The door of the classroom opened, the sound of their swift movement inaudible In the noise outside. The bell rang a few moments ago, and the corridors of the Academy filled with students chatting, laughing, arguing, or just heading for their next classes, in groups or separately, colours whirling all around, blue, yellow, and red.
Three stains of white stepped out through the opened door, standing out immediately among the others, and the three tall figures headed calmly for their next lesson, as if the rest of the world did not exist. And it was almost true.
The three elites…
Excited whispers outbroke all over the place. It was few months into the school year already, but those three were still the main object of gossips and general excitement and interest.
Girls giggled, boys glared. Well, with few exceptions of course.
And the three just continued walking and chatting only among themselves.
As they passed a group of second-year Ra Yellows, the words suddenly became more audible. As if everyone was trying to hear what they said. Everyone was hungry for new gossips.
"You heard what they say? In the library, I heard that that guy, Fujiwara Yusuke, was borrowing some odd books… some of the older tomes about alchemy, magic, shit like that…"
"Hah, you kidding? So the great Elite is messing around with occultism? Now that's something…"
"Maybe that's how he's making his grades and the girls go crazy? He's just casting black magic spells?"
The group chuckled meanly, and although everyone immediately devoured the new bit of information, there was one feeling that lingered, that tainted the thoughts, the words, the looks, and made the gossip be what is was – just a gossip everyone would talk about but only a few believe. And there was just one noun for that.
Jealousy.
Only a slight twitch in the face of a green-haired Elite with slant purple eyes and a cautious, odd glance sent towards the group of Yellows, unnoticed, showed that he heard it. No one even tried to figure what he thought of it all… and his companions would not ask. They just looked at him a bit worriedly, but their chat and laughing never stopped.
For a few steps more, there was almost complete silence, only slowly passing from a breath-like whispers, through mutters and to normal talk. As if no one ever said a thing about the one of the Elites, and they just kept walking. As if it was some torment put on them by a divine power, the travel seemed to never end. Who even made their schedule that their next lesson was in the other end of the school…?
But nothing happened. No particular new gossips, no interesting bits about their lives, only usual giggles, whispers, more giggles and more whispers, and the giggles again.
Almost with a relieved sigh, they reached the classroom and as soon as they entered, the signal for lesson to start ringed through the building.
Someone commented, that they even rule the school bells, and everyone laughed before dispatching to their own classes.
The teacher walked in, the lesson started.
Another teacher walked in. The lesson stopped.
Whispers echoed in the silence and the first row leaned forward to listen to what the two lectors were talking about.
Soon a new wave of whispers raced through the room, passing only the three students in white that were sitting in the first row of second level of middle section.
"You heard it? Marufuji Ryo…"
"Must be true..."
"Yes, look at his hand!"
"But to make a hole in the wall…"
"They say it was a strong hit.."
"He went into rage or what…?"
That's what was always the reaction whenever something like that was suspected. Great sensation, excitement, even anxiety. No one knew much about the Elites, they kept rather everything between the three of them. And this automatically caused one thing. This could be described with just one adjective.
Intriguing.
The Elite with dark teal hair and eyes of the same colour shifted and slid his hand to hide it under the desk, curling it into a fist, head bent down almost unnoticeably, his face kept the stoic expression it usually had. The other two noticed it as soon as they met in the morning in their dorm, of course. But they would not ask. If he'd like to talk to them about it, he'd come to them. And they only silently hoped he wouldn't get any more hurt. The bruises on his knuckles didn't look good…
The teacher frowned, looked at the students, and hushed them. The other one left. Slowly, people calmed down and the lesson carried on, seeming to be painfully long now though. It seemed to last eternally until finally the bell rang once again this day and the students hurriedly left the classroom, grabbing their books, notes and worksheets with homework as they stormed out of the classroom.
Everyone hurried for lunch. Finally a longer break this day…
And everyone was more than eager to take advantage of this fact combined with a rather lovely weather outside. Not that it was often not lovely on this island…
Giggles followed the Elites everywhere. And they only turned even closer and more 'organised' as it seemed when they sat down on the grass in the shadow of trees. Verge of the forest was always the spot where they had their lunch. Too bad that beside giving the three boys shelter, it also gave more places to hide and spy on them for groups of girls.
"Waah, Tenjoin Fubuki-kun is so sweet!" Came a squeal from behind one of the trees, followed by a dull sound of smacking.
"Be quiet or they'll hear us!"
"Aww, but I can't help it!"
"Yeah, just look at him, he always looks so happy..."
"Yeah, yeah, totally! And this smile of his... I wish he smiled like that at me one day!"
"...almost as if he had no worries... those who are good enough to be Elites sure have it good..."
The group returned to giggling and exchanged a few more opinions, all obviously being positive – about his hair, about his eyes, his face, his body, his charming personality, everything along those lines. But they usually just kept talking, never acting. Really, when he was only really spending time with the other two Elites, they only could do one thing.
Admire.
The one of the Elites who had brown hair and dark eyes smiled and waved towards the source of this 'discussion' and giggles. The other two just rolled their eyes, holding back chuckles. They got to that part of their 'fame' the best, since that's what happened most often – fangirls stalking. And not even the darkest gossip about them could ever make them go away. They doubted they'd stop squealing about them even if the worse gossips appeared to be true... not that they were true, of course.
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"I'm boooooored!" Fubuki suddenly exclaimed, stretching his arms out then putting them on his feet. "It's too quiet here now..."
Everyone knew he liked when there was something going on, every kind of parties or just.. well, pretty much any kind of event. He needed it, constantly. And he would obviously always drag Yusuke and Ryo with him.
"You've got those fangirls still whispering there" Yusuke pointed towards the woods with his head and smirked, holding his bento in his hands. "It's hard to call it quiet..."
Everyone knew he didn't really like the girls stalking them on their every step... and he liked it even less when they were stalking Ryo or Fubuki. ESPECIALLY Fubuki.
"Ignore them, Yusuke... and you Fubuki stop whining, you're noisy enough" Ryo sighed, taking a bite of his own lunch. "Silence is golden."
Everyone knew he didn't really think so though. However calm he looked, maybe even cold at times, liked them the way they were and he cared for Yusuke and Fubuki a lot. ESPECIALLY for Fubuki.
"Gah, I don't know... let's just play something?" Fubuki pouted, and made puppy eyes. Heavens know how he managed to pull them off, his eyes weren't really big... he still looked convincing enough, and his two friends found themselves quickly nodding in agreement. "Allright!" The brunette threw his fist into the air. "So, on 'one, two, three' we say who we like out of us three the most!"
Yusuke and Ryo blinked. "What kind of game is that supposed to be?"
The third Elite shrugged and grinned at them sheepishly. "I don't know, let's just do it? I'm not in mood to think of something more complicated..."
They just nodded dumbly. Not like a 'game' like that one would hurt... though it seemed awfully plain, boring, and useless.
"Okay, ooone, twooo... THREE!"
"I like you both"
"I like you both"
"I LOVE YOU BOTH!"
Rup and Yusuke facepalmed and sighed, while Fubuki just tackled them to the ground in a hug, as if he was afraid that they'd vanish if he didn't hold onto them with all his might. Not that he really was afraid of something like that of course...
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Fujiwara Yusuke sat down by the desk and scanned through the homework papers. Taking a pen, he solved it fast enough. He made most of it during the classes anyway. Discarding the worksheets back to his bag, he reached out for an old, worn out book with a blackened skin cover, and started looking through it, his gaze trailing sideways to glance at the nearest wall, covered almost entirely with photos, then down onto the wooden floor, where between piles of books and papers, outlines of a circle were visible, with a knife glinting, hidden between two volumes of alchemic tomes.
His lips twitching a bit up into a smirk, he then returned every time to the lecture in front of him, his heart beating with a pulse that seemed almost wicked as his mind raced.
Memory.
Forget.
Fading.
He'd get the power. Everyone would remember him. He'd make use of that.
Either this, or he'd forget about them.
Darkness…
This name caused shivers in him. Not ones of fear though.
He'd get the power….
And if he'd lose Ryo? ….or… Fubuki….?
His heart stirred painfully, but then calmed down again.
…it wouldn't matter if he did not remember them, right?
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Marufuji Ryo sat down by the desk and scanned through the homework papers. Taking a pen he began solving it. The further he got though, the more frustrated with it he was becoming. He could feel a vein pulse nervously under his palm as he rested his forehead in his hand. Homework, school, all this polite act, all those restrictions, orders, more restrictions… it was sickening, and a small growl of anger escaped his throat, vibrating in the air, making it seem even more tense than it already was… and then snap.
Papers danced around in the still air of the room as he shoved them off the desk with one, swift, furious move, then grabbed and squeezed, his heart beating frantically and in a sick rhythm, as if it was ill. Diseased. About to break.
Tear.
Hurt.
Kill.
He wanted power. He wanted to be respected. He'd achieve it even if he'd have to destroy whatever would stand in his way.
Either he'd get the power or he'd go insane.
Hell…
He was not afraid of it. This is what you face after you die.
He'd get the power…
And if he'd have to lose his friends, like Yusuke? …or Fubuki….?
His heart almost stopped beating for a second and he dropped to his knees.
Hell didn't matter, but something else did…
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Tenjoin Fubuki was slumped across the desk in his room. He attempted at doing the homework, but just as he always did, he just fell asleep on it. If he was awake, he wouldn't worry about it though. He could always ask Yusuke or Ryo for help. They were friends after all. Maybe even more than that. And if he was awake, he'd undoubtedly smile.
He wasn't awake though, and he most definitely wasn't smiling.
His face was twisted in a frown of pain and there was something helpless in it. As if the pain wasn't the worse part of it.
Because it wasn't.
His hands twitched as he shifted in his dream, in his nightmare, and his lips moved though no sound escaped them.
He reached out motionlessly and called out silently for his best friends, for the two he loved so much, as they faded away into the shadows…
And he was alone in those cold, swirling, pulsing shadows again.
Remains of the three of them.