[Authors Note] Hello everyone' I'm back with another chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing this one! In any case, I think there's quite a lot of progression with this, and I am on a strong enough roll that I might get another chapter done soon while I'm crook. The pro's of coming down with an illness that keeps you grounded to your room, I guess :P. In anycase I'd love to hear any thoughts you all have on where you'd like to see this story going, or anything else that you'd like to bring to mention. While I have got the general storyline all planned out, if there is something you'd like to see happen and I can put it in without altering anything crucial, then I'll see what I can do with what's presented. I'd love to hear from you anyway, even if you don't have anything you'd like to see happen in this story :)
Jozei / MuffinxXxSyndrome / Sanguinistic Nightmares out!
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Swallow
Why does everything have to change so much? Serah wondered about this constantly as she ambled on home after Monday's classes. Her mind was spent, and it was just a good thing that Maka wasn't at the Academy that day – An interrogation would have ensued, had the Scythe Meister seen the frustration across Serah's face.
In the letterbox was another brightly coloured envelope when Serah got home, but the last thing she wanted was to open up the letter from Heather and find herself with something else for her to stew over. So the letter stayed in the letterbox, forgotten as Serah plugged her Music Player into its docking station and drowned herself in music for the rest of the day. It wouldn't do her mood any good to read a letter from her step-mother right now.
Tuesday morning came by with agonisingly slow speed; Serah found herself staring up at her bedroom ceiling, fully conscious as her bedside clock clicked over to 4am. It sucked to be so frustrated you couldn't snap out of your thoughts, but even moreso to be so frustrated you couldn't sleep without waking up because your dreams are just as frustrating as your conscious thoughts.
Serah lifted her hands to her face, gently rubbing the tension out of her cheeks as she tried to get her thoughts and events in order inside her head; It would not do her any good to be this frustrated in class, and It would do her a hell of a lot of good to sort herself out so she could get some descent sleep that night. She let out a breath, allowing her arms to flop to her sides to look up at the ceiling again, forcing her thoughts onto her situation.
At the moment, Serah's situation was a bit of a jumbled mess, but if she thought about it clearly like she usually did, there were things there that she could understand for the most part.
First, Amanda was going to be a stand-in Weapon for her, apparently so she could get used to weilding a proper weapon and get some progress on her studies as a Meister. Which meant that Serah would be sent out on extra lessons when her coordination was greatly improved, and she had succeeded in breaking her auto-pilot movements.
Second, Amanda was apparently a similar weapon to Serah, however she had quit her time in the Academy at one point.
Third, according to Liz, Death The Kid did not have any form of dislike for her, which meant that Serah should probably try to say hello to the guy.
Fourth, Serah's extra lessons were put on hold the same day that she found out Amanda was going to work with her, and it was unknown when she'd be starting them again.
And fifth, another god damn letter from Heather had arrived, though Serah didn't need to read it to know that it was going to be just as frustrating as the first one. In the back of her mind, she wondered where that second letter had gone, but shrugged the thought away just as fast as it had come up.
These were the things that had popped up throughout Monday, disregarding Kid's apology for Saturday's drama. Serah knew that the discontinuing of her Dance Lessons was directly related to the fact that Amanda was now a temporary partner for her; Whether it be because Lord Death was in the middle of sorting some things out with Amanda, or Amanda was busy for a few days, Serah didn't know. All she did know was that they were part of the same thing.
Serah then began to wonder what Amanda's weapon-form looked like, and how was it similar to Serah's own? She was intrigued, but in another way she was a little uncomfortable about it. It made Serah wonder if Amanda's reasons for leaving the Academy were similar to her own problems at the moment? Maybe Amanda couldn't find a Meister herself and just ended up dropping out after so much time being unwanted? That also seemed to pose a possible reason why Lord Death was so interested in her situation at the Academy; Maybe Amanda was the same as Serah, and Lord Death didn't want another student to drop out in exactly the same way? It was a theory that helped Serah's frustration, though she did wonder if she was reading too much into it.
Turning her head towards the window, Serah watched the black sky as she thought. Maybe she should ask Lord Death about why he was putting so much effort into her like Liz suggested? It would answer so many questions for Serah, and give her a kind of perspective into what to expect. All this being in the dark was doing her head in, after all.
Serah picked herself up after a few minutes, sliding her feet over the edge of the bed and beginning to get herself organised. While Class wasn't for a good three hours, there was no real point in lying in bed to stew even longer on her thoughts. She was likely to drive herself insane.
So, after a warm shower, Serah began to go through her scarce clothes to find something suitable to go to the Academy in. Unfortunately, with everything that's been going on, Serah found herself face to face with very little that she would usually wear. She cast an exasperated glance over at the wash-basket standing next to the dresser where the majority of her wardrobe sat overflowing over the lip of the basket and onto the floor. About the best she found was a long sleeved white shirt with a knee-length pinafore dress in a warm brown. Of course Serah cast a glare at her overflowing wash-basket as she got dressed, feeling a little too exposed in a dress without her tights.
Breakfast was a no go for Serah as she ambled around for something to pass the time with; Because of all her frustrations yesterday, she'd completely forgotten about dinner, and there was no food in the building at all for breakfast. All Serah could find was a packet of boil-prepare pasta, but with no sauces or anything, the most Serah had to season it with was Salt, the thought of which made her appetite vanish on her anyway. So, she just busied herself with chores until it was time to leave, tying her hair back in her ever-normal bun, pulling on her shoes and headphones before taking off.
For a Tuesday, Serah found herself somewhat surprised that there wasn't very many people out and about. And it wasn't like she just didn't notice them because she had her nose burried in a book, either. She only spotted the odd student or so on the way to the Academy, and there wasn't very much noise when she got inside. In fact, as Serah arrived at the classroom come quarter to seven, there was only five people inside. There was a dark-skinned guy with black-rimmed glasses sitting next to a pair of small twin girls, though she didn't know any of their names, the lady who Serah vaguely recalled to be Tsubaki, and Maka.
Inwardly, Serah began to wonder what the hell was going on as she made her way towards her desk in front of Maka.
"Hey Serah." Maka piped up as soon as she spotted Serah take her seat at her desk, causing the peach-haired girl to cast a smile up at her. Tsubaki had lifted her head and cast Serah a small smile, which she returned hesitantly.
"Hiya." Serah responded, a breath escaping her as she turned on the bench to face her blonde friend. "What happened to you guys, yesterday? You weren't in class."
"Yeah, well Lord Death wanted us to go hunt down a Kishin Egg in Orlando." Maka responded with a smile, leaning forward over her bench to see Serah a little better over the separating wall. "We got back real late, so I couldn't catch up with you yesterday."
"Oh?" Serah deadpanned, her brow furrowing in confusion. "You wanted to see me yesterday?"
"Well, yeah. You copped one of Kid's symmetry tantrums at my place, didn't you?" Maka responded, much like it was rather obvious. "I wanted to see if you were alright."
"I'm fine. Nothing wrong." Serah responded, though she felt a smile touch her face.
"Really?" Maka asked, confusion creeping across her face as she stared at Serah, much like she was looking for telltale signs of a lie. "You're not upset?"
"Well, he apologised yesterday, so it's alright." Serah explained, straightening up as she glanced at what she could see of Tsubaki over the separation wall.
"Huh, that's a surprise." Maka remarked, a curious look creeping back across her face. "I guess Liz probably gave him a talking to."
Serah felt her brow furrow at that statement, however she didn't go to pry in it; She didn't need the extra thinking fuel added to her repertoire, now of all times. That, and she preferred to think that Death The Kid actually apologised to her of his own choice.
"Maybe Kid apologised on his own?" Tsubaki piped up after a moment, breaking through the silence that had descended upon the girls, causing both Serah and Maka to look at the raven-haired weapon. "He did look like he felt guilty when he calmed down, after all."
Serah was silent, staring at Tsubaki's face in surprise; She was seriously wondering if she should start to talk with the lady – She seemed really quite nice.
"I guess you're right." Maka agreed, turning her head back to look at Serah, a small smirk creeping across her face. "Anyway, what's with the dress?"
"Eh?" Serah was surprised by the sudden change of topic, and could only blink owlishly up at the Scythe Meister. In Serah's peripheral vision, she could see the seats throughout the classroom begin to fill up. "What do you mean 'what's with the dress?'. I'm just wearing one."
"Nothing." Maka drawled, her smirk growing a little more as Tsubaki giggled just a little. "Just that I have never seen you wear a dress before."
Serah felt an exasperated sigh escape her.
"Yes you have. Saturday, remember? Blue dress and Tights?" Serah decided to point out, lifting a hand to shift her fringe out of her eyes again. "And besides, I'd forgotten to do my washing for weeks; I honestly ran out of my normal clothes."
"Oh." Maka remarked, and for some reason she looked a little disappointed at Serah's honest answer.
"Why? Do I look bad or something?" Serah inquired, her brow furrowing as Maka smiled sheepishly.
"No, it really suits you – I just thought there might be a different reason for it ... maybe someone?"
Serah stared at Maka for a few long seconds, her exasperation showing clearly across her face as the Meister grinned sheepishly.
"When you were in that pretty dress on Saturday, I just assumed it was hot weather." Serah remarked, the exasperation remaining fixed upon her face as she stared at Maka. "But by your logic, maybe I should have assumed you were looking pretty for your partner?"
Stunned silence; Maka's sheepish smile faded in an instance, earning a giggle from Tsubaki, who looked like she was enjoying the little exchange of words.
"So, what's it going to be?" Serah pressed, crossing her arms as she awaited the Scythe Meister's response.
"Okay, you've got a point." Maka retorted after a few long seconds, a pout creeping across her face as she turned her head away moodily. The corner of Serah's mouth threatened to lift at her sudden amusement, but she chose to stick with her current form of exasperation to veil her sudden realisation.
Maka's reaction was oddly suspicious.
Feeling relieved that she had turned Maka's questioning right around, Serah shifted so that she was seated at her desk properly, only allowing her smirk to creep in place once the Scythe Meister couldn't see her face.
She had to admit, it was actually fun to pick on Maka for a change.
"Alright – Sit down so I can start taking attendance, Class." Came Stein's voice all of a sudden, and as Serah's gaze focused on the door of the classroom, she saw the familiar Teacher roll in on his trusty wheelie chair towards the front of class. It was here that Serah noticed a lot of the class had turned up; Soul was in the middle of walking up the stairs towards his seat, some guy who Serah vaguely recognised to be another Meister with glasses, and a mostly bald head asside from two tufts of brown hair on either side, and a couple others. Soul cast her a small grin as he walked past her row, which Serah returned with the smallest wave of her hand.
However, as Stein took attendance, the three seats to Serah's right were empty, and oddly enough, Serah didn't even hear Stein call out the trio's names, either.
It was enough to have Serah confused, though she didn't place any in-depth thought to it. It was likely Death The Kid, Liz and Patty had gone on a job, much like Maka and Soul did yesterday. After all, the only person in this class that never did any work like that was Serah herself.
While she had a reason, Serah couldn't help but feel like she was horribly lazy for it.
"Alright, today we will be having a practical revision on Group Resonance." Stein announced once he had snapped his manilla file with the class roster shut, turning on his chair to face the class as a whole. "However this time I will be assigning you all to other teams you wouldn't usually work with, for a bit of a change."
Serah blinked in surprise, though she didn't really pay it much thought. It was another practical class that she wouldn't be able to participate in until she had a Meister of her own.
Like she was even surprised by it.
"First of all, Tsubaki, since Black*Star's conveniently skipping today, I would like you to pair up with Serah and practice matching wavelengths instead." Stein announced, lifting his gaze to fix it upon the Raven-Haired Weapon sitting in the row behind Serah.
However while Tsubaki piped up with a faint 'Yes sir', Serah felt her mental state freeze up, and all she could do was stare at Stein in bewilderment.
What the hell was going on?
Did Stein just include her in a practical lesson!?
Was he for real!?
It didn't help that she saw a kind smile grace the man's face as he glanced at her, as if knowing she was having a hard time comprehending the situation. He didn't say anything further on that, and began to list off other people he wanted to group up for the lesson, but Serah didn't hear it. All she heard bouncing through her head on repeat was that she was actually getting to participate in a practical lesson.
Within seconds it seemed, students began to lift themselves out of their seats, and Serah felt something hit the back of her head, snapping her out of her momentary daze. She blinked owlishly for a second, her right hand going to the back of her head as she turned to try and see what had hit her.
It turned out to be a small scrunching up of paper, though nothing much else; Serah heard a giggle from Maka, bring her to lift her gaze to look up at the Meister.
"You with us, now?" Maka asked, a grin creeping across her face as Serah continued to blink owlishly.
"Umm … I don't think so..." Serah responded slowly, her brow pulling together as she lifted her right hand to tug on the bangs hanging past her jaw. There was a sharp pain as she tugged forcefully, sign enough to Serah that she didn't happen to fall asleep at the desk. "Oww, okay, maybe I am ..."
A chuckle escaped Soul as he began to walk back along the row towards the stairs, his hands burried in his pockets as he shook his head a little. Maka glanced over at Soul for a second, before she grinned back at Serah.
"Good Luck!" Maka remarked, and with that, she was jogging to catch up with Soul, leaving Serah to stare owlishly after her.
Well, Good Luck was an appropriate thint to say; Serah'd never resonated with anyone before …
"Shall we get started, Serah?" Tsubaki asked, leaning over the separating wall to look down at Serah. She blinked once again as she felt nerves beginning to settle in her stomach, turning her head to look up at Tsubaki.
"U-umm … yeah?" Serah squeaked, realising pretty quickly that the last time she had spoken with Tsubaki was when she had to drag Black*Star away in the cafeteria... It wasn't helping, and made Serah's nerves even worse.
She inwardly cursed her appearingly masochistic memory as Tsubaki cast her a smile, taking to furutively glancing down at the open floor in the front of the classroom.
Despite there being at least five students missing today, Serah noticed that most of the floor-room had been taken up by the groups; Serah also noticed that Maka and Soul appeared to have been paired off with the dark-skinned guy with his twin weapons.
"Should … we stay up here? It doesn't look like there's much room down there ..." Serah couldn't help but ask, turning her head to look back at Tsubaki, who had risen to her feet.
"That's not a bad idea." Tsubaki remarked after a glance down at the open flooring, turning her gaze back to Serah with a small smile. "Since it's just us two, I don't think Professor Stein will mind, either."
With that said, Tsubaki began to make her way around the row of desks to Serah's own row, her hands linked comfortably behind her as she moved.
Serah fidgited in her seat, her hand stil closed around the bangs on the right side of her jaw loosening and shifting to the back of her head to fiddle with her messy bun. The fact that she was learning how to match wavelengths with someone was more than enough to have her second-guessing whether she could even do something that simple, but at the same time she was giddy with the fact that finally she was able to participate in a practical lesson, even if it's different to what everyone else was doing. Out of Serah's incessent fidgiting, she tugged the hair-tie out of her hair and let it unravel to rest against her back so she could play with the band of cotton-wrapped elastic.
Tsubaki walked past Serah, and took up a seat at the empty seat to her left, sitting so that she was facing Seran instead of side by side.
"So have you ever matched wavelengths with anyone before, Serah?" Tsubaki decided to ask, causing the nervous girl to look up in response.
"No … I haven't."
A warm smile spread across Tsubaki's face as Serah shifted so she was sitting face to face with her, as well.
"That's alright." Tsubaki piped up, throwing a glance over at the rest of the class as she seemed to think. "Are you a Weapon or a Meister?"
Serah blinked at the out of the blue question, tilting her head to the right slightly as she chose to answer.
"I'm a Weapon... But I'm supposed be learning how to be a Meister until someone comes along for me." Serah answered as honestly as she could, not the least bit surprised to see confusion cross Tsubaki's face.
"But you don't have a weapon partner, either, do you?"
"Not really..." Serah hedged, biting on her bottom lip for just a second. "I'm using a weapon Professor Stein made for me, but outside of class, there's this lady I'm supposed to be learning from. Lord Death thought I might interest a Meister if I could use a made weapon the same as myself."
It was a few seconds of silence until understanding shone across Tsubaki's face.
"Do you like the idea of being a Meister?"
"I don't know." Serah answered honestly, lowering her gaze to her hands sitting in her lap for just a second. "I mean, it's not like I've done anything as a Weapon to know either which way. All I've ever done is change form and back, and that's it."
"What kind of Weapon are you?" Tsubaki asked after a moment.
"Circlets, apparently..."
"Apparently?" Tsubaki repeated curiously, bringing a sheepish smile to creep across Serah's face.
"Its what Lord Death said I was, but I don't know, to be honest with you. I haven't seen myself before, only the weapon that Professor Stein made for me, but that's even a bit different. Kind of like two ring-blades joined together by a chain?"
Tsubaki was silent for a few seconds, curiosity still showing brightly across her face.
"Do you mind if you showed me what you look like as a weapon?" Tsubaki piped up all of a sudden, as realisation began to show brightly in her expression.
"Sh-show you?" Serah repeated, much at a loss of words. No one had ever asked her that before. "I … I don't think I brought my circlets with me..."
"Then, can you transform instead?"
Serah was silent, shock evident over her face as she stared up at Tsubaki, who was waiting patiently with a small smile across her face.
Was she allowed to do that? She had to transform so that Stein could make a descent replica of herself to work with, but she'd never transformed outside of that while she'd been in Death City – It always felt like she really shouldn't do that when she didn't have a Meister of her own. Back in Chicago was the same, but for a very different reason; She had people terrified of her when they glimpsed her, and they either tried to shoot her out of terror, or they had tried to catch her for uncomfortable reasons.
It always felt like some kind of taboo for Serah to do stuff like that.
"C-can I do that?" Serah managed to ask, and much to her bewilderment, Tsubaki giggled for some reason.
"Well of course you can! Everyone else has, already." Tsubaki remarked, motioning over to the other students, Meisters weilding their weapon partners as they progressed with the Practical Lesson. "See? Maka's wielding Soul right now, and Jacky's in her form as well."
Serah blinked, turning her head to look where Tsubaki had spoken of, her spectacled gaze falling upon Maka, who was standing in the corner of the room beneath the window, her eyes closed as she held a red, black and silver Scythe in her grip. In fact, just as Tsubaki had said, every weapon in the class had transformed, and was being held by their respective Meisters.
She felt a small smile tug at her features as she realise she was just being stupid, and turned her gaze back to Tsubaki.
"You're right. I'm just being stupid." Serah remarked, her small smile shifting to a grin as she linked her hands together in her lap, her hait-tie long since forgotten and slipped to the floor.
"No you're not. I think it's more of a case you're just not used to being able to do anything." Tsubaki piped up, a faint giggle escaping her as Serah blinked up at her.
"How have we never really spoken until now?" Serah deadpanned.
In response, Tsubaki just smiled.
"Okay, guess I'd better start, then." Serah closed her eyes after a few seconds, sucking in a deep breath through slightly parted lips as she concentrated.
She willed her form to change, just like she had in Stein's Laboratory, and after a few short seconds, she felt the familiar shift of senses, much like she had fallen into a body of cold water, however unlike when she did this at Stein's Laboratory, this time it was a pleasant feeling, like the water was just nice and cool. And then there was a faint zap, and Serah felt the sensations of free-falling.
She opened her eyes, finding herself standing naked in a dark void that was reminiscent of the last time she had done this, however she wasn't feeling anywhere near as uncomfortable. No one could see the her inside this darkness – Only her weapon form that now took residence in the Classroom. Her senses piqued as she found herself able to see the world around her weapon form through the darkness, and she found that she was falling towards the bench where she had sat just seconds before, catching glimpses of nothing but the ceiling, and the top of Tsubaki's head as she descended.
What felt like hands touched her, catching her weapon form before she clattered to the bench. She was at first surprised at the sudden presence of hands, however they weren't cold, nor were they uncomfortable per say; It was just like someone she had just become accustomed to had just caught her before she fainted, and she was neither perplexed nor bothered. It just happened.
However as Serah's vision steadied upon the ceiling above her, she found herself spotting something that wasn't there just moments before – Something that actually startled her, given the situation. A black-clad form had frozen in shock part-way through the motions of sitting down at his regular desk, his gold-coloured eyes wide with an emotion she couldn't pick.
However the one thing she knew was that he was staring down at her, making her quiver in discomfort.