Strange Fate

Shade Yukia had just arrived on the school grounds and was making his way towards the main office where he was supposed to receive his class schedule and room assignment. He requested a private room and hoped his wish would be granted. He liked having his space to himself, and well, if he had to share with someone else he would be constantly paranoid that they would search through his stuff--or just annoy him to no end. Maybe he was just being picky, but Shade managed to always find something off-putting about everyone, save for a few select people. One of his friends once suggested that he lower his standards, and in return, Shade just laughed--rather psychotically, and replied with a stern no. Him, lower his standards? No no, others had to live up to them.

Before he got into the office he opened up one of his most prized possessions, a chocolate candy bar, and shoved it into his mouth. There didn't seem to be a line trailing outside the building, but a large group of new students was moving towards the office. There was no way Shade had the patience to wait behind all of them, so in one very quick movement, he stepped forward and with super human speed, he skipped the group completely and got inside probably before they even noticed what he was doing. His dark purple Converse tapped the floor as he waited in the much shorter line and eventually he got up to the lady behind the desk. She had a holographic looking clipboard in her hand, no doubt used for identifying students. She looked up at Shade waiting for his name, then her eyes drifted to the chocolate bar in his mouth and she sort of frowned.

"Shade Yukia." For just a moment the woman looked surprised, for Shade hadn't spoken out loud. Then recognition set in, he was obviously a telepath. "Enjoy your time here Mr. Yukia." The woman handed him a small black square, it was tinier than his palm, and a black bracelet that had a small red glowing dot on it. Shade tipped his head forward in response and left the building. The tiny square was actually a campus map, it neon green hologram displayed different routes to class and a blinking blue dot to show his location. Shade followed the map to his dormitory and waved the red dot of his bracelet in front of a scanner on the door. It opened inward and he continued inside and to his room.

Inside it was pretty simple, there was a decent sized window, two beds, two closets, a bathroom, and two desk. Wait...two beds? "What the hell?" He mumbled around the candy in his mouth. Shade's eyes narrowed as he looked at the other, unoccupied bed. Had they paired him up with a roommate anyway? Oh no, he was going to have a talk with whoever handled the room arrangements and tell them he couldn't perform at his best with a roommate. But first, he decided to unpack his things. Then, he would handle the whole roommate fiasco.

Cherry stretched and yawned as he left the Headmaster's office. The headmaster was his official guardian since Cherry apparently didn't have a family. He was an orphan of war to be more specific. At least that's what he's been told since he was very young. The headmaster was always pushing him to do better, to become stronger. He would always lecture the young super human about how he had a lot of potential and it would be a waste if he didn't do his best in every class. Whenever Cherry was lectured, he would just act bored and ask if he was done talking. He came off like he didn't take life seriously, but in reality he took it very seriously. He was constantly training and desperately wanted to become a soldier.

He scratched his soft red hair as he came up to the office to receive his schedule and his dorm number and key. He took a sip of his strawberry and banana smoothies then sighed when he saw all the new students and returning ones flood the main office hallway. Of course this wasn't his first year at Academy #0011 he'd spent most of his life there and had a love hate relationship with the office secretary. He took another sip of his smoothie and began wading through the ocean of students. Some people recognized him and patted him on the back or let him pass them out of respect or fear. He finally made it to the front and when the office secretary asked the next student's name, Cherry cut in front of him. "Cherry Haelbard, Ma'am"

The secretary lowered her glasses and looked up at him. She was obviously already agitated from the influx of students and was obviously annoyed at the red heads presence. Which is good. "Back of the line, Haelbard."

"Oh, come on Felicity," He said smiling. She glared at him. "Err, I mean Ms. Paisley. That's going to take forever and I need to drop my stuff off in my room before I can start using the training rooms. Don't you love me? Don't you want me to be at my best, so I can save the world and end the war?"

"Look, La-" Ms. Paisley started until she was shushed by Cherry who was in fear of her disclosing his government name.

"Please, don't say my government name," he pleaded quietly. "Everyone calls me Cherry. Even the teachers call me Cherry."

"I don't care!" she retorted. "My period started this morning and I'm in no mood for any of your shenanigans! Now, get to the back of the damn line!"

Eww, did she just say shenanigans? He forced a grin. "Alright how about a deal. I'll bring you some dark chocolate and tea during your lunch break and I promise that you won't see my face for the rest of the year. How about it?" The secretary was fuming, she reached under the desk and handed the teen his card key and class schedule, just to be rid of him. He said thank you and headed off to his dorm.

Cherry had always had his own room, it was a luxury he assumed was available to him because he was basically the headmaster's son. He was really looking forward to it because the headmaster had children of his own who also had children that loved to bother him when he had to stay with them while school was out. "And since I'm early I can head straight to the training room alone!" He said victoriously as he turned down the hall where his room was supposed to be located. 651....652...653...that has to be 655 right there. Hmm, that's strange..why is the door open? When he walked into the doorway he saw a boy with dark hair staring back at him. "What..the..hell is this?"

Shade just finished neatly folding his future attire and tucked it away neatly in the drawers. He was very peculiar in a sense that everything had to be symmetrical and orderly. That's why often, on his downtime, he could be found cleaning. He wasn't satisfied until every speck of dust was dealt with and not a wrinkle was left in any fabric. After he put his all of his clothes away he took pulled his hair purple back with a silver bobby pin and dusting all of the surfaces. He didn't have any classes today, but he did want to go out and explore the campus, maybe slip inside one of the training rooms and play around with his hemokinesis for a little while.

After he finished his dusting he fell back on his bed and fiddled with the holographic map he got from the main office. There were a lot of things on campus and he located one specific training building that had a pool, he definitely wanted to check that out. Footsteps from down the hall seized his attention and he shot up straight, his head turned automatically to the door. He stood up and soon came face-to-face with the very last person he wanted to see. "You have got to be kidding me!" The incredulous look on his face soon turned into an expression of utter disgust. "This is supposed to be my room, what the hell are you doing here?!"

Shade didn't like a lot of people, that was pretty clear, but he especially couldn't stand to be around Cherry Haelbard. They had always been rivals, all the way back to when Shade first met him when he was only seven years old. Now the male had to shake his head and make sure he wasn't just seeing things. "Oh no no no, this won't do. This simple won't work. They can't trap me in here with you." His gray eyes were narrowed at Cherry and his hands were clenched into tight fist. "Well it's obvious what needs to be done, you can leave and find somewhere else to sleep, I'm sure any dumpster will do." He made a dismissing movement with his hands before folding them across his chest. What luck Shade seemed to be having.

Cherry's brows knit together out of mild irritation. What the hell was this? Who in the world had set him up to room with his least favorite person in the world. He refused to believe that this was pure coincidence. No, this had to be a set up. Probably the headmaster's doing, he assumed. Either way he wasn't going to bend over for that gray eyed bastard. Cherry charged into the room throwing his luggage on the empty bed. Shade Yukia wasn't happy to see him either. He didn't expect him to be.

Cherry took a sip of his smoothie then spoke nonchalantly. "I'm fine where I am, but feel free to move out. Hey, I'll even help you get your things together." With that the teenager teenager made a gesture with his hand that caused all of the drawers on Shade's side of the room, then with a flick of his wrist all of the neatly folded clothes were flung out into a messy pile in the hallway. Cherry smirked. He knew what he was doing wasn't the best way of going about the situation, but in his experience, choosing the more difficult path had proven to always be the most fun. "Woah, look at that. I recommend you go fetch your clothes before they start picking up dirt from the floor. Wouldn't want them to get dirty now, do we?"

If Shade's eyes could have bugged out of his head and fallen on the floor, they definitely would have the moment Cherry made it clear he wasn't going anywhere. His clothes...they were on the dirty floor where hundreds of people tracked dirt, germs, and other substances Shade didn't even want to think about. His eyes widened and he didn't even think of saying anything until he ran to pick them up and put them in a pile on his bed. He would have to make use of the laundry room later, there was just no way he would be wearing any of those outfits until they were cleaned and ironed straight again.

Shade looked up from his clothes and turned slowly to face Cherry, he had to take a few deep breaths to regain his composure. "Ohh you think you're just so funny don't you?" He ran to the other side of Cherry's bed and gave the mattress a hard kick, tossing it and his luggage over to the floor. "You have to leave, I was here first so what I say is the law." He stood in the space that would have been taken up by the mattress if it wasn't on the floor. "I'm not going anywhere, no matter how childish you act." He folded his arms over his chest indignantly, he didn't go picking fights with people on the regular, but now was a special exception.

Cherry held in his laughter after he saw Shade's face when he tossed his clothes in the hallway. The guy looked like he was ready to burst! Things changed when shade came back in and kicked all of Cherry's luggage on the floor. "Hey! What hell is your problem!" Cherry scrambled to his bag praying that nothing got broken. He unzipped a bag and discovered that one of his most precious Red Star idol collectibles had been broken. Red Star was the name of the most famous squad of FEP graduates. He admired them to the max and what Shade Yukia had just committed was grounds for death. "You bastard look what you did!" He held up the doll size warrior who's head had broken off. "Look at it! You should feel ashamed of yourself!" Using his powers Cherry launched himself through the air, landing on top of Shade throwing punches.

Shade had a smug expression on his face, his arms still folded over his chest. "Oops, how unfortunate." He shrugged carelessly, a triumphant smile dominating the lower half of his facial features. It served him right for throwing all of his clothes out into the hallway. He clearly had no idea how much pride Shade took in the neatness of his belongings, and how terrified he was of germs. "The only thing I feel is disgust for being cursed with your presence." He made no attempts to move himself, he didn't plan on backing down until he got his way. When Cherry pretty much tackled him and started fist fighting, Shade crossed his arms in an X trying to protect his face. He could deal with a few bruises, but if anything happened to his face he would be devastated. "Look at you, attacking me like a madman!" He rolled over ontop of Cherry and started delivering punches of his own.

"Oh yeah right!I'm the animal!?" Cherry yelled methodically blocking Shade's punches. "Look at yourself! You're out of your fucking mind!" The two rolled and tussled on the floor. Cherry tried to gain leverage by kicking shade off of him, so that he could pin him down, but he was unsuccessful. Shade was much stronger than he previously thought. He felt them rolling towards his luggage and out of fear of crushing any more of his Red Star Idol collectibles he used his telekinesis to lift and propel them both out of the bedroom, slamming both of them against the wall in the hallway.

Shade couldn't restrain himself, he started laughing amidst the fight. "Me the animal? None of this would have started if you had just run along like a good little boy and found a different room!" For the briefest of moments it occurred to Shade that maybe he should tap into his hemokinesis to help win the fight, but there were two reasons why he opted against it. One, he would have to make an incision on his skin first, which he clearly did not have the time to do. Two, it was a messy way to fight, he didn't want to get bloodstains on any of his belongings. Oh and, three, it took a lot of his energy which he still needed for the day.

When they hit the wall of the hallway, Shade was no longer ontop of Cherry, but sprawled out beside him. He shook his head and the first thing his eyes zeroed in on was a fresh tear in the sleeve of his black jacket. His eyes, once again, felt like they could pop out of his head. "Is that a tear?" He got up and brushed himself off, forgetting all about the fight and went to get a sewing kit from the desk on his side of the room. "I just bought this and now there's a damned rip in the sleeve." He muttered to himself while threading the needle and beginning to stitch his sleeve back up.

As Shade ran back into the room, Cherry was just getting off the floor. "Hey! Where are you going?!" he questioned while his head was still spinning from the collision. "I'm not done with you!" He exclaimed. Cherry shook his head then charged for the door way where he collided and smashed his nose on an invisible wall. He fell back on his butt, holding his nose and cursing out loud. Who the hell put that wall up? Thats not one of Yukia's powers! He felt a shadow looming over him and looked up to see the headmaster grinning. The headmaster was with his cyber synthetic android assistant, Amelia. He must have been the one to put up the invisible wall.

"I meant to get here before the two of you to explain your living arrangements, but it looks like you have already found out. Please come into the room. I want to explain something to the both of you. Oh and Amelia hand Haelbard your clipboard, please." The headmaster then sauntered into the dorm room.

Amelia handed Cherry the clipboard. "What do I need this for," he muttered to himself annoyed. Then he noticed his raging erection and used the holographic clip board to cover it. His face went red like a tomato.

"Ah, the brilliant Mr. Yukia, it is a pleasure to have you in my academy for yet another year. I do hope your break was enjoyable." he greeted shaking the young students hand. "Now, I wanted to explain to the two of you about your living situation. You see, the two of you are a pair of Academy #0011's best and brightest students. This being your last year with me here before taking the FEP graduation Exam, i wanted to make sure the two of you were in the best shape possible. It is common knowledge through out the academy how competitive the two of you are, especially when it's between the two of you. So, I've decided that the best way to do this is by putting you too together. You will share the same room as well as participate in all the same classes. This was agreed upon by the entire #0011 staff. " When he saw both of the boys sullen expressions he added. "I'm not doing this to punish you too, we just believe that your performance will be maxed with the two of you competing with one another. I have every belief within me that you both have the potential to become members of the famed Red Star squad. Well, thats all i wanted to say. If you have any questions feel free to stop by my office, I have a meeting in a few minutes that i need to get to. Farewell." As the headmaster turned to leave he stopped to say one more thing. "I do hope the two of you learn to work together instead of against each other." With that he was gone.

Cherry stared coldly at Shade. He rolled his eyes and plopped down on his over turned mattress. "This is just cruel. Too cruel. Every...class with him."

Shade admired his handiwork silently, making sure you could hardly tell the fabric had ever been torn. He didn't know what Cherry was still doing out in the hallway, but he hoped he'd knocked himself unconscious. He would love a little quiet time to himself. Promptly after checking the stitch one last time, Shade stashed the sewing kit away and turned to look at the pile of clothes, which he now considered dirty, and was just about to start on taking them to the laundry room when he heard the voice of the headmaster, seconds after he entered the room with his android assistant. He stood straight and tipped his head slightly forward in a greeting. Shade felt proud at the mentioning of him being such an exceptional student, but he kept the feeling from his expression.

There was a slight smile playing on Shade's lips, then he listened to the headmaster about purposely being placed as Cherry's roommate, and further about the arrangement of his classes and he was devastated. All of his classes spent with him? As if having to room with him wasn't enough! If he wasn't in the presence of a superior he would have dropped to his knees and yelled dramatically until his lungs gave out. Well, that's what he envisioned himself doing, but he didn't have the luxury of such an action realistically.

As soon as the headmaster and his assistant left, Shade stared at the doorway in disbelief. "This is definitely a curse, I bet it's because I pushed that girl for her candy back in 1st grade." He was muttering to himself sadly. He was far from accepting the arrangement, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it now. Instead of sulking in his room--which seemed like a very good option right now, he picked up his pile of clothes and headed off to the laundry room. He glanced briefly over at Cherry and rolled his eyes on his way out. This was going to be an interesting semester.

[]]][][[[ STRANGE FATE [I][]I][[]]

by CherrySwirl and Pimpette

It was killing Cherry to have to sit in the room where his worst nightmare lived, so he decided to take a walk. It was still sort of early so he was going to go ahead with his original plan and go to the training room. He would fix his bed up and put his things away later. He reached into his luggage bag and pulled out a black t-shirt and a black pair of thigh length tights. Cherry began peeling off his uniform when he remembered that Shade was in the room. He turned to his roommate already half naked and glared at him for a split second then hurried to the bathroom to finish changing. Once he was done, he grabbed a towel then left the dormitory for the training center.

Why do I hate him so much? Cherry pondered as he dodged a barrage of energy blast being fired from the training droids palms. I know he's pretentious, entitled and a complete dick, but I feel like it goes much deeper than that. The red head reached both palms out, using his telekinesis to lift two droids in the air and smash them into each other destroying both. He remembered meeting Shade when he was very young, but he couldn't recall anything specific that they did together. He could only recall the two of them arguing or fighting each other. Shade was a cute kid though. "Eh, Not really." he corrected himself, ramming into another droid, jumping over another one and turning to torch both of them with a crimson energy blast fired from his mouth. He stayed in the training center for a couple more hours then flew back to the dormitory to shower and change back into his uniform for the afternoon orientation.

Despite being laid back Cherry didn't really have a circle of friends. He found himself slouched in a seat, sitting alone in a row close to the front. "I should of went to the cafeteria and got another smoothie." he threw his head back and sighed.

Shade was all smiles and happy when he was down in the laundry room, taking the time to color coordinate his piles of clothes and tossing them into different washing machines. Ah, it may not of seemed like something fun, but he always had enjoyed the task. He just finished putting his darks in and starting a cycle so he hopped up on top of an unoccupied dryer and waited. He closed his eyes and listened to the relaxing sound of mechanical humming around him, lightly swinging his legs back and forth. That's when a brief image of Cherry half naked popped up into his mind. His face heated up and he immediately opened his eyes to banish the mental picture away forever. "Ugh why me, I've been a good person all my life. This is terrible, simply a nightmare."

He jumped down from the dryer and shook his head trying to clear his thoughts. To his right some random guy was standing in the doorway eying him like he was crazy for talking to himself, is that what he looked to? Probably. He made a mental note to himself: No more talking to myself in public. He grinned sheepishly and waved at the male, but he just backed away slowly and left. Clearly his laundry could wait until after the weirdo left. Shade scoffed lightly, he was weird or crazy, just frustrated about his living arrangements. As long as he could remember, he and Cherry were never friends. Could that change now? "Nope. Absolutely not!" He started laughing, not caring whether anyone was around or not.

His laundry was finished soon after his little episode and he carried it back to his cursed dorm, happy to see that Cherry was nowhere in sight. "Oh if only it could stay like this." He just remembered about orientation, so he quickly put his clothes back away and headed for the door. He walked with purpose, but he didn't run, he would get there when he got there. Some minutes later he arrived at the building and stood by the door to single Cherry out. There. Close to the front. Shade made a point to find a seat at least two rows from his.

"What a loser," Cherry said under his breath, eyeballing Shade who he could tell sat two rows ahead of him on purpose. Cherry told himself to chill out, but he felt like he was burning up just sitting there, not retaliating. There was no way he could let someone like that one up him. No way in hell! Cherry stood up and walked down the rows towards the one Shade was seated in. he was going to find a seat somewhere closer to the front than his rival's was. That's when he got a better idea.
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He stopped at the row behind where Shade was sitting and moved through the cramped space of seated students, saying excuse me randomly. When he go to the seat behind Shade's, a freshman who was flirting with a female student was sitting there. The girl stopped giggling when she noticed Cherry standing behind the freshman. The freshman then turned to look up at Cherry.

"What do you want?" the freshman asked irritated by the sudden interruption.

"I need you to move." Cherry said simply.

"For what?"

"That's none of your business."

"Whatever," the freshman turned back towards the girl and continued flirting with her.

"Hey, I was talkin to you."

"I don't care." the boy retorted.

Cherry didn't lose his cool. He just inhaled and exhaled, then waved his finger up. The boy rose to his feet.

"What the hell?" The boy started to realize what was going on. His eyes began to glow. Cherry could feel the pressure building up behind those eyes, so he waved his finger across then down swiftly and just like that the freshman's pants unzipped and fell to his ankles. Embarrassed, he frantically tried to pull them back up and ended up falling on the floor. Students who saw what happened snickered silently. The freshman crawled away as Cherry plopped down in the newly vacant seat satisfied.

"All that for me?" the girl sitting next to him asked, batting her eye lashes.

Cherry just folded his arms and rested his feet on the back of Shade's chair, tapping one foot constantly as the orientation began. The girl pouted, she could tell she was being ignored.

Shade was comfortably settled into his seat, no Cherry, no problems. First he wasn't in their room when he returned with his laundry, and now he didn't have to look at him during orientation either. Oh he could get used to this. His attention was soon pulled from the front of the room to some sort of commotion behind him. Some higher power must not have wanted him to have any peace, because without even turning around, Shade knew that voice anywhere. He started drumming his fingers against his legs to try and keep his composure, but the annoyance was written all over his face. Dare he turn around and see what scene was unfolding behind him?

He glanced over his shoulder out of the corner of his eye just in time to see the guy that was sitting behind him, on the floor...with his pants down. "Someone please kill me." He muttered to himself under his breath. He was very much alive and very agitated. That tapping noise was going to drive him insane and he didn't even want to think about the germs that existed on the bottom of his shoes. As much as he wanted to stand up and start yelling, he couldn't. Instead he, painfully, envisioned a picture of Cherry and opted to talk to him with his mind. He didn't need to look at people to use his telepathy, he just needed to imagine their face.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you liked me. You always seem to be finding new ways to get my attention." He smiled to himself smugly, grateful he had such a useful ability up his sleeve.

Cherry eyes widened at the words spoken to him. It felt like they were said directly into his brain. That's right, Yukia's a telepath, Cherry remind himself. Then he almost burst out laughing at the guy's statement. He would never admit it, but torturing Yukia always made his heart smile, but not in the way a monster eating a girl's brains would. A different, weird way. Besides how could he like....him? He was his adversary. His enemy. His...cherry stopped his train of thought and decided to respond. thinking as hard and as loud as he could.

"Me? Like you? AHAHAHAHAH! Wow, you really have some imagination going on in there. It sounds to me like you want my attention!"

Shade's right eye twitched, not only because it sounded like Cherry was yelling in his head, but also because of his little remark about wanting his attention. He held completely still for a moment, fighting the urge to gag. He was hardly paying any attention as to what was being said, but he'd heard it before so it wasn't like he was missing anything. Suddenly he felt the need to laugh. Why? He found the whole situation he was in to be utterly ridiculous. The headmaster said it would be good for them to compete against each other, but Shade believed the only thing it would bring about was the loss of his mental stability.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me. Your attention? If anything I'd like for you to drop off the face of the earth. Yeah that would be perfect." Shade couldn't stop smiling as he imagined Cherry just disappearing, life would be so much easier.

"Oh, I'm sorry. What did you say? I only heard the words 'like' and 'you'. Were you saying you like me? Man, i can't wait to see everyone's reaction when I tell them that! They are going to flip!" Cherry chuckled silently. There girl next to him eyed him like he was crazy, but he didn't pay her any attention.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked. Cherry stared at her with a raised eyebrow and continued to ignore her. It was kind of fun having a two way conversation around all these people and none of them even knew it was going on. It felt kind of like a secret.

Ew, ew, ew. He didn't want to think about ever liking Cherry, he didn't want to think about it, dream about it, hear about it, nothing! "Excuse me Mr. Higher Power Upstairs Man, if you're listening and care about me at all, please strike me down now. One good zap, that's all I need to get away from this idiot." The thought was broadcasted to Cherry too.

Shade even clasped his hands together and looked up at the ceiling. Absolutely nothing happened. "Oh well, it was worth it." He sighed dully, wishing orientation would be over already. His very vivid imagination came up with a scene of him building a brick wall in the center of his room. No actually just a brick walk surrounding Cherry's bed, he'd leave him in there for eternity until he was nothing but dust. Shade giggled to himself and sent the image to Cherry, it was something he'd only recently figured out he could do.

As the orientation came to an end, Cherry found himself in tears from holding in so much laughter. His completely distorted sense of humor actually found Shade's antics hilarious. He stood up chuckling and ruffled up Shade's hair with his free hand, then left the Auditorium with a huge smile. "That guy is sick." he giggled to himself. He finally inhaled and exhaled to calm himself down. Oh yeah, Ms. Paisley's chocolate. He completely forgot. He stood up getting ready to head to the school cafeteria when he heard a voice.

"Hey, you with the stupid hair!" Cherry turned snapped around fuming at the remark about his hair. It was a boy who looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He was with four other male students. Are they trying to intimidate me?

"You want something?" Cherry asked tucking his hands in his pockets with a bored expression.

"Naw, but I got a problem that needs to be fixed."

What the hell is this about? I don't have time for this. "Look, I don't know who you are or what you're trying to get at, but if you're trying to fight me then you better quit while your ahead because I will murder you."

The leader boy became extremely angry, while his friends burst into laughter. "You don't remember me?!" the boy yelled. Cherry shook his head. The boy screamed at the top of his lungs. "You took my seat at the orientation!"

It finally hit Cherry and he started chuckling at the memory. Next thing he knew several colors of light was blasted at him, his image disappearing in a shroud of dust.

Shade felt like dancing once orientation finally ended. His darkening mood was replaced by one of hunger once his stomach growled to remind him he hadn't eaten in a while. He was on his merry way to the cafeteria to sate his empty stomach, then maybe he would train for a little bit before returning back to his dorm, he wanted to spend as little time there as possible. Halfway to his destination he heard an angry voice, out of mild curiosity he took a detour from the usual path and stumbled upon a bit of a surprise.

First thing he saw was a cloud of dust, instinctively he frowned, he imagined how that would dirty his clean clothes and thought about turning away. That was when he paid attention to who was present, first he saw Cherry, then he saw five other guys. It was a fight obviously, an unbalanced one at that. He could think of two clear options: One, leave and pretend he didn't see anything. Two, interfere and see what the problem was. He didn't recognize the ring leader, but his voice did sound somewhat familiar.

Shade wasn't worried about losing any fight, he had the uttmost confidence in not only his unusual abilities, but also his natural, physical prowess. He walked over to them casually, standing an equal distance from both sides. "What? Day one and already I have to save your ass?" The comment was directed at Cherry, then his attention turned to the other group. "What seems to be the problem here?" His tone was nonchalant.

The group of students fired several blast at Cherry. He dodged them each. As the smoke cleared Cherry heard Shade's voice. He immediately got annoyed. "I don't need your help, Yukia. It's just five freshman besides I thought you hated getting dirty?" The leader ignored Shade and fired dazzling blue beams from both his eyes. Cherry did a back flip dodging them both as they destroyed the pavement where Cherry was just standing. He opened his mouth to fire an energy blast at them, but then an intense stinging pain hit him directly in the head. Cherry fell down to one knee, holding his head.

The boys started laughing and then one started talking to Shade. "You want some too, Freak?" The boy raised his hand and shot a big blast from his palm that flew straight for Shade.

Shade contemplated leaving, since they clearly weren't paying him any attention anyways, and Cherry said he could handle it so maybe he would just go back to his original plan of eating. Well that was until one of the guys attacked him directly. His body twisted as he dove to the side, his hands touched the ground and he flipped forward to avoid getting dirty. Something flashed across his gray eyes and in the next instant he was tapping into his other power to defend himself. It was the first time he'd used blood in a fight, outside of a controlled environment, in a long time.

With the quick swipe of his thumb nail against his palm he broke the skin. At first it was no more than a pen prick of blood, but then the amount doubled, then tripled. It extended from his hand like a whip. Whatever porous surface it touched would be stained, but that wasn't really any of his concern right now. He lashed out, moving his hand like he was throwing a ball, the blood swirled and spiraled in the air as he struck out at the one who had attacked him.

The pain still affecting his mind Cherry forced his eyes open and forced himself to cough up a crimson energy ball that launched in the direction of the five boys. He wasn't able to see if it hit them, but it kicked up even more dust and stone distorting his vision even more. Suddenly the pain in his mind stopped. "Sweet! It must have hit." he smirked and stood up proudly when a pair of bulging fist swung at him, acting on instinct, Cherry did a back flip to dodge then drop kicked the teenager who was just attacking him. The boy hit the floor, knocked out cold. Soon after another blast was fired at him. Cherry grabbed thee blast with his telekinesis and flung it back at its castor who hit the ground with a thud.

Cherry brushed the dust off his hand as the dust started to settle once more, he found himself standing face to face with the boy who started all this mess. The boy had a stony look on his face. "Woah! Why so serious, bro? You're only about to get your ass kicked." Cherry laughed.

The freshman didn't laugh. "You know you talk a lot of shit!I think that should stop, now." Before the boy could react Cherry flicked his hand flipping the boy upside down and turned him around so that Cherry was facing his back. The freshman kicked and flailed in midair throwing a fit. "You bastard!"

Cherry had the freshman figured out. At least enough to beat him. The kid had a psychic sort of telepathic power that could cause pain in someone's mind, when the boys vision became distorted the power had no effect. So, Cherry realized after the last time it was used on him that if the user couldn't see his target, his attack couldn't hit. So, by taking himself out of the boy's visual range he was able to protect himself. "Looks like I win." Cherry said walking up to him. He let the boy drop to the ground. Cherry picked the boy up by his collar and jabbed him with his right then hooked him with his left. The boy hit the ground holding his stomach and groaning. Cherry folded his arms and spoke straight from his heart. "Don't ever try to gang up on anyone ever again. It's weak. Be a man and fight one on one next time."

The whip Shade sent after the boy wrapped around his ankle and tripped him up, he ended up falling to the ground. The purple-haired boy giggled in response, he wasn't exactly serious about the fight, he probably wouldn't have jumped in if he wasn't bored. They were just freshmen after all. 'If he can't handle them then he shouldn't be a senior.' Shade imagined flinging the boy around like a rag doll in that weird way he envisioned a lot of things that would make people he had a screw loose. Of course that wasn't what he did. For one thing he wasn't going to waste all of his energy on a petty fight, and he also didn't want to break any of the boy's bones.

He was in a good mood, he loved whenever he got the chance to fight. So he let the boy go so that he could at least try to attack Shade back. He dodged the attacks with quick precision, always doing flips or a cartwheel to get out of the way. He was giggling sort of like a child, but he was never one to care about what people thought about him. They could think he was crazy all they wanted to. One attack did get too close to his face though, he could feel the heat radiating off of it and that's when he decided he would end his little game. Shade stood still long enough to send one last attack at the boy. The blood wrapped around his waist and Shade sent him flying into the side of a nearby building. Nothing broke and he still looked like he was conscious.

"Well I guess that counts as my workout for the day." He looked himself over, pleased that he was still clean and his outfit was in tact. "Bye roommate!" He called out to Cherry and waved frantically before continuing on his original path to the cafeteria. The thought of them sharing a room still made him want to gag, but he was feeling giddy after his short fight so he didn't care.

"Did he just call me roommate?" Cherry stared at Shade heading to the cafeteria quizzically. He sounded so endearing. Cherry noticed voices coming from the opposite direction. It sounded like teachers were hurrying to the scene. He took a look at all the damaged property and the five freshman who were all knocked out on the ground or laying in the bushes and thought that maybe he shouldn't be around when the teachers got there. "Yeah, that's a good idea." He bolted inside the cafeteria.

Once inside Cherry grabbed a chocolate bar and a cup of chocolate pudding. Earlier he promised the school secretary he would bring her some tea and chocolate for her lunch break, but he got so caught up in the whole roommate drama this morning he forgot to bring it to her. He requested a bottle of ice tea, a strawberry banana smoothie then paid for all the items. He forgot to grab a tray, so he struggled holding all the items in his arms. Cherry used his power to lift them in the air above his head, which was very convenient. He held on to the smoothie. He was exiting the cafeteria when he noticed Shade sitting at one of the tables. Grinning aimed the floating chocolate bar at Shade's head and let it fly. "That's me saying thanks." he called out as he exited the cafeteria.

He gave the treats to the secretary who was very happy to receive them. He stayed and chatted with her for while before she kicked him out. When he made it outside it was raining. By the time he got back to the dormitory he was soaking wet and stripped all his clothes off except his under wear. He through all his clothing in the corner then collapsed on the bed falling asleep.

Shade was so cheerful in the cafeteria that anyone who knew him would know it was strange. That's what fighting did to him, it made him happier than anything else ever would. So there he was eating and oblivious to the world when a candy bar hit him in the head. His eyes narrowed and he wasn't surprised to see Cherry on the other side of the room. Now he loved chocolate so he wasn't just going to let that sugary goodness go to waste. He waited until Cherry left to open the candy bar and devour it. He sighed with content and got up to leave, too tired to care that it was raining or that he couldn't stand his roommate.

It was raining outside and he contemplated waiting for it to end, but who knew how long that would take? He could already imagine how it would feel to sink into his mattress and drift off into a deep sleep. That one thought had him running through the rain and inside his room. Shade entered the room shaking raindrops out of his dark hair when he noticed that Cherry was there asleep in nothing but his underwear. The emotion in his face all seemed to fade away at one time but he just rolled his eyes and proceeded to his side of them room. He went through his freshly washed laundry and pulled out a black T-shirt and shorts that were his pajamas and glanced over to the other side of the room once more.

He was sleep so Shade changed right there and rolled over in his bed. The immediate comfort had him falling into a peaceful sleep and snoring in minutes.

"Mommy! Where are you! Mommy!" Panic sets in. frantic feet skitter across the floor. A tiny hand grips the knob of a door that seems to reach into the sky and opens it. Blood everywhere.

Cherry awoke with a sneeze. He looked startled, unsure of what woke him, until he sneezed again, then again. He groaned, rubbing his eyes. He looked out the window and saw the sky was a mysterious shade of violet with dark clouds slowly drifting through it. It looked to him like a storm was about to pick up. Cherry yawned stretching his arms. Looking over across the room he could see his roommate laying in bed, under the comforter. Smile snuck onto Cherry's face at the sight of Shade's. He was snoring lightly and looked as innocent as a child. Looking at him now, you'd never guess how much of a jerk he is. The young man walked into the bathroom to pee, washed his hands then walked back to the bedroom. There he started sneezing again then coughing. His throat felt like it was burning.

Cherry felt miserable. He'd only been sick three times his entire life thanks to evolution. He left the room in search of medicine, felt a breeze and realized he was only in his underwear. He went back to the room to put on a pair of loose jogging pants, all the while sneezing and coughing. It didn't take him long to retrieve the cold capsules which he swallowed once he got back into the room. Before he knew it he was coughing all over again. Hacking intensely then unexpectedly spewed a tiny red energy ball that flew across the room exploding as soon as it hit Shade's bed. Cherry's eyes went wide. "Holy SHi--!" The bed was in pieces, but Shade looked to be alright. "Dude, I'm so sorry! It was an accident! Uhh...umm you can have my bed for the night. I'll...uhh... just sleep on the floor."

Was it possible to be so utterly comfortable that risked slipping into an eternal coma? That was exactly how Shade was feeling; he hadn't moved an inch from the original position he put himself in when he first sunk into the fluffy wonderland of his bed. He never woke up nor did he even dream. He was oblivious to the real world around them, the school could have been under attack and there was a chance Shade would've still been there in his bed, snoring and unconscious. Something just had to wake him up, and it did with such force his foggy mind did think that maybe the school was under attack after all.

She was beyond groggy, unaware of the time, and just flat out angry that someone had woken him up. And why was his bed so uneven and pointy? "What the hell are you staring at?" That's when he noticed how close to the floor he was, and the new fact that his bed was broken up in irregularly shaped pieces. "What...the...fuck?" He rolled to the side to crawl out of the mess that only a few seconds ago held all the comfort in the world in one mattress. Now it was completely ruined. Shade stood up and walked over to Cherry, his hands gripping both his shoulders and shaking him. "Why can't you just...-" his sentence trailed off when he took the time to actually look at him and realize he looked, unhealthy. Germs. The word assaulted his mind and he quickly let go, retreating back to his side of the room.

"Ew ew ew, keep your sickness away from me. I don't want your bed, it's probably crawling with microscopic little beast." Just the thought made him shudder. He grabbed his pillow, the one that had somehow miraculously survived the wreckage and a fluffy purple blanket he kept in case of emergencies, and this definitely counted as one in his book. He looked back at Cherry one more time, shaking his head, and walked into the bathroom. Sure it wouldn't be comfortable, but at least it was away from all of the germs. He laid down in the bathtub and covered his face with the blanket. After a few minutes of restless tossing and turning he looked up at the ceiling and grimly realized he wouldn't be going back to sleep any time soon.

Cherry was a little taken aback by Shade's sudden freak out. He started walking to the bathroom planning to at least try to convince him to use his bed. He genuinely felt bad about breaking the boy's bed. "Hey, look I took a couple of cold capsules. I'm probably not even contagious anymore and if you want i can go wash my bed spread or something." He entered the bathroom and saw Yukia huddled up in the tub under a purple blanket. Cherry blushed. It was adorable. "Uhh you do know that tubs accumulate alot of germs? I mean, that is where we clean ourselves. It doesn't all go down the drain."

Shade felt too tall for the bathtub, he had his legs pulled close to his chest and already is back was starting to ache. "Stupid roommate blew up my freaking bed." He mumbled to himself while trying to reposition his body and failing. When Cherry came walking in he rolled over and turned his back to him. "I'm not sleeping in your bed until you wash everything. He peeked over his shoulder at the mentioning of there being more germs where he was currently laying and shuddered. "I'm too tired to care, now go wash your bedspread so I can go back to sleep." He yawned and pulled the covers back over his head. Later, when he was less grumpy and not so foggy he would scrub himself clean.

Cherry narrowed his eyes. He didn't actually want to wash his bed spread, but he did anyway. It didn't take long and he remade the bed as soon as he returned to the room. When he was done he walked into the bathroom and said "Okay, it's clean now." He walked back into the bedroom and laid down on the carpet. It felt kind of awkward. The floor wasn't hard, but it was weird not laying on a mattress. It was very flat. He could already tell this night wasn't going to get any better, but he would tough it out. Tomorrow was another day. They would have Shade's bed replaced, then Cherry could return to his bed. It sounded good until Cherry remembered that they were still roommates. "Atleast i'm not sneezng or coughing up lethal orbs of energy anymore." he sighed.

Shade waited patiently, partly because he was only halfway aware of the world around him. He was drifting in and out of consciousness when Cherry back to tell him that the bedspread was finally clean. He shifted uncomfortably to a sitting position and got up, but only after wrapping his favorite purple blanket around himself, the only thing you would be able to see were his gray eyes and some of his purple hair. He was sad to see his bed in it's broken state, but as soon as he laid down on his temporary one all Shade could think about was how much better it felt than trying to sleep in a bathtub. "Thanks...I guess." He mumbled from beneath his blanket of comfort before dozing off into another peaceful sleep.

The next morning Cherry showered with tired eyes. He didn't sleep a wink the night before, he was too uncomfortable. After getting dressed he drifted like a zombie to class sitting in the back row. He propped his head up with his arm, struggling to stay awake. His eye lids slowly closed and before he knew it he was dreaming.

A set of ivory hands slowly unbuttoned his shirt as a warm mouth played with his ears. His body was hot with excitement, his blood pumping furiously from anticipation. His button down shirt slipped from his arms and onto the floor. He stood bare chested, his own body slim and muscular. He grabbed the person he was with and pulled their warm body into his, locking them together in sweaty and lustful grip. A wet tongue slid across his jugular then biting him lightly. Cherry closed his eyes groaning silently. The two then kissed intensely and when they pulled apart he was staring into the most brilliant gray eyes he'd ever seen in his life. The eyes of Shade Yukia.

The extreme comfort Shade was experiencing caused him to sleep in later than he normally would have. He was used to waking up early on his own, but the purple cocoon he'd encased himself in so tightly was too comfortable for him to leave. He stirred slowly, reluctantly facing the painful change in lighting. He had to squint and rub his eyes a few times before they adjusted to the brightness of the room. What time was it? He noticed Cherry was already gone but didn't think anything about it. Shade wrestled free from his blanket and dared a glance at the clock. His heart threatened to quit on him when he saw the time. His first class was about to start and he hadn't even brushed his teeth.

Shade threw the covers on halfway on the floor and darted into the bathroom. He took an inhumanly fast shower, brushed his teeth, tended to his hair, and pulled on a clean outfit. In the next few minutes he was out the door and running to class, speeding past people. The door came into view and he skidded to an abrupt halt, fixed his hair, then went inside. His head tipped forward as he apologized for being late with a sheepish grin on his face and found an available seat.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Cherry sleeping and he watched him for a long moment and he decided now would be a good time to see if he could still contact someone mentally while they were sleeping. He closed his eyes and pictured Cherry's face before speaking. 'Slacking off on the first day? Tsk tsk.'

Cherry's dream was interrupted by a voice that came to him like a stone sinking down his very throat. His eyes fluttered open and across the room he could see Shade Yukia with his eyes closed. Obviously, he was contacting him via telepathy. Cherry closed his eyes, thinking out loud. "Put a sock in it tubboy," some images from his dream drifted back. "Hey, i know I let you sleep in on purpose, but did you have to punish me by planting those disgusting images in my brain? That was low even for you."

Shade could feel his closed right eye twitch as he remembered his late night attempt to sleep in the bathtub. 'I wouldn't have to have tried to sleep anywhere else if some psycho didn't blow up my bed.' He thought bitterly while thinking back to the tragic event that ruined his wonderful bed. He sighed aloud quietly and swore he would remember to set his trustworthy alarm clock from now on.The next part of Cherry's mental conversation with him had him honestly confused. His brow rose and he took a second to respond. 'What the hell are you talking about? I can't even do that.' At least he never tried to before, but now he wanted to see if there was more to his telepathy than just talking. He held very still and imagined strangling Cherry to death and tried to see if he could share the image. He had to cover his mouth to stifle his giggling before someone close by thought he had a real problem.

Cherry was puzzled. He didn't send him the images? Then where did they...his train of though was cut off by an extremely horrific bloody exhibition of Cherry's murder at the hands of his Rival. Outraged, Cherry Jumped up, slamming his fist on the desk. "Hey, you basatrd! You wanna fight or someth--" he was cut off by the instructor.

"Is there a problem Mr. Haelbard?" Cherry glared at Shade and rolled his eyes.

"No, sir." The red head turned sat back down with attitude folding his arms with objection. "Haha that was spectacular. You get better and better with your little tricks everyday. Too bad you can't do them from your bed." he thought sarcastically as loud as he could.

Shade was so excited about the new development in his power that he nearly missed Cherry's sudden outburst. It was almost impossible to hold back from laughing, but he did manage to suppress it and build up a look of feigned innocence on his face. The end of Cherry's words were like nails on a blackboard, Shade bit his bottom lip and banished the picture of his once magnificent bed in it's new, destroyed state. He wasn't going to let his day be ruined because of one annoying person, he just stumbled upon a new trick and was feeling mischievous.

He glanced around the room and picked a girl obviously engrossed in the lesson and snickered. He closed his eyes and sent an image of her falling off of a cliff to the unsuspecting female and watched as she almost jumped out of her chair. It was becoming a real struggle to keep quiet. Sitting to his right he studied the face of another student and envisioned him covered in a dozen giant spiders and clapped a hand over his mouth to silence himself when the boy jerked up and started pulling at his clothes. He then ripped his shirt off and ran out of the room yelling.

Shade kept his expression even but his eyes were getting watery from the laughter he'd been holding back. He didn't usually pull pranks like that, but he was feeling giddy and wanted to have some fun.

All of a sudden all hell broke loose in the classroom. Students were jumping up, yelling, running out the classroom and rolling around the ground. The teacher looked so confused and unsuccessfully tried to calm everyone down. This would be so funny if it wasn't so pathetic,Cherry thought to himself. But what is causing it? His eyes fell on Shade who shaking uncontrollably in his chair. It looked like there were tears in his eyes. He's holding back laughter. Is he the one doing this?

"This is stupid," he muttered.

Shade had gone a little overboard, but he couldn't help himself. It was just too amusing to see random people freaking out for not apparent reason. Maybe he'd used his new ability too much, but something was causing a dull pain behind his eyes. He finally decided to stop messing with people for the sake of warding off a headache, but he was still holding back a fit of laughter. By the time everything was said and done, half of the class had disappeared. He played the laugh that escaped his mouth off as a cough and cleared his throat.

He reached into his jacket and produced a small black case that held an equally dark pair of black-rimmed glasses. He slipped them on--partly to hide the tears still in his eyes-- and looked around the class appearing as innocent as he had hoped for. "Well that was...odd." He said before glancing back at Cherry and smiling sweetly.

Cherry looked back at SHade and couldn't help but chuckle. "You're bad dude. Very bad." The sounded signaling for the change of classes. Cherry gathered his things and sauntered past Shade Yukia shaking his head. Once in the hall he opened a window and jumped out of it, flying to his next class in the training center. He landed in front of the building and entered it. He headed into the locker room to find a locker.

He liked being there earlier than everyone else. Although he didn't mind changing in front of the other guys, he preferred to change alone. Once he picked a locker he pulled his change of clothes out and began to undress.

Shade maintained his bewildered exterior until he was out in the hallway and on to his next class. "This is extraordinary, just think of what I can do now." He covered his mouth and giggled like a little school girl would. Oh if only he could stay like that, but his next class--like all of them--was shared with Cherry so he automatically assumed it would be a pain. He entered the locker room and was on his way to change when he happened to notice Cherry already there stripping down. His brain was telling him to keep moving, but for the strangest reason, Shade was unable to move from his spot.

His eyelids fluttered behind his black glasses and he couldn't help but silently admire his roommates physique. His face felt hot and he was sure if anyone looked at him now, against his pale skin, his cheeks were probably beet red. His unabashed staring ended moments later when others started coming into the locker room. Shade shook his head furiously and went to the row of lockers on the other side of where Cherry was. It felt like a century passed before his face cooled down and he changed out of his casual attire.

"What the hell is wrong with me. I can't stand him." He muttered to himself, but even as he said the words, something was telling him they weren't one hundred percent true anymore.

When Cherry finished training he entered the gym he stood in a skin tight white shirt with the school crest above his right breast and a pair of short tight black pants. The instructor nodded at him, obviously pleased with his punctuality. They shook hands and had some small talk until everyone else sauntered into the room and lined up on a white line that stretched across the floor. He saw that Shade was on the other end and scoffed at him.

"Welcome back to another school year class. I'm your instructor Mr. Kado and this First Hand Combat Training class. In this class I'm supposed to teach you how face off against your enemies on the battlefield. Most of you may only recognize me from the orientation. If you do then that means you know that I'm new to Academy #0011. So, today I'm just going to observe you guys today, so that I can see what I have to work with. I'm going to call off the names of your partner, then I want the two of you to find a spot somewhere and spar off. oh and no powers. Okay, Albarn and Evans, Keens and Zaik, Haelbard and Yukia, Friedhor and....."

Cherry stared blankly at the instructor. he didn't know whether to be happy or upset. he didn't want to be Shade's partner, but then again he would get a chance to kick his ass atleast. In actuality he was happy that Yukia and him were partners, but he must have been making some kind of sour expression because the instructor addressed him.

"Got a problem kid? Didn't think so. Move it." Cherry rolled his eyes and moved to the corner of the gym waiting for Shade to join him.

Shade removed his glasses and stored them away inside of his locker for later. His headache faded away on it's own and he realized it was undoubtedly from harassing the poor students in his previous class. He changed into his workout clothes and, naturally being picky, tugged at the spandex-like material that made up his shorts and frowned. He didn't have time to sit around and fuss though, so for now, he would just have to deal. He walked into the gym and looked around at the other students, noting that the instructor was new in the process. He listened obediently and had to suppress the overwhelming urge to voice his disapproval in the teacher's choice of sparring partners. He'd been cursed with having to share a room with Cherry, have the same classes, and now they were partners in the gym. He groaned inwardly realizing that he'd somehow have to deal with this too.

He was still puzzled by the strange feelings he experienced earlier in the locker room but wasn't about to let them cloud his mind now. He walked over to the corner Cherry occupied, satisfied that he would at least be able to beat him up some. Shade always liked to use his powers in a fight, but since it wasn't allowed he would make due without them. It wasn't like he was completely dependent on them for his success, he'd done plenty of fighting without them before. "At least one good thing can come out of this, I get some revenge for what you did to my bed earlier." He flashed a brief smile at Cherry and crouched down in a defensive stance waiting for him to make the first move. He never liked to display what he had to offer in a fight right at the beginning.

Cherry's eyes nearly jumped out of his head at the sight of Shade in his shorts. He punched himself back to reality and slid back slightly taking his own stance. He was somewhat familiar with the way Shade fought. Cherry was fast, but even without Shade's super speed agility he was still quicker than Cherry. So the red head knew he needed to use a firm stance and DPS attacks to cause him more damage.

"Yeah, yeah, the bed thing was an accident. But this isn't." Cherry threw a punch following up with a roundhouse kick.

Shade could hold a grudge for years, maybe an entire lifetime, so he wasn't going to forget about his bed being broken. Sure, for now he would put it on the back burner and focus on the fight at hand, but make no mistake--he would bring it up again sometime in the future. Back to the fight though, Shade moved sideways to dodge Cherry's punch, he could feel the air rushing past the left side of his face as he narrowly missed being hit. He saw the roundhouse kick coming and somewhere in the back of his mind a tiny voice was screaming about the kind of germs that lived on surfaces like the bottom of shoes.

If he wasn't trying to avoid being kicked he would've screamed like a girl at the revelation, but instead Shade kept quiet and did a cartwheel to the side to avoid the move. He sighed with relief before straightening up and preparing for an attack of his own. He ran directly at Cherry, just before the point where he would've collided with the boy he dropped down and turned in a way he hoped would knock his opponent's feet right from under him.

Cherry's assault failed, but Shade's speed got him at an advantage. Cherry was knocked off his feet, but caught himself by flipping forward and out of Shade's range. He then spun around and charged at Shade who caught his attack, but Cherry's momentum knocked both of them onto the ground.

"Enough." they instructor, Mr. Kado called out to everyone. "Very good everybody. I can tell I'm working with some good warriors this year, but I made some notes for all of you personally. Go hit the showers. The come back into the gym and wait for me to give you your evaluation."

Cherry pulled himself away from Shade very abruptly, sat cross legged on the floor with his hands in his lap. A shameful expression was on his face. He was hiding another erection.

Shade rubbed the back of his head and sat up, catching half of what the instructor was saying. He would've liked more time to fight Cherry, but he supposed there would be other opportunities in the future. He moved to stand up completely and looked down at Cherry, his head slightly tilted to the side with waning curiosity. "Having problems?" He questioned smugly before giggling and walking off back into the locker room.

Shade didn't pay enough attention to how strangely Cherry had just been acting, he was too busy being annoyed with thoughts of his own. Like why he'd been so flustered earlier? The question was gnawing on his nerves the entire time he took a shower and also while he dressed back in his uniform.

Some very small part of him wondered if maybe he was attracted to Cherry and he outwardly started laughing. It seemed like such a ridiculous question to ask himself, and yet he hadn't denied it.

After the flow of blood dissipated. Cherry sighed relieved and laid back on the gym floor with arms and legs spread. "Why does that keep happening to me..." he thought back to the moment his body was pressed against Shade's. It felt tight and soft, lean and muscular. Blood began flowing again. The slightest of a smile drifted onto his face until he realized where his mind was drifting and he snapped upright with a disgusted expression on his face. What the hell am I thinking!?, he then felt a tightness in his shorts and looked down to grimace. "Not again."

Cherry sat there patiently waiting for blood to dissipate again. Once it was gone he cleared his mind and sauntered into the locker room with his head down. He bumped into someone and because of his hostile mood, he grabbed them by their bare shoulders and got ready to yell at the guy when he realized it was SHade. He released him. His face was red with embarrassment.

Shade was purposefully ignoring the nagging questions that felt like they were taking up all of the room in his head, and slipped into his pants first. He was about to tug a shirt over his head when someone suddenly bumped into him, causing the shirt to slip right out of his grasp and fall to the ground. Truthfully, he was more angry about his clean shirt now laying on the dirty floor than he was about someone running into him. Shade looked at the person, puzzled to see Cherry in front of him.

"Uh what's your problem?" He asked and was surprised by how his own words lacked their usual venom towards Cherry. There they were in the locker room, Shade without his shirt on, Cherry blushing for some reason, and that aggravating part of Shade that was squealing like a fangirl. The rest of him wasn't sure what to think so he just stood there, staring rather dumbly.

Cherry was at a loss for words. His mouth hung open struggling to form some type of speech, but he failed. Shade addressed him without any type of malice. It was surprising especially since he knocked his shirt onto the floor. Cherry's eyes crept down Shade's porcelain chest until they rested on were his pants were still unbuttoned. Finally out of frustration with struggling with his new urges, he grunted and walked off towards the showers, stripping off his clothes as he got closer until he was fully naked enjoying the beads of hot water colliding against his bare body.

Shade was taken aback by the odd moment that had just happened. He leaned against the cool metal of the locker, a bemused expression on his face, and blinked fast a few more times. Eventually he cringed away from the cold metal on his bare skin and finished getting dressed in a hurry. After he was done he found himself still lingering, his gray eyes staring blankly in the direction Cherry had walked off to. 'What the hell is wrong with me?!' He sighed and finally found the ability to walk again. He headed back into the gym to await his evaluation results.

Cherry exited the shower and went over to dry himself off when he was bombarded by a belligerent Mr. Kado.

"Goddammit Halberd! What the hell's taking you so long! Everyone has already left except Yukia! I need you both in hear to give this evaluation so march it soldier!"

"Okay, just let me--"

"I said March! March! March! March!March!"

Cherry scrambled for his clothes trying to keep his towel covering his nether regions up. He didn't mind being naked in front of other guys, but something about him being alone in with an big guy with mega muscles made it feel just plain weird. So, he hurriedly putt on his clothes. He was still dripping wet. He didn't bother to button up his shirt either. He just ran out of the locker room and sat down on the bench next to Shade with his eyes looking away.

"Alright," Mr. Kado began. "You both get A's on Technique. You both get A's on speed and strength as well. You didn't have to do much for me to notice your mastery. I can tell if the two of you went toe to toe with any other student that you'd most likely decimate them completely. Now, I was looking at both of your list of abilities. I notice that you have the ability Hemokinesis and that you can use it as a weapon. Very impressive. I have a similar ability , but according to your file you can use your ability without killing yourself. Whenever I use it I end up on a hospital bed. And Haelbard, you have 4th wave listed here. Do you know what the other three waves are?"

Cherry responded lazily. "1st wave is the compression of energy being focused into a blast through the fingertip. 2nd wave is through the palms, 3rd wave is through the eyes and 4th wave is through the mouth."

"You're the only 4th wave user in 50 years. Do the two of you realize that you are a completely new breed of meta-humans?"

Cherry and he was sure Shade had heard the same thing from plenty of other people. The talk was boring him. "Yeah, yeah. We know. We've heard it."

Cherry comment ticked Mr. Kado off. he stared Cherry down grudgingly and decided he was ready to have his hand washed of them. "Here" he tossed Cherry a red card with a name on it and tossed Shade a similar blue one. "Apparently there was some kind of commotion in your first period class and your teacher didn't get a chance to tell you all about the field trip for tomorrow. Each senior will be paired up with a freshman student. Your cards have your partners name s on it. Now get the hell out of my gym!"

Shade was having an impossibly hard time paying attention, every so often he would glance over at Cherry then back to Mr. Kado. Even though he was looking at the instructor his mind seemed to be elsewhere. He caught brief snippets of the conversation, things that he had, in fact, heard a dozen times before. It wasn't until a blue card, with an unfamiliar named printed on it, was tossed at him did he come back to reality. He blinked and his eyes swept over the card with dull interest. A field trip? Wait, it just sunk in. He hadn't heard about it before because Shade was too busy wreaking havoc on his fellow classmates for the teacher to say anything about a field trip. He held back his rising laughter and kept his face even until they were dismissed from the gym. "Who the hell is this Chase Ryder and who names their child that?!" He questioned himself out loud once he got out into the hallway.



That next morning Shade had the unpleasant opportunity to meet the mysterious Chase Ryder in person. "Wow you're a senior, that's so awesome! I bet I could still kick your ass in a fight. Hey what's your name again? When are we gonna get there?! I'm kinda hungry, you got any snacks on you?" Shade sat uncomfortably still in his seat next to Chase, he was afraid if he made one movement he'd end up punching the freshman right in his face. Anything to get the boy to shut up and let Shade catch up on some much wanted sleep.

"Hey are you listening to me? I said are we almost there?!" His tone was rising and Shade made a quick reply through barred teeth, hoping one answer would suffice for the myriad of questions Chase had been harassing him with since they first got on the bus. "We'll get there when we get there." He shot the boy an image of his mouth being duct taped and wished someone would give him a roll. He would've taped Chase to the roof of the bus and slept the entire ride. "Hey y'know my friend tried to duct tape my mouth closed one time, but I like used a lot of my saliva and it came sliding right off!"

Shade groaned out loud and scooted as far away from Chase as he could, but just like magnets, the younger boy slid closer to him. 'If I have to sit here any longer I might strangle this poor boy to death.' Shade didn't care whether his thoughts had just been broadcasted to everyone or not, he was just ready to stretch his legs and get to the damned laboratory already. For once luck seemed to be on his side, he could see the gated entrance to the facility come into view and he audibly sighed with relief. "Hey hey look I think we're here!" Chase violently shook Shade by his shoulders, earning a dramatic sigh from the older male.

"You!!! You're my senior partner!" The kid exclaimed indignantly after realizing Cherry was his partner. Cherry stared at the kid uninterested. The kid was very handsome and had an intelligent air about him...when he wasn't freaking out. The boy had dark neat windswept hair and piercing crimson eyes. He had a bandage over his right cheek and over his right eye.

"Is there a problem?"Cherry asked yawning.

The kid pointed at his face. "You don't remember me?"

Cherry looked the boy over and responded by shaking his head. The kid whose name was Akiyuki Taedo glared at Cherry and spoke coldy. "You punched...in the face.."

"Oh!! That was you!" Cherry finally was able to put two and two together. Then he spoke back without any remorse. "It was your own fault. You shouldn't have tried to jump me." With that Cherry walked away from the underclassmen.

The entire ride on the bus was a ball of noise. Akiyuki squeezed himself as close as he could near the window on the seat he shared with Cherry who was snoring very loudly as he slept. Cherry's head was bouncing back and forth against the seat as the vehicle full of academy students moved forward. As the bus hit a sharp turn Fell over on his left side falling onto Akiyuki's lap. Akiyuki shoved Cherry off of him as violently as possible. Cherry woke up confused then glanced out the window.

"Oh! Finally I think we're here! Look Yuki! Look!" Cherry said excitedly smashing his face into the window as they pulled up to the building. Cherry loved field trips.

"Don't call me Yuki you degenerate! And get off of me dammit!" Akiyuki yelled trying to free himself from under the load of his upperclassmen. When the bus came to a stop all the students filed out of it in pairs. The building soared high into the sky. The outside was made with a pristine expensive metal the glass doors of the entrance were spotless. Cherry gazed up in awe.

A woman in a lab coat met them at the door.

"Hello students of Academy #0011. We welcome you to the 5th laboratory where everything from experimenting with vaccines of diseases to developing biological weapons." The woman smiled and her entire body blinked out, then back on. She was a hologram. "Right this way, please."

Chase was practically dragging poor Shade into the building, the older boy could hardly muster up the strength to stay awake, let alone tour a government laboratory. For a second, he wondered if they'd take him back if he claimed to have some horrible, contagious sickness. He'd hoped to catch up on some beauty sleep during the ride there, since that previous night offered him little comfort. His mind was too busy stirring with wild thoughts of Cherry, he didn't think he'd actually slept for more than two hours at the most last night. Chase wasn't helping in the least bit, his ever-going energy was only making Shade feel more tired. He kept rubbing at his eyes and praying they would adjust to the light inside the laboratory.

"Wooow, look he's so cute." Chase had gone completely mushy over another freshmen he had yet gotten the opportunity to talk to. The younger boy tugged on Shade's sleeve like a little child would, trying to catch it's mother's attention, but received no response from Shade. "Hey listen to me!" He tugged harder and Shade almost lost his balance, seeing as how he wasn't fully present even though he was standing there. "What are you going on about?" He dared to ask, knowing if he hadn't Chase wouldn't leave him only. "Do you know who he is?" The blonde pointed towards Cherry and whoever the freshmen he was paired up with. "Ugh." Was all he said in response while Chase started following the holographic woman.

Before he knew it, Chase had pulled Shade over to Cherry and the boy he secretly admired. He held onto the purple-haired boy's wrist knowing full well that if he let go that would give Shade the perfect chance to escape. "Hi there," Chase said cheerfully waving at the other two boys, though his attention was really only focused on his fellow freshmen, "I'm Chase Ryder. I saw you at orientation but I didn't get a chance to talk to you." He held out his hand casually and hoped the boy would shake it. He would just die if he did. Meanwhile, Shade was making a very good effort to keep his eyes everywhere but looking at Cherry.

Akiyuki folded his arms when the young boy named Chase Ryder. "Sorry, I don't shake hands. The average person's hands are covered with filthy germs and i just sanitized mine a few seconds ago, so i'm not looking forward to doing it again so soon." Cherry grimaced at Akiyuki's remark. "I'm Akiyuki Taedo, but I prefer you call me Mr. Taedo."

"Reminds me of someone." Cherry murmured while trying not to look at Shade, but his eyes betrayed him. The gazed at him up and down. As the crowd began to move Cherry who was on 'auto-pilot' moved with them. "Having fun?' Cherry asked sarcastikcally, staring up ahead, still trying to avoid looking at Shade

Chase appeared to be completely unaffected by Akiyuki's words, it was a great ability he had, it was really hard to hurt his feelings. "Mr. Taedo huh? That makes you sound ten times older though, I like Yuki much better." He nodded and flashed a smile that momentarily took up the entire lower half of his face. He was so focused on Akiyuki that he didn't pay an ounce of attention to wherever the tour was taking them. He still thought the other freshmen was adorable, no matter how different their personalities may have been.

Shade was still grumpy and being around Cherry wasn't helping him out at all, frustrating him? Yes. He did tune into Chase's conversation with the other boy long enough to admire the fact that he too hated germs. In a way, he reminded Shade of himself when he was younger. He rolled his eyes at Cherry's ridiculous question, of course he was dying to leave. "Fun? Are you kidding me? I'm having the time of my life." He spoke dully, still keeping his eyes off of Cherry, which was becoming an increasingly hard challenge.

Akiyuki frowned annoyed, but he found the irritating ball of fluff known as Chase Ryder to be quite cute. Akiyuki's cheeks flushed and he tried to cover his embarrassment by clearing his throat. "Fine. Call me whatever you like, though I do prefer Mr. Taedo." Akiyuki was actually starting to like Chase's company. Ever since the incident when Shade and Cherry massacred him and his gang. His friends had been avoiding. Basically shunning him out. Though his encounter with Cherry and Shade was good for him. Since the school year started he'd been acting like a different person, trying to prove something to everyone. getting his ass handed to him by the upperclassmen was a wake up call he needed, desperately. It was nice to converse with someone who actually appreciated his company.

Cherry smirked at Shade's sarcasm. Then upon hearing Chase call Akiyuki by the nickname Yuki something in his mind clicked. Something that was buried deep in his brain tissue. Didn't I used to call Shade...Yuki? Even though he doesn't remember ever being on good enough terms with Shade where they'd give each other nicknames. Yet it felt so natural. The hologram guide lead them past an extremely wide window that nearly took up the entire wall. They were so high up, Cherry felt that if he leaned over enough he could fall to his death. Out side of the window there a decrepit building that looked something like a factory from the industrial revolution. Families of pipes protruded from the ceiling and the entire building was made of steel that was completely rusted over in a dingy orange red shade. It was fenced off. The only way anyone could get over the fence is if they were a bird.

"Ma'am whats that over there?" A student asked pointing at the old building.

"That is the 4th laboratory. It's where all the research in the 5th laboratory was conducted before it was tainted with radioactivity in an accident that to this day has yet to be explained. Now, up ahead to your right is the exoskeleton battle suit developed by one of the greatest scientific minds..." The woman's voice trailed off as Cherry began to nod in and out of sleep.

"Ugh this is terribly dull." Akiyuki said folding his arms and rolling his eyes. He looked up, saw cherry falling asleep and Shade with his back to them. A mischievous idea sparked in his mind. He stopped walking as the group continued to move forward without him. He grabbed Chase by the sleeve and pulled him in the opposite direction. "we're going to go do something more interesting."

When they'd been standing in front of that enormous window it was no surprise that Chase had his face pressed up against the glass with eyes as big as baseballs. He gaped at the rundown laboratory, he would've killed to get inside and snoop around. The tour wasn't turning out to be as much fun as he'd hoped it would, and he was just thinking of a way to sneak away and do some adventuring of his own when Akiyuki grabbed on to his sleeve and started pulling him in another direction. "Oh really? Where are we going Yuki?" He asked with the innocence of a little boy, excited for two reasons. The first, and probably the most obvious one, was because he was sneaking off with the freshmen he'd developed a monstrous crush on. Oh and because the tour was boring and he didn't think he could've stood there much longer without losing his mind.

Shade wasn't paying the woman much attention, but he was proud of himself for being able to ignore Cherry equally well--at least for a few minutes anyway. He hadn't even heard Chase leave behind him. He sighed, feeling much better for some reason, calm, and that's when he realized why. Chase's annoying presence was gone completely and he didn't worry about what that meant for a few more minutes. "Where the...what the hell?" Her muttered quietly and looked over his shoulder, both Chase and Akiyuki were nowhere to be seen. "...You've got to be kidding me." He did have to think rationally for a second, was it really that big of a deal? With Chase gone he wouldn't have to endure his brainless parade of questions. But, he would have to hear about it later. It would make him look awful if he'd lost his freshmen at the very beginning of the tour.

With a sigh of frustration Shade looked at Cherry, who looked like he was moments away from drifting off to dreamland. "Hey, wake up!" he spoke in a harsh whisper, shaking Cherry's shoulder. "They're gone...the boys, they're gone." Even as he said the words he knew he wasn't going to enjoy the task of hunting them down.

Cherry's head fell back and forth until he was fully awake and shoved Shade off of him. "Wait...what do you mean they're gone?" He looked around and noticed that the spaces that were supposed to be occupied by Akiyuki and Chase were empty. "They're gone!" he exclaimed. He was going to hear about this from the headmaster. He'd die if he received another hour long lecture about being responsible. He quieted himself as to not gain anyone's attention. "Shade! How could you lose them!? You were supposed to be watching them?! Ugh nevermind let's just find those little bastards and bring them back."

"Mr. Taedo," Akiyuki corrected Chase as they came to a stop at an large skeletal structuure that was the remains of some monstrous creature that had long been extinct. "Uh I don't know. I just wanted to get away and entertain myself. Any ideas?" he asked folding his arms.

Shade shot Cherry an incredulous look, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Last time I checked I was only watching Chase, and no one told your lazy ass you could doze off like that!" He spoke just as animated as ever but was good enough not to cause a scene, since if anyone else knew what was going on, it would only complicate things more. Find and drag them back. That's all Shade was thinking. He really wasn't enthused about having to go on a manhunt, especially with Cherry. His luck just seemed to be getting better and better. "I wonder if they'll be spotted by a guard and executed on the spot for trespassing." Shade wondered aloud with a sadistic grin on his face, but then he remembered what kind of trouble that would get him into and suddenly he was walking very fast in the opposite direction of the group.

Chase ogled at the bones that were displayed before them and completely ignored Akiyuki's correction. "I've got an idea!" He clasped his hands together enthusiastically. "Let's go explore the fourth laboratory, I bet there's all kinds of weird stuff still in there. Chase grabbed on to Akiyuki's wrist, once again ignoring what the boy had previously stated about germs, and started walking in the very direction of the closed of lab. The fact that it was clearly forbidden to go inside made it that much more fun.

The sound of entering such a decrepit and old place that probably have felt the much need sprinse of cleaner liquid from a spray secreter made his skin crawl he was about to object when an image of the two of them being alone together in a place where neither of them would be bothered excited him, just a bit. "Erm, well that would definitely be...a...not a bad idea...." He finished catching glimpse of Shade and Cherry heading in their direction. "Follow me!" he said dragging Chase along with him. he spotted an open window. Akiyuki's physical ability was a type of super jump. he ordered Chase onto his back and the two of them launched high into the air and began falling downward just as they'd passed over the fence.

"That would be great. Atleast it would save us the trouble of finding...."Cherry's jaw dropped as his eyes caught sight of two freshmen falling from the sky through the very window they leapt from. He didn't finish his statement. He reacted by grabbing shade by the hand and leaping out window after them.

Chase had very little time to react, he followed Akiyuki's order without any hesitation. Heights. He wasn't a fan of being so high up, then falling so quickly. In the presence of different company he would've been screaming his head off, but it didn't look too impressive to squeal like a girl in front of someone he liked. A physical ability of his own, Chase had the reflexes of a cat and, when he wanted to use it, their grace too. He landed with a soft thud, his knees bent then straightened as he stood up. "Wow, that was amazing!" He was so thrilled he moved to grab Akiyuki's wrist again and made a beeline for the off-limits building.

"Hm, how do we get in?" He examined the boards that covered up what appeared to be the closest entrance. His other ability wasn't anything he could use in a fight, in fact it could be considered useless unless you wanted a history lesson. With his right eye he could activate his unique ability of seeing two different time periods of the same room. It was a great hassle when he was younger, with little control over it, he would walk into a room and see both what was currently going on and what had happened in the past, he could see as far back as twenty years so far.

It was the most bizarre thing he'd ever come across and usually he didn't bother with using the ability. It couldn't help him fight so he didn't bother with it. Now though, he wondered what he might see upon entering the old laboratory. The incident that had caused it to be closed down maybe? Chase gave the door a hard kick and it must have been weakened by age because it came crashing right down. "After you Yuki." He stepped to the side but was already looking into the dark interior of the building.

Shade knew they had to stop the freshmen before it was too late. That overactive imagination of his had him envisioning them touching a big red button and blowing the whole building up, or maybe they would find some hibernating experiment that turned out to be some apocalypse-bringing death machine. The images made him shudder and before he even had time to react Cherry was grabbing his hand and jumping out an open window. Chase may have been a good sport about it, but Shade wasn't one to care how his actions made himself look.

He yelled, not loud enough to draw attention to them, but enough to distract him from actually thinking about the fall. Once they hit the ground he was still in a hurry to catch up to the boys who had already gone inside the building by now. "You know it doesn't take much to say 'Oh hey we're gonna jump outta this window now', a little forewarning is greatly appreciated." He grumbled but didn't stop walking. The old building was daunting and Shade didn't want to be in there any longer than he absolutely had to.

"Quit whining and just look." Cherry commanded obnoxiously stomping into the dark building with a scowl on his face. He was annoyed and irritated at the same time. He was anxious about the building. It gave him an eerie feeling. Though he found relief in getting away from the lame tour goosebumps ran down his spine. While walking he stole a glance from Shade who's features were becoming less and less visible as they ventured deeper into the dark corridor. A piece of his heart was longing for his touch, contemplating the decision to use this opportunity to covet Shade Yukia's lips with his own, but the stubborn persona that ruled the majority of his personality wouldn't allow it. He pushed the thoughts away.

Akiyuki was feeling pretty pleased with Chase. Chase was eager and polite, he had the makings of a good slave. "Hmm this place is disgusting." Akiyuki announced sadly resting his face in his palm when he realized the energetic ball of fluff had gone oddly quiet. He turned to look up at him. He was staring off into space with a somber empty look. Without saying anything, Akiyuki tried to follow Chase's gaze into the darkness, but couldn't see what was captivating. Suddenly he felt as if the darkness around him was closing in, drawing him into a smaller space forcing him to move closer and closer to the frozen Chase. Perhaps it was his anxiety or just his imagination, but fear began to well up deep inside him. "Chase!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, grabbing the boy's face in both his hands desperately.

"Did you hear that?" Cherry asked Shade. "It sounded like a yell." The two were now considerably deep on the first floor, but now cast into complete darkness. Cherry pounded his chest with one fist and snort like he was about to hack up a huge loogie. He opened his mouth to shine a soft red light. The area became dimly lit. it looked like they reached some kind of intersection. There was a fire escape in front of them that had stairs that led both up and down. Cherry made a move forward and stumbled over some debris. The ball of energy he held in his mouth slipped out exploding at contact with the ground. The floor beneath them crumbled and gave out under them.

The two students found themselves falling down into darkness. Cherry reached out for Shade's hand and drew him close to his body. He held him tightly and focused summoning on his powers to stop their descent when a thick chunk of plaster struck his head. He grunted, Shade fell from his grip as he began to lose consiousness.

Chase was suddenly feeling uneasy but he wasn't going to act like a baby and back out now. Creepy darkness or not. He moved to take the smallest step forward and was completely thrown off when Akiyuki yelled and grabbed his face. The boy blinked rapidly, his face flushing three different shades of pink before turning red. "Yuki...-" Chase acted on impulse and pulled Akiyuki's mouth towards his own, kissing him softly. He pulled away and frantically started waving his hands around. "I-I'm sorry, I d-don't know where that came from. I guess I was just trying to calm you down." Chase was beyond embarrassed, but pleased at the same time. He had gotten the courage to do what he'd been thinking about since he first saw Akiyuki.

Shade had his hands shoved in his pockets and was trying to think about anything but being in total darkness. He was straining to listen for any sort of noise and was startled half to death when he heard a yell. Now guided by the light of Cherry's energy orb he started walking towards where he guessed the sound originated from. In the next moment everything seemed to happen to fast he was completely disoriented for a second. The floor crumbled away and they were falling, through the darkness, but Shade could feel Cherry's arms around his body. He clung to him, even after Cherry had been knocked unconscious, Shade still held on to him tightly.

He landed on his back and the air was knocked right out of him, with a wheeze he rolled Cherry over on his back and leaned over him. It was completely dark again but he wasn't thinking about that. His mind was racing with fear that Cherry might've been seriously injured. "Hey wake up!" "Wake up!" He called out to him both verbally and mentally while shaking his shoulders. "Please wake up."

Akiyuki could only stare back at Chase Ryder with wide eyes as he apologized. Chase's lips were on his for a full three seconds and in those three seconds he made no attempt to push him away. He was utterly stunned, but was sure of one thing, despite the protest of the voices in his head. He wanted more. While Chase was still apologizing he threw his lips in for another kiss. One that would last much longer and hopefully continue.

Cherry's eyes popped open. He sat up quickly, then fell back down cringing at the pain at the back of his head. He reached back and felt warm squishy liquid. It was blood. He tried to sit back up, but he was too dizzy so he just laid there. Looking up, with his vision spinning, he made out the sight of Shade's lips. Cherry smiled warmly, reaching a hand up to touch them with trembling fingertips and said in a gentle tone alien to his personality. "Are...you alright?" His arm went limp and everything went black again.

"RX-78 may be one of our most powerful weapons yet. His readings are off the scale!"

"Wait! What's wrong with him?!"

"He's convulsing!"

"Director, His vitals are dropping!"

"Stabilize him, dammit! We're not going to lose another one! Especially not this one!"

When Cherry opened his eyes again he was staring at a row of broken tubes with shattered glass in front of them. "What the-" he remarked gazing quizzically at the row of shattered tubes lined up against the wall that seemed to go on forever. He looked over and saw what seemed to be a play area with rusted toys and dirtied dolls. There were large machines on the other side of the wall with pipes that looked like they once ran along the ceiling, connecting to the tubes. "Yukia...what hell is this....." Then another realization hit him. THE BOYS! "Yukia! What the hell are you doing!? Did you find the boys!?"

Chase had lost all track of time and a sense for his surroundings, he had forgotten all about the darkness they stood in or the fact that he was terrified. He thought Akiyuki would have backhanded him or at least pushed him away for the unannounced kiss, but instead he kissed him again and completely threw Chase of balance. He didn't pull away, there was no way he would unless someone pried him away away from the other boy by force. His fingers were tangled in his hair and he kissed him with a strange urgency like their time together would have to end soon. He only pulled away to catch his breath. His voice was shaky when he spoke. "Uh, I think maybe we should take a look around." He didn't want to end his time with Akiyuki, he would have loved to stay in his embrace all day, but he still wanted to take a look around.

Shade was busy worrying himself to death, he stayed glued by Cherry's side trying to wake him up. He didn't want to move him too much, just in case he had broken something, so he kept gently shaking his shoulders. When he finally did wake up Shade was close to tears, he regained some shred of his composure when Cherry reached up to touch his lips. At that one touch a wave of heat washed over his face and, without being able to see himself, he could tell that he was blushing madly. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine!" His voice was heavy as he had just been about to cry.

For the first time since they had fallen to, wherever it was they were, Shade managed to look away from Cherry long enough to take in the scene around them. It was bizarre, like something he'd seen from a movie about mad scientist performing gruesome experiments on people. He shuddered before looking back down at Cherry. "Who?" That's right, he was so wrapped up in his worry that he forgot all about the boys. "Oh! I didn't want to just leave you lying here by yourself." He stood up and brushed his clothes off. "Can you walk?"

"Goddammit!" Cherry cursed feeling various crannies of pain erupting all over his body as he struggled to pull himself back up to his feet. Once he was finally on his feet he was panting. "yeah. I think I can walk." He responded limping just a bit. He stole a glance from Shade noticing a couple of streaks of dried tears that ran down his face. He placed an arm around Shade's shoulders. "Err...I think I twisted my ankle. I'm going to have to depend on you for a while." He looked away from Shade and scanned the room again. It looked eerily like something straight from a sci-fi flick.

Cherry clsoed his eyes trying to focus enough to raise him and shade back up to the floor they fell from, but was struck by a pang of pain at the back of his head. If he was leaning on Shade he would have hit the floor again. "Shit...I think...I have a concussion. I can't use my telekinesis."

"Oh yeah...lets carry on then...." Akiyuki agreed wiping his lips with his sleeve and brushing his hair back into proper place with his fingers. His composure regained he proceeded to walk ahead into the darkness.

Shade was still overcome with relief by the fact that Cherry was okay, in obvious pain, but conscious. Had he really been cried in the moments that he was unconscious? Any other time Shade would have been completely humiliated, but at the moment he was just glad the other boy was awake. He wiped at his face in a swift motion hoping to erase any traces of his former distress. His thoughts were less frantic and he could finally focus again. They had to find the boys. He didn't protest when Cherry wrapped an arm around his neck for support, normally he would've voiced his disapproval on the intrusion of his personal space, but in their current predicament that would only slow them down.

Shade took one step forward before stopping with a quick sigh. "It'll take us forever if you can only use one leg." He didn't wait for any sort of request before picking Cherry up piggyback-style. "We'll be able to find them faster this way." His face was just as heated as ever but he pushed the thoughts spirling in his mind to the back burner. "How the hell are we supposed to get outta here?" He hoped there was a staircase somewhere around, he didn't want to be there with those weird tubes and old toys forever. Still, he walked closer to them and dared to poke one. "I wonder what kind of twisted experiments they performed down here." A quick image flashed through his mind of what he considered gruesome acts which he openly broadcasted to Cherry. "Oops."

Shade laughed despite their situation and backed away from the tubes and started searching for the stairs.

Chase wanted to pull Akiyuki back against his body, but he fought the urge. He kept his hands in his pockets to restrain himself and looked everywhere but at the other freshmen. "So, it's pretty dark in here." He stated the obvious in an attempt to distract himself from the indecent thoughts he was thinking.

Cherry's face went completely red when Shade lifted him up Piggyback. He wanted to protest, but traveling this way would be more convenient for him. He kind of looked at it as a self satisfying bdsm. A slave carrying his master, but dismissed the idea for fear that Shade would catch it. Cherry clenched his teeth as a pulsation of minor pain rumbled through the back of his head. He probably needed a doctor.

Cherry flinched from what Shade was thinking. "You think you could get a handle on that dude?" Suddenly a reel of broken images flashed through his mind as iof awakened by what Shade accidentally showed him. "Go over there." Cherry pointed to a dusty, grime covered panel littered with buttons and nobs. Once he was close to it, he lightly rubbed his hands across it. He accidentally hit one. For a second nothing happened until a blue figure appeared next to them. She resembled the the tour guide from the laboratory. The image blinked. It was a hologram too.

"You've accessed the Final prEvolution Case Folder. Which file would you like to access?"

Cherry wasn't sure what to do. He looked to Shade who seemed to be as clueless as he was. Then a few words drifted to the front of his mind and he spoke them almost without thinking. "RX78."

The image of the woman disappeared and was replaced by that of a very small toddler with a messy top of hair. Cherry eyes widened. He was staring at a younger version of himself. "What the---"

The woman's omniscient voice spoke. "RX78 God cell fusion Successful. All other information Ommitted. Deactivating Back Up energy terminal." The image disappeared and the machine died down.

"Yeah...it is dark..." Akiyuki agreed not sure what else to say. he stopped midstride, throwing an arm up to ward Chase from moving further. "Did you hear that?" He heard it again and quietly shoved shade and himself into an office. Hiding under a desk. Akiyuki peered from behind it and saw small mob of hooded figures crawling along the hallway floor like lizards. "Chase...it's the invaders...."

Shade stared down at the filthy panel and frowned; he could only imagine the kinds of microscopic germs that covered the device. "Ew this thing is disgusting." He spoke in a chastising manner after Cherry had already touched it. He would have gone on a quick rant about germs had it not been for the unexpected appearance of the holographic woman. His eyes widened and he cocked his head to the side while listening to her short words. It was freaky, that's the first thing that came to mind. He didn't have the slightest clue as to what the woman was talking about so he was ready to turn away and find an exit, but then Cherry spoke some random combination of letters and numbers and the hologram proceeded to show the image of what Shade knew was Cherry as a young child.

His mouth was hanging open by the time the image disappeared and the entire machine turned off. He stared where the hologram had been and after a silent moment attempted to make sense of what he had just seen. "So...that was you...how the hell did you know what to say?" Shade was puzzled and slightly frustrated, while he loved solving weird mysteries there was also a part of him that hated not knowing what was going on.

Chase was startled when Akiyuki suddenly pulled him into the office and completely confused until he clued him in on the presence of the invaders. His form went rigid and he had to remind himself he wasn't alone so that he wouldn't freak out. He peered around the desk to get a good look himself and sure enough there they were clad in black. He drew back and leaned his back against the desk for support. "Uh what should we do? We can't fight them. We should get outta here before they kill us." He kept his voice low even though he wanted to yell for help at the top of his lungs right about now. He reached out for Akiyuki's hand in the darkness and held on to it tightly while his heart pounded in his chest.

Akiyuki paused. "D-Do you have any kind of stealth ability that can get us out here?" His mind was racing trying to think of a way out. He was wondering how many were out there. "Maybe I can use my third wave to blow through them and make an opening for us..."

Cherry realized he was holding his breath and exhaled. "I don't know....when i was knocked out..i had this dream..there was these mean speaking and they kept talking about this RX78...That child...was he RX78? Am I? This doesn't make sense.....What does it all mean?"Cherry was extremely confused. he didn't know what to make of it. He wanted answers.

Area 11

To be continued....