Red clouds floated lazily above the bruised boy lying in the courtyard. Breathing heavily, the boy stared at the sky, collected his thoughts, and slowly rose onto his feet. Moving his gaze downward, Leobell watched as the wind slowly blew his scattered papers around. Sighing, he moved to collect them before his class started.
Maybe if he was lucky, he'd get there before the bell rang. Rushing as quickly as possible, Leobell passed students and classrooms until he reached room 3E. Slamming the door open, Leobell stepped into the classroom right as the bell rang.
As he stood in the doorway, panting, Leobell became acutely aware of everyone's eyes on him. The teacher turned towards the black haired boy and gestured for him to take his seat. As the older man continued his lecture, Leobell took his seat at the back of his class and tuned in to the words of his teacher.
"As you all should know, today will be your last day in this school. You should have already awakened your cicatrix and are prepared to enter the military school and be drafted into the war against the Kosm." As his teacher droned on and on about the specifics of history they had already covered, Leobell turned his gaze out the window back to the crimson sky as he dreamed of the day he would awaken his cicatrix. A sudden slam on his desk startles the dreaming boy and brings him back to reality as his teacher stands in front of him. "Now then, Leobell. I'm led to understand that you are the only student in this class who still hasn't awakened your full cicatrix. I want you to understand that life will be very hard for you if you cannot awaken it. Before you leave school today, I want you to visit every club and try everything you can to awaken."
As the meek boy nods at his teacher, the bell rings to release him from the misery of having all eyes on him. Sighing, Leobell stood from his desk only to be cornered by the three boys who had made his life hell for the past six months.
The largest of the three stepped forward and pushed Leobell's shoulder while saying, "I thought I told you not to show up here, freak. Is a beating not enough for you to realise how useless you are?" As the short boy tried to stutter out a response, he was cut off by a rock slamming against the back of his head, making him stumble forward. Slamming into the large boy's posse, he felt his arms being grabbed as he was lifted from the ground.
As the largest boy starts to walk away, he calls back to his two lackeys, "Rick, James, follow me, I have an idea for what might get the idea through this freak's thick skull." As he was being carried away, Leobell began to kick and struggle as he realized where they were taking him.
Kicking open the door, Rick and James carried the slight boy into the men's bathroom, stopping right before the first stall and dropping Leobell there. As an iron grip seized the back of his neck, Leobell began to beg, "Please, please, please don't do this, I won't bother you guys again, please, Jerry, let me go!"
Laughing at his victim's pleas, Jerry dragged the puny boy before him into the stall and held his head above the porcelain throne. As Leobell struggled to hold his head away from the water, his captor began to speak again, "This isn't about you bothering us, weaklings like you shouldn't even exist to begin with. We're just cleaning up the trash in our society." Laughing, Jerry began to push harder on the wide-eyed boy's neck, forcing him closer to the water as he mocked, "Look, you're even so weak that you need my help to even get a little drink of water. Don't worry, I'm so nice that I'll help you take a nice long gulp."
As his nose was about to touch the water, Leobell lashed out with his legs, clipping his captor on the side of his leg and forcing him to release his grip. Scrambling to his feet, he is suddenly stopped by the two other boys as Rick asks, " Well, now where are you going?" Grabbing the younger boy's shoulders, James twisted the boy around to face into the stall. Jerry, finally regaining his feet, marched over to Leobell shouting, "Now you're going to pay, you little freak!" Reaching into his pocket, Jerry brought out three steel marbles, which began to float around his hand. As Jerry forced his hand forward, the marbles flew forth with an intense force and slammed into the weak boy's stomach, forcing all the air out of his lungs as he threw up. Before Leobell could even catch his breath, the marbles flew out again, this time slamming into his face.
As blood dripped down from his nose, Leobell began to hear a peal of deep, mocking laughter. Sooner than he could identify where it was coming from, a burst of pain came from the back of his head, and he began to fall. As the world seemed to slow, Leobell soon started seeing memories that were both his and not. Memories of a future where he continued to be weak, never awakening, going through his military service, being bullied by those stronger than him before eventually dying on the field in an extremely painful way.
Suddenly, a deep voice spoke straight into his mind, "You small pathetic being, even by the standards of your own people, you are weak. Is this how you wish to live?"
As his head struck the ground, Leobell instinctively answered emphatically, "No! I want to be strong, I want to be more!". As if amused by this answer, the laughter returned this time more comforting than before, "Well said, boy, I find your answer to be entertaining and as such we higher beings have decided! You shall join us as a jester, our very own fool ascended!"
The last thing Leobell heard before passing out in a pool of his blood was the deep reverberation of tower bells.