The re-mastered version of Break Away, the first fanfic I ever wrote. Let's try and finish it this time around! ; ) I hope you all enjoy it though, even if I've moved it around a smidge. Leaves more for you to anticipate. :U - Love Aya.

*Oh, and just so you know, when there's big paragraphs or sentences COMPLETELY in italics and bolds, it is a memory/dream of Mikali's and therefore is written in the first person. c:

Light and darkness blurred together as my vision attempted to adjust, swollen eyelids attempting to open and see through the blood that was trickling down them, over the many bruises that had caused them to swell shut in the first place. It was numb for a moment, and that was nice. I couldn't feel the aching soreness of the bruises over bruises, the thousands of cuts, ache placed after ache...

Though it was too good to be true. It always was. It hit me then, racking my body with waves of pain as I doubled over, clutching my stomach as a scream of pure agony ripped from my throat, rough and ragged as it became audible. I began to cry, a single tear running down my cheek, and within moments my whole body was racked with sobs as I lay on the cold cement, suddenly yearning for the outside world, where I had been brought in from. I had had a simple life of hardships, and being alone hurt so much less than this. So... much...less...

My thoughts began to fall apart as I began to drift in and out of focus, the darkness creeping in on the edges of my vision again. I heard the door creak open, a small trickle of light coupling the glow from the small window, and that was when I let myself drift into the darkness as the cracks of a whip began to sound from the dungeon, from my little prison cell. Yet I was so numb I could not feel it... Though that would not stop the agony that would hit me the next morning, the scars that would trace my back, something that the numbness could not take away. The crack of the whip snapped again and I let the darkness consume me, the numbness take over.

That had been the first beating. But it would not be the last.

She was six then. At such a young age, she was doomed. Doomed to over six hundred hours of beatings. Her freedom, the only thing she wanted. The only thing she never got. But that would change. She'd make sure of that.

As the sun rose from afar, the birds began to chirp, calling happily together as the bounced from tree to tree gaily. From the window of her room, a small girl stared out, her head resting in one hand. Though she appeared small and dainty from her height of perhaps 5'4", her hands were rough, callused, and she had a fit build, though it was nothing too athletic or overly muscley. She pressed one hand against the window pane, shivering as cold beads of water formed under her hand as the cold window began to condensate.

She drew her hand away, looking out at the world from her window, everything covered in an early-morning dew, much like her hand. She smiled to herself, her caramel-coloured eyes giving off a pleased sort of sheen. She made a sharp turn from the window then, sending the presence of someone else. Her body had tensed automatically, and she was almost ready to leap into the air until it registered in her mind who was standing in her doorway.

"...Anna" she murmured, almost hesitantly at the blonde in front of her, wavering mentally under her hard gaze, but not showing any real reaction on her face other than a blank, slightly surprised look. Anna's hard glare suddenly shifted into a smile, and Mikali's features softened in turn.

"Feeling any better today, Miki?" she asked in a concerned sort of way. Mikali could tell, because only in serious situations did Anna ever called her Miki... For whatever reason, she wasn't sure.

"Yeah", she murmured, her gaze shifting to the floor as she remembered the events of the previous day. It had been a perfectly normal day, in all truths. She had been with Yoh and Manta, running a daily jog, and then... She didn't remember, really. Anna had told her that she had collapsed, clutching her head and screaming mumbled sentences.

Anna's eyes went soft and she moved from her spot in the doorway, making her way over to the girl. "You were suffering some massive headaches, Miki. You kept crying out for help, to make it stop. It was just like..." Anna paused, running a hand through Mikali's hair in a comforting manner as she stared up at her with lost puppy eyes. She was thinking the same thing.

"Just like when we first took you in. You never explained it, never talked about it..." her eyes went cold, hard, sharp. Mikali shivered, though she went as distant as Anna was going. She wasn't revealing anything she knew...

And she didn't know anything anyway, so really, what was there to tell?

"Are you hiding something from me, Miki?" Anna asked, her voice sort of pained. Ever since the both of them were six, they had known each other, thanks to... Special circumstances.

They never knew how Mikali had turned up in front of Yoh's Grandpa's house, or what her story was. Even she didn't know, and she had been starting to get massive migraines lately... The same ones she had experienced upon her first few weeks in the Asakura residence. Anna had plenty reason to be afraid, and so did Mikali.

But she wasn't. She wasn't scared at all. She felt like something big was coming, something she had to uncover, but she didn't know where to look to find it. She sighed, a sad, weak noise, and Anna winced. She didn't sound much better then yesterday.

"Just rest up, Hun. It's early... Sleep in. Maybe you'll feel better later" she instructed, giving Mikali a reassuring pat on the head, like one might give a dog. Mikali didn't seem to mind, and she simply shrugged, running a finger over her scar on right eye. It went straight down the center, and it seemed to be the only scar she had. Anna had told her that when she had found her, she had been covered in them, like they were a second skin. With proper medical treatment, they had all healed... All but that one.

"Alright, Anna. I'll get some rest" Mikali grumbled, her tone reluctant and yet obedient, showing how much she trusted Anna's judgement, and believe you me; she didn't trust many people at all. Never had, and she never felt it was an area that absolutely needed to be expanded on.

"Good girl" she praised, and with that, Anna walked out, probably to make breakfast. Mikali drifted back to the window, staring out of it with strained caramel eyes, as if she was silently sobbing on the inside.

"What am I supposed to find? Where is it?" she murmured into the emptiness of the room, but something told her she'd be finding it soon. Instinct told her she wouldn't like it.

Her confused expression soon being replaced with a scowl, Mikali drew her curtains, blocking out the rising sun and the chirping birds and plunging back into the darkness as she slipped away, asleep before she hit the pillows.

Click-clack, click-clack. It was all I could hear. First the click of heels on cement. That was a maid, almost a servant of sorts. Then the soft padding of two people... How kind. Three people were coming to visit me in my cell. The rest of it was blurred, blurred voices, people who all looked the same... Then the broom. Oh, the broom. Over and over again I was struck... I wondered why I hadn't broken down and cried yet, but I was getting stronger now, and I was stronger than that. Of course, that just made the broom come down harder, faster. A flash of purple, eerie yellow eyes, and then I was wacked again. Laughter... so much laughter...

I'd get them one day. I'd get them all. Yet the barrage of blows continued regardless. Then, a boy's voice. "You pathetic excuse for a Tao!" he cried out, and the broom smacked me again, slicing across my right eye. I think I might have screamed then, but the memory was slipping away fast... And something told me when I rose in the morning; I wouldn't remember a thing about this memory, this 'dream'... Or that purple-haired monster. Was he what I had to remember? Even if it was, I wouldn't remember it.

I just... wouldn't...