A Blessed Curse [Rewrite]

Chapter 1 - A Fresh Start

"Okay, which sot decided that school had to start at seven? Seven?!"

Soleil looks up from her breakfast upon hearing her sister's complaints. Lune comes walking down the stairs, dark hair still disheveled but otherwise she looks presentable. Long bangs still cover the girl's left eye. Their mother follows behind her, exchanging a look with Soleil and offering a smile, carrying a bag and trying to shove a couple of books into it while walking down the stairs.

Quickly finishing her breakfast, Soleil gets up and walks to her mother to take Lune's bag from her "Careful, maman."

"It's fine, ma feu. Don't worry too much about your mother." Estelle smiles and pats Soleil's head, but still allows her to take the bag.

Soleil manages to return the smile, knowing the intention behind her mother's words. She doesn't fight it, instead turning to look at her sister, who is having a one-sided glaring contest with the empty cup Soleil left on the table "I'm gonna guess Lord Death, since it's his school."

Lune glances up at Soleil, staying silent for a moment before she comments "I'm gonna fight him."

"You'd lose." Soleil states, maintaining a neutral expression before she grins "Now hurry up. We're gonna end up being late on our first day at your pace."

"My pace is great, thank you very much."

Soleil chuckles and proceeds packing Lune's bag, not surprised in the slightest that her sister hadn't had the foresight to do so beforehand.

"Don't forget your student IDs. You didn't go through all that trouble to pick them up yesterday only to leave them at home." Estelle reminds them, handing Soleil their IDs.

"Merci." Soleil takes the IDs from her mother, putting Lune's in her bag while keeping her own on the table to bring it along and put in her own bag in a moment.

She remembers yesterday very well. None of them had been fond of all the stairs they had to climb – although Soleil figured she would get used to them – but they managed to arrive on time to talk to Lord Death. Lord Death had been... odd. He was a little eccentric and cheerful, and while that was pretty nice, it definitely wasn't what she had expected from the Grim Reaper himself. It will take some time getting used to.

When Lune has gotten ready to leave the house, still not fully awake yet, Soleil picks up an eye patch and ties it around her head. She adjusts it to make sure it covers her right eye, before turning to Lune.

The younger twin frowns "So we're really doing this again?"

"Yeah." Soleil confirms, picking up her bag. She briefly makes eye contact with their mother "It's for the best."

Estelle nods and Soleil smiles. The girls say goodbye to their mother and make their way out the door to head to the academy. Even though they have only been there once before, the large building in the center of the city is hard to miss. Soleil takes a breath and starts walking.

It will take some time getting used to all of this, but hopefully these changes will be for the best.

~*~

It's a small miracle, but despite Lune's slow start in the morning, the twins arrive at the school with time to spare. The building is still as massive as it was the previous day and it's only thanks to the brief instructions Lord Death gave them get to their first class that they're able to find the classroom without getting terribly lost first.

They have a few minutes to spare as Soleil allows Lune to slide into one of the seats first before following after her to take the place to her right. Sitting down and taking out a few supplies from her bag, Soleil picks up on the chatter surrounding them and the occasional look aimed in their direction. She has to take a breath, reassuring herself that it's simple curiosity rather than hostility. Whether they like it or not, she and Lune stand out with curly, bright white and straight, pitch black hair respectively. On top of that, it's a relatively small class with obviously distinct and different people. Any new face would draw attention, let alone two. It's only natural people would be interested.