"Shift!" Wire was shouting. I was being shaken violently. I opened my eyes at the sudden movement, alarmed and confused.

Happy...

Dopey...

Scissors...

Death.

Simulation.

I groaned. "Wire, what happened?" I asked, my vice slightly muffled through my hands. Wire was sifting through some stuff in a cabinet. I looked around. I was in a medical area. The MedRoom. Of course. It was plain and sterile, just like a doctor's room. Wire sat in front of me, a white cardigan and navy blue tee contrasting with the plain room. "The simulation...I think something was wrong." I squeezed my eyes shut at the blood rush. "What do you mean?"

My head hurt, and my legs did too. I opened my eyes a slit to look down at them. It wasn't a bruise kind of ache. It was...deeper. I looked down to see a bandaged right leg.

The bandage was bloodstained.

"I don't know. As soon as you and Sin stepped into those doors, we were ushered out. Hunter up up a fuss, and he's in the Office now." I felt a chill. He was in the Office? That wasn't good. The Office, well...people came back after a long time. They were different afterwards. Always.

Some creepy stuff over there.

"Then they were rushing you in here, with a bloody gash on your leg and bruises all over you." She finished, toying with the end of a stethoscope. I was surprised that such a classic utensil was needed when other higher-tech things were available. "That's all you know?" I questioned.
I was disappointed. Things were confusing, and I had no idea what happened after meeting Happy and Dopey. Or what had been .isupposed to happen either. "You're going to die. Just not here. This is just a Simulation." Happy's cackles, red lips, and Siren-like appearance flashed through my mind, her voice becoming robotic as she fell apart.
But what happened afterwards? I remembered a conversation with Sin. And that was it.

Sin.

"Where's Sin?" I asked, looking around. Wire frowned. "I don't know. He didn't come here. Just you."
Sin wasn't here. This day was weirder than I'd expected. All I'd wanted was a relaxing Saturday with my friends, and then a simple training workout with my Squad. Hopefully, an intervention and happy Squad 1 again. Instead...well, the day had been pretty horrifying.

Plus the bleeding leg wound didn't help.

"Oh! I should get going. I just need to check your blood pressure..." She muttered. "Pull up your sleeve and hold out your hand? Oh wait, tank top, right. Just hold out your arm then." I complied, and she pulled out the sleeve pump, wrapping it around my arm, straightening the meter and then she began to pump air into the sleeves wrap thingy.

It was wrapped tightly and squeezed my arm, but I ignored the discomfort. Sin wasn't here, Hunter was stuck in the ominous Office, and who knew where Mask was? There was still the plan.

How was I going to get the Squad together when we were all so far apart?

"It's normal, lucky for you. Um, the Principal's been waiting in the living room for a while. She said she wanted to talk to you...I made an excuse about checking up on you to see how you were." She said quickly, getting up and dusting off her cardigan. I watched as she turned back for a second. "Shift?" I looked up. "Yeah?" She turned and opened the door. "Be careful."

The Principal entered the room as soon as Wire left it. She looked me over, and I tried to look dignified through my injuries. She had a tight brown bun, wrapped and braided around itself, and it looked stern but intricate. Her features were sharp, cheekbones high, sharp nose, equally sharp chin, thin eyebrows, and hawk-like gold eyes. Her lips were small, and looked like they were always pursed.

She sat down on the seat next to me. "Hello, Shift. As you know, I am the Principal of the Academy Institute of Advanced Arts." She began. I nodded. "Yes ma'am." She smiled tightly. "Well, I'm here to apologize on behalf of the Staff for your misfortune. The Simulation was...tampered with."

I furrowed my eyebrows at that. "How so?" I questioned. Tampered with? The AIAA had serious security, matching that of the Pentagon. It would be remotely possible to hack it, yes, but even so, it wouldn't be more than a second before the security programs tracked said hacker down and destroyed him or her.

"We are still tracking down the attacker...but even so, they messed with the coding. Let me explain. You were supposed to face seven foes, who were once your allies, and you had to fix them. Find their essence and retrieve it. But somehow, the original seven got scrambled, and instead two strange and warped versions took hold...but they weren't...digital."

Her words were tentatively reluctant, as though she was only telling me this because she had to. I didn't know what to think of that.

"Where's Sin?"

She met my gaze steadily, an intensity in her eyes that seemed ominous. "That's why I'm telling you this." She explained.

"He's still in it."

•••

I stared down the line of computers that faced me, all full of people typing and talking rapidly, never stopping. Two large screens showcased what was happening in the simulation. They kept shifting to different views, like a CCTV. I stared at them, looking for any sign of brown hair quiffed up and pale skin shooting around. Where was Sin?

We got a shot of the obsidian room, the last thing I remembered, but it was empty, other than a mess of but and bolts and a melted goop. The remains of Dopey and Happy. Then a few different areas of the forest. Also empty. I frowned, leaning on the railing. I was standing overtop everything, in a chrome balcony platform. It was actually pretty high, but I wasn't bothered much. "Where are you..." I mumbled, not moving my gaze from the screens on the walls.

Someone tapped my shoulder, making me turn around. A girl with a high ponytail of long blonde hair, a short cropped cheerleader tank over jeans, and bubblegum in her mouth, was standing behind me. "Are you looking for Sin?" She asked, to which I nodded. "He's on camera in the Exclusive rooms. Do you have clearance for that?" She asked, pulling at her ponytail to tighten it. "Yeah. For now." I said. She nodded curtly, waving a hand for me to follow, and began to lead me down the platform. She walked briskly, dodging the many people bustling in the IT hallway, and I struggled to follow her. She stopped at a door. "What's your name?" She questioned, although her voice made it sound like this was quite routine. "Shift." I answered. "Ah. So you're a student. I'm Kai." She opened the door, waiting for me to step in. I walked ahead, into a quiet room. There were less computers than in the main room I'd seen, and the people were a lot more tense, not typing frequently but rapidly, hushed conversation. I immediately turned to the large screen.

There he was.

Sin was a blur of movement, against a large monstrous sort of beast. "Damn." I whispered under my breath.

The creature was moving, but it moved slowly, its legs taking time to carry all its weight. It was a black-and-green scaly thing, large red horns running down its spine, large, poisonous, and deadly. It had a long tail, spiked with the thorny horns and its eyes...

I didn't know how to explain it. The screen showed only as much detail as the naked eye could pick up, but as I stared at the rumbling creature, I knew that its eyes were more.

More, in the sense, that when I stared at it, I saw blues and greens and lilacs and pinks and reds and every other colour that I could recognize. Some I couldn't. They all swirled in those eyes, eyes of wisdom and menace.

I didn't see how Sin could win.

I turned my attention away from the creature, staring at Sin instead. Was he hurt? I didn't have Wire's medical instincts, but the red spreading into his white short made me think he was. The way he moved, jumping as soon as he landed, moving as soon as he hit, it reminded me of Mask's technique against the Three Threat Trio.

Mask.

The Principal hadn't mentioned her. Then again, I hadn't asked, and shed only told me what I took from her. Maybe she was playing hooky. That wasn't all that easy to do, especially at an academy like the AIAA, but seeing as it was Mask, anything was possible.

I wanted her back soon.

Sin suddenly stumbled, a move so sodden and different that it alarmed me. I glanced sideways and saw Kai was talking to some supervisor, whispering in a heated, angry, sort of way. I glanced away, looking at the screen with a renewed focus.

Although Sin had stumbled, the creature was slow enough that it gave him a chance to recover. He was leaning down, his hands on his knees, and he was coughing out blood. The minute I moved to talk to one of the operators, to get him out of there somehow, he was up again. He glared at the beast, but his eyes were different too. Even through the screen, I felt a temporary wave of fear pass through me, and shudders and shivers passed through the room.

His power.

I watched intently. I'd never seen it in action, and it fascinated me. However it worked, I didn't know, but it was obviously extremely powerful, if it passed through technology. The beast paused, but not much. It didn't seem affected. Sin was sweating. I could see the sheen on his forehead, and his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. His eye were jolting in colour. Grey-then brown- then grey again- then red, glowing red.

It didn't change after that.

The creature stopped, and I saw an operator stand up. "I'm getting through!" He shouted, causing everyone to work rapidly, typing in, activating the security programs, hitting it and tracking down the glitch. But then it's tail started to circle, to move twitchingly and spiral, getting faster and faster in speed. It kept speeding up, until it's tail was a fast-moving blur, and Sin stared. The beast shot out suddenly, it's foot raised and it shrieked a loud, dry reptilian, sound, as it shot towards Sin, ready to strike.

Sin dodged it, but looked like he was getting worn out. The amount of energy to use that power of his, and it failed too, it depleted him, obviously. The wound was getting to him now. And that wasn't good.

I watched as the beast's running form made contact with Sin's weakened body, watched as Sin fell back, a far distance, into a forest tree. I watched as he slumped down.

Sin was unconscious.

The operators were speaking loudly. No one was bothering to hush up anymore. The keyboards were being subjected to massive use, the tapping of the keys a flurry of sounds. "It's working!" A lady shouted, and Kai rushed down, grabbing a computer! moving an operator aside and taking over.

My eyes were glued to the screen. It didn't look right. Sin was on the ground, defenceless, weak, and with none of that quiet fire that emanated from him. It wasn't right. The creature roared again, rising up in its back legs, reaching the sky, looking down at Sin's small crumpled form.

"Done!" Kai whooped, as she finally pressed a single button. The group of operators cheered, clapping backs, laughing in relief, and gently relaxing from the tense atmosphere.

Sin was still slowed against he tree. The creature however fell, and the screen went black. I turned to the supervisor Kai had been talking to before, the only person who didn't rush towards the line of computers to celebrate. "What's happening?" I asked, tapping the supervisor on his shoulder. He turned around. "They've detracted the glitch."

"What about the boy?"

"He's probably being transported to his Squad's MedRoom right now."

"Oh?"

"Hey, wait." He grabbed my arm. "Who are you?" He asked, his eyes narrowed at me. "Shift. Squad 1." I answered, yanking my hand out, nodding at him, and turning on my heel. I walked out of the room, down the IT hall, through the larger main room which was very similar to the smaller room, in terms of people celebrating. I pushed on the exit door, passed through it, and broke out into a run, pushing past people, mumbling "Sorry!"s and "Excuse me!"s, ignoring their grumbles and mutters. I ran through the halls of the AIAA, ignoring teachers and Staff yelling after me. I ran up the stairs, and to the Squad 1 door, slamming into the identity checker, waiting the five minutes in it as the door clicked open. Dammit, I didn't have time for this right now.

I rushed through the door. I needed to see Sin. He was hurt, and he was in there longer than me. I'd been ready to collapse by the time Happy had melted like the Wicked Witch of the West, and that was just the amount I'd remembered.

Wire wasn't in the main room, and I walked to the MedRoom, but it was locked.

"Shit."

I usually didn't like to swear. It was weird, uncouth, and just vulgar. But right now, I didn't care.

"Shit shit shit shit shit." I ran my fingers through my hair, forcing myself to close my eyes and calm down.

It's just like what happened with him.

My body felt cold, at the memories from before the AIAA.

"You're nothing but a liar, Leah!"

"You made me this way, damn you. Leah, you don't understand what you did, do you?"

"Leah, I'm going to die because of you."

I squeezed my eyes shut tighter.

No, Shift. It's not like that. It's not your fault this time. Sin isn't going to die. He won't. It's not your fault, Shift. It's not your fault. It's not your fault. It's not your fault.

I was pacing around the room, my hands gripping my hair, my footsteps sounding repeatedly against the marble floor. Spiked panic, spiked emotions.

It's not your fault. It's not your fault.

I crawled into a ball, leaning against the wall, clenching my jaw in frustration. "Get a hold of yourself, Shift." I muttered, although I didn't crawl out of my position. This was okay. This was good.

"Leah, Leah, should I do it?"

"Are you sure, Leah?"

"Okay, I'll do it."

"Leah! Call the police! Do something!"

"You're the reason I'm dead, Leah."

I shivered involuntarily, the sound of his voice in my head so crisp I wanted to look a ruin here for him. But I didn't. I knew I wouldn't find him. He was gone. He was dead.

Because of me.

Not Sin, not Sin, not Sin.

The memories had stayed repressed so well, at least far in my mind. But now for some reason, the haunting memories were back.

And they wanted blood.

"Shift?"

Wire's soft, soothing voice interrupted my meltdown. Cool fingers touched my shoulder, and she crouched next to me. "Shift, he's okay. It's okay." She murmured. Her words were like a healing salve, gently rolling over my wounds and stopping them. It wasn't my fault. There was nothing to be my fault. Sin was okay. Sin was alive. It wasn't like it was with him.

I didn't understand why these memories surrounding the time before the AIAA was a part of my life came plunging back to me more this year, but it seemed that this year planned on being difficult.

"How are you feeling?" Wire asked softly, studying me, her green eyes flickering as they scanned over me.

"Hella peachy." I said, managing a smile. I needed to be myself again.

She smiled back. "My scanner is detecting a strange...cloudiness in your mental state. I suggest you make an appointment with me so that we can fix it." When Wire talked robo-speech, it reminded me of 'Annie', but she did it so rarely it was easy to forget that she spoke like that at all. Then, once she was utilizing her robotic tendencies the voice would jump out at me, and I'd be taken off guard every single time.

I didn't like it.

But this was Wire, and her caring nature made it hard to be reminded of Dopey for long.

"Take this."

I looked down at her outstretched hand. Within her palm, there was a wrapped up toffee, or adopt looked from the outside. I took it, reluctantly unwrapping the colourful candy paper, leaning against the wall still. Wire watched me intently. I saw that within was actually a toffee. When I looked up at Wire, she shrugged. "Sugar helps." I didn't question it, popping the sweet candy into my mouth, the chocolate melting on my tongue, delectable and warm.

Hey, even in a slightly panicked state, I knew chocolate and loved it.

After a few moments, Wire pulled me up. "Does that happen to you often?" She asked lightly. I didn't want to talk about it, but she was our Healer. I had to. "Not really. It's started this year. A lot of weird things have...I've noticed."

I thought back to the llamas who'd seemed to be kidnapping me before Frost woke up. That had been two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago since Frostbite made me promise I wouldn't tell, which I obviously wouldn't. I wasn't stupid.

Two weeks, since Squad 1 became a Squad. Two weeks since we first fought together.

In two weeks, way too much had happened.

"Yeah." Wire agreed, leading me towards the MedRoom. "Let's see our self-proclaimed Satan, huh?" I asked, trying in vain to lighten the mood. But Wire understood, and met me halfway. "Yup. That works pretty well as a nickname. A lot Bette than Sin."

"I know, right?"

-----

Ayeeeeee. Another chappieeeeeee u love meeeeeee.

Heheh.

Hm, updated ADKL just now. Check it out if you want. Remember to share this book through social media and recommend it if you think it earns a spot in the 2015 Wattys Awards!

Yup, whatchu think of Shift's memory? And what is up with this year?

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Find out next time on:

WE DON'T WEAR TIGHTS.

Hah, Kay, love ya, you dove childs.

~Dexx