Hale Academy: University of Sui Generis (Vol. I)

Chapter 5: Apples and Blood Wards

Key for this chapter:

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*Rinzen's Thoughts*

Anyone Else's Thoughts

'Old dialogues memories, spoken out loud thoughts, the past in general..., and telephonic conversations'

///Memories///

POVs

""Not an Actual Speech or Thought""

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Warning: Alternative POVs

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1-04-2113

(3 pm Manchester, England)

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Raven Säde winced as they landed in green grass, "Ow", he said, "One day I am going to learn to teleport without breaking my kneecaps in the process", he promised half vindictively otherwise resigned.

Marcia hummed landing perfectly at ease, "And maybe you can assist him from not throwing up all over the place?" she added eyeing Zen who had stumbled away from them and was vomiting what little he'd eaten, behind a conveniently placed tree.

"Wyverns", Zen coughed, "Are sounding better—"… cough… "—and better as an option", he choked out.

Raven turned to him, internally wondering wyverns were wingless dragons, so how would that even work. Shaking his head he crouched;

"Mate, are you… feeling any better?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm fine", he huffed straightening up and wiping the back of his mouth with his gloved hand, grimacing with distaste.

"Sure, sure", Raven agreed, "But just to satisfy my curiosity, hang on just one second..." he urged leaving them to jog into a house, the house of the backyard they were apparently standing in.

*

Marcia and Zen exchanged a questioning look.

Marcia sighed, these children were exhausting to understand, even worse than the previous last two batches.

"Well", she started, "Maybe that's where he lives", she wondered.

"No", Zen answered, "Teleportation spells are really accurate, that's not his home", he managed to say, and "That's his home", he enunciated the first word pointing up.

Marcia looked up startled, "Boy, do you have eyes at the top of your head?" she asked baffled.

Zen rolled his head, "Actually after I threw up, I looked up to curb nausea, you know like a normal person", he snarked, "And that's when I saw it", he huffed amused.

Marcia sighed heavily, "That boy makes less and less sense", she grumbled, "And I thought that was a problem I was going to have with you", she huffed shaking her head.

Zen shook his head; "Aren't we supposed to be problem children?" he snarked sarcastically.

Before Marcia could argue or snark back a sassy retort or any kind of a retort, Ray jogged over, he was holding a glass of something, he stopped right in front of Zen and handed him the glass.

Looking down Zen swallowed, "Oh, thanks", he appreciated the gesture and took the glass of—"Lemonade?" he asked curiously.

"Yes", a soft feminine voice answered ignoring Ray's happy-go-lucky jumping out of skin jittering in place countenance, with apparently practiced ease—the kid really was the epitome of happiness and cheer—she tuned in as she heard the newcomer ask; "Are you friends with ~Ray~?" quietly—a soft musical timbre to her voice.

Marcia looked up and took in the beautiful woman in front of him; she had a slender almost hour-glass figure with fair skin, akin to the princess from a Grimm's fairytale 'Snow White'; except with her green eyes and pointed ears clearly discerning her species.

Pausing deliberately he turned to Ray, and swallowed, "I don't think its friends exactly", Zen answered honestly.

Ray nodded, "Probably not, we only just met", he agreed and then suddenly as if just recalling his purpose in returning, "Oh! Apple!" he yelped throwing his hands up and running off somewhere.

"Apple?" Marcia and Zen asked in unison turning to each other and then back at the elf.

Zen frowned, "Is he going to go get an apple?" he asked baffled.

The Fae laughed, "In a manner of speaking", she answered, "And since he seems to have lost all decorum, please come in, until ~Ray~ returns—"

"Hold on one second", Zen raised his hand, and "You keep calling him ~Ray~", he turned to Marcia, "Wouldn't we hearing his real name? Also this is late, but do the others even speak Hindi, Japanese, French?" he asked worriedly.

Did this Boy ever miss anything?

Marcia snorted, "Never too late is it, with you?" she joked, "Though they may not speak the language, translation spells, and translation runes are available, and it's quite amusing, that this year's batch has a group of people, largely from English speaking areas and that have all had English as a second or third language", she noted somewhat amused.

"And the names?" Zen asked.

"Hale Academy magic", she answered.

The teen rolled his eyes skyward, "That makes a lot of sense, and is somewhat terrifying to realize", Zen muttered amusedly.

"In many ways", she agreed, turning to the fae she smiled, "Apologies to leaving you with your thoughts, whilst we talked to each other", she apologized.

Zen also nodded apologetically as well, "Sorry, I was startled", he bowed, "A lot has happened, I've completely missed my manners", he smiled awkwardly.

The Fae laughed, a tinkling sound, like bells or wind-chimes, if he had to describe them, "It's alright", she assured and continued, "~Ray~ never brings anyone over, it's odd, he has a lot of friends, a lot, but it always seems like he's surrounded himself in a crowd, just to keep people around him, afraid of unknown attacks—" she paused, "I probably shouldn't be telling you any of this", she muttered, "This is just so very odd", she waved her hand around, "Anyway please come in, I'd like to understand more about his circumstance", she requested.

"Is Ray your ward?" Marcia asked curiously.

"Not in the words that would be considered legal", she hummed, "But in this world as a member of the fae, I gave him a place to stay if he chose it. Of course, that boy had been hurt and betrayed once, he didn't take it without asking about everything, I was so amused at this fourteen-year-old arguing his case—

"Fourteen years old?" Zen interjected rudely.

The fae nodded, "Yes, fourteen", she answered frowning at him, exhaling roughly, she nodded; "I see he must have told you he was thrown out at sixteen. That child has too much pride, despite the awkward truth", she huffed.

"Why though? Why was he thrown out, Opsimaths aren't that bad a thing—I say this being one", he huffed, "I was never going to be discriminated for not having magic", he turned to Marcia, "I'm a Mundane, and I'm a trainee as a Venerer, so…" he trailed off at her understanding nod.

The fae hummed contemplative, "His i***t parents tossed his a*s out on the street, because the children before him were prodigies, even though that i***t couple, awakened as Opsimaths themselves", she hummed, "I believe they were blinded by their abilities and all the professors and elders that gushed and swooned at his siblings' magical abilities were effusive in a way that ended up being disheartening for Ray, so even though he should have fought back or argued his case, he didn't, and just let it happen. That is what broke something inside him when he left he had the money to buy a good flat, or a house and go to school like a normal person, he chose not to", she informed them heartily.

"When did you meet him?" Zen asked curiously.

"The first time I met him", she smiled then, "He was building a bonfire finally realizing his position, his situation and he did that all the while cursing his family members one by one, as he burnt through his money", she smirked sharply, "Literally", she stated with an almost vindictive edge to the sharp fangs she had hidden peering through.

"Using the money as kindling", she informed them.

Marcia cursed startled, and then snorted, "Sorry", she cringed apologetically.

The fae laughed and waved it away.

"And those people", Zen asked through gritted teeth, "Where are they? Will they interfere?" he asked.

"Well thankfully they live 49 miles away in Derby", she answered,

"And not our problem, I don't think they even know where ~Ray~ lives after I found him, I offered him a job, admittedly it took me at least three days to realize that that child was living in a box under the bridge", she grumbled at the memory. "He refused to live in the house though and after many, many arguments, we finally managed to agree on his place of residence, and since he's being living here for three years I'm his unofficial guardian", she said and then hummed.

"But he doesn't know that", Zen pointed out.

The fae turned to him and smirked, "Well aren't you an interesting child"; she laughed the sound grating as her full attention arrested upon him. "Interesting, interesting, interesting", she sang, opening the door to her house. 

Zen took several steps back, even though she was walking away from him. "I think I'll wait here", he told Marcia instead.

Marcia snorted, at this point his intelligence wasn't even a surprise anymore and nodded. "Allow me to explain the situation whilst Zen here waits for Ray", she said and offered her a gallant hand to escort her into her home—Marcia being half-fae would be able to handle entering the house of another fae, without being controlled accidentally or otherwise by its/their t****l.

Probably...

*

TBC...