Darcy—Chapter 1: Always the Same

Occasionally during the school year transfers will occur between the three schools. The Headmistresses of Cloud Tower or Alfea call a student, two students, or even more to their office and ask them if they would be open to transferring to Magix High School to broaden their horizons. Those students can decline the offer, a choice my sisters and I didn't get. Back when I was learning at Cloud Tower two of my past classmates, Lucy and Mirta, transferred to MHS halfway through our freshmen year. Many others did so as well, but I don't know them well enough to remember their names.

I grab my Incantations class textbook from my locker—mildly surprised that there were no threatening notes slid into it—and shut it. Even if MHS is a boarding school I'd rather leave most of my things in my locker so the room I share with Icy and Stormy doesn't get too cluttered. Absently, I recall a loudspeaker announcement from yesterday. Seven magic users were transferring to MHS from Alfea today.

A soft ring came out from the loudspeaker on the roof, and only a few students look up to listen, most resuming their chatter. "Students of MHS," Headmistress Faragonda said proudly, her authoritative voice echoing through the hall. "As you well know, seven magic users from Alfea are transferring to MHS whilst all of you are in your second-period classes. I implore you to make these students feel welcome and make their experience at our beloved school an unforgettable one. Especially since they've missed the first week of the second semester. Moving on, the annual school dance is still set to take place in the MHS gymnasium, on Monday next week, 6:30 pm–9:00 pm. There will be a meeting during lunch hour in the school courtyard for anyone who wants to assist in the remaining preparations. Have a marvelous day students, and remember, harmony and an open mind is the way of MHS."

Sure, harmony and an open mind. Everyone here is definitely aware of that. Rolling my eyes, I close the lock hanging from my locker and start making my way to Incantations class on the upstairs floor of the school. I catch a few people glaring at me—most of them I recognize as close friends of Riven's—but it was miles better than how things were when the rumours first started to spread.

"Darcy!"

I turn around to see Stormy speed-walking through the crowd of students, waving to make sure I saw her. Chuckling, I wave back and walk over to her, the two of us moving out of the way of the crowd to not get swept up in it.

"So…" Stormy starts, a smile on her face. "How are you?"

"Fine," I answer suspiciously. Stormy, of course, is cheerful the majority of the time. But this is above her normal cheerfulness. Either some crazy gossip happened that she can't wait to tell me about, or she has an idea that will not end well. "What's going on inside that head of yours?"

Stormy sighs, pausing and thinking deeply. "Y'know about… the meeting in the courtyard after school, right?"

"Yes…?" I answer slowly, and then the reason Stormy was asking the question sets in. "Please tell me you're not thinking of going."

"Fine, I'm thinking of going." Stormy crosses her arms, briefly gesturing to everyone else in the hallway. "I know the entire student body pretty much hates us, but we're only halfway through high school. We need to live! Breathe! Actually have some fun around here! We can't let some cocky assholes ruin our lives and suck all the joy out of it."

"I… don't think that's a good idea, Stormy. If it was just a handful of people who hate our very existence maybe we could go without getting insults thrown at us left and right, but the entire school practically despises us. Going to the meeting would be—"

"Did you forget that everyone's focus is going to be on the new students?" Stormy interrupts, and even I don't have a retort for that.

Every single time new students come to MHS everyone flocks to them; asking questions about what their old school was like, trying to recruit them for specific clubs, or seeing what element their magic is centered around. It's the same thing no matter what.

"And because of that," Stormy starts. "We can go to the meeting, enjoy ourselves for once and let loose, then leave before anyone even realizes we're there. Come on. Please say yes. If you say yes, Icy will say yes, and then we can attend our first school meeting. We haven't even gone to one yet since we weren't here last year."

Stormy isn't wrong about that. Back at Cloud Tower, there was also a dance, but it was mainly planned by the faculty without much direction from the students, leading to a horrid choice of music for the dance. Last year's dance at MHS was good from what I've heard, and there were lots of groups/temporary clubs for those who wanted to work on the dance. I can see why Stormy is looking forward to going, even if because of our reputation people might not be too welcoming. But… like she said, people will be focusing on the new students a lot.

"You do have a point," I admit. "It's been… awhile since we've had some fun around here."

"So is that a yes? I'm sure as hell going either way but it would be much better if you two came along," Stormy asks, checking her watch on her wrist before the two of us start walking upstairs while continuing the conversation. The worst thing would be being late on the first day of the new semester.

I sigh, trying to bury the thoughts in my head screaming about what could go wrong if we all went to the meeting. "It's a yes as long as you tell Icy. She's going to be much harder to convince, so you might want to get her something from the cafeteria to bribe her."

Stormy hugs me tightly, and I can tell how happy she is about this and how much this means to her. "Oh my god Darcy thank you! You won't regret it!." She pulls back and chuckles when I sharply tap her on her shoulder to signal that I can't breathe. "Sorry! And if things go south during the meeting we can just ditch and retreat to the library."

"You're not wrong," I admit, looking down to the hallway to my right. "I have to get to Incantations." Then I pause, trying to remember what Stormy's schedule was when she told Icy and me a week ago. "Wait… what class do you have first?"

"Eh, I dunno, I'll check," Stormy shrugs, pulling out her phone from her pocket before her eyes widen. We still have a minute before class starts, so as long as her next class is upstairs she won't be late. "OH SHIT I HAVE POTIONS!"

Potions is downstairs and on the opposite side of the school. The farthest class possible from where we are now. "Well, go!" I exclaim, gently shoving her towards the entry to the staircase. "If you're late the professor will kill you!"

Stormy bolts down the steps, shoving past several people on her way down. "Bye, Darcy!" She exclaims, out of view and probably downstairs. I just hope she won't be late. Professor Palladium is decent, but he's extremely strict on punctuality. Then again, the majority of the teachers are.

Walking down the hallway to Incantations I ignore a glare or two coming from a handful of the students from around me. I've gotten used to it; and saying something to them about it will do nothing, if not make it worse.

With a shrill ring, the bell rang signaling that I should be in class right now. Well… I'm not the only student coming in a second late, so theoretically, I shouldn't get an earful from Professor Avalon. Then again, considering everything, I probably will. Walking into the classroom with two students ahead of me and one behind, I start to make my way to my seat before the professor clears his throat from the front of the classroom, leading to me stopping briefly while the student who was behind me walks over to their desk.

"Punctuality is a great addition to one's character, Darcy," Professor Avalon says bluntly, a slight nod to his head. "One addition that would be a positive change, as opposed to the general… negative."

Oh, that ignorant prick. He didn't just have to call out my supposed 'tardiness,' and instead, he decides to take a jab at the already crumbling self-esteem of my character. Before all the rumours spread, Avalon used to be my favourite teacher, and I was one of his top students—I still am, for that matter, but he hardly cares at this point—but now he seems to have taken a liking to calling out how much I had seemed to change. I force a calm smile, my teeth pressing tightly against each other.

"I'll keep that in mind," I say, trying to stay cheerful before Avalon nods and I walk over to my desk in the relative center of the room. Setting my textbook on my desk and my bookbag on the floor next to me I glance up at the whiteboard in front of the classroom. The date and unit of this Thursday's exam is written down in Avalon's neat cursive as well as today's topic: Intent vs. Pronunciation.

Avalon begins lecturing, and I copy what he said and what his floating marker wrote on the whiteboard down into my notes. "Now, last week we discussed the importance of consonant and vowel pronunciation during incantations and how they can both strengthen the likelihood of the desired result occurring and lessen it. This week we will discuss how one's magic only works with the right intent. Each of your marks is not just tuned to a specific magical element, but a subcategory of that same element. For example…"

He, with a wave of his hand, draws a flame and something that appears to be smoke. Above the flame, he drew a line-like pattern that I recognize as the basis of the mark of fire magic users, and above the smoke diagram he draws one that was similar to the first, but with small differences that one would hardly normally notice.

"A magic user whose mark's element is fire can control several sub-categories, such as fire itself, heat, smoke, and fire absorption; with limitless other categories. However one could only control the one sub-category of the individual's element indicated by their mark. For example, if you examine the diagram of a general fire element mark, whose basics stay the same no matter what subcategory a magic user has control over, you will see that it differs from the smoke subcategory mark which, along with the designs of the fire element mark, has smoke-like tendrils breaking off from the flames. It is normally confused with the flame sub category which shows a similar pattern but shows larger tendrils that—"

Unlike some of the other teachers at this school, Avalon drones on and on about every possible detail. I suppose part of the reason I'm not fully into his descriptions is that I learned about mark differentiation at Cloud Tower during my freshman year. All three schools have curricular differences, and even if knowing mark differentiation early on helps me in Incantations, it did nothing to help me during Magical Biology last semester. Either way, I found mark differentiation interesting in a way…

I doze off mentally, my thoughts going to my mark. Magic users with the psychic element mark, no matter if they're strege or fey, have a dark violet mark around their wrist of elongated, pointed ovals connected; like the outline of an eye. Since the subcategory of my magic is mental manipulation—meaning that I can manipulate someone's thoughts, memories, the part of the brain that controls the pain reflex, and other things similar to that—my mark, in between the eye-like symbols, has lines arching inwards to the mark. It's a subtle difference, but it's enough for people to recognize it if they know what they are looking for.

"But the point is…" Avalon continues. I look at the clock above him, and I realize that there were only thirty minutes of class left. Hmm, I must have zoned out for longer than I thought. "Your magical element will only respond during a spell or incantation if you control and urge your magic with the intent of controlling your subcategory. A magic user with the smoke subcategory will be unable to use their magic and magical energy unless they use it to create or control smoke in some way or form; they would not be able to cast a spell by trying to create flames. However, when casting incantations one doesn't have to think about creating their sub-category, but instead, an individual has to keep their subcategory and the intentions they have when using their subcategory in their thoughts when casting the incantation."

Another half an hour later of endless information about how intent influences incantations—so much so that my hand was starting to cramp from the note-taking—the school bell rings and everyone gets up to go to their second-period classes. I hoist my bag over my shoulder and walk out the door, and as I make my way to Curses & Hexes—the class I share with Icy, so I'll know if Stormy successfully bribed her—I see Headmistress Faragonda leading seven unrecognizable students through the main hallway, gesturing at everything she could possibly talk about. They must be the new students from Alfea, but I don't have time to think about them. I just have to get through my next class, and then, I have to face going to the school meeting during lunch.

Curses & Hexes class is directed by Professor Griffin, an air strege. Even if she is strict when it comes to decorum and how we act in class, she couldn't care less if we do our homework as long as we pass quizzes and tests. Icy and I rarely do all our homework because of this since we already know more about this than students who transferred from Alfea or started at MHS from the beginning.

I walk into the classroom and take my seat next to Icy a moment before the bell rings, eyeing the Nanaimo bar in her hand that she starts to stuff in her bag as a sign that Stormy successfully or unsuccessfully bribed her. "So, did Stormy ask you about the meeting?"

"Very eagerly, yes," Icy says bluntly, pulling out her eyeliner from her bag, phone's camera in hand as she starts to adjust her cat eye. "She's definitely looking forward to it, for god knows what reason since all the pathetic assholes are going to be there, but she isn't wrong that it's been a while since we've had some fun around here."

I sigh as I pull out my notes. "I'm guessing you said yes then."

"And I'm guessing that you said yes, counting on me that I'd say no," Icy says, putting her things back into her bag before she turns to me, crossing her arms on her desk. "You need to stop letting the rumours and everything else impact your life. I know it hit you hard, very hard, but if you keep going on like this nothing's going to change. Ever."

"I don't think I have motivation left to make things change, Icy…" I mumble, resting my face in my hands, wishing that I could just go back in time and tell Stormy that 'no, this is not a good idea and I am not going through with it' and then this day will continue to be normal.

"Does the possibility of me freezing Riven's excuse for a dick give you a motive to be there?" Icy asks, and I look at her from my hands to see her smirking. I burry a small smirk of my own and from my sister's chuckle, I know that I failed to do so. "Or his balls too. It doesn't have to be just one."

I finally remove my hands from my face, laughing along with Icy at the idea of her doing that to Riven. "I—" I start, chuckling. "I think that's illegal. As much as I love that idea I'd rather not see you in jail."

Icy rolls her eyes, nodding and pursing her lips in thought, then another one of her smirks appears. "But do you know what's not illegal? Freezing all of his hair until it falls out…" She starts, listing all her ideas out on her fingers. "Freezing his teeth together so he can't talk, give his tongue frostbite, Stormy and I could freeze his clothes so they conduct electricity so he has to walk around the school naked, freezing his fingernails so they would just snap off—"

"Icy! What the hell?" I laugh. Professor Griffin glances at us, mildly disproving, before shrugging and continuing to help a student at his desk. "Okay, I'm going to the meeting. You and Stormy are clearly looking forward to going." Stifling her cackle, Icy looks at me expectantly. "And… I guess it'll be good for me, too."

Icy nods, smiling slightly before she glances to the front of the class. "We're actually going to have to pay attention to this. Today we have to learn about the 'benefits' of casting curses using positive emotions, which is idiotic. If I want to curse someone I'm sure as fuck going to do it with malice."

The topic of today's class was, as Icy expected, completely useless. Even if either class—fey or strege—can use both negative and positive emotions it doesn't mean we'll just swap over to the positive when we've been using negative all our life. The only singular 'use' for casting curses and hexes with positive emotions is that they're easily reversible. Other than that, Professor Griffin didn't have any other useful information like she usually does.

This allowed me to get through this lesson without any difficulty, but that made it easier for me to think about the dance meeting, which I didn't want to think about. Icy is… moderately right that this will be 'good for me.' If I wasn't hated here I would probably go see what booths were set up for the week-long clubs lasting until the dance ends, see if any interested me, and even mingle awkwardly. But as things are now Icy will probably be trying to prank someone, Stormy will be trying to get involved in dance preparations and failing, and I will preferably be sitting on a bench somewhere away from the crowds.

At least I would be out in public for once, right?

Icy and I walk out of the classroom, talking about her plans to cause a bit of chaos during the meeting before Stormy bolts up to us. She halts, hunching over herself and breathing heavily, before taking a deep breath. "Are you two ready for the meeting?"

"Definitely," Icy says, smiling.

"Wow, I didn't expect you to be looking forward to it that much," Stormy says, looking extremely confused and wary. "There wasn't anything in that Nanaimo bar, right? I got it from the cafeteria but the students make them so there is a possibility that they had something in them..." She holds up two fingers, waving them in front of Icy. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Uh…" Icy says, looking closer at Stormy's fingers, faking it just to scare her. If a student was actually putting something in the cafeteria food there the place would be shut down within seconds. "Ten…?"

Stormy's eyes widen, gaze darting between me and Icy, and I shrugged. "Please tell me you two are joking." She pauses. "But… but if you two aren't joking does this mean that going to the meeting is a yes? Icy, do you remember me asking you about it this morning after the first period?"

"I'm not high!" Icy laughs, shaking her head before composing herself. "But the meeting is a yes. Somehow. You'll get to enjoy yourself, I'll get to prank several annoying people, and you—" She looks at me, somehow looking reassuring and threatening at the same time. "Finally get to be seen by the public again."

"Yippie…" I mumble sarcastically.

Stormy smiles. "Darcy, just do what you feel like doing. You don't have to pretend to be an extrovert like me or a crazy person like this one." She gestures to Icy, whose mark glows a soft blue before she flicks her fingers at Stormy, sending a marble-sized ball of ice flying into her forehead. "Ass. Anyways, you can just be your normally introverted self, just in a more social place. And there's gonna be some good food."

I roll my eyes. "One, how could you think the food was good when you just questioned if someone spiked it? Two, I just hope you two know that the only thing I'm going to do during this meeting is sit somewhere isolated where I don't have to interact with anyone."

"We know that's what you're going to do," Icy says, and the three of us start to walk over to the nearest exit leading out into the courtyard. "And it's not like we're going to be there for hours. If I was forced to stay there for that long I'd probably kill somebody." Two students walking by us in the opposite direction glare, mumbling under their breaths. "Hypothetically, damn it!"

"At the most, we'll be there for half an hour then we can go back to our dorm and study. Or pretend to study. Or watch some movies, I mean, we have choices," Stormy says, clearly favouring the last option. "Either way, this is a healthy decision that will hopefully lead to some good things. And if anything happens we'll be there, remember?"

"I know it's healthy," I say, dreading going to the meeting more and more. If it was just the student body, and if they just let me be, then maybe I wouldn't be this stressed out. But it's the thought of people coming up to me and telling me terrible things about myself, that I don't deserve to be here, that I deserve to be kicked out, that people like me shouldn't exist, that scares me. "But that doesn't mean I'm looking forward to it."

The three of us continue through the hallway of chattering students, no doubt excited for the meeting and the beloved dance, until we reach the main entrance of the school; dark wood doors carved with depictions of marks, plants, and wisps of magic. As I open the doors I breathe in the fresh air. Planet Magix, only home to two seasons, usually has warm, long summers, and short, extremely cold winters; because of Domino coming close to Magix during its orbit. This summer is hardly the warmest we've had, but it's comfortable.

Across a short walking path is the MHS courtyard: a giant field that stretches across the campus, connecting the main building with the dorms and the arena, built for battle classes of both weapons and magic. Coloured booths are lined up across the field with crowds of students around them talking to the club representatives behind the booths. On the far left of the field is a table with food and drinks, and on the right side, trees and benches away from everything; where I will be until we'll leave.

"Ooh!" Stormy exclaims happily, eyes scanning the field. "There's a booth to plan the music for the dance!" She cuts off from Icy and me, facing us as she walks backwards into the crowd. "I'm gonna go there to make sure this dance isn't a dumpster fire like CT's. Wish me luck!"

Stormy disappears into the crowd, and Icy and I look at each other silently. She has a plan, and I have my own, so might as well get started so we can leave as soon as possible.

"Chaos?" I question.

"Yep. Benches?"

Nodding, I smile slightly. "Have fun freezing people's dicks."

"I will," Icy laughs, close to a cackle before she follows Stormy into the crowd and soon is out of view. I stand still for a moment before walking over to the quiet side of the field, away from all the people.

Peace is starting to get closer, and soon, I will be far away from everyone and on my own to relax. I pass a few people on my way to the park benches, but they ignore me, thank goodness. As much as I hate being here I hope Icy and Stormy have some fun. The two of them haven't enjoyed being at MHS much since the situation with Riven happened, and they deserve to enjoy themselves. The two of them can have their fun, and I can have some time on my own away from people.

I sat down on one of the benches, shadowed over by the tree above me; quiet and still. The voices of the crowd are still audible, but not enough for me to hear what they are talking about. Perfect. I pull a book out of my bag, one that I've hardly had much time to read these past few weeks, and resume where I left off. The protagonist was in the middle of a battle against her fated enemy; one of them had to die, but I suspected neither of them would since the book is only halfway done.

"Um… sorry, excuse me?"

I freeze for a moment, surprised that the voice belonged neither to Icy nor Stormy, before I look up from the book, keeping my finger resting on the page I left off on. There is a girl—likely a new student since I've never seen her around before—in front of me, and she is clearly anxious even though I'm not able to use my magic to read those sorts of things. Her dark brown, side-swept hair is dyed purple at the tips, and she wears enough black flowy clothes and dark jewelry that I can't believe this girl is from Alfea. And if she is, she must've gotten bothered by the very un-fey-like choice of clothing.

"I was wondering… if you knew where the potionology lab is? I looked on the map and it was…" Purple Hair chuckles to herself slightly, though it seems less as a laugh and more so a way to ease herself. "Very confusing, to say the least. I'm… new here and I don't really know where anything is."

The fact that Purple Hair is talking to me was enough of an indication that she is new here, and even if she is new, weirdly, she came all the way here to ask me when she could've asked any of the other students. But… she is visibly nervous, so above all else, she's probably an introvert who left the main area and I'm the first person she saw to ask.

"The potionology lab is not on the map," I answer. "It was just built last year, and the faculty haven't bothered to change them. If you go into the first hallway and you keep going it'll be the last class down the hallway."

After a moment Purple Hair says something relatively along the lines of 'thank you,' but I don't hear her over the thoughts in my head when I see her mark. Similar to mine, containing the violet pattern of the psychic element mark along with the arching connectors; but instead of arching inwards, her's arches out of the gaps of her mark. She uses the psychic element. And her sub-category, thoughts and emotions. Shit… She's talking to me of all people. Purple Hair's grave at this school will be dug enough because of her element, but if she's seen by too many people talking to me then that would only make things worse…

"Just for notice, you probably shouldn't be seen talking to me," I say bluntly. There's no benefit to me mincing my words for this, so if I want to let Purple Hair know to keep her distance as simply as possible, then so be it.

Eyes widening, the girl seems very confused. "Um… can I ask why?"

I don't expect that question, but I can answer without delving too much into the details. I take in a deep breath, burying the usual wave of self-sabotaging thoughts that normally came with every thought of Riven, the rumours, and everything else.

"I am not someone with… a good reputation around here," I explain, my eyes drifting off to the crowd before locking back onto the girl. "So it would be best if you're not seen talking to me."

"Well…" Purple Hair seems confused and oddly calm all at once, and shrugs slightly as she glances behind her for a moment. "I'm not someone who particularly cares about my reputation, so—"

"Iorda!"

Through the crowd, a girl with caramel hair is waving from inside the center, and when Purple Hair glances at her I make the connection that both of them are likely friends and that the girl who is waving is a new student as well. Iorda waves slightly at her assumed friend before glancing back at me.

"Thank you for… the information?" Iorda says, a small smile on her face before she turns around and walks over to the crowd to rejoin with her friend. Several other people soon joins her and the caramel-haired one, though the only one whose appearance I can see is a girl with golden blonde hair; another new student.

Turning back to my book, I think of the reason why Iorda would approach me. As a magic user who can read thoughts and emotions, she probably could tell I was a supposedly good person to ask, one who would answer her question without judgment. I'm worried about her seeing anything she shouldn't have; magic users with her sub-category can only see the thoughts and emotions that exist at the moment. Past thoughts, and emotions along with them, fall into that of memories.

Iorda likely felt the emotions behind me not wanting her to talk to me, but that doesn't change things. She is still better off far away from my presence because even if the rumours aren't true that doesn't make me a good person to be around.

Especially for a magic user like her.

A/N

These first few chapters will introduce the pairings, et cetera. I hope you enjoyed reading, be prepared for gay content next chapter :) and have a great day!