Thank you all. :) Really. More notes at the bottom.
Magnoshutatt Arc ends in two chapters max. Prepare for a dive into semi-canon, semi-noncanon territory. We wait for SnB scans no longer.
Dedicated to Heitor, who consistently sent me long essays about Yamuraiha and other stories and was one of my main motivators for writing this again. :)
Quick Recap
Yamuraiha's in Magnoshutatt, still. There's been a timeskip, and she is currently thirteen. Nick's coronation is approaching. She is learning more about magic.
Lynn is her slightly tsundere, well-meaning blonde partner. Sera's her nerdy best friend, and Alyasa is her eventually more-chill roommate.
Erik was a major part of testing her into Magnoshutatt. It was revealed that his parents came from Earth originally, which is why he knows that "Raiha" is actually "Yamuraiha."
Yamuraiha was "Elliot" in her past life. She still hasn't completely overcome the issues that led to her suicide.
The Group A second years were gathered in the arena that Titus and Aladdin once dueled in. Yamuraiha fidgeted uncomfortably, staring up at the sky and wondering when their instructor would come. Miss Aisha, a petite woman who was rumored to be going out with their Magical History teacher, usually arrived to class promptly. They had been waiting for several minutes now, and the class had begun to get antsy.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew past them. Yamuraiha instinctively shielded her eyes from the storm of dust caused by the breeze. Body inclining towards her right instinctively, where she felt the wind abruptly stop, Yamuraiha's jaw dropped when she recognized the figure standing in front of the crowd of second years. Utter horror crossed her features as she recalled how she had teased the man about his childhood crushes just the previous night. "Oh, hell no."
"Hello, brats. For those who don't know me, my name is Erik. Typically, I teach sixth years Magical Combat, but due to your previous instructor's...condition, I'll be your Magical Combat instructor for the remainder of this school year," Erik sneered, olive green eyes sweeping across the gaggle of second years dismissively. He murmured something about "stupid horny bastards" under his breath before clearing his throat. "As you all are approaching your third year, I expect that you've already studied the fundamental concepts of magic?"
Everyone hastily nodded, unsure of how to proceed with the instructor. Yamuraiha glanced to her right, exchanging slightly wary looks with Lynn. Although their previous instructor's training rigorously honed their dueling skills, Yamuraiha had a feeling that Erik would bring their class to a whole new level...possibly at their health's expense. Considering the fact that he could nurse a killer grudge, Yamuraiha doubted she'd leave this lesson unscathed.
"Today, we're going to test your levels of cooperation and activity," Erik declared. Pointing at Lynn, he commanded, "Get up here."
Lynn, being the intelligent human being he was, stood up promptly and made his way towards Erik without hesitation. Yamuraiha's shoulders sagged with relief as she let out a content sigh.
She was safe this time.
Then, Erik turned to her, olive green eyes flashing. "Up. Now," he ordered, clearly relishing in his position of authority. Resisting the urge to flip him off, she slowly stood up, taking care to purposely bump into the instructor as she brushed past him in a petty gesture of retaliation.
"I'll use these two as a demonstration," Erik declared in a matter-of-fact voice. She sent him a withering, rather immature glare.
Then, without any other warning, he extended his staff arm, shooting a beam of light towards them. Yamuraiha didn't even think: her instincts kicked in as she threw herself to the ground, grunting and feeling the sheer heat of the light beam searing her skin. Rolling over and dodging another beam of light, she happened to spot a similarly disgruntled Lynn crouching to the left. Cursing, she snatched her ivory staff from her side and extended it, silently willing the Rukh to do her bidding.
A giant, towering wall of ice formed between them and Erik. It shook under the force of his light beam, but held intact. It would buy them the few precious seconds they needed. Sometime during her incantation, Lynn had dashed to her side. "We need a plan," Yamuraiha announced, wincing; it was hard to maintain the ice wall while it was being pelted with a barrage of light beams.
Lynn utilized his extensive vocabulary. "No shit," Lynn deadpanned, rolling his eyes. Yamuraiha resisted the urge to punch him, knowing that it would hardly faze him. Gah, stupid strength (and height) differences. "We should use our primary magic type: we won't be able to hold our own against him otherwise," the blonde concluded. "You're water, I'm lightning."
"We'll use my water to conduct the electric currents from your lightning," Yamuraiha offered. "The only problem is making sure none of our peers get hit."
Said peers had retreated to the edge of the arena, but it would be safest to relocate them to the spectator stands.
Lynn pointed his silver staff towards the direction of their spectators. Gigantic vines sprouted from the ground, lifting them into the air. The scene vaguely resembled something from Jack and the Beanstalk or some other outlandish folktale. Those who weren't lifted by the towering plant were instead propelled into the stands by a powerful gust of wind. The blonde grimaced, the strain of using Wind Magic causing him to physically step back. "Why is Wind Magic so difficult?" He mumbled to himself, casting a glance at her. With a somewhat smug smirk present on his face, he said, "Problem solved."
Yamuraiha didn't hesitate. With a flick of her wrist, she lifted the two of them in the air and simultaneously called, "Shallal!"
Gather the water molecules from the nearby area. Make the water droplets condense in the air. Fill the arena.
These commands uttered in her head were enough for the entire arena to be filled with about ten inches of water. Erik looked relatively unimpressed, sending another light beam at the ice wall and shattering it completely.
"Ramz!" Lynn shouted, a bolt of lightning shooting out of his staff and sending a shockwave through the water.
Despite the two of them using, essentially, the simplest spells possible for their magic type, the combination of their attacks did the trick. Erik had barely a second to realize their intentions before propelling himself upwards with Wind Magic, the lightning barely grazing his ankle. "Flash!"
"Shallal!" Yamuraiha was quick to counter, summoning a wall of mist to deflect his attack. At the same time, Lynn darted out from his cover behind her to shoot another lightning bolt at their opponent. Erik dodged once again, looking entirely too smug at their attempts to hit him. The tealette cursed. "We're never going to deal a blow on him at this point," she pointed out desolately.
"Those who utilize Lightning Magic have an aptitude towards Life Magic," Lynn said suddenly.
Yamuraiha stared at him slowly, not comprehending. Saying such was like saying grass was green or the sky was blue: everyone knew that. "Ah, thanks for the information."
"Some users of Life Magic can manipulate the Rukh of life forces enough to affect the senses, memories, or mental states of their targets," Lynn finished, raising an eyebrow at her expectantly. Yamuraiha was quick enough to fill in the blanks.
"I presume you'll try manipulating his senses?" she guessed.
"It's the simplest," Lynn admitted. "I can't do much more than subtly influencing his subconscious to whisper a few suggestions."
"Perfect," Yamuraiha replied immediately, deflecting another light beam with another wall of mist. She heavily suspected that Erik was going easy on them and was giving them time to come up with a plan. Maybe it was because he was actually trying to act as a teacher. Or, more likely, he probably wanted them to attempt their plan and fail miserably. "That's all we need."
"All we need?" Lynn echoed.
"Instead of trying to change the world around the target, change their perception," Yamuraiha explained, her nose scrunching as she struggled to find the correct words to convey what she meant. Luckily, it seemed as if the blonde miraculously understood what she meant. ("I have no idea how Lynn understood that," Sera told them later after hearing their story.) Bless Lynn for being on the same wavelength as her for once.
"Ten degrees to the left, that's the most I'll do," Lynn whispered. Then, without further ado, the two launched forward and initiated their attack.
"Hahar Infigar!" Yamuraiha hastily used the flashiest spell she could think of, allowing Lynn the opportunity to slip behind their opponent as Erik was distracted with the large fireball sent his way.
Lynn raised his staff and murmured something under his breath. Erik growled, his attack veering to the right as he nearly stumbled into Yamuraiha's attack because of his skewed perception.
It looked, for a moment, that they could've won.
Then, Erik paused mid attack and started laughing. "Nice try, kiddos. Try again in another ten years and you might actually get me. Look below you."
Yamuraiha, instead of looking down as many would, jumped away using her rather genre savvy brain. Rule number twenty-seven of the genre savvy: never look down, and it's likely that someone is behind you. Unfortunately for her, Erik anticipated that.
A stream of vulgar curse words spewing out of her mouth, Yamuraiha struggled against the vines curling around her wrists and ensnaring her. Her body jerked with movements as she lashed out against her bonds, arms and legs straining against their constraints. Then finally, she stilled, resigned. "That was good," she conceded grudgingly.
"It was," Lynn agreed, scowling at their instructor.
"Okay, you all saw that," Erik called at their spectators, motioning for them to leave the stands and gather in the arena once more. "These two squirts have strategy, but their execution has several flaws. I'd point them out, but that's no fun. You all need to learn how to identify and cover your weaknesses without anyone's help. I want everyone in pairs: we'll be conducting several tag team battles before moving on to individual matches. Choose your partner wisely. Now scram."
His approach was so avant garde that it took their class several seconds to process his instructions. Yamuraiha almost snorted at the sudden fear that crossed some of the magicians' expressions as they hurried to find partners. Group A, talented magicians her ass. It was no wonder Aladdin managed to move up the ranks ridiculously fast in Magnoshutatt: everyone only learned what they were taught. There was barely any opportunity to expand or apply the knowledge they were taught, and everyone embraced the propaganda their instructors fed them with open arms.
At the very least, Erik was encouraging them to think and strategize by emphasizing the importance of a balanced team. That was already a step above the usual approach of their previous dueling instructors: listen to orders, learn spells, and duel with everyone.
"Raiha, wasn't it?"
Yamuraiha jerked out of her thoughts abruptly, turning around to face an amused…
...Mogamett?
What the hell?
When had he…?
"Lord Mogamett," she greeted politely, bowing. Her heart thrumming rapidly in her chest, Yamuraiha plastered a sweet smile on her face as she lifted her head. "Yes, I'm called Raiha."
"Is that a nickname?"
Yamuraiha paused, studying the look in the old man's eyes. "Sir?" she ventured.
"Come, follow me," he invited, gesturing towards the exit of the arena. Yamuraiha casted an unsure glance towards Erik, who shrugged, and Lynn, who narrowed his eyes at the pair and gave a grudging nod. Cautiously, she trailed after the elder magician, her grip on her staff tightening.
"Sir, is something the matter? Did I do something wrong?"
"Ah, no. This isn't about your actions, persay…" Mogamett peered at her with thinly veiled interest, playing his role as the resident Merlin well. Or maybe calling him Dumbledore was more accurate: he certainly had enough hidden agendas to play the fictional wizard. "This is about you, Miss Yamuraiha."
Blood rushed to her head, panic threatening to overwhelm her and all she could think was:
How did he know?
"Pardon?" The calmness of her voice surprised herself.
"I wondered of your spectacular magical prowess," he murmured, drawing closer and sending a shiver down her spine. "And your peculiar teal hair…"
Focus, don't show your fear. You can do this.
"Sir?" Don't tremble, don't startle.
"Yamuraiha Ajam," Mogamett said suddenly. "Your full name is Yamuraiha Ajam."
"...I'm sorry, sir, I don't quite understand," Yamuraiha blurted out, nearly throwing caution to the wind completely. She paused, biting her lip and giving him the classic confused and innocent look. It wasn't that hard to pull off. "Do you know me?"
"I knew your parents," he answered, his voice nostalgic and eyes staring out somewhere in the distance. "They were brilliant magicians, Meira and Yasin. But they held too much faith in the Goi: I couldn't convince them to come to Magnoshutatt. Living in peace and harmony with the Goi was never an option, not even for those who served the royal family, I told them. But they trusted their comrades, their people…and paid a grave price."
Yamuraiha was definitely, a hundred percent certain that this wasn't in the anime nor manga. Then again, it did make sense: Mogamett had stolen Yamuraiha from the Musta'sim palace when she was a baby in canon. He must've had some reason why he went to such lengths to kidnap an infant.
"When the word reached me that your parents were gone…" Executed. They were executed: she hated adults mincing words with her. Then again, in Mogamett's eyes, she was still a child and his euphemism was warranted. "...I tried to rescue you. But you were always too social, too close to the royals for any such opportunities to arise. I must apologize to you for that."
"Uh, there's no need for apologies," Yamuraiha said hastily, intentionally blushing and fidgeting under his stare. "Despite my rather unfortunate circumstances, things weren't that bad. Some servants were kind."
She purposefully didn't mention Nick or Dunya, not wanting to send Mogamett into some kind of fit — or worse, arouse suspicion.
"When I saw you on the examination day, I had an inkling of a suspicion that you were my old friends' daughter," he explained. "But it was not until our conversation over chess that my suspicions were confirmed. Your philosophies are startlingly similar to your parents."
"And...if you knew who I was, why didn't you confront me earlier? Sir?"
"I was afraid." The blunt honesty of Mogamett's statement startled her. "I was afraid that you would hate me for leaving you with those Gois, for damning you to years of labor and prejudice."
Well, that was sort of true. Not like Yamuraiha agreed with his magical discrimination rhetoric and all, but there were plenty of servants who treated her unfairly because of her heritage. But what Mogamett didn't know was that she was an adult. She could handle everything they threw her way.
Not only that, but she would never regret meeting Nick and Dunya.
"I don't hate you," Yamuraiha replied sincerely. "But I don't hate them, either."
"Them?"
"The Gois, as you call them," she elaborated. "True, there are plenty of unkind ones. But there were so many more that I loved and treasured. After all, the only reason I escaped was because of some Goi servants."
Mogamett scrutinized her. "I do not hate Gois," he said slowly, "if that is what you are wondering."
"Oh, I've gathered that much," Yamuraiha informed him. "But I've also realized that you don't think much of them, sir. Plenty of them are brilliant, they are. Take Nick, for instance."
"Nick?"
Yamuraiha winced at her slip-up. "A servant boy from the kitchens. I snuck him into the library and since then, he's devoured entire shelves of books. And they're not just brilliant: they're kind, too. One of the girls took care of me everyday, despite not having any obligations to my parents or me."
"That's very nice, but don't be fooled, dear Yamuraiha. Although some Gois may be anomalies, Gois as a whole are a hateful species. We magicians...we are the future of humanity, the evolved form...no, the superior human being," Mogamett declared, sounding remarkably similar to the articles she'd read in her past life about male scientists deriding females based off of faulty brain-size studies.
"I'll keep that in mind, sir," Yamuraiha agreed amiably. She knew she wouldn't be able to change Mogamett's mind with a few flowery words, but if she could place even a seed of doubt in Mogamett's mind, it'd be worth it.
Yamuraiha slammed the door open to Erik's lab, cloak swishing behind her dramatically as she declared, "You're a vengeful bastard, sir."
"Glad to meet your expectations," Erik snorted, taking a swig of alcohol from his mug before setting it down on the table. Throwing her a lab coat, he ordered, "Now get down here and finish up that circuit board."
Yamuraiha rolled her eyes, approaching the lab table and slipping off her cloak. Tossing said cloak onto one of the chairs and slipping on the proffered lab coat, she called, "Shinya's gonna have your head if you make drinking a habit, you know."
"Screw Shinya," Erik dismissed, defiantly striding back to his desk to take another swig of alcohol. He scowled. "She's always held up at the infirmary, anyways. And I need a drink after today's lesson."
Yamuraiha snickered despite the dark glare sent her way, pulling on rubber gloves and flexing her fingers. "What, didn't you like my newest spell?"
"Your spell rained hair dye on all of us. Half of the Group A second years are walking around sprouting neon colored hairdos," Erik deadpanned, tossing something else towards her.
Yamuraiha blinked, grabbing the object just before it could hit the table. "Serves them right for not putting up a Borg in time," she replied haughtily, inspecting the item. Her breath hitched as her trembling fingers brushed against the metal surface. "Erik...is this…?"
"A camera," Erik confirmed. "I was looking over my father's notes. It's pretty helpful to have an eccentric reborn inventor as your parent, you know. I did add a few magical adjustments in regards to Light Magic, of course. You liked photography, right? Take lots of pictures."
"I…" Yamuraiha's voice was choked, her eyes suspiciously wet. Cradling the camera as if it was made of glass, she managed, "Yes, I did...thank you."
Erik rolled his eyes, ruffling her hair. "Happy birthday, Elliot."
"Too slow!"
Yamuraiha groaned, rolling to her left and narrowly avoiding being squashed by a giant fist of earth. "Fuck you, Lynn."
"I'd rather not," Lynn called cheekily, dodging the spears of ice sent flying his way and returning fire with a bolt of lightning. "Come on, you definitely can do better than that, Raiha. We're going to fail our midyear exams."
"Erik's going to rig our exams and fail us," Yamuraiha corrected extremely gently, taking the opportunity to shoot a blast of light at him before dodging an onslaught of fireballs. She frowned. "Or, at the very least, hold us to impossibly high standards."
"Both of you, stop it."
They stiffened, halted their barrage of attacks, and turned around to meet an irate Sera's eyes. "For heaven's sake, you two, I thought that having Professor Erik teach you would force you to cooperate more," the white-haired boy said exasperatedly, crossing his arms over his chest. Behind him lingered an amused Alyasa.
"We are cooperating," Yamuraiha protested, the butt of her staff slamming on the ground.
"We're dueling to hone our skills," Lynn agreed amiably, slinging his silver staff back into its holster.
"One wayward spell and you'd be spending the next two days in the infirmary with me," Alyasa pointed out, flipping her hair and giving the pair a disappointed look. "And honey, I may tolerate you now, but I won't be healing you or Lynn from wounds caused from practice."
"We're very careful," Yamuraiha lied, subtly snuffing out the fire on the hem of her robe. In a show of spectacular coordination, she promptly tripped over her staff and fell on her ass.
"Very," Lynn echoed, sassily placing a hand on his hip. Yamuraiha's leg swept at him, bringing him down on the ground with her.
Sera and Alyasa's identical aggravated expressions almost made Yamuraiha keel over with laughter. Exchanging looks, her companions grabbed Lynn and her by the arms, hauling them to their feet. "Let's just...go eat," Sera huffed, his grip on her arm surprisingly strong as he dragged her away from the arena.
"Onwards!" Yamuraiha cheered. "Maybe we can sneak into the classroom while everyone's eating: I've been planning something interesting for the fourth years."
Three simultaneous groans resounded in the clearing.
.
.
Swish.
"Lynn: eight, Raiha: six."
"Screw you."
"At least try to be a little more creative with your insults."
.
.
"Where the fuck can I even try to find this chemical?"
"Boiling the extract of that plant should work…"
"Ah, perfect. Here."
"I'm a child, Erik: I can't handle dangerous chemicals."
"Oh, woe. I guess I'll pair you with Yaste for the next sparring session."
"...gimme the vials."
.
.
Screech.
"You've improved."
"Thank you, I've taken your lessons to heart."
"You almost fooled me."
Screech.
"Maybe next time. Checkmate."
Sigh.
"I had a friend once."
"Hm?"
"She was my attendant, Mira. A Goi…there was this one time..."
.
.
"I've figured it out!"
"...?"
"Raiha, don't you see? The Imuchakk tribe at one point had friendly relations with this area two hundred years ago. It's not a far stretch to say that one of your ancestors were Imuchakk, which explains your hair."
"...ah. That's pretty exciting. What about your hair, Sera?"
"I've traced my family line and discovered I do have Heliohapt roots. It's really cool, actually. Wanna see my family tree?"
.
.
Swoosh.
"I swear, this is the fifth time this week you've snuck back into the dorms after curfew. Were you planning another petty prank on one of those third years?"
"...ehehe…"
Sigh.
"Just...tell me which areas to avoid and when."
"...the training arena tomorrow at noon. And the mess hall in the early morning. And their dorms in general."
"...you are so lucky I'm your roommate."
"...I know."
"Hey kiddos, as you've probably noticed, we have a few visitors today," Erik announced, olive eyes scanning his group of students with exaggerated casualness. Hopefully his ease would affect the students: almost all of them fidgeted and continuously looked behind them to where Mogamett sat. "Try not to make me look too bad. We're doing one-on-one midyear examinations: feel free to practice with a partner while you wait your turn. Any volunteers to go first?"
Immediately, two hands shot up. Erik glanced at his pair of bright-haired students before turning away. "...anybody else?" he asked, voice demanding. Although he found Lynn and Elliot's ("Yamuraiha," he reminded himself, "But she's Raiha right now: you can't slip up.") rivalry amusing, their exuberance sometimes deterred other students from volunteering first.
It wasn't out of a sense of cowardice or shyness — oh no, plenty of the magicians in Group A were pretentious bastards — but out of a sense of self preservation. The duo tended to wreck the battlefield whether or not in an actual duel, so most preferred for them to duke it out and get the fight out of their systems instead of having two antsy teenagers screw over other people's duels.
Erik sighed, acquiescing to the two's pressing gazes. "Lynn, you're up."
The blonde haired magician had proved to be extremely talented in the months that Erik taught him. He also defied Erik's originally perception of him, a rather rare occurrence. Erik had originally thought him to be arrogant and cocky before discovering his gruff kindness. Tsundere, Elliot had called him once. Erik seldom judged others' characters incorrectly: his sharp perception had been taught to him by his father, after all. His father had been a "lawyer" in his past life.
It was a rather interesting prospect: a world with a fair judicial system, where a king's word was not finality and every person had inequivocabile rights. His parents had told him plenty of stories in the past, filling his head with notions of democracy and freedom. Although he spent years of his life dreaming of those foreign words, Erik never truly understood them.
Then he met Elliot. Or Yamuraiha. Or, as she was known in Magnoshutatt, simply "Raiha."
Erik had poured over his mother's journals for years and years upon end, memorizing the faces of Alibaba and Aladdin, waiting for the rise of Sinbad, and preparing himself for the founding of Magnoshutatt.
Nothing came close to actually meeting one of the characters in his mother's journals.
Yamuraiha, no last name: genius Water Magician and one of Sinbad's Eight Generals. Although she played less of a part in the "plot" compared to Alibaba, her role as a General held weight over Sindrian politics. Erik had originally planned on becoming Yamuraiha's private teacher to manipulate her. If he could get a hold of any of the canon characters, he could use them to change the plot.
He never thought that "Raiha" would also be from That World. Earth, they called it. His parents always wore pained expressions when speaking of their former world. As blighted as it might have been, it had borne a plethora of innovative ideas that Erik wouldn't have ever thought about.
Democracy. Freedom. Acceptance. Equality.
Elliot believed in them all.
Former citizens of Parthevia, the Reim Empire, the Kou Empire — she befriended them all. Students from year seven to year one — she approached them all. Magicians from lower level groups — she helped them all. Even the Gois, the people that Magnoshutatt magicians treated like trash — they too were equal in her eyes.
Elliot had quickly become an integral part of his life before he realized it. She was his lab assistant and magic protege in one. She was his confidant, his student, his friend. Sometimes Erik could even fool himself into thinking she was the little sister he never had: for, even though Elliot had lived a life before Yamuraiha, she died young.
I was still in college, she told him, and that was the end of their discussion about her previous life. Erik respected others' privacy, his first impression on her aside. (Hey, in his defense, he was supposed to mess with the kid. Although they had gotten over that hurdle, sometimes he still felt an inkling of...guilt.)
Erik dueled Lynn on autopilot. His movements were seamless, his spell execution flawless. Erik had honed his skills furiously since his childhood: strength was the only way he could ensure his survival, and more importantly, the survival of his mother's foreknowledge.
He let himself get nicked by one of Lynn's fireballs. It wouldn't do for him to humiliate his students completely: the whole point of Mogamett coming was to evaluate their progress.
Lynn was obviously pulling all stops in his effort to impress Mogamett, using all sorts of nifty spells that weren't part of the curriculum. Erik recognized some of them as the ones he taught Elliot in between experiments. Shooting a beam of light, Erik couldn't help but nod in approval at Lynn's counter. The kid would turn out great someday if he continued down this path.
"Alright, Raiha. Your turn," Erik commanded, waving at her. The girl complied, exchanging high-fives with Lynn as she approached him.
"Hahar Infigar!"
She was quick to counter. "Shallal!"
Then, they began their exchange of silent spells. Speaking the spells, after all, was just a way to focus the spellcaster. Erik easily dodged her attempts at killing him (he told her to try using lethal spells just to piss her off when they failed) and sent back spells of his own. Their silent exchange went on for about four minutes before Erik decided to get back at the girl.
He stood, waiting, and laughed as her spells bounced off of his nearly impenetrable Borg. "Is that the best you've got?"
She scowled. "Screw you!"
"No physical attacks!" Erik called, "We're testing your magic. Not how well your dirty fighting is."
Irritated, she grumbled something undoubtedly uncomplimentary under her breath before attempting to grow vines below him. It was a good attempt, but Erik simply snickered when she realized that his erected Borg covered his feet as well.
She shot a fireball at him; he reflected it back at her. She shot shards of ice at him; he reflected them back at her again. They quickly settled into a routine.
Then things went wrong.
She shot a large wave at him, one that he idly recognized.. Apparently, Elliot had shamelessly ripped it off of another anime. The spell was a damn good one: it formed a deadly sphere she called a "Water Prison" when it hit its target.
He reflected the spell reflexively.
If the spell had been anything else, she would've been fine and would have dispelled the wave without a second thought.
But it was water, and when the water engulfed her, Elliot froze and went completely still. Erik cursed, immediately dashing towards her, throwing all caution to the wind as he summoned vines to pull her out of the prison. Paying no heed to the shocked whispers around them, Erik grabbed Elliot by the shoulders and lowered her to the ground.
"Breathe, Elliot. Breathe, dammit," he commanded.
She let out several raspy gasps. "I-I...I c-can't…"
Erik cursed and turned to Lynn, who was hovering near them with a peculiar expression on his face.
"Is she…?"
"Get fucking Shinya over here," Erik ordered.
"N-no," Elliot (Yamuraiha) managed, stumbling to her feet. "I…I'm fine." An obvious lie, belied by the fact that she was swaying precariously on her feet. "Just gimme a moment."
"You told me you were over your panic attacks," Erik hissed desperately, something akin to guilt clawing in his chest.
"I lied," she admitted guilelessly.
"Raiha—" Lynn started.
"Yamuraiha, my name is Yamuraiha," she blurted out. Her figure trembled. "No more lies than necessary," she whispered to herself, her voice so quiet that only Erik caught it. "No more…"
"Yamuraiha…?"
"I should go. No more. I...I gotta go."
Pivoting on her heel, Elliot turned around and fled.
A/N:
I'm pretty rusty at writing Yamuraiha. Please excuse me. Once again, Magnoshutatt arc ends in two chapters max.
The next chapter is almost finished and should be published in two weeks (max).
We will be heading into noncanon territory that will bridge the gap between Sinbad no Bouken and Magi unless the translators manage to pull out forty chapters in the next two weeks. Long story short about my absence, I bit off more than I could chew with the things I've signed myself up for in life. I also became extremely invested in Kuroshitsuji, Tumblr, and Ao3. I have no legitimate excuses - just my overconfidence.
The only reason I'm writing this again is because of all of you, so thank you. I've forgotten how much I loved all of these characters, and your words are my motivation. I'm serious. I've taken many of your suggestions to heart. :)
So, if any of you are still out here reading this, thank you very much for your support.
Until next time!