Board Thread:Short Stories and Fanfictions/@comment-44907704-20200201232939/@comment-44907704-20200210173528

She nearly knocked herself out with her effort of trying.

But with Lord Cassius...

Well, it was different.

He was thrashing and flailing his arms on a ground in a pretty horrible imitation of a gordogon - one of Lady Gisela's gordogons she'd ''genetically experimented with. ''Even though it triggered awful flashbacks -- it was pretty hard not to laugh, which she tried to only allow herself to do for a few seconds, she awkwardly offered Lord Cassius her hand. As if on cue, the kicking and screaming stopped as he pulled himself up, shooting a weird glance at Sophie before dusting himself off, especially his hands.

He closed his eyes again, and Sophie mentally transmitted an Are you sure? plea before he groaned, definitely not in the mood to scowl and pointing to his head with his index finger, which Sophie assumed was giving her permission to read his thoughts.

''Yes. ''The word sparked memories that flew by so quickly she was getting a migraine herself and then floated away, disappearing in the pools of his mind.

She couldn't help but notice that one of them was tinted purple -- and she immediately dove for it and tackled it down, not wanting to let it escape as it took her to someplace so other she was beginning to sympathsize.

But his actions were still inexcusable.

''Remeber, your mind has no limitations, unlike your pyschical self. ''One step closer to the truth.

Cassius felt invisible and almost as see-through as the glassy, cool, arboretum-shaped glass of Foxfire Academy as he trudged through the halls, shoulders slumping. It was a good reminder to him that while the other prodigies were studying in their respective sessions, he was alone. And feeling… new.

​​​​​​Because he needed to get back his Empathy session. It’d been a stupid mistake to leave his copy of Elemental Guide to Interpreting Emotions in his locker, but the upside was that he’d get to taste the raspberry ripplefluffs trickling down his chin again.... his mother didn’t know how to bake and passed it off with his father’s excuse that baking was a useless task no one should be burdened with. It obscured the life to success, and the apparent sweetness was all an illusion — temporary and stupid, but enough to take some people away from what could’ve been great lives.

What he could say with certainty was that Lady Destina was not happy when she found out one of her most dedicated students had time to meander through the flying hallways, which wasn’t part of his plan — he never intended for it to be.

I like quiet. Somewhat surprised at his own thoughts, he drew back and frowned.

A thought occurred to Sophie, who barely felt present anymore and would be happy to stay in the moment forever: what if she could read the minds of the people in his memories? But in order for that to work, someone else had to be present. And it wasn’t likely she’d be able to manage it anyway, especially since she’d need them to stay completely still and she’d probably be distracted by the moment.

As if on cue, a person appeared.

Lord Cassius — no, just Cassius now — was just as surprised as she was, jerking his arm back suddenly. The girl seemed to have appeared out of plain sight and was wearing dark clothing with a gray cape, but something was clearly out of seam with her. Her hair was messy and tangled, which his father certainly wouldn’t find acceptable on the grounds of Foxfire — and a weariness accompanied her demeanor, making her seem much older than she was. The way she took each step with uncertainty made it seem like she was blinking in and out of sight, but she was awfully young to manifest as a Vanisher, having just entered the manifestation window. Not even her sight was normal — it felt eerie and out of place, which somehow made her seem more relatable.

He remembered when he thought everyone was just like him at Foxfire, escaping a fate their parents had condemned them to… even though they made him and all the other children in the very building.

“Hello?” He’d never had to do this before. Never had to be courageous and brave like this. Not in this way.

The girl smiled, or moved her lips in a way that seemed like she was trying to smile. “You deny too much.”

“How would you know?” He wasn’t furious or aggravated — he was beyond it, having experienced this kind of confrontation far too many times. He would simply have to appear curious and knowing, pretend to accept the lesson, and walk away wondering.

''Wondering is dangerous, Cassius, almost as dangerous as wandering down the wrong path. Would you prefer to believe in facts or continue to doubt?''

She held her hand out in a way that seemed like her last stand, her final attempt at trying to reach for him and pull him towards her. Not that she needed to — the aura she gave off was like a magnet, making him feel spinny and woozy. “I can see it in you. Just like you can see an outcast in me,” she nodded to nothing in particular, maybe the colored glass.

“We have to know about the people around us.”

''What do you mean? '' Instantly, he was outraged by his own question, a response to an answer that really was a question. He’d been observing for his entire life, because there was nothing else he could do but read and occasionally glance up, listening to every conversation happening in a ten-yard-radius as an outcast, occasionally with acquaintances. There really was no better word for it.

Her eyes flickered, like fire slowly creeping up on someone. On him. “We all have ruthlessness in us, Cassius. And you can help spark it. We can only go so long before unleashing it — why not make it sooner?”

“Why not make it later? Why not let it take its course?”

She threw her hands up in the air in a Let it go! motion, making the room erupt in a swirl of dancing lights that reminded him of the orbs in his bedroom. “You’d be surprised at what we’re capable of. We won’t learn a lesson that way — we can’t be too violent. That has as much effect on our world as no violence at all.”

Bile built up in his throat. Her voice felt as surreal as the glassy dunes of Foxfire, and he suddenly got the idea that maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t there at all.

“It’s all right to wonder, Cassius,” he hadn’t realized she’d taken her hand back until she reached to him again, shifting something in his mood and leaving her outstretched palm there. “We trust that you’ll understand someday.” Her tone was hushed, like it was being carried by a bird.

Then the sparkles vanished and she disappeared in a glimmer of blasting light, blinding him momentarily as he tried to hold on to the last memory he had of her — a girl waving her arms in a swift, sweeping motion that exerted everything behind her into a drowning wave that knocked him over his feet. The movement seemed as clear as the girl’s name herself, which suddenly popped into his head as if nothing else mattered: ''Glimmer. ''

It seemed so fitting and so wrong at the same time, and… why couldn’t he remember what he looked like?

When his head cleared of the fog, he sprinted down the way Glimmer had went — coincidentally the same way he had to go to reach his locker. Bolting down, he imagined his disappointment when he found that no one was there… and he was momentarily surprised when a wisp of a shadow that was surely part of his imagination flashed into sight again.

He wanted to reach out and grab it, but it’d be foolish of him to try. The only reasonable option was to give up and go on the same path he’d always been on.

The one that was right.

Clenching his jaw, he felt ridiculous at how he’d responded to the girl earlier. She didn’t deserve to be called a name — it was inexcusable, not by his Foxfire Mentors, not by his father, not by himself. But some part of him knew that it was…

Just…

All part of his imagination.

Inexcusable, because he’d been caught up in the moment and forgotten to check her emotions for a lie. Pulling out his Imparter, he whispered into the small speaker that seemed like part of some human gadget, “Show me Avery Sencen.”

He kept walking on the cool stones that would, one day, be an ember in the ashes until he reached his locker, strangely wanting changing his mind about giving up after he'd done it already.

A piece of parchment was waiting for him, waiting for him to make it come into fruition.

There will always be a winner.

He smiled almost terrifyingly, knowing that he was one step ahead. I am the winner.