The Tale of Two Angels (School for Good and Evil fanfic)

Chapter 2

Two years passed by peacefully.

Clement trained his son to learn how to control the abilities of an anthroangelus, and Frost kept the family secret away from his sister. But whenever the two of them would be left alone, the temptation to tell his sister would pop up.
They'd never know. A voice seemed to whisper in his mind. Rose wouldn't tell.
But just as he would call her attention and brace himself for the consequences, Frost would remember that haunted look his father had when he spoke of his uncles and quickly make up an excuse - telling his sister that it was nothing or giving a nervous laugh before saying that he forgot. Rose never suspected a thing, so she'd shrug and go on doing whatever she was interrupted from, her innocent mind getting the idea that her brother was just a tad scatterbrained to be constantly forgetting whatever he wanted to tell her. The cycle of lying to hide the truth came to be a tedious habit for Frost, yet slowly, the want to share the secret of their family turned into a wish that he was sure would never be granted.

Then one day, Frost fell.

~~~

Rose smiled happily as she and her brother strolled through the woods surrounding their home. Their parents often let them go about the woods, saying that it was good excercise and that the fresh air would be healthy for them. But Frost knew the true reason for it. They believed that if Rose was meant to have a Mark, being exposed to nature might help it reveal itself.

It was summertime, and the sun shone brightly. The branches of the trees made a canopy over their heads, shading them from most the heat. Rose would rush ahead and stop here and there to have a closer look at a butterfly or any other little creature that would happen to catch her eye. To the girl's delight, they would often creep out from where they hid and let her pet them without batting an eye. Frost would shake his head with a smile on his face whenever he saw this, save for the time when he saw Rose cuddling a snake when she was younger. He had promptly snatched the serpent away and gave it a look to leave, which though reluctant, it did. The birds were no different, but after having a small cut on her hand from having one perch on her finger, Rose had unintentionally made them stay in their branches.

Frost hadn't been sure of what to make of how friendly the animals were at first, but his father told him that all members of their family had a certain aura that made animals drawn to them, even if they wouldn't get a Mark. He did admit that Rose's was stronger than most, which though wasn't necessarily a bad thing, made Scarlett sigh whenever she had to brush the fur off her daughter's clothes.

It wasn't long until they came to a familiar oak with flowers blooming prettily by its roots. For a few moments, the children silently stood there, admiring the ancient tree that towered over them. The two had discovered the tree last year. After finding that the branches near the top of the tree had grown together into a decent floor, they made it into a treehouse of sorts. Rose had even started planting wildflowers between the cracks of dirt between the tree's roots as a little garden.

"Race you to the top!"

Frost blinked a few times at the spot where Rose stood before the words registered. When they did, he grinned and began scaling the massive oak. "No fair! I wasn't ready!" he whined, though laughter laced his words.

Rose climbed up, nimbly avoiding dead branches and bird's nests as she easily found foot or handholds. Frost followed a few branches below her, thankful for their father teaching him how to balance as he pulled himself up with branches. Nonetheless, he soon found himself lagging farther and farther behind his sister as she reached the top of the oak. Rose peered down from her perch as she scanned the tree limbs for her brother. She gave a little wave to him and giggled when she saw Frost looking up at her from a few branches below her.

"I win!" she called down.

"You had a head start! And how do you even climb up there when you're wearing a dress?!" Frost looked around himself, trying to find a branch to pull himself up with. Seeing a thick one that stuck out just a little bit beyond his current reach, he jumped out to grab the branch.

Suddenly, Rose stopped laughing and noticed something that her brother didn't.

"Stop! That's a dead branch!"

Too late.

The dead wood snapped in his hands. Frost yelped in surprise as he fell down and his heart began to race. He tried to summon his wings, but with his body constantly being cut by branches and the fear consuming him, he couldn't focus enough for them to appear. He shut his eyes, bracing himself for the ground.

A thump sounded, and he knew that it was his body making impact with the ground. Oddly enough, it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. Kind of soft really. Slowly opening his eyes, Frost saw that he was in a bed of grass and wild flowers over five feet high. The springy material had broken his fall. Looking up, he spotted Rose still at the top, her hand outstretched and glowing a slight red with green at the edges. As the whole scene sank in, he began to smile. Then he started to laugh, and at the sight of Rose looking at him like a he was a maniac, he only laughed louder.

"Come on down!" he called out, grin unfaltering as he got up from the plants.

~~~

When Rose saw her brother falling, she had raised her arm out instinctively, despite knowing how futile it was. Then, she had felt something building up inside of her. She had to save him somehow. She had to. With a burning sensation in her hand, the flowers and grass began weaving together as they rapidly grew.

Now, as her brother beckoned her to come down, she felt tired. She stared at her right hand, shocked about what had just happened. A pretty image of a red rose was now on the back of it, its red glow fading. What was that? Was it how she had been able saved Frost? Then if that wasn't enough, Frost's reaction to whole thing. He should have been angry at her for even starting the stupid contest, not laughing! Had...had he known about this? It sounded like he did. Why didn't he tell her then? Everything felt wrong and odd and-

"Hey Rose, are you alright up there?" Frost frowned, wondering if his sister had used too much energy.

Rose took a deep breath before descending, glancing at her hand every now and then to see if it was glowing again. To her great relief, it didn't, though the flower on it remained. As soon as she landed on the ground, Frost tackled her in a hug.

"I'msosorrythatIcouldn'ttellyouandIhatedkeepingthatsecretI'msorry-"

"F-Frost, what's going on?"

Frost stopped his stream of words and looked away from his sister, his expression guilty. He stopped hugging Rose and grabbed her hand, leading her back to their home. "Rose, I'm really sorry that I can't explain," he said, looking ahead. "But you'll understand soon, okay? Mom and Dad will tell you everything you need to know."

Rose didn't reply. She bit her bottom lip, silently following her brother along.

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A/N: Thanks again for reading this! So I changed the way she saved Frost and made Frost's reaction a little more...interesting. If you're wondering, the original was Rose making a branch grab Frost and her brother not laughing like a maniac. I thought that having him land on flowers and grass would be a bit easier because when it was the branch, I typed that word so many times that it kind of started losing meaning. Well thanks again and see you next chapter.