#athenaowl1

Awww :3

So just a note that I know literally nothing about the characters. The only thing is that Elda is taller than Sage, but other than that, you can take their pasts and personalities and powers and stuff anywhere you want.

The flashbacks are in italics, and they’re in present-tense (which is, in retrospect, kind of weird). 

Elda couldn’t think of anything but Sage.

It wasn’t my fault, she tried to convince herself, but a small voice at the back of her head whispered in reply:

Liar, liar.

The words stung. Lies… That was what she had been jailed for. She had been desperate, so desperate that she had pretended to be the hero of some prophecy that promised to free the people of the kingdom of Cirelle from their tyrant king.

Apparently, in the eyes of their tyrant king, that made Elda “the leader of the rebel movement.” And so here she was, about to be executed.

When she looked through the bars of her jail cell, Elda noticed that it was raining. Her mouth twisted into a wry smile.

Oh, the irony.

The fact that she would die while it was raining, just like Sage had said… It really was ironic.  

The small voice at the back of her head that Elda had grown to hate reminded her, But Sage wouldn’t want you to give up, would he?

No, he wouldn’t. This is different, Elda argued with herself.

Liar, liar.

Elda buried her face in her knees and wept.

A little girl with with brown skin and short, curly, chocolate brown hair follows a boy with messy red hair down an empty street.

The redhead finally whips around and snaps, “Will you stop―” The boy’s eyes widen as his blue eyes meet the girl’s two different colored eyes, one brown and one hazel.

“Yes?” the girl asks sweetly. “What was that you were saying? Or did my otherworldly beauty intimidate you that much?”

“Your eyes…” the boy says stupidly. “What’s your name?”

The girl ignores the urgency in his voice and laughs. Her eyes widen with mock fear as she whispers, “But Mommy always said that I should never tell anyone my name.”

The boy growls with frustration. “Okay, fine. My name is Sage Hughes.”

The girl’s eyes twinkle with amusement. “Why, Mister Hughes, do you know that your last name means ‘fire’? Just like your hair… And just like your temper.” The girl suddenly stops bouncing on the balls of her feet and asks, “Are you Irish?”

“Um… No?”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not.”

“You are,” the girl insists. “Or some of your ancestors were. Your last name is of Irish origins. It also explains the color of your hair. I’m Elda Kekoa, by the way. Elda is Italian for ‘warrior’, and ‘Kekoa’ is Hawaiian for ‘the warrior’. So my name is literally Warrior the Warrior. Yours is Wise Fire.”

Sage seems to be trying not to laugh but utterly fails.

“What?” Elda demands.

“Nothing,” Sage says between giggles. “It’s just… the way you ramble on about names…”

“Well, you’re going to have to get used to it, Wise Fire,” Elda declares. “I’m going to stay with you.”

“For how long, Warrior the Warrior?” Sage laughs.

“Forever and ever and ever.”

Liar, liar.

Sage brings his hand to his heart. “Wow, I feel so honored.”

“Well, of course you do,” Elda agrees, missing Sage’s sarcasm, or maybe just choosing to ignore it. “And you should. I’ve been watching you for a while. I didn’t just randomly start following the first person I saw.”

“You do know that that’s actually kind of creepy, Elda.”

“Maybe, Sage, but it’s better to be creepy than to be dead or kidnapped or something like that.”

“Touché.”

The two children make their way down the street together, both genuinely smiling for the first time in a long, long time.

(this is where my writing comes in)

“I know magic,” Sage said as they sat around the campfire. They where huddled against each other, not because they wanted to be but because it was freezing outside, and they happened to be outside.

Elda snorts, rolling her eyes as she crosses her arms over her torso hoping that the last bits of heat from her hands will seep into her arms.

“Y-yeah right,” she says through her chattering teeth. “And I’m an alien.”

“No really. My family… we come from a long line of mages.”

“Mages? Are you kidding me? Those haven’t existed since they where all burned at the stake.”

“You don’t believe me?” She scoffs.

“Of course I don’t believe y–OH MY GOD YOU’RE TRYING TO KILL ME?” she says as he lights a fire in the palm of his hand, the flames catching dangerously close to her hair. She snatches her hair away and he closes his hand into a fist, extinguishing the flames.

“You know they’ll burn you at the stake for that,” she says.

“I thought that was considered inhumane and they didn’t do that anymore.”

“Are you kidding me? They still burn people at the stake. I was forced to watch my sister burn at one.” She tries to force the memory away, of Rose’s terrified shrieks as the flames licked at her skin and the townspeople watched, and watched, and watched, none of them saying a word.

It was only meant to be a game. Everyone plays games. They thought…. they thought it would be fun to try and talk to spirits. Nobody has ever really done it, but it’s fun to pretend. But… something about Rose…. it got their attention. Their mom was walking in the room carrying a tray of tea when she saw Rose with her eyes closed and a spirit floating above Elda’s head that she was completely oblivious to, too fascinated by the intense look on her older sister’s face.

Their mom dropped the tray, letting out a screech, breaking the spell. Rose looked up, and her eyes where glowing a strange green colour. Their mom rushed out of the room to get the authorities, insisting that that was no longer her daughter, but something…. else.

“Earth to Elda,” Sage says, waving his hand in front of her face.

“Sorry,” she says. “Just reliving happy memories,” she adds sarcastically. He looks at the ground.

“I’m sorry about your sister. I… didn’t know.”

“Whatever. Just promise me that you won’t let anyone know? For your safety.”

“Alright. It’ll be our little secret.”