Chapter 14: Falling

"Wake up Master Ezlo. I said wake up!"

"Hwa?" Ezlo rubbed his eyes and squinted as he tried to get a better look at his apprentice. He was met with a deep contemptuous frown he was getting used to seeing on Vaati's face.

"It's spring, Master Ezlo." Did Ezlo imagine it, or was there sarcasm along with the title 'master?'

"Yes?"

"And you still haven't taught me any magic."

Ezlo sighed. Vaati's frown had begun to bother him these past few months. It had gradually increased in frequency until it seemed as though that was all Vaati ever did. He had inquired a few times to see if Vaati was all right, but the apprentice only waved him away with a look that clearly said it wasn't his business. Ezlo couldn't think of what was up with Vaati, and even Ms. Tutari explained that nothing seemed particularly wrong with him in school. Apparently he was very popular with the students in his class – well, at least with the girls. Vaati was always laughing and surrounded by girls, and Ms. Tutari was nearly shocked when she learned how Vaati was behaving in his home. Nearly. She did think that at times Vaati looked a little fake.

Ezlo didn't know why Vaati appeared unhappy at home. But if he won't tell me, how can I possibly know? Ezlo thought stubbornly. The sage got up from the sofa he had been napping on and turned his back on Vaati to grab his cane. From the corner of his eye he noticed his apprentice roll his eyes in disdain as soon as he thought Ezlo wasn't looking at him.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, boy."

Vaati stiffened, but managed to bow humbly. "I'm sorry Master Ezlo. I will never do that again."

It sounded genuine, but almost too genuine. Also during the last few months, Vaati had become ridiculously polite to Ezlo in a way that the sage suspected was somewhat mocking. Ezlo couldn't say anything about that, however – for what sane reason would a parent chide their children for being too polite? Perhaps Ezlo wasn't trusting Vaati enough. He remembered Miss Britta's words on how she had failed in believing in Vaati and how she had wanted Ezlo to succeed where she had failed. Both Ezlo and Vaati needed to trust each other more: lack of trust was the biggest culprit in failing relationships.

Vaati's not making things any easier though…

"Something's bothering you," Ezlo began cautiously, knowing he was broaching a touchy subject. "You can tell me, Vaati. I won't think any worse of you if you are having problems. No one is perfect."

For a split second, there was the 'it's none of your business' look on Vaati's face but it was soon replaced by the all too cheerful façade Ezlo had become used to seeing. "I'm not bothered by anything, Master Ezlo. I was simply wondering when I would start learning actual spells."

"Don't lie to me, boy. Do you think I haven't noticed you glowering at everything these days? Where has my happy Vaati gone?" Ezlo asked sadly.

"He's right here. I'm perfectly happy." Again, something was a little off with the way Vaati said it.

"Is it because you are impatient to learn magic? I told you it's a dangerous practice that requires patience above all else."

"No, it's not because of that. Though it will be nice if I learned something for a change," Vaati snapped much to Ezlo's surprise. The apprentice faltered, realizing he had lost his composure, but then quickly smiled apologetically to make up for his slip. "I'm sorry Master Ezlo. I know I'm a little rude these days but I'm preoccupied by problems at school. It's making me edgy."

The snappiness – that had also begun to appear more and more with Vaati. It worried Ezlo because he felt that every day he was losing the boy that had been a sweet innocent thing when he had first arrived. At the moment, Ezlo didn't know what to be more shocked of – the fact that Vaati had shot out like an angry snake or the fact that Vaati seemed willing for the first time to talk about what was bothering him.

Ezlo prompted Vaati to continue.

"Ah, well, it's just that all these girls follow me everywhere I go and I don't know what to do about it." Vaati shrugged and smiled as though his 'problem' wasn't really a problem.

Ezlo raised one bushy brow. "Er…that seems…like a very troublesome problem indeed." He wasn't sure if Vaati was telling him the truth or was warping it somehow. Heck, with Vaati these days it was possible the kid was purposely lying to mock him. Ezlo shook his head sadly. Since when did I become so distrustful of Vaati? He scolded himself. From now on I'm going to leave my doubts behind! Vaati is a good boy – it would be unfair of me to treat him with caution as though he were a troublemaker.

"Yeah. So, if we can go back to the subject of my apprenticeship…"

Was this really an eight, almost nine-year-old speaking? Some days it seemed to Ezlo that it was Vaati who was ordering him about and not the other way around. From his immense amount of reading, Vaati had also taken up a very adult way of talking with vocabulary unusual for a child. It's just his prideful personality showing through. He's not really a follower type, Ezlo reasoned.

"Can you please teach me how to do magic?"

Ezlo sighed heavily. Yes, Vaati was more mature than most kids his age but he wasn't even ten yet. Apprentice sages were meant to learn magic after at least two years of book learning and not even a year of apprenticeship had passed yet. He could see Vaati had the talent but…Ezlo was a man of convention. "It's too early, boy. I guarantee you will hurt yourself."

The sage was not expecting the scorching glare from his apprentice. He did not think Vaati was capable of that kind of chilling expression.

"Master Ezlo, I've read the books you've given me. I even read some of the ones you didn't assign! I want to learn magic," he said stiffly.

Ezlo shook his head 'no.'

"And why not?! You said you'll teach me if I did all my readings! I proved proficiency!"

"And that was very impressive of you. I certainly did not expect you to finish all of the readings in less than a year. I still don't know how you managed to do it."

"You're dodging the question, Master Ezlo!"

"Enough! What kind of insolence is this?!" Ezlo roared, his patience running thin. Vaati shrank away from his master, surprised at himself for pushing it this far. He had never seen Ezlo look so angry before.

"I'm sorry Master Ezlo," he squeaked.

"Where did you learn to be so disrespectful like that?" Ezlo muttered. Vaati watched his master carefully before he asked quietly one last time:

"So…no magic?"

"No!" Ezlo's reply came out harsher than he had intended. He hurriedly added, "It's too early. You could hurt yourself. You wouldn't be able to control it. I don't want a dead boy in my arms, Vaati."

A few minutes of quiet passed and neither of them spoke a word. Finally, Vaati gave a thin smile and bowed. "I'm sorry for bothering you, Master Ezlo."

Ezlo watched the door to his office close. After Vaati had gone, he took a deep breath. What am I to do with you, boy?

XXXXXXXXX

"Some kind of apprenticeship this is, huh?" Vaati said aloud once he was back in his room. He was skipping out on chores today because he didn't feel like doing them. Besides, it wasn't as though that lazy old geezer was going to notice they weren't done. Vaati tossed his hat over his shoulder and leaned against the wall, thinking.

"The only thing master notices anyways is to ask me if anything is wrong. Huh, like it's his stupid business. Nosing about, always, always asking questions and only questions," the boy muttered bitterly. "Is anything wrong boy? Are you happy boy? Did you do your homework boy? Boy, why are you frowning? DIN'S FIRE."

Vaati shook his head. At least Ezlo might lighten up his interrogations after Vaati told him a little about his problems at school. Of course it was kind of a joke, but hey, what can Ezlo say? That his problems weren't really problems? Nah, the old man wouldn't say that to him – he'd only stop his questions.

Vaati also marveled at how easy it had become dealing with people ever since he had taken time to pay attention to the Enchantments and Charms for Beginners book. Not only did he have an easier time handling girls but he could also slide out of trouble with almost everyone else. As long as he could keep his head level and be as ridiculously polite as he could be, other people found it difficult to find fault with him. Vaati always had to suppress a snigger when Ezlo would back off with a confused expression during an argument when he had no choice but to take Vaati's super polite speech. It would be easier to be angry with someone who's shouting and screaming at you, but no, Vaati kept his voice extremely civil if possible.

It wasn't that Vaati didn't like Master Ezlo. He actually liked him more than he would care to admit, but it was just annoying that Master Ezlo still didn't understand him at all. Ezlo just wasn't the type of person who would go out of his way to understand other people, and the old coot expected other people to think like him. It was extremely annoying, and being stuck with him in a house was trying at times.

The conversation today pretty much proved it. Despite all of his accomplishments in completing his assignments, Ezlo still thought he wasn't ready for a spell. Vaati had done what Ezlo thought wasn't possible – to finish all his readings in less than a year – and yet in the sage's eyes he was still a frail, incapable thing that couldn't learn magic yet. Why? He wasn't weak…he could do it. He knew everything there was about basic sorcery, and at this point he would have bet everything he had that in some subjects he knew more than the sage himself.

"Could you recite entire chapters from a book, Master Ezlo? Because I can. I was ready. I was more than ready and you wouldn't believe me…"

Come to think of it, what exactly did Master Ezlo do? He always claimed he was so busy with something and locked himself up in his office, but every time Vaati knocked on his door he found him napping on the couch. There was one time when Vaati had answered the door because Master Ezlo wouldn't get it. A scholarly minish had asked if Ezlo was here and that he needed to talk about some festival or whatever that was going to be important in around four years. When Vaati had gone to get Ezlo, the sage had been sleeping yet again, and when he introduced himself to the minish Vaati heard him lie that he had been researching some tomes on the golden power.

What if…what if Ezlo was just a faker? How depressing would that be?

Vaati let his head rest against the wall.

Whatever the deal was with Master Ezlo, he knew there was only one way to progress further.

Vaati was on his own.

XXXXXXXXX

Vaati didn't know what actually caused him to start skipping school. It could have been the revelation that Master Ezlo wasn't going to help him and that he needed to learn on his own, but he suspected it was mostly because of the stressful situation he had created at school. At first he thought his reckless little plan was nothing short of genius, but then things started to become sticky and he began to feel an increasing need to stay away from school. It wasn't his fault girls were dumb and that he was too good, he told himself stubbornly.

And Delta, Bentari, and the rest of them were idiots.

It had started out fine:

"Oh Vaati, I wish all the other guys were like you!"

"Yeah! They're either mean to us or fall to pieces when they talk to us."

"Heehee, remember when Kotari suddenly had to run to the bathroom when Fretta said 'hi?'"

"What a dork!"

"Say Vaati, who do you like? Do you like anybody?"

"He likes me."

"Knock it off Ria, he so doesn't. Besides, whatever happened to Bentari huh?"

"Bentari's too bossy. I don't like him anymore."

Grinning, Vaati observed the catfight unfold. It was fun to watch. Occasionally, the girls would round on him after a squabble.

"Vaati! Who do you like anyway?"

"You're killing us!"

He would shrug and, with the best smile he could muster he'd say apologetically, "Does it have to be one person? I like everyone the same."

"…"

"Come on Pari, why do you have to look so depressed?"

"He hugged – "

"That's not fair!"

"Vaati hug me too!"

It would happen every day at recess until it escalated to the point it got annoying for Vaati. In the beginning it was kind of fun due to the novelty of it, but after a while it became a little boring. Kari had lost complete interest in Vaati the flirt at this point, and he had misjudged Delta when he had expected him to come around and stop being angry with him. Instead, a coalition of jealous boys had formed, and Vaati had become completely alienated from his old friends.

He didn't care. His plan wasn't finished anyway.

So after a few weeks of shooting down his idolizers with a caustic remark or two (while smiling, of course), he had managed to get all the girls in class to love him and hate him at the same time – he doubted he would ever be able to keep them from liking him but at least they held some sort of hate now.

His great idea didn't turn out so great, and in the end, he found himself without any friends and gained the reputation of backstabbing bastard. It was completely different from what he had been expecting: Vaati, Delta, Bentari, and the rest apologizing for being upset and laughing everything off (now he realized how stupid his whole idea had been, but it was a little too late for that).

But it WASN'T my fault. Vaati clenched his fists angrily. If they weren't so stupid, none of this would have happened.

How he hated school. The more he thought of it, the less it made sense for him to continue going there. I mean, the whole point was to meet kids my age, not to learn. Well, forget it, because I've got a new project to do: learn magic. That'll show Ezlo. He'll be so shocked when I show him all the things I learn to do ALL BY MYSELF.

School is useless. Everyone there just makes me feel tired and I'm wasting my time. Even Delta's getting on my nerves because he's so obsessed by how he thinks I'm a girl thief. The guys can have all the girls for all I care, giggly, annoying things. It's their fault they don't have the guts to talk to them anyway.

Forget school.

I'm going to do my own thing.

Ah yes, that was it. He had stopped going to school because it was useless and he had better things to do. Vaati was determined to be the best sorcerer in the world. He was going to get Ezlo to see his mistake in thinking Vaati wasn't ready, and perhaps get Delta to realize how wrong he had been while he was away from school. He was going to show them. He was going to show all of them.

The fools.

And no one was going to stop him until he succeeded.

fleets: And so, in less than a year Vaati is already starting to show his awesome evil...I mean...his bad side. :)
But dang, Ezlo must have narcolepsy or something - he sleeps so much! Ah well, there's a reason to that (and it's not because I was too uncreative and lazy to think of something else Ezlo could have been doing), Vaati just hasn't discovered why yet. :o
Can we say Vaati has snapped yet? Eh, I guess, but I would say not quite yet. I actually don't really know for sure anymore.

marium: And yup, what he did turned out to be a bad choice :(

DarkLinkvsRaineSagefan101: Vaati has changed a ton, and yes, he will eventually turn into that evil scary (coughawesomecough) sorcerer in BC. You can kinda see 'older Vaati' in the last few paragraphs. If you squint a little. :D

Reily96: Heehee he says he doesn't like the girlies in this chapter but he loves fooling around and getting all that attention XD. Of course he doesn't think he is the one to blame. Oh no.
The plz faces make me lol (but come to think of it I haven't used one yet. hmmmm now would be a good time to start) :)

Shadow Blues: He's bit off more than he could chew and yet he still won't admit it was kinda his fault. :/ I totally did not realize I submitted it on Canada day XD

Bishieluver01: Well, after all these problems with the fairer sex it's no wonder he has little respect for the ladies XD (even though he enjoyes toying with them, the power hungry yet loveable jerk)

Victoria-BlackHeart: As sad as it is to see him start to fall apart, I'm enjoying writing these chapters more than the previous ones :)

Peka The Corsair: I FINALLY made it all the way here where his personality starts to change. I oh so badly wanted to get here, so I'm happy that I finally did (as sad as it is).