Chapter 2: Chapter V1: Welcome to the Present Part 1

 

“Protestors are already pre-emptively gathering, should we just start now? These creeps are getting annoying with all their worship.” “No, we need to wait until we get confirmation that the sword is either en route or secured, why not send your fans to scout the area to set up the jammer?” “Fiiine, but any more of this waiting and the next song I release will be about you.” “Heh, just be patient. I promise you won’t have to wear that maid dress and cat ears much longer.”  “... I kinda like the cat ears, to be honest.” -Intercepted Encrypted Transmission, from Rogue Awakened Adin Kurugi, and Music Idol Nyla Susu

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Present Part 1

 

Jac woke, in a panic that resulted in him rolling out of bed and crashing to the carpeted floor with an audible thud. 

 

It's just a dream! IT'S JUST A DREAM! Jac assured himself, as he lay face down trying to get his breathing under control.

 

After a few minutes of face planting, Jac’s racing heartbeat began to settle. Taking a deep breath, he composed himself just enough to roll himself out of the bundle of blankets and onto his back so that he could get a look at the clock that was duct taped to his ceiling.

 

“Ugh. c’mon, seriously? Mr. Wong is gonna kill me,” Jac groaned, eyeballing the four-fifty that showed on the clock and ignoring the fading semi-transparent blue swirl in front of him. Jack sat up, stretching his arms, as he peeled himself off the ground.

 

It had been nearly nine years since the Elysium massacre, where the child-now turned barely-legal adult had lost his home, parents, and child-like innocence.

 

The only things to come out of that incident were the nightmares, fear of the dark, and the transparent swirl that always showed up after the nightmare. At one point Jac had been excited about the blue swirl, thinking it to be like a character sheet like in his video games, but it was blank, and no amount of willpower or blinking caused it to do anything. According to the doctors, it was just some form of scotoma, a blind spot in the vision. As to why it manifested after waking up, they didn’t know. 

 

With a yawn, Jac shuffled over to one side of his bedroom to turn off a nightlight, before approaching his wardrobe to get ready for work. The rose-colored wood panels of the wardrobe creaked as they parted ways to reveal a full-body mirror.

 

"Need to find some oil for those” Jac muttered as he stood in front of the mirror.

 

Jac was a half-Chinese, half-Japanese man, who stood at five feet and eleven inches, about one hundred and thirty pounds, with black hair, and brown eyes that had a tint of gold to them. He was scrawny for his age and height, but he didn't let it bother him, even if his adopted siblings teased him for it.

 

Looking at his reflection, he began to flex, curling his skinny arm, while he grinned to himself before posing in the mirror.

 

"Yea, who's sexy," Jac muttered to himself. “You ar-

 

A sudden bang on Jac’s bedroom door quickly interrupted his stancing, causing him to flinch in surprise. He hastily moved to take off his Dungeons & Demons Pajamas to try and pull on his work uniform as the pounding began to escalate.

 

“Jac!” a voice yelled from the other side of the wooden door. “Get yer ass up kiddo. I know you’re posing in there again! Mr. Wong already called asking for you! So get up before I leave without you!” 

 

“I’m almost ready!” Jac yelled back in response, scrambling to shut off the PC he had left on last night, and grabbing his work uniform out of the wardrobe.

 

 With no time to change, he left the pajama top on as he struggled to get the hand-knitted sweater embroidered with Wong’s Greenery over his head.

 

Jac stumbled around, accidentally bumping into his bedroom door, before pulling the sweater over his head and stepping out into the hallway, where he was blinded upon exiting.

 

Someone had opened up the sky roof windows, allowing Artificial sunlight to beam directly into Jack’s unprepared eyes.

 

“Argh! Natural light!”

 

“Get a better joke, you say this every day.” A feminine voice suddenly spat from behind, before Jack was shoulder-checked to the side, interrupting his theatrics.

 

“Hey!” Jac exclaimed, clutching his shoulder and making his best-wounded expression.

 

“Move! Stop clogging the walkway sissy!” Angelica yelled in her Sergeant's voice, already sick of Jac's antics.

Angelica was Jac’s older sister, or well, Mike’s youngest child out of the three biological children he had. A Sergeant in the Guard, the two became siblings after Mike adopted him from the military institute. She was 5’7 with short, dirty blonde hair and a muscular frame tanned body usually hidden by the crisp green Guardsman uniform she was putting on over her tank top. 

 

“Mike! Angelica is being an asshole again!” Jac complained as the pair approached the bottom of the stairs.

 

“Play nice with your brother Angel!”

 

“This loser isn’t my brother, dad!” Angelica yelled back. Looking directly at Jac, Angelica mouthed the word snitch, to which Jac responded with a middle finger causing his siter to raise a fist in his direction. Jac flinched and tried to scramble away but the woman quickly grabbed him and was now giving him a nuggie.

 

“Time people! Time! It’s a precious commodity!” Hearing Mike’s call, Angelica let Jack go and the two rapidly proceeded downstairs.

 

Entering the commons area, they could see Mike lounging at the table in front of a fresh cup of steaming hot coffee that read Best Dad.

Mike was a balding short man, with a handlebar mustache; sitting in the middle of the room in tan cargo shorts and a button-up shirt that depicted palm trees. He was reading from a tablet in one hand, while his other hand made audible mechanical noises as it rapped impatiently on the table.

“Ya know, as a loving father. I just wish my two kids would stop fighting all the time, and spend more of that time learning how to be punctual,” Mike sighed, getting up from the table and picking up the scolding cup of coffee with his prosthetic, completely ignoring the heat emitting from the cup.

 

“Is that too much to ask for?” He continued, pouring the contents of the cup into a thermos.

 

“We’re both adults now, dad, or well, at least one of us is,” Angelica retorted, muttering the last part as she walked past her father and grabbed her holster off a nearby chair.

 

“You’ll always be kiddos to me, Angel,” Mike replied before abruptly snapping towards Angelica causing her to tense up with the belt in her hand

 

“Also, what did I tell you about leaving your gear not stowed?!”

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“Not to,”

 

“And yet, why do you still do it?”

 

“Because you love me, and I’m lazy,” Angelica said with a smile, planting a kiss on Mike’s cheek.

 

“Well, at least one of those things is true,” Mike smirked before gesturing with the thermos towards Jack, and then towards the stack of MREs in the opened pantry.

 

“Make sure to eat today, kiddo,” 

 

“Yea, yea, I will,” Jac groaned, grabbing a packet of beef stew.

 

“By the way, whose turn is it to cook for family night tonight?” Angelica asked, her duty belt snapping into place. 

 

“James,” Mike replied, causing the house to be filled with groans of annoyance. "I’m sure Seth will take over, he always does.”

 

Mike furrowed his brow as he looked down at the watch tied to his wrist by strings decorated with macaroni.

 

“Alright Kiddos, let's go, let's go!” Mike exclaimed, banging his prosthetic hand onto the thermos to make a clanging sound to indicate urgency. He hurried the duo out of the kitchen and past the commons rooms where he fished out a keycard and placed it next to the console that sat on the wall.

 

A few seconds later the door made a series of audible beeps before a loud sound of machinery turning indicated that the door was unlocked.

 

“Have a good day Mr. Crosby,” the door chirped as the gang swiftly exited their home. 

 

“I’ll drop Angelica off to catch the tram and then you to Wong’s ok? Mike said to Jack as they approached the driveway where a dark blue four-wheeled armored car with the words Peacekeeper stenciled on its sides sat.

 

The car was a luxury, only afforded to the military peacekeepers or the insanely rich who could afford the mana upkeep and maintenance for their vehicles. As Jac walked over to the passenger side of the vehicle and opened the door, he was halted by an arm grabbing his shoulder and pulling him away from the car.

 

“It’s my turn ya dingus, I already got dibs, loser,” Angelica said as she moved by Jac and sat down in the passenger seat, slamming the door shut before he could formulate a complaint.

 

“Whatever,” Jac muttered. He moved over and opened the backseat door, begrudgingly sitting down on the hard plastic interior. 

 

Mike got in shortly after, setting his thermos down in the cup holder and pressing a button that scanned his thumb, making the vehicle hummed to life.

 

As the car pulled out of the driveway, Jac turned to look at the sky above. Or well, lack of.

 

The Crosbys lived in a housing district on B-Twenty-two of New Eden, a massive underground city of nearly one hundred floors. It was centrally located, close enough to the central tram system that ran up and down New Eden but also close to the access shafts that lead to the entertainment and business district sections on B-twenty and the mid-levels, making the location a premium area.

 

Unfortunately for most of the population, only the middle class and wealthy could afford to live here. Which didn't make up a sizable chunk of New Eden’s population. Fortunately, Mike’s military retirement payout, coupled with his peacekeeper work, his other son James paying rent, and Angelica chipping in, helped the family to afford the sublevel housing.

 

It's a nice place, but it just doesn’t beat the view of the actual sky. Nothing did, Jac reminisced. His view of the high-rise apartments and skyline trams were soon cut off by the vehicle entering into a service tunnel designated for military and Peacekeeper personnel only.

 

“So.. big day tomorrow, are you excited?” Mike suddenly asked, taking a sip from his thermos.

 

Here we go Jac thought. He always hated these talks, Jac abhorred violence, and with his birthday on the horizon, he would soon be forced to join the military or pay a hefty fee. Both of which he didn’t want to do, but neither would matter much once he got his inheritance.

 

“Not really, it’s just another birthday, If I awaken, they’ll just make me fight, and if I don’t... Well, I can just live at home and play games forever once I get my inheritance to pay off the fine,” Jac dismissively responded as he leaned on the car door to try and catch a quick nap. 

 

“Argh! Seriously! This is why you suck!” Angelica suddenly cried, turning to face the stunned Jack in the backseat. Scorn was clearly visible on her face, causing Jack to look away.  He hated the look she always gave him when it came to his future and pretended to stare out the window to avoid her glaring gaze.

 

“Hey! It's too early for this again kiddo," Mike interjected trying to keep the car straight with Angelica leaning over the seat. "It's his decision to choose what he wants to do, Angelica, you should respect that.”

 

Looking over, Mike placed a hand on Angelica's shoulder to get her to sit back down in her seat.

 

She let out a groan of annoyance, complying with the request, but not before yelling at Mike, “See dad, this is why he’s never going to go anywhere in life because you don’t stop coddling him like he’s a baby! He has a duty to join the military or contribute to humanity! Not waste his life away playing games and selling plants!”

 

“Look, Angel, we go over this every day, Jack is going to make his own choices, he’s got special circumstances-”

 

"My ass!"

 

"Language!"

 

“No! Jack doesn't have anything special! This is why-”

 

“Seriously guys, I’m trying to sleep, can you two give it a rest already?” Jac interrupted, “I had a raid last night and didn’t get much sleep so maybe shout quieter?    

 

“UUUUUGH.” Angelica whined, she turned around to yell at Jac but it was too late, he was already fast asleep…. Or well pretending to be as he felt Angelica’s gaze shift away from him with a frustrated whine. 

A/N

Just so yaw know this is a rewrtie of a WN to WN format lol.

Thanks for reading :>

 

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