Author's note: Valkyrie Profile is a hard series to write for, particularly non-gloomy stories. I wrote this a while ago but it got buried under newer, shinier fanfics I was working on and therefore it was stuck in a box known as the hard drive.
Enjoyment is more if you know Lezard and Mystina's backstories. Story takes place before the game.
Experimentation
Not for the last time, Lezard Valeth sighed. His bespectacled blue eyes studied the classroom. The other occupants, students like him who were confused and busy, met his vision.
Through the windows, sun beamed inside. Such beautiful weather outside, but nobody to admire it from in here. Everyone was too absorbed in his or her work to notice.
Except for the girl he shared his lab table with. Staring hard at the bubbling liquid set in the open flame of the burner, she was tapping her fingers on the tabletop in boredom, an outward manifestation of the inner turmoil their classmates were no doubt going through for this assignment. She noticed Lezard's attention drift away. "Hey, are you actually wanting to skip class?"
"Why would you say a thing like that?" Lezard lingered his gaze to the outside world past the framed glass plane.
"You're staring at that window like you're going to jump through it. If you are, I'm with ya. This stuff isn't fun."
Lezard chuckled low and faced her. "Dear Mysty, I'm more refined than that. Why resort to the vulgar practice of leaping through cutting glass when I can merely break said glass with a spell?"
Flenceburg Academy was a prestigious school and one he was delighted to attend. He had always been fascinated by the magical arts. Endless possibilities seemed to stretch before him, as he knew if he studied further he would become an even better mage than he was now.
Mystina peered at him with a raised brow. "Oh yeah, I forgot you were the type that has to look good while doing the compulsive."
"Not simply looks, but finesse. I don't want to be known as Lezard the Window Leaper." Lezard didn't want to stoop so low as to throw himself out a window to escape. Why he would even consider that idea in the first place astounded him, but he figured Mystina had some influence. Teleportation was a lofty goal he aimed to master in the future. It would no doubt serve him well.
Uttering a disgruntled scoff, Mystina remarked, "You're such a girl. I thought men liked to do those physical things."
Lezard chuckled lightly. "If barbarity is what men are after, why should I be part of that crowd?"
Mystina watched him a moment longer, then simply shrugged, the issue already let go.
An unorthodox personality indeed, Mystina could rage on about the professor one minute and slip into her fuzzy slippers and sip tea without a care about what made her angry the next minute. Complaining was more her style, especially to Lezard.
He glanced down at the littering of test tube vials, potion bottles, hard tomes and writing utensils on the wide table. They had been mixing ingredients for what seemed like forever though it was likely about an hour. Each group in the class had to make a mixture flame by combining ingredients. Lezard was the chosen alchemist out of the two. Mystina had the less daunting but equally meticulous task of logging their attempts with paper and script.
Folly, if this concoction wasn't going to mix properly, the least it could do was entertain him. Fizz up or dance sparks. Something else other than remaining unmoving and looking, well, awfully murky.
Mystina spoke his thoughts. "This stuff looks like something that came from a swamp."
"Nonsense. It's better than that. Soup, really." Lezard's mouth formed a line, hiding his impatience. Normally, he was fine with experimenting, but today he felt as if he were running in circles. They had tried a vast array of combinations of ingredients in many quantities, but still they yielded no intended result.
"We've another hour to go before class is over," Mystina informed him, checking the overhead clock above the teacher's desk. She held out the logbook currently grasped in her hand to him. "Let me have a go at mixing. I'm sure I'll get it right."
Lezard wasn't going to let a passed hour be his setback. "We do have an hour left as you say. I'll come up with a solution."
Mystina looked a little miffed. "Hey, I'm as good at creating solutions as you are. Give me a chance!"
Her furrowed brow turned to a frustrated scowl as the poor girl stewed as she waited for Lezard's answer. She did have a valid point; her magical abilities were quite impressive. But then again, it was she who had been assigned as the journalist out of the pair so who was he to argue over that?
When Lezard only smirked and picked up a hefty volume about chemical reactions in anticipation for some sort of enlightenment, Mystina gritted her teeth. Dare he say she was adorable when mad? Heaven forbid it wasn't going to happen any time soon with this woman.
"C'mon, Valeth, you've had your turn." Surprise caught him momentarily when the legs of Mystina's wooden stool scraped against the stone floor when she suddenly stood. She lunged forward to wrap hands around the book he possessed.
Nimble reactions scurried the leather cover away from grabby fingers a mite second before her hands wrapped around it. Lezard shook his head coyly. "No, no, Mysty, I am still conductor of this table."
Mystina reached again farther, lightly bumping against the edge of the table on her side. Lezard nodded his chin to her direction. "Watch it, or you'll lose your balance. Destroy our attempts and we'll surely fail. Or shall I say you when I speak with headmistress Lorenta." A twitch formed on Lezard's lips. He could be very persuasive when need be.
At the mere mention of their teacher's name, the anger on Mystina's face intensified. "That witch?" she hissed quietly when she noticed their topic of discussion heading around the classroom to check up on her students' progress.
With the pause and her distracted state, Lezard felt it was safe to flip open pages once again, and did. The ebony words printed on yellowing paper drew him in. Not enough that he was completely blocking out the rest of the outside world and couldn't converse, of course. That Mysty was a firecracker and he, invariably, must be her lighter of her fuse this class. He must be vigilant. "Still touchy about last week's incident? You did realize you were playing a tad too much with your staff before Lorenta confiscated it."
Mystina made a disapproving noise. "If she gave us more freedom when casting those spells I wouldn't have felt so restricted by her dumb rules."
The mage didn't like authority. Nor did Lezard, but he had enough class not to openly bellyache about their teacher's strictness. "This school is what it is. An institution for fine higher learning that does require the occasional drawback of limits to casting spells. Everyone would throw spells around without any consideration at all for safety. Hmm, a touch of Riqjuir weed can be a catalyst," he murmured in interest as he read a line.
"I can't believe she likes me so much. I know I'm a protégé and all but god, she's such a pain!" Mystina tapped her foot on the ground, crossed her arms and huffed.
"Mmm, you dislike her so and yet you're her favorite pupil." Lezard delighted at observing the resentment on the spell caster's pretty face. So much anguish against one person. Squirming under the net of loathing, Mysty could do nothing about it unless she wanted to have a falling out and lose the privilege of attaining grand knowledge of the mystic arts. Lorenta was one of the best mages around this academy. She had far greater knowledge of magic then either of them, but Lezard vowed that would change one day.
Perusing his tome he could do no longer when Lezard stared at empty air and his hands when the conniving Mystina swiped the loosened manual from his hold. She raised the book in triumph. "Yes! I can be the experimenter now." She replaced his missing book with the notebook of their tests. "Your writing is so lovely," Mystina added as though to seal the deal.
"You know that's not possible. We were assigned our tasks and that won't change unless Lorenta does." Lezard felt a tick of victorious pleasure at the truth of his statement. Her adherence to policy was openly authoritarian. "If you would kindly return it, please." Lezard watched her through his frames and plaintively held out an open hand.
Mystina pressed her lips together to stifle a yell, but she calmly passed the book back. She was not one to give in gracefully, for the next thing Lezard knew she slid his glasses off the bridge of his nose.
"Ha! Take that!" Mystina crowed.
A groan built up inside Lezard but with the world appearing fuzzy, acquiring his eyewear seemed the better course of action than letting out his annoyance. "What will taking my glasses accomplish? If I can't see, I can't continue our experiments. A failing grade is not what you want, is it?"
A wide grin spread on Mystina's face. "The unexpected might give us something good. Go on, keep mixing." The blur of her hand motioned for Lezard to continue.
"What is going on here?" an older woman's stern voice cut in from Lezard's left side.
At the sight of her most hated person, Mystina's face visibly fell. Lezard could tell even without perfect vision. "We're working hard," she replied in a strained tone, obviously struggling to keep the irritation out of her voice.
The matronly Lorenta turned her eyes towards her star student upon hearing the young woman's words, her gaze warm and caring. Lezard resisted a maniacal chortle at seeing Mystina fight so miserably to keep face and please their teacher by acting pleasant. Oh, seeing Mysty's mental tussle was almost worth not having any success at lighting their potion yet. Without spectacles, Lezard tried his best to discern their expressions.
Lorenta smiled softly before saying briskly, "Working hard at play time, do you mean? Why do you have Lezard's glasses?"
Mystina looked ready to scream but she took in a deep breath instead. "It's an experiment. We're not having any luck with the potion so I thought Lezard could use his intuition instead of his eyesight to come up with an answer."
"That is an intriguing notion, but isn't it rather dangerous? Your friend can hurt himself or others around him by supplementing the wrong amount of ingredients into the container." Lorenta's expression began its austere spiral when she frowned.
Lezard figured piping in now would prevent any outburst from Mystina, who seemed so very ready to let loose an insult or five. "You did teach us that unconventional ideas could lead to solutions. Dear Mystina here is implementing your teaching to our lesson, isn't it so?" He glanced at his classmate and noticed her grip on his glasses tighten. Those better not break.
"Mystina, you are doing just that. Oh, I'm proud of you." Lorenta patted her student's shoulder encouragingly, to which Mystina pulled out a tight smile in an effort to appear content. Lorenta regarded the both of them. "Do continue, but be careful." She left the table and strolled to the next.
Mystina pulled her stool closer to the table and sat back down on it. She propped her elbows on the tabletop and rested her chin in one hand while poising the open frames in the other like a butler would with a silver tray of tea. "You heard the lady. Woooork."
"You're following her orders? My, my." Humoring her while making fun of her would please him and get his glasses back faster.
"I'm not!" Mystina argued predictably. Then more subdued, "I just want to finish this. So go through with the plan of not seeing properly for a few tests and I'll give these back."
Since Lezard was humoring her, he fetched the Riqjuir weed from the small pile of consumables at the side of the table. He couldn't measure the exact amount of the next quantity they were supposed to try, as the increments written in their log were too small to read in his current half blind state. Lezard approximated an amount of Riqjuir weed he assumed was required to fulfill their next test and showed Mystina for her to write down.
She scribbled the information. Lezard inserted the weed into the testing beaker. Riqjuir required a few minutes to settle into the mixture before any real reactions could happen. Lezard stirred the muddy contents for a while and stopped when he was satisfied he could do no more but wait.
He raised his vision and then raised an eyebrow at Mystina. She stared at him strangely. "What's the matter?" he questioned her teasingly. "Are you still hung up on not being in my position?"
"N-no." Mystina stuttered, a rare occurrence for her. "It's your face."
This was odd to hear from her. "What of it?"
"You look so different without them on." She lifted the metal frames.
Lezard smiled wryly. "I take it there's a compliment in that admission."
Mystina scoffed. "Yeah, you're less of a doofus without them."
"So humorous, Mysty."
Mystina's eyes widened at the container in the middle of the table. "Hey, something's happening."
Tiny sparkles of light were forming in the glass. The soupy concoction had, in fact, transformed to a clear auburn. It glowed a vibrant orange. Wispy steam flowed out of the beaker mouth. Before neither tinkerer could comment on this breakthrough, they jumped when flame replaced the steam.
The attention of surrounding classmates turning towards them made Lezard grin. Oh yes, today was a grand day.
-- THE END --