You Don't Know about Magic?

Elaine sat quietly at the table, across from Elliot who was sitting with his chin in his palm, watching her.

"Aren't you going to eat? Don't most kids like cereal?" He asked in puzzlement as Elaine didn't touch the cheerios in her bowl.

Instead, she just looked down, avoiding Elliot's eyes. She had a red flush coloring her ears, still thinking about how Elliot had carried her out of the room. She recalled his face, which she had gotten a better look at, and when she remembered the warm smile he gave her, the heat on her face became more intense.

She hadn't seen many boys when she was in the orphanage and didn't remember many of the boys she had seen while she lived with her parents, but she felt that Elliot was quite pleasing to look at.

He had short, curly black hair, with bangs that covered his stormy gray eyes. He looked thin, but Elaine knew he must've been pretty strong from how easily he had carried her.

"...laine? Elaine! Hey, are you okay?" Suddenly, Elliot touched her shoulder, causing her to jump in shock, looking up at his concerned expression.

"Are you feeling alright? How come you won't respond to me?" He asked, his brows furrowing.

"Ah… No, I'm fine! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you!" Elaine hastily stood up and apologized, lowering her head.

"What are you doing? Don't be so stressed out, sit down and eat." Elliot was confused by her behavior, but he decided to wave it off.

Elaine sat down at the table once again, feeling the pain in her legs lessen when she took the weight off of them. "Y-You're not mad, right? I-I wasn't paying attention just now, I promise I wasn't trying to be rude…" Elaine stuttered out, tapping the tips of her fingers together.

"What are you so worried about? Just eat, otherwise, I may consider your lack of appetite rude. After all, you are in my care." Elliot's brows came together again, and he spoke in a slightly more commanding tone. Elaine quickly scooped up some of the cereal in her bowl, taking a quick bite of it.

"This… it's so good!" Elaine was shocked by the sweet flavor which entered her mouth. The cheerios seemed to dissolve into sweet honey, coating her mouth with a delicious taste that she had never experienced before.

To Elaine, who didn't remember too much about her time with her parents, the only food she had ever gotten at the orphanage was bread and an occasional bowl of gruel. She had only rarely gotten meat since the others would always take it away before she got the chance to eat it.

Now, eating these sweet cheerios, she felt as though she had never tasted something so good in her entire life.

"Hmm, you like them? They're just cheerios." Elliot saw the bright smile which lit up Elaine's face and felt strange in his heart. 'Was this something that a little girl should have such a big reaction to? Has she never tried these before or something?'

"Yes! I like them!" Elaine started scarfing down the rest of the bowl, taking big spoonfuls at a time. She made it halfway through the bowl before she started to feel sick.

"Mmm… That's good. I'm not hungry anymore." Elaine set her spoon down and looked up to see Elliot's face morph into a frown.

"You're done eating? You barely had half a bowl of cereal. Are you kidding?" He sounded somewhat annoyed, and he looked at Elaine with a scary gaze.

"Er… Well, I'm not used to eating so much… I can keep these for later, don't worry! I promise I won't waste them, I'll just eat them as the next day's meal!" Elaine realized that he may have been annoyed that she was going to waste food, so she quickly came up with an excuse, and picked up the bowl of cheerios.

"Not eating so much? What are you talking about? This is too much? What do you normally eat, then?" Elliot asked her, crossing his arms.

"I… I usually just eat some of the bread we get for breakfast." Elaine pondered and replied. It was true, usually, the loaf of bread she got at the beginning of the day was all she had to eat. Sometimes she would get something for dinner, but usually, Mrs. Verlin had come up with some sort of reason to punish her, forcing her to skip her meals. She almost never had anything for lunch, as she was always too busy doing chores.

"Bread? Is that all? What about lunch and dinner?" Elliot's expression was becoming more and more hostile, which frightened Elaine.

"U-Um I… I sometimes got to eat the wild berries… and I usually got to eat some extra bread for dinner, around once a week?" Elaine wasn't sure what to say to him at this point, but the moment she finished talking, his expression darkened even further.

"A-ah, please don't be angry! I won't eat that much h-here if you don't have too much to eat. I can do chores and other things, please don't send me away!" Worried that he was angry with her about the way she was eating, she began to stammer out. Even if she had to be hungrier here, she still felt it would be better than returning to the clutches of Mrs. Verlin, especially since Elliot didn't seem to want to hurt her.

"Haah…" However, to her surprise, Elliot just sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Really… it's no wonder you're so small and frail… Let alone your magic, even your body could barely grow and sustain itself with your diet."

Elaine tilted her head in confusion, not understanding exactly what he was saying. "Wait what are you saying? My magic? What do you mean, my magic?"

She thought he may be referring to some medical term, but was curious about what he meant. However, the look he then gave her was as though she had suddenly sprouted 3 extra heads.

"Wait for a second, did you just ask what magic was? Are you saying you don't know about magic yet?" He had an absolutely dumbfounded expression on his face as he studied Elaine's expression.

"Yes, I'm not sure what magic is. Is it a part of my body? You said I wasn't growing properly." Elaine nodded her head, feeling more and more curious about the magic he was mentioning.

"You have a mark, can you really not sense anything? How exactly did you earn that burn on your hand?" Elliot's stormy blue eyes had become serious and heated as he approached Elaine. "Did your parents never teach you about magic? Could it be that they were trying to starve you to suppress your growth!?"

Elaine was shocked by the sudden rage in his voice and took a step back. "I… My parents… They are dead…" Elaine said, feeling a desolate and morose chord being struck in her heart as she said it.

"Your parents are… Oh. I-I'm sorry about that. I didn't realize…" Elliot froze when he heard what she had said, and suddenly turned away.

"Well… I-I have to go for now. Come on, I'll bring you back to the bed." He then began to walk away, and Elaine had no choice but to follow him. The pain in her legs was barely present as she hurried to catch up to Elliot.

She looked at his back with a strange gaze. He had changed his attitude too quickly, it left Elaine with an odd feeling.