- Text Size +
Story Notes:

All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Chapter Notes:

This is set in the same universe as "Price of Pride". You don't necessarily need to read it to get whats going on here though. Just wanted to use the character again in something quick and sizey.

Of all the classes in the Imperial Academy, Septimus disliked potion craft the most. In fact the young noble mage wasn't quite sure why it was taught at all at the highest institution of learning in the Empire. It was inelegant. All forms of magic generally relied to some extent on the user's magical talent, their ability to weave mana, their personal strength of will. Potions relied on none of these. It was more or less glorified cooking in the noble's refined opinion, tossing things into a cauldron and calling it magic.

It was also coincidentally his worst subject. The young blonde haired noble mage could weave elegant spells. He could channel his mana with the best of students. When it came to mixing potions however he lacked the patience for it. Which presented rather a problem. His marks had been slipping in the class. It was expected from his family that he not fail a single class, let alone one beneath the nobility such as potion craft. So he was in a bind as the midterm examination was very close. It was a project, to create a mixture using a selected pool of ingredients and present an explanation of its properties.

He ran his fingers through is hair as he considered the matter. Pairing up with someone would be optimal, but who to pick? Who would be grateful enough for his noble presence and more importantly who would be able to carry him to a flawless score. Lastri... no, she was probably still smarting at their breakup. Javel was a good drinking buddy but certainly not one that could carry both of them to a flawless win. Arista was a fine option, but their families were rivals so it was a poor idea. Might make him fail just to advance the family politics.

The class had ended and students were already pairing up, some even approaching him with offers. He politely declined with an apologetic smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Ah he had the perfect one in mind. Probably the only time one would describe said person as perfect anything. The man stood up and started walking toward the back of the classroom, affixing a smile on his face as he did.

Rea Walshor, easily one of the most subpar mages to ever walk through the doors of the Imperial Academy. The mousy looking redheaded girl was actually awake, though she looked like she was about to pass out on her desk in a moment. She was scribbling something in her little leatherbound notebook, green eyes going over her notes before she cracked a loud yawn. Yes, she was a subpar mage, mana control basically completely non-existent. However she was also a genius of potion craft. Even the instructor couldn't keep up with her. A commoner certainly wouldn't mind his presence, really he expected she'd jump at the opportunity.

"Ah, excuse me, Rea. Would you be interested in collaborating in the midterm project?" He asked.

Rea looked up and squinted up at him for a second. By the gods, those dark circles around her eyes certainly did her no favors. It was a pity really, otherwise the freckles were quite cute in a common sort of way. "Septimus... didn't you blow up your last love potion?" She asked.

He cleared his throat. "W-well that was an isolated incident I assure you. I'm quite a capable potion maker you know. Though of course I lack your impressive skills."

Rea stared blankly at him before cracking a loud yawn. "You also set your toga on fire last month when trying to make a healing salve." She remarked as she closed her notebook and slowly stood up. She blew a bang that fell over her face up, only for it to fall back down over her face. She seemed to be considering whether it was worth tucking it back. Decided against it.

Okay so that had been one he had hoped she'd been sleeping through. "A-ah, well I'm quite sure I could still be of use because..." He was actually struggling to find a good reason she'd take him on. "I'm quite an able assistant! Yes, I could assist you with whatever you might need." That one took quite a bit of pride swallowing to do. The late Juno Valis would never have done it, but Septimus knew that pride got in the way at times.

"Assistant..." She scratched her chin and her green eyes for once seemed to see him rather than look through him. There was something in them that was ignited. Like a spark of sorts.

Finally she shrugged. "Sure, I guess I could use an assistant for what I'm planning. Head over to my room tomorrow night and we'll get started." With that rather lackluster answer given she yawned again and started heading out of the room.

Septimus silently pumped his fist behind her back. That was pretty much an automatic perfect score. Rea Walshor was the best at her craft, even if it was a lower form of arcane talent. It meant playing assistant she supposed but there were worse fates than playing second fiddle. He smirked as she walked out the door. Just like his father always said, if you couldn't be the best just ride the coat tails of the best to the top. It was just simple logic really. Turning a bad situation into a sure win was what it meant to be a noble.

___________________________________________________

The room of Rea Walshor was something of a mystery to pretty much every student. People often figured she just slept outside rather than in a room. Some others figured her room was basically filled with poisonous plants and stepping inside would mean death. As Septimus stepped inside he found it was actually a little more tame than expected. Half of it was a normal room, the other half was dominated by a long table with glass beakers and mixing instruments. There was a vent of sorts built into the ceiling of the room. That was certainly  not standard issue. Probably to avoid the fumes going out into the halls.

Septimus found that Rea was already at work when he entered. Far more interesting than the room was the redhead herself at work. She still looked quite tired and exhausted on the surface, however her fingers and hands moved with an expert ease. She set various chemicals and substances burning under a flame and mixed others at timed intervals. She added specific measurements with different sized spoons. Her lower mouth was covered in a brown cloth and her usual loose ponytail was pulled tightly back. Watching her move with purpose was something... new.

"When you see that one is boiling, move it off the flame and over there on the rack." Rea didn't look up from her work, just gestured to another beaker with a pair of tongs.

Septimus was pulled out of his viewing and nodded. "Right yes of course." The blonde haired man stood next to the beaker and watched it. It started to bubble lightly and he lifted a hand toward it only for a pair of tongs to smack down on his knuckles.

"No, no. I said boil, not bubble. Give it another minute or two, it won't have bonded properly otherwise. You'll know when its ready when it changes color." She said with a bit of annoyance edging on her tone.

He massaged his abused knuckles and watched the beaker for a bit more of a boil. He didn't really see the difference. At least he didn't until it started to boil like she said and it changed colors from blue to a purple. He took that as the sign and lifted it up using a pair of tongs and set it on the rack she had indicated. By the time it was set out she was nodding to herself and stepped back away from the table.

"I'm gonna wash up. That vial is what we're gonna use for the midterm. Its a refined form of another mixture I tried out before." She said as she walked into the small and cramped little washroom off to the side and started using a washbasin to wash her hands and face.

"Oh? What's it do?" He asked as she peered at it.

"What was the name of that one girl that challenged me to a duel a few months back? Uhhh... on the tip of my tongue. Funo something?" She asked.

"Juno Valis, she was pretty well known you know." Septimus said, feeling just the smallest bit of foreboding at that name.

"Right, well anyway, I refined the potion I used on her. This one is a temporary version of that. Will only last for about a week. Mixed it with another potion of mine to increase durability. Theoretically should be able to withstand most anything. So invincible shrink potion." She said before walking out. "Anyway, you're gonna drink it."

Septimus blinked. "Uhhh... I-I beg your pardon?" He surely misheard her.

"People say I don't pay attention, I said you're gonna drink it. Then I'll demonstrate what the effects are to Instructor Aniz." She repeated, slowing down her words a little.

The nobleman stared at Rea like she'd grown a second head with what she was telling him. She expected him to willingly drink the same potion that had done in one of the most powerful noble scions in all of the Academy? Not only that she was expecting him to basically be the thing she displayed to the whole class? The blonde cleared his throat and shook his head, affecting a more amicable smile.

"N-now now, surely there is another way to show it off. Like with an object or something! Yes, certainly that would show it off well enough." He suggested.

Rea cracked a yawn. "Its either you take a drink of that or I tell the instructor you didn't help out a bit. Your choice Septimus." She said with a casual shrug.

Now that was a real threat right there. He could always refuse and walk out the door, but then he was without a partner and everyone else had already paired up. It was basically this or he had to hope he could come up with something on his own. Given his own skills he rather doubted he could do that. He regarded the redhead carefully for a moment. She was a genius so the potion certainly wouldn't kill him or do anything aside from what she said it would.

It was simply a matter of pride versus perfection. Was he willing to humiliate himself in such a way to maintain the facade of perfection for his family? Well the answer was obvious. He walked over to the beaker on the rack and slowly lifted it up. He had cooled fairly quickly and he swished around the purple liquid in the beaker before looking at Rea seriously. It set his stomach doing flips because he had been present to see what happened to Juno Valis.

"Its not going to last forever, correct? Like you are sure?" He asked.

"As sure as I am about any of my potions. Will wear off in a weak, would stake my prized mushroom collection on it." She said with a nod.

"I'll hold you to that then. Well. Bottoms up." He lifted the beaker to his lips and took a long drink, getting the feeling he was going to regret this.

_______________________________________________________

The day of midterms was upon the Potions class and there had been a number of interesting mixtures. As well as some failures of course. Very, very bad failures. A few explosions of course as well given the nature of the class. Really it was tame compared to years past. However soon enough it came time for the redheaded Rea Walshor to walk up. She had a thin purple vial set out on display on the instructor's desk for display.

The dusky skinned Instructor Aniz lazily looked at her star pupil and lifted a brow. "Wasn't Septimus your partner? No showed?" She paused. "Come to think of it he wasn't here last class either." She mused.

Rea shook her head. "He's around." She said as she lifted up the vial and held it up for everyone to see.

"This is a different version of the mixture I used to squish Juno Valis in that duel a few months back. It has the potential to reduce the scale of a person to an ant, however I've also included *yawn* durability aspects in it. So getting stepped on won't get you killed." The redhead said at length. More than a few people looked uncomfortable at the mention of that duel while others, the instructor included, smirked.

"You got a demonstration ready? Just so you know, I'm not volunteering." Aniz said.

"Yep, got that all ready for you." She reached down and start slipping off the sandal on her right foot.

She pushed it forward once her pale bare foot was pulled from it and smack right in the middle where her sole would otherwise occupy was the naked and rather haggered form of Septimus. He had definitely looked better, blonde hair matted faintly with sweat and looking rather tired himself with some dark circles under his eyes. Rea allowed the disbelieving class to drink in her assistant on the sole of her sandal and stepped back.

"I gave him the mixture five days ago and he has been underfoot for those five days. I've been wearing him to all of my classes, constantly. That would be enough to crush anyone if they were that size but as you can see he is alive and well." Rea said with a nod. Well was a rather relative term really.

Aniz shook her head and looked up at the ceiling. "Rea, dear, you really need to learn some manner of social grace and sense." The woman sighed.

Rea shrugged. "He said he could do it and he wanted to help so. Perfect chance." The potion master said as she lifted her sandal up and shook it out into her open hand. The man cried out as he fell into her palm.

She held him up and out upon her hand before bringing her other hand down in a sharp clap. There was a muffled cry of pain from beneath but when she lifted her hand back up, he was indeed still alive. Albeit he was squirming in pain and letting out little moans. Rea grabbed his arms between her fingers and tried to pull. What normally would have torn him in half did nothing but it most certainly  did drag out some screams from him. Lastly she positioned him between three fingers rather like when one might fiddle with a pen and tried to straight her fingers. It should have broken his back but it didn't.

Finally she let him settle out into her palm. "I've made him completely invincible. You could drop him from the top of the academy, try to burn him alive, boil him, step on him, eat him, and he would still come out alive." No mention was made toward comfort as that seemed to be open to discussion there.

"P-please, Instructor Aniz..." The man moaned in pain.

Aniz stood up and idly plucked him from Rea's hand, dangling him before her bored looking expression by the leg. "I'll be the judge of how indestructible he is." She remarked as she dropped him to the floor.

He free fell through the air, screaming and waving his arms around him before landing on the floor. Hard. He let out a low moan of agony as he tried to crawl away from the brown toes dancing within the sandal behind him. Of course Aniz had no problem lifting her foot up and letting the shadow of her sandal sole fall over his crawling form. She looked at Rea with a lifted brow as though expecting her to start sweating and admit she was taking it easy on Septimus for show. The redhead said no such thing.

Aniz brought her foot down in a full stomp, loud enough that everyone in the room heard it as she contacted the tiled floors. She arched her foot up and ground and placed as much weight on it as possible. She got yelps of pain and suffering from below but no crunch or pop or snap of bones. She kept going, trying as hard as she possibly could to crush Septimus but it seemed Rea hadn't been lying. She stepped off the man and looked at Rea.

"Well I'll be damned. Done the impossible again seems like." The woman mused as she set her hand on her hip and actually had a bit of a smile quirk up her lips. "You continue to surprise me, kiddo. Highest marks, pretty sure no one in here is shocked by that. For you and your partner." She said with a little wave to Septimus.

"Phew, thanks, here I was afraid you might actually break something with that stomp!" Rea said with a tired little laugh.

Aniz snorted. "Trust me I wasn't taking it easy on my worst student. Boy wouldn't know how to mix potions even if you gave him detailed formulas. He should be happy you carried him through it. Though... a week. So what, is he stuck like this for two more days?" She mused.

Rea scratched her cheek. "Yeah I guess so. It'll wear off after-"

She couldn't even finish that before Aniz reached down and scooped up the poor noble mage and dropped him down between her rather amply bosom. She smirked. "I'll make sure to, ah, hang on to him for the next couple of days until it wears off. Ya know, just to make sure no one takes advantage of him." The woman said with a chuckle as she moved to seat herself back down.

The redhead blinked before nodding. "Right, sounds good to me. I was just gonna keep him in like a box or something until it wore off. But I'm sure you can do better than me *yawn* ah I'm probably gonna nap the rest of the class though." She mused as she dragged herself over to her seat and sat back down before slumping over her desk. Moments later gentle snores started to rise from her. On the upside of the week, they had both gotten the perfect scores Septimus had been hoping for.

You must login (register) to review.