Fireflies: A Witch's Tale

Chapter Three: Friends and Dreams

((This chapter is mostly dialogue))

     Hotaru felt the force of something heavy hit the back of his head and yelped in pain. He turned around to see who hit him. Aster raised the book up for another strike, Hotaru dodged his time and tried to use his magic... which resulted in an explosion. It wasn't big enough to damage anything, just left a bunch of ashes around the third floor of the library. Aster stared at Hotaru, who stared back at him. Both stayed silent for a minute.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!?" Hotaru broke the silence. Aster jumped a little bit at his sudden yelling. Then snapped back.

"YOU WERE ABOUT TO STEAL THOSE BOOKS!!" Aster responded. Hotaru looked at him angry and confused.

"WHY WOULD I NEED TO STEAL BOOKS?!" 

"BECAUSE... I DUNNO!! YOU'RE THE THIEF HERE!!!"

"I'M NOT A THIEF!!" Hotaru took a deep breath and counted to ten. His mother to do that when he felt frustrated or angry. Aster slowly lowered the book. 

"If you are not a thief... then why are you here?" Aster asked him.

"I was practicing my broom flying and I saw this place. I flew over, curious. Because I didn't know that I lived near a huge rich person place. Then I started falling and I fell into the chimney and then got ATTACKED BY ANOTHER KID WITH A BOOK!!" Hotaru explained. Aster bit his lip, feeling guilty now. 

"Sorry... wait you flew?" Aster asked.

"Yes. What part of that do you not understand?" 

"The part I don't understand is your eyes! You have Maiden Eyes! You shouldn't be able to fly!" Hotaru crossed his arms and raised a brow. 

"Well, I CAN fly a broom. Humph." Hotaru turned his head away from him in a pouty face. Aster put the book on one of the reading tables and rubbed his arm. Then Hotaru got up and went up to Aster, grabbing his face and looking at his eyes. Aster got nervous that he got so close. Hotaru's face then beamed. 

"YOU HAVE COUNCIL EYES!!!!!!" Hotaru shouted excitedly. Aster had to cover his ears. He was loud. 

"Yeah I do..." Aster said.

"I. Am. So. Jealous! Can you teach me some spells?!" Hotaru started bouncing up and down, "Wait you might not know any spells, maybe we can both learn?!" Aster didn't know how to say no to his kid. Who was probably younger than him. Aster was seven. Hotaru had the silliest grin on his face while he waited for Aster's answer.

"O.. Okay. Sure." Aster finally answered. Hotaru cheered loudly and ran jumped up joyfully. 

"YAAAYY!!!!" He had the look of a child who just met Santa Clause. Aster lead Hotaru to the first floor of the library to where he was studying, and showed him the book he was reading. Together the two read spell and potion making books, and tried to do some spells. Aster didn't have a single problem with doing any of the spells. Hotaru on the other hand... may or may not have slightly burned one or two books on more than one shelf from explosions. 

Sulfur and Gloom came into the library a in the evening. They had heard the racket and wanted to know what was going on. 

"Aster, what is all the... commotion...?" Gloom's voice trailed off when he saw the mess he had made of th library. Then looked at Aster, and noticed Hotaru. He sighed.

"Alright... Aster. Explain how this happened? And who this is." Gloom instructed. Aster looked nervous, like he was scared he was going to get in trouble. Hotaru saw this, and stepped towards Gloom. 

"My name is Hotaru Light. I am eight and a half, and I live in the small cottage a little ways from here. I do apologize for the mess we made. Well, I actually made it unintentionally. So Aster shouldn't get in trouble." Hotaru spoke with confidence. Though he was noticeably shaking. Gloom look at Hotaru, then chuckled. 

"Thank you explaining for Aster, but you aren't in any trouble now. Sulfur, will you clean up, please?" Gloom asked the Pheonix on his shoulder. Sulfur turned back into a maid, and started to clean up the piles of books on the floor. Hotaru gave the biggest sigh of relief he would ever make. Aster smiled at Hotaru. Then realized, that Hotaru was holder than him. Though he was smaller than him. Hotaru looked back at Aster, gave him a thumbs up, then looked back at Gloom.

"Brother Gloom, is Sulfur your familiar?" Hotaru asked him. A familiar, if you don't know, are like little witch helpers. They help the witch with potions and magic. To get a familiar, you have to exchange a kiss. A person and or creature can become a familiar. The more complicated why to do it is to make a blood exchange. How it is done is by cutting yourself and the creature or person who you want to be your familiar. Then you have to mix the blood and swear loyalty. Though the way has been banned for obvious reasons. 

"Yes, in a way. Sulfur is one of my many familiars." Gloom answered. He liked how curious Hotaru was. 

"Whoaaa! I wish I could have a familiar. But I have to graduate school first." Hotaru pouted that he had to wait to have a familiar. Aster giggled at him. Gloom smiled. Then crouched down so he was eye to eye with him. Gloom suddenly got chills of fear when he looked into Hotaru's eyes. He turned pale and slightly wide eyed. Hotaru looked at him worried.

"Brother Gloom...?" He reached out to touch him. But Gloom stood up and backed a few steps away from Hotaru. Gloom made an awkward smile. 

"Hotaru, it's getting late. Maybe you should head home now, your broom is outside. I assume it's your broom anyway." Gloom's voice was suddenly filled with nervousness and slight fear. Hotaru didn't understand, but nodded. He went over to Aster and gave him a goodbye hug. Then attempted to find his way out of the manor. 

Aster looked at Gloom, "Um... Why did you act like that?" Gloom looked like he could break into a cold sweat as he tried to find some way to answer him.

"Sulfur... take Aster to his room after you're done cleaning. I... need to go and clear my head. Oh, and cook something for him." Gloom left the library, and went to up the many flights of stairs to his quarters. His room was large and lavish. Walls lined with books only he could read, a surprisingly simplistic bed, a chandelier, three cauldrons, and a long desk scattered with books and papers. He francially looked along his shelf and grabbed a really old dusty book from it. Slamming it on his desk, he flipped through the pages looking for something. When he found the page, he traced his finger along each line of the book.

"Impossible. It's impossible. This can't happen. It's too soon. Far too soon." Gloom kept muttering to himself. Too soon... Too soon for what?

Hotaru had made it back to his cottage, where his mother had made some tasty gumbo. While they ate, Hotaru told her about Aster and Gloom. And about all the fun he had. She was happy to know he made a friend, though he could have gotten in serious trouble. 

"Well, I'm glad u made a friend. But I'd happier if you ate the carrots." She pointed at the leftover carrots in his bowl. Hotaru pouted. 

"But I don't like carrots!" Hotaru retaliated. His mother raised a brow.

"Fine, then I won't tell you about my little surprise for you." She took of her gumbo as Hotaru started devouring the carrots. When he finished he put the spoon down on the table.

"What's the surprise?!" 

"I will tell you... tomorrow." She said as she picked up the dishes and went to the kitchen. Hotaru groaned. 

"Mamaaaa!" He whined. She said just told him to go to bed. Reluctantly, he went up to his room and got ready for bed. Hotaru snuggled into his covers as he drifted to sleep. 

His dream started out black. Like he was in an endless void. It was quite for a while. It started to feel real, like this was actually happening. Though nothing was happening. Then a faint glow appeared infront of Hotaru. Was it another firefly? A yellow string appeared on his left pinkie finger, and it stretched out forwards the faint light. Gently tugged him. A figure started to come into view from the faint light. It was another child from what he could see, but they were completely silhouetted. So it was impossible to tell what or who it was. The string wrapped itself around the child's assumed pinkie finger, and seemed to gentle tug on them too. Hotaru would hear them speaking to him, it was faint but sounded like...

"Find me..." 

Hotaru woke up with a start. He shot up from his bed, and was breathing heavy. What was that dream mean? It was so real. And who was that kid. It probably doesn't matter. Just a dream.