Prisoner 

Jett’s thoughts were a blur, and for a long, dreadful moment, he forgot his own name. But once he regained his memories, he remembered his mother’s warm smile as she called out to him.

Jett remembered his master… no, no longer his “master”. His captor, glaring down at him and saying the words, “Failure is a crime punishable by death” and darkness. Was he in Hell now? Was this where the damned went after death?

He heard the clinking of chains and the rattle of metal shackles. This was most definitely Hell. Jett didn’t want to face the Devil, but he had no choice. He was here for eternity anyways.

He cracked open his eyes and saw darkness. So this was how it was going to be? He was going to be blind? Never to see the light again?

“He’s awake.” a voice in front of him said.

His eyes adjusted and Jett saw five figures sitting in a circle. They were all chained and bound by metal. The one sitting directly in front of him had bright red eyes. Was that Lucifer?

“W…” Jett couldn’t even whisper. His throat was that dry.

“Give him some water.” the one with red eyes said.

There was shifting and a scraping noise. Then something cool touched his forehead.

“Drink.” another more gentle voice said. It was female.

Jett brought himself up to a sitting position and leaned down. His hands were bound by chains, so the only thing he was able to do was to lap at the water like a dog. Do they plan to shatter my pride? Jett thought bitterly. I won’t break! I will stand proud. 

“Is that better?” she asked.

Jett nodded, “Yes.” he said hoarsely, “Thanks.”

“So, what’d you do?” another voice asked. There was no hostility, unlike his captor, just curiosity.

“What do you mean?” Jett asked back.

“We were all thrown here for different reasons, so what’s yours?” the girl explained patiently.

“I still don’t understand what you’re asking, exactly.” Jett was confused as heck. He had problems remembering his name and simple information like his age. He wasn’t ready to recall the memories he gained back in the lab.

“Guys, let’s start with something simpler.” the girl suggested, “He’s super confused. Remember how it felt like when we first came?”

There was no answer, just the shuffling of feet.

“What’s your name, dude?” another unfamiliar voice asked.

“First tell me yours.” Jett said. He wasn’t about to give out his name and such to people he didn’t know.

The girl spoke first, “I’m Elise. Elise Stone. I’m 17 years old.”

The guy with red eyes said, “Name’s Kaelis. That’s all I’m telling you.”

Okay. Starting off like that, are we? Jett thought to himself.

“Mine’s Cadmus. 19 years old.” another voice said.

“I’m Reid, and I’m 19 years old.”

There were five figures, but only four spoke up. “Who’s–”

“That’s Grande. And he doesn’t like to be disturbed.” Kaelis said firmly.

Okay. Jett said, “My name is Jett Ryker. I’m 19 years old.”

“Okay, Jett.” Elise said in a more cheerful tone, “We already know everything about each other here.” she nodded at the circle of five, “So let’s know you. And if the questions are too personal, or you’re uncomfortable answering, don’t hesitate to–”

“Elise.” Kaelis cut in sharply.

“Right, sorry.” she chuckled, “I get a bit carried away.”

We’re in a dungeon, possibly Hell, and she’s laughing. Jett started wondering of she was just that nice or if she was truly insane.

“Which region did you come from?” Reid asked.

“The…” Jett thought back for a moment, “South east. Right, southeast. Ancient Australia, if you prefer to call it that way.” I prefer to call it Ancient Australia. It was its original name, after all.

“Oh, so that’s where that accent comes from!” Elise nodded. “I’m from the Northwest, where you can see the Northern Lights, or Dancing Spirits, if you like. But my family’s from the Northeast island, Japan.”

“Do you recall anything about your life before they brought you here for enhancements?” Cadmus asked.

“I…” Jett faltered. He remembered his family, but not their names. His mother was tall, taller than his father. His sister took after their father, and Jett didn’t look like either.

Where did his parents work? His mother was… she always helped him with his homework… right! She was a teacher! And his father was an engineer!

“My mom’s a teacher. And my dad’s an engineer.” Jett finally said.

“Wow, really?” Elise beamed, “That sounds so exciting!”

Kaelis sat back against the wall, “Jett, what did you do to get thrown in here?” he asked.

“Kaelis, you know he’s–”

“If he’s uncomfortable answering, then he’ll speak for himself, Elise.” Kaelis interrupted.

Jett wasn’t uncomfortable, that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he couldn’t remember much about anything before he regained consciousness here.

He clearly remembered his captor looking at him with cold, disappointed eyes and saying the words, “Failure is a crime punishable by death”. Jett knew what he did back then, but he can’t recall at the moment.

“Was it you’re body that couldn’t handle the enhancements?” Reid asked, “Or you were unstable? What?”

“I think,” the fog in his mind was clearing up bit by bit, but it still wasn’t enough, “I think it was something about my body.”

“Okay,” Cadmus nodded slowly, “were you able to handle the speed? The strength? They injected you with a bunch of stuff, I know.”

“It wasn’t the speed or strength.” Reid nodded at the chains hanging around Jett’s shoulders and the shackles that bound him in place, “If it was a matter of speed or strength, they wouldn’t bind him with Black Steel. That stuff’s really expensive.”

“You think our captor’s short on money?” Kaelis demanded.

“Hey, it was just an observation!” Reid shrugged.

“If you’re as strong and fast as any enhanced… there’s your intelligence and your brain capacity.” Cadmus suggested.

“Are you saying I’m stupid?” Jett was a bit offended.

“No, but sometimes when an ordinary human being goes through enhancement, their brain circuits can be cut short.” Cadmus explained.

“There’s no way we can tell if they’re monitoring your brain waves. If they are, that means you’re a genius. If they aren’t, that means either your intelligence is at average or you’re downright stupid.” Kaelis commented.

“Gee, thanks.” Jett said sarcastically.

“Well, you seem fine… intelligence-wise.” Elise looked at him, “So let’s just say that’s not it. What else?”

“Stamina.” Cadmus offered, “Endurance, determination… these are all important traits our former ‘master’ was looking for.”

Something hit Jett at that instant. It was a memory. He remembered endless corridors and constantly shifting floor tiles. It was a challenge that he had to overcome. But in order to gain what, he didn’t remember. All he remembered was that at that instant, his job was to keep a clear mind, keep running, and endure the pain of his twisted ankles.

“No.” Jett shook his head, “Those aren’t it. I remember a little more now that you mention those traits.”

“Oh?” Cadmus tilted his head.

There was a loud CLANG all of the sudden. The five of them (Grande was still silent and didn’t react at all) turned around and looked at the door.

A second set of metal doors opened.

“Now what?” Kaelis muttered.

The last door opened and in stepped three guards. They didn’t seem to be armed, but that didn’t stop Jett’s heart from pounding a thousand miles an hour.

Kaelis straightened and gave the three guards a very disturbing looking grin, “Welcome to Hell, gentlemen.” all signs of the cold and stern Kaelis were gone.

One of the guards gave Kaelis an emotionless glance, “This is a prison cell, #2007317. Master wishes to dispose of #2004921.” he walked over to Grande and picked him up.

“Hey! Now, hang on a minute–” Elise started.

“Keep quiet, #2009909.” another guard said, “Your opinion is not required at the moment.”

“‘Not required at the moment.'” Reid muttered, “Mindless drones.”

“You will speak when spoken to, #2–” he froze all of the sudden.

What the… Jett thought to himself. All three of them turned around at the same time and left immediately.

Once they shut the last door, Jett turned around. Kaelis as back to his normal self.

“What are they going to do to him?” Jett asked.

Kaelis clenched his fists, “You want the truth?” he asked back.

Do I want to know the truth? Jett thought to himself, but he replied, “Yes, I do.”

Kaelis nodded at the wall, “They’re taking him for the Judgement.” he said darkly, “It’s where ‘failed experiments’ get stripped of their enhancements, then they put them in a fighting pit where they face a berserk animal or one of our former master’s guards. If the failed wins, our captor gives them another chance. If they don’t, they die. And it would be a most painful death.”

“How do you know this?” Jett asked. He couldn’t have known unless he’s been through the Judgement himself or a friend went through it and told him about it.

But Kaelis was silent, and so was the rest of the group.

Jett used this time to recall his memories. But there wasn’t anything much. It was like staring into a light shining through a thick layer of fog. You can see the light, but you don’t know what’s going on. And the voices in his memory were like murmurs from another room. You can hear them, but you can’t make out what they’re saying. Only a few words are made out.

“Failure is a crime punishable by death”, his former master had said. Who was his former master? And why did he once call him his master? How did he go from master to captor? He couldn’t remember much about his old life before he was brought here for enhancement. Where did he live? It was a busy street, he remembered. People walking back and forth, and during the night, there were a lot of lights that lit up the entire city. Right! He lived in the city! He always felt safer in the city because there were more people.

Which city was it? There was this huge monument too. People would go there often, but what for? At night, the base of the monument would light up, and the structure itself was… white. And special events happened inside. Jett’s been there before.

Okay, let’s start with something simpler. He thought to himself. Where exactly was this monument? Was it on land or by the sea? 

It was by the sea! Yes!

And what were the special events? Were they casual or formal? Jett remembered wearing a very uncomfortable suit when he went there, so he assumed that some of the special events were formal.

“Jett.” Reid looked up, his bangs falling over his eyes.

“Yeah?” he replied.

“You were put here because you were unstable.” he said grimly.

Student

“YOU WORTHLESS BASTARD! YOU BETTER HURRY UP OR ELSE IT’S THE CHAMBER!” his father roared.

He was heaving, his breakfast churning in his stomach. His body was covered with scars and bruises, both old and new. For as long as he could remember, this was his daily life. From Monday to Friday, his father would be in charge of him. That meant the obstacle course, conditioning, and fighting. On Saturdays and Sundays, his mother would be in charge of him, which meant academics while doing pull ups or cleaning the entire manor.

The Chamber was a room of punishment. Depending on his mother or father, the punishment would be different each time. With his mother, it’s usually a hot iron pressed to his bare back. If it’s his father, it’s most likely ten lashes with a cow skin.

His arms were shaking and his abdomen felt like it was about to tear as he pulled himself up, “One hundred.” he gasped.

“KEEP GOING, YOU WEAK, WORTHLESS SON!” his father yelled in his face.

He let go and sprinted for the pool 150 meters away. He dived in, the cold water soothing his entire torso and arms.

“YOU’RE NOT GOING FAST ENOUGH!” something hard hit his back and he hissed in pain. It was probably a rock or a metal bar.

Just the knife throwing left, then I’m free! He kept telling himself. Just twenty targets and hurtles. You’ve faced worse. He leapt out of the pool and picked up the twenty knives on the ground.

Focus on each target, one at a time. He pulled back and threw the first knife. It flew and buried itself deep in the red bulls-eye.

“IF THAT WAS A REAL MAN IT WOULD DO NOTHING!” his father snapped.

Yeah, it would. He thought as he threw his second and third knives.

After he was done with all twenty, he stood there, his entire body shaking. It was over! He was done for today!

His father walked up to him, “The tournament’s coming up, so you’d better get your gear ready.” was all he said before he left.

Once the door closed, he collapsed onto the floor and didn’t wake up for a long time.

---

When he woke up, it was four in the afternoon. He was still in the training room, and his entire body was sore. But he pulled himself up onto his feet and went to get his Hover Blade gear.

Hover Blades were extremely hard to master, and what’s even harder to master were the annual challenges. Hover Blades were metal boots with electromagnetic soles so you can hover up to ten meters above the ground. And professional Hover Blade challengers had their boots specialized so that they can switch to “assassin mode”, which was when actual sharpened blades would slide out of the bottom and heels of the boots. It’s really hard to control hovering and switching modes at the same time, because you have to remember to switch back to the normal mode before landing, or else you twist your ankle.

The knife throwing and obstacle trainings were his father’s way of getting him prepared for the games. Hover Blades was no longer a competition of who can keep their balance in the air the longest or who can do tricks in the air without falling. Hover Blades was practically a deadly sport where people can get killed if their opponents never practiced control. Hover Blade Games usually consist of three challenges. The obstacle course, the Assassin Scenario, and the hand to hand combat.

The obstacle course was self explanatory. It consisted of a bunch of swinging maces, metal poles and bars, walls, and fire breathers. You had to get to the end of the obstacle course in one minute without a single scratch or touch the ground. If only one person makes it within the time and requirements, then that person automatically wins, and the two runner ups get second and third.

The Assassin Scenario is when the player or challenger is the assassin, and he had to finish off ten people in as little time as possible. Of course, one can always plant knives into the figures and be done with it, but no one ever wins like that. There are metal pillars, walls, and bars around the ten figures to act as obstacles. If you overcome each obstacle using different techniques, you earn more points and therefore you have a higher chance of winning. There were no requirements, only that you had to “kill” all ten people. The harder and more effective the techniques you use in the scenario, the more points you earn. It ends when you finish off all ten people. It’s not supposed to be realistic, mostly just for show. The top 12 people that finish within the least time move onto the final round.

The hand to hand combat is when the people who got killed died. The round ends when you force your opponent to surrender. Killing and/or maiming your opponent are not allowed. The referees would watch out for any fatal blows and stop the match if it gets too bloody. You’re allowed to use anything you bring as long as they allow it. Hover Blade challenges usually consist of knives and the blades on the boots, so that’s what they usually bring. But there was this one time when a challenger brought in a knife on a chain. He kept his opponent away by swinging the chain, and when his opponent got too close, he forced him to surrender by pulling the knife towards him and pinning him down with the blade at his opponent’s throat.

In the case when a challenger gets injured but can continue if he or she wants to, the referee has to agree to let him/her continue. But his/her coach or guardian has the right to keep the challenger from continuing if they think it’s too risky or dangerous. And if anyone tries to hurt anyone else on purpose, that person gets eliminated from the annual game and banned from Hover Blades for life.

He pulled out a crate and went outside. Things weren’t that bad down the street, but everything started once he got to the market.

It always happened: People would stare at him and whisper to their companions. Or people would avoid him on purpose. They did that because of the family reputation. And it wasn’t a good kind of reputation.

Everyone thought he couldn’t hear them, but he knew enough. Everyone says that his parents took the time and effort into training him just so they can get money. Once a person turns eighteen, they’re allowed to sign up for the Annual Challenges. They don’t allow children or young teenagers because of the danger.

He knew his parents didn’t love each other, and they would rather live their own lives. But they got together and married because they both wanted the power, money, and fame. His parents think of him as a tool, not as their son. That’s why they treat him so harshly, thinking that it’s part of the conditioning, but they don’t know when to stop. They believed he was a tool so much that they didn’t even name him when he was born. They called him names, but it was never consistent. He didn’t even know what to call himself.

They got money because of their businesses, but it wasn’t enough. So when they saw the opportunity that they never had before, they raised him; trained him so he can win the fortune and glory for them. They didn’t care what he or other people thought, just as long as they get what they want.

He knew it; knew it and didn’t want to believe it. For a long time he hoped that if he wished hard enough, they would actually grow to love him as their son. But reality caught up to him, and he realized that no amount of wishing and hoping would get what he wanted. He existed to make money for his parents and that’s it.

He stopped in front of a small building that said Machine City. The doors were closed, but the sign said open, so he opened the door. There were piles of machinery and metal bits. He didn’t know who owned the place, but they certainly had to clean this place up. There was barely enough room to form a decent pathway to the counter, which was also piled with metal gadgets.

“Uh…” he walked up to the counter. There was a little bell. He tapped it.

“WHAT? WHO IS IT, WHAT DO YOU WANT? I HAVE NOTHING OF VALUE, I SWEAR!” a huge eye appeared on a screen built into the wall.

“AH!” he yelped and jumped back a meter, almost dropping his crate.

“OH, HANG ON!” the screen turned off and a door he didn’t notice opened. Steam billowed out from the next room and out stepped a girl.

“OOPS, SORRY!” she took off the bulky helmet that was way too big for her head, “Hey, hang on!” she strode across the floor and shoved her face into his.

“Whoa!” he backed up a couple of paces.

“The freaking sign says closed! Can’t you read English?” she pointed at the door.

“Uh… it said…” he stuttered, “It said you guys were open.”

“It did?” she took off her goggles, “Huh, I thought I flipped it a few minutes ago… oh well, since you’re here,” she pushed the helmet onto the counter, knocking a few things onto the ground, but she didn’t seem to care, “what can I do for ya?”

He was still recovering from the shock, “Uh… I just need this checked out.”

“Ooh! What’s that?” she got in front of him in less than a second and he wondered how fast this girl was. Now that she was up close, he noticed that she had heterochromia eyes, the left was green and the right was gray. And her dark brown hair was really messy.

“It’s Hover–” he tried saying, but she took it away from him.

“Hover Blades!” she cried, “Oh, god, I love these!” she used one arm to sweep half of the gadgets (and her helmet) off the counter and set the crate down on the metal surface. “You even have built in throwing knives?” she lifted a gauntlet excitedly.

“Uh, yeah, I do.” he walked up to her slowly, “I just need these checked out for–”

“The Annual Challenge! Right, right!” she nodded and hopped over the counter. Again, he was surprised by her agility. “So, you want anything specialized? Oh, wait, you don’t have to. You’re a challenger, right?” he opened his mouth, but she continued, “Right! So, you need all this stuff checked out so you won’t crash and burn on your first time! ‘Cause that would seriously, undoubtedly, most likely and definitely really suck.” she placed the gauntlet down beside her and took out one of his boots. “Man, I’ve always wanted to try one of these things!” she squealed.

“Y… you can, if you–”

“SERIOUSLY?” she screamed and he almost tripped over his feet just to scramble away. “Aw, man! Thanks!” she strapped them up quickly, “You have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to try these on. But my dad’s always like ‘you’re too young!’, ‘you’re a girl!’. And I’m like: There are frickin such things as frickin female challengers, ya know!” she seemed to be talking to herself more than to him.

“R.. right.” he mumbled.

“Oh! What’s your name? I forgot to ask you that!” she beamed, “My name’s Aleksei. And before you say anything else, yes, I know it’s a boy’s name. But who cares? It sounds great, and I chose it. So don’t you go around saying a girl has a boy’s name, you hear? A girl can love robots and a boy can love Barbie Dolls!” she declared and hopped off the counter with his boots on.

“You… do you know how to work that?”

“These? Pfft! Of course I do! I’ve seen it done so many times since I was in the womb!” she looked at him, “But just to make sure, the toes activate the hovering and the heels activate Assassin Mode, right?”

He nodded, “Yes.”

“Okay! Here I go!” she clapped, “God, I’m so nervous!” he heard a click and the familiar hum of the electromagnets vibrated the building.

“Whoa!” she laughed as she pushed off the floor, “THIS IS AMAZ–AH!” she crashed into a pile of metal.

Oh god! He ran up, “Are you alright?” he said, wondering whether or not he should help her up.

“Hahahahahaha!” she was laughing hysterically, “D… did you…” she wheezed, “Did you see that? Oh god!” she started laughing so hard that she was clutching her stomach on top of a pile of metal scraps. “I… I suck at… but it’s… so fun!”

He stared at her nervously. Was she really okay?

“Alright, enough messing around.” she finally pulled herself together and stood up, “Sorry for almost breaking your stuff. You need it for next week.” she took them off and put them back in the crate.

“It’s alright.”

“Hey! You never told me your name!” she glanced at him, “So, is it Henry? Monty? Victor?”

“Uh…” how could he explain his complicated situation, “The thing is, I…”

“Yes?”

“My family…” he really didn’t want her to ignore him after this. She seemed like a really nice person, and he kind of wanted to be her friend. “I’m a–”

“Don’t say you’re an idiot or a bastard.” she pointed at him, “Because you’re a nice person.”

“No, it’s not that!” he said hastily, “My family owns the Ajandro Manor.”

“Wow! That’s such a cool surname!” she smiled, which was not the reaction he was expecting at all. “Instead of something like that, I had to get this lame surname,” she said in a monotone, “Night. That’s such a weird and boring name! Night already means something, you know what I mean?”

“Y-yeah, but… aren’t you kind of… disgusted?”

“Disgusted?” she looked genuinely surprised, “Now why would I be disgusted? Because I’m jealous? Ha! Do I seem like the type to you?” she gestured at herself.

“No, not at all!” how should he explain this? “I’m an Ajandro… don’t you know what that means?”

“Uh… no sirree, I don’t. Sorry.” she shrugged apologetically, “If you’re a royal or something, you gotta tell me. I’m no good with royal or noble families.”

“Do you know the Ajandro family?”

“Nope.”

“You haven’t heard of them?”

“Nope.”

“At all?” he was really surprised.

She looked at him questioningly, “Am I… supposed to?” she asked uncertainly.

She isn’t aware of my family’s reputation. He thought to himself. Should I just brush it off? I don’t want her to be like everyone else I’ve met so far. But I already told her about my family name. If I lie to her and she goes to ask anyone else, they’ll tell her the truth. I might as well…

“My family’s kind of known for… well, me.” he started.

“YOU’RE FAMOUS!?” she shrieked.

He flinched, “No, no, I’m not… well, sort of. But not in a good way.” he said hastily, “Everyone in the city knows the Ajandro family.” he said sadly, “They know us because my parents… aren’t really parents. They sort of treat me like a tool.”

“A tool?” she repeated, confused, “What do you mean?”

“They say I’m supposed to bring them fortune and glory by winning the Annual Challenges. They’ve been training me for this my entire life.” he looked down at his hands, “Every day it’s knife throwing, obstacle courses, and drilling until I’ve reached my limit and beyond. And they’re not exactly the nicest or most generous family in the world, so they all think I’m the same as my parents.” he then added desperately, “But I’m not! Really! I’ll… I’ll willingly help other people out! Honest!”

“I believe you.” Aleksei said quite gently.

“Y-you do?” he looked up tentatively.

“Yeah.” she snorted, “Who cares if your family’s a whole bunch of serial killers? It’s you I’m talking to, right? Not your parents.” she pushed herself up onto the counter.

“You actually believe me?” he knew he sounded hopeful but didn’t care.

“Sure! Why wouldn’t I?” she shrugged, “I’ve been taught to look at everyone like they’re clean slates. I don’t know who they are, or what they’ve done, so who am I to judge?” she chuckled, “Of course, it’s almost impossible to do that everytime, you know? When I first saw you through the screen, I thought you were someone trying to rob me!”

“Really?” he smiled.

“Duh! Of course I did! Anyone who walks in after five is automatically suspicious according to me!” she declared, “But, you don’t seem too bad, so I let you live to explain yourself.”

“Right.” he said nervously.

“Dude, you really can’t tell when someone’s sarcastic, can you?” she raised a brow.

“My entire life’s been pretty serious, so no, I can’t.” he admitted.

“True.” she nodded, “So, what does this have to do with you not knowing your name?”

“I… they treat me like a tool,” he repeated, “so that means I don’t really have a name.”

“A guy like you without a name?” she questioned, “Now that I’ve never heard of!”

“Sorry.” he apologized.

“Why are you apologizing? You’ve done nothing wrong!” Aleksei shook her head, “God, your parents sure are mean… no offense or anything.” she tilted her head, “But I need to all you something. Do your parents call you anything? Give you any nicknames?”

Bastard, useless, weak, idiot, stupid, worthless, scum, garbage, rubbish, trash, suck. He thought to himself.

“Oh! If you don’t have a name, can I give you one?” she said excitedly.

“Uh…” his parents won’t mind, would they? “Sure, I guess?”

“Ooh, boy! This is so exciting!” she jumped up and down, “I can think of so many names right now!”

Is that a good thing or bad thing? He thought anxiously.

Her face lit up, “Oh!” then she frowned, “Wait, no, not that…” she continued mumbling to herself.

The doors suddenly opened and in strode a well dressed young man. He was a couple centimeters taller than him, but he was just as lean, in fact, those couple of centimeters intimidated him a little. He must’ve been trained in the art of combat, because the first thing he did when he walked into the room was to survey the room like he was observing an opponent’s movements. His father’s trained him to do so as well. The man in front of him had auburn hair that curled at the ends, and his eyes were dark red, almost crimson. But what was very special about them was the fact that a fire seemed to flicker behind those pupils. His eyes were like a red glass with a fire lit behind it. They reminded him of rubies. His hands were calloused, so he assumed he knew how to handle weapons. And the way he stared intensely at everything made him wonder what this young man’s been through. All in all, if fire was a person, this was definitely what he’d look like.

He walked up to him and Aleksei, a gold and ember colored… liquid sack, in his hands.

“You specialize Hover Blades?” he asked.

“You’re here for the Annual Challenge as well?” Aleksei sounded excited, clearly unafraid to ask, “That’s so cool! So is my friend here!” she gestured.

Her friend? He thought and his heart warmed.

The young man looked at him, his gaze calculating, but said nothing and turned back to Aleksei, “I need these blades specialized.” he said, his voice authoritative.

While the man talked, he took this opportunity to watch him carefully. You never know who you’ll meet in the ring.

He was dressed like he was about to attend a ball. He had a small red cape draped over his shoulders and back, but what caught his eye was the pin. It was carved out of a red and gold stone that he would recognize anywhere. It was the Tridarian Drareqem, also the gemstone that symbolized war. The only people who wore them were the royal family. Which mean that… this young man was a prince?

Once he finished, Aleksei nodded, “Sure, that’s not too hard. How soon do you need these?”

“Before ten tonight.” he replied, “It doesn’t matter when, as long as you finish before ten.”

“Okey-dokey.” she took the sack and looked at it, “Uh… so, does this thing just–”

The young man reached into the sack and it melted away, revealing a pair of red and gold hover blades and a set of specialized knives.

Aleksei was gaping at the beautifully crafted blades, but the young man just looked at her, “So? Are you able to do it?”

Aleksei shook her head, “Yes! Yes! Of course!” she squealed.

“Good.” he turned around and looked directly into his eyes, “I’ll see you in the ring.” the young man started walking away, but he called out.

“Wait… your highness?”

Aleksei gasped and the man stiffened.

“H-high… highness?” Aleksei chuckled nervously, “I… uh, dude, you okay? I don’t think he’s a prince…”

“Yes?” he said curtly.

“HE IS A GODDAMN FREAKING PRINCE?!” Aleksei screamed and practically jumped out of her own skin.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t walk around saying that.” the prince said quietly.

“O… OF COURSE! MY SINCERE APOLOGIES, SIR!” Aleksei was on her knees. Was he supposed to be bowing as well? He’s never met a royal before.

Where are his wings? He thought to himself. And Tridarians are known for being a winged race. Why would he want to compete in Hover Blade Challenges? Isn’t he already used to flying? Then isn’t it obvious that he’s going to get first place? His heart sank. I guess I can say goodbye to that podium, then. 

The prince half turned, “Your question?” he asked.

“I… where are your wings?” he blurted out, then regretted it immediately. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Now he’s going to kill me! Should I get ready? He looks kind of mad! That was such a rude question! Why did I ask that? Why do I have to be so stupid? Why? Why did I–

“I was born wingless.” the prince replied emotionlessly.

That wasn’t the reaction he was expecting. The opposite, in fact.

“Any other stupid questions you want to ask?” he asked, his voice quite cold.

“N-no! Not at all!” he bowed his head, “Sorry for wasting your time, your highness.”

The prince left without another word.

“Y… oh my god…” Aleksei slid down to the floor, her back against the counter.

“Are you okay?” he asked, kneeling down in front of her.

“I just talked to a prince…” she kept repeating.

“Aleksei?” he shook her arm gently.

“Oh! Sorry,” she stood up, “right… specializing and checkups… I’ll be done in an hour. Come find me at seven or so.” she pointed at the clock.

“Sure.” he started heading for the door, but Aleksei shouted.

“Hey!”

He turned, “Yes?”

“I got a name for you!” she said with a smile.

“Oh?” he tilted his head curiously, “And what is it?”

Soldier

Bianca didn’t want to have anything to do with this war. All she wanted was it to end. A once beautiful forest was now nothing more than a barren wasteland. And the wind carried nothing but the smell of death and blood.

They weren’t too far from their hometown, only a couple of miles, but this was never a good thing. The fact that they’ve been forced back to defend their homeland instead of fighting to take back what was once theirs sent hundreds of soldiers fleeing the battle. Bianca was one of the few who managed to stay, but it was because of her older sister, Diana. She was very brave, and she would never turn away from people who needed her help.

Now she was holding a specialized rifle in her hand, tracker knives in her belt, and the hover blade setting on her boots ready. Diana was walking silently beside her, her weapon resting on her shoulder.

“Anna,” Bianca said nervously, using Diana’s nickname.

“Yeah, Bianca?” she looked at her little sister and smiled.

“That guy in the front,” she pointed at the young man who has been leading the group, “who is he?” Bianca’s seen him during drills and training, but he never seems to do anything. He just watches, and Bianca wondered whether or not he was above their skill or just plain lazy.

Diana followed her eyes, “Oh!” she nodded, “That’s Adanto. Why?”

“Well…” Bianca fidgeted with her belt and lowered her voice into a whisper, “He never seems to train with us, and he’s around your age, so isn’t he supposed to…” she faltered when Diana started laughing quietly.

“Oh, Bianca…” she chuckled, “Well, I guess I can’t blame you. You haven’t seen him in action yet.”

“In… action?” Bianca wasn’t sure she wanted to see him fight.

“Yeah.” Diana smiled, “Let’s just say that no matter how many times you’ve done the drills and training, he’s done it a hundred times more.”

“Really?” Bianca gaped.

“Yes.” Diana nodded, “His family made him repeat every drill and exercise until it became instinct. For example, when he shoots, he never misses. If he does, it’ll be at most five centimeters off target.”

“Seriously?” Bianca leaned forward to hear more.

“Yep.” Diana nodded again, “His parents were really strict with him. But that was only because they wanted him to survive… though I can’t say Adanto shares my belief.”

“Is his relationship with his family… bad?” Bianca asked nervously.

“Eh.” Diana shrugged, “More or less, yeah. But they’re getting better.”

Adanto suddenly stopped, and so did the rest of the group. Bianca froze, the hairs on her back standing and her heart pounding. She felt the familiar cold dread wash over her.

Quickly but quietly, Adanto reached behind him and took out… things.

She didn’t have time to get a good look at it, but it looked like two rings of some sort. He put one on each finger and flexed his hand. They hummed and the metal stretched out across his arm to his elbows, like a gauntlet. Then two blades slid out from between the small metal plates.

“What is that?” Bianca whispered to her sister.

“The right one’s Warrior and the the left one’s Protector.” Diana replied quietly.

He even put them on the side that symbolizes what they stand for. The right hand meant war and the left meant peace.

“They were made especially for him when he became an Elite. Eventually, you’ll have something like that as well.” her sister smiled.

“Yeah…” Bianca would like that. Diana’s specialized weapon was her Chimera. It was a device that could be used for multiple purposes. Basically, it was like a Human shape shifter but mechanical.

Adanto’s eyes flickered back and forth between the rocks surrounding them, his ears literally perking up. Eventually, Bianca started hearing the dragging of feet. She gasped silently. Are they going to be ambushed here? Am I going to die? What if I froze up when attacked? I don’t want to be a burden to everyone else. Oh god, I don’t think I can fight. I’m too scared. 

But a hand slipped into hers. Bianca looked up and saw Diana smiling reassuringly to her. It’s going to be alright. Her eyes seemed to say.

The footsteps sounded heavy, like they belonged to someone who’s been walking forever. And they were uneven, like that person was about to faint. Now that was strange. Enhanced Humans can walk for a week without food or water until they drop, or run for five days straight. And even then, they can still remain conscious as long as they don’t do much.

They sounded like they were coming from the right side. Adanto was as still as a rock, and so was everyone else around her. It was Bianca’s third time out scouting, and she never liked it. There was always tension in the air, and even when they went home without having to fight, she would still lie restlessly in her blankets, her ears straining and her body tensed up even when her mind begged her to relax and sleep.

Finally, there was a shadow. Bianca squeezed Diana’s hand, her breathing hastening. Diana started raising Chimera.

A woman around thirty or so stumbled out from between the boulders. Adanto raised both his arms in a defensive manner and his eyes narrowed.

But the woman, unlike the in the stories her sister told her when Enhanced Humans would attack without hesitation, didn’t attack. She looked at them wearily, but her eyes glimmered with the slightest hope. Bianca looked down at her forearm, but there was nothing there. The Enhanced that they’ve crossed paths with in the past have always had a red light flashing through their skin. Adanto said it was a type of tracking device and how it was a sign that told them whether or not the person’s an Enhanced or not.

“H…” she rasped.

Adanto stepped forward but his defensive posture didn’t waver.

“Here…” the woman managed to whisper and shoved something into Adanto’s hand before falling to the ground, retching.

A couple of people started forward ready to help the woman, but Adanto held up an arm to stop them. “What is this?” he asked quietly but not weakly.

“It’s…” she gasped, “plans… from HQ… I-I stole them and… ran…” she started coughing up blood.

“You stole… plans?” Adanto sounded surprised as he took a step back. For a moment he looked vulnerable and almost dropped his hands, but his eyes hardened at the last moment and demanded, “You’re an Enhanced. How did you sever the connection between you and your master?” he gestured at her forearm.

“I’m-I’m a failed experiment. At least… that’s what he called us.” she looked up at Adanto and pleaded, “Can you… please give me… some water.”

Without thinking, Bianca ran forward.

“Bianca! No, don’t–” Diana started, but Bianca was listening.

Enhanced or not, this woman is dying from dehydration. Bianca thought desperately. She pushed pass Adanto and knelt down in front of the woman.

“Here, take this.” she pulled out her metal flask, “And splash some on your face too! You’re skin’s very dry!”

“Oh, thank you, my dear.” she murmured after a few gulps, “Thank you!”

“Don’t drink it all at once or else you’re going to have a stomachache.” Bianca urged gently.

The woman handed the flask back and stood up shakily, “Please… stop him before he dominates the rest of our race.” she turned around.

“Wait, where–”

“To finish my task.” she answered Bianca’s unfinished question, “Everyone on this planet’s already left because of my former master’s change of plans. I’m begging you, use this chance to restore humanity!” and with that, she ran off.

Diana wrapped her arms around Bianca, “Don’t ever do that again, Bianca Angeles, you hear me?” she hissed, “No matter how helpless they appear to be, you can never trust anyone here.”

“Diana,” Adanto’s voice was hard, “in the future, refrain your sister from doing stupid things like that. Her impulsive actions would mean the death of us all. Clearly, she needs to be out in the field more.”

His words were like knives stabbing into her gut and pride. I was only trying to help… But what he said had a ring of truth to it. She shouldn’t trust anyone outside of their group.

“I’m sorry, sir.” Bianca’s head hung low, “Punish me as you will.”

“I don’t believe in punishments.” Adanto said curtly, “What you did and what you could’ve done is punishment enough.”

Bianca squeezed her eyes shut, willing her tears not to fall. “Yes, sir.” she whispered.

She heard his footsteps leading away from her, “We’re going back home. Move out.” he ordered the rest of the group.

Once everyone was a few meters away, Diana pulled Bianca to her feet, “He’s strict because he cares, Bianca.” Diana assured her, “He doesn’t hate you.”

Yeah, right. It’s my third time out here and I already screwed everything up. She thought bitterly.

---

Back at home, Bianca decided to head for the training ground. If Adanto didn’t punish her, then she’ll punish herself. Bianca got down on her knees and started doing push ups.

After one hundred, she started feeling tired, but this was her punishment, so she can’t stop now.

“Wow.” someone behind her said.

Bianca stopped and turned around. There was a boy standing with his arms crossed and a look of surprise on his face, “That’s the first time I saw anyone do push ups willingly.”

“It’s sort of… uh… kind of a punishment for myself.” Bianca mumbled.

“Oh yeah! Water girl! Yeah, I remember you now!” he nodded, his face lit up with recognition, “You were the one who gave that lady your flask! And the one Adanto snapped at!”

I didn’t need to be reminded, thanks. Bianca thought, cringing. “Yeah, don’t mention it.”

He laughed, “If you ask me, it was kind of stupid.”

So did you come here just to laugh at me? She was about to snap, but he continued.

“But it was brave of you.” he said, “I’ll give you that. I don’t think that even Adanto would have the guts to offer that lady some help. And I have a feeling that that lady meant well, so I guess what you did was also very kind.”

“T-thank you.” Bianca stuttered.

“Well, I came here to train, but since you’re already here, I don’t think I should bother you punishing yourself. I’ll go somewhere else.” he jogged back towards the door, “See you around!” he called and disappeared down the corridor.

Bianca blinked. What just happened?

After three hundred, Bianca was exhausted, so she decided to get up and leave. She was so tired that she didn’t know where she was going, as long as there was a couch, she was fine. But along the way, she stopped at the sound of voices coming from a room beyond a door that was opened a crack.

“…and I need them now!” a man’s voice said authoritatively, “I didn’t create them for no reason. I’ll meet you at the coordinates sent. Do not be late.”

Bianca peeked in and saw the message end. Adanto and a couple of other Elite warriors were gathered around a table. It looked like a standard meeting.

“It could be a trap.” someone suggested.

“You always say that, Daemon.” another sighed, “I say we take three members and go take a quick look at the this planet… just to be sure.”

“But what if the lady was lying? What if they haven’t actually left? We’re short on warriors as it is, and now you say we take a couple of Elite fighters just to check if the lady was telling the truth?” someone growled.

“We’re short on warriors, yes.” Diana was there as well! “But we’re also short on options.”

“We’ve survived this long playing the role of the defender.” a woman said, “I’m not ready to take a step forward just yet.”

“Adanto?” the third speaker said, “You’re thoughts on this?”

Adanto crossed an ankle over his knee, “I think we should wait.” he said, “Wait for a couple of days. If the enhancements don’t attack again, I’ll consider this as an option.”

“But that could be part of their plan!” Daemon protested, “They may know we’ll be cautious, so they’ll pause their attacks for a while.”

“Yes, I know.” Adanto nodded, “But they also have a security system set around their borders. If we, or some other unidentified object, decides to waltz in, the alarms would go off.”

“Again, this could be a part of their plan as well.” the other woman in the room pointed out, “Their master is a genius, Adanto. We all know this.”

“Even the brightest geniuses make mistakes.” he replied, “The only way to be sure is if we send people into the complex itself, but that’s too risky. I don’t want people dying. We have enough of that every day.”

“I say we bomb the place!” A man declared, “Destroy everything, then head to the planet they’re meeting! Just to be sure!”

“Now, hold on a minute.” Diana said calmly, “This may be our chance to learn more about the Enhanced than we ever had. If they left in a hurry, they would’ve left everything behind. They could’ve set up security codes or deleted vital information regarding who they are, but even the tiniest thing helps.”

“But what if they’re waiting inside? Bombing the place would be the only way we can ensure their death.”

“I think they’re powerful enough to withstand a few bombs, Terrence.” Adanto said, paused, then asked Diana, “How many Elites are there in this shelter?”

“The eight of us, plus the twins but they’re taking care of their parents, that makes ten.” Diana replied.

“What about the two other shelters five kilometers out, Rolland? How many Elites are there there?”

One of the men sighed, “The Centurion Shelter has five, if they haven’t promoted anymore people. And the Atlas Shelter has twelve if I remember correctly.”

“That makes twenty seven of us.” Adanto murmured, “But it isn’t enough.”

“Enough to… what? I’m afraid you’ve lost us, Adanto.” Rolland asked.

“For anything.” Adanto looked up at his fellow Elites, “It’s not enough to assemble a team to go scout out for another planet, and it’s not enough to make an assault on their headquarters.”

“Why not use the warriors?” Diana asked.

“Because they’re not ready.” Adanto replied grimly, “People like them need to be toughened up before they face the real dangers and risks. We’re Elites for a reason, and until they prove themselves worthy, I’m not putting a single one of them out in the field with us.”

Bianca sighed quietly. He was right. None of the warriors were ready. They didn’t have any experience out in the field, and most of them have only fought people within the shelter. They didn’t know what it was like to fight for their lives.

“But when would they truly fight, if not now?” Daemon demanded, “You keep saying they’re not ready, but if they don’t fight then they’ll never be ready!”

“I don’t want their first time to be their last time.” Adanto said quietly.

Bianca gasped silently.

“Adanto…” Rolland leaned back in his chair, “there would always be a chance that their first time would be their last time. The same went with us, yet the Elites of our generation didn’t hold us back for our own safety. They believed that a risk was necessary if we were to survive.”

“We don’t need to survive.” Adanto almost growled, “I’ll make sure that the next generation can sleep without having to grab a knife at every sound the wind makes. That the children don’t need to attend their parents’ funeral.” his fists clenched, “I want to make sure that we live free once more.”

“Hey, listen,” Terrence stood up and walked over to Adanto, “that determination of yours is great. But… dreams aren’t reality, Adanto.”

“You’re right.” Adanto stood up, “That’s why I must make them reality.”

Unstable

“Unstable?” Elise and Jett both said at the same time.

“Hey, hey,” Cadmus said nervously, “there are still several other traits that we haven’t considered yet. Adaptation, pain endurance…”

“So you’re just like Kaelis over here?” Elise nodded towards the red eyed teenager that looked like he grew up around serial killers.

“I’m not sure.” Jett said firmly, “All I know is that I’ve failed, and now I’ve been forced to this place.” he shook his head angrily, “Sometimes I wish everyone failed the enhancements just so they can see for themselves that our ‘master’ is the incarnation of evil.”

“Only 5% of the people he chooses fails, Jett.” Reid said grimly, “I wish that they can see too. But he forbids it.”

“He probably doesn’t know what he’s doing is evil, you know.” Elise said, “The way he spoke to the first generation of Enhanced Humans wasn’t how a villain would speak to his victims. He sounded like he actually believed in what he was doing.”

“Does anyone even know his name?” Jett demanded.

“No.” Cadmus shook his head, “We knew his name when we were still undergoing enhancements. But once we were proclaimed as failures, all the information regarding our captor was erased from our minds.”

“So what have you been doing for as long as you’ve been here?” Jett wanted to know.

“Grande’s been here the longest.” Kaelis said, “After him, Elise and I arrived around the same time, around five years ago–”

Jett sputtered, “Five?”

Kaelis glared at him, “Don’t interrupt me again.” he said, his tone hard, “Reid’s been here four and a half years, and Cadmus arrived a year ago.”

“Our captor’s never made so many mistakes in such a short time before.” Reid said, “He almost never makes mistakes. He did when he first started, lots, but now he knows exactly what he’s doing. The only reason I could think of why so many have failed is because he’s in a hurry.”

“In a hurry?” Jett frowned, “Is he about to do something?”

“Yes.” Elise nodded, “Something big. When they found out Kaelis,” she nodded towards him, “was unstable, our master actually considered ignoring that fact and continuing. Usually, unstable ones get put in the cells immediately because they’re unpredictable, and for the safety of our captor and his creations, he locks them up. Unstable ones are powerful. It’s not that they’re lacking strength or stamina like the others when they first started off, in fact, it’s because they’re too strong to start of with.”

Jett glanced at Kaelis, who was looking at the floor, “Who were you before this?”

Kaelis’s eyes hardened, “Who I was is none of your concern, Ryker, understand? Don’t ask me again.”

Jett looked at everyone else and mouthed: Do you guys know? But they were shaking their heads even before he finished.

“Let me put it this way.” Elise continued her explanation, “If you put too much weight onto a bridge, what would happen?”

“It’ll break or collapse.” duh.

“So that’s what almost happened to Kaelis. Our captor knew about it, and was well aware that he might mess up his plans, but he considered ignoring that fact. That was how desperate he was.”

“What made him change his mind?” Jett asked. If he was considering adding Kaelis to the list of enhanced for his plan, and he was aware that Kaelis may break free of his control, what exactly was their captor planning? If he needed every enhanced he can get, he must’ve been planning something big… or something went wrong and he needed to fix it quickly.

“We don’t know.” Elise shook her head.

“So what have you been doing here for the past five years?” Jett asked, wondering how their clothes still fit.

“We’ve been paraded around as our captor’s ‘prized possessions’, since he can’t spare any of his actual enhanced. He has us compete in the ring for some extra money if he needs it. Or, if he’s desperate, he sells us.” Elise said sadly, “And I thought slavery was banned in the 19 century.”

“Usually he only picks out one or two–” Cadmus started saying, but the outer doors opened and they all went silent.

Jett turned around, his chains clinking. The inner gates opened and in stepped five people. They wore the same uniforms and had chains, collars, and shackles in their hands.

“#2007317 and #2010815,” one stepped up to the edge of the circle, “You’re coming with us. Master ordered us to get you ready for the Pit.”

“Speak of the Devil.” Cadmus said quietly.

Unlike before, Kaelis didn’t put on a mischievous smile. “My name is Kaelis, drones.” he growled.

As if they didn’t hear him, three went to Kaelis and two came towards Jett. So was that his number? 2010815?

“What are you–” he hissed as they shoved down until his face was pressed against the cold floor and his chest against his knees. He felt his shackles loosen and fall to the ground. This was his chance! But before he could do anything, two hands locked his wrists together and forced him to remain in a kneeling position while another pair of shackles went onto his wrists and ankles. What was the pit? Was that where they were being taken to fight? His mind was flooding with questions and before he knew it, he was being pulled onto his feet and shoved forward.

“Walk.” one commanded.

Jett didn’t budge. You guys don’t tell me what to do. He thought, his irritation turning into anger.

The man grabbed his arm and started dragging him towards the door, but with his chained feet, he wasn’t able to take large steps at a time, so he almost stumbled.

“Come back to us alive!” Reid called out as the inner doors closed.

Kaelis and Jett were both pulled into the corridor. He still remembered what it looked like. Two identical corridors leading both ways, lit by white lights behind a glass, and the floors and walls made of metal. They turned down at the end, so they weren’t able to see what was on the other side.

Surprisingly, the five left after they were outside of the cell. Jett frowned, “Aren’t they–”

“No. The corridor’s armed to the teeth, so they don’t need to ‘waste anymore time on us’.” Kaelis said.

Now that it was brighter, Jett was able to get a good look at his companion.

His eyes were red, but in the light, it didn’t blaze has brightly anymore. It looked kind of dull compared to the brightly lit hallway. His hair was a mixture between brown and dark red, but it leaned towards brown more. His hair was straight, and it fell around his face, not on it. Years of sitting in a sunless dungeon cell made him look sickly and pale, but he didn’t gain any weight. In fact, he looked starved. His arms were skinny, and he could see ribs poking out of his torso. Jett wondered how he can still fight after all that time in a cell.

“Kaelis and Jett.” a voice echoing down the hallways said, “Something came up, so I had to leave early. In the meantime, my wife needs some entertainment, so I trust you would brighten her day by putting on a good show against a couple of Mine Dwellers.”

Kaelis gritted his teeth and Jett clenched his fists. None of them liked the fact that they were being let out only for entertainment purposes.

“You will go to Ring 7 and wait there. If you don’t comply, Kaelis here can tell you what we do to those who don’t obey the master.”

So that wasn’t my captor. Jett thought. Just someone else who works for him. He must have a lot of power, then, since he can arrange pit fights for his wife to watch. 

“Kaelis, what do we do here when we don’t obey the master?” the man asked, amused.

Kaelis’s gaze flickered towards Jett, “Nothing short of evil.” he muttered.

The man laughed, “Evil? You think we’re evil?” his tone turned serious all of the sudden, “You’re a failure, yet you call us evil?”

Kaelis started walking forward, “I was never a failure.” he snarled quietly, “You were just too scared tame me.”

“Get to ring 7.” was all the man said before the halls went silent.

Jett stared at Kaelis. That was too dangerous. What if they shot down Kaelis right there and then? What would happen then? He shouldn’t do that… then again, I think I can understand why he reacted that way. We’re more alike than we think we are.

“Are you coming?” he asked.

Jett caught up to him as best as he can with his chained feet, “Kaelis, do you think I was put there because I’m unstable?” He wasn’t sure and needed someone to confirm it. He wanted to hear it from someone who was in the same situation.

Kaelis didn’t answer right away. Jett continued to look at him. What is he thinking about? Is he debating on whether or not I’m unstable, or if he should tell me? Jett thought. I don’t know if he can tell right away… then again, he’s been here for five years. He’s bound to know something about unstable Enhanced beings… right?

“I’ll tell you once we’re done fighting.” Kaelis said.

Jett blinked, “So is that a ‘I’m not sure’?” he asked.

“Look, you asking me whether or not you’re deemed a failure because you may be unstable is like a person asking another person if they’re ugly. It depends on the person being asked. Our master just happens to despise those who aren’t under his control, that’s probably why he calls you a failure. Perfection cannot be achieved no matter what, because each person looks for different aspects and traits. Personally, if you’re unstable, I don’t think you’re a failure.”

“Then… why did you say you’ll tell me once I’m done fighting?” Jett inquired.

“Don’t ask stupid questions.” Kaelis muttered, “Think about it. I don’t know you, you don’t know me. If I deem you a failure, it’s because of something else that I don’t know about you. Maybe you attack too often, or let your guard down most of the time. But I won’t call you a failure because you can’t be tamed.”

So in our captor’s point of view, I’m a failure because he can’t control me. I think Kaelis got the wrong idea.

“No offense,” Jett said carefully, “but when I asked if I was put in the cell because I’m unstable, I was asking if I am unstable.”

“I can’t answer that.” Kaelis answered simply, “I’m not our captor.”

---

After five minutes of walking, Kaelis finally stopped in front of a door around two floors high. Jett looked up, “So… this is the fighting pit?”

Kaelis nodded, “Yes.” he gave Jett a sideways glance, “Nervous?”

Jett nodded, “Sort of.” He certainly didn’t want to die, but he wasn’t feeling like he was walking to his death. Maybe it was part of his enhancement.

“Good.” Kaelis said, “It’ll keep you alive.”

“My good friends!” a muffled female voice came from inside, followed by a roar of approval from the audience. “My dear husband’s prepared some special entertainment just for us! As you all know…” she went on.

Kaelis closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, “Entertainment.” he growled, “That’s what they call us.”

“…he works with a good man! A good man who’s kind enough to spare two of his enhanced subjects…”

“As if he’s the king.” Kaelis continued to mutter.

“…against what we call Mine Dwellers! They’re creatures of evil! They dwell within the mines on what we once called the moon and bomb the surface to create caves for them to live in.”

Kaelis snorted, “Evil creatures… yeah right.”

“Have you ever seen one before?” Jett asked.

Kaelis nodded, “Yes.”

“When?”

“Does it matter?” Kaelis raised a brow at him.

The doors started rising and the crowd was going bonkers. Jett blinked as a light blinded him, but Kaelis seemed unaffected.

“Enter if you dare!” an announcer thundered.

Kaelis rolled his eyes and walked in. Jett followed, and once the door shut behind them, their shackles and chains fell off. Jett rubbed his wrists, “Ow…” he mumbled.

Kaelis cracked his knuckles and twisted his head side to side, “If you want to survive, you’d better get ready.”

Jett’s anger boiled, his pride taking over, “I’m not fighting for the amusement of these…” they didn’t deserve to be called people. “things. I won’t.”

Kaelis looked slightly annoyed, “If you’re going to act all proud and macho, I’m afraid now’s not the time. Your objection is noted, now get ready.”

Now Jett was really pissed, “You’re willing to just let them control you like that?” he demanded, taking a step closer to Kaelis.

“I’m willing to do what it takes to survive at this point.” he said calmly.

Jett opened his mouth to reply, but they ran out of time. The door on the opposite side opened and revealed three creatures.

The first, and the biggest one, was roughly the size of two full grown men in height. Jett wasn’t able to make out a face, all he saw was a half solid-half liquid brownish green thing. It looked like a walking and melting tree, except things that resembled arms and legs were constantly growing and decomposing over its body.

Jett was able to make out the second one’s face… or rather, faces. They were two bodies merged into one form, both facing the opposite direction of each other. Tentacle like arms grew out of both sides from their chests… or rather where it’s supposed to be. And their feet were like crab claws, sharp, hard and perfect for digging.

The last one looked the most humanoid. It had two arms, two legs, and a head. But it was unusally tall and thin, and its skin was black like obsidian. It had no hair, and it looked like a shriveled up mummy. It kind of freaked Jett out.

“A guardian, a cave crawler, and a walker.” Kaelis murmured, “Interesting combination, though quite deadly.”

“How so?” Jett’s voice was shaking.

“The guardian would take on most of the attacks to distract us while the cave crawler would carry the walker and dig underground to come out from an unexpected area. The walker is extremely fast and can kill you in an instant.” Kaelis explained quickly as he planted his feet firmly onto the ground in a defensive stance.

“How do you–”

“Do you plan to ask stupid questions as the enemy’s about to kill you?” Kaelis leaned back and bolted forward with unbelievable speed.

Jett was still stunned as his partner ducked as the guardian tried to attack and headed for the walker. The first thing Kaelis did was sweep the walker’s feet before jumping up and smashing his heel into the walker’s torso.

Jett snapped out of it and debated on which creature to attack first. The three of them were all heading towards Kaelis, so Jett decided to attack the guardian, which seemed to be the biggest problem after the Walker.

The guardian was a mixture between a solid and a liquid, so Jett had no idea how to beat it, yet here he was, charging towards the monster.

4 arms shot out of the body and hardened into a solid at the very last moment. Jett gasped and ducked, the fists grazed his hair but didn’t draw any blood. Jett used this opportunity to charge at the monster. But once he drew back his fist and punched, his arm was absorbed into the body and the area surrounding his arm solidified.

Damn it! He cursed, but his mind stayed surprisingly calm. Maybe it was his enhancements.

His other hand struck the solidified section of the monster and it shattered. How much strength and force did he put into that strike? He didn’t have time to think about it. The guardian reared back and screamed. Jett jumped back and went for its flailing arms. He grabbed one by the wrist and jerked it in an odd angle. Surprisingly enough, the hand broke off and the entire arm shattered.

So it’s vulnerable when solidified. He thought and smiled. At least now I know it’s not impossible to defeat it. Jett continued dodging the creature’s attacks. But it may be a learning creature. I need to be careful.

Suddenly, something sharp and hard shoved him towards the ground. Jett stumbled, “What the–” he yelped and looked up.

It was Kaelis. Apparently, he used Jett as a boost to jump up. Halfway in the air, he brought his foot up.

Is he going to kick him the way he did to the walker? Jett asked himself.

The guardian didn’t have time to move or to counter, so it quickly solidified itself. That was the worst mistake it made.

Kaelis brought his foot down and literally cut through the entire body of the guardian. Its solidified body cracked in half and shattered.

“Kaelis–” Jett called out, worried that his companion would land on a wrong angle and hurt himself.

But Kaelis landed perfectly and got up immediately, “Behind you!” he yelled.

Jett saw a shadow hover over him, so he ducked instinctively and swept his opponent’s legs. It was the cave crawler. It didn’t stumble like Jett imagined it would. In fact, it regained balance and tackled him, one face hissing in on top of him while the other just stared blankly at the sky.

Brace yourself against the ground. Grab your opponent’s forearms and jerk upwards and to the side. Use your entire body, not just your upper body, but your torso, hips, and legs. Jett didn’t know where that came from. The voice sounded so distant, yet it was like a call to home.

He pushed with every ounce of his strength and shoved the cave crawler off of him. Fortunately, the cave crawler doesn’t seem to be able to work well when it’s on its side and neither face is on the floor. Jett scrambled to his feet and looked down at the panicking creature.

Does it deserve death? Was it only trying to defend itself? Jett wondered, but no matter whether or not this creature was acting out of self defense, he had to survive as well. He lifted his foot and smashed down onto the cave crawler’s head. Both faces screamed out in agony.

I’m sorry. He thought grimly. But I can’t afford to lose. He knelt down and punched its head.

I’m sorry. He struck.

I’m sorry. He punched.

Tears were trickling down his face. What if this creature had a family? What if it was captured against it’s will like me?

No. I can’t think like that anymore. This is a battlefield, and it’s every man for himself. If I can’t kill to survive, I would never live through this. He raised his fist and brought it down again and again. His face was splattered with what seemed like blood. It was cold like ice water.

This world is cruel. He thought bitterly. It’s cruel to you… and to me. We’ve both suffered… so let me end your pain. Jett screamed and smashed his fist into the creature’s head one last time. You’re the first life I’ve taken. At least now I know I killed to survive and to end your pain… but, would I ever be able to convince myself that I killed out of self defense instead of murdering an innocent creature? 

His tears fell into the blood pooling around him, staining his clothes and hands. His entire body trembled. No… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive myself. Jett gritted his teeth to the point where his jaw felt like it was going to shatter from the stress. Why am I so weak? Kaelis and the others must’ve killed several times and they can shrug it off like nothing happened. What’s different about me? Was that why I was deemed a failure? Is this why I’m unstable? Why… why has this happened to me? 

Life is never fair. Jett knew this much. But he wondered why it had to be so painful. I’m no longer an innocent young boy. My hands are tainted, and I have to live with a grim reminder of the fact that I have taken another person’s life. 

Jett couldn’t hear or see anymore. All he heard were his thoughts, and all he felt was the pain in his heart. Now I know why I was a failure… why I was never going to live up to my captor’s expectations. It was because I wasn’t able to stand the sight of fighting. I can’t take a person’s life, let alone carry out orders with a cold heart. 

But to hell with them! The other part of his mind snarled. I control my own fate. I do whatever I want! Why should I live up to anyone’s expectations other than my own? 

Then it hit up. Is this… is this what I wanted to become? If I should live up to my own expectations, why am I here? Why am I kneeling in front of a corpse, grieving for myself and not the creature I just killed? Is this what I’ve become? A murderer? A gladiator? A failure? Someone who has no point in life but to do as his master says and never thinks for himself? Is that what I want?

Someone placed a hand on his shoulder and Jett snapped out of it immediately. He gasped quietly.

Kaelis stood over him, sorrow clouded his eyes, “The first is always the hardest.” he murmured.

Jett looked back at the corpse. Hardest indeed… 

Destiny

“Jasperez? Jasperez Ajandro?” he asked for the fifth time today.

Aleksei nodded, “Yep! What? You don’t like it?” she looked annoyed, “Geez, man. At least bear with it until after the competition. Then you can call yourself whatever you like.”

Jasperez didn’t know if he was supposed to feel nervous. He was never really exposed to competitions like these. His parents always forbade him to compete in general. And they pulled him away from the crowd, so he never knew what it felt like to be self conscious. The only times he felt fear was when his father and mother would threaten him. He learned from previous mistakes that their threats were never just threats.

“But honestly… what are you going to call yourself? I mean, really?” Aleksei asked him.

“I… I don’t know.” Jasperez put on his hover blades and turned them on just to make sure their working.

“You offend me!” Aleksei said all of the sudden.

“Huh?” Jasperez looked up, confused, “Why?”

She sighed and waved her hand, “You checked it yesterday and the day before yesterday. I get it that you need to make sure it’s working, but you have to learn to trust me!”

“I’ve only known you for a week.” Jasperez sighed. They’ve had this conversation for at least three times.

“Yeah, yeah…” Aleksei shook her head, “Anyhoo… where’s your dad?”

“My father’s watching at home, and so is my mother.”

“Wow, am I the only one who’s supporting you here?” Aleksei seemed surprised, “Now, that’s what I call family support!” she laughed sarcastically.

Jasperez heard footsteps approaching them from behind. He turned and saw the prince from last week. He was wearing the Drareqem on his belt. And his uniform looked like a standard sports uniform, only he had the royal seal on his back in red and gold.

“Y… your highness!” Jasperez started kneeling, but the man held up a hand.

“No. Don’t kneel or bow.” he said, “This is an annual game, and in the arena, we’re all equal in rank.”

“O-oh.” Jasperez got up. Aleksei excused herself hastily and scrambled off.

The prince approached him, his red eyes blazing, “Jasperez, is it not?”

Jasperez nodded slowly, “Yes.”

He held out a hand, “My name is Keith. I figured that I’d know a couple of my opponents before the first match.”

Jasperez shook it tentatively, “May… may I ask why?”

“You seem like the type that would advance to the finals.” Keith said quietly, “I would like to know the names of those I would have trouble winning against.”

Jasperez blinked, “I…” was that a compliment? Did the prince mean that he thought he could win? “Thanks?”

Keith said nothing and left.

---

“Competitors!” the announcer said through the speaker, “You have five minutes before the obstacle course!”

Jasperez activated assassin mode just to make sure the blades were working. Although assassin mode wasn’t allowed in the obstacle course, he still wanted to make sure everything worked.

“You look nervous. Should I be worried?” Aleksei asked him.

“No, I’m fine.” he glanced at her, “Alex… why did you come anyways?”

“Oh! I’m a supporter. But I’m also part of the team that repairs the blades if you guys need it. Since I was the only one in the city, I had to come.”

“I see.” Jasperez nodded.

“Hey, Jasperez…” her voice mischievous.

“What?” he turned.

“Think fast!” Aleksei threw a knife from the crate.

The first thing that crossed his mind was the fact that she threw it wrong. But, acting on instinct, he whipped out the blade from his belt and threw it. Both blades clashed and one implanted itself into the wall.

“Whoa! That was cool!” she grinned.

Jasperez went to pick the knives up, “You threw it at a wrong angle.” he commented and was about to teach her how to do it properly, but she laughed.

“Eh, it doesn’t matter. At least you didn’t die.” she shrugged, “Hey, I think you better get ready. Some of the dudes are lining up.”

Jasperez nodded, “Okay.” he headed for the door, but just as he was crossing the threshold, he stopped. “Alex?” he looked over his shoulder.

“Yeah?”

He bit his lip, “Wish me luck, alright?”

She winked, “You got it, man!” she stuck up her thumbs and smiled, “I’ve got your back!”

Jasperez smiled, “Thanks.” and headed down the glass corridor to the arena.

---

There were at least one hundred people at the starting line. I wonder how we’ll all manage to fit into the arena. Jasperez thought to himself as he squeezed in between two people.

“Competitors! One minute!” the announcer said.

Jasperez pressed down with the balls of his feet and his hover blades hummed. He pushed off the ground gently. Okay, they’re fine. He deactivated them and took a deep breath. It’s about to start. 

“Ladies and gentlemen!” the man shouted excitedly, “Welcome to the Annual Challenge! For decades has this been a sport where hover blade experts come together and compete for the crown and title: Blade Master. Now, as our challengers line up in front of the obstacle course, please make sure none of you fall off the stands. That’ll result in a very bloody death.” he laughed, “But enough talk! Challengers, ready!”

Jasperez heard the familiar hum of the other blades being activated, so he pressed down with the balls of his feet.

“Begin!”

The crowd started to roar, but Jasperez didn’t listen to what they said. He had to focus. The first thing that tried to hit him and the other competitors was a swinging log. He reached out just as it crossed in front of him and flipped over it. Easy. He thought to himself.

“Ooh! I guess that’s it for a couple of the guys down there! But keep it going!”

They’re hurt? I guess that’s it for them. As long as what happened to them doesn’t happen to me. He rolled under a blunted blade that slashed at him and his opponents. Because it was blunted, Jasperez only heard a couple of cries and yelps. Are they alright? He wanted to look back, but he shook his head and continued focusing on the obstacle course.

Next was a couple of bars and pillars.

Jump, swing, flip, grab, propel, jump, balance, leap, grab, swing, land! Yes! He pressed down with the balls of his feet just as he was about to touch the ground and propelled himself forward.

Now for the fire breathers. They were implanted on the ground and the walls that were constantly shifting up and down, side to side.

Good thing I remembered the specialize my gauntlets and boots. Jasperez thought, relieved. His gear was specialized so that whenever it started heating up in a certain area, the gauntlet or boot that was closest to the source of the heat would vibrate.

His left gauntlet vibrated first. Jasperez felt no vibrations from his boots, so he deactivated his boots and let himself drop at least two meters. Just as he was dropping, fire shot out from his left. His hair singed, but at least it wasn’t his face. He reactivated his boots and continued.

“Not bad.” Keith murmured to Jasperez as he blasted forward from behind him.

Jasperez was so stunned that, for a second, he forgot where he was and what he was doing. His right gauntlet vibrated, and if weren’t for his reflexes, Jasperez would’ve been a dead man with first degree burns.

That was how dangerous the games were.

Shoot! Now I’m behind someone I actually know! Jasperez continued forward, but his mind wasn’t as calm anymore. Okay, calm down! Don’t panic. 

“Thirty seconds left!” the announcer shouted.

Jasperez could see the finish line from here. I’ve got time. He said to himself, though he didn’t want to take a chance.

He saw several chains and metal balls ahead knocking out almost a half of the competitors left.

Jasperez made himself go higher so he wouldn’t sustain as much damage. Instead of being hit by a heavier object, he’ll be slapped in the face by a chain at most.

He slid through the chains that swung back and forth. But because of his training, he was able to get through unscathed.

“Ten… nine…” everyone started counting down.

Jasperez suddenly felt a lurch. What the… He yelped as his boots suddenly hummed and he blasted forward.

“What the hell?” he tried to keep them under control, but his gear seemed to take control over itself. Surprisingly, they dodged all the obstacles with ease.

What’s going on? Why are my boots controlling themselves? Jasperez panicked.

“Oh! Looks like one of them had difficulty at first! But he regained his footing and… he’s in the lead!”

I’m in the lead? He thought excitedly. I guess these boots are a… good thing?

“And… JASPEREZ AJANDRO IS OUR CHAMPION!”

Jasperez skidded to a halt and deactivated his hover blades. He looked around and saw people clapping and cheering… actually, most people were clapping, he heard Aleksei cheering somewhere to his right.

“And the runner up is none other than his serene majestic highness, Prince Keith Edelstein of Tridaria!”

Keith landed beside him, “I’m impressed.” Keith remarked, “Your strategy to trip over yourself and blast to the end is the oldest trick in the book… but it got a lot of people, including me.”

“T-thanks.” I had no such strategy. I think I need Aleksei to take a look at my gear.

Keith nodded at his boots, “Who specialized them?”

“Oh! My friend, Aleksei did.” Jasperez searched the crowd for her.

“Fifteen minute break before the Assassin Scenario, Challengers!” they announced.

Jasperez turned to face the prince, “You want to meet up with Aleksei? She can add some stuff to your gear before the next match.”

“I’ll meet her… but I don’t want anything specialized, thanks.” Keith’s red locks fell over his eyes and face.

---

“MA FRIEND’S THE NUMBER ONE CHAMPION IN THE UNIVERSE, BABY! WHOO!” Aleksei launched herself at Jasperez and knocked him onto the floor, “And it’s all thanks to me! Aleksei Night! Who especially specialized your specially specialized special gear!”

“It’s you.” Keith commented quietly.

“Uh-huh!” Aleksei got up, “And you are–THE GODDAMN FREAKING PRINCE!” she screamed suddenly and got back on her knees.

“No need to kneel or bow.” Keith sighed, looking genuinely tired of being bowed to.

Alex got to her feet nervously, “I… okay, if you say so! Does that mean I get to call you by your name?”

“Yes.” Keith nodded.

“Awesome! What’s your name, ma fellow man?”

Instead of answering right away, Keith turned to Jasperez, “Is she always like this?”

“Excuse me? Hey!” Aleksei started jumping up and down, flailing her arms helplessly, “Ignoring me, are we?”

“Yes, but she’s really fun to talk to.” Jasperez smiled timidly.

“Aw…” Aleksei shook her head, “But seriously! I’m right here, guys! Hey! Hellooooo?”

Keith turned back to the girl, “My name is Keith Edelstein.” he stuck out his hand.

Aleksei shook it with both of her hands excitedly, “Aleksei Night at your service, SIR!” she looked like she was about to dislocate the prince’s shoulder.

“Alex, did you see the match?” Jasperez pointed at the screen.

“Ai-yai-yai… do you take me for an unsupportive friend who does nothing but tweak with metal bits and pieces?”

The room went silent.

Aleksei’s jaw dropped, “Are you frickin kidding me?”

“No, no!” Jasperez said hastily and rubbed the back of his neck, “You’re a great and supportive person… but maybe when it comes to tweaking with metal bits and pieces…”

“Okay, okay. I’ll admit that I am a tad bit crazy when it comes to mechanics.” Aleksei admitted. “Of course I saw the match, silly! You were great!”

“My boots went a bit weird at the end.” Jasperez said.

“Huh. Let me see?” she pointed at one of his boots.

Jasperez took one of them off and handed it to her. She took it, “You don’t have athlete’s foot… right?”

Keith snorted and covered his mouth to hide his small smile. Jasperez was stunned for a second, “A… athlete’s… no, I don’t… of course I don’t!” he shook his head.

“I’m just kidding! If you had athlete’s foot, I would’ve noticed right from the beginning when you dropped off your boots back at the shop!” she laughed, “You really are nervous, are you? You need anything before the Assassin Scenario? Some tea, perhaps? Or a message? I’m light enough to tromp all over your back if you need it… I think…”

Jasperez chuckled nervously, “No, thanks.”

“So…” Aleksei leaned into one of the crates and started throwing things out. Jasperez tried his best to dodge every one of them. “Keith, you’re a prince, right?”

“Yes.”

“Are you an only child?” Aleksei almost threw a supporter at Jasperez’s face.

Keith stiffened slightly, “No.”

“Huh. You have a sibling? Lucky…” Aleksei pulled herself out of the crate and started tweaking with Jasperez’s boot.

“So, is he watching or something?” Jasperez asked.

“No.” Keith sat down on a metal bench, “He’s dead.”

Aleksei stopped her hands and looked up, “I’m sorry.” she bowed her head, “I didn’t know.”

“Why are you apologizing? You’re not the reason why he’s dead.” Keith muttered.

“Let’s talk about something else, shall we?” Aleksei chirped after a minute of silence.

“Yes, let’s.” Jasperez agreed.

“Keith, do you have a palace or something?” Aleksei asked brightly, “Or a villa?”

“I have a villa on the outskirts of this city.” Keith said, “But my family’s palace is back on Tridaria.”

“Hm… is it pretty?”

“Very.”

“Cool!” Aleksei grinned, “Mind if I visit some day?”

“A-Aleksei… you’re joking, right?” Jasperez stuttered. He wasn’t sure if they were allowed to visit the royal family’s palace.

“Why would she be joking?” Keith asked in a quiet and serious tone, “She’s welcome to visit whenever she likes. She just has to tell me.”

“No joke?” Aleksei gasped.

Keith shrugged, “Why not?”

“Because I might possibly most likely and definitely break some special family heirloom that’s been passed down for generations or tear the curtains of the luxurious rooms or track mud sweat grime and oil onto the floor and terrify the servants and maids with my towering towers of projects that I would most likely bring along with me because that’s me or I can attract other people’s attention by walking into the gates of the heavenly palace and cause a riot because the citizens may be upset to see that a foreigner like me is allowed into the palace but they aren’t or–”

“Aleksei.” Keith said firmly.

“Y-yes?” she squeaked.

“Think about it logically. Would special family heirlooms be hanging around in the hallways waiting to be broken or destroyed?” he asked.

“No, not really.” Aleksei said after thinking for a moment.

“Have you ever tried tearing down the velvet curtains? Do you think it’s an easy task?”

“N-no.”

“If you track grime, oil, sweat, and dirt into the hallways, would their be servants and maids to clean it up?”

“Yes?”

“Since my family travels a lot, they bring home souvenirs. Do you think the people working there would be surprised that a guest of mine would be carrying a bunch of suitcases?”

“Well, they’re not suitcases, more like–”

“And parties are held in palaces often, yes? With visitors and foreigners coming from different planets, don’t you think my people would be used to it?”

“But I’m not wearing ball gowns or tuxes, so–”

“Tridarians have never had a war or riot since god knows when. And even if they do riot over something as stupid as that, we always have the suppression act up our sleeves.”

“You know, that makes you sound like a villain.” Aleksei pointed out.

“It does, actually.” Jasperez admitted and agreed.

“If it does, I apologize.” Keith said calmly.

“So… you guys base your guys’ logic off of logic? That’s cool.” Aleksei nodded.

“Challengers! Three minutes!”

“Aleksei?” Jasperez pointed at his boot.

“Oh! I just remembered. The reason behind your thrown off balance is because of the emergency supporting boosters that I added to the list of specializing.”

“What?” Jasperez exclaimed, “W-why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“Because you never asked!”

“Then, how was I supposed to know in the first place?” Jasperez screeched. A challenger needs to know his gear as well as the back of his hand!

“Like I said: You never asked!” Aleksei repeated.

“Tell me next time, will you?” Jasperez clutched his head, “Oh god… is there any way to remove it in three minutes?”

“Two minutes!”

‘There’s no time.” Keith grabbed Jasperez’s hand, “We must go.”

“Sorry ’bout that.” Aleksei mumbled, her face red.

Jasperez sighed and shook his head, “It’s fine. I’ll deal with it. How do you activate it?”

“You know, that’s the thing… it activates when you panic.” Aleksei explained hastily as Jasperez shoved his boot back on.

“Panic? I don’t–”

“If you didn’t panic, it never would’ve happened, and you would’ve gotten fifth.” Keith said, “Be glad that it happened. Though, Aleksei, it’s best if you told him even if he didn’t ask.”

“Yeah, I get it. Again, sorry.” she held up her hands.

---

“Each challenger would go to their designated room and wait there for the judges to be seated.” the announcer said. “When your name gets called up, please proceed to the designated room. Please do not trade rooms with other challengers or arrive more than ten seconds after time’s up.”

“These names would be announced according to the obstacle course results.” the second announcer started listing names, “Jasperez Ajandro, room 1-A.”

“I’ll see you later.” Jasperez waved to Keith.

The prince looked at him with a calm expression, “I’ll meet you in the finals, Ajandro.” was all he said.

Jasperez nodded once before heading to his designated room.

---

His room was in the building, away from the audience’s eyes. He was actually relieved, if he had to be completely honest with himself. At least now he didn’t have to worry about everyone watching him, expecting him to win once more.

Jasperez stood in front of the metal door labeled 1-A.

“Welcome, Jasperez Ajandro.” a lady’s monotone voice said and the door opened with a hiss.

Jasperez took a quick scan around the room. It didn’t look too bad. The victim dummies were all within sight, and there was plenty of room to navigate around.

“Jasperez Ajandro, please station yourself at the center of the ring. You may observe for thirty seconds. If you don’t need that much time, tell us whenever you’re ready.” one of the judges spoke through the announcer.

Jasperez nodded and walked to the middle.

“Your thirty seconds starts now.”

He walked around the pillars and bars. I can start off with those two. He looked at the two dummies that were closer to each other than any of the others. I’ll use the Double Slasher on those two. Then that puts me there. He looked at the floor covered with spikes. I have to make sure I activate my hovering fast enough. If I don’t recover fast enough, I’m dead. The sudden force would mean a bit more time recovering… but it’ll be enough to propel me forward to that dummy over there. There are pillars near that dummy, and not far from another. I could use the pillar as a boost and use a simple knife throwing on that one. It wouldn’t get me as many points, but it could make up for the time I lost while recovering… wait, there’s no time limit, though… although most of the time, people win by finishing them off the fastest and by using the hardest and effective techniques. If I’m making up for that time, I need to get at least double points to make up for the simple technique. The next dummy is behind the pillars and closer to the hanging chains from the ceiling. They won’t be much help in this case, though. They’ll be more of an obstacle than a supporter. I can build up speed and force by jumping from pillar to pillar and then finally do the Ambusher technique… yes, that’ll give me more points, since it’s an effective killing blow… it just takes up more time. Maybe instead of balancing out the time, I should just go for points instead of time. This isn’t supposed to be realistic. It’s more of a “showing how good and smooth you are at these techniques”. If they were looking for realism, then they’d ask for the top ten people that finished them off with the least time. That’ll be four dummies, six more to go. These dummies aren’t really grouped together in any way, so I’ll have to do ranged attacks and closed attacks at the same time. I can to the Twisting Archer and Blade at the same time, using my blades on my boots to preform the Blade technique and my throwing knives to preform the Twisting Archer. But the trajectory and angle has to be exact. I can’t really guarantee that’ll happen. If it doesn’t happen, then I’ll get penalties for missing the target. I can make up for the lost points in the end, when I finish the center dummy with a Spinning Razor technique. It doesn’t take too much time and it’s worth the most points. It’s not that hard, but then I’ll have to use something as a supporter… maybe I can leap off from the top of those bars over there? Which means I’ll have to come from somewhere here after I finish off my ninth target. Say that I do get two victim dummies with the Twisting Archer and Blade, that’ll leave me four targets to go. One near the bars and three on the other side of the room. That’s going to be a slight problem, since getting here to there then back again takes up seconds of time. I would like to finish this in less than ten seconds, which is something I know I can do, but would I get enough points that way? Ah, either way, I just need to finish this with the most points and least time as possible. I guess if I do get both targets with the double techniques, I’ll need some quick way to get to the three other dummies on the other side if I want to finish with a Spinning Razor technique. I think I could manage another Double Slasher, but the cuts wouldn’t be as deep… then again, does it really matter? A cut to the throat means certain death. It’s one of the vital spots of the body. That leaves me three more, two if I eliminate the last one with the Spinning Razor. One of them is near the bars that I can use as a supporter, so that means I’ll have to find some way to get from the two dummies to the third and last one smoothly. I think I’ll–

“Time’s up! Jasperez Ajandro, please take your knives and station yourself at the center.”

Jasperez took out his blades, one in each hand, and at least a dozen on his knife, and many more under his jacket. He twirled his blades between his fingers.

“Ready.” the judge said firmly.

Jasperez held the hilts in a relaxed manner and nodded, signaling that he was ready.

“Begin!” she said.

As soon as she announced that he could start, Jasperez bolted towards the two dummies and activated his hover blades. He twisted in midair so his body was parallel to the floor, then he pressed down with his heels to activate Assassin Mode. Blades slid out of his heel and he smiled. Jasperez stiffened his entire body and spun, kicking out with one foot then the next, slashing one of the dummy’s neck twice. A split second after that, he twisted around and threw the two knives from his hands onto the other dummy. Both found their new home in the dummy’s chest.

That’s two. He thought to himself. Jasperez clicked down with the balls of his feet and got back into the air right away. He threw another knife onto one dummy and went straight for the pillars, where the fourth dummy awaited.

Three. Jasperez pushed off of the pillar and flipped, building up force, and smashed the blade on his heel into the dummy’s head. Four. Now for the Twisting Archer and Blade.

He pulled his foot out of the dummy’s head and blasted towards the other dummies. He narrowed his eyes and focused as he got closer. You’ve done this so many times during training. He pulled out another knife from his belt and prepared to throw it.

Once he got close enough, Jasperez kicked out and slashed the throat of the first dummy and threw the knife at the dummy several meters away from the dummy he just “killed”.

The movement reminded him of something. A couple of kids his age asked what was the difference between the Double Slasher and the Spinning Archer and Blade combination.

“The Double Slasher involves both feet, the first kicks out followed by the next, creating two gashes in the victim instead of one. And the Double Slasher’s main attack is focused on the victim being killed by the heel blades, thus the name Double Slasher. The Spinning Archer and Blade Combination is a combination of two different techniques, and can be used individually, but because challengers often use the two techniques together, almost no one uses the Spinning Archer on its own or the Blade technique on its own either. It’s not worth as much points, but it is easier to practice them individually. That’s why beginners are taught each technique individually, regardless of how they’re usually preformed. Fundamentals always come before anything else.” he had explained to them.

I got them both! He sighed in relief. Four more to go.

He grabbed onto a bar and swung himself forward, bringing his feet up and hooked. One of the dummy’s throat got cut. Just as I thought. I wouldn’t be as deep. But at least he got the points. Now while I’m in midair, I need to manage a side throw. He pulled out another knife and flicked it sideways. He heard a thump just as he was landing. Good, I got him.

Just two more. He jumped off of a small supporter pillar and threw two of his smaller knives. Both of them found the “eyes” of the victim dummy. That would be worth more points, since it’s a pretty easy target to miss. Now, for the Spinning Razor.

Jasperez flipped and jumped off of the top of the bars. Now! Jasperez tensed up his entire body and brought out two blades. The goal of the spinning razor is to cut off his head completely. He remembered and spun. Two gashes from the front with my heels, and two from my blades from the back.

He kicked out with both feet. Two gashes here. He activated his hovering so he could clear the dummy’s head, then bent down and finished the technique. Two gashes here on the nape. 

Jasperez landed with ease and looked behind him. The head fell off cleanly.

That makes ten. Now I need to know how much time it took and points I earned. He thought, panting slightly.

But the room was silent, and Jasperez frowned. “Uh…” he started saying.

“P-please exit now. Thank you for your time.” the judges sounded shocked.

But what about my score?

“Your score would be revealed once every challenger is done.” they said, “Dismissed.”

Jasperez shrugged. I guess that’s alright. He walked out of the room and headed down the corridor and into the open arena.

“JASPEREZ!” Aleksei screamed from the stands.

He turned, “Aleksei!” he smiled and waved, “Hey!”

“How’d you do?” she shouted above all the noise from the crowds.

“I think I did alright.” Jasperez shrugged one shoulder.

“Really? That’s great! Because I bet with a couple of people that you would win this whole competition!”

“W-what?” Jasperez gaped. Why did she… can’t she refrain herself from doing such things?

“She doesn’t learn, does she?” Keith said all of the sudden.

Jasperez jumped, “Whoa!” he yelped, “Didn’t hear you come!”

The prince eyed him slowly, “So how did you do?”

“Heh, I think I did alright, I guess.” Jasperez said timidly.

“You guess?” Keith sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Ajandro…”

“Ladies and gentlemen! The scores will now be published.”

A screen appeared on the wall and revealed a list of names and numbers.

“They are arranged alphabetically by last name.”

“Ajandro… Ajandro… A-”

“WHOO-HOO!” Aleksei leapt at least five feet into the air, “Jasperez! You got the highest score!”

“I-I did?” he continued looking for his name,

“I got second…” Keith didn’t sound disappointed or excited, “I’m not surprised. I’ve never been good with races.”

“I finished in… twelve seconds?” Dammit, that was more time than I expected. “I got 147 points in total?” Okay, not too bad… 

“I finished in eight seconds?” Keith muttered and Jasperez almost choked on his own saliva.

“Eight seconds?” he struggled to keep his voice at a normal tone.

“139 points, though…” he sighed, “So that’s why I lost to you.”

“T-that’s a bit close… d-don’t you think?” Jasperez stuttered, still shocked that Keith got a better time than most of the famous challengers ever to live. Most of them got eleven or ten seconds, at the very least, eight point seven. That was the lowest record in history… at least, for the juniors it is.

“Everyone!” the announcer roared, “Apparently, we have someone who broke the world record for the least time spent and the most points won in that time! At least, in the Junior category, he did! And that’s none other than his serene highness, Prince Keith Edelstein!”

“You get recognized for that?” Keith sounded like he was talking more to himself than to Jasperez.

“Congratulations to the top 10! For those of you who didn’t make it, that’s alright! You always have next time! Those who did make to to the top 10, you have 30 minutes before the final match! Make good use of the time given to you, and we’ll see you soon in this arena!”

“I broke this world’s record?” Keith was still asking himself, “Interesting.”

Aleksei was screaming her head off and dancing like a maniac, “My two besties! You guys are the best! Come on! I’ll meet you guys in waiting room 3!”

---

Once Keith and Jasperez entered the room, Aleksei pounced onto both of them and laughed.

“Haha! I can’t believe I’m friends with two would be champions in my favorite sport!” she squealed.

“The final score hasn’t been determined yet, Aleksei.” Keith pried her arms away and stood up.

“Yeah,” Jasperez nodded in agreement, “we never know if we’re even going to make the top three.”

“Nah!” Aleksei shook her head, “I know you two can make it! And besides, even if you don’t, I’ll still be proud! You know why? Because you two are competing against the best of the best! There isn’t going to be a higher level of competition than that! So be happy that you’re even able to participate!”

“You met me a week ago, and today’s the first time we’ve ever had a proper conversation.” Keith frowned, “You think of me as a friend?”

“I’m a really social and extrovert person.” Aleksei declared, “So it’s natural that I want to make friends with everyone! But, my family doesn’t really have time for that, that’s why I’m so eager to make friends now!” she then blinked and looked back at Keith, “Why do you ask?”

“Nothing.” Keith bit down on his lip, “I haven’t really had time to make any friends either… so this is actually a big relief to me, really.”

Aleksei gasped, “Really?” she started jumping up and down, “Hooray for me!”

“Aleksei.” Jasperez sat down on the bench, “You watch Hover Blade challengers, right?”

“Correcto, me friend!”

‘That’s improper–”

“Anyways,” Aleksei interrupted the prince before he could say anything else, “That are right! I watches Hover Blade Challenges daily. Are somethings wrong with that?”

Keith stiffened with each word, “Aleksei, you’re not using proper–”

But she just continued, “So what does you wants?”

Jasperez wanted to laugh. Keith’s face was priceless, “Compared to the previous champions, do you think we have a chance in winning?”

“Yes, I does!” Aleksei nodded, “You has very big chance! And he too!” she jerked her thumb at Keith, who looked like he was about to die.

“Aleksei!” he said firmly, “Proper. Grammar. Please!”

“Ah, yes! Sorry!” Aleksei sighed dramatically, “But, why, oh why, do I feel like I’m back in school again?”

Jasperez chuckled.

Keith sat down on the floor and leaned back against the wall, “So, Jasperez?”

“Yes?”

“Why did you start learning the Hover Blades?” he asked curiously.

“Oh yeah! Why did you?” Aleksei tilted her head like a puppy that wanted to learn everything.

“Well, I…” how could he explain his situation? “It’s kind of sad, actually.”

“Is that so?” Keith said.

“Yeah.” Where to begin? “Well, my parents want me to do it.”

“Cool! But then… if they wanted to you to do it, why aren’t they here?” Aleksei asked.

“It’s complicated.” Jasperez said after searching for the right word.

“So what you mean is that you don’t want us knowing, right?” Keith rephrased what Jasperez had in mind.

“Yeah, sort of.” he said nervously.

“So be it.” Keith turned to Aleksei, “Who’ll you root for?”

“Is that even a question?” Aleksei sounded offended, “I’m rooting for both of you, of course! You’re both my friends, aren’t you?”

“But only one would get the title of Blade Master.” Jasperez pointed out.

“Hey! Help me out here, will ya?” she put her hands on her hips.

“He’s right. Only one can win. So no matter who you root for, even if one of us wins, the other would have to go home empty handed.”

“You guys are so negative, geez.” Aleksei sighed and slapped her own forehead, “The point of a competition is to have fun! Have fun and get the best out of it! You learn more from failure than from victory!”

“But it still doesn’t feel good to lose.” Keith objected.

“You know what? Shut up and have some water.” Aleksei tossed both of them a metal flask.

“Thanks.” Jasperez nodded and drank.

After a couple of moments of silence, Aleksei slid off of the crate she was sitting on and walked over to Keith, “Give me your gear. I’ll check on it one last time.”

Keith’s gauntlets and boots came off, “Go ahead.”

---

“Alright! Now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for, people! The final matches will be determined randomly. It’s single elimination. So if you lose, you’re out! Game over! The two who advance to the top will be our finalists! Good luck, challengers! Now let’s begin!”

Jasperez’s heart was beating faster than he wanted it to as the screen appeared and revealed their opponents.

“I’m up against… someone from the north?” his name is Titus Cain.

“Hm.” Keith looked like he was deep in thought, “Looks like we’ll meet sooner than we anticipated, Jasperez.” he pointed at the screen.

Two matches away, he saw Keith’s name.

“Oh well… at least we’ll see each other in the semi-finals.”

“That’s unfortunate.” Keith turned and started to leave, “I was hoping to see you go all out against me.” he murmured as he walked past his friend.

“Wait…” Jasperez called out.

Keith stopped in his tracks, “Yes?”

“If you think about it,” Jasperez pointed at the screen, “There is a chance that we can meet each other in the finals.”

“Huh?” Keith turned around to look, “How?”

“In the semi-finals, there are only three people. One person would get lucky and go straight to the finals, whereas two people would have to fight for that second spot in the final match.”

The prince was silent, then he looked up and brushed his hair away from his face, “I guess we just have to get lucky, then.” he said.

---

The first match was easy. Easier than Jasperez expected. His opponent had a nervous breakdown near the end, causing him to make a mistake and let Jasperez win.

The second match was a bit harder. His opponent did’t give him a chance to defend himself, and because of that, Jasperez ended up with bruises and cuts all over the place. Aleksei was really angry at him after the match. But towards the end, Jasperez realized that his opponent was tiring out, and if he didn’t act then and there, he wouldn’t be able to win either. So instead of counterattacking, Jasperez went straight into the attack and kicked the guys’ head. The force knocked his opponent off balance and unconscious, so Jasperez advanced to the semi-finals.

“Why do you look like you dragged yourself into hell and back again!” Aleksei exclaimed.

“Is that a question?” Jasperez muttered.

Aleksei sighed, “At this rate, you’ll never get to the finals! I thought you were supposed to be good! After your results in the previous two–”

“Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.” Jasperez rested his head against the wall.

“Yeah, I know, but… hey! Keith’s starting his second match!”

“Oh! So he won his first?”

“Pfft… if you can even call that a match, then yeah.” Aleksei laughed.

“It was that easy for him to win?” he said. How long did the match go?

“He won in less than fifteen seconds.” Aleksei answered his unvoiced question.

“Wow!”

“But this guy’s tough as well. I watched all the matches, and concluded that he’ll be there in the finals with you.”

“That’s only half possible.” Jasperez got up to watch his friend, “If Keith wins, then he won’t advance. If Keith loses… then your conclusion was correct.”

Curious

Bianca was sitting in a very cramped space… inside a metal crate. Why? Well, here’s the long story short.

Bianca was curious to see what the entire plan was about. Since she only heard part of the plan during the Elite meeting. She had to sneak into the Elite quarters, which was strictly off limits to anyone. But now that the Elites were on a special scouting mission, Bianca was able to get this far without getting caught or noticed.

But as she was walking down the hallway, she heard a two voices. And now she was hiding here, hoping not to be noticed.

The door opened and she swallowed.

“…It’s all your fault, Jax!” a boy groaned.

“My fault? What about you? You were the one who suggested it!” Jax snapped.

“Hey, listen! You didn’t have to go with it. You should’ve told me that it was a bad idea!”

“Oh, so now it’s my fault all of the sudden?”

“It was your fault all along!”

“No, it wasn’t! And now we’re stuck here cleaning out some old crappy files! You were the one who got us into this mess, Kirishima!” Jax sounded like he kicked a metal crate, “Ow! Ow, ow, ow!” Bianca could imagine him hopping on one foot while holding the other.

“Serves you right.” Kirishima sounded amused, “Well… blaming each other wouldn’t get this job done. Let’s just get this over with.” there was some shuffling of feet and a heavy object being moved. “I’ll get started over here. You go do those over there.”

“Alright, alright.” Jax grumbled and Bianca heard footsteps coming this way.

Oh, no… what should I do? What should I do? She started panicking. Just pray he wouldn’t see me. But what if I get caught? How do I explain everything then… oh no, oh no. What should I do… what should I–

The lid above her slid open and Jax screamed.

“What the–holy sh–”

“Please don’t kill me!” Bianca shot to her feet and held up her hands, her eyes wide and face pale.

“Hey… aren’t you the girl doing push ups the other day?” he leaned in to get a better look, “What are you doing in a crate? You could’ve suffocated.”

“I-uh… I…” Bianca stuttered.

Jax had usually bright green eyes and short brown hair. He looked like a young adult, but he couldn’t have been older than eighteen. His body wasn’t even properly developed yet.

Kirishima, on the other hand, had black hair. He looked different, but Bianca had seen people with similar features in the shelter, there were very few, though. They were what their ancestors would call Asians. Their eyes were usually narrower, and their skin tone was a bit different. And they usually spoke a different language that she always found interesting.

Jax turned to see her staring at Kirishima, who laughed, “Haha… I guess you haven’t seen a lot of people like me, but I can’t really blame you, my family and another small group of relatives are the only ones here.”

“No… I just haven’t seen you before.” Bianca said, shaking her head.

“Right, you still haven’t answered my question.” Jax tilted his head, “What were you doing in there?”

“Uh… that’s kind of a story that I don’t really want to tell.”

“You aren’t supposed to be here anyways.” Jax pointed out, “We’re here because Kirishima–”

“Don’t you blame this on me.” Kirishima clenched his broomstick, “It’s your fault that we’re here… with these old fashioned cleaning tools too!” he picked up his broomstick and started sweeping the floor.

“No, it’s–oh, forget it.” Jax threw up his hands in exasperation and looked back to Bianca, “So, what are you doing here? That’s the third time I had to ask.”

“If…” Bianca sighed, “if I told you, do you promise not to tell anyone?”

“Ooh…” Jax grinned, “I get it!” he nodded.

Bianca frowned, confused and annoyed at the same time, “W… what do you mean?”

“No, no!” he shook his head and said hastily, still smiling mischievously, “There’s no need to tell me! I get it!”

“Well, I don’t!”

“Oh, stop pretending! You know what I’m talking about.” Jax elbowed Bianca in the ribs gently over and over again.

“Jax, leave her alone, will you? And get to work.” Kirishima placed one hand on his hip and glared at Jax.

“I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.” Bianca shrugged.

“Oh my god.” Jax sighed, “You like Adanto? Duh? Literally, every girl in this shelter does.”

“What? No! I don’t like him!” it was the most absurd thing Bianca heard so far.

“Eh, you’re right. After what he said to you the other day, you must’ve been heartbroken.”

“No, no! I’m not interested anyone right now!” Bianca stepped away from Jax, “Are you going to hear my real reason or not?”

“Jax!” Kirishima snapped, “I’m going to say this one last time: Get to work!”

“Okay, okay, geez! No need to be so grouchy.” he rummaged through another crate and started working, “So, you were saying?”

“I…” Bianca inhaled slowly, “Do you promise not to tell?”

“Well, you’ll have to tell us either way, right?” Jax leaned into the crate to pull something out, “I mean, if you tell us, we’re going to let you out if it’s not something stupid or evil. But if you don’t tell us, we’re not going to let you out, since you’re not supposed to be here anyway.”

True. “Okay, I came here to steal the enemy’s plan.”

Jax and Kirishima both froze.

“You’re going to… wait, what?” Jax gaped.

“Enemy’s plans?” Kirishima looked at her suspiciously.

“You know the enemy plans that the woman stole for us the other day while we were out scouting?” they nodded. “I kind of actually heard the Elite’s meeting while I was passing by. They were discussing the plans that the woman gave us–”

‘So now you’re going to steal them?” Kirishima gripped the broomstick like it was a weapon, “Why?” he demanded sharply.

Jax looked at her as if she was the enemy, but before Bianca had a chance to explain, he grabbed a metal crowbar from the crate and raised it, “You planning to betray humanity?” he growled, all of his sarcasm and humor gone.

“No!” Bianca shook her head, “No! I’ll never betray my family and friends!”

Jax and Kirishima were still slowly backing towards the door.

“Please, just listen to me!” Bianca pleaded, “I was going to steal them because I was curious to see what was in them!”

Kirishima stopped, but Jax still didn’t look like he believed her.

“Prove to us you’re not a part of them.” Jax spat out the last word like it was poison.

Bianca searched through her brain for anything that can help her in this situation. Human history? No, they probably know everything about human history even I don’t know. I can’t do a speech, because that’ll sound way to suspicious. 

“We’re waiting.” Jax said, but this time he looked more frightened than angry and bitter.

“I…” Bianca faltered, “I don’t really have anything that I can use to prove that I’m a human.” she admitted quietly.

Jax’s knuckles turned white from hardening his grip on the crowbar, “Is that so?” his voice quivered.

Kirishima grabbed his friend’s arm, “Jax, come on.” he said firmly.

“No, wait!” Bianca took a couple of steps forward. I shouldn’t have said anything! I should’ve known that they would’ve reacted that way. But I can’t really blame them… these are desperate times, where friends can turn against each other at any second. 

“I’m not a spy.” Bianca said slowly, choosing her words carefully, “And I’m not here to betray humanity. I wanted to steal the plans because I wanted to know what was in them. I was curious.”

“And we’re supposed to believe that?” Kirishima asked.

“No, probably not.” Bianca said, “But if you tell everyone that I’m a traitor, that may be the beginning of an internal battle between families in the shelter. We’re weak as we are. Do you really want us to weaken even more? Especially during a time like this? When the Elites are gone?”

“You’re just saying that to save your own skin.” Jax stated stubbornly.

“Here, how about this.” Bianca sighed. I really wanted to read the plans… but it’s not worth dying for. Humanity’s survival is way more important than my curiosity. “I won’t steal the plans. I’ve made my decision. Humanity’s survival is more important than this at the moment. You guys can go tell on me. It’s fine. As long as no one gets hurt.”

Jax and Kirishima glanced at each other. Bianca bit her lip and waited. I don’t want to die either, or get banished. I’m not that noble. She admitted to herself. To be honest, if I had to choose my own skin or some random family, I would choose myself. But… I guess if there’s bloodshed, it’ll be my fault. 

The two boys lowered their weapons slowly and Bianca gasped quietly.

“Alright, we believe you.” Kirishima said.

“Under one condition, though!” Jax added all of the sudden.

Condition? Bianca frowned.

His friend didn’t seem to understand what Jax said either, “Jax, what are you–”

“We get to see the plans too!” Jax said firmly.

Kirishima and Bianca were both shocked for a second, but it was quickly dispelled when Kirishima asked, “S-Seriously? We’re already in trouble as it is! And now you want to make things worse for us? Nuh-uh! If you want to see the plans, you’re going by yourself! Don’t drag me into this!”

“I… I guess it’s fine… if we don’t get caught.” Bianca mumbled, glancing at Kirishima apologetically.

“Great!” Jax smiled and looked at his friend, “Have fun cleaning this place alone, loser! Haha!”

Bianca and Jax stepped out of the room, making sure no one was in the hallway, and left. But five steps later, they heard Kirishima groan.

“Why do you always drag me into stuff like this?” he dropped his broomstick and ran after them, “Hey! Wait up!”

Jax clapped Kirishima’s back, “That’s the spirit! And off, my friends! Onward! To another adventure we go!”

Kirishima didn’t look too happy, but Bianca understood that he didn’t want to be left behind, so he followed them deeper into the corridors.

There weren’t a lot of people. In fact, there weren’t any people at all. But that wasn’t surprising, considering the fact that all the Elites that lived here were all gone. The difficult part was to get into Adanto’s room, which was definitely locked.

“So,” Jax whispered, “do you have a plan? How would we get into Adanto’s room?”

“Why are you whispering?” Bianca asked quietly.

“Because,” he grinned, “it makes this sound like a real mission! Just imagine! Hear me out: We–”

“Ignore him.” Kirishima cut in with a normal voice, “Bianca, right?”

She nodded.

“His room is locked, and we can’t blow up the door unless we want to be chased out of the shelter with our heads blown off.” he looked at her expectantly, “So do you have a plan? I’m assuming you have one?”

“Uh…” No, I don’t. “It’s… kind of in progress right now.” Bianca said, embarrassed.

Kirishima sighed, “So you don’t have one?” he tapped his chin, “Okay. We can always wait for them to return, but that’ll make this operation riskier. On the other hand, we can also hack into the central computer and find the pass code there, but I’m not that familiar with stuff like that.”

“Me too.” Bianca nodded in agreement.

“Me three.” Jax held up his hand.

“We can ask someone.” Kirishima offered, “There’s bound to be someone who approves of our curiosity…”

“Yeah, and approves of stealing. That’s great, Kirishima. Really great.” Jax said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“Well, then, what’s your idea?” Kirishima asked, folding his arms.

“I’m dumb, remember?” Jax knocked his own head thrice.

“I’m sure you’re not.” Bianca said in a peaceful manner.

“Isn’t there an underground system that takes care of everything?” Jax asked his friend.

Kirishima shrugged, “Maybe. But in order to do that, we’ll have to find the entrance to the main system.”

Bianca felt like she was making their life too hard, “You know, you guys don’t have to come. It was I who wanted to steal the plans. You don’t have to be dragged into this.”

“And miss the chance to see top secret plans? No way in hell am I leaving! I’m just getting started!” Jax cracked his knuckles.

Kirishima sighed reluctantly, “I don’t like the fact that it’s against the rules and very impolite, but curiosity has to be satisfied once in a while… right?” he didn’t sound very sure of himself.

“Right! That’s the whole reason why we’re here and not cleaning like a bunch of losers.” Jax jerked his thumb towards the hallway where they came from.

“I guess we’ll just have to hack into the central computer.” Bianca decided. “But I don’t know much about these systems and stuff.”

“None of us do.”

“Well, what are you guys good at? Maybe we can piece stuff together.” Bianca suggested.

“Good idea! Kirishima, let’s start with you.” Jax looked at him.

His friend blinked, “Why me?”

“Okay, I’ll start.” Bianca sensed another argument coming up, so she quickly offered to go first, “I consider myself creative and I’m willing to go pretty far to get answers. But I’m pretty faint hearted when it comes to things that I’m not very interested.”

“I find myself a persuasive guy.” Jax said proudly, “Whether I use annoyance, bribery, or anything else, I can always get people to help us!”

“Great! Then you can get the people who work the central computer to unlock Adanto’s door.” Kirishima started back down the hallway.

“Hold up, dude.” Jax grabbed his friend’s arm, “Even with skills like mine, persuading those people down at the central computer is harder than hacking into the computer. At least the computer won’t throw you out the window with fire on your clothes and blood all over your face.”

Bianca frowned, “How do you know they’re violent?”

Jax looked panicked all of the sudden, “Hehe… well, in my youth, I would kinda sorta… ish…”

“He attempted to steal his Gaming Program back from his parents after they told him that he couldn’t play games anymore that day. He tried to get the guys at the central computer to unlock the safe, but they kicked him out and scolded him for being naughty.” Kirishima explained quickly and calmly.

Jax gritted his teeth, “Thanks for covering me, my friend!”

“You’re welcome.” Kirishima nodded, he seemed to find it amusing.

“Wait, shh!” Jax covered Bianca and Kirishima’s mouths suddenly.

“Wh–” Bianca tried to speak, but Jax pulled them to their feet and crouched down in a corner of another hallway.

“Quiet.” Jax whispered.

There were footsteps. They weren’t hurried, and they weren’t heavy.

“…big brother is gone?” it was a little girls’ voice.

“Yep!” a boy’s voice. They sounded no older than ten.

“So, what are we doing on his room?” the girl asked.

The boy laughed, “We’re gonna sneak in and wait there until he comes back, then surprise him!”

“But we don’t know when he’s coming back.” two children walked past them without noticing them crouching in the corner. They looked too excited to notice anyone.

“Meh. It’s alright. As long as I get to see the look on his face!” they stopped in front of the door.

“But Adanto’s scary!”

Bianca’s eyes widened and she looked to see if the two boys had the same reaction.

“Okay, plan B.” Jax whispered, “We walk down the hall just as they open the door and say that we’re Elites.”

“But they know that the Elites have left!” Kirishima protested.

“Then, we bluff and say that we’re the youngest Elites in the shelter, that’s why they didn’t want to risk us. And we were here to protect the people. We don’t have time! Let’s just go!”

“Got it!” the boy grinned and opened the door.

“Go, go!” Jax pushed them to their feet and whispered.

They straightened their backs and walked around the corner like they owned the place.

“Excuse me?” Bianca said in the most authoritative voice she can come up with, “What’s going on here?” she pointed at the two children.

They looked panicked. “Uh… we, uh–”

“What are you doing in front of Adanto’s room?” Jax demanded sharply.

“I’m his younger brother!” the boy pointed at himself proudly.

“I’m not sure Adanto would appreciate his younger siblings sneaking into his room while he’s gone.” Kirishima said in a softer tone.

“But it’s a surprise!” the girl said, “Please? Can we just stay here?”

“No, you may not.” Jax shook his head, “Out, now.” he pointed down the hallway.

“Aw…” the two of them trudged back down the way they came, “We never get to do anything fun…” they muttered.

Once they were out of sight completely, Bianca went into Adanto’s room.

His room was simple and clean. But there were weapons everywhere in the room. On the wall, on the tables, under his pillow, in the flower pot, in the bathroom, you name it.

His bed was on the right side of the room, pushed against the wall. There was a nightstand behind his bed and on it was a lamp and a pair of glasses.

“I didn’t know the guy wore glasses.” Jax said to himself, picking them up.

“Put that back down!” Kirishima said firmly, “We’re here for the plans. Don’t touch anything else! This room could be rigged with traps for all we know!”

“I don’t think he’ll risk getting himself trapped in his own room.” Jax snorted with laughter, “I mean, how funny would that be?”

Bianca went behind his desk which was on the opposite side of the room. She opened the drawers, but there were nothing but digital files and books. She searched in most of the hiding places, but there was nothing.

“You sure Adanto took it?” Jax asked her.

“Who else would take it? He’s the lead Elite.” Bianca asked back.

“Yeah, but we don’t seem to have any luck finding the plans. By the way, is it a file or a chip?”

“It’s a data chip.”

“That makes it easier.” Kirishima reached into the back of the flower pot at the corner of the room, “Because look what I found.” he pulled out a small data chip.

“Great!” Bianca grinned. At long last. “Now, we just need a room where we can project the plans and we’re off!”

---

Getting out was much easier. It was lunch time too, so most people weren’t in the projector rooms. They found an empty one and locked the door.

“Alright, let’s see what we have.” Jax placed the chip in the center of the projector and pressed start.

Lights and colors swirled out of the projector and revealed a portion of a solar system. There were notes written beside a couple of planets.

“This looks interesting.” Jax tapped at a planet called Home. It magnified the planet and listed a bunch of information beside the rotating projection.

“Where we meet.” Bianca read, “Get ready to launch on the Day. Plan Android is already in progress.”

“What the heck is this guy talking about?” Jax frowned.

“Are you sure we got the right one?” Kirishima asked Bianca.

“I don’t know, but it seems like it.” she shrugged, “This is pretty serious, though, since this is the guy that’s been driving the human race to the brink of extinction. I want to know why he stopped all of the sudden.”

“Well, it says to meet up on this planet.” Jax pointed, “I guess that means they had something important.”

“What’s the Day?”

“Something important.” Jax offered.

The planet had four main landmasses. Though one is connected by a very thin land bridge. One was on the bottom corner of the planet, and the other two were very close together. There were plenty of islands, and it seemed like most of the planet was water.

“It says here that Team Delta and Team Epsilon retreats from Second Base and joins Team Omicron for the first assault.”

“So these are battle plans?”

“But where’s Second Base? What’s the first assault?” Bianca mumbled to herself.

Team Delta and Team Epsilon retreats from Second Base and joins Team Omicron for the first assault. Team Zeta, Eta, and Theta take the Arch Route and start from the Far End. Start from there. No civilization should live, and if they find any strong races, bring their best back to Home. Team Iota, Kappa, and Lambda start from the Near End. Same orders as the Far End teams. Team Mu, Nu, and Xi would be in charge of assassinating any leaders of the planet. Any foreign leaders should be eliminated.

“Yikes.” Jax made a face, “That’s kinda harsh.” He pointed at the “any leaders should be eliminated” part.

Backup teams stand by and wait for the order. He will activate the androids once everyone’s ready, and both sides would be secured. Go for the planets and star systems in between the two planets and century teams would go secure the outer most planets of the sector.

“Is this guy trying to take over the universe or something?” Bianca asked. This is getting kind of creepy and disturbing. Who is this person? Is this entire plan just a prank? 

“Who is this person?” Kirishima sounded genuinely worried.

Bianca was about to ask him why he didn’t know when she remembered that not everyone chose the life of a soldier. Most people of this shelter knew that there was another race out there that wanted to take over, but weren’t aware of the fact that there’s almost definitely a mastermind behind it.

“We don’t have a name.” Bianca deactivated the projection and leaned against the metal surface, “All we know is that he controls his army of Enhanced Humans , and they obey his orders without hesitation.”

“So these are the plans of a guy who we’ve been fighting against since god knows when?” Jax asked her.

Bianca nodded, “Yes.”

“Oh god…” Kirishima put his hand on his forehead as if he was too surprised to think, “This is good… and bad! What planet is he targeting? We need to report this to someone! We can’t have him taking over another planet and let the people suffer like we have!” he started muttering to himself.

“We should tell someone.” Bianca said. Wait, why did I just say that? Kirishima literally just suggested the same thing.

Jax turned to look at the door, his face serious now, “But we don’t know if the Elites have told anyone yet. If they haven’t, there must be a reason why Adanto felt like it was best for them not to know.”

“But what else can we do?” Kirishima protested.

“We can wait until the Elites come back.” Bianca suggested weakly. She knew they couldn’t wait, now that they knew what their enemy’s plan was… but the Elites knew about them as well and decided to head out instead of discussing a strategy. Sometimes she wished she knew what Adanto was thinking, or that she had the ability to think like him.

“No time.” Jax shook his head, “I say we put the plans back and come up with a strategy of our own.” he took the chip from the table, “We can’t rely on the Elites forever, guys. Someone’s gotta act, or else we’re all dead.”

“There’s a difference between being brave and being impulsive, Jax.” Kirishima grabbed his friend’s arm before he can do anything.

Bianca didn’t know what the hell happened next, but all she knew was that one moment she was standing, and the next thing she knew, she was lying on her side on the floor, bracing both hands on the ground. She couldn’t hear a single thing… or rather, she heard so much that her ears felt like they were going to burst. It was low and high pitched at the same time, and the earth trembled like a giant monster was awakening.

The familiar dread washed over her and Bianca found herself unable to move, even after the tremors were gone. The floor was still shaking, though, after several moments.

“I swear, that was definitely a bomb.” Jax gasped as he gripped the table with one shaky hand and hauled himself to his knees, bracing himself with his forearms.

Bianca and Kirishima were both too shocked to say anything for a moment.

“B-bomb? A bomb?” Bianca tried (and failed) to push herself back onto her feet. It was like fighting a battle against gravity. She was nowhere close to winning it either.

“From where?” Kirishima panted, his face pale and eyes clouded with fear. Bianca knew that feeling all too well.

“Don’t know.” Jax shook his head. He looked like he was using up all his strength just to stand up even with the table’s support.

Bianca gritted her teeth and got herself onto her knees, but it wasn’t easy. Get back onto your feet, Bianca! This is what you’ve trained for. If you can’t get back up now, how can you expect to fight when they need me? But the more desperate side of her mind cried out. It’s hopeless! We might as well just run! It may be less painful that way!

“Bianca!” Jax’s voice snapped her out of her internal argument. She looked up and saw him extending a hand towards her, “Get up. We need to go see what happened.”

She reached up with a trembling hand, “Thanks.” she whispered, still recovering from the shock.

Kirishima got to his feet shakily and started walking towards the doorway, “Are the others alright?” he asked.

“Yeah, we should go check.” Bianca nodded.

People were panicking throughout the shelter. Children and infants were crying, and mothers hurried to their sides while fathers demand what just happened. The guards were rushing down the hallways to check on everyone. In the cafeteria, chairs were knocked over, and people were milling around the windows, confused.

“It happened outside.” Kirishima said.

But the Elites are also outside! Bianca stared to get nervous. I hope Diana’s alright! She didn’t tell me where she was heading, so I don’t know if that bomb was aimed at the Elites… but what if it was? Bianca gasped. Oh no…

“Bianca?” Jax called after her.

She ran to the doors of the shelter. “Let me out.” she grabbed the guard’s wrist.

“No, sorry. An explosion went off outside–”

“I know that!” Bianca screamed. Just shut up and let me out! My sister’s in trouble! “But Diana’s out there!”

“An Elite? She’ll be fine.” the guard shook her head, “Go back to the common room, girl. You’ll be safer there.”

“I said: To hell with my own life!”

“Hey, hey!” Jax and Kirishima pulled her back, “Okay, calm down. She’s right. They’re Elites. They can handle it.”

“Not if they’re dead!” Bianca struggled out of their grip and ran down the opposite direction. There’s an emergency exit in the east wing. I can take that. 

“No, listen, Bianca.” Kirishima stepped in front of her, “Charging out into the unknown without thinking is suicide!”

“Just get out of my way!” Bianca tried to shove them aside. Naturally, with more training, she was the stronger one. But they were two people and she was only one, so she got stopped at the doorway.

“Bianca, listen to me.” Jax put both hands on her shoulders firmly and shook her, “Don’t make assumptions. We don’t know if they’re dead or alive. We can’t change anything that’s beyond our power. The least we can do at this point is to see if everyone’s alright. The Elites can take care of themselves, and even if they can’t, what makes you think that you alone can save all of them?”

Bianca froze. What makes you think you alone can save all of them? His words echoed over and over again in her head. All thoughts of saving Diana rushed out, replaced by shame and embarrassment. He’s right, you know. Part of her mind realized. You can’t do anything about it. Even if you do find them, what then? What if they’re dead? What then? 

“That was a little harsh, Jax.” Kirishima bit his lip.

“You think she’d listen if I had asked her nicely?” Jax asked.

Kirishima stayed silent.

I probably would’ve just ignored you if you had asked nicely. Bianca sighed, “You’re right.” she shook their hands away, “I owe you one, Jax.”

“Hm, no prob.” Jax shrugged, “Just as long as you don’t try charging to your death again.”

---

Jax and Kirishima both went to check on their families and so did Bianca. Her parents were okay, but most of her mind still screamed for her to get out and find Diana.

After twenty hours of waiting, the remaining senior soldiers finally decided to go look for the Elites and see what happened. Bianca and the other teenage soldiers were left behind, naturally, and it really ticked her off. But after a couple of minutes with Jax, her temper cooled off and she was able to stay put in the shelter.

“Who do you think dropped the bomb?” Kirishima asked them in the cafeteria.

“It was definitely the Enhanced.” Bianca declared.

“You don’t know that.” Jax looked at her.

“Who else would it be, then?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I never said it was anyone else. I simply said that you don’t know it was the Enhanced.” Jax shrugged helplessly.

Bianca sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Oh my god…”

Kirishima chuckled, “Jax, we both know that you had an unvoiced question in that statement.”

“Geez, what are you? Mind readers or something?” Jax leaned back in his chair and let it lean on its two back legs, “Fine, fine… it could be someone else, you know. I just don’t know who.”

“Well, the most logical explanation would be the Enhanced.” Kirishima said.

“I overheard the Elites’ meeting the other day.” Bianca said, “And they said that the Enhanced have evacuated the area because of their leader’s change of plans.”

“So it was all a trap?” Jax let his chair back down and tucked in both of his knees, “The entire data chip was a fake?”

“I don’t think so.” Bianca tapped her chin, “The woman who gave us the chip seemed pretty weak.”

“Yeah, but that could be great acting skills.”

“Say that the data chip was real.” Kirishima spoke up, “Why didn’t they just bomb the shelter in the first place?”

“‘Cause it’s a shelter, dude.” Jax made a face, “Duh.”

“Yeah, but sooner or later, if they keep dropping bombs on us, the shelter’s going to collapse.”

“Maybe they’re on a low budget or something.” Jax offered sarcastically.

“I don’t think money’s the problem, Jax.” Bianca said. “If they had money to add enhancements onto human beings, why can’t they afford a simple bomb?”

“Maybe they’re low on bombs and the resources to make them.” Jax said, “Think about it. In the plans, they said–”

“We don’t know if the plans are real, Jax.” Kirishima cut in.

“Just hear me out, will you?” he held up a hand in a peaceful manner, “In the plans, they said that they’ll secure two planets and then target the planets in between them. Say that there are civilizations out there that we don’t know about. If they needed the bombs for them, they wouldn’t have much left for us. That’s why they didn’t drop an army worth of bombs on us. And if this planet isn’t their home base, they must have a place where they can get the resources to make the bombs. But after a couple of years, the resources to make the bombs are going to run out, so in order not to waste all their firepower on us, they decide to use it for securing their victory.”

“But that leaves the question… actually, a few.” Kirishima said, “If didn’t bomb the Elites, what exactly did they drop it for. And even if they did, why the Elites and not the entire human population.”

“They must’ve bombed their base on this planet so we can’t get any information out of them after they left.” Bianca said, “And if they did drop the bomb to kill the Elites, it’ll be because the Elites are the strongest out of all of us. To kill the leader and the strongest warriors means that we have a slimmer chance of surviving. We’re barely hanging on as it is. To kill the Elites means a guaranteed death for us humans on this planet.”

“Aren’t we geniuses or what?” Jax grinned.

“Jax, this is serious.” Kirishima said sternly.

“But we don’t know if it’s true!” he pointed out.

“Pray that it isn’t.” Bianca said grimly.

The three were silent for a moment, then Jax spoke up, “Okay, let’s say the plans were all fake. Why drop a bomb?”

“The fake plans must’ve been a trap to lure the Elites out. And since the base would be the most likely place they’ll go check first, they drop a bomb there.” Bianca said, praying that they didn’t fall for it.

---

Bianca was in her room when the alarms sounded and she sprang to her feet.

They’re back! Thank god! She rushed outside and found everyone running down the corridor as well. Everyone must’ve been nervous and worried for them. I hope they’re alright!

Everyone was gathered at the great hall where a path was made for the returning soldiers, but with all the people here, Bianca wasn’t able to see what was going on.

“Mom, do you see Diana?” she asked her mother who stood behind her. She craned her neck and looked.

“No, not yet. But I’m sure she’ll come…” she stopped and all the blood rushed out of her face.

“What? What is it?” Bianca started jumping.

“Oh my god…” her mother covered her mouth and choked, tears spilling.

Is Diana hurt? Is she dead? Bianca tried to squeeze her way through, but her mother stopped her.

“Don’t go, Bianca.” her mother barely managed to say through her sobbing, “I don’t want… you to see…” she fell onto her knees.

Bianca started hearing the sobs and screams all around her. What is going on? She resisted the urge to go look and helped her mother back onto her feet, “Mom, I think you should go lie down.”

People were growing more and more agitated. Children ran out of fear, and parents weren’t able to stand on their own feet.

Bianca got her mother to sit against the wall.

“Do you need any water?” she asked.

But her mother didn’t reply. Instead, she curled up into a ball and started crying all over again.

“Bianca.” it was her father. Tears were welled up in his eyes, but not a single one slid down, “Go back to your room.”

This is bad. Worse than bad. Bianca stood up shakily, wondering what could possibly make her parents cry like this. They can’t be dead… Diana can’t die! We still have so much to do together! She has to show me the world! Bianca started to turn around, but as she did, she caught a glimpse of a body of a dead soldier.

It wasn’t even a body anymore. Bianca couldn’t tell who it was, but she saw a piece of metal impaled through the body’s torso, and the entire face was scorched. There was blood all over the body, and most of the skin was burned off, revealing bloody flesh.

Bianca tried to cover her mouth, but it was too late. She vomited.

“Bianca?” a hand touched her back gently, “Are you alright?”

“Kiri… shima…” she wretched, “Get me out of here… please.”

“I was about to do that.” Kirishima wrapped one of her arms around his shoulders and helped her out of the room.

Jax and a girl that looked just like him was running down the hallway towards them.

“God, what happened to you?” Jax asked.

“She threw up.” Kirishima explained quickly, “And don’t take your sister there, Jax. She’ll end up doing the same thing. You too.”

“What happened?” the girl asked. She looked scared.

Bianca braced one of her hands against the wall, “You don’t want to know.” she rasped.

“It’s that bad?” Jax looked up at the sound of child screaming.

“You don’t want to know.” Kirishima repeated what Bianca said, “Now help her into one of the rooms. I’ll go get some water.”

“I’m fine.” Bianca shook her head, “I just need to wash my face, that’s all.” But that image kept showing up in her mind, and she would’ve threw up again right then and there if it weren’t for her empty stomach.

They got her to a bathroom and let her take her time. When she stepped out, Jax and Kirishima were talking.

“Here.” the girl gave her a towel.

“Oh, thanks!” Bianca used it to wipe her face, “So you’re Jax’s sister?”

“Celine Sandros.” she nodded, “Nice to meet you, Bianca.”

“Bianca, you okay?” Kirishima asked, sounding genuinely worried.

“I’m a bit better.” she sat down on a chair, “But… what I saw.”

“Was it gory? Was it creepy?” Jax sounded curious.

“You idiot!” Celine hit the back of her brother’s head, “She just saw a dead body. Can’t you just give up on being sarcastic for once? This is serious!”

She reminds me of Kirishima. Bianca thought.

“They reported missing bodies.” Kirishima said, his face grim, “They said it was because some of the bodies were reduced to ash.”

“Then… Diana?” it took everything she had not to break down.

Kirishima lowered his head, his hair shadowing his eyes, “She was one of the missing people.”

It struck her harder than a meteor crashing down onto a planet. My sister’s… dead? She gritted her teeth and tried to keep it all in, but that only made it harder. Her tears spilled in less than a second. I would never see her again… Diana, my only sister. Why her? Anyone else would’ve been fine.

No, it wouldn’t. Her mind said. And that’s a cruel thought. Diana’s life is worth just as much as anyone else’s life.

No, it’s worth so much more! The emotional side and the logical side of her minds were battling each other, but Bianca just wanted them both to shut up and leave her.

“The ceremony would be held in the great hall next week. Families and friends would be expected to be there to pay their respects.” someone announced on the speaker.

Bianca wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand and stood up, “I need to get ready.” she put the towel down on the table, “I’m sorry.”

“You do what you have to.” Kirishima said gently, “And there’s no need to apologize.”

Bianca left without another word.

Opportunity

Even after a week since he was forced to kill someone, Jett still wasn’t able to think straight. Kaelis respected that and didn’t talk to him about it, and he avoided the subject of fighting.

“Jett, you awake?” Reid asked him.

“No.” Jett mumbled.

“Oh, okay.” Reid shifted so he could sit in a more comfortable position, “You feeling alright?”

He looked up wearily, “Not really.” his head was actually pretty dizzy. Maybe it was because he didn’t drink water for a while.

“You look sick. Drink some water.” Reid stretched out his legs and pushed the water bowl towards Jett.

“Thanks.” he bent down and lapped at it, feeling a bit better after he finished.

“So, what happened?” Reid asked.

Jett looked up. Is he referring to my time in the pit? He thought back on that terrifying moment when he was forced to slaughter another.

“It’s alright if you’re not comfortable sharing. It’s just that… Kaelis has been pretty defensive about you whenever we brought this up to him, so I was wondering if I can ask you instead.” Reid said.

He looked down at his own hands, which were covered in dry blood, “I was forced to kill someone.” he said quietly.

“I see.” Reid nodded, he sounded quite calm, “Well, I guess I’m fortunate. I’ve never been forced into a situation like that before. But whatever your reason was to kill that someone, I’m sure that it’s justifiable.”

Yes, it was. I killed out of self defense, but taking a life itself is still terrifying no matter what the reason is. Jett thought.

“You two awake?” Elise yawned, “This early?”

“It could be the afternoon for all we know, Elise.” Reid pointed out.

“Eh, close enough.” she stretched and groaned, “How long has it been since I actually walked with my two feet?” she shook her legs to keep them awake.

“A couple of years.” Reid shrugged, “Usually our muscle would weaken and probably deteriorate, but since we went through enhancement, I think we can overlook that little detail.”

“I don’t think muscle deteriorates, Reid.” Elise gave him a funny look.

“Hey, it’s been almost five years since I had my last biology class, okay? Give me a break!”

Jett perked up when he heard the familiar metal groan of the doors being opened. Now what? Jett thought to himself, half frustrated and half scared.

This time, seven members stepped in. They wore identical uniforms and entered in unison.

“Numbers 2009909, 2010616, 2003501.” they approached Elise, Reid, and Cadmus in pairs and started unshackling them, the last one continued talking emotionlessly, “You are to come with us without resistance. Any commotion caused by any of you would result in immediate death. Do not ask any questions.”

“Hey! Easy, will you–OW!” Elise yelped as one of them yanked her onto her feet.

“Huh? What’s going on?” Cadmus blinked, finally waking up.

Are they taking them for the Judgement? Jett gritted his teeth. How many of us have to die and be reborn all over again? How can our captor be so cruel?

But he met Kaelis’s eyes and unclenched his fists. Kaelis shook his head and mouthed: Don’t.

Jett bent down and rested his forehead against the floor. Dammit. He snarled internally. What have we ever done to him? What is he thinking? Why? Why make us suffer? Why deem us as failures? We’re human beings! And no matter what he does, we’ll always remain human! We were all born into the human world! Why change that? Yes, we have a couple of flaws here and there, but that makes us who we are! He looked up and exchanged glances with one of the enhanced.

But instead of a pair of mindless dead eyes, something flashed and the enhanced suddenly gave off a different presence.

Clearly, the others didn’t sense it. They were probably stripped of their human instincts too, but Jett felt it, and Kaelis seemed to know something was off as well.

The man lifted Cadmus onto his feet and shoved him forward. Then he bent over Jett and started unshackling him as well.

“Number 2001113, stop what you’re doing at once.” their leader didn’t sound angry. His tone didn’t change at all.

He stopped, but Jett can feel the chains around him loosen.

“I sense a malfunction in my system.” the man’s eyes were shifting from mindless to blazing. “Permission to leave immediately?”

“Permission granted. The five of you, bring the three failures.” they left without another word.

Once the doors shut, Jett turned to look at Kaelis, “You saw that?”

Kaelis looked just as surprised, “Yes, I did.”

Jett felt for the lock. “Uh… Kaelis?”

“Yeah?”

Jett picked up a strange looking object, “What’s this?” he angled his body so he can show him.

Kaelis squinted, “That’s a sensory overloader.” he said, frowning, “A sensory overloader is used to cut the connection between monitors and cameras and the main computer system…” he faltered.

They were silent, then Kaelis asked slowly, “Jett, is that thing activated?”

Jett nodded when he felt the vibration coming from the small device, “Yes.” realization dawned in his mind. With the sensors’ connections cut from the main computer, that means we have a chance at escaping!

Kaelis took a deep breath, “Jett, he loosened the chains around you, yes? Try getting out.”

He was scared to believe it; afraid that if he accepted it, it’ll be taken away just as quickly. “I-I don’t–”

“Just do it!” Kaelis snapped and Jett stiffened. Is he alright? He seems so tense.

Kaelis then sighed, “Sorry.” he looked away, “I’ve been locked up here for five years. I get really excited whenever there’s a chance of escaping… not that one ever really presented itself.”

Jett nodded, “It’s fine… I guess I can understand your situation.” But I’m still afraid to accept it. Goddammit, why am I such a coward? When I see a chance, I should take advantage of it! There may never be a second chance! He inhaled deeply and got onto a kneeling position. He could tell Kaelis was holding his breath as he slowly stood up.

Open your eyes. Jett told himself, so he did. He looked down and saw the chains piled around him, and he was no longer bound by anything.

His heart was pounding unexpectedly steadily. I’m free! I’m… free. I’m no longer bound! It took him a couple of moments to realize that, but when he turned to Kaelis, he was looking at him calmly.

“I’m free, Kaelis!” Jett whispered.

“And so you are.” Kaelis nodded, smiling for the first time and hope gleaming in his eyes. He looked like an actual normal person.

Jett took a staggering step towards Kaelis and knelt down behind him, “Your turn.” he fumbled for the lock. Here it is. He clenched his fist and punched the metal lock. Pain spread out from his knuckles and into his wrist. He hissed.

“What are you… my god, you’re such an idiot.” Kaelis looked over his shoulder and rolled his eyes when he saw what Jett did. He managed to make a dent, but the lock didn’t break into pieces as Jett wanted it to.

“Then what do you suggest I do?” Jett challenged.

“Well, it’s better than what I had in mind… but if you keep punching that thing, it’s never going to break. It was made to withstand the power of nuclear bombs.” Kaelis huffed, “I guess we’ll have to do it my way.”

“Okay… what’s your way?” Jett started to feel nervous. Did he even want to know?

“As unstable enhanced, we have extraordinary healing abilities and pain tolerance.” Kaelis started.

Jett stuttered, “I-I… wait… w-what?” he started having a vague idea of what Kaelis was trying to say.

“I’m a Tridarian.” Kaelis continued, ignoring Jett, “But when I was brought here, my wings were infected, so they had to cut them off. But the roots of my wings are still there. It’s extremely strong.” he took a deep breath and loosed it slowly, “Listen closely, Jett. No matter what happens, I’ll live. My spine isn’t like yours. If we break them, they’ll repair themselves. I need you to cut open the flesh on my back and carve out a long thin piece of my spine.”

Jett felt like he was going to puke. He wretched, “W-what?” he coughed.

Kaelis clenched his jaw, “You heard me. Carve out a piece of my bone. 15 centimeters in length and five milometers thick.”

Jett felt dizzy all of the sudden, “I… I don’t know if I can do this…”

“You have to.” Kaelis said firmly, “Unless if you want me to do it to you. Which is completely illogical and stupid. I can’t cut out a piece of your bone properly in the position I’m in, and even if I did, you’ll be crippled. Then you’d have to unshackle me through your pain. Then I’ll need to carry you out of here since you can’t walk.”

“There has to be another way. And what do you want with a piece of your bone? Pick the lock?”

“No. They don’t use keys. These locks react to certain components, and we have some of those components in our blood. It should be able to weaken the lock.”

Jett bit his lip, “You sure about this?”

“Yes. Like I said, we have off-the-chart healing abilities and pain tolerance. I’ll be fine. And you’d be fine in a situation like this as well, but since I’m the unlucky one and better choice, I have to be the one sacrificing a part of my body.”

Jett looked around, “I… what can we use as a scalpel?” It’s either this or being imprisoned here forever. I’m not going to rot here just because I was too scared to do what was necessary. He thought.

“I don’t know!” Kaelis shrugged, “You’re the one who’s free here! Go look around!”

“Right.” Jett mumbled and started looking for something they can use as a scalpel.

There were a couple of chains with sharp edges, but they weren’t sharp enough to cut through flesh and bone. Then he went over to his lock and realized that the edges were razor sharp. Maybe this was to discourage the prisoner from escaping. “Found one.” he picked up the lock and walked back to Kaelis.

“Okay.” he nodded, “The roots of my wings should be around the upper part of my spine.”

Jett traced his finger from the top of his spine and down, stopping every three centimeters. “Here?”

“No, down.”

“Here?”

“Almost… stop, right there.” Kaelis nodded, “Do it.” his eyes were hard, “Let’s just get this over with.” he added quietly.

Jett helped Kaelis take off his shirt. There wasn’t much flesh since Kaelis has been starving for five years. He swallowed several times before lowering the edge of the lock to his skin.

“Here it goes.” Jett cut through Kaelis’ flesh and opened a wound.

The Tridarian’s chains rattled but he didn’t scream. From the corner of Jett’s eyes, though, he could see tears of pain running down his face.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize… just get to work.” he growled.

Jett nodded and continued with shaking hands. As he cut deeper, Kaelis finally let out a scream of agony. It was the worst sound Jett had ever heard.

“I’m sorry.” Jett whispered and made his hands continue to work. He finally hit something hard, “I’m going to carve–”

“JUST DO WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU HAVE TO DO!” Kaelis roared, followed by another scream of pain.

“Okay, okay, okay…” Jett muttered to himself, “Steady… stead… don’t faint… there’s a lot of blood… but don’t faint.” he almost flinched when he let out an almost inhumane shriek.

The bone was harder to cut out, and he had to make sure he didn’t twist the lock, otherwise the bones could shatter. Jett knew nothing of the Tridarian body, so he wasn’t willing to take any risks.

Kaelis’ body was shaking and his breathing was uneven.

“Just a couple more minutes, Kaelis. Bear with it until then.” he tried to sound reassuring, but Kaelis just snarled.

I should say something to keep his mind off of the pain. Jett thought to himself.

“So I remember this one time,” he said, trying to sound cheerful, “when I was… 13 if I remember correctly, I pranked my sister. I made candy apples for my entire family except for my sister. Instead of an apple, I used an onion instead. I gave them their candy apples and my sister took a huge bite out of it. Guess what her reaction was?”

Kaelis let out a breath, “That’s… very mean…” he managed to say.

“But it was funny!” Jett smiled at the memory. I wish there were more memories of my family and I having a good time. 

---

Now Kaelis was lying on the floor, trembling, while Jett was trying to free him with the bone he carved out from Kaelis’ spine. The Tridarian’s wounds were all patched up and the blood was cleaned, but that didn’t mean there was less pain for him.

“There!” Jett grinned as he unshackled Kaelis, “We’re free! Can you stand, Kaelis?”

“Yes.” Kaelis said through clenched teeth, and got up slowly, “We’ll have to break down the door. Which isn’t going to be easy. They have sensors all over the place, and our sensory overloader isn’t going to be in effect forever.”

“Isn’t there an emergency button or something?” Jett asked, feeling for one.

“No. Our captor’s minions have trackers in their arms that the doors react to.”

“Why did our captor just put the same things in the locks?”

“Don’t ask me. I don’t know.” Kaelis’ face twisted in pain as he straightened.

“You sure you’re–”

“I’m fine. We need to get this door open.” he looked at the door. “Technically, the door’s weakest point is the middle, where they open. But it’s not a single piece of metal.”

“So should we kick it down?” Jett tilted his head. We can always wait for the other enhanced to arrive. They’re bound to come after a sensory overload. But that’ll be taking a huge risk. We don’t know how many soldiers they’ll bring along with them. I don’t even know if we can fight them.

“I guess we have little choice.” Kaelis muttered, “But you’ll have to do most of the work, Jett. I can’t hit with full power in a state like this.”

“That’s fine.” Jett backed up to the other end of the room, followed by Kaelis.

“Alright, on three.” Kaelis took a step back and bent down.

“Got it.” Jett placed a foot on the wall behind him.

“One… two… three!” Kaelis bolted forward with amazing speed and Jett kicked off of the wall and charged.

The two of them roared and slammed into the door.

It made a huge dent and cracked the door, but it wasn’t broken down yet.

“One more should do it.” Kaelis gasped.

“Fine.” Jett took a couple of steps backwards, “Ready?”

“Yes.” the Tridarian braced his hands against the back wall.

“Okay, three, two, one!” both pushed off the wall and threw themselves against the doorway. This time they found themselves standing on the other side of the threshold.

“Two more to go.” Jett took a shaky breath.

“Okay, back up… and go!”

The doors opened all of the sudden and Jett almost tripped over their own feet.

“Seize them at any cost.” an emotionless voice said.

“Time to go!” Jett bolted out of the door and ran down the white corridor.

He never knew he could run this fast, but now wasn’t the time to think about it. He had to escape! He couldn’t stumble even for a split second, otherwise he’ll be captured for sure.

Because of their enhanced instincts and physical abilities, they were able to catch up with no problem, but since Jett and Kaelis had a head start, no matter how close the timing was, they were still ahead of them.

“They’re going to alert the security guards. If we don’t do anything before then, we’re dead.” Kaelis said through gritted teeth. Jett then remembered Kaelis’ injury. Right, he couldn’t keep this up much longer with that wound. Jett rounded a corner and spotted a door opening.

“Kaelis, over there!” the first thing Jett did was to jump between the closing doors. The second thing he did was realize that there were two enhanced inside and that he had to take care of them.

Luckily, Kaelis came stumbling into the door and crashed into one of the enhanced, buying them a second or two. Jett got out of the crack between the doors and kicked one of their pursuers just as the door closed.

Now for the people inside. Jett turned around tackled one of the enhanced. Like it or not, they’re still mortal. They can still go unconscious. He tried telling himself.

They were nothing like the Dwellers that Jett fought, though. They actually had a strategy planned out in a couple of seconds, and they were emotionless, meaning they’ll fight with logic backing them up. Anger made Jett stronger, but that also meant that fear can take over as well.

Jett knew that, from the very beginning, their captor added enhancements to him for the sole purpose of fighting. He was created to fight, so his new instincts should be able to help him survive this situation. But now with his emotions, he hesitated everytime he threw a punch or dodged a blow. Thoughts would clash and there’ll be several emotions like anger, fear, and frustration. His mind struggled to stay calm and think rationally. Maybe this was why our captor got rid of his enhanced’ personalities and emotions. It’ll get in the way of their survival instincts. They won’t struggle and think about what’s more important, survival or morality. 

Even when Jett got a couple of good kicks in, his opponent didn’t seem fazed by them. He just took them and shrugged them off. He’s still mortal. He can still get hurt. No matter how much pain he can take, if I broke both his legs, he wouldn’t be able to move, even if he can take much more pain. Jett kept repeating to himself. It was all he can do to keep the fear locked away.

All this was making Jett frustrated and more and more angry. Finally, he snapped and roared, “DIE, YOU MINDLESS PAWN!” His hands shot out and took hold of his opponent’s head, then he crushed him with all his might. He heard a loud CRACK and blood started gushing out. All of Jett’s anger disappeared, replaced by shock and horror.

I killed the man! He realized.

“Jett!” Kaelis grabbed both of his shoulders. Apparently, he emerged victorious from the fight. “Jett, pull yourself together.”

Right… right, I need to focus right now… I… I’ll worry about him later… after we’ve escaped. He closed his eyes and pushed aside all those emotions, “Right, what do we do?”

“We’ve been fortunate today.” Kaelis pointed at a doorway at the end of the room, “This is the launcher room.”

“Launcher… you mean ships and stuff?” Jett asked.

Kaelis nodded, “Yes, I–” he stopped abruptly and hissed, “Ow…”

“Kaelis!” Jett caught his arm and slung it over his shoulder, “Is it your injury?”

“Yeah.” Kaelis gritted his teeth, “But I’ll live. We need to get a ship and get ready to blast this place to pieces.”

“We’re actually going to–”

“This place is underground. And our captor’s ships are designed so they can withstand the power of thousands of bombs. No ground or air assault can breach the outer shell of his ships unless the enemy knows the ship’s weakness. And each ship is different.” Kaelis said.

“How do you know all this?” Jett asked.

He glared at him, “Does it matter?”

Yes. What if you secretly work with our captor? What if you’re just here to lure me to my death?

But Kaelis was already pulling ahead, “Come on. We need to get out of here.”

Victor

They got lucky.

Apparently, Keith was able to emerge victorious from his fight with the guy Aleksei was worried would take first place.

Now all Jasperez had to do was win his fight against another guy while Keith automatically advance to the finals because he got a lucky draw.

He had no idea why Aleksei was trampling all over his bare back, though. She somehow got him to agree to a massage.

“Hey, Jasperez?” Aleksei put pressure on her left foot.

“Mm?” he murmured.

“What are all these scars on your back?” she bent down and touched one of them.

He stiffened at her touch, “Those?” he turned his head, “Those I got while my parents were punishing me.”

“Your parents don’t really like you, do they?” Aleksei sighed, but then chuckled, “Haha… it’s alright. At least you had a home. I had a home until I was twelve, then my dad wanted me to take over the shop until he came home from a business trip… but he never did.”

“I’m sorry.” Jasperez said quietly, glancing upwards.

“Nah, it’s fine. Besides, I got over it quickly. No one lives forever.” she smiled. “And I think your scars make you look cool.”

“Really?” he mumbled.

“Yep!” she said cheerfully, leaning on her heels and digging the back of her foot into his back.

“Ow.” he muttered.

“Sorry.” she said and corrected her stance. “You know…” she chuckled, “I think you look good shirtless…”

Now Jasperez was surprised, and he flushed unconsciously, “What?”

“Ah, actually, forget I said that!” she started pacing up and down his back.

“Did you just say I look good without a shirt?”

“I mean, yeah… look at yourself.” she stepped off of his back and let him stand up.

The door opened and Keith stepped in, “Aleksei… Ajandro, why are you half naked?” he frowned.

“She was–”

“I was trampling all over his back! It’s to relieve stress, but I don’t know if I did it properly.” Aleksei chirped.

“Ah, I see.” Keith still sounded confused and turned to Jasperez, “Your fight’s in fifteen minutes. Are you ready?”

“He’s ready!” Aleksei said before Jasperez could reply.

“Good.” Keith sat down on a chair, “Don’t use up all your energy, though. I’ve been saving up my strength for the finals.”

“I’m not going to go easy on you, you know.” Jasperez said, shrugged.

“That’s the spirit, boys!” Aleksei slapped both of them in the back (well, she slapped Jasperez in the back and since Keith was sitting in a chair, she slapped the back of his head, which got him kind of annoyed). “Go get each other! Rip out each other’s hearts! Blood! BLOOD!” she made a bunch of gagging and gasping noises before falling against the wall.

But Jasperez and Keith both stared at her with confused looks.

She stared right back at them, “What? I’m just kidding, you know.”

“Oh.” As cheerful Aleksei was, Jasperez couldn’t deny that she was one of the weirdest people he’s met.

“Well, it’s almost time. Go to the ring, Jasperez! We’ll be rooting for you!” she gave him a push towards the door.

“Alright.” Jasperez nodded.

“Oi, Ajandro!” Keith shouted.

“Yes?” Jasperez turned around and saw a knife flying towards him. He narrowed his eyes and dodged it by a centimeter.

Aleksei screamed, “HEY! Only I’m allowed to do that!” she protested.

Keith met Jasperez’s gaze, “Just making sure your instincts are razor sharp.”

Jasperez picked up the knife and tossed it back, “They are. You can count on that.” he replied coolly.

---

Jasperez wasn’t tired at all. The semifinals fight was way easier than Jasperez thought, so now he was standing on the side of the ring with Keith on the other side.

“YOU TWO!” Aleksei yelled, “DO YOUR BEST! I’LL BE CHEERING FOR THE BOTH OF YOU, GOT THAT? DON’T LET ME DOWN! OR ELSE YOU’RE BOTH DEAD!”

Jasperez gave her a thumbs up and Keith nodded.

“Challengers, step forth!” the announcer said, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for! The finals for the junior boys Hover Blade Challenge, and the final fight for the title of Blade Master! Are you ready?”

The crowd roared in approval.

“Challengers, prepare yourselves.”

Jasperez looked at Keith, who was staring right back at him. His eyes were hard and focused. He’s more than ready. Jasperez thought to himself. I can’t go easy on him now. 

“Ready.”

Jasperez’s left foot slid back and he pressed down with the balls of his feet. Knives? Check. Functioning boots? Check. Gauntlets? Check. I’m ready. 

Two knives slid out of Keith’s gauntlets and into his hands. He held them up in a defensive way. I’m ready. His eyes seemed to say.

“Begin!”

The crowd started screaming, but Jasperez’s mind blocked out all of those sounds. I have to focus on my opponent. 

Keith went for a ranged attack first, and at first, Jasperez didn’t understand why. He knows I can dodge it. Jasperez leaned to one side and watched as the knife whizzed past him.

Then he knew why.

Keith appeared in front of him a second after the knife went past his face. But luckily, Jasperez has been training for a long time as well. Keith’s gloved hand reached out for his face and Jasperez grabbed his arm. Got you! He thought and flipped him. It was one of the many techniques his father showed him.

Keith didn’t expect that, but he got back onto his feet quickly and jumped off of the balls of his feet, activating the hovering just as his foot came up.

Shoot, I can’t dodge this one! So Jasperez brought up his arms and took the blow with his arms. Ow… that hurt a bit. He thought. I can’t afford to make anymore mistakes. He has to recover from the kick, this is my chance! Two blades slid out of his gauntlets. Now! He took a step forward and blasted forward. Bring up the blade and slash! He whipped out his arm. Sorry, Keith. But I can’t afford to lose.

Neither can I. His glare seemed to say. Keith brought up his knife and blocked the attack, but the force sent him stumbling sideways.

Again! This time, he thrusted the knife forward. Keith knocked it aside and went forward, his other knife ready. I guess I’ll just have to do a back flip. Jasperez thought and recoiled from the attempted attack.

He landed on his two feet in a crouched position, which was a very good position to sweep Keith’s feet, but the problem was, he was in the air. An underhand throw should work. Jasperez got a knife and flicked his wrist, sending the blade flying towards Keith, who was still in midair.

Keith’s eyes widened and Jasperez knew he had caught him off guard. Keith knocked the spinning knife aside with his metal gauntlet and continued falling towards Jasperez. Just what I thought. Jasperez chambered in his leg and kicked out just as Keith was landing. He sent his opponent flying backwards. He landed on his side. Go forward and make him surrender! Jasperez bolted forward and pressed his knee into Keith’s rib cage, “Surrender.” Jasperez whispered, lowering the knife until it was a couple of centimeters away from his throat.

Keith looked up slowly, “So you’ve beaten me.” he said, “That was unexpectedly fast.” he tossed his knives aside and held up his hands in surrender, “But… I guess that’s what a fight is. It shouldn’t last more than five seconds. If it does, we’re both dead.”

“Prince Keith Edelstein has surrendered! What a quick match! But one that’ll go down in the history of hover blades!” the announcer roared, “JASPEREZ AJANDRO CLAIMS THE TITLE OF BLADE MASTER!”

“WHOO!” Aleksei could be heard from the stands, “HUG IT OUT, BOYS! JASPEREZ, YOU WON!”

Keith stood up and held out a hand, “You’ve won… this time.” he added.

Jasperez shook his hand, “Thank you. But I won’t lose next time either.”

“HUG IT OUT, BOYS! DON’T BE SHY!” Aleksei yelled, laughing her head off.

Keith and Jasperez both looked at each other awkwardly. I… guess? Jasperez held out his arms in a very awkward way, and Keith raised an eyebrow. But they hugged (sort of) anyways.

Aleksei screamed and squealed with delight, “THAT’S IT! MANLY MEN HUG IT OUT! ‘CAUSE THEY’RE MANLY ENOUGH TO HUG!” she declared, getting a couple of confused or laughing faces from the people around her.

---

Once Keith and Jasperez entered their waiting room with their medals, Aleksei tackled both of them… again.

“Whoa!” Jasperez stumbled backwards.

“I’m…. I’m so freaking happy!” she screamed, tears rolling down her face, “You guys were amazing! I’m… I’m so happy for you guys as well!” she sobbed.

Jasperez couldn’t help but smile a bit, “Don’t cry, Aleksei.” he said, “It’s alright.”

“We need a group photo!” she got off of them and clapped her hands thrice, “Alright, people! Battle stations! We’re taking a group picture! You! Camera man!” she pointed at a random person with a camera.

“Huh?” he pointed at himself.

“Yeah, you!” she yanked Keith and Jasperez towards herself and slung her arms around their shoulders, “Take a picture, please?”

The man laughed nervously, “Sure.” he held up the camera, “Smile!”

“Smile, boys!” Aleksei laughed through her smile. She looked like she was really having fun. And her warm smile made Jasperez smile as well.

Just this once, then. Jasperez glanced at Keith. But the prince just blinked and looked at the camera.

“One… two… three!” a light flashed and the man pressed down on the camera. A rectangular glass with their picture in it slid out, “Here.” he gave it to Aleksei.

“Thank you, man! You’re the best!” she bounced up and down, “This is super duper very really important!” she held it up like it was a crown, “This’ll be a family heirloom! A symbol of our love and friendship!”

“N-no need to take it so far.” Jasperez chuckled nervously.

“Why? She can do whatever she wants with it.” Keith asked.

Can you just shut up, Keith? Jasperez thought.

“Aleksei,” Keith said as he took off his shirt.

“AAAHHH!” she screamed and covered her face, “Why are you stripping here?”

“I’m changing.” he said calmly. “This shirt is uncomfortable.”

Jasperez shrugged as Keith continued to say, “Aleksei, after the closing ceremony, would you like to come to my family’s villa?” he put on a casual dark red sweatshirt.

Aleksei gaped, “F-For real?” she whispered.

Keith nodded, “Yeah.” he turned to look at Jasperez, “You can come if you want as well.”

“Oh… uh…” What should I do now? Should I tell them about my family situation? I doubt my parents would let me go to a prince’s house.

“Yes, he wants to come!” Aleksei laughed.

“Wait, but–” Jasperez started, but she turned around and winked. I’ve got you covered! She mouthed.

“Alright, I’ll get my butler to send out a ride.”

“YOU HAVE A GODDAMN FREAKING BUTLER?” Aleksei clutched her head and screamed.

“Uh… yes?” Keith looked confused.

“He’s a prince, Alex.” Jasperez whispered.

“Right, right!” Aleksei then jumped, “AH! I forgot! I need to get a new dress! I can’t go like this! They’ll think I’m crazy!”

Keith frowned, “You can go however you like, Aleksei. My family won’t mind.”

“Jasperez, Keith, WE MUST GO SHOPPING!” she declared dramatically, “Is that alright with you two?”

“I don’t see a problem in that, but–”

“Then it’s settled!” Aleksei (somehow) managed to gather up everything (including their gear), “And we’re off!”

---

People whispered as Jasperez passed by… like always. He just stared at the ground and ignored them.

“Have you done anything wrong?” Keith looked at the crowd around them, “Why are they looking at you like you’re a criminal?”

“It’s… complicated.” Jasperez said. He didn’t want to explain it at the moment.

“Ooh! Look, look!” Aleksei grabbed both of their hands and dragged them into a shop, “These dresses are so pretty! Hey! Can you help me choose?” she grabbed two random dresses off of the rack and showed both to them.

“They’ll both look horrible on you.” Keith said bluntly.

Aleksei stared at him, wide eyed, “Seriously? Next time, don’t say that! Say something like: I don’t think that’s the best option.” she sighed, “You can be so mean sometimes, Keith.”

“The first one is way too colorful, and the second one looks like it was made for your grandmother.” he put both of them away, “Go choose something that suits a girl your age.”

“Huh, I suppose that makes sense.” Aleksei started waving her arms frantically, “But I’ve never gone dress shopping! I grew up with my dad! How am I supposed to know what looks good and what doesn’t?”

Keith sighed and rubbed his temples, “I’ll go.” he mumbled.

“Jasperez, you come too!” Aleksei said.

“Uh…” but they were already off, so Jasperez followed reluctantly.

Keith turned out to be a man with decent taste. Maybe it was a result of his life in the castle? He must’ve seen plenty of young women dressed in gowns.

“How ’bout this one?” she smiled and put one up for Keith to see.

The dress was way too formal.

“No. That dress is way too formal.” Keith said.

Aleksei groaned and slumped against the wall, “Why? Oh why?”

“Aleksei, wait here. I’ll go pick something out for you.” Keith looked like he gave up on Aleksei’s tastes, so he left without her.

“Okay, that was just plain mean!” Aleksei pouted.

“You… have to admit that your tastes aren’t really… that decent.” Jasperez tried to sound nice about it.

“I know that!” Aleksei sighed, “But I’m trying! Can’t he see that I’m trying?” she slid onto the floor and bit her lip, “Oh well…”

“Aleksei.”

“Huh?”

Jasperez smiled, “Thanks for coming to support us.”

She grinned and gave him a thumbs up, “You’re welcome, my young friend!” she said.

Keith took his time to pick out a dress for Aleksei. It was a light blue dress that fell down to Aleksei’s knees. It was short sleeved with pale blue laces on the bottom of the dress and edges of the sleeves.

“That?” Aleksei pointed at the dress.

“Yes, this.” Keith tossed it to her, “Try it on.”

“Now?”

“Yes, now.” he pulled open the curtains to a dressing room, “Go on.”

She sighed and went inside. After a minute, she came out, looking like an ordinary teenage girl, “Well?”

Keith chewed the inside of his mouth and frowned, “I think you need stockings to go with that.” he said quietly.

“Why?” Jasperez asked, “I think she looks fine.”

“Aw, thanks, buddy!” Aleksei slapped his back and laughed. “See? You need to be more like Jasperez, Keith.”

But the prince ignored her and went to get a pair of white stockings, “And a small white jacket. That should do the trick.”

“A what?” Aleksei blinked, “I thought we’re here to get a dress!”

“That’s what I thought too.” Jasperez mumbled.

---

They spent thirty minutes in the shop before they came out. Keith then asked Aleksei to wash her face and comb her hair, so they went to a barber shop. That took another forty minutes.

“What? Are we playing dress up now? I said we’d buy a dress, not get me ready for my wedding day.” Aleksei folded her arms.

“Aleksei, since we’re already here, we might as well get you ready for the banquet tonight.”

“Banquet?” Aleksei and Jasperez repeated.

“Personally, I wouldn’t mind if you went in your ordinary clothes, but since you insisted on getting a dress, we might as well.” Keith shrugged and took out a communication device. “Send out a ride for us, Rodney.” he said.

---

The outside of the villa was impressive enough. It was carved into the face of a huge white cliff, and the house itself was on a tall pillar of stone, so there was no way anyone can get in unless if they get a ship or know how to rock climb.

In front of the house was a huge garden with glass and polished marble. They depicted winged Tridarians and humans dancing together happily. The garden had cypresses and beautifully trimmed bushes. A white stone path led to the front door of the villa. It was a tall pair of doors made of metal with silver coating on the outside, and on the center of the doors was a red glowing seal of the Tridarian royal family. There were glass windows behind each balcony, and each balcony was different. Some had flowers, others had chairs and tables.

They landed on the landing platform in front of the garden.

“We’re here.” Keith stepped out of the escort ship, “This is my family’s Equiran villa.”

“HOLY MOTHER OF THE SKY!” Aleksei screamed, “IT’S BEAUTIFUL!”

“Thanks.” he nodded and led them through the garden.

The doors opened when he walked up the steps to the house. And from the inside of the house stepped out a tall Tridarian with a black tux, “Good afternoon, your highness.” he bowed.

“Rodney.” Keith nodded.

“Friends of yours?” he gestured at Jasperez and Aleksei.

“Yep!” Aleksei pumped the butler’s hand, “Aleksei Night! Pleased to meet ya! I’m good old Keith’s friend! We go way back!”

“I see.” the butler looked surprised.

“This is Jasperez.” Aleksei bounced forward, dragging Jasperez along with her, “Say hi, Jasperez!”

“Hello.” he waved.

“Welcome to his majesty’s villa. Come along, young master.” he led them down the hallway.

There were two chandeliers hanging from the golden ceiling, and the walls were traditional paintings of the family. One of them had a boy that looked like a young version of Keith. He was sitting in a chair, his face serious and calm. Standing beside him was someone who looked like Keith, but his eyes were brighter and he looked older. The older one had his red and gold wings tucked neatly behind him.

“Hey, Keith! Is that you?” Aleksei pointed at the portrait of the two boys.

“Read the thing.” he pointed at the bottom of the portrait.

“I can’t. I don’t read Tridarian.” Aleksei shrugged.

“Oh. Well, then, yes. That’s me.” Keith said, “The one sitting in the chair is me… and the one standing is my brother.” he added quietly.

The butler opened the door at the end of the hall, “And here is–” the doors were shoved open all of the sudden and out flew two children.

“KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIITH!” one crashed into the prince and knocked him off his feet.

“YOU’RE BACK!” the other laughed, still flapping her wings. Both of the kids had red hair and red eyes, but they had rounder faces.

“Glad to see you too,” Keith grumbled and shoved the boy off of his body, “Rosalie and Rolland.”

“Haha–Hey! Who’s this?” Rolland jumped onto Aleksei.

“Nice to meet you!” Aleksei grinned, “My name’s Aleksei! I’m a human.”

Rosalie and Rolland both stared at her for a moment before laughing.

“Cool! Hey, Keith! I didn’t know you had a girlfriend!” Rolland said.

“Ooh! Keith has a girlfriend! When are you getting married?” Rosalie started dancing.

“Now, hold on a minute–” Keith snapped.

“HEY, EVERYONE!” Rolland flew back into the room, “Keith has a girlfriend!”

Aleksei blushed, “I admire the enthusiasm, kid, but I’m not–” she walked into the room, followed by Keith then Jasperez.

The room had four pillars on each of the corner, holding up the second floor. On the very top was a huge chandelier with red rubies and candles. The floor was covered in a dark red and black carpet. On the right side of the room was a huge fireplace. In front of them was a grand staircase. And on the left was a grand piano and harp.

There were two doors on either side of the room. Two on each side of the fireplace, and two more doors on each side of the instruments.

The place would’ve been beautiful and grand if it weren’t for the kids playing tag in the air and using silver platters as sleds to slide down the staircase.

“DID YOU HEAR US? KEITH HAS A GIRLFRIEND!” Rosalie screamed.

A small group 4 of teenage boys came out from one of the rooms. They all had red hair, but three of them had gold eyes, while the fourth one had amber eyes with a slight red tint. They all look well built and wore casual clothes.

“Keith, you sly dog!” one of the laughed and punched Keith’s arm.

“I don’t have a girlfriend–”

“Is this her?” the second smiled at Aleksei, “Pleased to meet your acquaintance, future Queen Edelstein.”

“H-huh?” Aleksei blushed redder than a tomato, “No! No, no, you got it all wrong! Me? Keith’s girlfriend? Haha! That’s very funny! I’m the best buddy of these two dummies.” she threw her arms around Jasperez’s and Keith’s shoulders, “I’m no one’s girlfriend or housewife! I’m too young for that kind of stuff!”

“She’s not my girlfriend.” Keith sighed and unwrapped Aleksei’s arm from his shoulders, “She’s just a friend.”

“And who’s this?” someone tugged on Jasperez’s sleeve. It was Rolland.

“My name’s Jasperez.” he said.

“Nice to meet you Jasperez! Welcome to the Tridarian Royal Family’s villa!” one of the teenage boys twirled on his toes and waved his arms like he was presenting something grand… which was true.

“Uh…” Jasperez was more concerned about him standing on his toes. Doesn’t that hurt? He could twist his ankle or break his toes!

“Armando dances.” Keith explained quickly when he saw Jasperez’s confused gaze.

“He–”

“Okay, don’t you say it’s for girls!” Armando folded his arms and glared, “A girl can love robots and a boy can love Barbie Dolls… just not me, because they’re creepy.”

“Hey!” Aleksei grinned and gave him a high five, “That’s what I said to him last week!”

“Young masters, the banquet will begin at 7. The king and queen want you all to be there.”

“Aw… but why?” Rosalie pouted, “It’s all talk talk talk between grown ups!”

“Rosalie, there’re going to be macaroons.” Keith said.

“Really?” Rosalie and Aleksei both squealed.

Keith frowned, “I didn’t know you liked macaroons, Aleksei.”

“I LOVE macaroons!” she pumped her fist, “Whoo-hoo! There will be macaroons! Oh yeah!” she sang.

Keith introduced his cousins, siblings, and relatives. Then he brought them to his room, which was on the second floor.

His room is really big, but that didn’t surprise Jasperez. There were academic books lined up on the shelf, and there was a built-in wardrobe.

But there wasn’t a lot of furniture. Just a bed and a sofa in front of the bookshelf.

“So… you like things spacey?” Aleksei said and spun around, “That’s fine by me!” she smiled.

“No, it’s just always been like this.” Keith said and put down his gear, “I’ve never had a lot of guests, so I didn’t need as much furniture.”

“Whoa! I didn’t know you read, Keith!” Aleksei somehow managed to get to the other side of the room in a second, “History of Tridaria volume 78? Holy Cow! Have you read all these?”

“Read them and read them again. At least 4 times over.” Keith didn’t sound too enthusiastic about it, though.

“SERIOUSLY?” Aleksei screamed, “Dude! How fast do you read?”

“I had a lot of time, so I picked them up and started reading them when I was seven.” Keith walked over and pulled out a book, “This was the first book I read from this shelf.”

“Tales and Legends of the North Isle?” Aleksei nodded, “This sounds interesting!”

“It is.”

“Mind if I read it?”

“Go ahead.”

“Keith?” Jasperez said, “How many cousins do you have, exactly?”

“More than I can count.” Keith lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, “The royal family is huge.”

“Then how do you know who’s going to get the throne?”

“The first child of the first child.” he said, “If that doesn’t work out, then they turn to the second child of the first child.”

“So… which one were you?”

Keith’s eyes turned sad all of the sudden, “I was the second child. But after my brother died, they turned to me.”

“That’s a huge responsibility.” Aleksei shouted from the corner of the room, where she was reading the book.

“It’s not like I had a choice.” Keith sighed and sat up, “If I did, I would’ve passed on that opportunity to someone else.”

“I get it, man.” Aleksei nodded and stood up, “Some people just can’t stand parties.”

“P-Parties?” Jasperez frowned. What does that have to do with anything?

“Aleksei, being the king is more than just hosting parties.”

“Yeah, I know. But isn’t that one of the big things you people have to do?” she tilted her head.

“Uh… no.” Keith shook his head, “Only during festivals do we need to host parties.”

“Aw man! And here I was thinking I could attend some party you’ll host one day! I would love to see you try and fail to make a speech!” she laughed.

“For your information, I have been studying–” Keith flushed slightly.

“For your information, I have been studying the art of awesome speeches!” Aleksei mimicked his voice and laughed some more.

Then a small bell rang, and through a concealed speaker, Keith’s butler said, “Young master, your mother is requesting you come to the silver garden. She said you may bring your friends if you like.”

“Yes, bring us!” Aleksei made huge puppy eyes, “I want to see the queen in person!”

Keith sighed and scratched his head, “Seriously?” he muttered, “I just came back. Can’t I rest up for a couple of minutes?”

“And off we go!” Aleksei dragged the prince into the hallway, “Which way, chief?”

“Left.” Keith grumbled.

Jasperez chuckled quietly and followed them outside.

---

The silver garden was more of a white garden than silver, but Jasperez thought that it would look silver if it was under the moonlight. There was a white pavilion with chairs and a table. There was also a little zen garden with a small waterfall and lamps. The pavilion was on a small island that was on the other side of a small bridge.

“Oh my god!” Aleksei squealed, “It’s so cute!”

“No, it’s not.” Keith frowned, “It’s pretty, yes, but not–”

“Keith,” a woman’s voice said, “when a lady says cute, they mean pretty and adorable at the same time.”

Keith shoved his hands into his pockets, “Mother, I see you’re doing well too.” he said, his voice dropped to a monotone. His eyes were practically screaming: I’m not interested. I don’t want to be here, I don’t care. 

The queen shared Keith’s red hair, but her eyes were light brown. And her facial features were sharper. She had paler skin and a small built. Keith could easily tower over her. She wore a simple red and gold dress with the royal seal on the back in black, and her hair was tied up in a neat bun.

“Come on, Keith! Don’t be like that in front of your mom!” Aleksei bounced up to the queen and got onto her knees, “I’M UNWORTHY OF YOUR ATTENTION, OH GREAT ONE! THANK YOU FOR–”

Keith kicked her gently, “What are you doing? Get up.” he hissed through his teeth.

Jasperez bowed, “Good afternoon, your majesty.”

The queen seemed amused by Aleksei’s enthusiasm and Jasperez’s calm manner, “You made a couple of friends, Keith? Good, I’m glad.” she said in a gentle tone, “At least now you don’t have to face everything on your own.”

“I’m fine with that, thank you very much.” he said and looked away.

The queen sighed and turned to look at Jasperez and Aleksei, “And what are your names, dear?”

“The name’s Aleksei!” she declared, “And this shy young lad is Jasperez!”

“I could’ve introduced myself, you know.” Jasperez murmured.

“Eh, but I can do it with,” she flipped her hair and winked, “style.”

“That’s not even original.” Jasperez wasn’t impressed.

“Okay, shut up.” Aleksei clenched her jaw and slapped his arm.

The queen bowed to them, “My name is Ashlynn. Pleased to meet you.” she glanced towards Keith, “Has my son been doing well? He signed up for the Hover Blade competition by himself, you know.”

“HE DID?” Aleksei screamed.

Keith grimaced, “Aleksei, please don’t scream in the garden.”

“I can’t help it!” she gagged and gasped dramatically.

“You have a very energetic friend here, Keith.” the queen smiled.

“Yeah, well, she can do whatever she wants unless she doesn’t hurt anyone or herself.”

“So you mean that if I brought one of my secret bombs to the middle of nowhere–” Aleksei started, but Keith cut her off with a glare.

“You have bombs?” Jasperez whispered.

“Just a few.” she shrugged.

Keith looked at his mother in the eye, “Was there anything else you wanted?”

The queen bit her lip, “I… suppose that I wanted to apologize.”

Keith didn’t seem interested in the very least, “It’s a bit too late for that.” his voice held a hint of irritation and anger, “Apologies, ma’am.” he turned around and left.

“W-wait, Keith!” Aleksei went after him.

Jasperez frowned. What had happened between them? Why don’t they seem like a family at all?

---

Jasperez knew better than to ask about his family relationships, so he stayed silent until they went back to Keith’s room.

“We have two hours until the banquet. What do you want to do?” Keith asked.

“EAT ALL THE MACAROONS IN THE WORLD!” Aleksei shouted and jumped onto the bed, holding her fist in the air, “GO STEAL FROM THE KITCHEN! GO AND TAKE A TOUR AROUND THE VILLA! I WANNA–”

Keith sat down on the sofa, “Aleksei, please keep your voice down.”

“Sorry.” Aleksei laughed nervously and sat down on the bed, “But I want to go see the rest of the villa.”

Keith sighed, “Very well.”

“Wait, what?” Jasperez held out his hands, “We can’t just walk around the manor! Isn’t that forbidden or something?”

“No, why?” Keith asked.

“I… I don’t know… isn’t privacy a thing here?”

“It is. That’s why I’ll be showing you where everything is instead of everyone’s bedrooms unless if they allow it.”

Aleksei grinned, “Alright! On with the tour, mon capitaine!”

They went downstairs (where the kids were still playing) and were showed the kitchen, the living room, the dining hall, the music room, and the library. Aleksei freaked out in the music room and started banging the keys of the piano. Keith was nice enough to tell her that she would be able to master the piano long after the piano ceases to exist, which resulted in Keith getting slapped in the face.

Then they went to the second floor where the study, the children’s room, and the gaming room were. Aleksei was desperate to learn how to play a really hard Tridarian game, but Keith didn’t know all the rules, so they added Go find someone in the house who could play Tilas and get them to explain the rules to the list of things they wanted to do in the house.

Then they went to the third floor where there was a second ballroom and a plant house. Aleksei got Keith to waltz with her for fun, which resulted in Keith being stepped on the toes many times.

Finally, the fourth floor, where there was a huge garden surrounding a white marble dance floor with benches on all sides. It was the Sunset floor, apparently, and it would be used tonight at nine when the family watched the sunset together.

“Why did they gather the family anyways?” Jasperez asked Keith as they sat down on the bench, watching the city below.

“After I signed up, Armando and his brothers found out about me signing up for the Hover Blade Challenge, so they announced it to everyone in the family. They planned to celebrate.”

“Even if you lost?” Aleksei asked.

Keith nodded, “Even if I lost.”

“Now that’s what I call family support!” Aleksei patted his shoulder.

“No. That’s what you call making amends.” Keith said quietly, “But it’s too late for that.”

Jasperez and Aleksei shared a look, but they didn’t say anything.

“Well!” Aleksei got to her feet all of the sudden, “Since we have, like, an hour and a half left, I want you two,” she pointed at Keith and Jasperez, “to teach me how to hover blade.”

“Huh?” Jasperez blinked, “But… didn’t you try it last time–”

“And it was an epic fail!” she declared, “But with two champions coaching me, I have little doubt that I’ll master the hover blades by six thirty!”

“It doesn’t work that way.” Keith said.

“Well, teach me anyways! Please?” she made her puppy eyes.

“I never said I wouldn’t teach you.” Keith stood up, “Well, I guess you can borrow my gear.”

“Wouldn’t it be too big?” Aleksei asked as she followed him.

“They’re modified so they’ll fit the wearer.” he explained.

---

By the time seven rolled around, Aleksei was battered and bruised, but it was a good thing that she didn’t wear her dress while learning how to hover blade.

“That was the best time of my life!” she was still full of energy even when Keith and Jasperez were exhausted.

“How are you still awake?” Jasperez huffed, “I’m exhausted! And starving!”

Keith massaged his face, “Same here.”

“Young master.” his butler came around the corner and bowed, “Dinner is ready.”

“Thanks.” Keith motioned for them to follow him and the butler.

The dining hall that they visited two hours ago was a banquet in preparation. What they were seeing now was the end result.

The chandeliers and fireplace were lit. Servants bringing out the last of the platters, and the silverware lining each side of the long table were polished and gleaming. The chairs were lined up perfectly, and the biggest one marked where the king was going to be sitting. On the other side was probably going to be the queen.

“Whoa!” Aleksei’s eyes were practically shining, “It’s beautiful!”

“Yes, it is.” Keith sat down, “You guys can sit wherever you like.”

“We’re sticking together, then!” Aleksei sat in between them.

Keith’s relatives and cousins came in from the doors, their smiles wide and their eyes glued to the food.

“Keith!” Rosalie and Rolland sat on the opposite side of him, “We’re sitting here!”

“Fine.” he said.

“So… introduce me to the food, Keith!” Aleksei said.

“Aleksei, this is water. Water, Aleksei.” Keith gestured at a glass pitcher filled with ice water.

“HEY!” Aleksei hit the table, “Okay, very funny, Keith!”

Jasperez felt warm all of the sudden. It wasn’t the fire… it was the family. He read about family reunions being heartwarming and all, but he never expected it to be like this. The kids were laughing and the teenagers were joking around, while the adults chatted quietly as they all settled down at the table. He smiled to himself. So this is what a family feels like? It feels nice.

“Hey, Jasperez!” Rolland shouted across the table, “Did you win first, second, or third?”

“I got first.” Jasperez said.

“HUH?” Rolland leaned back in his chair, “Seriously? Keith lost?”

“I got second.” Keith said.

“Oh my god… and here we were, thinking there was no chance in the universe that you would get anything else other than first!” Rolland massaged his temples, “But, I guess a loss is good for you.”

“Don’t start talking like you know everything, Rolland.” Keith said, pointing at him.

“But what he says is true.” a man who sat down next to Rosalie smiled warmly, “You learn more from failure than victory.”

“Nice to see you too, Uncle Nikolai.” Keith folded his arms.

“Would Jeremy be joining us tonight?” the young woman who sat beside the man named Nikolai asked.

Keith stiffened.

“No.” Armando (who sat two seats away from Keith) shook his head, “He said he wasn’t feeling well… as always.”

“I’ll go check on him.” Keith said abruptly before standing up and leaving.

Aleksei blinked, “What happened?”

“He seemed worried for a moment.” Jasperez said.

“Ah, yes.” the young woman next to Nikolai nodded sadly, “Keith and Jeremy are close, you see. Because Jeremy talks to Keith and only Keith.”

“Why?”

“Huh? He hasn’t told you?” Nikolai sighed, “Well, I suppose I can understand. But the whole kingdom knows about it.”

“Knows about what?” Jasperez was still confused.

Keith

Keith took a left turn and went up the staircase. Jeremy is too ill to come downstairs. His condition’s gotten worse. He thought.

“Oh, young master.” a maid halted in front of him, “Are you here to see Master Jeremy?”

“Yes, is he in his room?”

“I’m afraid he wouldn’t talk to anyone right now. His fever’s gotten worse, and he just threw a tantrum. We couldn’t get him to calm down, so we had to give him a dose.”

Keith’s eyes darkened, “Is he awake?”

“Yes, but… are you sure?”

“I’ll be fine.” After all, I was once in his shoes as well.

Jeremy was the eldest son of one of Keith’s cousins, but because Keith didn’t recover until he was twelve, he wasn’t able to see Jeremy until he was 3.

He knocked on his door.

No reply.

Jeremy, are you alright? Keith opened the door and walked in.

The all too familiar scent of medicine and medical equipment hit his nose. The entire room seemed clean, but Keith knew it was only because they had to change the furniture and sheets every day. They couldn’t have the disease linger, otherwise Jeremy’s condition would become worse.

“Jeremy?” Keith said quietly.

He was lying on the bed. His vital signs seemed weak but stable. So he has gotten worse. Keith thought to himself as he walked to the bed.

“Who… is it?” Jeremy muttered hoarsely.

“Keith.” he replied.

“Keith?” Jeremy’s eyelids cracked open and he managed a small grin, “How… how was…”

“The tournament?” Keith shrugged, “I got second. I lost to… a new friend of mine.”

“I’m sorry–” he coughed and Keith put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, “I’m sorry that… I wasn’t able to come… downstairs…”

“I ran into one of the maids. They said you were throwing a fit.”

“Can you blame me?” Jeremy coughed twice, “The way they treat me… it’s kinda upsetting, you know?”

“Yes, I know.” Keith pulled a chair over and sat down, “Your condition’s gotten worse, you know.”

“Yeah… I don’t think… I’ll be able to… celebrate… my birthday… this year.” Jeremy took a shaky breath.

“You’re turning nine this year, right?”

“Yep.” he managed a thumbs up, “Almost ten… but…”

Keith frowned. “But what?”

“I… don’t think… I’ll make it–”

Keith stood up so fast that the chair toppled over, “Don’t you dare say that!” he snapped, shaking Jeremy as gently as he could, “You’ll live up to the limit of the Tridarian lifespan. If you keep that mindset, though, of course you’re never going to make it!”

“You were once in my shoes.” Jeremy’s voice cracked, “Can you… deny the fact that… you once thought that… too?”

No, I can’t. Keith let go of Jeremy’s shoulders and sat back down. I thought that every day would be my last. It was terrifying to live like that.

“Huh.” Jeremy smiled, “That’s… what I thought.”

“But I recovered.” Keith leaned forward, “You have a chance of recovering too, you know.”

“Sure…” Jeremy muttered, “But there’s also… a chance that I… wouldn’t.” he looked sleepy all of the sudden.

Keith sat back on his chair and watched the boy fall asleep. He spent thirteen years like this. He barely had strength to stay awake, much less to stand and walk around. The sickness got worse when he turned five. It took all of his strength just to breath. He didn’t remember anything other than flashes of light for three years. He was in a deep coma. Then he woke up one day, and the doctors and nurses had to treat him and monitor his vital signs every day. He got much better after he turned twelve, though. It seemed as if his interest in hover blades cured his disease. It made sense, since he wasn’t interested in history or science books until he was older. Once he got well enough to stand and walk, he had to go through long sessions of physical therapy, but his body caught up quickly. It was amazing progress, being able to go from crippled and weak to strong and healthy in five years.

Of course, he had an older brother. And he was the opposite of Keith. He was strong, healthy, intelligent, and a fast learner. Keith didn’t get to know him, though, since they were separated ever since Keith was diagnosed with a lethal sickness that might have killed him and anyone who stayed with him for long periods of time. Keith would often watch his brother practice self defense out in the courtyard of the palace. And he would hear his brother talk to senators and advisers late at night as they passed his room down the hallway. He would often ask the stars what he did to deserve such a fate. Even his parents didn’t pay much attention to him. They had their hopes and eyes fixated on his older brother instead, and Keith had always admired his brother. But now that he was healthy and normal, whenever he thought back, he would feel jealousy and envy. And once he recovered, his parents tried to make amends. At first, Keith was more than happy to mend their relationship. But as he grew older, he realized that his parents wouldn’t have paid him any attention if he hadn’t gotten better. Which led him into believing that they didn’t really love him, and that the only reason why his parents treated him so well was because he was a healthy heir.

When Keith came to that realization, his entire world collapsed. He curled into a ball in the corner of his room and locked himself in. He wanted to die, and the hurt that broke his heart over and over again never went away.

Then came the family gathering. His cousins were amazed when they realized Keith had gotten so much better. They talked to him like he was a family member who’s been gone for too long. The subject of favorite things entered the conversation, and Keith said Hover Blades. They laughed and told him that they could teach him if he wanted. He accepted the offer, and that was how he entered the world of sports.

The cousin that taught him from hover blade fundamentals to tricks and tips was Jeremy’s father, and ever since Keith learned about Jeremy’s situation, he vowed to stay by his side until he recovered. And he doesn’t intend to break that promise anytime soon.

Jasperez

Jasperez was already half full by the time Keith returned. I didn’t know he had such a horrible backstory… his situation was so similar to mine. He thought. Keith’s uncle had explained everything.

The prince sat down quietly.

“So, how’d it go?” they were barely able to make out Aleksei’s words through all the food stuffed in her mouth.

“How’d what go?” he asked quietly, reaching over to take some fruit.

“The other guy! You know, Jimmy? Or… Jerome? Or… was it–”

“Jeremy.” Keith said, “He’s fine.”

No, he’s not. Jasperez thought. A boy who’s so sick he can barely stand is never fine.

“So, it’s Jasperez, right?” a girl who sat beside him asked.

“Yes.”

“My name is Helena.” she smiled, “Pleased to meet you. Do you and Aleksei want to join us for tonight’s sunset and stargaze?”

“Sorry.” he shook his head, “I need to head on back home after this. My parents are waiting for me.”

“I’ll come!” Aleksei leaned forward on the table so she can get a better look, “I love stargazing! And to name all the constellations…”

“Do you even know all the constellations?” Keith asked skeptically.

“I’m still learning!” Aleksei protested.

“Well, if you need to go, Jasperez, we won’t stop you.” Helena shrugged, “But we would really like it if you could stay for a little longer.”

“I’m sorry.” Jasperez dipped his head.

“Well, at least I tried to convince you.” Helena sighed.

---

They finished up dinner and Keith offered to escort Jasperez back home. Aleksei tagged along, naturally.

“So, this is my home.” Jasperez didn’t want to leave his friends, but he had no choice. His parents were constantly monitoring him.

“Wow.” Aleksei looked up at the manor and whistled, “That’s huge.”

“Most of it’s just training rooms, though. Nothing fancy.” he mumbled.

“Hm.” Keith nodded and looked at Jasperez, “Well, this is where we part, Ajandro.” he held out a hand, “I won’t lose next time.”

Jasperez grinned, “I’d like to see you try.” he shook it.

“JASPEREZ!” Aleksei leapt onto him, “I don’t want you to go! I want us to stay together forever!” she sobbed.

“He’s just going for the night, Aleksei. Why are you crying?” Keith frowned.

“Because we were destined to stay together!” she said firmly, then her determined face broke into a bright smile, “Alright, everyone! Group hug! Selfie!”

“Where did you–ack!” Keith was yanked towards the group and Aleksei held out a camera (Jasperez had no idea where she found it).

“Smile you two!” she said and grinned.

Jasperez made a small smile, and Keith just looked at the camera boringly, but Jasperez could sense a hint of amusement in his eyes.

“Alright, go on, now!” Aleksei gave him a small push after they took the photo, “We’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Probably. I’ll…” Jasperez faltered as he saw a figure approaching them.

Keith frowned and turned around. Aleksei looked over her shoulder to see who it was, “What?” her usual cheerful face was washed away, “Who is that?” she said quietly.

“Don’t know.” Jasperez got in front of her protectively.

“Oh, don’t give me that look.” it was a woman. She wore ordinary clothes, but she still looked like a burglar to him. “I’m not here to mug you or anything. That fight wouldn’t be fair. I’m actually here to talk to you about a universal class school.”

“I’m sorry?” Keith said.

“You heard me right. You’ve heard of these types of schools before, yes?”

The prince nodded slowly, “Yes, what about them?”

“They look for young people with potential. I was sent here because I heard of a huge tournament going on. And my job was to recruit new students with great potential. You two took the first two places.” she pointed at Jasperez and Keith, “You’ll make a great addition to our school.”

“Sorry, not interested.” Keith said.

“But you will be.” the woman smiled, “Aleksei,” she looked at the girl, “do you consider yourself to be a genius?”

“How do you know her name?” Jasperez asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I wouldn’t say genius.” Aleksei waved her hand, “But… I… I know that I’m smarter than the average person.”

“The man I work for is looking for someone like you.” she said, “He’s a mastermind, and he’s taken great interest in people like you.”

“Yeah, we got that.” Keith said, “But how do you prove that you’re not just some random person who wants us for ransom?”

“I’m well aware of your royal heritage, Crown Prince Keith Edelstein.” she emphasized on the “crown prince” title. Keith stiffened when she addressed him that way. “And young Jasperez Ajandro isn’t exactly happy living his life the way he has.”

“No offense, but you sound like a stalker.” Aleksei chuckled nervously.

“I know what I say may sound weird. But I assure you, I mean well.” she said, “You’re both of age to attend this school. If you would please, come to a decision when you’re ready. But please make it before the week is over. We’re departing soon.”

“Where is this school?” Jasperez asked, curious.

“Hm.” the woman’s smile was mysterious, “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

“Try me.” Keith said.

She chuckled, “Very well.”

Dystopian Society

It had been a week since the farewell ceremony for the Elites, and society has taken a dark turn since then.

It must’ve been because the Elites were gone, and the people had no one to turn to, so they started surviving instead of living. Everyone was panicking, and Bianca shared their fear.

People would start fights wherever Bianca went, and families were turning against each other, fighting over food and resources. They were already short on both as they were, but they insisted on fighting for them, and now even young boys and girls at the age of six were arguing at each other over who would get what.

Bianca didn’t want to face society. Her mother and father have not been doing so well lately, and Bianca rarely got to see Jax or Kirishima. All she could do at this point was to survive.

“Bianca?” her mother rubbed her eyes. It was late in the morning, but Bianca was fine with her parents sleeping in these days. It was tough.

“Good morning, mom!” she tried to put on a confident smile.

“Bianca, your father and I don’t want you to go out as often anymore.” she sat down on the couch, “This shelter’s turning dangerous, and if something happens, I want you to tell us immediately, understand?”

“Don’t worry, mom!” Bianca shook her head, “I’ll be fine!”

---

Bianca went out of her family room that afternoon just to see how well the others have been.

It wasn’t a pretty sight.

Where the cafeteria had once been was now nothing but a brawling arena. People who once sat together were now fighting over food like a bunch of wild animals stuck on a deserted island.

Then someone bumped into her.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” a familiar voice spat, though it was barely recognizable with the anger and the venom.

“Kirishima!” Bianca stepped back, surprised.

He looked way tougher than he had before. His hair was messy and his clothes were completely different from the neat uniform he wore the other day. These were ripped jeans and a black sweatshirt. His sleeves were rolled up, and Bianca was able to see bruised knuckles and cuts on his forearms. He looked scarier and more gangster this way.

“Bianca!” all of his irritation was gone, replaced by shock, “What are you doing here?”

“I… Kirishima, what’s happened to you? Why do you have bruises and cuts? Have you gotten into fights lately?” she asked anxiously. There’s no way he could’ve gotten into fights! He’s such a nice person! And he’s a stickler for rules!

He looked away, ashamed, “These past few days haven’t been the best days of my life. I had to learn quickly, or else I was going to get killed.”

“What do you mean?” Bianca was starting to worry that Kirishima had joined a gang or something.

“Here, come on.” he grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the cafeteria. She spotted a knife tucked into his pocket and a gun in the other. What exactly’s going on? I know it’s been really bad, but I never expected it to be like this!

They went to a less crowded place, but Bianca could still hear children screaming and people arguing.

“Jax and I both have a younger sibling.” Kirishima said, leaning against the wall and folding his arms, “I have a brother named Yukio Takeshi, and you’ve already met Celine. Jax and I both came to a decision a couple of days ago. We, as the eldest children of the family, have the responsibility of taking care of our younger siblings and our parents. I was raised under these customs because my ancestors have been taught the same thing. We emphasize on respect for our seniors and elders, so the children are expected to take care of them.”

“What does this have to do with you changing your whole appearance?” And possibly your personality?

“I couldn’t protect my family if I didn’t change myself a bit. Desperate times call for desperate measures.” he sighed, “I don’t like it. I would rather stay the way I was… always looking out for Jax and getting him out of trouble. It may have been annoying, but that’s what friends do for each other.” he looked up and smiled gently, “You haven’t changed at all, Bianca.”

“You’re saying that like we haven’t spoken to each other for years.” she said, pursing her lips.

“Maybe its a good thing that you haven’t changed.” he sighed, “Jax and I barely talk to each other anymore, and maybe it’s because we’ve changed more than we wanted to. But you’re still here, and I still recognize you. Maybe you’re the anchor that keeps us in check or something. That way, we won’t stray too far from our path.”

“Kirishima, how have things been in your family?” Bianca asked.

He looked at her, “Not very good, but managing.” he shrugged, “What about you?”

“My parents don’t want me to go out as often.”

“You should listen to your parents.” Kirishima urged, “It’s getting more and more dangerous out here.”

“Yeah, but I’m a soldier, remember?” she smiled weakly, “I’ll live.”

“Soldier or not, you’re still human.” he said in a serious tone, “You can still get hurt.”

“Hm… yeah, I suppose so.” she nodded, “Where were you heading before I bumped into you?”

“I don’t think you want to know.” he said darkly.

“It’s that bad?”

He nodded silently.

“If you want me to go with you, I’ll be glad to help.”

“No, you won’t.” Kirishima shook his head, “Go home now, Bianca.” he said grimly, “Your family might need you.”

---

As the days turned into weeks, Bianca saw a significant change in the shelter. The situation was getting worse and worse, and anyone who came to visit would never believe that this was once a happy place. Even family members were turning against each other. Her parents were getting more and more terrified, and sometimes Bianca had to calm them down. But who was there to calm her down?

She noticed that the food supply in her home was running short, so she had to go get some. But how? She had her soldier uniform, but that doesn’t stop people from attacking her. She had to start bringing her rifle and tracker knives wherever she went.

She took a deep breath and went outside.

The once clean corridor was now covered in dried blood from all the fights that happened outside of her home. It was surprisingly quiet, though.

She realized why once she walked into the cafeteria.

There were fewer people in the shelter now. Some of them died fighting for survival, others left to the next shelter. Now that there were less people, the remaining civilians just sat there, minding their own businesses. But, if someone got too close to the other, they’ll snap at each other and a fight would start. You could practically feel the tension in the air once you walk in.

She sped walked silently to the other side of the room, got two days worth of food, and ran back out. No one seemed to follow her, so she slowed down after reaching her corridor.

She sighed in relief, what she didn’t realize was that someone was waiting for her around the corner. Someone grabbed her arm, and acting out of instinct, she twisted her arm and got him into a joint lock. Her heart was practically beating out of her chest, and she could feel the familiar dread coursing through her veins. Who is he? What does he want? Am I going to die here? She picked up her leg and kicked as hard as she can. Wait… is that…

“J-Jax?” she whispered and let go immediately. He collapsed onto the floor, retching and coughing.

“A-about time…” he clutched his stomach and gasped for air, “you… noticed!”

“Oh my god!” she knelt down beside him and started patting his back, “I’m so sorry! Are you alright?”

He threw up and coughed.

“Can you stand?” This technically was partly his fault. He grabbed my wrist… but I can’t think about that right now! I need to get him back inside. It’s too dangerous out here.

“Y… yeah.” he rasped and got onto one knee, “You kick… really hard.” he got up and used the wall as support. His face was red and his chest was heaving.

“Come on, I’ll bring you back home.” she slung one of his arms around her shoulder and helped him back inside.

Her parents screamed when they saw him, but once Bianca explained the situation and who he was, they managed to calm down and get him a couple of towels.

“Jax, are you feeling better?” Bianca asked, “I’m really sorry I kicked you.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” he sighed, “I grabbed your arm. It’s only natural that you’ll defend yourself.”

She looked down at his forearms. Sure enough, there were scars and bruises.

“I bumped into Kirishima the other day.” she said quietly

“Oh, you did?” he sounded surprised, “How was he? Is he doing alright?”

“No, he’s not fine.” she shook her head, “Both of you are getting into fights. I’ve had my fair share of them too, but it really looked like you guys were looking for one.”

“Well, what did you expect?” he demanded, “If we had gone with defense and avoiding fights, we would’ve never survived.”

True. She thought. Sometimes offense is necessary. 

“What were you doing there, anyways?” Bianca asked, changing the subject.

“I was waiting for you.” he said, then he closed his eyes and sighed, “My… plan, I guess you can call it, is to run off to the next shelter and live there instead. Things are just getting way out of hand here, and… I’d be lying if I said I believe there’s still hope in this shelter yet.”

“So is this goodbye?” Bianca couldn’t say she was surprised. One of them was bound to leave sooner or later.

“No.” he shook his head, “I asked Kirishima, but I haven’t gotten an answer yet, so I’m asking you as well. Bianca, would you come with me?”

“Y-you… you want me to… leave?” Leave my family? I can’t do that! They need me here! And what about your family? What about your younger sister?

“Celine’s coming with me.” he said, “My parents told me to leave, actually. They said that it was too dangerous here.” when he saw her face, he said defensively, “Hey, it wasn’t an easy choice to make, alright? But it’s for the best! We can’t rely on our parents forever either.”

“I… I think I need to tell my family first…” she trailed off.

“Then go ahead.” Jax stood up, “Once you’ve come to a decision, come find me. I’m usually at the cafeteria.”

“S-sure…” Bianca nodded slowly.

“If you don’t give me an answer by next week, Celine and I are leaving, alright?” he said.

Bianca nodded again.

Jax left without another word.

“So that was your friend?” her mother came out of the bedroom.

Bianca nodded, “Yes.”

“I heard your conversation, you know.” she sat down and sighed, “Bianca, you’re turning fifteen this year. That’s one year away from turning sixteen. Remember what I told you when you were little? What would happen once you turned sixteen?”

Bianca nodded again, “Yeah. That I would be required to move away and live independently.” It may be harsh, but that was the rule of the shelter. The Elites wanted everyone to be able to think and work independently, so when there was danger, they’ll be able to face it on their own.

“Well, you’re almost sixteen, which means that you have to start making decisions on your own.” her mother reached over and stroke her hair gently, “Some of those decisions aren’t going to be easy to make, and sometimes, you have to make selfish decisions too.”

“What are you trying to say, mom?” Bianca asked, frowning.

“What I’m trying to say, is that you should decide whether or not you should leave.”

“No!” Bianca blurted out. This place may be beyond hope, but I’m not leaving my family! “I can’t leave you guys! You need me!” she cried desperately.

“Bianca, listen to me.” her mother gripped her arms gently, “Now is not the time to be noble. This is survival we’re talking about, and when you’re barely surviving, morality cannot be an option. You have to do everything you can to survive. It’s good to know that you still care for others, but you have the opportunity to start over in another shelter. Take it, Bianca. We’ll be fine!”

“Then come with me! We can go together!” Bianca shook her head, tears trickling down her face.

“No, sweetie.” her mother pulled her in closer, “You’re young, and you’re body is stronger than ours. We’ll only slow you down. Your father and I have lived our lives, now it’s your turn.” she wiped Bianca’s tears away, “The right choice isn’t always the easiest one.”

“But I–”

“It’s your decision, Bianca.” her mother pulled away and stood up, “If you wish to stay here, that’s fine. If you wish to go, that’s fine too. Either way, you’ll have to leave the house sooner or later.” her hand touched Bianca’s cheek, “It’s your decision.” she repeated before leaving.

Bianca clutched her head and bit her lip. Aren’t I too young to make a decision like this? I know she’s right… but we can leave together! Why can’t they come with me? I lost Diana… I don’t want to loose my parents in the same year. 

---

The days went by fast and soon it was the last day to make her decision before Jax was leaving. On her way back from the cafeteria, she bumped into Kirishima and a young boy who Bianca assumed was Yukio, Kirishima’s younger brother.

“Bianca.” he tilted his head, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m on my way back.” she presented the food in her arms, “Kirishima, has Jax told you about his plan?”

“Yes.” Kirishima nodded, “We’re going with him.”

“Kirishima, who’s this?” the boy asked, nodding at Bianca.

“Oh, Bianca, this is Yukio. Yukio, this is a friend. Her name’s Bianca.” Kirishima introduced them to each other.

“‘Sup?” Yukio folded his arms casually. Bianca wanted to laugh. He was the total opposite of Kirishima.

“I’m good, thank you.” she turned to Kirishima, “So you guys are… going?”

“Tomorrow. Jax said he’s still waiting for your decision.” he said.

“Yeah… I haven’t exactly told him yet.” Bianca rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.

“Take your time, Bianca.” Kirishima smiled, which looked weird with his gangster-like outfit, “I know it’s hard.”

“Thanks.” Bianca nodded.

“Of course.” Kirishima said, “Come on, Yukio.”

“See you!” Yukio waved at Bianca and followed his brother.

So Kirishima’s going as well? But what about his family? Then again… I don’t know what his situation is right now, so he could be leaving for many reasons. I still don’t know what to do, though. I know leaving would give me a higher chance of surviving… but I don’t want to leave my parents… and they don’t want me to leave either. At least, I hope not. I know they want what’s best for me, but what about themselves? Don’t they want to live in peace as well?

She walked into her family’s room and sat down on the sofa after putting the food down on the table. Should I leave? 

“Bianca?” her father came out.

“Dad!” she said, surprised. They were still sleeping when Bianca left.

“Shh. Your mother’s sleeping.” he stopped in front of the couch and sighed, “Bianca, I heard your mother’s conversation with you. About you leaving. She thinks you should make your own decisions, but I have to be firmer.” he looked up, his eyes hardening, “Bianca, leave this place.”

“Y… you’re kicking me out?”

“Yes.” he said, “Pack your bags and leave, Bianca. There’s nothing left for you here.”

“No way in Hell am I leaving!” Bianca stood up, struggling to keep her voice down, “You say there’s nothing left for me here, but that’s nonsense! You guys are here!”

“But we won’t be here forever.” her father kept his voice calm but firm at the same time, “If things had stayed the way they were, you would be moving out next year. I don’t want you to be forced to make your own choices… for you to be unhappy… that’s the last thing I want. But these things have to be done. So I’ll say it one last time, Bianca.” he pointed at the door, “Leave.”

“No!” she clenched her fists.

Her father’s eyes shifted between pain and anger, “Then you leave me no choice.” his voice was shaking, and his hands trembled as he reached into the drawer beside him and took out a gun.

Bianca’s eyes widened and her heart started pounding. She didn’t know whether to run or to scream or the feel betrayed.

He raised it slowly until it was pointing towards her, “Get your things and get out.” he growled.

“Dad, please… don’t kick me out!” she started getting on her knees, “Please!”

“It’s for your own good, Bianca. Go.”

“Honey, what’s going–” her mother came out and screamed, “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” she scrambled in front of Bianca and shielded her, “Put that thing down! Have you lost your mind?”

“I’m making the decision for you, Bianca. I said I didn’t want to see you forced to make painful choices, so I’ll make this one for you. Consider it a final gift.”

“What gift?” Bianca shrieked, “You consider this as a gift?”

“If you shoot…” her mother whispered.

“You will never forgive me?” her father shook his head, “I don’t care. She needs to leave. This shelter’s beyond hope. Everyone would be slaughtered in the end. Do you want our daughter to be killed?”

“No, but can you put that gun down first?” her mother cried, “Threatening her isn’t going to solve anything!”

“Bianca, listen to me.” her father closed his eyes and gripped the gun, “No matter how much you want to stay here, you’re never going to be able to live your life to the fullest here. Your mother and I want you to have the opportunity that we never had. Run away to another shelter and start over there. Your friend’s going to be there too, isn’t he?”

“Forget about them!” Bianca stood up, “You can’t make me leave!”

“Yes, I can.” he said, “What do you value more? Your own life or our lives?”

“Your lives of course!” she cried, but deep down, she knew that her survival instincts told her that her life was more valuable than anything else in the world. She was selfish, and she hated that aspect about herself.

“No. Our survival instincts tell us that we are the most important things on the planet, but I’m ignoring them this time. Bianca, run.” his voice quivered, “Run away with your friends. Please, Bianca. Don’t make me use this.”

So he really meant to use it if she refused to leave? I don’t care! She tried convincing herself, but she knew that she didn’t want to be shot by a loved one. “Dad–” she begged.

“GO!” he roared.

Fine! Tears welled up in her eyes as she flinched and ran into her room, gathering her things.

“Why did you have to do that?” her mother was screaming, but her father stayed silent.

If I have to leave, at least don’t argue during my last moments with you, mom… dad… She thought, wiping her tears away furiously. She got her things and went out of her room.

Her father’s brown locks fell across this face and he looked much wearier and worn out, “Goodbye, Bianca.” he kissed her forehead.

“Live, understand?” her mother said firmly, but tears were also running down her face, “Live and forget about us. It’ll make the transition to a different life easier.”

“I can’t.” Bianca whispered.

“You can and you will.” her mother hugged her tightly, “I love you, honey. Now go!”

Bianca took one last look of her home that she was never going to see again before bolting down the hallway and shoving everyone who was in her way. I have to come back. No matter what happens, I need to make sure they lived a good life. She vowed.

---

She found Jax and Kirishima sitting at the entrance of the shelter with their siblings and two cruisers (basically like skateboards but they can hover. Same with the hover blades that are like roller blades but can hover and act like rocket boots).

“So you decided to come!” Jax said with a small smile.

“Let’s just go.” Bianca said bitterly, still not able to get over what her parents did to her.

Jax’s smile faltered but he didn’t ask anymore questions. “Get on, Celine.” Jax stepped onto one of the cruisers and turned it on. Celine sat down on the end of the cruiser and crossed her legs, then she held onto the bottom of the cruiser with both hands to stabilize herself. Kirishima and Yukio did the same thing, with Kirishima standing and Yukio sitting down in the back.

“Sorry I didn’t get you one, but you have hover blades, don’t you?”

Bianca nodded and pulled out a pair of metal boots. She put them on and activated the boots.

“Alright, you guys ready?” Jax asked.

The rest of them nodded.

“Okay, we’re off.” he opened the gates and led the way out into the dry and dusty plain.

Bianca didn’t even look back once as they got farther and farther away from her home, because she knew she’ll come back, whether it be one year of a hundred years, she’ll come back.

Hiding

Jett was the son of an engineer, so he subconsciously knew the basics of flying aircraft and ships. Plus, being in a ship brought back some memories and he had a clearer picture of who he was before this entire enhancement thing.

Now they were in a city where no one spoke English, or very little English apparently. Jett reckoned that this was an Asian country, since everyone had black hair, brown eyes, and they looked different from him and Kaelis. They got a couple of stares, but that was it. Jett prayed that they weren’t going to be caught as runaway failures.

No, they aren’t failures. They’re people. Human beings. But are you even human anymore? A small piece of his mind asked quietly.

“Shut up.” Jett muttered.

“Excuse me?” Kaelis turned around.

“Nothing.” he shook his head, “Can you read the signs?” he pointed at the signs that were written in a different language.

“If my mind had access to the central computer back in the lab, I could’ve.” Kaelis said, “But I can’t, and I’m glad that I can’t. So no, I can’t read the signs.”

Jett sighed, “I’m starving. Isn’t there somewhere we can get food?”

“We don’t even have money, Jett.” Kaelis said and looked around them, “Bear with it until we get out of here. You’ll live.”

“I’ll try.” Jett leaned against the wall of a building, “So what’s the plan? We literally blasted our way through the laboratory from underground, blew up the facility, ran a couple hundred of kilometers, and on top of that, we didn’t plan to be in a foreign country where no one can speak English. If you ask me, we should come up with a concrete plan A and a solid plan B.”

“If you have any ideas, I would be more than happy to hear it.” Kaelis said calmly.

“I think we should jump on the nearest subterranean or ocean express and get ourselves out of here.”

“Do we have money for that?” Kaelis asked, raising a brow.

“Okay, fine. How about…” Jett thought for a moment. There wasn’t really anything they can do without money. “Since we’re already wanted for escaping a laboratory, why don’t we–”

“I see where you’re going, and the answer is no.” Kaelis interrupted even before Jett could finish.

“Well, fine then! Do you have any ideas?”

Kaelis sighed, “With my back still healing, there’s no guarantee that we can make it far.”

“Leave all the fighting to me, then.” Jett knew that he still wasn’t sure whether or not he can handle it or not, but Kaelis has contributed to this entire escape so far, so now it was his turn, “While I’m buying us some time, you can think of something. I don’t think I was exactly the smartest one in class.”

“Are you sure I can trust you to defend both of us?” Kaelis asked.

“No, but you can trust me to do my best.” Jett promised.

After a moment to consider, Kaelis nodded, “Fine. That’s enough for me. I haven’t seen you use all your strength yet, so I’m fairly sure your pretty strong. But that’s not what I’m worried about. The last time you killed someone,” Jett’s eyes darkened, “you broke down and you weren’t even able to talk for a week or so.”

I know. Jett thought. And it was the worst few weeks of my life… well, what I know if it so far. To live with the fact that I killed someone was horrifying. But if I am to survive, I have to get over that fear and pain. I don’t have time for that. He thought firmly to himself, “I’ll be fine.” he almost growled, “If I break down, slap me. Do something, but don’t let me continue sulking, alright?”

“Fair enough.” Kaelis nodded.

---

They didn’t really walk about in the city, since their clothes were pretty much… torn. They didn’t want to look suspicious, so they traveled around the city using empty alleys and abandoned buildings.

After an hour of walking, they started hearing a pair of feet stepping quietly behind them. It was too loud to be an enhanced, but it was still bad that someone was following them. It sounded heavy enough to be a full grown adult’s footsteps. But if it wasn’t an enhanced, it must’ve been a citizen. Why would a citizen follow them around? Weren’t they under their captor’s control? Unless if their captor knew about their escape and location, which almost caused Jett to panic.

“Calm down.” Kaelis murmured as they took a left, “You go over there and stand there. Look mysterious, not menacing. The last thing we want is someone screaming and attracting attention.”

“Got it.” Jett and Kaelis split up so each of them was leaning against the two walls of the two buildings that were facing each other. The alley was narrower, so there wasn’t much space for their stalker to go by without them being able to reach out and grabbing him.

The footsteps stopped and a shadow appeared around the corner. They could make out a young adult’s figure, but they couldn’t tell what he looked like.

“What do you want?” Kaelis said quietly. “Come over here and speak quietly. Don’t attract any attention… please.”

Jett wanted to say that the person probably couldn’t even understand him, but a young man walked around the corner and showed his face. He was a young Asian teenager, probably younger than Jett and Kaelis. He was wearing a black sweater and dark blue jeans.

“What are enhanced doing here?” his voice was heavily accented, but they were able to make out the words.

“So you speak English?”

“That’s none of your concern.” he said firmly, “Now answer me! Who are you? Are you part of Kazimir’s army?”

“So is that his name?” Jett asked, keeping his voice cool.

“Kazimir? You don’t even know the name of your master?” he sounded disgusted.

“You sound like you don’t like the enhanced.” Kaelis said.

The boy stiffened and stayed silent.

“It’s okay. We don’t either.” Kaelis continued.

Jett wanted to tell him to shut up. What if this guy’s a spy? What then? Are you just going to give him all our secrets and information? Great! And while you’re at it, how about we just say that we’re Kazimir’s failed experiments and we also have a mind of our own?

The boy looked up, “You lie.” he growled.

“No, I’m being serious.” Kaelis drew his hands out of his pockets and held them up in a peaceful manner, “Show me your arm and I’ll show you mine.”

Enhanced had trackers and monitors implanted into their arms once they were completed. Since Jett and Kaelis were never “finished”, they never had trackers or monitors implanted into their arms. The little light that flashes through the flesh and skin can be seen when their arms are revealed. It’s how citizens can tell who’re the enhanced and who’re the citizens.

The boy still didn’t look like he believed them, “And what if I show you my arm and nothing’s there. Will you take me away like you took my sister?”

“If I see your arm and there’s nothing there, why would I even bother to stay here and talk to you? You weren’t chosen. How old are you, anyways?”

“None of your business.”

“Very well.” Kaelis muttered, “Boy–”

“I’m not a b–”

“Don’t interrupt me again.” Kaelis’s voice switched from annoyed to firm, “Show us your arm.”

The boy clenched his jaw and rolled up his right sleeve. Nothing. “There. Now show me yours.”

Kaelis stayed true to his word and rolled up his right sleeve. There was nothing there either.

“Other arm.” the boy nodded at his other arm.

“Show me yours first.”

He complied reluctantly and Kaelis showed him his left arm as well.

“Your friend.” he pointed at Kaelis, “Is he enhanced too?”

“No, I’m not.” feeling relieved that the boy wasn’t one of their pursuers, Jett rolled up both of his sleeves to show that he wasn’t on Kazimir’s side.

The boy didn’t let his guard down, though. “Alright, say that I believe you. What if you’re just ordinary spies with no enhancements?”

Kaelis sighed. He looked very irritated, “What exactly do you want us to do in order to prove that we’re not part of Kazimir’s army? And we expect the same thing in return!”

The boy’s eyes narrowed, “It’s not possible to prove that if we don’t have a monitor tracking your brain… but I’m not exactly read to believe you either…” he sounded like he was talking to himself more than to them.

“You haven’t answered my question.” Kaelis said, keeping his tone neutral.

After giving them a long, hard look, he said, “You!” and pointed at Kaelis.

“Me?”

“Yes, you. You’re not human, are you?” he took a step back, preparing to run if worse comes to worst.

“No.” Kaelis shook his head, “I’m not.”

“You’re… if you’re not from this place, where are you from? Are you the first of your kind to walk amongst humanity?”

“No.” Kaelis shook his head again, “I am a Tridarian, and I come from another planet called Tridaria. Our planet’s an ally of Equira, another planet populated by humans.”

“What?” Now Jett was confused. What was Equira? He knew Kaelis was from a different planet, but he never knew that humanity’s populated another planet.

Kaelis turned to him, “You didn’t know?” he sounded surprised.

“No.” Jett said, “Humans have colonized another planet? Are you serious? I thought that was just a legend that humans have colonized different planets!”

“It’s not.” Kaelis said, “Jett, this is common information.” he sounded just as puzzled as Jett was, “I know you’re not from Equira, since there’s not continent called Australia, or was formerly known as Australia, on Equira. But I thought all humans were aware of the fact that Equira wasn’t their only home planet.”

“If you’re from this… Tridaria place,” the boy spoke up, “how did you come to learn of Earth? He,” he pointed at Jett, “claimed that he didn’t know about Earth. If all humans of Equira didn’t know about Earth, how would you come to know of it?”

“When I was brought here for enhancements and failed, I was thrown into a cell, along with a couple of other people. They were all from here, so I assumed that humanity had dominated a second planet.”

“Wait, so do Tridarians know about this place?” Jett asked.

“I don’t know. All I know was that I was captured by a band of enhanced, and the next time I woke up was when I arrived in the cell.” Kaelis frowned, “But if Kazimir sent enhanced to come capture me…” he faltered and Jett was able to piece the rest together.

Equira was Tridaria’s ally, so Jett assumed that the two planets were relatively close together. If Kazimir was able to find Tridaria and capture Kaelis, that meant that he would be able to find the rest of humanity as well! The people of Earth looked up to Kazimir and were brainwashed by his speeches… does that mean he’s going to do the same to Equira?

“We can’t let that happen!” Jett blurted out, “The rest of humanity’s out there! They’re our last hope! The people here believe in Kazimir, so we can’t rely on them anymore.” he turned to look at the boy, “Wait… what about you?”

The boy shook his head, “It’s obvious that you bear no love for Kazimir. I don’t either.” he said, relaxing his shoulders, “I hate him, and so do the rest of my family. I believe that taking citizens and stripping them of their personalities and memories for super strength and speed is immoral.”

“So do we.” Kaelis nodded, “What’s your name?”

“Nathaniel.” he said, “Nathaniel Lin. You may call me Nathan, though.”

“Great, so first thing’s first… we need to stop Kazimir from dominating a second and third planet.” Jett started to walk forward, his thoughts spinning and his mind already forming a plan.

“Hold it, Jett.” Kaelis reached over to stop him, “We can’t just charge into HQ and hope we can assassinate Kazimir before he moves out. We don’t even know who or where his is.” he turned to Nathan, “Speaking of which, where are we, anyways?”

Jett wanted to snap at him. Humanity is in huge trouble, and asking questions here wasn’t going to change that! He knew Kaelis had a point when he mentioned that they knew nothing of Kazimir. But he couldn’t just sit here and wait for a couple of hours.

“You’re in Taipei City.” Nathan said, “Where do you need to go?”

“Somewhere they can speak English.” Kaelis said.

“San Francisco it is.” Nathan nodded and started out of the alley, but then he stopped, “Uh… your guys’ clothes might need some adjustments…”

Jett had almost forgotten about his clothes, “Huh? Oh yeah! Right… uh…”

“What size do you wear?” Nathaniel asked.

“I have no idea.” Jett shook his head just as Kaelis said, “Large should work fine.”

“You two seem to be around the same built. You’re a bit taller than me, so I’ll get you medium.” Nathan said to Jett, “Wait here.” he turned and ran off.

---

Jett spent the next hour or so trying to plan out or do something productive in his mind, but no matter what he did, he kept on asking the same question, “Who is Kazimir and why is he enhancing humans?”

A thousand of reasons came to Jett’s mind. He’s greedy. He’s curious. He’s seeking revenge so he’s building an army. He wants to work with science-y stuff. But none of them fit what Jett’s memories told him.

Over the past couple of days, he had regained a lot of his memories and slowly started to realize who he is. His mother’s name is Cassandra Brown, and his father’s name is Harrison Ryker. His younger sister’s name is Eliza Ryker, and she has a pet turtle named Simon.

He was taught in his mother’s class when he was in fourth grade, but she didn’t go easy on him. In fact, she made him do all the extra credit even when she said to the rest of the class that it was optional. He went to Landon Elementary school and graduated when he reached sixth grade. Then he attended Riza Middle School for two years, then finally Glade High School until twelfth grade. He made several friends along the way, and he vaguely remembered two or three girls who tried to ask him out, but he always came up with an excuse because he was too shy. Thinking back on it now made Jett smile internally.

“I think that’s the first time I ever saw you smile.” Kaelis had been so quiet that Jett had forgotten he was even there.

That was also when Jett realized that he had been smiling… literally. His smile turned into a frown, “Sorry.” he didn’t know why he apologized, but it seemed almost natural.

“Why are you apologizing? I meant that as a good thing.” Kaelis turned back to the entrance to the alley. The sun was rising.

“Right… where is that guy anyways?” he pushed away all his memories.

“It may be a city, but clothes shops don’t just appear out of nowhere.” Kaelis knelt down and started picking up small pieces of gravel to throw against the wall.

Jett hummed and looked back to the shadows of the building as the lengthened slowly. His thoughts wandered back to his past.

He had several friends, but his first and best friend that he ever made was named Greg. Greg had two younger siblings that were twins, but he couldn’t quite recall their names just yet. After Greg was Daemon and Lucien. They shared the same science class in middle school and graduated into the same high school, so they hung out for a bit there. Then Daemon got himself a girlfriend and they didn’t really see each other anymore. Lucien wasn’t able to get anyone special because he was really worried about his grades, but Greg was pretty cool and chill. He was the one who taught Jett how to surf.

Then Jett blinked. Whoa, okay. I know how to surf? When did that come from? Then he remembered trying (and failing) to keep upright on his surfboard and falling into the cold water. Greg was laughing and Lucien just frowned. It was one of the few times when Lucien was able to take a break from studying.

He made more friends along the way, but none of them really stuck. Greg and Lucien were probably the only ones.

Then there were girls. His mother had taught him how to be a gentleman, but he thought it was ridiculous… then again, he was twelve at the time. He regretted it once he was asked out by a girl. He was too nervous and shy to say yes, so he declined a bit too hastily. He never saw her again, and he felt extremely guilty about it.

But that didn’t stop them from coming back. Two more girls asked him over the course of three years. And on his last year, when he was finally ready to say yes to the next girl that came along, he was chosen.

That marked the end of his old life.

Jett remembered wanting to become a scientist when he was a kid, but now he wasn’t so sure. He didn’t even know what his interests were. Maybe sports and reading, but otherwise, that was it.

“Okay, I’m back.” Nathan finally emerged from the corner with a shopping bag in his hands, “Do you know how weird it is for boys to shop for clothes on their own?”

“No.” Jett and Kaelis both shook their heads. Jett because he didn’t recall shopping for clothes. And Kaelis because he probably didn’t need to personally go buy clothes.

“Well, it’s weird.” Nathan tossed them both a t-shirt and black pants, “Put those on and let’s go.”

“Go where?” Jett asked.

“To the Ocean Express. We’re going to America.”

Kindness

Bianca was so very relieved when they finally reached the next shelter. She was so sick of the hot wind blowing across her face and the sun glaring down at her.

“At long last!” Jax sighed and slowed his Cruiser to a halt a couple of meters away from the entrance.

The shelter didn’t look any different from their shelter, but it was a bit smaller. There was no guard outside, so Jax started searching for a doorbell or something.

“Are we there?” Takeshi rubbed his eyes and got up. He had been napping since they left.

“Yes.” Kirishima stepped off of his Cruiser and helped Takeshi off before putting it away.

Celine slid off of the Cruiser and picked it up, “Jax, you carry this! This is heavy!”

“Shh, be quiet, Celine.” Jax shushed her and pressed down on a button.

The door rumbled and opened. Inside was a guard with a huge machine gun in his hands. He didn’t relax even when he saw that they were just a couple of teenagers and kids and not enhanced.

“Who are you? What do you want?” he sounded like he had rehearsed that line for ages.

“We come in peace.” Jax held up his hands, “We come from Shelter 17.”

“Let me guess, you’re moving in here?” the guard said.

Kirishima frowned, “How did you know?”

He snorted, “Over the past month, we’ve had more than 20 people move into this shelter. The excuse varies, but I’ve heard enough. It’s because the Elites are dead, isn’t it?”

Jax tried to say something, but the guard pressed on, “I’m sorry,” he didn’t sound like he was sorry, “but I can’t let anyone else in here.”

“What?” all five of them exclaimed.

“But we’re kids!” Takeshi jumped forward, “Have some sympathy for us, will you? We’ve been on the run for hours now! We’re freaking tracking radiation into this place! We’ll wash it off, I promise! At least let us stay here for a couple of days!”

“Please!” Celine added pleadingly.

“I’m really sorry, kids.” the guard’s features soften, “If you really need help, get off of this planet. I know someone who can help you.”

They leaned in closer and Bianca sighed in relief.

“There’s a guy who’s dealing with a couple of trades with the neighboring planet. He has a ship and can take you there. He’s a nice guy, so I’m sure he’ll be willing to help. His name is Maxwell Black. If you keep going towards the mountain that looks like a dog’s head, you’ll get to his launching and landing site. He usually goes back every week, so you’ll be able to catch him soon. You’ll get their in two days or so.” he said.

“Two days?” Jax groaned.

“I… I guess I can…” the guard looked behind his shoulder quickly before pulling out a bag from under the control panel and shoving it into Jax’s hand, “There’s food, water, and medical supplies in there.”

“Why don’t you try to leave too?” Kirishima asked.

“No.” the man shook his head, “I’d rather die knowing I did everything I could to defend what’s left of humanity. You kids have a better chance of getting a new life than me.” Bianca felt a lurch in her chest. The words sounded so similar to what her parents told her before they kicked her out. “Now go! Before anyone sees you.”

“Thanks again, man.” Jax nodded, “Thanks a lot.”

The guard nodded before shutting the door behind them. The air was dry and hot, but Bianca felt a new sense of hope.

“Come on, guys.” Jax took the Cruiser from Celine and activated it, “We can’t waste any time.”

---

The first night outside was really cold, but they were able to see a bunch of stars and both moons high in the night sky. It was beautiful, and a very rare sight to see. Usually they were always forbidden to go outside after sunset, so Bianca has never seen a night sky other than through a glass window.

It was breathtaking. The stars were blazing brightly and both moons created enough light to guide them to their destination, but Jax didn’t want to take any risks, so here they were, under the stars.

Celine and Takeshi were both asleep, so only the three of were awake. They didn’t want to light a fire just in case there were still some enhanced patrolling the area. Bianca felt vulnerable but relaxed.

“Once we get to this new planet,” Jax finally broke the silence with a slight whisper, “what are you guys planning to do? We didn’t plan to get off of his planet.”

“Maybe we can get set up for adoption or something.” Kirishima murmured.

“No.” Bianca shook her head, “I’m going to find a job and get to work. You guys are welcome to join me if you want.”

“I think that’s a good idea.” Jax sighed and lay down on his back, staring up at the night sky, “But work there is different. You may need more than just your ID. They must have background checks or something.”

“We can just say we come from this planet.” Bianca shrugged. Surely the people there knew about this place.

But if they knew about this place and what had been going on for the past several years, why haven’t they lifted a finger to help?

Unless if they were on the enhanced side?

“I… guys, I don’t think going to the next planet’s a good idea.” Bianca frowned.

“Why not?” Jax asked.

“Well, say that the people on that planet knew about us. Wouldn’t they be aware of the fact that we’ve been fighting a war that’s been lasting for ages? If they didn’t help us one bit, doesn’t that mean that they’re on the Enhanced’s sides?”

“Or it could be a completely different race.” Kirishima offered, “A different race that doesn’t want any trouble.”

“That still doesn’t make it any better.” Bianca clutched her head and curled into a ball, “Oh my god…” she groaned, “what if they’re on the enhanced’s side? What then? We’ll be dead for sure!”

“We’ll get some information out of the guy.” Jax scratched the dirt, “If he’s nice enough to let us onto his ship, I’m sure he’s nice enough to tell us who exactly we’re dealing with.”

Kirishima looked up into the night sky, “I’ll take first watch.” he volunteered.

“You sure?” Bianca asked. She had the most experience with fighting and handling weapons, “I’m a soldier, don’t you think–”

“He’ll be fine.” Jax threw an arm over his eyes and relaxed, “He’s smart. He can find a way if worse comes to worst.” he was snoring after a couple of moments.

Kirishima gave her a reassuring smile, “I’ll be fine.” he said quietly, “Get some sleep. I’ve spent nights up studying.”

“Seriously?” she gaped as she lay down.

“Yep. But don’t worry. I did it because I wanted to.” he said.

“Well… goodnight, then. And if there’s anything weird, wake me up, alright?”

“I will.” Kirishima nodded.

---

Bianca didn’t sleep well, but she managed to get some sleep a couple of hours before dawn. She woke up just in time to see the sunrise. Kirishima looked a bit sleepy, but he smiled at her when she got up.

“Morning.” he nodded.

“Hey.” Bianca looked at Jax (who was snoring away with the two kids) and blinked, “He’s still sleeping?”

“Let him be.” Kirishima shook his head, “Meanwhile, we need breakfast.” he pulled out some food from the bag and tossed some to her.

“I wonder if they have different foods and dishes on the other planet?” Bianca asked to no one in particular.

“Well, it may be an entirely different culture, so yes.” Kirishima shrugged, “I hope it’s edible to us, though.”

“Who’s edible to us?” Jax muttered and blinked open his eyes.

“And the young master’s finally awake!” Kirishima shoved a piece of bread towards Jax, “Eat.”

“Isn’t there any fruit?” he muttered.

“Stop complaining. Eat.” Kirishima said, “You need your strength if you’re going to bargain with the trader.”

“Oh, so I’m doing that?” Jax said, his words were slurred. Just how tired was he, anyways? Bianca asked herself.

“Yes.” Kirishima sensed Bianca’s unvoiced question and chuckled, “He’s not exactly your typical morning person.” he explained.

“Ah, I see.” Bianca nodded.

Jax muttered something under his breath before swallowing the bread and standing up, “Oi, get up.” he nudged Celine with his foot, “We’re leaving soon.”

“Huh?” she mumbled groggily, “Five more minutes…” she muttered.

“Takeshi, wake up.” Kirishima leaned over and shook his brother’s shoulder.

“Mm… okay, okay.” the boy yawned and sat up slowly, “What time is it?”

“The sun’s already rose.” Kirishima gathered up some of the belongings and put them in his bag, “You have fifteen minutes, Takeshi.”

“Fine.” Takeshi ate some food before getting up and stretching, “So… how long have you guys been awake?”

“Not for long.” Jax lied.

“Uh huh.” Kirishima nodded skeptically then turned to Takeshi, “Get your things. We’re leaving soon.”

Bianca got up and dusted her hands before getting out her Hover Blades and putting them on, “Alright, we should be able to get there before nightfall if we hurry.”

---

She was right. They managed to arrive at a loading dock with a cargo ship ready to go. There was a man in the front frowning at a screen while droids around him moved all the cargo into the ship. When he looked up and saw them, he immediately pulled out a gun and pointed it at them.

“Who are you?” his voice quivered. The man was in his mid thirties. His clothes were simple and covered in dust, and his brown hair was messy.

“We’re not here to raid you or anything.” Jax said, holding his hands up in a peaceful manner, “We’re just here to ask you a couple of things.”

“I heard an explosion a while back. Are you the survivors from the explosion?” he asked, but he didn’t put his weapon down.

“Sort of.” Jax shrugged, “We mean you no harm, seriously.”

“Where do you kids come from?” he asked.

“We’re from Shelter 17. Our Elites were killed in the explosion, and we tried to go to the next shelter, but they didn’t let us in because they had too many newcomers. The guard was nice enough to point us in the right direction. We’re not here to ask you to adopt us. We’re just asking a ride to the next planet.”

The man’s face darkened, “Why?” he asked, his tone held suspicion.

“Because we have nowhere else to go. The nearest shelter–”

“Show me your arms.” he interrupted.

Bianca pulled up her sleeve and showed it to the man. He relaxed a bit when he saw no red light flashing through her flesh.

“Why?” Kirishima asked, even when Bianca did it.

“It’s how we tell if a person’s an Enhanced or an ordinary person…” Or a failed experiment. At least, that’s what the woman called herself.

Celine obeyed and showed him her forearm, followed by Takeshi, Jax, then Kirishima. The man showed them his forearms in return.

“Okay, you’re not Enhanced.” the man nodded and put his gun down, “But that doesn’t explain why you’re out here. It’s dangerous out here.”

“We know.” Bianca nodded, “But our Shelter’s turned chaotic ever since the death of the Elites. Our… my parents,” she corrected herself, “wanted me to get a better life for myself.”

“We left because we have siblings to take care of.” Kirishima put a protective hand on Takeshi’s shoulder. “We didn’t want them to be exposed to all the things that were happening in our shelter.”

Celine looked at Jax like she couldn’t believe that was actually his intention, but he was too busy focusing on reading the man’s expression.

“Huh. And here I thought siblings always fought.” he scratched the back of his neck, “Eh, I guess you guys can hitch a ride. This’ll be my last time going there anyways.” he added the last part to himself before looking at them, “What’re your names, kids?”

They introduced themselves and the man introduced himself as Julius Valdez.

“Get on the ship. We’ll be taking off after the sun goes down.” he shielded his eyes from the setting sun.

“Right. Thanks again!” Jax gave him a thumbs up before boarding the ship.

Most of the ship was cargo in metal containers, but they managed to squeeze in between the containers and settle down comfortably.

“Where are we going, anyways?” Celine asked Julius as he stepped into the ship.

“Earth.”

“Are there aliens on Earth?” Takeshi asked.

Julius frowned, “No.” he said, “It’s humanity’s home planet.”

“Huh?” Bianca blinked. The other four seemed just as surprised as she was.

“You didn’t know?” Julius exclaimed, “Every person knows that Earth is the home planet to humanity!”

“N… no, we weren’t taught any of this stuff.” Bianca breathed. So there was an entire planet populated by humans that they never knew about? Was it safe there? Did they know about their war with the Enhanced? If Earth was humanity’s home planet, how did they come to settle on this planet?

“Do you guys even know where this is?” he pointed at the ground, which Bianca assumed meant this planet.

They looked at each other and shook their heads.

Julius gaped, “You kids… you poor kids… so you grew up believing you were the last of humanity fighting for survival?”

They nodded slowly. They’ve always thought that they were the last ones. They thought that their planet had once been populated with humans, but because of the Enhanced, they were almost wiped into extinction.

“Oh my god…” Julius sat down on a metal crate and rubbed his temples, “It must’ve been horrible. I can only imagine what it felt like to feel the fear and the resentment.” he murmured before straightening, “Earth is the home planet of humanity.” he repeated, “You guys will see cities.”

“Cities?” Celine asked, “What’s that?”

Julius gave her a small smile, “Cities are places filled with people and skyscrapers–”

“What are skyscrapers?” Takeshi leaned forward, eager to learn more. Bianca was interested as well.

“Skyscrapers are huge buildings that reach the sky.” he reached up with his hand, “Cities are filled with them. And there are parks where children play. Apartments where families live in.”

“Apartments?” Bianca echoed. She knew what they were, but surely if they had skyscrapers, they wouldn’t need shelters like the ones back home?

“Yes. Usually they’re buildings around three to five floors. There are markets and squares where tourists and people can visit–”

“Whoa, whoa! Hold up, chief!” Jax held up his hands to stop him, “Tourists? Visit? I’m sorry, but you’ve totally lost me. Why would they want to visit each other’s homes? And markets? Isn’t that where people buy and trade stuff or something.”

“Oh, no. No, it’s much more than that!” he chuckled, “By markets and squares, I mean restaurants, world famous landmarks, museums, shops…” he faltered when he saw their confused and awed gazes. “You really have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

They shook their heads.

“What are restaurants?” Kirishima said, frowning, “And… landmarks? Marks on the land?”

“No. Restaurants are places where people go eat–”

“So… cafeterias?” Takeshi asked.

“No, not cafeterias. Those are usually in malls–”

“What are malls?” Celine inquired.

“A building filled with shops, arcades… you know, fun things. People, usually teenagers, go hang out there.” Julius said.

“Fun things?” Celine and Takeshi both sounded excited.

“So, like what? Video games?” Jax asked.

“Yes, those are what arcades are for.”

“So you can go inside and play all the video games you want?” Takeshi asked, but Kirishima frowned.

“Takeshi, you can’t play video games all day.”

“Well, you can. If you have enough money. But I don’t suggest you do that. The games, particularly the claw machine–”

“The claw what now?” Celine blinked.

“Claw machines are machines that you throw coins in and you can control the claw on top to a certain position, then you can release it. And if you’re lucky, you’ll get a prize.”

“Wow!” Celine shook Jax’s arm, “Can we go to one of those? Please?”

“Hell, yeah I’m doing those!” Jax grinned and cracked his knuckles.

“I should warn you that they aren’t easy–”

“Don’t underestimate my abilities!” he said and pointed an accusing finger at Julius.

“Mr. Valdez, you said something about shops. What exactly are those…?” Bianca spoke up.

“Shops are filled with very interesting things that you can buy. Usually, if it’s near a famous landmark or place… here, let me put it this way. You’ve heard of the Eiffel Tower, yes?”

“No.” they all shook their heads.

“Of course you wouldn’t have. You’re not from France.” Bianca didn’t know what France was, but she nodded as he continued, “The Eiffel Tower is a famous landmark–”

“Sir?” Kirishima raised his hand, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but what exactly is a landmark?”

“A landmark is a very famous place or building. Usually, it’s a building. Whenever people here about the Eiffel Tower, they think of Paris, which is a city in France.”

“So is it like a watch tower or something? What its defenses? Are there guards watching constantly?” Bianca asked. If it was famous, it had to have a very strong defensive system, right?

“It’s not a watch tower, Bianca.” Julius said, “It’s… just a tower. There’s a restaurant in it, though. Here, I’ll show you.” he took out a tablet and showed them a picture. The tower looked very weird.

“That’s a bit unusual looking.” Celine commented, “Why is most of it empty? Why is it pointy on the top? Is there a radar there or something?”

“Not everything on Earth is military themed, Celine.” Julius said patiently and put the tablet aside, “The Eiffel Tower is usually what we think when someone mentions Paris. A lot of people know about it. I don’t exactly know why it’s so famous, though.”

“Maybe because it looks weird?” Jax offered.

“If you think that looks weird, you should see the Sydney Opera House. Or the Leaning Tower of Pisa.” he showed them a picture of a leaning tower. It was literally leaning to one side and looked like it was going to collapse at any time.

“What the–?” Kirishima frowned, “Why is it tilted?”

“Because the soil underneath was unstable and the tower sunk to one side.”

“And they still let people inside? Isn’t that a danger hazard or something?” Takeshi exclaimed.

“No, no. It’s perfectly safe, I assure you.”

They spent the entire length of the trip talking about Earth and asking questions every time Julius brought up something new. And Bianca realized time and time again that she still had so much to learn about humanity’s real home.

A New World

“Holy crap!” Aleksei was pressing her entire face against the glass and her cheek was all squished up, “That looks so cool! Look at that planet’s size! Isn’t that amazing? Keith, Jasperez, look!” she tapped at the glass.

“We know!” Jasperez sighed, “You’ve been at it for thirty minutes now.”

“But it’s so big! And look! There’s a moon!” she pointed at something orbiting the planet.

So, basically, the woman convinced them to come visit the planet Earth. After Keith got permission from his parents (and they were very excited about him going to a universe class school), they packed their things and left. But that didn’t make Jasperez relax, even when everyone on board was laughing and having conversations like this was the most normal thing that ever happened to them.

“But look! Hey, what’s that thing over there?” she pointed at a line that crossed through one of the bigger continents.

“That, my dear, is the Great Wall of China.”

“The Great Wall of who, now?” Aleksei turned around to face the woman.

“It’s one of the greatest monuments in the history of mankind. And the only man-made monument you can see from space.”

“Oh, that is SO COOL!” she squealed and clapped her hands, “When can we go see it?”

“Aleksei, you know why we’re here, right?” Keith said, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh sure.” she waved him off, “But anyways! What else is there to see? Are there labs? I want to go to a library! What’s the history? I didn’t know humanity had a second home planet!”

The woman laughed, “Aleksei, you are one curious young lady, aren’t you?”

“Sure thing! Glad you noticed!” she gave her a thumbs up.

“Well… I guess you have some time before the orientation. I believe I can arrange a global trip for you.”

“Aw, really? Gee thanks!” she grinned and the woman left. “Isn’t this amazing? We’re becoming students! Let’s go shop for school supplies!”

“Aleksei, are you the only one who thinks this is weird?” Keith asked, “I mean, why would a random woman just walk up to us and ask if we want to join a Universe class school that’s on the other side of the galaxy?”

“When an opportunity presents itself, take it!” she declared.

“But you should be more concerned about your own safety first, Alex.” Jasperez said quietly.

“Life without risks is no life at all!” she said in her “declaration” voice again.

“Okay, fine… but we’re leaving at the first sign of any trouble.” Keith said before slumping down in his seat and propping up his pillow.

“You’re napping at this hour? Right before we land? Hey, lady!” Aleksei yelled at one of the women who were serving a group of young adults some drinks, “Where are we landing?”

“A place called San Francisco. It’s by the sea, and there’s a famous bridge called the Golden Gate Bridge. You’ll be able to see it once we land.” she nodded and left.

“Golden Gate Bridge?” she breathed, “I bet it’s completely made of gold! Why else would they call it the Golden Gate Bridge?”

---

“Are you serious? That’s the Golden Gate Bridge? But it’s not made of gold!” Aleksei whined and pointed at a red bridge.

It was a huge red bridge that stretched out from the mainland to an island. Most of it was covered with fog (and it was very cold), but they were able to see the bottom of the bridge.

“I don’t think it was called the Golden Gate Bridge because it was going to be made of gold, Aleksei.” Keith shook his head.

“We’ll be staying at the Hyatt Regency.” the woman smiled and led them to a hover craft waiting for them.

“Huh, I wonder if they have a lab. Maybe I can make a communication device that can reach Equira!” Aleksei jumped up and down, her two suitcases on both sides.

“Aleksei, come on.” Jasperez motioned for her to follow him.

“Coming!” she picked her suitcases up and ran to the hover craft.

The city looked gloomy, but maybe it was because of the fog. There were really tall towers and buildings and the entire place was populated with people. The Golden Gate Bridge looked pretty old compared to the other buildings, especially when compared to the inner parts of the city, where all the technology was.

The Hyatt Regency was a five star hotel, apparently. And they didn’t have a lab. But Aleksei just laughed it off and went into her room. The first thing she did was throw her suitcases aside and jump onto the bed.

“We’re leaving for the school in two days. In the meantime, rest well and do some sight seeing.” the school representative said and left them alone.

Aleksei grabbed a card from the table, “They have room service?” she shrieked.

Jasperez (who’s never been in a hotel before) frowned, “What’s room service?”

But she was already calling the lobby, “Hello? Yeah, hi! I’m calling from room 963. I would like to order room service… yeah–”

“Aleksei, what are you doing?” Keith grabbed the phone, “I’m sorry, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” and hung up.

She gaped, “W-what? I was hungry!” she whined.

“We’re not getting room service.” Keith snapped.

Jasperez still didn’t know what room service was, but he just shrugged it off and asked, “So, what do you guys want to do?”

“Sightseeing!” Aleksei declared and started for the door, but Jasperez grabbed her before she can open it.

“I know you’re full of energy–”

“Are you kidding? I’m OVERFLOWING with energy, boy!” she jumped three feet into the air to prove her point.

“Yes, we got that part.” Keith nodded, “But, Aleksei, the sun is setting. Maybe we should focus on getting used to the time difference instead.”

“You mean sleep?” she groaned, “Bo-oring!” she stuck out her tongue.

“That’s exactly what I suggest we do.” Keith said, “I’ve been to diplomatic meetings before in different planets and I know that getting used to the time difference is very handy.”

“But… argh…” she scratched her head in frustration and crashed down onto the armchair, “So what? Are we just going to sit here?”

“I think Keith and I should go to our room.” Jasperez suggested.

“And go to our room we shall.” Keith turned around, “Jasperez, let’s go.”

“What? No! Don’t leave me here!” she pretended to choke and grappled for the night stand.

But Keith sighed, “If you need us, we’ll be in the other room.” he said calmly, “Just give us a knock.”

“Help!” she gagged.

They shut the door behind them and entered their room.

It was identical to Aleksei’s. There were two beds, one bed stand in between the two, an armchair beside the bed closest to the window, dark green curtains, a desk and a chair, a built in screen so they can watch stuff, and a closet. The bathroom was average sized.

“I’m going to sleep. If anything happens, wake me up.” Keith said before getting into bed and turning so he was facing the curtains.

Jasperez sat down on his bed. He’s never been to a hotel before. Actually, he’s never even left his hometown before either. Not until the Hover Blade competition.

For the past two weeks or so, he’s learned that the universe was much bigger when you were actually experiencing it to the fullest. He knew that there was so much more to learn, but all that he’s seen in the past couple of days has given him more experience than he would’ve ever gained in a lifetime had to stayed with his parents instead of coming out here with his friends.

Friends… He thought to himself, thinking back on the warm feeling that he felt when he was eating with Keith’s family. Never in a thousand years would he ever have thought he could’ve made two friends had he stayed with is parents.

I shouldn’t go back. Jasperez thought. They did nothing for me… except maybe teach me the hover blades. But they never loved me like real parents. I was nothing but a tool to them. As much as I want them to love me, I have to face reality. He looked up at the ceiling. I can’t live in a fantasy anymore. This is life, and life can be cruel. 

Thinking back on his old life made Jasperez sad. If I continue living in a fantasy, I’ll yearn to be accepted by my parents until the day I die. That’s torture. Not the pain they inflicted upon me. No, that pain is nothing if they meant well. The pain… it’s because I wanted to be loved. I wanted to be loved so badly… to finally be a part of the family… I wanted us to be a family. I wanted to come home every day and find my mother preparing dinner, and my father encouraging me to get a girlfriend soon. A normal family. A tear started trickling down his face. I wanted to be a son, not a tool. But that’s the sad reality. I had to face it someday… it might as well be today.

He lay down on his back and stared up at the ceiling. He fell asleep after a couple of minutes of solitude.

---

“RISE N SHINE, BOYS!” someone kicked open their door and yanked the blankets from their beds.

“Aleksei?” Keith muttered.

“What are you…” Jasperez yawned and stretched, “… doing here?”

“We’re going sightseeing, people! So get out of bed, get dressed, brush your teeth, pack your bags, eat your breakfast, and we’re off!” she shoved their clothes into their arms, “Go! Go! Get dressed! Hurry! We don’t want to miss the shuttle!”

“I thought we’re supposed to go see the school today?” Jasperez asked.

“Nah.” she waved her hand dismissively, “Remember what the lady said? We’ll be in San Fran-something for two or three days to rest up. Come on! This is a golden, one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see humanity’s home planet!” she practically jumped five feet in the air, and Jasperez felt bad for the people downstairs.

“And where, do you suppose, can we go?” Keith slid off the bed, “We know next to nothing about this city.”

“Well, I went downstairs and got a brochure. A good old fashioned brochure.” she presented it proudly like it was a medal and started reading off of it, “Ooh! There’s a Chinatown! What’s a Chinatown?” she looked at them, expecting them to know.

They shrugged and shook their heads.

“We should go check it out. It looks so cool.” she let them see. There were pictures of a type of… food. And red lanterns hanging from the buildings. The structure of the houses were also very different. It looked similar to some of the houses back on Equira, and they were often the home of residents that looked different than Jasperez and Aleksei. They all had black hair and brown eyes.

“Hm, what else? Oh! We can go to the warf and go to the beach or something!” she said.

Jasperez glanced at the cloudy sky outside, “Uh, I don’t think that’s the greatest idea right now. Maybe tomorrow. Let’s go check out Chinatown first.”

“Wait, how about the Red Gate Bridge?” Aleksei pointed at a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge.

“It’s called the Golden Gate Bridge, Aleksei.” Keith said.

“But it’s not golden! Why call it golden if it’s not gold?” she waved her arms around.

“Maybe there’s a story behind it?” Keith tilted his head, “Have you ever considered that?”

“Oh yeah!” her face lit up, “We should go ask the people! They’re bound to know something, right?”

“Right, so where do we want to go?”

“First, I wanna go take a selfie with the red–I mean, Golden Gate Bridge!” she said, “Come on, guys! Hurry!”

---

The Golden Gate Bridge was bigger than they imagined. And they weren’t the only ones there. Tourists gathered around the bridge to take photos and selfies.

Jasperez and Keith then went to eat something called crab (which was apparently a type of “seafood” as they called it). While Aleksei asked the information guy a bunch of questions. After ten minutes or so, she ran back to them.

“Guys, guys! Did you know that we’re in a state called California? And it’s one of fifty states? And all those states are called the United States of America? North America’s a continent, and below it is South America! And Across the sea is another continent called Asia! And in Asia, there are countries like China! I bet that’s where Chinatown comes from! And California’s known as the golden state! They said that there used to be a bunch of gold mines here, and there still are. If we’re lucky, we could go pan for gold! Not that I know what that means, but it sounds fun! And also, six hours away from here, is a place called Disneyland and Hollywood and Los Angeles! Apparently, Disney is a super mega famous guy who created cartoons and animations. The guy said we’re bound to see Disney products everywhere. God, there’s so much to see! The Golden Gate Bridge is a world famous place and a bunch of people come here every year! And it’s called the Golden Gate Bridge because it was the gate to the golden state! How cool is that? People used to come from all over the world just to mine for gold! Now, that’s what I call history! America only has a history of around 1500 years or so, though. But I heard that China, the country across the sea, has a history of at least over 4500 years! That’s epic, isn’t it? A-and, there’s also a continent called Europe, and that’s where all these cool things called swords and shields come from! I thought using a single metal blade was just legend! Turns out it’s actually real! God, imagine how heavy that would be! Can you imagine–”

“Aleksei.” Keith cut in sharply.

“Yeah?” she smiled sheepishly.

“We know you’re enthusiastic and all, and this history sounds very fascinating, but you can tell us once we’re back in the hotel. I plan to walk a bit here. Plus, I don’t think people here have ever seen a Tridarian before.”

“Well, according to the lady back at the hotel, humans here don’t really know about us. We kinda broke away from the rest of humanity 700 years ago, so… yeah. But I guess we’re here because we want to make… amends?” she shrugged.

Keith turned, “Let’s go.”

“Aw, come on! she sighed, “Why can’t I sound smart for once?”

“You’re pretty smart, Aleksei.” Jasperez said.

“Thanks.” she draped an arm over his shoulders and laughed.

They walked around San Francisco, and Aleksei got a bunch of souvenirs. And she discovered something called “anime” and “manga”, which was apparently something from an island called Japan, which was off the coast of Russia and Korea, which were both Asian countries.

“LOOK!” Aleksei picked up a small “plush” that looked very weird… actually, Jasperez found all anime weird. Their eyes and mouths and noses were disproportionate, and it was animated very differently from other cartoons he saw on his way here.

“What is that?” Keith poked the plush.

“It’s a… To-to-ro.” she read the card at the bottom of the plush, then shrugged, “I don’t know! But it’s so cute!” she squealed and hugged it tightly, “Can I get it? Please, please, please, please?” she begged them.

“It’s your money, you know.” Jasperez pointed out.

“Oh yeah!” her face brightened up, then she frowned, “Wait, no. I want to see the other things first.” she put the Totoro back and ran to the rack full of anime themed clothes.

Keith sighed, “I’ll be outside if anyone needs me.” and he left without another word.

Jasperez watched as his friend went from shelf to shelf, case to case, trying to decide what to get. After five solid minutes, she finally decided on a key chain and a special edition of Mobile Suit Gundam, which was (according to Aleksei) a very old manga.

“Aleksei, how much did you pay for that?” Jasperez sensed that it was not a cheap manga.

“Dunno.” she shrugged, “It was in a glass case, though. But when I asked the guy behind the counter what type of manga or anime would I enjoy reading or watching. I said that I enjoyed machinery and cyborgs. That kind of stuff, you know? And he suggested this: Mobile Suit Gundam series. This special edition is on paper!” she took it out from her metal case and waved an old fashioned book in front of his face, “It’s volume 1. He said if I wanted to continue reading the series, I just have to go to their website and download the entire thing. If I create an account on Otaku-Life, which is a website full of anime stuff, I could read a lot of stuff for free!” she grinned, “Isn’t that cool?”

“Yeah, but Aleksei. You know that you have to watch for…” he lowered his voice, “scams, you know?”

“Yeah, I’m well aware of that, genius.” she said, nodding, “Come on! Let’s go to Chinatown now!”

Chinatown was a like entering a whole new world. The language spoke there was different, and the food was something on a whole new level. Keith actually enjoyed it. His favorite was something called the dumpling. And not just any dumpling. The trio have each tried at least five different types of dumplings (even the vegetarian ones), and Keith openly declared that his favorite was the one with the soup in it. Jasperez couldn’t deny that it was really good as well, and Aleksei was too busy stuffing her face to even give them a score.

“I can practically stay here forever!” Aleksei laughed and swallowed her fifteenth dumpling in a row.

“Aleksei, do you ever stop eating?” Keith frowned.

“Not if this is what I’m eating!” she grinned and asked the guy who was cooking another bowl of pork and rice. “Thanks, man!” she gave him a thumbs up and turned back towards them.

“Aleksei, this is getting a bit too out of hand.” Jasperez tried to say, but she interrupted him.

“We’re not going to be here for long, so might as well stock up!” she said and smiled once the man set the bowl down in front of her, “Thank you!” she started digging in.

Keith put down his “chopsticks” (apparently they didn’t use forks or knives. They used these two wooden sticks called chopsticks, but sometimes they would come with a spoon as well). “Aleksei–” he started saying.

“You guys want some… tofu?” she asked as she scanned the menu.

“What the heck, Aleksei?” Jasperez exclaimed, “Our stomachs feel like they’re about to explode! And here you are, asking if we want some… what are they called again?”

“Tofu. Yeah, I’m getting some. They look good.”

“No, you’re not.” Keith slapped her half raised hand, “You’re going to get a stomachache, and I don’t want you coming to our room groaning and bothering us in the middle of the night.”

“I promise I won’t.” she finished the last of her rice and leaned against the wall, “Now this is what I call life… any of you guys have money? I think I spent all of mine.”

---

Aleksei also got a wooden katana after they visited Japantown, and she got them all lucky charms, saying that it’s an important occasion and they must get some kind of souvenir. 

Then they wrapped up the day by visiting Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum, and she was both freaked and weirded out by the displays.

“Whoa! That’s so cool! Their necks! Yikes! How can they stand that?” she pointed at a glass case containing a mannequin of a woman with 23 brass rings around her neck.

“I don’t know.” Keith looked slightly disturbed, and Jasperez was just plain confused. Not science nor logic explained any of this. Earth was truly a weird place.

“Whoa! Look at that!” she ran to a statue that depicted a little girl crouching on the ground with her teeth bared, “This girl was raised by wolves until she was nine! How crazy is that?” she laughed, “I love this place! I totally fit in!”

“Uh… no, you don’t.” Jasperez said. If Aleksei was a display in this museum, it’ll be something like this.

Believe It or Not, this young lady, Aleksei Night, had so much energy that she was able to power the entire world’s worth of electronics. They connected her to the world wide electric system and she was able to power the entire planet as long as she had enough to eat. Her stomach may look like an ordinary human’s stomach, but the amount of food she consumed per day was enough to feed fifteen families for the entire year. She was called: The Electric Girl.

He smiled at the thought.

“Keith! Keith! Look!” she pulled him towards a small display of a two headed snake, “Isn’t that cool? That’s so wicked!”

“Great.” Keith didn’t sound too excited. In fact, he sounded very disturbed and kind of weirded out.

“Geez, you’re no fun. Jasperez, come on!” she ran over to him instead and dragged him to the next room.

---

“Hey guys!” Aleksei knocked on their door at 7:00 in the morning.

“Now what?” Keith snapped and yanked open the door.

She was smiling, “Let’s do an Escape Room!”

“A what now?” Jasperez slid off of his bed.

“It’s a series of rooms that you have to escape from.” she said, “It’s like we’re secret agents that were captured and now we need to get out!”

“Aleksei, we’re not doing an Escape Room.” Keith growled.

“Why not?”

“BECAUSE WE SPENT ALL OUR MONEY YESTERDAY!” he exploded.

But Aleksei wasn’t fazed by his frustration. Instead, she giggled, “So you can get angry. Oh well, I guess I’m doing it myself.”

“No, you’re not.” he grabbed her wrist, “Aleksei, we are NOT doing anything fun. We are NOT going to do an Escape Room. And we most certainly are NOT going to spend any money today.”

“Has anyone told you that you have a really weird bedhead?” she pointed at his tousled up hair.

He let out a groan of frustration and threw up his arms, “I give up.” he muttered and crashed onto his bed.

“Great! Cuz we’re going to an Escape Room!” she picked up their backpacks, “Hey, Jasperez, come on.”

“Uh, Aleksei, I don’t know if–”

“Dude, just get out!” she shoved him out of the room, “I’ll be right back.” and closed the door.

A few moments later, Keith came out, all dressed and ready to go. And Aleksei was grinning beside him.

“Aleksei, what did you–”

“Don’t ask.” Keith grumbled.

“Alright, my men! Onward!” she pointed dramatically at the elevator.

---

The Escape Room turned out to be quite fun. Aleksei suggested picking the lock or hacking the system, but Keith pointed out that that was cheating, so they did it the long way. And they got out within the time limit… barely, though.

“That was fun! Wasn’t that fun?” she slung her arms around their shoulders and laughed.

“Yes, it was.” Jasperez nodded.

“Haha! What about you, Keith?” she looked at him.

Keith turned away, “It… it was alright.” he admitted.

“See?” she ruffled his red hair, “I told you it’ll be fun!” 

Having Aleksei around was like having a crazy angel as your friend. She gave off a warm, cheerful, and energetic aura. It was like the sun, but more… pop. She was the type of person who would overwhelm a person with her energy and smiles, but it was a nice type of overwhelming. Like when someone gets overwhelmed by birthday gifts or something. 

They stopped at a cafe to get something to drink. Aleksei got something called Boba Tea, Jasperez got a mango smoothie, and Keith was about to get water, but Aleksei forced him to try something called Sprite. He took one sip and choked.

“This thing… burns.” he rasped.

“Really?” Aleksei tried it and coughed, “Oh my god, you’re right… but it’s good!” she smiled, “I think you’ll get used to it.” and gave it back to him

The people who were hanging out in the cafe were all around their age. They talked about things called celebrities and music. Jasperez (who’s never been exposed to the outside world until a couple of weeks ago) found himself listening to the other people converse, trying to learn more about this world.

“Oh my god.” a couple of voices behind them said.

The trio turned around and found four girls giggling and looking at Keith. “Is your hair naturally red?”

Keith’s face was expressionless, “Yes, it is.” he said.

“That is so cool.” one of them said.

“I know, right?” Aleksei joined the conversation.

The four girls took one look at her and their friendliness melted away.

“Who are you?” one of them asked pointedly. 

“Name’s Aleksei.” she said, “Pleased to meet y’all.”

Jasperez sensed that the girls weren’t really happy with Aleksei. He didn’t know why, though, She didn’t do anything wrong… maybe they were just startled?

“Great.” another said, she didn’t sound happy and turned back to Ketih, “Anyways, there is a nightclub–”

“No, thank you.” Keith said.

They blinked.

“I would rather spend time with my friends.” he said, but not in a mean way.

“You can make new ones.” one said, still smiling.

“Yeah, Keith.” Aleksei said encouragingly, “Come on, you need to be more social.”

“He wasn’t asking you.” a girl snapped.

“I like to think of myself as a counselor sometimes.” Aleksei shrugged, “No one asks for a counselor’s opinion, but sometimes it’s necessary.”

“Well, your opinion isn’t needed at the moment.” they said.

Keith stood up abruptly, “We’re leaving.” he said, his voice cold. “I’m not going to associate with anyone who trash talks my friend.”

---

“Keith… ” Aleksei started saying once they got back to the hotel.

“What?” he said.

She smiled at him, but it was more of a kind smile than an energetic or cheerful grin. “It’s okay if people trash talk about me. It doesn’t get to me.”

“Well, it gets to me.” Keith grumbled.

Jasperez nodded, “Same here.” but he didn’t feel anger when the girls snapped at Aleksei. He felt nervous instead. 

“Well, don’t lose your temper next time.” Aleksei started bouncing like an excited child (not that she wasn’t already one). “I can take care of myself!” and then she was back to her old self again, “Alright, let’s go! I bought some popcorn and soda…” she pulled out a bag of popcorn and chips.

“What the–where did you get that?” Jasperez yelped.

“I have my sources!” she ran into the elevator, “Alright, we’re binge watching Cartoon Network and Disney Channel and abc channel until we die!”

“What’s binge watch?” Keith muttered to himself.

“What’s Cartoon Network?” Jasperez asked out loud.

“It’s the best thing humans have invented since Chinese food.” she grinned, “I can promise you that!”

---

Uncovering Secrets

“So… that’s America?” Kaelis asked and pointed at a huge red bridge.

“San Francisco. But yeah, it’s a part of America.” Nathan nodded.

They’ve been on the train for 2 hours, but it was anything but boring. There were aquatic cities and underwater empires, so they were able to admire the beauty of the ocean. It was beautiful, and Jett wished he could’ve lived there. 

When they were 15 minutes away from San Francisco, they emerged from the ocean and onto the surface of the sea. San Francisco was a pretty gloomy looking place, but the city itself was impressive. There was a huge bridge