Aaron's POV

Dream

"Mama! Papa! Alex and Adam are here! Let's play!" younger Aaron yelled as he raced to meet Alex and Adam while his parents laughed, watching him playing with his friends with a warm smile.

"Ahaha!" Peals of laughter rang out as Aaron and his friends played in the meadows, running and chasing each other, trying to win one another. 

"I win!" Young Aaron yelled as he fist-pumped in the air while Alex and Adam groaned.

"That's not fair, you cheated!" 

"I said there's no fairness in games remember." 

"I'm going to beat you!" Aaron laughed at his friends' ethics.

"You can try." Everyone all laughed with happiness as the warm rays of the sun shone down on them.

Dream shift

"Alex, Adam, come and play with me!" Aaron yelled, excited but met Adam's and Alex's tear-stained face.

"We're sorry Aaron. We can't meet up like this anymore." Aaron stared at his friends' face with a look of betrayal.

"Why? Just for 30 minutes. Please." Aaron pleaded desperately but Adam and Alex shook their heads.

"We're sorry Aaron. We can't meet up like this. Maybe if we can, let's meet at the Wishing Tree near the borders of the Kingdom of the Elves." Aaron became excited hearing that and smiled brightly.

"Okay! Let's meet at the Wishing Tree then. See you soon." Aaron waved goodbye excitedly to Alex and Adam but he didn't notice Alex and Adam sent a sad smile in his direction.

Dream shift

12-years-old Aaron was walking when he noticed there were people surrounding the Wishing Tree, hugging their relatives when they saw their long lost relative, clasping the shoulders of their son and beamed a bright smile as their son told them about his journey, laughter and cries of joy rang in the air. 12-years-old Aaron smiled as he went to the waiting area and stood there, waiting for his friends to meet him and hang their wishes together. Suddenly, there was a voice of someone asking him a question kindly and worriedly.

"Waiting for someone dearie?" Aaron turned around after hearing the question and saw an old woman around 50 years of age asking him with worry in her eyes.

"Yeah. They were supposed to come on this day every year." The woman look at Aaron with sadness in her eyes and smile gently.

"Your friends will be here soon and here, I've bought you some hot chocolate since it's so chilly in this weather." Aaron accepted the drink with a thanks and began sipping the drink, sighing as it warms his body and before he knew it, tears came slipping down frim his eyes. The old woman saw this and began to apologize.

"I'm so so sorry. I didn't mean for you to cry like this." Aaron shook his head and looked at the old woman with tears in his eyes.

"It's not your fault. Many people gave me a cold shoulder when they see me due to the fact that I am poor and was kicked out of my family. You are the first one who had given me a warm drink like this and attention so I really thank you." Aaron gave the old woman a warm hug and the woman hugged back, not caring about the cold look others was giving her. After a few minutes, she pulled out from the hug.

"I'm sorry young boy. I have to go to meet my son. See you soon." The old woman left and Aaron was left alone again. 30 minutes passed but his friends still haven't appeared, Aaron began to feel worried and betrayed.

"Adam, Alex, why didn't you guys come? Didn't we made a promise to come to this place at this day at this month every year? Why did you guys didn't come? Why?" Aaron sobbed, clutching his chest in pain of heartbreak as he fell to the ground, never caring the worried eyes of some of the passersby. Then, the scene shattered and blown away by the wind as if it wasn't there.

Dream end

I woke up gasping with cold sweat, clutching my chest in pain as I stared at my alarm clock.

Great, it is 2am in the morning and I can't sleep. I thought as I went through all of the dreams in my mind. There were dreams about me in the past and the dreams of my betrayal from my old friends when I was 12 because of that old promise we used to make. Silent tears streamed down my face as I thought of all the good times we had together, laughing and running around in the meadows, making flower crowns and played pretend that I and Adam was the king of the forest, meadows and wild animals while Alex was the queen of the dark and dangerous, waving our sticks as swords as we fought each other jokingly and declared me a winner. I glanced at a photo frame on the bedside table that depicts the three of us laughing as we placed our hands on our shoulders with the clear blue sky in the background. I silently sobbed as I thought of their promise before we three separated, them leaving with me having no friends after that. I still remember how miserable I was since then, waiting for them each year during our meeting day at the Wishing Tree, placing my lone wish on the tree, hoping they would come to see me the next year but ended up blank the following year. I still remember how I became moody after that, ignoring my mum's calls for me to play with other friends as I sat in my room alone, pouring my attention into piles and piles of books or just laying down on the bed, not feeling the want to do anything. I still remember that time when I went to school for the first time, being bullied by the seniors and was not able to do anything and feeling alone as ever thinking that my childhood friends never wanted to see me again because I was weak. I still remember all those times when I visited the Wishing Tree again when I was 12, wanting to find my friends again but did not see them and really feeling betrayed by them because they broke their promise. I still remember talking to Allen about this when I first met him, realizing that he felt the same way, miserable and alone just because of the stupid social system that caused him to feel that he was useless, just like how I felt. I still remember the time spent in my cell in the Xurenth headquarters, hating myself and just wishing to die, never caring about the world around me and feeling that if I was stronger mentally and killed the targets, none of this would have happened. I still remember being saved and ran into the academy doors, heeding the words of Allen as I saw him fighting the enemy, falling on my knees shaking after that as I was terrified of seeing him getting badly injured because of me. I still remember waking up from my nightmare, reaching out to the side for the warm hand of my friend to find that I was reaching into empty air. All those memories that I had cumulated all those years became fleeting dreams and realities that had overlapped with me standing in the center of it all, unable to comprehend them all. I kept staring at the photo until I was blinded by a flash of light and someone gently placing his hands on my shoulders, gently making me look up.

"Hey Aaron, are you okay?" I heard a familiar voice asking me worriedly while looking searchingly at my face, wondering why I had tear streaks on my face. I stared at the person for a while before smiling sadly.

"I don't know Aragorn. All I could think of is all those memories and wishing that it was just a dream but every time I wake up, I kept on seeing all those dreams in my mind's eye, wishing that it would go away and wishing that I won't wake up in this harsh reality. I always feel that I am in between the overlaps between my dreams and reality and it is just too much. I just can't-" My rant stopped as Aragorn hugged me and smiled sadly.

"I know. Believe me, I know how it feels like." I hugged Aragorn as fresh tears slid down my cheeks in waves, staining Aragorn's favorite shirt. After a few minutes we pulled away and Aragorn smiled at me. 

"You are not alone anymore so don't hold yourself back, just tell us your problems and we will help you." Aragorn pointed to the others who are behind us and I smiled, nodding.

"Thank you guys for supporting me. Now," I gave a huge smirk and laughed as all of my friends groaned at my smirk. "Oh come on guys, I'm not going to yell at you to go to the training room to train. That's like a year ago." The others sighed in relief while I was standing near the door, laughing my head of. "Let's go to the cafeteria to eat breakfast." I ran out of my room at a headstart to the cafeteria while my friends ran behind me, cursing profanities trying to keep up. I went into the cafeteria first and saw all the other students staring at my friends and I weirdly and I waved at them, grinning as I waited for my friends to come. A few minutes later, they came, panting heavily while sweating like a dog being soaked with water. I laughed, taking huge gasps of air one in a while, while they glared at me for asking them to chase me to the cafeteria. We all laughed after a few minutes of yelling at each other and we rushed to the counter to get our food. After that, we sat in one of the empty table and ate our breakfast while talking about our day. While we were doing that, we heard one of the students in the other table beside us whispering about us and we leaned in to listen clearly.

"I heard that Team E is having a new mission. Wonder what is going on and what is the mission." One of the female students said and the other female student, who was sitting on her right, agreed.

"Yeah. They are so lucky for having new missions while being newbies. I heard there is less to no chance for newbies to go for missions for those who are having their internship with the Eliminator Association even if they apply for the mission." The male student on the left of the first female student nodded in agreement.

"Yeah and I tried to apply to have my internship with the Eliminator Association but they do not accept my application. I wonder how they are able to have an internship with the Association." The other male student. who was on the right of the second female student, nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. I heard that the father of the leader of Team E is the friend of the General."  The other student sitting at their table all gasped and started yelling but one of them saw us listening on their conversation.

"Guys, pique down. They are listening to every word we are saying." One of the students at the table said and all of them looked at us, alert, before blushing awkwardly and walking away from their table. We all sighed at the sight.

"Well this is awkward." Yako said and we all nodded, looking at each other before laughing.

"Damn. This is the best joke ever. Talking about us without knowing that we are listening? Ahaha" Aragorn laughed as we all grinned, bursting into laughter once again. After a few minutes and our laughter died down, we turned to each other and grinned, knowing that we were going on our first mission. Then, one of the students from the table opposite ours walked to me and gave me an envelop.

"Aaron. This is for you. The General want to talk to you and the whole of Team E after you finish reading the files in the private section of the library." I smiled softly at the female student named Misty.

"Thank you for sending this to me. Was the General harsh on you when he gave you this?" Misty shook her head and smiled.

"No he didn't. See you later Aaron." With that, Misty left our table and joined her friends while I stared at the envelop suspiciously, wondering what was the mission.

Hey guys, this is Part 1 of Chapter 2. There are about four to five parts for Chapter 2 as the ideas for Chapter 2 is long that I have to separate it into four or five parts. I'll see you guys soon at the second part for Chapter 2. Bye.

                                                           -Angeline Chin Rue Ying