My story is not a happy one, but it used to be.

Before I was thrust into a world where morals are not black and white, but shades of gray.

And learned the hard way, that the only thing that separates them from you; is one really bad day.

The Black Witch

[Impel Down]

Vice Guard Domino had always asked herself the important questions in life, or at least what she deemed important at the time. It was part of her nature, and her three rules to live by.

The first: to always act serious and professional, the second: to always obey orders when given, and the third: never question your superiors.

However, at this particular moment, she was questioning them.

As such, it was a significant occasion; perhaps not to the world or the various personnel of 'Impel Down'. Nevertheless, the occasion held significance to her.

It was while she contemplated this thought that her journey of quick strides down the various hallways and elevators within the giant institution ended at the Warden's office.

"Who is once again, most likely, shirking on his duties…" she silently vented before bursting into the unsurprisingly empty office and heading straight for his personal bathroom.

"Chief Warden! How long have you been in there?!" she loudly demanded.

An alarmed exclamation followed by what seemed to be a flush echoed throughout the Warden's office, "Just a minute!" he responded; only to moments later enter the large office with a blush on his squinting face.

"Ah! Vice Guard Domino!" he exclaimed rather loudly and unnecessarily before making a mumbling a comment about the light, "What seems to be the problem?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head in tandem.

Staring at the warden behind her dark sunglasses, she once again reminded herself to add 'Unless Idiots' to rule three.

"We have an issue with one of the prisoner shipments, Chief Warden Magellan" she stated in a serious manner, "As I am highly doubtful that the prison we manage and guard is an acceptable place for a twelve year old who speaks gibberish."

Clearing his throat, the Chief Warden made his way over to his massive desk with a partially annoyed expression on his face, "Now Domino, I know you've only come into your position recently, but even then you should know that Justice does not discriminate."

"Be that as it may, sir, she is twelve. I have served as a guard at this facility for over two and a half years. I may have only been recently promoted, but I know for a fact that the upper levels are not designed to house children, let alone little girls."

The Chief Warden sighed as he slowly rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I suppose I can see where you're coming from in your concern for…what's her number?"

"1113…Sir"

"Very well, Prisoner 1113, we can give her a single cell." The Warden said before clapping his hands, "There, problem solved."

"I am afraid there is still the issue of what level she will be housed in Magellan. As it is, she will be residing on level one."

Letting out a drawn out sigh of poisonous gas, "Yes, I can see where no cells could be a problem, Level two then."

"The one with the unlockable doors, sir?" the Vice Guard said with thinly veiled sarcasm.

"I don't like that tone Vice Guard." Magellan said in a no nonsense tone.

The oppressive aura that her superior began to give out made her double back quickly, "I…sorry sir."

"I thought so; However, I will be lenient. If Levels one and two are out, I'll leave you to pick her poison."

"Sir?" she asked questioningly

"You heard me. She can starve to death, burn to death, or freeze to death. The choice is yours Vice Guard, so…pick her poison."

"You will let me pick any level of our facility Chief Warden?" She asked with a frown, disbelief evident in her voice and eyes thankfully hidden.

"Sure, sure" Magellan said while waving his hands in a dismissive manner while stamping the permission form with an official looking seal, slowly gaining a pained expression on his face, "Have fun with that, I'm late for my next appointment!" practically screaming the last part as he bolted for the bathroom, leaving Domino in his wake as well as an official permission form gently floating through the air.

It took a few seconds for her Warden's exit to register in her mind before she snatched the paperwork out of the air and pivoted on her heel, heading towards the records department.

"Vice Guard Domino" Chief Guard Shiliew stated with a slightly condescending tone, "Is there a particular reason why you went over my head and to the warden?"

Those were the words that greeted Domino as she entered the Chief Jailers office, they were also the words she had been dreading for the past three hours after she finished filing a 121-M form along with personally handling prisoner 1113's cell reassignment.

"I-I didn't want to burden you sir!" Her words were sputtered and, she hoped, vaguely surprised. She didn't go to Shiliew on purpose and he knew it, the only thing that man cared about was his own entertainment and the status-quo.

"No need to be nervous Domino" he responded sarcastically, "I'm just glad you're doing your job. However, if you go over my head again there will be consequences; you only bother the Chief Warden for important matters, am I clear?"

Continuing to stand at attention, Domino saluted the man with a "Sir!"

Looking bored, the Chief Guard continued to stare, "Get out."

With a second salute, the vice guard pivoted on her heel and walked towards the office's exit as quickly as she could, only to be stopped by Shiliew's voice, "Oh…and before I forget, Domino, what was the prisoner's number again?"

She was going to say 1113, she really was, but in a surreal moment of mental insubordination her brain locked up, "Prisoner 1114…sir."

"Very good Vice Guard, dismissed."

The words that were said right before the office doors closed echoed through her mind, drawing a chill along her spine,

"This is Head Guard Shiliew, I want prisoner 1114 scheduled for a transfer to level 5…"

[2 Months Later]

The Vice Warden, Hannyabal, stood at the gates of Impel Down waiting for, what he thought, was the next convoy of prisoners.

He wasn't surprised when his expected convoy turned out to be marine warship; they were standard issue when transporting prisoners after all. He wasn't even surprised a Vice Admiral came to meet him; this was also standard procedure as they were the ones who usually handled security detail.

No, what surprised Hannyabal was the sheet of paper handed to him requesting a prisoner's release. This was Impel Down; it was a maximum security prison for a reason. You entered, served your sentence, and either died or stayed, but the paper in front of him was an approved 121-M form. Sure they existed as per standard procedure, but they were never used, which brought him full circle back to the 121-M form in his hand, scratch that, the Approved 121-M form in his hand.

"I-I ah," until he cleared his throat, "The Chief Warden will want to see this, obviously a grave injustice has been committed this day." His tone was almost hopeful tone as he began leading the Vice Admiral down into the facility and towards the Warden's office; However, the Vice Admiral remained stoically quite.

After twenty minutes of silence, Hannyabal spoke up again, "You'll promote me to Chief Warden when you demote him right?!" only to receive more silence.

Hannyabal was beginning to grow annoyed, he didn't know the man's name so he must have been new to the position, or he was new to security detail and pouting about it, but his attitude left something to be desired. Thankfully, they arrived at the warden's office before he grew more bothered.

Opening the door to a surprisingly occupied room, he quickly began to make his exit, but not before shouting, "Remember! Make we warden when you demote him!" in his retreat.

It was a quick retreat too, as the echoes of the Chief Warden yelling his name chased after his heels.

She didn't feel much these days, as only the chill of the air against her skin and the hunger of her stomach told her she was actually alive most of the time, instead of trapped in some sort of demon sorcerer prison.

Perhaps she was going crazy with boredom…or annoyance, it was hard to tell when everyone spoke in what she suspected was Japanese, at least she thought it was Japanese, the words for kill, hungry and bored might mean love, peace, and prosperity in this new and mysterious language for all she knew, but it was highly doubtful.

Jade sighed with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, 'what to do, what to do,' well she could play 'I-Spy' with herself again but that never worked out too well, considering she already knew what she was looking at. She supposed she could double numbers in her head again, but no, she had memorized the doubles by now and she wasn't in the mood to try her hand at multiplying by double digits. That left one thing to do today…or tonight, she really couldn't tell, but it was the same thing she had done for the past…fair amount of time.

Figure out this wonderful language she had discovered, and by wonderful language she meant slow and painful death by aneurism. Jade was almost sure that long nosed, witch looking woman in the next cell over was teaching her swearwords for her amusement. Then there was that fat, giant, long-nosed, man-thing in the other cell mumbling the kill, hungry, bored gig.

So it was back to bugging the woman again, Catarina or other…or she could just work out her frustrations and swear at—

*Groan* *Krck* *Chk-chk-chk-chk-chk*

Ah, or she could watch a pot-bellied shirtless man swing around a giant double-bladed Naginata. Jade slightly shivered before turning around and facing the opposite side of her cell, even imagining it threw a chill down her spine.

*Chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-…chk-…chk-…chk* *Khgh* *Groan* *Khgh*

It was about two minutes later that she began to hear footsteps approaching her cell until they stopped with a rattling of keys and whining cage doors took their place. She turned around to see two guards flanking a tall man, wearing jet-black sunglasses along with a cap that said…

Her eyes widened, it said Marine, was she seeing things? It was clearly English, so did that mean they spoke Japanese but read in English? How did that work?!

She was interrupted from her thoughts when the man barked out a command and the guards flanking him went over and undid her chains, then took her out of the cell by her hands, practically dragging her along the stone floor.

They didn't talk, and the first time she asked a question was the last as she was swiftly rebuked in a harsh tone. They just walked, dragging her through chain elevators and various hallways before they entered an empty room and tall man, who she dubbed 'Mr. Marine' shoved a pile of clothes into her hands before leaving.

…huh…

Well they obviously expected her to put it on, and they did feel more comfortable than these stereotypical prison clothes…

Minutes later, Jade found herself looking like a cabin boy straight out of one of those old sailor films. It was comfortable, sure, but if she was honest with herself, it was also ugly as hell.

Moments later the guards along with Mr. Marine returned. He took a few looks at her before tugging on parts of her outfit and nodding. Looking satisfied, Mr. Marine led her by the shoulder with the guards in tow.

As time passed, she eventually stood face to face with the massive gates of Impel Down, giant and forbidding.

Pure light pierced the darkness as the gates parted in front of her person. While her eyes took their time to adjust to the sudden abundance of light, she continued to be led by her neck until her steps against stone turned to wood, and the shrieking of seagulls, rushing of the ocean, and the gentleness of the breeze could be heard, smelled, and felt.

Jade closed her eyes...and opened them three days later…

Author's Note: Changed some things, nothing major. Might go through and change it a bit more if it strikes my fancy.