The Fallen Soul

Following Mrs. Young to the classroom the class was quick to find their seats. Nathan was seated in the very middle of the room, in the third seat from the front and both sides. Mrs. Young noticed that all the other classmates seemed to know each other, being a small town it was no surprise. “So as some may noticed we are joined with the school’s newest student, would you mind introducing yourself?”

Nathan flinched, he was always very reserved around new people. Taking a moment to collect himself he stood up, “ My name is Nathan Miles, I moved here with my parents from Georgia. My mother works at Menorah Medical Center in Kansas City, and my father is helping an old friend of his start a brewing company in Kansas City.” Nathan quickly sat down, hoping the attention would be pulled off of him now. He managed to sit on the edge of his chair, toppling over ount of his desk. Nathan knew he had to be beet red with how embarrassed he felt.

Mrs. Young laughed, “now Nathan, there’s no need to be embarrassed about being new. Which reminds me, we have some new teachers this year as well, the Band teacher is Mr. Les, don’t think you can get away with anything since he is blind. The Music teacher is Mrs. Dona, she’s deaf but she is still excellent at reading lips and body language. And then the Art teacher is Mr. Akuma, I haven’t had the pleasure to talk to him. Although the three of them seem misplaced please do make them feel welcome.” Mrs. Young sat down at her desk and pick up a small pile of papers, “now our first assignment will be for you to fill out some questions and we will share in about twenty minutes.” She passed out the papers to the class.

After the papers were filled the spent the next two hours talking about the classmates. Nathan noticed that his classmates liked to talk extensively about themselves, and his answers were rather short. ‘What is one interesting fact about your family?’ the other classmates said things like they were 3 generations away from their immigrant ancestors or they had a farm with so many animals. Nathan’s fact was that his families had been chased out of Europe because of their insanity. ‘Where is your favorite spot to have vacation?’ these answers were all over the map, but Nathan was the only one who said the ocean beach. Trips to the beach for Nathan were the only times he really spent time with his family. The longer they spent on these questions the shorter his answers got, he knew the real schoolwork would start on the second day. Nathan zoned out while Mrs. Young talked about herself at the very end and was startled back into reality when the lunch bell rang. He followed his class to the cafeteria to get food and then they walked outside to an eating space behind the school with lots of flowering trees.

As he ate with his classmate there was a disaster waiting to happen, high above them. There was a Lockhead F-117 Nighthawk flying by on its way to Whiteman Air Force Base. one of the holdings for a BLU-109 Bomb had gotten loosened and as the Nighthawk flew over the school it dropped the bomb.

Nathan was sitting on the grass watching the sky over where his classmates were running around, they had some time left after they finished eating. He stood up as he noticed something falling and began running. Thoughts raced through his head, ‘what are you going to do?’ ‘Just die with them?’ “I have to do something… anything…” Everyone had ran towards him when they saw him move, he noticed by now that what was falling was most likely some sort of an explosive. Nathan’s adrenaline rushed through him, they were all going to die.

There was a giant snapping noise, and Nathan clutched his head, it felt as if it was splitting open. While his eyes were still open he saw a form start to appear. The form was much taller than any of them and it’s surface glistened white, bright blue fabric draped over giant muscles. It was humanoid, and its arms held a giant sphere, balanced on it’s shoulders. It stood over the class, preparing itself for when the bomb would hit. The bomb hit the sphere and was suspended inside of it before it exploded, the sphere not budging in the slightest. Nathan fell to his knees as the form started to fade, he fell forward onto the grass he heard a voice say, “I am Atlas, I shall protect and support those who need…” Nathan’s world went black as he lost consciousness. The form faded away as Nathan’s classmates looked up in awe and fear of what could have happened.

Mrs. Dona had witnessed it all and ran to Nathan as Mr. Les showed up, “Go fetch Nurse!” Her voice was high pitched and vibrant, yet it boomed as she spoke. “The rest of you need to get back to your class, we will take care of him.” She watched Nathan’s classmates shakily walk back inside the building. She knew that since the only windows were at the door she was the only witness other than those involved.

As Nathan opened his eyes he could hear an opera singer, “w-wh-what?” he looked around but he knew he was in the nurse’s office.

“HA, He’s awake… Beladona you may stop.” The Nurse, Victor, smirked, his scarred face distorting.

Nathan looked over at where the song was coming from, he saw Mrs. Dona putting her arms down. The back half of the office was sterile White, but the front where there were people Nathan could not yet recognize was draped in a blue velvet. “ugh…” Nathan grasped his head, ”...what happened?”
Victor chuckled, “well, you managed to manifest a Persona… and at such a young age, quite remarkable…”

Mr. Akuma approached Nathan, with a card in hand. Outstretching his arm he handed the card to Nathan, the artwork on the card was amazing, every intricate detail clearly defined. It was an image of the figure that appeared before he blacked out, on the very bottom it said “XII ATLAS”.

Nathan took the card and looked it over, “what is this?” It was like looking at the figure in real life, but such photographs were impossible.

Mr. Les walked towards him, managing to maneuver around Mr. Akuma flawlessly. “That is a persona card, it is of your initial inner power. Granted calling on such a power takes a severe toll on your body if the conditions aren’t proper.”

“However, in calling him out you have put you and your friends in a situation… but luckily we are here to help with these kinds of things...” Mrs. Dona’s voice was much softer now, but it still had a strange force to it. “... no doubt you have questions but I’m sure they will be answered in due time. Your parents have been contacted, however…”

“They are unable to pick me up until late… so it’s best if I just suck it up and go to class…” Nathan sighed, “its the same old story.”

“Yes, except for Victor is going to allow us to escort you home, you live less than a mile away and we aren’t actually teaching today.” Mrs. Dona smiled gently, “We only wish for you to accept the consequences of your actions. To their fullest extent, you will find that life here is going to become difficult. You are a dreamer, and have a strong desire to help.”

The three teachers assisted Nathan in preparing, Mr. Les having fetched Nathan’s backpack while Nathan was unconscious. Mr. Akuma silently led the way keeping an eye out for anything that could cause trouble. Nathan walked between Mr. Les and Mrs. Dona, wanting to ask questions, but feeling too uncomfortable.

“Don’t worry, Akuma may not be able to talk but he has sharp eyes and you’ve seen his art on the card. Although coming from me it seems unlikely. I chose to stop seeing the world, so that I could help it more. Belladonna may be deaf but, she can sense things most would never notice…” Mr. Les smirked, “you can call me Nameless outside of the classroom. I used to have a name but I found it unnecessary just like my vision.” Nameless laughed it off.
Nameless and Belladonna rambled back and forth on the walk and made sure Nathan got inside his house safely. Nathan threw his stuff down and crawled into bed, he was exhausted from everything.