Faerie Magic (Air and Char)

Charlotte had been coming to the glade for a while now simply because she had been wanting to please the faeries some more by continuing to draw them like she had done the first time she had come here and met Uncle James, it seemed that they liked the attention and the way that she drew them was acceptable to them. Of course when she did something wrong they were only too happy to tell her to fix them.

Now she had a rather pretty brunette fairy perching on the front of her easel while she drew her, she seemed to like what she was doing so far and Charlotte always came prepared to the glade so she had a small thimble full of honey ready for the faerie who wanted to sit for her when she came along. With a little giggle Charlotte wiped the sparkley faerie dust from her face when the faerie moved and sent some her way, she didn't mind though, it was just her way of telling her that she had drawn her nose too big.

Her thoughts for a moment, turned to Airen, and she wondered how he was doing now, or even what he was doing, maybe they should have a catch up soon? But would he really want that? Who knew?

Airen strolled through the glade. He was still amazed by all the beauty that England had to offer. Many times, his thoughts would wander back to Charlotte. He would't deny that he still felt deeply for her, but if she was happy, then perhaps it was time to let her be free. He continued through the faerie glade, lost in his thoughts.

He noticed a larger concentration of faeries in one certain area of the glade. He noticed that some one had an easel and was using it. He knew of only one person who loved art. He smiled sadly, but he decided to at least let her know that they were still on good terms. She didn't have to know that he hadn't moved on. He remembered the whole first year fiasco. He had promised her to be her friend if she wanted him to be and her boyfriend if she accepted him for that role. He was never known as one to break a promise.

Walking up behind the easel, he peeked around it and said, "Make sure you get the good side, Miss Smith." He sat down beside her, but left her room to feel comfortable.

"How are you, Charlotte?"

Charlotte gasped a little when she heard someone speak to her, she didn't know who it was and she wasn't expecting any visitors, but after a while she realised who it was and she turned from her easel, looking for the ever familiar form of Airen, her best friend and ex boyfriend.

When she saw him sitting on the ground not too far from her Charlotte smiled softly, maybe they weren't on too bad terms after all if he was choosing to freely sit down and talk with her, maybe they were best friends still and they had both moved on?

"Hey there Airen." she smiled gently "I'll make sure to get her good side, I'm sure that Violeta will let me know if I don't." Charlotte laughed lighty as the small faerie nodded her head in agreement.

"I'm doing okay thanks Airen, how about you, are you alright?" she asked, her voive laced with concern.

Airen returned Charlotte's smile. Soon, he shifted his gaze the faerie she was drawing. He smiled at how the drawing looked so lifelike. He looked around the small area. Multiple faeries flittered around. He could get used to just sitting here.

When Charlotte replied saying that she had been doing well, Airen smiled. He was glad that she was happy, even if he himself still held onto the past. He remembered his aunt's teachings, however. That had helped him come to terms with the break up, but no one said anything about hoping for your love to return.

"That's good. I'm glad you're life is working out well," he said, happily. Sensing the concern in her voice, he decided to keep a few things to himself. No reason to make her feel bad about the break up.

"I've been...well, thinking some important things through," he answered hesitantly. What it was exactly was for him to know only. No one needed to know or worry for that matter.

Charlotte tried to finish the drawing so that she would be free to give Airen all of the attention that she should do, she didnt want to seem rude by continuing her work when she should be talking to him, she had missed him and their conversations lately, but hadn't wanted to rush into their friendship again so soon.

"Well I think that there are a few things that could be better, but isn't there always?" she asked with a small smile on her lips, laying her paintbrush down on the easel and refilling the faeries honey cup.

Moving so that she was sitting on the grass in front of Airen, Charlotte picked some of the flowers and started to make a daisy chain, something to keep her fingers busy while she worked out the nervousness of speaking with Airen again.

"Oh I see...I hope that whatever they are it's nothing too bad, I would hate to think that you were having any sort of trouble. You can always talk to me if you need to."

Airen watched as Charlotte finished the drawing. He smiled and waited for her to finish. He sat silently, but soon grew bored of the silence. He took out a small y-shaped flute and began to play a slow, mysterious melody. It had a calming effect to it, and that was pretty much why he would play it. He felt like he had known this tune somehow when he was younger, but very time he would feel close to an answer, it would slip away.

"And yet that's no reason why you don't deserve to have the best life possible," he replied after a short silence. He missed the closeness they used to have, but perhaps that was his own fault. If he had been more willing to share about his past rather than wait for the pain to go away, then maybe they could still be together and happy.

He watched as she once again busied her hands. He could tell she was nervous. he gently laid his hand over her working ones. He looked into her eyes lovingly, as if nothing had changed. He knew, however that they had changed. She had been the one to break of the relationship, but he held no hard feelings to her.

"No, no. It's nothing bad, it's just an important life decision. I have two choices. Each requires me to give up something important to who I am, so that's why I haven't been as social. I'm sorry if I made you worry."

Charlotte could tell that there was some tension in the atmosphere although she didn't know why, maybe it was still too early for the two of them to meet after the break up? She didn't know, but she had missed Airen and had worried about him, she hadn't seen him around the castle nearly as much as before.

"Well I'm trying to make the best life possible for me with what I have." she smiled softly "And that's the same to you too Airen, whatever your problems are, don't let them be too big a hinderance."

Blushing a little bit when Airen placed his hands over her own and looked into her eyes the way that he did, Charlotte knew that there were still some feelings there on his part, and she had to admit that she still had a few for Airen left as well. But she believed what she had done was best for the two of them.

"I was worried about you, I thought that I had really upset you, and I felt really guilty, but you know you can talk to me about anything right Airen?" she asked softly, squeezing his hand "You're my best friend, and I like to think that I'm still yours as well."

Airen smiled and nodded his head at what she was saying. He continued playing the small tune. Finally finished he put away the instrument. He had been hoping to dissuade at least some of the tension between them, and so far, it seemed to be working. He wasn't planning on rushing things again. Perhaps that's why their relationship hadn't been the best. They had begun to date at around twelve or eleven. He didn't see himself dating until at least sixth year.

"That's good, and don't worry. I'll be fine. Perhaps a bit changed, but I'll be fine," he assured her.

Blushing, Airen ducked his head down. He hadn't meant to try and rebuild their old relationship. He knew that Charlotte was just doing what she thought was best for them. He didn't blame her, and he vowed to keep being her best friend.

"I know, Char, I know. Perhaps it was for the best. Only time will tell," he replied, returning her gesture. "We're still the best of friends. After all, that is what I promised you in the whole first year fiasco," he added.

Charlotte smiled gently, she was glad that Airen was going to be alright, everyone was changing and developing now and she was sure that whatever he was going through it was only normal and that maybe in the future he would be able to tell her the things that he had thought, and the things he had experienced with comfort as opposed to now.

When Airen told her that perhaps breaking up was for the best she was glad that he thought the same thing that she had done, after all, she had begun to think maybe she was the only one who had seen the flaws in their relationship.

"Yes only time will tell, I mean, it's gone pretty fast this year I think, so much has happened and so much will be happening this year as well." she sighed lightly before smiling gently "First year, what memories that brings back, sometimes I wish I could go back to that time, things were so much simpler."

Airen smiled back at Charlotte. He tried not to dwell on the past, but he found it hard to not think about all the happiness she gave him. That was one of the reasons for his upcoming change. If it worked, then there would be many more memories for Charlotte to make.

He nodded his head at her comment on things going fast. He had thought long and hard about why their relationship had failed. One of the reasons he had come up with was the fact that they had rushed into it. He had hoped to become best friends with her before dating her, but things just sort of happened. He wouldn't deny that he loved the time they were dating, but he wished that he could've had a longer friendship with her.

"Perhaps that's why things went downhill. We rushed into a relationship," he said softly, not really wanting to say it, but feeling as if he had to. He grinned a bit as he drove down memory lane. "Yeah, but without the whole dramatic fiascos."

Charlotte was a little surprised, but glad, that Airen was telling her why he too thought that the relationship didn't go very well, and she thought that it was strange however that he was sharing his feelings with her now, not when they had broken up initially, but she supposed, it was a bit of a shock to the system for both of them.

"Maybe it was, I think, that we both wanted to take it slower at first, but then that whole thing with Humphrey...I don't know...I think we were pushed into being together earlier than we should have been." she whispered quietly with a small smile on her lips.

Giggling a little when she remembered all of those times where they used to fight with Humphrey, and in those sword mage lessons especially...it was a better time back then she thought before things got complicated.

"I spoke to Humphrey recently actually, he's mellowed out a lot now, I think we all needed to grow up a little bit and now we have done." she smiled.

Airen smiled a bit when Charlotte agreed with his thoughts on their relationship. He knew that they had needed a bit of closure, though he wished they didn't. Maybe he would move on, but until then, he would always have hope.

Airen nodded his head at Charlotte's statement. He had hoped to ask her out in fourth year at least, but things just sort of sped up. He wasn't upset about it, but it was the most likely option as to their failed relationship. Man, he needed to stop dwelling on the past so much.

A gentle smile formed on Airen's lips when he heard Charlotte giggle. He hadn't heard her laugh for a while. He missed the good days when they were two young people in love.

"Maybe we did. How is he?" Airen asked genuinely curious about his friend.

Charlotte decided that she didn't want to make Airen or herself upset by talking about the past too much, after all it was still a sensitive issue for the pair of them she could tell, the way that she was feeling more than a little upset showed she wasn't truly over the break up just yet.

Biting her lip Charlotte grinned when she felt a faerie land on her head and she held out a finger for it to hop onto, it hung from her finger tip, before looking at Airen, then back to Charlotte. Nodding her head Charlotte smiled as the faerie flew over to land on Airen's shoulder.

"Oh he's doing okay I guess, he's being hurt a lot by all of the deaths still, I suppose it's sinking in now...that they're truly gone." she sighed lightly "How are you finding school then Air? Started studying for your end of year exams yet?"

Airen smiled as the faerie landed on Charlotte's shoulder. He could tell that she was feeling a bit upset. He wanted so badly to comfort her, but he felt that she might take it the wrong way. Instead, he once again pulled out the y-shaped flute. He played the same slow and soft tune as he had earlier. He found that he often played this tune when he wanted to help some one but couldn't.

As the faerie landed on Airen's shoulder, the little creature swayed its head to the tune. Airen smoothly switched tunes to a more lively one, and a few other faeries gathered and began to do a little dance. Airen smiled looked to Charlotte, hoping this would cheer her up. He finished and did a soft bow to the faeries.

"I guess that our view of the world is changing as we get older. I miss them," he said, sadly. "Do you... think you could get Pxyis's sword? There's a special burial that I want to do for her. I feel like it's something I owe her," he asked shyly, not wanting to be demanding. "I have. To be honest, I'm a little worried about what life will be like after Hogwarts."

Charlotte smiled as Airen started to play and the faeries were attracted to the sound, she swayed her head in time with the music and found herself to be happily joining in with the sort of dance they were doing, it made her feel slightly less worried about everything, if not very much so, but still, every little helps.

When he asked her about getting Pyxis' sword Charlotte blinked a little and she tilted her head to one side;

"I'm sorry Airen but I don't even know where her sword is! We weren't exactly friends when she died and...I didn't really think to ask her, I thought that you might have had it." she explained with a small sigh "I suppose it might be at her house, but...I don;t know where that is."

Hearing he was worried about life after Hogwarts, Charlotte smiled softly;

"It will be a change, a big one, but I think it will be wonderful, going out into the world, doing what you want, whenever you want to do it, and working for yourself." she smiled "I can't wait."

Airen smiled inwardly at his somewhat successful attempt to cheer up Charlotte. She was always the sort of person to bounce back from hard times, but everyone could use some cheering up. She was special to him, and he hated seeing her hurt or sad. His eyes cast themselves downward upon the thought that perhaps he had hurt her by not being good enough. The thought lasted only for a second before he righted himself.

"It's alright. I just wanted to honor in the best way that I know how," he said, putting his hand to the back of his neck sheepishly and blushing.

"You're right, of course. I guess I've gotten used to life as it is, so change is scary," he smiled at the memories he had of times previous.

Charlotte wondered if the fact she didn't know where Pyxis' sword was, and that she didn't really care, was a bad reflection on herself as a person? She didn't want to seem cruel or cold but she had drifted apart from her when they had gotten older and she had never seemed to recover the bond that they had had together when they were younger, despite wanting to in earlier years. She had her friends, and Charlotte had hers, they just didn't mix any longer.

"Well she has one of the greatest honours most people have, her name is on the beautiful memorial, and her trophy is in the school trophy room from her winning the contest against Durmstrang." she smiled lightly as she thought "Even if you don't find it, that would be more than enough for her, I would have thought."

Wondering what Airen was going to do when he left school Charlotte hummed lightly and tilted her head to one side; "I think you might be a good Auror you know Airen, or maybe even doing something working with dragons!"

Airen nodded his head solemnly. How many times had he sworn to try and make new friends? He lost count. He acted like nothing more than a teacher to Pxyis. He hoped that things would've turned around, but he was too late. He cast a side glance at Charlotte. How many times had he withheld himself form showing how much he cared for her for fear of being to forward and misunderstood? He tried to breathe deeply to calm himself down before the tears welling up in his eyes fell, but it came out shaky.

"I guess that it would. Maybe I'm just feeling sorry for myself for not being a better friend," he said softly. "I'm sorry by the way," he added. "For not being a better boyfriend. I guess that I just didn't want to overstep my place and hurt you," he said, looking out over the glade at the setting sun. It shone brightly in his face, the light bringing attention to the faint scar over his left eye. A reminder to those who knew his past of what he went through and how much he had seen. Another scar was there, but it was hidden. On his chest, over his heart was a sprawled burn mark. This was all that had been left to him after he had given the rest to save a life.

Airen smiled at the mention of dragons. He remembered when he and Charlotte had gone into the Forbidden Forest and met Nobelio. The Bronze Dragon had been so calm and understanding as to listen to them. "You think I would be good with dragons?" he asked, surprised. "I'm sure that you would be a world famous artist with you skills."

Charlotte looked to Airen with a small frown. He really was feeling sorry for himself today. He'd never heard him put himself down quite as much as he was today. Maybe it was all just running over now? Maybe he had always felt that he could have been better but wasn't? Either way she knew that she had to try and dispell any of his lingering doubts the best that she could,

"Airen everyone has their faults. Being a bad friend? Or not being a good enough friend? That's not one of your faults. You've never had that problem and don't let anyone tell you differently." she urged him with a smile before sighing a little bit and looking away, "I think we both need to apologise for that one... I'm sorry that I wasn't a better girlfriend to you Air."

She grinned a little bit when he asked her about her thinking he'd work well with dragons. Charlotte nodded enthusiastically,

"Oh yeah! You'd be an amazing Dragon Handler!" she assured him before blushing slightly, "I don't know about that... most famous artists are only famous when they're dead after all!"

Airen sighed deeply. He felt a little better after all he had said. perhaps all he needed was just confirmation that they were still friends. He felt a slight pang in his chest. He knew it wasn't from the ritual, but rather from the sadness of a loss in status. He kept his mouth shut though, if she was happy with their current relationship, then he would not force her into anything. He gave her a small smile and leaned back onto the ground, hands behind his head.

"I don't blame you," he assured her, taking her hand and giving it a small squeeze. "I'm just sad that it didn't work out." He pulled his lips in to keep from saying that he loved her. He didn't have that right anymore. "Do you like where we are now?" he asked softly, not really meaning for it to come out, but still wanting to say it.

Airen smiled. He liked being complimented, but if it was a lot of compliments, then he would blush try to get away. He was odd like that.

"Well then, if that's the case, then I guess you won't be famous for a long time," he said, smiling. Almost as soon as he said that, his eyes widened, and his brain skidded to a halt. Did he really just say that?

(OOC: I think you know what's about to go down. )

Charlotte was happy that she was finally having this conversation with Airen she really did value their friendship and she hoped that she would be able to clear the air around them, there still seemed to be the type of tension around them since they hadn't had a good talk since the break up, they hadn't had the oppertunity she supposed.

"Do I like where we are now?" she asked, repeating his question, rolling it around in her mind she thought that it was a good place for them to be right now "I think that it is the best place we could be right now, so, I do like where we are right now, yes. Do you?" Charlotte asked.

When Airen said that she wouldn't be famous for a very long time she wondered what he meant, of course she never forgot for long about her heart condition but she wondered if he knew something about Cobalt's work on curing her...since he was his apprenctice after all. Maybe he knew something she didn't?

"Hopefully that will be the case, we're working on making that a possibility." she stated with a small smile "I hope that you're right Airen, I'd love that to be the case."

Airen felt a bit disheartened at her answer, but maybe he needed to move on. He was convinced that he loved her. Perhaps she was the one, but he had blown his chance. The best he could do now, is be her friend. Who knows? Maybe they may get back together, but he doubted she would want to. He sighed and nodded his head.

"Yeah, sure," he said, half-heartedly. He wasn't as convinced of his answer as she was of hers. Part of hims wanted to be happy where they were, and yet another wished for a second chance. He steeled his resolve. No need for her to know of hit true feelings. She was happy, that was all that mattered.

He calmed his mind down, she hadn't found out. It wasn't that he was keeping this from her out of anger of payback, it was just that he didn't want her to feel like she owed him for saving her life and get back together with him. No matter how bad he wanted for it to happen.

"I have a feeling that it already...uuhh...will be," he said, hoping that he had covered it up well.

(OOC: Sorry if Airen seems a bit on the obvious side. I'm just showing that he is having a hard time keeping a secret. If you want him to reveal it, then let me know.)

Charlotte raised her eyebrows and inside she felt herself sigh, so maybe this was a little too early to be talking to Airen again, it seemed that he didn't really want her to answer the way that she did, did he want to get back with her? She hoped not, she didn't want to keep upsetting him by being friends, and friends alone.

"You sound really sure of yourself there Airen." she stated with a small smile on her lips "You know if it's too early for us to start talking again and you need some more time, all you need to do is tell me you know, I'll be more than happy to wait."

Hoping that this was what had been making Airen a little buggy today, Charlotte blinked a little bit when he said what he did. Her Charlotte senses were tingling, and Airen had always been bad at keeping secrets around her, so, the real question is what had he been doing?

"Is there anything you want to tell me Airen?" she asked, her expression thoroughly confused.

Airen gave a small smile. He felt bad for making Charlotte feel guilty about breaking up with him. He really needed to remind himself to make her happy. He would try to grow to like being friends. He just needed a little time to get used to it. But he was tough, He could survive this little talk.

"There is no need," he said waving away her offer. "Just a little side of me to stubborn to let go of the past. I'm sorry if it shows too much, but I can live with things as they are. Who knows, maybe I'll enjoy being friends as much as I did being your boyfriend," he added with a genuine smile.

Sighing, he realized that maybe keeping secrets from her was not the best thing to do to repair their friendship. He mentally went over how he would say it.

"There is. Just know that I did this because I care for you, not because I want something in return," he told her sincerely. "When you first told me that you were going to die. I tried to accept it, but around third or fourth year, I knew I couldn't without trying to fix it. I delved as deeply as I could into all sorts of ways to let you live without knowing when you would pass. Ordinary wizarding rituals and magic didn't work. However, when I reached out to my roots, Sword Magic, I found one way to figure out the problem. I did the ritual and found the problem. However, the remedy would ask something from me. I chose this: on the supposed day you die, you will not lose anything, but I will lose my memories of my swordmage training, in a sense, lose my Swordmage Ability," he finished with a sigh.

"I tried to keep this a secret from you because I was almost sure that you would feel guilty and get back together with me to make it up to me. I don't want you to do that. I want you to be happy. That's all I've ever wanted."

OOC:Ok, maybe a bit too much, but I just want to make sure he remains the noble guy I pictured him as. Sorry, If it gets too heavy.

Charlotte was still more than a little bit dubious about what Airen was really thinking, she supposed if he really believed that it was going to be okay for them to continue to hang out together then she should take him at his word. If there was a problem he would tell her she was sure. So she smiled at him lightly and nodded her head;

"Well I hope that you can too Airen, you mean a lot to me and I would hate to think that we were becoming less close because of something like that." she stated sucking on her lip piercing lightly, she still felt a little bit nervous about the whole thing, but she trusted Airen.

Although, when he told her what was wrong, Charlotte's mouth popped open in disbelief and she couldn't help but think how....how crazy what Airen had did sounded! Why on earth would he do something like that for her, she and Cobalt were looking for a cure, a counter to the curse and now Airen had given up something he truly didn't need to!

"You did WHAT?!" she shouted in disbelief "Why on earth would you think this was a good idea in any way shape or form Airen? You just gave up one of the most important things to you to save me? Me and Cobalt were working on finding a cure, you didn't need to do this, and now you're going to lose your Swordmage powers because of me?"

Placing her hand on her forehead she groaned a little bit;

"Don't you know how guilty that makes me feel Air?" she asked softly, calming down already, the gesture was grand it really was, but, she didn't want Airen to give up something that important to him when there might have been another way.