Sora made it through the next day and the weekend without speaking to any of his team members. Riku and Xehanort disappeared, his dorm mates avoided him, and Aerith stuck to the garden or library and couldn't practice with him. To console himself he worked on his petunia. By Monday, it was looking rather peppy. Sora, on the other hand, despite being worked to the utter limits of exhaustion each day by Rosso or Argento, could not sleep. Roxas had been absent the whole weekend. Had he finally been forced into punishment for assisting Sora in his expulsion trial? Sora began worrying that they had killed him when he saw him in Monday morning meeting with the rest of the first years. When Sora waved at him Roxas cocked his head and smiled. He seemed tired but fine. As the teachers gathered and told the students to follow them to the mountain path, Sora made his way to Roxas' side and asked where he had been.
"Pay attention," Roxas responded. Sora scowled but obeyed, watching as two of the seven instructors, Weiss and Nero, parted while the other four continued up the mountain with Shelke, the youngest, at the lead. When all first years reached the stone tables near the hanging golden practice circles and settled around them, Shelke turned and handed the floor to Argento, who stepped forward in surprise and recovered with a quick cough.
"Welcome to midterms," she began. After clocking the ensuing gasps of confusion, Argento continued, "what you like to call dead week, what your instructors have named "reading week," and what we prefer to call "rebirth week."" Another round of confused looks. Argento chuckled.
"In the past seven weeks, we have trained you to the absolute limit of your abilities. Trust us. Our surprise that not one of you has dropped out yet is boundless. But you have not truly been tested. Though you may believe we have tested you nonstop, know this. We have gone easy on you. We have coddled you. Examined your strengths and weaknesses. Prodded or bolstered whichever we saw fit. Made you strong." Then she paused before continuing.
"The first year midterms will be the fastest, most difficult task you will ever have completed thus far. They will humble you because you will fail. Your grimmest realization should be that "preparation" is no longer on the table. Your "study" is finished. No amount of magic or miracle will carry you through the next three days to what you should have accomplished these seven weeks. Where you are is where you will be. And from here on out, playtime is over. Those who have concealed themselves under the accomplishments of others will be rooted out. Should you score below the 40th percentile in your class, you will be put on probation until the semester's end. From there, we will judge your continuation at this academy. Shelke will hand each of you an envelope detailing your midterm's procedure and location. My parting word of advice is to simply get to know your fellow classmates as much as you can. Goodbye and good luck. This satisfies class for today."
After finishing, Argento bowed and indicated the stone tables where Shelke was seated. She called all first years in alphabetical order. When Sora got his own envelope he tried searching for his teammates. Aerith was standing beside Yuffie. Noel had come to introduce himself. Aerith listened politely as he explained Valhalla. When she got Sora in her sights, she waved him over and asked how he was doing.
"Never better," Sora responded weakly, wilting at Noel's look of disapproval. Before Sora could escape, Neku, Riku, and Nimo were traipsing over to say hi as well, Nimo acting surprisingly courtly in light of what he had said in Sora's dorm room the week before. He even bowed to Aerith as he introduced himself. Yuffie giggled as Aerith blushed. Then Nimo cleared his throat.
"I think we should have dinner tonight," he announced with a beam, taking Aerith's hand in his own before adding, "as a team." As Neku grumbled in irritation, Aerith murmured that she thought it was a wonderful idea. A few feet away, Riku and Noel discussed weapon instructors.
For the rest of midterm week combat classes were canceled. For all students who had managed to acquire a specific weapon or ability over the first half of the semester- meaning everyone in the group bar Sora- there were specialized training sessions with appropriate instructors. Students signed up for individual sessions on the instructors' office doors. Sora was dubious as to whether Riku possessed a weapon at all- because he had never seen whatever it was before. But Riku talked with the other boys like he had been "summoning" his whole life. He and Nimo exchanged words like "keeb," "sums," "mag," "GA's," and "combos." "Keeb," seemed most popular, and it appeared to be an object or animal.
"My keeb's pretty powerful," Riku acquiesced.
Sora chuckled at the thought of a kind of silver bulldog with Riku's disinterested teal stare lounging about the forecourt, waiting for Riku to take it for a walk. Neku kicking his foot brought Sora back to the present. Everyone was staring at him. When Sora asked them to repeat themselves Riku huffed loudly. Noel asked Sora when he was free for dinner.
Everyone bar Aerith, who closed the library Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, was free after seven. The schedule so far was Tuesday night at eight. After dinner the team would return to the school and discuss strategy. Then Sora remembered his probation meeting with Axel had been rescheduled for eight due to a school wide midterm meeting for instructors. He promised Belle he would volunteer to close the library from ten to twelve.
"I guess you'll only be around from nine to ten, Sora," Riku said coolly. "And by that time, you'll probably be so late you shouldn't bother coming."
"Actually, nine is better for me as well," Aerith piped up, adding that she helped in the school garden till eight and wanted some time to freshen up after. The boys grumblingly adjusted the meeting to nine. When they tried scheduling more meeting times during the week, everyone's schedule was either too incomplete or too overlapping to work. So everyone promised to figure out their schedule by that evening and report exactly what times they were free over dinner. When there wasn't more to say, the team scattered. As all other first years departed, Sora and Aerith found themselves alone. They returned to the school together.
As they walked, Sora thanked Aerith for changing the dinnertime. She told him not to mention it with a smile. As the school rose ahead she asked how his petunia was holding up. He responded that it was great.
"It's real plump looking," he added. "It's just beginning to open up."
"You have a green thumb, Sora!" Aerith responded. Sora shrugged and said he just liked working on it. Aerith said she had seen his hard work, and that the other officers had noticed, too. "Lunafreya and Sice were talking about it at the last officer meeting."
Sora slowed his steps in surprise. People said good things about him when he wasn't supposed to hear?
"What is Sice like?" he found himself asking. Aerith chuckled and shrugged.
"Rem's top seven descriptive words for her are vulgar, vindictive, ferocious, cynical, critical, touchy, and ruthless."
"Ah," Sora responded with furrowed brows.
"But she has a good heart," Aerith added. "She has a brother back home who she really cares about. She says he's her albatross."
Sora snorted as he thought of Riku with skimpy legs and a big beak. Last time he checked, he muttered, Riku was no roving bird. Aerith laughed at the thought and replied that the albatross was a metaphor.
"The albatross is a burden that requires penance," she murmured. "It comes from a poem. I guess Sice feels like she betrayed her brother in some way that will come back to haunt her in the future."
Sora looked grimly on the horizon. Now he knew what Sota meant when they'd sat in the burger joint in the valley talking about responsibility. Sora wondered what his albatross was. He hoped it wouldn't have anything to do with Riku confronting Sice himself. Just as he grimaced, Aerith caught his arm. She asked him to repeat what he had said earlier. When Sora responded with confusion, she asked if he had said that Riku was Sice's brother.
"Yeah," Sora responded. Aerith chuckled in surprise. Then her smile disappeared. She murmured that she wondered what would happen when the siblings met. Sora gulped. By now he was jittering with anxiety. When Aerith asked what was wrong he muttered that it was nothing, hurrying up the spiraling stairway to forecourt on the pretense of having to rush to his dorm. When he got there he sprinted down the library steps for the magic section, hunting through the most advanced titles to see what could possibly help him. He half hoped Roxas would spontaneously turn up and tell him what to do like he had his first few week of school. But the boy was nowhere to be found.
Just as Sora snuggled into his familiar corner with the stack of books, he heard a group of kids talking across the way about going to class. Sounded like first years. Suddenly Sora remembered that the scheduled time for his clubs had changed and lengthened for the day. He just forgot which one was when. Jumping up and lugging the books under his arm, he brought all of them to the library counter and called that he wanted to check them all out. His shoulders sagged when he noticed who was on library duty today. Aqua nodded and moved through the stack one by one, commenting as she watched the clock that Sora had seven minutes to get to his next class.
"I know, I know!" snapped Sora in exasperation. He could not let these books go. Aqua looked over each title as they passed through her grasp.
"Advances In Lock Picking?" she murmured with narrowed eyes. Sora gave a nervous laugh.
"The Art of War Magic? Breathing Water? Book of Retribution? Winnie the Pooh?"
"Little bit of light reading," Sora responded hoarsely.
"No Pun Intended? Cheato?"
"Gotta have those puns," Sora croaked. This call and response went on for a good five minutes as Aqua stalled giving Sora his books. When she had had enough, she came right out and said these titles weren't going to help him on the midterm. The color drained from Sora's face. He found himself asking what the heck he was supposed to do without any help.
"Don't you have a weapons appointment with one of your professors?" asked Aqua. Sora snapped that he didn't have a weapon to appoint. Aqua's response was a look of dark realization followed by pity. With a smile she said for Sora to "just… do his best," putting a flower of condolence on his metaphorical grave. By now Sora had three minutes to get to class. Grimly he said he wanted the lock picking book and No Pun Intended. Aqua acquiesced and sent him off.
His hands clenched around the few books he had managed to keep as he stalked through the front hall. He really had no idea where to go. His anger was blinding him to what club he had next. He started running by classrooms to see which contained familiar faces. The poetry room was empty, as was the LGBTQ classroom. When Sora dashed by the Solo Performance class he groaned. Larxene was roaring at a crying child inside. Sora glanced to the clock above the door. One minute to go. He slipped into the classroom and tried charging to the back of the lecture hall unseen. But something hard and wooden hit him in the back of the head and sent him sprawling to the ground the minute he crossed the threshold of the door. A ruler.
"You're late!" Larxene roared, flinging the crying student away for Sora. When she stepped over him, he pointed to the clock and said he had one minute. Larxene kicked him in the cheek, barely missing his nose.
"WHAT DID WE LEARN ON THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS?" she roared.
"If you're early you're on time, if you're on time you're late, if you're late you're fired," responded the rest of the class in a dull thrum.
"Exactly!" Larxene snapped. Sora refrained from reminding her that he had, in fact, been one minute early, meaning one minute on time. Without his permission Larxene swiped the books from his grip and glanced through them with an expression of distaste.
"No Pun Intended? Lock Picking? Please tell me these are unrelated to your midterm project."
"What?" Sora croaked.
Larxene threw her head back and laughed before snapping towards the class.
"Can someone remind this dead head what the midterm assignment is?"
"Research a piece of written media that embodies you as a person and craft a performance from it," Umewaka, a fellow first year, hissed.
"First draft due today," Kuja, a senior, added with subdued glee. All the psychopaths of the school took this club. Sora imagined it was due of the joy they derived from watching Larxene terrorize first years.
"Ah," Sora worded, hiding his sweating, shaking hands behind his back as he stood. When he tried slipping to his seat, Larxene blocked his path with her foot. When he looked at her in confusion, she asked him to present his rough draft. Sora's legs nearly gave way beneath him.
"Can I have five minutes?" he pleaded in a whisper. Larxene bent close and whispered back, "no." Then she swatted him and told him to present. She sat down on the far side of the class with her feet crossed over her desk. As she pulled out some chicken wings in a takeaway box to her side, she called out, "you would have had twenty minutes to prepare if the drama club hadn't stolen the freaking black box from us!" With that she ripped into a chicken wing and screeched for Sora to start. Sora's classmates slipped performance rubrics from their desks. Sora gulped and glanced towards the books on the floor beside him. He figured the pun book would be his best bet. So he swept it up and did what he did best.
"What?" he blurted in a loud cry. "A school for heroes in a place called Olympus Coliseum? You've got to be kitten me!" Dead silence. Larxene screeched that Sora didn't have enough movement. Sora mimed Riku showing him the hero poster in his room in Destiny Islands, then himself cupping his hands around his mouth in surprise.
"We get to ride in a space ship? This otter be good…" Sora mimed an otter floating through the Besaid Sea. Then he mimed the shuttle ride to the Galactic Federation vessel and looking up at an invisible Gantu. Because the first two jokes had been on the book cover, Sora flipped through chapter one feverishly to find another. Larxene shouted for him to hurry up.
"Why is Riku not talking to me? He's such a stalemate," Sora croaked. "How much is the Pi Rate ticket for staying on board? 3.14 drachmas."
The class chuckled. Sora flipped a few more pages, miming Gantu's elephantine padded feet and hulking gestures. "How did you escape prison, you midget psychic?" he tried in the whale's voice, imagining the day he had gotten enough money to enter his lodgings after Gantu stole his racetrack earnings. In his own voice, Sora responded, "I'm just a small medium at large."
The class chuckled. Sora was so thrilled he skipped a few pages and with it, his memory flew to hero training at Olympus Coliseum.
"Another preliminary quiz to see if we're heroes? Not an udder one." No response, so with a grim nod Sora flipped through some more, deciding to amend the remaining jokes in the book for personal situations.
"It's not that I couldn't juggle not having an alarm clock, being exhausted, and having a sadistic homeroom professor when I came here," Sora tried in a quasi-accent like the one Rosso had. "I just didn't have the balls." Then he curled his pumpkin pant rompers high up his thighs and aped the sadist's walk. The class laughed harder.
"How did I handle bouncing back after being disemboweled the first week of school? It took guts."
The class howled. Sora had devised that one entirely himself. As a reward for being a good audience, he gave the class a two-minute mime session of his first few weeks of school until he settled on one of his most recent probation officer meetings with Axel.
"Sora vs. Probation Officer round seven," he hissed, miming a Ping-Pong game with Axel while dashing back and forth with an imaginary paddle. "He's got the pink slip in his hands. I try remembering a joke about amnesia. But I forget how it goes."
The class laughed again. Even Larxene gave a little snort. Sora got one final idea. Springing up, he related his hope that his cannibal classmates didn't gang up and eat him for the midterm.
"How do I know they're cannibals? Because whenever I do something wrong they throw up their hands."
There were a few odd chuckles from the class psychopaths. The first years rolled their eyes while a few other students wrinkled their noses in distaste. Sora bit his lip. He needed to end the presentation on a high note.
"I got to remember how to boomerang to the top! I've had a few stumbles, but I know it'll come back to me!" With this, Sora mimed wielding a massive blade against numerous unseen enemies while climbing to the top of a mountain. When he had ascended the black box cube before the chalkboard, he held an invisible flag of victory before him and the class cheered. As he dismounted the cube, Larxene put her hand around his shoulder. Then she looked down at him with what Sora hoped was a smile of satisfaction.
"Well!" she said aloud. "Who knew Sora had a flair for performance!" The class laughed. Larxene patted Sora's shoulder. Then she whacked him on the head and told him to sit at the back of the class. With shaking hands he scribbled the headings for a performance rubric onto a sheet of notebook paper and prepared to judge the next student up. Larxene added that she needed the written transcript of Sora's performance by the end of class. Sora bit his lip so hard it almost bled.
Over the rest of the extended class, Sora feverishly finished the rough draft of his presentation. When he turned it in at the class's end, she graded his rough draft on the spot. When she handed the paper back, Sora gasped.
A low B. Sora had never seen something so beautiful. He hadn't gotten a grade this high since his school days at Destiny Islands.
"We may find use for you yet, Sora Nomura," Larxene winked with a twinkle of mischief in her eye. Sora held back tears as he bowed to her. Then he heaped his library books under his arm and went for his next club with spirited steps.
Midterm week has officially begun! A guest appearance from Larxene today, but Roxas is still at large. The next chapter is one of my favorites so far, and the chapter after that is the test! Thank you all for bearing with me through this school year. It's been crazy, but now it's officially summer!
It's funny how far Sora has come in terms of development. Unfortunately he stumbled into a world much bigger and darker than himself, so he has to adapt incredibly fast. This first year will really be about his stumble into this new world. Year two will bring about very dark realizations that may shake Sora to his core. Some of these revelations will begin now... but STAY TUNED. I'm excited!
