What Goes Around, Comes Around

Soma's eyes opened and he shot up from the bed he had been in. He surveyed his surroundings and quickly realized that he must have been in the clinic. The next thing he noticed was that nobody else was in the room, only machinery and other beds.

"What the hell was that?" he questioned aloud, not expecting any kind of answer in return. His head ached a little still, but other than that he felt physically fine. Mentally, however, he was still trying to figure out what had happened to him. The darkness, the sword, the door, all of it made no sense to him. On top of that, before he had even gotten into the dark space, he had all of those images and thoughts separate from his own running rampant in his mind. Just what did it mean? What did any of it mean?

As badly as he wanted to find the answer, no thoughts brought about a good possibility. Soma let out a sigh as he slipped off of the bed, the tile cold on his feet. It seemed that they had taken off his boots along with his shirt. Before walking toward the door, he pulled out the IV line from his hand and tossed it away. Slowly, the boy made his way over, but just as his hand was about to touch the handle, the door opened and he was met with a doctor. The man had a shaven head and glasses resting on the bridge of his nose.

"Sir, I'm sorry but I can't permit you to leave just yet," said the man.

"I'm fine, Doctor…" Soma looked down at the badge on the man's coat, reading the name off of it. "Brum. I should get going. I've got training I'm probably missing out on right now." He tried to walk past the doctor, but felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Mr. Inoue, I both understand and applaud your dedication to becoming a soldier, however, I've got a job to do and as you're my patient, that job is you." Dr. Brum's eyes were soft, looking down at Soma. It was clear that he was trying to help him out.

Soma let out a defeated sigh as he walked back into the room.

"Fine. But make this quick." The boy looked up at the clock and could see that it was already coming close to ten in the morning.

The doctor nodded gratefully as he walked back over to the bed Soma had been resting in only a few minutes before, with the boy now sitting atop it. The man ran regular, simple tests just like those at any physical exam. Only when it was done did Brum say something unrelated to the checkup.

"Mr. Inoue," the doctor said softly. "Would you like to discuss what had exactly occurred last night?"

Soma stayed quiet for a moment, his mind warping back to what had occurred. The horrible headache, the weird sequence of images, and then whatever in the world the last part was.

"I mean… I'm not really sure what to say," Soma stated. "I was just talking with Kiba while working out, and then out of nowhere, I started getting an insane headache- one way worse than the kind I've had in the past- and then it felt like a bunch of thoughts and images that weren't my own, were being shot into my head like an arrow. After that, the pain stopped, so I got to my feet and found myself in a pitch-black environment. The weird initial part about that was weird because even though it was so dark, I could still see my own body. It was almost like a spotlight that was only on me and nothing else. Then, while I was in this place, a golden sword appeared out of thin air. I grabbed it and the scenery changed again.

"This time, I found myself in what I think was space- and there was this door pretty far away from me, too. I thought that maybe the door would be my way out, but when I went to walk, I got caught up. The sword wasn't moving from that spot it was in no matter how hard I tried pulling it free. For some reason, I had something inside me that kept desiring for me to bring the sword. Then I heard some voice in my head, insisting I took the sword, and a giant black thing formed way out. I desperately tried to take the blade but nothing was working and I eventually was swallowed up in that black thing where it felt like my body was being torn apart from all sides. That's when I woke up here."

Doctor Brum stayed quiet for a good few moments, trying to process everything he just heard. It all sounded so outrageous, but considering the tone of Soma's voice, he couldn't take those words as anything but the truth.

"I have a few more questions. You mentioned prior headaches, did any of them feel similar to this one?"

"Nah," Soma responded. "I just meant like the basic kinds that everybody gets."

"Alright. What about those images and thoughts? Do you remember what they were?"

"I remember the images, not the thoughts. I kept seeing an icy lake, a stone pillar, a kind of fruit tree, and two spheres of really bright light."

"And have you ever seen those before?"

"Not in person, no. But I had seen them in a dream on the boat ride here. The same exact images popped into my mind then."

"Hm…" Doctor Brum wasn't sure how to proceed from here. "Mr. Inoue, for now, I'd say it'd be best to keep this between us. There is definitely something grander involved here, but explaining this to Drill Instructor Valentine or anyone else may make them have to evaluate your mental state."

Soma nodded in agreement to the doctor's suggestion. What he was claiming to have seen, would be far too outlandish for many to believe. He was honestly shocked that even Doctor Brum had taken the information truthfully.

"As of now, you're clear to leave, Mr. Inoue. However, I want you to keep from joining in your training today. I want to ensure that you can start tomorrow properly."

The boy hopped off the bed. "Thank you for listening to me, doc. Was expecting you to call me crazy and send me off to the psych ward or something."

The doctor smiled. "No, I prefer to take the words of my patients to heart. I put my whole faith in your honesty knowing that I would want the same from a doctor toward me. Now, take care of yourself, Mr. Inoue. Come to me if anything else happens."

"I will. See you later." Soma waved to him before exiting the room and soon leaving the clinic.

Soma ate in the canteen on his own before going to the barracks where he stayed as he waited for the others to return after their training. Soon after the clock struck six, Quinn walked in, at the forefront of the others who all seemed extremely tired. Soma could see that even Hifumi and Kiba were breathing rather heavily as well and covered in sweat. The drill instructor quickly took note of Soma's presence.

"So while all the others were pushing themselves to their limits, you were resting your sorry ass inside, Inoue?" Quinn asked in a rough tone.

"Sorry ma'am," Soma said as he stood at attention. "I was simply following the orders the doctor gave me, ma'am."

The woman got in his face, hers only a few inches apart. "Are you taking the orders of some doctor over performing your training?"

His gaze remained unwavering, knowing that she was testing him on how he'd respond. "Yes, ma'am. I wanted to ensure I'd be at peak performance for training tomorrow and not hold any of the other recruits back."

She remained silent, her eyes looking into his before pulling back and looking at the other recruits. "Alright, you shitbags. I'm done abusing you all today, so go hit the showers. You all smell like regurgitated sewage." With that, Quinn walked off, disappearing as she exited the barracks.

With her now gone, all of the trainees headed off to the showers. The men went one way while the women went the other. Since he also hadn't taken a shower yet today, Soma went as well. The showers were communal, with it being a large room with multiple showerheads above them. As the water began running, Galen used the showerhead in the corner away from everyone, with Soma and Kiba being nearby.

"So, how was it today?" Soma asked curious about what he missed out on.

"Much more intense than yesterday," Kiba responded. "She took me and you hitting the gym as a sign that we hadn't been pushed enough, so today was crazier by at least tenfold. Hell, Galen and multiple other dudes and chicks were struggling to even stay conscious."

"For real?" Soma asked, shocked to hear that. Sure, Galen wasn't on their level, but he was still at least as good as high-level adult athletes.

"Yeah…" Galen said in a low voice as his hands softly moved along his cornrows, lathering it up with shampoo. "I can barely even feel my legs right now."

"Well, at least I know what I'm getting myself into tomorrow. Man, that's still crazy though." If it hadn't been already abundantly clear to him, it was now, that getting on Quinn's bad side was something that he most definitely didn't want.

Soon the three finished up their showers and put towels around their waists while they were drying off. Galen was patting down his hair, wanting to make sure all of the water was out. Kiba put his glasses back on and turned to speak to Soma when he suddenly saw a punch heading the boy's way.

Just narrowly, Soma avoided the surprise attack and turned to see who threw it, finding Leon and way more guys than he had last time. Galen instinctively hid behind Kiba.

"What kind of stunt are you trying to pull right now?" Soma asked. "Last I checked, one more problem and you're out of here."

"That's only if word gets back to Valentine about what happened," Leon answered, a smug look on his face as he looked down into Soma's sea-green eyes. "Plus, I ain't gonna be doing much to you right now anyway."

"If you're not trying to fight, then don't waste my time, jackass."

"Fine, fine," Leon said calmly, raising his hands as he stepped aside, letting the three walk past him and his group. "Just watch your back, buddy. It'd for sure be a shame if some 'accident' were to happen, don't you think?"

Soma and the two others changed into their clothes and headed back into the barracks. As they took a seat on the edge of their beds, Soma looked at Galen.

"You doing alright?" he asked, slightly worried.

The boy just nodded in response.

"Soma," Kiba began. "They're definitely planning on trying something soon. He for sure wasn't making just an empty threat. I don't know how or what, but it's clear he's going to do something."

"Yeah, and I'll wait for him to try," Soma said in a nonchalant tone. "He's already on the drill instructor's bad side, I doubt she'd take his word over ours if he even makes an attempt at doing something."

Kiba's hand ran through his hair as a bead of sweat slipped down his cheek.

"I don't know, I just got a bad feeling. Like, I know he's way weaker than us, but still, something doesn't sit right with me."

"It'll be fine, man." Soma outstretched his arm and patted Kiba's shoulder.

"I'd still keep my guard up," said Hifumi, walking over to the three boys, having finished her shower. "I'm guessing you had some guys ambush you in the shower room, too?"

"Yeah?" Kiba responded in a curious. "Same thing happened to you?"

The girl nodded, crossing her arms as she spoke. "It was like a whole herd of the girls claiming it to be mine, yours, and especially Soma's fault that we were worked so much harder today. It seemed like they were dead set on fighting me right then and there, too."

Kiba leaned back and let out a groan. "So just about everybody hates us just because they had to actually work a little bit more?"

"Kiba," Galen interjected. "That wasn't just 'a little bit'. She was making us do things way harder than yesterday. It was more equivalent to torture than training."

"Yeah, well let's just get some food and keep relaxed," Soma suggested. "For all we know tomorrow could be even worse than what you guys suffered through today."

And so, that's what the four of them did. They kept to themselves for the rest of the evening, sticking to their usual table and minding their own business until it was time for lights out. They each went to their cots, the divider soon lowering to separate the guys from the girls, and one day blended right into the next one.

Nothing out of the usual happened the next day. Their morning was the same as the couple of others they've had so far during training and after all of the running and calisthenic workouts, it was time for a trial. However, that trial was simply several lengthy obstacle courses, that they all had to speed through before ending the day off with their usual lectures and general learning.

It wasn't until the day after that things would take a turn in a not-so-positive way. Initially, things hadn't seemed much different than the day prior. That was until it came time for their daily trial. Quinn had all of the recruits standing outside, in front of the Garden, explaining what they would be doing.

"Alright, you sacks of shit," she said, addressing them in the same way she always did. "Today we'll be introducing you to proper situations that you might be a part of while acting as a soldier. For this specific one, you'll be tasked with locating a mock version of a destroyed base and finding an old Eden manuscript inside. Of course, it won't be as simple as that." As she spoke, she pulled a remote out of her pocket and once she pressed the button, the Garden gained a momentary blue glow before returning to normal.

"For the full extent of this exercise, the Garden will contain holographic beasts, like chimeras, minotaurs, griffins, things of that nature. And yes, while holograms, they will hurt you. However, you'll be monitored at all times, so they won't ever kill you. The moment before you could be fatally wounded, I'll warp you out of there. The only place you won't be watched is inside the base as the holograms can't enter it. You can complete this either on your own or as a group, doesn't matter to me." She stopped speaking for a moment, examining the faces of all her recruits before shouting, "Begin!"

Multiple kids, hurried off into the Garden, Leon included, clearly wanting to rush and be the first ones through. Meanwhile, Kiba walked over to Quinn who had taken out a screened device that was projecting a view of various parts of the forest in order to keep watch of everybody.

"Ma'am, I have a question for you," Kiba said, still clearly trying to figure out how to word what he wanted to say. The other three walked over to him, standing a few steps back. Soma guessed that this would be discussing what Kiba was speaking about a few days back.

"What is so important that you feel the need to talk to me instead of performing the task at hand, Private Kutsuki?" Quinn asked, her face not looking away from the multiple screens in front of her.

"Well, it's about your family, ma'am. Do you know of any elderly man in your family that can heal others' ailments? Like something similar to deafness or blindness."

Quinn's head turned to him, looking Kiba in the eyes with annoyance. "Why should I provide you with that information, Kutsuki?"

"It's important to me, ma'am." The blond boy took off his glasses revealing his eyes to her once again. "As you can see, by all sensical means, I should be completely blind, but I can see just fine. It's because of that man that I'm standing right here aiming to become a soldier of Eden. And that's why I want to find him. To figure out what he did, why he did it, and to thank him."

Quinn stayed quiet for a moment before sighing. "That's great kid, but I'm not related to anyone like that. On top of that, I'm not even related to my own family."

Kiba's eyes widened. So she was adopted, too? "Sorry, ma'am. Thank you for answering me though." He turned around and put on his sunglasses. "Let's go guys. The others have probably almost found the base already." The four started walking off toward the Garden.

"Wait, Kutsuki. Why'd you even think I was related to some guy like that."

Kiba turned slightly, looking over his shoulder. "When I took off my glasses during our spar a few days back, I could sense your soul, and it reminded me of that man. In a parent-child kind of way." With that, four teens ran into the Garden, leaving Quinn alone with her thoughts.

"'In a parent-child kind of way?'" she repeated to herself aloud, the words confusing her slightly. "How the hell does that make sense…?" Quinn looked back to the screen and noticed a group of recruits backed into a corner, surrounded by multiple harpies, their bodies bloodied and wounded. Quickly, the woman created a portal beneath the group, warping them to where she currently stood. Once the three recruits realized where they were, they all groaned in unison.

Inside the Garden, Soma sprinted right toward a lindwyrm. The serpent charged to meet the boy, but Soma slipped around it keeping its attention on him. As the lindwyrm turned around to face him, Kiba leaped up high, going above the extremely large trees and punching down on top of its head, causing it to dissolve in a mass of blue particles.

"These things are way too easy to beat, man," Soma whined. "It's honestly so easy, even Quiet Boy over there could win on his own."

"It would be a lot harder to do than how you three have been handling them," Galen said. "But yeah, you're not wrong."

Soma looked over to Hifumi. "You hear anything yet? You've been like no help, Hifumi."

She opened her eyes, her fox-like eyes clearly showing her irritation.

"Maybe it'd be easier to hear if I didn't have somebody constantly whining like a little crybaby in my ear." She was trying to listen in on the other participants and possibly be able to tell if any of them reached the base.

"I wouldn't be whining if you hurried up a bit," Soma retorted.

"What do you want me to do, Soma? Hear faster?" Hifumi angrily started stepping up to the boy. Suddenly, a giant griffin landed heavily right in front of them.

Right before it could even try something, the two teenagers, arguing like an old married couple, turned their attention to the holographic winged beast.

"Screw the hell off!" They both said at the same time and landed a punch on the griffin sending it flying towards Kiba who stepped to the side as the creature dissolved.

"Great," the blond boy said. "Now that you've both got your anger out, how about we focus on finding the base and not getting left behind? Right, Galen?" Kiba turned to look at the boy but found him gone. "Galen?"

The dark-skinned boy walked out from around the corner of a large shrub.

"I found the base," he said, scratching his cheek with his index finger. "It- It was just a little further."

After giving each other the stink eye, Soma and Hifumi walked after Galen and Kiba. The base was made of metal with the entrance wide open. As the four of them walked in, it quickly became apparent that the base went underground. Additionally, the walls and floor had clear signs of rust and decay, which likely was done to add to the feeling of this place being abandoned.

Once they reached flat ground again, Kiba noticed that in the distance, there was a vast number of other recruits, but they weren't searching for any kind of manuscript. They were all facing him and the other three. At the head of the pack, Leon was standing right there, looking as smug as ever.

As they got closer to the large group, Galen froze up, realizing who was seemingly leading the other recruits.

Soma stepped up in front of Kiba and Galen, standing right in front of Leon, looking up and into his eyes.

"You seriously trying to do this right now?" Soma asked with a carefree look on his face. "You really want to risk losing your chance at actually being a soldier just because you're mad I indirectly had you put in a little more work in training? Do you not get how sad that is?"

"It ain't just that," Leon answered back. "You see, a lot of us have grown sick and tired of you three rice pickers acting cocky and thinking that you're better than the rest of us."

"You're calling blatant facts and showings of it just an 'act'? Buddy, I don't act better than everyone else, I am better than everyone else. There's a difference." Soma leaned to the side, looking at all of the others behind Leon. "I could understand this dumbass not getting the memo, but all like twenty of you haven't gotten it either? It's like you all share the same half a brain. But hey, if you guys really feel like fighting us, knock yourselves out." He had a grin on his face, basically daring them to try something.

Leon grit his teeth before he spoke. "We'll make sure to have a nice funeral for you four!"

He thrust his fist forward, however, unlike that time in the canteen, Soma didn't bother dodging. The punch hit his forehead, but nothing happened. The silver-haired boy's grin grew wider.

"That's now assault. Which means that I've got full right to defend myself." Soma took hold of Leon's wrist and pulled him down to meet his rising knee, slamming it into the Elysian boy's chest. The movement resembled how Quinn had first hit Kiba during their testing. Soma followed up his initial hit with a backhand to Leon's cheek sending him flying across the metal ground.

Now, the boy turned to face the large group in front of him. "Next?"

Nobody dared move for a couple of seconds until one teen spoke out. "Let's jump them!" he exclaimed. He rushed forward, and almost immediately, so were all of the other opposing recruits.

Kiba and Hifumi stepped up, the former smiling in anticipation.

"Time for a little fun," Kiba said as he dodged around a girl running at him. As he passed her, he took hold of her right arm and flung her around, using her as some sort of weapon to hit two people before launching her at a third who managed to catch her and stay upright.

Hifumi came running in and kicked him in the head, knocking him to the ground along with the girl he was holding. Two boys dashed in on either side of her, trying to perform some kind of team attack, but she avoided their punch attempts and took hold of their heads, slamming them together and knocking them both out.

Soma had seven people circling him, ready to pounce, but the moment they wanted to make their step toward him, he had long since made his move. He slipped behind the first girl, sweeping her leg and giving her a kidney punch before she hit the ground. Quickly he moved on to the next, axe kicking down on his shoulder before immediately performing a spinning heel kick to his side that sent him barreling into another guy, both of them slamming into the wall. Soma could sense someone behind him, managing to duck a kick aimed at his head. He took hold of the leg and threw the boy it belonged to, down onto the ground. As the boy bounced off of the metal floor, Soma delivered a gut punch that had the boy crashing into the two unconscious bodies against the wall. The two remaining people who had been circling him tried to go after him in a synchronized effort, but as they took five steps toward him, Soma took many more, ending up behind them. The boys tried turning around, but the one on the right was slapped once, making him stumble while Soma uppercut the other one, knocking him unconscious. As the stumbling boy tried to recover his footing, Soma's heel met with his temple, causing him to tumble along the ground, getting knocked out almost instantly.

"Six left," Soma said with a grin. It was definitely easy, but still managed to be enjoyable for the simple reason that he was dealing with people who he got on the nerves of, and in the end, it still wouldn't even be deemed to be his fault. "Yo Galen, you surviving?"

Soma turned to look at the boy who had finally gotten out of his funk after seeing Leon hit the ground and was currently fighting off two people. Galen dodged an incoming punch and returned it with a quick jab to the person's chin, following it up with a cross and an uppercut to the body. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the other guy ready to hit him, but he weaved underneath the hit and delivered a solid hook to his chin with an uppercut landing right after, sending the boy back and down to the ground. As the first boy tried to recover, Galen winded up an overhand, striking down on the boy's head, knocking him out too. The dark-skinned teen wiped his brow and turned to Soma with a smile.

"Yup," he responded to the previous question. "Doing just fine."

Now there were four left standing. Kiba and Hifumi stood in front of them, the two standing side by side in their fighting stance.

"You up for some more bowling?" Hifumi asked, a smirk on her face.

Kiba quickly understood what she meant and smiled. "You set the pins up while I go for game."

The tanned girl nodded as they went to execute their play. She ran in, faking a punch to one teen before slipping around and kicking the back of another, sending him over to Kiba. Hifumi held their shirts and pulled them all together before quickly jumping to the side.

Meanwhile, Kiba picked up the boy Hifumi kicked and held him by his pants. Mimicking the movement of a bowler, he threw the boy at the three other recruits, slamming into each other, all of them colliding with the wall, knocking them out, and having all four of them collapse to the ground.

"And there's the strike!" Kiba exclaimed as he walked over to Hifumi, giving her a high five.

"Enough!" shouted a familiar voice. The two turned to see who it was and found Leon who somehow managed to sneak up on Galen, having him in a blood choke. The frantic nervousness on Galen's face was clearly apparent.

Leon smiled as Galen struggled to pull free with weak attempts.

"Doesn't this bring back memories, Galen? Just like back home, right?"

He was already starting to lose consciousness.

'Like back home?' Galen thought to himself. His mind was slipping and soon, it all faded to black.

Inamatus, that was the name of the village Galen was from. He had lived there all his life and not one second of it could be described as enjoyable. The southern region of Elysium where Inamatus resided, was surrounded by mountains, meaning that there wasn't another town or village for miles upon miles. With that said, Inamatus was a town filled with horrible people of many different kinds. Thieves, murderers, cannibals, rapists, cultists. Any kind of crime or negative culture, you could find it there. The town was built around housing criminals who'd lure in travelers to prey upon them however they saw fit.

Galen's parents were no exception to this. They were just as bad as all of the others in the village, though Galen was nothing like them. He didn't know why exactly he was different, but ever since he could remember, he hated how his parents and the villagers treated their victims. Though it grew worse when he became old enough to go to school, he couldn't make a single friend there, and barely anyone ever showed up. In school was also where he met Leon for the first time. The two never really spoke with one another. Leon would be the center of attention amongst the other few who were in class, while Galen remained in the corner, keeping to himself, scared to speak up and converse with the others.

However, one day, shortly after Galen's eleventh birthday, he was ordering a small sandwich from the shop right next to the school when Leon snatched it right from out his hands.

"H-Hey!" The boy exclaimed as he ran after Leon who dashed into a little alley between the shops. "Give it back! I spent my allowance on that!" Galen let out a yelp as he exited the other side of the alley, tripping over a broomstick someone extended out. It caused him to tumble down the hill, his back slamming into a rock by the creek. The sudden impact took all of the air from his lungs as he held his back, clearly hurting after that.

Leon walked down the hill with a smirk on his face. Several other kids tailed close behind him, one of them holding the broomstick that had caused Galen's fall. Leon looked at the fallen boy and used his foot to flip him completely on his backside.

"What's wrong, darky?" Leon asked as he opened the sandwich's wrapper and took a bite. It was so small that the lone portion he bit off took away half of it. "Come on, answer me. Usually, monkeys make some kind of sound, yet here are, being quiet like a mouse instead. Speak up!" He stomped down on the boy's stomach with a heavy foot. Whatever oxygen Galen had recovered, was now immediately lost once again.

"If you don't answer me, it's only gonna get worse for you. So tell me, what's wrong? A simple question for a simple little monkey, don't you think?" Leon went silent as he saw Galen's eyes watering and the boy tearing up. Leon threw away what was left of the sandwich and pulled up Galen by his shirt, punching him twice in the face. "Two questions with no answer means two punches!" The other kids around them laughed a little before one spoke up.

"I think he might just be a little thirsty," he said. "Give him a quick drink to freshen up, Leon."

The leading bully smiled, understanding what the boy meant. Still holding Galen by his shirt, Leon walked over to the creek and plunged the boy's head underneath the water's surface, holding him down by the back of his neck. He tried to fight back against it. He tried to do anything, everything, to break free, but to no avail. Soon, the bubbles rising to the surface stopped, and only then did Leon remove Galen's head from the water. He picked the boy up and placed him against the large rock he had hit earlier. The bully looked at all of his friends with a smile.

"Why don't we try out that thing I told you guys about on him?" He asked, a devilish and horrid idea appearing in his mind. They all seemed to quickly understand what Leon meant and they closed in on the unconscious body.

In what could have been seconds, minutes, or hours later, Galen awoke by himself and knew something was off. He was entirely naked and a white, sticky substance was both on and around his body. His mind was then flooded with memories of what happened. He had been used. Used by every one of those boys who treated his body as some kind of tool. It hurt, it all hurt. Everything hurt. Not even on a physical level alone, he was destroyed mentally. Galen curled into a ball and sobbed loudly, not caring about the cold wind running its hands along his body.

For all eleven years, he had always felt alone. Alone even amongst his family. Alone when he was out in the village. Alone when he was in school. Every waking moment of his life, he had been alone. Now though? Now he wasn't just alone. He felt empty. Like all of his feelings, emotions, and thoughts, all of it left him now too. At least before he had himself, but at this moment he felt like nothing more than a husk. And husks weren't alive, so why should he be?

Slowly, Galen uncurled himself and looked around, not for his clothes or help, no. He searched the rocks and dirt for something else. Something sharp. Finally, he spotted a jagged, broken rock a reach away to the right. Taking it in his hand, the boy took in a deep breath, consciously wanting to make sure of the decision he was about to make. His tears continued down his face as the stone's sharp edge pressed against his inner forearm. Galen's hand moved quickly, slicing open a large cut down to his wrist. Blood soon began leaking out and onto the rock-covered ground. The boy closed his eyes, accepting the decision he made, knowing there was no going back now. One of his tears slipped down from his cheek and dropped into the pool of blood. This was how it had been for him 'back home.'

Galen's eyes opened wide as he regained consciousness and remembered where he was. He was back in the mock base and Leon was trying to take him out. Using all of his strength, the dark-skinned boy tucked his chin and pulled down on Leon's arm, successfully forcing himself free. Galen turned around and yelled out in anger as he took Leon by his shirt, dragging him across the ground before slamming him into the wall. He got on top of the boy and began relentlessly punching him over and over again. Leon did his best to guard his face and stop the onslaught, but the hits continued increasing in strength and speed.

"You. Hold. No. Power. Over. Me. Anymore!!" Galen shouted at the top of his lungs before letting out a continued angry shout. He pulled Leon's arms away from the guard they had been making and instantly began landing hit after hit on the boy's face. Just one more hit. One more hit and the one who made his life up until now would be gone. Rid from the world before he could ruin the life of anyone else.

Yet, as Galen was about to throw that last hit, someone took hold of him by his wrist. Turning to see who it was, he saw Soma standing there.

"That's enough," he said to the boy in a soft tone. "You beat him. No need for anything more. Self-defense doesn't mean we should just outright kill him, even if he is a serious douchebag."

"What?!" Galen shouted as he stood up, looking down slightly at Soma. "He's more than just a 'douchebag'. He made my life a living hell! He's done so much to me and you're saying I should just accept that and let him live?! Let him just get off with simply being kicked out of Eden and nothing else?" Tears formed in his eyes as he bashed his hand against Soma's chest. Galen looked down at the ground and continued with the hits, each one growing dramatically weaker before he finally stopped. "It's not fair. It just isn't damn fair…"

Soma remained quiet as he raised his arm, bringing Galen down a little into a hug, the boy wrapping his arms around him in return. While Soma had no clue what had gone on in the past between the two, right now, he didn't care. Right now, he simply wanted to be here for Galen.

Hifumi and Kiba walked over to the two, both of them putting a hand on Galen's back to show that they were there for him as well. He continued letting out his sobs until he finally had no more tears left to cry.

"I'm fine now…" Galen said in a low voice. "We need to finish the trial." He broke free from the hug he gave Soma and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. Slowly, he began searching the room for where the possible manuscript could be.

Soma and the two others looked at each other before Kiba just shrugged and walked off to try to locate the manuscript as well, with Hifumi and Soma joining in.

They all looked around, for a while, walking over and around the knocked-out recruits until finally there was one last section they hadn't checked. It was a large pile of rubble tucked in the furthest corner from the entrance.

"I swear if we did all of this and someone had already made off with the manuscript, I'm going to lose it," Hifumi said with a sigh as all four of them picked up and tossed some of the rubble to the side. She threw away the final piece and spotted an entire mountain of the supposed manuscripts they had been looking for. "Oh."

"Yeah and now that we found it, let's hurry up and report back to Quinn about the big mess here," Kiba said as he stepped over to the books and picked one up. As he did though, he noticed what seemed to be a door handle on the ground. "The hell's this?" He swiped the other books to the side right there, a proper door could be seen.

Plastered right in the center of the door was an odd-looking triangle. The right side of it was thicker than the other two lines.

"Wait," Galen said in a surprised voice. "That's delta. But why would they put something like this in a fake base for Eden of all things?"

"No clue," commented Soma as he bent down, taking hold of the handle. As he turned it, the letter on the door began glowing a brilliant cyan color. Once it was open all of the way, it revealed a staircase going even lower. However, this staircase matched nothing else in the base. It was made entirely of stone. "I wanna see where this thing goes."

"What?" Hifumi questioned. "Why would you want to go do that? We should be leaving."

Soma looked up at her as he began walking down the steps. "Sure, but this thing was right beneath what we were tasked with searching for. No doubt they're related."

Hifumi sighed as Kiba stepped past her and followed his best friend down. "Oh, not you too!"

"Seems fun," the blond boy responded to her whine. "And we'll be safe, don't worry." Kiba took off his glasses in order to maximize his vision.

Galen put a hand on Hifumi's shoulder as he spoke. "Let's go too. Just to make sure they don't get into any trouble."

The girl let out a groan before accepting it. "Fine…" The two of them went down the steps after the two boys.

Soon, along the walls, torches lit up with green flames.

"No way," Galen said in astonishment.

"What is it?" Soma asked curiously.

"Th-This fire, it's like the one in an old Elysian myth. First the delta and now this- it just doesn't make sense. Why would Eden have something like this? Did the drill instructor want us to find something else too?"

Kiba's eyes widened. With his vision being able to see behind him, he noticed the walls were beginning to close behind them, just like in that illusion they were put in the day they arrived, only this one felt vastly different.

"Save the theorizing for later!" He shouted out. "We're leaving, now!"

"The hell are you talking about- holy shit, the wall!" Soma exclaimed. "It's trying to trap us in!" The four of them hurried back up the steps, Soma barely managing to squeeze out of being crushed between the walls. They jumped back up and onto the metal floor of the base, landing on each other in a heap. The door of the stairway slammed shut and echoed through the large room. They all let out groans as they got to their feet.

Kiba put his glasses back on as he spoke. "So that definitely doesn't seem like it should be here."

"I told you guys we should've been leaving!" Hifumi exclaimed. "We almost got trapped down there for who knows what reason." She let out a sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Let's just leave and report back to Quinn about everything."

"Fine, fine," Soma said as he led the other three back toward the entrance of the base.

When they got back to Quinn, they informed her of the brawl that had gone on in the mock base and also about the mysterious door. However, Quinn didn't know what they were referring to with the latter. She had never heard of such a door, especially not one that seemingly had Elysian origins. Now in regards to Leon and all of the other attackers, they would all be given their due punishments. Aside from Leon who had already acted against another recruit prior, the rest would be given limited food, would have to participate in lengthy, trivial chores, and put in double the amount of work in calisthenic training and all other warm-ups. As for the man at the center of the entire assault, Leon Kallis, his actions against Galen in the past were reported, explaining to Quinn and other higher-ups what exactly Leon had done to him, even though it was a struggle to admit it had occurred. Once hearing that and seeing how violent Leon had been while here, even though he was only sixteen, he would be tried in court as an adult and was sent to the Shamayim mainland where he would be locked up until his impending trial.

Things were quiet for the remainder of the day. Quinn had let all of the recruits, not on Leon's side of the fight in the mock base, get out of training early while the remainder were pushed harder than ever. Galen didn't discuss with Soma and the others about what he had spoken to the higher-ups about. Instead, the four of them acted as normal as they could until it was lights-out time.

Soma still hadn't been satisfied with the door and staircase he had seen in the base. How did Quinn not know anything about it? Something like what it was, considering its placement, should've been rather easy to notice. Around midnight, three hours after lights-out, Soma slipped out of his cot and snuck across the room, heading out the door. He made sure to be wary of any guards or soldiers who'd be out on watch or simply just up at this time. The only one he crossed was near the headquarters' entrance, but Soma kept out of the man's sight, making his way successfully outside.

He went around the outskirts of the Tower until he was standing before the Garden. Soma looked behind him one last time then dashed into the forest, making his way back to the mock base. It was still wide open, and so he ran down, getting back to the bottom level he had been in only hours before. To his sensitive nose, Soma could still smell the reeking scent of people's blood, specifically Leon's, from earlier on. Soma walked over to the corner where the manuscripts still were, however, what was now missing was the door.

"What the-?" he said in a surprised tone, bending down closer to the ground. His hand roamed along the metallic floor, trying to find even some kind of outline of the door, but he felt nothing. The handle, the delta symbol, everything. It was all gone without a trace. "How does that even happen? Where'd the damn door go?"

"Stop where you are!" shouted a voice from behind him. Soma's eyes widened as he turned around, his arms raised in the air to show that he meant no harm. In front of him, he could see multiple people with slightly nervous looks on their faces. Judging by the mop and other various cleaning tools and products, they were here to take care of all of the damage that had been caused, and they weren't expecting to see anybody else there. "What are you doing here? Explain yourself!"

"I- uh, got lost?"