This year I'll live like I've never lived before... This is my year for sure
Six ante meridiem.
Day one in the new year of Cineris. Was it possible… Was there even a small chance that this year could be as stunning, shocking, life threatening, and meaningful like last year? Damien doubted that, and, smashing a button on his alarm clock before it even began to beep, he stood up. The tall male gave out a loud yawn, proudly stretching his long arms up and noticing that each passing day he was closer and closer to reaching the ceiling on his room, which was by no means short. Damien grabbed his head with his both of his hands, and with a quick shoulder movement, a cracking sound and a breath of relief were heard. As he let out another sigh, he turned back to his bed, noticing Zero was still asleep comfortably.
"Wake up, fatty." Damien said with a subtle smile as he knelt towards Zero and patted the side of his belly significantly hard, but still on a gentle manner. "We begin today, Zero. A new year."
The pup sighed before opening one eye and staring at Damien.
"No, don't worry; I don't think we'll have to go through all of that again." Damien said, almost in reply to the Pokémon's sigh. With a hypocritical beam and faux jolliness, Damien walked over to his bathroom, undressing and preparing for a bath. It had been a sloppy trip, for even though Damien was used to waking up early, knowing that studies were once again involved didn't at all make him happy. But soon he was near the restroom, and he turned the knob for water to start falling on his shower. As the clothes fell, he saw all of his scars and bruises. Every single one of them held a very significant story, stories that transcended Damien's life unimaginably. He ran his index finger through most of his scars, closing his eyes and recapitulating every single event. Few knew what Damien had gone through, and a large amount of those who knew were people Damien was bound never to see again.
Damien wasn't at all excited about new students coming this year. The only ones that had given him a chance to meet them, whether they had a choice or not, left already. Many of them, that is. He wasn't sure of who would he meet, because for once, he hadn't checked the lists on the office. Yeah, Damien was a teacher's pet of some important teachers, and he knew how to get around to access those kind of things. But anyway, that was something he'd rather not think about. Whoever he met, or re-met, wasn't of much of his importance at the moment. More of his attention was concerned to the fact that this could be a normal year. One where he would be able to assist all of his classes and get a good grade. One where he wouldn't be shot, kidnapped and stabbed. One where he didn't have to chase a person around to make sure they were fine… But, talking about that, Damien wondered what could've been of Yuki by now. He had never come clean about being a guardian, and it had been a while already since she left; leaving Damien a doubt whether he'd see her again or not. Same with Midian.
As he thought about the latter, Damien looked down at his first major scar, the one which Midian had healed the first day he met her. Never had he gotten the piercing eyes out of his head, or an image of her stuck in a window. Oh, and Elizabeth, who always seemed to know where Damien was. The first one, too, to interact with him last year before he even signaled wanting to meet someone as she blew his hideout on a tree. Not to mention the teachers. Although the only one who had really influenced Damien's life was Kenji. A teacher whose experiences with Damien were good enough to break the teacher-student barrier to make them friends. Miss Lola, too; but that was the only one he'd preferably not remember. Damien rubbed his eyes, his mind going blank for some moments until he realized water had been running for a reasonable while now. He walked into the shower and bathed himself.
He had around three or four hair products, more than half of those which were aimed at women. But he didn't care, they did the job. After shampooing and conditioning his hair, which now easily reached slightly below the point where his nose started, somewhere around the lower eyelid, he cleaned his body; remembering times where he was in so much pain that he couldn't even do that. Not too long afterwards, he walked outside the shower to see himself in the mirror above the sink. He perfectly recalled the scene where he had broken it in the beginning of last year, and just recently had it been replaced. He groomed his hair, washed his face and teeth, and the walked out with only a white tower around his waist to dress up.
His style hadn't changed. Most of the things in his closet and drawers were black. Black jeans with a tight black t-shirt and black combat boots were the base of the attire. As he walked over to where his accessories and hats were, Damien turned around to Zero, who was still lying on the bed, and commanded:
"Zero, c'mon, get up; make the bed."
The Houndour growled to himself, clearly resembling a mumble, and then stood up. He jumped down and began pulling on each of the sheets of the bed, from bottom to top, till they were perfectly stretched, and he finished off by tucking them beneath the mattress with his snout. While it sounded pretty easy, it took Zero a relative long while to get the bed ready because he had to run frantically from edge to edge while making sure one side was not pulled more than another one. In the end, the puppy ended panting; for even though he had gotten the job done, he wanted to go back to sleep. Knowing Damien wouldn't give him the chance; he just stretched, his small spine cracking, and then walked over to Damien, wagging his tail cheerfully as he waited for him to go out.
While Zero did that, Damien pulled out one of his new accessories, a long leather glove, and put it on his left arm. The elbow-length glove was made out of pure leather, and to the outer sides it had a couple of straps hanging out. One could presume they were to adjust the tightness of the glove, but they actually had no use at all. To finish, he picked up a black, elegant fedora and put it on his head, slightly on the back so that the front was gently pointing up and forward. He grabbed his phone and wallet, the latter one which still held his Ace of Spades lucky card, and then noticed that beside them, the book on The Gifted which pretty much led him through last year was resting.
He took a deep breath and the waked out, locking the door as Zero walked out with him. Dorm 1A, still the same one. The first one. Damien had decided that even though the year was over at Cineris, he would stay there, perhaps attending summer lessons to catch up on the year lost. He knew, too, his family wouldn't be anxiously waiting for his return with arms wide open. If he stayed there, too, he saved himself a round trip. It all ended up, though, by Damien not doing anything on his break period and he just roamed around like the ghost of the academy. But now that the year began again, everything was bound to change.
At such an early hour, almost no one was up, the sun was slightly covered by foggy clouds, and the weather was noticeably chilly. But that was why Damien didn't bring a jacket with him, he loved the cold whether and moist breeze hitting his body.
"C'mon, Zero, I'll race you to the fountain!"
Damien, without even letting Zero react, began a quick sprint towards main campus area, specifically the enormous garden on the center, where a very large and eye-catching fountain lied. His free-running skills, even though they were encumbered last year by many wounds, hadn't at all deterred; and Damien skillfully leapt through tall bushes and wall kicked many trees to get to his destination. Zero desperately tried to catch up, but he was still very sleepy, so he decided to let Damien win and catch up later.
"I won!" Damien yelped as he got to the fountain. He looked around and saw Zero approaching, tired, with a bored expression and with his head down. Damien laughed inwardly as he approached one of the benches and sat down, taking a deep breath and enjoying the fresh air and savory aroma. It was quite a peculiar view, seeing an eerie, tall and creepy male all dressed in black sitting on a large bench of a completely empty garden. He hadn't seen a single soul on his way to here, but he didn't care. He thought about the future as Zero got to the bench, lying down underneath it. Damien took one deep breath as he rested his head on the bench, letting his hazel left eye do the looking, for his right eye was covered by his fringes, and pondered what was to come now…
