A/N: Hope you guys like my rendition of you all. Trisha does =)

Chapter 3: Fathoms

Study hall was supposed to be quiet. Chris seriously needed to study for his upcoming test and he was lacking behind. And that idiot in front of him who’s trying to flirt with Rose wasn’t making things easier.

“So how ‘bout we go for a movie or something, eh? It’s been like forever since we last went out on a date,” the boy said. Chris couldn’t see Rose’s expression, but he somehow knew she was quite uncomfortable with this conversation.

And if Leon knew about this…all hell would break loose. “First of all, we never went on a date before. It was just us two ice-skating, that’s all,” Rose’s reply was, not even looking up from her book.

The boy looked at her dejectedly and tried to coax her some more. Chris was beginning to get sick of this guy.

“Aw, don’t be like that, Rose. I just wanna spend some time with you, that’s all. Come on lah,” he asked, Rose turning away uncomfortably. Usually she was a sweet girl who doesn’t like telling people off. Chris knew if it was either Trisha or Michelle getting harassed like that, this guy would be dead long ago.

Chris decided to intervene before this guy had his way. “Dude, do you know what study hall means?” Chris asked, loud enough for the boy –and everyone around him- to listen. The boy only looked at Chris with a confused expression. “What?” he asked.

“You’re supposed to read quietly, because you’re disturbing the rest of us,” Chris said politely, not wanting to start a heated argument or leave the guy in a state of stunned embarrassment the way Leon would lovingly relish.

“Oh yeah, and you should mind you own bledy business,” the boy retorted, oozing a typical Chinese-heavy accent. Some of the people around Chris and the boy –Rose included, started to hold their breaths. Another fight was bound to start.

Chris just kept silent and shook his head, willing to let this one go. Ken, however, who was sitting nearby Chris, was leering at the boy. A friend of theirs, Sebastian Chong, grabbed Ken softly by the shoulders and shook his head. “He’s not worth it,” Sebastian muttered.

A few seats away from Chris, Jason’s eyebrows were arched at a level that indicated curiosity. “Bledy? Doesn’t he mean bloody?” he asked Leon, who only laughed heartily as he took a swig from his bottle.

“That’s what happens when you study in a Chinese School for too long. You’ll never be able to speak English properly if you didn’t buck up in high school,” he said, Jason nodding in agreement.

Rose tried to concentrate on her books, trying to avoid any drama that may occur. The boy next to her was now quite agitated, furiously reading his books. Chris smirked as he knew the boy was in no mood to disturb Rose any further. Oh well. Crisis averted, anyhow. You’re welcome, Leon.

*

“I don’t believe it.”

That was an understatement, as far as Ken was concerned.

“What do you mean ‘we have to display our weapons’?” he asked the new lecturer who just entered study hall, accompanied by a very buff-looking man and a bespectacled woman. The lecturer closed his eyes, as if Ken was bellowing at him. Truth be told, he wasn’t.

“It’s standard procedure, young man. All first-years have to register their weapons with the college for cataloging and safety purposes, that’s all,” the balding lecturer said, nodding slowly at Ken, as if it would calm him down.

Ken looked at Peter who was behind him, as if he had the answers to all of this. Peter just shrugged, nudging his head at the lecturer’s direction, silently telling Ken to concentrate on him instead.

“Alright, now when I call your names, you will come out and summon out all your weapons onto this table and explain which category they fall into. Do you all understand?” the lecturer asked, some of the students murmuring a pale “Yes sir.”

“Very good. Now, the first student…” the lecturer said, looking at the secretary who took out her laptop, nodding at him. “Adam Mutumayam,” she said, the first student standing up to walk to the front lecturing desk.

Jason discreetly summoned his sword under the desk, inspecting it for a split second before withdrawing it. He kept it maintained well, so he didn’t need to worry about any scratches or embarrassing dents in it.

From his position, Jason could see Trisha inspecting her own twin pistols. He never really understood why she would carry such firearms.

“Chris and Ken Hoh please step forward,” the secretary said, both Chris and Ken looking mildly surprised. “How are C and K alphabetically adjacent?” Chris asked, some of the students laughing.

Somehow, the lecturer and secretary didn’t seem offended. Of all things, they just looked quite amused.

“We’re randomly calling in several students’ names for a wildcard value. We would explain to you why, but~ it’s classified,” the secretary said with a smile, some of the students chuckling appreciatively.

Ken walked up first, standing before the 3 college faculty members. “Please summon your weapons, one-by-one,” the secretary said, typing something into her computer. Ken took a deep breath and summoned his weapon, a sky-blue sword that looked like a mix of Chinese and English-style swords. It had a mesmerizing gold blade that made several of the students’ eyes twinkle.

“Brotherhood. A custom-made one-handed sword,” Ken explained. “And I have no other weapons to declare,” he finished. The secretary was typing hard on her keyboard, and then nodding as the lecturer took a picture of the sword. “Ok, thank you, Ken. Chris, you’re up,” the lecturer said calmly, Chris walking up as Ken withdrew his weapon and sat back down.

A gold and black bow appeared as Chris outstretched his hand, looking like a cross between a modern compound bow and a traditional one. “Highwind. A custom-made combat bow with various arrow ammunition,” Chris explained, summoning a few different arrows as well.

“Okay. Next, Jason Chua,” the secretary said, Chris returning to his seat. Several people were whispering earnestly about the rather unusual weapons they carried. Some even asked Ken and Chris where they had their weapons made. “Overseas,” was their simple answer.

Jason summoned out his broadsword, placing it gently on the desk. “Patriot. A Class-5 Hamphenshire Broadsword,” Jason explained, and then walking back as the secretary nodded.

“Benedict Au…” Peter heard the receptionist say next. Peter then yawned as he leaned back. He was quite tired from yesterday’s homework, and didn’t get enough sleep. He almost felt like skipping out on today’s classes. Almost.

Peter then decided to take a short nap. His ears were sharp enough to pick up his name if it was called by either the lecturer or the secretary.

“Eric Leong,” he heard the receptionist call after a few minutes later. Peter awoke with a dazed expression and looked over to his right. “Hey, was my name called yet?” he asked one of his long-time friends, Joash Mock. He shook his head, shrugging slightly at Peter. “Nah. Mine hasn’t been called either. Go and rest. I’ll wake you up when you’re called,” Joash offered, Peter thanking him before dozing off.

Eric, who was already in front of the desk, summoned his weapons, a pair of reversed-held swords. They curved slightly towards the edge, such that it gave Eric a lethal blow to the enemy if he swung it to their direction.

The lecturer had to back up a little as Eric swung it to his front before settling it down on the desk.

The buff-looking Schwarzenegger-wannabe flexed his arm to his back for a cautious moment, and then resumed his earlier stance, seemingly annoyed by Eric’s display. Ah, now I know what he’s here for. He’s a bodyguard, in case anything went wrong…Jason calculated.

“Redeemer. They’re a pair of Class-5 Spanish Crossblades. The design is custom-made, though,” Eric said, the keeping his blades after the lecturer took a picture of it. “Very good. Thank you, Mr. Leong. Next is…Michelle Lee,” the lecturer said, Michelle already up from her seat and walking down towards the desks.

Leon stifled a sneeze as he continued to read a manga from his seat. He knew he would take the longest time to register all his weapons, and that made him chuckle a little.

“What’s so funny about a romance manga?” Terry asked from beside him, briefly examining the pages Leon was reading. Leon shrugged and continued reading.

“Peter Lee,” he heard the secretary call out. Leon then instinctively looked at Peter, who was sitting just a few seats away from him. Luckily enough, a lecture hall was a rather strategic place to doze off, as the lecturer’s could see everyone from the elevated seats.

Leon saw Joash shaking Peter up, and he honestly couldn’t help but chuckle as Peter shot up from his sleep. “Peter Lee?” the secretary asked again, looking around for him. Peter immediately got up and walked over to the desk, rubbing his eyes as he did so.

Peter then outstretched his arm, a Japanese katana appearing in another colorful flash of light. It had a handle guard that was made out of what the boys knew was pure gold, and its blade shone like a mirror against the lights. “Sakabatou. A custom-made reversed-edge katana,” Peter said, then walking off as the lecturer took a picture and nodded.

“Trisha Teo,” the secretary said, Trisha walking down toward the desks, some shallow whispers forming. Apparently, the incident involving her, Leon and the snatch thieves was still a relevant gossip.

She stood in front with her hands raised to her shoulders, 2 pistols suddenly appearing. The pistols were slightly longer than any regular ones, and had serpentine red trimmings over its elegant black frame. The handle plates were adorned with a gold emblem that simply spelled ‘T’.

“Dawn and Dusk. 2 custom-made automatic pistols using 45-calibre pistol rounds,” she said, turning back to smirk at Leon. She was challenging him, then.

Leon nodded at her as he chuckled slightly, Trisha already returning to her seat. “Rosemund Wan?” the secretary asked, Leon’s attention suddenly turning around the whole hall. Rose stood up and walked gently towards the desk.

Once she stood there, she summoned her weapon, a staff. It had a cross on its top that was more decorative then having a religious meaning. It seemed to emit a glow from its pure white frame. Leon wasn’t sure up till this day whether it was because of the light’s reflection off its white frame, or because of something else.

“Pureheart. A custom-made mage staff,” she said, then withdrawing it as the lecturer took a picture.

“Okay. Next off, Leon Woon,” the secretary said. Leon’s heart skipped a beat as he heard his name being called out. He never did get used to being called out in public. As he walked downwards, he realized that Rose was walking upwards, and they were going to bump into each other eventually.

As Leon made eye contact with her, he nodded curtly at her as she smiled at him. A brief greeting. Nothing more, nothing less.

He walked quickly towards the front desk, not oblivious to the whispers behind him. He was used to people talking behind his back since he was much young, so this really wasn’t anything new.

Leon then summoned his sword effortlessly, laying it on the table. Just like the sword he used that day, it’s blade shone blindingly due to the light emanating to it.“Cherisher. A custom-made assault katana,” Leon said plainly.

Unlike Peter’s traditional katana, Leon’s had an oddly straight blade, and seemed like its frame was made out of carbon fiber rather than steel or iron. The secretary continued typing in as the lecturer took yet another photograph.

Leon then summoned out a silver pistol. Its muzzle was sheathed by a black plating that no one could make either head or tail of its purpose. It was about the same length as Trisha’s twin pistols, but unlike Trisha’s red handle guard, Leon’s one was a shade of jet black.

“Besie’ger. A 45-calibre assault pistol with rail-gun enhancement. Custom made,” he plainly said, some of the students’ chattering growing louder.

“Rail-gun?” the secretary inquisitioned. “A rail-gun uses magnetic acceleration to increase the muzzle velocity of the bullet. So eventhough I’m using 45-calibre pistol rounds, the final velocity of my bullet becomes stronger than a 50-calibre round,” Leon emotionlessly explained, not emitting even a hint of pride.

He did, however, turn back to give a smirk at Trisha’s direction, who narrowed her eyelids at him.

“Is that all, Mr. Woon?” the secretary asked as Leon withdrew both weapons. “No, it isn’t,” Leon plainly replied, baffling the lecturer and secretary. “You mean there’s more?” the lecturer asked. So far, no one else besides Leon has even summoned 2 weapons.

Leon then summoned his M4 assault rifle, making the lecturer back away. It was as if he never saw anything bigger than a pistol before.

“Judgment. A military-spec M4 Custom awarded to me for my service in the US Marines’ Joint Strike Force,” Leon said, laying the rifle down as some more students’ started conversing louder and louder. Even the secretary’s eyebrows disappeared beneath her fringe.

“Do we even have a catalog for assault rifles?” she asked the lecturer, who shrugged. “We do now, I guess,” he said as the students laughed appreciatively.

After a few minutes of more intense typing, the secretary nodded at Leon, who withdrew his M4 and walked back to his seat. There were just as many whispers –if not more –as he sat back down. He knew that sooner or later someone was going to ask him about his rifle.

Terry happened to be the first one. “I knew you’ve had that rifle for some time now, Leon, but I never knew you got it from the Marines,” he said, half-chuckling. Leon only shrugged, continuing to read his manga as Cheong Lung Chuin’s name got called out.

“How could you have been in the Marines? You’re only 18 this year, and you’re not even American,” one student asked from behind Leon, giving him a disbelieving look. Ah, there will always be the skeptical ones…Leon thought as he smiled curtly at the student.

“Unfortunately, my good man, there’s a lot of details about the military that are rather classified in fine details. My participation in the US Marines and the British SAS is one of them,”Leon said politely, baffling the student and several others as well.

They all then sat back in their seats, not wishing to question Leon any further. They somehow expected him to just answer them all with a simple “Classified Information,” or something. Truth be told, that was exactly what he would have said.

He noticed several people were still stealing glances at him, but he didn’t mind. Honestly, he had much more important things to worry about. He didn’t need to brag about his weapons and whatnot. What was the big deal? Having a rifle with you doesn’t prove much.

During his years Leon learned that being too enthusiastic –or kan cheong in Cantonese –was the stupidest thing one could do. So Leon tried his best to be a more stoic person when the occasions arise. Feeding his ego would do no good to him –or to others, for that matter, so he motioned to let it starve. He always made sure of that.

*

“Some people always get all the luck…” Jason muttered ruefully as the group walked into Sunway Pyramid from the front entrance, exposing them to a fleet of exotic cars that were astounding –and unattainable.

“Hey, some people have to work hard to get those cars, y’know. It’s not about luck,” Peter reasoned, Ken leering in a direction. “Oh yeah? What about him? Did he work hard for that car?” he asked, pointing to a boy that was about their age, stepping out of a Mazda RX-8, a rather beautiful girl accompanying him.

“Nah. He’s a typical spoilt brat. Not even worth our time,” Leon said, leading the pack through the main doors. He was quite thankful the college was just directly opposite the Sunway Pyramid, a leisure city in its own accord.

“Argh…man I’m beat. Please tell me we’re gonna go ice-skating?” Eric asked, the rest looking at him. “You’re tired, and yet you wanna go ice-skating? Tell me the logic in that,” Chris said, Eric shrugging as Leon, Peter and Ken laughed.

“I like it to be cold, that’s all. Besides, ice-skating doesn’t really take up a lot of energy,” Eric lightly retorted, Peter laughing harder.

“Yeah, it doesn’t take up much of your strength. But knowing you, you’ll always fall on your butt whenever you start skating. Now tell me how that doesn’t tire you out,” Peter remarked, the rest now raucously laughing, save for Eric, who only scowled at Peter.

*

Physics was a funny thing. Eventhough Leon didn’t have to learn it anymore; he still couldn’t help but admire its complexity. For example, using 2 blades that were stuck to your shoes would make you be able skate across a slippery plane of ice. Baffling, isn’t it?

Yet Peter was already skidding through the ice as if he was gliding through it magically. Leon himself could only glide through it regularly; no fancy tricks whatsoever up his sleeve –or, boot, for this matter.

“Where did you learn to ice-skate like that?” Eric asked Peter, who was now skating backwards. “Well, just apply the same agility you use when you fight. It’s not that hard,” Peter said, doing a single pirouette.

Eric shrugged and tried doing the same thing, and almost crashing on the ice, if not for him kicking himself back up. “See? Not so tough once you know what moves to use, eh?” Peter said, patting Eric’s shoulder.

Jason was actually halfway busy with his iPod as he skated. Ken and Chris were even trying to knock each other off, acrobatically evading each other as the other couldn’t help but laugh at the spectacle of stunts his friends were doing.

He decided to give it a shot, speeding halfway across the rink. He then leaped into the air, backflipping once before landing firmly on his feet, fishtailing to avoid himself from falling off.

There was a small applause as people from all over cheered Leon for his feat. He even bowed dramatically to them, Jason coming over to playfully swat Leon on the head. “Showoff,” he said, laughing along with the rest of the boys.

*

“I think I’m coming down with something…” Leon said as he walked with the rest back to the carpark. He squinted his eyes as he leaned on a car. It wasn’t his, though.

“Hey, you think you’ll be alright to drive?” Peter asked, patting Leon’s back. He nodded at Peter as the rest started to look concerned. Being unwell and driving wasn’t a good combination.

“I’m still alright, guys. I just have a lil’ fever in me, that’s all,” Leon said, standing up straight to walk on. Still, the rest felt rather concerned. They didn’t want their friend to end up in the hospital, or worse.

They bid each other adieu as they separated to the different parts of the parking lot, Leon leaning again, this time on his car. He opened the door and took something from the glove compartment. Fever medicine.

Leon then grumpily popped 2 pills into his mouth, then taking a swig from his bottle. He never liked the bitter taste of medicine. Why couldn’t they be sugar-coated? Or be in capsules?

Leon simply then got in and started the engine, turning on the headlights. As he shut the front door, Leon saw something glinting in the rubbish bin in front of his car. The headlights must be a reflection, then.

Curious, he turned off the engine and got out, intending to know exactly what that was. The street lamps already provided ample illumination, so Leon could see a smaller twinkle coming from the almost-full bin.

He spotted an emerald-colored bottle that –strangely enough- had no mouth. How the heck do people drink from it? Leon thought as he picked it up to observe it. It felt clean, wasn’t sticky or smelly. In fact, Leon could distinctively smell a hint of cinnamon and lavender.

He went back into the car with the bottle in his hands, locking himself in as he started the engine, opening the window slightly. Leon then switched the light on, inspecting it. The mouthless bottle had almost no weight. It was almost like it was empty.

He found the bottle rather interesting, so he ran his hands through it. He felt a raised area. Leon then shone some more light upon it, revealing a sentence that was written in what Leon knew was Latin.

He used to learn a little from his old commander back in the British SAS, so he tried his best to translate.

“Oh ye of old, grant me thy favors for thy deed to thee. I grant thee freedom, so thou art help-eth.”

What is this, 13th century literature? Leon thought as he rubbed the bottle again, expecting something to happen. Nothing did.

“Ah, it’ll make a nice center piece for the dining table…” Leon said, chucking it to the front passenger seat. Then as he was going to back up the car, a blinding green flash enveloped Leon, leaving him helpless in its wake.

He didn’t know what was going on. He couldn’t even think. Even as Leon shut his eyes closed, he could still see the mesmerizing emerald glow, as if he didn’t close his eyes at all. And strangely enough as it was, he kind of liked it.

A/N: There. Sorry it took so long for me to update. I really wanted to submit it yesterday, but I had a slight fever that was really getting on my nerves. I’m not making excuses! Trisha’s my witness =) But I’m better now, so there.

So I left you guys with a cliffhanger this time. Tell me what you think about it, ‘kay?

Cheers, all.