"Why were we, of all people, chosen to be on the show?"

"You all passed the drug tests and you looked fine when we illegally accessed your medical records."

"Um..."

"You all have a personality disorder and each of you is addicted to at least three illegal drugs. You fuckers are reality show gold."

Eyes opened. Fingers stretched. Senses started up. And all at once, they realized that something was very, very wrong.

Slowly signs of movement started up in the girl's body; whereas before she had been lying with her face to the backs of the chair, looking for all the world like she had died, there were finally movements stirring her from the awkward position. Said position certainly didn't come easy. Her head was foggy from blood rushing to it, and her muscles ached from sleeping in a contorted position like that. Just when she thought that she had mustered enough energy to sit up, the world shook violently and she collapsed back onto the seat with an "oof".

She blinked a few times to clear the Bokeh blurs from her eyesight, and eventually noticed a red ceiling above her, inlaid with thin golden patterns. Looking to the side, she felt the cushy material of the chair she was on, before noticing that it wasn't a chair at all – but a bench. Upon trying to move, she hit her head against something on the end of the bench. An armrest. Moaning, she waited and listened to the rumble below her as she tried to sit up.

Hang on. Rumble...?

When she had gotten to a safe sitting position, she practically clung to the seat as her mind swam again. This was obviously a migraine, but why?

"Attention passengers," droned a rather bored-sounding voice from... somewhere. (She couldn't quite make it out.) "We are nearing the last stop. All passengers must disembark at the next stop. I repeat, all passengers must disembark at the next stop..."

Well, she knew where she was going off, at least. And... The girl stood up, using the seat in front of her to pull herself up Fortunately, though, her mind was clearing and energy coming back. "Where am I?" she asked no one in particular, even though she had worked out the answer as she spoke. This was some kind of train. How had she gotten here? She definitely hadn't boarded a train last night. She hadn't even been near a train last night. There were none where she lived. She couldn't see how this was possible.

What she did see, however, was that there was clearly a bag sitting on the window seat of the train, and the only marking on the otherwise nondescript black object was her name.

Aqua walked over and picked up the bag, tilting her head curiously. She could feel that the bag was empty, so she went back to her original seat and sat down. Her muscles were still aching; sleeping like that for hours would make anyone's body hurt, she thought, looking down at the seat with something that might be contempt. As she did so, however, she noticed that her clothing was different; instead of the t-shirt and sweatpants she had worn to bed (living in a house of men did that to a lady), she was wearing a nearly-skintight white jumpsuit and shiny – but uncomfortable – white boots.

"I hope they have a change of clothes wherever we're going," she muttered.

As if on cue, the train began to stop, and the male voice rang out again. She now saw that it was coming from an intercom. "All passengers, please depart from the front of the train. A member of staff will be checking all cars for passengers. All passengers, please go to the front of the train..."

The blue-haired girl frowned, and waited for the train to halt completely before standing up. She gathered her bag (the only other thing on the train as far as she could see) and opened the door at the front of the car, taking an opportunity to look around.

She shivered.

On both sides sat open ocean, with a large dark blob looming in the background. The sky was a solid gray color, and her vision was further obscured by some rather nasty fog. The train sat on a small bridge, with water on either immediate side; not particularly enjoying the idea of getting blown into the water, Aqua made her way to the next car quickly. And so it continued until she came to what appeared to be the front of the car. To her immense relief, she discovered someone else standing there.

"Ticket, please," the man said.

"...Ticket?"

"Everyone who boards this train pays for and receives a ticket," he said flatly. Aqua realized that this was the same man talking over the intercom. "If you do not have a ticket, then you do not exit the train."

"But I don't remember getting on this train," Aqua protested. "I just woke up here. I don't have any ticket."

"If you do not have a ticket, then you do not exit the train."

Aqua blinked. "...Where will you take me?"

The main remained emotionless. "I'm sorry, but I am not in a position to disclose that information."

She stared at him for several seconds, as if trying to believe her ears, and then blinked. "Um, can you give me a minute?" She backed up into the doorway of the car, holding the edge of the car with one hand and her bag with the other.

He nodded. "Certainly, ma'am. The train will leave in ten minutes."

She shut the door behind her and hopped into the next car, where she continued back the way she came until she found her car (identified by the crumpled fabric of her own seat; all of the other seats were pristine, like they had never had anyone ride in this train but her). There was no ticket sitting on the bench, nor on the floor under it. Huffing, Aqua inspected the entirety of the car, only to find nothing that even remotely resembled a ticket. There was no way that the ticket could somehow be hidden on her person; this outfit left almost nothing to hide as it was. (She reminded herself again to somehow find a way to cover up. This was uncomfortable.)

Finally, she turned to the bag. That was the only thing she had gotten on this blasted train. Aqua sat down and pulled open the drawstring top, finding to her immense relief that there actually was something inside – an envelope. She ripped it open and sifted through the contents, not waiting to read any of the papers until she found what she was looking for.

She found what she was looking for.

Not even two minutes later she was back at the front of the train, looking at the conductor with wide eyes as he inspected her findings.

"Everything appears to be in order," he said, placing the ticket in his pocket. "You may exit the train."

"Thank you!" she called to him as she hopped down onto the platform. At the same time, she heard something rearing up again, and turned around again. She locked eyes with the man just before the door closed. It was only when the thing started to move that Aqua realized standing in front of it was probably a bad idea, so she backed up several steps, eventually turning around entirely and staring down the foggy expanse in front of her.

The dark blob from before was no longer visible (she could only assume that the fog had gotten thicker in the maybe ten minutes since she had last taken a look at it); instead, she was met with a set of stairs ascending into the nothing. "Last stop, huh?" she told the darkness. "Gee, I wonder why." Regardless, she began walking up the stairs.

It soon became apparent that there were a lot of stairs. "You must be kidding me," Aqua said, stopping briefly to stare deeply into the fog. Maybe, with any luck, she could see through it and find the top... or not. This endeavor ended in failure. 'What a change of pace,' she thought, continuing to walk up again. Truth be told, this was starting to make her uncomfortable – she couldn't see any enemy if they were to approach her. And without knowing where she was, well... years of training were telling Aqua that being blinded so effectively was a bad, bad idea.

Unnerved, she held out her free hand and willed for help to come, not knowing whether it actually would or not. But a second later, her hand was still empty, and she realized that she was wrong. Again.

It wasn't helping her sense of helplessness, either.

The walk up the stairs was fairly extensive in its own right, but Aqua's tense attitude and slow movements made the trek seem even longer. But eventually she did make it up the mountain, and a larger shape appeared in the fog. Aqua counted her blessings for making it to safety in one piece (assuming that building was 'safety') and approached.

Nothing about the building served to identify it for any purpose, but the door was unlocked. Justifying herself with these facts, Aqua opened the door and peered in.

Immediately she was bathed in warm light. Aqua desperately wanted to fly into the heat and comfort of the wooden building right then and there, but she forced herself to stop and look around. The walls and floor were made of wood, with a high domed ceiling partially covered by a web of rafters. Assorted couches and chairs were scattered around the room, with a few tall lamps sitting around. All of them were turned on.

And no one was inside.

"Hello?" called Aqua uncertainly. There was no response from inside.

"Hel-lo?" she repeated. If the lights were on, there had to be someone home. And if there was someone home, then they could tell her where she was. The girl took a few steps forward, looking around for any signs of movement – though as it turned out, she really didn't have to.

From one of the other rooms came an unholy clattering, and Aqua was almost immediately greeted with a person who walked – no, pranced – into the only visible doorway. He was about her age, with long blond hair and a frankly ridiculous outfit that looked like it was better suited for some sort of circus act. But it was only when he looked at her that Aqua came to; the expression on his face practically radiated crazy. And he was staring directly at her. In her skintight outfit.

Eeek.

"Oh?" he said, walking over to her with a skip in his step that honestly just made her even more nervous. "What have we here? Are you a newcomer, little girl? You must be, judging from that outfit there!" He merely giggled, sounding rather feminine himself, as Aqua's face flushed from anger and embarrassment.

"Tell me who you are," she said. "And where we are."

The teenager blinked, and Aqua noticed something else.

"...And why you have that giant sack over your shoulder." Indeed, he was carrying an extremely large brown rucksack. She could have sworn she saw it wriggle just a little bit, but it was probably from this lunatic's dancing.

"Don't worry about that, dear," he said, flicking his free hand as if to wave the thoughts away. "You shall understand in time! Hee hee. And as for this... well, it's really nothing important, I just found it in the house. Pay it no mind." He nodded as if this were an acceptable answer.

"If it's nothing important, then why are you taking it?" Aqua retorted.

He stared at her for a short while, as if trying to register her question, then straightened up slightly. "You know," he said slowly, as if a realization was just dawning on him, "that is actually a very good question. I don't know why I'm taking this..."

Aqua smiled. "So why don't you put it back where you found it?"

"Oh, why not." He giggled again. "Like I said, they're useless!" And just like that, he gave the sack a good swing and sent it crashing onto the floor a few feet away. The first thing Aqua noticed was that the contents of the bag were obviously heavy; the second thing she noticed was that the contents of the bag made a noise. Specifically, a series of pained 'mmf!' noises when it hit the ground. And looking at it...

"Omigosh."

Aqua whirled around, looking like she wanted to give this joker a knuckle sandwich – but he had disappeared. Leaving that problem be for the moment, she ran over to the sack and immediately ripped it apart, at which point her worst fears were confirmed.

A pair of giant eyes stared at her from a gagged face.

She squealed despite herself and pulled the boy out. He couldn't have been older than fifteen... why would that lunatic want to kidnap him? Aqua was untying the rags around his mouth, hands and feet, and all through it the boy kept 'mmph'ing insistently. When she finally pulled off the cloth around his mouth, he took a giant gasp of air. But instead of talking to her, like she had expected, he crawled over to the bag again and pulled out a second captive from its depths. Tied up just like the first, the visibly younger boy (honestly, he couldn't have been older than eight) didn't look scared or confused or even fazed at all; in fact, while Aqua and the teenager set to work on untying these new knots (they were not loose ones, of course) he didn't look like he was affected at all.

But of course, he gasped for air when the gags were removed from his mouth, just like the other guy.

"Thank you," said the older one. "Thank you very much." The younger one bowed his head.

"No problem. But what was that creep doing with you two?"

He eyed the door, which was still hanging wide open from the guy's spectacular exit. "His name is Kefka. I don't think anyone knows what he's thinking. He's known around here to be just a little... unstable." Instead of looking annoyed or spiteful as Aqua had expected, the teenager was only concerned as he stared out the open door. Suddenly, he remembered something and stood up, walking over and shutting the door.

"Don't want that cold getting in," he said thoughtfully.

Aqua nodded and stood up. "Excuse me, but do you think you could tell me where you are?"

He turned around and looked at her for a moment. "Didn't you get the letter?"

"The letter? ...Oh, right!" It had completely slipped her mind. She picked up her bag from where she had dropped it and pulled out the envelope. "So this should tell me everything I need to know?"

"Not everything. Come, sit down." He headed over to one of the couches and sat down, the younger boy following suit. Aqua took an armchair. "That letter, if it says the same as ours, will tell you that you've been enrolled in Aberrant Academy, a school meant for extraordinary students of ages varying widely, as you can see." The younger boy, who up until now had been fixing Aqua with a steady stare, blinked once.

"But I never enrolled in any academy," said Aqua slowly.

"Exactly." The teenager shook his head slightly, causing his long but neat blond hair to swish around somewhat. "You came late, it appears, so you missed the orientation. That was when the true nature of the academy was explained. The real identity of this place is the Castle of Departure, and the entirety of the student body has been transported here from their destroyed worlds, not necessarily from the same point in the world's timeline." He sent a not-unkind look at the younger boy, who broke his stare from Aqua (she was secretly relieved) to meet it.

"So... the Land of Algor... is gone?" Her voice had become squeaky. She tried to correct it and failed.

"Yes," he said quietly. "I'm very sorry." If his expression was anything to go by, he meant it.

Aqua stared at the two of them for several seconds. "...Are you sure?"

"No, admittedly. But no one has been able to leave this place since the 'school year' had begun." He shook his head, obviously displeased with this lack of information. "So unless someone figures it out, then the only thing we have is what we are told."

Despite this sounding like it would probably be discouraging, it gave Aqua the strength to find her normal voice again. "Who told you all of this? Who was running the orientation?"

"The woman presenting herself as principal of the school. She introduced himself only as Oblivion."

"What's her first name?"

"She never told us. Though we probably won't be using it much, so it's likely not a problem." At that moment, a shrill whistling noise erupted from somewhere else in the building. Aqua jumped about a foot in the air, but the elder boy merely smiled. "Ah. That would be the tea." He turned to the younger boy. "Would you mind going to get it? Take an extra cup for our guest." The boy nodded obediently and left for the kitchen.

Wait a minute. Aqua looked between the now-empty doorframe and the boy still with her. "How do you know him? Is he your younger brother?"

"No, no, we're not related by blood," he said, chuckling. "I had never known him until I came here. But do you recall what I said earlier, about timelines? Apparently, he comes from a future of my world in which... honestly, I still can't believe it myself." His smile was wider now. "In his time, I am the ruler of my world and he's actually one of my apprentices."

"Apprentice for what?" Aqua's hopes soared.

"Scientific pursuits," the teenager responded, looking almost elated at the mere idea of it. "Apparently we had been studying Darkness and Light."

Aqua nodded, trying to hide her disappointment. It hadn't been the sort of apprentice she was looking for – a Keyblade Master in this odd place would be absolutely wonderful. They would be able to explain everything. But even so, that wasn't such a bad choice of study either, as she was very well aware. "It's important to understand those," she agreed. "Otherwise they can end up controlling you, instead of you channeling them."

At that moment, the third member of their little group silently reappeared with a tray. He certainly looked like a scientist, she thought, even if the coat was a little big on him. (Well, alright, very big on him.) Aqua took her cup and thanked him gratefully, only just now realizing how hungry she was from breathing in the aroma of it. He distributed the other two cups accordingly, set the tray on a table, and assumed his previous position. As he did so, the older of the two blinked suddenly, as if he had just remembered something.

"Oh, we've completely forgotten to introduce ourselves! I'm so sorry. My name is Ansem, and this is Ienzo."

"Nice to meet you both," she said, smiling. "I'm Aqua." She sent them both a reassuring smile; true to form, Ansem returned it in kind while Ienzo's face didn't change at all. He was... still watching her, actually, and it was definitely beginning to creep her out.

And just when they had reached a comfortable silence, there came another noise – but this definitely wasn't a teapot. Aqua steadied herself enough to not drop the tea (honestly, that would have been a disaster!) but merely set it down on a side table. Because the noise was a beeping, and it appeared to be coming from her right arm. Frowning, she cautiously peeled back the sleeve of her little rubber jumpsuit – it was harder than it looked – and when she had succeeded in that endeavor, she discovered a thin metal band encircling her forearm.

"What's this?" she asked.

Ansem was staring at the band as well, though, and Ienzo's expression had finally changed, if only slightly – his brow was now furrowed slightly, frowning at her. Or rather, her arm.

"...That isn't good," clarified Ansem quietly.

"What is this?" Aqua repeated, a bit more forcefully. She could have been a bit calmer, if only there weren't an unfamiliar beeping object clamped around her forearm.

"Well, everyone gets one when they... wake up." Ansem looked like he was finally having trouble putting words together. "What we're in right now is a dormitory building. Shack, really. It's only Ienzo and I in here. I think it sends out some kind of transmission to the bracelets. And every night and midnight, new students' bracelets check for... well, these transmissions. And if you get caught in one, that's where you're registered."

Aqua stared at the bracelet, even after it stopped beeping. "...Oh. And we... can't change the room assignments?"

"They didn't mention that in the letter. I'm sorry, I didn't realize that it had gotten this late."

The silence was suddenly not so comfortable.

"Like I said, I don't know the policy on rooming arrangements," he said. "Maybe we can find someone to fix it tomorrow. But in the meantime, it's midnight and there will probably be classes tomorrow..."

"Classes?" Aqua looked up. "You mean this is really acting like a school?"

Ansem nodded.

"In that case... oh my gosh, you're right, we should get to bed." Aqua's eyes widened. "But, um, first... where did you get the clothes...?"

"There should be male and female school uniforms in the spare rooms," Ansem explained, gesturing to the door that Kefka had come out of – apparently there were individual bedrooms. "Though there is also a chest. Look in there, since it might have some things from your home."

"From home? But I thought they were..." Her voice died off.

"Whatever happened to them, there are a few objects in there that are identical to what we had in our own world. Ienzo's coat, for example, or this." Ansem tugged at the red scarf around his neck, which Aqua had somehow failed to notice. "It must have collected the items beforehand, somehow, and have been able to sense where each student has logged themselves."

"What is 'it'?"

Ansem looked at her quite seriously. "As far as we know? Either Oblivion or the castle itself."

After bidding the boys goodnight, Aqua ventured into what she assumed to be one of the spare beds. (There were four doors from the hallway; Ansem and Ienzo had gone into two of them, so she took the third, at random.) But upon flicking the lightswitch, she discovered the reason for the separate rooms: they were very small, pathetic separate rooms. There was barely enough room to walk around in, between the bed, dresser, and – as Ansem had promised – the chest sitting in the corner. Naturally, she went over to the chest first, and kneeled down in front of it. Her fingers fumbled ever so slightly with the latches.

Upon opening the chest, she discovered two things, one of which disappeared almost immediately after she set eyes on it. But this didn't disturb her at all; as a matter of fact, she breathed a giant sigh of relief. Standing up and turning around, she reached her hand out. This time, the plea for aid worked, and she found herself standing with a sword in her hand.

"Yes!" Aqua couldn't help but do a little dance, even after everything that she had found out today. At least she had her Keyblade back.

She soon turned her attention back on the chest, and picked up the only other object within it; a silver pin in the rough shape of a leaf, with a diamond on top and crossed lines that intersected like an X underneath. It was the symbol of the Land of Algor, proof that she was a Keyblade Bearer, and possibly her most prized possession after the blade itself.

Needless to say, Aqua did another little dance.

It took me a moment to realize what was happening by the time I woke up.

I was feeling very tired for some reason, but it wasn't like I had woken up too early or something... right? I looked over to the side of my bed, hoping that the bright red display would confirm that it was still six o'clock in the morning, that I hadn't skipped a beat. Except the numbers weren't there.

A second later, the events of last night came back to me. They still didn't make any sense, but they were there. And looking around, I was still in the same room I was in last night, wearing the same pajamas. (The closet came fully stocked with all sorts of clothing that fit me exactly – or at least, the few that I tried on fit me. Another wonder of this freakish place.) I was just sitting on the bed thinking about this when I heard a knock on the door.

Opening it, my visitor turned out to be Ansem, holding a letter in his hand. "This was addressed to you," he said. "Everyone gets one." He handed the envelope to me.

"Thanks," I responded. "How did you know that I just got up?"

His eyes shifted to a patch of wall on my right. "I... kept checking. To see when you woke up."

"And I didn't hear you?" Man. I must have been sleeping pretty hard. Normally a knock on the door, even one as soft as that, would have had me up in a second.

"I guess not. But you'd better open it quickly – classes formally begin soon."

I nodded and opened the letter. I had grown to distrust them in my short time at Accession Academy, so I scanned the contents quickly. After reading it, I put it back in the envelope and looked back at Ansem. "It says that I have a day off to explore campus. You guys can go without me."

"Does it?" He looked curiously at the letter. "It must be some special merit for latecomers. Well, we'll be back here at around three o'clock. Alright?"

"Three o'clock. I'll meet you." I smiled at him. "Bye."

"Bye." He gave me a little wave and went on his way down the hall. I, meanwhile, was more interested in further exploration of my bedroom, now that it wasn't the middle of the night and I had no lessons. (What an odd feeling! So... liberating. At least I'll be able to explore, instead of just sitting around all day.) I once again checked the trunk – it was empty. Bedside table – table lamp, check, badge, check. Closet – assortment of clothes I've never seen before in my life, check. And holding out my arm, Keyblade – check!

I don't know what I would do without this thing. Though it would do to keep it out of sight, at least for now.

Because now, I have a date with one Mr. Oblivion.

The letter, in a nutshell, was this: 'Dear Aqua, you have been excused from classes today in order to gather your bearings in the Accession Academy campus. Please note that any attempts to escape the campus will result in your untimely and bloody demise. A map of campus has been included for your convenience.'

I looked around, and soon located a clock sitting on the wall. 8:45.

Okay then.

I cracked my knuckles (never mind how unladylike it's supposed to be) and turned back on the wardrobe. I guess my old clothes weren't able to be carried over. Filtering through the contents, I decided that even if I wasn't going to class today, I had better get into the habit of wearing this uniform. This in mind, I put on my new clothes. Surprise surprise, it fits perfectly.

Honestly, this looks like it could be the men's uniform. White dress shirt (with tie), admittedly spiffy black jacket, white pants. Also included was a gray vest and mid-length white skirt – I figured that was the summer option, but considering the weather last night, I went for the coat and pants instead. So with my new uniform on, I went out of my room into the hallway again. But upon poking my head out oft he front door, I realized that there was nothing in that direction but the empty cliffs and the rails from last night.

"So they have to climb a mountain to get to school?" I asked. Not that that was a problem, but...

"There's a back door," announced a laughing voice from somewhere above me.

I looked up to discover the silhouette of a person sitting on the edge of the roof, dangling his feet over. I couldn't see much more than his outline, though – what little light the sun provided today was sitting behind him.

"What are you doing up there?" I called. "Are you a student here?"

"C'mon up, the weather's fine." He patted the seat next to him as a form of response.

Shaking my head, I walked over to a tree and climbed up. There weren't very many footholds, so it was an... interesting experience, but at least this would serve as part of my warmup for today. From a sturdy-looking branch, I promptly leaped over onto the roof of the building, dusting off my clothes. (Whose bright idea was it to give us white pants?) Thus accomplished, I walked over to find him staring at me like I'd just grown a few heads.

"What?" I asked.

He laughed then. "I didn't think you'd actually do it." Oh no he didn't.

"Well, why not?" I sat down next to him.

"'Cause you're... well, you don't look like the kind of girl who can scale a tree, you know."

"Sure." I gave him a look. "Anyway, you still didn't answer my question." He did seem to be a student, since he was wearing the uniform (the boys get tan pants, apparently), but that didn't explain why he was lolligagging around on some random roof instead of, say, I don't know, going to class.

"It's a nice day," he said in response, lying down. "Figured I'd head up to a sunning rock, get a little shut-eye."

"Shouldn't you be in class?"

He looked over at me with a crooked smile. "I've gone to school every day this week. Been a good boy. I can get a break every once in a while, right?"

"Oh, 'every day this week', is it? It's Tuesday."

"Yeah, well, that's a serious achievement!"

I rolled my eyes. "Your grades are going to drop with an attitude like that."

"Grades? What grades? They don't mean anything."

"Yes they do!" I stuttered. "If you don't get good grades, then you'll be expelled... or spend your life selling something shady on a street corner! Plus, you'll look like an idiot."

"Where am I going to go? The world's been destroyed, remember. They can't expel me. And there's no street corner to sell stuff on, either." He turned to me with another smile. "And I'm an idiot already, so what's the harm?"

I pulled my legs around me. "What an awful attitude."

"This coming from someone who isn't in class either?"

"It's my first day! I have it off!"

He sat up suddenly, interested. "Oh really? Haven't seen a new face in a while." He rearranged himself just a bit. "Anyway... what's your name, eh, beautiful?"

Despite myself, I felt an unholy blush fly across my face. "...Beautiful?"

"Sure." He shot me another one of those crooked grins. "So, I'm Axel. What's your name?"

'Axel. Not a common name,' I thought, even through the cloud of embarrassment that had taken me over from his little 'beautiful' comment. "...Aqua," I managed.

And just like that, he reached over and patted – patted? More like hit – me on the back. "Welcome to Aberrant Academy, newbie. I'd like to say that this old place will grow on ya, but y'know, I mustn't tell a lie."

I sincerely doubted that this guy cared at all about how many lies he told. "Right," I said. "Thanks for the welcome, anyway."

"So you're hanging out in this building here, huh?" Axel stomped his foot on the roof a couple of times. "I thought this was a boys' dorm." He gave me the nastiest smile on the planet, but that was quickly wiped off his face when he saw my expression. "Unless you're a..."

"No," I said quickly, seeing where he was going. "It's the bracelet. This was the first dorm I found. Maybe if they wanted to have gender segregations then they should have sent us to rooms that were actually our gender."

Axel leaned his head on his knees. "That's usually what they do," he said. "You came here by train, right?"

I nodded.

"I thought so. Everyone is supposed to stop at a dorm with an open spot that's specified for their gender."

"Is this building the last one around the line?" I asked suddenly.

"...Yeah," he said, looking at me funny. "How'd you know?"

"Because there was an announcement on the train that said this was the last stop," I remarked primly. "No one wanted to tell me what would happen if I refused to get off the train."

Axel shrugged. Apparently he didn't know the answer to that question either.

"Yeah, well, I'll leave you to your sleeping now," I said, getting up. "I should be looking around campus."

"Did you get your schedule yet?" he asked.

"No. Where would it be?"

The teenager stood up as well and pointed to an object on the ground – a mailbox. "Probably in there," he said. "You should go down and check. Maybe we have a class together or something." He gave me a wry smile there, probably expecting me to swoon and melt in his arms. Try again later, buster.

"Yeah, I'll go see what it says right now." I used the tree to climb down just as I came up, and upon opening the mailbox I realized that there actually was a few envelopes in there. Flipping through them on the lawn, I skipped through all of the ones addressed to Ansem until I found one for me. Ripping it open, I discovered that it was just as Axel had promised. There was a schedule in the envelope, with my name on it. How convenient.

"Did you get it?" Axel howled from the roof.

I waved the letter at him in response, and then climbed back up the tree and onto the roof. (Honestly, I'm going to get so many tears in my clothes if I keep doing this...)

"Let's see!" he said, sounding much too excited to be talking about some random stranger's class schedule. (This will be my first time learning in an actual school, instead of with tutors. It sounds like an interesting experience.)

Without even looking at it, I hand the paper over to him. He scanned the list quickly, expression unchanging, and then hands it back to me. "Not bad, not bad," he admitted. "Got a few clunkers, but everyone does. Plus you've got me for math and gym." Another one of those annoying smirks. Will this guy never give up? "Anyway, looks like I'm not going to get any sleep here. Want me to give you a tour of the school? There's some weird shit here, I tell ya."

I winced at his language, but nodded. "Thank you."

He beamed – stupid boy must think that this is supposed to be some kind of date. "Well then, m'lady, let's get this show on the road."

Hi everyone! Looks like even I have been caught up in the obsessive need to create a high-school AU. But even this simple concept - 'take a bunch of characters and put them in a school setting' - apparently isn't good enough for me! So, can our heroine can make sense of the ludicrous Aberrant Academy? What secrets hide within the the school... and its inhabitants? Will Axel ever get the memo that Aqua isn't really into him? Find out on the next chapter of The World is Yours!

(Don't ask about the Ansem Retort quote and everything will be juuuust fiiiiiine.)

- Gira