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"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
AJ suppresses the instinct to jump out of her skin at the sudden voice behind her, and uses the momentum to casually lean against the wall she had just been peaking round. Shit, she had definitely been caught snooping on Zam and Graecies conversation thanks to Flicks awful lookout abilities. She shoots them a death stare, but Flicks too busy pecking at some indistinct seed on the stone tiles. Typical.
Nevertheless, she sends an easy smile the intruder's way - Shelby, she thinks, the wind one - and prepares to talk her way out of trouble. Quickly, however, she realises that it seems unnecessary: Shelby isn't looking at her in any kind of disapproval or anger, but nervousness. They don't meet AJ's gaze, instead looking down at the cobbles while fiddling with their cloak tassels.
Ok, AJ will bite. "Sure, what's up?" She asks, raising and eyebrow. She has half a mind to send Flick to eavesdrop on Zam and Graecie, but the lack of echoing voices tells her they've already moved on. Whatever Shelby has to say better be worth it.
Their nervousness doesn't dissipate, but she manages to lift her gaze to meet AJ's, looking serious. She doesn't think she's ever seen the carefree girl without a smile on her face, but it's missing now.
"It's about Drift."
And - well that's unexpected. She figured it would maybe be about the spies, or Corruption, or some boring school meeting, not Drift. A foreign pang of fear jolts through her, and she runs through a million possible scenarios: that she's missing, corrupted, dead- but she manages to stop any of her concern reflect on her face. "Open book? What about her?"
AJ notes how Shelby's eye twitches at the nickname, their jaw ticking every so slightly, and isn't that interesting? She can feel the irritation radiating from the small thing, but all it accomplishes is broadening AJ's grin. She loves the feeling of getting under someone's skin.
"You need to stay away from her." Shelby bites, huffing and fisting her cloak tighter, knuckles white even for her. "You're messing with her head and distracting her from the actual important things going on! All through our power's practice she's complaining about you and something you've said to annoy her, and it completely throws off her focus! So- so you need to back off. For her good- and the good of the academy."
Shelby is panting by the end of her speech, cheeks red and eyes blazing. Unfortunately for them, their tirade has not cowed AJ in the slightest: how could it? The picture of Drift flustered and stuttering because of her is such a pretty one, and all she can feel is pride.
"For the greater good, huh? I don't see the problem with a bit of flirting between all the horrors this place has to offer." AJ asks, folding her arms behind her head, relaxing fully into the wall now there seems to be no imminent danger. "A crush is a natural and healthy distraction from all the death and destruction."
"She does not," Shelby sneers, marching forward and jutting her finger into AJ's chest, "have a crush on you."
AJ grins, victorious. The little air mage had fallen for her bait hook, line, and sinker.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, cricket," She says mockingly, pushing Shelby's finger aside and leaning into their personal space, "but it's pretty obvious she wants me. Why shouldn't I indulge? After all, she looks so cute when she's angry."
If looks could kill, AJ would be six feet under. She tries not to scoff at the irony.
"You," she grits out, "don't deserve her. You don't even deserve to breathe the same air as her, let alone any of her attention."
AJ falls back against the wall, a mock hand gripping her chest. If Shelby was gonna bring the dramatics, she would as well. "You wound me, Shelbs! But can I let you in on a little secret?" She leans forward, as if she's about to divulge the darkest corners of her heart in the middle of this drafty corridor. Shelby quirks an eyebrow, but it does nothing to disguise the anger still etched in her face.
"The world? It doesn't care how much you do or don't deserve something. Nothing in life falls into your lap. All that matters is if you're willing to see something you want and grab it with both hands. And Drift?" She grins, baring her teeth like a wolf. "Drift is something I want. So, I think I'll carry on the way I am; I'm not in the habit of letting a little jealousy get in my way."
"Jealousy?!" Shelby's entire face is bright red now, from rage or embarrassment she can't tell, and her voice has become shrill from the high pitch she's reached. "Who said I'm jealous?!"
"Oh come on, that's what all of this is about, right? You can't stand how much she talks about me, thinks about me, when you're right there: her knight in shining armour." She rolls her eyes. "It's so pathetic."
Something in the air mage's face cracks, unable to withstand the pressure of being seen, and AJ can see it all: the fear, the want, the desperation, the resentment. A few tears slip free from their eyes, and they stagger back, frantically wiping them away.
"It's not fair." They whisper, and AJ barely catches it. "I support her, I make her thoughtful gifts, I catch her when she falls- but you- one word from you, and it's all she talks about for the whole day. AJ this, and AJ that - I can't stand it. It's not fair." Shelby meets her eye again, valiantly holding back an onslaught of more tears.
"Can't you just leave us alone?" She begs. "Just stop flirting with her? She'll be happy with me, really, actually happy, and you have so many other people you can entertain yourself with! You don't even care about-"
"Don't." AJ warns, crowding into Shelby's space, face serious for the first time since this whole ridiculous conversation started. "Don't tell me what I do and don't care about. You don't know shit about me."
The silence between them is heavy, and AJ's magic itches beneath her skin. She didn't mean to say that out loud, it just slipped out in a moment of weakness, but there's no way to take it back now. She isn't even sure why Shelby's words made her see red all of a sudden; maybe she's just getting sick and tired of people assuming they know everything about her. Maybe she cares what people think more than she'd like to admit.
"You're right;" Shelby starts, the shake hidden beneath a layer of bravado, "I don't know everything about you, but I don't like what I do know. You sneak around, you get into trouble, you get jailed- ... You're no good. And- and as far as I'm concerned, if you care about Drift then you shouldn't want that for her. You should want her to have someone who can catch her, not drag her down further." Shelby squares her shoulders, and draws herself up to full height.
"So, you either do have a heart in there, contrary to what everyone believes, and you'll leave her alone, or," A dangerous glint shines in Shelby's eyes, and it makes all the hair on AJ's arms stand on edge, "or you keep doing what you're doing and prove everyone right. And if that's what you choose, I'll have to believe it's because you don't have Drift's best interests at heart. And if that's the case?"
A sudden powerful gust of air pushes the decay mage back, knocking the wind out of her as her back collides with the crumbling stones. She doesn't have the time to collect herself before a swift kick to the gut has her doubling over, heaving into the ground as pain wracks her body.
"Then you'd better watch your back."
AJ blinks back involuntary tears, embarrassed and enraged; she's battered and bruised, but she isn't down for the count. She grits her teeth and prepares Six Feet Under, launching forward to grab at Shelby's leg- but it's too late. All she manages to grasp is a few purple sparks, the remnants of a Recall spell. Coward.
She huffs, accepting her defeat, albeit bitterly. Shit, she didn't know Shelby could deal a blow like that: at least it's knowledge she can use later. She groans, low and loud, as she clutches at her stomach and sits against the wall. Her hand comes away clean, so it seems she's escaped with just some major bruising.
The solitude allows her to turn over what the air mage had said. She doesn't care about anyone at the academy, not really, or at least that's what she'd told herself. Drift was just an interesting specimen hiding some fun secrets she wanted to uncover. Everyone was a means to an end: why should Drift be any different?
Without her permission an image flashes through AJ's mind. Drift, surrounded by her friends, laughing as always. She usually found people who 'light up a room' irritating and fake, but Drift's joy was truly infectious. She made people happy so effortlessly, and could get on with anyone: even AJ, though she's loath to admit it. She has this magnetism, this orbit, that pulls people in, and AJ wants nothing more than to be victim to it. It's easy to see how Shelby's fallen head over heels for the woman.
She thunks her head against the stone, and winces at the following pain. Maybe Shelby was right: she's seemingly destined to destroy everything she touches and she doesn't- ... she doesn't know if she could do that to Drift. To take away that light. Maybe she's gone soft.
"AJ?"
She whips her head towards the sound, and see's the subject of thoughts standing on the steps before her. Maybe it's just the copious amount of head trauma she's received in the last few minutes, but she thinks Drift looks angelic. Candlelight from the adjoining room bleeds into the corridor behind her, illuminating her curls like a golden halo. The light bounces off the subtle gold thread woven into her blouse, and even though her face betrays her panic, she retains her poise. She looks ethereal, unearthly, beautiful.
Any thoughts that Shelby had implanted in her head are usurped by one, unwavering truth: AJ is a selfish, selfish person. Maybe it would be better for the greater good for her to back off, but when has she ever cared for that? How could she, when Drifts hands are so, so warm against her jaw, and she's muttering such sweet comforts in her ear? She's in a warm haze from Drift's ministrations, unable to process any words past "worrying", "stay with me", and "infirmary". AJ wonders faintly if she could convince Drift to just stay here and kiss her better.
Suddenly, AJ is hoisted to her feet, arm slung over Drifts shoulder as she bears the brunt of her body weight. She wants to argue, insist she doesn't need babying, but stringing any thoughts together hurts, and opening her mouth comes with the risk of throwing up in front of the girl she likes. So - as much as it pains her - she shuts up and let's Drift shuffle her to the infirmary, a firm hand on her lower back to guide her.
---
When she wakes in a creaky hospital bed at 2am, all she can process is the feeling of a desert dry mouth, a pounding headache, and a heavy weight on her lap. She cracks open her eyes, and thinks she may still be dreaming.
Drift is sat in a chair next to her bed, head resting in her crossed arm, asleep and draped across AJ's legs. Her long curls are a mess, tangled and spread across the blanket, and her mouth is wide open as she snores. It should be gross and irritating, but the scene is so soft and peaceful; her crown of glow berries faintly pulsates to cast a golden light over her face. Even like this, AJ is enraptured.
She lies back down, staring at the ceiling, and makes her decision: maybe the easiest one of her life. She squeezes Drift's hand.
"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere."