Board Thread:Short Stories and Fanfictions/@comment-44907704-20200201232939/@comment-44907704-20200211195616

There will always be a winner.

The words rang and echoed in his mind, even when he pleaded for them to stop. He could see it written on every piece of parchment, sprawled across every wall, imprinted into his skin using a quill as blood gushed across the floor…

And etched into memory, like it was intended to stay there forever.

The winner right now was the Council, and he couldn’t see that changing.

''The girl reached down to touch his cheek and he winced, determined not to flinch. It would show that he was intimidated — she didn’t deserve his true emotions, not when he barely knew her. She turned gracefully and it was impossible to think that she could be ruthless… that she would be willing to kill.''

Glimmer. He could see that everywhere now, like a constant reminder of how much his world sparkled — and how much of it was fake, because she would’ve shown him her face if she’d been real.

''She’s not here. Not as long as you don’t want her to be. It’s just a memory...''

“Cassius, are you alright?!” A terrified voice screamed as a blonde-haired figure reached for his shoulders and clung there for what must’ve seemed like ages while he squirmed awkwardly and tried to detach her fingers. When she refused to let go, he closed his eyes and, after a few seconds, suddenly jerked left in an attempt to put a halt to the public embarrassment — only to realize the girl had stepped gracefully to the right and, with a panicky yelp, stumbled over her and fell in a heap.

“You did not just see that,” he groaned, imagining what his father would’ve said about it if he’d been present in the moment. Probably something along the lines of “Now’s not the time to play hard to get in front of girls, Cassius!” with an amused smirk (on his expression) as he wondered whether her family was part of the nobility… and what special abilities she had.

Wincing from the sharp pain stinging in his knee that triggered a rush of adrenaline, he blinked to see five of his best friends hovering above him — Gabriel, Deneb, Timkin, Javery, and Noland — and tried to frown, scowl, and raise an eyebrow at the same time. The girl, whose eye color suddenly popped into his head — grey-blue with the slightest lens of white tracing the edges of her fair complexion — had stalked off without another word.

Timkin whistled and winked subtly, his eyes flashing. “Looks like someone’s into you. What’s her name again?”

He felt his traitorous lips tug into a smile that only came when he was trying to share his knowledge with others, afraid that his friends would mistake it for embarrassment and attraction. “Adaline.”

The others nudged each other with sheepish grins and broke rank immediately as Cassius exhaled with relief. He hadn’t realized that he’d been holding his breath; his reputation was a fragile thing. His friends exchanged glances as if to ask Who should tell him? before Noland stepped forward with a swaggering stride. It reminded him of how the Council debated telepathically when making decisions to appear as a united front.

“Isn’t it Adeline?” Noland’s teasing words stung in his cheeks, as if he’d been stung by a flareadon. He had a talent for observing the people around him and somehow was able to anticipate what their names would be — probably another complication of being an Empath.

This is why it’s better to show no emotion at all.

“Right. Adeline,” he looked around, desperately hoping for a change of subject before realizing he was still on the ground. “Help me up?” He gestured to the boy closest to him, Gabriel, who was terrifyingly good-looking and one of his only friends his father approved of — naturally, he wasn’t as close to the friends Avery was accepting of compared to the slightly kinder and more real ones, like Noland and Deneb.

Briel smirked with some degree of menace as he pulled him up and slapped him on the shoulder harder than he would’ve liked, something he interpreted as overly friendly. He was very aware of the tint in his cheeks, a flushed pink the same color as a love elixir.

And they clearly weren’t going to drop the topic. After he dusted his hands off and swept his shimmering emerald cape behind him, carefully tugging at the loose strands of hair hanging over his face (hoping to flatten them) that made girls like Adeline drool and swoon—

“Cassy!”

His first thought was Again? as the dread building up in his stomach seemed to erupt at once, making him feel nauseous and dizzy at the same time.

When you let your emotions control you, you leave yourself vulnerable.

His knees buckled. Tears stung. His own emotions seemed to be the result of everyone else around him… but how could that be?

Then relief seemed to drown him as he realized it was Lily, who stood her ground like a troll in battle… but a sweet, caring, risky troll who waited for his eyes to meet hers. Everything about her radiated breezy, springlike feels as his stomach flipped while she tossed her wavy, floral-like red hair behind her right shoulder that seemed to have leaves and tree twigs weaved in. In one swift, sweeping motion, she brushed off a few hanging eyelashes and mouthed,  ''Are you coming over here? Because I’ll leave if you aren’t.''

Adventurous, determined, bold Lily. He really hated that he could tell what she was saying fromtwenty feet away but was vaguely aware of himself stepping forward slowly, walking, jogging now, breaking into a run while waving over his left shoulder with his right hand as he struggled to catch his balance. He halted to a stop in front of her and looked at her expectantly while she twirled a strand of hair and threw her head back, laughing. “That was embarrassing.”

Pretty much sums it up,” he mumbled, and the amusement in his tone snapped Sophie awake.

And she felt like she’d been dunked with a bucket of ice over her head.

Because she’d felt what Lord Cassius was going through.

Felt every emotion.

As if she was him… somehow.

That’s not possible.

But anything was in her mind.

It had no limitations, unlike her physical self.

If she concentrated on a memory hard enough like she just did…

She could be as much a lie detector as an Empath.

But she wasn’t going to let the red-haired girl slip that easily. It would take an incredible amount of strength to gain that concentration again, but it felt as easy as transmitting when she shoved her mental consciousness back into his headspace — but something had shifted somehow, and it triggered a headache for a few seconds before her mind cooled down again and she realized almost no time had passed since she’d zoned out.

And as soon as her vision cleared…

She gasped.

The fiery figure had turned at an angle that barely captured the prestige of the eagle crest, topped with a gemstone nose — but this one was topaz instead of ruby. The Ruewen family pin.

Lily’s gaze averted to the book Cassius was holding in his hand — The Elemental Guide to Conjuring and Translocation — and frowned. “Since when did you manifest as a Conjurer?”

“It’s important to realize the entwining relationships between special abilities,” he responded instinctively and defensively, casting a dark shadow above their heads. “If you realize the similarities and differences… well, one is definitely easier to find than another… euh… uh, it gives you more insight into our world, you know?”

“As much as our elvin history class?” She asked innocently, but her suddenly changed tone revealed the underlying challenge.

Surprised at the confidence and flare in her voice, he decided to step up his game. “As much. Maybe more,” his volume lowering as quickly as his nerve so his sentence ended no louder than a mutter under his breath, “Lily, I know you…”

"Don’t like it?” She said, as quickly as it took for her to snap her fingers and cross her arms. “I don’t understand, Cassy. Sometimes I even wonder why you’re friends with me at all.”

“What I don’t understand is Why?”

He hated not knowing the answer. Everything had an answer, and the questions that didn’t weren’t worth his time. Didn’t belong in this world.

“You can have a little fun and still be on the same path you’re on now. Maybe get on a better one. Be a normal teenager, make friends. Real friends. Get crushes on girls, fight for what you love, and show them that you can step out of your own shadow. Just because our lifespans are unlimited doesn’t mean you get the same opportunities you do now! Things change as you change. So if you really want to spend all your time studying for things you don’t even know will come—”

This was the one time he wished he’d zone out during school. He huffed, resisting the urge to roll his eyes — a gesture his father certainly wouldn’t approve his son of doing and had never, ever dared to attempt it, not once.

Being real is a mistake.

“Just because they’re better than you doesn’t-”

And he realized his mistake.

He’d said it, right in front of her.

How he really felt.

She looked both flustered and angry as she snapped her fingers, bringing down a wave of brown textbooks that slammed down on the table a second after they appeared, requiring no control from her at all. But he felt normal, as if nothing had shifted between them — as if this had gone as expected.

Shaking her head, her eyes were clouded with something that he couldn’t recognize but knew somehow. “I guess this is the end of it, huh?”

He didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of a response, not when she’d brought this upon herself. She wasn’t obligated to be his friend in any way.

And her father wouldn’t have approved of her. Conjuring was a lowly talent that was as close as someone with a special ability could get to being Talentless.

''Doesn’t that make her more special? All her efforts to reach out to you…''

Because she thought he needed pity.

And he’d had enough of that, being looked down at home.

He wanted to be distracted, and he let his glimpse waver to a quiet boy with teal eyes somewhere in the crowd, not really knowing who he was or whether he was eavesdropping. Suddenly feeling a twinge of regret for not getting to know him better, he turned sideways so he wasn’t facing his ex-best-friend — but not really being able to avoid her, either.

She stood up as swiftly as she’d ever done, but this time slamming a door in his face instead of opening a path — a path that only the two of them knew, a path where they could be happy over secrets.

And swallowed, while tugging at her sleeves.

Hard.

And he was still mirroring her, still depending on her friendship, watching as she tried to shake her head and nod at the same time.

“You had so much promise, Cassius.”

I still do.

“So much potential.”

''Saying it will make it come true. ''

“But not enough to be happy.”

“No!”

His face was aghast.

He’d used his real voice in public.

The one he was never supposed to reveal.

Not even to his family.

She smiled apologetically as the sun beamed on her face and left Cassius in the shadow, wondering why he’d been there in the first place.

She still had the sun on her face as she stepped away. Step by step by step.

And he gritted his teeth, using his hair as a floss.

His name was going to be on the cover of one of those books someday — but with a different last name. Enough for his father to be happy, and enough for himself to be happy, too.