Welcome To The School

19

"If we die, I will kill you." Pluto hissed at Eijeh.
"...Blame those three if we die. This is their plan." He responded.
"You were the one who set fire to the arena in the first place! We shouldn't — you shouldn't — blame innocent people for their actions!" Hayden chipped in.
"Good to see you're talking to me again."
"Only because the plan requires it. Don't worry, I'll stop the moment we're out of here."
"Oof. My heart just broke."
"Fascinating. Didn't know you had one of those."
"Boys."

"Watch out! Short chaotic one, WATCH OUT!" Cal yelled.
"Who are you calling short?!" Ellowyn responded indignantly.
"ELLOWYN, MOVE!" Blair roared, but he was too far away to do anything.
"Sure, I'm shorter than Blair, but he's taller than, like, everyone." Ellowyn muttered sulkily.
"Ellowyn!" Zia tackled him out of the way of a burning beam falling onto where he was moments before, and they collapsed in a tangled heap. Zia went crimson and stood up quickly. "...Sorry...You were gonna get killed."
Ellowyn ruffles his hair awkwardly. "Thanks. I owe you one."
"OI! LOVEBIRDS! A LITTLE HELP HERE?!" Rowan yelled.
"Right!" Zia ran over to help, flickering in and out of existence.
Ellowyn shook his head, in a daze. "She's kinda cute...Oh, right! I'm supposed to be helping! WHEEEEE!" He jumped up and ran towards Arleigh.

~Flashback to a few minutes earlier~

"...So when I give the signal, you all head to the door to the right of the exit, and not the exit itself. That part's important. Everyone know what you're supposed to be doing? Good. Alright, so groups: Tall boy and Commander Rowan, you'll be surveying the area and trying to keep damage to a minimum. Silver girl, flaming idiot, you'll be with a Mx. Hayden Lucifer D'Arque." Arleigh grinned at Hayden.
"How—"
"Later. Anyway, so you'll be over there scouting all and any possible escape routes in case the main exit get blocked. Everyone got that? Alright—"
"What about us?" Zia piped up.
"Did you really think I'd forgotten about you?" She responded smoothly.
"Yes." Ellowyn muttered.
Commander Rowan stifled a laugh. Cal cackled evilly, seemingly waiting for Ellowyn to get murdered brutally. Arleigh shot him a fake glare and continued, "You two will be wherever you're needed. We could use extra backup. And whatever you do, don't disturb me."
Everyone nodded. The three older students yelled something Eijeh couldn't quite understand — something about mushrooms? — and began running around in organised chaos, putting the plan Arleigh Rivers, strategist extraordinaire, had created to help a bunch of dumb first-years put out a fire they had created.

~Back in the present...~

"HI WHAT CAN I HELP WITH HI I'M ELLOWYN HIIII!!!!"
"I told you not to disturb me. Shoo."
"BUT I WANNA HELP!!!"
"Go help someone else then. Before I call Cal over here and we have a casualty."
"OOH THAT SOUNDS REALLY COOL!" He was jumping up and down excitedly, clearly not listening to a word she said. "WHAT'S HER ABILITY???"
"Stop shouting."
"Aw, okayyyy." He muttered sulkily, not wanting to annoy her even further. "But what's her ability?"
He felt a breeze behind him and turned. Cal was standing there, grinning, whilst their hair whipped around their head. "Death." They smiled winningly.
"Wh-What?"
"Death."
Ellowyn slowly backed away.

"EVERYONE, GO!" Arleigh yelled, raising her arm above her head. "GO!"
In unison, the first-years ran for the door to the right of the exit. Well, Ellowyn almost ran through it, but Blair grabbed him and pushed him in with the rest of the group. Arleigh, Cal and Rowan, who was now back in his original form, stood facing the fire. As one, they raised some thin twigs — wands, perhaps? — and began muttering in an odd language, creating twisting shapes in the air. Jets of gushing water rushed out of the tips and doused the fire from every direction. They continued with this until it was just an arena again, albeit a slightly burnt one. Then the trio grinned at each other and shepherded the first-years back to their respective dorms.

As Eijeh lay in bed that night, Blair snoring and Ellowyn moving around in his sleep, he thought of how it seemed as though he'd been at the strange place they called a school for years, instead of just one day. It seemed unbelievable. He shook his head and rolled into his side, and he once again dreamed of people — but this time it was both people he did know and the blank faces from before.