In another part of the city, the Advent Guard’s Communications Room was filled with flickering lights. At the center of the room’s arc, there stood a giant digital map of West Virginia. Semi-evenly-spaced red dots throughout signified other Advent Guard facilities nearby, including both smaller base camps and detention buildings which housed Seirei Jin detainees. At this particular moment, the usually quiet process of monitoring Seirei Jin activity was disrupted by a blaring alarm. A female dispatcher was the first to log into her computer, disable the alarm, and find information about its cause.

"Attention!” she called into her radio. “Seirei Jin sighting at Charles Adams High school!”

“Copy,” a voice responded in seconds.

The voice belonged to a male dispatcher at the base closest to the school. He assigned the retrieval mission to the squad of ten soldiers that he figured would be fastest to respond. Across the base from him, the squad leader of these men received the mission information through his phone and pressed a button on his desk to alert his soldiers.

The siren blared like a fire station alarm. It was impossible for anyone to ignore, let alone the soldiers, who gathered quickly in the bay alongside their vehicles. Just when the squad leader gave the all clear to move out, a voice sounded from behind him, this one deep and strangely chilling.

"Pardon me, Chief."

The squad leader looked back to see an Agent. He looked as though he was in his early fifties, but he was fit for that age. The squad leader’s eyes widened as he snapped a salute.

"A-agent Reynolds?!”

Reynolds replied with a friendly tip of his hat, first to the squad leader and then to the men. 

"I hope you don't mind my presence,” Reynolds said, his voice smooth. “I would like to join you on your hunt for this rogue Jin.”

"Sir, are you sure?" The squad leader tried his best to act unfazed, but it was a strange request coming from someone of the Agent’s rank. "I wouldn't want you to waste your time, especially if this is a low-class Jin. Which, for the record, is what I suspect."

"It's been a while since I've been out in the field,” Reynolds said, folding his arms, allowing his words to flow casually. “The executives have me doing other tasks these days, but I don’t want to get rusty. I wouldn't mind capturing a Seirei Jin. You know, for old times' sake.”

This, the squad leader could understand. He smiled, though he felt a little uneasy. "Of course, Agent Reynolds. In that case, you'll be riding with me."

Reynolds nodded. "Much obliged."

After the squad leader ordered his men to prepare their vehicles, he led Reynolds to the front SUV, which was black and looked no different from the others behind it. Reynolds followed just two steps behind, and once he’d settled in the front passenger seat, he couldn’t help but smile, out of the squad leader’s line of sight. The laptop embedded into the SUV’s dashboard displayed their target: a scraggly teen with a buzz cut, named Stewart Walker: SJ I.D.#0095842. Next to his identification number was the word: "discontinued."

Reynolds clicked the arrow next to his identification details. The screen then displayed a current picture of Kevin, who did not have a serial number but was listed alongside Stewart. Reynolds clicked over to Kevin’s identification details, and as his eyes skimmed Kevin’s guardians’ information as well, he noticed one name he recognized.

David Riley.

"It's been too long, old friend," he said to himself with a smile. They departed for the school.

— ✧ —

Kevin found himself and the teen in a small storage room. They seemed to still be at the school. That was all Kevin could hope for at least. He was lightheaded and nauseous, but when he had enough energy, he yanked his arm away from the exhausted teen and tried to step back.

"What the hell just happened?" Kevin asked. He knew he was slurring his words, but honestly, he was just trying to keep down his lunch.

"Sorry,” the teen said. “Teleporting for the first time can be tough, but you get used to it."

The nauseous sensation faded, and Kevin began to further survey his surroundings. The room was dim and warm. Only a few windows let the light in, which shone on various pieces of sport equipment, such as basketballs and lacrosse sticks. 

"Are we in the gym's storage room?" he asked once he’d managed to stand.

"Yeah,” the teen said. “During freshman year, this is where I hid from bullies like Mike. It worked pretty well, so now I use it as a hideout from everything else too."

Kevin nodded but didn’t say anything else. His guard was still up, in case of attack.

The teen raised his hands in a yielding gesture. " I'm not going to hurt you.” He then offered his hand to Kevin, both as a gesture of friendliness and to prove he didn’t have anything in it. "My name is Stewart."

Kevin eyed him, still saying nothing. The whole situation was a lot to adjust to.

Stewart dropped his hand and scratched the back of his head with the other, trying to look nonchalant. This was not going how he’d envisioned it would. "Uh, well, thanks for stepping in when you did."

Kevin looked down at the ground and put his hands in his pockets. It was difficult for him to reconcile his feelings about Stewart’s identity with the fact that they both were victims of bullying by Mike. This second fact made Kevin want to trust Stewart, though he knew he’d have to be careful about that. "Yeah, well, Mike's a jerk. No one should be treated like that."

Silence followed. Kevin's mind raced with questions about Stewart, eager to learn more about him and what had occurred the previous night. Yet, he had no idea how to address something so massive.

"The name's Kevin." He decided this was as good a place as any to start.

Stewart’s eyes widened in surprise that Kevin was reciprocating. He smiled, and for a moment, the silence between them was a bit less tense.

"So, you're a Seirei Jin," Kevin then said. They had to start their conversation somewhere.  "Did you mean to cause that explosion at the school?"

Stewart shook his head. He had been filled with guilt about the explosion since it happened. 

"No, it was an accident. I get these headaches sometimes, and when they get bad…" Stewart made a gesture that signified an explosion. "Normally, I can predict when it’ll happen, so I call in sick. But lately, my predictions have been…I don’t know, different."

"Predictions?" Kevin raised an eyebrow. "So you have psychic powers or something?"

"Yes,” Stewart said, trying not to show how big of a deal it was to finally be able to tell this to someone. “I can see a bunch of potential realities and then choose which to follow. Which is good, but the visions come without warning. Which can be a little overwhelming."

Kevin couldn’t even imagine what living with constant predictions would be like. "Was bumping into me one of your predictions?"

"Not really," Stewart answered. "We weren't supposed to cross paths at all. Which is why I wanted to talk to you."

Kevin thought back to the day before when he bumped into Stewart at the mall. He’d felt that running into Stewart was strange, and it was good to know the teen found it strange as well.

"You bumping into me the other night sent me back to my childhood,” he said. “But the memory I saw wasn’t completely right.”

Stewart narrowed his eyes. “What did you see?”

“I don’t know,” Kevin said. “I was ten years old, and it was like I was a fly on the wall, watching myself. And my parents…my parents and I were being attacked by the Advent Guard.”

Stewart’s eyes widened, and he stayed quiet in hopes that Kevin would continue.

Kevin felt a small bead of sweat roll down his face. He recalled the memory: his glowing aura, the feeling in the moment before he was to attack the Advent Guard.

“I don’t know,” he said again after a moment of reflection. “It just felt like a crazy dream.”

"Bro, that was no dream," Stewart said, shaking his head. "When I touch somebody, I can see into their memories. That vision you had, that was a memory from your past."

Kevin stared at him, in disbelief. "What are you talking about? That never happened. My parents and I were leaving a show and then–"

"You were in a car accident?" Stewart finished, as though he’d heard that sentence far too many times. "I saw that too, but it was an illusion. There was no accident. What you saw really happened, and that glowing thread, is what brought me to you."

Kevin shook his head. "What do you mean?"

"I mean something pushed us out of your memory,” Stewart said. “Something or someone doesn't want you to remember that night.”

"Remember?!" Kevin was beginning to shout. "Are you hearing yourself? This is crazy."

"You have to believe me,” Stewart said. “You and I both know the only reason the Guard came after you then is because you're a Seirei Jin half-breed. Like me.”

Kevin’s heart sank, as he couldn’t believe his ears.

Me, a Seirei Jin?