In Growing: A Headcanon Short

Araceli Residence

20xx

“You’ll get used to it,” James assured him. Arryn looked at his weapons, new and shiny and foreign in his hands; he gripped them with an urge to grow familiar with them, expecting their respect any second. But they simply stayed in his hands, cold and feeling like a stranger. James noticed the younger one’s disappointment and smiled a bit, lifting a hand to playfully ruffle the blond’s hair. “It takes time, Arryn. Getting used to your weapons will always take time, as will mastering them.”

“Why couldn’t it be like Am’s?” the boy asked, a tinge of bitterness in his voice. James blinked, “Am’s is cool. She’s got a scepter. You and mom have cool weapons, too, and I have – I have these.” He finished lamely, staring down at the sleek twin guns in his hands. “Basic guns.”

“You can’t exactly call the extension of your soul ‘basic’,” James answered, raising a brow at him. “Each person has their own special weapon. Amaris has her own. So do your mother and myself. It just so happens that this is yours.” He took the guns from Arryn and inspected them closely, “The more experience you have with your weapons and powers, the more they’ll develop. And it’s not just your powers that have to grow. It’s in yourself too, kid.” He returned them to Arryn, who let his arms hang limply. “It’s a two-way kind of thing.”

“Two-way?” James nodded and walked over to a nearby garden bench, patting the spot next to him. Arryn sat down, resting his guns on his lap.

“The way this whole thing works is like this: as you grow older, you learn new things. You develop yourself. You develop your soul.” James touched his chest, “And in developing your soul, you develop your powers, too. When you develop your soul, you help develop your weapon. So when your powers develop, your skills develop, your weapons develop? Your soul gets motivated to. So it keeps pushing. It keeps growing.”

Arryn stared at his weapons, letting his father’s words stew around in his head. James continued, “I remember how I felt when I got mine for the first time. Was  a little disappointed because they weren’t as fancy as your mom’s, or as my friends’ own. Because of that, it sort of took a while until I reached full potential. I learned the hard way that I had to appreciate myself – my skills – and not really look at others and compare.”

“But…” Arryn struggled, “Why can’t mine be as cool as others’?”

James sighed. “I asked the same thing when I was younger. I didn’t get an answer, and I still don’t.” Without much work on his part, he summoned his weapon and let it stay afloat in the air; Arryn’s golden eyes widened as he stared at his father’s weapon in all its glory. “But I cherished mine. And this was the result.” Arryn stayed quiet after, saying nothing. The weapons remained in his lap. James opened his mouth to speak more but Carina called, asking for James’ assistance inside. The blonde stood up, “I’ve got to go and help your mom, are you sure you’ll be okay here?”

“I will be. Thanks, dad.” Arryn glanced up and shot his father a small smile before taking his weapons into his hands. James stayed behind for a few seconds to watch him quietly before walking back inside, closing the glass sliding door behind him. In the Araceli kitchen, Carina was busy chopping vegetables of different assortment.

“How is he?” the dark-haired woman asked as James approached her. James went to the sink to wash his hands, “Is Arryn okay?”

“He is. He just needs his time,” James explained. The sink soon stopped and he wiped his hands on the nearby towel, “I think he’s a little disappointed in himself.” Carina gave a mildly disapproving frown.

“Weapon problems…?” James nodded and she sighed, James taking his place next to her and summoning the nearest chopping knife, soon staring on the vegetables to his right. “He shouldn’t be too upset…Arryn’s just starting out.”

“That’s what I said. But you know him,” James sighed, “Arryn needs time to think. Even though he has a tendency to swim in his own head for a while.”

Carina stayed silent for a moment. The two chopped at their own pace, peelings slowly filling up the trashcan at their feet. “If he thinks he’s just average, he’s wrong. Drake and Lyra were one of the strongest people we knew.” The names of their old friends made James give a forlorn smile, “Arryn is far from average. He’s a bright boy,” Carina spoke with a touch of pride in her voice. At that, James couldn’t help but laugh and pressed a gentle kiss onto her cheek. “He has to be…he’s their child.”

“I know. He’ll be able to exceed his own expectations in the future.”

* * * * *

Team Araceli Residence

20xx

“Holy fuck,” Choi Seung-jun swore, “we’re just supposed to be training! Not killing each other! Lay off me, man!” The Korean kept swearing as Arryn kept on the offensive, nervously sweating as he managed to beat off the blond’s attacks one by one. Away from the two, Azzarra and Amaris watched as Choi neared the fate of getting his ass kicked. Azzarra kept a smirk on her face and chuckled.

“What’s funny?” Amaris asked her. Keeping her eyes on the two, Azzarra folded her arms over her chest and kept smirking.

“It’s Arryn. Whenever he has practice spars with us, he never really jokes around. He’s always on the offensive, attacking like his life’s on the line.” She gave an approving nod as Arryn charged and used his blades to break Choi’s defense, “It’s both amazing and terrifying at the same time. Choi hasn’t shit his pants yet, but I’ve got a tight feeling that he will one of these days.”

Amaris nodded slowly, watching as well. From her spot, she could see Arryn’s stone gleaming in the sunlight, kept firmly on his wrist as it reached full potential. She realized, “Wait – did he pick this time on purpose?” Azzarra stayed silent, soon glancing up at the sky. The smirk turned into a snort.

“That fucker,” she laughed, just as Choi yelled, “You piece of shit!”

Choi stumbled back and attempted swinging his weapon, Arryn catching sight and blocking with the sharp blade. With Choi wide open, Arryn summoned his other blade and used it to knock Choi even further away, the male landing on his back and his weapon flying far away from him. Grunting, Choi attempted to summon it back with a quick wind incantation but Arryn stopped him, lightly stepping on his chest and pointing the gun side of one of the blades at his head.

At that, Choi accepted defeat and let his head hit the soft grass. “You win,” the Korean groaned. “Holy fuck, you win. Take it. Relish in your victory. Anything to not kill me, Jesus fucking Christ.” Arryn laughed and let his weapons dissipate, helping Choi get up. The latter cringed upon touching his hip, “Fucker. You bruised me good.”

“Are you okay? We might need to get some ice on you,” Arryn said with a frown this time. The concentrated, blank expression was gone and he was immediately back to normal-Arryn-mode, “And aspirin.”

“I’m willing to rob a fucking drugstore for all their aspirin. I don’t care about getting arrested,” Choi declared dramatically. Laughing and shaking his head, he let Choi lean on him as they both walked to the sliding door leaning inside. As they passed Azzarra and Amaris, the latter quickly averted her eyes after catching Arryn’s smile towards her.

“G-Good job,” she managed to tell him. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks, Am.” Another radiant smile at her, and Choi kept listing his plans to take over the aspirin corporation in strong (and odd) detail. As their voices faded, Azzarra faced Amaris and lifted a brow. “What?”

“You look like you haven’t seen him fight that well. Or fight at all,” she noted. “I thought Arryn fought Hyun-Ae for you? Didn’t that go well, seeing as he won?”

“That was different,” Amaris admitted. She remembered how unusually kind Arryn had been during the fight compared to the spar against Choi; back at that point, he hadn’t moved a single move to harm her. He even had deep scratches that lasted for days after that.

This time, he was barely tired. Barely injured.

“I’ve just never seen him like this.”

“Huh.” Azzarra stayed silent for a moment and eventually pulled her inside, “Come on, let’s see those two. I think Choi really does need aspirin.”

The two walked to the living room area, where Choi kept an icepack on his exposed him and held a cold glass of water in his other hand. On the chair beside the couch where Choi was, Arryn was watching him with another pack of aspirin just in case. The two were talking.

“Your weapon’s ridiculous,” Choi commented. “A goddamn gun? Two fucking guns? And then those stupid fucking blades that can cut your neck – you almost decapitated me. What the fuck. Cut anything but my head.”

“Vain as usual even in injury,” Azzarra commented dryly. She was there with Amaris, the latter watching them quietly. “You never cease to amaze me. I sort of wish Arryn cut out your fucking ego instead.” Choi spluttered and protested incoherently, two which Amaris and Arryn couldn’t help but laugh at. He lifted his head to grin at her, to which Amaris felt her cheeks burn up.

“Enjoy the show?” he asked her amidst the growing argument between the earth and air users. She found herself nodding.

“You were really good.” Amaris’ eyes fell onto the sunstone secured around his wrist, “It shows.” His grin softened.

“Thanks, Am. Means a lot coming from you.” She coughed to hide her blush and was about to say something else – what the fuck is that supposed to mean, you’re practically a living golden god right now – when Choi sighed loudly.

“Whatever. I’ve had my aspirin. I’m done being a guinea pig. Az, you take him next time.” Azzarra lifted a brow at this and Arryn stood up, looking at her.

“You want to?”

“Wait – you’re serious?” Arryn gave his signature grin and she fired one back, Azzarra’s own stone gleaming in the light. “You’re on, Araceli. Give me ten minutes.” From his position on the couch, Choi caught Amaris’ shocked expression and winked at her.

“Catch the next fight,” he told her in a quieter voice. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy the show.”