Monique
As soon as she walked through the doors, she felt a familiar cold gaze. Although she didn’t know where it was coming from, she took guesses in her head. She could clearly remember each and every one in that classroom that might have wandered their way into the gym. Could it be from the wonder boy that starts with a C and can scream at a high-pitched volume? Or was it Rose, the jealous girl who once sought housing in the Castle Faustus? Or perhaps the nerves were really getting to her as she could no longer pinpoint where it exactly came from. Perhaps it came from all directions as the countless glares pierced through her. It caused so much of her nerves to tremble that eventually it would soon surface onto her skin, unnerving her all around. Oh, how familiar this sensation was. Somethings will just never change.
Lee: Hey…are you okay?
Monique: I…I just thought I had left it all behind. But it will never go away.
Lee: What won’t?
Lee
As they approached Sensei Guillermo, he wished he could drop everything and tell Monique that it was more than okay to just leave. Just go. But before he could even try to console her, Sensei Guillermo came in. Now, Sensei Guillermo has always been a stature of a creature. Though they hailed from a traitorous clan that was hell bent on destroying the fragile sense of peace that was established centuries ago, Guillermo found themselves more attuned to the more chivalrous cause that made heroes legends and that gave a more glorious purpose to the sense of battle. When the time came, they abandoned their tribe and joined the rebellious cause. The centaur warrior prided itself in their foot work and graceful swordsmanship so much so that when Nell’s academy opened itself to the public, they were asked to teach a new generation of young “aspiring” warriors.
However, due to no real urgency, it has become an exasperating process. Year after year, they would get groups of students who cared not for the beauty or art of war but instead, who only cared about status and “one-upping” their fellow colleagues. Out of the thousands they had taught, only a handful were ever bestowed the title “warrior”. Some of those went on to becoming disciples of the dragon gods while the others continued working for the Dragon’s Nest or hung around to help seek new warriors. They still fondly thought about the days of when one pig-tailed blondie took the dojo by storm with the raw prowess behind her fists then went back to the job that she originally was given. Guillermo had always wondered if another one of her would show up soon. And lo and behold were their wonders answered.
Sensei Guillermo: Well, well, well. If it isn’t my two Star pupils
Connor’s eyes shined a glimmering star for under the brief delusion he thought he was one of the two, as he constantly discounted Lee. As Connor tried making his way to the front to greet Sensei Guillermo, Guillermo quickly dismissed all of Conor’s delusions by only focusing their attention on the three in front of him as they could care less about Connor’s existence.
Sensei Guillermo: Mr. Von Solari and Mr. Nakai. I suppose you two are both done completing the tasks I asked of only one of you this morning and not only that, you thought to yourselves to bring it to me when class has officially started but also brought along a very peculiar individual.
Monique
Guillermo scanned Monique up and down before glimpsing into her eyes. Monique stared back into their obsidian eyes possibly doing the same thing Guillermo is doing to her: checking to see which one would yield first. When Monique used to train in Twilight Baleful, she was taught only a few survival skills:
1. To never bow down to your opponent.
2. Always maintain eye contact
And most importantly
3. Never yield
In all honesty, these all just summarize to point 3 but alas their father always drove home how, regardless of the situation, to never back down. Even if it meant the opponent were to lose their life. However, Monique had to remind herself once more that she is no longer in such a terrible place. That doing something towards a staff member is not only disrespectful but also puts one in an unfavorable position. She was now left to wonder the following:
1. Whether to call them sir or ma’am
And strange yet comforting
2. If they had experienced the same things she had once done.
She found solidarity with others whohave gone through the same hell she went through, with those who spilled enough of that nauseating iron smell that it would never leave their sinuses. When she stared into Guillermo’s eyes, refusing to look away for a mere moment, she wondered what they had done to be so proud of. To feel so weightless, that the lives they had taken never once weighed them down.
Both Lee and Ken quickly bowed and forced Monique to do the same.
Ken + Lee: We greet the Crimson Crusader.
Sensei Guillermo: Now, now, you both flatter me. It’s been a couple of centuries since I’ve gone by that name. Or are you trying to impress your friend right there with some historical background.
The class scoffed at the mere idea.
Lee: No, sir.
Ken: Ma’am, our friend here is new to this world.
Lee: She wishes to seek an audience with you.
Sensei Guillermo: Ah! It has indeed been quite some time since I have had seen a fresh face on this land on top of someone who has some knowledge on how to show their teachers’ respect. Tell me your name, child, and the reason why you’ve come to my class. Depending on your answer, I’ll see if it is enough to forgive the audacious personality that was presented prior.
Sir? Ma’am?? Which one!? Monique bowed further, not daring to make eye contact.
Monique: Please forgive my rude behavior. My name is Monique. I’ve lived in Eiridelium for only a few weeks, and I have yet to resume the normal routine I was accustomed to back on the world I came from. I humbly request to only borrow the necessary items such as a wooden sword and a training doll until the gym at the castle can be fixed again.
Sensei Guillermo: Fixed? What happened to the room at the castle? If I am not mistaken the repairs on it were done months ago and it should not be needing anything again for another year or two at the rate those two use it.
Lee: That was on me, Sensei. I had told Monique to fight without feeling the need to hold herself back and she had accidentally destroyed the entire room.
Sensei Guillermo looked at Monique in a mixture of bewilderment and astonishment as she was still in the same position.
Monique: Which is my fault. The world I had grown up in did not give me the necessary training to hold back when in mock combat.
They laughed.
Sensei Guillermo: Quite amusing. You do not even call it your home world. Young lass, you have no need to continue with pleasantries. You and the other two may stand tall.
As she rose up, she tilted her head to her side in a questioning manner.
Monique: There was nothing to make it seem like it deserved to be called home. It was a place I begrudgingly lived and did unspeakable things. Things no one should ever have to do in the small amount of time they live.
Connor: Tch, dramatic much?
Sensei Guillermo: Mr. Falloway, such audacious behavior. Mind explaining your attitude towards Ms…
Monique: Monique.
Sensei Guillermo: Ms. Monique?
Connor: With all due respect to our upper classmen, to my colleagues, and to you, Sensei, she has done nothing to earn her place her. Within the minutes she has been here she has disrupted class, dissuaded Professor Layla into her delusions with no evidence and makes outrageous claims.
Sensei Guillermo: I’m sorry, and what have you done in your time here?
Connor: Pardon?
Sensei Guillermo: Well, you claim that she has done nothing to earn her place here and I am left to wonder what you have done.
Both Lee and Ken held back from laughter as Monique’s eyes widened.
Sensei Guillermo: Most, if not all of you standing here today had their places bought by their parents’ money and or their legacy. There are only two – correction three people standing in this very room who are the exception to this, and these are the only ones out of the handful that I would ever bestow the title “warrior” to.
Connor: H-how can you say that when you’ve only known her for ten whole minutes!?
Sensei Guillermo laughed.
Sensei Guillermo: Oh, you poor sheltered child, it’s all in the eyes. Eyes in which have told me more than enough where people like you come from and where people like her managed to survive. Now class, can someone tell me anything about the first few wars that took place here on Eiridelium.
Rose: Not even children were given an exemption from the horrors that raged on. They had to t-t-I-I Don’t want to
Sensei Guillermo: As sensitive as you are to the matter, Ms. Valentine, when faced with tragedy, no matter the age, sex, gender, or race, one must take up arms to defend your home. Your cause. Something that I had to do as a young buck thousands of years ago.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Wow, even in this peaceful looking world did something as awful as war happen.
Sensei Guillermo: Now that all of you get to bask in the peace many have sacrificed for, there are those of us in the room who are the exception. Take for example, Mr Nakai who belongs to a clan whose main purpose was to put an end to cultist activities. Mr. Von Solari, another example, was unfortunately cursed with a demon who forced him to take the life of another.
Connor: Then what makes her special!?
Monique: Please do-
Connor: Please don’t what, Princess?
Monique took the deepest sigh that felt like it came from years, and years, of someone who had to internalize everything. All in one breath she exhaled her explanation
Monique: I wish I was as sheltered as you or anyone else in this room was. I wish my father would have done anything that would have benefited anyone but himself. But unfortunately for the past eighteen years of my life all he’s ever done was cause me to play solider, kill thousands of lives for political gain and threw me in an arena under the pretense of training only for me to have to spill the blood of my fellow comrades again and again. So please, whatever hurt your fragile little ego can you just shove it aside so I can just get the bare minimum that I am asking for which is just a wooden sword, a training doll, and a small space to train??? I feel that is the LEAST disrespectful thing I Can ever do, Conrade.
Connor: ITS CONNOR.
Monique: Okay CONNIE! I don’t give two shits who you are.
Sensei Guillermo laughed once more.
Sensei Guillermo: While I do find this entertaining Ms…
Monique: Monique. Just Monique.
Sensei Guillermo: Well, Ms. Monique, while you are asking for the bare minimum, I do believe that would take more resources than possible.
Connor gave a smug look.
Sensei Guillermo: It would also leave you utterly unsatisfied. So, instead you can utilize the entirety of the simulation room. Provided you would allow an audience.
Monique: Are you sure?
Lee ~A week ago~
Monique: Hey, I have a question.
Lee: What’s up?
Monique: D-do we have a training room?
Lee pondered the words.
Lee: Like a gym? To work out?? Or like a room used for practicing magic?
Monique: A room for practicing magic. A big room. Somewhere where I can safely practice magic and not be seen. As well as sword training… I know it’s a bizarre question to ask but there’s like a billion rooms here so–
Lee: For your information…that’s probably actually accurate…wait why are you asking?
Monique: Well…Lilith said to avoid the incident in Barkamsted that I should focus on…trying to control my emotions. The only way I know how is through strict training. Specifically, sword fighting. But I’m more used to use magic and sword fighting.
Lee: Knowing your history, are you sure you want to?
Monique: I do want to appear as normal as possible when attending the academy and it’s the only way I know how…so yes.
Lee raised his eyebrow at her with a mixture of doubt and unease. He knew enough that whatever training she underwent on that world made her unstable. And knowing that, he was afraid that she’d succumb to her past.
Monique: Please? You can even supervise me.
Lee: Alright, fair enough. Follow me.
Monique: Thank you!!!
As they wandered down, Monique fidgeted her fingers.
Lee: You, okay?
Monique: Y-Yes.
He stared at her once more to determine whether or not she would yield to which she caved and sighed.
Monique: Okay. Fine. No. I’m not.
Lee: What’s on your mind? I-I mean do you want to share.
Monique: I-it’s just…
The louder the deafening silence got, the more she felt she had to talk.
Monique: I’m just devastatingly afraid of social situations.
Lee: You know you really don’t have to go.
Monique: But they invited me to help me understand what I am.
Lee: True. But that doesn’t mean you have to attend everything. Just go to the research center. Don’t even bother with the lectures or anything.
She chuckled.
Monique: But I want to make friends my age.
Lee: Hey! I’m not that old.
Monique: You do know that I need more than two friends, right?
Lee: I’m teasing….I’m….aware.
As they entered inside the dojo like area, she stared in awe. He blushed as he saw the sparkle in her eyes.
Monique: This is amazing!
Lee: Isn’t it? Sensei Guillermo just remodeled it too since Terra’s constantly using it for practice on her theories on whoever happens to be at the house at the time.
Monique: You guys even have every weapon here!! It feels like walking into a candy store.
Lee: S-so…how do you want to go about this?
She tied up her hair into a ponytail then proceeded to grab a wooden sword that sat itself with thousands of others on the side of the room.
Monique: Well…if memory serves me right, you to also know how to use a sword.
Lee: True…. but I might not be so good. I haven’t practiced in a while.
Monique laughed, catching Lee off guard.
Monique: I think you’re being too modest. That’s cute. Just spar with me. And don’t go easy.
Lee: Fine. Fine. You won’t leave me alone if I say no anyways.
He grabs a wooden sword from his side of the room. Both steadily walk towards the center of the room. Both respectfully bowed to one another. There was a pause in the air, as if life came to a complete stop. And in that moment, he swiftly prepared himself for something that was an expected surprise. She thrusted with an unnerving force. She then took a step back and disappeared. Teleporting around like she did when I first met her, huh? A vortex of slashing and hacking surrounded him. Each deflect he was able to accomplish came at the wooden sword losing its quality. Both were of the same quality yet hers felt as if iron incased the entirety of it. Upon the last strike, he parried, and she once again teleported towards the other side. With minimal concentration, earth engulfed the entirety of the sword. Although he wasn’t as magically gifted as his sister, Karin, he was still able to use the bare minimum. Both sprinted forward one another, causing the ground underneath them to crack. Yet, while he was blocking, countering, and even parrying every attack she threw at him, he had noticed something strange. For starters, she wasn’t using any magic. No teleportation tricks either to boot. On top of that, a familiar aura that shadowed her. The same one that shadowed her during her episode at Barkamsted. Yet, this time, it felt different. It felt as if another force was there, guiding her out of that shadowy palace.
He forced in more power onto his last strike, disarming her. However, this victory would be short lived as she hoovered her hand on the ground, pulling out a sword shape made up of partial concrete and dirt. One moment it was in her hand, the next, it was flying towards him at hyper speed. As he deflected that, she appeared up close once more sending him flying towards the other side. Shit she hits like a fucking truck. Parts of the room were in a disheveled mess while the other parts had segmented concrete. He picked up another wooden sword and sprinted towards her. I can’t keep baiting her. Thoughts ran course through his head, yet he found himself enjoying himself more than anything else. And he had hoped she felt the same.
As he took another step darting towards her, he felt a shake in the earth. He glanced over towards Monique, noticing that her eyes glowed a tawny hue as the earth crumbled around him. With bare fists alone, he smashed his way out and found himself locked in another combat with her. But this time, she wasn’t teleporting all around but rather just slashing towards him, waiting for him to let his guard down once more. He managed to push her towards the other side to which she used the tip of the wooden sword to stop her momentum, tearing up more of the floor. HOW!?
She took a deep breath, icy cold clouds exuding from her mouth. The temperature dropping so drastically, sweat felt like tiny icicles on his skin. She slashed at the air, creating an icy trail that soon darted towards him. Deflecting it, she managed to dart more icicles towards him. Some would just crumble while others would explode in the areas he had deflected them in. As he was distracted by this, she took a chance and ran towards the other side of the room to get another wooden sword and duel wielded. She then bolted towards him and slashed with both. He tried his best countering but to no avail. She was relentless. The two auras she was emitting felt as if they were fighting for control as she was sparring with Lee.
As he tries to block her last strike, he finds it to be in vain as she puts just enough force down to disarm him then ending it with the tip of the wooden sword aimed right at his throat. Lee’s face was doused in flusters and embarrassment while Monique blushed. The two auras merged into one, and Lee had completely forgotten to ask about it as she was quick to apologize.
Monique: I’m soosososoosososso sorry!!!!!
Lee: No no, it’s nothing to fret about.
Monique: But the training room!!! You just remodeled it!!
Lee: Itsss fiiinee. I’m sure Sensei Guillermo is going to laugh when they find out. Besides, it’s not that bad.
~present~
As he watched her enter the simulation room, he wondered if what happened during their sparing would happen once more. If that black cloud would manifest itself, if she would be on the precipice of losing control.
Monique
She knew she had no one to blame but herself. She had asked for it essentially. She could have said no to an audience, but what would be the point? She needed them to shove it. She needed them to stop judging her every move. To stop making her feel as if she shouldn’t be here. But those e yes. Those eyes that drown her in misfortune. Those eyes that reeled her into her past and criticizing her every movement, her every breath take. Those familiar eyes waiting on her to trip. To fall. To make one wrong move to prove that she didn’t belong here. That she’s nothing more than a useless, lucky, fool who’s diluted in her delusions.
You know what to do
A familiar voice echoed. Hands that weren’t there before placed themselves onto her shoulder as she felt as if she was a child once more. A voice from distant past whispered in her ear…
You were made for this. You were born to bring death. My little death goddess.