Annabelle’s Bastion

A few days passed since Annabelle shocked the academy by beating Jared Costello, a combatant, as a supporter without using her Sigil. An event that sparked a wildfire of rumors and myths. At first, it was due to Ashton and Jared’s own intention—personally bringing people in like advertising agents. But it eventually became known to the entire island.

Conspiracy theories were wild; that Anna did, in fact, use her Sigil before the fight, or that she had some kind of magic drug, or that it was all fake for publicity. In the end, it was hard for most to understand how she won in the face of a Fire Sigil. All it looked like from an outside perspective was her slapping fireballs, but the closer or more astute saw it.

But an announcement sent out to the student’s tablets quelled all rumors and then some; 

Annabelle Frost, a supporter, has bested Jared Costello, a combatant, in the first official duel in academy history. 

It was an astounding display from both students, showcasing the lessons they had taken in their first few weeks at our academy. Despite Jared’s efforts, Annabelle Frost masterfully triumphed in an astute battle of skill and perseverance. 

Regretfully, student Jared Costello, as announced by Professor Lythgard, was guilty of foul play. While not egregious, the slightest breaking of our sacred rules will not be tolerated—terms of a duel are not to be broken. He has been punished.

But despite that, Annabelle Frost still came out on top. We are proud of her, and we hope this will inspire our students to stand steadfastly in the face of overwhelming odds.

Adversity makes us stronger.

This serves as an official notice that sanctioned duels are allowed whenever and for whatever reason. Bastion does not care how or why you wish to fight. However, let it be known that these duels are reflected on your academic record, regardless of origin. Do not try to fluff this record with fights you know you will win. We would know.

Lastly, we remind everyone that the academy is ever-changing. We strive to bring in new methods and tools that allow us to foster our students to be the best Bastion can offer. With that in mind, we have exciting news in the coming months about opportunities to further your growth. More information will be handed out as we receive approval for extracurricular activities!

Once that announcement was sent out, nobody talked about Anna cheating anymore. The opposite, in fact. With the official confirmation that Jared cheated, it was over—not just the rumors.

Anna herself received an overwhelmingly positive reputation in most people’s eyes, evidenced the next day when she went out. In fact, saying it was positive was an understatement. The entire academy—literally—knew who she was. Of course, she was happy until...

“What the... why the hell are they calling me princess?!”

“I mean, it fits, right? Look at you!” The girl who informed her of the news, the one who shared a combat class with Aria, said with some jest in her tone. ”You’re teeny-tiny, have really beautiful green eyes, such pale skin, and such smooth black hair. And the way you sound! Also, sometimes, the way you talk sounds royal! And your movements!”

Anna quirked a brow. “Are you hitting on me?”

“W-what?! N-no!” She animatedly shook her head.

“I’m kidding, Lily,” Anna wryly chuckled, shaking her head. “You’re quite cute yourself, you know.”

Lily was a little taller than Anna, with the hyper but nervous type. That showed once she started chatting with Anna, from her exaggerated hand movements to the light in her clear brown eyes.

“I- I know that!” Lily quickly shook her head. “I don’t swing that way, anyway! But I’m just saying...” She trailed off, her face reddening.

Well, there wasn’t a good way to save that one.

Anna shrugged. “Yeah, yeah.”  She sent Lily a reassuring smile. “Thank you, Lily. I’m just shocked that other people are the ones calling me that.”

It would be impossible to prevent that nickname from spreading. Unlike on Earth, where it was controllable to a certain extent, the academy was a place where she had no sway. 

“Do you not like it?” Lily asked with an adorable head tilt. “I’d love to be called princess. Wouldn’t any girl?”

“Hmm~.” Anna thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I can see that. But it depends… as you can imagine, I’ve been called that before. Usually derogatory.”

Except when it was from her friends.

“Oh…” Lily’s eyes widened in recognition. “Oh!” She grimly nodded a few times. “You think it’s being used that way?”

Anna reached up and pat her head; despite Lily being taller than Anna, she couldn’t help but treat her like a little sister. And they only just met! 

Lily looked up in embarrassment. “Wha?”

“You’re adorable, that’s all.” Anna removed her hand and shook her head. “But, no, It’s probably not spreading as an insult. And even if it was, could I really be offended by it? It’s the tone of which it is said that matters.”

“Oooh. Yeah, that makes sense; the one who told me didn’t sound like he meant it as an insult.”

“Oh?” Anna took a spot on the hard gym floor and then pat the ground beside her. “What did he say, exactly?” 

Lily instantly moved beside her like an obedient puppy. “He asked me if I knew the Healer Princess, and when I asked who that was, he said everyone was calling you that.”

Anna snickered and shook her head. “Where did the healer part come from?”

Lily shrugged. “I think just because you’re in the support class.”

That made sense... kind of. The nickname itself was still bizarre to have spread so quickly. Anna hadn’t really communicated with many people nor spread her name outside of her link with Aria. Perhaps Alisha had a hand? But she knew Anna wouldn’t voluntarily choose to have that name spread.

Perhaps she underestimated how quickly word spread naturally.

Anna resignedly sighed. “I suppose that’s fine.”

She only hated it before because people knew her background, but nobody in Bastion did. Well, other than probably Ashton. And if someone did say it demeaningly? She would respond in kind as she always had. Only this time, her own strength could stop it now.

“If you want, I think we can get people to stop.”

That certainly wasn’t possible. 

“You know what they say,” Anna said, shrugging. “Any publicity is good publicity.”

“I agree! There are many worse names you can have...” Lily trailed off, and her face lit up like she just remembered something hilarious. “By the way! Everybody heard you call Jared a hog, so that’s been his nickname, especially when we found out he cheated.”

Anna hissed. “Ouch. As if the cheating confirmation wasn’t enough.” 

On one hand, he deserved it. But on the other? That animosity would make him seek her out to do more than a fight—eventually—that much was guaranteed. But she was far from frightened.

“Sooo...” Lily paused, likely working up the courage to ask. Finally, her curious eyes looked at Anna for only a moment before hitting the floor. “How… how did he cheat? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to!”

The gym doors were pushed open, and their dormmates began to fill in with each of their gym outfits. It was Saturday, after all. Their newly designated sparring day... and Sunday was the knowledge-sharing day. All Anna’s ideas!

Anna chuckled. She had probably told that little story thousands of times! “You know how he threw that pile of dirt and rock at me?” 

“Uh... yeah, I think I remember? Before he shot his first fireball, right?”

Anna scratched her cheek. “It’s a little embarrassing, but I reflexively reacted like it was about to hit my eyes, which allowed him to launch a surprise attack.”

Her barrier had definitely gotten far stronger since their first combat class. That and Jared’s firebolts weren’t explosively powerful. A tidbit Aria and Anna discussed earlier; he needed to make them explode with more force, but he chose to make them hotter. Likely, it was because he wanted to maim her with burn scars. 

According to Gromak, if Jared was smarter and had better control, he could have launched them packed with explosive power and not had them explode until actual impact. Anna may have lost from that surprise attack if he was just a little smarter.

Controlling the aspects of the Firebolt was an amazing idea and one that did make Anna a little jealous.

“That bastard!” Lily spat, clenching her fists and punching the air. “So he grabbed the dirt outside because if he grabbed it inside, you would instantly know his stupid plan!”

“Bingo. Honestly, there were far better ways of surprising me, but I think I’d have predicted most of them; Jared was not very intelligent.”

Lily’s fists clenched. “We should—”

“Hey, Princess! Hey, Lilypad!” One of their dormmates called out. “Y’all chattin’ about Costellino?”

Anna chuckled and wryly shook her head. “Costello, Jason.”

He knew that, though.

It seemed her nickname had already spread beyond containable. Oh well. The negative connotations behind it couldn’t follow her to Bastion.

“Bleh,” he fake spat. “Same thing.”

Jason—an overtly friendly man with neat, dyed blonde hair and a trimmed beard. He looked exactly like Anna would describe an avid beach-goer. 

“Hey, Jason,” Lily said unenthusiastically. “We were talking about how he cheated.”

“Sup, Lilypad,” He repeated and didn’t sit since sparring would begin soon, but he stood in front of Anna. “So... spill the tea, girls.” He exaggeratedly sighed. “That announcement ruined Costellio worse than silly nicknames.”

“D-don’t call me that!” Lily shouted.

Anna giggled. Seeing her dormmates get along brought her a great sense of joy. It felt like the academy was going in the direction she could be happy with. Finally!

That was the second time, though; it seemed Lily just realized. 

“Gonna have to reject that one,” Jason said.

“Fine, then I’ll call you a stupid nickname!” 

“Ooooh!” Jason exaggeratedly shouted and pumped his fist. “A nickname from a pretty lady? God, please!”

Lily’s freckled face gained a shade of red, and Anna was happy to watch it play out before her.

However, Lily wasn’t very good at dealing with teases. 

“Well, let’s get started…” Anna was about to stand, but Jason reached out a hand.

“Please, m’lady.”

“Gross!” Lily pushed him aside and offered her own hand. “Nobody wants to touch that slimy hand, especially not the princess.”

“You, too, huh?” Anna wryly laughed, shaking her head. “Sure, sure.” She took Lily’s hand.

Lily showed an abnormal amount of reverence toward her and Aria. From the outburst where she helped clear Aria’s name to the absolute respect shown to Aria and Anna by extension. Soon after, though, it spread to treating them like literal Queens. 

Anna understood why, though. She told Lily all she had learned about Mana Control and her barrier and helped Lily control her own. The day after, Lily won a friendly spar. And after that, Anna was like a god. Not to mention Aria helping her train personally. It was almost too fanatical, but Anna wasn’t about to object to the respect. 

She wasn’t on Earth anymore, after all...

Well, they were on Earth, but it was easy to forget. If she could gather a potential squad early, then why not? A little reverence never hurt anybody. Plus, Lily was an Artificer. Anna’s friendship wasn’t contingent on benefits, but she also couldn’t deny the obvious one in front of her. Lily could craft Mithril weapons!

Not that Anna would tell Gromak that.

“Lost in the clouds, princess?” Jason joked with a wide grin. “Better hop outta there; everyone’s itchin’ to fight with your supporting skill on ‘em.”

Anna cleared her throat. “I did say today, but not until I test it on Aria.” 

“Ugh...” Jason groaned. “And? Where is our knight?”

“Knight?” Anna giggled. “Is that her nickname?”

“Just made it up; fitting, right?” He nodded to himself, pleased with his own genius. “The height comparison, the posture, the expressions... yeah, she’s definitely like your knight.” He looked to Lily for approval. “Right, Lilypad?”

“Uh...” Lily was clearly taking his suggestion seriously and nodded to herself a few times. “You’re actually kind of right, for once.”

Anna shook her head. “Well, I can see why people would jump to that conclusion.” 

Who knew, maybe it would stick. Ordinarily, Anna didn’t like the connotations behind the two nicknames stuck together, but Aria was an exceptional case. She didn’t need a protector—she was anything but weak. 

“Do you hate it?” Lily said with a frown etched on her face. “We can stop.”

“C’mon, no way she hates it.”

“He’s right.” Anna pat Lily’s head. “I’m strong enough for the classical meaning of those two words to mean little.”

Jason whistled. “So cool. But, look, the knight has arrived, but...” He chuckled.

Anna eagerly followed his gaze. 

Aria was there, having just arrived, but was already ambushed by people asking questions. 

“Let’s go save her!” Lily exclaimed.

Anna grabbed Lily’s arm, only to see that meek stare turn toward her. She explained, “On the contrary, Aria likes talking about weapons and how to use them.”

“O-oh.”

“Really?” Jason questioned. “Sure as shit can’t tell from her face.”

Anna shrugged—she could tell. Aria did have expressions, but they tended to be subtle. They were just diminutive or had to be read from body language and general aura.

Being able to decipher them easily gave her a bit of an ego. Aria was, after all, the strongest student on campus and her close friend.

Eventually, Aria broke free and arrived alone with the trio. She first looked at Anna, sending her the ghost of a smile. Once again, Anna felt proud she could notice the expressions instantly.

“Hey, Aria!”

“Hello.” Aria nodded, then toward Jason and Lily.

“Hi, Aria!” Lily eagerly reciprocated her nodding greeting.

Adorable.

“Heya!” Jason tapped Lilly’s shoulder. “Lilypad, let’s hurry and let these two test so we can all experience it later!”

“But...” Lily looked at Anna to receive her approval. 

Anna nodded and smiled warmly toward her. “We’ll be back with you guys shortly, don’t worry. I just want to test my ability with Aria since she’s so in tune with her body.”

While that was technically true, Anna only wanted to experience her Sigil first with her close friend. Aria’s treatment was so unfair, and Anna felt terrible for even having the Sigil.

“Ok!” 

“Come, come!” Jason pulled her away. Then he winked at Anna and Aria. “Thank me later!”

“What?” Lily asked, but it was too late as she was pulled away by Jason.

“I like those two,” Anna said, watching them go to the other students. “Eager and willing to learn… The ability to be humbled, as you mentioned.”

“Yes,” Aria said, nodding. “Most of those in this dorm have suffered defeat frequently.” 

The combat classes. They asked around, and most people mentioned they lost most, if not all, of their fights.

Those defeats were only exasperated once they started sparring with Aria.

“Right,” Anna sighed. “But hopefully, we can change that.”

“We will.”

“I’m glad you’re so eager.”

“I’ve... been convinced.”

Anna giggled.

By convinced, she meant the dorm competitions and the rewards from them; Sigils. That, and her incessant desire for the number one spot. Not to mention, the spars had been getting better as she helped them train.

“Will we test?” Aria said with an eagerness in her tone that Anna seldom heard.

That eagerness lit Anna’s own, and she could hardly wait to start researching magic again!

“Damn right!” Anna grabbed Aria’s hand and pulled her to an open mat on the far side of the gym. “I’ve been waiting for this moment!”

Finally, it was time to do one of the things that made academy life so fun.

Discovery!