Nature's Magic

Chapter 3: Nighttime Escapades

For the Mages, night brought on independent activities to engage in before sleeping. Wave was reading in the library from some obscure volume that only he or Master Daystar could make any sense of. He was slumped comfortably in a armchair, using only a small reading lamp for light, not wishing to waste the energy required to light the spacious room, that only he occupied.

Sky was also in the library, but in a different area than his lover, lighted only by the moon and stars, reading from a comic book he had gotten from town. He had good reason to hide from Wave, who would frown upon such a waste of paper, ink, and money, and most likely take it away from him. Wave had a cache of his things that he didn’t approve of hidden away somewhere that Sky was determined someday to find. Love was a wonderful thing that he and Wave shared, but it didn’t feed his zombie craving.

Eclipse was locked away in a part of the gym training, as always. He had kicked and punched the tired old punching bag until his arms and legs had a shading of black and blue. When night came, he always preferred the solitude associated with it, rather than the company of his friends. Though, tonight, his body and mind eagerly wanted someone else with them, but as he drove his body to the brink of exhaustion he put all those thoughts and feelings to the back of his mind.

Blaze and Copper had similar plans to Eclipse, though they worked out in the open, as oppose to the Darkness Mage. Copper sat a few feet away from Blaze, lifting weights, while the wild red headed boy did pull-ups and simple gymnastics. Though not a word was exchanged, they found pleasure in their silent companionship as they always did, and sporadically looked at the locked door with worried eyes for the occupant behind it.

Master Daystar was also locked up in a room, though his was his study. He was buried under translations of ancient texts, reading over them with great care, as to not miss a single word or meaning that could be hidden amongst the dusty tombs. No one knew what he was hoping to find, not even Eclipse. Sometimes Daystar wondered if even he knew what he was looking for. And so far, he hadn’t found it, but that didn’t mean he was giving up on it. No matter what it was.

Sprite was taking this time away from his needy lover, to take a nice and relaxing bath. It was a large tub, big enough for him and Copper to sit and stretch comfortably in it, and it was such a pleasure to be able to lay in the pristine white tub by himself, soaking away all the aches and pains of the day. He knew soon that Copper would tire of his workout, and seek him out. He could just picture the pout Copper would have as he walked into their shared room in his green terrycloth robe, showing the telltale signs that he had bathed without him. Sprite loved Copper with all his heart, but he sometimes grew tired of his lover’s habit of clinging to him, a trait that Copper denied he had, though all the others knew he did possess it.

Snow was outside, having set up his canvas on the front porch to paint a picture of the shimmering stars surrounding the pale glowing crescent moon. He idly moved his brush, making any who saw him assume it was a calculated stroke that he was carefully planning, but it was actually due to the fact that he was concentrating on the young boy sitting a few feet away from him.

Since the sun had set, Stormcloud had been sitting on the porch, hugging his knees to his chest. He hadn’t moved an inch for over an hour, and didn’t seem to be interested in moving anytime soon. He looked with his wide gray eyes out on the starlit yard, seeming to be in complete contentment with his surroundings. Snow thought that not even a butterfly landing in his hair would ruffle him. But Snow had been waiting all day to talk to the younger boy alone, and now seemed like the only moment he would get for awhile. Setting his paints down, he moved cautiously to Stormcloud and seat down near him.

“Lovely night, isn’t it?” asked Snow, trying to move slowly to the young boy. Stormcloud, noticing his presence, turned his body toward Snow.

“Night pretty?” Stormcloud questioned back. He gave Snow a puzzled look, not understanding the statement he had made.

“Well, I find the nighttime to be pretty,” said Snow. “It is so peaceful and quiet. It is like the world is holding its breath.”

“Bad things live in night,” replied Stormcloud. “Like dark. Dark scary. Hide away from bad things.” Stormcloud gave a slight shudder in the warm air as he finished his statement. Snow gave him a sympathetic look and moved closer to pull the boy into an embrace, which Stormcloud accepted.

“I suppose you’re use to creatures in the forest that attack at night?” asked Snow.

“Animals nice,” said Stormcloud. “Not bad. People bad. Come in dark to hurt me. Come when sleep. Hurt me. Flame.” Stormcloud nuzzled Snow, who just stroked the younger boy’s head to calm him down.

“I suppose Flame captured you at night,” said Snow. “As did Key?” Stormcloud nodded.

“Flame come when eyes close,” said Stormcloud. “No sleep. He there. Not there now. Don’t come.” Stormcloud seemed a little puzzled at his own words. “No come since came here. He no like here? Why?”

Snow pulled Stormcloud onto his lap, and held him as he would a child, though settling them both in relative comfort was hard as they were close in size with each other. Snow knew that Stormcloud had questions that he greatly wanted answered, and Snow probably wasn’t the best person to do so, but he knew that Eclipse would just act as if he hadn’t heard them and Master Daystar would brush them off, both believing it was better for Stormcloud to be ignorant. Snow couldn’t and wouldn’t answer them all, but he knew that a few of the simpler ones needed to be answered.

“Flame use to study here, a long, long, time ago,” started Snow. “But, as Master Daystar said, he didn’t follow our teachings so he left. I know that it greatly hurt Master and all of us at the time, we were only children. He was one of our teachers, and a trusted confidant of ours. But, he betrayed us all in some horrible ways that I cannot name to you, child. But Flame is not an idiot, and he knows that no matter how powerful he is, we are much more so. He won’t come here, you are safe from him here. We all are.”

“Flame hurt you?” asked Stormcloud, hugging Snow around the neck.

“A little, not much,” said Snow. “He hurt Eclipse the most.”

“How hurt Eclipse?” asked Stormcloud, confused how anyone could harm the powerful Mage at any age.

“That is something better left for Eclipse to answer,” replied Snow. “But you probably should hold off a little. Bitter memories are not something Eclipse, or anyone, enjoys remembering.”

“Kay, Snow,” said Stormcloud. “No ask.” They sat in silence for a few moments, until the original reason Snow had approached the boy came back to mind.

“Stormcloud,” Snow said, drawling the dazed boy’s attention back to himself. “Do you remember your parents at all?”

“Remember being held,” said Stormcloud, squeezing his eyes together tightly to recall his moments of long ago. “Woman like you, smiling and singing. Man like Blaze near, smiling at her. Happiness. Joy. Love.” Snow gave a sad smile as Stormcloud opened his eyes, turning over the old thoughts trying to make sense of them.

“Those would be your parents,” said Snow. “Your mother and father. They were a couple, like Blaze and me.”

“See them?” asked Stormcloud.

“No, they died when I was young,” said Snow. “I just remember hearing about them and their child. Do you miss them.”

“Don’t remember much,” said Stormcloud. “Been in forest long time. Miss forest.” Stormcloud gave a slight whine. “You have parents?”

“Yes,” said Snow. “And an older brother. They live very far away, I rarely see them.”

“Miss them?” asked Stormcloud.

“Sometimes,” said Snow, truthfully. “But I have been here so long, I barely remember my life before coming to this place and meeting all my friends. My family, sadly, is just a trivial thing in my life. I do love them, and they love me, but we are of two different worlds.”

“Others family?” asked Stormcloud, who now was wondering about the other’s life before here, as his was becoming a topic among them.

“To my knowledge they all have some relations somewhere,” said Snow. “Except, Master Daystar, whose entire family is dead.”

“Eclipse family?” asked Stormcloud, turning toward one of his new favorite subjects, Eclipse. He wondered where the man had gone to after the sun had set, and wished that he was here asking these questions and holding him instead of Snow.

“He has two older brothers,” said Snow. “And an uncle.” He added the last part with hesitation.

“Parents?” asked Stormcloud.

“Dead,” said Snow. “They were murdered,” he said slowly, “By Flame.” Stormcloud gasped, understanding how Flame must have hurt Eclipse, by killing his parents.

“His brothers’ work against Flame,” added Snow. “I believe you have meet one of them, Key.”

“Key his brother!” gasped out Stormcloud, breaking away from Snow to face him accusingly. “Key no like Eclipse. Key mean and bad. No look like him. Key no brother!” Stormcloud grew angry with Snow’s lies. Thunder roared in the distance and clouds suddenly covered the moon. Snow was shocked at this sudden change, but he had to gain his senses to calm down Stormcloud before he caused any damage.

“No I don’t lie,” said Snow. “They are brothers. Eclipse’s powers are why they look so different. And their upbringing adds to why they act so differently. Though Key is a few years older then Eclipse, he isn’t, how to put it nicely, as mature as his little brother. I myself have only met him a few times. He and Eclipse don’t get along that well.”

“No one get along Key,” huffed Stormcloud, looking indignant and folding his arms across his chest, getting a laugh out of Snow.

“Well Eclipse did say Key wasn’t the best person in the world,” said Snow, to which Stormcloud readily agreed. “But he isn’t the worst either. He has a good heart, he just likes to hide it.”

“Like Blaze?” teased Stormcloud. Snow gave a mock upset huff.

“One day here and already teasing me about my relationship,” he said to the boy. “And here I thought you wouldn’t fit in. Yes, Blaze has a good heart, he just likes to act tough. He is, pardon the pun, a bit of a hot head sometimes.”

“Pun?” asked Stormcloud. “What pun? Fire pun?”

“Ah, I don’t really know how to explain it,” said Snow, rubbing his head to think. “A pun is when you, well, it is when you.....”

“A pun,” said a new voice. “Is when you make a joke with words. Snow was joking about Blaze being a hothead, because he is a Fire Mage, and therefore his powers revolve around heat.” The weather had cleared up again, and the moon shone down to reflect Wave standing in the doorway, looking at the two. “I just came to call you in for bed.”

“It is that late already?” asked Snow, not expecting an answer. He had been so caught up with Stormcloud he forgot about the time. “Wave, take Stormcloud to bed while I clean up my small mess. I will see you both in the morning.”

“You no come?” asked Stormcloud, who was being pulled to his feet by Wave, as Snow walked back to his canvas.

“He is coming in later,” said Wave, before Snow could answer. “But tomorrow is an even bigger day for you and you need your rest.”

“I just need to put all of this away,” said Snow, gesturing to his canvas, paints, and stand. “I will see you in the morning, both of you. Goodnight Wave, Goodnight Stormcloud.”

“Goodnight Snow,” said Wave, pulling Stormcloud inside the manor.

“Night Snow,” said Stormcloud, before Wave managed to drag him inside and toward his room. Snow laughed at their antics, chuckling to himself.

“He will fit in just fine,” said Snow to no one. “Just fine.”

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After a slight struggle, Wave had managed to get Stormcloud dressed in a pair of pajamas, re-braided his hair, brushed his teeth, and gotten his face wash. Though now they both spotted a few shallow scrapes and bumps.

‘Next time, Eclipse can put him to bed,’ thought Wave, as he pulled the disgruntle boy from the bathroom, to his bed.

Stormcloud was again on the edge of unleashing his magic. He didn’t like the too loose clothing Wave had forced on his body, and the ugly pictures of yellow smiley faces staring up at him from the blue cloth. He didn’t like the taste of that gunk that Wave had forced in his mouth and harshly rubbed it about, making him choke and swallow most of it. His head hurt from Wave pulling at it, and his nose was itchy from the soap that Wave had scrubbed on it. Now, he was being forced into the place he had woken up that morning. He wasn’t in a very pleasant mood.

“Can you make it easy on me and just get in the bed?” questioned a very frazzled Wave. Stormcloud shook his head. He was too angry to get in the bed. He didn’t want to get in it anyway. If he got in it, he would sleep. And he didn’t want to sleep now. Wave sighed and collapsed on the bed himself.

“I thought you were suppose to put the kid to sleep, not yourself,” snickered a voice from the open doorway. Stormcloud and Wave both look to see a smiling Blaze standing there, laughing at Wave’s predicament.

“Blaze,” said Wave in a very strained voice. “Either help me or get Eclipse to deal with him.” Blaze, still laughing, moved down the hall. Stormcloud could still hear his echoing laughter as he moved further and further away. Wave sat up on the bed and shook his head.

Before he could make another attempt at swaying Stormcloud to rest, a sweaty and shirtless Eclipse appeared at the door.

“Go to Sky, Wave,” he said. “I can deal with Stormcloud.” Wave nodded his approval.

“Goodnight to you both,” he mumbled, stumbling to the door. “Pleasant dreams.”

“Same to you,” said Eclipse, who seemed a bit angered to have to come here and put the contrary boy to bed. When Wave had closed the door, Eclipse’s entire focus was on Stormcloud. “Now, will you go to bed?” Stormcloud violently shook his head. Eclipse sighed. He knew it couldn’t be that easy. He had seen too many children, himself included, fight tooth and nail not to go to sleep. And Stormcloud wasn’t use to being told what to do, so he was going to be even more difficult. Eclipse sighed and took the place Wave had been sitting on the bed. Stormcloud noticing his distress moved closer to put one of his hands on the other’s sweaty arm.

“Tired?” asked Stormcloud.

“A little,” he replied. “But I can’t sleep until you do. So the more you fight it, the less rest I get.”

“You sleep now, I sleep later,” said Stormcloud gesturing toward the bed. Eclipse gave a slight smile to that.

“That isn’t the way it works,” he said. “You are suppose to go and sleep. I go and bathe, then go to my own bed to sleep.”

“Wrong then,” said Stormcloud. “I no sleep.” Eclipse just rolled his eyes at the boy.

“Is there anything I can do to persuade you to go to sleep?” asked Eclipse. He was ready to walk into town and buy the boy a wedding cake to make him sleep. Stormcloud put a finger to his lip in deep thought. He really didn’t want to sleep, but everyone else did, so he needed a fair trade. He remembered seeing Sky and Wave kiss and how Snow had cuddled him.

“Kiss me?” he asked, uncertain of Eclipse’s respond.

“You just want a kiss?” the man asked, surprised at the request. Stormcloud gave a slight nod. Eclipse could see the slight fear in his eyes at the prospect of being kissed or held by him. His past experiences of pain associated with those actions were enough to give anyone second thoughts about them. But seeing the enjoyment in the others’ eyes and feeling nice cuddled with Snow made him want to know if a kiss could be nice.

Stormcloud looked up at Eclipse with determined eyes. Eclipse slightly smiled at him and got back to his feet. Then he leaned over to give Stormcloud a chaste kiss on the lips. Stormcloud let out a gasp of surprise when their lips met, causing Eclipse to pull back suddenly.

“I didn’t hurt you did I?” questioned Eclipse, nervousness sneaking into his voice.

“No hurt,” smiled Stormcloud. “Just new.” He finally crawled into the bed, and allowed Eclipse to cover him with the blankets and sheets.

“Goodnight Stormcloud, see you in the morning,” said Eclipse, giving him a small kiss on the forehead and moving out the door.

“Night Eclipse,” he said, as the older man turned out the light and closed the door. Though he had protested being sleepy, in a matter of minutes Stormcloud had reached the land of dreams.

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Settling in for the night seemed to be the popular trend at the moment. While Stormcloud had dozed off, the other couples were going through their nightly rituals in preparation for bed.

In Wave and Sky’s room, Wave was already in is sleeping pants and under the covers. Their room was fairly large, and had a four-poster bed in the middle, and was painted a rainbow of different colored blues. The walls were filled with photos of family and their friends.

“Did you brush your teeth?” Waved called loudly, and the only answer was a gargle from the open doorway that lead to the bathroom. “Make certain to rinse out the sink before you come to bed.”

“Yes Mother,” grumbled the voice of Sky from the bathroom.

“Very funny,” said Wave. “If I was your mother, I could spank you for your punishments and you not like it.” Wave laughed slightly at his own joke as Sky again eeped.

“Not funny,” he said, coming out of the bathroom dressed in light blue pajamas with white bunnies on them in different cute and comical positions.

“Sorry dear,” said Wave, giving Sky a kiss on the nose as he crawled into bed. Sky scrunched his face as if he didn’t enjoy it, but was giggling the entire time.

“Your forgiven,” laughed Sky, giving Wave a more passionate kiss on the lips, which Wave soon dominated. Their kissing was on its way to something more heated, if Wave didn’t break away.

“No, love, your still too young,” Wave said, pulling away from his lover.

“I am almost sixteen,” Sky whined, pleading with Wave, who just shook his head.

“That is still too young, my dear,” said Wave cupping his face. “I love you too much to do anything to hurt you. I’d rather cut off my own head than harm you in anyway.”

“I know,” sighed Sky, cuddling up to his lover. “I just want to show how much I love you.”

“You do that by just being you,” smiled Wave, kissing Sky’s head, then reluctantly getting out of bed to turn off the light, and then to snuggle back up to his slight lover for a good night.

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“Your such a baby sometimes,” sighed Sprite in his plain emerald green sleep wear, reading from a book while lying on his and Copper’s shared bed. Their room was much more colorful then Sky and Wave’s, random colors were splashed on the walls as if a rainbow tornado had swooped through the room. Though Copper would often grumble under his breath about the eye sore that was his walls, a kiss from Sprite was more then enough to silence him.

“You could have waited for me,” whined Copper, coming into the room in his black sweat pants, still slightly damp from his shower. “I could have washed your back.”

“Could have, should have, would have, didn’t,” mumbled Sprite. Copper turned out the light, and crawled into bed.

“So you realize that you were wrong,” whispered Copper in Sprite’s ear. “That means you are willing to take your punishment like a man.”

“What might that be,” Sprite said seductively, turning toward Copper and kissing his lips. When the finally broke it from the need to breath, Copper told him.

“Spending all of tomorrow with me,” he said.

“I suppose that I can do that,” said Sprite. “Though I thought there were laws against cruel and unusual punishments.” Sprite snickered just picturing Copper’s shocked face. Not many people would believe that his large and strong lover would be incredible sensitive to every little thing his lover told him.

“If I wanted to do that, I heard Eclipse was looking for a training partner for Stormcloud,” Copper teased back. “You were scared out of your pants this morning at his sudden storm. I wonder how you will feel if he ever directs his powers just at you.” Sprite shuddered slightly at the memory of the lightning strike so close to him that morning. He of course was scared, having never witness such a feat in all his life.

“Time with you it is then,” joked Sprite. “I suppose I can just suffer through it.”

“I bet I can make it more enjoyable then that,” laughed Copper, as he gave Sprite one last kiss goodnight.

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“He is such a little dear,” said Snow from the bathroom, as he was preparing for bed. He had taken a short shower after finally putting all his things away. Now he was just brushing his ivory locks before bed, and telling Blaze about his conversation with Stormcloud.

“You say little dear,” mumbled Blaze, “I say pain in the ass. Everyone is bending over backwards for that little brat and he has got Eclipse so freaking worked up.”

“Blaze,” sighed Snow. “He is just new to this entire thing. You were scared when you first came here. If I remember correctly you wet your bed the first night, then set it on fire.” Snow chuckled at the memory and could feel the sudden temperature increase in the room.

“I was also five,” Blaze added.

“And Stormcloud is more naive and innocent to the ways of the world then you were then,” Snow replied. “Give him a chance. I think he is good for Eclipse.”

“What are you blabbering about?” asked Blaze, as Snow finally finished and joined him in bed.

“If you could just look for once you would notice that they are attracted to each other,” sighed Snow, getting his share of the covers.

“I think they will be the death of each other,” sighed Blaze.

“You sir, are no friend of romance,” scowled Snow. Blaze gave his lover a devilish grin.

“Romance no,” he said. “But love yes.” And Snow’s giggles were his only reply.

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Eclipse sighed as he finished his leisurely shower. The memories of the day finally landing on his shoulders, and him trying to take all the aches and pains that it brought away. Stormcloud brought so many memories to him. The betrayal of Flame, his parent’s death, and even the distance of his brothers. When he had greeted Key, his brother had acted distant and cool toward him, even after over a year of not seeing each other. His other brother, Shield, was miles and miles away on a daring adventure to free a small town from Flame’s grasp.

He knew that he would grow distant from his family, just as the others had. But he thought that maybe his parent’s death would bring the brothers closer together, but it hadn’t. If anything it had completely severed the bonds that were holding them together as a family. He didn’t know if he could even consider those two his brothers anymore, or their own feelings on the matter.

He sighed again. ‘No use dwelling in the past,’ he thought. His future was too important at the moment. He had to get Stormcloud trained for the up and coming battle, not to mention teach the boy all about their ways of life. He thought that part would be much harder then the training. Stormcloud had a good grasp on his magic already, but he had yet to even fully master speech and eating. Letting the water cascade off of him, he just shook his head at the events to come.

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Normally, most of us can ignore the strange sounds our houses and homes make in the night. The rumbling of the pipes and gurgling of water. The distant sound of the outside world that can’t be blocked off. Our minds play it off as trivial and unimportant, something very mundane.

But for Stormcloud, the sounds were dangerous. Having slept peacefully for an hour or so, he was awoken by the invading sounds of the world around him. He, at first, tried to drown them out by covering his ears and burrowing into his covers, but that didn’t block out everything.

He was frightened of this strange place, not knowing where it was safe to be. He truthfully didn’t even know if his bed was safe. Maybe the others thought he could just protect himself if something came? He shivered. He needed to find Eclipse. It was his natural instinct to find a place he thought was safe, and with Eclipse’s powers, maybe they could help him.

Rushing from his bed and room, he tore down the hallway to where he had seen Eclipse disappear to earlier. He slyly snuck into the room, noticing it was nearly as plain as his own. Eclipse was sprawled out on a bed similar to his, just having fallen asleep. He was frowning and murmuring nonsense that Stormcloud didn’t understand. Taking a quick dive into Eclipse, he landed on the man’s stomach and the response was immediate.

“AHHHHHHHHHHH!” screamed Eclipse out of shock, grabbing that thing that had landed on him, fury in his eyes. A scrambling of feet and a sudden light quickly followed, as the other students invaded Eclipse’s doorway. Eclipse panted in anger, until he heard Stormcloud’s whimper and saw that he was roughly grasping the young boy’s wrist.

“Stormcloud,” panted Eclipse, releasing the appendage and surprised to find the boy throwing himself onto him, and a sudden dampness on his shoulder. “Shh, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He patted the boy on his shoulder.

“Are you both okay?” asked a concerned Snow.

“Yeah, I think so,” replied Eclipse. “I just think Stormcloud got a little scared being all alone.”

“If you want, he can stay with one of us tonight,” offered Sprite, though Copper jabbed him slightly in the ribs at that comment.

“No,” said Eclipse. “He can stay with me. I have a bed all to myself.” The others nodded and bid goodnight again before turning off the light and heading to their respective rooms. Stormcloud had begun to calm down and was no longer whimpering on Eclipse’s shoulder.

“Scared,” he said, nestling into Eclipse’s shoulder.

“Its okay,” said Eclipse, putting his arms around the boy. “Its okay.” Eclipse began to hum the lullabies his mother had once sung to him. Stormcloud stopped shivering and focused on Eclipse’s voice, losing himself in the sweet melody. In a few minutes, he was able to go back to sleep, and Eclipse just smiled before he joined him in sweet slumber.

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Author's Note: Beta read by Saiwa of fictionpress