Connecting the Fortress with its three neighboring towns was a fairly simple system of large pathways that were interconnected, so that people could easily switch routes between towns if they so chose to do so. These dirt pathways surrounded most of Fort Diamond, usually going either through or alongside its vast and bountiful outer farms, grazing lands, and outposts. Fort Diamond was also very fortunately guarded by a series of natural barriers. A river to both its north and south, the southern of which cut through a large forest that the fort had to its southeast, which was also where Woodbury was located.

To its northwest was Myrefield, near the rocky wastelands and mines, which was where metal ores and underground fossil fuels were mined and harvested. The northern river passed near the wastelands, which also served as an entry point to where Ashfeld grew rockier with mountains and ravines that were left over from the Cataclysm that had happened hundreds of years prior. Finally, to the northeast was Cherrytown, which had the forest not too far to its east, and plenty of fruit orchards and animal barns associated with its name. It shared association with the forest with Woodbury to the south.

Of course, beyond the forests and mountains laid other parts of Ashfeld, where other neighboring Legions resided. But the Azure Legion had the luxury of being fairly cut off from its neighbors. Though, it seemed like most major legions had their own ducked off regions to call home.

The Iron Legion was further up north, with large fortresses built up on mountains and vast ridges that elevated them, along with massive cliffs that were shielded by large forests. The Elio Legion's fortresses were to the west, and were similarly laid out to the Azure's, as they both had plenty of open flat land to deal with. The Blackstone stronghold was also to the north with the Iron Legion, and their taste in fortresses and terrain was also similar. The main difference is that the Blackstones took it a step further with the mountainous lands, and threw volcanoes into the mix. To the outskirts of Ashfeld laid the smaller legions and towns, who usually had to deal with the brunt of invading Viking and Samurai forces, whenever that occurred.

The Azures of Fort Diamond had a series of outposts and blockades between their natural barriers a fair distance away from their farm lands in order to cover the gaps up, on top of placing down garrisons and such either within or near the three towns it protected. Obviously, massive stone walls could not be erected all throughout the massive span of land in order to properly protect and connect the towns and the fortress itself. At that point, it would be a small kingdom, which was extremely far fetched and difficult to achieve, especially in these strange times. So, the Azures did the next best thing with the current system. It's other two fortresses, the Forts Sapphire and Lapis, were similarly laid out.

Fort Sapphire lay further up north, near Iron Legion territory, while Fort Lapis lay south, and was by far the most docile and less combat-involved fortress out of the three, as it was the furthest away from both the Vikings and the Samurai and was down in southern Ashfeld, where it was also far from quarrels that involved other Knight legions. If anything, the most it did was have skirmishes with legions that were much smaller than the Azures. Because it was further south, Fort Lapis came in contact with many people of Roman ancestry, and therefore had more amounts of Centurions and Gladiators.

A defining feature of Fort Lapis was the fact that it was the smallest out of the three major fortresses. But for a particular Squire, Fort Lapis arguably meant more to them than any of the big trio of fortresses.

Why? Well, her origins had a lot do with that.


Outside of Fort Diamond's walls, on the way to Cherrytown…

Leanne had stormed right past her Hero Academy earlier, but she didn't care about that at the moment, and there was no point in showing up so late anyway. She had already made her way out through the large and reinforced western gate of Fort Diamond, which was usually kept open during the day and throughout the afternoon, before being closed sometime in the evening, usually at dusk, with the same applying to its twin gate at the Fort's eastside. She could've gotten home faster had she taken the eastern gate, but she decided to take the long way home, as she had a lot to think about.

She walked along on a dirt path at a fairly slow pace. She paid no mind to the other people that went by past her, since most of the time, there were other civilians going to and fro between Fort Diamond and each of the three towns, whether on foot, horseback, wagon, carriage, it didn't matter. During the day, the Azure Legion and its lands were always populated, even in the in-betweens.

As she walked, her mind was still spinning from what had happened back within the Fortress, at its very center, within the barracks. She couldn't stop thinking about it. Why had she lashed out like that? She wasn't asking why it happened, since she knew what had invoked her to do so. She was more so asking why she allowed herself to do it. There was a difference between knowing why something happened and why someone let something happen, despite the situation being in their own control. The reasoning and logic behind why, not just ordinary why.

Her eyes were tracking the ground in front of herself as she walked. She placed one foot in front of the other slowly and in a perfunctory manner. She continued to think, an occasional sniffle coming from her nose. They were just leftovers from the sobfest she had unleashed back at the barracks. As she continued to think, her thoughts began to drift. She was all on her own as she walked along at her slow pace, people making their way past her on their way to the towns, or in the opposite direction, towards Fort Diamond. The entire world just kept moving quicker than her as she felt herself get lost in her own thoughts.

Her mind was all over the place. She began to think not just about her outburst at the Alphas and Amybeth at the barracks, but about what she was going to do now. Was she going to continue training? Should she even try anymore at the Hero Academies? Was she ever going to get the chance to apologize to the Alphas? Did she even want to? Did she have that sort of courage, to own up to her mistakes and apologize? What about Amybeth? How did she feel? Were they still friends? What about training with Amy's father, too? If Amy was going to be with the Alphas, she didn't need her father anymore, right? Was Leanne going to stay with him? Should she? Could she? Why was she being such a baby about things? The Alphas still meant so much to her, yet it felt like the jealousy and the fact that they weren't going to visit her class had made her hate them. WHY? Why was she so spiteful now? She didn't want to be, but she couldn't help it. The emotions were fairly new to Leanne, but everyone could feel jealousy and such. She was no different. Regardless, she hated herself at this very moment, more than she had ever had.

The emotions just kept clashing within her own head, and the questions she was asking herself and trying to answer were all jumbling over one another, her trains of thought all colliding into massive explosions of loose, unfinished, confused thoughts that weren't coherent. She didn't hate Amybeth, she didn't hate the Alphas. But the jealousy and spite always came back, and she grew bitter. She knew she was sour over everything, and that she had to get over it. But even if she did get over it, what would happen then? All the questions from before rushed back. Sure, the Alphas visiting meant everything to her. But just because they weren't going to didn't mean that she shouldn't keep trying, right? After all, Emora had spoken to her personally about it all. She had grown determined to become a Hero because of her! But—now that all didn't matter, did it? Emora probably thought she was a jealous, overly emotional brat that didn't know how to control her emotions and was childish and immature, unfit to be a Hero.

Unfit to be a Warden.

And just like that, her thoughts made a full circle. She went back to being sour and bitter over what had happened. She had messed absolutely everything up. It was too late to go back. Who knows, maybe the Alphas might report her trespassing incident and the whole horse stable mishap to her Academy and she'll get kicked out anyways. That way she wouldn't have to worry about failing and eventually dropping out, since they'd be doing it for her. Amy was gonna go on to be a great Hero without her, and that… that really, really hurt. Leanne's eyes once again began to water as she walked along, her jealousy returning to her as she felt betrayed by Amybeth. But again, her other half knew she was being unreasonable. She couldn't feel betrayed by Amybeth if she didn't even do anything. All she had done was do what she was told to do. She trained long and hard to get into the barracks, and it just so happened that the Alphas were going to be visiting. She fought as best she could, and got rewarded for it.

Leanne felt like she shouldn't feel angry and betrayed at Amybeth for doing well. She should instead feel happy for her! But… why was that so hard to do? Amy was going to live her dream, and she didn't want to get in the way of that. She should've known it was going to happen anyway. Just how stupid were they? Leanne knew that she was always going to be a step behind Amybeth, simply because she was a little younger. They always told themselves that they were going to become Heroes together. Leanne now understood that that desire was doomed to fail from the very beginning.

Now, Amy was going to jump further ahead than Leanne could ever hope to experience. Training with the Alphas themselves. Who was she kidding? The squire let out a frustrated exhale as she brought her hands to her eyes, wiping tears away. None had fallen, luckily. But they were close to, briefly. As her pessimistic thoughts began to win over her optimistic ones, she began to question herself again. Now that she had ruined absolutely everything with her idols, she convinced herself that they all thought she was an idiot. Being looked down upon by your role models? It shattered Leanne's determination and resolve to become a Hero. But that was when she came upon another question to ask herself.

Why did she even want to become a Hero in the first place, if it meant going through all of this trouble and stress? Before she spoke to Emora, before she looked up to the Alphas, before she trespassed and lashed out with fire and brimstone at the very people she looked up to, and before she ruined absolutely everything with them.

Of course, she remembered quite quickly. In fact, she had never forgotten it. Emora and the Alphas were just another strong push of encouragement that she used to help her find extra willpower to continue training. When she had gotten in trouble over cutting off that Conqueror's fingers, she thought for sure that she wasn't going to be able to continue. That was when Emora saved her. But for a moment there, she really had lost hope. Yet again, Leanne's consciousness was stirred by another thought.

She began to think back about the Conqueror that had made her lose hope. She knew that class of Hero was unique. The way it worked was different from any other Hero class, and on top of that, she had a strange bond with the Conqueror class as a whole, but not because of that sordid cad who was harassing those women in her town that one day, but instead because of her father, the reason why she had wanted to become a Hero in the very first place, before everything else came along to further inspire her.

Before absolutely anything, her father was her inspiration. And her father was a Conqueror. She began to think back on a story that her mother had told her following her father's death. A story that resonated with the young squire deeply since the day she was told it. The story was of how her mother and father met. And it all began with the smallest of the Azure Legion's three major fortresses.

Leanne's father was from Fort Lapis, which gave Leanne a bit of a familiar, comforting feeling whenever it was brought up. Whenever the young Squire thought about her father, a lot of conflicting thoughts came up into her head. She was always unsure on how to feel about those thoughts whenever they began to quarrel within her consciousness. It was mainly because of that same Conqueror that had nearly managed to completely discourage her in becoming a Hero. It was ironic, how a Conqueror almost did that, when it was a Conqueror in the first place that had encouraged her. Leanne couldn't help but smile at the strange correlation.

She knew what it meant to be a Conqueror. It meant that her father was a criminal or delinquent that ended up in prison, before obviously becoming an ex-prisoner. Conquerors were always troubled people, but as it turns out, troubled folk are usually the ones with the most gusto, the Azure Legion found. That was why Conquerors were so peculiar. The process of becoming one differed from the more orthodox training that Wardens, Lawbringers, Peacekeepers, Centurions, and Gladiators had. Each class had its own training time that began from a young age, with roles like Lawbringers and Wardens taking the most time to master. Peacekeepers, Centurions, and Gladiators usually went on to become fully fledged Heroes at eighteen. Wardens took their oaths at eighteen, but did not become fully fledged Heroes until twenty. Lawbringers were permitted to begin enforcement at age twenty-two. Lawbringers and young Wardens that hadn't yet reached age twenty often worked together to enforce justice and protect the people of any particular town or legion.

One could not simply choose to become a Conqueror from a young age, like one could for the other Hero classes. For all legions across Ashfeld, becoming a Conqueror was usually a reward for showing enough skill and proficiency in battle as a basic legionnaire, or sword and shield fodder. They had earned their keep among high-ranking Knights of any particular legion through their determination and feats of arms despite being criminal scum. But that was the past, and they had clearly proven themselves worthy of being an elite soldier under the title of Conqueror.

This meant that Conquerors usually became Heroes at varying ages instead of having a set age for the completion of training. In the Azure Legion, Conqueror training took no more than two years. But of course, it varied on how long it took for a conscripted soldier to get recognized by the military's higher ranks. Prisoners were usually qualified for conscription if they were older than seventeen while incarcerated in the Azure Legion. However, the Azure Legion didn't exactly struggle with having armies, and most of their forces were willing soldiers. If anything, prisoners were more often offered their freedom in exchange for service instead of being forced to fight, meaning they had a choice on whether or not to join the military. Whenever the Azure Legion did decide to forcefully conscript soldiers, only men were enrolled. Women could volunteer if they really wanted to.

In the case of Leanne's father, he took the option of signing up for the military in exchange for his freedom.


Nearly two decades ago…

Born right within Fort Lapis' walls, Orson Bennett lived a fairly simple life, with his family working ordinary jobs. His father was a carpenter, and his mother worked with other women on looms to create fabrics. He always worked with his father, planning to become a carpenter himself in the future. Eventually, he moved out of his parents' home and began to live on his own as a young man.

One day, Orson met a woman, a wonderful woman who he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Her name was Ada. They courted for months, but one day, when he arrived to his own home, he caught her in bed with another man. His broken heart, wracked with betrayal and heartache, became filled with anger and hate. In his rage, he killed the man that she had been unfaithful with, but was apprehended afterwards for doing so. He was nineteen when this happened. He spent two years in prison before being given the chance to earn his freedom by becoming a legionnaire. Over the two years, he had mostly spent his time thinking back on what he had done.

After the amount of time that had passed, he had calmed, and his rage was far, far gone. Now, he only thought of what he could've done differently. What bothered him the most is that he never got to ask Ada why she did it. What was he doing wrong, what was he missing? What could he have done to make things right? He became determined to find out. But he knew that as a soldier, he wouldn't be able to find out if he was slain in battle. So, he fought furiously and carefully for his life each and every single time he was ordered to engage in combat. He constantly kept his wits about him in battle, wielding his sword and shield as effectively as he could.

From his efforts in battle, he was selected from the ranks of basic foot soldiers and was set to receive special heavy infantry training. After two years of training, at the ripe age of twenty-three, older than young Lawbringers, he had become a Conqueror. With this new title, he knew he was no longer a criminal conscript, nor any ordinary soldier. He was a Hero, and that meant that he had authority. As he was no longer required to constantly be following orders from his captains, he began to use his free time to search around for Ada. From her friends, he was made aware that she had returned to her original home:

Fort Diamond of the Azure Legion.

Because he now had the ability to do so, he requested the permission to transfer from Fort Lapis to Fort Diamond, under the excuse of being able to participate in more frontline battles there, as Fort Lapis was very rarely faced with major fights. Not just that, but Fort Diamond was always the most popular of the Azure Legion's three biggest fortresses, and everyone knew that. Upon arriving, he immediately began to ask around for her, but to no avail. How could he expect to find a single woman who was nothing more than a garden hand back in Fort Lapis in such a big place like Fort Diamond? After years of fighting, first as a common foot soldier and then as a Conqueror, he began to lose hope of ever being able to speak to Ada again.

Seeing as he had nothing to do in the fortress itself, he wandered off to sulk, and found himself in one of the three towns that were in close proximity with the fort. As he drank at a tavern, he began to speak to the bartender about himself and his travels, and overall, why he was even here as a Conqueror. When he brought up Ada's full name, Ada Tonis, the bartender gave him a strange look. The tender relayed to Orson that the Tonis family owned a popular florist shop in town, and were known for their gorgeous flower arrangements that were often used for things like parties, gatherings, weddings, and all sorts of other celebrations. They even had their own gardens that they themselves tended to. It just so happened that Ada was the name of one of the family's daughters.

Orson couldn't believe it. He asked of the shop's location, and set out to find it. Upon doing so, he confronted the owner of the shop, who seemed to be Ada's mother. And finally, after being told that Ada was busy tending to the rose gardens, he found her. The two looked set their eyes on one another for the first time in four long years, and it was truly something to behold.

Ada at first didn't believe that it was him. She broke down into tears during the dramatic reunion. Orson, meanwhile, was just happy to have been able to find her. However, things went south as he began to bring up why he was even here in the first place. After explaining to Ada all that he had done and been through to become a Conqueror, and the things he saw and the places he traveled to, he revealed his questions to her. Questions that he had thought about for years during his time in prison. What was missing from their relationship? Why did she do what she did? What could he have done better? All of it.

That was when Ada cried the hardest. Wracked with guilt, she admitted to Orson that she had no proper reasoning, and that she knew that what she had done was wrong and that she deserved every single bit of condemnation and scrutiny that he had to offer. However, Orson chose not to give her a hard time. He was merely regretful about the way that things had transpired, and ended up apologizing for the death of the man she had slept with. Ada couldn't believe what she was hearing. She lashed out with self-hate and frustration, arguing that she should have been the one apologizing, and not him.

The two argued for minutes on end, before Ada revealed that from the day she watched Orson kill another man over something she had done, she had been forever changed. Since that day, she refused to never court another man again, for she swore off ever trying to find another partner for the fear of ever hurting them again. Orson argued that that was no way to live. Ada continued to refuse. As a final attempt, Orson poured his heart out, reminding Ada that she was forgiven, and that she should not let a single mistake allow her to live the the rest of her life lonely, for mistakes do not define a person. What is gained from them is what does. What mattered was that she learned from what had happened, and would never live to make the same mistake again.

Ada finally came to her senses and agreed. But a final twist came when Ada cried out for Orson, begging him to let her have another chance. To prove that she could be faithful, and that she had indeed learned from the foolish and messy mistake she had made. Orson was hesitant, but when he looked deep inside himself, he realized that despite the heartbreak, the anger, and the desolation, his heart still had a soft spot for Ada. The two agreed to give everything one last try.

This time, things worked. The two grew closer, and a year later, they found themselves married. Orson continued to fight on and serve proudly as a Conqueror, with Ada finally having a source of income that didn't come from her family's business. It allowed for her to stop working, which was a needed change of pace, as she had grown pregnant. After a few more months, the blonde-haired and blue diamond-eyed baby was born, and the Bennett family had their first and only child.


Fast forwarding…

"And that was you…" Leanne mumbled to herself, reciting the story as she remembered it from her mother's lips. When her mother had told her that story, she remembered how she felt. Vividly, too. She thought it was extremely romantic and one big, big lesson on staying faithful to those you love, especially when it comes to romantic relationships. She was only about eight or so when her father died in battle. She remembered crying for nights on end, with her mother doing the exact same. It was terrible, and thinking back on it didn't help either. Her mom had nothing but good things to say about her late husband at the funeral that the town held in honor of the brave Hero. Leanne knew, not just from the way her father treated and raised her, but from how he treated and acted around those he cared about, including his wife, his friends, his neighbors, and fellow Heroes, that he was a good hearted, respectable man. It was odd, using those words to describe a Conqueror.

That was another thing about Conquerors that fascinated Leanne. In her father's case, he fought as hard as he did for a cause back when he was just an ordinary soldier. He fought to find his former lover and speak to her again about a past that he clearly regretted. But Leanne knew that not all Conquerors thought this way. Most Conquerors were just soldiers that were overly aggressive and thrived in the art of war. They fought for the sake of proving themselves in front of others, and reinforcing the fact that they were the best of the best. That was why Conquerors were often described as ruthless, hostile, boastful, loud, and haughty, otherwise vain, arrogant, egotistical, and filled with hubris. But Leanne knew her father wasn't like this. He fought for a cause other than bragging rights and the gain of personal strength and reputation.

When she was young, Orson always told Leanne that she could be strong. As he got better acquainted with Fort Diamond and its neighboring towns and the way people viewed each different location, he formed his own opinions over the years. Being from Fort Lapis, which only had scattered farmer homes outside its walls, he wasn't exactly used to the idea of people from a particular location having their own stereotypes. He was more familiar with stereotypes based on origin, like the ones that were associated with each faction. He supposed that Fort Diamond worked similarly, and eventually, because both his wife and daughter were women of Cherrytown, he opposed the traditional views that people had of them.

From her mother, Leanne learned to be a proper, obedient, helpful, and respectful woman. From her father, she learned to stand up for herself, know her boundaries, when it was right or wrong to speak up, and how to defend her own honor. Leanne always preferred to hang out with her father. Whenever she was with her mother, she always found herself doing garden work, or house cleaning, or learning how to cook, and stitch, and weave. Sure, they were all useful skills, but she found them a lot more boring than what she did with her father. With him, she got to learn how to ride horses, she did exercise with him, learned some basic self-defense, and best of all? She learned how to wield a proper arming sword. The sword that Leanne always carried on her back, the sword that was still on her back as she walked along the path, was given to her by her father for the purpose of protecting both herself and those she cared for.

The blade meant everything to her. It was the very last thing that she had to remember her father by. Orson had the sword custom-made just for his daughter, and that was more than obvious. The curved crossguard had engravings of rose vines on it, to represent Ada's line of work and love of roses. The handle's blue leather matched up with the blue gemstone that found itself at the center of the crossguard hilt. Both matched the color of Leanne's eyes: crystal blue. Its pommel was a sharp diamond-shaped prism that represented none other than Fort Diamond, her birthplace.

She was given the sword when she was around seven, when she was finally strong enough to properly hold it. Even then, it took the effort of both of her little hands to do so properly. Every weekend, she looked forward to being able to train and practice with her father on how to properly swing, thrust, and guard. It was hard at first, but as she continued to practice, she eventually began to get used to handling the blade. Even after her father's passing, she continued to train on her own, rerunning the drills and movements her father had taught her over and over again. Nowadays, she can use it as a proper weapon with a single hand, and has done so before.

The scream of that squalid conqueror when his severed fingers plopped onto the ground echoed in her ears.

Orson, along with the sword he left behind for his daughter, were the reasons why Leanne wanted to become a Hero in the first place. She looked up to him and wanted to become a capable, respectable, honorable Hero. He told her that she could not become a Conqueror like him, though. At first, she was confused, and when she asked him why, she recalled having her question swiftly dodged by a pretty clever distraction. The idea of becoming a Warden, what he called the "next best thing." They were honorable, chivalrous, righteous, upstanding, and had oaths that made them different than any other kind of Hero. Becoming one was a challenge, but he believed that she had what it took to do it. And so, she set her mind on becoming one. Upon his unfortunate passing, Leanne's will to become one only got stronger, as she wanted to make her father proud by doing what he believed she always could.

As Leanne walked along, her eyes were darting about rapidly in thought. Everything was still fighting against each other. On one half, she felt like she had returned to her roots, and the original source of her motivation: her father, and how she wanted to fight in his name. But on the other half, the entire ordeal with Amybeth and the Alphas, with how she was being left behind by her best friend, how she wasn't going to get to prove herself before her idols, and how she managed to destroy her relationship with them forever, fought right back. Fighting against overwhelming odds, Leanne hopes began to crumble. Was her father wrong? Did she really have what it took to become a Warden? Did she have the strength to make him proud?

Her mind kept telling her no. Emora probably didn't think so either. Her father was probably looking down on her from the heavens in disappointment.

"How could you do such a thing, Leanne?! You messed everything up!" Her consciousness yelled into her ear, with her father's voice. As a child, she obviously got into trouble. Whenever she was punished by her parents, she recalled how terrible it made her feel. Now, when she began to think about how her dad would react to what had happened, she just knew that he would be disappointed. Her doubts just kept building up, and Leanne finally full convinced herself that giving up was how this would all end. If she did so, all the stress, and worry, and anxiety would go away. All that would be left is the shame of failing her father. But she selfishly convinced herself that she could live with that reality, as she figured that he had simply misjudged and overestimated his dear own daughter.

Then she remembered that it wouldn't be the first time that a woman in her family failed something. Her mother had failed something too. Leanne hadn't dared forgotten about that. It was yet another thing that continued to bore down on Leanne's hopes and dreams. Yet another setback, yet another major hardship that she had been forced to bear and push against for years leading up until now.

She looked up briefly, hearing as the world around her began to get louder as she approached her hometown. She passed by a large sign that had the town's name on it, and walked further past a welcoming gate where the horse stables and such were found. The entire walk had taken about twenty or so minutes. Further in was the rest of the town, chuck full of people going about their days. Leanne began her route home in silence. She was already bitter, resentful, dispirited, and angry with herself. Now, that began to affect the way she felt about the world around her. And that included her current living situation with her mother.

After her father's death, Leanne remembered her mother telling her that she had sworn to forever be faithful to Orson when she first asked him for a second chance. Leanne understood that, but was somewhat surprised when her mother told her that it would also apply postmortem. It was somewhat common for women to remarry if their husband died or left them, especially in a place like Cherrytown. But Leanne thought that it was brave of her mother to keep true to her promise to her father. And for the couple of years that came following Orson's passing, Ada stayed true to her promise to him.

But Leanne knew that the promise was in vain.

For two long years, Ada and Leanne struggled financially. Between paying for Leanne's schooling and training, food, clothing, contributing to keeping the family florist business running, and the usual taxes and costs for transportation, there wasn't enough money to go the full way around. Leanne saw that Ada was beginning to lose strength. Day by day, she lost more and more. She remembered times where she would come home from school to see her mom crying at the dinner table, or times where she could hear her sobbing through her bedroom's door. Without a man to help the family, both Ada and Leanne grew weak. Leanne grew weak because she could do nothing to help. She felt like a liability. Ada grew weak because she knew a way to bring in more money, but doing so would mean breaking her promise to Orson. She had been working two jobs for the past two years or so, and getting a third was impractical and would mean an insane amount of work hours.

Leanne was ten by the time Ada finally cracked, and began to prostitute herself as a way to both deal with her stress, and to bring in more money. The loss of her husband, the shame of breaking her promise to him, even if he was dead, still hurt her, and made her feel terrible. Submitting to prostitution was a thing she hoped she'd never have to do, and the fact that it was now her reality contributed to her ever-whittling mental state. Her self-respect and self-esteem all began to crumble along with it. She was wracked with overwhelming grief, shame, and sadness, and had overworked herself into a hole of stress and worry. Whether it was over not having enough money to buy food, or to buy new clothing, or to buy the supplies to fix old clothing, or to pay taxes, or to maintain the house, she was always stressed. What was a way of both making extra money and relieving stress at the same time?

Well… sex, of course. With good looks, salacious words, and provocative gestures, finding partners that were willing to go for multiple rounds was easy for an attractive woman like Ada.

Leanne watched it all happen right before her eyes, too. Ada gave in after trying so hard, but was it fair for Leanne to compare herself to her mother? She had worked hard to become a Hero too. She had worked hard to work through the mental and emotional stress that came with her life after her father's death, watching both her own life and her mother's begin to fall apart, and being able to do nothing about it. She continued for years after it all began, fighting past the fact that her mother was viewed as a whore to the world around her in order to keep training to make it into the Hero Academies. She remembered how being away from home felt good, and how training and being in school helped take her mind off of how things were back home.

But she still didn't know whether or not it was fair to make the comparison. Both her and her mother tried their hardest. But Ada's situation was far more severe. She was an adult, dealing with adult problems. She went on for two years after Orson's death before collapsing. Leanne went on for three times as long. And for someone younger, those burdens can really mess up a still impressionable, developing mind. Leanne's hands rose to her head, gripping its sides, her fingers running through her hair as she gritted her teeth together in frustration. She had thought about so much on her way home, and because she was stupid, none of it had made her feel any better. Why was she doing this to herself?

Leanne's pace quickened as she tugged on her hair a bit, which messed it up a bit, loose strands gently waving about as she walked along. Her thoughts continued as she focused back on her mother, and what she should do about herself.

Everything that had happened just made everything so difficult. The loss of her father, the financial hardships, the helplessness of watching her own life and her mother falling apart, watching that same poor woman resort to prostitution just to try and scrape by at the cost of breaking a promise of abstinence in the name of her late husband, and what she thought was worst of all, how her mom's mental state continued to diminish until it reached a level of what she believed was a point of no return: a promiscuous, licentious, and broken woman who began to enjoy sex work and began to develop bad habits aside from being sexually dissolute, like drinking and being involved in polyamory. All of those hardships were stacked upon the stress of working hard in training and performing well in school throughout all phases of the Hero process. Through basic training and then in the Academies, the trouble she got into with that Conqueror, and finally the recent crime of trespassing, with added salt to the wound in the form of a ruined impression of herself in the eyes of the Alphas, and most importantly, Lady Emora Ryon.

All of that over the course of six hard years following the death of her father. That's what started it all. That's what started her plummet. At first, she thought it would give her the determination she needed to push harder to become a Hero. But it wasn't as easy as she thought it would be. She had been trying for the last six years, and with what had been happening throughout her life, and with what had happened just recently, that was the final straw.

She didn't have what it took.

"I'm sorry, dad—ow!"

Leanne suddenly stumbled backwards as her eyes darted about on the ground momentarily as she peered down to a variety of berries that had spilled out of linen baggies. She spotted blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. She gazed up to see who she had run into, and let out a gasp once she saw who it was.

"Ohh, well if it ain't the trademark Cherrygirl of the northwestern quadrant's Hero Academy!" Yelled the person, who looked quite angry that Leanne had walked right into them and made them spill the bags of barriers from the basket of groceries they were carrying.

Leanne just stared with wide eyes as she tried to speak. But she found herself unable to do so. A pair of sharp, intimidating brown eyes stared her down, accompanied by slanted and furrowed eyebrows that clearly expressed frustration and malevolence. Their nose was slightly wrinkled in contempt, their full lips curled back in an aggressive manner. They had lightly tanned skin, their hair long, straight, and colored in a dark brown that shined brightly under the sun. They once again spoke up, their voice harsh and filled with disdain.

"You should really watch where the hell you're going, Bennett."

The young blonde blinked, before glancing down to the spilled berries that had fallen from the basket. She then looked back up and gasped, finally coming to her senses. She dropped down to her knees and began to scoop them up from the dirt, hearing as the person she had bumped into laughed a bit.

"I didn't even have to ask! Glad you're finally starting to catch on about who's really the top gal of our Academy's hierarchy. That last loss against me really hit your confidence hard, didn't it?" They spoke, placing the rest of the grocery basket down and squatting in front of Leanne to watch her work. "That's good, because you were really starting to piss me off with how much trouble you were bringin' me."

Leanne gritted her teeth as she kept her head down, her brows furrowing with restrained anger as she struggled to keep her cool. She was having the absolute worst day already, and now, this was the very last thing she needed. She wanted to speak, but she wanted to avoid any trouble. After all, this person gave her enough of that at school already.

With her hands full of berries, she slowly looked up to face the person. She glared at a young Japanese girl who had the absolute cockiest, snarkiest, most infuriating smirk anyone could ever create. If there was one person Leanne could ever bring herself to truly dislike, it was her.

In her head, her consciousness spoke with rage.

"Meiko fucking Toguchi."


Some more backstory for our beloved squire! She's quite the unfortunate welfare case, huh? Let me know what you think, and I hope you stay tuned!