Chapter 1: The Red Medallion
This story is gonna follow the canon main story of the Reunion arc. I'm also gonna follow what was shown in Prelude to Dawn. Recommend to watch it before reading this fanfiction.
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London, 2021
In the city of London, a man was cycling through the streets of the city, greeting anyone that passes by him. He was on his way to meet up with his friends in a cafe in this afternoon. The man look no older than 23 years old. His brown skin was smooth like butter after a good shower back in his home before going out.
He was wearing a simple black t-shirt covered by his beige jacket. He also wore a white beanie that covers his medium fringed black hair and right above his black eyes. For his bottom wear, he wore some brown sweatpants and a pair of red and white shoes.
The man's name is Matthew Rhys, although his friends prefer to call him Matt.
Matt kept riding his bike while searching for the cafe. After receiving a text from one of his friends that he was the only one that had not arrived and they were waiting for him, he had to pick up the pace. Passing by a few more streets, while carefully of not crashing into the cars with his bike, Matt had finally arrived to his destination.
The cafe's interior was medium-sized and there were many people sitting on the patios. Matt had come to this cafe a few times, and he knows that it has the reputation of having great foods, drinks, and a good hangout area.
Matt then finds a suitable place to park his bike and locked it before going inside the cafe. It was bit crowded as he expected. Matt then searched around the place to find his friends, albeit having a difficult time with so many people around. It was then when he heard a voice calling out to him.
"Hey, Matt! Over here!"
He looked over to the source of the voice as he saw a man by his age waving at him while sitting with six other people - four guys and two girls. Matt smiled. knowing that man was one of his friends - John, sitting with the rest of his friends.
Matt then head over to the table, gaining the others' attention. One of the guys spoke up. "You're late, mate."
"Oh, cut me a slack, Derek. I needed a good break from yesterday of working my back off." Matt replied.
"Least you made it, that's good enough. I even ordered you a latte." Emily said, holding the hot glass of Latte reserved for him. Matt thanked her before taking a seat beside John and grabbed the latte. As he's drinking it, he took the time to glance at all of his seven friends.
John was considered his best friend. The caucasian man was at the same age as him of 23 years. The two met for a long time through middle school and have been in the same classes. Though they had split up during their high school years, they still contacted eachother as old friends. Looking at the man, his appearance did not change.
He still has that black faux hawk haircut and his blue eyes, though he's starting to grow a five o'clock shadow on his chin. He wore a simple green t-shirt and jeans along with black shoes covering his feet.
And then there's Emily. Matt had met her during college. She's a very reliable person and was willing to help him in his studies and exams. Throughout those years, they had become the best of friends. Though there were a few occasions where people would mistook them as a couple, which they both don't agree with. Besides, Matt's doesn't feel like looking for a relationship, yet.
Matt also knows the tanned-skinned girl of being pretty tomboyish. Everytime he hangs out with her, she'd always pick clothes that meant for boys, and she is still wearing like that right now.
Emily is currently wearing a red t-shirt covered by her black and white striped hoodie, the latter not having the hood part wore by her which exposes her brown hair - that is tied to a ponytail, and her pair of amber eyes. She also wore green trousers and white sneakers.
Now for the rest of his friends, Matt did not meet them directly at first, instead they were connected with John and Emily. Derek, the one that called him out of being late, was one of John's friend when the latter was in high school. Same goes for Andy and Cynthia.
Derek's caucasian just like John. His hair was in a buzz cut and his eyes were brown. He also wore a sort of militaristic look of having an olive t-shirt and cargo trousers. He did say he works for the British military as a reservist, which explains it.
Andy is considered to be the nerdy friend of the group. Like Derek, he met John during his high school years and was pretty great on doing his studies. Though he is also obsessed with fantasy shits. Andy is of Korean descent as his parents had moved to the UK before he was born. He has short clean cut hair and his black eyes were covered by the glasses he's wearing. His attire consists of a simple blue t-shirt and jeans.
Cynthia is the second girl of this group of friends. Unlike Emily and her tomboyish look, Cynthia kept her feminine charm throughout the years. Hence why John said to him that Cynthia was pretty popular in the school.
Matt could not deny it though, Cynthia still looks pretty with her long blonde hair, fair skin, and green eyes. Any man, or woman, would simply fall for her. Attire-wise, she wore a white crop top accompanied with her jean jacket and blue skirt that goes over to her knees. She's also wearing a gold necklace.
For Emily, there was Jesse. He was Emily's dorm roommate when they're in College. They got along pretty quick since they share some interests, and Matt had the chance to meet him and got along with him too. Jesse's a beige skinned man with blonde hair like Cynthia's, though the length is short. And he has blue eyes. His attire consists of a cyan button-up shirt.
Though his bottom wear consists of shorts. Cargo shorts to be exact. Infact he was the only one in the group to not wear any pants, just shorts. Who is he trying to be? Lesion from Rainbow Six Siege?
But anyways, this leaves to the last friend of this group. And that is Carson. He's a young fair skinned man with black eyes. His attire consists of a red jacket and beige sweatpants with black sneakers, while bearing a baseball cap. He's actually the youngest of this group at the age of 19, being 3-4 years younger than Matt and the rest.
How or why is he here is that Emily had a run-in with him two years ago when he was a freshmen in the same college she, Matt, and Jesse were in. He asked for any advices in this lessons he's been struggling, and Emily obliged to tutor him. One thing leads to another, Carson became pretty close with the tomboy and the latter accepted him as her friend. Though since he's 19, you could say he is considered a college boy of the group. But Carson didn't mind, he was lucky to have friends.
Nevertheless, Matt had the chance to talk to them and they all became his friends. Throughout the hours, Matt and the others begin to chat of various things that made them laugh, intrigued, or a little ticked off. Y'know, regular friends stuff.
"So you think the queen's gonna live for 100 years?" Matt queried when Carson brought up that topic about Queen Elizabeth II
"I mean, c'mon. That lady took part in ww2 and lived through the cold war aswell. She deserves to live for a century." Carson said.
"Eh, I doubt that." John replied.
Andy then spoke up. "Hey guys, I almost forgot to tell you this. But last night, i had found something interesting." This got a few intrigued looks, while the rest raised their eyebrows.
"Do tell about it." Derek said.
"Okay, so. I was walking back home that night, and when I turned to an alleyway, I saw a hooded man taking something out of his bag. It was an object. I think he was muttering something about it too. But when he saw me, he dropped it near the trash and ran away." Andy explained.
"You don't think the object you found was stolen, no?" Cynthia asked.
"I don't think so. If it was stolen, then that man didn't have to drop it." Andy said.
"But do you think it's valuable?" Emily asked aswell. "Could you describe it?"
"Hmm, I don't know. After he ran, I went close to the object near the trash and picked it up. It's some sort of red medallion."
"A medallion, you say? Then it is valuable." Derek smirked before leaning close to him and whispered so that anyone around them wouldn't hear. "Are you carrying it right now?"
"Well, no. I left it at home." Andy answered.
"Oh, c'mon! Really?" Derek exclaimed, but Andy reassured him.
"Don't worry, it is safely put in my safe. No one but me could unlock it." Andy then thought of something. "Hey! Maybe after this, we could all go to my home and I can show you guys the medallion. How's that sound?"
"I mean I would love to go to your place and hang out, but what's the point of you showing us a simple red medallion?" Matt asked.
"Well the thing is, I don't think it's an ordinary red medallion. The medallion is wrapped around in gold metal with a small chain that is also made up of gold. Looking closer to the medallion, there was some sort of inscription. I...kinda forgot what it reads, but it's in there." Andy explained.
Though Matt still had his doubts, the rest of his friends were intrigued. John spoke up. "Well you got me interested. I want to see this medallion of yours."
"I do too." Jesse simply said.
"I would like to see it aswell." Cynthia chimed in. "Though I'm a bit worried that the medal might've belong to someone else not from that man."
"Don't worry about it, Cyn. We could always bring it back to em'." Derek assured. "Speaking of which, we could also get some good pounds over it if we sell it or give it back as an offering."
"Well if you guys are in, then I guess I'm in too. Got nothing better to do at my place, anyway." Emily said.
"I've got no homework left to do in my pockets, so I'm free to join you guys." Carson concurred.
They all then turned to Matt to hear his answer. Matt wasn't sure how this medallion really looks like whether it is antique or new, but curiosity got the better of him. Besides, he gets to hang with his friends again, this time in Andy's home.
Matt let out a shrug. "Eh, alright. Wouldn't hurt to see this medallion. I mean what's the worse that can happen?"
Andy smiled. "Great! We should meet up at my place at around 7 PM. I still have some errands to do, right now actually. Before i leave, you all know the location of my home, right?" Everyone nodded, except for Carson who raised his arm.
"No. I-I don't." He said sheepishly.
"No worries, Carson. I could always pick you up." Emily assured.
"Thanks." He replied with a smile.
"Alright, I'll see you all at 7." With that, Andy left as Matt and the rest went out aswell, except for Jesse who wanted to stay for a bit and order another drink.
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Matt rode his bike until he reached his home. It was 4 PM when he made it there, so he had about almost four hours before going to Andy's home. He spent his time playing some video games he installed on his phone, and when he got bored he decide to watch some YouTube videos or look up some fanfics of his favorite games/shows/movies/web series.
After a few hours passed, Matt looked to his clock and noticed that it is now 6:45, fifteen minutes left before the meeting at Andy's home. Not wanting to be late like the last afternoon, Matt got himself ready. Before going outside, his phone begin to ring. Looking up to the contact, he smiled that it was his mother calling for him, so he answered it.
"Hey, ma."
"Hello, Matty! How you've been?"
"Oh i'm doing okay as usual, ma. I am going to a friend's house this evening."
"Ah, i see. Well I'm here to remind you that tomorrow is your brother's 15th birthday and we all want you here in our home to celebrate."
Matt put a hand on his head, eyes wided when he realized. "Oh, I forgot tomorrow's Marcus' birthday! I'm so sorry, Ma."
His mom did not reply angrily or disappointedly, instead she let out a giggle. "Oh, Matty. It's okay. Besides you always forget that since the day you entered College. I don't blame you. Got a lot of work stuff on your hands, no?"
"Heh, y-yeah something like that." Matt rubbed the back of his neck. "But don't worry, Ma. I'll be sure to arrive there tomorrow. I won't forget."
"You better not, otherwise there would be no cake for you." Both of them let out a chuckle. "Well, see you tomorrow, Matty. I love you!"
"Love you too, ma." Matt ended the call and head out to his bike. Now that he remembered that tomorrow's his brother - Marcus's birthday, he needed to prepare for tomorrow. But first he's gonna go to Andy's house and check out that medallion. Hope it would be quick.
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Matt made it to Andy's house just in time. He saw that Emily, Carson, Derek, and John were already there waiting. Not much later, Jesse and Cynthia had arrived. They all still wore the same clothes in afternoon as they didn't bother changing.
They all give eachother some compliments before Matt head towards the door and knocked. The group of friends then heard some clanking noises inside the house before the door opened, revealing Andy in the same attire he was back at the cafe.
"Ah, you guys made it. On time too." He said with a smile.
"Hey, you said to meet here at 7, so we took that personally." John replied.
"Right, right. Anyways, come on in!" Andy then turned to Carson. "And since this is your first time here, Carson. You can feel free to look around the house. Same goes to you guys, because I am gonna go upstairs and get that medal."
They all nodded and went in the house. Like he was told, Carson took the time and look around the place while Andy went to his room where he kept the medallion in his safe, followed by Matt and Emily.
The trio then went in Andy's room, being a small room with a bed, a desk, a closet, and even a window to look at the view. Andy then head over to his safe which was placed next to his bed. Matt and Emily stared at the Korean while he was unlocking the safe. Not a minute later, it finally opens as Andy then took out a smaller box, which contains the medallion.
He let out a chuckle before opening the smaller box and taking out the red medallion. "Here it is." He showed the object to both Matt and Emily. The two looked at it in interest with Matt grabbing a hold of it as Andy went out of the room to inform everyone else.
While he does that, Matt and Emily took the time to observe the medallion. Like what he had said, the colour was red and it was surrounded with gold metal along with a small chain that is also made out of gold, acting as some sort of rope to hold onto the ruby-like rock.
What's surprising is how large it is. It's almost the size of Matt's palm.
"That is one big medallion." Emily commented.
"You tell me." Matt replied before he sees Emily's hand turn the medallion around. There they saw an inscription engraved on the back of the red stone. "I think that's the inscription. You know what it says?"
"Hold on, let me look a little closer here..." Matt squinted his eyes since the writing was pretty small.
The two then heard several footsteps coming up to the room as Emily turned to the door while Matt kept his eyes on the medal. Derek was the first to enter as he immediately set his eyes on the medallion.
"Alright, give me that." Derek said as he snatched the Medallion away from Matt's hand.
"Hey!" Matt exclaimed.
Derek begin to observe the medallion before letting out a smile and whistled. "This is some medallion. You sure the guy just dropped this thing?" He asked to Andy, who had entered the room with the rest of the group.
"Positive. That's what i saw." Andy replied.
Derek gave the medal to Cynthia as she observed it, and the same thing does to John, Jesse, and Carson. When they're doing that, Matt spoke up. "Incase you're wondering, there's the inscription by the back of that rock."
John, being the one that is holding the medallion, turned it around as he asked. "What does it say?"
"I don't know. The writing looked pretty small, I couldn't tell what's written in it." Matt answered. John red the inscription and knows that Matt was right. He couldn't read what it says due to how small the text is.
"Let me take a look." Andy said as John gave the medallion to him. The former hummed while looking at the small inscription. "I think i have a magnifying glass somewhere in my desk." Andy then head over to the desk while Matt and the rest waited for him.
"So, what do you think we should do with the Medallion?" Cynthia asked.
"Like i said before, we should sell it. A medallion like that would earn us about a hundred pounds. Or maybe even more than that!" Derek smiled at that thought.
"Well, what if it belongs to someone else?" Jesse asked.
"We could give it to them in exchange of a reward." Carson chimed in.
"This kid knows it." Derek remarked.
"I'm still wondering why the man that had the medallion decides to abandon it?" Matt questioned.
"Maybe he doesn't like antique stuff?" Emily said. "I can understand that, but c'mon those stuff are pretty rare these days."
"Come to think of it. I don't think the medallion even belongs in the UK. I've never seen a design like that before in the old decades." Carson stated.
"You might be right." Andy spoke up from his desk, getting the others' attention.
"What do you mean?" Derek asked.
Andy then explained. "What i mean is that this Medallion doesn't seem to be it was made in England. I red the inscription and the first thing i notice is that the language is not in English. It's in Russian."
"Russian?" John raised an eyebrow. "Do you know the language at least?"
Andy shook his head. "Well I do know a few words, but overall no. Even then, the words look jumbled up too. I bet an actual Russian would also be confused what this inscription means."
Matt felt pretty confused, much like the rest of his friends at Andy's explanation. What he thought to be a simple red medallion turned out to be much more complex from the gold chains, the jumbled up Russian words, and that it is pretty big than your average medallion.
Derek let out a sigh. "This crap is getting very complicated. Let's just all agree that we should just sell this thing and make some damn cash."
"Yeah, I really need some money too." Carson said.
"Oh, alright." Andy gave in before grabbing a handkerchief. "Just gonna clean this up a little."
As Andy was wiping the medallion with the handkerchief, it started to glow. He stopped and let out a gasp as the others were now looking at the medallion with the same expression.
"What the- Andy how did you do that?" Jesse asked.
"I-I didn't. I was just wiping it clean and it's suddenly started glowing." Andy said.
Matt went beside him to get a better look on the now-glowing medallion. What used to be a deep red rock is now beginning to light up into a more lightish colour.
They all stood there staring at the glowing rock. "Uh, guys...I think the glowing is getting bigger..." Carson said with a hint of concern.
Matt observed closer and he was right. The red light kept getting bigger and bigger as it starts to consume the entire medallion. Andy had to drop it down to the floor, but the medallion kept glowing like a star.
Matt and the rest were now very worried and concerned about the object. Him and Andy slowly backed up from it and so did the rest.
"I think we should get out of here...right now!" Matt exclaimed.
However they were all too late as the glowing medallion exploded. They all screamed for a moment before the light drowned it out and consumed them all.
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Darkness.
That was all Matt could see after he and his friends were engulfed in that bright red flash coming out of the medallion. The brown-skinned man slowly starts to regain his consciousness after what felt like an hour of seeing nothing but the dark void.
When he finally open his eyes, he was confused to see that he was staring up at the sky. Top it all off, the sky was clear, even though he remembered it was night. But the more surprising fact is how or why is he outside when he was in Andy's room.
Getting up to his feet, Matt noticed that he was in an alley way. Still feeling confused, Matt took a few steps forward to the end of the alley that leads to a main road. He was left baffled when he observed the place that does not feel like it's Andy's neighborhood. He realizes that he had somehow moved to a different place.
Did the medallion teleported him? If so, then where could he be?
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard groaning behind him. He looked back and saw that it was Andy, slowly getting up from the ground.
"Andy!" Matt then head over to him and help him up. "Are you alright?"
"A bit dizzy...but okay." Andy then look to his surroundings. "Wait, where are we?"
"I'm wondering the same thing here..." Matt responded as he helped him stand up.
The two then walk out of the alleyway and observed their new surroundings. Like Matt, Andy was baffled when he noticed that they are not near Andy's house nor somewhere in his neighborhood. The environment looks different, so does the buildings. By the looks of it, they are of different architecture and doesn't look anything in London.
Andy thought that whatever the medallion did had teleported him and Matt to this place, the same thing probably happened to the rest of their friends. The two currently have no idea where they are or what this place even is. Though observing the architecture of the buildings and the various shops nearby, there is one thing for certain.
They are not in Britain anymore.
==TO BE CONTINUED==
So that was my second Arknights fanfic in this site. Like i said, i'm gonna follow the anime version of it because it feels better than the cutscenes in the game.
Now what's gonna happen to the rest of his friends? You'll soon find out.
See ya!
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