Shadow Angel: Volume 1

Join Me

"Why did you drag me here?" Cody asked, holding his right wrist with his left hand. Lucien had taken him to the academy's library and they were now hiding in a secluded area.

"Shh!" Lucien put a finger over the dark-haired boy's lips. "This is a library. Keep it down," he whispered.

As the eyepatch boy pulled his finger away, Cody smacked his lips as he furrowed his eyebrows at the upperclassman. "I know who you are," he whispered.

"Do you?" Lucien smirked as he raised an eyebrow.

"I've heard plenty about you. You're a prodigy who's known for causing trouble for other Slayers and trainees. I was even told you were sent to this school as a punishment for multiple casualties during a mission. I was also told to keep my distance from you."

"And what of it?"

"A lot of Slayers call you a menace."

"Hmm..." Lucien put his hands on Cody's shoulders. "What about you?" he asked.

"What about me-" Cody was disrupted when the eyepatch boy jabbed him in the stomach, turned him around, and pinned him against a wall face first. Then, he felt his hands slowly slide up and down his torso, making him whimper at his touch. "W-w-what are you doing?" he asked.

"Hmm, you're pretty well-built for a freshman, newbie," Lucien remarked.

"I am?"

"Let's see. You look agile, and your shoulders aren't too prominent, but they look pretty good. Not to mention, you look kinda tall for a freshman. What's your secret?"

"I..." Cody paused. He knew he couldn't tell him the truth, so he said, "I drank a lot of milk as a kid."

"Ah, I see that you're a good boy." Lucien nodded, pulling his hands away from the other boy's body.

With a sigh, Cody turned around to face the eyepatch boy and asked, "Still, why did you drag me here? I need to join a squad."

"I was just about to talk to you about that, newbie." Lucien crossed his arms.

"Uh, Cody."

"Noted." Lucien nodded his head once. "Anyway, Cody, how would you like to join my squad?"

"What?" Cody raised both his eyebrows.

"You heard me. I want you to be a part of my group for as long as you're a student here."

"Why me, though? You're a prodigy and I'm just a freshman. You said it yourself, after all."

Rolling his eyes, Lucien said, "I only said that just so that guy could back away from you. Also, I've been seeing you around for quite some time. It was annoying at first, but I grew curious about you over time, so I decided to observe you from afar."

"Observe me from afar?" Cody repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Mm-hm. Ever since I saw you during the entrance ceremony, I grew infatuated with you. I skipped a class or two to watch you during PE, and I've followed you around Morningstar City except that one time with the Centipede Eldritch."

"You were following me? Isn't that stalking?"

"You have the right to think what you want," Lucien said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I also witnessed you fight the Gorilla Eldritch with Scott Lewis and his crew, and that was when I decided that I wanted you in my squad."

"Yeah, I don't know..." Cody frowned as he looked at the floor. "As I said before, a lot of my peers told me to stay away from you, especially Scott."

"Pfft! Screw him and what he said! It's your path, so no one should tell you which road to take on your journey."

"Huh?" Cody tilted his head.

"Eh, it's just a saying I got from an old friend. Don't worry about it." Lucien shrugged. "But still, the only one in charge of your life is you and only you. That's what I always tell people who join my squad. Join me, and I will make you one of the greatest Slayers all of DEA will ever see!"

"One of the greatest..." Cody crossed his arms. "No, that's not what I want."

"Excuse me?" Lucien said with a frown.

"I decided to become a Slayer because I want to protect people. I lost my best friend to an Eldritch, and I don't want anyone else to experience grief the way I have. I just want to defend as many innocent people as I can. Nothing else matters."

When Cody said that, Lucien just looked at him with a sad face of what looked like sympathy. Then, he grinned and said, "You know, you remind me of one of my squad members."

"I do?" Cody asked.

"The brown-haired girl from the auditorium, Lynn, wants the same thing. She wants to protect people, too."

"Did she lose a friend or loved one to an Eldritch?"

"No. Also, that's not my business to tell you that." Lucien put a hand on Cody's shoulder. "But regardless of what you want as a Slayer, I still want you in my squad. I believe you have what it takes to be a great Slayer. That's why I'm asking you to join me."

Cody blinked in surprise and asked, "You think I have what it takes to be a good Slayer?"

"I don't need to say it again, do I?"

With a slight nod, Cody said, "If that's what you think, then yeah. I'll join your squad."

"Perfect!" Lucien pulled his hand away from the other boy's shoulder.

"I need to fill in a form, though," Cody added.

"You don't need to worry about that. I have the form right here." Lucien reached into his back pants pockets to pull out a folded piece of paper with a pen clipped to it.

With that, Lucien led Cody to one of the library tables, where they sat down so the dark-haired boy could fill in the form. As he did, he reminisced about the time when he was learning how to read and write. In one of his lessons with Rich, he was taught how to fill in every box of a shoddy-looking handwritten form of the purple-haired man's creation. By the time Cody finished writing his information into the fake form, Rich explained the context of the lesson. Rich informed him that as a Slayer in the real world, he would need to complete various forms to navigate his way through. As the purple-haired man talked about it, all Cody could do was sit and nod his head.

Soon enough, Cody was finished filling in the form provided by Lucien. As he gave it to him, the eyepatch boy took the paper from the table and thoroughly checked every box that was filled in. With a smile, Lucien nodded as he folded the paper into a small square and slipped it back into his pants pockets. Then, the two stood from the table and made their out of the library. Once they left, Cody and Lucien walked down the stairs until they were on the bottom floor.

"So, now what?" Cody asked.

"That's it," Lucien answered.

"That's it? I don't have to meet the rest of your squad?"

Lucien turned around to look at the other boy. "No. You don't get to do that until the Slayer Squad Hunt event is over."

"That means I get to meet everyone next week."

"Yep. Until then, I look forward to working with you, Cody Byrd." Lucien smirked before stuffing his hands into his pockets and walking away.

As Cody watched the eyepatch boy leave, he sighed and placed both his hands behind his head. After all, there was one thing he already knew at this point: Milo, Scott, and everyone else he knows are not going to be happy when he tells them.