Chapter 42: Explaining the Second Exam

Marcus awoke at around 4:40 in the morning, he yawned softly as he stretched out his right arm. 

He attempted to do the same with his left, but that was when he remembered Luna was lying on it, nestled beside him. He smiled warmly as he looked down at her, the peaceful expression on her face was a pleasant thing to see early in the morning. 

Careful to avoid awakening her, Marcus slowly slid his arm away from Luna's small frame.

Once both his arms were free, he slowly rose up from his bed and descended to the floor with slow, steady steps, before slowly making his way to the bathroom.

After showering and brushing his teeth, Marcus emerged from the bathroom, with a towel wrapped around his waist and a cloud of steam following behind him.

"Did you sleep alright?" Luna asked, sitting up in Marcus's bed. Her silver eyes illuminate her dim surroundings. 

Marcus nodded, "Yeah, with you by my side my dreams are less…. Vivid." Marcus answered, giving Luna a reassuring smile.

"Are you done with the bathroom?" Felix asked, his voice hollow and flat.

Marcus turned to look at Felix, his expression softening. "Yeah, are you feeling better?"  

Felix shrugged his shoulders as he sat up. "I don't know what I'm feeling, I don't know if I should feel right now," Felix answered, making his way toward the bathroom before quietly slipping inside, and closing the door behind himself.

Marcus looked at the bathroom door with a sympathetic expression. He wanted to understand what was wrong with Felix, but he couldn't figure it out, no matter how hard he tried.

"You should get dressed, Marcus," Luna suggested, floating down from the top bunk. "You want breakfast from the eatery, right?"

Marcus nodded. "Yeah, what time is it now anyway?" Marcus asked while making his way toward the closet.

Luna glanced at the time, which was at the bottom of the TV screen. "4:54 AM." Luna announced, "We leave for the auditorium at 6 o'clock. So we should have plenty of time."

Marcus nodded, slipping into a T-shirt. "Yeah, speaking of the auditorium, we should be getting our implants and TCSs, right?" 

Luna nodded in affirmation. "That's what Dr. Fletcher said yes."

Marcus nodded before slipping on a pair of joggers. "I guess you can't judge my bad fashion sense once I get that suit then, huh?"

Luna giggled, nodding her head in agreement. "Maybe, but I'll still find something to judge."

Just then, Felix emerged from the bathroom, looking refreshed, but still surrounded by an aura of detachment, with vacant eyes and a frown.

"Are you done in the closet?" Felix asked, walking toward him.

"Yeah, I was just planning on visiting the eatery, Are you coming with me?" Marcus asked, stepping out of Felix's way.

"Yeah." Felix nodded, "But you can get a head start, I'll join you when I'm dressed."

Marcus nodded. "Cool, I'll meet you in the eatery then." Marcus then turned his attention to Luna, reaching out a hand for her to grab. 

She quickly accepted.

After Marcus secured his phone and keycard, Marcus made his way out of the dormitory and towards the eatery. The hall was empty, with few cadets making the same journey Marcus was making.

It wasn't surprising, however, as each dorm previously held around 50 cadets, but after the first exam that number dropped to about 12 cadets per dormitory.

Stepping outside Marcus was greeted by a warm breeze along with the sight of the gray and bright orange sky, casting a dim light over the Complex grounds.

Entering the eatery. Marcus was greeted with the smell of warm breakfast and freshly made coffee.

Marcus filled his plate with scrambled eggs and a side of toast, along with black tea as his beverage.

Sitting in his usual spot, Marcus began to enjoy his meal, Luna sat beside him, occasionally taking a spoonful of eggs for herself, or biting into his toast.

Marcus watched her with a faint grin. "You know, I've always wondered what you did with the food you ate." 

Luna looked up at Marcus with a grin. "I process it into ether, it's not very effective, and the returns are almost negligible, but it's satisfying for what it is."

Marcus chuckled softly. "So you've just been stealing my food because it's satisfying?" He then scowled playfully, "You really are something else."

Luna giggled. "Oh, would you have me eat from someone else's plate?" Luna asked teasingly, "You're a terrible friend."

"Hey, don't say all that,"  Marcus said with a grin. "I just find it interesting, I find you interesting." 

Luna averted her gaze as she chuckled, "You should have spoken like that to Kinsley." 

"I doubt I have the courage for that." Marcus said with a nervous chuckle, "I'm not good with girls, especially someone like Kinsley, when I'm with her my brain just turns to mush."

"You should probably text her this afternoon, I'm sure she misses you." Luna teased.

Marcus rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha." Marcus laughed sarcastically, "It's only been a day, I don't wanna look desperate."

Luna opened her mouth to respond when suddenly she was interrupted by the sight of Felix entering the eatery, his demeanor had changed slightly, he wasn't detached as much from before, but he still looked aloof.

Marcus watched as Felix filled his plate with fruit toast and a side of jam, his beverage a tall glass of milk.

Felix then approached Marcus's table, sitting down without uttering a word. 

"Always with the milk," Marcus said jokingly, attempting to get a response from Felix.

Felix nodded his head. "Yeah, I like milk."

He then fell silent once more, spreading jam on a piece of toast, before biting into it.

"Must pair well with jam and toast," Marcus commented.

"It does," Felix replied.

Marcus sighed as he observed Felix, it was obvious Felix wasn't in the mood for conversation. Any attempts to prove further might just make him angrier or shut down completely.

They continued their breakfast, the eatery slowly filling with cadets as the hour progressed. However, the eatery still seemed empty when it reached its peak occupancy, a clear sign that many cadets were now long gone.

As the clock neared six, cadets began to leave the eatery and head towards the main building, a line forming starting at the entrance. 

Marcus and Felix found themselves in the center of that line.

"I wonder if they'll put us in groups, like last time," Marcus questioned aloud, to no one in particular.

"Seems likely," Luna answered. "That's the only reason they would line the cadets up before sending them into the auditorium."

Marcus nodded. "Makes sense, hopefully, I'm with Felix this time, being in the same group with Sang-hee was a doozy," Marcus said with a chuckle.

"I think you just jinxed yourself," Felix commented with a light chuckle.

Marcus looked back, relieved to hear even a small hint of his friend's laughter. "You know what, I'll go so far as to say this, if not only are we in different groups, but I'm paired with Sang-hee again, I'll prostrate myself before her." 

A grin grew on Felix's face, "oh, do you wanna make that a bet?" He asked, a genuine intrigue in his voice.

Marcus smirked, a smug expression playing on his face. "Nah, cause I'd win bruh." Marcus mocked a jock accent, crossing his arms as he nodded his head.

Felix chuckled once more before shrugging his shoulders, "All I hear are excuses."

The boys laughed in unison, Felix's smile lingering as the line continued to move forward. As they neared the entrance, Marcus noticed an officer asking for the name of cadets, before assigning them a rank two through four.

When it was finally his turn, the officer glanced up at Marcus briefly, before looking down at his tablet.

"Name?" The officer asked.

"Marcus Fall."

"Alright, Mr. Fall…." The officer trailed off as he began humming to himself, tapping his pointer finger on the back of the tablet in a rhythmic manner. "You're rank-three." He said with a nod of his head.

"What does that mean?" Marcus asked curiously as he stepped out of line, bringing Luna with him.

"You'll sit with the other third ranks, in the middle of the auditorium."

Marcus nodded. "I see, thanks sir."

"No problem." The officer replied before turning his attention towards Felix, "name?"

"Felix Abel."

"Mr. Abel…." The officer said in a rhythmic tone, "his name is Abel, his name is Abel, that's pretty cool because it sounds stable." The officer began mummering lyrics until finally, he stopped scrolling on his tablet. "Rank-two, huh, that's actually pretty good." The officer said with a smile.

"Where will I be sitting?" Felix asked.

"In the back, there aren't many rank twos, so you should just look for the other two people who are already in the auditorium."

"Wait." Marcus asked the officer, "Are there a lot of rank threes?"

The officer shook his head. "No, about twenty-five in total, everyone else is rank-four."

"Ahh," Marcus said with a nod of his head. He remembered Kenji and Elissa were rank-fours as well, though this was shocking because he never imagined he was better than his mentors. 

"Sorry kiddos, but I got a lot more cadets to go through, so if you could move it along that would be great."

Marcus nodded as he entered the building alongside Felix and Luna, he was greeted with the usual sight of holographic signs directing towards the auditorium.

As the trio walked, Marcus couldn't help but think back to Felix's rank. He called back what Elissa had said about officers with rank-two implants, which was that they were like anime characters come to life, with powers that seemed truly untouchable.

Yet Felix didn't seem fazed in the slightest.

"I thought you would be more excited," Marcus commented, looking over at Felix with a curious expression.

"You mean my rank?" Felix asked.

Marcus nodded.

"I don't know, why aren't you excited? You're not exactly bottom of the barrel either, being rank-three and all." Felix answered.

Marcus shrugged, "I guess I haven't thought about it much." Marcus answered honestly. 

Though now that Marcus actually did think about it, he realized that he needed to talk to Dr. Fletcher soon.

He sighed heavily, realizing that was going to be an awkward conversation.

As they entered the auditorium, the room was buzzing with activity, Marcus immediately noticed that there were several officers sitting in the auditorium. He wondered what they could be here for, but he didn't have time to ponder for long. 

Marcus and Felix split up, each cadet going to their designated seating area. 

Marcus found his spot among the other rank-three, which ironically enough, was right beside sang-hee.

"Oh my god," Sang-hee grumbled in annoyance as Marcus sat beside her. "What the fuck are you doing?" She asked.

Marcus gazes at Sang-Hee with a side-eye. "Stop whining, it's just a seat."

"The fuck you say to me?" Sang-hee hissed, "Boss I'll rip your fucking throat out if you talk to me like that again."

"Oh, you mean you can actually stand on your own?" Marcus quipped, "You still haven't thanked me for helping you by the way."

Sang-hee snarled as she rolled her eyes. "And I never will you dumb fuck."

Marcus groaned internally as he reached a hand for his forehead. He questioned why he had tempted fate to challenge the gods in a match he'd never win.