ORIGINAL: SnowFire - 4

[batsutousai]

4

That weekend, Edana tossed herself onto the couch in the living room after having finished her homework. Sighing, she flipped on the TV and starting channel-surfing. Seth was back home for the weekend with his mom, who might or might not try and get his dad to stop drinking again, Ally was off visiting her boy at the army boot camp he was training at, her mom was at work again, and Phoenix was with John at the airport, waiting for his mom. It was weekends like this that Edana hated the most, since everyone had something to do but her.

"There's nothing on," she decided, then got up to get herself some chips, leaving the TV on to the news channel she'd stopped at.

Once she had her arms full with a new bag of chips and a cup of soda, she walked back into the living room, only to freeze in horror at the news flash on the screen.

" '...was just walking down the street. Couple of cars stopped at a stop sign up ahead and it's not like you'd expect anything wrong to happen. So, BAM! The cars suddenly just flung themselves through the air and collided. Never seen anything like it'," a voice of a young boy was saying on the TV. On the screen, a picture of the two cars mashed together at the roof and leaning against each other to support their weight on their fronts was being shown. Emergency vehicles were flooding the scene with red and blue lights while pedestrians lined the sidewalk across from the accident.

"This is Bill Reynolds, reporting from the scene of an accident in downtown X City, where two cars were picked up, off the street, and flung against each other. Reports from the emergency personal are in, and I'm afraid no one in either car survived. I report, no one survived. Names are not being released at this time. Hold on a moment." the reported covered his microphone and leaned over to listen to a man in a yellow and silver coat. After a moment, he nodded and looked back at the camera. "It's been asked that if you know either of these cars, please come down to the station so you can confirm the bodies."

The camera zoomed in on the two cars and Edana let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding when she didn't recognize the cars.

However, with the cameras zoomed in, she saw something else entirely; a man with long grey hair had a very pleased smile on his face as her looked on at the wreck, and Edana got a horrible feeling in her gut. A feeling that said, 'This wasn't an accident. It was done by one of us.'

She practically threw the bag of chips and her drink on a table and made a dash for the phone. She dialed Seth number from memory and bounced on her feet while it rang.

"Redmond residence," Seth's mom said.

"Hey, Mrs Redmond, this is Edana. Can Seth come to the phone?"

"Yes, of course. Once moment." Edana heard the faint sound of a hand being placed over the speaker of the phone, then Seth's mom calling, "SETH! PHONE!"

There was the muffled sound of stomping feet, then the phone being handed over. "S'up?"

"Seth, have you seen the news?" Edana demanded.

There was a pause, then, "Hey, Dad, can you switch to the news? No, I'm not being smart! Edana says there's something going on." There was another moment of silence, then a whispered curse and Seth's voice saying, "God. Yuki? Is this..."

"I think it's one of my people," Edana whispered, watching the continuing report from around the corner. "Seth, there was a man in the crowd and he looked so proud..."

"Crap. Okay, uhm... Do you want me to come over? Ally's out right?"

Edana swallowed. "No, I'm... I'm fine. Thanks. I just..."

"Needed someone to talk to about it?"

"Yeah."

Edana could practically hear her best friend smile through the phone. "Hey, that's what I'm here for. Oh... Yes, you can switch back! Asshole..."

Edana giggled. "Be nice."

"Hey, your dad's cool. No, I'm not insulting you over the phone! I'm talking to Edana about her dad! God."

Edana giggled again, feeling much better. "I'll let you go before he throws something."

"Okay. You let me know if you need me to come over, okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Seth."

"Sure thing," Seth replied, then hung up.

Edana sighed and hung the phone up, then leaned against the wall and stared at the screen. "How could anyone do that? I don't..." Edana swallowed and shook her head. "It has nothing to do with me," she decided. "I couldn't stop them if I wanted to."

She nodded to herself and switched the channel to something less violent, deciding to just ignore that anything ever happened.

-

Monday, they had a moment of silence for one of the kids who'd died in the crash. Seth reached across their desks and gripped Edana's hand tightly during the silence, earning them a curious look from Phoenix. During their next class, Phoenix asked, "What was that about?"

Edana smiled. "I saw about the crash on the news. Spooked me a bit, s'all. Ended up calling Seth 'cause no one was home." She shrugged. "I'm fine now, though."

Seth nodded, apparently taking her excuse at face value. "Weird crash, though," he commented carelessly. "Almost like it was magic, or something." He smiled over at her, but his smile fell when he saw the scared look on her face. "Hey, Yuki?"

Edana forced a shaky smile. "Yeah, magic. Couldn't happen for real though, right?"

"No, of course not," Phoenix agreed suspiciously.

The bell rang then and Edana was saved from further questioning by their teacher starting the class.

-

The accident was the talk of the school for the next couple of days, but Phoenix didn't bother asking Edana about their previous discussion about magic again. For the most part, the three sophomore friends were able to ignore the talk, and since Ally didn't know anyone who died, she didn't care about it, so she didn't mention it.

Just as the gossip was dying down, though, another three cars met the same fate a few blocks from the school. The school immediately closed down the building, and made an announcement that all students were to remain in their classrooms until the all clear was given.

"What's going on?" one of the boys in Edana and Phoenix's history class complained. "It's almost lunch time. They can't expect us to stay in here when we're hungry."

Mrs Guckert flipped on the TV in the room and switched to the news. The picture on the screen was one of three cars settled together in the same shape as the first two had been. The reporter was saying something, but he couldn't be heard over the horrified sounds from the students.

In the back of the classroom, Edana snapped her pencil at the sight. "Again?" she whispered, horrified.

Phoenix gripped her shoulder and met her wide eyes when she looked at him. "Yuki, what the hell is going on here?" he whispered under the pandemonium from the rest of the class.

Edana shook her head. "I-I don't know. I suspect..." she swallowed, then barreled on. "Phoenix, do you believe in magic?"

Phoenix paused and simply stared at her, a horrible understanding dawning in his eyes. "Metal magic," he whispered. "That's– But, how did you know? Are you–?"

Edana shook her head. "I'm not, everyone else in my family is. And you–?"

"Blood magic," he replied. "I never would have guessed. Your family hides it so well."

"SILENCE!" Mrs Guckert shouted at last, turning off the TV. When all the students turned to her, some in varying degrees of terror, she gently continued, "There is nothing we can do about this incident at the moment. I should not have turned on the TV." She took a deep breath, looking rather shaken herself. "As we have been given an extended class period, we will continue with history. Am I understood?"

Once all the students gave their reluctant agreement, she got back to lecturing.

In the back of the room, Edana and Phoenix traded looks; they would discuss this later.

-

The students were finally released after an hour of being locked in their classrooms and were sent home. They were told to stay away from the intersection the second accident had occurred at – which, of course, meant that over half the students took the long way home, Seth, Edana, Phoenix and Ally included.

"Metal magic," Ally confirmed once they'd gotten as close to the scene as the police would let them. Edana had quickly whispered her and Phoenix's thoughts on the mess as they were walking out of the school, and Ally had agreed to use her super brain-power to see if she could tell what had happened.

"That doesn't explain why," Seth muttered. "Why would someone smash three cars together like that? And twice in a row!"

"Mum told me, once," Phoenix said, "that Lot believed our world should be cleaned of those without the Gift. And he wasn't the only one; there are people all over the world who think normal humans should be killed off, so our people can exist safely, without fear of prosecution. Maybe this guy is one of those men?"

"That's a really, really scary thought," Seth decided. "Please tell me you're not one of those types?"

Phoenix snorted. "Bloody hell, Seth. What do you think I am?"

Seth shrugged and grinned. "Just checking."

"So we've got a motive," Ally murmured, "but not really a who."

"There's the guy Yuki saw," Seth suggested.

"Long grey hair, getting on in age..." Ally shrugged. "Could describe at least five people I've seen in the last month, and that's just here in the city and the boot camp. We need a name."

"We need to know if there's more than one," Phoenix agreed. "Why would he suddenly start acting out? And in such a public way?"

Seth let out a pitiful sigh. "Check the papers for other weird anomalies?"

"Hey, that was a decent use of a big word!" Ally said cheerfully, clapping Seth on the back. Seth glared at her.

"Where's the nearest library?" Phoenix asked.

The other three automatically changed their course slightly to head for the local library. "I'll check the old papers," Ally decided. "Edana?"

Edana nodded. "Me too. Do you two want to check the computers? Search for anything in this city, the other suburbs, or the capital. We can't rule anywhere out. Maybe there's just this one working here, but Y City's got their own terror."

"Now that's a scary thought," Seth muttered, rubbing at his arms.

As soon as they got to the library, the boys grabbed a couple computers while the sisters headed towards the periodicals and old newspapers.

Phoenix found the first mention. "Seth!" he hissed, only just remembering to keep his voice down.

Seth leaned over and looked at the page Phoenix had brought up. "Contained wildfires? Isn't that an oxymoron or something?"

Phoenix smiled grimly. "Yeah, I know. But look, it's only centered around places where one or two houses are, and as soon as everyone in the houses is dead, the fires go out."

"Shit. That's really creepy, Red."

"We found one," Ally said as she and Edana walked over to them with a newspaper in each of their hands. She pointed to an article about a singer's fans all committing suicide after he jokingly commented that if they really loved him, their love would save their lives.

"I liked this guy, too," Seth complained.

"But, is he the one who had them commit suicide, or was it someone else?" Phoenix asked.

"That was my question, too," Edana replied. "But I think we'll find out shortly." She held forth another newspaper, this one with an announcement about said singer coming to the capital next week.

"Well, that's sudden," Seth muttered. "He was just supposed to be ending his tour for this year."

"Suspicious," Ally decided. "If he's not the one doing the deed, the person who is is probably controlling him."

"Oh, this is sounding better and better," Seth complained.

"Another one," Phoenix said, then read out, " 'Mysterious deaths in T City. Random people found dead with no explanation. All outward signs point towards heart attacks, but autopsies have revealed that there was no cause, they all simply died."

"Oh, great," Seth complained. "So now we've got a guy who can control metal, a pyromaniac, a person who's controlling the fans of Cain Harper, and someone who can kill in a way scientists can't recognize. Anything else I missed?"

"Yeah," Phoenix whispered. "The only one of these to be seen at the crime was the metal mage and, maybe, Harper's person. Some of these people died in the middle of the street with hundreds of witnesses. Someone's hiding them."

"Oh, that tone sounds like you know who," Ally said.

"The only way someone can be hidden in plain sight is by a cloaking mage." Phoenix swallowed. "Lot was a cloaking mage."

"Well, Ally," Seth whispered, voice tight, "you've got your name."

-

"Dad's an animator," Phoenix said as they all relaxed in the living room of the Spellmans' house. They'd all agreed to retire there for food and some drinks. And to answer questions. "Mum's able to manipulate space. Our house is actually three times bigger on the inside than it should be. We couldn't even fit half our stuff in the house until she got home."

"Our dad's a stone mage," Edana said. "It's why he chose to become an archeologist, I think. He gets to work with rocks and earth all day."

"Mom's a light mage," Ally continued. "She's a really weak one, though. She can only really call out her light in complete darkness, because she's afraid of the dark."

"At least she never has to go looking for a flashlight," Seth commented lightly.

"What about you, Seth?" Phoenix asked.

Seth shrugged. "I'm normal. I only know because I was over during a black-out a couple years ago and Mz S had her light thing. Freaked me out. They kinda had to tell me at that point."

Phoenix nodded. "Ally's a knowledge mage?" When Ally nodded, he looked at Edana. "And you don't have an ability?"

Edana smiled sadly. "If I do, it hasn't surfaced," Edana agreed. "Gran always said I was sure to have one, seeing as how our family has always had magic, but since I was born an albino..."

"Is this the same grandmother who was an albino?" Phoenix asked.

"Yeah, but since she wasn't as bad..." Edana shrugged. "I've still got time, though. In our family, it always manifests by the time you hit twenty, if it's going to manifest at all, so I'm being patient. But it's okay if I'm not." She smiled and knocked her shoulder with Seth. "My best friend is normal, after all."

"I'm sorry, Edana, but Seth is far from normal," Ally offered drily.

Edana rolled her eyes. "Magically, he is."

They all laughed a little at that, then fell silent, munching on popcorn.

After about fifteen minutes of silence, Seth asked, "So, anyone interested in going to Cain Harper's show next week?"

Ally gave him a suspicious look. "How are you planning to buy the tickets? The cost is probably through the roof, it being so last minute and all."

Seth shot her a superior look. "Mom promised me a couple months ago that if there was ever a concert or anything I wanted to see, she'd get me tickets for putting up with Dad all the time. I think I can manage to get a couple extra tickets out of her."

"A real concert?" Edana whispered, stars in her eyes.

Ally looked at her suspiciously. "Sunglasses and a hat," she ordered.

Edana rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mom. I do know to be careful about bright lights, Ally."

Ally sniffed. "Well, you three can have a good time at this concert. I intend to spend that day with Axel. It's his birthday, after all."

Edana and Seth both rolled their eyes in tandem, making Phoenix laugh. Ally threw popcorn at all three of them and they moved on to lighter subjects.

-

Two more 'accidents' happened that week, and the following week saw three more. The teens were getting twitchy, waiting to go to the concert so they could feel like they were doing something. Even Ally started eyeing the days hopefully, waiting for the day she could go down to Axel and get away from the mess that her home had become.

The morning of the concert, the four friends met up by the school and walked across the street to wait for the city bus. Seth reassured Phoenix and Edana four times that the tickets would be waiting for them at the door.

On the bus, in the back, Phoenix asked, "What are we going to do if Harper is behind the suicides?"

"And how will we even know?" Seth complained.

Edana sighed. "Ally says that control mages always have some sort of specifics. She found a record of one who could only charm children before they hit puberty – the Pied Piper, before you ask – and another who could only control those who thought he looked like a possible husband. Curiously, he occasionally managed to accidently control other men..."

Seth and Phoenix both smiled at that. "So, a category or age of humans and a factor of whether or not people think the controller is hot. Okay. Well, all the fans who committed suicide were various ages and sexes, so it's probably the latter. Who thinks Harper's hot?"

The three traded looks and Seth immediately shook his head, waving his hands in denial. "Straight! Straight!"

Phoenix blinked. "Is he a homophobe?" he asked Edana curiously.

"I sincerely doubt it," Edana replied drily. "He's put up with me for however many years."

Phoenix blinked again, then shook his head with a smile. "Really?"

Edana quirked a grin. "Yeah. You?"

Phoenix shook his head. "Bi, actually. And I think Harper looks kind of ugly." He mock shuddered.

Edana snorted while Seth rolled his eyes. "What, you don't like the manly types?"

Phoenix shrugged. "Not really. I like my guys to be feminine, and my girls to be masculine. Don't ask," he added, seeing Seth open his mouth with a glint in his eyes that always spoke of oncoming danger.

Seth huffed. "Well, maybe we'll just have to scope out a couple of girls while we're there who are taken with him," he decided.

The others nodded.

When they got off in front of the Arts Centre, Phoenix suddenly asked, "What will we do if he controls someone?"

Edana and Seth froze in horror. "Oh. Shit," Seth muttered.

Edana hurriedly thought back to what her sister had found on control mages. "Uhm, cover their ears and their eyes. I think?" She tugged on a lock of white hair. "What else did Ally say? Oh! Get them away from the controller."

"If he tells the whole auditorium to go die, there's no way we can save that many people," Seth whispered in understanding. "Maybe one or two people, but not all of them."

"We'll be sentencing over one thousand people to death," Phoenix said, continuing the thought.

The three teens looked at each other, Edana taking off her sunglasses to meet their eyes properly.

After a long moment, Seth cleared his throat and whispered, "We've already come this far. And Mom spent real money on those tickets."

Phoenix nodded his head firmly. "We can't think of this as sentencing a thousand people to death. Think of it as saving those we can from death. There's–" His voice cracked and he paused to clear his throat. "There's not much we can do."

Seth nodded in decision and the two boys led Edana up to the ticket booth, where they collected their tickets. Only once they were inside and near the bathroom did Edana finally speak. "I think I'm going to throw up," she told them, then hurried into the bathroom.

Seth and Phoenix leaned against the wall outside the ladies'. "Are we doing the right thing?" Seth whispered. "Coming here, knowing people are going to die? Knowing we can't do anything to save them?"

"We have no choice," Phoenix whispered. "We need to know who's controlling Harper's fans. We need to know more. We can't..."

"We can't save people if we don't know who we're saving them from," Edana finished softly as she walked out of the bathroom.

"How are we supposed to save them?" Seth hissed, blue eyes bright. "We're just kids."

"But isn't it always the kids in the anime who save the world?" Edana demanded. "Aren't they always the ones that step forward when the adults can't do it?"

"This isn't anime!"

"No, it's real life," Phoenix cut in, looking between the two best friends. "And right now, the only adults we can count on have too much on their plates with their jobs to worry about this. Edana's mum's got her boss to deal with, Dad's got school plans to make, Mum's still trying to find a job.

"We can't just let this sit, not when we can at least get the facts. We have the chance to learn about who we're fighting, a chance that might not exist by the time our parents are ready to pay attention."

"We're here now," Edana said, repeating back Seth's earlier sentiment. "Maybe we can save one or two people. Isn't that enough?"

Seth shook his head, but led the way into the auditorium anyway. They took their seats in strained silence and waited for the concert to begin.

When Harper walked out onto the stage, the auditorium practically screamed its love for him. He smiled at them all and said, "I wrote this following song for you, my wonderful fans." He winked, making the crowd scream again, then motioned to his band.

"We fight to be normal, in our everyday lives. I fight to kill normal, and its average lies."

Seth jerked in his seat, staring at Harper. "That's..."

"No..." Phoenix whispered.

"Kill off the normal, the normal in your cells. It's time to be abnormal, kill normal."

Around the stadium, people were finding knives strapped to the bottoms of their chairs and pulling them out.

"Stop them!" Edana cried, jerking a knife out of the hands of the girl next to her, who immediately tried to take it back.

"Kill yourselves."

Four thousand people, including the security guards and the band, slit their throats.

On the stage, Cain Harper smiled triumphantly and walked off, never noticing the three children in the very back row who had each saved one other person.

-

Chapters:
One ||| Two ||| Three
Four ||| Five ||| Six
Summary & Character Info
Incomplete
.