Chapter 4: A helping hand.
I'm walking towards the east dormitory to meet up with Croix as usual for our daily lessons. For the past few days she's taught me some new spells, like the illumination spell, or the flavoring spell. Granted, they are for beginners and it still took me days to master them, but progress is progress and Croix is an excellent teacher. So of course I'm rather excited about what she'll teach me today! Maybe some illusion magic like I requested? Yes, she told me that we should focus on the spells that will be covered in class, but… illusion spells are just so pretty! But precisely because they're beautiful and fun and I like them, they aren't taught here. At least not in the first year.
But who knows? Maybe if I pout really hard I can convince Croix. Maybe. Even if it didn't work last time.
"Chariot." Croix's voice pulls me out of my thoughts and I look up to see she's in front of me, though I haven't arrived to her room yet.
"Oh, hi Croix!" I greet her cheerily, giving her my best smile, but she just remains with a cold expression. Weird. She usually smiles at least a little.
"So… Today I can't tutor you because I've got homework." She starts, frowning. "But I was wondering if you could come to my lab with me? It's still a mess and I can't really clean it in my condition, so…" She trails off, looking to the side, obviously embarrassed about having to ask for help. Even when that was the deal from the very beginning.
"Yeah. Sure, I'd be happy to help." I answer, because really, after everything she's taught me, that's the least I can do.
"Alright then. Follow me." And with that she walks past me towards the stairs that lead to the third floor and I quickly hurry up to follow her.
All the way there we stay silent. Even when I do try to make some small talk, she barely answers with grunts, so I give up after a few tries. I suppose she's not in the mood to talk. But I don't have much time to ponder about that because, once we arrive, I realize her lab is exactly as we left it; covered in soot, broken parts of metal, and full of trash and electronic equipment. I don't think she even tried to clean it.
"Uh… So…" I trail off, looking at all this mess. "Where should I start?"
"Put all the trash in a bag and leave it in a corner. Then just use some water and one of those cloths to clean everything." She points to a pile of old rags that look as dirty as this whole place. Seriously, I'm starting to think she hasn't cleaned it at all since she started using it.
"Alright." I sigh. It's not like I have a choice.
"I'll be at the desk doing some homework, but do inform me if you need anything or if you have any questions." And with that, she leaves me there while she takes one of the notebooks at her desk, opens it and goes to grab a quill. I shrug, resigning to my fate, and go to do as she asked (well, ordered would be more precise).
First I grab a black bag she had next to her desk and peer into it. It only has some wrinkled papers inside, so it should be enough. Then I start searching for empty ramen cups throughout the whole expanse of the Astronomy Tower (seriously, there's even a few upstairs, next to the window), taking care to only throw the empty ones in the trash, while putting the others on the box that's next to the couch, where she keeps all her food. If that can even be called food.
I work mostly in silence, though I do hum some of my favorite songs to keep myself from getting too bored, and soon enough there are no more ramen cups, empty or otherwise, scattered around. I then figure that, before cleaning anything, I should probably put some order in here. Maybe I should ask Croix first though? Nah, she seems to be very concentrated on whatever she's doing, and would probably get mad if I interrupt her. More so considering she already appears to be more grumpy than usual.
So first I take a look at all the technological junk she has lying around. How should I organize it? I mean, I don't even know what the majority of these things are for, so… maybe just based on size? I think it'd look pretty. And so, I start moving them all around, placing them under the balcony in a semi-circular formation following the shape of the room. First the televisions, car batteries, computers and such, then laptops, radios, and videogame consoles, and then walkie-talkies, cellphones, cables, disks and also those weird little rectangular things (memories, or something?).
I'm just about to finish though, when suddenly I trip on one of the cables still lying around and I end up falling and dropping everything I had in my hands… which is a cellphone, a CD and some work tools. The cellphone breaks in two, the CD shatters into pieces and the work tools loudly clatter to the ground. I scream as I end up hitting the ground face first, and my nose feels like it's been pushed into my skull.
"Chariot?" Croix says as she stands up, undoubtedly having heard the commotion, but I'm too busy trying to get up and stop my ears from ringing to actually answer her. "Chariot, what the heck are you doing? What… look at what you did to my cellphone! Do you think those are easy to find?! And how am I supposed to find anything here?!" She starts yelling at me as I try to get up and make some sense of her words. Honestly, I only register she's angry at me, and when I open my eyes and stare at her, I see her eyes full with rage and frustration, her eyebrows knit in a tight frown, and her mouth forming an angry snarl.
I take a step back on pure instinct and look down to avoid her angry stare. She's never been so angry before, not even when I kept getting a spell wrong for more than an hour.
"I-I… I'm sorry. I just thought I should organize your stuff so it would be easier to find." I try to defend myself, but I can practically feel her glare at me and that makes me want to cower in fear and shame.
"Did I ask you to move my valuable equipment around?! No! No, and you know why? Because I didn't want you to! This is my lab, you are my assistant, and you have to do everything I tell you! Nothing more, and nothing less, okay?!" She keeps yelling, each word feeling like a sharp stab to my chest. I just wanted to help, and yet I ended up screwing everything up. As usual. And now Croix is mad at me.
"I'm sorry." I whimper, and then a sob escapes my lips and I realize tears have also started forming on my eyes. But I can't do anything about it. "I'm sorry, I'll fix it! I can use a repairing spell… granted, I've never casted it successfully, but, maybe if you…" I trail off when I look into her eyes again and I see her looking at me with a mix of guilt, confusion and some remaining anger. After a moment of silence though, she sighs, looks to the side and finally answers.
"I think you should go." She says, slightly more calmed, but her posture remains tense. "I'm not feeling well, and I'm afraid I'm taking it all out on you."
"N-no, Croix! I was being a complete idiot. I should have asked you before moving anything, and I should have been more careful! You have every right to be angry." I argue, even though I can't deny that her yelling at me did affect me. Not when my eyes are still wet with unshed tears.
"Look… I don't care whose fault that was." She says as she closes her eyes and starts rubbing the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. "But I just… I think I'd be better off alone." She finishes, but the way her voice cracks a little at the end makes me realize something is very wrong. That she isn't moody just because. That it's not a matter of having simply woken up on the wrong side of the bed. And before I can stop to think if it is a good idea, I find myself asking.
"Is everything okay?" My voice ends up sounding more concerned than I intended, but with how strange she's been acting today, I can't help thinking that whatever is affecting her isn't a simple matter.
"Well… no." She answers, opening her eyes to look at me like she's surprised I even asked. "I mean, I just said I'm not feeling well."
"Well, yes, but like… did something happen? You've been acting rather weird today." I then chuckle and make a joke to try and lift up the mood. "More than usual, that is."
"Weird?" She chuckles too, though she doesn't sound happy at all, and the smile she has doesn't reach her eyes. "You mean grumpy."
"That too." I shrug giving her a gentle smile that she doesn't see because her gaze is fixed on the ground.
"Uhm." She frowns. "I suppose it won't hurt to tell you." She finally concludes. "You remember I told you I can't use magic because of my injuries?" I hum in acknowledgement and she continues. "Well… I have been using magic. Just a spell here and there to help with daily tasks, like dressing myself or taking notes in class, since I can't use my right hand either."
"Croix!" I gasp alarmed as I remember how much it hurt her to use magic during our first study session.
"I know, I know. It was stupid." She snarls, glaring at the ground as though it was all its fault. "But the nurse had told me my magical injuries would be healed in about a week, so I thought they were superficial and a couple of spells from time to time wouldn't make much of a difference." She draws out a long sigh, frustrated. "But today I went to the infirmary to get my hand checked and it turns out I am banned from using magic for another month or so. And my physical injuries aren't doing any better. I'd try and find a cure or something to heal faster, but that's out of the question because I can't use magic!" She practically yells, clenching her left fist in anger as her face turns red and her breath comes out labored. She's really agitated because all of this. Not that I can blame her; not being able to use your right hand is bad enough, but to also become unable to use magic? I can't even imagine what that would feel like.
"I'm sorry." She says, once her breathing has come down to normal and her muscles are slightly less tense. "I did it again, didn't I?"
"It's okay, I get it." I assure her. "You're frustrated, and no one can blame you for that. But you should have told me sooner! Then maybe I could have been of more help."
"I'm not used to asking for help." She laughs, though it still isn't really happy. "I'm Croix Meridies, the prodigy of Luna Nova! The best witch to ever live! I can't ask for help from some first-year." She jokes, but something tells me she's actually partially serious. Maybe that the way she says this sounds kinda sad. And that makes me sad. I don't like being sad, though, so I decide to make her happy.
"I'm your slave though, so it's okay for you to give me orders, right? That was the deal. You help me with my studies, and I do whatever you ask me to do." I say, smiling. "You could order me, for example, to help you make a cure for your magical injuries."
"I certainly could… but I don't know if that's a good idea." She laughs, sounding slightly more sincere this time. "For now though, I have to write an essay for tomorrow, and my left hand isn't good with that task, so… help me?" She gives me a hesitant smile, like even she can't believe what she just said, but then she clears her throat and looks to the sides embarrassed. "Uh… I mean. Help me. That's… uh… that's an order."
"Sure thing boss." I smile, turning around and going to sit at her desk, where I find a page full of strange symbols that can hardly be called letters. I honestly don't understand a thing, and for a moment I'm afraid it's written in gnome language or something like that. But then I realized that no; these are just Croix's poor attempts at writing with her left hand.
"Yeah… not my best work." Croix says as she comes to stand next to me.
"How will this work then?" I ask. "You dictate and I write it down?"
"Sure." She shrugs.
"Then let's start!" I exclaim. And sure, this isn't like the fancy work in a crazy lab I imagined when I thought about helping Croix, but it's a step closer. And if it keeps her from hurting herself while trying to do magic, then I'm glad I'm doing it. Hopefully now she'll be less angry too; she truly is scary when she yells. Plus, it's nice to see her accepting help, since she's obviously too proud for her own good.
Maybe this is a sign of a growing friendship. At least, I certainly hope so.
A/N: I hope you liked it. Thanks for reading.
Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher 13.
