When Zian finally woke up, he yawned, stretching. He felt much better, his arms moving painlessly. He was still tired, but not nearly as bad as the last time he woke up. There was a knock on the door as he got dressed. He snapped on his shirt again, then went to answer the door. Kayla walked in, looking determined as she buttoned her long blue coat.

"Hey." she said, trying to smile.

She looked away, looking almost pained to see him, as he threw on his own long red military coat.

"Look," he said.

"It's not your fault. None of it." He smiled as she looked at him questioningly.

"As for the coat, it'll help keep the others guessing, at least for now." he said, answering her unasked question. She laughed.

"How do you always seem to guess what I'm thinking?" she asked. Now it was his turn to laugh.

"Lucky guesses, maybe?" he guessed.

She smiled.

"Maybe." She looked altogether more serious now.

"Okay, you asked to learn. Well follow me. I'll teach you the basics, for now."

He rolled his eyes behind her back.

'Basics?' he thought. 'Like I'm a little kid again?'

He complained to himself some more as he followed her.

Kayla led him around one building, then walked up to the iron bar fence surrounding the school. She scratched something on it, then put her hand on it, and it seemed to just melt, forming a hole.

"Whoa! I'm assuming-" Zian began.

"Yep. That's alchemy for ya. Escapes, weapons, buildings..." Kayla answered. "Whatever you can think of... Within a couple rules." He groaned. "Rules?"

She nodded. "And if you don't promise to follow them, I'm NOT teaching you." she said fiercely. "If you break one, you die. Not joking. Or, at the very least you lose a limb. Or two."

Zian sighed. "Fine... As fun as it sounds, I won't break any of the rules." he said sarcastically. "I think I've lost enough limbs to last a lifetime. Or three." She barely smiled.

"Okay. Well, here're the rules, as basic as I can make them..." she said.

"Rule number one: You get what you give. Equal exchange is what it is called. You can only transmute something that is the same mass as what you want to change it into." Zian nodded as Kayla continued. He asked a quick question. "So if I had something the same size as a person, could I-"

"NO!" Kayla snapped instantly, extremely loud. Zian stared for a long moment.

"Sorry." she said. "That's the second rule. Second, and actually, most important. Do NOT, under ANY circumstances, use transmutation on or to create or resurrect a human. It is both dangerous and forbidden." she asserted. "NEVER try to revive someone. I've heard of only one instance where the alchemists who attempted it survived, and one lost his body while the other lost a couple of limbs, from what I heard."

"Fun stuff..." Zian sighed.

"And finally, do NOT transmute any money or gold. It is forbidden to avoid 'severe temptation for the abuse of our powers' or something like that. I can't remember the exact wording."

Zian's jaw dropped.

"What? Oh come ON! Why do we even HAVE this ability, then?"

Kayla sighed.

"It's not supposed to be used for personal gain, just like in all those annoying books, though if lives are in danger or something then you can just say screw the rules."

"Well... that's all good, then." he said sarcastically. She actually laughed at that.

"Alright, so here're the basic skills it takes to do stuff." she said. She drew a strange symbol on the ground. "I'm assuming you've seen these before?" she said. He nodded.

"Yeah. I assumed it was just some little kid's design."

Kayla shook her head.

"It's how most of us do alchemy. We have to draw this circle, then touch whatever we're changing to it. Of course, there are exceptions, people with a special talent. They can do this without drawing anything."

She didn't explain how this was done, as it was a secret even she didn't understand.

And so Zian began to learn all the basics of alchemy, after a few weeks eventually getting to try it himself. He drew the circle carefully, then looked around.

Kayla had said to make whatever he wanted. As he closed his eyes, he came up with an idea that could get him on her good side for good, and moreover, explain some things he couldn't.

He pressed his hands to the circle with a flat clank of metal-on-stone, and concentrated. There was a bright flash of what seemed to be something that was between light and liquid, and a small stone figure rose from the ground, then slowly changed into polished silver. Zian picked it up, handing it to Kayla. She stared at the exact replica of her in silver.

"Wow... It's... perfect..." she said. She looked more closely. Every feature was there, but in ways, she felt that the looks were exaggerated.

"It looks like... me... But..." she trailed off.

"It's how I see you." Zian said, looking up and grinning. "I thought maybe you knew, but..."

She stood up, still holding the figure. "You... like me?" she asked. Zian nodded, not able to say anything. She looked away, her hair shielding her face. "Zian... I can't..." she said softly. "I'm sorry if it's kind of sudden, but-" he began. "No... It's not that..." she cut him off. "I'm... I'm actually with someone."

"Who?" he asked.

She avoided looking him in the eye.

"Damian." she said quietly. "He asked me... Last year."

Inside Zian's head, two parts of him seemed to fight for control. One was angry, both with her and with Damian, who was like his rival at this school. Damian also had a Military major, and seemed to be crushing Zian at everything.

The other side of him was understanding, extremely disappointed, but nothing more. As he fought internally in a split second, he felt crushed. The extreme disappointment became sadness, and now it was Zian's turn to become interested in the concrete ground around him. His expression hardened.

"All right, then..." he said coldly. He got up off his knees, brushing the dirt off his jeans. He refused to look Kayla in the eyes as he did so. "I see how it is." he added, so quietly she couldn't have possibly heard him.

They had met in the dark this time, but his eyes still seemed to have a shadow over them as the turned the corner. Kayla watched him go, tears welling in her eyes before spilling over.

'What did I do?' she asked herself as she stood in the dark, alone. She turned, quickly going into her dorm, and locking the door.

Author Note: There is a somewhat bloody fight scene in the next chapter. If you don't like this sort of thing... well, don't read it. That's the best I can do for you.