ORIGINAL: SnowFire - 5

[batsutousai]

5

"Lisa!" the girl Edana had saved cried, shaking the girl who'd been sitting next to her. "Lisa!"

"She's dea–"

"She's not dead!" the girl cried in denial. "She's not! She can't be!

"I'm sorry..."

"She was my sister," the girl whispered, apparently unaware of Edana next to her. "I promised my parents I'd get her home okay. I promised."

"I'm sor–"

"Why couldn't you have saved her instead?" the girl hissed, suddenly turning on Edana. "Why couldn't you have ignored me and gone for her? Or stopped both of us? What gave you the right to decide who was to live and who was to die?"

"I-I didn't..."

"Hey, leave her alone!" Seth snapped, pulling Edana behind him. "At least she saved you. Imagine what your parents would feel if you'd both died."

"And you're so high and mighty?" the girl shot back. "You who didn't go for your knives. I bet you had this whole thing planned, didn't you? How'd you do it? Are you freaks?"

"We're human, just like you," Seth spat. "And we're not the ones you should be pointing fingers at, you stupid bitch. Why don't you go ask Cain Harper why the entire auditorium slit their throats? Or maybe why there was a knife under each seat?"

"Are you suggesting Cain did this? Oh, you dirty, horrible little boy! How dare you suggest such deeds of Cain! I'll..." She trailed off and looked around. Her eyes lit up when she saw the knife Edana had dropped after the girl had stopped trying to kill herself. "Yes. Yes, I'll just kill you..." she decided, picking up the knife.

"Oh, shit. Red, I think it might be time for a retreat!" Seth called over his shoulder, carefully backing up and making sure he was between the girl and Edana, who was clutching the back of his shirt like a lifeline.

"You might be right," Phoenix commented drily, eyeing the man he'd kept alive, who was pissed because his fiancé was one of the dead. Seth had managed to save a little girl, who was too upset by her mother's death to care about being mad at her saviors. "I hate to point this out, considering the circumstances," he added, "but you're facing our exit."

"Hm, you're right." Seth took a moment to eye the mad girl with the knife and nodded. "Okay, Yuki, when I say 'go', I need you to run for the exit."

"Seth–"

"Edana Spellman, you will do as I say," Seth said over her protests. "Red and I'll be right behind you, swear to God, but when I say 'go', go. Okay?"

Edana glanced back at where Phoenix was staring down an angry man, then back at the girl she'd saved. "Okay," she whispered.

Seth took a deep breath, then darted forward and grabbed the knife in the girl's hand, using all his strength to keep the knife away from his body. "Go!"

Edana dashed passed the girl and made for the exit. When she heard a curse, she looked back to see Seth holding an arm against his side and the girl with the knife still advancing on him. Edana looked around, almost smiling when she caught sight of the perfect purse. "Please let my aim be true," she whispered, then threw the purse.

The purse hit with a solid 'whack' and the girl went down, leaving Seth clear to run. "Come on, Red!" he snapped over his shoulder, jumping over the fallen body. He hurried towards Edana, making motions with his hands that she should turn around and keep running, which she did.

Phoenix let out a sigh and sliced his arm with the knife he was using to fend off the angry man. "I really, really hate doing this," he told the man, "but you leave me with no choice." Then he mentally directed the blood dripping down his wrist to wrap around the man's legs and made a run for in, clutching his arm tightly to try and stop the bleeding. He smiled when he heard the man fall behind him.

When the three friends made it out into the lobby, Edana nodded towards the ladies' toilet and, the two boys looking uncertain, they all ran in there.

Edana grabbed a wad of paper towels and gave them to Phoenix to help stop the bleeding, then did the same for Seth, muttering about stupid boys and their need to protect her. Both of said boys sort of smiled helplessly.

Edana glanced around helplessly for a minute, then grabbed the knife Phoenix was still holding and took her shirt off.

"Yuki!" Seth hissed, looking away.

Edana rolled her eyes. "Like you haven't seen me naked before," she muttered, then proceeded to cut two strips from the bottom of her shirt before putting it back on again. She glanced between the two boys, amused by how they'd both turned their backs on her, then went to Seth. "Let me see," she ordered.

Seth showed her his cut arm, which was only bleeding slowly by then. "It's not too bad," he said.

Edana sniffed and quickly wrapped the cut with a strip from her shirt. "Keep pressure on it anyway," she decided, then walked over and checked on Phoenix's arm.

"Your shirt's a little short," Phoenix commented teasingly as she wrapped his arm.

"I've seen girls wear shorter," Edana replied, tying off the strip. "Okay! Neither of those are particularly clean, but they'll do for now. Let's make our way back to Phoenix or my house and do a proper job there, okay?"

The two boys nodded, so they carefully made their way outside and to the bus stop. When the bus got there, they got on and tried their best to act like nothing had happened, despite the bloodstains on their clothing.

-

When they got to Edana's house and turned on the news, they found that the public was just finding out about the mass suicide at the auditorium. From what the three friends could glean from the reports, the little girl Seth had saved had been found wandering around outside the auditorium, covered in blood and crying. There was no report about the other two people they'd saved or mention of themselves, so the teens relaxed a bit.

"I should go let Dad know I'm okay," Phoenix said after the report started to repeat itself.

Seth grimaced. "I should let Mom know I'm not dead, I guess. Dad won't care, but Mom will have a panic attack when she finds out."

Edana nodded. "Seth, go ahead and use the phone. Phoenix, do you want me to walk you home, or...?"

Phoenix smiled. "I'll be fine. But..."

"What?"

Phoenix nervously rubbed his arm. "I'm going to have to tell Dad. Mum too, maybe."

Edana nodded. "I know. I think..." She took a deep breath. "This is beyond us, now. I can't–"

Phoenix nodded his understanding. "Me neither."

"Get home safe."

"I will." He stopped next to her to squeeze her shoulder, then hurried from the house and to his own.

Edana walked into the kitchen, smiling at the discussion Seth was having with his mother.

"No– Mom, we weren't eve– Mom! Would you list– Yes, we're all– Edana's. None of us were hu– Mom!"

Edana giggled and pulled open the fridge to find something to drink. She eyed her mom's sherry, but knew Maris would know if some went missing, so grabbed a can of soda instead. "Seth? You want something to drink?"

"Water's fine," Seth called back, then went back to trying to get a word in with his mom.

Edana poured him a glass from the pitcher in the fridge, then walked it over to him. "Here."

Seth grinned at her in thanks, then frowned at something on the phone. "Hey, Mom– No, Mom. Mom! I'm hanging up, Mom! Bye!" He pressed the button in the cradle, then handed the phone to Edana as it rang.

Edana rolled her eyes and took the phone, motioning for him to let it go. "Hello?"

"Edana," Ally breathed on the other side of the phone. "Thank God. Is anyone hurt?"

"Ally! No, we're all fine. Well, Seth got cut while playing the chivalrous knight, and Phoenix had to cut himself to do his blood thing, but nothing else happened."

"Did you find out who it was? Harper or–"

"It was Harper," Edana replied flatly. "He sang a song about killing off the normal and basically told the audience to kill itself. There were knives under every seat."

"Oh, God... Edana, I'm sorry. If I'd known–"

"If any of us had expected that to happen, we wouldn't have gone at all," Edana replied. "You're not perfect, Ally, no matter what your test results say."

Ally laughed painfully on the other side. "I know. Is it bad that I feel better about the whole thing knowing you three got away mostly unharmed?"

"I don't think so, no," Edana decided. "Oh! Phoenix is telling John everything."

Ally was silent for a long moment then, "If you think that's best, I suppose."

Edana swallowed. "Ally, have you ever had to decide whether or not to save someone's life?"

"Uhm, no? Can't say I have."

"That's what we just did," Edana said, feeling sick. "We decided whether or not to try and save those people. And each of us managed to save just one. But the people we saved..." Edana sniffed. "Ally, they hated us."

"Oh, Edana..."

"It's okay, Yuki," Seth whispered, gently prying the phone away from her and pulling her into a hug. "Hey, Ally? ... Yeah, I'll stay... Already called my mom. Yeah... No, don't worry yourself. We'll manage... Okay. See you whenever." He gently hung up the phone and leaned against the wall, letting Edana cry into his shirt.

-

Phoenix let the door close behind him, feeling drained. Using his blood magic always took a lot out of him, but this time he felt particularly dead. And wasn't that a horrible analogy?

"Red?" John called, voice hopeful.

"I'm okay, Dad," Phoenix called back, slowly making his way towards where he could hear the TV in the study.

John met him halfway and drew the boy into a hug. "You're okay," he whispered. "Thank God. When I saw the news..."

Phoenix swallowed. "Dad? Remember what Mum said about Lot all those years ago?"

John blinked. "Your mom says a lot about Lot, kiddo. You'll have to be more specific."

Phoenix smiled faintly at the old play on words. "About him thinking only the Gifted were worth keeping alive?"

John nodded. "Yeah what of it?"

"Remember all those weird accidents that have been popping up recently?"

"I don't think I like where this is going," John decided. "Let's go sit down. Come on, kiddo."

Phoenix let his dad lead him into the study and push him down into the leather chair that sat in there, while John pulled over his desk chair. "Edana's family is like us," Phoenix said. "They have the Gift."

"Small world," John muttered.

Phoenix smiled briefly. "The first accident, Edana saw a smiling man in the crowd beyond the wreck. She said he looked proud of the mess in front of him. And then, when the second wreck happened, and I asked her why she was taking it so hard, she asked me if I believed in magic."

John's eyes widened. "Metal magic?" he whispered in understanding. His father had been a metal mage.

Phoenix nodded. "S'what we all thought. So we walked by the wreck with Ally, who's a knowledge mage, and she confirmed it. At the library, we found out that there have also been a few weird forest fires which killed people, then disappeared, and the massive suicide that occurred after Cain Harper's last concert. Since he was supposed to be coming here, we decided we'd go to the concert. And well..." Phoenix trailed off, eyes haunted with the mass suicide.

John swallowed and shook Phoenix's shoulder gently. "Red?"

Phoenix shook his head desperately and focused on his step-father. "It wasn't pretty. But, Dad, listen. I found out a lot of people have been dying for no actual reason in T City, sometimes in the middle of a crowded street. That sort of magic needs touch, but there's no one recorded being near the person when they die in a couple cases."

"Lot," John whispered.

Phoenix nodded.

"You think he's come to America?

"Yeah."

John nodded. "Don't tell your mother."

"Hell no. She's got enough to worry about. Just... Edana and I agreed we should probably let an adult know what all we've found. It's..." Phoenix swallowed. "It was too much."

John pulled Phoenix into a hug. "I'm so sorry, Red."

Phoenix closed his eyes and let himself lean against his dad. "I know."

"It's okay to cry," John added, eyeing the disquieting scene the TV was playing.

Phoenix smiled. "I know," he whispered.

-

When Maris got home that night from working late, again, she found her youngest curled up on the couch while Seth sat in one of the chairs next to her, eyes haunted. Maris swallowed at that look and asked, "Seth?"

Seth looked up at her for a long moment before getting out of the chair and motioning her into the dining room, where he fell into a chair. "Hey, Mrs Spellman."

Maris blinked in surprise. "You never call me that," she said, sitting down next to him and feeling his forehead. "What happened, Seth?"

"Have you seen the news?" he replied.

Maris nodded. "The concert suicide? Yeah. It's been an absolute mess."

Seth nodded. "We were there."

It took Maris a moment to realize what he meant, and when she did, she shook her head in denial. "When they found the bodies?"

Seth smiled, but it was such a sad smile that Maris wanted to pull him into a hug and never let him know anything but happiness again. "No, we were in the auditorium when Harper told everyone to kill themselves. Edana, Phoenix and myself. He sang about killing everything normal, and everyone slit their throats. Except us." He looked up at her, eyes haunted with something she could only imagine. "We saved a few. A little girl, an older sister, a man who was soon to be married. And they hated us. They hated–"

Maris drew Seth into a tight hug, feeling tears in her eyes as he sobbed. "Oh, Seth... Why?"

But Seth just cried all the harder.

-

After Maris put Seth and Edana to bed, only waking them briefly so they could walk on their own, she pulled over the phone and rang the number her husband had given her before leaving on his latest expedition.

When the person on the other side picked up, he sounded tired, but Maris smiled and merely hearing his voice. "Hey, handsome."

"Maris!" Stein Spellman exclaimed. "To what do I owe this surprise phone call? Does Ally need to be grounded again?"

Maris smiled fondly at the memory of Ally being trapped in the backyard for a week the last time Maris had needed Stein to ground her from the other side of the world. Her smile faded when she remember why she'd decided to call. "I'm afraid it's a bit worse than that."

"What? Edana needs to be grounded?"

"Stein, Edana, Seth and their new friend from down the road saw a couple thousand people kill themselves today."

The other end of the line was conspicuously silent.

"They went to a concert because they thought a controlling mage was using a singer's concerts to get people to kill themselves. The singer ended up being the controller and he ordered the entire auditorium to kill themselves."

"Are they okay?"

"It looks like Seth got cut, but otherwise they're physically okay. But, Stein, they both cried themselves to sleep. Apparently they tried to save a couple of people, only to have the people turn on them for not saving their loved ones. I'm not sure what to do." Maris took a deep breath. She loved her kids, even Seth, but she was by far the less parental of herself and her husband. Perhaps because of her own phobia of the dark. Stein was very much a down-to-earth sort of man and always dealt well with the kids.

"It's Saturday there?"

"Yes."

"Okay. I'll start making my way home in the morning, but you know how long these trips take. Until then, if the kids aren't feeling up to going to school, let them stay home. Let them know you're there for them. If you have to, to make them feel better, call in and let Delilah know you have to take care of your kids. She won't fire you; she can't," Stein ordered.

Maris smiled at the phone. "What would I do without you, Stein?"

"Probably still be going everywhere with a couple glowsticks around your head," Stein replied jokingly. "I'll try my best to get there in a couple days. It'll be okay."

"I know. Thank you, handsome."

"Anything for my light."

Maris laughed and hung up the phone, feeling much better about everything.

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

Comments

[rhianna-kat.livejournal.com]

Hey! Was wandering looking for new stuff to read and found your Nano. Am now desperately addicted... Purlease write more soon? I read the first chapter and was like "Oh, it's an interesting and new story about magic and reality. And then this whole-- whole-- whole thingamabob happened whith the controllersandthemetalmageandthemasssuicideandthetraumaandandand... okay, I'll calm down but please update soon :-)