The Academy

[Gifted]

Portia sighed "I don't expect you to believe me and I know it doesn't help even if you do, but I'm sorry. I really am."

[Raven]

"Then why did you do it?" Symphony asked.

[Gifted]

"Because I'm stupid and didn't think of the big picture, that' why." He shook his head. "It took me too long to put two and two together." He realized the song was coming to an end "I promie you I'll tell you the whole story, explain myself the little amount I can if you want me too. But not here. I've been trying to act the part for two year and I don't want the teachers to find out now." He started clapping a the song came to an end.

[Raven]

Symphony clenched her jaw and focused on the class as well as she could.

[Gifted]

Once the class had ended Portia grabbed his things and hurried out the door. He stopped by the doorframe, knowing Symphony would probably know better than him where to find a good place to not be overheard.

[Raven]

Symphony didn't want to seem like she was in too much of a hurry, so she spent her usual amount of time getting cleared up, and then headed out, seeming to ignore Portia. She was halfway down the hall before she glanced back to make sure he was following. Seeing that he was, she headed down the hall a ways, down a more empty hall, where she pulled up part of the floor and left her stuff. She reached for his as well. The few students who passed them seemed like they expected no different from Symphony, but a few of them seemed surprised to see Rick there.

[Gifted]

Portia followed her over, and when Symphony reached for his stuff, he gave it up without a second thought. He was mildly worried about the people looking at him, but he didn't mind. If Symphony thought this was safe, it was safe.

[Raven]

Symphony stashed his things as well, and put the floor back in place. It looked as though it had never been lifted. Then she grabbed his wrist and led him outside of the building. They weren't really supposed to be outside except with permission from a teacher, or on break in order to get some sun. They wouldn't be bothered about being out there, but it wasn't normal. Symphony led him around the school building to a side without windows - the back of the stage, though she didn't really care why there weren't any. "How good are you at climbing?"

[Gifted]

Rick raised his eyebrows. "Well, I dunno unless I try, right?" He laughed nervously, a slight grin on his face.

[Raven]

Symphony, apparently, didn't find that comforting. "Have you ever climbed a tree, even?" she asked.

[Gifted]

"Of course i have, hasn't every kid? I'm just a lot bigger now is all."

[Raven]

Symphony sighed. "We can probably talk here, then. There are no listening devices, and people rarely come back here."

[Gifted]

Portia nodded and sat down right there. This did seem a safe enough place to talk. "I said I did it because I'm stupid and didn't look at the big picture.. that's really the most accurate thing I can give you." He sighed.
"It started as soon as we got off the bus. We thought it was just supposed to be... y'know a field trip. Normal. The teachers ushered us all off and then went back on the bus to check for stragglers.
The bus exploded.
I realize now, now that I've had time to sit on it, that it was probably deliberately planned that way. Timed just right to kill all of the teachers and as few of the students as possible. But that wasn't what I was thinking at the time. At the time all I could think about was if that bomb had gone off just a minute earlier, every single one of us would be dead.
The kids freak out of course and start running to the military base. I guess the Order had killed any soldiers there already because it was completely deserted. We all got in and barricaded the doors and kids were panicking and crying and every time it would die down there'd suddenly be this awful banging as they tied to get through our doors and everyone would start freaking you again and e were all just waiting for the school to learn what'd happened to us and come to rescue us.
Well three days in and no rescue was coming and I couldn't handle the ruckus anymore. so I put together a speech and I rallied the whole class together to protect ourselves, calm the panic and fight back. We started getting organized into some sort of coherent unit again, with all the kids majoring in War as leaders of their own groups. Tokarev approached me with a bunch of kids majoring in observation and she said we ought to get the lay of the land so I sent her off to find a map of the building and in a couple hours she had a plan all drafted and ready to go. That morning we'd all been huddled in one room in the base, barricaded in and terrified, and by the end of the night we had something resembling a functioning military, actual guards and the entire base to ourselves. That night Tokarev and I got talking and by the next morning the two of us knew exactly what we were going to do. Yes we fought, but we were trying to keep all the kids here safe, and establish a focus to stave off panic. And it went on like that every day after. Fighting and organizing by day, planning by night. Any time I had was usually at night and I spent it talking with Tokarev. I never stopped to think about the people we were fighting. I even told Tokarev - after making sure everyone else was asleep, obviously - everything you'd told me about the Order and she was really excited to meet you and still, neither of us made the connection. The Order in my head were heroes, and I didn't connect the to the people who'd come out of nowhere to try to kill a bunch of children. ...I know you know it was me who killed your mother. That incident was what made me realize what was going on. After... after it happened some guy ran over to her so instead of immediately turning away like I otherwise would've done, I kept my scope right there while I did the math to re-calibrate my shot. If the man hadn't been there, I wouldn't have seen the face at all. But I did, and I connected her to you and I realized what I'd done.
I freaked out and called Tokarev and told her everything. She was as horrified by my sudden realization as I was and she organized a retreat as fast as she could, not wanting to cause any more deaths than we had already. We spent that entire night trying to come up with a strategy, some way to to fix what we'd done. Finally we came up with a plan. One last plan, one last attack, with a glaring weak point. A weak point which, once exploited, could topple our whole military pyramid like dominoes and allow the Order to capture huge portions of our little army with minimal bloodshed. We'd get caught with them, and accept whatever punishment they had for us. It was no more than we deserved after being so blind.
The plan worked. The weakness was found and exploited, kids were being captured by the dozen, everything was going just the way we'd had it planned...

And then the fucking army showed up." Frustration crept into Portias voice even so long after the incident and he put his hands to his face in distress. "A solid month we'd been fighting there, all by ourselves, praying the army would ride in and save us. Children were dying, and all we could do was write better plans, put up a better defense, and keep the deaths as low as possible on our side. And the one day, the one day we don't want them there, they ride in to salvage our plan like the damn cavalry. Well we couldn't very well let them know we'd done all that on purpose, so we convinced them it was an accidental mistake on Tokarev's part. They believed it since she was really young, and under a lot of pressure, and they 'rescued' all the kids and loaded everyone into army trucks to be shipped back to school. They lavished praise on Tokarev and I for everything we'd never meant to do and we were forced to accept it because we didn't want to die. And then they presented us with those stupid awards, in front of the whole school, and I had to help Tokarev act the part, and now for the last two years I've had to see that damn thing up in the hallway that I'd rather see in half on a landfill somewhere, all the kids who've been brainwashed by the council here treat me like I'm some kinda hero and if anyone find out Tokarev and I would go back and change everything in a heartbeat if we could we'd be executed."

[Raven]

Symphony sat there, looking out away from the school for a while after Portia stopped talking. "I believe you," she murmured, finally. Anyone who knew her well enough - which wasn't a great number of people - would be able to tell she was thinking.

[Gifted]

Portia, however, couldn't. After spending so long trying to avoid her for her sake and his own, he wasn't used to having to watch her. He was good at picking up others emotions, but it didn't help much in this case. He was just grateful she didn't think he was faking. "Thank you."


Melody looked nervously up and down her drama class. She hated this subject. You had to be outgoing for Drama! It didn't help there were so many drama major in this class... They always outshined her by a factor of a thousand. Oh and that guy with the creepy song was in her class too. Despite her being reassured he was the victim in the song, that didn't change the fact it was not pleasant music. Still, it was quiet, so as long as she sat with pop girls and rock boys she wouldn't hear his creepy music.