Chapter 13

"You challenged him to beat the truth out of you?" Ash echoed, wondering if she was out of her mind. Nobody beat the truth out of their friends, their family, and it made him wonder where on earth she had picked up that idea. "He's wrong."

Ash KNEW Crow was wrong. She was wrong too, for issuing a challenge like that, but he had a feeling it had stemmed from her heart and emotional duress and not her mind. Who wasn't a victim of falling to their own heated moments?

"You do belong."

"I was angry that he manhandled me and then threw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes before dropping me on my butt in the grass. My temper got the best of me." Melyssa was only human. She wasn't perfect, far from it and had made plenty of mistakes in her relatively short life. "And the way he was acting towards me, yelling at me, I figured he wanted to fight, so I thought I'd beat him to the punch." Wiping her tears away with her hands, Melyssa moved her legs to where they were sideways instead of bent up. Even in her distress, she was mindful there was a man here talking to her and she didn't need to flash her panties at him. "Why do I belong, Ash? I'm an outsider to you all. You're this tight-knit group because of everything you've been through, you're all second years and I'm…nobody. You're wrong, I don't belong in Class VII. It was a mistake, regardless of what the testing says."

"You sound like Rean." He commented off-handedly, taking her hands in his, ignoring the wet on her palms from wiping away her own tears. "Thinking you're not good enough when you are, more than good enough, actually." She made a face, he was guessing Rean was still a touchy subject. "Beautiful, when it comes to Crow, you're mysterious and I don't know if it's on purpose or not, but you'll say something and then let it drop, and that makes everyone curious." Luckily for her, she hadn't done it with many people, just those who tended to be a bit more observant than the average person. "Whatever it is you have going on with Crow… I have to ask, Melyssa, do you know about recent events with him?"

"You mean being miraculously alive when he was pronounced dead almost 3 years ago? No, I don't." She'd already told Ash about how she'd gotten into Thors, without divulging who her outside help was, so would it be terrible to tell him about her past with Crow? "I know he was C in the Imperial Liberation Front – the leader of it. I know he left Jurai when he was 13 without so much as a goodbye to a 10-year-old girl he grew up with, who claimed to be his best friend. I know he was working directly with Duke Cayenne and the man warped him into the monster he became and fueled his revenge for Chancellor Osborne. And I heard he died trying to save the former Crown Prince Cedric, along with the Ashen Chevalier. I thought he was dead, so imagine my surprise when I walk into this school and I'm thrust into Class VII – Rean Schwarzer, The Ashen Chevalier's class – and there's Crow, sitting in the back alive and well. And he looked at me with absolutely no recognition in his eyes – he doesn't remember me. My parents practically took care of him when his grandfather was busy being the Mayor of Jurai and we grew up together. Yet, he doesn't remember any of it." The look in Ash's eyes and the way his face somewhat fell made her heart clench almost violently. "I'm assuming you have the missing pieces of the Crow puzzle, right?"

"I do."

It was curious though, one small bit of what she had said. It was insignificant he supposed, but it would also explain why Crow didn't remember Melyssa when she so very clearly remembered him, perhaps even idolized. …who claimed to be his best friend. She hadn't said who HE claimed, which left it open to interpretation and if Crow not recognizing her one whit… yeah.

"Crow didn't remember anything when he was brought back, he had his skills, but not his memories." He tapped the side of his head, staring down at Melyssa intently. Her wording aside, he was wondering if it were possible that Crow hadn't come back with ALL his memories, it would explain a lot.

"Brought back?" Now Melyssa was confused and it showed on her face, her brows drawing together. "What do you mean like…back to life?" Was that even possible to do?

Ash nodded, not releasing her hands and squeezed them gently. "Look, it's a long shitty story, so I'll try to cut it down to the gist of what happened. There was this place called the Black Workshop and the leader, Black Alberich, was working alongside the Chancellor. They were known as the Gnomes. This was all during the end of the world bullshit that went on last year. The Twilight. Crow was resurrected temporarily under the control of Alberich as the immortal Azure Siegfried. He lost all of his memories of the past and worked under the Gnomes' command. With me so far?"

All Melyssa could do was swallow hard and nodded, not saying a single word.

"When the Twilight began, something must have triggered Crow to regain his memories because he wound up helping us. Well, he wound up helping Rean…" Ash shuddered, remembering the Black Workshop and how they'd found the Instructor, who had been completely consumed by the darkness inside of him.

"Wait, what do you mean help Rean?"

This really was a lot to tell a first year, but she wasn't an ordinary girl and she had a connection with Crow from the past. He felt she deserved to know the truth. "During the Twilight, Class VII – old and new – tried to stop the Chancellor and we failed. Rean was taken captive into the Black Workshop and we discovered he was a sacrifice for the Twilight – for what the true motive was. The Rivalry is what they called it and it pitted the Divine Knights against each other to gain the ultimate Great One's power. That was what Chancellor Osborne, Alberich and everyone who was responsible for bringing on the Twilight aimed for, even the Society of Ouroboros."

"Oh Goddess…" Ouroboros was BAD news and had been around the Empire long before Class VII originated. They also had some of the most powerful beings in their alliance as well. "So that's why the Divine Knights are gone, right? Is Crow still immortal or…?"

"No, Crow was supposed to disappear along with the Knights, once the Rivalry came to an end. Thanks to the Great One's power, though, along with Valimar, the Ashen Knight and Ordine, the Azure Knight, they stopped Crow from disappearing with them, along with the Chancellor and the other awakeners that were kept in the world as immortals. Rean's friend, Emma Millstein, her grandmother, Rosalie and Vita Clotilde also helped with magic of their own. Since Crow wasn't an immortal that long, he was able to be saved, but now I'm wondering if he didn't regain all of his memories back." That was quite the mouthful and it was the best way he knew how to explain what happened to Crow. "If he doesn't remember you, it's probably due to the immortality."

That was…a lot. Melyssa felt like her brain was going to explode or possibly implode and she had no idea what to say to any of it. Crow was an immortal being, that was spared, but he hadn't regained all of his memories. Crow had died and was brought back to life as someone named the Azure Siegfried…she couldn't imagine what he'd been through during that time and even before that with Duke Cayenne's influence.

"Thank you for telling me, Ash. It makes sense to me now why he doesn't remember me or any of his past." Now, she felt lower than dirt for being so angry at Crow not remembering her and hadn't given him the benefit of the doubt.

"Well, I'm telling you this for a reason, beautiful. Don't be so hard on him, I understand why you're carrying a lot of anger with him, I would too if I had been forgotten by my best friend." Ash would have been livid actually and probably thunked some memories right back into the friend's head; he was unforgettable for Goddess' sake! "But most people don't go through what he did, so maybe a small exception." Smiling, he held up his fingers, making a 'tiny bit' gesture with his thumb and pointer finger. "I bet he's beyond confused now…" If she had unloaded on Crow, he was probably totally lost since he obviously didn't remember her. Ash wished he could have witnessed that blow-up, just to see the birdies of confusion swirling around Crow's empty head.

In spite of what happened, she managed to crack a small smile at his humor and nodded, knowing Ash was right. "I guess I have been carrying around a lot of animosity and anger towards him without realizing it." Until now. "I was hurt at first and then that hurt festered into something cold and ugly." Her eyes moved back to the stream, her heart hurting for an entirely different reason now. Crow had been through so much and suffered things she would only see in her nightmares. Then there was Rean…she had unloaded on him earlier as well and now the guilt was peeking through. "How am I going to face either of them again? I said some pretty horrible things…"

"The same way I faced Instructor Rean after unloading on him."

Both Ash and Melyssa's heads snapped to the side, staring back at Juna and Altina. Ash did warn her they would be here relatively soon and he hadn't been lying. "What do you mean, Juna?"

"I'm originally from Crossbell." Juna informed her friend and walked over to sit down, Altina following suit. "When I first found out I was in the Ashen Chevalier's class last year, I had A LOT of animosity and anger towards him because of what happened in Crossbell with the annexation by the Empire." Crossbell was officially freed of the Empire and everything had returned to the way it used to be after the Twilight, thankfully. "He was on the side of the Imperial government in Erebonia, who ripped away Crossbell's independence."

"Oh, I heard about that." Why would Rean side with the Imperial government?

"We ended up going on a field study to Crossbell and…let's just say I said some things that weren't nice."

"Oh man, she let him HAVE it." Ash chuckled, grunting when Juna smacked his arm. "What? That was brilliant to witness!"

Juna rolled her eyes, directing her attention back to Melyssa. "My point is we ALL make mistakes and say things we don't mean. We're only human and from mistakes is where the lessons are taught. I learned a very valuable lesson from that trip and I made amends with Instructor Rean. He's one big ball of forgiveness, you just have to have the courage to talk to him and don't be afraid to tell him how you feel."

"If he can forgive me for being in the Intelligence Division and kidnapping his sister, Elise, I'm sure he can forgive you for yelling at him." Altina quipped, cracking the barest hint of a smile herself.

Wow, they all had issues with Rean Schwarzer in the beginning, it seemed, and Melyssa suddenly didn't feel like she was alone. "What about Crow? I-I share a room with him and I don't know if I can face him right now after what I said…"

"Courage." Juna stood up and extended her hand, pulling Melyssa to her feet. "Crow is a lot like Rean, though he'll never admit it. I'm sure if you sit down with him, calmly and rationally, and talk, everything will be worked out. I don't know your connection to Crow, but we've all sensed it since the moment you stood up in class to introduce yourself. Crow looked at you with this faraway expression on his face and when we questioned him about it, he shrugged it off. Even if a person loses their memory, it doesn't mean they'll completely forget people who meant a lot to them because they're instilled in the heart."

"Don't make me throw up, Wild Filly. Ugh." Ash had stood up with them, folding his arms in front of his chest. "Just talk to him and see what happens. No sense in avoiding him and I meant what I said," Now his pink eyes were locked on red-rimmed, swollen teal. "You DO belong in Class VII. He said it out of anger and I'm sure he didn't mean it."

"Affirmative."

"Come on, it's getting late and we need to head back if we're going to make it before nightfall. Instructor Rean is worried sick about you and Kurt is waiting for us at the entrance still."

"Okay."

"They're coming."

Crow had been almost flat and overly calm since earlier, Rean didn't like it at all. It reminded him of when Crow had been resurrected as Azure Siegfried. As Azure, Crow had been very quiet and introverted, which was his opposite as a general rule, but he had also been prone to resolving with violence which was not a good thing. Maybe some things from the resurrection and the memories being restored processes had carried over from 'Azure' to Crow while at the same time, things of Crow's had never come back fully. It was a lot to wrap his aching head around.

"I see them." He stood up from his place on the steps to watch the group approaching the academy gates.

Crow stood as well though his entire body language screamed hesitance, as if he was considering going inside and avoiding another explosion.

"Thank Aidios." Kurt breathed, rushing over to Juna and the others with Rean and Crow following behind. "Everything okay?"

"No, but…it will be." Juna smiled at her boyfriend and reached up to brush his light blue hair from his eyes. "You worry too much."

"For good reason." Kurt kissed the top of her head, thankful they all made it back unscathed.

Ash had his arm around Melyssa's shoulders in a purely platonic way, knowing she needed someone to lean against on the trek back to Leeves. "Found our spitfire." He winked down at her, dropping a kiss on top of her head. "Schwarzer, I know you told me to stay behind with Kurt, but…"

Rean held his hand up, already knowing what Ash was going to say. "I knew you wouldn't follow orders anyway, Ash. I'm glad you didn't." His eyes turned hesitant as they landed on Melyssa, who looked like a train wreck. "Melyssa, are you all right? Physically, I mean." First and foremost, he had to ask that question and folded his arms in front of his chest.

She swallowed hard, slowly nodding her head. "Y-Yes, Instructor."

Juna, Kurt and Altina stepped back and Juna pulled Ash away forcefully as well, knowing Melyssa had to do this alone.

"Good. Well, it's getting late, so why don't you all head to the dorm for some rest?" Rean suggested, turning to walk away and blinked when a hand came out to grab the sleeve of his jacket.

Courage. Goddess, please give me courage to do this, Melyssa silently prayed, and released Rean's jacket, clasping her hands in front of her. He was even MORE intimidating than before and her nerves were already on edge from her confrontation with Crow earlier. "I was wrong for the way I treated you earlier today, Rean. I've been…burdened with a lot of animosity and anger ever since school started and I took it out on you. And I'm sorry. I will understand if…if you want to send me to a different class and I won't resent you for it either. The way I've been acting is inappropriate, disrespectful and rude, not at all how a member of Class VII -no, of Thors – should act. I have nobody else to blame for my actions and I take full responsibility for them and I'm prepared for the consequences." Melyssa blew out a shaky breath, doing everything in her power to hold her emotions in because she hadn't cried this much since she found out about Crow's death.

One of Crow's eyebrows raised almost imperceptibly from his place off to the side, his arms folded over his chest.

His face was otherwise blank.