Chapter 2

By the time Collin had finished typing his report to the Emperor, he decided to finally get up from bed. Today's Saturday, and normally he'd spend his Saturday morning cleaning every inch of the dorm, but last night he went to bed without eating real food because he was too tired to cook anything, and his stomach is trying to claw its way out of his body to find food itself.

He walks to the kitchen and finds Nathan with Fiona. "Good morning, you two. How are you?" Collin asked, with a wide suspicious smile. Just what are these two doing in the kitchen so early in the morning?

The girl blushes in embarrassment. "G-G-Good morning," she stammered. Last night, when she woke up, Nathan told her that Collin was only joking when he said he wasn't sure if the antidote would work. She was happy that she wasn't going to die; she was so happy that she even began to cry. She had thought that she would die. She was asked to tutor Nathan in mathematics. It's been two months since she started tutoring Nathan, and they have practically become best friends.

Yesterday, she had lied to her parents that she was going to a sleepover at a friend's house just to visit her boyfriend, and she caught him cheating on her with her supposed best friend.

She was both angry and sad, she had given her heart to him, and yet he still treated her like this. She broke up with him immediately and broke off her friendship with her friend. She ran into Nathan and he took her in.

When she arrived last evening, she was both hungry and tired physically and mentally, and her dumb ex tried to get back with her, thinking she was that easy. When she entered the apartment, Nathan said that she could sleep in his room and would sleep in his roommate's room because there was a huge probability that his roommate wouldn't be coming she had assumed that his roommate had gone home for the weekend. The crazy and mysterious student from class 3-C.

"I'm sorry for eating food; Nate didn't tell me it belonged to you," she apologized honestly.

Collin looked at Nathan with a dark gaze. Nathan turned his gaze to the oven, Collin glared at him. Coward. "Ah, it still hurts," Fiona said.

"But I massaged it for you last night," Nathan replied. His voice sounded concerned.

"Massage?" Collin was confused.

"Yes, a massage; the very intense activity," Nathan replied with a blank look. So last night, Nathan was giving Fiona a massage. He mistook them for... God, just kill him now.

Collin turned his face, so they couldn't see his embarrassment. "Whatever," he replied. Then a large growl was heard. Collin's face flushed, making him look even more embarrassed, and Nathan laughed. Collin turned back to glare at Nathan; his eyes were watery. "Shut up. I didn't eat much last night, and I'm so hungry. Your stomach growls even louder than mine; it sounds like a tractor engine!" Collin shouted, his voice cracking a bit. Then he began to cry like a child. "I'm so hungry," he cried; his face looked a bit childish, his eyes were watery, and his cheeks and nose were red.

Fiona hit Nathan with her elbow making him flinch. "I wanted to apologize for eating your food last night, so I prepared you breakfast." She said. She is pushing a plate of scrambled eggs, sausages, and toast, and on the side is a pile of sugar cookies.

Collin wiped his teary eyes and sat down in front of the plate. "All these are for me?" he asked. Fiona nodded. Collin smiled and looked at the food softly. It's been so long since anyone did something nice to him without a purpose. "Thank you," he said before digging in. It tastes homemade. It's quite boring eating the food you cook sometimes, and food from restaurants doesn't have that homey feel a person like him wants. He looks at her with innocent eyes. "Can I have you as my older sister?" he asked, making Fiona giggle and nod.

"Yeah, sure," she replied.

Nathan was surprised; he never knew Collin could make such an innocent face; it makes him look childish.

So Fiona told Collin what had happened and why she had come over yesterday. Collin looks at Fiona with disappointment. "He what?" Collin exclaimed.

"He cheated on me," Fiona said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Collin's eyes darkened. "I'll kill him," Collin said, then he looked at Fiona with disappointment, I'm a bit disappointed you let him go without any injuries."

"Stop it!" Nathan flicked Collin's forehead. "I want you to go all crazy today. I'm not dealing with that today," Nathan said.

Fiona was frozen in fear. She never thought that she'd ever hear those words again. Those were the same words White 000 had said to her two years ago when he spared her life. "So you are the third strongest in the Emerald Lab; of all the ones that I've killed, you fought the hardest. To be honest, I'm disappointed none of you were able to defeat me."

Collin noticed the change in Fiona's mood, and he smiled at her innocently. Fiona calmed down a little, but she couldn't stop touching the scar on her neck.

After breakfast, Nathan went to visit his family and wouldn't be back for the rest of the weekend, and Collin decided to clean up the house like he does every weekend, and Fiona decided to join him since she wouldn't be going home till later in the evening.

While they were clearing out Nathan's room for her to stay in, Fiona decided to start up a conversation. "So, Collin, what squad do you to join?" she asked.

Collin paused a bit. "Which university am I going to?" he said before going silent again. "I want to open a café," he replied. "Then adopt a hamster, a goldfish, a dog, and a cat," he replied.

Fiona was surprised. Collin is one of the smartest students in the academy if not because of his recklessness, and his constant act of putting students' lives in danger, they would be in the same class. So she couldn't help but ask, "Why?"

"Well, I never wanted to attend this academy in the first place." This is true. His majesty, the emperor, decided to give him a scholarship because he wanted his son's bodyguard to do some research on his son's academy choice. "I dislike owing people I hate," he said.

This is something she's sure no one knows about Collin. "I have a question to ask you, Fiona," Collin said. "What have you been up to since you were last Emerald 003?"

"003?" Fiona said in surprise there are only a few people alive who know her as that. She immediately activates her ability. Thick vines and carnivorous plants began growing behind her; she was just about to attack Collin, but all the plants behind her shattered under the pressure Collin was releasing, and she dropped to her knees sweating. "Wait, this is the great 003, who once transformed half of the empire into a tropical forest?" Collin bent down to grab her face. "You've gotten weak, and to think that you were the only one in that lab that managed to scratch me," he said.

"White 000?" Fiona said in fear.

Collin grinned. "You finally recognize me," he said. Fiona closes her eyes, awaiting her death, but Collin just stands up and starts to walk away.

She opened her eyes to see that Collin was no longer in front of her. "Y-you aren't going to kill me?" she asked.

"No," he replied. "I don't see why I should." Fiona began to cry in relief that she wasn't going to die. White 000 was one of the most dangerous people the mirror realm had to offer. Before he turned thirteen, he had already killed two hundred and forty people. He was cold-hearted and ruthless. The first time she saw him was during the Breakdown Disaster when one person single-handedly destroyed the organization that had held them captive throughout most of their childhood. She was one of the lucky few who had survived. She didn't know why she was allowed to live. White 000 had cut her neck, and she was close to bleeding to death when he healed her for no reason. All she heard before going unconscious was, "They wouldn't like it if I killed someone like you."

When she woke up again, she found herself in the hospital. Alone, she was found on the streets by a loving couple, who later adopted her. Whenever she was questioned about what had happened to her, she couldn't help but panic. Whenever she thought of White 000, she always felt indescribable fear.

Now she's watching White 000 or Collin Scotts, her role model and her number one fear, sitting in front of her, eating the chips and drinking soda in front of her, and laughing at a horror movie like a comedy show on TV. When Collin had finished all his snacks, he turned off the TV and turned to Fiona, who had been looking at him timidly like a little mouse.

Collin asked, smirking, "So Emerald 003, or Fiona, what have you been up to since the night of the Breakdown Disaster?"

When Collin called her name, she flinched. "W-well, I was adopted by a loving couple; they took care of me after the disaster; they gave me everything I could ever need," she said quietly. "I also have a younger brother, and he is just the cutest person ever," she squealed subconsciously, before remembering who she was talking to.

Collin, who was listening, suddenly felt a bit jealous. Fiona's new family are good people; he knows that, but he just wanted to hear it from her. "You are so lucky," he said, absentmindedly. He never had a loving family; the only ones who loved him were his father and friends, but they are all dead.

Fiona was surprised when Collin told her she was lucky. "You don't have a family?" she asked.

"No, I don't," he replied, looking a bit down. His paternal grandfather and the rest of his father's family abandoned him when he was close to death on the hospital bed just a year ago; his mother sold him to the organization when he was six to pay off her debts. He doesn't like remembering his past; they try to give him depression. "But it doesn't matter; you gave me permission to call you big sister, so that means you are my family," he said, hugging the pillow in his hand and grinning.

It is quite amazing how fast Collin can change his mood. He was a bit depressed a few minutes ago, but now he is as happy as a child given a lollypop.

But Collin's previous mood made Fiona wonder what had happened to Collin after the Breakdown Disaster.