August 7th, 2:42 PM

It was Ace’s last and final year of training before he would officially be in the defense program. Like all the other trainees they made a serious commitment. They took an entire year after completing high school to finish training, many of them foregoing college entirely.

As the months got closer to January the more excited he became. He woke up earlier, ran longer, and was truly excited to be who he was always meant to be. Ace and all the others in Team 57 were at the running track.

They were expected to slowly decrease their mile time throughout the year. Ace was not the strongest of all of him, he wasn’t the tallest, but he was one of the fastest, and he took great pride that for once there was something athletic he was good at.

Ace and Fenton were helping each other do stretches on the ground, and Levi snickered at them. “Such brazen displays of PDA,” Levi sneered. Fenton didn’t like Levi. He knew exactly how to shut him up.

"I know you like his eye color best," Fenton said point-blank. Levi froze in place, and Ace was confused. Fenton stopped pushing his back and he sat up.

"What are you talking about," Ace asked.

“Ask him yourself,” Fenton said.

“Stop reading my mind,” Levi shouted.

“That’s a little rude,” Ace agreed.

“Don’t go along with him,” Fenton groaned. “Stop letting him walk all over you!”

“I’m not!”

Ace got up from the ground and wiped the dirt off his shorts.

“What do you want Levi,” Ace sighed.

“N-nothing,” Levi stammered.

Ace couldn’t understand why Levi was always bothering him and tried to avoid him as much as possible.

Someway, somehow, Levi always found him.

“Get lost,” Fenton said.

“I can stay in this spot as long as I want,” Levi replied.

He crossed his arms and glared at Fenton, who had plenty of extra ammo.

"The second favorite is a tie between hair and lips," Fenton announced.

“Shut up,” Levi screamed. “ Just shut the hell up!”

Fenton got up and knew he could either force Levi to confess or make himself look worse. Fenton was hoping he could do both at the same time.

"You know, your fantasies are nothing close to what would happen," Fenton whispered. "And that's if you ever-"

Levi punched Fenton right in the face and he went down to the ground, hard. Ace pushed Levi, but Levi stood there, like a brick wall. Levi was much taller than him, bigger than him, and Ace was now in a losing fight.

“Ignore whatever he said,” Levi shouted.

Ace didn’t care what Levi had to say, didn’t understand what Fenton was talking about, but he didn’t want anyone hurting his best friend. He decided to fight his losing battle.

No one tried to stop them from fighting. Some even cheered them on.

“Kick him in his balls, Ace,” Ryle roared.

Ace went for them, but Levi simply grabbed him by the ankle and Ace fell to the ground.

“Go for the eyes,” Candice screamed.

Ace blinked, and he reappeared behind Levi. He had the element of surprise and pushed him hard from behind. Cheers erupted as Ace now had the advantage. No one liked Levi that much, and even those that did felt that he should stop bothering Ace and Fenton daily.

Ace kicked him in the stomach and knocked the air out of his lungs.

“Don’t ever touch him again,” Ace shouted.

He kicked him over and over and loud oh’s came from the small audience.

Now the fight was no longer a simple altercation. Electricity crackled around Levi’s body, and his hair stood up from the static.

“I won’t touch him,” Levi sneered. “That seems to be your job.”

Ace tried to kick him again, but Levi grabbed his leg and let out a few volts. He didn't want to hurt him, but he wanted to show Ace that he was tougher. Ace screamed out and momentarily blacked out. He fell to the ground, and now he was completely serious about hurting Levi. Ace was convinced that Levi was making fun of him and Fenton because of Fenton’s sexuality.

“You fucking bigot,” Ace screamed. “I’ll kill you!”

“S-should we stop them,” Harmonia asked Casey.

“Let them get it out of their system,” Casey replied. “It’s either this or it just goes on forever.”

Ace jumped on top of Levi which surprised him. He was completely embarrassed and turned red from the sudden contact with Ace on top of him. The fact that they were in a fight flew right out the window as Levi, in the back of his mind wondered if his fantasy was about to unfold and if this was just the beginning of another dream he was having.

His mind wandered, leaving him wide open, and Ace punched him right in the mouth. That one punch was enough to get his mind out of the gutter, but Ace didn't stop. He punched him again, this time in the eye, and Levi screamed. He couldn't see and tried to grab for anything. He grabbed Ace's hair and pulled hard. Ace went down fast, and his head smacked into Levi’s.

They both groaned in pain and everyone laughed, their heads sounding hollow like coconuts. Before the fight could continue, someone with authority came over to stop it all.

Fleur Rosenbaum started to scream, and everyone knew they were truly in trouble. She was one of the most laid-back instructors for all the trainees. She had simply left to go to the bathroom and when she came back they were about to kill each other.

“I’ve had it up to here with the both of you,” Rosenbaum shrieked. “Every day you two are about to kill each other, or fight like an old married couple!”

Levi pushed Ace off of him and tried to do damage control, but it wasn’t going to work.

“I’m not surprised by Levi’s behavior,” Rosenbaum said.

“Hey,” Levi shouted. “What’s that-”

“But you,” Rosenbaum shouted, pointing at Ace. “I thought better of you! Tyreceus raised you better!”

“Please don’t tell him,” Ace pleaded.

“I will do more than that," Rosenbaum hollered. “When we’re done I’ll deal with the both of you .”

Ace and Levi said very few words for the rest of their exercise, and they all finished as scheduled, at 4 PM. Everyone was allowed to leave except for the two of them. Ace was quite nervous as Rosenbaum glowered down at the both of them.

“I’m very disappointed in you little ember,” she sighed.

Levi snickered at his nickname and Ace scowled at him.

“You two are going to learn a job in teamwork, ” Rosenbaum said. “Come with me.”

They walked through the Training Center, past the armory, and behind it was the storage complex.

"Every time we have people who think they can flout the rules we simply make good use of free labor," Rosenbaum explained.

She got out one of the many keys on her key ring and opened the door to the storage unit.

It said 7B in bold print.

“You’re going to organize this place, and you can’t leave until you’re done,” she commanded.

“That’s not-”

“When you’re done email me a picture,” Rosenbaum said.

She didn’t listen to Levi’s protest and walked away.

“Fuck,” Ace said under his breath. “Are you serious?”

“This is all Fenton’s fault,” Levi said.

“No, it's yours,” Ace screamed. “You’re a jerk!”

“I don’t care what you think,” Levi lied.

“Great! I don’t care what you think either!”

They stood at the entrance of the storage shed in complete silence.

Levi knew it was his fault, and that they couldn’t leave until they finished. So he sucked it up.

With a heavy sigh, he entered the large storage unit. It was dark and dusty, and only half of the lights inside worked. It seemed as if it hadn’t been taken care of in years, and many boxes and files were scattered all over.

“This is a waste of time,” Levi groaned.

Ace said nothing, came inside, and started packing the boxes. Levi didn't like the silence between them, as it felt awkward and heavy. As they were trying to make enough space to walk through the mess, a small voice called out to them.

“Over here,” it yelled. “In the back!”

Levi and Ace nearly jumped out of their skin at the sudden unfamiliar voice.

“W-what was that,” Ace asked.

“I don’t know,” Levi said. “Is this a prank? No one’s been here in ages .”

Please help, the voice said. I’m stuck behind the green boxes!

There was a tall pile of green boxes near the back of the room, and Ace and Levi looked at it, certain it was some kind of trap.

“Is this part of the punishment,” Ace asked.

Levi shrugged. “Let’s just finish packing.”

Ace ignored him and made his way through the boxes and piles of papers. Levi grumbled and followed after him, upset that Ace never listened to anything he said. They carefully moved the tall old green boxes. They towered high, and they all said fragile. Ace wondered why if they were so fragile, why stack them so high?

Once they moved them all away, they didn’t see anyone. Just a mirror.

“This is a prank,” Levi shouted. “This is just a mirror!”

A beautiful woman appeared in the mirror and Ace blushed.

“ Whoa,” Levi said.

“Thank you for freeing me,” the mirror whispered. “I’m Lush. God of Beauty and Choice.”

“That’s not right,” Ace chuckled nervously.

Levi said nothing, and immediately he knew what they had come upon. He knew it was dangerous if it was left for ages inside the dusty storage unit, and he didn’t want Ace to learn what it was.

“Please take me with you,” Lush pleaded. “I’ve been so lonely here!”

“Is this, like some weird ability or something,” Ace wondered aloud.

“Yes,” Levi shouted. “That must be all it is! A strange trick in our punishment!”

“I am not a punishment,” Lush screamed. “You would know! You put me here, Maximilian!”

“I’m not Maximillian…..I’m his son, Leviathan. ”

“Oh no,” Lush cried. “How long have I been in here?”

Lush started to cry, and small beads of water and little tears streamed down the mirror.

"D-Don't cry," Ace said awkwardly.

He didn't know how to help the mirror and was afraid to touch it, as the more it spoke, the more he started to believe that it was alive.

“If my dad left you here, then you must be dangerous,” Levi decided. “You can’t come with us.”

“I’m not dangerous,” Lush protested. “He just didn’t like me! The last thing he told me before he left was ‘I don’t need to see a different life, I decide my own.’”

“That doesn’t mean he hates you,” Levi sighed. “That’s just how he always is. I’m sure he just left you here on accident.”

“Yes, it does,” Lush insisted. “I can show you different lives! I can prove it all and I can take you there. ”

Ace was now completely intrigued by it all.

“H-how does it work,” Ace asked.

“Don’t do it,” Levi shouted. “It’s dangerous!”

“Don’t tell me what to do! You’re not in charge!”

They started bickering and soon Levi was up in his face, screaming while Ace was considering teleporting out and locking him inside.

“Leviathan, do you want a life where you can be with someone you truly desire?”

This comment made Levi tense up.

“I, what do you mean,” Levi whispered.

“Do you want a kinder partner as well,” Lush offered Ace.

“Yeah….Candice is so mean sometimes. ”

“ I can bring you to a place similar to here when you can understand yourself better. I can give you that, and if you see it for yourself will you promise to help me leave," Lush pleaded.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Levi said. “This feels off .”

“You can come back after a while,” Lush told them. “It takes me a long time to send you back here once I’ve done it, but after then you can always return.”

“Let’s try it,” Ace said. “Either it works, or this is just a weird prank. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Wonderful,” Lush declared. “You’ll love it!”

“I don’t think we should do this,” Levi said. “This is-”

Suddenly, Lush disappeared, and nothing felt like it changed.

“W-what happened,” Ace asked.

“We got played,” Levi groaned. “Let's just move the boxes and get out of here.”

They turned around to move the boxes, but instead of green, they were all red.

“That’s it,” Ace laughed. “He made the boxes red!?”

“That’s not so bad,” Levi grinned.

No longer were they angry with each other, and they started to make jokes.

“That’s the worst prank I’ve seen in my life,” Ace said.

They made more bad jokes, and quickly the entire unit was organized.

“That wasn’t so bad,” Ace said.

He took out his phone and checked the time.

“Dude, what’s the time,” he asked Levi. “Mine says 11 AM, on a Saturday. ”

“That’s weird….It’s Wednesday. Should be around five.” Levi got out his phone. “Mine says the same thing."

Suddenly nothing felt very funny anymore.