You know, I don't think I've ever uploaded a new chapter 1 day after the last. That's new. Sorry to anyone looking forward to FB Rewrite. I'm just enjoying writing Nightshade so much, as you can probably tell by the fact that I'm uploading chapters so quickly. Heck, after this, I'm probably going to go straight to writing Chapter 14.

Anyway, see you at the bottom as per usual.

Chapter 13

Luna

I walked briskly through the carpeted halls of the Elite Dorms, sometimes hearing someone behind the door panicking that they were late. I could see some people considering bending the rule that said to not run unless it's an emergency. To be fair, having Mr Galsworthy glare at you with silent anger felt like an emergency to avoid.

Outside, the leaves were back on the trees and the grass was green, as Spring was in full bloom. There was still a chill in the air from Winter, but it wasn't unbearable like a couple of weeks ago. For April, it was surprising to see the sun out. Well, as out as peaking around the Central Cathedral was. I was expecting it to be raining. You know, April Showers and everything.

I headed to the training halls, where students were piling in. Mr Galsworthy looked up from his register as I approached, looking up at the sun. "You're lucky. You're not late."

"I'm not always late sir." I chuckled nervously.

"No, only most of the time."

I walked past him into the hall, where I saw Kimiko waiting. She was wearing a crimson red uniform, a new sword strapped to her belt. It was a sword that she had made herself down at the forge, made from steel melted from a Dark Knight's armour and rubies. Or that was the story she told me.

She looked up as I approached and sighed in disappointment. "Shame."

"Can't hold it over me today." I patted her on the shoulder as I went past.

We walked into the hall where most of the other Elite Disciples were waiting. I could see Diaz sitting in the corner with his white and gold uniform, looking at the trainees. We immediately made our way to the opposite side to where he was.

"I don't recognise anyone from home." Kimiko looked disappointed as she looked at the Trainees, resting her chin on her hand. "Suppose I could wait until the end, see who's left. Never really thought about teaching."

"Well you taught Lilith some stuff." I pointed out.

"That was just part of training."

"Still counts."

"I suppose…"

Mr Galsworthy cleared his throat. "Now you're all here except for Yun, who is late-" The door burst open and Yun walked, sweat shining on his forehead. "Now that you're all here, we can begin." He scribbled something in his register and then let it hang at his side. "You've been in the position of these Primary Trainees, so you should understand how they're feeling. You will be teaching them throughout the year, and in return, they will assist you in whatever you need. As per custom, they will duel each other, and you will pick who you wish to teach."

Mr Galsworthy walked along the line of Trainees, picking two from the line. The others backed off, allowing space for the two to duel.

I'll be honest, most of the Trainees were sloppy. Very sloppy. Their swings were either way too telegraphed, or they were overswinging, or both. It would be very easy for their opponent to take them out by just watching them, but as they were falling into the same trap, it was more who could land the first real hit rather than who was better. There were a few stand outs though. A boy with extremely bushy hair, who had rock solid defence. A tall boy with short straw-coloured hair who had power behind his swings. A girl with maroon hair that rested just above her neckline who was very precise with her attacks. And finally, a boy who was short and bald, and despite being nervous, was the most promising out of everyone, keeping a strong stance and strikes that were calculated and swung in perfect arcs that didn't break his guard.

The higher Ranked Disciples got priority over who they got to teach, so instantly a couple of the Trainees were picked. I leaned forwards, resting my head on my hands, thinking about who I would want to teach. Of course, it would be difficult to train someone who was constantly overswinging. I saw Diaz talking with the nervous boy, which disappointed me, as I wouldn't have minded training him. Slowly, the Trainees were standing alongside an Elite Disciple.

Kimiko nudged me. "You found someone yet?"

"Not really." I looked at the remaining Trainees. "You?"

"I'll just go with who's left."

"Fair enough." My eyes stopped on the girl with maroon hair. She was leaning against the wall, twirling her blade in the air. She looked bored, looking around as Elite Disciples walked past her in favour of other Trainees. "What's her name?"

Kimiko made a noise of disgust. "That Luna Regal. She's from a first ranked noble family, and apparently got the attitude of one. She acts superior to everyone." She raised an eyebrow at me. "You're not thinking of teaching her, are you?"

"Maybe." I saw another Trainee get picked by another Elite Disciple. "My options are running out, and she's shown some promise. Besides, it might keep the year entertaining."

"You're starting to sound like Lord Grant."

I chuckled. She had a point. "He's rubbed off on me."

Kimiko sighed as she stretched her arms upwards. "Well, good luck then."

I stood up and begun walking over to her. Luna turned to look at me as I approached, rolling her eyes. "Finally…" She certainly had an undertone of superiority.

"It's Luna right?"

She stood up straight, sheathing her sword on her belt. "Yep, Luna Regal."

"I'm Light."

She stifled a laugh. "That's certainly a strange name. I was named after the Goddess Lunaria. What were you named after?"

"I don't know. I've forgotten."

She burst out laughing. "You remember your name, but not why you were named it? Gods you're weird." She looked me up and down for a few seconds. "Okay then Light, you'll do."

I raised an eyebrow. "You do know that I can still walk away right?"

"You've given me a good laugh. That's better than what these other dolts have done. So, you're stuck with me now." She grabbed my arm.

I looked over at Kimiko, and she was giving me this 'I told you so' look. I sighed mentally, deciding to roll with it.

As the only thing we had to do that day was meet our Trainee, the next day came around pretty quickly. I woke up, hearing Kimiko in the living quarters rummaging through a book. I rubbed my eyes, sitting up. Looking out the small window in my room, I could see it was late morning.

Being an Elite Disciple certainly had its perks. For starters, our room was no longer shared, which meant I didn't have to worry about anyone grabbing my stuff by accident and claiming it's theirs. The mahogany desk I had was rather spacious, allowing me to have my journal open there ready to be written in. The oak chair was padded and stable, which was better than the one that was threatening to fall apart back in the Trainee Dorms. And getting out of bed to feel a carpet under your feet was something I never realised was something I was missing.

I grabbed my trousers and jacket and pulled them on. For some reason, purple was a colour I was drawn to. It could've been the dream I had when I was in the bloody forest. I shuddered as I remembered it. But the scale armour was neat. To everyone else, because I couldn't explain the dream without raising red flags, I just said I liked purple.

I grabbed a book from the bookshelf that was at the foot of my bed and headed into the living area. It was a large room with a huge window on the back wall. Two doors on opposite walls that led to mine and Kimiko's rooms, and then a set of double doors leading out to the corridor. Our dorm was painted with white paint on the top half and a dark red on the bottom, separated by a golden strip of wallpaper. As for furniture, we had two sofas on each side of a large oval table that was covered by a red cloth. A tall bookshelf sat in the back-right corner, though neither of us had books on it as we had one in our rooms, so we used it to store our swords. A large potted plant was in the opposite corner which Kimiko kept watered. The floor was carpeted by a huge rug that took up most of the room. And lastly, a painting of the Three Goddesses of Underworld hung on the wall next to Kimiko's door.

I lay down on the free sofa, opening on a random page. We didn't have anything to do for the day, as training was scheduled for tomorrow. Luna was supposed to come round for cleaning later, but other than that, it was basically a day of rest. Today was when the Trainees were supposed to get used to the grounds, so Elite Disciples had nothing to do.

Kimiko sighed as she flipped through her book. "What are you reading?"

"Different sword styles. I want to find out what style Luna uses so I can see if I can help her improve." I flicked past High Norkian. "You?"

"Ores and minerals. I like to look at the pictures."

"You're not happy with the sword you have?"

"No, it's fine. Just that some of these ores are nice to look at." She pointed the book at me. "Like, look at this. Orichalcum. It's apparently really difficult to shape, but if you can, the blade is amazing. Almost on par with a Divine Object."

"That's neat." The ore looked like a black rock to me.

"If you ever forged a sword, you'd understand." She went back to the book.

I smiled, looking at the bookshelf where Myne's Sword sat. "I'd rather leave that to the professionals." I turned the page to see the Fencing Stance. It was mainly a style for rapiers. The style was focused on precision, just like Luna's was. "Do you know if Luna uses a rapier?"

"Why would I know that?"

"Well you seemed to know a lot about her yesterday."

Kimiko shook her head. "All I know is that her family is unpleasant, and she's apparently one of the worst. Though you seemed to get on with her well."

"So far she's been fine. Definitely got that superiority that you were talking about. What about your page?"

"Becchi? He's alright. Very quiet though." A few seconds of silence passed. Kimiko closed her book, grabbing her boots and pulling them on. "I'm going to head outside to the gardens. Might as well get some exercise." She put her book down on the table and headed towards the door. "If Becchi gets here before I do, tell him that he can start cleaning straight away. I wouldn't want to hold him up by being late."

"Will do."

The door closed, and I leaned back, letting out a sigh of frustration.

Since getting to the Academy, I didn't have a dull day. Whether it was going out to Centoria, training, walking around the grounds, or hanging out with Lord Grant or Kimiko. But the last few weeks had changed that. Now I had taken a step closer to my goal, there wasn't anything to do. I had explored the grounds, I couldn't go to Centoria as it wasn't officially a day of rest, training wasn't today, and now Lord Grant was gone.

God I wish it was more exciting.

A knock came from the door. I jumped up and walked over there quickly. I opened the door to see Luna standing there. "Elite Disciple Light, I've come to clean."

I blinked a few times, looking back at the window. "It's still early."

"I have an errand to run this afternoon for my father, and as I have to perform my duties as a page, I decided it would be best to come early rather than miss it. I wouldn't expect you to understand."

"Must be an important errand to have to clean so early." I wasn't convinced this was the full story. A simple errand would take an hour at most. When I was attending to Lord Grant, sometimes I would have to head out early due to an important task, but I was always was back in time to finish cleaning.

Luna just nodded. "Of course. It's noble business, so I wouldn't expect you to understand."

I sighed. "Alright then. As long as it doesn't become a habit I suppose."

Luna smiled, moving past me into the room. "Thank you Elite Disciple Light. It should be a one off, but I will inform you in advance should it happen again."

It shouldn't be happening again… I didn't say it out loud. I knew that there would be some nobles who would choose to interpret that as disrespect. And all higher laws, including judicial authority, took precedence over the Academy rules. Certainly someone like Diaz would take advantage. "In the future, try and schedule errands to be during your free time."

"Of course Elite Disciple Light." She performed an overexaggerated salute. "Should I start in here or in your room?"

"Start in here. There shouldn't be much mess in here or in my room, so it shouldn't take long to clean both." I sat down on the sofa, grabbing my book. Luna began pacing around the room, but I mostly ignored her. I frowned as I looked through the Fencing Style. It was a much more defensive style, but when I was watching Luna, she was constantly on the offensive, striking rapidly, which didn't fit the Style at all. But it was the closest I could find to her Style.

I closed the book and sighed. "If you're done with that, I can put it away." Luna held her hand out to me.

"Thanks. I have a bookshelf in my room." I gave her the book.

"Okay." She took the book off me. A few seconds later, I heard a clang. Looking, I saw Luna had dropped both mine and Kimiko's book in the bin.

"What are you doing?" I got up and grabbed the two books, dusting them off. "I said that there was a bookshelf in my room."

"One of the pages is slightly worn, so I deemed it better to throw it away. I'll apply for a new one later." She looked at me with puppy dog eyes, attempting to make it seem like an innocent mistake.

"I need this to help you." I grimaced as I felt something wet on the back cover.

Luna laughed. "Help me? With all due respect, I'm pretty much the best I can be. This Trainee thing is more of a formality for me."

I bit my tongue to stop myself from just speaking my mind. "Well, tomorrow you can show me that you are indeed the best you can be."

"Of course Elite Disciple Light. I'll look forward to it." She put on a sweet smile. "Now, I must get on with the cleaning. Otherwise I'll be late."

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. "Please ask me before throwing things away."

"Yes Elite Disciple Light!" Luna did her salute again.

Gods, Kimiko was right. Hopefully things will get more bearable tomorrow during training…

You all know spoilt brats right? There's always one. Well that's Luna. I'm going to really enjoy focusing on her over the next few chapters, and Light's dynamic with her. After all, a commoner trying to teach a first ranked noble anything? How absurd XD Luna's been a character I've been looking forward to writing for a while since I designed her. Fun Fact: you can actually see the character I took her appearance from in Episode 8 of Alicization. During the fight between Volo and Sortiliena, there's a girl with maroon hair sat next to Kirito and Eugeo. And the boy sat with them is Becchi.

Either way, Light's got his work cut out for him. It's going to be nice writing a character that acts sweet and innocent, but is actually a sneaky devil on the inside. Diaz is just a dick, but Luna is a special kind of trouble.

Reviews:

blackbutterfly1313: Glad the perspective shift was nice. I'm going to try and keep the perspectives fixed for a chapter from now on, so from beginning to end, there's a constant point of focus. And who knows if he'll survive. I'm not telling XD

Anyway, hopefully the quality didn't slip just because I've done this in one day. Usually this is all done over the course of a week, but this time, it just all came at once, which I'm happy with. And I'll try to continue with this momentum for as long as it lasts.

And as always, until next time, Stay Cool.