Chapter 8: Something's Strange (3)

Chatter filled the large room as friends and fellow classmates drone on about their days. Demian was sitting at one of the large wooden tables, mechanically eating his food without tasting it.

The past few weeks have been strange. He had been strange.

"I can't wait!" Laxel exclaimed loudly while making a slashing motion with his hands, as if he were holding an invisible sword. "I'm gonna bag so many, I'll be the envy of all!"

They have officially been enrolled in Oakswood Academy for one month and two weeks, that means that in two weeks it will be the hunting trip. The hunting trip was a special two day event where all students were forced to participate. The first years' hunting trips were held on the second and fifth months, while the second years had theirs on the first, third, and sixth months.

It was preformed in a group to test one's magical and physical strength. Though that wasn't everything. The students would be broken up into teams of four and only given a small rucksack. They would be tested on how well they could coordinate with each other along with their survival skills.

Ophelia giggled at Laxel's childish pantomime.

And this was why the past few weeks have been strange to Demian. He had been hanging out with Ophelia and Laxel more and he couldn't understand why.

The world was also hazy and it was hard for him to think. His brain has been muddled here lately.

"Oh!" Ophelia exclaimed, a hand over her mouth. "I forgot I made these." She fished out two small pouches from her bag.

Laxel perked up like an excited child. "Cookies! I love your baking, Ophelia!" He held his hands out and eagerly waited for Ophelia to drop one of the pouches into them.

Ophelia giggled while she gave Laxel a pouch filled with butter cookies. She then turned to Demian and gave him one.

Demian looked down at the bag. This had become a weekly thing. Ophelia would find time to bake and would always wrap some up for him and Laxel.

They weren't the best of cookies. Being a crown prince, Demian had tasted far superior delectables but there was something about the ones Ophelia made. For being plain, they were addicting. They also strangely smelled like Ophelia's pheromones which he had caught a whiff of on a few occasions, much to Ophelia's horror because she hadn't realized she had been releasing them.

"Make sure you guys eat up! You both have training today so you need your strength!"

It was the one day a week that Demian always looked forward to. He didn't look forward to the day because of the class itself, he came to absolutely loathe sword training, but it was a class he shared with Remi. It wasn't his only class with Remi. He shared a total of four with the beta, but this one was different. It was the only one where he could see Remi running around, sweating, and full of determination-the only time Remi looked alive while putting in his best efforts.

It was also the only time when the world wasn't hazy.

A long drawn out sigh snapped Demian from his thoughts. The cheerful Ophelia now wore a forlorn expression as she stared out at the tables. The table that held her focus was one filled with a bunch of happily gossiping young ladies. And in the center of it all were two betas, one looking as if he belonged and the other looking like he wanted to be anywhere else.

Demian felt his heart thump painfully against his chest. How was it that everyone else could easily talk to and eat with Remi while Demian has a hard time getting just one sentence out.

"Don't worry, Ophelia," Laxel comforted the little omega. "They're just jealous."

Demian happened to be looking at Ophelia out of the corner of his eyes and noticed the girl roll her eyes. "Really," her voice was light and airy, "I just hope we could be friends." Her sentence and tone of voice did not match the look she had worn earlier, the one she thought no one had seen.

This was another thing that seemed stranger and bugged the hell out of him. Ophelia's words and facial expressions contradicted each other sometimes. If it wasn't for the fact that he for some odd reason felt drawn to her, he wouldn't have even bothered with getting close to her.

Breakfast ended shortly after that and Demian darted off to his next class. He just needed to survive an hour before he could see Remi again.

Economics dragged on, and Demian felt himself falling asleep. He had been having restless sleep for a few weeks now and the exhaustion was slowly getting to him.

He had been plagued with nightmares for a little over a month. Normally, he would work through them to figure out what was causing him so much distress during waking hours but he could never remember his dreams after he woke up.

Economics finally ended. He bolted up out of his seat and made his way to the training hall outside while trying not to run.

The locker room was filled with the other students. Laxel was already there, showing off his muscles with three other idiots-sorry, muscles for brains.

Remi and Dane strolled in after Demian, looking as if they weren't in a hurry. In fact, Remi was looking kind of sluggish and his skin seemed paler than usual.

Demian squared his shoulders while trying not to look too obvious. He then made his way over to where Remi and Dane were changing after he had finished changing out of his own uniform.The freckled beta shot him a narrowed glare, his brown eyes looking as black as obsidian.

"Remi?" Demian cleared his throat, but not too loudly for fear of drawing attention. Remi paused in his action of sliding off the white bottom shirt and looked at Demian from over his shoulder. Demian clenched his hands into fists at his sides at the erotic picture that just a bare shoulder and neck could be. "Are you feeling alright?"

Remi's pinkish-orange orbs widened in mute surprise. "Yeah," Remi finally managed to say after wetting his bottom lip with his tongue, effectively drawing Demian's eyes to it. "Just a little tired."

"Oh. . .okay. Try to get some rest when you can." Demian turned around and fled-walked quickly out of the room, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Why was it so hard to form a sentence? No, why was it so hard to not sound like an idiot? Which he wasn't. Demian was actually pretty smart and never had trouble holding conversations but here recently it seemed as if Demian was turning into Laxel. He shivered at the thought.

The rest of the class filed out onto the field shortly after Demian. The professor, Mr. Ortish, was sitting on the ground cross-legged. He was a brute of a man whose arm was bigger than both of Demian's thighs. His raggedy green hair hung long with the bangs thrown up in a loose tie and his face was riddled with scars.

Mr. Ortish opened his eyes to reveal icy blue orbs once everyone was lined up. "Five kilometers, go!" His rough voice barked out the command.

Demian rolled up his sleeves and began running around the outer ring of the field at a steady pace. There were several grunts of frustration behind as the other students fell into a jog behind Demian.

"Curse that man!" Remi's voice rang out like a clear bell among all the grumbling. Remi was the most vocal about his dislike for the class and Mr. Ortish, though he was never disciplined for it. In fact, Demian was pretty sure Mr. Ortish found Remi's complaining amusing.

If Demian remembered correctly, Mr. Ortish was born in the Ashen Kingdom before becoming a traveling mercenary. Maybe he was easy on Remi because he and Dane were the only other ones in class that were from the Ashen Kingdom.

The Ashen Kingdom only had a total of five students enrolled in this year's class. They had mainly made up the students in the previous years while Grove Kingdom had the least amount. Grove Kingdom this year had a moderate amount while Harlow dominated the students this year. The other kingdoms also had several students enrolled. Quite a few hailed from the Bastenian Empire and the Vestia Kingdom.

Sweat rolled down Demian's temples and down his face before falling onto his collarbone. Running five kilometers wasn't easy but it wasn't the worst outcome, they had to run seven last week. That ended up with Remi and a few others passed out on the ground. And running was just the warm up!

Laxel soon passed by Demian, followed by Ronni, another alpha. Demian swiped the back of his hand across his face before pushing himself to go even faster. Physical activity would be a lot easier if he didn't have all of his restrictions but that wasn't an option he ever wanted to take.

The five kilometers were finally over. Demian made his way over to where the water fountain was and got him a drink as everyone waited for the stragglers. Which of course was Remi. Dane, Remi's shadow, had managed to pass Demian and Ronni and finished in second. Demian was seriously questioning whether that kid was actually a beta, he was more like an alpha than the actual alphas.

Remi finished the laps third to last. He stumbled over to where everyone else was and collapsed down on the ground, rolling onto his back.

Demian, deciding to try and get over this awkward stage with Remi, made a cup out of ice and filled it up with water from the fountain. He made his way over to where Remi was laying down, Dane awkwardly fanning him.

"Here." Demian held the ice cup down toward Remi. Dark eyelashes fluttered over orange eyes as Remi looked hesitantly up at him. Before Dane could protest, Remi grabbed the cup, his fingers brushed against Demian's hand and Demian swore Remi felt hotter than normal.

"Thanks." Remi sat up and took a long swig from the cup. After he was done, he ran the cup over his sweat covered face with a sigh of relief. "So handy," he mumbled happily.

A tingle ran through Demian's body at seeing Remi rub something made from his magic over his body. Demian looked away, afraid that his emotions were written all over his face.

Just then, Mr. Ortish called for everyone to gather.

Remi climbed up from the ground with an annoyed sigh. "What am I supposed to do with this?" He asked while looking down at the cup made from ice.

Demian cleared his throat before releasing his magic. The cup in Remi's hand disappeared in a sparkling cloud of ice dust before blinking out of existence.

"Thanks, by the way," Remi said, looking off towards the side as the three of them made their way over to where the teacher was standing. "I really needed that."

"Ah, no problem." Demian was just happy that Remi was finally speaking more than two words to him.

"Listen up!" Mr. Ortish's booming voice carried out through the training grounds. "You'll be pairing up into teams for today's practice." The students became animated with chatter at the prospect of finally no longer fighting against the dummies.

Before Dane could do anything, Laxel came up behind him and slapped his back. "Let's team up! You seem pretty monstrous for a beta! I can't wait to see for myself just how strong you are!"

Dane stared wide eyed at the brute, not sure on how he could deny a Duke's son.

"Go ahead," Remi said, probably already guessing Dane's dilemma.

"What about you?"

Demian took his chance and wrapped an arm around Remi's slender shoulders. He decided to ignore the fact that Remi stiffened up under his touch. "I'll team up with him. If that's alright with you?" He directed his last sentence towards Remi.

"Ah. . .yeah, that's fine."

The four of them walked over to where the practice swords were and grabbed one each.

Demian was secretly looking forward to this. He should go easy on Remi so that they could keep fighting for longer.

The two squared off against each other, taking on a defensive pose. As soon as the whistle blew, Remi lunged at him.

Demian brought up his sword with a grin as he blocked Remi's swing. He put all his weight on his back right foot and pushed against Remi's sword, sending the slender teen back. His heart skipped a beat when Remi flashed him a playful smirk, oh how Demian had missed seeing that smirk.

They parried blows for a while before a mischievous glint made Remi's eyes flash pink. Remi spun, swinging his foot low to sweep Demian off his feet.

Demian saw it coming and jumped. "Is that all you've got?" He teased Remi in a playful voice.

Remi snorted before lunging forward again. Demian blocked the attack while also using the same trick. He swept his leg underneath one of Remi's feet. . .and miscalculated.

Demian lost his balance at the same time that Remi started falling backwards. The two of them landed in a heap on the dirt ground in a tangle of limbs.

Remi wiggled underneath Demian, trying to break free. "Get off me."

"Sorry." Demian started to move to stand up when a deliciously sweet smell filled his senses. He found himself leaning closer to Remi's covered neck without even realizing it.

The smell of roses and freshly cut grass greeted him. His nose slid along the smooth, unblemished skin. There was also the faint scent of sunlight in Remi's pheromones. If this were the beta's pheromones then they were more addicting than any omega's.

Demian felt Remi shivering below him. He knew it was extremely rude of him to smell another like this, but he just couldn't make himself stop.

A rough hand wrapped around his shoulder and pulled him up, startling Demian out of his delirium.

"Mr. Willy, take Mr. Sato back to his room." Mr. Ortish's voice felt like it was going to break Demian's ear drum, and then his words registered into Demian's clouded brain.

Remi was still laying on the ground, his skin was flushed red and sweat was soaking through his outfit. His eyes were closed and his breathing was heavy. Why was he still laying on the ground? Had Demian hurt him when they fell? It was possible, Demian was after all fairly larger than Remi.

Dane put down his practice sword and rushed over to Remi's side. He wrapped one arm around Remi's shoulders and another under his legs. Remi let out a small whimper at being moved.

Demian's heart plummeted. "Shouldn't he go to the infirmary? He wasn't feeling well earlier either." Demian's worry seeped into his voice.

Dane was too concerned over Remi to shoot his normal glare at Demian.

"Nah," Mr. Ortish answered Demian. "It looks like he just jared something. He should probably get something for his fever though, as you said, it seemed as if he wasn't feeling well. The poor boy was probably coming down with a cold without realizing."

Demian wasn't sure if that should make him feel better or not. Maybe he should stop by the infirmary after school and pick up a fever reducing potion and then maybe check up on Remi. Yeah, he should do that, see for himself that it's nothing major.

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