Chapter One

 

Chapter One

-Martial Academy off-campus apartment complex; [REDACTED], Iceland; May 5th, 2009-

Thump. Thump. Thump. DJ poked his head out of the office doorway, navy hair falling into his green eyes. The six-foot tall youth listened again with a quizzical expression. Thump. Thump. Thump. DJ got up and went to the door with a frown. He opened the door and stepped back as another person nearly tumbled into the room. 

“Whoah!” The young man in the doorway straightened, regaining his balance and shuffling a few bags around in his arms. “Heh, thanks.” 

“Lui?” DJ tilted his head. “I thought you had a key.” 

“Nope, they haven’t issued me one yet,” the visitor shook his blonde head and grinned sheepishly. Lui walked in and DJ closed the door behind him. 

DJ frowned again. “I put in the requisition last week.” 

“Meh, you know how it goes.” Lui shrugged, unbothered. A ring broke the silence and Lui gasped with alarm. “What time is it?!” 

DJ checked his watch. “Fifteen hundred.” 

“Aw, man, I forgot about the time difference.” Lui struggled to dig a phone out of his pocket and hand it to DJ while his arms were still full. “Here, talk to Hanna for a minute while I go put these groceries away.” 

“Hanna?” DJ asked with a smile and a raised brow as he took the phone. 

“Yeah. Don’t say anything weird,” Lui said as he rolled his eyes and moved into the next room. 

DJ chuckled and headed back to the office as he answered the ringing phone. “Hello?”

“... Lui?” a female voice asked. 

“No, this is DJ.” The young man sat at his desk and continued working at his computer. 

“Oh. Hi DJ,” Hanna answered. “How’s Lui?” 

DJ smiled again as he thought, Funny how that's the first thing she asked. It's no secret that she's head-over-heels for him. “He’s doing pretty good,” DJ answered. “Work’s going well and he seems to be settling in.” 

“Good,” Hanna said, relief in her voice. “I’m glad he gets to hang out with you all summer. I was a little worried.” 

“Worried?” DJ asked. “Why?” Lui entered the room and raised an eyebrow at DJ. He reached out with an open hand, offering to take the phone, but DJ was invested in the conversation now and made no move to give it back. 

“I don’t know…” Hanna said on the other end. “He seemed a little down when I dropped him off at the airport. I don’t think he was ready for the semester to end.” 

“Is that so?” DJ asked, raising his eyebrows at Lui. Lui frowned and tried to take the phone only for DJ to lean back and use his free hand to keep Lui away. “You’re over in eastern Europe now, right?” DJ asked. 

“Yep. Hey, I actually need to get going. Keep an eye on him for me, will you?” Hanna asked, oblivious to the background struggle. 

“Two eyes,” DJ answered, still keeping Lui at arm’s length. 

“Great! Tell him to call me when he gets a chance,” Hanna continued. 

“Will do!” DJ answered pleasantly. When the receiver clicked on the other end, DJ gave in and handed the phone back to Lui. 

Lui took the phone with a frown. “You were supposed to give it back.” 

“I think she likes you,” DJ said with a chuckle. 

“Not you too.” Lui grimaced as he put the phone into a pocket. “I got enough of that from my roommate all semester.” 

“All semester?” DJ echoed with surprise. 

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Lui grabbed his portable game console off DJ’s desk and turned it on. DJ shook his head, turned back to the computer, and resumed working. 

Lui plopped into a chair by the window and started playing. The sound of a helicopter in the distance reached his ears so he turned the volume of his game up. After a moment, he looked up at DJ with narrow green eyes. “Does that chopper sound awfully close to you?” 

DJ shrugged and answered without turning. “The airfield is only a mile away. You get used to the noise after a few days.” 

Lui paused his game and listened. Helicopters coming and going was routine. However, this one seemed to be closer than normal. He heard something else too. “Do you…” Lui started. “Do you hear 80’s action music?” 

DJ threw his head back and turned around in his chair, finding it quite difficult to work with so many interruptions. “It’s probably a cadet with their radio up.” DJ wasn’t bothered by the noise until he noticed the look of growing concern on Lui’s face. 

“It’s getting louder,” Lui said quietly. 

DJ stood up and looked out the window. What he saw was a helicopter heading for them low and fast with armed figures hanging from ropes on either side. His eyes widened and yanked Lui away from the window. “GET DOWN!” They hit the floor right as the side of their building exploded. Rubble and dust filled the air. DJ and Lui coughed while their ears rang. DJ pulled Lui up and they both stumbled toward the door. DJ’s apartment was mostly intact, but the gaping hole in his kitchen proved his neighbors weren’t so lucky. “Come on, we gotta get out of here!” DJ yelled, not sure if Lui heard him or not over the deafening helicopter and music blasting from it. DJ yanked the door open and came face to face with a masked thug. 

“We got him!” the thug called out. Reacting quickly, DJ shoved his open hand forward and blasted the attacker with wind magic, knocking the assailant back and through the locked door of the apartment across the hall. 

“Let’s go,” DJ said while releasing his sword from its scabbard. DJ stepped into the hallway and faced two more attackers. The first he threw into the ceiling with an upward gust of wind magic and the second he leapt toward and slashed through, leaving both thugs incapacitated on the floor. 

“DJ!” Lui shouted, turning to block an attack from behind with his own sword. Lui stopped the attacker’s blade aimed for his head, but the thug shoved Lui’s blade into the wall. Lui tugged on the handle, but his sword was stuck. “Ack!” Lui let go of the sword and ducked to avoid getting hit. He sent a lightning bolt out, instantly dropping the thug into a twitching pile. Lui pulled back to avoid another attacker, bumping into DJ. “Sorry!” 

DJ watched four attackers pour through the hole of his neighbor’s apartment. He glanced behind to see three more thugs blocking off the exit behind them. The situation wasn’t looking good with the two of them trapped in the hallway, all exits cut off. “Lui,” DJ said, turning his head just enough to catch Lui’s attention. “Sunshine.” Lui’s eyes, wide and filled with fear, suddenly took on recognition. Lui immediately covered his eyes with his hands and dropped to the floor. DJ raised his free hand and conjured a white ball of light. In a flash, the bright light flooded the hall, temporarily blinding the attackers. “Come on!” DJ pulled Lui up and they weaved through the stunned thugs, pushing and shoving as they ran. Just as the two of them cleared the attackers and the stairwell was in sight, another blast knocked them on their backs. DJ scrambled to his feet, coughing. “Stop blowing holes in my-” DJ stopped mid-sentence, suddenly aware of an eerily familiar presence. 

As the dust cloud settled, a young man with long gray hair stepped through the new hole in the building and into the hall. Cloaked in black, the edge of his cape flicking around his legs, the newest opponent raised his arms in feigned surprise. “What’s this? No welcome party for the prodigal son?” 

DJ glared at the man and tightened the grip on his sword. “You are not welcome here,” DJ spat, voice laced with venom.

“Well, that’s unfortunate.” The man smirked. “For you.”