Aiki stepped back again and bumped into the desk, trembling a bit harder. "W-Why would… why would you want me to do that?" They asked weakly. "You're much stronger than me… y-you don't need me to use my powers for anything. I'm not… I refuse to kill anyone… especially not for you." He drew in a wavering breath, which caught in his tight throat. "What purpose could you p-possibly have for me?"
Rosalind laughed. It was a twisted, drawling noise that sounded especially unnatural coming from her. "Your powers piqued my interest, and there is something I need from you now that I know more. It's simple. You pay me a small favor… and I let you leave the Otherworld safe and sound. I can only imagine how your family must feel about your disappearance. Your brother? Won't he be worried?"
"I-I'm not going to agree to anything until you give me more information… I don't want to hurt anyone." Aiki whined softly when Rosalind brought up Eiji, a pang of homesickness hitting them hard. He closed his eyes and turned his face to the floor. "I'm not doing anything until you tell me exactly what it is you want me to do…"
Rosalind glanced at him briefly then rolled her eyes. "Fine," she relented. "But keep in mind, this is your only ticket back to the First World. That I will make sure of." The unmasked threat hung in the air as she continued. "I need you to use your powers and drain Farah's energy instead of your own."
–
Farah stopped in the middle of the hall. Her eyes turned silver-blue, but she neither felt nor heard a thing. Rosalind must not have been using her abilities anymore, or she'd gotten too far out of Farah's rage. The latter was definitely not an option – it would have been impossible for Rosalind to outmaneuver Farah in these halls. "Damn it," she cursed softly. A sigh escaped her lips. "Aiki… where are you?"
Aiki crossed his arms shakily, trying to stand his ground. They didn't want to do anything that would hurt anyone else, especially not Farah. "What are you wanting me to do with my powers, and what are you planning to do to Farah after she's weakened? I'm sure you wouldn't want me to drain her energy for no reason. And I don't want to do it if she doesn't know about it. She deserves to consent to this sort of thing."
"Consent!" Rosalind laughed again and shook her head. "That is a privilege Farah has lost. How you perform your magic is up to you, though it would be very unwise to use it against me," she added sharply, cutting her eyes dangerously as she said this. "My intent with Farah is none of your concern, and you'll stop asking questions if you know what's good for you. I need to know. Would you like to see your brother again or not?"
"I'm… uncomfortable leaving Farah compromised if you're planning to hurt her somehow." Aiki replied softly, cowering a bit. His eyes welled up with tears and he closed them, fidgeting with his hands anxiously. I can't be stuck here forever, but… I don't want to hurt people in the process of leaving. It's not right to be so selfish.
Rosalind sighed. "I'm not going to hurt her. It only hurts her when she fights it. She does it to herself – first withholding information from me, hiding it when I ask her to reveal it, and resisting when I attempt to find it myself. In reality, you'd be doing her a favor. She would be in less pain, not more, thanks to you."
Aiki turned his ears back, clearly not reassured. "B-But… I would be hurting her by doing that. It would be a disservice to her, and she would be… upset." They looked away, trying to keep their tears from falling. He really just desperately wanted to go home, honestly. They wanted to see Eiji and their parents and go back to school like normal. He didn't want to have to be stuck here indefinitely.
Rosalind was clearly beginning to lose her patience now. "I will ask you this once more and once more only," she sneered, stepping an uncomfortably close distance to Aiki. Her eyes narrowed. "Do you want to see your brother again?"
Aiki fell back against the desk a bit, unable to keep the tears from spilling over onto their cheeks. He trembled and drew in a harsh breath, terrified and upset and unsure what to do. The confliction was awful, and they felt like they were going to be sick. "P-Please… don't… d-don't do this to me…" He whispered weakly. God, where's Farah? She must've noticed I haven't come back… I wish Eiji were here…
Rosalind seemed to feed on their torn emotions. "I feel it," she whispered, her eyes turning grey with the activation of her powers. "Your pain… your fear… your conflict. Farah can't save you. Your brother can't save you. Right now, you have to make a choice."
–
Farah suddenly felt a flash of magic. Rosalind. She quickly took off in a dead sprint in the direction she felt the pull. I'm coming, Aiki, she thought as she ran. Hold on.
Aiki hiccuped weakly and rubbed at their eyes, trying to avoid eye contact with Rosalind. Her gaze was far too intense for him to handle right now. "W-Why can't I just go home? If you wanted to spar with Farah or something, y-you could just do it… you don't… you don't need me. You don't need me!" They insisted, begging at this point. "P-Please! You don't need me!"
"No, I don't," Rosalind agreed. "I could simply get rid of your right now if that's what you prefer. But I'm giving you a chance. If you know what is good for you, you will take it. My knowledge of fairy abilities and history is much more vast than Farah's. I know many things she doesn't, but there is one thing she knows that she is relentless in keeping from me. The knowledge she has will impact the rest of the Otherworld. And I'm giving you the ability to liberate her from pain in the process."
Aiki was sobbing weakly at this point, steadily losing their coherence as they fought with their emotions. I can't stay here… please… but I can't leave Farah vulnerable for Rosalind to take advantage of on my way out, either. He wrapped his arms tightly around himself, trying not to throw up. "I-I don't— p— p-please…" They stammered, choking on their words and coughed. "W-Why is it so important that you know what… w-whatever it is…?"
Farah felt the use of magic increase, and she knew she was getting closer. She also began to feel an overwhelming rush of fear. With a sinking feeling, she realized that she was nearing the headmistress' office. "Oh no," she whispered.
–
Rosalind felt the mix of feelings pouring out of Aiki. "I will better be able to protect Alfea from threats, like the Burned Ones. I will always protect Alfea." Suddenly, Rosalind felt a rush of upcoming magic. Farah. She glared at Aiki, knowing she had little time left to convince him with Farah on her way. Discreetly, she used her magic to lock the door to her office. "My patience is wearing thin," she sneered.
Aiki was only growing more and more distressed the more information they got, and they were having trouble breathing and speaking. "H-How could— one piece— of information…" He choked weakly, more tears rolling down his cheeks, "… b-be so— important…? Nngh… aaGH!" The little flames suddenly appeared around Aiki's shoulders and flickered before swirling around them, quickly growing. He wasn't trying to attack, but was subconsciously trying to protect himself since he was so terrified and distressed.
Rosalind's eyes widened, and she took a quick step backward. Perfect, she thought, unlocking and opening the door.
As she approached, Farah saw the door swing open. "Aiki!" she yelled, bolting up the stairs and into the office. Her eyes widened at what she saw.
"Now!" Rosalind snapped, pointing at Farah. "Do it now!"
"No, no, no, no! I-I don't want to h-hurt—…" Aiki choked and staggered, falling to their knees as they screamed. "I'm sorry… I'm s-so sorry…" And suddenly, his flames were growing as he took a large amount of energy from someone else. But, not having practiced taking energy from anyone but themself, they were just taking it from whoever was closest to them.
Rosalind felt her energy being drained. "No!" she yelled, staggering back. "Drain her!" With a burst of magic, she shoved Farah forward and into closer proximity to Aiki.
It was the strangest feeling. Farah didn't know quite what was happening, all she knew was that her body suddenly became numb. Her mouth was slightly agape, and she collapsed her knees, then to her side. "A-Aiki," she whispered, feeling an energy loss worse than anything she'd ever felt before. She leaned on a table, still alive and conscious, but unable to do much else other than breath.
All the time, Rosalind watched in amazement. "Yes!" she encouraged.
"N-No…! Farah!" Aiki struggled to get ahold of their power, trying their best to stop using it. "No, no, no! I-I'm so sorry, p-please… make it stop…!" He sobbed weakly, managing to switch the energy draining to his own so that he wouldn't kill Farah, but he was still unable to get the flames to cease. They could feel their strength waning as their energy was quickly expended, and they soon collapsed when their body couldn't take it anymore. Only then did the flames stop.
Farah gasped as Aiki switch his source back to himself, but the damage was already done. Any time that Farah moved, she suddenly became lightheaded. Her breathing was shallow, and she seemed to fade in and out of consciousness.
Rosalind, only slightly dazed, moved closer to Farah. A wicked grin appeared on her face, and she knelt beside Farah, taking pleasure that the young fairy could barely move. "You brought this on yourself," she whispered into Farah's ear, and Farah shivered, nearly passing out as she did so.
"Cruel…" Farah moaned softly. Her eyes moved slowly to Aiki, even in her weakened state making sure that they were okay.
Aiki's consciousness was fading as well, and they no longer had enough energy to create flame. He whimpered shakily, a few more tears rolling down his pale cheeks just before he passed out. They were limp on the ground, no longer shaking, and their breathing was worryingly shallow. His face was only barely visible with his hair and ears falling over it.
"Help…" Farah whispered. She strained to get the words out, but she knew she needed to. "H-Help… him." Her eyes stayed locked on Aiki's limp body.
Rosalind narrowed her eyes, then sighed. "Fine." She sent a dismissive wave of her hand in Aiki's direction accompanied by a burst of energy and healing magic.
Aiki woke with a start, sitting up with a sharp gasp. Their ears pricked up and their heart started to race, and they looked around to try and figure out what was going on. He spotted Farah lying on the ground and he immediately felt sick with guilt. "F-Farah…! Oh my god, I… I'm so sorry, I-I didn't… I didn't mean…" Their voice trailed off as they struggled to find the right words to say.
Farah closed her eyes since even looking around was tiresome at this point. “It’s okay,” she whispered gaining minimal amounts of energy back now that Aiki’s power wasn’t being used anymore. Still, it wasn’t even close to the amount she would need to fend of a mental attack from Rosalind.
The older fairy showed no hesitance in beginning to search Farah’s newly vulnerable mind, and she was shocked by what she found. She began to laugh. “Here I was thinking you and Saul were just a one-night stand!”
Farah’s chest rose and fell quickly as she began to hyperventilate. Everything in her head was fair game at this point.
“So you were going to use Luna to get it back…”
Rosalind continued through Farah’s memories and thoughts with unlimited access. The only benefit was, as Rosalind promised, Farah wasn't in any pain. But that was only because her entire body tingled with numbness as she'd never felt before in her life.
Aiki scrambled to his knees and moved to get in front of Farah, trying to be a barrier between her and Rosalind, but he didn't really know how mind fairy magic worked. If Rosalind ended up going through their mind as a result, so be it. He didn't really have anything to hide, or at the least, nothing he knew would be of interest to her.
As soon as Rosalind referred to them as "it", however, they froze up and paled. He started to tremble again and closed his eyes, clearly upset. No, no…! Don't think about that right now! They insisted to themself.
Rosalind noticed Aiki's reaction, and it caused a small smile to break out on her face. "Alright, let's see, shall we?" she asked, a rhetorical question, as she plunged into Farah's mind.
Farah whined softly – in part due to Rosalind's access and also feeling Aiki's trembles through the ground.
As Rosalind searched each memory, they were brought to the surface of Farah's thoughts, so Farah knew exactly what memories she was seeing. And Rosalind was going back deeply. Her first day in the battalion. Her first solo Burned One kill. Her first kiss with Saul. Her first day at Alfea. Moments much too private for Farah to share even with the people she was closest to. And here was Rosalind, perusing them at her leisure.
"Too far," Rosalind murmured. "Much too far."
Suddenly, with a sinking feeling, Farah realized what Rosalind was truly after and why. She moved her lips to speak, but no words came out.
"Shh," Rosalind urged. "This will only take a moment. Ah, there it is." Her voice came out as a whisper.
Farah winced as the visions from a very specific day came to the forefront of her mind.
Though they both knew exactly what happened, where, and when, Rosalind grinned and whispered the name of the settlement in Farah's ear.
"Aster Dell."
Aiki screwed his eyes shut, struggling to not just curl in on himself and cry. There wasn't really anything they could do at this point. The damage was done, and Rosalind was going to go through Farah's memories either way. He had no idea what Rosalind was after since he barely knew Farah, but he still felt awful for inadvertently exposing it by weakening Farah.
They were drawn back to when they were ten again and they started trembling harder, biting their lip and looking increasingly upset. "S-Stop… please…"
Rosalind went into the memories from that fateful December day. It was this day that had made Farah aware of the person her mentor really was. So many people… so much death… all her fault… And Rosalind forced her to rewatch the entirety of the moment.
Then, a flash of light and a new memory took its place. A glimpse of the night before when Farah had used so much of her energy that she passed out and woke up in the middle of the night with Saul. Then this morning, when they had both woken up. Then the moment Farah stood up to Rosalind just earlier this morning. With that, Rosalind withdrew from Farah's mind, causing Farah to gasp softly.
"Ah," she sighed, caressing Farah's face with a smile before she stood up. "Thank you, dear Farah. If you both will excuse me, I have must go pay the princess of Solaria a brief visit." Rosalind walked to the door and grinned back at them. "And don't even think about escaping." With that, she placed a Cryo-Inducement Veil like the one Farah had created earlier, shut the door, and locked it for good measure.
Farah slowly turned her head to look at Aiki. Her eyes were shining with tears she didn't have the energy to cry. Farah Dowling never let her emotions show like this before. The word "vulnerable" had never applied to her. But being forced to stand by as Rosalind browsed through her private memories made her feel so weak and helpless. There was nothing to be done that could've stopped her. "Aiki," she whispered. "It's… It's alright."