Chapter 2: The Meeting
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So this is the guy they were talking about.
You mean the one who smelled like he didn't took a bath for 52 years?
Do you even have to mention that?
Do you have to whine that we all have to endure the stench?
Forget about it.
Does anyone know his name?
Yeah.
His name is...
Elijah Oppenheimer.
At recess time, 9 was in the school's cafeteria. He was sitting in the table with his classmates. Unfortunately, his classmates were on the other side of the table. His classmates were having a discussion about him. Dib was the one who kept on talking about 9 while his friends kept on telling that 9 is harmless.
Dib: I'm serious! By the time I saw him before class, I got the suspicion about him.
Mordecai: I don't know, Dib. He seems harmless for me.
Dib: Mordecai, don't underestimate that ragdoll robot. I mean look at him, his eyes looks like security cameras, his zipper looks like he's hiding something, and he smells like he didn't take a bath in 52 years!
Kyoko: *sniffs* Well, he does smells.
Mickey: Well, I don't think he's a spy. Maybe that's how he was made.
Dib: Well then why he kept on asking that it wasn't on Ms. Divino's lessons?
Tails: Like?
Dib: *mimicking 9* 'Do all humans are bacteria?' or 'How do people do that?' or 'Why people need energy like food or some sort?'
Kyoko: *scoffts* You got the worst voice immitation of him.
Dib: Be quiet! I almost got his pitch right.
Lettuce: I think he was just curious, Dib. Maybe Science was his favorite subject. He could even guess what C6H4Cl2 was.
Dipper: *raises an eyebrow* You mean 'Paradichlorobenzene'?
Kyoko: How did you even remember that...that thing?
Dib: It was the only chemical formula that some of us answered.
Kyoko: You're insane, you know that?
Phineas: Yeah, I think you judge him too early.
Kyoko: Remember the last time you did that to Mirai? He also asks the question why we have to eat food.
Finn: Yeah, and you thought Mebius is a bad guy.
Mickey: You could say that unless you shot him.
Dib: I know, but hat was before we knew Mirai and Mebius were the same people. *to Mirai* No heart feelings, though. But still, I don't think we could trust him as a friend.
Then suddenly Mirai got up from his seat and move to 9's place. The students gave a look at Dib.
Kyoko: Dib Membrane you are soooooo busted.
Finn: Dib, what did you say to him?
Dib: I said 'No heart feelings'. What so bad about that?
Finn: I don't know, but you made him go to Elijah's place.
Dipper: Hmmm, I wonder what will he do to him.
In 9's place, he was still waiting for Bridget to come.
Where is she?
Why isn't she here yet?
Maybe she wasn't coming.
The students in here are avoiding me for some reason.
He saw a boy with brown hair is going to his place. He was wearing a unifrom with a logo that says 'GUYS' for some reason. When the boy finally sits down, he smiled at him. Then 9 remembered something from his class earlier.
[BGM: Together from HetaOni]
9: Is he...*gasps* You're the boy who helped me from Aliana's class.
Mirai: Yes, *pulls his hand out* my name is Mirai Hibino.
9: *looks at Mirai's hand for a minute, he then pulls his hand out like Mirai* 9.
Mirai then did a handshake to him. After the handshake Mirai puts his hand on the table.
Mirai: By the way, why your name is 9 when your I.D said it's Elijah Oppenheimer?
9: I don't know...
Mirai: You don't remember why you enrolled?
9: No.
Mirai: How about your parents?
9: *shook head* No, I can't remember anything but my name.
Mirai: Oh, I'm so sorry about that. *gives 9 a corn* You want one?
9: Uh...no thank you.
Mirai: You don't eat?
9: What's 'Eat'?
Mirai: *stares in shock*
9: Oh. I'm sorry!
Mirai: No, it's okay. I also did that when I came in this place.
9: Really?
Mirai: Yeah, when I ate my first food when I was enrolled my classmates looked at me like I've never ate before *laughs*
9: *smiles* Thank you.
Mirai: For what?
9: For helping me in the class last time. Ms. Divino will be otherwise mad at me...
Mirai: *chuckles* You're welcome.
In the students' place. They smiled when they are watching them.
Mickey: Would you look at that? Looks like Elijah was nice after all.
Mordecai: *to Dib* See, Dib. Elijah is a nice guy.
Dib: I still don't trust him.
Finn: Well you can't trust him if you don't know him.
Phineas: You know what? How about we could eat lunch with him, just so we meet him.
Mickey: That's a good idea, Phineas. Let's go.
Kyoko: We better hold our noses from the smell.
Mickey: No need for that. We had to get use to it if he's our classmate for the rest of the school year. Even though it sometimes hurt our noses...
They all went to 9's place except Dib. Dipper noticed it.
Dipper: Hey Dib, you coming?
Dib: *sighs sadly* You go on ahead, Dipper.
Dipper: Are you sure?
Dib: Yeah. I'll get to know him by myself if it's the right time.
Dipper: Okay...Well...I'll see you soon at class. He still hadn't moved on after that incident. I felt so sorry for him. He still misses her.
The students met 9 then. They say their names, and their things. They even talked about some moments that made him laugh. It felt good that he had to smile and laugh for while. It really pass the time until a minute later, Bridget finally came in exhaustion.
Bridget: Elijah! I'm so sorry I was so late. The principal's son is talking to me some long stories that I have to wait for few minutes to finish. *sees the students* Ah, I see you have friends already. That's good!
Students: *stood up* Good Morning, Ms. Solano!
Bridget: Please guys, call me Bridget. I'm just a person not a president. So, how is it going with Elijah?
Lettuce: It's fine. He's very nice.
Phineas: And not to mention smart too. He even answered Aliana's questions even though he was a new student.
Kyoko: Yeah, inlcluding Para-ti-choro-whatever that is.
Mirai: Paradichlorobenzene?
Kyoko: That's the one.
9: *embarrassed* It's not like that.
Kyoko: Aw, come on. You really don't want to share your intelligence with us?
Finn: You just want to copy his homeworks, do you?
Kyoko: No, I'm not!
Bridget: *laughs* Well that's great! You have new friends on your first day.
9: *smiles*
Then Bridget notice that someone isn't on the group.
Bridget: Wait, where's Dib?
Mordecai: He's at the other side.
Bridget: Hmm? He didn't trust him, did he. He still misses her. *looks at Dib, then sighs*
9: Bridget, is Dib okay?
Bridget: He's okay, though. He just has a problem from his past.
9: About what? Is it about me?
Bridget: It's not about you, don't worry. But...I don't think we should talk about that. He's still needs some time to tell about it to you.
9 think about that. That's until the bell rings, everyone is going back to their rooms.
Is he okay?
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Looks like I have to talk to him.
Bridget went to Section Anima and she called for Dib during Aliana's discussion. Aliana allowed Dib to go to Bridget. They went at her office to talk.
Bridget: I saw you alone during recess. Why?
Dib: ...
Bridget: Come on Dib, I know you don't want to tell me about it.
Dib: ...
Bridget: ...It's Crystal Chronos, am I right?
Dib: SHE KNEW?! *glares* Why do you have to say her name?
Bridget: It's because you were always close to her. *sighs* Look, I know it's hard of losing a friend like Crystal.
Dib: But you don't understand, she was my one and only friend, Bridget. It's so hard to forget her. The things we did, the things we knew, the things we love...I was happy before that. And then she told me that she's going to die. It felt so hard that I tried to cheat her fate, but...In the end, I failed her. Just as I failed myself to save one's life.
Bridget: I know, but you have to accept that she's not here anymore. But you have to remember that she is happy that she finished her mission here on Earth.
Dib: How can you tell? How do you know?
Bridget: Remember the time she gave you the necklace?
Dib thinks about it and look for the necklace on his pocket. He finally felt it on his back pocket and pulled it out. It was a delicate necklace, it has the color of the midnight sky with frames of the crystal shards around it. It looked like a star once you look closely to it.
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Memory Fragment: Crystal Chronos
[BGM: Vanity by Presence of Music]
Why? Why do you have to go?!
Dib was seen at a hospital room with someone on the bed. The sound of the heartbeat was very slow which is the only noise the you could hear in this room, besides Dib's cries. His head was covered with his arms as he cried while the hood his sweater covered his sycthe-like hair. His hand was holding the girl's delicate hand gently.
The girl was breathing slowly and weakly. Her pale face becomes paler and paler and her eyes begin to blur her own vision.
She is slowly dying.
Dib: Crystal, please, just let me heal you!
Crsytal: No...Just...let me...die...In...here.
Dib: Why? I got powers now, I can heal you!
Crystal: Magic...cannot...help...my...sickness...
Dib: But don't you see?! With this, I can help people now. I can do good things that no one will think I'm crazy anymore! And I can prove that Zim is an alien once and for all!
Crystal: *sighs* Dib...Is that the only way that would make you happy? Seeing your schoolmate suffer even though he can't rule the world anymore? Our world?
Dib: ...Yes, but-
Crystal: You know you can't keep that obsession of yours for long...Not that I'm here anymore also.
Dib: That's why I'm saving you! I could make you better! And then we would do things that would make us happy! Together!
Crystal: Oh Dib, you know Fate can't do anything to stop this from happening. It must be continued.
Dib: No...I CANT LET THAT FROM HAPPENING! YOU'RE MY ONLY FRIEND AND I DON'T WANT MY FRIEND IN FRONT OF MY EYES. I'M SO SCARED THAT NO ONE WILL BE MY FRIEND AGAIN BECAUSE I'M A TOTAL IDIOT OF MAKING EVERYONE BELIEVE THAT I'M CRAZY! I don't want to be alone...
Crystal is shocked, she didn't knew how Dib feel about her. Ever since they met, she thought that they were just classmates. But right now, before her death, she was Dib's only friend. Her eyes felt watery, she didn't knew that it would end like this seeing her friend very sad and lonely once more. She must do something to make him feel a little better.
She removes her necklace at her neck slowly as she touched her hand to the necklace, glowing in bright midnight blue color.
Crystal: Dib?
Dib: What...is it?
Crystal: I want to give you something very important to me before I go.
Dib: Your...necklace?
Crystal: It was the only thing that is worth to my living life, this necklace was vey valuable to me. And now...you can have it. It was the only thing that would make you happy once again.
Dib: But...why me?
Crystal: You got the potential to be the keeper of my necklace. And now you got powers, you can help people in the right way. Find Ms. Divino, she can help you with your powers, she can be trusted.
Dib: What about you?
Crystal: Don't worry, I'll be fine. Just...be happy...Okay? Can you promise that?
Dib: I...I PROMISE!
The heart monitor went into a flat line.
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Dib: Oh...You mean that.
Bridget: Crystal gave that necklace to you because she doesn't want you to be alone. She says that she'll be with you. You know that you're not the only one
Dib: Why not Dipper and Elijah?
Bridget: Dipper wasn't meant to be Inherited YET. As for Elijah...*sighs*
Dib: What? What is it?
Bridget: After all this days, my friends are starting to disappear one by one. And right now...You might as well think who is next. Christina, Lauren, Leo, Felicity, Jasmine, Crystal, Angelo, Eleanor...
Dib: Bridget...You don't mean-
The bell rang. It was dismissal time for the school.
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In the Section Anima room, the class fixed their books for tomorrow. It was a pretty busy day for them, they think that Dib was very lucky to be excused for a while rather than listening to Aliana's lecture about Chromosomes. Mirai had already left the room since he worked outside of the school.
All of a sudden, a door opened revealing Dib at the door.
Mordecai: You're back.
Dipper: You've missed a lot today, man.
Dib: It's okay, I'll catch up with the subject.
Lettuce: What happened to you and Bridget?
Dib: *crossed fingers at the back* Well, we have a talk about Elijah.
9: About me?
Mirai: What did you say to her?
Dib: *looks at 9* It's a little private. And Elijah's there, how can it be private when Elijah's here to listen?
Dipper: He does have a point.
Kyoko: *impatient* Anyway, let's go already. I really need to sleep from Aliana's Chemistry topic. I think my head is full of numbers already!
Finn: Well then , let's go.
Tails: Wait, what about Elijah? Are we going to wait for him?
Lettuce: We can't just leave him alone in the classroom. Who will help him?
Dib: Bridget will take care of him, but right now we have to go to our rooms. *to 9* You have to wait for Bridget to come in here. We'll meet you when you found us.
9: What do you mean by that?
No one answered, they already left the room. 9 did what Dib told him, he had to wait for Bridget.
I feel cold...
Bridget: Oh, Elijah! What are you doing in here? You should be in your room now.
9: I don't know where my room is.
Bridget: Don't know where your room is? But it's in the…*facepalms* Oh yeah! How could I be so silly! *laughs*I hadn't told you your room yet. Come, I'll show your room.
Bridget and 9 went outside of the room. It was so bright when it's in the evening. They went to the Corridors of the Lockers, each of them has different colors and symbols.
9 wonder why it has many colors, yet he was still new. They finally stopped at a locker that is color silver with a touch of cyan around it and it has the symbol from 9's I.D. Bridget made him stand from the locker and suddenly a laser lit up and scans 9's I.D. It opened revealing a passageway through it. Bridget and 9 went inside, she explained why.
Bridget: You know Elijah; the school is not only a school. It is also a dorm for the students.
9: Really?
Bridget: Yeah. Charles–Emile Reynaud School is also known for its dormitory rooms so the students won't have to go from home to school and vice-versa, and you won't believe who are you going to be with.
By the time they arrived, Bridget opened the door and showed her his dorm room. He was shocked at the result.
He saw his classmates.