The Night is Young.

"So, you got scared and hid under the bed?" A man with messy brown hair and an unshaven beard questioned the person in front of him.

''Exactly. Things happened so fast, and it was the only thing I could think of at the time!" replied Quagmire.

"Sir… You can't imagine what I went through…" The boy showed a frightened and sad expression, gripping his shoulders brutally.

''It's okay, just… stop crying.'' The man couldn't take the boy's continuous crying any longer, whenever he questioned him about the events of the night two days ago.

Quagmire and many other people, whether students or not, were taken to a special room set up by investigators specially sent by the government. Because it was a multiple murder event that took place next to Quagmire's bedroom, many people suspected him. Both because of his race, which the inhabitants of the upper city considered prone to commit crimes, and because of the boy's proximity to the place where the situation occurred.

However, the story that investigators deduced was different, as the boy showed to be more scared than anyone, even showing tears of despair when asked about the blood that had splashed lightly on his window. The boy kept saying things like 'not again' in a sad tone, when asked how many sounds and screams occurred that day, and Detective Leon couldn't stand to interrogate that young man any longer.

''Thanks for the information, you can go now.''

''Serious? Can I really go?" The boy asked in a shaky voice.

"Yes, yes," The detective said, as he rummaged through his shirt pockets, "And here's my phone, in case you run into any problems, just contact me."

The boy took the paper on which a cell phone number was written, and then nodded with extreme gratitude to the detective, getting up, and heading towards the exit of the makeshift interrogation room.

As he left, Quagmire began walking once more through the corridors of the usual pilot academy, where people began to stare at him with his face completely drenched in tears, which he didn't bother to wipe away while still pretending to be scared.

"This sucks." The boy thought, as he forced his expression to look helpless.

Quagmire was aware that his release from the interrogation room was just a 'undercover event' planned by the investigation team, as they distrusted him more than anyone else, and would certainly send someone to observe him in the days when they still remained installed in the facilities of the academy.

He had then decided to keep a lower profile than before, focusing only on improving Vermillion and also gaining more intimacy with his friends, ignoring all other occasions. Quagmire had gained another 3 days until the mirian competition, which had been rescheduled due to the security team that would be reinforced for the specific day.

The academy could not risk any losses during the competition, as since it came to light, it had become the most famous broadcast in both cities, cheering families of both social statuses. The executive board, being smart as it was, would not miss the chance to profit from the expectations of the Landra people, who were eagerly awaiting the appearance of the first Landra student in the history of the Republic and of all humanity.

Inside the academy he was treated like garbage and no one cared, but when outside the institution's walls, they advertised him as a great hero, credited for things he didn't even know had happened.

"Qua…" A thin voice came from his side, but he didn't notice as he was deep in his own thoughts.

''Quagmire!'' The person yelled in his ear, startling him.

Quagmire backed up a few steps with a hand to his right ear, which buzzed for a few seconds from the scream. He then turned his gaze to the person who had screamed in his ear, seeing it was Mary with her arms crossed.

"I've been trying to talk to you, it's been over 5 minutes now!" The girl said, huffing in anger as she looked at Quagmire.

"What you want?" Quagmire snapped, he wasn't in the right mood for conversation.

"Hm…it's just…well…" The girl's voice was getting lower and lower, as if she was hesitating to speak.

"If you're not comfortable saying that right now, then you can talk to me whenever you like." Said Quagmire as he wiped the sleeves of his shirt down his face, wiping away the mess of tears his face had become.

The boy straightened his spine and when he finished wiping the tears, he still had a worried expression (on purpose) on his face, implying that he had been through a traumatic experience recently. Quagmire then nodded slightly at Mary and started walking to his room once more.

"I don't know if I can say this…" Mary muttered with her head down.

The girl had witnessed something she should never have seen…

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Back to two days ago, during the night…

Many noisy sounds could be heard around the academy, especially in the rooms near the Veritas class dorm, where a girl was sleeping peacefully in a friend's room.

"WhaT'S GOIng OnN?" The girl got up startled from the sofa she was lying on, still not controlling the volume of her voice.

Mary had been awakened by strange sounds that resembled a cannon in the middle of the night, she looked around and remembered that she had slept in Quagmire's room while waiting for him to return. The girl noticed the white blanket that covered her, probably Quagmire had put under the girl so she wouldn't get cold during the night.

She got up slowly from the sofa, while the sounds still continued outside, she then began taking quick steps with a technique that generated almost no noise, heading towards the room of Quagmire that she imagined was as confused as she was.

Upon arriving there, she found Quagmire still sleeping peacefully as if nothing was happening in his surroundings, the girl wasted no time and approached in order to shake Quagmire.

However, when she touched the boy, her hand simply went through his body and he didn't show any emotion, just continued to stand 'asleep'. Mary was startled, almost toppling over backwards, as the sounds grew louder and reverberated throughout the academy, the girl could hear many footsteps in the other rooms.

''What the fuck?''

*BOOM*

A sound much louder and more powerful than the others erupted, making the windows shudder and show some cracks at the edges, Mary's eyes were fluttering and her legs were a little wobbly, she couldn't imagine what could be causing all this.

Grabbing a chair from the living room and walking again towards Quagmire's room, the girl walked towards the window while poking her head slightly tilted out of the room. The sight that unfolded was far more impressive than anything she had ever seen, a boy in a ragged white coat fighting alone against 5 people.

Mary squinted a little more, trying to figure out who was the person who was fighting so deftly against the mysterious invaders. As soon as she did this, countless other boys suddenly appeared running at the people who were dressed in black, they were easily cut and exploded into white particles, but one of the images running towards the opponents looked back, and Mary noticed... It was Quagmire... Quagmire was the one fighting those people.

She saw the hostility in the boy's eyes, and jerked her head back into the room, startled. Mary decided she would lie down and pretend she hadn't seen anything, just waiting for the right moment to 'confront' Quagmire with serious dialogue about this situation.

"This must be just a dream." She thought, ignoring the countless sounds of battle that continued unabated around her.

Mary smiled, as if the whole thing was just an illusion.

"This isn't real." She'd like to believe that was true… But that night, Mary was unable to sleep, just pretending to still be asleep.