AN: Novels continuity stuff figures rather heavily in this chapter with regards to how magic works and some characterization issues. Lina is not a wrecking ball in the novels, she's very cognizant of the damage her spells can do and mindful of it. There are also significant differences with the nature of the Ragna Blade and how it was discovered in the novels that feature in this chapter.
"Well, that seemed like a good idea at the time." Lina said as she forced herself out of bed, her mind racing with all of the things that were on the agenda for the day that she did not feel rested enough to accomplish, "Damn, I need my breakfast tea."
Gourry, who was lying face up on the bed with a pillow covering his face to protect it from the daylight seeping into the room muttered something unintelligible. Lina sighed in exasperation, "How do you expect me to understand a word you're saying right now?
Gourry removed the pillow from his face to say, "Well, you are headmistress. Can't you postpone everything for a day?"
He quickly hid under the pillow again, and Lina glanced at him, looking so comfortable under the covers, and felt compelled to cuddle up and join him. But the thought of one person was enough to stop her. She grabbed her bathrobe and pulled it on and said, "Not while Sis is here."
The pillow went flying through the air as Gourry shot up in bed, his eyes wide, "I'm awake now."
"Exactly." Lina said as she started grabbing her clothes. They had left both twins in the nursery with every intention of getting a good night's rest after the trauma of the previous evening. But as soon as they'd climbed into bed the prospect of how close to death Gourry had been hit, and soon they were relishing in each other's life. It had been glorious until they were confronted with the fact that they only had a few hours of the night left to get any sleep and a day filled with the task of orienting new students to the school. "Ugh, I mean, we only saved the world a few times. Why can't we be left alone to screw all night and sleep all day?"
Gourry climbed out of bed and walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead. "Any regrets?"
Lina smiled and wrapped her arms around him and then stood on her toes to kiss him tenderly before she said, "Never. As long as you're alive, we can push through it."
"If Midas and Rails ever accuse me of not loving them enough, I will remind them of all the mornings we stopped by the nursery to see them rather than head straight to the dining room for our breakfast tea." Lina groused as they left the nursery and headed towards the stairs.
Gourry wrapped an arm around her as they approached the stairs as he added, "Or caught an extra thirty minutes of sleep."
"Yeah, this had to happen at the end of summer break when we can't sleep in." Lina groused as they walked down the stairs.
Before Gourry could reply Owen yelled, "Sir Gourry! You're okay!"
And just like that, they were mobbed by a group of students eager to check in with Gourry as soon as they reached the bottom of the steps. Gourry blushed a little as he assured them that he was fine as Lina sighed in annoyance at this obstacle between herself and her breakfast tea. "I'm going to get breakfast and leave you to it." Lina said.
To Lina's relief, her breakfast tea was already there when she came into the room. She tuned out the conversations around her as she focused on eating and drinking and trying to wake up a bit and tried not to compare herself to Sylphiel and Amelia, who looked way too composed on the small amount of sleep that had to have had. Leia hadn't even made it down to the breakfast table!
"Where's Mom?" Lina asked Han.
"Sleeping in a bit. Late nights get harder at our age." He explained.
"Hm," Lina said as she started to eat her pancakes and went back to tuning out what everyone was saying. Eventually Gourry joined them. For a moment Lina thought the food was reviving her, that was until she realized that Han was trying to get her attention, "Lina!" he yelled.
"What?" she asked with a startle.
"Get your head in the game! Morticia may or may not be M, and the only thing we know is that someone potentially dangerous is at this school and that you will be sparring with the new recruits. Keep on your toes."
"Right, right." Lina said as she waved him away dismissively. "Don't worry so much, I've defeated Dark Lords on less sleep! Anyway, let's get this day started."
"Are you sure you're good for this?" Gourry whispered to her as they walked out.
"I'm fine." Lina muttered.
They walked into the foyer and Lina had to grin as she saw the new redhaired girl talking to Ripley and Mara Jade, who both looked overwhelmed as she talked rapidly, "Mara Jade, oh what a beautiful name! How I wish I could have such an exotic name. But I'm plain old Anne. I should have been born a Cordelia. I feel strongly that I should be Cordelia or Marion, I mean I thought that coming to Maninstit I should start a new leaf with a new name…"
Something clicked with Lina as she said, "Nicknames."
"What?" Gourry asked.
"Well, look at Ace. Look at Naga. Neither of them go by their given name. What if M is a nickname?"
Gourry mulled it over for a moment and said, "I guess in a group this large there will be one or two who go by a nickname."
"Exactly." Lina said as they left the building and stepped into the sun. Lina was grateful for its bracing impact as they walked over to the spot where they would spar. She scanned the crowd and saw that Luna was already there with their parents and the rest of the teachers as well as a great deal of the students. A knot formed in Lina's stomach as she took in just how much larger their school had grown.
Perhaps it's time to rethink the idea of sparring with every new student in one day, Lina thought to herself as she joined the group. "You ready?" Luna asked.
"Bring it on." Lina said as she put her hands on her hips.
"Good morning!" Luna called, and the group fell silent as they turned to face her. "Welcome to the third year of the Luke and Milina School of Sorcery and Swordplay. Since founding this school three years ago we have already trained students who have demonstrated success in taking down high ranking Mazokus and have gone on to serve as court sorcerers.
"And now let me introduce our headmistress and my sister, Dame Lina Inverse."
Lina walked into the area that had been roped off for sparing so that everyone could see her better, "To our new students, a warm welcome. And it is good to see so many returning students. I look forward to seeing how all of you grow through the year. Now, as our returning students know, we can only afford to spend our time training the best of the best. Facing a Mazoku on the battlefield is unlike any other threat you can face, and while you may be good enough to defend the average castle, people who fight Mazoku need to be of a different caliber. So to be a student in our school, you have to prove your worth.
"One of you, Morticia Addams, has already achieved this when she saved the life of Sir Gourry last night. But for the rest of you, it's game on!" The established students cheered in expectation as the new ones looked green with nerves as Lina grabbed the class list and glanced at it, "Elliot. You're up first."
Lina watched as a young boy with dark hair stepped forward and kept his hands in his pockets as he did so. From the sidelines everyone grew quiet as Lina prepared to face him. Everyone except for Anne who prattled on, "This is rather exciting, isn't it? But is anyone else feeling sick to their stomach? What if we mess this up? What will happen to us then?"
"Would you shut up?" Mara Jade hissed.
Lina started to spar with Elliot, relieved that while he had some good skills, particularly with Levitation and Ray Wing spells, it was nothing that she couldn't handle. She was chanting a Laphas Seed spell to subdue him when screaming broke out in the crowd, and Lina felt a moment of panic as she worried that they were being attacked. She and Elliot both took their attention off each other as they turned towards the commotion, and Lina felt confusion replace panic as she saw that Luna was taking Anne to task. "What's going on?" Lina asked as she walked up to the rope that separated her from the crowd.
"Anne turned around slugged the boy behind her. I am working to ascertain why." Luna explained.
Lina saw a boy with dark hair on the ground, wiping away a nosebleed. Anne looked defiant as she said, "He pulled my hair and called me 'carrots.'"
Lina had to suppress a giggle as she shook her head and looked at the boy, "And what's your name?"
"Gilbert." He said as he got up.
"Let that be a lesson to you to keep your hands to yourself." Lina said.
"Lesson learned." Gilbert said as he looked at Anne admiringly.
"Anyway, Anne, you're next."
"Right." She said as she got into the field. "I'm afraid I have quite the temper. But I feel justified, you know."
"Talk later, spar now." Lina said as she started chanting a spell.
"Oh right!" Anne said as she went rigid, "Only, I had something all planned out and now that I'm here…"
Lina finished her spell first, and Anne jumped as she was caught off guard and somehow managed to dodge, and then she started chanting more rapidly than Lina could have thought possible. But then she recognized the chant and Lina felt her ears go red with anger as she yelled, "Are you crazy! You don't chant Blast Ashes while sparring!"
"S-sorry," Anne said as she let the spell die, "I'll be more careful next time."
"I'm serious! That's a lethal spell! It has no place when casually sparring like this!" Lina continued as Anne turned red and looked at her feet, causing Lina to note just how ragged her shoes were. She took her volume down a bit as she continued, "Even on the battlefield, it needs to be wielded only with extreme care. If we accidently hit a human it would kill them instantly. It's not enough to be able to cast powerful spells, you have to know when to be able to use them and to avoid using them."
"Right, I understand." Anne said.
Lina sighed as she tried to figure out what to make of Anne. A Blast Ash was unbelievably reckless and concerning that Anne would even attempt it given the circumstances. And while Lina had slugged plenty of men for copping a feel, this combined with the Blast Ash was enough to be worrying. What if Anne had a hair trigger temper that went along with her red hair?
Just like Luke.
"You're done for the day," Lina said. Anne hung her head as she walked back to the crowd, and Lina put the matter out of her mind for the moment as she looked at the next name at the list, "Tom."
A young, handsome boy with dark hair stepped forward and immediately set about to chanting, and as soon as Lina recognized the chant she turned around in surprise as the hair on the back of her neck stood up, "But how?"
"Ragna Blade!" Tom cried, and Lina stared in bewilderment as the blade of darkness formed between his hands.
"How!?" Lina cried, not quite believing her eyes as everyone started talking in a loud whisper. "How did you do that without amplification?"
Tom smiled, "It's just something I was always able to do easily."
Lina stared at him and felt a sense of unease form in the pit of her stomach. There had been no record of anyone being able to cast the Ragna Blade without magical amplification. When she learned about the spell it was regarded as a spell that should work in theory but was beyond the magical capacity of a human to use. The Demon's Blood Amulets were the only reason she had been able to wield it, and since she'd had to destroy them, she had missed the spell terrible. She stared at Tom and tried to control her feelings of jealousy as she thought distastefully of his worn and tattered clothes. But then, if he was so poor that he couldn't afford to cloth himself well, how had he managed to afford to study magic much less come into the possession of a powerful magical artifact that would boost his capacity? But as Lina pondered the alternatives she found that all the possible explanations led to disturbing outcomes.
Including that she simply no longer had the largest magical capacity of anyone that she knew.
Snap out of it, Lina! She told herself as she forced herself to smile as she felt the burn of the stare of every student in the school upon her as she struggled to set a good example, "W-well, Tom, welcome to the school. Yours will be a tough act to follow."
Was her voice even enough? Or did it betray her?
"Oh," he said with smile as he gazed at her piercingly, and Lina felt herself take a step back as she broke into a cold sweat as for a wild moment she feared that he was seeing right through her and exposing all of her secrets. A blush formed as she realized she'd lost her composure in front of the school and backed down before a novice student, and she desperately squared her shoulders and held her head up and worked to get her breathing under control as she wondered what had just happened. Tom's smile widened in victory as Lina felt as though she had publicly lost a war she did not understand she was engaged in as he said, "I am very happy to be here, Dame Lina."
"Well, now that we've met all of the students, what do you think?" Lina asked, thoroughly exhausted, as she ate a rather late lunch with the adults.
"Anne was a bit suspicious, what with chanting that Blast Ash." Amelia said.
"I think she's just awkward." Leia said.
"She is very awkward." Luna agreed, "The woman who runs the orphanage I found her in was so desperate to be rid of her that she offered to pay me to take her off her hands."
"Is she that bad?" Lina asked.
"I don't know about bad, so much as annoying. And she does have a temper, though as we saw with Gilbert, she was provoked. The headmistress also said a lot of stuff went missing and other kids blamed Anne, though she was never sure if it was her or not. Needless to say she wasn't very popular."
"Very suspicious." Amelia said.
"I don't know," Sylphiel said, "People who are different are easy targets so they say. Just because she's socially awkward doesn't mean that she's evil and set on resurrecting the Dark Lord. She strikes me as sweet and desperate for love."
"Yeah, but people who are socially awkward are also liable to turn on a world that never accepted them. If she gets fed up she might go and resurrect Shabranigdu out of spite." Zelgadis said.
"And that Blast Ash was sheer recklessness." Han added, "I'm a little leery of letting her in."
"Someone with that much talent needs a firm hand as they are trained." Leia said, "Can you imagine what would happen if we let her loose?"
"What's your take, Gourry?" Lina asked.
"Anne is one of the last students that I saw before I blacked out." he said. "Well, Anne and Tom."
"So you think it was one of them?" Lina said.
Gourry shifted awkwardly in his chair and Lina raised an eyebrow, "Well, spit it out!"
"Well, it's just a feeling." He said.
"What sort of feeling? About Anne?"
"No," Gourry said, "Look, I hate to condemn someone on a feeling."
"We're not condemning anyone yet." Han said, "But you're the one who had the visions so your input is vital here."
Gourry nodded glumly, "Well, I remember seeing Anne. And then I saw Tom, and then there was nothing."
"Damn." Lina said, "I was hoping it wasn't him."
"Also," Gourry continued hesitantly, "I don't even know if it's related to the visions I had or just that he reminds me of people I grew up with, but watching how he unnerved you, he seemed to enjoy your discomfort."
Lina set her fork down, "Was it that obvious?"
"Only to those who know you well." Leia said consolingly.
Lina pushed the matter from her mind as she asked, "Sis, what do we know about him?"
"He's also an orphan. He's from the same place Anne is." Luna said.
"What sort of reputation does he have?"
"The headmistress was very complimentary about him." Luna said, "He wasn't popular with the other kids, but teacher's pet so they say."
"Or a brownnoser." Gourry said.
"Dame Lina, what do you make of his ability to cast a spell like the Ragna Blade?" Sylphiel asked.
"It's supposed to be impossible for a human to do it without amplification." Lina said.
"I'm also wondering where orphans like Anne and Tom managed to find the funds to train as sorcerers." Leia said.
"Yeah, guild lessons aren't exactly cheap." Han grumbled as Lina flinched.
"Don't complain." Luna warned, "It paid off."
"It's a good question, though." Lina said as she pushed away the guilt of all her family had sacrificed so she could be trained.
"He has to be using some form of amplification." Zelgadis cut in.
"You sound rather sure of that." Lina replied.
"Well, knowing we had a potentially dangerous new student, I was keeping an eye on the crowd. Every time you got ready to call a new student, Tom's lips would move as though he was chanting."
"But if he has some sort of magical amulets, why not let us know?" Amelia asked.
"No good explanation springs to mind." Gourry said. "What if the point was to unnerve you, Lina?"
Lina felt something cold settle within her as everyone looked at each other in alarm. After a moment Lina added, "Further, it's not as though magical talisman are exactly cheap. If he does have some, how could he have afforded them?"
"The headmistress of his orphanage said things went missing." Luna said.
"But what orphan has magical talisman?" Sylphiel asked.
"We'll just have to shake him down at dinner. I already told Morticia she would be our first guest for saving Gourry." Lina said, "And that will give us time to prepare our questions."
"So Tom is our prime suspect?" Amelia asked.
"Well, while Morticia is looking weaker and weaker as a candidate, I still don't want to rule her out entirely yet." Lina said, "Or Anne. But Tom is our prime suspect."
"But you're planning to let him attend school here?" Sylphiel asked.
"And let him sleep under the same roof as our son?" Rick asked.
"I understand your concerns," Lina said, "Still, there's no indication that whoever M was hurt anyone in the school."
"We can't refuse to teach him. Someone with that much power will develop it somewhere." Han said. "Better under our guidance than with who knows what."
"If this is even something we have much control over." Sylphiel said.
"Says the woman who took up the task of turning Arnold around." Zelgadis said.
Sylphiel shook her head, "I don't know that I'm helping much. Further, in the future that Sir Gourry saw, we weren't exactly successful in putting him on a good path."
"We have something now that we didn't have then, which is a warning. And someone with that much power is someone I want to keep an eye on." Lina said. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."
"But he could hurt vulnerable students." Sylphiel protested, "He could hurt our children!"
"If he's set on reviving the Demon Lord of the North, then he can hurt our children regardless of where he's raised." Lina said, "I want to keep a close eye on him!"
"Sylphiel, Rick, if it would help I will go over arrangements in the nursery we have been making to ensure its safety." Moe said.
"That's fine for now. Erik can't exactly run through the castle. But in a few years that will change." Sylphiel said.
"In a few years he may not be here." Han said, "As it is we're having to entice our oldest students to stay here for more training rather than pursue the employment opportunities they've been presented with."
Sylphiel and Rick shared an uneasy look, and Lina felt tired as she considered the possibility of losing such talented people. But Sylphiel got up and started collecting the dishes as she said, "I hope you're right."
AN: Someone has already identified Anne's inspiration, Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables. And if you recognize Anne, you'll know who Gilbert is.
And ok, ya'll. My inspiration well has been running dry but talking to ya'll has now netted an Ideas to Develop list that has 8 things on it in addition to Neverending and The Power of Justice. And growing. Hopefully once June gets here I can start cranking them all out.