Barton was a coastal city. The air was fresh and humid with a salty smell. The weather was rainy most of the year and the sun rarely came out of the clouds. Young kids wearing raincoats were running and having fun in the somber and wet streets. A sinister wind was constantly blowing trough the city and into the cracks of the walls. In the main street a homeless person with a dirty beard was holding a cardboard piece with the words "The time is near" while shouting dramatically " The monsters are coming back! The end is near!". People passing by ignored him and avoided eye contact, as if craziness was contagious. He stopped yelling and scanned the people in the street, looking for a target. Soon, he set his eyes on a tall student with short curly black hair and sunglasses. He aproached his target sneakily and when he finally was next to him he whispered seriously " You! You will have an important role in the war against monsters! Be prepared to vainquish those in the shadows. The world is in danger!" The student, who was Finlay, gave a side glance to him. Monsters... Those were only in people's head. How would Finlay even fight in a war against imaginary things? He stopped looking at him and walked faster.
...
"Aunt! I'm back! Do you need me to go buy something at the grocery store for you?"
"Welcome back Fin! No, thank you but I don't need anything. We eat spaghetti tonight, I hope I don't mess up the sauce this time."
"You won't ! Last time was simply bad luck. I'm going to my room, call if you need anything."
"Okay, see you later."
Finlay's parents died when he was nine, around the same time, his aunt's husband died, leaving her with two young sons. Her being his last family left, she decided to take care of him even if she couldn't really afford to. Since then, Finlay decided to do his best to help her take care of her sons, Danny and Marley. With time, they grew closer and closer and now they felt like a real family. Finlay was very grateful to have them as his family. In his room, he dropped his bag on his chair and laid down on his bed. He thought back on what the homeless guy said. He suddenly felt depressed and he put his hand on his face. If he ever actually went in war with the monsters, he would be the bad guy, no? After all, the monsters were in people's reflections. Fighting them would mean fighting people? He wasn't sure. He only knew he hated seeing it. It felt like the world was telling him humanity was rotten to the core. Finlay didn't want to believe that, he preferred thinking they were in his head.
...
It was lunch time and Finlay was quietly walking in the hallways when he heard familiar voices making a racket while coming towards him. He winced as he knew what was coming. A deep voice called out in a 'friendly' tone: "Hey! If it isn't our dear friend fish eye! Slow down a bit and join us!"
Finlay pretended not to hear them and continued walking. Sadly the rowdy bunch eventually caught up and the guy who had called him out put his hand on his shoulder.
"My dude, can you pass me some money? I already spent mine on drinks."
Finlay stayed silent. Since he was born he always had glassy eyes as if he was dead. He was taken to doctors many times, but they couldn't find anything wrong and he had a perfect sight. His ugly looking eyes always scared away the other children, and later it disgusted them. Now, he was a perfect target for bullying. Finlay sighed and answered "I'm sorry. I don't have money on me right now.". The bully scoffed, glanced at his friends and nodded. "Seems like you need a little remainder of where you stand." Saying that, he and the others suddenly dragged him to the men's toilets while snickering. Realizing where they intended to take him, he started panicking. "No! Wait, not the toilets! Please!" Hearing him pleading, the others laughed even more harder. When they passed the door, Finlay shut his eyes closed as his heart started beating faster. The bully then grabs him by the hair, takes his sunglasses and shoves his face in front of the big mirror. Seeing that his eyes were closed, he shouted "Open your damn eyes! Look at your reflection!". Finlay tried to escape while saying firmly "No! I'm not looking at the mirror." The bully clicked his tongue and called out to his lackeys "Guys, give me a hand and open his eyes." They obeyed him and one stepped forward to open his eyes with his fingers. When Finlay saw what was being reflected in the mirror, he flinched. Somehow, today seemed to be even worse than usual. In the rare cases were he saw people's reflections, they looked like walking corpses and slightly rotten at most. Now, the guy holding his head looked like a corpse that had been decomposing for a good three weeks. Empty eye sockets, green skin who's missing at certains spots the point were we can see bones. This sight made him loose his mind. since the accident, he was always terrified of mirrors and other people's reflection. When he noticed the decomposed fingers grabbing his hair, he nearly puked. The other guys were less worse and the fingers holding his eyelids only looked slightly rotten. The bully could feel Finlay trembling slightly, he laughed and said "Haha! Even you are creeped out by your eyes! See? That's why you are rejected by everyone and-" before he could finish his speech, Finlay interrupted him angrily "Get your disgusting hands off me, you walking corpse!" At that, he started trying to escape his grasp. Outraged, the bully yelled "Bastard!" And suddenly shoved Finlay's head in the mirror. When he made impact, a loud cracking sound was heard and his cheek was now bleeding against the broken mirror. He then made eye contact with his reflection. He could see inside himself, and what he saw was horrible. Violent storms, clapping thunder, howling wind and screaming vultures. All this noise, yet an eerie silence reigned. Even the most courageous person wouldn't be able to keep from shuddering in pure horror. The whole scene was incredibly oppressing, as if something mighty and enraged was lurking around. He was about to scream in terror, but before he could everything went black.
...
Finlay woke up in the school infirmary. His body ached all over and he couldn't quite remember why he was there. He looked around him and saw other people on beds. They were the delinquents that often bullied him. Finlay slowly remembered what happened until he passed out. But something wasn't right. 'How come they're here too? In such a state, too...' The boys had bruises all over and looked pitiful. There were even weird burn marks on the big guy's neck! Luckily, they seemed to be all passed out. Seeing he had woken up, a teacher aproached him in a warry way.
-... Head to the director's office when you feel like you can.
Afterwards, the teacher turned around and continued doing whatever he was doing before. Feeling like the bullies could wake up anytime, he just got up, took his sunglasses(which layd on a table near him), put them on and headed straight for the director's office. While he walked, Finlay couldn't help but feel anxious about what his meeting with the director was about. Was that event normal when you fainted? He wasn't very convinced. And so, he reluctantly walked in the office. The director raised his head from a pile of paper. Then, with a cold but amused voice, the director spoke.
-Finlay Edgeworth. Please take a seat. I do believe you don't recall your fight with the other students?
Finlay didn't know how to answer. After all, he was one sidedly bullied by them. Finlay thus replied in a anxious way.
-I'm not sure we can really call that a fight, sir.
The director slightly smirked when hearing that.
- Hmmmm.. You might be right. A guy like you beating those powerless punks half-dead couldn't be called a fight, really. But that only makes your case worse I'd say. I made you come here to talk about your punishment. Even if they deserved what they got, what you did is still unforgivable. As we cannot let a loose cannon like you be, you will be sent to a correction camp until it is esteemed to be safe to send you back to society. I have already made the arrangements and a bus will pick you up next Monday. This is truly timely as they only picks up new people every five months. As for until then, you are expulsed from the school. So, next Monday make a luggage with a week's clothes worth and the other necessaries, wait in front of your house at 9am and you will then be sent to the camp. Understood?
But Finlay wasn't listening at all. In fact, he was still busy processing what the teacher had said at the start. What kind of sad joke was this supposed to be? Him, Beating to a pulp those five muscle heads? Sure, Finlay sometime exercised, but he was still no match! Also, was the director insinuating that he was responsible for those atrocious burn marks? Thinking about that, he realized something was seriously wrong with the whole situation. First of all, what the hell were the bullies still doing in the school? Because as the director said, they had been beaten half-dead. Surely, they should be sent to a hospital. Though, he didn't care about their well being in the least, so he decided not to mention it. Secondly, even if they really thought he was the one that beat them up until their skin turned black and blue, did he really deserve to be sent there? Wasn't that a bit much? And he wasn't even consulted or anything. Swallowing back all these questions, Finlay answered in an absent tone.
-Understood. Can I go now?
-Ah, wait. Take this paper, you'll give it to the bus driver next Monday.
Finlay took the folded paper and silently walked out. Does that mean he would have to retake the school year? Somehow, he felt like it wasn't an important matter.
...
It was now Monday and Finlay was patiently waiting for the bus. He felt exhausted and depressed. He had a small argument with his aunt when she found out about what happened. Since then, she didn't talk to him unless necessary. He felt bitter about leaving for months while being in a bad situation with his aunt. As always, the weather was whiny and the sun was shy. Finlay could feel the humidity slowly accumulating in his clothes. His skin that wasn't covered by his clothes was slightly covered by a film of water. Finlay felt bitter as he observed the calm scenery of his home city for the last time in a while. The old houses were grey and slightly covered by moss because of the very humid climate. You could see small rays of sun piercing through the thick layer of grey clouds. As he was lost in thoughts, he was finally able to hear the typical rumbling of a bus coming his way. Finlay turned his head towards the sound to see a normal yellow and black bus coming his way. As the bus stopped in front of him, he could see the bus was somewhat muddy and smell the strong odour of burnt gasoline. The door opened with a mechanical sound and Finlay stepped up the stairs. The driver, which he couldn't help but think was ugly, looked at him disinterestedly. He spoke in a morose tone.
-Paper?
Finlay handed him the paper the director had given him. The bus driver quickly checked it and gave it back.
-Keep it with you. Go take a seat.
Finlay obediently walked to the back of the bus and sat down on a fake leather bench. The air was a bit smelly and few other teenagers were already sitting. His heart squeezed slightly when the bus departed.
An hour later, the bus stopped and another unknown student got in and showed his paper to the driver. Finlay wondered just how long would this ride be. After all, he didn't really know where they were going. Maybe he should've brought some snacks with him, since he gets hungry when he's bored. Feeling impatience and slight frustration well up in him, he brusquely slammed his body against the backrest of the bench while letting out a sigh.
-"Hey there. You don't look very enthusiastic." a male voice pointed out from the rear seat row.
Finlay pretended not to hear him. He wasn't the social kind of guy. He didn't feel the need to entertain a complete stranger for no reason. As the person behind him noticed Finlay wasn't planning on answering his remark, he introduced himself.
-"My name is James Blaze. Mind telling me yours? " he inquired.
Obviously, he didn't feel like it. A part of him just wanted to reply insolently "In fact, I do mind. Now, if you please, stop talking to me.". But even if Finlay was asocial and easily irritable, he wasn't impolite. So, he didn't ignore him this time.
-"Finlay Edgeworth." He answered coldly.
Even if James didn't like the cold treatment, he took no offense in his "I answered your question now please shut up" attitude and decided to continue asking questions.
-"So. What is a serious looking student like you doing in this rascal filled bus? You can just hand me your paper if you don't feel like talking." James said in a curious tone.
Finlay handed his wrinkled paper over to the back row without casting a glance or sound. He didn't mind that guy knowing why he was there. Who knows? The guy just might shut up after reading the reason.
When James read it, he felt a slight chill. 'Severe case of violent abuse of power towards M. Humans.' somehow, it didn't surprise him. Every one knows that some powerful heirs didn't give a sh*t about mortal humans and took their lives as a game. James concluded that the guy in front of him was from a powerful decendence and he should not get on his bad side while making friends was not necessary because he was probably a jerk. So he should politely put an end to the conversation.
-"Ah. it sure sounds more impressive than my reason." He handed the paper back to Finlay. "I'm here for 'unauthorized repetitive use of powers for lucrative goals in mortal society.' ... I'll stop bugging you now."
As Finlay was folding his paper, he noticed James said 'Mortal society'. It really sounded weird, like it was deadly. He then understood the M. in front of human written in his paper stood for 'mortal' and not 'male' like he originally guessed. But Finlay didn't find it particularly suspicious. What was there even to suspect?