Revamped!

[I apologize for not putting as much attention on this story compared to my other one, but I was just in a groove for that story.] [2020: *ignores that this story gets updated not as often anymore for many reasons*]

Forming Clay Soldiers: Part Four

Commonwealth, The Earthen Union

Winter's shaking hands carefully open the envelope. She pulls out a folded sheet of standard notebook paper and unfolds it. Inside is a letter that was written completely in Jacin's writing. Tears form in her eyes as she reads each and every line. When her tears fall on the letter, they appear as drops of blood until she shakes her head and sees them as normal tears. Normal tears that make the paper more transparent and smudge the writing.

Once the letter is complete, Winter holds it close to her chest. Her entire body shakes as she leans against the door and slides down to the ground.

-o-

Artemisia, Luna

Rumours have been spreading in both sectors of Andromeda Academy. Students have been endlessly gossiping about Jacin and his noticeable disappearance. Typically, Jacin had the reputation of being the quiet kid in the class whose dad was the dean. Now that he's mysteriously not here and curfew has been enforced even more strictly than before, everyone started talking. Iko and Kinney have been questioned about it by their peers to which they responded with vague answers like "I don't know" and "None of your spading business." It was at that point where the rumours were so thick that they couldn't even deny Jacin's disappearance.

Iko and Kinney stand in the courtyard, seeing all their peers walk past them. All the conversations they hear are typical and mundane until Iko and Kinney are in sight because then the conversation drastically changes to whatever Jacin rumour is trending across campus.

"I heard that the military has spotted some sightings of Jacin," a cadet says.

"Or maybe the military kidnapped him because they wanted him overseas early," another cadet guesses.

Iko and Kinney glance at one another and subtly nod their heads once. That was possibly true. From what they remember, some military officers were scouting their training classes to eye some of them out for the ranks. Jacin had their eye not only because of his father but because of his impeccable skills and academic grades.

"I heard that Jacin went crazy like his girlfriend did before she left the country," another cadet says.

Iko and Kinney just shoot daggers with their eyes at that classmate. They were fine with Jacin being called crazy because they knew he wasn't crazy, but bringing Winter and her mental stability into the fire of rumours was uncalled for and inappropriate. Iko and Kinney would deal with it, but showing anger towards it implies that it was true and they were denying it. That and rumours were just rumours. Let them spread to give people something to talk about.

"I'll put bleach in their shampoo," Iko murmurs about all their chattering classmates.

"Iko..." Kinney scolds.

"Fine. I'll just put hair dye."

Kinney's face is still stern. Iko rolls her eyes. It's not like she was aiming to get Kinney's approval or permission, she just wanted someone to bounce ideas on.

"Only put hair dye in the shampoo that belongs to whoever mentions Winter in their gossip," Kinney says.

Iko grins mischievously. "I knew you'd come on board."

"And make it a ridiculous colour."

"Of course."

-o-

Commonwealth, The Earthen Union

Winter is in her room, lying in the middle of her bed and staring at her empty ceiling. The letter rests on her chest with a hand on top and floods her thoughts. The words replay repeatedly, being said in Jacin's voice which only adds to the mess of voices that already reside in her head (that were being hushed with her medication). Speaking of her medication, Winter isn't sure if she took her daily doses ever since Jacin went missing. Her mind has been on that over her mental health.

Should she take some now or wait until tomorrow?

Cinder walks into Winter's room to check up on her and is instantly hit with an overwhelming smell. She gags a bit and coughs. Winter hasn't even noticed Cinder's entrance.

"Aces, Winter, are you smoking?!" Cinder exclaims.

"No…" Winter mutters. "It's lavender oil."

Cinder looks over at Winter's desk and sees her essential oil diffuser letting out its lavender mist. Cinder knows that Winter only uses that machine when she's in a desperate need of calming herself. She sits on the corner of Winter's bed and spots the sheet of paper on Winter's chest. Cinder's hand hover over to grab it. When she sees that Winter has no issue with that, Cinder takes the sheet and starts to read it.

"Dearest Winter," Cinder reads, "I'm sure that by now, you know what's going on. However, you might also be wondering what is going on. As the centre of this problem, I can honestly tell you that I have no idea what's happening. I had to get out of Andromeda Academy and clear my head to figure it out. I left my phone behind so please don't waste your time calling or texting me. Don't worry about me. I might not know what's happening or what I'm doing but I'll be fine, I promise. Love, Jacin."

Cinder's jaw drops to the ground. That letter was so vague and ambiguous that it could almost mean anything. Winter sits up and looks at Cinder for some sort of comment on it or reassurance. Unfortunately, Cinder is in too much shock and confusion brought by the letter that she isn't even sure what to do about it.

"We have to do something with this," Cinder says.

"What do we do?" Winter responds.

Cinder shrugs. "I'm not sure, but now I feel your pain on a gut level."

-o-

Location Unknown

Jacin is smarter than people assume him to be. Not only is he the son of a former military commander and a doctor in global literature, but he's been at Andromeda Academy long enough to know how to sneak around. Of course, he's never done it himself until now but he's heard about his classmates' failed attempts and keeps his comments on their stupidity to himself. He's learned from and corrected their mistakes which is why he was one of the only ones able to run off successfully. But unlike those success stories, they had legitimate reasons for escaping unlike him who still isn't sure why he left.

Recently, Jacin hasn't been sure on anything.

"You'll be a soldier, boy, won't you? That's why your parents put you in military school. You'll make them proud."

He stops walking on the sidewalk and rests beside a tree in the park to take a moment to think. He had no idea why he did this or where he's going. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe he should go back.

No.

He can't. They won't be proud of him now, would they?

He would return and not only get yelled at by his parents but be back in that stagnant school. His personal skepticism would only continue to bug him so what would all this have been for?

Absolutely nothing, that's what.

Jacin takes a breath and a moment to reflect: what choice in his life was he a thousand percent sure of? If he could answer that, then maybe he knows his reason for leaving.

This epiphany hits him like a bullet. Jacin knows something he's certain in.

He starts walking again, now with a destination in mind.

He starts running, needing to get there as fast as possible. He doesn't know how much time he has left.

-o-

Commonwealth, The Earthen Union

"I can't do this…" Winter says, light on her toes as she starts to sway uncontrollably.

"Don't worry, Winter," Cinder says rushed to make sure Winter doesn't pass out. She hands Winter her essential oil diffuser so she'd calm down with lavender oil. "Just breathe and I will think of something. Maybe we should tell Garrison and Clarissa about this."

"You didn't even read the back of the letter."

"The back?"

Cinder takes the letter again and turns it over. She notices an additional sentence above Jacin's signature. Cinder's eyes read through it and she puts down the letter so she could put her fingers on her forehead. That one dreaded sentence just made all this even harder and makes Cinder's plan invalid. Winter's unable to handle any more of this. Cinder holds Winter's arm with one hand and the letter with the other. She doesn't want Winter to pass out or even worse, lose control of the voices that will reappear in her head the more she panics. She wonders if her cousin took her meds today.

"Winter, please, if you truly loved me, then you won't tell my parents about this letter…"

"Well, spades…" Cinder grumbles. "Jacin better be looking for his mind because I think he lost it."

[I had to reread Jacin's letter so many times because it was confusing me.] [2020: … what? It wasn't that hard. *is ashamed of 2018 me*]