Chapter 08: The New Chemistry Teacher
Blackness. Inescapable blackness. No light, no sound, neither smell nor taste, nothing to the touch. The senses were numb, and time itself seemed to be at a standstill. The nothingness overwhelmed… its seeming emptiness was filled with fleeting emotions… pain… sorrow, solitude… pain… fear, guilt, despair… pain… The darkness was everything…
Mint opened her eyes.
Rue suddenly awoke, sitting up in reflex. He was breathing heavily, and his nightshirt was damp with cold sweat even though it was a cool midmorning. He hugged himself involuntarily, his head drooping heavily onto his chest, and he forced himself to stay calm.
Claire. Where are you, Claire? The dreams were back. They were back—after two years of freedom, they had found him again.
He called them dreams, but they weren't really. Dreams were supposed to be pleasant reveries, images of nighttime wishes that may or may never come true. Dreams were an escape to the realm of fantasy, to the world that existed only in one's imagination. They were the visual and fanciful manifestations of the unconscious mind.
But his 'dreams' were always the same—the same impenetrable, suffocating darkness, and the intense, voiceless screaming of a thousand agonizing emotions… so intense that, if it hadn't been for Claire, they would have long ago driven him insane.
Claire had always been there for him, to hold and reassure him whenever the dreams would come. Her face had been his first memory upon waking up momentarily on a cold night almost eight years ago—he was seven years old—when she had found him critically injured and bleeding severely from a head wound he got in an 'accident' that had left him without any memory at all of who he was and where he came from. He later learned from her that she had found him unconscious in the middle of a two-lane street, and with the help of some kindly passers-by they had rushed him to the hospital, Claire binding some of his wounds herself, and it had taken all of her meager savings to pay what she could of his hospital bills.
He had lived with her ever since, in a small apartment in one of the poorer areas of town. Ever since the accident, the dreams never stopped, and it was always Claire and only Claire who managed to calm him down. The dreams had gotten so bad at one point that she was forced to move her bed to Rue's room so she could watch over him at night. But they subsided, eventually, and Rue was finally able to have some semblance of a normal life, at least for a little while.
Claire was a scholar in the local public school, and she would teach Rue in her spare time as Rue insisted he wouldn't go to classes—he would instead find work so he wouldn't be a burden to her. He had taken to doing odd jobs, partly because it was needed, but mostly in gratitude for her. She was the only one he had then, the only one who had the patience to take care of him. Those quiet three years he spent with Claire had been the happiest of his life.
Her sudden disappearance had almost broken him. He had heaped the blame onto himself, falling into a wretched pit of depression and self-loathing. And the dreams—the dreams returned in full force—they haunted him almost every night as he traveled from town to town, searching, always searching for the one person who had been there for him when he had needed someone. He held on and was able to push the dreams back, all the while clinging desperately to Claire's memory and the off-chance that, if he held fast to his sanity for a while longer, he could perhaps find her again.
That mere thought was the one thing that saved him then. Even when she wasn't there, somehow she was still able to keep him safe. Over time he had learned to suppress his nonexistent memories and keep the nightmares at bay, sometimes managing to shut them completely from his mind.
But the night made it harder to push the dreams away. His first instinct when he'd suddenly wake up from them was to turn to Claire, and now without her to hold him… No! He gritted his teeth determinedly. For her sake, he wasn't going to fall again…
He stood up, firmly shutting his mind from such thoughts. It was only three in the morning, but he dared not go back to sleep. Instead, he took a warm shower to wake himself up. After dressing into his uniform, he spent the rest of the morning reading up on his homework. At past seven o'clock, he decided to leave for school.
The sun was still low on the horizon, but the sky was already blue. That was the difference between the sunrise and the sunset, he mused. The sunrise was always clear and pristine, while the sunset was red, the sunset was more pervasive, and the sunset always had more color. He preferred sunsets, but for some reason, it was the sunrise that reminded him of Claire.
Claire. No, this time he won't fail. He would find Claire for sure, and he won't falter—he won't let down anyone the way he had let Claire down that night, ever, ever again.
Especially not her. The girl with the burgundy eyes. Burgundy eyes that had somehow replaced Claire's brown ones… Burgundy eyes that he knew had seen the world like Claire never did… Burgundy eyes that belonged to the sunset… He blinked. Why would he suddenly think that now?
He slung the strap of his violin case over one shoulder before he opened the gate and stepped out onto the empty street. But no, the street wasn't quite empty at all.
The red hair tied up in twin ponytails (and left arm in a sling) was unmistakable. And unexpectedly he found himself staring into the same wine-red eyes that had briefly and nonchalantly popped into his mind a couple of seconds ago.
"Mint? What are you doing here?"
She started, obviously just as surprised to see him. Her cheeks reddened slightly in embarrassment. "Umm, I don't really know… there was this calico cat that I followed, and it led me straight here. And when I got here, I realized that I didn't know where here was…" Suddenly, she pointed. "There it is!"
The cat was standing on the wall behind Rue, and Mint reached for it. Deciding that it wanted to play cat-and-mouse, with it being the mouse, it jumped down the wall and Mint started chasing it. They circled Rue twice before the girl finally caught it, the cat purring and meowing playfully all the while.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he watched the girl's antics. But, there was a time and place for everything, and today they had class. "Come on, we don't want to be late for school."
"Oh, lighten up. We've got over half an hour 'til class time." She was scratching the cat on the head. She must've scratched it the wrong way somehow, because it suddenly scratched back her arm before jumping onto her head with the sole intention of irritating the girl. With a hiss, it jumped down, clawing its way down Mint's good arm.
Both girl and cat seemed determined, though, and Mint started chasing it again. But the cat circled around the girl before making its way between her legs. It nipped her ankle as it passed, causing Mint to stumble onto her knees. (Mint: "Ow ow ow… hurt… stupid tabby!") When next she looked, it had disappeared into a nearby thicket.
Rue, who had been trying to keep a straight face for the past few minutes, finally broke into laughter. The girl's eyes narrowed at him, and in a scathing voice she said, "Rue, are you mocking me?!"
It took him a while before he could stop laughing long enough to reply. "Wouldn't dream of it. Now, can we go?" Mint stood up with a huff, and then stomped off towards the end of the street without bothering to wait for him. Rue smiled faintly at her back as he tried to keep up. Thank you.
Mint sat on one of the back rows in their chemistry lab, doodling absently on some pad paper. It had been six minutes since the second bell rang, and their teacher still hadn't arrived.
Rue was by the door, chatting with Neil and a couple of their classmates while they waited for their professor—or rather, they chatted while he listened. He was smiling at some joke Neil just cracked, as was his wont, and Mint alone seemed to notice that he was slightly paler than usual.
Could it have been him?
It had been years—ten to be exact—since she had first picked up on another person's dream. It had been her mother's, she was five, and she had seen images from her parents' childhood. It happened several times more over the years, with other people's, but very rarely such that she never noticed a pattern. The dreams she picked up on were never complete when she saw them, and except for her mother's, she could see only still fragments, indiscriminate images in black and white. However, the dream she had sensed last night was totally different—she couldn't explain it.
And then the first thing that greeted her when she got out of the Klauses' home that morning was that accursed cat, and the familiar buzzing at the back of her mind insisted that she follow it… and it had led her straight to Rue's dormitory. She didn't even know he stayed in a dormitory.
"The teacher's coming! We have a new teacher!" Someone whispered urgently from the doorway. The murmurs spread around the class like wildfire.
Like she cared. She'd rather brood on the dream, and maybe if she thought about it enough, she could figure out a clue as to who owned it. She wouldn't be surprised at all if it really was Rue's, although that seemed unlikely given his track record and the way he acted around people, and why she'd pick up on his dream in particular was beyond her… She continued doodling absently, not even noticing when the teacher entered the room.
"Good morning, class!" the new professor greeted cheerily. "I'll be your chemistry teacher from now on. First, let me introduce myself…" She began writing her name on the blackboard.
Mint looked up as she recognized the voice. She stood up suddenly, her fist banging on the desk. "The heck… BEMmph—!!" Rue was suddenly behind her and firmly clamped one hand over her mouth.
With the other arm around her waist, he bodily dragged her outside the classroom. He had seen Belle coming and had had time to prepare for the red-haired girl's certain outburst. He didn't stop until they were far away from the chemistry lab. The moment he let her go, she lifted her hand to slap him, but he caught her wrist when she did so. Her eyes narrowed, and her entire body was shaking in vexation. She was too angry to say anything. Rue let go of her arm.
With a determinedly livid face, Mint stomped off, Rue following. The corridors were mercifully empty. She walked straight up to the principal's office and turned the doorknob.
SLAM! "Professor Klaus! How could you allow Belle to be our new chem teacher?! Didn't Rue tell you? She's the one who stole the tiara from us!!"
Klaus raised his eyes up innocently from his paperwork. "Is that so? Then maybe we should politely ask her to return it."
"PROFESSOR!!"
"Look, Mint, I don't see any problems with Ms. Brie teaching chemistry. Now, if you'll kindly go back to class, I believe you still have forty minutes until the period ends. I have some important documents to finish." It was clearly a dismissal.
"Mint, come on," Rue was pulling insistently at her arm. He locked their principal's door before closing it as soon as they stepped out.
She brushed him away angrily. "You trust him too much, Rue!"
"And you don't trust him at all, or anyone else for that matter! Who was it that told me that one should learn to trust his partner more?"
"You don't know what you're asking of me," she whispered through clenched teeth. Several expressions seemed to pass over her face at once, the last being some form of resignation. But stubbornness prevailed, and she shook her head. "I'm not going back to that chemistry lab today."
"Fine. But we're staying in the library until the next period."
Mint glared daggers at him, but the threat was empty and they both knew it. Reluctantly, she agreed. She allowed Rue to lead her away, knowing that at this point it was the best deal she was going to get from him.
It was Monday afternoon again. Mint had been absent in gymnastics practice for two weeks already, and it looked like she was going to be absent for two weeks more. The redhead's shoulder wound was definitely taking its sweet time in healing. The sling had been scheduled to be removed three days ago, but the doctor judged the wound to still be too serious to warrant the sling's removal.
Kirielle couldn't help grinning that afternoon when she found out the news from Tonia. It was no secret that she and Mint hated each other anyway, and everyone knew that Kirielle had been gunning for captaincy of the gymnastics club since her first year in Carona High. But Mint had beaten her in the votes last year. Kirielle had insisted (loudly) on a recount, but she had lost fair and square and everyone knew it.
As consolation of sorts, she became deputy captain, and that in itself had its own perks. For one, she'd take over the captain's job when the captain became incapacitated or unavailable for any reason. She had been very happy during the past two weeks of gym class, and if she could only find a way to get Mint booted out of the captaincy permanently so she could take her place, she'd be happier still. The problem was, the redhead was undoubtedly the best gymnast Carona High had seen in all its days, and even Kirielle had to grudgingly admit that their skills were already on different levels. What annoyed and frustrated her even more was that, at this point, Mint still hadn't fully tapped her athletic potential, and she knew that once the redhead realized that, she would never have a chance against her anymore.
So she had taken to another approach. Skill alone wasn't the sole basis for captaincy, but unfortunately for her, Mint also happened to have a certain charisma that she couldn't quite put her finger on—the girl had this certain quality in dealing with people that she could make almost anyone do whatever she wanted them to, and she could get away with practically anything. The one chance Kirielle could think of that she could use to her advantage was that sometimes Mint had no qualms about bending rules in her favor… when she knew it was alright to so.
But no, Mint may be smart—smarter than even she herself realized—but she wasn't perfect. And perhaps today she had finally made the blunder Kirielle had been waiting for.
She had first heard the rumor during lunch break. Mint had caused somewhat of a scene in chemistry period that morning, and common knowledge said that the white-haired class representative of 2-A had to drag her kicking and screaming to the principal's office in an attempt to calm her down.
Of course, Kirielle knew that the grapevine had ways of exaggerating things, so she had to make sure. But she couldn't ask Tonia about it without coming off either like an opportunist or a gold-digger. So she decided to trust to the grapevine and to dumb luck. And, fortunately for her, dumb luck worked sometimes.
It was two hours past dismissal time, at the front gates of the school. Three students, two boys and a girl, were chatting by the entrance. She knew them to be in the second year. By some chance, they were talking about a certain red-haired girl and a certain incident that happened that morning.
"So, what's this I hear about Mint going ballistic in chemistry?"
"Nah, that's unfounded. Annette told me that Principal Klaus had requested the 2-A class reps to do some filing."
"That's right," the boy's companion backed him up. "I saw them come out of the library for the second period, and Mint certainly didn't look like she had been in a fight or anything like that."
Kirielle sighed inwardly. She should have expected it. Annette would certainly have found a way of calming things down and covering them up at the same time. She was sure that something had gone on in that atypical chemistry class—she just had no way of proving it.
Maybe she had better leave that problem for another day. She combed her fingers through her hair absently as she exited the school grounds.
She was greeted by a really nice surprise. The man waved his hand in front of her face, saying, "Hey, why the glum face, little girl?"
"Karwyn!" She beamed upon seeing her brother, and she threw her arms about his neck in a very tight hug. "I'm so glad to see you again! I missed you!"
"I missed you too, sis," he replied, patting her affectionately on the head.
Karwyn Lockheed was in his early twenties, eight years older than Kirielle, and he had her same strawberry blonde hair and deep brown eyes. But it was seldom that his eyes could be seen—he was born extremely myopic, he often squinted, and he wore thick glasses just to be able to see anything as more than blurred shapes. He kept his hair long, shoulder-length and tied back in a bushy ponytail. He had been abroad for the past several years and graduated from college just recently with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from a prestigious university. His sister, to his eternal dismay, was more inclined towards the humanities and was contemplating going into either law or politics after high school.
She had by accident hit his glasses when she hugged him, so he took them off and wiped them clean on his shirt before putting them back on. "Where's Narcius?"
The girl shrugged. Narcius had enrolled in another high school, although he and Kirielle were in the same year. "Dunno. He hardly ever picks me up anymore. I suppose he's either at the BladeStar arcade or sleeping in his apartment. I have his phone number, though."
"Well, we can worry about contacting him later. Right now I want to hear all about what you've been doing." They started walking away from the school. Unspoken tradition between the siblings when they'd get together was that he would take her out to dinner.
Kirielle smiled inwardly. She knew she had to tread carefully on what she's going to say now. Typical Karwyn. Astute and overprotective, as usual. "I'm still getting good grades, if that's what you mean."
"I've been hearing not so good things about your standing in the gymnastics club, and that you seem to spend a lot of time trying to discredit this 'Mint'," he reprimanded her.
She wrinkled her nose at him. Being her older brother, it was his prerogative if he wanted to lecture her on wayward behavior, of course, but she still didn't like it when he poked his nose into her business like that. Still, deep down she knew he was right. But, being his younger sibling, it was her prerogative on whether she'd ever admit to it. "You wouldn't say that if you only knew how annoying that girl is. She beat me to the captaincy, brother dearest, and she's only in her second year! Hey, and who are you to reprimand me like that when even Ruecian had acted worse, the one time got hung up on… you know, that girl he liked so much!"
"Which girl? The brown-haired orphan?"
"No, silly! (Ruecian never liked her…) The other one, the brunette! The one whose photo he keeps in his wallet! What's her name? Li… Lu… Lulu-Cecille? Come to think of it, she looks a lot like Mint, just a tad lot older. And speaking of Ruecian… how is George?"
"He's fine, still as grumpy as always. He's coming back to Carona sometime within the month." Karwyn lowered his voice then. Casually, he placed an arm about his sister's shoulders and pulled her closer so he could whisper unobtrusively in her ear. "He's not pleased at all with the way things are going now. I think he's going to mobilize us again when the time comes, and soon. We've been far too idle for far too long already."
Author's Notes
Yes, I double-checked, and there are no typos. :P
07 October 2002 Greetings! Thank you so very very much to everyone who reads this story, thanks especially to those who reviewed! No reviews = no fanfic continuation (usually). Then again, I've every intention of finishing this, so no worries. But reviews are always appreciated. Always. It's a method that's proven and guaranteed effective in making authors type faster! ^_^. Reviewing is only a click away. ^_~.
To Shadow Duo: Yes you _did_ vote (I counted it ^_^). The poll was unofficial in the first place anyway. Apparently, it was _after_ I posted the last chapter that some of the quiet-type Rue/Mint fans reviewed me…
New Counts! (And it's still on-going… and will remain on-going until the conclusion of the series. It's my fanfic, and I can cry if I want to. :P)
1. No pairing/any pairing will do: 5
2. Mint/Rod: 2
3. Rue/Elena: -1
4. Rue/Mint: 11
At this rate, though, the Rue/Mint votes are winning by a landslide. Is that good or bad?
And I find it so strange that most of my feedback is related to this topic, because I keep insisting (and will keep on insisting) that this is NOT a romance fic, even _if_ there is going to be a pairing… Hmmm… Don't mind me, I'm (slightly) crazy… X_x…
(Btb, I got a review from Anti-R!! His—err, her? —ToF story is one of the major influences for Carona High… I can die happy!!! Waaah! :D …)
[About the last chapter] To Chibi Wolf Princess: It's supposed to be humorous (for the first and middle part anyway), so don't worry about it. And yes, the hot chocolate is sweet… …*scratch head*… I don't know where you guys got the idea that it was 'touching' (hmm, my grasp of the English language still isn't that good… I need a better dictionary. :P), but I'm really flattered. Thank you.
And to think that chapter was originally just some kooky not-so-comic relief for the Rue/Mint fans (which I happen to be one of) before the story takes on a decidedly darker turn…
They're all in here—the Masters, Valen, Atenacius, Wylaf, even Cadmon (I've already mentioned him). If a person appeared or was mentioned in the game, s/he will most probably make an appearance (although there _are_ some missing people), and there will be zero named original charas, I promise. Yes, Lucine will be (somewhat) integral to the story (near the ending chapters, anyway) and so will Ruenis. Don't ask anymore—it's gonna be a (questionably) major plot twist, so I should warn you. At this point, the story in mind has gotten so complex (still following the game story) and it's got too much detail that I don't know how to write it without missing out on the important stuff and without confusing and/or boring the pants off my audience (that's you) at the same time…!! Aagh! My head hurts from all this [expletive] thinking! (That's why reviews are appreciated. Tell me if I'm starting to get boring or annoying or both.)