After dropping by the Headmaster's office to pick up her new schedule, Valeriana stepped out just in time to have someone jump on her back and squeeze the air out of her lungs. Cautiously, she leaned away to prevent any skin contact.
"Valeriannaaa! You're really back! Oh my gosh, I missed you!" Chavi's hold grew a little too tight that she found herself wishing for air.
"Chavi!" She wheezed. "Need air!"
The girl jumped back and giggled. "Oops. Got a little bit carried away!" The familiar face looked up at her with the same smile, giving her that sense of comfort.
However, what she saw was a little disconcerting. Whatever happened, Chavi seemed to be in a bad shape. It wasn't anything physical, it had more to do with her aura more than anything else. Instead of the healthy ones she usually saw, Chavi's was a bit . . . gloomy.
"Is there something wrong?" She queried, concerned. "You can tell me anything, you know . . . if you're feeling bothered in anyway."
Chavi tilted her head to the side and gave her an eyebrow raise. "What do you mean? I'm totally feeling fine. I should be the one asking you that! What's with the gloves?"
Although she received reassurance a countless number of times already, she still felt as though the gloves weren't quite a match with her uniform. The color matched the sleeves and the pants, but it still felt a bit strange. Somehow, from her point of view, it didn't seem to suit her.
"Does it look strange?" She self-consciously asked, tugging on the fingertips. "I have to wear it since it's a requirement on my part."
"They actually look fine . . . " Her eyes were squinted as examining how it looked on her overall. "You still look great. Maybe I should try wearing gloves myself too."
"Thank you." She smiled.
"What are you doing in the headmaster's office, though? Something wrong?"
"I just came to pick up the shift in my schedule . . ."
"What?!" Her friend snatched off the slip of paper she was holding between her fingers and glared at the information it held. "Do you not like being with me anymore?"
"It isn't like that!" She told her, panicking at the sudden flare of her aura. "Things happened that are sort of hard to explain. I didn't decide this myself, you know. I only needed a replacement of some subjects. I didn't expect them to totally change the whole thing."
Chavi looked saddened. "We still have alchemy together . . . I guess it's fine."
Valeriana nodded. "That's right."
"Oh. It says here you're shifting from PC-1 to PC-S. Why were you put in the special class? Tell me, Val. Did you, somehow, gain a bit of Power Control in you after you left?"
"It's a long story."
The warning bell rang in time to save Valeriana from professing about her new abilities. Slightly relieved, she gave her friend a smile. She made a mental note to tell her about it later when she was feeling a bit better about the subject.
"Can you point me to PC-S? It seems it's my first subject . . ."
"Nah. I'll lead you there. My class is just in the adjacent building, it won't be too much of a trouble to drop you off." She waved dismissively before making a grab for Valeriana's hands. Moments afterwards, she had the fifth-ranker in tow.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah! Come on!"
The walk was fairly short compared to what she expected, not to mention the door to the special class looked a lot normal than she imagined it to be.
"I have to warn you, Valeriana. PC-S students are said to be weirdoes."
"I think I can handle it." She said. "I haven't exactly been living with what you can call normal people. There probably won't be weirder than those wierdoes."
The joke seemed to have lifted Chavi's spirits up as a little color flushed into the greyness of her aura.
"Well?"
Valeriana gave her friend a goodbye hug and watched her run off to her own class as she opened the doors to her own.
"Um . . . hello?"
"WE HAVE A VISITOOOOOOORRR!" Someone screamed.
The girl was frozen in place as the exclamation reverberated throughout the entire building. Moments later, her arm was tugged and her body hauled to stand in front.
"So what do you have for us?" A girl with candy pink hair beamed.
"Is this PC-S?" She asked.
"It is! It is!" Her matching eyes sparkled. "Are you a new classmate? Please tell me you're joining us oh please please pllleeeaaaasssee!"
"Coral!" A boy with pastel green hair and eyes jumped. "Don't even think she will, she looks ordinary!"
Ouch.
"Her uniform." A more detached voice interjected.
Looking towards the source, her gaze locked with deep, violet ones matched with ash-purple hair. Combined with a straight nose and thin lips, it sort of gave him an androgynous feel. Even so, he was, as Valeriana would describe, something that started with a c followed by a u and a t then ended with an e.
The uncommon hair and eye color made her doubt the authenticity. However, seeing as her experiences had been more than ordinary, it was not far-fetched to be genuine.
"You're a part of the Twelve." They said.
"Oh no! We refuse!" Coral's change of attitude was drastic.
"I'm supposed to take PC-S in place of PC-1."
As if it was the end of the world, Coral's chatter was nonstop.
"Oh my gosh!" Coral squealed. "We are going to be goood good GOOOODDD friends, I tell you! I finally have another girly friend with me instead of hanging out with guy guys all the time! It's seriously so lonely to be the only girl in this entire--"
The first thing Valeriana noticed was their auras. Compared to the usual ones, theirs had a different shape. It felt as though they were enveloped by bubbles instead of flames.
"If you don't mind . . . where are the others?"
"It's only us." Mr. Purple told her.
Mr. Green took his turn to speak. "There were only three people in the entire academy who had direct control."
"Plus one!" Coral quipped. "Is four!"
"Only four . . . ?" She trailed off. "I never knew it was that rare."
"Cheer up, there are others." Coral's eyes were filled with hope. "They just don't want to attend the academy and learn . . . at least, that's what I know. But you're here that means it's good! My name is Coral! And these two are--
"Zander Levine." Said Mr. Purple. Since he finally had a name, she should probably stop calling him so.
"And I'm Cail!"
"My name is Valeriana Kerrigan. It's nice meeting you all."
"So you're a part of the Twelve? You'll have a hard time keeping up with the competition. Our abilities can't be directly used for battle."
"I don't think it'll be any different for me. I haven't exactly been fighting with any power controls, either." She said, hesitantly taking her seat in one of the chairs.
"That's my chair!" Cail roared.
Valeriana jumped.
"Haha! Just kidding! Can't believe you fell for it."
She sighed.
"You're the human, right?" Coral's gaze was wide. "How shocking was it to be actually Valemnian?"
She gave a smile at this. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to feel."
"We wanted to recruit you before but the Twelve got you first. It must feel lonely, right? Did they treat you fine?" Coral looked genuinely concerned.
"I admit the Twelve were a bit harsh on me first." She started, but before they could say anything, she hurriedly continued. "But they're really good people after you get to know them. I think they just generally find it hard to trust people."
"Do you hate them then?" Cail asked. "After all they did to you."
A smile found its way on her lips. "I'm annoyed by their attitude but I don't hate them. They're good people, just a bit on the odd side. I think they just need a little time to mature and stuff."
Cail seemed to agree with her. "Do you know what sort of area I specialize in?"
"What?"
"I can tell when someone lies or when they don't." After a short pause to watch how she would react, he continued. "Other than that, I'm able to see approximately how many lies they've told their entire lifetime and how deceiving or manipulative they are--if I can trust them or not. Their guilts, their regrets, pretty much how much they sinned."
His smile was putting Valeriana on the edge. It felt as though she was wearing practically nothing in front of him.
"The heavier their guilt goes, the more susceptible they become to demonic influence."
"Stop scaring her!" Coral slapped his shoulder, making him wince. "He just meant to say that you're telling the truth, and you seem like a good person."
"I was getting to that."
"Mine is the weakest kind of direct control." Coral whispered. "I'm not exactly proud of what I could do since it's nothing much compared to Zander or Cail . . . "
Valeriana patiently listened.
"Everyone has weaknesses. It just turns out I know exactly what and where they are."
"That's not exactly a small thing . . ." Valeriana felt her anxiety building up at the casual statement.
"And Zander--"
A picture appeared inside Valeriana's mind of her standing dumbly in the doorway. Like a zapped with electricity, it made her jump for the second time.
"You are--"
"My connection with auras allow me to directly project an image into someone else's head." He said, then returned his attention to whatever he was doing before--reading a book?
"What about you?"
"I guess seeing auras is not a new thing for you guys?"
They shook their heads.
"I guess I can see memories through skin contact." She told them. "I'm still finding out about what I can do, though. I only recently found out."
"Well, welcome to the club! You pass the initiation!"
"There was an initiation?"
She was ignored.
"And, just a little tip, we usually know who to trust and who not to trust." Coral began.
"That girl you were with?"
"We suggest staying away from her."
Valeriana was about to open her mouth to defend Chavi, but Zander cut in.
"We have no professor--"
"You have one now."
Heads turned to the doorway.
"No way!" They gasped.
Dressed in laced up boots, long-sleeved dress shirt, and ruffled pants, the lord came off a lot more fashionable than his previous get-up. The unmistakable golden color of both the hair and eyes made them blink and rub the crust out of their eyes.
"Lord Lienhard?!"
"Who else would it be?"
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