The X Pathogen

Chapter Eight

    The next morning, Ash woke up to the sound of timid tapping on their door. They rolled out of bed with a groan and answered.
    Saji stood patiently outside, smiling when she saw Ash.
    "Mmmmph," Ash yawned, "g'morning."
    "We're supposed to meet Agent Kyo in two hours, so I figured I should make sure you were awake," Saji lowered her head, as if she was bowing.
    "Oh. uh- you didn't have to do that."
    Saji's shoulders tensed, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"
    "No, no! I'm not mad! I just meant that it was nice that you went out of your way."
    Saji blinked in confusion then understanding flashed across her face, "I'm sorry, I'm not used to this yet."
    Ash smiled, "it's okay, really," they hesitated, "when I first got here, I was terrified of all the adults around here, and I could barely talk to the other kids."
    "Really?" Saji looked surprised.
    "Heh, yeah."
    Saji smiled faintly, "well, I guess it just takes time."
    "Yeah." Ash decided not to tell Saji that she was the first person they'd really tried to talk to in a while. Let her believe Ash had gotten better, at least it would give her some hope. "Let me get changed," Ash said, "then we can go grab breakfast."
    Saji nodded and Ash ducked back inside and started getting dressed. Once they'd managed to wrestle a binder on, they unfolded their new uniform. The cadet uniform consisted of a pair of simple gray pants, a navy blue military style shirt, jet black boots, and a lightweight chestplate that provided minimal protection.
    Before they left their room, Ash glanced in the mirror and smiled. Their blueish green hair was messy and tangled, but they didn't care. All that mattered was the insignia on their chest. For the first time in their life, they knew exactly what their future held.
When they opened the door, Saji was waiting outside. Apparently she'd gone back to her room for a moment though, because her dark black hair was pulled back into a neat braid. Ash briefly wished they'd bothered to brush their own hair.
"Ready to go?" Saji asked with a small smile.
Ash nodded, "Absolutely, I'm starving."
The two of them were walking silently when Ash noticed Saji wasn't limping anymore.
"Your leg seems better today," they said curiously.
She grinned, "Someone brought a doctor to my room yesterday and they got it all fixed up. I don't know what they did exactly but it worked."
"That's good, I was a little worried about it to be honest," Ash grinned sheepishly. Saji smiled and blushed a little.
When they got to the lift, Ash's muscles tensed as they remembered the dining facilities were on one of the top floors.
Saji glanced at them in concerned confusion, "are you okay?"
The lift started to rise. Ash nodded and squeaked, "yeah."
Saji looked around, her brow furrowed for a moment. "Oh," she said quietly, "is it because we're high up?"
Ash grit their teeth and shook their head firmly.
"It's okay if you're scared. I'm scared all the time, and you never seem to get mad at me," Saji squeezed their hand.
The gesture brought Ash back to reality. Their shoulders relaxed, a soft sigh escaped their lips, "thanks."
The doors slid open, revealing a busy dining hall. To their left, various serving stations served every kind of food imaginable. In front of them were around fifty tables, nearly all of them were already taken by other cadets. Ash hurried over to grab their food.
Saji on the other hand, was staring at the serving stations in utter disbelief.
"We can just... take whatever we want?" she murmured in awe.
Ash grabbed two trays, "yup, go crazy!"
Saji slowly took the tray and approached the counter warily. Before long though, she was eagerly grabbing food as if it was the last meal she'd ever eat. Ash was fairly familiar with all the food served by GSA cooking robots, so they knew exactly what they wanted; a fresh cucoi biscuit, some yish berries, and a glass of water. They'd tried plenty of other foods during the past couple years, but nothing could beat the simple meal they ate every morning.
Once they'd both grabbed their food, Ash started scanning the room for an empty table. They finally found one and gestured for Saji to follow them. Just as they sat down, a tray slammed down on the table.
"Hey," Nadil snapped, "I was gonna sit there!"
Saji looked nervously at Ash and started to stand up, but they grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.
"You're welcome to sit, there's still an empty seat," Ash grumbled.
Nadil stared at the seat like it was covered in animal droppings. Unfortunately for him, there weren't many open seats, so he didn't have much of a choice.
The three of them ate in tense silence for a few minutes before Saji spoke. "So... any idea where we're being sent?"
"Huh," Nadil mumbled through a mouthful of food.
"For our first mission," Saji explained.
Ash shrugged, "No idea. It probably won't be too exciting though. They don't give inexperienced cadets the big missions, for obvious reasons."
Nadil angrily stabbed his food with a fork, "we get it, you know everything, you GSA b-" he remembered his deal with Ash from the night before and stopped."
Ash grimaced but forced themself to keep their mouth shut. The table returned to awkward silence except the scrape of silverware on plates.
"Hey, are you guys a squad?" A group of older cadets appeared at their table.
"Unfortunately," Nadil mumbled.
One of the boys laughed and elbowed the girl next to him, "memories, am I right?"
The girl blushed, "how many times do I have to apologize, Ty!?"
Another girl gave the boy a playful shove, "oh please, Ty you were just as bad as Kya! We were all unbearable!" she turned to the table again, "take it from some cadets with a little more experience, learn to get along with your squad mates."
Ash glared at Nadil who muttered through gritted teeth, "yeah not gonna happen."
The boy, Ty, grinned, "Now that sounds familiar, doesn't it, Kya?"
She smacked him upside the head, laughing, "shut up moron!" her face was bright red, "c'mon, let's leave these kids alone."
The three older cadets finally walked away, chattering happily and giggling the whole way.
Saji watched them go, her eyes glued to them the whole time. Ash poked her and she blinked back to reality.
"Maybe we should at least try to get along?" she timidly suggested.
Nadil shook his head, "look, I've got no problem with you. It's her-"
"Them," Ash interrupted.
Nadil gave them a withering look but begrudgingly corrected himself, "fine, them that I really don't like."
"What is your problem with me?" Ash demanded.
"I told you! You've gotten all the advantages, the only reason you even got into the cadet program is because of your fancy GSA training!"
Ash clenched their teeth, rage boiling up inside them. The worst part was that he was right. If they hadn't gone to the Chairman's Academy, they probably wouldn't be there.
Saji quietly said, "you really shouldn't judge someone based on where they grew up."
Nadil rolled his eyes, "tell me, Saji, have you seen how those GSA kids live? Because it's a heck of a lot better than most of us got."
Saji's shoulders scrunched up, "Why is that bad? I don't understand."
"Because it's not fair! Why did you and I have to live as slaves while miss, er, this person, got to live it up in a fancy tower?"
"Life isn't fair! I got lucky, I can admit that. But I wasn't born in the lap of luxury okay? I ran away and made my way here on my own. I didn't have some perfect prissy life before coming here and even if I did, so what?! Going through something bad doesn't mean you get to be a grick to everyone around you."
"THEY CUT OFF MY WING!" Nadil stood up and slammed his hands on the table.
The whole dining hall went silent. Saji slid down in her seat, "everyone's staring at us," she whispered.
Ash was suddenly very interested in their food, desperately trying to avoid the gaze of everyone in the room.
Nadil sat down. His shoulders hunched up, his remaining wing seemed to be trying to shield him from everyone's stares.
    "What is going on here?" a voice boomed from the lift.
    "Oh no..." Ash whispered.
    Agent Kyo stormed across the dining hall, glowering at the three of them. "You've all got a lot of explaining to do, but we don't have time for that, we need to leave. Clean up your food and meet me downstairs." he gave each of them a pointed look, "but don't think we aren't going to discuss this later, got it?"
    They all nodded and rushed to clean the table.
    Ash met Nadil's eyes and the two of them silently declared a temporary truce, if only to stave off the wrath of Kyo."