013: Pure Again Daylight, Chapter 10

[beautifultragedy]

Fandom: Breath of Fire
Story: Pure Again
Summary: Very Bad Things happen when rogue demigods try to reverse time.
Warning: references to sexual abuse

From the Eyes of the Son

 The whole time Dad and Demeter were out cold, Vanessa couldn't stop apologizing. In fact, she worked herself up even more than I did over the whole thing.

 The spell she'd cast invoked Ladon himself- those two were exhausted beyond exhaustion, and Vanessa could tell just as well as I could that they weren't in the best shape, either of them. I always just left it alone; I had things of my own to deal with, and Dad was a big boy, he didn't need his son taking care of him. Vanessa, however, didn't share the sentiment; this was the first time seeing her sister in almost twelve years, she said, and it was disheartening to sense her so fatigued.

 So, the sleeping spell she cast on Demi and Dad was an invocation to Ladon, asking him to let the two of them sleep until their bodies were fully rested. She swore up and down that she had no idea it would knock them out for three days.

 So while the two of us sat by their bedside in shifts, gnawing nervously on our fingernails, Byron was busy spreading rumors about me in school. I couldn’t fathom why he was so unconcerned with his older sister’s condition that he was taking this opportunity to try to break me down more. I could only marvel at how much my step-uncle must actually hate me to decide that slandering me was more important than Demeter. Even I thought that Demeter and Dad were most important right now.

 Most of what Byron accused me of actually made me more popular with the rest of the school- go figure. The only people who mattered if they believed were the rest of ACM, and they just stared at him blankly and asked where the hell he got that from- whatever that was, at the moment.

 Once, though, during my time out of school while I watched Dad and Demi, Alex stopped over to see why I was MIA, and was what Byron said about me and the Groe twins from Music Theory One true? It was too wild for him to have made it up! Unfortunately, he did, I told Alex dryly.

 I also discovered that Byron'd tried to start the "Garr's Gay!" rumor again. Much to his chagrin, Alex told me, he discovered that there wasn't a person in the school that held any sway over the social workings of the student body that didn't see me and Sorrow dancing at the ball, and those students defended my heterosexuality with a vengeance. Wasn't it amusing that neither side was correct, I asked Alex. He looked at me innocently and told me he didn't know what I was talking about. I dropped the subject there. No point in going into it.

 I noticed, though, that Alex looked ungodly pale. He was coughing a lot, too- I mentioned maybe going to see Valerie. Not even a year ago, he almost died of Faeish Plague, and we all still got a little nervous when he got sick.

 "I'm not going to see Valerie."

 "You sound horrible."

 "Garr, I have a cold. I'm not going to see Valerie." That was his end-of-discussion voice that always irritated the hell out of me.

 I miffed at him, looking back at Dad and pressing a hand to his throat lightly, searching for his life pulse. Still alive. "Don't give it to me, then."

 "Hn. As you say, Lord Noble."

 I shot him a withering glare. I hated having my status as a noble thrown at me like that. Almost immediately he muttered an apology.

 Vanessa came in the room. "Here, Garr," she said softly. "One of your lady friends is here- I take over watching them if you'll go pick up Janus from school when the time comes."

 "Sure," I nodded, and Alex and I stood and made our way down the stairs. When I saw that my "lady friend" was Anna, I felt a pang of disappointment- why? I asked myself as Alex and Anna embraced and kissed. I didn't have time to wonder.

 "Who's that woman?" Anna started her interrogation of me. "Where have you been? Why's Byron trying to ruin your reputation again? Where're Uncle Ryu and Aunt Demi?"

 "That's Demeter's little sister, Vanessa, I've been here- barely left the house- I have no idea why Byron's talking trash, ask him, and Dad and Demi are in a magically-induced coma courtesy of Vanessa's poor judgment, and if I'm not your cousin, they're not your aunt and uncle," I answered in one breath, irritably.

 Alex doubled over in a fit of laughter. "Garr, breathe! Your face is bright red! Take a moment to breathe before statements!"

 I glared at him again. "Anna, control him, will you?"

 "That's enough, my love," Anna drawled, stroking his hair.

 He straightened, trying to catch a hold of his chuckles. "I'm sorry," he said in a genuine tone. "Do you know when they'll be awake?"

 "No idea," I said miserably, then explained what Vanessa had told me as they took their seats on the couch and I on a recliner opposite them.

 Anna was looking at me with a weird expression on her face when I finished. Alex nudged her and made an inquisitive noise. She sighed. "It could happen, but it doesn't sound right." She explained, "My dad's a former Ladonic priest, and I learned a bit about prayer-spells like that one."

 "Rzalyn's an ex-priest?" Alex echoed my incredulous look. "You're kidding me."

 "Nope." She scooted over to the phone. "I'm gonna call him and ask him about it, if it's okay with you, Garr."

 "Yeah, sure." I glanced at the clock on the wall. "I have to go pick up my little brother- I'll go tell Vanessa that you're staying here, right?" She nodded, and Alex stood.

 "I'll go with you," Alex said. "I want to talk to you."

 I sighed grimly. What now? "Fine. Hang on."

 After conferring with Vanessa shortly, Alex and I were out the door and down the street. We were a block away before he started talking. "Garr, is she-"

 "No," I cut him off. I knew where it was going from the tone of his voice. "And she doesn't know, either. So don't ask."

 Alex fell into an uneasy silence. "You're like a little brother, you know," he finally said. "Something else is going on, bigger than what either of us can figure out. It's all too convenient."

 "What is?" I asked, genuinely curious as to what he meant.

 "Everything," he told me. "What Demeter's been doing, Byron poisoning you- Isn't it ironic that as soon as Byron's caught, and I find out about Demeter abusing you-" I frowned at him, but let him continue- "that their sister shows up, puts both Ryu and Demeter in a coma. While you're at home terrified for your dad, Byron's doing his damnedest to destroy your reputation?" He looked at me. "There's something else going on, Garr. I don't like Vanessa any more than I like Byron or Demeter."

 "You've only had five minutes of interaction with her!"

 "Do you like her?" he asked me, seriously.

 I thought about it for a moment. "Yes," I said slowly. "I believe her when she says that what she did to Dad and Demi was an accident, and she's been friendly company- she helps take care of Janus and Sara, and she's even taught me a few more healing spells. Hell, Alex, the woman's able to make me laugh!" I met his gaze. "I mean, really laugh. I don't do that anymore. How can I not like her?"

 Alex looked away, his expression thoughtful. We walked the rest of the way to Janus's school in silence; Janus was already out, and bounded towards us happily when he saw us. Alex lifted him into his arms and spun him around a few times before settling my little brother on his shoulders, and we started home. Alex started a light conversation with the boy about ice cream flavors, while I pondered what Alex said about the situation and convenience. He was right. These events were one hell of a coincidence- but they were just that. Coincidence. There was no logical way to connect them.

 About halfway home, Janus insisted on riding my shoulders, so Alex lifted him off his own and helped settle his weight on mine. It was a bit more difficult for me to carry him- I was only about a foot and a half taller than he was at this point- so after a few steps Alex took him from me again, and I managed to arrange him comfortably on my back, and we started walking again. I muttered good-naturedly about having to carry a grown man who can walk, and Janus laughed at my comments as if they were the funniest things he'd ever heard.

 We crossed paths with Rzalyn a block away from home; he whistled to us to get our attention and jogged up, bidding all three of us a good afternoon, then: "I want to meet this priestess," he said. "I'm curious. We haven't had a missionary in Wyndia in a long time." Then he looked at me; Janus whispered in my ear to put him down, and I knelt so he could slide off by back as Rzalyn spoke to me. "Anna says that she put your father and stepmother in a coma?" he asked, puzzled.

 I nodded. "Uh-huh. She cast a spell that’s designed to keep them asleep until their bodies awaken them naturally. They've been asleep two days now," I explained, trying to control the wave of panic that hit me whenever I thought about how long they were out. "We don't know when they're going to wake up."

 Rzalyn puzzled over this a bit, and then said, "Perhaps I can help."

 Anna greeted us at the door, running up first to hug Rzalyn, then kiss Alex, and finally to hug me and ruffle Janus's hair, much to his chagrin. Anna explained to Rzalyn in a low voice that she thought that perhaps Valerie should be called; Alex looked at her and said, "Do it, and I'm going home."

 Anna looked back at him. "Oh? Y'know, Mr. I'm-Too-Man-To-See-A-Doctor, your cough's getting pretty bad- but I really wasn't referring to you, my sweet."

 Alex caught the sarcasm on her voice. "I know that, my lady-love," he replied with equal mock sweetness, "but you know as well as I do that Val'll want to see me, too." And as if to emphasize his point, he broke down coughing.

 Rzalyn looked at him with a concerned expression. "You should see Val about that," he said simply. Alex glared at him between coughs.

 Janus had apparently had quite enough of our bickering and fled inside; we followed him. I heard banging around in the kitchen. "Vanessa, we're home!" I called.

 Rzalyn gasped sharply and the color drained from his face. He shook his head slightly. "Dad?" Anna asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Are you-"

 "Great Ladon!" Vanessa exclaimed from the doorway of the kitchen, her eyes falling on Rzalyn. For several moments the two just stared at each other like that: Rzalyn pale as death, and breathing shallowly, and Vanessa with her face flushed, looking like her life was in danger. Alex, Anna and I watched them, glancing at each other. All three of us were worried about this.

 Rzalyn straightened abruptly. "Lady Vanessa," he said, bowing stiffly. "It's been a long time."

 "Yes. Quite," was her short reply. "I see you're in good health, my lord."

 "And I'm quite happy to see that you are, as well," he replied in a tone more formal than he took with the Queen. "My daughter tells me a spell's gone awry."

 "It has not," Vanessa snapped. "It's doing exactly what I want it to." Suddenly the tension that she held around her dropped, and she sighed heavily. "It's doing what I want it to too well," she told him in a more civil tone. "I don't know how to break it." With those words, she looked away, blushing furiously.

 Rzalyn regarded her with a tense smile. "And you need help."

 "Yes."

 "My help."

 "Your daughter made the call. I'd never ask for your help," Vanessa replied softly, venomously. "If I'd known who her father was-"

 "What's going on?" Anna finally demanded.

 "Nothing," Rzalyn told her in the same venomous tone as Vanessa's words, his eyes never leaving Vanessa's face. "Absolutely nothing." His tense smile turned to a bitter grin. "Shall you take me to your sister and brother-in-law, Lady Vanessa?"

 She narrowed her eyes at him, and for a moment I thought she might walk right up to him and slap him. Instead, she simply trounced past us, tossing her hair over her shoulder in agitation. Alex and I looked at each other, and then at Anna, who just shrugged, her eyebrows raised.

 Janus tugged on my shirt. "I'm bored."

 ~*~

 It was well after dark by the time the two came back downstairs, both looking quite weary. We knew they'd been using magic- we could all feel it in the air. I had to change Sara and feed her, then I laid her back down in her playpen, and she slept peacefully while Anna, Janus and I got caught up in a fast and furious battle of Card Fishing. Alex chose to sit out after losing the first round, claiming that he had a headache, and he now dozed fitfully on the couch.

 Anna and I exchanged worried looks when he did. Neither of us wanted to go through what we had last year. Alexandre’s behavior was beginning to edge towards terrifying.

 The three of us looked up when we heard them come down the stairs. Neither our teacher nor the priestess looked happy with their afternoon of work. We'd just finished another round of Card Fishing; I started collecting the cards. "You have homework, dontcha?" I asked Janus.

 "Yes, but-"

 "Don't 'but' me," I chided gently. "Go do it. You know Dad would have you in bed by now, right?"

 "Whatever..." Janus said, drawing the word out as long as he could. He picked himself up off the floor and stomped up the stairs. I smiled slightly, grateful once again for the respect my little brother had for me. Even if he didn't understand how serious the situation might be, he did understand that Dad always left me in charge when he can't enforce the rules, and that Dad couldn't enforce the rules.

 I turned my gaze to Rzalyn and Vanessa once I heard the door to Janus's room close. "It's no good, is it?" I asked softly.

 Rzalyn sank down onto the couch where Alex wasn't laying, and Vanessa plopped down in the recliner. "If they haven't woken by this time tomorrow, get Valerie," Rzalyn said flatly. "They may die if we're not able to snap them out of it."

 Tears sprang to my eyes. Vanessa sighed and put her face in her hands. "Dear Ladon, what happened?" she asked rhetorically, her voice despairing. "This has never happened before!"

 Alex blinked his eyes open and he sat up, looking around sleepily. Anna scooted over so that she sat in front of him and her father, looking up at them. I hugged my knees to my chest and buried my face in my arms.

 "What happened," Rzalyn said softly, "is that the magic used to power the spell is being drained off someone else. I don't know how, but it is." He looked around at us. "This person will die if we don't find them and cut the cord between them and Ryu and Demeter. It will drain their magic until they have none left, then it will drain their life from them. Once that's gone, the spell will attempt to use Ryu and Demeter’s magic and then their life, and they will die as well."

 Silence descended. "Rzalyn," Alex said softly. We all looked at him.

 Alex looked ashen, as if death had taken him. His eyes, normally a bright blue but now dull with exhaustion, echoed something along the lines of horror. "I've not been able to harness the magic to do the last two assignments in class," he said in a small voice. The four of us exchanged looks; Alex stretched out his hands, and his lips moved in silence. I recognized the spell, even though I could not cast it- it was a simple fire spell, called Burn. Any mage with control over the element of fire could cast that, even Janus. I'd seen him do it.

 Slowly, very slowly, too slowly, magic energy built between Alex's hands; I felt a strange feeling of dread in my chest. "Stop him," I said, not recognizing my own voice.

 Anna reached up and tried to force one of Alex's hands to his side to break the flow of magic, but she yelled and jerked her hand back, as if she'd been scalded. Alex stood as sweat began to pour down his face; he looked to be in a trance of some sort. "Alex!" Rzalyn yelled, shaking him. Vanessa sprang to her feet and she too tried to use physical force to stop him, with the same result as Anna. I was frozen; I couldn't move.

 Vanessa took a step back. "Get away from him!" she hissed, then pulled her own hands back, raising her magic power. This spell I recognized also, and it was one I could cast easily: Icicle. She built up just enough power, so that both spells would dissipate once they connected, and with a yell hurled it in Alex's direction.

 The icy air between her hands shot to Alex's, and the energy he was building- which had taken on an eerie orange glow- disappeared. His hands fell to his sides, and he swayed on his feet. "How-"

 Alexandre fainted.

 Anna screamed; Vanessa had already grabbed the phone and was dialing. Rzalyn knelt swiftly next to him, checking his throat for a pulse. "He's okay, I think," Rzalyn said quickly. Vanessa started talking into the phone rapidly; she'd called Valerie. He looked from Alex's fallen form to Vanessa, who'd just hung up the phone.

 "She'll be here in fifteen minutes," Vanessa said tensely, pulling one of the blankets and throw pillows off the couch and kneeling to arrange the pillow under Alex's head and the blanket over his body.

 "Why the hell is your spell draining Alex, Vanessa?" Rzalyn demanded. For all that was going on, I suddenly wanted to be gone. He was angry. I held my breath as Vanessa stammered, then stumbled through her answer.

 "I- I have no idea, Rzalyn, I- Gods! What's going on here?!" she just about shrieked. She stood, looking from me to Anna to Rzalyn, and back to me. "There's something going on in this household," she said severely, "I've felt it since I stepped in here." She set me with a look. I blinked innocently.

 "I don't know what you're talking about," I said. Anna glared at her almost as fiercely as Rzalyn was now. I caught Anna's eyes, silently asking, Did he tell you? It must have showed in my face, because she nodded slightly.

 Silence again. Alex moaned.

 All attention was back on him. Rzalyn asking questions, Anna stroking his hair softly. The doorbell rang; it was Valerie and Sorrow. Vanessa sat on the recliner with her face in her hands again. Rzalyn and Valerie talked briefly in hushed tones as Sorrow systematically checked Alex's vitals. Valerie shook her head furiously at something Rzalyn said. "No. I'm not experienced enough in something like that, Ryu is. Ryu's no help to us right now."

 Rzalyn sat back on his heels. "Does Circe have any experience with magical artifacts?"

 "Yes, but she's in Dragnier right now," came the reply. She shook her head when Rzalyn raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "Let it be."

 "What're you talking about?" Vanessa said quietly. We all looked at her. I felt a twinge of sympathy for her; it was clear that no one but me believed that this was all an accident, a backfire of some strange kind. It had to be. Why would she target Alex?

 He knew. He knew about Demeter and me. The realization hit me hard.

 But then, why attack Dad and Demeter, too? Why not just Alex? Why not Alex and me? Hell, why not Alex, Anna, and me? We were the threats-

 It made no sense. I believed her. She'd given me no reason not to.

 Valerie looked her up and down, before finally answering. "Now that we know where the power for the spell is coming from, Rzalyn thinks that we could cut it off with magic restraints." Magic restraints... heavy iron bracelets that were enchanted to bind the wearer's magic, rendering it useless. That would stop the flow of magic, but would it break the spell? "If we put one on each of them- Alex, Vanessa, Ryu and Demeter- it might act as a tourniquet for the spell, and once the spell lost its source of power, it could die naturally." She sighed. "The problem is the potential that it's draining someone other than Alex, in which case the magic restraints won't help a bit. In fact, they might hurt the situation. And right now, it's only hypothetical that the spell would die on its own; we have no way of knowing if and when it does, and if it doesn't, this will continue the moment the restraints are removed."

 Silence. Then, Rzalyn, sarcastically: "High priestess. Heh."

 "Bite me," came the dry, humorless response.

 Silence again.

 "What the hell is up with you two?" Alex asked irritably, one hand pressed to his head. "You haven't stopped arguing and taking little digs at each other- how do you know each other, anyway?"

 "Long story," Rzalyn said in a low, dark voice.

 "No, quite short. He broke his vow of celibacy."

"Vanessa!" Rzalyn snapped, blushing. "That has nothing to do with how we know each other."

She smirked. "I know. I just like rubbing it in."

Rzalyn snorted, looking miserable. "Rubbing in that I got caught and you didn't, you mean."

She had no response to that. I wondered what their relationship was now, as well. "Can we please get back to the task of figuring out what the hell to do?" I prompted. Curious or not, this was much more important.

 Valerie sighed. "I think Rzalyn's plan is it. I'm stumped. Anyone have any other ideas?"

 "Kill Vanessa," Rzalyn said flatly.

 "Dad!" Anna yelped.

 Alex leaned against Anna. "Well, it might work..."

 Anna glared at her boyfriend. "You keep your mouth shut, Alex. No one's killing anyone."

 "Oh no? I guess Ryu, Demeter and I are nobodies, then."

 "Well, Demeter's a nobody-"

 "Anna!" I hissed. All three of the adults in the room were looking at her. At my protest, everyone in the room turned to me.

 More silence.

 Valerie cleared her throat. "Rzalyn's plan it is," she said wearily. "I'll be back in a few hours, tops; I need to get the restraints from the castle. Sorrow, monitor those three while I'm gone." Sorrow nodded, not needing to be told who "those three" were. She'd been strangely quiet throughout all the bickering.

 I stood and started up the stairs. I heard my companions protest behind me, but I didn't answer.

 There was too much going on. My life had become a drama, a weird play whose plot made no sense. Nothing logically connected to anything else. But this was all too much to be a coincidence. There was something left out of the loop, something I didn't know. If I knew that one bit of information, a piece that I felt was right under my nose, I could make sense of everything that was going on.

 I threw myself down on my bed, face down, with the door still open so I could hear if someone called me. I needed to think this through, what I knew so far.

 Demeter was an evil witch. I'd figured that much out alone.

 Byron liked to play practical jokes on me, and didn't like my popularity in school.

 Vanessa... It was almost painful to think of this. She seemed genuinely concerned for Dad and Demeter, and very sincerely regretful that her spell had backfired. But what didn't make sense was why her spell was draining Alex; she said she didn't know why, and I believed her, I decided. Something told me that she was telling the truth there.

 Demeter wouldn't attack Alex, even though he knew what was going on between her and me, as she'd attacked Thomas. As long as Alex remained silent, that was. How long that would last, I didn’t know, but I tried to put my worry for his safety with regards to her out of my head, for now. He knew what happened. She wouldn’t take him by surprise if she tried anything.

 Byron left Alex alone. He was the only person in ACM- indeed, in school, aside from girls- that he was even civil with anymore. It was almost as if Byron didn't want to mess with him.

 There was something about Alex that tied into this whole mess, I realized. But what? And on whose side?

 Will you listen to this? I thought with disgust. "Sides"? You're making this out to be a war, Garr. It's not. You're just a teenager caught in with the politics the adults throw around. That's all.

 Unfortunately, I didn't convince myself of this. I sighed, wondering why was this happening to me.

 I was so deep in thought that I startled as I heard Sorrow's voice from my door. "You can talk to me, you know."

 I sat up, fighting to keep from looking absolutely miserable. I failed wretchedly. "I know," I told her. "I know I can, I just can’t. Do you understand?"

 She nodded slightly. "I do," she replied. "C-can I tell you something?" I looked at her curiously. Her eyes were on the floor, her bangs in her face. I couldn't read her expression. "Before Ryu and Val took me in, I was with a human man- a nasty, horrible person. He told me I was his daughter- I know that's not true. I'm a nearly full-blooded Dragon," she explained needlessly; I knew that. "But he told me I was his daughter. And he used that excuse to hit me. Not like a parent spanking a child. He'd really hurt me." She looked at me for the first time. "He broke three of my ribs when I was six. That's when Ryu and Val took me in."

 I was horrified. What kind of monster did that to a baby? "Sorrow, I... I'm so sorry-"

 "Don't be." She met my eyes; I saw strength in them that I envied. "I didn't tell you that for sympathy. I told you that so that you'd know that you're not alone."

 "Alex told you," I said flatly.

 Sorrow blinked in surprise at my accusation. "N-no. No one told me anything. But it's pretty obvious that you're being hurt, Garr. I don't know how or by whom, but I can tell." She set me with a determined look. "The only way you're going to get out of it is if you tell someone," she informed me, "and you let the people who know help you." She took a step closer to me, hesitantly. "A lot of people care about you a lot more than you know," she whispered. Another hesitant step, and then she had practically thrown herself at me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and kissing me hard. I froze, staring at her.

 Wow, was tonight a night for revelations or what?

 As if she sensed my discomfort, Sorrow softened her embrace, her presence feeling less desperate and more… comforting? Some sensation I couldn't place. Her being seemed to wrap itself around mine, we intertwined; Help me, I pleaded silently her silently. I could tell her everything, and she’d help me plan to get out of this mess, stand with me no matter what counter-accusations Demeter tried to level. Dragons had the inherent ability to sense each other; Dad told me that was how the old, deceased Dragons that had been reduced to Chrysm ore he’d pulled his strength from were able to communicate with him how to use their power. It was how the Dragon God Ladon could speak to him from a stone mural, and how another Dragon, an evil one, was able to drag Dad into a nightmare and force him to fight there.

 But if I could feel Sorrow, she could feel me, and that realization made me feel intruded upon. Unbidden, the emotions I'd kept carefully under control lashed out. Anger, hatred, despair, pain all flooded me at once, choking both the other being and myself. And with those feelings came the one I most dreaded and denied, the one I felt the strongest, overwhelming my self and sanity whenever it broke free of my control: fear.

 Sorrow gasped and pulled away from me abruptly; the intrusion in my mind vanished. "I'm sorry!" She said tensely. "I didn't mean-"

 Sara was crying. "It-it's okay!" I rasped, trying to calm myself so my heart would stop pounding. "I- I- I should have stopped you," I said weakly. Gods, I hated that sensitivity, enough that I wished I wasn’t a Dragon. I pulled myself away from reality for a moment, to put the magical shields around my mind up again. She'd disarmed me too easily. I didn't like that. I needed to work on it.

 We both heard the door open and an excited commotion downstairs. Sara screamed louder. "Val's here," Sorrow said, bewildered. "I'll go- I'll go meet her, I-" And with one final overwhelmed look at me, she fled from my room.

 Great, I thought. One more complication I don't need.

 When I'd composed myself to venture down the stairs, Alex, Rzalyn, and Sorrow were passing Sara around, trying to calm her each in turn. Wordlessly, I held my arms out for her, and Alex passed her to me. I noticed the band he now wore around his left wrist as I cooed and shushed my baby sister. Vanessa wore one identical to Alex's; they both already looked much better, less tired. Valerie motioned me into the kitchen; I followed, still holding Sara.

 "Sorrow wanted me to tell you that she's sorry," the healer said once we were out of everyone else's earshot. She looked at me questioningly as she spoke.

 I scowled slightly. "She's apologized twice already... there's no reason for her to apologize again."

 "She seems to think so." Valerie sighed. "She rarely gets upset, Garr, you know as well as I do. What happened?"

 I pressed my free hand to my lips absently as Sara made a swipe for my ear; I guessed the stud in my earlobe caught her eye and she wanted the shiny thing. "Ask her," I said, dodging Sara's hands. She giggled.

 Val was silent for a few moments, then: "She told me to ask you."

 I gasped in exasperation as the infant in my arms made a wild grab for the lock of hair that had fallen over my shoulder. I held her out at an arm's length. "No," I told her in my best big brother voice. She didn't seem to get it, instead breaking out in another fit of giggling. "She used Draconic empathy on me," I told Val. She didn't need to know about the kiss. "I freaked out."

 Val nodded. "Ah... I remember you don't like it."

 "'Don't like' is a gross understatement," I said dryly, setting Sara on the counter and holding her there with one hand. I reached into a cabinet with the other as Sara started kicking and laughing hysterically. "Look, do you want to be fed or not?" I demanded of her.

 She simply looked up at me with her big, innocent blue eyes and said, "Da."

 I raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"

 "Gah!" she exclaimed, pointing at me. Then she laughed again. I rolled my eyes.

 "How old is she?" Val asked.

 "Five months, almost six," I told her as I pulled various items from the cabinet, looking for foodstuff that would be suitable for a baby.

 Val came over beside me and helped. "She just tried to say your name. She's starting pretty young."

 I turned a can over in my free hand, checking the label. "She can, when she's not being silly." I looked at her, and thought, what the hell. Sara trusted me. I reached out to her mentally, evoking a Dragon's natural ability to sense another's thoughts and feelings. She reached back, blindly trusting and full of love, and I gently put the idea in her head to say my name.

 "Gah!" She giggled. I grinned at her; I hated using Draconic empathy, but Sara was so innocent, and absolutely would not pry. The worst she’d do is remind me that she thought I was great. I used our empathy to give her the sense that she needed to say my name, the way I said it.

 "Garr?" came her response, her small face bunched up in worry.

 “Very good!” I crooned to her. Her face brightened and she laughed again.

 Val held an item out for my inspection; I took it and exclaimed, “Hey, what do ya know, actual baby food! My father and stepmother don’t suck at keeping edibles for Sara around as much as I thought they did.”

 Val grinned slightly. "You know, for one who dislikes empathy so much, you certainly use it at ready with Sara."

 I smiled. "Yeah, well I dare you to try it. She won't even let Dad. She'll throw a fit if anyone but me does it."

 Val apparently took the dare, because as I dug in a drawer to find a small spoon, Sara suddenly wailed as loud as her little lungs would allow. "Hey!" I exclaimed. I dropped the spoon on the counter and picked her up, bouncing her slightly and shhing her. "Thanks," I told Val in a sarcastic tone.

 Val sighed, and then smirked. "Don't mention it. She's an odd one. Infant Dragons usually don't react so strongly to kin sense. Sorrow didn't."

 "Well, I don't like it," I pointed out, "and Dad tells me that I never did- you yourself couldn't use kin sense on me. Only he could. And Janus was quite uncomfortable with anyone but Dad doing it to him, too."

 "That's true," Val mused. "It might be an instinct with Dragons that is left off when the Dragon blood is diluted significantly, like yours and your siblings. I'll have to do a study on it sometime."

 "You and your studies," I said, rolling my eyes. I set Sara in her seat and opened the baby food. I heard Anna and Vanessa talking in the other room, while Alex and Rzalyn exchanged lewd jokes, rather loudly. I listened carefully for Sorrow's voice; I didn't hear it. "I wonder why Sorrow's so quiet," I said.

 "She's probably putting the restraints on your father and Demeter, and checking their vitals," she said. Then, thoughtfully, added, "Garr, were you the first one to use Draconic empathy with Sara?"

 "No, why?"

 "Who was?"

 I looked at her as I tried to coax Sara to open her mouth and eat what was on the spoon in front of her face. "Dad was."

 "I tried it first with Janus," she said slowly, more to herself than me. I shrugged and turned back to Sara, cooing at her. She finally said "Ah!" and I took the opportunity to put the spoon tip in her tiny mouth. She made a face at me when she tasted the stuff, and spit it back out onto the spoon. I sighed.

 "Garr, look at me," Val said suddenly.

 I turned, startled. She stared intently at me, and then her gaze flicked to Sara, and back to me. I was suddenly quite uncomfortable with her odd expression. "Keep staring, maybe I'll do a trick," I said in a soft, irritated voice.

 Sara reached out and batted my hand, the one that held the spoon. "Foo!"

 Val shook her head, and I noticed now that she'd gone pale. "Perhaps I won't do a study on it," she said absently. "There aren't enough half-Dragons for it to have any kind of significance yet. Excuse me. I'm going to go check on Ryu and Demeter. Try not to let her get strained bananas in your hair this time," she said, her face breaking into a kind smile. "I remember the last time you fed her bananas."

 "Thanks for the reminder," I replied wryly, and she hurried from the room.

 Half an hour later, Sara was fed, burped, changed, and fast asleep. Byron was still out; I wondered where he was briefly, but thought nothing of it. Everyone had stayed the night. Sorrow was asleep on the couch; Alex and Anna were wrapped up in a blanket together, in a corner off to the side of the recliner. Vanessa, Valerie, and Rzalyn discussed the situation amongst themselves quietly, as to not disturb the three teenagers who slept in the room. They all acknowledged me quietly as I walked through the room with the sleeping infant. I nodded to them, and toted my little sister gingerly up the stairs, wincing every time she was jostled, expecting her to wake. She didn't though, even when I set her down in her crib and pulled the covers up. Janus was fast asleep on the floor of their bedroom, a pencil still in his hand. I grinned- he was drooling on his homework. I very carefully lifted Janus and carried him to his own bed, tucking him in. He didn't stir, either. I looked at them both tenderly for a few more moments before I shut off the light and closed the door behind me.

 I didn't go to my own room. I went to Dad and Demeter's. They too were wearing the restraints now. I sighed. Now was the time when we'd see if Rzalyn's plan to stop this worked, and I knew that if it didn't, they- along with Alex and Vanessa, possibly- could very well be dead in the morning. I wouldn't be able to sleep with something like this hanging over me. I pulled Dad's chair up closer beside the bed and sat down, just staring at them and letting my mind wander over the what-ifs. It was going to be a long night.

 I did manage to doze off a few times, but I was woken each when Val came in the room to check on them. Closer to the end of the night, she told me that both Vanessa and Alex had become very ill. The three of them- Vanessa, Rzalyn, and herself- all agreed that it could very well be simply a side-effect of having all magical influences cut off so abruptly, but Alex was the worse of the two so far. They might have to take the restraint off him so Val could cast a healing spell on him, to ease his pain, or at the very least, sleep, so that he'd sleep through it. I didn't like the idea of Sleep being cast on anyone. Not in these circumstances. Val agreed- it would be a last resort, only. She couldn't leave him in that condition much longer, though, regardless of what happened.

 Half an hour before sunrise, I was called downstairs urgently to help hold Alex. They needed to tie his hands; I dashed down the stairs just as Alex started to scream. Vanessa had already been bound, and she writhed on the couch, crying softly. Alex, however, was delirious, and it took me, Rzalyn, as well as Byron, who'd come home sometime during the night, to hold him so that Val could knot a length of rope around his wrists. Anna helped, although she was violently demanding to know why they needed to be tied- Byron informed her in his most condescending voice that if they didn't, there was a possibility that they'd hurt themselves or one of us in their condition. Once I knew that Alex was secure and as comfortable as we could possibly make him- which wasn't very comfortable at all- I ran back up the stairs, back to Dad's room. I was both quite relieved and disappointed that their condition had not changed.

 Two hours after daybreak, Dad stirred and moaned, one hand going to his forehead. He opened his eyes slowly. "D-Dad!" I exclaimed. He looked at me sleepily, then blinked and opened his eyes a bit wider, becoming alert. Such relief I'd never before known threatened my composure; I threw myself over him, hugging him and burying my face in his shirt as the tears I couldn't stop came. He returned my embrace, but I could feel him hesitate. "Garr?" He asked questioningly.

 I didn't look at him. I was still crying. "You've been out for three days," I whispered. "We... we weren't sure you'd... you'd wake up..." I lost it, and I'm pretty sure he heard the sobs I fought down, because his embrace tightened around me and he started stroking my hair.

 A wave of exhaustion hit me all at once, and it was only then that I realized I'd had only two hours of real sleep over the last three days, and I was running on pure adrenaline. I could assume the crisis was over now that Dad was awake- no need for the rush anymore. I sank to my knees, the room spinning. I couldn't see straight; Dad moved so that he was supporting my weight, and I heard him say my name, but I couldn't respond. I was too damn tired. Briefly, very briefly, I felt Dad reach out to me empathically, probing for the cause of my sudden loss of consciousness.

 ~*~

 I was back in school the next day, of course. Cranky as all hell, but still in school.

 My already black mood had darkened almost beyond my own toleration by the time I got to ACM, in seventh period. I had to rebuff, more than once, the following rumors that Byron was able to hook: That I was still a virgin, that I'd fathered five children-and I was still trying to figure out how exactly he got both of those rumors to take hold at the same time after several years-, that I was out due to a battle with Dragonplague, that I was cursed by Ladon, that I was the most powerful mage in Wyndia, and that I wasn't REALLY fifteen- I was almost twenty. I got Dad to lie for me because my small stature was embarrassing as a full-grown adult.

 Good gods. I never before realized how utterly stupid some of my classmates were before this.

 So, obviously, I was in no mood to deal with his teasing during ACM, and I made it painfully clear to him that I was already in half a mind to decapitate him with a rusty spoon, and that he was getting me in the other half very rapidly.

 Today was the one day where I was messing my spells up left and right, and I wasn't doing it intentionally. In fact, I was trying desperately to pull off even one of the assigned spells. I couldn't hold my concentration long enough to. I moved to every corner of the gymnasium-sized room, out to the courtyard, in the god damned closet, even, and no matter where I went, I always had a good view of Sorrow. Always. It bothered me. It really bothered me. It wasn't like we hadn't kissed before- hell, we'd made out before! We stopped just short of stripping, even! Kissing her wasn't a new thing, and her kissing me without warning wasn't a new thing, either. Both had happened, and at times happened frequently. So why did it make me so uncomfortable now?

 And it's not a good idea to ponder members of the opposite sex when you're trying to pull off a dual-element spell. Especially when one of the elements involved is not one that you can normally control.

 I realized that my Simoon was spinning way out of control a moment too late. I first tried desperately to cut off the flow of magic from the mass of scalding-hot winds that had formed right in front of me. Then, when I realized that wasn't working a second later, I tried to contain it so it wouldn't spread out like it normally did. That didn't help- in fact, it whipped the spell into more of a frenzy than it had been! "Help!" I shouted, trying once again to cut off the magic flow between the spell and myself.

 Rzalyn intervened almost the instant I'd cried out. I felt the thin cord that connected me to the spell snap as Rzalyn chanted his own magic- Dispel. The moment the last syllable had fallen from his lips, the winds disappeared.

 My classmates were all staring at me, clearly distracted from their own practice spells. I felt a rush of heat to my face. I was blushing furiously. "Oops?" I said in a tiny voice.

 Rzalyn grimaced. "You'll redo this assignment in a week," he told me, "and I don't want you to touch a combat spell until you've gotten adequate sleep. Understand?"

 I nodded mutely, and he sighed and rattled off a chapter from our instructional book, the actual page numbers and four of the questions at the end of it- in detail, he instructed sternly, not my usual simple explanation. Then he yelled at the other four for just standing there and staring at me like a bunch of half-wits. Any one of them could have stopped that spell, first of all. Secondly, there was no way I was more interesting- or important- than actually getting credit for this assignment. Finally, "I swear to Ladon, Byron, a single smart remark from you and I will not only fail you for this assignment, I'll also make sure you're never caught up with your detentions."

 I trudged to one of the tables in the room, dug my combat magic book out of my backpack, unclipped my rings from my belt- didn't need those if I wasn't practicing- and sat down to start reading. Rzalyn went to Sorrow, as she was struggling with a lightning spell, and after they were firmly engrossed in figuring out why it backfired on her, every time she cast it, Byron said to Alex in an obnoxiously loud voice, "Didn't I tell you? Poor kid's half out of his mind. He'll kill us all with stunts like those. He should have been put in basic magic first!"

 Alex frowned at him and rubbed his wrist, where the magic restraint had been only twelve hours ago.  "Actually, Byron-"

 "Don't waste your breath," I said out loud, not looking up from my text. "Byron likes detention. Dontcha, By?"

 Byron growled. "You know what your problem is, Garr? You need to get laid more often, that's your problem."

 "Oh really?" Now I did glance up over the book, amused. "I can almost guarantee that I get laid more often than you do, Byron."

 "Really? By whom? Your mom?"

 I groaned inwardly. Great. Your mother insults. My in-law had sunk to a new low, one I hadn't thought possible. "No," I responded, "but yours is pretty good."

 One of my pet peeves has always been people who can't take the heat they deal out. Byron was one of those people. He instantly turned red, his face going livid. "Oh, by the way," I said nonchalantly, smirking as I turned my eyes back toward my book, "tell your girlfriend I said 'thank you.'"

 Byron's mood was just as foul as mine that day. I was expecting a harsh laugh and an insult about my originality, or some off-the-wall remark asking me for a sexual favor later, or maybe just a puff of a Burn in my direction for my smartass comment. What I was NOT expecting was Byron to hurl the most powerful fire spell he knew at me.

 I yelped as pain erupted over me, instinctively thrusting my own magic around me. I stood sharply, toppling my chair, and I snapped one of my razor rings off the metal band. A second later, Byron was on top of me, but he didn't stop to realize that I was now armed until after I'd already slashed him across the chest. He howled and threw another Flare at me.

 This time I was able to counter it in time, quickly raising and throwing out a Blizzard. The two spells collided. There was a loud explosion from two opposing elements crashing into one another, and then I threw out a second spell before Byron could recover. Thousands of tiny icicles pelted him, but even as he sank to his knees, he returned fire, a basic Windcutter. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing at the mosquito-bite sensation as it hit me. I knew I'd won the fight- Byron was on his knees- but I was enraged at being attacked. I wanted to hurt him, to prove who the better fighter was. Without a moment's hesitation, I raised the ring in my hand and flung it at him as hard as I could. He shrieked as it struck him in the leg and embedded itself in his thigh.

 Alex was behind me, then, grabbing my arms and holding me still as Rzalyn darted forward and snatched the remaining nine rings out of my reach. Sorrow ordered Alex to release me in a tense voice as she started raising her own magic- a different vibration than offensive spells. I recognized the spell as the second level of Heal. "Don't you ever attack me again!" I screamed at Byron. Anna had knelt by him and was trying to dislodge the ring. "I swear to Ladon, I'll destroy you next time!"

 "Garr!" Alex yelled in a terribly angry voice. "Enough!"

 "Let go of me, you insensitive-" I hissed. I didn't finish me sentence. Alex reached around and grabbed one of my wrists, then forced me to turn around to face him. Even as I fought against him, he bore down on me, forcing us both to our knees, and he held me as still as he could while Sorrow finished her healing spell. "He needs to see Val," she gasped. "I can't stop the bleeding alone!"

 "He needs to see Val!" Anna returned, cradling Byron. "He just about killed this poor idiot!"

 I twisted around in Alex's arms so I could see him. I hadn't "just about killed" him, I was positive. But when my eyes fell on him, I was nearly sick.

 He was unconscious, lying in a puddle of blood. There was a deep gash in his leg from where I'd thrown the razor ring- it looked like I might have cut to the bone- and a viscous slash across his front from shoulder to waist.

 I'd only been loud enough for Alex to hear, but after my horrified cry, he pushed my face against his chest gently, holding me still so I couldn't turn my head and look at Byron again. "He'll be okay. You'll be okay. You both just got a little angry. It's going to be okay."

 A dull pain was creeping up my right side, and I discovered I couldn't move that hand at all. Through the ringing in my ears and Alex's soothing tone, I heard Rzalyn's frantic voice: "... fight... hurt badly... hurry- Garr and Byr-"

 I forced myself to move my right hand, to unclench my fist and relax my fingers. The surge of pain instantly knocked me unconscious.