Shephard's knife hand was feeling an innate urge to slash out at those words finished bouncing in his head. Master. Her master. He already had one son of a bitch in a shitty suit that had him under his thumb and now five minutes in yet another world, he now had a pink headed, girl to answer to?

He was on the verge of growling himself and giving Gill some pointers in teeth baring intimidation. It was only his training to remain calm that prevented a less than spectacular string of curses to let fly like reckless gunfire when another voice spoke.

"Excuse me, sir?" Shephard only moved his eyes towards the source, suddenly aware of just how tense his body was, shorter than his blades length to lashing out. Perhaps it was the way the man did not shudder under days of life and death struggles, extremely tired, and fresh from seeing horror scenes over and over eyes of Adrian Shephard, that made him hold back.

The subtle movement of his hands toward his staff akin to inching ones hand towards a gun and the ring of authority that to Shephard, hinted to come from some sort of military background in his voice.

That and the many beasties still around helped. That dragon was still looking at him.

"I understand this is not a situation that you expected to find yourself in… from wherever you came from. Rest assured, we mean no harm, and you have my word you will be treated well. Not as a prisoner but as an equal." The man said.

He hesitated. A part of him wanted nothing more than to bolt out into the woods and hunker down til he could think of… something. It appealed to the panic that only his training kept under control, while the more logical side of his mind told him what a stupid idea that was. He didn't know the terrain at all, and with the glimpse of the sort of animals he was liable to run out there, Shephard knew that hightailing it would likely end with him in a belly, even with his companions.

Once he got a better understanding of this world, then maybe he'd consider it. Until then, he decided to be polite. Killing was nonviable for the moment. "Adrian Shephard." He withheld his rank, unsure of how relevant or dangerous it could be just yet.

"Professor Jean Colbert of Tristains Magical Academy." Magic huh? Well, it was just as well as explaining the abilities to him so far.

"So… is there any particular reason you let her brand me? Without my consent I might add?" He stated, the girl shrinking back from his brief acknowledgment.

"Most certainly. You see, young miss Valliere here had summoned you as her familiar. She had to complete the ritual."

He blew air out of his nose like a bull. "I'll be blunt professor. I've not had a single good fucking minute for a good two days now. Take a look at my clothes and understand, that's only the surface level of what I've had to deal with. Also understand that I am fresh out of a warzone. Can you appreciate why I might not be in the best of moods to handle a sudden influx of intrusive psychic shit on top of everything?"

Colbert didn't flinch, but there was a passing of something in his eyes. "I do. Very much so Shephard, I do, but rest assured, the runes pose no danger to your mental well being. They were meant for animals specifically, and they cannot influence a human mind in any way."

And how did they find that he wondered.

"You couldn't have just taken me being summoned as proof?"

"It wouldn't have been enough, you see Miss Valliere is a unique student and suffice to say, a mere summoning would have been insufficient. People would have written it off as a mishap, or perhaps even you being brought in by to pose as one. The branding proves you are a genuine summons."

It sounded like bullshit to him.

"So I'm not going to be led around by a mental leash then?" He asked.

"No, as I said, the runes have been proven incapable of influencing a humans mind."

He still didn't buy that, but what was done was done. He was going to keep an eye out of her ever got the urge to dye his hair pink. He siged in resignation. "Alright, I'll hold both of you to that. I find any evidence otherwise, and we will discuss that." He stated, sheathing his knife and wrench as a sign of goodwill, and for drawing their attention towards the consequences for a broken promise.

"A fair arrangement Shephard. You have my word I will honor that." Again, he seemed genuine, but Shephard had been duped before.

"Alright…. What happens now?" He asked, looking over his shoulder at pinky. She was glaring at him in embarrassment, but she didn't seem too keen on speaking up just yet. Good, he'd take the down time between his next headache, however short it would be.

"Now we can go back to the Academy, and you and Miss Valliere can get acquainted with each other. I will discuss this with the headmaster. This is a situation that requires more than just this conversation after all. Would you like to go straight there, or would you prefer to get freshened up first? It can't be pleasant for you."

He thought about it. Some time to just collect his thoughts wouldn't go amiss, god knows he had a lot to mull over. He was always on the move, always forward, and the times he did stop to think, it threatened to drown him, and if that happened he'd be just another corpse in a hallway. Some down time sounded like… well, then again, maybe actually letting all that shit catch up to him wouldn't be pleasant but It had to happen sooner or later.

"I'd like that. Like I said, I didn't come from a good place. Some decompression would be nice."

The look of sympathy was brief, but intense on Colberts face, before it was replaced with a glare. "I must also stress one thing: I take the safety of my students very seriously. If Miss Valliere is harmed in any way, I will not hesitate to use lethal force. Is that understood?"

There was something in that voice, a cold conviction only brought by past killings that gave that threat some weight. He didn't want to test this man just yet. Magic bullshit was too unknown. Plus, he respected that statement, nice but not soft. He gave a curt nod in response. "Understood."

...

The trip back wasn't very dramatic, even with seeing all the other students float back to the school. He had seen islands floating and all other of strange shit and he barely even acknowledged the ability, only sparing a snort. Humans with some sort of abilities as those red eye creatures. It'd take more than that to drop his jaw.

Pinkey however had opted to walk back, not saying a word to him, only looking back once in a while to make sure he was still following. They passed through a courtyard with all the other creatures, Gill sniffing the air at all the strange scents, Sparky remaining vigilant, and Barney allowed some saliva to drip to the ground.

The only thing of note for him was that the structure looked like something you would see in fantasy literature and the like, stone work on the outside, and on the inside, wooden floors, nothing really all that beyond what he assumed a real life castle would look like. He wasn't an expert on them, so it was a novelty at least.

It was appealing at least, more so than the dull grey corridors of Black Mesa.

She led him through hallways, stopping in front of one door, he assumed to be her room.

"Alright, look, I'm going to let the fact that you embarrassed me in front of everyone go, I'm stuck with you. This may not be an ideal scenario for either of us, but we should try and at the very least make the best of it." She said.

He was surprised by that. His first impressions of her had been less than flattering, but she hadn't crossed any particular lines of his so far. Then again, maybe seeing those sharp teeth of Gill imparted some sense into her. Still didn't seem to be concerned for him personally, but then he could relate to that. He only cared for this girl as far as the bastard in the suit did, with all the dubiousness with that implied.

"With that being said, I would greatly appreciate it if you could wash off that stink. Founder, you're going to suffocate me inside my room. There should be some servants around here that should be able to get your clothes washed and find you some spare ones while that happens. Come and find me afterwords,

Well that sounded reasonable at least, though he doubted anyone would be able to save his combat fatigues. The urban camo was stained with human and alien blood and other bodily fluids, a horrid mishmash of colors fouling the clothing. It deserved a funeral pyre of napalm.

"So any particular reason you parked me in front of your door? I think the smell is going to linger for a while you know."

"Oh, this isn't my room, it's… well, it's right next door." She said pointing not far away. "If you get lost, you can ask the servants to lead you back here. I need some… time to myself, if you'll excuse me. You were far and away the last thing I was expecting to summon." She said, looking downwards and mumbling to herself.

She seemed to get lost in her thoughts and then when she came back up to look at him, her face seemed more scrunched up, moisture stinging her eyes. "'Well what are you waiting for? Get going!" She snapped, pointed down the hall they had just come from.

He decided to let that dog rest for the time being, even as Gill growled once again at the girl. She watched him go, but he didn't mind. He wanted this smell gone as much as her and he wanted some time to himself to think as well.

Like what the hell was he supposed to be doing here? Surely that kid couldn't be worth as much as the cluster fuck Black Mesa was. He just get didn't it. What could be so valuable in her that him being the 'loose end' that he was, be worth sending in? He thought so obviously, and he felt a rather cold, and pragmatic solution to this problem pass through his mind.

He grimaced at the thought, becoming no better than a lot of his comrades. It wasn't enough to strip the idea from his mind however. If she was valuable enough for Him, then Shephard couldn't rule out doing anything to keep her out of His grasp… but could he really?

He didn't feel like he could make that decision right at this moment. He could feel his head getting cloudy, sleep tugging at it, a growing feeling for some time. Though his PCV helped diminish the need for sleep, he still needed it. It was apparent because he had completely forgotten to ask pinky where the servants area was located. He hadn't passed any students or staff, or if he did, he hadn't noticed, lost in his thoughts already.

Luckily though, as he rounded a corner, he finally came a cross a staff member. A black haired young woman humming to herself as she dusted off some statues. She was wearing what looked to be a stereotypical maids uniform and he hadn't come across anyone else, so he shrugged and gently tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned, and let out a startled yelp.

"Whoa, sorry there. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Who are you!?"

Right. Stranger in a place that's as tightly controlled as a school, especially one in his state, would cause some panic.

"I got summoned by one of the students, Valliere I believe it was. I'm her… well summons." He refused to use that word familiar.

"What? that's impossible! That ritual only summons animals." She asked, though still frightened, she wasn't on the verge of screaming anymore.

"Plenty of witnesses, you can ask Professor Colbert if you really want to." That helped more, but maybe it was the fact he brought up her employers more than anything.

He sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for scaring you, but I could really use a change of clothes, and a bath if you can provide them… the clothes, I can handle the bath myself." He said when she started to turn red.

"Ah… very well. Your animals… are they aggressive?" She asked.

"Nah, just Barney over here can get hungry a lot, and Gill… well he's a softie." he said. T accentuate that point, Gill began purring, though Siesta smiled at it she didn't pet him, which caused the thing to whimper.

"Very well, I can take you to the servants bathing area, mister..."

"Shephard. Adrian Shephard."

"Sietsa.

...

He had to admit: trying to stay awake with the warm water surrounding him, without his PCV, was the most difficult task he had, and that was with Black Mesa included.

He just wanted to sleep away the memories, the weight in his eyelids, the various aches and sores that his vest kept at bay that now were in full force. Just opening his eyes felt like he was bench pressing with them.

Really the only thing that kept that from happening was the knowledge was his bath was now full of the filth scrubbed from his body, and he'd rather not get a lungful of literal shit. He only barely managed to avoid that at Black Mesa.

Getting out, and putting on the shirt, pants, shoes and socks, all provided by some

He opened the door, Siesta was just in the other room scrubbing at his filthy clothes and to his astonishment, they actually looked to be getting cleaner.

"How the hell are you doing that?" He asked, honestly amazed at what he was seeing.

"The Academy's waters are enchanted by water mages specifically to remove any and all filth from clothing, and from people. Though I must admit, this is probably the most heavily soiled clothing I've seen in some time. It might take longer, but rest assured they shall be cleaned." Had he been told that a few minutes ago, he'd declare bullshit, but here he was, actually seeing his BDU's coming out cleaner than they were.

"So do you enchant the waters or..."

"Oh no, only Nobles do that. They are the mages, nonmagicals like me are servants."

Ah. Well shit, that didn't make him feel any better, and it put kind of a bitter taste at having her wash his own clothes for him.

"Sorry about saddling with you that, I know you must have a lot of other shit to do."

She smiled softly at that. "It's not a problem sir. It's my job." She said, though that didn't make Shephard feel any better. He felt like he owed her after that.

"Yeah well, thanks anyway Siesta." He said, noticing that, though Sparkey and Barney were here, the third in his line of creatures was missing.

"Have you seen Gill? The green creature?"

"Oh yes, he kept trying to wriggle his way into my tub of clothes, so I made another tub just for him. Don't worry, the water shouldn't hurt him."

"Giving in to his whimpering eh? No shame in it, he's good at that." He added when he noticed her blushing. Not quite as professional as she seemed, not that he was complaining or even judging. He had picked up the damn thing after all.

Speaking of which, it seemed the tub next to Siesta now had a green head poking above the water, the alien purring contentedly, even though it wasn't big enough to swim in even for him.

"Alright, come here ya outer space tadpole." He hauled him out of the water, the weight nearly causing him to fall over. Good lord, he was farther gone than he thought.

Right his vest. He set Gill down right next to his vest, which he had completely forgotten about. It was scrubbed clean it looked like, and thank god it was waterproof.

He put it on, and began feeling around inside a small pocket in his vest, feeling around for a small button inside. He pressed it, and felt the needles shoot into his spine, linking the vest to his body making him flinch for just a second. His vision flicked green for a second, before he ignored it. He didn't need to read the green wall of text every time he put it on.

It did the trick through, he felt his energy return to him, with it his strength. Gill felt lighter, as did the wrench in his pocket, even the knife in it's sheath felt like it wasn't even there.

"Are you alright?"

"It's fine, just really tired is all. I'll see you around Siesta." He said, giving her a wave goodbye.

...

He walked down the halls, really hoping he knew how to get back. Once again, he hadn't though to ask for directions. Goddammit, he just wanted some sleep, he hated being this sloppy.

He really didn't want to ask any of the students, but he also just wanted to get on with this miserable day. Though asking them would make the day more miserable… ah fuck it, bite the bullet. There was one now, with blonde hair, a rose in hand.

"Excuse me. Hey you, you know the way to Louise Vallieres room?"

"Ah yes, the Zero's familiar. At least you can clean halfway decent."

There was the reason why. That haughty attitude was not something Shephard had any desire to put up with, even though he was heading right for one but that was beside the point. Gill it seemed could sense his owners irritation and began growling at the kid making him step back.

"Keep that thing under control!" He said, backing away from the row of teeth.

"Would you just tell me where the damn room is?" Shephard asked.

He glared at him, but the desire to put as much distance between him and Shephard as soon as possible won out. "The girls dorm is the Void tower, the one with the black roof. Vallieres room is on the top floor, right at the very If you ever get lost, go outside and look and lever bother me again."

"Thanks. Wasn't so hard was it? Come on Gill, leave the nice boy with bad hair alone." He said, Gill growling even as Shephard turned to ignore the protest from the boy. Maybe not the best way to handle the situation, for as he thought about it, the boy wasn't really being that mean, but fuck it, he was tired.

Shephard was nice enough to not ask how he knew where a specific room was in the girls dorm at least.

After one brief detour outside, he found himself back in the girls dorm, feeling no less weirded out by that. He was going the right way though, eventually finding the girls room. He knocked, making sure it was.

"Is that you familiar?"

"Yeah."

The door unlocked, and in stepped Shephard, who took in the room. It wasn't bad, there was a nice looking bed, a desk, and a stack of hay.

"I talked with Colbert, we should have a spare bed for you soon. I had thought I was going to get an animal so..." She pointed towards the stack of hay in the corner.

He had slept in far worse places during his service and that stack looked downright heavenly right now.

"I'll take it for now." He said shrugging, putting down Barney and gill near the pile.

"Really?" She asked, sounding surprised.

"Trust me kid, there's worse places to sleep when you're in the military."

"So you are a soldier." She said, with some interest.

"Marine." He said on instinct, even with how tarnished that label had become for him. "Marines ain't soldiers."

She paused, considering his words. "So where you a Noble then?

"Noble? No. We don't use that system. We don't even have magic where I come from." Well used to at any rate.

"What!? But that's impossible!" She looked like she wanted to continue, but Shephard was having none of it.

"Kid, I'd love to tell you all about the in and outs where I come from… when I wake up. I have not had a single wink of sleep for about two days and I was fighting for my life the entire damn time. The only keeping me going is this vest, and even that can only do so much. I would really… really… like some sleep.: Shame however long he was kept didn't refresh him more, but then he'd rather not be in dept anymore than he was.

She puffed out her cheeks which had turned the shade of a fresh tomato, but she seemed to force herself to calm, if only barely. He was a good deal taller than she was.

"Fine. Fine! We have a whole day to get to know each other tomorrow anyway. Colbert had wanted to see you later today, but I shall inform him that the health of my familiar took priority." She said

"Thank you. And make sure Barney doesn't try nibbling on anything." With that Shephard flopped down in the hay, and even with his vest providing some passive stimulants to keep him going, Shephard had never fallen asleep faster in his life.

...

Louise felt her anger dissipate once she saw how quickly her familiar had fallen asleep. Founder, he was out the moment he was down. The green thing seemed to huddle cloer to him, the bug on his arm seemed vigilant and that red… blob with teeth, didn't change much at all.

He was nowhere near what she wanted. She wanted an animal, instead she got a soldier… Marine rather. Whatever that distinction meant. Although she wasn't too thrilled or interested, that had changed when Professor Colbert had spoken to her. He had made it very clear that if this man, Shephard had proven to be a threat, to defend herself or tell a staff member.

She looked at him for a bit, studying him. He had short cropped blonde hair, which looked to be shaved more on the side than the top, and she could make out various scars on his arms.

She wasn't a fool. She had noticed on the way back, after her disappointment had dwindled, that he was covered in blood. At least, that's what she was assuming those red stains on his clothing meant. She had seen mother walk in stains similar other times so it wasn't hard to guess.

What interested her most though was his apparent ignorance, and subsequent denial of magic. That had flown her for a loop, and nearly caused her to break her composure. Thinking of the blood helped put it back. Just what sort of battle had he been through? She honestly was curious about that as well.

She had no idea what was in store for her now he was here but well… she would deal with it. She had to. As a Valliere, she had no other choice. She would come through.

She felt a cold tingle on her back as she was about to leave her room. Like she was being watched. On instinct she went to the window, and looked out, and saw… no one. No one looking at her window at any rate. Still, the feeling lingered, and she changed her mind about leaving and decided to stay with her familiar.

At least he had some combat experience.

...

Well… this took way longer than I wanted it to. I don't really have an excuse. I was just… going through a general feeling of being 'over writing' for a while, really asking myself if it's what I want to do.

I decided yes, it was, and that I neglected this story, and my other, for too long. I'm aiming for at least a bi monthly update schedule from now on. Going into the new year, I want to make a resolution to keep, my writing up.

I think it's better than the original at any rate. I mean really, Louise was only a jerk to Saito cause he was a jerk to her. Since Shephard has not tried to grope her (Yes Saito did that, albeit looking for a camera cause he though this was a prank) Louise wouldn't be nearly has mean to Shephard, especially with his military background which is something she respects.

Just a cliche I was particularly cringing at myself before. Any new FoZ writers out there ask yourself: Would Louise really be a jerk to someone who's very obviously dangerous? Just think about it if you ever get into to writing FoZ, the answer is no.