Battle of the Elements

I stood outside the palace walls. I’m a… Dad? I was scared. I didn’t know how to be a dad! My father was never good to me, he shunned me for most of my life until the High Seine said I was special, that I had more powers than I was supposed to. He then treated me like I was the best thing in the world, but it wasn’t real.

I don’t want this kid to go through the same hell I did. I knew Titania wouldn’t give it up – and neither would I – so I made a vow. I would be the best father to this child. Because, even though I had never had a father – or a stable family for that matter – I wanted this child to be brought into a good home.

Bridgette rounded the corner with a man, saw me and frowned.

She walked towards me, making the man trail her. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

I blurted it out before I could even think about what I was doing, – Bridgette had a tendency to make me do that, and ‘you trust me too much’ she would say – “Titania’s pregnant.”

Bridgette’s eyes widened, “Woah.”

I nodded, “Who’s that?” I said, trying to change the subject.

Bridgette grabbed the man’s hand, “This is my fiancé, Dane.”

Dane smiled and held out his hand for me to shake it, I did.

Dane’s eyes widened, “For such a pale buy you have a strong grip.”

“This pale boy went through years of training, not to mention some torture.” I said.

Dane let go of my hand, “Right, sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for.”

After that it was just silence. Did he know that Bridgette and I had a thing once?

Bridgette rolled her eyes, “Ugh, so Shane! I didn’t know you and Titania were a thing. How long has that been happening?”

She was trying to change the subject away from her fiancé, “Since the labs. We were cellmates.”

“I thought you were waiting for the girl who helped you in the woods.”

I scratched the back of my neck, “Yeah, that was a lie. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

She shrugged, “Ok.”

Melanie

I walked into the library. This one was bigger than Katy’s. It was three stories – the floors of the upper stories had been knocked away, so it was one story that used to be three.

I ran my finger over the spines of books as I walked past them. I looked to the man with Dark hair and blue eyes who sat at the table, reading about plants. I walked over to him and leaned on the table, “Hey Harrison.” I said, startling him.

“Hey Melanie, you scared me a little.” He said before going back to his book.

“You shouldn’t avoid people, you know, it makes them feel bad.” I said.

He didn’t look up from the book, “Who are you talking about, you or Titania?”

“Both. Why haven’t you gone to see her?”

“I figured she should get her rest.”

“You figured she doesn’t want to see you because she has a new boyfriend.”

He froze, “Perhaps.”

“You are such a hypocrite.” I said, poking him in the chest.

“Maybe I am, but I did not go on with our… relationship.”

I flicked my hair and rolled my eyes, “And that brings us to, why you are avoiding me. It didn’t mean anything, we already made that clear.”

“Crystal.” He said – he hadn’t looked me in the eyes since I got here, that kind of annoyed me.

“So why are you acting all weird?” I crossed my arms.

“Because, everything else is weird.” He said with a sigh, “No one is talking about what happened. We’re acting as if this is normal. It’s not normal, Melanie. Our friend just got back from the labs. With a new boyfriend, whom is a Black Magi no less! None of this is normal, we all need to talk. And I know you feel the same way, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”

I froze, he was right, of course he was. But I didn’t want to spoil everything. We were all just pushing past what happened like it was nothing.

He sighed and looked up from his book, “I need to get back to work, Melanie. We can talk later.”

Ah yes, he had to get back to working for Titania’s father – that wasn’t the slightest bit awkward.

But I left him alone anyway.

Titania

I felt the sun on my face. I felt the material of my dress move against my flesh – after a few ‘tests’ they had let me change into my natural form. Now I was walking around in the sunlight. The outside area was a bit better than the cell. The sun was out, and there were trees and plants. I felt almost relieved to see a few trees scattered around the dull area.

They had given me a small, leather satchel were I could place some things – nothing that could be used to harm anyone, and the bag must be checked daily, but it was good to have. Inside my satchel was a few pieces of fruit, some bandages and herbs, and a handkerchief.

I spotted Shane walking through the gardens and walked towards him. He didn’t seem to notice me until I talked to him, “Um, can I walk with you?”

He rolled his eyes, “Isn’t that what you’re doing?”

I felt my cheeks turn pink, “Oh, I guess.”

He nodded. I took that as a yes.

“So, what are you? If you don’t mind me asking.”

He gave a smirk and a slight laugh, “That’s kind of rude, don’t you think?”

“Sorry.” I said, looking at the floor. I bumped into something hard and looked up to see a large, scarred-faced man. He growled at me – actually growled – and I felt my cheeks flush red. “I’m so sorry.”

The man didn’t seem to like my apology though, so he raised his fist and started to bring it down on me when I saw a hand hold the man’s fist away from me.

I looked to the owner of the hand. Shane was glaring daggers at the man as he held up the man’s arm with only one hand. “Leave her alone.” He said in a warning voice.

The man didn’t listen. He raised his other fist and sent it straight into Shane’s jaw. Shane stumbled backwards and flicked his hand towards the man.

A spike of darkness flew at the man, slicing into his shoulder. The man screamed in pain as the darkness sank into his flesh. Shane gripped my wrist roughly and dragged me away from the bleeding man.

Shane sat down at a small table, pulling me down next to him. There were three people at the table. The first was a scrawny girl with big, blue eyes, pale skin and blond hair. The second was a broad man with dark skin and inky eyes. And the last was a woman, she had large breasts and a thin waist, her hair was black and she had vibrant, purple eyes.

Shane introduced them vaguely as Jade, Romanis and Vivian.

Vivian laughed and flicked her long, thick hair over her shoulder, “I’m sure you’re curious as to what we are.” she tapped her long fingers against the metal table, “Jade here is a water elemental, Romanis is a werewolf and I’m a wizard – my power is like a siren, I lure them in before I take the kill.”

I felt my heart skip a beat, not sure if she was joking.

She paused a moment before cracking up in hysterical laughter. Still, I had no idea if she was joking or not.

I looked at Shane but he didn’t give me so much as a glance as he looked into the distance.

I stood up from the table, “Excuse me.” I said as I left the group.

I saw Shane raise his eyebrows slightly, but he remained seated.

I heard Vivian mumbling “Wow, you’re cellmate is a buzzkill. I feel sorry for you.”

I didn’t turn around though. I just kept moving, eventually making my way to one of the trees. I slumped down under it, holding back the tears. In one day, I had been stripped of my clothes in front of strangers, tortured, almost got into a fight and had been humiliated.

I felt someone sit down beside me, “I didn’t look.” Shane mumbled.

I made a puzzled expression, “Huh?”

“When they stripped you. I didn’t look.” He said in all seriousness.

I almost laughed, “Thank you.”

“I’m sorry this happened to you.” He said after a moment. We didn’t look at each other, we just stared at the rock wall that surrounded the perimeter of the labs.

“So am I.” and that was the truth, if only I hadn’t been so worried for Alex. If only I hadn’t gone and tried to save him from Indi when she threatened me, I could still hear her words. ‘If you don’t do this for me,’ she said, ‘I’ll kill him, slowly, and I’ll make sure he knows you had a chance to save him.’

Those had been the words that made me ruin my own life. And for that, I was truly sorry.

Titania

Shane and I held hands as we walked down the path. It was the most beautiful part of the kingdom, in my opinion. The creek stretched farther than the castle walls, it went through them and out the other side. There was a big, open area of grass where people lay, sat and walked. Dogs were running around after each other, families sat on blankets together.

“My father and I used to come down here all the time when I was little.” I said.

Shane smiled, “I can see why. It’s beautiful here.”

“It is.” She saw a little boy with his father down by the creek’s edge. The little boy – maybe one or two years old - was laughing and pointing at his dog as it startled all of the duck when it jumped into the water, the dog left the water and shook the water off his coat and all over the father.

Shane smiled slightly, “Is that going to be me in a year or two?”

I laughed, I knew how much it scared him to think of settling down, leaving the adventure behind him. “Maybe.”

“I think I would be cooler than that. And the dog would be better behaved.” He said lightly.

I laughed, “I don’t know, we could have a girl.”

Shane wrapped his arm around my waist, “If we have a girl, you need to educate me on how to deal with her when she’s a teenager.” He said.

“What’s your favourite age?” I asked.

Shane thought for a moment, “Probably four, they can talk but they aren’t sarcastic. You?”

“Two. It’s like being a celebrity, only there are no people hating you. You’re their hero.” I said. The father had scooped up the little boy and was carrying him on his shoulders.

Shane leaned in and kissed my cheek, “You’re more like a goddess.”

I smiled, but then a thought came to me that made the smile vanish. “Shane, what if the baby has magic?”

I felt Shane tense up, “Then we leave. We go somewhere it can never be touched by anyone who wants to hurt it.”

I shook my head slightly, “But where?”

He let go of my waist, instead he placed his hands on my cheeks, “Don’t you worry about that. We’ll come up with something.”

I smiled at him, but I still didn’t feel any better.