War and Survival

Ikemefuna was a tall, lean, ginger skinned seventeen year old teenager. He had short black hair and a heavily piercing yellow brown eyes. And for his lower face; he had an unblemished chiseled jawline.

Overall, he had a face that was mysteriously pleasing to the eye, and could also be called breathtakingly handsome.

Currently this 'silver dollar face' was etched with sweat as he sat on the floor of the hallway; leaning on the wall.

His face contorted in an ugly grimace.

Far left to him, and also leaning on the wall whilst he stood; Morgen stared into the air with a hopeless look in his face, his eyes were bleak and distant. His hands were thrust weakly into his Recruite officer pant's pocket.

He was huge enough to barely be considered a teenager. He had dark blue hair, black eyes, a square face and moved around with the grace of what seemed like the glorious aura of a seasoned warrior. Right now that aura he had was greatly dampened as he stood without hope.

Kanima squatted right next to Ikem; beside the non linear intersection. Her silvery white hair covering her eyes and a greater portion of her delicate, blood stained, androgynous face. She lay with her arms resting on her knees.

She turned slowly towards him, a scowl evident on her face.

"It's your fault you know, you, infamous kid" she whispered.

Ikem slightly turned his head; an attempt to look at her from the corner of his eye. He shook his head slowly, distastefully.

"C*ckbuster", he muttered under his breath.

Morgen shuddered from afar, glancing at Ikem with an obvious glare of discomfort. 'Not cool man', his glare seemed to say.

Kanima was greatly displeased but chose to say nothing. Her façade quickly turned expressionless.

She wiped off blood from below her nose.

She had much greater thoughts to attend to than to banter words with a loser. The crime of loitering was greatly frowned upon by the Camp legislative for unknown reasons. This crime was seconded by an unsanctioned duel within Camp grounds, resulting in the opponent's injury or possible death. The only secondary classed offence that could be committed by the students that was greater than these two was.....?, what was it again, well, whatever it was it was greatly frowned upon and could lead to serious repercussions.

The problem wasn't the crime, nor the minor punishments it carried, it was the strikes that came along with them.

For each offence committed by the students there was an equal amount of strikes perceived in their records. Once the tally of the strikes received had reached a significant sum, the delinquent offenders would have to be taken in for De-briefing.

De-briefing was..... an obscure word for Execution.

The same thought ran through all their minds, with Ikem's being a little bit different.

During their first day in the Recruite training, roughly about two weeks ago, Instructor Eloth had spoken to the entirety of the Class Unique on the offenses that could be committed by the students of Camp Perudaux.

He spoke chiefly on three secondary offences.

Loitering, unsanctioned duels, and....., the last one was felt minor and was thus able to elude itself from the memories of all the members of the Class Unique.

But, for a single thought or statement to be forgotten by multiple individuals at the same time was something out of the paranormal.

There was a strange force at work, playing at their minds.

'It's like playing hide and seek...' Ikem thought, distraught.

"Hey, Morgen", he called out.

Morgen turned to him, on guard, this act was evident by the way his muscles tensed as he turned. He couldn't trust his two fate given companions, especially now in this estranged, lonely hallway.

"What?", he replied slowly, he tried to mask his fears by setting the tone of his voice into one of dread and dejection.

Ikem was a tad bit skillful at micro analysation.

So, Morgen's attempt was useless.

"Do you remember what the Instructor warned us about, aside from unsanctioned duels and loitering?" he asked.

Morgen appeared visibly confused by the question, he frowned. "There was no such thing, there never was". He shook his head.

Ikem narrowed his eyes. Something strange was going on. But he didn't know what.

"That isn't what's supposed to be on your mind right now, freak, just a single week under the recruite training program, and we are already caught committing an offence. Guess how bad that'll look on your record!, guess how many strikes you earn yourself for that!!, how could leave without asking for directions!!"

Morgen was angry, an thankfully [for him], he had found an outlet to release his pent up frustrations, both gathered from his previous duel and from the precarious situation he had currently found himself.

Ikem stared gravely at the floor, he did not fail to miss the strong indications of Morgen's lost hope, the very way he had concluded that they would inadvertently be caught and punished. He couldn't blame him, he felt that way too. The road back was a maze of uncannily similar looking hallways and the way foward also looked precariously the same.

Rather than placing a blame on anyone, Ikem blamed himself for being easily distracted and for having an incredible poor sense of direction.

"Would you shut up", Kanima intoned. "Stop whining, if he hadn't been asked to escort you and your unconscious ass to the healers office he wouldn't have been here, he would have been sitting in the next class, paying attention to the detailed laws of PL". She wiped away a streak of blood trailing down her nose.

"Thanks", Ikem mouthed. He didn't know why she had changed. Previously, she had been the one to blame him for the situation they were in, but now she tried defending him from Morgen's rebuff.

He pondered confusedly.

Morgen looked flustered, but he was not one to shy away from any confrontation. He stepped foward, removing his hands from his pocket, he walked towards Kanima.

A lengthy walk.

"Listen here princess, I don't care what any of the both of you say, the fact is we are lost, and our plight; no matter how pitiful it may seem, will be interpreted by the Camp management as an act of insubordination, that on it's own carries a corresponding punishment and that is not speaking of the soon to be given strikes in our records".

Morgen stopped; now squatting in front of Kanima. He looked her straight in the eye before speaking:

"By now the management should be aware of unregistered and unassigned movements and would begin sending appropriate countermeasures or the required apprehension force to take us under arrest".

At this juncture, just as Morgen was about ending his monologue, Kanima's eyes turned glazed as her lips began to tremble. Blood flowed out of her nostrils.

She convulsed violently.

"Are you Okay?", Ikem asked as soon as he caught of the strange reaction.

Morgen stared intently at the pale looking girl in front of him. His breath turned ragged as he grit his teeth.

His frustration was quickly turning to fury.

He reached out a hand.

Forcefully grabbing her tightly by the hair, he rose slowly up. Careful, as to maintain the same eye level as before.

Due to his enormous stature and the difference in height between the two of them, the resultant of this was Kanima hanging in the air with her feet a few inches away from the floor.

She was slowly choking. Morgen's breath felt hot on her face.

"Stop that", Ikem spoke up as he rose, moving towards them.

Morgen threw Ikem a disinterested look. "Yeah, or what?".

"Mr Neely, I really think you should stop that" Ikemefuna's voice turned sombre, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous purple light.

His movements were slow, but he somehow approached quickly.

'What am I doing?' he asked mentally, 'Why am I approaching him, why is my body acting in it's own'. Ikem didn't know the answer to any of his question, but, he knew that the action of Morgen bullying Kanima in her moment of weakness revolted him.

"Are you asking for a fight, come on" Morgen asked, as he stood in front of him.

"I will break you" was the seething reply.

Morgen ground his teeth harder. Did they think he was weak?. He once again let his anger take him in a ride, as he threw thoughts and precaution through the back door.

He dropped Kanima [who hung helplessly] with a thud.

Ikem's eyes followed her body as it fell. He didn't know what was wrong with her, but he suspected it to be some sort of side effect of her Flores.

Morgen went for a punch.

Ikem grabbed him by the arm.

Morgen turned wary and thus tried shaking away his grip, but it turned out too strong.

'Pain for pain, I guess'. Ikem muttered inaudibly, right before doing [uncontrollably] the unthinkable.

He took a step back, and with his right foot he swung upwards, aiming for right between Morgen's legs.

His actions were exceedingly fast. So fast that Morgen didn't see his leg moving at all.

And once again there was a sickening sound. The only difference to this as to the previous was the strength. Ikem's kick was more powerful.

His face let out an evil smirk as his kick connected.

Morgen fell to the ground with a plop.

He fainted.

Kanima stared wide-eyed at the scene. Blood flowed out ghastly from her nose, until she too lost consciousness.

'What have I done?', Ikem asked as soon as he regained control of his body.

His body felt weird, disjointed and heavier as he struggled to stand. His ember of consciousness was quickly fading.

He struggled to hold on. Yet, he fell to the ground.

The sound of footsteps was heard; drawing closer to their location.

As Ikem's vision faded, his thoughts lingered on a single question: 'What have I done?'

His body felt heavy, his mind foggy. He tried to raise his head, but it was too late. The footsteps grew louder, and Ikem's world went dark. The last thing he saw was a pair of boots stopping in front of him..."