-Always - Chapter 9

                                                                  =Chapter 9=

"...Now, who can tell me the name of one of the many constellations in our night sky?" Melan watched as one of the many students raised their hand and waved it eagerly. The human teacher nodded at the student to answer.

"Well, I know Leo is a constellation." Mrs. Kurihara nodded and wrote down the constellation down onto the black board.

"Correct! Leo is not only a constellation, but is a sign in the western zodiac. Anyone else have a constellation they'd like to mention?" Next to him, Marin raised her hand high.

"Yes Marin?"

"My favorite constellation happens to be Big Dipper." Marin flushed when Melan smiled at her, pleased that she was more than able to follow along with the lesson. The teacher meanwhile smiled and nodded.

"Ah, a good example! The Big Dipper, known also as Ursa Major, is one of the most reliable constellations in our night sky. Not only does it show up in more hemispheres than the others, it is also the easiest to spot. And of course, let's not forget its little tag along the Little Dipper, known as Ursa Minor." Mrs. Kurihara turned toward the back of the room from where she had been scribbling on the black board. "Melan, does Brigadoon have any constellations?"

Slightly startled at being put on the spot, Melan tapped his chin and nodded thoughtfully. "While I am no expert on this subject, some of the more common constellations of my home world are known as the Wing, the Shifter, and the Mirror." The class stared in fascination at Melan, and Marin beamed.

Even after all this time, she was still learning more about Melan and his world.

Mrs. Kurihara seemed to be just as enthralled with Melan's answer as her students were. "Do you know why they are called that? Like, for example, how did the Shifter gain its name?"

"The Shifter was named after a famous, legendary monomakia, one which Marin eventually found and actually proved to be real. The stars that make up the Shifter appear in a section of the sky that has high gas levels. The gas fluctuates the light of the stars, and creates the illusion that it can change form at random intervals."

"And the others?"

"The Wing is pretty easy to explain, as it is a mass of smaller stars that are perpetually revolving around each other. The unique thing about the Wing is that its stars take up quite a portion of the eastern sky, because the stars are widely spread out and create the image of spread wing. As for the Mirror, it was named such because it is four stars in the shape of a rectangle. When the day of Pasca begins to approach, it is between these four stars that we first see Earth. Our scientists still haven't quite figured out why it happens, but the fact remains that it does."

The class was quiet for a moment, and then everyone burst into chatter, some asking questions, more squealing in excitement at the thought of such a world. Even as Melan blinked at the sudden change in volume and the rapid fire questions sent his way, Marin tugged on his shoulder to pull him down to her level.

"Don't worry," she whispered into his ear, "this is pretty common. Mrs. Kurihara should have them back under control in a moment." He slowly shook his head.

"While the human way of teaching is effective enough, I still can't help but find it strange." A burst of loud giggle from a couple blushing girls from the desk next to him only seemed to drive the point across.

Marin couldn't help but giggle herself at his bewildered face. "Like I said, don't worry. This is just a normal day in school for me." She gave him a big wide smile that he couldn't help but return. "If you don't count the fact that your here."

"True." Melan glanced up at the front of the classroom, where Mrs. Kurihara was desperately trying to get the class to calm back down. "My training was far more solemn than this." A student in front of the duo caught Melan's last sentence and turned around to face them.

"How so sir?" Ignoring the fact that he had been called sir, Melan answered in a soft tone that instantly caught everyone's attention.

"For one, I had to learn how to fight. The training was brutal, and failure meant almost certain death. Out of a class of a hundred, I alone survived alongside Pyon and Erin." He fell quiet, caught up in the memories.

"Ugh...!"

Coughing up blood, Melan struggled to get back upon his feet, dazed from being sent flying to a brick wall. In front of him, the last obstacle towards becoming a Gunswordsman stood, tail lashing and vivid red mane flowing in the wind.

"Our final was to fight a Combat monomakia. We weren't expected to win. But if we should excellent reasoning, great strength, and unwavering bravery, our proctors might recommend us for our final upgrade. But, of course," added Melan, "we had to survive first."

The Combat monomakia shrieked a wordless battle cry and lunged forward with deadly intent, claws outstretched. Flinching, Melan rolled, and came up shooting. The shots hit their mark, but the young monomakia did little to no damage, weak compared to the thick armor of the other monomakia.

Said monomakia shrugged of the shots as if it were nothing but irritating flea bites, and snarled in annoyance. Behind it, Melan could see the timer ticking, and he felt his heart sink in his chest.

At this rate, he'd be dead before the halfway mark was reached.

Lunging to his feet, Melan focused on the slight wings he had been given, and shot up into the air. While the wings weren't made for actual flying, perhaps they would be enough to carry out this one plan...

He flipped over the surprised monomakia, and landed on its armored back with a loud clank. Unfortunately, his landing wasn't as flawless as he wished it could be. With the metal armor of the Combat monomakia smooth and unblemished, his odd feet couldn't catch a purchase upon it, and he felt himself began to slip.

Desperate to stay upon the back, he quickly dug his sword into a chink in the armor.

Instantly, the Combat monomakia let out a shrill scream of pain and rage, whipping its head around to snap powerful jaws at him. Melan yelped in shock when its fangs came awfully close to shredding his arm. The monomakia was a lot more flexible than he originally guessed. This would put a damper on his plan. But before he could start to reevaluate his plan, it decided to do that for him.

"Nnngh!" The monomakia sent him flying yet again with a sharp buck, and he landed just like he had been taught to: in a roll. Slapping the ground as he hit it, he used the force of throw to send him into a flipping roll away from his enemy.

Melan landed on his feet, and turned in time to see a massive tail bigger than him swing straight for his head. Ducking and dodging, Melan moved with the Combat monomakia in a deadly dance, sending shots at chinks in its armor from time to time. As usual, the shots did nothing to help his cause, and seemed to only make the other monomakia more determined to kill him.

He felt something akin to despair ache in his chest. He wanted to live! He wanted to be strong, and to do his best for Brigadoon!

Suddenly, he felt the despair change into harden resolve. That was right. He WAS going to live. He</i> WAS going to be strong, and he WAS going to do his best for Brigadoon.

Starting. Right. Now.

Melan snarled, and with a ferocity that stunned the monomakia before him, actually charged his opponent. Deftly avoiding the shot of pressurized water that was aimed at him, he shoved his gun into a gap into the leg armor of the monomakia, tilted upward, and fired.

The effect was instant.

Keening in pain, the Combat monomakia slumped down on one knee as it clutched its wounded leg. Melan used his wings to speed up his movements, and constantly kept up the attacks, not giving the enemy a chance to recover.

The Combat monomakia swung almost desperately at him, but Melan just leaped back out of range, rapidly firing his gun at any and all chinks in its armor.

Evidently enraged at its weakness, the Combat monomakia growled deep in its chest and shot water at him again. This time, when Melan leaped aside to avoid it, the monomakia whipped up its other hand and shot another stream of water.

This shot ripped into Melan's shoulder, nearly severing his entire left arm. Gritting his teeth to keep from fainting, he staggered behind a nearby rock and collapsed. Both monomakia took the time to breathe, and to lick their wounds. Sucking in air from the pain, Melan took stock of his gun arm.

The arm was barely hanging on by a thread, and completely useless. All it was now was dead weight that would only slow him down in the long run. Melan paused.

Or maybe...

His thought was cut off when a loud rumble informed him that the Combat monomakia was on the move. He dared a peek around the rock side.

The enemy had somehow found a piece of twine that it had used to bind a makeshift splint for its wounded leg. It was shuffling along awkwardly, and its head swung to and fro, looking for its prey: him.

Melan swallowed, and glanced at the clock. While it was past the halfway mark, he still had the other half of the time period to survive. It was now or never.

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The Combat monomakia huffed, twitching occasionally from the sharp pains that lanced up from its leg.

She was stunned at the fact that a trainee had managed to do so much damaged to her. Never before, when she had fought past trainees had she ever been so injured. A sense of respect for the tiny blue monomakia had bloomed, and the Combat monomakia felt an excitement that she had not felt for a long time.

Here was a worthy warrior, at last. This one would go down into the books of history for sure, she thought with relish.

The Combat monomakia rumbled slightly in amusement, looking about for said monomakia.

Not like she would make it easy for the tiny warrior though. There was still plenty of time for this battle to end in tragedy.

A flash of movement caught her attention, and she swung her head in the direction of a large rock.

The Combat monomakia stiffened instantly, and carefully slunk toward the obstacle. She made sure to keep her breathing entirely silent, and lift her injured leg carefully to not let it drag on the ground. She curled her claws in eager anticipation.

A step, then another, all done in complete silence. Just a few more steps and then-

Roaring in triumph, the boulder went flying with a quick flick of the tail and- the Combat monomakia froze in mid roar. Laying there was nothing more than a bloody arm. Before she could process the fact that she had been led into a trap, said trap was sprung.

The tiny blue monomakia dashed from another boulder behind her to do exactly what it had done to her before. The Combat monomakia let out a scream of both surprise and pain as her other leg was stabbed repeatedly through slight chinks in her armor.

She swung her arms toward the pest with both hands outstretched, but to her immense shock the blue trainee stabbed both of her hands, obliterating her water spouts. Ignoring the fact that he had just practically won the battle, she lunged forward with the last of her strength and smacked the runt across the grounds into a wall.

As her body collapsed and she began to slip into unconsciousness, the Combat monomakia noticed in great amusement that the he was also become unconscious.

She'd guessed right: he would go down into the history books alright- as the only Gunswordsman trainee to ever fight a Combat monomakia to a draw.

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"Whoa... did- did that really happen?"

The class had crowded all around Melan, enthralled with his tale of his test. Next to him, Marin gave him a comforting hug, and he offered a soft look in return. Melan gave the stunned student a look, annoyed at the fact that someone might not believe him.

"Of course. I would never tell lies about my training. It would be disrespectful to the memories and honor of the course." He answered stiffly. Mrs. Kurihara sputtered at his indignant tone for some reason.

"The honor? You must be joking!" Melan shifted and just the hint of growl came from his chest. He glanced at the shocked teacher.

"How so?"

"Out of a hundred students, you and two others were the only ones to survive?! That's just... that's just horrible!"

Melan shook his head in disbelief even as Marin squeezed his arm and looked at him worriedly.

"You do not realize what we trained for, human. If I had not gone through such dangerous training, how could I ever been prepared for the many battles I went through to save Brigadoon and Earth?" The teacher gaped for a moment, but Melan continued on, uncaring. "We all knew what we were getting into. In fact that was the first test. They told us the risks, and the fact that only three of us would likely make it. They gave us the options of either becoming a trainee or going away to become a personal bodyguard of a Council member. Several backed down, and were promptly taken away, more than likely to be killed."

The last statement sent a wave gasps throughout the room, and Melan quickly held up a paw to stall any forth coming questions.

"You must realize, we monomakia are made with a specific purpose in mind. If they were too cowardly to take the chance of becoming a trainee, then how could they ever adequately protect someone? A bodyguard must protect their master at all costs, including their lives. If they are not willing, then they are worthless." Melan shifted slightly and glanced back at the stunned students and teacher. "I will not lessen the seriousness of the training, or the brutality of it. If we succeeded, if we survived, we would gain the immense honor of becoming a Gunswordsman and the duty to protect all of Brigadoon. Nothing else mattered. I had to become strong, to shove aside my weaknesses in order to make it. So I did. And I survived."

Melan sat back, and gazed solemnly around the room at the humans that crowded it. The teacher seemed incredibly horrified by his tale, but some of the students seemed to have taken in the meaning of his words. Kabamoto looked thoughtful, and he leaned forward when he noticed Melan looking at him.

"I noticed the fact that you say you were made? Do you mean that literally?"

"Yes, I mean it literally. I am a monomakia, a living weapon, made for the duty of battle." Kabamoto opened his mouth to ask another question, but the shrill ring of the bell sent the children scattering like bugs. Mrs. Kurihara seemed to leave the room rather shakily, and soon Melan was left all alone with Marin.

Melan glanced down at her, a little nervous. How would she take to his tale of his childhood? Would she be as horrified as her teacher? Would she-

"Melan." He jolted at her voice, and instinctively turned in time to catch her as she hugged him tightly. "Thank you for sharing. I know your past must be important to you, so you opening up like that was really brave." Melan blinked, and then buried his face into her soft hair, relieved.

"It was nothing." Marin shook her head furiously, and glared up at him with watery eyes.

"Don't say that! You saying so much about your past, reveals a lot to one. Plus now, I feel like I can understand you a little better. And that," she whispered into his chest, "means a lot to me." Melan felt his heart swell, and he tilted her head for a kiss.

"I love you, little one."

Marin sniffled, and returned the kiss.

"Love you too."

For a moment, the two just sat there, in the empty classroom, holding each other. Melan stroked Marin's head affectionately with a paw, and Marin buried her face into his chest. Then Marin looked up at Melan.

"Melan?"

"Hmm?"

"That Combat monomakia you fought... was it Kushatohn?" Melan stared at Marin, and then laughed.

"Yes, it was Kushatohn I fought that day. That battle ended up earning me her trust and respect, which you know proved invaluable when the rest of Brigadoon believed I was a traitor." he leaned back in the chair and stared up at the ceiling, where beyond, he knew Brigadoon lay. "Marin, I have never felt happier than at this moment with you. And to think, that battle that far off day would lead me to great comrades, honor, and you." He tilted his sword toward the sky he couldn't see.

"I have never, and will not question this path that I have chosen. I am a proud Gunswordsman! I am Melan Blue, and I say this: I have completed my duty to Brigadoon! And now" he turned toward Marin, "my duty is to you. Forever and always."