Sound and Fury
An Academy Blues Side Story
By Daishi Prime
Setting Note: This takes place during the school's summer break, after the first year.
--
Juliet was honestly nervous as she stepped out of the car Saturday morning, slinging her backpack on her shoulder and glaring around, She was not nervous about her appearance, or behavior, or what was going to happen, but rather nervous about where, precisely, the attack would come from. Despite that, she was doing her best not to show any nerves or fear. Allison had given her some pointers, and Vita had taught by example, and with their lessons she managed to project confident belligerence closer to her usual attitude, certainly enough to fool everyone but her parents.
"Relax, Juliet," her mother told her, resting a hand on her shoulder, "This is just a weekend, not forever. Though... I do wish you would consider it. It is much closer to home."
"But they won't protect Hayate-sensei," Juliet countered, "or my friends. They can't help me build a device, either, or stand up to the Circles." She left out the arguments on trust and reliability, her parents had already made clear they were ignoring those.
"I guess," and just like that the almost-argument was over again, though Juliet knew it would be coming up again. Her mother turned towards the young man trotting down the steps, moving to stand next to Juliet's father at the front of their car.
Juliet let it go, taking the opportunity to study the ranch instead, looking more for ways out than anything else. There were several buildings around the main ranch house, two and three stories. Two were obvious bunk houses, another a storehouse and garage, and one that she guessed was the actual 'school' from the faint tingle of magic and the sense of deadness that indicated shields. A water tower capped by a windmill stood behind one bunkhouse, and a low fence separated the compound from the open land of the ranch proper. All of it manifestly old, and all of it very well maintained.
"Ah, Mister and Missus Van Saar, welcome to my family's ranch." Juliet's gaze snapped over to the main house's porch, to see a fit young man about Hayate's age, dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt, trotting down the steps towards them, one hand already extended to greet his guests. "My name is Themba Ndebele, my grandfather asked me to welcome you to our family's school." He was all smiles, and showed not the slightest tick or twitch at shaking hands with a white man, nor did he hesitate when he moved to greet Juliet's mother. It was only when he turned to Juliet that he hesitated, and then wisely chose to sketch a bow rather than coming within arm's reach of her. "And welcome to you, as well, Juliet. My grandfather spent quite a lot of time grumbling about you in January. A high compliment, coming from him, I assure you."
Juliet doubted that, but nodded anyhow. She had not been happy when her parents agreed to this little trip, to put it mildly. It had been one of the more titanic rows she had gotten into with her mother, utterly ruining her first day home for the summer. But she was here now, so she would have to be some semblance of polite, and especially wary. After the Circles, she would not put it past these people to try and kidnap her while she was here. Not that they would succeed, but it would be terribly embarrassing to have to call her teachers for help dealing with mages who were effectively her neighbors.
Themba waited a few seconds for her to actually respond, before his smile became a little fixed, but Naledi stepped into the gap, "Could you show us around?"
"Certainly," Themba answered her with a smile, "Come, this way. We'll get you settled, then take a look around. Normally, I handle classes, but Grandfather is teaching a at the moment, and I'm not sure when he will finish, it would be better to not interrupt him."
Juliet grimaced at that, she was less than interested in anything here, but followed along dutifully enough. Themba once again proved observant enough – and diplomatic enough – not to try and show her around with her parents following, but to show her parents around and let her bring up the rear. Juliet half-listened as he rambled on about the ranch's history, about the generations of African Shaman trained within its confines and the grand traditions it maintained. The rest of her attention was watching around her, eyes tracking down every person visible and a few who were not, while she fiddled with the silver pendant of her training device. She was not sure if enough time had passed for it to bond to her, given the lack of time to experiment with it, but she had thought she felt something, and hoped it would be available if she needed it here.
The ranch proved just as mundane and boring as she had feared, and there were no surprises at all in the place. Themba showed them to the two rooms they would be using in the main house, then past the barracks and workhouses. Despite the ranch's status as Shaman Ndebele's school, it remained a working ranch, mostly raising local cattle. Themba even offered to find a pair of horses for Juliet's parents while she was 'otherwise occupied'.
Finally, however, he could no longer put off showing them what they were really here for. Cautioning them to stay quiet, Themba carefully opened the door, stuck his head in, looked for a minute, then waved them in behind him. While she had been trailing along behind before, Juliet cut her father off without a second thought, wrapping herself in a static shield before extending a larger one to protect her parents. It was difficult, even without having to maintain control or connection to her personal shield, but she could manage it for a while.
Inside, she found a prosaically simple room. The entire inside of the small building, maybe ten meters on a side, was a single room, even up to the gently sloped roof. The only windows were in the ceiling and the back wall with the door, while the other three walls were covered in blackboards, themselves covered in chalk diagrams and notes. A large oak desk was set into one of the far corners of the room, with a computer filling one end of it, while six student desks were arranged in parallel rows of three facing the back wall, five of them occupied. Shaman Ndebele himself was holding forth from the space between the students and the rear wall, only talking at the moment, and his students appeared to be completely engrossed in what he was telling them. The Shaman appeared equally oblivious to his new watchers.
Juliet did not believe that impression for a moment. As she moved slowly to clear the door and finally let her parents in, she could feel his attention on her, itching between her shoulder blades. She tried to ignore him and, once her initial worries about an immediate attempt abated, relaxed her shields in favor of scanning the room carefully, looking for the trap she suspected to be hidden here somewhere. She was quiet about it, as subtle as she could be, but the cessation of magical senses as she crossed the threshold, while not as complete as in Hayate's workrooms, was worsening her nerves.
Her scanning finally drew a negative comment from Themba, who leaned down to mutter in her ear, "that is extremely disrespectful, Juliet, please desist."
"When I'm sure the old man isn't going to try something," she muttered back. She felt him start in surprise at that, thinking, I wonder if anyone my age has ever had the guts to talk back to him? Probably not, it'll be good for him.
Her ruminations were brought to an end by Ndebele's voice, "... and there, boys, we have a shining example of foreign standards. She is evincing excellent control, significant power, advanced structures, and a complete and utter lack of manners."
"Ah, I'm sorry about that, sir," her father apologized, "I didn't realize she was doing anything."
Juliet let the implied chastisement and matching frown roll off her back, focusing on the shaman. "What's the matter, Shaman? Something to hide? Something you don't want me finding until after it hits?"
He chuckled, flashing a blinding smile, "Not at all, child, not at all. But it's rude to interrupt a class, and ruder still to run scans on someone else's home and business without their permission. You'd be surprised what you can get away with, when you ask first."
"You'd be surprised what people try to hide under false honesty," Juliet shot back.
Her father snapped at her for that, "Juliet! Watch your tone, young lady."
The Shaman continued to smile, just raised one eyebrow and asked, "Please tell me, child, precisely what have I done to earn your ire?"
"Oh, I don't know, how 'bout showing up at my parents house, scaring them silly, and spouting off some crap about how I belong to you because I'm half black? How about scamming my mother into dragging me out here over my objections? How about the games you were playing with Hayate-sensei back in November? You've done nothing to earn my trust, and every time I've heard anything about you, it's been tricks hidden by games hidden by threats. So you'll forgive me if I'm not willing to trust my own or my parents' safety to your 'good intentions'."
His smile faded to an outright smirk, "Good, you still have that spine. A little paranoid, but so much the better." He turned his attention back to his students, face becoming serious, clapping his hands once, "Well, now that that's dealt with, boys, this is Juliet Van Saar, one of the Japanese woman's students I was telling you about this morning. Juliet, these are our current crop of students. Mandla, Nelson, Morgan, Alsenio, Salim, and Idi. Do be polite, all of you, there is far too much for you to learn from each other to waste time whining."
All of the boys looked doubtful, but nodded politely, except for Mandla. He gave her a long look, then muttered something to Alsenio sitting next to him. Alsenio started, looking torn between shock and laughter, and Juliet felt a spike of rage as they shared a joke at her expense. "It's rude to insult someone in a language they don't understand," she snapped. "If you aren't man enough to insult me to my face, don't you dare insult me at all."
"He did not insult you," Ndebele said, "actually, from what I caught, it was quite the compliment. He thinks you're cute."
Juliet blinked at that, then sneered. 'Cute' was not and never had been anything she was interested in being. 'Cute' was what people in her old school called someone too stupid or too clutzy to be anything else, but too nice or too rich to be properly insulted. 'Cute' meant useless, defenseless, and she was now far from that. "We'll see if he still thinks that after I wipe the floor with him," she said, careful to keep it in Japanese.
Ndebele replied in the same language, "Are you so certain you could defeat him?" Juliet glared, but he waved that away, "languages are a simple matter of understanding, child, and can be magically translated, just as your teachers no doubt did for you. Are you really so certain you could defeat Mandla?"
"I'll take any of them," Juliet challenged.
His smile re-appeared, "Good, I was looking forward that." He switched out of Japanese, "Mandla, you and Juliet follow me. Boys, come along, I think you'll find this educational."
Juliet followed, her parents right behind. To her surprise, it was her father, not her mother who leaned over to whisper, "Juliet, I know you don't want to be here, but that is no excuse to be so rude. We are their guests, and they have been very kind in inviting us here. I know you don't trust them, but your teachers cleared them, we have no issues with them, I fail to see why you do."
"Because he's up to something," Juliet muttered back.
"That is your overactive imagination," her father countered. "You need to learn that not everyone is an enemy, Juliet. The Shaman has offered to teach you, under no obligations. Consider what trouble that is putting him to, before you go panicking over what he isn't doing."
Juliet followed the Shaman out, then to the middle of the square in front of the ranch house. She tried to studiously ignore Mandla, but he was not so reserved, blatantly looking her over in a manner that made her distinctly uncomfortable. When Ndebele stopped in the center of the yard, she stopped as well, hands in the pocket of her jacket, and quirked an eyebrow, "so what now?"
"Now, we'll see if you can do what you claim," the Shaman replied, and gestured past her. "You see the tree line? A mile from here, that is, over open country. You see the tallest tree? The one different from the rest?" There was a distinctly different tree, one that rose a little over the canopy, a sharp point compared with the rough rounded structures around it, so Juliet nodded. "Bring me a leaf from that tree, before Mandla does, and I'll believe your claims. No magic, no interfering with each other, just the speed of your legs and the determination of your will. Go."
Juliet blinked a little surprised at the abruptness of it, but Mandla reacted instantly, taking off from a standing start at a fast run. Juliet watched him for a couple seconds, long enough to watch him reach the split-rail fence and scrabble over the top beam. Then she shook her head, and started after him, moving at a slower, steadier pace, running, but conserving her energy. She stepped through the fence, between the upper and lower rails, saving herself energy and splinters, before resuming her steady pace.
00000
Johan stepped up next to the Shaman, watching Juliet as she loped out into the fields, feeling Naledi take his hand. His wife had never liked it when Juliet got into any sort of fight, worried that she would get hurt – justifiably given how often Juliet came home with bruises and scrapes. Their daughter claimed to have won most of those fights, but neither he nor his wife ever quite believed her. In this case, Johan was less worried, given the relative innocuousness of a race, and more aggravated at Juliet's recalcitrant attitude, but also curious. "If I may, Shaman, I would like to apologize for Juliet. She has always had problems with people her own age, and I'm afraid that's spilling over on to you."
Ndebele gave him an easy smile, "Don't worry about it, Johan, I'm used to far worse, from people with less excuse or who should know better. Everyone else around here is always so accommodating and polite, it's actually strangely refreshing to encounter someone not terrified of giving offense. If she truly oversteps her bounds, I will let her know."
Johan nodded slowly, then gestured towards the pair of running children, Juliet slowly gaining on Mandla. "If I may, what is the purpose of this?"
Ndebele laughed, "Education! Without magic, there is only one way to reach that tree, and retrieve a leaf – to be utterly at peace, set aside all emotion. I'm curious to see if she can figure it out, though Mandla will show her, just by doing it. He's run this before, though he's showing off right now." The smile became an amused smirk, "Also, the run will tire her out, burn off some of her energy and temper, and remind Mandla not to talk out of turn in class."
"So many lessons at once, are you sure they will notice all of them?"
"If not, they will learn them again," Ndebele laughed, "kids, all they have is time, yet they've not the patience to appreciate it!" The three of them shared a laugh at the old truism, but the Shaman turned serious after a few moments. "There is one thing, a trial my students endure. It does no physical harm, and no mental harm beyond a few unpleasant dreams, but it does reveal a great deal of their character to them. I am quite aware of the make up of her character, but she needs that awareness, especially given what she is learning in Japan. I myself endure the same trial every year, though not all my mages choose to. I assure you it is safe, but... it is unpleasant, even to watch."
"We trust you, Shaman," Naledi replied immediately, "Juliet will, too, if you give her the chance."
Johan was less certain, asking, "You are certain she would be in no danger?"
Ndebele nodded, "as certain as humanly possible As I said, my own students have undergone this trial. The worst effects are occasional nightmares, especially the first few nights."
"What is this trial, exactly?"
Ndebele gave him a studying look for a few moments, then shrugged, "Normally, since you aren't undergoing it, you would not be privy to that information. The fact that we can do this is not something we advertise, given the acquisitive nature of certain mages outside of Africa. But in this case, given the oddities... the trial involves a series of personal illusions, a mental journey, wherein you confront yourself, as you are and as you will become. None of it predicts the future, you understand, and none of it is visible or comprehensible to anyone outside the vision, but it is still an accurate, and difficult, trial. Most human beings never really understand themselves, never face their own failings. For someone with such skills and power as I teach, such personal blindness is impermissible."
Johan nodded, but did not answer immediately, instead thinking it over, debating it. That debate was interrupted a few minutes later by a brilliant flash on the distance, and a series of gasps from those around him. When he looked up, he could still see a fading shimmer around the distant tree, shocked looks on almost everyone's faces, and the first hint of anger in the Shaman's countenance. "What happened?"
"Juliet just violated the rules of the race," Ndebele said slowly, "and destroyed a hundred and fifty year old ward. Themba, go check to see how badly damaged it is. Mister and Missus Van Saar, please retire to the porch."
00000
Juliet had passed Mandla on the outbound leg, his wind fading from a too-fast start, but had refrained from commenting. A simple victory would do all her gloating for her, in something this mundane. The ward at the tree had been a surprise, giving her pause for a few seconds. Then the realization that Ndebele was not sticking to his own 'no magic' rule pissed her right off, and she found the training device was bonded to her, well enough to provide sufficient energy to shatter the ward. She snagged a leaf from a low-hanging branch, and almost decided to fly back.
Energy kept her from doing that, namely the desire to keep as much of it on hand as she could, for when the Shaman attempted whatever it was he was planning. So she jogged back, using a little energy on the return leg as Natalia had shown her to take the edge of her tiredness. She could not help smirking just a little as she passed Mandla, finding his shocked expression amusing. The glare Themba gave her as he passed was less than intimidating, though more aggravating than amusing. If they didn't want me to cheat, they shouldn't have cheated, she reminded herself.
Once she was through the fence, she became a little nervous when she did not immediately see her parents, but finding them standing next to the door of the house calmed that worry, which left dealing with the Shaman. He was standing precisely where she had left him, hands folded atop his cane, glaring at her fiercely. She dropped to a walk once she was through the fence, using that to cool down, and once within arms reach held out the leaf.
Ndebele looked at it like she was holding out a dead rat, then swatted it away. "I told you not to use magic. You just destroyed..."
"You break your own rules, they no longer hold me," Juliet snapped back. "You said no magic, yet the ward on that tree stank to high heaven of your mumbo jumbo. What, did you think it would be funny, making the silly girl fumble around with the prize just out of her reach? Or did you enjoy the idea of me coming back here empty handed? Sorry to disappoint, old man, but I'm not going to oblige you."
"The test was one of emotional control," Ndebele said, "a test you failed."
Juliet smiled at that, "Ask me if I care."
"You also destroyed a carefully crafted ward, built by my great grandfather, maintained by his sons, and their sons, all the way down to my own great grandson. The work of centuries, and you obliterated it in a fit of pique. How very white of you."
The blood was suddenly pounding in her ears, and Juliet's vision narrowed to the Shaman's face. She could feel herself shaking with rage and the need to lash out at him, and very nearly did just that. But she damped it down, forcing the anger and hatred into the back of her mind, before snarling, "Judging me by your own selfish standards. How very African. You tried to play by your rules. Too bad for you, I only play by mine. Are we done here?"
"No," Ndebele answered. "You have far too much rage in you, girl. Your spine I admire, the rage I do not. We will work on that. Behind the house is a wood pile, and an ax. Split the logs into quarters, I will tell you when to stop."
Juliet laughed, "Like hell I will. I'm not one of your lackeys, old man."
"You will do as you are told, or you will do without food. A simple axiom, the beginnings of discipline."
Juliet just snorted, and walked away, heading for the porch. She could tell her parents were just as angry as the Shaman, but at that point, did not care. He had coerced her parents into dragging her out here, against her will, then set her up for a fall, and had the gall to be pissed when she escaped his trap. He could be as angry as he wanted, she would be damned before she gave him the satisfaction of obedience. But she could tell he had her parents fooled, and knew she was in trouble with them before she even reached them.
Her mother got to her first, "What did he tell you to do?"
"Chop wood."
"Why aren't you doing it? You broke his rules, insulted him deeply! You should be trying to make amends!"
Juliet stared at her mother for a moment, then looked away, "You want his good will? You want him to somehow make you 'pure' again? You earn his good will. Me? I'm interested in keeping us safe, and away from backstabbing has-beens like him."
She turned away again, and stalked off before her anger could make her say something worse, heading around the back of the house. Distaste or not, she was not quite willing to disobey her parents, so she found the wood pile, quite easily, four meters long by one and a half high, roughly, varying sizes. It took her half an hour to delicately lace the wood with lines of power, then detonate them all simultaneously. The explosion was loud enough to scare birds in nearby fields into flight, sending dirt and splinters everywhere in a cloud that covered the back of the house.
Juliet did not wait for that to settle, but took to the air, launching herself in a high arcing course. She needed to be somewhere else, somewhere away from the Shaman and his demands, and her parents' expectations, and she was damned if she would give him the satisfaction of hanging around all day.
She returned as evening was falling, half-hoping that her parents would have taken her departure as a sign to leave themselves. But the family car was still there, and she could see her parents sitting on the porch, talking with the Shaman and a few of the other adults at the ranch. Juliet ignored them, stomping up the steps, until she heard Ndebele's voice, "There's some left overs in the kitchen, help yourself."
She stopped, turning slowly to glare at him. "I already ate."
He quirked one eyebrow, "Where? There's no place within a hundred kilometers of here that would feed a stranger."
"Hundred kilometers an hour, old man," she smirked. "You ever gone that fast? I can do that easy, these days." True, so long as she had the training device, but what she said next was boasting plain and simple, "could probably double that, if I bothered pushing it. Even if I hadn't, I'm not touching anything you provide. Mom, Dad, I'll see you in the morning."
00000
Juliet's dreams that night were strange, disconnected, recognizable as false yet ringing of disturbing truth. Images dark and bloody filled them, cities burning, people dying, and always the sound of laughter, hideous and insane. The sights and sounds, the stench and terror, surrounded her, beating at her from all directions. She knew she was dream, knew it was not real, but could not escape, could not find anyplace that was not burning or bleeding.
The dreams flowed endlessly, playing out like scenes in a movie, but never ending, one fading into the next in steady, worsening parade. Indistinct places became her childhood haunts, blasted and devastated. Featureless bodies became childhood tormentors, broken and slaughtered. Insane laughter became a ranting, rage-filled voice proclaiming its vengeance and crying for more.
The dream reached its sharpest as Juliet watched a woman striding away from her, through her neighborhood, ignoring the burning houses and shattered bodies, a jaunty bounce to her steps as she swung a heavy bag back and forth. The dream followed the woman along, to the top of the hill, where a man cloaked in smoke slowly resolved into the Shaman. The woman went to one knee before him, and Juliet finally saw her face, realizing it was an older version of herself. No words were exchanged, the woman merely reached into the bag, looking up to return the Shaman's victorious smile with a maniacal grin of her own, then drew out a severed head.
Her father's severed head.
Juliet woke up screaming, thrashing wildly for a second, desperate to deny the dream, to escape it. She felt a tingle of fading magic around her, sensed a presence in motion, and tried to get away from them and escape the entangling sheet at the same time.
"Calmly, Juliet, calmly," a voice soothed in Japanese, "you're safe, Juliet, it's over, you're safe."
The calm voice cut through her panic, and she finally managed to make sense of her surroundings. "H... Hayate-sensei?"
Hayate, seated on the side of the bed, reached out to cup the back of her head, "Yes, Juliet. Your host's little experiment tripped the wards we placed on you. I'm sorry it took me so long to break the spell, but we have to move very carefully to remove magic that affects the mind so deeply."
"Magic... that affects... the mind..." Juliet's panic ebbed quickly as she thought over that statement, replaced with a rising rage. "Where are my parents?"
"Sleeping," Hayate said, gesturing to the other bed in the guest room. Her parents were there, sleeping peacefully. "I thought it best to make sure you were safely out of whatever that was, before waking them. What happened?"
"Don't know," Juliet growled, "but I know who did it." Briefly, she explained where they were and why, as she got out of bed and got dressed. She put away what little she had unpacked, then did the same for her parents, leaving street clothes.
Hayate listened to her explanation in silence, but as Juliet reached to wake her father, asked, "Do you want me to handle this, Juliet? Can you do it safely?"
Juliet considered that for a moment, then nodded. "I'll take care of it. I can do it." Then she finished leaning forward, shaking her father's shoulder. She could not help checking his neck first, making sure there was no mark there, and felt incredible relief when he mumbled in his sleep and tried to roll away from her. She shook his shoulder harder, "Dad, wake up. Dad!"
"Not now, Juliet," he muttered, eyes opening just a little, "go back to bed."
"We're leaving," Juliet told him flatly, "right now."
The tone woke him further, and he blinked at her, "Juliet? It's the middle of the night, what are you..."
"That bastard tied to trap me in some sort of vision of hell," Juliet snarled. "I told you he was up to something, and that proves it."
"No, it was a test," her father mumbled, sitting up slightly.
The shock of that, realizing that her parents knew the old man was going to try that, held her still for a second. Then her anger redoubled, and she had to exert significant self control not to do something violent. "Get up," she snarled through clenched teeth. "We are leaving, right now." Her father started to say something, but Juliet cut him off with a glowing fist, held just before his nose. "Now."
"Juliet, don't threaten your parents," Hayate told her, "they did what they thought best."
Juliet turned away from the bed to head for the door, snagging her parents' bags and her own as she went. "I warned them he was up to something, that he couldn't be trusted, and they still let him cast some torture spell on me!"
Hayate made a disbelieving sound, but said nothing more as Juliet slammed the door open, stomping down the hall just shy of jogging. When she hit the living room at the bottom of the stairs, she turned for the door, only to stop halfway across when she noticed the Shaman walking heavily through a side door, his grandson at his heels.
"You should not have woken her," the Shaman rasped, "the trial progresses to maintain the subject's mental balance. Without that..."
Juliet's rage spiked on seeing him, and hearing him lecturing Hayate-sensei was too much. She shed the bags without a thought, and crossed the room in three lunging strides. Ndebele had plenty of time to raise a shield, but her fist was wrapped in magic before she started her swing, and just before impact, she altered that spell slightly. When fist met shield, both detonated, loud and sharp in the confined space. Juliet rocked away from the blast, using that to set up her follow-up strike. She did not have time to prepare a new charge, but Ndebele was still reeling from her first blow, and her fist slammed into his jaw hard enough to hurt her, and she felt a spurt of vicious pleasure as she heard the distinctive crack of breaking bone.
She wanted to continue, to visit upon him every horror he had shown her. But that last image from the dream held her, made her hesitate. I'm not that, she silently snarled at herself, I'm not! Instead, she grabbed him by the throat, forcing him to look her in the eye. "If you ever come near me or my family, interfere with us, so much as nod from across the street at us," she growled, "so help me God, I will come back here, break every miserable bone in your feeble old body, and burn this shack down around you!"
Her parents, still dressed for bed, were stumbling down the steps when she slammed Ndebele against the wall before dropping him. Juliet ignored him, now, striding over to get her family's bags. "We're leaving," she repeated, staring at them until they nodded slowly. She glanced at Hayate, but her teacher only shook her head and gestured towards the door. Then Juliet turned and blasted the front door off its hinges, anger still boiling in her veins.
00000
Hayate walked over once the Van Saars were safely on their way, staring down at Ndebele where he was leaning against the wall. His grandson was trying to tend to his jaw, and she could feel the eyes of those woken by Juliet's temper staring at her, but she ignored all of them. "If you're wondering, Shaman, your little nightmare spell triggered the wards I placed on all my students. It only took me as long as it did to intervene because any spell that interfaces that deeply with the mind must be delicately unwoven.
"You made two mistakes, Shaman, but they were critical mistakes. The first was not obtaining my permission to conduct your experiments with my student. I may have agreed, had your case been convincing. I would not have objected to your teaching her spells, explaining your world view and philosophy. But casting spells upon her was never in the picture.
"Your second and far worse mistake was casting it upon her without her permission. Minor or not, she has demonstrated she has the maturity, skill, and strength to make her own decisions. I would have accepted an apology, but what you just did to her, by my lights, constitutes assault with intent to harm. Were this Bureau space, you would now be facing charges, and had she not exacted her own justice, I would now be doing so for her.
"When we first met, and when you met Signum, you gave us both the impression that you would welcome a challenge, a friendly rivalry. With this, however, you have proven that, as with the Circles, I cannot trust you. Because of this, while I will not allow her to carry through on her threat, if you ever violate her conditions, I will return here, and neither you, nor any member of your family, will ever be able to use magic again. You will loose the one thing that defines your place in this world, and I will give you neither mercy nor second chances. An attack on my students is unforgivable. Remember that."
She turned and headed for the door, then stopped, and looked back. "Oh, and by the time the sun rises, none of the stable magics I can feel in this area will remain. A reminder, that I am unlike any foe you have faced before."
00000
Ndebele waited until the strange young woman was gone before gently pushing Themba back. It took an effort to focus around the sharp pain in his jaw, but he managed to draw on his magic, shaping it carefully. He was not up to completely healing the fracture Juliet had created in his jaw, but he set it, bound it, and began the healing process, well enough to allow him to talk, at least. It was a strain, after having two spells broken in such a short period of time, but he had earned his title the hard way a long time ago.
"Well, that went worse than I expected," he grumbled, letting Themba help him up and to a chair.
Themba fussed at him for a few seconds, "Are you sure you're all right, grandfather? So many spells, so much damage..."
Ndebele waved him off, "I'll be fine. It's the girl I'm worried about. She did not complete the vision, she saw none of the balance of her life, only the flaws. She has such rage, it will be compounded by the interrupted vision, unless young Hayate is more skilled than she appears."
"I fear we lost the girl, though. She will be more dangerous to Africa now."
Ndebele chuckled at that, shaking his head. "You still have much to learn, boy. Juliet will never be one of ours, no, but dangerous? No, not to Africa. If she returns from young Hayate's school, she will be precisely what I hoped she would, a challenge for you and your peers to live up to. If she does not learn to control her anger, if she becomes as dangerous as you fear, then Hayate will be forced to deal with her, permanently or otherwise. Either way, Africa wins. Not in the way I had hoped, but as surely as the sun rises. Africa always wins, in the end."
00000
Juliet did not say another word until they were past the ranch's gate and once again on a public road, relaxing the wary guard she had maintained, leaving only a single device-strengthened shield over the car. "I told you," she growled, watching the darkness, that terrible image still fresh in her mind's eye, "I told you again and again that he couldn't be trusted. He's a Terran mage, and no Terran mage can ever be trusted."
"He's not part of the Circles," her mother protested in a shaky voice.
"It doesn't matter! He's Terran and a mage. He's a xenophobic, holier-than-thou bigot, who thinks he has the right to do whatever he wants to anyone, whether they believe as he does or not. All Terran mages are like that, they're all trained to hate and fear whatever doesn't follow their specific traditions. Circles, shamans, new agers, it makes no difference. You can never trust a Terran mage."
"Hayate is from Japan," Her father said, "but you trust her."
"She's not a Terran mage," Juliet explained, "she was trained off world, in a tradition that welcomes others, that understands different beliefs and makes room for them. She is not a Terran mage, neither am I, and neither are my classmates. He is a Terran mage. He will be my enemy, our enemy, until the day we die, because his arrogant little mind won't allow anything else."
She continued staring into the night as her explanation faded, before finally whispering, "You can never trust a Terran mage."
00000
Author's Note: So, it's been forever since I posted to this, and as you can see, I'm still working on the 'summer break'. This Side Story gave me fits for months, mostly trying to figure out where Juliet's attitude balanced. I even started an alternate 'Side Story 10' about Luke's summer, but wound up hitting another brick all there (don't do that, by the way, it's painful). Juliet's presentation here was worse than I originally planned, but better than the alternatives I came up with. Much calmer, and she was just a re-tread of Allison. Much angrier, and she was nothing but a mindless little hate-machine. Here, she's actually got some motivation and reasons. She's still angrier than I originally intended, but not irretrievable, given the circumstances. Shaman Ndebele also came out worse than planned, but I still he's got that bit of Magnificent Bastard/Chessmaster that he used to be going on – not perfect, but tricky, old, and confident. On top of those issues, I've of course been slaving away on Endless Waltz, and been kind-of working on yet another Deva Magic story. So, hope you all enjoyed it, but now I have to figure out the other Side Story I'm working on, for Luke's summer.
00000
First up, a thank you to everyone who reviewed the last two chapters, and my humblest apologies (as usual) for the delay. I seem to keep saying that, with this story...
liingo: I'm glad you enjoyed my little jaunt into cross-over land. It was fun to write, when I wasn't feeling mortally embarrassed.
CrimsonDX: Toushiro doesn't so much have 'connections' with the Yakuza, as a favor. Still valuable, and I'm thinking of how to include it, if possible, in Endless Waltz.
Baughn: I know it's been a while, but I really dislike that the idea that it's possible to 'photo-copy' a human being. I prefer the concept that there's more to us than just a pattern of electrical impulses. Yes, I know, old-fashioned and elitist, but a world where we're just random chemical reactions isn't worth occupying. As for the chapter, yeah, it was fun, but no sequels. The 'non-interference' rule makes too much sense to me, not so much as an absolute, as encouragement to move slowly in such situations. Better cautious than repeating some of the mistakes in our own history.
Seotter: I just couldn't resist some sort of reference to HP, given how many comparisons were made early on in Academy Blues. The 'other dimension' routine was just the easiest, though the various reactions were fun. The inside of the Sword of Light was easy, it's precisely the sort of place Sara would have felt most comfortable. As far as unique spells, that will be true to some extent. No one else is crazy enough to attempt Schroedinger, for instance, and I'm trying to come up with a spell unique to each student, or at least 'advanced versions'. Juliet's 'exploding fist' spell above is called Sledgehammer, which per Chapter 07 of Endless Waltz, she's teaching to Laura – but she's got a more powerful version called Godshammer. Toushiro's Shotgun, Megan's Henshin, Noriko's Cascade of Spring's Glory, defining spells like those will be unique. At the same time, however, the kids are at a school, and they're teaching each other things they figure out as much as figuring things out for themselves. Yussef, especially, will be sharing his spells with the Myrmidons, just because that's the way he thinks.
Natimus Prime: Yeah, I can't really see doing anything serious with HP, mostly because a lot of its conceits feel silly. Good books, don't get me wrong, but... not a world I'm up for adding to. As for Toushiro's story, you're precisely right on the difference between 'age' and 'experience'. It wasn't what I originally set out to put in that story, but when the idea came together, it fit too well with both him and the situation. His scene with his thoughts on his old friends was the genesis of that, really. On the other hand, experience is no absolute guarantee of maturity and discipline, either, as both Juliet and the Shaman demonstrated above. Oh, and yes, there will be a sequel to Academy Blues:).
R-Smith: Feel free to lurk, I've been doing that at various websites for years now. Thanks for the review, and if I may repeat, my apologies for the delayed reply. They Yakusa were originally supposed to show up earlier, just after Toushiro found out about his sister, looking to use her to get to her friends. I was hesitant to include Ichigo, actually, because there wasn't really enough threat to justify him, but I couldn't see Toushiro trying something like that alone, but I am happy with how it turned out. Hope you're still hanging around and enjoying!
Kell Shock: I was trying to keep the location in 'Oops' mysterious for a while, it took forever to figure out how to describe some things without completely giving it away. Snape deserves a boot someplace other than his head, but I guess, given the whole 'last minute sacrifice' thing, it shouldn't hit too hard. Most of the names from Bombard did come from other anime (I'm lazy, okay?). I don't remember where Seichiro came from, which means it was probably from a website that lists names. That's usually how I find names for face characters – look up the local language, then find someplace that lists common names & surnames, and assemble something that resembles the character I'm making.
pfeil: I've had varying pictures of Laura landing in Hogwarts since about halfway through Academy Blues, and most of them involved literally landing on someone (usually Ron, for some reason) and then starting a fight (usually with Draco or Hermione...). I liked out 'Oops' turned out, though, it's a smoother set-up than prior iterations. As for Cidela's familiar, he probably wouldn't go over well, unless he hid in her shirt the whole time. With Toushiro's story, I'm still trying to figure all the implications and uses of that 'interesting wrinkle', to see if it can play a part in Endless Waltz.