2nd Series 02/8 - Chickensoup For The Soul

by Sapphire1

Cosmo is sick and Vega tells him the story of how Ace learned to cope with his magic.

Chicken Soup For the Soul
by Sapphire, copyright December 1999

"Please, Ace, just let me die in peace." The whine in Cosmo's voice was unmistakable, as was the cough that followed the short statement.
Still, Ace Cooper had to work hard hiding the smile that began to form on his lips as he watched the red-haired youth sitting in his bed, his hair even more mussed than usual.
"Can I get you anything, Cosmo?"
The youth just shook his head. Then, fast as lightning, he grabbed for a tissue out of the box propped next to him, and blew his nose. With a deft flick of his wrist he aimed the soiled tissue at the paper basket in the corner, missing it by a mile.
"I'll be fine, Ace," he said, sounding a bit less whining than he had before. "It's just a cold."
"One you've fought with for four days already." Now real concern sneaked into Ace's voice. "Maybe I should stay this afternoon to take care of you."
"Ace!" Cosmo immediately protested. "You have to prep for the show. The premiere is in just five days. I might be replaceable, you are not."
Ace looked up sharply. "You are *not* replaceable!" His tone of voice dared Cosmo to say anything different.
A blush crept up Cosmo's cheeks. Though he knew he was doing valuable work at Ace's shows, it felt good being told so. He coughed, this time not so much because of the cold.
"Well, I have to admit, I *am* very important to the show," he boasted, grinning to demonstrate he wasn't too serious. "Who else would save your ass when you botch one of your tricks?"
"I don't 'botch' any of my tricks," Ace protested, giving in to the game.
"You do!"
"I don't!"
"You do! Remember the time you tried that jump without the parachute? Who went after you?"
"That had been sabotage. It doesn't count."
"It does."
"No, it doesn't!"
"It does!"
"Okay, I give up." Ace threw his hands up in exaggeration. "I'm leaving! And be it only to prove to you I can set up the show without you." Ace wrapped his cape around his shoulders and turned towards the door.
On the bed, Cosmo grinned, having achieved his target. Then, as suddenly as the good mood had struck him, it left him again. Even if it only was a rehearsal, and even if they had tested every trick a hundred times and more, it could still be dangerous. Ace could take care of himself, but Cosmo still felt better if he would be there looking out for his friend.
"Be careful, willya?"
Ace, turning back to his partner, smiled. "I will," he nodded. "And you? Will you be okay?"
"Ace! I will be fine. Really. Angel is here to take care of me if I should need something. You mother-henning me won't help."
The truth in the last statement made Ace accept the inevitable. Cosmo was seventeen years old, and way beyond the 'take a spoon full of that and all will be better' stage. Actually, the magician wasn't sure if Cosmo ever had been in that stage.
"Okay," he said, "I'll be back in the evening. If you think you need anything, you'll call, okay."
"Okay, bro. And now: GO!"

Two hours later.
When the door to his room opened after a short knock, Cosmo quickly hid the controls of the computer game he had been playing, and pulled the blankets up to his chin. It wasn't that he didn't feel sick - the stuffy, running nose; the scraping in his throat and the coughing; the blocked feeling in his ears and the constant, lingering headache were definitely now fun - but he wasn't close to dying, so he didn't intent to behave like that. However he had the feeling Ace wouldn't understand it. Though the magician usually treated him as an adult, for the last three days he had definitely been hovering and Cosmo was really glad he had gotten the older man out of the Magic Express for a few hours at least.
"Ace, is that you?" asked, pretending to be half asleep. "Are you done at the Ring Theater already?"
"No, Cosmo, it's me." The voice speaking now was much deeper than Ace's.
"Vega! What are you doing here?" Cosmo asked, turning around in the bed, sitting up.
"Ace told me you were sick, so I've decided to pay you a visit and keep you company while Ace is gone. And when Ms. LaSage heard about you, she asked me to take this along." The elder detective held up a small container.
"What is it?" Cosmo asked, intrigued.
"I'm not really sure," Vega admitted. "Ms. LaSage claims it's an old family recipe against colds and such."
Vega put down the container on a table, then he left the room. When he came back a moment later he had a mug in his hand. He poured some of Ms. LaSage's brew into the mug, wrinkling his nose as he did so.
Cosmo, who had been watching Vega quietly, frowned when he saw the older man's expression.
"What's up, man?" he asked, worried.
Vega hesitated for a moment. Then he put the container down, and carried the mug over to the bed. "Nothing. Here," he offered the mug to the patient. "Drink up."
Distrustful, the younger man eyed the muddy gray content of the mug. He tried to take a sniff, but as his nose was blocked he couldn't smell a thing.
"Yack. What did she put in there? This looks like river mud."
"You don't really want to know, boy."
"What!!!" Cosmo squeaked.
Vega, hiding a grin, held up his hands in a calming manner. "Don't worry. I'm just kidding. According to Ms. LaSage, there's some self made chicken soup in there, some vitamins, OJ, lemon juice, honey and one or two other things. All good, healthy stuff."
"It still looks like mud," Cosmo protested weakly.
"Drink up, boy," he repeated once more.
Cosmo, taking a deep breath, did as he was told. Surprisingly enough, the disgusting looking concoction didn't taste half as bad. Maybe it helped that his taste buds weren't up to par either.
He placed the mug back on the nightstand, looking back at Vega. "I bet Ace never had those problems when he was younger."
All of a sudden, as dark shadow crossed Vega's face. Slowly he shook his head. "Ace had his dark moments."
Cosmo sat up straighter, pulling his legs up to his chin. "Tell me about it," he said quietly.
Vega hesitated for a moment, then he nodded. He looked around for a chair and sat down.
"It was about a year after I'd met Ace for the very first time. I knew Ace was something very special and he needed some special education, so I had taken him to Anna LeFrez in Whitewater Spring. In the beginning, I visited him at least once a week, but after a few months, I had the feeling he was finally settling in, so my visits became less frequent. Everything seemed to be fine."
Cosmo listened intently, though so far there had been nothing really new. He had learned about Anna LeFrez a few months back, when another student of hers had killed the woman and then kidnapped him to lure Ace into a deadly trap. Ace had survived, though barely.
"One day however, I got a call from Mrs. LeFrez. Something was wrong with Ace and she asked me to come as soon as possible. Needless to say that I dropped everything I was doing and went…"

//The day was absolutely glorious. Not a single cloud marred the deep blue sky, while a gentle wind lightly moved the crops in the fields. Detective Derek Vega, however, didn't pay any attention to the landscape and the birds singing overhead, as he brought his car to a stop in front of Anna LeFrez's two story house. As soon as the car had settled, he jumped out and rushed to the front door.
He had just raised his hand to ring the bell, when the door opened before him. A young teenage girl with russet colored hair stepped aside and allowed Vega to enter.
"Kate," Vega greeted the young girl with a quick smile. He knew that Kate Morrigan, like Ace, had some special talents and that was the reason she was living with Anna LeFrez. "How's Ace?"
A shadow traveled over Kate's heart-shaped face, darkening her gray eyes. "It's a good thing you came so fast, Mr. Vega. Anna is very worried."
"What happened?" he asked even more concerned than before.
"I cannot tell you. I'm sorry. I wasn't here when it happened."
The young teen let Vega into a huge living room. There Vega froze, as if he had been hit by lightning.
"What the hell has happened here?" he asked, gazing around in shock.
The large room looked like a bomb had exploded in it. Every single window in the place - and there had been quite a few, as the room not only had large windows leading out into the garden, but also a huge skylight - was broken. The floor and every single piece of furniture was covered with glass shards, making walking through it a hazardous endeavor to say the least. The shards reflected the sun in all colors of the rainbow, making the detective squint because of the brightness. Somebody had cleared a narrow path between the main entrance and the door leading further into the house.
"Ace happened," a clear voice answered him from the other door.
Vega looked up the see a tall, slender woman enter the room. Her full black hair was shot through with graying strands, but still she had regained a kind of youthful air around her, making guessing her age indefinably difficult. She smiled as she looked at Vega, however the smile never really reached her eyes, as if she was too concerned about something else to let go of it even for a second.
"What…?" Vega stammered, pointing at the scene of disaster before him. "How…?"
Threading her way carefully through the debris, using a long bronze staff to move away some of the shards, Anna LeFrez walked towards Derek Vega.
"Ace tried to use a spell and it backfired," she said, looking seriously at the detective. "At least that's what I think has happened."
Having his attention - and his concern - brought back to his young friend, Vega asked: "Where is Ace? Is he hurt?"
Anna closed her eyes for a moment. "No … and yes. No, he has received no physical damage, not a single cut. However, with that spell all his magic channels have been ripped open, leaving him raw and hurting. And his mind …" She didn't continue.
She didn't have to. Vega understood. Ace used to be very uncomfortable with the magical power he possessed. There had been only a few occasions where he had used that power, and usually it had been as a very last resort. He had never used his magic on purpose - it was more like the magic had used him. Only since he had started living with Anna, he had finally seemed to have come to terms with his abilities, at least in parts. Vega knew he had started to train with Anna, though - as he understood very little about Ace's abilities - he had no clear idea what this training included.
Anna had explained to Vega what Ace was going through. Being different was never easy. Being different and immensely powerful even less so. However, there was little choice for the young teenager. Ace *had* to learn how to control his magic. Once somebody had been 'touched' by the magic, the magic would always be with him. It would gather around him, seeking his presence. If Ace didn't learn how to use it, the magic would use him in turn, making him do things he certainly wouldn't want to do.
Now, finally, the young man had found the courage to use intentionally what he had, and immediately it had backfired. Beside the pain, this would surely shatter the hard gained confidence he had found since he had come to Anna.
"Can I see him?" Vega asked, almost wishing the answer would be 'no'. He didn't cope very well with friends of his being in pain. Though he had known Ace only for a relatively short time, and there was still the big age difference between them to consider, he thought of Ace as a very good friend.
Instead of an answer, Anna took Vega by the arm and guided him out of the ruined room, up a set of stairs which led to the upper level. Kate had left earlier, Vega didn't know where to.
"It happened this morning," Anna began to explain, as they walked up the steps. "Kate and I had gone to town to buy a few things. Ace had stayed behind, saying he wanted to practice the spell we've been working on last night. It wasn't the first time he did that, and I didn't see a problem with it.
"We were already on our way back, when I … felt a huge accumulation of magic. I have *no* idea what he did but when we got back, all the windows in the place had been blown out and Ace sat in the middle of the living room, crying. He didn't want to explain anything to me and fled to his room as soon I allowed him to go."
They had reached the top of the stairs. Several doors led from a narrow balcony to the private bedrooms of the occupants of the house. The last one, Vega knew, led to Ace's room, and it was there where Anna LeFrez took him.
Opening the door, he entered. Anna followed him, then she closed the door behind her.
The room was in semi darkness. The curtains were drawn, allowing only a sliver of sunshine inside. There was just enough light to see the shape of a teenage boy, curled up on the bed.
Vega's heart contracted painfully at the sight. Though Ace used to be a fairly withdrawn boy since he had learned about his abilities, he had managed to come out of his shell in the months he had been in Anna's care. If it had been any other way, Vega wouldn't have allowed himself to lag back in his visits.
"Ace!" he called out softly, as he stepped closer.
The boy didn't acknowledge his presence.
Vega sighed quietly. Casting a concerned glance towards Anna, he sat down on the bed, reaching out for Ace with his hand.
*This* finally got a reaction out of the youngster. He twisted around, scuffling backwards. Pressing himself into the corner formed by the headboard and the wall, he curled up again, his arms wrapped tightly around his legs.
"Stay away from me. Stay away!" he first whispered, then almost screamed.
Vega saw the telltale trails of tears on Ace's face, as the youngster stared at Vega with huge eye for a long second. Then he lowered his face on his knees, hiding it from the detective. A tremor ran through his body and Vega ached to gather the boy into his arm, showing him that he cared. But he couldn't allow himself to do that. Not yet. It was too early.
"Ace, I'm only here to help you," Vega said, letting his hand drop back to his side.
"Nobody can help me," Ace whispered into the folds of his arms, so low Vega had a hard time understanding it.
"Ace, we want to help. *I* want to help."
But all he got was a shaking of the dark-haired head.
This was the first time he noticed a strange change in Ace. Ace always had a white strand of hair at the top of his head, a strand that undoubtedly had earned him the nick name 'skunk' when he had been younger. Now this strand had gained a pair of twins, running from the temples alongside the head to meet again at the back. He almost reached out to touch the strand, holding himself back at the last possible moment.
"Ace, what happened?" he asked quietly instead.
The young man mumbled something, but Vega couldn't quite make out what he had said. Though, it almost sounded like 'I want to be dead!'
Once more, Vega sighed quietly to himself. This was getting nowhere. How did somebody approach a misery such as the one which was emitting from Ace in dark, cold waves? He looked up, hoping against hope the walls of the room would give him a clue on how to proceed.
His eyes met with Anna's, who had been waiting patiently at the door. In her gray depths he saw the same helplessness which was making itself known as a cold stone deep in the pit of his stomach. He was sure Anna had tried to talk to Ace before, and he was sure she had been met with as much success as he had so far.
Closing his eyes for a second, he decided on a different approach. But he needed to be alone for that.
"Anna, could you get us some water, please?" Looking at her, he tried to convey to her that he didn't plan on being impolite to her, but that he needed an excuse to be alone with Ace.
Maybe it was her magic, or maybe it was just some common female sense, but after a moment she nodded.
"I'll be back in a few minutes," she said, then left the room, with one backward glance towards the boy on the bed.
The second the door clicked shut, Vega turned back to Ace. He had to climb onto the bed to reach the youngster, but that didn't faze the big cop the least. He *had* to get through to Ace.
The teenager, alarmed by the shift in weight on the bed, tried to press himself deeper into the corner.
"Stay away!" Almost a whimper.
"No, Ace, I won't stay away. I will stay here until you tell me what happened. And then I will stay until we have found a way to fix what happened." He put his hand on Ace's shoulder. Not more. Still, the boy flinched and tried to pull away, but there was no way for him to go.
"You don't understand. You *can't* understand."
"Maybe. But I will never know if you won't tell me what's going on." Through the fabric of the T-shirt Ace was wearing, Vega could feel the tremors running through the teenager's body.
"I just wish it would go away," Ace cried, as all of the sudden he fairly flung himself into Vega's arms. "I want it gone."
Vega's throat tightened. All he could do however, was to wrap his arms around Ace, holding him tightly. The youngster's body shook, as wrecking sobs rippled through him. It took only a few seconds for the tears to drench Vega's shirt. Vega didn't care that this was his best shirt, the shirt he had bought just last week for a ridicules high price, and worn today for the very first day. He was too glad Ace was finally letting go.
Anna had come and gone, unnoticed by Ace. Vega had noticed, but he had only nodded gratefully when she had placed a pitcher with water and two glasses on the nightstand and left a minute later.
The afternoon gave in to the early evening and the light coming from outside took on a reddish hue, when finally the sobbing stopped. Vega relaxed his grip a little, allowing Ace some space. As the youngster pushed away, sniffling, embarrassed, Vega held out a tissue to him. It might have almost been a smile which danced over the boy's face, as he accepted the hanky, though Vega couldn't be sure.
He switched on the bedside lamp.
"Thanks," Ace muttered, after he blew his nose, far more composed than before.
"Do you now want to tell me what happened?" Vega prodded carefully.
"Not really," Ace said.
"Do you'll feel better?"
Ace rubbed his nose with the back of his hand and for a moment Vega couldn't shake the thought how young Ace still was. He wasn't eighteen yet and already he had had more things happening to him than most people experienced all their life. And to be burdened with such a talent. Vega had no idea how anybody could cope with something like this. Let alone a seventeen year old boy.
Then and there, he renewed the oath he had given to himself when he had met Ace less than a year before, not knowing what he had burdened himself with back then. He would do everything in his powers to make sure Ace would live an as normal life as possible. Back then he hadn't known about the added complications of Ace's special powers, but even knowing about them, hadn't change his oath.
"It just hurts so much," Ace said quietly, accepting the glass of water, Vega offered him.
"What hurts?" He kept his hand on Ace's shoulder, reluctant to break the contact.
"My head hurts. It's like it's burning from the inside." After draining it , Ace returned the glass to Vega. At least he didn't try to withdraw again, accepting the cop's contact.
As Vega returned the glass to the nightstand, he prodded once more: "What happened?"
Ace sighed. "I'm not really sure," he started, racking his free hand through his hair. "I was downstairs, practicing the levitation spell Anna and I had been working on. I wanted to see how much I could lift, starting with balls, then chairs, then the big table."
He looked Vega into the eyes, gauging his reaction to that, but the detective had himself tightly under control, not betraying the queasy feeling he always had when Ace was speaking of his magic. Though he should be used to it by now, he still wasn't. Maybe never would be.
"Anyhow, I was pulling in the magic force," Ace continued, choosing every word carefully. "Suddenly I couldn't control the flow anymore. It came rushing down on me, through me. It was like fire, but it didn't burn, not like fire anyway. Then, from one moment to the next everything changed. It's really difficult to explain, you know," Ace stopped for a moment.
Vega swallowed. "I think you're doing just fine. Go on," he encouraged the teenager. He had noticed how Ace's voice got steadier the further he got and didn't want him to stop, even when the thought of what had been going on made him sick.
"I heard this voice. I don't know from where it came. It was kind of in my head and I spoke what it said to me. I had to. I couldn't stop myself."
"What did it say?"
Ace shook his head. "I don't want to say it again. Ever!" he stated forcefully, looking as if he wanted to withdraw once again. Tears shot into is eyes, and he stared at Vega, pleading
Vega tightened his grip on the boy's shoulders. " Shhh, it's okay. You don't have to."
When Ace realized Vega wasn't pressing him, he calmed down again.
"What happened then?"
Ace hesitated, then relaxed. "Something changed. Everything got all bright and sharp, and I heard everything in a mile wide radius. Suddenly I wore some kind of gray costume and I had this cape, and, and … I don't know. It was soooo weird. I felt powerful, as if I could do *everything*."
Oh God! What was *that*? Vega had to control himself not to pull back. Something had happened, something with Ace's magic. And Vega was more scared then ever before in his life. Where would this lead to? What would Ace use this incredible power of his for? What if he decided to go back to his criminal life? Who would be able to stop him?
Instead of pulling back, he drew Ace close once again. The boy would turn out right, he knew that. He was there to make certain of this. He had to believe that.
"What happened next?" he prodded once again.
"I got scared, man. I mean, I totally freaked out. And that's when all hell broke lose. I lost control and the magic force just slipped away. The windows broke, every single one, and there was this loud crash.
"I don't know very much after that, only that I was hurt and that I was so scared. I mean, I have no idea what this was; it just totally scared me."
"Do you still feel it?"
Ace closed his eyes. "It's still there, waiting somehow. But I won't let it close."
"So you're controlling it?" Vega asked, afraid of what the answer might be.
Ace looked up, astonished. "Yeah, somehow I control it. I won't let it close and it stays away. I think, if I wanted to, I could pull it closer."
"No!" Vega protested vehemently. "Don't pull at it. We don't know what it is. Maybe Anna has an idea. After all, she's the specialist here."
The teenager relented. "Maybe you're right. I should speak to Anna."
Satisfied Ace wouldn't do anything stupid - at least for the moment - Vega let go of the teenager and moved off the bed, helping Ace, as the youngster followed him. As they moved towards the door, Ace caught his reflection in the mirror. Combing with his fingers through his hair, he asked, with wide eyes: "Where the heck did those come from?"//

"That was the very first time Ace did that magic force thingie of his. You know, when he turns into the Magician. Of course it took him and Anna a while to figure out what had really happened, and an even a longer time to find out how to control it. In the end, however, you know how it turned out."
Dragging himself out of his memories, Vega looked up, just to see the softly snoring form of Cosmo, curled up in his bed, drooling on his pillow.
"See if I tell you a story every again," he muttered with a grin, as he pulled up the blanket up to Cosmo's chin. He stroked gently over the youngster's tousled hair, smoothing the disarrayed locks out of Cosmo's face as he did so. Then he pulled out the game controls that still lay at the youngster's side, and placed them on the nightstand.
"Yep, Ace turned out all right. And so will you," he whispered, looking one last time at the teenager before he moved to the door, picking up Ms. LaSage's container on his way.
"Angel?" he called out to the Magic Express' AI.
"Yes, Lieutenant Vega?" the familiar female voice answered out of the thin air.
"Dim the lights in Cosmo's room, willya?"
"As you wish, Lieutenant Vega."
"Good night, Angel."
"Good night."

The end