Rise and Fall
Chapter 1: Nightmare
The room was dark… But things were calm. My mind was racing that night. The dreams they kept coming… over and over again. But it was just that right? Just a dream…
The dreams came every night and always the same. The guards that were supposed to protect the citizens of Haven City would always be there, taunting me, hurting me, trying to kill me.
My mother had just gotten news that my step-father had been banished to the Wasteland, the worse possible sentence, because he had helped the Underground. Knowing that the Krimson Guards would come after us also, my mother moved us to a different house hoping that they would not find us. But they still frightened me. I knew they couldn't just get here in a day. They would need time to find where we had moved and time to get here.
I tried closing my eyes and attempted to force myself to sleep.
Then I heard it… The creaking of the door.
My breath caught in my throat. It was only the wind.
I turned over in my bed facing away from my door.
I heard the door down the hall open and I squeezed my eyes shut.
'It's just mom,' I thought to myself 'There's no way they could have found us that soon…'
My bedroom door began to creak as the doorknob turned. I squeezed my eyes shut and gripped my blanket tightly.
'It's only mom.'
The door slammed open and I jumped, automatically sitting up in my bed.
I gasped feeling the cold metal of a gun against my forehead. My eyes adjusted and I saw him.
His bright orange hair stuck out in odd ways and his gold eyes glared at me. I could see the other men behind him, all of whom wore red armor, the Krimson Guard. I gulped as I began to tremble.
"You are under arrest on the charges of treason" the orange haired man growled grabbing me by my arm and pulling me from my bed.
Cuffs were slammed onto my wrists and I was dragged out of my room.
'Where is mom?'
I looked up at the men, terrified, "But I'm only twelve…"
I had more to say but we had made it to the bottom of the stairs and I saw my mom being held by two other guards.
"Please let my daughter go," she sobbed, glancing quickly at me before looking up at the orange haired man "She had nothing to do with helping the Underground. She never knew I was helping either."
I gasped lightly as my mom confessed to helping the Underground. She lied about me no knowing. I would always help her cook for the Underground men and I enjoyed talking to them. They were always nice to me and would rub my head, messing up my hair, and tell me how much I'd grown whenever they came in. But my mom was willing to lie to help me.
"Well since you've confessed you should know what is to come" the golden eyed man stated.
My mom's head bowed and I could see tears falling. I was confused. I didn't understand what the man was saying.
"Yes I do," she lifted her head up and looked at me sadly "Just please don't make her watch."
"I can't do that. You see your daughter must learn what happens to people when they defy Baron Praxis."
My mother gasped, about to yell at the man but she only managed to get that one gasp out. The man raised his gun and shot my mother in the head. Blood splatter everywhere, including across my face.
I remember screaming and fighting against the guards before one of them raised their gun and hit me in the back of the head with it.
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I awake in a small dark room. Beneath me was a thin mattress. I sat up looking at my surrounding. There was nothing in the room except the mattress and a toilet. There was a door with a small barred window at the top.
'Where am I?'
The door slid open and two guards walked into the small room. They got on either side of me and grabbed my arms, pulling me off the mattress. The men dragged me out the door and into a large room. The walls were all covered in doors. In the center of the room was a large metal chair with machines next to it. Three men stood next to the chair, two of which I recognized.
The largest was Baron Praxis, a huge hulking man and the leader of Haven City. He had lost one of his eyes in a battle against the metal heads so part of his face was covered in metal. The only thing this man seemed to care about was his city. Not the people, or even his own daughter, but this once great city he is ruining.
The other man I recognized was the commander Erol. As I was dragged closer then man's eyes narrowed and he smirked. My eyes widened as I began to tremble and the guards threw me onto the chair. Straps were tightened around my wrists and ankles and also around my right elbow but I was too frightened to struggle.
I looked towards the other man, the one I've never seen before. His icy blue eyes stared at me for a moment, a quick flash of sadness passing over his eyes, before turning to look at the computers behind him. Tattoos covered his face and neck, just like all the other Krimson Guards. His light brown hair was pulled back in dreadlocks that reached just past the base of his skull. He wore the traditional KG uniform but without a helmet. He couldn't have been more than twenty or so.
"Let's get this over with" the baron stated sounding bored.
The brunette man pressed a button on the computer and a large needle slid from the machine above me. My eyes widened in fear as it inched towards my forearm. It pierced the skin and I winced slightly. My lip began to tremble as I stared up at the men.
And then the pain came.
My back arched off the table as I cried out, the horrible electric pain coursing through my body. The only thing holding me onto the table was the straps. I could feel the muscles in my right shoulder tearing and I strained to get away from the pain. I heard a sharp pop before a terrible pain swept through my shoulder.
The flow of electrifying pain stopped but the pain in my shoulder didn't. I continued to scream.
"Why did you stop the experiments, Commander Torn?" Baron Praxis growled. I barely heard what was being said over my screaming.
"She dislocated her own shoulder. She's no use to us if she rips herself apart" the brunette stated.
I stopped screaming and merely began sobbing. I wanted nothing more than to go home to my mother and curl up in her lap and sleep.
'But my mother's dead.'
The baron only nodded, "She survived the first injection. Take care of her injuries and we'll continue again tomorrow."
The brunette, Torn, nodded as the baron and Erol left the room. I didn't pay much attention until I felt the straps loosening. The man reached out to grab my arm and I jerked away from him, upsetting my shoulder and causing me to cry out.
"Stop moving," the man said grabbing my arm "I'm going to make the pain go away."
He pulled down on my arm suddenly and I gasped. But as much as that jerk hurt the feeling afterwards hurt a lot less. Still the ripped muscles burned but that wasn't anything to the feeling of my shoulder being dislocated or the stuff they had injected me with.
The man put his arms behind my shoulders and under my knees before lifting me easily off the table like I was nothing. I winced slightly as he carried me back towards my cell. He sat me on the small mattress and I reached up to grab my burning shoulder. The commander left and came back quickly with a bag of ice.
"Here, put this on your shoulder it should help" the man stated holding the bag out to me.
I nodded and place the bag on my shoulder, "Where am I?"
"You're in the Fortress," the man said, looking at me with sad, icy blue eyes "What's your name?"
"Jenny" I mumbled, staring at the man with wide green eyes.
"I'm Torn" he held out his gloved hand towards me.
I stared at it for a moment before grabbing it with my much smaller hand. I smiled up at the man and the corner of his lip moved up slightly in a sad, half smile.
"What was that stuff they injected me with?" I questioned, shifting slightly on the mattress.
"Dark Eco," Torn stated and my eyes widened "The baron is desperate to end the war with the metalheads so he's trying to create a super weapon," anger flashed across his eyes and he growled slightly "he thinks the way to do that is by pumping people full of Dark Eco."
"And you don't agree with that?"
Torn shook his head, his dreadlocks swishing back a forth.
"Then I trust you" I smiled, reaching up to wrap my arms around his neck.
I felt the man tense before awkwardly patting me on the back. He grabbed my shoulders and pushed me away.
"Get some sleep, squirt" he patted my head gently, ruffling my light brown hair.
Torn left, closing and locking the door behind him leaving the room in near darkness. I sighed as I laid down on the mattress, being careful not to upset my injured shoulder. I managed to get comfortable and soon dozed off to sleep.
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In my nightmares that night the death of my mother replayed over and over again in my mind. Erol's sinister smile always there and his golden eyes always watching me. And I was slowly drowning… Drowning in Dark Eco…
A/N: So here's the first chapter of the rewritten Rise and Fall. Quite a bit different from my previous versions of this story so I hope you all enjoy it. It's the same basic storyline as the original but it just hasn't gotten there yet. There are going to be many things that change, such as Jenny's relationship with some of the characters will be different.
If I start to get some of the canons OOC please do tell me. I'm going to try my best to keep them true to their nature.
Sorry this chapter is kind of short… :/
Well R&R and tell me what you think! It would make me very happy :D