“We’re going to die.”

“We’re not going to die.” The first girl rose a questioning eyebrow at her partner, who returned the look with an exaggerated smile. “I think we’ve got this.”

"Brooke, you cannot be serious.”

“Don’t you worry, Savannah,” Brooke beamed. “I personally guarantee we won’t die.”

Savannah groaned, putting her face in her hand. She probably wanted to put her head in both her hands, but her left arm was broken, held in place by a shoddily constructed sling. The sight of her partner’s arm did bring the slightest bit of doubt to Brooke’s mind, but she decided not to linger on it.

“We’re trapped in a Ruin,” Savannah muttered, “surrounded by killer Mechs, whose only goal is to destroy mankind, I’m exhausted, I have a broken arm, and we have no idea where the rest of our team is.” She glared daggers at Brooke. “Am I missing anything?”

“We still have each other?” Brooke tried hesitantly.

For some reason, that didn’t reassure Savannah, whose head immediately fell again. Brooke mentally braced herself for more harsh words, but Savannah didn’t speak to her again. For a long time, she didn’t make any noise at all. When she did, it was a tiny noise, although Brooke recognized the brokenness of her voice. “I’m not ready to die,” Savannah cried.

Brooke wanted to make a joke to cheer her up, but it was obvious that it wouldn’t help. Instead, she steeled herself, put on her best serious face, and placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Do you trust me?” she asked. Savannah looked at her with a look that clearly answered that question. “Right, fair enough. I know I haven’t proven myself to be the strongest person, but I really can protect us until we find the others.”

Savannah wasn’t convinced. She didn’t say it, but Brooke knew it. The clinking of metal interrupted her thoughts. Brooke spun, stepping in front of Savannah. She lowered herself into a fighting stance as three Mechs rounded the corner. The shiny bronze of their bodies reflected the harsh glow of the Cells in their cores.

Without hesitating, Brooke launched herself at the robots. Her fist knocked one down, metal denting inward from the force. She turned to deal with the second Mech. Her arm was ready to deal another devastating blow when she felt pain erupt in her back.

It only took one glance to realize that she had a blade digging between her ribs.

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A month earlier, Brooke Canin stepped off the train at Diamond Hope Academy with a smile on her face. She took a deep breath, savoring the moment. “Today’s the first day of something beautiful,” she whispered to herself. She managed one step before a group of boys rushed past her. The sudden motion knocked her backwards, and she fell back into the train.

The boys didn’t even acknowledge that she fell. She winced, both from the pain of falling and because of the immediate failure upon arriving at school. Before she got up, someone else walked past the train’s door. The girl was very short, with bleach blonde hair. Her outfit was made up of muted colors, although there was a red sash across her body. She and Brooke met eyes as the girl scanned her over.

Brooke gave her a hopeful look. She had seen enough TV shows to know how this was supposed to play out. After starting off down on her luck, now it was time for her to meet her best friend. Any second now, this girl would help her up, and they’d start to school together.

The girl just shook her head and kept walking.

“Alrighty,” Brooke sighed, pulling herself up on her own. She took an extra second to peer around the corner and make sure that no one was coming before she hopped out of the train again. “Second time’s the charm.”

“That’s certainly one way to kick off the semester,” a boy said. Brooke turned towards him. The boy was alone, although he didn’t seem uncomfortable with it. He wasn’t very tall, although he had a slender, almost lanky body. His hair was black, with a streak of blond running through the side, slicked back with a lot of gel. He wore a trench coat that was buttoned from top to bottom and seemed to have more pockets than it should have.

“It could be worse,” Brooke replied. She stuck her hand out to the boy. “My name is Brooke Canin. Nice to meet you.”

“Gibbs Hylobat. Did you know you’re the first person to introduce yourself to me?” he asked. His tone was difficult to place. The pitch was low and somewhat unwavering, kind of like how Sabir talked, that sounded dead-serious. But there was something underneath, like every sentence was actually meant to be a joke. “It seems like most people are coming with a group already.”

“No group here,” Brooke shrugged. “My brother’s somewhere, but he said he had stuff to do before we got on the train.” The two fell into step beside one another. Gibbs took in his surroundings silently, his eyes glancing at everything, like a fine appraiser. “So…” Brooke tried to keep a conversation going, “what brought you to Diamond Hope?”

“Court mandated,” Gibbs said, as if it was a normal reason to become a Sentinel. “It was either this or jail.”

Brooke recoiled. She briefly wondered if he was kidding. “Well, I think you made the right choice. School sounds better than prison. Does that mean you’re good at fighting?”

Now it was Gibbs turn to flinch. “I… uh… yeah, I’m alright.”

“You okay?” Brooke asked.

“Sorry,” Gibbs replied, shaking his head. “You were just… very accepting. I’m not usually the one caught off guard.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Brooke just shrugged. “I figure you must be a good guy if you’re going to be a Sentinel. Who knows, maybe we’ll get the chance to work together.”

“Yeah, maybe.” The two stepped into the largest building on campus, the main student center. People were already bustling throughout the building, getting books, sharpening weapons, or just grabbing a cup of coffee with friends. Brooke stared wide-eyed at the room. Plastered across the wall was the insignia of Diamond Hope Academy, an intricate design built with a Cell made of various gems.

While she was still admiring the decorations, Gibbs tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey, I’ve got to get some last-minute registration stuff done. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Oh,” Brooke said, a little more disappointed than she meant to. She was secretly hoping her first friend would stay with her a little longer. She knew she did a bad job hiding it, but she tried to cover it up with a smile. “Sounds good. I’m sure I’ll see you soon.”

“Sounds like a plan, Brooke,” Gibbs said, giving a small salute.

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Gibbs had a pretty standard method of dealing with people when he was uncomfortable: don’t let anyone realize you’re uncomfortable, say something to catch them off-guard, and then control the flow of conversation. Maybe it wasn’t the best way to make friends, but Gibbs had never felt more out of place than the moment he got off the train.

As soon as Gibbs separated from Brooke, he rubbed his forehead. That was… weird, he thought. He was used to keeping people second-guessing, always on their toes. That was why he told her about how he almost went to jail. Brooke seemed like a nice girl, but she seemed naïve. One mention of his court mandate was supposed to knock her off-balance.

Not only did she immediately roll with it, but she turned it on him by encouraging him. Gibbs felt himself disarmed the entire short time he talked to her. He ran his fingers through his hair nervously. Vaguely, he wondered if that was what it was like talking to him normally.

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Brooke weaved through the crowd, silently taking in everything she saw. It was pretty obvious who the first-year students were, as most carried too much luggage, paperwork, and generally looked out of place. Her older classmates were lounging, preparing for the upcoming year, and generally taking in the younger students.

The thing that caught her eye was one such student. At least, she assumed he was a student. Truthfully, if he didn’t have such a young face, she might have mistaken him for a professor or a professional Sentinel. He was huge, easily standing over six and a half feet. His light brown hair was brushed neatly to the side, in a style that clearly took a lot of care, even if it didn’t look great. His clothes were business casual, a striped button-down shirt and dress pants, all lightly colored.

The crowds seemed to part around him. A few people whispered about the boy, and more than a few sent odd glances in his direction. The boy just ignored them, hanging in the center of the room, parting the sea of students like he was a giant rock. He didn’t pay them any mind as he looked through a folder.

Several thoughts passed through Brooke’s mind, thoughts just like the ones in most of the other students’ heads. This guy must be a serious Sentinel, I better leave him alone. He looks intimidating, I should just move around him. He’s got a lot of guts, standing in the middle of the room like that, I don’t want to mess with him. Despite all those thoughts, one thing stuck in Brooke’s mind that no one else thought. He looks scared.

She made a beeline for him, her arm ready for a handshake before she even could reach him. “Hello!” she greeted, hoping this could be her second friend of the day. “My name is Brooke Canin. Are you looking for something?”

The boy blinked at her, like he was surprised to see her. Once he did, Brooke knew she was right. Despite everything about him, his face looked like he was more intimidated by the girl half his height than she was of him. “Ibsen Egre.” He shook her hand. Despite his size, it was a weak handshake. “I’m not lost or anything, I’m just… not sure what to do.”

“Are you all ready for school?” Ibsen nodded. “Well, you’re a step ahead of me,” Brooke admitted. “I’m not even sure what’s going on today.”

“I think we’re supposed to meet our teams,” Ibsen replied, “but that’s not until a little later.”

“Oh yeah, my brother mentioned something about teams, but he said I’d figure it out when I got here.” She paused a moment. “Does it say who’s on your team?”

Ibsen shrugged, reaching into a folder they gave him earlier. He flipped to his team page and showed it to Brooke. As soon as she saw it, her eyes went wide.

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Sabir enjoyed the first day of school. A lot of people (his sister included) would say that he didn’t enjoy anything except training, but that wasn’t true. Unlike Brooke, he just preferred to keep his happiness internal.

Still, the first day of school was always a good time. Everyone was refreshed and ready to learn, excited for the new year, making plans that would inevitably fall apart after the first week. It was a time for a lot of excitement, especially from the first-year students.

No matter how much he enjoyed the first day of school, Sabir was secretly dreading one thing. As soon as his phone started ringing, he had a feeling his moment had come. He pulled the phone out, lowered the volume, and put it to his ear.

“YOU’RE MY TEAM LEADER!” Brooke’s voice was piercing, even with the volume down.

“Most people start phone calls with a ‘Hello.’”

“Most people tell their sister that they’re going to be their team leader.”

“I take it you just found out,” Sabir asked.

“Yeah, but only because I saw it on Ibsen’s paper,” she said. Sabir was impressed. He had a feeling Brooke would get into some kind of hijinks, but even he didn’t think she’d find one of her teammates before their meeting. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Sabir responded. A little quieter, he added, “And I didn’t want you freaking out about it for the last few weeks.”

“Well, consider me freaking out.” Sabir realized too late what was about to happen and didn’t have enough time to lower the volume again. He pulled the phone away from his ear, and the noise that came out sounded like it was on speaker mode. “I CAN’T BELIEVE WE’RE ON THE SAME TEAM! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!”

“It’ll be fun, Brooke,” Sabir said as monotone as he could, his only hope of balancing out his excitable sister, “but it’ll be hard. I won’t go easy on you because you’re my sister. If anything, I’m going to push you even harder.”

“I’m ready,” Brooke replied. “Are we meeting soon?”

“In an hour. It’s all in your welcome packet.”

“My welcome packet?” Sabir vaguely heard a man in the background, who he could only assume was Ibsen. “Oh, apparently I need to get a welcome packet. I’ll see you later, Sabir… I mean, team captain.”

“Don’t be late,” Sabir warned, but Brooke was too fast, so he was just speaking to a dial tone. As soon he realized she was gone, he let out a breath. “This is going to be a weird year,” he said to himself.

Every first-year team was led by an upperclassman who could guide them as they started their training and help them navigate Diamond Hope Academy. In all honesty, Sabir was on the fence about becoming a team leader at all, but he wanted to be able to keep an eye on Brooke.

Most first-year team leaders were nice enough, but with Brooke’s lack of training and her unreliable Core, he could easily see some of the less friendly leaders giving her a hard time. Even more than protecting her from bullying though, he needed to make sure she was ready the first time she went into a Ruin, which were overrun with Mechs.

A pit opened in his stomach. That first trip was never fun, but it was a wakeup call to most of the first-year students. He wouldn’t forget his own, even two years later. Shaking his head, he decided it wasn’t a problem for today. They had a few weeks before they were even eligible.