A Tale of Fire and Water

The Fight

“What the hell do you mean, you don't have any cigarettes?”

         Dustin stood in the tiny shop, a small cube about 10 feet around, sopping wet from the downpour outside. Emily was leaning against the wall behind him, trying to decipher the scrawled language below the shelf of perishables. Really, this writing was horrible, the penmanship so egregiously awful that even looking at it made her head spin. She shook her head, looking away, and decided to listen to Dustin bitch about his damn cigarettes.

         “Look, you're the first person in the entire time I've run this store that has wanted those portable suicides badly enough to complain about it. That means no, I don't have your effing smokes. Go check in-”

         “Bullshit. I know you have some cigs stashed somewhere.”

         “Sir, keep going on like this, and I'm going to have to throw you out.”

         “Don't need to. I'm leaving. C'mon.”, he left the store, dragging Emily by her arm back outside into the heavy rain that had started to pour.

         “What are you doing?”, Emily stammered. “This damn rain just started, and you storm out right into it! I've got better things  to do than get wet.”

         “And worse things to worry about than a little rain.”

         “Oh, so now you're all wise. I get it.”

         Dustin pulled up the hood of his now plain cloak, a weathered ugly thing that looked like it had been through every mud puddle in the country, the varying shades of brown and black transferring so slowly it was hard to notice the change. He was grinning though. Sure, he didn't get any cigarettes, but really, he hadn't expected to. And now, it was raining, just like he needed it to. “You don't understand,” he put his arm around her shoulder, and pulled her close to him so he could whisper. “The floodgates open in a downpour like this. That's our way out!”

         Emily looked at him. “The guards know our faces?”

         Dustin shifted so he could see her through the corner of his eye. And nodded.

         “So take them on! I've seen you fight before, you could take on a couple guards easy!”

         Dustin shook his head. He couldn't tell her he was a Water elemental yet, because once they started to get closer to Arden, she would hear the stories. And he really couldn't risk having her run out on him when he finally had found a way to end it. “I had the surprise on those guys. They know it's me, and they're probably just as fast. I'd be outnumbered.” He now looked straight at her, and reached behind her neck to pull her hood up. “And besides, this ways more fun, eh?”

         He kept walking through the city for a while. Emily could remember what it was like the first time she had seen it. They had wound up in the sewers, after following that secret passage, emerging onto the river that ran quickly through the narrow bars of a floodgate, surprising Dustin, and trapping them in the city.  Though Emily was grateful to Dustin for his attempted rescue, so far his plan wasn't living up to most of her great expectations. “Do you really know what we're going to do? Once we get out, I mean?”

         Dustin looked at her. “I know what you're gonna do. Me, I'm not so sure.”

         “What do you mean?”

         Dustin looked away from her, checking to make sure no one was nearby, turning his head constantly, while telling her. “Listen, there's no way I'm getting into Arden. They'd rip me to shreds before I got through the gates. You, they don't care about, hell, they'll probably like you. Me, they hate my guts. You need to get there on your own, but I'll take you as far as I can.”

         “How am I supposed to get there then?”, Emily asked. “And what are you going to do? You broke me out, they probably hate you too, now.”

         Dustin scratched the back of his head, obviously agitated, still not looking at her, but around the empty street. “Yeah, well, I'll figure it out...”

         Emily examined him. He didn't expect to survive long, that was evident just by his body language. Maybe even beginning to regret freeing her.

         Dustin bit the corner of his lip. “Okay, now. Let's go.”

         The river had grown exponentially, and it was apparent from the current that swimming would not be necessary for movement, but to stay afloat. Emily laughed. “So now what, we just jump in?”

         Dustin wasn't there. She saw him bobbing above the surface 10 feet away, motioning to her. She sighed. Too bad Leon wasn't here. He'd probably have no trouble jumping into some random roaring body of water. All she did was think back to all the books she had read about drowning, currents, and people sucked into undertows. “Shit.” She said. Maybe that's what he always meant by being too smart for my own good. She took a deep breath, and jumped. reminiscence
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         Leon woke up, but kept his eyes shut. The ship was no longer rumbling, they must have landed while he was asleep. It's funny, he could remember the fear he had felt just a week ago, when his plane took off, and now he could sleep through the damn thing. He realized that the book Andy had given him was on the floor, binder spread open. Must have fallen asleep while reading it. Sitting up, he noticed how sore his body was, it refused to move for about a second when he told it to. Like after a 500 meter freestyle, when he got out of the water, his arms and legs weren't jelly, they just had were lazy when he tried to move them. Leon grinned. Henry used to laugh at him after every distance event he swam. Why don't you just give up on the endurance? He used to say. You just split 1:10's, and your 100 sprint time is 52 flat! That's an 18 second difference! Leon missed the friendly aspects of swimming. The idea that he was the sprinter of the team, a specialist, and together with the distance swimmers, the IM specialists, they all worked together to win their respective events, and came together as a team. He sighed. That chapter of his life was over, and no amount of reminiscence would change the steady flow of time.

         When he stood up, he rotated his injured arm, stretching the muscles out. An pointless motion, without a need to swim, why would he need to be loose? Still, he went through his stretch routine, out of habit, more than anything else. That part of his life was over, sure, but he could still stretch. He went through his breathing exercises too. A joke on the team was that Leon did yoga before every race. Really, he had picked it up from his brief stint as a tuba player in his school band. Hyperventilating before an important race let him go longer without needing to breathe, because his blood already had a lot of oxygen in it. It also let him hold out those air guzzling tuba notes a little longer. Leon felt his lungs expand, and realized he was doing it wrong. Repositioning himself before repeating the exercise, he raised his hands above his head, imagining their position represented how much air was in him. He felt his diaphragm expand. Now in a tight streamline, he locked his hands together, tucking his thumb over the back of his left hand, and took in a little more air. He lost it, his arms dropped to his sides, and he started coughing. “Guess I need to get back in the water for a bit before I do that again...”, he choked.

         Bouncing to the mirror making sure his limbs were loose, he looked himself over in the mirror. He needed to shave soon, or else he'd have an actual beard on him, and he wasn't ready for that shock just yet. He saw the book on the floor, and decided to put it in his bag. He'd read some more later. He put on his shirt, yawning, and left his room.

         Bending down as he passed through the doorway to the ships “cockpit.” He saw West messing around with some controls. “You mind me trying to help out, Sid?” Leon asked. “I feel like I'm going to go nuts if I don't do something productive soon.”

         Westturned in his seat, his black goggles reflected the sunlight beaming through the windows. “Sure thing. Here, I'll try to teach you how this old thing works.”

         Leon took a seat next to him. “Where'd everyone go?”

         “Hmm,” West was looking intently at the buttons on the ceiling. “Oh, yeah, Lourne went into town with Andy.”

         “We're near a town? Where?”

         “Oh, I don't know, maybe a mile or two north of here.”

         Leon had yet to leave this ship since he had been thrown into the river about 2 days ago. “Do you think I could catch up?”

         Westlooked him over. “I guess... if you can find them, in town I mean. Because I think Lourne'll probably just try to leave you. If you don't find them. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think she likes you very much.”

         “Yeah, West. Thanks. I think I've noticed.”

         “Well, just a warning. And Gods know I don't have any pull on this ship, so if we ain't here when you get back, not my fault.”

         West pushed a few buttons and the door opened up. “Don't worry about me, though. I'll just sit here and fix shit. You know, that's enough excitement for me in a day.”

         Leon patted him on the shoulder, grinning. “Thanks man, appreciate it.”

         “Hey, no problem.”

         Leon grinned, and walked out of the door Westhad opened for him.

         The reality of nature surprised him, when he stepped through. He hadn't realized how metallic that ship was. How artificial. Staring down a rough path, trees on either side of him, was exciting, he had always really liked the feel of the woods, the isolation, the peace, until, of course, the bugs came at him. He started walking down the path, thinking about running a little. The idea still seemed ridiculous to him, so he decided to walk. He turned around to look at the ship, since he hadn't really gotten a very good look the first time.

         Sid was shaking his fist at him through the window, with a fake look of frustration. Very fake. Leon laughed aloud, and waved at him with two fingers before gazing upon the rest of the ship. What surprised him the most was probably the fact that it was painted. He could distinguish each individual section of the ship, because the paint must have done to best show it's design. Like those on exotic cars, unnecessary, but certainly appealing to the eye. He started backing up to better take in the entire ship, but bumped into something about waist high.

         He turned around to see a little girl, obviously road-worn, gazing upon the behemoth of a ship behind Leon with awe. In fact, despite that he had bumped into her, he got the distinct impression that she only noticed his presence when he spoke to her. “Hello, what's your name?”
         She looked at him, now obviously frightened, and didn't respond. “Listen, I'm not going to hurt you. What do you think of the ship?”
         A little of her fear drained from her eyes. “It's really big...”
         Leon laughed. “Yeah, I know. I can't believe it either.”
         She looked at him, less afraid now than curious. “What do you do on it?”
         Leon was startled. “I... uh. I help out, in... various ways.” Liar, he thought. You don't do shit, and now you're lying to a little girl!
         The little girl stepped back from him, a look of awe upon her face now. “You are a guard! You have the symbol!”
         Leon realized he was wearing his necklace, and looked back at the ship, worriedly. Sid was nowhere in the cockpit, must have gone down to the engine room. “Well, kind of...”
         She brightened up. “You can get rid of the evil woman down the road!” She exclaimed. “One of them is a fire elemental, I think even Match's apprentice! Do you think you can fight her, mister?”
         Leon's forehead creased. “Was one of them wearing a hood over her eyes?”
         The girl nodded energetically. “Yes, yes! She had an Earth hostage! I was playing, and I heard them arguing about someone named Leon, then the cloaked woman hit the other girl over the head with a stick, and started carrying her to Gand! You have to help her!”
         Leon was flabbergasted. Sure, Lourne was a bitch at times, but he didn't think she was a traitor. Then it hit him.

          “Wait,” he asked the girl. “We're near Gand?”
         She cocked her head at him. “Yes. It's maybe a mile or two north of here. I have to go home soon, but I needed to tell someone! You can handle it, right?”
         Leon stood up slowly, looking at the dirt path, and seeing the shadow of the overhead clouds envelop the forest. “I guess I'll have to, won't I? Just let me get some things...”
         The girl suddenly turned around and started running away. “Hey, wait!” he yelled after her.
         Leon turned around, and saw West standing behind him.
         “Is it true?”
          West just looked at him.
         “You told her you were taking her to Arden. You told me that.”
         He still just stared.
         “It all makes sense now! Lourne not wanting Andy to be alone with me, her constant badgering to hurry, so that Andy couldn't go into a town to find out that they were going the wrong way! Even Lourne's not wanting to pick me up, because I might have told her what town I was from!”
         Weststood still, and eventually nodded. “I'm sorry, Leon. I had no choice, Lourne was going to kill me if I didn't help her, and my brother lives here, in Gand. They'd have killed him!”
         “How could you do that? Andy was your friend! She trusted you!”
         West ran at him, his hulking mass speeding toward Leon like a train. He tackled Leon, and felt like one too. “I can't let you rescue her! They want you, too!”
         “Let me go!” Leon pulled up his knee, kicking out and heaving West off of him. Rolling to his feet quickly, before West could grab him again, he tried to decide what to do. He had a walking stick tied to his bag, but West was already getting up. Should he run? No, West was fast, despite his size. Leon regretted it, but the only option he had was to fight him, and win. Somehow. “C'mon, you coward!” Leon shouted. “Get up and get me, so you can save your precious brother! Is he worth two lives? Two human lives!”
         West growled in rage. He swung with his fist, but Leon stepped back. “What's she worth to you? The world!” West spewed. "You wanna know what my brother's worth to me?"
         “He's worth your sorry hide!” Leon felt the blow cave in his face, before he realized it had been thrown. West was a powerhouse, definitely quick, but his reaction time was slow. Even so, Leon couldn't afford to get hit again, lest he black out. He felt dizzy, and he tasted blood. I hope it's only a loose tooth. West was standing, but he too was leaning to one side. When had he been hurt? Leon saw the ship in the distance, too far to run. He just kept backing out of the way of West's punches. Duck, step back, duck again.
         Soon, Leon felt his back against a tree trunk, and knew he couldn't back up any more. Suddenly, he wasn't dizzy anymore. What had happened? He felt warmth coming from his chest, it must be the necklace. West started a punch, and Leon rolled to his right. He could see a river, wide, hopefully deep. Water, he thought. The necklace reacts to water! He turned around to face West. “Please don't do this. You were a good person on the ship. You were kind to me!”
         West lowered his hands. “Come with me to the city, and I won't hurt you.”
         “So you can turn me in?”
         “... No, so we can kiss and make up!” Why did everyone flip emotions so easily in this world? It started with his sister. Doesn't matter, no time.
         Leon looked behind him. The river roared. Could he do it? Could he make it to the other side with his shoulder still injured, and wearing clothes to boot? No. It was too far. “Okay. I give up, West. You win.”
         West visibly relaxed, and Leon felt dirty. Shit. I hope I don't kill him.
         Leon charged forward, surprising him with his sudden offensive, grabbed his torso, and started grappling with him. Fuck. He'd hoped he would be able to throw him in quick, before West had had a chance to react.

         He grabbed each of Leon's shoulders, and Leon's right started screaming in pain. He yelled through his teeth. Fuck, there was no way he would go out like this.

         He felt his arms losing strength, as his attention wandered toward his own pain. He twisted quickly, and West's hand lost it's grip, Leon's left arm heaving in the same motion. West now had his back to the roaring river, though he seemed oblivious of it. “You're a coward and a cheat!” West yelled. “You're the worst kind of criminal in the world!”

         Leon's left arm was involuntarily grabbing his right shoulder. He could feel his blood flowing to it, and the swelling begin. “This coming from a traitor! It is you, not me, that has committed the greater wrong here, and don't you ever forget it!” West lunged at him, but Leon side-stepped to the right. West sprawled past him, on the ground once again. There was no way Leon could get his positioning right again, with his right arm hanging useless at his side. There was no choice. Quickly, Leon grabbed his bag, slung it over his left shoulder, and dove into the river. He felt the stick bang against the back of his knee, could hear West's bellow of frustration just before his head submerged, and he felt the current take hold of him, draging him away.