"Alright you wimps, stand to attention!" called the drill sergeant, "All Keyblade wielders march up front and center!" Several of the children in front of him, ranging from around 7 or 8 to almost 15, walked slowly, almost hesitantly, into a smaller line in front of him. They were all so young...but that's the way it always was. Keyblade wielders lost the ability to call their Keyblades as they grew older, but the age differed among individuals. Except in some very rare cases. The drill sergeant himself, now almost 27, had once been a Keyblade wielder, but had lost the ability and been demoted to teaching the new recruits.

"Alright, ladies!" he yelled, "You will all be assigned guardian groups! These groups will be your family, your life, your flesh and blood! After your training, you and your group will be an elite unit, working as if you are all extensions of the same body! I will stand in a spot and call out the names of the people in that group! All those whose names I call at that spot will gather in front of me and stand there while I announce the rest of the groups! Got it?!"

"SIR YES SIR!" echoed around the practice yard. The drill sergeant smirked and moved to one spot, pointing to the ground and reading a few names off a list he pulled out of his pocket. There were fewer groups to be made since most of the Keyblade wielders had already been called into battle. He got to the last group very quickly.

"Hart Glenn, Atticus Marshall, Rory McMellan, Cain and Cyrus Tarsier!" The group assembled slowly. The drill sergeant gave them all a look, nodded, and walked to the center of the training area.

"Alright!" he yelled so everyone could hear him, "Tomorrow the training begins! Today, get to know the others in your group!" With that he walked out of the area. Hart Glenn looked around at his group.

Rory was obviously the youngest, looking to be no older than 8 years old, and was clearly a White Mage, due to the light colored robes she wore that made her bright red hair and almost luminescent green eyes stand out. Her hair was held back in four pigtails. Her skin was pale, but covered in freckles, and she smiled happily at the others.

Atticus looked to be around 17 years, and was also obviously a Mage, but not a White Mage. No, he was a Black Mage. He wore a black turtleneck and dark jeans, his black hair wasn't short, but wasn't long either. He had glasses, small, round, wire-framed glasses, which hid his bright blue eyes.

Cain and Cyrus ('Or was that one Cain and that one Cyrus?' Wondered Hart) were twins in every sense of the word. They both had orange-ish blonde hair and the same aqua-green eyes. Their skin was tan, and one had freckles. The other had a small nick out of his left ear. Hart wished he knew which was which so he could learn by these markings how to tell them apart...

Meanwhile, all the others looked over to examine the Keyblade wielder they had been assigned to. Hart was insanely skinny, but also tall. He had dirty-blonde hair that spike up to both sides of his head, one side of his bangs hung over his left eye, while the other side stuck up and out with the rest of his hair. He had a small ponytail as well. His eyes were brown, his skin not quite pale, not quite tan. He didn't look like a powerful Keyblade wielder at all. In fact he looked horribly nervous just to be the subject of their gaze.

"Hi!" called out Rory, noticing that no one else was going to start talking, "I'm Rory McMellan. Nice to meet you all." She smiled a huge smile that was obviously meant to charm. Atticus adjusted his glasses.

"I'm Atticus." He said quietly. Cain and Cyrus look at each other, then grin widly and lean forward towards the group.

"Aw c'mon, that's no way ta introduce yerself!" they chorused.

"I'm Cain Tarsier." The one with the nick in his left ear said, straightening back up and jerking his thumb towards himself, "Master of staff-fighting an' general weapons specialist."

"And I'm Cyrus Tarsier." The one with freckles said, also straightening up and jerking a thumb towards himself, "Master of shield fighting an' general weapons specialist."

"Ooh, ooh!" cried out Rory happily, "I wanna re-introduce myself! I'm Rory McMellan, best White Mage in my class, master of healing and defensive spells!" she cried, copying the Tarsier's movements as well. Hart chuckled to himself, as Cain and Cyrus congratulated Rory on her excellently executed re-introduction. The chuckle brought their eyes to him and Hart stepped forward, smirking and jerking his thumb towards himself.

"I'm Hart Glenn." He said, "Keyblade Master of the Obsidian Spiral and specialist in stealth operations." Rory giggled at his introduction, and the Tarsier twins smiled at him.

"Stealth operations?" Atticus asked quietly from behind Hart. Hart turned, a sheepish look on his face, scratching the back of his neck.

"Well, look at me, I'm not exactly built for power operations." Hart explained, laughing softly. Atticus turned to look at him, then realized that all of their eyes were on him, all staring expectantly at him. He sighed, smiling very slightly.

"Alright, alright." He conceded, jerking a thumb towards himself, "I'm Atticus Marshall, top Black Mage in my class, master of offensive spells."

End Chapter One

Author Notes: Isn't Atticus just the best name ever? Anyway, when they were introducing themselves only Atticus was actually top of his class. Everyone else was just bragging. Though Rory is pretty high in her class, she's still not the best.