Bellezza

The only secret Alex Williams has is his Dreambook. In this Dreambook, he has invented a whole world of his own. He likes to call it Bellezza, the Italian word for beauty. The whole of Bellezza is ruled by four Elements; Fire, Ice, Air and Life. They used to get along in the past, but lately there has been turmoil. Fire and Ice do not get along at all, and it affects the other Elements.


And this brings us to our current problem in Bellezza.
“FIRE!” Ice yells at the top of her lungs, and half the palace is awoken by her screaming.
Air, the lovely peace-keeper comes running, worried that something is wrong. “What is it, Ice? What happened?”
“Fire left the toilet seat up again. Go get him now!” Being who she is, Ice has a tendency to be well, icy. Air is always being victimized by Ice. Because Fire has a soft spot for Air, Ice yells at Air when she’s angry.
“Sure thing, right away.” Air scurries off with a whoosh. She goes right to the Arena, where she finds Fire training. His trainer is Sensei Wong-hu, the only Bellezzan from Earth.
“Fire, Ice is having a tantrum. Please come quick!” Air says as soon as she finds Fire.
“What have I done wrong this time?” Fire asks as he sends jets of white-hot fire towards Sensei Wong-hu.
“I’m afraid you left the toilet seat up, and she’s getting really mad at you!” Air squeals as the Sensei reflects the fire with his long shield, and it comes racing towards her.
“Ice needs to lighten up. It’s just a toilet seat.” Fire jumps in front of Air and catches the fire in his hands. It diminishes into ash, and he bows to the Sensei, and he and Air make their way back into the castle. Air goes to the kitchen to find something to eat, as Fire goes to deal with Ice.
“Fire! You need to remember to leave the toilet seat down!” Ice says, speaking quietly.
“And you need to stop getting so upset by it. All you have to do is close it, like this.” He demonstrates, and looks to Ice. “Now you try. It’s not that hard. You may even get it on your first try!”
“YOU. ARE. SO. INFURIATING!” Ice screams at Fire. She lets loose a storm of hail on Fire’s head, but he easily deflects them. He sends a jet of fire at Ice, who screams in frustration and storms out of the bathroom. Fire just chuckles and goes to find Air.


Alex laughs at Ice and Fire, and thinks about what to write next. He is lost in his own world, and jumps at the sound of his name.
         
“Alex! Would you care to put the journal away, and pay attention? This is going to be on the pop quiz tomorrow, so you better pay attention!” Alex’s teacher, Mr. Reynolds says sternly, walking up to Alex’s desk.
The class starts snickering, and Mr. Reynolds looks around, trying to find who was causing the disruption. “Mr. Reynolds, they’re laughing because you gave away another pop quiz.” Alex informs him.
“Oh. Well, class, there will be a quiz tomorrow on scientific notation.” Mr. Reynolds jumps when the bell rings. “And don’t forget about the homework!”
Alex grabs his books, shoves them in his bag and rushes out the door with the rest of the class. He is stopped by Mr. Reynolds before he can walk out the door.
“Alex, may I talk to you?”
“Sure, but I’m gunna be late to my next class.”
“I’ll write you a pass.” Mr. Reynolds takes off his glasses and places them on his desk. He sighs and looks wearily up at Alex. “Alex, what is so important about that journal you like to write in? It’s unlike you to not pay attention during class, and it’s showing in your grades. They’re slipping, and I’m worried about you.”
Alex is taken aback. “Well, it’s um, it’s a private thing. I’d rather not show it to you.” He mumbles eventually.
“Well, if I see it in my class again, I’m going to have to take it. I need you to keep up your grades. If they don’t get any better within the next week, I’m going to have to call your parents.”
“Yes sir. It won’t happen again.” Alex says, shaking his head. “Um, do you think I could have that pass now?”
“Oh yes, of course. Here you go.” The teacher scribbles on a piece of paper, signs his name, and hands it to Alex.
Alex rushes out of the classroom and down the hall to his history class; a bore-fest. He sneaks in, and takes a seat in the back of the class. He pulls out his Dreambook, and opens it to the page he was writing in during science. He isn’t even able to get out his pencil before he hears, “Alex Williams! You’re late, and already doodling? Hand me that book!” The teacher, Mr. Gates says sternly.
Alex slowly walks to the front of the classroom, the whole class staring at him. He hands Mr. Gates the pass, but doesn’t hand over the Dreambook. “Mr. Williams? The journal, please.”
“Um, Mr. Gates, I was wondering if I could keep it in my bag? I won’t take it out, and I’ll pay attention.” Alex mumbles.
“I don’t think so. Give it here.”
“Could I please keep it in my bag, Mr. Gates? I really won’t touch it, and I’ll take extra notes!”
“I don’t care if you can get away with that sass with your other teachers, I won’t stand for it. Give me the journal now, and a Saturday detention.”
Alex hands over the Dreambook, and shuffles back to his desk. Mr. Gates finishes his current lecture and gives the class an assignment.
After class, Mr. Gates calls Alex over to his desk. “Alex I would like to talk to you about this journal of yours.” Mr. Gates says, slamming it onto his desk. “Why is it so important?”
“Well, it’s um, well…it just is.” Alex stutters. He can’t believe he’s gotten into trouble twice because of his Dreambook.
“Since you can’t seem to give me a straight answer, I’ll have a look for myself.”
Mr. Gates reaches dramatically towards the book, and pauses when Alex bursts, “Wait! It’s something I call my Dreambook. It’s just a place where I write down my dreams. It’s kind of private, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t look in it.”
“Well, because you asked nicely, I think I’m only going to confiscate it for a day. You can have it back tomorrow after class.”
“But Mr. Gates, that’s not fair! I need it back!”
“Well you should have thought of that before you decided to doodle in la-la land during my class. Now leave, or you’ll miss your bus.” Mr. Gates gives a wave of his hand in dismissal. Alex bolts out of the classroom, towards the buses.
When he’s gone, Mr. Gates locks the Dreambook in a drawer of his desk. A slight whirring noise emanates from the drawer. When it ceases, he pulls out the Dreambook and chuckles.


Later that day, Fire is enjoying an evening with Air. He is making Air laugh and giggle, which makes them float ever upwards. The night is ablaze with stars, and Fire is at peace with the world. He has the perfect woman in his arms, the sky is clear, and the night is young.
“Air, I want to apologize for Ice’s behavior today. She shouldn’t have acted the way she did.” Fire says suddenly, as they ascend to the topmost branches of the highest tree.
“There’s no reason to apologize. That’s the way Ice is. You didn’t do anything to make her act the way she did.” Air pauses, as she remembers what happened earlier. “Well, you did leave the toilet seat up. And it is disgusting.” She laughs, and Fire has to smile. Her laugh is so melodic, like the spring breeze rustling the branches of the beautiful, graceful willow trees.
Fire chuckles and pulls Air closer to him. Air leans into him, and sighs. “How was your day after the toilet incident?” He asks.
“I wish you had been around more. My day is always so uneventful when you’re training with Sensei Wong-hu.”
“Well I’m sorry for not being with you. I get so caught up in my training, I lose track of the time.”
Air sighs again and says softly, “I’m glad you could get away tonight. I feel so at peace with you.”
“I feel the same way. I wish that Ice could do something useful with her energy and find a way to freeze time. That would make a perfect evening even more perfect.”
Air laughs, and leans even closer to Fire. He murmurs into her ear, “I love you, Air.” It surprises both of them.
He realizes what he said, and leaps up in embarrassment. He sets the branches of the tree ablaze and falls to the ground. Air watches him fall in slow motion, fear gripping her heart and immobilizing her. She shakes her head and flies down to catch him. She catches him just before he hits the ground. The force of impact knocks her to the ground, Fire falling on top of her. She lays him down underneath the tree after he feebly rolls off her. His eyes flicker open and his stomach churns at the thought of what he just did.
“Air, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, it just happened. I’m so sorry-” He’s cut off by the touch of Air’s lips on his.
“I love you, too.” Air murmurs, her lips still on his.


Ice, meanwhile, is venting in her own training program. She calls it the ATS, or Automated Training System. It’s holographic, and automatically adjusts the level of combat depending on her performance. It’s her way of training, but she can also think and sort out her problems this way. Right now, while in the middle of fighting a giant seven feet tall, she’s thinking of Fire and Air. She only lets loose on Air, because she’s jealous. Not that she’d ever admit that to anyone. As she fires freezing jets of ice at the giant, she thinks of what Fire and Air could be doing right then.
“Oh my god!” The training system automatically switches off, and she runs out of the room, out of the palace, and to the forest.


Fire and Air are curled in a bubble of warm air when Fire shivers. Air looks up at his face, and sees that he’s turned blue with cold.
“What’s wrong?” Air asks, searching Fire’s face. She looks around as a shiver snakes up her back. The trees have gone white, frozen in ice. The frigid air from the ice had penetrated their air bubble. “Fire…look at the trees.”
Fire looks around and exclaims, “Ice is coming! She’s frozen the forest, which means she’s angry again. I should probably leave the forest and hide.” Fire says quickly, standing up and pulling Air to her feet. He disappears as soon as he makes sure that Air is going to be ok.
As he disappears through the trees, Air decides to walk around. She whirls around at the sound of a twig snapping, and acts surprised when she sees Ice standing in the midst of the trees.
“Ice, is everything alright? I figured it was you when the trees froze. Neat trick!”
“Where is he? I know that he was with you, so just give him up now!” Ice says viciously, the trees around her bristling.
“Who? Ice, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been out here for about an hour just walking. Oh! Do you mean Fire? I haven’t seen him since this morning.”
“Quit your acting, Air! I know you were with him, just tell me where he is!” Ice yells.
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about. I just told you that I haven’t seen him since this morning.”
Ice doesn’t say anything in return. Instead she rolls up the sleeves of her white dress. Air backs away, but it’s too late. She screams as Ice sends a block of solid ice at Air. Using her reflexes, and powers, she tries to intercepts the ice as best she can, but in vain.
The block of ice hits Air full on the chest, and giving a little “oh!”, she falls to the ground. Fire comes running out of the trees. He throws himself at Ice and lets go a fury of fire. He starts attacking Ice, before he sees Air lying on the ground. He jumps over to her, and hauls the ice off her chest. Her dress is tattered and covered in blood. Fire wraps his arms around her and runs past Ice, out of the forest.
Ice just stands there, stunned. She hadn’t meant to seriously hurt Air. “What have I done?” She sinks to her knees, sobbing.