[A]

I'm not going to lie. I sort of died emotionally again during the course of the Christmas / sem break all the way to my next semester. Moving forward hasn't been easy and I still have a bunch of requirements I still have to catch up on. How the hell am I in my third year already.

Recently, I've been diving into the SI section of the Naruto fandom and it's been quite a wild ride. Of course, I'd been focusing my consumption on the good ones through forum recommendations: fics like Dreaming of Sunshine, Catch Your Breath, and Iryo-nin-Kasa (all of which I have to admit I haven't finished, but I do have about 10-20% left on all of them). The influence there has been rubbing off and I have to admit that they've inspired me to go back to this.

Also, is it just me or are a lot of people just unable to spell "quiet"?

Also also, in light of current events, I will not be addressing anything regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and I might even go out of my way to keep it out of the fic's headspace. Honkai is a fictional world and Honkai's Russia is equally removed from reality.

Edit: tournament.


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Chapter 3 - An Odd Knight

2013

...

The boy's feet thudded against the marble, papers clutched to his chest as he rushed past the many rooms of the mansion. He had to pause several times as he navigated the building, asking servants for directions, his face lighting up or falling apart depending on what they told him. Finally, he reached the room he was looking for and entered into a dark bedchamber with a floor covered in pillows or articles of clothing. The boy paid the clutter no mind and walked right up to the bed where a mound under the bedsheets breathed softly.

"Mother look!" The child revealed what he had been holding. "My score was perfect today in my mathematics quiz!"

His report got him nothing but a groan from under the blankets.

"I also scored full marks on my English and German!" he declared.

It got him another groan.

"A-and, well, I didn't get a perfect for my Arts test but I was only off by two points!"

This time, there was no groan. A few minutes passed with nothing but silence and the sound of the boy's leather shoes tapping as he shifted on his feet.

Finally, he asked, "Mother?"

It took a moment before the sleeping figure began to stir. Slowly, the woman crawled out of her bedsheets and revealed herself to the little light that entered through the doorway. Stone grey hair spilled down her pale shoulders and she looked at Noah with violet eyes.

"Did you get a Stigma?" she asked, voice hoarse.

"Um," the boy swallowed, "No."

The woman looked away from her son, not in shame but disinterest. She crawled right back into her sheets and said nothing.

"Mother?" he asked.

Five heartbeats passed before she answered. "Just… go back," her muffled voice said.

"Go back?" he pressed. When she didn't answer, he asked again. "Mother?"

The blanket flew off, flying across the room and hitting a pitcher that had been left for the woman to drink from, knocking it over the table and shattering it across the floor.

"I! Said! LEAVE!"

Tears welled in the boy's eyes as his feet carried him out of the room. As soon as he was past the doors, he started to run, knocking himself over multiple times as he traversed the halls, never stopping until he reached his room in a quiet place on the other side of the building and cried himself to sleep.

...

"Noah!"

The older boy nearly jumped when Wendy called him. The girl was coming back from an inspection with two others— Yoriko and Alexandra, a Valkyrie from captain's other squad— for a quick early dinner when she found him walking listlessly around the barracks with a sheaf of papers that had already half-fallen out of his right hand before she'd startled him.

She frowned at that. Wendy may not have known Noah long, but she was pretty sure that spacing out in the middle of the hallway meant something was wrong— unless you were Tabitha, who had narcolepsy. Besides, the boy had been pretty distant since he'd arrived and she'd only ever seen him twice in the four days he'd been at the base outside physical training in the morning. Young as she may be, as the squad leader, Wendy had to check.

"You alri—"

"Yes," Noah cut before she even finished. "I'm fine."

From the look on his face, she doubted it. Wendy opened her mouth to repeat the question when she was interrupted by Alexandra when the older Valkyrie slapped her back. "C'mon Wendy, it's nothing serious. Just some paperwork."

Wendy eyed Alexandra. The young woman looked to be only a few years older than she which made her about Noah's age. Like most Valkyries that had undergone the Stigmata transplantation, there was something that made her a bit different from the regular people. In Alexandra's case, it was her lilac hair— much less flashy than her turquoise that grew from her nape.

That wasn't to say she didn't like the hair dye effect it had, though.

Noah nodded absently. Wendy still seemed unconvinced but relented. "Fine. Can I help?"

"I just finished, actually," Noah murmured.

"That's great!" she said, then faltered. She didn't really have much to go on. "Uhh…"

Noah nodded slowly. "Then I'll—"

"Ah!"

The three turned to Alexandra, who smiled. "Actually, we were talking about the sparring tournament happening later at the Fight Hall. Say, do you want to come?"

Wendy looked at Yoriko in mutual confusion before understanding dawned into their expressions. Then she looked at Alexandra and nodded in thanks.

"Yeah, the next tournament's in three weeks!" Yoriko said. "What weapon do you use? It's important. There are divisions for mid-range and close-quarters!"

Noah turned to Wendy.

She shrugged. "It's just an unofficial Valkyrie tournament that gets hosted every month. It used to be mandatory, a lot more bloody, and all spartan and Darwinist-like until maybe twenty years ago. Now, it's just a pastime."

Noah looked at her doubtfully.

Yeah, I know how it sounds to me, too. She shrugged "It'll be fun."

Sighing, he turned back to Yoriko, who was now standing close and with her height… meant that her chest seemed scandalously close to his face. Not that the Japanese girl would realize until much later.

"I use a short spear. I think it's called an Iklwa, but not exactly. A shield as well."

Yoriko nodded with gusto. "So middle-range it is. A rank division!"

She brought out her phone and began tapping away. Wendy was sure that he'd already be registered in the preliminaries before sundown. Noah turned back to her and raised a brow at Alexandra.

She smiled at him and gave a casual salute. "Alexandra Godefroy. A-rank Valkyrja from Squad One. Callsign's Alvitr. Nice to meet you."

Noah nodded. "Likewise." He then turned to Wendy and raised a brow.

"Yoriko's one of the organizers for the weekly tournament," Wendy found herself explaining. "She's rather passionate about it. Hope you don't mind."

Noah made an odd expression on his face that Wendy couldn't identify. It wasn't hostile at least, or at least not yet.

"It's fine," he eventually replied.

Alexandra smiled at that. "Then, wanna come with us now? There's a bit of a tradition of pre-fighting before the actual tournament, so there should a few that are duking it out in the training halls right now."

Noah hesitated. He glanced at Wendy, so she nodded at him. He sighed. "Sure."

"Awesome," Alexandra said, just in time for Yoriko to come back to the group. Alexandra then pulled Wendy aside.

"What's with Mr. Stick Up Ass?" the young woman whispered.

Wendy shrugged. "File says he's a little, err, twitchy around Valkyries. He's fine around the regs, so I think we just have to bring him out of his shell."

"Anything there tell you why?"

Wendy frowned. "Nothing, actually."

Alexandra mimed scratching her nose. "Smells redacted to me."

Wendy elbowed the woman. Their attention was then called by Yoriko's enthusiastic voice.

"There's one going on right now. Captain's making quite a show."

"Where?" Wendy asked.

"Fight Club."

Wendy nodded and they set off towards Training Hall 07. It took a few minutes, but they eventually arrived at a lofty indoor arena complete with dark-painted bleachers surrounding a square depression with a concrete-colored metal floor. Sure enough, the young Valkyrie Captain was on the arena and facing off against an older woman with chin-length silver hair. Wendy was able to recognize the woman as the lieutenant of a different Valkyrie platoon.

"Second thought, I'm going back," Noah suddenly said and began to turn. Training kicked in and Wendy caught his shoulder before he was farther than an arm's length.

"But we're here already," she protested. "Can't you at least watch Bianka's fight?"

Noah glanced at the combatants, who seemed to be in the middle of a break. Then back at her. She watched him twitch and frown, but eventually, and quite reluctantly, he nodded. Wendy couldn't help but beam at him and turned excitedly to shout towards the arena.

"Heyy!"

Bianka grinned back and waved up at them while the Schariac made a passing scan at them. For a second, the woman paused her gaze, and Wendy followed her line of sight to a slightly paler Noah. Then she went back to chatting with Bianka and she saw Noah suddenly remember how to breathe.

Okay… Wendy glanced at Alexandra. The woman was hiding a smirk. It seemed she noticed as well.

It didn't take them long before they got back to sparring. Bianka, he found, used a lance— a Schicksal training lance in this case, which had an uncanny resemblance to a Templar-type Honkai creature's primary weapon. On the other hand, the Schariac appeared to favor the use of a greatsword. Their re-engagement happened in a flash with Bianka on the offensive while the older woman avoided her strikes to bide time for a counterattack.

Alexandra whistled. "Well damn, looks like even the Regina's on her heels. Hard to imagine that that was the same girl that just got evaluated to A this year."

Wendy had to agree. She'd gotten to spar with the younger captain at the beginning of the year. The Bianka then had and the Bianka now were worlds apart. Wendy suspected it might have to do with the girl's months-long disappearance from a mission that had a ridiculously high clearance level for a newly-promoted platoon leader. Either way, Bianka came back much faster, and if the air-shattering twangs of their instruments clashing was of any indication, she was also much stronger. For a good chunk of the engagement, Regina Schariac was on the defensive, seemingly relying more and more on muscle memory to deter the girl's attacks than active thought.

And then Bianka began to lag. The girl had darted to the left to strike and her thrust had taken half a second longer than usual to arrive. Regina instantly took advantage of that, stepping into the attack while deflecting the lance's point. Bianka barely dodged kissing a sword pommel by jerking her head to the side. The two then separated, both of them breathing hard, but neither dropping their guard. A breath passed between them. Then two breaths. Then five. Then the lull in the fighting was over and violence between them erupted once more.

While the spar went on, Wendy found herself taking a look at the newest member of her squad. Noah was watching the fight, but the expression on his face told her he was lost in thought. His reaction earlier was about the most emotion she'd seen from him, and there was little in his file that could let her decipher why besides multiple instances of aggression towards fellow Valkyries. It wasn't misogyny, probably. Noah hadn't responded badly to her pushy friendliness or the shenanigans of their group so far. Maybe it was Regina? She looked at the older woman, who had been in headquarters for almost ten years. Not likely.

Before she knew it, the match had come to an end. The captain and the lieutenant shook hands and exchanged a few words of advice before walking up to where they were in the stands. Wendy went to meet them.

"That was an amazing fight," she said, nodding to Bianka then Regina.

Bianka grinned. She then scanned the group and raised a brow.

"Noah! Glad you could join us." She gestured him closer.

Reluctantly, the older boy shuffled to the captain from where he was hiding behind the group. "Am I needed?" he asked.

"Sure. I need you to socialize." His face twitched. Wendy caught Bianka sending her a wink and stifled a giggle. Bianka continued by turning him to her opponent.

"Regina Schariac, meet Noah Abrams. Noah, this is Regina."

Regina smiled at him. "Sup, Ducky."

Noah stiffened. Bianka slapped the woman's back and Regina spluttered in protest.

"I said socialize."

"I am socializing," Regina answered, then grinned. "By establishing dominance."

She dodged as Bianka swiped at her, the girl's hand hitting nothing but air. Bianka shook her head. "Sometimes, I wonder which one of us is twenty-seven."

Regina raised a brow. "I wonder who was it that covered the commons in pink glitter paint last year."

Bianka scowled and opened her mouth, then paused. She sighed. "Touché."

"Attagirl. Come on, who's hungry?"

Wendy wasn't surprised when Yoriko raised a hand. Regina smiled at her.

"I'll only be treating this one then."

...

"Ugh, I want cake," Bianka said as she sat down on the table.

"You could get ice cream." Regina shrugged in her seat. "Besides, payday's tomorrow. Your salary's big enough to feed a family for a month."

Bianka shot her a glare.

"If you'd like, miss Durandal, I could make one for you," Rita said as she went around. They had met the young woman on the way to the cafeteria beside the Fight Club. She had asked for what drinks everyone had wanted from the cafeteria and had returned with a tray of shakes, juice, and tea.

Wendy blinked and brought herself back to the topic.

"I wanna try," Wendy said after thanking Rita for her fruit juice. "Can I help out?"

"I… I would like to go as well," added Yoriko.

Wendy grinned at her then looked over at Noah. The older boy was observing the decor, not at all paying attention to their conversation. She made a quick glance towards Alexandra, who caught her look and nodded, so Wendy rejoined the conversation.

Silently, Regina got up and made her way to the empty seat beside Noah. When had the other girl recruited the Schariac?

"So where are you from?"

("When do we want to do this?" Wendy asked Rita and Yoriko.

"This Saturday would be the best time," Rita replied without a beat.)

"Siberian Division," he answered. "Place called Morozilka."

Regina frowned. "That supposed to be a town?"

("Cool," Wendy said. "What kind of cake will we be making?"

"Blueberry cheesecake," Bianka interrupted.)

"F.O.B. Town came after— named it Oplotsk."

"Oh-plots?"

Noah shrugged.

("Captain, you're not even cooking," Wendy protested, pouting.

"Fine, if that's what you want—"

She was cut off as Rita was suddenly there to cover her mouth, the older girl's smile not reaching her eyes. "You're not going to help. You're just going to watch and eat, right, miss Durandal?")

"Got a family, then?"

He looked at her. "No."

Wendy turned to look at Noah. Apparently, so did Rita, Yoriko, and Bianka. The older boy flinched at the attention. He shook his head and sighed.

"Just— forget about it." Then he leaned back and folded his arms pointedly turning his head to stare at nothing in particular.

Wendy exchanged looks with the other women and quietly agreed to go back to eating. Sound returned to the table, pioneered, surprisingly by Yoriko by bringing up the newly-arrived shipment meant for the newly-minted Immortal Blades. Wendy listened passively as the older girl outlined the equipment they would be getting— unique uniforms specific to the squad and new weapons— while playing with the bubbles in her milk tea.

At some point, Wendy found herself looking into the crowd and caught sight of a familiar mop of sandy grey hair.

"Ana!" she called, "Over here!"

The girl whipped her head from where she stood within the crowd and looked at Wendy. Ana — brightly lilac-eyed Ana who was even younger than Bianka — walked over to them with a smile. Wendy hadn't seen her since she moved up from Saint Freya in the year before and felt herself swell with pride at seeing the girl in her grey Schicksal jacket and over a dark shirt and multi-pocketed pants.

Regina grinned. "Welcome to HQ, squirt."

"Still can't believe I'm here," Ana breathed in reply.

"Hey Wendy," said Bianka. "Introduce us."

Wendy nodded. "Everyone, this is Ana Schariac — a kouhai of mine in Saint Freya. Ana, these are Bianka, Alexandra, Yoriko, and Noah."

Bianka smiled. Alexandra nodded at the mention of her name, while Yoriko waved at hers. Noah, well, Noah was silent. Was it just Wendy or did he look pale?

Ana was quiet, too — she was looking at the boy with an odd expression.

"Hey, have we met before?" Ana suddenly asked him.

Wendy swore she saw Noah tense before he spoke, waving a hand, "No, no, we've never met." He tilted his head. "Why don't you take my seat? I'm not staying for longer — I have to get back since I still have things to fix."

"Uhh, sure," Ana replied hesitantly.

The boy wasted and quickly exited his seat to let the girl take his place. He was already halfway out of the cafeteria by the time Wendy had thought to ask him what was wrong. Wendy caught Bianka giving her a raised brow, but the girl could only reply with a shrug.

"What's his problem?" Regina wondered.

"It's alright Auntie. I just thought he looked familiar," Ana said in a soft voice.

Wendy had a feeling there was a lot more to this just waiting to blow up in her face. Unfortunately, since she was squad leader, it would be her job to fix it before it was too late.

...

Ω

End of Chapter 3