Free

Alex Russo had always been stubborn, she had always fought hard to keep up with Justin in the wizard competition. She had always acted as though she could care less about Justin, whenever he would tell her she had now chance in winning the family powers.

She couldn't take it much more. At first it had been easy to brush it off, as she had always been tough girl, but when hearing it enough time it started getting to her. She was sick and tired of hearing that she would never be good enough to win the powers. Didn't he think she knew that? He could at least keep his thoughts to himself and act like their all had an even chance.

She knew Justin didn't mean to hurt her feelings like that, but often when we hurt people we do it without knowing so. Alex was hurt that Justin could break down her spirit like that, and she had fought to stay in the game so hard - she had even willingly cracked open a book, but she still couldn't keep up. Justin was still 'so gonna win the family powers'.

Why was she even trying? She had no chance of beating him. Everybody knew, and that was why Justin said things like that. Because he could, and because he knew he would never have to take back his words. Alex had tried doing the same thing, but it didn't work the same way.

Justin didn't mean to hurt her, no, but did he have to mock her learning abilities? Her lousy memory? Did he have to bring up every time seing her that he would be the family wizard, and that she didn't stand a chance against him? Didn't he think she knew?

Justin had learned 10000 spells, and she had learned way less than that. He rubbed it in her face all the time, and she acted like she didn't care, but she felt so stupid on the inside. That was how Justin always made her feel - stupid. She knew he didn't mean to, she knew he loved her, but she was just so damn tired of living in her annoyingly perfect brother's shadow. It was not fun. It gave her a low self-esteem, even though she acted confident and as if she didn't give a damn.

So why not just give up? It would definitely be the easiest thing to do. Get rid of the joke once and for all. Max never worried about the competition, he just had fun with his magic as long as he would have it. He knew he'd never stand a chance, they all did. Alex was the joke, and she might as well get rid of her powers. It would make it that much easier.

She had made her decision today at school, when she had tried casting a spell on the clock in the hallway, trying to make it go 10 minutes back. The clock exploded just as Justin walked by, and he made sure to comment 'the powers are so gonna be mine'. How could a nerd like him have that much confidence and not even act like it?

Alex had gotten so upset that she had cut the rest of the day, having made her decision. She now stood in the layer all alone, preparing herself to part with her powers - the powers she would never have a chance of winning.

In the past she had always been too stubborn to give up, and that was why she was still in the game, but no more. How could she ever win the powers, even with the stubbornness by her side? She had won the competition this summer, but had given up the powers to have her family back. Not that it mattered she had become the full wizard in the family. The only reason she won was that Max had already faded away, and Justin had begun to. Hadn't Alex cast that reckless spell that caused the mess in the first place, Justin would have won hands down.

That was what she was: a mess. She used her powers without a care, and how could someone so reckless as her deserve the family powers? She lied, she went behind her parents' back with her powers, getting in trouble with her magic. It was her spirit, but still she knew she did not deserve to be a wizard.

At first it had been fun to have wizard powers, using them whenever and wherever without caring about the rules, but now it had become a burden, and even if it wasn't she wasn't worthy of her wizard powers. And how much easier wouldn't life be without powers? She could just focus on her painting.

She loved to paint, but never had much time because it was always about the wizards studies, and if she took herself out of the game, she wouldn't have to do the wizards studies anymore and she would have much more time to paint. She would save her father from a lot of agony as well. She had a short attention span, and she knew it annoyed her father terribly, so if she wasn't a wizard anymore he would have a lot fewer gray hairs.

Nobody would mess up anymore if she didn't have her powers, and if she did mess up it would be fixable without magic. Justin wouldn't have to fix her amateur magic anymore then, he would become an even better wizard without her.

She knew he said that she help him become a better wizard, but she also knew that he only said that to save her magic. She had messed up then too, and he had to fix it, but once she had departed herself from her wizard powers, they wouldn't have that same old problem anymore.

The only thing stopping her from letting go of her powers was that she had to use an imprompt spell, and what had their dad said about them when she hadn't listened? Something about you had to say what you meant, but it had to rhyme. It was difficult to say what you meant, and at the same time have it rhyme. She wasn't that kind of an artist. She could paint and twist words, she wasn't a poet. Though a lot of wizards spells had to rhyme, but they learned them from a book. Imprompt spells had always been the worst.

It was a good thing she had decided to let go of her powers. She didn't have to worry about those things anymore. It would be Justin's headache, and he would love it. She doubted herself a little bit, why would she do something that he would love? She loved making him miserable, especially because he so often broke down her spirit. She loved him, but he was her brother so why wouldn't she torment him by staying a wizard?

No, Alex Russo won't change her mind. When Alex Russo has made up her mind, it's made. She never changed her mind, unless she could benefit from it. And what could she benefit from staying a wizard? The chance to mess up more spells and such? Having Justin telling her she had no chance? She was tired of pretending that she wasn't bothered. It was the only thing that ever really bothered her - the magic and what it brought with it.

After she'd come up with a spell, she wouldn't have to worry about that anymore. Sure, she had loved being a wizard once, but she couldn't take being the screw up in that area anymore. She was sure she would function better as a normal person. She knew she wasn't her dad, but look at him. He had managed, and he was quite the loser.

"I don't want my magic
Take it before it becomes a tragic."

She tried waving her wand, muttering the same spell she had used on the clock at school at the clock in the layer. The clock exploded which meant she still had her powers, and nothing had happened to them. The spell hadn't worked.

Great, not even when parting with her stupid powers she could get a spell right. She wanted her powers to go away, so why wouldn't they go away? Why did it all need to rhyme? What was the point of that? Had some loser invented magic and declared that every spell had to rhyme? It wasn't easy, but as soon as she had cracked that riddle, she wouldn't have to worry about any kind of magic anymore.

She sighed as she looked around the layer, and then she realized that she couldn't just part with her powers like that? She had to let her father know somehow, so he wouldn't call her down to the layer when there was a magic lesson, and then wonder where her powers had gone. She couldn't tell him on before hand! She knew he would try and stop her, no matter how much of a screw up in magic she was. He wanted everything to be fair, and it wouldn't be if she dropped out.

But what was the point really? At was a game lost on her account before she even started, so what did it matter if she refused her powers? Hey, refuse! She could use that in the spell. She couldn't still have her magic afterwards if she refused it. Now she just had to find a way to spin it and a way to let her dad know.

She spotted the blackboard across the room that their dad wrote the days spell on in each lesson, and then she got the idea to write him a message on the board. So she took slow steps over to the board, and then she picked up a piece of chalk and began to write the message, and she hoped he wouldn't see it untill after it was done.

Dad,

I'm giving up my powers. I wanna be free.

x Alex

And then she put down the piece of chalk and walked back to her position. Refuse and free, she could use those words to free her from her powers. She refused her powers, and she wanted to be free, but how would she put that into words.

Alex was always full of great ideas, but she wasn't that good at rhyming. She was only good at obvious rhymes, so if she could make it an obvious rhyme that would be great, like rhyming free with me. If only it was that easy.

Wait a minute. Alex then realized she had gotten a great idea for the rhyme, and then the spell just came to her, and she felt a huge thrill and relief inside. She didn't want her powers, she didn't wanna be a shadow. She just wanted to be free, and now it looked like she could be. She just had to utter the spell she had come up with.

"I refuse the powers inside of me

Take them now and set me free."

Alex waved her wand again, using the clock spell once more. Nothing happened. The clock didn't explode like it always did whenever she messed up that spell. Her magic was completely gone, and she couldn't cast spells anymore.

She got a huge grin upon her face. She wasn't a shadow anymore, she could just be Alex. She was just Alex. She could paint and just be herself, without feeling second best because she was just herself now. She wasn't a wizard, and she was no longer competing.

She broke her wand in half and threw it on the floor, as she let out a huge sigh of relief. It was like this massive weight on her shoulders had been lifted, and she didn't have to worry about the magic or anything like that anymore. She was just Alex now, magic-free Alex.

She let out a laugh just for herself, and then she ran to the door to exit the layer. She could almost hear the birds chirping outside, and she was Alex Russo and had never been excited about that. It was different now. She appreciated it now, and she couldn't wait to get outside just being Alex Russo, normal human being. It had been the worst day, but now she couldn't be happier:

She was finally free.

The End

My first Wizards of Waverly Place fic, and I would be beyond happy if you lovely lot reviewed. I know this probably wasn't very Alex, at least not how you would imagine her, but sometimes people act tough, and we never know what's going on inside of them. So I tried to imagine what could be going on in Alex's head, and I wanted her to be vulnerable, and I wanted someone to give up their powers, and oddly enough I could only imagine Alex doing it. So I really hope you all enjoyed it, especially since it is as mentioned earlier my first WoWP effort.

Normally I dedicate my fics to someone, but this was written in complete secrecy, and I can't really imagine who I would dedicate this to. I'm up for writing more WoWP, though, but I don't have any ideas as of yet. If you review and give me a great idea to write, or maybe pm with something you'd like me to write, then maybe I will and then I'll definitely dedicate it to you. I just love making people happy and dedicating things to them.

Disclaimer; Don't own Wizards of Waverly Place. That belongs to Disney, but I love Selena Gomez. Thought I'd throw it in there, so I don't get in trouble ;b, though I think it's pretty obvious.

So that was it from me for now, and though my author's not was terribly long, I hope you'll still review and leave me you thoughts.

Untill next time,

AK-tutti :)