Act 1: Into the Light
Chapter 15: Blue Shades
Alex's blue hair stuck to her lips as her brown eyes slowly opened to her orderly room. Although she was numb to the sound at first, she eventually did pick up the constant ringing from an alarm. Without even thinking, she reached out to her bedside desk, hitting the top of her alarm clock with a sigh. Of course, the Greek girl had been studying just as hard as she would train as per her routine. But given how her instructors had piled so much to read over the course of three days, it would take someone quite above her pay grade to not be exhausted. Maybe David given his insomnia, but she could only wonder given how much of a recluse he was.
The girl tossed her sheets off of her figure adorned with her white shirt and dark blue athletic shorts, getting off of the bed as her feet met the carpet. Alex for one was what one could call a morning person if they wanted to use that terminology. Not that the girl would have minded it, better to get a good night's sleep rather than be exhausted because someone wanted to stay up till four in the morning.
The girl slowly sat on the ground as she slowly rolled her neck in a circular motion with her brown eyes closing slowly. She felt and listened to every small pop and crack that her neck let out, only to hear it once more as she did the same motion backward. After her head was back center, she rolled her shoulders slowly. Even they had some tightness that she could feel as she stretched, maybe from all the stress of moving a bunch of her personal belongings? The blue-haired girl had been one of the first to unpack, probably because everyone had been so busy socializing and exploring instead of preparing. That's why she even had time to be physically ready for that little tournament En had ended before she could grab the win. Alex shook her head at the thought when it came to mind.
How stupid and arrogant could you be to almost use your quirk on someone? From what she could tell, Volker didn't exactly have a quirk lending itself to some form of armor or defense. For her it's not like she had any quirk at all, so why factor herself in the first place?
Alex slowly stood from the ground, bending her leg back as she grabbed her foot, putting her other hand on the frame of her bed as support. With a deep breath, she pulled her leg back further, letting out a groan as she felt her leg slowly stretch itself out. After holding it there for a few seconds, she did the same with her other leg, making sure to always breathe as she did her larger stretches. When she let her foot back onto the ground, she did a little bounce, sighing as she did so with a slight smile on her face. Her legs finally felt awake at that point, so to finish off she just had to move on to her arms.
Moving her right arm to her left right above her chest, she used her left to slowly pull it back with a deep inhale. She could feel the muscles, especially in her biceps, warm slightly from the stretch. That alone made her senses come back faster as she could form thoughts beyond a single sentence. On the downside, however, at that point she could taste how fowl her breath was, and that alone made her move to finishing with her other arm as she repeated the process with similar results. The heat of her muscles being stretched enough to start the morning made Alex let out a sigh of relief as she twisted her back, feeling the small cracks of her spine travel up her back as she slowly twisted it.
With another small roll of her shoulders, Alex wasted no time walking to her small bathroom. Even the bathroom was much better than she had anticipated when Ivor approached her. She had expected some corners to be cut, but their comfort in Atlas must have not been one of them. There was even a larger shower than the one she had at home, which she hadn't expected, but not that she minded it.
After grabbing a small hair tie next to the faucet of her sink, she tied her blue hair into a rather messy ponytail. Looks could come later, she just had to get rid of the horrid taste in her mouth.
Once her blue locks were out of her face, she grabbed her toothbrush and put toothpaste onto it. After slightly drizzling some water onto the toothpaste, she started to brush her teeth quickly. Alex could at least feel that taste slowly dissipating as that minty smell and taste replaced it. Her hair didn't get in the way either, so that was a win for her in both situations.
Once she spit the foam that had formed in her mouth out and took a small amount of water in her hands and used it to clean her excess foam out. After a few seconds, Alex took the hair tie out. As she put it back onto her sink, walking back into her room to grab the folded clothes she had put on her desk the night before. Her school uniform being relatively simple meant that keeping track of it and getting dressed wasn't such a big hassle for her. So when she went back to the bathroom to shower, she was just glad to get that feeling of grossness off of her body. If there was one thing she did hate about mornings, however, it was feeling like she was covered in filth the moment she opened her eyes. In a way, showers for her were a place she could get her head into the right mindset and focus on the day ahead.
Once she stepped out from behind the curtains and dried herself off, putting on her rather simple uniform. Her school attire was a rather simple black skirt that was required to at least be five centimeters below her knees and a white dress shirt. Not all that too imposing on her figure so she could move without feeling like she was restricted. Not too much to keep track of was better than what she could imagine some of her classmates had on. All she needed was a pencil, pen, and whatever else materials her class would call for her to need. In her experience, they never required much though.
Once her clothes were set, Alex returned to look into the mirror as her callused hands slowly grabbed at her blue hair. Its soft texture grazed her fingers as she went to work, her hands wrapping and adjusting her hair. Each movement she made was purposeful as if she'd done this at least a hundred times. In under two minutes, a blue bun slowly appeared on her head as she made small adjustments as she went. It was the sort of smaller rudimentary things like a bun she found easier than the average person. But she could only guess that some of her classmates probably had the same idea. Just because she was better at one thing didn't mean it applied to everything else.
After just a minute or two, Alex's hair was in a tight and neat bun and her brown eyes stared at it in the mirror. With her hands on her hips and a slight nod, she turned to walk out of the bathroom and to the door that led to the commons area. What met her eyes was only a few of her classmates, since she'd woken up an hour before lights on, she wasn't that surprised by the lack of a populace in the room. But when her brown eyes caught sight of Hugo, she set off in his direction as she closed the door to her dorm behind her.
The sound of her door closing made the albino boy's blue eyes jolt her way.
"Hey." He said with a slight wave, sitting at the table they usually sat at since everyone generally just sort of 'claimed' a spot in the morning. Like the Greek girl, Hugo's uniform was made up of black dress slacks and grey loafers for one. Otherwise, he had a white dress shirt under a shawl cardigan sweater with a valknut-like logo in a dark red like his tie on the right of his chest. The sweater had pairs of black rings that were around the neck, wrist, and above his waist as a sort of final touch added to its look. "You seen David or Blake yet?" He asked, his deep voice accompanied by a somewhat large bowl full of fruits that Alex herself generally had in the morning.
"As of now no. I'm aware of his sleeping issue. So I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't sleep at all." She stated matter of factly as he walked past the boy to quickly walk toward one of the many fridges against the wall. Her brown eyes locked immediately onto a glass bottle of cold brew coffee. The coldness it had when she grabbed it made her hand jolt slightly as it awoke more of her senses.
Once she was on her way back, coffee in hand and open, she took a small sip. The blue-haired girl let out a small sigh as she could practically feel the caffeine flowing through her veins.
After Alex sat down at the table across from Hugo she took another sip as she crossed her legs.
"To be fair, Blake seemed to hate being woken up by instructor Roberts, so he'd probably still curled up in his bed too." She said, shrugging as she looked Hugo's way.
The white-haired boy let out a small shrug as he looked up toward her from his bowl of fruit. "Well, honestly I think they just need a cold shower in the morning. That'd wake them up instantly." Hugo slightly joked as he stabbed an apple with his fork and waved it slightly before taking a bite.
Alex tilted her head slightly at his words, finding them more realistic than anything. "Well, you just say that because of where you're from." The Greek girl responded as she then took another sip of her coffee, which Hugo could only slightly grin at.
"Well if you're used to it you're used to it." He said as he took another bite of his fruit before he took a drink of a cup of water he had to his left. "Besides, David's from Ireland, I'm sure it's already horrible enough already." He said, slightly joking as he saw Alex nod in agreement. The girl wasn't stupid, she knew that the weather, particularly in Europe wasn't always so cheery.
"Only problem with that is you're not too far from him yourself." She said, raising an eyebrow as Hugo took another bite.
The boy thought for a moment, looking toward David's dorm before he looked back toward Alex.
"Isn't it… a bit weird, like how he didn't really talk about why he was here on the first day? I mean I get it, we all have our motivations and stuff. But the way he dodged it was kinda… off I guess?" He commented, pursing his lips after he spoke. "Volker doesn't even really talk about it, and they've known each other for however long." He said, narrowing his eyes as he talked to the shorter girl.
Alex herself thought it was strange, yes, but his life wasn't a part of her worries. Sure they all knew each other, but they weren't all the closest of friends exactly.
"While it is strange Hugo, I don't think it's worth thinking about if he won't talk about it." Alex could only purse her lips with a small nod. True to her words, the girl changed the subject rather quickly when she heard other dorms opening.
The first to exit was En. dressed in pretty much all black with dress pants, a white collared button-up shirt, a black tie, and a grey blazer. It was rather… simple, not that the demon boy seemed to put any effort into making it look orderly. Soon after was none other than the Irishman himself, his silver eyes practically glowing in the distance from the overhead fluorescent lights in the commons area. As he walked toward the pair, his uniform came more into view.
He seemed to have black dress slacks with a back blazer over a maroon turtleneck sweater. As he approached, the only noticeable detail that came to view as he approached was a small white and maroon feather on the breast pocket of the blazer. His uniform, unlike the demon boy's, was pretty high quality, the blazer looking like it belonged to some tuxedo. When he parted the bangs of his black hair, he slowly put some of his black locks behind his ears. For once, the Irish boy looked as though he had his life together.
As he sat down with the other students at the table, he cleared his throat, yawning with a stretch of his back as he twisted it. Hugo being busy with his fruit gave a slight nod, Alex however watched him sit and stretch, her brown eyes silently observing the smaller details of his uniform, of which the feather was the only notable one.
"You look like you got some sleep for once." She said, taking another sip of her cold brew. David's silver eyes glanced her way as he twisted his back. He was silent as he looked as though he hadn't registered her words before he faced her and sat with his legs crossed.
"As well as I could." He simply responded, hooding his eyes toward her as his blank face just stared her way. Although the blue-haired girl seemed as though she was about to say something else, the boy once again spoke, cutting her off. "Yes, I ate something in my room. Some water and a few crackers… That should be enough to start me off…" His tone seemed a bit harsh with its monotone nature, but after he finished his sentence, he blinked. He looked away, leaning back into his seat. "R-Right?" He asked, somewhat quiet as he looked back toward the blue-haired girl's gaze.
"Oh hey, Blake," Hugo said suddenly, stopping Alex from saying anything as the other two students looked to where the albino boy's gaze was drawn.
What sat down was none other than Blake, and to say he looked exhausted would be like calling a skyscraper tall. His eyes were the slightest bit bloodshot, his hair a tad messy as he blinked. He had a white dress shirt on over mauve dress pants. Although, he had grey running shoes with green and yellow sides. After he sat down, he pulled the hood of a black jacket he had on over his dress shirt over his head of hair. After what seemed like a long period of silence, Blake's head practically collapsed into his arms as he laid them on the table.
"Shitty night too?" David quietly asked, slightly tilting his head as he sniffed. Blake's hand slightly twitched as it made a thumbs up from where he was laid down, his horns stopping the hood from covering his face.
"T-T-Too c-c-cold…" He stuttered out, shifting slightly from where he resting as one of his magenta eyes looked up.
Alex pursed her lips, looking toward Hugo and David as they both looked toward her in response to Blake's words. The albino swallowed his food, opening his mouth to say something before he hesitated. The Greek girl beat him to what he seemingly had to say, however.
"Blake… you do know there's a thermostat… Right?" She said quietly, raising an eyebrow as he finished her drink and sat it down on the table.
Blake's magenta eye that had been half closed shot open, staring up at her with a gaze of a man that was broken by words that just invalided his entire life...
"Y-y-you're…. K-k-kidding me… r-right?" He asked, his muffled voice sounding as if he thought she was joking. He sounded like he was in disbelief as if he'd just heard about some impossible miracle that just happened in front of him that he couldn't see.
"She's right… I turned mine up to twenty three last night." David commented, his Irish accent sounding as Blake's magenta orb darted to him. His words made the horned boy bury his face back into his arms as they heard a slight scream into his arms. Hugo nodded, looking at the display as though it was something he could relate to himself. "It was in the manual, around the middle of the dorms section."
"I l-l-looked there! T-t-t-they put a b-b-b-bookshelf in f-front of it!" He groaned out, shaking his head as he slowly sat up from his seat. "W-w-why do th-these dorms have t-to be so confusing?" He groaned as he let his head slowly fall back as he looked up toward the ceiling with pursed lips and a sigh.
"I would prefer confusing dorms over what some of the students in other countries have," David commented as he looked toward Blake, his arms crossed as he rolled his eyes. "I'd rather wake up to Instructor Roberts bashing my door down than room with someone like En or something." The Irish boy continued as his silver eyes looked to the side in the general direction of said demon boy as he was rummaging through the fridge. Even from about halfway across the room, the group could hear the clinking of the glass bottles as those clawed hands sifted through the drinks.
Hugo nodded slightly as he finished the last of his fruit, looking toward the demon boy as his black tail thrashed around behind him.
"Well it could be worse, we could be out sharing dorms and be worried if we're next on the chopping block." Hugo's voice sounded as he put his chin in the palm of his hand and leaned forward. David's gaze went his way, blank and dead as ever as the boy sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Who said we already aren't Hugo? As secure as this place is what happens if we do get attacked?" The Irish boy proposed, narrowing his eyes as the thought rolled off his tongue without an ounce of hesitation. There was a pause between the albino boy and Daivd as they kept eye contact, the Irish boy's dead gaze piercing into Hugo's bright blue eyes as the white-haired boy sat there confused. Alex quickly cleared her throat, garnering the two boy's attention as she slowly stood up with her bottle in hand.
"It doesn't matter right now. Come on, class is going to start soon." She said, waving her hand to follow her. Although it took longer than she liked, David and Hugo eventually stood up, and as they started walking, they noticed one boy, in particular, happened to not be standing up and following her. When she turned back from where they stood, she could see the issue.
Blake was sat in his seat, his head still leaning back with his eyes closed and mouth slightly ajar as his chest rose up and down slowly. Alex looked to her two companions, only to be met with a shrug from Hugo and an eye roll from David.
"Tch… I'll wake him up…" The boy adorned in black and maroon hissed as he walked toward Blake's sleeping figure. To say Blake was appreciative of being woken up would've… been the exact opposite of what happened.
David rubbed his arm as he stood outside the classroom doors which were situated in a hall across from the commons area on the other side of the entrance hall. When he had woken up Blake, the guy had jumped and looked even worse for wear. To the boy's credit, he appeared to be better since they had stood outside the doors waiting for all of their teachers for that day to appear and make themselves known. They'd been there for about five minutes if David remembered correctly, and the class was supposed to start in the next ten. But he'd thought that just maybe their educators would've been early.
Everyone else apparently had the same idea, since almost all of his classmates were bunched up in the hall together. David had kept quiet as his peers went about spewing their opinions of that morning and how bad or well they slept. For him? He'd slept like he was on a mattress made of bricks. But given his insomnia and stupid night terrors he could barely remember for the life of him, saying he was a 'good sleeper' would be a lie.
As he leaned against the wall, with his classmates still talking amongst themselves, he felt a gaze stabbing his figure.
The Irish teen's gaze slowly scanned his classmates, looking for whatever was practically peering into his soul like he was an open book. But as his head turned, those silver orbs eventually were met with red slits. Why he was the slightest bit surprised it was the Japanese boy giving a death stare he didn't know. A part of the black-haired boy had hoped maybe he'd moved on? By all means, he had other shit to worry about, like not getting ripped apart by their instructors for almost using his quirk on a classmate. So why in the hell he was so focused on David, he had not a fucking clue. But it was starting to piss him off. Who cared if the shirt he wore was stupid? He only wore that when he was about to go to bed, so the fact it was so controversial to one guy said more than enough.
As the two boys stared at one another, David narrowed his eyes. Staring toward the horned male with a scoff as he got off the wall.
"Do you fucking mind?" His voice sounded, staring at the demon
En let out a slight huff akin to a laugh as his sharp teeth glinted from the overhead lights. "Mind? No, a guy like you standing near me is what's pissing me off." He responded sharply as he crossed his arms, his tail swaying behind him. "Someone like you doesn't deserve to be even in this fucking facility. So do us a favor and fuck off yeah?" His scratchy voice sounded as he narrowed those red slits.
David looked at En as he seemed to be attempting to process what he'd just heard. "The hell do you mean someone like me? You barely even know me." His silver eyes narrowed in confusion, not knowing if the demon boy was serious or not.
"I don't need to know you to guess what you're like, dumbass. I mean, look at you. Walked in with a shitty shirt a five year old would wear and you walk around like you're so-" En's words were cut off by a sudden bump to his back as a shadow was cast over his shoulder. When those red orbs eventually looked back to see what had bumped into him, that confident face turned to a mixed expression.
For all tense and purposes, he looked fairly normal, aside from the red polo he had over his jeans and brown dress shoes to match. A scar ran down the left side of his forehead that went down into the dirty blond goatee. Similarly, his chin-length curly hair stared down with an emotionless gaze. From the demon boy's sight, there was just a black void in those pupils, not a single part of his eyes looking as if they could reflect the lights above. His lanky figure was tall for one, and thin to match.
"I could say the same for you Seizou." His monotone voice sounded, those browns orbs eventually moving from the white-haired boy in front of him to the rest of the class.
With a slight 'Hmph' and a purse of his lips, he walked to the door the class had surrounded, pulling keys from his pockets that he unlocked the door with. Everyone seemed to watch in silence, even those that would typically speak up were silent as the door swung open with a slight push. The man walked in without even a pause into the darkness, a light shining through the doorway as the empty room lit up.
A few of the students looked at each other, shrugging, raising an eyebrow, or maybe even a slight whisper of what they should do. But it wasn't long until a few of them grew impatient, Alex being one of the first as she scoffed and rolled her eyes as she walked inside. David sighed himself, walking into the classroom to see a stark clean room that looked exactly as he'd expected.
The door entered from a corner, shelves to David's left along the wall the door was in with fourteen exact copies of multiple books. He didn't need to be a genius to guess what they were for, but what he was more so confused about was the four sinks to his right that looked as if they belonged to a science room. Weren't they going to primarily be focusing on heroics? David could only wonder as he made his way to the center of the room, which were seven desks all facing a larger one in front of the wall to his left. Behind them were some round tables with other chairs, but go figure they were probably for something else.
The Irish teen looked at the brown desks, finding the lack of scratches engrained into the desk or some marker that never got washed out rather strange. It all looked brand new, and the boy shook his head, he needed to stop expecting them to have skipped on anything…
David's silver eyes were drawn to the front desk, where the guy that had unlocked the door stood behind. After tapping on a screen attached to the wall, he felt his stomach drop as an image appeared. Obvious enough, it was a seating chart with all their names typed on squares. What made his stomach feel like he'd just been stomped in the gut like Noriaki, the guy who did just that was to his left, with David on the far right end of the back row. As his classmates filed in, he could swear he felt those red eyes stabbing into his back, and he tilted his head up in annoyance.
"Hey, Connor… Nice to see we're gonna be good neighbors…"
He heard En's voice call from behind him as he shook his head as those clawed hands firmly grabbed his shoulder. He grit his teeth, looking back with a scowl to meet a shit-eating grin. They both stared at each other as those claws practically dug into his blazer, not before he felt an arm go around his shoulders suddenly before being pulled.
"AY! WE'RE SEAT BUDDIES!"
He heard Johnny's voice yell out as saw out of the corner of his eye En in the same position as he was also too shocked to say anything for a second. Albeit…
"HEY! LET GO FUCKER!"
Well, for just a second.
Noriaki could only stand a few meters away, his green eyes wide as he watched three completely opposite personalities clashing, and there he was having to sit with them. His tail twitched as it swayed behind him anxiously. Nori's fingers pinched his nose as he exhaled, and his thoughts matched his posture as he realized he was going to be sitting next to the same guy that had made him vomit all over himself because he felt like it.
Great…
"I would suggest you all go to your seats." The man's voice called, its monotone nature somehow cutting through the class's constant bickering as his annoyed gaze stared out toward them.
Much to his annoyance, it took a bit longer than he wanted to as the last of Atlas's students sat down in their respective seats marked for them. Once the last seat was filled, the man tapped the screen, which was followed by it immediately swapping to what was another slide. David could feel his stomach drop at the sight of it being a presentation, and from what he could tell, the now still tails of Noriaki and En said as much too.
"Now then, I am your instructor Ryder Zellar. You will address me however you please if it begins with instructor and whatever you want to end it with." He said, looking down at his clipboard before he set it down on his desk, which held a monitor, keyboard, and mouse with a chair he had pulled out and put to the side. "Firstly, welcome to Atlas, I'd say I'm happy to have you in my class, but let's just be honest," Ryder said as he took a seat in the leather chair and scoot into his desk. "This is probably going to be your least favorite class."
What David hadn't noticed, was his American accent and how low it was for one, probably because of how many timbres and accents surrounded him with his classmates. But, what he'd just said certainly caught the Irish teen's attention as he put his elbow on the desk, and plopped his chin into his hand.
"I am one of two instructors in your general education courses. Which as you could guess means I'll be teaching math, science, history of certain nations, and whatever else." His deep voice sounded in what was finally a silent room as he tapped the screen behind him. It went into an overhead map view of the floor they were on. "In case of any emergencies, we have designated areas for evacuation to the surface. Plean to meet," He pulled out a yardstick from under the desk, pointing to the end of the hallway where the classrooms were placed. "Here," Before he'd even continued, a hand shot up, his dark blue eyes staring toward it. "And before we get any questions, there's a reason it isn't marked on your maps." He stated simply, watching the hand that had belonged to Maria, who was to the left of En slowly drop.
"I know you're all dying to become heroes and save the world and all that. But learn this here and now, instead of later." He said, standing up as he set the yardstick down on his desk. " You will not be swinging through the city shouting quips, and you will not be cracking a smile every second. If you feel like that's the thing you wanna go for once your career is set, go for it." His low voice curtly said as his gaze panned through the class. "But, what do you need to remember the most? You can't save everyone no matter how hard you train. Some of you, sadly, know that more than others. But I am not going to instill false hope in all of you."
He tapped the board, leading to a blank red background with the Atlas logo on it. Some of the class stared at him with determined gazes. Johnny, Alex, Volker, Maria. Whilst others looked cocky like En. But a few's expressions ranged from disinterested to the ones that avoided their instructor's gaze, specifically Noriaki and David, who both looked away. "Look at the people next to you, you're going to know them for the next few years, and them only. I hope you all can treat one another with… respect." The teacher said, his blue eyes casting over to En before he cleared his throat.
"Since the band aid is ripped off early, I don't think you'll all be stupid with my expectations. As any school would expect, don't be idiots." He put his fist up, letting one of his fingers out with every rule he'd nonchalantly say. "Turn in your assignments on time, be here on time, be quiet when it's needed, don't scream your head off, language, be respectful to your peers, and blah blah blah." He said, rolling his eyes as he tapped the screen once more, the slide transitioning to an "About me'.
"Tch…" Ryder seemed to scoff, rolling his eyes as he leaned back into his leather chair. "Well uh, I'm forty seven, an ex pro hero and that's it." He said, quickly tapping it again to move on. What came next was a picture of a black screen, with a blank bar graph with the names of the continents of the world popping up under every bar.
"To give you a basic rundown, hundreds of schools have been attacked and wiped to the ground…" His blue eyes stared at the graph, pursing his lips as he sighed and continued. And well, I shouldn't be telling you this, but about twenty eight hours ago, that number went up." He said, leaning back against the wall next to the screen as he crossed his arms.
His words seemed to leave the class in silence as he could see their gazes slowly trace to every bar. Some eyes were wide, in clear shock as they looked as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Some just stared blankly, not able to comprehend the information their eyes so clearly stared at. Maria eventually raised her hand, which Ryder gave a nod as her Russian accent sounded for what some of the class was the first time they heard her voice.
"Sir… That's… What about casualties?"
She asked, making everyone look toward her and then back to their instructor as he fidgeted with his hands. Ryder seemed to pause as he stared toward the ground from where he was leaning against the wall before he shook his head and took a step toward his desk. The steps of his dress shoes making small taps as he walked across the marble floor with a shrug from his left shoulder.
"I don't know. Nobody does. But that's where you all come in." He said, before tapping his mouse, making the screen go to a picture. One of a figure in blue with angular shoulder pads of some kind. Fire and smoke surrounded the figure as their arms were out to their sides, almost as if they were basking in the heat of a sun that wasn't present in the pitch-black sky. Ryder walked to the side so that the screen wasn't blocked, looking at the picture with the class. He had the yardstick from his desk in his hand before it tapped the screen with it.
"This is one of your targets, and one of the only few images we have of one of the task force. The other ones are… Not exactly for your eyes yet." He said as he stared at the picture, his features scrunched as he narrowed his eyes.
When he looked back toward the class he took a step toward everyone as he tapped the image with his yardstick. Then he tapped the spacebar of his keyboard with the stick, making the next slide show, which was just a blank screen. Ryder sat down on his desk facing the class, shrugging as he looked at them with a face that seemed almost blank. "So with that all in mind, welcome to general education. You'll learn science, math, language arts, and world history. This the most like a traditional class as you could probably guess." Ryder continued, watching everyone with a pause. "Any questions? Because that picture you saw is going to be one of your first projects in this class, so if you want to know more I'd suggest asking."
The teens seemed to pause for a few seconds, their instructor raising his eyebrows as if he was expecting someone to raise their hand. It was an almost awkward silence that everyone didn't know how to break until Alivia raised her hand, in front of Maria and in between Johnny Noriaki and Hugo with an orange tucked-in polo and black dress pants. Her school uniform even displayed an omega symbol from the Greek alphabet on her right breast pocket with the acronym 'A.S.H.A; under it. Ryder nodded, putting his yardstick in between his legs as he put his hands on top of it like it was a cane.
"So Sir, you said this class is kinda like what we would've had right?" She asked, her hand going down as she spoke.
"Yes, I do believe that is what I said." Their instructor responded blankly, shrugging with one shoulder.
"So how many group projects are we going to have?" She finished, going silent as she leaned into her seat.
Ryder nodded, "Good question." He said, actually looking impressed that someone asked a question that had to do with what he talked about. "In regards to how many? I don't really have an exact number for you, so I apologize I don't have that. But what I do have is a general statement, which is to say they're going to be a lot." His words were clear and concise before he paused, his eyes drawn to the ceiling as he bit the corner of his lip. "But there will be some individual work, however, you all need to remember that you're all going to be quite close knit as the years progress. So breaking the ice as soon as possible is essential to the group training you'll all have." He finished, capping off his response with a slight gesture toward her with his hand before he let it plop on his leg, then looking to the class for any more questions.
Right as he thought everyone would just sit there awkwardly waiting for him to push the pace of the day forward, another hand, or rather clawed hand raised. This time, it belonged to the almost absurdly large dragon behind a very heavily bandaged Florian. Lucas took up more than enough space with his desk that matched his figure in between Volker and Niyah.
"How often will we have this class?" He said simply, making Ryder reach back blankly, tapping his spacebar that showed the schedule for the week before he looked back toward the class.
"This'll be passed out on paper after the questions are over. Any others?" He asked as Lucas looked at the schedule from his seat on the board.
David raised his hand that time, his dead silver eyes matching the same feeling Ryder's had. Said instructor looked to the Irish teen, permitting him to speak as the boy's hand went down.
"That picture, who took it? And where is it from?" He asked, making the class look at him, and then back to Ryder, seemingly also interested. David's question seemed to make their instructor pause as he looked at the floor, looking as if he was contemplating something. Though he was silent a bit longer than usual, Ryder eventually looked back up as he placed the yardstick behind him on the desk.
"The student's name is Vanessa, we know this picture was taken in Italy, and as for her whereabouts? We don't know. However, we found her phone a few kilometers off campus of a school that had quite a hefty hero and musical dance program." He said curtly, but also in a gentle way that made him seem more frustrated not with David for asking, but with something else.
"So… We all heard from wherever we're from that nobody ever survived one of the attacks. Are you saying someone survived?" David cut straight to the point, leaning forward as his arms were planted on his desk. Even En, who'd been casting glares and whispering things under his breath seemed silent as his red-slitted eyes stared toward Ryder.
"..."
Ryder smiled, jumping off of his desk as he planted his feet on the floor and tapped the space bar of his keyboard behind him once more, leading to a white background with simple black text that read 'How and why?' The instructor walked toward the board, sarcastically clapping for David as he stopped next to the screen.
"Very observant David, that's exactly what I'm saying." He said, leaning against the wall as his dead blue eyes seemed almost energetic for once. "This will be your first project with the person next to you. You will be analyzing what little details are in the picture, and giving me and the rest of your peers a presentation on what you think happened in the picture." He said, motioning to the screen before crossing his arms. "You'll be using the Atlas database for your research, and will be graded on your deductive reasoning and oral presentation skills." He actually had a smile on his face strangely, though some of the class preferred his more blank expression after that.
David nodded quietly before his silver eyes widened at the word 'partner'. Slowly, he looked to his left, seeing En's sharp-toothed grin as he let out a sigh and rolled his silver orbs.
"This is your first overall project, but I'll save that for your other general education instructor to explain. And I will be honest, expect your day to be heavily segmented because this isn't normal hero school anymore." Ryder's monotone voice sounded somewhat loudly to get everyone's attention since murmurs had started. "Welcome to Atlas's educational classroom portions, just wait until your physical exams and training regiments, Instructor Ayisha has some interesting ideas for you all…"
"So welcome to the big leagues, and don't count on luck to get you through this, because it won't save you from the hard work."
David could feel his stomach form a pit as En laughed under his breath. Honestly, the Irish teen wasn't looking forward to feeling like his body was about to fall apart because of a pulled muscle. But he didn't have a choice, nor did his peers so at least they could all agree on that. All he, and anybody could really do was work and hope for the best. No matter how unlikely it may have been for hope to have a place in Atlas, even though it somehow rooted itself in everyone's minds. Maybe that's all he could do mentally was just that, but hope could only go so far in his mind…He could only figure he'd have to wait and see.
Ryder spoke once again, his cold and blank face back on display, much to the appreciation of the class. "Now that you know the basics of what you will be doing, let me start by saying thank you for coming to Atlas and choosing this program. You're here for good reasons, and to become heroes. So do something that I couldn't alright?" He said, pausing before he sighed.
"Don't forget what you're fighting, because one day when it's right in front of you, pray to God you have the strength to fight back.
Thanks for waiting everyone, hope you enjoy the chapter and small bits of development here. See you all next time.
