Rood wandered the halls that he knows like the back of his hand, and he was unable to help the boredom from showing on his face. It didn't help that Linus was asking their guide a million and one questions about him. Or in more correct terms, about the Black Magician.

It was uncomfortable.

It was easier to deal with the other new person in his group that he didn't know, Lapis. He was clever, to say the least and certainly knew a lot but listening to him and Chevel argue was grating on his ears, a headache was forming.

"Says the guy who's only talent is memorization!" Chevel shot back at Lapis for whatever the other boy had said. He was tired of this shit and he was tired of that guide looking back at him almost as if he was waiting for him to punch something. Rood slowed his steps so that he walked next to Shicmuon and touched his arm gently.

"Please make them stop fighting. Kick them in the ass, I'll back you." Rood looked up at him with a calm expression and the older boy smirked at him.

Shicmuon walked closer to Chevel before giving him a swift kick in the ass. He used the bottom of his foot to lessen the blow to a more friendlier kick but twas a kick from Shicmuon nonetheless. Chevel gave a yelp and fell to the floor.

"Stop arguing because we are all sick of it. Also, you're pathetic I barely kicked you." The auburn-haired boy looked down at him and Chevel gave a huff before getting up.

"That's not true, you just don't know your own strength… and if he wasn't so annoy-" He stopped mid-sentence with another yelp as he received a kick in the side of the leg from Rood. Rood looked up at Lapis who watched the two warily.

"I'll kick you too. Stop acting like little kids." Rood gave him a scowl but relaxed when Lapis nodded.

"I'm sorry, I did get a bit over the top without any regards for the others. My apologies." Lapis gave a small bow and Shicmuon patted the top of his head gently, making him receive a confused look.

"You're less annoying than he is." Shic gestured to Chevel with a frown which was received with a laugh from Lapis and a huff from Chevel. Rood took a deep breath and looked at Lidusis who he noted had relaxed once the arguing had stopped.

Linus and Dio hadn't noticed. Both were curious to know about the Black Magician, perhaps with different intentions.

"…what did he mean when he said you were only good at memorizing?" Shicmuon looked at Lapis curiously and the boy gave a sigh in response.

"I've studied plenty and plenty of theories, I've read books and watched blogs and everything in between, and I understand the general sense of activating magic-" He was interrupted by Chevel who rolled his eyes.

"He can't do any magic." He said, ignoring the swat he got by his sister.

"Be nice Chevel!" She was ignored.

"Well, it's true. He should be a Hereis but he's stuck as an Idun because he can't even activate a practice sword." The older Hadelio spoke with a huff and almost felt a twinge of guilt when he saw the shame on Lapis's face. Almost. Shicmuon looked at the embarrassed boy curiously.

"Not even a little?"

"Not even a little… I don't know what I'm doing wrong! I know the theories and all that I just-" The auburn-haired boy interrupted.

"Aren't you just thinking too hard about that? Magic isn't just a theory you know." Shic looked around and frowned when he noticed the stares he received, "What?"

"You? Being helpful because you can? Lean down." Rood looked up at Shic with a frown. He couldn't help but be pleased when the older boy leaned down obediently. He shifted his sleeve up before resting his forearm on the taller boy's forehead who immediately stood back up when he understood what was going on.

"I'm not sick. And I can be helpful when I wanted to. Besides Magic is something I'm actually good at." He huffed at the smaller boy who gave him a smile in return.

"I'm sure you're good at plenty of things like," Before Rood could continue, Dio interrupted.

"Like fighting!"

"And you talked pretty well to make the Police officer go away!" Ibriel mentioned with a grin which dropped when she received a quick look from her older brother, "What?"

Rood looked at Shic with a raised eyebrow. He blushed however when Shic leaned down and whispered in his ear.

"It's easy to make a police officer go away when you're a rank one magician with temper issues." Shic leaned back up with a smirk on his face while Rood gave a small laugh and shook his head. Iel looked at them curiously, something itching in the back of her mind.

"Wait, why did you have to talk to the police?" Lapis spoke curiously, his hand raised as if he were in class. Shic looked at him with a shrug.

"The girls had to deal with a creepy guy that then tried to smack them so I hit the guy to break his nose. I ended up knocking him unconscious though." He gave a careless shrug, before glancing at Ibriel who laughed.

"For a moment he thought he killed him." Everyone looked at Shic who merely shrugged.

"He didn't get back up. He wasn't dead though he was breathing."

The group seemed to stand there for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly was going through the tall boy. Shic frowned at the look of disbelief that he was receiving and crossed his arms.

"What?"

"….I'll test that theory out later when I can," Lapis spoke hesitantly, unsure what to make of him.

"Baldwin…. I don't think we should be going in here…" Chevel looked from side to side, wary of the trouble the two could get in. They had just stepped into a small room that was attached to another much larger room. The only thing separating the two rooms was a wall of strong glass.

The larger room was empty. Completely. Was this really the training room of the famous Black Magician? No way…

"Now let's see how to start this thing up… ah. So it's just like the one back home. Good." Shicmuon murmured under his breath softly and ignored the look Chevel gave him.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm turning this thing on. I want to use the training program so I can see what the Black Magician's training session would be like."

"Oh. But wait… they don't start up until someone is in there so-" He was interrupted by the careless wave of Shicmuon's hand.

"Obviously. I was going to go in there. It would be fun and I haven't had a fight in a while. I'm bored."

Chevel's mouth was wide open as he stared at the auburn-haired boy who merely grinned from ear to ear.

"You're crazy!"

"I know, isn't it great?"

"No!"

Shicmuon only replied with laughter while his friend looked like he was about to yank the hair out of his head. When Chevel had mentioned that he wanted to see what the training system that the black Magician used to keep in shape, that didn't mean he wanted to see his friend in the middle of it!

"You're going to get hurt! Get back in here! Please!" Chevel tried to grab the back of the other boy's jacket but he moved quick enough out of reach before shutting the door between them with a slam.

"Nah." The system started to whirr as the pieces clicked into place to reveal a humanoid machine. When a small sword appeared in its hands, almost holographic-like, it ran towards Shicmuon at an insane speed. Chevel shrieked covered his eyes with his hands when there was an audible clang.

When he peaked between his fingers, he dropped his hands in shock as he saw his friend holding his own against it with a thin kind of sword. He watched them clash, Shicmuon responding with fluid movements, as if an expert dancer, the grin never leaving his face.

Step, slash, slash, clang. Step, dodge, slash, block, step, swirl.

Despite his worry, the golden-haired boy couldn't help but be entranced as he watched which made him fully unaware of his surroundings.

"What, may I ask, is going on in here?"

Chevel gave a yelp, his heart already pounding at the sight of his friend fighting a machine that was as skilled as a rank one magician. He turned around quickly to reveal the Master of Opion, Kielnode.

When Kiel was notified on his phone that the system he set up for his little brother had turned on when Rood was standing in front of him, he had quickly rushed to what he assumed would be a very unsightly scene. He was not, however, expecting to see the boy he pulled out of the rain, his face lit up with emotion he had not held the previous day.

"He- um, I had said- and he-" Chevel was panicking. The master of Opion was in front of him and his friend was behind him doing something that he certainly was not supposed to be doing. He relaxed slightly and patted his shoulder.

"It's alright, I've met that one out there before. He'll be fine. Probably."

"Probably?! He's just a student! He hasn't even awakened yet!" The older man looked at the blond-haired boy in surprise before shrugging it off before walking to the startup set and putting in the code to turn it off.

Needless to say, Shicmuon was not pleased when the machine fell to pieces and looked over with a scowl. The sword he had held in his hand vanished as did the machines. He walked over and through the door between the training area and the safety section before stopping in front of Kiel who gave him a grin in response to the boy's clear annoyance.

"I couldn't let you keep giving your friend and anyone that walks by, any more anxiety." The older man couldn't help but be amused when the older boy's scowl turned into a pout.

"Whatever…"

Now before Kiel had left, he had been

"Well, I figured that today we might have fun and do roller skating!" Kielnode smiled brightly and the groups merely looked at one another curiously. They were here to learn how to be a strong magician like the black Magician! So why, may they ask, are they at a large rollerskating ring? A student raised their hand.

"Aren't we here to see how it is like to work in Opion?" They looked at the Master of said company who nodded brightly in return.

"Yep! But roller skating is fun, plus it helps with stuff like balance and figuring out how you can adjust to different circumstances. My bro- the Black Magician did this when he was first training his body. Plus he just did not childlike stuff… So I thought it would help him learn to socialize properly!"

So it was true. Kielnode, the master of Opion, is a giant weirdo. But hey, the students weren't going to complain. Not everyone got a chance to rollerskate.

Soon students were grouping off, some skating on their own, some in a group with friends. Shicmuon, however, sat grumpily on a bench. He was fuming. This is a load of shit, this is stupid and there was no way, in any hell, was he going to put wheels on his feet.

He watched as others skated in the ring, a person falling every so laughter, the fallen person's only response was to laugh and get back up. Somewhere better than others, and the beginners were easy to pick out from the crowd as they moved slowly, their arms held out to the side so as to catch themselves if they fell. Others were holding the hand or arm of their more experienced friend who helped them along.

The first person he noticed was Lidusis who was skating pretty well. He was graceful and moved around other people and- oh, he fell. The kind boy merely laughed as he got up and went back to skating.

The next person he noticed was Rood. Who was infuriatingly amazing at. Honestly, what a show-off. He would skate at a fast speed, swerving around people like it was as easy as pie. What a jerk. Now he's skating backwards at such a fast speed. It made Shicmuon want to punch someone, I mean, seriously, at this point he's just showing off with that infuriatingly pretty grin on his face. Honestly, how dare.

Lidusis hummed to himself as he skated when he noticed Chevel skate up to him. He slowed his pace to match the older boy and looked at him curiously.

"Hey, do you know why Baldwin is just sitting there scowling? He looks like he's going to punch someone." Lidusis gave a quick glance at Shicmuon only to see the boy scowling at Kiel who was bright and cheery. Ah, he flipped him off. At least the master of Opion doesn't seem too put off about it- Lidusis fell again, this time his knees slammed into the ground and he winced before carefully standing up.

"Maybe he doesn't know how to skate?" The gray-haired boy was met with laughter from the golden boy.

"The guy who can do almost anything? The sportiest guy in the school? No way!" And with that Chevel skated off. Lidusis gave a shrug as he neared an exit to get off the stage near the grouchy boy and got off carefully, apologizing as he almost ran into another student.

Shicmuon was glad that annoying man had left when he spotted Lidusis walking towards him. He wanted to scowl at the boy. He really did. But seriously, how can you possibly be so pissed at such a kind boy? He was too nice. It kinda irked Shicmuon actually but that's not really the point.

"Skating is difficult. I keep falling." Lidusis murmured as he carefully sat down on the bench next to the other boy. He received a grunt in reply.

"Um… Baldwin?" The quiet boy looked through his bangs shyly, clasping his hands together tightly in his lap, "Why aren't you skating?"

"Because it's stupid." Shicmuon gave a huff and glared at Rood who passed by.

"… Do you not know how to skate?" Lidusis looked at him and knew that he hit the nail on the head when he saw the boy's face go a flushed red. Bingo.

"So- so what? It's not like I'm going to skate every damn day." The older boy crossed his arms and looked everywhere but at Lidusis. The boy gave a nod in response.

"It's fun when you get the hang of it…" Another scoff.

"Sure, after you look like a giant fool in front of over a hundred people. Sounds great." Shicmuon glared as Rood passed by again. Looking amazing. Tsk.

"There's plenty of people that aren't so good at it. I'm not… I've fallen a couple of times but you just laugh it off and get up. Other people have fallen at least once. There's only one person that probably won't fall do-"

"Yeah, Rood the goddamn show off." He ignored the soft laughter he received and continued to pout. He frowned at the sight of Rood getting off and casually skating towards them.

"Who's a show-off?" The smaller boy asked curiously, giving a small laugh when received a dirty look from Shicmuon.

"I think you know who."

"Sure Baldwin. But why are you guys just sitting here? If you don't move, I'm sure my brother will come back and bother you again. He's pretty good at being bothersome."

"No kidding.." Shic gave a huff and felt slightly better when he heard Rood laugh. Not that he would admit it of course.

"But seriously, why are you guys just sitting there? We are here to skate and have fun not pout and scowl at people. Not you Lidusis, you're being great." He smiled at the shy boy whose face flushed bright red and gave a small smile in response.

"I am not pouting. And I'm not too fond of going up there and looking like a gigantic idiot." He continued to sit there scowling with his arms crossed. What a grump. Rood shook his head before holding out his hand.

"Come on, you're not the only one that has never skated before. There are a shit ton out there." He gestures to the crowd of people, making sure to point out each small groups of people that are holding onto the hands of their friends. In front of them would often be a slight gap until a bunch of skaters went around them.

"I could help teach you…" Lidusis spoke softly, rubbing his wrist slightly as he looked down in his lap.

"I would be glad to help as well. No shame in asking for help you know. And if anyone even tries to make fun of you, I'll knock them down." Rood gave a sly grin and his heart pounded when he heard the older boy laugh.

"I'd rather have Lidusis's help Mr. show off. Not to mention you're a lot shorter than me so that would be awkward wouldn't it?" Shic couldn't help but be amused by the thought of using Rood's head to keep balance. He was sure that Rood would have scowled at him if it weren't for the soft giggle that Lidusis gave. Maybe he saw the humor in it too. Rood only sighed.

"Alright, so long as you get up there." There was a slight annoyance that was in the back of his mind, must have been the comment about his height. It wasn't.

Shicmuon got up hesitantly to get the roller skates before sitting down next to Lidusis again to try and put them on. Just as he went to tighten up to the other shoe, after he had already tied up the first shoe, he noticed that the shoelace was too short and must have broken off by someone.

"Oh… You'll have to get another pair." Lidusis frowned at the shoelace. Shicmuon merely grumbled as he had to untie the other shoe.

"Why does it have to be so hard to take off these damn shoes?" With a final heave, the shoe finally came off.

After finally getting the shoes on with no problem, it was time for Shicmuon to skate. He sat there, trying to bury the feeling of nervousness that he had as he looked up at Lidusis. He held out his arm and helped him up. He was a bit wobbly and he didn't like it. At all.

"Now you have to take steps. Make sure to lift your feet. Yep like that!" Lidusis smiled cheerfully as they started to move forward. He tried to ignore the fact that his heart was beating a mile an hour.

Now, normally Shicmuon didn't like physical touch. In fact, he hated it. It was uncomfortable and can lead you to be defenseless. It was hard to feel defenseless when it was Lidusis though because really, Lidusis? Being dangerous? As if. He doubted that he could even hurt a fly much less muster up the courage to even attack someone. He was far too kind. Annoyingly so.

He tried to concentrate on moving his feet, his feet almost moving out from under him when they got off the carpet and got in the ring. They moved slowly which he appreciated. They moved slowly and others went around them, every so often he would get distracted and his feet trying to slip from under him.

"Step. Step. Step." Shic mutter to himself and Lidusis said nothing. He didn't know if it was him being kind, or just the fact that he couldn't hear him over the loud eighty's music. Either way, he appreciated it.

"God dammit.." He swore under his breath, each time he thinks he has it, his feet are sliding perfectly before catching him off guard. At this point, he was holding Lidusis's hand.

Shicmuon gave a laugh when he looked up from the floor to see Dio, who was attempting to go faster than he should, have his feet slide out from under him and fall straight on his ass with his legs splayed out, next to Rood who wobbles a bit before stabilizing. If Shic wasn't trying so hard to keep himself stable, he would have laughed.

This continued, Lidusis letting Shicmuon hold his arm and he would help stabilize him. Sometimes Lidusis would almost fall but the other boy held on tightly and kept him from falling.

"Ah. Dio fell again. He should really stop going so fast…" Lidusis spoke softly, "Remember that you want to fall forward not backward."

"Hnn." He was too focused on trying not to fall on his ass so his response wasn't really stellar. Then again, he wasn't much of a talker, to begin with. Luckily, Lidusis didn't really mind, he wasn't that great at talking himself and he enjoyed the comfortable silence.

"Wait you really don't know how to skate? What kind of lame ass childhood did you have?" Chevel spoke after he came up to them and slowed to match his pace to them.

Shicmuon gave an annoyed grunt as he focused on the ground, absentmindedly noticing a piece of a shoelace that he would later connect to the shoes that he tried on earlier that was too short on one side. So that's where it was.

Chevel gave a shrug before going on without them, speeding up. Sure, he was glad that he was finally better at something than the other boy but he wasn't going to say anything. It's not like he hadn't fallen that day either. He wanted to though.

"Wait was that a wheel to a skate?" Shicmuon said, turning his head behind him to try and look but he quickly looked back when he started to lose his balance again. It was.

"Can someone grab that wheel?" This came from Ibriel who spoke from next to Shic. Which startled him. The loud voice caught him off guard and his balance was shaken, his feet going out from under him. He made sure to fall forward, causing himself to slam his knees into the ground.

"Fuck…" He grumbled and sighed.

"Whoops, sorry Baldwi-" She stopped midsentence when she fell as well, a result of Iel who lost her balance when the older boy fell and having held the blonde's hand tightly, pulled her down with her. Ibriel burst out laughing, Iel soon joining in.

Lidusis gave a smile as he held his out to Shicmuon when his face grew hot at the boy in front of him. The older boy had a genuine grin on his face, the laughter infectious. While he didn't laugh, he had a bright smile on his face that was rarely revealed.

Shic got up with a little struggle, his feet sliding all over the place. It took him a full minute to get up until he realized he could use the breaks on the front to keep him in place to get up. He never realized that he hadn't let go of Lidusis's hand or shifted it to his wrist.

The quiet boy said nothing about it, too flustered by the fact that they were holding hands. Needless to say, a certain nuisance, Dirod, was not pleased. But he's a dick so really what do we care?

"Really? Falling on your ass like a child? I guess you're not as great as you think you are." Dirod said, laughing as he passed them. Unluckily for him, Rood heard him and did exactly what he said he would do.

He skated up next to the boy and leaned one foot on the break of his skate and yanked Dirod's foot out from under him.

"Don't be an asshole, you wet sock." And with that, Rood sped off.

Lidusis and Shicmuon merely skated around Dirod who sat there, holding his chin that had been smashed into the ground when he fell.

After that, there were no more incidents. Well, except for when Ibriel cheered on the sidelines, cheering Shicmuon on. He ended up falling on his ass, pulling Lidusis down with him. The shy boy flushed bright red when he landed in the other boy's lap.

Rood frowned at the sight but pushed away from the annoyance that grew in his chest.

When they got back it was getting dark out and they ended the day with dinner before leading the students to the rooms they were staying in. Each room had five beds, so five students shared a room. One room held five boys at the request of Rood who really didn't want to deal with anyone annoying. It held Rood, Dio, Lidusis, Chevel, and Shicmuon.

Shic gave a yawn as he stood in the hallway, staring at the window in the hallway while he processed his day. While he had fallen multiple times while skating, he did have fun. He went to go into his room when he was stopped by the disappointing sight of Dirod. They scowled at one another.

"Don't think that I'm just going to take this sitting down. I don't approve of you, and frankly, your behavior is disgusting." Dirod spoke, crossing his arms. His scowl deepened when the other rolled his eyes.

"Yeah sure whatever, look, I have more important things to do that deal with bacteria like you. Now move."

Dirod did not move.

Not on his own accord of course. He moved quickly however when Shicmuon grasped the boy by the front of the shirt and flung him to the side. He stomped into his room, ignoring the shocked boy.

Chevel looked up from his textbook at the sight of his scowling friend. Shicmuon was clearly not pleased.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." The blond boy looked at him incredulously before responding.

"Sure doesn't look like nothing."

"Then stop looking." Shicmuon gave the boy a glare before climbing into the other's bed and turning his back to Chevel.

"I don't mind you sleeping there but that's my bed you know." Just as he said that Rood walked in and looked at Shicmuon before shaking his head. The boys had already chosen their beds.

"There's no point, he does that to me as well. Might as well give up and just sleep in his bed."

Chevel looked at Rood before back at the now sleeping boy before sighing.

"I figured."

It was the middle of the night and most of the boys were asleep except for one. Honestly, it was amazing that the others slept with how loudly Dio snored. At one point, fed up with the noise, Rood got up from the bed and smacked the boy on the arm. While he didn't wake up, the snoring stopped.

Shicmuon stared at the ceiling, waking up from a nightmare. A nightmare that honestly was a bunch of nonsense but still shook him to his core. He had been in a dark land, standing at a dusty plain, the only plants that were there were dead. Probably.

When he turned around there was a cave and he turned back around when he heard a noise. The next thing he knew, he was a little kid again, barely five. And he was surrounded by demons.

Normally that wouldn't scare him. Not even as a little kid, he had been able to awaken for as long as he could remember. But right now, he couldn't. When he tried to turn and run into the cave, his body reacting faster than his brain did, he just ran in place. It felt like he was running through jelly, and no matter how hard he pushed, he never gained nor lost ground.

When he looked up, the demon was before him, its large hand about to wrap itself around him and probably squeeze him to death.

And then he woke up. Classic dreams.

Laying in bed wasn't working. He contemplated hitting Dio again as he got up from his bed.

He didn't.

Walking to where he had recalled last seeing a water fountain to get a drink of water. After he got some water he went to try and see if staring at the ceiling again would lull himself back to sleep when something stopped him.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw a small, familiar black cat. He turned his head quickly, just fast enough to see a black tail. He quickly followed.

The cat looked back for a moment to see what was following him before it quickly turned into a room and somehow… the door shut behind the cat.

Shicmuon frowned before stopping in front of the door, hesitating slightly. It took him a minute to realize that he was hesitating before giving a scowl and opened the door before him.

He was greeted with the sight of, well, not the cat. He frowned at the sight of the calm man who wore so much black that it contrasted brightly with his white skin. Shicmuon didn't move a muscle, his eyes caught on the piercing blue eyes before he blinked and the spell was gone. He scowled and made a mental note to think about why that happened.

Raven looked at Shicmuon thoughtfully before sitting on the edge of the desk and folded his hands in his lap. He observed the boy before him who had a close relation to his child.

It was silent between them for a moment before the dark-haired man spoke up.

"What do you think destiny is?"

The younger boy gave a snort and shook his head and the wise man before him gave a small smile. He watched the boy carefully as Shic thought about it.

"The destiny… that people think of is… ah…" He scowled and crossed his arms, unsure as to why his mind was processing so damn slow but continuing to attempt to put his thoughts together, "They think it's out of their hands, but I think… destiny is the outcome of your decisions. Not… It's not a blind road in which you have no hand in."

Raven gave a small nod before standing up again and ruffling Shicmuon's hair who in turn froze, eyes wide. Unconsciously the older boy leaned in the older man's touch.

Raven gave another nod before turning and walking out of the room, leaving the boy completely and utterly confused.

"…Weirdo." Shicmuon scowled yet again in confusion, the dreamlike atmosphere having vanished as the older man left. Why did he respond to such odd questions from a complete stranger? And why had he even asked that?

What a… Weirdo!