AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Yeah, all these terms and spells and stuff are Final Fantasy terms. Sue me. Anyway, I love RPG AUs way too much to stay away. Please enjoy!

"Wait, Hiyori, DON'T-" Hibiya cried out, but it was too late.

Hiyori, ever the short tempered and stupidly overpowered Black Mage, raised both hands above her head, the small doll that she carried at all times jumping out of her arms and copying her movements. "BIO!" she shouted, fury burning in her eyes, hers and the doll's arms swinging down towards their target, a royal guardsman smirking arrogantly at the pair.

He was not smirking for long. Immediately as the spell was cast, a sickly greenish colored cloud enveloped the guard. He coughed violently as the poisonous miasma entered his lungs, burning his throat. "W-what did you do to me?" he choked out, falling to his knees, spitting out ugly retching sounds. "Listen, all I said was-!"

"No, YOU listen here, mister 'I don't know an official Black Mage from the Academy when I see one.'" Showing absolutely no pity for the downed man, Hiyori raised a sandled foot to his face and pushed him down to the ground, rubbing his face in the dirt. Pus filled boils started to rise up on his skin as the magical poison ran its course through his veins, and he let out loud, pathetic moans of pain from the ground. Nearby, Hibiya winced in sympathy, tugging on his white robes, fringed with red triangles.

"First of all, my name is NOT Little Girl, it's Hiyori Asahina. Second, I am a MAGE and you are nothing but a puny guard, and you owe me respect." The furious girl continued with her tirade before gesturing to Hibiya. "Third of all, this disgusting excuse for a White Mage and I are out here on official Academy business, and that means you are to LET US PASS, not patronize us and 'offer' to escort us back to our parents. IS THAT CLEAR, WORM?" She kicked the hapless man in the neck once more for good measure then let herself out the city gates before he could respond, scooping up her patiently waiting doll in her arms as she walked away.

Hibiya went to follow his partner, before stopping short in front of the facedown still-moaning guard. He could hear choking sounds from the man, signaling that the poison had begun to fill his lungs with boils as well. "U-um, sorry about that, sir, she's got quite a short temper, you understand, right?" the White Mage asked, chuckling lamely. "Um, let me see if I can take care of that poison for you." He pulled his oak staff from its place in the rope belt tying his robes together. It was long, almost as tall as him, and curled into a spiral at the end. Holding it in his right hand, he brought his hands together, as if in prayer, over the guard. "Poisona!" he called out, casting the spell to cure poison.

A sharp crack came from his hands, and smoke started to billow out from the tip of his staff, signaling that the spell had backfired. Hibiya sighed in disappointment, waving his hand in the air to dissipate the smoke. Part of the reason why he didn't mind Hiyori's constant verbal abuse was that she was right; he WAS a terrible excuse for a White Mage. None of his healing or protection spells worked unless he cast them on Hiyori, and that was only because he was hopelessly in love with her. Reluctantly, he reached into the small pouch attached to his belt and pulled out an herb dropping it on the guard's head.

"There's an Antidote, eat it and you should be better in no time." Wasting no time, he ran out of the gates after Hiyori, who was clearly not waiting up for her partner. "Hey, Hiyori, wait for me, you don't even know where we're going!" he called out, giving chase to the Black Mage.

Hiyori and Hibiya were the youngest ever graduates of the Agrias Magic Academy, obtaining their licenses to practice Black and White magic, respectively, at the young age of 12 years old, on the sole condition that they become partners. Hiyori was required to stick with Hibiya because of her terribly abrasive personality and her tendency to cast very painful Black Magic on whoever rubbed her the wrong way. There was no telling what she would do if she didn't have someone to restrain her or clean up her messes. Hibiya, on the other hand, was absolutely abysmal at casting White Magic, until he first laid eyes on Hiyori and instantly fell deeply in love with her. His examiners found that whenever he was casting magic for Hiyori's sake, he was capable of miracles, even the most powerful spell that normally took trainees decades to master, Holy. And thus, to Hiyori's disgust and Hibiya's great joy, they were stuck together.

"You know, Hiyori, people wouldn't mistake you for some common little girl if you actually wore your Mage uniform," Hibiya remarked at his partner, gesturing towards her plain pink dress and wooden sandals.

"Hush, maggot. You think I'm going to walk around in that huge stifling blue coat and yellow floppy hat? Idiot." She huffed in indignation, turning away from him. He was right, though; the only thing remotely signaling her status was the doll she was carrying, through which she channeled her spells. It was a woolen, fuzzy thing, in the shape of a white haired boy with red eyes, about a foot tall. She refused to say where she got it, only stating that she'd had it ever since she was born. After all the time she had been holding the doll, which she affectionately named "Konoha", it had achieved some form of personality, thanks to the powerful magical radiation emanating from her body. It was a lazy sort of creature, moving in robotic gestures. It also began eating the nearest edible thing if left alone for any amount of time.

"Besides, if you ask me, I was doing him a favor," she continued. "All I did was improve his complexion." She cackled darkly to herself at her own sadistic humor. Meanwhile, Hibiya felt a shiver run up his spine.

God, she's cute, he thought to himself. Anyone else would think that he was the most masochistic White Mage alive.

"Trash! Garbage! Hey, HIBIYA, snap out of it!" Hibiya was suddenly dragged out of his lovesick reverie by his irritable companion, who was snapping her fingers in front of his face.

"W-whuh?" he stuttered, coming to his senses.

"Unbelievable," Hiyori muttered, shaking her head in disgust. "I SAID, what's our goal? What did the Academy want us to do? I wasn't paying attention."

"Oh yeah, right!" The White Mage started reciting the quest details from memory. "'There is a giant lizard prowling the outskirts of the city and intimidating anyone that leaves the city. Please defeat it.' I think that was all of it."

"A lizard? Really? What a waste of time."

"Oh, wait, I just remembered, there was one more part! 'Caution: The lizard is known to descend upon its pray from nearby tree-'"

"GET BACK!" As if summoned by the warning, everything got dark as if the sun had eclipsed. Hibiya found himself propelled backwards, his body sent flying by Hiyori's momentum crashing into him. They both landed a short distance away, skidding across the grass to a stop. Where the White Mage had stood seconds before was an abomination of a creature; a lizard larger than two houses stacked on top of each other. Its yellow glowing eyes swiveled around erratically in its head, as if they were apples floating in a stormy sea. A great spiked horn adorned its colossal creature hissed in anger at having its prey taken away from it.

Hiyori did not give it a chance to try again. She rolled off from on top of Hibiya and sprung up to her feet. "BIO!" she cried out, swinging her arms down in time with Konoha, casting her signature poison spell. The familiar green miasma enveloped the creature, staining its still rolling eyes with its sickly color. However, it was in vain; taking no notice of the debilitating cloud surrounding it, the lizard charged through at the Black Mage, aiming to impale her with its horn.

Thankfully, her tiny frame worked to her advantage, and she leapt to the side, dragging Konoha with her, who appeared as unenthusiastic as ever. "W-what? Poison doesn't work?" she stammered, sounding almost betrayed by the fact that her signature status effect hadn't worked.

"Hiyori, fall back!" Hibiya cried from the other side of the lizard, who was still ignoring him in favor of his more dangerous counterpart. "We need to develop a strategy and see what this guy is all about, don't go casting spells all-"

"Shut UP and cast Protect on me, you useless crumb!" she bellowed angrily, now having decided that her quarrel with this lizard had become personal. "DEMI!" she yelled, splaying out her hands towards her foe in unison with her white haired doll. A black and purple gravitational field formed around the creature, increasing the pressure on it by normally lethal amounts. However, the lizard was still unaffected; he did not flatten even a little bit, and in fact seemed to grow even larger, fed by the increased gravity. "Y-you've got to be kidding me," she choked out. She grunted in exertion as she rolled to the side away from yet another reckless charge.

"Listen to me for once, Hiyori! Look! SCAN!" Hibiya carefully pointed his staff at the lizard, which was still trying to regain its bearings after that last charge. Out of thin air, a wall of information appeared to him. "Look! Immune to all status effects and gravity magic! This says he's vulnerable to elemental magic! Are you listeni-?"

"Worm… shut… up…" He was cut short in his lecture by a horrifying sight. There, stabbed straight through the middle by the creature's horn like a pig on a spit, was Hiyori. Her blood stained her pink dress with red, red appearing on the horn when she coughed out more. Labored wheezing came from the small girl's mouth as she gripped the horn with both hands, desperately trying to keep from sliding down further onto it. Despite the massive internal damage to her body, she tried her best to keep from showing the pain on her expression.

Hibiya, however, freaked out almost immediately. "HI-HI-HIYORIIIIII!" he screamed in agony, his voice cracking in despair. "HIYORI! HIYORI!" he repeated like a broken record, both grief and abject fear immobilizing him on the spot. This annoyed the lizard, who reared its head, launching Hiyori off its horn and towards the White Mage like a tiny projectile. A frail cry of pain and a trail of gushing blood arcing through the air followed her. Hibiya ran to stop her fall with his body, knocking him to the ground, with Hiyori struggling to breathe, lying on his lap.

"Whoops. I died. Sorry," she muttered sarcastically, laughing darkly. "When I say 'cast Protect', it's because that's what I need, you useless idiot."

"I… I…" Hibiya looked down at the dying girl in shock, tears falling down from his shocked face and mixing with the Black Mage's blood. Guilt rent the boy's heart and soul asunder, and he wished that the earth would just open up and swallow him whole right there.

"Anyway, this is probably where I should say 'I'm sorry for being such a jerk' or something like that," she continued. "But it really doesn't matter, cause it looks like you'll be right behind me, heheh." She gestured weakly towards their foe, which was preparing to charge once more and deal the final blow.

"I'd say see you in Hell, but I don't think I'll see you there. You always were too nice for your own good, Hibiya. Nicer than I deserved." A rare tinge of emotion crept into her weakening voice, and a tear rolled down her cheek. Her blood soaked Hibiya's robes, matching the red triangles adorning the fringes. "I'm glad we worked together. I really am."

"No, no, Hiyori, stop it, I'll get us out of here, I really will, I-" Hibiya's agonized rambling was cut short by a new sensation. The ground shook as if the gods themselves had stepped down for a walk, as the lizard charged towards the pair. There was no time for thought, only action. Either something happened or they both died. Hibiya scrambled around until his hands touched a familiar object: his staff. With one hand he held Hiyori tightly against him, and thrust the staff towards the rapidly advancing creature. "I WON'T LET YOU TOUCH HER! PROTECT!" he screamed through his tears.

His abilities increased by his rage and sorrow over Hiyori's pain, a flash of light emanated from the staff. A circular wall of light appeared between the pair and their assailant, halting the lizard's advance as it crashed headfirst into it. The creature hissed in blind rage once more, stabbing the wall with its horn with great force. Cracks began to appear in the magical barrier.

We're going to die here. We can't do anything, and it's because I'm a useless White Mage, Hibiya thought to himself, the guilt within him mounting once more as he held the unconscious Black Mage closer against himself. The Scan said that it was vulnerable against elemental magic. I can't do any of that, that's all Black Magic. Fire, Thunder, Water, Ice, Dark, and-

It suddenly dawned on him, as abruptly as the lizard's charges into the magical wall protecting them. He COULD defeat this creature after all. Total and utter annihilation. I hate this spell, the White Mage thought bitterly to himself. However, in the end, he would do anything for Hiyori.

He shakily trained his staff on the lizard, this time gripping it tightly with both hands. He had to act fast; the Protect barrier was about to fall under the strain of the monster's continued assault. For a brief second, self-doubt flashed across the young Mage's mind. He was well aware that he was weak. On his own, he could do nothing. He looked down at the unconscious, bleeding girl curled up against him. She looked so small, so helpless, rather than one of the most powerful Black Mages the Academy had ever seen.

That's right, he thought with determination. When I'm with Hiyori, I can do anything. His conviction renewed, he cast his most dreaded spell.

"H….Holy." he whispered, almost fearful of what he was about to do. A beam of light came down from the sky, thin at first, piercing the lizard straight through its body. The beam was so thin that it barely even noticed it was hurt, but then the beam grew, and grew, spreading out in a circle, eroding the ground beneath it. The monster, now realizing that something was wrong, hissed in panic as the light tore him apart from the inside, blue light crackling across the perimeter of the skyborne beam. Finally, the circle of holy energy grew big enough engulf the lizard's entire body, and with one more agonized hiss, it dissipated and vaporized into the light. The spell finally completed, Holy reverted back to a thin beam and disappeared, a giant, perfectly circular crater left in its wake. At that moment, Protect finally shattered into pieces, its purpose also completed.

Hibiya blinked twice, almost in disbelief that the spell had worked and he was still alive. He laughed giddily, reveling in his own power. "Hiyori, look, I'm not that useless, righ-" He suddenly realized that he was talking to a corpse. Hiyori was no longer breathing, the thin, raspy wheezing forever gone. Her hands clutched at Hibiya's robes, a tiny smile parting her pale lips. She was dead.

Hibiya remained silent for a moment, shock flooding his mind until he was unable to even think. It did not take long before he made a decision.

"Raise," he stated clearly, casting the one White Magic spell that was forbidden by the Academy. His staff instantly sputtered out black smoke, as if lecturing him for thinking that he could possibly bring someone back from the dead. He paid no heed to the backfiring spell. "Raise," he repeated, his staff once more emitting more black smoke. "Raise!" he cried once more, despair creeping into his voice, breaking it slightly. Still nothing. Hiyori remained a corpse, and Hibiya could feel himself weakening from all these backfiring spells damaging his body. Soon, he would die too, if he kept this up. Perhaps that would be a sweeter fate than this, he told himself without hesitation.

"R…Raise…" he repeated, his voice growing sleepier. Still, the spell backfired. He truly meant it when he said he'd do anything for Hiyori. What would she say if she knew I was willing to let myself die just for a chance to see her again…? "Rrrrr…aise…" he slurred with difficulty. It wouldn't be long now.

Suddenly, in a moment of lucidity, he felt a presence tugging at his sleeve. He looked down to find a small, woolen, white haired boy, still nonchalant in the face of the death of his master. "K…Konoha?" he asked incredulously, now awake once more. It seemed that Hiyori's magical power was so great that her doll lived even while she died. With determination, the woolen android placed a knitted hand onto Hibiya's staff, then waited.

He… wants me to channel the spell through him? The White Mage suddenly felt a surge of hope. Perhaps Hiyori could still be saved.

"….Raise," the boy repeated one last time with a sense of determination. All of a sudden the black smoke dissipated. Physically, the spell appeared to have no effect, but Hibiya felt a strange feeling possess his body. His hair, along with Konoha's stood on edge, the massive energy needed to manipulate a human soul coursing through the both of them. Hibiya's face was in a state of panic, while Konoha's was frozen in the usual expression of boredom.

It was over as quickly as it began. Hibiya felt the sensation disappear, replaced by the warmth of a human body curled up against his chest. Ever so slowly, he peered down at his partner. Her wound had sealed, and her body rose and fell with her renewed breathing.

She spoke before he could even think to move. "Next time, do your job and cast Protect, and then you won't need to play God with my soul, worm," she muttered sarcastically. She then grunted uncomfortably. "I mean… Hibiya." She clung to his robes tighter.

Hibiya felt a sob rising in his throat, and wrapped himself around the girl, scared to ever let her go. "S-sorry," he choked out tearfully. "I'm so sorry!"

Hiyori paused for a moment, then slowly reached a hand up to his cheek, brushing away a tear. "Don't apologize. I'm the one who's sorry. And… thank you for bringing me back." She extracted herself from his embrace and stood up, holding out a hand to him.

"Let's… start over, alright? I look forward to working with you… Partner."

Hibiya looked up at the girl, her black twintails framing her face against the sky. She smiled down kindly at him, trying to show her gratitude. Konoha hid behind her leg, his face displaying a rare smile as well, albeit small. This is… all I wanted, all along. Wiping his tears on his white robed sleeve, he accepted her hand. "Yeah."

"Partner."