Almost there

Ah...

What just happened...?

One moment my biggest cause of concern was figuring out what my plans for my birthday tomorrow would be...

Why am I standing on top of a floating platform with a girl I've never seen before while the smoke from my completely destroyed school right below us continues to rise to the sky...?

"Now I know that none of this can be real..." I murmur.

Marcia just glances at me while checking if I was okay and the two of us proceed to go down as the platform beneath our feet starts to descend.

I drop on my knees and let go of my wooden sword to let everything that happened sink in, but no matter how much I try, nothing adds up.

I need an explanation. Any explanation. Doesn't even need to be a good one. I'll even believe the easter bunny was behind all this by this point.

"Ah... I wanna go home..."

Marcia comes to my side and starts to scratch her cheek, unsure of what she should say apparently.

"So... You have no idea what magic is...?" she asked.

I just shook my head in denial.

"What about curses?"

"I'm sorry..."

"Blessings?"

"I'm not a very religious person..."

"I see..." she commented, "Let me get this straight... This was the first time you ever did anything like that in your entire life?"

"Pretty much... Yes..."

It seemed like Marcia had finally realized that none of this was... Well... Normal.

"Oh..." she crouched by my side and began to pat my head, "There, there... Just... Try not to think about it too much..."

This wasn't really helping me much honestly. I literally could not stop thinking about it.

Marcia finally stopped treating me like a puppy and began to hold her chin while pondering about something, "Still... It's so weird that you never used magic before... Didn't your mother ever told you about where you came from? Don't you remember your childhood...?"

"My mother...? My mother is involved in all this?"

Wait, what am I saying? Of course she is. She told me I would see my father when I turned fifteen, and as far as I know, all these things are related to him somehow.

I stood up and made my resolve, "I need to go home... I gotta talk to her, now!"

"Sure, but... What about-"

Before Marcia could finish her sentence, pieces of the school debris started to move.

The two of us flinched fearing that Kurt might rise up and come after us again. My body was completely exhausted and it seemed like Marcia was about as good as me. If we had to face him again, how would we survive?

I soon realized that I didn't need to worry as the one who showed up was actually the weird lion thingy that I summoned, covered in dust and rocks. But this time, he wasn't covered in shadows anymore. He looked like a regular animal, except his fur was black.

"Ah!" I gasped once I saw him, feeling some sort of old memory was coming back to me, "E- Eclipse??"

The lion noticed me calling his name and leaped all the way from the pile of destruction to land on top of me and lock me down against the pavement.

"Ugh!! Wait, wait... What are you doing??"

Before I could escape, the beast started to lick and cuddle me with its snout like an old pet who hadn't seen its owner in ages.

"He... He's not gonna eat me...?" I asked.

"Why would he eat his best friend...?" Marcia wondered.

"Best friend?"

"Oh, wow... You really don't remember anything, do you?" she noted while coming closer and starting to pet Eclipse's fur.

I do have some vague recollections of owning a pet, but I just assumed it was a large dog or something. You telling me I actually lived with a lion just for myself??? What kind of childhood did I have?? And why can I barely remember any of it??

"He missed you..." she commented, "Be nice to him, just a bit!"

I gazed at his huge red eyes and tried to respond to his feeling by caressing its hair as well. Eclipse then began to circle me as I continued to scratch its fur like an overgrown cat and almost squeezed the air out of me.

"So we really are friends...?"

"At least, that's how he sees it..." she admitted.

That's so strange... I never had a friend besides-

"Lance!!" someone yelled behind me.

I turned around and saw a boy with short red hair and glasses completely out of breath supporting himself on his knees, "Kenny!!"

"Lance!! Lance, I'm so sorry, man!! I didn't want to leave you behind!! I just didn't know what to do!! I just- I just-"

He kept waving his arms up and down while trying to apologize to me for what he did. I honestly had forgotten that he left me behind.

But honestly... Who in their right mind wouldn't have run away scared in that situation??

I came closer and grabbed his hands to try to calm him down, "Kenny, Kenny, it's fine man, it's fine... Just calm down... I'm not mad at you..."

"You... You're not...?" he repeated with a teary-eyed expression.

"Of course! You're my friend! I could never-"

[Danger!!]

The voice spoke again out of nowhere and startled me while we were making peace.

Danger? Where? Where? Kurt was still buried under all that rubble, so what was wrong this time? Her sudden warning placed me in a state of emergency while I started to search my surroundings.

I stared at the pile of destruction expecting the dragon boy to show up, but nothing happened.

"Lance..." Marcia spoke with a cold tone, "Look behind you..."

I turned my gaze away from the school and realized that a huge crowd had gathered to see what was going on. But what called my attention was that all of them were looking afraid. But not afraid of the chaos, they were staring at Eclipse.

Well, of course, he saved my life but he was still a wild animal. It would make sense for them to be afraid.

In fact... They should be afraid!

It would be weird if they weren't afraid...

It would be weird if...

"Kenny... Why are you not afraid of Eclipse...?" I asked as I turned my attention to my friend whose hands I was still holding right now.

He stared at me with a blank expression for a couple of seconds and suddenly began to smile. A... Rather familiar smile.

I started to sense something trembling on my leg and realized that my phone was vibrating. I moved my hand to check what it was, and noticed that Kenny was trying to call me...

Kenny...

Was trying to call me...

Then whos is-

[Lance! Stay away from him!!!]

The person in front of me then removed his glasses and I could see his eyes turning orange, and finally, I recognized who this smile belonged to.

"You finally gave me your hand!" Kurt responded while sending me his usual disturbing smirk.

I tried to run away but he just grabbed me even tighter and I could feel my palms starting to burn.

"Aaaarghhh!! What are you doing!!??" I screamed while feeling the pain on my skin.

"Lance!!!" Marcia yelled.

She raised her arms but her usual constructs didn't show up this time. She was probably out of power for good.

With no other option, she simply jumped on Kurt, who now had dropped his disguise, assumed his old form, and pinned him against the ground.

"Oh, you want some too? Why didn't you say so?" Kurt stated as he grabbed her hands as well and just like me, Marcia started to scream in pain.

Eclipse rushed to our aid and tried to bite Kurt, but he simply jumped away and landed on top of a wall from one of the houses. The crowd just continued to film and taking pictures of everything.

Thanks for the help, by the way, guys...

He smiled at me like always and proceeded to bow like a showman who had just ended his act, "It was lovely to meet you! Tell your family I said hi!"

"Wait!!" I cried, but it was too late.

Kurt jumped once again and simply vanished before I could do anything.

I can't believe this!! That freak spent the whole day trying to get me to grab his hands and just because I dropped my guard for one second he managed to get the best of me!!

What did he even do??

"Damn it... Godamnit!!!" Marcia yelled while trying to soften her pain with her veil, "I can't believe I messed up this bad!! This is so humiliating!!"

"Marcia?? Marcia, what did he do? What did he want??" I asked while lost in my confusion and trying to ease my pain as well.

"I don't know! That's the problem!! He got away and we got no answers!! Ugh! If my parents saw me now, they would be disappointed..."

Parents...

No matter how much I think about it, this whole thing is happening because of my parents...

If I want to know what's the truth behind all this, I need to ask them directly.

The crowd starts to chat amongst themselves very loudly and I see many people taking pictures of us with their devices.

"Marcia, let's go!" I state.

"Eh...? Where?"

"We're going home! My family owes me some answers!"

I grab the wooden sword that I had dropped, the one thing that saved us when we had no hopes of survival.

No... That's wrong...

There is someone else that helped us...

"Are you there...?" I whisper softly.

[Always...] the voice speaks again.

"Good. Cause you owe me some answers as well, and they better be good!"

[... ... ... Very well...]

"Also... Thank you for helping us..."

[...]

I start marching home but I see Marcia mounting Eclipse and after hesitating for a bit, decide to follow her example. Once we are both set, I start to ride my lion towards my house...

...and towards the truth.