Chapter 1

"Alexiel! Alexiel!! Over here!"

Under the blue leaf ash oak tree, a young red haired, tightly curled, boy with a half veil covering the right side of his head waved his arm about, trying to get his friend's attention.

"Tristan, hehe, you're shouting so early in the morning. Everyones looking!"

Picking up his pace Alexiel hurried over to his comrade. 

Realizing the implications Tristan shrunk in on himself with great haste, going as far as to try and recede into the tree itself.

Alexiel couldn't help but smile at this shy friend of his.

"Don't worry, before the end of the night everything will change! 

Then you won't have to listen to useless chatter. Even more so the semester ends in another month or so. 

We'll be free of the 8th grade, things will be much easier for us this summer!"

Alex hugged his friend one sidedly, throwing his arm over his shoulder, mindful of the bulky gauntlets strapped to his wrists. He got close to his ear so that others wouldn't catch their whispers.

"By noon everything will be ready for tonight. What did you tell your parents?" 

Tristan's entire body went stiff for a moment. Then he let out a soft breath before replying. 

"It's Friday, my parents left last night. Dad has a company function that he and my mom are both observing for the weekend. 

If my sister doesn't invite her boyfriend over she'll be out of the house all evening.

No one will be looking for me after school so we are in the clear… at least for tonight."

A huge grin found its home on Alexiels face! The blood flowing in his veins was clearly picking up speed and his body was getting warm and tingly all over!

"This couldn't have worked out better, no?

When your parents get back from their trip they will be greeted by the face of their adorable son! 

You might even grow a few inches and then you'll be one step closer to being a man Hehehe

By then you can tell them all your deepest grievances and seek justice for your past!"

Hearing his words even Tristan couldn't help but smile a little. He gave a small nod in confirmation and the two started heading towards the school building.

"I'll see you for lunch, I packed extra again so we'll meet out here and go over the plan one more time. 

Just go about today like it's any old regular day and we'll be through it before you know it!" 

Right as they were closing in on the entrance the blaring emergency alarms started to go off! 

Steel shutters immediately began covering all the windows in the school and the teachers keeping watch at the front urged all the students to hurry into the building and head directly to their designated safety zones!

Alexiel, still with his arm thrown over Tristan's shoulder, stopped dead in his tracks!

"Scratch that! Looks like things really can be better! We get to play hooky!" 

He quickly spun around, grabbed Tristan's hand and dragged the young boy away from school grounds! 

"Won't we get in trouble for skipping out like this? They'll still take roll call!"

Tristan, whose only friend was dragging him away from school, was actually a perfect attendance and honor roll student! 

Missing out on school was not something he was fond of doing since the alternative would be staying home with his bully of a sister.

"Don't worry, in situations like this they keep the school in lockdown all day and if it gets lifted early we all get sent home anyway!

It's best we just skip out completely and focus on our own objective. Today is the first day of the rest of your life, remember that!" 

Tristan didn't argue any further and just matched Alexiel's pace, keeping out of everyone's line of sight until they could get to the bus stop.

Even after getting a few blocks from the school the blaring of the alarms didn't lessen. 

In fact emergency vehicles could be seen cruising the streets warning residents to stay inside or even to enter their basements if they had one. 

Whatever was happening it seemed like the entire city was entering into emergency mode.

Zooming overhead a squadron of fighter jets could be seen heading north. 

"Oh wow! Do you think another Kaiju has been spotted off the coast? Do you think they'll make it all the way here?" 

In the eyes of others, besides being a freak, they would say Tristan, is a quiet introverted person. 

Only Alexiel knew this side of him. Tristan was able to sit at the top of their class because he was genuinely curious about everything! 

It's only at the hands of his abusers and bullies that eventually conditioned him into his introverted state. 

He grabbed tightly onto Alexiel's shoulders as they looked at the trails left behind by the jets. 

Was he hoping something big would happen? Something big enough to change this life he's currently suffering through? 

Alexiel reached up and grabbed one of his hands.

"Don't worry too much. We'll head back to my place, let the humans take care of their own problems and we'll deal with ours. 

If in the future you want to participate in something so big it will be with the strength and knowledge you've worked hard to grab for yourself!

Now let's go! If we get caught out here they'll know we've skipped school!"

***

Before long the boys arrived at the outer east side housing where Alexiel and his family stayed. 

Walking through the front door what greeted them was his passed out Mother, and in the dining room his youngest sister could be seen sitting in a daze with her now soggy cereal half finished. 

Alexiel didn't even blink. He just kicked the door shut behind them and headed to where his sister was. 

Tristan took a glance around but hurriedly lowered his head and followed behind closely. Even making sure his veil was still properly fixed in place so as to not cause a fright to the family. 

"How typical. 

Excuse the mess. She's sleeping off her liquid dinner. She'll be up by noon."

Alexiel gestured to his sleeping mother but came in close to his sister, pushed her bowl further into the table and quietly whispered next to her ear. 

"Star, sweetie, wake up. You missed the bus for school again.." 

All at once like she was electrocuted the little girl jumped up!

"AHHH!" 

Breathing heavily, Star patted her chest to calm her racing heart! 

"I was so far away this time!!" 

You could hear the panic in her voice! She hurriedly searched around, most likely looking for her phone that's alarm should have kept her on track!

"Did you leave your phone in the bathroom again? 

Your dissociating episodes have been getting worse. I know it's hard dear but you have to make sure you keep it on you at all times. 

The city is telling everyone to stay in doors so just go and grab it and do some work in your room okay?" 

Teary eyed, the young girl could only nod her head and started heading towards her room. 

Before she entered too far into the hallway Alexiel called out.

"Was it the ocean again?"

Without turning around Star froze in place and was visibly shaking. 

Alexiel could only sigh. 

"I'm sorry, go on then."

With haste, Star disappeared into her room. 

While all this was happening Tristan took in the hominess of the apartment. Although they talked and text a lot, this was his first time seeing his friend's house.

"It's different than I expected? The way you describe your parents' antics I thought it would be more… disastrous. 

It really looks like a normal family home though. Paintings on the walls, plants in the corners, a Tv…"

Alexiel chuckled at Tristans Monolog. 

Not feeling the need to explain, he grabbed a few bottles of water out of the fridge and started heading towards his room. 

His door was the first unique aspect that's popped up so far. 

Alexiel placed his hand on a glowing black pad in the wall and it actually scanned his hand. The gauntlet on his wrist even lit up as well. 

"Okay, maybe I spoke too soon?"

With a solid push the door moved and made the sound of a seal being broken like releasing compressed air. 

"Don't worry the whole apartment is strange, it's just not as easy to notice in the common areas. 

My father paid a lot of money to have the whole place rebuilt from the inside out. 

Even if the building collapsed, the frame of our place may still be fully intact lying among the rubble."

While it seemed like Alexiel was being lighthearted with his comment, his expression seemed a little exasperated. 

Inside the room there was a tall bookshelf, a nice study desk, a bed and a few paintings on the wall. It definitely looked like a good student lived here!

This confused Tristan greatly! To the point he ignored everything else and went straight to the bookshelf to examine its content!

"Kant, Jung, Hegel?? What is all this stuff? You have so many books and yet none of them seem related to being in the 8th grade! Is this why your grades are so average even after all my help?" 

Shrugging casually Alexiel went over to an all black short fridge, with a glass front. Opening it and counting the vials within. 

"Looks like he came by and took what he needed after I had already left for school. 

It really shouldn't be this hard to see your own parent."

After putting everything back he began fumbling with his gauntlets, checking the screen on the main one.

"It's not that my grades are average with your help per se, I just have other things I find more important to research and understand. 

Philosophers like Fredrick Neitzsche aren't easily and rationally digested even by some of the world's greatest thinkers. 

I need a lot of material to pull all the knowledge together properly."

"Fred who?? What in the world? Okay. Ok. You're gonna have to explain this stuff to me at one point or another so I can understand what you're saying."

Tristan felt a slight headache coming on and decided this wasn't a horse he was willing or ready to ride currently. 

He quickly changed the subject to something more relevant to the business they will be handling today. 

"Is the vial being kept in there? Can I see it yet?"

Alexiel only lightly shook his head giving most of his focus to the readings on the large wrist band. 

Seeing Alexiel hyper focused on his task, Tristan could only shrug and move to lay on the bed. 

They got to skip school today, might as well get some extra shut eye, things are gonna be pretty busy later. 

Before long soft even breathing could be heard coming from one corner of the bed. An hour into the silence Alexiel finally stopped tinkering and glanced up!

"Hehe, get as much rest as you can now because later you'll need all the energy you can get!"