Author's note: Oh screw formatting. I'm too tired to put up with this uphill battle. This was written for a friend who is totally in love with Kurasame. Gah stupid formatting. I'm ranting. I know. In my previous chapter, this stupid site even erased out my word fanfiction dot net so now I have to type like a retard like this. Whatever.
xXx
Her first few hours alone in the famed Peristylium of Suzaku was anything but pleasant. There was a language barrier. English was known as the 'common' language and it was hardly spoken by the students for it was the language of the peasants. An instructor had told her that even though their country was made up of poor people who had to cut their way through the pockets of the wealthy just to feed themselves with bread and water, once an individual was accepted into the Peristylium, they are no longer people of the common folk. They would be considered wealthy individuals who could afford the luxury of wearing velvet and gold and as such, the wealthy aristocrats must speak the language worthy of the upper crusts and the Common language was not one of them.
Lessons, texts, signboards and battle commands were issued in latin. Even their school song and national anthem was in full fledged latin.
"Latin...is a dead language in my world." Cienna said as she sat down on a stack of hay at the chocobo range.
The female instructor hummed in acknowledgement as they both ate. Kurasame had handed her the role of babysitting the strange young girl and Emina Hanaharu had suspected that it was due to her unrelenting patience and acceptance of strange new things (and people) did the icy blade of death entrusted the task to her.
Hanaharu didn't mind. She had fished the terrified girl out from the hallway. Introducing herself as the cadet commander who was in charge of overseeing the general well being of the Peristylium's soldiers, identified by the men and women who wore red cloaks instead of the school uniforms, she had immediately asked Cienna in fluent Common if she was hungry.
Emina decided to hold a tiny game of ice breaker at the most quietest place in the Peristylium; the chocobo range, over a spread of assorted foods. She had no idea what the girl ate back in her world or what kind of food would she like or dislike. So, she had brought in a bit of everything from their cafeteria.
It was there, amongst the giant winged creatures, did Emina began to teach the girl about the language, the Peristylium, Suzaku and the mysteries of Oriense.
"But you are familiar with the Concordian language." Emina pushed a bowl of fruits to her.
"Japanese and Korean?" Cienna placed some rice into her mouth, only to feel a burning sensation dominate the roof of her mouth.
Emina had brought her cuisine from all the four nations and Concordia's cuisine held very strong similarities to a certain land back home.
"Japanese and Korean is what Concordian language is made of." Cienna explained, attempting not to flail at the fiery sensation in her mouth. "I don't think I can learn Latin in a day. Further more...how will I get back? What will I even do here?"
The chocolate haired woman tipped her head, seemingly deep in thoughts before replying slowly. "We'll figure it out. It's only been 6 hours since you've arrived here. Give it some time. We're all exhausted, you better get some rest. I'll show you to your room, ne?"
xXx
Kurasame Susaya stared at himself in the mirror. His pet Tonberry was asleep, all nestled up against his covers on his bed at a corner of his room.
It was only within the secured premises of his room did he dared to shrug his uniform and mask off. The 27 year old brushed a strand of damp hair away, willing himself not to get haunted by Miwa's ghost.
He thought that he had finally gotten over her death. He thought that if he continued to look at the nasty scar Glenn had given him, he would eventually conquer the memory.
Try as hard as he could, whenever he stared at his scars, the memory of the 1st battle of Judacea would haunt him as if it only took place the previous day. He remembered how he had planned to take Miwa out once the battle was over. The 1st battle of Judacea had taken place on her 18th birthday. No one ever dreamed that Glenn would betray them like that.
The nasty memory halted as soon as it came.
It dawned upon the Icy blade of death that the girl who fell from the sky...reminded him strongly of Miwa; leader of their famed elite force.
Fate was indeed cruel.
xXx
There were no staircases in the Peristylium. The occupants of the military school relied on the use of teleporters to get around the huge campus. The sensation of being teleported around by magic was foreign and unpleasant. Emina had shown her how to work the damn thing but it was still confusing. Magic back on Earth was practiced by a people who followed a certain religious order and it was labeled as "The Craft".
It was invisible and it wasn't flashy. Magic in the world of Oriense was different. It was flashy and it certainly did not follow a three fold law. Not much anyways.
The occupants of that world live with it every waking day. Cienna told herself that she would never ever get used to being 'beamed' around from place to place in the peristylium.
Her dormitory was nested amongst the Elite class' sector for the time being. Cienna suspect that it was so that the icy blade of death and Hanaharu could keep close tabs on her.
If there was one thing Cienna learned about class zero in the flesh was that they weren't at all nice people unlike their video game counterparts. They were arrogant, high and mighty bastards, taking on an attitude problem similar to their intimidating instructor. Trust and companionship was something Cienna had to earn from the messiahs she was going to be bunking in with.