The end of classes couldn't come sooner. He'd even texted his current friends and asked if they wanted to tag along. Actually why couldn't he just have Emerald and Mercury as his teammates. Why'd he need two people that were apparently loners? Not that those two weren't necessarily loners themselves.
Maybe he could be with Emerald and Mercury since he knew they actually liked him already. Of course he didn't mind meeting new people. After everything he'd been through, he was just worried. Hell, he couldn't even look at anyone right anymore. They all seemed to jeer and leer at him. It was...uncomfortable to say the least. Honestly, he'd rather just get kicked in the nuts and call it a day. He did get punched once already, but everyone looked at him the way Seifer and their table did. So excruciating, but no, he was excited to meet this supposed dnd group. They were also a fencing group too apparently. Would he be joining fencing with them? Would his family allow it? Would they come to his games or whatever they were called. He was more of a soccer guy honestly but this seemed fun still. Assuming they'd teach him anyway.
He was getting a bit off track, but the good news was, his nose stopped leaking everywhere. Took a while, but he was finally able to stop wasting tissues like the gremlin he was. Oh but where was he supposed to go? To Magnus' room? He said Pal's or apparently Palamedes' house, but he didn't know where that was. Sure he could get the information easily, but he doubted he was supposed to steal it so Ventus opted instead of dealing with it like a ninja, that he'd just go to the teacher's room instead.
And what luck, he was there with well shit, that was a lot of people sitting around the classroom. There were some he didn't even recognize, not that he knew who anyone was. Now Ven really wished Emerald and Mercury could be around, but they'd failed to, oh no wait, they texted him back that they were on their way. He could just about glow then. So pleased as he held his phone clutched close to his chest.
Before he could be seen, he moved to the side, falling back against the lockers that lined the walls. They had blue and white snowflakes, alternating colours, on each locker. How festive. Come to think of it, he thought maybe his colour was blue. Not bad, but he supposed green would look pretty toxic for a snowflake. That would certainly go with the small bits of chatter he heard about himself during his classes. So stressful…
There was the brief wonder of how he could possibly fix it, but him trying to fix it is what broke it in the first place. It was probably just a loop of unhappiness. That sounded like something an idiot would write, but it was true no matter how dumb it sounded. If only there was a way to make everyone happy. Make them believe him, but if Jack was around, he doubted that'd be possible. He'd probably just get mad again, as he seemed to do when Seifer spoke to him. He was so so SO condescending and infuriating when it came to how he just didn't listen. It was impossible not to get mad at someone who was clearly up their own ass in their supposed superiority.
Oh but that was rude to think wasn't it. He'd feel bad if he weren't mad. Everything he'd heard that day just infuriated him. That wasn't good though. That meant Jack would come about didn't it. Whenever he was mad enough so he had to calm.
Leaning back against the somewhat festive lockers, Ventus breathed in, holding the air for just a moment before exhaling. It kinda helped, so he repeated the action a few times, unknowing to the presence that came before him.
The hand to his shoulder was so unwanted that it made him jump with fright. He'd almost taken fight or flight responses, if only thanks to the day's occurrences of him getting punched and mercilessly mocked, but it was just Mercury so he calmed. Of course Emerald was with him.
"So what'd you want us for?" He asked and Ventus smiled, motioning into the room of students and teachers dressed like those from UA. The pair looked in and didn't look too impressed as they looked back at him.
"You want us to interact with a bunch of geeks?" The mint haired girl questioned. She wasn't disgusted at least, but it did tell Ven that they clearly weren't the roleplaying type. At least Emerald didn't appear to be.
"They said it was like virtual reality dnd." Ventus tried nonetheless. "I thought it would be a fun bonding activity."
"So you're ditching your old friends for new ones?"
His face contorted to one of confusion and he cocked his head. "All of my old friends left me. Now I just have you left and these new people."
The pair looked to one another a moment before Mercury asked "You actually want to try again after what everyone in school's said about you being a psycho?" Ah, so that was what they were saying after all. There was some part of him hoping that he'd been imagining or hallucinating it, but if others were there to tell him that it was a fact, then…
With fists clenched tight and pressed to his sides, he uttered out a decisive "I don't want to be alone."
The two paused though it wasn't long before Mercury stepped up again, patting him on the shoulder again. "Just don't forget what they did to you. Don't let them get away with mistreating you."
"I won't." He heard himself say. He could feel the foreign smirk on his face though it quickly dissolved when Magnus came out of the room. Such a smile he shone.
"I thought I heard someone. Hard to hear over the bustling in there though." The jolly man remarked. "Care to come in and join us for introductions. Are you all coming?"
Ventus looked to the duo, they didn't seem too enthused, or Mercury did in his own way but Emerald sighed though still nodded. "We're here to look after him." She stated, finger pointed at Ventus. Was that nice of her, or was she pitying him? He wasn't quite sure, but Mr. Quinn beamed.
"Wonderful, more participants!" Waving them into the room, he mused further "I suppose that means we'll need ten houses for canaan house's session. That'll take just a moment to fix up, but luckily our fantasy adventure did have an extra area to explore so that all works out." It was so admirable how well he could stay happy. Quite the opposite of Ven who'd dampened at his friends' reminders of his perils of school. Magnus seemed to try and brighten him up however with a pat to the back as he guided him in. "Time for the introductions."
"You already know us teachers." Dulcinea from the corner of the room remarked. "At least I'd hope you kids all know your teachers." Looking at Mercury, that was debatable. Emerald seemed easy on the uptake though. Dulcie's eye twitched at his clueless face. She pointed to each faculty staff member, remarking
"Dulcinea, Protesilaus, Magnus, and Abigail." Well she had to admit, he wouldn't know them by their first names. Only Ven would. He still seemed clueless as to who they were though so maybe he just never had them. Nor had he ever gone to the nurse's office when his grandfather wasn't around. That made sense honestly.
Nevertheless, Mercury wasn't against the idea. He almost seemed interested actually, though the idea of so many new people didn't sit well with him. Maybe it was because they were all cosplaying, though all of the students just wore UA gym and training uniforms so not too extravagant like their hero costumes would have been.
"First up are two people that don't actually go to our school." Abigail took over. She motioned to two authoritative looking women. "They're police officers, but they're still part of our group. Judith and Marta." The two saluted. They reminded him more of people that would be in the military though. Then again, that would make it hard for them to be available he supposed.
"Next up are Ianthe, Coronabeth, and Naberius." Ventus and Mercury's jaws dropped at the mere height of the two girls named Ianthe and Coronabeth. By the looks of it, they were twins, but dear god they were tall. Ianthe looked like she'd be a disciple of Elrena too. Such a viscous and pitying gaze. Pitying in the means of, she clearly looked down on everyone by the way she was blatantly looking down one the newcomers now. And then Naberius had enough hair gel in his hair to rival Seifer. He looked like a grade a douchebag, but it wasn't nice to judge right? Even though he also looked down his nose at just about everyone in the room. Honestly, the boy looked like he should be in a private school. The three of them did. So glamorous and unlike the riffraff of public schools.
Abigail motioned next to students that appeared to be freshmen. They were certainly younger and more doe-eyed than the rest. Though they were fawning over just about everything, including the biceps of a butch looking girl, but she'd yet to be introduced. "Isaac and Jeannemary." They'd even gone the extra mile to hang on the girl's flexing muscled arms like children at a jungle gym. Honestly, it was adorable and he really wanted to talk to them.
"And then we have Palamedes and Camilla." Ah, Palamedes, the one that apparently helped make the systems they'd be playing. He even looked smart. Maybe it was the glasses though. He was kinda cute though. And Camilla looked like she was about ready to bite anyone's head off that disturbed them. So fierce, yet so beautiful.
Abigail motioned then to a rather wide individual that made Ven picture himself from his earlier years. A bad thought, and ill done for someone else. Next to the bigger child was the one being used as a jungle gym and a girl that seemed to want to hide from everyone, at least based on how she hid under the hood of a hoodie anyway. He could relate. "We have Ortus, Gideon, and Harrow." Ah, so Gideon was the ginger haired jungle gym and major dyke looking one and Harrow was the girl that looked like she'd rather be dead. Was that rude? Honestly, he was afraid to screen Ortus too harshly so he tried to avoid looking at him. That also might've been rude. There were still more people to meet though.
"Then we have Vanitas" The boy growled at the mere mention of him. He kept his distance from the rest. Vanitas...that named sounded familiar but the mere look of him reminded Ven of Bakugou honestly. Not that he was one of the ones cosplaying. He wondered if he'd make a good Kaachan. Probably with that death glare.
"And Sabrina." Did everyone in this room look down on others? She had the snooty face of someone that would press heeled boots into someone's back. Actually, that was kinda hot. Ventus wondered if maybe he could get her to step on him someday.
Abigail then turned to Ventus, motioning for him to introduce himself, but Harrow spoke up for him. "Aren't you the kid that got punched in art today?" She asked. She also sounded high and mighty, as if she was better than the rest. Something about her made him wonder if she was actually right though. She just had that type of aura to her. Frightening and intimidating unlike most who while they came off as complete douchebags, they had more timid auras. Oh, but no one else could see those, just another oddity about him that he chalked up to hallucinations. Those never left though, and sometimes they even strangled him. That was certainly the case for Seifer's group. Honestly, it was amazing he could be around them so much with how uncomfortable they made him. Then again, he couldn't trust his instincts, they were always wrong.
Oh but right, Harrow, the frail black haired girl that looked like a skeleton. She looked amazingly terrifying despite her stature and her words didn't spare him whatsoever. They made Ventus fidget, pricking fingers against one another as he tried and failed to think of a response. He was still in the dark on what happened after all.
"Don't sell him so short right off the bat." Mercury assured, arm slinging around Ventus' neck. Pointing a proud thumb at himself, he remarked "The name's Mercury." Pointing then to their mint haired companion, he mused "This is Emerald." And then to the remaining. "And we all know Ventus." Ventus certainly wished they hadn't all known him. Would be much easier to make a new life if he wasn't as known as Rome. Or maybe a better comparison was the bubonic plague considering how everyone labeled him.
"I just have to wonder why we'd want a trouble maker in our group." The frail, black haired girl scoffed, arms crossed and tucked against her breast.
"Now, Harrow." Ortus began hesitantly.
"That's Nonagesimus to you, Nigenad!" She snapped. So hostile. He wondered if this would go alright. "I am the Reverend daughter, you will respect my authority over someone so lowly."
Reverend daughter? Was she religious? She didn't look it, but really who did. He supposed most people that were, carried crosses or something. Oh but maybe she was of a different religion.
"Now now, Reverend daughter." Magnus motioned with both hands for her to calm herself. That was easier said than done when Gideon didn't chime
"You sound like a fucking idiot, Reverend daughter." The way she spoke was so mocking. They were friends?
"Shut it, Griddle." Griddle, who was that. By how Gideon moved, though was held back by Isaac and Jeannemary, to no avail so Judith and Marta had to step in, he assumed she was Griddle. A nickname perhaps. But what about Nonagesimus and Nigenad?
Emerald and Mercury looked tense, not just them, but Sabrina and Vanitas as well. Ven would wonder how this group did anything with this much turmoil, but the way they talked to eachother wasn't necessarily malicious. Sounded it, but their auras didn't match up. Should he really go off of that though? He supposed it was usually right, and if he had with Seifer, he could have spared himself quite a bit of trouble. How much trouble? Well he'd yet to know honestly. It was still pending on how much he'd gotten himself into.
The rest that were further from him moved their mouths, but he couldn't quite hear what they had to say. Was that a good thing? He wasn't sure. They seemed to laugh though, and the rest cooled down, so it was a bit upsetting to miss out on. Ventus fiddled with his broken hearing aid. What a piece of junk. Then again, what else could he expect when he'd whipped it at a wall. It was so scary and foreign though. He should've gotten a fixed version, but his grandfather outlawed it, labeling him too unstable for quality products.
"So you can't hear after all." Ventus looked up to come face to face with Palamedes. By his side was his ever faithful companion, Camilla.
"How..?" Ventus asked and he shook his head with the briefest of smiles. The short haired brunette held his hand out though the blond boy was rather confused.
"Give me your hearing aid. I'd heard it barely worked. I'll fix it for you." Said Pal.
"But it's gross."
"Then wipe it off really quick." Pulling out a tissue from his pocket, Palamades handed it over and Ven, albeit a bit hesitant, took out his hearing aid and cleaned the wax off of it before handing it over.
Strapped to his thigh and leg were many pouches. He almost looked like a ninja if those were filled with kunai. Palamedes pulled out tools that well Ven wasn't knowledgeable enough to exactly name. He knew nothing about hard work unless it was studying or gaming. Who in his family knew anything about tools. His dad sure didn't. He just paid others to build the sky deck for Ven to stargaze on. It would look like absolute shit if he'd done it himself, but he supposed it was the thought that counted.
Ventus wasn't sure if he'd spaced out for a long time or if Palamedes was just a genius, because it didn't take him long to return the ear piece. "Try it now." Then again, the kid made virtual reality equipment so maybe he was a genius.
Nevertheless, Ven tried it on. He could actually hear things again. He could hear...fuck he could hear more than he could before he was even deaf. He could even hear the birds chirping outside and the wind against the windows. He hadn't heard that in a while. The notion brought tears to his eyes. No one but Naberius and Ianthe reacted, for them, they reacted with scoffs. What assholes.
This is why I don't pay attention to auras. They're acting like fucks, but they don't have the aura of fucks. Only the people that were blatantly nice to me like Seifer, Emerald, and Mercury have that aura.
Now he could hear everything though! It was like a dream come true. And by the look on his face, it seemed that that was enough intel on his new state for Palamedes to gather the appropriate amount of data.
"Thank you." Ventus hushed out like a dream. Palamades merely gave his version of a smile, which was barely there but enough to show if you were really looking.
He could hear everyone bantering now, which were mostly jabs at one another. Again, they were friends? The only ones that didn't speak were the newbies, himself included. That reminded him though, he wanted to know if he could switch teams to be with Emerald and Mercury. Though after their comments in the hall, he was a bit wary. He didn't need someone telling him to be mad did he? Maybe he should give the new guys a chance. At least, he hoped they wouldn't continuously bring up his miscomings anyway.
Ventus moved along to meet his supposed team, leaving his preferred, though now being able to hear everything, he was a bit disoriented. Did that show. He supposed he was grimacing. It almost felt like when all the sins were out and talking to him. Utter hell after ten seconds of glee that he was getting attention. He shouldn't be so foul over being able to hear again though. He'd get used to it eventually.
By the time he got to them however, Magnus was declaring quite loudly, holy shit hearing hurt, that they were to be moving out to Pal's house for gaming. What about homework? Weren't they supposed to do that first? Or was this like a new activity. Or rather a club for after school. That was interesting. How would they transport everyone though? Individually? He wasn't sure but he'd follow along anyway, sure to grab Vanitas and Sabrina's arms lest they try and get away from him. As is, Emerald and Mercury already ditched. That kinda hurt actually so his head was down for him to mull over the loss. He wasn't sure what he did wrong, but it hurt, and it left him clinging to his apparent teammates while turning his aid off to escape reality a bit. What they thought of that, he wasn't quite sure, but he didn't want to be left alone anymore. They did tug against him, but he held fast onto them as they marched out.
It was nice he couldn't hear. He wasn't able to hear them yelling at him, if they were, something he appreciated and didn't need quite at this moment. By the time he got out of the room though, he'd reconvened with Emerald and Mercury who looked with surprisingly soft smiles at him. Seeing them back, and not having ditched after all, Ven smiled back. He could probably turn his hearing aid on again now, though lower the volume, because lord.
Turning it back on immediately got him yelled at and pulled from. Were they that upset that he was touching them?
The girl, Sabrina, scoffed as she pulled her hand from him. She didn't have to look at him with such disgust, man. It was a better reaction than Vanitas though, because once he was released, the boy scowled and proceeded to trip Ven.
The crashing and oofing he gave off effectively stalled the group ahead and behind him. Those ahead were primarily the teachers whereas the students were behind. With his new hearing, he could hear two voices complain at the hold up. He wasn't quite sure who they belonged to but they sounded snooty, gossipy even.
To the side of him, he heard Vanitas laugh rather derisively and he could see a smirk on his face as he did. Asshole. But right, matir mentioned him before. The serial tripper apparently. How old do you have to act to continuously try and trip strangers? Not only that, but his other partner decided to ditch him now that she was able, along with Vanitas of course. They didn't leave the pack which made him wonder how Magnus got them to cooperate. What'd he bribe them with?
Nevertheless, Coronabeth, he thought that was right, came to his aid alongside Isaace, Jeannemary, Mercury, and Emerald. They hoisted him up, though it was a bit unnecessary for that many people. For one, he could have done that himself. And two, he was offended to be considered heavy. He didn't mention it however.
"Are you alright?" The youngest girl, Jeannemary, asked before his actual friends could question him. Isaac looked on with an inquisitive demeanor. And the other three just looked concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Ventus insisted as he stood and started up again. "I have a high pain tolerance, thank god." And good enough reflexes to not fall on top of his shielded cat, though he'd have to take better care to avoid being tripped from now on. Maybe avoid Vanitas altogether which made it even more pressing to not be on his team. They both just sounded like bullies and he didn't need more of that. He wanted nice people. Was that too much to ask for? The only thing they had going for them is that they were both cute. But most people were when he spent his whole life indoors, admiring those allowed out.
The blond sighed to himself, garnering the looks of those around him. He couldn't help but think Emerald and Mercury were smiling though. He was probably just hallucinating as usual. He could never tell what was real or not. And that's been impossible since he started school so maybe this was a mistake.
He wanted to stop, fall out of the group that was iffy on accepting him, and just go back home to go to bed. Hide under the covers with his animals. He'd love that. Or no, would he? It sounded dismal. That's just what he's been doing this entire time, but could he really be blamed? His attempt at school was a disaster. Wouldn't trying more just make it worse.
Lost in his thoughts, he barely noticed them having left the school, let alone get to their destination. He only stopped when he ran into the person in front of him, which happened to be Protesilaus. He didn't seem disturbed thank god, if he even noticed, but Ventus offered a meek smile anyway.
What was before him, that he couldn't quite see well passed Pro's hulking frame, was a large golden limo. And at the ready was Ianthe along with her apparent group of Coronabeth and Naberius.
He was utterly dumbfuck dumbstruck at the scene. And no one else seemed anything but exasperated by it.
"At least it's not a party bus this time." He heard one say. A party bus? What kinda group was this?
He heard another remark a very dry and sarcastic "Cute." That one was Sabrina. He could tell that much since he actually saw her now that he was out of Protesilaus' shadow.
Nevertheless, they were traveling in that huh. This was quite the group.
Author's note: I still don't know if people actually are caught up with this fic or are like most people and drop off after the second chapter. Because none of my fics get any real feedback or headway though (save from friends who do still get my other stories just off of here,) I've decided not to post any of my other stories. I'll keep up with this one for now because some people care about it, but I can't justify posting any of the other ones even if the KH oriented ones would probably do better than the modern ones. I like my modern verse more so that'll just be depressing.
I've heard a lot of people stopped posting fics though because the community is so dead and I'm kinda understanding why. It's nice getting feedback, but I only get about 20 hits per chapter whereas others have thousands of hits, faves, comments, and kudos whereas I struggle to get one even from friends, and I doubt they make it to the end so it's hard enough just justifying this story either. I keep going back and forth with wanting to keep it for myself and friends, deleting my stories and accounts on fic sites too, but some dumb hope that people might actually like it keeps me posting, but I doubt that'll continue since I have more fun showing my friends stories than I do posting on here and seeing nothing come of my efforts.
The only other works I might continue are the ones already made like the Greedfall one and maybe the group's longer dnd/gaming sessions. But I'm only banking on the Locked Tomb community for those ones and the Greedfall community for the other. I'm just hoping they don't mind a few extra characters. I'm alright with not being involved with the KH community and just taking my muse to different fandoms instead, I'm used to it as I had to do that on tumblr too. Maybe they'll like him since most people in this community reject him.
