o.0.o.0.o
Sumia couldn't help but yawn as she walked out of the diner, book bag over her shoulder along with textbooks balanced precariously in her hand. Most normal people, Sumia figured, would wonder why she wasn't carrying her books in the bag, and that was simple; she was practicing.
Hands down, Sumia considered herself the klutziest person she ever knew. If anything was in her path, she tripped over it. Sometimes, she tripped over nothing at all. And to top it off, she seemed to lack the basic instinct that allowed her to stop her fall. So, in that sense, every fall ended in a bruise or a scrape, along with torn or muddied clothes. And as a waitress, being a klutz was the worst possible attribute to have.
Sure, Sumia figured she could get any other occupation, but something about Gregor's Diner was just comfortable to her. Even when she tripped, messed up an order, or became so flustered that she was sure she would cry right then and there, Gregor would always swoop in and reassure that she was doing her best. She feared her next employer would not be so forgiving… And she felt guilty for every plate, drink, and food order she unintentionally destroyed when she tripped over herself.
So, using her textbooks, she often tried to practice her balance so she would stop falling. But a part of her, a small, tired voice, just told her to give up for the day and go back to class.
Simply put, she was tired. The sun had just risen over the horizon and she had gotten called on for a graveyard shift because someone else called off. Sure, Sumia could have refused, said no because her eight AM was the next morning, but again, a part of her simply couldn't.
She hoped and prayed that at least the eight AM one got canceled or they did something simple that didn't require her utmost attention. She honestly needed a nap… That, or a good cup of coffee.
As that thought crossed her mind, she heard something from her left. Turning slightly, she barely saw who was coming when she suddenly felt someone run into her. Sumia stumbled back as whomever hit her grabbed onto her bag as she fell. The bag, not expecting the full weight of another person, unzipped, sending random pieces of papers, notebooks, pencils, and pens flying while her textbooks clattered to the ground.
Sumia groaned as she stared up at the sky. At least that one wasn't her fault, but it didn't make her feel any less terrible.
Regardless, however, Sumia was scrambling to pick up her things. As she looked up, she saw the person who ran into her was already standing. Honestly, Sumia couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman who had unintentionally yanked her to the ground, but they seemed to be scanning the ground for something.
The person hardly offered a gesture or a word of help, instead taking off running like they were before.
Sumia simply blinked at the odd encounter, but then felt a yawn coming on. Stifling it with her hand, she began absentmindedly shoving papers and such back into her bag. She'd have Cordelia reorganize it with her later, but she was in a hurry and had a class to get to.
Scrambling slightly, Sumia gathered everything together, scooping things into her bag until nothing was left.
Carefully, she looked around to make sure that nothing was left behind, and then continued on to her desperately-in-need-of-wash white car.
Stifling yet another yawn, Sumia rubbed her eyes for good measure, then started up the car, ready to start what would no doubt be a long day.
o.0.o.0.o
As Lissa ended up following Donnel, she couldn't help but look around the academy in awe. The buildings all looked so new and advanced, the flowers and lawns were cared for to perfection, and every surface seemed to glimmer with cleanliness. The students all seemed to hang out together in their own little cliques, and at the very center was a magnificent-looking clocktower, not unlike the one at Chrom's university.
"So, Donny," she turned to her guide and beamed. "How long have you been attending Iris Academy?"
"Er, uh…" Donnel nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "This is actually my first day as well."
"Wait, what?" Lissa exclaimed, eyes flying open wide. "So you don't know how to get to the square?"
"Sorry, Lissa." Donnel openly winced, bowing his head. "I tried to explain that to ya, but I also didn't wanna disappoint ya."
"Does that mean we're lost?!" Lissa exclaimed, looking around frantically. Truth be told, Donnel looked about as amazed as her when looking around the school, so it shouldn't have come as such a surprise, but still… "How am I gonna find Maribelle now?! Ooooooh, she's gonna be so worried and then she might contact Emm and then Frederick might find out about all of this and pull me out and I'll never get to come back-"
"C-Calm down, Lissa!" Donnel cut her rant off by giving her shoulders a small squeeze. When she met his gaze, he hurriedly dropped his hands into his pockets. "Listen, we'll find yer friend if we just ask for a bit of help. And even then, there's gotta be signs or something to an office where we can get directions, and you can always call 'er if worst comes to worst."
He was right. God, Donnel was right, and Lissa knew then and there she was overreacting. Slowly, she exhaled and steeled her nerves, and nodded to him once.
"Thanks, Donny." she said, looking around. "Surely someone around here knows Maribelle, so maybe if we ask around…"
"Lissa?"
Lissa couldn't help but flinch, turning to see who had recognized her. There, she saw a boy around fourteen years of age. He was short in stature, standing around five feet tall, with light brown hair combed down neatly with the exception of a single cowlick. He was wearing the same uniform as Donnel, though Lissa noticed that his sleeves were rolled up and his pants were a little baggy around the ankles, as if there wasn't a uniform that fit him quite properly yet.
"Ricken!" Lissa gasped, then yanked him to the side. She dropped her voice to a whisper. "My name is Alissa Juno and my nickname is Lissa. We're trying to keep the fact that I'm here on the down low."
With that, she stepped back, grinning like nothing was wrong.
"I didn't know you decided to come here!" Lissa smiled. "I thought that you were going to some boarding school or something."
"Well, I was supposed to, but something popped up and I ended up coming here." Ricken spoke simply.
"Well, it's great to see a familiar face!" Lissa clapped her hands, then looked between Donnel and Ricken. "Anyways, Ricken, this is Donny. Ch-Chris almost ran him over with his car, so I've been making sure he's okay. And guess what, he's new too! Donny, this is Ricken, a childhood friend of mine and Maribelle's. He's a freshman here, and like he said, he was supposed to go to some boarding school, but now he's here!"
"Pleased to meet ya." Donnel tipped his cap to him in acknowledgement, and Ricken raised an eyebrow slightly.
"You too." Ricken turned his attention to Lissa. "So are you trying to find Maribelle?"
"Yeah." Lissa sighed. "She said she was in the square, but neither Donny nor I know how to get there. Soooooo…" tapping her fingers together expectantly, she smiled. "Any idea how to get there?"
"Yeah, I know where the square is." Ricken grinned a small, arrogant little grin. "I made sure to memorize the map of the school before I got here. So if you'd follow me…"
Gesturing for them to follow, Lissa let out a sigh of relief.
"Come on, Donny. I want you to meet Maribelle."
"If yer sure 'bout that." Donnel shrugged, both of them tailing after Ricken.
o.0.o.0.o
"Lissa, my treasure! There you are!"
Donnel watched as a blond girl around the same height and age as Lissa threw her arms around her in a hug. Her hair was done up in large, almost elaborate curls, held in place at the back of her head with a bow the same color as the green blazer. There was a an obvious look of affection between the two friends.
"Good gracious, I was so worried when you told me Chris was driving you! I was certain you had died and that's why you weren't here… Where have you been?!"
"Honestly?" Lissa smiled bashfully. "I just got a little lost…"
Donnel slowly turned his gaze to Ricken, cocking his head. Ricken simply shrugged. That's how Maribelle always is when it comes to Lissa, he mouthed.
"But you could have called!" Maribelle insisted. "My goodness gracious, I was sure you were in hospital because of your brothers atrocious driving…"
"I'd be more worried about Donny!" Lissa grinned, placing her hand on his arm. Again, Donnel felt that strange electric shock from her touch, but not as intense. Rather, like a strange static. "Chris almost hit him! Thankfully, though, Ricken found us and lead the way!"
"... Donny?" Maribelle echoed. Her mauve gaze hit him with such intensity that Donnel couldn't help, but find his shoes suddenly so very fascinating. Swallowing his nervousness down, he slowly lifted his gaze, and met Maribelle's gaze with a small grin.
"Nice to meet ya," he held out his hand in a customary handshake. "My name is Donnel Tinhead, but y'all can call me Donny. Pretty much everyone does."
"Oh." Maribelle ignored his hand, turning her head upwards so her nose with in the air. With her arms crossed, she spoke. "So you must be the lucky plebian to in win Queen Emmeryn's scholarship."
Donnel didn't want to take it as an insult, as she seemed to be Lissa's best friend and he rather liked Lissa, but still… The way she spoke felt demeaning… And there was no way that the word 'plebian' was a compliment.
"... What's that supposed to mean…?" Lissa asked. She didn't sound repulsed by him being a plebian, but rather, confused at what Maribelle was trying to say.
"It means he's not like the rest of us. He's only in this school because of Queen Emmeryn's kindness." Maribelle elaborated, fixing him with a scathing look. "You shouldn't be associating with him, Lissa. It will do absolute horrors to your reputation."
"Eh?" Lissa looked so repulsed by that statement that she visibly jerked back. "Who cares about that?!"
"It's just… how the social chain at this school works." Ricken explained, his voice much more gentle than Maribelle's. Lissa still looked confused, so Ricken pointed someone out. "See that girl over there, with the green hair?"
Lissa nodded, and Donnel lifted his gaze as well. There, he saw a short girl with surprisingly green hair in a ponytail. Honestly, she looked more like she was ten or eleven years old rather than a high schooler, but she was wearing the uniform, confirming her status as a student.
"That's Nowi. Even though she looks young, she's in the same class as me. She's the foster child of a restaurant owner in town, and both she and her single father work very hard to enroll her in the best schools. A lot of the same thing happened in the middle school we went to, and it's happening here too. She was picked on a lot in middle school…"
He trailed off, and as if to prove his point, a couple of older kids, younger kids trailing behind them, quite literally picked the bench Nowi was sitting on, and flipped it over, dumping her and her things off of it. As other people laughed as she examined her ripped stockings, a couple of girls sat on the bench she previously occupied. Almost immediately, she got up and began forming a retort for their actions, but one of the girls shoved her back to the ground again.
Given how small she was, it wasn't that hard to overpower her, but to her credit, she was resilient. She just kept popping up after getting pushed down again and again...
"... Basically, those who have more money are at the top, those who have less are at the bottom." Ricken gave Donnel an almost pitiful look. "And it won't take much to have you pinned, Donny. I could tell by your accent and voice in an instance."
"What?!" Lissa exclaimed loudly, catching a few looks from some other students. Maribelle quickly hushed her, and Lissa lowered her voice. "That's terrible!"
"Think of it like society, dear." Maribelle said simply, waving it off and turning her gaze away from Donnel. "That's just how everything works. It'd be best if you and this plebeian were to learn that quickly."
"But-!" Lissa looked desperate to prove her point, and at that point, Donnel cut her off.
"Nah, it's alright, Lissa." Donnel fiddled with his ball cap, trying to hide the fact that he was actually a little hurt by Maribelle and Ricken's words. "I reckoned somethin' like this would happen in such a big, fancy place. Thank ya for being nice to me, but ya don't really have to…"
He stepped back a little bit, and smiled slightly to reassure her.
"So, yeah." he nodded once. "I'll get outta yer hair."
With that, he turned on his heel and disappeared into the sea of students.
o.0.o.0.o
In truth, Chrom liked Miriel. She was a good friend of Emmeryn's and was very knowledgeable in literally everything. If Emmeryn ever had a question about anything, she almost always turned to Miriel first. One could even say that Miriel was the unofficial personal advisor to Emmeryn… The only reason that she wasn't was because his sister didn't want to burden her longtime friend with such a stressful position.
So, Miriel took the next best thing when she graduated; a professor and chair on the science department, specializing in DNA sciences. Seemingly having knowledge that would label her as nothing less than a once-in-a-century genius, one would think that she would be a profoundly excellent professor.
But…
"Typically, DNA has twenty-four chromosomes. However, there are chromosome abnormalities, also known as a disorder, anomaly, aberration, or mutation. These are typically caused by a missing, extra, or irregular portion of chromosomal DNA. It can be from an atypical number of chromosomes or a structural abnormality in one or more chromosomes. Chromosome mutation was formerly used in a strict sense to mean a change in a chromosomal segment, involving more than one gene."
Miriel, as a friend, was a great person. She even wrote a letter of recommendation to get him into Shield of Flames University. She was responsible beyond belief, not only managing her own no doubt stressful life, but even tended to help manage Emmeryn's and his own. She was completely in on his and Lissa's situation, and on top of all of that, was nothing short of a perfectionist.
There was a click on the button of Miriel's remote, and the slide on her powerpoint changed to the next slide. Like all the others, there were only words, not pictures or anything else.
"The term "karyotype" refers to the full set of chromosomes from an individual; this can be compared to a "normal" karyotype for the species via genetic testing. A chromosome anomaly may be detected or confirmed in this manner. Chromosome anomalies usually occur when there is an error in cell division following meiosis or mitosis."
And God, Chrom was doing his best. He was trying so hard, out of respect for his sister and one of her best friends… But every single word coming out of Miriel's mouth, in her typical, monotonous, no-nonsense voice, made him want to fall asleep. Just. A little. More. Of course, it wasn't just out of disrespect for Miriel, oh, no. He needed to pass this science course as a required prerequisite for his business major and political science minor. He knew he needed to keep his grades up to a certain GPA in order to stay on the fencing team.
"There are many types of chromosome anomalies. They can be organized into two basic groups, numerical and structural anomalies."
He knew all of this. Of course he knew all of this. Yet with every word she said, he wanted to fall asleep. With Miriel's voice droning on in the background, Chrom's attention slowly moved to find something more interesting. Considering the fact that this was a classroom in a university, so there wasn't anything of interest to pick apart and distract himself.
Glancing at his partner and friend in this class, he saw him fast asleep. This was pretty typical for Vaike. The sports management major almost never stayed awake in any class, though this was the only instance that Chrom couldn't blame him. After all, Miriel was just… very, very boring.
"That will be all for today," Miriel's words were followed by a sigh of relief from everyone who was still conscious. "We will review types of abnormalities and the causes they have as well as how they could possibly form. Class dismissed."
Most of the class seemed prepared for those words, and subsequently bolted out of the classroom, bags packed and all. Chrom ended lingering out of obligation towards making sure Vaike woke up. Miriel herself lingered near the desk, waiting for anyone who had a question… Not that anyone would really understand her answer. Chrom knew it was unintentional, but Miriel often spoke in a vocabulary that he was fairly certain straight-A english majors would have trouble keeping up. So in that sense, no one really felt like asking her questions, not unless they had a thesaurus at the ready.
"Vaike, hey." Chrom swung his book bag over his shoulder and shook his shoulder a couple of times. Vaike grumbled something, turning his head away from Chrom. Drumming his fingers on the desk, Chrom sighed. "Vaike, get up. Frederick's filling in for your football coach and wants you on the field in two minutes."
Vaike's eyes snapped open with a snort, the chair clattering to the ground as he shot to his feet.
"I'm awake!" he stood at attention, only to blink in confusion when his eyes settled on a vacant classroom, Miriel shooting him a disapproving gaze. Then, he slowly turned to Chrom, who couldn't suppress his grin.
"I think I'll record that so you can set it as your alarm." Chrom said.
"Heeeeey…" Vaike groaned. "What gives? Teach was in the middle of an awesome dream!"
"Well, if you wanna stay here longer than necessary, be my guest." Chrom nodded to Miriel, who was giving Vaike a stern look from "But I don't think our professor is very happy that you fell asleep in her class. Again."
"Shit…" Vaike murmured under his breath, hurriedly packing his things while Chrom was already strolling towards the door. Just as Vaike picked up the chair and hurried to the front...
"Vaike, a word." Miriel spoke, stopping him in his tracks. Vaike glanced at Chrom, and Chrom shook his head.
"You dug your own grave, man." Chrom said, backing towards the door.
"Vaike, I would recommend you cease your suspension of consciousness during the allotted time of my lecture, less your grade point average will suffer immensely."
Without skipping a beat, Mirial spoke, and Chrom could almost see the gears in Vaike's head going. But like those gears that got jammed, with each word beyond his vocabulary, they came halting to a stop and his expression mirrored that. He looked utterly dumbfounded.
"... You wanna repeat that?" Vaike asked, slowly turning. Miriel's left eyebrow slowly rose.
Chrom turned before Miriel could answer. He already knew that this conversation was going to take forever in a day… And he didn't particularly want to be a part of it.
"Sorry Vaike." he said, waving over his shoulder.
"Wait!" Vaike cried out. "Don't-"
The door shut between them, and though Chrom felt it might be a little cruel, well… He trusted Miriel to not torment Vaike to death.
He shot a hesitant look back at the door, but already heard Miriel sternly lecturing Vaike. Subsequently, Vaike was asking her to repeat herself, until, eventually, he heard the thud of a heavy book. For some reason, he had a very intense feeling that the book was a dictionary…
Deciding then and there to simply leave Vaike to his fate, Chrom turned on his heel with an air of finality about him. Moving forward through the hallways, he exited into the warm September air, not quite warm enough for shorts, but not cool enough for a jacket. Flowers were still in bloom about the campus, perfectly landscaped due to gardeners. All around him, students of various ages and majors were chatting and laughing.
Everything seemed so peaceful…
It was a short stroll to the courtyard, where his friends sat waiting. For the most part, they almost always met here when the weather permitted so, as it was the perfect cluster of tables that weren't too close together but not too far apart. The courtyard was paved with bricks, overlooking carefully planted flowers with trees casting a healthy amount of shade over them. And everyone was sitting about, as they usually were.
Stahl was sitting at the table, snack and drink in hand as he was overlooking a textbook. Most likely, he was studying something for his major, the difficult pharmacology degree. He was discussing something with Cordelia, a redhead who was studying to be a doctor. Next to Cordelia, and surprisingly, asleep, was Sumia. She was putting her love of animals to use, and planned to become a veterinarian. Finally, Sully, the resident boxing champ, sat on the table while resting her feet against the bench and propping her head on her fist. She was almost sergeant like and was working towards her physical trainer degree.
Sully's gaze, not unlike that of an eagle searching for its prey, finally fell on him.
"Captain Chris!" she hollered, waving her hand and standing on the bench. Upon his approach, Cordelia nudged Sumia awake. She groaned, blearily lifting her head. Chrom awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck as a couple people stared, curious at Sully's shout.
"You do realize that you don't have to call me Captain, right, Sully?" Chrom asked, crossing his arms, with a humored grin. "I mean, it's a little odd considering you're one of the best boxers on campus and I'm the Captain of the fencing club…"
"But Chris!" Cordelia suddenly interjected. "You earned that title, you should be proud of it!"
"Yeah," Sumia yawned, turning her head to him, her eyes having evident dark circles under them. "Not every day a sophomore up and becomes captain of a club or team Chro-"
"Sumia!" Cordelia gave her best friend a semi-rough nudge, and Sumia gasped.
"Chris! Chris Juno! D-Definitely not someone of importance within our country!"
Sully ran her hand down her face in embarrassment, and Cordelia simply sighed. Stahl looked up from his book, glancing between Sumia and Chrom in a confused manner, as if he weren't listening… then went back to his snack.
"... Long night studying, Sumia?" Chrom asked empathetically. Sumia groaned into her arms.
"If only…" she whined.
"She picked up a graveyard shift at the diner again." Cordelia explained.
"I don't know why they always call me…" Sumia sighed into her arms. Sully let out a snort.
"You're a pushover Sumia." she spoke bluntly. "They know if they tell you a good sob story, you'll cover their shift for them."
Sumia didn't respond, and Chrom wondered if she fell asleep again. With no response, Sully turned back to their previous conversation.
"Anyways, I agree with Cordelia over there," Sully nodded to the redhead in question. "You earned the title fair and square, and did it without your title to boot!"
Much like how Lissa was known as Alissa Juno in the public eye, his sister came up with the name Chris Juno for him to go by in the university. Although Chrom did want to prove himself worthy of his achievements without his royal name attached, the whole ordeal was more of a security thing than nothing else. Of course, the university dean had to approve of this, but his five friends had to go through an even tougher trial of knowing who he really was: Frederick.
And even then, Chrom was certain the private tutor slash butler still didn't fully trust his friends.
"Sooo…" Stahl glanced around for a moment, then spoke. "Where's Vaike?"
"Miriel's lecturing him for his 'suspension of consciousness' during her class." Chrom shrugged. "This isn't the first time it's happen, and due to the huge gap in intellect, I think they'll just talk in circles… But I don't know about this time."
"Why's that?" Sully asked. Chrom grinned at her.
"Because I'm fairly certain that Miriel pulled out a dictionary to be a translator."
With that, Sully let out a loud hoot of laughter while Cordelia and Stahl smiled to themselves. Chrom laughed with Sully. Leave it to Miriel to expect a dictionary to function as a better means of communication than… communicating with simpler words.
"Even still," Cordelia's brow furrowed slightly. "Is he failing her class?
"Shouldn't we… help him somehow?" Sumia lifted her head. "I mean, he is here on scholarship, after all."
"But this is also Miriel we're talking about here." Stahl suddenly spoke. "She's not the type to let her students fail. Too much pride in her work, even if she sometimes doesn't understand that not everyone is a once in a century genius like she is."
"In other words," Sully shot Sumia a look. "Focus on yourself, for once, and don't coddle Vaike!"
o.0.o.0.o
Some time later, Vaike was sprinting up to them, practically collapsing onto the ground next to their table. By that time, the sun was shining brightly over the sky, highlighting just how sweaty he had become in his mad dash from Miriel. Apparently, he made his grand escape when Miriel left to get a thesaurus to further aid in their apparent communication issues. Sully was practically roaring with laughter at this, and Chrom forewarned Vaike that Miriel was not about to give up on him.
Chrom was fairly certain that no man has ever wailed in such a manner.
With that, Cordelia offered to help tutor him, and Sumia said she'd run back to her apartment to get some notes on a similar course she took. However, as she went running, she stumbled on the edge of the fountain, and tumbled straight into it, soaking her through and through.
Now, it was Vaike's turn to laugh while everyone else scrambled to help the overworked girl, Cordelia running back to her shared apartment to get Sumia a towel while Chrom and Sully pulled her out.
Chrom tried to reassure Sumia that not many people saw her tumble into the fountain, even though many, many people saw. While he and Stahl tried to comfort the now crying and embarrassed Sumia, Vaike continued moaning about his own troubles until Sully walloped him upside the head for his insensitivity and Cordelia came back with a towel.
Eventually, the whole ordeal came to a close with Cordelia telling Sumia she needed to go home and sleep. With the redhead escorting the brunette back home, Stahl opted to grab more food before his next class, and Vaike bolted, swearing up and down he saw Miriel. Chrom wasn't sure if he was lying or not, but he ran like he saw a ghost, so he assumed so.
That left him and Sully.
"So, most renowned prince," Sully spoke teasingly, in a way where everyone would think she was joking had they heard. "Tell me again why you enjoy this madhouse?"
"It's fun." Chrom shrugged. "Much more interesting than being homeschooled every day."
Sully snorted.
"I'm sure anything is more interesting than days after days with Frederick." Punctuating her sentence, she hopped off the bench. "I'm gonna go work on my swing at the gym. You up for dinner?"
"Probably not today." Chrom laughed. "It's Lissa's first day after all, gotta be home to hear all about it."
"Alright, then." Sully gave him a two fingered salute, with a grin. "See you around, Chris."
Chrom waved goodbye to her, smiling to himself. Sure, going to a school with other students was much more challenging, but still… It was a lot more fun, if not more entertaining, than being homeschooled.
o.0.o.0.o
"Cherche!"
Cherche already knew, the moment she stepped into Gregor's diner, to brace herself as Nowi latched her arms around her waist. The small fourteen-year-old was laughing happily, much like a child, and Cherche was fairly certain that, if she were a dog, Nowi's tail would be wagging.
"Hello, Nowi," Cherche gave the girl a brief pat on the head. "Did you just get off the bus, or are you in the dining room because you heard I was coming?"
"Got home just before you walked in!" Nowi pointed to the bright purple bookbag sitting next to the hostess stand.
"And how was your first day of high school?" Cherche asked, seeing the little lizard keychain that she had bought Nowi dangling from one of the zippers. Nowi's face darkened for a moment.
"... I'll make sure it's better this year." she whispered under her breath. "It's only the first day."
"Of course," Cherche suppressed the urge to frown, but instead smiled. "We can always just send you in with Minerva, if they get too mean, though."
Nowi laughed at that, and Cherche felt her smile grow. Cherche wasn't exactly sure of the relationship between Nowi and the owner of the diner, Gregor, but it seemed to come across as a very fatherly-daughterly relationship. Often times, Cherche would step in here for a quick bite to eat, or even to escape from Virion and his sometimes over dramatic tendencies. She saw Nowi on occasion, and the first thing that enraptured her about the girl was the lovely color of her hair.
Now see, people often told Cherche she had a strange aesthetic. She never understood this, however, as she thought her rottweiler was the most adorable thing in the world, and Nowi's hair, this grand shade of green, was beautiful.
So one day, about two years back, she told Nowi just that. And ever since then, Nowi sat herself down at her table, used her allowance to buy her a meal, and simple conversed. Shortly after, Nowi walked back and forth between the theatre and the diner, learning every detail about Cherche until, one day, she had received an invitation to Nowi's twelfth birthday party.
Of course, Cherche bought her a little gift and went, and Nowi was overjoyed. Ever since then, Nowi would find an excuse, any excuse, to latch onto her and see her.
"Anyways, look!" Nowi pointed to the hair clip holding up her ponytail, a purple dragon with bright green eyes. "I'm wearing the clip you got me! See?! See?!"
"Oh yes, I do see!" Cherche giggled. Nowi cheered, then latched onto her again.
"Nowi, leave pretty Cherche alone." a jovial voice laced with boisterous laughter spoke. "She must be hungry and on break if she is coming here!"
Gregor, though older, almost had the heart of a young man. If he wasn't known for his hardworking nature and his big, infectious grin, then he was definitely known for his ability to drink. Cherche had to admit, it was quite impressive. The red-haired man's tone and expression turned almost mockingly serious.
"Adult breaks very short. Not much time. Cherche might starve."
"For all you know, Gregor, I might be hiding from Virion again." Cherche couldn't help but joke back. "After all, a new show is coming along, and you know how he is when this happens."
"Prettyboy needs stiff drink, Gregor thinks." Gregor spoke bluntly. "To high strung, complaining about hair and such…"
Gregor gestured for her to follow, and Nowi skipped after them. However, once they sat down, Gregor shot Nowi a stern look.
"Wee one needs to go do homework." Gregor pointed to the stairway leading to the apartment overhead. "Show the pampered ones what elbow grease does!"
"Is this a date? Is that why you don't want me here?" Nowi sounded way too hopeful, so much so that it almost hurt Cherche's heart a little. But Gregor simply laughed his bellowing laugh, catching the attention of most of the waitresses lingering about, waiting for the afternoon to turn to evening so they could attend to dinner customers.
"If old Gregor could score dinner with pretty Cherche, he would certainly not take her to place he owns!" he laughed. "No, no, this business, wee one. Nothing but boring adult talk."
Nowi blinked for a moment, then shrugged, seemingly accepting it. With that, she skipped off to grab her backpack, then moved towards the stairs. Once she was out of earshot, Gregor shot Cherche a concerned look.
"Theatre okay…?" he asked slowly. Cherche sighed, rubbing her temple slightly as she felt a sudden weight on her shoulders.
"It's… having troubles." Cherche spoke kindly. "At first, it was doing really well, and Ella seemed to be running it well enough. But after the whole embezzlement thing, it just shot us down. Ella's trying to keep everything together, God knows she's trying, but still…"
Gregor's look was pure sympathy, and Cherche understood well. At this point, all of their jobs were on the line… But with this new play, it just might help them.
"Even still," she continued on. "Ella pulled some strings. God knows how she knows him, but she got Henry Crow to perform his newest play here, Mass Murder at the Ballet."
"Oi…" Gregor seemed to shudder. "Sounds spooky…"
"Yes, Henry is apparently very well known for his plays and effects. Everyone who's anyone knows who he is, and this town…"
"This town chalk full of anyone's." Gregor laughed. Pounding his chest, Gregor grinned. "Gregor help Ella and Cherche anyway he can! Let him use wizened years of experience in business!"
"Thank you, Gregor." Cherche smiled. "In fact, I'm actually here to book an event space. Like I said, it's a whole new play and Ella and Henry are deciding on the roles as we speak… We want to frequent our most loved business neighbor, of course."
"Never would Gregor deny Cherche!" Gregor laughed. "Anytime! I even give friendly discount!"
"Now how on earth will that ever benefit you?" Cherche was certain he was joking, but Gregor insisted.
"Gregor will have pretty people frequenting business! Plus," Gregor's voice dropped to a softer note. "Gregor do favor for Ella. Ella too young to fall apart, so Gregor will assist all he can. Keep on the hush-hush, yes?"
Cherche pursed her lips for a moment. Ella was not as unintelligent or flighty as she often appeared to be. She would pick up on the discount quickly, but not say anything. Remain oblivious…
"I won't tell Ella, just don't expect her to not pick up on it sooner or later."
Gregor simply laughed, shaking his head as he stood.
"Then all settled! When will party be? Gregor will have Gaius make big cake," he held out his arms for emphasis. "In honor of theatre!"
"Hey, old man!"
Someone rang the bell by the service window, catching most of the attention in the diner. There, Cherche saw the ginger-haired cook, Gaius, with a bandana wrapped around his forehead. He was giving Gregor a serious glare.
"My service's ain't free!" he snapped. "If you're gonna use me to commission some monstrous cake, you better be prepared to sweeten the deal!"
Gregor simply laughed.
"Gregor promise Gaius will be reimbursed!" with that, Gregor turned back to Cherche. "Gregor will do all he can to help Ella with theatre. So don't worry, yes?"
Before Cherche could get a word in, the bell chimed over the door, signaling customers. The waitress's all stood at attention, as if knowing what was going to happen.
"Dinner rush begins soon." Gregor spoke simply. "But Gregor has one frequent customer who puts the entire rush to shame."
"Good afternoon, Gregor!"
o.0.o.0.o
After ensuring that Lissa got home safely, Frederick made sure to slip into the place that Chrom apparently frequented with his friends. Of course, Frederick used the term 'friends' loosely. Though Chrom apparently trusted them, he himself simply couldn't bring himself to. Cordelia was nothing short of brilliant and respectful, from what Frederick could understand and find out about her while Stahl and Vaike struck him as nothing more than simple folk.
Cordelia was an esteemed and honored student who won countless awards in multiple fields. Vaike was a sports star from his hometown. Stahl was the son and brother of two pharmacists, but not nearly as extraordinary as the other two. But even if they appeared to be from semi-humble backgrounds, sometimes simple people would take advantage of anyone who was higher up. Cordelia could manipulate Chrom. Vaike could overpower him. And Stahl… Well, he wasn't exactly sure what Stahl could do to take advantage of Chrom, but Frederick was sure that he would.
Right now, Stahl was talking to the man who owned the restaurant, Gregor, as the boisterous man often spoke in third person. Chrom offered to help pay for Vaike who apparently 'forgot his wallet'. How many times did Vaike conveniently 'forget his wallet' in the presence of a prince?
The only two he was semi-okay with were Sumia and Sully. Both were also from well off and politically influential families, and had been friends with Chrom since they were all children. But just because the children were okay, did not mean the parents weren't trying to get cosy with the royal family.
And so, Frederick's been sitting in this little diner since about noon, remaining inconspicuous as Sumia repeatedly walked over and refilled his coffee cup, over and over again. He colored himself lucky that Sumia was his waitress. Though she looked like she needed a cup of coffee herself, he knew if he had gotten Cordelia or any of the other waitresses, they'd be questioning him at this point. But Sumia just smiled, came over to his table every once in a while and asked him if he needed anything or needed a refill.
He listened in on Chrom's conversation. Thankfully, Vaike and Stahl were calling him by his assumed name, Chris. Cordelia, who was serving them, also greeted him as Chris. So at least they kept true to their promise of calling him that, at least.
Vaike was talking loudly about his sports. Nowi brightly introduced herself to all the tables, almost akin to a mascot, and was happily talking to Stahl. Cordelia remained aloof and professional to the male customers who tried to flirt with her, and Sumia was carefully carrying trays of food as more of the mid-afternoon college and afternoon high school crowd began to trickle in. Gregor was by the door, greeting most everyone by name, and if he didn't know someone, he introduced himself and learned their names. From the window, cooks were bustling in the kitchen and the lineup cook, Gaius, was slamming the bell and yelling for an order pickup.
From his observations, everything appeared normal. Nothing seemed to pose a danger to Chrom and his friends seemed… decent.
For a moment, Frederick's gaze flicked away from the prince as he heard Chrom's table number being yelled out. Expertly, Cordelia easily carried the plates to the table with pristine balance. As he watched the redhead carefully, should she try to poison or tamper with Chrom's food, his gaze caught Sumia.
The brunette waitress was carefully carrying a tray full of plates towards a table with six people in it. While other waitresses moved with confidence and fluidity, she moved slowly, carefully putting one foot in front of the other as she approached the table. Though she obviously looked worried, biting her lip in anxiety, she was doing fairly well.
However, as she was about in the middle of the restaurant, Frederick watched as another waitress roughly shoved Sumia's shoulder. She stumbled back, her feet catching on the tray holder.
What happened next could simply be described as a series of unfortunate events.
Sumia's feet caught and as she fell, the tray went flying up while the corner of the holder opened and caught her shirt, completely tearing it. As Sumia tried to detangle herself from the holder, the food flipped in the air, plates, baskets, and food crashing over the poor girl. She barely protected her head with her arms as the porcelain plates crashed over her. Food completely stained her shirt and smeared on her face. A burger patty slowly slid down her hair, staining the strands with ketchup and mustard.
Sumia slowly blinked, as if she had simply come to accept the chain of events. Then…
"Oh, my god." the waitress who pretty much shoved her down said loudly. She turned to the kitchen window, breaking the silence. "Hey, I need you to refire that order for table ten, on the fly! Sumia fell. Again."
Her last word was tinged with cruel laughter, and soon, some of the other patrons were laughing at the girl's misfortune as well. Frederick could see Stahl's lips parted in shock while Vaike had a temple throbbing. Chrom looked absolutely terrified at what happened to his friend.
Sumia scrambled to stand up, only to slip on an additional burger patty, falling flat on her face. Most everyone just ended up laughing harder. Again, Sumia got to her feet, running out the door in tears.
"Oi, Sumia!" Gregor tried to stop the girl as she ran out the front door, but was caught up with the table that Sumia intended to serve, complaining up a store. As he dealt with the table, Frederick stood and followed Sumia out the door.
It wasn't hard to find her, as she left a visible trail of food items and ketchup drippings. In an ally on the side of the building, he found her curled into a ball, crying into her knees.
"Sumia," he spoke her name simply, removing the sunglasses that he wore as a means to hide his identity from Chrom. "Are you hurt?"
She flinched, lifting her head to look at him. Then, her face paled.
"Frederick!" she exclaimed. Then, she buried her face in her hands. "Oh, on top of screwing up in front of Chrom and Cordelia and Stahl and Vaike, I had to screw up in front of you too! I'm hopeless, positively hopeless!"
"Sumia," he repeated himself to the distressed girl. "You had plates fall on top of you as well as various foods. Do you have any food allergies? Are you hurt in any way?"
"N-No." Sumia shook her head once. "Just embarrassed, and so, so tired. Cordelia had to drive me to my shift today because I covered a graveyard shift last night and I just..."
She trailed off in embarrassment.
"I'll drive you home, then." Frederick offered his hand to her. "You should not be working if you are exhausted, and you can't be expected to work with a torn shirt and covered in food."
Sumia averted her gaze for a moment. Then, holding her shirt closed, she reached up to take his hand, when…
"Hey!"
Frederick was surprised by the brute strength that pinned him to the wall by the collar of his coat. The glasses in his hands clattered to the ground as his hands wrapped around Gregor's. For an old man, he could definitely hold his own in a fight with this strength, but even still…
"Gregor knows not what you plan to do with Sumia, but Gregor won't watch strange man manipulate Gregor's valued employees!"
"Gregor, please stop!" Sumia suddenly begged, squeezing herself between them and gently pushing Gregor back. Though she was significantly shorter than the two men, Sumia bravely acted as a shield for Frederick. "This is a family friend of mine, Frederick! He… He was going to take me home…"
"Oh? Oooooooh!" Gregor suddenly grinned. Sumia turned, giving Frederick a reassured smile. "Sorry for misunderstanding, sir! Gregor meant no harm! But see," he patted Sumia on the shoulder. "Sumia is good, trusting girl. Gregor doesn't want Sumia taken advantage of."
Frederick couldn't help but narrow his gaze at Gregor. He couldn't possibly be unaware of the blatant hazing between waitresses in his restaurant… Could he?
"Gregor," Frederick spoke, intent on bring the situation to his attention, when Sumia suddenly cut in.
"Are you sure that you want me to go? I need to finish the rest of my shift…"
"Go rest." Gregor ordered. "Gregor writes Sumia's paycheck, he knows the hours she works. You cover many shifts. Covered graveyard shift last night. Had very little sleep. So let family friend take you home, clean up, and sleep. Have Cordelia come by later to check up on you, yes?"
"Y-Yes, sir." Sumia nodded meekly, and Gregor grinned.
"Gregor see you soon, Sumia." he gave a stern look to Frederick. "Take care of Sumia, yes?"
"... Yes." Frederick nodded once, deciding he would not question Sumia's choice to hide the hazing from her employer. Gregor apologized again to him, then turned back to go inside his restaurant.
With that, Frederick turned to Sumia and shrugged off his coat.
"Here." he held it out to her. "As I said, it would hardly do for you to be running around covered in food and in a torn shirt."
"Thank you, Frederick." Sumia said after a moment, reaching out to take the jacket.
As she did, however, their fingers brushed, and Frederick felt a jolt of static jump through his arm. Sumia must have felt it too, as she yelped, dropping the garment.
"Sorry!" she blurted out, stooping down to pick it up. "Sorry, I shocked you, I guess…"
"It's nothing to apologize for. It was an accident." Frederick said simply, flexing his fingers from the strange shock. That certainly wasn't a normal static electric shock. After all, he was victim to many static shock pranks when Chrom and Lissa were significantly younger, and this was quite different…
But with no other reasonable explanation, he simply accepted Sumia's apology and they began to move towards his car.
o.0.o.0.o
Lon'qu strode through the halls of the hospital, dressed in a casual manner for a police officer in training. Though it was casual, he was still respectable, and was flashing his badge to any curious nurse or doctor who shot him a questioning look.
Honestly, he was surprised to be in the Nagi Valley Hospital so soon, especially in this secluded area. Just like how the ICU was for those who needed intensive care, the WPU stood for Witness Protection Unit. Whomever Flavia and Basilio were investigating, they were involved in or witnessed crimes in Ylisse.
Therein was his worry. He was still in the police academy, and while Basilio and Flavia were helping him through the academy as well as paying for his apartment, they also insisted on him joining this investigation. If not for experience that no other recruit would get, but to return the favor for taking him in and helping him out.
As he walked to the more secluded area of the hospital, he saw his boss and his trainer, Basilio, standing alone outside of the door, still in uniform and drinking from a foam cup, supposedly coffee provided by the hospital. The eye-patch wearing police captain was part of the gang-related crimes unit. Immediately, Lon'qu assumed this woman was either involved in or targeted by gangs. As Lon'qu approached, Basilio drained the last of his cup and tossed it in a nearby trash can.
"So here's the deal, Lon'qu. This woman was found on the side of the street by a couple of kids who were trying to sneak out. They found her at about ten." Basilio said, looking in through the glass window separating them from the victim. Lon'qu couldn't help but sigh. It was almost two in the morning… While he did care about his job and any opportunity he could get, he didn't understand why this couldn't simply wait another three hours, when his alarm went off at five. "Pretty badly beaten up, and according to witness reports, she crawled out in the middle of the road and they had to swerve to avoid hitting her. Apparently, she left a trail of blood."
"Care to explain why you called me out at two in the morning, then? The victim should be resting." Lon'qu sighed, rubbing his temple. Basilio chuckled, smacking him on the back.
"If you're gonna be at the top, expect two AM calls, Lon'qu." Basilio tugged at the shoulder of his T-shirt. "Since you're a recruit, I'll let your casual attire slide, but next time, come in uniform or in a suit. You gotta look the part if you're gonna be a top investigator."
Lon'qu simply nodded in acknowledgement, tacking a mental note of Basilio's advice in the back of his head.
"Anyways, I called you out because the victim woke up around midnight, and is starting to come out of the pain meds. We got an anonymous call from one of the nurses, talking about strange tattoos on her face, and as you can see…" Basilio trailed off, nodding to the window.
There, Lon'qu saw Flavia, her blonde hair tied back in a tight ponytail, talking to a woman in a hospital gown. The unknown woman had long, wavy dark brown hair and tanned skin. Her red eyes stared straight ahead, but seemed focused. Her lips were tightly shut, and she wasn't saying a word. He couldn't help but narrow his eyes at the woman's facial markings.
There was a total of eight simple, black lines across her face, four on her forehead and four on her cheeks. Typically, facial tattoos are a sign of gang markings…
"She refuses to say a word to anyone, not even her name." Basilio spoke simply. "The doc in there is probably the only thing keeping Flavia from turning this into a full on interrogation."
"Let's hope that's not what this turns into, once she leaves." Lon'qu said, identifying the blond haired woman who was caring for the victim. As soon as he spoke, the doctor left, coming out and flipping through a clipboard of what he assumed was the woman's current medical records. Her brow was furrowed in worry, perhaps even awestruck at what she was reading.
"Excuse me, miss." Basilio approached her flashing his police badge. "I'm Basilio, captain of the gang-related violence unit. This is my protegee, Lon'qu."
"Good morning, officer." she held out her hand with a smile. "First and foremost, I am Dr. Libra Scales and I am actually a man."
That caught both of them off guard. She… He spoke without hesitation still smiling, meaning this mistake was made many times, and Libra was used to this correction.
"So what's going on?" Basilio nodded to the woman in the room. "She's gonna live, right?"
"To be honest, it's truly miraculous she even survived." Libra flipped through his clipboard again. "There were grazed wounds from the bullets, in which she ran at that point. However, I'm guessing whoever attacked her chased her down and continued to stab her approximately five times, mostly in in her limbs. I'm thinking she got away at this point, adrenaline pushing her forward until she collapsed, was found again, and slashed an additional twenty to thirty times."
"... Slashing isn't exactly a method to kill." Lon'qu said slowly. "So the attacker either thought she'd bleed out, or was doing this to torture her."
"Right." Basilio rubbed his temple. "And would it be too far-fetched to think the stab wounds to the arms and legs were to incapacitate her and make it easier to kill her?"
"They weren't fatal injuries near arteries or veins that would allow her to completely bleed out, though…"
"So someone was planning to prolong her death, then possibly assumed her dead." Lon'qu spoke.
"But you said there were lacerations from bullet wounds and the stabbing occurred after that, then the slashes." Basilio summarized, looking Libra in the eye. "So do you suppose that it's because she was good at evading her pursuers or they let her escape in some sick game of cat and mouse?"
"Honestly?" Libra shook his head. "I couldn't begin to tell you the circumstances of her injuries, and she won't say a word to anyone."
"Could it be a language barrier?" Basilio asked.
"No," Flavia suddenly cut into the conversation, opening and closing the door behind her. She looked slightly frustrated, but put together. "The witnesses who found her said she was speaking incoherently in English, asking over and over about some sort of flash drive. And I'm certain she can understand me, she just refuses to talk."
"With all due respect, Officer Platt, she may be traumatized." Libra spoke as gently as possible. "She has just gone through a terrifying experience, so she may not be open to talk. That being said, I already called our twenty-four-seven on-call trauma therapist. Perhaps after she speaks to her, she'll be a little more open to speaking to other people. Now, if you'll excuse me…"
Libra walked away from them, possibly to file away the papers concerning the unknown woman in the room.
"Lon'qu." Basilio addressed him with a serious grunt. "This woman is going to be going into the witness protection program, but I have a bad feeling about all of this… So instead of sending her to some shelter, she's going to be rooming with you until we understand her connections fully."
Lon'qu could feel a shiver shoot down his spine, but swallowed his feelings. He knew, as a cop in training, he was going to have to spend time with and interview women. It was inevitable. But he never expected to have to share his apartment with a woman, let alone a possibly traumatized one. He was not exactly… well versed in expressing his feelings, so he had no clue what he was going to do when that trauma became an emotional breakdown… And the fact that a woman was going to be in his apartment didn't change the anxiety bubbling up in his stomach.
"Looks like it's time for Lon'qu to finally converse with a woman other than myself. I'm sure this whole arrangement will work out nicely. " Flavia teased with a wink. Despite the early hour and the severity of the situation, she was pulling a Basilio and trying to make light of the situation. Basilio himself let out a hearty laugh, and Lon'qu averted his gaze uncomfortably.
He so wished he had Flavia's confidence, but he has a real, genuine, fear and discomfort of women, but at this point, it was almost something akin to a joke between himself and the two adults beside him.
Slowly, he lifted his gaze to the woman in the hospital room, surprised to find their gazes locked. She was… staring at him. He completely froze, inhaling sharply. He found himself unable to turn away, despite the fact that every instinct in his body screaming at him to do so. There was something in that woman's gaze that made him want to ignore his instincts and possibly…
He blinked, shaking his head and breaking out of the odd revere. Most of the time when he so much as locked eyes with someone of the opposite sex, he quickly averted his gaze and made sure there was a definite amount of space between them. But what happened then was strange and unsettling.
Settling his hands into the pockets of his jeans, Lon'qu made a silent vow that he would avoid the woman's gaze so that he wouldn't have to experience those strange feelings again. Just as the thought crossed his mind…
"Dr. Libra Scales," the receptionist announced over the intercom. "Please report to the front desk. Dr. Tharja Grimm has arrived upon your request. Thank you!"
O.0.o.0.o
Hello again! I don't have much to say this time, but I do want to thank everyone who has read our humble story so far! It means a lot to Amy and I just to know you guys are checking our story out, we're having a lot of fun so far, so we hope you guys are too!
Thanks to Amy (Here, here, my friend!) for reviewing and Weebologist and The Great Fantaman for being our first followers!
Uh, I can't honestly think of anything else, so I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Please leave a review to let us know what you think, and we'll be back as soon as we can! Bye bye!