Disclaimer: Magi The Labyrinth of Magic is the property of Shinobu Ohtaka.
HOLLOW
In the first two years of their acquaintance, there are two things Kougyoku learns about Judal. One, he is a master craftsman of anything and everything ice-related. Two, his heart is an steel cavern lined with deathtraps.
She discovers this one morning, when her sojourn to the orchard reveals a dozen miniature ice sculptures beside one of the peach trees. Neatly arrayed by order of height are two cats, three ducklings, six lizards, and one pigeon, all stiff with the stillness of premature death.
Koumei is not pleased. A furrowed brow accompanies his sour mood, which only highlights the dark marks sprinkled on his face.
"It's the middle of summer, I haven't seen a single snowflake all month and yet they're frozen," Kouen says, declining to comment on what, or who he deems responsible.
"How beautiful," says Kouha. "Don't you agree? Everything is truly beautiful when dead!"
Kougyoku fails to see beauty in murdering animals, even for art's sake (which, she suspects, isn't even the culprit's intention). It's creepy, now those ducklings' eternally dead eyes will join the monsters that make up the dark.
Kougyoku makes another horrifying discovery. Her beloved koi pools are coated with a thin layer of frost.
That's does it.
"Judal-chaaaaaan!"
A snicker is heard from the patio. She knows that sound.
"Judal-chan!"
"Why so flustered, Old Hag? Don't you like my little surprise?" he smirks, unapologetic as ever.
"It's terrible! Please unfreeze the garden pond! Hurry! Hey, Judal-chan, can't you hear me?"
He scrunches his nose, seemingly disconcerted by her lack of appreciation.
"Nope. Don't wanna."
"Please! I'll do anything!"
His haughty look turns mischievous. Kougyoku wishes she bit her tongue earlier.
"Any-thing?"
Kougyoku nibbles on her lip. What to do, what to do? The rule of thumb when dealing with Judal: He won't lend a hand unless he gets something in return.
"I promise! Just please melt the ice now!"
"Tsch! You're too soft. A teeny weeny bit of frost won't kill 'em!"
"Don't you pity those poor little things?"
Wrong question, his eyes communicate. Sympathy is as foreign to his tongue as camels on ice. He does, however, comply with her demands. Not a minute elapses before the ice evaporates in a shower of colors. The fish, thankfully, are unharmed.
"Now," he says, grin firmly in place. "Let's have some fun!"
Kougyoku shivers. Whatever he means, she won't like it.
"Fun?"
"Yeah. You'll be target practice for the day."
"Wha-aat?"
He leans in to pat her head. Then he whispers, furtive as the junction of moon and ocean. "Now, run."
She runs.
"Faster!" he commands, laughing. "If you get skewered, it ain't my fault!"
He raises his wand. Instantly a fence of ice spears chase after her. She pumps her feet forward, forward, some more, ducking and looping through the trees and heart-stoppingly frightened for her life.
"Too slow! Come on, you can do better than that! I'm getting really bored over here."
She curses her robes for snagging on almost every trunk they brush by. She's sweating profusely under the heat but the army of icicles doesn't stop.
This is Judal's version of fun. It's tag with the risk of being impaled by a pointed rod of ice twice your size travelling at the speed of a gazelle. He won't let them hit her, she knows, but knowing and believing are two different things. Just when her lungs start to constrict and her muscles burn and she's on the verge of begging for mercy-
"Hey! Let me join!"
It's Kouha onii-sama with his giant knife. Now she gets to choose between getting stabbed or butchered.
Why oh why do I get roped into these kinds of games instead of playing tea party with my sisters?
Judal floats down and puts away his wand for later. Now that Kouha's around, he isn't as eager to bully the little sister. Kougyoku slinks to the ground in relief.
"Judal-chan," she gasps, "how do you make icicles that huge?" Beside her stands an ice spear as tall as three Kouens stacked on each other, slanted diagonally from where the magi drove it into the damp soil.
"Ever been in a cave before?" Judal asks her.
"I have," Kouha pipes up. "Climbed those enormous pillars and hung from the ceiling like a bat." Kouha hoists himself onto a five foot square block of ice (Where did that come from? Don't tell me he was going to bash my head with that!), chops off a corner, and plunks the chip in his cocktail of ants in fruit juice.
Judal ignores him the way one would avoid a garden slug. He turns to Kougyoku, who is still winded from their little race.
"Those places are hollow. The more hollow the cave, the longer the cones clinging to the roof. It's the same here," he tells Kougyoku, pointing to his chest.
She tilts her head, unable to follow his explanation.
"You see, there's a big empty space in the center where all these ice spears are formed. They stay here until I release them, just like a personal weaponry."
"But...isn't that where your heart is?"
"My heart isn't useless mush like yours!" he snarls. "It's hard as the strongest metal you could think of, 'cause I'm the greatest magi in the world!"
To create the deadliest ice, one must have the hollowest heart, she decides, until she turns eighteen and fires round upon round of ice spears on a monster for inflicting harm on her brother and friend. In that moment, hollow is the farthest thing from her mind as her heart is just so full it spills over.