Fic: Maybe I'm A Lion - CHAPTER FOUR
Title: Maybe I'm A Lion
Author(s): dazzling_icer
Chapter: [4/?]
Rating: NC-17 (eventually)
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Luke and Noah (or other ATWT characters), nor do I claim any ownership over the video game Final Fantasy VIII. FFVIII, and any borrowing or allusion to places or characters belongs to Square Enix.
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Noah, Ali/Aaron, Casey/Maddie, Dr. Bob, Carly, Margo, Holden, John Dixon, Reid Oliver, and many other Oakdalians.
Word Count: ~6.8K
Warnings: Violence (talked about, but not seen), some swearing, and dancing. Yes...there is dancing in this chapter.
Spoilers: None! Completely AU! :)
Summary: Becoming a SeeD was Luciano Grimaldi's way out. It was his freedom. Escaping the ruthless grasp of his father, a powerful general in the Galbadian Army, was the answer to all of his problems. Training to become a SeeD at one of the world's top mercenary schools wasn't going to be a walk in the park, but it was going to be so worth it. That is, until Luke meets a stranger at school that starts to make his life a lot more complicated. What happens when this stranger is found to be holding crucial secrets about Luke’s destiny? And how does Luke react when he discovers that the strange happenings around him are a lot bigger than just random coincidence?
A/N: Here's chapter four! This will probably be the last chapter until after the holidays! And it's a bit longer than the previous ones, so hopefully it will tide you over until then!
Enjoy! :)
Previous
It was late October, almost two months after he arrived at Garden, and Luke found that he was acclimating himself very well to his new life. He found his classes to be fun and exciting, wanting to know more and more about everything he was taught. His Weapon’s instructor had said that his ability with his Pinwheel, the beginner’s level form of the Blaster Edge, was exceptional, and that he would be able to move on to stronger models by the start of the next semester. His favorite class by far was Magic’s, where he was at the top of the class. He found that his ability with the magical arts was highly above average and his instructors were slightly perplexed at how he always seemed to learn to cast the spells faster than anyone else.
His life outside of school was going well, too. He and Ali became good friends with Casey, who turned out to be a very energetic guy. He was a martial arts trainee and was always found doing air-kicks and punches in the hallways, very much to the dislike of the Disciplinary Committee. They also found him to have a huge appetite and he seemed to have a rather large fetish with the hot dogs they served in the Cafeteria.
“The best food ever invented, let me tell you,” he would say, stuffing another dog into his mouth.
Alison was doing well in her classes, too. She loved their Guardian Force class, and was always starting up discussions with Luke about the topics they talked about in lecture. They learned that Guardian Forces were ancient spirits that are summoned in battle to help fight and protect their owner, and each one has their own special use. Once a student learned how to attain and use them, they could become somewhat like pets. Their spirits are trapped inside of an object, most often the user’s weapon or piece of armor, and it enables the Guardian and their user to communicate. Ali loved all of her Guardians that she acquired thus far, and treated them very much like her friends.
“They should be treated with love, not just used to do someone else’s dirty work,” she insisted.
Luke was also very busy, and not just with classes and his training. After much persuasion from Ali, he finally relented and joined the Garden Festival Committee, deciding to help with the planning of the Garden Festival, which was about seven months away. He initially though that it was only going to be a few meetings here and there, but he was surprised to found out that it was actually taking up a fair share of his time. Aside from them, only two other students joined the Committee and Ali was constantly trying to recruit new members to help with the load. With the lack of members, it was hard for any of them to collect adequate fundraising, or come up with a theme for the event. And without a theme, they couldn’t plan decorations. All they decided on so far was the time and date, which was given to them by Headmaster Bob, and the band that would be providing the entertainment. So basically nothing.
Luke also hadn’t seen much of Noah or Kevin for a long time. Even if they were in all of his classes except for his Weapon’s, he had rarely spoken with them. Kevin still seemed a bit frustrated at being turned down, but he would still throw a smirk at him every once and again. And since that afternoon in the hallway, Luke tried to avoid Noah at all costs. He would take fast showers and try to avoid using his bathroom as much as he could. It was quite easy to do since he spent most of his time in Ali’s room anyway, working on homework or chatting.
One morning, Luke and Ali were studying in the library lounge, sitting in sofas that surrounded a a small wooden table, when they decided to take a break. Ali sighed, and threw down her “Battle Tactics” book, not caring that the loud thump echoed in the otherwise silent room.
“Geez, Instructor Tenney sure gives us a lot of homework…” she sighed, rubbing her eyes. She reached down for her bag and pulled out a granola bar. “I’m seriously starving. Do you want one, Luke? I have another.”
Luke gave a quick “no thanks” and went back to reading the section on “Time and Space Magic” in his book. Ali just stared at her best friend and shook her head.
“Hell, Luke…you’re already on Time and Space magics? I haven’t even finished the basic Black magics, yet! Don’t you think you are being a bit of an over-achiever?”
“I just like it, Ali…and my weapon’s training requires me to excel in magic. We’ve had this discussion.”
“Well, can’t you take a break at least?” Alison said looking at her watch. “We’ve been in here ever since breakfast! We have our Etiquette class in half an hour, and you could at least take a break for a little while!”
Luke said nothing, and instead brought the book closer to his face. Ali just crossed her arms over her chest and sat back in her chair, watching the other people in the Library. She saw Casey by a bookshelf on the other side of the room, and furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what he was up to and why he wasn’t studying with them. He was standing at the edge of the shelf, and every so often he would peek around to the other side of the row, looking toward the front of the Library. Ali frowned and watched him pick up the closest book and open it to a random page. He flipped through the pages fast, almost as if he was pretending to find something, before looking over the bookshelf again.
“That’s weird…” Ali blurted, her mouth twisting in confusion.
“Hm?” Luke’s hummed without taking his eyes off the book.
“Casey. He’s acting very…strange,” Ali said, still watching him. Luke finally lifted his head up from his book and looked in the direction Alison was staring in. Luke saw Casey begin to fidget as he looked over a bookcase, and it immediately reminded him of their very first encounter in the library and how he couldn’t even stand still. He thought then how Casey said that he had known of Noah, but Luke never followed up with him about it. He had meant to, but then the whole “avoiding Noah” thing started, and he just decided to forget about it.
“He was acting the same way when I met him in here back in September,” Luke began, looking back at Ali. “He had told me that he had been living here a while and I thought he might know what the deal is with Noah, so…”
“What about Noah?”
They looked up to Casey now standing above them, no longer with the book in his hands. He seemed to have relaxed a little and sat himself down next to Ali on the couch. “What’s going on with Noah?” Casey repeated.
“That’s what we’d like to know,” Luke said, setting his book down on the coffee table and looking up at Casey. “Do you know anything about him, Case? You mentioned that you lived here with your mom, and I know that Noah has been living here for a while. Does he have a family member as part of the faculty, too? ” Luke didn’t really think this was the case. Otherwise he would have known, and even if he didn’t, Noah still wouldn’t have been able to start training if he wasn’t a student. So what was his deal?
Casey thought for a moment and then looked around him as he leaned in over the table. Luke and Ali leaned in as well, knowing that what Casey was about to say needed to be kept between them.
“Well, you know how normally students arrive at Garden when they are teenagers?” Luke and Ali nodded, and he continued. “Well, when my grandfather and the other headmasters created the Gardens years ago, they believed that around this time is when the best training for SeeD would be done,” Casey whispered. “But there have been a few times when he’s let people live in Garden until they are old enough to start training for SeeD, but only under special circumstances. Rumor has it that Noah has lived here since he was very young, but no one knows why…”
Casey moved away from the table and sank into the back of the couch. “And that is all I know.”
Luke and Ali looked at each other, and Luke opened his mouth to ask Casey a question when suddenly a loud bell rang throughout the Garden.
“Crap! We are gonna be late for Etiquette! Your mom is gonna kill us!” Ali shouted as she and Luke quickly grabbed all of their belongings and ran out of the library, followed by Casey, to Instructor Margo’s classroom on the second floor. They took the elevator up to the second floor and dashed into their classroom and sat down just as the last bell rang.
The classroom was a very sizable, rectangular room that had a large, empty area in the back. The front of the room had four rows of tables where the students sat, facing Margo’s desk and the white board. Etiquette was a class where future SeeD’s learned how to do common tasks and how to act at formal engagements. Just last class, Margo made all of the students sit at a large dinner table and learn the proper techniques to “formal eating”, as Margo had called it. Luke found this class to be fun for the most part, but other times it was also extremely boring.
“Good morning, class,” Margo said, rising from her seat at her desk. “Last class we talked about how to eat formally at an engagement or event. Now usually those types of missions are also accompanied with a dancing portion of the evening, which means…” Margo trailed off, and a collected groan from all of the guys in the class could be heard throughout the room. “Oh please, like all of you boys aren’t excited to be in close proximity to a young female for the next couple of hours. Now, I’ve assigned everyone a dance partner, but seeing as how we have more males than females, some of you are going to have to partner with someone of the same sex.” At this, the whole class moaned again, and Luke had to admit that in his case, that situation would actually be ideal.
Luke glanced over at Ali, who was smiling wide at the fact that they were going to be learning how to dance. Luke looked around the room at everyone else and in the back he spotted Noah. He was leaning on his elbows on the table and looking down at his notebook in front of him. He then saw Kevin at the other end of the table who was doing the complete opposite, leaning back with his arms sprawled on the backs of the empty seats next to him. Luke hoped that he wasn’t paired with either of them.
Margo then began naming off the pairs until it came down to Luke and his partner. And looking around the room, Luke knew it was going to happen before Margo even said anything.
“And Mr. Grimaldi you are partnered with Mr. Mayer.”
Luke froze and could sense Noah’s eyes on him from the back of the room. He finally gained enough strength to turn around and look at him and they made eye contact. Without being able to help it, Luke gave him a small smile and Noah quickly turned away.
Margo then instructed all of the pairs to assemble in the back area, which would be their dance floor, and spread out where they would have plenty of room. Luke saw that Ali was paired with a guy who was only an inch or so taller than her, which was still pretty short. Casey, on the other hand, was paired with a girl that Luke recognized as the clerk at the counter in the Library.
“Now then,” Margo started as she joined them in the back of the room. “I would like everyone to be in the proper positions. For the men, your right hands are to be placed around the waist of your partner, and for the girls, your left is set on their shoulders. Both of your opposite hands are connected and held out to the side, keeping your shoulders back and creating a firm line. For the same sex pairings, you are going to have to take turns playing the male and female roles. Go on, then.”
As Margo instructed, the many pairs set their hands and arms in the proper places. Luke just looked at Noah, neither of them making any hints at moving. Finally Luke just rolled his eyes and sighed.
“Fine, I’ll be the girl, let’s just get this over with.” Luke was a bit hesitant, but he stepped forward toward Noah and did as he was told. He placed his hand gently on Noah’s right shoulder, holding his other arm out for Noah to take. Noah looked at him for short moment, and then slowly placed his hand on Luke’s waist. Luke fidgeted a little at his touch and looked down at their feet. Noah connected his hand with Luke’s and he couldn’t stop the shiver and the feeling of their skin touching. Noah’s touch was as cold as his stare, which was the exact opposite of how warm his face was feeling at their close proximity.
After all the pairs were finished getting into their holds, Margo began to instruct them on the correct steps and guide them through the proper waltz. After about an hour of instruction, Margo walked over to the far wall. She entered a code on a numbered panel, and the wall rose to reveal a sound system with two big speakers stationed on both sides. Margo then inserted a CD into the player and turned back towards the students.
“Now, let’s see how you do when the music is played along with the movements,” She turned again and pressed a button on the stereo. After a few seconds, music started playing and after the count off from Margo, the pairs of dancers began to spin and twirl throughout the room.
Luke tried to look anywhere but into Noah’s eyes and began to watch the other pairs. Ali seemed to be having the time of her life dancing around the room gracefully, but Casey on the other hand seemed to be struggling. He was sweating and looking completely nervous, and every once and a while, he would step on his partner’s foot and he would shout out apologies. She, however, did not seem upset with him at all. She was actually laughing and seemed greatly amused with his horrible dancing.
“Man, Case is such a klutz,” Luke said still watching Casey and his partner.
“You have no room to talk, Mr. Grimaldi,” Noah said, spinning Luke around and bringing him back to the initial position. Luke blushed, remembering all the times that he had accidentally run into Noah and fallen on his ass in front of him, and somehow found the strength to look at him.
“Why do you always call me that,” he asked, as Noah spun him around again. “Luke is fine.”
“Well, that wouldn’t be very gentlemanly now, would it?” Noah smirked.
“Since when have you been a gentleman?” Luke said, frowning at the amused look on his partner’s face. The music was reaching the climax of the song and the movements became much faster. Noah twirled Luke around again and they began to spin in and out between the other pairs; their eyes never breaking from each other’s grasp. Luke felt the moment intensify along with the music and he couldn’t help but feel lost in the dance as he followed Noah’s eyes on his own. Luke then pulled out and came back into him as Noah spun him yet again.
The music played its last powerful chords and Luke found himself unexpectedly dipped into Noah’s arms with their faces just inches away from each other. The music stopped, and Luke and Noah locked their eyes together. Luke should have moved, should have protested Noah holding him so tightly so close together. But he couldn’t move, the heat from Noah’s large hands against his back locking him in place.
Not a moment later the bell rang, marking the class’ end, and students broke apart and began to gather their things and pour out of the room.
“See you later…Luke,” Noah whispered, slowly bringing Luke back up to stand and stepping away from him. Luke watched Noah walk to his seat, pick up his bag, and then walk out of the room. Luke suddenly found it quite hard to pick his feet up off the floor. He shook his head, regained his composure, and grabbed his bag, running out of the room.
+++++
Noah entered his dorm room and threw his bag on the floor. He roughly took off his jacket and set it at the end of his bed, leaning his hands against the frame. Turning his head toward the window, he saw that the sun was shining high in the early afternoon sky, illuminating the plains and mountains in the distance. Noah reached out and propped open one side of the window, allowing a cool autumn chill to hit his face.
”I never knew you were such a good dancer” a voice said.
“I guess I’m a fast learner,” Noah replied.
”It’s getting colder…you’re running out of time.“
“Whatever…”
”Master, he has to know soon. We can’t afford to wait much longer. “
“I know, Griever, I just…I just haven’t found the opportune moment,” Noah said, leaning harder against the bed, still gazing out the window.
”What do you mean ‘opportune moment’? You’ve been trying to avoid him these last couple months. I know you have!“ Griever responded.
“I know!” Noah shouted. “I don’t have my instruction yet, so telling him now would just make things even more complicated. And besides, I don’t think he’s ready.”
There was a pause where no words were spoken. And then Noah barely heard the soft reply.
”But when he is ready…will you be, too?”
+++++
In mid-December, Luke woke up on the morning of the Written SeeD exam by the sound of his telephone ringing loudly in his room. He yawned and stretched, leaning over to his nightstand to pick up the receiver.
“Hello?” he said sleepily, his voice muffled slightly by his pillow.
“Hello? Mr. Grimaldi?”
“Yes, can I help you?” Luke answered, sitting up in bed and willing himself to wake up. He didn’t recognize the voice on the other end, and by the way the man greeted him, this wasn’t going to be a personal call.
“Yes, I’m Dr. John Dixon from the Infirmary, and I’m afraid we have a problem,” the man on the other end began. Luke heard a light shuffling of papers, and then he started speaking again. “I was looking over the files of all the students who are taking their Written exam today, and noticed that we don’t have a record of your physical on file. I was wondering if you could come down to the Infirmary after breakfast this morning to be tested, if it isn’t too much trouble?”
“Um, of course not,” Luke said, checking for the time. It was 7:30am, and his exam was at 11. “I can be there in half an hour, is that alright?”
“Yes, certainly, I’ll be waiting for you,” Dr. Dixon said and then hung up the phone. Luke set the phone back on its holder and climbed out of bed. It was a cold December morning and out of his window, Luke could see the sun just peeking over the mountains. A thin layer of snow was covering the ground outside, and it was sparkling in the bright morning sunlight.
Luke took a fast shower, put on a pair of jeans and a light blue long sleeve shirt and headed for the Cafeteria. He walked in and ordered his usual breakfast of a bagel and coffee, and then made his way to the Infirmary, eating quickly on the way. Luke had never been there before, and quietly thanked whoever was listening that he never had a reason to.
He opened the door to the Infirmary and entered what seemed to be a small waiting room. There was a couch and a few chairs, but no reception desk. There was a doorway off to the left that led into a hallway with several exam rooms on both sides. Luke saw in the corner another door with “Dr. Dixon” written on the top part of the window. Under it was a note that was taped to the door, and Luke walked over to it and read what it said:
I’M CURRENTLY AT AN EMERGENCY MEETING WITH THE HEADMASTER AND WILL BE BACK IN A FEW MINUTES. SORRY FOR MAKING YOU WAIT.
Dixon
“Great,” Luke mumbled as he sat himself down in a chair by the door. He looked around the room and couldn’t help but notice how plain and boring it was. Unlike his old doctor’s office, there were no toys for kids to play with, or even a fish tank. There were barely even any decorations on the walls. There was, however, a coffee table with a few magazines lying haphazardly on top. Luke bent over and picked up a very unusual magazine that he had never heard of before called Occult Fan. There was a very old looking man on the cover who was standing by a broken garden fence with a scared expression on his face. Luke opened to the story and read it to himself.
TIMBER MAN SEES UFO
Earlier last Tuesday morning, Davey Lawerence of the city of Timber, reported to the police that he sighted an Unidentified Flying Object that morning at his farm home. Lawrence said the ship crashed into his picket fence and exploded, leaving his crops and pieces of wood scattered everywhere. Galbadian Police forces arrived at the scene and were stunned to find no traces of the ship anywhere. One officer was quoted as saying that it was as if the ship “disappeared after it had hit the ground”. Further investigations of this mystery are underway.
“Seriously?” Luke muttered as he threw the magazine back on the table. He leaned back in the chair and rested his head against the wall, thinking about his exam in a few hours and running through the material in his head.
Suddenly, after about ten minutes of waiting, the door burst open and Luke startled in his seat. Noah tumbled into the room, holding his head. Dark, crimson blood was running down his face and his hand as he struggled to keep himself on his feet.
“Shit, Noah!” Luke shouted as he jumped to his feet and ran to help him. He wrapped Noah’s free arm over his shoulder and carefully led him over to the couch. Blood was dripping everywhere and Luke didn’t know what to do as he started to panic. Dr. Dixon was nowhere to be found, but he couldn’t just leave Noah to sit there and bleed all over the place.
“Uh, just hang on, Noah,” Luke said, helping him to sit back into the couch and tilt his head back to control the bleeding a little. “I’ll be right back.”
Luke ran down the hallway into one of the empty patient rooms and began to throw open cupboards looking for something to help him clean the wound. He finally grabbed a couple of towels from a drawer and returned to Noah, kneeling down on the floor in front of him.
“Here,” he said, handing Noah one of the towels. Noah took it from Luke without even looking at him, and removed his hand from his forehead. Through all the blood, Luke could see a deep cut that started at the middle of his forehead and headed diagonally down between his eyes and over the bridge of his nose to the left side of his face, just under his left eye.
“Jesus, what the hell happened?” Luke asked as he began to wipe the blood away from Noah’s face with his own towel.
“Kevin,” Noah coughed, his voice rough and a little shaken. Noah started cleaning off his gloved hands of all of the blood the best he could with his towel before giving up and just taking the gloves off, still not meeting Luke’s eyes. Luke touched the towel to his cut and Noah flinched, hissing a little at the pain.
“Sorry,” he said as he carefully continued to wipe the blood away. The cut was so deep that Luke wasn’t sure if the blood was going to stop any time soon or not, and he start to pray that Dr. Dixon would get back soon so he could treat Noah before he lost too much of it. “What did Kevin do? Smash your head into a window?”
“We were training,” Noah replied, and Luke had to admit he was a bit surprised with how quick he responded. Luke half thought that he wasn’t going to say anything at all.
“That’s some intense training, man…was he a sore loser or something?” Luke laughed, trying to make light of the situation.
“Not exactly…where is Dr. Dixon?”
“He’s in a meeting with the Headmaster. Sit still,” he told him as Noah started to move his head toward Dixon’s office door. He continued to wipe the blood away from Noah’s face and when he was finished, he ran and got him a new towel for him to press against his head to try and stop the bleeding.
“So, how did this happen?” Luke asked, settling down next to Noah on the couch. His voice was timid and careful, not wanting to anger Noah or scare him off to the point where he wouldn’t talk to him.
“Why do you care?” Noah spat, turning his head to look over at him, their eyes meeting for the first time since he came stumbling into the Infirmary. He seemed to be having a hard time keeping his head up, and he was taking slow, deep breaths.
“Hell, Noah! Why can’t you just answer the question instead of being a real asshole about everything? I’m just concerned about you, that’s all!” He sat back on the couch and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at Noah.
Noah continued to stare at him, not speaking, and Luke turned to look at the floor. Neither spoke for a few minutes, until Noah broke the silence.
“Kevin and I were training on the grounds outside. He is the only other Gunblade specialist in Garden, so we train together sometimes.” Noah paused and looked over to meet his gaze. Luke was looking at him again, and waiting patiently for him to continue. “Sometimes at our sessions, it gets pretty intense. Kevin will do almost anything to win. And when I was getting ahead of him, he cheap shot me and knocked me on the ground. Before I could get up again, I saw him swing his Gunblade down and it slashed me right in between my eyes.” He finished and leaned back further into the cushions of the couch, pressing the towel harder into his forehead. Luke’s mouth was open and his expression held nothing but worry.
“God, that’s horrible,” Luke said softly, his worry quickly turning to anger. “I can’t fucking believe Kevin did that! He could have killed you!”
“Don’t worry,” Noah chuckled. “I made sure I gave him one just like it.” He pointed to his forehead and smiled. The moment became tense, neither one of them breaking the eye contact or the silence, just sitting unmoving next to each other on the couch. Until Noah cleared his throat and shook his head, slowly rising to his feet.
“Where are you going?” Luke asked, standing up to meet Noah. “I don’t think you should be walking around right now, Noah. That cut could have given you a minor concussion, and you’ve lost a lot of blood.”
“I’ll be fine, Luke,” Noah huffed, making his way to the door with stilted movements, his steps unbalanced.
“Noah, seriously,” Luke caught up to Noah and wrapped an arm around his waist, steadying him on his feet. “Maybe you should lie down and wait for Dr. Dixon to come back and look you over.”
Noah turn around to protest, but suddenly he staggered and lifted his hands to hold his head. He was wincing like he was in pain, and Luke had to tighten his arm around his waist to keep him steady.
“Noah! Are you okay?” Luke asked frantically, trying to lead Noah back over to the couch. He was just about to help Noah lie down when Luke saw his eyes roll back into his head, and he promptly passed out. “Noah! Shit!”
Luke could barely support his weight, but he did his best to slowly get Noah to the ground, no way would he be able to pull Noah’s dead weight up onto the sofa. He tried to keep the towel Noah had in his hand pressed to his face, since the blood was still coming out of his wound. Luke grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and set it gently under Noah’s head, hoping to keep his head elevated as best as he could
Luke knew it was wrong, but he sat back on his heels and took the time to study Noah’s handsome features while he continued to wipe blood off his face. As much as he tried, he couldn’t bring himself to remove his eyes from Noah’s face. Luke gently caressed his cheek with his hand, and found that his skin was very cold. He then looked down at Noah’s chest and for the first time, noticed a silver chain hanging around his neck. He looked at the end of the chain and found a silver charm of what looked like a profile a lion’s head, with a single diamond where the eye would be. It looked like it was made of pure silver, and it was a very beautiful design. Luke couldn’t help but think that it was strange that Noah wore something like this.
Just then, the door opened and who Luke guessed must have been Dr. Dixon walked into the room. He was an elderly man, Luke estimated to be about the same age as Headmaster Bob, with gray hair and a stern face. He was tall, broad and still pretty firmly muscled in his old age.
“What the -” he gasped and ran towards where Luke was sitting by Noah on the ground. “What happened?”
Luke began to tell him what Noah said about his and Kevin’s training session, and then he told him how Noah had fainted.
“I see,” he said as he rubbed his chin and knelt down. He did a quick assessment of Noah’s condition, checking his pulse and his eyes before removing the towel from his face and checking his cut. “Well, we can’t keep him here. Come, help me move him to a room.” Dr. Dixon bent down and picked up Noah from under his arms, getting a hold of him by his armpits. Luke nodded and picked up Noah’s legs around his hips. It was a bit awkward, but once he got a good grip and they had a steady balance, they were able to move him into the first exam room where Luke had received the towels earlier. They gently laid him down on the bed, doing their best to scoot his body so that his head was resting on the pillows at the end of the bed. Dr. Dixon walked to the cabinet over the sink and took out a bottle of a clear liquid and some bandages. He then sat down next to the bed and removed the towel that was still compressing the blood. Thankfully the blood had finally stopped and he began to examine the cut.
“Great job cleaning it the best you could, Mr. Grimaldi,” he smiled as he looked over at Luke, who was standing at the end of the bed. “And thank you for helping him while I was away. I’m sorry to have made you wait. The Headmaster called me into an emergency meeting that I’m afraid I couldn’t miss.”
“Just Luke, thanks,” he smiled back. “And it was no problem. I’m actually glad I was here when I was, or who knows what would have happened to Noah.”
Dr. Dixon grabbed a cotton swab from a pocket on his lab coat, and poured a little of the clear liquid onto it. He then rubbed the substance over the cut and began to wrap a bandage around his head. He gently lifted Noah’s head so he could wrap it around the back, and then he took a piece of medical tape and taped it down.
“Will he be alright?”
“Oh, no doubt he will be fine.” Dr. Dixon stated. “The trauma from the cut and the blood loss probably just made him tired and a bit disoriented, and he just needed some rest. He should wake up in a few hours time. He will have a pretty nasty scar, though.” He rose from his seat and walked toward the door. “I need to fetch his file. I’ll be back in a moment.”
Luke watched him leave the room, and then he looked over at Noah. He was sleeping peacefully and Luke couldn’t help but notice how his face seemed fully relaxed while he was unconscious. He lacked the familiar hardness that was always apparent in his features, and he just looked younger. He looked normal.
The doctor returned minutes later with Noah’s file and began writing down things on his chart. After a while, he finally turned to Luke and said, “Well, Luke, we better leave him to sleep. How about we get that physical now?” Luke nodded and took one last look at Noah before he followed Dr. Dixon out of the room.
+++++
After the physical, Luke was seated in Dr. Dixon’s office and waited for the doctor to return with his results. After about five minutes, he returned and sat down at his desk.
“Well, Luke, you’ll be glad to know that you are in exceptional health,” the doctor smiled at Luke and started writing things down on his chart.
“Thank you,” Luke said, smiling politely. The doctor continued to write for a few moments, keeping his eyes down on the paper, and then asked him, “So, are you friends with Noah?”
“What?” Luke said, surprised at the question. “No…not really. He’s uh, just my suitemate in the dorms. I hardly know him at all.”
“I see,” the doctor said as he looked back down to his file. “Noah has been here for quite some time. I’ve rarely seen him with anyone at all. He’s quite the lone wolf.”
“I’ve noticed,” Luke scoffed. Dr. Dixon looked up and began to laugh.
“Very few have. No one really pays any attention to him. In fact, as sad as it is, he’s been here for so long and Kevin is really the only one who acknowledges it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the two of them are something of rivals. They are always fighting. Can’t tell you how many times they’ve dragged themselves in here after a fight and I had to mend their bumps and bruises. I bet my life on it that one of them will be the death of the other one day.” Dixon laughed, shaking his head at Luke’s horrified face. “I’m only joking, son. That is what their relationship seems to be, however.”
“Right,” Luke said as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He didn’t really like how foreboding the doctor’s words were. “Um, is it okay if I leave now? I would like to relax some before my exam at 11.”
Dr. Dixon looked at his watch and said, “Well, no need to worry about that…the exam has already begun, I’m afraid.”
“What?!” Luke shouted, jumping from his seat. Luke swung his head around and looked at the clock on the wall. When did it get to be after noon already? He didn’t realize how fast that the time had gone since he had stepped into the Infirmary this morning.
“Don’t worry, Luke. I’ve already informed Instructor Tenney of the morning’s events, and you and Noah will be able to take your exam at a later time. Someone will probably call you later today for the details.” Luke slowly nodded at Dr. Dixon’s words, and walked toward the door. Before he left, however, he called him back.
“Excuse me, Luke? I was wondering if you might do me a favor? Noah most likely left his Gunblade outside after their fight since he didn’t bring it in with him. Could you go out and bring it back here? I don’t think Noah would care very much for his Gunblade to start rusting in all this snow…”
Luke nodded, replying with a quick “sure” and left the office.
+++++
Dr. Dixon watched Luke leave his office, and waited until he heard the main door to the Infirmary shut out in the other room. He sighed and picked up his phone, dialing the Headmaster’s number with sure fingers.
“Headmaster…yes, he just left…well, I have the results of his blood work right here and you were right…the readings were much higher than normal, just like you said. I’ve never seen this before….Yes, of course I won’t tell anyone. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Dr. Dixon slammed the phone down, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. He rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes, taking small comfort in the slight burn. He didn’t like this, not at all. This was a lot bigger than his job description, something way bigger than this Garden had ever asked of him, and he wished that this all would be over and he could forget that Luciano Grimaldi ever even stepped foot into his office.
Finally grabbing Luke’s file, he stood from his desk and left the room, checking on Noah briefly before making his way back to the headmaster’s office as fast as he could.
+++++
Luke trudged through the thin layer of snow and searched the ground carefully. The sun was no longer shining brightly in the sky. Instead, snow was now falling very thickly in its place, making his task of trying to find Noah’s Gunblade quite difficult. He had already been out there looking for a good half an hour, and it was getting colder and colder as more snow covered the ground. He wrapped his coat tighter around him and continued searching the ground around the Garden.
He really wished the Noah and Kevin would have just trained in the Training Center like everyone else.
Suddenly, he saw something silver sticking slightly out of the snow a few feet ahead of him. Luke ran over to it and bent down, wiping the snow away with his hands. Once it was free of snow, he wrapped his fingers around the handle and started to lift the weapon off the ground. Luke was surprised to find that the Gunblade was really fucking heavy, and he wondered how Noah could stand to battle for hours swinging this thing around.
He carefully gazed at the blade, turning it over in his hands and admiring the patterns that were etched into the metal. The design was the same one that was on the black box that Luke had seen in Noah’s room on the day they first met. Dangling at the end of the handle, there was a small, silver chain with the same lion’s head charm that was on his necklace. Only this time, the eye was a ruby instead of a diamond.
“He must really like lions,” Luke said out loud to himself, tracing the edges of the small charm with his fingers. He then tucked the blade under his arm and began to walk back toward Garden, shutting his eyes against the strong winds. Luke walked half the way back in the silence of the falling snow, until he was suddenly stopped by a mysterious voice.
”You must be Luciano Grimaldi…I’ve been looking forward to meeting you”.
Next
Author(s): dazzling_icer
Chapter: [4/?]
Rating: NC-17 (eventually)
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Luke and Noah (or other ATWT characters), nor do I claim any ownership over the video game Final Fantasy VIII. FFVIII, and any borrowing or allusion to places or characters belongs to Square Enix.
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Noah, Ali/Aaron, Casey/Maddie, Dr. Bob, Carly, Margo, Holden, John Dixon, Reid Oliver, and many other Oakdalians.
Word Count: ~6.8K
Warnings: Violence (talked about, but not seen), some swearing, and dancing. Yes...there is dancing in this chapter.
Spoilers: None! Completely AU! :)
Summary: Becoming a SeeD was Luciano Grimaldi's way out. It was his freedom. Escaping the ruthless grasp of his father, a powerful general in the Galbadian Army, was the answer to all of his problems. Training to become a SeeD at one of the world's top mercenary schools wasn't going to be a walk in the park, but it was going to be so worth it. That is, until Luke meets a stranger at school that starts to make his life a lot more complicated. What happens when this stranger is found to be holding crucial secrets about Luke’s destiny? And how does Luke react when he discovers that the strange happenings around him are a lot bigger than just random coincidence?
A/N: Here's chapter four! This will probably be the last chapter until after the holidays! And it's a bit longer than the previous ones, so hopefully it will tide you over until then!
Enjoy! :)
Previous
It was late October, almost two months after he arrived at Garden, and Luke found that he was acclimating himself very well to his new life. He found his classes to be fun and exciting, wanting to know more and more about everything he was taught. His Weapon’s instructor had said that his ability with his Pinwheel, the beginner’s level form of the Blaster Edge, was exceptional, and that he would be able to move on to stronger models by the start of the next semester. His favorite class by far was Magic’s, where he was at the top of the class. He found that his ability with the magical arts was highly above average and his instructors were slightly perplexed at how he always seemed to learn to cast the spells faster than anyone else.
His life outside of school was going well, too. He and Ali became good friends with Casey, who turned out to be a very energetic guy. He was a martial arts trainee and was always found doing air-kicks and punches in the hallways, very much to the dislike of the Disciplinary Committee. They also found him to have a huge appetite and he seemed to have a rather large fetish with the hot dogs they served in the Cafeteria.
“The best food ever invented, let me tell you,” he would say, stuffing another dog into his mouth.
Alison was doing well in her classes, too. She loved their Guardian Force class, and was always starting up discussions with Luke about the topics they talked about in lecture. They learned that Guardian Forces were ancient spirits that are summoned in battle to help fight and protect their owner, and each one has their own special use. Once a student learned how to attain and use them, they could become somewhat like pets. Their spirits are trapped inside of an object, most often the user’s weapon or piece of armor, and it enables the Guardian and their user to communicate. Ali loved all of her Guardians that she acquired thus far, and treated them very much like her friends.
“They should be treated with love, not just used to do someone else’s dirty work,” she insisted.
Luke was also very busy, and not just with classes and his training. After much persuasion from Ali, he finally relented and joined the Garden Festival Committee, deciding to help with the planning of the Garden Festival, which was about seven months away. He initially though that it was only going to be a few meetings here and there, but he was surprised to found out that it was actually taking up a fair share of his time. Aside from them, only two other students joined the Committee and Ali was constantly trying to recruit new members to help with the load. With the lack of members, it was hard for any of them to collect adequate fundraising, or come up with a theme for the event. And without a theme, they couldn’t plan decorations. All they decided on so far was the time and date, which was given to them by Headmaster Bob, and the band that would be providing the entertainment. So basically nothing.
Luke also hadn’t seen much of Noah or Kevin for a long time. Even if they were in all of his classes except for his Weapon’s, he had rarely spoken with them. Kevin still seemed a bit frustrated at being turned down, but he would still throw a smirk at him every once and again. And since that afternoon in the hallway, Luke tried to avoid Noah at all costs. He would take fast showers and try to avoid using his bathroom as much as he could. It was quite easy to do since he spent most of his time in Ali’s room anyway, working on homework or chatting.
One morning, Luke and Ali were studying in the library lounge, sitting in sofas that surrounded a a small wooden table, when they decided to take a break. Ali sighed, and threw down her “Battle Tactics” book, not caring that the loud thump echoed in the otherwise silent room.
“Geez, Instructor Tenney sure gives us a lot of homework…” she sighed, rubbing her eyes. She reached down for her bag and pulled out a granola bar. “I’m seriously starving. Do you want one, Luke? I have another.”
Luke gave a quick “no thanks” and went back to reading the section on “Time and Space Magic” in his book. Ali just stared at her best friend and shook her head.
“Hell, Luke…you’re already on Time and Space magics? I haven’t even finished the basic Black magics, yet! Don’t you think you are being a bit of an over-achiever?”
“I just like it, Ali…and my weapon’s training requires me to excel in magic. We’ve had this discussion.”
“Well, can’t you take a break at least?” Alison said looking at her watch. “We’ve been in here ever since breakfast! We have our Etiquette class in half an hour, and you could at least take a break for a little while!”
Luke said nothing, and instead brought the book closer to his face. Ali just crossed her arms over her chest and sat back in her chair, watching the other people in the Library. She saw Casey by a bookshelf on the other side of the room, and furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what he was up to and why he wasn’t studying with them. He was standing at the edge of the shelf, and every so often he would peek around to the other side of the row, looking toward the front of the Library. Ali frowned and watched him pick up the closest book and open it to a random page. He flipped through the pages fast, almost as if he was pretending to find something, before looking over the bookshelf again.
“That’s weird…” Ali blurted, her mouth twisting in confusion.
“Hm?” Luke’s hummed without taking his eyes off the book.
“Casey. He’s acting very…strange,” Ali said, still watching him. Luke finally lifted his head up from his book and looked in the direction Alison was staring in. Luke saw Casey begin to fidget as he looked over a bookcase, and it immediately reminded him of their very first encounter in the library and how he couldn’t even stand still. He thought then how Casey said that he had known of Noah, but Luke never followed up with him about it. He had meant to, but then the whole “avoiding Noah” thing started, and he just decided to forget about it.
“He was acting the same way when I met him in here back in September,” Luke began, looking back at Ali. “He had told me that he had been living here a while and I thought he might know what the deal is with Noah, so…”
“What about Noah?”
They looked up to Casey now standing above them, no longer with the book in his hands. He seemed to have relaxed a little and sat himself down next to Ali on the couch. “What’s going on with Noah?” Casey repeated.
“That’s what we’d like to know,” Luke said, setting his book down on the coffee table and looking up at Casey. “Do you know anything about him, Case? You mentioned that you lived here with your mom, and I know that Noah has been living here for a while. Does he have a family member as part of the faculty, too? ” Luke didn’t really think this was the case. Otherwise he would have known, and even if he didn’t, Noah still wouldn’t have been able to start training if he wasn’t a student. So what was his deal?
Casey thought for a moment and then looked around him as he leaned in over the table. Luke and Ali leaned in as well, knowing that what Casey was about to say needed to be kept between them.
“Well, you know how normally students arrive at Garden when they are teenagers?” Luke and Ali nodded, and he continued. “Well, when my grandfather and the other headmasters created the Gardens years ago, they believed that around this time is when the best training for SeeD would be done,” Casey whispered. “But there have been a few times when he’s let people live in Garden until they are old enough to start training for SeeD, but only under special circumstances. Rumor has it that Noah has lived here since he was very young, but no one knows why…”
Casey moved away from the table and sank into the back of the couch. “And that is all I know.”
Luke and Ali looked at each other, and Luke opened his mouth to ask Casey a question when suddenly a loud bell rang throughout the Garden.
“Crap! We are gonna be late for Etiquette! Your mom is gonna kill us!” Ali shouted as she and Luke quickly grabbed all of their belongings and ran out of the library, followed by Casey, to Instructor Margo’s classroom on the second floor. They took the elevator up to the second floor and dashed into their classroom and sat down just as the last bell rang.
The classroom was a very sizable, rectangular room that had a large, empty area in the back. The front of the room had four rows of tables where the students sat, facing Margo’s desk and the white board. Etiquette was a class where future SeeD’s learned how to do common tasks and how to act at formal engagements. Just last class, Margo made all of the students sit at a large dinner table and learn the proper techniques to “formal eating”, as Margo had called it. Luke found this class to be fun for the most part, but other times it was also extremely boring.
“Good morning, class,” Margo said, rising from her seat at her desk. “Last class we talked about how to eat formally at an engagement or event. Now usually those types of missions are also accompanied with a dancing portion of the evening, which means…” Margo trailed off, and a collected groan from all of the guys in the class could be heard throughout the room. “Oh please, like all of you boys aren’t excited to be in close proximity to a young female for the next couple of hours. Now, I’ve assigned everyone a dance partner, but seeing as how we have more males than females, some of you are going to have to partner with someone of the same sex.” At this, the whole class moaned again, and Luke had to admit that in his case, that situation would actually be ideal.
Luke glanced over at Ali, who was smiling wide at the fact that they were going to be learning how to dance. Luke looked around the room at everyone else and in the back he spotted Noah. He was leaning on his elbows on the table and looking down at his notebook in front of him. He then saw Kevin at the other end of the table who was doing the complete opposite, leaning back with his arms sprawled on the backs of the empty seats next to him. Luke hoped that he wasn’t paired with either of them.
Margo then began naming off the pairs until it came down to Luke and his partner. And looking around the room, Luke knew it was going to happen before Margo even said anything.
“And Mr. Grimaldi you are partnered with Mr. Mayer.”
Luke froze and could sense Noah’s eyes on him from the back of the room. He finally gained enough strength to turn around and look at him and they made eye contact. Without being able to help it, Luke gave him a small smile and Noah quickly turned away.
Margo then instructed all of the pairs to assemble in the back area, which would be their dance floor, and spread out where they would have plenty of room. Luke saw that Ali was paired with a guy who was only an inch or so taller than her, which was still pretty short. Casey, on the other hand, was paired with a girl that Luke recognized as the clerk at the counter in the Library.
“Now then,” Margo started as she joined them in the back of the room. “I would like everyone to be in the proper positions. For the men, your right hands are to be placed around the waist of your partner, and for the girls, your left is set on their shoulders. Both of your opposite hands are connected and held out to the side, keeping your shoulders back and creating a firm line. For the same sex pairings, you are going to have to take turns playing the male and female roles. Go on, then.”
As Margo instructed, the many pairs set their hands and arms in the proper places. Luke just looked at Noah, neither of them making any hints at moving. Finally Luke just rolled his eyes and sighed.
“Fine, I’ll be the girl, let’s just get this over with.” Luke was a bit hesitant, but he stepped forward toward Noah and did as he was told. He placed his hand gently on Noah’s right shoulder, holding his other arm out for Noah to take. Noah looked at him for short moment, and then slowly placed his hand on Luke’s waist. Luke fidgeted a little at his touch and looked down at their feet. Noah connected his hand with Luke’s and he couldn’t stop the shiver and the feeling of their skin touching. Noah’s touch was as cold as his stare, which was the exact opposite of how warm his face was feeling at their close proximity.
After all the pairs were finished getting into their holds, Margo began to instruct them on the correct steps and guide them through the proper waltz. After about an hour of instruction, Margo walked over to the far wall. She entered a code on a numbered panel, and the wall rose to reveal a sound system with two big speakers stationed on both sides. Margo then inserted a CD into the player and turned back towards the students.
“Now, let’s see how you do when the music is played along with the movements,” She turned again and pressed a button on the stereo. After a few seconds, music started playing and after the count off from Margo, the pairs of dancers began to spin and twirl throughout the room.
Luke tried to look anywhere but into Noah’s eyes and began to watch the other pairs. Ali seemed to be having the time of her life dancing around the room gracefully, but Casey on the other hand seemed to be struggling. He was sweating and looking completely nervous, and every once and a while, he would step on his partner’s foot and he would shout out apologies. She, however, did not seem upset with him at all. She was actually laughing and seemed greatly amused with his horrible dancing.
“Man, Case is such a klutz,” Luke said still watching Casey and his partner.
“You have no room to talk, Mr. Grimaldi,” Noah said, spinning Luke around and bringing him back to the initial position. Luke blushed, remembering all the times that he had accidentally run into Noah and fallen on his ass in front of him, and somehow found the strength to look at him.
“Why do you always call me that,” he asked, as Noah spun him around again. “Luke is fine.”
“Well, that wouldn’t be very gentlemanly now, would it?” Noah smirked.
“Since when have you been a gentleman?” Luke said, frowning at the amused look on his partner’s face. The music was reaching the climax of the song and the movements became much faster. Noah twirled Luke around again and they began to spin in and out between the other pairs; their eyes never breaking from each other’s grasp. Luke felt the moment intensify along with the music and he couldn’t help but feel lost in the dance as he followed Noah’s eyes on his own. Luke then pulled out and came back into him as Noah spun him yet again.
The music played its last powerful chords and Luke found himself unexpectedly dipped into Noah’s arms with their faces just inches away from each other. The music stopped, and Luke and Noah locked their eyes together. Luke should have moved, should have protested Noah holding him so tightly so close together. But he couldn’t move, the heat from Noah’s large hands against his back locking him in place.
Not a moment later the bell rang, marking the class’ end, and students broke apart and began to gather their things and pour out of the room.
“See you later…Luke,” Noah whispered, slowly bringing Luke back up to stand and stepping away from him. Luke watched Noah walk to his seat, pick up his bag, and then walk out of the room. Luke suddenly found it quite hard to pick his feet up off the floor. He shook his head, regained his composure, and grabbed his bag, running out of the room.
+++++
Noah entered his dorm room and threw his bag on the floor. He roughly took off his jacket and set it at the end of his bed, leaning his hands against the frame. Turning his head toward the window, he saw that the sun was shining high in the early afternoon sky, illuminating the plains and mountains in the distance. Noah reached out and propped open one side of the window, allowing a cool autumn chill to hit his face.
”I never knew you were such a good dancer” a voice said.
“I guess I’m a fast learner,” Noah replied.
”It’s getting colder…you’re running out of time.“
“Whatever…”
”Master, he has to know soon. We can’t afford to wait much longer. “
“I know, Griever, I just…I just haven’t found the opportune moment,” Noah said, leaning harder against the bed, still gazing out the window.
”What do you mean ‘opportune moment’? You’ve been trying to avoid him these last couple months. I know you have!“ Griever responded.
“I know!” Noah shouted. “I don’t have my instruction yet, so telling him now would just make things even more complicated. And besides, I don’t think he’s ready.”
There was a pause where no words were spoken. And then Noah barely heard the soft reply.
”But when he is ready…will you be, too?”
+++++
In mid-December, Luke woke up on the morning of the Written SeeD exam by the sound of his telephone ringing loudly in his room. He yawned and stretched, leaning over to his nightstand to pick up the receiver.
“Hello?” he said sleepily, his voice muffled slightly by his pillow.
“Hello? Mr. Grimaldi?”
“Yes, can I help you?” Luke answered, sitting up in bed and willing himself to wake up. He didn’t recognize the voice on the other end, and by the way the man greeted him, this wasn’t going to be a personal call.
“Yes, I’m Dr. John Dixon from the Infirmary, and I’m afraid we have a problem,” the man on the other end began. Luke heard a light shuffling of papers, and then he started speaking again. “I was looking over the files of all the students who are taking their Written exam today, and noticed that we don’t have a record of your physical on file. I was wondering if you could come down to the Infirmary after breakfast this morning to be tested, if it isn’t too much trouble?”
“Um, of course not,” Luke said, checking for the time. It was 7:30am, and his exam was at 11. “I can be there in half an hour, is that alright?”
“Yes, certainly, I’ll be waiting for you,” Dr. Dixon said and then hung up the phone. Luke set the phone back on its holder and climbed out of bed. It was a cold December morning and out of his window, Luke could see the sun just peeking over the mountains. A thin layer of snow was covering the ground outside, and it was sparkling in the bright morning sunlight.
Luke took a fast shower, put on a pair of jeans and a light blue long sleeve shirt and headed for the Cafeteria. He walked in and ordered his usual breakfast of a bagel and coffee, and then made his way to the Infirmary, eating quickly on the way. Luke had never been there before, and quietly thanked whoever was listening that he never had a reason to.
He opened the door to the Infirmary and entered what seemed to be a small waiting room. There was a couch and a few chairs, but no reception desk. There was a doorway off to the left that led into a hallway with several exam rooms on both sides. Luke saw in the corner another door with “Dr. Dixon” written on the top part of the window. Under it was a note that was taped to the door, and Luke walked over to it and read what it said:
I’M CURRENTLY AT AN EMERGENCY MEETING WITH THE HEADMASTER AND WILL BE BACK IN A FEW MINUTES. SORRY FOR MAKING YOU WAIT.
Dixon
“Great,” Luke mumbled as he sat himself down in a chair by the door. He looked around the room and couldn’t help but notice how plain and boring it was. Unlike his old doctor’s office, there were no toys for kids to play with, or even a fish tank. There were barely even any decorations on the walls. There was, however, a coffee table with a few magazines lying haphazardly on top. Luke bent over and picked up a very unusual magazine that he had never heard of before called Occult Fan. There was a very old looking man on the cover who was standing by a broken garden fence with a scared expression on his face. Luke opened to the story and read it to himself.
TIMBER MAN SEES UFO
Earlier last Tuesday morning, Davey Lawerence of the city of Timber, reported to the police that he sighted an Unidentified Flying Object that morning at his farm home. Lawrence said the ship crashed into his picket fence and exploded, leaving his crops and pieces of wood scattered everywhere. Galbadian Police forces arrived at the scene and were stunned to find no traces of the ship anywhere. One officer was quoted as saying that it was as if the ship “disappeared after it had hit the ground”. Further investigations of this mystery are underway.
“Seriously?” Luke muttered as he threw the magazine back on the table. He leaned back in the chair and rested his head against the wall, thinking about his exam in a few hours and running through the material in his head.
Suddenly, after about ten minutes of waiting, the door burst open and Luke startled in his seat. Noah tumbled into the room, holding his head. Dark, crimson blood was running down his face and his hand as he struggled to keep himself on his feet.
“Shit, Noah!” Luke shouted as he jumped to his feet and ran to help him. He wrapped Noah’s free arm over his shoulder and carefully led him over to the couch. Blood was dripping everywhere and Luke didn’t know what to do as he started to panic. Dr. Dixon was nowhere to be found, but he couldn’t just leave Noah to sit there and bleed all over the place.
“Uh, just hang on, Noah,” Luke said, helping him to sit back into the couch and tilt his head back to control the bleeding a little. “I’ll be right back.”
Luke ran down the hallway into one of the empty patient rooms and began to throw open cupboards looking for something to help him clean the wound. He finally grabbed a couple of towels from a drawer and returned to Noah, kneeling down on the floor in front of him.
“Here,” he said, handing Noah one of the towels. Noah took it from Luke without even looking at him, and removed his hand from his forehead. Through all the blood, Luke could see a deep cut that started at the middle of his forehead and headed diagonally down between his eyes and over the bridge of his nose to the left side of his face, just under his left eye.
“Jesus, what the hell happened?” Luke asked as he began to wipe the blood away from Noah’s face with his own towel.
“Kevin,” Noah coughed, his voice rough and a little shaken. Noah started cleaning off his gloved hands of all of the blood the best he could with his towel before giving up and just taking the gloves off, still not meeting Luke’s eyes. Luke touched the towel to his cut and Noah flinched, hissing a little at the pain.
“Sorry,” he said as he carefully continued to wipe the blood away. The cut was so deep that Luke wasn’t sure if the blood was going to stop any time soon or not, and he start to pray that Dr. Dixon would get back soon so he could treat Noah before he lost too much of it. “What did Kevin do? Smash your head into a window?”
“We were training,” Noah replied, and Luke had to admit he was a bit surprised with how quick he responded. Luke half thought that he wasn’t going to say anything at all.
“That’s some intense training, man…was he a sore loser or something?” Luke laughed, trying to make light of the situation.
“Not exactly…where is Dr. Dixon?”
“He’s in a meeting with the Headmaster. Sit still,” he told him as Noah started to move his head toward Dixon’s office door. He continued to wipe the blood away from Noah’s face and when he was finished, he ran and got him a new towel for him to press against his head to try and stop the bleeding.
“So, how did this happen?” Luke asked, settling down next to Noah on the couch. His voice was timid and careful, not wanting to anger Noah or scare him off to the point where he wouldn’t talk to him.
“Why do you care?” Noah spat, turning his head to look over at him, their eyes meeting for the first time since he came stumbling into the Infirmary. He seemed to be having a hard time keeping his head up, and he was taking slow, deep breaths.
“Hell, Noah! Why can’t you just answer the question instead of being a real asshole about everything? I’m just concerned about you, that’s all!” He sat back on the couch and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at Noah.
Noah continued to stare at him, not speaking, and Luke turned to look at the floor. Neither spoke for a few minutes, until Noah broke the silence.
“Kevin and I were training on the grounds outside. He is the only other Gunblade specialist in Garden, so we train together sometimes.” Noah paused and looked over to meet his gaze. Luke was looking at him again, and waiting patiently for him to continue. “Sometimes at our sessions, it gets pretty intense. Kevin will do almost anything to win. And when I was getting ahead of him, he cheap shot me and knocked me on the ground. Before I could get up again, I saw him swing his Gunblade down and it slashed me right in between my eyes.” He finished and leaned back further into the cushions of the couch, pressing the towel harder into his forehead. Luke’s mouth was open and his expression held nothing but worry.
“God, that’s horrible,” Luke said softly, his worry quickly turning to anger. “I can’t fucking believe Kevin did that! He could have killed you!”
“Don’t worry,” Noah chuckled. “I made sure I gave him one just like it.” He pointed to his forehead and smiled. The moment became tense, neither one of them breaking the eye contact or the silence, just sitting unmoving next to each other on the couch. Until Noah cleared his throat and shook his head, slowly rising to his feet.
“Where are you going?” Luke asked, standing up to meet Noah. “I don’t think you should be walking around right now, Noah. That cut could have given you a minor concussion, and you’ve lost a lot of blood.”
“I’ll be fine, Luke,” Noah huffed, making his way to the door with stilted movements, his steps unbalanced.
“Noah, seriously,” Luke caught up to Noah and wrapped an arm around his waist, steadying him on his feet. “Maybe you should lie down and wait for Dr. Dixon to come back and look you over.”
Noah turn around to protest, but suddenly he staggered and lifted his hands to hold his head. He was wincing like he was in pain, and Luke had to tighten his arm around his waist to keep him steady.
“Noah! Are you okay?” Luke asked frantically, trying to lead Noah back over to the couch. He was just about to help Noah lie down when Luke saw his eyes roll back into his head, and he promptly passed out. “Noah! Shit!”
Luke could barely support his weight, but he did his best to slowly get Noah to the ground, no way would he be able to pull Noah’s dead weight up onto the sofa. He tried to keep the towel Noah had in his hand pressed to his face, since the blood was still coming out of his wound. Luke grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and set it gently under Noah’s head, hoping to keep his head elevated as best as he could
Luke knew it was wrong, but he sat back on his heels and took the time to study Noah’s handsome features while he continued to wipe blood off his face. As much as he tried, he couldn’t bring himself to remove his eyes from Noah’s face. Luke gently caressed his cheek with his hand, and found that his skin was very cold. He then looked down at Noah’s chest and for the first time, noticed a silver chain hanging around his neck. He looked at the end of the chain and found a silver charm of what looked like a profile a lion’s head, with a single diamond where the eye would be. It looked like it was made of pure silver, and it was a very beautiful design. Luke couldn’t help but think that it was strange that Noah wore something like this.
Just then, the door opened and who Luke guessed must have been Dr. Dixon walked into the room. He was an elderly man, Luke estimated to be about the same age as Headmaster Bob, with gray hair and a stern face. He was tall, broad and still pretty firmly muscled in his old age.
“What the -” he gasped and ran towards where Luke was sitting by Noah on the ground. “What happened?”
Luke began to tell him what Noah said about his and Kevin’s training session, and then he told him how Noah had fainted.
“I see,” he said as he rubbed his chin and knelt down. He did a quick assessment of Noah’s condition, checking his pulse and his eyes before removing the towel from his face and checking his cut. “Well, we can’t keep him here. Come, help me move him to a room.” Dr. Dixon bent down and picked up Noah from under his arms, getting a hold of him by his armpits. Luke nodded and picked up Noah’s legs around his hips. It was a bit awkward, but once he got a good grip and they had a steady balance, they were able to move him into the first exam room where Luke had received the towels earlier. They gently laid him down on the bed, doing their best to scoot his body so that his head was resting on the pillows at the end of the bed. Dr. Dixon walked to the cabinet over the sink and took out a bottle of a clear liquid and some bandages. He then sat down next to the bed and removed the towel that was still compressing the blood. Thankfully the blood had finally stopped and he began to examine the cut.
“Great job cleaning it the best you could, Mr. Grimaldi,” he smiled as he looked over at Luke, who was standing at the end of the bed. “And thank you for helping him while I was away. I’m sorry to have made you wait. The Headmaster called me into an emergency meeting that I’m afraid I couldn’t miss.”
“Just Luke, thanks,” he smiled back. “And it was no problem. I’m actually glad I was here when I was, or who knows what would have happened to Noah.”
Dr. Dixon grabbed a cotton swab from a pocket on his lab coat, and poured a little of the clear liquid onto it. He then rubbed the substance over the cut and began to wrap a bandage around his head. He gently lifted Noah’s head so he could wrap it around the back, and then he took a piece of medical tape and taped it down.
“Will he be alright?”
“Oh, no doubt he will be fine.” Dr. Dixon stated. “The trauma from the cut and the blood loss probably just made him tired and a bit disoriented, and he just needed some rest. He should wake up in a few hours time. He will have a pretty nasty scar, though.” He rose from his seat and walked toward the door. “I need to fetch his file. I’ll be back in a moment.”
Luke watched him leave the room, and then he looked over at Noah. He was sleeping peacefully and Luke couldn’t help but notice how his face seemed fully relaxed while he was unconscious. He lacked the familiar hardness that was always apparent in his features, and he just looked younger. He looked normal.
The doctor returned minutes later with Noah’s file and began writing down things on his chart. After a while, he finally turned to Luke and said, “Well, Luke, we better leave him to sleep. How about we get that physical now?” Luke nodded and took one last look at Noah before he followed Dr. Dixon out of the room.
+++++
After the physical, Luke was seated in Dr. Dixon’s office and waited for the doctor to return with his results. After about five minutes, he returned and sat down at his desk.
“Well, Luke, you’ll be glad to know that you are in exceptional health,” the doctor smiled at Luke and started writing things down on his chart.
“Thank you,” Luke said, smiling politely. The doctor continued to write for a few moments, keeping his eyes down on the paper, and then asked him, “So, are you friends with Noah?”
“What?” Luke said, surprised at the question. “No…not really. He’s uh, just my suitemate in the dorms. I hardly know him at all.”
“I see,” the doctor said as he looked back down to his file. “Noah has been here for quite some time. I’ve rarely seen him with anyone at all. He’s quite the lone wolf.”
“I’ve noticed,” Luke scoffed. Dr. Dixon looked up and began to laugh.
“Very few have. No one really pays any attention to him. In fact, as sad as it is, he’s been here for so long and Kevin is really the only one who acknowledges it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the two of them are something of rivals. They are always fighting. Can’t tell you how many times they’ve dragged themselves in here after a fight and I had to mend their bumps and bruises. I bet my life on it that one of them will be the death of the other one day.” Dixon laughed, shaking his head at Luke’s horrified face. “I’m only joking, son. That is what their relationship seems to be, however.”
“Right,” Luke said as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He didn’t really like how foreboding the doctor’s words were. “Um, is it okay if I leave now? I would like to relax some before my exam at 11.”
Dr. Dixon looked at his watch and said, “Well, no need to worry about that…the exam has already begun, I’m afraid.”
“What?!” Luke shouted, jumping from his seat. Luke swung his head around and looked at the clock on the wall. When did it get to be after noon already? He didn’t realize how fast that the time had gone since he had stepped into the Infirmary this morning.
“Don’t worry, Luke. I’ve already informed Instructor Tenney of the morning’s events, and you and Noah will be able to take your exam at a later time. Someone will probably call you later today for the details.” Luke slowly nodded at Dr. Dixon’s words, and walked toward the door. Before he left, however, he called him back.
“Excuse me, Luke? I was wondering if you might do me a favor? Noah most likely left his Gunblade outside after their fight since he didn’t bring it in with him. Could you go out and bring it back here? I don’t think Noah would care very much for his Gunblade to start rusting in all this snow…”
Luke nodded, replying with a quick “sure” and left the office.
+++++
Dr. Dixon watched Luke leave his office, and waited until he heard the main door to the Infirmary shut out in the other room. He sighed and picked up his phone, dialing the Headmaster’s number with sure fingers.
“Headmaster…yes, he just left…well, I have the results of his blood work right here and you were right…the readings were much higher than normal, just like you said. I’ve never seen this before….Yes, of course I won’t tell anyone. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Dr. Dixon slammed the phone down, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. He rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes, taking small comfort in the slight burn. He didn’t like this, not at all. This was a lot bigger than his job description, something way bigger than this Garden had ever asked of him, and he wished that this all would be over and he could forget that Luciano Grimaldi ever even stepped foot into his office.
Finally grabbing Luke’s file, he stood from his desk and left the room, checking on Noah briefly before making his way back to the headmaster’s office as fast as he could.
+++++
Luke trudged through the thin layer of snow and searched the ground carefully. The sun was no longer shining brightly in the sky. Instead, snow was now falling very thickly in its place, making his task of trying to find Noah’s Gunblade quite difficult. He had already been out there looking for a good half an hour, and it was getting colder and colder as more snow covered the ground. He wrapped his coat tighter around him and continued searching the ground around the Garden.
He really wished the Noah and Kevin would have just trained in the Training Center like everyone else.
Suddenly, he saw something silver sticking slightly out of the snow a few feet ahead of him. Luke ran over to it and bent down, wiping the snow away with his hands. Once it was free of snow, he wrapped his fingers around the handle and started to lift the weapon off the ground. Luke was surprised to find that the Gunblade was really fucking heavy, and he wondered how Noah could stand to battle for hours swinging this thing around.
He carefully gazed at the blade, turning it over in his hands and admiring the patterns that were etched into the metal. The design was the same one that was on the black box that Luke had seen in Noah’s room on the day they first met. Dangling at the end of the handle, there was a small, silver chain with the same lion’s head charm that was on his necklace. Only this time, the eye was a ruby instead of a diamond.
“He must really like lions,” Luke said out loud to himself, tracing the edges of the small charm with his fingers. He then tucked the blade under his arm and began to walk back toward Garden, shutting his eyes against the strong winds. Luke walked half the way back in the silence of the falling snow, until he was suddenly stopped by a mysterious voice.
”You must be Luciano Grimaldi…I’ve been looking forward to meeting you”.
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