A small, grateful smile touched her lips and her eyes softened.

“Thank you, Melissa. I needed that.”

Suddenly overtaken by a strange new urge, Alice pulled Melissa into an embrace. Unbeknownst to her, small wisps of pink and purple and white floated around them. Pretty, sure, but even if she could recreate it in battle, it would serve little purpose other than alerting the enemy of their position. That would work against their cause. Or would it..?

Either way, Alice was not aware of these wisps, and obviously had no conscious control over them.

Still, it was a start, and hope of some possibility of improvement. At least the ability hadn’t died or expired or something. What a pity that would have been. What an incredible pity.

When Alice pulled away, the wisps abruptly dissipated into the air.

“Okay. So…” She closed her eyes and thought of snow. Yes, white flakes falling from the sky. Though the air was still, she thought she felt a breeze and suddenly opened her eyes. Not a flake had fallen. Visibly deflating, she sighed and racked her brain for memories from when she could use magic. Of course, nothing came up because she’d been asleep. Frustration built within her, and her brow creased with determination. One bead of sweat budded at her temple as she tried more and more thought exercises, all of them fruitless.

Clenching her fist in anger, Alice ground her teeth. She felt the bubbles of anger threatening to overflow. The compounded anger, frustration, dread, guilt, regret, and fear from years past exploded within her and she let out a yell, a primal scream.

With that scream came a burst of light. Red, orange, black, grey, gold, white. It only lasted a second or two, but it was enough that Alice faltered when it was over. Her mouth hung open, though no sound escaped her lungs. Eventually, she found it within herself to make a tiny squeak.

“Wow.”