*Kicks statistics final*
Chapter 2
“So…” Clair was babbling on and on about how fun it was to summon and use magic, but Wataru was only listening with half an ear.
It wasn’t quite fair… it wasn’t, he wanted to learn too, but he wasn’t a true child of Blackthorn’s Dragon Clan, so…
“Isn’t that cool, Wataru?” She beamed excitedly at him. “Once Justin and I started training, the key got a lot more powerful!”
“Yes it is.” He lied with a bright smile, hiding his pain. She grinned and continued to babble on…
Ten years later…
“He did what?”
“Grandfather engaged me to Justin!” Clair whispered furiously. Wataru’s eyes were blinking rapidly as he attempted to process this flow of information.
“But aren’t you two related?”
“Yes! We’re first cousins! I don’t even like him! He’s an arrogant git! So what if he’s better than I am at the dragon key magic? And you know what’s worse? Once he marries me, the key automatically goes to him! We’ll have to ask his permission to use it! And I don’t want to be at someone’s beck and call for the rest of my life! He’ll probably – oh, I don’t know, but I don’t want to marry him! I cannot believe this!”
“Clair, calm down…” He motioned for her to breathe, and she complied huffily, taking several deep breaths.
“I can’t! It’s my future we’re talking about here! I cannot believe grandfather would do this to me!”
“What can I do to help then?”
“I don’t know…”
She looked at him with tear-filled eyes, and he sighed and held out his arms. He normally avoided human contact, but this was an exception. She needed comfort now…
Clair sobbed as she flung herself into Wataru’s arms. “It’s not fair…” She whispered brokenly…
“I know…”
Meanwhile, behind a tree… Justin had just come upon the last act of the previous scene with shock.
Clair is in love with Wataru? That nameless wanderer grandfather was so kind as to take in?
Oh, he didn’t like Wataru…. He’d felt threatened the first time he’d laid eyes on the other boy, so he went out of his way to taunt and threaten, but Wataru never retaliated, which took most of the fun out.
No matter.
How dare
he steal away my girlfriend! How dare he!
His eyes blazed with anger. He
hated Wataru. There was that one time when Wataru had come out of the dragon
shrine with his hands covered with blood, after grandfather had made him clean
the shrine again. Grandfather had passed it off as just too much scrubbing, but
he knew.
The dragon statue in the center of the shrine had bitten him. That meant he was an enemy to the family!
He hadn’t told, because Wataru only been eight at the time, but now he realized the truth. This boy – well, young man now, he had to be eliminated. He was dangerous!
He would go find grandfather immediately.
“Can’t you do something, Wataru?”
“What can I do?” He shrugged. “I’m a nameless wanderer, as they say. I have no special powers, only a Gyarados. If I attempted to run away with you, your grandfather would marshal the police and they would hunt us down….”
“I don’t know…”
He sighed as she finally stopped crying. “You could run.”
“I’m afraid to flee… but I don’t wish to marry Justin either.”
“It’s your life, Clair. I can’t make these choices for you.”
“I know…”
He was angry, he was shaking, and as he spilled out his story to his grandfather, the old man handed him the dragon key without a word.
Sometimes, it was better to let youth deal with themselves as well… However, he couldn’t deny a tinge of worry…
If this Wataru truly were an enemy, as Justin claimed, then they were in danger! He had been living with them, learning their secrets...
Clair had probably spilled her heart out to him.
What a dire situation!
Without a word, he abandoned his earlier meditative thinking, this bore dealing with! And he quickly raced outside to confront Wataru.
“Watch out!”
He barely dodged the swipe – what the – what was Justin doing? He had a key – it must be the dragon key – in one hand, and he was chanting…
“You absolute bastard! How could you do this to Clair?”
“What did I do?” He asked, but his only reply was a roar as Justin charged him again, and his eyes widened as the key suddenly became a blade… thin, rapier-like, set with a sapphire and steel wings…
“Justin, don’t!” Clair shouted. “Lance! Don’t let him hit you! That sword can cut through anything!”
“She’s right!” Justin laughed a bit madly. “So I’ll cut out your black heart right now! Quit moving!”
“He’s insane.” Wataru murmured, as he fled. He wasn’t exactly sure how to deal with a madman, but…
Suddenly, a wall of ice slammed down in front of him, freezing him in his tracks, literally. Coils of ice imprisoned his legs…
“Kill him quickly!”
“Grandfather, what are you doing?! Justin’s gone mad!” Clair cried, trying to regain some sense of the situation.
“He’s an enemy of our Clan! We’ve never noticed it before, but now his true colors are revealed!”
“What are you talking about, grandfather?” Clair pleaded.
“Don’t worry, child, we’ll undo his brainwashing! Just stay out of the way!”
“Finally, we can put things to right.” Justin landed neatly next to the trapped white-haired boy. “It’s over, Wataru.”
“What have I done?”
“You are an enemy of the Clan. The dragon statue in the shrine attacked you!”
He froze. “How-…”
“You do not deny it!”
“But I didn’t mean to….”
“It’s not a question of that! The dragon bit you on the hand, marking you our enemy!”
“But the dragon didn’t bite me-.”
“Silence! And now you attempt to lie? Administer the appropriate punishment for those who oppose us, Justin.”
“Yes, grandfather.”
“No!” Clair cried. “What are you doing? You’re going to kill him just like that?”
“Justice must be served.” The elder smiled. “Don’t worry. He can’t possibly run now, Clair. He’ll never be able to hurt you again.”
Clair’s scream was muffled as Justin drove the sword through Wataru’s chest with a sadistic smile…
End Chapter
Completed 5/16/05
Lance: *glares*
Ash: Oh no!
Phantomness: The fic’s not over yet. Bear with me please!
Shoyko: Ay, more darkfic?
Kairo: Looks it…
Pika-chan: Oh well…