Chapter 12

Crow's fiery red eyes flashed almost pure crimson for a moment and he honestly had no idea what was eliciting the reaction from him. He had absolutely no reason to find the idea of Melyssa and Ash so… disgusting and wrong, but he did. Would he feel the same if it were Rean? Of course not, Rean wasn't a wanton philandering jackass who would break his roommate's heart.

Keep telling yourself that, buddy. He mentally scolded himself.

Melyssa was squirming now because Ash had pulled her, so her back was to his chest. "Now why," He whispered in her ear, the corner of his mouth that was visible to Crow hitched firmly up into a grin. "Does he seem almost… jealous? Hmm?"

"Considering he sees me on a nightly basis and we share a room together, why would he be? I don't think that's it." Ash was not making this situation any better by positioning her the way he did. She shrugged, gently but firmly pulling away from Ash to put space between them. "And Carbide, kindly stop trying to insinuate something is going on when there's not. We're classmates and friends, that's it." She wanted to make that crystal clear to him in front of Crow, so there was zero confusion in the future.

"Hey, it's none of my business what you two are." Crow said it carelessly, but he couldn't stop the relief that washed through him at Melyssa's assertion. She was too good and way too smart for the likes of Ash Carbide.

The fact that she was making it perfectly clear that there was nothing going on between them made Ash curious about how she felt about Crow. "You're breaking my heart, beautiful."

"I'll break your face." Crow offered cheerfully, balling up one fist and gave it a playful shake. His mood was quite a bit better.

"Oh come on, Ash, I'm sure there are LOADS of girls in this school that would love a shot at the bad boy. I'm here to strictly hone my skills as a swordswoman, nothing more – nothing less." It was nobody's business how she felt towards Crow, quite frankly, and she wasn't about to give Ash any more ammunition in that territory. "Now, if you ever want to dance together again, like we did earlier, or against each other, you know where to find me. Come on, Crow, I'm not leaving you two alone with each other."

She'd given Ash PLENTY of ammunition. Her panic about returning to Jurai earlier, he hadn't forgotten that 'no' that had escaped her, the somewhat scathing attitude about Rean instead of the near reverence she usually possessed. Ash was going to let discretion be the better part of valor today and back off, she had given him plenty to consider and mull over.

"Well then, beautiful, I'll leave you to it, I've got business to attend and Crow seems delighted to let you boss him around." I'm not leaving you two alone with each other, she was a lot like Rean and the other girls in class, he wondered if she even knew it.

"Shut up, Ash." Crow muttered, his eyes narrowing as Ash walked off, laughing no less.

That was just who Ash was as a person and she was getting used to it slowly but surely. Maybe spending the day with him wasn't the best idea or confiding in him regarding how she'd gotten into Thors, but…trust had to start somewhere. Melyssa thought back to her 'talk' with Rean and rubbed her temples, wondering if Crow knew anything about it. It seemed Rean would go to him, but then again, maybe not. She was still contemplating if telling Crow was the right thing to do, to jog his memory about a past he obviously wanted to forget. Would it do more harm than good? Melyssa didn't know what to do and blinked when Crow snapped his fingers in her face, jolting her out of her deep thoughts.

"What?"

Melyssa didn't have to worry about him spilling the beans or using the information she had laid out on him against her. Ash was a jackass sometimes, lewd and vulgar, but when someone confided in him, the secret pretty much stopped there. He wasn't one to spread stuff like that. Now petty gossip, sure, but not something like what she had told him.

Time would prove that to her.

"You are so lost in thought right now, I think you might need a road map." Crow informed her, searching her eyes intently. "What's going on, Mel?"

"Sorry, I have a lot on my mind right now." That was an understatement. Not only did she have Crow to worry about, but going to Jurai would mean she'd more than likely see her parents again after over a year of zero contact. Melyssa felt like a twisted pretzel and her brain was going in all kinds of different directions, while her heart was torn on what to do. "It's nothing you need to worry about…" Suddenly, it was like something SNAPPED inside of Crow. He grabbed her hand and dragged her to the nearest exit of town, her teal eyes widening. "Crow, what in Aidios' name are you doing?! Let me go!" She managed to yank her hand out of his vise grip and he responded by bodily lifting her over his shoulder, making her jaw drop. "PUT ME DOWN, CROW ARMBRUST!" Melyssa was strong, but he was a lot stronger than her and tightened his hold around her waist to prevent her from squirming or slithering away. Once they were on the outskirts, he dropped her on her backside in the grass and she glared up at him, immediately getting to her feet. "What the HELL is wrong with you?! Who the HELL do you think you are?!"

Melyssa had attracted quite a bit of attention with her shrieking, never mind him carting her out of the town like she was a rucksack of flour or something. "Don't tell me it's nothing for me to worry about! Rean told me what you ranted at him." He said in a much calmer voice than what she was using. "You're hiding things from me, so what the hell is wrong with YOU?" What in Gehenna was she hiding from him? "What is it you think you're going to have to force me to remember?" His eyes searched hers intently. Did she even know his story, about how he died and what his 'return' from death had entailed?

"So you thought manhandling me and dragging me out here would make me tell you?" Damn it, Rean Schwarzer, she thought scathingly, really hating the man right now for not keeping his nose out of her business. Gritting her teeth, she unsheathed her Cutlass and held it out to him threateningly, shaking her head. "If you want to know so badly, you'll have to beat the truth out of me, Armbrust. Just know, I'm NOT that weak little girl you used to know and I won't go down easily. So come on, what weapon will you use? Your double-saber or pistols?" It didn't matter to her, she was ready for this and didn't need a Combat Link to battle.

"You're not ready for Class VII." Crow said flatly, stepping away from her and folded his arms over his chest. "I don't know what your damage is, inviting someone to beat you."

He could kill her, beating her seemed a little mundane compared to what he could very easily do to her. Some weak little girl he used to know, he racked his brain, trying to place her. A fishmonger from Jurai, there were so many and to be honest, much of his early life had been red washed due to his grief and rage.

"I'm not going to fight you because you have a chip on your shoulder." Did she want to lose her spot in the academy? This was a good way for that to happen and he was ready to graduate finally and be done with this.

"So manhandling someone and dragging them off is considered to be perfectly fine, but when that person decides to fight back, it's a violation of whatever code Class VII and the academy has? That's good to know. Thanks for enlightening me and, just so you know, I DON'T have a chip on my shoulder. You're the one who does from the looks of it." Sheathing her Cutlass, Melyssa took a deep breath and figured she had nothing left to lose at this point. "Jogging your memory may do more harm than good and I was deciding if I should or not. I was deciding if it was even worth it since you don't remember me. I don't know what Duke Cayenne did to you or how you're alive, since last I heard before coming here, you were dead. You had died trying to save the former Crown Prince Cedric…with the Ashen Chevalier." He was staring at her now through narrowed crimson eyes. "Yet somehow, miraculously, here you are in the flesh. Makes me wonder if you were dead in the first place or if that story was fabricated to protect you somehow. You wanna know what I've been hiding from you, Crow? I've been hiding the fact that we grew up together in Jurai. My family was close to your grandfather and we were best friends. My Mom was practically a mother to you and you fished a lot with my father. Cynthia and Roger Brackett and they own Brackett & Co in Jurai." It was the largest fish company in Jurai. "You left Jurai when you were 13. You left without a word, no goodbye, nothing. And I missed you, I missed my best friend, the only one I grew up with since we were little. And then I find out you died and I mourned you for almost 3 years, wishing there was something I could do to prevent it from happening, wishing for you to come back to life! And the only thing I had my mind set on was getting better, stronger, faster, so one day I would cut down the one who I thought took you from me." That bit she hadn't told Ash about, only that she had started training at age 10. "Imagine my surprise to come here and I'm not only thrust into Rean Schwarzer's class, but find you alive and well. And when you looked at me with that blank expression on your face and no recognition in your eyes, well…I decided there was no point bringing it up. You obviously don't care about your past in Jurai or the people you left behind after your grandfather died because of your revenge on Chancellor Osborne. So there you have it, that's what I've been hiding from you, Crow. Satisfied? Did it jog anything up there?" She tapped her temple harshly with her finger, not even feeling the tears pouring down her cheeks. "Hey, I guess you're right, maybe I DO have a chip on my shoulder after all." Turning, she walked off down the path, just needing some time and space from him after saying all of that.

She definitely had a chip on her shoulder and absolutely none of that made any sense to him. He remembered his childhood, right? So where were those teal eyes, he wouldn't have forgotten them, would he? Frowning, Crow debated if he would chase after her and decided against it. Obviously, they were going to have to have a proper, calm discussion, they were roommates; there just wasn't a way to avoid it, but first… he needed to talk to Rean, work some things out.

He HAD gotten back all of his memories, right?

Rean, along with the rest of Class VII, were waiting at the same entrance Crow carted a bellowing Melyssa off in. He frowned, not seeing Melyssa anywhere and Crow was pale, looking very troubled. What had happened? He assured the townsfolk everything was fine and quickly gathered all of Class VII here, questioning Ash vigorously on what he'd done with Melyssa for the day. It was only when he spoke to an elderly woman at the entrance did he find out Crow had carted a young lady with dark blue hair through the west exit. Instead of going after them, Rean trusted Crow and it was obvious he had to hash things out with Melyssa, especially after what she'd said to him earlier.

"Crow, where's Melyssa?"

"She took off…after telling me what's been bothering her. I forced it out of her." Crow sounded distant and weary, which wasn't a good combination for him. "She told me what's going on and…I need to talk you privately, Rean."

"Sure…" Rean looked at Juna and Altina, both nodding before taking off through the entrance.

"Ash and Kurt, stay here and wait for them to return, please. I'm going to talk to Crow alone and if anything happens, you can reach me on the ARCUS II."

They both nodded. "Yes, Instructor." Kurt watched Rean and Crow walk away and his eyes moved back to the entrance, wondering if leaving the girls out there alone was really the right thing to do.

Ash snorted, waiting until Rean and Crow were out of sight before making his own decision and took off out of the entrance.

"For Aidios's sake!"

Melyssa had no idea how long she'd been walking, but she finally stopped at a nearby stream to take a breather, wiping the tears away from her eyes. Sitting down in the grass, she drew her knees up and buried her face in them, unable to stop crying. That had been A LOT to unload on Crow all at once and she was trembling from the aftermath of it, knowing he probably hated her now.

Duke Cayenne is responsible for everything Crow has done and I will make him pay someday, she silently vowed, not moving an inch and stayed there by the stream, the sound of the water calming her down little by little.

"You DO know the girls are looking for you, right?"

Finding her had been interesting. Ash did not consider himself a 'tracker', others were better at it then he was, but… even he hadn't missed some of the signs of where Melyssa and Crow had been. He probably should let someone know he had found her via the ARCUS II, but…she still looked a little blotchy from the crying jag she had obviously had.

"Mmm, they're still about ten minutes out from finding you." Altina would figure it out quick, she was almost mechanical in her processes. Dropping down into a crouch beside her, he peered into her face. "What happened, beautiful?"

"Ash…" Fresh tears pooled in her eyes and she couldn't hold them back as she shook her head, turning her head to stare back at the water. "How did you find me?"

Even her voice was rough from all the crying she'd done and she hated how it cracked. She felt his finger glide down her cheek, trailing the tear streak and it made her look back at him. There was nothing lewd in his touch like there'd been earlier and there was nothing except concern in his eyes.

"Crow manhandled me, took me to the outskirts of town because I told him not to worry about what was on my mind. And he became angry over it. I challenged him to beat the truth out of me and he said I didn't belong in Class VII." That hurt more than she cared to admit. "Maybe he's right – maybe I don't."