Magicka Corrupted

[Gifted]

"No, not really. People and I don't really tend to approach each other well."

[Raven]

"Yeah?" Ryan asked "You seem pretty nice to me."

[Gifted]

She paused for a moment. "I don't want to be pitied." She admitted. "It pisses me off. And that's all I tend to get. People either pity me or think I'm this super smart person they can use. I don't have time for either option, and pity doesn't make me money, so it can go fuck itself."

[Raven]

Ryan was quiet for a moment. "I get that," he admitted. "My mom saved for a long time, spent everything we had to get me here. It wasn't an easy way to grow up, and people usually either pitied us for not having enough, or believed we'd rob them blind if they blinked."

[Gifted]

Natalia nodded. "That must have been hard." She shook her head. "I'm the opposite. I didn't start off with a hard life. I had everything going for me, and I lost it all when I lost my arm. Truth is I wasn't just your run of the mill magic kid with an affinity for magnetism. That's why I was surprised when you asked my name. People usually already know."

[Raven]

"Yeah? You some super star prodigy of old?" Ryan asked, chuckling.

[Gifted]

"Yes, and I've got the newspaper articles to prove it." Natalia countered. "My mother still has them up on her fucking wall at home. Expose's and shit."

[Raven]

"That's cool. Fall from fame," Ryan said. "I think I prefer no one knowing who I am."

[Gifted]

"Yeah, least you don't get random people coming up to you asking 'Hey, aren't you that kid I saw in the paper I saw seven fucking years ago?'" She laughed and rolled her eyes. "My arm got burned off and I basically had to relearn everything I used to be able to do. Retake the vast majority of my classes. I might be about to graduate, but I'm still nowhere near where I used to be." Natalia shrugged. "It sucks, but it sucks more when I get reminded by the eyes of every fucking person who talks to me. So I just don't bother with 'em anymore. I tend to keep to myself and focus on getting the practical shit right."

[Raven]

Ryan nodded. "Sounds lonely," he said.

[Gifted]

Natalia shrugged. "It's whatever. I deal. I've gotta focus on my magic anyway. I'm not interested in being friends with the teacher suck ups at this school anyway.

[Raven]

"Yeah. I know the feeling," Ryan said, looking down at his books and starting to write out his notes.

[Gifted]

Natalia smiled at him. He was the first person who treated her like an equal, normal person since she was 12; the first time someone had remembered that there was a person behind the old hype. It felt awesome. Maybe it wasn't pointless to have a friend after all.

[Gifted]

Ryan became the one exception to Natalia's moody isolation. Her attitude towards teachers, school and the general establishment didn't change as she aged. If anything it intensified, and Ryan learned that her attitude wasn't only directed at the school. Natalia could go on a rant about the school, the police, the government. Any kind of establishment was fair game. But she still tried hard. She was always up to try something new and she often put herself out there for her only friend.
She put effort into almost everything she did, and it sometimes got her into trouble. Trying to use her powers to help fix a broken balcony railing in Ryan's dorm, she lost her balance and fell off the balcony herself.She received an alarming blow to the head and there was a nasty crack as her good arm broke.

[Raven]

Graduation drew steadily nearer - though Ryan and Natalia had little more than a year left, the next graduating class would be leaving in little more than a month. Ryan did his best to tone down Natalia's anti-establishment rants when he was with her, and it became obvious to his friend that he did not like attention being drawn to him - even if it would help him in the long run. Which was part of the reason why the railing had gone unfixed as long as it had, and likely why Natalia had took it upon herself to fix it.

There was a quick response, a student running to the clerical wing, but even before he would have been able to get there, a student pushed through the small crowd that was gathering. He quickly pushed up the sleeves on his sweater. "Give us some space," he ordered, quickly assessing the damage.
Some voices in the crowd questioned his authority, but they were quickly cut off by someone pointing out that he was one of the top Clerical students in the year, and the crowd collectively backed off even as the boy with the black hair began working to fix first the girl's concussion and bleeding head, and then as he gently straightened the bone in her arm, and began to fix that as well. By the time he was finishing, other clerics had arrived, and he was panting. The woman in charge of the clerics who had arrived quickly checked Natalia over, then nodded and went to speak to Red. "Well done. We'll keep her in the hospital over night to ensure there are no complications, but I'm confident she'll make a full recovery. That was powerful work on your part. You should come as well, get some rest." The other clerics got Natalia, who was still unconscious for the time being, onto a stretcher and brought her to the hospital wing, Red following behind. Ryan was left standing on the balcony, staring after his friend with undisguised concern.

When Natalia regained full consciousness, she would find herself in the hospital wing, with Red sitting in a chair nearby, reading.