Okay, so if you've read the final chapter of Elemental, you'll know that it's going on a bit of a hiatus before I begin Halfling. As is this one, mostly because there isn't much more I can add to it without giving away things that aren't to be revealed until Halfling. Such as the side story I need to start—that's going to take some time. I hate having to put you guys on hold, but if I don't catch things up and get ahead to the point where I can comfortably post on the regular, I feel as if I have to rush, which means that the quality of my writing will most likely decline, and I'd hate doing that even more than leaving you guys on edge for a while. I'm really sorry but I feel it's necessary! Forgive me!

TheFallenHer0: I agree. She's pretty boss, and doesn't put up with any BS from Luca, which is something I think he needs. I think he knows he needs it, too. And what did you know? I wasn't sure what part of the chapter you were referring to. And I like the boots idea. I'll definitely use it. Thanks!

Chapter 11

Marelda's POV

I didn't see Luca on Sunday. He mentioned before we split on Saturday that he was planning to go into town on Sunday. He didn't say why, but as long as he wasn't going to cause to trouble, I didn't really care.

I also found out that somehow the entire school seemed to know I was his buddy, which confused me. Elias Goldstein had even stopped me on my way to training after lunch to give me his "sympathies" for getting stuck with Luca as my buddy. It was odd. I go relatively unnoticed, but then Luca becomes my buddy, and suddenly the entire school knows who I am! It's annoying.

…. …. ….

I jolted awake at the sound of tapping on my dorm window. What in the…? I go over and peek through the floor-length curtain.

"Luca!" I whisper-hiss, slightly opening the sliding glass door, "Why the heck are you here?! It's the middle of the night!"

He stood on the balcony, clutching his arm. He smiled weakly, "Sorry to bug you. I needed a bit of help."

It was then, in the light of the moon, that he was wearing entirely dark blue, long sleeved shirt, pants, hat, leather gloves. He swayed slightly. Was he hurt?

"Get in here. Be quiet. My roommate is asleep." I herded him in and made him sit on my bed. I carefully slid the dividing curtain shut and turned my lamp onto it's lowest setting. I blinked rapidly to let my eyes adjust. Once my vision focused, I gasped. Luca's entire right arm was wet. The familiar tell-tale smell of coppery-blood, now out of the open, proceeded to taint the room.

"Marelda?" Crap! Maegan was awake. "What's going on? Is someone here?"

I poked my head out of the curtain, "Shh. Go back to sleep." But the girl was already crawling out of bed, rubbing her eyes.

"I heard a wince of pain when someone sat on your bed. And I smell blood," She protested. "Let me take a look." She edged her way past me and started, without even flinching, "Luca. You're bleeding. A lot." She turned on her own lamp and began rifling through the chest at the end of her bed. I sighed and opened the curtain up again.

I turned to Luca, "How did this happen? You did something stupid, didn't you?"

He tried to chuckle, but ended up wincing as he shifted his arm, "Pretty much."

Maegan came back up with her wand and various other things in her arms, "You might get blood on your sheet, Marelda, but I've got a spell for that, so don't worry. Luca, remove your shirt."

"A little forward, aren't we?" He joked.

Both Meagan and I glared at him with deadpan expressions.

"Fine then. Bleed out. See if I care." Maegan sniffed, turning around.

"W-wait!" Luca yelped. We shushed him—people were asleep in the rooms around us. "S-sorry. I...uh...might need some help."

I sighed and pulled the small knife out from under my pillow, ignoring the wide-eyed looks the two of them gave me. I moved his hand—doing my best to ignore the slippery blood that had completely covered it—and carefully cut his right sleeve off. He had a huge gash that bled sluggishly. I then gently pulled the rest of the shirt over his head, flinching ever-so-slightly when he winced. Yeah, there was a lot of blood on my sheets already, dripping down from his arm. He looked woozy. Blood loss will do that to you.

As soon as the shirt was off, Maegan jumped in, thrusting a couple rags at me, to get them wet. I pulled out my want and dampened them before handing them back. She took them and began wiping the area around the gash, ignoring the blood that had already dripped down his arm. She took out a bottle and dampened another rag with it. The sharp smell of whatever the liquid was burned my nose even from here, though Meagan seemed completely unaware of it.

"Marelda, get behind him and hold him still. This is going to sting like hell." She ordered, and I did as she said. I ignored any awkward feelings, wrapping my legs around his waist, pinning his left arm and holding his right arm in place. She had him bite on something and pressed the rag to the gash.

It was immensely difficult to hold him still as he thrashed, his scream of pain greatly muffled by the thing in his mouth. About twenty seconds later Maegan removed the rag, now bloody, and tossed it with his shirt on the floor. Luca went limp, panting and I noticed he was sweating slightly.

"What the heck was that?!" I asked her.

"A special cleaning liquid developed by my family. It not only kills any possible infections and clean the wound, it also cancels out most magic-related residue that could have caused it and prevent it from healing." She said quickly, picking up her wand. She pointed it to his arm, "Heal this wound! Santio Aura!"

Luca sucks in a breath as the healing wind flowed out of Maegan's wand and circled his gash. I watched as it closed, leaving an angry red scar.

"That's the best I can do. If you don't want to end up with a big scar there, I recommend you see the nurse. Although, you'd probably have to tell her what caused it. I, however, do not care." She finished wiping as much of the blood from his arm as she could before gathering up all the bloody cloths, including my sheets. She had me close the curtain around my bed, Luca inside, and quickly change into a fresh nightcore, taking the soiled one from me. "I'll be back in a few minutes, then I'm going back to bed. Goodbye." She went out onto the balcony, closing the door behind her. I turned to Luca.

And smacked the back of his head.

"Ow! Why are you hitting a person who came in bleeding to death!" he whined.

"Shh! People are sleeping, stupid!" I whisper-hissed, "And I hit you because you're a bloody idiot! Literally!" I whacked him again for good measure, and he collapsed. I gasped and started shaking him, think I might have knocked him unconscious again. Until he started shaking with suppressed laughter.

"Nice to know that you care, deep, deep down." He snickered. I smacked the back of his head. For the third time.

"You scared me, you moron! You forget that me knocking you out cold is an actual possibility!" I scolded. This boy…gah!

He quieted a bit, "Sorry...that was a bit of a jerk move."

"No kidding!" I snapped.

The balcony door slid open, and Maegan walked in, yawning. She tossed the rags she's used on top of her chest, and dumped the rest on my bed, "Goodnight." she crawled back in bed, and from the sound of it, was instantly asleep.

I pulled Luca up, snatching his one-sleeved shirt, and pulled him out to the balcony. I pulled his shirt over his head, pinning his arms to his sides. He quickly slid his left arm through the long sleeve and his right through the hole.

"Now," I began, crossing my arms, "what did you do?"

"I broke into Schuyler's office." He said. He sounded serious, in an unusual manner for him. Serious, like when he was talking about the Vanished Princesses and his theories about them.

I sighed, "Since I clearly can't stop you, I should probably help you to keep you from getting hurt again. Did you find anything?"

He dug in his pocket and held something up, handing it to me. I lit the end of my wand, and found the small item to be an earring with a green gemstone. I held it next to the one in Luca's ear and studied them. "Exact match. They're the same."

"I thought so. This confirms a few tangent theories." He said, "One, that he was somehow involved with my unknown past, and two, he started teaching right after the age I was first aware of in the room. I'm eighteen, and my first memories were when I was about the age of five. Schuyler"—I didn't bother to correct him at this point—"didn't start teaching until just after then. I feel, though, as if the headmaster knows about all this."

"The headmaster? What's he have to do with anything, other than the fact that he hired Professor Schuyler and accepted you into the school."

"That's exactly it. I didn't even need a trial. And there are other reasons."

"Other reasons being...what, exactly?"

"He's one of the three Great Mages, didn't you know? Schuyler is, too."

That shocked me into silence, "Wait, the Great Mages are still a thing? I thought they were a thing of the past."

"Nope. Still a thing. I don't know who the third mage is. There are, however, rumors of a so-called 'ghost' that hangs around the headmaster's office at night. I can't confirm how accurate those are, or if she's the third mage or not."

"So what are you going to do? Ask the headmaster about everything?" I inquired.

Luca shook his head, "No. I can't trust any of the adults, or really anyone at this point." He paused, then looked up at me, "Actually, I'm pretty sure you're the only one I trust at this point. I can't usually tell when someone lies to me, but you've never lied to me. Never tried to hide anything. You're brutally honest, and painfully blunt. But it suits you perfectly, and I'd prefer if you didn't change that about yourself. In a world of liars, you've told me nothing but the truth. Thank you, Marelda, for giving me some sort of hope in humanity." He smiled at me, a real, genuine smile, not a smug smirk, not a teasing grin—an actual smile. And, in the faint light, he looked like...like the prince he might actually be. I could feel my face heating up and wasn't sure how to respond, what to do. I was frozen.

But as quick as the smile happened, it was gone. And so was he. I watched as he hopped over the balcony railing, magically lowering himself to the ground. He crept off, heading back to the boys' dorms.

I wish you the best of luck in your search for answers, Luca. And I hope you understand that I'm not going to let you do this on your own.

After all, we're Buddies. Our fates are are connected.