Battle of the Mages
Doughnuts
Till about eleven o'clock that night, he kept cutting his back, over and over. When one cut stopped bleeding, he would slice another one.
Back in her room, Kylie cried herself to sleep.
Eleven o'clock that night.
After sleeping briefly, Cloud woke up that night, and cut his back again.
Kylie woke up, face streaked with tears. She got the packet of pictures and letters, and opened it, spreading it out on her bed. There were a few letters between her and her sister, Mary, the time Mary had gone to camp. There were lots of pictures of Kylie with her sister, and some with her parents. There were also some pictures of Kylie and Tai.
There was a picture of Kylie's beautiful blonde sister, and her dark haired boyfriend, Tom. Kylie looked at that picture, and felt the anger and guilt well up in her chest. She looked at the next picture. It was her sister's mangled body, after Tom had killed her. She started to cry. She looked at the next picture. It was a picture of her mother after Tom had killed her too. The next picture was of her father after a man named Ansem had killed him. The next-to-last picture was a picture of Kylie's high school after she had burned it. The last picture was a picture of many, many new graves in a graveyard. They were all people who had cruelly ridiculed Kylie. Kylie had accidentally killed them when she lost control of her powers. They had died in the fire at her high school.
Cloud lifted the knife from his skin, washed it off, and put it back underneath his bed. He suddenly felt that Kylie was crying. Forgetting their fight, he went to her room, with the sole purpose of making her smile again.
He opened her unlocked door, and found her crying, head buried in her arms, resting on her knees, with fireballs floating all around her. Her light was off, but the fireballs took the place of the electric light.
"You can use magic?" he asked. Kylie's head whipped up. She saw Cloud, and was astonished that he had come after their fight. Kylie nodded.
"I'm the Fire Mage," she said, not caring anymore if he found out. She looked down, and saw the pictures. Tears welled up in her eyes again. She jumped up, ran to Cloud, and threw her arms around the still shirtless man, sobbing. Cloud hesitantly wrapped his arms around her.
"You're bleeding!" gasped Kylie, hand sticky from blood.
"It doesn't matter," he said. "I'm more worried about you."
Kylie unwrapped her arms, and led him to her bed. He sat down by the pictures. She got her first aid kit, and began cleaning his wounds. She was astonished at how many scars he had. He had obviously started cutting himself long before she had. It must have taken years to accumulate all his scars.
When Kylie was done bandaging him, Cloud asked, "What are these pictures?"
Kylie leaned against her headboard, and Cloud moved up to join her.
"You told me your story, so I'll tell you mine." She sighed, then continued. "My sister, Mary, was...beautiful, blonde, and three years older than me. She was my only friend. Besides Tai of course. We were best friends, just as much as Tai and I are. She would not go to the movies with her friends so she could go with me. I loved her so much." Kylie swallowed the lump in her throat, and continued. "Eventually, Mary got a boyfriend. He had dark hair, and his name was Tom. Everybody loved Tom, but he had a bad side. He hit my sister. I was the only one who knew. He brainwashed her into telling me not to tell. I didn't. Every time he got mad and beat her up, he would blame it one me, since I was the one who usually made him mad. I didn't do it intentionally, but he said that just looking at me mad him mad."
Kylie started to cry.
"Eventually, Mary figured out that this was wrong. She tried to break up with him. He took his pocketknife and slashed her to pieces. I heard screams, and came running downstairs. I found him standing over the mutilated corpse of my sister. He ran." Kylie was sobbing. Cloud put his arm over her shoulder, hoping to lend some comfort. She leaned against him.
"The police tried to find him, but he had disappeared. That's when I started cutting myself. Later, he came back, and killed my mother the same way, to get rid of all the traces of Mary, I think, since Mary looked like my mother. When I found him standing over my dead mother, I lost it. I summoned my staff, which turned into my swords for the first time, and I killed him, using my swords and my magic," Kylie took a moment to sniff and wipe her eyes, "A Mage has a staff to begin with, and then, when they can control their magic more, and it gets more powerful, it turns into a certain weapon.
"One day, the high school held a memorial type thing, for Mary. I had to go up to the front and talk about her. I didn't want to, but they made me. At that time, I didn't have perfect control over my magic. Anyway, everybody in the audience was talking about how I deserved this, but Mary didn't, about how they wished I had died instead of Mary. As you know, grief and anger mixed make a deadly combination. I lost control, burned the high school down, and killed everyone in it.
"After that, I walked home, numb with guilt and grief, and found a man standing over my death father. He was wearing black clothes, and he had long silver hair. He said his name was Ansem, and he had killed my father for so that my powers would reach their potential in my grief. I tried to kill him, but he disappeared. I buried his body myself.
"There was no proof against me for destroying the high school, so they couldn't prosecute me. Tai helped me heal a little bit, then the storm happened, and we ended up on the Destiny Islands. And that is when my fake life began.
"I...lied when I said that I used to be a cutter. I still am, like you. I pretended to be happy. I had hardly healed at all. But with you Cloud, I can be myself, whether that's happy or sad, because you know what it's like to lose a loved one."
Cloud wrapped both his arms around her. "I am so sorry," he said, crying a bit too.
"About what?"
"Your life, and the things I said to you."
"I'm sorry too. About the same things."
Cloud smiled, and, in an attempt to change the subject, even just a little, he said, "I once knew a girl named Tai."
"Real -" Kylie spotted his arm. "Cloud, what's that on your arm?"
Cloud sighed. Crap. She found out.
"It's a disease, called Geostigma. It's like a cancer...I will die from it..." He saw her look of horror, then she leaned closer to examine it.
"Cloud, I can heal this."
"You can?"
Kylie nodded. "Yes, but not tonight. I'm too tired. Tomorrow, though. I can use my magic to burn the infection out. It will be very painful."
"I don't care. I finally have something to live for, and I can live!"
Suddenly, Cloud remembered something. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out the bracelet box. He opened it, and gave it to her.
"Happy birthday," he said.
Kylie gasped. "Cloud, it's beautiful! Thank you!" Cloud put it on for her. She examined it closer after it was on.
"I love it Cloud. Thank you." She looked deep into his eyes. Slowly, he leaned forward, and kissed her lightly on the cheek. Kylie blushed.
"I love you," he said, once he had drawn away.
I...I love you too." They both felt their hearts soar. The person they loved loved them back. Cloud hugged her, then he got up.
"I'm tired. Do you mind if I go to bed?"
Kylie shook her head. "Not at all."
Before Cloud closed the door, Kylie said, "Thank you Cloud."
Cloud looked back and smiled his true smile again, then he said goodnight, and closed the door.
Kylie smiled also, put away the pictures and letters, climbed into bed, then made the fireballs disappear. For the first time in a long time, she was totally and completely happy.
Cloud climbed into bed, smiling. He was happy, through and through.
Cloud woke slowly the next morning. His back ached, and blood was splattered across his sheets. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw Kylie standing uneasily in his open doorway. She was dressed in a tank top and black pajama pants. Cloud sat up, blankets falling off of his bare chest.
"Hey."
"Hey." Kylie looked uncomfortable. The two looked at each other awkwardly for a while. It was 10:47, very late in the morning.
"You...wanna get some breakfast?" asked Cloud hesitantly, probing the waters, trying to find out what he could safely say. Yes, the day before had been a day of revelations, but he had hoped that things wouldn't be awkward between the two of them.
Kylie smiled gratefully before nodding. "Yeah. Let me go get dressed."
Cloud nodded, and she turned and left, closing the door behind her. He got up, and got dressed also. When they were both dressed, they walked to the kitchen together, not quite holding hands, but close enough so that their arms occasionally brushed. When they got there, food was spread out on the counters. Cloud headed directly for the fridge, and out of it, pulled a container of cold rice with a label on it that said "Cloud". The permanent residents of the Olympus Coliseum kept food in the fridge and such. The kitchen had several other fighters in it, only one a permanent resident. She had a box of doughnuts in front of her.
"Hey, Sarah. Can I have one of your doughnuts?" asked Kylie, grinning. She loved doughnuts. Sarah, startled, looked up from her book.
"Wha -? Oh, hey Kylie. Happy birthday. Sorry I didn't tell you yesterday. I didn't see you. Yeah, sure, you can have some. Consider it my present to you, since I didn't get you anything."
Kylie laughed. "Sure, sure. You just didn't want to shop, is that it?"
Sarah looked guilty. "Well, yeah, and also, I had no idea what to get you!"
"A gift card to a music slash video game slash bookstore. A bookstore with a good selection of manga, preferably."
Sarah laughed. "You're so weird," Kylie bowed.
"Thank you. I take that as a compliment."
Cloud, sitting at a different table eating his rice with chopsticks, was relieved to see that the awkwardness of that morning was gone, and that Kylie wasn't going to let it ruin her day.
Kylie grabbed the whole box of doughnuts and ran away.
"Ha ha! Powned!"
Sarah grinned and stood. "Kylie..."
"Alright, alright, fine."
A few of the guys in the kitchen were watching her. Cloud felt the jealousy rise in him again, and this time the intensity almost scared him. He chomped down on his chopsticks, and felt instant pain. Carefully, he removed the chopsticks from his mouth, probing around it with his tongue. He tasted no blood, and no teeth were broken. He'd just bitten down too hard.
A shadow fell across him. He looked up, and found Kylie. She was grinning, and holding a cream filled doughnut.
"You okay?" she asked, looking concerned. He nodded.
"I just bit my chopsticks a bit too hard."
Kyra smiled and sat down. The two were eating in silence for a while. Cloud finished his rice, but he continued sitting, lending a companionable silence to their small universe. Cloud opened his mouth to talk, and something was stuck into it. Without thinking, he chewed and swallowed. It was a piece of bread, some cream on it, sweet and delicious. He swallowed and licked his lips, before looking at Kylie. She was grinning, holding the last half of her doughnut.
"Good?"
Cloud licked his lips again and nodded. Kylie smiled.
"I knew you'd like sweet things."
Cloud cocked an eyebrow. "And how did you know that?"
Kylie shrugged. "I dunno. You just seem like the kind of person who likes sweets."
Cloud shrugged. "You're right. I love sweets."
Kylie laughed. "I'm surprised you're able to keep that stomach if you love them that much though," And here she hit the palm of her hand against his rock hard abs. She pulled it away, wincing and shaking her hand. "Ouch," His stomach was hard, developed muscle.
Cloud smirked. "You like sweets too, right?" Kylie nodded eagerly. "Then how do you keep that stomach if you love them that much?" Kylie looked down at her stomach. She had washboard abs, and you could see a few of the muscles, although Cloud had way more than she did. Kylie grinned, looking back up at him.
"Touché, my dear swordsman," Kylie finished her doughnut, until only one bite remained. Looking at Cloud, who was staring off into the distance, totally zoned out, she smirked evilly. "Hey Cloud?"
"Hm?" He didn't look over.
"Open." Since it was Kylie telling him what to do, he didn't even think twice about refusing. He opened his mouth, and the last bits of the doughnut landed in it. He smiled as he chewed and swallowed. Looking over at the newly revealed Fire Mage, he found her smiling, and licking the tips of her fingers.
When they were clean to her satisfaction, she leaned back in her chair.
"So what do you want to do today?"
Cloud leaned back, too.
"I have a fight tonight at seven, but other than that, I have nothing to do."
"I have a fight tonight at 4:30, but other than that, I have nothing to do."
Cloud smiled slightly. He was good at throwing people's words back at them, when he even decided to answer them. When Kylie did it with him, it was downright cute. Any other guy, and Cloud got insanely jealous. When she was very angry, throwing a person's words back at them hurt almost at much as a punch to the face. And those hurt, as Cloud knew, from times when they were training together.