Twenty One Pilots - Heathens

In retrospect, it might have been somewhat dramatic to leave the little glass ball from Abraham, but if breaking it would tell him my location, it could probably track me all the time. I spent the entire walk back to the warehouse paranoid, constantly looking over my shoulder, my eyes shooting to each noise in the dark. I pulled my Shift around me a handful of times just to see better, just to be sure I wasn't missing anything, but I never saw anything more devious than panhandlers and drunks. I made it to the warehouse in the middle of the night, maybe four, though I had stopped caring hours earlier. I was cold and in a foul mood, wishing I had found proper prey instead of letting myself get dragged into haunted memories, again.

I felt empty-handed, coming back for the second night without a new cut on my arm, not that anyone would notice, not that anyone would care, but I still felt like a cat returning home after a night of hunting without a mouse in her maw. I barely made it to the cot in the corner of the communal room before I was asleep, a twisted smile on my lips as I thought of the shock the twins would have in the morning when they saw me sleeping in the same room as them. I pulled the covers up over my head and prayed my dreams would be dull.

I could hear the Clan moving about, but sleep wouldn't quite let me slip from its grasp. Instead, I saw a woman lying on the ground, her face hidden by her smooth, dark hair. Something about her seemed familiar, but with the bulky coat she wore, it was impossible for me to place her. I heard a choking sob come from her throat, a heartbreaking sound that played with the edges of my memory, and then I saw the three men standing over her. They had heavy tattoos on their arms and necks, peeking out from the collars of their shirts. They wore their sleeves rolled halfway up their forearms, even though I could see the faint puffs of their breath. They weren't in my city, or even close. There was no snow on the ground.

The woman peered up at them then, her eyes running with tears and I felt my chest tighten, even in my sleep; it was Nevaeh. She looked different, frightened and tear-stained, but it was undeniably her.

"Are you going to h-hurt me?" She cried out, her voice sounding terrified and miserable.

"No way, doll face, we would never." The tallest of the men spoke in a gravelly rumble, his lie so blatant I couldn't imagine that Nevaeh hadn't heard it in his voice. But when she looked up again, her eyes were wide with hope.

"Really? D-do you promise?"

I felt sick just watching, knowing the men were lying. She dropped her head again, her hair falling in front of her face as she waited for their reply. The men glanced to each other and I wondered where Kael was, why Nevaeh was acting like this, why she didn't kill the bastards who clearly had indecent thoughts running between their ears.

"We promise."

The shortest one replied, a grin spreading across his face in a grotesque way, like his mouth was much too wide for his narrow face. It gave the impression that his head would split if you pulled back on his jaw and forehead. I wished I could try.

There was a pause before Nevaeh spoke, but when she did her voice didn't waver like it had before. She raised her eyes once more but they were black, soulless pits, reflecting the streetlights overhead.

"You should have made me promise the same, fuckers."

Her teeth were pointed as she smiled, and then I saw Kael, his large frame silently approaching the men from the shadows, out of their line of view stealthily so they wouldn't notice. He had one in a headlock before the man even knew he was in a trap. Nevaeh sprung at another, flattening him under her in the blink of an eye, pummeling him until I could tell he was unconscious by the way his head lolled with each blow, too easily, like it was loosely attached. Kael took the third one as Nevaeh continued to batter the unconscious man. Not even thirty seconds later the men were lying in a heap on the ground, unmoving except for slow breaths that showed they were still alive.

"I thought Skia were supposed to be difficult? These pups were hardly worth my amazing acting skills, brother."

Nevaeh's voice was back to its confident cadence, a little bored, yet somehow still pouting, her ability for unlikely emotional mixes as extraordinary as ever.

"I told you these ones were new to the breed. Better to take them out early though, right? Otherwise they become a damn pain once they grow into it."

Unlike Nevaeh, Kael didn't sound right. He sounded lifeless, empty, his voice was hollow in a way that frightened me, his playful pace missing.

"I'm just saying I could use a challenge every once in a while, that's all."

The pouting was back in her voice, a whiny sound that had always annoyed me but Kael never seemed to notice. He shrugged as he bound the men's arms behind their backs, pulling something out from his pocket.

"Help me find their marks, will you? I prefer them to still be unconscious when I take it. I don't want to hear any screams tonight."

Nevaeh stuck out her bottom lip in a now visual pout before her words matched.

"You're going soft, boring. I haven't heard a good human scream for ages."

She let some words get stretched out, whining even more now, but Kael ignored her. It was obvious who had become the leader of their new nuclear Clan. I felt a stab of bitterness run through me. They still had each other, they still had someone.

"Just help me find the marks. You're drunk."

Kael's reply sounded slightly irritated, but he didn't put any real force into his command, and he didn't seem upset when Nevaeh ignored him, picking at her nails instead. The realization that the men they had just attacked were fully human didn't make sense to me. I could feel something different from them, something dark. A moment later one of the men's eyes fluttered open, as if he was waking up from a nap.

"What- who the fuck are you people!"

The man's voice sounded much less afraid than I would have expected.

I could hear Chi and her Clan making breakfast in the real world, but I fought to keep my dream going. I wanted to know who these people were, what the marks were, why Kael and Nevaeh were hunting down minor-league human dirt bags, and a whole slew of other questions, but I could already feel my mind pulling me to the surface of sleep, to the world around me.

I opened my eyes to bright light and the noises my ears had tried to block out came clattering to me. I immediately felt a ripple of annoyance, but then I saw the sun outside and knew I had slept at least past ten. My mind felt groggy, like my dream was still fighting me. I stared up at the cement ceiling for a moment, gathering myself before I had to face Chi's questions. She was always so curious about me.

Something from my dream stuck with me, but I couldn't quite remember what. It had seemed real, but not like my 'prophecies', something seemed different, like the dream had been more, like I had simply been watching an event, like I had been there. I remembered what my Pair had told me of his visions and silently hoped that wasn't what my dream had been. I didn't want some connection to him leaking through, I didn't want any part of him still with me.

...it can be the greatest of gifts, or the darkest of curses. True Pairs may share Gifts, Signs, strength, communications and attributes with one another, emotional ties and physical affects may couple in addition...

The passage from the Book of Dust pinched at the edge of my mind, taunting me with how true it had turned out to be. The darkest of curses, indeed. I threw my legs over the edge of my cot, already in a foul mood. It seemed habit lately.

"Look who's risen from the dead! I assumed we had a Half Angel corpse in the corner since you didn't budge when Chi tried to wake you."

Halo smirked at me from above his toast, but I hardly acknowledged him. He was always quick to poke at me, but only when he thought I wasn't in a violent mood. I often heard how wary he truly was of me in his mind, even if he never showed it. Smart move, not that it did much to hide his fear from a Gift like mine.

"I had a bad night."

I scowled at him as I tried to run my fingers through my tangled hair. It had been too long since my last shower. He kept eating as if I hadn't replied. Spade spoke up instead, though his words weren't as sarcastic as his Clan member's had been.

"Bad as in we'll hear rumors that Mors is back? I want to be prepared so I can pretend to be surprised when the news gets to me."

"Or you could just not ask questions and then truly be surprised if you hear any news."

Spade seemed to think over my suggestion for a moment before dipping his head and taking a gulp of his coffee, and I was glad. I knew I didn't have anything to be ashamed of. I could do whatever I wanted, and it's not like Chi's Clan did anything better with their time than what I had spent the last two days at, but I still didn't want them to know I hadn't officially made my return to the city yet.

I had so much already on my mind that finding a worthy target, or hunting whoever my crazed replacement was, seemed useless. I still couldn't get the old man from my mind, and my dream, or vision, was making the ache behind my eyes quickly turn to a migraine. I wished I could crawl back into bed, but I didn't want to hear any comments from the twins about the first clinically depressed Halfling. Nor did I want Chi to kick me out if I snapped and killed them.

Just the brief thought of killing the twins made my Shift unfurl in me, as if it was waking up and stretching now too, getting ready for a day it hoped would be bloody. And just like that I decided I did want to find a victim. Maybe a good hunt was exactly what I needed to rid the clutter of thoughts and decisions from my mind, the memory of Abraham's sad blue eyes as I refused his offer. I couldn't understand why I kept seeing his face, or the feelings I had that he was familiar, that I should know him, but it was enough to frustrate me out of my rut. I leaned on the wall as I watched Chi's Clan, trying to decide how to spend my day before I went out that evening.

Even more than Abraham's disappointed face, my dream continued to pull at me, like I should be able to remember something obvious. I replayed the scene in my head, wondering where they were. It could have only been a dream, just my mind playing a cruel joke on me, but at the time it had seemed like I was there with them, watching them, like I could have reached out and touched them. I'd felt the cold, sensed that the men weren't merely human, smelled the alcohol thick in the air on Nevaeh. I tried to stay angry, but I was worried for them, even if they didn't deserve it.

"Spade, you're good with magic, right?"

I couldn't believe I was going to ask him for knowledge, but I didn't have many other outlets to turn to and I had questions about my dream, ways I could test if it was real or not.

"Yes, that is my area of expertise."

His low voice sounded wary as usual and I almost wished I hadn't even said anything. He didn't hate me like Horn and Halo, but he had a deep unrest about my staying with his family, about my presence, my mind, my questions. No matter what I did, he didn't trust it.

"Do you know what a Skia is, or what their marks are? What any of that means?"

I half expected to be met with silence, like 'Skia' was something bad, like I should feel ashamed for asking about it. Something about the word made me feel dirty, though I couldn't explain why. Instead, Spade just glanced over his coffee mug thoughtfully, no doubt gathering the bits of information he knew about the word.

"Skia haven't been made for centuries, if they ever actually were. It's said to take very strong magic that died out with the mages. From the stories, I understand it's something like an agreement. The maker gives certain gifts or abilities to a human in exchange for their soul, the more souls the maker has, the more power. The Skia's ability has an additional price, an action that must be performed after each use, they vary from individual to individual. I don't know if any of this is actually true, but it's the myth grandparents tell kids, a way humans can be powerful, not on par with us, but definitely more than just flesh and bone."

He paused to take a sip, still looking pensive.

"The mark I don't know as much about, I know each maker marks his or her Skia, like branding cattle. Some stories said that's where their ability stems from and if you burn it off they lose it, but I don't know if that's true either. It's probably just a Darkling fairytale, like True Pairs or Heaven."

He snorted a cynical laugh.

"Why do you ask? It's kind of an obscure piece of dark magic to be curious about."

The suspicion was back in his voice, as if he suspected I had some grand plan to create an army of Skia. Syn looked to me at the mention of True Pairs, but I kept my gaze evenly on Spade. I ignored his question, along with Syn's look, not wanting the entire Clan knowing about my dreams, or visions, prophecies - whatever I was having.

"Are wizards real? Like mages, actually? If I thought anything was a myth, it would be them, not Heaven."

Spade gave me a look now like I had been expecting when I asked about Skia, a quizzical look, like he couldn't believe my words. I tried to look innocent but it was hard with my thoughts of Abraham, and how I had somehow known what he was, floating around in my head. He had said he was powerful, maybe he was the one creating the Skia, the things Nev and Kael were hunting. I tried to hide my thoughts from my face, and eventually Spade spoke.

"Of course mages are real? Wow, it's like you don't know anything. How can you know Spoken, but not the history of mages? They used to train Darklings on both sides, teaching Earths their skills, teaching those with Gifts how to control them. The dark kept them on retainer, though slaves is a more accurate title, and they killed the lights every chance they had. The light did the same, taking out as many dark mages as they could, thinking if they killed the teachers, the other side would become weak. All that actually happened is Darklings managed to single-handedly wipe out mages along with their immeasurable knowledge. That was at least two hundred years ago, no mages since. The few living descendants have close to no power, less than an Earthmin, just a parlor trick peddler really.

You would be surprised how many creatures have been destroyed by us, by Darklings, in our wars with one another. That's why so many say we aren't on Earth just because of our ancestor's sins, but that we're here for Earth's sins too, as punishment, destroying it even as we think we're helping."

Spade gave me a knowing look before settling back in his chair, drinking his coffee in a rather professorly way.

"Is that why you do nothing?"

I didn't mean to sound so critical, but I couldn't get past how little this Clan seemed to do and the sentiment slipped into my voice. They never trained, never left the warehouse even. And besides Syn, I hadn't even seen any of them hold a weapon. Some part of me was disgusted by their weakness, but I tried to stuff those feelings down, positive they came from the darker side of my nature. It worried me how my mind seemed to understand the things Juda had said, about our race's weakness, our blood's dilution. I hated that in many ways I agreed.

Chi was the one who spoke up, her voice calm, though her face looked pinched.

"We aren't Halflings, we're far removed from our ancestors. Just because we don't go out at night like you and do god knows what doesn't mean we aren't contributing. I don't want to encourage my nature, and if that makes me weak, so be it. We know our skills, and we aren't cocky enough ta think we can take on what's out there. We gather information, hide people...like you. We can't all be warriors, there's a job for everyone, and personally, I like mine. I can't tell you the last time I even needed ta use my Shift, do you know how amazing that feels? Ta not feel that kind of hate, bloodlust, ta not need ta kill? Ta hardly even want ta anymore?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she spoke, and though I didn't agree, I knew she had a point. If her Clan wasn't as they were, I would be without a place to stay. I would still be with Jevin. I assumed the only reason I had been able to stay with them, be captured by them, was because no one knew they even existed, no one knew where they were or who they were. By living in the shadows, they could do more even if it was a path I could never walk. I couldn't imagine never killing again, just letting all the evil continue around me as I gathered intel, letting others have all the fun. I also couldn't imagine having to though, being weak and knowing it, unable to fight, unable to protect myself. It was a depressing thought.

"You're right. I guess I don't know all that you guys do, but regardless of what your roles are, I know I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. Thank you."

Chi looked shocked at my words, giving me a shy smile before turning to make her breakfast again.

"Would you like to train with me today, so you can better protect yourself? I would like to try again with your Gift too? Fighting something I can't see sounds like good practice. Spade can heal us if we need it."

Chi's surprised face quickly turned to fear, but she masked it a moment later.

"Sure. Um, do I need a safe word?"