Piercing the palpable silence, the voice of an older man asks,
"Remind me, how old is D004 now?"
Scrambling, a much younger man stressfully scans the folders in hand,
"Uh..! A-According to the files he's about to be 18, sir!"
The well-dressed man hypnotically stares at a plethora screens rather than the man behind him
"That so..? Are they ready to act on their end of the deal?"
The young man hesitates, only for a mere moment, but that moment seemed to echo, becoming from a moment to an eternity in the ears of his superior.
"Answer me."
"Y-Yes sir! Sorry, Sir! Uhm, they're hesitating sir, they seem to have grown attached."
"I knew they would, but they swore that their attachment wouldn't get in the way. We need the boy."
"Sir, w-we have reminded them of the consequences of wasting D004's potential, they'll give him his true form soon. Swearing it by his 18th."
"For all our sakes, I hope so, D004... he is an untapped well of unpredictable potential, the sooner he is among our ranks, the better, perhaps we should let D004 tap into it on his own..."
"General..?"
"You're dismissed, bring me D007, tell him he has a new assignment."
...
Far from the town of Manchester, Ronny Zoie is doing his best to enjoy his time at a lake not known to many, isolated physically and from the overall eye of the public. After all, it wasn't a popular lake, and wasn't exactly the best place to go for a vacation, especially since it's hard to find and cars can't reach it. However, Ronny didn't care about these factors, it was hard to say he cared about much anymore.
Ronny peers into the lake, looking at his distorted reflection as he ponders who he is for a moment. Ronny is a 32 year old male, blonde hair with sharp features, born May 5th, born in Montgomery, Alabama. His life was great, he'd been accepted by some of the best schools and even his dream school, he'd gotten his associates 7 years ago and had been working towards his masters degree while he got his dream job as a defense lawyer. Through his work, he met the love of his life, they had been dating for 4 years now and were on track to getting married, during this time he figured he couldn't be happier.
He was right, he would never be happier, he'd recently found out he was likely doomed to die to an unknown disease. Of course, it was hard for him, everything seemed to be going great and his hard work was paying off! Life wasn't so kind though, and now he's here at this lake to think, to ponder, to wonder what he'll do with the time he has left. The lake's water seemed to smooth for only a moment, and his reflection cleared , he was staring right at himself, and as he thought about everything he had and was going to lose. Something sparks within him, determination rises from his chest, and willpower to fight this accursed disease, what was he thinking? He couldn't just give in, he had plenty of savings, and he'll risk it all to give him a chance at life! That's right, he thought, I'll do everything in my power to live! Even if it means I need to place my faith in a child, even if it costs me everything, I'll-!
While staring at his reflection, his view falls, in the silent night, that burning determination is stomped out as Ronny's severed head hits the floor. Not a sound broke the silence, with the autumn air remaining as cool as it did mere moments ago, it was almost like nothing had changed. Ronny himself stood before the corpse, staring lifelessly and without care, as the blood begins to flow into the water. Ronny is wet from sitting in that lake for so long, and a chilling blade is held in his hands, as he looks at the others corpse, and he feels rejuvenated. It felt like he had awakened from a terrible dream, the grass is green and the lake is blue, the air has a wonderful chill, to Ronny nothing could be better than this moment "Ahhhh.." He breathed a sigh of relief and joy, feeling as though he had taken a breath for the first time ever, "It was just as we thought, the next step is to sever our other. I'll need to report this, sir, tell the rest that the gate is clear"
...
Well sh*t
Clay thought as the nurse scolded him, dried blood on his lip and dark bruises on his stomach and arms. Despite the fact he was hurt, Clay himself thought it went well, he got away with knocking two of them down and minimal injuries. Two of them charged first, so he kicked one of their crotches to stun them and take those few seconds to counter the blow dealt to him by the other guy. Making sure to give him a good kick where it hurts as well, after that he ran, after all he figured he was faster and knew he shouldn't try to fight. Someone saw and snitched though, Clay wondered who it was and decided to get back at them if he could.
Needless to say, no matter how much Clay himself pleaded, he knew his parents would learn of what transpired and figured they'd panic. Far as he knew, they might even try to get that tracker on him using this as the reason, as of late they have consistently been getting more paranoid. Although Clay really didn't want them knowing, he couldn't bring himself to worry too much about it; there was nothing he could or would do. Well... at least I could be late to class, anywhere is better than that.
To Clay, class was dull and grey, even when everyone seemed to be having fun, he could never bring himself to have that same energy. Clay had to admit, it was strange how different he was and felt, how he couldn't bring himself ot be passionate about anything, not even the things he considered "fun" meant anything to him, they mostly just passed empty time. Class was a blur, an unimportant aspect of his daily life, much like everything was; he tried to pay attention, to genuinely laugh at he supposedly funny things people said, but to as per usual he couldn't feel a drop of anything.
Even as a child, Clay found the world to be a strange thing, it was like he didn't belong anywhere. His family felt so unnatural, like something out of one of those old, colorless films. They loved him, yet he was unable to love them like they were his family? The playground to Clay was just a weird structure, the sandbox filled with dust, the children he tried to play with did things that seemed so meaningless to him. All of it, everything, so pointless. For Clay, everything just felt so...
DING DING DING
Clay jolts up from surprise, awakening from his drowsy thoughts, finally, classes were over. He packs up his things, and gets ready to leave, he walks with quick pace since he wants to get home before those guys can interrupt his route again. Since they went to a different school, he knew he could get past the part of the route they know about if he moves fast enough. However, as Clay rushes out the front doors of the school he bumps into someone, stepping back while the person in front of him doesn't seem disturbed at all.
Clay glances to get a look at the person in front of him, as the guy is taller. In front of him is a student, Clay can tell since he has the student assigned ID badge. The man stands at a height of 5'11 and lean build, dressed casually in a denim jacket and white hoodie and grey pants, he has silver-blonde hair and has pale skin, his eyes are a golden brown, and he carries an honest smile. Clay apologizes and tries to go around him, but the guy gets in Clay's way, saying, "Clay right? My name is Felix, pleasure to meet you!" as he offers Clay a handshake.
"Hello..." Clay responds hesitantly, "If you don't mind me asking... have we spoken before?"
With a confident grin, Felix replies, "Nope!"
"Wha... then why do you know who I am?"
"Who doesn't know you? Gloomiest student of Manchester private? The boy without emotions? The legendary skeleton, hollow of feelings and everything that makes one human?" States Felix, using an overly-dramatic tone and exaggerated motions.
"...I'm pretty sure at least that last one is made up," Clay says while looking at Felix like he's looking at an alien, appalled by Felix's ability to act like this in public.
"All that is besides the point," Felix states, suddenly normal again, "I wanted to meet you, say wanna go get a coffee so we can chat my new friend?"
Clay stares at him, surprised, "I don't recall us ever being friends... we just met, and you're a little... strange."
"By your standards, or in comparison to everyone else? Cause if you asked me there is nothing strange about how I am." Felix responds, seeming clueless to what Clay is saying.
Clay, still confused, says "...Right... well I would love to take you up on your offer but I have to rush home before I get jumped so-"
"Jumped you say?" Felix looks at him, with curious but also excited eyes, "Well why don't I join you!"
"In getting jumped..?"
"Yep!"
"There's like, five dudes..."
"Your point?"
"Fine"
With that, Clay finds himself walking home with a strange student, but while he is strange someone like him is a relief to Clay. Reminding him that there are all sorts of people in the world, that it isn't just him who is out of place, albeit Clay could not relate to Felix. Clay only intended to walk halfway home with Felix and split up there, since he doesn't fully trust Felix with his home and his parents in their current paranoid state would not welcome Felix. Just as Clay expected, Felix got in the way and now the guys were back, and approaching as Clay gets within sight of them. Meanwhile, Felix walks a little behind Clay, so his face is out of view; when he sees the guys a confident and excited smile stretches across his face.
Well, might as well show off to Clay a little bit, he may as well learn about tethers now