Home Sweet Home

VIII.

I jumped to the side, instinctively running into Sherry to get her out of harms way, also. I was able to dodge the fire nicely this time, the flame going right over our heads. After the heat disappeared, I was slightly surprised when Sherry pushed me off of her. I knew how strong she had gotten, so the shove was actually strong enough to get me on my feet.

That was no playful shove.

"What the hell are you doing!" I yelled, about to distort my face in preparation for an argument.

Sherry picked herself up, "Why did you push me out of the way? I spent all that time learning how to dodge attacks for myself and you destroy the chance I get to see if I could do it!"

I relaxed. She did have a point, after all, "It was just a reaction. I'm used to it."

"Then get unused to it," she spat, narrowing her eyes angrily, "I want to prove to you that I can fend for myself."

I scowled, not liking her tone, "Fine. If you think you're ready for the big leagues, then be my guest. But if you get hurt, don't come crying to me."

Though I didn't appreciate the attitude she was giving me, I found myself to be proud…of both her and myself. I was able to train her to become stronger, if not so much physically, then mentally. Her words her tough before, but they didn't have the power I now heard. She was more determined than ever.

"Reis!" She screamed. She did it so suddenly, I was slightly caught off guard when my arm flew up to release the spell.

"Flashield!" Before my attack could even reach the distance from us to them, I heard them give a defensive spell. As most defense spells, it blocked my attack and sent it straight back at us.

"Gigano-Reis!" My more powerful spell was brought forth, hitting my original attack head on. It was dark matter versus dark matter. My second spell forced back the first one, so it was once again heading toward the Fire Mamodo.

I didn't hear them announce another attack and saw my spell land where they should've been. I took this moment to turn to Sherry, my eyes blazing, "You could have at least warned me you were going to attack so soon!"

She merely smirked, "You should be able to keep up with me. Hey, at least we got them and they didn't get us."

"Hm," I turned away, not wanting to admit that she was right. Her instincts really did heighten. I couldn't be angry at her doing a great job…teachers should want their pupils to succeed, after all. She said she wanted to prove herself to me.

"Blakei!" I managed to catch a very small glimpse of the Fire Mamodo and his bookkeeper coming out from behind a large group of trees. This attack was the one they used the first time, a lightening fast flame thrower.

"Brago, I can read another spell!" Sherry yelled over to me, holding open the book. I saw a glowing red light illuminating from the page.

"Let's try it," I told her, tensing myself for a new power to be released.

"Gravi-Ionsheild!" Both of my hands were forced above my head, my palms facing upward. A force of gravity was discharged, making a large dome around us. The Fire Mamodo's attack hit the shield. The gravity forced it away quickly. It was able to pick up more speed as I, once again, was able to send an attack back at them.

The safeguard disappeared.

Sherry smiled, "That was pretty good."

I nodded in agreement. We gained another spell…giving us an extra boost closer to winning this battle. It wasn't an attack spell, and though we survived this whole time with no defense spells, it was good to now have one.

"You're going to pay for that." The Fire Mamodo and his bookkeeper stepped out of the dust the attack kicked up. The opposing mamodo's voice was just as low and as serious as my own. He didn't have his cape covering his face this time. All around his eyes and mouth were fire markings, and his eyes were nothing but windows into hell.

"Oh my…" Sherry began, her voice shaking slightly.

I glanced over to her, talking lowly, "Don't look or feel intimidated. He'll be able to sense your fear. Being frightened will only make him more confident."

"Yeah, but,--" Before she could say anything, the enemies had prepared themselves to liberate another attack.

"Flice!" That wasn't one I heard before! How many spells did they have?

The Fire Mamodo kneeled down and smashed his hand against the ground. A loud explosion cut off my vision of them. This must have been the spell they used from across the lake all that time ago. A large flame burst from the top of the explosion, curving sharply when it reached the height of the trees. It broke into a million flames and landed all around us. One landed very close to my foot, causing me to jump away from it.

Sherry screamed loudly. I looked and realized what frightened her. The many flames and the forest definitely did not mix. A fire was just beginning, but it wasn't hard to tell that a large portion of the forest would be burnt to a crisp.

Sherry hated fires. Shit.

"Sherry, don't pay attention to the fire! It's not that close to us right now, so we'll be fine," I told her, more to make her relax than anything, "He only gave that attack to keep us from running." I turned back to the Fire Mamodo, mimicking his smirk perfectly, "But we're not going anywhere." I pointed a finger at him, "You were the one that ran away first."

He chuckled, putting his hands on his hips, "Only because I knew you weren't anywhere near ready to fight me."

That made me irritated. I gritted my teeth, "You'll regret your decision of not fighting me then. Sherry, let's do it."

When I didn't hear anything, I took my eyes off my opponent. I gazed at Sherry, watching as she could do nothing but stare wide-eyed at the fire that just kept growing. I should have remembered to teach her to overcome her fears. No matter how strong I made her, fire had simply traumatized her too greatly to fight against it without knowing how.

"Sherry!" I yelled her name, trying to get her attention off the fire.

I heard the Fire Mamodo chuckle mockingly, "What's the matter, Gravity Boy? Your partner too retarded to know what fire is?"

I clenched my fists at the comment, "Sherry, are you going to let him get away with saying that? Sherry!"

She wasn't listening. I had no choice but to walk over to her and slap her across the face. The force caused her to topple over, my book dropping from her hands momentarily. She held her face in shock and pain, but at least it got her to snap out of it.

"We're in the middle of a fight! Get a hold of yourself so we can finish this!"

Her eyes shook from her fear and my yelling, but she was soon able to narrow them into determination. I could still tell she was scared, and when a large branch on fire fell to the ground, she shot her head toward it and was once again trapped in her own mind.

I growled. This is not what I needed right now. I swore to myself that if we made it out of this, I was going to have to add another lesson. I got down on one knee and gripped her shoulders, shaking her a bit roughly.

"Sherry, it's just fire. I won't let it hurt you. I didn't last time, did I?" Her eyes turned to me, but I could see she wasn't all there, "You have to get over your fear sometime," I said, thinking quickly about what I could say that would bring her back. I don't know why it suddenly came to me, but I blurted it as soon as it did, "I know you can do it."

She gasped loudly, life automatically coming back into her face. When she looked at me now, I felt like she was focusing totally on me instead of the fire.

"Brago…" She said with amazement. The determination came back when she smiled, "I'm ready!"

"Oh, how sweet," the Fire Mamodo stated with sarcasm. "Do you really think I would just wait around for you two to have a hot fu--."

"Shut up!" I yelled before he could finish the word. I stood up, but just as I did, his bookkeeper yelled yet another spell.

"Infercle!" A low to the ground flame came at us.

I side-glanced at Sherry who was just beginning to stand, "Sherry, jump away."

I jumped to one side while she rolled herself in the other direction. As soon as the flame reached the spot where we were, it made a circle so it formed a ring of fire.

I smirked when the sphere continued to burn. I caught the Fire Mamodo's eyes, "Looks like you didn't get me in the center."

When he smirked back, I knew something was wrong, "Looks that way."

"No!" I heard Sherry scream once again. Snapping my head toward her, I saw her staring at the fire in horror. But there was something different…she didn't look as though she were afraid of the fire exactly…she was standing too close to it.

I don't know why, but I lowered my eyes to her hands. My mouth opened in horror also.

She isn't holding my book. That must mean…

I shot my eyes to the fire. If I looked close enough, I could see my book right in the center of the fire. And if my eyes were seeing right, the circle was getting smaller and smaller.

"This is quite a shame," there was that sarcasm again from the Fire Bastard, "I was hoping for this battle to be just a little more challenging. Of course, we can't always get what we want." He snickered, his eyes narrowing menacingly, "You have about twenty more seconds in this world. Would you like to leave peacefully or in pain? Because I--."

"No!" Sherry yelled once again before running right into the fire. My eyes widened upon seeing her do this. She ran into it so fast, the fire didn't seem to burn her terribly…but she hated fire! How was she supposed to think straight when she was surrounded by it that tightly?

"Sherry!" I ran to the outside of the fire, shocked when I saw her throw my book over the flames. She threw it a small distance from the fire, so it landed a couple feet behind me. I only glanced at it quickly before turning back to her. She had her arms wrapped around herself and, regardless of the blazing hot fire, was shivering.

She…how could she do that! Who in their right mind (especially someone who's terrified of it) runs into a fire?

"Get out of there!" I shouted, panicking when I saw how small the loop was becoming.

"I…I can't!" she told me, tears beginning to fall from her eyes.

For once in my life, I lost all sense of being cool, calm, and collected. My mind wasn't thinking straight and my emotions weren't tightly locked inside. Seeing her trapped in that fire was the first time I ever panicked and felt flustered and confused of what to do.

"You can get out, you got in didn't you! If you don't get out now, it's going to be too late and you really will have something to fear! Don't be stupid, just run out before it gets too close! Sherry!" I talked as fast as I ever did, knowing time wasn't exactly on our side. He said there was about twenty seconds before the fire closed.

I couldn't take it anymore. I was just about to run in and grab her when she closed her eyes and ran out. The second time around must have hurt her, for she screamed in agony. Her skin was more sensitive, not to mention she was thinking about going through it. When she went in, I don't think she realized what she was doing.

She collapsed on the ground next to me, hiding her hands against her chest. I kneeled down next to her, grabbing her shoulders again in a poor attempt to settle her down. I looked closely at her hands and saw they were slightly burnt. It didn't look that bad; not something she would have to live with.

"Sorry…" she whispered in between groans.

Sorry! For what? Saving my book?

Speaking of which…

I looked up to where she threw my book just in time to see the Fire Mamodo pick it up. He waved it back and forth, that annoying, over-confident smirk plastered on his lips, "Looking for this?"

I didn't want to deal with him anymore. Not right now. My heart was beating so fast, I could hear my blood pumping loudly in my ears. I glared, just daring him to piss me off anymore than he already had.

Standing, I slowly and calmly walked toward him. We were about the same height, so neither had to look up or down at the other. He didn't think I would prove as a threat any longer, so his grin didn't disappear, nor did his body move an inch. As soon as I reached him, I reacted instantly and punched him as hard as I could across the jaw. With his defenses down, the punch was very effective. He dropped my book and flew about ten feet to the left. Now it was him groaning in pain.

I picked up my book before walking back over to Sherry. I nudged her before once again kneeling down, telling her to climb on my back. With shaky hands, she wrapped her arms around my neck and braced herself when I stood up. With book still in one hand, I put my hands under her thighs to hold her in place.

The Fire Mamodo was just now standing up, spitting out blood. We glared at each other, but didn't say anything. With that, I walked in the direction where the fire wasn't as great. I was confident we wouldn't get burnt, and I would be able to get Sherry away from the fire and back to her house to recuperate.

"Sorry…" I heard her say in my ear once again.

I snarled, "Stop saying that. If you didn't go into the fire, my book would have--."

"I know," she stated quickly before I could finish, "But if I didn't let go of the book in the first place…"

"It's doesn't matter. You made up for it. There's nothing to apologize for."

She was quiet for a long time, before she continued again, "I'm sorry for not battling like you wanted me to…like I wanted me to. But all that fire…I just wasn't--."

"Sherry, if you don't stop, I'm just going to drop you right here for you to fend for yourself. Do you want me to do that?"

She shook her head against my shoulder, gripping onto me tighter.

"Good. Go to sleep. When you wake up, you'll feel better."

She nodded this time. She was facing away from me, but she turned her head to bury her face in my neck, snuggling herself until it felt like we molded together. I allowed her. She…did save me, after all. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't still be here. Was her promise to make me king really more important to her than her own life? I don't think any other human would do for me what she did. I didn't realize how lucky I was to have her as my partner until now.

Even with all the times I saved her, what she did for me was extraordinary. I wasn't sure I would ever be able to repay her. I glanced to the sleeping girl, wondering what she was thinking or dreaming right now.

Hopefully, it wasn't about fire.

All of the Fire Mamodo's attacks and Brago's new spell are simply made up by moi and do not really exist. Just wanted to say that in case someone wanted to tell me that there was no such thing.

WARNING FOR NEXT CHAPTER: Will contain some sexual content. Actually, it's hardly anything, but I'll put up this warning here just to make sure. I'm not sure how some people view situations. This warning will either scare people away or have them want me to update even sooner than usual. Hmm…