The only thing I was thinking while writing this chapter was: Use Occlumency, Wizard! (Harry Potter joke XD)
But yeah, a lot of drama in this chapter. I think Wizard may be written more out of character than usual, but oh well.
I'd also like to thank my wonderful reviewers; I love opening my email and seeing that people have liked and reviewed my story! Thank you all so much!
Chapter Twelve: Meeting Master
Molly was a simple girl. She liked to farm, and raise her animals (and to a lesser extent, make money) She didn't really need much in life to make her happy. But as she walked to the Inn (she couldn't stay at her house; it was being remodeled!) she realized for the first time since she'd arrived on the island; she was lonely.
The city had been a huge place, and so noisy that she'd never been able to hear her own thoughts. And when you walked down the street, no one ever smiled, or waved, or said hello like the residents of Castanet Island. But even now that she was surrounded by such jovial (and quiet) people, that feeling of loneliness was creeping back up on her. And when she looked back on the previous year, she realized that she'd never really been un-lonely, she'd merely forgotten that she was.
What had brought on this realization? Could it be…she was spending an awful lot of time around the Wizard lately. And the time spent with him was the only time when the loneliness ever went away. As she checked in and went to her room, she started seriously thinking about what was going on with Wizard.
She couldn't really put her finger on it, but something was different about that boy lately. He wasn't as…sarcastic as he usually was. Nor was he as shy around her anymore. They could actually carry on a conversation now, without him dropping out halfway through, which they'd never been able to do before. Molly liked having someone she could talk to, since Julius was preparing for his and Candace's wedding, and Finn was so childlike and naive, he didn't know what Molly was talking about half the time.
But right before Molly fell asleep, another realization hit her: she might actually like Wizard. More than just friends; she might actually have a crush on him. It was silly for an adult to admit that she had a crush on anyone; that sounded so juvenile! But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. She was always in a good mood when she met up with Wizard, and she enjoyed making him coffee, and she enjoyed their little sarcastic taunts at each other. He was her friend, but he also seemed more than just a friend; he was her confidentiary, she could tell him anything, and he would always offer some bit of advice, albeit a little sarcastically. He was the only thing in her life right now that seemed constant, calm, unchanging, and…she liked that stability. She liked Wizard. She really liked Wizard.
"Wake up!" Finn said, drumming on Molly's forehead with his tiny sprite hands. "Wake up, wake up! It's time to wake up and start your day!" He flitted about in the air as Molly got to her feet; she'd had some interesting dreams last night involving a pickle dog and an erupting hot-chocolate volcano. Molly was a morning person, and it only took a few minutes to really wake up and start doing her hair and fixing her clothes. On her way out, she thanked Colleen and Jake and bought some coffee (seeing as her house was still probably being upgraded and she had no other way of obtaining coffee for Wizard) and then made her way back up to Wizard's house.
It was the middle of Spring, and the air was pleasantly warm, so as of late, Wizard had been leaving his front door open, only closing it when the rain started up. But as Molly approached, she found that while the sun was shining brilliantly outside, Wizard's front door was closed and, surprisingly, locked.
"That's strange," Finn said, cocking his head to the side and shrugging. "He never ever locks his door. What's going on?" Molly just shrugged, and knocked a few times, the action feeling completely weird, seeing as she never had any qualms about walking right in. And what was stranger, was that there was no answer at the door. She didn't even hear any shuffling around inside.
"Maybe he's gone to search for some of those mushrooms he's always going on about…?" Molly suggested, casting the tiny sprite at her shoulder a worried glance. "I mean, I've hardly ever seen him leave his house, but…it could happen, right? He's got to leave sometimes."
"Maybe, but I-" Finn was cut off as the bolt on the door was unlocked and it swung open, nearly hitting Molly in the nose. She jumped back just in time, though, and saw Wizard standing there, his face devoid of any expression. His shoulders were square and stiff, and the bags under his eyes were even darker than usual. In short, he looked a mess.
"Wizard, what happened to you?" Molly said, stepping forward and brushing hair out of his eyes, noticing that the braid at his temple was frizzy and tangled. Wizard didn't say anything at first, just looked Molly up and down. He then opened his mouth, as if to speak, but was interrupted by a voice from inside.
"You shouldn't waste words on the likes of a human," the gravelly voice grumbled, the speaker shrouded in shadow against the back wall of the house. Molly peered over Wizard's shoulder at this new man, but could only see a single pair of glowing yellow eyes. These eyes were similar in shape to Wizard's, but drastically different in color. Wizard's right eye was a soft, honey yellow; these eyes could be called nothing but a dingy mustard color.
"Yikes!" Finn squeaked, flitting back to hide behind Molly's shoulder. Molly shot a questioning look at Wizard, but he just stared ahead, not looking at her. He didn't even blink.
"Um…if you have a visitor, I'll come back later," Molly mumbled, and was answered by coarse laughter from the mysterious yellow-eyed man. Her cheeks instantly went red.
"A human, deluding itself into thinking that it can so freely converse with our kind!" And just as easily as it had started, the laughing cut off, and the voice went back to being old and angry. "Send it away, Disciple; we don't have time for it." And just like that, Wizard reached for the doorknob to close the door. But before he could, Molly shoved the mug of coffee into his hands, looking up into his face and trying to meet his eyes. For the briefest of moments, his multi-colored gaze rested on her face, and Molly was positive she could see distress in his eyes. But then the moment ended, and he slammed the door shut.
She stood on the doorstep for a few seconds, jaw open, as she tried to figure out what had just happened. She was confused and worried and hurt all at the same time, but the fire inside her that usually made her want to punch something when she was angry must have died away when she'd seen those piercing yellow eyes, because at the moment, the only idea that sounded even close to reasonable was to go home and cry. She didn't cry, of course, but when she returned to her house (which was finished by then, thankfully) she did pace quite a lot, trying to figure out who that man could have been, and why he was causing Wizard to act so weird. Has Wizard mentioned any visitors lately? Not that she could recall. The shape of those eyes had been similar to Wizard's, could that be his father? She guessed not, since Wizard was immortal; she didn't know if he even had a father.
"That guy was scary!" Finn said, burying his face in her hair. Molly assured him that everything was fine, but she knew something fishy was up. She just couldn't figure it out.
Wizard was one of the strongest beings on the Island, and yet here he was, on his knees, holding his head and trying to keep from crying out in pain. The man who sat in the corner just scowled at him, though his eyes were distant. Wizard couldn't escape the burning, insistent pain as the man shifted through his memories, his thought, his feelings. Flashes of his past danced before his eyes; moments from his childhood, the burning, the running, the death of his family and those closest to him, all brought into focus, only to be ripped away in an instant. Newer memories appeared as well; his arrival on the island, the scorn he felt at being labeled a fortune teller, his awkward first meeting with Molly, the subsequent feelings he had begun to develop for the girl, the feeling of his heart fluttering against his ribcage…
"Worthless!" the man spat, as he finally released Wizard from the mental head-lock he'd had him in, the latter collapsing against the wall, completely out of breath. "Have you learned nothing! You're a pathetic wizard!" The man finally rose to his feet, and towered over Wizard. He stepped out of the shadows, his pale skin a deep contrast to Wizard's dark skin. His face was hard and angular, and his eyes were slightly sunken under a heavy-set brow. But his hair was the same shade of pearly white as Wizard's, kept back in a long pony tail. "How can you call yourself a Magic Caster?"
Wizard said nothing, and dared not meet his Master's gaze. He didn't move for a full minute, until his Master barked "Get up!" Then and only then did he shakily rise to his feet, only to be smacked away by his Master's out-stretched palm.
"That's what you get," the man snarled, "for fraternizing with these…these worthless humans!" Wizard's head connected with the floor-boards with a painful-sounding crack, and the ringing in his ears was deafening. Standing back up and raising a hand to the spot on his temple where he'd hit the floor, he found he was bleeding. "What, did you honestly think that you'd be accepted by them? If you could 'befriend' one, you could assimilate into their society? Grow up!" Wizard looked back at his Master with fear in his eyes; the only way he ever looked at that man. "You're not a child anymore, Wizard; this isn't one of those stupid fairy tales where the Wizard ends up 'happily ever after'! This is how things are, and things have to be this way, or else the world would fall into chaos!"
The Master turned away then, his face still in a deep scowl. The pain he'd experienced over the centuries was written very clearly across his face, though he'd never let his Disciple see. The decibel of his voice dropped, and his shoulders hunched.
"Our kind can't live amongst humans; they fear us, and what humans fear, they end up destroying." Wizard's mind raced now that it wasn't under the control of his Master, and he went back to all the moments Molly had listened to him, understood him, laughed with him, teased him, put up with his sarcasm, made him coffee. And the two things happened at once: he realized for the first time that his Master was wrong about something. Not all humans were bad, nor were they as stupid as he'd been taught. And the second thing that happened was: he committed his forth, and possible last, reckless act.
"You're wrong." Wizard said, straightening up and looking at his Master with a steady gaze. There was still fear in his eyes, to be sure, but there was something else, too. Conviction, maybe. Or determination. His Master looked back at his Disciple, eyes wide with astonishment. Wizard had never stood up to him on anything before.
"I'm wrong?" The Master said, blowing up. "I'm wrong, am I? I've lived for eons longer than you have, you don't think I was just as stupid as you are once? You don't think that I was once in love? I've been there, Wizard! I thought she was different! I thought she would love me, no matter what! But I was wrong, just like you are wrong! Humans are nasty, shallow creatures who only care about themselves! They think they can love, but all they do is cling to you, take from you, and when you're at your weakest, they shove you away, claiming that they could never love such a-" his voice cracked slightly, his eyes wild, "-such a monster! I was there, Wizard! I know what that feels like! And this girl's no different from the rest! She's a human, a greedy, evil little-"
"No." Wizard said, louder this time. "She's not evil, and she's not shallow, or greedy, or weak. You're wrong."
"I'm not!" The Master swooped forward and grabbed Wizard by the front of his robes, pulling him up to eye level. "What makes you think she's so different? How is she any different that Daphne? How? What makes you think she'll want you when she finds out what you've done? To your own family? Do you think any human would want such a monster? A killer?" Wizard's face, which was usually so blank, it was irritating, broke then, into the most miserable expression one could imagine.
"Don't!" he cried, shoving away from his Master, holding his head in his hands. "Don't talk about them! Not my family!"
"The little boy who killed his family," the Master said, his scowl so deep, it was in the process of creating seven new wrinkles. "In cold blood."
"I didn't! I didn't mean to!" He dropped to his knees and, for the first time since the horrific accident, started to cry. They were odd, silvery tears, and his cries were haunting and sallow, and floated throughout the house, echoing oddly. The Master was quiet until Wizard had calmed down, and then he retreated to his seat in the corner of the room.
"The World is cruel, Wizard," The Master said, casting his yellow eyes down on his Disciple. "Magic Casters cannot love, nor live with humans. However close we may be in proximity to those creatures, we will always live separate lives. It is the way things must be." And this time, Wizard did not protest.
