Another chapter in the same day? Well, I decided that I would now post two chapter on Mondays from now on, and post another chapter on Thursdays. Also, I'm in the planning stage of a certain Nightmarish story right now, so look forward to that whenever I post it, possibly weeks from now.

Storm sat in the cafeteria next to his teammates, all in uniform. Right now it was being used for that morning's assembly, and probably almost every student was there. While they didn't usually have assemblies, today was an exception. While he didn't know for sure what, he suspected almost everyone had the same theory—the Headmaster's death.
A man in a long green coat stepped onto an elevated platform. If he remembered this correctly, the man was Lord Taryn, a politician. He was also Crystal's father. When he spoke, he spoke with a voice harder than on TV. He also wasn't using a microphone or anything. "As you may have heard, your Headmaster, Forester, is dead. And this is a time for truth, so I killed him."

There were murmurs in the crowd, but Lord Taryn allowed for that. He personally didn't participate in anything like that. However, Rusti said to those next to him, "Yeah, I heard that on the news."

"So did I," Faye said. Everyone had heard it on the news—though possibly not Azura, as she probably didn't watch TV.

When he spoke again, it was louder, and echoed off the walls. "But he deserved it, as I seem to have heard from his students," he said jokingly. Storm smiled a little, but didn't laugh. "Unfortunately, all members of his staff are currently under investigation. Until they can be found innocent or replaced, all classes are suspended." There were gasps and the occasional shout of joy. "We're going to need volunteers from you, the students, to run some of the campus services.

"Now, any volunteers to run the arena?" After a few seconds, a hand shot up. Lord Taryn gestured for the hand's owner to come forward, and Taline Ironskin—leader of team TRCS—stood up and went to the platform. He knew she was Taline has her blue-green hair contrasted her black uniform sharply. So, Taline was going to be in charge of fighting—well at least she had a lot of experience with that.

Several other positions went by, and there weren't many volunteers. He attributed their reluctance to the fact that nobody wanted to have any big responsibility like that. Though there were a lot of volunteers for gym supervisors—and from the hands and arms that were raised, it seemed like there were a lot of male volunteers for the girl's side of the gym and vice versa. Eventually, all the positions were taken.

"Now," Lord Taryn said, "I must be off, but remember these words, students. A man can only fight for so long. As skilled he is with a sword, or a bow, or a spear, he can only fight until either age or death stops him. That is why it is important for you, the next generation of warriors, to learn how to fight. For while a man can only fight for so long, a child can fight forever.

"Of course, most of you aren't children anymore." He paused while quite a few in the crowd laughed. "On a side note, the dance later this Saturday will go on, it's just that you're going to have to supervise yourselves. Don't start anything weird, or else I'll never hear the end of it." Storm snickered a little.

Finally Lord Taryn said, "I'll be off. Good luck and the teachers should be back by the New Year. Happy training." He stepped off the platform, and several students clapped and cheered for him.

Lord Taryn was very popular it seemed. It may have been some sort of natural charisma, or his words were actually inspiring. Storm didn't admire him or anything like that, and it actually mystified him how such a man could be so popular. He decided not to think about it too much, and have breakfast.

After getting some cereal, Storm and his team sat down with team CCRE. Storm glanced down the row and all four of them were there—Crystal, Cirocco, Rayne, and Ember. Crystal looked tired. "Well, how's my favorite team other than my own doing today?" Storm asked.

Crystal, whose face had almost fallen into her pancakes, snapped up. "We're all well, I think," Crystal said, looking to her right where sat the rest of her team. "Cirocco, want to say anything?"

"Not particularly, no," Cirocco said slightly irritated. His Altlesian accent made him sound even more irritated than he probably was though. "I think you summed that up pretty well."

"Cirocco, it doesn't take a genius to see that something's bothering you," Storm said. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Cirocco replied. Odd, it wasn't like him to keep anything to himself. Usually he said anything that came to mind, regardless of what reaction it might illicit. Who knew what this was about?

"Cirocco, spill it," Rusti said. "You'll feel a lot better with whatever this is off your chest."

Cirocco sighed and said, "I'm worried about my mother." If Storm was remembering correctly, Cirocco's mother was a widow with both kids out of the house as far as he knew. It made some sense that, with his mother in Atlas, and the CCT down, he would have trouble contacting his mother. "I've sent a letter, but I don't know when she'll get it. She kind of… relies on me, in way."

"I know that," Crystal said. "If you'll remember, my father's a widower too."

"Hm, maybe those two should get together," Rusti joked.

Storm looked over at Azura, who was sitting next to Rusti. "Azura, mind whacking him for us?" he asked.

"Sure," Azura replied, and gave him a light whack upside the head.

Rusti held the part of his head that had been hit. "You guys are gonna give me brain damage or something."

"I think we'll be able to live with that," Rayne said. He turned to Storm. "Hey, Storm, are you doing anything tonight?"

"I don't know. Why?" Storm asked his twin brother.

"Well, I was thinking, maybe it'd be good if we could talk for a while about stuff. You know, how we used to?"

"Sure, I guess." He and Rayne hadn't seen each other much since arriving at Haven. First there was being assigned to different teams, then the incident in the cafeteria that caused both of them to be sent on some kind of mission. It would be good to see his brother again, and get to talk with him one-on-one. "Do you want me to stop by your room?"

"Sure." It was good to have some connection to his family here. He had trouble with maintaining contact with the rest of his family, trouble remembering anyway. He thought that he'd enjoy knowing what Rayne was up to—especially what was the deal with him and Ember, as he wondered if he should be looking forward to having a sister-in-law soon, though that may have been thinking too far ahead.

"You know, I've wondered what it's like to have a sister," Crystal said.

"I say it's overrated," Cirocco said. "Mine's crazy."

"Yeah, so is mine," Storm said.

"Well mine's literally certifiable. Part of her brain was replaced by a machine, and that was after my dad died, and if you've spent any amount of time around her, you know she's insane."

"I met his sister in Vale," Faye said. "She seemed a little defensive, but not quite insane."

"She told me about that," Cirocco said. "How exactly did you knock her out?" Why did Faye knock out Cirocco's sister?

"I used Ember's energy manipulation to alter the flow of energy to her brain, making her fall unconscious."

"That's a way I haven't thought of to use it," Ember said.

"It is very effective, though I doubt it would work on Grimm."

"Excuse me, but why did you knock out Clove?" Crystal asked, sounding like she was holding back some significant outrage. That seemed to be a question that almost everyone wanted to know.

Faye looked nervous. "Well, I, uh," she started, but didn't find the words to continue.

Going to her defense, Storm said, "Knowing Faye, it was probably perfectly reason, and we don't really need to question her about it. Do we?"

That seemed to satisfy most. Everyone knew that Faye didn't make a decision lightly, or lash out indiscriminately. Whatever reason she had was good enough for everyone. Well, almost everyone. "I want to know," Rusti said. "Cirocco, you know, right? Tell me why she did it."

"Actually, Clove didn't tell me," Cirocco replied. "It really annoys me when someone doesn't tell me something. Why can't everyone be truthful?"

"I don't know, Cirocco," Rusti replied. "I don't know."

Faye continued to look nervous as Rusti eyed her suspiciously. Storm shot a look back, and he let up. He knew this wouldn't stop people from being suspicious, but at least Rusti wouldn't stare for now.

Eventually Faye would have to tell, and if not to them, at least to Storm. He wanted to know the truth, but he would let Faye come to him when she wanted to, not when he told her to.

I don't have a lot of energy right now, so I'll just be random. Want a movie with Carrie Fischer (I don't know if that's spelled right) in it that's not Star Wars? Watch the Blues Brothers, a funny, musical film, where Carrie Fischer is absolutely crazy, kinda like Clove is I guess. Hey, I connected the two things!