"Silhouette"
Chapter 9
Chrisy cal: Oh no, don't cry… I feel kinda bad now. But good writing brings emotions so….
ElusiveIllusions: You are correct.
"Mixed"
+Silhouette+
"Watch it, rookie!" Fran snapped around a little too late at the sound of Squalo's voice. Within the next second he was down, glaring up at the grunt. It was amusing to see the surprise in his face, to know what the man saw. To him, Fran was literally sinking into the ground. In reality the mint haired just rolled out of the way, keeping an eye out and avoiding weary grunts of his whereabouts as he thought.
Teal eyes shifted up to the balcony above, feeling a bit triumphant to see the sharpened orbs looking to find him. He should be nervous; he was under a lot of pressure after all. However, the newly emptied syringe in his personal wastebasket was to thank for his absolute calm here.
He was currently on the outside training grounds, a large open area between the forest, the manor, and the stream running along the far end. Fran was surrounded, in a sense, by a group of hand selected grunts picked by Squalo – basically meaning that while they were strong, the swordsman wouldn't miss them if they were killed during the examination. It almost made the illusionist wonder if that was is goal.
What actually got to him were the stares from that balcony. While Squalo was watching intently, making mental notes and watching every move he made, the looks of his fellow comrades were putting him closer to the edge. He appreciated the smile Lussuria wore, possibly proud since he had helped the mint haired figure out some of the strategy to the new illusions; Levi just stood with his arms crossed and Belphegor wasn't even watching -his back was turned.
Then there were the amber eyes… Squalo said the boss wouldn't have even bothered, but the man had showed up. He looked bored on his chair, but the young illusionist could feel his gaze on him.
Fran pushed the thought away quickly, doing his best to ignore the fact he was very much being judged. Instead he walked into the center, mind focusing as he set the next illusion up.
'Breath and concentrate…' It almost hurt being an illusionist. Sometimes people didn't think that you literally had to use areas of your brain that most people would never touch. You had to create from nothing and make it so believable that another brain would go into a sensory overload and shut down, cave into the illusion. It didn't help when your mentor was unreliable and only taught you when you shared a prison together… then again, that was the point of the drug.
The headache that usually followed a powerful illusion didn't come as the apprentice made the ground shake. It didn't even start to get sore as he revealed himself and started opening the earth around him. The hardest part was the heat; inflicting a change in the air and forcing it into a subconscious reality. There was no pain to slow him down like there had been when he practiced with Lussuria.
When he opened his eyes he was met with a decimated group, only half of the fifty men and women standing and alive. How sad…
+Mixed+
"I can't tell if they're impressed with you, or angry at the grunts." The green haired man frowned, setting the tall glass of water next to the teen. "You sure you don't want anything else?"
Fran just shook his head, grumbling into his pillow as he sat up. It was the next afternoon as the exam had lasted late into the night; the remaining members after the first big illusions had been really smart and careful. What annoyed him was that they also had boxes – something he still didn't have the privilege of obtaining.
Needless to say, his muscles were aching and his head was pounding with a pain worse than any hangover would cause. Somehow the 'medicine' worked like stamina; it lasted by use, not by time like normal meds. Then again, he could be building a tolerance.
"Just make sure that fake prince doesn't show…" he sighed lightly, chugging the water down before curling back up in the blanket.
+Mixed+
He was slowly drawn from his sleep, teetering between the dream world and reality for a moment before realizing what was disturbing his slumber. Slender fingers were running through his hair, but the weight on his bed next to him wasn't enough to be the Sun Guardian.
"…Senpai…?" He peeked his eyes open; the room was already shrouded in darkness, the circlet illuminated by the filtered moonlight.
"Hey brat." It was a simply reply, the words too soft to hold any bite. It was… different. Then again, the blond really was unpredictable, so despite the atmosphere Fran prepared to fight him off should Bel try molesting him again. It didn't come, just the running of fingers through his hair.
"What are you doing here, Senpai?"
"I was going to tell you that shark-face and the boss were happy with your exam today."
"Really?" The mint hairs interest perked, sitting up just to be pushed back down by the older.
"Yeah. Xanxus thinks you're doing okay, and Squalo's going to start pushing our grunts harder."
"Oh… um… thank you senpai." He expected the blond to leave, but when several minutes passed and the Storm was still there, the illusionist shifted. "Senpai-?"
"Go back to sleep." Belphegor was a sadistic, proud and intelligent psychopath who liked to take out his anger and frustration out on the 'worthless replacement', but… Fran knew that even those types of people had their harmless moments.
"… Good night, senpai."
Even though he didn't like sharing that moment with him.
+Mixed+
"Congratulations, little one." Fran shifted as the older illusionist ran fingers through the mint locks. It felt different then what Bel was doing in the real world… He wasn't sure how though.
"Thank you, shishou." The younger just responded lightly.
"Well, now that time has passed, I want you to keep the ring close. Don't show it yet, but when the time comes…"
"How will I know when that will be?"
"You'll know. Trust me; you'll be able to use it splendidly if you just hold out."
"…Alright."
"Keep training Fran. You're not doing as well as you should be by now."
+Mixed+
Yes, got 1,000 words in! So, sorry about the slow updates; college, work and a love life keep me busy. My own Fran needs attention.
Also, seriously… no reviews, no new chapters. It's hard enough to get inspiration for this; I really don't want the same two or three people reviewing. College, work, and having a little bit of a life with my girlfriend when she's in town take up a lot of time, not to mention I really do need to sleep more than I have been. It's not like anyone would miss this fanfiction by the looks of it if I put it on the backburner for a year or two. There are 29 of you who have this on Alerts and maybe only 1/3 of you ever said anything about this story, so thanks for that… Not like Viv or I try hard or anything.
"A nice soft chapter here, tinged with small nuggets that tantalize at what is to come. This is very much a transition chapter between larger events, however you kept it from being boring, meaningless fluff, as can be the danger with transition periods. The action scene at the beginning gave a nice jolt to the system, while not going into too much detail kept it from taking undue emphasis. Overall a great job, and as always, leaving us very excited to see the next chapter!"
-Vivacia18