How The Legend Began

 

Chapter One

It was just another day at the Academy, and they were just two more cadets.  There was nothing extraordinary about them. Nothing that anyone could point to later and say, “I knew there was something special about those two.”  Just your average, run-of-the-mill cadets.

Rumor had it that the tall, athletic blonde was from somewhere in the Midwest. He was quiet, aloof - kept himself separated from the other police officer wannabes. He had built a solid wall around himself; carefully constructed it brick by brick to protect the tender soul inside. If one looked closely enough, it was obvious the wounds ran deep, and there were many of them. But, of course, no one could ever look that closely.  That was the whole purpose of the wall, and the man had spent an agonizingly long time constructing it. He had done his best to make sure no one could penetrate his defenses.

 

The shorter man, with the mop of dark, curly hair, was a different story. He was so active—energized by some unseen force. Yet he, too, was strangely alone. Not in the quiet, withdrawn way of the blonde. This man was the life of the party, always good for a laugh. He had a smile that lit up the room, but that smile was too quick in coming, too quick to leave. No one ever really knew the scared, vulnerable child behind the facade. This man had encased himself in an impenetrable suit of armor, carefully shutting out a world that had left him hurting one too many times.

On that particular day, the inevitable happened. The Academy gym was alive with activity. The blonde was working out with the free weights when, suddenly, he felt a presence.  It was familiar and yet unsettling at the same time. He stood and turned around just in time to see the dark haired one enter the room. At that exact moment in time, their eyes met. Deep sapphire blue eyes met azure blue eyes, and, for those two average, run-of-the-mill cadets, time stood still. All activity in the gym seemed to cease. Their entire universe narrowed
down to two pairs of eyes locked together. And somehow, they knew. Each man knew in his own way that his entire life had been narrowed down to this one moment. Somehow they had been drawn to this place, at this exact time, for this event. Instantaneously, each man knew that this was the beginning of what his life was meant to be.