School of Magic; Part of the "Spring Snow" AU

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Chandler’s head spun. His face was smeared with ash and mud. His body tingled with the daze of battle. The last of the invading blights had finally been brought down. The mages all looked completed drained; a few fought to put out the last of the smoldering fires.

Nausea gripped his gut. He knew somehow that it wasn’t really him that felt ill, but rather he was sensing the distress the island was in. That Terra was in.

At the thought, he turned, frantically looking for the girl. There, in the wild garden, she was sprawled on the ground. Her leaves looked browned and dead even in the dim light of dusk. He ignored the chaos still unfolding around him as he hurried towards her, calling her name.

She didn’t move.

“Terra? Terra!” Chandler pressed. The forest beyond glowed a sickly violet red with remnants of flame and the inky tar of malice. It was strangling the very life out of the island and it burned inside of Chandler. He could only imagine how much worse it was for her.

Finally, she stirred, turning her heavy lidded gaze to him. “Dad…”

“Hang on,” Chandler begged her. Though for what, he didn’t know--what could they even begin to do to help her?

“Chandler?” Ryo was behind him, worry lining his aged face. Melissa was there not a moment later, her dress stained with dirt and ash. “Is she okay?”

“I don’t know,” Chandler murmured. “Terra? They’re gone--we fought them off.”

“Ah,” the girl replied softly, her eyes not really focusing on him. “I...I’m sorry, Dad--I d-don’t…”

“Easy,” Chandler urged, his anxiety rising. If she couldn’t recover…

He glanced back at the rest of the island’s population. They could try to find another island to inhabit, but there was no guarantee that the malice wouldn’t simply spread. Either way, he could not leave.

The others were all looking at him, their anxiety matching his own. Lana clung to her mother, biting her lip as if trying not to cry at what she could see.

Terra was dying.

There was a long silence as Chandler scrambled to think. There had to be something they could do.

Or rather, something he could do.

Comprehension dawned on him, along with a sort of quiet acceptance and determination. “Terra,” he said with quiet urgency as he looked to her. “The ‘part of me that’s you’...what if I gave it back?”

While Ryo and Melissa could only see and hear one side of the conversation, that was enough for both to jerk slightly in alarm. Melissa, especially, opened her mouth to voice objections, but no words came through.

“It might w-work…” Terra admitted weakly. “B-but...Dad...you m-might not…”

Chandler shook his head, brushing the worry aside. He looked over to Ryo and Melissa again, his expression apologetic, before he turned to look at Crian and Maya.

The pair approached, seeing the silent request in the brunette’s eyes.

“If this goes badly,” he began softly, “can I count on you to watch over Naru?”

Maya and Crian exchanged pained looks. “Of course,” Maya replied shakily, “but...Chandler...there must be another way to--”

He shook his head. “I have to try.” If he didn’t, he knew they’d both be lost. He could feel the hot poison in his own veins even now, threatening to make him sick. “Naru?” he called looking for her among the blurry crowd of survivors.

The girl came foreward, looking uneasy.

“Hey kiddo,” Chandler greeted with a small smile. She came closer and knelt down beside him. “Listen for a minute, okay? I have to ask you something really important.”

She nodded, her eyes already suspiciously bright.

Chandler forced himself to smile through the thickness growing in his own throat. “I need you to be brave for me; can you do that?” she nodded, even as she clung to him. “Uncle Crian and Aunt Maya said you could stay with them--and Lana too, of course; would you like that?”

She sniffled. “I want you to stay.”

“I know,” Chandler admitted, wrapping an arm around her. “I want to stay, too. But Terra is really sick and I need to help her.”

She looked at him with tearful eyes. “Are you sick, too?”

Chandler nodded regretfully. “You see that dark, tarry stuff out there?” he asked, gesturing out towards the husk of forests in sight. “That’s inside me and Terra, too, I think. It’s making us sick, and it really hurts. But maybe if I help Terra, it won’t hurt anymore, and you all can keep living here in peace,” he explained, trying to bury that same hurt from his tone.

She sobbed and clung to him in answer, and for a while he simply held her to him, offering whatever comfort he could. This was an impossible situation, and it wasn’t fair.

He thought he felt a hand on his shoulder. Achingly familiar. He couldn’t help glancing, but he saw nothing there.

It felt like he was being told that it was okay--that he was doing the right thing, and that he wouldn't be alone.

“Naru, it’s time to go,” he told her regretfully. “Terra’s running out of time. I love you.”

Hearing the pronouncement, Crian stepped forward to collect the sobbing child. “Are you sure?” the other mage asked, looking torn.

Chandler merely nodded. “...I think it’s my only chance, too,” he admitted softly.

Crian nodded and backed off a little ways, back towards the rest of the crowd. Chandler looked out at them all, hoping they knew how he felt. He didn’t dare try to voice it now, lest he lose his nerve.

After he and Melissa met gazes for a long moment, saying silent goodbyes, he turned back to Terra. “Hang on,” he said softly, reaching to cup one of her limp hands with both of his.

He closed his eyes, focusing beyond the queasy illness plaguing him, to the small spark of magic still buried deep within. He grasped it tightly, and then willed himself to channel it through his arms and into Terra’s small body.

All around him, people gasped. A glow had started to form around him, subtle at first, before growing in intensity and slowly spreading over a figure that was otherwise invisible to their eyes.

It was like opening up a dam; the energy and power that had kept him alive after raising the island drained from him and into her. His eyes opened with a jolt, at the same time that the force exploded silently around them. Light flooded the island, forcing all those present to shield their eyes. It burned away the thick tarry globs of malice, put out the fires, and brought life back to the vegetation across the entire stretch of land.

[tbc]