Crapfic #7: The Flames of Death: A Malorn AshThorn Story by Nikaya, Chapter 9

Jesus Christ, this chapter is even more boring than the last one, save for some more creepiness at the end. It’s mostly filler! What the damn Hell am I supposed to do with FILLER, other than point out that it’s just FILLER? I asked Skep what I should do, and he said it was tough, that I could maybe cut some of the text and summarise what happened so I could get to an easier part, but I can’t do that because I want you guys to see the whole thing in all its stupid glory, so I apologise if there are some long stretches where I go without saying anything, or some strained remarks, but I’ll try my best. OWNRDAS! First chapter here, previous chapter here.

Chapter Nine: The Intensity

What the fuck is this, Seinfeld? What’s up with every chapter beginning with the word “The”?

“Malorn…? Malorn…? Wake up…” I heard my name before feeling a softness on my cheek.

Ew.

(Fun fact, I accidentally made that all caps. It was much funnier, but a wee bit strong.)

I opened my eyes, seeing Nicole sitting up in bed next to me.

She looked so beautiful in her night time attire…but it was light out.

“Shit.” I rolled over to face the wall, covering my face with the blanket. It was early.

Thank you Captain Obvious.

And we had to get up.

“Good morning to you too, Mr. Grumpy.” Nicole giggled and gave me a small shove. “Come on, you have to take me to lessons in an hour.”

I groaned. Then I heard Nicole whisper to Chester. My eyes popped open.

Chester landed on my head above the blanket and gripped edge where my head was. He flew forward and over the bed, taking the blanket with him. I was lying in bed, curled up in my boxers, freezing my freakin’ ass off.

Minor cursing?

I glared daggers at Chester.

“Don’t be mad at him; I told him to,” Nicole said, happily. “Now up you get!”

And there’s the thing about Fire School kids. They’re morning people.

Cute headcanon. Where’d you get it, the Wizard101 Fanfic Cliché Emporium?

“I hate you…” I grumbled.

“Love you too!” she said cheerily.

“I know,” I said with a wink.

*Later that morning…*

“Ready to leave yet?” I called up to Nicole. I was waiting at the bottom of the steps.

“Ready!” she called. I turned around.

She was dressed in a long, red gown that went straight to her feet. She glided down the stairs. I believe it was called, “Bellow’s Robe of Courtesy.” And her hat remained “Brady’s Solar Cowl” designed.

I was so stunned, I didn’t even comment at first. “You look great.”

You should be used to this by now, Malorn.

“Thank you… Aren’t you going to change?”

“Uh…why?”

“Well, we kind of need to blend in here, so I brought clothes from every world, just in case.”

“Oh…” Crap.

“That’s alright my boy,” Mr. Coleman said, calling me from the top of the stairs. I have something for you as well.

When I came back downstairs, I was dressed in, “Marvelous Shroud.” I had to change my signature hat to “Feline’s Somber Hat.”

These are all real clothes, by the way, you can look for them at the Bazaar.

“Not bad,” Nicole said with a judging look. I blushed. “Come on, I’m gonna be late!” She grabbed my arm and pulled me out the door.

Nicole carried her staff in one hand, and looped free arm in mine. We walked together swiftly but calmly through the streets of the city. I could tell Nicole loved it by the way she beamed.

Yes, the constant threat of being snatched up by an O’Leary and turned over to Malistaire just makes me melt inside.

“And here we are,” I told her. The guards opened the gate and led her inside. I turned to leave with a smile on my face.

“Wait!” Nicole came running back out and kissed my cheek. She winked at me and ran back inside.

My head spun.

Mine too. I think I’m gonna be sick.

When I got back to the apartment, I greeted Mr. Coleman and started heading up the stairs.

“Forgetting something?” he mused. I came back down the stairs and felt like punching myself. He was holding a bag of envelopes. “First day on the job!” he said cheerily.

“Right…”

“Every day I’ll give you a bag like this big one here. Once you deliver all of them for the day, you’re done. Do them at your own pace.”

“That’s it?”

“Well there’s quite a lot of letters in there. And it’s about quarter to ten now. I expect you’ll be done by around one thirty. Nicole’s lessons end at two, so best to hurry up!”

Well, he didn’t know my secret weapon.

I stepped outside and whistled for Kalohae. He appeared in a mist of skulls.

“Mist of Skulls”. Sounds like some shitty emo band. Then again, so does “Flames of Death”.

“Alright, man. Let’s get through these letters.”

*Four hours later…*

“Oh my god…” Kalohae and I sat down on a park bench. “How many more?” I dug through the bag. There were about 20 left. “What time is it?” I looked at Big Ben. It was quarter to two. “Shit! Shit-shit-shit!”

MINOR FUCKING CURSING???

I jumped on Kalohae and flew as fast as I could to Barkingham Palace. When I got there, Nicole was waiting for me.

It took him fifteen minutes to get from one part of Regent’s Square to Barkingham Palace? I can run all over the damn place in less than that, even without a mount.

“I’m sorry! How long were you standing there?”

“About ten seconds. Right on time.” She smiled at me. I wiped my forehead. Then I held out my hand to her and helped her onto Kalohae. He protested with a grunt out of sheer exhaustion. “Quiet you,” I hissed.

“So how were your lessons?” I asked, leading Kalohae back to the apartment.

“Great…”

“Doesn’t sound like it.”

“Well, the thing is, my instructor taught me a new fire spell… But she also asked me about the vision I had.”

“How did she know?”

“She said she talked to Professor Ambrose about me. And she knows that I have other powers I can unlock.” She put air-quotes around “other.”

OF COURSE SHE HAS OTHER POWERS SHE’S A GODDAMN SUE

I squinted my eyes. I wasn’t so sure if I liked this. I knew I had other powers too. But I didn’t know if unlocking them was the best idea in the Spiral.

“Do you trust her?” I asked.

“She knows Professor Ambrose. I have to.”

“Then do what she thinks is best. If unlocking these powers means protecting yourself from my father, then do it.”

Then it hit me.

She has powers to unlock. So do I. My dad fought her dad…

Since when?!

I shook it off. I didn’t want to scare her.

What? What’s happening? You may think you’re being mysterious, but you’re being just plain vague. Here’s the difference. With mysteriousness: The readers already have a sneaking suspicion or two of what’s going to happen next. With this: I have absolutely no idea. None.

“Thanks Malorn.” She hugged me tighter. I kissed her head.

When we got back to the apartment, she was ready to head upstairs.

“Coming?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I was about to follow when Andy eyed me. “Actually, I’ll meet you up there in a bit. I promised Mr. Coleman I’d get some groceries for him at the market.”

Nicole smiled at me. “Okay, see you soon.”

I heaved a sigh.

And so, out we went…again.

*The next morning…*

Nicole and I were riding Kalohae to Barkingham Palace, and I wanted to ask her about our dads. Maybe there was a connection to our powers.

But then she smiled at me.

And I knew I couldn’t do anything to let that smile go.

OH NO YOU’RE BEING HYPNOTISED

So I smiled back and dropped her off. She kissed me on her way, and away she went.

Four months had now gone by, and finally, I was learning a better way with going about the mail route. Before I’d leave, I’d sort all the damn letters and deliver them according to wear people lived and I’d be done by one.

As for Nicole, she learned more and more about her visions, and her instructor told her to force herself to have a vision once every lesson. She was now at the point where she could have them at will. I never asked her what they were about because it was the same thing every time, and she’d always tell me immediately after the lesson anyway.

“It happened again,” she told me, getting onto Kalohae.

The vision was the same every time.

That’s not “having another vision”. That’s just remembering.

Only in the beginning it was just voices. Now there were some blurry images.

The two of us would scream, and have to run as fast as we could. She’d hear me yelling to her, “Don’t look back!” And then it would end.

“I figured that.” I said.

But as dark as these times were, it was relaxing for us.

Since we were finished so early in the day, we did so much together.

Some nights we’d go to the park again and lay in the grass, watching the stars. Sometimes we went to the theater to see a play. Other times we went to the museum. A lot of the time we’d go out to dinner as well. And the other times we’d eat dinner with the Colemans.

Because this is so fucking relevant to the plot.

And no matter where we were, who we were with, and how late it was, she’d always make me smile.

She came up with this poking game, so whenever she wanted to tell me she was having a good time, or wanted a kiss, she’d poke me. Then I started doing it to her… And I took a little advantage of it.

Please don’t mean what I think you mean….

But every night, we’d always lie in bed next to each other, watching each other to see who fell asleep first.

I loved watching her sleep.

Because you are a stalker.

She always looked so peaceful…so happy…so beautiful. I loved every minute of it.

And tonight, was a very different night.

It was a mid-winter evening with snow on the ground and flurries in the air. We strolled through the park together holding hands. We kissed in the snow and had a great time. When we got back, the Colemans and Chester were asleep, so I made some hot chocolate for us and we snuggled by the fireplace.

When it was time for bed, we got dressed and I was surprised that Nicole wasn’t wearing a sweatshirt because it was so cold out. She caught me eyeing her. “I wanted to get cozy with you.”

“That’s fine by me.”

We crawled into bed together and I pulled her close to me. I lay on my side with her on her side with her back against my bare chest. She was still wearing a t-shirt of course.

“I love you.”

She had said it to me before, but the intensity of this moment between us was chilling.

“I love you too,” I replied softly.

What I didn’t expect is what happened next.

She turned over, and started kissing me. But this time, it was different. It was rougher and fiercer…with a new kind of fire.

I pulled her closer, holding her around her waist as she kissed my lips harder and traced her hands all along my face.

*mother voice* And just what do you kids think you’re doing?!

I felt one of her hands tug at her own shirt as the bottom, but I stopped her with my hand.

I pulled away for a second and looked into her eyes.

“It’s just a shirt,” she said, quietly. “And I’m not taking it off.” I let her move it just a small bit out of the way, to reveal her mid-torso. “Just a little…step up?” she said it so meekly that I almost had to laugh.

SHE’S THIRTEEN. The only “step up” you guys should be taking is kissing in front of other people.

“If that’s what you want, then that’s what you’ll get,” I replied. “I just want you to tell me what you want.” She smiled at me, shyly. Then I realized what was still wrong. “You have a beautiful body.” I felt her relax in my arms, and then we stopped kissing, but I pulled her close.

We stayed like that, wrapped in each other’s arms the whole night.

Well that was boring and gross. I HATE THIS NEW MICROSOFT WORD THERE ARE SO MANY FUCKING PROGRAMMING ERRORS JUUUUUUUUUGH

Continue reading.

~Mary-Sue