Arrival - Chapter 8

“So, those two really aren’t going out?” Ajax asked in disbelief.

“Nope,” Connor replied.

“Seriously?”

“Well, I’m very confident that they both like each other, so it shouldn’t be long until one of them confesses…is what I said a long time ago.”

A few days ago, at the end of their trip to the city, everyone had seen Eric give a ring to Kaida and, naturally, everyone assumed that they were going out. Evony and Ajax asked Connor to hang out with them at one of the cafes in Ferris to hear more details about their relationship, only to immediately have their hopes dashed.

“How long have they been like that?” Ajax wondered.

“I know that Kaida has had a crush on Eric for about ten years,” Connor said. “Eric probably fell for her-” He cut himself off. “Well, I’m not too sure.”

“Really? You’ve been with them all their lives, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, but-”

“Was it when he hit puberty and realised she was an absolute beauty?”

Connor sighed a little and glanced out of the window. Evony took a quick glance at his pained expression and decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to press him any further.

“Ajax, does it really matter when they fell for one another?” Evony asked.

“Well, no but-”

“Then stop asking about it.”

Ajax looked at Evony and then Connor. “Right, sorry. I was just curious, is all.”

“It’s fine.” Connor gave Ajax a small smile. “Anyway, as we’re out of the house, do you guys want to go and train for a little bit?”

“Are you sure?” Evony asked.

“Yeah, I mean, you haven’t transformed into your Armour more than once, have you?” Ajax followed up.

“Which is exactly why I need to start practice using it. I don’t want to go to our first combat class and have to sit out because I couldn’t summon it. Or are you guys are busy after this?”

“No, I’m-”

“Hey, that’s my seat!” Someone nearby shouted.

“Was,” a snide remark said back.

“What’s going on?” Ajax glanced behind him. He grimaced. “Oh, great. The problem children are fighting.”

The boy yelling his head off was Fiddah ‘Ace’ Darpa, someone who many thought of as the most irritating person in their year.

He had wavy silver hair, pale white eyes and was dressed in a smart shirt and trousers, both of which were immaculately clean. After defeating the teacher on the first day, Ace proclaimed that he was as strong as the Achlys Twins and that he would be on a team by himself.

Needless to say, no one thought Ace was that strong, despite his unique, and strong, powers.

Ace used Tarot cards to perform impressive and powerful magical attacks and abilities, and he was the only one in the world that was capable of that.

He had given himself his own nickname of Ace and told everyone to call him that.

The boy Ace was yelling at was Kellan ‘Dead Eye’ Bowen, a feared gunslinger who terrified most people because of the aura that he gave off, combined with his harsh stare and blunt attitude.

His nickname, however, wasn’t one that just referred to his skill with a gun.

Kellan’s left eye had been damaged beyond repair when he was younger, leaving it blind, though he did not cover it with an eyepatch. He had messy black hair and his other blue eye was currently closed.

Ace let out an irritated laugh, slamming his hand on the table. “That’s my seat. Get off.”

The other patrons near them drew quieter, many turning their gaze to the two.

Dead Eye opened his eye, looked Ace up and down, then promptly closed it again.

Ace clicked his tongue and yelled even louder this time. “It’s my seat, so get off of it. Now!”

Dead Eye remained just as still and just as quiet.

Ace couldn’t contain himself.

He threw a punch at Dead Eye, but Dead Eye caught the fist, pulled Ace towards him, and then elbowed him hard in the stomach. Ace cried out and collapsed onto his knees, grasping his stomach. Dead Eye stood up and kicked Ace with all of his might in the side of the head, sending him flying across the floor.

Ace’s cries grew louder as Dead Eye moved slowly towards him to strike him again.

However, someone grabbed Dead Eye’s arm roughly and held him in place.

“That’s enough!” Ajax stared down Dead Eye. “Try anything else, and I’ll stop you.”

“It was self-defence.”

“Bullshit! You goaded him into attacking and beat him up.”

Dead Eye tried to break free from Ajax’s grasp, but Ajax gripped him tighter than before. Dead Eye instinctively grabbed Ajax’s arm, but caught himself before he ended up throwing Ajax across the room.

“Hey, what’s going on here!” A guard demanded, bursting into the café. He saw Dead Eye, then Ace, and quickly put together what happened. “Bowen! Again! Come with me.”

Dead Eye forcefully freed himself from Ajax’s grasp and went along quietly with the guard, whilst Ajax and other helped Ace.

***

“Kellan, it hasn’t even been a month since you joined the school and this is the fourth time that I’ve had you in my barracks,” Captain Lares said, rubbing his forehead.

“He started it.”

“I’d disagree. You baited him into it by taking his chair and not saying anything back to him.”

“If he had spoken to me nicely, then this wouldn’t have happened.”

Lares let out a heavy sigh and leant back in his chair. “Kellan-”

“Dead Eye.”

“…Kellan, if you don’t stop doing this, I’ll have to raise this with the Headmistress and have more serious disciplinary actions taken.” Lares put on a smile and leant forwards. “I know you’re not a bad kid, and neither of us want that to happen, do we?”

Dead Eye showed no signs that he was listening to him and Lares sighed once more.

“Then you leave me no choice. I’ll report this-” Someone knocked at the door. “Come in.”

A guard stepped into the room and saluted to Lares. “Sir, there’s an Eric Agrim here to see you.”

Lares smiled brightly, a smile that Dead Eye had never seen before. “Thank you, I’ll be right there.” He turned back to Dead Eye and lost his smile. “Keep an eye on Kellan until I get back, please.”

“Yes, sir.”

***

The Ferris Security Forces were a small, private guard force with a thousand members who existed solely as the guards of Ferris Academy.

Every member was a proven combat veteran, dressed in a dark blue combat armour and carrying powerful assault rifles with them at all times, making them quite intimidating sight to say the least. They were constantly patrolling the school grounds at all times of the day in pairs and were so present and effective that there was never more than a five-minute period where there weren’t guards somewhere at Ferris.

Their headquarters looked more like a fortress than a barracks, complete with underground dungeon-like detention centre beneath it and, allegedly, a maximum-security centre deep beneath the earth where the most serious offenders were kept.

When Eric first arrived at the barracks, he thought that he was in the wrong place, or that he had somehow stumbled off of Ferris and to somewhere else entirely. However, a friendly guard greeted him and showed him to the captain’s office.

The room had plain white walls, a sturdy desk and with three comfortable chairs around it, and a sofa in the corner. On the captain’s desk was a picture of his wife and his brother’s family, as well as a powerful computer.

Eric was sat at the desk, waiting patiently for the captain to show up.

Just as his eyes were wandering around the room aimlessly, Lares Agrim burst into the room, grinning from ear to ear. “Eric, my boy!” He ran over and wrapped his arm around Eric’s head and playfully rubbed his fist against the boy’s skull. “Still as ugly as ever, eh?”

Eric smiled slyly and said, “Still better looking than you.”

Lares let out a hearty laugh and released Eric, before sitting on his desk chair. “So, how’s my favourite nephew been?”

“Uncle Lares, I’m your only nephew.”

“And thus, my favourite.”

“By default.”

“Hey, when you put it like that, it makes me sound bad. Why not take it that it means you’ll always be my favourite?”

“It doesn’t make me feel special if it’s by default.”

The two shared a laugh together before Lares’s expression turned deadly serious. “How have you been feeling? I mean, since the whole…you know?”

Since Eric had arrived at Ferris, neither he nor his uncle had been able to meet one another and catch up, as they had both been incredibly busy and never been free at the same time.

“At first, I was terrified,” Eric said, losing his smile. “I thought that after everything that had happened before, I’d never have to deal with the idea of almost dying again, but, when Spike nearly killed me that night, I remembered how scared I was back then and…feared that it’d happen again. But.” Eric smiled again. “Right now, I just want to live a happy life with my friends and move past what happened.”

Lares smiled slightly. “I’m glad you feel that way.” He got up and pulled Eric into a one-armed hug. “If you ever need to talk, my office is always open for you. Anytime, any day.”

“Thank you, Uncle Lares.”

“No worries, mate.”

Lares broke off the hug and sat back down. “So, was there anything else I can do for you today, or did you just come to catch up?”

“I wanted to catch up too, but I-”

There was a loud knock at the door.

“One moment. What is it?”

“Sir, Kellan has requested-”

“I’ll be there in a moment.” The guard left with a salute and, once the door was closed, Lares let out a weary sigh.

“Kellan again?” Eric asked.

“Yeah. Fourth time since he got here. Honestly, I don’t know what to do with him anymore.”

“Hasn’t he been through a lot?” Lares shot him a confused look. “You know, because of his eye and everything.”

“I imagine so, but that doesn’t excuse him beating up another student, or three others for that matter.”

While Eric agreed with his uncle, he didn’t want to believe that Dead Eye was out of control or acting without a good reason. However, he also didn’t want to just sweep everything under the rug because of Dead Eye’s past.

“Hey, could I try talking to him about it before you discipline him again?”

“I’m guessing you have a good reason for suggesting something like that,” Lares said. “So? What is it?”

“Maybe he’d feel more comfortable talking about his behaviour and stuff to someone his own age, and someone else who has gone through something similar.”

Lares crossed his arms. “Eric, I don’t hate that idea, but I don’t know if you’ll be able to talk to him about something like that.”

“I will. I promise.”

“Hmm.”

Lares knew that there was probably nothing he personally could do to get Kellan to change his ways, but maybe there was something his nephew could do.

If they could bond over their pain or become friends, wouldn’t that help Kellan change his ways?

“Give me two weeks. I’ll talk to him and try to be his friend and I’m sure he’ll change.”

“So, I let him go, you spend some time with him and try to break through his shell, right?” Lares asked. “It’s worth a shot, I guess, but I don’t know if it’ll work.”

“We won’t know until I try.”

Lares smiled. “Well said, lad.” He held out a hand to Eric who looked at it a bit confused. “If you manage to get through to him by the end of two weeks, I won’t take any disciplinary actions for the time being. That’s fine with you, right?”

“Yes.”

Eric took his uncle’s hand and firmly shook it.

***

Once Dead Eye had been released by the security forces, he and Eric went to a bench by the lakeside together in a fairly deserted area.

The evening sun was hanging low above them as they sat in silence, a gentle breeze blowing over them.

Whilst Dead Eye was slouching on into the bench, Eric was sat perfectly upright, tense as he struggled to find a way to break the uncomfortable silence between them.

“How’d you convince him to let me off?” Dead Eye asked.

“I don’t think he would’ve if I wasn’t his nephew,” Eric said, laughing awkwardly, scratting his cheek.

“Huh. Now it makes sense. I guess he spoils you then.”

“A little, I guess. Sometimes, I think he considers me the most important thing in his life.”

Dead Eye opened his eye. “He’s not married?”

Eric shook his head. “He was.”

“…Sorry.”

“It happened a month before I was born, so I never got to meet her, and…Uncle Lares doesn’t speak off her much anymore. My dad said she was one of the most wonderful people he’d ever met though.”

“Kids?”

Eric shook his head again. “She was infertile. A few years ago, my dad told me that my uncle was a complete mess after she died. However, I’ve never actually seen my uncle look truly sad or depressed. Most of the time when I see him, he’s always smiling like he’s the happiest person in the world. Dad said that after I was born, Uncle Lares started to slowly change back to how he was before.”

“…Huh.”

Another breeze blew over them and silence returned, though, unlike before, it wasn’t as awkward; it was strangely relaxed.

“When did you plan on asking me about my eye?”

“W-What?” Eric stuttered.

“Everyone always wants to know, but no one ever has the courage to ask about it.”

“S-Sorry, I mean, I’m curious about it, so I couldn’t help-”

“It’s fine. It’s only natural to want to know why someone’s body is damaged. Everyone thinks about it, even if they don’t want to. If you see someone in a wheelchair or with a burnt face, you naturally want to know how and why it happened, even when you don’t know them, what they’ve been through or how it affects them.”

…I’d never thought of it like that, Eric whispered in his mind.

“Unfortunately, it’s not that great or sad of a story,” Dead Eye confessed, sitting up straight. “When I was younger, I was sitting next to a window when a cricket ball smashed through it. The glass shattered and a piece got into my eye and a few other pieces cut my body. A shard about this big.” He made a gap between his fingers about an inch wide. “Went right through the centre of my eye and there was no hope of recovery. Synthetic wouldn’t take either, so I just asked them to put the old eye back in. Heh.” Dead Eye grunted. “The doctor’s never saw that coming.”

“That’s…” Eric started to say but quickly stopped once he realised he didn’t know what to say to Dead Eye.

Should he comfort him?

Console him?

Or just ignore it? Say nothing and change the subject.

“It’s not a great memory, but I’ve come to terms with it.” Dead Eye sighed. “I’ve already lost it and thinking about it won’t bring it back. Still, if I had to lose an eye, I would’ve liked a better story to go with it. A cricket ball through the window is a lame way of losing an eye.”

“That’s…one way of thinking about it.”

Dead Eye grunted, and a small smile crossed his lips. “Yeah.”

A few moments of silence passed before Eric spoke up again.

“Does it hurt?”

“I get phantom pains here and there, but it always felt like it was on fire for the first couple of years. I had to be on pain medication until it stopped hurting, but the shard, and the eye, are still there, and it does itch occasionally which is annoying. You get used to it after a decade or so though.”

Eric smiled sadly and turned his body away from Dead Eye, turning his gaze to the ground. “You’re amazing,” he whispered, enviously, grasping his chest, an action Dead Eye didn’t’ miss. “Absolutely strange and maybe a little insane, but amazing.”

Now I get it, Dead Eye thought, looking to Eric’s chest. Not all scars are visible, huh?

“I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks so,” Dead Eye said before his phone buzzed. He checked it and said, “Something’s come up. See you later.”

“Oh, okay. Um, hey, do you mind, um, if we, um-”

“I’m sorry but I don’t feel that way about you.”

“Not that!”

Dead Eye smiled. “Exchange contact details, right?” Eric nodded. “Sure.”

The two quickly exchanged details and Dead Eye turned to leave.

“Bye, Kell-”

“Dead Eye.”

“…Bye, Dead Eye,” Eric said.

“See you around, Eric,” Dead Eye said back.

It seems like Lares and his nephew are good people, Dead Eye mused in his head, smiling to himself.