The Water

Chapter Twelve: Fire And Ice

I inhaled as much as I could. I proceeded to exhale fire right at Lydia. As the flames approached her, she drew water out of the grass and made a board. She flew off to the side as the fire hit the ground. The board disappeared from beneath me as I began to levitate on my own. I flew down towards her as I balled a fist and punched the air in front me, sending a flamethrower attack at her.

"It's bad enough you killed my brother," she screamed as she evaded my attack. "But now you're going to kill me!?"

"I'm done with the pity party bullshit, bitch," I said swooping down and pinning her to the ground. "I've tried being nice to you and you killed my sister in cold blood. I told you that your brother's death was an accident! But given that you killed my sister in cold blood, your death won't be!"

Lydia formed ice spikes and sent them at me. As they hit me, they instantly evaporated. Nice try, I thought. But you're still going to fucking die. I riled my fist back and puched the ground as Lydia broke free and dodged the attack. She frantically zipped around me as my friends and the teachers came outside. As Lydia zipped away from me, I followed right behind her. I inhaled again and sent another fire blast at her.

"Rick be careful!" Blaine shouted. "You took on the essence of a dragon! You're not under Vicky's protection anymore!"

Before I could react, Lydia tried to use blood manipulation on me. However it backfired. I didn't realize but dragons don't have normal blood. My body was pure fire and energy. There was no blood left for her to control. A look of horror took over her face as I gave an evil smile.

"Oh," I said, chuckling. "You're fuckin dead!"

I brought my arms together and a giant set of fire wings hit Lydia. She went flying across the battlegrounds until she landed face first into the dirt. I zipped after her, breathing more fire at her. She tore off her clock as it was on fire. I landed behind her as she struggled to get back up to her feet.

"Oh come on," I said, walking up to her. "You can't tell me that trying to help you is harder than trying to kill you. You brought this out of me. You can finally put a face to the monster that killed your brother and you can't even fight me?! You had no problem killing everyone in cold blood. Where's your fighting spirit?!"

Lydia's eyes filled with tears as she summoned all of the water out of the fields. She sent a water blast right at me. As it came closer, it turned to ice. As it evaporated, I saw Lydia turn into a monster herself. Her skin turned pale blue as her eyes stayed red. She rushed towards me and struck me right across the face. Shit! I thought. That actually made contact! As she tried to hit me again, I grabbed her arm and head slammed her into the ground.

"As my sister would say," I taunted, my voice still growling. "Now I'm intrigued."

"Just wait," she said. "Wait till I kill your pathetic little friends too!"

As time went on, half of the battleground was covered in ice while the other half was on fire. After a bunch of fire attacks and water attacks, we each kneeled in the middle of the battlegrounds. I breathed heavily as I watched her do the same. I can't give up, I thought as I got back to my feet. I have to win this. I have to kill her. For Starla.

As we both stood up, we began running at each other. We weren't even throwing our elements anymore. I punched her with fists of fire and she struck me with hands of ice. With every punch, we each began to bleed, for each of our hits were so strong that it canceled out the other element. We kept fighting until she jumped back. I stared her down across the battleground and inhaled as much as I could. As I breathed the fire behind me began to swirl around me. I could see her forming a wave of water and ice around her as well.

Before I knew it, I sent the largest fire blast of my life at her as she sent a giant wave of ice at me. I held my fist out and continued firing as she continued sending ice at me. I won't give in, I thought. She has to die. Eventually the energy became so strong that it sent both of us flying back. I caught myself mid air and flew over to her. As I came down, I had a giant fire ball in my hand. I was about to do it when I heard a scream.

"Don't do it bro!"

Who the fuck said that? I thought. I looked over to see Starla standing next to Alice with her arm around Alice's back. I stopped my attack and lowered myself to the ground. My body turned back to normal as I landed.

"Sis? You're alive?" I asked. "How is that even possible?!"

"I manipulated her blood back into her body," Alice said calmly. "Then Blaine gently singed the wound and Jarick got her heart pumping again. She's completely fine."

I looked at my sister with a smile on my face before an ice spike shot right through my chest. I watched my blood pour as my body turned to fire again.

"I'm not done with you yet," I said as I turned around and sent a controlled fire blast at Lydia.

She went flying back as I burned her hands and her feet so she couldn't use them. Before I could get over to her, Alice placed blood control over Lydia. She twirled her hands around and Lydia collapsed.

As my body healed and I turned back I looked at Alice. "What did you do?"

"I blocked her core from the energy in her blood," Alice replied. "She is no longer an elemental."

Damn, I thought. "That's badass. Let's say we throw her in the joint for a while."

Voren walked over and picked Lydia up off the ground and carried her into the school. "It's a shame, my student. You could've done well as an elemental."

Voren hung his head low as he carried her inside. Vicky brought me her jacket and I put it on. Everyone started cheering because Starla was alive again. I hugged Vicky as tightly as possible.

"Thank you for believing in me," I said. "For a moment there, I slowly lost myself again. But the thought of you held me back from killing her after she stabbed me. And of course, Starla being alive definitely helps."

"Of course, sweetheart," Vicky replied. "I'll always be here for you, dear."

"And I will always be here for you too," I replied as I kissed her.

I ran over to Starla and hugged her tighter than ever before. "I'm so glad you're not dead!"

Starla smiled and chuckled. "You know, when I told you to go nuts, I didn't mean become a dragon. I thought a quick death or something but Jesus bro. That was badass. Remind me not to piss you off in the future."

We all chuckled and went back into the school to my room. The next day, Voren spoke in front of the entire school.

"As many of you know," he stated boldly. "This year has not started off greatly. We've had a lot of loss, anger, and pain this year. But I want you to know that the killer has been taken care of! However we learned that the killer's brother died last school year. She went down a road she couldn't come back from. That leads me to this. If you or anyone you know is having these feelings or ideas, please seek help immediately. We will do everything within our power to help you. That said, classes will resume in a few days. In the meantime, take time to grieve and to heal. Try to have a good remainder of your day!"

Everyone went their separate ways as our group chilled in the courtyard. We sat around and told jokes and made each other feel better until the sun came down. After that, the rest of the school year went by smoothly. We learned a lot and shared plenty of enjoyable memories. Until next time, and believe me, there will be a next time, thank you for taking this journey with me. And as usual, I'm off to go have a fun night with my girlfriend!