For the Love of a Brother

Alone

I woke up cold once again. All this thinking about Jellal has made me destroyed inside. There was ice surrounding me and my face was frozen shut; I could barely breathe. Fine, I'll die today; I have nothing else better to do with my life.

My mind instantly thought of Jellal. No. He sacrificed his life to protect mine. So many thoughts ran through my mind in just moments. From this day forward, I will not mope around about my life, but will instead enjoy living.

For Jellal.

First things first, I need to control my magic. How can I enjoy living if everyday I wake up to shivering and ice? But how? Usually I just broke through the ice; I live in an area where the weather is crisp, and there's not much humidity most of the year. How can I use my powers to thaw the ice?

Then, I realized I was asking the wrong questions. My magic, I thought to myself, is controlled through my emotions. What emotion sets off warmth and fire? And what song could I sing to create that emotion? Ice is the opposite of fire and ice comes from sadness, so I need the opposite of sadness: happiness. I thought of the song The Children of the Apple Trees. Mother always said that the song reminded her of Jellal and me. Jellal was my happiness.

"*When the sun is high*" I started to sing while thinking about our old apple trees. "*We pick, pick, pick*" I thought of Jellal and me making wishes. "*When the harvest comes then it's time to play we still pick, pick, pick*" I suddenly noticed that my face was wet and I could no longing see my breath. It's working.

After I sang the song, there was no more ice left around me. I now know how to control my powers....somewhat. All the heat I was creating began to create flames, and a small fire lit up.

"Ah!" I started smothering the flames with my torn-up blanket. Fortunately, my blanket didn't set on fire; it's the warmest thing I have. I wear no shoes since those ragged things fell apart months ago. I don't dare go into the towns outside the forest; I no longer trust people.

I needed to write down how different emotions affect me, magic-wise. I decided to make a chart and add to it every time I discover a different effect. Here's what I know so far:

Sadness= Ice

Happiness= Fire

Anger (as I remembered what happened to the man who came to my house) = Earth

I have to play around with my magic and figure out all that I can.

***

I tried everything I could. The only things I could add were:

Sadness AND loneliness= Ice

Calmness/Peace or Crying= Rain and Water control

But what made those roses grow? I thought of Jellal holding my hand as we stood at our father's grave. His hand was so warm and strong. His voice so passionate...

That's it! Love.

After I finished writing my list, I went to bed looking forward to a new day.

Something I haven't felt in a while.

***

I decided to go into town for once. I could no longer find any berries to eat and my stomach was starting to eat itself. My only problem: I'm broke.

I've only stolen something once and that was a grape from my brother's basket and I didn't even get away unnoticed. How in all of Earthland was I supposed to steal and have a clean getaway?

I walked through the forest thinking of the many possible ways to not get caught. When I finally got into town, I hatched a plan. A poor plan, really. It relied more on luck than skill. Use my shortness to sneak up to booth, grab the first thing I touch, and use my youth to run as fast as I can.