Chapter 21: The curtain falls

Fia and Ciaran looked at her, one was startled the other relieved to see her. The boy used the distraction and got away from the black-haired menace, running towards his teacher.

"I am so glad you made it on time Teacher!" He said, the relief in his voice confusing Elizabeth.

'Is he trying to get out of punishment, or did Fia bully him too much.' The old woman looked at him skeptically. In the end, it didn't matter, he had truly gone too fat this time. If her friend had a little fun with the boy, she would look the other way.

"Let's go Mr. Clades, you have far outstayed your welcome here." Is what she actually said.

"He was just reading a book Liza, of the less important variety even. What's the harm in that? Don't be too harsh on the kid now." Fia said, completely intent on going with them, to Elizabeth's surprise and Ciaran's misguided horror.

'Typical, this vixen won't miss the opportunity to watch a show, even if it ruins her image of a teacher. One of these days I will have to have a serious talk with her.'

"Fia I don't think you should-"She tried to dissuade her friend when she was rudely interrupted.

'Gods no! No, no, no! I hope we leave her here. Why does she have to come? '

[It seems you make quite the impression on the ladies boy.]

"O just shut up and let me go already, I have had a long day and I don't really have time for your sass."

The boy replied to the Librarian, a little too vocal for his liking. Combined with the fact that, he just cut off his teacher, and that only he heard the voice of the tower, his situation had gone from bad to worse.

Now both Fia and Elizabeth were truly confused. The boy wanted to get away from Fia but also wanted her to follow. Regardless the old woman was enraged, whereas the younger one was intrigued.

"Fine then, let's all go look at the mess you made," Elizabeth said with gritted teeth and pulled him by the ear. She was done playing games.

Fia followed with an amused chuckle, her friend was right; the kid really had a way to get on her last nerve. But if you asked Fia, he was also one of the few students of the Academy who truly deserved to be there. She believed that ambition and drive were the most important qualities that her students should possess, and she had rarely seen such passion in her whole carrier.

'He is a fun kid to be around, plus he grinds Liza's gears so much. I think I am starting to like this kid.' Fiat ought as they were exiting the second floor. When they got to the first floor, however, her thoughts froze.

It was a mess. The whole place was upside down, books all over the floor. Bookcases were knocked down, and she could see some blue flames still being extinguished in some places.

Fia was shocked. She knew the kid had to do something extreme to get to where he wanted but this was too much.

"Surprised Miss Silverwing"? Well, this is not even half of it. Mr. Clades over here decided to set the whole floor on fire, students and all. Over a hundred students are suffering from severe burns, and are taken to the medical bay as we speak." Elizabeth growled, pulling the boy's ear while parading him like a circus monkey.

"They are not that hurt, the flames were an illusion at best. I just had a little chili mixed in to give them the sensation of burning. If they take a good long bath, they won't feel a thing tomorrow. "Ciaran said quickly before his teacher left him with only one ear.

It worked; his teacher stopped pulling his ear and looked at him. To say she was not impressed with his ingenuity would be a lie, but she was still mad at him. Sure he didn't burn his fellow students alive, but as far as she was concerned that was way below the bare minimum as far as her expectations for her students' behavior was concerned.

And there was also the issue of whether burned or not, the students would have forever remembered this day. They would be mentally scared by his actions for their whole life, and the boy didn't even seem to care.

"Remarkable!" Was the only thing Fia said as she looked around.

This made Elizabeth even angrier. Her friend was more of a Mage and a scholar than a teacher and a pedagogue. She didn't give a damn the children would have nightmares for a long time. Hell, even if he had burned them alive she would probably still not care.

What she did care about was that a kid so young was able to come up with a way to distract so many Mages, so many Warriors, and he did it without actually doing any real damage. He could, and would plead for a lower punishment because of that fact.

Mages in general were considered insane. They cared a lot about their research and very little about the lives of everyone around them. Fia was already seeing a future colleague in the boy, and would defiantly help him out here.

'The last thing I want is for this brat to get off scot-free. He must learn that there are consequences for his actions. And I will make sure he gets punished accordingly for his crimes.'

The three walked all the way to the Academy and went straight to the headmaster's office.

"I am not here, went to check out the First Year's barbeque" A note was left there.

Both Ciaran and Fia snickered, while Elizabeth barely held on to a curse.

'Mages, mad to the last.' She thought, conveniently forgetting she was Fire Grand Mage herself.

"It seems your academically issued punishment will have to wait till tomorrow, but I will make sure your parents know exactly what you did." She said, through gritted teeth.

"They should be proud." Said Fia, matter-of-factly.

The old woman glared at her and then dragged the boy. It was time to call his mother, maybe then finally someone would see reason.

It would take Camille Clades a while to come and pick up her son, and it was unwise to let this convict roam the streets unsupervised. The trio spent the time in awkward silence until Fia couldn't take it anymore and asked the boy about his plan.

He told her how his flames worked, and how had sneaked the materials in, albeit he did lie about the second part. All three of them knew about the lie, but no one said anything. Then when Fia pressed further and Elizabeth also got curious, the nature of his relationship with Clara got revealed.

It was safe to say that Mrs. Elizabeth Parker was considering showing her student what actually burning alive felt like. She got played by a bunch of over-gowned toddlers. And to think she was banking on Clara to keep the boy in check.

Fia on the other hand was now seriously considering asking the Academy to just allow the kid to join the upper classes. Not because he was a genius, no it was clear he was not, but because he was a mad little shit. In other words, they were like two peas in a pod.

In recent years her students were all well-behaved. Sure some of them were on the path of magic, and some could even be considered exceptional, but even if she didn't look it she was a traditionalist. She believed that magic was an order that complemented chaos and so Mages shouldn't be too concerned with the rules.

A dangerous mindset, especially with the world's current political views. But then again, most Mages worth their soul would agree, and those that didn't were either trash, on a leash, or hypocrites. And here friend Liza was the latter. The stories from her youth were the stuff of nightmares, a little burning of children couldn't even compare to. And yet here she was, clipping the wings of a promising future Magico.

"Don't worry Ciaran, I will make sure to tell anyone who will listen that you did nothing wrong." She said, not even bothering to hide it from her friend.

" I am sorry I lied to you in the Library, but believe me when I tell you I was honest when I said I think the rules are stupid. You have my full support on this kid."

At this point, the boy had figured out that the black-haired beauty in front of him wasn't one of 'those', which left only one question in his head.

"Why? Forgive me for asking, but I would assume that you would back my teacher on this. You being friends and all." He asked.

"We are. But friendship is friendship, and work is work. Our kind separates into two schools of thought, the traditionalist and the modernists. And unlike how we look, I am no modernist, and your teacher has long since gone senile." She said, prompting a glare from the said senile old lady.