"W-what do you mean?" Avures was unsure of what exactly this all meant.
"Well. It's fairly obvious that even if you know how to use a sword… You still prefer magic. That's my observation at least. So it is more my responsibility than Grula's to make sure that you become a strong Lancer. I have no clue if you have any hidden abilities either." Zen carefully studied Avures as he walked slow circles around him.
"There is this." Avures lifted up his right index finger. He hadn't forgotten about it during all this time, but he really wasn't sure what to do with it. Zen grabbed hold of the hand and observed the blackened finger.
"There's certainly a magical vibe about this… Tell me, I know you're from an orphanage, but would you happen to know your last name?" Zen tilted his head sideways, hoping that Avures might have an answer.
"I have no clue." Avures shook his head. Zen sighed.
"Typically, Inherent Abilities are hereditary in some form. Otherwise, they are placed there through manipulations of sorts, or by complete random chance. Do you remember how it got like this?"
"When the Headmaster came to the orphanage, he brought this cube. When I touched it, it was warm-...no. It was hot and it turned my finger black."
"Oh. That makes sense, and it makes my job easier. See, you have an Inherent Ability, and it reacted to the Flow from the cube. Those sorts of abilities can utilize Mana and or Flow. The obvious solution here is to pump Flow into you. It might hurt though. There's also the tiniest chance it completely changes your personality, but I wouldn't worry about it."
"Eh?... Hold on." Avures put his other hand up.
"Relax. On the count of three I'll do it, okay?" Zen gave a thumbs up and a smile. Avures put his other hand down and closed his eyes.
"O-okay..."
"One… Two-" Zen cut ahead of his countdown and pushed Flow into Avures.
A wild, indescribable pain flowed throughout his body. Avures felt weak, his knees buckling out from under him as he fell onto his hands and knees. Avures grunted and gritted his teeth. The world around him seemed to distort and decolorize. The ground, which was normally a light brown dirt, had changed colors from blue to green to red to purple in the matter of a few seconds. Lifting his head, he could see some sort of figure stand in front of him. The figure seemed to shrink and get close to his face. Avures threw himself backwards onto his rear as the figure was getting closer and closer. He quickly turned over and got back onto his hands and knees, trying to get himself back up. His eyes hurt. His eyes hurt. His eyes hurt. His eyes hurt. Avures covered his eyes with his hands, ending up on his elbows instead when...
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"Avures...Avures..." A voice as soft as silk crept into his head. Avures body trembled as he held his hands up over his eyes. He didn't know what was going on. Everything got cold. He wasn't just trembling, he was shivering. Avures kept huddling down, squeezing himself closer and closer just trying to stay warm...
"Avures..." The voice was sweet and elegant, the simple call of his name was alluring. Though the pain still lingered, Avures felt the urge to slowly peel away his hands from his eyes. No assortment of random colors, no overwhelming pain in his eyes...Avures touched his hands to the ground and looked around him. Cold. White. Snow? Avures pushed himself up and sat on his knees as he slowly looked around without moving himself. Trees covered in white, the ground not visible below the cold blanket of snow. But beside him...
"Avures!" The origin of the voice...that visage...he could recognize her, but not remember why. A young girl who couldn't have been younger or older than him. Long, blonde hair that seemed to reach her hips. Dark green eyes that contrasted her bright hair and pale white skin. She wore a plain white dress, and nothing on her feet. The girl slowly waltzed over to Avures. Who was she? Without any warning, Avures could feel warmth around him, the arms of the girl wrapped around him. Why couldn't he feel anything? A heartwarming giggle escaped the girl's lips as she pressed them up to his ear. The warmth of her breath grazed against his ear and nearly made him shudder. Why couldn't he feel anything?
"Avures...look what you did." The whisper fell upon his ear. The warmth of her embrace faded away as she stepped back and giggled again. Her arm slowly raised up, her hand raised a finger. Behind him. Avures slowly turned around...
Cold, gray stones greeted him formed in the shape of a rectangle thrust into the ground. Avures raised himself to his feet. Inch by inch, words on the stones greeted him. He stopped.
"Rael"
"No...no..."
"Lylas"
"No! No!"
"Ventrix" "Bif" "Olicia"
Avures felt the cold embrace of the snow as his vision lowered. Falling backwards, he watched more of the stones rise up.
"Stop! Stop!..."
There seemed to be no end to the stones rising out of the ground. Avures refused to look, flipping himself over and covering his eyes again like he had before.
"Avures..."
"Get away from me!"
"Avures."
He could only crawl forward away from the voice. His vision started to blur. He mindlessly moved forward, trying to get away...
"Avures!" A loud voice boomed closely to him. He couldn't see. His vision was spinning. Dark to white and white to dark. He felt a nauseating rush as he felt the presence of other figures crowd him. It forced itself out his throat. A stream of vomit exited out of his body, and as it finished, Avures was getting light headed. No more vision, no more hearing. He threw himself to the side and stared upwards, all his vision fading out...
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Darkness… It was hard to tell what was going on. A flurry of movements and voices, but he couldn't budge an inch. Movement and voices. Movement and voices. But soon, nothing. For Avures, it felt like forever. However, light started to fade in. Distinctly the feeling of early sunlight hitting his eyelids. Avures groaned and rubbed his eyes.
"Hey… Are you alright? Avures?" A familiar soothing voice called out. Avures practically sprang upright. His eyes darted around the room with fervor. It was just him and Rael in their room… But that wasn't her voice. He rubbed his eyes and blinked.
"Avures?..." Rael was sitting on her knees at the edge of his bed, resting her head and arms on the mattress. Avures slowly encroached his right arm to her, reaching out. Rael didn't move. She watched as his finger extended and touched her forehead. Avures's eyes went wide. He pulled back his arm and looked at his hand.
Blackness. Darkness… No. His entire right hand, and even a small portion past his wrist had turned color. Or was it even a color? It was all black, but empty. He couldn't see his skin, but rather, just the shape of his hand. Slowly, he brought his hand up to his face. Among the total blackness were dark streaks of purple that occasionally became visible when Avures moved his hand back and forth. It was like seeing a picture within his own skin.
"Why?" Avures slowly brought his hand down and set his trembling eyes upon Rael.
"I don't know… You started freaking out yesterday and when you finally passed out your hand was like that." Rael stood up from the floor and sat herself beside Avures on his bed.
"Yesterday?..." Avures looked up to the windows, and then down at himself. He wasn't in his training gear, rather his pajamas.
"You have been out cold since then. So, I've been checking in every once in a while to take care of you..." Rael looked down at the bed. Avures started to try and get out of bed, but Rael grabbed him and guided him back down. "Rest for today. Read one of your books...both Miss Grula and Mister Zen want you to rest for the next couple of days. Zen said he'd never seen somebody react so violently to Flow like that."
"But I need to-" Avures tried to move again, but Rael held him down.
"I know what you're thinking. You need to do things. You can't rest… You don't deserve it. But I don't care if you think you deserve it or not." Rael maneuvered herself in front of Avures and stared him in the eyes. Avures quickly tried to avert his gaze, looking to his bedside stand. A cup of water sat there… He didn't remember having that there.
"I don't-"
"Shh… You may not want to rest. You may not want help. You may not feel like you deserve either of the two. But, I'm going to give you help anyways." Rael moved her face closer to Avures's. Their eyes were inches away, Avures could only look into her eyes. His face turned almost as red as her eyes. Then Rael swiftly moved her head back and showed her hand curling into a fist. "And I'll put you to rest too if I need to, if you know what I'm saying."
"..." The redness faded from Avures's face as Rael's lips curled into a goofy smile and she shaked a fist in his face.
"I have to go back to class now. You stay in here, or else." Rael shook her fist at Avures again, still beaming with joy. "I'll bring you lunch when it's time. Okay?"
"O-okay..." Avures muttered out. Rael looked quite pleased with herself as she went to the door and opened it. "Wait. Rael!"
"What?" Rael was halfway through the door as she stopped.
"Thank you..." Avures quietly said. Rael's eyes shined with an intensity that she often didn't show. A slight giggle escaped her lips as she gave a thumbs up to Avures and left. The door shut, and Avures was alone.
It was hard for him to say these things. He appreciated Rael deeply in a strange way, but he also hated that she would do things for him. Avures looked over to the cup of water, and then to the pajamas on him. There was no doubt in his mind that she did these things. But, he didn't deserve this type of care. After all… What had he ever done for her?
It was just in Avures's nature to keep to himself, to just slide by in life. If he didn't owe anyone anything, then no one owed him anything. It was his preferred style of life. Really just, not participating in it. He didn't like feeling obligated to someone else. His deal with Ventrix was still sitting in his mind, eating at him. After all, what if he messes it up somehow? He just wished people would stop doing things for him. That he could just live his life on his own merit, despite how much he didn't seem to enjoy life at all.
Avures sighed and slowly crept over to his desk.
Plopping down in the chair, Avures reached for one of the books he had acquired some months ago. "Volume 4"... He hadn't started on this one yet. The truth of it was, Avures was a natural at magic. Only Mister Zen was truly aware of how far he'd come from his first day learning about it. Avures would spend his free time reading and practicing techniques during those harsh three months. He had definitely put more thought and care into his magical prowess than the blade. Though, with Ventrix's own teaching, he learned a few neat tricks that got him past those months.
But despite all the growth he had in the magic department, Avures ran into a slight wall. A decision needed to be made. He could master all of the Dark Element Casting techniques and the such, but as he had quickly realized, they were the basis of power, not so much the execution or effect. Some of the techniques that were written within these books outlined that different effects happen based on the types of the user. It didn't matter if he could perfectly cast "Deep Murk" several times over, it needed a type to have a proper outcome/effect. When Avures had discovered that, he had asked Zen about it. Of course, Zen was fairly impressed with his initiative, but he also placed pressure on Avures. He told him that he had to pick a type of two to pick up on. He needed to make a choice. And so, Avures had been avoiding that possibility for a while… But being able to rest for today and tomorrow presented an opportunity for him to think on it and finalize a choice.
So… What did he want to specialize in? Avures thought of "Deep Murk". It was a technique that summoned forth a black mist that made seeing five feet in front of you impossible. However, without using a type, the mist is easily blown away. There's no substance behind it. But… With a type, the sky's the limit. With Protection, Deep Murk could serve as a protective fog that friends could see through, but foes couldn't. With Enchantment, it could create an illusory effect of some sort. Or, with Destruction, it could turn into a poisonous fog. There were so many options...
Seven whole options, and reasonably, he could master one to two of them.
Protection: A magic that prioritizes the safety of the caster and others with powerful defensive effects.
Artifice: Magic that deals in creation. It can bind things together to make something else, or outright create something on its own.
Enchantment: A magic that administers magical effects onto people or objects. Like curses, boons, illusions...
Manipulation: The magic that can bend the world around it in various ways. From people to objects, this magic can immediately alter it.
Destruction: Magic that deals in instant damage. It exerts the caster's will onto the world.
Time: The manipulation of time itself by magic. The hardest to learn, but very freeform in terms of casting.
Utility: Magic that doesn't necessarily affect the world, but rather works around it. It's the most freeform type of magic, limited only by the user's creativity.
Avures sighed, his mind clouded with so many possibilities, yet none at all. Avures tapped his finger to the desk over and over. Each tap was another thought spiraling through his head. While a basic level of each type could be used… True mastery was needed in order to make himself formidable. He stopped. This was what always happened any time he tried to overthink it. He never made any progress and pushed it off. No more. If he couldn't decide, he'd leave it up to chance and honor it. Pulling out a piece of parchment and a pen, Avures put the seven types on both sides of the paper. After he did this, he crumpled it up into a ball. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Avures unraveled the paper by feeling and straightened it out before putting his finger to the paper. Once he was sure of where he wanted his finger, he opened his eyes...
Enchantment...
Avures was content with it, but he still needed one more type. After all, if he could master two types...why not? He repeated the same process: Crumpling, closing his eyes, un-crumpling, and putting his finger on a spot. Avures slowly opened his eyes...
Manipulation...
Avures rolled his eyes, but accepted the terms. He was hoping for something more direct, though if he really wanted something else, he should have just picked it himself. Nonetheless, Avures had his two magic types, and he could really start his training. Though it would be very boring. It wasn't necessarily that Avures couldn't stand being bored. He could do boring things on repeat without end, but magic was something that he actually enjoyed. And so doing something so boring with something he liked would drive him crazy. But, he resolved to do it anyway.
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Avures slowly hovered his finger above the desk. A dark, shadowy aura surrounded his finger. Slowly, but surely, he inched the finger down. When contact was made, a circle of black originated from the point where Avures touched and quickly spread throughout the entire table. Avures then slowly touched his index finger back to the table again. The original color of the table formed a circle at the contact point, and overtook the blackness entirely. Avures would have to do this over, and over, and over again. This was the art of Manipulation, and he would have to learn and master the feeling of using his mana to alter something. He would have to do the same for Enchantment as well, putting boons or curses on an object and then removing them. It was going to be a long, arduous project, but it would result in him mastering these types. Not to mention any extra and better training he fits in during classes.
And so, that's what Avures would do for the next few hours. Tap his table, and magically alter it over and over again. The first couple of times he had to carefully do it so as to not mess up the feeling. But after twenty or so times, he was starting to get the feeling down.
It would be hard for him to describe it, but it was like holding this power in your finger, and using it to overpower whatever it was you touched with it in order to change the base components to something else. And it took lots of quick examinations. At first, Avures was surprised at how much mental effort it took to make use of it. But if he went in knowing what to do… It became so much easier to alter it. It also became very apparent to him that this would never be an easy magic to use on a person outright. It would either take an extreme amount of mana to overcome them, or it would take focus and examination on the target. He could equate it in that way to having the right key for the lock.
Enchantment magic on the other-hand proved to be much easier. Rather than changing something outright, it was more like layering something new on top. Sure, it could change something outright in terms of added properties, but the layering method seemed to work easier and better. And it made sense. Enchantment magic could make someone stronger, faster, more durable even. But it could also lay traps on surfaces, and prevent things from moving. In that way, with the layering method, it was extremely versatile. The mana layer would need to be strong, but even if it could help or hinder someone for one second… It was a force to be reckoned with.
Avures would keep switching between Enchantment and Manipulation practice. He even got into a sort of rhythm tapping his finger to the table. And he was happy doing just this… That is until he noticed something. Avures stopped tapping his finger. His heart practically stopped beating as he heard a soothing hum from the other side of the room. This hum matched the sequence and rhythm he was doing.
Avures slowly turned his head to the origin point of the humming. His eyes widened. His lips quivered. His hands grew sweaty. Sitting over on Rael's bed. It was the girl. His eyes burned in an image of her in his head with how long he stared. The girl kept humming along as she swayed her head back and forth. Then suddenly, she stopped, and looked right back at Avures in the eyes.
"W-why… Are you here?..." Avures moved his finger up to his lip, biting into it.
"Hmm. You can see me now?" The girl tilted her head and hopped off the bed.
"Who… Are you?" Avures slowly stood up from his chair.
"Hmm… Oh! I see." The girl hopped over to Avures with a smile on her face.
"Stay away!" Avures backed away to his bed.
"Huh? What's wrong with you? I was just gonna point out your hand. Jeez..." The girl stopped in her tracks and pouted.
"... What about my hand?" Avures slowly lowered his right finger from his mouth. Despite his hand and arm being entirely black and looking skinless, it still bled all the same from where Avures bit down on his finger.
"Well. Your power is awakened. That means you can finally see me!"
"Finally?"
"Yeah! I've always been with you, Avures!"
"You didn't answer me… Who are you? Why do you know my name? Why have you always been with me?" Avures slowly inched closer to where the girl stood. They stood nearly eye to eye.
"Sorry! I can't tell you my name. It would serve no one to do so. But think of me as… A guardian angel… Your guardian angel!" The girl pointed at Avures and lightly poked him in the chest.
"No… That's not right." Avures brushed her finger away. "I saw you in that vision… All of those visions… It was nightmarish. No guardian angel would subject anyone to that."
"Huh?... What visions?"
"Don't play dumb with me!" Avures grabbed the girl by the collar of her white dress. But, he quickly let go, realizing that he had suddenly shown so much aggression, which was out of character for him, and that he wasn't sure he even had a way of conveying what he meant.
"I can assure you. Whatever visions you saw were not granted by me… But by that..." The girl slowly pointed to Avures's right hand.
"What do you mean?" Avures raised his right hand up and examined it again.
"It's your latent ability like I said. You should be able to figure it out on your own so I won't tell you. But… If you are wanting to learn more at some point, you should find your roots." The girl turned away from Avures and waltzed over to Rael's bed.
"If I have to figure out what's happening to me on my own… That's fine with me." Avures put his hand down and took a deep breath. "But my roots… I don't know where to even beg-Hey!"
"Oh… Avures… This "Rael" girl really seems to think highly of you, huh?" The girl was laying down on Rael's bed, kicking her feet back and forth in the air while reading a sort of battered book.
"Put that back!" Avures made a grab for it, but he missed. "That's her diary."
"Well duh! Think I can't tell that-Hey!" The girl had the book suddenly stripped from her hands by Avures.
"Jeez… I-" Avures froze as the door creaked slowly.
"I brought you lunch like I said I would, Avu-..." Rael froze while holding a wooden plate with ham and beef along with a fork. Avures was frozen in motion as well, holding her diary in plain view. Avures's eyes darted back to the bed. The girl was gone. His eyes darted back to Rael. Rael's slow footsteps echoed throughout the room. Her eyes were locked with his. Each footstep felt like a torturous pain. The plate and utensil were placed on Avures's desk. Rael then got closer and closer. Not a word was spoken. As soon as she was practically inches apart, she swiped the book from Avures's hands. Rael took a couple of steps forward towards the door and stopped.
"Why?..." Rael's words seemed shaky as she asked Avures.
"I didn't mean to-..." That really didn't work as Avures spoke it, but how else was he supposed to convey what happened. "I didn't read any of it."
"Oh… I suppose it just-..Happened to be open, huh" The words that she spoke made her lips quiver.
"Rael..." Avures couldn’t bring himself to move.
"You know, Avures… I thought I trusted you… Trusted you not to do something like this." Rael turned back to face Avures as she stood in the doorway. Her face was completely red, and her eyes looked sharp and dangerous to Avures. Still holding the book, she turned away from Avures and slammed the door shut.
Even though it wasn't his doing, Avures felt guilt. But along with that, he felt a slight bit of rage. The one who perpetrated this wasn't even showing herself to him now. Was he mad at them though, or himself for not being able to communicate it better? Communication with how he felt or his own actions felt impossible, and that event made it ever clearer. All this pent up anger and rage… Nothing to vent it out with. Though, Avures's face stayed plain. He was good at hiding his emotions, or was it that he couldn't show them? No one was here… Who was he hiding them from?
He didn't want Rael to hate him. As much as he always tried to make himself look and feel indifferent to her presence, there was just something about her that Avures liked. He could never put it to words, much less ever talk about it. And part of him thought she knew that, though he could never know himself. He was thankful for her being around him, even if he rarely let her know. And for once, he had let her know only for him to blow it up later. His fault or not, he had her diary in hand. It was a violation of their mutual trust. Avures felt sick to his stomach. He no longer had any sort of appetite. Avures sluggishly laid himself on his bed. Pulling his blanket over him, Avures's eyes became heavy with shame and guilt until he could no longer see...
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"Are you sure that's your decision? You may never be able to have another opportunity like this."
Avures was in a space he couldn't recognize. His eyes scanned around. There was no floor, yet he was standing atop something solid, there were no walls, yet it seemed he was confined in a space. Instead, everything looked spacious, dark and black with blimps of light like the stars in the sky. Avures could see two figures. One looked to be someone familiar to him, though something was off. As he focused in, he could see it as Ventrix, though looking slightly older. The other figure was completely foreign to him though. It was a green, featureless humanoid figure which looked to be transparent. There were several white lines within his figure that were visible. And, as he spoke, his green color seemed to become brighter.
"Avures, I promise you that there will be no respect lost from me if you choose the other one. Not only is Rael my friend, but I know what she means to you… You've worked hard. You deserve whichever one you pick." Ventrix slowly walked up and put his hand on Avures's shoulder.
"The needs of the many come before the individual. This could stem from my own feelings about myself… But it's the only option I can accept myself taking. Besides, there is still a chance I can cure Rael on my own." Avures felt his lips move, his words come out, but that was not what he himself was thinking or wanting to say. It was like he was watching himself do things. Slowly, his footsteps carried him to the green figure. Avures's hand reached out to him. The green figure seemingly nodded his head, and handed him a strange looking book. Then, everything faded to white...
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Avures's eyes opened wide as he shot up from his bed. Sitting upright, he felt a slight pain in his head. He grabbed at it, wondering why it was hurting. It was probably that dream… Dream… Avures shook his head, and glanced over to the window. It was clearly night out, but there seemed to be a light in the room. His eyes darting around, Avures looked for the origin point. A small, tiny flame was resting right above his desk. Curiously, it hovered overtop of the lunch that Rael brought in. He looked over at Rael's bed. He couldn't see well, so he slowly got off of his bed, and tip-toed over to her bed.
Though, he felt quite silly as when he was right next to the edge of her bed, a new light appeared. This one, right in front of his face, illuminated Rael as well. Rael was sitting up against the wall in her bed with her knees almost as high up as her head. She was slightly slouched as she clutched her diary to her chest and neck area and hid half her face below the book. Rael's gaze stayed attached to the wall in front of her as her eyelids hung half-way down her eyes.
"Avures..." Rael's voice sounded unenthusiastic and quiet. She didn't move an inch or even bother to look at him.
"Rael..." Avures's voice sounded shaky and quiet. He looked down at her as he stood still.
"Why didn't you eat the lunch I brought?" Rael asked in the same tone.
"I… Wasn't hungry." Avures softly replied.
"Oh… Well, if you're hungry now… I kept it warm for you."
"Thank you..." Avures was hungry, but he couldn't eat. There was no way. Rael sighed and scooted over to the corner of her bed, still keeping the same position. She moved her hand down to where she was sitting a moment ago and tapped it. Avures obliged slowly, sitting himself right beside her and looking at her.
"I know I never mentioned anything about it… But I trusted that you wouldn't just go through my stuff like that. Especially not something so… Private." Rael clutched the book closer to her chest, still staring forward.
"I didn't-.. I wasn't-... I-I-" Avures couldn't find what he wanted, or rather, needed to say.
"I know you normally never lie… At least not to me. So, why now?..." Rael kept looking forward. Avures couldn't bring himself to say anything. "I see you getting along with Ventrix… Lylas… Did someone put you up to this as a joke? Are we drifting apart as friends?"
"Rael… No one put me up to anything. You're still my-"
"Then why are you lying to me?! Why did you do it?" Rael's voice cracked as she turned to meet Avures's eyes. Her own eyes were starting to get watery. "It's private! I wouldn't read your journal… Why do you always sound so detached from everything?"
"... I don't know..."
"How much did you read?" Rael sniffled as she looked away from Avures, instead looking out the window at the night sky. Even if he told the truth, she wasn't going to believe him. But, all Avures wanted to do was explain the truth… But was it even the right thing for him to do? Empathy versus logic… Avures felt like he could put his problems to words: A lack of empathy. Or, the inability to show empathy. Why?
"... Why do you think so highly of me?" Avures embraced the lie. Though a "half-lie", still one nonetheless.
"Because… You're important to me… Throughout everything, you've been my only real friend. I know you have a tendency to act like I'm a nuisance sometimes, but I know you do care… At least, I think you do… That's why I… I don't want you to stop being my friend… Please… I-... I-No matter what seems to happen to you, you always seem to let it not affect you… You're always strong… No matter what. And I like that a lot about you. And whether it's because you are strong… Or if you are detached from everything… Or if you can't feel anything after all… I don't care. You inspire me… You make me want to be better… So that's why..." Rael turned towards Avures again. She grabbed Avures's arms as she stuttered and struggled to find the words she wanted. As she finished, she slowly let go of his arms, fell to her side, and weakly buried her head in his lap. "Please… Keep being my friend..."
"Rael… I'm sorry for reading your diary..." Avures was shocked by how much Rael confided in him. She cared deeply about him. He cared deeply about her. But, he felt remorse, though he couldn't find a way to show it. "I promise… I'll always be your friend. I don't have to be your only friend either."
"That's all I want… I'm sorry for blowing up on you, Avures… I just don't want to be left behind..." Rael's voice grew quieter and quieter as she weakly threw the diary off the side of the bed.
"Left behind..." Avures mumbled. Thinking back on it...
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"Hey guys! Let's go play tag!" A young red-headed child stood atop a small hill with her arm pointing up to the sky.
"Yeah totally!"
"Alright!"
"You're it then, Rael!"
The children hurriedly sped off, and the young Rael hopped off the hill to pursue. Within the windows of the orphanage, a young Avures would watch the declaration of the game. Never interested in anything like that, he instead opted to draw pictures. Using a small brush and basic colors, Avures would create pictures to pass the time. But, any time he saw that red-headed girl on the hill, he wanted to draw the scene. He was no artist, and the drawings were crude, but there was a slight bit of joy found in the act.
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"Hey, what's this?" The red-headed girl grabbed the sheet from Avures's table and brought it up to her eyes.
"Hey, that's mine..." Avures's voice was nowhere near loud enough to get her attention. Suddenly, Rael started laughing.
"Guys, look!" Rael turned the sheet around, showing the drawing off for the rest of the children to see.
"Ha-ha look at it!" One of the kids pointed at it.
"It looks dumb!" Another kid remarked.
"Avures likes Rael!" A boy in the back started mocking.
"Eww!" Rael tossed the sheet back onto the table where Avures sat. He didn't move, much less even bother to look at them. Avures sat there, taking the verbal abuse his fellow kids hurled at him.
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Avures was well aware that Rael used to lead those kids around. They were just as bound as anyone else to the natural charisma she seemed to have.
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"Oh my gosh, he's at it again!" Rael rallied the other kids around. This time, she snatched a piece of parchment away from Avures as he was writing on it.
"Ahem..."They gather atop the hills. The red-head speaks and brings them thrills! Joking and playing they tire out. Tomorrow they await for the next bout!"... What is this? Poetry?" Rael could hardly contain her laughter. The other kids were almost falling over, doubling in laughter. Avures was frozen still. He didn't remark, he didn't cry or get angry, and he didn't even look at them. In a fit of laughter, Rael crumpled the paper and threw it back onto the table...
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But things started to change for Rael. Where she was once the group leader for these kids who followed her everywhere… As they all got older… She got less popular. She was still the playful person she was before, but they had all changed. The games they wanted to play weren't fun to her, and the ones she wanted to play were too childish for them. There was a disconnect. One by one, people stopped hanging around her… Until eventually… She sat atop that hill alone. No one talked to her, no one approached her. She was alone. Avures would watch out that window. He watched Rael get lonelier and lonelier. He felt insulted by her from before, even angry, but he didn't relish in her despair at all. Instead, he felt… Guilty.
As chance would have it though, one day during lunch at the orphanage...
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"Rael… Why don't you go sit with Avures over there?..." Misses Greene pointed to the boy with sincerity in her voice.
"Hmm… Well..." Rael pondered, attempting to hide the fact that she had no intention of sitting next to him.
"There's no good in letting you two sit apart when you're already alone. Go talk to him. Make a friend." Misses Greene smiled as she quietly talked to Rael.
"Okay okay..." Rael sluggishly walked over holding her plate and fork and plopped down in the chair next to Avures at his table. Avures silently sat there eating his food, paying no heed to Rael, not even looking at her. "H-Hi..."
"Hi..." Avures looked up to greet Rael. Their eyes locked in the most awkward stare-off imaginable.
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And though Rael had to be convinced the first time to sit with him, she would come back for every meal every single time after. Though Rael couldn't seem to get any lick of personality from Avures, she was able to talk to him. He would respond in the most neutral way possible. And, occasionally, he would play games with her. Though, it would be nothing physical, but rather, checkers or something similar.
As they grew older, they tended to stick together more and more. Rael by preference, and Avures because he didn't feel like walking away from her. Sometimes, however, the other kids would make fun of Rael and Avures. While Avures was unfazed, Rael would be deeply hurt sometimes. And Avures would allow Rael to confide in him. Somewhere along the way, their friendship became more mutual, even if only apparent as one-sided. Avures liked her company. And Rael saw and talked to herself as someone Avures needed, even if he never said or implied anything close to that.
However, looking back on it now, Rael had most likely done that in an attempt to make sure Avures wouldn't grow away from her. He realized it for what it was. But deep down, he did know… He needed her.
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"I have a hard time understanding people… And they have a hard time understanding me… But Rael, I think I finally do understand us. I-..." Avures was cut off by a low-volume snore. He looked down, the flame of light Rael made had slowly faded out and he hardly noticed. But even without the light, it was easy to tell that she had fallen asleep on his lap. Avures's lips trembled. He dared not move at all. He didn't want to wake her up. And now, he felt something completely different and foreign to him. His lips quivered as they slowly shaped into the smallest of smiles. Shortly after, he felt a similar exhaustion, slowly closing his eyes and falling asleep as well...