Twice Burned

Zoe

I swallowed hard as I watched Gideon begin to pick up some of the items on the table, his back turned to me to which I couldn't see what he was doing. Tears welled in my eyes, knowing what he was doing was going to hurt.

"It's nice to see you again, young Zoe, but I guess now you're not that young anymore!" Gideon laughed. The sound of his voice snapped me out of my fearful trance and I looked away, staring straight ahead of me to see Robin smiling upon the wall. She kicked off of it and began to walk over to Gideon, of which I refused to interest me.

"So nice to see you again, Giddee." Robin said, and from what I could tell she leaned on his shoulder with her hands.

"You too, Robbie." Gideon laughed, continuing to fiddle with the instruments. 

Finally I began to interact to my own caution.

"So, Gideon, see you finally found a girlfriend." I laughed, still staring into the darkness of the walls.

"Girlfriend?" Gideon snickered. "Ha! Like I've never heard that one before!" 

"Gideon is not my boyfriend, nor my husband, Zoe." Robin said, looking to me while she leaned on his shoulder. "Quite the contrary, actually. He's my brother."

This time I did look at her, now in utter shock. "What?"

Both of them laughed at my ignorance, obviously savoring the moment. Then Gideon turned to Robin and held something up to her. 

"Do you mind?" He asked. Robin smiled and rolled her eyes, then bringing her palm up to the bottom of the object he held, and she suddenly consumed an inferno into her hand. Gideon nodded and she clasped her fingers into her palm, extinguishing it from its flames.

I must have looked confused, because Robin turned back to me and grinned.

"Let me tell you a story, Zoe, and don't fall asleep, because it's going to get real complicated real quick." Robin said, walking away from Gideon as he did his work.

"Once upon a time," She started sarcastically, "there were two fairies who met at a stream. One was a girl, not much older than you are right now, who went to the stream for water. Atop her head she wore a green jewel, branding her as a Morpher fairy. She could take any form she wanted, but her normality was always a girl with thick brown hair and light, fair skin.

"The other was a man, about the same age as King Nathan right now, who went to the stream for fuel. Near the stream, he gathered long grass roots and burning wood, and atop his head was a crimson red jewel, branding him as a Burner fairy. He could create any inferno with his powers, and control others around him, making him very powerful and very dangerous."

As Robin spoke, Gideon kept working, pouring things into a spout of some sort, but I couldn't take my eyes off of Robin as she circled me, making sure she wasn't going to do anything to me.

"The two met at the stream, and began to flirt. The next day, they came to the stream again, and again, and again, until a year had passed and they had met every day. Soon they realized they fell in love, and decided to marry.

"A few years later, they had a child together. But, this child was a rare child. The boy was born with no jewel, making him a fairy with no power. His parents knew he would not survive on his own, so they kept him fairly protected for many years. After a long while, and the boy grew to a man, the two fairies in love decided to have another child. This child, however, was unlike any other. She possessed a jewel split in half, one half a deep crimson red like her father's, the other a light emerald green like her mother's. The two fairies soon realized that this little girl had the power of two different kinds of fairies.