The blazing storm

Chapter 3

"So how is the amnesia thing working out?" Leo asked as they were walking towards the climbing wall.

Darcy glanced at him.  "Great.  Aperentaly I just flirted with my cousin."

Leo's made a face that resembled the look someone would get when they watched someone pee themselves.  "I didn't know you knew how to flirt."

She punched him in the arm.  "Well I do now... so just... SHUT UP!" She laughed and ran up ahead of him. 

He soon caught up laughing as well.  Leo was faster than she remembered.  She wondered how much of his recent developments she had missed.  He had already told her that he had a girlfriend and she knew that was a big step in his life.  "Hey Leo," Darcy mused.  "When will I met this girlfriend of yours?" 

Leo looked at her blankly.  "What?" I took him a moment then he realized what she said.  "Oh yeah!  Whenever you want I guess." 

Darcy stopped in the middle of the trail.  "How about now.  Screw the climbing all." 

Leo seemed hesitant at first, he knew how much training she was missing and he didn't have the intention to witness her death anytime soon.  "Ok." He finally said.  "She will be in the forest."  They turned and started walking towards the lush green forest to their right. 

Darcy jogged to catch up.  "Are you nervous?" She prodded playfully. 

Leo shrugged.  "Sort of.  She's kind of... touchy about my relationships with other girls.."

Darcy nodded.  She understood that.  A lot of girls must like Leo, he was funny and smart and just plain awesome if you asked her.  Once they reached a clearing, Leo seemed tense and reading to spring between two fighting girls.

In the middle of the clearing stood a girl, looking up at the sky.  She was smiling as the sun touched her face in a green colour from passing through the leaves and she sighed in happiness.

"Hey Cal." Leo said and walked up to her. 

She smiled.  "Leo." They kissed. 

Darcy looked away, feeling a small twinge in her heart.  She had known Leo for years and now here he was, kissing another girl.  She also knew and accepted the fact that one day, she would loose her best friend to another girl, a girlfriend, something Darcy could never be to Leo.

Once they finished kissing, Leo and 'Cal' faced Darcy.  "Darcy, this is Calypso, my girlfriend.  Cal, this is Darcy, we have been best friends since before my mother died. 

Calypso reached out and shook Darcy's hand lightly.  "Thank you for taking care of him for all those years.  I was, you know, trapped on an island." She laughed a sugary laugh and flicked her caramel coloured hair over her shoulder.

Darcy could tell she wasn't going to get along with this girl very well, just by the way she acted. 

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8 years earlier...

Darcy found it fortunate that Leo was placed in a foster home not to far away.  That meant they could still watch Doctor Who together and practice morse code.  They would still be able to run over to Karen the baker's house and get the best chocolate chip cookies in the world and scout out trees to build tree houses in together. 

Leo always wanted to build things and was very handy with a hammer.  Darcy bought him construction equipment for his birthday last year and it made him smile. 

He built her a wind up car once with some spare wire and scrap metal.  It worked as well and that, she thought, was pretty amazing considering it was built from discarded material. 

On the firsy day if school, Darcy happily found out that Leo was in her class.  That meant they could spend every day of the week together without Leo having to sneak out of his foster home.  Every day once school was done, they would walk home to Darcy's, do their homework and catch the latest episode of Doctor Who.  It was heaven for them.  Everything was perfect, but then Leo's foster parents started getting mad and wanting him to come home right away.  The next day at school, Leo would have bruises on his arms and face, little cuts everywhere and more often then not, a puffy black eye that made Darcy's eye tingle just by looking at it. 

The teachers would turn their eyes away and pretend like nothing had happened to him, but Darcy knew better.  

And then she had enough.  That dat she went straight home and ran to her mother.  She wasn't crying, but she was mad. 

"Mom!" She screamed.  "Leo is getting beat up!"

Her mom put down her book and looked at Darcy.  "Did you tell the principal?"

She obviously thought it was the kids at school, but Darcy knew the truth.  She grabbed her mom's hand and dragged her towards the car.  "No!" She started to feel the tears but wasn't ready to shed them just yet.  "His foster parents."

Her mom ran to the car and they both started driving.  Darcy held back tears.  She didn't want to cry, she wanted to be strong, for Leo.

They got there in minutes and before Darcy could unbuckle her seatbelt, her mom held her back.  She haded her a cell phone.  "Call the police and don't come in."

Darcy nodded through the tears that had finally decided to come.  Her mother stepped out of the car and ran to the front door.  Her mother didn't even bother knocking, she just broke down the door.  Darcy's mother was a police officer so she knew she could always trust her mother to take care of her.  Darcy dialled 911 and the phone rang twince before someone picked up. 

"911 please state your emergency." A woman said.  "My-" Darcy sobbed.

The woman's voice softened.  "Honey are you alright?" She asked in a calm but urgent voice. 

"My friend is being beat up." She sobbed. 

"Alright honey.  Can you tell me by who?" The woman asked.  

"His foster parents.  Please hurry!"

"Alright honey, I will send you police men and an ambulance.  Can you tell me where you are?" The woman said nicely.

But Darcy had already dropped the phone and ran into the house.  She didn't care what her mother said.  She ran through the front door into the small hallway. 

She heard her mother yelling but only focused on the crying.  She ran towards the noise and saw Leo laying on the ground with a pool of blood under his head.  Darcy's mother had cornered Leo's foster parents and held her pistol out in front of her. 

Darcy ran to Leo and collapse beside him.  His tears mixed with the blood on the floorand there were fresh cuts and bruises in his face.  His arms were bent at odd angles beneath him.  Darcy gingerly touched Leo's face as if he would break and Leo held her hands as he cried. 

Sirens split through the air in the distance and Darcy couldn't help but fell slightly relieved. 

Next thing she knew, a police officer was gently holding her back and paramedics tended to her broken best friend and the other police officers arrested his foster parents.

She didn't care if there were two scared looking children stood holding eachother in tears.  All she cared about was him, and he was all she cared about forever.