Chapter 23

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(20 years old - May 2M)

AN- This scene is inspired by the flashback scene of hunting Burned Ones during season 1.

We'd just finished taking down another Burned One, Saul and Andreas had been talking about something but by the looks of it, Andreas was done with the conversation as he made his way towards where Bronte and I stood watching Ben gather some samples from the Burned One's corpse.

"Is he dissecting again?" Andreas asked.

"What do you think?" I shot back.

"We've still got a lot to learn from them." Ben replied, and Andreas obviously ready to get going spat at the corpse. "Or we could contaminate it. Lovely!"

"Do you always have to be so childish?" Bronte said, shooting him an unimpressed look.

"Not bad today." Rosalind said, gaining our attention as she made her way down the hill towards us. "Two minutes, 15 seconds. That's the fastest that you've brought one down. Let's try for under two minutes next time, shall we?"

After Ben had collected his samples we'd all made our way back to camp. It was a silent walk that took a fair bit. When we made it back to camp Rosalind split off from us as we wandered towards our camp set up. And of course now that Rosalind was out of ear's reach Andreas' childish manor turned back on, and today of course it had to be me he targeted.

Andreas sighed, "Mind fairies," he said to Saul, loud enough for me to overhear. "Walking red flags those ones."

"Kettle kettle, black black." I called back, satisfied by the frustrated expression I had earned from him.

Shortly after we'd regrouped at camp Bronte and I went for a short walk around the outskirts of the large battalion camp, something we always liked to do after a short assignment. When we were passing the commander's outpost section of camp Rosalind dragged me away from Bronte and all prying eyes.

"How long have you known?" She asked, a bit of sour distaste present as she spoke.

"About a month." I replied honestly.

"Does he know?"

I shook my head in response, looking down at my feet. "But it won't be long until he starts to put things together."

"That's when your excellent knowledge of light magic will come in handy. Manipulate a few things, it will be our little secret." Rosalind replied, though it didn't seem like there would be any option but to do as she says.

"Doesn't he deserve the right to-" But she cut me off before I could finish;

"It will only distract him, Farah. Look at how much it distracts you. Now I've got matters to attend to."

Rosalind left, and I headed back to camp mulling over what Rosalind had said. I went back to my tent not sure where the others had retreated to.

"Farah!" I heard a somewhat glitchy voice call when I had barely made it into the tent. I looked up, over to Saul's side of the tent and saw his younger sister, Sarah, on the big ipad screen. I smiled, changing my direction and settling down beside Saul. "You look pale, is everything alright?" Sarah asked, the concern rising in her voice as well as on her face.

"Just a little under the weather." I lied. Then tried to move the subject away from me. "Here back from Alfea yet?"

"I got accepted!" She ruffled around for a quick second then held up the acceptance letter.

"That's wonderful." I replied, peeking a glance over at Saul's expression.

He seemed a bit uneasy, but overall happy for Sarah's accomplishments. After our long conversation I settled down on top of the sleeping bags.

"You coming?" He asked, grabbing his jacket, getting ready to head out and join the others for the nightly campfire.

I sighed, closing my eyes. "Maybe in a bit."

He seemed a bit hesitant about my answer, unsure if he should stay and make sure everything was alright. He didn't, which I was grateful for as I wanted a bit of time to myself. I kept my eyes closed mulling over what Rosalind had said a bit more in depth.

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(20 years old - Next day)

"When you let go is when you find true power." Rosalind's voice came from somewhere behind me.

It was very early morning, dawn just starting to break through. The downside to joining the battalion was that the private sessions I'd had with Rosalind as a student now continued.

"Your emotions are a tool, nothing more and nothing less." She sounded frustrated, due to my lack of success.

I tried to remain concentrated but when I concentrated on one aspect of the difficult and painful task, the other would start to slip. Rosalind's task was, well, impossible. I was to use light magic to bring us to the Stone Circle, then proceed to light the torches around the outskirts and grow any sort of plant I would like within the vessel all while protecting my mind from Rosalind's harsh attacks. I'd gone on the defensive end of things for about a minute, protecting my mind and not even attempting the task. I started to refocus towards the task at hand after regaining some composure. I started to envision the Stone Circle that sat on the outskirts of Alfea's grounds when a paralysing pain shot all throughout my body and I crumpled to the ground. No matter how much I tried to escape the feeling remained, a sharp breath escaping my lungs along with an agonizing scream of pain.

"Honestly Farah," Rosalind said, coming into view. "If you can't complete a task as simple as this I don't know how you'll survive out in the real world. Same time tomorrow." She left me there, trying to catch my breath.

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AN- I don't know why I find it so fun to write Rosalind's manipulative side.

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