Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ The Gifted Moon Academy ❯ Explainations and Injuries ( Chapter 22 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

After leaving everyone to have a nap, Nakya woke up feeling refreshed. After jumping in the shower and getting dressed, she walked out into the hall. Locking the door behind her, she searched for Yumi's mind. Finding it, she thought
"Yumi. I'm sorry if I upset you earlier. I'd like to talk to you, if you don't mind." She bit her lip nervously, waiting for her answer.
Yumi sat on the windowsill, looking down at the snow-covered landscape. Her window looked over the lake. Ice reached for the center of the lake, delicate tendrils meandering out from the shore. She smoked a cig, wrapped up in a blanket since her window was open to air out the room. Her eyes were blank, though a sad crease rested in her forehead. The ice seemed to speak to her. It clung to the shore, safe, and reached pitifully out for the distant unknown. A dangerous unknown. Sighing, she tossed her cigarette out the window, and closed it.
Nakya's voice spoke in her head. She certainly did mind, though she figured it would be good to talk things out, since they'd barely spoken since Yumi arrived.
I don't know how good of an idea that is, but whatever flips your pancakes, i guess. She said in her mind, staring out of the window.
Her voice was sharp and unrelenting. A frown crossed her lips, and she stood, taking another cigarette out of the pack.
Hearing the anger in Yumi's voice, Nakya felt sick. She wanted to give them a chance to talk to her, but neither of them wanted to see her now.
"Oh, maybe some other time.. You sound distracted..." Her voice broke slightly as she walked past their room and sat in a chair at the end of the hall, looking out the window with her tail curled around her waist.

After giving a brief introduction to the new girls and giving Kelly a brief hug, Rinsi excused herself to go off elsewhere. She had more free time than she thought she would have, but that was because no one had come to her class. She understood that it was not mandatory, but it was still rather irksome that no one showed up, save for two students who STILL had a lot of drama between them. Rinsi sighed to herself and decided to walk around outside. If she saw Tahtsu, great! If not, it would still be a nice walk in the snow she loved so much.
Breaking from her thoughts, a smile crept across her face. She didn't have enough energy to practice any more spells, but that didn't mean she still couldn't have fun. After all, she was surrounded with the world’s most fickle toy, one that was here one day, gone the next and only briefly appeared during winter. She loved this toy, since she so rarely saw it, and when it was there, she had her hay day with it.
Rinsi knelt down and started forming a snowball. However, instead of throwing it at someone, she began to roll it around on the ground, allowing it to gather up more snow. Once it grew some, she packed it down, and rolled it again. By the time she was done, she had one large ball of snow that reached nearly to her hips.

Seeing Rinsi outside playing with the snow, Nakya smiled. Standing up, she ran back to her room, grabbed her jacket and made her way to the front doors. Pulling her jacket on, she saw a woman sitting on a bench. This woman was new, not someone she had seen before. Being the friendly person she was, she walked up to this woman and decided to make conversation with her.
"Hey, I'm Nakya. I was just about to head outside and help Rinsi with her snowball, want to come?" She smiled at the woman while doing her long coat up and flipping up the hood.
Meko glanced up at the girl, knowing she was probably accidentally glaring slightly. She looked out a window expecting to see a student, but instead saw a teacher rolling a snowball around ‘a teacher of all people?’ she gave a small sigh when she stood, not of annoyment, but from the cold. She made sure her coat was zipped before she started outside.
“Let’s go” she said, being a woman of few words..
Rinsi began rolling up another ball of snow in the same fashion as the one before it. This one wasn't as big, but still fairly large and, of course, heavy. She was able to lift it on top of the larger ball, though, and got it balanced fairly well before packing snow around the base of the second ball, joining the larger and the slightly smaller balls of snow. She wanted to make sure it wouldn't roll away on her, after all.
This morning Kelly was a boy again - a boy's body and face, long and shaggy brown hair, and red-brown eyes - he looked similar to how he looked last year. He appeared to be wearing a new, loose denim jeans, a dark blue T-shirt, and a pair of brown work boots.
His ears picked up sounds of framiliar voices outside and that's where he headed.
"Havin' fun?" Kelly asked Rinsi as he came into ear-shot for a human. He smiled, scooped some snow into a ball, and began to pack it as he moved toward Rinsi and her snow person.
Rinsi could hear someone talking. She knew there was no one else around but her, so she looked in the direction she heard it coming from, and found Kelly approaching her. She smiled at him and waved, glad to see her old friend okay again.
"Always!" she said cheerfully.
Rinsi shivered a bit. She had forgotten that she hadn't even grabbed her coat, and now was starting to regret it a bit. Still, she liked the cold, and was having so much fun that she didn't dare stop.
"Good, good" Kelly said as he rolled his snowball around and packed it tighter.
"So, you're a teacher?" Kelly asked Rinsi, glancing up briefly from the snow ball. "What're you teaching us?"
"Literature." Rinsi answered cheerfully. "Although no one came to my first class. I hope today will be better."
"Oh..how long 'til your class? I'll come" Kelly said. He held up a large snowball and eyed it carefully. He held it and looked to Rinsi to see if she thought it was a proper size for the next level of her snow person.
"It's not for a while yet, so we're free to play." Rinsi said.
Rinsi saw Kelly eying the large snowball he made. It looked about right for the snow person she was working on, and figured he made it to help. After all, it was certainly too big to throw. She carefully took the ball from his hands and set it on the top of the other two. She carefully packed snow around the bottom so it wouldn't fall off. It was almost done! She just needed a couple of twigs for arms, and something to decorate the face.
Rinsi lifted a hand to draw a face in the snow, but was unable to do so. Her hands were bright red from being so cold, and she was shivering violently now. She had forgotten her jacket, and apparently her gloves as well. That REALLY wasn't smart of her. Even if she did love the cold and the snow, playing in the snow with no jacket or gloves was really really stupid. She chided herself mentally, and decided the face could wait. She had to get inside and warm up before she caught a cold.
Kelly watched Rinsi run off. He should have realized sooner that she was so cold.
Kelly sighed to himself for missing something like that, and got down on his knees to start a new snow person, closer to the school. He made his bigger than Rinsi's simply because he could make himself able to lift more and reach higher.
By the time Kelly was done, a good deal of ground had been revealed in the tracks of his snowballs. The base was about five feet tall and about six feet wide, the middle three feet, and the top about two feet around. The snow person seemed to be leaning to look into a classroom that was currently empty.
Kelly crossed the grounds to find some branches in the woods that would work as arms. He returned and carefully added them to his snow person, one extending up towards the head, the other extended down to look like it was resting a hand on its hip. He dug up some stones to create eyes and a mouth, then tried to decide on the gender, always the hardest part for Kelly.
A classic black top hat sized for the snowman appeared in his hands. Kelly's legs stretched to allow him to easily place the hat. Next, a red scarf appeared in his arms and Kelly wrapped that around the neck. Returning to a normal height, Kelly looked up the snowman and decided it seemed a large gentleman was tipping his hat to whoever would be inside. Kelly then ran off inside, deciding he'd go to the cafeteria. He'd check on the condition of his snow-gentleman later on, after some food.

Yumi heard footsteps pass her room, but didn't pay attention enough to recognize the person's energy signature. Turning back to the window, Yumi hugged a blanket around her, curlling up in the windowsill. She soon drifted off and began to dream.

Yumi stood in the middle of a white field, with a snowfall heavy enough to block the horizon. It was dark, twilight, perhaps. Her dress was whipped about by the fierce wind that whistled through her ears, and her blood-red cloak gave little protection. Yumi felt her body shake, and watched as her hands turned blue. She had to find cover, or she'd freeze to death. There was nothing in sight but a field of white. If the snowflakes whispering past her face were not a lighter shade of white, Yumi would have thought herself blind. Choosing a direction, she began walking. She wandered for hours, it seemed. Every step seemed farther from anything. "Hello?!" She called into the white, her breath puffing out in a cloud that quickly dispersed. The wind was her only answer. She was alone, completely alone. More time passed, and Yumi began to give up on finding shelter.
Taking one last step, she heard the delicate crackling of ice breaking under her foot. The snow let up abruptly, giving her a clear view of the huge expanse of water in front of her. In the distance was a snowy building. The school. Help. Yumi broke into a run, not caring whether the ice would hold her or not. It was her only chance. The ice made a soft thump under her footfalls, as if something menacing were bashing against the underside again and again.
Yumi didn't know how long she ran, but soon the ice began to shake with every step. She slowed, fearful of falling through. A few more yards brought her to a crack, more than a foot wide. Walking on one side of it, Yumi saw something dark pass back and forth under the ice. Stepping back from the crack, she looked back to the school, which didn't even look closer. Seconds passed, turning into minutes. More cracks appeared, and Yumi did her best not to look into the dark water. The light had not fallen, instead it was simply white, sky and surroundings. Her breath ran raggard.
As she found fewer and fewer paths around the cracks, Yumi began to lose hope. She was going to die, and be left there, to sink into the lake when the ice melted. There was a loud boom, as if something enourmous had run into the ice with full force. The water in the cracks shook. Stopping, she waited for another sound. As she stood, small tentacles of ice began to wrap around her ankles, then up to her thighs. By the time she noticed the cold on her numb body, it was around her waist, the tentacles thicker than her arms. She couldn't move. She screamed, smashing her fists against the ice. Nothing worked. Darkness rose from the cracks, whooshing quietly as it neared her. Her voice disappeared, and she waited in horror as the darkness enveloped her. She couldn't move, couldn't scream. She was going to die, and she was alone.

Lounging on the windowsill, Yumi's limbs twitched, and she whimpered now and then as her dream grew to be a nightmare. She screamed once, loud and long, then toppled from the sill. Jolting awake, Yumi drew her blanket closer, fear gripping her. She backed into a corner away from the window, the snow falling lazily by scaring the wits from her. "Help me... Someone...." She whispered, shaking in terror.

Watching Rinsi come back in, she frowned.
"Mm, I think I'm going to run up to my room. Do some reading. You're welcome to come with me if you want." She smiled at the woman again, before turning and making her way up the stairs.
Walking past Yumi's room, she heard her whimpering? And.. whispering something. Frowning slightly, she stopped, and knocked on the door.
"Yumi, are you okay?" she called out softly.
Without waiting for her to answer, Nakya opened the door, and saw Yumi huddled in the corner. Quickly walking over to her, she crouched down.
"Are you alright Yumi?" she asked. Her concern was evident in her voice and on her face.
Yumi jumped as Nakya opened the door. She didn't look up, only continued staring out the window, her eyes wide.
"The snow, and Ice.... So... Dark.... Don't... Please don't...." She whispered, not registering that Nakya was speaking to her. "I don't... Want to go out there.... Please... don't make me go.... Out there...."
Seeing the fear in Yumi's face and hearing it in her voice, Nakya moved closer to her and took her in her arms.
"You don't have to go outside sweetheart. It's okay, you're safe here." She spoke in a calm, soothing tone. Sitting beside Yumi, she continued hugging her. She could feel Yumi's body trembling as she rubbed her back.
Yumi sat in Nakya's embrace whithout speaking for a long pause, her eyes not leaving the window. Soon she was able to think clearly enough to speak coherently.
"There was so much snow. And Ice. I was on the lake." She ripped her eyes from the window to look at Nakya. "The ice grabbed my legs, so I couldn't move... Then.... Something dark came out of the lake. All I could do was stand there, and try to scream." She was still shivering from the cold. I need a cigarette. Really bad." She muttered, not wanting to move either way.
"It's okay now. You were just dreaming." Hearing Yumi say she needed a cigarette, Nakya replied "No you don't. Why don't we go to my room? It's warmer there."
Standing up, she closed the window before lifting Yumi up. Yumi had always been light, so it was no problem for her to carry her. Walking out of Yumi's room, Nakya made it to her dorm. Opening the door, she walked in and laid Yumi on her bed, pulling the blankets up around her.
"Is that better?" Her concern was still showing on her face.
Yumi didn't complain when Nakya picked her up. She snuggled into the blankets when Nakya covered her, starting to feel the tips of her fingers again.
"Yeah, it's much better. Thank you, Nakya." Sitting up under the covers, she hugged her knees to herself, feeling the dream start to lose some of its terror.
"I don't know where that came from. It was horrible. It's all getting fuzzy now." Along with the cold and terror, her dream was slipping away.
"I'm sorry. To put you through this." She said, her cheeks still red. "I know you probably don't want to be near me..."
Smiling in relief, Nakya tucked some of Yumi's hair behind her ear.
"It's alright, Yumi. We'll figure it out after."
Hearing Yumi apologize, Nakya tilted her head to the side and gave Yumi a confused look.
"Why wouldn't I want to be near you, sweetie?" She sat beside Yumi, putting her arm around her, attempting to warm her up.
Yumi looked Nakya in the eye, a slight look of incredulous disbelief on her face.
"Are you serious? After how I acted toward you?"
She slipped lightly out of Nakya's embrace, hesitating a bit before moving, then knelt on the bed facing her. She narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out if Nakya was messing with her head.
"What happened to you hating me for not contacting you all summer?" She asked, sitting on her heels.

Watching Yumi pull away and listening to her words, a pained expression fluttered across Nakya's face.
"I shouldn't have said I hated you.. Either of you."
Taking a deep breath, she thought over how she was going to explain everything to Yumi.
"I was hurt, y'know? I felt as if, I was convenient when he wanted me there, and that`s why he didn`t phone me. I became an inconvenience. I know you tried to get him to phone me.. I just.. I don`t know, I`m sorry."
Her voice cracked as she looked away. Reaching up, she played with her necklace. It looked like a man`s chain, clearly not something Nakya would normally wear.
Yumi heaved a sigh.
"It wasn't like that at all. It was so much different."
Pausing for a moment, Yumi wondered what all Nakya had experienced in Ichio's flashback.
"What.... What did you see? When you were in Ichi's mind before, during Rinsi's class? Was it just him, or did you see any of my perspective?" She asked, not sure what exactly had happened in his mind. She'd been seeing her own flashback, which differed greatly from his.
Chewing her lip, Nakya carefully thought about her words.
"I saw you crying, a young Ichio laughing. A lightening storm. Burns. A hospital. I felt sadness, happiness and overwhelming pain." Pausing for a moment, she looked up at Yumi. "Did Ichio mean for me to see the memories? I mean, I don't know how he wouldn't know that I was still in his mind." Pain filled her eyes as she waited for Yumi's response.
Yumi couldn't stand the look in Nakya's eyes as she asked how Ichio could have missed the fact that she'd been in his mind as he remembered.
"I'm... not sure. He's been really weird since... what happened. He can still barely see. I think the lightning messed up his mind. It scares me. He dreams about it every night." She looked away, out the window.
"I think he's losing his mind. And... I think it's affecting me." She looked down to her hands, clenched tightly on her knees. She couldn't remember moving them.
"He tries to carry a gun everywhere. It's hard for me to stop him."
Frowning slightly at the confusion in Yumi's voice, Nakya reached out and took her hand.
"Do you think it would help if.. I talked to him?" Biting her lip softly, she began to think about what she would say to Ichio.
Yumi was silent for a long moment before answering.
"I think... It might. It depends, though on what I'm not sure." She said, an edge of unease in her voice.
Looking at Nakya's hand over hers, she cautiously spoke to Ichio.
Ichio, can you hear me? Do you want to talk to her? I'm sure it'll be better than the last time. I promise you. she whispered the last part, hoping he'd speak.
Yeah, whatever. He said without emotion.
"He said he will. Give me a moment."
Standing up away from the bed, she pulled energy from the air. Her dress elongated and became pants, her cape formed a jacket as well as her shirt. She backed from reality, slipping into Ichio's mind. His bones stretched, popping cartilage and straining muscles. Ichi stood to his full height, and turned to face Nakya.
"Hey." He said, not bothering to say more.
Withdrawing her hand from Yumi's, she sat back and waited. What was she going to say to him? Would he even listen? Or care? Sighing softly, Nakya looked up to see Ichio.
"Hey..." she said softly. "How are you?" She smiled slightly at him, hoping he wouldn't be too hard on her, though she knew she deserved it.
Ichio leaned against the wall near Nakya's bed, preparing himself to speak. A knock sounded, and he stayed where he was as Nakya answered the door. When she sat back down, he began.
"Well, apart from getting hit with enough lightning to power a city for a year, and finding out my girlfriend is now my ex, and with another guy, who she'd told me didn't hold much sway in her eyes, then decided to snub me without asking for an explanation, I'm pretty much good."
His voice was poison in his own mouth. He hated speaking like that to her, but he couldn't help himself. He could hardly control anything anymore.
Listening to the venom in Ichio's words, the tears that had been there before, slowly began to leak out. Reaching up quickly, she tried to dab them away before he noticed. Furrowing her brow, she cleared her throat, hoping it would make her sound stronger than she felt right then.
"I thought I had become an inconvenience to you.." she said, her voice no louder than a whisper.
That was the best she could do? Really? Where did the Nakya from the summer go? Where had all her confidence gone? Unable to say anything, she looked down at the bed, her hair falling in front of her face, as she tugged at her skirt.
Ichio didn't look at Nakya. His arms were folded tightly in front of his chest. He stared out the window as she spoke.
"An inconvenience? What in hell could have given you that idea?"
She was different now than he'd been when he'd arrived. She was meek, and blaming herself once more. He turned back to her, squeezing his arms tightly enough to bruise them. It was all he could do to keep himself from destroying something. He wanted to tear the room apart. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs. He tried to focus on her face, his eyes blurry, though whether it was with tears, or simply his damaged eyes, he didn't know. The only thing he felt was anger and pain from his arms.
Nakya flinched at Ichio's words.
"Because all summer I tried to get a hold of you. And Yumi. Neither of you got a hold of me, let me know what was going on! What the hell was I supposed to think? For all I knew, neither of you wanted to see me ever again!" she said, her voice breaking from the pain she felt. Staring at him through her tears, she asked "You knew I was still in your mind when you began remembering things, didn't you? How couldn't you have known?! I'm sorry if I hurt you. I didn't want to! You have to realize how I felt though. All god damn summer!"
She was yelling at him now. Whether it was from pain, or anger, or a bit of both, she wasn't sure.
Ichio stayed still as Nakya yelled at him. The only part of him that moved were his hands. They gripped his arms tighter and tighter. His nails dug into his skin, and by the time she'd cursed, there was blood beginning to pour down his arms. Jerking his nails free from his flesh, he stood straight.
"If I'd known you were in my head, I'd have shown you worse things than that." He said.
His head twitched to the side as he spoke. He looked down at the blood staining his fingers. Holding his hand over the carpet, he rubbed them together, as if he were trying to clean them off. Looking up at Nakya, he began to shake with anger. She was yelling at him, when he'd been the one in such pain, the one who'd had to take such a heavy burden. His eyesight blurred, and he saw red.
"You.... You're blaming me? For being in the hospital, unable to move for months?" He chuckled. "Fine then." he whispered, his vision completely red now.
He walked forward quickly. He knew he was directly in front of Nakya, he could feel it even if he couldn't see her.
"Scream. Feel the pain I felt." He shot one hand up to her throat, squeezing the sides so she could feel the pain and still breathe.
"Tell me why it hurts!" He yelled in her face.
Nakya stared at Ichio as blood began pouring from his arms. She moved to help him with the blood, until she heard his words. Staring at him in disbelief, she said
"That's not what I'm saying at all Ichio, you're completely misunderstan--!"
Nakya's words were cut short as Ichio grabbed onto her throat. Feeling the pain, she let out an ear shattering scream before looking him in the face, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"What are you..? Why..? Stop, please Ichio..!"
She struggled to speak around the pain. As she tried to focus her thoughts on Rinsi's or Ki'rio's, she realized her mind was too clouded with pain. She let out a whimper as the pain became worse. Her throat, raw from screaming, made nothing more than a whisper as she spoke.
"If you want to kill me.. do it now.."
She tried flicking her wrist, to control water, ice, something, but her mind was affecting that as well.


After a nice hot shower to warm her up, and a good night’s rest, Rinsi woke up feeling....exhausted. She had used a lot of energy the day before, but usually her energy would have returned by the end of the day at the latest. At first she couldn't figure it out, but then she remembered something. She had been playing out in the snow the day before with no jacket and no gloves. It was a wonder her hands were not frostbitten after building a snow man with no mittens on. Still, she dragged herself out of bed and got changed out of her pajamas. She felt too tired and run down to go jogging, so she headed straight for the cafeteria for some breakfast. Hot cereal sounded really good, especially with a nice hot cup of tea or coffee, or even hot chocolate. She didn't feel cold, but she felt like consuming warm foods would help a lot.
Min would be found in the cafeteria with a large plate of food in front of her, as well as a couple of scalding-hot mugfulls of hot chocolate. She took one cup in her hand and the steam that wafted up from it almost immediately disappeared due to the chill of her skin. She downed it quickly and began eating from her plate.
Min let her wings hang lax, just a little. She glanced up from her plate while she ate, looking at her surroundings quietly.
Upon reaching the cafeteria, Rinsi noticed a young woman with angel wings eating at a near by table. She remembered her face from earlier. She had seen her standing in the snow with nothing more than a summer dress and no shoes. She thought it was rather odd at first, but considering this was a school for 'odd people', Rinsi just figured it was her chemistry, that she was the type that loved the cold more than she did, and likely controlled it.
Rinsi dished up herself a bowl of hot oat meal and grabbed herself a cup of hot coffee. All that was added to the oatmeal was some honey, and a little cream and sugar for the coffee. Deciding that being a little run down was no excuse for not being sociable, she sat at the same table as the woman with the wings and smiled at her the best she could.
"Hey there!" she said cheerfully.
After a rather fruitless conversation with the angel woman, Rinsi took her dishes to the kitchen to be washed. In spite of the coffee, she was developing a rather bad headache, and her sinuses were beginning to get congested. She knew she had caught herself a cold, and hoped she would be able to get a nap in before her class, so she walked down the halls towards her dorm.
Just as she was passing Ichio's dorm, she heard an ear piercing scream. The worst part was that it sounded like Nakya. Afraid for her friend's safety, she threw the door open and ran inside. What she saw stunned her. She knew there was drama between the two teens, but hadn't thought that it would be so severe as to make Ichio try to kill Nakya. Thinking quickly, she spun and extended her staff so that her staff would meet at the nape of his neck - pinpoint with the GB20 pressure point, a headache reliever and knock out point - with the full force of her momentum.
Ichio's face became distorted as he heard Nakya's whispered words.
"Kill you?"
He laughed, his mind filled with nothing but hysterical screaming in his head. Yumi was doing her best to bring him out of it.
"Yumi would certainly love for me to kill you, but I have a better Idea."
He chuckled, his voice low and menacing. Before he had a chance to do anything more, the door burst open, Rinsi standing in front of it. He had almost no time to react before her staff connected with his neck, sending stars into his vision. She must have been going for knock-out, but he'd moved just enough to avoid full unconsciousness. Letting go of Nakya, he staggered back, tripping over his feet as he did so. He tumbled towards the window, flinging his hands back to catch himself. One connected with the thin glass, shattering it as he attempted to get his feet under himself. His brain wasn't working correctly. He took one more step backward, almost regaining his balance, and slid on a piece of broken glass. Falling even farther back, his other foot caught on the windowsill, and he saw sky above him, as well as air coursing about his form. He'd fallen out the broken window.
Oh. Shit. He managed to think before blacking out.