A Bit of New Training

[Josh and Sophie]

(AN: The events in this thread take place after those in the Ascension Arc.
If, however, Josh and Sophie 'split up' and go their separate ways before these events can even take place or other such events create a barrier from this occurring, this thread will cease to exist.)

---

"OH MY GOODNESS," Sophie shouted from the backyard, where she was practicing her Air magic.

Josh was inside, making tea for the both of them so they could cool off and take a break.
He heard Sophie yell, and immediately, he dropped the cups he was holding (which luckily landed on the countertop), and rushed outside. He ran over to Clarent, and picked it up, looking frantically around the yard for anything out of the ordinary. "What is it?!"

"I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner!"

"What is it," Josh asked again. He concluded that there was nothing trying to threaten Sophie, and he slightly lowered Clarent.

"The Witch if Endor. I was thinking about some of her memories."

"I thought you were trying to avoid them as much as you could?"

"Well, I was. But I lowered my defenses a little while I was practicing, and recalled the day she had trained me."

"What about it," Josh asked. He had no idea where this was going.

"She didn't train me normally. She added her memories into the mix, and didn't do it the way Saint-Germain did."

Josh was still confused. "Okay?"

"What I'm trying to say is: that even though she gave me her memories, she didn't have to. But she did know how to train me the normal way. And because I have those memories, essentially, I know how to train people."

Josh finally understood, though he wasn't too sure he wanted to go along with it. "I'm guessing you want to try and teach me Air magic?"

"You don't seem too happy about it..."

"It's because I'm not... Not really, anyway..."

"But Josh, think about it: If I can succeed in training you, you won't have to use Clarent all the time"—She paused—"...And you won't have to feel left out."
She knew what Josh had been feeling since she had been trained in both Air and Fire magic: left out, with Sophie being his superior; and she didn't want to make him feel that way.

"I—I don't know..." Josh hesitated. She was right. He felt like he really was the little brother, but all their life, they had tried to make everything equal amongst them. But after Sophie had been Awakened, and trained, they were no longer equals.
"I guess we could give it a try..."

"Yay!" Sophie rushed up to him and gave him a hug. "I'll try to recall everything I need to know, and then we can get started."

"O—kay... Wh—whenever you're ready..." Josh stuttered. He was still unsure about the idea. What if something went wrong?
No. He had to be brave. This could be his only chance at being closer to Sophie again.

[Josh and Sophie]

"Are you sure you can do this?"
Josh still wasn't very comfortable with the idea of Sophie training him in a magic she didn't really understand herself; but he had to be brave, just in case.

"I'm very sure. I've been thinking about this for over an hour already, and I'm sure I know everything I need to. — Ready?"

Sophie was standing in front of Josh, with no obstructions anywhere around them. They stood and faced each other, hands at their sides.

"I—I guess..."

"Okay. Here goes nothing."

"Wait. You're sure this won't hurt?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Even getting this"—she held out her right wrist, where Saint-Germain had burned the symbol for her to use when she needed fire—"didn't hurt."

"Alright. How will we know if it works?"

"I haven't quite figured that out yet. But when both of my sessions with the Witch and Saint-Germain were over, I hadn't felt any different. — We'll just have to practice a little."

"O—kay," Josh muttered.

"Here goes."

Sophie lowered her mental defenses again, and allowed herself to think of everything she needed to know that the Witch had known. The thoughts crowded her mind, and she concentrated hard on what she needed.

"Okay. Close your eyes."

Josh did as insructed.

Sophie reached forward and touched his forehead gently, and the scent of vanilla filled the air. Josh's aura lit up slightly, and the scent of oranges was added into the aroma.

"There are those who will tell you that the magic of Fire or Water or even Earth is the most powerful magic of all," Sophie began. "They are wrong. The magic of air surpasses all others."

"Air can extinguish fire."

Josh saw an elderly man whipping up a strong wind, and swiping it toward a forest fire. The fire went out, leaving the burnt trees to crisp, and ashes to fall.

"It can churn water to mist and can rip up the earth."

Two people, a man and a woman, stood at the edge of a cliff. The woman was fighting off another person, who was rushing a wave of water at the two. She braught up a heavy wind, and the wave turned into a small drizzle, barely getting the two wet. The man then turned around and sent a whip, made entirely of air, into the ground beneath the person's feet. It dried and cracked, and then crumbled beneath them.

"But air can also bring fire to life—"

A stranded man, on a deserted island, appeared. He was blowing onto a very small fire he had created, and the flame grew.

"—It can push a boat across still water, and can shape the land."

The previous man and woman appeared, and they were jumping into a boat. The woman thrust her hands into the direction of the shoreline, and the boat rushed forward. The man raised his arms high into the air, and rocks from the shore flew up, and landed behind them, blocking the path they had taken.

"Air can clean a wound, can pluck a splinter from a fingertip."

A child came running up to his mother, crying. He had scratched against a rosebush, and had thorns all over his right arm. The mother simply raised a hand, and all the thorns retracted themselves from the boy's skin, leaving only irritated little dots.

"Air can kill."

The elderly man reappeared, and whipped a rush of wind toward another man. The wind was so strong that it left cuts in his flesh. He slumped to the ground.

Sophie touched Josh's cheek, and he opened his eyes. Golden disks appeared over them, and then slowly faded away. The scent of vanilla and oranges lingered, but the twins' auras winked out, leaving them standing normally in the backyard, still facing each other.

[Josh and Sophie]

"How do you feel?" Sophie was very anxious to see if it had worked.

"No different than before. Then again, I didn't know you could do all those things with air. It's really cool!"

Sophie knew how he felt: unchanged, and ready to test out his 'new power'.

"Hmm... Thinkk of something from the visions you had, something not too dangerous or destructive, and see if it works.

Josh thought for a few moments. He was thinking about the elderly man, and the fire, and how he had put it out.

He thrust his hands forward, and a simple breeze moved the trees slightly. It didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary happened.

"Try it again, but this time, concentrate as hard as you can on what you want the air to do," Sophie instructed him.

He tried again, thinking strictly about the wind rushing into the fire.

He thrust his arms again, and a massive wind swooped before them. Sophie almost got caught off balance. The trees rustled, and a branch broke from the force, sending it crashing into another tree.

"I did it" he shouted, surprised at what he'd just done.

"Yay! — I'm so happy it worked!" Sophie jumped up in the air, then landed softly in the grass. She didn't know it was that easy to train someone. Maybe it was all in what they wanted it to do? Maybe they could really do any magic they wanted, without needing to be trained, and the visions were just examples as to what they could do. — No. She thought. It shouldn't be that easy... Then again, all she did was say a few things about air... But how did she let Josh see those images...? It was a mystery. She'd have to think about it sometime later.

Josh gave her a hug. "Thank you." He smiled.

She smiled back. "You're welcome."

"Now I just gotta get used to using it."

"Just don't hurt yourself." She winked at him.

He knew she was only messing with him. "I won't."

[Josh and Sophie]

Sophie had to be the one to finish the tea Josh had started oh so long ago. He was too busy concentrating (and most of the time failing) to bring up winds to rush toward the trees in the backyard. The teakettle screamed, and Sophie stopped staring out the window at him. She grabbed it by the handle, picked up the cups with tea packets in them, and headed outside.

"Uhg. Why can't I get it right," Josh complained.

Sophie was just walking out the back door when Josh had started up. "It just takes practice."

"But you didn't really need any. You started using Air magic like you were born to."

"That's because I had the Witch's memories. But when Saint-Germain had taught me Fire magic, I messed up the first couple of times and once almost burnt some of his hair to a crisp." Sophie smiled at the thought.

"Well, it was easy to teach me. So why does it have to be so difficult to practice?" Josh decided he'd had enough for right now, and joined his sister at the patio table. She set his glass down, which she had already poured water into.

"I don't know. Next time, ask someone," Sophie responded with a joke.

"That wasn't funny. I was being serious."

"I know you were, and so was I."

---

The two hadn't said anything since they started sipping their tea, and now they were back at their training. Sophie was showing off by whisking whips of Air at the trees, occasionally causing a *snap* of a branch, though none of them fell. Josh was trying to mimic what she was doing, but it didn't quite work out right.

"Is there something I'm not doing?"

"Are you concentrating hard enough?"

"I'm concentrating as hard as I can."

"What are you thinking of?"

"I'm thinking of the elderly man putting out that fire, again."

"But what exactly are you seeing?"

"What do you mean?"

"When I want to use Air magic, I don't think about what others have done with it, I think about what I want to do with it and see myself doing it. Not only that, but I think about what would happen when I use the Air. Most of the time it turns out how I vision it."

"Okay."

Josh tried once more, and it worked. They both smiled at each other in success. But deep down, Josh felt like he was still missing something. He was happy that he had the opportunity to learn Air magic, but he felt different. Had this been what Sophie was feeling when she first learned as well? He didn't know.