"Rill! Rill! Wake up, man! What kind of wizard ARE you?" Ruby cawed in Rill's ear.
"What is it, Ruby?" Rill asked, rubbing his eyes. He then closed them once again and almost fell right back to sleep. ... Almost.
"WAKE UP!!"
Rill fell off his bed and hit the ground... hard. He rubbed his head. What an abusive familiar, Rill thought. He crossed his legs on the floor and looked up at his familiar with his cute, green eyes. "Yes, Ruby?"
"Rill, you were crying in your sleep again! Why act so innocently oblivious when you were crying?!"
Yes... she most definatly is abusive. Why must my familiar make me remember what I was dreaming? "I was crying?"
"YES, RILL! WHY?! Ever since we came back from the Human World, you've been like this! Always crying in your sleep! I demand that you tell me why!"
"I'm hungry..."
"DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!!"
"I want miso..."
"RILL!"
And with that, the green-ish blonde wizard left his bedroom, and shut the door on Ruby. He got down an instant soup packet and opened it. He poured it into a cup and added a splash of water. How peculiar, Rill thought as he put it into the microwave. Ruby always thinks about my well-being in such an annoying way... How odd...
"No... That's not it..." Rill thought out loud, "Ruby cares about me in her own special way. I should be grateful."
But then the images flashed into Rill's mind. Icy flames. The screams of two young would-be wizards. Blood. Tears. And a sad girl who would never know the truth of what happened to the boys she loved. Who never got to say good-bye.
"...But that's not..." Rill covered his mouth as a fit of coughs made its way to his throat. The microwave beeped in completion.
"RILL!" Ruby kawed after she managed to get the door open, "You have to see the doctor! Your cough is getting worse!"
"It's just a cold, Ruby. I'm fine..." But another fit of coughs found its way to his throat. Ruby gripped his shoulder with her claws.
"If you don't got to the doctor, I won't let go!"
"Fine, Ruby... I'll go to the doctor. Your claws hurt."
"Good! Now let's go!"
Ruby flew to the door, and after grabbing his cup-o-soup, Rill followed. They walked, or, in Ruby's case, flew, to the other side of the small town. Rill drank his miso along the way, and he had just finished when they found themselves in front of an elegent brick building.
"Oh... it's Will the Wizard's CLinic..."
"Someone help us! THis wizard is ill! He needs attention!"
"Ruby..."
"Do not fear!" a small voice chimmed, "Just leave it all to me! The genius behind this Medical Magic Clinic!"
A small girl apeared in the doorway of the building. She had long, wavey black hair and wore a purple dress with a mini-skull attached to the collar. Her witch's hat sat lopsided on her head.
"Oh... she must work here..."
"YOU'RE JUST A LITTLE BRAT! NO WAY YOU WORK HERE! ARE EVEN OLD ENOUGH TO RIDE A BIKE!" Ruby squauked.
"HEY! THAT'S RUDE! I'M SMALL, BUT I'M SEVENTEEN! AND WILL'S MY SHISHO! SO I DO WORK HERE!" the girl replyed.
"Miss, could you just take a few minutes to look at me? I've been coughing a lot lately, and Ruby's gotten really worried..."
"Aw, yes! I see! Yes, yes! I'll take a look at you! My name's Pure, and Will's my Shisho. But he's... out... right... now..." she said through gritted teath, "So, I will be taking care of you! Come right this way please!"
Pure showed Rill the way inside, walking quickly. He followed her at a normal pace, and Ruby flew above them.
"Sit here!" Pure commanded. Rill sat down on the chair Pure pointed to. She got out an odd-looking instrument.
"This is called a Thermohydo Staff. I'll stick this down your throat, and squirt the liquid down your throat. If you throw up, you've caught a human affliction. If not, you've got something else."
"Why do you have to stick a rod in his mouth to do that?!" Ruby asked.
"Beacause if the liquid touches his teeth in this concentrated form, his teeth will turn purple for five days. Say 'ah'!" Rill opened his mouth and Pure stuck the instrument in it. Rill felt a cold liquid roll down his throat.Pure removed the instrument and watched him. Rill sat there and swallowed once more.
"Do you feel all right?" Pure asked.
"Yes..."
"Well... then I guess you've got a magical illness. Uhm... well," Pure sat down and got out a small booklet, "Do you have any allergys?"
"No."
"Had a magical blood transfusion lately? Sometimes people who get blood from people with magical abilities that aren't like their own get sick."
"No."
"Do you have a history of Nisoloica, a genetically transmited Magical disease in your family?"
"No."
"How about Faramonicalistic Syndrome?"
"No." "Have you seen any disturbing images, be it yaoi, yuri, your uncle in the shower, or a death?"
Rill stiffined, "Well... My ability is Sight. And I saw the death of two young wizards. Well, a girl changed their fate, and they're alive. Their future is unreadable now, but at least they are alive. Well, uhm..."
"Yes, yes! I know what's wrong! You have Stawleeitice. It's a magical illness where a person who has seen a disturbing event suffers from anxiety and gains a heavy cough, and the more serious it gets, the patient can become bed-ridden, and sometimes die. The more events you see, and the longer you dwell over them, the more serious it becomes.
This is rare, but the last case we had of it was pretty recent. I wasn't part of the clinic then, but Shisho told me that the last patient who had this illness was a beautiful woman whose husband died of another disease, and her father blamed her daughter. The mistreatment of her child was too disturbing for her, and each time she was mistreated in front of her, she got sicker. In the end, she died and the little girl was still blamed by her family for being 'cursed'. They wouldn't listen to the doctors. You should thank your lucky stars you caught it early. The best treatment is a good round of therapy!"
"Okay... but I would rather not do this in front of Ruby..."
"SAY NO MORE! Aquamarine! Play with the birdie, while I treat my patient!"
"I am not a pet," a black cat with aqua eyes said, jumping down from a stack of books. "And I do not chase birds."
Pure glared at her. The cat sighed and swatted at Ruby.
"HEY! WATCH IT! Children these days!"
"I am a good deal older than you are," the cat swatted at Ruby again and they both ran/flew off.
"How do we start? Kcah! Kcah!" Pure handed Rill a glass of water. "Thank you."
"Describe this vision you had."
"Well... Nina asked me what her future with Ichi and Zero was like. I looked into the future... and saw that they would die very soon... And that vision... was that they would be killed by an ice dragon... fire and fangs... and ice... And there was... blood... and tears... And the last word off of Zero's lips was 'Nina'. It was... sad..."
"Oh! WAAAHH! THAT'S SO SAD!" Pure cried, "Wait... didn't those boys pass the exam?"
"Yes... I didn't tell Nina what I saw... and instead, I told her that she could make her own future... and I was right... She changed their fate..."
"That's beautiful! Like something out of Snow White!"
"I don't remember that being in Snow White..."
"It wasn't."
"Hum..."
"Well, they're alive, right?"
"Yes..."
"And doing well?"
"Yes..."
"Then their deaths are fan fiction! It didn't happen."
"You're right... Fan fiction...?"
"And you should really get over it! They're fine! Will checked up on them the other day! Their life is wonderfully screwed up!"
"I suppose that makes me feel better..." Rill prepared to cough, but he didn't. All that graced his hand was his pleasent breath. He blinked. "I didn't cough..."
"You're all better!" Pure clapped her hands together. "YAY! Come back if you have any questions or feel under the weather again! Aquamarine! Bring the birdie back! Patient dismissed."
"Thank you..." Rill said as Ruby complained above his head. As they walked back home, Rill thought about it.
"Ruby? Can I ask you something?"
"Of course! Ruby-Roo!"
"Ruby... Is the ability to see the future really all that useful if you can change it?"
"What are you talking about? Of course! That girl was the first to change the future!"
"You're right... and maybe... that's her gift..."
"Now what are you talking about?"
"That girl... Nina... I think... she CAN change the future."