Seltron Super Academy Chapter 13

Sound sleep again eluded me. Breaking my schedule, I tried sleeping in as the days went on, in the hopes that that would help. It didn’t. If anything, I just felt more tired as the nights passed restlessly. The focus of the nightmares remained elusive, but I could start to pick a few more horrible details from it with each night. It was some force, some evil oppressive thing chasing after me.

By the end of the weekend, I tried shifting forms to see if any of those would lighten the pressure building in my mind. None of them worked, not even when I got desperate enough to try and use my original body. I made sure to block out the cameras and any sensory equipment in the room first, just in case. I can’t use it constantly here, however much that might put my mind at ease, or I’m sure the teachers would check and get suspicious why just the cameras in my room weren’t working. Still, so long as I only need it for a night’s sleep…

I grew a few inches, lengthened out my hair, and lightened it to a light brown. My face grew softer, and vision became blurry a couple feet past my eyes. Some of my muscle was converted to fat, and my bones shifted slightly for a more barrel-chested build. I opened my pale green eyes and looked at myself in the mirror for the first time in... ages.

Exactly as I remembered myself at 21 years old, my first body. I’d say I missed it, but I really don’t. The smile lines of how carefree, how foolish I had been. To not scowl and prepare for the worst. The slight flabbiness of how I hadn’t honed myself to be the best, hadn’t realized how dangerous everything was. It was a miracle I lasted as long as I did after his betrayal. Remember the color of her eyes and how Gunther had-

My hand was clenched in a fist, cocked and ready to strike at the mirror, but I stopped at the last moment. I took a deep breath and let go. These memories do me no good, and the form brings no relief. I thought that perhaps I had been in disguise for too long, but this doesn’t feel right. Somehow I can tell that trying to sleep in it won’t change a thing. Resuming my teenage form, I let go of my power, disrupting the cameras.

A whole day had been wasted for nothing. Also, I was remarkably hungry and even more frustrated for feeling like I had wasted a free day in my room without any improvement or homework done.

No one came by, I realized as I grabbed dinner from the cafeteria. The free day really was free... to waste away like I had. I was slightly surprised that neither Alex nor Trevor had come by or anyone else, but we mostly just fell into groups as happenstance while studying. Alex was her cheery self at dinner time, though she was finished fairly soon after I arrived due to how late I was. Trevor caught my eyes for a moment then averted them as he left the cafeteria. I should deal with that... later. I’ll deal with it later.

By the time classes with the two of us rolled around the next day, I couldn’t be bothered to do much more than to get a rather unconvincing agreement on the boy’s part that Alex hadn’t been trying to hurt him and that everything was ‘all good’ between them. She, at least, was quite happy with that, dragging us both into a quick hug (not noticing the absolute terror in the young boy as she did so). Then class started, and we all had to focus on school.

Restless nights continued, and staying up all night wasn’t helping me any. I was still getting tired, possibly even more so than with the nightmares. The images were clarifying too, of some ‘person,’ however terrifying they might be, not a force or some existential threat. But who could it be? The person, whoever they are, doesn’t feel like me, or some representation of my past, and as much as I’ve been cautious around Null, my fear of him has never truly given way to my loathing of the man. Even the Miracle Squad and Diablotrix never inflicted this much terror in me.

With nothing working and no answers to be found in the nightmares themselves, I went to the staff for some help, hoping they would know something.

They did not. The teachers weren’t helpful at all, telling me to ‘relax, take a load off’ or ‘clear your mind by going for a jog’ when I first asked. As if I’m overworked or exercise would help a shapeshifter! I’ve even been slipping behind in my schoolwork from my schedule thanks to this development.

That was not too great a concern for the moment. I already had a regular high school education many times over, so catching up would be simple, but I didn’t like the precedent. The only major differences here are the greater focus on Emps and criminals, and there’s little to be said about that at the moment. 

Despite the Miracle Squad being fractured in more ways than one, the remaining three are still enough to ward off any major demonic attacks in the Empire. The only criminal of note is some thief called Levi Dare, and it was hard to say if they’ve even stolen anyone else’s powers, or what they are exactly, just that some of the robberies were reported to not be ‘physically possible,’ whatever that meant.

At least I can remember that much. Yawning, I went and asked for some headache medicine at the nurses office but found that they were out, somehow. When I pressed the nurse (I couldn’t be bothered to remember her name, just that she wasn’t the teacher literally named Nursegirl), the old woman eventually revealed that other students had come by begging for headache medicine too.

I dragged myself through the classes of the next week with growing irritation, still refusing to let the signs of fatigue show on me like they did on my classmates. Janet Fontaine opened up her office partway through the week to try and help students with her powers, but the problems persisted.

Asking around had other students snapping at me, and, paragon of patience that I was, I managed to not bite their heads off in return, no matter how tempted. Dryden Vor was the one who finally revealed that I wasn’t the only one having problems sleeping; he and ‘a couple buds’ were having some nightmares. It was obvious by mid-week that everyone, or almost everyone, was affected. A few students questioned me as I investigated, wondering how I was dealing with it so well (I didn’t tell them anything, reveal any weakness that I was hiding my haggardness through my shapeshifting, and just smiled like I was above it all).

Seven, being a robot, had reported, ‘No issues in my downtime cycles!’ The teachers were tight-lipped on the subject, but I was certain that Gunther at least wasn’t affected. Nothing but the inexorable march of time slows him down, and even that barely at all. Also, Alexandra was fine as well, oddly enough. The winged girl was as perky and upbeat as ever, while I could barely be bothered to fix my face up every morning and act like nothing was affecting me. Her presence grew more and more grating.

Towards the end of the week, I overheard some teachers whispering about the idea of shutting the school down for a bit to figure out what was going on, a theory being that there was something in the air or vents that was causing the issue. They were just whispering because, of course, the ‘great’ Gunther Kiren refused to hear such talk and wanted everyone to follow his lead. I assume that’s why they’re whispering together in deserted corridors at least. From what I could gather, Gunther believed that the students were obviously ‘just unused to Seltron’s environment and needed to shape up.’ The only bright point of light amidst all of that talk was that the other teachers appeared to be just as unhappy with the headmaster’s stance as we were.

The vents were not the issue, as I found out after a restless (and uncomfortable) night in the forest. That actually took a bit of doing, as there were a number of guards and security systems to bypass at night, and all I learned was if it was something in the air, it was affecting the whole island. Maybe something is glitchy with the force field around the island? I could hardly bear to think about it more as classes beckoned, and I dutifully attended and took notes.

Somehow Friday had rolled around again, but no one was in any mood to party this time (even if most of them hadn’t been caught and given a detention last time), everyone turning in early. It didn’t help, of course, but there didn’t seem to be any other choice, and the school still had a curfew, so if we were going to stay up all night, we might as well do it in our rooms.

I watched the clock on my bedside slowly flick through the minutes as I lay there, exhausted, when a video call came through my phone. I checked it and saw that it was Willow and Jarred, and I switched back to a form similar to what I had around them before I answered.

I put on my best ‘cheerful and enthusiastic’ face for the short call we had, talking a bit about how things were at the school. A few lies about how I’d made a bunch of friends, everyone was nice, and the teachers were great to put them at ease. I didn’t reveal the problems I was having sleeping. They had already been leery of letting me go to Seltron. I’m not going to give them an excuse to try and pull me out or anything. Maybe I’ve had a few issues here, but my best shot at fulfilling my dream is still here - I can’t let anyone get in the way of that.

I ended the call after not too long, citing homework and wanting to get a ‘good night’s sleep.’ Hah! What a joke. The call reception wasn’t that good either, splotchy and cutting out in places. It was honestly kinda amazing it got through at all with the interference around the island; SuperTech products really were incredible. With that done, I drifted off to sleep, praying that I’d finally get a dreamless night...

I saw the figure again, marching towards me, but this time in crystal clear focus. She stood, taller than I remembered her, with her white wings spread out full, like an angel descending upon me. The blood splattered across her, contrasting that image, as did the bodies of my classmates strewn about. Alexandra looked at me dismissively as she approached, taking a second to casually rip Trevor’s head off from his body, showing barely any effort.

Guards ran forwards with guns and clubs, all bouncing harmlessly off of her. I stood, frozen in place, trapped by this nightmare and overcome with terror like I’d never felt before. She stopped beside me with a wicked grin, whispering in my ear, “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill all of you, and there is nothing you can do to stop me. If you don’t strike first, this will be your fate.” Then she plunged her hand through my chest, ripping through it like tissue and pulling out my still beating heart. I could practically see the power drawn from it as she twisted and deformed into a demon, horns sprouting out from her head and growing in size as my own vision went dark...

My eyes snapped open in the middle of the night. I had to go. Leaving my room, I marched over to Alexandra’s door, hearing a small ‘thud’ within. This was where my goal was. (Odd, my headache is gone now).

The door slid open with a ‘whoosh,’ and there stood Alexandra, her hands bloodied as she stood over another student, a bit of the red staining his brown hair. She was wearing a pair of fluffy white and pink pajamas with holes cut out for her wings. The winged girl turned around at the sound, her eyes wide with shock.

“Camila! I’m so glad you’re here,” my target said in a desperate, whiny voice. “I- I was just about to go to bed, and then he was there and attacking me, and I tried to question him, but he wouldn’t answer and just started grabbing at me and-” she looked at her bloodstained fist. “I didn’t kill him!” She tried excusing her actions for some reason. I took the opportunity to step closer, calmly, not wanting to cause her to panic. It will make it easier to take her out if she doesn't know what is coming. “He was just making these sparkles, and I couldn’t see, and I punched him, and he hit his head, but his breathing is steady.” Ah, that must have been Robert then, I distantly noted.

“Calm down,” I said, stepping closer still, formulating an attack. “It’s going to be alright.” This didn’t seem to calm her down, and she turned away, almost hyperventilating.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no. Everyone’s going to think I’m a monster and a demon, and then I’ll get expelled. Should we call headmaster Kiren?” The Herron girl asked, turning back around, and the words stopped me like a bucket of cold water to the face.

“No,” I hissed out, hunching up my shoulders and looking around, as if the mention of his name would summon him. I can’t have him coming here. Not now! If I have to fight both Alexandra and him- wait, I should use Alexandra’s power to fight him. Maybe she could help me kill him. But that wasn’t my orders... why do I need to kill Alex now? She could still be useful, or her power at least.

Kill her.

“No. I can’t kill her yet.”

“Uh, Cam? You’re scaring me a bit,” Alex said, taking a step back. “You- you aren’t talking about trying to kill me too, are you?” I peered up at her blue eyes, and two conflicting desires struggled in my head. The headache I felt before came back at full force and then some, the piercing pain driving me to my knees.

Alex was there in a flash, her wings surrounding me as she reached to feel my forehead. “Are you ok? I can take you to the nurse- no, Miss Fontaine will be faster; just hold on.” She’s open, as vulnerable as someone like her will ever be. If you let her live, it’ll end like the dream, her ripping your heart out of your chest.

And I’m supposed to blame her for that? Seems a tad unfair, besides, I don’t even keep my heart there. Wait-what am I- Who is-? Thoughts swirled around in my head, leaving me confused and disoriented.

The voice in my head demanded I strike, take my target out before Alex could recover. But there was a different voice that whispered to hold back, not to attack. I might have been overwhelmed and given in to the demands had this been the first time I had felt like this, but it wasn’t. My mind flashed back to overseas in Flemance over two decades ago…

***

Control had caught up with me. How? I didn’t know, just that suddenly, at the end of the street, there she stood, dressed in her usual black and blue jumpsuit with red trim. The crowd that had filled the space between us was suddenly gone, and I tried to move my head, to lock on to one of them and escape, but I couldn’t move. Couldn't blink. Couldn’t do a damn thing, not even ‘think’ and activate my power, especially not to get at Control. It was finally over.

I might have accepted that and simply been put down, my mind unable to resist the overwhelming mental compulsion of Control, like all the demons and monsters the Miracle Squad had stopped in the past- it wasn’t a terribly surprising end, I thought. But then he strode up in front of me, blocking my sight of the hero. Gunther. My vision narrowed further, rage consuming me as he stood there, his back turned to me as he argued with Control about something. Did he want to be the one to end me? Like he had any right to, after all the other deaths he had caused. What he had done to our team, our friends!

The hatred flowed through me, and for one glorious moment it was broken, or maybe just loosened. I didn’t know and wasn’t sticking around to find out. I wrenched my head to the side, found another civilian, down over three blocks to the side, and I was gone.

***

It was like breaking through a dam; the pressure released on my mind as I broke free from the control the dream master had on me. I’m free, no need to take insane orders like attacking Alex for no good reason. I- where am I? I wondered as I came out of my thoughts and back to my surroundings.

I found myself jiggling roughly, up and down, the steel-framed corridors and doors passing by. “Put me down.” Alex didn’t seem to hear me, so I pushed myself out of my friend’s grip. “Enough!”

“Camila?” Alex asked as the girl tumbled to the ground, then slowly picked myself up.

“Ugh, I’m good. Well, I feel like wanting to vomit from the pain of that mental attack, but I’m in my right mind. Something, or someone rather, was trying to get me to attack you.”

“What? That- that would make sense for why Bob tried that then- oh! I totally forgot to get help for him. But why you two? And why would someone want to attack me?”

I shook my head, trying to clear it. The headache was gone, and my mind felt clearer than it had been in a couple of weeks, the pain disappearing and clarity returning to my thoughts. “I had a headache. From the lack of sleep and nightmares, I thought, but what if that was a symptom of it? Of an ability being used on us.”

“I didn’t know; you always acted so composed...” Alex nods her head at my idea. “That could be it. Wait a moment, it wasn’t just you and Bob having trouble sleeping, though; pretty much everyone other than myself was...” Her voice trailed off as we heard a door open down the hallway. Then another, and another, more doors opening by the second and students pouring out. They still seemed a little disoriented, but a few of the first ones were starting to look our way.

“Alex, run,” I said, and the two of us took off down the side hallway, the rest of the class charging after us.