The Oddball Group Called Mir

It was yesterday when the incident happened. But luckily for Adeleine, she didn't obtain anything worse than bruises and cuts so she was discharged faster from the infirmary.

Thank celestials she wouldn't have to see those same stupid infuriating faces anymore. Who knew what could have happened if she was left there for longer? She could have strangled them in their sleep.

"It was a surprise how they put you all in the same room, considering the recent event."

"Man, talk about trauma," Hayden commented.

And for some reason, all the Mir rankers, save for Clandes, were in her room. Even Hera's here.

"Yeah but, can everyone tell me why you're in my room?" Adeleine eyed each of them, some were smiling while one looked away.

"Awww, what are you talking about? Of course, we're here to check on you, silly!" Ria messed with her hair.

"Stop." Adeleine swatted the senior's hand away. "My hair is already worse than it is, stop ruining it even more. You're not any better than those people who cut it."

"OooOOoh," Hayden looked at Ria with a smug smirk, snickering.

"Besides, I know some of you are just here to keep an eye on me."

She hugged her knees as she sat beside her bed, sending a hooded gaze over to Amalia and Hera. She doesn't know about Amalia, but Hera has no apparent reason to be here, if she does, then it's not friendly.

"Jumps to fast to conclusions. If I didn't know any better, you're making it sound like we're the antagonist here."

Adeleine also noticed the shifts in Hera's accent. Sometimes it subtle, but you can definitely here an undertone of it. It was like lax speech, no curves; 'I's turns to 'ah's and 'ng's to only 'n's.

It was like a country bumpkin trying to mix in with the city kids. As for the girl's reason, Adeleine wouldn't spare the effort to care.

"Was I wrong though?"

She then turned at Bridget, who was quiet ever since she got here. The short girl jerked as their eyes meet and quickly averted her gaze, fiddling nervously with her thumbs.

For whatever reason, Adeleine felt like Bridget knows something. Surely, she does.

"Well," Hera taunted, "could be."

"Enough. I'm stopping you two right here, right now. There's no reason to be uncivil." Amalia stepped in between them. "Acts of violence in academy grounds are extensively punishable."

"You heard our commander. No violence," the blonde smirked.

"You're the one who's always starting something."

"Oh, then what about yesterday? When you had five students unconscious?"

"Get off my back, Hera. You always try to accuse me of something I didn't do. I don't know what happened to them"

"Didn't know? Or pretend you don't know."

"First of all, they attacked me."

"Then explain why they in coma."

Hera was on point. She can't wiggle her way out of this one. All she could say was she doesn't know. And the dream she had wasn't any of help either; it only proves that she could've done it, that it wasn't a dream after all.

"Why did suddenly become quiet? You know somethin, don't 'ya?"

Hera had a triumphant grin that Adeleine could only glare.

"If you're so persistent, why don't you give me evidence so support my guilt."

She huffed like it was a matter-of-fact. "I'm just saying. You said you don't remember anything, but one of them said that you attacked them. Who could have been there other than you?"

Her grip tightened on her arms. That would only prove that her dream was real...

"That's enough," Amalia interjected, "Hera, you've spoken more than you should have.

Hera faced her with a slight hung of her head, but her words were firm with respect. "I'm sorry, commander."

Amalia then turned to Adeleine. "Like I said, none of our intentions were to cause you harm."

"Yeah!" Ria agreed as she pounced on Adeleine, squeezing her in a tight hug. "And you've been a looot snappier than usual too!"

"Ehhh, I thought she' always like that." Hayden scratched behind his ear. "She prob realized you're super annoying."

"What?! You're the one annoying here!"

"How can this beauty be so annoying?" Hayden brushed back his hair and paused for a charming smile, to which everyone blanched.

"Your beauty is like adding sprinkles to my confections."

He said, striking a pose, "Cause I'm sweet, right? I didn't know you were taken by my looks, Amalia. That was out of character for you."

"Yeah, sickeningly sweet that it makes me retch. And I told you to call address me with respect—Lady Amalia." She smacked him on the back of his head while he groaned, rubbing it.

"That was uncalled for! Astrea, that even hurts even more than the last time..." he hissed. He then crossed his arms and raised his chin proudly. "Well at least I'm not as ugly as someone."

Ria pouted. "You're calling me ugly, huh?!"

"Hah! Good thing you know! But I wasn't talking about you this time. I was talking about her."

They all turned to Adeleine, who was quiet in the corner, but instead of silently glaring at them as they expected, she was more of in a daze, blinking slowly.

"See? I told you it was awful."

"Man! Look at you!" Ria, without warning, grabbed the girl's face and squished her cheeks. "You look like a cake massacred by a fork that holed you mercilessly so many times!"

"Just leave me alone..."

"You didn't...need to go into detail." Amalia sighed.

"The only time she said something so disgustingly creative that long," Hayden shrugged with an amused snort. "But you," he referred to Adeleine, "you need some beauty sleep. You keep getting harder to look at."

"I don't- I don't think that's how, umm, you say it," For a while now, Bridget hasn't said a word. "Adeleine hasn't been getting proper rests lately so I don't think we should, uhhh, bother her. She would be very...annoyed," she squeezed her eyes shut and incoherently squeaked the last part.

"Uuuh, are you okay?" Ria raised her eyebrow.

Bridget's eyes became watery and was trying her best to not let it fall. She sniffled a couple of times, keeping herself from bawling her dams out. "I'm— I'm fine!" she said as she hastily wiped it away with her sleeves. But not after a few seconds, tears began to fall and she ended up running out of the room in embarrassment, crying.

Everyone stood there, confused and not knowing how to react, except for Hera. They are well-aware of Bridget's soft nature but they never saw her act out like that.

"Wai- wait! Bridge!" Hera reached out at the distraught girl who ran away. Muttering swears under her breath, she immediately followed after her, leaving everyone staring at the ajar door.

"What...just happened? Did we do something wrong?" Hayden looked at each of them with a confused face.

As he was about to turn and follow after them, Amalia said, "Leave them be."

He stopped in his tracks. "Huh? Why? Hera went after her. What if they—" She looked at him dead in the eyes.

"It'll be a while before they return."

Amalia pretended to look at the bookshelf as the boy gave her a questioning glance before looking back at where the two disappeared. Should he trust them?

He heard among his peers that Hera's main issue is controlling her anger. This could end up worse than it is.

"I dislike repeating myself..." Amalia's voice cut him out of his inner monologue. "Sit down. Those two will be fine."

"But Hera?"

"Those two has a lot more history than you know."

~~

"Wait, Bridget!" The timid girl wasn't as fast so Hera was able to catch up to her quickly.

Bridget stopped and turned around. She was a crying-huffing mess. Tear stains on her cheeks, snot running down her nose, her wave blond hair ruffled from running; it was like she recently went through a heartbreak. But it's not the first time for Hera.

"He- hick— Hera..."

"Bridge, why'd you suddenly ran off? Even your bangs had gotten messed up. I thought you hate people seeing 'it'." She brushed back a fringe of the shorter girl's hair and wiped her tears.

"I'm sorry."

"Again. You said it again. I told you, you ain't have a thing to be sorry about."

"I'm-" Bridget sniffled, "sorry..."

Hera deadpan looked at her. Upon realizing her mistake, Bridget jerked and was about to bow profusely but the other stopped her.

"You're gonna do it again and we'll be stuck doing it in circles." She held her arms. "Stop."

"I'm sorry..."

Hera facepalmed. "Ugh, anyways, tell me why 'ya ran away. What's wrong?"

Bridget hung her head and stood silent, chewing it over. She doesn't want to bother anyone about it but...

She planted her face on her chest and went in for a hug.

"Bridge?"

If she told Hera about it, the latter will surely pick a fight on Adeleine again. She doesn't want that to happen. Adeleine already had a lot on her plate, she doesn't want to add more trouble.

"It has something to do with that letherian, ain't it?"

Hera felt the girl tense up. So she was right. Hera tightened her hold on her.

"What did she do?" she asked, darkly.

"Uh, no, no, it's not like that. I-" Bridget nervously laughed. "I-I'm just overreacting, that's all. You really don't need to-"

"Tell me."

It wasn't a beg, it wasn't a request; it was a demand. Hera's face said it all. It was the same face she made when the students made fun of her lowly accent, or the time when a person talked bad about how Bridget can be a pushover despite being a Mir. It didn't end well for those people, but she doesn't want it to happen to her friend.

"It... it was just a..." she paused, carefully trying to select her words, "misunderstanding. She didn't mean it; she probably didn't know. She told me I was annoying, and I was annoying her that time... I saw how tired she really was. And it only got worse. I wonder..." Bridget squeezed her eyes shut as her eyes started to swell. "It's my fault..."

~~

"They're from Dark Lock Island?"

Amalia gave them affirmation.

"Eh?! What? Really? Seriously?!"

"Sweet astrea waffles! Dun dun dun! The secret fruity filling! It's spilling!"

"What's Dark Lock Island?"

"You don't know?" Hayden asked in disbelief and disappointment. "It's the island that was run by dealers who do Adhelian trafficking! It used to be an island under Adhelis but as time passes, it drifted away and all of the natives in that island was subjected under Letherian rules. Gruesome stories: captured, enslaved, and no regards for life. Those are what people experienced in that island and there's nothing in Astrea's name could be done. Those who were sent there for a mission, we never heard from them. All who entered, never came back."

Adeleine, who found Hayden's exaggeration of the story, rolled her eyes and brushed his heavy solemn tone of building tension. "Can't they just reclaim the island again? That can't be too difficult."

"Oh you poor sweet summer child..."

Hayden slammed a large scroll down in the table. It was the map of Arvistia. "You see here? That's Dark Lock Island." Hayden pointed at the island near the coast of Adhelis, which is a large yellow landmass, but the farthest among all the islands. He dragged his finger across the whole ocean between Letheria and Adhelis—the biggest ocean to exist. "Five hundred years later and it drifted away up to here." He stopped near the the middle of the ocean, but it was a lot closer to the coast of Letheria, which was marked as a blue landmass. "It travelled across the ocean. It was the only island who moves. It'll be hard to reclaim the island since first, the travel distance between the two continents, no doubt, Letheria is nearer. Second, once you cross the border in the ocean, the air would be filled with dark energy. The closer you get to Letheria, the potent it gets so it'll be hard for Heloires to use their affinities. We would be at a disadvantage if we engage in battle."

"Oh! Oh! And—" Ria raised her hand enthusiastically as if she was reciting, but she got shoved aside by Hayden.

"It was only until later," Hayden continued with a grim voice, emerald eyes slowly shifting between them, "that we received news from one of the previously dispatched men. She asked for a rescue mission. In her message, she briefly included how she was the only one remaining from the undercovers and how horrible life led by our people in that island. If they knew she was there, her fate would be tied down unto the depths of the raging ocean, never to see the light of the sun ever again. Her writing was done with haste and almost incomprehensible. But not as bad as yours though."

Hayden had a smirk to which Adeleine glowered.

Ria pouted, "Hey! I was just about to say that story!"

He crossed his arms. "I wouldn't wanna leave that to someone who uses cupcakes to remember historical names."

"At least I still got it right." She childishly stuck out her tongue.

"Cease this immature banter. You are now in your adolescence yet you still haven't shed your old persnickety skin. Act like your status and rank."

"But Amalia, you were the persnickety kid back then..." Ria pointed out.

The tall senior was taken-aback, tongue-tied and furious. Her face was red as her fox's fur. "I- ugh! ...Well-! Cease this insolent behavior at once or you wouldn't ever lay a finger on that triple-layered chocolate cake again."

"You wouldn't!"

The two seniors bickered back and forth like children in the background while Hayden continued, "Also, the authorities sent an elite team including the Azura and Blaisque heirs to reclaim the island only recently. But sadly, the mission was far too impossible yet, so they just did everything they can in their power to salvage the people instead and escaped before Letheria sent more soldiers."

"Did you just say Azura... heir?"

The two paused. Amalia's tone sent shivers down his spine. Her expression was dark, telling him to not speak a single word more.

"Heir? That pathetic bastard?" Her body tensed and her fist coiled. Hayden took a couple steps back, holding his hands up in fear. "...I was the one sent under the name of Azura, a direct order from the duke," she spoke slowly. Everyone was silent, even Adeleine who's trying to figure out what's the deal with it.

"I guess... that would make more sense," Hayden chuckled nervously as he scratched behind his ear. "Your brother is sickly after all..."

"Which adds more to his incompetent state."

They all looked at her. Her ambers raging with icy hatred, hooded by the shadow of her hair. It wasn't an unfamiliar sight, but her expression was different.

"Enough with the idle chatter. I will take my leave. There are duties I must attend to."

She whirled around and headed straight to the door with long strides while the rest of them only watched her back as she disappeared in sight.

"What's the matter with her—?" Before Adeleine could finish, Ria had her hand over her mouth and shook her head.

"You don't speak to her if she's in that mood."

"Why?"

"Trust meee."

For someone ludicrous, Ria was lawfully behaved the whole time it transpired. She would always spout random or absurd thoughts and would do completely crazy or chaotic stunts, living up to her nickname: the mad lawless. But when she asked her about it, the senior only replied, "I'd like to call it topsy-turvy!"

Whatever is going on with the so-called commander of the Mir, it had nothing to do with her.

"Man, she's at it again. That's scary..." Hayden said as he ran his fingers through his hair.

But the way these two acted sets her off. Adeleine struggled free from her grip as Ria realized she still had her hand over her mouth.

"Oops, hehe."

Adeleine coughed on the floor, glaring at the senior shortly after.

For the last time, she doesn't like to be touched. How many times does she need to remind her again and again, or does she need to imprint it in Ria's mind so she doesn't forget?

~~

Hera closed her fists. Bridget told her everything. From what happened to what she felt, but she made one request that was hard to comply.

She strutted towards the Letherian's room, lips curled back to a snarl. She stopped right in front of the door, keeping herself from barely exploding. What angers her more was that she could hear them on the other side, chatting merrily as if they're oblivious- No... more like ignoring the fact that they did something horrible.

"Eh, what's a 'nightmare'?"

"What do you mean by what's a nightmare?"

"Yeah, what's a night mail?" Ria tilted her head in question. She gasped as she had an amazing realization. "Oooh! Is it a mail only read at night?! I want one!"

Adeleine gave them both an expression of mixed grimace and cringe.

Hera slammed the door open. They all turned to her at first surprised, but Ria was the first ice-breaker and pounced on the junior, squeezing her into a tight hug. "Yay! You actually came back. How did it go? What happened? Where's the little birdie?" she spoke so fast that she was brimming with unmatched energy to only be shoved aside by Hera.

Hayden looked past her, looking for Bridget. "Why isn't she with you?"

Hera stomped to Adeleine and growled, "You..." her fists tightened. After a few seconds of exchanging heated glares, she breathed in deeply and puffed out the annoyance growing in her.

"What?" Adeleine narrowed her eyes as the other spoke nothing.

Hera couldn't do it. As much as she wanted to punch her right in the face right now, she gave a promise to Bridget. She couldn't possibly make her upset when she's already distressed as it is.

She wordlessly strutted to the door with a tight jaw, trying to keep herself from exploding. It was already hard enough to gulp down a large chunk of her pride.

Before she disappeared from their sight, her hand gripped the doorway tightly as she looked back at Adeleine. "Next time, 'ya should watch whatcha say. You don't know how it hurts others."