Burning Phoenix - Saga 1

(Prominis 20, 56 / 11:57PM)

The 14 candidates continued to look at the firepit in prospering silence.

Seeing the embers of the smoke mixing with the air, they all continued to see the beauty of peace and comfort that most of them longed for.

The firepit crackling the wood, the smoke being released into the Lagefor night air.

(Jack) This is kind of relaxing…

(Miles) Yeah, compared to a couple of hours ago.

Miles drank his Mr. Pepper with his right hand, looking around at the candidates who were much younger than him. Seeing the relaxation and comfort of the fire, Stan looked over to where Miles was, his eyes looking downwards as his face was more droopy.

(Stan) Same … hey sorry if I was being a bit hot-headed. Back there, I didn't think too straight.

(Miles) It’s ok … I think I’m more in the wrong. I could’ve handled the situation differently …

(Stan) Hey, tomorrow if you want I could owe you a soda or something.

(Miles) You don’t have to man, I already have a mini fridge stacked with them.

Both Stan and Miles gave each other a nod, their eyes warm and relaxed compared to the incident a couple of hours ago.

Luke and Sean kept glaring at each other, both their eyes slowly twitching as Sean’s hand formed a small fist. Jack, who was noticing the two of them, hunched his back and put his hands on his knees.

(Jack) My dudes, you guys are giving off tsundere vibes…

(Sean) Wait, what's a tsundere?

(Jack) Right … you guys don’t know that … Do you guys hate each other or are both of you secretly in love?

Luke spat out the water he was drinking, the water narrowly avoided the firepit. As the water got into the wrong hole, Luke kept on pushing his lungs to get the water out, slowly letting air back into his lungs once more.

Meanwhile, Sean flustered his cheeks.

(Sean) I ain’t gay! I’m into girls!

(Jack) Be honest Sean, you thought Fred was cute looking.

(Sean) That’s because I thought Fred looked like a girl!

Fred moved a couple of inches closer to Gemma, away from Sean.

(Jack) Or how you thought Hope was a boy and you said ‘Game is game’ and you went over there yesterday and you were thrilled that Hope was a girl…

Hope looked at Sean as if she was seeing trash.

(Gary) So … you’re bi?

(Sean) I’m straight!

(Diego) Yeah he’s bi.

(Loraine) Closet!

(Sean) S-Screw you guys!

Sean stood up and walked away from the pit, glancing at everyone and even Luke. As he laid eyes on Luke, he turned away, looking towards the door that led him to the dorms.

As there were 13 candidates left, everyone started to giggle and laugh. Luke, who was enjoying the moment, noticed that Hope and even Luna were having a good time.

Everyone’s eyes watched as Luna was snorting cutely, covering her face with her right hand and her left hand clutching her stomach. All the boy’s cheeks flustered bright red as Luna had one of the cutest laughs they had ever seen, their eyes gazing upon Luna’s closed eyes and relaxed face.

Eventually, the silence was loud enough for Luna to hear her laugh, and she stopped to see that everyone was gazing at her.

(Luna) What is it?

Luna switched from her cute status to that of her normal angry self, making most of the boys avert their eyes. Scoffing as the boys nervously looked away, Luna folded her arms and straightened her back to appear more tough and dominant.

(Luna) Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Then she looked towards Luke, his face looking in the opposite direction to where Luna was. Clearing her throat, she sharpened her eyes towards Luke as she put her right leg on her left knee.

(Luna) Oi, what are you looking at?

Luke still had her sharp gaze at Luke, raising her voice more as she wanted his undivided attention. Still having his head turned, she quickly stood up and walked towards Luke.

(Luna) Hey! Look over here when I’m talking to you—

She saw Luke’s face flustered beet red, his face having the cutest nervous face that she had ever seen.

(Luna) …

Luna then went back to her seat, her cheeks red as her fists clenched tightly. Seeing that everyone was starting to look into her, she straightened her back even more and had a bulging vein or two from her neck.

(Luna) Y-You guys wanna fight or something?!

(Stan) Hey Miles, you were right when you called it a gamble of hidden love.

(Miles) When it comes to love, believe me, I’ve been in many relationships to count.

(Luna) You guys better shut up!

Jack then pulled out a wooden guitar. Having a pick, he strummed the guitar once as the strings were already tuned. Seeing Luna eyed the guitar with her veins bulging out of her forehead, Jack let out a smug grin.

(Jack) Do you all wanna hear a song?

(Luna) If you’re going to make fun of me, I’ll punch your nuts!

(Jack) Relax, it’s a song about Luke. Here, take a listen.

(Jack singing) I See Luuuuuukkkkeeee~

On A Treeeeeeeeeeeeee~

With a girllllllllllllllllllll~

With anger isssuuuuuess~

(Luna) I’M GOING TO RIP YOUR FUCKING NUTS OFF!!!

(Jack singing) They were kissssiiinnng~

(Luna) COME BACK HERE!

(Jack singing) Mountain mamaaaaaaaa~

(Luna) SHUT UP!

(Jack singing) I see Luuuuuuukkkkeeee~

On a—

(Luna) AGHHHH!

To the point of spitting saliva, Luna used her entire strength to try to get Jack, but he was too fast for her to catch. Meanwhile, all the candidates held the flustered Luna back, laughing as if they had never had this much fun in a while.

______________________________________________________________________________

(Prominis 21, 58 / 7:47AM)

(Stan) We’re almost there, the rendezvous should be close.

(Fred) I never expected to walk this much for losing.

(Diego) Hey Gary, do you think they’ll even have another test like this?

(Gary) Depends. If it’s kept under the rug, maybe. If they declare it to the public, also a maybe.

All five boys who didn’t reach the gate, or rather they gave up their spot, were walking towards where they would be picked up. Their legs were sore and longing for a chance for rest, all of them were dragging their feet as their boots' soles were showing little holes.

(Stan’s thoughts) For now, all we need to do is get stronger. And that means to work behind the scenes of The Dark Angels.

Walking ever more, another boy, Cameron, noticed the street that they were walking through, his eyes letting a tear or two run down his cheek as this was the terrible street of the second stage.

Falling, the four other boys noticed Cameron, helping him up as they looked at him with their eyes down gazing at him.

(Stan) Hey, are you alright?

(Fred) Hey, Cameron. What’s going on, why are you sobbing all of a sudden—oh…

Cameron gave a teary nod, which caused all four boys to look down. Stan, who was in front, put his hands on Cameron’s shoulders.

(Stan) What do you wanna do … we could either look for Ryan’s corpse or not … whatever’s your call…

(???) Are you guys talking about him?

A tall red-haired woman with glasses appeared to the side of them, carrying the corpse of a bunny-human. Appearing in her mid-20s, the tall short-haired woman looked at the boys with a gentle smile, which made the boys take a couple of steps back.

Seeing that the woman had his best friend in her arms, Cameron clenched his fists, his eyes wide as his vocals struggled to utter a noise. Seeing that Cameron was in a major state, she gently put down the corpse and sat down with her knees on the ground.

(???) Are you connected to this boy by any chance?

Tilting her head, she clasped her hands together as she looked at Cameron with her eyes having bits of water in them. Patting the ground to signal him, Cameron slowly walked toward the red-haired woman, his jaw clenching inside of his mouth.

The rest of the boys all look at the woman with their eyes purely focusing on her, checking out her hand gestures or body movements for anything suspicious.

(???) It’s ok, you guys can carry on to the rendezvous meetup. I’ll be taking Cameron to some place for questioning.

(Stan) Some place?

(???) It’s for the cause of Ryan’s death … as well as Gemma’s…

(Stan’s thoughts) Should I let her? I mean, she does know our names and what happened so I take it she’s an agent that works for the government?

(Stan) Alright, we’ll be going then Cameron.

Saying their goodbyes to Cameron, the horse-human was then left with the tall red-haired girl, both of them alone. His jaw still clenched tight, and his eyes widened as he continued to glare at the red-haired woman.

Seeing that the boys were walking away, the woman stood up and walked towards Cameron.

(???) It’s just you and me.

The tall woman smiled with her face pushed up, causing Cameron to sweat a bit.

(Cameron) … how long is the questioning going to take?

(???) As long as it takes.

Cameron was never seen again.

Nor did anybody ever remember him.