Magick's Spiffy Fic Chapter 1: The Beginning
The Beginning
It was a small price to pay for her freedom-- a young girl, deserted now, alone... she had
become too unruly, and too vicious. Her violent tendancies had caused more than just one
reason for her desertion.
She was sorry now, sorrier than she had been in the longest time... she was cold, and
worst off, damp. The snow gently fell around her as she paced irregularly, shuffling a
couple steps, limping, then shuffling again, sprinting a step. Her cold, grey eyes
surveyed what was around her, looking for any sign of human life. Trees rose up in a
horrid pattern, wicked branches seeming to stretch for her and make her abandon her hope
to the cold.
She whimpered as she started an upward incline, thorns making her face smart as they
sprung back and forth, tearing her meager blanket and wrapping into her hair. Branches
scraped her, and welts formed from abuse. She was so very alone...
Angrily, she whipped her blanket up and around her, ripping off the branches that so
mercilessly tormented her. Thorns scratched her face and hands even more, and she stopped
finally, panting, and continued on. Her obvious wounds were surfacing, but her
emotional ones..
"STOP IT! No, don't-"
"Your screams amuse me so much... "
"NO!"
The girl huffed silently, now pacing down the slope of the small hill. Her fortune had
turned sour with The Death card, the great change that did, in fact, bring the bony
horseman forth. She stopped a moment, looking down at The Sun card, the clarifier of
vision and the knowledge-bringer. Her goal was so close, and so far, far away...
Gripping it close to her heart, she placed it in a vest pocket safely before she
continued. Furiously fuming, warming her cheeks, she let tears spill down her face in
anger. She hadn't cried for years, but now, she felt more than inclined to.
She had lost the game. The one game that mattered. Life.
The sun card warmed her sternum, and she kept thinking.
Love. The second leg of her guilt.
"Why don't you love me?!"
"Because no person will ever love you. And by this, you are forever doomed to live
alone."
"Why.. can't.. you.. "
She tripped over a stray branch. Falling on her face, she grabbed the snow in both hands,
pulling it towards her, then away as it continued to fall, looking like a crown on her
petite head. Her eyes were slowly closing, and she was unable to stop them from doing so.
Sighing deeply, she brought her knees to her chest and hugged them, thinking to herself of
her last guilt.
Abandonment.
It echoed like a hiss in her mind, burning like an inner fire. Abandonment. Abandonment.
Aboandonment! She was the one who had comitted the vile act, the act upon her own pokemon
as she thought of the helpless look on it's face as she left it behind. It had followed
for a while, but the abuse of the elements had become too much for it. The poor Eevee had
simply given up.
In the distance, she looked up to see a warmth-giving house, pale in color, matching the
snow. Frowning, she closed her eyes again, thinking how close she was. She could have been
there by now, alive and well and welcomed by unknown arms, but now she was only a dead
girl, stiff as a board in the snow.
Oh, she regretted so much, and she couldn't do anything about it now. She was afraid of
death, certainly, and she could just see it now, the pale horseman, the bony hand bearing
the flag, the charred armour... she weakly fumbled with her vest pocket, and brought out
The Sun card. The Sun's cherubic figure smiled warmly on her, and the last thing she saw
was the yellow of the pretense warmth that the card brought her.
* * *
Jeff looked at his cards. He glared at the two aces, willing them somehow to change their
form and become his winning other two. Then, he stared into his opponent's face, which
gave no relent. Adam restrained a smile, as far as Jeff could see, and bit his lower lip.
Jeff sighed, laying his cards down and saying in a bored tone, "I fold. Whatcha
got?"
Adam's grin finally broke over his face. "Royal flush. Again."
"AGAIN?!?" Jeff shouted, standing up and pounding the table with an aggravated
fist. "Son-of-a-"
"Aht!" broke in Adam. "Watch your damn language, you hick!"
Jeff grimaced, giving a little glare to his opponent. "I don't owe you anything, and
I'm not a friggen' hick, you hick. 'Sides, I needed a little mountain air anyways. It's
too stuffy in here, alright?"
Adam shrugged, his short blond hair reflecting the firelight eeriely. "Suit yourself,
man. I'm not going outside. Too damn cold, you know?"
Jeff shrugged slowly, stretching a moment before he rolled a shoulder, putting a hand to
it. He gave a last glance to the now fretting Adam, who pored over his money carefully.
Jeff stepped outside quickly, shrugging his shoulders to hunch a bit. Keeping out the cold
was important in this weather. Closing the door behind him, he shivered as he stared out,
squinting his eyes a bit.
Snow was falling, and it slowly covered the top of is head. He brushed it off with an
annoyed sniff, and continued looking out. Crossing his arms, he ventured off the steps of
the household, looking further out. Something wasn't right...
He peered closely at a shape near a cluster of trees. Perhaps a root? He began walking
over there, at a deliberately fast pace, and slowly nudged the black shape with his foot.
It gave a sigh of exhaust, and furrowed it's brows. He gasped, "What the hell!?"
It opened it's eyes, and stared up at him. He was paralyzed a moment, it's eyes a dingy
grey, near dishwater colour, and it's hair was long and black. He peered longer into those
same eyes, then roamed over it's body, finally classifying it as a girl. She did nothing,
simply waited there, her lips blue with the cold, her eyes watering and red.
He knelt down, touching a hand to her cheek. It was colder than the snow that was falling,
and he immdiately felt concern. The girl was holding out a card numbly, and as he stared,
he saw it fall. She looked at him, and, placing a hand on his forehead, whispered softly,
"Help me... "
He picked up the card, and with his rather gangly height, he picked her up. She was rather
light, almost anorexically so, and she closed her eyes once more, her head lolling to the
side. He kept her close to his chest, and started hurrying towards his house, the card in
hand. He looked down at it again, portraying a nude child, smiling, riding a white steed,
the sun rising behind the two. A yellow banner covered the bottom of the card, along with
the top, stating in rather looped, bold writing, "Sol". Curiouser and curiouser,
he thought, stepping onto the porch and hitting the door with the flat of his palm.
Adam came to the door. "The hell is it now, Jeff.. what the hell? Is that a drowned
rat or somethin'!? Jeez, don't do that again!" He ran his fingers through his hair.
"You gonna give it a burial or something? That's wrong, Jeff, really wrong."
Jeff glared at Adam a moment. "It's a girl."
"A GIRL?!?" shouted Adam. "She's so skinny... and you're so tall... jeez...
" He lifted a damp arm, then dropped it immediately. "She's cold. Really cold.
You'd better get her something to wear, and fast, before she freezes her ass off... "
"I know that, stupid," Jeff hissed, and moved to start climbing the stairs. He
gently set the girl at the base of them, frowning more than ever as he loped up the set.
"Get her dry," he called back down.
Adam made a face, mumbling, "Get her dry! Since when does he become the leader around
here? Damn hick.. " He winced slightly, looking over the pale blue form. Sighing, he
murmured, "Sorry dear, only way for you to get dry."
He reached for her vest button, undid it, and continued along the way. He lifted a
trembling hand to her shirt collar, averting his eyes...
An icy grip caught his wrist. "Don't... touch that." He yelled, jumping out of
his chair and reaching for his pocketknife. He drew it, staring evenly at the girl who now
had opened her eyes, blinking in the sudden warmth. Glaring at her garments, she shivered,
and moved off the chair to sit in front of the fire.
"Holy fuckin'... you're not human! No way you could be alive.. "
The girl turned eyes on him again, sending shivers up and down his spine. "Well, I
am. Sorry to dissapoint you." She turned away again, warming her hands.
Jeff was just appearing back down the stairs. "Good job, Adam," he snorted.
"Now she's mad at you."
"Me? What did I DO?!" yelled Adam, and flung out an arm at the girl. "I
don't even know her name!!"
The girl scoffed quietly.
"Just shut up, Adam. No point in pursuing this further," Jeff said, narrowing
his eyes with a grin. "'Sides, she has a mouth. And we're talking about her as if she
isn't here. She is, and very much so."
"So, why doesn't she talk? I mean, the only words she's said have been a death
threat, how am I supposed to like her, let alone HELP her?"
Jeff sighed, pressing a finger on his temple. "You're giving me a headache, so quit
it." He turned to the girl, who was now backed up against the couch and hunching her
shoulders aggresively. "What's your name, miss?"
The girl scoffed again. "Why don't you just call me 'Death threat'?"
Jeff whirled on Adam, pinning him against the wall. "Damnit, Adam! You mouth got us
in even MORE trouble!"
Adam choked a moment, fighting back the urge to kick his friend in a very weak male spot.
"I have not!" His legs now dangled as Jeff pushed him up the wall, touching the
top of his head to the ceiling. "Stoppit! Jeff, stoppit!"
Jeff glared at him, and let him drop the seven feet. Turning to the girl once more as his
friend got up and mumbled several threats and curses under his breath, Jeff said,
"Please. We only want to help. You can trust us."
"No I can't," came the immediate reply, harsh and mocking. "I can't trust
anyone. But I'm not cruel. So I just won't tell you my name. I'll spare you that
aggravation."
Jeff winced slightly, and Adam elbowed him in the side. "Er, well... here." He
stepped over, handing the girl a large, dark green sweater. "Just take it with you.
You can wear it wherever, we don't mind the loss."
Adam rolled his eyes, going off into the kitchen set that was set up for the small home.
Jeff raised an eyebrow as the girl took it gingerly, as if it were going to bite her, and
placed it over her slightly soggy clothing. "Thanks," she mumbled. "I'll be
going." She got up, shaking off the blanket that she had carried, and walked to the
door, opening it only after she had picked up her small silver backpack.
Jeff rushed to the door. "You can't go yet! And besides, this is yours." He
handed her the 'Sol' card, and smiled nervously.
The girl looked down at it, snatched it from his hand, and in an entirely new, haughty
tone, said, "Thanks." She swept out the door with more than ungraceful ease,
moving quickly through the snow as she paced and stomped through it, quickly becoming
barely a small, black dot on the horizon.
Adam came back, holding two cups of hot cocoa. Wrinkling his nose disdainfully, he asked
nastily, "So she left? Good riddance, I say."
Jeff merely watched through the window. "She was with us for so little, but somehow I
know she'll be just fine out there."
Adam shrugged, moving closer to Jeff. "Beats me. She just creeps me out,
y'know?"
Jeff managed a disdainful glare at his friend. "She had a 'Sol' card. Do you know
what that means?"
Adam gave him a meaningful glance before sipping his hot chocolate carefully. "Hot..
and no. I don't. Personally, I don't really care."
Jeff rolled his eyes before taking the other mug of hot cocoa from his best friend.
"Sol. Sol means Sun. And in that, it means the Tarot cards. Maybe she's
psychic?"
Adam sneered, his lip curling. It's none of MY concern.. why do I care?" A
marshmellow stuck to his nose as he looked at his friend. Crossing his eyes, then swatting
it away, he smiled to his friend somewhat cockily. Jeff looked at him, simply staring with
an even gaze before he looked away, out the window to where he could no longer see the
girl.
"Look Jeff, I really don't care what happens. What does it matter if she even WAS
psychic?" said Adam crankily.
Jeff snorted. "It means there could be trouble sometime soon."
"And exactly HOW do you know this?"
Jeff gave another glance to his friend. "I'm just smart that way."