"Are you okay?"

"..."

"JT!"

"...Kai?"

"Are you okay?"

"...Kai...I'm sorry, Kai. I'm sorry it has to end like this."

"...It doesn't have to end like this. I won't let it.

Not after all we've been through..."

Kai walked into class that day, as he had many times before, smiling. Everyone had seen his smile before. It was a twinkling reminder of why Kai Lambert was the Prince of Warner High.

A girl turns to him, bidding him a good morning. He smiled, ran his fingers through his hair, and held a large, long box in his hands, quietly responding. "Good morning." "What's the box for?"

"Today is JT's birthday."

"...Oh." The girl slowly walks away to her gaggle of friends, whispering in the distance. Kai already knew why. He bowed his head in disgust. It wasn't fair. He hated being who he was, especially at this moment. Prince of Warner High. These people look up to me, and yet...they shun him.

JT Corvin.

JT, the loner. JT, the creep. JT, the outcast. No one even knows what he did wrong at his old school, in his old town. They just shun him.

The door slid open once again. There he was. He was tall, about six feet, attired completely in black - shirt, pants, and a long, flowing black jacket with a collar covered in a gray, furry material. His long jet-black hair fell to his shoulders, with a lengthy braid on the right side of his face. The room fell silent.

Kai stood face to face with him, an extensive contrast - his shorter blond hair, reaching only to about his neck; his smaller stature of 5'8 causing him to look up at JT, with his big, bright green eyes staring straight into the sorrow of JT's gray-blue. He put his hand on his shoulder. "Happy birthday. This is for you."

Everyone else was staring quietly. JT shot a glance around the room, and the others returned to their activities.

Kai took the box out of his hands and gave it to JT, smiling. "I figured you would appreciate this." JT took the top off, and his eyes grew with surprise. In the box was a sword, resting comfortably in a leather scabbard. JT slowly unsheathed it, revealing a keen blade of a black color, with a pattern made of ovals engraved on it. Its grip was formed like an angel with extended wings. JT silently thought to himself: Say it.

"I know how much you love these. It was nearly impossible to get it in the school, and I know I wouldn't see you tonight because of work, I had to do a little persuading."

It was the most beautiful piece of weaponry JT had ever laid eyes upon. "I don't know what to say."

"Thank you?"

A small smile crept upon JT's face. "Thank you."

"Now, quick, you better hide that, Mr. Thompson is coming."

JT nodded and placed the sword back into the box, sitting in the desk beside Kai.

Damn it. You have to say it, JT. Quit hiding it. JT fought with his mind, trying to turn his attention to the pencil and paper on his desk where he began to doodle.

"Kai...I need to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"I-"

JT was interrupted by a man, dressed in a gray, button-up shirt and gray pants, walking into the room. His hair was of a shiny, blue-black sheen and he wore small glasses. This was not their teacher.

"Hello. Are you our substitute?" a girl in the back of the class asked.

The man laughed to himself briefly, then smiled heartily at the girl. "No. No, ma'am, I am not. I am here, however, to inform you, that your instructor Mr. Thompson is...dead." There was a disturbed chatter amongst the students at this news, quickly silenced by the loud cocking of a gun. "And unless you do as I say," the man's voice grew louder, "you all will be next."

There were screams throughout the classroom.

"Who are you? What do you want from us?" Kai's voice was shrill. There was a general murmur of concern as the school's alarm went off in the background.

"Experiment 363."

"What?"

"He is one of you, and he is here."

"What are you talking about, this doesn't make any -”

BANG. A shot in the back of the class. The girl that Kai talked to when he had walked in, now on the floor in a puddle of blood.

"363!" the man barked. "Come with me now, and no more of the innocent people will die."

"The only person killing these innocent people is you," Kai yelled.

"QUIET!" The man aimed his gun at Kai, finger rubbing against the trigger. JT's eyes bulged. The bullet trailed out in slow motion to his eyes. Kai attempted to dodge, but he was still hit in the arm by the shot. He fell to the ground, screaming.

JT stood to his feet, seething with anger. His entire body began to tremor. He let loose a hot-blooded scream.

And then, there was a loud rip.

Two large, black, feathery wings burst forth from JT's back, tearing his black shirt into shreds, exposing his toned upper body.

"Stop it! Leave them alone. It's me who you want."

The man smiled again.

"Everyone LEAVE...NOW!" JT screamed. The room quickly emptied, with only JT, the man, and Kai, withering in pain, remaining. JT turned to Kai, examining his arm. No blood? The bullet - where was --?

Kai was crying; his eyes closed tightly as he shivered in shock. He slowly emptied his left hand, the metal bullet clanging to the ground. He caught it?

"363. You must-"

"My name is NOT 363."

"You must come with me."

"NO!"

BANG. The man tried to shoot JT's bare chest, but he quickly blocked the bullet with a wing. JT grabbed the box containing the sword, and fumbled to quickly grab it. He whipped it out and pointed the blade towards the man. Suddenly, the man's jaw began to drop. "Albadora." He pocketed his gun and began to run out of the room. "This isn't the end of this!" He called as he ran down the hall.

JT stood, stunned. Albadora?

Kai groggily rose to his feet.

"Kai!"

JT ran back over to his best friend.

"JT...What...?"

"I don't...I don't understand."

"Are you hurt?"

"I..." Kai slowly touched his upper body and then replied in a surprised tone, "No."

JT opened the large window of the building and sat upon the windowsill, staring at the sky. "I--" He started quietly and then stopped himself, not knowing exactly how he should go on. "When I was thirteen years old, I woke up in my bed one night and...my back was in horrible pain. There was blood all over my bed sheets and I was crying, horrendously. I felt something sticking out, I didn't know what it was; I thought it might have been a bone, honestly, I really didn't even know...so...I looked up at my mirror, and--" A tear began to form in the corner of his eye.

"There they were."

Kai looked on in awe. Never before had he imagined something like this, especially upon his best friend. "Do they still--"

"--hurt? No, not anymore. It takes a lot of control to keep them in. It's really hard for me to do, but I managed well for four years...well, today notwithstanding."

Kai reached out and softly touched JT's left wing. They suddenly retracted quickly, leaving two long red marks on his back. Kai pulled his arm back in reflex, then began to speak.

"No. But he isn’t the first, and he won’t be the last. I need to go."

"Go??"

"Away. The police are going to look in this, and something tells me they are going to want to know about the freak with the wings." He started toward the door.

"Hey, wait-- where are you going to go?"

"I don't...I don't know." He twisted the knob slowly.

"WAIT!"

JT looked face to face to his friend once more. They were as different as black and white, yet he felt that he understood him so much, which is why he could predict the next words out of Kai's mouth.

"I'm coming--"

"No."

"But, JT--"

"I said no. I can't let you get involved in this."

"J, I'm already involved in this." Kai touched JT's shoulder; in turn, he reeled away from him.

"No, Kai. You don't understand. This is bigger than both of us. And I can't let you get hurt again."

"I'm fine, JT. Really."

JT was no longer listening to his best friend's pleas. He began to walk out the door.

"I'm coming with you."

"You're not--"

"I said I'M COMING WITH YOU!"

"NO, YOU’RE NOT!" JT screamed. Kai was taken aback. "Please," JT pleaded. "Go home, Kai."

A tear began to roll down Kai's cheek. JT sighed deeply, mad at himself. He continued toward the door, but was suddenly stopped by the sound of a quick lurch in the background and a loud slam against the back of his head. JT landed to the ground, quickly blacking out.