Chapter 5: Here Be Symbolism

AN- A faster update than usual. This thing just seemed to write itself, since I was finally doing some plot instead of just trying to portray characters and setting like previous chapters. So read and enjoy.

Disclaimer: Do you hear that? That is the sound of me NOT owning Bleach. What we should be hearing is you, the reader, marching on Japan to get me the rights from Kubo, since if you don't I shall hold my next chapter hostage in the Chapter Vault that all good writers hold their finished stories in to troll readers. Yahahahaha! My evil plan is perfect! Go forth my minions! Get me the head of Tite Kubo... or his rights!

Beta: Still undone. Damn is there a backlog to get through...

I would love to say that my time at the Academy improved after the first day, but it didn't. In all honesty, I have no talent at being a Shinigami. I could see it, my friends could see it and my instructors could see it. Me being in the top class was a long running gag amongst the teachers, in that I only retaining my place because the big cheeses said so. Hell, my classmates could see it plain as day. I was not popular, I was mocked by them. To them I was just a foreign student who had gotten into the Academy by bribing the higher ups, while they had to work to get in.

I completely agreed. I had just gotten in on a technicality, but that doesn't mean that the accusations didn't hurt. I was used to that sort of stuff; you don't attend public schools without meeting a few immature bullies. Back home I had actually had my book-smarts to fall back on, here I didn't, 'At least I have my brains' I'd say, but now I don't. I'm the deadlast.

As such, while classes progressed I did not advance as everyone else did.

My physical performance hindered me in Hakuda classes (With the biased teacher teaching me nothing not helping either).

Once we began Zanjutsu, the sword training required for us to actually be a Shinigami, we could also see that I did not have an aptitude for it. A lot of Zanjutsu was about the stance you used and the way that you fought, it was about discipline and a whole lot of other stuff too. I could do that. It didn't come easily to me with me never having had to do much exercise or physical labour in my past, nor with me being purely human, but I could do it. I could do the stances, I could perform the kata's and I had a much less of an asshole for a teacher. He sympathised with me. He actually tried to help me.

No, the problem in that was that everyone else surpassed me. If I had been learning besides regular humans the difficulty curve might have been easier, but it was obvious that everyone else could hit faster than me, they were stronger, they could spar for longer and could take a better beating. I couldn't.

Yes, this sounds a lot like an emo self loathing rant, but in my defence the last two weeks had not been easy for me. At all. I felt that I had the right to moan a little bit about my situation.

Theory was slightly better for me though, much to my happiness. Akimi was a rigid and very demanding teacher, but she taught. We were still in the early days, but she was patient with me, in her own fiery way. Learning a writing system for a language that I did not know and could not be taught due to this afterlife having a damned unified language was hard.

I could not say that I liked Akimi much at the moment, since her attitude still rubbed me the wrong way. Still, she was better than most other people in my class, and I could damned well respect her intelligence and her work ethics. The fact that she had stubbornly demanded that she fill me in on the month of lessons I had missed hadn't affected my slightly more positive opinion of her in any way at all. Nope.

Regardless, over the last two days the lectures given had actually started making sense, and I had begun to be able to understand basic stuff on the board. It was slow moving, but it was improvement. I had begun to think that I'd never improve, that I was doomed to fail, but this was the beginning of the idea that maybe I could actually survive this insanely tough world filled with far too many OP characters.

Anyone aware of the Bleach universe though is aware that I have failed to mention two of the most important topics a Shinigami can know. Hoho, the art of fast movement and Kido, the demon arts.

Groooaannn! Yes, my inner monologue can include a literal spelled out groan.

"Get on with it!"

"Shut up Javan!"

"Perhaps you should actually try running faster instead of using your Hoho classes as a chance to try and summarise how crappy your day has been?"

"And perhaps you should stop quoting Monty Python and shut the hell up!"

As much as he annoys me.. a lot... Javan has a point. The reason I was even looking over my experience at the Academy had been because it was a suitable method of distracting me from the fact that that my feet were rebelling and my legs were threatening to dessert me, all the while my exhaustion was threatening to overwhelm me. The cause of this pain was that Hoho relied on speed and according to the teachers we would be unable to actually do all the cool things in Hoho like flash steps until we were in peak physical state and had the Reiryoku to support our actions. As such, all the Hoho sessions we has revolved around my eternal arch-enemy... exercise.

"Heeey! Marc!" Greeted Daichi as he ran past me again, barely sweating despite all the effort he was putting into the laps he was running. This was the fifth time he had ran past me, and it didn't help me at all. "Kick your legs up more! That should help you run more!"

"Shove your... pant... advice up your... wheeze... arse, Daichi." I intoned.

"Come on, Marc! Only another lap for me, and five more for you."

"Sod... off." I was too tired to add emotion to my verbal assault.

"Well, I'll see you when you finish your laps. Byyeee~" Daichi then sped up, leaving me alone to futilely struggle by myself.

"Oh... pant... hi Hayato." The bookworm looked up from the book he was reading while simultaneously reading, nodded at me, then continued his steady pace. Despite being one of the slower members of the class, Hayato was still two laps ahead of me.

Oh, he overtook me. Correction, three laps ahead of me now. Oh well, no use complaining now. If I stop or slow down too much I'll get a 'punishment lap', which I had far too much experience in.

XXXXXXXXXX

The lesson finally ended, and after cleaning ourselves up a bit, the next one soon followed. It was another subject that I had been trying not to talk about, because it was one I disliked just as much as all the others. You see, Javan had noted my physical weakness and had suggested that I work on something more ranged. Something like Kido, the equivalent to Magic in this universe.

Well ha ha ha. We all saw just how well that went. Much of it was theory based: understanding how the techniques worked, how much Reiryoku was necessary, how it should be channelled and how it should be used, as well as knowing the far too long incantation that is needed to be said to cast it. Yes, when I had first learnt this I had been rather happy. It was a topic that I just knew I could get my teeth into! It was one not based on your physical ability, like all the other damn topics were! I could perhaps even excel in this branch! Maybe I could even get some damned respect!

Alas poor Yorick, it was not to be. First I tripped myself up by not having the first month or so of theory to allow me to slot into the classes, then I embarrassed myself even further. Seriously, I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed as in these lessons.

"Remember class, you've been trusted enough to be able to attempt to cast some of the lower level Hado's and Bakudo's." Lectured the young woman who was in charge of teaching us the basics of Kido. She was a kind woman, but stern if you broke the Rules of her class. Recently she had decided to take us from our regular classroom and allow us to use one of the academy's target ranges, deciding we were ready to attempt some practical Kido. "Now, you will step forwards once your name in announced and you will attempt to use Hado No 4: Byakurai (Pale Lightning) at the target in front of you. Begin... now."

Name by name the class stepped forwards one at a time and recited the small statement needed for the spell to work: "The righteous light shall cleave the enemy before me! Thy wicked ways shall fall! Hado No 4: Byakurai!"

Person by person, this was stated, with varied results. Some people like Daichi could not make their Reiryoku dense enough to fire it as a narrow beam of lightning, barely being able to make a crackle of lightning, or would give off only a faint light. Others suffered minor burn marks from over compacting the technique, making a small explosion. Gurou, the guy who repeatedly punishes me in every Hakuda spar I was pit against him in, was one of these people. I sadistically delighted in his failure and his burns, since it took my mind of things.

Others though, would pull of the spell. A narrow shaft of lightning would crackle towards the target, more often than not failing to even hit it. Akimi was one of the lucky few, as to be expected. She frequently told me just how good she was and always delighted in informing me of just how prodigious people considered her. Then there was Hayato, who did it almost effortlessly, although he had to put down his book and concentrate for a bit.

Another person whom I recognised that did this was Mika, the nice girl who had helped me find the headmasters office. Much to my surprise, I hadn't really seen her at all during school. At breaks and lunches she vanished, presumably to tend to her garden and I haven't exactly had the time to approach her. She had only made a very narrow shaft, but it was something.

Finally, it was the moment I had been dreading. "Solus, you're up."

I stepped forwards with as much confidence as I could muster, and repeated the lines that I had memorised and often repeated back to myself. "The righteous light shall cleave the enemy before me! Thy wicked ways shall fall! Hado No 4: Byakurai!" I thrust my hands forwards in the recommend way shown and desperately hoped beyond hope that I would succeed this time, that I could at least get even a failure.

Instead, nothing happened. I got nothing. No crackle, nothing. I just looked kind of stupid. Then the sniggering began, which I tried desperately to ignore.

"Enough," The laughing stopped. "Perhaps you didn't put enough Reiryoku in?" Suggested the instructor helpfully. I nodded morosely. We both knew it was something else. "Next person up!"

It didn't really matter though. I had failed. Again.

"Neh. Better look next time, eh?" Daichi, the cheerful sod, nudged me. Hayato merely offered a sympathetic head tilt.

"Yeah... better luck next time." I responded softly, not truly agreeing. Unless I had a miraculous turnabout, I doubted I would ever truly graduate, and would only cause excess trouble for people if I wasn't flat out booted from the Academy.

"God, you're such a dramatist!" Insisted Javan from my mind. "Seriously, you've been so damned depressed recently!"

"With good reason!" I snapped back, refusing to continue talking with the suit loving spirit. Instead I returned to the notes I had written in English and buried my shame in trying to revise the process and see if I had missed anything.

I hadn't. I just really sucked.

XXXXXXXXXX

"No, no, no!" Stated Akimi tensely. "Wrong, wrong, wrong! Seriously, I thought we had already covered this!"

"We have!" I retorted.

"Then why hasn't it sunk into your thick skull yet!" She gestured at the pages of foreign symbols that were arranged before us on the floor of her apartment. "This means, that, not that!"

"They look the damned same!" I told her irritably.

"But they're not." She insisted, much to my protest. Say what you will, they did look the exact same. "Hadn't you agreed to put you're all into this?"

"Yes."

"Didn't you say that you'd try?"

"Yes."

"That you'd listen?"

"I HAVE!" I stated, rising from my kneeling position. "I bloody well have, but this is confusing! Why does it even matter if I screwed up what that word meant? In the long run, it doesn't matter!"

"But it does!" Akimi followed my lead and rose from her own position, albeit more elegantly. "What's the point in learning all this if its wrong? How can you have any pride in yourself unless you get it right, unless you're perfect?"

"Because none of this matters! This is just one more subject today that I've screwed up today!" I began to pant, in anger of in desperation I didn't know. "Haven't you realised yet? I'm not like you! I am not perfect! All this is hard! I try, I damned well try, but none of my effort is actually having any effect! I still can't read, I still can't write, I still make the same mistakes, I still can't advance! At anything really! Kido, kanji, Zanjutsu, Hakudo, I have failed EVERYTHING that I have put even a modicum of effort into!" I reiterated. "Everything."

"Solus-"

"No, Nishisaka!" I responded equally as formally. "You know its true! I have failed. There is no purpose in my futile stay at this Academy. Its more than just this, its everything."

"You know that's wrong." She told me. "You're just not tryin-"

"Not trying?" I finished. "Well, if I don't try, why shouldn't I just leave? You frequently tell me just how much you loathe those that don't try in their studies, just how much you wish they'd just leave."

The red haired girl flinched like I'd struck her, then returned to her defensive emotional state. Anger. "Fine. If you don't want to stay here, go. Like I care!"

"Fine!" I finished. "Bye." I strode out her front door without another word.

XXXXXXXXXX

I regretted my words almost immediately but I didn't turn back. No, I just left my thoughts to stew. I was seriously ticked off: with my progress, with this Academy, with this world. "I just wish I was home." I told myself quietly. I hadn't really thought about home much, of my mum and sister that I had left behind, nor the friend that I missed. I had assumed that there was no use worrying since I had no way of getting home, that I could only really mourn them if I could not return, and that it was more productive getting stronger so that I was in a better position to return if the chance ever appeared.

That wasn't working though. I was weak, a failure. I might know the future, I might have read far too many self inserts for my liking, but I didn't belong here. I didn't have shonen super powers, I didn't have it easy. All the fics had characters that became strong, that took the chance to train and became strong enough that their presences actually mattered. Me? No, I wasn't like that. Even now with all the effort I had put in, there was no improvement. It was a very likely chance that I would never actually return home, that I would never have the strength to seize the chance.

Even now Javan was trying to talk to me, to do his job as my sidekick and help me get back on my feet, but I wasn't in the mood. I just ignored him until he stopped.

I wandered for a while, amongst the corridors until I had left the building altogether. I had no intention of returning to my apartment for a while. The cool wind was a welcome relief and helped soothe my bruised ego. I just wanted to go to somewhere quiet and sulk, but my room was most definitely out. That left only one place where I could go and be mostly alone, where I could sit without the scolding looks that Akimi gave or the pitying glances that Daichi gave me when I wasn't looking.

"Hey. Do you mind if I sit here for a bit?" I asked softly once I had arrived at my destination, the Green Garden that I had visited weeks ago to find aid.

"No." Responded the equally soft voice, busy working, even now. "I am not affected by you being here, and you look like you need a rest."

"Yeah." I sat down, my back to one of the hedges. "Thanks, Mika."

"No problem." The smiling girl told me. At this point the conversation halted, the solitary girl in my class that I had only ever spoken to once since we had first met could recognise that I didn't really want to talk, and respected that. So for a while it was just her working and me thinking. I thought for a while, then I realised that I just wanted the thoughts to stop, that I didn't want to think about how I wouldn't ever see my family again, or how much of a failure I was, or of just how large a dick I had been to Akimi. I didn't want to sit here and stew with that going around for hours.

"Do you want some help?" I asked eventually.

My companion looked at me curiously from her place by the beds of soil. "Would you repeat that?"

"I asked if you want some help?"

Mika pondered, then shrugged. "You can remove some of the weeds in the next bed if you truly wish to help."

"Gladly." I rolled up my sleeves and set to work.

It was a repetitive and boring task, but it did what it wanted. It took my mind of things, so I worked. My mum had used to get me to do some of the gardening in the back garden, so I knew what to do, but had never liked the task itself. Even now I disliked it, but as I said it was a numbing agent, so I worked. Once the bed was done, I moved onto the next one, and so on. Eventually I got hungry and darkness began to sink over the school, until even sunset had passed. Still we worked.

Finally, I stopped. I had done the work to calm me, and I was much calmer now. The pressure that had been building over the last few weeks had been relieved and I felt much better for it.

"Thank you." I told Mika. "I really needed this, so thanks."

"No problem." She settled on saying. "Perhaps next time you can finish up earlier? I am rather hungry and don't normally work this late."

"Hehe." I scratched my head sheepishly. "Sorry about that. Time passed by quick. I really needed this."

"It seemed like it."

"So why?"

"Why?"

"Why did you stay with me?"

"Well," Mika's smile hesitated as she took a few moments to compose herself. "I suppose that I stayed because you looked like you needed someone to be there, even if you didn't want to talk."

"You didn't have to." I pointed out.

"No, but I did, for some reason. And I guess..." She hesitated, really, really hesitated. "I guess you may return here again if you wish, to my garden. You... will not be turned away if you must ever repeat this evening."

"Thank you... I mean it." From what I could tell, Mika liked being alone. She might have a cheerful demeanour but I think that she enjoyed this solo pursuit, and that it took a lot to make her offer to someone who was almost a complete stranger. She was letting me into her inner sanctum, and I truly appreciated the gesture. "So thank you." I told her with a smile I couldn't hold back.

XXXXXXXXXX

Another two weeks passed. I never talked about the time I had stormed out of Akimi's room, and I never brought up meeting Mika, but I think that my two friends noticed that I had changed. I was slightly calmer, perhaps a bit happier. Nothing had been solved, but I was at least more acceptant. Things had seemed somewhat more positive when I had left the garden, a small amount of optimism had been returned to me.

I had also returned to Akimi's room the day after and had heartily apologised. Mika had shown me why she was prodigious in all subjects and gave me a beatdown worthy of that brute I was frequently paired with, Gurou. After she had given me a good dose of Righteous Female Fury, she had graciously agreed to tutor me again. I had certainly learnt to never underestimate the girl. She had a mean kick.

During the two weeks, after I'd had a particularly hard day, or when I'd felt particularly down, or was nursing another of the frequent bruises I was sporting from Hakuda classes, I would return to Mika's garden. She would accept my presence without judging me or pitying. She would merely give me a reassuring smile and budge up a little, letting me put an hour or two of work in until I felt better.

In classes we didn't visibly act like we knew each other. She kept to herself and I never explained to Daichi where I occasionally went.

Then, in the next Kido class I had, something happened that I should have been expecting. We had a guest visitor.

"Hello everyone." Greeted Lieutenant Hinamori in her regular cheerful manor as she stood before our class. "My name is Hinamori Momo and I am the Lieutenant of Squad Five. I am also rather talented at Kido, so I have agreed to come in today and talk a bit on the topic, so please listen carefully to what I have to say."

There was a bit of chatter amongst the students around me. The Captains and their second in commands were the strongest Shinigami around, the cream of the crop, the biggest badasses around. They were practically celebrities, so having one teach a lesson was a great privilege.

"Lets begin." She started with a polite smile. We all shut up and prepared to make notes.

XXXXXXXXXX

Momo was an awesome guest speaker as far as things go. She was very passionate about the topic and mentioned frequently just how important this topic was out of the four core subjects, often regaling us with anecdotes of her early career in which a well timed Kido spell did more to save her life than her Zanpakuto ever did. Perhaps she was a bit too cheerful when talking about such topics as death and life, but that was her nature.

What she was basically trying to tell us was that it was important that we not rely on only our Zanapkuto's and that we should also try and become well rounded enough that we could consider Kido a useful tool as well. It was a sentiment that I shared, considering how I doubted that I would ever really master my Zanpakuto considering Javan of all people was the spirit in charge of teaching me to use it. Truly, I was screwed with that. Kido though... a level 90 Hado was just as badass as a Gestuga!

"Now then," Momo clapped her hands. "I would like to take this to the training ground. It would be a pleasure to see just how good the class A students are at a basic Byakurai!" I noticed that she looked at me for just a few seconds longer than she should have, and I refrained from moaning aloud.

"There, there." Whispered Daichi in an overly sympathetic manor. "You might be about to embarrass yourself in front of the cute Lieutenant, but things could be worse! I could be embarrassing myself." I smacked him over the head in annoyance. Hayato, who had been listening in as well, showed his sympathy by similarly smacking the pervert over the head, only with his rather heavy book.

"Byakurai is the foundation for most Kido after all, with many using the same principle." She lectured. "So I'd love to check out just how much you have been taught!"

We marched into the target range, lined up in several lines and took our shots at the targets. Many of us were still unable to form a full Byakurai, but everyone was able to at least get to the sparks stage. Besides myself, obviously. When someone was unable to do it, she patiently went through the steps and gave the students in question advice on how to improve.

Finally, it was time for the back row to step forwards. I had waited at the back so that I could put off my humiliation, but it was time to face the music. I stepped forwards and began to recite after a moment or two of hesitation upon seeing Momo's expectant face, "The righteous light shall cleave the enemy before me! Thy wicked ways shall fall! Hado No 4: Byakurai!" I prayed for some sort of reaction, tried desperately to sense some mysterious flowing force in my veins, but nothing happened. Again, as expected I failed.

The class began to snigger at my failure, with the usual whispered comments being made.

"He did it again,"

"Wow, he sucks!"

"Hmmm... stupid foreigner."

"What did we expect? He always fails."

I tried not to let my face fall, but I somehow knew I would be visiting Mika's garden later.

"Wait." Instructed Momo as I attempted to step back. "Please try that again."

It seemed that my humiliation was to be repeated. I complied, trying to do all the steps correctly, but failed.

"That's odd." Muttered Momo while everyone else continued to giggle like a group of schoolgirls. "Nothing happened... something like sparks always happens..."

"Well of course." Stated Gurou loudly. "He's a failure. He can't do anythin'. He can't fight, he can't swing a sword, he can't run and he can't even do this. Why he's in the top class I dunno. Hell, why he's in this Academy I don't know."

"Shut up Gurou!" Responded Daichi hurriedly. "He's trying, y'know! Cut him some slack!"

"Why? He should just go." Sized up Gurou. "He's a stupid Ryoka, he never should've been accepted into this school."

"I swear that I'm gonna kick your ass if you don't shut up! I'm fed up of you picking on-" Daichi was interrupted as he had begun to roll up his sleeves.

"Enough." Said Momo in a far too level voice, as she drenched the room in her spiritual pressure, forcing us all to shut up. I felt like someone had a vice over my chest and was squeezing very tightly. The pressure suddenly stopped as quickly as it stopped. "I will not have any violence in this class, so please be quiet."

"Sorry sensei." I mumbled, averting my eyes. I knew that Momo had previously rather high expectations of me after my actions in killing those Hollows, and felt upset that I hadn't reached her standards.

"No, its unfair to blame you." She gave a kind smile. "Rather, its unfair that so many people are mocking you."

"They're sort of right. I really can't do anything."

"Now don't be so sure." she told me. "Try it again."

I did, with predictable results. "Why? Its almost like you literally aren't putting any power into the spell, so its just you saying some words." She talked to herself. "Like he just can't get the power... but why? Every soul can use their Reiryoku instinctively, so why-?" She stopped suddenly, then rapped herself lightly on the forehead. "But you're not a Soul. You're human." She looked at me again, more intently. "You can't access you Reiryoku, can you? You have it, you just don't know how to channel it like everyone else does."

At this point I flushed again, but luckily this time nobody dared laugh. "Yeah... nothing... just, y'know, nothing ever happens. I don't even know what it feels like, how I'm supposed to do it. Its all well and good cryptically saying 'channel your power', but..."

"I know." Momo told me empathetically. "I understand. Now do it again."

"Why?" I practically demanded. "You know it will fail."

"Do it again." She insisted. "Have faith. I am going to help you, and I believe that you can do this." She sounded absolutely honest in her delivery. She truly thought I could still do this. Even if she knew that I couldn't even do the basic thing of sensing of using any Reiryoku, she believed I could still do it. Nobody else did. Perhaps Daichi and Hayato sympathised, perhaps Akimi pitied me, perhaps Mika could even empathise with me, but only Momo actually had any faith that I could still do this. That I wasn't a failure.

"Do you remember the day we met, how you felt?" She asked.

"I've tried that." I told her. I thought back to that day, and tried to remember how I felt. I'm not sure what triggered it, but me and Javan had managed to get it so that I could summon my Zanpakuto four times out of five. Something about when I remember that day (An unseen tap) meant that I could get (A steady drip, drip) my sword to appear. "If I remember that day, I can sometimes get my Zanpakuto to appear." As if prompted, my cool blade did appear in my hands.

"A Zanpakuto?" Muttered the crowd.

"Why does he have that?"

"How? Nobodies been given their Asauchis' yet."

"Is this why the failures in this class? A subject from the Twelfth Squad maybe?"

"Silence." Reminded Momo, calling in her authority on the group. "Marc, if you can make your Zanpakuto appear, you should be able to channel Reiryoku."

"But I can't." I stated.

"No, I told you. I. Believe. In you." The small woman declared. "Now don't think, Marc. Don't puzzle, or deliberate, act. Think back, carefully. Remember what it is that lets you get your blade, then don't summon it. Just hold it. Feel it."

"I. Can't." I dismissed my blade, thought back (Unseen tap) and (Drip of power) then the blade was back.

"Okay." Momo thought again. "People often have tricks they use to help focus their ability, to help control. The same thing doesn't always work for different people, but a symbol is always required; a symbol of us releasing our power. Some use an image of jumping through a dark circle; others think of a light-bulb turning on or a door opening. I myself imagine a candle being set alight. We all have some image that we zoom in on." She reminded. "Sometimes we don't consciously recognise it, but its always there lurking, when we close our eyes and look into the darkness."

A subconscious image?

"Now don't think, look! Pick a symbol if you must, but look that darkness in the face and imagine that symbol, then do it."

"Fine." I closed my eyes, feeling silly as I did so. I looked into the darkness and wondered just what sort of symbol I was supposed to be searching for. All I could see was blackness, no magical sign post reading 'Here be symbolism', just my own eyelids.

I didn't want to think though. So I imagined I was back in Mika's garden, an excellent place for not thinking. I still felt silly though. I was never good at all this self reflection stuff. Lets just be happy that Javan had been smart enough to shut his mouth now that a professional was giving her opinion.

Still nothing. Only darkness. I didn't know what to look for. It was like my brain was clogged up with belief that this was going to work, that I wasn't going to be able to succeed.

"Marc," Reminded Momo. "I believe you can do this."

"Listen to the woman and get over this damned thing!" Reminded Javan.

So I did. I tried to ignore the embarrassment, the shame, the absolute knowledge that I was going to fail, and instead tried it one more time. I looked back at (Unseen tap) that day, saw nothing of value, then searched the darkness for anything to unclog this pipe of inspiration that was refusing to drip.

A pipe? Hmmmm... it was certainly apt. I felt like there was something blocking me, something clogging up my chances of advancing, and pipes often clogged. So I imagined a pipe, perhaps one that connects to that Dead Lake in my mindscape, then tried to visualise it in my mind. Perhaps only a small pipe.

A tingle shot through my spine, a reinvigorating sensation that sharpened my senses and made my blood boil. I felt I was ready, like it was time to give this one more chance.

"The righteous light shall cleave the enemy before me!" I muttered, focusing all my will on the pipe in my mind as more and more liquid began to flow, then impact with the clog. I imagined the pressure building and building, until eventually the clog had no choice but to give up under the force of that which it had been holding off.

"Thy wicked ways shall fall!" I intoned, throwing my hands forwards and imagining that the pipes led to my hands. The Soul Oil supplied by Javan instead of water wouldn't release though, it was building up. It was too much. No, what I needed was a Tap, a Tap to regulate how much was being allowed to leave.

And so now a fully identifiable tap was released. A steady drip, drip of power flowed.

"Hado No 4: Byakurai!" I called, narrowing my now wide open eyes at the target I wanted to hit, and willed for a bolt of blue lightning to leave my hands.

BANG! Like a gun the recoil sent me back a step, but the 'bullet' had been worth it. I saw the most welcome sight I could ever have possibly seen.

Pale lightning.

It struck the side of the target, tearing the piece off that it had hit, and continuing until the projectile stream continued its aimed path until it hit the wall behind, leaving a small burn mark behind.

I stepped back and gave Momo a wide smile, brimming with satisfaction and a certain amount of relief, whom returned it with a beaming one of her own. I turned back to the class that had ridiculed for weeks upon end, who were now looking at me in total shock, and gave them the only thing I could. The middle finger.

"HA!" I told them, smug grin in place. "Suck on that! I actually did it!" I stepped back in line with the class and returned my attention back to the still smiling Lieutenant. "Anyway, carry on sensei." I told her with faux politeness, while I continued to celebrate inside. I had finally done it. I had cast a Kido spell, and with such power that it ploughed through the target and hit the wall behind. Admittedly I felt spent, but it was still so damn satisfying.

"Well done, Marc." Smirked a certain voice. "I knew you could do it... and am sort of glad you finally got the emo out of your system."

"Sorry."

"I mean, you were only several thousand words away from becoming as silly as any one of the characters in the Twilight novels."

"Do I look like I sparkle to you?" I jokingly countered.

"No. But you damn well look like you're about to spew rainbows from your ass." I promptly stopped smiling like a loon.

Class continued and I didn't listen to a single word, and for once Akimi didn't tell me off for it. I was allowed to wallow in my self satisfaction, and quite honestly, I felt that I deserved it. I hoped that this was an omen of happier times to come...

XXXXXXXXXX

Fate felt it. The Error appeared on her system, a brief spark before fading again. This had happened several times before. The Error was out there, still contaminating her system. She had a job to do, and she was damned well going to do it.

The Error might still be under the radar, but every so often it revealed itself, and she grew a little closer. With every flash she drew ever nearer, with every blip she honed in on it. Eventually she would have enough data and would find the Error. Then she would deal with it. Forever.

And then everything would be right with the world once more.

Ah yes, there was the other Error that had escaped her, but that one was hardly a threat. She did have some pity, perhaps a bit of empathy; if an Error did not corrupt the system then she could happily treat them as junk data and not as an abomination to annihilate. And that Error was hardly a threat.

Thus is Fate: a hypocrite. She was powerful enough to be this and get away with it, but she wasn't quite hypocritical enough to say that she would not delete the Other Error if ever it was to be a threat to the system.

She was rambling though. She would destroy the current Error, then everything would be right with the world.

AN- Wow, I'm surprised I managed to get this done so quickly. Shrug, it sort of writ itself.

And so now we get to something plot related. Yes, it only took a few chapters but he's finally getting stuff done, having now realised how to start using his abilities. Have no fear, this chapter was as emo-y (If its even a word) as Marc is going to get. Certainly he is going to have some other down points in his career, but I figured that this was a necessary evil. Marc isn't a Gary Stu, nor is he perfect. He's pretty damn normal (If a nerd) and I tried to clearly show how because of this he wasn't an instant badass. He's gonna have to take quite a few lessons in such before he reaches that point... but he will get there eventually.

Also, this chapter did some other stuff. Rejoice, for a canon character actually appeared! And a bit of ominous Fate stuff as well. I also fulfilled my daily hate quota for Twilight, which is good.

I also stuck a bit more character development in for my OC's, but quite honestly who cares about that? Bring on the explosions and Monty Python references!

("Get on with it!")

Now after this lengthy AN, I have but the usual to say. Hope you enjoyed, please review and give feedback on how I can improve, the usual. Would it help if I asked 'Would you kindly review' in a threatening manner? Probably not. Oh well. Hey look, a Bioshock reference! Undying Soul out.