The Ones Who Qualified

"I-Impossible," Devin muttered.

"But let's all calm down," Kagura quickly took over and diverted the tension. "We're still not sure about everything that's going on."

"But Devin," Rodney called out. Devin looked at him with teary eyes. "Do you really not know where you came–"

"There you are," Andrei said. The bushes rustled and the twins came out of from the dark trees.

"We were looking everywhere for you," Andrew said and sighed. When he saw Devin, his eyebrow quirked. "What happened to you, Little Curls?"

Devin shook his head and wiped his tears away, "It's nothing."

"Okay, which one of you made our Little Curls cry?" Andrei jokingly snarled. When no one answered, he cleared his throat. "U-Um, let's go back. Franco is looking for us."

No one said anything as they walked back to their camp. It was still midnight but Franco said Liu ordered for them to go back.

"It's still Saturday though," Rodney mumbled. "Thought we could still spend some time together."

"Let's just follow Liu," Kagura sighed.

That was the only exchanging of words that have happened all throughout the travel. Liu ordered them to go to his office first.

"We're here Master Liu," Franco announced. They all went inside the office and Liu turned his chair and smiled.

"I'm sorry to cut your vacation short but I have an announcement," he started. "But, sit down first."

Liu's office was similar to Franco's but bigger. Two long sofas sat in front of each other while a single-throne like was at the end.

"What's wrong, Master Liu?" Franco asked.

Liu sighed and looked defeated. He had been looking like this since the attack. It was bothering him that he couldn't do anything while a large portion of his students was slaughtered.

The parents were furious at first. But they later understood. They all came from Exorcist families, therefore an attack wasn't as unexpected.

"Tina Godfrey thought it'd be wise to continue the Summit," Liu announced that made everyone's head snap at him.

"W-What?" Franco almost stood in shock. "Master, that's not possible. The students were still in shock. Please, don't let Ms. Tina make that harsh decision."

"Tina is the Head of the Union and the Headmistress of the Institution. Anything she says is the law," Liu said. "Sit down Franco. Let's be civil."

Franco scoffed. "Tina is making a big mistake, Liu. I saw a student scream in pain right before my eyes."

Devin held Morris's hand and smiled. The latter just nodded.

"If you go against Tina, go ahead," Liu threatened. "I will not support you there. Want to defy her? Go. That's what you're good at, right?"

Franco sank in his seat in defeat. What Tina says is the law, just like Liu said. The Alastairs were doing their experiments underground, unknown to Tina.

"Okay," Franco surrendered. "But why did you call us?"

"Team Leah..." Liu trailed off and looked at the students, "They won the qualifying exam."

The students' eyes widened. They looked at each other before cheering.

"Yes," Liu said. "You will travel to England the first thing tomorrow morning. England is cold. You need to get used to the weather first."

"If Team Leah won, what will happen to Mr. Von Schweitzer and Ms. Chan?" Franco asked.

"The teams for this year requires 9 members each. Squad Lewis will be fitting for that now that Mr. Von Schweitzer and Ms. Chan had joined them."

"You planned this all along, right?" Franco sighed.

"I did," Liu smiled looked at Stephanie. "As their guide, I want you to train them there as vigorous as possible. Oceania's squad is merciless, I've heard."

"Yes, Master Liu." Stephanie bowed.

"Now that that's settled, go to your rooms and rest. The boat will be here at dawn, so you have to be prepared."

After their meeting with Liu, the students were ecstatic about going to England. Among them, only Morris and Yuri had been to Europe.

"I think we shouldn't sleep," Kagura said. They were in Devin's living room while Devin and the twins prepared their coffee and snacks. "It's already 2 AM and if the boat will be here by 5, we only have 3 hours of sleep."

"Lack of sleep is worse than not sleeping at all," Rodney mumbled. "Your head will hurt like hell."

"True," Andrew said as they walked inside the living room and bringing the snacks with them. "You can sleep on the plane."

"Are you going to be there?" Devin asked. "To watch, at least."

Andrei ruffled the smaller boy's hair. "Why would we miss our Little Curl's competition."

"Have you forgot that competition amongst the Union isn't complete without the Bearers?" Kagura asked. "This coffee is delicious, who made this?"

Andrew raised his hands and chuckled. "You know that we're always around, right Little Curls?"

Devin smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

"Wait," Rodney paused. "We still have to pack!"

"It's 3 AM, so we have one hour," Sofia said.

Everyone looked at each other for a few seconds before Kagura broke the silence, "Run."

They raced the halls and the buildings for their rooms. Devin too hurried packing. The Summit wasn't until 2 weeks but as Liu said, England's weather is different from the Pacific. They had to get used to being there first.

"Uniform? Check," Devin started listing. "Pajamas, check. Clothes, check. Jackets, check. Uhm, what more do I need?"

"Underwear?" Andrei asked, leaning on Devin's doorframe. "You're not going around without an undergarment, right?"

"What? No," Devin blushed and grabbed his underwear, and placed it on his trunk. They will stay there for three weeks, twoo weeks for preparation, half a week for the Summit, and the remaining days of the week to stroll around the city.

"We'll follow you there in two weeks," Andrei informed as he helped Devin on the boat.

It was 5 AM and the boat that will take them to the city came. They will travel for 2 more hours on land to the airport and a day to Europe. The thought of traveling wasn't pretty for most of them but Devin was still looking forward to it.

"Thank you," Devin said and bowed to the twins. "For everything. Thank you very much."

"Just know that we will always be here for you," Andrew said. He hugged Devin and the smaller boy responded to the hug back. "We're your family after all."

Andrei laughed, "That was full of mozzarella but let me join in!"

Their boat traveled for 3 hours before they got to the land. Yuri had seasickness so Adonis was babysitting him throughout the ride while the others talked about just about anything.

"When I was a kid, I had always admired my grandfather," Kagura said. Their topic somehow got more serious. "His skill was unfathomable. It was great. I always strived to be the best and make him proud."

"You are making him proud, Kagura," Sofia softly said. "You're the coolest girl I know. You're brave, you're strong, your Sanctity is even cool."

"I'm just putting on a mask," Kagura sighed. "I act like I'm brave to hide my fears, acted like I'm strong to hide my weakness, and, yeah my Sanctity is cool."

Sofia chuckled but the smile on her face fell, "I'm the one who's wearing a mask here. I'm not really a good person. I act like one to complement my Sanctity but I don't really care about people that much."

"But that was before I met you," the smile on her face returned. "We're all so different, like different parts of different puzzle pieces yet we fit like magic. I just realized how evil I was before to think of everyone as mere tools to impress my family. To impress my father."

"The past does not matter," Morris's interjected. Everyone looked at him with a knowing look so he looked away. "I mean, if you don't feel like what you felt before now, then you're a good person. The Sofia before isn't the Sofia now."

Sofia smiled and nodded, "Thank you."

Their talk continued until their boat arrived at the city of Adelaide. From here, a van took them to another city where the airport was.

"Are you ready?" Devin asked as they walked towards the private plane.

"Yes!" everyone responded and took their swords out.

"Squad Lewis?"

"Squad Lewis!"