Chapter 55

February 21, 2002 – 21:35

"Oh, that's a good question!"

"I mean, perhaps you don't really have that kind of story, but from what I gathered so far, you do have a reputation, and you just confirmed having a lot of enemies, so someone out there is bound to have a story to tell out of spite."

"I do have that kind of story, and I can see some of my enemies coming to you that way."

"I'm listening. I'm only asking for one."

"I was 15, in my 6th year of elemental school. That year, I qualified for the World Elemental Tournament, with Vic and some other students. It was hosted by an American elemental school. There was a combat competition. Two competitors would fight each other to submission, using magic and hand combat skills. The other competitors would form a circle around them."

She paused and watched patrons driving in and out of the parking lot, remembering the incident.

"During the quarterfinals, Victoria fought Reggi Nezo, a fire mage. He won, but after the battle was over, he didn't stop. She was on the ground, and no longer fighting back, but he kept going. For some reason, the referee didn't intervene. I told him to back off, but he didn't listen. I wanted to make him stop, so I took a step forward. I put my hands in front of me, palms facing each other."

She turned back to face Frank and look at her hands while she recreated the movement to show him and dropped them back so he wouldn't think she was currently doing it to him.

"His back was facing me, so I couldn't enter his mind to force him to step away from Victoria, but I wanted to do it. However, I managed to use the energy surrounding him to control his movements like a puppet and forced him to turn around. I told him to fight me instead. The referee stepped in at that moment, so I interrupted the spell I was doing and stepped back."

"Wait, so you were trying to save Vic's life?"

"That was the goal. The referee sent Victoria to the infirmary and Reggie got disqualified from the entire event. Sullivan, his dad, went mad and argued that not only I acted out of turn, but also used a forbidden skill in a tournament. He argued that I entered his mind to control him because that's what it looked like from the stands, so that also got me disqualified. I didn't enter his mind, but I wanted to, so I didn't protest it, I didn't care enough about the tournament."

"Yeah okay, that definitely answered my question. You can enter into people's minds? And control them even without hijacking their mind?"

Coralis' story made him question whether she did that to him but thought that if she had done that, there was no way that she would have told him that story and would have picked a different one. He admitted to himself that he was impressed beyond words that she would scrap her standing in the event just to save her friend's life.

"I can enter into people's minds and souls, yes, I did it for the first time when I was 14, to destroy a nemesis who was targeting me because of my parents, but in case you wonder, I never done it to you and would never. I never used magic on humans, although there are people out there who'd want me to."

"If you did that while at school, I think I understand better why you got recruited so young to do what you do."

"When the EBEE started chasing me, I wanted nothing to do with them, but I was also hunted by people who wanted me to follow in my parents' footsteps. I had to pick a side."

"I want to know more about that, but if we don't want to spend the entire night outside, I guess that'll be a question for another night."

"Didn't you say that you had three questions for me?"

"Oh yeah, I wasn't sure at first if I was going to ask the third one, figuring that I'd see depending on how you'd answer the first two, but I decided to ask it anyway. When I asked you to move in with me, you said you had two conditions. We went over the first one. What is the second one?"

"It can't be an apartment in a building like your dorm. Way too many people. It has to have its own entrance. A triplex like what Victoria rented is fine, but no other type of shared entry. If you worry about the cost, don't, it's no issue for me to cover the entire rent, regardless of the cost."

Her hologram tried to go off. She took a few steps into the forest behind her and turned her back to the parking lot to answer it. She didn't mind Frank overhearing what would be said, but didn't want the bar patrons watching. Panjik came out of it.

"Blue Thunder, we need you in Winnipeg right now for a meeting."

"I'll be on my way. Do I need to pick up Eva?"

"Yes, please. She'll be waiting for you by the eastern border of The Goddess Gems pack."

The holographic call disconnected. She looked at Frank.

"Well, I need to get going. You can ask anything you want about me to Sebastian and Victoria. Your sister knows a lot, but she doesn't know much about my past."

"That night you started opening up about your world, I noticed how Sebastian kept calling you Blue, so I asked her about it, thinking maybe it was a codename. She couldn't tell me the story behind it, saying you wanted to tell me first, when that day would come. Honestly, that meant a lot."

"Victoria knows that story, I don't mind her telling you. I don't mind your sister knowing… but yeah… when she asked, I didn't feel it'd be right to tell her all about my past when you didn't even know about what I am."

"Can you please stop by my place when you're done? I have a class tomorrow morning, but it doesn't matter what time it'd be… unless you think you'd be back while I'm in class?"

"I have no idea, but sure, if I get back in town before your class, I'll meet you at your place. I'll call you before leaving Winnipeg."

She pulled her stick keychain out of her cloak and changed its form. She was about to jump on it when he grabbed her right arm with his left one and pulled her against his chest. With his right hand, he held her chin and kissed her, and she returned it.

"I still love you, by the way," he said when she stepped back to take off.