Casie should have gone home hours ago, the soft glow of her computer suddenly enough to pull her from the table in front of her. Before she knew it, she was using the university’s database to look up unconventional ingredients that might finally be hers to explore. She swipes her ID, the shelf switching over to the 4th year equipment. Each year at the Academy unlocked a new classification of ingredients for Alchemy students, with final year students finally getting almost the same access as those fully accredited. Casie makes sure her dark braids are still intact before starting to formulate recipes, savoring the little time she had alone in this room.
The young alchemist was so absorbed in her new found experimentation fodder that she barely noticed the door open, a new face entering the room. Her auburn hair was tied back in a neat bun, pastel coloured clothes complimenting her dark skin. A soft knock draws Casie’s attention, the other girl giving her a soft smile, unsure of where to move next.
“You must be my 1st year!” Casie nearly exclaims, the sound of her own voice startling her. The hours of silence had left any noise to be perceived as too loud, leaving Cass to blink a few times in shock. After a moment, she continues.
“I’m Casie, 4th year.” She doesn’t move, just simply moving her lab goggles to the top of her head.
“Dee.” The other girl places her bag onto the other table and smiles at Casie, who notices for the first time how drenched Dee seemed to be.
Casie peers out the window to see heavy rain, only now realizing the wet turn of weather. Dee shakes off her wet coat, replacing it quickly with one of the white embossed lab coats that every student was required to wear.
“What’re you working on?” Dee asks, the casual country accent of someone not from the city on full display as she talks. She doesn’t pull any ingredients, just logs into the main computer before putting away her supplies from home.
“Working out what my final project is going to be.” Casie answers, a little too quickly. Dee stops unpacking to give her a look, focusing instead on the woman in front of her. After a moment, Casie amends her answer. “I’m making a preemptive healing potion. I’ve been trying different things since first year but nothing seems to work.”
“And that wasn’t a lie, I’m going to present it at the end of the year.”
Dee looks hesitant, retreating back into herself slightly before she speaks.
“Have you tried mushroom root?”
Casie thinks for a moment, blinking as she does. Within moments, Casie grabs the mushroom root off the shelf and throws it in, barely measuring like she normally does. She gives the mixture a stir, waits a few moments, then pushes it under the room’s analyser. It takes mere moments for the report to generate, Casie’s tapping foot making a clear sound against the tile. It takes her seconds to read the report, her face breaking out in a giant smile when she does.
“Holy shit you’re a genius!” Casie can’t stop herself from bouncing up and down, the final ingredient to her potion finally found. “How have never even…"
She trails off, looking up at Dee.
“Thank you. So much.”
Dee chuckles a little at the other woman’s excitement, nodding along to her jumping. “It was some theory from an old book I read back home. I’m glad it helped.”
Casie leans back on the bench after sealing and fridging her concoction.
“Let’s get dinner or something. My treat.”
Dee looks at her, eyes wide. “I just got here… and the rain and…”
“You have all week to get acquainted. Plus I owe you.” Casie is packing up as she talks, placing ingredients and equipment back into their place with practiced ease.
Dee looks from they’re barely set up computer to Casie’s expectant face. “I just offered a new perspective…”
“That finally got my stuff to work!” Casie has her coat on now, standing at the edge of Dee’s workspace. “Think of this as my first bit of advice. Don’t stay in the lab all of your time here, the City has so much to offer.”
“Let me show you some of it tonight.” Casie looks at her with big eyes, bag already slung over she shoulder.
Dee sighs before logging off and placing the lab coat back on its hanger. Casie was right, she had four more days to set up and three more years to perfect her craft. For now it was time to try something new.
“This place better be good.” Dee says, pulling on her jacket.
The restaurant was busy when the pair walked in, the influx of students returning to the city mixed with the rain making it hard to get a table. Casie finds one quickly with the practiced ease of someone who had lived their whole life in small restaurants like this one.
Dee looks over the menu, slightly overwhelmed, as Casie points out the best things to get, ordering for the two quickly. Dee looks on in slight awe as she rattles off dish names from all over the continent, looking back at her like it was nothing.
“How often do you come here?” Dee asks.
“About twice a week since high school.” Casie looks at the place fondly, the sweet sentimentality obvious to anyone who sees her face.
“So you grew up here in the city then?” Dee’s head tilts a little as she asks, an old quirk picked up from family. Casie blinks for a moment, not used to people asking her personal questions. She recovers quickly, answering like nothing was different.
“Yep! My mum works for one of the big banks here, protective magic and all that.” Casie leans close, like she’s sharing a secret. “I love it here. The rush, the people, the magic of this city… it’s like I’m in sync with it all.”
Dee smiles too, it’s impossible not to when someone so infectious is sitting across from her.
“I’m not so sure…” Dee stops for a moment as their food is placed on the table, waiting for Casie to take her portion before taking her own. “I’m from one of the further out, smaller towns, the city just seems too chaotic for me.”
Casie’s eyes open a little in surprise. While it was common for the Academy to take in students from all over the continent, there hadn’t been any Far Lands in years.
“Don’t worry.” Casie eyes are mischievous in the kindest of ways. “I’ll help make it a little less chaotic for you.”
The rest of the evening went well with the pair quickly finding more and more in common with each other. They sat together for hours, talking so much they felt like they’d known each other for years by the time they left. The restaurant was close to closing when they decide to leave, Casie offering to walk Dee back to the dorms.
“To ensure you don’t get lost.” She had said with a wink walking towards the 1st year dorm block, causing Dee to giggle softly.
The two run through the rain, Dee’s damp curls clinging to her face. When they finally reach the room Casie is hesitant to leave, holding the open door with one hand.
“So.. see you tomorrow?” Casie didn’t know what was keeping her there for so long, there was something almost magnetic about the other girl. Dee nods, looking right at Casie, her eyes shining.
There was something here, a spark that neither person had felt in years. Dee bites her lip, worried about signals read wrong and future awkwardness. The spark grows, invisible to ignore as Casie’s heart beats so fast she’s sure that the whole building can hear it.
Without letting herself think, Casie leans over to the other and kisses her, a soft press of her lips on lips. The moment lasts forever and is over in an instant at the same time, Casie not wanting to pull away. Dee doesn’t say anything for a moment too long, her fingers going up to her lips.
The brief silence is enough for Casie’s brain to become overactive, her step back moving her hand from the door.
“I’m.. sorry I misread the..” Cass is cut off quickly by a pair of lips on hers, Dee’s arm replacing hers in keeping the door open. This kiss lasts for an eternity, every single thought leaving Cassie’s head as her intuition is softly proven right.
“Don’t you ever apologize for… that.” Dee says, a soft blush appearing on her face. She wraps an arm around Casie’s waist, a sudden electrifying urge to not let her go taking hold.
“Stay?” Dee’s voice shakes a little as she asks, unable to meet the other’s eyes as she does.
Casie nods, pushing Dee back into the room and letting the door close behind them.
“As long as you’ll have me.”
Three alarms passed the next day before either person got out to bed, a precedent set for the rest of the semester. The lab was lively, cheerful conversations intercut with annoyed rants, every hint of something romantic saved for the moments after. Homework was no longer done alone in the library, but instead together at a cafe or restaurant.
Throughout the year every part of the City is explored by the two, from tourist traps to local back streets, no part was left alone by the two. Years of living had filled Casie with the ability to navigate the City with their eyes closed, Dee’s keen instinct and almost photographic memory making every trip a small adventure. Secrets were shared, stories were swapped and souls were bared, the two becoming the closest person to each other.
The more the year progresses, the longer the Labs are open, the more time Casie spends trying to perfect her final project. Now the ingredients were right, it was about making small adjustments and finishing the written portion. It was one such late evening when Dee came into the lab, lost deep in thought. Casie looks up from what she is working on, an immediate smile lighting up the room.
“Just in time! I think I’m finally finished with this stupid Written and I am so ready to celebrate.”
Dee can’t meet her eyes, blinking more than usual. Instead she stares out the window, the scattering of stars suddenly the most interesting thing to her. She stays silent, moving in an almost zombie like fashion to shrug off her coat and log into the computer.
“What’s wrong?” Casie tries to look Dee in the face but she turns away, more distant and drawn than any other time. “You can tell me anything, you know that right?”
“I was offered an explorer's position. There’s a party leaving in a week and Dr Karrow is the lead. They think I’m the best fit for the role.” There’s a hint of pride in Dee’s voice when she speaks, the offer barely ever given to first years.
“You… you can’t.” Casie breathes. Memories of past expeditions are all negative, pieces of groups always coming back with members missing. Her heart races, it pounds loudly in her chest. “You haven’t even had combat training or…”
“I can hold my own well enough.” Dee’s voice is harder now, more firm. “This could change my life, Cass. I have to go.”
“These things are a death sentence half the time Dee! I’ve lost enough people in my life, I don't want to lose another one!” Casie's voice raises, adrenaline coursing through her veins.
“I’m going. Whether you support me or not I need this. Not all of us… I need to make my parent’s choices worthwhile.” Dee’s face is set in a hard line, protective guard up for the first time ever.
Casie picks up her bag, throwing her lab coat haphazardly on one of the benches. She doesn’t look at Dee while she leaves, not wanting her to see the tears starting to form.
She stops by the door as Dee starts typing something into her computer, voice shaky and about to break.
“If you love me in any way, don’t go. Stay.”
It wasn’t a question of love for Dee, instead of obligation. Those words echoed throughout Dee’s head the entire time she prepared, those extra lessons and new friends always overcast with that one sentence. She loved her, so much her heart ached and head hurt, but love would not fulfill the promises she had made to herself and others before leaving to the City.
Two months pass and Dee leaves, her party said to be one of the most proficient in all the lands.
Another month passes and Casie perfects and passes her final project. The person she wants to celebrate with most hasn’t talked to her in months and is in the middle of nowhere.
One more month passes. The day before graduation, where Casie would be finally rewarded for her years of work. The final step between her and her dream of full accreditation.
The day Casie receives the worst news of her life.
A rogue monster attack, something bigger than what was expected. There were no known survivors. It should have been easy enough, the party was mostly third and fourth years. There was only one first year, an Alchemist.
They say to keep hoping and praying for some sign of life. At least one person had to have escaped, at least one of the best had to return. But Casie has been here, she gave up on prayers years ago. Tears come first, then anger, then a desperate desire.
It was no longer Casie graduation day, it quickly became something different.
It became the day Casie decides the Academy, the City Council, they’re all full of shit.
It became the day Casie changed her dream.