Chapter One: Welcome

Author's Note: This chapter has mentions of a character smoking, as it was a very common thing for this time period and conveys a character's personality. Please note that this is not meant to encourage it in any way, shape, or form. He quits by the end of the story. Keep your lungs healthy and enjoy this first chapter! Thank you for all of your kind words and amazing characters! Apologies for being late, I fell ill! <3

////////////====•====\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Mitrea. Most people disliked having such common last names for their region of the world, feeling as if it was a rather dull and uninteresting thing. Smith, Hernandez, Lee... But Alexandru was not 'most people.' He was grateful to be blessed with a common name, one that he could keep throughout the coming months without issues.

He was born Alexandru Mitrea of Lazagkrus. Son of Colonel Claudiu Mitrea and the late Yedda Cretu-Mitrea; stepson of Luminita Anemona-Mitrea. That's who he was. That's what he knew. Whenever he passes by a mirror, that's who stares back at him.

But the new stack of papers in his hands disagreed with him. They claimed in their bold, dark font that while he was still Alexandru Mitrea, he was a never the son of his parents. He was the adoptive son of Miruna's Vice President's little-known yet highly decorated cousin Dinu Mitrea and his wife Steliana Bucur-Mitrea.

Alex wondered if those new 'parents' of his even existed. As he looked over the extraordinarily convincing stack of forged documents swearing that Alexandru wasn't a trespasser on Torusadourian land, he doubted it. 

But no, Alexandru thought to himself, peeking up from the stack, That laziness would be beneath you, wouldn't it? How did you do it...?

The man, of course, did not answer Alexandru's mental question. He was deep in thought as he smoked, back turned as he stared out of the window of one of the Academy's offices.

Unfortunately, a breeze flowed through the opening, slamming the stench of his companion's smoke in Alexandru's face. Alex wrinkled his nose. Those were stronger than the normal ones.

Hearing a short bought of coughing from his younger associate, the man glimpsed back.

With a slight head tilt, his brown eyes looked over Alexandru, "...Mitrea?"

"I'm fine," Alex half-wheezed, clearly not fine, "Those are. Uhm. New?"

The man let a little amused huff escape him as he sauntered over to the desk. He put out his light on the ashtray... not that it helped with the stench much. But Alexandru chose not to point that out.

"Newly made? No. New to me...? Yes," The man confirmed with a nod, "South American. Leftovers from some businessmen. A friend of mine... got his hands on them. Not that you need to worry about it. Your father would flay me and my reputation if I let you come near one."

Alex assured he would never dream of it, his listens to his father. He always does. That's why he's here, now.

The clock ticked for a couple of moments longer.

"...It's almost time to begin, Mitrea," The man stared intently at Alex, "...Nervous?"

Alex's eyes flickered to the clock. He was right. The students would be arriving in 30 minutes.

A strange, unsettled feeling sunk into his chest. Why? He knew what was going to happen. He knew the plan. He's known for months.

Alexandru met the man's gaze, his own tinted with a smidge of anxiety now, "...Should I be, Mr. Păcuraru?"

The man's eyes crinkled, the closest thing Alex had seen him get to a smile.

"Mr. Păcuraru...? I don't recognize that name. A friend of yours?" Anatolie drawled, discreetly pulling out his own personal stack of papers from his jacket, "I'm Anatolie Ursu of Miruna, the head janitor of this... 'fine' school... At least, I have been for the past four hours."

A new identity. Not that it mattered, Alex supposed. 'Păcuraru' was fake, so it's not like 'Ursu' would be any different.

////////////====•====\\\\\\\\\\\\\

The large entry hall was packed to the brim with people. Students milled about the center of the room and the grand staircases, the staff making their way through on the edges of the crowd.

Unfortunately, Susurrus Gale found herself in the middle of all of it; getting pushed and shoved around in the excited crowd as if they didn't see her. She resisted pushing back for awhile, naturally. It wasn't polite. But she soon realized it was the only way she wouldn't be trampled to the floor.

Where was she going, anyway? Why, to the auditorium, of course. Or at least trying to find it. Unlike the others here, she skipped socializing in the beginning and went straight to her dorm to put her bags down. She was ahead of most of the others, who were now scrambling to get to their rooms to set their personal items in place before they were late to the entrance ceremony.

Susurrus cringed as she felt someone step on her foot. Glancing up, it was some man who seemed to be in his late 20s to early 30s, smelling strongly of smoke. He was a brunet with a hard expression on his face, but he did have the decency to apologize for the accident. Susurrus glanced back at him as he continued his way through the crowd, old enough to not care about pushing his way through some random teenagers. Must be a staff member, with that level of confidence.

Susurrus stopped to search the raging sea of people, looking for an opening. She stood a little taller on her toes, trying to see over the heads of others around her. Still nothing.

A little exasperated at this point, she lowered her heels to the floor once more. She stood there for a moment, staring at the floor as she tried to brainstorm a way about this as the people chattered around her. Their words dulled to a mere buzzing in her brain, until;

"Susurrus...? Susurrus Gale?"

Her head snapped up. Without her realizing it, a little clearing had been formed around her. She was a little bewildered. Everything else was still crowded, why was this specific spot suddenly-?

Oh.

Susurrus glanced behind her, and there he stood; Amadeus Charles-Forlenton. No one would dare to elbow or shove him, considering his familial connections.

President Oriven's nephew had a polite smile on his face, his usual glow about him. A soft glow that was starkly contrasted by the strong and certain presence of Inanna Skye, who was standing to Amadeus's left.

"My goodness, we almost lost the girl in the stampede," The willowy older girl mused, glancing over Susurrus with a somewhat entertained aura.

Susurrus knew these two. Slightly. Her parents were the President's favorite event planners, leading her to cross paths with Ame a couple of times here and there. Not that they were the best of friends; they were more of acquaintances. Susurrus's parents often brought her along when they scoped out the settings for the President's events, and Amadeus was always in the background with friendly small talk. 

She rather liked him as a person, despite being too shy to say much most times they crossed paths. Not that Amadeus minded. Most conversations went with Ame chattering happily while Susurrus politely listened, uttering a few occasional short responses.

While Susurrus's parents have also planned a couple of events for Inanna's parents, she knew her more from the tales of her being Amadeus's good friend. Ame often had a comment or story about her when they met, so Susurrus knew a good bit about Inanna despite never having a full conversation with her before.

"Well, I'm glad we didn't," Amadeus smiled, "Miss Susurrus Gale! I haven't heard a word of you going here. I'm glad to see you, freshman. How are you finding things?"

Susurrus paused and glanced about for a moment before looking back to the two.

"...I'm not," She admitted sheepishly, "Finding things at all."

"Ah..." Amadeus nodded, eyeing the rather befuddling crowd, "I see... Well, stick with us, youngster."

Susurrus blinked, "...You're only three years older than-"

"Inanna and I will get you through," Amadeus assured, not hearing the youngest's near-silent complaint, "She's scary, nobody's going to mess with us while she's around."

A shred of a smile itched at Inanna's lips, "I prefer the term 'intimidating.'"

Whatever it was, it got the trio to the auditorium with the aid of Amadeus's reputation. The three took their seats and waited. About twenty minutes later, it was packed as the lights started to dim.

A woman stepped onto the stage, announcing herself as the new headmistress; Hildred Elizabeth Consley. She was rather tall for a woman, standing at the imposing height of 6 feet. She seemed cheerful and kind. Put together and proper, yes, but not stuck up in the slightest. Early fifties, perhaps older.

She gave the common run of the mill welcome speech. How the school was glad to have them, how they shouldn't hesitate to ask the staff anything at all, and how she hoped the Academy would be their home away from home.

She went over some rules too, explaining how she expected every staff member to be treated with respect, whether they be a decorated professor or a simple janitor. There was a nightly curfew at 10, 11 for the juniors, and 12 for the seniors. They must stay inside the school grounds at all times on weekdays, but weekends had buses going into the nearby town where they were allowed to wander around, as long as they used the buddy system.

The speech dragged on, leaving some students yawning. Susurrus found herself getting bored at times too, only snapping to attention when the insistent mention of reporting suspicious activity to the staff sparked her paranoia. She often wondered if it was a good idea to come to this school, so soon after the war. After all, the school was right on the border. Miruna was only a couple miles away. While Miruna was somewhat on their side, it was never known to have the best defenses...

She shook herself out of her thoughts as Amadeus softly patted her shoulder. Looking around, she realized everyone was standing and applauding the end of the speech. Quickly, she darted up, commencing in the clapping herself.

Once it died down, the trio filed out with the others. They spent a good couple of hours together, touring the school. It seemed to have everything they could ever want or need; from an extensive library to a large clear blue swimming center.

When the clock sounded 8 chimes, Amadeus gave the two a nod and bade them goodnight. He took his leave and headed to the boy's dorm, Susurrus and Inanna departing in the opposite direction to the girl's.

The hallway was buzzing with excitement, the sounds of roommate introductions and laughter ringing through structure. Inanna was the first to retire, as she ended up on the first floor. Susurrus glanced at the name plate. Amadeus's friend- and apparently hers now, too- was rooming with a Fiorenza Cappitani.

As Susurrus kept walking, she listened to the sounds around her. She winced as she heard some happy shouts from a room labeled Celeste Starcreek and Violet Shimmercress. Something about 'can't believe we ended up rooming together'...? Who knows? The children of the silver screen, am I right?

Pondering this, Susurrus nearly tripped over a stack of luggage, only for a red headed girl to tug it out of the way seconds before.

"Woah there!" The ginger exclaimed, letting Susurrus pass. Susurrus glanced back at the name plate. Evie Laine and Kaarina Aho.

Continuing forward, Susurrus swore the only calm dorm she passed was one labeled Greta Provost and Kenadey Silvouro. Only a quiet murmuring of polite conversation, nothing more.

Silvouro...  sounded familiar. Susurrus made a mental note to look into that later.

Finally, Susurrus got to her dorm; a shared one with a Miss Ainsley Winters.

Stepping in, Susurrus noted how it was almost impossibly tidy and uniform. Everything was perfectly organized, from the neatest clothes in the closet to the color coded pen holder on the desk. Clearly, her roommate knew what she was doing. Susurrus felt a little embarrassed looking at the things she put away earlier in the day. It wasn't messy, but still couldn't ever dream of competing with Ainsley's work.

"Good evening."

Susurrus's looked to her left. There was Ainsley, her hand stretched out in the offer of a very formal handshake.

"I'm Ainsley Winters," The reserved younger girl continued in a professional tone, "Thank you for not being a slob."

////////////====•====\\\\\\\\\\\\\

The boy's dorm was certainly an... experience.

Everything was fine at first. Amadeus got to meet a couple of the fellas on his floor, two duos of  roommates; Soleil Leloupe with Alexandru Mitrea and Victor Moreau with Kyleine Luneswift, who went by "Ky." The three former were all exchange, Moreau and Leloupe clearly from Siraden while Mitrea was from Miruna.

Amadeus almost didn't recognize Victor at first. It's been years since Victor's father was welcomed as a guest to the capitol by Amadeus's uncle, and he's certainly grown a little since then. Amadeus imagined he'd like to befriend him again, just as much as he wanted to befriend the others.

Everything was peachy. Amazing. Wonderful, even.

At least, it was until Amadeus entered his dorm and stood face to face with his roommate.

Robert stared at Amadeus, eyes wide as if Ames rode in on a unicorn. Amadeus returned it with a blank smile, a thin veil hiding his pained screaming on the inside. So Robert didn't check the name plate, either.

Robert William Alden. The son of Frederick Ralph Alden; the man who was the main candidate against Uncle Oriven in the elections and almost... everything else as the head of the opposing political party.

Hundreds of students in the school, and he gets placed with the one who's family openly bashes his own in the press.

////////////====•====\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Author's Note, cont.: There's the first chapter! Sorry if it's slow, I'm just trying to set things up.

Question(s) of the Chapter: What do you think of Anatolie? and/or What do your characters think of their roommate (except for Inanna, I suppose she hasn't met her yet)?