Chapter Text
To claim that Nicole's first day of college inspired anything other than apathy or dread would be a farce.
I mean for fucks sake, my high school and remaining family got blown the fuck up by terrorists. and for some bullshit reason i still need to go to school, Nicole wallowed in her mind.
For the last eight years she had relived the Quinharbor Massacre in her nightmares. Fires and explosions tearing through her school, classmates killed or maimed by debris and conflict they could never have imagined. Her mothers dying face lived eternally in the depths of her memory alongside her fathers corpse and viscera spattered across his kitchen. Every night she relived being unable to save anyone except Jecka, even if ultimately Jecka never knew it was Nicole who had saved her. Jecka's parents had whisked her away to live in space due to the Corporate Fronts being thought to be untouchable by Earthian movements. So after the dust had settled, Nicole was alone. Again.
It didn't matter the circumstances truly, the reparations scholarship, the government men in suits, moving her life to space in a day, nor the subtle droning of the freight elevator she now found herself in after disembarking the orbital shuttle. Everything about this had been shit, so it was sure to continue to be so. What good is a scholarship when cash exists? Money is a way better apology for a blown up life. Metaphorically at least. Except in Nicole's case now, rather literally as well. Her mind lazily drifts to her partner in crime that was being offloaded back in the hangar, a tinge of anxiety crept up her spine. This was the first time her mobile suit had been apart from her since she'd hijacked it years ago. She'd grown attached to it ever since it had been the instrument that had let her save Jecka, and because during her time at the foster school it had been her only respite from the weight of all that had happened. Merely sitting in the cockpit listening to the rhythmic thrum of its instruments could soothe most of her worries.
She knows her sponsor had said all of her belongings would clear security without issue, but blind trust only goes so far. No matter how earnest Suletta had been, her experiences prior to the foster school had left her devoid of any faith in authority and institutions. Nicole's anxiety seeped into the corners of her vision and mind again, turning the lonely elevator into a void around her, the falling sensation amplified by the lower, artificial gravity of the colony. She was used to having to start over again, those old walls rushed back up with ease. An instinct so ingrained it was akin to a third language, with the second being lying. Those emotional walls offered her mind little solace, or even focus, as it wasn't until the fourth buzzer from the security checkpoint that Nicole realized this leg of her journey had been interrupted.
Nicole meandered forwards, stumbling over the cavalcade of apathy, anxiety and...something else in her mind. The ambiguity of the emotion, its listless discomfort that sank claws into her brain gnawed at her more. The position she found herself in now was so beyond imagination to a self she'd known only a few years prior. Months really.
"Miss? Could you please provide your documents for entry?"
Fuck.
"OH!...uh. Here. Sorry, still getting used to the diff in gravity," Nicole forced an innocent act, eager to not end up with another security guard-sourced gunshot wound, especially not before classes start. Not that she really gave a fuck about the classes, when has she ever.
The guards head tilts ever so slightly forward in what Nicole was sure was a scowl behind the featureless uniform helmet on the man. The helmet covering everything above his mouth was even more unsettling. Each passing second that he stared at her passport, head occasionally shifting in her direction, fueled the awkwardness exponentially.
"What's the reason for your stay Miss Johnson?" The mans tone indicated he was even more disinterested in this process than Nicole. IF he wasn't a man i would almost give a fuck about an achievement that absurd.
"Student...sir."
"Alright," he continues to tap away at the screen between them for a few moments. "Everything checks out on my end. I'm sure you'll also be glad to hear your extra large 'cargo' cleared as well, without issue. The director has asked me to advise you that it will be transported to the stations main MS hangar rather than the student hangars for initial maintenance and getting it up to school code. Here's your documents, and a school network phone plus tablet. Thank you for your patience miss," a smile crept in from the corners of the guards mouth as he cocked his head to usher Nicole forward.
Despite the innocence of the motion, she couldn't help but feel wary. Still, she opted to maintain her mask of feigned politeness for a few more moments, ever conscious of her age having caused her to lose some of her most reliable manipulation tactics. Some small part of her wanted to try and believe this place would be different, hopefully devoid of predators. She was in some parts ready to be done traveling, until a nearby speaker broadcasted an announcement that orientation and touring would begin in fifteen minutes. Double fuck. Yet another thing she doesn't want to be sober for and unfortunately, not an agenda item she could get away with skipping.
"Hey sir?" she raps the glass of the checkpoint cubicle, "Is there a bathroom nearby?"
The guard gestures towards a narrow hallway off to his relative left. Upon entering the stall, Nicole's ziploc bag was half open before she even got it fully out of her pocket, but it was only after there were 2 percs on her tongue that Nicole realized her water bottle was empty. Rookie screw up, she mumbled to herself and begrudgingly dry swallowed the pills. A glance at the time on her fancy new school phone left her with 8 minutes to cross the main course as she hurried back out and passed security for hopefully the last time.
Nicole's hurried pace out on to the main strip nearly blinded her, sunglasses might've been a good investment when going to space after all. Upon making the trek to what has to be the main office based on the scattered signage, Nicole easily spotted the student orientation group. Quietly sliding into the back of the group, at the front she spotted a man and woman barely her senior. The badges on the pairs uniforms indicated they were what this school was passing off as counselors. The man, Lauda Neill,, was quieter than the woman, very prim and neat in appearance with a deep tan rivaling Jecka's. He stood quietly a step behind the woman, curling a single lock of dark navy hair repeatedly over his index finger. On the other hand, the woman, Petra Neill, had way too much fucking energy for something this mundane, let alone for Nicole to have to sit and listen to. She was racing through her script like her very obvious prosthetic leg was about to fall apart under her. That annoying energy coupled with her bouncy mannerisms and gesticulations could've made an onlooker think the prosthetic was part pogo-stick.
The boisterous presentation droned on from offices this, to rules about that. At a certain point Nicole had zoned out so bad that her duffel bag slipped from her hand, as she bent over to retrieve it a ghost of the past rang in her ears.
"Well damn bitch, I didn't think I'd see you again! And definitely did not expect it to happen at college of all things," a playful voiced chimed from nearby.
Nicole whipped in frantic half-circles until she found the source. Everything else melted away when she locked eyes with a familiar, gorgeous golden gaze.
"JECKA?! What the fuck? Why are you here?"
"Uh...for college?"
"Okay yeah sure whatever but isn't this like a military school?"
"Yeah, but there's more to it. I'm here majoring in business management. My dad's forcing that major on me, something about wanting me to inherit his company. Keeping it in the family or whatever."
"Huh. Is it a big company?"
"I guess? Like we're rich and the company is some sort of weapons R&D or something, so probably? Why?"
"Can't a bitch be curious? Plus I need a backup plan in case mom's alimony dries up."
"Your mom? I thought she was...y'know..." Jecka's voice trailed off slightly, unsure if she was unintentionally reopening past wounds for her bestie.
"You can say dead Jecka. It's kinda of just a life thing," Nicole was quick to be sure they could return to their usual banter. "But because she is I somehow sweet talked a judge into extending the alimony benefits to me until I finish college. Five of her exes have to keep payin' until i graduate or drop out."
"Only five? That's oddly specific," Jecka's ever perfect brows shifted slightly in tune. In their years apart, Jecka had hardly changed, except her bangs seemed kinda longer. Same preppy wardrobe, same cocky hip slanted posture, left hand across her chest cupping the opposite elbow. She looked softer in ways Nicole couldn't find words to articulate the notion, yet Jecka carried herself more confidently than years ago. If that was even possible for the self-proclaimed 'perfect ten'.
"Yeah. It had to with the age at which I knew them and an 'expected investment in my education' or some bullshit like that. Probably could've gotten a few more on the hook if I had bothered to not fuck up who had what name," a light chuckle snuck out of Nicole's lips with the end of her recollection.
"I guess that explains how you're here but not why," the blonde jabbed playfully.
"Well after the incident, I ended up in a foster school. From there I got sponsored by the founder of the place. Apparently she has some sort of close connection here."
"How'd you swing that? Thought teacher salaries are still shitty."
Nicole hadn't told anyone about her secret companion that arrived with her on the shuttle. Actually, who could she have told besides Suletta, at that point in her life until just mere minutes ago she'd been alone. The stolen mobile suit was the sole reason that Suletta had pulled strings to get her here after all. Hoping to keep it that way for now, she grabs Jecka's hand veers them away from the tour group, ridding them of prying ears and slipping into a narrow alley between two dorm buildings.
"Jesus fuck Nicole. Why?? And since when did you get so strong, the hell?" Jecka rubbed her wrist as Nicole's grip loosened.The raven haired girl kept one eye around the corner of the building, waiting for the voices to fade in the distance. Once she felt clear, Nicole leaned against one wall, letting her shoulders droop.
"Just as the incident kicked off, I was already skipping classes right? I was on my way to the mall and ran stumbled across some of those terrorist guys or whatever. Jacked their mobile suit that was hidden that rundown barn like a half mile from school. Took off with it," Nicole's voice wavered slightly at points, she didn't want to give away too many details. She especially wanted to avoid letting Jecka know that she was the one who tried to defend the school, figuring it would ruin her hot abysmal bitch thing she's had going on for years.
"Wait, that's all you had to do to get in? Also that doesn't explain WHY you're in piloting completely? You cant expect me to believe you want to get into the military. Mech or not."
"That and the fake tears. I don't know really, piloting seemed like the kind of thing that like I'll either get famous or rich or die trying. Blaze of glory type shit.. She just saw it and kinda offered. I didn't really ask questions."
"Shouldn't you have? Also how the fuck did you manage any of that? Piloting with no experience? You didn't even have a fucking driver's license!" Jecka tried to pry answers from her friend, through bouts of bewilderment.
"Dude, I don't fucking know. It was a wild time, I was kinda just running on instinct.The machine just made sense I don't know how else to explain it. Everything went to complete shit anyway, isn't that why your dad whisked you off to space?"
The question cut deep into Jecka's heart, although she simultaneously felt like Nicole hadn't intended that for once. Her bestie's spontaneous appearance at Asticassia II had filled her head with a flurry of emotions and memories that would've felt ancient any other day, or in the presence of anyone else. She had honestly gone so long without a shred of evidence of life that she'd assumed Nicole had died in the wake of the attacks somehow. Her eyes traced over every inch of Nicole, heart needing desperately to be sure this was all real. Nicole slouched against the wall fiddling with something in her pockets, same black skinny jeans, same studded belt and her favorite ghost t-shirt. What stood out as very much not Nicole, was the cropped leather bomber jacket that reached just shy of the bottom of her rib-cage, yet it looked bizarrely familiar still.
"You want one or not?"
Nicole's impatient tone snap her back to the present, eyes tracing down her friends arm until Jecka spots a pair of pills in her hand. Jecka's entire body heaves with her sigh but traces of nostalgia got the better of her. This time, she tells herself as she plucks one for herself, painfully aware of how chaotic her life could become again.
"Okay so where are our dorms by the way? I really don't wanna carry my shit around all day," Nicole groaned.
She might be fitter now but she's still Nicole, Jecka mused silently to herself, "New students normally get assigned to a House building depending on where they're from or what connections they have. My dad forced me onto the Dueling Committee so my dorms in that building. You should call you sponsor since we lost the group. Shit happens." Her hands waved casually towards the second tallest building in the back center of campus.
Unwilling to track down the tour group and beg for help, Nicole reluctantly opens her phone and dials Suletta's number from memory. The phone tones for a couple of minutes before she gives up and snaps off a text to her sponsor instead. She feels light poke in her back, turning to see Jecka pointing to a large group of shouting students rushing to the quad at the center of the plaza.
"What the fuck is their deal? They're all herding like sheep," Nicole smirked outwardly, internally hoping she can use this to sneak back into the tour group to find her dorm. Before Jecka managed a response, artificial sunlight waned, giving way to warning lights bathing the courtyard in flashing amber and blue as an energy began manifesting over the stony field beyond. Both of their phones chimed in unison, alerting them to a station broadcast from...the Dueling Committee? What the fuck, Nicole's brow furrowed.
"Who the hell is dueling before classes have even started?!" Jecka suddenly sounded uncharacteristically stern, the annoyance fighting back her high.
"Jeckaa? What. The. Fuck. Is. Happening?"
"Nicole I gotta run and meet the committee, I'll explain later. Just watch I guess and enjoy. You're pilot student after all, this is gonna be your thing too," Jecka teased before spinning on her feel and hurrying off, leaving Nicole atop the courtyard stairs. Jecka tossed a wink over her shoulder before disappearing into the lobby elevator of the building she pointed out before.
Frustrated as hell, Nicole's bags join her jaw on the ground as she dropped her bags and body on to the lawn near some other students. Seeing every person around her on their phones, hearing hushed but excited jabber, she opened the notification on her phone as well.
{Incoming Duel: Exhibition Match}
{Holder VS Challenger}
{Ariana M. VS Siam V}
Nicole winced at the sight of the first name, even her face betrayed her usual stoic facade. Memories and wounds she'd long since buried since the Quinharbor attacks, suddenly felt raw and fresh. It took physically shaking herself to dissipate the clouds settling in her mind.
It couldn't be her. That name had grown increasingly common over the years right?
The Ari that she remembered was way too soft and pathetic to be a mobile suit pilot, and certainly too soft to ever be expected to join the military in a role like that.
Right?
Nicole sighed and decided it would be good to at least get a glimpse of the competition she'd be up against at Asticassia.