Chapter 1: Caged

"Jomy...Jomy Marcus Shin..."

A blond boy tossed within his bedsheets, face twisted with pain. Moments before, he was slumbering in a tranquil dreamless sleep, but that was chased away as an endless blanket of the cosmos pervaded his dreamscape. He was drifting through space, with no control of his body, moving as if pulled by some intagible rope to an unknown destination. It was almost like sleep paralysis, his inability to move a single digit, but before panic could register in his half-asleep state, his body stopped moving.

Brilliant evergreen eyes jolted open, wide as they took in a dimly lit hall of metal panelling. A ship? The boy's feet propelled him forward softly and evenly, with purpose, though he didn't know where he was going. Soothing, familiar music became audible, lulling his budding panic to something calmer. Bewilderment gave way to astonishment as he entered a wide room, seeming to be lit by gentle rays reflected off the moon but he knew they were artificial, no matter the enchanting effect it cast on the equally beautiful room.

The cold gleam of tiles, the intricate contortions of golden metal, the peaceful and still silence disturbed only by the thrums of implacable music - it was like a beautiful cage.

"Welcome, Soldier."

With a scant few more steps into the room, he noticed the presence of another, their voice far more beautiful than the music. A woman with porcelain skin and features, golden strands cascading around her shoulders and skating across the floor, sat at the sole table in the room. Long, delicate fingers swept over the cards splayed before her, the movement purposeful despite her eyes, no doubt as beautiful as she herself, being hidden away.

His feet carried him toward her, faultless in their stride until he was beside her. His attention was taken by the cards now clear to him. The cards depicted individuals in peculiar garb and positions, expressions portraying some kind of meaning, some kind of fate. The woman was...divining? Attempting the divinate the future?

"You are fortune-telling again."

That wasn't him. That wasn't his voice - it was too deep, too grave, too familiar.

"Yes, I can see our future," the woman said softly, lips curling as she turned to his direction. "Mu's future."

The boy felt that intangible pull at the back of his mind again and instinctively stepped backwards, only then noticing the phantom-like tendrils of fingers binding him in place as they released him. Where he previously stood was a man with snow white hair and ruby red eyes, features just as graceful as the woman's, but there was a graveness and depth to him that bespoke of more than his young appearance.

"The awakening of a lion will soon be upon us. A great power shall intermix with our waves, traversing and crossing into the unknown." The woman - Physis, something distant and intangible whispered in the boy's mind - breathed, fingers sweeping across select cards momentarily.

The man - Soldier, that same whisper slithered into his mind beneath his awareness - shook his head, the slightest hint of distress blooming in his eyes. "That's enough," he said, gazing away from the woman as he silently strode to the elegant staircase further into the room. "What is this power? A weapon? Soldiers? 'Intermix with our waves', 'traverse the unknown'? Will we be able to fly into space once more if we get it?"

The boy felt more than saw the aching sadness and longing in the ruby-eyed man as he gazed at the visage of a planet. It felt as if his lungs were being smothered and his heart lanced by a knife. Terra, home.

What was this sensation?

The feeling went away just as quickly as it came but left him unsettled, regardless.

"Physis," the man spoke the name with both deep sadness and endearment, "Show me your Terra again." Even though they are mere byproduct of your creation, they are by far more real than what those that study it say.

Physis regarded him with an equally endeared smile and stepped away from the table to approach him, taking his hand with her delicate ones. "Okay," she acquiesced. "Leave your soul with me and align your telepathic wavelength with mine."

Soldier's eyes slid closed and the boy jolted as the room seemed to fall away, replacing the caging enclosure with a wide expanse of empty space, suddenly expanding the limited space into a limitless black void. Panic began to bud anew but it didn't progress too far as light came into existence behind him. He turned, tried to turn as his body was practically suspended in space, and his breath was taken as he took in the stretch of a galaxy before him, its vibrant and unearthly luminescence unlike anything he'd ever seen in class. It was like he was actually there in space beholding its beauty.

"Do you see the Milky Way Galaxy?" The fortune-teller asked, shocking the boy as her voice seemed to come from everywhere but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Yes, it is beautiful."

The man's voice was the same. Everywhere yet nowhere.

And then the boy was being yanked into that galaxy, and a scream was trapped in his throat as he was suddenly bypassed by glowing balls of flames and spheres of rock and ice, all becoming mere streaks as if he were warping through space.

"The sun," the man's voice was a deep sound of longing and weariness. "My life is too short to fly that far. I must entrust it to someone."

The boy couldn't stop the instinct to scream as he was yanked full speed toward the sun. Even though he knew it wouldn't hurt him, even though he knew that all that was around him wasn't real - no, it was real, but not meant to hurt, just to be shared.

"My life. My memories. I need someone who I can entrust to live my future!"

Unbearable pain flashed through the boy, twisting and gnarling through his entire being and he curled in on himself in defense. This was not his, the was not his pain, these were not his feelings or sensations or experiences, none of it was his! He did not want to feel it! He couldn't endure this...this heartache and yearning that was not his own. It was the man's, Soldier's, the man whose sadness ran too deep for someone so otherworldly in appearance and presence.

The pain grew even more pronounced, the longing intensified with it, as the sun was replaced by a giant orb of blue and green. Terra, Terra, Terra! The once whisper was a scream at the back of his mind, screaming for the disturbed and static corrupted image of a planet so far away.

"Someone!" The man called out, desperation and pain intermingling in an unholy combination that was purely maddening. "Someone, someone, someone, someone!" And then the man screamed. "Someone!"

And the boy screamed with him.

"Soldier!"

{Caged}

Jomy Marcus Shin came to with a half-choked down scream. His body trembled with the aftershocks of pain and desperation but it quickly faded as his mind came to terms with the fact that it was not his. His heavy breathing and shaking subsided slowly as he realized he was in his bed in his home, the alarm ringing and the sun glaring through his window to tell him it was the start of another day.

The man, the woman, and the beautiful orb-like planet - it was all just a dream. A similar one to the dreams he'd been having increasingly more for as long as he could remember.

He loathed them.

He was always left with residual longing and sorrow that had no place in his happy and easy life. He despised things that pushed him against his will, and that exactly what those dreams did - pushed him towards emotions - purposes, whispered across his mind but went unnoticed, as it always did - that he had no interest in.

He just wanted them to stop.

"Jomy! Hurry up or you'll be late to school!" His mother's voice jolted him from his thoughts.

"Right away, Mother!" He called back obediently, scowling slightly. School. Another thing he had no interest in. For more reasons than his tendency to focus more on physical activities than tedious intellectual ones.

He was in no hurry as he prepared himself, washing up quickly and putting on his uniform. Neatly, of course, or he'd be reprimanded for messiness again, as if that mattered in a place consisting of mostly children who lived to make messes. Not long after, he was on his way downstairs to the dining room, slowing as he heard his parents conversing about him.

"...tomorrow, it's his Day of Awakening," his mother said to his father, concern in her voice. "After he takes his exams, he'll have to make it on his own."

The smile Jomy had prepared to present to them fell. Tomorrow he'd be taking his maturation test, as nearly all kids did on their fourteenth birthday, where his life until death would be decided. Whether that be as a farmer on some agricultural colony, or a mechanic for space stations, or even as a mere office worker on some irrelevant planet in the middle of nowhere, this test would decide his fate.

Jomy was split between worrying for his future, which was only natural even if he'd never admit it, and spitefully wanting to find some way to conspire his own path. He would never allow someone else to dictate what his life would be like.

At least, he liked to imagine he wouldn't.

"Every boy's like that," his father attempted to placate his mother, ever the down to earth person who was always just there. "Parents always worry for their children's wellbeing, but then they pass the exam and become adults."

His mother gave a soft hum that told him she was still worried but didn't say any more so he strode into the dining room, eagerly heading for the table for breakfast. "Good morning, dad, mom!"

"Hurry up and eat, you'll be late again if you take your time." His mother said sternly.

Jomy shot her a cocksure grin meant to dispel, but more likely spurred, her worries. "Don't worry, with these legs of mine, I'll never be late if I try."

"Should I assume you'll be trying today?" Disapproval practically oozed from his mother.

"Should you? I heard it's wise to never assume anything, but I can't tell you what to do. You're my mother!"

"Jomy." His father pinned a stare on him that always made him straighten habitually. He wasn't particularly stern, he left that to the mother of the house, but he sure had one heck of an unsettling stare. "You shouldn't worry your mother so much."

Hadn't his father just said parents always worried for their children? Jomy returned the stare for a moment before happily chomping away at a scrumptious sausage, blinking cluelessly. "What worry?" He asked innocently, because as far as he was concerned, he'd done nothing worrisome as of late. Besides skiving from classes for a full day - he'd already knew the lesson, so what was the point? Or sending his friend Sam on a wild goose chase for a virtual game that didn't exist, leading him to returning home long after his curfew. But that was because of his friend's own gullibility and forgetting his communicator at home.

Nothing to worry about at all.

"I guess," his father said after a moment, standing to his feet and gathering his coat. "Don't run to school and get into an accident on the way."

"I would never." Jomy breathed, offended, but his father only gave him an indulgent glance.

"I'll be on my way now."

"See you later," his mother returned.

"Oh, and I'll be home early tonight," his father added, making Jomy's brows rise in surprise. His father never did that, not even for his regular birthdays. "We'll celebrate the eve of the Day of Awakening with a small party."

"I'll be there!" Jomy promised. His mother's food was amazing, no matter the occasion. His test into 'adulthood' didn't change that.

"This child!" His mother said with exasperation, but she was clearly happy to hear the news. "Have a nice day."

Jomy stood a moment later, having finished his breakfast. "I'll be going too. Look at the time, this may just be the day I'm on time," he quipped musingly, laughing at the expression his mother sent him.

"I better not receive another message saying you were late, young man!" His mother warned.

"Of course!" He reassured, even as he bit back his first response of, 'If you're going to get a message for anything, that would be the least of your worries.' He sped out the door with a quick goodbye and slid on the rollerblades he'd hidden in front of the house just for days like this. Now this was probably what she'd get a message for, seeing as taking them to school was against the rules.

Soon, he was striding speedily down the walkways, bypassing other stragglers including his friend just a few months younger than him, Sam Houston. Poor fellow was sweating up a storm and barely able to pitch a fit with how out of breath he was when he arrived at their educational prison. Jomy was conversing comfortably with - rather, being somewhat scolded by - another friend of his, who was actually on time but willingly waited for them, Suena Dalton. She was as pretty as she was sharp, and wasn't that intimidating?

It wasn't, often, but he liked to humor her with thinking it always was. He was that good a friend.

"Jomy Marcus Shin." The guidance counselor's voice snapped out sternly. "Come to the counseling room."

For some counseling, perhaps? Jomy sent a small smile to his two worried friends before obliging the overly large woman. "Yes, ma'am."

He was rewarded with reprimands for his behavior, as usual, though this time they were more harsh due to it being the day before his exam. You'd think they'd realize it was a waste of time after so many years, but they didn't. It probably worked for his classmates who were easily shamed by chastisement, but since when was he ever like his classmates who, once they stepped out of the bounds designed for them, knew nothing other then fold back into after nothing more than a sharp word?

Maybe when he was a baby, but that's about all.

He was released to class afterward with little more than a slap on the wrist, metaphorically speaking of course, and he had to endure classes for several hours before lunch arrived. The time was even longer than usual since the teachers had apparently decided to let him off easy for once, not even attempting to correct his behavior by shooting non-stop questions about the lesson - which he answered at least seventy percent correctly when he tried, eighty if he studied a little - but wouldn't let him sleep when he began to doze from boredom.

Contradictory behavior was contradictory.

Lunch was the usual affair. Jomy was seated confidently on top of a table, reclining on his arms carelessly - the teachers gave up on convincing him otherwise - as he mulled over his thoughts. Some of his classmates surrounded him, Sam and Suena the closest at his sides, most listening raptly to his abridged retelling of another of his dreams. Many details were omitted, more for the sheer strangeness than for fear of being tattled on, and even if someone did tell on him, there was nothing especially incriminating about his dreams. Not this one, at least.

He'd probably still have to sit an in-depth psychological test though, which was a pain but one he'd endured before, so he knew he could endure it again.

"A beautiful girl? With golden hair again? You sure you weren't dreaming about Suena?" Sam teased, arching a brow suggestively as revenge for earlier when he left him behind.

Unfortunately for him, neither Jomy nor Suena cared for his suggestions. "Gorgeous," Jomy drawled lazily. "The man too."

"What?" Sam shot him a look of bewilderment at the comment but settled down when the blond snorted and rolled his eyes mockingly. "Hmph. You dream about them a lot, they gotta come from somewhere," he grumbled.

Jomy shrugged. "Maybe."

"He's right, Jomy," Suena chimed in, concern creasing her brow as she met his eyes. "You've been having these dreams for years but you still don't know why. I've read that dreams are created for a reason by our subconscious, usually to help us learn or grow. Maybe you're meant to learn something from that man and woman."

Jomy hummed at the informed interpretation. Trust Suena to draw such a conclusion - their classmates and Sam gazed at her in awe or exasperation at her casual display of intelligence. She had a point, the blond reluctantly recognized. He'd had recurring dreams before, though not nearly over as long as a period, when he had to overcome fears. He'd learned to face them in real life from facing them in dreams first. This dream was probably the same. Though it wasn't always the same, the people within the dreams were, so what did that mean? He hardly ever remembered anything more than faint traces of emotion - sorrow, heartache, longing - which he doubted meant anything.

This dream, though, he remembered in far more clarity, oddly. He remembered every word, every expression, and every detail that he could have noticed from the beautiful pair.

One thing stuck out in particular. One word that made something in his mind tingle in a way he couldn't identify. "Mu..." The word left his tongue with ease and he felt absolutely nothing. Certainly not the sadness the man in his dreams had.

He didn't notice the camera focusing on him as the word escaped him.

A bell rang and Jomy jumped off the table. "Time to sit another round in torture," he sighed. "Wonder which lesson it's gonna be this time. Perhaps the history of Ataraxia's founders ? That's bound to be fascinating."

Suena looked at him with disapproval, but her fondness was visible in her eyes. "You know better than that, Jomy. You're not going to get anywhere if you don't learn."

He shot her an easy grin even as he inwardly scowled at the words. "I'll leave that to you, Sue. You'll learn everything and become the elite of the elite. I'm positive if anyone could, it's you."

She blushed and rolled her eyes, huffing. "Flatterer. You should put as much effort into your answers in class," she murmured, and he knew she wouldn't be any harder on him than the teachers were from then on.

He wasn't sure if he liked that.

Two classes later was gym, the only class he got a near perfect grade for. 'Near' perfect because as exceptional as he was at every activity and sport, he couldn't resist breaking the rules when they got in the way of his fun. Rules were meant to be broken, weren't they?

The sport of the day was soccer and Jomy's team was leading. He played forward, his favorite position, and dominated. Everything was going just fine until the referee called his last shot as offside - as if his shots were any less than accurate! - so, like the tin of junk it was to call his shot off, he kicked it away. It was defective, so there was nothing wrong with that.

One counselor visit later didn't change that. Though, surprisingly, he was let off again, no scolding for his "impressive blow" to the malfunctioning machine even mentioned, and promptly sent away. To say goodbye.

That squashed his mood. He hadn't forgotten that the very next day he would leave and likely never see any of his classmates again. He was well aware that since he was the eldest by several months for the oldest in his class - Sam and Suena - it would be a long time if they ever did reencounter each other. He hoped they did meet again, he would admit. He'd go so far as to say they were his best friends. They'd been together for a long time, he couldn't easily forget that. He'd miss them when he had to leave.

The counselor walked with him back to the classroom and he realized she was actually going to speak about his departure. He couldn't even say goodbye on his own terms. "The Day of Awakening is the day you take your adult examination and move into the society of adulthood," she recited the dictionary definition from memory, as if it hadn't been instilled into everyone in class from the time they were old enough. "I'm hoping that Jomy will be considered to join the Members."

Jomy turned and blinked at the woman in shock, brows high on his forehead. The counselor had such high hopes in him? Hopes that he'd be part of the elite of the elite, the top echelon within their society. Was she just doing as was expected of her? Was she putting up an appearance of hoping for the best for her students? Jomy wasn't a good student. Not because he was mentally challenged or struggled to keep up but because he had no reason to do well. There was no reason to; after all, his entire life would be decided during a single moment when he turned fourteen. What was the point?

"Yeah right! Not a chance," Sam jeered from the back good naturedly. "They're the group of elites that lead humanity, right? In Jomy's case, forget his grades, if you ever even considered them...his personality's what's the problem."

The class laughed and Jomy frowned, unable to argue, but displeased with being doubted, even in jest, by one of his closest friends. He ended up just rolling his eyes but his counselor was more put out than he was and encouraged him to say his final words.

Were they going to put them on his epitaph? He should make them good then.

Gathering himself into the image he knew the teachers always yearned from him, back straight, chin level, and arms overlapping behind his back, he stated with all the seriousness he could muster, "I haven't been the best student, but my time's up. Tomorrow is when my future will be decided. Whether that be as an elite or as a normal office worker is my choice. Just as it is yours." His gaze hardened, fully aware of how taken aback everyone was. He relaxed before his counselor could become too proud of his sudden turnaround. "Why, you may ask? Because I'm never wrong. Just as my shots will never be off."

His class laughed - excluding a scrutinizing Suena who probably saw more than she ought to have - and his counselor frowned once more, though it wasn't as worried as before. He grinned anyway. He'd gotten his message across and the large woman off his back at least slightly by proving he could be serious, so he was satisfied.

As school let out, he received a more personal goodbye from his two friends. Suena smiled at him with that fondness she usually hid behind maturity. "That was quite a speech, Jomy. You're more grown up than I thought," she said lightly, an echo of laughter in her voice. "Perhaps you can become an Elite, after all. I'll be alone in the ranks if you don't."

Become an Elite? Jomy tilted his head, mulling over the thought even as he returned the smile with equal fondness. "Perhaps," he said agreeably. "But if I do, you have to make sure you don't fall behind. I'll be ahead of you, Sue, don't get too dazzled by my progress and freeze to take in my subliminal ability."

She laughed and her eyes creased. "Then I hope that you do well in the examinations. That's the first step to getting on that pedestal. Good luck, Jomy." She said warmly, surprising him with a quick hug.

"Thank you," he responded, once he'd recovered. He looked to his male best friend, who looked almost offended to be left out. "I'm not hugging you."

Sam sputtered for a moment. "I wouldn't want you to! Good riddance, Jomy!" He threw his parting gift at him which was caught with ease. "Early birthday present. Take care of it."

Jomy laughed before calming down. "Thanks. Goodbye. I hope we meet again. Both of you."

With one more wave, he turned and skated home, because, yes, that's how he got to school, so that's how he would get home.

{Caged}

After arriving home, it occurred to him that everything around him, his room decorated with memorabilia gathered over the years, the slight imperfections that he'd inflicted on the walls that were never noticed, his mother's wonderful cooking and warm hugs, his father's calm presence, would be gone by the end of the next day. He'd still remember them, but that wasn't the same. He wouldn't be able to actually see and touch and hear them ever again. While he flew off to who knew which educational station to become an adult, they would remain here, to take in another child if they were able.

Would they forget him when he left? Would they throw away all that he left behind and move on the day after?

Fear of an entirely different sort that had gripped him that morning made him search for the photo album cataloguing his life with his parents. From when he was a just a baby, rolling over the ground, unable to stay still for many pictures, to when he'd first started school and came home sporting more bruises than stories about lessons, to just a few months ago, posing with his effortless confidence with both his family and his best friends in another. He flipped through the pages, unseeing, until he heard his mother enter and stopped on a random page.

"My, what are you looking at?" She asked curiously, stopping a bit closer. "Photos of Dreamworld?"

Jomy peered down and saw it was exactly that. The park had been one of his favorite places to visit when he was younger. "We'll never be able to go again," he noted absently, skimming over the images nostalgically

"Of course not. You're about to become an adult."

She was speaking in that 'don't be silly' voice that always sounded patronizing to him but he suspected there was more to it now. He turned to look at her fully and noticed the faint quiver of her lip as she gazed at the pictures.

"I'm going miss you." He said, cockiness absent from his voice for once. "Will you miss me?"

She froze, eyes going as wide, before tears rushed to them and she pulled him into a hug. He didn't fight against it as he heard her sob. "Of course I'm going to miss you, don't ever think otherwise." He felt her chin settle gently on the crown of his head. "But we knew this day would come. The day you'd become an adult because you couldn't be a child forever. I'll miss you, but I know you're going to be all right. Even if it's tough and you think you can't handle it, you can. I know it."

Jomy closed his eyes before sympathetic tears could fall - he would never cry otherwise - and pressed further into his mother's arms. "Do you think I could be an Elite," he whispered, winding his arms around her.

"You can be anything you want, Jomy," his mother whispered back, watery.

"Thank you."

His mother soon removed herself as her tears subsided. "You'll have no problems making it on your own."

Jomy curled his lips in a faint version of his overconfident smile. "I know."

While he put away the photo album to study other things and his mother went to cook, his father came home and the two sat in comfortable silence after an exchange of pleasantries. The same as always. That was for the best. Anything different wouldn't have been home. He was okay with not having a heart to heart with his father, neither of hem needed it, though he cared just as much for him as he did his mother. He knew with his father, just each other's company was enough.

After an hour or so, he drifted off to shower. He took his time washing his hair and soaking in the hot spray before cutting it off. He pulled on evening clothing as he hummed expectantly. The only thing he looked forward to with turning fourteen was the feast his mother had prepared. This was going to be his final dinner with them, so he wanted to make the most of this.

He was going to scarf down everything, while savoring it, of course, as quickly as his mother allowed - or didn't, he could never control himself when she went all out in preparation.

He dried his hair roughly and tossed his towel into the hamper before getting a drink of water. Trying rather, as the button for automatic fills was malfunctioning. He huffed in annoyance and turned away, missing the purple gas silently spewing from the receptacle. He wasn't even aware of what was happening as a strange smell surrounded him and the edges of his vision began to blur.

When he came to next, waves of pain washed through in droves, making his already hazy vision indistinguishable, but he didn't need to see to recognize the intrusive feeling of electricity ciphering through his mind and body.

It was another psych test.

Clearly, he hadn't soothed as many worries as he thought he had with his mature speech.

Curse it.

"...level nine, highest setting..."

Pain even more intense than usual drove his eyes wide and blind to the world as felt something dig, dig, dig and he wanted it to be gone, gone, gone. The whispers buried deep in his mind roared briefly, but vanished as quickly as they came, instantaneously.

His thoughts were answered as the pain suddenly vanished, leaving him spasming but his consciousness thankfully didn't persist for long. He was only vaguely aware of the gentle hand combing through his hair, even less of the soft conversation that lulled him even further asleep.

Jomy awoke early the next morning with a faint ache in muscles and mind, and instantly knew he'd somehow gotten himself dragged into another psych test, somehow. Who knew what it was this time? Destroying the trashy autobot maybe? That was probably it. It was just a bit violent, considering how close to 'adulthood' he was.

Oh, well. He lived.

Now, he just needed to pass this exam and his life would be splayed before him.

With restrained nervousness, he pulled on comfortable clothes. Not his uniform, though he almost grabbed for it, he would never where that again. He felt calm for some reason, along with the subdued anxiety. Because he knew this was goodbye and he didn't want to leave his parents distraught with worry? Or because he knew he couldn't, wouldn't, mess his day up? Either way, he was calm and he was confident in his belief that today would not be the end of him doing he wanted.

He arrived in the dining room without the grin he'd worn for years as a greeting. He didn't feel the urge to present it for once. His arrival didn't attract either of his parent's attentions, it was much more silent than usual, and he took a second just to absorb it all. His mother was washing the few dishes she'd created from cooking breakfast and he mourned that he was in no mood to eat, even if he had also missed the dinner from the night before. His father was seated at the table, reading a newspaper, an empty plate enviably before him.

He was going to miss them.

"Dad, mom, I'm going."

His father smiled proudly and his mother echoed the sentiment as she moved beside him. "I know you're already well aware, but you can go wherever you want on your Day of Awakening. You'll be done with your examination before you know it."

So there was no set location for the exam? That was just perfect for mentally prepping himself. "Take care, mom, dad," he said, nodding to them in farewell. I'll miss you.

He turned away and strode out the door before he saw the tears roll down his mother's cheeks. Sympathetic responses couldn't be allowed on this day. He was fourteen and nearly an adult, he would be strong. Though that was hard when he couldn't devise some kind of plan to put his confidence in.

Where was he supposed to go? Was he supposed to wander around until he landed at the testing site by chance? Were they going to pick him up if he didn't? What if he never found the site? What if he missed the exam, if that were even possible.

He grit his teeth at the thoughts and looked around for a distraction. As if placed before him like lure by a fisherman of old, an advertisement of Dreamworld flashed across the screen of a bus. Nostalgia hit him anew at the sight and his decision was made. His mother had said wherever he wanted. He boarded the bus with little hesitation and got off at the park of his childhood.

Dreamworld hadn't changed. His memories were easily unearthed as he glanced over the rides and attractions - the swing he managed to ride despised being too short, the food stand he had his first chocolate-covered snack from, the rollercoaster he was terrified of riding but too prideful to admit to being so even at the age of six. Nothing had changed.

Was that wrong?

He didn't have an answer to the internal inquiry, even as his attention was attracted to something that actually was new to the park. It was one of the rare animals encased in a glass exhibit, put on display for children and their minders. The distaste in his mouth was faint but there as he approached the glass cage, observing the animal that was like a cross between a squirrel and a raccoon, having characteristics of both but a dash of more that he couldn't put his finger on. The 'Weeping Mouse', they called it. It didn't look anything like a mouse.

He stared at the creature, it's eyes were wide and it was curled in on itself as if it were hiding from all the eyes, and he felt sad. Not pity, just plain sadness at the cage that entrapped the being, simply because it was unique. It gave him an uncomfortable feeling. Should he stand out, should he go above and beyond, would he be caged and displayed similarly?

His heart ached dully and for a moment, he met the creature's eyes.

I wanna get out.

His form went rigid at the high, childlike voice that came from everywhere yet nowhere. Just like the voices in his dream. Where was it coming from? Who was it coming from?

He didn't remove his gaze from the 'mouse', couldn't, and he heard hat voice once more, pleading with him. "I wanna get out."

It was the mouse. Awe unlocked his muscles and he felt the urge to reach forward and comfort the animal. It didn't belong in a cage, no one did, no matter how different or special they were. It was wrong.

He wanted to help it. To free it. To take it as his own-

"Hey! No touching the cage!" The scold from an employee's snapped him out of the haze he'd fallen into. "There's a barrier around it. Weren't you listening to the warnings?"

Jomy took a moment to swallow his instinctive protest and sent a short glance at the mouse. It was upright and staring directly at him, expectantly. He cringed inwardly. He couldn't do anything for it, not today, not ever. His time was already up. I'm so sorry. He focused on the employee and found the man regarding him strangely. Not wanting to make another mess on such an important day, Jomy fixed an innocent smile on his lips and stepped away from the cage. "No way, I didn't hear a single one." His voice oozed disbelief. "It was so cute, I must've been too distracted by it. I know now, so...thanks for saving me from a nasty shock!"

The employee's look faded a bit as he nodded. "You're welcome. Just don't go trying to touch it again."

" I won't, I won't!" Jomy assured and waved enthusiastically as he walked away, not glancing back. I'll find a way to get it. He decided, even though he very much doubted he would succeed.

He walked aimlessly for a few minutes, trying to resolve the inexplicable guilt he felt at leaving the animal, until he found himself at the Underground Coaster. His favorite and previously most feared ride. It was with great nostalgia that he entered the ride, boarded a mini ship, and pulled the helmet over his head. Another change, he noticed, for safety purposes, likely.

The ride wasn't as fun as he remembered, but it that didn't mean he didn't the rush of air and the slight thrill of evading stalactites and stalagmites in such a small enclosure. He was actually enjoying himself and had nearly forgotten his heartless abandonment of the strange mouse - he had heard it's voice in his head but he just left it! - when everything was suddenly bleached white.

The ship and cave were gone, replaced by a dark space illuminated by purple and presence hovered above him. He knew it wasn't alive. He wasn't sure what it was yet, but it certainly wasn't human in visage, its 'face' little more than a giant, hovering number five.

"Welcome, Jomy Marcus Shin. I am one of the Terra's nine Number Computers, Terra's Number Five." The computer said, voice as inhuman as its appearance, though it attempted to sound like a comforting female. Like a mother?

It wasn't a good attempt, by any means.

"We will now begin your adult examination." It said, and Jomy's eyes widened. "First phase, memory deletion."

Jomy flinched back at the words but before he could protest, pain lanced through his head like a hot knife through his skull and brain. He grasped his head in his hands and screamed. This pain was almost as bad as what he'd suffered in his dreams. What made it worse was the fact that this time it was his own and he couldn't do anything about it. He could feel his throat being torn as his mind was pierced and burned and ripped, and his eyes snapped open to see a collage of images surrounding him. Images of him crawling on all fours, him riding a three-wheeler, him climbing up trees, him curled up in blankets with his parents, with his friends, in school, at the park -

They were his memories.

And they were being taken away.

"No!" He screamed, anger blooming in the pain that ransacked him. "I won't allow it, I won't allow it!"

The only thing he would have after this test was his memories. If letting them go, letting go of his parents, Sam, Suena, was the price, he would rather fail this test! Better yet, he'd override it, had he the ability. These memories were his, his, his-

"It's all right." The pathetic imitation of a mother's soothing voice said from everywhere but nowhere. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

He wasn't afraid, he was enraged. Everything he knew was being stolen from him, erased as if his life were just insignificant bytes of data. They weren't. They were parts of him, they made him who he was. He needed them. Even more so, he wanted them. They would not be stolen. They couldn't!

"Don't get caught, Jomy!"

Another voice from everywhere yet nowhere resounded through his mind, gripping him in that intangible and irresistible pulling manner. Soldier, came the insistent whisper deep in his mind, but Jomy shook his head as he felt more memories slip away - his fifth birthday, receiving a soccer ball, hitting Sam in the face with it, befriending Sam after.

No!

Arms - pulling but intangible, not really there, but they were - wrapped around him and suddenly the white haired man from his dreams was with him, gazing at him with ruby orbs - sorrow, so sorrowful, but there was also hope, fierce, intense hope - and cloaking him. "Don't forget your memories. They are fourteen years of your life since you were born." The man commanded.

Jomy knew that already. The memories were his - his life, his self, his to own and do with what he willed - and if he wanted them, he would keep them. Even if he had to bury them to remove them from those painful, reaching hands of Terra's Computer. He needed to move them out of reach, out of harm's way, out of where anyone could even think to touch them.

"What are you doing?" The man, Soldier, gasped beside him, presence tightening around him. "No, if you do that, you won't be able to reach them again!"

Jomy's scream had tapered off long ago but his heavy breaths were only now starting to morph into even exhalations. The pain from the Computer what still there, still reaching and trying to pry in his periphery, but he focused on the man in ront of him, the man who made him feel what was not his own. "Who are you?" He rasped, glaring at the man with the anger that still pulled through him. "Why are you here?"

Soldier Blue's ruby eyes were wide - in awe, in shock, in disbelief, he knew, he felt - but he composed himself as the Computer began to scream in protest of his presence, 'Begone', it said. "I am here to take you to your people," the man said, presence growing as he pulled them away from the Computer slightly. "You are not ordinary, Jomy Marcus Shin. You are not normal. You are a Mu."

Jomy froze in the man's arms. His people? The 'Mu'? What was that? Who were they? What did he mean he was one of them? "What do you-"

"Begone!" The Computer shouted and suddenly the two vanished and appeared several meters away, a trail of lights the only evidence of their movement.

Teleportation? Jomy watched wide-eyed, frozen in shock, as Soldier evaded the Computer's attacks. This man...he was a Mu. That meant that Jomy was like him. That he was able to teleport, speak into another mind, evade the Computers cyber attacks? He could do all of this?

He always knew he wasn't normal but this was an entirely different kind of abnormal.

"We must leave, Jomy!" Soldier did to him urgently, ruby eyes glowing as he stopped and some sort of portal, almost like a warp tunnel or black hole, formed beside them. "We must return to our people!"

For a moment, the two were partially through the portal, but in an instant, Jomy was flung away from Soldier, smashing into a wall painfully. Soldier extended a hand toward him but he couldn't move any further towards him, as if there were some kind of barrier forcing him away from the boy. His ruby eyes widened further as he felt tendrils, faint whisps of psionic waves - so faint, almost undetectable, but strong, so strong - pushing him back.

It was Jomy.

He was pushing Soldier away.

Why?

Jomy breathed heavily as he felt pain skate across his back but he fought it to look and glare at the white haired man, unaware of the glow of his emerald eyes. "No. You can't force me to," he snapped, anger pulling back his lips to bare his teeth.

This man was going the same thing everyone else has since he was a child - moving him in the direction they wanted, telling them where he needed to go without any of his input, as if he didn't have a choice. He wouldn't this time, not on this day where he resolved to make his own choice, regardless of whether it's a good or bad one. It was his choice, and that was all that mattered. He didn't want to join some group anomolies, even if he were the same, if it meant losing the chance to see them again, his dearest friends, maybe even his parents. He couldn't just let that go, not for some unknown people that were just going to take him without even asking!

He would never allow his will to be taken again!

"I'm not going with you," he shouted to the man, seeing but not comprehending the way he was forced backward, further into he portal. "This is my life, I will choose how I live it!" He'd choose the cage he'd be trapped within for life, no one else!

Soldier forced himself against the forced, hand still extended as he tried to reach for him. "No! They'll kill you!" He shouted back, panic and weariness momentarily flashing across his eyes before vanishing. "Please, Jomy! Now is not the time for you to perish. You can't!"

Jomy somehow found the power to stand upright, even as he trembled, and glared harder, colder. "That's my choice." He raised a hand without even thinking and slashed it away from him viciously. "Begone!"

The white haired man was forced completely into the portal. "No! Jomy!"

The man was gone, and along with him the cloak of protection that shielded the majority of Jomy's pain. He instantly buckled down to his knees as the Computer hovered above him once more, speaking in tones that were almost human, in shock and in disbelief, in pride.

"The...Type Blue...gone, disappeared...Jomy Marcus Shin defended himself against...no psionic waves detected...he is not a Mu..."

His vision began to fade, but he felt the whispers in the back of his mind, because he was now aware of them, always has been, but he ignored them, didn't understand them - bury, bury, bury, deeper, deeper, memories, feelings, intent, bury them deeper! He wasn't sure if he'd done what he knew was necessary to escape the Computer's probes entirely but he was relieved when he pain suddenly faded from his mind, released it hold on his mind and the recesses of his memories - fractured, caged, hidden memories no one would ever reach, maybe not even him.

"First Phase, memory deletion, complete. Second Phase, society conformity..."

Jomy felt a flare of triumph - he had evaded the Computer, he wouldn't be killed! - but his consciousness quickly left him. The final thing he was of aware was the new, inexplicable thought to listen and follow, as adults had to in society.

"Jomy Marcus Shin adult examination complete."

{Caged}

Within Universal Control, the monitoring room for adult examinations, all individuals were still with disbelief at the event that had just occurred. After fifty years, the one of a kind Mu Soldier Blue had appeared. But he didn't succeed in taking another child, no, he'd been fought and ejected by the very person he'd mistakenly come to take. Soldier Blue, the strongest Mu known to them, the only Type Blue, was ejected by pure mental power and will by Jomy Marcus Shin.

Only someone with the mental fortification of a Members Elite was capable of such a feat.

Had they just witnessed the discovery of one such individual?

The man overseeing the room, snapped out of his awe before anyone else and quickly saw to the halt in monitoring. "Stop gaping and get back to work! There are still examinations being held today," his voice rung out no-nonsensically. "Retrieve Jomy Marcus Shin's body and transport him to the rooms where the others are!" He leaned back into his seat as they turned to do exactly that obediently, quick to follow his orders and focus on the monitors. He should've done the same but his mind was still transfixed on the child who'd done the impossible.

The problem child Jomy Marcus Shin, the boy he'd oversaw more than a handful of psychological tests over the years himself, had proved himself to be more capable than expected, far more capable. His raw intelligence and abilities were easily recognizable when he bothered to apply them in school, but that wasn't the only requisite to being an Elite. One must also have a strong mind, unwilling to submit to pressure, and if Jomy could endure and conquer something as intrusive and violating as a Mu, the strongest, he possessed that with abundance.

He'd already displayed it throughout his youth, but it had always been interpreted as behavioral issues, as willfull disobedience and an inability to follow directions. Perhaps they had been wrong all along. Perhaps they shouldn't have prematurely designated him as a lost cause that would simply be confirmed into the menial workers of society. Maybe then they would've been better prepared for the shock they received today.

Though, this shock wouldn't have come hadn't the Type Blue, the 'ghost' that haunted space for centuries, tried to interfere. Why had he? Jomy Marcus Shin was not a Mu. He had been tested countless times and endured, including the deepest test that was the adult exam, and no sign was ever detected. He had been suspected, though, for his persistent emotionally driven behavior and refusal to conform. Could Blue have also been lured by that? But he had never been wrong before. No, the old Mu had always been right, even with the fortune-teller Physis who had been hidden deep away. Was Jomy just different? Was he so extraordinary that even the Mu desired him? How could they have missed it?

What was it about Jomy that fooled him and them both?

The man didn't know, but as a person with a far reach throughout society, no where near that of an Elite but above that of a normal person, he planned to find out. He would follow Jomy's journey through adulthood to the day he achieved Elite status and beyond, as that was without a doubt where someone with such will and tenacity will reach. It was bound to be eventful too.

Jomy Marcus Shin, the man repeated the name in his mind, easily recalling the fierce command of 'Begone' that banished Soldier Blue away. I look forward to seeing you overrule every discipline and still triumph over everything.