“Ahhhhhhhhkk” Axel groaned.

He rolled over reaching for the snooze button on his phone.

“OOWWWW”

As he reached for it he felt the tearing of his aching muscles still reeling from his elongated dream. Stretching across his bed, he finally completed the struggle, putting a stop to the sound of his phone's annoying “beeps”.

Rolling out of bed, he waddled over to his window gazing outside the broken frame left from his brother's surprise attack the night before. Nothing had changed during his nightly adventure. There was no sign of impending doom or old men with long white beards anywhere in his view. It was the same barren dirt trail and shrubs, with only the set of travel marks from his brother’s hover cycle that appeared to be new.

“Home sweet home” he let out with a sigh. Home, exactly the way he had left it.

“So… The world didn't end” he chuckled. It seemed he was finally back to reality again.

“What was that like eight dreams yesterday?” he said, pondering the previous night.

“How long was I-?”

Axel's eyes popped open. Spinning backwards he jumped over his bed reading the time on his phone.

It was 7:45! His alarm clock had been ringing for 45 minutes!

“CMON CMON CMON” Axel said as he ran to class having only 15 minutes to make it to school.

Jumping off his front porch he dashed down the abandoned dirt trail that led to Fleetwood. Being late again after all would mean another detention, which also meant another hour he'd have to wait to read his new comic book.

After sprinting nonstop for 10 minutes, Axel darted into the schoolyard looking down at his phone to check the time.

“Damn it…. 5 minutes late!” He squeaked. He was really going to hear it from his homeroom teacher this time.

As he ran into the school doors and made it past the main hallway, he slowly crept into his homeroom doorway. Standing on the tips of his toes, he swiftly slipped through the crowd of students desperately trying to avoid detection.

When he had finally made it inside, he realized his teacher hadn’t arrived yet. Letting out a sigh, he slouched back against his homeroom wall as a hand landed on his shoulder.

“Hey buddy” said Pb leaning into him. He tightened his grip around Axel’s shoulder smiling into his eyes as if they were the best of friends.

“Ms. Johnson is late today so you don’t have to worry about being late because your problem”.

“What problem?” Axel asked, blinking his eyes.

“Don’t lie Ax” said Pb “Me and J saw you shit yourself yesterday remember? It was all over you! HAhahaha”

Axel’s pupils palpitated as the memory went through his mind. “So that wasn’t a dream?” He thought “That horrible nightmare was real!”

“How about I refresh your memory with a couple of punches? Ey Ax?” Pb said grunting.

“OK class, settle down, settle down” came a voice from the hallway.

“Thank god” Axel said letting out a sigh, Ms. Johnson had returned. Letting go of Axel, Pb and the rest of the class got into their seats.

“Ok class we have a rare occasion here today”, she said addressing them. “Today, we have a new student.”

As she spoke a shadow was seen stretching around the corridor into the doorway of the classroom.

“It’s ok you can come in” Ms. Johnson said.

As the student walked forward he rocked slightly from side to side. It was clear that an extreme form of anxiety cloaked him as he approached the classroom.

He had a really skinny body, like it was made of twigs, and a bland skin tone like he had never seen light. Appearing in stark contrast to his bleached skin, a small black bar code appeared on the side of his neck with the numbers 619 appearing beside it.

[https://i.imgur.com/ayxla6x.jpg]

“Ok class I want you to meet… it says here 619, is that correct?” Ms. Johnson asked.

The class returned equally confused looks as the student with a number for a name nodded his head in agreement.

“He’s a new student here and although he’s late in the semester, he’ll be taking the same classes as everyone else.”

A silent spell washed over the class as 619 entered the room. The students simply did not know how to receive him. They were unsure on whether to be weirded out by his strange demeanor, or frightened to all hell by his potential..

“If I had ordered 619 to kill, you would all be dead”

O’Brian had said that yesterday, and now, standing in front of the class was a mysterious boy who had the potential to kill all of them and return to his dinner before they even could bat an eyelash.

“Well… That's it… class dismissed! You can proceed to your first block classes now.” Ms. Johnson instructed

As Axel came into the hallway he desperately tried to catch up to 619.

“What’s happening!? Why is he here!? And what happened yesterday!?” He thought in disbelief. It seemed now that he had not dreamed up the entirety of last night. He trailed 619 from the walkway on the second floor, trying to lap around and confront him.

As the new kid came into the hallway his path was blocked by none other than PB and J as a small crowd started gathering around them. As Axel traveled down the stairs to get a better look he came face to face with Lance who was traveling up the same stairs in the opposite direction.

The split second for which their eyes met felt like hours. As usual, the same expressions were exchanged between the two with Lance letting out a “HMPH” as he passed Axel.

“What was that guy's problem anyway?” Axel thought, continuing down the staircase.

He maneuvered too far down the stairs losing sight of Pb and 619 in the endless crowd. He decided to walk back up to the middle of the staircase where he could get a better view. As Axel leaned over the banister, he saw PB wrap his hands around 619s neck lifting him off the floor.

“Well well well, what do we have here?” Said PB highlighting 619's neck, revealing a bar code branded into his skin.

“A bar code?!” He said “What are you some kind of robot or something?!” He said laughing.

“Hey PB” whispered J “We’re drawing too much attention to ourselves…. We shouldn't do this in the hallway...!” He said motioning away from 619. “Besides that guy freaks me out! You heard O’Brian right?”

“Hahh?” PB said grunting “This guy kill us all? Give me a break” He said tossing 619 to the ground. “That was probly just another one of O’Brian’s tests.”

619 said nothing. He didn’t struggle to escape or even respond to PB’s belligerence. He just lay on the ground, tossed by Pb’s massive hands like a ragdoll.

With Pbs ruthless attack on 619 the small crowd of bystanders started to feel relieved.

“Heh I knew it! No one’s stronger than you Pb!” Jeff said patting his back.

“He you got that right! He's not a robot he's just some cheap toy!” PB said laughing

619 continued to lay silent, never even raising his head to meet Pb’s murderous eyes.

“Listen you broken toy” Pb said, stepping on 619s back. “Hehe I’m gonna make your life so miserable that when I’m done with you you’ll be begging for your strait jacket at the nut house back!” Pb yelled.

All of a sudden the crowd of students started dispersing.

PB eased up leaving 619 sulking on the ground..

“Teachers” whispered a kid from above Axel.

“Hmph, you got off easy this time freak! Next time I won't be so gentle” PB groaned walking away. “Oh and by the way, welcome to SCS!” Pb exclaimed “Me and you are gonna be real close.”

After all the students had left the hallway 619 remained. He was standing in the middle of the hallway now with no one else around him drooping his head.

“Damnit!”

DUNG!

Axel smashed his fist into the railing causing a metallic echo to travel throughout the empty hallway.

“He… he was bullied…. And I…. I didn't do anything…” He thought.

“This time…. I stood by and this time…. I let it happen…”

Axel turned around and started walking away from 619.

“I…. I don't deserve to talk to him… I'm… I’m just a loser…” (Axel’s voice)

“There was nothing I could-” (Axel’s voice)

“The question is boy what are you going to do about it!” (O’Brian’s voice)

Axel stopped in his tracks frozen by O’Brian’s words. The memory or the dream, whichever it was, still stained is soul to the core.

“No…” Axel thought “I won’t stand by and let this happen! Next time… I’ll try... No… next time I won't let this-”

“So…. you are alive” said 619.

He was standing right next to Axel on the steps.

Axel turned to face him. The dark and lonely expression was still there, but he was speaking to Axel with a tangible eagerness that he could feel.

“Wait a second”, Axel said, still mind blown. “You mean falling into the water... and PB bullying me… that was all…. real?”

“Yes”, 619 confirmed, “The last I saw you were being thrown into the ocean by O’Brian. I came to find you in the water but there was no sign of you there.”

“What the heck? So how did I get home?” Axel asked

“I have no idea, I figured you would turn up here so I decided to join your school.” 619 answered.

“What? So you can just join a school curriculum three quarters through a semester?"

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“No, that was O’Brian’s doing, I asked him to put me in your class and he was able to do it.” 619 said reassuringly.

“Wait…" Axel said confused. He was beginning to feel a little suspicious. “What going on here? Why are these guys after me? “Are they for real?” He thought.

Outside of that strange encounter, Obrian and 619 had no reason to help him to this extent. Now a day later, this strange boy had somehow enrolled in his school? All in an attempt to help him?

“Why do you care anyway? Why are you looking for me? Why are you trying to help me!?” asked Axel, getting defensive.

“Because”, 619 said letting out a sigh, “I want you to be my friend”

Axel took a step back on the steps. He was so taken aback by his words that he had nearly ran away. He stood above 619 holding his hand up in front of his face like he was under attack. This was certainly not the answer he had expected.

“Why… Why would you want to be my friend? You… you don’t even know me!” Axel said.

“Your just like me, I had problems with my powers and no one at the G.A.T.E.S was able to help me. That was until O’Brian came” 619 said clearing his throat. “If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be here…. So I've decided I’m going to do the same for you.”

“Wait a minute… you had no powers? And you were able to awaken them? How?” Axel asked eagerly.

“I… can't tell you that”, 619 said, leaning away from Axel. “It’s…. too painful to say”

“I see…” Axel said. 619 was a truly mysterious character indeed.

“But if can we be friends…. I can help you… O’Brian and I can reawaken your powers!”

619 closed his eyes and reached his hand out to Axel. Axel stood across from him in the empty hallway not believing his eyes.

Once again he felt his heart race. He was beginning to feel extremely wary. Though he felt eagerness and genuine warmth from 619, he felt especially skeptical given the weird circumstances the two had met under.

As he acknowledged 619’s eager gesture, he saw a genuine display of empathy for him that he couldn’t write off as ill will. There was something miraculous about all this that made him want to take a chance, but still he relented.

“After I watched PB do that to him… Why would he want to be friends with someone like me?” He thought

“You are not alone the light of the father shines brightly within you”

Suddenly, Axel felt a force nudge him from behind. Losing balance, He started to fall down the steps. Tumbling forward he reached for 619’s hand and was caught before he fell down.

Axel returned to his feet and looked around but he saw no one on the steps beside 619 and himself.

“Are you ok?” 619 asked.

“Yeh” Axel said, shaking 619’s hand, “Thanks friend” He answered smiling.

619 eyes started to light up with blue sparks again, but this time they were streaming down his face like tears as he shook Axel's hand.

Axel still did not completely trust the situation… However he also couldn't help but be moved. There was some invisible force both physical as well as metaphysical pushing him towards 619. After all he'd been through, he couldn't help but trust it. As he saw the blue light pour out of 619s eyes he chuckled at the irony of the situation.

“Follow the light huh?" He muttered to himself.

“Axel!” 619 said crying, “I promise, I won't let you down. I promise we’ll awaken your powers! At any cost!!”

“619”, Axel said smiling, “When you want to be friends with someone you don't have to do something for them in return, you just become friends!”

619’s tears turned into a stream of light pouring out of his eyes. Axel eagerly wanted to ask what in the world the blue streams were, but something told him to think nothing of it, the circumstances were weird enough as it was.

“You will never have to force real friends to become a part of your life or stay in it. Everything in your life that needs to be there will always be there. That's what my brother says anyway.” Axel said, scratching the back of his head.

“YEESSSSS!” 619 exclaimed. “I have a friend!”

“Yeh I guess I have one too!” Axel said smiling

“OK NOW SECRET HANDSHAKE TIME!” 619 yelled enthusiastically

“Ahhh…. we should probably make it through class before we do all that!” Axel said, pointing to the clock.

9:44 one minute before the next class

“C’mon 619 were gonna be late!” Axel said, taking off.

Axel began a dash for class but stopped a few steps in. He turned around giving 619 a strange look.

“What's wrong?” 619 asked.

“I don't know…. It’s just... I can't be friends with you and call you 619... Do you have a real name?” Axel asked.

“If I do… I can't remember it.” 619 said, dropping his head again.

“Hmmm. Well, how about well how about just 6 for short then?” Axel asked.

6 looked down at his hands examining them. He felt as if Axel had placed some kind of spell on him, transforming him into something else entirely.

“6… Short for 619… That’s awesome! That's called a nickname right? I’ve read that’s how friends address each other right… uhhh… Ax!?

“Looks like you’ve got it,” Axel answered.

“Read that? Just what kind of place did he come from?” Axel wondered

“Alright then Ax!” 6 said winking, blowing a flame of blue light with his eye. It floated through the air like a balloon until it popped, disappearing into the ceiling.

“Forget about where he came from! What the heck is this guy?” Axel thought, marveling at the blue light.

“Let’s go to class!” 6 said, pumping his fist.

“Alright class today we will be learning about local maximums and fundamental theorems” said Ms. Braxton. “By drawing an approximation we can easily find the slope of the following lines”. “For example looking at the line y= 3x+7 what would the local maximum be? Let’s see…. Axel! Your answer?”

Axel came to barely breaking consciousness to answer the question.

“Ummmm... 7?” He said, guessing.

“7?” “The local maximum couldn’t possibly be 7 that’s the y intercept! Lance if you please.”

Lance said nothing but wrote the numbers 0 and 4 on a sheet of paper and held them up to the class. Axel didn’t even bother looking in his direction fearful of the hateful eyes Lance had for him.

“Axel!” Mr. McQue yelled “Do you fall asleep in all of your classes?”

Axel regained consciousness stretching his eyes trying to get a look at the clock...

12:30

He had somehow made it to the second to last block. Unfortunately he had to make it 15 minutes more through his academically worst class….. Advanced chemistry.

“I'm not going to even bother wasting my time calling on you! I hope in your next dream the fleas of a thousand camels come to feast the inside of your armpits!” Mr. McQue chimed.

“Ok class dismissed” Mr. McQue ordered.

“Oh great…. time for gym...” Axel thought as he hurriedly made his way out of the class.

6 seeing him take off in a frantic skip caught up to Axel on his way.

“Why are you in such a rush?” 6 asked as he ran alongside Axel.

“Because!” Axel alarmed “If we don't get there now we're going to run into Pb!! And I think we both know what happens if we run into him!”

“Yeh… it’s much more likely he'd be running into us… repeatedly…” 6 said

“Agreed, now let’s pick up the pace!” Axel said, taking the lead.

“Wait” 6 said stopping Axel “Why are we going to gym in the first place?”

Axel stopped in his tracks. He had never considered skipping class before.

“We can't just…. skip class?” Axel said skeptically.

“Well why not? What's the worst that's going to happen? We go to detention? The one place Pb hates going to? What's so bad about that?”

Axel was mind blown at the knowledge 6 had armed him with. He was right, what bad would happen from him skipping a gym class? Certainly nothing worse than he had experienced already.

“Well what about after detention? Pb is just going to wait outside for us…”

“Hmmm” 6 said thinking “Well how long do you think he'll wait?” 6 said smiling.

Axel looked back at 6 beaming, he was starting to grow found of 6’s way of thinking.

“You know what? I think this friendship has been the decision I’ve ever made!” He said chuckling.

“Yeah, me too!” 6 agreed, “Now let's skip gym so we can keep the friendship alive a little longer!” He said laughing.

6 led Axel away from the gymnasium and directed him up a flight of stairs towards the top levels of the school.

“Where are we going?” Axel asked.

“We're going to the top of the school! That’s where!” 6 said grinning.

They continued to the top of the staircase until they had reached door labeled roof access. 6 cautiously looked around the area before he slowly opened the door, crossing his fingers on the way in.

The rooftop opened up into a large area with a bright white floor reflecting the full radiance of the sun. As they made their way through the rooftop, they found it covered with cigarettes, and empty tins of Chap Stick. It was clear they were not the first to discover the getaway. On one side of the roof large fans and generators on the hummed as they supplied the school with power. While on the other side, huge air filters covered half of the roof in a dark shade.

In an attempt to block out the light reflecting roof, Axel and 6 took shelter in the shade of one of the air filters. They were only 4 stories in the air but from this height they towered over the practice field looking down on the rest of the students as they slowly entered the field.

“You know this is where I first saw you” 6 said looking down. “You were walking on that pathway there” he said pointing to the walkway behind the bleachers.”

Axel flashed back to the time he had been certain someone was staring him down.

“Yeh I figured that was you! Why did you stare at me like that for the whole day! It was kind of creepy man!” Axel laughed.

“Well it's because I couldn't believe my eyes! Your ether emissions made absolutely no sense! I wanted to figure you out... I wanted to help you!”

“But why…. Why did you want to help me…?”

“I saw it when you were talking to Reggie… that pendant of your mother… That's all you have left of her right?”

Axel took out his golden pendant. He ran his fingers over its smooth gold edges captivated by its lulling presence. No matter how many times he drew it out, it always seemed to emanate some kind of soothing aura.

“Yeh” he said “I never really got a chance to say goodbye either…” Axel said in a depressed tone.

“I’m the same” 6 said. “My mother died when I was very little, although I can't remember how it happened “and I don't have anything left from her… I can’t even remember what she looked like really…” 6 said sadly.

“Well, what about your father?” Axel said trying to cheer him up.

“He… died too at roughly the same time… I remember their bodies lying next to mine… I just can't seem to remember any more of what happened."

“You think you have it the worst?” “By your age many kids have seen their friends and family killed before their eyes.” O’Brian’s voice rang in Axel's head

“So… this is what you meant,” Axel thought, as he watched 6 reminisce.

“I may never come to remember my past, and there are also things in my past I do remember that I don't want to… But... I'm here now and I want to create new memories, I want to create a new history for myself through the present!” he said smiling.

“How can you be so positive through all this?” Axel asked.

“Honestly I wasn't very positive. I was scarred by my past… and I didn't have much hope. But then I saw you there” 619 said pointing to the bleachers.

“I saw you get treated just like I did… I saw your lack of strength, your lack of support and I decided then and there that I wouldn't let another person go through that alone! That I wouldn’t let anyone else go through what I had to!”

“Thanks 6”, Axel said as his eyes watered “That means a lot to me.”

Axel had become so used to being alone he didn't know how to react to kindness. Through some kind of mysterious dream sequence, he had emerged into a reality where he was no longer alone.

“No problem Ax!” 6 said, “I can’t explain it… but you have…. Well a light inside of you. It's the same reason Reggie picked up your necklace, and the reason Lance confronted you. You may be down but as long as that light is in you, you will always draw people toward you. I think there will come a time when your light will lead us all.”

“You are never alone my son, the light of the father shines bright in you that is your true power”.

“Hehe”, Axel chuckled, “I’m probably going to have to make it through a gym class or too first” He said looking down at the field.

Down below they could see the students lining up for attendance. A few moments after assembling the students started to look around as Mr. Johnson scratched his head reading his electronic clipboard.

“Hahaha” Axel laughed, “He has no idea where we are!”

“Oh? Are you fond of the gym teacher?” 6 asked.

“He always loses track of things Haha I bet he's like where is that kid! Haha-”

“You little rascals!!!!” Came a voice from behind them.

Ms. Johnson appeared behind them. She was ripe with ire as she slammed the end of a wooden ruler into the palm of her hand.

“You really think that you were going to get away with this!” She screamed

Axel’s jaw dropped in terror, how was she able to find them out so quickly!

Ms. Johnson looked at Axel, and then at 6. She slowly placed the pack of cigarettes she had taken out back into her purse. She then took out her tablet and spoke into it.

“Oh Honey!” She cried. “You won't believe who I’ve caught up here on the roof!”

“WHHAHAHHAAATATATATATT” They heard from the other side of the school.

In an instant a shadow appeared above their head slowly getting larger.

A huge monster with large black wings and considerably long brown talons, fell from the sky aiming at its two small prey. Axel slowly withdrew as 6 continued to look up at the strange creature.

“Uhhh 6!” Axel said shaking.

“What?” 6 said seemingly unfazed.

“RUN!!!!!”

Jumping out of the way the boys crashed into the ground on either side of the creature lying on the ground cowering in fear.

Standing before them was a huge fuming, feathered Mr. Johnson jumping up and down at Axel and 6. His lips had grown sharp like a beak and he was making inaudible bird sounds that filled the entire school. After having a fit for a few moments he composed himself into his gym teacher form before ripping into the students.

“WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING UP HERE!” He screamed, surely the whole school had heard that one.

“You boys tried to skip gym class? At a combat academy!” “You two are a special kind of stupid!!!” he said crossing his arms.

Axel and 6 continued to sit on the ground contemplating if standing up or staying grounded was more disrespectful.

“Oh? So you guys don’t like PE huh? OHH you’re in for a surprise then!” “I’m going to give you two exactly what you want!” He said scoffing.

“Today you'll be getting much more than detention.” He said grimly. “For the next two weeks you will run a minimum of 1000 kilometers every class! That is in addition to the rest of the daily training!

Axel and 6 held their head down in shame as Mr. Johnson continued on.

“On top of that I have had a lot of requests from the librarian lately! Following your detention... you will spend 2 hours assisting the librarian with tasks such as reading old books, dusting them, and mopping floors!”

Axel and 6 exchanged shocked looks of devastation. It would be midnight before they got out of school now.

“Well…. “Mr. Johnson said looking around, “What are you waiting for? “Start running those laps!”

“Yes Mr. Johnson sir!” They answered, and returned to the field to run their laps.

“Ahhhhh” Axel groaned as detention finished.

After finishing their extended PE and detention, Axel and 619 were so out of fuel they could barely get out of their seats.

“Alrighty boys”, Mr. Johnson said triumphantly, “It’s time for your second detention!”

He led the two teenagers out of the back entrance of the school. They headed towards a descending staircase that appeared out of the pavement, similar to the entrance of a subway. At the end of the descended stairs were two large doors that said, S.C.S Library scribbled across the top.

Axel stared at the doors suspiciously.” Why is the library in such an obscure place?” he thought.

Few had ever been to the school’s library after all. In the year 2230 there was little need for such a centralized form of physical readings. The majority of homework, books, and education were on a decentralized blockchain, a chain of internet servers where information was shared and distributed. Few, save for Axel with his fake physics book, held on to the physical texts of the past that had died along with the previous era. As they stared at the entrance in suspicion, they dreaded the assignments they would receive once inside of its walls.

[https://i.imgur.com/jabVJxg.jpg]