After the Battle pt. 1 Alex's POV

"So Florence, how are we doing on spell components?" Alex asked. It had been nearly two months since the battle with the pirates and the Warblerans, and Alex, as head mage, was trying to restore order to both Artime and Quill.

"Well we're running pretty low on everything," Florence said. "Lani, Scarlet, Thatcher, and a few others have been writing on it, be we still don't have much."

"Okay, I've been meaning to spend some time in the art room anyway. I'm going to go make some right now." Alex walked down the hall toward Ms. Octavia's classroom, Florence starting worriedly after him.

When Alex walked into the art room, he found it empty. He opened the supply closet and surveyed the supplies. "Maybe I'll start with some origami dragons," he muttered to himself. He pulled out some origami paper and sat at one of the tables.

Alex struggled to make the first fold. His left arm was still in a sling, as useless as the day Queen Eagala stabbed him. He still hadn't really mastered using only his right hand, which was really starting to annoy him. He finally straightened the first fold in the paper and moved on to the second. He tried to crease the paper, but it kept coming unfolded. Alex let out a growl of frustration, throwing the paper on the floor.

He went back to the supply closet and grabbed some gray clay. He went back to the table and began rolling it out to make trapping clay. He used his right hand to form the shape of handcuffs. When he finished he looked down at his creation. Instead of the intricate, detailed shackles he'd intended to make, he saw what resembled something one of his little sisters would make.

Alex slammed his hand down on the clay, flattening it into a gray pancake. He stomped back to the supply closet and grabbed a fist full of paperclips. He sat back down and tried to bend then into the shape of scatterclips. He only managed to turn the paperclips into ruined, bent up wires.

Alex stood up so quickly his chair tipped over. He stared down at the things he'd attempted to create, and with a rage that had been building inside him for the last two months he flipped the table he had been sitting at. He tore through the room, knocking over easels and scattering art supplies every which way. "I used to be the best there was!" Alex cried, kicking the wall until his toes felt numb.

He turned toward the door only to find Ms. Octavia standing there, a sad look in her bespectacled eyes. "Ms. Octavia!" Alex yelped, "I...I...I'm sorry."

Without a word, Ms. Octavia walked over and wrapped a few tentacles around Alex as he collapsed into tears.

"I was just so frustrated," he said between sobs.

"It's okay to be upset Alex," Ms. Octavia told him. "I can only imagine what you're going through."

Alex lifted his head to look at her with watery eyes. "I always wanted to be good at something," he said. "And then I really got into art, you know? I even drew a 3-D drawing, but then she took it all away." He burst into tears again.

"Alex," Ms. Octavia said sternly. "Eagala did not take anything away from you."

Alex looked at her, confused.

"You are still one off the most creative young people I've ever met," she said. "Just because you have a little set back doesn't mean you should just give up."

"But I can't even use my left arm!" he cried.

"So what?" Ms. Octavia asked.

"So I can't draw or sculpt or do anything I used to be able to do!"

"Are you going to let it stop you?"

"Stop me from doing what?"

"Are you going to let it stop you from being the artist you were born to be?"

"Well...I don't know," Alex said.

"We'll start from the beginning, like when you first came to Artime," Ms. Octavia said as though she hadn't even heard him.

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked.

"You're going to start learning how to draw and paint with your right hand," she explained.

"Wait, hold on a second," Alex said. "I never said I wanted to do that stuff with my right hand."

"It'll be difficult, but I know you can do it Alex."

"I don't want to!"

Ms. Octavia stared at Alex. "We start tomorrow," she said resolutely. "But for now you need to clean this mess up." She turned and walked out of the art room.

Alex sighed, "I don't even want to," he muttered.

Alex was struggling to hang a shelf on the wall when Sky walked into the room. She hurried over to help him and they reorganized the different kinds of drawing pencils into their own cups.

"Ms. Octavia sent you in here," Alex said, it wasn't a question.

"Alex she just wants what's best for-"

"No she doesn't!" Alex interrupted. "She didn't even listen to me when I told her I don't want to draw with my right hand."

"She wasn't listening because she knows you better than that! I know you better than that!"

"If you know so much about me, what do I really want?" he asked.

"Alex, don't be a jerk," Sky snapped.

"Sorry," he muttered. "But seriously since when does everyone seem to know what's best for me?"

"Because you're so busy feeling sorry for yourself, you're not even thinking."

"I'm not feeling sorry for myself," Alex complained.

"Yes. You are. And it's very obvious," Sky said.

"Well, what do you suggest I do?" Alex asked.

"I think you should either start over with Ms. Octavia, or learn something else."

"Something else?"

"You need some kind of creative outlet, even if it isn't art," Sky said.

"What else would I do?" Alex asked incredulously.

"You could try singing," she suggested.

"You know I can't sing," Alex said laughing.

"How about playing an instrument?"

"With one hand?"

"Sure, you could play the piano," Sky said, suddenly excited. "I've been learning how to play. You could learn how to play the melodies with your right hand and I'll play the parts for the left hand!"

"Do you think that would work?" Alex asked.

"Yeah sure, even left-handed people have to play the melody with their right hand most of the time, it can be done."

"I guess I'll try," he said.

"Great! We'll start as soon as we're finished cleaning up."

"Maybe if I get the hang of it I really well be able to draw with my right hand," Alex suggested.

"That's the spirit!" Sky said. "Now, let's clean up this mess before the paint dries!" She dipped her finger in a puddle of red paint on the floor and swiped it across Alex's nose.

Alex crossed his eyes trying to see the paint. Sky laughed.

They cleaned the art room and then headed to the music room. Florence watched them from her post at the for and smiled.