#so much nervous energy like one of those little dogs that just Vibrates with anger

[wh0dunit]

steph always has cute nail polish but little known fact is that she gets the kind that is designed to taste bitter to try and prevent herself from biting her nails but it never works.

[yugirl-with-dragons]

OK SO FIRST OF ALL THANKS TO THE SUPER UBER TALENTED @aceyugiohdreamer WHO WROTE THIS AMAZING FANFIC. KY YOU’RE SO GREAT. The sketch is obv related to the fanfic below here, I HIGHLY suggest you to read and find out more details!!

[In the plot here, our dear gang (Yusei, human!Stardust, Aki, Jack, Crow, Archfiend- has already met Black Rose Dragon, but they haven’t found Divine yet. Hence, Yusei isn’t blind yet]

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Lessons

Aki wasn’t sure why Black Rose had wanted to speak to her privately, or what about, but she didn’t hesitate at all to accept the invitation. With the way their last conversation had gone, she was frankly surprised the dragon had been interested in ever seeing her again at all, let alone so quickly.

But here they were, deep in Black Rose’s forest, an ancient dragon in her elegant human form and a young human witch, face to face.

Alone.

Aki deferred to her hostess and waited patiently for her to speak first.

Black Rose stared at her with arms crossed, her eyes not friendly, but not disdainful either. She seemed to be evaluating her in some way, though Aki had no idea by what measure or for what qualities. So, not knowing what she could do to better present herself, she simply stood still.

Finally Black Rose tilted her chin up slightly and commanded, “Tell me your name.”

Aki decided to not point out Black Rose’s rudeness. Getting fussy over her proud attitude would get them nowhere since she hadn’t earned the dragon’s respect yet. She would just have to accept it if she was going to see what this meeting was about.

“Aki,” she answered simply.

“Aki.”

Black vines began rising up like snakes from her hair, winding forward through the air. Aki held still, thinking she had no choice but to trust that Black Rose didn’t mean her harm. She had a feeling it might be disrespectful to flinch away from those vines, which were literally extensions of her body, and the last thing she needed was for Black Rose’s anger to flare up from an offence. So she let the vines come and feel around at her aura like a curious dog sniffing at a stranger.

“I haven’t met many witches over the years,” Black Rose said, her eyes narrowing somewhat in thought. “But I do sense something familiar in you. I suppose the magic that some of you humans have isn’t unlike that in us dragons.”

Aki started.

“What? You mean . . . you’re saying you can sense magic in me?”

“Why is that surprising? Didn’t you tell me yourself that you’re a witch?”

“Well yeah, but . . . that can’t be,” she said, shaking her head. “Divine . . . he . . . he took my magic from me. He took it, so, there’s no way you should be able sense it.”

“Hnh! What a stupid thing to say!” Black Rose scoffed haughtily. “If you’re like us, then your magic is a part of you, as integral as your bones or your blood. If he had taken all your magic, you would be dead. Just like how we dragons die when you humans steal our magic. Honestly, you don’t even know that much?”

“But I—I can’t feel anything! Not like I used to!” Aki insisted, feeling her emotions rise up. “The world feels dead to me! I can’t connect to anything, I can’t draw out the life and magic that used to come so easily to me. I feel like I’ve been cut off from everything, even myself—I’m not fully me anymore! It’s like you said, magic has always been a part of me, but I can’t . . . I can’t feel it anymore.”

“Hmph, well, that certainly sounds troublesome,” Black Rose huffed, shifting her weight onto one leg. “But the fact is, there is magic in you, just as surely as there is a heart beating and pumping blood. There’s no mistaking it—though, I suppose it does feel faint,” she conceded as the vines wandered along her limbs and body and hair.

“Then,” Aki began, feeling her heart flutter—excited, anxious, desperate—“if I still have magic in me, how do I use it?”

She had to know! She had to know how to tap into whatever was left, how to be useful to Yusei!

Black Rose raised an eyebrow.

“How should I know?” she asked. “I’m not a master or a teacher or anything, I just know something obvious when I see it.”

Aki’s heart sank. She couldn’t even work up the energy to be annoyed with Black Rose, she was just too devastated by fallen hope.

Then Black Rose sighed.

“Though, it’s not just the magic I sense,” she added softly—so softly she might have even been talking to herself. “There’s something about it that’s . . . resonating.”

She had a confused look, her head tilted and eyes scrunched as she considered Aki like a puzzle.

“I don’t know why that would possibly be,” she muttered, as if being confronted with something confusing irritated her, or perhaps it was that the idea of feeling any connection to a human was repulsive. “But . . .”

She drew closer, her vines losing length as her hair consumed the excess. She was slightly taller than Aki and looked down into her eyes.

She had nice eyes, Black Rose had to admit to herself. Earthy. They looked rich enough for her roses to grow strong in. And the magic she could feel in her—the light vibrations of it meshing harmoniously into the great waves of her own enormous power—it had a sweet flavor. Like ripe, wild berries. Sweet with a little snap to it.

It felt like this tiny human was actually part of her forest. It made her . . .

Made her want to . . .

Help her grow.

Nourish her, like any other precious living thing whose life and vitality she protected here in her ward, whose presence she noticed, feeling when it was born and when it died like it was part of her own body—her own soul.

This Aki.

Aki, whose aura was the colors of changing autumn leaves.

It was like she was seamlessly becoming part of this place—or perhaps, more like, she had always been, by nature, but Black Rose was only now able to notice it. Now that she was open to feeling the way her presence resonated, like it belonged, rather than clashed.

Like that hotheaded blond and even his Archfiend companion—despite the one being a dragon, his vibrations were jarring against hers. She felt the discord in their natures, striking and sour.

Black Rose had rejected Aki automatically at first, without thinking or feeling, so perhaps it was no surprise it had taken her this long to notice. Now that she was considering her properly, she couldn’t help the feeling, which came as naturally for Aki as it did for any other plant she nourished.

She lifted a hand and gently caressed a lock of Aki’s hair between her fingers.

Vibrant, red hair—not unlike her own plumage.

“I like your hair,” she said at last.

Aki blinked, more than a little stunned.

“What?”

Black Rose exhaled sharply and dropped her hand.

“Never mind. Listen.”

She may have felt a natural desire to nurture this young, little sapling—even acknowledge to herself that she did—but that didn’t mean she would so quickly change her attitude.

“I don’t know if there’s anything I can do to help you in your situation, but I suppose it would be pretty amazing of me to find a way, wouldn’t it?”

She smirked and gave her hair a quick flip before turning around.

“Yes, I think so,” she confirmed to herself. “It’s been quite a while since there was anything new for me to learn, so that might be interesting.”

Aki stared at Black Rose’s back—at all the sleek, thick hair that draped over it down to her hips—still feeling like something had happened just now and she had no idea what.

“Hey! Are you spacing out on me? What’s wrong with you?” Black Rose snapped, looking over her shoulder.

“What?”

“Move already! Come here—come with me. Jeez.”

Aki wasn’t about to refuse yet another invitation from Black Rose to get closer, so she sprinted forward to her side.

“Where are we going?” she asked as they continued on together.

“Just to a place with some particularly rich soil.”

“Oh? Why?”

“Why not? I like rich soil. It gives me good energy. And it smells nice.”

Well, Aki had no argument against that.

“Ah. I think so too,” she said thoughtfully, remembering back to all the gardening she had done at the house where she had lived with Divine.

“Of course you do.”

Aki thought Black Rose just meant it in the sense that of course her opinion was correct—how could a magnificent queen like her be wrong? She didn’t know she meant it in the sense of, You’re one of mine, of course you feel energy from rich earth.

After that, Aki wondered if she should try to make conversation—how long would it even take to get to the place anyway?

“Does this mean you have an idea?” she decided to ask.

“Hnh, well, I’m at least feeling motivated to experiment,” Black Rose answered, lifting her chin just a little.

Experiment, huh? Aki thought. Well, I guess that can’t be helped, how else are we going to find out anything?

“Are you nervous?” Black Rose looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Do you want to back out? You had better tell me now before I waste any time.”

“No, it’s fine,” Aki answered quickly. “This is just a little sudden, so I wasn’t expecting it. But I want to do this. I want your help.”

“Hm,” Black Rose hummed with approval then turned her eyes back forward. “Just so you know, I can’t guarantee there won’t be any pain. I’m just going to be trying out a few things, so if you’re really willing to do this, you should be prepared for anything—and for possibly nothing to come of it.”

Aki nodded, her chest going tight with resolution.

“Right. No guarantees. I’m still in.”

Black Rose glanced sideways, feeling the way her aura firmed up decisively, and smiled to herself, feeling approval again.

“Very good.”

“It’s only natural, right?” Aki asked without turning. “If I don’t have magic, I don’t feel whole. So of course I’d do anything to get it back.”

“Hm, yes, that would be natural,” Black Rose agreed. She would certainly do anything too if she found herself in a similar situation—and of course rip to pieces whoever would have done such a thing. Such a crime deserved instant death.

Hm, no, perhaps a slow, agonizing death, for daring to cross her so offensively.

In any case, there would be no forgiveness.

“And I’m sure your body is naturally longing to get it back.”

“I hope so. I know my heart is.”

“Well, let’s see what we can do, shall we?”

She pointed up ahead, and beyond another stretch of trees, through the cracks between their thick and crooked bodies, Aki could just make out what looked like a clearing with some kind of lake. The forest was dimmer than the world outside it because the canopy was so densely packed that little light managed to pass through, but when they reached the open area, Aki saw that light glittered on the surface of the lake, the ripples catching every little ray and casting it about playfully. It wasn’t a large lake by any means—possibly more of a pond—but it was clear and pretty. It was fed by a stream coming from ahead and led into another that continued off to the side. The sound of the running water made her skin feel cool, as if she had dropped her hand in it. Besides the stream, there wasn’t much other ambient noise—just leaves rustling occasionally, the snap of twigs. The space seemed deeply quiet and undisturbed.

“Here,” Black Rose said, stepping toward the water. Her hair began to stretch again into black vines and dug into the earth right at the edge. “This water is sourced from a mountain not too far from here. It’s quite pure and fresh since it runs straight from the mountain into my forest.”

Aki approached too and knelt down to watch the vines wriggle their way deeper into the earth. As they took root, Aki dipped her fingertips into the water. As she expected, it was quite cool. She waved her fingers back and forth a little, then pulled them out and flicked the excess water off.

“There are more creeks and rivers throughout the forest, but this one is the closest.”

She held out her hand to Aki and beckoned her with a few quick waves of her fingers. Aki took hold of her hand and stood up, and then Black Rose twisted her arm and used her other hand to push Aki’s long sleeve up her arm. She lightly ran her nail from Aki’s wrist to the crease in her elbow.

“Since I don’t know what you do and don’t know, I’ll just explain some things,” she announced. “First, there’s no particular spot in your body where magic resides, like an organ. It’s in every part of you, all over. Which means there’s no place to target in any of this. It could be that any part of your body will be as good as any other, or perhaps it might mean that your entire body will need to be affected all at once. Or maybe there is a trigger that I’m not aware of. Like I said, we’re just going to be experimenting, so starting off at least might be rather random attempts to get a reaction.”

Aki nodded.

“Ok. I understand.”

“Good. And just so you know, I’m being serious here. Don’t think I’m just playing around.”

“That hadn’t even crossed my mind.”

“Hnh, well good. Now, let’s see . . .”

She ran her nail back to Aki’s wrist from the inner elbow.

“This would probably be easier if you had roots,” she muttered to herself. “Hmm, how am I going to . . .”

Aki wasn’t exactly sure what she was thinking, but she kept quiet to let her concentrate.

“Hmm,” she hummed with her lips pursed and pushed to the side, then she mumbled, “I guess I’ll start off non-invasive.”

Aki wasn’t against that choice.

Black Rose put her palm against Aki’s while cupping the back of her hand in her other. She closed her eyes and bowed her head, and Aki watched as a kind of faint glow appeared around the vines that were rooted into the earth. Like sap, it traveled slowly up the length of the vines, into Black Rose’s hair, saturating the whole of it with a soft light. And then her hair rose, as if lifted by a breeze, though Aki felt none. And then her dress began to flutter, though it didn’t seem entirely like a dress—it looked like it was transforming into a collection of flower petals, deep red and thick.

Black Rose’s nails went black and sharpened as they extended slightly. And then finally, Aki saw the same glow appear within Black Rose’s hands, and then she felt it sink into her own. It was warm, comforting. And she felt it spread from there, as if it had gotten into her blood and was being circulated throughout her body. It was a gentle warmth, like the sensation of a hot drink filling her up on a cold day while the steam brushed against her face.

It was nice. Nostalgic, somehow, as if it connected to all the warm, cozy feelings she had ever had and brought them back like a vague memory without any actual image to go with it. It was just . . . nice. And made her smile.

She wouldn’t have minded soaking in that sensation for a while—it was a welcome reprieve from all the chaos and misery that was going on—but after a minute, all the light faded and the warmth receded with it, leaving her with a sudden chill that made her shiver.

Aki’s eyes also had to adjust a little to the sudden dimness. Once she could see Black Rose’s face clearly again, the dragon asked, “So? Is anything different?”

Aki paused for a moment to take a mental stock of her condition.

Then shook her head.

“No, I think I’m still the same.”

The space still felt too quiet and still from what she would expect of an earthy haven she knew was alive with running streams of life and magic.

“I see,” Black Rose said, not sounding too disappointed.

“Can I ask what you have in mind?”

“Hm? Oh, I just thought I’d try running some magic through you, to see if that would jolt what little you have left in you back to its full life. Like giving your body a refill to replace what was drained. But it looks like you weren’t able to hold onto it: it went in and then passed right out.”

“Hm, I see.”

“But, I can try again, go a little . . . deeper.”

“How do you mean?”

“When I feed the plants, they soak up the magic right into their inner bodies through their roots. They drink it like water or any other nutrient from the soil. It might be worth trying something like that with you.”

“I . . . see.”

“I’ll try to be careful,” Black Rose said, probably trying to sound reassuring but instead sounding rather cocky.

“Thanks.”

Black Rose looked carefully at her exposed arm again and hummed thoughtfully to herself, turning it over a few times and spreading her fingers and pressing into Aki’s palm with her thumb.

Eventually she just shrugged to herself.

“Well, here goes.”

Aki took in a deep breath in preparation for a vague “anything” that might come next.

She looked down at her hand, as did Black Rose, and saw that her nails had returned to their human style. But then the nail on her right first finger extended again, turning black as it did, and the way it transformed slowly and threateningly right next to Aki’s skin gave her an ominous feeling.

Black Rose set the sharp tip of her nail at a soft spot in Aki’s wrist, and the next second, slid it right into the flesh.

“Shhhhhhhit!” Aki hissed as blood pooled up around the nail.

Black Rose held her arm and hand firmly in place, because even though Aki tried not to struggle, that nail hurt, dammit! She clenched her jaw while the light reappeared—in the earth, the vines, Black Rose’s hair, even her eyes which were open this time, and her hands—and that warmth began washing through her.

Warmer this time.

Like summer sunlight shinning under her skin, threatening to burn if it stayed too long.

But she didn’t mind, because it distracted her from the pain in her wrist. The nail seemed little more than a tiny papercut in that moment, making it easier to hold still, especially when that warmth coaxed her muscles and mind to relax. But she tried to focus on it, now that she understood Black Rose’s intentions. She didn’t know if her own conscious will could have an effect, but it seemed better to try. So she set her mind on that flow of the magic as it coursed through her, tried to map out all the internal crevices it touched, tried to notice if there was anything, any part of her that responded with a life of its own rather than just passively allowing the magic to pass through.

A minute went by, and Aki felt disappointed when the warmth withdrew, leaving goosebumps in her skin against the cool forest air, but otherwise no substantial change in her body.

Although now the pain in her wrist grew much more noticeable again.

“Hm,” Black Rose said, taking her nail out of the wrist and its blood and waving her hand in front of Aki’s scrunched face. “No, you don’t feel any different. Ah!”

She looked down to see that some blood had spilled over the side of Aki’s wrist and onto her sleeve.

“Oops, excuse me.”

She lifted Aki’s wrist to her mouth and licked up all the blood—much to Aki’s surprise—before setting her lips against the wound and giving it a suck. Aki tried not to let out any sound of gagging, and then a second later Black Rose lifted her face to reveal the wrist completely healed, with no sign of a puncture at all.

“Thanks,” Aki said tightly.

“What’s with that face?” Black Rose asked curiously.

Oh, was some of the queasiness leaking out into her expression? She had tried to hold that in.

“Oh, uh . . . I guess I just didn’t know you . . . drink blood.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked, sounding confused. “When things die, they go into the earth, don’t they? Flesh, bones, blood and all. I am the substance of the earth, it’s the nature of my being. So if the earth can eat such things, so can I.”

“Ah, I . . . see.”

“Does that bother you?”

“No—well, not really. I guess I just wasn’t expecting it so suddenly.”

“Hm, seems like there’s a lot you don’t know,” she observed condescendingly. “If you had a teacher, they didn’t do a very thorough job. You’re going to have to do a lot of learning on top of just trying to get your magic back.”

“I don’t mind learning,” Aki replied. “I want to know more. But your right, my teacher kept a lot of things from me.”

Black Rose didn’t miss the dark tone in Aki’s voice.

“Why?”

Aki’s eyes were hard.

“Because he was using me. He only wanted me to know what would be useful to him. He didn’t want me to know too much, that way he could turn on me when the time was right.”

Black Rose narrowed her eyes.

“Turn on you,” she repeated. “Does that mean . . . Are you saying your teacher . . . ?”

Aki nodded.

“Was Divine.”

Black Rose met that hard stare directly for a moment, feeling her vines twitch with displeasure.

“So,” she said softly, “he didn’t just steal your magic. He betrayed you.”

Aki nodded again.

“Yes. He took me in when I was very young and promised he would teach me how to control my magic. I trusted him. I relied on him for everything. And he did teach me a lot of things that helped me develop my skills, but . . .” Her free hand flexed at her side before curling into a fist. “All that time, he was making sure to keep me close by so that I’d be convenient for him, whenever he was ready to make his move.”

It wasn’t magic, but Black Rose could still sense the anger burning in Aki’s heart. How much more intense it would have been if she had had her magic to give it form! Black Rose’s anger was torrential wind and thorns—she found herself very interested to know what this witch’s was.

Deception, betrayal, stealing . . . this Divine was sounding more and more wicked the more she learned. And she couldn’t forgive anyone who would harm one of her own.

“It could very well be that the only way to get your magic back is to reclaim that which was originally yours in the first place,” Black Rose advised, and then her voice went low and serious. “But if there is another way, even if just a temporary one, I’ll help you find it.”

Aki’s anger lifted enough for her eyes to brighten with awe.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

Black Rose nodded.

“Well, shall we try again?”

“Yes, let’s.”

A few more attempts were made, some less pleasant than others, but Aki bore it without complaint. She had entered into this willingly, and whatever she had to go through would be more than worth it if it restored her magic—in any capacity. But even if it didn’t, even if after everything she was still exactly as she had been, she was still happy that Black Rose would try to help her. That in itself was a gift, more than she would have expected after their first few encounters. It was hard to understand exactly what had changed in the dragon’s mind, but Aki wasn’t going to press. Whatever happened, she would let it bloom naturally.

“Hmm,” Black Rose hummed, holding her chin between her fingers. “I think I need a little break to think. I’ve run out of ideas for the moment.”

“Ok, that’s fine.”

“Come here.”

Black Rose snatched Aki by her wrist and tugged her along by the edge of the water until they arrived among a widespread, tangled mass of roots that belonged to a tree so big it probably would have taken ten people to wrap their outstretched arms around it completely. The roots were black and gnarled, rising up from the ground and curling back into it through the water, and Black Rose pulled Aki among them, climbing to the highest arches, and guided her to sit next to her on one so that they could look down at the water below their feet. Aki wished she could feel the energy from the tree, feel the texture of its life that flowed within rather than just the sturdy and rough exterior. She rubbed her hand back and forth over the root longingly. The tree was so beautiful, and she was missing the full experience of its character. She couldn’t help but feel her heart sink just a little.

“You know, I’ll give you some credit,” Black Rose said, leaning back a little so that her glossy hair hung loose behind her. “You’re actually taking this whole situation pretty well, considering how precious what you lost is.”

Aki smiled and leaned back too.

“Well, you didn’t see me when it happened,” she replied softly. “I was devastated. It felt like I had practically died. I didn’t handle it well then at all.”

“Hmph, well that’s no surprise, who wouldn’t be devastated by that? And of course you would feel like you had died. Considering how little magic there is in you, you quite literally almost did. But that’s why it’s surprising you’re in as good a condition as you are. Usually, I would expect such a drastic loss of magic to leave you incapacitated, possibly comatose. But physically, you seem to be doing fine. And even mentally, you seem to think pretty clearly. You haven’t succumbed to despair. So I’ll admit, I’m impressed.” Then she added with a narrow, sideways glance, “Don’t take that lightly, understand?”

Aki turned her head and nodded.

“Right, I won’t,” she said, smiling. “Thank you.”

“Hm.”

Black Rose looked forward again, following the path of the stream until it disappeared among the trees. She thought for a moment, then without turning to Aki, she asked, “Tell me, what do you feel an affinity for?”

“Affinity,” Aki repeated.

“Yes. Everyone has something—maybe even several somethings—that they feel drawn to. Like it represents them in a way. Especially for those of us with magic. It almost always is related to the basic substance of our magic.”

Aki looked down at her lap for a moment.

“Hmm, I don’t think I ever thought about it too much before,” she began slowly. “But, I always liked being out in the garden. I liked taking care of everything there, monitoring their life, listening to them through the magic they had in their aura, learning what kinds of properties they had. I liked being around so much life.”

Black Rose laughed softly to herself.

“I knew it,” she whispered. “You really are one of mine.”

“What was that?” Aki asked.

But Black Rose waved her away.

“Nothing. So, you would say you feel an affinity for plants?”

“Generally, yes, I think so. But, I’d say I have a special affinity for anything that’s . . . a bit dangerous. Plants that are prickly or have thorns, or some kind of poison. Plants most people don’t want or avoid.”

Black Rose considered her for a moment, then held out a hand while a lock of her hair resting against her shoulder began winding up into the air as a vine. It circled around her arm like an affectionate snake all the way to her palm, while sharp thorns grew along its length in the opposite direction of her skin.

“I too feel drawn to such plants,” she said, her voice unusually kind. “If I won’t care for them, if I won’t love them, who else will?”

Aki watched for a moment in wonder as Black Rose stroked down the length of a particularly long thorn with her fingertip, then nodded.

“Exactly.”

All those years, she had wanted to show the same compassion Divine had shown her—had wanted to be as compassionate as he had been. He had inspired her deeply, engraving that desire in her heart to care for the unwanted, the unlovable.

Even though it had been a false lesson, a lie on his part, it still rang true to her. Even if he had been lying, her feelings had always been sincere. And she would be better than him. She would absolutely be better than him in every way.

“Tell me,” Black Rose said while watching her vine recede, winding backwards around her arm until it fell down as hair once again. “That Divine, when he was ‘teaching’ you, did he explain what the flow of your magic is? What you do when you’re connecting with the plants, communing with them?”

Aki blinked, rummaging through her memories for a moment to find such a lesson.

“No, I don’t think he did,” she answered. “I think, maybe . . . our styles of magic are a bit different. Because . . . I sometimes felt maybe there were some things he didn’t know. Things that seemed natural to me but he never mentioned.”

“Hm, well good,” Black Rose muttered contemptuously. “I would hate to think he could be of the same substance as me.”

Aki thought she hadn’t even known there were different substances when it came to magic, she had always assumed it was all the same, simply because she had never been told otherwise. But magic was apparently a thing with great variety, a great number of sources and attributes. Aki felt like her true education could finally begin—and she didn’t even have her magic to train with. What bitter irony.

“Well listen,” Black Rose continued. “I’ll explain how it works—for me and you. In essence, I’m redirecting magic from the earth through myself to where I want it to go. Normally, I do this to give extra life and vitality to whatever needs it—and since any single plant is so small, it’s no problem. The earth has plenty of magic in it to spare. It might be a different matter to try to heal an entire forest if it burned down, but I can’t be sure since I’ve never had to do something of that extent. Anyway, the point is that all of this redirection involves magic that is basically the same element. The earth, myself, the various plants—our life forces are very similar and we feed off of the same quality of magic.”

She looked at Aki directly.

“So, I would expect that when I direct magic from the earth and me into you that you would gain a similar vitalization that anything else I target does, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. It certainly harmonizes with you, but it slips out quickly like water in a sieve. Now, though I can tell your magic is similar and that you are compatible in spirit to me, it might be that out bodies are too dissimilar for my magic to take root in you.”

After letting that idea sink in, Aki said softly, “I see.”

“That’s just a possibility that I’m thinking of based on how things have been going. It could also be based on the fact that the plants are not magic users in the same way we are. They have it in their life force, but it’s not like they have any consciousness, they only do what their nature enables them to do. We are different. We have consciousness, we can do more than just the basic functions natural to the design of our bodies. And that means that any individual’s magic is unique to them—it’s a natural part of their very soul and body. If I redirect magic from the earth to plants, it’s the same magic they feed off of anyway, but if I pour my magic into you, even if it’s of the same basic substance, it still isn’t the unique magic that is yours. So your body and soul don’t accept it fully.”

“Wow,” Aki breathed. “I had no idea it was like that. I didn’t learn that from Divine.”

“I seriously wonder what exactly you did learn,” Black Rose huffed. “But anyway, that is also why I don’t understand how this Divine can be stealing magic from others and actually be able to use it. Naturally, he shouldn’t. His body and soul should reject any magic that isn’t his own.”

“Well, from what I understand, he needs help from magic objects to channel it.”

Black Rose looked at her, then looked down with a thoughtful frown.

“Hm, that makes sense. If he tried to take in that kind of magic directly into himself on its own . . . I can’t imagine the result would go well. If their substances aren’t compatible, I would expect it to tear his body apart.” She grinned maliciously. “I’d like to see that.”

Aki agreed.

“Maybe if I can break whatever it is he has that’s keeping my magic under control in him, he’ll break apart too when my magic rushes back to me.”

Black Rose’s teeth seemed to grow a little sharper in her grin.

“Delightful.”

Then she rose to her feet and grabbed Aki by the arm. Before Aki could stand, a gust of wind rose around them, Black Rose’s dress began to bloom with large red petals, and soon there was a whole cloud of them that caught the wind like sails, and Black Rose pulled Aki in close so that she could carry her to the ground, floating gently down with the petals keeping them perfectly balanced. When they landed, the excess petals scattered in all directions while the smaller ones on her dress stayed in place.

It really wouldn’t have taken much time to climb down, but Aki had to admit that the dramatic flair had been rather exciting.

“I just had a thought,” Black Rose announced without making any visible acknowledgment that she had done anything out of the ordinary. She released Aki and used both hands to pluck just a few of the smallest petals from her body. Aki watched curiously as she did, and looked down at them as Black Rose held them out delicately in her palm while the rest of the petals recoiled and smoothly transitioned back into their dress form.

“Here,” she said.

Aki looked up to Black Rose’s eyes, then back down at the petals, and slowly, carefully, reached out to pick them up. These had come right from Black Rose’s body, there was something sacred in that she had to honor.

“Eat these.”

Aki’s eyes snapped back to hers again.

“What?”

Black Rose rolled her eyes.

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

“I . . .”

“Are you going to refuse? When I gave you something of myself?” Black Rose asked challengingly with a raised eye brow.

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Aki answered quickly. “I just . . . it did come from you. I’m just . . . honored, that’s all.”

Black Rose’s eyebrow lowered, and she looked down at Aki with an expression that was approving, but still haughty.

“As you should be. Now go on, eat.”

Aki looked at the petals again. She had never just eaten rose petals before. She had used them as ingredients in mixtures, but never just plain like this. She wondered what it would be like.

And then she wondered, was there a specific etiquette for eating flower petals?

She felt too silly to ask, so she just laid them on her tongue. They were soft, and their flavor was light at first, but as she continued chewing, it grew and eventually filled her senses so fully it felt like she was breathing in the scent of an entire rose garden.

When she finally swallowed, Black Rose nodded, then held out her hand again. It was empty this time, and Aki filled it with her own. Black Rose set her other hand on top, and then light and warmth began to flow from her body into Aki’s through the channel their hands created. It was so lovely, like being surrounded by roses in the summer sun. If Aki closed her eyes, she could picture it so clearly.

After a minute, the heavy flow of the magic stopped, but this time . . .

This time, there was something left behind.

Aki’s eyes widened just a little.

Black Rose smiled.

“Ah, there we go.”

Her hand passed in the air over Aki’s face, down her chest to her abdomen, while Aki felt something like candle lights glowing dimly in the inner depths of her self.

“Well, it’s not a solution,” Black Rose admitted setting her hands on her hips. “But it’s something, I guess.” Then she smirked. “Heh, it actually worked.”

She gave her head a little triumphant toss.

“What is this?” Aki asked, setting her hands on her abdomen, though the lights she felt weren’t anywhere specifically linked to her body. They were just . . . there, inside her.

“Like I said, our own magic is tied to our body and soul. So, I gave you a little piece of my body, so now the magic I’ve given you has a little anchor it can latch onto. I doubt it’ll stay inside you for very long, but as long as you’ve got a bit of me in you, you can carry a little bit of my magic, too.” She pursed her lips. “I’m sure that only works because we’re so compatible though. I wouldn’t want to try the same thing with any of those others.”

And then Aki realized it wasn’t just the lights inside her that she could feel. There was . . . there was light outside as well. Light and life and magic flowing through the millions and millions of earthen arteries right there in that one little space. It was faint, like the candle lights, but it was there! She could feel it!

She felt tears well in her eyes as her body vibrated with the joy of reuniting with something familiar, something necessary. And she turned toward the tree and its tangled web of black roots and reached out. She felt the hum of its life within the root—it was old, and against her senses, it felt like a rich, deep bass, making the hair on her neck rise.

Her heart couldn’t decide if it wanted to sing or scream or sob.

She suddenly whipped around from the tree and launched into Black Rose, wrapping her arms tight around her and squeezing. Her tears fell into her hair as she buried her eyes against her shoulder.

“Thank you!” she whispered, overcome with emotion.

Black Rose looked down at her, a little stunned to be touched so suddenly and with such familiarity.

“Well, like I said, it’s only temporary,” she said awkwardly, unable to decide if she was comfortable with the embrace or not.

Aki shook her head.

“I don’t care,” she insisted. “I needed to feel this! I needed to feel . . .”

She lifted her face, and Black Rose saw how bright her eyes shined, even in the dim light—how beautiful they were.

“You’ve given me hope,” Aki said, her voice breaking, and the tears ran heavy down her cheeks, past her smile.

Hope?

From her?

Black Rose had never felt hope, not since that day. She had only felt anger and hatred. How could someone like her be the source of hope for anyone?

But there it was, shining in Aki’s face, along with relief and joy and gratitude.

Black Rose stared, not knowing how to respond.

Finally Aki unwrapped her arms and wiped her eyes clear, still smiling. Black Rose watched as she breathed in deeply and tilted her head back while lifting her arms at her side, basking in the beauty of all the life she could once again feel all around her.

Yes, she had to get this back. She had to make her soul complete again. She had been so hopeless and devastated, but now, somehow, that had changed.

Now she felt determined.

This was a taste of what was waiting for her when they defeated Divine, when she and Yusei and Stardust and all the others finally had their victory. She would be restored in full, as would Stardust and any others that Divine had hurt, and Yusei would be acknowledged as the hero he was.

Yes, yes, she felt so much hope now! With just a little reminder of how it was supposed to be!

“Well,” Black Rose spoke up after a moment, still feeling uncertain about her own feelings, “why don’t we use this as an experiment and see how long this lasts? Then we can go from there.”

Aki lowered her head and, still smiling, still shining, looked at Black Rose and nodded.

“Ok, good idea.”

Black Rose didn’t even have it in her to give her usual snappy retort, “Of course it is,” because she just . . . had forgotten how beautiful someone could look when they shined with that much joy.

Just like . . . she always had.

Black Rose caught the lump in her throat before it went any higher and pushed it down, along with the sting in her eyes.

“Ehem, right, well, I’m done for now, so just let me know later.”

“Right.”

Black Rose forced herself to turn away and wander on her own away from that light.

It was just . . . too much for her.

Too much after being in darkness for so long.

——

“Oh, really?” Yusei asked softly after Aki had told him the story of her session with Black Rose. “That’s great, I’m glad you finally have someone who could tell you so much.”

“Yeah,” Aki murmured back. “Actually, I’m surprised she would, you know? It’s not like she’s one to open up to new people . . . or maybe any people.”

Yusei put a hand on hers. Everyone else was asleep in their camp space, but the two of them were sitting side by side on the soft forest floor against the trunk of a tree, and her hands were resting in her lap.

“You probably got through to her.”

Aki looked up from his hand to his eyes.

“She seems like she’s been lonely for a long time, and you were the right person to reach her heart.”

Aki looked down again, biting her bottom lip. Could she have really been something like that? Could she have been anything like what Yusei had been to her?

“I . . . I hope so,” she said under her breath. “I don’t want her to be alone . . . if she doesn’t really want to be.”

Yusei gave her hand a squeeze.

“If you do what feels right, if you just be yourself, you’ll be good for her, no matter what happens. You’ll let her see something good and honest and beautiful.”

Aki felt her stomach knot tightly and her chest burn. She couldn’t look at him at that moment, not after he had said something so touching, and sounded like it was such an easy thing for him to say.

No one had ever said something like that to her.

She stared hard at her hands—at his still on top of hers—and mumbled, “You’re saying . . . I can be like you.”

She heard him laugh quietly.

“You think I’m like that?”

She only glanced at him—caught the sight of his smile—before looking back down.

“You are like that,” she insisted. “You’re always honest, and yourself. Everything about you is good and . . . beautiful. You’re . . . the best person I’ve ever met.”

He didn’t say anything, but she could feel him looking at her.

And then it wasn’t just her chest that was burning. She felt it in her face too.

And in the rest of her.

It was rising up, an aura of warmth and light, like a halo around her body.

Yusei’s hand looked dark in contrast, and surprised, she pulled her hands away to look at her open palms.

“Aki?” he asked quietly. “Are you ok?”

She looked up to his eyes, which were somewhat concerned, but also shining with the glow reflected in them. She found herself staring for a moment, before a few tiny lights suddenly flickered in the air between them.

Aki blinked and shifted her gaze to the lights—to realize they were fireflies.

Yusei too shifted his gaze to them as they bounced and flickered around, whirling around Aki and her soft glow. Her face lit up—not just from the light, but from the wonder that bloomed in her heart. She lifted a hand, as if she couldn’t help herself, as if she wasn’t even thinking, and quickly several of the fireflies gathered around it.

“I can feel them too,” she murmured, a smile spreading across her face.

“Yeah?” he said, captivated by her expression more than anything else.

“Yeah,” she confirmed, slowly waving her hand through the air—first one way, then another, and the fireflies followed, their little bodies growing brighter and dimmer in waves. “They feel like buzzing.” She put her other hand over her chest. “In here.”

Yusei could only try to imagine what she was feeling, what the experience of her magic was like, but to him, seeing the way she experienced it was beautiful enough.

And then she rose to her feet, keeping her hand out in front of her as a beacon for the fireflies to dance around. And more were coming. He didn’t know where they all had been all this time until now, but wherever they had been, they must have felt her aura and been drawn to it immediately. Aki took a few steps, and she looked magical, with her own body emitting a soft, warm glow and what seemed like hundreds of tiny lights flickering excitedly as they spun around her, each in its own chosen pattern. She lifted both of her arms, and the fireflies moved with them, making way and then finding a new orbit around them.

Yusei heard her laugh to herself, watched her tilt her head back and spin on her feet freely in delight, and he felt a tight grip in his chest.

He was fighting for this.

This.

To bring this beauty and light and joy back to her.

This was her natural state, he felt, he knew. He couldn’t let her continue living emptied of this anymore. He felt his determination as naturally as he felt his awe.

To his mind, the fireflies looked like hundreds of shooting stars circling her, and she had become the sun, spinning and laughing as she lost herself in the magic that coursed through her.

Aki, he thought, feeling a buzz in his own head, too.

And then he felt something push up against the bottom of his chin, closing his mouth, which he hadn’t even realized was open.

He looked over, and there was Stardust, glancing sideways with a smirk while he kept holding two fingers under Yusei’s chin.

Yusei blinked. He hadn’t even noticed Stardust slip up beside him. Had he been that entranced?

Stardust raised an eyebrow, a silent, You ready to handle this yourself now? And Yusei nodded, with gratitude to his companion for having prevented such a face from being seen by anyone else.

So Stardust pulled his hand away and crossed his arms comfortably, and Yusei returned his gaze to Aki, who was holding one arm fully outstretched and drawing waves in the air as she rotated, creating a fluttering trail of fireflies behind her hand.

And yes, of course.

Of course he had been that entranced.

[narusetami]

25.04.15 ( day six )

Yesterday, things had been strange. Things had been different. There had always been three present when they question her; the ringleader, Cam, and the anonymous third party who kept her steady; but yesterday there had been four. The allusive Tor had joined them. They’d spoke about him a few times, as though he was the key to everything and perhaps he was, yesterday he’d done a very good job of showing off his unusual talent.

“You should feed her something more substantial, her thoughts are all over the place.”

He’d said that and it had confused her until throughout the questioning he’d spoke aloud the things that came to mind, reciting her fleeting thoughts to the room. When she was angry he spoke of it, when she only had the energy to hurl mental insults he recited them with a tone of boredom- he really took the fun out of it, if she were being honest. It didn’t take her long to realise he only had to look at her to see into her mind, if she concentrated she could almost feel him there, like a whisper, a niggling thought at the back of her mind she couldn’t shake. It had been odd but not so bad, the worst thing about it was realising she couldn’t control what she thought, she’d read about legilimens reading current thoughts but it wasn’t something she’d ever witnessed and definitely not something she’d dealt with.

It would’ve been impressive if it wasn’t happening to her.

But yesterday had been easier, she hadn’t been knocked around as much, having her thoughts read was hardly ideal but her head was all over the place, she doubted her monologue of insults aimed towards them was the sort of information they were hoping to get from her. So when they showed up again, all four of them, she sighed. The routine made it worse, she knew when it was coming and counting down the hours was agonising, you’d think the unknown would be worse but she hated the creeping feeling that came along when she knew enough time had passed and they’d show up again. It all felt endless and pointless, there was nothing they could get from her, she didn’t know what they thought she did but they tried to take from her still.

“Good evening, Tamiko.”

She didn’t say anything, of course.

“Now, yesterday wasn’t quite as productive as we would’ve liked, today we’re looking for a little more cooperation. Our talented friend here, is going to try a more delicate method of working with you today, it’d be to everyone’s benefit if you could be on board with this.”

“I don’t know anything you want to know, no method is going to change that.”

“I see, well we’ll soon find our, won’t we?”

Yesterday Tor hadn’t stopped pacing, he’d stop for a while on one side of her and them move across the room, pausing again as he recited something, as if he were chasing thoughts as they came or went. Today he moved to stand directly in front of her and something was different, she didn’t quite know how except it just was, there was a tension in the room that hadn’t been present yesterday and for whatever reason they were nervous. Even the man before her, he stood still but when she looked him over she noticed his hands were shaking, fingers tapping at his side in some erratic rhythm that made her gut twist.

“Let’s start with Novus, shall we?”

“Again? I told you I don’t-”

What was that?

The feeling came over her quickly, some invisible veil that draped over her thoughts and for a second everything was blank, she saw nothing but she felt panic running wild in her nerves and suddenly- pain. A quick thud, not anywhere one would notice, it was inside her head, as though something had tried to ram it’s way through her skull. It was a strange, sickly feeling, one second she couldn’t think at all and then it felt as though she had nothing but thought. Everything was her. She was in the room, trapped in one physical space, then swiftly pushed back into a place that held her even tighter captive, forced to revert into herself until all she could see was endless memories crashing into each other. It hurt like hell. There were so many walls, trapped within a space and it suffocated her but the only way out was to fall deeper and each time she did she took him with her. No- he forced his way through, clawed and dug through barricade after barricade as if scraping the scalp off her skull. She wasn’t falling, he was dragging. He was crashing through her mind, heaving her behind him to places she didn’t want him to go. She could see her whole life, her parents and her home, snippets of them distorted and warped as they tried to pass by and she could feel him grasping at them- searching for information she knew she didn’t have.

And she didn’t want him there.

In her head, digging through her life, scrutinising everything she knew and cared about.

Being drawn back into the room felt like being dropped, she hadn’t moved an inch from the chair they kept her but she jolted where she sat, her bones ached as if she’d been plucked from the space and then came crashing back down into it. Her head was spinning, stomach churning, she closed her eyes tight to stop blotches of colour taking over her vision, she didn’t want to faint and be sucked from the room again. Her breathing was heavy, her hair on end, she could feel sweat running down the back of her neck and running a trail along her spine. She was glad it was over, though she didn’t know why it had stopped, not until she opened her eyes again and found Tor kneeling down in front of her. He was gasping for air, hands gripping into his thighs as he tilted his head down at the floor. If her legs weren’t bound she might’ve kicked him in the face. Instead she found herself glaring at him, half in anger and half in confusion, she wanted her gaze to bore down through his skull so she could scoop out the innings of his mind and see all he tried to see in her.

“She doesn’t- She doesn’t know about them. They haven’t told her anything yet, there’s no use digging through endless bollocks to find nothing, it takes too much out of me.”

There was a moment of silence and then from the chair opposite her the ringleader sighed.

“I see, let’s move on then.” One of his underlings, the taller one whose knuckles were bruised from having made contact with her face countless times, stepped to the man’s side and handed him a small pile of files. He silently glanced at each of them, one at a time, before he cleared his throat. “We might as well get some use out of you, you’re not entirely barren of information after all. Do these names seem familiar to you, Tamiko: Dahlia Chen, Piper Oliver, Ares Kane and, we can’t forget about the mutt, Bellamy Adler.”

What?

The files were opened and each one tossed onto the floor a foot or so away from her, close enough that should could read the names on the files. There was no denying what she’d not wanted to think about, that these people knew about more than just her, that they had access to information that put other people like her in danger.

She fell away from reality quickly this time, more aware of what was happening to her, finding that when she was consumed by the darkness of her own mind she didn’t feel the same as she did before, if anything she was more frightened. Of what she might know, of what they might find, how much information she’d tucked away in the back of her mind and not cared to think about until suddenly it might be on display to this invader. It was strange how she couldn’t see him, she could feel him though, a looming presence in her mind that began to stir a gnawing pain under the surface of her skull. This time was different too, he knew what he was looking for and when he dug he didn’t have to dig for long, tapping into recent memories that bubbled up about her and left echoes in her mind. Scenes overlapped and replayed in her head over and over again, those first interactions when passing conversations had left her with an undeniable knowing, the vibration of energy that ran through her nerves when she met more of her own kind. She could feel him latching onto it, reading the memories over and over, each time they threatened to be swallowed up in the mass they were dragged forward again and somewhere distant she heard voices.

“It’s as we’ve always suspected, they can sense each other- the boy too, they know their own kind through some kind of energy reading.”

No.

That wasn’t there’s to know.

She panicked, physically lurched back in her seat- she felt the ache in her muscles when she strained against her binds- and then she tugged mentally. The memory resurfaced and as soon as it did with whatever strength she had she slammed it back down, it sunk away from her and she could feel it slipping, getting lost in the maze of her mind... then he growled, she heard it far away, pain burst into her head and set her body rigid. It was unbelievably sharp, like a knife through her brain, cutting deep where she tried to bury things down and yanking them back to the surface. His presence loomed over her, perhaps not physically but the energy he gave off was impossible to ignore, it bore down on her and made her want to vomit.

“The Oliver girl, she hides what she is. The boy too. Sneaky brats, it’s not surprising.”

Stop it.

“The dog’s a difficult one, she doesn’t know much, she can’t sense him like others of her own kind. Her knowledge is limited.”

“As we expected.”

He was holding on tight to the memories, she could almost feel the physical grasp around them, it made her mind scream to have them held in place when she was trying to pull them away, trying to let them go and keep them buried. This information, the things she knew or things she thought, weren’t for anyone else and certainly not them.

“She- She’s resisting.”

He sounded panicked. Exhausted. She remembered how he’d been brought to his knees, in a gasping mess, when he tried to seek information from her mind and how nervous they’d all been before hand. He wasn’t good at this, she realised, he didn’t have the calm superiority of the previous day when he’d read fleeting thoughts.

“Get whatever you can today, there’s more time.”

“I won’t be able to do this again so you’d better take notes.”

Her head was spinning. She was really going to pass out. The intrusion into her thoughts was unnatural, her mind was a place just for her yet he clawed his way into it, broke down the walls she tried to put up. Things moved so quickly this time it was like whiplash, a clash of memories and thoughts pulled together, she couldn’t make any senses of them. Her family. Her home. The office in London. Hogsmeade. The castle grounds. Inside the walls. Overviews of her clubs, of her classes. Dahlia. Piper. Ares. Bellamy.

“The Adler family have history, connections, the other families are all but useless. At least from what she knows.”

She was glad now that she wasn’t so close to any of them. Glad that when whispers of Bellamy went through the halls she rolled her eyes and didn’t bother to seek him out and ask for the truth of it. Glad that Ares didn’t speak much about what they were, let it be left unspoken, glad she didn’t force her curiosity and want for more. Glad, perhaps even just a little, that Piper’s want to remain hidden had so often felt like a barrier Tami couldn’t cross. Glad that Dahlia was new to her still. And for the first time she was glad she knew little of her gifts, was unable to understand them and refused to use them, decided long ago to shut them out and get by differently, glad she had always been a little bit scared of what she could do.

Because she was tired, this was exhausting her, the physical energy it took to try and push him back when he sought more information. She was glad he couldn’t keep this up much longer, she couldn’t either.

It didn’t come fast enough though.

Her mind was a mess, by the time she noticed the forming attachments it was too late. She didn’t know much about any of the people she spoke of but that didn’t matter, when she thought of any of them at all she couldn’t help the whispers that surrounded them. Sometimes the most important things were the ones that felt like nothing.

“These might come in handy, I hope you have a pen. Loxley Blair. Grant Abergel...”

Wait.

“Niles Morandi. Meredith Halliwell...”

No, stop.

She might have spoke aloud that time, or maybe not, she couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter. She felt it and she thought it, she hoped she’d screamed it. It hurt, her wrists and her legs, the binds were cutting into her and even lost in her mind she could feel it burning at her skin.

“Soledad Arch-”

“STOP IT!”

She did scream that time, her lungs ached with it, and her thoughts screamed with her. She had been angry before but not like this, this was something new and it ripped at her chest, made her heart hurt and hands shake. She was done with the grip he decided he had on her, tired of not being in control of anything that happened, claws clung into the memories she wanted to bury deep and if she needed to she’d tear them out of her. If someone could split their skull, pull it apart, yet still survive she was sure this is what it would feel like. He did have a hold on her and it was a strong one, she could feel him in her head, twisted into her thoughts but she was done with that. She’d needed to be angry, she’d needed to truly hate him that much, otherwise she wasn’t sure if she’d find the strength to slam him out. For a moment she wasn’t even sure she had, she could still feel her mind muddled, but she was back in the room. It was spinning, her whole body shaking, there was a ringing in her ears that wouldn’t go away. Just enough though, it had been just enough, he wasn’t just knelt this time he’d stumbled back and was gasping for air as if she’d winded him, gripping either side of his head and cursing. She hoped she’d hurt him because he’d hurt her, not just because he’d pushed his way inside her mind and dug through her memories, but because he’d pulled pieces of her life apart and singled out the people she cared about the most. It had taken a lot out of her, almost everything. She shut her eyes tight but it didn’t change the fact that at some point she’d began crying, tears were still hot on her cheeks and streaming down her face, sweat clung to her and made her shiver. There was blood in her mouth, the taste made her gag, it streamed from her nose over her lips and down her chin with no sign of stopping.

But they ran to his aid, of course. She heard the scuffled as they dragged him from the room, his legs dragging across the floor, Tami wasn’t sure what she’d done but if he wasn’t practised in this kind of thing it was his own fault for trying to invade her mind.

She thought she was alone until she heard the last remaining person stand, she could’ve sworn she could see the smug look on his face when he spoke.

“Interesting.”

The door slammed shut, trapping her in again, truly alone once more. She had been hurt a lot in the past... she wasn’t even sure any more, time felt different here, her attempts to keep it had fallen behind. Her face was swollen, she was bruised and achy, the skin on her wrists and ankles worn away by her binds. Tami had never been hurt before, not anything like this, but up until this point none of it had broken her. Now she couldn’t help it, tears were streaming and her lip quivered, despite her best efforts it didn’t take long before she was sobbing. She couldn’t do this any more, she wasn’t strong enough to keep this up, a difficult truth but one there was no choice but to accept. If she didn’t get out of there, if she didn’t do something, they’d wear her down until there was nothing left.