Love & Hate
"Nngh," Selene groans.
The gilded light of dawn from outside was, for her anyway, one of the greatest eye sores. Darkness was one of her favourite parts of night; it didn't drag you out screaming from the comfortable depths of sleep. She turns her back to it, trying to claw back a few more precious minutes of sleep, but no such luck. The door opens and Sayer walks in, smirking down at her. She doesn't need, or want, to see that arrogant expression of his. He taps her on the shoulder gently, careful not to incur her wrath unnecessarily.
"I know you're awake Selene," Sayer prods. "We have training today."
"We have training every day," she protests, sitting up. "What makes today so special?"
"The previous approach doesn't seem to be working. So this time, we want to try and see when and if you're abilities overcome you. That way we can plan ahead and work on that specific area," Sayer smirks. "There really is no time to lose, so hurry."
She slumps against the wall after he leaves. Then, with a fierce determination, she drags herself out of bed and towards the closet. She skims through absentmindedly before settling on navy blue jeans, a black vest top and fingerless, lace gloves. After ten minutes of rolling about, and trying to find that other glove, which she had just a second ago, she steps out of her cell… Ahem, dorm room. The walls are made of steel, and are metres thick, making them nearly impenetrable. Now we're getting somewhere, but I just hope this works…. Selene stops in her tracks. A strange pulsating energy is coming towards her. The pulses aren't visible, nor are they threatening, but they're unusual. On her first instinct, she takes an almost defensive, yet still offensive stance. Just in case. The pulses become weaker until they finally dissipate completely.
Sayer scowls. "Where is she?"
The metal door suddenly collides with the wall, nearly crushing the handle. Selene storms in and the door rebounds, slamming shut. She stops in front of him with a clearly displeased expression. She blows some strays strands of hair out of her face, and Sayer chuckles. Her expression softens, pleased to have her life mean something, even if just momentarily.
"Remind me not to wake you early again," he remarks.
She scowls. "Geez, I'm not that bad!"
"Are you ready, Selene?" Sayer asks from inside a shatter proof glass room. She nods. "Alright then. In your own time, don't force anything."
She lowers her head and closes her eyes. Her fingers press against her temples. Slowly, her mind slips further and further away from everything. Darkness closes in around her, pressing and pushing against her conscious. She isn't searching for anything, just as Sayer said; she was not to force anything. That could have dire consequences and she swore to avoid it no matter what. Then, light starts shifting back into focus. Starting as just a monologue white, then becoming so bright it was blinding. Then, when her conscious re-welcomed sight, she was surrounded by vibrant colours. They too, eventually settle down. The images then blur beyond all recognition and as hard as she tries to get it back into pristine condition; she can't.
Sayer frowns at the readings on the control panel in front of him. It seems that his perfect pawn was anything but. She was more resistant to what she thought was wrong, and she was uncontrollable when she loses control. So much so, that even he fears her. His plans are scattered fragments of a once beautiful scheme that he failed to gather the correct materials for. Then, something captures his attention. A deadly scheme that could go either way, depending on the metaphorical dagger's fall. He opens the door ever so slightly and plays the card Hinotama. The fire based attack heading directly for her. The door is slammed shut swiftly and he returns to sitting before the controls and window.
Selene suddenly feels trapped. As if she can't move, or utter a sound. There's no escape, and she's trapped in her own mind. Next, the darkness returns and covers everything. Effectively rendering her useless. She struggles against the mental restraints futilely. Then, a powerful, burning sensation washes over her and everything disappears. It all slips into her subconscious and too far out of her grasp.
"Must you insist on ruining all of my plans?" Sayer growls.
"Selene! What have you done to her?" Yusei exclaims.
"It was just a little test," Sayer replies. "Anyway, she's the last thing I'd be worrying about if I were you."
On that note, he draws another Hinotama card from his deck. With an evil smirk on his face, he plays it. Another fire ball grows from thin air and hurls itself at Yusei. It stops a few metres from him and dissipates. Sayer snarls furiously, already reaching for more potent spell cards in his back pocket. He has no intention of letting them leave.
"Are you okay?" Akiza asks, worry lacing her tone.
"Thanks," he nods.
"Is that Selene?" Crow gasps.
Crow bites down on his lip and partially turns away, whereas Sayer just laughs. Selene however is lying on the floor, completely unconscious with burn marks along her right arm. Really, really bad burns that are bleeding profusely. Not that Sayer particularly cares; he's just planning on finding another psychic. After all, those who fail his tests are easily disposed. In the end, Sayer settles for using another Hinotama card.
"I activate Hinotama!" he laughs, maniacally.
His attack is swifter this time, and they barely have time to register the attack when it comes to a halt. One of the most potent reasons why he shouldn't have done what he had. The smoke from the dispersed attack begins fading away and crackling lightning is left in its place. Sayer's cocky smirk disappears suddenly. Then, the electricity shorts out, and with the rest of the smoke clearing, leaves its epicentre in clear, plain sight. Selene keeps her head low, and her two arms crossed in front of her.
"Selene," Akiza breathes, relieved.
The opposite can be said for Sayer. His mind is reeling too fast for him to understand much of anything that's going on. Then there's Selene, who clearly isn't done with him yet. She extends her arms away from herself. A whirling noise starts up as water pulls itself from thin air and swirling into a long straight tunnelling vortex that floats just above her hands. Then, a low creaking wail comes from the water a split second before it all freezes over to become ice spears. Then she grasps them, but doesn't attack him. The wealth of power building and twisting inside her seems to have placated, but before it disperses to the nether regions of her mind, it shatters into separate needle like shapes and shoot towards Sayer. After all that, she collapses again, utterly exhausted.
In his fury at her untapped potential, which he's let slip out of his grasp, he activates fissure. It causes a lot of dust and soil to burst skywards and when it finally clears, they're both nowhere to be seen. Jack glowers at the empty room, furious that he managed to escape with her. All of their efforts were wasted. Their information source was dry. There was no choice but to go back home empty-handed and hope they have more luck next time, and there will be a next time…
Author's Note:
With the coming of this chapter
A new record shall be made
(I don't know if that makes me happy or sad, because I wanted OpalMoon to be a book. Published with my own characters...
I even wrote it all out...)
A.K.A., this has become my most read fanfiction and I will not update until I have a three…
A three can be a review, a favourite, an alert… There must be three though, and this is not being greedy. I hope you're more reliable for three's than the readers of the previous number one, OpalMoon / Vampire Heart.
Ooh, and ilikechocolate, I loves your reviews! Please don't stop; they keep me going… I usually just get the silent readers, so thank you so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so much.
P.S. I might seem like I'm making her too powerful, but I had to add water and ice! I swear. Listen, I have a good reason, Selene is the name of the goddess of the moon. The moon controls the tide and therefore water, and us too, we've got a lot of water in us (apparently). I can't qutie remember if that's true or not, it's been so long. Anyway, hope that cleared it all up... Uh, I have an obsession with ice and lightning, so that's why too. Bye, thank you for reading!