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THIRTEEN YEARS BEFORE THE DISSOLUTION OF RAVV AINOX
You know your father loves you, deeply and true. He loves you for the status you bring him, the pinnacle of the hallowed Ruunaser family, the most powerful and wide-ranging of a long line of mages. He wants you get better, so you can impress the world with your magic.
Never mind that your malformed and undersized elemental links lead you suffering from all kinds of elemental corruption. You are bedridden most days, trying to fight off the heavy weight of Stone corruption, or the burning fever of Fire. Whenever you try to cast, and often when you don't, sparks of energy burst from your body, hurting you and others more often than not. You are sick. You are dangerous. You are not the most powerful mage in the world, you're just a bedridden child who is of no use for anyone.
Your older brother is Alphonse, and he is just a Stone mage like your mother and suffers from an unusually thick soul barrier that doesn't allow healing Life magic through. This turned dangerous when he fell out of a tall tree: Life magic couldn't heal him beyond the very minimum required to save his life, and he was disabled for the rest of his life. You can remember your parents' grief and worry for him. You remember him being disallowed from taking any more stupid risks.
You have never taken stupid risks. You're too sick to do anything like that. Too sick to get into accidents, too sick to run around, trip, and scrape your knee, too sick to be a child. You are not a child, you are a burden. Al walks with a limp, he can't use his left arm, and, worst of all, he's only a Stone mage, but he is not as much of a burden as you.
You have a list, once your father finds a way to fix you. Some days it's all you can do, write and rewrite it. Things you'll do, in order of importance.
First of them is make communication wind lacrimas for your mom and older brother, paired to the ones you keep with you.
The second is run away.
TWELVE YEARS BEFORE THE DISSOLUTION OF RAVV AINOX
You're having an average day. Even a good one, because your symptoms are mild today. You can join your family for breakfast. Your father is away on a diplomatic trip, so despite your mother being busy and having to leave soon after you arrive, it's a good morning. You laugh and eat with Al, and he teaches you a new way to use Stone magic, a way you'll probably never practically use, for fear of hurting yourself, but that is fun to imagine.
You are talking with Al about lacrimas when your father gets home. A servant announces his presence, and you stiffen, wondering if you can make it to your bedroom before he gets here.
But it wouldn't change anything, because he's looking for you. And he has someone with him. A small girl you recognize as Metal-Caste, around your age, wearing shabby clothes and a collar around her neck.
You immediately start to worry. Metal-Caste people are notoriously protective of their children, as your father's visits to the southern continents prove. And you know why. Everyone (or everyone who is the son of a diplomat, at least) knows that Metal-Caste children make great slaves.
You eye the collar around the girl's neck. You worry. "Father... who is this?"
"This is Elle," Galen said. "She is Metal-Caste, and was kidnapped from her home when she was very young. I found her in one of the cities I visited, and rescued her. She'll never have a sense of self, but she'll serve us well here, where it's safe."
"How did you do this 'rescuing' without causing a diplomatic incident?" Al says dryly, and you take a breath of relief. Al is old enough that his disapproval can be heard. Yours would be dismissed, at best.
"I bought her," Galen says, sounding offended at the thought of causing a diplomatic incident. "I would never fight someone in a city that I'm hoping to become an ally with Asera."
Of course he wouldn't. He'd just encourage the slavers there. Who cares about that, right? As long as any slave he bought could be repurposed to serve the Ruunaser family name.
Galen seems to see the disapproval on your and Al's face. Or at least Al's face. "I rescued this little girl from cruel conditions. She will be much happier here. Right, Elle? Tell my sons you'll be happier here."
"I'll be happier here," Elle says. You look away, staring at the mostly-eaten breakfast on your plate. You want to vomit what you have eaten. Maybe you will. Get the breakfast back on your plate.
"You are to treat her as your sister," Galen continues. "Especially you, Erin. I bought her specifically to look after you."
You freeze. You don't want to be a slaver. Or the owner of an "indentured servant" or a "bound assistant" or whatever Asera is calling it this decade. (Asera owns slaves, and that is unavoidable, but to pretend to avoid it, it calls them all kinds of fancy names. Stupid and horrible and you don't want to participate.)
"I – no," you manage. "She doesn't have to care for me. Just let her go, or something."
"I'm not sure you understand, Erin," Galen says, in that tone that makes you cold with terror. "Elle is an Unsparked Metal-Caste. She has no free will or concept of self, and she never will because she was traumatized by her capture as a young child. If I were to let her go, she would fall prey to someone with bad intentions because she cannot refuse an order, and she never will be able to. She is safest here, in our house. I'm doing this to protect her." His voice takes on a more cajoling tone. "Don't think of her as your slave or servant. Think of her as your playmate."
You look at Elle. "Let me talk to Mom," you say.
"I'll find her," Al says, before Galen can say anything. Al gets up and, using his cane, moves with uncharacteristic speed, for both his disability and Stone mage status. You and Galen keep in your places awkwardly.
You break the fragile truce, getting up, grabbing your plate, and enduring the inevitable dizziness that comes with changing positions.
"You still have food on your plate," Galen reprimands. "You need to eat."
You debate sitting down and eating the rest of your food, but decide it's not worth it. "I'm suffering from internal Fire corruption," you say, which isn't true at all, but you've learned to lie well enough that Galen believes it. You just feel that if you tried to eat now, you'd throw up. You don't want to deal with that on top of the emotional upheaval at the table's head.
You toss the plate as carelessly as you dare on the Stone conveyor belt that the servants use to take dirty dishes to the kitchen. Then you pointedly avoid Galen's stare.
Your mom comes in after a relatively short time, but it seems to be hours. You look at her helplessly. "Galen, can you give us some space?" Mom asks. Galen reluctantly relents, taking Elle with him. You don't even know what to think at the relief you feel not having to look at your father with his new slave.
"Mom, we have to send her home to Ironhill. That's where Metal-Caste are from, right? They'll know what to do to help way more than we will."
"Erin, I... Galen won't allow that. He thinks he knows best, and he won't let her go. Metal-Caste slaves... they're worth a lot. He won't buy her just to set her free."
You've never hated your father more than now. Before, it was just you at risk. Al and Mom, while vulnerable, could take care of themselves. You don't matter. But now you have someone else to worry about, someone leagues more vulnerable than you, who your father doesn't have any investment in besides money. Someone who, if you inevitably grow to care about them, he could hurt in order to control you. And you already showed you care about her.
Truly, his father paid far less than he bought.
"Erin," his mother continues, "I know that it's a terrible thing, but there's not much we can do. It's Galen's house, I can't dispute his actions or what he does with his finances. All we can do is keep her safe. I'm trusting you that you won't mistreat her or let anyone else mistreat her. Can you do that?"
You frown. "We need to find a way to make her be able to say no! What if I order her to stop taking orders? That always works in my books."
"Erin, that doesn't work on Unsparked Metal-Caste people. They don't follow orders to the letter, and they won't defend them if they're given a contradictory order. There's nothing we can do for her. If Galen truly believes that she's better off here, we have to make sure she is. We'll give her the best life she can have. And I need you to help me do it, okay, Sweetheart?"
You continue frowning, but reluctantly nod. "I'll make sure she's okay. She'll have... uh, a big bed. And better clothes. Way better. And I'll take her stupid collar off. Or let her take it off! And she can even read all my books, whenever she wants! I'll make sure she doesn't bend the corners in. I won't order her to do it, though. She can do whatever she wants."
"Erin, she... never mind," Mom says. "You'll figure it out."
And you do. Galen won't let you have a smaller bed than Elle, but Al manages to spin it as "You practically live in your bed and she doesn't, let her have a normal bed." Elle gets fancy clothes, as fancy as yours, lest Galen be accused of mistreating his slave. You suggest Elle take her collar off, trying very hard to let it just be a suggestion, and she does. Then you feel guilty, because what if you ordered her to do it without meaning to? (Later, you'll find out you did, and you feel even more guilty.) You tell her she can read your books any time she wants. This makes her perk up, and teaches you something.
You learn over the next few sefs that Elle does have thoughts and opinions, and if you ask, she'll tell you them. She just doesn't seem to be able to act on them, but if you tell her to do whatever she wants to do, she'll be grateful and do them happily. So you get into the habit of asking her about everything.
"Do you want to go to the library?" you might ask.
"No, I want to play skip stones," she might say.
"Okay, let's play skip stones," you'll say, and you do, or at least you do until you inevitably get sick, and Galen's orders to take care of you kick in. (You're ruining her fun.)
You perfect the ways of making her happy, and in return she helps you when elemental corruption sets in. You hate that she has to, that Galen made her do it, but for some reason when you ask whether she wants to be doing this or not, she always says she does. Did Galen make her serve you cheerfully?
You keep going like this, but when you actually do go to your parent's private library, you research the Metal-Caste and their sparks. You find quickly that there is a way to get a Metal-Caste's spark back – they have to get struck by lightning. Natural lightning, your mother says, after you burst into her room to try to get her to help you with lightning magic, and it's risky. Elle can die if the sky doesn't choose her.
"That's why I didn't want to tell you. But you found out anyway, my little bookworm."
Still, after that revelation, you study lightning magic more and more. You ask Elle if she'd want it. She says she'd love to have superpowers, but she doesn't understand the whole "agency" thing. You learn to feel when a storm is coming (ie, when the lightning corruption gets worse), and run off, "forcing" Elle to run after you. You get used to playing in thunderstorms. You scare your mother half to death.
Things are as good as they can be, until you turn twelve.
SEVEN YEARS BEFORE THE DISSOLUTION OF RAVV AINOX
It's soon after your birthday. You're sitting in bed with Elle, going over weather reports and your Galen-assigned "homework" on magic, when you feel it coming. Wind magic corruption. You know enough to know what it feels like, and what to do. "Elle, I'm getting Wind corruption. Do you want to get Mom?"
Elle glares at you. "Of course I do! We've been over this! I always want to get Mom!"
"Then go get Mom. And hurry!"
Elle bolts off, running as fast as her metallic legs can carry her. You wait, trying to concentrate against the light-headedness, the dizziness, and the growing feeling of insubstantiality that always comes with this particular form of elemental corruption. Your bones feel like glass, a glass that if touched wrong, would shatter.
Over all, a normal occurrence. Your mom is great at talking you through it, guiding you through expelling the corrupting energy and recovering. She's only a stone mage, and as such doesn't have personal experience with Wind corruption, but the principles are similar and she's done a lot of research to help you.
But it isn't your mother that comes back with Elle. It's Galen.
"W – where's Mom?" you ask. "I need her help."
"No, you don't," Galen says. "You are old enough to do this by yourself. I am here to tell you that you must apply what you've learned from your mother to reverse your corruption on your own. I will be locking you in until you can purge the elemental energy from your soul."
You try to get off the bed, but your foot goes through the floor. The emotional upheaval has just made the corruption worse. "Dad..."
"Just picture whatever your mother does to reverse the corruption when she's here. I know you can do this." Galen turns away, and hands Elle the key to your room, something only he is allowed to possess most of the time.
You realize what Galen is about to do before he does it. "Elle, close the door and lock it."
"I don't want to," Elle says, but mechanically moves to obey.
"Please – I can't –" you don't want to order her around, even now. Your voice trails off.
Elle looks at you, and the movement stops. She hesitates. "...what was that?"
In a contest of ordering around Elle, Galen will always win. "Close the door and lock it. Now."
Elle does so. But, even as you lean against the locked door, as Galen walks Elle away, you can't help but pull yourself back together, with nothing but your mind and the knowledge that Elle hesitated. She's never done that before. She doesn't have any sense of self. She doesn't understand that she can act without direction. But she still hesitated. She didn't want to do it, and she almost didn't.
Wasn't that proof she should be chosen by the sky?
You've been doing research, and people are usually only chosen by the sky after their Spark would otherwise emerge. Elle being fourteen, it's still another few years. But you've learned a couple tricks – sensing incoming lightning storms, predicting where lightning might strike, even encouraging it a little. You'll make sure she's Sparked, or you'll die trying.
After all, what other use are you?
Somewhere in that determination, hope, and awe, you find your focus. You finally feel yourself be grounded. You can't break down and succumb to corruption now, you have to help Elle get her Spark.
By the time Galen returns to let you out, you're not even angry when he says he knew you were strong enough to do it on your own. You have a job to do.
Elle will get her Spark, and then you'll both run away. You've always wanted to see the world.
SIX YEARS BEFORE THE DISSOLUTION OF RAVV AINOX
You're sitting at the table one morning, reading a book after breakfast, when Galen walks in, looking smug. Oh no.
"What is it, Father?" you ask, as much because you'd gag if you called him your Dad as it is because he prefers formality at all times. He looks you over, and smiles. It's always unnerving when he smiles, probably because you aren't used to the expression outside of its practiced kinder version during formal events.
"I have found an enclave of monks on Helm that specialize in the soul."
When that receives a blank stare, he continues. "They can widen and reshape soul channels. They'll make you able to properly cast. They'll fix you."
"Oh," you say. You've long given up that Galen will ever find a way to fix you. You're not sure if this latest endeavor will work. Maybe it will. Maybe when Elle finally gets her Spark, you'll be able to travel just as energetically as she will.
"I'm serious, this time," Galen says. "I know I've said it before, but these people are masters of the soul. They allow people with amputated limbs to attach new ones that work identically to their lost ones, all by manipulating their soul. I've seen the results firsthand. You will be healed in no time."
You nod. "I'll try them out, sure."
"They're on Helm. It's not safe to travel there right now, so we'll wait for four sindahlan. It'll be over before you know it."
You know better than to tell Galen that you're not exactly on the edge of your seat. Sure, it might work, but you have far more important things to worry about. Once, you know, you'd have begged to brave the dangers and set off to fix you immediately, but it's no longer your highest priority. "Okay," you say.
Galen narrows his eyes, suspicion on his face. "Very well."
And that is the end of the conversation, or so you think. Until that night, when Galen suddenly barges into your and Elle's room. You look up, alarmed, for Galen rarely enters without notice. The last time he did, it was to lock you in your room and declare that you had to get over elemental corruption on your own.
And of course, he picked a time where you and Elle are going through plans to get her chosen by the sky. And their plans after.
"Elle, show me what you're playing with," Galen says, looking at the papers scattered around your larger bed.
"Not playing with anything," she says, but understands what Galen meant, and so motions to hand it over.
"Elle, don't," you say, trying to hide the more incriminating plans.
But in a contest of ordering Elle around, Galen will always win. "Show them to me now."
Elle hands over the plans. Galen flips through them, reading them even faster than you would. You hate when he has something to be smug about and when he interferes in your business, and you're terrified of what he's going to do. What he's going to think.
Galen finishes reading. He snaps his head up and turns to Elle. "Leave us, Elle. Now."
Elle does so.
Galen sighs. "Erin, I don't know what's wrong with you, but this is reckless and poorly-thought-through even for you."
You glare at him, saying nothing.
"I mean, the odds of getting struck by lightning are incredibly rare, but to survive is even more. Do you want her to die?"
"She wants to be Sparked," you say. "Unlike you, I ask her things."
"She's a young, sheltered girl. She has no idea what she wants."
You snort. "Need I remind you you bought her as a slave? If anyone's seen more of the world than you, it's her."
"Stop being so emotional. There is more than one way to be sheltered. Just because you've seen things doesn't mean you're sensible."
"I think that if anyone should be able to make decisions about herself, to decide she can risk herself, it's Elle, not you."
"Elle is my – I am Elle's guardian. She is still only sixteen. She knows very well that she is young, and young people are more willing to take risks –"
"Yet old enough to recover from elemental corruption all on their own, for several years."
Galen glares at you for interrupting and talking back. "There are different responsibilities one gains as one becomes older, but – silence – that is not the worst thing about this foolish plan!"
"Oh?" you say. You're not really interested – nothing he says matters to you. If he tries to hurt you, well, there's heavy winds today. You can't really be blamed for "accidentally" blowing him across the room.
"You think that once Elle is Sparked, and given lightning magic by the indifferent sky, you will go with her to get away from here and see the world, correct?"
"Yes."
"Don't you understand that you'd just slow her down? Stormbreakers are famously full of wanderlust. They can travel across a continent in hours. Do you really think you could keep up? You, who are ill and weak, who would have to make her wait every time you fell ill or got near a concentration of elemental energy?"
You just glare at him.
"No, forget her. We're traveling to Helm in four sindahlan. I promise you, this time you'll be healed. Then you can go to Asera's magic school, and become the new Elemental Magus. You'll be more powerful and knowledgable than everyone, including me. That will be worth it, not this harebrained scheme of yours."
"But Elle will be left behind. I'll leave her behind."
"Elle is made to be left behind. Or maybe you'll be right, and she'll get her second Spark. Either way, it's no concern of yours."
He's wrong. It's absolutely all concern of yours. But Elle is still just sixteen. Some people have puberty really late. It could still be a while before she gets her Spark. Maybe you'll be healed by then. Then you can go be Elemental Magus everywhere but here.
But you don't matter. If you'll be a burden...
"Elle isn't made to be left behind," you say, crossing your arms. There is no further conversation to be had.
Galen, after realizing you are now a brick wall, leaves. Elle comes in. "I heard everything!" she says. "You're not going to listen to him, are you? You're not a burden. Not to me."
You smile weakly. "I know. Of course I'm not a burden. I'm awesome."
Neither you nor Elle believe you.
FIVE (AND THREE-QUARTERS) YEARS BEFORE THE DISSOLUTION OF RAVV AINOX
A lightning storm is coming in. You've been able to feel the lightning all day, and so have been making preparations.
Honestly, it's an average lighting storm. Nothing special. It'll be over in less than an hour. But you have to try. You have to fight like it's certain to Spark Elle – because to do anything else is to give up that possibility.
"ELLE! IT'S TIME!" you shout. You feel amazing, since you have to. It's a lightning storm. You have to feel good, or Elle will be stuck at home babysitting you when she could be getting Sparked.
You affirm Elle wants this and then tell her to start running, and you run after her.
You have little tricks to increase Elle's chances. The most important is to get to the highest hill in Asera, and have time to spare to seed the ground with the rarer blue lightning that can attract the more typical yellow strikes. Do everything to draw in a true lightning strike.
You and Elle do both perfectly. You're panting and sitting down to rest after running and performing magic, when you feel your hair raise. You excitedly look over to Elle, but see her hair is not floating around her head like yours. Oh, damnit.
BOOM!
You've been electrocuted before, even with this much power, so you think you've grown a tolerance for it. Either that or you'll suffer heart failure in your thirties because you've been electrocuted way too many times to be safe and your nerves went haywire.
Still, it's stupid that you're always the one getting struck, and not Elle. You curse in frustration and stomp over to the first aid kit you've learned to keep with you for what you've affectionately named Project Stormbreaker.
You're using a lightning and life lacrima specifically programmed by healers to calm and repair your nervous system when you feel another strike coming. You sigh and dig out the lightning shield lacrima out of your pack. You're certain you've hit your limit for lightning strikes today.
But when the strike comes, it's not you it hits. There's a huge BOOM behind you, and when you've turned, you see Elle on the ground, a brand new lichtenberg scar forming on her shoulder.
You gasp. "Elle!" you shout, and run to her.
Elle is lying on the ground, twitching. You can't drag her to healers, since she's much larger and heavier than you. You race back to your pack, dig out a wind lacrima, and call Al.
If Elle survives, she'll have her second Spark.
As you hurry back to Elle, using the life and lightning lacrima on her to help her heal, the storm dissipates. Stupid thing was even shorter than you thought it'd be. It was around for such a brief time, and yet here you two were.
Al comes to you and picks Elle up. He asks if you're alright, and you say you are, despite not really feeling it. He carries Elle to your family's healers. You follow him along, but start to get lightheaded and dizzy. Al's questions and words feel echoed and quiet, as if they came from the other end of a long hallway. Numbness creeps up your arms and legs. You can't concentrate on anything properly.
Textbook lightning corruption.
When you and Al get back to your house, you excuse yourself to go to your bedroom to deal with the corruption. You've accepted you probably won't get to see Elle wake up.
You lie in bed and study your soul, as well as a mortal can study their own soul. You study the symptoms you've got, and determine where the elemental corruption lies. You concentrate, and start picking at it.
(Four sindahlan later, the soulshaper monks will be impressed by what you've already managed to accomplish.)
The corruption is massive and deeply-rooted. You slowly pry it out of you, digging up those metaphorical roots and expelling them from your soul. It takes a long time, just as you'd predicted. When you're done, staring at the window, it's evening.
You take a deep breath, staring at the ceiling. Thinking hurts, but you can't help but do it. Your soul channels have never seemed more malformed. You have never felt sicker. You know the lightning corruption has left its mark, you're still twitching slightly whenever you try to move.
And you don't know what happened to Elle. You don't know if she's alright. You don't know...
But you're about to find out.
The door bursts open. You yelp and roll over to see who it is, and it's Elle. You smile.
"ERIN!" Elle shouts. "I GOT MY SPARK!" She grabs a book off your bookcase and opens it to page 76 (her favorite number) just to prove she can.
"That's wonderful, Elle."
"Actually, I was coming up with another name! Elle never really fit, you know, and I've heard from other Metal-Caste that when you get your Spark, you change your name?"
"Oh? Then what's your name?"
"I'm thinking Tess," she says.
"That's an awesome name," you say. "I think it fits you even better than Elle."
"I dunno, call me it. Pretend I've just accidentally bent your favorite book."
"I don't have a favorite book, Tess," you sniff. "I can't choose between the good ones."
"There we go," Tess says, grinning wide. "I think it fits! I have something else to announce: I'm leaving! Wanna go with me?"
"I knew that you were leaving," you say. "We had plans and everything."
"Yeah, but I'd like to make sure." She offers a hand to you. "Make sure you had room in that over-stuffed brain of yours to remember our plans."
"...you're just going to shock me if I take your hand, aren't you," you say, looking at the outstretched hand suspiciously.
"What? Of course not! I'd never use my hard-earned lightning magic to do something that silly," she says, in a passable imitation of Galen. But her facade is broken when she mutters, "it's not like you haven't done that to me."
"On accident!" you say, but you're laughing. Tess seems even brighter and more energetic than she was as Elle. She's practically vibrating in place. It's clear she finally has autonomy, and she's eager to experience all the world has to offer, without being ordered around. And she still wants you to be a part of it.
"Come on," Tess says, offering her hand again. "Let's get out of here. Promise I won't shock you."
You look at her hand. You scratch your neck. "I.. I'm sorry, Tess..."
Tess narrows her eyes. "Come on! After all this time, you want me to leave you behind?"
"You want to go to Ironhill, right?" you say. "I'd never make it there, even with you. It's almost on the other side of the world. If you used your lightning magic, I'd die of proxy lightning corruption within hours, or we'd have to stop every hour and rest, for at least four hours every time. Ironhill is across an ocean, which neither of us can navigate well enough to give us hourly rests, even at a powerful lightning mage's speed. Or we'd have to charter a ship, and neither of us has any money. Galen wouldn't let me take any of his, and I can't work, which would leave you pulling my weight and would take ages, and I don't want to drag you down with me!"
"You'd never drag me down!" Tess growled. "We'd make it work! I'm not letting you stay in this place, with that horrible man!"
"I won't, though. I... I've done research on the Soulshaper monks. They're the real thing. They do exactly what Galen said they do, with great success. They can make even the most malformed soul channel work properly. Then I can enter the mage academy and make my way out of his clutches myself. He won't be able to control me when I'm the new elemental magus."
"You know he has plans to keep you under his control. He'll make you follow his rules some way or another."
"No, he won't. He wants me to be independent so I can bring honor to the Ruunaser name. I want to be independent so I can outclass and eventually be completely rid of him. I'll play along until I've amassed enough power to ruin him. Asera can find another ambassador emissary."
"You really think that you could do that? Figure out a way to ruin Asera's top ambassador?"
You smirk. "You really don't know what power an Elemental Magus can wield. The last one did all kinds of awesome things. Speaking of which... could you grab me that pack over there?"
"I don't ta – wait. That wasn't an order, right?"
"No. It was a polite request. Even before, I never would order you to do something that you didn't want to. Now I don't even have to order you around."
Tess smiles. "Thanks, Erin. I'll do it, since you asked nicely and have those issues with getting up." She decides to walk over and get you the pack.
You dig through the pack and get out two Wind lacrimas. "These lacrimas are connected to ones carried by me and Al," you say, indicating which is which. "I'll tell you all about the previous Elemental Magus via mine. You can even read it, if you want."
Tess laughs. You desperately want to know her as Tess, not just Elle. You want to know how she acts, not just how she says things. You want to know her with autonomy, not just words.
But that's not going to happen. You know it won't. The minute she leaves, you'll be back to knowing only her opinions and not her actions. You won't be around to see them. You want her to stay. You want to find some impossible way to stay with her and see the world. But you won't keep her here for one second longer. Never, not here, where she lives a hell much worse than you could dream.
Maybe one day she'll visit Asera, or your paths will cross somehow. You'll have your travel one day, once you've graduated from Asera's magic school. You'll become the greatest mage to ever exist. You'll be free, you'll be healthy, you'll be safe. You'll be someone Tess can be proud to call her brother. And Graiann help whoever gets in your way.
Tess jumps on the sill of the window. Her last words to you are, "You'll always be my brother. Thank you."
And then with a crack of thunder, she's gone.
A/N: Erin should've been chosen by the sky with how much he keeps getting electrocuted. to pay homage to this canonical fact, i made him get electrocuted in this fic too.
I am a firm believer that rich kids can suffer just as much as poor kids, whether adopted or bio. Their parents have so much power in society, and they have nothing. They're children. All they can do is live until society arbitrarily decides they have power (if that, some rich kids are kept under control even after their legal independence and/or recognition), and hope they don't swallow too many of their parents' toxic beliefs. Sure, they have three meals a day, they don't have to worry about war or poverty or starvation... as long as their parents agree. And rich people (*gasp*) are assholes. They wouldn't be rich if they weren't.
I was vague about Galen's abuse besides the emotional and... uh, magical, but feel free to run wild with your imaginations.
Erin and Tess don't talk about him if they can avoid it. Tess, I feel, wants to avoid that part of her past. She's left that part of her behind with her lack of autonomy, and what she doesn't like, she runs away from. Erin, however, doesn't want to acknowledge that he was hurt. He thinks what happened to Tess was terrible, but he just hates his father because of what happened to others. He, himself, is fine. It was reasonable. He was sick, and didn't even need his father's approval or love, he had his mother, who cares about Galen. He can handle a cruel father. Bringing him up just gives him more power over Erin's life, which is more power than Erin thinks his father deserves.A/N: Of course I made Al's name Alphonse. What do you take me for, someone who DIDN'T get into Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood because of Red?
Also warning for child abuse, both implied and explicit. But because it's Erin he doesn't focus on his own abuse, that doesn't matter, what's important is how other people were affected, he's fine, he can totally handle it, he's awesome and so not traumatized.