Maturinus: School Days

Graduation

The other students were already awake when Catherine opened her eyes, as Alexander promised. Gemma had clearly chosen not to trust him and had gone back to the academy, but the rest remained, splitting away into groups of friends but none averse to leaving out outsiders who needed support after their shared ordeals. Katie's friends hadn't left her yet either, Grace already babbling about this and that while Cherri tried to calm her down as Catherine sat up. The sleep was easily scrubbed away, but she stayed quiet as Grace poured her life story out. It seemed she was the same person with or without her memories. Cherri was trying to preserve an illusion of indifference, but the nervous energy that had seized her body and caused her to gnaw her bottom lip raw told otherwise. But she had no time to ask before Grace was invading her space.

"So what about you? Feel any different? Oh, how about your memories? Got anything new up in there?"

Catherine fumbled with her words, trying to find the right way to break the bad news. But how one was supposed to explain that she had technically 'died' and come back as someone else without making light of the fact? Would they even know to mourn? She was still here in person, and they would likely assume any changes in her to be as a result of regaining her memories. It was probably a good thing then, that the gentle muttering of the hall was torn apart by the scream from the stage, calling every set of eyes in the room to the last awakener. 

Angela's expression was one of unfocused terror as she sat there, staring into a distance far beyond the back wall. Before another word could be spoken she was screaming again, her attempts to self-smother the sound doing nothing to control it. Catherine was already on her feet and running up the stage before she recognised it herself. Taking the immediate problem was the coward's choice but she grasped it gladly, along with Angela's hand. She was slapped away but undeterred as she called her name again and again until finally Angela found her, looking right at her but still seeing something that was not there. Her voice was a minuscule wreck of itself as she whispered "Alex." Catherine nodded.

"I'll go get him. Sit tight, all right?"

The shaky nod she got in response left her free to retreat, pausing only to call Grace and Cherri for help before she was off. She didn't like the idea of relying on him, but it was what Angela wanted, and it meant that he wouldn't be able to run from her either. The cast-iron door came away easier than expected and behind it lay the two paths, just as Alexander had said. She barrelled off to the left. If he wasn't in the main hall then logic dictated that he wait close by. In the very next room, as it turned out. He entered from the opposite direction, Reaper on his heels like a well-trained dog.

"Angela?" he guessed, already turning to instruct Reaper before Catherine could confirm.

"I'll transport the students to The Marianne. You return to your quarters and take care of your final task. Understood?"

Reaper nodded once, and Alexander had to grab Catherine's arm as he pushed past, heading up the path that led back to Maturinus. Catherine shook Alexander off, but her distaste bounced off him, and so she resigned to taking Reaper's place at the teacher's back as he made his way back to the hall, glaring daggers the whole short trip there. Angela was still quiet when they entered, but was off the stage in a shot the second she saw Alexander, throwing herself into his arms before he was even three steps into the hall. Catherine couldn't help but resist the urge to squirm as Alexander stroked her hair and whispered reassurances to his ward. It felt more personal than all the time she'd spent traipsing through Sabrina's mind, and from her position in the door she could see that Sabrina still didn't want to meet her eye, looking to the floor when she tried a wave to break her internal tension. For all the noise she'd made, it didn't take long for Angela to be placated, calmed by Alexander's hand wrapped around her own as he began to address the hall.