FACTIONS

With a slight hop in his step, Rubick ambled towards the entrance field. There were a lot of students there, and he assumed at least one of them knew where the cafeteria was. Unbeknownst to him, however, four pairs of eyes were intently watching over him.

The light from the various monitors on the wall served as the sole source of illumination for the poorly lit room. Orange orbs fluttered about impatiently "Well?" with irritation clear in his voice, Nessaj halted his pacing of the room, looking at the center monitor intently "He's almost there," yawning slightly, Ezalor blinked a few times, slowly feeling sleep overtake him.

"He'll choose Dire," snorting, Nessaj tapped his foot impatiently "Only a madman smiles like that," pointing towards the screen were Rubick could be clearly seen, the raven haired youth sported a large grin as he technically skipped his way towards the entrance field "I suppose you're correct about that," furrowing his brows a bit, Ezalor contemplated if he had thought wrong.

"I am guessing he'll pick neither," orange and blue orbs fell upon pink ones "He seems far too lazy and laidback to even care," with his never changing deadpan voice, Darchrow shrugged "Just my opinion," chuckling, Ezalor shook his head "How about you, Io?" turning to look at the only female of their group, blue orbs scanned the dark room curiously.

"She just left a while ago," explaining as a-matter-of-factly, the purplet shrugged "What else would you expect?" snorting once more, Nessaj groaned "Frankly, I don't give a damn what he chooses anymore," a small smile crept up Ezalor's lips as he continued to observe Rubick closely from the screen "We'll see,"

"Hmm?" with ears perked up, Rubick turned his head to his right. Near the entrance were six people, half of them were all wearing black while the other half all stood out like a sore thumb due to their contrasting colors. The one in the middle, who was wearing all blue, was the one causing all of the noise "Come join the Radiant!" with a booming voice, the one clad in blue made a ton of unnecessary gestures.

"Because you can't spell 'I ain't rad' without Radiant!" the largest one of the colorful trio slapped his forehead with so much force that Rubick heard it all the way from the middle of the entrance field "Wait, that went out wrong," the blue one cupped his chin and furrowed his brows.

The three clad in black snickered, earning them the attention of the one clad in blue "What is so funny?" the blue one raised a brow curiously "And why are you not campaigning for the Dire?" the shortest of the three who wore black snorted "No need, you're doing all the campaigning for us," his golden orbs shifted to the left, eyeing the advancing Rubick "Here comes one right now,"

"Greetings!" the blue one bellowed, giving a dramatic bow to the raven haired student "I am Raijin," smiling widely, the one clad in blue gestured to his left and right "These are my cousins, Xin and Kaolin," the largest one, Kaolin, sighed in disbelief "Cousin, I don't think you should-"

Placing a finger on his cousin's mouth, Raijin shook his head and smiled "Nonsense! I shall do everything in my power to bring glory to the Radiant!" a laugh from the tallest of the ones wearing black abruptly cut Raijin off "Yet all you've brought them was shame," snickering along with his companions, the shortest of the three cleared his throat.

"I am Eredar," sounding almost like a snarl, Eredar pointed towards his two other companions "These are Lucifer and Nevermore," fixing his slicked back dark maroon hair, he snorted "We're the prefects for the Dire," brushing imaginary dust off of his suit, Eredar lifted a finger lazily towards the other three "And those three clowns are the prefects for the Radiant,"

The tallest one, Lucifer, grinned "Seeing as how you've literally went to us, I'm assuming you're either a freshman or a new student," gulping audibly, Rubick couldn't help but feel violated when the large one had easily read him like a book "Bingo," the one to Eredar's left flashed a toothy grin "He's not the former though; looks too old,"

Feeling overwhelmed by their verbatim onslaught, Rubick couldn't believe how easy he was to read "I thought you were trying to recruit him?" scoffing at the other three, Kaolin stepped forward "He's as good as ours, anyway," mimicking the other, Lucifer stepped forward, eyes glinting with violence.

Readying his fists, Kaolin snorted "What makes you so sure about that?" lunging forward, Lucifer threw his fist overhead, slightly missing when Kaolin had parried his attack using his elbow "Come now, let's talk about this-" laughing like a madman, Nevermore lunged towards Raijin, sending a knee square into his gut.

Stepping backwards, Rubick couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. After all his years as a college student, he was witnessing his first ever brawl. Then a realization dawned on him; his fear was quickly replaced by happiness. To think, a brawl he started himself. None would deny that there was bad blood between the two factions, but the mere fact that he just went near them and they started fist fighting means he can easily incite violence between people.

Or, you know, trouble just likes to follow him around.

He was snapped back to his senses when a swift kick had landed behind his back, making him fall to the ground "Stop dodging! See what you did to the poor guy?" furrowing his brows, Raijin was about to speak when Nevermore had sent another kick at his direction.

"I don't even know how you idiots graduated," pinching the bridge of his nose, Eredar sighed in disbelief as he turned his head towards the other one who wasn't partaking in the brawl "I'll stop my brothers if you stop your cousins," snarling, golden orbs seethed with anger "Honestly, what will you guys do if I weren't with you," the one clad in red, Xin, nodded in agreement "Come, let us go," his calm golden orbs contrasted those of Eredar's violent ones.

Readying his blades without taking them out of their scabbards, Xin slowly advanced towards Raijin and Nevermore. Mimicking the other, Eredar stormed towards Lucifer and Kaolin. The two were about to charge at the others when they were stopped by something.

"Fighting is not allowed inside the school premises-" started the large man with platinum blond hair. He brought a large metallic bat with him and slammed the weapon onto Raijin's gut before delivering a kick towards Nevermore's direction, making the two fall to the ground "Failure to follow such simple rules will be reprimanded," continued the other, who sported short purple hair and brought along a trident.

Smashing his forehead onto Lucifer's, the large man in black staggered away in pain, clutching at his head with both hands. Thrusting the non-lethal end of his trident towards Kaolin's stomach successfully made the large man clad in green fall on his behind.

Looking on at the spectacle with awe, Rubick couldn't help but believe if what he had just witnessed was actually reality. Those two guys literally took out two people on their own without breaking a sweat "Raijin and Kaolin," sighing, the platinum blond furrowed his brows "Accompany me to principal Smith's office," without even a single complaint, the two followed suit "We shall meet later," placing a hand on his cousin's shoulders, golden orbs looked at them with pity.

"Though, that was stupid," frowning when Raijin had chuckled, the one clad in blue shook his head "Sorry, cousin," kicking Lucifer, the purplet snorted "Come, principal Hinger awaits," frowning, Nevermore grit his teeth "The hell do you think you're doing getting in our way, Slardar-" cut off from his words when Eredar had punched him square in the jaw, Nevermore fell to the ground, blood trickling down from his nose.

"Just take them and go," sighing again, Eredar rubbed his temples "Thanks for intervening," dragging Nevermore along, Slardar snorted "It's part of the job," offering his hand to help, Xin raised a brow curiously at Rubick "Sorry about my cousins," graciously accepting the other's hand, the raven haired student laughed nervously.

"Who were those guys?" sighing for the umpteenth time, Eredar pinched the bridge of his nose again "Those were Sven and Slardar; they're part of the Sentinel," raising a brow curiously, Rubick was about to ask a question when the redhead had beat him to it "They're a specialized guard that protects the school,"

Clearing his throat, Eredar closed his eyes for a moment "So, which organization were you joining?" opening one eye lazily, he expected Rubick to choose the Radiant or something "I, uh," furrowing his brows, the raven haired student wracked his brains as to what the best course of action may be.

"Well?" opening his other eye, Eredar tapped his foot. Thinking of what he dubbed as his most ingenious idea yet, Rubick beamed "Neither! I'll not join any of the two," nodding his head confidently, the raven haired student thought that his choice was the best course of action; he gave himself a mental pat on the back for being so brilliant.

Furrowing his brows, the redhead snarled "Are you stupid?" not even giving Rubick time to react much less give a response, Eredar stormed off "You know what? I'm already pissed off as is," awkward silence fell upon Xin and Rubick, and the raven haired student couldn't help but try and break the ice.

"So, err," clearing his throat, Xin strapped his blades onto his side "You need to choose," turning to leave and go to the principal's office, golden orbs momentarily fell on green ones "It is a rule," leaving Rubick to his lonesome, the one clad in red marched in a martial pace.

With his stomach growling louder than before, Rubick sighed in disbelief "I just wanted to know what the commotion was about," gingerly touching the part of his back that was kicked by Nevermore, the raven haired student groaned "Curiosity does kill the cat,"with shoulders slumping in defeat, Rubick toddled onwards towards the large building in front of him.