William looks at the far door in expectation. People of the Academy, Military, and even Outside regions are beyond.
It leaves him expectant, but apprehensive of them. Like Mi-Yung, those people are somewhat strange and Walkers who he never met.
Not in a sense of a meeting, but a personality meeting. Those people should be so individually based, as one leader of their respective organizations should. Having a temperament for this kind of occurrence, and life must be quite commendable.
Gulping down water beside the sofa's table, he feels a bit better afterward. Not like he is too happy about this day, since his whole life will depend on this moment. Though, he at least has the firm words of Mi-Yung, who will help him.
“I am not nervous... Not nervous.” He mumbles as he put his hands between his thighs. He could see his shimmering Emblem emitting the movements of tiny Vectors. It leaves him somewhat different, but he at least has no worries about destroying anything with it any longer. Out in the open, it's relatively calm for now, but who knows for how long? He can feel it could be wild if it wouldn't be for constant reminders to calm it down. It's his hand, after all. His Emblem, and a thing of utmost importance for him at the moment. Apart from his own life, that is.
Although his right former sleeve is gone, he is not the only one in this room with a visible Emblem.
That, William notices, and it's not rare at all. Those who are indifferently sleeping without any effort at displaying their worries about the Emblem are. Some of the youths have theirs out because they can, or feel it is the proper way to present themselves in front of the many leaders. Shirtless, cleavage and loose or intentionally destroyed clothes make up the basics of the visible Emblem. Regardless of gender, of course.
Breathing in and out, William is calming his hectic heart, which can't be calmed down at all.
It is all too strong for him. This time and day of his life.
Looking around, down to his hand, or towards the floor, an hour passes, with another one that follows.
Samoan's calls make it to the 90ties so the end is near while creeping sleep deprivation is also acting up.
Many of the people made a small nap here and there, but those who would be usually the most unyielding and least nervous ones around. William is not one of them, and he knows it. At least there has been great food from the remaining bag that Mi-Yung brought. Although occasional reassurance from Mi-Yung leaves him in a better mood, his time came in another dozen minutes.
“Number 95!” The voice of Samoan echoes within an almost empty hall, as everyone who walked forth, has another destination afterward.
This is the latest step of this day, which will follow them throughout their entire lives.
“Ready?” Mi-Yung puts her arm on Williams's shoulder, who doesn't even notice the shift in weight. He is too nervous to do so.
“H-how about n-no?” He mumbles.
“You have me, so don't worry about it. Let's go.”
Dragging him by a shoulder, William, at last, gets on his own tempo and walks beside her towards this half-open door gate.
Samoan is waiting for them, while he long anticipates the arrival of a surprising occurrence.
“Greetings, miss Song. I am aware of your presence, and so are the people inside. Are you prepared to face them? You and the boy on your right” he asks.
“Prepared for what?” William laments inside, but not as he or Mi-Yung voices anything.
Without giving other words out, Samoan pulls the door close as the pair walks inside. A bit dull and dark, this room has no windows to make the moon shine through them. All that is here, are candles, much to William's surprise.
Samoan never opened the door fully, so no one got the full picture beyond it. Even if they could, it's so dark, so no one would see anything.
With decor of a similar style as the last room, there are instead rows of big and tall walls. William looks above and notices a half-round table formation, which has shrouded figures in candle's light.
“W-what sort of getup is this? Holy kebab!” William falls speechless, as he, fortunately, didn't tell this out loud.
Before him is a courtroom kind of setup, but not one he read about in the library. A kind of older, much tribal one. Tables make a half circle. They are high above the wooden floor. At least 15 feet, which is considerable, but not as tall for the sheer size of the ceiling. It's big... a little too big for something like this. Representatives sitting behind the tables, around this special setup.
“Into the semi-circle, Miss Song, Mister Gale.” Samoan gestures with his hand, as he could see the nervousness in the boy's eyes.
Though, Mi-Yung is not the least bit nervous as she finally gets to see how many people are here.
Without any surprise, she recognizes all of them.
9 tables, 13 shadowy figures, with half of their faces fine to see.
“C-coming. coming.” William mutters as he stumbles in the darkness forward.
It is in front of him, so he doesn't find it all that hard to reach the semi-circle in the dark.
“Gre...”
“Hello there, Song Mi-Yung.” A person in the middle of the table speaks with an echoing voice.
“Greetings, the overhead of the Federation, Paterszan Schultz.” she greets in the same, but her own echoing voice.
This big room is perfect for such talks, which makes it that much... strange to William's honesty. It makes the voices travel much, but it still is understandable fine. It's the course of the get-up that isn't what William expected.
Nod and a look away, he voices another thing. “And you are a participant of the number 95, William Gale. I presume?”
“Y-yes, sir.” Wiliam acknowledges what appears an unconditional answer. He wouldn't dare to lie at all amidst the voice of the old, yet the towering man in the middle of the tables.
He watches him, as the man watches him from above. Features of old, yet unique power to his own, he appears almost like a beast, with an unnaturally thick beard, and spiked hair. Muscles are escaping from his shirt, and visible massive shoulders are more than clear to mistake him for a massive grizzly bear.
Though, he is far from one, as he is a deputy head of the entire Federation and a person in charge of the people who happens to be here today.
“Well, I see no reason but ask right now. Miss Song, what is it going to be, or should the boy decide?”
“I came here for my own violations. All because of his father, Victor Gale, who may some of you know from the past.”
Silence prevails, yet a few shrouded figures nod, while others remain neutral in their appearance.
Mi-Yung can see them all with her keen eyes, but she doesn't feel comfortable doing this as well.
She could see them all, as well as representatives from the Academy.
Cloud was there as well, with mister Yondu being his second hand. Their table is the whole Military department of the Federation, which is never ceasing to look for new recruits.
That is the same for every organization here.
From the left, she can see the representative from China and India. Then Emblem Academy, Military department of the Federation, and Overhead of the Federation Schultz in the middle. To his right is the Institution of the Emblems, Hunter Association, the Overseer of the Outside forces of the Federation, and New Zealand's representative.
Each and everyone one of them is Walker, whom Mi-Yung knows quite well.
In the middle of everything, is her boss, after all, which leaves some sour taste in her mouth, but she knew he would be here.
Braving her for what is about to come, she walks forward and faces the gaze of everyone before William, who is silently watching what is about to happen. He guessed something like this would happen since her being a proxy was questionable in his mind for the past month.
Over time, Ellie told him many things and a general overview of the working of the Federation, and its high-class citizens. Those are the Walkers, and people in charge of everything for the good of humanity.
Few are before his eyes, but he feels like a side character instead. Overshadowed by the mere presence of everyone in the room, he feels self-assured that Mi-Yung is better at this than he would ever hope for.
Even though he has feelings like that, the sliver of red light within his right arm shows itself to everyone in the room.
After all, everyone here watched the play of the Awakenings, which was held by Tom Hough. By now, he is cleaning the aftermath of everything in the underground facilities.
“Efficiency 75 is not bad. Do you feel he has a chance of going far, so that's why you decided to become his proxy? I doubt the reason of his father is enough, even if I know your reasons.” Schultz tells with crossed arms, as his gaze pierces the eyes of Mi-Yung, who fights back as much as she could.
She knew they wouldn't like it, but at this point, she doesn't care.
“Of course, he will. He will break the heights of his father over time. That's what I believe in.” Mi-Yung replies in an unyielding tone of her own belief. It goes rather unexpectedly, as her words surprise even William.
“That's some lofty attitude, Mi-Yung!” Cloud's voice echoes through the hall as well.
Pointing to Mi-Yung's frowning expression is a smirking smile of Cloud, who she has seen not so long ago.
“Is that a problem? His aptitude is fine, while his Awakening wasn't normal. I believe what happen was special and everyone in this room is aware of it as well.”
“Strangeness doesn't mean ability.” A person tells in a tiny, echoing voice. It comes from the table which is representative of the institution of the Emblems. Rey Ronald is his name.
It is the same intrigued person who watched William's Awakening with great interest. One of the reasons is his position in the Institution of the Emblems and the fact his rank is the high as the sky.
With black hair that almost goes around his eyes, his indifferent and stern face reveals no emotions. He is shrouded in an aura of indifference, while no one sane would assume him to be a Rank 8 Walker.
“I am of another opinion, sir Rey.” A female voice shuts Rey down. This time, it goes from the table of the Academy, which is a few tables away from Rey.
The bewitching beauty is leisurely laying her beautiful face on top of her palm, while her gaze is looking at Rey a few tables away.
“I am well aware of the view of the Academy, Miss Margaret. As a representative of the Emblem institution, I view things from a more scientific approach.” Rey says back.
“That is your truth. Both Rey and Margaret have their own opinion, while the reasons for the Examinations are done because of the Awakening. William Gale has his own fate in his hand, while you act as his proxy. A bit of your fate is in his, so what shall you do miss Song?” Schultz speaks while shooting down whatever discussion the Academy or the Institute almost started.
There is no time for such arguments or discussion between two distinct forces who research the Emblem in similar, yet special ways.
They are the forces and Walker organization that act similarly since Intuition has a building dedicated to the Academy's research, but not vice versa. It makes sense in the shared space of research where the Academy island has more special standing. It is outside of the reach of the Institutions in the Federation, and there is even a small amount of rivalry.
Rey knows that, while he doesn't care about whatever truth is in Margaret's eyes.
Hearing Schultz's words, Mi-Yung hesitates, while giving a quick glance at speechless William, who nervously scratches his right hand.
“I speak on the behalf of myself, and the corresponding papers. William Gale hopes to attend, or give opportunity for the first amendment of the Academy's trial.” MI-Yung tells in a firm voice of decisiveness.
“W-what? He wants to do that with 75 affinity?” A cry spreads from the left tables, which are representatives of the Outside.