Peregrination

Chapter 1

The town of Leeves was tranquil and beautiful.

Deep teal eyes swept the area with careful precision as Melyssa slowly made her way to the gates of the branch school of Thors, the second one to open and was an indirect match to the main branch school of Thors in Trista. Originally, she wanted to attend the main campus, but there hadn't been room for any more commoners, so she had to settle for the branch school instead. It was fine, she supposed, because either way, she would get an education. The branch school was freshly built about a year ago and had nearly everything else the main school did as far as clubs and activities went.

Melyssa looked down at her dark blue and silver uniform, the jacket with the white undershirt, even though only the color of it could be seen. She had on a white and dark blue plaid skirt and her dark blue hair was pulled back in a tight neat bun. There was a black belt around her waist that had her ARCUS II attached to it, which allowed her to do perform various arts and attacks while in battle the school sent her. Shouldering her bag that had her belongings, along with her weapon of choice – a cutlass – Melyssa took a deep breath before finally arriving at the entrance of the branch school of Thors.

Wow, it's a lot bigger than I thought it would be, she thought, taking a moment to just stand there and take everything in.

It was hard to believe everything had gone somewhat back to normal after the fiasco that hit Erebonia about a year ago. Supposedly, the end of the world had almost happened and, thanks to a lot of people, it had been diverted. However, one person had stood out above all others and that had been the Ashen Chevalier and Divine Blade of the Eight Leaves One Blade School of Swordsmanship, Rean Schwarzer. He was an instructor at the branch school and it made her wonder why he hadn't gone back to the main school. That was where he originally graduated from. The infamous Class VII had also been there to stop the end of the world disaster from happening, which had been at the hands of the deceased Chancellor Osborne.

Rean was also the dead Chancellor's biological son, so that was a little intimidating in itself, even though the Ashen Chevalier was NOTHING compared to his biological father. He had been raised by the Schwarzer family – Baron Teo Schwarzer, who was a very dear friend of Osborne's. Apparently, when Rean was just a little boy, he had been adopted by the Schwarzer family and his father had received ridicule because of it. And it was all thanks to Giliath Osborne. The newspaper had a ton of information for the public after the crisis and the war had been stopped with the Calvard Republic. Melyssa knew eventually she would come face to face with the Ashen Chevalier since he was an instructor here, but she had NO idea what the Goddess was about to do to her…or whose class she was about to enter.

The Ashen Chevalier, he wasn't sure if he would ever get used to that. He didn't feel necessarily worthy of the title that had been bestowed upon him. Rean Schwarzer hadn't ended the Erebonian Civil War by himself, but he had been hailed as a hero, as if the others had contributed nothing when the fact of the matter was, he wouldn't have been able to do any of it without their help. They had saved him after all, finding him the way they had.

The class Melyssa entered was Rean's class, he was the homeroom teacher of Class VII: Special Operations. It had started out as a type of social experiment, a politically charged one, and gone through some ups and downs, though he knew the fact that it had been reinstated spoke volumes of its benefits and merits. The class itself was a combat class when broken down into basest of terms and only those who had shown a high aptitude with the ARCUS II were accepted.

Oh Goddess, Aidios save me, Melyssa thought, stopping momentarily to look at the Ashen Chevalier himself, in the flesh, before quickly averting her gaze to look at her schedule, making sure she was in the correct room. She even backed out to look at the number sign next to the door attached to the wall and shut her eyes. Yes, yes it was. Goddess, why am I in HIS class of all classes, she thought, once again entering the room and took a seat near the door with her eyes still down.

"Good morning, Instructor."

"Morning, Instructor."

"Hey."

"Ash, do you REALLY have to be so RUDE with our Instructor?"

"Forgive me, Wild Filly, for giving a damn in the first place and greeting him." Ash Carbide remarked, rolling his pink eyes and fingered his short spiked blonde hair. He was a second year, along with Juna Crawford, Kurt Vander and Altina Orion, who was related to two of the most famous army generals and lieutenants in the Empire.

"SERIOUSLY?!"

Kurt shrugged when Juna shot him a dark look, holding his hands up. "He greeted him, you can't expect more than that from him and you know it. Ash is Ash, Juna."

"UGH!" Juna growled, not amused and folded her arms tightly in front of her chest. "Unbelievable. Hey, where's Allie and…"

"The party has officially arrived, boys and girls!"

"Please kindly refrain from calling this a party, Crow." Altina ordered in her usually subdued, robotic voice, though her eyes lit up at the sight of the Instructor. "Good morning, Instructor Rean."

Who in Aidios' name were all these people? Were these her classmates? She recognized Juna Crawford and Kurt Vander instantly, knowing they were second years and the girl with the long silver hair was known in the Empire as the Black Rabbit. She had worked in the Intelligence Division for a while before making her way to the Branch School of Thors and apparently was in Rean Schwarzer's Class VII: Special Operations. Soon, everyone was seated with the Instructor at the front to greet everyone. Some new and old faces combined – the class one was put into was the one they stuck with until they graduated from Thors, after all.

"Settle down." Rean instructed firmly, keeping his tone even as his light fuchsia eyes swept over his students. My students, Goddess help me. He thought, though he kept those thoughts from showing on his face. He had fought with some of them, knew them as his comrades -such as Crow- and now he was their instructor. Another wave of not feeling right for this washed over him and he shoved it aside, knowing that was his own inability to accept that maybe he was worthy poking at him.

"Yes, Instructor." Crow's tone was almost serious, just enough sarcasm and humor edging the two words to let Rean know he was amused. He dropped down behind one of the long tables and folded his hands behind his head, lacing his fingers together.

Rean was tempted to pinch the bridge of his nose and managed to refrain.

Next, Crow propped his feet on the table.

Altina was prompt in shoving them down.

Rean dismissed Crow with a brief eye roll, taking in the faces he did not know. One student, a young woman, looked like she was lost.

Lost was an understatement. Melyssa was OVERWHELMED and had her hands folded in her lap, staring straight ahead. Nothing – NOTHING – could have prepared her for being in THIS class with THIS instructor. Melyssa had to pull herself together and stayed perfectly calm, cool and collected on the outside, but on the inside, she was screaming and a complete mess.

"One at a time, we're going to do this like we did last year. Stand up, announce who you are and then I will explain what your curriculum will be for this year. Juna, you are the class president, so please start this off." Rean ordered, gesturing with his hand to her, who was also a treasured comrade of his. Juna, Kurt, Altina and…Crow, who was his best friend and had recently decided to come back to school to fully graduate. He only had one year to do and then he would be taking a job in the branch school as an instructor himself…as scary as that thought was.

"Yes, Instructor." Juna stood with her vibrant pink hair pulled back in a high ponytail and let her light green eyes drift around the classroom. "I'm Juna Crawford from Crossbell City."

Kurt stood up next. "Kurt Vander from Heimdallr."

"Do I really have to do this?"

"Ash, come on now, be a good sport." Rean chastised with a soft smile.

"Ugh, fine…" Ash stood up, rolling his light pink eyes. "Ash Carbide from Raquel."

Rean's eyes moved to the dark blue haired girl. "You're next."

Melyssa swallowed hard and nodded, rising from her chair with her hands clasped in front of her. "I'm Melyssa Brackett from the Jurai SEZ." SEZ stood for Special Economic Zone.

That gained everyone's attention, including Crow and Rean's.

"Really?" Rean glanced back at Crow, who simply shrugged his shoulders before his attention went back to Melyssa. "I wasn't aware we would have students from that far abroad, but welcome nevertheless."

"Thank you, Instructor." Melyssa sat back down and could FEEL eyes on her, but ignored it for the moment.

"Altina, please?"

"Yes, Instructor Rean." Altina stood up with a stoic expression on her face. "Altina Orion from Ymir." She currently lived with Rean's parents on the off season and they had somewhat adopted her as one of their own, thanks to Rean. He was like a big brother to her these days.

"What happened to Musse?"

"Unfortunately, she had obligations to attend to back home and won't be finishing her schooling." Rean informed the class, gesturing to the back at Crow. "All right, your time to shine."

The moment Melyssa turned her head to look back at the man, who stood from the desk and heard his name leave his mouth, it took every ounce of willpower not to bolt out of that room.

Crow Armbrust wasn't dead.

Crow Armbrust was ALIVE!

And more importantly than that, Crow Armbrust did not recognize her and if he did, he didn't let on they knew each other from Jurai.

Crow was complicated. Well, not really, but the circumstances surrounding him were interesting to say the least. He had 'died', sort of, and his memories had not come back with the rest of him. Not at first, it had been odd, which was an understatement. With the return of his memories had come the return of his proper personality, much to the chagrin of everyone who had been foolish enough to miss him.

"Crow Armbrust, and I'm a gift from the Goddess here to make all your dreams come true."

NOW Rean pinched the bridge of his nose while the others just stared at Crow in disbelief.

"Aidios, save us."

"I second that."

"Can I third it?"

"Hey man, I think it's cool and I'm the second gift from the Goddess."

Juna rubbed her temples, shaking her head at the fact they had not only Crow, but now Ash to deal with in the same class. "Instructor, is it possible to be transferred out of here? I'm going to end up killing one or both of them before this year is over, just a fair warning."

Kurt bit his bottom lip, knowing how temperamental his girlfriend could be and shook his head. "Come on, Juna, we'll survive somehow."

"Oooh lover boy to the rescue!" Ash crowed, laughing along with Crow since they were both seated in the back. "You're full of shit and you know it, Wild Filly. You wanna be in the same class as me."

"Instructor Rean, I think it's time to start class." Altina deadpanned.

That was a wonderful suggestion! Melyssa stayed quiet during the exchanges and had to bit her bottom lip at how alike Ash and Crow were. Ash was a mini-Crow – they had two of the same type of personalities in the same class. Melyssa had to fight the urge to look back at Crow and instead focused on the information Instructor Schwarzer was unloading on them.

All things considered so far, Rean personally thought that Juna's comment about 'killing one or both of them' wasn't a bad idea. Maybe he could incorporate it into the curriculum or something, since they did do a lot of 'hands-on' training so to speak. Not actually killing Ash or Crow, but if the pair got to be too aggravating maybe he would use them as the props or something in a physical lesson. He almost smiled at the thought…almost. He had to keep his face straight, he was supposed to be the instructor, so instead he focused on laying out the information everyone would need to know and what they could expect from this class going forward.

"Any questions?" He asked finally, his kind gaze landing on the student from abroad, "Miss Brackett?" She still looked a little overwhelmed.

Her teal eyes snapped up to meet fuchsia and, thank the Goddess, she had been paying attention to everything he said. Why was he singling her out, though? Was it because she was the newbie in a class that knew each other very well? Probably. The other students who had entered had left right away, so she was the ONLY new student of the Ashen Chevalier. It was…unnerving, to say the least.

"A-Actually, um, regarding the club stipulation…how long do we have to choose one before one is chosen for us, Instructor?" If the students didn't choose a club, they would be helping the Student Council with various tasks, just like Rean had done during his years at Thors main school.

"One week. And tomorrow is a free day for you all. You get one free day a week, so take advantage of it and you can even go into Heimdallr with permission." Rean remembered his first day in the old class VII and could understand why this girl was very uneasy. "Take your time. Explore the school and your surroundings. You'll all figure out a club you want to be part of. That includes you too, Crow. No exemptions." Juna, Kurt, Altina and Ash were already part of clubs from the previous year and would more than likely continue with them. "And please help your fellow classmates if you see them struggling. Teamwork is the key here."

"A.C.," Crow said, amusement dripping from his tone, though there was no malice in it.

"A.C.?"

"Ashen Chevalier."

Crow KNEW he hated being called that, how uncomfortable it made him. The unworthy part he tried keeping to himself.

"Anyway, A.C., is all about teamwork." To the point where some people called it abnormally strange, to put others before oneself and work with them the way Rean did. Crow smiled slightly at the flicker of exasperation that danced briefly across his friend's face.

"Yes, I am, and one day I will properly explain why." Rean said patiently, giving Melyssa what he hoped was a reassuring smile, knowing the first week could be overwhelming and confusing. "If you have any questions or need guidance, feel free to come see me."

Crow bit his tongue.

"Juna, if you would?"

"Yes, Instructor." Juna stood up with a soft smile, already deciding she would do what she could to make Melyssa feel welcome in Class VII: Special Operations. As the class president, she felt it was her obligation to do so, wanting everyone to get along. "All rise – bow."

Everyone did as they were told, surprisingly even Crow and Ash, before class was officially dismissed for the day. The first day allowed the students to get acclimated to the school grounds and to find everything they needed. Tomorrow was a free day, so after that, it would be full class sessions and regular schooling.

Military academies were strange, indeed.