Some Disappointing News

Lynne:

I don't know when or how this started but the poor guard started to cry.

"And then I found out she started dating my twin brother!" The guard who I now knew was named Gilbert sobbed. "Why do all of my girlfriends have to cheat on me!? All 5!"

"There, there," I muttered awkwardly, patting his shoulder. 

That's when I heard the door creak open again, Clay emerging from the hallway with a new sword on his back. He must have been able to pull it off. When he heard the guard sobbing, he gave me a mortified expression.

I quickly shrugged, and Clay scurried away from sight. "Alright big guy. You deserve a lot better! You've gotta have more confidence!" I exclaimed. "Stand up!"

He basically tripped over himself trying to get up as fast as he could. "Good! Now stand at attention!" I commanded. Like a well-trained soldier, he clicked his heels together, the tears no longer streaming down his cheeks.

"Very nice…" I muttered, giving him a pondering look. I reached up to his short-cut hair. It was practically a buzz-cut, but it was flat on his head. I ran my fingers through his hair to stand it up… I think it was an improvement…? "Much better! Now puff your chest out more!" Gilbert sucked in some air, his chest expanding out from the armour. "That's it! Walk around the castle like that and the girls will be all over you!"

Gilbert beamed. "Wow! Thank you, sir!"

I gave him a little awkward fist bump against his breastplate. "You… stay strong now!"

I swear if his expression got any brighter I would be blinded. "Sir! Yes, sir!"

I wondered what he'd think of my advice on how to get girls if he knew I was gay.

"Good luck, Gilbert!" I waved, running down the hallway after Clay.

I finally caught up to him, he was standing with his arms crossed giving me a confused expression. "I thought you were just gonna distract him… What did you say to make him cry?"

"Dude! I said nothing!" I exclaimed. "He just started talking about his ex-girlfriend!"

Clay snorted. My heart fluttered at that little amused smile. "Poor Gilbert." He said sarcastically.

I chuckled, feeling a bit of guilt creep up in my chest so I decided to change the subject. "So, how did it go?"

Clay smirked, almost a bit evilly. "Heh, I got one."

I smiled wide. "I knew you could do it!" This meant that there was no reason for commoners to not be allowed in the school! It was all stupid classist bullshit, something Clay would be the first to overcome!

"Of course I could!" He announced confidently. "But what exactly is this sword?"

"I don't know much," I admitted, trying to piece together what our teacher told us. "All I know is that these swords were given to everybody in the class. The teacher said something about these weapons being the true purpose for this academy, that we need to grow with them before they can teach us how they work."

"Aren't you the prince? Is that really all they told you?" Clay asked.

"Well… basically. The rest you already know. How, for some reason, commoners aren't supposed to have one." I mentioned, my eyes cast downwards. I felt like it was hard to look him in the eyes when I said stuff like that.

Clay paused for a while as if he was trying to figure something out. Eventually, he looked at me. "Seems like the swords were shocked that I was able to manifest one of them or something…"

"Sword...s? With an s?" I asked, thinking of my time there. Only my sword spoke to me. I didn't even know the other swords could speak.

"Well yeah. They all spoke. Then one turned into this shadow guy." Clay described as we began to walk back to our dorm.

"What? The sword turned into a person!?" I exclaimed.

"Yeah…?" He looked at me confused.

"When I went in there a sword just floated down to me from the wall. Your experience sounds way different." I explained, trying to think of why that was the case. I had a bad feeling in my chest. If Clay was the only one who experienced seeing some evil-looking shadow figure… No. No, he came out of it fine.

"It's probably 'cause I'm more powerful than those other stupid nobles." Clay said smugly, a smirk on his face. Whenever he said things like that it seemed so unnatural. Like he was forcing himself to talk like that. His voice seemed tense like he was holding his breath as he spoke.

I chuckled anyway. "You're probably right." Nothing could go wrong… it was just a sword. He synergized with one, a sword chose him so everything was going to be fine.

Right…?

The conversation drifted for the rest of our walk back to the dorm. When we arrived, those same maids as last time were standing by the stairwell as if they had been waiting for us to come back this whole time. It was kinda creepy.

"Welcome back!" They greeted us in unison. Clay and I exchanged creeped-out looks.

"Um. Hi." I responded.

"Master Clay's room is ready for today!" One girl in the middle announced with a smile. Her tone was pleasant but monotone.

"Oh! That's great news!" I forced out a smile, unable to help disappointment from swelling in my chest. I hoped it would take longer than just one day to get Clay his own room.

Clay's face at the news was unreadable. I couldn't tell if he was disappointed, happy or relieved. I wanted to think that he was disappointed, maybe not as much as I am, but at least a little bit. Though if he was, he was damn good at not showing it.

The maids took Clay away to his room without so much as a goodbye. I pressed my lips together as I watched him leave, reminding myself I'd be able to see him again in the morning.