There must be a way to stop his life force from draining. There must be some type of spell I could use to reverse this life draining spell from lapping it all away from him.

That was supposed to be my life energy... not yours...

I gently place Lance on the ground and use my good hand to place it gently onto his chest. Maybe I can somehow absorb the dark energy out of him and into me. Maybe if I concentrate on him, I can pull the energy back into me instead of shoving it out like I'm used to.

I quickly shake my head.

No. I will sacrifice some of my life energy to restore his. But how...

My eyes fall on the open book next to me. It's Ma's notebook. I reach for it, panic giving me a surge in speed, as I bring it closer to me. The handwriting on this page is not written as neatly as the other pages I caught glimpses of prior, like when Ma wrote it, she was anxious or something. I skimmed the page in search of anything that will help me. If I don't help Lance right now, he will die.

...I had never used white magic before. But if I didn't begin right then, Papa would have died.

I am not experienced with this kind of magic, so, it will take me longer than it should.

I did just as I was told by my mother, and I gently placed my hands on the one in need of my life energy. Right as I began focusing my thoughts on them, my magic started work as I used the specific emotion mother said as it gently flowed through me into Papa.

White Magic, Star. You must learn this simple kind of Magic if you wish to learn the art of healing, opposite of Dark Energy. This type of magic is the true counter to our Dark Magic running through our veins, Star. Dark Magic may only counter itself, and may be weak to itself, but White Magic is the only cure.

The secret...

Is Love...

Love. Of course. Thanks Mama Angelica. If only I knew this before...

I place both of my hands over Lance's chest and concentrate, pushing away my thoughts for now. I do not need to risk anything stopping my progress. I allow my emotions to flow freely through me and push all my warm feelings of my brother through, hoping this is what I am supposed to do. I slowly notice a faint white glow surrounds my hands and then slowly moves around Lance's entire body. I feel a warming from within my own body like the spell is somewhat healing me even though I am sharing my own life energy with Lance. I only feel a slight discomfort but nothing like that Dark magic spell I was just trying to learn.

I guess I am doing something right. This looks like I am doing it.

I do not know how long I sit here like this. But it must be hours later. The sun begins to rise over the mountain tops and the night sky slowly brightens. Slowly, Lance fidgets beneath my touch as he looks more and more calm the longer I hold the spell. The agony on his face slowly fades away the more that time passes.

My eyes drift back over to the notebook. The word Physic stands out at me on the page. That must be the name of this White Magic spell. The name of the spell that I owe everything to. If only I knew of this spell sooner. I may have been able to...

The white light around Lance flickers a bit and I quickly shake away the thoughts clouding my mind. I focus back on my brother once again and the white light around us quickly fades back in stronger than before. I close my eyes and go into a meditation type trance and ignore everything around me except for Lance.

I no longer care about how much time passes.

I no longer care about my past mistakes or what I could have done differently.

I just focus.

Darkness.

Silence.

Peace.

~~~

"Merric? You did it!"

Lance's voice breaks me from my trance. I open my eyes and the first thing I see is my brother raising up and wrapping me into an embrace with a smile on his face.

"The last thing I remember... was seeing your distraught face as my vision blacked out, and the dark void swallowed me,"

"Oh... Lance! I—I did... You're alright!"

A smile finds its way on my face as well as I tightly hug him back. A newfound confidence lifts me up and I realize I can do it. It's not hard at all. I just need to figure out the right combination of emotion control. Because of Ma's notebook and the control I have with my emotions, I saved my little brother from my own life sapping magic. Now I just must learn to control the Dark Magic side of me too...

Lance pulls away and looks up at me while his smile stays on his face. For a moment, we look at each other in silence as the morning breeze gently blows by, causing the leaves on the trees around us to shake in the wind.

After another moment, Lance tilts his head slightly to the side and his mouth opens a bit, "Merric? What happened?"

I look back at him a bit surprised, my mouth opening slightly as well. His gaze slides down to the notebook open near by and then slides it to the tome next to it. The one responsible for sapping his life energy so quickly. His gaze then finds mine once again. This is when I realize just how little Lance understands and I have been failing to talk to him about anything due to my own fears and incompetence.

I slide my gaze downward, now giving in to my fears. I won't ignore my brother anymore.

I clench my fist slightly at my side as I fight my emotions within, "I'm so sorry, Lance. You don't understand what is happening and I am the reason why you got hurt. It was my fault,"

My gaze raises to meet his and I can see something there as he listens to me calmly, "I did not warn you at all before I started, and I allowed you to get involved with me and my training,"

I narrow my gaze slightly and continue studying Lance in the eye as he does the same, intently listening to every word that I say as I lower my voice sternly, "That tome, Mire, that you heard Ma say to never learn, is a powerful Dark Magic spell that will grant me ultimate power at a price of my own life energy. When you touched it during the time I was attempting to learn it, it sapped your life energy along with mine and almost killed you,"

Lance's eyes widen slightly as he absorbs the words I just said. He studies me intently for a moment, searching my eyes quietly. His voice comes out calm, "I'm just worried about you, Merric. All that you have done is harm yourself trying to learn this spell. And I don't even understand why,"

His expression becomes more serious as he continues watching me, "Why are you harming yourself, Merric? What happened back there?"

My face falls to his words. They are nothing but truth. Everything runs through my mind so fast it almost makes me dizzy. I close my eyes and a strange calmness grows about me. I decide to start from the beginning.

"The truth is... Ma and Pa did not tell me to run. No one did. I chose to run, because Ma and Pa could not," I raise my gaze back up to meet his and something is now swirling around in his eyes. I close my eyes again and take a deep breath before releasing it slowly. I sit back against the tree and then look up at the calm caerulean sky above.

"Ma is not from this planet, Lance," I slide my gaze back down to his, "Do you know that?"

He shakes his head at me.

"Ma is from the planet called Darphor. We are a race of Dark Magicians with dark energy flowing through our veins,"

I raise my gaze back up towards the sky, "But... that is not important. There is a sinister evil dark lord that haunts our race and lurks on us for life, wanting our dark energy for itself,"

I hear a faint gasp escape from Lance, "Is it chasing you, brother?"

I swiftly move my gaze back down to his without moving my head and shake my head, "U—Uh, n—no, Lance. We are safe here,"

Lance continue studying me, "O—Oh, I had no idea about that, brother. That must really be having a strong effect on your mind,"

I watch him for a moment as our gazes study the other. I nod once, "Yes. It can begin chasing me whenever it chooses, though. That is a heavy weight on me, brother. So, ever since I was five, around the time you were born, Ma started training me to use my magic sitting concealed within me, so I may control it. But that is not as easy as you may think, Lance,"

Thoughts of Ma run through my mind and I find my fist clenching at my side once again. My gaze leaves his and I stare at the ground, glaring at it like it was my worst enemy, "But now that Ma is..."

A tear falls to the ground before me and I realize I have started crying. Lance moves closer to me, a wash of sadness washing over him. I unclench my fist and look up at him through my slightly watery vision and my anger washes away suddenly at the sight of him. I think he may have figured out what I am about to say. There is no better time than now.

"Lance... we... lost the war, brother,"

He continues studying me intently, his expression has fallen more than it once was a few seconds ago, "Ma and Pa... are gone,"

Lance looks back at me with what looks to be a tsunami of sadness as tears begin pouring from his eyes like twin rivers, working together to form a lake where they meet on the ground. His brows furrow as he begins to uncontrollably sob before me, "S—So, that's wh—what you meant? Wh—When you said e—everything is lost?"

I nod slowly, my tears falling much more slowly than his, "War is horrible, Lance. Therefore, I must continue training... but this time... it's without Ma's guidance. I must learn that spell... There must be something I can do if I become stronger,"

I open my arms and Lance falls into me as he weeps into my shoulder, "I'm sorry for concealing the truth from you, Lance," I whisper softly.

"These thoughts have been haunting me all of this time, but I stayed strong... for you,"

I pause for a moment, "No matter how I felt, no matter what I saw, no matter what happened, I had to not show it at all. I just took it. For you, so you would not be alone,"

I hold him closer to me and tighten my grip on him as he continues to weep softly. He tightens his grip on me too, "I'm sorry..."

After a while, Lance slowly calms, and it seems the moment has passed. The rushing waters of the tsunami he caused earlier has slowly calmed and has stilled like a frozen lake below the winter snow. He doesn't move from his position against my chest and I don't move from against the tree.

His voice comes out quietly and delicately, "I thought you went through tough things, but I had no idea you felt like this..."

He pauses, "I believe you will become the strongest, Merric,"

Once again, he forces a small smile on my face and warms my heart; the one thing he has no trouble doing at all with such little effort.

"Thank you, brother,"

His words are gentle and genuine. I can tell he is also smiling underneath his tears. Even though he is not looking at me, I can see exactly what his face looks like. I feel exactly why he said those words to me, but I ask anyway, showing my own emotions for once and sharing them with him. This is something I had not had a chance to do before. This is something I don't know how to do very well.

"What for, Lance,"

"Thank you for everything, brother,"

He pulls away, sits up and faces me intently, "You have done more than enough. Everything you did, you did for anyone but yourself. It might have looked like it wasn't, but I see through that now. Thank you for finally showing me you do have feelings,"

His smile increases as mine does the same, "Thank you for being you and spending the time to talk to me, even though it isn't the thing you usually do. I can feel how difficult it was just now to tell me everything you just did. You brought me substantial and adverse news, but somehow eased it on me like it's nothing at all... just for me,"

I nod and sit up, continuing to smile wide at my brother, "You have saved my life twice now. And I have not done nearly enough in return for you... You're the best brother I could ask for... Thank you,"

I chuckle a bit, "I'm glad you finally see right through me, Lance,"

I slowly stand, and he does the same. I glance around and open my arms to the scenery around us, "I will continue to do anything for you, brother,"

He places his fists on his hips as an inquisitive grin appears across his face, "Hey, race ya to the top of the waterfall! Ready... set GO!" He chuckles at me as he rushes off away towards the road leading up the waterfall's edge.

"H—Hey! You won't outclass me that easily!" I shout after him as my laughter meets his and mingles within the valley air. I chase him up the waterfall's edge as all my previous worries wash away down the waterfall and out of sight.

He has grown so much, it is difficult to comprehend he is already eleven. Seeing his smiling face as we laugh together just now, I wonder what memories he has of me when we were little.