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"You're drawing the power from yourself, aren't you?" Farah asked rhetorically. "Hmm, let's try something simple…" She looked down and plucked a dandelion from the grass. "Give and take," she stated, extending the flower towards Aiki. "Channel the energy from the flower to power your fire."
Aiki seemed pretty nervous, but he was determined to try anyway. After a bit of building up the courage, they switched the source of their energy away from himself, but it simply switched to Farah rather than the flower like he was trying to.
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Farah winced as her energy was drained, but she remained where she was with the dandelion extended. "The flower," she encouraged. "Positive feelings. You can do this."
"Sorry, sorry!" Aiki trembled a bit, turning the energy source back to himself while they tried to calm down. Once he had settled again, he opened his eyes and tried again. They focused more this time, keeping their eyes firmly on the flower as he carefully switched his energy source. After a few seconds, the flower started to darken and wilt.
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Farah sighed quietly with relief as the weight left her, but she remained focused as she watched Aiki prepare. A proud smile bloomed on her face as she watched the flower wilt in her fingers. "Yes! Beautifully done," she praised.
Aiki grinned brightly and his flames suddenly grew for a moment before they vanished, since the flower had died. "I did it! I guess I have to focus pretty hard to draw from such a small source…"
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Farah smiled. "That was wonderful. Would you like to try again?"
Aiki nodded and got back into a better position, holding his palms up again. "What should I draw on this time?"
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Farah knelt down and brushed her fingers across the grass. "Do you think you could use the grass? Spread out in a circle as you use more energy and then finish when the dead grass reaches me?"
"Um, I think I could try and do that… maybe move a little further away, just in case." Once Aiki felt comfortable trying again, he focused on the grass around them and switched his energy source. After a few seconds, the grass slowly started to die and the flames grew considerably.
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Farah nodded. "Good. Now look at me, but keep drawing from the grass," she instructed, backing up a bit as she spoke.
Aiki slowly turned his attention up to Farah, and the flames flickered. They managed to keep using the grass, but he was having some trouble controlling the flames.
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"Retain focus," Farah coached. "Focus. You can do this, Aiki, I know you can."
Aiki tried their best to stay focused, but as he drained the grass nearby, it only became more difficult to control since the source was further away. Their fire flickered again and flashed around them for a second before it abruptly stopped, and Aiki stood in the midst of the dead grass, trembling lightly and looking down at his arms.
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Farah walked toward them quickly. "Aiki, that was…" She shook her head. "That was brilliant!" She wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Well done!"
Aiki whined softly when Farah hugged him, loosely holding their arms forward rather than hugging back. He was shaking a bit and seemed tired and stressed, and they kept their eyes on their arms. It took him a few seconds to speak. "I-I… burned myself…" They mumbled weakly.
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Farah quickly pulled back from the hug, her eyes wide and worried. "What?" Her eyes cut to Aiki's arms, and she cupped her hands over her lips as they fell open in shock.
"I'm fine! I-I'm… I'm f-fine. I don't think it's that bad right?" Aiki asked weakly, not looking down at their arms. The skin on his arms was raw and beginning to blister although they didn't seem to feel the pain quite yet.
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"Come on," Farah ordered, already starting back down the hill. "We have to find Eiji."
"O-Okay…" Aiki followed after Farah, scared and tense. He kept close to her, and they bit their lip to keep from crying out when the pain hit him.
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"I'm sorry," Farah whispered as they walked. "I'm so sorry." Her hair blew in her face, and she pushed it away.
Aiki was pale with anxiety by now, and he stared blankly ahead as they followed Farah. Eiji noticed them from afar and picked up that something was wrong from Aiki's posture, so he started to hurry over in their direction.
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"He's on his way," Farah promised. "Eiji. He's coming. You're going to be alright."
Eiji soon arrived and saw the state his twin was in, and he seemed worried. "What happened?" He asked. Aiki was reluctant to offer their arms in a position that Eiji could see them, so Eiji couldn't immediately see what was wrong.
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"Show him," Farah demanded. She clasped her hands together behind her back so her fingers didn't tremble as badly.
Aiki jumped a bit at Farah's tone, but obeyed, exposing the blisters on his arms. Eiji winced and quickly put his hand on Aiki to relieve some of the pain and stress. "We need to get him back to the infirmary. It'll be better if we can get some burn cream and bandages on them so they can heal more naturally. C'mon, Aiki. Let's go." Aiki tentatively followed after Eiji, still not speaking.
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Farah watched the two of them go, but she didn't follow. Instead, she turned her back and looked at the patch of dead grass.
Eiji took Aiki into the school and found some burn cream to carefully apply to his wounds. Aiki grimaced a bit, but they were a little in shock, so they didn't react a ton. Once Aiki was bandaged up, Eiji focused on getting them back to a stable emotional state with his magic.
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Farah took one look back at the school before she turned and ran in the opposite direction. Her skirt was flying and her hair was in her eyes, but she didn't care. She felt the restricted tears burn in her eyes. And missing Saul made it worse.
Eiji got Aiki settled in the infirmary, and once they had fallen asleep and he was sure they were okay, he headed back out to find out where Farah had gone. He looked around with a confused expression when he found that she wasn't outside anywhere. "Farah? Hello?"
