An Elementalist Emerges

"Sorry," Telain said, shaking his head quickly, "I was doing it again wasn't I?" They walked inside their house together and immediately shucked their shirts, as it was a common habit between them.

Their home wasn't anything special. It was just a small two bedroom that was way overpriced due to it's proximity to the school, but they didn't really want anything bigger and being so close to the school meant Telain wasn't gone as long whenever he went. They had a few pictures of their family around the room and a small television which didn't get used much. Most of their time was spent in the now spare bedroom, which they had converted to a computer room after realizing they'd rather sleep in the same bed anyway.

"Yea, but I don't mind. It is interesting to hear what you think, and I didn't have anything to talk about anyway," Lucky said, walking over to sit on the couch after locking the door behind them.

"What about that thing you were thinking about this morning?" Telain asked as he plopped down and leaned back against Lucky.

Lucky wrapped his arms around Telain gently and set his head on Telain's shoulder before sighing heavily, "You promise you won't freak out when I tell you, right?"

"Of course I won't, what could ever make me freak out about you?"

"Well, I'm," Lucky began, trailing off and pausing for a moment trying to find some way to not say it directly.

"Gay," Telain finished for him, causing Lucky to jump slightly and look curiously at his friend as Telain leaned his head back to look at him.

"Um, yea, I am," Lucky said confusedly, "but how did you know?"

"Come on, who knows you better than I do?" Telain said, poking Lucky's side playfully, causing him to giggle.

"Okay, you're right, but it doesn't bother you?" Lucky asked, still trying to figure out how Telain knew and even said it like it didn't even matter.

"No, it doesn't. Why would something like that change our friendship? You know I'm decidedly straight; I won't even let any guy but you and sometimes Ventus hug me," Telain said, nuzzling under Lucky's chin slightly to help show how much he meant that it didn't bother him.

"But what if I started having other feelings for you?" Lucky asked, now definitely feeling worried about Telain's reaction if he actually revealed that he did have other feelings for his best friend of years.

"That's a mute point unless," Telain said, pausing for a moment to think before he asked, "Do you?"

"Well," Lucky said, getting more nervous by the moment but focused on telling Telain everything, "yes, I do." Lucky looked shamefully away trying to pull his arms closer to him without realizing he was just hugging Telain tighter.

"Hey, don't act like that," Telain said, reaching his paw up to scratch Lucky's cheek softly. "It really doesn't bother me either, long as you know that nothing's likely to happen."

"Are you sure?" Lucky asked, turning his head back towards Telain with fresh tears in his eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure," Telain strained to lean up and give Lucky's cheek an affectionate lick to further his point. "We've been friends for years, there's no way something like this could run me off, and I've gotten used to being close to you. I mean, it doesn't bother me to be affectionate. I'm just not sure if anything else could happen between us."

"Oh, thank you," Lucky exclaimed, pulling Telain into a tight hug and kissing him square on the lips in his excitement.

"Hey now, what'd I just say," Telain said, jokingly poking his friend to show he wasn't really mad about being kissed.

Lucky giggled and hugged Telain again, "Sorry, I'll try to resist the urge. You are really cute though."

"And you're just realizing this?" Telain asked, acting hurt at his friend's just now calling him cute.

"No, but now you know enough for me to tell you without getting worried you'll take it the wrong way," Lucky replied, sticking his tongue out Telain.

"Well, I guess that's okay," Telain said as he nuzzled into Lucky's chest, enjoying being close to his friend as he always did.

"If I didn't know you better, I'd say you were gay, and hitting on me none the less," Lucky said, now having a way to tease his friend for his unusually affectionate behavior towards him in spite of being straight.

"Yea, yea, I know I may not act it, but my mind's made up. I just can't have feelings for a guy like that. What I feel for you is strong as I'll even feel for a guy," Telain said softly as he closed his eyes and began purring softly.

"I love you too, Telain," Lucky said with a hint of sadness in his voice as they drifted off to sleep.

They woke up a few hours later, still wrapped up in each other's arms. As they got up, Telain headed for the bathroom as Lucky headed for the kitchen.

"What do you want for dinner?" Lucky yelled across the house, always eager to make use of one of his few talents: cooking.

"You know what I like: anything you cook. Just make whatever looks good to you," Telain yelled back as he shut the bathroom door and turned on the shower. He tested the water several times, adjusting the temperature slightly until he got it just where he liked it, before stepping in. He started washing himself fairly quickly, scrubbing the soap into his fur as he thought to himself.

"Why can't I feel anything else for him?" Telain said to himself softly.

"Because you can't find pleasure with a man," his inner thoughts told him, responding to his question.

"I want to though, but for some reason, no matter how close I feel to him, I can't feel anything else for him," he continued.

"Then why don't you love him?" the thoughts questioned.

"I do love him, I really do, but what point is there in telling him if I can't do anything else?" Telain argued with himself.

"There doesn't have to be a point, he needs to know you love him, regardless of what else that means," the internal voice contended.

"I," Telain started, trying to come up with some other reason but not finding one. "I'll tell him soon, he does need to know," he conceded to himself, coming to a decision about what to do, although he still didn't have a clue how to do it.

"Hey, you took your time," Lucky said as Telain walked into the kitchen, his fur still slightly damp.

"I did? I thought I took a pretty quick shower," Telain responded confusedly, looking over at the clock to show he had been in for almost a half-hour.

"Good thing it took me a bit to decide to make burgers. If I had known what to fix it would've been cold before you got out."

"Well, sorry, I guess I just got caught up in thinking to myself," Telain said as he sat down at the dining room table, sighing internally.

"Don't worry about it. You gave me just enough time to finish the food," Lucky said, setting the cheeseburger in front of Telain fixed just as he liked them.

"I've really been fixing them up like this for too long, haven't I?" Telain asked Lucky jokingly but feeling better being reminded how well his friend knew him.

"Nah, I just know you better than you do. Plus I like them the same way," Lucky said, sticking his tongue out at Telain before starting to eat his burger.

Their meal concluded around 3am, as they always ran on a late schedule for everything they did. They sat cuddled up on the couch watching a movie for a couple hours to pass the time before bed and to give them an excuse to sit there together for so long without talking.

As they lied in bed, Telain contended with his thoughts more, trying to make himself tell Lucky how he felt. He lied there in Lucky's arms for a while before finally getting the courage and asking softly, "Lucky, you still awake?"

"Yea, Tel, I'm still up. You've been moving around a lot, but I didn't want to bother you. Is there something you want to talk about?" Lucky asked, concerned with what had Telain bothered. He was the one that was supposed to have made the big confession.

"Well, I've been meaning to tell you that," Telain started, swallowing hard before finishing, "I love you, Lucky."

"I, um," Lucky said, unsure of what to say, "What does this mean?"

"I don't know if it means anything, I just wanted you to know," Telain said relaxing as he felt Lucky petting at his belly softly.

"Don't worry about it, just try and get some sleep. We can talk about it in the morning," Lucky said, doing his best to comfort his friend. They fell asleep a short while later, as the long day overtook the thoughts running through both their heads.

A Newfound Power

The sunlight barely lit the young pair's room due to the black drapes hung over the only window, put there because they always slept so late. Telain was the first awake early in the afternoon, still held tight in Lucky's arms. He gently pulled Lucky's arms off, causing the wolf to groan slightly and roll over as he hugged the blanket instead. Telain carefully got out of the bed and stretched his worn muscles, still slightly sore from the fight the day before. He decided to go take a warm shower to ease them and wake him up a little better.

He was in the shower for a few minutes before his mind woke up enough and reminded him what had happened the night before. He had confessed that he did love Lucky, even though nothing was likely to ever happen between them. He still couldn't wrap his head around what that meant but felt a little better with the weight of it being kept secret off his chest. Then he realized something, Lucky hadn't said it back.

"He said he had other feelings for me though," he thought aloud, "probably just didn't want to upset me by saying it with how I was then." He washed himself slowly, milling the thoughts about in his mind before deciding to do his best not to worry about it and just ask Lucky whenever he woke up.

He stepped out of the shower and toweled himself off vigorously, tossing the towel away frustratedly after a few minutes because he still couldn't completely dry himself. Telain stood there for a moment, humming to himself as he thought. "I wonder if I'd be able to manage that. I guess there's no harm in trying," he said, taking up a neutral stance in the middle of the bathroom and closing his eyes as he worked to steady his breathing.

He brought his paws up, forming the sign that signified the element of air. As his breaths deepened, the fur along his back began being blown at gently by a steady breeze. He shifted his paws into a different form of the sign, and the air started blowing harder and expanding to a larger area, soon enveloping his entire body. He stood like that for several minutes, his breaths becoming more ragged as he maintained the force. Then, he suddenly dropped his paws and slumped down on the ground, his breath now coming in hard, sharp gasps.

The bathroom door burst open as Lucky ran in, running over and hugging Telain. "Are you alright?!" Lucky asked loudly, his paws starting to roam over Telain to search for any injuries.

"Yea, I'm fine, just a little tired is all. Why are you so worr," Telain said, cutting himself off as he looked around at their bathroom. It looked as if a tornado had run through and in some respects, one had. The shower curtain was tossed up and wrapped around the rod several times, and every loose object that could have been moved was strewn about on the ground. The walls all had large scratches and dents in them from various things flying into or along them. It seemed Telain had used much more power than he thought.

"See, it looks like you were attacked or something," Lucky said, holding Telain now that he was satisfied the cat wasn't hurt.

"I had just gotten tired of trying to dry myself with a towel and tried using my powers," Telain said absent-mindedly, still looking confused as he surveyed the damage he had done. After they sat there in silence for a moment, Telain started thinking clearer and, as was his usual, began talking to himself, "It must've been the signs. Ventus had shown me some he found in a book; they were each captioned but not described too well. I first tried the one for control, then I couldn't make the area large enough, so I used the one for that. Maybe combining them caused this."

"Hey, snap out of it," Lucky said, shaking Telain gently, "Whatever it was, don't do it again until you talk to Ventus about it. I love you too much for some stupid accident you caused to take you from me."

"Huh? So you do love me then," Telain said happily, distracted from the current mess by Lucky's comment.

"'Yea, I just didn't want to say it outright last night 'cause I thought you had enough on your mind as it was," Lucky said softly, blushing lightly beneath his fur.

"Thank you, it means a lot to me, Lucky," Telain replied as he hugged Lucky tight, a few joyful tears running down his cheeks.

"Enough about us for now; we need to get you to Ventus to talk about this," Lucky said, helping pull Telain up off the ground.

"You're right, we can worry about this later. Right now, lets hurry to the school," Telain said as he moved quickly through the house and started down the street with Lucky close behind him. They ran as fast as they could towards the school, completely unaware of the person following them from a short distance away.

Suddenly a large wall sprung out of the ground in front of them, causing Telain to balk and Lucky to almost run into it. Telain whirled around on his feet and scanned the area but he found nothing.

"Looking for me, Kythos?" a voice from atop the newly formed wall asked calmly.

"Who are you?" Telain demanded as he turned back around and looked up at the figure, his thin silhouette being the only thing discernable with the sun behind him.

"I am Lutious, but you, Kythos, can call me Lute," the figure said, his voice deep and menacing.

"Who is this Kythos? My name is Telain," he yelled up at Lutious, growling as he took Lucky's arm and pulled the wolf behind him.

"So that's your name, is it, Kythos? I guess you wouldn't have taken over your host; your kind never did have the spine for it," Lutious said, an ominous laugh coming from his throat. "It's of no consequence; all will be deal with soon enough," he added as he jumped off the wall, falling quickly towards them.

Telain shoved Lucky away, urging him to run as he stared up at the dark figure coming at him. He could see now that Lutious was a very slender cat, his fur dark as midnight and completely perfect except for a dark red scar running diagonally between his eyes where no fur grew and all around it was a lighter gray. Small stone steps began jutting out from the wall as Lutious ran down it, pushing off and increasing speed with every step. Telain grew worried as he did all he could think of and crouched into a defensive stance. This guy was fast, and Telain doubted he could manage even a close match against him.

As Lutious got closer, he yelled down at Telain, "I can see the fear in your eyes, Kythos! You know that you're going to die by my paws!" Telain couldn't move as a large stone pillar shot out from the wall and hit him square in the chest, knocking him backwards several feet. Lutious easily jumped off the wall and ran along this pillar, kicking Telain hard across side of his head. Telain was thrown hard to the ground, his head reeling and feeling like he was going to pass out any moment.

A strangled cry from Lucky brought Telain back to his senses and as he looked over and saw Lutious strangling Lucky, he was quickly back on his feet and screaming, "Lutious, let him go! Whatever you want you can get from me!"

"Ahh, yes, that's the temper I remember," Lutious said calmly, his grip on Lucky's throat unrelenting. "I don't care if your little mortal friend has nothing to do with this. Seeing him in so much agony as he struggles to breathe is so beautiful."

"I said, 'Let him go!'" Telain screamed, even louder as he forced his paws up and into the first sign he had used earlier that afternoon. As he continued to watch his friend being choked to death, he quickly shifted to the second sign and then lunged forward with his paws. A hard, focused column of air rushed from him and towards Lutious, knocking the black cat away from Lucky and into the trees off the side of the path. Telain rushed over to Lucky, who was gasping for air, and started searching him for other injuries. He found a large hole torn through the flesh of Lucky's arm that was bleeding badly.

He knew that if he didn't find some way to stop the bleeding, Lucky would die regardless of the fact he could now breathe. Telain looked desperately at the wound and all around him, trying to think of something he could do, but they didn't carry any medical supplies and were still too far from the school to go for help. He did all he could think of and pressed his paws hard against both sides of the wound, causing Lucky to wince and gasp slightly deeper from the pain. The blood was still running slowly through his paws as he begged it to stop. He cried out in his head for some help, not even realizing he wasn't making any sound, when a bright light shone through his fingers and the bleeding began to slow and then stopped.

He pulled his paws away and gazed at Lucky's arm as Lucky leaned up and did the same. The only sign that there ever was a wound there was the large amounts of blood covering both of them. Neither could find the words to ask what had happened as they heard Ventus's voice calling out to them from down the path.

Lutious's eyes shone through the trees, glaring at them and instantly ensnaring Telain's attention. "This isn't the last time you'll see me, Kythos. Next time we meet you won't be so lucky," the dark cat said as he ran back through the trees.

"Boys, are you all right," Ventus said through gasps for air as he knelt down beside them. "I heard a loud rumble from this way and ran over with some of the other masters to see what was going on. What the oblivion happened to you!" he exclaimed as he noticed the large amounts of blood covering them.

"I, I don't know," Telain said as he turned his gaze away from the trees and toward Ventus, "This cat just attacked us and kept calling me Kythos and tried to kill Lucky and put hole through his arm and I did some signs and threw him off and there was this bright light and then the hole," Telain spurt out quickly, not pausing to breathe.

"Calm down, Telain, and tell me what happened. Did you say he called you Kythos?" Ventus said, wrapping his arms around Telain.

"Yea, at least that's what I think he said," Telain said, looking confused as he continued, "Does that mean something?"

Ventus whispered softly to Telain, speaking just loud enough for Lucky to hear as well, "I don't know, it may, but keep quiet about everything right now. We can talk about it in private back at your house."

"Our house, but why not the school," Lucky asked quietly.

"I don't want anyone overhearing us, and the school has far too many people running around, especially after something like this happens," Ventus said, urging both the boys up with his paws. "Follow me. Hopefully we can get out of here without being seen." He helped them up and began walking hurriedly into the trees a short ways before starting back towards the boys' home.

As they all walked into the house, Ventus calmed down and said to them both, "Go clean off all of that blood. I don't know what happened, but it can wait a little while for you both to get clean. It'll help you relax to tell me too." The boys nodded and started to walk away to get cleaned up when Ventus called after them with a knowing grin, "Just take a shower together, it'll be quicker and more relaxing, I know you can handle it."

They shrugged and adjusted the temperature on the shower to the same median they all ways did when they were in a hurry and needed to both bathe quickly. They began washing themselves, facing away from each other and taking turns under the water when suddenly Telain turned and threw his arms around Lucky, his crying muffled by Lucky's chest fur.