Chapter Text
“Mom.”
“Ethari, I think it would be better if you stayed with your father.” Her soft hands touched his cheek. He starts trying to reach his mothers arms. He feels himself getting pulled to the ground. ‘No wait, you got it wrong. Please I would be safer with you not him’ Ethari tries to speak but no sound comes out of his mouth. He starts to struggle against….hands. He looks down and sees hands.
No, not just any hand, his fathers hands. Before he starts to struggle again, his mother's soft hands were replaced with his fathers. He can hear his father yelling at him, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. Wait. The shaking is getting too rough.
"Ethari get up." Lain shook him.
“No”
Lain scoffed and shook him harder. “Ethari were gonna be late again” Ethari picked his head up and rolled his eyes at the elf above him.
'You know if I'm already late I might as well sleep in a little longer. Not like I'll miss anything important, you know unless someone dies.' he thought to himself.
"No, and get off me." Ethari pushes Lain off with a grumble and rolls back over to try and get some more sleep before his father comes back from his mission. Come to think about it, this is the first time in months that he has slept peacefully, well maybe not peacefully but he can sleep without worrying if he's going to be pulled out of bed in the middle of the night to do training. This was nice or it would be nice if this one annoying elf left him alone FOR ONE GODDAMN SECOND. Ethari was so occupied yelling at Lain in his own thoughts that he didn't realize Lain slowly climbing up on his bed railing with a smile on his face.
pain shot through his right side as Lain’s body made contact with his. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Ethari quickly cluches and curls on to his side. "LAIN WHY DID YOU THINK THAT JUMPING ON ME WAS A GOOD IDEA PLEASE REALLY WANT TO KNOW!" He shoved Lain onto the floor while muttering death threats under his breath.
Lain is rolling side to side dying with laughter but quickly stops when Ethari throws the closest thing in arm reach at him. Which was a heavy candle holder by his bed. "I'm sorry, Ethari. I really am" he says while dodging the object that got thrown at him. "But we’re gonna be late and Ms.Goldthron is really understanding, but i think she'll kill us if we keep on showing up late, or she'll do something even worse. She'll pull us aside and yell at us with that hour long speech on how 'we are so smart' and how 'we're ruining ourselves by not trying.' " Ethari has heard that speech a million times. In fact he thinks he can recite the whole thing from memory.
"fine, but why did you have to jump on me?" Ethari asked while rolling out of bed and throwing the nearest clothes on. "Oh that, I thought it would be funny."
"Oh you mother fu-"
"Yeah I know, i suck but what can you do you're stuck with me." Lain walks out the front door with a stupid wide grin on his face while Ethari fallows closely behind him .
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Ethari walked steadfast with Lain while chewing on a handful of moonberries he took from the kitchen as he rushed out the door. Hopefully they're late enough that they'll miss the guys who harasses them everyday on their way to school. 'Maybe today will be peaceful...maybe' Ethari doesn't believe a word he said. He always hopes that today will be different, that people would stop looking at them like they just murdered a moonstrider in front of everybody, but that day never comes. He gets pulled out his thoughts when Lain tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hey, look up ahead. Aren't those assassin officers." They were hard to miss. Uniforms with different shades of blue, green, and black that contrast from the silver Armor they have on. It's not as heavy as war armor but it's enough that if a dark mage wants to sneak into Xadia and attack it could at least give them a little help. That aside, why were they outside the class building?
Ethari looked around there was no royal flags or anything. 'Was something important going on that i didn't know about.' He turns to the man next to him and asks.
"Lain, do you know why they're here?" Ethari was confused the only time there were higher ups was when they were trying to “motivate” them.
"What? no, why would i know. If I had to guess it would probably be about our latest test marks or our attitudes." Lain seemed a little annoyed at the end but, he has every right to be. This was not the first time some official has come and tried to get them to get straight. Everyone knows that it will not be the last.
Lain tapped his shoulder. “We should get going.” Ethari nodded his head and continued walking.
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"Come on Ru can't we stop and get something quick. You just dragged me out of bed. I didn't even have time to get ready, you dick." Tiadrin had to fix her uniform while walking to class.
“You know if you'd stop staying up so late and actually slept. You wouldn't have to get ready on our way to school, but at last, your too stubborn to listen.” Runaan sighed and rolled his eyes.
"And it's not my fault you slept in and what would you do if i didn't wake you up every morning huh. Do you even remember what Deimos said yesterday?" Runaan said with a hint of annoyance in his voice "Im not really sure either. I thought you would've remembered." Runaan rolled his shoulders in a circle to try and relive some of the tension that had build up over the pass couple of days. "I'm not sure with what but Deimos and Ms.Goldthorn thought that it might be-" She's not paying any attention is she. "One of these days I'm just gonna let you sleep in."
"Okay you do that and then i would actually catch up on sleep." Tiadrin throw up her middle finger and stuck it right in his face and just as she was going to say something someone behind them talks.
"I'm sorry but it isn't close to your class time. However, I might be wrong." Oh the old lady was right they were going to be late. Runaan and Tiadrin thank the old lady and bolted to the building.
“I told you that we would be late but, no, you had to goof around. Now look at us, we're gonna be late.” Runaan yells at her.
“Don't get mad at me. We were having fun and you know it.” She shouted back. “And look were close.”
Runaan spotted two other people who also might be late walking into the building. Two guards stood at the entrance with a look of confusion on their face as they saw another pair of kids running towards the building. When they arrived they were both covered in sweat and breathing hard. They ran down the hall thankful that they made it in the nick of time or at least they thought until they saw their mentor stand outside the classroom with a look of anger on his face.
"My top students are late on the first day. Ms.Goldthorn asked if we could set a good example and you both showed up late. You know what I’ll deal with you two later.” He's obviously angry. Ugh He was going to give them morning duty again. ”Just go talk to Ms.Goldthron and find out where your seats are. Also come find me after class.’’ Deimos turned away from the two muttering something to himself.
Tiadrin slowly turned toward him. “We’re gonna get morning duty aren't we?” Runann let out a long sigh. “Yes. Yes we are, but let's not get on his bad side. Come on, let's just find our seats.” Both of them wiped the sweat off their faces and gave each other a glance before heading inside.
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Walking into the classroom it looked like both classes were combined and each person was paired up with someone from the other class. Tiadrin leaned close to him “I wonder what they're planning on doing.” This situation was odd but nevertheless they needed to find Ms.Goldthorn.
“Ah, there you two are.” Ms Goldthorn comes up to them with a welcoming smile. “I see that we still have more students coming in.”
Runaan speaks up. “Actually, I think we’re the last ones.”
“Oh well that's not a problem. Let's see who I put you two with.” she turns to grab a piece of paper off her desk. “Did Deimos tell you what is going on?” Tiadrin elbows Runaan hoping that he knew. He just shrugged his shoulders showing he's just as lost as her. “I’ll take that as a no. Well anyways we’re doing this because we want to see if you guys can help motivate my class. You’re partnered up because we want you to help them study, try to find something they might be struggling with, or try teaching meditation. ” So that's why they're here. “Ah there it is, let's see Tiadrin you are paired with Lain. He's the one who's turned in his talking to the elf behind him. You Runaan you are with Ethari he's the one talking to Lain. They’re right in the back left corner. Today is just for getting to know your partner, so take it easy.”
“Well this isn't so bad right. Runaan, are you okay?” Tiadrin seemed a little worried. Runaan was standing by the teacher's desk staring at something. “Xadia to Runaan, are you okay?” She started waving her hand in front of his face.
“I'm fine.” He was not fine.
“Are you sure because it seems like you're staring at someone.” Tiadrin through her arm around his shoulders wearing a smug look.
“I'm not staring at anybody. I'm an assassin in training. It's not practical to get into a relationship. Now stop with the nonsense and let's sit down.”
“Okay, but are you sure you're fine?”
“Yes.” He wasn’t. He really wasn’t. ‘Oh why is his smile so pretty?’ Why did he have to get paired up with him? He's not going to survive, but he must. Many people have tried to court him so why is his mouth suddenly dry. Runaan pushed down every thought that came into his head and steady his breathing as he walked to the desk. Tiadrin was just trying to hold her giggle in. She knew. Runaan knows he’s hard to read but she can read him like an open book. ‘She's never going to let this go.’ He rolled his eyes and sat down next to Ethari while Tiadrin sat next to Lain.
“I'm Ethari, and you are?” Ethari stook out his hand. Runaan’s worst fear is happening. He froze. All he could muster out is a grunt. Runaan turned away and contained himself. “Okay, this is great.” Ethari mumbled and turned back to Lain to continue the conversation they were having.
Tiadrin turned to Runaan. “To the moon Runaan. What is wrong with you? ” Before he could answer, Deimos and Ms.Goldthorn walked in. Wait, Deimos is Laughing. What is happening today.
“Alright, quiet down let's begin.” Deimos and Ms.Goldthorn went through why they were doing this and how long this would be going on, which is only a month. Thank the moon Runaan doesn't think he’ll make it if it was any longer. He kept glancing over at the elf sitting next to him who has his eyes on the teachers.
‘Tiadrin was right, I was a little stand-off-ish earlier, but what should I say? Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I was just trying to remember how to breathe.’ He wasn’t good with his emotions. He should introduce himself.
Runaan turned back to Ethari. “I'm Runaan.” he stuck his hand out and Ethari accepted it.
“Nice to meet you Runaan.” Runaan noticed a hint of sarcasm in Etharis' voice. Deimos came up behind the boys and told them to pay attention. They apologized and turned back to the front of the class. He spared a glance overed to Ethari. He was facing the front. Runaan wanted to think of something to say but he was pulled out of his thoughts when Deimos slammed a piece of paper onto his desk.
Right, they have to talk to Demos. Thats gonna be fun.