That feeling in my chest II: Back memories

(*distant distorted noise*)

(*people chattering and walking*)

(*distant echo and voices*)

"Check his vitals"

Liam's eye lids slowly started blinking while opening. His jaw slightly opened as a long grunt escaped from deep down his chest.

"(*grunt*)my head..."

Cassius heard it all and turned with a concerned look.

Cassius: "Call for the doctor. Sir don't worry you have been through medical assistance. Don't move too much"

Cassius sat next to Liam. The latter just looked up and said "what...happened?" His voice was weaker than usual and his breath was erratic.

Cassius: "the doctor says you have been cumulating a lot of stress and fatigue and that's why you fainted"

Liam thought for a second before having some flashbacks.

Liam: "I ...I saw the rock...Alcestium...then...blackout"

Cassius sighed

Cassius: "you started talking nonsense and you fell backwards, you hit your head on a debris and had a seizure...Thank God, we are all trained to react to such events... No one touched it don't worry I understood what it was when I got closer."

Liam: "(*wincing in pain*) I had my suit on...how..."

Cassius: "And fortunately for you it was able to deal with the impact...otherwise your head would have been through much severe damage...(*sigh*) Sir...I am starting to wonder if that's a good idea to keep looking after who or what helped the Project W...maybe this is all just a coincidence"

Liam: "Cassius...You know it's not...the rock everyone saw it...the files, the ...(*grunts*)"

Cassius: "Sir...(*placing his hand on Liam's shoulder*) Liam, I am worried for you...you are overworking yourself and this whole Project W is getting dangerous...what when we'll find it...I doubt it would want to go back in a cage"

Liam looked at Cassius with concern then said "I know you worry...thanks but we still need to find it and shut it down...people are in danger...you saw that crater...if that thing got help of someone who had Alcestium...I can't even imagine what kind of terrible things can happen"

Cassius got up and went to the window sighing.

Cassius: "what's next?"

Liam: " I won't be long to recover. We know that the Alcestium was known only by the high administrates of this company...I want you to do some research on everyone of them about project B-54, everything concerning what they authorized or not, every ship that has been sent back and forth to Brazil, evey plane, everything ...we will get that motherfucker whoever that may be...please Cassius..."

Cassius: "I will do my best Sir...Try resting, i already called on the doctor, he will be here soon...I will be on my way, got a lot of work to deal with"

Cassius looked at Liam one last time before taking off, leaving him with his thoughts. "What was that..." he shifted in his bed and looked at the window...the sun was setting, his son was probably already home by now...safe.

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Lauren and Wyatt were walking towards the history class for their meeting with the club, Matthew left them earlier to head to his practice. Wyatt couldn't help but wonder what kind of club this was.

Lauren: "Wyatt, you said you were talking a bit of Japanese right?"

Wyatt: "few words..."

Lauren: "yeah yeah, when i asked last time about the korean, I was told about a whole asian department, so I guess there is also japanese here"

Wyatt: "That seems great"

Lauren: "oh and I met back with an old friend who is also part of the club, earlier"

Wyatt: "oh really, cool. Wait when? I was with you the whole time"

Lauren: "He is ghost (*faking to be a ghost*) boooooo"

Wyatt: "You are so stupid oh my God"

Wyatt nudged her shoulder playfully as they reached the door. Lauren opened and saw some students sat round on the chairs. A female cat walked towards them with a soft smile. It was the president, Lili.

Lili: "Right on time, we just need to wait for - ah he is here with you"

Wyatt: "Hello...wait who are talking about?"

A voice from behind them made Wyatt squeak and turn back to look up. There was a giant male panda standing just behind them. The latter spoke "Sorry, didn't mean to spook you"

Wyatt: "since when are you there?!"

Wyatt didn't notice the Panda, neither did Lauren but when she turned to see him she jolted and screamed "Jales!"

Jales: "Hiii"

Despite his somehow terrifying features his face was showing genuine happiness and care.

Jales: "Lili, I got the snacks you asked for"

The cat quickly took the snacks bag the panda was holding and hurried back to the room while Jales and the other two entered. Wyatt still shocked by the discretion of such a big guy. The panda was not the biggest he has seen, but he was bigger than him so it was already enough to unsettle him. The panda was taller than him yet shorter than Matthew Wyatt recalled as he got flustered thinking about Matthew's height. "He's that tall?!" He thought as they got to meet a bunch of other people. Lili then brought the snacks to a table well full of other snacks and beverages. She walked back again to her sit but stood up as she clapped her hands.

Lili: "Okay pals, welcome to this wonderful adventure for the 2023/2024 academic year. This meeting is chill okay, so no pressure, relax. I wanted all the new members to gather here and present themselves and the old ones will do as much for the newbies. I will start this(*smiling*) I am Lillian Weber, the president of this club and a senior here at RASAC (*chuckling*) meaning this will be my last year in charge of this club as well buuuuut it means one of you would get the heavy duty to keep it the best of all"

A sudden knock on the door made everyone look as Lili got to open it, she met with a tall alligator, it was Matthew. He talked with her before she smiled and let him in. She got back to her sit while Matthew got a place next to Wyatt. The latter was confused "weren't you supposed to be practicing?" The alligator scratched his neck and said "well huh let's just say that today's practice was huh...not really for me..." it made Wyatt even more clueless while Lauren got closer almost climbing on Wyatt's head.

Lauren: "What it is honey? Aren't you supposed to be swimming ?"

Matthew: "hm perhaps we can talk about it later...people are staring"

They turned to see everyone except for the panda was looking at them. So, Lauren quickly got back to her sit and Wyatt straightened back to his. Matthew dropped his bags to the side and sighed as he looked at the other person present. Lili then said "well, huh I guess we have even more newbies than expected but the more the merrier right? (*chuckle*)"

She cheered then turned her to the left. There was a koala, he was not really tall and he was a bit round. His voice was slow and calm as he got up. "I am Noah Shaw, the vice president of this club, 4th year at RASAC. Nice to meet you all" he smiled gently as he held his hands together seemingly a bit anxious to talk in front of people.

Then, the person sitting next to him, a giant vampire bat with cinder grey fur and red eyes almost hidden behind semi closed eyelids in a stern look, got up. "Joaquín García, sophomore at RASAC...Hi" his voice had a really small hint of an accent and it was deep and there was small click sound almost too low to be heard that followed his brief presentation. His big ears moved from left to right slowly then he exhaled.

The next one was a female Chantilly-Tiffany cat with a somptuous soft black fur with a silky feel. she was rather small compared to everyone in the room but from her emanated a lot of charisma and confidence. Her look was clearly what made her stood out, a Loft petite linen blend jumpsuit matching her dark fur. A brand belt tied above her waist taking advantage of her small height and quite curved body. She had a small waist and big hips which went great with the outfit and her vibe. A single Silver and diamond earring on her left ear and a gorgeous simple pearl necklace complimented her quite straight and sharp face and neck structure. To say the least she was beautiful.

She inhaled a bit before speaking with a small yet a bit assertive tone, "Nancy Chanler, freshman at RASAC, Nice to meet you all" She was so elegant it was kind of refreshing.

Then got the turn of Matthew, "Matthew Adams, Freshman, glad to meet everyone here" His usual chuckle echoed for a bit of a second as he turned to Wyatt who was next in line to present himself. Wyatt got up and nervously talked "I'm huh...Wyatt Fael, freshman, Nice to meet you people" it was so nervously said that Lauren almost choked on her breath trying not to burst into laughter. Matthew's tail moved and nudged Wyatt who looked up at him. The Alligator was not looking back but he smiled gently instead it was his way of reassuring Wyatt from the little stress he was on. He better than most knows it's hard to talk in front of people, he is not a fan of that either but had to learn fighting the fear. So he just wanted to help Wyatt feel less anxious and it worked Wyatt turned to the others who didn't seem to notice the movement of Matthew. Lauren who had a hard time trying not to laugh was to present and she said "Hellooo, I am Lauren Bridge and I am also a freshman, and 반가워요 (nice to meet you)" she bowed a bit and smirked. The fact that she used Korean made the next to present to look at her admirative. The latter, a male leopard smirked and said very loudly with so much confidence it was impossible not to look at him. "HOLA, I am Yanis Foe, sophomore at RASAC and second vice-president of this club, よろしくね (Nice to meet you)" surprised by this Lauren turned to him was like "Bitch" in a good way and smirking.

Then Lili spoke again "Yanis, stop being childish" he waved his hands and shrugged while smiling.

Then the panda looked up his phone as people were staring at him. He looked behind and was confused. "Huh...what's happening ?" Lauren chuckled and Lili was sighing "Present yourself please"

He stood up a bit nervously despite his stature that implied confidence. "Oops my bad, Hiii I am Jales Huan...3rd year at RASAC, glad to be here ...again" the last word went out nervously as he looked at Lili who just shrugged it off before talking.

Lili: "Okay guys, before anyone asks, no these are not all the members of this club. I just got the chance to capture those. The others are either busy or out of the country at the moment. Yeah, so my little babies, this club has been nominated as the best for the past 3 years and we want it to stay that way even after I am gone so you new people are welcome to bring out marvelous ideas and together we will make them reality. A week before Christmas there will be a festival here at RASAC to commemorate the day the school was created. During that festival there will be plenty of activities and fun realized by all the Clubs, not only the Arts ones but also the Tech guys. Last year we got wild enough to have all the Art clubs do a musical show, there was fun, laughter, fireworks...a lot of fireworks, people dancing and singing in the air...it was absolutely unbeatable...well now we have to beat that, so we got some weeks ahead of us to think on how. Feel free to bring up ideas and remember, nothing is too big or unachievable as long as we work together. Now enough babbling, you can get to the eating and drinking while discussing and making friends with one another"

With that every got the snacks table and started taking some. Lauren saw the black cat and seemed really intrigued, but before she could go anywhere, Yanis the leopard got to her.

Meanwhile Wyatt was still sitting and looked at all the scene before him, Matthew was looking a bit different than usual. Although he usually have a goofy smile, he never seemed to let be seen any other kind of emotions which obviously was intriguing but then again no one wants to pry in the life of the other. But right now his face was a bit blank and he looked in the void almost absently. Wyatt put a hand on his shoulder and shook him a bit.

Wyatt: "Matt, Want some snacks?"

Matthew didn't react at that instantly, it took him some seconds to process what Wyatt asked before replying "not really hungry, thanks" Wyatt removed his hand and looked a bit concerned at his friend "okay..." he stood up and walked towards the table.

Seemingly in thoughts he didn't notice the smaller black cat and almost knocked her down but saw her at the last second. He tried moving round to not fall on her but he stumbled and almost knocked his head on the table edge. Right an inch before slamming his head there, he got stopped. Someone held him by his shirt from the side, It was the bat, Joaquín. He was actually looking at the food but his hand was fast enough to reach Wyatt in the opposite direction he was looking at. He turned his head and looked down a bit.

Joaquín: "careful there"

Wyatt was seeing his life flash before his eyes but thanks to the bat he was an inch from a severe skull damage. The bat helped him up and even he didn't smile it was as if he did. His face was really not showing much than gloom but he saved Wyatt which meant he was good...Wyatt was impressed by such a quick reaction, it seemed almost impossible for someone to catch someone else falling behind self with one hand, but that's what happened. Weirdly enough no one really noticed that. Wyatt turned to the cat and she seemed to have gotten past that and had some snacks in her tiny hands while scrolling on her phone.

Behind her in the further back, Matthew still looked out of himself. Wyatt was worried, he wanted to tell Lauren but she seemed to be dealing with a guy who apparently got her full attention. He raised an eyebrow while thinking "wait that's impossible" but she was indeed talking with him for more than 5 minutes because they had some similarities they liked mind games and were actually trying to get the upper hand on the other.

Wyatt just shrugged it off and got to take some snacks, he took some extra and Lili said "wow easy on the salt baby" he looked at her and said nervously "oh it's not just for le it's for my friend too" she looked at the alligator then back at Wyatt "He seemed quite fine earlier, is he sick?"

Wyatt: "I hope not"

With that he made his way towards the alligator with some potato chips and cookies as long as two cokes. He stood in front of Matthew and got his attention.

Wyatt: "Matt, chips or cookies?"

Matthew wanted to say again he didn't want some but then again he looked at Wyatt serious look and understood he was just worrying for him. He sighed "cookies"

Wyatt gave him the cookies and sat beside him.

Wyatt: "want to talk about it?"

Matthew: "about what?"

Wyatt: "The elephant in the room"

Matthew: "There's no...oh yeah i got what you meant"

Wyatt: "still a funny sentence to use although a slight speciest...so what's wrong buddy?"

Matthew pondered for a moment then said "I huh..."

Wyatt: "want to talk about it outside ?"

Matthew didn't say a word...he looked at Wyatt who extended a coke to him, he took it and said "yeah..."

With that, they got up and walked outside.

Lauren still on her mind to mind conversation with Yanis, the little black cat sitting next to Jales forcing him a bit to interact with people.

Lili almost to cheerful about that and the koala enjoying his talk with the bat who was also a newbie despite his grade.

Matthew and Wyatt were out and the chill breeze of autumn was rubbing on their face making Wyatt close his eyes as a shiver went through his spine. He walked and followed Matthew.

They sat on a bench next to a tree. From there, a great view on the Art facility and a bit of the Tech one, the tree leaves were starting to turn a yellowish hue announcing Fall was there.

As the wind ruffled Wyatt's fur, the little awkward seconds of silence were broken by Matthew "I huh...(*sighing shakily*) Things went rough" the lighting of a street lamp nearby on Matthew's scales revealed something that went unseen in the room darker environment. There was a faint trail of blood on his jaw. Wyatt's eyes widened in shock. He could feel his heart beat as the only thing his eyes could see was the sad look on Matthew's face. His voice felt for the first time full of fear and was trembling.

The latter was sitting his elbows resting on his legs as he was leaning on them a bit looking forward. He was making a low grunt of pain. Wyatt was dumbfounded and didn't know what to say or do in this situation.

"Matthew went on a fight?" He thought still shocked unable to say a word as the wind rises and cut some leaves from the tree making them rain above their head in this cold early evening.