Arman Bruno was covered in blood. The Hydro-Rifle accident inside one of the loading bay quarters had shot of the recruits in the platoon. Arman, Hugo, and Dara carried the bleeding trainee to the Medical Bay as fast as they could.

The recruit, a 21 year old Academy graduate named Trio, had been shot by a hydro-crystal in the upper left part of his abdomen. His face cringed in pain. He was cowering behind his desk when the crystal bounced off the ceiling and had unknowingly hit the side of his body. The adrenaline from the encounter had masked the growing pain inside of Trio, who was unaware of his injury at the time.

Once the group had reached the Medical Bay, the medical specialists on duty took the wounded recruit and checked his condition. They immediately knew that their facility was inadequate to perform the necessary procedures to fully heal the recruit so they decided to take Trio to the Intensive Care facility outside the Campus. Dara, who knew Trio back in the Academy, volunteered to go with him in the facility along with contacting the boy's parents who she had met at the Academy prior, leaving Arman and Hugo inside the emergency room.

Both recruits, sitting silently on top of the vacant floor of the Medical Bay, were clearly distraught by what had happened earlier. Hugo broke the silence as he looked at Arman who was still wearing a stunned look in his face but was slowly growing a spiteful rage. Hugo correctly assumed the rage was directed at Marcus.

"We did what we could. The doctors will patch him up and get him back here in no time." Hugo's reluctant smile didn't fool Arman for a second.

"You know what he did, right?!" Arman shouted. His jaws clenched while his eyebrows furled in anger.

"Your 'friend' there nearly killed someone! And you're acting like it was just nothing. Trio got shot by that stupid 'friend' of yours and nobody's here except us. Where the hell is everyone? I thought you guys from the Academy stick together, huh? Why is it that everyone, even that damn Marcus, didn't even help?!"

"They're afraid. Arman, they're not like you and I," answered Hugo.

"What do you mean 'You and I?' You're one of them, aren't you? You're nothing like me! You people think just because you're rich you can do anything you want, don't you?!"

Hugo was silent for a moment but then spoke, which left Arman speechless.

"My dad was from the tenements. Just like you." Hugo stood up from the sterile medical floor and continued remembering his past life.

"I was born in the slums. I was only a year old back then but once dad got accepted in the Division, in which he was the first one to do so, he took me and my mom to go live in the Commerce District."

Arman wanted to say something but he let Hugo go on with with his thoughts.

"I never knew life inside the tenements, or I was just too young to remember. But my dad  always told me stories about how he always got in trouble in the factory, or how he always get mugged during payday, or how he sometimes fought with his quartermaster for not having rent."

Hugo looked down on Arman and extended a hand, grabbing him up from the floor.

"I may not know what you've been through, Arman. But I understand. I just want you to know that. And also..."

"Also what?" Arman replied back.

"You have to remember this. Not everyone who came from the Academy is like Marcus. We're not like him. We're not legacy. I'm certainly not. But that guy, man. He's on a league of his own."

Hugo and Arman then slowly walked back towards the Medical Bay's exit.

"I have to tell you, Arman. When I say Marcus is a famous guy, I am not exaggerating. Marcus' family helped build the Metro. They have parades for his family to honor that kind of stuff."

"So what? We're just going to let him do anything he wants? Is that it?" complained Arman.

"What I'm saying is, you're not the only one who needs this. You're not the only one who hopes to become a West Sea Explorer or a Metro Sentinel, or even a Knight Cavalry. You're not the only one who can lose everything here. The platoon's scared of Marcus because his family can ruin anyone with a snap of a finger."

"Well someone's got to do something about it." Arman hesitantly answered, even though the thought of going back to the tenements ran chills down his spine.

"Let's just take it as it goes, alright? And Arman? Don't tell anyone about my dad, okay?"

"Yeah, Hugo. You're safe."

Arman and Hugo headed back to the loading bay. The sun had already set as they walked the lighted pathways of the Division Camp.

The rest of the platoon was gathered in the courtyard when Arman and Hugo were on their way back. Both of them saw their fellow recruits standing attentively in front of an officer. It was Lieutenant de Sol. Arman and Hugo quickly ran to their assigned positions as the officer began his inquisition.

"Who is responsible for this mess?!" yelled Lieutenant Andreus de Sol.

As Hugo had pointed out before, Arman noticed no one was willing to speak up that Marcus was the one at fault. The officer reiterated his statement once more.

"I said... WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ONE OF MY RECRUITS GETTING SHOT?!" The solemn atmosphere of the camp grounds did little to constraint the Lieutenant's furious roar.

"No one?! Well, then. So if it's no one's fault, then it is everyone's fault! If you don't tell me who started this, so help me, I'm going to expel each and everyone of you and ban you from every position this government has to offer. By the time I'm done, you won't be able to get a job as a backdoor scrub in a mining outlet!"

Then one recruit stepped forward. The one recruit Arman didn't expect, or maybe had halfheartedly expected to come forward. It was Marcus Sakai.

Marcus stepped forward from the line and was immediately greeted by the officer's foaming mouth.

"Was it you, Marcus? You ungrateful piece of filth!" the officer shouted as Marcus took a deep breath, and exhaled just as quick.

At the back of Arman's mind, he thought that it was a good place to start for Marcus. It was obviously Marcus' fault and he should take responsibility for what he did. For a moment, Arman had a glimmer of respect for what Marcus was about to own up to. For a second, Arman thought there might still be hope for the arrogant recruit.

"It was Arman, sir!" yelled Marcus. Arman's jaw dropped when he heard his name and could not help himself from speaking up.

"You liar!" Arman marched forward and confronted both the Lieutenant and Marcus.

"You lying scumbag! Everyone here knows it was you who did this to Trio! You son-of-a... Sir, this guy is clearly lying and everyone here in the platoon can vouch for me." Arman said to Officer de Sol.

"Well?" de Sol asked the rest of the platoon while Arman grinned at Marcus' smug face.

"It was Arman," yelled someone at the back. Then one by one they yell out Arman's name and joined in refrain.

Arman, cornered and defeated, reached out to Hugo but to his dismay the recruit had his head bowed down in silence.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself, Arman? It seems the platoon here telling me you're the one to blame?"

"Really?! Not one of you is going to tell the truth?!" Arman had counted on Dara on many occasions, but at that moment he felt that even if she 'was' there, the rest of the recruits would just tell her she's lying as well. Arman was alone all over again.

Within the noise of the platoon shouting his name, Arman Bruno had a moment of clarity. A very faint idea of what was to come. No one was going to help him. After all that he did, stopping the rifle and helping Trio. No one had the courage to tell the truth. And for that moment, Arman have had enough.

Lieutenant de Sol grabbed Arman by the shoulders firmly. "It seems everyone here thinks you did it, son? Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Arman had one last look at the platoon. One last time before he would voluntarily leave the Division Camp.

"Everyone knows the truth. Every last one of you know. If you don't have the courage to stand up for what's right, I'd rather go back to the slums. I'd be caught dead in the water if ever one of you cowards stood next to me in a battlefield. You guys don't deserve to be here. Especially you."

He stared at Marcus with such fierce and penetrating eyes that it made the cocky recruit's egotistic expression turn to guilt-full shame.

That night, Arman Bruno packed his belongings and was escorted out of the premises and expelled from the Division Training Program.

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