[[Another description of a person piece I wrote for English class, this time of Alexei. I thought it would be fun to contrast how Schwann would see him before the war and after. SO I DID.]]
"C-captain?"
Alexei looked up from the pile of papers on his desk, spotting Schwann's familiar head poking in the door. "You can come in Schwann," Alexei said, laughing slightly at the younger man's cautiousness. The timbre of his voice was deep and elegant laced with an unmistakable charisma. It was the voice of a born leader. "Is something the matter?" he inquired of the fidgety knight that stood before him. He leaned back in his chair, the sunlight glinting off of his immaculately styled hair, the same steely gray color as the armor he wore.
"W-well sir... I just w-was wondering if I could ask you s-something," Schwann answered, stuttering nervously. He found Alexei somewhat intimidating, though he held a deep admiration for the man. The older man had a natural air of confidence about him, clearly evidenced in the manner in which he carried himself. He gave a quick nod of his head, signaling for Schwann to continue. "D-do you think I should really be a knight?"
Alexei's garnet eyes narrowed as he interlocked his hands beneath his chin, "Schwann, why do you think I made you my Lieutenant?"
"I-I don't know, sir..." Schwann looked at his feet.
Alexei inspected his second in command for a moment before speaking, "because you possess more skill and passion than any other knight in the brigade." A rare smile crept across his face, "understood, Lieutenant?"
Schwann seemed taken aback by the glowing praise for a moment, but quickly snapped to his senses, "y-yes captain... thank you."
"You know I do not suffer fools, Schwann," Alexei stated as the man he addressed staggered to his feet. Schwann resented every word spoken in that cold commanding tone, now tainted with the purring drawl of the sinister, unrecognizable monster this man had become.
Schwann glowered as he spoke, "I may be a fool, but at least I'm not a deluded lunatic like you, Commandant," he looked up, straight into Alexei's face, resolute in his defiance of the larger, imposing man.
Alexei's crimson eyes darkened in rage. He seized Schwann by the hair, violently throwing him back down to the floor, "Speak to me again in that insolent tone and you will find yourself a dead man." He punctuated his statement with a swift kick at the fallen man, smirking cruelly when it elicited a stifled yelp. "Get up," Alexei spat, his face contorted in distaste as he stood over the man who had once admired him.
Schwann looked up, noting that the scarlet uniform seemed appropriate for the ruthless man before him, wondering just when Alexei's descent into madness began and how he had never seen it coming.