Undercover: A FC/UC Background Short

Gamma Belt
Mortal Realm
Sector ACR 4-A, Nuevo Filipina
2012

Whispers erupted all over upon the presence of a new student.

It was Adrienne del Riano’s sophomore year in high school when she brought in with her, a cool-faced male wearing the prescribed uniform for the males. Immediately did students clear, standing at the sides and watching with amazement (as well as mild fear) as Adri walked calmly across the hall, the new male at her side and glaring down anyone who attempted to stop the silver-eyed heiress.

Information spread just as fast as whispers did. By the beginning of lunch time, word on the street proclaimed that this newcomer had a name:

Zachary Regulus. He was a dark-haired, ruby-eyed male who was frequently seen by the del Riano’s side. Apparently, he was put in the same class as her – II-2 – and was seatmates with her as well.

According to his ‘official’ story as said when the class introduced themselves to one another, Zachary was the son of a family friend. He was to spend the rest of his high school years in Nuevo Filipina, having the liberty to choose where he wanted to go upon graduating.

His somewhat legitimate background caused rumors to circulate. After a full week, gossip went around that Zachary was sent to NF due to something he had done back in his homeland. 

To the rest of the students, Zachary was a big problem; his spitfire attitude combined with his closed-off attitude yelled problem.

Due to that, little to no students – aside from Adri – approached him.

It bothered Adri that Zachary had to go through so much, but in all honesty, the male didn’t mind. Having to interact with less people would mean less trouble, and less trouble would make the job easier for him. After all, his sole purpose was to guard and protect Adri from all kinds of harm. The monsters present in that world didn’t care where they spawned.

As long as they got a victim, then their ‘objective’ would be fulfilled.

* * * * *

As it had turned out, the del Rianos were well-acquainted with the existence of Watchers. For Zachariel, introducing himself as Adri’s Official Watcher wasn’t that much of a hassle. For the family, everything from his outfit to the pin on his left breast pocket screamed Watcher.

They had been hearing reports of such monsters populating the school. Attacks would happen out of the blue and students would, more often than not, be mercilessly attacked.

Luckily for them, no deaths had occurred. Yet.

For those who knew the existence of Watchers, it was an open secret that Watchers populated around forty to forty-five percent of the student population. Watchers disguised as students would often band together, creating some sort of ‘alliance’ amongst themselves. They watched the Assignments of their co-Watcher when the time for it called, and they made sure that nearly everything was in line – perfectly coordinated.

So for them, it wasn’t a surprise to see a Watcher disguise themselves as a student. In fact, they had gotten used to it. For the cluster of Watchers, the surprise was seeing Zachariel Vasilias taking up a job once again.

Most of them were familiar with the 2009 Tragedy.

To cut the story short, Zachariel Vasilias and Lysandra Moneta’s Watcher-Assignment relationship was suddenly cut short.

According to records, Lysandra was due to live for a much longer time, spanning to her mid-seventies until she would die peacefully in her sleep. When she would pass, Zachariel would be taken back to the Watchers’ Realm and undergo his own recovery process until he could move on to the next Assignment he would look after.

However, things didn’t go according to plan.

One cold winter morning, Zachariel woke up back inside the Watchers’ Realm, his ‘mortal clothes’ discarded and he wearing what recovering Watchers would wear – pure white. He only understood when he attempted to read Lysandra’s mind, desperate to find out what had happened to her and why he was back there.

 The sound of static filled his mind. Within seconds, he began to go on a rampage and was forcibly injected with a sleeping serum. Immediately he dropped to the floor, knocked out, and the higher-ups began their treatment.

Of course, he didn’t remember that. He wouldn’t remember any of it. But that didn’t mean that the other Watchers were spared from seeing his mind nearly snap at the horror and shock of it all. When he had crashed, all those who had witnessed had to swear to not breathe a single word of the incident to the others.

His Recovery took longer than a standard one did. Weeks passed and he was in that trance-like y state, the therapy granted to him seemingly doing nothing to his well-being. Weeks turned into months until he could function normally and take on small jobs here and there – but all of them knew that he wouldn’t be able to maintain a connection unless he had fully healed himself.

In 2011, Zachariel was granted another Assignment.

In 2012, he made his appearance known to all – both Watcher and Assignment alike.

 * * * * *

“They’re always talking about you,” Adri hissed. Zachary merely gave her a blank look. The twosome, having lived merely ten minutes away from the school, always arrived early – around twenty minutes before the students started to come in. “They keep saying how you’re some kind of delinquent who was sent here as punishment. Doesn’t it irritate you?”

Zachary merely glanced at Adri’s Statistics homework, scribbling a few corrections on the girl’s one-half sheet of pad paper. “Why should I be concerned, Adri?”

“It’s ruining your reputation here, Z. They’re not giving you a chance to speak up for yourself,” she insisted hotly. The male gave a small half-smirk.

Adri’s virtue – Justice – was coming out.

“So let them. Ultimately, I’ll be the better person,” he replied smoothly, handing her back the paper. “And pen my corrections so it looks like you did it.”

She merely gave a huff and took out her pen from her pocket, doing said corrections while Zachary watched her amusedly. “You shouldn’t care too much on what they say about me. I can handle myself well.”

“I know that. But that doesn’t mean I’m not supposed to care.” Zachary closed his eyes, peeking into her mind a little bit. Some people they are. This place really is filled with hypocrites.

“The world’s full of hypocrites, Adri. You just have to get used to it,” he told her. “That’s how things work.” He made her look at him, ruby boring into silver, “So let me deal with their bullshit. This isn’t your fight.” In his eyes, she could see a trace of the real Zachary – Zachariel – amidst the disguise he had to put on.

“You’re an idiot, Watcher.” she muttered.

“And you’re incredibly reckless, Assignment.”