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"Well..." he said opening his eyes looking into hers, "I'm a creation of war created by humans. I was built for this kind of combat. The only thing I would say is human about me is the fact that I look like one and I have their emotions, except greed of course." He stopped the quake for a second, picking up his staff and playfully bonking her on the head lightly. "Got'cha," he said, putting it back down. "My organs even function differently because I can live without my human heart." Larz was born(created) and raised in a laboratory going through day after day of tests and alterations. Being born with the best the race had to offer plus more made him the ideal soldier. "I was meant to be a weapon, made to kill and never ask questions."
She laughed lightly as he hit her on the head. ‘So he wasn’t just raised as a weapon,’ she thought, ‘He IS weapon.’
"Then why haven't you killed me? It's not like you haven't had any chances."
"I may have considered a year ago. Back then I didn't have any opinions or a personality. I was like you in a way but I chose to hate my people and be almost the exact opposite of them in terms of morals." Larz was like an A.I. machine he only thought when he was given orders. Besides, I may have been born to kill, but that doesn't mean I like to."
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked him, laying down on her stomach so her face could be at level with his though she remained on her rock. "It's not like I held back telling you about me."
"I just don't like the idea of me being an object not someone or something. I think the more I kept it secret the better I felt because I was slowly forgetting about the fact that I am a tool and that’s it. I'm sorry I kept it from you but it was for that reason." He looked away when he apologized.
Francesca sighed and looked to the horizon on her right, turning her head away from Larz. "Born to kill and raised in a lab? Sheesh, I thought I had it tough," she said, not looking at him.
In an attempt to break the silence, Larz said, "You're an extraordinary fighter."
She smiled and looked back to him, still on her stomach. "Thank you, you're not so bad yourself," she said.
Larz huffed a little quietly laughing "Thanks," Larz said getting up.
5
"Humans!" a voice called out. "My name is Kimena of the Thunder Sun Tribe. I have been given word of a war in this region. Are you one of those who have been given the same notice?" she asked with a light English accent.
"Huh-Woah!" Francesca's concentration was diverted away from her rock and it crashed down to the ground with a 'thud.' She groaned from the impact and clenched her teeth. She suddenly felt the same feeling she had before meeting Larz and Maya. She didn't want anything to do with whoever's voice that was.
Larz looked over to Francesca and offered a hand to help her up. He then turned toward the new being. "I was not," he stated blankly.
Francesca took his hand and looked to the Kimena. She was a centaur and seemed to be tired. Francesca nodded in agreement with Larz. "Can we help you?" she asked somewhat coldly. She had no intention of being kind to this stranger, especially because of how she had addressed her.
Kimena nodded in greeting. "I apologize for the misidentity," she said to Francesca. "It's turning dark as we speak and it is not easy to concentrate after a whole day's running," she explained. She then looked to Larz. "Who are you? You appear to be Human but you deny it?"
"I'm Larz. Larz Dracule. I am human as you speak I was merely thinking of something else." Larz spoke in an emotionless yet polite tone.
Francesca could tell that Larz was going to be nice to her, and she didn't want to stay for that. She faked a yawn and turned around. "I'm gonna head inside," she said, "I'll see you guys later."
Larz also stretched out. "I think I'll head in too," he said, also turning also turning around. "Until later, Kimena." Francesca was surprised; she wasn't expecting that. She wanted to say something to him, but nothing came to mind. Instead, she put up a hand as a farewell gesture as she continued to walk toward the rooms. Knowing that he was following her, Francesca stopped and turned to face Larz. She waited for him to catch up and smiled a bit.
"Mind if I join you tonight? I'm already sick of my room, and who knows? Maybe the life of a hobo was meant for me," she said. She really wanted to see what the bell tower was like, and it was true what she said about her room.
"Sure," he said.
Francesca's eyes widened as she felt something on her shoulder. She quickly grabbed whatever it was and held it to her face. Seeing who it was, she let out an annoyed groan. "Great, it's you," she said.
Gasping for air, Lunelle held out her hand. "Settle down you wacko," she squeaked out. "Truce! Truce!"
Francesca glared at the small body in her hands, but released her grip on Lunelle. "What do you want?"
"Who is this?" Larz asked.
Francesca let out a deep breath. "This is Lunelle," she said through her teeth. "Lunelle, meet Larz."
Now able to breath, Lunelle nodded to Larz. "Nice to meet you....person," she had no clue what race he was.
"Hello Lunelle," Larz said blankly.
Holding out her hand again to Francesca, Lunelle grimaced. "Truce?"
Francesca’s train of thought was interrupted by Maya’s voice. "Hey you guys!"
Francesca was relieved to see Maya walk up to them. "Hey," she said. She didn't answer Lunelle. 'Maybe, if I ignore it, it'll go away,' she thought.
When he saw Maya, Larz waved. "Hey Maya."
Lunelle didn't seem to want to go away. 'Just play along,' she thought to herself. "Alright, fine, whatever. I won't try to kill you if you don't push bags of sand on top of me,'' she said sarcastically, holding out a finger as a substitute hand shake for Lunelle's tiny hand.
Yawning, Lunelle turned to Maya. "’Ello, poppet." Lunelle started to glow, which got on Francesca’s nerves to begin with. "You know, you've got fat fingers." Grabbing Francesca’s pinkie with her tiny hand she shook it and smiled sarcastically.
Francesca held up her hand as if she was going to flick her away, but stopped herself--barely. "Larz, I'm gonna head up to the bell tower, I'll meet you up there, 'kay?" she said through her teeth.
Lunelle ducked and covered to avoid Francesca’s flick. When she realized there was no threat, she smiled. She flew back up to Francesca’s shoulder and leaned in her ear. "Somebody has a boyfriend," she whispered. Francesca could feel her face get red hot. She clenched her teeth and her eyes got wide. She almost flung around to face her, but then realized that Larz would see how red her face was. This time she didn't resist. She lifted her fingers and flicked the tiny body away from her.
"You can never mind that truce we were discussing!" she shouted after her.
Larz walked up closer to Francesca and asked, "What did she just say to you? You're fuming."
She turned to see Larz, and hoped that her face had turned back to the normal color. "Oh, uh, nothing," she replied, stuttering. "Like I said, I'm gonna go now." She headed to her room to get her stuff, not waiting for Larz, and then headed straight to the tower.
As she walked into the tower, carrying her book and clipboard, she was surprised to find that Larz hadn't made it yet.
'I wonder what's keeping him?' she wondered. She looked around at his stuff. There were a few vials of the liquid that supposedly stopped the pain when his runes acted up. There was also a few other things she did not recognize. She knew even before coming here that humans were advanced in their technology, and she as an elf probably wouldn't be familiar with most of the things she saw, but these things really sparked her curiosity. She set her stuff down in a corner of the room and sat down next to the weird things. She carefully picked one of them up and examined it closer.
"Weird," she said to herself.
"Are you curious?" asked Larz behind her.
Francesca let out a small shriek. "Larz!" she breathed, trying to get her heart back to a normal pace. "I-I'm sorry. I-I-I was j-just, Y’know, looking," she stuttered. She prayed he wouldn't get too upset with her. She felt really bad.
Larz smiled "It's alright I was just joking around with you. Are you really that curious about these?" he asked pointing to them.
"What are they?" she asked. They looked complicated and she was very curious about what made them tick. 'Darn. I don't think he's gonna let me take them apart, will he?' she thought.
"They're computers. Mainly used to calculate and store large amounts of information,” he said. "Take it apart if you'd like."
She looked up at him and blinked a few times. "Maybe later," she said. 'Wow,' she thought, 'wasn't expecting that.' She stood up. "You tired? 'Cause to me, it feels like the day flew by," she said. It was true, they had battled the whole day and it seemed like only a few moments ago she was dragging him out to the front lawn, planning to kick the crap out of him.
"Yeah, the day did go by quickly. I'm not that tired though, are you?" he said, looking out unto the balcony.
Francesca shook her head 'no,' before noticing that he wasn't looking at her. "No," she said. 'Somebody's got a boyfriend,' Lunelle's words rung in her ear. "Y-you didn't happen to hear what Lunelle whispered in my ear before, did you?" she asked nervously. 'Idiot. Why did you even bring it up?' her conscience said coldly.
"No, I didn't," he turned his head looking back at her. "What did she say to you?"
"Oh, uh, n-nothing," she said. She turned away in hopes that he wouldn't see that her face was getting red again.
"What did she say?" he asked persistently.
"It's nothing," she insisted. "She just said something," she paused, "stupid. She just said something stupid." She walked over to the window and looked at the setting sun. "Y'know? I guess I am kinda tired," she lied. "Maybe I'll just hit the hay."
"If it's so stupid why did you bring it up? And why is your face so red after you brought it up?" he asked like he was having a normal conversation with her.
Francesca didn't want to answer his questions. She was really wondering the same thing. She shrugged it off. "I dunno, but, I'm goin' to bed. Goodnight," she said. She laid out a pillow and blanket and, to her surprise, fell straight to sleep. She seemed to be in a peaceful slumber at first, but unfortunately, it wasn't a peaceful sleep. Once again, the nightmares crept into her head as she slept, making her toss and turn in a pathetic effort to rid herself of the fear. But it was all in vain. They still choked her like a poison. She screamed.
"Was it the same nightmare?" Larz asked calmly when she woke up and saw him beside her. Francesca shook. She was scared to death and not thinking at all. Before she knew it, she had thrust herself at Larz, and quickly wrapped her arms around his waste. The trembling worsened as she realized that she remembered it this time. She remembered it all, and wished to God that she hadn't.
Larz held Francesca firmly trying to get her to calm down. "It's all right," he said, remaining calm. Though it was kind of Larz to comfort her, it wasn't working. This was a pain, a fear, nothing could help. The trembling did lessen, but Francesca didn't feel any better. She dug her face into Larz's shirt and breathed in deeply.
"I remember," she whispered to him. The image wouldn't go away. The image she had carefully pushed out of her mind, and completely forgotten over the past century, just wouldn't stay out of her mind. Nothing could help her now. Because for the first time since it happened, she was afraid.
* * * * *
A young girl ran down the street, trying her best not to trip over herself as she happily made her way home. The fact that she could finally perform alchemy was so exciting to her, that she didn't care that the other boys called her names and the adults gave her such dirty looks. She knew mommy would be proud. She ran down the street and burst through the door, grinning ear-to-ear.
"Momm-" her smile faded as she looked at the site before her.
"No," whispered the wide-eyed girl.
* * * * *
Tears came to Francesca's eyes. She repeated her young self, whispering "No," over and over into Larz's chest.
"Will you tell me what happened?" asked Larz. At the sound of his voice, Francesca snapped out of flashback. She nodded her head into his shirt and looked up at him. The tears stopped falling and the trembling stopped.
"I remember my nightmare," she said. Her voice was high pitched, clouded by her crying. "I remember the day..." she trailed off and took a deep breath. "My mother died," she finished. The image of her mother's body, torn and crippled, soaked in her own blood ran through her mind. She shivered. Pulling herself away from Larz, she immediately felt cold. She looked away from him. She could hardly recognize herself. She had been so strong up until this moment, but now she was a completely different girl. She hadn't cried for over a century, but now...
"I know it's stupid to cry about loosing somebody but-"
"What was she to you?" he asked about her mother.
Francesca thought a moment before coming up with an answer. "She was everything...All I had," she replied softly. She retreated back into the mind of the scared little girl she had been a century ago. She may have looked the same, but she was completely different inside.
"Wouldn't you have felt even a little sad after losing your world, your everything?" Larz pointed out.
"But-" Francesca stopped. She didn't actually have anything to say to that. He was right. "Yeah, I guess," she whispered, more to herself than to him.
"Then you shouldn't be so harsh to yourself about feeling sad for your loss." Larz said, "It's alright to feel sad for loss."
Francesca opened her mouth to reply, but before she could say anything, Kimena's voice echoed through the walls. Francesca could hardly make out Kimena's cry.
"Ogres! Ogres Attacking!"
6
"Hear that?" she asked Larz. This time it was the real Francesca talking, not the little girl.
"Unfortunately yes," Larz said in a disgusted tone. "Lets go see what’s going on," he said turning to the stairs.
"Woah!" Francesca exclaimed as an arrow whizzed past her head, hardly missing. "No joke, c'mon!"
She didn't wait for a reply as she ran down the steps and saw what was going on. She focused on her transmutation circle and immediately a sharp knife of earth stabbed through the chest of one of the ogres that had been surrounding the centauress.
"Need help?" she asked her, running to her side. Francesca looked to another girl that had just killed an ogre with some sort of magic.
"Must be a witch," she recited under her breath. She didn't say anything to her as she fought off another ogre. 'Don't even make eye contact--with either,' said the voice in her head.
Francesca watched as the witch fell from a blow to the head, but there was nothing she could do. She kicked an ogre away, and winced as she sent a slab of stone through its chest. She was not it the mood to kill and the sight of blood made her shudder. Kimena struggled to get up from an ogre’s strike. Her leg looked to be broken. Reaching behind her, the centauress grabbed three arrows. Loading her bow and killing the last three Ogres with one shot, she ended the attack.
"Took you guys long enough!" she scolded.
Francesca glared at her. "If you don't want us we'll leave," she said coolly.
Looking around at all the broken bodies, the dead beings, she realized how great death really was. 'Is this really what I want?' she wondered. 'To leave the planet never to come back?' She looked at Larz. 'No. It's not.'
"I don't believe I was obliged to help in the first place," Larz said, matching Francesca’s cold tone. He wiped the blood off of his hands. "You should be happy we came at all, it doesn't look like you would have lasted much longer on your own."
Francesca nodded her head in agreement. She looked toward where the sun was rising. 'It must be around three or four o'clock,' she thought. There was blood smeared across her hands and arms and inside her the little girl shook as she saw it. She walked over to the lake and dipped her arms in the water, watching as the red swirled and disappeared into the water.
The silence of the grounds was interrupted by a burst of fire. At first there was nothing, merely a crater; the remains of the flame. Then, in just the blink of an eye, a boy appeared. He closed his eyes and sent out a flame from his hand, and left nothing of the ogre’s bodies but ashes. He looked up them and justified his actions.
"I hate bodies."
Francesca looked up at the boy. Her eyes narrowed. "Who the heck are you to just barge in here like that?" she asked him. 'Seriously,' she thought, 'who just waltzes in and barbecues a whole load of dead bodies?'
Francesca could see the girl who had been hit in the head leaving out of the corner of her eye. She sighed. She really didn't want to do this, but it seemed to be the right thing to say. ‘Whatever just get it over with,' she thought.
"Hey! You okay?" she shouted after her.
She looked at Francesca and narrowed her eyes. The only thing she said was a muffled noise, "Mmm." She then turned and walked away.
Relieved that the witch didn't give a long answer, and even more relieved that she didn't want Francesca to talk back, Francesca just held her glare on the new boy.
He matched her dirty look and simply replied, "Call me Sam. What's it to ya?"
Francesca pinched her lips together and gave him an ever worse look. "Well, Sam, you just ruined potential supplies. ‘Not liking bodies' is no excuse to randomly go torching a bunch of corpses wearing valuable armors.”
"Hope that helps," the witch from before mumbled. Francesca looked at what the witch had done and said an honest, "thanks." She stood over the armor she had uncovered from under a large boulder and simply transmuted all the metals into one large block.
The centauress stepped in. "I thank you for disposing of the bodies, but I agree with the Elf that we could've used the armor and saved my arrows for future battles." she said.
Francesca looked over to the centauress and saw that she had broken her leg. "Would you like me to fix that for you?" she asked without much enthusiasm in her voice.
"I'm going hunting," Larz said in a rush just before disappearing quickly to the north into the wood.
Francesca stood and watched as Larz left. 'Where's he going?' she wondered.
She lifted a hand to focus the transmutation and mended the centaur's leg. "It may still hurt, but the bone is in place," she told her.
She wanted to follow Larz, but wondered if she should. She looked at the place in the forest he had disappeared to. Francesca felt something was wrong, she didn't know what, but something was wrong. She looked around to look if somebody was hurt, or there were more ogres than they had thought. 'Nothing,' she thought. She brushed it off as nothing and pulled her legs to her chest. She relaxed for a moment, until her eyes widened in shock as she remembered something. 'Larz!'
Behind her was a blood-curdling shriek. Francesca whipped around, but too late. She was trapped. A large arm was around her waist, and another around her throat. She grabbed at the giant arm that was choking her, but it was a vain attempt. Her arms might as well have been a child's as she pulled at the arm. She needed to transmute something, but she couldn't breath. She couldn't think. She needed something now, she was losing consciousness. She transmuted the ground below them and felt the grip release, but didn't have the time to celebrate her victory--she was dead.
7
Death. Something most fear, but not as bad as it seems. That is, if you're an elf.
The swirling mist curled around Francesca's legs. Embracing her. Welcoming her back. She held out a hand and watched the wisps curl around her fingers. How long she would stay in this state was always unknown. It never seemed to change, though when you're dead, there's not much way to tell.
Francesca felt as a gush of wind rushed through her hair and the mist started to tug at her. She was leaving, again. She looked back at the dark; it called to her with seductions of serenity the real world couldn't offer. But there was something--someone she had to go home to, now. She no longer wished to stay in this world. She turned around and let the wind take her, breathing in one last breath of mist before she awoke from her death.
8
She looked up to Samuel and forced herself to fully open her eyes.
"What'd I miss?" she asked.
"H-how-?"
Francesca cut him off, "Magic," she replied quickly. There were places to go, ogres to kill, and she didn't have time to explain to Sam. She stood up and ran into the forest, trying to find where Larz was.
"Hello?" she shouted, not realizing how stupid of an idea that was until after she had done it. She glared at herself.
'If you die again today, I swear,' she said to herself. She ran on, pretending that that hadn't happened. Francesca ran into a clearing and looked around.
'Where's-Larz!' She had found him, or had she? The look in his eyes--was that really him? She transmuted the ground below her, killing two ogres that had been coming toward her.
"Larz!"
Francesca whirled around and barely missed the side of a giant metal sword swinging at her head. She cursed under her breath and transmuted a weapon from the stone in the Earth, ready for battle.
Francesca saw as Lunelle pulled herself out of the grip of Sam, who had vainly been trying to help her.
"Lunelle, remember that truce you brought up a while ago?" she asked in a haste, fighting off another ogre as she did so. If the snot was willing to cooperate, she had an idea.
Lunelle whizzed around and came up to Francesca’s face. "Be nice or I'll turn your nose purple."
Larz fought off another ogre before saying, “Francesca, do you have a plan?”
She looked to Larz, hoping to see at least some of him back. She nodded to his question and tried to hide her dismay, failing miserably. She could feel the pain and fear enter her expression. She brushed it away as best as she could.
Turning to the Fae, she said, "Lunelle, I need you to provide a distraction. Think you can do that?" She turned back to Larz. "Remember how I lifted the earth when we were fighting before? I need you to help me. We're gonna make somewhat of an ogre-sandwich. But first, everyone else has to get out of here."
Francesca spun back around to fight off another ogre and, out of the corner of her eye, saw Kimena. The centauress was fighting three Ogres near them with her short sword. All over her equestrian body were gashes, cuts and bits of what looked like arrow shafts sticking out of her hide. She reared up on her hind legs to double her size. While she did catch one ogre in the eye with her sharp hooves, another tackled her and they both went crashing to the ground, writhing and fighting each other mercilessly. The other two Ogres joined in, continuing to cut, bite and beat her as she slowly became overpowered. Francesca quickly took care of her attacker and then transmuted the ogres attacking Kimena to implode. It wasn't a pretty sight, and Francesca wanted to stop killing.
'Is there no end to these guys?'
"Kimena, I need you to get everyone but Larz and I out of the area, 100 yards at least," she said.
"Right," Kimena agreed.
Looking around, she estimated that there must have been a few dozen left, and they couldn't keep this forever. "Who was the genius who got these guys’ attention, again?" she said, directing her sarcastic tone at Larz.
"Okay, where do you want them miss bossy? Well never mind I don't care. It'll be done.” Snapping her fingers, Lunelle seemed to be waiting for something. It obviously hadn’t come. Nothing happened. Angry, she snapped them again. Nothing. Screaming in frustration, she snapped them again and finally Lunelle turned a bright purple glow. However, it was no longer needed. Her screamed had sounded something like a mix of a dog howling, an off tune person singing, a violin squeaking, and a car squealing. The scream had brought the ogres to their knees.
"Okay, I guess? You have until the ogres get up," she said, though it was not very assuring.
"Thanks, miss snotty," she replied to Lunelle. "Larz, you ready?" she asked. She was not nearly good enough to lift all of the earth by herself, Larz's help was more than mandatory.
"Yeah, I'm ready," Larz said, carving out a transmutation circle on the axe handle. "You ready?"
She nodded her head and smiled at him. Looking back to the ogres and making sure that nobody else was there, she meditated all of the energy she could gather on the tattoo on her back and focused the energy as well as she could and watched as a huge slab of earth rose from the earth, slamming together with the one Larz had risen and crushing the ogres between them.
Larz looked over Francesca with a smile. "Good work," he said.
She smiled back, glad to see him back to semi-normal. "Thank you," she said. She let out a breath and took a look around.
"I'm hungry," she stated, looking for an excuse to break the silence.
"I guess we can leave this mess," Larz said. Before leaving Larz smashed the large axe's handle and picked up the blade that was left.
She looked away from Larz. 'Say something.'
"Race ya there," she teased, turning and running as quickly as she could toward the cafeteria.
"What?!" Larz said surprised at her head start. He started to run but stayed about a foot behind Francesca. Francesca laughed. She wanted to...
No. She was going to do it. She stopped and waited for him to stop, too. When Larz stopped he skidded a little passed her.
"What’s wrong?" he asked.
Francesca let her mind take over, for she knew that if she thought about what she was about to do she wouldn't be able to do it. She took a few steps forward, gently placed both of her hands of the sides of his arms and pressed her lips against his.
9
She could hear Lunelle playing ‘Here Comes the Bride’ with an enchanted orchestra as a taunt in the background, and she noticed that their noses were purple, but Francesca said nothing. Promising herself she'd kill Lunelle later, Francesca just ignored her. This was her moment, and nothing could ruin it. She moved her hands lightly from his arms to his shoulders and smiled through her occupied lips. Pulling her lips apart from his, she held him and embrace as she whispered in his ear, "I love you."
Larz hugged Francesca and in her ear replied, "And I you."
She didn't know what to do. Was it happiness or her nerves making her knees shake? Both? She waited for him to act, for she could hardly move.
Grabbing onto Francesca's ear, the tiny Lunelle yelled into it, "Can we get a move on, you stupid love bird!" She hovered in the air in front of Francesca and Larz. Looking at Larz, she scowled. "The ogres are dead and made into a sandwich so can we please go back to the place. I promise, you two love birds can catch up just as well there.”
Larz grabbed Lunelle out of the air by the wings. He merely gave her a mean look and looked at Francesca and asked, "What shall we do with her?"
Francesca thought a moment. 'So many opportunities,' she thought.
"Just flick it," she decided. "It's evil, and it gets her far away."
Lunelle dug her teeth deeply into Larz's finger and squeezed out of his grasp. "Do you really think I can’t get hurt or something? And I am not an it!” Taking up her wand she chanted something and flicked her wand at them both.
Francesca clutched her back as she felt herself decrease in size. This pain, what was it? What had Lunelle done to her? She looked up at Larz and saw that he, too, was shrinking, but did not seem to have the same pain in his back.
"Lunelle this is taking it a little bit too far," he said.
Lunelle peered at Larz. "Too far, eh? Well should I become as big as I did before and flick both off you into high heaven? Maybe I'll save you from getting eaten-but wait! You’re not growing wings." Frowning, she caught a bird’s feather as it drifted down. Stitching a pair of wings she used sap to glue them to his back and put a small enchantment on them.
"Now, I leave you." Changing into some jeans and a camisole with a flick of her wand, Lunelle smiled and zipped away trough the air back to the school. "Don’t even try to undo it. You’ll waste your time," she shouted over her shoulder.
Gripping her back harder, Francesca could feel something growing out of her. She didn't have time to wonder what it was before another jolt of pain shot through her like a bullet.
'Maybe if I...'
She looked around for something-anything. A stick lay on the ground by her feet. At the size she was at that point, it would definitely be enough to kill her. She thrust it as hard as she could at her chest. Death would make the pain go away--if only for a while.
However, her plan was intervened by Lunelle, who took the stick from Francesca.
Annoyed at the delay, Francesca cringed at another burst of pain. This time she would be more direct. She transmuted her heart, splitting it into two pieces, and immediately felt the pain lift as she fell to the ground.
* * * * *
Francesca sighed at the ease of the mist welcoming her back. Because that was a suicidal death, this would only last a very short time. Hopefully, the pain in her body would be gone by the time her soul returned. The mist tugged at her.
"Not yet," she whined. "I'm not ready."
The mist then began to act strangely. It twisted and turned into the shape of a human-type figure. Francesca looked at it, confused, until it started to color itself.
"I guess you do know me," she said, allowing the mist, now in Larz's shape, pull her back to life.
* * * * *
Opening her eyes, the first thing she heard in this life was Lunelle's annoying voice telling her to wake up.
'What a gift,' she thought to herself sarcastically.
"What do you want?" she asked, annoyed. She realized immediately that the pain was almost all gone.
"You have to learn how to fly-Or I can fly away and leave you for the birds," said Lunelle.
Francesca glared deeply and crossed her arms. "Or you could change us back to normal." It was more of an order than a suggestion.
Lunelle pretended to think before reaching her conclusion of, “No.”
Francesca was getting really irritated. "You still owe me!" she shouted, reminding her of the two last times Francesca saved her life.
"Woah!" Francesca said in surprise at the sudden realization that she was about to be stepped on by Kimena’s giant hoof.
She cursed aloud. "Lunelle turn us back, now!" she yelled.
"Lunelle?" said Kimena. "You did this to them? You should know that they shouldn't be that size unless that is their species," she frowned.
"Kimena, right? Thank you," she said. At this point she would be grateful to anybody who took her side on this one.
Kimena nodded. "I recognize that spell that she used. I think I know how to counter it but it's really tricky." She put a forefinger to her chin in thought.
At those words, Francesca almost wanted to hug Kimena. "Please do! Test it on me, first, I won't die so there's no risk!"
Kimena kept thinking. "Let's see. It's one of those Imitation Transfiguration spells, so since Lunelle was a fae then she turned you into one too," she looked at Larz. "Larz must not be fully organic or otherwise he would've grown wings by now. The counter spell is similar to the offending spell, but how do I turn you back without changing you into a Centaur...? Oh I know!" She pulled out one of her arrow heads and pricked her finger, letting a drop of blood form on the tip of her finger. Crouching low, she said a few words similar to what Lunelle said and held her finger to Francesca. "Close your eyes and drink it. But don't touch it with your hands."
Francesca looked at the blood in utter disgust. All of the things found in blood rushed through her head.
'And Kimena wants me to drink it?' she asked herself.
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and did as she was told. The blood tasted of metallic flavor and sent a warm feeling about her as it trickled down her throat.
''Ew."
Kimena lifted her hand again and pressed on her finger with her thumb to stop the bleeding.
"Yeah. I don't know what Vampires see in it," she smiled. "I don't know if it'll be painful or not, but I'm sure I said the right words so you wouldn't turn into a Centaur."
"Oh no you don't!" Lunelle said. Apparently she was back. "The rule with fairy spells is only the castor can undo it unless the person gives up something like the color of your hair or maybe all your memories before you were 12."
Swiftly she flew up to the centaur and bopped her on the nose with her wand chanting something.
"That should teach you." She smiled. "Ooh what fun this game will be with four people!"
Francesca's teeth clenched at the word 'game.' That's what this was to Lunelle?
Despite the spell, Kimena didn't change at all.
“And if you've ever banged two brain cells together, then you would know that we Centaurs are impervious to all magics but our own, so there's nothing you can do to me." She blew Lunelle away. "And I did give something up to Francesca to change her back. She has a fragment of my soul, which is much more potent than any memory or color of hair."
Lunelle’s face turned red in anger. "That’s it! I hate you all! You’d give up your soul for someone who I was gonna change back anyway if you hadn’t intervened when I'm going to probably die when they flick me to my death. You hate me and I hate you right back. I can't believe this. She was just small! But no! When I'm going to break a few bones and maybe get eaten! You don’t even care! They were planning on how to torture me so I turn them small, so you give up your soul?! I'm leaving." Popping a full suitcase into her hands, Lunelle left without looking back, accidentally pricking her wing on a tree branch and falling head first into the lake.
Francesca could not understand what Lunelle had been yelling about, but her anger immediately faded into laughter as she fell into the lake. "Loser," she said, quietly and flying up to Kimena. "Now what?"
A wall of magic came up between her and Kimena. Francesca turned just in time to see Lunelle cast some sort of spell directly at her. She stopped flapping her wings and just hardly missed the spell Lunelle had cast. She dropped down and hit the ground hard. She had broken a rib on her left and maybe her arm, too. She groaned in pain and stood up, cursing quietly to herself.
Larz ran up to her and helped her up. "Sorry I was too slow to react for some reason," he said with a worried face.
Francesca nodded and forced a smile. "Thanks, I should be fine."
She had no idea what to do next. How was she supposed to turn back to normal? None of this magical stuff made sense-she was a woman of science. Lunelle was getting on her nerves now. What the heck had she done to deserve this much?
'I broke a bone or two, so what? I healed her after. This is permanent!' she thought.
Looking at Larz, she added. 'She didn't have to drag him down, too.'
"I was thinking on turning you back, but I think not now. And unless Little-Miss-Perfect wants to give up the other half of her soul to yours truly then you come find me and you know after that I’m thinking it'll take a lot of convincing.” She then grew about to the size Francesca was normally and picked Larz and Francesca up, carrying them back toward the building.
"I may have a way to get out of this mess," said Larz a moment later.
"You do?" Francesca looked over at him. "Thank goodness, I have no clue," she said, gratefully. "How?"
"I will have to do something...forbidden," he said with a solemn look. He bit his finger and watched the blood drip. With a simple transmutation circle Larz disappeared.
"Larz!" Francesca shrieked. Frantically trying to release herself from Lunelle's grip, Francesca thrashed about.
Giving an evil eye to Francesca, Lunelle threw her roughly on the ground. She then immediately picked her up and flicked her. “Wherever you went, Larz, it wasn’t a good idea to leave her,” Lunelle said. She then continued to try to lure Larz back, hitting Francesca with more painful attacks every second.
10
It had not taken much of the abuse to knock Francesca out, but when she came back into conciseness she knew she must have been through more than that by how many bones felt broken.
She was being carried. It was a man’s body, she could tell that much. She wanted to look, but it hurt too much to open her eyes and she couldn't move. Everything ached but all she could think about was Larz. Was he as hurt as she was?
No. That’s who was carrying her, wasn’t it? Him or Sam, weren’t those the only guys there?
Francesca built up as much energy as she could and forced herself to take a deep breath. She choked back a scream of agony as her ribs exploded in pain. The cough that had come up instead of the scream caused her body to shake, making every nerve in her body to feel as painful as a bullet.
Tears slid down her face as well as blood as she mouthed, "It hurts.”
She felt the boy moving. It was definitely Larz. He was drawing a transmutation circle.
There was a light. It was so bright, even through her closed eyes, but it ended in an instant. Then, after the transmutation, she realized that she was back to normal size. Not only that, but Larz had also healed most of her wounds. Not all of them, though-just the open wounds.
"I'm sorry I can't do more." He whispered stroking her hair.
She opened her eyes and looked up to him. "Thanks," she managed.
She felt better, now. A lot of bones were still broken, but they would heal within an hour. Still unable to move, all she could really do is wait. She could here Kimena walking over toward them. She looked up and saw that she was holding out a small handful of the blue powder.
"Sprinkle this over your wounds and eat some. It'll taste a little bitter, but it'll take the pain away and heal your wounds in about a minute," she explained.
Doing as she was told, Francesca ate the bitter powder.
Swallowing it, she could feel her wounds healing in a warm comfortable way. She slowly climbed out of Larz's arms and tried to stand on her legs, though they felt like jelly. She held onto his shoulders for support and smiled at him. Partially because she wanted to reassure him that she was alright, and partially of how stupid Lunelle always sounded when she was throwing a tantrum. In the background, she could hear it:
“"Did you not see me dying while everyone supported them? No one even intervened!”
A poor new girl was being caught in all of this.
‘So much for her first day,’ Francesca felt bad.
"Francesca you may want to rest a bit you've been through a lot." he said, concerned.
"I'm good," she said. She meant it, the medicine had really worked, but she was still tired and wanted to sit down. Francesca yawned and sat down. She smiled at him and invited him over. However, before Larz had a chance to join her, Lunelle came running up to them. She stopped, took a deep breath in, and looked them both straight in the eyes.
"Okay, listen, we need to do something with the...ugh...new group of ogres, and we need to do it fast."
Francesca raised an eyebrow. She didn't feel like being angry, so she just cut to the chase. "What ogres?" she asked.
Rolling her eyes, Lunelle obviously thought that was the dumbest question in the world. "Um, those ogres?" As Lunelle pointed behind them.
Francesca turned to see the ogres had somehow come back to life. She shrieked in surprise.
"But they were dead!" she complained.
"Don't hurt yourself,” said Lunelle.
Larz said nothing, but merely picked up the black metal he scavenged from them and transmuted it into a gun. Using some of the spare metal around he transmuted about 9 clips of ammo. "I hope you guys have a plan," he said clicking the first clip in.
Francesca flinched at the sound of the gun. She hated those. She took a deep breath in and looked at Larz. "Why are they here? You can't bring anything but elves back to life--that's a fact. How the heck are they standing there?" She was not a big fan of things going out of the range of scientific explanations, and this was not even close to that range.
He muttered to himself in almost a barely noticeable volume, "It couldn't be him could it?"
Understanding immediately, Lunelle's eyes popped open. "No, not him not him! Oh please don't let it be him." She paused and turned to Francesca. "Francesca, get your science head out of your butt and believe it, things can resurrect, as can you stupid you know dying than living again!"
Francesca looked to Larz, completely ignoring Lunelle, and gave him a confused look.
"Who?" she asked. She didn't want to be annoying, but she was curious who 'he' could be.
"It's highly unlikely but I think it may be my brother who is behind this." Larz replied.
Francesca nodded. "Bad or good thing?" She was pretty sure she already knew the answer, but she wanted to be sure.
"Bad, out of anyone I've ever met he was the most sadistic person. That includes the people here." he said glancing over at Lunelle, then back to Francesca.
She glared to the side at nobody in particular. "Life sucks. Okay, well, maybe not,'' she gave a cute smile to Larz, "but it'd be nice if life could just calm down for a bit, wouldn't it?"
Larz sighed and agreed, "Indeed it would. So, why don't we try and make it a little more peaceful?" Larz aimed his gun at the army and with a flare of fire and sound shot at the back of the neck of one of the ogres. He looked over to Francesca then back at his targets.
Francesca wasn’t the only one to react to the gunshot. However, the fairy’s reaction was more than a flinch.
Lunelle screamed. "I hate humans!" she yelled. "Put that thing away now!" Francesca just rolled her eyes and looked away at the sound of her tantrum.
Kimena gave her a harsh warning, "Calm yourself, Lunelle."
Transmuting the ground beneath the monsters before her, Francesca watched as the blood trickled down the sides of the stalagmites that she had risen. Lunelle, meanwhile, cast a blizzard spell and wiped out some of the ogres.
For a few moments Kimena just stood there, her arms folded and watching the three try to fight the trolls. She only sighed in annoyance and lowered her head. "Are you finished playing yet?" she only asked quietly.
Francesca turned and glared at Kimena. "Sarcasm is my thing," she said coolly.
"Heh, she’s right. She’s the most sarcastic brat I know," Lunelle said. "Now though I really would like to stay and chat we got a bunch of dead ogres that are going to be resurrected soon on our hands ."
"Oh, yes, and you're not a brat at all, Lunelle, you're a perfect angel," Francesca said, proving Lunelle right.
"If you two are finished bickering," Kimena sighed. "There is a way to negate the resurrection spell they're under. Unless you wish to sharpen your accuracy skills and continue fighting them?"
She glared at Kimena again. "What do you have in mind?" she asked, leaving out the sarcasm thing.
 Carnivorous Bytes · Fri Nov 23, 2007 @ 02:32am · 0 Comments |
