Chapter 18: Decisions... Decisions Pt.2

Questioning him no further, Sebastian pursed his lips forward as if he was making up his mind on something before pulling for his black jacket that was thrown down on the bed. He folded it on his right arm and gently stepped past Moe, coming to a stop just in front of where Ai stood.

He turned toward the only others who were in the room, eyes wandering back and forth between them as if he was waiting for a response with his arms slightly extended despite his elbows being rested against his sides, "So are we going or nah?"

Moe and Ai glanced at each other, both shrugging at the same time before following suit.

"Not like I have anything else to do or whatever," Ai remarked as he eased off the wall and rolled his eyes, stepping slowly behind Moe.

He was met with no verbal response, however, everyone else glared at him for a small amount of time with Moe being the one who kept the most eye contact, evoking an uncomfortable shrug as a response from him.

All four of them made their way out the room one at a time with Sebastian waiting by the door for everyone to leave so that he could pull up the door and secure it with his lock.

"Now, what kind of trouble am I in exactly?" Sebastian asked, glancing over at Uriel as he pocketed the keys to his room.

"No one said you were in any trouble Sir Eteru," he chuckled, "However, you may want to brace yourself real quick, you're about to receive some... Very important information... that's all."

The lack of details in his statement caused Sebastian to raise a brow as he walked behind the rest of the crowd, with no one else seeming to be surprised by how little information he shared.

"Why do you always have to be so cryptic when answering simple questions?" Moe asked, glaring at Uriel from the side of her eyes.

Uriel smiled slightly, his lips parting just enough to show bits of his glistening white teeth before he stretched his arms in the air to accommodate an incoming yawn, "I answered the question did I not? He asked if he was in trouble... And I told him he wasn't. That's the end of the story."

"Whatever you say," Moe said, rolling her eyes as the rest of the party followed behind without saying a single word for the rest of the walk to the supervisor's office.

Uriel placed his hand on the door's handle and slowly pushed it open. The atmosphere suddenly became thick and cold as chills travelled up Sebastian's back, his feet hesitant to move forward into the dimly lit room that everyone else seemed to effortlessly be able to walk into with no issues at all.

"Whew... There's nothing to be so nervous about," he said to himself, trying his best to command his feet to move forward, "You'll be fine... You got this... You're not in trouble, you're not a monster."

"Are you coming or not?" Ai said as he held the door open, staring at Sebastian with an expressionless face that was enough to pierce through his anxiety, even if it was just for a few seconds.

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm coming," he said, forcing himself to move forward and into the room, allowing the door to close behind him.

Once inside the room, the light that seemed dim on the outside was suddenly bright enough to light up the entire place, allowing for every detail of the cream coloured, concrete walls to easily be seen. This was Sebastian's first time in the supervisor's room so he took the time to look around in awe at the certificates hanging on the furthest wall as well as the several shelves to his left, some holding figurines while others held weapons of several different shapes and sizes. On the right wall, was a see-through cabinet that housed several Chaos Cores as if they were on display, each resembling amulets for various types of jewellery, some being engraved in rings while others had a string or chord attached to them as if they were to be worn as necklaces.

"Good afternoon Mr. Eteru," said a gentle feminine, yet authoritative voice coming from the centre of the room.

Sebastian's attention was snapped from off the cabinet to the person who sat behind the desk. Her long brunette hair covered her shoulders and proceeded to make its way further down, stopping just before her chest. Her eyes shimmered in a golden amber colour behind the frames of her cherry-red glasses that perfectly rested above the slight wrinkles near her nose. She took a deep breath and lightly chewed on her lower lip as she leaned forward and rested both elbows on the typical wooden desk that was in a mess with several different papers and personal figurines scattered across it. She rested her chin on a bridge that she made with her fingers as she stared Sebastian in the eyes, her expression as stern as ever which then caused Sebastian's anxiety to act up once more.

"Uh... Good Mor- I mean, Good Afternoon Mrs Goodfrey," he said in a soft voice, almost reminiscent of a whisper.

"No need to be so tense boy, you're not in trouble, so there's no need to worry."

"Told ya," Uriel whispered, chuckling to himself before being elbowed in the side by Moe who stood near the shelves between him and Ai.

"Okay, that's a good thing, that's very good... But if I'm not in trouble, why else am I here?" Sebastian asked, nervously standing at attention as a streak of sweat trickled down his cheek.

"Well you see, we were given a lot of things to think about from your little demonstration of... skill? Would you consider that skill? I don't know anymore. Just know that the council was quite impressed with your performance earlier in the day," she said, a long sigh following after her words.

"Oh... Well, I'm sorry if-"

"Oh, no boy. Why are you apologizing?" she asked, genuinely confused, "Did I not say you did nothing wrong?"

"Yea, got it, my bad, you may go on."

"Okay, good. We were impressed with your display of control given your... situation even though we were quite unimpressed in the first portion of it."

"Yeah, that's actually quite th-"

"I wasn't done," she said promptly, shooting a disapproving glance up at Sebastian before continuing, "So, given your circumstances, and your display of skill and control, despite your incapability of formally graduating, we're more than willing to look past it... For now."

"What do you mean?" Sebastian asked with a brow raised.

With the snap of her finger, the green Chaos Core that perfectly blended in with her purple suit, seeming as if it were merely a green top bottom to give the suit a bit more flavour, shimmered ever so brightly. Reacting to her finger snaps, a portion of the space behind her warped slightly, allowing three people to suddenly appear in that spot.

"Meet your new teammates," she said, gesturing towards them with her hand as she moved out of the way by pushing her chair to the side, "This team won't be a part of an official faction as yet seeing that two of you haven't graduated as yet, however, we'll be happy to grant you a faction after three successful missions... How does that sound?"

The three people who suddenly appeared behind Ms Goodfrey seemed confused at first, glancing at each other before coming to an understanding of the situation.

"Reinhardt Wess, at your service," Reinhardt said, stepping forward and bowing. He quickly brought himself upright once more and smiled over at Sebastian, "I much enjoyed your fight earlier, I look forward to testing your capabilities myself."

"Calm down now big boy," Thaddeus said, also stepping forward and resting his hand on Reinhardt's shoulder, "He must be exhausted, it would be unfair if the first thing you did was fight him upon introduction."

"I didn't say I was gonna fight him now!" Reinhardt groaned.

"Sh!" Mrs Goodfrey gestured, immediately commanding an area of silence that was more than respected as the place fell into an eerie silence, "Now that you're all calm," she said, rolling her eyes as she gestured to the shadows in the corner of the room as if she was telling the last person it was okay to step forward.

"H- hi Sebby," Corniellia said with a chuckle as she stepped forward, gently rubbing her elbow, refusing to even glance in Sebastian's direction.

Sensing the awkward tension in the room, Thaddeus stepped forward once more, an arm extended toward Sebastian, "Thaddeus Goodfrey by the way, nice to meet you."

His introduction evoked an eye-roll from Mrs Goodfrey as she prepared to be bombarded with questions, but Sebastian knew better than to ask about what doesn't concern him. With a gentle smile, Sebastian extended his hand to clasp Thaddeus'.

"Sebastian Eteru, nice to meet you too."

"Now that the introductions are out the way," Mrs Goodfrey said immediately after Sebastian's introduction, "Your instru- I mean... Your captain will be Sir Uriel for as long as this band is together... Is that clear?"

She glanced across the room, awaiting anyone who dared to object to her decision, her eyes pausing on Uriel for a moment who smiled as if he were a child about to open his Christmas presents which in turn caused her to shake her head.

"Glad there are no objections, in that case, you're all dismissed. Use the time to get acquainted with your teammates okay?"

<Chapter 18: End>