The Academy

Kai

"Do you remember what you're supposed to do once you're down there?" Aerrow asked, handing over the glassy black crystal. Cautiously taking it, I examined the odd color.

"I'm there because of some fliers?" I questioned, uncertain.

Aerrow sighed. "The Academy posts fliers wherever their numbers are down. You were on Terra Lynn, saw a flier, and decided to join with your brother."

After an entire day of searching and sifting, Piper managed to find another Chroma crystal for Finn. After the trip to the bazaar, I had time to adjust my uniform, ensuring it fit properly. Hovering just a short distance away from the Academy, Aerrow knew it was time I prepared myself for the trip.

"Look, don't be afraid," Aerrow reminded me, his hand on my arm. "The crystal won't hurt you. I won't let them hurt you, either—I promise."

Though his smile was more than reassuring, I felt a cold, hard lump growing in my stomach. Something about the trip didn't sit right. "I'm worried about this whole thing. I'm going to be alone…"

"Finn's going to be with you!" he laughed. "We'll be behind you every step of the way—figuratively speaking. We'll have our eyes and ears out in case they recognize Finn, and reinforcements are brought in. I'm not only interested in protecting you—I have to protect my team, too."

"How do I look?" Finn asked, walking in.

Turning around, I glanced at Finn's new appearance. His surfer-blond hair had turned a gruesome black, his eyes a menacing red.

I scratched at my scalp. "I... don't know."

Aerrow sighed. "Evil, yes. Convincing? A bit too much." He turned to face me, rubbing his hand against my arm. "You remember when I asked you to trust me when I gave you my jacket? I would never do anything to put you in harm's way. My team always comes first; I would never jeopardize your safety for selfish reasons."

With a concerned nod, I grasped onto the Chroma crystal. "So, how does this thing even work?" I asked, millions of possibilities flowing through my mind.

"Nice hair," Aerrow smiled, though when his eyes moved to scan the rest of my body, I knew something had changed. "Who needs an instruction manual with an imagination like yours?" he laughed.

My hands searched for my braid, yet it was nowhere to be found. My hand flew to my jaw, feeling the ends swing against my chin. "My hair! How… how does that even happen?"

"You look fine…" Aerrow said with a grin.

Finn laughed. "Now that's the truth!"

With a sigh, Aerrow continued, "Don't worry, the effects are temporary. When you're done with the crystal, everything will be back to normal." Slowly, Aerrow led me back into the bathroom, flicking on the lights. "Looks like the instability of the crystal definitely had its effects."

I squinted, looking closely at myself in the mirror. My hair lost all color; the golden orange it once was now shown in snowy white. My eyes… All traces of green vanished, quickly replaced by a purple hue. "Wh… what is this? Is this even safe?"

"Looks like you've grown up a bit!" Aerrow patted the top of my head. "You're almost taller than me, now!"

"Jeez!" I huffed. "Is there anything of mine this thing didn't take away from me?!"

Finn marched in, an apple in his teeth. "Whoa, nice! She's legal now!"

"Hands off, Blondie. She's still Kai." Aerrow quickly turned off the lights, leading us into the bridge. "This is good. This'll give you an advantage at the Academy. You'll be training with the older group, like Finn."

I smiled. "I'll be driving," I told Finn. "Aerrow, how far out are we?"

"You probably have ten minutes to fly, but it's not that far."

I nodded. Finn quickly left to ready any supplies. Aerrow had set aside some necessities for us, in the event the instructors left our bags alone. Aerrow stood there in silence while I stashed the Chroma crystal in my clothes. Once it was hidden, there seemed like there was nothing left to say. That is, until Aerrow moved.

Stepping forward, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. "You have to promise to be careful, alright?" Aerrow whispered. "I can't have you getting hurt down there."

Stiff in his arms for a moment, I misunderstood his purpose.

"I… I can't have you hurt. I won't live it down if you get hurt… You've only been on the team for a few days now. Please, Kai… just be careful."

His actions felt foreign, as if all that was said was some front to appear confident and right with his words. He seemed unsure, deep down, if he'd made the right decision. But I had to remain optimistic—I had agreed to go along with his plan, against all instincts. "I'll be fine. You said it yourself!"

Aerrow nodded softly. "Here…," he paused, stepping back to dig through his pockets. "Use this in a case of emergency, and only in an emergency, all right?" He handed me some sort of metal device encasing a crystal.

"A Messenger crystal?" I muttered, examining it closely.

"Keep it on you at all times, you understand?" he said seriously.

I nodded. "I promise."

As he stepped away, disappearing into the belly of the ship, I knew that would be the last few words I heard from him for quite some time. Finn returned, jingling a set of keys in his hand.

"Found these in your bike!" he said with a grin, an apple lodged in his other hand. "Can we get going? I wanna get this over with as quickly as possible. Stupid Talons…"

With a nod, we stepped off, and flew away from my new home.

"You know… you really do look much older now!" Finn interjected, holding tightly onto me.

I nodded. "I wonder what our excuse is now! I look like I'm twenty, but you're still fifteen!"

"Hey, you're the teenager! I'm an adult! Leave me and my maturity out of this!"

There was quite an advantage to looking older. As a child, you received less respect. Yet, as an adult, every word I spoke held that much more merit. Though, as a freshman in the Academy, I wondered if it made any difference at all. "I'm a bit scared, I have to admit," I told Finn.

"Here's some advice—Talons always blink first. Always. They would rather save their own skin, even if it meant losing. However… The Dark Ace is different. He wasn't trained as a talon, and he definitely uses that to his advantage." With a nod, Finn continued, "The Dark Ace won't blink, and you can be sure of that."

All at once, we arrived at the docks of the Academy. I could feel my anxiety crawl forward, screaming out of each pore. My arms and legs were sore, unfamiliar of just how to handle a bike with a passenger. The old hunk of junk I'd repaired showed now mercy, and I was feeling it. I parked my bike in a sheltered area by the docks, helped Finn unload our supplies, and stepped into the main building.

As we gathered our enrollment forms, Finn was the first to read through it. "Please sign here to hand over your soul," he sighed.

"Make sure you write the correct name," I laughed.

"Right, right…"

As I signed off the last of my information, I could feel my spirit being drained. The stories Aerrow and Piper told of the Academy were less than thrilling, and I was not looking forward to participating in cleaning duties. No matter how long it took us to gather whatever information Aerrow was after, we were stuck from then until we escaped. We are Cyclonian property, now… I never knew how grueling and life-changing an experience could be until it was all over.

We were escorted into a large arena the instructor called the sorting area. Young wannabe-Talons, both big and small, crowded the small space, grouped off wherever they felt comfortable. As the instructor stepped away, eyes wandered to the two of us, growing more interested as the seconds passed. Two older men stepped over to us, the taller one's eyes glued to my chest.

"Well, well… Now, who might you be, shorty?" he grumbled, his voice low and intimidating. He inched closer to me, his hand scratching his scalp. Even with the help of the Chroma crystal, it seemed nothing was going to change the fact that I was short.

"…Zaria," I replied. "Now, piss off. I'm tired and I want to go rest." I pushed the man aside, only to have him grasp my arm and pull me back into my place.

"Get your hands off of her!" Finn demanded, futilely prying the man's hand away.

In one swift move, he knocked Finn on his rear in the dirt. "Oh? I don't think you have much say here, little man."

I found my mind wandering into the small, unimportant details. I analyzed the large man from head to toe. His age was a mystery—he appeared to be in his teens, yet his large size said otherwise. His sudden introduction meant we were a threat, which put him into our age group… Men…

Finn rubbed his back, tending to a new bruise. He muttered quiet profanities to himself, never taking his eyes off of the man.

The man inched ever closer, his grimy hands sliding against my arm. I could feel his breath against my forehead. "Now, now… What do you say?" he breathed. "How about… we get to know each other a bit better, eh?"

No matter how much I screamed and begged, I couldn't stop myself from moving. I dropped my pack on the ground and ripped Aerrow's blade from my back, holding it to his neck. "How about I pull your insides out and you get to know them a bit better, hm?"

His shorter, impressionable friend took a few steps back, no longer interested in their plight. The man stared at the blade at his neck, a grin crawling onto his cheeks. "Just wait 'til the chief hears she's got a weapon!" he laughed loudly, his hand reaching toward the blade.

Finn rose to his feet and cheered, "Yeah! All right, Ka—Zaria!" Not a moment later, his cheers were cut short and the man's smile grew ten-fold.

A warm, rough hand slammed onto my back. I quickly released the trigger, staring at the much larger man looming behind me. His eyes were cold, dark, and empty. "Oh… my…," I breathed, feeling as if the wind had been knocked out of me. I lost grip on the student, my knees threatening to buckle. With a nervous grin, My weapon fell to my side as I turned to face him.

"Thief, eh?" he questioned, picking up the weapon. "Or are you just completely incompetent?" The man pulled the second blade from my back, examining them. Eager hands wanted to snatch them back and hold them close, but I knew better. "Odd crystals…"

I slowly stepped back, tripping over Finn's shoes. He truly intimidated me—his sheer size was overwhelming. The man stood tall and had muscle, yes, but his gut said quite a lot about his eating habits. Had the man ignored me and sat down, I would have been sent to the hospital, should I have even survived.

"You think you can just waltz in here with a weapon?" he asked, twirling the hilt of the first blade in his hand.

"Look, I didn't—"

"Shut up, I'm talking." His voice was stern and unforgiving. I quickly looked for support, searching for Finn in the ever-growing crowd. As luck would have it, the chicken chickened out and left me to my own devices. The man looked up from the blades, holding my jaw in his hand. I was forced to look into his soulless eyes. "You have a lot to learn, rookie." He threw my jaw to the left, releasing it from his grasp.

I rubbed my jaw, rolling it back and forth. "I may be short… but at least I can fend for myself!" I retorted. Just as soon as the words rolled off my tongue, I tried biting them back. I was desperate for any way to rewind, correct myself, and stop myself from speaking.

It was as if nothing else mattered more to him than this very moment. His eyes burned through my skull, a rage boiling within him. He grabbed my arm and watched me for a moment more before dragging me through the arena. It was a form of humiliation, one the other Talon trainees knew well. Roars of laughter erupted from all corners of the arena. They simply stood by and laughed as the new girl was carried away and tossed into a bunker. He pushed be to the ground.

"Larsen!" he shouted, shoving a student to his side. "Grab this girl some water! She's got some cleaning up to do…"

From the smell of the place alone, I was overwhelmed. The lingering stench of old socks, sweat, and what smelled like vomit hit me like a wave. "What?!" I shouted toward him.

"You are the most protestant student I have seen yet! But don't worry…," he laughed, kneeling to my side. "We'll break you."

The student quickly returned, slamming the bucket down next to me. My shoulder, pressed hard into the cold cement, grew wet as the water sloshed onto the floor. Do I even want to know what's in this water?

I spit on the ground, clearing the droplets that landed on my lips. Slowly, I rose to my feet to face the instructor. "Just you wait," I muttered. "Just you wait…" I carried the bucket to the northern corner of the room and sat it on the floor, discovering a grizzly pile of… "What the hell is this?"

I sat down on the bunk behind me, sighing.

"Oh, by the way…," the instructor called out. "Have a good first day, rookie."