The day isn't as bright as yesterday. The sky is grey and gloomy, the surroundings dark and bland. Aurelio isn't sure but he assumes it's because of the soldiers stationed in every corner of the campus making it look much worse. They wear stone-cold expressions, every move done with purposes no one else understands. Even the wind got too shy to let them feel it. Aurelio rests his cheek on his arm as he gaze out the windows. It's only morning but the sky makes it look like sunset. Real encouraging. Aurelio sighs. It's been a day since they got kidnapped, and here they all are, abiding by whatever the woman says. They can't really do otherwise lest they want their heads shot. And no sane human would want that. Oh, how wrong he is. "Guys, guys, do you want to join our club?" A female student with blazing red hair announces, storming in the cafe with a fierce look, a couple of other students following behind her. "Secret Rebellion Club, anyone interested?" She places her foot on a chair and props her elbow on it. The cafe isn't that large thus without raising one's voice, as long as it's silent, they can be heard throughout. "Emily, the club's invitations' day will start later. Don't be unfair." A geeky student retorts from a table in the corner. The red-head rolls her eyes, "If you don't want to join then don't, no one's forcing you so shut up." She looks around with a raised brow, "Anyone?" "What is it about?" A student asks. "Escaping this shithole they call a school." It seems like she isn't that famous in school, because everyone's eyes are on her, yet they hold mixed replies that no one's braved enough to make a sound. Everyone is quiet, glancing at each other. Awkwardness dances with the wind. Even the meowing of a furry cat near the trashbin is heard throughout the cafeteria. Meanwhile, Aurelio stays in his seat, about a few tables away from the crazy redhead, eating beside strangers. He heard the whole club invitation, and he can only hide a sarcastic raised brow at the club's name. _Secret_ Rebellion club and you show it in a room full of security cameras? He stays quiet. It's nicer to just have a view of numerous strangers' reactions from the back so that's what he does. The cafeteria stays quiet. Then, "You're crazy." A student remarks, then leaves, bringing with him a weirded expression. It's natural for people to have that reaction. Planning to escape this shithole with all those armed men literally in every corner? Yeah, right. Soon, more and more students follow the young man, leaving the cafeteria with their friends, all of them looking at the redhead, doubting his sanity. All of them ignore him together with the staffs who resume their works and pretend nothing happened. Now, only Aurelio, the redhead and his two subordinates are left. The two clubmates are glaring at the canteen doors in disbelief, muttering and mumbling to themselves whilst the redhead only looks uninterestedly in Aurelio's way as he raise a brow. Shrugging his shoulders, Aurelio stands up, walks out of the building and continues to his dorm. It's already five in the afternoon, an hour before the second flow of classes, thus the soldiers giving him glances as he walk away shouldn't be able to touch him, right? In reality, he's actually kind of scared at all the guns hanging on their waists. He just didn't want to show it. And that redhead back in the concessionaire? He shrugs his shoulder. He didn't want to involve his lowly life in a suicide mission, alright? For now he'll just see what this school administrator likes to do. Marshal Institute is not something to be laughed at. Aurelio's eyes glint at the colorful buildings the campus contains. He barely remembers where the first boys' dormitory stands from the map he took a look at earlier in the morning. For assistance, every student and staff in the institute are given a map of the school - just enough to tell where you're heading. They won't give you anything that can help worsen their demise - such as a blueprint, in case some certain crazy redhead comes banging down their system. Aurelio walks directly towards the bright greens of the boys' dormitory in one of the corners. He can't help gawking at the three-person-height of the pillars by the entrance, feeling extremely bothered by the dirty slippers he's wearing. The school haven't given them uniforms yet, saying it got delayed for a day, so all of them are still wearing the clothes they wore when they got kidnapped. And Aurelio, in all his glory, is donning the clothes he wore back when he harvested their wheat. It's naturally dirty. However, he didn't really notice it when he started the day, and naturally didn't give a damn about the eyes that insulted it freely. Going up to his room while walking by other male students who are either nervous or bawling their eyes out, he mentally scoffs at the pair of girls who freely judged him right in class. They already got kidnapped and all, and they don't even have the single idea on what those people will do to them, how bored are they to mind a pair of dirty clothes? He normally doesn't get bothered by insults, but what he hates is when it involves the distinction between the likes of him and the likes of those girls wearing embroidered skirts above their pale and neat knees. He shakes his head, opens the door of Room 308, falls on his feet several times and collapses on the first mattress he sees - that is, the couch. Followed by fatigue because he hasn't slept since the kidnap, the moment his body collapsed on the soft cushions he forgets all else and instantly closes his eyes. Eh, he can check the room out tomorrow. Let him have some sleep. He sleeps for some time before his body clock urges him to wake up. His eyes shot open, and the first thing he sees is a white ceiling, a ceiling so far away from him he thought it might be the sky. His brows furrow, "..mm?" With his arms supporting his body, he slowly gets up on the couch and roams his eyes around. It's an unfamiliar place. The ceiling isn't wooden - a red sign. The room is large and spacious - another red sign. And the last one, the one that practically makes his eyes widen and warning fireworks blow off in his head - his brother isn't beside him. Okay, confirmed, he's in danger. "Shit!" Aurelio's still in a sleepy daze, it seems. Out of urgency he stands up from the couch and frantically runs to the door. Until the realization of what happened yesterday comes hitting his head upward. In an instant, his body freezes. Feelings in a turmoil, he turns around and scratches his head, heart turning somewhat calm. He sits on the soft couch and looks around. The room is far from normal. The ceilings are high - he already knows, the living area where he's in is in the middle of the quarters, placed four feet below the ground. There's even low stairs around the circular living area! How flashy! That's probably the reason how he tripped earlier, and seeing how it's similar to a child's height, now that he's more sober than his sleepy self, he doesn't want to trip on those stairs again. Ever. It's a miracle he didn't hit his head when he tripped. That would truly hurt. There's a flat screen television in front the circular area, large and looming. Even the area outside that circular thingy is large, and there are two doors on the sides. Walking up, Aurelio checks the first door. It turns out to be a bedroom. His bedroom. It's large. Larger than their whole house. There's a king-sized bed in the middle, a wooden cabinet on the side, and a table beside the bed. Fortunately, the room is somewhat simple, with only the furniture he needs for everyday and a lamp on the bedside table. The walls are painted like wood. If the living room looks like a neat area from a palace, the bedroom sure makes a person - a wealthy, neat person with a wealthier old man - feel like visiting the house their grandparents' used in the countryside. With all the wood and more. Aurelio sighs and sits on the bed. He has just slept because of fatigue, and now he wants to sleep some more because of all the headache and worry. He's currently in a luxurious place, in a wealthy school that he got kidnapped to. But what about his family? What about his mother, brother and his friends? It's already been a day since he saw them. Did they do anything to them? He hopes not. But how can he know? He's stuck here. Stuck in a place vomiting soldiers. If his family is fine his mother would probably be already out in town again, selling the goods, buying seasonings, while his brother would already be up and running, feeding the animals and sweating his heart out under the harsh April heat. His back collapses on the bed and his eyes close. Just then, a loud, roaring alarm goes off. Aurelio's eyes shot open in alarm. He immediately stands and roams his eyes around. The alarm is still blaring, angry and loud, in the whole campus. Opening the door, he rushes down the corridor along with other students who also got scared of the alarm, and heads directly out of the dormitory. The students are in a state of panic, running with all their might to the exit, while some unhurried ones decide to ask others about it first. However, they can't get any reason. No one knows why. And so all of them rush out of the building. Seeing that there are no buildings lit in fire nor students taken hostage, Aurelio pauses at the entrance just pass by the pillars and looks around with confusion clear in his eyes. _What's happening?_ Now that he's outside, he can clearly see that the other dormitories have also emptied out, and almost all the students and staffs of the school are out in the open, the same looks of confusion, panic and fear evident in their features. Whatever the reason for the alarm is, it should be big enough to make them all like this. The woman in the stage earlier appears before a hundred pairs of eyes. She walks in the middle, under the glare of the morning sun, wearing only a bright yellow dress that perfectly suits even her pale middle-aged skin. With wrinkles appearing on the sides of her eyes and her hair swaying loosely behind, she smiles at the people surrounding her and holds up her microphone, "Good morning, students. I believe all of you are in joy for your first night in Marquis Institute. Do not worry, as I said before, all of this is free." She pauses then, ten soldiers standing behind her. Looking at the students one by one, her voice takes on a serious tone, "The alarms went off, you all noticed. And the reason is grave. You see, Marshal Institute has been waiting for you for a long time. Due to our excitement, we had went a little over the board in preparing everything: your schedules, the classes, faculties and especially the professors that the Elders have personally spent time searching from around the world. We are joyed when the sight of students entering our gates caught our views. But then - ” " She pauses yet again. It makes her next words more terrifying when she lowers her voice and looks everyone in the eyes, "But then, the first day of school comes, and no student entered the classes." Shivers crawl up the students' spines, including Aurelio. The head mistress turns silent. Slowly, Aurelio takes a step back and discreetly hides behind a taller student. Instincts, he reasons. "Your schedules are already given. Because you're all new here, this mass absence on the first day of school will be ignored. And tomorrow, following what we told you, you're expected to attend every class, and no absence shall be reported to my office," She adds after glancing at her watch, now with a smile, "That is all, students. Feel free to return to your rooms or have dinner in the canteen hall. Your curfew starts at eight in the evening. Goodbye." She finishes, and after nodding at her soldiers, she strolls down towards the head building. The students didn't realize they were holding their breath, so once they release it, they feel a tad better than when the demon mistress growled from the front. Comforting each other - especially the ones who cry due to fear - the students don't dare wander off today and all return back to their dorms, carrying complicated faces. Aurelio does the same to ward off his fear. When he return to his room, his roommate is already there. He pauses, hand still on the doorknob. The young man wearing casual sweats looks at him in surprise, then smiles, "Are you Aurelio? Hey there. William Saint," He offers his hand and Aurelio takes it, "Nice to finally meet you." Aurelio raises a brow, "I'm Aurelio Daybreak. You know me?" He chuckles, "No, not really, man. Just saw your name on the door," Wiping his hair with a towel, he points his chin at the back of their door where two rectangular golden plates state their names. "And guessed that you're Aurelio since you entered the room." After pursing his lips for a moment, he then adds, "Or if the universe wanted me to embarrass myself on the first day you would've simply lost your way while I would foolishly think you're Aurelio. Thanks, by the way, for being Aurelio." ... Okay? Aurelio raises his brows higher, uncertainty in his voice when he replies, "Uh.. your welcome?" "Ah, damn it," William reprimands himself on the side before showing Aurelio a bashful smile, "Sorry, man. That was just, well, my mouth being my mouth. Sorry. Oh, I took the room closest to the bathroom, by the way. My bladder just have a thing with toilets." "It's fine, it's fine. I'll take the other." Aurelio waves his hand backwards as he head off to his room, feeling rather exhausted to continue chatting with William. They exchange greetings and a small conversation before they both feel tired and head to bed. The time still reads six in the evening, but the students can't help resting after spending their brain power in understand their situations. Carrying a gloomy atmosphere, the Marshal Institute turns silent amid the night, officially ending the first day of the students' kidnap.
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