Fairies or Foes

Chapter 4

    Jax wasn’t, from the very beginning, a guy who liked normal boyish things. As a matter of fact, he often prefered girly things. Loved them, in fact. They were so much more elegant, prettier, and he looked much better in them. His parents however, prefered that he dressed like a normal little boy, prefered being an understated term.

The fact that their little boy didn’t like the things all other little boys liked scared them, and they tried to force him to conform, to brainwash him. So eventually, he started dressing like that in secret, hidden away from the conformed world of his parents. He had started out with what every princess starts out with, the color pink. But eventually, he grew tired of such a cliche color. It had no meaning, no depth. And so he began wearing darker colors, to express the pain he went through by, well, not being able to express himself. Eventually, he settled on a color he found very elegant, albeit appropriate for his situation; black.

One day, he was in his room, working on his latest acquisition, a torn black ballgown that he intended to turn into a pinafore dress. Halfway through the project his father walked in on him. Seeing what his son was doing, he exploded, yelling the most horrible things about him.

Deciding not to stay around to see what happened next, he ran out of the house. Hours later, he returned through the back gate, and looking in the window, saw his parents in the kitchen, chatting happily as if nothing had ever happened, his little sister toddling around the floor happily. Thats when he realized, they didn’t even look for him. They didn't mind when he wasn’t there. In fact, they liked it better. He wasn’t needed, wasn’t wanted.

    So, he left. After having enough of the beatings and bleeding, and the scars he now had, he went off to be free. He went to the forest, where he discovered his talent.

    Magic.

    Jax had a knack for animals. When he had played in the woods as a small child, the animals had often played with him. They had been his companions, his friends. He would play with the wolves, sing with the birds, and nap with the leopards. With the bears, he would eat honey and go fishing. One day, he was walking through the woods, and would have fallen off a cliff, had it not been for the wolf that had grabbed him by the collar just before he fell.

Later that day, Jax realized that when he had yelled “Save me!” as he fell, the wolf had heeded his command. Jax was a beast master. He could use this to his advantage, and often did. Jax was content. He had help building a half crumbling house in the middle of the woods for a comfortable place to stay, help finding food, and general companionship. He felt happy and safe, and for the first time, he could be himself. The weeks passed, and Jax’s thirteenth birthday passed as well, if he kept track of time right.

    Then, one day, he heard a loud voice coming from one of the many clearings in the woods, one that sounded as if it belonged to an angry boy. They seemed to be arguing with someone Jax couldn't hear. He summoned a wolf pack in case of danger, and stealthily approached them. He could see they were mages; they had the same guild mark: a crescent moon with a spider web. The shorter, darker haired girl had her light blue guild mark on her collarbone, slightly hidden by her loose white button up shirt. The taller white haired boy (girl?) had his light gray one on his upper arm.

    The boy tilted his head before he smirked. “I hear wolves,” he drawled. The shorter girl blinked and smiled fondly at memories long past.

    “Remember that time you choked a wolf twice your size with one hand Alice?” She asked softly. “The first time we met?” The taller girl barked a laugh.

Alice. Female name. He’s a girl? Jax shook his head. But what a girl, so tall, with all that muscle. He shouldn’t be one to judge, anyway.

    “How many times are you going to make me remember?!” She grinned. “Anyway, come out, come out, li’l pup!”