[Authors Note] Hey there! Another chapter out for you guys! I hope you enjoy this one. As always, reviews are muchly appreciated, as they seem to motivate me to get more chapters out even faster, considering I have a rather shot attention span. Lemme know if there's anything you'd like to see happen somewhere in the future, and I'll see if I can swing it into the story :)
Jozei / MuffinxXxSyndrome / Sanguinistic Nightmares out!
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Orange
Death The Kid continued to stare at Serah's weapon form, his eyes wide with an emotion she had no hope to identify, his mouth agape. The stare was unnerving, and it had Serah quivering within Tsubaki's grip. Liz was standing just next to Death The Kid, her eyes alight with bright realisation as Patty skipped up the stairs from the front of the classroom.
"Hi guys!" Tsubaki piped up with a sheepish smile, glancing down at the quivering circlets held carefully in her grip. "I thought you were out in Germany doing something for Lord Death?"
"Yeah, it was a sinch." Liz remarked, grinning as she glanced down at Serah's weapon form. "Just a small cleanup job."
"I see."
For some reason, Serah noticed that Death The Kid was beginning to break from his frozen state; His expression shifted, and not in the way that Serah had ever expected. His face lit up, almost like he was seeing sunlight for the first time in forever – Which absolutely freaked Serah out.
"What perfect symmetry!" Kid suddenly burst out in exclamation, his eyes filling with tears as he tried to reach out towards the nervous weapon. "Those rings! Those feather-shaped edges! I've never seen a weapon like you before!" Serah flinched as Kid's hands came out to lift her from Tsubaki's hands, however she wasn't able to jerk away from him in this form.
No! Please don't! Serah squeaked, however she had a strong feeling that he couldn't actually hear her.
"Kid, I don't think you should do that - You're scaring her." Tsubaki hedged, however that didn't stop the estatic Meister – Entirely consumed in his need to investigate further, he actually managed to grab ahold of Serah's right ring, triggering a sudden bout of panic and fright to rise up in her like she'd just been electrocuted. The shock ripped away her grip of her weapon form before she even knew it, and the darkness around her suddenly vanished in a hot white flash of light.
The next thing Serah knew, she had ended up in a sprawled heap in the row above, her body trembling as she stared at the bench and desk in front of her. Her fringe had come to hang in her eyes, her glasses were slightly skewed upon her nose, and the straps of her pinafore dress had slipped from her shoulders, giving her a rather haggard look.
"Way to go, Kid. You just had to scare her half to death, again." Came Liz's disapproving remark, snapping Serah out of her small moment of frozen panic.
"What?!" Came Kid's immediate response, confusion dripping heavily from his one spoken word. Serah managed to close her eyes, forcing herself to take deep breaths to try and regain her composure again.
"Are you alright, Serah?" Came Tsubaki's voice over the separating wall.
"Wait – Serah?" At Kid's question, Serah let out a faint breath as she opened her eyes. Even in her rattled state, Serah was oddly unsurprised that he didn't realise who she was in her weapon form.
"I'm okay! I think ..." Serah replied to Tsubaki's question after a couple of seconds, lifting her hands to straighten herself out.
She filtered out the shared words between the people on the other side of the separation wall, maintaining regulated deep breaths as she tried to get over her fright and nerves. She was embarrased, uncomfortable, and couldn't seem to forget the sudden shock that shot through her when Kid touched her weaponed form. It might have been because she was in the middle of panicing, but that didn't stop the occurrence from imprinting into her mind.
What with his freak out over her eyes, and the shock she got when he touched her just minutes earlier, Serah was beginning to subconsciously assocate Death The Kid's touch with foreboding, despite the fact that both of these were moments of his Symmetry Obsession. Both sides of his Symmetry Obsessions, Serah noted with chagrin. She'd had him throw a fit at her lack of symmetry in her human form, and received an overly excited reaction to her weapon form's apparent symmetry.
Although, she did wonder if those were the most extreme reactions she'd have to deal with, considering the seating arrangement.
After what felt like less than a couple of minutes, Serah managed to lift herself back to her feet once she felt like she could stand without her legs giving out on her. She dusted herself off as she stared down at her unsteady feet, noticing from her peripheral vision that Liz and Tsubaki were having a small exchange of words, and even further in her vision, she noticed Death The Kid look up at her, though while she forced herself to keep her gaze away from the three class-mates of hers she couldn't see what look he was giving her. About the only thing she knew was that he was silent – She couldn't hear anything from him, even as she saw him shift in her peripheral vision.
The front of the class hadn't really been disturbed by the events that took place in the rows of seats; Everyone in the open floored part of the room were still doing their practical revision, and Stein had his attention on what looked like a small notebook in his hand. Serah let out a faint breath as she began to make her way down the row towards the closest line of steps. If she wasn't in a dress, she would have just dropped herself back over the separating wall.
Again, Serah cursed her slacking with her chores of late.
Tsubaki lifted her gaze from Liz to cast Serah an understanding smile, though she didn't say anything. Serah continued to keep her breathing regulated, feeling a twitch of discomfort begin to rise in her as she walked past Kid to take her seat.
"So, umm … What were we supposed to be doing?" Serah begah hesitantly, turning her head to look back at Tsubaki. The gaze she could feel at the back of her head was uncomfortably invasive, and it had her bite her bottom lip in nervous discomfort.
"Matching Wavelengths." Tsubaki answered, though she seemed to adpot an apologetic smile as she spoke.
"Oh." Serah let out a faint breath, lifting her right hand to press it to her forehead lightly.
"I'm not sure if there's any point in continuing, though." Tsubaki piped up after a few seconds. "Class is almost finished."
"Huh?!" Serah squeaked out, turning her head to look up at the clock above the blackboard.
Much to her surprise, the clock read 7.55am.
"How long was I up there?!" Serah couldn't help but ask, turning her head back to fix Tsubaki with a rather bewildered look. She thought she was up there for all of about five minutes – How the hell had time gone so fast?!
"About half an hour." Tsubaki answered with a sheepish smile, stunning Serah.
"O-oh … Well, thank you for talking with me at least." Serah managed to say. She didn't receive any vocal response, Tsubaki just cast her a warm smile as she picked herself up, and wandered over to where Liz was standing, talking with Patty about something that Serah couldn't really pick at that moment. Unfortunately for Serah, that left her sitting in an awkward silence with Death The Kid, who had ended up watching the front of the class in thought.
She let out a faint breath once she forced herself to accept the awkward situation, leaning down to unclip the front of her bag so she could retrieve her notebook. Instead of staring absent-mindedly at the class while waiting for time to pass, she could at least busy her hands with something. Otherwise her morning frustrations were bound to come back to annoy her.
Of course, with no notes to take down, about the most Serah could do was retreat to any one of her boredom habits.
By the time Stein had sent everyone back to their seats and proceeded with the second class, Serah had lost herself in a state of apathy. The second class was another vivisection, and this one was of a Komodo Dragon. Serah still wondered why Stein was performing vivisections in place of classes like this, but Maka had once mentioned that everyone's just gotten used to it and didn't bother to complain anymore.
So Serah refused to place her gaze to the sobbing giant lizzard strapped down to the lecturers desk, instead paying more attention to her absent-minded scrawlings.
Throughout the second class, Serah felt a gaze fall upon the right side of her face every now and then. She didn't place much thought to it, really, half the time she didn't notice the glances until she felt the gaze leave her. However, she felt the gaze hit her again as she absent-mindedly drew the main melody of Deku Scrub Palace from a video game she played back home in Chicago, and it brought curiosity to her.
Of course she knew who was sending those glances at her; How could she not when she could see the movement in the corner of her eye?
It was as Stein was in the middle of sewing the now traumatised Komodo Dragon back together again that Serah decided to return one of the glances she'd been receiving. Serah lifted her gaze from the carefully drawn sheet music she'd spent the past hour on, to look up at Death The Kid.
It appeared she caught him by surprise; His eyes widened a little as she caught him looking at her, though he didn't go to tear his gaze away. In fact, he seemed to watch her for a few seconds in thought, before Serah herself crumbled underneath the awkward wave that overcame her. She shifted her gaze back to the half-complete music score, and tried to pretend that she hadn't looked up at him. To no success; She inwardly cringed as she heard Death The Kid let out a faint breath and turn his gaze elsewhere, almost as if he realised he was bothering her.
Serah wondered what the hell was going on. She guessed he was still thinking about what her weapon form looked like – It was the only thing she could think of that would have the Grim Reaper's Son continuing to look at her throughout a class. Although, the last time Death The Kid had spent a whole class looking at her was when he apologised to her for smashing a door into her face the night she woke up after the extra lesson in Paris.
Third Class was not much different from second, and Serah had eventually gotten used to the incessant gaze that continued to fall upon the right side of her face. At one point, Serah had even forgotten that Death The Kid had even been looking at her, and was able to get some of the music echoing in her head written down while Stein lectured on a topic that she couldn't follow right at that moment, no matter how much she really did try. She'd written down the topic title and would borrow a library book on it after final class. That would have to do; When you weren't able to absorb the information, it was best to come back to it when your mind was working properly again.
Lunch was entirely uneventful as well; Maka and Soul had disappeared along with Tsubaki the moment the bell went, apparently having something of great importance they had to sort out. So all Serah could really do was to pick up some sushi from the Cafeteria, pick up a couple of library books, and set up self-study in the classroom.
The rest of the classes for the day moved on with a similar drawl to the second and third; Apart from the glances from Death The Kid every now and then, Serah was left in her own world inside her head, staring down at the books absent-mindedly as she tried to follow the lectures. It was melancholic, after such an alarming event during first class, filling Serah with very little energy to do much. By the end of fourth class Serah had actually fallen asleep, her head resting atop her folded arms over the top of the library books sitting open on the desk.
She had been tired after her restless night with her frustrations, and the melancholy-like atmosphere to the air had Serah's exhaustion grip at her so tightly she couldn't resist. Unlike yesterday where her sleep was plagued by that memory back in Chicago, this time her sleep was black and without disturbances. However throughout the comfortable darkness of sleep, there was the sensation of an incessant shaking in her shoulder ever now and then, pulling her out of her sleep bit by bit.
"Damn it – She's not waking up." Someone piped up all of a sudden, catching Serah's sleepy attention. "I don't suppose we could let her sleep, could we?"
"Preferrably not." Echoed another voice.
"Right." The first, more familiar voice spoke, exasperation echoing heavily from the tone of her voice.
The exchange of words tugged at Serah's sleepy confusion, enough so where she opened her eyes.
She found herself still in the classroom, however the light in the room was borderline moonlight, and the only other source of light was from the corridors of the academy. Standing over her were two silhouettes; One of a tall feminine figure wearing what looked like some kind of cowboy hat, and another with no real distinguishing features. The tall one was standing over her, an arm outstretched with their hand resting on her shoulder, and the other was standing a little further back. There didn't appear to be anyone else in the classroom, and that tugged at her sleepy confusion.
"Hey, you with us now?" The first voice asked, appearing to notice Serah's consciousness.
"I guess..." Serah mumbled as she lifted herself upright, a hand pressing against her face to try and rub the sleep away. She lifted her gaze to look back at the two who had woken her up, who she recognised to be Liz and Death The Kid. She couldn't see Patty anywhere, but she guessed the weapon was somewhere in the classroom as well. "Where is everyone?"
"Everyone left a couple hours ago." Death The Kid remarked, taking to burying his hands in the pockets of his dress-pants.
"Yeah, we saw you were still asleep in here when we walked past." Liz remarked as she crouched down so she was at equal level with Serah.
"Oh … I'm sorry for the trouble." Serah mumbled, turning her head to look down at the mass of books that were still lying on th desk where she'd been sleeping.
"You're actually supposed to say 'Thanks', you know." Liz remarked immediately, and she cast Serah a lop-sided smile.
"R-right..." Serah responded, and she couldn't help but let out a breath slowly.
"Liz, why don't you walk Serah home?" Death The Kid piped up after a second, shifting slightly on his feet as Liz turned her head to look up at him.
"Sure thing." Liz responded without complaint, however Serah was silent.
At least until she realised what was going on.
"U-umm … I can walk home on my own." Serah piped up hesitantly.
"We wouldn't want you to injure yourself on the way." Kid responded simply, startling Serah.
"Especially with all those books." Liz commented, nodding her head as she thought on that.
Of course that bothered Serah – A lot.
"I'm not that clumbsy!" Serah seethed, her cheeks puffing out slightly with the pout she was now wearing.
"Umm, yeah, you are." Liz deadpanned, a smirk creeping across her face as Serah continued to glower at them. "Thin air is leathal for you on a good day, let alone a bad one."
"That's not my fault, damnit!" Serah squeaked indignantly, feeling rather insulted at that moment.
However her indignant disposition did nothing to help; Instead Liz began to laugh, though Death The Kid was silent.
"Fine, be that way." Serah retorted as she turned back to her books to begin to stuff them into her bag.
"Come on, it's not that bad." Liz piped up, however she was still giggling.
"Sure, whatever you say." Serah remarked as she clipped her bag shut and lifted herself to her feet, ignoring the surprised look that Liz was casting her.
"Wait – I didn't actually offend you, did I?" Liz questioned her, however Serah didn't look at her.
"Nope." Serah responded sarcastically, and without further words she leapt over the desk to the floor on the other side of the separating wall.
Oddly enough she didn't even stumble in her attempt, and she was immediately walking briskly out of the classroom.
She distinctly heard a sigh echo from Liz as she walked out of the door. It didn't appear that anyone was following her, thankfully.
Once again Serah's mood was out of whack, and she was getting really sick and tired of it.
It wasn't really her fault she kept on falling over or injuring herself over stupid things – She was trying hard to break out of that unfortunate habit. She just unfortuantely exasperated it with her book-reading routeen of many years. But she really was trying. So much so that it really did upset her how everyone would point out just how clumbsy she was.
Maka was fine, and so was Soul – She'd had enough contact with them where the remarks were more jokes than anything else. But everyone else telling her every day 'be careful', 'don't hurt yourself' and all these other constant things was beyond frustrating. It wasn't like she enjoyed having to go to the infirmiry every damn week, was it?!
About the only person who had not made a reference to her lack of stability was Tsubaki, and she'd only just started talking to the woman today!
Inwardly Serah wanted an extra lesson with everyone on a giant boat in the middle of a storm – that way she could watch them trip and fall and slide all around for a change, and she could remind them to 'be careful' just once!
In amongst Serah's tempermental stewing, she found herself walking down the street that her place was located on. And she hadn't had a single accident. Of course, that was probably because Serah's body had gone on Auto-pilot again while her brain stewed on her frustration.
She really needed to break that habit, but this once it was very helpful.
Serah blinked in surprise as she spotted someone seated on the front steps to her front door, though from this distance she couldn't recognise them. She could see a curtain of blonde hair through the streetlamp-light.
Who was it? Serah got the distinct feeling that she had met them – That was a given considering how they were sitting at her door of all places.
"Ah, there you are! I was wondering if you were even coming home tonight!" Came a vaguely familiar voice, and then the form began to lift themselves from the step with a bit of difficulty.
The voice was female, and had a bubbly tone to it.
As Serah got closer, she recognised the person waiting at her door.
The blonde curls, tanned features and bright smile was enough of a clue without the bubbly voice.
"A-Amanda?" Serah squeaked out, slowing to a halt a couple of meters in front of the woman. Her eyes immediately zeroed in on the pair of crutches the woman was supporting herself with, and then she looked down to find a thick cast covering the woman's right leg right up to the knee. "What happened?" Serah questioned as she looked back up at Amanda's face, to see a wry smile creep in place.
"You're not allowed to laugh, alright?" Amanda remarked with a grin, a faint chuckle escaping her as Serah stared. "I kind of woke up at the bottom of the Academy stairs the other night; I'm actually terribly with sleepwalking, so I think I tried to walk up to the academy, and misplaced a step somewhere on the way."
Serah blinked in surprise, her bitter mood long since forgotten.
"That's kind of serious, Amanda." Serah piped up.
"Not really." Amanda responded with a wry grin, readjusting her hold of her crutches. "This isn't the first time I've woken up there – What's worse is that Stein was standing over me again when I came to."
Serah's face went blank at that, and as Amanda's words sunk in on her she suddenly felt rather horrified. If she woke up with Stein staring down at her, she would scream and probably faint from the fright.
"In any case, that's not why I'm here!" Amanda remarked, shifting her weight on her foot slightly as she grinned at Serah's pale face. "I take it Lord Death got the message to you about how we're temporary partners, right?"
Serah nodded slowly, biting down on her bottom lip as she waited.
"Well I thought that while I'm in this cast, we could work on soul resonance and get you up to gear with being a Meister? You know, meditating and matching wavelengths. Beats not doing anything for three months, right?"
Serah was silent at first, her eyes wide as she stared up at the grinning blonde.
"R-really?" Serah asked, not quite sure if she had heard the woman right.
Or more like she was hoping that this wasn't a figment of her imagination.
"Really really." Amanda responded.
A smile lit up on Serah's face immediately.
"Oh my god, yes! Please!" Serah squeaked with delight, earning a rather surprised look from Amanda.
"Whoa, alright." She chuckled slightly as she lifted a hand from her right crutch to brush her fringe from her face. "Guess I don't have to ask if you're up for starting tonight, huh?"
Serah grinned from ear to ear as she shook her head slightly, taking to stepping around the blonde to unlock the door.
Serah's bad mood was long since forgotten.