King of spades

First day

Chapter Four
We drove through the city for about twenty minutes before reaching the school. The ride is only five minutes from the apartment, but Gideon took the long way, letting me sightsee since it was dangerous for me and Destan to walk alone.
During the ride, I learned that the Billboards I saw on my way home are actually light artifacts. They use mana to display an image or a video on the screen.
The school was a large campus with four different buildings, each building three stories high and sorted by grades. 
The buildings were all elegant. They were made of iron wood which had a metallic scent and was a color that I can only describe as brown with a tint of gray with black and gold finish that screamed entitlement. Above the campus's entrance was a giant golden sign that read.
*NOVA ACADEMY* 
"Guess it's as snobby as I thought" I said to myself with a deadpan expression.
Destan and I got out of the car and began walking towards the east building.
"Remember I'll be picking you up right after school so come right away and don't fool around" Gideon said before driving off not giving us time to respond.
"I can't tell if he's cool or just an asshole" I said to Destan 
Destan let out a sigh "He's an asshole."
The walk to the east building was better than I expected. Don't get me wrong, it was by far the most uncomfortable thing I've done since waking up. People stared with disgust and pointed at me like I was some sort of bug but it's not like they were actively trying to kill me. So that's an improvement.
As we approached the entrance there was a feeling of uneasiness. My stomach turned into knots and my palms began to sweat.
"You alright?" Destan asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm alright" I said half in thought trying to ease my nerves.
I recalled the events of the night when I had my anxiety attack and took a deep breath like James said. Stepping forward I opened the set of double doors.
Walking in I steeled myself not giving anyone the satisfaction of knowing just how freaked out I really was. 
We walked down the hall, my heartbeat increasing with each step. People stared and even flashed their markings as a means of intimidation.
It wasn't until we made it to the second floor that things really started going downhill.
A strong hand grabbed my shoulder "Ah Hikaru, I see you're finally here" a man said.
Suddenly my vision shifted, I was back in that cage. The corners of my vision getting blurry like they did in my dreams. 
I turned to face the person, but it wasn't a person at all. It was one of those things– his snow-white skin glowed and he wore a menacing grin.
Pressure began to build in my stomach. This feeling felt foreign to me, the pressure began to manifest itself into anger, but it didn't feel like it was anger... or maybe it was?
"Get the hell away from me!" I screamed pushing the inhuman away from me and knocking it back several feet. 
"Hikaru calm down!" Destan's voice rang in my head.
Suddenly the scene shifted and I was back in the school hallway, Destan on my back covering my eyes.
"What the hell? Destan get off!" I exclaim.
He slowly let me go and examined my eyes. His face was a mixture of sadness, fear, and anger.
"What are you doing?" I asked my head tilted in confusion.
"Your eyes– they were glowing" he said his voice barely a whisper.
My heart dropped and my blood ran cold as I recalled the dream I had in the laboratory.
"No... this can't be happening, no way" I thought, trembling where I stood.
'It's about damn time you woke me up'
I yelped in surprise and looked in every direction for the voice that rang in my head.
"Where are you?" I asked, still looking around.
"Who are you talking too?" Destan asked with visible confusion.
"You don't hear him?" I asked, my breathing getting heavier.
A crowd formed around us and a man was getting up from the floor. The man was... round in a sense, he was also balding and had brown eyes that were staring daggers into me.
"Everyone get to class now!" The man screamed. Soon everyone scurried off in different directions, leaving Me, Destan, and him.
"M-mister Alexander, he didn't mean it! I swear after everything that happened, Hikaru became jumpy" Destan pled trying to defuse the situation.
Mister Alexander's eyes examined me and then his gaze fell onto my scar. his gaze turned from one of anger and rage to one of pity as if I was some kind of injured animal.
It pissed me off to be degraded to this level, but it was working so I won't interfere.
"I won't pretend to understand what you two went through but someone like you" he said you with disgust like it was bitter medicine.
"can't pull a stunt like that again don't let it happen again" he lifted his chin as if to say he's better than us.
"Yes sir" me and Destan said simultaneously before hurrying off.
After that the voice I had once heard disappeared and the first couple of classes went by smoothly, thanks to Gideon's tutoring I understood the lessons enough to not be completely lost.
Me and the teachers had already established an agreement of sorts. They act like I'm not here and I don't get looked at like a freak.
While walking to our mana manipulation class out of nowhere a hand slammed into my back knocking me to the ground.
"What the hell" I said, dusting off my pants and facing the person who pushed me.
"You have a lot of nerve" the boy said aggressively. 
He had a muscular build with broad shoulders. He had short black wavy hair and emerald, green eyes. He was slightly shorter than me and his Carmel skin was smooth and fair but what caught my attention was his marking. His marking was in the shape of crossbones and laid on the right side of his neck.
"What the hell did I do?" I asked confused as to what he could be talking about considering I just met the guy.
"Word got around that you attacked a teacher you got balls to do something like that considering just how weak and pathetic you really are" he said, inching closer to me aggressively.
His words hit me like a truck. I knew that everyone was out of my league in terms of strength but hearing it made it just that much more upsetting.
In my anger a familiar voice rang in my head. 
'Weak and pathetic?!'  the voice exclaimed as if he was insulted by the boy's words.
I flinched at the sound of the voice then let out a panicked "Shut up!"
"What the hell did you say to me? Did losing your memory turn you into a dumbass?" the boy asked sarcastically, inching closer.
'Kick his ass,' the voice said, instigating me.
Before he could get close Destan stepped in the way with a fierce look daring the boy to get closer.
"Back off Nico I won't ask again" Destan's marking started to emit a faint hum and blue light.
"What are you going to do?" Nico said, returning the gaze with his own look of anger, activating his marking making it begin to glow a faint green.
I stood behind Destan dumbfounded as to how I let the situation get this bad.
"Cmon lets just leave it alone" I said, pulling Destan by his arm to our next class.
'Pussy' the voice retorted.
For the rest of the day, I stood silent not making a sound. I tried to focus on my work, but my mind always went back to the same question.
"What is this voice, psychosis maybe?" I thought.
I did research on my memory loss and wound up down a psychology rabbit hole. Hearing voices is a sign of psychosis but I'm sure the hospital would have caught it right?
When we got home from school, I went straight to my room and began to study what the voices could possibly be but none of the diagnoses matched with me.
'I don't know why you're looking so hard, you already know what I am' the voice said cryptically. 
"If I knew, do you think I would be looking so hard?" I said frustration lasted in my voice. 
I tried once more to look back into my past but to no avail. Then when it seemed hopeless a thought came to my mind. 
When my eyes started to glow, Destan didn't seem like he was surprised, could he know something? 
I left my room and walked down the hall to Destan's room. I knocked on his door hurriedly.
"Come in" he said from behind his door.
I entered his room and quickly locked the door behind me making sure no one could come in.
"Is everything alright?" he asked with concern in his voice.
"I know you're not going to tell me, but I need to know, what was the incident that made me lose my memories" I said in a low and even tone.
"C'mon Hikaru, you know I can't tell you let's just play some games" he said, chuckling and brushing me off.
"Just tell me dammit!" I screamed in frustration, all my stress and anxiety finally weighing down on me.
"Please" I pleaded, my vision blurring from tears.
There was a moment of silence then Destan sighed in frustration.
"If I tell you, you must keep it a secret. I didn't even tell the full story to my parents" he said in a serious tone.
"I promise," I said, wiping away my tears.
He sat in thought for a few moments opening and closing his mouth trying to think of the right words.
"It was out of nowhere we were hanging out at your house like we did every Friday. We were all sitting at the dinner table when these creatures burst through the windows," he said, trembling.
"These creatures with white skin and gray hair?" I asked, hoping for more answers.
The color drained from his face as he looked up at me.
"Yeah, how did you know?" he asked.
"I've been having dreams of them but please keep going" I answered.
"They took us to some sort of prison they would frequently take you to what you said was a lab of sorts they experimented on you daily cutting you open and closing you back up but one day everything changed they took out your mom and dad then began to torture them right in front of us until they died after that they took you into the lab one more time then it exploded and you came out with glowing eyes but you didn't seem like you're self you didn't recognize me you passed out and we were stuck in the prison for days before the cops came and rescued us" Destan began to sob and shake.
I comforted him as best as I could, but it didn't help much. I left when he stopped crying without saying a word.
I went back to my room and tried my best to digest his words. I broke everything he told me down, replaying in my head over and over.
I thought of my first dream with the creatures and compared it to the story Destan told me. My heart dropped as my brain sorted through the information.
The explosion Destan was talking about was from the merge. If that's true then that means that the voice I'm hearing is NS-seven, I said out loud to myself not sure I truly believe myself.
hehehe so you finally figured it out you're not as dumb as you look the voice said laughing at me.
You could have just told me what was the point of keeping it a secret, I asked annoyed.
'If I told you, you would never know the whole truth, but Destan was your best bet to get the answers you really wanted' it said matter-of-factly.
And he was right. I did get more answers than just who the voice was, but it also left me with more questions as well.
Who are these creatures? Why are they interested in me? Will they come back? Will they do the same thing to James and Cathan?
I found myself in a situation bigger than myself and I need to find answers if I want to keep my new family safe.