School Days

By Dominus Princeps

Forgotten Disclaimer: Oops...fergot it the first chap, so...

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I own shit

Please don't sue!

'Cuz all you'll get is like a few Lego bricks and a nickel.

Chapter Two: From the Theatre to Her House

What should I do? What should I say? Yuan wondered frantically as he and Martel walked side-by-side to the nearby movie theatre. He looked at Martel and gasped.

"Hey, Martel! You're hurt!" the blue-haired boy said, noting a cut on the girl's cheek.

"Oh, really?" Martel replied, surprised. Yuan cast a quick First Aid. He had picked something up from Healing Arts, but barely. He was half-expecting to cast Thunder Blade...but the green, soothing aura surrounded Martel and healed her. The girl beamed at him.

"Thanks, Yuan!" she smiled, winking at him. Yuan's knees gave. He collapsed.

"Yuan? Yuan?" Martel asked frantically. What did I do? What did I say? Martel wondered frantically.

"He does that often. Just give him a minute or two", a muffled voice came. Martel looked up to see Twinkie—err, Kratos. He had a golden fat-pill stuffed into his mouth. That was what was muffling his voice. Martel smiled weakly at him.

"Okay. Have you been following us?" she asked.

"No. Just walking down to the store to buy forty more packs of Twinkies. Resupply for tomorrow", the rusty-haired boy motioned towards the Costco on the corner. Martel nodded.

"Well, have fun", she said, putting on her best faked smile.

"That's just what you want me to think", Kratos said suspiciously, glaring at Martel before sprinting towards the Costco. Yuan chose this moment to pick himself off of the ground.

"Is the movie over?" he asked. Martel laughed.

"No, silly, we haven't even bought tickets!" she smiled, playfully hitting Yuan's shoulder. Yuan blushed.

"Oh, sorry", he mumbled. They walked up and purchased tickets for "Must Love Protozoans".

ooo

Nebilim wearily stood up from where he had crashed. He shook his head and checked his watch to see what time it was. 5:23! Damn, he was going to be late for that Demon Summoning after-school club. Nebilim grabbed his dropped twin blades and dashed up the hill...to see the wall which he had crashed through unbroken!

"What the Niflheim?" he muttered. Nebilim shrugged and leapt over the six-foot-tall barrier, landing in the schoolyard. A sign caught his eye and made him freeze.

"Have you gotten your Rheiaird pilot's license yet?" it read. Nebilim blinked. That sign had been completely destroyed six or seven days ago when Nebilim had cast Flame Lance in anger after Kratos kicked him in the shins and ran off. Wait, six or seven days...? Nebilim thought.

"That little blond bastard knocked me into last week!" the red-haired bully roared angrily, casting Flame Lance on the sign. Then, Nebilim took the time to ponder why it had hurt when Kratos had kicked him in the shins. Nebilim wore metal greaves.

ooo

Kratos sat down at his desk with his Spellcasting homework—a big-ass light bulb. And this thing wasn't just big—it was big-ass. Like the size of a Red Bat. Kratos shivered. Red Bats were creepy. The rusty-haired boy set the light bulb in his casting area and took a few steps back. He raised his sword and shield, and focused on what the teacher had said. Channel the element. Be the spell. Know what you want to kill, and kill it. Kratos willed the electricity to form over the light bulb. He imagined himself as that kick-ass electric blade. He knew what he wanted to kill...Nebilim. No, damn, wait, the light bulb! Kratos thought frantically. But it was too late.

ooo

After successfully summoning a minor time demon, Nebilim stepped out of the portal onto school grounds. He stretched, accidentally poking himself with one of his twin blades. Not like it mattered. He had 120,000 HP on Normal, Goddess damn it. Nebilim smiled as he remembered the trophy he received at the eighth grade graduation ceremony—the Shinryu Memorial Prize for Holy Crap That's a Lot of HP! That trophy was resting on his shelf, next to the demonic artifacts and Satan's Book on Being Mean. Nebilim's yawn was cut short as a Thunder Blade materialized out of nowhere and crashed into him for the second time that day (BOOM), then unleashed three pulses of electricity (BZZ-ZZ-ZZ).

"Damn, damn damn damn DAMN!" Nebilim growled, "Now I only have 118,246 HP!"

"Whoever cast that is going to pay..."

ooo

Kratos, after having thoroughly electrocuted the poor, defenseless big-ass light bulb, settled down with the cooking homework. Curry. Kratos kind of liked curry. It was a useful little dish—didn't use rare ingredients, and restored a fair amount of HP and TP. Kratos picked up the supplies the teacher had given him and began making it.

ooo

Yuan and Martel walked out of the theatre after the credits had finished (Yuan was obsessive about who played who and who wrote what).

"That movie was okay", Yuan remarked. Martel nodded.

"Yeah, I agree", she commented.

"Um...you live around here, Martel?" Yuan asked. She shook her head.

"No...and I must've left my Wing Pack in my locker. Shoot!" the blond girl grumbled, frustrated.

"Well, I brought my Wing Pack, so...you can ride with me", Yuan smiled slightly. He had Kratos steal Martel's Wing Pack so that this would happen.

"You're such a nice guy, Yuan!" Martel beamed. Strong, Yuan...strong! Yuan thought desperately, knees wobbling.

"Th-thanks, M-Martel", he said weakly. Yuan and Martel walked out to the front of the theatre, where Yuan took out his Wing Pack. The Rheaird popped out and hovered in midair. Yuan hopped on, and Martel got on behind him. Strong, Yuan...strong! Yuan repeated over and over in his head as Martel's arms looped around his waist. The Rheaird lifted smoothly into the air.

"Where do you live, Martel?" Yuan asked, barely keeping the stutter from his voice.

"Mm...667 Power Road", Martel replied. Yuan turned to face her.

"Wait—doesn't Nebilim live around there?" he asked.

"Yeah, my next-door neighbor. He lives at 666", she grumbled. Yuan snorted.

"That must suck", he grinned darkly.

"Well, you can't really blame him for the bad behavior. He has a troubled home life", Martel sighed.

"What, his father beats him up?" Yuan asked skeptically.

"No. He beats up his father...but still, that's dysfunctional", Martel replied. Yuan landed the Rheaird safely in Martel's front yard, however reluctantly. The ride seemed to go by so fast with her arms around his waist...

"Thanks for the ride, Yuan!" Martel smiled. Yuan promptly fell off of the Rheaird due to emotion overload.

ooo

Kratos' vision began to swim in front of him. Oh, no! It's been five minutes and I haven't had a Twinkie! he thought. He reached inside the box of Twinkies...but it was empty. Frantically, Kratos searched his pack...but there were only empty boxes. Kratos fell out of his chair.

"Twinkie...need...Twinkie..." he gasped, clawing at the ground. His consciousness faded as all bodily processes shut down because of Twinkie-starvation.

ooo

"Oh, my Goddess!" Kratos screamed.

"It was just a dream...just a dream..." he whimpered, grabbing two Twinkies and cramming them into his mouth at the same time. Kratos looked back to his curry. He stirred it a few more times and added a little more Red Satay...and the mix promptly exploded.

"Damn. I hate it when I fail at recipes. At least 5 percent of my HP and 7 percent of my TP were restored", he muttered, swallowing the twin Twinkies. Kratos tried again. Cooking was so annoying. The rusty-haired Twinkie fanatic hoped he would never have to journey to save the world and have to cook.

"Bet angels don't have to cook their own meals", Kratos mused, eating a Twinkie.

ooo

"Yuan...Yuan!" a beautifully musical voice penetrated the veil of darkness over his eyes.

"Am I dead? Are you an angel?" Yuan muttered dreamily, opening his eyes.

"No, silly, it's just me", Martel said softly. Yuan blushed and sat up quickly. He was on Martel's couch, covered with a blanket.

"You passed out, so I brought you inside. Would you like something to drink?" she asked.

"Um...that's fine", Yuan said.

"Hey, wanna be study buddies?" Martel suggested with a wink. Yuan nodded, stunned.

"Great! Let's get started on the Healing Arts homework!" Martel cheered. When she had left the room to get her satchel, Yuan slapped his forehead. I hate Healing Arts! he thought. Yuan grabbed his backpack and double-bladed sword from the front door and stuck his Wing Pack in his pocket.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Martel called. Yuan followed her voice and was stopped by a wall of rock that had suddenly appeared in the hallway.

"You put one hand on my sister and I swear I will-" Mithos began.

"Please don't hurt me! I'll do whatever you want!" Yuan begged, dropping to his knees. Mithos backed up.

"Um...okay. We're having pizza for dinner", Mithos said, a little off guard. The wall of rock disappeared without a trace. Yuan carried his weapon and his pack into the kitchen, where Martel already had her stuff all set up.

"You go first, Yuan. I'll cut myself with a butcher knife and you cast Healing Stream, okay?" Martel said cheerily, picking up the knife.

"Wait, wait—isn't this a little...dangerous?" Yuan gulped, eyeing the knife with distaste. Martel gave him an innocent look.

"But you know the spell...right?" the girl asked, blinking.

"Well..." Yuan began. But it was too late. Martel cut her wrists right before Yuan's eyes.

"HOLY SHIT MOTHER CRAP DAMN ASS HELL BITCH! Is this really happening?" Yuan blurted.

"Hey, put...um...500 gald in the swear jar!" Mithos called from upstairs. Yuan grabbed Martel.

"Cast...the spell...Yuan..." Martel said weakly. Yuan swore under his breath and pulled out his Wing Pack. The Rheaird materialized. Yuan leapt aboard, holding Martel with one arm and the controls with the other. He crashed the flying machine through the front door and made a beeline for Kratos' house. Kratos was actually pretty good at healing. Yuan was not. And Martel was bleeding all over the damn Rheaird.

"Yuan...this...not...fun...ny", Martel began to cry quietly.

"Listen, I can't heal to save my own life! So I'm takin' you to Kratos' house!" Yuan growled. Martel blinked slowly.

"Yu...Yuan..." she murmured. Her eyes rolled back into her head. Yuan's Rheaird touched town on Kratos' lawn, and he rushed inside.

"Kratos! Kratos!" Yuan shouted. An explosion was heard upstairs.

"Goddess damn it, Yuan, you better have a good reason for ruining my curry!" Kratos' voice came from upstairs.

"It's Martel! She cut her wrists!" Yuan called, running up the steps three at a time.

"Didn't know you were into crazy chicks, Yu-Yu", Kratos smirked.

"Damn it, heal the girl!" Yuan snarled. Kratos focused his power onto Martel. He willed the healing power of mana to flow from his fingers and into her.

"Take this! Healing Stream!" Kratos yelled. A blue-green aura rose from the ground and encircled Martel, sealing the wounds in her wrists.

"'Take this'? What, is it an attack?" Yuan said skeptically. Kratos glared at him.

"Mm...Kratos...Yuan...ooh, I feel dizzy..." Martel murmured, sitting up slowly. Kratos cast First Aid to supplement his Healing Stream.

"Damn it, Martel, don't do that again!" Yuan growled, cupping her cheek with his hand. Kratos shook the soot from his attempts at curry out of his hair.

"Your first date and you're already at the 'affectionate touching' stage?" Kratos snickered. Yuan and Martel glared at him, then turned their attention back to each other.

"But Yuan...you always seem so focused in Healing Arts..." Martel said, a little confused.

"Yeah. From what I hear, focused on you", Kratos butted in again.

"Shut up!" Yuan growled. Kratos shrugged and ate a Twinkie. Yuan sighed.

"Martel...you scared me a lot. Please, if you died, I don't know what I'd do!" the blue-haired boy whimpered.

"Buy a Life Bottle?" Kratos muttered, smacking his forehead before stuffing another Twinkie into his mouth.

"Well...wanna go back to my house so we can study?" Martel asked hopefully.

"Sure...but my Rheaird's covered in blood...can we borrow yours, Kratos?" Yuan commented.

"Naw, use this one", Kratos replied through a mouthful of fat-filled nirvana. He handed Yuan a pink Wing Pack with the initials MY engraved in lime green on it.

"Hey...that's my Wing Pack..." Martel gasped. They brought it outside, and sure enough, it had Martel's Rheaird in it, too.

"Wow...how did Kratos do that?" Martel wondered. Yuan shook his head.

"Kratos has his ways..." was his only explanation. Kratos waved goodbye to them.

"Lovesick freaks. Now, my darlings, come to daddy!" Kratos muttered, turning to the unopened box of Twinkies lying on his desk.

"Let me help you slip into something...a little more comfortable", the rusty-haired boy smiled, unwrapping a Twinkie slowly.

ooo

"See you tomorrow, Yuan! Thanks for studying with me!" Martel beamed. Yuan waved back as he mounted his (recently washed) Rheaird. It was close to nine o'clock, but Yuan didn't care. His parents had died in a tragic accident when he was young, which would eventually build his clinginess and need for structure in his later life, but for now, he was a teen with no parents at home. Kratos and the Yggdrasills were the same way—no mom and/or dad. Yuan sighed. Today...was so awesome. Except Martel's attempted suicide. But, let's not talk about that! he thought wistfully, remembering the soft skin on her cheek...the tender way she wrapped her arms around his waist...the bruise on his chest from when they sparred in the back yard...yes, life was good for Yuan. He landed his Rheaird, stuck it in the Wing Pack, and walked into his house. He climbed the stairs and stepped into his room.

"Yuan...it's time to die", Nebilim grinned, holding a genuine Luin-made Baseball Bat.