After Mom saw the note on my dresser she called Dad. They talked for a long time in the hall, but I couldn't really understand what they were saying. Mom sounded angry, while Dad was calm and talking to her, the same way he talks to me when I get upset. Mom did calm down enough, and she came back into my room.

She asked if she could sleep with me. I said yes, and she pulled back my covers, crawling into the bed next to me. I wrapped my arms around her and snuggled up next to her, and she did the same.

I woke up to find mom wasn't in the bed anymore. I looked at the clock next to my bed, seeing the time. Quickly I got out of bed and straightened my blanket. I held my hand over the button for a long time, and after the number had changed five times it started beeping. Instantly I pressed the button and ran out of my room for the kitchen down stairs.

"Dad! Dad! I did it! I woke up every day this week before my alarm did!"

"What? No you didn't." He said with a confused look on his face.

"Yes I did! Tell him mom."

Both of us turned to her, smiles on our faces while she started counting the days on her fingers; "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and now Friday. Yep she did wake up early every day this week."

"Huh, I guess that means I have to share my ice cream with you," he said smiling at me, "After school of course."

"Yay!" I shouted, before getting in my seat.

Mom poured me a bowl of cereal. After which I turned the box toward me so I could see aunty Pyrrha on the front while I ate. When I was done dad told me to brush my teeth and to meet him in the car. I ran to the bathroom back upstairs to brush my teeth. Then ran to my room, to change into my cloths.

I picked out my black skirt and stockings like mom usually wore and a gray shirt. I wrapped my red scarf around my neck so the long end went down my back, and threw on my grey and black messenger bag. I caught myself in the mirror and fixed my short hair so it wasn't standing up. After flattening it and rubbing a sleepy in my eye, I ran down stairs to the door.

Mom was standing there waiting in front of the door. I stopped in front of her while she got on her knee. It took her a moment, but she got on her knee without hurting herself. She ran a finger through my hair, fixing a few loose strands. I hated it when she messed with my hair and backed away out of her reach. She smiled at me and asked for my teeth. I showed her they were brushed, then went up to hug her. She gave me a big kiss on my eye like she normally did.

I broke the hug to go out to dad, but was pulled back into another hug from mom. She pulled me up to her chest, her arm wrapped around my waist and put my head under her chin. The hug felt strange for some reason, like it wasn't out of love, but something else. After a moment I twisted around to return the hug.

Another moment she loosened her grip on me, then whispered in my ear; "Please be careful."

Finally she let go of me, and I gave her a kiss on the lips and left shouting, "I will!" as I ran out the door.

I got in my seat directly behind dad. He waited for me to buckle my seatbelt before even turning the car on. The first part of the ride was quiet as dad focused more on driving, but once we got on the big road he started asking me questions.

"So how are Mars and Grey? You haven't talked about them in a while."

"They're nice, they play with me during recess, but a kid named Vang Lionheart has started being mean to us."

"He has? What's he doing?"

"He hogs the swings all recess, or goes around calling people names."

"Does he have any friends?"

"No, he's mean to everyone and shoves anyone who's mean back to him. We tell the teachers, but they never see him."

"Maybe he's lonely and wants to play, but doesn't know how to ask."

"No, he's just a big meanie." Dad made a loud breath and took a while before he spoke again.

"Can you make me a promise?"

"What?"

"Next time you see him during recess can you ask him if he wants to play with you?"

"I don't want to!"

"Please? I think you might be surprised how nice he can be if you give him a chance."

I crossed my arms and looked out the window, not wanting to look at dad anymore. After a while I took a deep breath and told him I would, but still looked out the window. In the corner of my eye I could see him smiling, and he started asking me how classes were going. They were fine, I had an A in every class; because mom sits with me after dinner and helps me with my homework. It wasn't fun, but she let's me have a cookie when we were done.

We came to a stop, and I was about to ask why, but saw the front of the school. Dad told me to have a nice day while I ran inside yelling "Goodbye."

I took the first left and ran down the long hallway for the room on the very end. I ran by the bathroom and the drinking fountain in the hallway. The second graders were just starting to take their seats off their desks, so I knew I wasn't late for class.

Mrs. Ash was organizing some papers at her desk while waiting for the bell. The five tables in the room each had five seats, and I walked over to the only one still open next to Grey. Unfortunately, Mars got stuck sitting at the other end of the room.

When the bell finally rang, Mrs. Ash stood and started handing out yesterday's homework.

"Bell, nice work."

"You forgot to carry the one on the last three problems Richard."

"Grey, the number on top does matter for subtraction. I'll give you a pass this time since you did the actual math right, but next time it's a zero."

"Summer." Handing my paper to me.

"Ebony, good job."

I looked at the grade to see a 23/23 at the top. I looked over at Grey's page, and though his was covered with red marks he still had a 19/23 on his.

"Aw, you always get a perfect grade."

I stuck my tongue out at him and gave him what dad calls a 'peace' sign with my fingers. He stuck his tongue out at me, before we both turned to Mrs. Ash as she finished handing out the papers.

"Alright class, today we will start with writing. If someone wants to collect everyone's homework-" She stopped the moment I stood from my seat and started going around collecting everyone else's work from last week.

Class went about how it always did. I put the papers in the same spot I always did, then we listened to her talk. Whenever she would ask the class a question I would raise my hand every time, but she seemed to only pick me when mine was the only up. She would even ask if anyone one else had a guess before she would call me. After she was done teaching the subject getting a large assignment that we would do for a little bit, but have to finish at home.

The bell rang for lunch and me and Grey ran for the cafeteria before to long a line could form.

"No running in the halls!" Mrs. Ash yelled at us, making us slow to a walk; well power walked maybe.

The line wasn't too long, and Mars managed to get a spot not too far behind us. It was pizza day, the third best day of the week.

"Summer are you doing anything tomorrow?" Grey asked as we grabbed our food.

"I don't think so, why?" Grabbing a milk carton for him and me.

"Do you think your mom will let you come over and play? Dad has been gone all week."

"I'll ask mom if I can." Sitting down with our food.

We happily ate together till Mars finally sat down next to us.

"Summer I wanted you to sit next to me for class."

"Sorry, the seat next to Grey was the first one I saw."

"You always sit next to Grey." He humphed before taking a bite out of his own pizza.

"So you want to play on the swings?" Mars asked, after being the first to finish his pizza.

"Yeah let's go!" Both me a Grey said finishing the last few bites of our own, and downing the rest of my milk.

"No running in the halls!"

We arrived outside, and Grey and Mars managed to out race me to the swings. I leaned on one of the poles to hold myself up while trying to catch my breath.

"No fair," huff, "You guys are taller then me."

"Not our fault you're short." Grey said already getting some height on his swing.

"I'm not short!" Getting angry at him, I always hated it when people called me short.

"Everyone in class is taller than you, even Mars is an inch taller." Mars joined in by sticking his tongue out and giving me a peace sign like I had given Grey earlier.

"I'm not short," Crossing my arms and turning away from them, "Mom say's I'm vertically challenged."

"What does that mean?" Grey asked looking to me then Mars for an explanation.

"I think it's just a different way of staying short." He said, not fully confident in his answer.

I walked over to the swing next to Mars, but before I could get going, Grey jumped from his swing.

"Vang is coming."

I looked about trying to find the playground bully. Mars jumped from his swing at the same time I spotted him.

"Let's go to the jungle gym, my mom says we should just avoid him if he's being mean."

I ignored them and walked for the bigger boy. I hated what I was about to do, but I had made dad a promise.

"Vang?" I asked, coming up from his side.

"What do you want Spring?"

"It's Summer." Already not liking his attitude.

Grey and Mars came up behind me, obviously not liking being so close to him.

"Would you like to come play with us?" Just saying it made me want to wash my mouth out.

"Why would I want to play with a bunch of babies like you!"

I turned on my heel and stormed away, "I didn't way to play with you anyways, I only asked because dad told me too."

I walked over the the monkey bars but didn't bother getting on them. I was very angry, I was just being nice, but he had to be mean.

"Summer, just leave him be. Come play instead." Mars said trying to distract me.

"He's so mean, I wish the teachers would notice."

"My dad says you should just ignore people like that, because all they do is keep you from enjoying your own life."

I let out a deep breath before looking to Mars, an evil smile on my face.

"Tag! You're it!"

"Hey, no fair!" He complained, releasing the bars while me and Grey ran in opposite directions.

I ran to the jungle gym and quickly scaled the side, ducking inside to escape Mars' grasp. I easily outmaneuvered him as me made a desperate attempt to climb up fast enough to catch me. I started crawling around the outside, but he managed to get closer to me, causing me to jump off; landing very hard on my legs.

"Ground is lava!"

I jumped back onto the bars and resumed climbing around, putting distance between me and him, while he tried to figure out how best to get to me. Grey joined me on the jungle gym and the two of us started calling Mars turtle as he struggled to catch one if us.

I climbed up the side to the top while he was going for Grey. I climbed over and looked around the huge playground, a "Your it!" pulling me back into the game.

"Your it!"

"Ten second protection."

"No, you're it!"

"Ten second rule Grey." I told him stopping the argument before it happened.

"Fine. 1, 2, 3-"

His countdown was a little fast, but Mars could get some distance while I stayed above them. I looked up at the rest of the playground while waiting for him to finish counting. In the distance, I saw a kid I'd played with a few times on the swings. Normally he was at the table by the doors looking at his 'Reckoning Cards' or playing with his 'Game Walker' in the cafeteria. I also saw Vang walking straight for him.

"Tag, you're it!" Grey said, his hand touching my heel.

I jumped to the ground, once more ignoring the pain in my legs. Shouting, "I'll be back!" while I ran to the swingset.

I arrived in time to see the kid on the ground, crying, no doubt having be forced to the ground some how. Vang stood over him laughing and mocking him further.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" I shouted from behind the two.

"What do you want Sunny?" His attitude from last time still in full force.

"Leave him alone." I threatened, my own attitude starting to show.

"Make me." He turned back to the kid from before and shoved him back to the ground once he got on his knees.

"I said leave him alone!" I threatened yet again, marching up to Vang, not exactly knowing what I would do.

"Or else what?" He asked, both his hands pushing into my chest as I came into reach, forcing me to the ground.

I accidently cryed an 'ow'. Causing him to smile in satisfaction.

"Is the baby going to cry now?" No longer paying attention to the kid from before, who was now running as fast as he could to get away.

"I'm not crying!" I shouted in anger quickly getting up.

This time I came at him, but did know what I was going to do. I threw my hands up and this time and pressed them on his chest. It took all my strenght to do it, but I did manage to shove him to the ground. He growled with anger realizing I wasn't going to just back down or run. He grabbed a handful of dirt and quickly came around to throw it in my face.

I yelped in surprise at the sudden attack, but managed to cover my face before any dirt could hit me. I felt a slight irritation in the back of my head and lowered my arms to see what was causing it.

In the corner of my eye I saw Vang's hand coming from the side. My brain froze as I saw it coming, I don't know why I didn't react, but for some reason I just couldn't. The next thing I knew, my head was knocked to the side with a red hand print on my cheek. I felt tears watering in my eyes, but I held them in; I couldn't cry right in front of him.

The pain was quickly replaced. I felt my teeth press on each other and my hand ball into a fist. A soft maroon glow surrounded my hand as I looked back at him. My glowing fist came forward with everything I could put behind it. Every ounce of anger and strength I could muster went into the hit, and when it made contact Vang was sent a few feet away, landing on the ground.

I took deep breaths in an attempt to calm myself. Vang didn't get up, and I spend the moment to look around. Everyone was watching me, many with shock on their faces; others with a small amount of fear. One stood out as anger, and quickly realized why.

"SUMMER ARC! TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE NOW!"

Why am I in trouble?

:::::

I sat in the chair in Principal Amber's office. She had spent the last thirty minutes telling me how hitting is unacceptable under any condition. I sat alone in the room, while she left to call mom, and tell her what happened. Apparently the kid who Vang was picking on had told Mrs. Ash what had happened, but she only saw me hit Vang and refused to acknowledge that he hit me first.

Principle Amber through was willing to accept that he might have started it, but reinforced that it doesn't matter who started it, "Hitting is unacceptable."

Mrs. Amber came back into the room, but Mrs. Ash wasn't with her.

"I couldn't get ahold of your mother, but your father is on his way and says he'll be here shortly."

It was a painfully long wait. Mrs. Amber had collected my homework for me to do while I waited. I only finished the first row, when dad finally came through the door.

"Sorry I took so long. I hitched a ride on a bullhead with some hunters going out on a mission and had to run a few blocks after I jumped." He apologized while brushing dirt from his pants.

"It's no problem Mr. Arc. Honestly you're here much sooner than I expected."

"Oh, that's good. So what happened?"

Mrs. Amber went about paging Mrs. Ash to join her while dad took a seat next to me. It only took a minute for her to arrive, the whole time dad was eyeing me. He didn't look mad, but his gaze felt heavy, and I couldn't bare to look at him.

"Thank you Mrs. Ash, could you explain to Mr. Arc what happened?"

"I saw your daughter hitting another student. Not just that, but I saw her do it with aura. Vang the boy she punched is fine thankfully, just receiving a minor concussion."

"Why did you punch him?" Dad asked, turning to me

"She-" Mrs. Ash was cut off when dad raised his hand to silence her.

He leaned forward so we were eye level and asked again.

"He was bullying another kid. I told him to stop then he pushed me. I pushed him back, knocking him on the ground. He then threw some dirt at my face and slapped me. Then I punched him."

"Did you do what I asked you to in the car?"

"Yes, but he was still mean to me."

I felt his hand fall on my head, but only as a soft pat. I looked at him to see a smile on his face.

"Good job, sticking up for someone who couldn't protect themselves."

"Mr. Arc! You should not be encouraging this behavior." Mrs. Ash near yelled at him.

"Why not? In five years she'll be in Signal so she'll have to hit people during sparring."

"You think she'll be at Signal. How do you know she want's to be a huntress when she grows up?"

Dad turned to me, expecting me to answer.

"I want to be a huntress because I want to help people. Mom and dad do it, and I like practicing. They said I'm really strong since I can use my aura already!"

"There you have it."

"You and Mrs. Arc are a terrible influence on her. You are driving her to become a violent, self centered and-"

"Mrs. Ash! That is highly inappropriate and unprofessional."

"Don't worry, we'll be leaving." Dad said, standing from his seat, and offering me his hand.

"You can't just let her go unpunished-"

"Mrs. Ash!" Mrs. Amber said, cutting her off for the second time, "But she is right. It's fine if she wants to be a huntress Mr. Arc, but might I remind you hitting isn't tolerated in this school."

"Alright. Summer, do you promise not to hit anyone."

"Yes."

"Alright, there you go. Next time she hits someone you can just say she broke her promise."

Mrs. Amber gave him a nod, before motioning her hand in approval for us to leave. Mrs. Ash turned to the Principle, but the door was closed before she could start speaking.

"So now what?" I asked looking up at dad, since I wasn't just sent back to class.

"I still owe you some ice cream don't I?" My smile grew, while he let go of my hand "Race you there!"

"No running in the halls!"

The ice cream shop was just across the street from school and just as he said, Dad let me get any ice cream I wanted.

"Extra large cookie dough flurry please."

Dad chuckled and told them to get a large.

"You said you would let me get any size!" I complained.

"If you can eat a whole large, I'll get you a second large."

He asked for a large mint while they prepared my ice cream. Dad handed the cup to me and told me to wait by the bench across the parking lot. I skipped happily with the large treat in hand. Once I arrived, I immediately started eating. Just slow enough to enjoy the taste.

Dad arrived with his own cup, scooping out his own desert. He watched me eat for a moment before laughing to himself.

"What?"

"Nothing, go ahead and keep eating."

I looked at him with confused look, but shrugged and went back to eating. Then it happened. I felt it coming before it actually happened, but that just made it worst.

"Ow, brain freeze!"

Dad broke out into full on laughter this time. He set down his ice cream so it wouldn't spill on his blue jeans or hoodie.

"It's not funny, ow."

"Put your thumb on the roof of your mouth, it'll help a little."

I did, though it did take a while for the pain in my head to stop. I took a few more bites when dad told me to come along.

"But I'm not done yet."

"Don't worry, I'll get you a second one, but we should head home now since we need to walk."

"Why?"

"Dad took a bullhead, so the car is still at Beacon; but that does mean you get to see Uncle Ren tonight and tomorrow morning when he takes me to work."

I jumped for joy, careful not to spill my treat. Dad ordered a medium for me while I finished off my current one, and he finished his soon after.

We walked down the street toward home. I had finished off my second flurry and ran ahead to deposite my cup in a trash can.

"Summer, come here, this is a shortcut." Dad waved his hand for me to join him as he started walking down a back alley that cut through the city. The road was kept clean, save a few things of garbage that didn't quite make it to one of the many dumpsters. Normally these back roads had one or two people walking, but today were empty.

"Do you think mom will be mad that I got in trouble at school?" The thought of home making me remember she didn't know yet.

"No, I think she'll be proud of-"

I felt a slight irritation in the back of my head, and next thing I knew, dad pushed me to the side shouting "Look out!"

I fell to the hard ground, letting out an ow in response. I looked over to dad to find out why he pushed me, but instead looked to see a ball of fire consuming his head.

It disappeared just as quickly as I saw it, and dad fell on his butt.

"Dad?" I called to him, hoping he was alright, only to see another ball of fire collide with his head like the first one.

Looking over I saw a woman slowly walking toward us, with black hair and golden eyes. She held two more fireballs in her hands, and a smile on her face. Dad groaned as he tried to get up, before another attack knocked him back down.

I climbed to my feet, not knowing what was going on. Why was this woman hurting dad! I looked to dad to see he was still moving then back to the woman to see her raising her hand up to throw her last one.

"NO!" I shouted as I ran between the two.

I raised my hands up, and concentrated on raising my aura as high as it would go. My eye's were close, I was too afraid to see what was happening. A moment later I felt a force hit my own head, and my aura was quickly broken.

It hurt, it hurt like nothing before. Vang's slap was nothing in comparison, but before I could scream in pain it was gone. and everything was black; I couldn't open my eyes, I couldn't move my body, I couldn't feel. Just black.

As promised the first chapter of Last Spark, from the perspective of Summer Arc. I've also been working on some art for this (I'm making this a thing even past the story). No promises on when it'll be done, but I am doing it. Outside that look forward to Vytal Metro tomorrow.

And so ends Lancaster Wednesday Review + Fav; and thanks to /u/Challos for editing.