Axcel

Axcel

"I destroy the world and create it anew."

-Lelouch vi Britannia

he was destined for greatness

It all began with the boy who swiftly rose to the top of the Academy.

His name was Ellis Langlais. Nobody ever expected much from him; yet by the age of twelve he had joined the ranks of the military as a lowly but record-breaking private. He ascended the ranks quickly, receiving four promotions in the span of just two years. By fifteen he had already received two prestigious awards for his service. The media had its attention focused on him, each station vying to get a new scoop about him before anybody else could.

However.

With great power comes great responsibility, as the adage goes, and the young Langlais boy was simply not prepared to shoulder the great burden that came with being in such a position of power. Over time the news reporters began interviewing a thin and frail-looking boy who didn’t resemble a hero at all. Gradually he lost his standing in the public eye, and the name Langlais became little more than a memory.

Having worked far harder and longer than he was capable of, he often found himself bedridden and even hospitalized. He became sicklier and sicklier, until even the military began to consider him a burden and cut him loose from its health care and support.

Ultimately left to fend for himself, he lived on the streets for a while. His body and health were both damaged by the experience, and as the cold fingers of winter began to close in, he had long since resigned himself to the fact that he was going to die.

*However.*

Fate is a strange thing. People sometimes act in ways that others cannot understand, for better or for worse. It was one such occurrence that saved the young military genius's life.

but that was only the beginning

"Hey... Ellis?"

The poor boy started as a girl leaned over to try to meet his eyes. He had been sitting at his desk, head in his hands, and he had very nearly fallen asleep before she addressed him. Taking a couple deep breaths and running his hand nervously through his hair, he managed to stammer out a reply.

"Y-yeah... Decs?"

The girl grinned, setting his heart aflutter. "So you *can* call me that after all! See, I told you that you could do whatever you set your mind to." She paused. "Liiike... turning in the homework, maybe?"

He instinctively reached for his bag before smacking himself in the forehead. "I... forgot. It's at home...," he groaned, hiding his face again so he wouldn't have to look at her.

He could practically sense her shaking her head. "Now what am I going to do with you, huh? Here, look." Papers rustled, and he peered through his fingers to see her slide them onto his desk.

"My homework!" he exclaimed, flipping through it to confirm that it was, in fact, the proper assignment, all present and completed. "Why did you-"

She just winked at him, her honey-colored eyes glittering. "I noticed that you left it on the table, so I grabbed it on the way out." Her smile was overwhelming, and he closed the gaps in his fingers again.

She patted his back reassuringly. "C'mon, lighten up. You'll be fine." He listened to the *tp, tp* of her shoes on the floor as she walked away to collect the other students' assignments.

Once he was sure she wouldn't be looking at him anymore, Ellis risked staring at her from a distance. Decs's family had taken him in after he survived a horrific car crash that killed his parents. All of his memory from before that time was wiped away, and he was badly injured, so he had emerged from the experience a very scared and timid boy. But Decs had helped him through it all.

She was confident, outspoken - everything that Ellis wasn't. And he found her to be dazzling because of it.

He was nothing more than a burden to her.

As Decs finished collecting the homework from everybody, the teacher called for the class to be quiet and sit down. The other students shuffled to their spots obediently. Ellis, already at his desk, just stared out the window, ready for the day to be over already.

it would eventually destroy him

There are only five documented cases which the police was never able to solve. All five happened in recent history.

The first was the most unusual story in the history of the country. Reportedly, three people in costumes broke into a secure police zone and stole a file of confidential knowledge. The only thing is, the file was electronic, and no physical copies existed. Afterwards, all traces of the file were completely removed from the system and were never seen again.

Furthermore, the building where it was being held was completely cut off from the outside world in all possible ways. It was never discovered how the criminals reached it in the first place.

A few months later, three people entered a sealed prison zone and released five prisoners, all of which were convicted murderers. They were being held in five separate wards, yet they seemed to have been released from their cells simultaneously.

The third event occurred within the same week. One person hijacked a police car and drove it recklessly into a nearby bay. The car was quickly recovered, but no body was found inside.

Next, a package containing explosives, disguised as a federal issue of transfer orders to a group of military families, arrived on a military base and exploded. The entire compound was completely destroyed, and all of the bodies unearthed were burned beyond recognition.

Finally, yet another group of three performed an infiltration of a critical government station. While the cameras were disabled, witnesses swear that the people were seen floating above the ground and moving through walls. What they were after was not apparent, and no confirmed deaths or theft happened while they were in the building.

None of this information was ever released to the public. Those involved were forced to stay quiet on threats of imprisonment.

So much destruction. So many lives destroyed.

And it was all my fault.

we would eventually destroy him

The day passed without incident. As Ellis gathered all of his books and binders, Decs rushed out of the classroom. Probably to go to the bathroom, he figured.

The poor boy shouldered his heavy backpack, inwardly lamenting the amount of homework he'd been piled up with for the night. Math and grammar were no big deal, but the announcement of an upcoming group project in history worried him.

He waited until the classroom was mostly empty before standing up. Nervously keeping his eyes on the floor in front of his feet, he avoided eye contact as he exited the room and made his way down the hallways to the outside of the building.

He hunted for Decs, looking into rooms through the windows. He nearly panicked when a teacher closed the blinds in his face, but he couldn't find her anywhere... that is, until he rounded the corner to the back of the school.

The pale-haired beauty was huddled with two other people, a boy and a girl that Ellis didn't recognize. They were wearing the school's uniform, so they had to be students there, but he didn't understand why Decs was interacting with these people.

They were whispering, their hushed words fast and urgent. He deliberately made noise as he approached, and Decs's head snapped up as his foot slid on a particularly noisy spot of gravel.

Her eyes were wide with shock and something else, but she quickly relaxed into her usual neutral expressions. "Hey, Ellis," she greeted him. "Ready to go home?"

He nodded silently, glancing suspiciously at her acquaintances. They stared back at him with identical dark eyes framed by identical faces and identical dark hair. He could feel their gazes following him as Decs picked up her bags and motioned for him to walk away with her.

"What was that about?" Ellis asked quietly, once they were out of hearing range of the strange, unnerving twins.

"Oh, nothing much," Decs replied breezily. "We're just planning something fun for the school." Her eyes were twinkling like they did when she smiled at him, but for some reason it was sending shivers down his spine.

"Like what?" he pressed as they exited the school's front gate and turned in the direction of their house. "A prank?"

"Yep. We're totally gonna surprise all the teachers!" Decs giggled, skipping a bit as she briefly relayed their plans to him. "We're gonna set off confetti balloons in all the classrooms, with the help of a few more people. It'll be hilarious. But-" She turned to him quickly, pressing a slender finger against his lips. "You can't tell anyone!"

He blinked, his heart picking up the tempo in his chest. "Wh... why?" he breathed, meeting Decs's gaze almost straight on.

She pinned him there for a heartbeat longer. "Because it's a secret," she finally answered him. "Now come on. Let's go."

He followed her obediently, like a lost little puppy trailing his precious master.

and when the time comes

Corruption tends to be born in the light before slinking off into the shadows. Even the best intentions can have disastrous effects. That is a fact of which I am very, painfully, aware.

We began, as most do, as innocent and well-intentioned children. We were born, assigned to families, and raised as most kids are. We were not abused. We were not yelled at except in disciplinary cases. In every possible way, we had landed the best families.

However.

It did not take long before our parents discovered that we were something *other*. A mistake here, a slip-up there was all it took. One glimpse of that *strangeness* about us and we were dumped out into the cold.

Yet something drew us all together, somehow. It's not uncommon for kids to be out wandering the streets at night, regrettably. Yet the only kids who met and decided to team up were *us*, who all shared a *very* dangerous secret.

All we want is to take revenge on the people who abandoned us.

Is that too much to ask?

I don't think so.

I think that we deserve this, and so much more, as recompense for all that we have gone through and suffered at the hands of *those people*.

But the state wouldn't let us.

So we took matters into our own hands.

we will not hesitate to land the final blow

* use of simple words versus complex words. Ellis would be simple. Decs, complex. Involuce, simple. The media, complex.

(Or should Decs be simple and Involuce complex? Like "It's not her. She doesn't talk like that. She doesn't even know what an involute is!"?)