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“Luca.”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s have a serious match to see who can defeat the most Umbras.”
“Seriously…? Well, sure, whatever.”
“…I won’t lose.”
“…Right, right… Geez, talk about getting all excited over nothing…”
--
“Well, let’s begin! Go!” Professor Schuyler’s commanded, disrupting the conversation. A hoard of Umbras moved in to attack all the students.
“Alright… I’ve got this!” Elias furiously gritted his teeth and focused his eyes. “Flau!” Bolts of flames erupted from his wand and took down Umbra by Umbra. Dodging one of the Umbra's attacks, he cast a shield around him to protect himself from the Umbras flying all around. Switching between casting shields and attacking, he managed to swiftly avoid the Umbras’ attacks as well as taking down plenty of the Umbras even before the half-time mark for the session hit.
“Aqua Veltex!” Whirling water emerged from Luca’s wand with a casual flick and engulfed a few Umbras in one go. “Hover!” he went, and all the Umbras trapped in his vortex floated up into the sky and started dancing as he swung his wand left and right. “Heh… This is pretty fun.” Luca shrugged as he continued playing with the Umbras, watching them as they helplessly floated all around. The match with Elias was all forgotten.
Gradually, the session came to a close.
“Time’s up!” Professor Schuyler’s voiced ran through the field, and all the Umbras vanished with a poof. “Everyone, to me.” Students all gathered around Professor Schuyler as he commenced with announcing the results of the lesson. With an incantation and a wave of his wand, numbers started appearing in front of all the students.
“Please…please…” Elias was silently praying at the back of his mind while maintaining a stoic expression. A number ‘50’ had slowly began to form in front of him. He sucked in a sharp breath as he turned to find Luca. In front of Luca, a number ‘30’ shone and he gave an amused smile. “I…won?” Elias thought. But then he shook his head. No, no, no! He was certain that he only won because Luca didn’t take the match seriously. He glared furiously at Luca who gave him a smug grin. “Hmm? No need to look so scary, man. You won, didn’t you? Congratulations.” Luca said. That. Did. It. If Elias wasn’t already enraged, this would be enough to make him hit the roof. “There’s no way you were serious. Why can’t you compete like you mean it?” Elias hollered. Students all shifted their attention and turned to stare at the two boys. The atmosphere was tense, but Luca just laughed it off and replied, “There’s a surprise if I ever heard one… I was serious about our match, you know? I mean…you won didn’t you, why are you even getting all mad at me?” Elias gave an exasperated breath. Seriously? This guy? Who would even believe that he was being serious for even one second?! He composed himself and retorted, “Because you won’t actually compete with me.” Luca rolled his eyes. “Is that so… If you were up against Yukiya, I wonder if you’d actually get this pissed. You know, I was thinking about this from before, but… Elias, aren’t you, like, too fixated on me? Well what can I say? A guy likes me. Well, unfortunately, I’m into girls, you see.” “…W-W-What…! N-Nonsense!” Elias exclaimed. He could feel himself heating up as his cheeks turned bright red. He didn’t know what he was feeling. Anger? I must be so angry, he told himself. Luca gave a bemused chuckle, he was having so much fun from watching Elias get this mad. Luca continued teasing, “I see that your sense of humour is as great as ever… But seriously, I can’t help but think that you’re obsessed with me. Aren’t you, Prince Elias?”
“That’s enough, you two! Quiet!” Professor Schuyler bellowed. “Tch… Whatever.” Luca grunted, and casually waved as he left the field. Professor Schuyler was furious and tried to get him to stay, but to no avail. Even Professor Schuyler couldn’t handle Luca… Suddenly, a voice snapped Elias out of his thoughts. “Hey Elias… Are you okay?” Liz Hart approached Elias and asked, concern rising in her voice, but was simply brushed off by him. He felt bad for brushing off his brother’s girlfriend like that, especially when she was also a dear friend to him, but he was too annoyed with what happened to care.
Over the next few days, Elias couldn’t help but wonder why Luca would want to squander his talent for magic away. Luca had the only thing Elias ever wanted: talent. To follow in his brother’s footsteps, he had to work himself so hard every single day that he barely got any rest, and yet, it was never enough. With a talent like Luca’s, he could achieve so much more and do his brother and his family proud. Heck, he’d be so strong, so powerful… After all, that’s the most important thing about magic… To be strong… Right? Luca occupied his thoughts, day in and day out. He always did better than Luca in class, at least, when Luca actually bothered to show up. But that was only because Luca was always defiant and never followed the professors’ instructions… Apart from that, his magic was always beautiful, flawless and captivating… Just like Luca himself, who always had that…appealing side of him. Elias stopped himself in his tracks. Wait, what?! Elias shook his head furiously. He despised Luca. After all, he was simply too furious to think straight. He had to do something to clear his mind.
Walking around the school, taking in the beautiful scenery of the area around him, Elias calmed down and felt a bit better. His thoughts kept wandering to Luca, but he managed to keep himself distracted enough by mentally planning what he was going to study over the next few days. Well, at least if he wanted to surpass Luca eventually, he had to work even harder, right?
He headed past the pond, past the school walkway, and was about the leave the garden when he heard giggles coming from behind a tree. He recognised that voice… Liz? She was with another girl, probably her friend, he thought. He was about to leave them be when he suddenly heard Liz ask, “Say… What type of relationship do you seek, Amelia?” “Hmm…” The other girl pondered. “Well, I want to fall in love with a handsome guy! A great guy who is nice to everyone, but even nicer to me! Or…someone who would take me on sweet dates in town, and would…” Elias shook his head and walked off before hearing Amelia’s full reply. Such a typical conversation that Liz would have with her friends, he thought.
Elias wandered on and on and eventually found himself back at the pond, somehow. At the corner of his eye, he saw someone sleeping under the tree. Luca. Elias felt himself burning up. The boy’s green hair was moving gently under the breeze. Elias watched as the boy breathed, his chest rising up and dropping down. He watched as the boy stirred in his sleep, as if he was having a bad dream. Elias contemplated going over to wake the boy, but he stopped himself after taking just a step forward.
Elias recalled the conversation between Amelia and Liz. What type of relationship would he seek? He had thought about this plenty of times before. He would meet a girl with status, someone who appreciated his magic, someone who was fairly talented in magic herself. He would court her like any gentleman would, give her flowers, and go out on nice, sophisticated dates with her. He would eventually propose to her on one bended knee when time was right, with such a beautiful ring that she wouldn’t be able to refuse. He would…. “Argh!” he cried out, hands slamming onto his head. He was exasperated, he was so frustrated about the inner turmoil he was feeling. He stopped in his tracks of thinking, and turned to look at the green haired boy sleeping under the tree by the pond.
Elias sighed, as realization dawned upon him. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He was in love.