Through Fire And Water

Magical Mira

"I'm not kidding, I feel perfectly fine," I said as I watched my hand disappear and reappear in front of me. "I think my magic healed me."

"There's no way," Anya said, shaking her head. "How could it just suddenly come back like that?"

"I don't know." I shook my head. "It's not a good thing that it did."

"That is correct," Gandalf answered, sounding troubled. "There is no magic here; this world was not made for such a thing. You say it attacked when you resisted it?"

"Yeah," I replied as my hand reappeared. "Like some kind of virus. When I tried to calm it down, take control of it, it attacked me. It fought, nearly boiled me alive." My hand disappeared again. "I thought I was going to die. It's never done that before."

"Nor should it," Legolas said gravely. "Magic is supposed to bend to the will of the user, not take control of them."

My fingers reappeared and I let my hand fall, a horrible feeling in my stomach blooming. "What if... I'm turning into something like her? Like Galadriel."

Everyone fell silent. Tears filled my eyes but I refused to let them fall.

"Maybe that's why she came to me," I continued, my fists clenching tightly. "To begin restoring my powers. My body treated it like some sort of virus and tried to get rid of it, making me sick. Then, when my body couldn't fight anymore, it was all given back to me at once." I looked up at Gandalf. "That was their plan, wasn't it? If anyone else had been out there, they would have died. Maybe that was why she came to me. This is just another strategy to get me to join up with them. So I can protect those I care about."

"Whatever, it didn't work," Galen snapped. "No one got hurt. And your powers seem to be listening to you now, so there's no problems. Their plan didn't work."

"What if it did?" I asked quietly. "What if I had killed you, Galen? Or Anya. Or Brian or Mary - what if someone died because of me?"

Galen kneeled down in front of me and grabbed my hands, holding them tightly. "Don't think about that," he commanded. "Don't. Because it didn't, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Do you hear me?"

I looked away from him, pulling my hands from his grasp. "I hear you."

Galen stood with a huff, knowing both that I was still upset and that there was nothing anyone could do about it.

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I didn't sleep for the rest of the night. I don't think anyone else did, either. No one spoke during breakfast, and no one ate very much - not even Gimli.

It hurt me. So freaking bad.

I had work that day, so I went just to get away from the unending sadness around me. I was upset, and Rey noticed that I was upset, but he didn't ask and I didn't tell. It was an awkward day for us.

When it came time to close Rey finally gave me a playful shove on the shoulder. "Hey, you've been pretty down today. Something the matter?"

I couldn't look him in the eye. The second before he had hit me my body nearly grabbed his hand and broke it at the wrist. I was shaking from the effort it took to keep myself calm.

"No," I said quietly. "Nothing's the matter. I'm just tired. A little paranoid, that's all."

He stared at me for a moment before nodding, unsure of what else to say. "Probably doesn't help that your stalker's back, huh?"