1 The Silence of Rain

Will stared up into the sky through the window placed right next to his seat. The peaceful blue skies and cotton like clouds stretched beyond the furthest point Will could see and brought a certain calmness to his heart. More than anything in the world, Will wished that he could turn into a small bird and fly away to the heavens. Fly to a world where he could be free. However, Will's wishes never came true.

"William Rainn. I will not excuse your lack of effort just because you are of royal birth."

Will turned his eyes away from the skies and stared into the eyes of the person before him. "I understand professor."

The professor before him was a young woman of the age twenty four. She was a very accomplished genius professor who had reached the peak of her profession in a mere ten years. And for some reason, such a person had decided to sit in a classroom and teach children from all around the world.

"Why did you skip class again? Didn't I warn you last time that such behavior would not be tolerated?"

Will calmly fixed his eyes back to the sky before replying, "I understand professor. I will not make the same mistake."

"That's the problem!" Said the professor with a frustrated growl, "This isn't the first time you've skipped class, nor the second time. You've either missed or arrived late to almost every single class we've had this semester."

"I understand professor."

"Do you really?" Asked the professor with an unconvinced tone. "If you understand than I expect you to be on time for tomorrow. No exceptions allowed."

"I understand professor."

"Stop saying 'I understand professor' unless you mean it. And look at me when I'm talking to you, William Rainn."

Will flicked his eyes once again back onto his teacher.

"Good boy," said the professor with a frown. "Why can't you always be this obedient."

"I apologize professor."

The professor narrowed her eyes. "I will come pick you up at the front of your house thirty minutes before class starts. Who better be prepared by then."

"I understand professor. I will now take my leave."

Will got up from his seat and made his way towards the exit when the professor got up called his name. "William... why do you not attend class properly? Is there a reason?"

Will stopped in place and waited for a moment before turning around to face the teacher. Instead of answering, Will stared at the professor with his usual calm stare.

"Is there something you wish to tell me?"

After experiencing the silent treatment of Will one last time, the professor let out a heavy sigh. "... please attend class tomorrow. I'll promise that it'll be a class that you will enjoy."

"I'll do my best to attend class then professor."

The professor let out a sigh of relief before giving Will a warm smile. "I look forward to meeting you there. Have a safe trip home, William."

"Thank you professor."

Will grabbed his bag that was near the door and slung it over his shoulder before exiting the class. The academy was fairly empty and Will barely encountered any other person as most of the students had already left at this time.

When Will reached his dormitory, he walked up the stairs and used his key to open his room. However, just as he was about to shut the door behind him, a hand stopped the door from closing. A moment later, a tall boy entered the room with a couple of other boys who seemed to pale in size.

"Hello Prince William~ You don't mind if I come into your room right?"

Will gave the group of boys an uninterested glance before ignoring them all together. Instead, Will proceeded to head further into his room and placed his backpack again the wall. Will's lack of interest seemed to piss off the tall boy as the boy suddenly kicked Will's unprotected back and sent Will sprawling into the floor.

"You cocky bastard. How dare you ignore me," screamed the tall boy with anger. "Just because you are of royal blood doesn't mean that you are above us all."

Instead of bothering to reply, Will instead focused his efforts on picking his body off of the ground. On the floor beneath Will were a series of flakey brown spots that might've been red at some point.

Being ignored for the second time in a row, the tall boy finally lost his cool and started to repeatedly kick Will who was still on the floor.

"YOU-" Will felt a kick connect to the side of his face, "SON-" this time Will felt it on his stomach, "OF A-" Will blinked as a kick hit him in the face with enough force to cause Will's neck to whip back, "WHORE!"

As many minutes passed, Will could feel a hot warm liquid messily drench his face, which was most likely blood from his nose. However, Will did not feel any pain. As a matter of fact, had been a long time since he had felt pain.

"Yo Charles. We should really stop. Even if it's true that he is the son of a illegitimate lover and that he possesses a useless skill set, he is still a royal prince. We shouldn't rough him up too much. We can always come back later."

As fresh blood started to cover the floor in Will's room, the tall boy's friend started to persuade Charles to leave.

Charles glared at the boy who had suggested him to stop before spitting on Will who was lying on the floor. "It doesn't matter, Prince William probably has a recovery potion somewhere due to his elevated status as royalty."

Charles knelt down and smirked at the bloody face of Will before caressing Will's dark grey hair. "I heard that all the royalty of Maraire had blue hair and eyes like the scales of a sea serpent. I wonder if you truly have royal blood in your veins. You truly are a lowly rain catcher in a family of sea serpents."

Charles grabbed a fistful of hair and slowly raised Will up before whispering into his ear. "You might be the prince of some country but in the academy, you are a worthless piece of trash worse then the poorest of commoners. So when I call your name, you will answer quickly and refer to me as your highness. Understand?"

However, Charles didn't receive the answer he wanted and instead received Will's usual calm state.

"This fucking whore's son really doesn't know how to obey orders like a bitch-"

"Charles, we really need to go now. Anymore and we will be penalized for causing trouble."

Just as Charles was about to go into another fit of rage and violence, his friends managed to hold Charles back. Charles gave one last spit onto Will's head before heading out of the room. "I'll let you off for today Rain Catcher but I expect you to listen what I said next time. If you don't, I'll promise that it'll be a lesson that you will enjoy."

William slowly brought himself off the ground as he heard his door being furiously slammed behind the leaving figures of Charles and his friends. He walked over to his kitchen to open a cabinet and took out a bottle with a cream colored liquid inside . He bit off the cork that was sealing off the top and took a swig of the liquid.

The effect was almost instantaneous and the bruises and cuts all over his body started to heal immediatly. After drinking the entire potion, Will placed empty bottle onto the table and closed his eyes.

As he stood there with his blood covered face silently facing the darkness with closed eyes, the sky started to rumble as the faint pitter patter of rain drowned the world of all other sounds.