Two-Sided Love

Chapter 12- An Unkown Mark

"I think she's starting to wake up!"

"Shhh..."

"Opal? How do you feel?"

Opal opened her eyes as she looked around, she was in Iris's house. "Fine..." She said, her voice raspy as she rubbed her head.

"Oh, you poor thing. Here's some tea." Aunt Ellen said, setting down a tray with tea and biscuits on them.

"Thanks." Opal smiled gently. Iris, Talia, and Auriana stared at her with concerned looks as she sipped her tea. "What?"

"Do you not remember what happened?" Iris asked, Opal, shook her head.

"Well, we were fighting the twins, we all got super weak but you came and saved the day!— kinda, you fought Mephisto, and both of your guy's magic made this big explosion! Resulting in you two getting thrown to the ground, losing consciousness." Auriana said.

"Wow..." Opal muttered, taking a bite from one of the biscuits. "But you've just passed being a beginner in magic training, yet, at that moment your magic seemed to be more powerful than the last battles and training," Talia explained.

"And because of that...we concluded that you're close to Shanila," Iris added.

"Shalala what?" Opal rose a brow. "Oh, we haven't told her yet. Can I explain?" Auriana begged as Talia nodded in approval.

"Okay okay," Auriana used her magic to summon a book, "Shanila is a particularly powerful stage of magic development, achieved through a rite of passage involving the loss of hair, and is something that all of the princesses have gone through at some point in their lives."

"That does not sound fun," Opal grumbled. "And losing hair?! Am I going to go bald?" She started to panic.

Iris giggled, "Not forever, and not completely. Once you hit Shanila, the majority of your hair will fall off, but not all of it! Soon it'll grow long and shiny."

"Well, now I'm excited to— Ow!" Opal suddenly felt a sharp, burning pain in her shoulder. As her hand trailed to the pain, she felt an electric shock.

"Be careful, you probably sprained your shoulder," Auriana said, moving Opal's hand away.

It was strange, it didn't hurt like a sprained shoulder, the pain didn't even feel like a broken bone / pulled muscle.

"How about you get some rest? You can sleep in my guest room." Iris offered.

Opal nodded. "Thank you."

.

It was late at night, and Opal was awoken by the electric shot in her shoulder. She walked up to the mirror and quietly transformed. "Opal, princess of Mounu."

Looking at her shoulder, she noticed a green mark that trailed down her back. "What the...?"

She turned to the side, revealing a large snake mark on her shoulder. She was shocked, how did she get this? Then it hit her.

Mephisto. He has snake designs all over his clothing and on his magic circle! That only meant one thing, he caused this mark.

He had to find him, but she didn't know where his cave is. "Crystal ostrichdore-ay." She whispered.

As a small vision appeared showing Mephisto sitting against a wall, listening to his sister lecture him, she felt bad. She formed a flat crystal in her palm, and used a crafting knife to write, "Meet me in the forest at Sunny Bay."

She formed a small portal, throwing the crystal in, she quietly sneaked out to the forest.

.

Opal stood against a tree as she kept thinking about the fight, she was so mad, she probably scared Mephisto. She snapped out of her train of thoughts when she heard footsteps, as she looked at who was walking in her direction, it was him.

Her heart quickly sank, she stood up quickly. "Mephisto..." That was all she could say. Mephisto walked up to her quickly and wrapped his arms around her. "H-huh?"

"I'm sorry." He said.

Opal furrowed her brows, "Sorry? Why?!"

Mephisto sighed, "I know you saw your memories, when I and Praxina attacked the princesses we saw Mia form a memory portal."

Opal looked down, "That's no excuse for how I acted though, I almost killed your sister," She looked back up at him. "We are friends, and even though Praxina is still my enemy I...I can't hurt her, it's just wrong."

Mephisto smiled gently, "It's okay."

"...That's not the only thing I need to talk about."
Opal turned around, moving her hair away from her back, revealing the mark.

"That's bizarre." He said softly. "I have something like that—"

"You do?!" Opal exclaimed.

Mephisto nodded, taking off his arm guards and lifting his sleeve, revealing a butterfly mark going up against his arm.

Opal blushed as she put her hand on the mark. Suddenly, it started to glow purple. She whipped her hand away as she gasped.

"How did— how did that happen?" Mephisto stammered. "I don't know...I think this happened after our fight?" Opal guessed.

Mephisto smirked, "It's pretty cool, I really like it, now I have a part of you always with me."

Opal became flustered. "D-don't be ridiculous!"

Mephisto burst out laughing, "You're adorable!"

Opal crossed her arms, looking away. The fluttery feeling returned, her heart was pounding, and her cheeks were warm and pink, she loved this feeling, she hated when it ended...so, she came up with an idea.

"Um— would you want to go on a smoothie date for me?" She asked.

Mephisto tilted his head, "What is a smooth-e, and what's a date?"

Opal snickered, "A smoothie is a drink, and a date is when two people hang out." She exclaimed.

Mephisto nodded his head, "Hmm...sounds fun! I'd love to."

Opal smiled, "Yay! Meet me at the same spot tomorrow at 9:30 A.M, see you then." She waved.

Mephisto watched as she walked away, feeling the same fluttering feeling, "See you then."