Chapter Three
Secrets of Society
"The government is full of crap and you know it." Kaito's normally cool and uncaring voice was raised and held a note of genuine anger and annoyance in it. A pale hand flicked through the air, trying to make his point. Damien watched as stormy gray eyes took in the slightly shorter blond walking beside him, narrowing when Dakota started to talk in a quiet, yet exasperated tone. As if he were talking to a five year old.
"You don't really believe that, Kaito. You know as well as I do that these are all just silly rumors. False propaganda spread by the trash that finds overreacting people like you funny to watch." Dakota said, shaking his head slightly. It was more obvious than the blond would like to see that he was quickly losing his patience.
Damien knew Dakota couldn't believe he was having this conversation. He had always believed in the government, always thought that there couldn't be anything possibly wrong with it. He loved to say that there had always been a few faint voices whispering amongst themselves about how the government was evil and other rubbish. He thought they just wanted to cause trouble and scare the younger students.
Damien remembered when he had thought the exact same thing. Before he had gotten his letter, of course. Before he had gotten to the Academy and seen what was happening. He listened and he watched when he got here...He heard snatches of conversations between their instructors... He had seen kids, younger then him, get dragged away from their parents and forced into this school...Yes, he had thought exactly the same as Dakota and had been willing to train and be taught for his country... Before his sister showed up and was caught in this mess, too. Now it was his job to fix it, to save her, like he had been doing since she was born.
"Oh yeah. It's just going to be hilarious to watch when all of our peers are thrown into a unneeded war for the sake of...Well...We don't really know what this war is for, do we Kaito?" he butted in, throwing an arm over the older, dark haired boy's shoulder. Usually Kaito wouldn't have allowed such an act, but as they were currently on the same side of the argument he didn't throw Damien into a wall.
"No, no we don't, Damien." Kaito replied offhandedly, lips quirking into a smirk. He watched as Dakota rolled his eyes at the both of them.
Dakota had always thought he was above them in maturity and he was usually right, especially when it came to his usual trouble making antics and Kaito’s cunning schemes… But at the moment, Damien knew he was wrong. He was very wrong. Though he trusted and respected his team it could be very annoying to try and break through the mindless walls of blind trust and thick ignorance. Kaito seemed to be his only supporter.
"Come on, guys. Stop messing around. The Emperor would never allow us to be used for a pointless war. This war is to defend our honor...We should feel privileged to be part of it." The youngest member of their team spoke up, sharing the thoughts that had surrounded them all of their life. Ryuu was a nice guy, loyal to a fault, and level headed. But he was blind as Dakota.
Damien snorted softly, "Honor? This war is nothing but the end of the game! We've just been run like mice through a maze since we got to this school. They've been primping and training us to be the perfect little cut outs soldiers for a war that has been planned for years!"
"Damien is right. They want us to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of bloodshed and petty disagreements, nothing more." Kaito's cool voice had returned now that Damien had gotten into the yelling. Kaito always liked to be the calmer of the two.
"Will you guys stop being stupid?! I'm tired of hearing you two going on and on about this! The war is to protect us and our future children and their future children! We are doing it for honor and for our country! We can't just let that Luna Trash disgrace and insult us without fighting back! Where is your bravery? Where is your sense of duty?! I can't even believe I am hearing any of this from you two!" Dakota burst into angry and rushed words, an explosion that Damien usually avoided at all costs.
But now it was needed. His arm fell off of Kaito's shoulder at the blond boy's words. He almost felt ashamed for making his friend get so angry at him and Kaito... But he scowled when his friend accused him of not having bravery or a sense of duty... He was plenty brave! Much braver then Dakota, who couldn't even see what was going on right in front of him! Just because he didn't want to be wrong! Just because he couldn't admit that he could be wrong for once!
"Yeah, Dakota? You're tired of hearing us? Huh? That right? Well you're obviously haven't heard a word we've said! Luna Trash? What have they done to us that we haven't done right back to them?! Haven't you been paying attention in all those history lessons that are shoved down our throats?! Wars, bombs, disease, death! All because someone insulted someone else and started a war ‘cause of it! I thought we weren't going to repeat the past! What future are our children going to have if our generation is all dead, or injured, or messed up in the head because of this god damn war?!" his voice echoed down the hall and people were staring now. He could care less. Let them hear him! He would rather get in trouble for saying the truth then keep his head down and pretend he was just another clone!
"Damien! Shush!" Ryuu hissed at him and even Kaito looked uncomfortable with the attention they were receiving now. The dark hair boy glared coldly at anyone looking at his teammates, but even that didn't deter most of the onlookers. Dakota looked at if he wanted to punch him and he couldn't help but feel the same. He felt flushed with anger and opened his mouth to keep talking when Kaito caught him be the collar and started to drag him faster towards their room.
"That's enough, Chou. We'll continue this in privacy." Kaito said quietly, his voice controlled. Damien didn't know how he did it. The boy had to be as mad as him. He knew the truth, too! Not that either of them had any proof...But where were they going to find proof of corruption? Not in History Class...He knew the other boy was a bit peeved at him for causing a scene when his last name was used, but unlike Kaito he couldn't help but be loud sometimes, especially when his friends were spouting bullshit!
They all went into their shared room and Kaito released him, sitting on his plain bed with the simple black blanket and matching black pillow. Ryuu didn't seem to know what to do with himself, and sat by Kaito. The dark haired boy seemed to think about protesting this, but thought better of it and let younger boy stay.
Damien didn't even bother going near the beds, too much pent up energy and anger. He began to pace the room. He was normally easy going, funny, even. But this was important to him and he didn't understand why Dakota was so willing to be blind to everything around him! Was it his pride? Or his god damn honor? Dark purple eyes eyed the blond boy who now stood in front of the closed door, arms crossed over his chest. Ryuu and Kaito just watched from the bed.
"Shouldn't we stop them?" Damien heard Ryuu whisper to Kaito as he refused to break the staring contest going on between them. He saw Kaito shrug noncommittally. b*****d had always been unwilling to get into a real argument with Dakota.
This was an unusual predicament, really. Usually, it was him and Kaito fighting, with Dakota either urging Kaito on -when Damien had done something to him- or telling Kaito that it was stupid for him to be bothering with such a pointless argument -when Damien had done something to Kaito that hadn't injured him.
Usually, he and Dakota got along fine... Sometimes, their was a bit of a struggle for power, with him trying to convince Kaito to help come up with a good prank, and then convincing Ryuu to help do it, and Dakota having to put his foot down on all the fun, keeping them all out of trouble... But most of the time, they were good friends... But this argument set them both on edge.
"Can't you just keep out of trouble for once?" said Dakota, quietly, with leashed in anger, his golden eyes glaring. Damien glared right back. So he thought this was just about stirring up trouble? Just another prank?
"Can't you take this seriously? Can't you see what is happening right in front of you? Don't you wonder what is happening? Don't you wonder what happens to the students that just seem to disappear? Don't you wonder what happens when someone doesn't do as well in training as they should? Don't you wonder what happens when we do go into this war and are forced to actually use all of this training? Damn it, Dakota! Can't you see this is wrong?" he asked, clenching his hands into fists. Dakota just looked at him as if he had grown a second head, but Damien saw the fear, the questioning flicker in his eyes before it was gone.
"No. It's not our place to question the Academy's rules, Damien. It's not our place to think we know how to handle the war and Luna's insults and accusations better then our government. It's not our place to think we have any say in what our Emperor wants us to do for the country. And you are going to get yourself killed, saying such things." Dakota said the last thing softer, tension leaving his smaller frame. Damien knew the boy didn't want to see him hurt, killed, or in trouble...Yet, the blond still believed in the rules and laws that would harm him for saying what he thought...
"I'd rather die then see our classmates get sacrificed." The quiet, heavy words seemed to fill the room and it didn't feel like they were fighting each other anymore, but something bigger, something stronger... Something that none of them were sure they could beat...
Damien's stomach growled loudly.
He blinked, the tension in the room evaporating as Kaito rolled his eyes and Ryuu smiled, obviously relieved the fighting had stopped. Dakota gave an exasperated sigh, since they really had just eaten. Damien thought about continuing the fight, thought about saying something to try and convince his friend and Teammate...But he couldn't bring himself to ruin the moment again. They had plenty of time before they were sent to war, plenty of time before they had to face this issue again... And he couldn't stand having his friends mad at him...
"Man, I'm hungry! Hey, Ryuu, you have any chips or anything?" he asked, going over to the boy, giving him a begging stare. Ryuu started to say something, when Kaito hit him in the head with his pillow.
"Can you not worry about your bottomless stomach for one minute?" Kaito said, moving to hit him with the pillow again, but he saw it coming this time and easily caught it. He grinned cheekily at the older boy.
"Looking this good and being this awesome requires lots of nourishment, you pansy." he said before making a squawking noise as Dakota hit him on the head with his pillow. He released Kaito's pillow to clutch at his poor, abused head when Kaito began to beat him with the regained pillow.
"I'll show you pansy, you glutton!" the dark haired boy said, amusement in his voice as he continued to beat Damien.
"And I'll show you for harassing poor Ryuu, you trouble making imp!" said Dakota, help Kaito in pounding Damien. Ryuu just watched from the bed, confused. He looked like he wanted to help, but also wanted to see how long Dakota and Kaito could keep hitting him...
"Harassing poor Ryuu?! What about you two abusing poor me! Ah! I'm going to get brain trauma!" he shouted, though it was muffled by the continual pillow beating. He tackled Dakota and stole his pillow, pushing it on his face as if he was suffocating him. But then a flying pillow sent him sprawling onto the ground, vision dizzy, and feathers floated down and covered him. He coughed and sat up slightly, holding his head and stared at the smirking Kaito.
"Don't straddle Dakota." was all he got as an excuse for nearly killing him with a pillow. He growled and the war was on, grabbing his own pillow and diving towards Kaito, determined to hit the smirk right off of his face. Ryuu just watched as roommates went crazy, feathers and shouts filling the room. The darkness of the War still loomed over their heads, but it was held at bay as the teammates fought, laughed, and played with each other as the night wore on.
Hours later, Damien found himself peering down the empty, darkened hallways. Curfew had started an hour ago, not that he cared. He had stepped out of their room after curfew so many times, he didn't even know how he knew when curfew started.
He had waited until he Teammates had fallen asleep, Kaito stealing some of his clothes as a pillow, seeing as his pillow had burst into feathers when it had collided with Damien’s head. b*****d should have just not hit him, but Kaito hadn't listened to his protests and instead used his best and softest sweater as a pillow and told him to shut up.
The grumbling of his stomach was the reason for his creeping about. He just couldn't sleep without something to eat and he knew the cooks prepared some longer-to-cook breakfast items at night. He wouldn't mind some semi-cold muffins and a glass of milk...
So he moved silently through the hallways. Some might have thought that sneaking around the Academy would've been impossible to do, but he was Damien Chou. Despite usually not doing his homework and never listening to the instructors he was at the top of all of his Classes, next to Dakota and Kaito for some odd reason, which rather ticked him off. Some said he was a Prodigy, most just said he was lucky. Either way, he could easily move undetected through empty, dark hallways and had never been caught before.
He heard voices and wondered if he had just jinxed himself. He cursed in his head and quickly opened the nearest door and ducked inside. It was an empty classroom, nothing special. Empty desks, a chalkboard, a few throwing knives, and just one katana and training dummy. Che...Damien assumed it had to be a first year class. He carefully looked out the small window in the door and saw...Was that the Chancellor? Who was he talking to?
"And you are sure that the Emperor needs that many? So soon?" the Chancellor asked the sneering man at his side, raising a gray eyebrow in disbelief. While the Chancellor was a stern looking man, and Damien knew from experience that the appearance didn't lie, the man he was talking to looked as if mankind was a nasty bug waiting for him to step on. Damien hated him on sight. The way those gray eyes looked down his pointed nose before letting a slimy smile creep onto his lips, made Damien know he had to find out what they were talking about.
Hungry stomach forgotten, he waited until they rounded the corner that led to the Chancellor's office before emerging from the empty classroom and trailing after them. Finally. He was putting his skills to more use than just sneaking food and tricking teachers. He was finally going to get proof. He could just feel it. Crouching in front of the door the two men had just walked through and carefully pressing his ear against the door, Damien listening to the conversation.
"Are you saying that you don't have the supplies, Chancellor?" Damien made a disgusted face at the cool, arrogant voice that had to belong to the slimly man. He heard some fluttering noise that sounded like shuffling papers and then the slight creak of the old wooden chair that the Chancellor favored.
"I'm not saying that. It's just we only have so many ready students. We are training them as fast as we can, but we don't have those kinds of numbers yet. I'm really not even sure if we can send the ones that are almost finished in their training-" the Chancellor's voice was cut off with a crash and Damien risked being caught to pop his head up and look through the small window in the door.
Papers that the Chancellor had probably just been shuffling fluttered to the floor and his desk was now tilted forward. The Chancellor was turning a sickly shade of blue as the polished, sneering man choked him with his own collar. Damien could barely hear what he was whispering to the Chancellor and had to read his lips for the most part.
"I don't care what you have to do, Chancellor. A war is going to be starting soon. Do you want this country overrun with the insulting trash that Luna calls its people? No, of course not. So you are going to give the Emperor whatever he wants. If it means you send a few unready children, then so be it. This is for Pride. The Pride of our great country is worth so much more then a few hundred lives. Don't you agree?" Damien watched the Chancellor turning rapidly purple even as he nodded his agreement. The man in his high dollar suit and shiny leather shoes revealed his teeth in a way that could have been a smile if it didn't show so much malice and released the Chancellor's collar. The usually cool and composed Chancellor took deep, shaking gulps of air and the sneering man brought out a handkerchief, wiping his hands as if the Chancellor's collar had gotten them dirty.
"I am so pleased that we are in agreement. So you will have those soldiers ready in a month's time, correct?" The Chancellor only nodded in agreement, either too scared or still too choked to speak.
"Excellent. I will be seeing you then. Do take care." The man showed his teeth again before moving towards the door. Damien quickly scrambled away from it, just barely making it around the corner and in the classroom he had hid in previously. He watched the slimy man leave and felt his pulse racing. He had been right. He had been horribly right. They were going to kill them all. They were going to send even the younger students to get murdered.
Ready or not, here came the war.
Damien had a sudden flash of his little sister being given a weapon and shoved onto a bloody battlefield. Would she have time to scream? To run? Or would it be over too fast? The image horrified him and made him clench his fists. No. He was going to fix this! He wouldn't let that happen to her! To any of them! The horrible man's words echoed in his ears. A month was all the time he had to figure out a way to stop this from happening...What could they do? What was there to do?
He had never been good at figuring these kinds of things out...He needed Kaito's sharp mind, Dakota's sensibilities, and Ryuu's good morals and sometimes really good ideas... He couldn't do this by himself. He rushed back to his room. He never knew how he didn't manage to get caught when he went back, seeing as how clumsy and uncaring he had been when he stumbled through the halls to his room and sleeping roommates. But somehow he did it.
When he got to his room, he threw open the door, letting it slam into the wall with a crash. A moment later, three different kinds of weapons were thrown at his head. A slightly dull throwing star whizzed over his head, a silver dagger cut some of his hair, pinning it to the wall to his right, and a bean bag like object that he knew from experience could knock the breath out a grown man with ease knocked into his knee. This was the kind of thing that happened when you woke up three well-trained Academy students in the middle of the night... But he didn't have time to dwell on the dangers of his roommates and instead started to shake each one of them awake.
"Get up you guys! Get up! I just heard the worst! We're all in danger! We are all going to die! GET UP!" he shouted at them, shaking Kaito roughly before nearly shoving Dakota off his bed.
"Can't we all die in the morning?" Ryuu asked sleepily, rubbing at his eye with a fisted hand, the other squinting at him as if he had never seen him before in his life. Kaito made a small snuffling sound as he buried deeper in his covers, something Damien usually would have taunted him about, but now was not the time! Dakota sat up in his bed, blinking blearily at him, seeming unable to grasp what he was saying. Damien felt his frustration building. Weren't they specially trained to wake up at a moment's notice, ready to go?! They obviously didn't understand what kind of danger they were in...
"The Academy is on fire!" he said loudly and now it was his turn to blink as, in a flash of movement, all three of his Teammates were out of their beds. Dakota was throwing all needed, emergency supplies in a bag, Kaito was quickly gathering what little cash they all had, making Damien rethink how well he had thought he had hidden his stash, and Ryuu was starting to wet small towels, for them to breathe through in case of heavy smoke.
Okay...Why hadn't they gotten up when he said they were going to die, then?! Damien pushed away the almost overwhelming desire to punch all three of the boys and instead focused on warning them all of their impending doom. That had nothing to do with fire...At least, not at the moment.
"You guys… Guys! The Academy isn't on fire!" This stopped all of their hurried movements and gained glares from Kaito and Dakota and a confused look from Ryuu.
"Huh? But you just said it was on fire, Damien." Ryuu pointed out helpfully, still holding the wet towels. Damien threw his hands up in exasperation.
"It doesn't matter what I just said! What I'm saying now is that we are all going to die in a month's time! I just heard the Chancellor talking to some really creepy, snake-ish kind of guy! The guy...He had lips like freaking worms, guys! And... And... He said that we are all going to be sent to War in a month! Everyone is! Even the younger kids who just got here! Even... My sister..." He knew he sounded frantic and he hated how his voice shook at the mention of his sister, but he couldn't help it now. He would be brave and confident later... For now, he was allowed a brief moment of being scared and unsure. As long as it was just in front of his Teammates...
"We have to get out of here! We have to stop this! I told you! I told you this was going to happen!" he finished, a hand running through his hair, a nervous gesture he had had since he was little. He looked desperately at his team and saw their shocked faces staring back at him. Kaito looked closed off, as if he had shut down. Ryuu looked horrified and he knew the boy was imagining what he himself had thought when he found out... And Dakota... Dakota looked...
"You're lying." The statement stung worse then it should have. Dakota's small body was shaking and the blond was looking at him as if he was the one starting the War. The phrase 'Don't shoot the messenger.' passed through his head and he felt the insane urge to laugh wildly. Or maybe cry... He couldn't tell. The sight of his friend, one of his best friends, looking at him with such hatred... Dakota was crying. He was scared...
Damien watched, too shocked to move, as Kaito carefully wrapped his arms around Dakota's shaking form. Damien didn't know why the dark haired boy was doing that, since he was usually so closed off and emotionally detached... Ryuu had somehow made his way to his side and reminded him painfully of his sister as the smaller boy clutched at the bottom of his shirt.
Dakota stared at him still, the hatred leaving the look. He still looked like he didn't want to believe the words, but... Kaito's grip tightened and Dakota looked at the dark haired boy before his wet eyes went back to him. He gave a small nod and Damien felt something loosen inside of him. Ryuu looked up at him and he tried to smile reassuringly, and he then met Dakota's gaze again.
"I'm not. I'm sorry... But we have to do something... In a month's time...We could all be sent to our death." He didn't recognize his own voice and the words caused Ryuu to curl closer to him. Dakota and Kaito looked at him stonily and everything felt heavy and silent as they realized just what was being asked of them.
Then a small gasp echoed through the room.
Damien spun around, Ryuu falling off of him, and faced their open doorway. There stood Violet, so pale that she could have been easily mistaken for a ghost. She looked so small and pure, white against the black of the empty hallway behind her. She wore a white night gown, washing out her already pale skin. She clutched the door way like it was the only thing keeping her up and stared at him with eyes so dark and wide they were more like dark holes, stark against her white palor. She looked at them all, her mouth hanging open and looking as if she might start to scream or babble, before turning and running.
"Wait! Vi!" he called out and raced after her. He hadn't been planning on telling her! She couldn't know the world was like this! That her own school was like this! She shouldn't know! She couldn't know! How much had she heard? She couldn't tell her team! They were too young to know anything like this! He was supposed to take this! He was the one who was supposed to know and take care of this! Not Violet... Never Violet.
He followed her, unsurprised to hear almost silent footsteps behind him. He just concentrated on catching up with his little sister. But, apparently she had been doing well in the Races, or maybe it was her fear that gave her speed... Either way, she stayed ahead of him and darted into her room. Damien reached the door just as Violet started to ramble at her team.
He opened the door and picked Violet up without a second thought, holding her up with one arm and ending the mostly nonsense-filled rambling she had been doing as first Kaito, then Dakota, and finally Ryuu filed in after him. Damien saw Vi's team waking up and apparently surprised to see them there. Violet clung to him, her face buried in his neck. He looked over her head at Kaito, wondering what they should do. Kaito glanced at Dakota, and Ryuu just stared helplessly at them. After a few moments of silent communication, Dakota stepped into the middle of the room.
"What's the matter with the Princess? She have another nightmare?" Shana asked, sitting up slowly and looking very annoyed.
Herai sat up as well, looking mildly confused, surprised, and concerned. She got out of her bed and went over to Violet, whispering quietly to her, questioning if she was alright, and if she needed a glass of water.
Akira looked even more annoyed then Shana. For someone so cute and pretty during the day, she looked like an avenging harpy right then, sitting up in her bed, glaring at them all, her short hair tangled and frizzy.
"Get out… I need my beauty sleep, and if Violet wakes me up one more time with one of her ridiculous nightmares, I am throwing her out into the hall! The last one she had was about drowning in milk, for Pete’s sake!" Akira growled at them. Shana seemed to cheer up a bit when she saw that Akira was so miffed. Violet just clung tighter to him, and Herai's whispers got faster and more concerned. She seemed to know that it was something worse than a nightmare.
Dakota cleared his throat, stopping whatever retort Shana was going to say in regards to Akira's beauty sleep. The girls looked at him and Akira grabbed a hair brush, moving it swiftly through her hair, seeming to be preparing herself for whatever Dakota was going to say. Only Herai and Violet didn't look at the blond boy.
"Tonight... Damien found out that... The Chancellor has agreed to send all the students of the Academy, trained or not, to fight in the War. In a month's time." Akira stopped brushing her hair in mid stroke and Shana seemed to be ready to grab her sword, storm out of the room, and start and finish the War herself. Herai had paused and seemed confused.
"They can't send me to the War! I'm from Jiman! From a High-Class family! They aren't going to send me… They can't send me! My family is too important! I'm too important! I'm from... Jiman... They can't... I'm... They just can't send me like some worthless Commoner!" Akira burst out, disbelief coloring her tone.
"You idiot. They don't care who you are or where you're from. They just need bodies to fight, don't they? That's just great. The one time we aren't judged by who our family is or where we came from, and it's because they just need a lot of people to die for them! Damn it!" Shana cursed, punching her pillow viciously. He heard the crack in her voice, that little note of fear and helplessness covered up by her hard, tough words.
Herai just looked at her Teammates and then back to him, and finally went back to Violet. She didn't seem to be saying anything anymore. He knew how she felt. Ryuu looked as if he wanted to say something that would make everything better, but came up with nothing. What was there to say? This was all hopeless... What could they do? Kaito had moved to stand behind Dakota and both looked more like statues then people... What could they do? What could any of them do?
Damien felt something wet on his neck and heard a small whimper. He knew Violet was crying. His little sister was crying and with good reason. A War... A pointless War... And she was getting pulled into it. All of them were. No... No!
"We aren't going to let that happen! We are going to get out of here, and we are going to stop this from happening before anyone can get hurt! I promise you that. And..." he turned to Herai for a moment, grinning at her because he knew she had never heard him say it before, "I never break my promises." he said, voice strong.
He felt better saying it, even though he had no idea how he was going to get them all out... It was impossible for even one person to escape the Academy, and he was promising to get eight people out and then stop a whole War in just a month? But when Violet lifted her head, looking at him as if he could do anything he promised to do, he felt like he could do it without even breaking a sweat. Well... As long as he had his Team to help him out...
"Of course we're not going to let that happen! We'll kick the butts of anybody who dares get in our way!" Shana said suddenly, leaping off her bed and taking a classic fighting stance. Akira looked like she didn't know what to do for a moment, just staring at Shana. She seemed to be stuck in her own little world, and it was a sad place... But then Shana glared at her and she snapped back to herself. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and rolled her eyes.
"One look at you and they'll decide to end the war just so they don't have to your ugly face anymore." she said, sneering at the other girl. Shana glared at her and gave her own retort, which made Akira give another jab at Shana, and soon they were having their own little verbal war, which seemed less about insulting each other, and more about making themselves feel like things were normal...
"I'm sure with Damien's promise, we'll be able to do it." Ryuu spoke up, smiling good naturedly, seeming to be very happy to finally be able to say something. Violet looked away from him and turned her gaze to Ryuu. Damien almost laughed when he saw her blushing as Ryuu turned his smile to her.
"Dami always keeps his promises... We'll be fine. I have no worries at all, in fact! Dami takes such good care of me all the time. Even when we were little, he took good care of me. I know he'll protect us, all of us! No worries at all. Dami is very brave and if he is being brave, I can be brave, too, right? Yes. You're... Really brave, too... Ryuu..." she mumbled the last part, blushing more and Damien did chuckle as Ryuu blushed right back. They were too cute sometimes... Though he had a feeling Ryuu was just blushing because he didn't take compliments well... But... Who knew?
"I'm not as brave as Dami... I mean Damien! Damien is very brave... And I'm really sure you'll be really brave, too, Violet." Ryuu said, his tone sincere.
Damien knew he was going to get cavities if he watched them for too long. He set Violet down as she realized that it wasn't very brave to be hugged in his arms and started to wiggle in protest. Damien watched as her face, which had been so pale before, now turned a strawberry pink and she darted into the bathroom as soon as her feet touched the ground, coming out a moment later in a purple robe.
Damien turned to see Dakota and Kaito standing in the middle of the room. Dakota was rolling his eyes at Violet and Ryuu's words, apparently both amused by their stumbling and blushing and annoyed at how much they both seemed to hero worship Damien.Kaito was watching the verbal fight between Akira and Shana with the same interest that a person watching a sword fight might have.
There was nothing strange about that, except they were back to back and Damien saw that each of them had a hand interlocked with the other's. Dakota was clutching at Kaito's hand so tightly that his knuckles were white and Kaito kept sending the blond glances over his shoulder, as if to reassure himself the other was there. Damien could tell they were both worried.
Unlike Ryuu, they were very much used to being by themselves, of taking care of themselves and others. And with this new information and Damien's promise, he guessed they didn't know what to think or do. He would plan with them later, when everyone was sleeping again. Both of them would feel better when they had more then his promise to depend on. Besides, he knew they would have some actual plans.
He was distracted as he felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down at Herai, who looked at him in a way that made him feel... Strange. Something in those green eyes made him think this little girl had seen too much. She just looked at him for a moment, studying him, making him feel transparent. Her face was blank, and her emerald eyes were probing for... Something.
"How can you keep a promise, if you don't even know what it is you're promising?" she finally asked, tone quiet, polite, but those eyes still piercing, knowing... He wanted to squirm under her gaze and felt like he was the younger of the two...
"I do know what I'm promising. I'm promising your safety. Everyone’s safety. And you don't have to worry about it because I keep my promises, okay?" he said, placing his hand on her head and ruffling her hair playfully. She looked up at him, confused and frowning as she fixed her hair. But she didn't ask anything else, simply nodding. She gave him one last glance before going over to Akira and Shana to stop their fight, as it was starting to become physical.
He looked around the room, seeing all the people he cared about, all the people he had promised to keep safe and felt scared. If he was going to start breaking his promises, this would be a very bad one to start with... So he wouldn't. They would be safe. He would make sure of it. He would do anything to protect these people... He watched them interact and wondered just what would be required of him...
Then he decided, whatever it was, it was worth it.
Secrets of Society
"The government is full of crap and you know it." Kaito's normally cool and uncaring voice was raised and held a note of genuine anger and annoyance in it. A pale hand flicked through the air, trying to make his point. Damien watched as stormy gray eyes took in the slightly shorter blond walking beside him, narrowing when Dakota started to talk in a quiet, yet exasperated tone. As if he were talking to a five year old.
"You don't really believe that, Kaito. You know as well as I do that these are all just silly rumors. False propaganda spread by the trash that finds overreacting people like you funny to watch." Dakota said, shaking his head slightly. It was more obvious than the blond would like to see that he was quickly losing his patience.
Damien knew Dakota couldn't believe he was having this conversation. He had always believed in the government, always thought that there couldn't be anything possibly wrong with it. He loved to say that there had always been a few faint voices whispering amongst themselves about how the government was evil and other rubbish. He thought they just wanted to cause trouble and scare the younger students.
Damien remembered when he had thought the exact same thing. Before he had gotten his letter, of course. Before he had gotten to the Academy and seen what was happening. He listened and he watched when he got here...He heard snatches of conversations between their instructors... He had seen kids, younger then him, get dragged away from their parents and forced into this school...Yes, he had thought exactly the same as Dakota and had been willing to train and be taught for his country... Before his sister showed up and was caught in this mess, too. Now it was his job to fix it, to save her, like he had been doing since she was born.
"Oh yeah. It's just going to be hilarious to watch when all of our peers are thrown into a unneeded war for the sake of...Well...We don't really know what this war is for, do we Kaito?" he butted in, throwing an arm over the older, dark haired boy's shoulder. Usually Kaito wouldn't have allowed such an act, but as they were currently on the same side of the argument he didn't throw Damien into a wall.
"No, no we don't, Damien." Kaito replied offhandedly, lips quirking into a smirk. He watched as Dakota rolled his eyes at the both of them.
Dakota had always thought he was above them in maturity and he was usually right, especially when it came to his usual trouble making antics and Kaito’s cunning schemes… But at the moment, Damien knew he was wrong. He was very wrong. Though he trusted and respected his team it could be very annoying to try and break through the mindless walls of blind trust and thick ignorance. Kaito seemed to be his only supporter.
"Come on, guys. Stop messing around. The Emperor would never allow us to be used for a pointless war. This war is to defend our honor...We should feel privileged to be part of it." The youngest member of their team spoke up, sharing the thoughts that had surrounded them all of their life. Ryuu was a nice guy, loyal to a fault, and level headed. But he was blind as Dakota.
Damien snorted softly, "Honor? This war is nothing but the end of the game! We've just been run like mice through a maze since we got to this school. They've been primping and training us to be the perfect little cut outs soldiers for a war that has been planned for years!"
"Damien is right. They want us to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of bloodshed and petty disagreements, nothing more." Kaito's cool voice had returned now that Damien had gotten into the yelling. Kaito always liked to be the calmer of the two.
"Will you guys stop being stupid?! I'm tired of hearing you two going on and on about this! The war is to protect us and our future children and their future children! We are doing it for honor and for our country! We can't just let that Luna Trash disgrace and insult us without fighting back! Where is your bravery? Where is your sense of duty?! I can't even believe I am hearing any of this from you two!" Dakota burst into angry and rushed words, an explosion that Damien usually avoided at all costs.
But now it was needed. His arm fell off of Kaito's shoulder at the blond boy's words. He almost felt ashamed for making his friend get so angry at him and Kaito... But he scowled when his friend accused him of not having bravery or a sense of duty... He was plenty brave! Much braver then Dakota, who couldn't even see what was going on right in front of him! Just because he didn't want to be wrong! Just because he couldn't admit that he could be wrong for once!
"Yeah, Dakota? You're tired of hearing us? Huh? That right? Well you're obviously haven't heard a word we've said! Luna Trash? What have they done to us that we haven't done right back to them?! Haven't you been paying attention in all those history lessons that are shoved down our throats?! Wars, bombs, disease, death! All because someone insulted someone else and started a war ‘cause of it! I thought we weren't going to repeat the past! What future are our children going to have if our generation is all dead, or injured, or messed up in the head because of this god damn war?!" his voice echoed down the hall and people were staring now. He could care less. Let them hear him! He would rather get in trouble for saying the truth then keep his head down and pretend he was just another clone!
"Damien! Shush!" Ryuu hissed at him and even Kaito looked uncomfortable with the attention they were receiving now. The dark hair boy glared coldly at anyone looking at his teammates, but even that didn't deter most of the onlookers. Dakota looked at if he wanted to punch him and he couldn't help but feel the same. He felt flushed with anger and opened his mouth to keep talking when Kaito caught him be the collar and started to drag him faster towards their room.
"That's enough, Chou. We'll continue this in privacy." Kaito said quietly, his voice controlled. Damien didn't know how he did it. The boy had to be as mad as him. He knew the truth, too! Not that either of them had any proof...But where were they going to find proof of corruption? Not in History Class...He knew the other boy was a bit peeved at him for causing a scene when his last name was used, but unlike Kaito he couldn't help but be loud sometimes, especially when his friends were spouting bullshit!
They all went into their shared room and Kaito released him, sitting on his plain bed with the simple black blanket and matching black pillow. Ryuu didn't seem to know what to do with himself, and sat by Kaito. The dark haired boy seemed to think about protesting this, but thought better of it and let younger boy stay.
Damien didn't even bother going near the beds, too much pent up energy and anger. He began to pace the room. He was normally easy going, funny, even. But this was important to him and he didn't understand why Dakota was so willing to be blind to everything around him! Was it his pride? Or his god damn honor? Dark purple eyes eyed the blond boy who now stood in front of the closed door, arms crossed over his chest. Ryuu and Kaito just watched from the bed.
"Shouldn't we stop them?" Damien heard Ryuu whisper to Kaito as he refused to break the staring contest going on between them. He saw Kaito shrug noncommittally. b*****d had always been unwilling to get into a real argument with Dakota.
This was an unusual predicament, really. Usually, it was him and Kaito fighting, with Dakota either urging Kaito on -when Damien had done something to him- or telling Kaito that it was stupid for him to be bothering with such a pointless argument -when Damien had done something to Kaito that hadn't injured him.
Usually, he and Dakota got along fine... Sometimes, their was a bit of a struggle for power, with him trying to convince Kaito to help come up with a good prank, and then convincing Ryuu to help do it, and Dakota having to put his foot down on all the fun, keeping them all out of trouble... But most of the time, they were good friends... But this argument set them both on edge.
"Can't you just keep out of trouble for once?" said Dakota, quietly, with leashed in anger, his golden eyes glaring. Damien glared right back. So he thought this was just about stirring up trouble? Just another prank?
"Can't you take this seriously? Can't you see what is happening right in front of you? Don't you wonder what is happening? Don't you wonder what happens to the students that just seem to disappear? Don't you wonder what happens when someone doesn't do as well in training as they should? Don't you wonder what happens when we do go into this war and are forced to actually use all of this training? Damn it, Dakota! Can't you see this is wrong?" he asked, clenching his hands into fists. Dakota just looked at him as if he had grown a second head, but Damien saw the fear, the questioning flicker in his eyes before it was gone.
"No. It's not our place to question the Academy's rules, Damien. It's not our place to think we know how to handle the war and Luna's insults and accusations better then our government. It's not our place to think we have any say in what our Emperor wants us to do for the country. And you are going to get yourself killed, saying such things." Dakota said the last thing softer, tension leaving his smaller frame. Damien knew the boy didn't want to see him hurt, killed, or in trouble...Yet, the blond still believed in the rules and laws that would harm him for saying what he thought...
"I'd rather die then see our classmates get sacrificed." The quiet, heavy words seemed to fill the room and it didn't feel like they were fighting each other anymore, but something bigger, something stronger... Something that none of them were sure they could beat...
Damien's stomach growled loudly.
He blinked, the tension in the room evaporating as Kaito rolled his eyes and Ryuu smiled, obviously relieved the fighting had stopped. Dakota gave an exasperated sigh, since they really had just eaten. Damien thought about continuing the fight, thought about saying something to try and convince his friend and Teammate...But he couldn't bring himself to ruin the moment again. They had plenty of time before they were sent to war, plenty of time before they had to face this issue again... And he couldn't stand having his friends mad at him...
"Man, I'm hungry! Hey, Ryuu, you have any chips or anything?" he asked, going over to the boy, giving him a begging stare. Ryuu started to say something, when Kaito hit him in the head with his pillow.
"Can you not worry about your bottomless stomach for one minute?" Kaito said, moving to hit him with the pillow again, but he saw it coming this time and easily caught it. He grinned cheekily at the older boy.
"Looking this good and being this awesome requires lots of nourishment, you pansy." he said before making a squawking noise as Dakota hit him on the head with his pillow. He released Kaito's pillow to clutch at his poor, abused head when Kaito began to beat him with the regained pillow.
"I'll show you pansy, you glutton!" the dark haired boy said, amusement in his voice as he continued to beat Damien.
"And I'll show you for harassing poor Ryuu, you trouble making imp!" said Dakota, help Kaito in pounding Damien. Ryuu just watched from the bed, confused. He looked like he wanted to help, but also wanted to see how long Dakota and Kaito could keep hitting him...
"Harassing poor Ryuu?! What about you two abusing poor me! Ah! I'm going to get brain trauma!" he shouted, though it was muffled by the continual pillow beating. He tackled Dakota and stole his pillow, pushing it on his face as if he was suffocating him. But then a flying pillow sent him sprawling onto the ground, vision dizzy, and feathers floated down and covered him. He coughed and sat up slightly, holding his head and stared at the smirking Kaito.
"Don't straddle Dakota." was all he got as an excuse for nearly killing him with a pillow. He growled and the war was on, grabbing his own pillow and diving towards Kaito, determined to hit the smirk right off of his face. Ryuu just watched as roommates went crazy, feathers and shouts filling the room. The darkness of the War still loomed over their heads, but it was held at bay as the teammates fought, laughed, and played with each other as the night wore on.
Hours later, Damien found himself peering down the empty, darkened hallways. Curfew had started an hour ago, not that he cared. He had stepped out of their room after curfew so many times, he didn't even know how he knew when curfew started.
He had waited until he Teammates had fallen asleep, Kaito stealing some of his clothes as a pillow, seeing as his pillow had burst into feathers when it had collided with Damien’s head. b*****d should have just not hit him, but Kaito hadn't listened to his protests and instead used his best and softest sweater as a pillow and told him to shut up.
The grumbling of his stomach was the reason for his creeping about. He just couldn't sleep without something to eat and he knew the cooks prepared some longer-to-cook breakfast items at night. He wouldn't mind some semi-cold muffins and a glass of milk...
So he moved silently through the hallways. Some might have thought that sneaking around the Academy would've been impossible to do, but he was Damien Chou. Despite usually not doing his homework and never listening to the instructors he was at the top of all of his Classes, next to Dakota and Kaito for some odd reason, which rather ticked him off. Some said he was a Prodigy, most just said he was lucky. Either way, he could easily move undetected through empty, dark hallways and had never been caught before.
He heard voices and wondered if he had just jinxed himself. He cursed in his head and quickly opened the nearest door and ducked inside. It was an empty classroom, nothing special. Empty desks, a chalkboard, a few throwing knives, and just one katana and training dummy. Che...Damien assumed it had to be a first year class. He carefully looked out the small window in the door and saw...Was that the Chancellor? Who was he talking to?
"And you are sure that the Emperor needs that many? So soon?" the Chancellor asked the sneering man at his side, raising a gray eyebrow in disbelief. While the Chancellor was a stern looking man, and Damien knew from experience that the appearance didn't lie, the man he was talking to looked as if mankind was a nasty bug waiting for him to step on. Damien hated him on sight. The way those gray eyes looked down his pointed nose before letting a slimy smile creep onto his lips, made Damien know he had to find out what they were talking about.
Hungry stomach forgotten, he waited until they rounded the corner that led to the Chancellor's office before emerging from the empty classroom and trailing after them. Finally. He was putting his skills to more use than just sneaking food and tricking teachers. He was finally going to get proof. He could just feel it. Crouching in front of the door the two men had just walked through and carefully pressing his ear against the door, Damien listening to the conversation.
"Are you saying that you don't have the supplies, Chancellor?" Damien made a disgusted face at the cool, arrogant voice that had to belong to the slimly man. He heard some fluttering noise that sounded like shuffling papers and then the slight creak of the old wooden chair that the Chancellor favored.
"I'm not saying that. It's just we only have so many ready students. We are training them as fast as we can, but we don't have those kinds of numbers yet. I'm really not even sure if we can send the ones that are almost finished in their training-" the Chancellor's voice was cut off with a crash and Damien risked being caught to pop his head up and look through the small window in the door.
Papers that the Chancellor had probably just been shuffling fluttered to the floor and his desk was now tilted forward. The Chancellor was turning a sickly shade of blue as the polished, sneering man choked him with his own collar. Damien could barely hear what he was whispering to the Chancellor and had to read his lips for the most part.
"I don't care what you have to do, Chancellor. A war is going to be starting soon. Do you want this country overrun with the insulting trash that Luna calls its people? No, of course not. So you are going to give the Emperor whatever he wants. If it means you send a few unready children, then so be it. This is for Pride. The Pride of our great country is worth so much more then a few hundred lives. Don't you agree?" Damien watched the Chancellor turning rapidly purple even as he nodded his agreement. The man in his high dollar suit and shiny leather shoes revealed his teeth in a way that could have been a smile if it didn't show so much malice and released the Chancellor's collar. The usually cool and composed Chancellor took deep, shaking gulps of air and the sneering man brought out a handkerchief, wiping his hands as if the Chancellor's collar had gotten them dirty.
"I am so pleased that we are in agreement. So you will have those soldiers ready in a month's time, correct?" The Chancellor only nodded in agreement, either too scared or still too choked to speak.
"Excellent. I will be seeing you then. Do take care." The man showed his teeth again before moving towards the door. Damien quickly scrambled away from it, just barely making it around the corner and in the classroom he had hid in previously. He watched the slimy man leave and felt his pulse racing. He had been right. He had been horribly right. They were going to kill them all. They were going to send even the younger students to get murdered.
Ready or not, here came the war.
Damien had a sudden flash of his little sister being given a weapon and shoved onto a bloody battlefield. Would she have time to scream? To run? Or would it be over too fast? The image horrified him and made him clench his fists. No. He was going to fix this! He wouldn't let that happen to her! To any of them! The horrible man's words echoed in his ears. A month was all the time he had to figure out a way to stop this from happening...What could they do? What was there to do?
He had never been good at figuring these kinds of things out...He needed Kaito's sharp mind, Dakota's sensibilities, and Ryuu's good morals and sometimes really good ideas... He couldn't do this by himself. He rushed back to his room. He never knew how he didn't manage to get caught when he went back, seeing as how clumsy and uncaring he had been when he stumbled through the halls to his room and sleeping roommates. But somehow he did it.
When he got to his room, he threw open the door, letting it slam into the wall with a crash. A moment later, three different kinds of weapons were thrown at his head. A slightly dull throwing star whizzed over his head, a silver dagger cut some of his hair, pinning it to the wall to his right, and a bean bag like object that he knew from experience could knock the breath out a grown man with ease knocked into his knee. This was the kind of thing that happened when you woke up three well-trained Academy students in the middle of the night... But he didn't have time to dwell on the dangers of his roommates and instead started to shake each one of them awake.
"Get up you guys! Get up! I just heard the worst! We're all in danger! We are all going to die! GET UP!" he shouted at them, shaking Kaito roughly before nearly shoving Dakota off his bed.
"Can't we all die in the morning?" Ryuu asked sleepily, rubbing at his eye with a fisted hand, the other squinting at him as if he had never seen him before in his life. Kaito made a small snuffling sound as he buried deeper in his covers, something Damien usually would have taunted him about, but now was not the time! Dakota sat up in his bed, blinking blearily at him, seeming unable to grasp what he was saying. Damien felt his frustration building. Weren't they specially trained to wake up at a moment's notice, ready to go?! They obviously didn't understand what kind of danger they were in...
"The Academy is on fire!" he said loudly and now it was his turn to blink as, in a flash of movement, all three of his Teammates were out of their beds. Dakota was throwing all needed, emergency supplies in a bag, Kaito was quickly gathering what little cash they all had, making Damien rethink how well he had thought he had hidden his stash, and Ryuu was starting to wet small towels, for them to breathe through in case of heavy smoke.
Okay...Why hadn't they gotten up when he said they were going to die, then?! Damien pushed away the almost overwhelming desire to punch all three of the boys and instead focused on warning them all of their impending doom. That had nothing to do with fire...At least, not at the moment.
"You guys… Guys! The Academy isn't on fire!" This stopped all of their hurried movements and gained glares from Kaito and Dakota and a confused look from Ryuu.
"Huh? But you just said it was on fire, Damien." Ryuu pointed out helpfully, still holding the wet towels. Damien threw his hands up in exasperation.
"It doesn't matter what I just said! What I'm saying now is that we are all going to die in a month's time! I just heard the Chancellor talking to some really creepy, snake-ish kind of guy! The guy...He had lips like freaking worms, guys! And... And... He said that we are all going to be sent to War in a month! Everyone is! Even the younger kids who just got here! Even... My sister..." He knew he sounded frantic and he hated how his voice shook at the mention of his sister, but he couldn't help it now. He would be brave and confident later... For now, he was allowed a brief moment of being scared and unsure. As long as it was just in front of his Teammates...
"We have to get out of here! We have to stop this! I told you! I told you this was going to happen!" he finished, a hand running through his hair, a nervous gesture he had had since he was little. He looked desperately at his team and saw their shocked faces staring back at him. Kaito looked closed off, as if he had shut down. Ryuu looked horrified and he knew the boy was imagining what he himself had thought when he found out... And Dakota... Dakota looked...
"You're lying." The statement stung worse then it should have. Dakota's small body was shaking and the blond was looking at him as if he was the one starting the War. The phrase 'Don't shoot the messenger.' passed through his head and he felt the insane urge to laugh wildly. Or maybe cry... He couldn't tell. The sight of his friend, one of his best friends, looking at him with such hatred... Dakota was crying. He was scared...
Damien watched, too shocked to move, as Kaito carefully wrapped his arms around Dakota's shaking form. Damien didn't know why the dark haired boy was doing that, since he was usually so closed off and emotionally detached... Ryuu had somehow made his way to his side and reminded him painfully of his sister as the smaller boy clutched at the bottom of his shirt.
Dakota stared at him still, the hatred leaving the look. He still looked like he didn't want to believe the words, but... Kaito's grip tightened and Dakota looked at the dark haired boy before his wet eyes went back to him. He gave a small nod and Damien felt something loosen inside of him. Ryuu looked up at him and he tried to smile reassuringly, and he then met Dakota's gaze again.
"I'm not. I'm sorry... But we have to do something... In a month's time...We could all be sent to our death." He didn't recognize his own voice and the words caused Ryuu to curl closer to him. Dakota and Kaito looked at him stonily and everything felt heavy and silent as they realized just what was being asked of them.
Then a small gasp echoed through the room.
Damien spun around, Ryuu falling off of him, and faced their open doorway. There stood Violet, so pale that she could have been easily mistaken for a ghost. She looked so small and pure, white against the black of the empty hallway behind her. She wore a white night gown, washing out her already pale skin. She clutched the door way like it was the only thing keeping her up and stared at him with eyes so dark and wide they were more like dark holes, stark against her white palor. She looked at them all, her mouth hanging open and looking as if she might start to scream or babble, before turning and running.
"Wait! Vi!" he called out and raced after her. He hadn't been planning on telling her! She couldn't know the world was like this! That her own school was like this! She shouldn't know! She couldn't know! How much had she heard? She couldn't tell her team! They were too young to know anything like this! He was supposed to take this! He was the one who was supposed to know and take care of this! Not Violet... Never Violet.
He followed her, unsurprised to hear almost silent footsteps behind him. He just concentrated on catching up with his little sister. But, apparently she had been doing well in the Races, or maybe it was her fear that gave her speed... Either way, she stayed ahead of him and darted into her room. Damien reached the door just as Violet started to ramble at her team.
He opened the door and picked Violet up without a second thought, holding her up with one arm and ending the mostly nonsense-filled rambling she had been doing as first Kaito, then Dakota, and finally Ryuu filed in after him. Damien saw Vi's team waking up and apparently surprised to see them there. Violet clung to him, her face buried in his neck. He looked over her head at Kaito, wondering what they should do. Kaito glanced at Dakota, and Ryuu just stared helplessly at them. After a few moments of silent communication, Dakota stepped into the middle of the room.
"What's the matter with the Princess? She have another nightmare?" Shana asked, sitting up slowly and looking very annoyed.
Herai sat up as well, looking mildly confused, surprised, and concerned. She got out of her bed and went over to Violet, whispering quietly to her, questioning if she was alright, and if she needed a glass of water.
Akira looked even more annoyed then Shana. For someone so cute and pretty during the day, she looked like an avenging harpy right then, sitting up in her bed, glaring at them all, her short hair tangled and frizzy.
"Get out… I need my beauty sleep, and if Violet wakes me up one more time with one of her ridiculous nightmares, I am throwing her out into the hall! The last one she had was about drowning in milk, for Pete’s sake!" Akira growled at them. Shana seemed to cheer up a bit when she saw that Akira was so miffed. Violet just clung tighter to him, and Herai's whispers got faster and more concerned. She seemed to know that it was something worse than a nightmare.
Dakota cleared his throat, stopping whatever retort Shana was going to say in regards to Akira's beauty sleep. The girls looked at him and Akira grabbed a hair brush, moving it swiftly through her hair, seeming to be preparing herself for whatever Dakota was going to say. Only Herai and Violet didn't look at the blond boy.
"Tonight... Damien found out that... The Chancellor has agreed to send all the students of the Academy, trained or not, to fight in the War. In a month's time." Akira stopped brushing her hair in mid stroke and Shana seemed to be ready to grab her sword, storm out of the room, and start and finish the War herself. Herai had paused and seemed confused.
"They can't send me to the War! I'm from Jiman! From a High-Class family! They aren't going to send me… They can't send me! My family is too important! I'm too important! I'm from... Jiman... They can't... I'm... They just can't send me like some worthless Commoner!" Akira burst out, disbelief coloring her tone.
"You idiot. They don't care who you are or where you're from. They just need bodies to fight, don't they? That's just great. The one time we aren't judged by who our family is or where we came from, and it's because they just need a lot of people to die for them! Damn it!" Shana cursed, punching her pillow viciously. He heard the crack in her voice, that little note of fear and helplessness covered up by her hard, tough words.
Herai just looked at her Teammates and then back to him, and finally went back to Violet. She didn't seem to be saying anything anymore. He knew how she felt. Ryuu looked as if he wanted to say something that would make everything better, but came up with nothing. What was there to say? This was all hopeless... What could they do? Kaito had moved to stand behind Dakota and both looked more like statues then people... What could they do? What could any of them do?
Damien felt something wet on his neck and heard a small whimper. He knew Violet was crying. His little sister was crying and with good reason. A War... A pointless War... And she was getting pulled into it. All of them were. No... No!
"We aren't going to let that happen! We are going to get out of here, and we are going to stop this from happening before anyone can get hurt! I promise you that. And..." he turned to Herai for a moment, grinning at her because he knew she had never heard him say it before, "I never break my promises." he said, voice strong.
He felt better saying it, even though he had no idea how he was going to get them all out... It was impossible for even one person to escape the Academy, and he was promising to get eight people out and then stop a whole War in just a month? But when Violet lifted her head, looking at him as if he could do anything he promised to do, he felt like he could do it without even breaking a sweat. Well... As long as he had his Team to help him out...
"Of course we're not going to let that happen! We'll kick the butts of anybody who dares get in our way!" Shana said suddenly, leaping off her bed and taking a classic fighting stance. Akira looked like she didn't know what to do for a moment, just staring at Shana. She seemed to be stuck in her own little world, and it was a sad place... But then Shana glared at her and she snapped back to herself. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and rolled her eyes.
"One look at you and they'll decide to end the war just so they don't have to your ugly face anymore." she said, sneering at the other girl. Shana glared at her and gave her own retort, which made Akira give another jab at Shana, and soon they were having their own little verbal war, which seemed less about insulting each other, and more about making themselves feel like things were normal...
"I'm sure with Damien's promise, we'll be able to do it." Ryuu spoke up, smiling good naturedly, seeming to be very happy to finally be able to say something. Violet looked away from him and turned her gaze to Ryuu. Damien almost laughed when he saw her blushing as Ryuu turned his smile to her.
"Dami always keeps his promises... We'll be fine. I have no worries at all, in fact! Dami takes such good care of me all the time. Even when we were little, he took good care of me. I know he'll protect us, all of us! No worries at all. Dami is very brave and if he is being brave, I can be brave, too, right? Yes. You're... Really brave, too... Ryuu..." she mumbled the last part, blushing more and Damien did chuckle as Ryuu blushed right back. They were too cute sometimes... Though he had a feeling Ryuu was just blushing because he didn't take compliments well... But... Who knew?
"I'm not as brave as Dami... I mean Damien! Damien is very brave... And I'm really sure you'll be really brave, too, Violet." Ryuu said, his tone sincere.
Damien knew he was going to get cavities if he watched them for too long. He set Violet down as she realized that it wasn't very brave to be hugged in his arms and started to wiggle in protest. Damien watched as her face, which had been so pale before, now turned a strawberry pink and she darted into the bathroom as soon as her feet touched the ground, coming out a moment later in a purple robe.
Damien turned to see Dakota and Kaito standing in the middle of the room. Dakota was rolling his eyes at Violet and Ryuu's words, apparently both amused by their stumbling and blushing and annoyed at how much they both seemed to hero worship Damien.Kaito was watching the verbal fight between Akira and Shana with the same interest that a person watching a sword fight might have.
There was nothing strange about that, except they were back to back and Damien saw that each of them had a hand interlocked with the other's. Dakota was clutching at Kaito's hand so tightly that his knuckles were white and Kaito kept sending the blond glances over his shoulder, as if to reassure himself the other was there. Damien could tell they were both worried.
Unlike Ryuu, they were very much used to being by themselves, of taking care of themselves and others. And with this new information and Damien's promise, he guessed they didn't know what to think or do. He would plan with them later, when everyone was sleeping again. Both of them would feel better when they had more then his promise to depend on. Besides, he knew they would have some actual plans.
He was distracted as he felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down at Herai, who looked at him in a way that made him feel... Strange. Something in those green eyes made him think this little girl had seen too much. She just looked at him for a moment, studying him, making him feel transparent. Her face was blank, and her emerald eyes were probing for... Something.
"How can you keep a promise, if you don't even know what it is you're promising?" she finally asked, tone quiet, polite, but those eyes still piercing, knowing... He wanted to squirm under her gaze and felt like he was the younger of the two...
"I do know what I'm promising. I'm promising your safety. Everyone’s safety. And you don't have to worry about it because I keep my promises, okay?" he said, placing his hand on her head and ruffling her hair playfully. She looked up at him, confused and frowning as she fixed her hair. But she didn't ask anything else, simply nodding. She gave him one last glance before going over to Akira and Shana to stop their fight, as it was starting to become physical.
He looked around the room, seeing all the people he cared about, all the people he had promised to keep safe and felt scared. If he was going to start breaking his promises, this would be a very bad one to start with... So he wouldn't. They would be safe. He would make sure of it. He would do anything to protect these people... He watched them interact and wondered just what would be required of him...
Then he decided, whatever it was, it was worth it.
