Teachings

[Darkflare]

It was clear outside, as the sun began to set for night to come. The redhead mage proceeded to close her spell book.

"Late already, huh. Guess I should start heading back."

Kyoko proceeded to place the book in her pocket dimension as she began to walk through the path back to the nearby town. A few minutes of walking, she suddenly stopped as she looked around her. In front of her was a blonde older woman in a similar outfit as hers, a white mage's robe. She faced the redheaded mage, eyes closed with a smile. Despite the somewhat disturbing sudden appearance, Kyoko was able to recognize her.

"Teacher? This is quite a surprise."

The older mage simply stood with the same look.

"It is, isn't it? I trust you have received my gift. ...You didn't destroy it, did you? I know you had.....history with that."

Kyoko scratched her head.

"The thought was there, but I've grown to like it."

The other mage simply nodded.

"Very well. I trust you have kept up your training after you left my teachings?"

Kyoko simply nodded toward her slowly opening her eyes. After a moment, the other woman disappeared and quickly reappeared to Kyoko's left. Before she could react the woman struck Kyoko with a jamming sphere knocking her a few feet from the impact.

"Looks like you're lacking. ...No, wait.... you looked at me straight in the eye a moment before I struck. You were in a position where you could have stopped me, so why didn't you?"

Kyoko began to get up.

"Teacher, I respect you and I thank you for your teachings, but I would prefer you stop feeding me cryptic bull. If you need to tell me something, just tell me, instead of making me figure out a riddle to know."

The woman simply looked at her.

"I prefer this....cryptic way so you can figure things out on your own. But I suppose..."

She crossed her arms.

"In simple terms, you're commiting the same mistake as your family."

Kyoko took a bit of a surprised look on her.

"What do you mean the same mistake?"

"What do I mean? Your fucking pride, that's what I mean. And it's something I've noticed for a while. I was hoping you would outgrow it, but it seems to me that is not the case."

She closed her eyes and sighed.

"Kyoko, I'll be honest. Your family was a bunch of fools that allowed their own pride to be their downfall. Even you must have noticed their desperation to reclaim their former position."

Kyoko remained silent, trying to think about her teacher's words. She couldn't help but think that there may be some truth to them.

"Just what do you plan to do, Kyo? What is your whole reason for all you do?"

Kyoko looked at her and responded.

"I practice every day, to learn what I'm capable of. To be the best I can be."

The woman raised an eyebrow.

"Is that it? Perhaps I was a lousy teacher if all you can come up with is such a selfish reason."

Kyoko then had an annoyed look on her face, clearly expressing her dislike for what she just said to her.

"Oh, you seem to be mad. See, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Tell you what.....what if I were to tell you that you could achieve a great power? ....there's a catch of course, but it's rather simple.... in order to achieve this great power....you must simply kill whoever is closest to you. ....I believe in your case that would be Sam. What would you do?"

Kyoko couldn't take it anymore and yelled back.

"WHAT KIND OF SICK QUESTION IS THAT? I WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO SAM!"

The woman raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, you wouldn't?"

She looked directly at Kyoko's eyes as if waiting a reaction from them. It would be but a brief moment that felt like minutes before she closed her eyes.

"Maybe, you are the one that will break this...well, it's not really a curse but....it sure acts like one. By the way, I do not really know of such a power nor have I ever heard of one if it even exists."

Kyoko appeared to slowly calm herself down.

"I can't believe you would ask such a thing, teacher."

The woman raised her right arm and tapped her cheek with a finger.

"I suppose it was kind of a dickish question to ask to begin with. I apologize, but I really needed to know what you would answer. ...still....it's fine if you want to keep training and become a better mage. I think you have the potential to surpass me one day...but trust me on this one, always training and never resting.....that's not living, you're just throwing your life away for something so petty."

Kyoko closed her eyes and crossed her arms.

"I think I'm beginning to understand what the old man was trying to tell me."

The woman tilted her head.

"Beg your pardon?"

Kyoko shook her head.

"It's nothing. Just that some time ago, an old guy was trying to teach me something."

The woman scratched her cheek again.

"Ah, all right. Well you should listen to your elders after all. ...well....if you still decide to go with this goal of yours.....at least get a good reason for it. All I'm asking is that you let go of this pride of yours."

Kyoko nodded.

"I'll...try. ...thank you, teacher. For everything."

The woman just waved off

"It's nothing, Kyoko. Just some advice. And to be honest, I do think that at this point you're not really my student anymore."

"Huh? What, you want me to call you by your name instead, tea-...er.....Margaret?"

"It's nothing like that, just...well....you're old enough to be on your own, right? I can't be your master forever, you know."

"I suppose not."

"Well then, I'll leave you to your own things. Perhaps we shall meet again another time."

WIth that, Margaret proceeded to teleport away from Kyoko's position.

Kyoko then proceeded to continue walking down the path to town.

"Let go of my pride....and find a reason for me wanting to better myself. So...you're basically asking me to be a better person. All right then, I'll try."

Not far away, just above Kyoko, her teacher was sitting on what appeared to be a wind current she had created.

"They may not make an impact like before, but I'm aware of the Whitefield family. They prided themselves in their strength. This is why they have fallen from grace. I'm not expecting you to bring their name back to glory, Kyoko. I'm expecting you to surpass them.

[SOS Mage]

Finally, this does seem to be going somewhere for Kyoko, but I can't help but make a TF2 Soldier vs Demoman joke somewhere in it.