A Flame Amidst Darkness

Rest

When Laphicet awoke, his eyes opened to an unfamiliar ceiling.

Still in a daze, he turned his head, half-expecting (hoping?) to see Velvet or Eleanor by his bedside. Instead, an unknown man was sitting there, an opened book on his lap. The young malak's sudden movement startled the stranger, who almost fell from his chair at finding the sleeping boy conscious.

"O-oh! Sorry, I didn't expect... I mean, you're awake! That's good. That's very good."

Still confused, Phi weakly nodded, right before memories started rushing back in. The forest. The man-scorpion killer. The monsters. He gasped.

"I- what happened? Angelo and Mary, are they alright?"

The man held a comforting hand on his shoulder, gently forcing him to lie back down. "Easy, boy. The two of them were able to make their way back here. They're injured, but alive. You'll be able to see them as soon as we make sure you're okay too."

Phi weakly nodded, before looking again at his caretaker. The man seemed somewhat old, maybe in his fifties, with tanned skin and thick grey hair and beard. The fancy red jacket he was wearing above an immaculate white shirt and the black bowtie at his neck made him think of a scholar or a librarian, but the man's broad shoulders and callous hands denoted an active lifestyle, during his younger years at the very least

Phi gave the man a grateful smile. "I'm Laphicet. Thank you for taking care of me."

"Think nothing of it," the man answered with a somewhat bashful expression. "My name is Leonardo Lionheart, headmaster of Haven Academy. That, erm, is the place we are currently, if you were wondering. It's a pleasure to welcome you here. I, well, simply wish it was under better circumstances," he concluded with an awkward smile.

Academy? That's right, Angelo and Mary said something about- wait! Phi looked around for any sign of his two travelling companions. His worries grew when he saw no sign of them. There had been so many monsters, and Angelo had lost so much blood...

"The people who were with me... you said they were alright?"

The man sighed. "Well, alright might be stretching it. They suffered multiple injuries, at least one of them poisoned. We had to amputate young Angelo's right hand to save his life. Mary is expected to make a full recovery with only a facial scar to show for it."

Laphicet's horrified expression immediately prompted the Academy director to reassure him. "Do not worry though! It won't be long before both of them are back in the field. We've already ordered a prosthetic arm from Atlas. I'm told this will be as good as new."

Phi's horror was replaced by confusion. "A... prosthetic arm?"

"Ah, right, you might be a little young for technical terms. Think of it as a robot arm."

That didn't help much. "What's a robot?"

Leonardo Lionheart seemed a bit taken aback by the question. "Well, it's akin to a man made of metal, I suppose? I know that this kind of Atlas tech is relatively new, but they made such a big show of it that I expected anyone to be aware. Then again, you are young."

A man made of metal? "Oh, you mean a golem!" He had read about those in a book! Well, they weren't always made of metal, but still. And people in this world could receive golem arms?! That was so cool!

"I'm afraid I have no idea what a golem is." By now, the older man seemed rather befuddled. "If I may ask, could you tell me where you come from?"

Laphicet was about to answer when something swishing behind Leonardo's back caught his full attention. "You have a tail! Like that man in the forest!" Not a chitinous one like the one who attacked him, though. His caretaker's tail seemed distinctly more feline.

"Well, yes I do," said the headmaster, visibly uncomfortable with the attention given to his appendage. "I am a faunus, after all." Yet another unfamiliar term. "Don't tell me you don't know what a faunus is," the man grumbled.

Laphicet lowered his head. "I'm sorry..." It was probably very rude of him to ask so many questions to the man who had apparently cared for him while he was unconscious. Still, everything was so strange!

"Ah! No, I apologize, I didn't mean- but really, you don't know?" The grey-haired man seemed as confused as Laphicet at this point, but nonetheless attempted to explain. "Faunus are... well, think of us as humans with animal traits. The kind of animal varies greatly, of course."

"Like a turtlez?" Laphicet asked, thinking back of the unfortunate travelling peddler that they somehow kept crossing roads with. His very species seemed to defy all logic back home, and Eizen's comments of 'turtlez are turtlez' didn't help much.

"Maybe?" Leonardo answered. "To be honest, I have never heard of a turtle faunus before. But then again, most faunus live in Menagerie now. Not the closest place, I'm afraid."

A place full of people like Leonardo Lionheart seemed fascinating to Laphicet – though he wasn't so keen on meeting someone like the man in the forest. Everything in this world seemed new, and he couldn't wait to learn more. However, the headmaster had some questions of his own.

"Young man, I realize you must be tired, but I wanted to talk to you about what happened in the forest." Encouraged by Laphicet's nod, Leonardo continued. "The two huntsmen who brought your back praised quite extensively your conduct in battle. Told me they've never seen a semblance such as yours. I was hoping you could tell me more."

The young malak felt the heat rising to his face. "I'm not that special, really!" he denied. "Eizen and Magilou taught me a lot about malak artes, but I still have a long way to go. I'm just glad I could be useful."

The older man scratched his beard, looking a bit confused. "Is that how you call your semblance? They told me you managed to conjure lightning, fire and water. That you were able to partially heal Angelo's injury and counteract the poison long enough for him to make his way back to us. And then there was that – that silver fire you used to burn away the Grimm surrounding you." He hesitated, as if look for words. "This is highly irregular."

The last part was news to Laphicet. "Well, I'm not sure what a semblance is. But yeah, I was taught a lot of different artes. I don't remember much on what happened at the end though, sorry." All he could recall was the terror he felt as he believed to be on the verge of turning, and how that feeling had ignited a fire within himself. A silver fire? That was the first time he heard of it, but clearly something happened back there.

The headmaster's expression had become hard to read, as the man lost himself in his own thoughts for an instant. He soon focused back on Phi, though. "I understand you are quite young, but you seem unfamiliar with a lot of terms most people would be aware of, even at your age. And you have used a few words I'm unaware of. Please, where are you from?"

The tone was soft, but there was an almost desperate edge to it. Phi couldn't blame him for being confused, he wasn't sure he understood everything himself. Still, he tried to answer the best he could. "I-I know this might seem strange, but I don't think... I don't think I'm from this place. I mean from this world."

The older man looked sceptical, but apparently decided to humour him. "And what make you think that?"

"Well, the moon is completely different. It's not broken where I'm from. Also the stars are all wrong. And I've never seen a... faunus? Or those weapons that shoot fire. I mean, it's not been long since I began to see the world, but still, it looks nothing like what I know."

Leonardo Lionheart didn't seem quite convinced, but didn't contradict him, which Laphicet supposed was good. "I see. And did you arrive alone?"

The young malak shook his head hard, the worry he had pushed aside until now rushing back in. "No! I was with my friends! I'm sure they're here somewhere, but I don't know how to find them right now, and I figured that if I learned more about this place, then maybe I'd get an idea where they'd be, and then-"

His sentence was interrupted by a sudden bout of dizziness. In an instant, the lion faunus was at his side, helping lie back down. "Easy there, boy. There's no need to get so worked up. You're still suffering from aura exhaustion and need rest." Laphicet nodded weakly, trying to swallow back his anxiety. "Tell you what. Once you get better, I'll let you go through our library. I don't know about your friends, but if you want to learn more about Remnant, there's no better place."

Despite his worries, it was hard for Phi to not cheer up at the thought. "Really? That won't be a problem for the people here?"

The man chuckled. "Of course not. School year has yet to start, so you should have a few days with the place all to yourself. Once the students arrive, we'll figure something out. I'll arrange better living quarters for you once you feel better. Until you find your friends, you're more than welcome to Mistral Academy."

Laphicet's eyes widened. A library all to himself! That meant books, probably more than what he ever had the chance to read! "Thank you! I'll do my best not to be a bother, I promise!"

"No need to worry about that," Lionheart laughed. "Just rest for now, and I'll take you there myself once you're ready."

"But I'm not tired," Laphicet protested, which probably would have been more convincing if he hadn't tried to stifle a yawn at the same time."Well, maybe I'm a little tired."

The ten-year old allowed himself to close his eyes, if only for a minute. He was going to see that library, then find Velvet and the others, and then they'd get to explore this new world together. Oh, and they would probably have to find a way to go back too, at some point. Maybe Mr Lionheart could help them with that? He certainly seemed nice enough, and he was pretty sure you needed to be really smart to become a headmaster. Yeah, Phi decided, he'd ask him, and then things were going to be just fine.

It was with these happy thoughts in mind that he finally lost the fight against sleep.

Leonardo Lionheart had to admit, even asleep, the child's smiling face was among the most adorable things he ever had the chance to observe. All in all, his initial impression of the young boy had been rather favourable. He seemed like a bright, earnest kid, and despite only knowing him for five minutes, it was hard not to feel at least a little protective toward him.

Of course, there was that 'other world' story. The headmaster had trouble believing that part, who seemed more akin to one of those imaginary worlds children liked to lose themselves into. Even the strange vocabulary he had used sometimes wouldn't be out of place in a kid's overactive imagination. He knew how far boys his age could go when it came to craft their very own fantasy.

Still, tales of other worlds aside, there was no denying the boy was strange in more than one respect. A child his age having an awakened aura, let alone an active semblance, was pretty rare, yet not unheard of. But from what his two former students told him, the mastery he displayed in its usage would have been nothing short of prodigious for someone his age, and the sheer range of powers he displayed was unheard off, even among fully grown huntsmen. It would have been one thing if the child had carried dust weaponry on him, but all of his possessions were resumed to the clothes he had on his back and a silk satchel containing a couple of books, a few travel rations and a compass. Also lots of piece of paper, yet nothing to write with. Those powers the two injured hunstmen had described were not the product of advanced weaponry, but came from the boy himself.

Of course, it was possible Angelo and Mary had exaggerated a bit. The two of them had been rather injured when they came back, and hardly in the best conditions to make a detailed report. He would have to ask them again once they made a full recovery, and perhaps ask young Laphicet himself for a demonstration. That silver fire in particular was worth investigating, as impossible as it seemed. But even if it turned out that most of it had been blown out of proportion, there was still a thing about this boy Leonardo couldn't explain to himself.

When the unconscious child had been rushed in the Academy's infirmary, the assistant nurse had believed it to be a prank. According to her, she was asked to take care of thin air, as the two desperate huntsmen were carrying nothing and no-one. The suggestion their wounds were causing them delirium was poorly received, the ever hot-blooded Angelo going as far as to give an impressive display of his colourful vocabulary. As more of Mistral's medical staff was called upon the scene, it turned out however that the poor nurse was not alone in her assessment, with their intern also unable to perceive the boy, while the head nurse had no such trouble. Eventually, the commotion reached his own ears, and when Lionheart arrived on the scene, he could only agree that there was a young boy in dire need of assistance in the two sceptics were only convinced this was no practical joke when they realized they could touch the invisible – to them – child.

This only raised more questions. An invisibility semblance wasn't that rare, but Haven's headmaster never heard of one that could remain active while unconscious, yet only affect a select number of people. Or maybe it had only affected a couple of persons because he had been unconscious? Even after the boy awoke, Leonardo had no trouble conversing with him, but the young child still had been fairly weak, so perhaps that was it. But then, what to make of those powers he displayed to save his two former students?

Of course, that was a whole other problem. And one he suspected he would have to answer to before long. To say the lion faunus didn't relish the conversation he would no doubt have in the coming days would be an understatement. As for what it would mean for the boy... Leonardo could only hope he wouldn't get torn apart in the deadly game he just stumbled in.

But then again, did any of Leonardo's hopes ever came true?

Notes: well, back in business. Hopefully for a good long while. Not the most polished chapter, but I at least wanted to get the ball rolling once more. Thank you for your continued support!