"Dude, I hope you don't mind that I asked Sarah to sit with us."
"Here at lunch? Why would I mind?" asked Erik.

Jason put his books down at the table while pulling out a seat. "I don't know, some people just get weird about that stuff –"

"Listen, you need to stop implying that there's something between us. I barely know her, and the more you press this romantic stuff on me, the more difficulty I'll have treating her like a normal person," said Erik as he sat down at the table. "Besides, you'll probably just end up dating her like you do every girl in this school."

Jason laughed. "Believe me, dude, none of that stuff is real. I'm not ready for serious stuff with girls."

"Or maybe they're just not ready for you."

"How funny," said Jason bemusedly. "Y'know, you should take her out tonight or something."

"Can't do," said Erik. "I have to practice my concerto a little more, just to be safe. And I promised Mr. Sergei I'd meet with him for a little. I also wanted to stop by the church."

"Church?" laughed Jason. "I can't remember the last time I've gone to one of old Mikhail's services. And haven't you gotten enough of your piano teacher this week?"

"It would be lovely to just dance through life like you do, Jason, not worrying about anything or thinking ahead," joked Erik.

"I worry plenty, dude! Why do you think I study so much with you?" retorted Jason.

"Speaking of which, that's another reason I don't have time for anything else tonight. I have to help study like I always."

Jason slapped his friend hardly on the back, once again forgetting his strength. "Alright, ya got a point there, bud. But you should seriously consider doing something with her. I'm telling you, she's mad about you. And hey, here she comes right now! I'll go get your lunch, so the two of you can do what you need to do!"

Erik tried to object, but Jason was gone, already giving high fives and jeering at people on his way to the food line before he could speak up. Erik slapped his hands over his eyes in frustration. "Why?"

"Why what?" asked a very polite voice.

He quickly removed his hand from his face, looking directly up and to his side, towards the source of the voice – a brown-eyed, brown-haired, beautiful girl. "Oh, Sarah. Hi."

Sarah Ivanov smiled at him. "Hi, Erik. Do you mind if I sit with you today? Your friend Jason told me I could, but if you –"

"No, please," said Erik, pulling out a chair. "Have a seat."

"Thank you," she said kindly, taking a seat and placing her tray on the table. "How are you today, Erik?"

"I'm quite well, I guess. Can't complain. And yourself?"

"I'm good, too." She noticed he didn't have any food yet. "Oh, am I keeping you from getting food? You don't have to sit here and talk to me –"

"No, that's not it at all," said Erik quickly. "Jason is getting my food for me. I guess he's paying me back for all the help I've given him with school."

Sarah laughed. "Oh my, really? He seems like a bright boy. In my calculus class today, he seemed to know his material quite well."

"Really?" said Erik, both surprised and enthusiastic. "I guess that means my hard work is actually doing something!"

"He's lucky to have such a smart friend, I guess," complimented Sarah. "I could use some help with that class, actually. I was considering asking him for help, but since you're the man behind the scenes I guess it would be more appropriate to ask you? If you wouldn't mind?"

Erik shrugged. He didn't really know what to say.

"Oh goodness, I'm sorry! We barely talk and here I am trying to use you for study material!"

Noticing she was panicking, Erik gave her a nice pat on the back to calm down. "No, that's not it all. I'd be glad to help you, I just don't know when I'd have the time. I'm just bogged down by my piano studies at the moment, so even helping Jason has been difficult to do."

"I forgot about that!" she said. "Your performance – that's very soon, yes?"

"Yes, it's in a couple of days." That reminded him that he had the tickets in his bag, ready to give them to Jason. "Speaking of which, I have the tickets right now. I can give you yours, if you want it?"

Sarah lit up. "Oh, yes, please!"

Erik smiled at her, delighted by her enthusiasm for his music. As he fished the tickets from his book bag, he decided he'd try talking about something other than himself. "So, you like piano music? And music in general?"
She nodded happily. "Absolutely! I'm not entirely familiar with what it is you're performing, but I can still enjoy music as it is. I think it's amazing how accomplished you are!"

Erik blushed when she said this. "Please, don't put me on a pedestal. I'm nothing special. I'm not even certain I enjoy music that much. It's more of a hobby."

"Oh, please don't say that," Sarah said, somewhat disappointed. "I'd like for once in my life to just share my musical enthusiasm with someone."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way," said Erik. "It does make me happy that I can play, but it was never my choice to do so. My father forced me to start when I was younger, so I just grew up playing as if it were an inevitable aspect of my life. It's fun."

Sarah nodded. "I understand what you mean, don't worry. Sometimes, music isn't so fun for me."

"You play the violin, correct? Tell me about that," said Erik.

She smiled, bashfully. "Oh, I'm nothing special. I try my best, but I've never done anything like you have. I mean, it's probably what I'll be doing for the rest of my life, but I'll probably just blend in as time goes on."

Erik shook his head. "I've been around pianos for far too long. I'd listen to you play anytime."

"You're too kind, Erik –"

"I hope you like spaghetti!" hollered Jason's obnoxious voice from behind them. "I got you lot's of it, dude!"

"Uh, thank you, Jason," said Erik, quickly taking his food from him.

The three of them sat and ate their lunches, casually talking and having fun. Jason would often make a joke or two, sometimes resulting in laughter and others resulting in groans. It was a surprisingly comfortable time for all of them. Erik did feel awkward around Sarah, especially with Jason putting romantic nonsense into his head, but with Jason acting as a third wheel, the situation was considerably lightened.

After lunch, they split off and went to their respective classes, but only after agreeing to meet after school and walk home together. Jason had insisted, and no one objected.

Jason had to run home halfway through the walk, realizing he was late to do something his parents requested of him. Erik and Sarah were left alone for the remainder, left to continue their conversation from lunchtime.

"So, would you really listen to me play sometime?" she asked him.

Caught off guard, he fumbled a bit with his response. "Uh, huh? Oh, you mean about before?"

She smiled at him and shook her head politely.

"Well, yes, if you'd really want me to," he said, hesitantly. "I guess I could even accompany you, if it ever came to that. Anything to make you happy."

There was an awkward silence after that unintentionally but overly-endearing statement. He hadn't realized he'd said it. It was like another part of him was speaking. But Sarah was looking at him, slightly in surprise but mostly in admiration.

What are you saying? You barely know this girl.

"Uh, I mean, it's nice when people are happy, right?" he said, trying to correct what he said before.

That had wiped the cheer right off her face.

You idiot.

"Oh, yeah. Sure."

Realizing he'd turned her off, he struggled to repair what he'd done. At that moment, he noticed the case she'd been holding in her right hand for the whole walk. It was an oddly-shaped case, and he could only guess what was in it.

"Hey, wait. Is that your violin, right there?"

"Yes, it is. Haven't you noticed it?"

He stopped walking, bringing her to a halt. "I didn't see it while we were walking. I was caught up in all the conversation." He noticed there was a bench along the sidewalk, a few feet from where they had stopped. "Y'know, I could listen now, if you wanted to?"

Sarah didn't say anything to him. She was thrown off by the request. "Right here? On the sidewalk?"

"Why not? It'll help you conquer your fear of stage fright."

She stood there, pondering. Finally, she walked over to the bench and put her books down. "Alright. If you insist, Erik!" Sarah was beaming as she placed the case on the bench. She opened it and removed the violin, frantically plucking the strings and adjusting the pegs, to make sure it was tuned. "Oh, the bow!" she said, grabbing it from the case.

It was an interesting spectacle for Erik to witness. It was almost as if Erik had just asked Sarah to marry him. She was practically tripping over herself as she moved about the bench, constantly remembering checkups to perform on the instrument. She really wanted to play for Erik. In the meantime, he took a seat on the part of the bench not occupied by chaos.

After a couple of minutes, she was finally ready to play for him. She took a proud stance on the sidewalk and held the violin to her neck. Sarah looked so pretty standing there on that warm spring day, her little red dress swaying in the breeze. Erik felt happy watching her.

"This is a little piece which I wrote myself," she said happily. "I haven't named it yet, but maybe with a little inspiration –"

Just as she said that, a child on a bike road by her quickly, nearly hitting her. The child just laughed as he rode by, telling her to watch where she was standing, but she was thrown off her center, causing her to trip while holding the violin.

"No!" she screamed, as if in pain.

Erik thought she was hurt, but as he helped her up, he quickly saw what had caused her to scream. The violin was crushed beneath her from the fall, and he could see that it was far beyond repair. When he had gotten her to her feet, she just stood there, lifelessly looking down at the destroyed instrument. It was clear she wanted to cry, but something in her wasn't letting it happen. It truly looked like someone as torturing her and that she was in a great amount of pain.

"S-Sarah," stuttered Erik, "I'm sorry."

She didn't respond immediately. "Oh, yeah."

They both stood there for a while, looking at the violin. Erik didn't say anything because he didn't know what to say, and Sarah didn't say anything because she didn't want to. Minutes passed without a word or a single muscle moved.

Suddenly, Erik had an idea. "Wait!" he shouted, darting to his book bag. He returned with a piece of chalk and showed it to her eagerly, but her expression was unchanging. "I can fix your violin."

I hope.

She flinched. "What?"

He knelt to the ground and prepared to draw a circle with the chalk, but not before some final thoughts passed through his head.

Once she sees this, things will never be the same. Here's to hoping I can trust her not to tell. And to hoping I actually help.

Sarah watched as he quickly drew a circle around the broken violin, decorating it with complicated symbols and other embellishments. There were words all around the circle, written in a language she didn't understand. She didn't understand anything that he was doing, and it was rather confusing. "Erik, whatever you're doing, you can stop."

"There. Finished," he said proudly, wiping his hands in the process. "Could you step back, please?"

She looked at him in awe, then backed up cautiously. "I really don't know what you're trying to do –"

Before she could finish, he clapped his hands together and pressed them to the circle. In a moment, a strange light began emanating from the circle and a strange noise was being produced. It looked like the violin was disintegrating. Finally, the light subsided and it seemed that the strange process was done. Erik slowly stood up, cradling something in his hands which almost brought Sarah to tears.

"M-my… my violin!" she stuttered, gently taking it from him, and then giving him a powerful hug. "Erik Romanov, you're my hero!"

He laughed. "Don't worry about it. I wasn't able to reconstruct the strings because I wasn't able to tell how tight they were from looking. I assume you would rather do that on your own rather than me screwing it up."

"Of course, of course! Erik, thank you so much!" Sarah began to laugh and cry at the same time.

He smiled at her. "I just did what I knew how to do. And I guess it's my fault for requesting you play here of all places."

"Not at all! This isn't your fault in the least bit," she said, calming down a bit. "But how on earth did you just do that?"

Oh, God. This is what I was worried about.

He shifted a little, thinking of a way to respond. "First, why don't you put your violin away? Let's get that safe before anymore reckless children come looking to destroy it."

Sarah nodded, darting to her case and placing the violin inside. "Would you like to walk and talk at the same time? It's getting a little late and I should be home soon."

"Of course," agreed Erik.

They were walking for a little bit before he had to explain himself. Sarah was still a bit ecstatic about what Erik had just done, and she wanted to make sure she praised him more than was necessary. "So," she said finally, "could you tell me what just happened?"

Erik sighed.

Here we go.

"Well, there's no other way for me to describe it to you than to flat out tell you," he said. "But promise me, Sarah, that you won't tell anyone about that."

She nodded.

Erik paused, taking a breath. "What I just did was an act of alchemy."

"Alchemy?"

"Yes, alchemy," he said.

"You could get in trouble for that, couldn't you? That's against our religion –"

"I know, Sarah. I know," he said. "But you have to trust me in that I know what I'm doing. I'm not doing this to anger anyone."

Sarah was quiet for a moment as she thought about it. "So that's what alchemy is? I never really understood it. I was just always told to stay away from it."

"Well, I'm doing what I need to. And I want to help people as best as I can."

"I won't question you, Erik. Everyone is free to live how they want," she said kindly. "What was that circle you drew on the ground, though?"

"That's a transmutation circle," he said, holding out the piece of chalk which was still in his grasp. "It's how alchemists confine the process, a way of targeting things. And it's necessary for all alchemy, too. We can't just walk around, slapping our hands on anything we want and at any time we want. That would be chaotic and dangerous. Alchemy has limits, just like any math or science, and this is one of them."

Sarah seemed intrigued. "So, what exactly goes on in alchemy? What does it do?"

"People always say alchemy is about making something extravagant from absolutely nothing, but that's not true," he explained. "Alchemy is all about taking one substance and turning it into another substance of equal value. It's about manipulating the elements into a desired result, but it has to be a sensible manipulation. For example, just now, I couldn't have turned your violin into a cello. They're two different sizes and require different amounts of materials, that's just common sense. I can only do what is scientifically possible."

"I get it," she said. "You're saying that you can't get the materials for a two-story building and then expect to build a ten-story building. That makes sense."

"Precisely," said Erik.

Sarah laughed. "Erik, you're full of surprises and random talents. You say that alchemy is all about limits, and yet, it doesn't appear you have any yourself."

"Don't worry, I'm not inhuman," he said. "Regardless of what Jason tells you, I'm a normal human being."

"Oh goodness, well he certainly isn't a normal human being," she said jokingly.

"Not at all."

"Oh my, this was a fun walk, Erik. I had a good time," she said, realizing the point in their walk where they must diverge. "Thanks for helping me back there in my time of crisis."

"Don't mention it," he said. "You should walk with us more often."

"Of course." Sarah smiled at him, giving him a quick hug. "Take care!"

"You too," Erik said.

They waved good-bye to each other and set off towards their houses, both feeling happy and light from their walk. It was definitely the start of something, and the two could sense it inside them, though they didn't really know how to deal with it.

A few steps later, Erik realized something. I didn't hear her play.

"Sarah!" he called, turning around quickly. But she was already gone from sight. He stood there for a second, just making sure she was gone, and then he continued on his own path back to his house.

Unfortunately, Erik would never hear Sarah play the violin.