I dont really know what else to post, either. Lets see if this works...
Nathaniel
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Nat stood back as the others went to help Ara and Silvin to their feet. Every once in a while he would cough lightly and shift his weight from foot to foot.
"Hey, Nat?" Gerard asked, comming to stand beside him a few minutes later.
"Hmm?"
"What do we do now that we have the stone?"
"For one thing, we keep it away from the demons." Nat said. Then he added, "And personally, i wouldn't mind finding some way to get my magic back." he sighed. "I feel so...helpless without it. It's the only combat i'm good at. Without it, i'm as helpless and dependent as a babe."
"Don't worry, Nat." Bella said, comming up. "We'll find a way to find your magic again." she said, smiling pleasantly. Nat sighed again and turned away.
"I certainly hope so." he muttered.
*I dont really know anything to put...*
Be the cartoon heart. Light a fire, light a spark. Light a fire, flame in my heart. We'll run wild, we'll be glowing in the dark.
Bella sat down in the middle of the floor, while everyone else just kind of hung out, for lack of a better word/set of words. She closed her eyes, meditating intently on Nat. She did everything she could to bring herself closer to him. Everything was flooding into her, and through something that worked like a phone line, helping her locate things.
Memories...
Moments...
"Nat, what are you doing?" Bella had asked, when Nat had run in to save her. He wasn't crippled yet, and they were much younger; only about 12 or 13. She had gone out into the forest, trying to catch a kitten she had seen. She had no control over her powers; unlike Nat, who had quite the nack at magic. A wild cat had attacked her.
"I'm saving you, quite obviously!" he had replied, shooting magic of some sort at the wild cat. It hissed and ran away. "What are you doing out here alone?" Bella sighed, amazed by how Nat had helped her.
"I was just walking..." she answered. Nat bent over and grabbed her around the waist, helping her to her feet. "Ouch."
"What?"
"My ankle; I think it's been broken." Nat put his arm around her, and helped her walk back towards town. That was when she became sure she would love him for life.
"Bella! Bella, are you ok?" Nat was calling her name, trying to get her attention.
"Yeah..I'm fine. Why?"
"You're just sitting here, in the middle of the floor."
"I was meditating."
"Oh," Nat seemed to understand. "You looked like you were remembering something."
Bella smiled, remembering his memory almost as clearly as he did. That was actually one of the not so great days in her life, for obvious reasons.
"Nat...you've been to a lot of places, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, there must be some that you greatly dislike."
"Of course."
"Well...where's one place you greatly dislike? You know, like a place where something absolutly horrible happened that makes you absolutly despise it?"
Nat knew she would be reading his thoughs, and was thankful of that. He wouldnt have to say it aloud.
Nathaniel and Gerard walked the shadowed corridors of the tower, each lost in his own thoughts. The twins, only 19 now, were each preoccupied to his own fears.
"What is i fail?" Nat thought. "What i something goes wrong...?" he shuddered at the thought. Failure meant certain death.
"What if something happens to Nat...? How would i live...?" Gerard's mind raced as he thought of all the possible outcomes.
The two come to a tall, dark, metal door. It creaks inward...
The scene shifts
"Nathaniel, you know what happens should you fail?" an older mage asks as he stands in front of the young man. Gerard is no where to be seen.
"Yes. And i accept the consequences should something happen." Nat says.
"Very good. You may proceed..."
The scene shifts again
Now Nathaniel walks a deserted, sparsly used forest trail; alone. His brother is nowhere to be seen. Only the shadows of night accompany him now.
A small cottage can be een in the distace, illuminated by the silver moonlight spiling onto the small hut like a shrine bathed in silver radiance.
Nat apporaches...
...and the scene shifts.
A blast of red energy hits Nat, throwing him backwards. He scrambles to his feet again and faces his enemy.
"You will not pass," the whispering voices chant. "You will fail..."
"No," Nat says. "I will not fail. I will succeed. Who are you to stand in my way?"
"We?" the voices intoned. "Why, we are your death. We will be the one's to master you in the end..."
"I will have no master! I serve no one but myself!" Nat shouts as he throws up his hand. Twin bolts of lightning shoot out of his fingers, but it is not the screams of his enemy he hears. He knows the screams too well...they are his own.
Another scene replaces the old.
Gerard carries his bleeding, broken brother down the shawdowed passageway. His eyes fill with sorrow and pity as he glances down at Nat.
"Who is he to pity me...?" Nat thinks to himself angirly. "I have accomplished more than he could ever dream of..."
"Put me own, Gerard." Nat commands weakly, pushing against his brother's iron grip. Gerard only shakes his head.
"We have to get you out of here, Nat. You're dying, can't you see? We'll make those mages pay..."
Nat shrikes in anger. "Put me down! The test is not complete!"
"It is now... I can't let you go on. You'll kill yourself."
"You will regret it, my brother, if you do not let me complete the test."
Gerard stared straight ahead, eyes filled with pity and sorrow. This only angried Nathaniel further.
Saying the words, flaming bolts shoot out of Nat's hands, striking his brother. Gerard cries out in agony and collapses...
The scence changes for the last time.
The two brothers sit in a lightly furnished room. Nat's coughs are the only thing that breaks the silence. His shattered body sits on a soft leather chair as he sips a herbal concoction of his own making.
The test was complete. He had passed; he was now a official mage, free to preform any magiks instead of being confined to the strict diciplinaries of an apprentice.
But his success had come with a price, as the two well knew.
Gerard was now ful aware of what his brother was capable of...
and Nat's body was forever shattered. Never again would he be able to endure physical excrusion. He was now confined to his magic.
*I was hoping to explain a lot here. Ok, Nat went to take his test to become a mage (Bella never had to do this.). But...in the process, his health was shattered. He has gotten slightly better, but not much. It also shows some conflict between the brothers; a tension, i suppose.
I also wanted to put out there how much Nat;s magic meant to him, how much he had t go through to achieve it. How much he relies on it...*
Edit: I see how confusing this seems. Sorry. Ok, the 'test' was from where Nat is walking up to the cottage, to where he seemingly kills his brother out of jealously. Everything was an illusion, made to teach Nat the depths of his hatred, jealously, and power. He didnt actually kill Gerard (Obviously) but his body was shattered beyone repair. He has gotten slightly better over the three years that passed since the test, but he is still far from being fully recovered, whichis not likely to ever happen. Hope that explains it a bit...
Be the cartoon heart. Light a fire, light a spark. Light a fire, flame in my heart. We'll run wild, we'll be glowing in the dark.
Alise shrugged, "I don't know, I'm a vampire, not a mage. I suppose he could reach in and take it out, but i wouldn't know what that would do to either of us."
"Your magic may have been absorbed into the stone," Alise touched her chest where the stone had morphed back into her skin, "my heart, it could still be in there if it was absorbed."
Nat's eyes widened with realization, "I'd give anything that its there."
"How do we get it out? No offence Nat, but if your magic's in there it feels weird."
"Long painful process, but i doubt it would kill us."
Nathaniel, marginly happier at the prospect of geting his magic back, went over to Bella who was still lost in deep thought. He tapped er on the shoulder, making her start. She spun around.
"I need your help." he said.
"Sure, Nat." Bella said. She followed him back to Alise.
Nathaniel coughed lightly. "Erm... I've never actually done this before, so I'm not sure what will happen. I can guarentee we wont die...but... I cant guarentee how much pain-"
"Just do it." Alise said. Nat coughed uncomfortably. He kneeled down in front of Alise, laying his hand on her forehead.
"Bella," He said quietly. "You know what to do?"
"Yeah."
Bella's hand rested on his free hand. She spoke quickly, and Nat listened. He nodded once, sharply. She had the spell right, thankfully.
Moments later a searing pain blosomed in his chest, quickly spreading to the rest of his body. He cried out; his cries mingling with Alise's.
Be the cartoon heart. Light a fire, light a spark. Light a fire, flame in my heart. We'll run wild, we'll be glowing in the dark.
Bella hated to see Nat in this much pain. It hurt her just to watch. She knew she was only supposed to recite the spell, but no one ever said she couldn't help slightly. She closed her eyes, muttering to herself and trying to block out the cries of pain. She began to absorb the pain from Nat, making it easier on him, and leaving the path open for his magic to get in faster. She clenched her teeth, telling herself it was pointless to scream, no matter what.
The minutes passed slowly.
Each felt like another eternity.
And then Nat pulled his hand out from under Bella's, and the pain began to fade. It was, however, replaced by a large wave of fatigue.
"What were you thinking?" he cried, glaring at her. She looked up at him.
"I was thinking about the fact that you were both in pain, and that I had a way to help." she shot back, angry that he was yelling at her.
"You could have messed up the process though!"
"No, I couldn't have! Don't you think I'm smart enough that I would have thought of those possibilities? Or am I just another idiotic, self-trained Mage that has no idea what she's doing?" Bella glared at Nat. She was too angry to just sit there now, regardless of how tired she felt. She got to her feet and began walking away.
"Bella, wait!" she heard Nat's footsteps behind her.
"No..." she stopped, not because she wanted to though. Her head was spinning, and she stuck out her hand to steady herself. The wall wasn't where she thought it was, and she fell over, hitting her head against a rock. She barely heard Nat calling her name before the darkness consumed her.
Gerard helpped Alise sit up as Nat did the same with Bella, she groaned in her sleep and that pleased Nat. "She didn't hurt herself on her fall," he said, "she's just tired."
"Did she try to deflect some of the pain?" she asked groggily.
"Yeah."
"I think it only worked for you, but did did it work? Do you have your magic back?"
Nat nodded. Good, now he and Bella would be able to stop arguing-only about that, their relationship seemed to be based around arguements-and they'd be able to get some genuine rest. Everything seemed at ease for a while.
Ara watched the exchange and winced at the pain filled yells. She leaned against the wall. Silvin was scanning the cave repetidly to make sure there were no demons.
Nathaniel sat with Bella's head on his lap, absently stroking her hair. Gerard and Alise sat talking to Ara and Silvin about what they were going to do next.
Bella moaned softly and shifted slightly. Nat smiled down at her sleeping form, laughing silently.
"How much clumsier could you get?" he muttered under his breath. He looked up and stared off down the tunnel, lost in thought. Every once in a while a small burst of flame would come to life in his palm, it's light reflected in his brown eyes.
*All i got*
Be the cartoon heart. Light a fire, light a spark. Light a fire, flame in my heart. We'll run wild, we'll be glowing in the dark.
Cheat your landlord if you can and must, but do not try to shortchange the Muse. It cannot be done. You can’t fake quality any more than you can fake a good meal. — William S. Burroughs
*
