ROSES HAVE THORNS-Chapter 41 - Tempest Fury

"You know, that was a pretty nice thing you did back there."

Dominik and Kurt were walking up the hilled road that led to Future Academy when Dominik brought up the topic of what Kurt had done back at the orphanage.

"It’s nothing really. Just did what felt right."

"You call paying for extra security and two kids’ school fees nothing? Most people would’ve just dropped them off at the orphanage and called it a day. Some might’ve straight up just ignored them completely. That’s one big heart you got in your chest."

"Now you’re just exaggerating."

"Nuh uh! You can’t fool me, Kurt. I got special eyes you see, and they told me that you’re one of the good ones. Clearly, they weren’t mistaken."

"You got special eyes?" Kurt looked at Dominik’s golden pupils.

"D-Damn, you don’t have to look at me like that dude! I was only messing with you. It’s just a gut feeling I had, is all."

"Oh... And here I thought I could yoink those eyes for myself."

"Huh?" Dominik paused. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"What? I was only messing with you." Kurt turned back and shrugged his shoulders.

"... Haha. For some reason it felt like you were being serious. You gotta work on your humor."

"Well, I thought it was pretty funny. One of my favourite shows has this guy taking peoples special eyes and using it for himself. He’s dead though. Good riddance."

"Sounds... *gulp* intense. You watch some interesting things."

"I’d let you watch it too. I bet you would’ve loved it since the main character basically has the same ability as you by reading people. But sadly, it’s lost."

"Lost? Must be an old show."

"Yeah." ’Lost to time that is.’

They both reached a stopping point at the top of the hill where there were two arrowed signs that pointed up and right.

"Up for the academy." Kurt started.

"And right for the dormitory." Dominik finished.

"So, where to first? You think Emelie is at the dorms or is she still at the academy?"

"Hmm... The academy did end about thirty minutes ago so she could be at the dorms, but if I were to guess, I’d say she’s still at the academy!" Dominik snapped his fingers.

"Why’d you guess that?"

"Well duh! It’s obviously because she’s preparing for the tournament. She’s probably training her ass off so as to not let her teammates down. She’s not called ’The Best’ for nothing y’know?"

"Alright alright! Enough with the glazing. To the academy we go."

They both then walked straight ahead for the academy in order to find Emelie.

Once the front gates came into view, they saw two girls who looked strikingly similar to each other and were standing by it as if waiting for someone. One of them looked particularly pissed off while the other looked like they were on the verge of crying.

"Kurt, look! It’s the Wingard sisters!" Dominik nudged at him.

"The who?"

"Of course you don’t know," Dominik looked disappointed but then immediately turned excited again. "They’re the youngest to be part of the Eldoria’s representatives!"

"Woow. That sounds like quite the accomplishment. Good for them." Kurt said dryly, not really caring about who they are.

"Hold on! Let me just..." Dominik reached into his robes and grabbed a poster with the two sisters on it.

"What the hell is that?"

"My autograph poster. I knew we were coming here today so I brought a bunch of posters for the ten representatives to sign. Gotta strike while the iron’s hot." He flashed Kurt a dashing smile and a thumbs up.

"Oh boy..."

As they got closer, they could hear that an argument was going on between them. Or rather, a one-sided argument as only one of them was yelling.

"Argh! How could you forget to tell the butler that we were ending classes early, Summer!? I told you to tell him, didn’t I? Now we look like idiots waiting here!"

"You did. I-I’m sorry, Autumn. But I only forgot since *sniff* y-you were rushing me this morning..."

"Oh, so it’s my fault, is it?! You knew that this would be the last day we get to see Emelie before the tournament, but you still decided to stay up late cooking, causing you to oversleep!"

"Well w-why didn’t you just tell the butler that we’ll be out early? B-Besides you also stayed up late while training. The way I see it, w-we’re both at fault."

"That’s why I was also in a rush!"

"Excuse me, girls." Kurt interrupted them.

"What do you want, ugly!?"

"U-Ugly??" Kurt was stunned.

"Pfft heh heh heh..." Dominik snickered.

"I-I’m so sorry about my sister!" Summer profusely bowed up and down. "She’s in a really bad mood as you can see."

"I-It’s okay, I understand. My friend and I were hoping to ask you something."

"Oh! Are you a prefect by any chance?" She asked as she noticed Dominik’s uniform. "I’d be happy to help you both! My name is Summer Wingard, and this is my sister, Autumn Wingard."

"Hmph!" Autumn looked away, not wanting to deal with them.

"Thank you, Summer. My name’s Kurt."

"And I’m Dominik!"

"We’re actually looking for Emelie Herst. Is she still in school perhaps?" Kurt asked her.

"If you’re looking for Emelie, she went back to the do–"

"What’s it to you, ugly?! What do you want with Emelie?!"

"...What?"

"I said what’s it to you, U.G.L.Y! You fucking deaf too?!"

A vein bulged on Kurt’s head. The more he listened to her, the more it was ready to burst.

"Sorry Autumn but do you mind if I spoke to your sister. I’d rather not listen to a chipmunk that sounds high on helium."

"What did you just call me?!"

"A-Autumn! You don’t have to be so aggressive..."

"Yeah Kurt, just ignore her and move on..."

Both Summer and Dominik tried to calm their side of this feud but sadly, none of them were having it.

"I called you a chipmunk but let’s add another one. You pipsqueak."

"You mother..."

"Autumn don’t! –"

BWOOSH!

"Waaaaah!"

Kurt flew backwards in the air as wind got blasted through his abdomen.

"Oh shit! Kurt!" Dominik shot fire out his feet as flew towards where Kurt would land.

"Autumn! Why would you do that?! They’ve been nothing but nice the whole time!"

"Did you not just hear what he called me! A chipmunk! A pipsqueak!"

"Only because you called him names first!"

On the other side of the road, Dominik just barely managed to catch Kurt. Albeit in a princess carry.

"Got’cha!"

"Urgh! Put me down!"

"Easy there!" Dominik put him down gently. "You alright man? You got sent pretty high up."

"I feel like I’m gonna puke. What the hell did she do?"

"Yeah... I forgot to mention this but those two are extremely proficient in wind magic. So much so that they are called the ’Cyclone Sisters’."

"Cyclone? Not Tornado?"

"No, you heard me right. But that’s only if they use 100% of their magic."

"Jesus..."

"And that’s why they’re a representative despite only being in year one. And why I could never make it..." Dominik looked sadly at the ground.

"Well, what about now?" Kurt snapped him out of his self-deprecation.

"What do you mean?"

"Can you beat someone like them the way you are now?"

"Ha! I’m much smarter and stronger than I was back then so I could probably take them. Why?"

"Cause it looks like we’ve picked ourselves a fight."

Floating slowly towards them was Autumn and Summer. The winds shook violently around them as they came closer and closer.

When Kurt looked at Summer, he could clearly see her mouth the words "I’m sorry".

"Let’s end this quickly, Dom."

"Excuse me, WHAT!? I don’t know if you know this, Kurt, but fire and wind don’t mix well!" Dominik started panicking as he looked at the trees around them which seemed like they might topple over at any time.

"I thought you had water too?!" Kurt started screaming as the winds howling were too loud to be heard over their normal voices.

"What the?! How’d you know?! That was supposed to be my ace in the hole!"

"You showed me back at that sussy neighbourhood, remember?!"

"Oh right, your hand! By the way, is it doing alright?!"

"Who’s the pipsqueak now, you ugly shithead!" Autumn threw a giant ball of concentrated wind at the both of them.

BWOOSH!

""Oh shit!"" They managed to safely dodge it by jumping on opposite ends.

"Dominik! Use smokescreen!" Kurt yelled.

"Please don’t let me get fired, pleeease don’t let me get fired!" As Dominik concentrated, a highly condensed ball of fire and water were being summoned on each of his hands.

"I won’t let you!" Autumn shot another gust of wind, but it was too late.

"Here goes nothing!" Dominik spread his arms out and clapped them hard together, sending a giant wave of smoke around the area.

CLAP!

SHHHHHHHHHHH!

Autumn’s vision was completely obscured, as well as the fumes from the smoke got caught up in her throat.

"You think this smoke will work *cough!* against me?! Well think again!"

She easily managed to gather up all the smoke using her wind abilities and shot it up into the atmosphere. When she looked again at her opponents, however, they were nowhere to be seen.

"KYAA!"

"Summer!" She turned around and saw that Kurt was holding a knife to her throat.

"You fucking bastard! Let go of my sister!"

"Dominik, now!" Kurt signaled him.

Dominik came flying down from the sky and quickly managed to subdue and cuff her.

"Sorry about this Ms. Wingard. These cuffs are only meant to be used on criminals, but I fear this is the only way I could calm you down."

"Errgh! My magic! What did you do?!" She yelled on the floor as she struggled to summon any more wind.

"What is going on here!?" From the front gates came another two students to see what the commotion was.

"Amber! Victor! Help me!" Autumn screamed.