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"Faster, Meredy! You'll never land a hit on me at that slow pace!" yelled Sawyer.
The girl in question was currently doubled over, breathing hard and sweating buckets. "I can't!" she gasped. "You're just too fast."
Sawyer hmphed, and crossed his arms. "Then you're dead," he stated matter of factly. "You could be up against someone more powerful than me you know, and you need to be able to hold your ground. Now try again!"
Meredy pushed herself upright, bracing for another onslaught. "Ok, this time I'll get you for sure!"
"That's the spirit!" Sawyer encouraged, bodysuit stripes glowing red as he prepared to attack again. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Meredy.
"Gotcha!" Meredy exclaimed. "Maguilty Sodom!" Blue swords manifested around her, before shooting towards the speed wizard, who dodged them easily.
"That one again?" Sawyer questioned, landing a solid punch to the girl's stomach. "C'mon, you have to do better than that!"
Meredy coughed and spluttered, gasping for breath. "I'm not done yet! Now, Maguilty Rays!" Beams of light shot out, racing toward their target. Sawyer leapt out of the way.
"Close!" he said, whizzing around her to attack her blind spot. "But not good enough!"
"That's what you think!" Meredy exclaimed, but she dropped to her knees, bending backwards and reaching for Sawyer's face with her hand.
Huh, she used a frontal attack to lure me into striking her from behind, thought Sawyer. Very good.
"Now, for my latest technique!"
"Oh, you're gonna throw your new secret spell at me are you? Well alright, let's see what you've got up your sleeve!"
Meredy's finger just managed to brush her opponent's forehead.
"Maguilty Flashback!" she yelled. Pink light shot from her finger, striking Sawyer.
Reality shifted. Sawyer was sitting in his classroom, mind adrift. He couldn't remember what lesson it was. He gazed out of the window, wondering when they'd be released for a break. He could do with a run around, stretch his legs. A strange light from outside caught his eye, and he thought he heard people shouting in the distance. What's going on? he wondered, before an almighty explosion blasted the classroom door to pieces, knocking the school children off their chairs.
Sawyer coughed, his vision blurry and his ears ringing. Broken glass sliced his palms and knees as he sat up. The room was burning, smoke billowing everywhere, and flames licked the walls. The children closest to the door were lying very still, burned and bleeding, and others screamed and cried. Two large figures emerged through the smoke, surveying the room. They wore strange-looking masks, and robes, and carried magical staffs with them.
"Damn it, be more careful!" one of them snapped at the other. "These brats are no good to us if they're dead y'know!"
"Sorry boss," the other replied, in a deadpan, bored voice. "I'll round up the ones still alive."
Sawyer sat dumbfounded, too in shock to register their words. Their teacher clambered shakily to her feet.
"What- who are you people?" she demanded. "Get out, now!"
"Shut her up, would you?" the boss ordered. "I don't need some harpy screeching in my ear."
"Sure," the underling responded, pulling out a knife and advancing on the teacher. She only had the chance to scream "Run!" at her pupils, before the knife slid across her throat. Her eyes went blank as she dropped to the floor, blood spurting everywhere.
Sawyer snapped out of it. In pure panic he bolted to the window, clambering through the destroyed frame and dropping to the ground. Behind him, other pupils were trying to follow him, but they were too slow. Hands appeared behind them and grabbed them. Sawyer watched in horror as, one by one, his classmates were pulled back into the room, too slow to escape. By this point, tears were streaming down his face.
"Hey, one managed to get outside!"
"Grab him then, we need as many as we can get."
That horrifying mask emerged from the window, a large body following behind it. Sawyer got to his feet and ran. All around him, the village was burning, houses collapsing, bodies littering the street.
I have to get home, though Sawyer. I need to find mum and dad.
He rounded the corner to his street and stopped in his tracks. There was nothing left. Every house was completely demolished. Smoke poured out from what was once his home, now just a pile of rubble. Sawyer cried harder. Mum... Dad... What's going on?
"There he is! Get him!"
Sawyer whirled around. Several of the mask-clad men were charging at him, brandishing nets and magic staffs. Behind them he saw the rest of his classmates being carried out of the school and thrown into a huge cage-wagon. Sawyer turned and sprinted away. If he could just get to the woods on the edge of the village, he could lose them in the trees.
Faster, Sawyer told himself. You've got to go faster. He could hear his pursuers catching up to him. Faster!
A hand grabbed the back of Sawyer's shirt, and he choked on his collar.
"Gotcha!" said his capturer, holding him aloft as he squirmed desperately. "You're quite the little scamp aren't ya? But I'm afraid there's no running away from us."
The man carried him back, and tossed him into the cage. All around him, children were crying and screaming for their parents. Sawyer pushed through the scrum to the edge of the cage, gripping the bars as the wagon jolted forward. He kept watching, cheeks wet and eyes swollen, as the remnants of his home disappeared from view.
"Sawyer? Sawyer!"
A voice was calling his name. The vision of flames and ruin faded. He was breathing hard, on his hands and knees, tears trickling down his cheeks.
"Sawyer? Are you ok? Please talk to me!"
Sawyer looked up. Meredy was kneeling in front of him, eyes filled with worry.
"Meredy?" he said.
"Sawyer, I'm so sorry! I must have done the spell wrong. It was supposed to trigger positive memories, but then... you started screaming... I'm so sorry! Are you ok?"
Sawyer sat back, wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand.
"Yeah... yeah, I'm good. Just a memory after all."
"I don't know what went wrong..."
Sawyer shook his head. "Nothing went wrong. I just don't have many happy memories, that's all."
Meredy just watched him as he got his breath back, unsure what to say. She'd had such a similar start to life as Sawyer and the rest of the Oracion Seis, but unlike them she'd found true happiness again - with Ultear and Jellal, as part of Crime Sorciere. The Oracion Seis never had that. They'd been kept prisoner in some form all their lives; it was no wonder they had more bad memories than good. An idea formed in her mind.
"Sawyer, please let me give you some happy memories!" she burst out, jumping up with hands clenched. "I was saved from the darkness all those years ago, and now it's my turn to save you. I'll give you all so many happy memories that you'll never have to think of the bad ones again! Now tell me, do you like Halloween?"
Sawyer blinked at the outburst. "Uh, yeah, I guess so. Never really done much for it though."
"Well that's about to change!" Meredy declared. "Halloween's coming up soon, so we'll start with that. We're going to have our own party, and we'll carve pumpkins, make candy apples and tell spooky stories that keep us up all night!"
Sawyer hesitated a moment, surprised by the girl's passion, but soon he found himself smiling. "Yeah, I'd like that."
The two of them headed back to camp, Meredy chatting Sawyer's ear off about all the things people did at Halloween. Sawyer tried to include some advice about their training battle, but for once, he couldn't get a word in edgeways.
Hope you guys enjoyed! Please leave a review if you did, they make me very happy!