GUYS I'M BACK AND I HAVE A TOTALLY NEW STORY. I think you figured that out considering the ones that follow me may have possibly received an update saying I just published a new story… Anyways, I just saw The Monuments Men and it gave me an idea on what I should do for the kids of the Razgriz :) I'm excited! So for those of you who have just discovered this story, I SUGGEST YOU READ THE TWO PREQUEL STORIES TO THIS ONE OR YOU'LL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON BECAUSE I DEVIATED FROM THE GAME A BIT… okay a lot. I added in a ton of my own stuff and made Blaze a female because I'm the author and I can. Okay, another thing for any nuggets to my stories: 1) if you like the story, please, please, please review! They keep me writing! 2) If you hate the story, leave. Just leave the story and go find one you'll enjoy. No flames. Seriously, they're pointless and I ignore them. 3) however, if you like the story but have some constructive criticism, not destructive, please tell me! I want to make my readers happy :) Okay, now onwards with the story! Fair warning, the first few chapters are just teenager drama stuff that needs to happen for future chapters to happen. All right, now onwards!

Chapter Quote:
"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chapter 1: Commencement

Shiloh

You would think being the youngest in my entire family, blood-related or not, that I'd be the most submissive and passive.

That did not happen.

Instead, it seems that I took on my mother's personality and have chosen to do my own thing and to ignore people who try to boss me around because I'm so young for a sophomore in the Air Force Academy. Even my brothers and sister listen to me. Hell, the only person I have issues getting to listen to me is Percy, but he is the oldest out of our crazy family, so he likes to think he has superiority over all of us. Truth is none of us are really that acquiescent. In a way, we're all alphas in our own right. Isabelle is probably the quietest, but she is considered a super genius. In fact, she and I both are. We have IQs way over normal. It helped us skip a grade so we graduated high school with Lux, Henry, and Charlotte.

Will and Jem are by far the most devious of the entire group, also considered the strategists. Percy earns second place in that category, helping my brothers in a lot of their plans. Do not even get me started on how many times they've had to be reprimanded by our professors.

Percy is the most bilingual. He can speak Osean (I'd be worried if he didn't), Yuktobanian, and Belkan. My brothers, Lux, and I can all speak Belkan fluently; Henry, Alec, Charlotte, and Tessa all speak some Belkan since Pops and Pixy taught them some (Pixy is Tessa's godfather, Pops is Alec's).

Lux is the advice giver. If you have a problem, you go to her. Boys, stress, family, friends, or whatever the subject or problem is, she can help you.

Isabelle is the code cracker. If you have school work that you can't answer, you go to her. I'm good at it too, but she's phenomenal.

Alec and Tessa are the charm speakers. They can talk their way in and out of everything. None of us have figured out how they do it. They won't tell us either.

Henry and Charlotte are collectors. They keep records on everything. It doesn't matter if the records are for research purposes or studying battle strategies or blackmailing people, they keep everything meticulously filed so that you just search for what you needed and you have it within seconds. Will and Jem typically head to them when they need to figure out the layout of a building they are going to pull a prank in.

Then there is me. I'm sort of a jack-of-all-trades. I haven't found that one thing I'm really good at or that one thing that makes me stand out from the rest of my family. In other words, no matter how focused I act, in actuality, I am totally lost. Maybe I'm the best actor in my family. I can hide things that are bothering me really well. Most people don't know something's bothering me until I voice that it is.

Anyways, enough with the introductions; let's get into the story.

My day started out normally enough. Will and Jem barked at me and Lux to wake up and get a move on. And it was still Christmas break. We were still off. So naturally, Lux and I went back to bed. Next, Will and Jem snuck into our rooms and proceeded to jump on our beds until we both unceremoniously kicked them off. Percy, Alec, and Henry all came in to help my brothers get me and Lux up. Charlotte, Tessa, and Isabelle were yawning behind them, giving the boys death glares, which told me the boys had done the same to them. Percy lifted me up by my arms, Alec my legs. Will and Jem did the same to Lux. Henry acted as a sports announcer and kept shouting out what was happening in "The Battle of the Wake Up." Lux and I had inherited our mother's ability to kick violently and after death rolling our captors a few times, we managed to get our legs free. Once our legs were free, the guys holding our arms quickly let go. The bright side to that: we were free. The dark side: we plopped to the ground hard. I scrambled back into my bed and dove under the covers, staring triumphantly up at Percy and Alec who were laughing at me.

"You know Perce, her bed looks really comfortable," Alec mused.

"You know what? You're right. How about we take a seat?" Percy replied mischievously. Before I could move, the two of them sat down on top of me and leaned against the wall casually, obviously not going anywhere anytime soon. I groaned as Jem and Tessa joined them. Will, Henry, Charlotte, and Isabelle sat on Lux.

"So what's the plan for today guys?" Will queried, pinning Lux's arms down when she tried to punch him in a really bad place so he'd get off of her.

"I was thinking of staying here all day; this bed is really comfy," Percy said, grinning down at me. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Let's go to the lake and go swimming," Jem suggested.

"It's the middle of January. No," Isabelle said. Jem snickered.

"How about we do a marathon?" Alex offered.

"Show or running?" Tessa asked.

"Show," Henry said.

"I'm game. Supernatural?" Charlotte grinned.

"Where are we going to watch it?" I managed to grunt. All the weight on top of me was beginning to make it hard to breathe. Jem must've noted this because he ordered, "Get off of them."

No one argued against him; a second later, the weight off of me was lifted. I breathed in relief. Then Alec flipped over onto the bed next to me. Percy lay on the other side of me, leaving me entrapped in my bed once more.

"Honestly you two," I said with a smirk.

"Honestly sweetheart," Percy said. He had all these nicknames for me, 'Sweetheart,' 'Sweetie,' 'Honey,' 'Lovely,' yet he wasn't even my boyfriend. He just always called me those. I don't know why.

"I hate you both so much."

"Love you too," Alec said. Alec was my best friend in the entire group. He was like my adopted brother. I mean, he's my cousin and all, but it felt like he was my brother. I don't know why he and I got along so well, but we went to each other for everything. We were each other's biggest confidantes. He was the only one who knew I had the biggest crush on Percy; not even my sister knew, but that was because she'd find a way to hook us up. Add that to her list of what she's freaking amazing at.

"I'm going to go get Sophie. Anyone else want to go get their boyfriend or girlfriend?" Will asked, halfway out the door. Sophie Coulson was in my year at the academy. I'd met her a few times, and she started dating Will the first year she got here. Sophie was smart. Rather quiet around big groups, but talkative if she knew you. Will was whipped by her. She had blonde hair and brown eyes. She looked like a supermodel and always looked fantastic no matter what she looked like, making me almost feel self-conscious about the way I look sometimes.

"I've got mine," Jem remarked, taking Tessa's hand in his. They smiled at each other.

"I've got mine too," Henry added, kissing Charlotte on the cheek.

"Scott's out of town," Lux said. Scott Jameson was her boyfriend of one year. They'd met in one of their classes. I forget which. He was in the same year as Percy, Will, Jem, Alec, and Tessa. Scott was also a senior this year.

"Simon went to visit his family," Isabelle mumbled. She'd been dating him for one and half years, pretty much since the first week we came to the academy. Simon Masters was tall, black-haired, and blue-eyed. He worked a lot in the science department. He was already helping design new missiles and bombs. The guy was smart. I liked him a lot for her. They were perfectly suited for each other. Like Scott, he was a senior this year.

"Lydia's on vacation with her family," Alec joined in. "So it's just Sophie who's coming." Lydia was another super genius in our group with an IQ close to mine and Isabelle's. We'd met her in a 'gifted' class. The three of us hit it off instantly. Lydia had fiery red hair that seemed to match her fiery, confidant attitude. Lux had hooked her and Alec up because they were a) adorable together, and b) perfect together. She was a freshman this year but was older than me because she hadn't skipped a grade when she was younger. She and Alec had been dating for about four months now.

"I'll go get her." Will left and I wriggled out of my bed. I went over to the bathroom where I brushed my teeth and put on some makeup. Lux followed suit. I didn't bother changing pajamas. I didn't feel like it. Besides, these people, save for Sophie, were family. They'd seen me in my pajamas before. I crawled back into bed between Percy and Alec. Jem and Henry had mysteriously disappeared. I didn't question it. A few minutes later, the two returned, carrying someone's mattress. I hoped it was one of theirs and that they didn't dump a poor first year out of it (wouldn't be the first time). They wedged it between my bed and Lux's. They jumped onto it and threw out their arms for their girlfriends to come sit with them. Will came back a few minutes later with Sophie. She smiled and said hello to us. Percy and Alec kept their spot in my bed. Isabelle sat with my sister on her bed. Will put in the first disc of season one and we settled in for our marathon.

Midway through the show, I fell asleep on Percy's shoulder. I woke up briefly when Percy shifted a little bit. I found Alec asleep on my shoulder at that moment. Percy told me to go back to sleep and I did. I woke up again what turned out to be five hours later: lunch time. Of course, the only reason I woke up was because I heard one of our professors telling us to get up and go to the Superintendent's office. At that notification, we rushed to get up. I threw on my uniform and brushed my hair out and waited for Lux to be finished. Thankfully she didn't take long. We ran to the Superintendent's office and waited impatiently to be called in. My brothers, Percy, Sophie, Alec, Henry, Tessa, Charlotte, and Isabelle arrived a few seconds later.

"You can go in now," the secretary informed. We thank her before entering the office. Everything about the office was spic and span. Not a thing was out of place or crooked. I'd be surprised if there was a speck of dust on anything.

"Good afternoon, cadets," Superintendent Johnson greeted.

"Good afternoon, sir!" we responded simultaneously, saluting him.

"At ease," he said. We obeyed. "I've called you here on an important matter. As you may have heard, every year, we send our top twenty students over to the Belkan Air Force Academy and they send the same amount here. It gives students the opportunity to learn a different style of learning for whatever their major is. You would stay there for one month, learning specifically Belkan flying techniques. In the case of Mr. Simon Masters and Ms. Lydia McCall, who are also being invited, he will be studying chemical weaponry and creation and she will be studying aeronautics and aerodynamics. The program would start the day after break ends. You have a week to tell me your answer. Do you have any questions?"

"No sir!" We answered.

"Very well, you may go back to watching your marathon. In the case for some of you, back to sleeping. Yes, my commanders were laughing at the arrangement you all had in the lady Davenports' room. Dismissed," Superintendent Johnson said. We saluted him once more and left, barely holding in our excitement.

"WE'RE GOING TO BELKA!" Will screeched at the top of his lungs, jumping on Lux's bed. She shoved him off onto the mattress between our beds and got on her own so she could jump up and down.

"Guys, we have to call our parents!" Henry said.

"Our room, we call first!" Lux declared, giving the evil eye to anyone who tried to oppose her. No one did. They probably wanted to live. Lux, Will, Jem, and I went to the phone and putting it on speaker, called our parents. My mom picked up on first ring.

"Hello?" she queried.

"Hello mom!" We chirped simultaneously.

"What did Will and Jem do now?" she groaned. I loved how my mom automatically assumed that if we called from a school phone that my brothers had done something wrong. I heard our friends snickering behind us.

"I'm offended!" Jem protested in mock horror.

"Why would we ever be in trouble, mother?" Will joined.

"Shut up you two," my mom laughed. "What's up?"

"So all four of us just got chosen-" Will began.

"- To go to the Belkan Air Force Academy-" Jem added

"- For a month when break ends," Lux said.

"We need your permission to go," I finished.

"I don't see why you couldn't. Who else is going?" Mom said.

"Well Alec, Henry, Isabelle, Percy, Charlotte, and Tessa have been invited. Scott, Lydia, and Sophie have been asked as well. There are more people that have been invited but we don't know who," Lux explained.

"You have our permission. Just be careful and watch out for each other, okay? Girls, don't let the guys there intimidate you. They're still very patriarchal there. Give them hell okay?" she said drolly.

"You got it mom," I replied. "Thank you!"

We all said bye and that we love her before hanging. The Banks, Percy, and Grimms followed in suit. All the parents gave them permission.

We could barely contain our excitement.

We were going to Belka.

So like I said, these are sort of intro chapters and getting everything into place for the grand scheme of things. I hope you guys are ready! If I can wing this well enough, it should turn out to be epic (hopefully)! Review please :)