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Francesca sighed and looked at the other girl. She waved half-heartedly and continued on.
‘What now?’ she asked herself. At this point of the day, she was usually training; it felt odd to her not to be practicing alchemy. She sighed again; the lack of exercise was making her tired. Looking around, Francesca tried to find a landmark to tell her how to get to the rooms, but it was all the same to her since she didn't know what anything was. She sat on her suitcase, hoping the girl in the distance would know so she could follow her to the rooms.
A flash of light told her that somebody had arrived. Francesca looked at the girl that had just appeared. ‘Fallen Angel,’ she recited in her head. She had made special sure to know her species before leaving. She had memorized the appearance of everything that would be appearing, but she had never seen any other species but elf. Seeing another girl, a demon by the looks of it, heading toward one of the rooms, she followed.
‘She'd better know where the heck she's going,’ she thought, following her a few yards behind.
"What do you want?" the girl called out over her shoulder.
Francesca glared at the girl's back. "I want to know where the heck my room is, thank you very much." she shouted back coldly.
"Well following me isn't going to help you," the girl said as she turned around to face Francesca. "Your room number is 742 and it's on a different floor from mine."
Still glaring, Francesca raised an eyebrow. "You're stalking me?"
"No, it was posted over on that wall over there," she pointed over to a brick wall with a piece of paper taped to it, "and I managed to get a hold of a map not too long ago. Don't ask me how, it's a trade secret."
Francesca sighed. She didn't like the idea of people knowing which room she was in. "Whatever," she muttered. She went up to where the papers were posted and looked at the map.
"I must be here," she said to herself, pointing to a place on my map. "So I need to get...here." she moved her finger to a different place on the map.
Francesca headed up to her dorm room and set her suitcases on a bed. The room was beautifully decorated with a high-class Victorian ring to it. Francesca hated it.
‘The chart said I don't have any roommates yet,’ she thought. ‘Let's hope it stays that way.’
She unpacked her stuff and headed back to where she had seen the map. ‘Hopefully, I can find a gym somewhere.’
When she got to the front gate where the map had been posted, she saw a small fairy stuck on a gate. A large praying mantis was perched near her and about ready to pounce. She sighed, annoyed at the delay, not that she had anything better to do, and picked up the small girl, flicking the bug away with her free hand. She set the girl down on a table below the board, and resumed looking at the map.
"Um, thanks," the fairy said, giving her a faint smile. "Yo, where do I sleep...hopefully I won't suffocate in the big persons sheets."
"Room 150." she said flatly, not caring to look down at the girl she looked at the map. ‘The gym is...here,’ she looked at where she was and made out a route. Then she turned and headed to the gym, not looking back at the other girl.
* * * * *
Finally at the gym, Francesca began her usual training routine. She didn't have all the equipment she usually did, but it would suffice. She put a hand on the punching bag and then began to attack it. She threw ever martial arts move she knew at the punching bag. ‘Why did he send ME here?’ she yelled in her head. ‘This is a program to make friends. He knows I hate other people even of my own species! And now he wants me to become best friends with a bunch of creatures that I wish didn't exist?! If this is some kind of stupid life lesson...’ She threw an extra hard punch at the bag of sand. Being not aloud to show emotion, this is how she always let it out. Sighing again, Francesca took one last punch at the bag, causing it to fall over. "Shoot." she muttered. She dragged it up and leaned against it. She wanted to go home.
‘What the heck is the difference?’ she asked herself. ‘Either way, I don't talk to anybody, there's no family I could go home to. No house to miss.’ She thought for a second. ‘There's the stupid old mage.’ She tried to keep up her attitude, but inside, she did miss the old hag. She back-handed the punching bag and headed up to her room.
"Nice going retard," said the fairy from before in a disgusted tone. "That’s right were supposed to be friends why not kill me while were at it?”
Francesca snapped out of her mood when she heard the fairy’s voice. She looked back at her and saw that she was lying right next to where the punching bag had fallen. She must have just rolled out of the way. She kept her attitude. "I don't see why not." ‘Alright, get rid of those thoughts.’ She closed her eyes and chanted her life's one and only rule. ‘We suffer from our bonds; we suffer from our bonds.’
The fairy, obviously still angry, pushed the punching bag back at Francesca. It fell and caught her off guard, making her fall. The fairy smiled and said sarcastically "Oops, sorry."
Francesca felt anger swell up within her. She wanted more than anything to... ‘Anger is an emotion,’ said a voice in her head, ‘and one of the most dangerous ones. This war was caused through revenge, don't feed that anger.’
She pushed the punching bag back to its place and headed to go find the library where she could be alone.
2
Francesca looked at the map, only half looking for the library. The other half was doing her usual mental exercise to get rid of her emotions. She thought of a song and sang it in her head, and she made sure that that and the map were the only things she was thinking of.
"There." She had found it.
She headed to the library and went through the doors. The library was huge, books were everywhere.
"Alchemy, alchemy, alchemy, alchemy," she muttered to herself, looking for anything that might help her research. She found a book on human anatomy, and decided to look through it. She needed to work on her healing skills and in order to do that; she needed to know what she was working with.
* * * * *
It must have been at least two hours before Francesca finished the book and headed back to the map.
"I'll copy it." she muttered to herself. "I can't just go back there every time I need to go someplace new." She walked into the lobby.
"Paper, paper, I need paper." She spun around, looking for something to write on and with. "Shoot." she headed up the stairs toward her dorm and saw two people, a boy and a girl, obviously lost.
"What d'ya need?" she asked, letting out another annoyed sigh.
"Um, could you please help me find my room? I’m in 000. My name’s Godric by the way," said the boy in a cheery voice.
"My name is Kida, I am also looking for my dorm," said the girl.
“Okay, I don't know where your dorm is exactly, but that general direction over there,'' she waved her hands to were the room were so they could both see where they were, "I don't know much about numbers, I'm still figuring this out myself, but if you go that way, you'll find it eventually."
Kida and Godric nodded to show they understood and headed off in that direction.
"Hi, I am Maya and I am new here!" said a girl that had come up from behind. “Yeah, I'm Francesca," she replied with much less enthusiasm.
She didn’t care to wait for the girl as she headed up the stairs to her room and dug through her stuff. "Pen, pen, pen, pen-here!" she grabbed the pen and her clip board and headed back to the map. Francesca did her best to copy the map, she didn't need it to be perfect, but she would need to read it at some point. Once she was done labeling it, she headed back up to her room. That book had given her a theory, and she wanted to test it. Francesca walked into the room and saw the perky girl from the stairs. She was painting clouds and rainbows on the wall.
‘ Oh crud, I have a roommate,’ groaned the voice in her head. She took a deep breathe.
"Yo," she said, sitting down on her bed and beginning to draw out equations on her sheet of paper. Her theory should've been correct, they usually were, but she wanted to do the math, just in case.
Francesca heard Maya drop the paint can and looked up. “Crud," said Maya. “Um, what’s up? Sorry about the mess I will get it cleaned," she said, transporting something through the open window using some sort of power Francesca was unfamiliar with.
"I hope you like clouds and rainbows because it is hard to get this paint off of the walls you can only use water," she said as she filled a cup with water and dipped a sponge in it and began to clean the paint off.
"So, uh, your name is Francesca? Mine is Maya," she said "Not like you care," Francesca could hear her say under her breath.
“You're right, I don't care," she said as-a-matter-of-factly. She wasn't interested in anything or anyone, and that went x2 when she was in alchemy-mode. When Francesca was doing her studies, most people learned this pretty quickly, she was even more crude and sarcastic than usual, and that was a hard record to beat.
"Don't take it personally, I don't like anybody." With that, she slammed her book closed and headed off to somewhere she could study in peace. Francesca heard music blare behind her as she walked out of the room.
‘I'll never get anything done.’
She headed outside and sat by the water, hugging her knees. She looked down at her reflection and imagined her sensei was standing behind her. She could almost hear him saying,
"Yoy may see emotions as a weakness, but if you have a heart, you should use it. Don't throw away an opportunity to end this war, end this suffering! It's all up to you."
Francesca splashed the water, causing the reflection to ripple. "I didn't ask for this! I don't want it! Why did you choose me to save the universe, when I don't even like it!"
She looked back at her reflection, which was starting to show again as the waves slowed down, "We suffer from our bonds, and this war is a terrible time to test that."
She pulled her knees in closer, shivering. It wasn't cold out, but she felt like she was on ice. "This must be how my heart feels," she muttered to herself. "Cold as ice,” she paused. “Colder."
She looked away from her reflection, sighing once again.
"Hey, do you want a sweater? I can use my powers to get you one," said Maya, coming up behind Francesca.
“No, I'm fine," she said. "How could you really care? I was a b-" she stopped herself, "jerk back there." She looked away. "I appreciated your kindness, but don't expect an apology. Sorry means you won't do it again. And I will do it again."
Francesca started thinking about her theory again. 'If this works, I could sure use it,' she thought. Her theory had to do with magnetism. She figured that, since the reason why non-metallic things weren't magnetic was that the electrons weren't all pulling the same way, she could use the push or pull of a magnet with alchemy by just getting them to all pull in the same direction. 'So if I have all the electrons face this way in my right hand..' she thought, using the transmutation circle inscribed on her back to change the direction of the electrons, '...and the other way on my left hand...' she repeated it for the other hand, only turning the particles the opposite way, 'Then they should...' she tried to put her hands together, but it felt next to impossible. She smiled. ''This could come in handy,'' Francesca, excited that her theory had gone as planned but hiding it as usual, decided to go back to her room. Maya wouldn’t be there so she could take the opportunity to draw. She didn't like people breathing over her shoulder when she drew, so she never told anybody but sensei that she could.
* * * * *
She took her clipboard back out and removed her map, tacking it to the wall above her bed. She then started to scribble down a picture of nothing in particular. It was on lined paper, which she hated. She liked it better when there were no lines in the way of her work, but she got over it, since she was just scribbling something down to kill time. She sighed and looked at her work. 'I guess it sort of looks like a tree. Kinda,' she thought to herself.
Francesca heard a noise outside her room that sounded like a voice. She got up and looked up and down the hall. First look she didn't see anything. But the second look, she saw something that looked a lot like a floating, glowing orb. She went up to it, curious, and looked at it closely. The orb started to glow a creepy purple.
“Boo!” it said. Francesca raised an eyebrow. She knew that voice.
"You're that fairy, from before?" she asked. She crossed her arms. "Well, once again, you've found yourself in the position of a damsel in distress, am I correct? Would you like me to go get price charming or should I attempt to help you now?"
Francesca was still annoyed at the girl. She did, after all, push a bag of sand on top of her. But she looked to be in a tight situation and if the tiny girl would accept it, she was willing to help her.
"No, not a damsel in distress, but your hair does look like one. Anyhow, I called prince charming pizzeria they should be here any minute,” the orb said sarcastically before breaking into a tantrum. “Of course I’m not fine, idiot! Go look on the beach and find my body just lying there! What if it gets crushed!?! My poor little wings!” Francesca had hardly understood a word of her screaming, but even if she had, she was sure it would have made little sense by the way she seemed to be babbling.
“But trust me, unless no one else will help me, I would prefer not to have a grumpy little elf who obviously doesn't like me help. Heh, I did push a bag of sand on you, but only because you almost killed me and interrupted my meditating," she finished.
She smiled and waved. "Tootaloo for now."
Francesca watched her leave, relieved that the annoying nuisance didn't want her help.
'If she pushes my nerve any further...' she didn’t finish the sentence. After walking around for a minute, looking around the majestic building, she looked in one room and saw a few people in a pool.
'Shoot,' she thought, 'there are people there.' She had wanted to go to the pool and do some testing on her latest success, but she would rather a time when there weren't people around. 'I'll wait for them to leave,' she thought, sitting in a chair at the edge of the wall. The scent of chlorine filled her nose. It didn’t take long for Francesca to run out of patients and stand up. She walked over to the part of the pool as far from everyone else as possible. Kneeling down near the water and concentrating on making the transmutation circle tattooed on her back, she then switched the electrons in the palm of her left hand so they all faced the same way, just like before. She then changed the electrons in some of the water particles so they faced the opposite way as her hand’s were. Immediately, the water rushed to the palm of her hand. She switched the electrons in her other palm so they were facing the opposite direction as the ones in the water. She put her right hand behind her left, so it was both repelled and attracted at the same time. The water seemed to be floating in mid air, flowing towards the pull and then away with the repel.
Another success.
Francesca let a hint of a smile pass her lips and stood up, still holding the water in front of her.
Francesca cursed to herself as some of the water dropped to her boots. She had lost focus when two of the people that had been there suddenly disappeared. She groaned and kicked some of the water back into the pool, transmuting the rest back with it. One boy, the werewolf, and Maya still remained. She didn't want much to do with them, but still had some things she needed to test. She sighed and hoped they would leave soon.
* * * * *
Francesca heard screaming and rushed over to where it was coming from. She ran into the dorm hall and heard it coming from her room. She opened the door and saw Maya clutching her ankle. She went up to her roommate and knelt down beside her.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
Sensing a presence, Francesca turned to a boy who had come into the room. She had never seen him before, and he was obviously new, since he had suitcases in his hands.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She may have had no trace of worry on her face, but Francesca was really concerned about Maya. She looked up at him, "I have no idea." Looking back to Maya, she tried to calm the crying girl. "You need to calm down and tell us what happened," she said sternly. As much concern was in her heart, it did not even hint in her face or voice. She looked back, assuming, and sort of hoping, that the boy had left. He was leaning in the wall. "You just gonna stand there?" she asked sarcastically.
"My apologies. I only wish to see if she needed any assistance. If you have everything under control I'll just leave," he replied.
Francesca let out a deep breath. She never asked for help, but Maya could be seriously hurt and she had no idea what to do. 'I guess I don't get much of a choice on this one,' she thought.
"Do you know anything about medical-crud? I'm an alchemist, but I'm still working on my healing," she said through grit teeth. Asking for help was something she hated doing, especially when it came to helping other people. But by the way Maya was screaming, she must've been in a lot of pain, and she would've only made it worse.
"Yes, I do," he walked in the room and gently took hold of the ankle and looked at it. He got his bandages from his bag and gently wrapped the sprain tightly. "I'm sorry if I intruded. She should be fine for now." He got up and spoke to Maya, "Make sure you take it easy on that leg okay?" He then looked to Francesca, "Miss, if you ever would like to discuss on theories on alchemy I would be more than happy to talk." He walked out and grabbed his bag and began down the hall.
Francesca watched him leave, and then looked back to Maya. "You’ll be alright?" Without waiting for a reply, she stood and picked up Maya's delicate body and placed it on the bed. "You heard him, stay off your leg. I have to go study, just shout if you need me," she said, and then followed the boy out.
"Hey! Wait!" she shouted after him. She walked quickly after him, until she was at the same place as he was. She took a deep breath and forced out two words that she probably hadn't spoken in at least a century, "Thank you..."
He stopped. "Hey, it’s no problem at all,” the boy said. "Is there something else you wanted?" His tone was kind.
Francesca shook her head 'no'. "I..." she stopped, "I'll see you around," she said, starting to walk away. She wanted to go to the lake, maybe she could work there without interruption.
"Alright, I guess I will see you around," he said behind her as she walked away. When Francesca walked past her room, she went inside so she could grab her clipboard and take notes. She looked to Maya, "You doing alright?" she asked in her usual emotionless tone.
"Is there any way I can help you miss?" Francesca heard the boy say behind her. "Didn't you leave?" she asked annoyed, she didn't dislike him, but she hated it when people kept coming back.
"My apologies again, miss, but it seems that your roommate has a bit of a spiritual dilemma. It seems that her spirit form was separated from the solid one you see before you," he said.
Francesca raised an eyebrow and looked back to Maya. She looked normal, just asleep. She looked around the room for a hint as to what he meant. "As I can see before me?" she repeated. "Maya looks normal to me. Listen, I don't know about spirits, but this sounds serious. Maya is a really good person, please help her," she said. She thought back to how she tried to help her when she was shivering by the bank. Francesca would've left herself for dead if she was in Maya's position. She still wasn't going to be nice, but this girl did not deserve the pain this seemed to be causing her. "Um...I'm not sure what race she is, you're obviously a human, which is what I assumed she was, do you know what she could be? If you do, I may be able to be of at least a little use," she said.
"She is a ghost with a solid body for interaction with people like us who are alive I suppose." Larz stopped he hardly heard the spirit when he was in the room before but now he even here her breath. "I think the only way you could help is by that forbidden talent of alchemy." he said referring obviously to controlling the soul and raising the dead. "You may know another way but that is the only solution I know of."
Francesca looked at him, "You want me to bring girl who's been dead for who knows how long, back to life?" she asked him, amazed that he would even think that she could. "Forget it. I couldn't do it even if she had just died. The dead aren't supposed to come back to life. It's not a law that cannot be disobeyed. And the punishment for trying would be more than fatal."
"I didn't mean raise the dead but possibly reconnect the bond between the spirit and her solid form," he said.
She looked to Maya and then back to the boy. "Is it possible that I could die in this process?" she asked. Elves cannot die until they reach they're preset age. Francesca’s is one thousand and she still had 775 years to wait. The human probably thought she was being cautious, but she was really hoping, more than anything, that she would.
"Possibly not die but lose a limb or two in this process,” he said.
She looked to Maya again. "I'm an elf; it'll just grow back in a second. There's no risk," she said. And then to herself, whispered, "And no gain." She straitened up and looked into the boy's eyes. "I'll do it. But I'll need a few hours, maybe days, to get the numbers straightened out. How long will she have?" She wondered if a ghost could die again. Or maybe, she could just move on.
"You have as long as you need. I doubt she would disappear. But to cut time I will help with the numbers," he told her.
Francesca sighed. She wanted to reject his offer, she didn't like other people getting in her way, but this guy seemed to know what he was doing. She held out her hand and said, "I'm Francesca."
"A pleasure Francesca I'm Larz." He shook her hand. "So where should we begin?" he asked. She thought for a moment.
"I need to know where her spirit is, first of all," she said. "And then I need to do a little research. I need to know exactly where the spirit fits into the body." She thought back to the book on human anatomy in the library, it didn't have anything on spirits. She'd need something more advanced. "And after that I should have a pretty good idea as to what I'm doing. But the library here doesn't have what I'm looking for..." she tried to think of where she could get the information.
"Her spirit is currently in here with us but she is hovering above at four feet. If you're looking for information of the spirit I would suggest the religion section of the library. There are books that fully explain how the soul functions and where it resides." Larz finished her thought. "Although a lot is contradicting everything in that section is correct about the soul," he said.
She looked above Maya and saw nothing. "How do you know where the spirit is? Can you see it? Why can't I see anything?" she asked.
'On my planet,' she thought, 'our souls stay in our bodies.'
"Humans have a large range of knowledge. They taught me nearly everything from alchemy to DNA manipulation. I can only see her because I have a heightened sixth sense factor. Normal humans cannot see spirits because they are not born with this. You possibly cannot see her because you were not to spiritual things in your world or born with a heightened sixth sense factor." Larz spoke monotone. She nodded her head. "That's all I really needed. The rest I can work out myself," she said, turning away from him. "But before I do, would you mind explaining to me why you're speaking in the third person? I thought you were a human," she still had her back to him, but she gave a skeptical look anyway.
"In a sense I am," he said.
She looked back to him, she still didn't show anything, but she had an idea. "You know alchemy, huh?" she asked, trying to keep him talking. She walked back over to Maya looked down to her still body.
'If I could just...' she thought for a second, ‘...Yeah...I think that would work.'
She concentrated on the transmutation circle on her back. She closed her eyes and imagined exactly what she wanted to happen. She let out the energy and clapped her hands together. It all went black.
3
Her entire body felt heavy and it took a lot of effort to just open her eyes. She looked up at Maya, who looked just fine, and Larz.
"Good," she murmured, "the transmutation worked." She sat up and took off the towel someone had placed on her head. "If Maya's alright, then I'll go now."
She didn't want them to think that she would now be their best friend. She still didn't want much to do with them. Francesca stood, though she wobbled a little, grabbing the wall to support her and walked out of the room. She leaned against the wall and slowly made her way outside. She needed some fresh air. She went back to the spot where she had sat not too long ago. She sat down and looked out to the lake. Hugging her knees, she sighed and reflected on what had happened that day. Francesca still felt weak. She hugged her knees tighter and began to sing. She rarely sang, though Elvin voices were naturally beautiful. She didn't see singing as an important activity, so she rarely practiced. If a human or some other species were to hear her voice, they would think it beautiful, smooth, and natural. But if an elf heard her voice they would most likely think her as a disrespectful rebel, which was sort of correct. Elves were very traditional and, this Francesca despised, sexist. They believed a female elf's place was learning to sing so she could attract a mate, and the male should be practicing alchemy to provide for his family. Francesca had grown up as a tomboy and singing never appealed to her. Alchemy seemed to be a mystical magic that seemed so out of reach, but she taught herself anyway. Soon, she started to show off her talent, which was indeed a talent. She was better than all the boys her age and even some adult elves. For that, she was shunned by everyone but the mage. It hurt Francesca that nobody but the mage would accept her, or even look at her, and that turned to anger. She nearly killed a man because of her fury, and that only made them fear her. From that day on, she refused to accept any emotions beside her usual cold personality. But today Francesca wanted to sing, for some reason or another. So she sang a sweet lullaby in the elf’s native language.
Hearing Maya come up behind her, she didn't stop. "Hey, thanks for before," said Maya, sitting down and rocking back and forth. "You didn't have to do that. I mean, risk your life for me. I am truly grateful," she said.
"If there was a chance that that would have even slightly risked my life, I wouldn't have hesitated as I had," she said truthfully. She didn't look at Maya, she wasn't too glad that her peace had been disrupted, but she wouldn't be mean to her.
"What race are you?" asked Maya, "and what are your pet peeves? I don't want to be a retarded butt-head roommate that you hate," she said.
"Okay," said Francesca, looking over to Maya, "I'm an elf, I hate pretty much everything and I really don't have much of a good side." She turned her head back to the water. "Does that answer your question?" She closed her eyes, "Now tell me about you. You died, and came back?" Francesca didn't wait for the ghost to reply. "Why would you do that? You got what I'd wanted most, and you threw it away and came back down to this...place!? Why would you do that?" she repeated. Being two-hundred and twenty-five years old, and still having seven-hundred and seventy-five years before it was even possible for her to die, she was really getting sick of life. She had fantasized a life after this one, where there was no war, just peace without suffering. But even if that kind of thing did exist, it was still much too far out of reach.
Maya seemed to be in a daze, then she snapped out of it.
"Oh, sorry. Um, yeah it was raining one day and I was going over to a friend’s house after I had finished babysitting the neighbor’s kid," she said, remembering. "It started raining down hard and I was running down the street to my friend’s. I checked both ways before crossing and I had on bright clothes so you could see me, but when I was crossing a car came around a turn and didn't stop and ran straight into me," she said looking down and tightly hugging her legs. "I guess I was in the hospital for awhile in a comma with a breather I was pretty much dead the only thing keeping me alive was the air tube so my mom stopped it because she knew that is what I wanted." She took a breath. "When I went up to heaven since I was so young and meant to be on earth longer so I got to come back with two requests. My two was to have a solid form and be able to talk to regular forms so yeah that is my life story I guess," she said not looking up.
"Yes, but WHY?!" she said loudly. "WHY did you come back here? You had a chance to leave this torture, didn't you? Why would you choose to come back to it?"
"I think I was a normal human doing normal things...I can only live to be 100 to 200 you as an Elf can be 1000 years old and not be able to die? Yeah, you will get bored with life. But think when you were 15, were you bored with life? Or did you have things you planned on doing? Having children, a husband, graduating high school and going to college? Being able to work at a real job for a real pay check? I never had the chance to so that is why. I may be stuck on earth for the rest of eternity but at least I get to do some of the things I always wanted to," she said staring at the water and humming.
Francesca didn't know what a 'high school' a 'college' or a 'pay check' was, but she didn't let that on. She felt annoyed that Maya had thought that it was boredom or lack of time that made her want to leave. "I'm gonna go to bed," she said. She stood up and held out a hand to Maya, "You coming?" Francesca heard a bell in the distance. She raised an eyebrow at the randomness of its ring. Not liking how loud it was, she turned back to Maya.
"Uh, sure, but I am a little hungry, too, so I am gonna go get food. See you at the room," she said smiling. "I am going to get some Chinese food, want any?" she asked.
"No, I'm not hungry," she said. She pulled Maya to her feet and walked up to her room. She wanted to get some sleep in, because if this much excitement happened on the first day, she didn't even want to think about tomorrow.
Francesca walked into her room and could still hear the bells. They were starting to get on her nerves. "Who rings bells at night?" she muttered. She waited a few minutes for them to die down, but all that they did was get slightly louder. She scowled and decided to go check it out. She looked out the window to try to find the bell tower and spotted it to the right. Jumping out of the window and lightly hitting the ground, she walked over and looked up at the bell tower. There didn't seem to be anything that was keeping it ringing. She climbed to the top and saw Larz there.
"Are we just going to let this thing ring or are we ever going to let the people of the world sleep?" she shouted sarcastically over the bell's loud ring.
Larz got down from his perch and stopped the heavy bells by grabbing each. "I'm sorry, I guess I got carried away," Larz said. He moved to the side a bit. "I see you're feeling better," he said.
"Peachy, thanks for caring," she said in a sarcastic tone, crossing her arms. "Are we fulfilling our dreams of becoming a hobo?" she asked, waving to the junk spread out on the floor of the tower.
"Well, no, not really. I'm just staying here until I find someplace else to stay," he said. "Is the other girl okay too?" he asked.
"Yeah, she's cool. I think that she's out getting Chinese food or something," she said, uncrossing her arms and starting to look around the tower. "This place is kinda nice. I can see why you'd rather be here than in those over-stuffed beds," she said. She sort of wished that she had gotten here first, she liked bell towers and her room was much too fancy for her taste.
"Yeah, plus the rooms are cramped with furniture. I like areas with a lot of free space." Larz sat on the window sill. "You can have a seat if you would like," he offered. She looked at him a moment. She hadn't planned on staying, but she didn't want to leave. Not because it would be rude to leave now, she had officially claimed the title of 'rude' by now. But she just wanted to stay. "Alright," she said, pressing her lips together and sitting down on the edge of the tower wall.
"Would you like anything?" he asked her.
"Uh, no, I'm cool," she said. Considering they were sitting on the edge of a bell tower, she wasn't sure there was much that he could give her. "So, how'd you end up here?" she asked, trying to break the silence.
"I was sent here after the mage of my world got the message about this place. To be honest I was against the entire thing because I didn't want to represent the people I despise the most." he said. "What about you, Francesca?"
"I guess I feel the same. I hate my people, and I don't like anybody. I have no idea what the mage was thinking when he sent me here. Maybe it's because I'm the most advanced of his apprentices, but I don't think that that's what this is about," she said. Larz was the first person she had ever met that she had anything in common with. She didn't know how to react.
Larz turned and waved to somebody behind him then turned back to Francesca. "So you hate your people too? Is it alright if I ask why?" He asked.
"Who are you waving to-" she stopped as she saw Maya sitting on the other side of Larz. "Oh, hey," she said, waving to her roommate. She looked back Larz "Elves are very traditional. They don't accept anything different than what they think is 'normal.' I guess I don't fit that description, since I don't like to sing, I'm an alchemist, and I don't socialize much. 'Women are meant to cook and sing, while the alchemist men are out protecting,' or something stupid like that. I was good at science, so they don't like me. And I don't like them," she said. She didn't ever talk about this kind of stuff to anybody, but it really felt good getting it off her chest. She liked talking to Larz. "What about you?" she asked.
"Humans are the exact opposite of elves. They are too free ranged. While some are actually worth something, others are pure trash. They focus their ways on wealth, willing to kill for it. I can't stand them and I can't stand the fact that the mage, one of the only humans I respect, sent me here to represent trash," Larz said. "What did you do to get by before coming here?"
"I took the old guy's advice and got rid of most of my emotions. I don't do feelings anymore," she said, a hint of pride was in her voice. "I don't feel pain, love, happiness, anything. I'm just sarcastic and cold, in case you hadn't noticed. What'd you do?"
"I stayed away from the scum as much as possible. Your way sounds ideal but I doubt I could handle it all the time." he said.
"Ideal?" she asked, wondering what he was thinking. "That's not the word I would use. I don't actually like it, it's just how I survive. I want to get out of here, but there's nowhere to go if I leave. I guess that all I really want is a home. Somewhere I won't be afraid to feel," she said. She didn't know what she had said until it had come out of her mouth. She didn't know that that was how she was feeling, but once she had said it, she knew it was true. She brought her knees to her chest and hugged them, like she always did, and sighed.
"Francesca, I know this goes outside your intentions, but if you're looking for a place that you aren't afraid feel, I'm always here to listen or talk to if you'd like," he said getting up and walking across the room toward her. Seeing him come toward her made Francesca feel confused. Part of her wanted to allow him to comfort her, the other wanted to say something rude and walk away. She put her chin on her knees and looked up at him.
"Thank you," she said in a voice hardly over a whisper. It was all she could manage.
"It’s alright," he said gently. "Francesca, what seems to be troubling you right now?" he asked.
"Hm, I'm just deciding how I feel," she said, hoping he would catch her drift that she was deciding to start feeling again.
"That’s good," he said smiling.
Tilting her head to the side, looking him straight in the eyes, Francesca let a slight smile hint on her lips. She blinked slowly and sighed again. She continued to keep blinking, each time more slowly. She was getting tired; she liked going to sleep early. She looked at the black sky, only the last streaks of pink were disappearing behind the ends of the earth. She shivered as a cool gust of wind. She looked back to Larz, allowing her eyes to fall, hardly open, but looked at him.
Larz took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Let’s get out of this cold air," he said calmly. "Are you tired?" he asked.
She struggled to keep her now heavy eyelids open as she nodded. She grabbed the jacket with one hand and let the other hang at her side. Standing up, she yawned and walked toward the stairs sleepily.
Larz got up with her and walked to the stairs. "You mind if I walk you to your room?" he asked.
"I don't see why not," she said, looking ahead. "Of course, I don't see why either. I'm a big girl, you know. I can do it by myself."
"Yeah, but it’s getting late, and you never know what could be out there," he said. "Besides, I’d feel guilty if you got hurt."
She gave him a small glare. "What do I look like, a damsel in distress?" she said in a slightly cold tone. It was nice of him to be concerned, but being called weak, especially because of her gender, just plain ticked her off.
"I don't see anyone who is an expert on alchemy a damsel in distress," he said in a kind smile. "I'm only coming along from an old war quote of my people; 'There is strength in numbers.'"
"Believe me, there's nothing out there that I'll need numbers against," she said to him, keeping her cold look on him. "I think I can make it on my own." She didn't want this boy's courtesy anymore.
"Okay," he said, going back up. "If you need me you know where to find me." She angrily walked down the stairs and across the campus. She wanted to hit something-or somebody-hard. She had just opened up to him, told him things she had never told anybody else, and he just blew it. Threw it away and proved to her that he was just like all of the elves. She stormed into her room and lay down on her bed, immediately falling asleep without a second thought.
* * * * *
She awoke a little over an hour later, screaming. Another nightmare she didn't remember, Francesca was getting sick of this. She got up and went to the bathroom. She never could remember what her nightmares were about, but telling by the horrible feeling of being drenched in sweat and shaking uncontrollably, she was sure that she didn't want to. She looked in the mirror. Her long silver hair made her look older, and the bags under her eyes from lack of sleep didn't help either. Splashing water onto her face from the sink, she wondered what could be so terrifying that she awoke so shaken up.
Walking out of the bathroom and sitting on her bed, she knew very well from experience that she would not be able to go back to sleep. She stood up and leaned out the window. The moonlight shed silver light onto the grounds, making it look like a heaven. She grabbed a vine above the window, tugging on it to make sure it was sturdy. When she was sure it would hold her weight, she began to climb to the top of the tower. Francesca saw something moving out of the corner of her eye, she looked and almost lost her balance. There was somebody in the distance, but darkness masked their face. She ignored whoever it was and continued to climb. When she got to the top, she sat and looked up at the moon. It would be full in a few days. She wondered what kind of disasters would be caused by the full moon. At this place, there wasn't much way to tell, but to wait and see.
Francesca could see the figure from before run into the forest. She wanted to ignore it, but her curiosity was really getting to her. She jumped off the building and walked slowly after it. She walked with her hands behind her back, not in much of a hurry. Her attempts to strain her neck in order to see were in vain. She walked into the edge of the forest and looked around. She saw the outline of a figure in the distance, hardly an outline, but definitely human--or something close to that. She walked carefully toward them.
Francesca heard creaking and then saw something coming at her. She didn't have time to think; she immediately clapped her hands together and transmuted the ground below her into a solid dome-shaped shield. She ducked down and braced herself in case the shield didn't hold. She heard something much like thunder and a felt the ground shake, telling her that whatever it was, had hit. She let the shield drop back down to the ground, and found herself standing in a tangle of branches. She looked up and saw who had caused it.
"Larz?"
“Sorry,” he said.
Normally, Francesca would've either killed him then and there, or turned her tail and left, but she could hear pain in his voice. She made her way out of the tangle of tree branches, and then walked toward him. "Are you okay?"
"Not really," he obviously was struggling to say.
Forgetting completely of her anger at him before, she quickly went to kneel beside him. "What's wrong?" she asked in a concerned voice. This didn't feel like a good time to be cold and ignorant.
"My back... the runes... pain," Larz said in a lot of pain.
"Runes?" she asked, confused. She pulled the back of his shirt down, revealing what looked something like tattoos. "They hurt?" That was a stupid question to ask, he probably wasn't acting like that for no reason. She grabbed one of his arms and put it around her shoulder. "We've got to get you inside," she said.
"Urge," Larz grunted. He planted his feet to the ground and began to push up weakly. A second later he released a deafening howl in pain. He stumbled forward and luckily caught himself.
"Larz!" she shrieked. She grabbed his chest and brought his body to hers. She let out a huff, walking wasn't going to end up being an option. She didn't know if she could carry him without touching his back, and she had no idea if that would hurt him.
'I didn't think humans went through these kinds of things,' she thought to herself. 'Whatever it is, I'm just going to take a chance; he cannot stay out here.' She took a deep breath and lifted his body onto her back. Gritting her teeth, Francesca carried Larz out of the forest, with some effort. She didn't think she could make it up to the bell tower, so she half carried/half dragged him up the stairs and into her room. Hoping that Maya wouldn't walk in at that moment, she lay Larz down on her bed and let her body fall beside his. She was an expert at alchemy and could easily kill almost anyone, but lifting heavy objects-or people-just wasn't her thing. She lay next to him and took a few deep breathes. She had no idea what to do now.
It was ten minutes until anything happened. “I’m sorry, Francesca,” she heard Larz say.
"Not sure what you're saying 'sorry' about," she said through breathes, "but whatever it is, don't worry about it." She had finally caught her breath and was now trying to think of anything that she could do to help him. "Larz, what's going on?" she asked him.
"A very painful side effect for me," he said, sadly. "My people did this to me."
"Side effect? Side effect to what?" she asked. She sat up and looked down at him. "Larz, I really need you to tell me everything," she said in her most serious voice. "I can't help you if I don't know what's going on."
"Do you remember when I told you I was human in a sense? It’s because I was born and raised in the traditional sense. I was created. Risen to kill, treated like an object, and a monster, throughout my life. They sent me here because I was the best candidate for this, a manipulated one. These runes are meant to protect and bind me if I start thinking independently or acting outside the parameters made by these binds. The mage and my creators don't agree about those parameters so they gave me a serum that needed to be injected every three days. I nullifies the binds but leaves me helpless for several hours because of the three days worth of pain." he said.
Francesca looked down at him. 'Treated like an object...' his words rang in her ears. She never thought of herself as the type to feel pity on herself, but as she realized that she wasn’t the only person who didn't like how she had been treated, who wished that the others would just disappear, she wondered if she had pitied herself. She bit her lips together. Before now, she didn't want any emotions to come to her. But now, she just wished that she knew what she was feeling, and how she should be showing it.
"What were you thinking independently about?" she asked.
"About actually caring about a person other than myself. And feeling grief; an emotion I'm not supposed to feel here," he said.
Francesca looked away. "Caring...about me?" she asked. After the way he had acted back in the bell tower, she knew he had cared, at least a little. But she didn't think that there would be some sort of consequence. She bit her lips even harder and felt a small trickle of blood flow slowly down her chin. She wiped it away with the palm of her hand. "I'm sorry."
"I bothered you. Why are you apologizing?" he asked looking back at her. "It was even my fault about before," he said.
"Yeah, but-" she stopped; she didn't know how to respond to that. She chuckled a bit and hung her head. "Y'know, you just may be the first person I have ever apologized to," she said truthfully. She didn't usually feel bad for anything, she figured people deserved what she gave them-and she still does- but Larz didn't seem to deserve that pain. "If I hadn't whined my sob story to you in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess," she said in a late response to his question.
"But I asked; I put you in a kind of situation that you had no choice but to answer."
She didn't feel like arguing with him about something so stupid, so she just sighed. "You're a handful, you know that?" she said, looked at his weakened body. "How long will it be until you can move again? Are you going to be alright?"
"I can move now but I can't walk at all. The pain is gone though. Don't worry this isn't enough to handicap me forever." he said with smile. "You may be right about that." he said.
"You can stay here tonight, I don't mind. And whatever Maya thinks is just going to have to go to the complaint box," she said. She looked at the clock. "There's not all that much night left, but you should sleep while you can."
Taking one of Maya's blankets from her roommate's bed, Francesca began making herself a bed on the floor next to where Larz lay. 'Maya has two blankets, she shouldn't mind,' she thought.
"Thank you..." she heard Larz from the bed. She didn't reply. She was already almost asleep; her only link to consciousness was her prayer that she wouldn't have another nightmare. The last thing she needed was to wake up screaming in front of Larz, but it was likely that she would; she usually did.
4
Again, the feeling swept over her. Francesca tossed and turned, sweating and breathing unnaturally deeply. But as always, she could not recall why once she thrust her body into a sitting position, panting and shaking, her wide eyes frozen in fear of something. She couldn't move, her heart was racing, but she couldn't remember why.
"Francesca?" asked Larz, getting up and kneeling down beside her. "What’s wrong?" he asked.
At the sound of Larz's voice, Francesca awoke from her subconscious dream. Her breath slowed to a normal pace and the shaking lessened. She looked at him and took a few unsteady breaths. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself, but there was nothing she could do to stop her racing heart. She gripped the blanket with a quaking hand and bit her lips again.
"Francesca what is the matter?" Larz demanded.
She opened her eyes to look at him and let go of her lip. "Nothing, I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to wake you."
"I was already awake....you had a nightmare didn't you?" he looked at Francesca.
She smiled through her fear. "I think so-I mean, I don't really remember," she dropped her fake smile and let her face fall back into her scared look. "It doesn't matter, though. It happens almost ever night, I'm used to it."
"If you're used to it why are you still afraid?" Larz asked.
"I don't know. I never remember my nightmares, I just know I'm afraid of something," she said. She brought her knees to her chest, as she always did, and leaned her head on them. "I should be alright now, the trauma doesn't last all that long. What about you, are you okay now?"
"Yeah I'm just fine," he said. "Are you sure you're alright?”
Finally having fully calmed down, Francesca stood up. "Yeah, I'm cool," she said, holding out a hand to help him stand up. She didn't want him to keep pitying her, which was why she was hoping she wouldn't have another nightmare, so she changed the subject. "I'm kinda hungry; do you want to go find where the food is in this place?" She wasn't hungry.
"Sure why not?" said Larz pulling himself up.
Tearing down her drawn map from the wall, Francesca tried to find something that might resemble a cafeteria. She pressed her lips together in thought.
Larz scanned the map from behind her. "There it is," he said pointing to the top-left corner of the map.
Francesca let out a small groan. She didn't like the idea of walking that far for a meal she wasn't even interested in. "Uh, alright, let's go, I guess," she said. 'Good idea, loser,' she thought to herself.
"If you don't want to walk that far I can always get it." he offered.
"No, its okay," she said. She didn't want him to have to walk all that way for a meal she didn't want, either. "Uh, are you really hungry? 'Cause if you're not, I can totally wait," she offered. 'Please say you're not hungry,' she begged in her mind.
"I'm not but if you are you shouldn't wait." he said.
'Thank you!' "No, it's really okay. Really," she put a little too much of an emphasis on the last 'really'. "I'm not entirely sure if we're supposed to do anything in particular now, there aren't any classes that I know of," she was worried that there was something she had missed while she was pouting about having to come here.
"I don't know what to do either but this is going to be a long day if we can't occupy ourselves," Larz said.
"Yeah," she did not want to waste a day, she'd never forgive herself for letting that time just pass her by. She really wanted to practice her alchemy, but the punching bag didn't sound challenging enough. An idea struck her and she gave Larz an evil smile. "Hey Larz, you fight, don't you?"
"Yes I do..." he said.
“Come on," she said. Whether or not he had understood what she was saying, Larz was about to become a human punching bag. She grabbed his wrist and led him outside to an area in the yard where nothing would get in their way. "If you'd like, I'll be fair and not use alchemy?"
"That would be best," he said. "Alright, Francesca, lets go," he said, stretching out his legs.
She figured this would be an easy fight, but she made sure not to underestimate him. She knew from experience that that could and would be a fatal flaw. She fell back into her fighting stance and waited for him to make the first move.
Larz started bouncing on his feet. He then took a few steps back and sprinted forward, jumped with a flying dragon kick. Moving to the side to avoid his kick, Francesca used the closest hand to Larz to backhand him, aiming at his chest. Larz took the blow. Her hit had caught him off guard. He continued bouncing on his feet. He suddenly moved forward and delivered a lightning fast kick to the face. Before his foot landed he went for a punch toward the torso. Francesca blocked his kick but didn't see his punch coming. She felt the pain in her stomach but made herself shake it off. She slid around to the other side of Larz and aimed a low kick to trip him. Larz lifted his left leg for a front snap kick stepping over the low kick. When his foot landed he spun quickly to do a reverse roundhouse to the head. Francesca ducked under his kick and struck a palm-strike to his stomach, keeping her other hand in a defensive position. Larz used the forward momentum of the palm and the momentum he was losing from his kick to lift Francesca and slam her to the ground. He lifted his foot to axe kick her in the torso then backed away. Cringing from his axe kick, Francesca watched, confused, as he backed away.
"I'm on the ground, my defenses are gone, and any attacks I throw at you from this position will be half of my usual strength. I know you know that, so why don't you end it?"
"Because, I'm having fun!" he said with a proud smile.
"Wipe the smirk off your face, I'm not beaten just yet," she said, getting up. She actually had a lot left in her. She was just curious why he had only attacked her once. But now that he had mentioned it, this was getting to be kind of fun.
"Alright let’s go!" he said, planting his feet. Francesca didn't like to strike first, her strategy was to wait until the opponent attacked so she could see how they fight and how well. She wanted to stick to her strategy, but she had already read his fighting type. She had a pretty good idea of what kind of strategy she would use. She lunged forward, aiming a decoy kick to his torso, hoping to get him to block it. Larz apparently didn’t believe in blocking the traditional, because he blocked with his leg by lifting his knee, instead of an arm. While being creative, he used this to his advantage and hooked his ankle to her and lifted it to throw her off balance. He used this new avenue for a full charge attack at her by sliding forward and hitting her with all that force with his back. Francesca's eyes widened as he caught her off balance, but she recovered and bounced back on her hands and back to her feet, missing his next attack by what seemed to be less than an inch. Crouching down from the momentum from her weight, Francesca used that force to push herself at Larz, grabbing his shirt and pushing him to the ground and landing on top of him. Her hand was still gripping his shirt and pinning him to the ground. Larz took hold of the arm grabbing him and began pressing into a pressure point on her hand. Francesca winced as he pressed her pressure point and loosened her grip. She realized as soon as it happened her mistake, but it was too late to correct it. He pushed her off him and backed away again. Francesca cursed under her breath and resumed her fighting stance. It was back to square one. Only this time, she's let him attack first. Larz moved forward and grabbed Francesca's arm, shifting his body in a “U” shaped motion trying to toss her over his shoulder. Francesca swung over his back and pulled her arm from his grip. She then crouched down and spun her outstretched leg to trip him. She needed him on the ground again. Larz caught himself with his arms and spun up into a handstand. Still crouched down, Francesca brought her leg back from the trip. She raised an eyebrow at his technique and threw a kick with her other leg to his stomach. Larz’s feet swung and returned the sweeping motion towards her ankle that was firmly on the ground. This led him to getting hit in the face by the kick. Francesca drew her foot back to her side, and sat, perched like a frog, for a split-second before pouncing like a lioness on her prey. She landed on top of him, sitting on his stomach and holding both hands above his head this time.
"Surrender?"
"Not quite," he said. Larz quickly kicked her in the back of the head. Francesca wasn't expecting that, she knew few men with that kind of flexibility. However, the position Larz was in didn't allow him enough strength to get her off of him, but the shock did loosen her grip for a few seconds. Francesca heard a loud crack, but had no idea what it was. She looked around for a hint of what it could be, letting go of almost all of the pressure on Larz's arms. She wasn’t suspecting that it could've been him. He pushed her off and with his arms pushed off feet first towards her.
"Huh-Oof!" She was cut off by the force of his push. Francesca tried to think fast before it was too late.
'If I was allowed alchemy, this would be a snap,' she thought. She slid to the side, dodging his next move and trying to think of a new strategy. 'I shouldn't be trying the ground-thing again; it always backfires with him,' she thought to herself. She touched one hand to ground to balance the momentum of her slide.
"What was that?" she asked, still curious.
"One of my least favorite techniques; I dislocate limbs and joints to get out of sticky situations like the one before." He said stretching his arms once again. "Hey! If you allow me to have a weapon you can use alchemy for this fight," he offered. Francesca shuddered as he told her his technique. 'He can make that kind of crack with his limbs? I can't imagine that that's healthy,' she thought to herself. "If you're sure, I guess it's alright with me," she said. She had no idea what was going through his head, he seemed smart before.
"Alright," he said, ducking down and making a small transmutation circle in the dirt and rock. A Bo staff about six feet long came out of the ground, but it was made out of the metal from the rock in the ground. Larz tested it by spinning it in a skilled fashion. Francesca took a fighting stance and waited for him to make the first move. She had hardly read his style without a weapon, she wanted to give him a chance to attack before she did anything. He opened with a vertical swing downward towards her head. Francesca flashed an evil smile before focusing her energy on the transmutation circle on her back. She felt the ground below her feet engulf her as she sank below the surface of the ground. Everything was dark, but she felt the steady beat of Larz's heartbeat above her. She used it as a guide before having the earth push her up above the surface again. She was now behind his back and was gong to use that to her advantage. She lifted one of his feet up with one of her legs, and used the other to deliver a powerful kick to his side. Larz was definitely caught off guard by the kick to his ribs. Unfortunately, his ribs were lined with a very strong metal. He started to get aggressive this time by jabbing at her continuously each one growing faster and faster. The jabs were getting harder and harder to block. Aires decided it was time to bring in her new trick. She altered the electrons in her hand and the ground so they repelled each other. At the same time, she altered her opposite hand's electrons so they were attracted to the grounds. She put her hands together and a portion of the ground shot up and seemed to float in mid air. She used the flying earth to block his next few attacks before switching the electrons in the hand that was attracting the earth so that both hands repelled the earth and it went flying toward Larz. Larz jumped unto the descending earth using them as stepping stones to jump a height above Francesca. He took another vertical swing at her head. Francesca gasped as she saw Larz coming from above. She barely had the time to sink back below the ground as he was almost on top of her. She came back up a few feet from him and took a few deep breaths. There was no air underground, after all. Larz cursed under his breath. Like an acrobat he flipped before hitting the ground. He stomped on the ground, in response the earth rose in a wall and collapsed on top of Larz. He supported over 800 pounds of material over his head with his arms. He launched it straight towards her. Aires looked up at the flying rock. She held up a hand and changed her hand back to the repelling electron. As she altered the rock's electrons, too, it went flying the other way. She waited looked around to try to find Larz, but couldn't see him. She slid underground again, just in case. This time, she brought an air-bubble with her. Francesca shrieked as she was forced out of the ground and back to the surface by an earth quake. She looked at Larz, who was obviously making the earth quake, and tried tot think of something to do. She used alchemy to break off a piece of earth and pushed it a few feet above the ground. She was now safe from the earth quake and free to think. Larz saw her rise and sent his staff straight at the platform. Seeing the coming Bo, Francesca released the electrons on her current rock, and raised another, jumping to the other at last second. She held the rock and waited for Larz to stop the earth quake. Larz sat down legs crossed closed his eyes and began meditating. Focusing hard, Francesca was able to move the earth forward a few feet until she was in front of Larz. She crouched to she was close to his face so, though his eyes were closed, he would know she was serious.
"Alright, we've been at this over an hour, which is more than a human's stamina would permit. You've also been hit with attacks that would have sent some of the strongest of humans flying, but blocked them with no effort at all. You said that you hated your race, so I hope you don't mind me saying, humans are one of the weakest races out there. I'm next to positive that you aren't human, what are you?"