Hello everyone. It's been a while, hasn't it? Well never fear for I am back, sort of. Regardless, part of the delay of this chapter was a realization I had.
The Tsubasas were as Mary-Sue as you could get almost. They had the Japanese thing, the nicknames, almost the elemental abilities (I was this close to actually giving them those). I really could go on but the point is that that upset me. I had to find a way to essentially retcon this story without retconning it. Going back and just changing everything wasn't really sitting well with me but it needed to be done.
And then…it hit me. The solution was so damn simple and now that I've done it, I hope you all like it. I know I do now.
Oh! And before I forget, I own none of the Gekko students, professors, adults in general, and just about everything in the Gekko save the Gekko school itself and the few OCs I introduced. The Gekko is large and it would have been impossible to keep track of all the OCs that would be involved so I simply borrowed characters from one of my favourite games instead. That's the other reason why this took so long, organizing all the characters I wanted to use and then tweaking them to be applicable to the story, ignoring general laziness of course.
For all their swagger, Hermione was slowing accepting the idea that the Tsubasas had no fear in the slightest. They regularly tangoed with the adults in ways traditional European children would never have dared and generally came out without punishment. Now that everyone was getting used to them however, the professors were regaining their equilibrium and forcefully reclaiming control over their classes. She deduced that it was only because the students were new foreigners that prevented the Hogwarts staff from reacting as they normally would in the situation with an unruly student. Things were going to be different now, she could feel it.
Monday breakfast was a normal affair, the four eating only from their individual bento and talking amongst themselves. Neville and Darion were continuing a friendly debate over Herbology, to everyone's amusement, when they suddenly stiffened in their seats.
Cody eyed them worriedly when they didn't relax. "You guys ok?" To their surprise, the Tsubasas neatly leapt over the two tables, bolting for the main doors to the Great Hall. Everyone stopped what they were doing at the uncharacteristic behaviour, wondering what in the world was going on. In unison the four knelt, hands to the side and on the ground, heads bowed and necks exposed.
A figure walked into the Hall a heartbeat later, dressed in a dark emerald coat that extended to his ankles and was buttoned to his waist, the bottom half left open. His hair was a dark wine red that went straight to his shoulders underneath a matching emerald cap. Simple brown trousers were tucked into worn leather boots and rounded off his outfit. He stopped, glancing down at the still bowed teens.
Dumbledore stood up, smiling slightly although it was obvious he was just as confused as everyone else. It was starting to become habit with the Tsubasas around. "Excuse me, but do you have some sort of business here?"
A woman stepped out from behind the male with much lighter red hair drawn back into a tight braid that fell to her ankles. Unlike him, however, she wore a maroon tunic with a split down the back, the front piece a simple white over black trousers. A tan half-cuirass covered her chest with pauldrons extending over her shoulders and greaves coming up past her knees.
"We have come to collect our students. Did you not receive a letter of explanation from the Master?" she said, raising an eyebrow slowly. Her voice was calm yet authoritative, a clear indicator of her used to being in command and having her orders followed without question. "I do believe it was one of the matters discussed in the…agreement."
"Yes but there will be a problem. Students aren't allowed to leave the school without parental consent. And all I received was a letter from your Headmaster. I'm sorry but that is not enough. They are not allowed to leave. But fortunately you may." He smiled in his grandfatherly way although they were able to see him fingering his wand carefully. The professors closest to him, James on one side and Minerva on the other, were doing the same.
The pair looked at one another before the woman smirked and gestured him forward with a dramatic half bow.
"Headmaster, apparently you didn't look at that letter fully. It was signed by the Triumvirate, their guardians by proxy. You do remember who they are, do you not?"
Dumbledore's face paled.
The Triumvirate was a trio of the strongest sages in the Wizarding World. Everyone liked to assume he was the strongest wizard of his time and he was. He was also pushing his second century and his time was a much older period than theirs.
They had mutually decided that taking over the world, while possible and well within their realms of power, was cliché and not worth the effort it would take to continue ruling the planet. So they chose instead to consolidate their power and keep the citizens of the world from destroying themselves and the planet itself. They understood man and his need to destroy and build so every few decades they'd light the political powder keg that had been gathering and made sure that the war that spawned didn't go out of control. Eventually the building would begin and that would occupy idle hands for some time until the process began all over again.
The last time he had addressed them personally was the war on Voldemort. Rather than deplete the resources of the Ministry, they had spent the entirety of it keeping the fight outside of muggle attention, part of the reason they didn't go after Voldemort themselves, the other half being that there did exist people who were quite capable of doing it and the Triumvirate were not going to fix all of the world's problems alone. They had no formal power over any government, beyond personal power, but by many it was considered suicide, political or otherwise, to go against them. Dumbledore had seen it happen, once.
Grindewald never recovered.
The fact that their Headmaster had gotten all three signatures from some of the most reclusive people on the planet spoke volumes about his influence. And the fact that the four were their charges was most curious as well.
He flicked his wand in the general direction of his office, hand already outstretched for the letter that appeared shortly after. Taking the parchment, he carefully poured over it, absorbing every word rather than just glancing through like he had when he first gotten it, this time paying special attention to the signatures at the bottom.
"It seems that I was…mistaken. And who might you two be? Will you be collecting them every time?" he said, going from slightly embarrassed to studiously ignoring his faux pas in the blink of an eye.
"I am Henje and this is my partner Crim. We won't necessarily be the same ones every week but we'll be along more often than the others, I suspect." He turned to the Tsubasas who were still in their original positions, waiting silently.
"Do you all have your things? You'll probably not be back till much later this evening," Crim said to them. "Darion."
"Our bags are packed and ready, Lady Crim," he said immediately.
"And the work you will be missing?" Henje asked. "Speak."
"Our professors have been notified and we already have our theoretical work completed. The practical is scheduled for this evening after our return, Lord Henje," Damien replied.
"Excellent. Well I'm satisfied. Crim?"
"As am I. We shall depart. Rise."
"Darien. Take command."
"As you command, Lord Henje." The four placed their right hands just above their hearts, leaning forward as the pair of redheads walked out first. "Order. Move." In single file they followed, boots hitting the floor in unison.
The Hogwarts students waited until they were out of eyesight before breaking out into loud whispers.
Hermione and Cody merely blinked in quiet unison.
"I do believe that's the first time I've seen them in any form of submission. Even when they're cooperating in class, you can tell it's only because they want to, not because they fear the repercussions of their actions."
"Hermione-speak for they seemed afraid of those two," Cody said with an eye roll. "Well, we don't know all that much about them if you'll remember. I'd assume that their school is much stricter than ours but who wouldn't go wild at the idea of freedom like they have? I know I would."
"Or we can just wait until they come back before we get the wrong idea," Neville added calmly. The girls blushed, shooting him annoyed scowls. He only smiled, quietly going back to his meal.
___
They marched out the gates of the school, wordlessly touching the portkey that took them straight to the entrance of the school in foothills of Japan. Henje knocked a pattern on the large wooden doors, stepping back as it opened.
Inside was a long stretch of green, the school hidden farther in and blocked from view by an earth rise, seated as it was at the bottom of a mountain.
"Baron Orson." The man that stepped out was tall and broad, covered by a full chest cuirass, pauldrons, bracers, greaves, and cuisses that covered only the outside of the thigh with a spear in hand. Off to one side, they could see his brown mount munching on grass.
"Lord Joshua, Lady Titania. Back to school then?" he asked conversationally, dismissing his weapon with an idle gesture of his hands as he relaxed.
"Yes, we've retrieved the Hogwarts group for their real education. I suspect you'll be seeing them often in the coming months," Titania said, waving at the silent four. Orson's brown eyes took them in with the skill of a man used to fighting.
"Nice to meet you all then. I'm Baron Orson, one of the guardians of the gate. Sometimes my brother Oscar will be here too. I'll let him know about you all."
"We thank you, Baron Orson. Would you mind opening the portal?" The hulking man waved his hand at the ground to his left, a pitch black hole appearing, its edges writhing as if alive.
"Good luck," he said as they calmly walked into what others might see as certain death. In truth, it was the only way to get to the school itself. There were literally hundreds of dummy schools and universities scattered around the globe, each guarded by a Gekko alumni known as the portal keeper. It was only they who could open the portals that led to where the real campus was, situated in a secluded area of the Jura Mountains and just northwest of the Vaud canton, one of the southernmost cantons of Switzerland.
Stepping through the gates, the quartet let loose deep sighs, smiling in contentment as the enchantments woven into their very skin and magic were disabled by the magic of the land.
Gone were their battle scars, gone was the Oriental influence that made them look remarkably similar. Darius was in fact Swiss himself, not some Asian denomination as many of the Hogwarts students would have thought and not only the tallest in the group but also the oldest at seventeen. Damien's strong Russian blood was no longer suppressed, strengthening her jaw structure and slimming it down to make her more gracefully severe along with her stronger brow that added a slight perpetual shadow to her features. Her height shrunk to a mere five foot four, making her the shortest overall. Darion felt his eyes relax and his features harden slightly from his Italian heritage, a smooth tan darkening his skin. He, like his adopted brothers, grew in height slightly. Darien, unlike his comrades, didn't change as much in his facial features as his father was English and his mother German.
"Feel better?" Joshua asked pleasantly.
Cameron nodded. "Much. Feeding into the Headmaster's preconceptions of us is tiring. All those tacky scars and bruises. Are we not magical enough to completely remove most remnants of scars? Fool."
"I can't believe he thinks we're all Japanese or some such though. What, can't other countries have highly selective and secret schools? On the other hand, I guess it doesn't help that the Japanese branch is the face of the Gekko," Anya said, pulling off her glasses with a happy smile, shaking out her now calmer black hair, the strands lying in a limp style around her head. Her usually glowing red eyes were now back to their simple dark amber.
"Necessary evil brother. Give him what he wants to see and he will see nothing else," Dante added with a smirk.
"Nevertheless, your teachers are waiting and I'm sure you'd like to see your parents before they disappear again. Off you trot," Titania said, pushing them forward.
"Later Uncle Joshua!" the twins shouted. Grinning madly they separated, each going to the official residential quarters of their respective families.
The Gekko was more than just a school. It was a community, embedded in the mountains of the Swiss. Like the other cantons, they were their own state and had a self-sufficient economy. Thankfully for magic, they were able to expand greatly, much like the sister campuses. The Magic School of High Learning was naturally a front, although the schools themselves were legit. The Japanese branch was the international `face' of the whole Gekko society, although the main campus was still the largest. People stopped trying to infiltrate their world once they learned it was Japanese so they used that to their advantage. All in all, there was at least one campus on every continent and in the major city capitals where they could hide amongst the other magical schools and muggle electrical interference.
For missions outside their areas, everyone adopted Japanese appearances with their own nationality mixed in to perpetrate the lie that the Tokyo branch was the only one. Most of what the Headmaster saw of them was true, for the best lies were the truth, if only slightly misconstrued.
-_-` -_ `-_-` -_-` -_-` -_-` -_-` -_-` -_-`
Cameron apparated into the home shared by his family, his smile somehow growing wider when he saw his mother just as she was about to disappear into the study.
"Mom!" he shouted, for once acting his age and throwing himself into her. She caught him easily enough, squeezing back twice as hard.
"Oh my darling boy. I didn't realize how much I'd miss you when you left. As cliché as it sounds, it feels like only yesterday you were here for the first time, hurt and confused. You've grown up well, my son." He basked in her praise, finally relaxing for the first time since they were sent on the mission. She bestowed a kiss on his forehead, pushing him away to look him over. "That's much better. Much as I love you, dear heart, you don't look good Japanese."
"For good reason. Where's dad?"
"One would think your skills are slipping my son. After all, you still haven't noticed me yet." Rolling his eyes, Cameron turned to hug his father as well. "That's better. How are you liking your first major mission?"
"It's a pain. Acting the part of haughty Japanese is tiring. Although, beating on Jonathan is a wonderful counterbalance."
"You would enjoy that part," Nick replied, directing them into the study. It was a simple room meant for relaxation with well-worn seats and sofas placed sporadically around the room. Five or six books lay on the side tables, two open facedown.
"It's entirely your fault," Mia said, seating herself on one end of the sofa, smiling when Cameron placed his head on her lap, the rest of his body stretched out. She immediately began threading her fingers through his hair, the activity comforting to both mother and child.
"So says the woman who encourages the chaos he caused as a child."
"Yes she does, to the man who taught him to cause chaos." Nick opened his mouth but shut it just as quickly. Mia smirked victoriously.
"So, how was the mission?" Cameron asked, subconsciously cuddling closer to his mother. Nick and Mia shared knowing grins over his head.
"Standard. The new class should be ready soon for admittance."
"Do you know what we'll be learning since we've mostly plateau'd in our magic without the Gatekeeper?"
"More than likely furthering your Subtle lessons and your individual areas of study. Then probably some combat I'd suspect and a few hours of meditation to see if you find your animagi forms."
Cameron sighed. "I'm starting to think I don't have one."
"Nonsense. You have one, it's just being elusive. Quite frankly you have far too much potential to not have a form," said his father firmly. "It will come to you, in time and its own way, much like mine did for me and Mia's did for her."
"But genetics aren't a guarantee dad. There's nothing to say I will have a form just because my parents did." Mia immediately swatted him on the head, clicking her tongue reproachfully.
"Enough. Whining about it isn't going to make it appear any sooner. Besides, the mediation isn't only for animagi training in any case. Focus yourself. Think about what it is about you that makes you different from everyone else. Do you like meat more than vegetables? Are you more comfortable in the air or on the ground or under the sea? Do you like the chase or being chased? These are things you should ask yourself. Your greatest opponent is yourself, my little one. Meditation is also useful for truly understanding yourself and your limits which of course make it much harder to kill you." She kissed his cheek once more before unceremoniously kicking him off. He hit the ground with a surprised grunt, looking up only to see a sword pointed at his face.
"I guess it's that time then?" Nick reached over from his seat, shifting the open book over and placing it on the table. The trio were instantly transported into their training room albeit in the same positions.
Mia stepped back, giving him the room to rise to his feet. With a simple burst of magic his attire changed to his gi. Reaching one hand out, he firmly grabbed the bone white hilts that appeared, spinning the pair of three-feet sticks around in a circle, stretching out muscles in preparation for the spar.
"I still don't know why of all weapons you chose that one."
Cameron shrugged, smirking slightly. "Hey it worked for a lot of people. Why shouldn't it work for me? Besides, long swords are overrated." Grunting he sprung forward, unsurprised when Mia merely lifted her sword to knock the first stick to one side, blocking the other with her forearm. "You should talk. Jians are so unwomanly." Narrowing her eyes she engaged him, Nick watching from the sidelines with a smile.
His family had the oddest way of bonding.
-_-` -_-` -_-` -_-` -_-` -_-`
"Alright class. Time for some good old fashioned Focusing. Divide yourselves amongst your respective groups and your instructors will take over from there." The class dispersed without much fight, all having a healthy amount of fear for their teacher. Master Athos may have been one of the oldest living members of the school at a few hundred years old but that didn't mean he couldn't still put most of them in their places with naught but a thought.
Cameron joined the others around Master Soren, who as always had a blank look upon his feminine face, foot lightly tapping as he waited for the various groups to split up. Classes like these were based on merit and skill, not age. The eldest was twenty-one and the youngest seven but they all had the same level of skill, for the most part. A few of the younger ones took a bit longer and with a small gesture from Soren's and they found themselves at his feet.
"I…do not appreciate tardiness no matter the age. You should know this by now." After the pair, Rolf and Sue, apologized, Soren led them outside onto the spacious grounds and up into the air, clearing the tops of the forest in the time it took them to blink. The newer members all gasped in shock, doing their best to cling to one another as they stared down at the lush forest and the backdrop of the school.
"Hey, calm down. Soren likes to travel the grounds while he teaches," said a passing voice. The class looked up, surprised to see the woman seated calmly on the back of a pristine white Pegasus. While many of them knew all manner of creatures truly existed, wyverns, dragons, griffins, etc., an equal number had never seen them in the flesh. The flying mounts were often secreted away by their riders to the higher altitudes of the mountains where most weren't allowed.
"Tana, stop distracting my class and go do whatever it is you pegasi riders do," Soren said dryly, raising an eyebrow when Tana only giggled.
"I think I need to go find Ike…" she trailed off, grinning madly at the slight blush that flushed the male's cheeks. The older members of the class, Cameron included, shared secret grins with one another but did their best to remain silent.
"Stop messing with him Tana." Those that fell under Lady Lyndis' rule all knelt as much as they could as she floated up to their position, all of the others settling for a bow. "I know how awkward it is to try and bend while in the air. Please rise."
"Lady Lyndis, you bless us with your presence," Soren said.
"It's only because she's royalty. I wonder if I-"
"Tana! There are children around! Shoo, shoo!" Lyn waved her hands at the hovering knight, using the wind currents to push her away towards the Ilia Mountains. She levelled a smile at the class. "Behave and listen closely. We've very few masters as advanced as Soren and you'd do well to listen to him."
"Thank you, Lady Lyndis, for your kind words." She dipped her head in reply, wheeling about with a cheerful wave before flying away.
"Master Soren?"
"Yes Rolf?"
"Can we do that too?" Predictably, the young, wide-eyed stares got even wider. Cameron could see why. Lady Lyndis made flight look like the easiest thing in the world and the freedom it granted was unparalleled, especially those inclined to it.
"In a few years maybe." A pair of the older students snickered at their clansmen's comment. Cameron closed his eyes and called to Kazj, grabbing the wind streams Soren was weaving to keep them all aloft, and carefully opening a slight gap in the netting. When the boy shifted his weight, it caused him to seemingly trip on air, the class laughing at his misfortune even as his friends helped him up. He felt Soren's red eyes boring into him and flushed as he dismissed Kazj with a quiet murmur.
"Well, I don't know if you're good enough to be a match for Lady Lyndis, Chad, but any of you might one day be. For the record, flying isn't that hard once mastered. It's just tediously complicated and rather involved as you have to lift yourself, push yourself forward, keep a wind shield up in front of you to protect yourself, and push the other air streams away as you move. As an example, what I'm doing now isn't hard. Those of you who are more sensitive," he glanced at Cameron for a split second, "can probably tell that you're not standing on solid air. It's actually a net woven from the different streams around us."
"But what's to stop us from falling through?" Rolf asked. "Like Chad?"
"I'm also using your own abilities to hold you up. Your Furies may be strong but you haven't had much practice in flying so they're unused to holding you up. To supplement I'm using my own to boost yours. Later on today we'll try hovering in place. If you're up to it at least."
"What about Lady Lyndis? She made it seem so easy, even though I know she's only a few years older than us," said one of the older students.
Soren raised an eyebrow slowly. "If you consider fifteen years only a `few'. Keep in mind that Lady Lyn is
one of the best Knights Aeris to have ever graduated from here. Her skill level was high when she started and only got
higher as she grew. Part of it is also completely natural so you may be better or you may be worse. Just try before you
whine about things being too unfair for you. Now, learning to fly on your own begins with…"
-_-` -_-` -_-` -_-` -_-` -_-`
"Cameron, a word."
He flinched slightly, remaining in his spot as the rest of the class left. The sun showed that it was clearly noon and the kitchens would begin churning out food soon. His abused stomach rumbled at the thought of real food rather than the Japanese cuisine they were forced to eat.
"Yes, Master?" he asked, turning.
Soren's face was placid, giving no help to gauge the man's attitude at the moment.
"Has he manifested?"
"No, sir. I can call him easily but he's yet to settle on something physical," he said promptly. Soren nodded thoughtfully, eyes taking Cameron in.
"You really should be in one of my more advanced classes. Had I not already been affecting the net, I probably wouldn't have noticed Kazj."
"Thank you, master. But I feel that Kazj is far more subtle than he is powerful. As it is he can barely hold me up."
"Time and practice will help with that. But I want you to work on your strength rather than your manipulation for a while. Kazj can't get strong if you don't press his limits."
"Yes, master, I will." And then to his surprise, the normally blank master smiled.
"Good, you are one of my better students, Cameron. I'd hate to see you not reach your full potential." The rare praise made him smile wide in reply, doing his best not to fidget. "Also, go see if you can't convince Lord Joshua to help you."
"Soren, I see you working there!" Soren's face flushed brightly as the older, taller man ran up, casually throwing an arm about his shoulders. Cameron promptly saluted.
"Lord Ike, I didn't expect to see you this soon. This is one of my better students, Magvel Jehanna Cameron. Cameron, this is Lord Ike, son of King Greil."
"It is an honour to meet you, milord."
"Bah! Straighten yourself! Dad's the man in charge, not me! And what have I told you about overworking?" He directed the last at Soren, shaking the man for good measure.
"I wasn't. Cameron required some assistance, assistance I provided as I am his teacher. Now, to lunch?"
Ike grinned and Cameron began to feel awkward just standing by, watching. From what he had heard, Gatekeepers could communicate with their Guardians through nonverbal means and if Soren's blush was anything to go by, the rumours were true.
"Um, master, if that's all…may I be excused?"
"Sure, Soren will see you next week," Ike said and the student wasted no time in fleeing as quickly as possible from the pair.
I think…I've just gotten the truth about Lord Ike and Master Soren, he sent to his group, stepping through the portal that took him directly to the cafeteria.
It was still fairly quiet as lunch didn't truly start till one when everyone would be out of their lessons for an hour and a half. He made his way to the line for Indian style cooking, happily piling the Awadhi dishes onto his tray. Having hung around Padma a little made him miss the diversity in Gekko foods. Hogwarts focused mostly on British and a few European dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, usually the same things over and over again. While working on missions, he, along with the others, was required to eat traditional Japanese cuisine that was good but boring after a while, used to diversity as he was.
What do you mean? The buzz that they're together? Anya replied, breaking him from his thoughts and towards the Magvel section. The only real divide between people at school was the clan and family they hailed from.
Oh yea. Let's just say I've never seen Master Soren blush that much in my life. I felt like I was with dad and mom when they were getting a little friendly with one another. It was that uncomfortable.
Nodding to the other family members seated around, Cameron sat in the Jehanna area, the other three joining him after a moment. A few people glanced at them but said nothing, returning to their plates quietly.
Not as if they could talk. Almost everyone's from some other clan, Dante scoffed. Hell, that one, right there, the blue hawk one? Yea, member of Phoenicis, in the Etruria area. Hypocrites.
So you saw Lord Ike and Master Soren being affectionate. So what? Damien said, keeping the conversation with her brother going over Dante's ranting.
:Stop taking everything so personally just because you are Goldoa, Dante. They must be new if they are so surprised at the interconnectivity we share. If such is the case, it is not worth the effort to get angry at them.:
It's just a little odd is all, Darien said.
You said they've been friends for years, right Darius?
:Yes. For as long as my parents could remember, Lord Ike and Master Soren have been inseparable. Very rarely did they see one without the other somewhere behind.:
We also got to see a Pegasus rider too who said some…interesting things about that as well.
"I can't believe we're honestly talking about this. What did you learn in class?" Dante said, abruptly changing the subject. The trio grinned but went along with it anyway. He was just this shade of slightly homophobic.
"Flight."
"Healing."
"Channelling. Or rather how to control our output. It's why we seem to feed off one another's anger, Dante. I'm essentially manipulating you subconsciously to keep going until you make me mad enough where the anger cools and I can rein it in. Granted, I'm always far madder with the cool anger than the fiery one but it does make it stop."
"It's always hard in the beginning. After you get your Keeper they can drain you so you don't affect others as easily," a passing male said, teal coloured tail and ears twitching at the ambient sounds as the cafeteria filled, one pierced with golden yellow hoop.
"Ranulf, I thought you were gone," said Anya, rising to hug her cousin. He returned it, affectionately nuzzling her back.
"Finished early so King Cain told me you were here. How's the mission?" he replied, taking a seat.
"Not so good. From what you said about knowing when you found your Keeper, Lord Ike just drew you in immediately. There was no hesitation or indecisiveness," Darien grumbled, voice reflecting his frustration.
"Lord Ike has also grown up here," he said. "He responded to us because he was receptive to us. Most people aren't to the bonds you're trying to create with them. Your magics will take care of that, have patience." Anya sighed but nodded.
"I don't like it but I guess that's not the point, is it?"
He grinned, heterochromic eyes shining in the bright sunshine, winking the purple one. "You wanna be like me, you gotta work like me. Well, I'm off. It was nice to see you all again," he added to the males as he left.
"You didn't tell us you were thinking about following in Ranulf's footsteps," Dante said suspiciously. Anya blushed, guilty.
"Because I wasn't sure it was possible. I mean, me? Spy? But he's been helping me out a lot. I just wanna be like he is for King Cain to my dad."
":You do realize he has an unfair advantage?:"
"I know, what with him being cat laguz and all but it doesn't mean I'm not going to try anyway," she said fiercely, lips rising into a half-snarl.
"And I thought I was the animalistic one," Dante muttered. She glared, rebuffed by his playful shrug. "I'm sure you'll get it…in a century or two."
"Dante, time for the lesson." The group jumped in surprise, to the young boy's amusement. Dante immediately fell to the floor, head bowed.
"Prince Kurthnaga! I apologize for my rudeness." He giggled again, tossing dark teal hair over one shoulder.
"Never fear Dante. I've only come to collect you since I was passing by. Ena is expecting you."
"At once, milord!" He saluted and without a backwards glance ran into the nearby portal.
"I love when you do that, Prince Kurt. It's always funny," said Anya, still snickering. The prince smiled at her.
"And your uncle is waiting for you as well, little Anya."
":Thank you for the entertainment, Prince Kurthnaga. Will you be joining us?:" Caleb asked as Anya left faster than Dante had.
"No but thank you. I was on my way to see King Vigarde and was fashioned into a messenger on the way. Enjoy the remainder of your meals." He nodded to them, walking away.
Is it just me…or are we seeing a lot more of the gentry today?
:It's not just you. In class I saw Lord Eliwood. Granted, Lady Ninian was teaching so it makes some sense but still. The gentry don't seclude themselves but neither do we see so many in one day.:
Something's happening. I'll ask Uncle Joshua about it later. He might be
willing to tell me what's going on.
-_-` -_-` -_-` -_-` -_-` -_-`
"What bring you to me so soon, nephew?" As usual, the prince of Jehanna was practicing with his sword. After his mother, the Queen, he was the best in Magvel and the one most wanted to emulate. "Surely your mother has given you your lesson today?"
"Two things: Master Soren suggested I ask you about work to make Kazj stronger."
"Easy enough. And the second?"
Cameron shifted uneasily. "What's going on? I saw Lady Lyndis this afternoon along with Lord Ike. Caleb saw Lord Eliwood and then Prince Kurthnaga appeared at lunch. Some of the most powerful people in school are suddenly around a lot more often than they would be ordinarily."
Joshua smiled, clapping Cameron on the shoulder. "Very good. You and your jiha have very keen eyes. Yes, something is going on, and no, I can't tell you. Focus on your schooling and your Keeper for now. If the time comes that you need to know, then you will. Not before."
Cameron grimaced but nodded. There was no point in pushing the man further than he already had. That fact that his suspicions were confirmed at all was enough for the moment.
"Thank you, uncle."
"You are my nephew, Cameron. Your mother would have my head, and so would your grandmother. But onto what I can help you with. Soren said Kazj's not as strong as he should be?"
"Yes. I believe he's more manipulative than pure power but Master said time and practice would help with that."
"Not in all cases. Have you tried speeding yourself up?"
"It's the only way to keep up with mother."
"And you've tried flight I'm sure?" Cameron blushed.
"Of course. And I fell straight on my face."
Joshua's mouth twitched but he did not laugh. "We all do. But power isn't everything. One of our best spies has a pair of the weakest Furies I've ever seen. But it's how he uses them that makes him so effective. Try fine tuning your control and see if that doesn't help. If Kazj isn't stronger even a little by next month, chalk it up as a lost cause and focus on your control instead."
"What about you? Are you power or control?"
Joshua smiled mysteriously. "Before or after finding my Keeper?"
"Both."
"Control comes with age most times. By nature of blood, I was just plain powerful. Queen Eirika gave me the control later."
"How did you know she was your Gate Keeper? Me and the others feel a pull but we're also sure it's not what we think it is."
"I know you'll get tired of hearing this but you'll know when the time comes. It's not something gradual. It's an epiphany, a sudden flash of understanding. Because your Keeper is from outside the Gekko, he or she must first be open to the nature and facets of not only your magic but his or her own. You're going to essentially change who this person is on a fundamental level and they've got to be ready for it."
-_-` -_-` -_-` -_-` -_-` -_-`
Their return wasn't noted until the next morning, all of them looking surprisingly refreshed, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
"So…have a good time at school?" Cody asked. They all grinned.
"Of course. We got to have lessons with our favourite teachers."
"What do you learn there that you can't here?" Neville said, careful to keep his tone light. He and the girls had been debating for a while what their secret lessons consisted of but hadn't been able to decide on anything that fit or couldn't be argued against.
"Our education is more specialized. All of us, meaning all the students, are taught the basics and after that comes specialties. It's not so much that we can't learn here, just that it's easier to learn at the school from the teachers we've been working with for a while rather than learning from someone who doesn't know us," Darien replied.
"Besides, it's awfully rude to ask our teachers to come here just to give us personal attention when they've got classes of their own to teach," Damien added. "And other students as well. We're not that special."
"Oh. So what did you learn?" Hermione said, leaning forward in her seat eagerly. Neville and Cody almost had to hold her down.
Darion shrugged. "I went to Magical Theory and Woodland Specialties after a few hours of physical training."
"Ditto," the twins chimed in unison. "But I spent my PT time with my parents." They both turned to stare at one another wordlessly. "Your dad was home? But he didn't tell me!"
"You'll have to excuse them. They tend to argue about the most childish things." If I didn't know any better I'd say the two of you had different parents! he roared at them, careful to keep his face as nonresponsive as possible, covering up his frown with food.
The twins continued their glaring contest as if nothing was wrong.
Technically they know we're adopted but I don't think they realize by different people.
What does it matter anyway? So what if we're adopted? But damn it! It's only been a few weeks and we're already slipping! Damien shouted.
:I believe this is why we were barred for so long to any missions. Even though we are good, we are still young and prone to mistakes that could lead to trouble for the school. I believe the only reason we were allowed is because our Gatekeeper is here.:
"What are your parents like?" Hermione asked, breaking the stare off.
"Dad's a goof, mom's the greatest woman on the planet," Darien said, smiling slightly, and kicking Damien when she looked to protest. It was a small ongoing rivalry, whose parents were truly the best but they could never decide, always loving the one that adopted them originally more.
"So you all have the same parents then?"
"For all intents and purposes. We believe in `it takes a village to raise a child'. We just have a very big village," Darion said, shrugging. "We have a set of primary parents and a large amount of `uncles', `aunts', and `cousins'."
"You went to a class called `Woodland Specialties?' What's it like?" Cody said, moving the conversation back to the starting point when it became obvious that the quartet weren't going to speak more on their home lives.
"What you'd expect. It's like a combination between Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures only it's not specifically magic based. We study non-magical plants and animals too."
"There's one for marine life, another for avian, mountainous. For every kind of ecosystem in the world we more than likely have a specialty class for it," Damien said. "That's what the colours on our uniforms are for. Each colour corresponds to a specific ecosystem specialty we're studying."
"What's an ecosystem?" They all turned to Neville in surprise, the Tsubasas blinking wordlessly.
"Tell me he didn't just honestly just ask that?"
"Wasn't Arthur Tansley the one essentially create the definition we now use?"
"He's a pureblood; you can't expect him to know about science!" Hermione said.
"Ecosystems may be a science term but it isn't a science-specific subject. There's no reason why he shouldn't know what an ecosystem is. Are British magicals that behind in the times?!" She got a lot of dirty looks from that, seeing as how a vast majority of Hogwarts attendees were British, but raised the two finger salute, showing the back, unrepentant. "And I guess you don't know English Literature either."
"English what?" The table jumped as Darius slammed his head on the surface repeatedly.
"Ignore him. He's our bookworm so he's offended that you don't know your own cultural history," Darien explained, eventually shoving his napkin under Darius' forehead to muffle the continuous blows.
"But I do know our culture! For the past seven generations at least!"
"Neville, they're talking about muggle culture. One of the world's greatest playwrights is a British muggle named William Shakespeare," Hermione said. "Most magicals don't even know about him unless told from muggleborns."
"And can you call them `normals' please? Muggle sounds so offending, like they're one step from being mud."
"Because muggles are mud," Parvati said with a sneer, leaning around Jonathan to address them, proving that she had been eavesdropping the whole time. "They are beneath us and therefore deserve a fitting name."
"You do realize that you're dating a suma then?" Darien said, raising an eyebrow sardonically. "After all, everyone knows James Potter as a pureblood and Lily Potter as a normal-born. Mix the two together and you get a suma."
"Suma?"
"A child born to mixed parents."
"It's a term we use at school since some kids are… let's say half-normal, half-magical, and one of those parents might have been a werewolf. `He's `suma' this and `suma' that.'"
"That's disgusting! Mixing and fraternizing with beasts!" Damien was already half out of her seat before Darius could pull her back down.
:Easy Damien, she does not know and we can't expect her to either.:
Doesn't mean I don't want to rip her head off regardless. Father would demand it of me.
"Some of our best teachers are werewolves, as is one of your own professors. Hypocrite much?" Darion said blandly, placing a hand on Damien's shoulder. "This one here," he gave her a shake, ignoring the heel that met his leg, "her favourite professor is a wolf so I'd watch myself."
"You watch yourself because you're a narcissistic prick," she replied, throwing off his arm.
I don't think he'd like you to uphold your honour if it meant compromising something, Anya. Let it go for now, they'll get their comeuppance, Darien said. "Hey! We just got back from school. Do you honestly want father and mother to come here to pick us up because you two got into a fight? Again?" The pair glared at one another but sat down nevertheless, steadfastly refusing to interact in any way.
"Happen often?" Neville asked. "Your parents having to mediate them, I mean."
"You have no idea. Mixing them together is like mixing oil and water. The worst part is when they can actually work together they're very effective."
"Ah. Like Jonathan and Cody, no?" Neville said to Hermione, causing them both to snicker at Cody's cross look.
"So I don't like the prick. Big deal. We've never gotten along and I don't think we will ever until some type of miracle happens."
"But Cody! He's the `CHOSEN ONE'! You should bow down and worship his feet!" Hermione said dramatically, complete with swooning effect.
"If he goes out and defeats Voldemort right now, maybe. And that's if he comes to school, in the middle of the Great Hall, and I see it happen."
"I doubt it'll ever happen then. The Dark Lord needs to get used to his new body, I'd imagine. He was a spirit for a while, wasn't he?" asked Darion.
"Yep. He got his body back last Spring. Drove mum nutters when Johnny disappeared from the maze. Cedric Diggory, he's a Puff, almost got taken too but Johnny blasted him away before he could touch the Cup. He's the one that raised the alarm."
"It's ironic in a way. With Jonathan being his normal selfish self, he probably saved Diggory's life."
Again, we're protecting him...why? Damien asked, rolling her eyes.
:So we can be here to find our Keeper.:
After that we can tell him to go fuck himself right?
With a rusty spoon and no lube.
Dante, that's just gross. Amusing, but gross.
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And that's that. Thank you everyone who's reviewed. I just went back and looked at them today and it prompted me to post this immediately. Cheers.
Just to clarify, yes, Tony is Nick and vice versa. Lily does not hate Harry/Darien/Cameron nor did she ever. In a few days I'll be reposting the earlier chapters (reading them made me blanch at how juvenile my writing was when I started this) and they'll be reedited with some information to make the links between chapters a bit more streamlined.
Thankfully, Spring semester is over so I'll have a lot more free time to write. Believe me when I say I'm as eager to get to the main plot as all of you are. Speaking of if you couldn't tell, the characters of the Gekko are the casts from the Fire Emblem series, three games in particular. Here's a list of characters and the game they appeared in:
Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken (Japan)/ Fire Emblem (America): Lyn, Athos, Sue, Chad, Eliwood, Ninian
Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones: Joshua, Eirika, Tana, Vigarde
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance: Ike, Soren, Rolf, Titania, Greil, Ranulf, Cain, Kurthnaga, Ena
Also, their names are a combination of the land they hail from, the country, and then their given name. So for Cameron, his name Magvel Jehanna Cameron and translates to Cameron from the country of Jehanna in the territory of Magvel.
Another thing I don't own are Furies, essentially elemental constructs. They come from a little series called the Codex Alera by Jim Butcher. In the world, everyone has elemental abilities and to not have one is considered odd. I'm using that here in the Gekko where everyone has one so it's not really that big a deal but the difference is the skill with which you use it. Hell, some people are going to have more than one! But you'll just have to see that later, won't you?
As always, I adore your comments and reviews so please feel free to do so. The set-up arcs should be done from here on so we'll get into the meat of the story soon. Once I write it at least.
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