Author's Note: Must..have new music for listens..need..blah. Sorry, it's
just that, as good as the soundtrack for "The Two Towers" is, after fifteen
or twenty listens, it gets a little old. As on Priestess, sorry for the
wait.
---***---
It started out small; snide comments by Aubrey's entourage as Seymour's group and Aubrey's group passed in the hallways. Minor scuffles that required a low-level Cure spell to clean up. Nothing terribly catastrophic - until the week before exiting exams.
It was raining hard that day. A thunderstorm had blown in from Macalania and the pulses of lightning were at that moment frightening little Yuna to the point where she was begging her mother to take her to go visit Seymour. Her mother finally complied and put Ariane to bed, tugging her coat on halfheartedly and bravely venturing out with Yuna.
Seymour and Felix left the cafeteria, laughing at a joke that they'd heard inside. Being popular boys, they had been called over by a group on the school's blitz team, and had stayed a bit longer than they'd intended to. After all, they had wanted to go back to their room and gloat over their successful needling of Aubrey, who was normally so cool.
"Didja see the look on his face?" Felix was saying between gales of laughter. "He looked ready to spit!"
Seymour was laughing hard as he opened his door - and stopped abruptly. Something was wrong; someone was in the room that shouldn't be. It was pitch black in the shadows, and the weak Fire spell that Felix cast did little to the fireplace but cause a log to glow.
He lit the fireplace in the room with a well-aimed Fira spell, then took up his staff and crept forward towards the washroom. Felix grimly picked up the twin daggers he'd picked out as his weapon of choice, and readied them for throwing. Seymour pressed his ear against the door, listening carefully, then with a nod, he kicked the door down.
The room exploded.
Seymour was tossed against the fair wall, tiny flames singing his hair and burning his sensitive skin. He cried out as a second explosion rocked the entire east wing of the dormitory, and through a haze, Seymour saw Felix get tossed to the floor too; and a great shadow passed over him. Seymour fell into a deep black hole, clawing his way up the sides but failing.
Felix, thankfully, had been spared by the explosion and was getting to his feet when several people burst in, the first of which was Lulu. She looked at him and clicked her tongue grumpily, and then cast a Blizzard spell that took out half the flames in the room. The next person to arrive was Yuna, who had insisted on going into the wing despite the loud (and completely justified) protests of her horrified mother. She brandished her staff and said "Cure!"
A white light glowed around Felix and he stood. "Seymour!" he said over the roar of the flames, pointing to the prone form laying against the wall. Blood covered most of Seymour's face, already beginning to dry in places from the heat that still radiated from the charred floorboards and beds. Lulu ran over and cast a Water spell to wash the blood off, then examined the slash on his forehead that had been caused by him being thrown back.
"He'll need stitches," Lulu said, "Unless your Cure spell is up to snuff."
Yuna nodded, then waved her staff again and the white light glowed around Seymour, then was absorbed into his body. The slash healed somewhat, but it took two more castings of Cure to get it to fade completely. Yuna knelt by Seymour, tears streaking her face. "Is he gonna be okay?"
Lulu looked the half-human over again. "He should be fine. But he needs the calm of the infirmary."
"I say! Let me in!"
Lulu looked up angrily to where Headmaster Brody was shoving through the excited crowd; people were standing on tiptoe to see over the other's heads in front of them. He pushed to the front and stood, horrified, in the scorched frame. "What happened here?!"
Lulu shrugged. "Explosion."
Brody turned around in a circle, his watery greenish eyes widening as he surveyed the wreckage of the room. "How is this possible?!"
Again Lulu shrugged. "Something stronger than magic. Maybe a high-level Ultima spell." But it's fire."
Headmaster Brody shooed all the morbidly fascinated students off and ordered that Seymour be brought to the infirmary. He cast a look at Felix and directed him to a new dormitory room, leaving Yuna and Lulu in the room. They exchanged a glance; then both took off after the nurses bearing Seymour to the infirmary. They caught up just after they'd laid him on a bed; his skin, despite the spells, was horribly charred and his hair was blackened for almost an inch. Yuna grabbed his hand and refused to leave, watching everything the nurses did to him with eyes on the verge of tears. Usoa went home, and went promptly to sleep. The students in the dorms were all whispering all the night about it.
Sometime in the night, another student was brought in. He had started screaming in his sleep, and had had hysterics. The nurses calmed him down and made him comfortable, writing it off to pre-exam stress.
How wrong they were.
---***---
It started out small; snide comments by Aubrey's entourage as Seymour's group and Aubrey's group passed in the hallways. Minor scuffles that required a low-level Cure spell to clean up. Nothing terribly catastrophic - until the week before exiting exams.
It was raining hard that day. A thunderstorm had blown in from Macalania and the pulses of lightning were at that moment frightening little Yuna to the point where she was begging her mother to take her to go visit Seymour. Her mother finally complied and put Ariane to bed, tugging her coat on halfheartedly and bravely venturing out with Yuna.
Seymour and Felix left the cafeteria, laughing at a joke that they'd heard inside. Being popular boys, they had been called over by a group on the school's blitz team, and had stayed a bit longer than they'd intended to. After all, they had wanted to go back to their room and gloat over their successful needling of Aubrey, who was normally so cool.
"Didja see the look on his face?" Felix was saying between gales of laughter. "He looked ready to spit!"
Seymour was laughing hard as he opened his door - and stopped abruptly. Something was wrong; someone was in the room that shouldn't be. It was pitch black in the shadows, and the weak Fire spell that Felix cast did little to the fireplace but cause a log to glow.
He lit the fireplace in the room with a well-aimed Fira spell, then took up his staff and crept forward towards the washroom. Felix grimly picked up the twin daggers he'd picked out as his weapon of choice, and readied them for throwing. Seymour pressed his ear against the door, listening carefully, then with a nod, he kicked the door down.
The room exploded.
Seymour was tossed against the fair wall, tiny flames singing his hair and burning his sensitive skin. He cried out as a second explosion rocked the entire east wing of the dormitory, and through a haze, Seymour saw Felix get tossed to the floor too; and a great shadow passed over him. Seymour fell into a deep black hole, clawing his way up the sides but failing.
Felix, thankfully, had been spared by the explosion and was getting to his feet when several people burst in, the first of which was Lulu. She looked at him and clicked her tongue grumpily, and then cast a Blizzard spell that took out half the flames in the room. The next person to arrive was Yuna, who had insisted on going into the wing despite the loud (and completely justified) protests of her horrified mother. She brandished her staff and said "Cure!"
A white light glowed around Felix and he stood. "Seymour!" he said over the roar of the flames, pointing to the prone form laying against the wall. Blood covered most of Seymour's face, already beginning to dry in places from the heat that still radiated from the charred floorboards and beds. Lulu ran over and cast a Water spell to wash the blood off, then examined the slash on his forehead that had been caused by him being thrown back.
"He'll need stitches," Lulu said, "Unless your Cure spell is up to snuff."
Yuna nodded, then waved her staff again and the white light glowed around Seymour, then was absorbed into his body. The slash healed somewhat, but it took two more castings of Cure to get it to fade completely. Yuna knelt by Seymour, tears streaking her face. "Is he gonna be okay?"
Lulu looked the half-human over again. "He should be fine. But he needs the calm of the infirmary."
"I say! Let me in!"
Lulu looked up angrily to where Headmaster Brody was shoving through the excited crowd; people were standing on tiptoe to see over the other's heads in front of them. He pushed to the front and stood, horrified, in the scorched frame. "What happened here?!"
Lulu shrugged. "Explosion."
Brody turned around in a circle, his watery greenish eyes widening as he surveyed the wreckage of the room. "How is this possible?!"
Again Lulu shrugged. "Something stronger than magic. Maybe a high-level Ultima spell." But it's fire."
Headmaster Brody shooed all the morbidly fascinated students off and ordered that Seymour be brought to the infirmary. He cast a look at Felix and directed him to a new dormitory room, leaving Yuna and Lulu in the room. They exchanged a glance; then both took off after the nurses bearing Seymour to the infirmary. They caught up just after they'd laid him on a bed; his skin, despite the spells, was horribly charred and his hair was blackened for almost an inch. Yuna grabbed his hand and refused to leave, watching everything the nurses did to him with eyes on the verge of tears. Usoa went home, and went promptly to sleep. The students in the dorms were all whispering all the night about it.
Sometime in the night, another student was brought in. He had started screaming in his sleep, and had had hysterics. The nurses calmed him down and made him comfortable, writing it off to pre-exam stress.
How wrong they were.