Woodgreen Academy Archive

Summary: Things are never as simple as they seem to be. People disappear with no notice. People show up with no notice. Something else tips the balance on how decisions are made and Snape’s professional life has been affected from the ricochet of those decisions. Lupin is the accidental trigger.

A/N: Treize just managed to kill my crack, which made this part difficult to write because I kept forcing back the crack (and failed). So there’s a slight seriousness to this part (and the part 2 of this episode) that gives light to Woodgreen as an academy. And haha, I never thought Snape would be a major player in this AU but seems like he just might be. Before anything else, I’d like to remind that no matter how similar the situation can get to the real world, everything in Woodgreen is fictional. You’ll know why I had to reiterate this after reading this part.

——–

Despite the fact that practically all of South Wing’s cadets made sure their commander wouldn’t be tardy on the very first day of her office, they were still running late that morning. In the end, the commander had screamed for everyone to go ahead and make a mad dash for it. She would not be the one hitting the ground and doing push ups after all, but they would. So they scampered off, somewhat relieved to leave without the burden of guilt for abandoning a friend.

“Usagi! Hurry up!”

That was her prefect, barking at her from the kitchen and to think she was on the second floor. He must be angry.

“On my way! On my way! See you later!”

She was known to run fast. As long as she didn’t trip on anything along the way, she could make it and still be fashionably-late. However, this was Usagi Tsukino and she always tripped when she needed to be somewhere important. Life could be cruel often.

Usagi’s friends saw her trip just when she was near their formation. Everyone saw it. Minako looked like she wanted to run and help her friend up along with a few others who were personally close to the pigtailed blond. However, Heero Yuy glared at everyone to stay within their platoons.

He saw her but he didn’t look at her. He waited for her to stand up before he finally made his approach.

The lineup of old and new cadets remained unmoved. Though their eyes were focused straight ahead, they could still see from their peripheral vision the commander and the XO.

Usagi took a quick look around to see if the rest of the South cadets did arrive on time. Only then did she took the much needed breath and dropped both hands on her knees, head bent low. She heard the boots and knew this was it, her life was doomed. And she had sincerely hoped everything would go well the night before, too. Crushed, she never raised her head when the boots stopped right in front of her.

“I’m so sorry for being late!”

A hand gripped her shoulder firmly and pushed her to straighten up. Surprised, she could do nothing else but follow. Once her eyes settled on the much darker shade of blue that only belonged to her XO, she tried harder not to whine — or cry, for that matter.

“Don’t bow to me. They’ll lose morale.”

She blinked. She thought her reaction was an intelligent one, considering what was said.

“Fix your uniform then walk ahead of me,” he said matter-of-factly but in a lowered voice so only she could hear. He then let go of her shoulder after one last hard squeeze of a wordless reminder.

Nodding, she did as told, still trying to catch her breath. When she looked up, his eyes were in a point just off her shoulder and his hand in a firm salute. How long he had stood like that, she didn’t know. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and firmly acknowledged the greeting the way it should be – a salute. The involuntary twitch of her eye and the side of her lips were the only visible signs of the smile she tried to control.

——-

The flag ceremony went smoothly, followed shortly by the meticulous inspection. Even if all the uniforms were perfect, more than half of the cadets broke a simple rule – including the officers.

The hair regulation had long been abandoned although it still remained in their written law. As far as Woodgreen’s short history as a private academy was concerned, there were always a handful of cadets who broke it. It came to a point that the commandant, Major Misato Katsuragi, had had enough of the demerit records over the hair problem. The last demerit over it was given two years ago.

It had been discussed with the ROTC battalion staff commandant as well and they both agreed to just let the hair matter drop. Nonetheless, the cadets were always reminded before and after the term that the hair regulation would apply if they were to pursue the career and officially enlist in any army. But for as long as they were in Woodgreen, it would be ignored. They would simply have to make sure it wouldn’t hinder their performance on the physical aspects of the program.

Besides, Woodgreen wasn’t loyal to one country alone despite being located in the United States. This was mainly due to the fact that 80% of the students of the whole academy were foreigners and would not even dream of abandoning their own country to serve and die for another. Most, if not all, of the cadets who finished the Army ROTC program and did join the army was enlisted as ‘civilian’ under the authority of the United Nations Security Council. In Misato’s personal opinion, no one would care about the hair once the cadet was out in the real field if the cadets were doing their duties efficiently.

There was only one problem. Leniency over this meant Woodgreen could no longer compete in the drill meets with the other schools because they would lose every point in the inspection alone. This plagued Misato every start of term, especially when she could see promising cadets. As it were in the last two years, Woodgreen’s cadets both from the high school and the university would attend the interstate drill meets not to compete but to perform in the opening, intermission and closing ceremonies.

Misato sighed dejectedly as she observed the last of the inspections come to an end. If she were to be honest with herself, the current lineup of officers worried her. Nonetheless, it also made her curious of what the school year would be. Like any parent, she watched on with fingers crossed.

——-

After everything was done, it was time for Usagi’s welcoming speech – prepared and edited repeatedly by none other than Heero Yuy himself. They knew it was coming, especially her close friends who had watched her rant and whine in between trying to memorize and practice how to sound stern.

Though at least half of their numbers were those Usagi had befriended, there were still quite a lot of those who only knew of Usagi by name and reputation. Her reputation was far from pleasing when it came to academics. The seniors respected her in different ways and none, even the most unkind, wanted her to be embarrassed in front of the fresh cadets who did not know her. But they could only stand at attention and wait for the inevitable disaster.

Usagi ran a mental check on the speech that she had memorized and was horrified to realize that she had forgotten half of it. She masked her wariness by staring at the flanks from end to end before settling to look forward.

Her next words caused the whole battalion to deflate with a sigh.

“At ease,” her voice did not befit that of the stern commander Heero had tried to forge in one week, but it was strong enough that it had reached the back of the lines. Though no one was about to argue with that command, her face was stubborn and dead set on doing about this her way as if there was a debate on it. Then she smiled. She introduced her name and somehow reduced the whole speech into a few short sentences that Heero didn’t bother listening to. He was too busy convincing himself not to commit a sin.

This did not stop Heero from glaring straight ahead, however. He was at ease, he reminded himself. Therefore, he could turn around and redirect the glare to its rightful target. He promised not to kill her on the spot.

When he did turn, his blue eyes narrowed further when instead of the blond, he was looking at Tir McDohl also known as the Command Sergeant Major. This was his equal in rank and therefore shared his freedom; which also meant that Tir would not look away from the glare and keep the eye contact dead on.

Tir’s dark eyes were partly overshadowed by his long fringes but Heero knew the other boy was glaring right back at him. Heero didn’t know how the boy managed to move from his spot on Usagi’s left side to now stand in the direct path of the glare. What he knew was that Tir would be as indulgent as Usagi was in handling the battalion.

“If you two are done glaring at each other, they’re already making their way to the classrooms,” someone sweetly chimed in.

“You forgot the speech.” Heero didn’t need to say ‘that I wrote’.

Sighing, Usagi crossed her arms and pouted, “I didn’t forget! Well, not everything…”

Tir simply laughed and shook his head. “It’s alright. It’s actually better that you kept it short and made them feel at ease. They were holding their breaths since before you came because of him.” He pointed at Heero nonchalantly.

“Usagi needs a stronger front or she wouldn’t be respected.”

“I think you just insulted the Lieutenant, Major Yuy.”

“I think he did, too, but I wasn’t offended so we’re not going to make more out of nothing.” Usagi made a face and started pushing the boys towards the buildings. “Off we go, little soldiers are waiting.”

“You’re smaller than most of them.”

“Heero, there are some facts that do not need to be said.”

“And there are some things that are not literal.” Tir kept the poker face on as he said the next words, “Or did we just witness Heero’s mythical humor?”

Usagi mock gasped, already forgetting that she had been insulted twice in a row by the same person.

Of course, she was glared at.

All three saluted to Misato when they passed by before continuing on. She did the same but kept her smile until they already entered one of the classrooms. She had noticed the glaring contest at the start as well as heard about their little argument. Placated quite nicely, she had to admit. It eased her worries over the girl’s leadership a little.

The three of them made an interesting combination. Usagi was light-hearted, caring and effortlessly friendly; often careless but very dedicated. Heero was aloof, hard to approach and a perfectionist; he might be heartless but his dedication was unquestionable. Tir was a buffer of some sort between the two. He was born and bred into the military with a general for a father. Though he was often silent and aloof like Heero, he could let go enough to be amicable.

“This might actually work,” Misato murmured to herself as she stared at the empty hallway.

——-

Somewhere in the administration building, the top floor to be precise, gathered a small number of people. Director Kushrenada was right behind his folder-stacked desk. He was usually found reading one but today he simply sat comfortably in the leather chair. Two others were seated across from him, one a chain smoker and the other one obviously irritated by it.

“This is an air-conditioned room, Hellsing.” The man with the long blond hair did not look at his query and instead kept his eyes on Treize.

“I know that.” The woman with equally long blond hair that rivaled that of the man’s puffed out an O-shaped smoke and then smiled at the director.

Treize did not bother with the pleasantries disguised as banter and went straight to the point, “How was New York?”

They knew he wasn’t asking about the so-called ‘paid vacation’. Integra put out her cigar on the ashtray that was conveniently pushed to her by Treize then adjusted her glasses with an index finger. Shun did nothing else but straighten up a little as a sign that it was time for business.

Shun Aurora and Integra Hellsing, both alike in more ways than one. They could almost pass as siblings. The both of them had served in the armies of their respective countries, taken early retirements and joined their friend and comrade in this endeavor called Woodgreen Academy. They were currently the president and vice president of the academy although both had not stayed in their posts for about four years now.

Nothing had warranted their immediate presence in Hawaii so Treize opted that they stayed somewhere else where their direct management skills were needed. If anything required their decisions in Woodgreen Prime and High, the faculty could always get in touch with them through electronic mail.

“Not as ‘sunny’ as Hawaii, that’s for sure.” Integra shrugged and leaned back against her chair. “The academy there is located too deep into the city; it’s not a suitable place for training. Not with the philosophy and style you intended for Woodgreen. And then there’s bullying.”

“Unfortunately, I have to agree.” Shun nodded. “Even if there are personalities that have potential to form an invisible bond between strangers, they’re not strong enough to take in a bigger number before they break into smaller isolated cliques.”

“I gathered as much.” Treize shook his head in disappointment. “It’d be a waste of land if the students were to be relocated in Woodgreen Prime here. Their parents would require a very long explanation, as well.”

“I’m in favor of relocating. We can’t recreate Woodgreen in New York without tightening the system and we will have losses when that happens.” Shun crossed his arms, displeased. He was not one to abandon a project right in the middle but he did not like wasting resources and manpower more than necessary when the problem was so clear. Four years was enough to know when an experiment had failed.

“The building can be used as an office. We do need one in every major city, anyway. So far, we only have a small HQ in Tokyo and London and the applicants take exams in US embassies. The one in New York might as well be the main office because of its size.

The years are indefinite but we might be able to have branches sometime after Woodgreen manages to attain the recognition from the UN. I have to say, I thought this was an insane move when you first mentioned it to me.” Integra smirked, the light from the window reflecting on her glasses. “I still think it is. But, I find it noble so I’ll be in for the ride until we differ in opinions. Perhaps by then, you’ll have a Hellsing Academy to rival Woodgreen with.”

Treize almost sniggered but he had more control than that. A smile escaped, though. “Perhaps. I have good students here and they’re very… unique.” It’s his way of bragging.

Shun propped his chin on one hand, “Maybe, but I find the weeding somewhat harsh.”

“You should talk. You almost used your brother as the standard for Woodgreen and you push him to be exceedingly exceptional.” Treize relaxed enough to enter a lighter topic. The students always made him less of the colonel but more of a father.

“He can still do a lot better. The boy has this tendency to slack off when things become too easy. How is he doing in the university?”

“Albus can better answer that. You can visit him later.”

The three then moved on to easy conversation, comparing notes on students, teachers, staff, and developments on their project. The unorthodox academy had become the nest of dreams and their lives had been invested in it. Worst case scenario, the academy would return to its military roots.

There were pressures from the outside and they needed to keep the performance of the academy above global average in order to reach their goal. The complication lay with the fact that the standard was not purely based on academics alone. The academy’s name was in the hands of its first graduates since it became private. More than half of the first batch were now working in the UN offices as ambassadors and representatives in the lower tiers while the rest pursued individual careers but very much active in their own specialized fields.

If they could manage Woodgreen to keep its good record, it would be recognized to accommodate the first official training ground for the still-unannounced UN ‘army’ of civilians. At the same time, Woodgreen would not be obliged to raise a single country’s flag higher than the rest. As of now, they were on US soil and licensed as a US school — a bias that Treize was in the process of removing despite all odds. This was his project and he’d be damned not to pursue it to the very end.

He had given up his rank because his view and his superiors’ view had been too different. He could no longer chain his loyalty to blindness. As a soldier, he knew the politics behind military powers and the blood was always on the hands of the soldiers. A variant view might as well be treason in the military the higher you were in the hierarchy. And loyalty was trained to the country. But, if Treize succeeded, it might start a trend of a unified strength that would not answer to one president, prime minister or king. The loyalty would be bound to each brother and sister, and their unyielding principles.

The politics involved in the Security Council was for later. As much as Treize would want to be rid of the biases in that, it was beyond his control. The mentality of the youth, on the other hand, was something he could work with. They tend to learn when they’re involved and that was what Woodgreen was about. He didn’t want to train soldiers that became heroes and martyrs. He wanted to train ordinary people who could carry the world on their shoulders subconsciously and live.

—————–

Still in the loop of the administration building was a floor dedicated to the teaching staff of both Woodgreen Prime and High. There were no individual rooms for the teachers and instead, the whole floor was one big hive of cubicles with shoulder-high dividers. The only other rooms in this floor were the head office and the conference rooms.

The office of the head faculty did not have dividers in it. Tables were simply pushed against each other or against the walls, depending on where the person wanted to stay. It was convenient for conversing with a fellow teacher without having to stand up and look over; unless, the person did not like people.

Severus Snape, head of the Hard Sciences Department, was a very tolerant and proud person but sometimes he regretted accepting the transfer from Prime to High and his promotion to head office. Life was quieter in the bullpen. Ironically, the smaller room of the head office (at least compared to the whole floor dedicated to teachers in all levels) was more of an “open area” without the dividers between teachers.

“Good morning everyone!” Kumiko walked in, still tying her hair in the usual low pigtails. As always, she was wearing sweat pants and a cardigan.

“I got here first! Haha, I told you I can beat you.” Eikichi, the blond Japanese with no shame, hollered all the way from the other side of room. Although Treize had told him to wear shoes, he only did that when he had class. Once he’s simply lounging around in the office or walking all over campus grounds, he still wore his rubber slippers.

“You probably didn’t sleep! You’re always late.” Kumiko slapped the five dollars she just lost on his desk.

Remus looked up from the magazine and smiled warmly at the female teacher, “Good morning. You look flushed.”

“I ran.” She laughed and made her way to a table then looked at the only silent person in the room.

Remus just shook his head at her as if telling her that nothing’s wrong with their newest addition in the office.

“He’s always so silent. It’s creepy,” Kumiko mouthed silently.

“Trust me. He’s not a bad person,” Remus replied, doing the same.

Kumiko was about to say something when their subject spoke, “I can read your lips.”

“Creepy, I’m telling you,” Kumiko nodded with a grin, nonplused. But she said this loud enough for Severus to hear, which he did but did not bite into it.

The arrival of Misato completed the members of the head office. On normal days, she wore a skirt that made all men and sometimes even the women turn to look. On JROTC days she’d be seen in the fatigue. She still looked good in it. When she removed the jacket and flung it on the back of her chair, Eikichi whistled in appreciation.

“I can whip your ass, Eikichi.” She dropped on her chair and plopped two heavily booted feet on the table, then smirked at the other teacher.

“Come at it, babe.”

Severus rolled his eyes. They had all known each other when they were still in the beehive outside but the dividers tended to limit random and useless talking. One could only wonder how any work was done in this open environment despite the irony of the wall and the door that separated them from the rest.

The door was always open, anyway.

Eikichi Onizuka was the head of the Soft Sciences Department, which astounded Severus the first time he had heard of the promotion all those years ago. How the deranged man was able to meet the minimum output of a head faculty member was a mystery. Eikichi was academically challenged as far as Severus knew even if the blond Japanese was the brightest color in the box of crayons.

Kumiko Yamaguchi for the Math head was understandable. She was good with numbers even if her appearance did not quite fit what Severus had in mind for a professional. And on certain occasions, Severus had seen the woman make a disgruntled crowd organize themselves. It did not often show, but he could tell that she knew what her job was and how to do it.

Remus Lupin was a sensitive case to Severus. They both came from the same schools, and coincidentally had applied for the same job in Woodgreen University a few years ago. The slot was given to Remus because of a minor detail in their resume: Remus Lupin was proactive in the extracurricular activities and various organizations. Who wouldn’t be, considering who his friends were? In the end, it worked on Remus’s favor. Even if Remus was not one of the people who made Severus’s life difficult, that fact only made him feel the grudge. He could not even justify the hatred as righteous fury and it was irritating.

Severus was then assigned to teach in Woodgreen Prime. He almost did not accept it but circumstances made him do so. Three years of peace and Remus walked out of the elevator doors then entered the head office to replace Gyousou Boku. Severus always had a hard time recalling the name of the first head of the History department but the man had always been referred to as Emperor which was far easier to remember. No one knew why and Remus had not said anything either. He simply came, took the job and had been there since. And Severus didn’t like it.

“Severus.”

It took another call before Severus finally turned to look at the bane of his existence in Woodgreen, “What?”

“You’ve been staring.” Remus stood up and gathered his things, “And we’re heading out for classes already. You’re also teaching an elective, right?”

“We need to reschedule these elective classes,” Eikichi groaned out as he slipped into a pair of shoes. “Whoever attends an elective at 7:30am should be introduced to new friends. It’s such a sin. This is worse than Japan’s cram schools.”

Kumiko laughed, “I have to agree. We have electives right after normal classes, too.” She, too, started packing her things. Head teachers always taught the elective courses in Woodgreen High along with some of teachers who qualified to teach advanced classes. These were lectures meant for the Woodgreen U’s freshmen: the 101s of the general subjects so they could skip those and go straight for the majors if they decided to enter Woodgreen U.

“You guys go and have fun,” Misato cheerfully waved them off. The JROTC program had no electives and for that Misato was grateful. They all knew she’d be asleep before they even reached the elevator.

Once Severus stepped out of the office, he saw that Remus was still at the receiving area of the floor. The others had gone ahead, which only meant Remus waited.

“I don’t know why you bother, Remus.” Severus pressed the down button and impatiently began the wait.

“We’re going to be in the same room everyday from now on. The others aren’t openly asking anything despite their random and somewhat tactless commentary…”

“Somewhat,” Severus couldn’t help but snort. He would hardly call any of those ‘tactless commentary’ as ‘somewhat’ and it had only been two days of existing in the same space.

“Did I do anything to you? As far as I can remember, we were hardly on speaking terms back in…”

“Leave it alone,” Severus’s reply was sharp. He knew perfectly well that this grudge was irrational because all the things that had happened to him that was somehow linked to Remus Lupin were indirectly a consequence of something else. “It’s not about you.”

The elevator door opened and Severus stepped inside, hoping that Remus would wait for the next lift. Though the other man did not give him that liberty the rest of the ride was silent.

TBC

Notes: (because I feel the need to explain)
The UN army — I worked around the logic of the J/ROTC in Woodgreen and found too many flaws in having all those international students be in the program. By law, all non-US citizens are exempt from taking part in the mandatory JROTC (this applies in any country that has its JRO program as far as I know). So the only way I could get everybody in uniform (priorities XD) is if I get the whole world involved, hence UN. Checking on its probability led me to the real U.N. negotiations that there is a proposal of forming a U.N. army.

It works to my favor as someone who prefers to ground my crack on realism but at the same time, it makes the whole idea in Woodgreen slightly sensitive. So if anyone somehow got the idea that there is a real U.N. army (because I did say at the start of this Woodgreen crack that I won’t be putting in real world politics here while making the world as real as it can get), there is none. At least not yet. The “world politics” in Woodgreen is fictional. No one will go to Iraq waving a UN flag or something and I’m not going there. Ugh Treize *stabs his non-crack brain*.