Yaay, another chapter! A bit of humor and character exploration this time. And another guest star! Who could forget about them.

And to respond to Jason Black's review since I feel it needs to be addressed: Yeah, I've noticed how ridiculous a Manus beating a Mutraddi creature is after seeing the last couple of episodes but I do have a reason for it which may help make it work. xD I'll try to hint at it later on since I wasn't sure where to slip it in this chapter. It's just that when I started writing this story I didn't realize how big the power gap was.

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"You're late," grumbled Mr. Muller as the Lunis siblings and cousin stumbled into to class, pulling at their scratchy gym uniforms.

"Sorry, Mr. Muller," piped Ilana standing at attention, trying to ignore the fact that her gym shorts were riding up her butt. Why didn't she just choose the sweats instead? A few of the girls in the back of the class crowding the gym giggled.

"Save it Lunis. All three of you missed warm ups. Ten laps around the gym and detention after school for all of you," ordered the bearded man. Ilana opened her mouth to protest but Lance interrupted.

"We were showing our cousin around the school. He's new," explained Lance calmly, gesturing to Baron who was wearing Lance's extra gym uniform (which Lance had neglected to inform him that he had not washed in a month). Mr. Muller muttered something under his breath and started looking up and down his attendance. He started grumbling some more.

"Does he have a name?" the teacher barked, pulling out his pencil to put Baron on the roster.

"Baron Lunis," filled in Baron, slowly moving closer to his "family."

"Freakin' kids coming in late," grumbled Mr. Muller, furiously scribbling in his name. "Now run. I'll rethink the detention." Ilana sighed and followed her two bodyguards around the large gym. It wasn't that she hated running, she was pretty fit thanks to her father's training, but she was sure Mr. Muller had a bad opinion of her which was something unacceptable in her book.

"Is he always like this?" asked Baron, barely breaking a sweat as they started on their second lap.

"Always," replied Lance.

"You get use to it," supplied Ilana even though she still tried to stop the abrasive gym teacher from yelling at her from time to time. Baron nodded.

"So what's the plan on taking care of that loser with the big hair?" he asked around the fifth lap. Ilana furrowed her eyebrows.

"Chan? Well knowing him, he'll probably have his entire group of degenerates ready to jump us at that warehouse," she mused.

"Which won't be a problem," remarked Lance. He could take on highly skilled Galactic Guardian Group soldiers, a couple of street thugs were nothing. Still, he frowned, Ilana could get hurt in the confusion. After finishing their laps, Lance pulled Ilana aside before she could join the rest of the class in volleyball.

"Ilana, you shouldn't come afterschool," he said, placing one hand on her shoulder. She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

"And let you guys run around beating up people? I don't think so."

"I thought you didn't want to do this?"

"I didn't want you to do this," she corrected before frowning and furrowing her eyebrows. "You don't seem like yourself Lance. What's going on?" The dark haired boy turned away, letting his hand slip from her shoulder.

"I-"

"Hey, are you two coming or what?" popped in Baron giving the two a suspicious look before smirking slightly.

"Am I interrupting a tender moment?" he teased, right before Lance's arm shot out and hit Baron in the nose. The flaxen haired boy yelped and grabbed the injured area, glaring at Lance.

"Sorry, it's a large target," insulted Lance before hurrying to join the volleyball game. Baron grumbled something under his breath while Ilana tried to hold in a giggle.

"He didn't mean that," she appeased, smiling at Baron.

"It didn't hurt," defended the lieutenant , slowly removing his hand from his bruised nose. "How does it look?" Ilana tried once again to hide a giggle.

"It looks fine," she replied, putting her hand to her mouth again to cover her laughter. Baron went cross eyed for a moment to examine his nose before shrugging slightly.

"Let's play against Lance's team," he suggested, reaching out for Ilana's hand. She took it. Unlike Lance's hands which always seemed to be cold, Baron's were warm and wrapped gently around hers.

"You don't even know how to play," pointed out Ilana. Baron shrugged.

"I can learn," he said before giving Ilana a wink and pulling her towards the set up volleyball nets.

:::

The game had turned into basically Lance versus Baron, both stealing the ball from their teammates and attempting to hit one another rather than score. Baron didn't seem to really grasp the concept of the game and just hit the ball whenever it came over the net, much to his teammate's chagrin. Ilana didn't really mind since she was use to Lance and Baron behaving in such a way, but the rest of Baron's team kept sending him dark looks. On the opposite court, Lance's team which consisted of girls who invited him to join were admiring his volleyball skills no matter how much of a ball hog he was being.

Baron punched the ball across the court, and one of the girls standing near the edge screamed, throwing her hands up. The ball bounced off, spiraling toward the net, and Lance jumped up to spike it right into Baron's nose. To his surprise, as Baron readied himself to return the spike, one of his teammates shoved him out of the way and caught the volleyball, abruptly stopping the game.

"This isn't fair," spoke the girl who stopped the game, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, her dark hair pulled up into a ponytail. "You're not even letting us hit the ball." Baron glared at her for shoving him and moved to grab the ball but she swiped it away.

"I don't know how you play volleyball in Canada, but here everyone gets a chance to play," she continued, her voice growing softer when she noticed the opposite team and Lance glaring at her for stopping the game. Baron raised an eyebrow. Who told her he was from Canada? He heard someone stifling a giggle and looked on the opposite court to see the blonde from his Algebra class. She waved. He glared.

"If you want to hit the ball, you should go for it. I'm just playing the game," stated Baron even though he had no idea what the game was even called.

"Yeah, just throw the ball!" snapped one of the girls on the opposing team. The dark haired girl with the ball looked slightly embarrassed but didn't move.

"No one likes a ball hog," she said calmly. Baron looked like he was about to say something but Ilana had already come between him and the dark haired girl.

"Baron's just new to volleyball," she said, smiling brightly to ease the tension. "Kayla, right?" The girl's eyes narrowed.

"Kristin," she corrected. Ilana gave her an apologetic smile.

"Sorry. Why don't you serve and we start a new game Kristin?" suggested the princess. "And everyone should have the chance to hit the ball, right Baron?" Baron huffed and crossed his arms.

"Of course," he drawled. With that settled, Ilana returned to her position and Kristin moved to the back row to serve. The game went on, this time even Lance backed off and allowed his fangirls to get a few hits in, mostly by accident. Standing behind Baron, Ilana set the ball to him, to which the lieutenant copied Lance's earlier spike, hitting the corporal right in the face.

"Lance!" cried Ilana while Baron tried to cover up a smile.

"Sorry Cousin," he apologized, raising a hand. Lance glared at him while pinching his nose which was beginning to leak blood. Seeing the red, Ilana immediately went to her bodyguard's side, trying to see how bad the damage.

"It's fine," said Lance, still pinching his nose and shooing Ilana away with one hand.

"I'll take you to the nurse Lance," offered one of the girls on his team, already sidling up to his side. Lance leaned away and Ilana glared at the fangirl.

"Actually," started Lance, giving Baron a knowing look. "This is a good chance for me to show my cousin where the nurse is." And return the bloody nose. Baron seemed to catch on.

"Great idea Lance. You always were the smart one in the family." Ilana reached out to grab Lance's sleeve but he was already following Baron out into the hall.

"You two better not hurt each other!" she called after them, feeling more than a bit worried.

:::

"What's your problem with me?" asked Baron as Lance examined his nose in the restroom mirror, using some toilet paper to staunch the bleeding. There was very slight bruising but not enough that Lance cared to go to the nurse for an icepack.

"You really have to ask that?" said Lance, pinching his nose and glaring at the mirror. Baron shrugged and leaned against the sink.

"You're right. Why would I want to hear more 'Baron's evil, blah blah blah, I have really long hair, blah blah blah, my jeans are tight, blah blah blah.'" Baron was actually pretty good at mimicking Lance's voice, not that Lance would ever admit it.

"What about Ilana? How long have you been pining after the princess?" asked Baron, sending his fellow soldier an amused smirk. Lance furrowed his eyebrows.

"I'm not pining after Ilana," he responded, more concerned with his nose than the current conversation. Baron raised an eyebrow.

"That's good. I think she likes me," commented Baron examining his fingernails. Lance glanced at Baron.

"Ilana likes everyone."

Baron glanced up at Lance, choosing his words carefully. "Really? Does her face flush and heart quicken when you touch her too?" Lance looked away from the mirror to fix Baron with a glare.

"You don't touch her." Baron smiled.

"I do. She likes it." Lance pushed Baron into the wall, forearm on his neck, bloody napkin falling to the floor. Despite the position, Baron's smile never wavered.

"Don't think because I haven't killed you yet that we're buddy buddy," warned Lance. "I know you're planning something. People like you never change. Stay away from Ilana."

"You always did strike me as the jealous type," observed Baron before easily pushing Lance off of him. "You can't have her so you don't want anyone else to have her, isn't that right?" remarked Baron, smoothing the collar of his t-shirt.

"My job is to protect her, especially from scum like you," explained Lance, smirking slightly. "How long did it take you to gain back some of your non existent dignity after that Manus violation? I heard you were banned from the Royal Guard. Even Daddy's position couldn't get you there, could it?"

"At least I had a father," countered Baron, frowning. Lance didn't stop smirking.

"And how did he feel about his son's illegal actions? About his son being the joke of his generation? At least no one expected anything from me. Bet your dad was real upset about his only son failing," the corporal continued. "And lieutenant. What a joke. He wanted you to be a captain, didn't he? A general?" Baron glared at him, clenching his fists in an attempt to control his anger.

"My father didn't abandon me," hissed out Baron before stalking out of the restroom, leaving Lance to finish cleaning up his nose.

:::

"We're so glad to have you here General. It's really an honor," welcomed Manfred Richtofen , offering Modula a seat at the long dinner table. The other nobles at the table responded with similar phrases, some raising their glasses in honor.

"Please Manfred, we've been friends for some time. There's no need to speak with such formality," laughed Modula, taking a seat next to Manfred's son. "How are you Baron?" Baron didn't respond, just sat mutely and stared at his empty plate.

"You'll have to forgive my son Modula. He's been on a strict training program since I pulled him from guard custody. Such a shame," said Manfred, barely glancing at his son. Modula nodded.

"Yes, such a shame. How old are you now Baron?" The light haired boy said nothing, even as the servant came by to pile rice into his plate.

"Answer the General, Baron," warned Manfred.

"Thirteen." Modula nodded, glancing at the dishes presented to him.

"Your father told me you wanted to be in the Royal Guard, Baron. You know you can't do that anymore, right?" explained Modula, starting to cut up his steak.

"Yes. I was punished for my inappropriate behavior."

"In front of the king no less," scolded Manfred, starting to pick at his own food.

"Ah, but there are always opportunities. Life is full of failure. Are you ready for such things Baron?" questioned Modula, glancing down at the boy. Baron finally looked up at the General, his dark eyes lacking any sort of feeling.

"Are you asking me if I'm ready to fail General?"

"I suppose."

"We'll see."

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So how do yall feel about the ending? I was trying some flashback stuff (suggested by Neji and Tenten 4ever!) to explore Baron's character a bit more so tell me what you think. I'm still irked that SBT got canceled. And what's with the lack of fanfic? Fandom, I am disappoint. :|