It was Leo.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Leo broke into his familiar wide-eyed grin.
"I knew it," he said, shaking his head as he closed the distance. "I knew you wouldn't die on me. You stubborn piece of shit."
Xaden let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
"Come on, you really think Threshing's enough to get rid of me?" Leo chuckled as he wrapped an arm around Xaden, who pushed it away.
Xaden fell into step beside Leo, the noise of Echelon rising back around them—metal against metal, bursts of energy, voices layered over one another, the chaos of excited teenagers stumbling through newly awakened abilities. The numbers were way less than they were back in the Arena. Out of perhaps a hundred or so candidates, only a bit more than half of them had survived the first Crucible.
A shout rang out nearby. A boy stumbled back as his hands sparked uncontrollably, arcs of electricity snapping between his fingers. A female officer grabbed him, yelling at him to focus before he fried someone.
His eyes searched around to see if anyone he remembered from the Arena was present. He spotted the creepy girl who had approached Leo and him earlier, a little further away, sitting atop a table, eyes observing the candidates, a sly smile on her face. She saw his eyes on hers and waved rather excitedly.
Xaden looked away.
"So," he said lightly, hands tucked behind his head like nothing in the world had changed, "on a scale of one to completely fucking insane… how bad was it?"
Xaden let out a quiet breath through his nose. "Completely insane sounds about right."
Leo snorted. "Yeah. That tracks."
A pause.
"What did you see?" Leo asked casually.
Xaden glanced at him.
Leo wasn't looking back. His gaze was fixed ahead, his expression relaxed—but there was something in the way his shoulders held, just slightly tensed, that made him wonder...
Xaden looked away.
"Doesn't matter," he said. "Got through it."
Leo nodded once. "Yeah. Same."
Leo kicked lightly at the ground as they walked. "Mine was kinda weird though. A lot of these small creatures. Fast, annoying as fuck."
He arched a brow. "And?"
Leo grinned, a bit of his usual energy slipping back in. "I burned them."
Xaden huffed, feeling a rush of malice towards his own crucible that felt like it had been handcrafted by the Devil. "Convenient."
Leo shrugged, turning away to look towards a commotion caused by a girl yelling at some guy who had made her wet. With water he had been wielding, of course.
There's something Leo wasn't saying. "But?"
Leo's grin faltered for half a second.
"—No 'but,'" he said, waving it off. "That was pretty much it. Run, burn, don't die. You know, the usual."
Xaden's gaze lingered on him, not just because that wasn't the usual but because of the way Leo's green eyes shied away from Xaden when he spoke. He didn't push. Didn't ask. But he noted it anyway. Filed it away right along with the other questions he had in his head.
Something clearly wasn't right, but then again, neither was his own story.
"So," Leo said, glancing sideways at him again, a curious glance in his eyes, "what about you? What'd you get?"
For a second, Xaden hesitated.
"That's the thing," he shrugged. "Nothing."
Leo blinked.
"…What?"
"No activation," he responded. "No ability."
Leo stopped walking.
"That's not funny," he said.
"I'm not joking."
Leo stared at him, searching his face like he expected a punchline.
When it didn't come, something shifted in his expression—confusion, disbelief… and something else. Something tighter, like he just realized something.
"That's… not possible," he frowned, studying Xaden's face.
"Damn," Leo muttered, shaking his head. "That's—"
A loud crack split the air.
A girl screamed as a surge of energy burst outward from her, slamming into the ground and knocking her flat. Two soldiers moved instantly, grabbing her before she could even react, dragging her away as she struggled.
The noise in the hall dipped slightly.
Leo watched it happen, jaw tightening for just a moment before he forced a grin back onto his face. "Well," he said, bumping Xaden's shoulder, "guess I'll have to carry us both."
"Don't."
"I'll even let you hide behind me when things get scary."
Xaden rolled his eyes.
"I'd rather take my chances with the murderous beasts."
"That hurts."
Despite himself, Xaden felt the corner of his mouth lift slightly. It was easy to fall back into this. Xaden could almost imagine they were going to have another normal day in town, using up the last bit of money he had made in the morning from selling his meat to get a new bow and arrow set before consuming a hearty dinner.
Speaking of which, he wondered where the ones he had were.
But the thing was, things probably weren't going to be the same again. Minus the weight of things left unsaid between the two of them, things were way different from what they were before.
Xaden's expression hardened, "Don't tell anyone."
Telling people he was without an ability would be like placing a giant target sign on his back. One, he wasn't really willing to risk.
He didn't really want to lie to Leo. After all, it was partially because of him that Xaden had been able to survive as long as he did on his own. But he didn't really want to implicate him in his matters since it was obvious he had problems of his own.
Besides, how was he going to explain the hum under his skin? The voice in the cosmos that had promised a reunion. Xaden hadn't even tried out his powers yet. He just needed to find the right time.
His gaze shifted, scanning the upper levels of Echelon.
Lieutenant Ryven was nowhere in sight.
Don't tell anyone what truly happened in your Crucible.
The words echoed in his head. Was that the reason Ryven had personally come to collect him from the hospital? To specifically relate to him that information. After all, he had never heard of an officer coming to escort a mere candidate anywhere—especially one with a high enough rank as Lieutenant.
Leo opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything else—
A sharp sound cut through the air.
"Candidates!" A voice rang out in Xaden's head, similar to the one who had called them during Threshing.
All heads turned.
Movement stilled.
An officer stood on an elevated platform across the hall, his presence alone enough to draw attention.
"All candidates are to assemble immediately!"
The tone left no room for hesitation.
Around them, people began to move toward the center of the hall.
Xaden and Leo moved side by side, along with the others, towards where the burly man stood with his arms crossed over his chest.
"I am Sergeant Barrow," he said, his voice cutting clean through the last remnants of noise. "And over the next few days, the only hope of your survival."
A few uneasy glances were exchanged among the candidates.
Barrow let the silence stretch just long enough to settle in their bones before continuing.
"The First Crucible was designed to awaken your abilities. Some of you succeeded." His gaze swept across them, sharp, assessing. "Some of you barely crawled out alive."
His eyes locked on Xaden, and he could've sworn there was a scowl on his face. Perhaps all the officers knew about his being without an ability.
A faint shift rippled through the crowd.
"The Second Crucible," he went on, "is designed to test your minds."
"Out there," he gestured vaguely upward, toward the unseen beyond, "strength will fail you. Power will betray you. And when it does…" his voice lowered slightly, colder now, "what's left is what decides whether you live or die."
First Crucible awakens your ability.
The second tests endurance.
The third proves whether you're worthy enough to be a soldier.
Barrow clasped his hands behind his back, posture rigid.
"Panic. Fear. Pain. We strip you down to the point where your instincts take over. And then we see what kind of person crawls back out."
Silence.
"Some of you won't."
Barrow's gaze hardened.
"Those who do…" he paused, letting it hang, "might just earn the right to become a warrior of mankind."
A beat.
"Those who don't," he paused, a savage look swept across his face, "will end up dead."