Chapter 19: A Strained Relationship
Golden rays of afternoon sun shone in through the train window. Rolling Fioran hills stretched for miles, like a moving painting beyond the glass. Dreamer, Jezran, Syllestra, and Midnight were in a booth together, on their way to the magical town of Rose Garden.
Syllest's feet swung, and she swayed in her spot, a bundle of barely contained energy. She was sitting next to a sleeping Midnight, since she'd begged and pleaded to sit next to him when they boarded the train. He hadn't said yes, but he hadn't said no either.
"Mom, that cloud looks like an air ship!" She pointed out the window. "And that one looks like Jet's hat! And that one over there kind of looks like Lucy's boobs."
"Syllest!"
"What, it's true! Those are the biggest, roundest clouds up there!"
Dreamer and Jezran chuckled at her antics. She fidgeted in her seat and hummed to herself. "Mom, how much longer?"
"Probably another hour," Dreamer answered.
"An hour?! Ugh, I'm gonna die." She stretched out dramatically, completely uncaring of the way she bumped into Midnight when she did so. Luckily, he seemed too deep in sleep to care.
"You could follow the young man's lead and take a nap, my dear," Jezran said.
"No way! I can't sleep! I promised Romeo that I'm not sleeping for 24 hours! Not until the race is over, so I can cheer him on in spirit! Besides, Macbeth sleeps all the time. He's like a cat, huh mom? Like a black and white cat, like the one that meows outside Auntie Mira's window at night. Do you think he likes milk? Macbeth, not the cat. I know the cat likes milk because I put some out there for it the other night—"
"Oh, so that's why it won't go away?" Dreamer rolled her eyes. Syllest ignored her completely.
"Maybe he can purr. Can Macbeth purr, Mom?" She poked Midnight's shoulder.
"How should I know?" Dreamer laughed and leaned against the window.
"You should pet him and find out," Syllest suggested, much to the dismay of a now rosy-cheeked Dreamer.
"Would you leave him alone, Syllest? He's trying to sleep!" She chastised the girl as she laid out on Midnight's lap and stared at his face between the curtains of his white hair, which was currently unbraided. "If you wake him up, you might die."
"Mom," Syllest said, quietly. "I think Macbeth is having nightmares." Her pink eyes were serious, little lips frowning in concern.
Dreamer sighed. "He probably is, Syllest. Now get off of him."
Syllestra ignored her again and reached up to flick a strand of his hair. "Mom, can't you help him?"
Dreamer glanced away from the window to look at the two of them. Syllestra, in a frilly pink romper and sandals, black hair pooling in Midnight's lap. Midnight, arms folded over his chest, head down, twitching as familiar horrors raged on in his dreams.
"You can make his bad dreams go away, right? Like you do with me sometimes, and Piper. Remember when I used to have those bad dreams about that shadow? The black one with the cage? You made those dreams go away and you gave me good dreams instead! Can't you do that to Macbeth too?" She looked at Dreamer with buggy, enthused eyes. "Do it, Mom! Do it right now!"
Dreamer glanced over at Jezran, who gave a slight shake of his head in warning. His eyes were sad but also full of concern.
"I can't, sweetie." She watched the way Midnight's shoulders trembled slightly, every so often, as the nightmare got worse.
"Why not? He looks really scared. I don't like it."
"Neither do I, Syllest, but…" She was no match for the nightmares he dealt with. They were deep, like shards of magic power lodged in his very soul. And she was already at the end of her season. Much more reckless expulsion of her magical energy and…
"What's the point of having magic if you can't help your friends?" Syllest said, her eyes suddenly hard. "If I had your magic, I'd help him!" She sat up and crossed her arms dramatically while resting her head on Midnight's arm.
"Syllestra, you should not talk to your mother like that, dear me." Jezran chided her sternly, waggling an old finger at her.
Syllest huffed and looked at Midnight again, the concern etched deeply on her small face. She suddenly closed her eyes and put her palms together, concentrating.
"Syllest, what are you doing?" Dreamer leaned forward. Shock riveted her at the sight of the child forming a pink magical circle in her hands.
She ignored Dreamer and pulled her eyebrows together even more. After a moment, she had formed a pink circle with ridges around it. The circle began to harden and crystallize, as Syllest's face took on a pained expression.
"Syllest! Stop it right now!" Dreamer's voice was a desperate, but controlled reprimand. She couldn't yell at her on the train and cause a scene.
Syllest ignored her and clenched her teeth. He hands started to tremble.
Dreamer grasped Jezran's hand and looked at him with terrified eyes. He patted her hand and shook his head, as if advising her not to interrupt.
Finally, the pink circle was hard diamond. Syllest's magical energy subsided. She looked at the small shape in her hands and then plucked out one of her raven-black hairs.
"Syllestra Raine Cumula, what are you doing?!" Dreamer hissed.
"More than you!" Syllest snapped back. She wrapped the hair around the circle, through the ridges, creating a spider web in the center. Then she undid the necklace she was wearing and replaced her pendant with the newly created thing. She held it up to Dreamer and Jezran with a look of pride on her face. "It's a dream catcher! Maybe it will catch his bad dreams!" She turned and clasped the necklace around Midnight's neck, who was somehow still oblivious to everything going on around him.
The young girl sat back with a proud grin. "I'm really good, huh?"
Dreamer's face was red with fury. She leaned across the space in the booth. "You've been practicing your magic!" She was trembling, hands shaking, jaw clenched tight.
Jezran patted Dreamer's back. "Please, dear, don't be too harsh with her…"
"I told you you're not allowed to use it! What are you thinking?!" Tears were welling in her eyes.
"That's not fair!" Syllest snapped back. "I want to be a Fairy Tail wizard one day, too! Why do YOU get to do magic and I don't?! You, Uncle Piper, Auntie Mira, Grandpa Jezran… Even Romeo uses his dad's fire magic!"
"I don't care, Syllest! I told you you're not going to be a wizard! Who's been teaching you?!"
"No one! I learned by myself!" She huffed and her bottom lip jutted in a pout.
"How could you go behind my back like that?! Have you been training with Romeo again?! That's it, you're not allowed to see him outside of school!"
"That's not FAIR!" Syllest's voice rose loudly.
"If being around wizards is filling your head with ideas, then I'll keep you away from them!"
Jezran squeezed Dreamer's shoulder. "Listen to yourself, dear me…"
"No! She knew better and she did it anyway!" Dreamer's fists were clenched, tears now following the curve of her cheeks.
"Why do you hate my magic?!" Syllest was yelling now. "Do you hate me too?"
"Oh, don't be ridiculous!" Dreamer's voice rose as well. "I'm trying to protect you, Syllest. Don't you understand that?"
"No! I don't!" She was crying too. "I think my magic is pretty! Piper and Romeo think so too! I'm not going to stop using it just because you're scared, Mom!"
"I am not scared, Syllest. I just—"
"Shut up!" Syllest stood up, trembling, little hands clenched into fists. "I'm going to keep using my magic so I can be strong one day and I can protect Romeo and Fairy Tail like they take care of me! Because I love my friends and I love magic! But you… I hate you!"
Her words were like a splash of cold water. She felt her insides shatter like broken ice, her breath freeze in her lungs.
Syllest's eyes widened in shame and anger. She let out a sob and turned to run out of the booth. Dreamer didn't even have the strength to reach for her. The girl had gotten around the corner and almost out of sight when a hand suddenly clutched her arm.
Midnight's head still hung low, his eyes remained closed, but his grip was firm on Syllest's arm. Her mouth hung open in shock.
"Sit." The command was quiet and low. "Sit down and stop talking."
Syllest's lips closed and trembled. Tears blurred her vision. "Y-you can't tell me what to do! You're not my father!"
"Running will get you killed," he said. "Don't run from the people who care about you."
Dreamer looked at him in shock and awe. His eyes were still closed, his breathing heavy. She wondered if he was even awake, or if this was a subconscious action, brought on from the darkness of his memories.
Something about his tone seemed to get through to the girl. She relaxed and pulled his fingers off of her arm before returning to her spot beside him. Neither Midnight nor Syllestra said another word. She turned her back to the group and pulled a jacket over her face to cry.
Dreamer watched this exchange with all of her nerves on edge, her heart pounding, head swimming. She didn't know what to think. Didn't know what to feel.
I hate you.
"Fight it, Dreamer," Jezran whispered while rubbing her back. "Hold it back. This is not the time nor place."
She squinted her eyes shut and controlled her breathing.
"She didn't mean it, dear me," he said.
But she wasn't so sure.
I just want to protect you, Syllest… That magic…
Memories of black diamonds… Of screaming, of her sister's terrified face… Of flashes of black and yellow. Laughter.
Dreamer put her face in her hands and cried.