A/N: And thus another chapter is added =3 (Arme left a note on the pie for Elesis not to eat it while elesis wasn't even home =O)

As usual, I don't own grand chase! I'll be sure to let you know if anything changes about that =3

Chapter 5: The Morning's Melody

When Arme woke up in the morning, her first thought was on wether or not Ronan and Elesis had come back the previous night. Unable to remember, Arme threw on her clothes and wandered into the hallway where the Grand Chase member's rooms were. Fortunately enough, these had plaques on the doors, so Arme was able to navigate through the hall and find the proper room without embarrasing herself by walking into the wrong person's room. She quickly sighted the room with the Elesis plaque, as it was the first to her left. Pushing the door open slowly, Arme was granted with the sight of a red colour schemed room and no person in sight. The room was messy, clothes scattered across the floor and several different swords leaning up against the far wall. To her suprise, there was also a rather large stack of books next to the bed, one leaning over the nightstand haphazardly.

Ronan's probably not back yet either... The purple haired girl thought, closing the door behind her as she exited into the hallway She walked through the hallways more slowly as she made her way to the kitchen, idly wondering what was going on in the real world. Is this normal for a dream...? Probably not. If it was normal for a dream to be like this, Arme concluded that alot more people would want to never wake up. Well, normal or not, there's no point in worrying about it! Nodding in agreeance with the thought as she entered the kitchen, she walked over to the fridge to take out the leftovers of the previous day's pancakes. She also noted with a small smile that the pie she had made was in there, one piece out of it. There was no microwave, so they needed to be heated up by pan. Humming softly as the pancakes heated up, Arme wondered what was on her schedule for the day. The guild was a requirement, but Elena said the practice would be short, so it would most likely only take a couple hours out of her day. The rest could be spent... Arme shrugged, deciding to figure that out when the time came.

The pancakes done, Arme sat down and leisurely ate, still managing to finish before anyone else decended from the stairs. Stretching, she walked out into the training ground, passing the training area and itting down next to the large lake visible from her room. Everything around her was quiet, though the chirping of a bird or splash from the water occasionally stirred the silence. It was peaceful, and a view she had never been able to experience as a child, her parents had never wanted her to leave the house unnecessarily. Resting her head on her knees, she was almost ready to fall asleep again when she heard footsteps coming from behind her.

"Nice morning, huh?" The person sat next to her, and she turned over to see Amy, her long pink pigtails in swirls on either side of her head, and a violin resting in her hand on the other side of her. She smiled at Arme and turned her head back to look at the lake.

"Ah! Good morning, Amy!" After a moment Arme's eyes were drawn to the violin, and she remembered the music she had heard in the hallway before going to the training area the previous day. She gestured to it timidly.

"May I hear you play?" She asked quietly. Amy nodded.

"Of course!" The violin was raised gingerly into her arms, the bow resting on the strings as the pink haired girl thought. Arme was beginning to wonder if she was actually planning on playing when the bow made a sudden movement, the cresendoing sound swirling around her. When it was almost too loud the sound made a jump, the quiet quality coming back. Several new notes joined and left the sound, creating a melody both complex and suprisingly simple. She looked towards the violin player, her eyes closed and her mouth ever so slightly open, and saw more than the Amy she had seen when she had first met the pink haired girl. Infront of her was a girl with intelligence surpassing the average person, hidden behind smiles and cheerful words. This was a person who had hopes, and had seen pain. Everything was so clearly portrayed in the sound of the violin it almost made her cry, her head ending up resting on her knees. Within a minute the music had stopped, and a hand was resting on her back.

"Arme? Arme, are you okay?" She asked worriedly, "I'm sorry. I guess I put too much into that..." The purple haired girl looked up, a smile making its way to her face.

"No, it was beautiful! I've just never had a chance to hear anything like that before... It was so sad..." She murmured, stretching a little as she leaned back on the grass. Amy laughed lightly.

"It was really the only thing I could do as a child... I wasn't allowed to go out much. This and singing were the only ways I could express myself... Dancing too, but I even had to stop that for a while..." Arme blinked, turning to look at the other girl.

"You... Weren't allowed to go out much?" A nod, then Amy's eyes widened in shock.

"Well, yeah, but it was nothing much! Just a couple medical problems! I'm all better now!" She grinned, pulling Arme up to stand before she could ask anything else. Sensing her discomfort on the subject, Arme took the mercy of changing the topic.

"Amy, you're a part of the Grand Chase, right?" She questioned.

"Mm-hmm!"

"Well, how do you fight?" She asked. Amy seemed excited, and dragged her over to the dummie area. When they reached it, Amy motioned for her to stand a fair bit away from the dummy. When Amy was satisfied Arme was far enough away she placed the bow lightly on the strings. Arme's eyes widened; as the pink haired played, musical notes physically floated off the violin's strings, floating up and down as they made their way towards the 'enemy'. Once reaching they exploded, each taking a small chunk out of the mannequin as she stomped her heel into the ground, causing a burst of sound to eminate from her. As the sound wave reached the doll it caused the head to explode, small pieces of fluff flying everywhere. Apparently not finished, Amy lifted the violin's bow into the air, swirling it around in a circle. A flute fell from the air where Amy's bow was pointed, followed by a trumpet, followed by a tambourine, followed by a drum, followed by...

"A PIANO?!?!?!" Arme gawked at the grand piano as it fell from seemingly nowhere, crushing the doll entirely. Amy waved her over.

"Yup! It disappears after a moment anyway!" She said joyfully, and as predicted the instruments were beginning to fade, leaving the crushed dummy behind.

"And that," Amy motioned to the dummy, "Is how you kill something with music." The purple haired girl simply blinked at Amy, trying to comprehend what had just happened. The next thing she knew, Amy was next to her, waving her hand in her face.

"Hey! Arme! It's not really anything special!! Ronan can summon a Dragon, Ryan can turn into a wolf... A piano isn't really that amazing~" She explained, patting Arme on the head.

"Well, I think I'm gonna stay out here for a while and practice my spells, wanna join me?" Arme asked. Amy shook her head, leaning back on an undamaged dummy.

"I'm gonna go see if Jin is awake yet!" She exclaimed as she turned around to walk back to the house. Arme waved lightly, staring in confusion when Amy stopped to look back at her.

"I see you found a use for the secret I told you! She called. Arme flushed as she watched the pink haired girl walk away, recalling the pie in the fridge and completely unable to deny that she had made it for Lass; not even certain why the thought that someone knew she had made the cherry pie for Lass made her flustered. She shook her head quickly and sighed, waiting for the warmth in her cheeks to go down a bit before she began practicing.

"You're up early." Or not. Arme quickly turned to see Lass leaning lazily over one of the dummies, his simitar held in his hand and his eyes locked on her. She could feel her cheeks heating up even more and sighed in defeat, not bothering to cover up the fact. Fortunately, Lass either didn't notice or ignored it.

"Y-yeah... I woke up about an hour ago." She recalled, watching as his eyes moved off her to eye the destroyed dummy questioningly.

"That was Amy. With a piano." She felt the need to add, in case any confusion over the dummy should arise. Lass nodded knowingly as he stood up straight, walking over to it.

"Yeah, the week Amy learned to be a muse was pretty rough on all of us in the training area, especially Jin." He said, inspecting the damage.

"Especially Jin?" She questioned. Lass nodded.

"Yeah, they train together alot. Elesis and Jin train together often as well, but it's because they used to get along really badly when Jin first joined. Now they spar because they're used to fighting each other." He explained, standing up again and waving as he turned around to go back to the house.

"You're not gonna train today?" She called after him, the only indication of his answer the slight shake of his head. When he was in the house again Arme started her practice, the previous day's failure keeping her from trying to teleport too far.

Arme lay exhaustedly on the ground, certain she had been out for a good few hours. Amy and Jin had passed by some time ago, waving at her as they headed towards the terrained training area. She could hear them exchanging blows if she listened, but couldn't be bothered to focus, let alone listen. She briefly remembered Elena telling her how much energy teleporting took up, and she was beginning to realize just what the blue haired mage had meant. She had teleported... At least 50 times now? Her head was beginning to spin as she struggled to stand up, remembering her meeting with the guild. She felt confident when her legs didn't fail her as she stood, requiring minimal support from the mannequins to reach the back door. Once inside she was able to make it to the front hall where she was suprised to find Lass, holding out the light blue jacket toward her. He stared at her oddly as she frustratedly tried to shove her arms through the sleeves of the too-large jacket. When she managed to get it on Lass opened the front door, walking through it and turning back to watch as she made her way through. Her sights instantly locked on the gate as she saw it, and she ran over excitedly.

"Lass! Go to the other side!" She called.

"Hmm? Sure." He walked over to her and was about to lift her up when she shook her head quickly. Quickly realizing she didn't want to be picked up, Lass jumped over the fence and landed on the other side, waiting to see her move. For a moment Arme stood still, gently resting on the gate; she then leaned back up and took a few steps back. Lass almost certainly thought she was crazy as she began running toward the gate, though he didn't move, which she was grateful for. Closing her eyes a moment before she hit the gate she grinned lightly when she felt herself bump into not the harsh metal of the gate, but the soft front of Lass' shirt on the other side.

"I did it!" She exclaimed, pushing away from Lass to unsteadily stand on her own. She was more than suprised to find his hand enclosing around her wrist, lightly pulling her back to him. When she was close enough he lifted her up into his arms, and began to walk. Arme blinked a moment before comprehending what had happened.

"Wait! Lass, put me down!" She requested frustratedly, her energy levels not allowing for much of a struggle. Eventually her head fell on his chest as she finally gave up, quietly admitting defeat.

"You'll fall if I put you down, you know." He murmured, Arme hardly listening.

"B-but there are alot of people... On the way to the guild..." She commented half-heartedly.

"And do I really seem like I care what they think?" He asked, his pace staying the same even though she was partially aware they were now in the more central area of town, where the citizens were certain to notice them.

"Well, no, but..." her argument ran out mid-sentence as she resigned herself to resting. Some conversations could be heard further away, though she didn't bother listening to them; it was obvious that she would be the topic. Everything seemed to get quiet, and the next thing she could comprehend was Lass whispering "We're here.". The purple haired girl opened her eyes slowly, holding onto Lass as a support when he placed her on the ground. Before either could knock Elena had opened the door.

"Lass-Sama! Thank you for escorting Arme here! We have a meeting in the afternoon, so she'll be done in a couple of hours." She said politely, ushering Arme in as she surveyed the silver haired boy confusedly. He didn't say anything in return, simply turning around and quickly walking out of sight. The two girls watched him dissapear before walking further into the guild home. Upon entering the practice room Arme dully waved to the several other mages in the room who were casting and summoning several different things; a common sight. Some waved back and others ignored her, the novelty of a new member worn off. Today Elena led Arme outside and into the large back field the guild offered, where fewer magicians resided.

"So, Arme! Have you been practicing the teleportation technique I showed you?" Elena asked cheerily, keeping her eyes on the purple haired girl. Arme nodded, too tired to do much else.

"Alrighty, then! Let's practice!"

Everyone turned to the door as Arme stumbled into the kitchen a few hours later, not bothering to say a word and acending the staircase to her room. When inside she collapsed on her bed, her face landing on the pillows unevenly. She refused to move, and was almost asleep when a small knock at the door stirred her.

"Come in..." She murmured as loudly as possible without moving. The door was flung open immediately, and Arme felt the bed move as someone else sat down on it.

"Arme? You okay?" Oh, Elesis. With effort, Arme managed to roll onto her side to see the redhead.

"Yeah, just tired... When did you get back?" Elesis contemplated her answer for a second before responding.

"Well, we finished yesterday but had to make a stop, so we only made it back about an hour ago. Ronan's a part of the Royal Guard Masters, so we can hardly go anywhere without being called for a meeting of some sort." Elesis chuckled lightly, and Arme looked up at her.

"You said you were going to check out... The border, right? How was it?" The redhead shrugged.

"The fragment collection shack was totaled, but the soldiers were completely withdrawn... It's like they weren't even headed for the town. There were no left over soldiers in the shack either, so we'll have to assume that wasn't their goal either... We really have no idea what was going on, so we're going to have to assume it was a freak accident." She said uninterestedly, ignoring the questioning look Arme was giving her. They both went silent, and Arme rested her head back on her arms.

Elesis looked at her for a moment and stood up, reaching over for the book on the bedside table. She flipped through the first pages silently, allowing Arme to almost doze back to sleep before she commented.

"This looks like it has some pretty useful stuff in it... Read it yet?" Arme managed to roll around just enough to give a shake of her head.

"Nope. I can't." Elesis stared at her confusedly.

"You.. Can't?"

"No. It's in a... Wierd language..."She replied, sitting up to look over Elesis' shoulder at the pages.

"You can't read Beremesian... Hold on a second." Elesis handed her the book and turned to the exit, leaving Arme staring at her as she walked away. Resolving that she wasn't going to be getting any sleep any time soon, Arme began leafing through the pages slowly, still looking for anything that seemed familiar. None of the letters seemed to make sense no matter how much she stared at them, only seeming to be more and more confusing as she stared at them.

"Arme?" She turned around to look at the door and realized Elesis had returned without her noticing, a confused looking Amy standing behind her. The two came to sit on the bed, Amy picking the book from Arme's hands.

"Amy's better than me with languages, she might be able to help you a bit." Elesis mentioned, the pink haired girl nodding. It was at this that Arme sat up, Finally eager for the chance to get an understanding of what was written everywhere. When she was certain Arme was interested, Elesis stood up and waved.

"Well, I'm not going to be much help here, reading's not my thing. I'm gonna go see what Ronan's up to..." She said, closing the door silently behind her. Amy nodded and turned towards Arme, Holding the book so it was between them.

"This is going to be a bit... Confusing, but Bermesian really isn't all that complicated. Once I show you the first bit you'll pick up quickly!" She exclaimed. Leaving the book on the bed Amy wandered over to the dresser, opening the first drawer. She returned with two pencils and some paper, handing half of the supplies to Arme.

"I'm thinking I have a hunch, and if I'm right you'll only need to learn the letters. What language do you speak originally?"

"Hm... English, but I'm guessing you don't use that here..." To Arme's suprise, Amy shook her head.

"We used to, actually. It's called Old Bermesian now, but all the word orders are the same. Someone just decided to change all the letters a while ago, so... Mind writing out the Alphabet for me?" Arme nodded, and with a practiced ease she wrote out the twenty-seven letters. When she finished Amy took the paper from her, quickly scribbling something down on it. When she handed it back, Arme was able to clearly see twenty-seven symbols next to her letters.

"And once you learn the symbols, all you really need to learn are words that aren't used in English!" As Arme took the chance to re-write all the symbols on her own paper, she spared a glance at Amy.

"Amy? How did you know I would speak english?" She questioned quietly, watching as the pink haired girl stiffened. She slowly turned to face Arme, an off-looking smile on her face.

"Oh, that? I figured if you didn't know Bermesian you would know Old Bermesian, everyone seems to know one or the other... Aside from that, I promised Jin we'd go see a show today, so I have to go!" She stood up quickly, putting the book and paper aside as she rushed from the room. Arme stared after her for a moment, and then back at the book. Deciding to think on Amy's wierd behaviour later, she opened to the first page of the magic book and began translating the letters over.

"Chapter one... Mana and... The principles of Magic...." She read aloud as she began translating the second line. After a couple more lines she flipped through it, sighing at the immense size of the book.

"This is going to take a while..."

"So what, you have a reading problem? Hm, you seemed like a book worm to me." Arme gave a yelp of suprise and quickly turned to look at the door. To her suprise noone was in the door way, so she spun around again, only to notice Lass hanging upside down outside her window.

"Lass!" She exclaimed loudly as he slid the window open and allowed himself inside, "Do you have some kind of problem with letting people know when you show up!?" Lass shrugged.

"I let you know when I figured it was important." He replied as he straightened his hair out; It had apparently become messed from hanging upside down. Arme frowned at him lightly, not really upset but not wanting him to continue showing up at random times.

"How long have you been there?!" She demanded, causing a sigh from Lass.

"Only a few minutes. How much spare time do you think I have?"

"That's not the point here! What if I was changing or something?!"

"Then I would have walked in through the front door and up the stairs like you seem to prefer." He responded, leaning against the wall.

"Why don't you just do that in the first place, instead of coming in through the window?!" Arme stood up, leaving the book on the bed as she walked closer to Lass.

"It's your own fault for being so damn unobservant and leaving your blinds open!" He yelled back frustratedly, his voice getting louder. Arme finally went quiet, her eyes pointed toward the floor. I don't want to be fighting with him... She looked up at Lass quickly, though he wasn't looking back at her. He had directed his gaze at the wall and was glaring as though he might see something more than the calm purple paint. The silence continued on for a few minutes; Lass was the one to break it.

"Sorry. I just came to say that you're not going to the guild tomorrow, Elesis sent a letter to the Knight Master and she wants to meet you." With that, Lass pushed away from the wall and walked out of the room silently, the door sliding smoothly shut behind him. Arme stared after him for a moment, half contemplating following after him to apologize, but also realizing that he had enough speed to keep her away if he didn't want to deal with her, which he probably didn't at the moment. She let out a breath she had been holding and walked back over to the bed, curling up on it. The book lay forgotten on the covers as she made her way under the sheets, not wanting to deal with anything else that particular day.

As was quickly becoming common, Arme woke up the first the next morning. She realized drowsily that she hadn't changed clothes the previous night, which was followed by the memory of her and Lass' quarrel. She sighed again as she rolled out of bed, not wanting to get up. She also abruptly remembered that she hadn't prepared dinner either, and hoped someone had been able to make something. As she walked down the stairs she decided to make Amy her cooking apprentice, if the pink haired girl would agree. Someone needed to be there to prepare food if she wasn't, or if she didn't want to.

When the morning's breakfast of french toast was in the pan the first of the Grand Chase began to wake up, Elesis quite predictably being the first one to leap down the stair case. She smiled as she noticed the redhead enter the kitchen, still somehow maintaining her energy during the ungodly hours of the morning. Rushing over to watch Arme cook Elesis leaned onto the counter, her head barely resting against the cool surface.

"You're going to visit Knight Master with Lass today, right?" She commented loudly. Arme stopped moving for a moment, then turned to look at Elesis.

"W-with... Lass?" A nod.

"He told you, right? I asked him to yesterday..." The purple haired girl nodded slowly, her eyes focusing on the frying pan. Will Lass even speak to me today? Though... It wasn't really much of a fight, I shouldn't be worried about it. She felt slightly more resolved as the first of the French toast was placed on a plate, Elesis hastily snatching it up.

"You're going to have to leave pretty soon, then. The castle's pretty far away, if you're lucky you'll make it back before night." She commented, waving to the Ronan and Jin as they entered the kitchen. The two waved back and patiently went to sit at the table with Elesis, waiting for the rest of the pancakes to finish. Aside from some small conversation at the table nothing much was said, everyone simply watching as Arme finished the cooking. She came to join them with the rest of the food when she finished cooking, though no conversation was started.

"Morning." Another greeting was issued, and everyone turned in suprise to see Lass entering the kitchen and taking a seat at the table.

"Hey, Lass! You don't eat breakfast with us often!" Elesis exclaimed, leaning forward to stare at him over her plate. The assassin shrugged, turning to look at Arme.

"Ready to go after breakfast?" He asked lazily, spinning the food around on his plate but not seeming to actually be eating.

"Y-yeah, I think so." She said. With her confirmation, Lass turned to Elesis and Ronan.

"How was the report on the border?" The two looked at each other, Ronan eventually the one to answer.

"Lass, nothing was going on there at all... The shack was completely destroyed, but other than that, the soldiers completely withdrew. At this point we can't assume much. The best guess we have is that they were on a Reconnaissance mission, but they didn't get close enough to the actual border that they would be able to collect some actual information. Maybe you scared them off?" As Arme looked around she realized that everyone seemed frustrated with this conclusion.

"Is it... A bad thing that they retreated?" Elesis shook her head.

"It's not bad, really. Just confusing. As far as we've seen, enemies don't move in masses like that for nothing." She explained quietly, her plate finished off.

"So, what are we going to do about it?" Jin asked through a mouthful of french toast. Amy entered the kitchen as Elesis responded.

"Nothing. What's there to do? We should ask Knight Master to tighten the security over there though, just in case."

"I'll ask while we're over there today." Lass said, standing up and leaving his half eaten plate beind. Arme followed suit, having just finished.

"You'll need to bring your staff, to get to Serdin Castle we'll need to pass through the planes. I'll be waiting at the front gate when you're ready." Arme watched as Lass left the room, then walked up the stairs to her room where her staff was lying on the dresser. He didn't seem mad... She sighed in relief as she picked up the staff, the cool handle held tightly in her hand. She watched the familiar light-up of the orange orb and felt comforted again; everything would be fine. Especially after learning a new spell yesterday, as Elena had guessed she might be doing some offensive fighting soon. She mouthed a thank you to her blue-haired mentor before rushing downstairs and grabbing the blue jacket that was steadily becoming more hers than Lass'. As promised, the silver haired boy was standing outside next to the gate. He looked up at her as she exited the house, quickly jumping over to the other side of the gate. She followed after a moment, transporting through with ease. Once on the other side Lass took the lead, not bothering to grab her arm as they walked through the town. Less and less villagers were staring at her, the purple haired girl becoming less of a phenominon.

"So, who is the 'Knight Master'? Why does she want to see me?" Arme asked, deciding to start a conversation. Lass answered after a delay.

"The Knight Master is the one who put together the Grand Chase. She oversees all new members, and as a potential member she wants to meet you."

"Everyone? So you mean... There isn't like... A Mage Master or Thief Master or anything?" This comment earned a small laugh from Lass, and a shake of his head.

"Nope. She also oversees most of the troupes for the queen too, so we go to her when we need reenforcements to be sent somewhere, like now." Satisfied with the explanation, Arme was silent until they reached the exit of the town, the large gate overlooking a field. Completely rested, Arme was able to see the various monsters scattered around, though there didn't seem to be many.

"Do we need to fight those?" She asked, pointing to a group of goblin-like monsters. Lass peered over in the direction she was pointing and twirled the simitar in his hand.

"Orcs... Normally we'd leave fights like that for the weaker troupes to fight off, but they might be good practice. Let's go!" With that they began running towards the small green enemies, Lass ahead of Arme yet still considerably slower due to the weight of his new weapon. Casting a shield around herself, Arme began to conjure fire balls, while Lass simply sliced through them. Most had been wiped out when the magician noticed a group of the orcs sneaking up on Lass, not enough to injure him, but still enough to be annoying.

"Stone curse!" Arme grinned as Lass turned around to see the several stoned monsters behind him, a small wave from her to indicate that Yes, she had learned a new spell. He cut through the stone figures before walking over to her.

"How'd it go for your first real fight?"

"Is that all?" Arme smiled lightly, then looked over at the planes.

"Wait... How far do we have to go?"

"Pretty far. See the forest over there? It's past that." Arme groaned as Lass pointed somewhere past the horizon.

"And we're walking the whole way?"

"Hm... If you want to make it there by tomorrow morning. Otherwise, we'll need to run." Another sigh from Arme. She glanced at Lass before beginning to run toward the direction indincated, the silver haired boy catching up quickly.

"And you're okay with running the entire day?" Arme sighed, and nodded her head.

"Not like I really have much of a choice." They continued running in silence for another few minutes before Lass unexpectedly stepped infront of her and stopped, effectively stopping her as well. When she stared at him he was quiet, speaking a few seconds later.

"You're not used to running, are you?"

"Well... No, not really." She breathed, slightly exhausted from the run. He stared at her for another moment, then kneeled down.

"Get on my back, I'll carry you."

"W-What?! No! I can-- You already carry me around often enough--"

"It's not a problem. If you run you'll just loose the energy you need for casting spells." Arme opened her mouth to argue, but saw what he was saying.

"I... Thanks." She murmured, allowing herself to be lifted up and onto Lass' back.

"No problem." They began at a slow pace, though picked up speed quickly. The scenery seemed more amazing now that she wasn't fighting or running, and she rested her head on Lass' shoulder lightly.

"About yesterday... I'm sorry about being mad at you." Arme whispered, Lass slowing down for only a moment before resuming his pace.

"Hm? There's nothing to apologize for."

A/N: I don't think I like this chapter... It doesn't have much to do with the plot, but oh well! I'm trying to update atleast once every two weeks, so I needed to add this =3 I might be a bit slow on the updates right now because I'm working on finishing the pages for the Lass and Arme Doujinshi I started, the link is in my profile if you want to see it ^^ Also, I play on the American server of Grand Chase and my username is Utsuro, feel free to add me! Please review if you have the time!

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, they really inspire me to write chapters~ Anything contradicting or confusing, mention it in your reply and I'll be sure to clear it up! Any suggestions would be appreciated as well =3

-Utsuro