Criminal

"What?" I murmured incredulously after the eternity of silence. "No. No! I have had my fair share of dying! Everyone dies ones, it's a part of life, so why do we have to die twice? Why don't I get to live a normal life just once?" I shrieked, moving from my hiding spot behind Elessar.

"You're special, and that's no reason to pitch a fit." His mom said, wiping the remnants of her tears from her face, and regaining her composure.

"No reason to pitch a fit?" I said dryly with a humorless laugh. "I was locked in my tower for sixty years, I was never allowed to do anything but study and sit in my tower. I watched as whoever I talked to was murdered to keep me a secret, and when I finally get the nerve to run away to try and live a normal life and make two friends along the way I get thrown into some prophecy that says I have to die. Why do I have to do anything? No one controls me, I could walk out that door and disappear forever, and live the simple life I've always wanted." Is this what being livid feels like? I never knew I had the capacity for so much anger, but I couldn't stop now.

"But you won't." She retorted calmly.

A hint of insanity colored the edges of my laugh. "How the hell do you know what I'm going to do? You have no idea who I even am."

"Idril, she's not worth it." Elessar whispered and when to grab my wrist, as I had done to him. When he touched me his skin sizzled and he jumped away as if he had touched a flame. I was too blinded with rage to care.

"I don't, but your mother has watched over you and told me all about you." She said with a pompous expression.

"My... mother?" I expected my anger to cool down, but it only grew hotter. "Don't you dare bring her into this! You can't just bring people back from the dead, or out of hiding to win an argument!"

"I'm not trying to win!" She yelled back at me. "I'm trying to calm you down so you don't burn my whole house down! I've already lost it once!" Confusion settled in, burn the house down? What does she mean by that? That's when I noticed Elessar standing a great distance away from me cradling his hand, and Tathar on the complete other side of the room with Lessie cowering behind him. Flames were rolling off me, stretching and reaching for anything flammable nearby. For, they had already completely engulfed me, and they still hungered for more.

I screamed in terror. "I'm on fire put me out! Put me out!" I cried hysterically.

"You need to calm down." Elessar's mother ventured closer to me. "It's not hurting you. You are not burning alive... You created the fire, with your anger and your magik. You not have done it on purpose, but you need to cool down." I nodded slowly and tried to calm myself. I took deep breaths, I need to help Elessar, I'm the one who caused his pain and I need to fix it. And I can't fix it like this. I need to cool down. It's probably just like the blackness around the cube; if I imagine myself cooler and calmer then it'll happen.

"You might have gone a smidgen too cool." Elessar's voice sounded closer than before, and his teeth were chattering. I opened my eyes and a light frost covered every surface of the room. I groaned and imagined going back to a normal temperature and shutting my magik off, for the time being.

"I didn't know it was possible to have the power of ice." Tathar murmured.

"it comes with the power of water, except a little bit colder." Elessar's mother answered. I ignored them and focused on the one thing in the world that currently mattered.

"Are you okay? I didn't mean to burn you." I gingerly grabbed his hand.

"I'm fine, we heal quickly remember?" He noticed no change in my guilt and continued. "Besides, I thought it was impressive. You we're on fire and perfectly fine... It was... Hot." He raised his eyebrows, waiting for me to laugh. I chuckled and rolled my eyes.

"What?! That was a good pun." He laughed.

"It was mediocre at best." I answered and rolled my eyes again, but couldn't stop the smile that spread across my face.

"I didn't expect them to be so powerful." I heard his mother whisper. I whirled around to face her.

"What do you mean?" My anger began to grow again. "Did you purposely try to get us angry.

She nodded. "Very insightful. I needed to push you two to see what you could truly do, and how much I would have to teach you. It wasn't hard to... Excite you two. You both have such short tempers."

"Couldn't you have just asked us?" Elessar growled at her.

"Yes, and I also could have used my gift, but I wanted to experience them first hand." She paused momentarily. "I can see the future."

"I didn't know there was such a gift." Tathar gasped.

"Doesn't that mean we would have that gift?" I asked, I had an idea. "If we did we could watch the future and avoid our death!"

"You can't outrun death." His mother said solemnly. "You may be able to hide from him for a few years, maybe even a lifetime but he will always catch you. If you stop watching for a second, that's when you'll die."

"I guess we simply never stop watching the future then." Elessar said with determination.

"That's heavy." A very exhausted looking Corinth said and entered the room. "Wow what did you guys do in here. How is the room lightly frosted, yet the floor scorched in an Idril shaped circle?"

"Corinth your okay!" I yelled and ran to embrace her. She had only been unconscious for a day and a half but she had looked so dead.

"Yes, my magik is still running a little low, and I have a slight headache, but I'm alive. And that's better than... You know; not." She smiled meekly, then continued. "Did you try to burn the house down?"

"Uhm... Maybe." I smiled and blushed. "Turns out I have quite a hot temper... Elessar must be rubbing off on me."

"I like to use the phrase protective, and that's not a bad thing." Elessar smiled and walked up next to me, pulling me into his side for a half hug.

"It's nice to see you two are still grossly in love." It was nice having her back. I know she'll have our backs, and understand us. Unlike Elessar's mother, who thinks she can control us and our actions because she can see the future and knows best. I definitely need a friend in the midst of all this drama. Elessar doesn't count, he isn't really a person so much as a part of me.

"What do you mean I don't count?" He said, sounding hurt. Oh yeah, that telepathy thing still happens sometimes.

I smiled sheepishly at him. "People, I can live without... But I will never be able to live without you, you're a part of me, my cliche other half."

"Wait am I a cliche? Or is the idea of an other half cliche?" I rolled my eyes at his questions and he pulled me into a tight hug and twirled us around. "I'm kidding, but I'm glad you feel that way, that I'm not alone in that mindset." He cracked a dazzling smile at me and I couldn't help but place a peck on his cheek.

"Excuse me while I empty the contents of my stomach due to your excessive love." Corinth teased while smiling. "Go lock yourselves in your room again, or something."

"Corinth, nice to see you not dead." Elessars mother called, I shot a glare at her. Corinth is my friend, mine. I don't want that untrustworthy snake touching her. I know she gave birth to Elessar but that doesn't mean I have to trust her. That just means I appreciate her handiwork. Elessar snorted and chuckled slightly next to me.

"Get out of my head." I mumbled and playfully pushed him.

"But I like it in there. You're anger is comical, and it's nice to see how fondly you think of me." He placed a kiss on the top of my head as I huffed in irritation.

"That's what we're going to work on next." His mother suddenly materialized before us. "You two are supposed to work as a pair, and your gifts will only work when you are together so we mustn't allow a repeat of the dragon occur. You need to strengthen your guards and only allow one another in."

"That sounds extremely possible." Elessar said sarcastically. "What do I have to do? Push up with my mind?" I thought she would yell at him and tell us, once again that she knows best, but she just smirked.

"No, you have to walk out that door."

"Walk out that door?" I scoffed and went to take a step but my legs stayed glued in place. "What did you do?" I yelled.

"Your minds are so weak, even Corinth, in her weaken state, could get into them." She sounded so disappointed. Even though I didn't trust her, the motherly tone in her voice mixed with the disappointment and I wished only to please her. I didn't want to let her down, as if she were my own mother. No. She isn't my mother, she's a manipulator. I don't wish for her approval, I don't much care for it either. She is not important to me.

My right foot stepped forward.

She's planting lies in my head. Telling me I can't move, or that I like her. But, it's just in my head. She isn't anywhere near me, she can't hold me down and tell me not to move. I do what I want, if I want to walk forward, I will and I can. It's just like moving the cube, nothing is really there. It's only my imagination.

My eyes connect with hers, I smirked. I took a deep breath, and walked easily across the room. No one is going to control me, but me. She nodded approvingly at me and returned her focus to Elessar.

"How?" He questioned as sweat dripped down his brow. His eyes were scared and they begged for help.

If I can push someone out of my head, I can get into his. Right. I closed my eyes, and searched for Elessar. I could feel all five of their minds churning with life, they were almost glowing.

Tathar was amazed by our power and how well we were doing on our first day, but he also felt he hadn't treated Lessie to a proper date in a while, too long actually. Lessie was becoming a bit peckish and was trying to get the nerve up to ask Tathar to go on a picnic, but feared it was uncalled for in the time of war.

Do it, he'll say yes. I whispered to her. Then I reached Corinth, she was running on empty. Her magik was at a lower level than she lead on and I could feel her body aching. She was pushing herself too hard and she knew it, but she had felt our distress and didn't want to leave us alone with Elessars mother for too long. She doesn't trust his mother either.

Rest, we'll be fine for a while. We need your help, not you dead from over exhaustion. She walked out of the room and I could feel her appreciation.

Next was the she devil. She was a little harder to crack. There was a wall around her mind, well only if I believed there was. It was like everything else that went with magik, a trick. The walls came tumbling down and I saw what she was doing to Elessar. She was throwing every fear of his she could remember at him. She had taken it easy on me, or at least given herself away too quickly.

I could use this opportunity to dig deeper and see if she's trust worthy but Elessar needs my help. I quickly jumped to his mind. He was frozen with fear as images of me dying flash across his eyes and the fire that burned down his home and took part of his family with it. There were giant spiders from his childhood nightmares, a blinding crushing darkness all around him... She even brought back his fear of commitment from right after he heard Tathar had been killed.

My death scared him the most. I don't know whether to be flattered or worried what would happen to him if I ended up being killed or held for some kind of ransom. I pushed that worry from my head and focused back on him. I need to help him.

It's not real. My voice echoed in his mind.

It's still terrifying and I can't make it stop. I just wanted it to stop, I just want to be out of this nightmare. Even his voice in his mind was breaking and almost in tears.

Just think of happy thoughts. I suggested.

I don't have any. He retorted. She had weaved her way into every facet of his mind. Taking his insecurities, ever plentiful, and used them against him. I many of the good memories I shared with him into his head. When he told me he 'fancied me over other women' after I told him my back story, or when he showed me how our magik made our eyes dance with different swirls of colors and we almost had our first kiss. I forced him to remember our first kiss while soaring in the air in the purple light, which coincidentally is also the first time we admitted we loved each other, and the first time we... erm, consummated our relationship? But I didn't need to stick to our firsts, everyday I spent with him was the best day I'd ever had, only to be topped by the next one. His smile, his bad jokes and terrible puns never ceased to make me smile, and I hope by showing him this he isn't scared anymore. He could lose me at any time, my body isn't made of stone, it's weak and squishy. I could be killed by a simple infected wound. But the time we've spent together, while not ideal 100% of the time, is far more than I could ever deserve and though I'll never have enough time with him, I can die happy at anytime knowing I at least have been given this much.

For some reason tears had formed in my eyes and I tried to blink them away, when I noticed Elessar standing beside me, he had made it! I smiled at him, while still choking back tears. He pulled me closer to his chest and caressed my face, wiping the wetness from my face with his thumbs.

"Thank you." He whispered and pressed a passionate kiss to my lips. "We make quite the team." He panted after pulling away.

I love you. Echoed in my head, as he smiled and slid his arm around my shoulder rambling about how he was ravenous and thought a picnic was in order or something. I smiled up at him and hoped for this moment to continue on forever. I don't want to fight a war or become a martyr for peace. I want this, the simple joys of life and Elessar at my side to share them with me.

But a great destiny is not so easily changed.