A/N: Apologies to everyone! I was on holiday and had major writer's block. I can't believe it's almost been two months since I've updated B&G. This was originally meant to be a theme, but spiralled out of controlled. So this will be another mini-fic. And it should be updated every week! Along with whatever else I can churn out.

GOMEN NASAI!

BTW – this fic is based loosely on the wonderful world of Doctor Who. Don't be put off though! If you've never heard of it, don't worry. I'm just disclaiming that some elements come from the series but hopefully nothing that would confuse as I try and explain most. ;)X


The Light At The End

He still didn't know why he had taken the Physics course. And his irritation had nothing to do with the fact that the girl sitting at the end of his row paid him no attention, or that she seemed to constantly whisper and giggle with the student sitting in between them. Van was not in any way attracted to Hitomi Kanzaki, she was far too skinny and her hair was too short for his taste. But he couldn't stand the unending stream of muttering that occurred between her and Dryden Fassa.

Looking at the man sitting to his right, he had to wonder just how old the bespectacled man was. For a second year student, the brown haired man seemed far more mature than everyone else in the room. As well as most of the postgraduates. But it wasn't just because of the antique looking glasses Fassa wore, which made him lickable according to Millerna and Celena.

Even though Van watched irritatedly lecture after lecture as Dryden and Hitomi whispered insistently, their heads together, sometimes childishly giggling at something; Dryden Fassa still seemed older somehow. He didn't preen like the Freid kid, or act like a criminal as Albatou did and probably was. Van was ever grateful that he had a separate Chemistry class to the pyromaniac.

Just something felt off. And he had no idea what it was. But it deeply aggravated him that the pair beside him playing Basramian Whispers never got caught by the Professor. Doctor Isaac Dornkirk may have been old by the students' standards but he saw every piece of paper passed by students and every whispering pair. But never Fassa and Kanzaki! He really didn't get it. And that really pissed him off. What was so damn interesting that the pair talked in every lecture? And were never caught?

What was so damn funny about Neutron Implosion?

"Dogs with no noses!"

"But how do they smell?"

Van twitched as he heard for the first time a snippet of conversation between the chattering pair. He felt astounded as Hitomi finished her question only to look at the bespectacled man's face before giggling as he whispered in return, "Absolutely awful." They were telling jokes a five year old would laugh at!

His aggravation also had nothing to do with the fact that the pair talked constantly, rarely seemed to take notes—Fassa only seemed to doodle, the oddest things too— and yet got the two highest marks in the class. Van Fanel was used to being one of the most intelligent students in a class. But he could not be third to Fassa and Kanzaki who never did any work! The fourth pencil in a week snapped beneath his fingers as two sets of shoulders bounced in silent giggles at a very very stupid joke.

Van stared at the splintered pencil and wondered how hard it would hurt if he stabbed himself with it.

"Doctor Dornkirk?"

His thoughts of self-harm with graphite evaporated as he stared at the man next to him slack jawed. No one, ever, in the history of Dornkirk's fellowship had asked the man a question. Even the silver haired man himself turned from the formulas on the blackboard to stare across the students in the small lecture hall in surprise. "Yes?" Obviously the man hadn't bothered to learn his pupils' names.

"Dryden Fassa, sir. I was curious as to how you would react to the possibility of encountering a neutron implosion and reversing the polarity of the event?" Van's thoughts quickly turned back to the broken pencil in his hand and wondering if he really was turning stupid. The question had made no sense to him whatsoever and it worried him. He had grasped high level physics equations at 13, perfect for his family business and his decision to take a degree in engineering.

So why the hell did he not understand, nor had he ever heard of reversing polarity?

He breathed in deeply, and let go of the pencil as the broken end was starting to hurt in his grip, and he didn't want any more splinters than he'd already gotten that week. Looking up he felt a slight sense of relief at the Doctor's expression. Apparently Dornkirk didn't understand the question either, so he was fine, it was Fassa who was mental.

Van wished he'd been holding the pencil when Dornkirk nodded slowly and replied, "It would produce a great deal of energy. But unstable at that and completely unusable. Far too dangerous, not to mention the potential radiation levels. Almost like attempting to use antimatter as an energy source." Most of the class laughed at the joke at the end. But Van Fanel was silently counting how many brain cells he was losing as Dornkirk did understand Fassa's query. He didn't.

Sitting in morose silence for the rest of the lecture, Van had no idea what would happen to him when the bell would ring. Should he go up to Dornkirk and ask about the reversion of polarity? And try not to sound too dumb when he asked what the hell it all meant. Or should he join his fellow peers and get shitfaced, in an attempt to feel more secure about himself?

The bell rang soon enough and the small group of students slowly made their way out of the cosy lecture hall. Van was still in a stupor over his non-understanding of something Fassa, Dryden bloody Fassa had said. He didn't realize that he had actually whimpered until he felt a small, but rather warm hand gently rest against his shoulder, along with a hesitant female voice ask gingerly, "Fanel-san are you ok?"

He turned slowly, still lost in his confusion and stared at concerned green eyes before recoiling in surprise. Van seemed incapable of words even against his enemy, but he felt even more speechless when a mocking, bastard of a voice called out from the door, "Come on Hitomi! Stop flirting and get your skates on!" The hand on his shoulder pulled back speedily, and he noticed the odd blush that erupted along the female's cheeks and down her neck.

Muttering an incoherent attempt at an apology, Van watched as the girl then walked out of the aisle and ran down the steps before smacking the grinning bespectacled git, who laughed and waved at him. Only then did he realize he was the only one left in the now empty lecture hall. He no longer cared about brain cells as he let his head thump against the desk miserably. Pain didn't even reach his tortured state of mind.

xxx

Two days had passed since his mental breakdown, the weekend was now blissfully here and luckily Van hadn't had a physics lecture yesterday. He had been given a girl's number, which was good for his ego but she wasn't someone he would usually go for. But it was still a Saturday, brimming with possibility. Or it would be when he had finished printing his essay out.

Staring at the printer he wondered why Doctor Dornkirk had demanded every essay be typed. He had been born a good few decades before Bill Gates had even become a physical possibility, so why weren't handwritten essays acceptable? His own handwriting was perfectly legible. But thinking on the subject as he waited for the infernal machine to spit out just two more pieces of paper he realized that the necessity for typed essays was probably brought about by people like Dryden Fassa and the Kanzaki girl.

From the odd note she had passed to the man next to him that he had seen from the corner of his eye, he could see her handwriting was overtly feminine. Perhaps one of the few characteristics about her that was womanly in the swirls and slants to her letters. Not that he had paid much attention. Still, the malicious machine before him, blinking worse than a frightened pig, had decided it was low on power and could not waste any more precious energy printing two more…just two more damn pages.

Low on power? Low on Power he thought angrily. The damn thing was plugged in! And waste energy? Was it going to run a marathon the very next day? The words polarity reversal echoed torturously in his head again and Van wished for a pencil to break in half to give way to his anger or the precious printer in need of a break would be taking a vacation into the garden below, flying out the window.

For a second Van believed it was his imagination or his anger reaching bursting point as the lights in the computer room flickered. He groaned in desperation only a heartbeat later as the room collapsed into darkness accompanied by the tired growl of every computer shutting down as the power failed. He wasn't usually a man of prayer but he could only grip his hands tightly together and ask whatever higher being there was that he had saved his essay on the hard drive or he had put it on a USB as well.

Knowing his luck from that week, it probably wouldn't be on either. And that essay, that singularly individual piece of work could have very well given him enough credit to surpass the two cretins that shamelessly took first and second place in the class. Trying to calm himself as best as possible he wondered if this time it was his imagination as he heard a voice speak from the dark corridor.

It must have been his imagination he desperately decided. Why else would Dryden Fassa be wandering the halls of the Science block at 7 pm on a Saturday evening and saying such a strange thing too? "Got it! All the power we need, and at the fraction of the price! Thank you OPEC!" The words from his personal demon floated in his mind three times before Van made the connection.

Scrambling across the empty darkened computer room, silent without the hum of the computers and rather eerie if he was honest; Van decided that he would be able to strangle the bespectacled bastard in the dark without being discovered as his assailant and slip away happily. But his somewhat gleeful plan caught on a snag, one with apparent wheels as he entangled himself with a computer chair and came within seconds of head trauma. Righting himself and giving a swift but silent kick to the traitorous chair, he slowed his pace to reach the doorway safely and without any further attack from malicious furniture.

Only as he stuck his head into the similarly unlit corridor did he notice a faint red, almost ephemeral glow coming from one of the labs.

What the hell? It made no sense. If all the power was out, what was the strange red glow? And why did it freakishly remind him of the scene in Sleeping Beauty where the Princess was lured to the fatal spinning wheel? Van decided to stop making allusions to Disney films which was slightly worrying in itself. Not to mention the image of him coming across Dryden in a witch's costume, enticing him to prick his finger.

At that stomach churning image he decided to go back to the pitch black computer room, find his bag and USB key and leave. Maybe find some food to calm his own overheating frazzled nerves. It had to be some twisted version of karma he decided as a staggering flash of semi-blinding red light rebounded off the windows and hit his retina. Shakily gripping the wall as his vision properly returned to him he could only thank whatever power had made him turn his back to the direction the light had come from.

His curiosity stoked high he turned back round and stormed along the corridor in the direction of the lab secreting the eerie red glow. Whatever Dryden Fassa was up to, he would find out and hopefully get him kicked out of the college. Maybe Kanzaki too. Life would be good.


Coming soon:

Chapter 2: Into The Wardrobe


A/N: So what do you guys think? Reviews would be heavenly with the awful weather I'm having. Apologies again for the dry spell! But my holiday gave me lots and lots of phantasmagorical ideas. No, really.

ALSO! I'm now on Twitter, so if you enjoy my crazed ramblings, head to my profile here for the link or look up SuilsSaifir!

Sina xx