The following day, Graduation was announced as having been moved forward, due to 'special cercumstances'.
Naturally, finding out that one is going to die sooner than expected brought quite a few boys into a panic.
All except for Adar, that is, who could've cared less.
"We've only been IN school a couple of months!" Jeremiah complained at the lunch table. "We're not ready."
"Thank you for the understatement of the year." Adar replied, smirking.
Honestly, what were they all panicking for? Asta and Nico looked as though they had both been diagnosed with the Etherian plague. Jin was barely eating, and Blue wouldn't look anyone in the eye.
The only thing that worried Adar was that his family might come to visit him before he was irrevocably torn to bits by hideous Monsters, and he really didn't want to deal with them.
He'd rather deal with the Monsters.
Besides, they'd only moved the ceremony to the beginning of spring rather than the end. That still gave them the rest of winter to prepare.
Yet such a sentiment was not appreciated by the rest of the group.
Thus, they finished lunch in silence, each one of them heading to their own classes without so much as a word of goodbye to one another.
Yet, for some reason, Adar decided to join Asta and Nico in their art class, deciding that Mrs.Hodge was nice enough not to make him leave.
Granted, the walk to the art building was miserable with the snow blowing in their faces, feeling at times like tiny bits of glass that cut their skin with invisible blades.
The snow was coming down harder now, and it made Adar wish for the dry deserts and hot sand of his homeland. For, in truth, he had never seen snow until now and he honestly thought he would be happy never encountering it again. Asta, on the other hand, seemed more alive in the snow.
That is, until Adar pushed him face first in it.
Laughing, the prince scampered away as Asta sprang up and chased after him, Nico at his heels. And it was in this way that the three of them raced to the art building and practically trampled on another to get inside-- each of them breathless and rosy cheeked.
"I'll get you back." Asta said, grinning as they hung their coats on the rack.
Yet Adar only smiled in reply and went to join Nico as she sat at a blank canvas, Asta following their lead a moment after, bringing over his ink and a brush.
"Give me your arm." he commanded Adar, dipping his brush in the ink and waiting expectantly.
Frowning suspiciously, the prince rested his arm on the table and jumped slightly when the ink touched his skin; it was wet, cold, and not altogether unpleasant, if slightly on the sticky side.
Keeping as still as possible, he watched as Asta carefully painted a picture on his skin, the details slowly appearing one by one as the boy worked.
The picture itself was a magnificent one, to be sure.
A mix of simple lines and complex ones, it was a collage of roses with a sword set in the middle, the whole picture fitting neatly on Adar's forearm in a swirl of black and empty space-- all of it entertwining to form a masterpiece.
Adar doubted he had ever had something of such beauty on his skin-- for while tattoos or swirls of golden paint on the skin were common in his culture, they tended not to be so detailed. So... alive.
Yet while the picture was magnificent, it took the entire class period to complete and when the chimes rang, Adar leaned forward to inspect the work.
"Well, it's not horrible, I'll give you that."
Nico lightly punched him in the arm, "It looks wonderful, Asta."
The prince smiled as he saw Asta go completely red in the face at the girl's words.
Blimey, it was obvious that the boy liked her, yet Adar wondered if he was too shy to tell her so. Why, if it had been Adar, he would have kissed Nico by now, and he highly doubted Asta had done even that yet.
Perhaps, then, all he needed was a shove in the proper direction, so to speak... Well, that or an actual shove.
Thus, as they stepped outside, Adar said, "Nico, why don't you go on ahead, I, ah, want a word with Asta alone."
Shrugging, Nico nodded and ran off towards her next class, yelling teasingly over her shoulder, "All right then, see you two love birds in Monster Slaying!"
Adar snorted, then turned to Asta who was watching Nico go with an expression as if it were the last time he would see her.
By the gods, perhaps he WAS a hopeless case.
"Asta..." the prince said helplessly then, resisting the urge to shake the boy out of his stupor.
"If this is about your scarf, I promise I'll return it."
"You like Nico, don't you?"
He thought the blond boy would nearly fall backwards into the snow there and then. In any case, Asta's faced flushed a bright red and his voice traveled up by nearly three octaves as he spluttered out. "What? No— I mean, yes, sort of— maybe?"
"It's quite obvious, really. You act like an absolute twit around her, making moony eyes and so on. It makes me sick."
Asta frowned, "Not the sentimental type, are we?"
"Hardly. But as someone who has had experience with, shall we say, romance, I will tell you here and now that you'll never get her by just standing about, staring at her."
To Adar's relief, this seemed to get through to Asta. But then he said, "I thought YOU liked her. You know, all the flirting and buying her the dress and calling her a 'beautiful creature'. "
"Asta, I flirt with all girls. It's simply the way I am." he said, grinning charmingly.
They then continued to walk toward the mansion and all the while Adar gave Asta some advice, feeling that perhaps it would be best to tell the boy what he ought to do. For, to be quite frank, he was surprised at how little the boy knew.
It was almost pathetic, really.
Once they reached the library, however, Adar was quite satisfied with himself in knowing that now, perhaps, Asta could stop beating around the bush and actually kiss Nico.
It was painful to watch at this point.
And as he watched the other boy make his way to the library, Adar wondered again why everyone couldn't just be as sensible as himself.
.......................................
"Boys! Boys, please settle down! Thomas, do NOT throw the spellbooks!"
Asta, Jeremiah, and Nico watched in helpless sorrow as Mr.Potter tried in vain to quiet the boys down, his mannerisms growing more flustered by the moment.
Unfortunately, Miss Ruse was nowhere to be seen and Asta thought that she was most likely fine with dumping all her students on Mr.Potter and bugger the consequences.
It was most depressing.
Eventually, however, Nico stood up and yelled the lady-like words of, "EVERYONE SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" and punched Thomas in the nose when he told her to clear off.
Needless to say, everyone was quiet after that and the rest of the class was spent on listening to some old legend about an old man in silver robes who delivered gifts to children on Yuletide eve.
Charming.
In truth, Asta wasn't really paying attention. What he WAS doing,however, was noting how close Nico sat to him. Did that mean she liked him as well? Or was she just sitting close because she thought of him as a friend? Or worse; a brother.
It was these thoughts that would keep him up at night, he was certain of it.
Yet by the end of class, Asta had decided that perhaps-- if he truly thought about Nico that much-- perhaps he ought to take Adar's advice a little closer to heart. A terrifying idea, to be sure, but by the time Nico approached him as he made his way out of the library, he wondered if perhaps this would be for the best.
Thus, as the girl approached him, he stood up a little straighter, remembering about how Adar had said that girls tended to pay more attention to a boy when they winked at them.
Stupid, perhaps, but it was worth a try.
"Blue and I were going to study in the library tonight." Nico said then as she came to stand before him, "We were simply wondering if you wanted to join... Asta?"
"Yes?"
"Have you got something in your eye?"
"What? No."
"It's twitching quite strangely."
If the gods had been merciful then, the ground beneath Asta's feet would have opened up and swallowed him whole, leaving him to suffer in eternal torment in the pits of the Underworld like he would have preffered. As opposed to THIS situation, of course.
Naturally, however, fate was cruel and Asta stayed exactly where he was.
He DID stop winking, nevertheless, vowing to possibly kick Adar in the knees later on for that advice and simply nodded in reply, not trusting his voice to speak.
Smiling-- even if with a look of concern behind her eyes-- Nico said slowly, "Right then... I'll look forward to tonight."
And it was then that Asta realized... he would too.
Very much indeed.
.....................................
Mr.Potter was sorting books in the library when he suddenly felt hands grab his waist and spin him around until he looked right into the sparkling eyes of Miss Ruse. He barely had time to say a polite hello before she kissed him full on the lips.
When she pulled back, Mr.Potter was rather in a daze and was sure his face was horribly red. He hurriedly adjusted his spectacles while Miss Ruse brushed her hair behind her ear and giggled like a little girl.
"How was class?" she asked, batting her eyelashes.
Mr.Potter barely managed to stutter out a reply— a fact that made him terribly embarrassed. "Ah, yes, well, it was good— that is to say, I wish YOU had been here."
Miss Ruse smiled coyly and kissed him again, then whispered to him when they were quite still close together, "I need a favor."
Mr. Potter gladly would've shouted 'Anything!' at that moment, but he was not that sort of a man. He was logical, intelligent, and never gave in to his desires.
"Anything." he whispered back.
Then again...
But it seemed like a logical discision as Miss Ruse ran her fingers through his hair. "I want you to convince Asta Featherstone to join our Final Guild."
Mr.Potter sprang back, nearly hitting his head on the book shelf. "I thought I said I wasn't going to have anything to do with your Guild. Now you want me to bring one of my charges into it? One of the boys I swore to protect? "
Miss Ruse stepped forward again, placing both hands on Mr.Potter's chest and fluttering her eyelashes once more. "If you do this, I might be able to arrange a romantic dinner for the both of us."
Anger sprang upon Mr.Potter, along with a sudden realization. "You've been using me to get to Asta. Preying upon my affections for you only to get what you want."
Miss Ruse went pale her mouth gaping open and closed wordlessly, yet she didn't deny it.
Feeling as though he were going to be sick, Mr. Potter roughly pushed his way past her, ignoring her cries for him to stop, that she could explain.
For the past several months, everyone at Adalain Academy had been treating him horribly. Well, except for the Iron Guild, that is— Nico and Jeremiah would sometimes bring him crumpets-- but that was beside the point! Mr.Potter was tired of being treated like rubbish and he was going to do something about it!
Right after a hot bath and a cup of tea.
............................................