The Reflection of a Shadow
A/N: Hello! Welcome to my first Golden Sun AU story!
Picard: Take this as a sign that she's been playing too much Final Fantasy 8.
I haven't played that in months, Picard!
Picard: Regardless . . .
Anyway, on to business!
Kakyou: . . . She doesn't own it. . . .
Picard: Hey, he spoke! (stares, then irritated vein) To be more precise, Empress Dotdotdot doesn't own the rights to the game nor the rights to the characters, music, et cetera. She recently got the Kikuichimonji on her game, though, so she is rather excited!
Wheee! Kikuichimonji!
Picard: See? My, what a K-sword can do to people! *shakes head*
Now, on to the story!
********************
The Reflection of a Shadow
Chapter 1: The Soldier
********************
Official Report
School Name: Angara Academy
Location: Kalay, Angara (Additional recruitment offices located in Vale, Imil, and Suhalla)
Student Population: One hundred fifty students from across the continents of Angara and Gondowan: Fifty Mars Adepts, forty-three Venus Adepts, twenty-seven Mercury Adepts, and thirty Jupiter Adepts.
Faculty Population: Thirty faculty members, including one principal, two assistant principals, seven counselors, and twenty teachers.
Angara Academy is a facility devoted to the training of soldiers-for hire, also known as "mercenaries." The Academy specializes in training magical abilities (Psynergy) that a student has within him/her. By training a student's Psynergy to its maximum potential, the Academy believes that their ability to fight will also be heightened.
Weapon training includes handguns, swords(light and heavy), maces, staffs, and sniper rifles. On occasion, additional training is given in other weaponry as well. Students receive light training in all of these subjects, but may choose one to specialize in. This specialization determines what missions they will receive upon awarding of soldier status. Graduated students are welcome to remain at the Academy, as long as they keep themselves in prime condition.
There are also Academies in Hesperia (servicing Hesperia, Atteka, and the Western Sea) and Osenia (servicing Osenia, Indra, and the Eastern Sea).
Missions are accepted from any and all sources, as long as the source is willing to pay.
***************************
"Any and all sources?" A man asked, looking over the sheet of paper.
"Yes, as long as the price is right," his servant replied.
The report slipped from the man's hand. "I want their top sniper. Now."
"Sir?" his servant asked, leaning over and picking up the report.
"Don't you get it? We can get rid of our stinking enemies once and for all, if we just assassinate their leader!"
"Sir, assassination? Are you sure?"
"You say assassination' like it's a bad thing! Some of the best leaders in the world ordered assassinations. It's how change comes about! Now, get Angara Academy on the line and demand their highest-level sniper. If he requires a team, so be it. And I don't care what the price is! If you can't get one there, call Hesperia Academy, or Osenia Academy! The leader has to die!"
"Sir!" The servant bowed and quickly walked out of the room.
The man straightened his tie and snickered. "Ah, soon this country will be mine again."
****************************
"Aw, c'mon, Isaac, you can goof around with us once in a while!"
" . . . multiply by the cotangent, then divide by . . ."
"Isaac! Did you hear me!?" Garet walked over to his friend and snatched the math book out of his hands. "You've got to quit being so serious, man! All work and no play makes Ike a dull boy, you know."
"Give that back," Isaac said, straining to try and regain his math book. "And don't call me Ike!"
"Jenna! Catch!" Garet yelled, throwing the book across the room. An auburn-haired girl grabbed it and held it up.
"Got it, Garet!" she yelled.
Garet himself was a very tall seventeen-year-old boy, with very spiky red hair that made him look a foot taller than he actually was. His whole body was packed with muscle. His eyes were a reddish brown color underneath thick eyebrows. He wore a red shirt under a denim jacket, with blue jeans and black sneakers. Fingerless black gloves were on his hands.
Some would call Garet an idiot or thick-headed, but never to his face.Garet hated being called stupid and would pound your face in if he heard you insult him. Many of the students at Angara Academy had spread rumors that he thought with his fists--earning the right answers by beating them out of some smaller, weaker student. People thought of him as the stereotypical jock; all brawn and no brains.
In reality, Isaac knew differently. Garet often earned high marks in his classes; he was in the top ten percent of his age level, and the number two student among the Fire Adepts. He was friendly and polite to the teachers, but his intimidating build had made him into an infamous legend at the Academy. His high marks were due to his extreme levels of concentration; instead of worrying about tedious subjects that didn't concern him, he focused his attention instead on doing the best at what he liked or what was the most important. Garet also had a very playful streak, as evidenced by him and the girl Jenna playing "keep-away" with Isaac's trigonometry book.
Garet was very much a sword-master. His muscles showed it, and he had taken to wearing gloves to prevent himself from getting any more blisters on his palms. He was a match for even some of the instructors when it came to heavy sword fighting. He knew how to use light swords as well, but was much better at using heavy blades. His fire Psynergy was some of the strongest in the Academy; he had even mastered the difficult art of combining his Psynergy with his blade in an attack he called "Liquefier."
Jenna, the other member of the "harassment squad," as Isaac liked to call them on occasion, was a seventeen-year-old girl with long auburn hair tinted slightly violet from old hair dye that never quite washed out. She was tall and thin, and kept her long hair tied into a high ponytail. Her eyes were, like Garet's, a muddled red-brown, framed by thick, dark eyelashes and thin, well-plucked eyebrows. She wore blue jeans, with a purple short-sleeved shirt and a bandana tied around her upper left arm. A gold necklace with a ruby charm was around her neck, and a different chain held Garet's golden class ring that he had given her. Her eyes were touched with mascara and dark red eye shadow, her cheeks were slightly pink with blush, and her lips glittered slightly from her lip gloss. Flame-shaped earrings were in each ear.
Like Garet, Jenna had also earned herself a bad reputation: the Academy slut. Rumors flew that she slept with whoever was open and sometimes tricked guys into laying her. Unlike Garet's reputation, however, Isaac had no idea where this one had come from. Jenna had never slept with anyone, including him or Garet, her closest friends. She was a very stubborn girl, and her standards were higher than Mount Aleph. She wouldn't even kiss goodnight on the first date. She was the one student higher than Garet in the Fire Adept class, and also very close to him in their age division. She, too, had a playful streak, though not the kind of "playful" that the other Academy boys liked to imagine. And her temper was hotter than the flames of the sun.
Jenna knew how to use all of the required weapons, but her specialties were light swords and staffs. Isaac had once seen her knock over an opponent with nothing more than a long tree branch. Her Fire Psynergy was also somewhat unique; she was one of the few female Mars Adepts at the Academy and could therefore use moderate levels of healing magic along with attack powers.
Then there was Isaac himself. He was somewhat tall for seventeen, but not quite as tall as Garet, with blonde hair he rarely combed and sapphire-colored eyes. He, like Garet, had some muscle on him, but not nearly as much as the taller redhead. His untamed, sand-colored hair spiked out in almost every direction imaginable. More than anything, he was thin and obviously lithe, but not very good at jumping, exhibited by his tries to regain his book. He wore black jeans, with a yellow-gold shirt and a black leather jacket.
Isaac was what some would call a "loner." He was cold, introspective, and sometimes downright mean. He also didn't talk much; those speaking to him usually received only gestures as replies to their questions. A nod meant yes, a shake of the head meant no, a shrug meant either, and so on. He was brilliant, though; he was the top student in both his age division and his Psynergy class. Jenna and Garet could tell others that if you got close enough to Isaac, he'd open up to you; that the only problem Isaac had was a difficult life and a protective shell around his heart. The only problem with their truth-telling was that Isaac would deny it to the day he died. He'd sooner perish in dishonor or obscurity than be pitied or looked upon as weak.
Unlike Garet, he ignored the insults and rumors that he heard. Some said he was a demon trapped in a human body. Others said he had been sexually abused, while still others said that he had sexually abused someone else. He doesn't know how to speak properly, he has a Tundarian accent, he had a curse set on him as a baby, his voice is like a snake's. Rumor after rumor about him circled the campus: he was the headmaster's illegitimate son, he was a spy for another country preparing to declare war on Angara, he had his vocal cords cut out as a child, he was an android or an alien, the list went on.
And Isaac didn't care. "Let them talk," he'd say to Garet and Jenna when they voiced their concerns. "Let them believe whatever they will. I know the truth, and that's all that really matters, isn't it."
Garet and Jenna also knew the truth: Isaac had been abandoned as a little boy. His mother had passed away giving birth to him, and his father had labored for years to try to make things work, Isaac had told them once. Finally, in a frustrated rage, Isaac's father had driven the six-year-old boy into the wilderness and left him there. Even Isaac wasn't sure how he had survived, but he had somehow ended up at the Academy and had lived there since. Isaac could hardly remember his father's face, and he never spoke of it to anyone except Garet and Jenna, who in turn shared it with no one else.
Isaac's specialty was clear by one feature of his; he had a small scar near one of his eyebrows. It came from holding a powerful gun's scope too close to his eye and getting hit by the gun's kick. He had worn a thick piece of gauze at that spot for a few days. Since then, he had learned much more about guns and had even become somewhat of a master at them. Yes, handguns were fine. Easy to carry, easy to load, easy to shoot. Perhaps too easy. No thrill involved. Handguns were made only for convenience, not for work. Military guns he didn't understand. Heavy, slow, loud, no convenience whatsoever except to kill and brag that the most recent "bang" had been yours. Military weaponry was created for the purpose of scare tactics and of bragging. Boasters lived by military guns.
What Isaac really knew was sniper rifles. He loved the thrill of aiming ever-so-carefully and silently, of being the killer in the shadows, of killing quietly and moving on. Isaac had never actually killed a man, but he lived for the adrenalin that coursed through his veins at the squeeze of the trigger, the sudden speed of his heartbeat, the loud breathing that was his own. And with a slight tightening of his fingers, it ended. His mission ended. A life ended. And he would have to wait for another opportunity, another chance to slaughter a practice dummy, to feel the thrill that kept him alive. Sometimes Isaac wondered if the living for the rush meant he did have a demon living inside him, striving to be free and to wreak havoc, to tear and rip, to kill, to shed both innocent and corrupted blood.
At the moment, that demon was currently jumping and yelling in humiliation at his two friends as he tried to retrieve his trigonometry book.
The so-called demon was probably very relieved that he and his two friends were the only ones in the cafeteria at the time.
"I have my trig final tomorrow, Garet! I need to study! Give it back!" Isaac leapt up again, waving his arms in the air.
"Back over to you, Jenna!" Garet yelled, tossing the book again.
"You've been studying all day, Isaac," Jenna said, catching the book. "You ought to take some time off. You know, if you cram too much all at once, you'll burn yourself out."
"Yeah!" Garet nodded vigorously. "Let's spar or something!"
"Spar? With you? I'm a gunman, my friend, or did you forget? I don't spar the way you think of it."
Jenna giggled. "Yeah, Garet, you'd better watch out! His sparring is this!" She raised her free arm, her hand in a fist with the thumb and first finger extended to form a gun shape. "Bang, you're dead! Sparring's over!" She laughed again.
"A sniper rifle is a coward's weapon," Garet said, sitting down at Isaac's table. Jenna also came over, placing the book back down in front of her blonde friend. Garet leaned forward. "Fighting from far away is cowardice. Don't you ever wish you were up with the action, Isaac? The only people who enjoy far-off fighting are guerrillas and assassins."
"I don't intend to be a guerilla fighter, and assassins get paid far more than normal fighters like you," Isaac said in reply. "Snipers may be cowards, but swordsmen are brutes."
Jenna stood up and put her hands on her hips. "And what about swordswomen?" she demanded.
"Swordswomen are girls that wish they weren't," Isaac said.
Jenna gaped. "Well, I never!" she managed to stammer.
The three argued like this all the time.Teachers had stopped breaking up their fights after weeks of doing so in Garet and Jenna's first year with Isaac. Isaac, at ten years old, had immediately formed a strong bond with the two, and proved it by ceaselessly arguing with them.The three still carried on these quarrels, even though their graduation was coming up soon.
"I thought you were a staff fighter, not a sword fighter," Garet said.
Jenna flushed slightly. "Well,I'm still trying to figure that out. You see, I got higher marks on my Light Blade exam than on my Staff exam."
"How'd you pull that one off?" Isaac asked. "I've see you fight with both, and I have to say you're far more impressive with a staff."
Jenna's cheeks grew redder. "I tripped," she muttered.
"You tripped?" Garet interrupted. "They're not supposed to mark you down on that, are they?"
Jenna's voice had become very quiet. "I tripped over my own staff."
Isaac and Garet's faces lit with understanding. "Ohhhh," they breathed simultaneously.
"It was a mistake!" she yelled. "Anyone could have done it! It was a simple goof-up! They gave me a staff that was way too big for me, and . . . oh, forget it!"
"It's okay, Jenna, it could happen to anyone," Isaac said. "The equipment they supply for the final exams is in none-too-perfect condition. I nearly gave myself another scar from the gun they made me use."
"Yeah, and the sword they gave me was practically rusted all the way through," Garet added.
"What were your scores, anyway? You can always go for a double specialization," Isaac said. Few students had double specializations; most had just a specialty and backup training in one other form of weaponry, though they were educated in almost all styles. Isaac himself was a sniper specialist with a fallback in handguns. Garet was a Heavy Blader with a Light Blade backup.
"Umm," Jenna said, looking up, "I got a 143 on Staff and a 148 on Light Blade." The scores were out of 155, and it was nearly impossible to get higher than a 152.
"That's nothing," Garet said with a wave of his hand. "Five points? Go for the double, Jenna! You'll get more assignments that way."
"I don't know why I didn't think of that," Jenna muttered, turning red once again.
"Probably because there's so much extra paperwork involved," Isaac said. "I think you should go for the Staff. A 143 won't look nearly as bad as you think it will on your records. Besides, you're much better with a staff. What about your Psynergy test scores?"
"147," Jenna said.
"Me too," Garet added. "What about you,Isaac?"
Isaac winced slightly and closed his eyes. "I don't want to say."
"C'mon, you can tell us, Isaac," Garet said.
"They can't be that bad. You're the top of your class!" Jenna said.
Isaac took a deep breath. "Fine," he said at last. "155."
Garet and Jenna stared at him. "A perfect score!"Jenna whispered. "You really are the top of the class!"
"I think the judges were playing favorites," Isaac said. "I have been here since I was six."
"Either that, or you just rock," Garet said. "Wow. I'm friends with the best Venus Adept on Weyard! What about your Sniper scores? Are they 155, too?"
"No, 149," Isaac said. "Like I said, the gun they let me use was in pitiful condition. Hadn't been cleaned for years. Probably centuries old, too. What about your scores, Garet?"
"153."
"And you call me impressive. Mr. Heavy Blader, you amaze me."
Garet now reddened. "Isaac, shut up," he muttered.
****************************
"He wants our best sniper, Headmaster. Says he's willing to pay any price and accept a team if it's required."
"Our best sniper?" Headmaster Kyle asked, looking up from one of the files on his desk.
"That's what he's requesting," his secretary Kay replied. "Should I tell him that we'll get back to him with the name?"
Kyle pulled a single sheet of paper from the file and looked at the student's record. "No, I know who our top sniper is," he said, looking at the student's picture. "The only problem is that he hasn't graduated yet. Ask the customer if he can wait about a week. I'll promise him the finest sniper Weyard has ever seen."
Kay picked up the phone receiver again and began talking very quickly. "Our headmaster knows just the student for you, sir. However, he's not graduating for another week. Can you wait" --she listened for a moment-- "yes, sir, I understand that time is money, sir . . . no, sir . . . the Headmaster says this will be the finest sniper in Weyard if you can wait, sir. Yes, sir, we--no, sir--just a moment, please." Kay held out the phone to Kyle. "He wants to speak to you."
Kyle muttered something under his breath, pushing his glasses up his nose before taking the receiver. "What can I do for you today?" he asked in his best professional voice.
"What's the soldier's name?" the voice on the other side was low, with a snakelike hiss to it.
"I can't tell you that, not until I know the details," Kyle replied. "I can promise you he'll do the job, though, provided you pay."
"A week is too long to wait," the man responded. "Can you possibly get him here sooner?"
"No, graduation is exactly one week from today. He must attend the ceremony or he doesn't receive soldier status," Kyle said.
"I'll call Osenia Academy, then."
"I wouldn't do that, sir, the Headmaster of Osenia tends to vastly overcharge his customers," Kyle said. "I'm more interested in keeping my customers than earning my money."
The voice on the other side drew in a breath. "Hesperia Academy?" it said in a half-question.
"They don't train gunmen in Hesperia," Kyle replied. "I'm afraid, sir, that Angara Academy is your best choice. You will wait a week or you will get a second-rate sniper. Besides, I need to know where to send my student once he graduates."
There was a pause. "Prox," the other voice said. "You will send him to Prox. And I need to know his name so I may know who I am looking for."
"All right. His name is Isaac Sol, and he's a Sniper specialist with back training in use of handguns. He's top of his class, and received the highest score among those students testing for Sniper status. He also received a perfect score of his Psynergy exam."
The man on the other end of the line spoke to someone else for a moment, then spoke into the phone. "Does he have a team?"
"That's entirely at his discretion, sir. You'll find out when he arrives. Prox, you said?"
"Yes. That will be good. We will pay when he arrives. What percentage goes to you?"
"Fifty. Half the profit is mine, the other half is his. Just give him all the money. He knows where to send my share."
"And what's his description?" the man continued.
Kyle glanced at the photograph that was paper-clipped to Isaac's record. "Tall, thin, blonde-haired, and blue-eyed. His hair's a mess. Slightly muscular and pale-skinned. Scar near one eyebrow."
"We will look for him in one week." There was a click, and the other man was gone.
Kyle slammed down the receiver. "I didn't even get to ask what he wanted a sniper for!" he said.
"An assassination, what else?" Kay said. "Should I process the mission write-up?"
"Go ahead. Isaac Sol is the name, and he'll be heading to Prox."
Kay looked up and blinked. "Prox? As in the Snow Angels?"
"The what?" Kyle frowned.
"The Snow Angels. They're a rebel group fighting against the Proxan government, claiming that it's oppressive and discriminatory." She raised one eyebrow as she glanced at Kyle. "What rock have you been living under for the last ten years?"
"My office ceiling," Kyle replied. "Angara Academy takes up all my time. It's not like I'm even mildly interested in Prox, anyway."
"Well, maybe the Snow Angels are recruiting Isaac to assassinate the Proxan President."
"Or maybe the President wants Isaac to assassinate the Snow Angel leader," Kyle said.
"Or," Kay continued, "maybe we don't know what we're talking about and it has nothing to do with the President or the Angels. Nevertheless, I'll get that report written. As soon as the graduation ceremonies are over, we'll give him the assignment. He'll probably want to take his friends Garet and Jenna with him."
"That's the customer's problem, not mine." Kyle slipped Isaac's report back into his file. "It looks like it's time for the soldier without a past to start making his future."
"Sir?" Kay asked, blinking again.
"Never mind, Kay. Just get that written up."
And Isaac chatted with Garet and Jenna, unaware that his future was taking shape in the keys of a computer.
**********************************
More notes: How Isaac gave himself a scar actually happened to one of my friends! Lesson learned: don't hold a gun too close to your eye!
What d'ya think? Yeah, yeah, way too much FF8 for Dotdotdot, I know, I know . . .
Picard: Whee! Kikuichimonji!
Hey, what are you doing with that!? Get back here! *shakes head* My, what a K-sword can do to people!
Yes, Kyle is the Headmaster! The Kyle! As in Isaac's-dad-from-the-games Kyle! But he's not Isaac's dad in this, don't worry. And any guesses as to who Kay the secretary is? That's right! Garet's sister from the game! And I'm now accepting guesses: who do you think wanted to hire the sniper? What side are they on? I don't have any fabulous prizes, but, hey. . . .
Well, review! Go ahead! You know you want to!
A/N: Hello! Welcome to my first Golden Sun AU story!
Picard: Take this as a sign that she's been playing too much Final Fantasy 8.
I haven't played that in months, Picard!
Picard: Regardless . . .
Anyway, on to business!
Kakyou: . . . She doesn't own it. . . .
Picard: Hey, he spoke! (stares, then irritated vein) To be more precise, Empress Dotdotdot doesn't own the rights to the game nor the rights to the characters, music, et cetera. She recently got the Kikuichimonji on her game, though, so she is rather excited!
Wheee! Kikuichimonji!
Picard: See? My, what a K-sword can do to people! *shakes head*
Now, on to the story!
********************
The Reflection of a Shadow
Chapter 1: The Soldier
********************
Official Report
School Name: Angara Academy
Location: Kalay, Angara (Additional recruitment offices located in Vale, Imil, and Suhalla)
Student Population: One hundred fifty students from across the continents of Angara and Gondowan: Fifty Mars Adepts, forty-three Venus Adepts, twenty-seven Mercury Adepts, and thirty Jupiter Adepts.
Faculty Population: Thirty faculty members, including one principal, two assistant principals, seven counselors, and twenty teachers.
Angara Academy is a facility devoted to the training of soldiers-for hire, also known as "mercenaries." The Academy specializes in training magical abilities (Psynergy) that a student has within him/her. By training a student's Psynergy to its maximum potential, the Academy believes that their ability to fight will also be heightened.
Weapon training includes handguns, swords(light and heavy), maces, staffs, and sniper rifles. On occasion, additional training is given in other weaponry as well. Students receive light training in all of these subjects, but may choose one to specialize in. This specialization determines what missions they will receive upon awarding of soldier status. Graduated students are welcome to remain at the Academy, as long as they keep themselves in prime condition.
There are also Academies in Hesperia (servicing Hesperia, Atteka, and the Western Sea) and Osenia (servicing Osenia, Indra, and the Eastern Sea).
Missions are accepted from any and all sources, as long as the source is willing to pay.
***************************
"Any and all sources?" A man asked, looking over the sheet of paper.
"Yes, as long as the price is right," his servant replied.
The report slipped from the man's hand. "I want their top sniper. Now."
"Sir?" his servant asked, leaning over and picking up the report.
"Don't you get it? We can get rid of our stinking enemies once and for all, if we just assassinate their leader!"
"Sir, assassination? Are you sure?"
"You say assassination' like it's a bad thing! Some of the best leaders in the world ordered assassinations. It's how change comes about! Now, get Angara Academy on the line and demand their highest-level sniper. If he requires a team, so be it. And I don't care what the price is! If you can't get one there, call Hesperia Academy, or Osenia Academy! The leader has to die!"
"Sir!" The servant bowed and quickly walked out of the room.
The man straightened his tie and snickered. "Ah, soon this country will be mine again."
****************************
"Aw, c'mon, Isaac, you can goof around with us once in a while!"
" . . . multiply by the cotangent, then divide by . . ."
"Isaac! Did you hear me!?" Garet walked over to his friend and snatched the math book out of his hands. "You've got to quit being so serious, man! All work and no play makes Ike a dull boy, you know."
"Give that back," Isaac said, straining to try and regain his math book. "And don't call me Ike!"
"Jenna! Catch!" Garet yelled, throwing the book across the room. An auburn-haired girl grabbed it and held it up.
"Got it, Garet!" she yelled.
Garet himself was a very tall seventeen-year-old boy, with very spiky red hair that made him look a foot taller than he actually was. His whole body was packed with muscle. His eyes were a reddish brown color underneath thick eyebrows. He wore a red shirt under a denim jacket, with blue jeans and black sneakers. Fingerless black gloves were on his hands.
Some would call Garet an idiot or thick-headed, but never to his face.Garet hated being called stupid and would pound your face in if he heard you insult him. Many of the students at Angara Academy had spread rumors that he thought with his fists--earning the right answers by beating them out of some smaller, weaker student. People thought of him as the stereotypical jock; all brawn and no brains.
In reality, Isaac knew differently. Garet often earned high marks in his classes; he was in the top ten percent of his age level, and the number two student among the Fire Adepts. He was friendly and polite to the teachers, but his intimidating build had made him into an infamous legend at the Academy. His high marks were due to his extreme levels of concentration; instead of worrying about tedious subjects that didn't concern him, he focused his attention instead on doing the best at what he liked or what was the most important. Garet also had a very playful streak, as evidenced by him and the girl Jenna playing "keep-away" with Isaac's trigonometry book.
Garet was very much a sword-master. His muscles showed it, and he had taken to wearing gloves to prevent himself from getting any more blisters on his palms. He was a match for even some of the instructors when it came to heavy sword fighting. He knew how to use light swords as well, but was much better at using heavy blades. His fire Psynergy was some of the strongest in the Academy; he had even mastered the difficult art of combining his Psynergy with his blade in an attack he called "Liquefier."
Jenna, the other member of the "harassment squad," as Isaac liked to call them on occasion, was a seventeen-year-old girl with long auburn hair tinted slightly violet from old hair dye that never quite washed out. She was tall and thin, and kept her long hair tied into a high ponytail. Her eyes were, like Garet's, a muddled red-brown, framed by thick, dark eyelashes and thin, well-plucked eyebrows. She wore blue jeans, with a purple short-sleeved shirt and a bandana tied around her upper left arm. A gold necklace with a ruby charm was around her neck, and a different chain held Garet's golden class ring that he had given her. Her eyes were touched with mascara and dark red eye shadow, her cheeks were slightly pink with blush, and her lips glittered slightly from her lip gloss. Flame-shaped earrings were in each ear.
Like Garet, Jenna had also earned herself a bad reputation: the Academy slut. Rumors flew that she slept with whoever was open and sometimes tricked guys into laying her. Unlike Garet's reputation, however, Isaac had no idea where this one had come from. Jenna had never slept with anyone, including him or Garet, her closest friends. She was a very stubborn girl, and her standards were higher than Mount Aleph. She wouldn't even kiss goodnight on the first date. She was the one student higher than Garet in the Fire Adept class, and also very close to him in their age division. She, too, had a playful streak, though not the kind of "playful" that the other Academy boys liked to imagine. And her temper was hotter than the flames of the sun.
Jenna knew how to use all of the required weapons, but her specialties were light swords and staffs. Isaac had once seen her knock over an opponent with nothing more than a long tree branch. Her Fire Psynergy was also somewhat unique; she was one of the few female Mars Adepts at the Academy and could therefore use moderate levels of healing magic along with attack powers.
Then there was Isaac himself. He was somewhat tall for seventeen, but not quite as tall as Garet, with blonde hair he rarely combed and sapphire-colored eyes. He, like Garet, had some muscle on him, but not nearly as much as the taller redhead. His untamed, sand-colored hair spiked out in almost every direction imaginable. More than anything, he was thin and obviously lithe, but not very good at jumping, exhibited by his tries to regain his book. He wore black jeans, with a yellow-gold shirt and a black leather jacket.
Isaac was what some would call a "loner." He was cold, introspective, and sometimes downright mean. He also didn't talk much; those speaking to him usually received only gestures as replies to their questions. A nod meant yes, a shake of the head meant no, a shrug meant either, and so on. He was brilliant, though; he was the top student in both his age division and his Psynergy class. Jenna and Garet could tell others that if you got close enough to Isaac, he'd open up to you; that the only problem Isaac had was a difficult life and a protective shell around his heart. The only problem with their truth-telling was that Isaac would deny it to the day he died. He'd sooner perish in dishonor or obscurity than be pitied or looked upon as weak.
Unlike Garet, he ignored the insults and rumors that he heard. Some said he was a demon trapped in a human body. Others said he had been sexually abused, while still others said that he had sexually abused someone else. He doesn't know how to speak properly, he has a Tundarian accent, he had a curse set on him as a baby, his voice is like a snake's. Rumor after rumor about him circled the campus: he was the headmaster's illegitimate son, he was a spy for another country preparing to declare war on Angara, he had his vocal cords cut out as a child, he was an android or an alien, the list went on.
And Isaac didn't care. "Let them talk," he'd say to Garet and Jenna when they voiced their concerns. "Let them believe whatever they will. I know the truth, and that's all that really matters, isn't it."
Garet and Jenna also knew the truth: Isaac had been abandoned as a little boy. His mother had passed away giving birth to him, and his father had labored for years to try to make things work, Isaac had told them once. Finally, in a frustrated rage, Isaac's father had driven the six-year-old boy into the wilderness and left him there. Even Isaac wasn't sure how he had survived, but he had somehow ended up at the Academy and had lived there since. Isaac could hardly remember his father's face, and he never spoke of it to anyone except Garet and Jenna, who in turn shared it with no one else.
Isaac's specialty was clear by one feature of his; he had a small scar near one of his eyebrows. It came from holding a powerful gun's scope too close to his eye and getting hit by the gun's kick. He had worn a thick piece of gauze at that spot for a few days. Since then, he had learned much more about guns and had even become somewhat of a master at them. Yes, handguns were fine. Easy to carry, easy to load, easy to shoot. Perhaps too easy. No thrill involved. Handguns were made only for convenience, not for work. Military guns he didn't understand. Heavy, slow, loud, no convenience whatsoever except to kill and brag that the most recent "bang" had been yours. Military weaponry was created for the purpose of scare tactics and of bragging. Boasters lived by military guns.
What Isaac really knew was sniper rifles. He loved the thrill of aiming ever-so-carefully and silently, of being the killer in the shadows, of killing quietly and moving on. Isaac had never actually killed a man, but he lived for the adrenalin that coursed through his veins at the squeeze of the trigger, the sudden speed of his heartbeat, the loud breathing that was his own. And with a slight tightening of his fingers, it ended. His mission ended. A life ended. And he would have to wait for another opportunity, another chance to slaughter a practice dummy, to feel the thrill that kept him alive. Sometimes Isaac wondered if the living for the rush meant he did have a demon living inside him, striving to be free and to wreak havoc, to tear and rip, to kill, to shed both innocent and corrupted blood.
At the moment, that demon was currently jumping and yelling in humiliation at his two friends as he tried to retrieve his trigonometry book.
The so-called demon was probably very relieved that he and his two friends were the only ones in the cafeteria at the time.
"I have my trig final tomorrow, Garet! I need to study! Give it back!" Isaac leapt up again, waving his arms in the air.
"Back over to you, Jenna!" Garet yelled, tossing the book again.
"You've been studying all day, Isaac," Jenna said, catching the book. "You ought to take some time off. You know, if you cram too much all at once, you'll burn yourself out."
"Yeah!" Garet nodded vigorously. "Let's spar or something!"
"Spar? With you? I'm a gunman, my friend, or did you forget? I don't spar the way you think of it."
Jenna giggled. "Yeah, Garet, you'd better watch out! His sparring is this!" She raised her free arm, her hand in a fist with the thumb and first finger extended to form a gun shape. "Bang, you're dead! Sparring's over!" She laughed again.
"A sniper rifle is a coward's weapon," Garet said, sitting down at Isaac's table. Jenna also came over, placing the book back down in front of her blonde friend. Garet leaned forward. "Fighting from far away is cowardice. Don't you ever wish you were up with the action, Isaac? The only people who enjoy far-off fighting are guerrillas and assassins."
"I don't intend to be a guerilla fighter, and assassins get paid far more than normal fighters like you," Isaac said in reply. "Snipers may be cowards, but swordsmen are brutes."
Jenna stood up and put her hands on her hips. "And what about swordswomen?" she demanded.
"Swordswomen are girls that wish they weren't," Isaac said.
Jenna gaped. "Well, I never!" she managed to stammer.
The three argued like this all the time.Teachers had stopped breaking up their fights after weeks of doing so in Garet and Jenna's first year with Isaac. Isaac, at ten years old, had immediately formed a strong bond with the two, and proved it by ceaselessly arguing with them.The three still carried on these quarrels, even though their graduation was coming up soon.
"I thought you were a staff fighter, not a sword fighter," Garet said.
Jenna flushed slightly. "Well,I'm still trying to figure that out. You see, I got higher marks on my Light Blade exam than on my Staff exam."
"How'd you pull that one off?" Isaac asked. "I've see you fight with both, and I have to say you're far more impressive with a staff."
Jenna's cheeks grew redder. "I tripped," she muttered.
"You tripped?" Garet interrupted. "They're not supposed to mark you down on that, are they?"
Jenna's voice had become very quiet. "I tripped over my own staff."
Isaac and Garet's faces lit with understanding. "Ohhhh," they breathed simultaneously.
"It was a mistake!" she yelled. "Anyone could have done it! It was a simple goof-up! They gave me a staff that was way too big for me, and . . . oh, forget it!"
"It's okay, Jenna, it could happen to anyone," Isaac said. "The equipment they supply for the final exams is in none-too-perfect condition. I nearly gave myself another scar from the gun they made me use."
"Yeah, and the sword they gave me was practically rusted all the way through," Garet added.
"What were your scores, anyway? You can always go for a double specialization," Isaac said. Few students had double specializations; most had just a specialty and backup training in one other form of weaponry, though they were educated in almost all styles. Isaac himself was a sniper specialist with a fallback in handguns. Garet was a Heavy Blader with a Light Blade backup.
"Umm," Jenna said, looking up, "I got a 143 on Staff and a 148 on Light Blade." The scores were out of 155, and it was nearly impossible to get higher than a 152.
"That's nothing," Garet said with a wave of his hand. "Five points? Go for the double, Jenna! You'll get more assignments that way."
"I don't know why I didn't think of that," Jenna muttered, turning red once again.
"Probably because there's so much extra paperwork involved," Isaac said. "I think you should go for the Staff. A 143 won't look nearly as bad as you think it will on your records. Besides, you're much better with a staff. What about your Psynergy test scores?"
"147," Jenna said.
"Me too," Garet added. "What about you,Isaac?"
Isaac winced slightly and closed his eyes. "I don't want to say."
"C'mon, you can tell us, Isaac," Garet said.
"They can't be that bad. You're the top of your class!" Jenna said.
Isaac took a deep breath. "Fine," he said at last. "155."
Garet and Jenna stared at him. "A perfect score!"Jenna whispered. "You really are the top of the class!"
"I think the judges were playing favorites," Isaac said. "I have been here since I was six."
"Either that, or you just rock," Garet said. "Wow. I'm friends with the best Venus Adept on Weyard! What about your Sniper scores? Are they 155, too?"
"No, 149," Isaac said. "Like I said, the gun they let me use was in pitiful condition. Hadn't been cleaned for years. Probably centuries old, too. What about your scores, Garet?"
"153."
"And you call me impressive. Mr. Heavy Blader, you amaze me."
Garet now reddened. "Isaac, shut up," he muttered.
****************************
"He wants our best sniper, Headmaster. Says he's willing to pay any price and accept a team if it's required."
"Our best sniper?" Headmaster Kyle asked, looking up from one of the files on his desk.
"That's what he's requesting," his secretary Kay replied. "Should I tell him that we'll get back to him with the name?"
Kyle pulled a single sheet of paper from the file and looked at the student's record. "No, I know who our top sniper is," he said, looking at the student's picture. "The only problem is that he hasn't graduated yet. Ask the customer if he can wait about a week. I'll promise him the finest sniper Weyard has ever seen."
Kay picked up the phone receiver again and began talking very quickly. "Our headmaster knows just the student for you, sir. However, he's not graduating for another week. Can you wait" --she listened for a moment-- "yes, sir, I understand that time is money, sir . . . no, sir . . . the Headmaster says this will be the finest sniper in Weyard if you can wait, sir. Yes, sir, we--no, sir--just a moment, please." Kay held out the phone to Kyle. "He wants to speak to you."
Kyle muttered something under his breath, pushing his glasses up his nose before taking the receiver. "What can I do for you today?" he asked in his best professional voice.
"What's the soldier's name?" the voice on the other side was low, with a snakelike hiss to it.
"I can't tell you that, not until I know the details," Kyle replied. "I can promise you he'll do the job, though, provided you pay."
"A week is too long to wait," the man responded. "Can you possibly get him here sooner?"
"No, graduation is exactly one week from today. He must attend the ceremony or he doesn't receive soldier status," Kyle said.
"I'll call Osenia Academy, then."
"I wouldn't do that, sir, the Headmaster of Osenia tends to vastly overcharge his customers," Kyle said. "I'm more interested in keeping my customers than earning my money."
The voice on the other side drew in a breath. "Hesperia Academy?" it said in a half-question.
"They don't train gunmen in Hesperia," Kyle replied. "I'm afraid, sir, that Angara Academy is your best choice. You will wait a week or you will get a second-rate sniper. Besides, I need to know where to send my student once he graduates."
There was a pause. "Prox," the other voice said. "You will send him to Prox. And I need to know his name so I may know who I am looking for."
"All right. His name is Isaac Sol, and he's a Sniper specialist with back training in use of handguns. He's top of his class, and received the highest score among those students testing for Sniper status. He also received a perfect score of his Psynergy exam."
The man on the other end of the line spoke to someone else for a moment, then spoke into the phone. "Does he have a team?"
"That's entirely at his discretion, sir. You'll find out when he arrives. Prox, you said?"
"Yes. That will be good. We will pay when he arrives. What percentage goes to you?"
"Fifty. Half the profit is mine, the other half is his. Just give him all the money. He knows where to send my share."
"And what's his description?" the man continued.
Kyle glanced at the photograph that was paper-clipped to Isaac's record. "Tall, thin, blonde-haired, and blue-eyed. His hair's a mess. Slightly muscular and pale-skinned. Scar near one eyebrow."
"We will look for him in one week." There was a click, and the other man was gone.
Kyle slammed down the receiver. "I didn't even get to ask what he wanted a sniper for!" he said.
"An assassination, what else?" Kay said. "Should I process the mission write-up?"
"Go ahead. Isaac Sol is the name, and he'll be heading to Prox."
Kay looked up and blinked. "Prox? As in the Snow Angels?"
"The what?" Kyle frowned.
"The Snow Angels. They're a rebel group fighting against the Proxan government, claiming that it's oppressive and discriminatory." She raised one eyebrow as she glanced at Kyle. "What rock have you been living under for the last ten years?"
"My office ceiling," Kyle replied. "Angara Academy takes up all my time. It's not like I'm even mildly interested in Prox, anyway."
"Well, maybe the Snow Angels are recruiting Isaac to assassinate the Proxan President."
"Or maybe the President wants Isaac to assassinate the Snow Angel leader," Kyle said.
"Or," Kay continued, "maybe we don't know what we're talking about and it has nothing to do with the President or the Angels. Nevertheless, I'll get that report written. As soon as the graduation ceremonies are over, we'll give him the assignment. He'll probably want to take his friends Garet and Jenna with him."
"That's the customer's problem, not mine." Kyle slipped Isaac's report back into his file. "It looks like it's time for the soldier without a past to start making his future."
"Sir?" Kay asked, blinking again.
"Never mind, Kay. Just get that written up."
And Isaac chatted with Garet and Jenna, unaware that his future was taking shape in the keys of a computer.
**********************************
More notes: How Isaac gave himself a scar actually happened to one of my friends! Lesson learned: don't hold a gun too close to your eye!
What d'ya think? Yeah, yeah, way too much FF8 for Dotdotdot, I know, I know . . .
Picard: Whee! Kikuichimonji!
Hey, what are you doing with that!? Get back here! *shakes head* My, what a K-sword can do to people!
Yes, Kyle is the Headmaster! The Kyle! As in Isaac's-dad-from-the-games Kyle! But he's not Isaac's dad in this, don't worry. And any guesses as to who Kay the secretary is? That's right! Garet's sister from the game! And I'm now accepting guesses: who do you think wanted to hire the sniper? What side are they on? I don't have any fabulous prizes, but, hey. . . .
Well, review! Go ahead! You know you want to!
