~Surprise Update~!

I originally planned to have this chapter out next month and submit nothing today, but I've had this chapter done for awhile, and the next two chapters are almost done... and I really like this story. So... here ya go! End of the month surprise update!

EDIT: Thanks to TCK for catching an error on my part regarding the occupations of Cassie's parents.

Tobias was very familiar with the feeling of hay. During the war, meetings were frequently held at the barn of Cassie, one of the other Animorphs. Both of her parents were veterinarians and owned Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. As the name suggested, it was a place where wildlife animals were treated until they were ready to reenter the wild. It took up half the barn where the Animorphs held their meetings, but that ended up being quite convenient. Since morphing healed almost every non-genetic injury of the acquired animal, the clinic provided a steady supply of new morphs to sample.

If the teens needed some morphs that would not fit in a barn, Cassie once again was their provider. Cassie's mom was the head veterinarian at the Gardens, which was a combination between an amusement park and a zoo. It was from that zoo the Animorphs acquired a lot of commonly used morphs, including their raptor and battle morphs. For Tobias, a red-tailed hawk served both purposes.

While Tobias spent most of his time as a hawk, he did on the rare occasion morph into a human during the meetings. Usually, it was because one of the other Animorphs brought food that couldn't be enjoyed properly with a hawk's palate. Hay carried its own warmth, and despite its scratchy ends, it was better than sleeping on the floor with nothing but a blanket.

The distant memory made Tobias wince as he sat up. He froze. His thoughts had distracted him. He was not in Cassie's barn. He hadn't been to the barn in years. He was in a stone room, sleeping on a thin bed of hay that wasn't nearly as comfortable as the hay piles he remembered. The room didn't smell of manure and old hay. It smelled… a lot like a girl's bedroom.

Tobias's eyes darted around the room. A door, in front of him, easily reached in a quick sprint. Wall on his right. Stone. A wardrobe behind him. A bed on his left side. Diagonally on his left sat a little girl whose hair was a ridiculously vivid shade of pink. She was dressed in a magenta negligee that was quite thin. Tobias wondered if she wore it to avoid heat, or because it looked adult. The curious, but oddly detached gaze she had on him did not cue him to either side.

Gradually, Tobias remembered what had happened before he passed. He checked his left hand to be certain his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. Sure enough, symbols were written across the back of his hand. He rubbed his fingers over the marks. He felt no pain, and they didn't smudge. It looked like a tattoo, but he had felt them burn into his hand.

"Are you done looking like a spooked animal?" Louise asked.

Tobias looked at her dead in the eyes. Louise maintained eye contact for as long as she dared, but when matched against his unblinking stare, the mage had to look away. "Stop looking at me like that!"

"Are you pouting?" Tobias asked.

"No!"

Tobias rolled his eyes at the obvious denial, but moved his stare to the window on the other side of the room instead. Seeing the red rays of sunset, his lips curled into the smallest of frowns. "How long as I asleep?"

"Most of the day," Louise replied. While Tobias didn't make a major shift in his facial expression, Louise noticed his body slump when he heard her response. "You made me worry, you know? None of the other students had their familiars pass out from getting their runes."

"Have you ever had your hand burned off?"

Louise flinched at Tobias words, which were delivered in a strangely conversational tone. "W-what? No!"

"Getting these things—" Tobias lazily waved his left hand, "—was almost as painful as burning my hand off entirely. Also, I'd had a long day, so you'll have to excuse me for not being able to stay on my feet."

"You had your hand burned off before?"

He nodded and shrugged. "It happens."

"No," Louise retorted. "Losing a hand is not something that just happens! I don't even know if a water mage could heal that!"

Tobias's only response was to give a non-committal shrug.

Louise's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You're not lying to me, are you?"

"I don't see the point in lying," Tobias replied frankly. "Lies are only used when you have something to conceal. Since I'm pretty sure you own me, there's nothing I need to hide from you."

"Th-that's right!" Louise said, gaining a confident smile. "I, Louise de la Valliere, am your master. And you will serve as my faithful familiar!"

"Yes," Tobias said with a voice as flat and dry as a sheet of parchment. "We both know that. Was there a reason to say it out loud?"

"I can say whatever I want!"

"I never said you couldn't."

"Stop being disrespectful!"

"Everything I say is spoken with the highest respect I have."

"Grah!" Louise walked over to the bed and flopped face first into it. "You're so infuriating!"

Tobias didn't bother to respond to that.

Louise slowly pulled herself onto her knees. Then she turned around and faced her familiar, sitting on her bed with her knees up. The position left her lower body very exposed if she moved her feet, but Tobias decided to keep his attention on the window to avoid that scenario.

"Hey," Louise said softly. Tobias turned his head towards her, but kept his eyes trained on her face. The young mage looked embarrassed as she continued, "I'll make sure you don't regret being my familiar. I swear it on my honor."

"Is there a reason I would regret it?" Tobias asked.

"No."

Tobias's eyes bore into hers, making Louise uncomfortable as she tried to maintain eye contact. Surprisingly, this time her familiar turned away first. "Keep your secrets if you wish," he said.

"You're not concerned?" Louise asked in surprise.

"Whatever your secret is, I doubt it's going to kill me," Tobias replied. "If you don't feel like sharing, I'm not going to force you."

"That's right," said Lousie, her voice regaining her using commanding vigor—or brattiness, as Tobias considered it. "As my familiar, you live to serve me. You should follow my orders without question."

"If you tell me to jump off a cliff I will refuse."

"I wouldn't order something that would get you killed!" Louise protested. "What I want is an honest and clear answer from you."

Tobias nodded. Louise looked unnaturally serious, so he could tell it was a serious question.

Louise took a deep breath to steady herself. Then, she asked, "Why did you accept my offer?" You didn't seem to care about my family's money or noble position, so what influenced your decision?"

It wasn't the question he expected, but Tobias could see where she was coming from. He had come across as cold and uncaring, so it was naturally that she would question his about face in accept becoming a spoiled child's pet. Tobias leaned his back against the wall as he crafted a suitable response. "I know nothing about this place," he admitted. "I don't know what the value of money is, how much a noble rank matters, or anything that a person from here would find of value. All I can judge is a person's intentions. And you, Louise, although you're a bit spoiled, you seem like a semi-decent person."

"Spoiled?" Louise echoed indignantly. "Semi-decent! How dare you?"

"Proving my point exactly." Seeing Louise pout, Tobias offered another tidbit. "While you're a bit of a brat, I do owe you my life," he admitted begrudgingly. As Louise made a confused expression, he continued, "I might as well play along with your weird pet fetish for now."

"P-p-pet fetish!" Louise sputtered.

"I mean, using a human as a familiar instead of animal or whatever, isn't that weird?"

"It wasn't on purpose!" she insisted.

"Then were you trying a summon a hawk, or an Andalite?"

"What in Brimir's name is an Andalite? And I wasn't choosing anything! The spell selects the familiar most suited for the mage!"

"Based on what?"

"Elemental affinity for one," Louise replied with a sigh. "I was hoping to summon a normal familiar so I could find out my element."

Tobias looked at her blankly. "Are we talking about the periodic table or fantasy stuff?"

"A what table?"

"Fantasy mumbo jumbo it is," Tobias concluded. "I think Marco told me about this before; weren't they Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Lightning?"

"Whoever this Marco is, he surely isn't a mage," Louise sniffed. "Lighting is not an element, it's a subset of triangle class and higher wind magic. The elements are Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Void. Void is the lost element, only used by the Founder, Brimir. All mages are capable using at least one of the four other elements. This is basic information for even a child."

Tobias didn't respond to the slight as he delivered his own barb. "Given the way you almost killed me, I'm guessing you're fire."

"I wasn't trying to kill you!" Louise protested. "And no, I'm not fire. My explosions lack the heat of a fire spell. And whatever smoke is generated doesn't come from a proper flame."

"Wind then?" Tobias supposed.

"Didn't I already say I was trying to find my element?" Louise asked angrily. "My explosions don't even count as magic because they don't fit under any of the four elements!"

"Well, that's stupid."

"How so?" she asked carefully.

"I know from experience that there are certain sticks you can point at people to blow them up," Tobias replied. "The twig you had was not one of them. If that isn't magic, then I don't know what is."

Louise sighed. She had hoped that her familiar had an insightful observation for once. "It's not proper magic because it can't be classified," she explained. "My explosions don't make any sense."

"It's effective at destroying things and killing people, that makes it pretty sensible in my book."

"Why is your first thought to kill people?" Louise asked angrily. "I'm not that kind of person!"

"You're not?"

"No!"

"Oh," Tobias gave her an apologetic nod. "My bad then."

Louise highly suspected he was mocking her, but she had quickly learned that Tobias was hard to corner thanks to his immaculate poker face. "And on that note," she said. "Why are you so obsessed with talking about people dying? That's a disturbing conversation topic."

"Prior experience, don't worry about it."

"Somehow, that does not set me at ease," Louise said drily.

Tobias shrugged. "I'm not really good at making people feel comfortable."

"Ugh, you're such a pain." Louise flopped onto her bed. Tobias subtly diverted his attention back toward the window and away from her mostly exposed thighs. "We have a lot to talk about tomorrow, don't sleep in."

"I'm an early riser," Tobias assured her.

Louise gave an incoherent mumble as she slipped under covers. Tobias waited until her breathing to even out, and then stood up. He crossed the front of the bed and stood by the window. He down looked at Louise's sleeping face. Like this, she looked vulnerable, cute, almost. Nothing like the passive-aggressive, fiercely blushing annoying brat she normally was. Still, she wasn't a bad kid. As far as people went, there were plenty worse he could owe a life debt to.

Tobias's gaze moved towards the night sky. In the years he had spent away from civilization after the conclusion of the war, he had become very familiar with the positions of the stars. He could tell with a glance at the night sky that he was not on earth anymore. A lack of familiar constellations aside, there was an extra moon hanging in the sky.

New moon.

New stars.

New chance of life.

Tobias looked down at his human hand. How long had it been since he had used his human body? He was surprised that he remembered how to walk. If he didn't want to take some embarrassing tumbles, he needed to relearn how to move around without wings. Louise hadn't meant to stick him in human morph, he knew that, but he also knew that regardless of her intentions, he had passed his time limit.

The two-hour time limit to morphing wasn't a hard and fast rule. Tobias had witnessed the other Animorphs go over their time limit before with no side effects. However, the two-hour mark was a rough approximate for when it became difficult to demorph. And if someone failed to demorph in time, they would be trapped in whatever body they were currently in. This included partial morphs as well.

Such was the fate of a Nothlit, one who had timed out their morphing ability. There was no true cure. While the Escafil device—or morphing cube, as the Animorphs called it—could give someone the ability to morph, it was a one time use only. Once the power was given, it could not be reset. Only if the creature you morphed into had a natural evolutionary process, i.e. a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, could you restart the morphing ability. Otherwise, you were trapped, forever,

That was the fate Tobias had faced during the Animorph's first mission against the Yeerks. He had remained in morph, hiding from the Yeerks, until his time had long passed. At the time, he didn't particularly care. His mother was in a mental institute, and her brother and sister passed him around like an unwanted pet. As a hawk, Tobias had more freedom than he did as a human. He didn't have to attend school or be trapped in a house with people he couldn't stand. A meadow not too far from Cassie's house was his territory. The local wildlife were his meals. He could provide constant reconnaissance for the rest of the Animorphs who still had normal lives.

But being a hawk left him with very little options in life and for combat. Ellimist, the grandfatherly cosmic entity that subtly forced the Animorphs to come together, granted Tobias a boon. The boy turned hawk regained his morphing ability, and later, through a trippy dream, managed to acquire his old human body. However, his default form was still a hawk. He could pretend to be a human for about two hours at a time, but that was it. Additionally, his human body never aged, so every time Tobias became human, he felt like he was wearing a skin that he had outgrown.

Tobias was no longer human. In fact, it had been a long time since he thought himself as one. His mother was a human. His father was an Andalite Prince. He was human-nothlit turned hawk. He had considered morphing into his human form and being trapped once again, but he never could do it. Regaining his full humanity would leave him unable to participate in the war, and he wouldn't abandon his friends as they continued to risk their lives on the frontlines.

Not while she was fighting on the front lines.

Tobias sank to the cold, stone floor. He didn't cry. He couldn't even remember how to cry. But for the first time in who knew how long, he felt like he needed to release the emotions he had been dealing with for years. So much pent-up anger and sadness, and he couldn't even fly away. If he could just be a hawk again, just for this night, he would be able to take to the skies and soar long enough to get the feelings out of his system. Sadly, that would not be happening anymore.

Well, wishing for things to happen never got anyone anywhere. Tobias decided to go to sleep and deal with everything in the morning. He rose to his feet, or at least attempted to. Instead, he promptly fell flat on his face. Tobias tried to push himself up with his arms, but found that he couldn't even feel his hands anymore.

"What the hell?" Tobias rolled onto his back, thankful that Louise seemed to be a pretty heavy sleeper. He sat up and looked in surprise when he saw scales running across his scarily thin calves. "What the hell!"

Tobias looked down at his arms, at this point only half-surprised to see them bent at an odd angle and covered in feather-like patterns. Concentrating, he focused on his human body, and watched his skin and bones rearrange themselves. Then, he focused on his hawk body. He clearly pictured everything from his wings to his talons. In less than a minute, he found himself standing on the stone floor in the avian body he had used for over six years.

With a triumphant screech, Tobias flapped his wings and perched on the windowsill. The sun had set, which normally meant it would be too dark for flying, but the extra moon in the sky provided the extra illumination Tobias needed. He could see that there was plenty of open space as long as he avoided the stone walls and towers. Ruffling his feathers and spreading his wings, he prepared to take his first flight in this new world.

Tobias was perched in the window of Louise's bedroom. The golden rays of the rising sun illuminated his back, sending his shadow across Louise's body. The noble girl slept peacefully, looking much more amicable than she did when she was awake. Stray strands of bright pink hair fluttered around her nose to the rhythm of her steady breathing.

And Louise was worried about him sleeping in.

While Louise never mentioned exactly when she needed to be awake, Tobias was used to being up with the sun. Today had been an exception. He had gone for a flight before the sun was even up. The dawn was nice. Even on a different planet, sunrises were still one of the greatest sights in in nature.

Watching Louise sleep was surprisingly soothing, but Tobias figured that she had spent enough time snoozing. His shadow stretched and distorted as his wings retracted into spindly limbs. His legs exponentially increased in size, almost causing him to lose his balance and fall out of the window. Only the quick transition to resting on his knees saved him from a terrifying tumble. Feathers receded into his pale skin as his bones made several contortions that made for a disturbing shadow performance. After less than a minute, he was knelling on Louise's windowsill, fully human.

Tobias stepped down onto the stone floor of Louise's room. He found it fascinating that despite the lack of modern tools, the floors were almost smooth, with the just slightest amount of grit for traction. It should have been impossible given the country's level of technology, but then again, magic existed. Who could say what counted as impossible anymore?

"Louise, wake up," Tobias said, standing next to Louise's bed.

The young mage continued to sleep soundly. While it was cute to watch, Tobias couldn't let her sleep in any longer.

{Wake up already,} he projected through thought-speak.

Louise's face scrunched up in reflex. She blearily opened her eyes, not recognizing Tobias in her sleep-addled state. "Who is it?" she asked drowsily.

"Your new pet."

Louise shot up immediately. "Don't say that," she shouted at him, throwing a pillow at his face.

The harmless projectile sailed by Tobias's head as he stepped aside. The pillow hit the corner of the window and fell to the ground with a dull fwump. "It's true," Tobias said pointedly.

"Shut up!"

Tobias obediently did so, watching Louise grumble and get out of bed with an amused twinkle in his eye. It was times like these that made him appreciate his lack of natural facial expressions. It certainly made it easier to hide his amusement.

Louise stumbled to her wardrobe and flung it open. Grabbing her clothes, she ordered Tobias, "Help me change."

Tobias stared at her back.

Louise took off her nightgown, leaving herself clad in only her underwear. "Hurry up already," she commanded.

"You want me to do what?" Tobias asked, keeping his eyes perfectly level with hers. Given that he was slightly taller than her and a short distance away, it was difficult not to notice the rest of her body. At least she was underdeveloped, so lack of clothing aside, there was nothing to pull at his gaze.

"Change me!"

"How?"

Louise whirled around looking at him incredulously. "Help me put on my clothes," she said slowly, as if speaking to a daft child.

"Can't you do it yourself?"

"That's not the point," Louise insisted. "You're my familiar, you should help me with these things. It's simple enough, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't know, I don't wear girl clothes," Tobias pointed out. "In fact, I don't wear much clothes at all."

Louise took a second look at the clothes, or lack thereof, that clad her familiar's near naked form. "I need to buy you some clothes," she grumbled as she turned back to her wardrobe.

Seeing Louise move to dress herself; Tobias went back to the window. He wanted to go for another flight, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to let Louise know about his abilities yet. There was no reason to hide his powers. After all, he was only here to serve as her magic pet. But old habits died hard. Additionally, it'd be very awkward to bring up. What was he supposed to say? "I'm actually a half-alien with the ability to turn into any creature I touch." There was no way that would ever fit neatly into a conversation.

"Are you done daydreaming?" Louise asked irritably.

Tobias turned to see that Louise was fully dressed and standing by the open door. In her hands she held a folded-up shirt and pants. "I suppose," he said flatly. "Who are the clothes for?"

"You," she said. "It appears someone was kind enough to drop off clothes for you. They'll have to do until I can get you some proper attire. Get dressed so we can leave already."

Tobias took the clothes from her and did as she asked. Louise didn't close the door to the room, and he didn't ask her to. He had already paraded around the school in only his underwear; he didn't have anything to hide. The pants were a bit long and sat low on his waist, leaving the elastic top of his underwear exposed. The shirt, being equally ill-fitting, made up for that by falling halfway down his thighs. Tobias knew he would never be able to run in his current outfit, but at least he now appeared "decent".

It had been a long while since he had worn a proper outfit. Back in the day, when he was still a human boy, he hadn't had much clothes or had an eye for fashion. After he became a hawk, he owned no clothes to his name. Whenever he needed to go out in human form, he relied on Rachel to arrange his outfit. She was even the one who picked out the underwear he was currently wearing. It was a part of the last outfit she had chosen for him before she had—

"If you're done let's get moving," said Louise, tapping her foot impatiently.

Tobias nodded, mentally shaking away the depressing thoughts. He followed Louise as she stepped out of the room, closing the door behind himself.

The walk allowed Tobias to scope out the interior of the building. He had managed to get an aerial view the night before—the extra moon provided great illumination—but now he needed to learn where everything was relative to his overhead map. It appeared that they resided in a dorm building. Everyone they passed in the nearest halls looked older than Louise, but they all wore the same dark blue robes. As they reached what appeared to be a common area, Tobias could see other students with different colored robes. Most of the older looking students had purple robes, and the younger ones—looking closer to Louise's age—had brown robes.

"Is this a three-year school?" Tobias asked Louise.

"Yes," Louise answered with surprise in her voice. "How did you know?"

"Three different robe colors," Tobias replied.

Louise nodded "You're correct. Every year has a different colored robe. The freshmen wear brown robes. Juniors such as myself wear black. And the seniors wear violet."

Tobias eyed her cloak, and the similar ones he saw on other students. "Your robes are blue," Tobias corrected. "A very dark shade of blue, but they're still blue."

"Don't be absurd," said Louise. "They are black."

"Have you looked at them?" Tobias deadpanned.

Louise whirled around. "They. Are. Black," she insisted.

Tobias just stared at her in bland disinterest. Huffing, Louise turned back around and resumed walking. "Is it really that big of a deal?" the boy wondered.

To be fair to both parties, the blue was dark enough to appear black. If Tobias wasn't used to modern clothes being solid black, he probably wouldn't have given the color a second thought.

The duo's destination became evident as Tobias picked up the mouthwatering aroma of food. He could pick up the smell of cooked meet and some kind of bread, but most of the scents were unfamiliar to him. He trailed Louise closely as she took a seat at the end of a long table. Tobias looked at Louise, and then at the empty seat next to her. "Do I sit down?" he asked her.

"Yes, you may."

Tobias pulled back a chair, but Louise raised a hand to stop him. "Familiars don't sit on chairs," she insisted.

Tobias stared at her. "Where else would I sit?" he had to ask.

"On the floor."

A look into Louise's eyes told Tobias that the girl was serious. He surveyed the other patrons of the cafeteria, noting that despite none of the familiars having their own chair, they were all seated on or nearby their masters. A parrot was perched on the back of one chair. A cat sat in its owner's lap. A floating eyeball hovered by its master. A dog sat under the chair of its master.

Tobias shrugged. "I'd rather not perch on your chair, so I'll take this one," he said, sitting down.

"The seats are for nobles," Louise hissed.

Tobias shrugged. {I could share your chair if you want,} he said mentally. {But I think I'm a bit too big for that.}

"Stop speaking in my head!" Nearby heads turned to Louise, who fought down a fierce blush. In a whisper, she said, "How are you even doing that?"

"Long story. You wouldn't believe it." Seriously, he'd probably be dragged off to whatever this world's version of a looney bin was.

Louise looked at him suspiciously, but was distracted when a maid with short black hair came around with a tray of food. "We'll talk about this later," she promised him.

The maid's eyes lingered on Tobias as she set the tray down, but when she noticed him staring back, she blushed and turned her head away. Giving a hurried bow to Louise, the maid dashed away like frightened animal.

Tobias looked in surprise at the spread placed in front of Louise. There was fruit, some kind of thick porridge, bacon, eggs, a flaky triangular pastry, toast, milk and water set out on the tray. It reminded him of the food pyramids he did in school many years ago, but there was easily enough food for two people in that meal. Looking at Louise's petite figure, it unlikely that the girl would be able to finish it all by herself.

It came as no surprise that Louise gave some food from her meal to Tobias as his breakfast. What did surprise him was the portion he was given. "Toast?" he asked.

"This is the bread that nobles eat," Louise informed him. "Commoners sometimes dream about having this much as a luxury. You should be grateful that I'm letting you eat from my portion instead of giving you a commoner meal."

"Huh." Tobias wasn't sure how misguided Louise was to assume that he would be thankful with such a paltry portion. Thankfully, he would be able to morph into a hawk and get his own real breakfast. As long as his meal was properly digested as a hawk, the energy would last him until lunch. He wasn't quite sure how that process worked, but he chalked it up to the mysterious benefits of morphing.

Tobias nibbled on his bread. It was rougher and denser than the store-bought bread he was used to, but it tasted great in comparison. While he'd prefer an actual meal, given the time period this world appeared to be in, he could see people dreaming about enjoying the morsel he held in his hand.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" A sultry voice asked teasingly.

Louise whirled around quickly. "Kirche von Zerbst," she said venomously.

Tobias turned around at a more moderate speed. Standing behind them was a girl with the largest bust he'd ever seen. If it wasn't for the dark blue—not black—robe she wore, Tobias would assume that she was an adult woman instead of a teenager. Her skin was a coppery tan that stood out amongst the generally fair-skinned nobles. Fiery red hair fell down to her waist and covered one of her eyes. In Tobias's opinion, she looked like a model who belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine. Given the excessive cleavage she displayed, she could easily fit on a less reputable magazine line as well.

Standing to the tanned girl's side was a girl with short blue hair. Like her companion, her robe indicated that she was the same class as Louise, but she looked even smaller than the pinkette, and that was saying something. From behind a pair of red glasses, her aquamarine eyes briefly looked at Louise, and then him, before returning to a small book she held in one hand. In her other hand she carried a shepherd's crook, which looked out of place to Tobias.

Curled around the two's feet was a large red lizard. It was about as long as a small alligator and on all fours, it reached up to Zerbst's knees. The creature was nuzzling the redhead leg with the affection of a dog, but Tobias was wary of it. For all he knew it was some species of wingless dragon that would burn his hand off if he even looked at it the wrong way. That, and the end of its tail was on fire. A weapon on a tail was a clear indicator of a dangerous alien creature.

"Louise de la Valliere," Kirche said with exaggerated sweetness. "Funny meeting you here."

"What do you want?" Louise growled.

"Is it wrong to simply say hello?" The buxom girl asked. Seeing Louise's glare, she gave a fake pout. "Well, if you insist, I did want to take a look at your familiar. After all of your boasting of summoning the best familiar that ever existed, I wanted to see what you ended up with. I saw your commoner boy almost walk off from you during the ceremony, how embarrassing."

Louise glared at Tobias, who continued to nibble at his toast. "See, this what happens when you don't act like a proper familiar," she lectured him. "You've already made a fool of me."

"Do a better job explaining the process next time," Tobias replied. "It took you way too long to get to the point that you were the one who summoned me."

"Who else would it be?"

"I dunno, maybe an old sage who wanted me to go on a suicidal quest to save the world?"

Louise and Kirche looked baffled by his carefree suggestion. "Who would send you of all people for something like that?" Louise scoffed.

Kirche laughed loudly, holding the back of her hand to her mouth but not even attempting to hide her mirth "Trouble in paradise?" Kirche asked Louise. "It's such a shame that you didn't get a familiar like my Flame." She bent over, giving the two an unnecessarily exposed view of her cleavage, and picked up her familiar. "He's such a friendly and powerful salamander, perfectly fitting me as a Triangle class fire mage."

Flame certainly looked at them friendly enough, but despite the physical resemblance, Tobias could not imagine the large lizard as a slimy amphibian. It had sleek scales, but it radiated warmth, and he was pretty sure that amphibians were cold blooded. When Flame stretched out its neck towards Tobias, he sat perfectly still. The oversized salamander licked Tobias's face. Tobias held still, waiting. Seeing that Flame only continued to lick him, he decided the lizard was safe enough. Stretching out his hand slowly, Tobias scratched Flame under its chin. Flame's face relaxed as it enjoyed the scratching, and it became even calmer when Tobias worked on acquiring its DNA.

"Your familiar has some nimble fingers," Kirche praised. Tobias detected an undertone, but he did not recognize what it meant. "I wonder if that's all he's good for?"

"I would like to continue our dining in peace," said Louise with gritted teeth.

"You're breaking my heart," Kirche said in faux pain. "I suppose being outshone does hurt a girl's appetite. After all, a Zero such as yourself has little going for you magically or physically." She puffed her chest as she said this, irritating Louise even further.

"Just ignore her," said Tobias. He stuffed the last of the toast into his mouth and stole the water off of Louise's tray to wash it down. Ignoring her glare, he swiped an oversized sleeve across his mouth and continued, "Bullies get a kick when they see a reaction. If you don't react, they often fly away like the bugs they are." He failed to mention that other times the bullies would start swinging, and those were the ones he was used to.

While Kirche looked surprised at first, she gave him a genuine smile instead of looking offended. "Your familiar has some spunk Little Louise," she said with a laugh. "But do you really think of me as bully? That hurts. It's just friendly teasing."

"There was nothing friendly about it," Tobias deadpanned. "Buzz off."

In direct opposition to his words, Kirche released Flame and leaned over Tobias's chair. Kirche was well versed in the art of seduction. She knew that any boy of his age would be off put by her position. Tobias's eyes were almost level with her chest, and while seated, it would be hard for him to shift his gaze. His initial glance at her chest at the beginning of the conversation had been brief, but the boy definitely noticed her assets, as any normal person would. This position would serve as the breaking point to any hot-blooded young male.

"Now I'm feeling like you're bullying me," she pouted. "You shouldn't make a girl cry."

To Kirche's surprise, Tobias's gaze didn't waver from her eyes. "Are you done making a fool of yourself?" he asked. "If you are, get out of my face."

His expression and tone were perfectly even. Despite the close proximity between the two of them, he didn't look nervous or flushed. His eyes held the slightest glare to show he was annoyed, but he otherwise showed no emotion. Kirche was intrigued. Even older men who had rejected her advances had shown that they were struggling to resist their latent desires. This was the first boy she had met who had displayed no interest in her at all despite seeing her magnificent body.

Not only that, but he was insulting her to her face, even though she was a noble and he was commoner. Even worse, he was the familiar of Louise the Zero. If anything, he should be differing to Kirche or clutching to his master. Given their earlier bickering, he didn't regard her as a master like a servant should. And yet, instead of disciplining him, Louise exchanged banter with him as freely as she did with her oldest rival. No, when Kirche considered Louise's expression, she was arguing with him more freely than the redhead had seen before.

Kirche stepped back from Tobias's chair. "What an interesting familiar you summoned Louise," she said. "Who is he? Where did he come from?"

"I believe we both made it perfectly clear that we don't appreciate your company," Louise growled.

"It's just a simple question or two," Kirche said slyly.

{Ignore her,} said Tobias. Louise jerked at the mental intrusion, shooting him a glare. He met her with an even look as he continued, {She's trying to get a final rise out of you. Don't take the bait.}

Louise gave an almost indiscernible nod as she returned to her food. True to Tobias's words, Kirche, after seeing that neither of the two were going to respond, crossed her arms and walked away, her salamander right on her heels. "Come on, Tabitha!" she called over her shoulder. After a second, Tobias and Louise heard the soft footsteps of the shorter mage pad away.

Once the other two mages were gone, Louise whispered to Tobias, "How did you know how to get them to leave?"

"Bullies always want something out of their pestering," Tobias replied. "Some want physical goods, but Kirche was just looking for amusement. Compared to some people I've known, she's harmless."

"She's a triangle class fire mage," Louise deadpanned.

"I have no clue what that means," Tobias informed her.

"She's one of the strongest students in the entire school," Louise clarified. "And that's including the seniors. Most mages graduate as a dot, or at best, a line class mage. She's already reached a level of magical ability that many mages take most of their lives to accomplish."

"What is a monster like that doing as a student?" Tobias asked incredulously.

"You can't be a proper noble without graduating from a Magic Academy," Louise explained. "And the Tristan Magic Academy is the best school in Halkegenia. That's why a Germanian barbarian like her is studying here."

Tobias hummed thoughtfully. "So, you need to have a magic degree so you can bomb cities in fire?" he asked.

"Why is that the first thing you think of?" she asked incredulously.

"You called her a barbarian, and she specializes in fire," Tobias said logically. "Obviously, that means she's from a warlike people, and with her talent she'd be very proficient in widespread destruction and scorched earth tactics."

Louise stared at him in horrific disbelief. "What is wrong with you?" she squeaked.

Tobias blinked. "Did I guess wrong?" he asked.

Louise stood up and shook her head. "I'm not dealing with this," she said half to herself. "I'm going to pretend I did not hear my familiar talking about war crimes like he was commenting on the weather." She walked away, muttering under her breath.

Seeing that she had left her tray behind, Tobias helped himself to her leftovers. As he had expected, it was definitely a meal for two.

I see that this is my least popular story on of this series on FFN. That's disheartening, since it's my second favorite to write. But as someone so helpfully reminded me, I'm writing for myself first, others second.

I might as well give you all a warning. This story will easily be the darkest of the bunch. I guess I'll put trigger warnings at the top of chapters? It's only going to be a bit of blood and psychological terror (or something), but just because it doesn't affect me doesn't mean everyone will feel the same so... yeah.

Now, I've seen some good questions in the reviews (here and on other sites), which I'll answer now:

Q: Will Tobias be able to morph?

A: Yes. He will have access to the same morphs he had in the series. Which means none of the dinosaurs or other morphs that came from alternate timelines.

Q: Can Tobias learn magic?

A: Halkegenian Magic seems to be mostly hereditary, so while Tobias is unlikely to learn magic on his own, he could potentially use other people's magic if he morphs into them. Do keep in mind, however, that magic is not completely instinctive. It's something he'll need to learn, and practicing spells in someone else's body is largely impractical for someone who likes to stay under the radar.

Like this story? Don't care? Have another question? Leave a review! Remember, reviews are food for a writer's soul!