Story: Ending Part 3
[[Continuity Note: So, we have a council meeting and it finishes.]]
As soon as the meeting was over, Damien left the room as quickly as possible, zooming away on a gust of wind. Alf left slowly, and met Jessica outside who was wondering why Damien had left so quickly. They waited outside the room for Rock who was taking his time, looking utterly depressed. Alf and Jessica each grabbed one of his arms and they headed to the conservatory to have a talk. Jessica hadn't been deemed important enough to attend the meeting so she needed a lot of filling in. Since Rock was in absolutely no mood to talk, it left Alf to explain the entire thing to Jessica.
"Basically," Alf began his summary of events. "The magi-scientists studied our magic and discovered that it was all the same."
"But that's impossible," Jessica breathed, incredulous. "Surely that was a mistake?"
"No," Alf stated. "It's actually because our magic isn't normal. It's a mixture of all the extra magic that's come out of your family since they've been living here. And since it ran out of things to do, it went looking for people to help. People being me, Rock, and Damien. So basically we've only got borrowed magic. It's not going to last forever like yours will. It will eventually run out; even faster if we use it."
"Oh," Jessica frowned. "So the three of you will be back to normal one day?"
"Yes," Alf confirmed. "Back they way we were before this all started. Worse off, I think. Because the magic's been healing us the entire time we've been alive, pretty much."
"Oh," Jessica looked at the ground, trailing her fingers along the stone bench she was sitting on. She then stood, not making eye contact with Alf. "I've got -ah- things to take care of," she said, before running away.
Alf stared after her, wondering what could possibly be so important. He looked at Rock. "So," he said. "What's the matter with you?"
Rock just laughed. It was a mocking, hysterical sort of laugh. The sort of laugh that had that empty ridiculing sound of hyenas, not the cheerfulness of kookaburras. "What do you think?" he finally spat, a look of contempt on his face. Though Alf wasn't entirely certain that it was aimed at him.
Alf looked at him blankly and shrugged.
"Of course," Rock nodded to himself. "You don't think."
And for some reason, that little insult cut Alf deeper than any Rock had ever thrown at him before. Even deeper than any he'd said when they weren't friends. And maybe it was because they were friends now. It's easy to ignore someone who doesn't matter. They can't hurt you if they don't know you. Rock was blocking him out. Jessica too, if he thought about it. Maybe even Damien, with the speed he'd left the ballroom. He didn't want them to shut him out. Weren't they all friends in the end?
"You don't know what it's like," Rock started. "To be an outcast within your own family. And to be worse than an outcast, really. Because everyone looks at you with pity. It might have been better if people had just ignored me. And then I had it. Magic. The one thing that would make me the same as them. And then they call us all in there and tell us that it's going to go away. It's only temporary, borrowed. It sucks, Alf, you know? It sucks big time." He let out a half-hearted chuckle in response, as though not believing his own awful luck. The irony of the situation. The way the fates played with them.
And Alf didn't know what to say in response. How could he reassure Rock that everything would all be okay, that losing your magic wasn't the end of the world? Surely his family loved him. Would continue to love him? But Rock had felt so unloved before, and surely it was the same thing. How could he tell Rock that no magic wasn't the end of the world, when he wasn't sure that even he believed that himself?
But he wouldn't pity him. That was the one thing that Rock hadn't wanted. He wouldn't. So it disturbed Alf when the only thing that could come out of his mouth after that was "I'm sorry."
And the disbelieving look on Rock's face was all it took to shatter Alf completely. Why had it all gone so badly? How had it all gone so badly.
[[End scene.]]
posted by Cedric @ 8:28 am
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