Welcome, one and all, to the second installment of the Hero Academy series. If you haven't read the first installment, plainly entitled "Hero Academy", I highly suggest you do so now… the reason, of course, being that you wouldn't understand anything that's happening here. (Just click on my author name and you should be directed to a list of my stories… you can choose from there). For those returning: I'm pleased to continue to bring you my proudest work(s), enjoy!

.'.'.'

Aftermath

"Nnngh…" someone groaned weakly nearby, just barely loud enough to rouse someone else from a deep sleep. This person couldn't recall why he'd even been sleeping in the first place, didn't know where he was, and generally had no knowledge pertaining to his surroundings whatsoever. He closed his eyes tightly after opening them for a brief moment, a small pressure on his chest irritating a sharp pain in it… but what was the pain from? What had he done to obtain this nagging injury? The image of a blade went through his head, quickly dismissed as he suddenly realized the presence of a headache that he'd also managed to obtain. With his mind now set on whatever was paining him; he also noticed the stark chill that had overtaken his hands and his almost numb left leg… what on earth had happened?

A mask flashed quickly in and out of his mind's eye.

Kei!

Rinn's eyes shot open, an action that would have been followed by his body bolting upright, had his reflexes not caught him… and thankfully so. To Rinn's relief and confusion, he found that the unfamiliar pressure on his chest wasn't anything to be worried about… but that it was, in fact, Paris. It was at this point that he managed to take in his surroundings: for the second time, Rinn found himself in the infirmary after blacking out in the arena… this time, however, he had guests. Across from him, he could see Aran, Sergin, and Astos in three separate beds, all sleeping peacefully with the exception of Sergin, who had the same serious face that he had on during the match, causing Rinn to wonder if he would ever wind down. To his left was Jiece, whom seemed quite content and comfortable in his resting, and another bed beyond it… though this one was empty… the sheets strewn about and one pillow on the floor, suggesting a recent and hasty getaway.

Back to the matter at hand, as far as Rinn could tell, Paris must have been waiting for quite some time for him to wake up… having fallen asleep while sitting in a small fold-out chair that had been supplied, her arms folded into a makeshift pillow for her head as she slept, leaning more on him than the edge of the bed. He propped himself up on an elbow and tried to be as quiet as possible. Well, this is unexpected… and adorable. He thought, tempted to brush back a few strands of her hair while caught in the sheer innocence of the moment, though deciding against it, so as not to push his luck.

As though his decision was a cue, Paris let out another small sigh and shifted her weight slightly, warning Rinn that she was soon to be awake. To save her the embarrassment of being caught in such an awkward situation, Rinn immediately lowered himself back down and closed his eyes, feigning slumber. He felt a slight jostling, which he could only assume was Paris recoiling in embarrassment at how she'd fallen asleep, before the weight was lifted. He opened one eye very slightly after a few moments of silence, seeing that she was caught up in scouring the room to find out if anyone had seen them. After a little while longer, she looked back to him, at which point he promptly closed his eyes again, and sighed lightly. Hearing the squeaking hinge of the flimsy old chair as she got up to leave, Rinn took his chance and "woke up".

Following up a small yawn to audibly catch his audience's attention with a drawn-out stretch to cement the fact that he was now "awake", Rinn succeeded in diverting Paris's attention from the exit. Their eyes met for a time, neither quite knowing how to start a conversation that they both wanted to happen as soon as possible. Rinn decided to take the initiative: "morning."

Paris just smiled in response, taking her seat again. "Are you okay?"

"Just tired and sore… what about you? Did anything happen on the outside?"

She shook her head slightly. "No… everyone just tried to get out of the coliseum through the main exits, then found out they were closed off. A lot of people panicked and tried to break through, and a few people went back to try to help whoever was fighting the demon."

"Which were you?"

"Oh, uh… well…" Paris blushed a bit, "I sort of… hid…" She looked down at the floor and became quiet.

Damnit, damnit, damnit! Why do I ask things like that?! Rinn thought as he hurriedly tried to think of something that would change the subject. "So, uh, what happened to everyone after it was all over?"

Paris looked up at Rinn again and let a faint smile show as she knew that he was attempting to change the subject… she was grateful. "Well… you were brought here by a team of white mages along with Aran and Trent… about ten minutes afterwards, Gana and Verikk returned to the grounds with Astos, who was in almost as bad a condition as you three. After that, when we went to check on Jiece, who was supposed to be asleep, we found him hanging upside down above the doorway and unresponsive from all the blood that went to his head… The Headmaster later called for all of the students, faculty, and visiting families to meet in the Celestial Hall after that and gave a big speech about new measures that would be taken to protect the school from future threats… it went over pretty well."

Rinn considered this for a moment… That's quite a list of aftermath details… that all probably took a good few hours… "How long have I been out?"

"Three days."

"Oh… jeez." Rinn said under his breath, "that long, huh?"

Paris nodded. "I'm just glad you're okay."

Rinn smiled, warmed by the sentiment. He made an acknowledging gesture towards her with his hand, "I'm sorry if I made you worry." Rinn looked back to the bed next to him and deduced that it was where Trent had been resting, obviously… but… "Where'd Trent go?"

"I'm right here."

Both Rinn and Paris immediately looked to the source of the voice to find Trent where there was once an empty bed. "Seriously? Neither of you noticed me walk in and sit down? Trent one, lovebirds zero."

"Trent!" Rinn hissed, face hot with embarrassment.

"Fine, fine… sheesh, I figured you'd be in a better mood after waking up next to your freaking significant other."

"Trent!" Paris spat, sporting a shade of red almost brighter than Rinn's.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop…"

…

…

…

"So when is the 'reunited at last' kiss?"

This time Rinn straight-up rose from his bed, put both feet sternly on the floor, looked Trent dead in the eye… and pushed him off of his bed. With Trent, of course, there was now resulting pain, just laughter. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said as he brought himself up from the ground, "I just couldn't resist after being warned twice."

'.'.'.

"So I heard you met my son." Yazoo eyed Kei calmly as they walked through the scorching desert sun. "What did you say to him?"

Kei shrugged the question off and remained facing forward. "Even the great Yazoo is concerned for his child? I'm touched."

"Concerned that you may have said too much… don't forget that the Red Spire is to be a secret, Kei."

"It was the fighter who decided to reveal us… not that I was to suspect he'd even know? He's just a kid."

"A kid that happens to be next in line for the position of captain of the guard, you imbecile… can't you even bring yourself to admit that you should have, at the very least, taken on a different form? You could have fought them in the body of Astos, for instance."

"That would require the destruction of Gana and Verikk… like it or not, they remain as difficult to get by as always, Yazoo. You're one to talk about not spreading the name, anyway… I've never been introduced to your new friend, here." Kei looked to the other side of Yazoo, where the Original was walking at an equal pace. "And I'd like to thank you for inviting him to our little gang without my consent."

"I didn't exactly have a choice either, demon." The Original snapped, trudging the sand between his feet. "Yazoo revived me for some reason that he's yet to share with me aside from apparently torturing his son… you've no reason for introduction either, as far as I'm concerned.

Kei stopped in his tracks and hung his head. About twenty paces later, the Original and Yazoo both stopped as well and turned to face him. He looked up slowly, both eyes now crying single tears. "I don't like him. He dies." Without so much as a moment's pause, Kei drew a knife from his belt and threw it directly into the Original's skull, straight down the middle. He fell onto both knees, and then to his side… unmoving. Kei walked the twenty steps to catch up with Yazoo, who started to walk in stride with him once more.

"That wasn't exactly the reaction I'd hoped for… he had his uses. The ability to make quite the army."

"One army is just as good as the next one, Yazoo… what matters is the one leading it."

Yazoo stopped again, and this time Kei stopped in the same moment. They both turned to find the Original walking towards them, regardless of the fact that his body was still quite dead not too far behind him. "How about an army that cannot be limited into numbers… an army that cannot die?" Yazoo whispered to Kei.

"Why didn't we have him last time?"

At this point the Original met up with them again and, without saying a word, continued the trek with his partner and his killer. Yazoo smirked. "He didn't exist last time. I have a few more for us to go after, as well… we'll have the perfect offense, defense, and most of all, leader. It's an entirely different world out there, Kei… we're going to take it, harvest it, and rule it with an iron fist… it won't be too long now, now that Lord Alucard has taken the throne."

"The first King."

"The only King."

The three stopped at the gates of Alucard's citadel and kneeled humbly. Kei and Yazoo looked up to see none other than the demon god himself, streaks and splatters of blood splotched about his entire body. "You have one of the pieces, Lieutenants?"

"Yes, Lord Alucard." They said in unison.

"Excellent… I've retrieved one as well."

Both demons looked to one another, then back to their master. "L-Lord?"

A hunched, unpleasantly lanky man walked out of the darkness of the citadel behind Alucard and stopped beside him. Like Kei, he also wore a mask… this one of the purest white. His hair, a solid white-silver, extended beyond his waistline, with two long, thick streaks in the front falling to mid-chest level. His coat was unmistakably Sephiroth's, dropping down almost to the floor. The metallic shoulder guards, however, had been stripped away and replaced with a single white stud of similar substance to his mask on his right shoulder. "As his power grows… his mask will take on a unique form and design… and his shoulder guard will grow to become an imposing, monolithic armor that will symbolize the new generation of our minions. Borne from the body of the last demon lord and the will of the new regime… may I present to you… Reeve."

'.'.'.

"So you're telling me… we're not allowed to leave school grounds to a radius more than five feet without an advisor or a professor?" Rinn asked, baffled at the harshness of the measure he'd recently been informed of.

Trent nodded solemnly. "And since Astos is going to be under careful surveillance for a good while, we can't get permission or chaperoning from him."

"Well there goes the traditional hang-out spot by the greenhouse… what else did I miss?"

Trent and Paris both looked away from Rinn at this point, both looking as though they didn't quite know what to say next. This, of course, only made him all the more nervous, curious, and confused. "Well? What is it? Early curfew? Security checkpoints? Overseen recreation? It can't be that bad, whatever it is. I'll bet… that…" Rinn slowed himself to a stop when he noticed a tear welling up in Paris's eye. He then decided to wait reverently until they were both ready to reveal whatever it was they were hiding.

Trent finally turned to him and let out a heavy sigh. "Rinn, a few families were really concerned about the safety of their kids here at the school after that Kei guy showed up… and some are going to be taking them back home to continue their education somewhere else."

Rinn's eyes widened as he hastily straightened up at the news. "It's not one of the Leonharts, is it? They're not gonna try to break us up, are they?"

Silence.

"Who is it, Trent!? Dieh? Naru? Jiece? Aran?"

Again there was silence; Trent looked down to the floor before closing his eyes and letting out another sigh. "Rinn, it… it's…"

Rinn placed his hands on Trent's shoulders and lifted him up to look at him. "Trent… don't tell me it's you…"

"No, Rinn, it isn't me… it's… well…"

Paris gently shoved Trent to the side and took his place, locking sorrowful eyes with Rinn. Before he had a chance to say anything, she stood up and embraced him tightly, her head resting on his shoulder. "It's you, Rinn… your guardians are taking you home."

It was at that point, to Rinn, that all the sound and color had been drained from the world. All that remained was bleak, black and white reality. …me?

.'.'.'