Trails of Blood and Love

Another idea that popped into my skull while I wait for my beta. I doubt this will see much a following but it'll be good practice.

The day was perfect.

Some white clouds rolled lazily across the sky as animals went about their day. Buzzes, chirps, and howls filled the air, while a gentle breeze blew the fields of wheat in their emerald glory. The tranquility held for what seemed an age before a sharp whistle broke the scene.

A steel beast thundered along great tracks, whistle blowing again to the chagrin of the natural world. But its passengers paid no mind to the landscape outside, many either resting or engrossed in other tasks.

One young man was different, however.

It's so different from Ymir. He thought, looking out the window. This time of year we still have snow drifts an arge deep, but here there's not so much as a snowflake.

He looked away from the window and glanced at a pair of letters. He'd read the one from his family wishing him luck dozens of times on the trip, but the other, received the day before he left, still held his attention.

Congratulations on your enrollment to Thors, Leo! I have the great pleasure to inform you that I have successfully enrolled as well, and will be attending this spring. This gives us a great opportunity to meet in person for the first time, so I've taken the liberty of including a picture so you can find me. I haven't received my uniform yet so I may look a bit different when we arrive, but I hope we can have a great time like we do in our letters!

Looking forward to seeing you,

Soleil.

The aforementioned picture was peeking out behind the letter and he pulled it out again. Apparently his pen-pal was a girl, and a drop-dead gorgeous one at that. He could still hear his father and mother celebrating him having made friends with such a lovely girl over their six year correspondence, but his sister was oddly dejected when she saw the photo.

He sighed at the memory. He'd signed up for the correspondence under a pen name, like they had wanted and he'd been lucky that Soleil and he had continued writing after the required five months, but now he felt awkward. Soleil had helped encourage him when he'd begun to doubt himself in his training, and from there, he'd made it to the expert section with Master Ka Fai, but that was just before he had left, too.

That and he knew that he'd always look forward to Soleil's letters beyond anything, even his training. His father had teased him that he had a crush on Soleil, knowing it was girl from the rebuttal her first letter held, and he tried to rebuff him. But there was a part of him that agreed with his father, and it only grew louder when he saw her picture.

Blue hair and gold eyes were rare things but she had such a calm, confident face with a sweet smile. How could he do anything but like her?

"This train is bound for… Bareahard. Any passengers wishing to go to Crossbell must transfer stops. The next stop is… Trista. Trista.

He perked up at the voice. Sounded like they were almost there. He stored his letters and picture before reaching up and grabbing the rest of his things. A few minutes later the train decelerated and the voice came over the intercom again.

"Now arriving in… Trista. All passengers going to… Crossbell please transfer to platform 2."

He walked to the train doors and stepped out once they opened. The station looked almost identical to the one in Ymir, if just a bit bigger. Instead of looking around though, he tried to calm his nerves as he noticed the other students exiting the train.

They all wore green uniforms to mark them as normal students versus his red uniform. The only thing that told him he was in the right place was the matching academy seal on the uniforms but he was still self-conscious.

No point thinking about it. He eventually decided. I need to get to the entrance ceremony.

He followed the stream of students out of the station, noticing a blonde girl and two boys wearing the same uniform as he was.

I wonder what the color's about?

The others soon disappeared up the street, but he decided to take a short look around; the ceremony wasn't for another hour anyway.

The town was very relaxing, he decided, after looking around some more. While he'd met two more girls wearing the red uniform, one of whom seemed more cat than human, and another boy in the church, that didn't give him a lot to go on.

Sighing now that he was out of the church, he began to walk towards the academy itself. Just as he reached the courtyard before the gates, a honking grabbed his attention. He moved out of the way, and a limousine pulled into the spot where he had been standing. A blonde boy got out of the car and rebuffed his apparent chauffeur, before walking up to the Academy.

Now he was definitely confused. The boy was obviously a noble, so why was he wearing the red uniform, rather than the white one?

Shaking his head, he followed the path up to the Academy proper, not noticing another student in red a short ways behind him.

But, when he reached the gates, two students met him and took his sword after a short explanation that everyone was getting their weapons taken. While that made him feel slightly better at being separated from his sword, he was still suspicious of their motives.

Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything about it, so he made his way into the Academy's auditorium and found his seat. He'd made it with a few minutes to spare, and he was even seated next to the boy he'd seen leaving the station with him earlier.

Just as he was about to strike up a conversation, his gaze flew to one of the stragglers entering the room.

Blue hair? Check. Red uniform? Check. Black ribbon in the hair? Check.

It was Soleil, and she was even prettier in person than her photo. She didn't see him, thankfully, and sat down two rows before him. While he attempted to pick his jaw off the floor, the ceremony began.

He tuned out most of it when it got bogged down in formalities, instead looking around discreetly to find all the students in red jackets. He turned his attention back to the stage when the principal, a bear of a man if he was honest, began speaking and felt his words assuage many of the worries he held by the time the principal's speech was over.

"If you would please report to the room specified in your student books, your homeroom teachers will continue the introductions. Students dismissed!"

Rean was even more confused, and by the looks of it, all the red students were just as confused. As the other students began to file out of the room, he stood up and started talking to the boy next to him.

"Hi there, my name's Rean Schwarzer. Looks like you're in the same boat as me."

The other boy smiled, standing as well. "Nice to meet you Rean. My name's Elliot Craig, do you… happen to know what's going on here?"

Rean shook his head. "Can't say that I do, this is the first time I've hear anything about student books, so I'm as lost as you are."

Elliot chuckled awkwardly before a tap on his shoulder made him yelp. They both looked to see a short silver haired girl looking at them lazily, almost bored really.

"Over there."

Her voice sounded bored too, but they turned to see someone walking towards them.

And she was a knockout.

"Hello! Can I get the students' in red's attention please?"

Her voice had a flirty edge to it, but she got everyone's attention. "I'm your homeroom teacher, and we'll be going over your curriculum. Follow me please."

She began to move away but another voice stopped her. "E-excuse me instructor!"

She turned around to regard a girl with long brown hair. "You're Emma…Millstein right? What do you need?"

Emma paused before answering. "I-I'm somewhat confused as to what's going on. I'm just a commoner, so why am I not in the commoner classes?"

The blonde boy spoke next. "While I really don't care one way or another, I have to ask why we have been given no further information."

The woman smirked. "And you're… Jusis Albarea then. That'll all be explained here soon, but we really need to go."

The others in the room collectively gasped. Apparently, they were in a class with a son from one of the Four Great Houses!

"You can't be serious!" Another voice yelled. "I for one refuse to be in the same room as this noble prick!"

The woman looked exasperated now. "And you must be Machias Regnitz. As I said, this will all be explained in a few minutes, so I'm asking you politely to shut up and move!"

Her rebuke silenced the volatile young man, but Rean could see him gritting his teeth at Jusis from where he was standing. The woman left then, leaving the students no choice but to follow her. He could see that the girl named Emma and the silver haired girl had placed themselves between Jusis and Machias, while the blonde girl and Soleil, though that probably wasn't her name, followed behind. That left him, Elliot, and the boy he'd met in the church.

"Well I guess we should follow them, huh?"

Rean nodded at Elliot's suggestion, but wanted to introduce himself to the other boy first.

"I believe we met in the church earlier." He started. "But I don't think I introduced myself. My name's Rean Schwarzer, and it looks like we'll be classmates this year."

The other boy smiled. "It's good to meet you, Rean. My name is Gaius Worzel."

They shook hands.

"Oh and this is Elliot. He and I were wondering if you knew anything, either."

Elliot muttered something that sounded like 'No I wasn't', but Gaius answered anyway. "I'm afraid I don't know anything, either. I'm a foreign exchange student, actually, so I'm unfamiliar with just about all Erebonian traditions, let alone the school systems."

That just made Rean more confused and suspicious. "It seems this class has people from all walks of life. Foreign students, nobles, commoners, even the son of Governor Regnitz, if I'm not mistaken. What's going on?"

Gaius shrugged. "Frankly, I have no clue. But I suggest we hurry up lest we are left behind."

His observation made Rean and Elliot start, the three soon jogging out of the building to catch up to the rest of the group. They caught up to them a few moments later, when the group began to walk down a path into the woods. It appeared that the blonde girl was conversing with Soleil, while the other two girls kept the peace.

They walked in relative silence until they reached and entered a large stone building, their instructor jumping up onto a large stage, turning to face the students.

"Well first things first. My name is Sara Valestein and I'll be your homeroom teacher for this year. Now as you've all probably noticed, this class is a bit special."

She then began to explain the reason they had all been placed in the class, why nobles and commoners were mixing, why they didn't have student books, etc.

"And to start our year with a bang." She continued, smirking at their suspicious faces. "We're going to have an orienteering exercise."

She reached behind her and pressed a switch, opening a trap door under their feet.

The silver haired girl launched a chain into the ceiling and held herself there while the others began to slide down the incline. Rean noticed that the blonde girl was in a very poor position to catch herself, so he threw himself in front of her position as a human catch pad.

"Now, now Fie, go make friends." Sara admonished, slicing through the girl's wire with a knife.

"Lame." Fie muttered as she fell.

As it turned out the fall wasn't very steep, being maybe a meter and a half all told. While this meant no one was harmed, Rean got a face full of something he didn't really want, in this situation.

Ok Rean, hands where she and everyone else can see them.

She didn't notice his position for a moment but once she did, the results were predictable.

Today is just not my day, apparently. He thought with a sigh. I tried to apologize, and even kept my hands off, and I still got hit.

Sara's voice came on over a hidden intercom, and she explained what they needed to do: Grab their ARCUS units and weapons, before getting out of the dungeon. Jusis and Machias quickly equipped themselves before getting into another argument, and storming into the dungeon by themselves. Fie soon followed them before the blonde girl, Alissa he had to remind himself, dragged Emma and Soleil with her.

That left him, Elliot, and Gaius. While Elliot explained how he used his orbal staff and Gaius showed them his large spear, Rean was examining his sword for damages.

Looks like it was cleaned recently; it's really shining.

Eventually, he had to join the show and tell, but they soon began to move through the dungeon and slay monsters. There were even some chests there, along with a charging station, almost too convenient really.

They eventually ran into Machias, who'd calmed down. He joined the group after sharing what he knew, and they continued onwards. Then, they ran into the girls.

While Machias tried to get the girls to join with his vaguely chauvinistic reasoning, Rean tried to figure out something to say to Alissa. When she turned away with a huff, he instead locked eyes with Soleil. She had almost pure gold eyes and they held some real steel in them. Seeing them made him resolve to speak with her when they finally got out, but for now, they split up.

Eventually they found both Fie and Jusis. While Fie simply leapt away after helping them, Jusis actually began to antagonize Machias, after they helped him clear a room of monsters.

Machias began to shout at him, insulting him and escalating the situation, when combined with every antagonizing remark Jusis made in retaliation. Eventually, Rean had enough.

"Ok that's enough both of you!"

The two turned to him, one hot and the other riled up in his own way.

"Jusis, you shame yourself for being so petty. You obviously know he doesn't like the nobility whatsoever, and playing to his preconceptions just to make him angry is beneath you."

Machias smirked, while Jusis scoffed, but Rean wasn't finished.

"You're no better, Machias! All you've done since you learned his name is insult and deride both him and his family. Anyone would be mad if someone they barely knew called them everything short of devil spawn!"

Now it was Machais's turn to back off, ego obviously bruised.

Rean sighed. "I'll be honest with you. I'm the son of a Baron, but I truly have no noble blood in me. He found me alone in the mountains and took me in as his own, out of the kindness in his heart. While I'm sorry I was so vague when answering you earlier, Machias, I can't sit here and listen to you insult the people who raised me, nor can I condone Jusis being so petty as to sully what my father stands for!"

The group was quiet, Elliot and Gaius in respect, Jusis and Machias in humility.

Eventually Jusis broke the silence.

"And here I thought that no one would have the spine to even speak to me, let alone reprimand me. But you are correct, antagonizing him is below me and I shouldn't indulge it out of hand. If Regnitz is willing, I will agree to a ceasefire."

That surprised everyone; they were expecting venom not honey.

Machias was about to retort, his head still in a fury, but a glare from Rean cooled him off. "Fine, I'll agree to work with you, but that doesn't mean I have to like it!"

He stormed away then, missing Jusis's sarcastic 'likewise' as he followed behind.

"Well, that went better than I thought it would."

Elliot and Gaius looked to Rean incredulously. "Did you actually pull all of that from thin air?"

Rean chuckled. "The part about being the son of a baron, no, but that's just what I felt. They were both full of it, and I felt I needed to say something."

They nodded, clearly impressed. "Well I think we're almost out, shall we continue?"

Rean nodded and they entered the last room, where Machias and Jusis were glancing around suspiciously.

"Why are you guys still here? The exit's just up the stairs."

Elliot's question went unanswered, as Rean felt the malevolent presence in the room. "Elliot, be careful," He drew his blade. "There's something here."

His words seemed to invoke something, a quake rattling through the room and sending them stumbling. A roar shattered the air and a large… demon jumped in front of them.

"And there goes my appetite." Gaius mumbled, trying to look at the creature's head rather than the pulsating mass that was its chest.

"And here I thought nothing fazed you." Rean quipped, already trying to read the creature's movements.

The creature lunged forward, trying to take advantage of their hesitation. Instead, Jusis and Machias dodged out of the way. Jusis took a swing with his sword, while Machias took a shot with his shotgun, but neither did much to the large creature.

It took a swing at the two, but had to fall back before a spear head buried itself in its stone hide. Rean slashed at its flank and was able to land a shallow cut on the beast, before its tail nearly took off his arm.

"We need arts!" He called over the creature's roar. "This thing has stone skin, so physical attacks won't do much!"

He received shouts of supports, and the group began to rain a variety of arts on the creature. Elliot proved to have the most effect on the creature, so the others did their best to distract it while he flung all manner of water arts at it.

Finally, after nearly ten minutes of slashing, stabbing, shooting, and arts, the creature went down. They were panting hard as it finally grew still, but they all felt proud to have taken down such a powerful creature.

"Would you look at that?" Rean panted. "You two actually can work together without killing each other."

That actually got a chuckle out of everyone, even Jusis and Machias.

Their mood quickly evaporated when a roar came from the corpse. The beast began to stand up again, a great surge of energy blasting them against the wall. The creature began to stalk forwards, intent on killing Elliot first, when a bolt of light distracted it.

"Get on your feet! Are you all really going to fall to this?!"

The girls had arrived, but Machias had words for them. "Excuse us for fighting this thing for almost ten damn minutes! And what right do you have, pulling the Big Damn Heroes Card! Where were you?!"

That made them flinch; clearly, they hadn't been expecting a reprimand.

"Well, regardless, we're glad to have you! Let's get rid of this thing." Rean brought everyone back to the matter at hand.

Five fresh fighters made the battle a bit easier, but every time they weakened the beast, another burst of energy would appear and the monster would be rejuvenated. Eventually, Rean found the source of the energy: it was coming from the pulsing chest and flowing into the head.

"That head needs to come off!" He yelled over the din. Only one person heard him, and they nodded in agreement. After Alissa blasted the creature with some spheres of light, they saw their chance, the chest beginning to pulse once more. They charged forward and slashed at the neck almost in unison, the two swords just barely able to sever the beast's head.

The energy continued its path and blasted out of the headless creature, punching a hole in the wall it was facing, before finally collapsing and crumbling into rubble.

They finally breathed easy after that; applause soon sounded throughout the room.

"Very good! Very good, everyone!"

They all turned their attention to the top of the stairs, where Sara was standing. She began to explain their class's real purpose for existing, and what their unique ARCUS units did, but Rean found himself distracted by his fellow demon slayer.

Well, I resolved to talk with her after this; looks like I have something to break the ice with now.

Sara finally finished her explanation, and they followed her out of the dungeon and back into the open air.

"Your rooms are in Dormitory 7. Girls on the third floor, guys on the second. We'll go over the more formal stuff tomorrow, but for tonight, relax! I know I will."

With that flippant comment, Sara left; slowly but surely, the others began to follow.

"Um, excuse me."

The blue haired girl stopped, turning to face a nervous Rean.

"I just, uh, wanted to thank you. For helping me finish that creature."

She smiled.

"It was no trouble, just glad to help. I must say though, I never thought I'd actually meet a member of the Eight Leaves One Blade school here at the Academy."

He blinked, surprised at her mature voice.

"You know my sword form?"

She nodded. "Of course, my own school makes it appoint to study other styles to better combat them. I… also have a friend that practices the style but we've only ever exchanged correspondence."

Rean nodded, happy to see an opening. "Would your friend's name be 'Leo' by any chance?"

She blinked before her eyes narrowed. "How do you know that?"

He smiled. "Because I always wanted to meet Soleil in person."

She was stunned. "You're… Leo? Can you prove this?"

He nodded, an easy memory coming to the surface. "Two years ago you successfully mastered a technique your father taught you. As a reward, you and your father went out for ice cream but you ended up tripping in the street on the way back, spilled your cone all over the ground, and almost cried."

She blushed heavily. Only her father knew about that, since he'd been there, and the only other person she'd told had been Leo.

"I-I'm still not convinced. Do you have a letter on you that proves it?"

He smiled again. "Of course."

He reached into his jacket and extracted both the letter and the picture. "I got these just before I left. I'm really happy to meet you, Soleil."

Seeing the letter and quickly checking for any forgeries, she broke out into a wide grin. "It's… Laura, Rean, my name's Laura."

Rean smiled and gave her a hug, willing to worry about her embarrassment later. "Let me try again. It's great to finally meet you… Laura."

She hugged tightly in return, causing his ribs to creak under the strain. A joyful laugh bubbled up from within Laura and echoed around the clearing, as the beautiful, powerful girl lifted him up with ease. "You too… Rean."

End

Well that's a big chapter for something that most people won't even bother looking at. I do hope it'll get those curious few to become interested though since I really like the game. I'll put an announcement about this in my other stories so until then, have a great time!