I hear it's quite good.”

Weiss' uneasily fished one of the bones out of her soup, put it to her lips, and did as the carnivores and omnivores among them.

The golden marrow hit her tongue, Weiss eyes widened as it all but melted in her mouth, coating her taste buds in a medley of powerful, delicious flavours. It felt like getting smacked in the face with a large rock, except you'd have an amazing taste in your mouth and warm, liquid gold trickling down your throat as soon as you swallowed.

You'd still be plenty dazed, though.

Weiss stared blankly ahead, her bowl resting on the flat slab of rock they were all dining on.

Glynda pulled her bowl from her lips, and smiled. “Enjoying yourself?”

“Holy shit...” Weiss muttered, still dazed.

Glynda chuckled, before she continued eating.

“If you wish to continue training at this intensity on a regular basis, I would highly advise you increase your food intake, especially simple and complex carbohydrates,” Penny said. “Elemental weaving is hungry work.”

Weiss made an affirmative noise before she went to look for more marrow-filled bones in her soup.

The dinner ended with Weiss full and feeling much better, her bowl empty but for the bones sucked clean of fat. As she soon found out, it was polite in Sekhmet to pile them all up in the center, free for those who could to chew on.

The sounds of idle conversation and bones cracking and splintering filled the air, surprisingly pleasant to listen to even if Weiss could only understand bits and pieces of what they were saying.

“Weiss, will you please walk with me?” Glynda asked as she got up.

Weiss looked down at her distended stomach, frowned, and got up. “With pleasure, Elder Goodwitch,” she said as she followed her.

The two of them walked a good distance away from the others, to the side of a cliff-face. It was peaceful and quiet, the weavers meditating in the carved out niches silent like statues, the light-stones and the moonlight beaming through the canopy bathing everything in a soft, friendly glow.

“I'm assuming this isn't just to help our digestion?” Weiss asked.

Glynda nodded. “Weiss, you are aware of the effects our emotions can have on water weavers like ourselves, correct?”

Weiss winced. “I got a firsthand experience of it earlier this morning, yes. Don't worry: I'll make sure to get control over my powers, and wear my gauntlet much more often,” she said.

“It'll take much more than that for you gain full control over your powers, Weiss,” Glynda said as she slowed to a stop. “Your training here is just one half, teaching you the specifics and the techniques to harnessing your power; the other half is for you to master what is much more dangerous and destructive, even more so than that aqua laser you decimated Abner's army of golems with.”

Weiss looked at her, waited for her answer.

Glynda gently touched her on her chest. “Yourself.”

Weiss blinked. “Seriously…?”

“Yes, seriously,” Glynda replied flatly. “In all my years of being alive, I have not met a weaver that didn't have considerable personal issues, and those that seemed completely put together were always just very good at denial and maintaining outward appearances.

“Your powers are not some entity separate from yourself, like the difference between you and Myrtenaster—it is you, making up every single component of your being, physical, mental, emotional, or magical.”

Weiss held back a sigh. “Just get to your point, please, Elder Goodwitch.”

“Have you ever bit back your tongue, and never found a way to say it in a better manner, or just let the impulse fade away? Shied away from anything involving commitment and intimacy like serious romantic relationships, kept parts of yourself secret from others, put up a facade because you were afraid of what would happen if people saw the real you? Kept your feelings all bottled up inside, praying, hoping, it'll never become so much you'll break and it'll all come spilling out?”

Weiss didn't reply, but the way she looked away, and fidgeted was very telling.

“You remember what happened when you first held Myrtenaster?” Glynda asked.

Weiss nodded, her eyes cast down to the floor. “… Y-Yes… I… I completely lost control.”

“And why do you think that happened...?”

Weiss didn't answer.

Glynda put her hand on her shoulder. “There's a saying in Actaeon: 'You always know all the answers to everything—you just keep convincing yourself you don't.'”

“So how do I stop doing that?” Weiss asked as she looked up at her.

“You keep on meditating.

“Fire weavers meditate in extreme heat, to burn away the false and the frivolous, then keep whatever survives.

“Earth weavers meditate it in isolation and silence, to know what they are truly made of without outside influences moulding and changing them.

“Air weavers meditate atop mountains and in forests, to let whatever is holding them down come blowing away until they are weightless and free.

“And we Water weavers meditate under or in water, to remind ourselves that we should let our thoughts and feelings come and go freely, like water flowing down a stream or the tide receding into the sea.”

“But what if those thoughts and feelings are bad, huh?” Weiss cried. “What if they're scary, and confusing, and will only hurt me and other people?!” she snapped, starting to tear up and shake.

Glynda put her hand on Weiss' chest. She felt her magic pour into her, the cold, icy dread gripping her melt and turn a wave of warmth spreading all over her body.

She smiled as she took her hand back. “Then you let them pass, or you turn them into something better.”

Weiss stared at her in confusion, eyes still moist.

“Water is the element of Transformation, Weiss,” Glynda said. “Taking whatever is dangerous and destructive, and turning it into something to heal and protect is our alignment's 'thing.'”

“Now if you'll excuse me, I need to leave now: lots of work for the Eve of the Ether festival here in the Valley, and it goes on till daybreak the next day.”

Weiss nodded. “I understand. Good night, Elder Goodwitch.”

Glynda nodded back. “Good night, Weiss. You can take the teleporter, if you'd like to return to Keepers' Hollow quickly,” she said as she began to walk away. “Don't worry: we have charms to keep you from getting sick.”

Weiss thanked her and watched her go, before she stood in silence for while, lost in her thoughts.

She was brought out of it by by her comm-crystal beeping.

Weiss reflexively answered it. A magical projection appeared just in front of her face.

“Hey Weiss!” Ruby said, waving.

Weiss blushed. “R-Ruby! Hi!” she started to sweat. “Why are you calling…?”

“Just wanted to say 'Goodnight,' since it seems like you and Penny are going to go home late, and I want to get some sleep before the Eve tomorrow.” She rubbed the back of her head. “It seemed like a 'girlfriend' thing to do, you know?”

Weiss smiled awkwardly. “Yeah, it is.”

“And speaking of those... can we talk tomorrow morning?”

“About what...?” Weiss asked, trying to keep her voice level.

“You know, this new relationship of ours, especially because we're meeting you-know-who at Candela tomorrow, and she's going to be all over this. We never really got to discuss it earlier—hard to talk with your lips frozen to your girlfriend's, after all!”

Weiss winced.

Ruby frowned. “Too soon?”

“I'll think back to that and laugh eventually, Ruby,” Weiss said. “Just not any time soon.”

Ruby nodded. “Okay. Well, bye Weiss!” she reached for her comm-crystal.

“Wait, Ruby!”

Ruby paused, looking at her and patiently waiting.

“I love you,” Weiss said quickly, her face burning red. She paused. “Goodnight.”

Ruby blinked, before she laughed. “I love you too, Weiss, goodnight~”

Her comm-crystal automatically shut off. Weiss felt her mouth split into a grin, before she let out a happy squeal as she jumped around in place.

Several pairs of glowing eyes peered out of the caverns, many fanged mouths curling into scowls.

Weiss sheepishly looked at them, made apologetic signs at them, and hurried on back to Penny.

#white rose #fanfic #the keeper of the grove #rwby

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