Welcome to Gaia! ::

HOLY PIROUETTING COWS

Awesome introduction Rhiko! Seriously! At first I was like, "Where is he going with this?" because there were no names given and then suddenly everything smacks me upside the head with a pillow full of KNOWLEDGE BRICKS. OwO Then I was squee-ing and hugging my laptop.

WAS THAT CAELUM!? I mean, wind... who else could it be? <33 I sense awesome epic-ness in the future!!

Beautiful choice on music as expected. You seem to choose music that flows beautifully with your writing. Code Geass was an amazing choice. The beat just fits perfectly with an introduction like this. I see it playing out as a movie trailer with this music. I especially loved the part where all the strings went into a crescendo. =w= Right as they were all gathering around the table... ahhhhhh soooo blissful.

Brilliant work Rhiko :3

Children of Verona! Who would've thunk D: I miss that RP ;n;

Wow nice Rhiko. Though I never got the chance to participate in that rp, this looks like it'd be a very interesting story. I look forward to where it'd continue going.

If I started it again, I'd want someone else to run it. I'm no good with running RPs.

Chapter 1

((Edit))[[Cue: Twilight Town]]

A loud bell echoed through the halls of the deathly quiet building, a silence soon broken by the shuffling of feet and sudden explosion of voices. Doors along the halls flew open as countless boys and girls in uniform ran out into the hallways with bags, books, and papers in tow. In the blink of an eye, the near desolate and empty scenery was a bustling city of youth running back and forth. The sound of laughter echoed over the sound of lockers being opened and closed left and right and the subtle squeaks of shoes on the hallway floors. It didn’t take long before the students spread out of the building and onto the grounds surrounding it taking places to eat their lunch and relax under the starry sky.

“Umph!” Therawyn, the girl with long, brown hair exclaimed vocally as she sat down under a tree with her lunch.

“So, we’re eating here today?” Neha asked, putting her things down on the grass next to Threra. Neha was an interesting individual. She was very atractive, extremely popular, and very well endowed, yet, preferred to surround herself with friends that were part of not so popular circles. Even so, she never hesitated to let a button or two go on her uniform during breaks to show her bust size off to the boys who wandered by.

As Neha proceeded to break school regulations, they were greeted by another friend, “Room for two more?” Saiya asked while already setting her things down on the other side of Thera from Neha, followed closely by another. Saiya was a young girl with long black hair like Neha’s that reflected a dark green tint when hit just right by the light. Amongst her friends she came across motherly, but the gentle kind, never scolding.

Veréor, a boy with unnaturally white hair, sat down next to Saiya nodding politely at the two already present, “Hope you don’t mind if we intrude.”

“Not at all.” Thera replied enthusiastically, “The more the better.”

Veréor was always polite, always a tad quieter than the rest, but always friendly in a distant sort of way. He held his friends close, but to everyone it was no secret his closest friend of all had to be his little brother. The two were always together outside of school, he adored him and to everyone it seemed as if the word no wasn’t even in the young man’s vocabulary when it came to the sibling.

“Thanks. I appreciate it.” Veréor replied with a smile as he sat across from Saiya.

This was Central Academy, or more specifically, the high school campus of Central Academy. This was the largest and most prominent school in the city. Only the most intelligent, rich, talented, or just plain lucky students from the entire city came here. But, it wasn’t just a high school. There was also a middle school and elementary school campus as well surrounding the high school, which in itself wasn’t just a high school either. The city, lacking room for too many buildings dedicated solely to education, Central High, was also extended into a college. So, despite it being mainly a high school, the ages of students varied greatly from high school freshman all the way up to college seniors.

“So, how do you think you did on your English paper?” Saiya asked the group before taking a bite out of her sandwich.

“I think I did well enough, I didn’t stress over it though. I have a good enough grade in writing anyway.” Therawyn replied confidently before sipping her juice.

The students of Central Academy ranged just as greatly in diversity as they did age. The elitist school had very open criteria, students were able to study and practice whatever skills their hearts desired… as long as they kept a passing grade in all of their general education courses. Students were not even required to show up for those classes as long as they passed the tests and made sure to take part in another elective in its place… skipping was hardly tolerated. Despite this, there were still some students that ignored this fact and went about their own business regardless.

“Hey guys! Is it lunch break already? Good thing! I’m starved!” Aideen, a fiery red head with no tolerance for the educational system strolled up to the group under the tree.

“Aideen! Where have you been? If you don’t try showing up for at least one class this week, you’re going to fail English! Did you even do your paper?” Threrawyn asked with a sudden exasperated cough realizing she hadn’t completely swallowed her drink completely.

“Nah… I’ll get it done later.” Aideen replied, leaning with one arm against the tree and glancing over their shoulders.

“So where have you been, Aideen?” Veréor asked raising an eyebrow at the much older girl, which brought to question how many times she had been held back to still be in the same class as them.

“I’ve been cruising around in my new car.” She answered with a misplaced pride. It was obvious she wasn’t picking up on the clearly bothered glances she got from everyone in the group.

“Well, at least she’s having fun.” Saiya stated, going back to eating her food, breaking down the heavy atmosphere involving the slacking vagabond.

“See?” Aideen exclaimed, sliding in close next to Saiya, “She gets me! Why do you guys have to give me such a hard time. I’m just doing what I love.” Aideen looked down at Saiya’s untouched biscuit, “You going to eat that? Can I have a bite?”

Without missing a beat, Saiya replied, “I said you’re doing what you love. Not that I approve of your irresponsibility. Make your own lunch.”

Aideen looked dumbstruck and downfallen, as everyone else laughed wholeheartedly, “Awwww, but I’m starving.”

“Should have thought of that before.” Saiya came back again in a sing song tone.

The red head looked at the others, who swiftly grabbed up their food and held it close, never taking their eyes off Aideen for a second. The tomboy made a playful pouting face then laughed, “Well fine… if that’s how you’re going be. I’ll just leave.”

Just as she went to do so another voice joined the group, hitting a nerve in just about everyone present, “Oh look at what the cat dragged in this time… or perhaps a sewer rat decided to climb out of its hole and come into high society. well, we don’t want you, so go back to the pit you crawled out of.” Gwyneira, a girl with beautiful, long, raven colored hair and a perfectly slender figure stood off to the side alone. Her eyes like her hair were dark, cold, and pitiless. In spite of this, she was one of the most popular girls in the school. She’d been asked out by nearly every boy in their grade, but she turned every single one down. This still didn’t stop them from flocking to her whenever she was in need. If there was anything in the world worse than being on Aideen’s bad side, it was being named Gwyn around Aideen. It didn’t take more than a sentence out of Gwyn’s mouth to push Aideen to the end of her rope.

Aideen stopped and spun around on one foot, a smile offsetting the irritated aura she was now clearly giving off, “Hey! I’m glad I ran into you! That stupid cat stole my mop, you mind taking it off your head? I need to for cleaning the garage floor again.”

“Jealousy is unbecoming…” Gwyn replied, raising her nails to eye level, ignoring the girl to inspect her handiwork, “not that you could ever become anything with your grades… and that face.”

“Could you please just go away? No one wants you here.” Therawyn asked, with a tone that made it more into a threat.

“Already gone. People like you aren’t worth my time anyway.” Then to everyone’s joy, Gwyn turned to leave as fast as she had arrived.

“That’s no fun. I was hoping for a cat fight… then I’d get to dig my fingers into that girl’s hair then drag her all the way across campus. That’d just make my day. Oh well. Anyway, I’m off again! See you kiddies later!” Aideen waved goodbye and before anyone could even reply she ran off and was out of ear shot.

“What’s her deal anyway?” Thera asked, implying Gwyn’s interruption, “Does she have something against us or what?”

“No… I just don’t think she has anything better to do with her time.” Veréor replied with a sigh.

Thera snapped back immediately, obviously bothered by the girl and her constant insults she threw at their group for no reason, “I wish she’d get a life.”

“I’m sure she would if she hadn’t already sold it to the devil.” Neha replied with a smirk, resulting in the others to chuckle. After a moment of silence as everyone returned to their food, Neha looked up at the sky, dotted with stars from one end of the city to the other.

Verona, it was a city trapped in eternal night. Nearly 5 decades ago, the world had experienced some great disaster. The city of Verona, for whatever reason managed to survive and in order to protect itself, built a giant dome over the city. Everything about the sky was false. Lies giving the illusion that their world wasn’t really measureable under less than 100 miles. The stars were fake, spotlights stationed high above, positioned to simulate the starry skies this generation had never seen in reality. The weather was fake, convenient but fake. Even the air itself was fake, half of it generated though machinery deep underground and pumped up to feed the world above breathable oxygen. Without a sun, the plants never created much oxygen on their own, and as long as everything was working correctly, the entire dome stood as an airtight fortress, protecting the inhabitants from the world outside.

A bell rang once more, signaling to the students that the next half of their school day was about to begin. Shuffling quickly to collect their things, the group stationed under the tree moved to make it on time.

In her haste to collect her things Thera asked Neha with a smile, “So, what are you doing after school today? You want to hang out?”

“Sure, but I can’t do anything over at my place. My family is picky about company.”

“I understand, so is mine.” Thera stood up slinging her bag of food over her shoulder and extended a hand forward to help Neha up from the ground, “Then how do you feel about some ice cream from the place down the street?”

“That sounds great.”

“What classes to you guys have next?” Veréor asked as he walked alongside the two. Behind them, Saiya trotted up catching only the butt end of the question.

“I have art next.” Thera replied, twirling her finger through the air whimsically, “You?”

“Psychology.” Veréor answered with a smile.

“Eww, Psychology? Why would you ever want to take that as an elective?” Neha replied with a frown, obviously displeased by even the concept.

“You’re kidding right? It’s awesome! Let’s you get in people’s heads and mess with them.” Veréor turned and walked backwards, waving his fingers as if casting a spell, adding in some innocent dark humor.

Saiya chuckled, finding her friends amusing. She glanced back as she heard the rev of an engine and screech of tires on pavement; Aideen obviously showing off for no other reason than to disrupt the school. She shook her head and looked back to her friends. Things were peaceful. She only hoped in her heart things would stay this way. With crime on the rise in the city and strange assassinations taking place, part of her feared that it might interfere with their dreamy state of life in their nocturnal city of lights.

Veréor turned back and glanced at Saiya, who had stopped to look up at the sky again, a sliver of a smile anointing her face before he called out her name and brought her back from dream land, “Saiya? You coming? You’ll be late for next bell.”

“Mmm!” She replied simply, running forward after them again. As she caught up, Thera wrapped her arms around her and gave her a tight hug and laughed as they joined the rest of the school’s populace moving as one back into the massive building.

In a world filled with nothing but dreams, can humanity truly survive? A city of illusions and false truths filled with people that could be as fake as the existence around them. Could life truly continue on in that state of drifting bliss? What line can be drawn that separates a dream from a nightmare? At what point does each transcend into the other? It was a thought to ponder, but in those days, a thought like that was nothing more than misplaced and pointless. But, if the thought had cross their minds… if they had stopped to look at the world around them… they might have seen the storm clouds on their painted horizon.

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On the outskirts of a large gated society, a bus pulled up to a curb and opened its doors releasing a line of students that practically emptied the bus entirely. Saiya, Veréor, Sergio, Isra, Bertrand, and Raghnall were but a few of these.

Sergio, Veréor’s younger brother strolled along next to his older sibling holding his hand in one and swinging the other back and forth with a giant smile. The elementary school boy only stood to his older brother’s waist and had features not in any way significant. In contrast to his brother’s outstanding appearances and hair color, Sergio had, short, messy black hair, always uncombed because he would throw fits if he was forced to run a brush through it, almost always resulting in his older brother bailing him out saying something like, “He’s just a kid. Leave him be. What harm will it do right now?”

Veréor and Sergio’s parents never liked it much, but they would usually give in after Sergio calmed down and clung to his older brother like a lost puppy. Sergio adored his older brother, and his older brother always acted the same. It didn’t stop his older brother from nervously running a hand through the little boy’s hair to try and straighten it out resulting in the inevitable furious shaking of the younger brother’s head to messy the hair once more.

A bit behind the two brothers was Isra, a small girl the same age as Sergio. She was a shy girl more friendly towards the stuffed bunny she carried in her arms than those around her. She shied away from affection, especially from the older girls that often fawned over how adorable she looked in her pink sundress and pigtails. Her closest friend aside from the imaginary sort was Sergio, but whenever he was around his brother, he often forgot about her, not that she minded. She often found watching him play with his brother amusing at the least. But it was when she was alone like this that another individual took interest in her.

Bertrand, an older boy who happened to be her cousin snuck up and tugged on her pigtails impishly resulting in her immediate and displeased scream. The two then scrambled around the sidewalk as she chased after the boy with a vengeance. The two were finally stopped before Isra enacted her revenge by Raghnall the late teenager with a usually sickly appearance but calm collected aura.

“Bertrand, apologize to Isra.”

“But I didn’t do anything!” Bertrand argued, trying to wiggle his way out of humbling himself to the younger relative.

“He’s lying! He pulled my hair!” Isra cried, rubbing her face into her stuffed bunny to hide the tiny tears caressing her eyelashes.

“Nuh uh!”
“Uh huh!”

“I’ll take it from here Raghnall,” Saiya cut in, placing a hand on Bertrand’s shoulder, “Bertrand… did you pull Isra’s hair?”

“He did! Don’t let him lie to you!”

“Isra…” Saiya cautioned, waiting for Bertrand to speak, but instead he only pouted and hid his face by looking away.

“See! He’ll never apologize! He’s a mean boy! And mean boy’s should just go die!” Isra shouted angrily, before storming off.

“Isra!” Saiya yelled after her but her voice didn’t reach, “Now Bertrand… you’ve hurt Isra’s feelings. You should go apologize.”

“Don’t tell me what to do you witch!” Bertrand pulled away quickly and slapped Saiya across the face and ran.

Saiya knelt there for a moment before standing without a word, then continued walking with the rest of the group. Eventually they reached a large gate, Isra and Bertrand were already there. As Saiya took a spot looming over Bertrand, furthering the boy’s nervousness, a voice joined the group, void of a body to accompany it. The voice originated from a lone speaker on the steel pedestal on the right side of the gate, “Name and ID please?”

“Veréor Celebran. 2244661.”

“Name and ID confirmed. Iris checks are in effect, please place yourself before the scanner.”

Veréor moved to the panel on the pedestal, staring at it a moment as it shifted and folded over revealing a different, more advanced panel for the scan. A thin, pale beam shot out and covered Veréor’s eye from a split second before a loud beep accompanied by a sudden shift in the gate signaled their permission to enter.

As everyone filed through, a simple, yet caring statement led the last of them through, “Welcome home.”

As the large group of students filtered out through the streets going in separate directions, a small group stuck together, finally splitting off the last of their extra members as Veréor & Sergio turned and went their separate ways. After parting, Saiya, Raghnall, another young man a bit older than the rest named Alex. Alex stood about 5’ 9”, and had blonde hair in an extremely long styled ponytail that nearly skimmed the ground as he walked.

They all made their way to a large facility towards the center of the closed off community. The door automatically opened up for them, allowing them to enter without a sound. In the building, it appeared as though it was a normal office building with business offices and mails rooms. But at the center of the building, was a lone elevator. An elevator on a single story building.

After boarding the elevator, Raghnall pressed one button for his floor, followed by a quick press of a button by Saiya to lead her somewhere else. When the door closed, the 3 of them felt a sinking feeling as the elevator went down, and the numbers on the elevator went into negatives. Further and further they sank into the earth till finally the elevator stopped allowing Raghnall and Alex to disembark.

With a wave of her hand, Saiya vanished behind the doors of the elevator and it continued its decent. Both Raghnall and Alex stood for a moment before turning away from their only entrance and exit and went down the single hallway before arriving in a dark room with nothing but a large screen.

From a door adjacent to theirs, a stunningly beautiful woman strolled out before the pair followed by a small boy carrying with him an air that could be cut with a knife. The woman stopped with her back to the screen not waiting for introductions or greetings to start speaking, “As you are well aware. There have been a series of mysterious murders within the past few days. We have suspicions that the Montague family is behind the murders.”

“Do we have any proof?” Alex asked instinctively, knowing well that his answer would likely follow within the next couple seconds. In response, the screen behind the woman flickered to life displaying some vivid pictures of two men lying on their back with bloody bullet wounds through their skulls.

“Does anything about these pictures strike you as odd?”

There was a pause before the two could answer the question, when finally Alex answered, “Well, obviously they have bullet wounds in their heads. What’s strange about it?”

“Look again.” The woman insisted, the screen zoomed in on the wounds further, resulting in a rather uncomfortable look from Alex who didn’t seem to relish in looking at dead bodies. The two stared for a moment, before Raghnall’s eyes widened a bit.

“I thought it was odd. When at first I thought the same thing as Alex, and these were just normal bullet wounds. You wouldn’t call on us if these were normal murders.”

“Then you understand?”

“I think I do.” Raghnall responded scrunching his eyebrows together with frustration.

“Ok… would someone fill me in here? What am I missing?”

Raghnall took his coworker’s shoulder and aligned himself with his sight and pointed with his finger, “Look there… around the injury. Look at the skin.”

“The skin?” Alex pondered out loud, while staring intently before gasping with a realization, “The skin is all twisted! Sick! Don’t tell me this is some sort of drill! I’m going to be sick if you try and tell me someone used some household appliance to do this.”

“That’s not all.” The woman continued now that Alex was caught up, but ignored his concerns “Look at their eyebrows, and their scalp line. Notice how there’s a noticeable section that appears to be missing.”

“That’s not completely odd. The two men appear to be middle aged and balding isn’t uncommon in men that age, especially in stressful job positions. Judging by their suits, they appear to be in some important positions.” Alex continued, not sure what could be so important about old men balding.

“But they were not… or should I say, aren’t bald.” The woman pointed to the scalp line drawing their attention to the scalp line again. There were small remains of hair follicles still remaining in the hair line, just simply shaved clean, “My guess… is that whatever did this to these men… also had this side effect.”

“So we’re hunting a mad barber now?” Alex replied sarcastically, trying to keep his lunch with humor.

“Now for the twist,” The woman stated and the screen changed to a picture of a popular street in central, “Both of these men, were murdered yesterday, in the middle of rush hour, at the same time, without a gunshot to be heard, a bullet to be seen, or a witness to speak of. As those that were there testified to police, it was as if the two of them collapsed dead on the spot in the midst of an unexpected gust of wind.”

“I can imagine this isn’t going over well with the police.”

“The police are in a frenzy. This isn’t the first case like this, there were 6 others spread out over the past 2 years, but none took place in populated places like these two, and those murdered before were shady characters, usually involved in crime of some sort and the black market. We never took notice before now because none were involved with our family. We wrote them off as strange occurrences, but nothing to get alarmed over because they never involved us. The police, along with the public, call the murderer, The Wasp, or just Wasp for short, in reference to the strange shape the skin takes around the wounds. That or, The Phantom, because they’ve never once been able to find a single trace of a bullet, a gun, or even the presence of another person at the scene of the murder. Some even have this ridiculous notion that the killer really is supernatural… but we know better… don’t we?”

“And now?” Alex stated, his expression sinking.

“These men that were murdered were both heavy contributors to our family’s funding. Whoever took them out knew that hitting them would hit us hard in the wallet. When this was finally called to our attention we realized these mysterious murders couldn’t be overlooked any longer. They were a direct attack against our family.”

“So… then you’re sure then. We’re dealing with a Kotic?” Raghnall stated, finally. The woman hidden by her own Silhouette held back a smirk as he came to her same conclusion.

Kotic, the name given to genetically altered humans, gifted with near supernatural abilities at birth. Their powers could be anything. They could range from control over elements to things as strange as reading the waves in someone’s brains and translating them into thoughts, put simply, mind reading. In truth, there was always a scientific answer to all of the magical powers these kotics possessed, some just were simply too complicated to comprehend. Scientists that first created Kotics never intended to create super humans, they were simply tampering with certain genes in illegal experiments funded by interested, rich benefactors. Their tampering, stumbled onto the Pandora’s Box of genetics. Babies born after having this specific change had a random chance to develop special powers. Some, were born with powers so incredible, that their very existence would frighten the minds of the general populace. Others, appeared as normal as any other human baby with no powers to speak of. These children born without powers were given the derogatory title of, Failure.

“That’s right Raghnall, a Kotic.” The woman stated, suddenly the lights in the room turning on and the screen turning off, “Specifically, we can only think of one organization that would be powerful enough to use a Kotic in this manner and even hope to survive against us and that’s the Montague Empire.”

“Not to interrupt but… I’m really the most equipped for any sort of man hunt.” Alex spoke up, nervously biting on his nail, “Especially against another Kotic.”

“Don’t worry Alex. I’m not sending you into battle against a Kotic. You’re going to be aiding in the investigation on these two murders.”

“You can’t be serious! I can’t! That’s insane! I feel sick just thinking about it!”

“Tell me, Alex, who do we serve?” The woman asked, her eyes growing cold.

Alex stammered, staring at her and nearly biting his tongue in his haste to find an answer, but found none.

Continuing and expecting no further objections from Alex, the woman finished up, “Raghnall, I called you here so you can escort Alex to the morgue. We have a man in place to let you in and out. When you get there, I want to you meet with a few individuals that may be able to help with our investigation. Alex will do all of the talking, Raghnall, you’ll be there just in case anything happens. That’s all.”

“Yes, Mam.” The two of them answered in unison.

“And who do we serve?”

“Our heart for the family. Our lives for the collective.”

“Good, off with you now.” The woman waved and turned to the small boy that had stood silently throughout the entire ordeal and the moment the two men left the room burst into an excited squeal.

“Miss Grace? Miss Grace?! Is there going to be blood? Is there? Is there? PLEASE tell me there is! Do I get to kill someone? Do I? Do I? Huh? Huh? Huh?”

“Calm down. There’ll be no blood today. No killing.” The woman placed a hand on the boy’s cheek, immediately calming him down, “There’s no need for you yet… my dear, precious, Abel.”


((Author's Notes: Well, there's the first chapter guys! I know, it isn't as exciting and action packed as my previous work, but hopefully you will come to appreciate it just the same. I worked allot with the plot and setting of the original CoV. A couple things have been changed. Some of the social backgrounds have been altered a bit and some aspects of characters have been altered, though I tried my best to keep as close to the originals as possible.

CoV in its lifetime didn't have a life span long enough for many characters to become solid in a specific personality, so for many, I'm winging it. You'll notice several new characters in the story, I added them to try and expand the cast a bit more and give a more dynamic feel. I also hope this will give a greater feel of mystery to the story in that you won't already know everything about the characters and give you someone new to get to know.

I would love to hear what everyone has to say about this chapter in detail, especially since it's the first time in awhile since I have written "fluff" at this level. I want to thank all of you for supporting me over the past year. Now, a week from the anniversary of HT's creation, the beginning of a band new story in born. It's the beginning of a band new academic year, and the start of a new adventure! Let's make it another great one! ^_^))

Mad Barber = Edgeworth Montague

Chapter 2

Raghnall walked alongside Alex through the city after stepping off the bus crowded with people. This was Verona’s central district, nothing but skyscrapers, office buildings, luxurious shops, and shining lights. It was the city that never slept in a land of eternal night. As a car raced by clearly over the speed limit, Alax sighed and looked at Raghnall, “I really hate this part of town.”

“You hate every part of town.” Raghnall replied simply without looking away from the path in front of them. They worked together on a regular basis, Raghnall and Alex. The two were used to one another, often cracking jokes or picking on the other for one fault or another.

“I guess that’s true.” Alex said with a laugh, “I just can’t stand all the noise. It’s like… you’d wish they’d all just stop for a moment and enjoy the peace and quiet. How could anyone live in this area. I’d go crazy!”

“You’re not already?”

“Hey!” Alex, pushed Raghnall causing him to trip over himself for a moment before regaining his balance. The two walked in silence for a short bit before Alex spoke again, “Man… why does Miss Grace have to be like that? I mean… doesn’t she realize the kind of strain this sort of thing puts on me?”

“She’s just looking out for the family. It’s a privilege to help out like this.”

“Easy for you to say. You don’t have to do anything.” Alex, tugged on his ponytail to straighten out the knots.

“I’m here to protect you. We’re here for a reason… if someone catches wind of that, we could be in danger here.” Raghnall answered finally glancing at his partner, “Central is under constant conflict as it is. With the recent murders, tensions are even higher than before and our presence here will likely not go unnoticed.”

“You don’t think someone will actually come after us? I mean, we’re not hurting anyone being here.” The long haired, brunette responded clinging to his friends arm while walking sideways.

Raghnall continued looking forward, nothing but a serious look on his face as he said, “It’s always a possibility. If anything does happen, I’ll protect you regardless.”

Alex let go of his arm and sighed, “Man… I hate this part of town.”

Raghnall laughed at the conversations inevitable return to the beginning, “You hate every part of town.”



Saiya rested her shoulder against the elevator wall as she counted the floors go by, “27…28… 29,” all she needed was one more and that was it. Finally, the elevator reached the last floor and the doors opened slowly. First, one set of doors slid open in a usual side to side fashion, followed by a second door sliding up into the roof overhead. Warm light poured into the elevator, breathing life onto the girls skin and rejuvenating her spirits almost instantly.

A young man with short blonde hair and hauntingly green eyes looked to the door and smiled, “Saiya, you’re early!”

“Traffic on the bus home was lighter than usual. How was your day, Peter?” Saiya said stepping out of the elevator running her hand along the wall then through a thick layer of leaves. This was the gardens, Eve’s Garden, as it was fondly nicknamed.

“Uneventful. The apples are still ripening, so they can’t be picked quite yet.” Peter replied as he took a large pair of sheers and clipped back a branch that had grown out too far.

Saiya pulled down a branch of the cherry tree beside her and took a deep breath of the flowers’ aroma before speaking again, “They won’t be ready for another week I imagine.”

“True, but their numbers have increased this year, I expect almost twenty-five percent more.”

“That’s great!” Saiya replied with a laugh as she picked up a basket and heading over to the pile of cut branches on the other side of Peter, “All your hard work is paying off.”

“You think so?” Peter asked as he clipped another branch, “I don’t think so. I think it’s because they’re happy you’ve been around so much.” Peter added with a grin, “Pretty sure if you were cut, they couldn’t find a green thumb, they’d find your blood runs green too.”

“Oh shut up.” Saiya retorted as she walked past, balancing the basket in one arm long enough to bop him on the head.

“Hey, Hey, sharp objects here.”

“Mmm, true, wouldn’t want you to cut off an arm. Who could ever fill your place, cutting back branches and picking the fruit once every couple months.” Saiya dropped the basket and knelt down to pick up the branches the boy had left behind, “What lazy individual could we find to ever fill your spot.”

“That’s not fair. I do more than that,” Peter clipped another branch back and dropped the clippers on the ground before taking a seat with his back against the tree’s trunk, “I sleep on the job too. That’s hard work. Do you realize how much time I have to spend on that alone, you wouldn’t be able to fathom its difficulty.”

“My, my… I don’t know what I’d do with myself. I’d be so overwhelmed.” Saiya laughed and dropped another twig in the basket.

“But… in all seriousness. They’re happy you’re here, they seem to bloom just a little more whenever you come to visit.”

“You sure that’s not just you saying that?” The girl said dropping the last branch into the basket and glancing over at Peter.

“No… I wouldn’t just say that. You seriously have an amazing air about you. Even the butterflies go nuts fluttering about. See, look?”

Saiya looked up and found the roof of the large underground greenhouse a living scenery of mixed colors ranging from bright yellows and oranges to blues and purples, “They’re always like that.”

“Only when you’re here.” Peter said laying his head back and closing his eyes, “By the way, have you seen Salvii lately?”

“Salvii?” Saiya asked in return, thinking about the question. Salvii was a strange boy about her age. She’d known him since childhood, nearly from birth. He and Vereor were good friends and spent allot of time together and with her up until bout the time they were ten, “Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen him the past couple days.”

“Not even at school?”

“No. In fact, he’s been absent every day this week.”

“Weird…” Peter replied slowly, pressing his back against the tree a bit more before sliding down into a more comfortable position.

“Hey… don’t leave me to do all the work while you take a nap.” Saiya snapped, picking up a branch from the basket to toss at him. Peter raised his arm instinctively to catch the branch without even opening his eyes. Saiya sighed, “Why do you ask anyway?”

“Oh, he was down here a few days ago.”

“Salvii has?” Saiya replied curiously, “Why would he come down here? That boy doesn’t have a green gene in his pinky.”

“He said he was looking for you.”

“Me? Well that’s weird, if he wanted to see me he could have just come to school. I hope he isn’t slacking on his studies.”

“You know Salvii, that’s not possible. He only goes to school as a formality.”

“I guess that’s true.” Saiya shrugged, “I still don’t see why he’d be looking for me.”

There was a long pause between either of them saying anything before a long drawn out and delayed answer returned from Peter, “Beats me…”

“Hey! I said no sleeping!” Saiya protested, but it was too late. The boy was asleep and from what she could tell, so was the rest of the underground forest. The air was still, the trees and their leaves were lower than before, and the butterflies settled down on the blossoms. The girl sighed after looking around, “Show off.”


“Make sure you put it all back the way it was alright? I don’t want to lose my job because one of you got sloppy.” The security guard of the morgue stated as he closed the door behind Raghnall and Alex.

“Let’s get to work.” Raghnall stated as he moved to check the metal wall for plates with the desired names, “They’re here somewhere.”

Alex moved behind him, but far more hesitant around the cases of dead bodies than his partner, “Man…”

“Complain after we’re done here. Let’s get this over with and get out quickly. The longer we stay the greater our chance of being caught.”

“I know… but…”

“Found them.” Raghnall announced in hushed tones, “Get over here.”

“Damnit.” Alex reacted to the discovery with complete distaste, “Can we come back and do this tomorrow? I just remembered I have stuff to do at home.”

“We shouldn’t be long as long as you do your job quickly.” Raghnall said unsympathetically.

Alex whined as they opened the two cubby hole doors and slid the bodies out of their temporary tombs. He looked at their distorted faces and already he felt his lunch coming back from a second course, “This is disgusting.”

“Just hurry up. I’ll keep watch.” The white haired boy replied as he moved to the door and peeked out the window and down an empty hall.

Alex hesitated, looked at the bodies, fixated on the twisted knots over the entire forehead as well as the gaping hole covered up kindly by plaster but it was obvious this man would not have an open coffin funeral, “Man… I really hope this is worth it.” Alex extended his hand out, hovering over the forehead for a moment for a second of contemplation. Then, swallowing hard, he pressed his hand over the man’s face and closed his eyes.

Instantly he was no longer in the morgue, instead, blurs of people, places, images and emotions passed flowed over him like sloppy rockslide of mud and sand. Flashes of moments vanished from existence while others attempted to play through in their entirety. Alex sifted through the needless slush and finally came to the moment he was searching for. The man stood on the side of the road, looking at the man located on the other tray. Meaningless words passed between them, then like a kick in the gut or blow to chest Alex was thrust out of the man’s mind and collapsed to the ground.

Raghnall looked away from the door and over to his friend, “Are you alright, Alex?”

“Yeah… I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah… “ the long haired boy said as he stood back up, stabilizing himself with the dead man’s bed, “I’ll be fine. Just give me a moment.”

“Alright… take your time.” Raghnall said with some insistence, there was no reason to rush and mess something up, “Did you see anything?”

“Nothing. Nothing that could help with the investigation anyway. It seems if there was an attacker, this man was looking the other way.”

“Check the other one then.” Raghnall said as he returned to his post watching out the window.

With an already unsteady hand, Alex put his hand out and hovered over the second man’s face like the first, only this time hesitating a bit longer than the first. As he proceeded, Alex found this man’s thoughts and memories far more scattered and in shambles than the first. Huge chunks of his memories were missing as well as entire figures in some scenarios.

“The memory section of his brain must have been damaged by the injury. I’m not sure… wait… I think I found something.” He said out loud to himself.

Alex stared as the men exchanged their goodbyes and went to turn away. Suddenly, a scream cut short by the other man drew the man’s vision back to his friend. The image before him was indeed terrifying. Separating the surge of emotions in that moment alone was next to impossible for the mind reader. His friend stood frozen in mid sentence, mouth open, eyes wide. Out of his forehead a spiral of tearing flesh, blood, and bone made a snake like motion through the air, spattering the contents like a sprinkler into the air around him. The strange mass hovered in place before in a slowed down motion like a frame by frame picture flew forward in-between the man’s view and Alex fell back into reality.

Alex breathed heavily, holding himself up with a shaky arm, trying his best not to fall backwards entirely, sure that if he did he’d fall unconscious from the sheer impact of the memory, “I… think I got it.”

“Great. Let’s get out of here. We’ve been here too long as it is.” Raghnall said as he moved to the exit.

“Hold on… let me catch my breath.”

Raghnall stopped and turned back. He looked at his friend and sighed, “Alright, but if I need to I’ll carry you out of here.”

“Haha… that’d be a funny sight.” Alex replied humorously, even if a bit forced, “That was… horrifying.”

“I’ll treat you to a steak at Harpers when we get back.” Raghnall said kneeling by Alex’s side.

Alex shook his head vigerously, “Do me a favor and don’t mention food… ever again.”

Ragnall laughed and patted his shoulder reassuringly, “Sure. No problem. What did you see in there anyway.”

“The most horrifying thing you can imagine. We’re definitely dealing with a Kotic that’s for sure. It was like… a drill of blood just… shot right through his skull.” Alex glanced a Raghnall worriedly, “But… I’m not really sure if it was really the blood doing the drilling… or something else.”

Raghnall sighed, “I was hoping you’d just say a bullet did it and that was that.”

“Wishful thinking on both our parts.”

“Yeah…” Raghnall stayed by his friend another minute before shifting towards the door, “Can you walk?”

“Yeah… I’m good.” Alex pulled himself up on the rack and helped Raghnall push them back into place, “Let’s get out of here.”

The two turned and hurried down the hallway towards the exit where they came in. Upon exiting the door, they saw no sign of the guard they’d been assisted by before. Instead, at the end of the alleyway a strange figure approached them. It moved with almost inhuman grace, gliding over the gravel without making a sound.

“Good evening.” Raghnall called out down the alleyway as the woman came into view under a light placed on the wall half way down the alleyway. It was then that the woman’s features became more apparent. Cloaked in a dress fit for a funeral, black dominated her entire being from head to toe with gloves covering even the color of her hands and a thick veil hiding her face, “Do you need something?”

“No… not really.” The woman replied solemnly.

Alex put a hand on Raghnall’s shoulder then spoke to the woman softly, “Did, you lose someone too?”

“Yes… I did.” No movement.

“Were they close to you?” Alex’s grip tightened.

“You could say that…” The woman still didn’t move a muscle, she was as still as darkness itself. Something about her had Raghnall’s nerves on edge and it was clear Alex felt the same way.

“Well, I’m sorry for your loss mam.” Alex replied sympathetically, “I’m sure they cared allot about you.”


[[Cue: Green Eyed Jealousy by =NeutraL=]]


“I… don’t think so. In fact… he barely knew me. We’d only just met.” The woman replied with a deepening tone with a hint of sadness.

“Well… you must be a very sweet woman to visit the morgue for a man you barely knew.”

“Thank you. You’re very kind.”

“No… I’m not that nice, but… we must be going. I hope you find some happiness this evening.”

“Thank you again. You’re very kind… so was he.”

“I’m sorr-“ Alex’s words stopped short, drawing Raghnall’s gaze. His eyes stopped half way, locked on a thin gleaming line cutting its way over his view, down it a tiny drop of red liquid given color by the reflection of light overhead. It dropped to the ground with an audible drip, “R-Rage…” Raghnall followed the fine line ultimately to his friend’s neck, the thin wire imbedded deeply into his throat as he spoke Raghnall’s least favorite nickname. Through the pain cutting apart his senses, Alex spoke one last word, with a tear running down his cheek, “Run.”

Raghnall closed his eyes as a spray of red splashed over his vision. Already he ducked to the ground and rolled away as lines drew themselves over the gravel floor and further sliced his friend open in his place. His eyes rose to face the woman, her shape now flowing with thousands of thin specters moving around her head like snakes or tentacles of some monster.

He moved to the side, avoiding yet another strike that cut a groove in the ground and up the side of the wall. Raghnall heard the words resounding over and over in his head, the last words of his friend beating like a drum of war, all meaning lost, driving his anger further and further.

He rushed forward, ignoring the tiny wires piecing him all over his skin drawing immeasurable pain to the surface. He brought his hand over and drew out a small dagger. He drew it across his opposite palm then threw it at the girl.

Effortlessly the girl moved away, floating up into the air overhead as if levitating, consequently drawing away the microscopic syringes stuck in Raghnall’s skin without doing any real damage.

As she floated overhead she laughed with a voice like wind chimes on a breezy day, beautiful, yet disturbing, “My mission was to kill the other one… but… I suppose I could play with you awhile.”

Raghnall wasn’t listening, he roared out with his emotions and jumped up on the wall, pressing off to reach a greater high and strike down the woman. Before he could reach her, the woman’s defenses whipped over his leg, tossed him up, then slammed him back into the floor below.

He rolled upon impact, followed behind by the girl who dropped back to his level. He drew another dagger from his jacket and swung wildly in front of him, trying to parry the otherworldly attackers. With a twitch of her head the dagger flew out of his grip and imbedded itself in the wall.

Raghnall looked to the dagger then back to her, ducking just in time as the wires converged and cleaved a hole in the walls to both his sides. It was as she pulled her head back up and her veil lifted enough for him to get a glimpse at the curve of her lips, the sickening smile graced upon near perfect white skin.

He back-stepped again, hearing a splash off his right heel and a thump from the other. H looked back for a moment, immediately wishing he didn’t, his eyes burning into his memory the picture of his friend lying dead in a pool of his own blood. The woman could be head chuckling, but he was deaf to everything around him, his eyes fixated on one thing. The girl took a step forward then all her arsenal reared up behind her like serpents ready to strike.

She snapped her fingers, and with that, a gunshot to the race, the ignition to the engine, the fuel to the fire, Raghnall lost it all. A ripple flowed out over the blood at his feet and blasted up at the edges of the puddle. The girl gasped and jumped back. The weapons dropped to her sides, laying down on her shoulders and back.

The solid crystallized blood turned back to liquid at Raghnall’s command, his eyes deep crimson, the white in his eyes replaced by nothing but the scarlet red. Several clumps of hair floated in the pool of blood by his feet. The girl quickly ran a hand over her weapons and screamed, “You! You ruined it! My perfect hair! Ugghh!” The girl stomped her foot, the weapons flaring up around her and shooting forward.

Raghnall whipped his hand around, out of it a thin stream of his own blood from the cut before forming a makeshift sword. He cut at the first collection of strands that came his way. The girl retracted them immediately and struck from another direction. Raghnall laughed hysterically, “Vanity will be your downfall you witch!”

Ragnall raised his blade and stabbed forward at her face. The veil heldto her face but a large tear took its place when he missed by an inch and she moved around to his side. The hair wrapped around his neck and jerked him around into the wall.

With the air nearly knocked out of him, Raghnall fought back like a rabid animal, sawing through her weapon which coiled around itself like a rope making it far hard to cut, “I’ll make you pay for what you did to my hair.” She said, moving closer.

“Don’t you dare… compare your hair to my friend!” Raghnall yelled out, the puddle of blood by his friend suddenly erupting up and flowing through the air narrowly missing her as she was forced to pull away or be pulverized by the crystal mass.

The girl danced backwards with Raghnall in pursuit, swinging his arm around, spraying drip of blood into the air and forming daggers mid flight. Suddenly she escaped to the air, using her hair to climb up and over the top of the two story building.

“Not getting away!” Raghnall jumped then carried himself to the room with a growing crystal that returned to liquid with a splash down below, “You’ll pay.”

“Is that so?” The girl moved in, spinning around, cloaked in her own garb and thick black hair. Raghnall ducked down, then drew blood from his cut more to spread over her hair as it passed overhead. The blood crystallized and the hair fell to her side useless.

“What?!”

Raghnall capitalized on her distraction and surprised her by moving in. In a smooth motion he spun around a thrust from her remaining useful hair and stabbed his finger into her gut, coated by a tiny drip, crystallized and sharpened into a tiny needle.

They stood there for a moment, the girl, coughing and struggling to speak. The blood within her stirred, his power working its magic. Paralyzed from head to toe, the girl was helpless as he wrecked havoc within her body.

Finally, he moved in for the kill, targeting her heart. But, just as he was about to finish her off, an impact knocked him to the side, breaking the connection from her body. He stumbled back, looking for a source. Another blow hit him in the side as thunder echoed from building to building. He franticly looked left and right, trying to identify a source. Another blow sent him flying and skidding to a stop at the edge of the roof, where he stayed struggling to breathe.

The girl, after regaining her composure strolled over to him confidently, “What did you say? Was it… I’m going to pay?” The girl spit on him, and laughed. Raghnall looked at her with one eye open, wanting desperately to take revenge but he could feel his body aching, the aftershock of his powers taking hold.

“Well… he really was nice. It’s a shame… oh well.” The woman took her high heeled shoe and pressed it hard into Raghnall’s side, driving it in with a twist before kicking him off the roof. She waited to head the splash below, then turned away and vanished into the darkness.

OMG rhiko! You've done it again!!!!
Once again you're gracing us with another litterary marvel! How you're able to grasp the characters so well is incredable, even if somethings we would have done would have been different it doesn't matter. You grap eevrything, from the way people speak, body language. all those little details. It really brings the story across.
I'm enjoying every moment of it! I think giving you permission to use Saiya was the BERST decition I EVER made!
You got my pencil a-scribblin again! ^_-