Rain

Kate stood uncomfortably at attention in front of the stage, trying to figure out what was wrong. Maybe it was the weather? Big, fat drops of gray rain, drizzling over everything, making it freezing… No, there were hundreds of other agents also standing at attention all around her in their perfect rows, and none of them looked out of ease at all. Or maybe they were just better at hiding it. So what was it? Something… something… She could feel it there, like something stuck behind her teeth, but no matter how much she prodded or searched-

The distant clunking of boots. She looked up as Marq stepped across the stage, with that thin, cold smirk he always wore hidden behind a stiff sad face, while he pretended to mourn the Captain with the rest of them. This was it. He had discussed every aspect of what was going to happen today with her, last night, over dinner. He would say a few words, about his deep remorse over the Captain’s loss, and pretend to be personally grieved. No one would believe him, probably, but no one would care. Then he would assume his role, as the new Captain, and begin reshaping the Agency into the sort of organization he had always wanted. One more militaristic, more rigid, with less pity. A place of total control and domination, fear and power. And nothing else.

It was everything he’d ever dreamed of… And everything she wanted, too. As his girlfriend, she was guaranteed protection and elevation. No more being yelled at and forced to do menial jobs, with the constant threat of being fired. Finally, she would be promoted back to full rank again, for the first time since running into that stupid group of Gifteds in Munia to begin with. She would have power, and money, and Marq, the person she lo…

…That feeling was back. Something wrong, something wrong…

She could see Marq’s eyes sweeping over the perfect rows and columns of Agents, taking stock of them even as he spoke. Even without him mentioning anything, she could tell he was also searching for Leon. She almost had to feel pity for the worm- with Marq in power, he was bound to get punished, demoted, made to suffer. It wouldn’t be long before…

…Wait. Where was Leon?

Brrn! Brrn! Brrn! Red suddenly flashed bright and urgent over the sea of black and gray, causing the masses of Agents to turn as one in startled surprise. What-

Marq, alarmed, suddenly pressed his hand to his ear, listening intently to his earpiece. A look she had never seen on his face- one of sudden fear- appeared as he suddenly gripped the microphone with white-knuckled ferocity. “The H-Block prisoners have just escaped!”

The Agents froze, staring back in him in noncomprehension. Kate felt her breathing shallow with the deep, dreadful realization. “The cursed Gifteds…”

The Agents didn’t wait to be dismissed. They turned, beginning to run, for the doors. Some would be moving to flee. Most would be desperately trying to stop the prisoners, to find them, to lock them up, even if it killed them. If those ones got free again… No amount of fleeing would save the world.

“Wait!” Marq yelled angrily. He paused for a moment, eyes half-closed, listening intently. Then his face twisted into a mask of pure rage, and he practically bellowed the next orders over the running agents, so loud the microphone wasn’t even needed. “If you see the traitor who calls himself Leon, don’t bother catching him- make sure he dies!”

As the Agents ran around Kate, she stood still, staring at Marq, asking for questions. He himself was moving, though, and didn’t even give her a backwards glance. She trembled, clenching her fists, with no idea what was going on. Leon? He couldn’t… He couldn’t possibly be related to this, could he?! Someone who hated Gifteds so much, who knew the impact they could have on humanity, who knew- !

…Something was wrong.

…Something…

~~~

“Leon!”

Leon looked over his shoulder as the small black girl began running after him, dark braids bouncing unevenly as she struggled to catch up. He stepped on the brake, looking back at her curiously. “Seriously? How did you not die back there?”

She threw herself into the passenger side of the vehicle he had stolen, gasping for air as she slammed the door shut. “Dr…drive!”

He had no problem with complying with that order. He pressed down on the gas pedal, and they shot off, rocketing down the abandoned, rain-slicked roads.

“I… I told you,” Dextera mumbled, trying to breathe. The poor girl looked like she’d been running for her life. “If any… anyone could… do it… It’s me… I saw the… Captain… do it before…” Tears appeared in her eyes for a moment at the mention of the Captain, then were quickly blinked away. She reached with clammy hands into her pocket, then thrust something at Leon.

Leon caught his watch one-handed without looking away from the road. “I’m surprised my clearance even got you that far. Kate will have to forgive me later for borrowing her clearance, but it was worth it.” Hah. Kate, forgiving him for anything, at this point…

Dextera took a shuddery breath, sitting up. It had been… horrible. She had never been so certain she was going to die, just from a glance. Dark, shifting sands… A glint of a jade ring… She exhaled, opening her eyes so she wouldn’t have to look at it anymore, and focused on Leon instead. “Okay,” she said breathily. “What now? You said you would tell me the rest of your plan if I got you this far, and I did!”

He said nothing for a moment, then passed the watch back towards her. “You said that you’d locked and unencrypted the signal I asked you to look for, right?”

She nodded, holding the watch uncertainly. “Right after I removed the tracking signal from your watch, yes.”

“Good. Then there’s a message I want you to send for me…”

~~~

Shan frowned, tapping his pen absently on the crossword puzzle. A five-letter word for “white flag”…

“I suppose it’s a good thing that you got a van this time,” Akaru said from the front seat, where he was curled up near the vents, sleepily trying to absorb any of the heat he could into his serpentine body. Such a cold, dreary day… “Even so, it’s kind of a large vehicle. Are you sure it won’t attract attention?”

“It’ll be fine,” Null said, yawning. “Besides, I’m kinda getting the hang of this driving thing.” She turned the van into a sharp right that made everyone slide against each other, momentarily waking them all up.

But only momentarily. Aside from Shan, Akaru, and Null, everyone else in the van was perfectly content to sleep through the long drive to wherever Null was taking them. Well, he wasn’t sure what Tori was doing- she seemed to be meditating, staff in her lap, eyes closed and breathing unnaturally even. Aden’s head was slumped on her shoulder. Konki was curled up in the corner alone, leaning against a window. Elora practically took up the entire back seat, the way she was sprawled out.

Shan shifted in the passenger seat, trying to get comfortable… Then frowned as the watch he had stolen from Leon suddenly vibrated. He held up his wrist, looking at it curiously.

Null looked away from the road, frowning at him. “Something wrong?”

He blinked at the tiny green letters scrolling across the screen, not entirely sure himself.

Warning- you are in more danger than you realize. You have a murderer in your midst. Please agree to a temporary cease-fire, and allow me to contact you. Do not ignore this- this is important!

Curious, he tapped a few buttons, trying to reverse-trace the illegal signal. If he could just figure out where this was coming from… He stopped, staring in disbelief at the message’s source. No way…

“Shan?” Null asked, starting to slow down in concern.

“…It’s nothing. Just a watch malfunction.” He erased it, then took the watch off and shoved it into the glove box. No way he was messing with something like that right now.

With a quiet sigh, he picked up his pen again, staring at the crossword puzzle without really seeing it. White flag…

…Truce?

Parting Ways

((Well, it's rather late, but I got it in by the time I said I would. Slight hi-jacking of Sami's characters while I write them off, but no worries. If she doesn't give permission, they'll be referred to, but never seen again now.

If there's anything you want to see happen, or anything you want one of the characters to do, leave the suggestion in the comments. :) Also, constructive crits and any other comments can go there. Will update again soon!))

The group stood gathered on the banks of the river, watching the waterfall rush downwards not far away. A couple of albino sentries were keeping watch over them from a distance, but had decided out of respect not to approach. It was enough for them to see that Tau was present and alive- when he was ready, he would give his report. Until then, they kept themselves far away, watching, but not interfering.

Tau smiled as he turned to them one last time, giving a small bow. “I must thank you for all of your help. It is a sheer miracle that we got out of that place alive. Surely it would have been impossible, if I were alone.”

“Are you sure?” Akaru asked, whiskers testing the air as he sat on Shan’s shoulder. “Maybe we didn’t do you a favor after all. You wanted to come back with Sinistra, right? If he’s really gone…”

Tau shook his head. “He was like an older brother to me. When he was captured by the Agents, and then when he turned traitor, it was as though I had lost him, for the longest time. Thanks to you, I was able to find him once again, even if only for a few minutes. That’s enough for me.” He lifted his knife, holding the sheathed weapon out flat, in some sort of salute that none of them were familiar with. “You have earned our trust, and our gratitude. From now on, our tribe is allied with yours. In times of trouble, call, and we will stand together.”

“Ours?” Tori looked around, at the Gifteds surrounding her on all sides. She had never thought about it before, but… They were kind of like a tribe, weren’t they? A group of people, working so close together, like a family, but without being related. Just like Tau had gone back for Sinistra, they had come back for her.

It was… incredible, to think about. Three months ago, she hadn’t even known there were others like her. And now, not only were there others, but to be in a group like this…

“I’m not sure how much of a help we’ll be,” Shan said blankly. “After all, we’re about to all split up, right?”

Tori frowned, looking at him. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s us,” Clara said. She placed one hand on the shoulder of Hisoka, who was looking around nervously. “He’s not like us. He’s timid and scared- not a fighter. He needs somewhere peaceful, somewhere he can heal from all of this. And I think I know a place like that.” She reached into her pocket, pulling out a letter. “The old Gifted base is in ruins- we already checked. But I got a letter from Camdyn the other day. She and Ty have found a hiding place, somewhere they can blend in, undetected. Now I’m going to try the same thing. Hisoka, too.”

Hisoka gave a hesitant, shy nod, not meeting their eyes.

Aden glanced at Tori in concern. He didn’t speak, but she realized she was getting better at guessing what he was trying to say. They were leaving- but what about the rest of them?

“I see,” Tori said. “In that case-“

“Travel safe, you too,” Null said around a yawn. “We’ll head east from here. I know a couple of places the Agents won’t think to look right away. We’ll have to keep moving, but we can regroup from there, and figure out what our next plan of attack is.”

Tori stared at her. Who had made her leader? “Wait a minute. Whoever said anything about continuing to attack?! We haven’t voted yet- maybe we could go with Clara and find somewhere safe! It’s pretty obvious that fighting isn’t working. The least we could do is try to make a life somewhere- especially if there’s somewhere safe!”

Aden froze. What had gotten into Tori? Before, she had been the one urging everyone to fight, to never give up. Until the last of the agents had been stopped- that was what she had said, wasn’t it? What was with this sudden change?

Null met her eyes evenly. “It’s a little too late for that, isn’t it? You already started this- you can’t just drop it now, just because you changed your mind.” A slight scoff. “That Agent tracker you’re wearing kind of guarantees that, doesn’t it?”

Tori’s blood froze, and she slowly looked down. The remains of the black staff that she had used while brainwashed still clung to her left arm, like a long, thick manacle. She didn’t even know how to work it, or how to get it to change. And they hadn’t been able to pry it off. But now that she thought about it… It was so obvious. This thing had to be carrying Gifted trackers!

“You’re pretty much doomed,” Null said nonchalantly, shrugging as she held up her right hand. “Me too- I’ve got one implanted in my palm. We can keep moving, and buy two, maybe three days. But we’ll never be able to sit still, you and I. We’re fugitives for life.”

“No,” Tori said, staring down in dread at the bracelet. “There has to be some way to get rid of it… Some way…”

“Of course, that’s only Tori and I,” Null said, raising her voice. “Any one of you can leave at any time you want, and try your luck alone. But after watching you all charge into Buma like that for her, I don’t think you will, will you?”

She was met with silence.

“East, then,” she said, turning away. “We’ll camp a few miles from here for the night. In the morning, I know a trail we can follow that I’m pretty sure the Agents haven’t found. It’s worth a try.”

Tori squeezed her eyes shut as Null began to walk away, effortlessly taking the leadership Tori had once held herself. That headache was back… She was sure that if she opened her eyes and looked into the river right now, she would see the black, spreading again. But she couldn’t do that, couldn’t worry the others. She had to breathe deeply, focus, empty her mind… Stay in control!

“Well then,” Tau said, watching as the Gifteds began one by one to move after Null, walking away. “I wish you all the best of luck. Travel safely!”

Shan nodded as he accepted the knife Tau had offered. It wasn’t as hard as his artificial diamond one, but it was a nice gesture, he supposed. “We’ll try, I guess,” he said with a shrug. “It’s not going to be hard, though, to run into danger. It seems to find us on its own, lately.”

“Right…” Tau’s smile faded for a moment. “I think… I believe I should warn you, Shan. It’s probably nothing, but… That girl.”

“Hm?” Shan turned to look at Elora, who was tearfully hugging Clara goodbye. For some reason, Konki seemed to have suddenly been struck with distraction, and was standing next to her with an oddly dazed look on her face. “What about her?”

Tau’s voice lowered. “I am not sure. She is just… There is something strange about her. My people have always been more in tune with our instincts, more able to sense danger. We’ve been wrong before, but… For some reason, she feels like a predator, one even more dangerous than the Agents.”

Shan frowned. “I don’t know. She does seem to be growing faster, but… She’s not exactly the smartest person. She doesn’t seem all that threatening to me.”

Tau opened his mouth to speak, then paused as Elora suddenly stopped, looking in their direction with wide blue eyes. His eyes unfocused, and he shook his head, holding one hand to it. “…You’re probably right. It’s nothing.” He looked up and smiled. “Fortunate journeys, friend. I hope that we may meet again soon.”

Shan bowed, copying Tau’s gesture as he pocketed the knife. “I hope so, too.”

The story begins again

((So, everyone is being slow to check the guild, and I felt like writing this. So here it is, the first scene of the guild continuation. I haven't gotten permission to use everyone's characters yet, or even to continue writing like this. So if we end up going with yet another attempt to restart the guild, then okay, I'll delete this, and we can pretend that nothing I write here ever happened. But the moment I get confirmation that it's okay to do this, I'll add more posts continuing the story (and the next one will be with the group of Gifteds, instead of the Agents).

You guys can get involved, too. For one thing, it'd be cool if I could have some pictures of the characters- I'm going to try to pretty up this blog so it's not so bare-bones. Also, you're not relinquishing control of the story all the way. Post in the comments what you want to happen next, or what you want your characters to do next, or anything like that, and I'll write it for you. :3

In the meantime, here's what I wrote in the last fifteen minutes. Looking forward to hearing again from you guys soon.

ETA: Also, if any of you would prefer it, I can put your characters on a bus instead of roleplaying them- I can write them out of the story for you, instead of continuing with them, if that's what makes you more comfortable. I'm all about respecting your wishes- you guys came up with these characters and much of this world, and that's important. Just let me know if that's what you want.))

Kate knocked on the door once again, frowning as she shifted the tray of food to one arm. “Leon? Come on, let me in. Starving yourself isn’t going to make things better!”

Silence dragged on for a few minutes. Then, brightly, Dextera’s voice piped up from behind the metal door, bright and cheerful. “He says to leave it outside the door!”

“We both know he won’t eat it. And I’m not going to pick up moldy food for him again!”

A shorter pause. Then, hesitantly, “I’m not sure if I should repeat what he just said…”

Red flashed behind Kate’s eyes. That idiotic little… “Fine!” she yelled, turning away. “Stay in there! See if I care!”

She didn’t care. Really, she didn’t. Leon was pathetic and disgusting, and… and… And completely the way he had felt, in that hall, during the attack on Buma. That was how she felt about him! How she had always felt about him!

…So why did she feel like she was doing something wrong, by walking away from him like this? This hollow ache, somewhere deep inside of her… Why did she…

…She needed to see Marq. That was probably it. Probably…

~~~

Dextera cracked the door open, peering out cautiously, then slowly closed it with a sigh. “She’s gone.”

“Good,” Leon said calmly, moving the screwdriver in his hand with a deft flick of his wrist into another screw. “It’s better if she’s not around to see this.”

“Why?” Dextera asked, looking back at him.

“Because,” he said, as he lifted the weapon he was creating, holding it up to the light to examine it from a different angle. “What I’m doing at the moment isn’t exactly legal. What do you think, huh? A scared little Gifted like you, you’re watching me break rules. Ones even more serious than the ones being broken by your existence.”

He glanced at her, flashing her a smile. “What do you say? They’ll be appointing a successor if the Captain isn’t found soon. You can report what you see me doing, and they’ll probably be grateful enough to give you some protection. Want to give it a shot?”

She frowned, silent for a moment. “…You’re not crazy. They think you are, but… You’re being rational about this. You’re not telling me this just because you want to be caught. You have some kind of plan, don’t you?”

“You could say that.” He placed the weapon back in his lap, frowning as he tried to figure out which part of it to attack next, screwdriver flexing uncertainly between his fingers. “And I can’t seem to get you to go away. You’re glued to me, these past few days. And you were the Captain’s pet- you’re not used to breaking rules. …So I guess what I’m asking is, if I break all of the rules wide open, just what side are you going to fall on, anyways?”

She said nothing. But she watched him, for a long moment. And slowly, she crossed the room.

This man hated her, hated everyone like her. It didn’t matter that she had been on the side of the Agents- he hated her very existence because of what she could do, her “geis”. He could never respect her. Acceptance, love… Those were things she could never expect, from someone like this.

But then, acceptance, love, respect… Those weren’t things she could expect from anyone. There was only one thing that she had learned. Agents would put her in a cage. Gifteds would be appalled by her, and would chase her far from them. And ordinary people would fear both Agents and Gifteds, and would never let her be near them.

Everyone kicked her out eventually. Except for the Captain- he had kept her close to him, to use her abilities. And this man, also, for some reason, was not chasing her away.

“It’s not a problem with the casing,” she said, after crouching by him for several long moments. “The conduits are fine, too- you’re wasting your time trying to fix it with just ordinary hand tools like that. You won’t find the problem.”

“Oh really,” he asked skeptically, frowning up at her. “And I suppose you know all about advanced weaponry?”

“Yes. I studied with a top expert in the field of munitions for six weeks, until he got angry that I had learned more than he knew. Here.” The little girl reached forward, lifting the casing off and pointing to the circuitry beneath. “See? I garuntee you that one of these connections here is shorted out. You’ll have to test them by trial and error- test them one by one, until you see which one needs to be replace. You do it like this…”

She took the weapon from him while he looked on in astonishment, taking it into her own lap and demonstrating. A small smile curved on her lips, as she felt Leon watching her. Right now, he was realizing that he could use her, that she could be useful to him. He would keep her, for that reason.

As long as he wouldn’t chase her away, as long as she could be useful to him… Dextera would stay beside him, for as long as she could.