Chapter 11: Academy of Valkyries

St. Freya Academy: Founded by Cecilia Schariac and Theresa Apocalypse in the wake of the Second Impact in 2005, serving as Schicksal's Far Eastern Branch at the same time. The Academy is an extensive facility within Soukai City, one of the world's primary Honkai defense cities just on the coast of Japan. The Academy houses, trains, and deploys prospective Valkyries who come from across the world to learn there. It was founded by Cecilia and Theresa as a means to train Valkyries in a safer environment in the wake of the losses suffered during the Second Impact, and while they have faced some criticism, the results cannot be argued.

-Excerpt from Schiksal database, "St. Freya Academy"

Soleil didn't feel surprised much when he opened his eyes and found himself once more staring off into a dark blue beyond. At least this time, as he sat up, he could find some scenery to break the view. Not that it was much. Featureless blocks of some unknown material, forming vague structures in a facsimile of buildings, sparse "plants" of the same material, and of course those swirls of colored light in the "sky". He still had no idea what this place was or if it was even the same place his mind had drifted to several times before. He just knew it was familiar.

"Though I guess saying I'm 'here' is a bit of a stretch." Soleil raised a hand, letting out a grumble as he saw how his form was slightly transparent. "Just what the hell is this place anyway? I feel like I know it…"

"That's because you do." A soft voice came from behind him. Soleil turned, and he saw that blue butterfly again. Only here, there was another shape around it. Little more than a vague silhouette, but that familiar feeling came up again.

"Seele…"

"Ah, you remembered my name!" The ill-defined girl bounced a bit as the name slid past Soleil's lips. "That makes me so happy. Even just getting to talk to you is enough for me, but now I know you remembered my name too."

"Just who are you?" Soleil asked, putting a hand to his head. His mind flashed again. He saw that girl again, the one with a resemblance to him. "I know you… but it's too vague right now."

"I know you'll remember soon enough, just like I did." Seele said, taking a step closer to Soleil. "But, to answer your question, I'm someone you haven't met in the real world, not yet. I can't show up there for long, and when I can it's only as that butterfly. I don't think it really counts. You're also the only one who can see or hear me. Otherwise, I'm stuck here, in this place, just wandering around."

"Stuck?" Soleil repeated, looking out across the way as Seele's form did the same. "The Sea of Quanta… is that… how?"

"I'm not sure how we're connected to this place myself." The shimmering form brought her hand up to her chest. "Well, I know how I am. But that was a long time ago… was it? I'm not really sure how long I've been here anymore. It's just been me and… the other me."

"Huh?" Soleil raised a brow. When Seele turned, this time a feature became clear. Radiant blue eyes, like azure waters. Just like his own. But, as those now visible eyes look at him, they suddenly changed. A glaring red, narrower in expression.

"You might remember that soon enough too, Big Brother." It was still Seele's voice, but the reverb, the deeper tone, told Soleil it wasn't her at the same time. "Seele and I have been waiting for a long time. Don't worry though, I've been keeping her company, keeping her safe."

"You're…" Soleil flinched back a bit. "the 'other' Seele. Who are you?"

"Just someone who's been with Seele for a very long time." "Seele" answered. "Though it's going to be a bit longer before you're able to get here for real. Don't worry, Big Brother, I'll keep Seele safe until then. Though if you take too long… I may just try to get us out on my own."

"Please stop." Seele managed to pry control back, a scoff coming from "Seele." Soleil started to reach a hand outwards. "I'll be waiting though. For when you and Bronya get here. Because I know… I know you'll both find me. So, don't worry, Big Brother. Seele's going to be brave until you find me!"

"Wait, Seele!" Soleil reached out as the world around them began to fall away. "Seele!" The last image Soleil saw as his vision was filled with darkness was a faint, sad smile.

Soleil's eyes snapped open. He was back in his room at St. Freya, an arm stretched out towards the ceiling. Can I just sleep and have a normal dream sometimes? He dropped his hand down to the side as he sighed. How the hell would I even get to that place? The Sea of Quanta is pretty much cut off from the rest of reality.

"Mmm… who were you talking about?" A drowsy murmured made Soleil snap to attention. "Senpaiii, why were you muttering some girl's name in your sleep?"

"How many times does this have to happen? Seriously, you live in a different dorm!" Soleil whipped the covers aside, narrowing his eyes at Kiana as she drowsily clung to his waist. "This is the third time this week."

"Yeah but I like your bed more than mine." Kiana droned. "I can hug you in this one and not use a pillow to pretend."

"Am I supposed to be pleased or creeped out by the idea you pretend I'm your hug pillow?" Prying Kiana's arms off him, to her mewling protests, Soleil hopped off the bed and took to his stretches. His eyes panned to the door when he heard knocking.

"Soleil-kun?" Mei opened the door slightly. "Are you up? I heard a commotion."

"You're good. It's just Kiana being… herself." Soleil looked back to see Kiana obviously leering at him, and Mei entered the room with a sigh.

"Again? Kiana-chan you can't keep sneaking in here. What would the headmistress say?" Kiana pouted at Mei.

"But listen to this! Soleil-senpai is always mean in the morning!"

"Of course I would be when ya keep breakin' in here every other night. Seriously." Soleil quite casually put a hand up as Kiana lunged from the bed, smirking as she growled in protest. "Nice try Kitten. I'm used to this by now."

"Come oonnn! Just let me hug you for a bit!" Kiana mewled.

"No."

"You really need to calm down sometimes." Mei sighed, missing the sudden glint in Kiana's eyes. And it was followed by her swiftly disengaging from Soleil and getting behind Mei, taking ahold of Mei's chest. "K-Kiana-chan! You can't keep grabbing onto me whenever Soleil-kun tells you off!"

"But I've got so much I wanna give. And besides Mei-senpai, you're so soft up here-gagh!" Kiana stumbled back when a rather precisely thrown coin dinged her right on the forehead. "Whyyy?!"

"For acting up of course." Soleil snarked. "Now I'm hungry… what's for breakfast today?"

"I went for something traditional today." Mei said. Soleil and Kiana slapped a hand together. Only for Kiana to get hit by a pillow courtesy of Bronya.

"Hey!" Kiana snapped, the small girl giving that ever listless stare.

"Be quiet. And stop bothering Soleil-niisama in the morning." Again Soleil felt himself giving a low sigh. Why is this so normal to me nowadays?

"I'm not bothering him at all! And don't throw pillows at my head, it'll make me go stupid!"

"The Bronya has determined that Kiana-idiotka's intelligence has no more room to decrease."

"Alright alright you two, let's go and eat." And Mei of course swooped in to calm them. Yet another thing Soleil had gotten all to used to seeing.

It had been a month since the group had been enrolled into St. Freya. For Kiana it was a return to old stomping grounds, but for the other three it was something new entirely. Soleil had spent enough time bouncing from school to school the whole transfer student schtick wasn't new to him. Though contrary to what Hisashi had said would happen, once their transfer was done, the group aside from Kiana had found themselves being put into a dorm together rather than sperate, overseen of course by Himeko and Hisashi. This was, in part, due to arranging them all to be part of the new Valkyrie Squad for the Hyperion.

The rigors of training, taking time to study all that was required, and finding the free time to go into the city to enjoy themselves. All of it had started to become a routine the four had adjusted into. Of course, Soleil had his own issues. Particularly the ire of much of the male student body, but not that he was too concerned about it. Kiana sneaking into his room? By now it was routine for him to text Cecilia and tell her about it. Which Theresa followed up on by summary punishment during training.

"Gonna have to tell 'em in a bit…" Soleil murmured while eating when the thought came to mind. And man are we lucky to have Mei cooking all the time. He thought, glancing across the table to Himeko and Hisashi, both clearly enjoying the meal Mei had cooked up. Far as Soleil remembered, the previous night he'd seen Hisashi nearly dragging Himeko back into the dorm after a bar trip while he and Bronya were playing games.

That was also quite common. It would probably be worse if Himeko didn't regularly have Hisashi reigning her in.

"Tell who what?" Kiana asked.

"Your mom and aunt that you broke into my room again." Kiana flinched, of course.

"Come on! Please don't tell them again! I don't wanna deal with another one of Aunty's ridiculous punishment regimes!"

"You should be more appreciative of it." Himeko snickered. "Most guys would kill to be in your place, Sunny."

"Do not use the Vice-Principal's dumb nickname." Soleil stabbed into what remained of the fish that was part of the meal, glaring at Himeko as she chuckled at him. And I'm still stuck on what happened before I woke up. But… I think what's odder… she knows Bronya? His eyes trailed to the small girl. There was still that bit of mystery about her even a month later. He could really only assume from context she had to have come from Anti-Entropy, much less how she knew his father. Which came with its own bevy of questions about what the man had been getting up to since he'd left. Man there's just way too many questions to ask… but I guess I can save them for later.

"What's with that deep in thought look eh kid?" Hisashi prodded Soleil with the ends of his own chopsticks. "You get quite the face when you do that y'know?"

"What face? It's just how I look." Soleil bat the Captain's arm away.

"Mhmm. Anyway, your first exam's coming on up. You kids ready for what a Valkyrie's tests are like?"

"Be sure to give it your best. I expect good results from my squad." Himeko said. "Though with Kiana she's also got her mom and aunt breathing down her neck."

"Bah, I'll be fine!" Kiana proudly huffed. Mei and Soleil gave her a look, they glanced at each other and sighed. Kiana quickly looked between them like she had no idea what their clearly worried sighs were for.

And as the routine had become, once breakfast was done and the lot were changed into their uniforms – all customized to their liking since it was encouraged among the students – it was off to classes. As chances had it, they all wound up put into the same classroom as each other. Soleil, perhaps unfortunately, found himself as the only boy in said class. It wasn't that bad when he thought about it. Well, aside from Kiana basically declaring me the class mascot. He thought.

And at least the fact I always show up with them keeps looks off me. Was the thought he'd started to have after the first couple of weeks. As Hisashi had more or less said, with the small number of boys in attendance of St. Freya he'd gotten all kinds of attention since transferring in, though as a member of the "Transfer Trio" as they'd been coined – Kiana merely returning from her "training trip" wasn't quite counted in that regard – there was more around it since about everybody knew they had at least something to do with the Nagazora Incident, which even a month later was still being cleaned up, and there were doubts the city would ever be safe to inhabit again. I suppose the world will just keep turning either way.

As classes were starting, Soleil's eyes shifted to the window, spotting some birds flitting past as the bell rang. Even if he knew of some inevitability coming in the future, it would be best to keep his eyes on the present.

Once lunch period rolled around, it was always a bustling time. Groups of friends forming into their individual cliques as they pulled their desks together, others mingling together to talk about the upcoming exams later in the day. And other still obviously blowing the idea off as they goofed around with each other and left the room. If it wasn't for the express purpose of St. Freya being downright advertised one almost wouldn't think this was a school meant to train people in how to fight monsters across the world.

And during the chatter, a small group had formed around Soleil and company, the two girls who'd struck up a conversation with Kiana having been on about their own woes with the upcoming exam. As Soleil had learned, they were friends of Kiana's from before she'd left on her trip with Siegfried.

"Man it's rough having another exam so soon after the last one. It hurts just thinking about it." One of the girls said. "How are you feeling about it, Kiana? You and the Trio just got here but it's already exam time."

"Ah I'm not worried about a thing." Kiana stuck her nose up. "I'm a genius of my own sort after all, I'll be fine!"

"And yet you admitted to me in Nagazora you suck at tests." Soleil snarked, turning the page on the book he'd taken to reading. "Something about hating the written exams?"

"C-Come on, that was then!" Kiana said. "But shouldn't you be worried too?"

"Contrary to your aunt's insistence, I am neither a delinquent nor do I get bad grades." He countered, clapping the book shut. "I actually study, for one. Mei and I can barely get you to actually read a textbook during study sessions."

"It's good for both of you to have confidence, but you shouldn't underestimate Valkyrie exams." A new voice came into the conversation, Kiana and Soleil glancing over. Approaching their gaggle was a slim girl with dark grey hair in a low tail, a red pair of glasses standing accenting her sharp, similarly colored eyes. She was the class president, Fu Hua. "As the proverb goes, an arrogant army will only lose."

"Wat." Kiana muttered. She didn't understand a thing behind what the other girl meant. Meanwhile…

"Ah it's the class president!"

"She's as handsome and elegant as ever today!"

"Though Empyrean's quite pretty himself, don't you think."

Was the downright sequential, and regular, cooing of their classmates. Spare me. Soleil hid his face behind his book as he groaned. Glancing up from it though, his eyes met with Fu Hua's for a moment, and as he looked away, she cleared her throat.

"And for you Empyrean, I know you stay pretty quiet, but don't let your… unique position in this class get to you." Fu Hua said, Soleil waving his free hand. "I'm not kidding. Some boys get rather full of themselves. I do hope as an Empyrean you'll have more decorum than others."

"Relax Prez, I'm well aware. Besides, I got the Captain to beat me down if I ever do. His words, not mine."

"Good. And both of you," Fu Hua glanced back to Kiana. "you may have talents but don't seek quick victories. Haste makes waste."

"Hmph. Of course I know that." Kiana countered. Fu Hua hummed and adjusted her glasses.

"I see. It seems I made an insensitive remark. Good luck with your exams."

"So uh… was she scolding me just now?" Kiana said as Fu Hua left the class.

"I think she's just wanting you to take the exams seriously." Mei said. "And you have studied a fair bit. I would hope you'd do well myself."

"Though you may not, idiot." Bronya deadpanned.

"Just take it at your pace and hope for the best. Though I can agree with Prez on taking it seriously." Soleil said, poking Kiana's side as she glared at Bronya. "So let's actually give it our all, alright?"

"Hehe, like you need to ask me that!"

Valkyrie exams were done in two parts. First was the written exams, which covered everyday subjects like mathematics and history, and anything else on a "normal" school schedule. But then there were the practical tests. Trainees were assigned to squads during their trials, meant to accentuate working together as much as showing what they could do in actual battle.

Of course, Soleil was thankful for the fact he, Kiana, Mei, and Bronya had already been through enough before transferring in to be well and used to fighting together. So once the practical test rolled around, he wasn't worried about their performance.

The test was a simple one, taking down a robot mimicking a larger Honkai Beast. And since it wasn't like the group could be allowed to keep the weapons they'd scavenged from Nagazora, Kiana, Soleil, and Mei were armed with simpler but no less effective standard issue weapons to suit their preferences. Bronya, on Soleil's advice, minimized Project Bunny's overall exposure so she would only be summoning its shield and weapons to fight.

"Honestly after Nagazora, fighting a simulated Honkai Beast feels almost too simple." Soleil commented, twirling the spear he'd elected to use for the test. His gaze was further down the field the exam was taking place on, stopping at the robot in question, which was vaguely in the form of a Chariot-type.

"Then we've got it in the bag no problem!" Kiana laughed, tapping a foot as she readied her guns. "We barely even need to plan for something like that."

"The Bronya suggests making it fast." Bronya said. "The Bronya will defend from it's attacks, while Soleil-niisama and Mei-neesama do most of the damage."

"Since when did you start calling Mei-senpai that?" Kiana muttered. Soleil kicked her shin to stop things before they started. "Senpai!"

"Save it for after the exam please. I like Bronya's plan so let's go with that." He said. "Kiana, you get the sensors. Mei, the legs, and I'll take it's fat head."

"Trainees, begin!"

As soon as the buzzer sounded, the group shot off. The Mecha-Chariot was quick to attack first. Bronya shot out to the front and blocked the blow from its arm with Project Bunny's shield. Mei shot by the small girl, her katana flashing from its sheathe and cutting through its first leg in one quick movement. Kiana shot off the arm still stuck to the shield, peppering its head sensors with bullets as she flipped over. And with his cue there, Soleil took off. The Mecha-Chariot struck with its other arm at him, and he was quick to jump onto the limb and run up it. Project Bunny's lance is faster anyway! He thought as he ran up the limb, raking the spear's blade through the arm as he did. The robot tried to shake him off, and he launched off the limb and rammed the spear down through its damaged sensors. With a dying whir, the machine collapsed to the ground, and the buzzer sounded to call the exam.

"Test enemy registered as disabled. Good work Squad Five." The announcer said. Kiana and Mei slapped high fives, Bronya giving a pleased air. And Soleil… well he was trying to get his spear unstuck from the machine. Which happened, only to have him fall off of it back first.

"Just my rotten luck!"

It took two days for the results of the exams to be posted, and as soon as they were, every student was gathered around the large electronic board showing the rankings. Chatters about some being relieved they passed, having better scores than expected, or even being there at all, were the common things to hear among the group.

"Hey, look at the top! Second, third, and fourth are the Transfer Trio!" Respectively to how one student had called it, Bronya was second, Mei was third, and Soleil was fourth. Through admittedly for the latter two, it was by a narrow margin of a few points.

"And the one in first place is definitely me!" Kiana said.

"It's not." Soleil muttered. As Kiana's eyes trailed up the board after glancing at Soleil with faux hurt on her face, she then went slack-jawed when he was proven right. At first was the one student not present at the moment: Fu Hua. "No surprise Prez tops the list. She is Ranked compared to the rest of us."

"B-But… where am I at then?!" Kiana yelped.

"I think it's over here." Mei said, her and Bronya off to the side now. Kiana suddenly perked up, though Soleil felt like he knew just what was coming.

"Ohhh~? Was my score so good they had to put it all on it's own?"

"Your optimism is utterly infectious." Soleil dryly quipped. Kiana clearly did not take it as insulting as she just chuckled. At least, until she saw her name was the sole one labeled under Failed. "Somehow I am not surprised."

"What the hell is this?!" Kiana yelled as she grabbed the posted paper and tore it apart. "Soleil-senpai what is this?! Why am I here?! And why are you all the way at the top with Mei-senpai?!"

"Like I said, I actually study." Soleil countered.

"I feel betrayed!"

"I have betrayed nothing and thus regret nothing."

"Well, of course you'd end up failing." The trainees turned when a man's voice spoke. Approaching this time was a man who looked around Hisashi's age, though with much more mundane features of brown hair and matching eyes, and something of a bedraggled look probably from staying up late grading. Soleil had gotten to know this teacher a bit over the past month as well; Grund, no apparent last name. Or maybe it was his last name instead. Soleil wasn't clear on that. And according to the man himself, not much more than a teacher of science and history. Though Soleil had a suspicion he was hiding something.

Though he felt that way about a lot of people.

"Considering the grades on your written tests there'd be no way to give you a passing grade." The teacher said as he pulled up a stack of papers. "I've got all your marks right here. You got zero marks in history in particular."

"Ah! Please don't let them see!" Kiana flailed around to try and get the papers but failed thanks to Grund being tall enough he could keep them well out of her reach. Eventually, the Kaslana girl gave up and fell back in despair.

"Biology, history, geography, physics, and chemistry all only add up to 21 marks." The teacher rattled off, Kiana letting out a groan. "That's anything but a passing grade if ever I've seen one. Your practical scores are excellent but that hardly makes up for it."

"Ughhhh…" Kiana didn't even have a word to say.

"So lemme guess, she's gonna get slapped with supplementary exams?" Soleil said.

"Of course." Grun nodded. "If you wouldn't mind it Empyrean, since Kaslana seems to listen to you, could you get her to actually study for them? You can use these notes here to reference what she needs to actually shore up on."

"No problem Teach." Soleil took the papers and rifled his thumb through them, his look crowing more crooked by the second. "I swear to whatever listens… Kiana we covered all of this!"

"I'm sorry! I kept zoning out when we were studying!" Kiana mocked tears as Soleil hit her head with the papers. Boy I'm gonna be busy getting that together aren't I? Soleil thought. As Mei scolded Kiana for the same reasons, Soleil turned as Grun left down the hall. And then there's that guy. Maybe it's just a misaimed feeling but something about Teach feels off. Heck… I get that sense of Déjà vu around him too. Is he someone else I knew in the other timeline? Soleil sighed to himself. Once again, it seemed he would only be left with more questions than answers as he thought things over.

And of course, once the day was done and they were back at the dorms, the news of Kiana being slapped with makeup exams in a week hit their caretakers. Himeko didn't look the least bit surprised, and Hisashi looked at Kiana with a bemused eye. And even worse for the girl, Theresa had dropped by that evening and she had a smile that was anything but kind as the news came in.

"Hahaha, so you've barely changed at all huh?" Himeko laughed. "Still bad at tests as I remember you were."

"I tried alright? Not my fault those tests are hard…" Kiana puffed a cheek. Then she flinched when she glanced at Theresa. "But… I'll do better on these makeups."

"Oh, you better." Theresa said. "Because if you mess these up getting Ranked is going to be real hard for you little missy."

"I'm gonna spend tomorrow making a study plan based on… this." Soleil flopped the stack of papers onto the table. Kiana flinched. "Though I guess we may be able to say Kiana needs a new way to learn."

"Senpai! I'm so glad you understand!" The accused beamed, Soleil glancing at her as he leaned on a hand.

"I do it outta the goodness of my heart. But for real, actually try and pay attention this time." Maybe some kind of kinetic learning style? Or maybe just straight up incentives will get her to retain stuff. Soleil was mulling the ideas over. Despite Bronya's regular insult, he could grasp Kiana wasn't missing out for lack of knowledge, he figured that much out in Nagazora. No, instead he'd have to figure out how to get her to actually apply herself to something to get her to do it. So the question was simply, just what would that be?

"I'll help out with the plan too. I've always been quite good at studying myself." Mei added, and Kiana beamed again.

"Ah, I love having such great senpais to help me out!" Kiana said, downright glowing in joy. "Hehehe, private study sessions with Mei-senpai and Soleil-senpai for a week! Now I'm kinda happy I failed!"

"Don't be and just pass the test the first time!" Theresa snapped, leaning across the table and whacking Kiana with a paper fan. "Geez, wait till Cecilia hears about this. You're not going to get off light kid."

"Mama's fair about things!" Kiana said.

"Well then, since you're so lacking in brains and breasts…" Kiana looked particularly confused at the latter part of Himeko's statement, even looking down her shirt. She was in fact not lacking and she'd proudly say so herself. "Perhaps some special training is in order!"

"Himeko, you're idea of special training involves obstacle courses and submission holds." Hisashi said.

"Hey! I was a pretty dang good student myself in the past y'know? Went to a real good college to boot." Himeko countered.

"Then how'd you end up as a Valkyrie with beefy arms?" Kiana muttered.

"Because I work out and life isn't fair, sugar." Himeko stated. "Besides if you want beefy, you should see Hisashi shirtless."

"Shut it." Hisashi lightly hit the red-haired woman on the shoulder. And now the rest were staring at the two with different varieties of dead stares. They were quite used to the Captain and Major trading flirts here and there. And it was always a nuisance in their eyes. Though… I guess we can call this a kind of normal, huh? Soleil thought. Whatever… though the life of a student isn't so bad I guess. Might as well take the time I've got to enjoy it thoroughly.

A/N

And who'd thought I wasn't gonna get back to this eh?! I'd actually had this chapter around half done for a while but got caught up with my current main project and just kinda… didn't get back to it. Though I have made sure to keep up with the news on the game and story. Also realizing how painfully short some of the comics are and extending some of those out into full arcs is gonna be one interesting time. But that's why one makes original content to add into the story! Also a thing I did is streamed myself writing the rest of this chapter… 'cause Youtube is a thing I am also doing now. God help my soul.