Brina kept to herself for the whole weekend. She didn't leave her place and she didn't even see the twins at all. Instead, she spent the whole two days worrying over Professor Stein's new project.
When she got to the classroom on Monday morning, it was clear that she wasn't the only one. Professor Stein wasn't there yet, so the students were chatting freely amongst themselves. The class project was the main topic of conversation for everyone and nobody seemed particularly happy about it. The thought of who their new partner might end up being was weighing on everybody's minds.
The one good thing about the project was that it had completely distracted Brina from what Kid had said to her on the Friday morning. She hadn't thought about it all weekend. She only realised when she saw him enter the classroom, flanked by Liz and Patty. She gave the sisters a smile, both of whom smiled back, but purposely avoided looking directly at Kid.
The group were soon followed by Professor Stein, who came zooming into the room on his chair and nearly crashed into the desk. He managed to save himself in time and swivelled round to face the class. "Good morning, everyone. I hope you're all ready. This is where I'm going to start testing you."
"As long as we're not being tested on a surgical table," Adrian muttered. Brina giggled, despite the dig at her favourite teacher.
"So let's start with the first exercise..." said Professor Stein. "Kera and Kaneda, you're up!"
A girl with wavy, black hair gave a confused glance to the tall guy wearing a beanie hat who was sat beside her, before they both rose from their seats uncertainly. Professor Stein waved them forward, so they carried on down to join him at the front of the class.
"Don't look so worried. I'm not giving you anything that's beyond your capability just yet," reassured Professor Stein. "Kaneda, I'd like you to switch to weapon form. Then Kera? You come at me with all you've got."
"How is that gonna help you test us?" Soul interrupted from one side of the classroom. "You've seen us all fight before now."
"Well, maybe you're speaking for yourself, but I'd like to think that most people in this class have improved since the last time I saw them fight," said Professor Stein simply.
Soul looked abashed and said no more. Maka shot him an annoyed look for showing them both up. Professor Stein returned his attention to the team in front of him. Kaneda obediently transformed into a red and blue bladed lance, which Kera took with two firm hands and held defensively in front of her.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" Professor Stein prompted, who was still sat back to front on his chair. "Try and hit me."
Kera didn't need telling twice. This wasn't the first time they'd done exercises like this in class. Everybody always wanted to do better when they had an audience. She charged forward, aiming the lance directly at Professor Stein. He scooted backwards on his chair, avoiding the attack.
Kera tried again, jabbing and parrying with all her skill, practically running the professor round the classroom in circles. It would have looked almost comical, if everybody else hadn't been nervous about the fact that they'd have to do the same afterwards. Professor Stein dodged every hit neatly. After all, he was the academy's number one meister for a reason.
When Kera made her next attempt, Professor Stein held up his hand and calmly said, "Stop."
Kera slid to a halt. Brina had to admire her precision. Professor Stein hadn't even attempted to dodge this time. If Kera hadn't stopped exactly when he'd said, he would have been speared – the bladed lance was mere inches from his face. Even Kera looked slightly uneasy at how close it had been.
Professor Stein simply smiled at her. "Well done, Kera, Kaneda... You may return to your seats." Still a little dazed by what they'd just done, Kera and Kaneda made their way back to their seats, Kaneda changing back into his human form as they went. "I think next up we'll have Circa and Bolin."
Brina felt a twang of guilt as the next pair stood up. She'd been worried about who she was going to be paired with for this project, but it would undoubtedly be a lot more difficult for these two in particular. Bolin was completely blind and had to put all of his faith in his meister.
She remembered when Bolin had first enrolled at the academy, before Circa had – it had actually been around the same time as Brina herself. Bolin had been told by everyone that nobody would want a blind weapon for a partner. Brina had almost considered proposing him herself at one point, before she'd met the twins, until she realised that she'd be even more likely to run headlong into things that he would. But luckily, Circa then joined the DWMA and didn't seem at all bothered by his impediment.
So how was Bolin going to cope having to work with another weapon who didn't know how to accommodate for his disability? Though surely, Professor Stein would consider this and choose a suitable partner for him.
If Brina hadn't known about Bolin, then she never would have guessed that he couldn't see. He followed Circa down to the front of the class without any guidance, following the sound of her footsteps, before transforming into a battle axe.
They fought amazingly as a team – their soul wavelengths needing to be matched even more precisely than most to assist Bolin in his perception of what was going on. They showed that now, fighting against Professor Stein in the same manner that Kera and Kaneda had.
Again, Professor Stein was proving impossible to hit. Circa's offensive style was different to Kera's, but she still couldn't land a blow on him. Though, equally, Circa and Bolin's perfect wavelengths couldn't be completely ignored. At one point, Professor Stein had to leap out of his chair to evade their next strike.
"And stop," ordered Professor Stein, holding his hand up again. "That was excellent. Next can I have Kim and Jacqueline?"
And so it went on. Each team went up one by one to demonstrate their fighting techniques against Professor Stein. So far, nobody had been able to touch him. The only ones who had come close were Circa, Maka and Black Star. Brina glanced around the classroom. There weren't many people left who hadn't tried yet. There was still Kid, Ox, Danny...
"Ah. Brina, Adrian and Jesse. Let's have you next."
Brina started and nervously got to her feet, with the twins following suit. She concentrated extra hard on walking down the stairs. She stumbled up and down these frequently, but it would be a lot more embarrassing if she did it now with everyone watching.
She could feel people's eyes on her when she got down to the front. She hated doing demonstrations in front of the whole class, but when the twins transformed into their butterfly sword forms and she caught them neatly in each hand, she suddenly felt a lot better. She was good at this sort of thing. Having her weapons in hand already made her feel a lot less clumsy.
"Are you ready?" asked Professor Stein, who was back in his chair again, watching her expectantly.
Brina nodded. "Ready."
She lunged at him before he could give any further instruction. Like he'd done multiple times already, Professor Stein pushed back in his chair, dodging her attack. Brina followed his course, swiping at him alternatively between the two swords. Right, left, right, left. The pattern she'd perfected to the highest speed she could manage. When she was like this, she didn't have to watch her feet like she did in everyday life. She was perfectly co-ordinated.
Professor Stein leapt from his chair to avoid her next swing. He then dove forward with his hand outstretched, ready to use the force of his soul wavelength. Uh oh. He'd only tried to use that move on Black Star so far.
Brina skipped back and brought both swords up in front of her in a firm 'X' shape, blocking Professor Stein's hit. She then swept them both outwards in one quick movement, knocking him off balance. For a split second, she had a clear shot. If she could just move quick enough...
"And stop," ordered Professor Stein. Oh, well. It looked like she'd never know. "That was very impressive. The three of you can go back to your seats. Now let's have Ox and Harvar..."
The twins switched back to human form and followed Brina up to their seats again. Brina was happy that their part was over and pleased that they seemed to have done quite well. The twins didn't show whether they were happy about it or not. They sat back to watch the last few teams take part.
XXX
As the week went on, Brina found she was grateful that they didn't normally do so many physical exercises in class. Each morning, she got up with pains in muscles that she didn't even realise she had.
Monday was pretty much taken up by the one-on-one demonstrations with Professor Stein. Tuesday was fairly similar, except they were practicing more defensive moves, this time against Sid. Wednesday was endurance races outside on the morning and a horrific assault course that had been set up around the academy on the afternoon.
Thursday was the most relaxing. Professor Stein had told them all to get into pairs so that they could practice trust exercises – since trust was key both in working together and in matching soul wavelengths.
Most of the students stayed with their usual meister or weapon partners. Adrian and Jesse paired up, which initially left Brina at a loss. Thankfully, a tall girl with reddish-brown hair tied into a long braid – by the name of Yvonna – offered to team up with her. Her weapon, Clyde, had partnered with Kid, whom he seemed to get along with already.
The trust exercises were actually pretty fun. They were simple tasks like having to close your eyes, fall backwards and count on your partner to catch you. Brina was lucky she had such a good-natured partner. Yvonna was a good sport, even when Brina accidentally dropped her on the floor – her usual clumsiness inevitably setting in.
And before they knew it, it was Friday. The day Professor Stein would be announcing his decisions.
He'd told them during their last lesson on Thursday that there would be no classes on Friday. He'd spend Friday morning making his final decisions and then he'd announce them during final period – the only session they'd need to attend that day. So on Friday afternoon, the classroom was unusually quiet. Everybody was nervous and anxious to hear who their new partners would be.
"Don't worry," Brina heard Koroso whispering to his meister, Ao – a pretty blonde girl – further along the row. "You'll probably get put with another scythe meister. I bet you. You'll be with either Maka, Caspar or Marista. That's not so bad..."
There were other speculations and whispers of comfort floating around the room whilst they waited for Professor Stein to turn up. Still, none of the students looked any less worried.
Professor Stein soon burst into the classroom – once again, using his wheeley chair rather than walking like any normal person would. He did a full three hundred and sixty degree rotation before spinning back round to face his class.
"Good afternoon, class. I'm sure you've all been looking forward to today. No doubt you're excited to find out who your new partners will be," he said brightly.
A few students glanced at each other. Excited wasn't quite the right word.
"Well, there's no sense in beating around the bush, so let's get started," announced Professor Stein. "We'll start with the weapons first."
He pulled a notebook out of his lab coat and flipped the first few pages over. Both sides of the pages had been written on. A lot of the writing had been crossed out multiple times. It didn't look very professional.
"Elizabeth and Patricia Thompson, you two will be staying together," said Professor Stein. "You've already had experience in using each other to fight, so Death Scythe and Naigus will be expanding on that. The same also goes for Adrian and Jesse Carrow."
Adrian breathed a sigh of relief and slapped Jesse a high five. Jesse returned the gesture, grinning. Brina smiled at the pair of them. At least they wouldn't have any complaints. Liz and Patty both looked pleased too.
"Harvar D. Éclair and Kaneda Sugara – you two are a team," said Professor Stein.
The choice made sense. Harvar's weapon form was a lightning spear. It was probably the closest match Professor Stein could have made for a bladed lance.
"Next are Soul Eater and Phantom Canus. We also have Ciarin Hiux and Koroso Wara," Professor Stein listed.
He'd paired all of the scythes together, similar to how Koroso had guessed he might do with the meisters. Phantom grinned at Soul, whom he was already friends with. Soul gave him the thumbs up in response. Ciarin and Koroso gave each other polite nods from across the classroom.
"Matthew Madison, you'll be with both Pot of Fire and Pot of Thunder. As some of you may have realised, we have an odd number of weapons in this class, so we had to have a group of three somewhere," Professor Stein explained.
Happy-go-lucky Matt seemed to think that this was a bonus and beamed at the child-like siblings that were sat next to their meister Kilik. They responded with cheery waves.
"Next, we have Clydicus Gray and Jacqueline O'Lantern Dupré," Professor Stein read from his scrappy notebook.
A few teasing mutters rose around the classroom and Clyde grinned, a light flush to his cheeks. It was common knowledge to quite a majority of the class that he had a huge crush on Jackie. Jackie herself was quite oblivious to it – as was her meister, Kim. Did that mean that Professor Stein had noticed it too or was it just a happy coincidence?
"Tsubaki Nakatsukasa and Bolin Zheng – you're also a team."
Brina smiled. Professor Stein had definitely taken Bolin's disadvantage into consideration – having partnered with Black Star; Tsubaki was undoubtedly the most patient person in the class. They both seemed pleased with the choice and so did Circa, who'd obviously been worried for him.
"And last but not least, we have Destiny Grace and Lily Brook," announced Professor Stein.
Dessie and Lily, who were already sat next to one another, looked thrilled. Dessie's weapon form was a hatchet and Lily's was a medieval flail. Whereas both girls were friendly enough, they'd no doubt make a pretty scary team with such intimidating weapon forms.
"Now... Since everyone seems happy with their teams, let's move on to the meisters," continued Professor Stein. "First, we have Ox Ford and Kilik Rung."
Kilik gave a very audible 'yes!' and punched Ox playfully in the shoulder. The pair of them were already excellent friends, though Ox looked slightly disappointed. He'd probably been hoping to be paired with Kim, Brina thought to herself.
"Next, we have Maka Albarn with Casper Jade... And Marista Abbott with Ao Dochi," Professor Stein read aloud.
Like with the weapons, the scythe meisters had all been paired together. Ao looked relieved and the other girls all appeared to be satisfied with their new partners. Brina, however, was starting to feel almost sick with nerves. Maka already had a partner. That was one person down who she'd been hoping for.
"Kim Diehl and Yvonna Foxx."
Brina nearly sighed out loud. She wouldn't have minded being paired with Yvonna herself – she'd been an understanding partner during the trust exercises. Ox was watching the two girls morosely. He'd definitely wanted to be the one teamed up with Kim.
"We also have Black Star and Blood Diamond," said Professor Stein.
A tall, athletic boy with raven hair put his head down on the desk and groaned quietly to himself. He didn't get on very well with Black Star – there was a long-running rivalry between the two of them. Brina would have felt sorry for him for being put with someone he wasn't too fond of, but she was now really starting to worry for herself. There were only five other meisters left.
"Death the Kid, you're with Brina Hathaway."
Brina froze, feeling like the bottom of her stomach had dropped out. She heard two sharp intakes of breath from the twins beside her. Professor Stein couldn't have given her a worse partner. She'd spent all this time worrying about being put with somebody who may laugh at how accident prone she was. She hadn't even considered being paired with the new student who seemed to positively hate her.
She didn't look around the classroom – she didn't want to see what Kid's reaction would be. Feeling the heat rise in her face, she stared meekly at the desk in front of her. She barely even heard as Professor Stein announced that Circa was with Kera and that Danny Madison, Matt's older brother, would be with Lily's meister – Cory Farrell.
"And that's everybody," said Professor Stein happily, flipping the pages of his notebook forward again and stuffing it back into his lab coat. "The project will start properly on Monday. Meisters, you'll still be in this classroom with Sid and myself. Weapons will be in classroom five with Death Scythe and Naigus. You're all free to go – have a good weekend."
The classroom finally broke out into an excited babble. Brina practically jumped out of her seat and pushed her way past the twins without waiting for them. She just wanted to get away. She took the steps two at a time, stumbling on the last one and nearly falling flat on her face. She managed to pick herself back up and left the room with her face and her nerves on fire.
XXX
Author's Note!
I'm sorry if a lot of the OCs haven't had much to say yet. It's so hard trying to write that many characters into a chapter without dragging it out. And like I said before, I'm still not sure how much of a part they're all going to have yet.
Copyright notice! (I'm not going to copy this out for every chapter so take note)
-Brina Hathaway, Adrian and Jesse Carrow belong to me.
-Circa Belaia and Bolin Zheng belong to Strawberriontop.
-Kera Lench, Kaneda Sugara, Daniel and Matt Madison belong to Rukinosan.
-Ao Dochi and Koroso Wara belong to Ikim Sanda.
-Blood Diamond and Destiny Grace belong to Love My Friends And Others.
-Yvonna Fox and Clydicus Gray belong to WallaWallaBingBang.
-Marista Abbott and Ciarin Hiux belong to Lavinia Abernathy.
-Caper Jade and Phantom Canus belong to Wolf718.
-Cory Farrell and Lily Brook belong to Eclipsewings.
