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Silent Storms

Started by DragonSong, December 06, 2017, 12:53:53 PM

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DragonSong

"I..." Lily backed up a step, legs shaking. She looked wildly around at her family, the doctor.

They stared at her as though she was a demon herself. All but Jorris, who just seemed...heartbroken.

"No," she whispered, shaking her head as she tried to take another step back. Doctor Andres stepped in front of her family, his voice quivering slightly.

"Stay back, mage. All of you, get out of here." He tried to usher the Hartnets from the room, eyes fixed on Lily and Jace.

Tears gathered in her eyes as she reached after them helplessly. "Mama... Papa, please..."

Her father dropped his eyes, dragging her stunned and speechless mother from the room. The twins wouldn't even look at her. Jorris and the doctor exchanged a look, a nod, then her brother moved toward her.

Angrily, he snapped at Jace, "This never would have happened if she hadn't met you." Whether it was true or not it didn't matter; he was angry and grieving and he needed to vent that rage. He looped an arm around his sister's waist and held her close. Lily collapsed against him, shuddering and holding back sobs.

Jorris met Jace's eyes. "I won't let her got to the camps." There was a deep pain in his eyes, a sort of hopelessness. "But I don't trust you to protect her. The doctor with call for the guards, I can't stop him." He clenched his eyes shut and pressed a kiss to Lily's hair. "I'm sorry, sweetling," he whispered.

She barely even felt him move, just a little shift of the arm that didn't hold her. Pain, icy and sharp, spread from her ribs. Her lips parted in a soundless gasp and she stared up at her brother, confusion and terror warring in her expression.

"I'm sorry," Jorris whispered again, tears streaking down his face. He tossed the bloodied knife he pulled from her side at Jace's feet and turned to flee the room.

Lily's knees shook, then gave out. Once again she dropped to the ground, but this time she was conscious, gasping desperately for air, the wound in her side protesting sharply with every breath as she began to bleed out.

Wycliff

Jace's brow furrowed as she collapsed, fury evident in his face. He ran forward, scanning for the wound, before holding his hand over her, the flesh quickly mending from the inside out, blood redirecting back into her veins. His eyes raised to meet the family, steeled and cold as their color could manage. "The next one who steps forward loses a limb."

Jace felt his reserves begin to dwindle, he had barely half of what he'd started that day. Not optimal for such a dire situation.


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DragonSong

None but Jorris remained in the parlor- the Hartnets had not witnessed their eldest son's act of attempted sorroricide. And even he was too busy fleeing to pay Jace's words much heed.

As far as he was concerned, he could claim the strange mage had killed his sister. Better her die an honorable if tragic death than be forced into the mage camps...

Lily gasped weakly and her spine arched, her own magic rebelling against the foreign touch but recognizing an offer of healing enough to allow her body to mend- albeit with no small amount of pain. She whimpered, eyes clenched shut, and reached out blindly for...for something. Anything. Some sort of anchor.

Wycliff

Lily was trying to grasp at Jace, desperately trying to, what Jace assumed, reach out to her family who'd abandoned her. His hardened eyes became soft, as he saw her sadness, her confusion, her pain. He knew what it was like to lose a family member, but he couldn't imagine the pain of being abandoned by those you loved. A tear escaped from his eye at the thought of the pain Lily must have been feeling, and he grasped onto her hand, wishing to the heavens his touch didn't sap mages of their energy.

Out of nowhere, a holy force enveloped both him and Lily, the sting of her healing wounds lifting into a peaceful warmth, and, most surprisingly, Jace's abilities ceasing, both the absorption and his mending. Jace felt a familiar presence, one he couldn't describe, and in the light of the window, he saw a figure, akin to an angel, without wings. "Wha-?"


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DragonSong

Another quiet gasp and Lily's eyes fluttered open. The first thing she registered was Jace's face- far too close to her own- then...warmth? She tried to sit up and yelped as the half-healed wound in her side twinged in protest.

The pulse beneath her breastbone surged and she cried out, clutching at her heart with wide, panicked eyes. "M-Mother!" The call was instinctive, a lost girl reaching out for a parent who couldn't hear, and wouldn't come.

She shivered and curled in on herself, a sob caught in her throat. So much had happened so quickly, she hardly even knew where she was anymore.

Wycliff

Jace recoiled as she woke, startled and confused by the sudden appearance of a holy being. When he glanced back at the window, the figure was gone, and Lily was collapsing, her outer wounds still healing, but the wounds of her soul still wide and bleeding.

He stood, watching the holy magic work away at sowing her skin and muscle. What was that thing... In any case, Lily was slowly becoming stable, though he couldn't say much for her mental state. Her world had come crashing down in less than an hour, she'd need time to adjust to the new life she'd be leading. Jace wouldn't blame her if she didn't want his help, but he had a feeling she was smart enough to know she needed it. Fate had a cruel sense of humor, allowing a mage to be born from non-mage parents.

He bent down, and placed a hand on her shoulder. His body began to drain her energy, but he only needed a moment, both of them dematerializing at an atomic level and reappearing outside the city, near the foliage. Quickly removing his hand, he sat against a nearby tree, taking a deep, exasperated breath. What a day.


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DragonSong

There wasn't much time for Lily to acclimate to the situation. The Hartnet family's voices and that of the doctor could be heard, steadily rising as the storm outside rather abruptly died down.

Then it stopped completely, their surroundings changed- what?

Lily could barely even stand on her own, much less attempt to make sense of everything that was happening. She stared up at Jace with wide eyes. "I- I don't..." She wrapped her arms tight around her body, shaking. No tears fell, but her face was paler- well, paler- and her whole body trembled.

Wycliff

Jace stared straight ahead. "Lily, I'm sorry you had to go through that, I wish it could have gone differently." He paused, trying to find the words to say. He'd never consoled someone who'd lost so much, so fast, what could he say? Aven would know what to say, for sure. "You... listen, I haven't been in this country long, but my parents were. My father told me this country is diseased with fear, a fear that corrupts even the love of a mother for her child." His hands clenched tight. "It's sickening, but that's how this cursed place is. I understand if you hate me for tearing you away from your family, I didn't mean for it to end like that."


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DragonSong

Lily shook her head, knees drawn up to her chest and arms wrapped around her legs like a child. "I don't understand," she whispered, over and over. Her eyes were wide and glassy, not entirely seeing. "I don't understand, I don't understand..."

That pulse echoed her heartbeat and she whimpered, clenching her eyes shut. The wind picked up around them, tugging lightly, almost playfully at her hair, freezing the tears that coursed down her cheeks to her skin.

Magic. Her magic. How- how was that even possible?

"Why didn't I know?" she whispered, not really asking anyone in particular... God, maybe. "Why didn't...why..."

A sob caught in her throat and she buried her face in her knees.

Jorris had tried to kill her. It had always been the two of them, the way Jess and Dorian were together- even though one set of siblings were twins and the other separated by two years in age, no one could have said they weren't just as close. Her big brother who she knew would do everything to protect her.

And he'd just slid a knife between her ribs.

Once she'd started, Lily couldn't stop crying. She hunched in on herself and wept, her body trembling as sobs wracked her frame.

Wycliff

There was nothing he could say. Nothing that could ease the burden of her sorrow, no magic in the world that could cure the insanity of the world she'd grown up in. Jace realized with a sickening churn of stomach that somehow, some way, her brother tried to kill Lily out of some twisted sense of love. How could the world be that cruel, what force could possibly make a loving brother act that way? He found himself silently repeated Lily: I don't understand...


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DragonSong

Gradually, the sobs gave way to hiccups, then gasps, then silence. Lily stared in abject desolation at the ground before her. Whatever momentary connection she'd felt to the pulse of magic inside her was gone.

"...You should have left me," she whispered, voice raw and ragged. "You should have left me there."

Wycliff

Jace glanced her way, raising an eyebrow. "What, so the Mordecai could come and finish you off, or haul you out to a mage camp, a glorified death prison?" He shook his head. "If you don't think you're strong enough to keep on living, I won't blame you, but I also won't be responsible for it. I don't abandon those in need, unlike the fickle humans of this country."


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DragonSong

Lily snapped her head up and snarled at him. Actually snarled, like a feral beast. "Shut up," she hissed, and inkling of the power she'd commanded before shining in her eyes. "You don't know anything about us! You don't know- you could never- how dare you?"

A sudden surge of strength had her rocketing to her feet, though she swayed precariously for a moment. "And what are you, if not human, hm? A mage, but that doesn't make you any less one of us. Well congratulations for being born outside of Connlaoth, where the world is bright and magic is celebrated- but not all of us believe the church! Not all of us think mages should be damned! You're still human, as far as I can see, but rather than try to listen you just- just decide you know what other people believe! How dare you?!"

Fueled by rage and grief more powerful than anything she'd ever felt, she pulled back and slapped him, hard. It didn't matter if he deserved it, if what she was saying had any merit- she was lost and grieving and hurt, and she was lashing out.

But when her hand connected with his face she felt a surge of lightheadedness. She swayed on her feet and the slap suddenly changed velocity as she had to grip his shoulder to try to stay upright.

Wycliff

Jace took the slap, a small flinch as it hit his face. He helped her back to her feet with a push of force from his hand, trying not to drain any more magic from her waning supply. He struggled to keep calm, telling himself that she was grieving, she probably didn't know what she was saying. "I watched my father publicly executed, while the entire crowd cheered. Yes, not everyone is a staunch mage hater, but as you've seen, there's enough to make this country abominable. I wish I could completely separate myself from humans, but you're correct again, I am half human." He looked away once more. "Be careful about touching me, by the way. Lose too much magic, and you could get seriously hurt."


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DragonSong

Once again Lily crumpled. She managed to stay in her feet this time, but any spark of fight had left her. Her arms snakes around her torso again, hugging herself as she swayed in place.

"I'd rather be dead," she whispered, shaking her head. "You should have just let Jorris kill me..." Her voice broke into a quiet sob and she covered her face with her hands.

Loose too much magic and you could get seriously hurt...

The beginnings of a horrible idea clawed at the edges of her mind and she drew in a ragged, gasping breath, rage once agin replaced with tears. "You should have left me to die."

Wycliff

Jace stared up at the sky, nonchalantly at this point. "Sorry that I'm not like your murderous brother." If she wanted to die, she could do it herself. He could only help people who wanted to live, past that, it wasn't his buisiness.


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DragonSong

Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “Don’t- don’t talk about him like that,” she whispered, still not quite looking at him.

She couldn’t do it...could she?

“They’re my family.” She swallowed thickly. “And I- I’m a... I didn’t even-“ Lily drew in another shaky breath and finally looked up at him. “I couldn’t even say goodbye,” she murmured, voice small and lost.

Without really thinking about it, she sort of reached out to him, then hesitated. “How- how much touch is dangerous?”

Wycliff

Jace didn't look at her, still admittedly perturbed that she was chewing him out for saving her. How his Dad ever did this kind of thing was beyond him, the man was a veritable Saint. "Five seconds could drain most mages, give or take a few."


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DragonSong

Five seconds.

She only needed five seconds.

She could do that.

Logic and rational thought were not exactly functioning at full capacity, and Lily was desperate. He’d said five seconds could drain a mage, and in her state that was exactly what she wanted. If she was hurt in the process, if it killled her... So be it.

“Then I pray you forgive me for this,” she whispered, meeting his eyes. The instant the words had left her lips she was darting forward, grabbing the colllar of his shirt and jerking his down to crush her lips to his.

It wasn’t really a “plan”. She’d just been trying to get as much contact with skin as possible in what she was sure would be the short duration of his surprise. Desperately, she reached for that pulse in her chest and all but threw it into the touch. She didn’t know anything about how to control this power inside her, but she figured attempting to channel it out, into Jace, was a start.

Eyes clenched shut, tears steaming down her face, she couldn’t quite ignore the vague voice in the back of her mind that noted this wasn’t exactly how she’d imagined her first kiss.

Wycliff

There were a lot of things that he'd imagined about kissing a girl. He'd imagined it was gross, feeling the mouth of another person on his. He'd also imagined he'd be repulsed, as it would taste disgusting, and only do it because it was expected.

He'd been very, very wrong.

Not only was his head reeling, her lips were so soft, he didn't understand. It didn't taste disgusting either, her lips of his almost intoxicating. He felt something strange in his chest, almost like a warmth. In fact, there was a warmth all over his body...

His eyes opened groggily, a golden light surrounding the both of them once more. It's the same as before, except... Why did he hear someone chuckling? The realization came over him, after a solid ten seconds, that once again, he wasn't draining her magic, his power suppressed. Could he... actually learn to control that?


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