make me feel better

[seolearo.livejournal.com]

What: Helping Ren with her Darkness
Who: Ren and Ray
When: The morning after this post
Where: Atlantica's royal library

As promised, Ray was up bright and early, stifling a yawn as she stepped through the Corridor of Light into the library. Shockingly enough, she'd never actually visited this part of the castle - there had always been something else to take up her time. So she paused a moment to marvel at all the books before spotting Ren and trotting over with a small smile. "Morning, Ren. I don't suppose you're feeling any better yet, huh?"

Ren tried to look more upbeat when Ray came over, though all she accomplished was managing to look like a college student after an all-nighter with no coffee, as opposed to the living dead. "Not really," she admitted. "I'm hanging in there, though. Somehow. I think."

A pang of worry shot through her, making her smile falter. "Well, let's see if I can help," she said as she settled down next to Ren. I'm going to try using the Light spell on you, but different from how I usually do. If this works right, it'll be something like a Cure spell, but for Darkness instead of physical wounds. There's no guarantee that it will work, but it's been working on the Miasma in the water little by little, so there's always a chance it'll work on a person, too." She smiled again. "Whenever you're ready."

"At this point, I'm willing to try anything," Ren said. She did smile a little when Ray told her how the spell had been affecting the Miasma, though. Maybe they weren't doomed after all.
Ren bookmarked the page she had been on, then closed the book and set her glasses down on top of it, to keep them out of the way. She turned to properly face Ray and relaxed. "Okay, ready."

Ray nodded and laid one of her hands on Ren's, reasoning that physical contact might make this a little easier. Then she activated the magic in her contacts and looked deep into her heart. The damage was worse than she'd expected, Ray realized with a wince. But then, Ren had been here for a while, under the Miasma's influence. It was a small wonder she'd been so upset.
She took a deep breath, and focused on the Darkness in her heart as she called upon the Light spell. It bubbled up and gathered around her hand for a moment. Then tendrils of the Light swarmed up Ren's arm, surrounding them both until the library was gone. The spell began to gently soak into the skin, and the shadows in her heart started to writhe in response.

Ren watched curiously as the Light started to cover her hand and arm. She had to bite her lip to stifle a giggle as the tendrils lightly tickled against her skin. The way the Light eventually drowned out the library made her flinch and close her eyes, but that was nothing compared to the way it went after the Darkness that had settled into her heart. It almost felt like trying to clean grit out of a deep wound, the way it stung. Ren hissed through clenched teeth and gripped Ray's hand.

After pausing to give Ren a reassuring sqeeze, she went back to work. The Darkness was fighting. She'd expected that, though, which is why she'd had the Light surround Ren before delving in after it. While it was clear that they wouldn't be able to get rid of it entirely, Ray could at least try to remove what the Miasma had placed there. Tendrils of Light circled around Ren's heart, getting a good, steady hold on the offending Darkness, and the excess of Light started to absorb it, just as it had in the water.

Ren tried to picture the image she used for fighting headaches: a giant, jagged chunk of black rock jutting from the sand while gentle ocean waves gradually wore it away. The fact that said technique never really worked until after she took ibuprofen was irrelevant. Just let it fade away, that's it…

She started to grin. It was working. It was actually working. What remained of the Miasma's Darkness inside Ren began to thrash wildly, trying desperately to overtake the incoming Light. Ray pushed just a little harder in retaliation, and soon enough, all that was left were the average Darkness levels one would find in a person. The Light swam freely in Ren's heart. She released the spell, and the library faded back into view.

Ren gasped as the Miasma's poison was finally cleansed from her heart. Her head swam as the rest of her struggled to adjust to the sudden change, but it was an exhilarating feeling, like she had just stepped off of a killer roller coaster. Ren laughed softly and leaned back in her seat, covering her eyes with her hand. "Wow, that was… I needed that. Thank you."

"You're welcome! I can't believe that actually worked. I've never done magic on someone else, except maybe for Haste..." She was babbling. Babbling, but she couldn't stop grinning. "And if you ever need that again, just ask, and I'll be glad to. Now, then... have you had breakfast yet? I'm starving."

That made Ren laugh some more. God, it felt good to laugh like this. How long had it been? "Come to think of it, so am I," she admitted as she put her glasses back on. "Come on, let's go get something to eat."

It felt good to hear her laugh. It had been a while since anyone here had, after all. "Excellent. I hear he's making eggs, bacon, sausage... Basically everything for an awesome breakfast," Ray said excitedly, leading the way.

"Bacon?" However long it had been since Ren had last had a good laugh, it had been even longer since she'd had good bacon. She grinned and took one last moment to straighten up her notes before hurrying after Ray. This was a sign of good things to come, she was sure of it.