“I’m not going to apologize for nearly killing you,” announced bluntly Kaelys. “But I do apologize for losing control. It won’t happen again.”

As Angel and Kaelys walked down the street, the both of them hidden under heavy cloaks, the white-haired girl couldn’t help but wonder once more about the scars lingering on the younger one’s body, slightly annoyed at the lack of emotions from the teen.

Forgetting all about the apology, she decided to dare a step forward.

“The scars on your arms…” She couldn’t stop herself. “Where do they come from?”

The black-haired mage looked at said arms for a second.

“Electroconvulsive therapy,” she then answered.

“What’s that?” the older girl scrunched her nose at the nasty name.

“They tied me to a chair before electrocuting me,” described the teen, voice blank. “It hurts a lot. They thought it would help me. They thought it would send my friends away. But it didn’t. In the end, it was plain torture. Funny how they couldn’t make the difference, blinded by their oh-so-good intentions uh?”

No, Angel didn’t find it funny at all. It was disgusting, horrifying. She, however, kept her mouth shut, her curiosity coming to a brutal halt.

“If you’re not ready to take the answers,” then mused the child. “Then don’t ask the questions. You’ll be better off.”

“We’re going to train you physically first,” announced Cobra imperiously. “A strong body will help in controlling your magic. Plus, hand-to-hand combat skills are a good asset to have. You’re starting with laps.”

“How many?”

“Just run, I’ll tell you when to stop.”

She shot him a suspicious look but obeyed nowadays. She didn’t care much about receiving orders, though, knowing it would only help her get stronger. So, not questioning, she started running.

Kaelys eyed the chessboard on the table with undisguised interest. Then, she grabbed it and placed it before Hoteye, who was counting his money once more.

“Do you know how to play?” she asked.

“Playing would mean losing my time, time I could use to make more money,” replied the man.

Instantly, the girl placed a few jewels –she had stolen them from Cobra’s pouch with the help of Cubellios- on the table, gaining his attention.

“Play with me and it’s yours,” she assured.

“Deal,” he instantly agreed.

Hoteye set the game as she took place before him. She picked white, therefore starting. He moved his piece after hers since he already had a strategy in mind. She placed her second piece on the game, and he instantly replied by taking her Pawn. At that, she smirked and moved her third piece.

“Checkmate.”

“… uh?”

He looked back at the chessboard, wide eyes. It was as she said.

… Interesting.

Normally, he would have simply gone back to his money. However, his pride took a great blow during that exchange. To be so beaten in three moves by a barely-teenager girl wasn’t something he took easily.

“Rematch!”

“Sure.”

“So… I’m fighting Racer?”

“Gotta catch me first!”

The boy disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the clearing.

“You can’t attack him directly,” informed Cobra. “You’re using telekinesis. Use your powers to move the rocks, the plants, the branches around.”

“Alright.”

Concentrating for a few seconds, she suddenly felt herself flying before hitting harshly a tree, having been kicked in the back.

“W- what the hell!?” she exclaimed, rubbing her head.

“Gotta be faster than that!” taunted Racer.

“Oh, I’ll show you faster!”

“You’re always wearing long sleeves,” remarked Angel, eying the girl next to her. “Your clothes never reveal any skin. Even your neck is covered. Is it because of the scars?”

“What’s it to her anyway?” huffed Kaelys, looking away.

“You’re… you’re ashamed of them, aren’t you?” then realized the white-haired girl.

At that, the younger girl clenched her fists. At that moment, Angel truly thought she was going to be killed. However, it was simply the nearest glass that exploded. Then, letting out a shaky breath, Kaelys pulled up her sleeves and rolled down her collar.

All over her arms were the scars left by the electrical treatment Kaelys had mentioned before, she knew that now. However, looking closer, she could clearly see the clearer marks left by restraints all around her wrists. The same for her neck. And, she could also see some smaller scars in the inside of the wrists.

She cuts herself? But why…

“I’m not ashamed of them,” then admitted the girl. “I’m scared of them. If I don’t see them, then they’re not real. I just want to forget about them, about what they mean.”

“… what do they mean?” Angel was afraid to ask.

“That all of this was real,” the girl’s voice was barely a whisper now. “That if I don’t get strong enough, if I stay as weak as I was before, then the results will be the same. I’m terrified to be brought back. I don’t want to go back there. Wouldn’t you be scared too?”

At that, Angel’s heart clenched.

Yes, I am. I am terrified to go back.

But never would she have admitted this out loud.

Kaelys was moving the nearest objects she could find in a circle above their heads. They were waiting for Brain to announce a mission, which meant she was very bored by now. So, gathering glasses, utensils and even some chairs, she made them effectuate a cherry round five meters above the floor.

‘BOO!’

“Shit!”

Losing her focus as the voice started cackling, all of the objects fell back on the floor or were sent flying about. The other members of Oración Seis easily avoided the projectiles, sending glares her way as she grinned sheepishly.

Well, all saved for one.

The chair hit Midnight square in the head, forcing him off his carpet and against the wall. They all stared in horror as he slowly got back to his feet like a zombie.

“Fuck, she woke him,” cringed Cobra.

Instantly, they all backed farther away. The girl stayed in place, though, unperturbed by the boy’s deadly aura.

“Who… are you?” he asked, tone void of emotion.

“Kaelys,” she answered. “I’m the new member of Oración Seis. I joined while you were sleeping, though, so I guess you wouldn’t know.”

The silence stretched, and stretched, and stretched… until Midnight simply nodded and sat back on his floating carpet, before going to sleep again.

The other members gaped as the girl started playing with her powers once more.

What the hell!?

Kaelys snapped her eyes open, terrified as hands gripped her wrists. She started kicking blindly, finding herself unable to scream due to the sheer fear she felt at that moment.

“It’s me, damn it! Snap out of it!”

She stopped moving, the shadow above her now having a face.

“Cobra?” she recognized. “What’s he doing here? It’s the middle of the night…”

“You started screaming like a banshee,” he grunted, annoyed. “You woke me up.”

‘You were having a bad dream’

‘Ooh, PTSD. As if she wasn’t crazy enough’

“I’m not crazy,” she gritted her teeth. “I’m sorry for waking you, Cobra.”

“Tche.”

He got up and headed for the door when he realized that Cubellios, who had followed him, wasn’t coming. Turning around, he saw the purple snake snuggling to the girl, who had fallen asleep once more, now calm. He wondered for a moment about why the hell she was sleeping in a sitting position, before remembering snippets of her dream.

Probably afraid to be tied up again, he understood. Geez, they really messed her up, didn’t they?

In the end, he left Cubellios in her room.

“Checkmate.”

Brain stared at her for a moment, the familiar glint of that mature personality of hers disappearing once more. It happened each time they played a strategy game. She seemed to have two personalities, but she could remember both of them as if they were one: the childlike one, and the adult-like one. The later usually surfaced when logic was needed, making her more calm and collected. These moments were also the only ones where she wasn’t saying what she thought and where Cobra could actually read her thoughts and intentions.

It intrigued him. Her mind was so complexed, so volatile… and so fragile too. He’d have to mold his new tool carefully. If not, she might very well break between his hands.

“Ne, Cobra?”

“What is it?”

“You said you had more than one magic,” recalled the girl, shifting in a more comfortable position. “Is it possible to learn more than one magic?”

“Depends,” he shrugged, feeling gracious enough to indulge in her questions today. “My real magic is Sound Magic. However, I implanted a Dragon Lacrima in my eye, which made me the Poison Dragon Slayer.”

“I see,” she hummed. “And where can you get these Lacrimas?”

“You don’t,” he rolled his eyes. “If it was that easy to get your hand on these things, then everyone would.”

She seemed disappointed at that.

“I need to be stronger, though…” she scratched the back of her head.

“… we’ve got a library here,” he then informed, knowing that dealing with a depressed Kaelys wasn’t exactly fun. “Just go check it out in your free time or something. You should be able to find another type of magic.”

“That’s a great idea!” she beamed at him. “Thanks.”

“Whatever. Just get on with your laps.”

“What exactly happened to you, Kae?”

At Racer’s question, the girl placed down her book to look at him.

“Many things happened to me. You have to be more concise.”

“To make you like… this,” he gestured, struggling to find his words. “You’ve got those scars, and you keep talking about ‘them’, whoever they are, and your friends being taken away…”

She rubbed her eyes, already tired. In a way, she didn’t feel like answering. She had nothing to hide, though, and she knew she’d have to talk one day or another.

“Two years ago, I was diagnosed with schizophrenia,” she then said. “Which is stupid, since the voices are real. They thought I was ill, though, so my mother dumped me in an asylum to the ‘good’ care of a doctor. After a while, they realized that nothing changed and, instead of understanding that nothing was wrong with me, they stated that my case was ‘worse than they thought’. They restrained me day and night, putting me through electroconvulsive therapy and injecting me with so much medicine I was practically a living medical pill if you get what I mean. I’ve stayed trapped there for two years without any ‘progress’ before I managed to steal a scalpel. I freed myself and killed whoever was in my way. But it wasn’t my fault, you know? They’re the ones who made me this way. If they hadn’t treated me that way, then they would still be alive, don’t you think? But it doesn’t matter. I ran as far as I could, never looking back. When I woke up, it was in a forest. You know, I think I actually come from another world, ‘cause I didn’t go into any forest after killing everyone. Weird, isn’t it?”

“… what?”

“Thought so too.” And she returned to her book.

The blond boy stared at her for a few seconds, before making up his mind and running out of there.

Definitely crazy. Am I glad I am not on her bad side or what?

“Ten more laps.”

“Do you know where you can shove those stupid laps? Up your a—“

“Now.”

Kaelys was watching the spar between Cobra and Angel with narrowed eyes. Both of their Magics were strong, and the teen was extremely curious about the older girl’s magic.

However, how she treated those she named ‘Spirits’ didn’t sit well with her.

In the end, Angel lost. She was angry as she left the clearing. Frowning, Kaelys followed after her. When she got to the older girl’s room, it was only to find her whipping the ram Spirit.

‘Stop her!’

‘Now!’

They didn’t have to ask.

Stepping in, blood boiling, she roughly grabbed the whip and threw it aside, before shoving Angel against the wall, which cracked under the strength of the blow. Aries watched for a few seconds, eyes glinting with tears, before disappearing back into the Spirit Realm.

Kaelys couldn’t care less at the moment, though. She kept throwing Angel’s body around like a broken doll, blood staining the walls, the floor, the furniture. After another minute, the door slammed open, letting enter the other members of Oración Seis and a surprisingly awake Midnight.

“What is the meaning of this?” the Reflector mage asked coldly.

The teen let go of Angel, who fell limply on the bed. The girl’s purple eyes were blazing with so much disgust and hate, only their pride stopped them from taking a step back.

“I don’t care about people dying,” she seethed. “I don’t care about the blood on my hands. However, I will not condone torture. I’ll take on anyone who says otherwise.”

‘But didn’t you just torture Angel just now, hmmm?’

Kaelys gritted her teeth, pushing through the boys to get to her own room. Once there, she closed the door and closed her eyes.

“It was necessary,” she then said, gritting her teeth. “I will not be able to get by without violence, that much is certain. I am ready to torture if needed. There is no pleasure to take into it, though. Anyone saying otherwise is a monster.”

‘I thought you were a monster. Didn’t you say so yourself?’

‘That’s enough of this!’

“I am a monster,” agreed the girl, more quietly while going to sit on her bed. “But not that kind. Taking pleasure in other’s pain… That’s a line I will never cross. I swear it.”

‘Oh, that one’s interesting’

‘For once, I agree. Check it out’

“You know, that’s not such a bad idea.” Kaelys marked her page. “Let’s go ask Brain!”

Without losing another second, she ran out of the library to go find Brain. She nearly ran into Hoteye but merely spared him a glance, too focused on her goal. After a few minutes, she barreled in the leader’s office and rammed into his desk, easily gaining his attention.

“What—“

“Let me learn this magic!”

He stilled for a second before glancing down at the open book presented to him. His eyes widened as he easily understood what magic she was talking about. He thought for a moment, before looking back at her.

“How much time would you need to achieve noticeable advancements?”

“A month, full time,” she answered.

He pondered over it. The girl wasn’t one to lie, he knew that well by now, and if she believed she could do it in a month…

“Very well. You have exactly a month to achieve results. Your training will be put on hold for that time. If you manage, then you will be allowed to pursue. However, should you fail, you are to forget about it and focus on your main magic for now. While learning another magic can be useful, it also takes time—and time isn’t a luxury we can afford as of now. Have I made myself clear?”

“Yes!”

“Then get to it.”

Kaelys was working on learning her second magic when Racer, bored as hell, came to bother her. She ignored him at best as she could manage but, not giving up, the blond boy took a pencil and poked her arm with it.

Bad move.

Her eyes widening in fright, she snapped the book shut as her mind suddenly crushed all the bones in his arm. He let out a pained wail, letting go of the pencil, which fell to the floor with a hollow sound. A few seconds passed in heavy silence, only broken by the whimpers of Racer and the ragged breath of the obviously terrified girl.

‘Snap out of it!’

‘Damn it, that was just a pencil! Overreacting much!?’

She gaped, turning to look at Racer, and realized just what she had done. Horrified, she instantly put the bones back together in one go. It wasn’t a fun experience, she knew, but it was better than one at a time.

“I’m sorry.” She sunk deeper into the couch. “I just reacted… I thought—I’m sorry.”

“I- it’s fine,” he gritted his teeth, moving his now repaired arm around a little. “Should have known better, what with your… past experiences. Guess I wasn’t fast enough this time around, uh?”

At that, she allowed a small smile to grace her lips, glad he wasn’t mad at her.

“Guess you weren’t.”

Cubellios resting next to her, the black-haired teen turned another page, wrote down a few notes, and passed to the next. A week had ended, and she was feeling all the hours spent on researching taking their toll on her. She was tired, but couldn’t bring herself to stop.

“I want to learn more…” She turned yet another page. “The more I know, the stronger I’ll be. And I need to be much, much stronger.”

For only answer, Cubellios hissed softly.

That night, Cubellios wasn’t with her. She had left with Cobra and Midnight on a mission, which meant Kaelys was alone. However, the nightmares weren’t the only things troubling her sleep.

There was a storm. A really, really bad one.

Normally, she enjoyed the rain. Watching it fall, feeling the drops rolling on her face… She liked the rain. She even liked the thunder, strong and loud.

What she didn’t like was the lightning that came with it.

The dark sky trembled once more and a flash of light broke through the black clouds. For barely half a second, Kaelys found herself back at the asylum, tied to the chair as they sent electrical shocks through her whole body.

It was too much.

Her scars aching, her heart thumping wildly, the girl ran out of her room and dashed in the one across, which was Angel’s. The white-haired mage let out a terrified yelp when the younger girl suddenly jumped on her bed and was about to scold her thoroughly when she realized that the teen snuggling against her was shaking very badly.

“… are you scared of the storm?” Angel couldn’t keep an incredulous tone from leaking into her voice.

Kaelys shook her head in a negative gesture. At that moment, lightning stroke once more and the teen let out a pitiful whimper, hiding her face in the crook of Angel’s neck. The older girl’s eyes widened in realization.

“The lightning?”

The teen nodded weakly.

At that very moment, Angel found herself back home. It was before Oración Seis, before the Tower, when she lived happily with her family and all was right in the world. At that very moment, it wasn’t Kaelys in her arms, but her little sister. At that very moment, Angel found herself unable to look away like she had done so many times before with so many people.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, closing her arms around the girl’s trembling form. “You can stay the night, if you want.”

“… does she really means it?” wondered quietly the girl.

Thunder echoed, soon followed by another violent flash of light, sending the teen in another frenetic haze.

“They’re not coming back,” soothed Angel. “And even if they do, we won’t let them take you away, okay? You’re with us, now. We won’t let you go. I promise.”

‘I like her’

‘Guess we can agree again’

“… Me too.”

At that very moment, none would have been able to say if she answered to the voices, or to Angel’s promise.

Kaelys was growing extremely frustrated. Only two weeks were left, and she was stuck. No matter what book she read, she just couldn’t find the missing piece.

That made her very angry.

She knew that she still didn’t have very good control over her powers so, while she wanted to just go out and change her mind, she was afraid to snap and hurt one of the others by accident.

That only left one solution.

Grabbing her scalpel –it never left her side since she stole it from the nurse-, she sat in a corner of her room and, without any more ceremonies, slashed through her wrists. Blood sipped through the cuts that kept appearing over her already overly scarred skin, but Kaelys didn’t care about that.

The physical pain took her mind away from her current troubles, and she didn’t hurt others in the process. How good of an idea was that?

‘It’s NOT!’

‘I don’t know, she kind of has a point’

For once, Kaelys didn’t answer, simply staring a scarlet drop rolled from her wrist and tainted the floor, leaving a red trail in its course.

“You always check the water.”

She jumped at the voice, turning around to see Midnight standing in the doorway, leaning against the wall with half-lidded eyes.

“Guess I do.” She placed down the now empty glass. “They used to drug me a lot, so I can’t help but check every time.”

He didn’t say anything more but slowly approached her with something akin to suspicion in his eyes. Then, before she could react, he grabbed one of her arms and rolled up the sleeves, revealing the fresh cuts. Her face turned blank as he eyed the wounds with morbid curiosity and a tad touch of wonder.

“Why… do you do this…?”

“I don’t want to hurt you guys,” she shrugged. “So I hurt myself. They didn’t seem to think it was a good idea, though, so they used to restrain me. That’s kind of stupid, right? To know that if they hadn’t done that in the first place, they might still be alive…”

“Who are they?”

“No idea,” she shrugged. “Nurses, doctors, guards… Never cared to remember. In the end, no matter our differences, we all end up as corpses one day or another, so it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

He let go of her arm and she rolled the sleeve back down. She held his gaze, unflinching, before he offered a slight nod and walked away.

“You should bandage those,” he simply said, before disappearing in the hallway.

She stared at the door by which he had left, somewhat confused.

“He didn’t say it was bad… that I should stop…” she blinked, a little stunned. “That must be the first time. It’s… nice. To see that someone understands.”

‘I’m still saying it’s not good for you’

‘You just heard her, didn’t you? Understanding is better to help than downright saying she shouldn’t do it’

‘Oh, I understand alright. Doesn’t mean I accept it’

“Fair enough,” Kaelys couldn’t help but agree.

“Yes! I did it!” cheered the girl. “Ooh, gotta tell Brain! And I’ve still got three days left too! Am I awesome or what?”

‘Yes, you are’

‘Just get on with it’

Giggling, she quickly made her way to Brain’s office to show the results her almost-month-long work.

“You want me to what?”

“What? Don’t think you’re up to it?” challenged Cobra.

“That’s not it,” she waved her hand as if swatting a fly. “I just never thought about it, but it’s actually brilliant. Let me try.”

She had grown much more at ease with her telekinesis. Only extremely strong emotions could now make her lose control so it didn’t actually happen since Angel’s incident with her Spirit.

And now, to take things up a notch…

“Holy fuck!”

Letting out a breathless laugh, she girl watched in awe as her feet left the ground. She wasn’t flying per se, but close enough. Using her telekinesis to lift herself, she was now able, technically speaking, fly.

“This is freaking awesome!” she exclaimed, spinning on herself.

Down below, Cobra grinned madly, before sending Cubellios after the girl. Her eyes widened when she saw the snake sprouting wings and flying at her. She tried to run, before remembering she was currently floating midair. So, she decided to do her best Superman pose and flew faster to escape the fangs of the animal.

“Gah! Bad Cubellios, bad!” she barely avoided the snapping jaw near her leg.

“Get her, Cub!” cackled Cobra.

Annoyed, still trying to escape the snake, Kaelys sent a rock flying against his head.

Nine months had passed since she joined Oración Seis. While she was still training, she knew she could only grow stronger from now on. Her body now able to take the full training imposed by Cobra, she was growing into a skilled fighter. She was slowly learning to integrate her scalpel in her fighting style, too, and hand-to-hand combat was actually quite fun to learn.

Well, minus the part where Cobra quite literally kicked her ass each and every time.

Her magic was coming along quite well, for not saying both of them. The second one was still developing, but she had a good grasp over it by now. Being Holder Magic, she had to have a tool to use it, but Brain was going to teach her some Requiping Magic so that she’d be able to summon her tool when she wanted to.

And now? Now was the time to see if all this training and hard work truly served their purpose. Standing in Brain’s office, facing the silver-haired man as the other members of the Dark Guild stood behind her –of course, Midnight was still sleeping-, she was awaiting her first mission.

The first mission, and last one too if she failed.

Success would mean receiving the Guild Mark and officially joining Oración Seis. Failure meant her death, most likely by Brain’s hand. She was fully aware of that, but she didn’t care. If she failed, it meant she was still too weak, and she preferred dying with her loyalty to Brain intact.

Kaelys was a lot of things. Honest, obviously, but loyal too. Extremely so. She pledged her loyalty to Brain. Therefore, she would do anything he asked of her until he freed her of her oath or if he or herself died.

Disloyalty resumed to lying, and she wasn’t one to lie.

“Kaelys.”

She straightened her spine, ready.

“One of the subordinate Guilds is causing some trouble. They’re attracting the Magic Council’s attention, which we can’t allow. You are to disband the Guild. If they refuse, then use force. However, keep the killing to a bare minimum. Most of them will more than probably end up joining another of our Guilds. Killing them would be a waste of manpower.”

“Understood. Time limit?”

“I give you three days. One for going, one for accomplishing the mission and one for coming back. Hoteye will follow you, but won’t help in any way unless he is convinced you will fail. You leave now.”

“Yes!”

She darted out of the room.

Using her telekinesis, she lifted herself and Hoteye, before heading to the village in which Twilight Thorns was standing by. Using her powers that way, she should make it in half a day, but it would deplete her reserves considerably. She would use the other half to spy on the Guild and gather as much information as possible while her magic reserves built back itself, put a warning in the evening and, if they hadn’t disbanded by morning, she would force them to.

“Keep killing to a bare minimum, he said,” she muttered, wind whipping her face. “Guess it means I’m allowed to kill one or two, if necessary.”

Kaelys and Hoteye came back two days after receiving the mission. As thought, she had to use force to disband them. Many of them were mages, but only four or five of them actually knew what they were doing, and they weren’t that strong. She only had to make three of them implode before the rest gave in and disbanded in the hour, herself promising them to come back and finish them if they tried to come together again.

She even proposed a bunch of Dark Guilds for them to join! She had been nice, awfully so. She hoped they knew that.

Twilight Thorns successfully taken care of, she came back with a satisfied smirk, Hoteye’s eyes shining as he counted his money. She wanted to thank him for accompanying her, even though it was his own mission, so she kind of stole the Guild’s money. Giving him half, she then went to give the rest to Brain.

When she presented it to him, though, he simply told her to keep it. She earned it with her successful mission, apparently.

And now…

“Purple, on my collarbone.”

Angel apposed the Guild’s mark in the place indicated, before pulling away. Kaelys gazed at the dark purple mark –the same as her eyes- now resting upon her pale skin. She was officially a part of Oración Seis, now.

“I finally belong somewhere…”

Only Cobra’s enhanced hearing allowed him to hear her barely whispered words and, unable to help himself, a smirk twisted his lips.

Guess she does.