Planet: Idyllia (excerpt from CAA Factbook [ 2.15.2651])

Length of day: 30 hours

Length of year: 408 days (local)

Gravity: ~1.09 g

Natural satellites: N/A

Current status: Glassed; terraforming projects under UNSC supervision.

Idyllia was a gigantic colony planet in the Glades solar system that was relatively rich in mineral resources as well as being mostly hospitable aside from the cold tundra in its magnetic south. Its main purpose was being a planetary supercenter for human occupation and commerce, having one of the largest planetary human populations according to CAA records and was a hotspot for lower to middle class citizens and the private organizations that required them.

Having been discovered in 2567 during the UNSC Infinity's expedition for the final Halo rings, the ship's crew had hoped for any samples of Forerunner artifacts, but were unsuccessful in their attempts at excavation. Further investigation was done by Sangheili archeologist squads, but they were also unable to recover any Forerunner traces. The planet was quickly repurposed once searches ceased.

Despite its lack of specifications, Idyllia had proved as a proficient residential planet with its plentiful size and resources as well as having favourable placement between several other major colony planets. However, due to the lack of precious government assets, the planet was lightly guarded, and thus became an easy target for a rogue Covenant splinter group, who was after unregistered and unauthorized human technology (see CLASSIFIED). In 2624, the entire planet was glassed by hostile Covenant forces with over 10 million human casualties, marking the Fall of Idyllia.

…

..

.

September 2, 2624

This marks the first entry for the journal of 12-year-old Laurena Fawkes.

Today was my first day at the Lasky Senior High School. Hopefully, this school will hold up to its teaching standards, or I fear I may be on the move once again, and possibly to a new planet. I had only moved here a week prior and I'm honestly very tired. Nevertheless, the classes provided here have something somewhat refreshing in mind. In fact, I'm heading to a class called "Post-Third-Dimensional Physics," something meant for college students and maybe seniors at best, so this might be exciting. Hopefully, my Algernon Syndrome doesn't kick in; I'm trying new medication, but I'm skeptical that it won't improve my condition. Hopefully, the episode flares up at home, and I'll only have my teasing mother to deal with.

Honestly mom, why did you make me write this?

As Laurena walked down the hall of rushing students during final period change, she scanned the entry over. Scrunching her face, she hastily deleted the last sentence and reached over her back to stuff the device into her pack. As she struggled with the zipper, she heard the sound of two pairs of running feet. She preemptively stepped to the side as two male juniors sped past, one of them whooped with laughter, holding some small device, while the other yelled angrily and gave chase. As she zipped up her backpack, she sighed at these antics. She made a mental note to file a complaint on the lack of hallway supervision. Also, teenage boys had way too much energy for their own good.

Pushing the thought out her mind, she began to think back to the past day. The school was nicer than what she was used to. Disregarding the boys from before, the students here were very well mannered and civil. Each person held a bit of prowess here and there, but overall, nothing too extraordinary. Only one class yielded relatively disappointing results. Maybe this time, Laurena would not have to deal with any overwhelming incompetence. Maybe.

Before long, she pulled up to a room marked with the number 214 along with a poster hanging on the door that depicted Albert Einstein in Andy Warhol's colors.

"Classic," Laurena whispered to herself.

She entered the classroom, which was seemingly a standard school lab. It sported multiple sinks, stoves, supplies, and gas lines atop of black countertop tables. The far wall had rather large windows, revealing a nice, sunny day, with an emergency sink and shower at the back corner. Near the front of the room was the instructor's desk along with a large display table meant for playing simulations to the class. Currently, a hologram of a large and complicated looking machine hovered above the table.

"Huh, a slipspace drive," Laurena said to herself as she approached the back of the classroom. She walked past a group of crowded teens who subsequently stared at her in confusion. Ignoring their prying looks, she approached an empty desk near the back of the classroom.

The girl was already used to this; she was indeed a very young student in a very technical and advanced class, which would strike as odd to many people. She wasn't even surprised when she turned around and saw a boy at least a foot taller than her looming over with a skeptical expression.

"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you," the boy said, "but… are you sure you're in the right class?"

Laurena sighed knowingly. "This is Post-Third Physics, right?"

"W-well, yeah…"

The girl gave the boy a small, albeit smug smile. "Well there we go. I'm in the right class." She turned back to her desk and started unpacking her things, leaving the very confused boy with many questions.

"But, you're so young! A-and this class is hard! Ridiculously hard! Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Hey, don't sweat the details," She continued as she inspected the contents of her binder. "All you'll need to know is that there's a new kid in class who'll be learning some 7th dimension velocity formulas with you."

"Ah… Buh… Wuh?"

"Good! It's been nice talking to you. Now go on to your little clique and be done with it," she said as she shoved the now blushing boy away toward his group of friends who had begun snickering at him after being shooed away by a twelve-year-old.

Leaving them to their own business, Laurena sat down at her desk just as the bell began to ring. A short minute later, the class died down as a middle-aged man entered and stood at the front of the classroom. A list emerged from the front table, which he scrolled through.

As the man called out the names on the list, the girl yawned and was once again lost in her own thoughts. Maybe the class would be hard. Of course, she didn't doubt her own intelligence, but every person had their limits, and Laurena was definitely no exception. This class was known to consistently have half of its students to drop out. She didn't think she'd be part of that half, not in the slightest. But she would need to work pretty hard to maintain that perfect record.

"Alright then, let's get on with it. First and foremost, we have a new student." The teacher announced. He gestured toward the girl in the back, causing the class to collectively turn their curious eye to her. "Laurena Fawkes will be entering this class. Some of you may or may not have heard of her, but all that needs to be said is that you welcome her like you would any other regular student coming into this class."

The room filled with murmurs, likely full of comments of her young age and other more specific information on her. The man cleared his throat to garner the attention of the class once more. "One more thing, class. Er, Laurena, do you mind…?"

The young girl was hesitant at first, but then nodded. "It's alright, Mr. Fauster. Go ahead."

"Alright then. Some of you may know what Algernon Syndrome is, but I'll give you a refresher anyway. It's an extremely rare disorder, but it can cause a person to have ridiculously exceptional learning and memory skills as well as distinguished logic processing, which is likely one of the reasons why Laurena is in this class.

"The downsides, however, are major. The symptoms are seemingly random, ranging from hyperventilation, to agitation, to fatigue, and so on. Though not fatal, they can be detrimental to her and everyone in the environment. So, if you see that something's wrong…"

Laurena zoned out again. What was this, the third time this block? She didn't know, and honestly, she didn't care. Having moved halfway across a continent through train, she wasn't at top notch with her sleep schedule and she still felt tired throughout the week.

Maybe if she just closed her eyes to relax, she'd be more able to continue with class.

Maybe…

…..

…

….

..

Yes. Much better.

Laurena opened her eyes. They adjusted to the dark-orange light that filled the familiar room. She stared at the blank ceiling for a moment, feeling the soft and silky fabric covering her. It was so relaxing, she felt that it'd be alright to close her eyes once more...

…

…?

Then realization came crashing down.

"SHIT!" she yelled out as she jumped from the bed. She stormed out of her bedroom, orange hair flying in her face. She marched toward the brightly lit kitchen. Despite being dazed by the light, she continued on, where she saw a woman standing in front of the stove, fiddling with darkish food in a pan. The woman turned her head to face Laurena and gave her a sly smile.

"Why good morning! How was your-" she began.

"How long was I out?" Laurena growled. She squinted past the woman to answer her own question. The clock on the stove read 8:33 P.M.

Physics had started at 3:45 P.M.

The girl's cheeks flushed. Out of either embarrassment or anger, that, she did not know. Perhaps it was both.

"Ah…" she muttered as she slouched on a nearby chair. On the first day of going to the new high school, she made a fool of herself. Now, instead of being the girl who would exceed the intelligence of people much older than herself, she was the misplaced retard who slept during one of the most competitive classes in all of human curriculum.

And it was all because of that damn…

The woman, Jessica Fawkes, watched in amusement as the youth stormed to the medicine cabinet and pulled out a bottle of pills. In a flash, the girl was gone. She heard the front door slam, shortly followed by muted rattling and a muffled voice screaming something along the lines of "damn this medication!"

Laurena reentered the household a moment later, with a noticeable lack of a bottle in her clenched fist. She was much calmer, but her face was still tinted with a little bit of red. She sat back down on the seat and stared out the window, where the medicine bottle presumably was. The woman decided she could not hold in her laughter any longer.

"Shut up, mom," the girl said, her glare like a cobra's. Her mother continued anyway, paying no mind to her daughter's annoyed remark.

After what seemed like a minute, she finally wiped away the tears of her dying laughter. "Laurena, you don't have to be so mad! It's just one day, you can make it up easily."

"I'm going to get treated like a kid."

"You are a kid, Laurena. You're just a really special one."

"'Special' I may be, but no one's going to take a kid that they barely know who slept during Post-third seriously," the girl groaned.

"Damn! Did those hormones come in early? I guess you really don't deserve to be treated like a kid."

"Mom!"

"Sorry, that was a little harsh, I'm sorry," Jessica replied quickly.

Both sat in their usual silence after the storm. Laurena looked out the window and at the front street where a bottle of pills was lying. Jessica looked at her child and sighed tiredly.

"You know you're going to have to get that, right?" she told Laurena.

"Yeah… I know."

"You can't just throw that around, even with my life savings keeping things easy, I don't want you wasting anything."

Laurena raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? Then what do I see in that pan over there?"

The woman leaned on the kitchen counter with a slightly amused look on her face. "You. Go get that bottle," she demanded half-jokingly as she pointed out toward the door.

"Whatever, Wonder Woman."

"Wonder Woman" laughed cheerfully. "After you come back, I'm reading your entry out loud!" she called after the girl.

"Don't you dare joke about that!"