A/N: I'm trying to get this collection back to what it was originally intended as (although there's no way I can go back to the daily update deal). Now, what that means I'm not entirely sure, but I'm doing my best to ensure that writing for this collection stays something enjoyable rather than becoming a chore or another source of stress.

Of further note, this particular one-shot takes place in a setting that I've written several stories in before. I don't believe it's necessary to read them in order to understand what's going on here (if you are confused, you can probably reduce your confusion by mentally replacing every instance of 'cambia' with 'magic'), but if you have interest, one of them is a one-shot titled "Eyes of a Demon" and the others can be found in my "Ryuchu's Random Collection".

That out of the way, hi Vocaloid section, it's been a long time. Feel free to hate me for my long absence.

You know who you shouldn't hate? Ten-Ten, arthie2001, and iDon'tCare because they are wonderful individuals who leave wonderful reviews and make me smile. Thank you so much!

Couple: Lui/Yuuma

Song: White Knight (ft. Miku Hatsune) - AkiGlancy

The ache that seeped into Lui's body as he lay on his bed and stared up at the ceiling of his room was more potent than anything he had ever experienced before; even the shallow, measured breaths that inflated his chest a fraction of an inch seemed to make everything tighten in displeasure. For two nights now he had been able to resist the lure of sleep, the lure of losing conscious control of himself, but his body would be denied no longer; it was, after all, still that of a weak, long malnourished twelve-year-old.

Slowly, carefully, he allowed his eyes to close, exchanging the weak glow of moonlight that streamed into his window for the darkness of unconsciousness. His awareness of the world reduced until the only thing he was conscious of was the blood pumping slowly through his veins and the harvestable energy contained therein. He tried desperately to turn himself away from this distraction and submit himself wholly to sleep, even employing a few of the mental meditation techniques an instructor had taught him recently, but his power would not be denied.

Even though his instructors told him time and again that his daily lessons would drain his cambia resources, the forces within him never seemed to lessen in the slightest. He worried constantly – was he even more of a demon than all the other mages in the world? Would even the salvation offered by The Academy be inadequate to exercise that which he most feared?

Alone in dark of his mind and faced with such raw energy, the fears and frustrations only grew louder until he heard nothing but the screams of his cambia pounding throughout his body. He begged his eyes to open so he could escape the confines of his own mind, but the training of the day robbed his physical shell of the power to do even that.

The harder he tried to fight it back, the higher in pitch the screaming seemed to grow. Lui's nightmares came to pass as he felt the power within him react violently to his unbidden call. Heat crawled to the surface of his skin as the choleric energy within him consumed all else.

Again.

It was going to happen again.

People were going to burn.

Desperately he fought against the raising power, trying to call upon the silence of his mind and the cooling powers of the phlegmatic. However, any and all other cambia he called upon were quickly consumed and converted, turning his own power against him and causing the first flames to flicker to life on exposed patches of his skin. Panic set in as Lui felt every inch of himself being consumed by the terrifying choleric energy.

The flames.

He couldn't control them.

He was going to burn to death.

He was going to burn to death.

He was going to burn-!

And suddenly, there was silence.

The uncontrollable scream that had been his entire existence for the past several moments simply dissipated into nothingness, the heat fleeing with it. It felt as if Lui had been submerged in cold water – it was shocking and stole his breath away but it also cradled him and made his entire body weightless. His mind hazily informed him that this was some sort of assault, an internal mage was influencing his phlegmatic cambium, but he found himself unable to offer any resistance. He was trapped in a bubble of perfectly comfortable silence that protected from his self-produced flames.

No, not silence.

The edges of Lui's consciousness slowly became aware of the sound of a voice. It offered no words, instead sounding in a low hum that seemed to hover at the very edge of the human voice register. Lui clung to that voice and let it wash over him, his consciousness seeming to rock and sway like waves with each minute adjustment to pitch the singer made. What Lui had initially perceived as a threat was quickly revealed for the salvation that it was as his mind finally provided him with the answer of where he knew the voice from.

Yuuma: the mage who had rescued him and brought him to The Academy in the first place. Lui still wasn't sure what he would classify his relation to Yuuma as, but in that moment Lui could have wept for joy at the sound of that voice. As soon as Yuuma had deposited him at his new home and training ground, he had been sent on a mission, leaving Lui bereft of even the tiniest shred of his old life. No one at The Academy had seen what the villagers had done to him – what he had done to them; none of them could understand just how much the power of the flames inside him terrified him.

But Yuuma, he could. He was that final thread left to Lui; he was the reminder that he had once been human and he could possibly return to that.

At least that was the lie Lui kept gorging himself on.

Slowly, the humming came to an end and the voice switched over to a jaunty whistle instead. Instantly, energy seemed to flood into Lui and a smile colored his lips. He had been taught about this earlier today. Yuuma was influencing his sanguine cambium, pushing the choleric aside and replacing it with brighter emotions. Even though he could have opened his eyes at any time, he chose instead to allow the song to enrapture him and push away the negativity that had been so all consuming up to this point. He even found himself gently tapping out the beat of the song on his mattress.

When the last notes of the song melted into the air, Lui allowed his eyes to open for the first time since his ordeal began, a smile still coloring his lips. He found his suspicions of the voice's owner quickly confirmed as he found himself staring into the golden eyes of Yuuma, the eyes that marked him as the mage he was. However, the serious expression on Yuuma's face caused the corners of his smile to twitch downward instantly as he slowly pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Uhm…" He began slowly, suddenly finding it difficult to hold Yuuma's gaze, "Thank you for saving me. Again."

"How could you have been sure that it was I?" Yuuma's voice wasn't unpleasant, but it did carry the tone of a school master more so than a friend, "What if it had been another mage attempting to catch you off guard? Surely you haven't been taught to give in that easily to the assault of an internal mage."

"No, of course I haven't…but this is The Academy. For someone to reach me they would have to get through all the security measures and…and they could have just let me kill myself with the flames. But they didn't, so I figured they were only intending to help me…probably."

"You are naïve, you realize this?"

Lui had no response for that, instead casting his eyes downward to his bed sheets. Now that Yuuma was pointing them out, he quickly realized all the mistakes he had just made. If Yuuma had been an enemy mage of some sort, Lui would have found himself dead ten times over. As the failure settled over him, every ache made itself known again and the gaze of the older mage seemed to burn into him. He could only think of one way to respond.

"I'm sorry."

The apology hung heavy in the air and for several moments there was silence before a sigh from Yuuma broke the tension. The sound was so human, so beyond the realms of what Lui associated with Yuuma that his gaze once more settled on the older man. Yuuma's face remained as impassive as ever, but the undercurrent of criticism in his expression had been replaced with one of exhaustion. Abruptly, Lui realized that he was still in his traveling cloak; it was likely that he had just returned from his mission. An involuntary shudder of guilt and dread ran down Lui's spine. If Yuuma hadn't been there…

"I didn't come here to criticize you," Yuuma stated, breaking Lui away from his thoughts, "I am your teacher. It is my duty to watch over you until you are able to control your cambium of your own volition."

"I know," Lui responded, his voice easily betraying that knowing it and believing it were two completely separate entities.

"Are you still finding it difficult to control your powers?"

"…Yes," Lui admitted after a pregnant pause, "Even though I'm physically exhausted at the end of each day, my cambium never seem to calm themselves…especially the choleric one. No matter what I do, it always seems to override the others."

"Hence the flames that were crawling all over your skin before I stepped in."

"Yeah, I guess…"

Silence fell once more as Lui struggled with the question that had been slowly searing him from the inside out since he had set foot in The Academy a mere few weeks ago. Yuuma was most likely the only person that he could bring himself to pose the question to, but he also feared that he would answer in the exact way he expected. Lui knew that the demons that raged within him would never allow him to return to a normal life. However, the fear of having another person confirm it, to have them say it aloud, froze his tongue every time.

He would bear the burden of being a monster so his delusion could live on a little longer.

"Do you wish that you had killed yourself?"

The question broke through the air and made Lui inhale sharply. Almost unconsciously, his hand found its way to his hip, searching for the dagger that Yuuma had given to him along with two options: become a mage of The Academy or kill yourself. At the time, he had chosen to keep on living, believing that he might be able to control the powers within him; if he had the knife now, would he still hold onto that hope?

"I…don't know."

"It's a yes or no question."

"I don't have a yes or no answer for you."

"Because you are simply running away again."

"I'm not running from anything!" Lui responded, his temper flaring within his chest as he balled his fists, "I don't know means that I don't know, I'm not sure! Maybe it would have been better, been easier, if I had just done it! Maybe if I had been a coward! Maybe then the demons would-"

Lui's rant came to an abrupt end as tears choked the rest of his words and thoughts. He fought to hold them in, but the frustrations of the past few weeks needed an outlet and within second he found himself sobbing uncontrollably into his knees. Words began to tumble from his mouth along with the sobs.

"I just want them to stop! I want them to quiet down! I can't even be a normal mage! I can't- I can't even blend in with the demons of the world! I can't control it anymore. I'm scared! I'm so scared! I'm going to kill again! People are going to burn! I want out! Please...please...help me!"

Words once more dissolved into incoherent wails as time lost all meaning to Lui. His frustrations were laid bare as his tantrum continued until there were no more tears to shed and his throat was hoarse from yelling. Slowly, he allowed himself to uncoil his arms from around his knees, but he refused to even glance in the direction of the older mage.

Why?

Why was it that the older man always knew exactly how to get under his skin and make him admit things he didn't want to? The more time Lui spent with him, the more his title for the older man became muddled: savior, tormenter, teacher, older brother, enigma.

How was it possible to hate and love someone so equally?

"It's okay."

Although the voice was surprising, it was the gentle pressure of Yuuma seating himself on his bed that forced Lui's gaze in his direction. It was possible that Lui was simply imagining it, but Yuuma's gaze seemed to be softened with…understanding?

"It's okay," He repeated in a measured tone, "For now, lay down. Your body must be physically exhausted. The first few weeks are always the most merciless."

Slowly, almost dumbly, Lui nodded his head and worked himself under his covers, his mind once again catching on all his aches and pains now that he had been reminded of them. He had expected a more complicated lecture from Yuuma – was 'it's okay' truly his only response to this whole situation?

Stranger still, why did it feel like Yuuma saying that was enough?

As soon as Lui was settled, he was startled to hear Yuuma begin to hum again, a low rumbling sound that seemed to reverberate with the very timbers and stones of Lui's room. Fearing another test, he quickly erected several makeshift emotional barriers to protect his cambium from being influence and put all his mental capacities on high alert. However, as the song continued on, Lui felt his defenses slowly fall and his body involuntarily relax.

There was no power contained in the song Yuuma was singing. Further still, it was a song that Lui recognized; a song that any child that grew up in the countryside knew some variation of. He could remember all the times his mother had sang this very lullaby for him and his little sister; he could remember how many night time terrors had fallen victim to this song.

It was so sublimely normal.

It was so sublimely human.

The choking feeling of tears once again found its way into Lui's throat, but his body was no longer able to answer the request. Instead, he felt his eyelids grow heavy as memories washed over him. If he imagined hard enough, he was a blue-eyed child once again, as carefree as all the other children in the world. No longer was he subjected to the terrifying voices of the demons ragging inside him; now the only battle he fought was against the siren song of sleep.

As his consciousness began to fade, he felt Yuuma's weight shift off his bed and the soothing song come to an end. Hazily, he heard words so mundane, so normal, that Lui had feared he would not be allowed to hear in his new life as a mage – as a demon.

"Good night Lui. Pleasant dreams."