The healers confirmed what Roxas had guessed: Mella was sick. Below freezing temperatures in nothing but her outfit from Berna had not helped the matter. Throw in her reaction to magic poisoning and Rin’s mark, the healers were amazed Mella was still alive.
They fixed her up as well as they could and told her to take it easy.
“No magic, and don’t do anything to trigger that mark.” One of them called to Mella as Roxas led her off to who knew where.
“You heard the healer, Mella. Don’t piss off Rin.” Roxas chided, as if she was only a child.
“Rin needs to grow up. Tantrums don’t suit her.” Mella said grumpily, staring at the tapestries lining the corridor, depicting scenes of what looked to be Rhydona’s past. “Where are you taking me now?”
“Your new home.” Roxas said, staring straight ahead. “You’re going to be living in the tower above the library. As long as you’re in either of those two places, you can do whatever. Anywhere else, either Rin or I has to be with you.”
“Whatever.” Mella was beyond caring about what he had to say. How was she going to escape if she was trapped in a tower? Wait, how is Anya going to train me? How far can she project herself? There’s no way she’s up here…
Mella almost collided with Roxas, who had stopped in front of a pair of large wooden doors.
“We’re here.” Roxas threw the doors open and walked in, Mella following. As if I had a choice…
The library was like nothing like Mella had ever imagined. Row upon row of shelves towered over them, holding hundreds of books. Chunks of ice hung everywhere, illuminating the room with a soft glow. It looked…familiar somehow.
Mella blinked, and she wasn’t standing in that library anymore...
She was standing in the darkness as someone started talking.
The library was one of the few places she could hide from the whispers and snide comments that always followed her. Barely anyone came in here just to read like she did. Most of the others came in to study a spell and left right afterwards. But for her, the library was a safe haven.
Images exploded in front of Mella's eyes.
She was looking down at a book. She was in her usual corner curled up in an oversized armchair, hidden from the world.
"Hey, Mella! Bri's looking for you. Something about air magic lessons. Teacher's been waiting for you." She looked up. It was the boy, Drake.
"Drake, I've told you, my name is--ugh, what's the point? You'll still call me Mella."
"At last! Wisdom from the girl that's always reading." His green eyes sparkled with silent laughter.
Flash forward.
The sun was shining bright above the puffy white clouds. Something was fading into distance behind her. A bird soared next to her, and Mella couldn't help but whoop with glee.
She was free.
"Mella? Hey, wake up!"
Mella opened her eyes, and saw the ocean depths. Roxas it appeared, had caught Mella before she had hit the ground. Apparently these memories-for that's what they had been (she thought, anyways)-were important somehow.
"Mella?" Roxas whispered. Mella realized how close he was to her. And somehow…she was okay with it. Almost.
"Let me go, now." Mella pushed away from Roxas, ignoring her head, which had started to throb. Roxas set her down, his expression hurt-looking. He's trying to trick me, just like Alex and Gwen did. But I'm not going to fall for it again. "You said I was in the tower above the library. Where is it?"
Roxas didn't answer, but countered her question. "What did you see?"
Mella glared at him. What else had the Ryn twins told them? "Why would I tell you? You don’t deserve to know. Where's the tower?"
Roxas looked stonily back, his eyes freezing into ice.
"Figure it out on your own." Roxas stormed off, slamming the doors behind him, leaving Mella standing there, alone.
Mella threw her hands up in disgust. What was his problem? First Rin's spell (well, that's what she thought it was), now his behavior had flipped instantly. Actually, what is my problem? How can I feel that way towards him? He has a superiority complex, and he's rude, and his emotions flip constantly, and…and I sort of like him… AUGH!!!! Something wasn't right…but at the moment she could care less. Mella pushed any thoughts of Roxas out of her head and started wandering through the library, trying to find where she was going to be staying.
It took Mella ages to find the door that led upstairs, hidden in the far reaches of the library. A flight of spiraling stairs ascended into a small bedroom. There was three more doors up here. One led to a sort of balcony looking into the library. Another was locked, the key nowhere in sight. Mella peered through the keyhole and saw a rail and the cloudy sky. Another balcony.
The last set of doors led into a bathroom and a closet, already full of clothes, her bag of stuff laying on a shelf, the box noticeably absent. They must have been planning all of this for a while.
There was a mirror hanging over the sink. Mella was shocked at her appearance. Her face and clothes were filthy. Her hair stuck up at odd angles. The scariest part was her eyes. Apparently Mella wasn't completely over the magic poisoning. Her eyes were a bright blue, but they looked like they were slowly darkening back to purple.
I'm not letting anyone see me again like this. Mella turned away from her frightening reflection to the bathtub, which was filled with steaming water. Strange, I could've sworn it was empty a minute ago…who am I kidding? Everything is magic here, isn't it…
The water was bliss. It almost made Mella forget that she was a prisoner, that she had no clue what she had done to bring the wrath of the king and queen, or what they wanted with her. Mella just wanted to forget it all and live in a happy dream.
Too bad you have to leave dreams and face reality, Mella thought sadly as she scrubbed the dirt away.
The clothing they had left her was either very dull, or very bright. There were no in-betweens, and it was all formal, or so weird looking she wouldn't touch it. Mella could've sworn there was boy clothes in there: pants and tunics and the like. What kind of clothes are these anyways?
In the end, Mella grabbed a drab grey sleeveless gown, and a pair of flats hidden in the corner. It fit perfectly, which didn't surprise her one bit. The Ryn twins had told them everything.
Mella didn't bother looking in the mirror to see her new appearance. She knew it looked nothing like the confident, slightly defiant looking girl from Berna or the elegant princess being whisked off to the ball in Ryn. Those people were gone, and Mella wasn't sure who she was anymore.
"Mella? You here somewhere?" Anya's voice drifted up the stairs. What? How?! Mella practically ran down the stairs.
Sure enough, the air elemental was waiting in the library, sitting in a chair that made her look tiny.
"Anya? How did you get up here?" Mella asked incredulously.
"The queen lets me come up here to read sometimes, in the hopes I'll change my mind. Plus, I can project my image through the places I've been, which was how I talked with you earlier." So she was projecting…but how did I already know that?
"Are you going to start teaching me now then?" Mella asked hopefully, then realizing how awkward she sounded. With the brighter light in the library, she could see that Anya could barely be a teenager, if that. How could one so young know so much?
Anya smiled a little, as if she was hearing a vaguely amusing joke. "As much as I would love that, I just came to give you a heads-up. Rin's heading up here, and she looks pissed. Next time, perhaps." Anya's form vanishes, as if a strong breeze had blown her away.
Somewhere else in the library, a door banged open.
"Fragment! Where are you?" Anya was right, Rin even sounded pissed. 'Don't do anything to set off the mark…' so, don't mess with Rin. Great… "MELLA!"
"Oh, for the love of Lea, stop yelling! It's not helping." Mella called back, weaving through the stacks towards Rin's voice, wishing her head would stop throbbing.
Rin was sprawled in an armchair, staring at a thick leather-bound book with spiky red words Mella couldn't understand. Rin threw the book aside carelessly when she saw Mella.
"You took your time." She snarled.
"I was getting cleaned up. What do you want?" Mella asked coldly. Rin's scarlet eyes narrowed.
"So rude, fragment. I would've thought you had learned better by now." Mella's shoulder started to burn with pain. She glared at Rin.
"Enough with the scar, mark, whatever it is! You'd be hacked off if someone was always messing with you! What do you want?" Rin said nothing, and the pain mounted. The world was growing dark again…
"Rin! Lay off! Remember what father said." The pain vanished, and the lights came back, leaving her light-headed. Mella grabbed the nearby bookshelf to keep herself from falling. Roxas had walked in and was holding out his hand to Rin. "Give it to me."
Rin looked innocently at her brother. It looked disturbing to Mella. "Give what to you?"
"The necklace. The healers said she's not supposed to set off that curse, scar, whatever you did in Ivadona. So you need to back off." Mella looked at them. She still didn't really know what they meant. Rin noticed her blank stare.
"You don't know anything at all. Your head's just full of air, isn't it?" She sneered.
"Rin!" Roxas shouted, making Mella wince as her head throbbed in response to the noise.
"Don't yell at me, Roxas! And you can't have my necklace. I'll leave the fragment alone, for now." Rin looked at Mella evilly and huffed away in a flurry of maroon skirts.
"You okay?" Roxas asked her quietly. Oh, so now we suddenly have feelings again?
"Why do you care? And what do you guys want? Because I am done being harassed by you two." Mella was confused, and now both her head and shoulder were throbbing. Couldn't everyone just leave her alone?
"What Rin failed to say when she was up here was the king and queen have requested that you join them for dinner, if you feel up to it." Roxas had ignored the first part of her question and waited for her response. I bet he added that last bit onto it…because I really have a choice in all of this madness.
But Mella was fed up. "I don't 'feel up to it.' You can thank your sister for that. I'd rather you lot would let me go and leave me alone." she snapped.
Roxas fired back instantly. "Well, I'm sorry, Mella! But things don't work that way. No one is ever going to leave you alone if they know who you are!"
Mella laughed coldly. "You aren't sorry. None of you are! Who am I exactly?! What do you people want with me?!" Mella cried. "For almost half of the year I've had to relearn everything! I didn't remember even having a name, or a memory, or anything!!"
Roxas was silent, and Mella realized that she had probably said too much. Suddenly weary, she sat down in the chair Rin had vacated and buried her face in her hands. Nothing was fair, or made any sense. What had happened in Ivadona? Why did Rin keep calling her a fragment? Mella was lost.
Roxas looked down at Mella. She looked nothing like she had in Ryn, the first time he had really seen her. She was alone, and scared. Mella wanted to be away from them--the reason her life had been changed forever.
Roxas turned back towards the door. Behind him, Mella mumbled through her hands, "You can't imagine what I've been through."
Roxas stopped, inches from the door. "You'd be surprised." And he was gone.