Hello to everyone who decided to read this story! I thank you all for your time. I'm just going to quickly say a few things here first, so…yeah. First of all, if you see a mistake somewhere in my writing that doesn't follow the manga/anime, please let me know – obviously some things will change since this is an OC story, but if I put down the wrong information about DMW somewhere, please let me know so I can fix it. Secondly, yes, there will be romance in this, but it's not going to jump right in in the first two chapters or anything (these things take time, darn it!) And yes, before anyone decides to comment on it, I do know that Genkaku is gay, but please remember this is fanfiction, so we are allowed to bend some rules here ;D Lastly for now, this is rated T for the moment, but since this is the world of Deadman Wonderland, that could change (I'm paranoid and don't want to get in trouble for incorrect ratings :P ) but if I do change the rating, I will let readers know in advance. Additionally, since I enjoy listening to music and take inspiration from it as I write, I'm going to include a song or two listed in the beginning of each chapter that helped me write it. Alright, I think that's enough rambling for now. Enjoy the read, and don't forget to leave a review! :)

"Choke" by Hybrid

Chapter 1: The New Chick

It was close to sunset as a man with dark grey hair sat motionless at his desk, his glasses reflecting the light from the projected monitor in front of him as he watched a young prisoner hopelessly trying to defend herself against two older ones. The girl was kicking and screaming as she tried to get the men off of her, her efforts only wasted as one of the men managed to grab her leg while the other grabbed an arm and a fistful of dark purple hair, forcing her head back to look at his leering face.

Watching them all struggle, a smirk began to tug at the man's lips; the girl was definitely determined, he'd give her that. But this wasn't a fight she was going to win with her physical strength alone. No, she was not going to live if it carried on like this.

The man slowly leaned back in his desk chair, lacing his hands behind his head as he began to grow bored with the display in front of him. Maybe Takashima's data and the files he had received were inaccurate? He frowned. That couldn't be it. That wasn't it. The girl still needed a little more time; he was sure of it. Then, he would decide whether or not this experiment was a success. Until then, he would just have to keep watching.

And then it happened: a quick splash of red appeared on the monitor.

Quickly leaning forward in his seat and peering closely at the images on the screen before him, the man's frown quickly turned into a wide grin. Squinting, his eyes settled on the figure of the girl, just as her tormentors both fell to the ground around her, blood quickly seeping through their clothes and pooling around them.

How unfortunate; his thoughts had distracted him during the best part. Now he had two corpses to clean up before Makina found out and started asking questions. But that wasn't his top priority right now. He had witnessed the girl's transformation, had seen the blood curl around her fingertips before dripping onto the cold metal floor. It was a delightful sight indeed.

Carnival Corpse's next bird had hatched, and Tamaki was going to make sure he got to it first.

Pressing a few of displays on the projection screen, there were a couple of short rings followed by a click, and a man's voice was projected into the room. "Chief Warden Tamaki?"

Tamaki grinned as he leaned forward to speak. "My good sir, we have a new bird in the facility. She's currently in Hallway 4 of B-Block. There should be a small group of guards posted nearby awaiting further orders. Send them after her along with the guards in Hallway 7. Don't have them capture the girl; I just want them to force her towards G-Block. After that we'll close off her escape and leave it to the Undertakers and their foot soldiers to take her down."

"What about Chief Guard Makina?"

"Just keep her away from the area and tell your men to report to me once the girl is successfully in G-Block. Leave the rest to me," Tamaki instructed.

"Understood, sir," the voice replied curtly. There was a click on the other end of the line, and Tamaki was left in silence once more.

Bringing his attention back to the young prisoner on the screen, Tamaki smiled to himself, amused at the girl's horrified expression of the sight before her. "Oh, Ms. Amaya, if you only knew how much more interesting your life is about to become."

Izumi was shaking so hard she felt that her knees would soon buckle under her and send her crashing to the ground. There was blood everywhere; all over her hands and clothes and splattered across the floor.

The only thing left of the two men who had previously stood before her was a heap of bloody skin and clothes.

Izumi's breaths were coming out fast and short, and already she could feel bile rising in her throat. Struggling to keep her balance, she turned to look away from the corpses before depositing her latest meal at her feet, tears falling down her face with each heave that racked her body.

Once the convulsions began to subside, she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and turned her attention back to the bodies in front of her. What had happened?

The men had stood before her, threatening, promising pain and unease. They grabbed onto her, and she had struggled against their firm grips, pushing and kicking and moving her body as much as she could in order to make holding on as difficult as possible - although the men did far more damage to Izumi than she did to them. They slammed her back into the wall in an attempt to pin her against it, her head painfully hitting the cold metal, and for a moment Izumi was truly afraid that she was going to die right then and there.

But suddenly something snapped inside of her, and then she had felt it - a somewhat cold sensation running throughout her body, sending shivers down her spine and making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

She wasn't going to die here. With all her might Izumi pulled her legs to her chest, jerking the prisoner holding them towards her in the process. As soon as the man was close enough for her to reach, she threw her free arm out towards him and jerked her trapped arm towards the other as well, aiming to punch the one holding her legs and move the one clutching her arm away from the wall.

There was the sound of an impact, and for an instant she thought she had succeeded in striking both men, until she noticed the blood dripping down her arms and the frozen expressions on the prisoners' faces. She hadn't punched the men; in fact, her fists weren't even clenched.

Izumi slowly pulled her hands back, her stomach twisting in horror as she saw that her fingers had actually punctured the men's faces. How did…my fingers…? No…

Izumi shakily pulled her fingers the rest of the way out of the men and examined her hands. Starting from her first knuckles, on the end of each finger was what looked like a spike-shaped extension of… Izumi frowned. Was this…blood?

What is this? She whispered in her head, her eyes wide with fear. I don't understand…

So here she was, a nineteen-year-old inmate of Deadman Wonderland, already having been charged with murder, now with the blood of two more people on her hands – literally. Could things get any better?

Gradually the sound of heavy boots smacking the ground began to echo through the hallway, and Izumi knew that the prison's guards were close by. Of course, why they failed to take action in response to Izumi's clearly audible sounds of pain and struggling only moments earlier was beyond her.

Izumi began to look around in a panic as the sound of the guard's footsteps grew closer. What was she going to do?! What were they – no, scratch that – what was Chief Guard Makina going to do to her for this? If they put you in prison for killing people, then what did they do to you for killing people in prison? Izumi really had no idea, and she didn't ever want to find out.

The way things were now, Izumi figured she had two options: she could either run like a coward and hope that she wouldn't be caught – highly unlikely; or she could wait for the guards to arrive, tell them everything that happened, and hope that they wouldn't kill her – also highly unlikely.

So, naturally, Izumi chose to run. Sure it probably wasn't the best choice in the short run, but at that moment it sure as hell beat sticking around.

Tearing off down the hallway, Izumi frantically began looking for a room that could act as a temporary hiding place from the guards. She couldn't tell how many men were chasing her, but she knew it was only a matter of time before they eventually caught up to her.

But how had they managed to follow her up until now? She didn't make that much noise running, did she? Or maybe they had security cameras covering every inch of the place and were just following her movements based on them?

A thought suddenly popped into Izumi's head, and without stopping, she glanced down at her shoes, only to have her suspicions confirmed. The guards weren't following her; they were following the trail of blood she was leaving behind from her shoes.

Mentally cursing herself for not realizing it earlier, Izumi stopped running and reached down to jerk her shoes off, tossing them to the side with her socks and shivering as her bare feet made contact with the cold floor. At least she wasn't standing still.

Running down a hallway to her left, Izumi instantly stopped in her tracks, nearly causing her to lose her balance and fall forward as another group of guards appeared around the corner giving chase. Guess they called for backup… Izumi figured, and quickly moved back in the direction she came from, taking another left as she did so, so as not to run into her original pursuers who were now even closer.

After another minute of running, Izumi began to feel her legs cramping and a stitch forming in her side. Her body wasn't ready to go through such exercise yet – especially since the incident with the other prisoners had left her stomach empty and her body bleeding and bruised. In her present condition, she probably wouldn't be able to run for more than a few minutes. How did she ever think that she had a chance at escape?

Izumi could feel tears pooling in her eyes, only to have them run down her cheeks when she tried to hold them back. She didn't want to be here; she wanted to go home. This was all wrong. Everything was wrong.

It was only her second day in Deadman Wonderland and already she was in trouble again.

Her pace was starting to slow considerably as her legs began to tire, yet she still kept pushing herself to move. She didn't want to give up; she didn't want to get caught. Izumi knew it was a stupid hope, but running away just seemed like a good idea to her at the moment.

Izumi rounded another corner and quickly came to a stop as a small group of guards came into view farther down the hall. At this point she didn't even bother trying to hide in one of the door frames as the guards were already heading in her direction at a decent pace. It was almost like they were sending the whole prison's security after her. Running back the way she came, she headed farther down the bright hallway before taking a right, praying that there wouldn't be any guards waiting for her around the corner.

Fortunately for her, there weren't any guards. But there weren't any doors either – nothing but empty walls. She had run into a dead end.

Izumi slowed from a run to a jog to something like a stumbling walk. Upon reaching the wall she stopped, her shoulders slumping as she let out a ragged breath in despair. Reaching out, she placed both of her hands against the wall, moving her fingertips over its cool surface as if to see if it was really there.

No, no, no, no, no! she screamed in her head. Why this? Why now? Who puts a hallway in a building without any freaking doors?!

Outside the hallway Izumi could hear the guards heavy footfalls growing closer; there was no time left to run away.

She shook her head in disbelief, looking all along the wall for something – anything – that might open some sort of door she hadn't seen. But the more Izumi searched, the more she began to realize that there was no chance of her finding anything that could save her. With her hope of escape now completely gone, Izumi slammed her fist against the wall, paying little attention to the pain it sent up her arm.

A second later the guards pursuing her rounded the corner, and Izumi knew the chase had officially ended. Slowly she turned around to face them, her body beginning to shake with fear as her heart pounded in her chest. Some of the guards had their guns pointed directly at her, and Izumi wondered if they going to shoot her for killing the other men.

But then a thought suddenly came to her and Izumi froze. She had killed those two men. She had killed those two men. How had she killed them?

Ignoring the guards for a minute, Izumi looked down at her hands to study them closely. There had been claws of blood stemming from her fingertips. Those were what had saved her earlier and killed those other prisoners. But that sounded completely ridiculous. How was that even possible? Izumi still didn't fully understand what she had done or how she had done it, but perhaps if she could do it again, she still had a chance at escaping.

Izumi didn't have to kill anyone – just maim them so they wouldn't be able to stop her, she reasoned.

Just then there was a loud whirring sound from behind her, and Izumi turned to see the wall beginning to slide upwards towards the ceiling. No wonder this hallway seemed so weird, she thought to herself, the footsteps of the guards behind her now drowned out by the sound of the wall moving.

Izumi watched as the wall disappeared into the ceiling. So did this mean she had managed to hit some invisible switch on the wall or…? Izumi frowned. But wait, if this now cleared her path, why weren't the guards coming after her? Were they just planning to gun her down if she ran, or was that their intent either way?

Izumi was about to turn around but jumped when she suddenly felt a pair of hands grab onto her shoulders a second later, fear engulfing her once more as the guard attempted to move her from her spot. However, what she wasn't expecting was for the guard to roughly push her forward, causing her to stumble towards the space where the wall had been moments before.

As Izumi managed to catch her balance once she was on the other side, she spun back around to face the guard who had pushed her, then back to the others behind him, a look of confusion written across her face. They still had their guns trained on her, but none of them made any movements.

There was a familiar whirring sound and Izumi looked up to see the wall moving back down into place.

"They're…letting me go?" she whispered to herself, still confused as to what was happening.

If they weren't going to shoot her and they weren't going to capture her, what were they trying to do then? She seriously doubted they were going to help her escape. So then why send her down here? Izumi wondered as the wall finally reached the floor, sending a loud echo down the hallway behind her. Was this a trap of some sort? The hair on the back of her neck began to stand as a cold feeling began to spread throughout her body. Or was it something else?

"Hey there."

Izumi whirled around at the sudden masculine voice to look down the hallway behind her. At the very end of it there were a number of what Izumi assumed to be more guards, each one of them dressed all in white from head to toe with various weapons held at their sides. That is, all of them except for the one who stood front and center.

His appearance contrasted so much with the rest that Izumi almost wondered if she was hallucinating. Shoulder-length red hair, flame-printed robes, smoking a cigarette with a guitar strung over his shoulder… it made a part of Izumi want to laugh out loud at him.

The man was looking expectantly at her for some reason, but she had no idea what she was supposed to say or do.

When she continued to remain silent, the man spoke again. "You the new chick?"

"…New chick? What?" Izumi asked slowly, the words sounding surprisingly dumb as they left her mouth.

But Izumi didn't let it bother her. The man with the guitar was a good distance away from her, but she was quickly beginning to feel very uncomfortable under his gaze. Something was very off about the man, and whatever that something was, it was telling her to get the hell away from him.

From farther down the hallway, the man mumbled something incoherent to some of the guards next to him, and shortly afterwards two of them began making their way towards Izumi, a sword at each of their sides.

Izumi inhaled sharply at their approach and moved back towards the wall behind her, fearful of what they might do.

"What do you want?" Izumi questioned them once they were before her, towering over her small form. The two didn't answer her, but instead moved to take hold of her arms, causing Izumi to jerk back away from them and against the wall before they could get a firm grip on her.

"Stay away from me," Izumi threatened them, well aware of the fact that she was in no condition to fight. She knew she had been losing blood from somewhere for a while now, and could feel herself growing weaker by the minute; with each breath her body was becoming more and more numb. If she tried to run again, she'd probably wind up passing out, and that was the last thing she wanted to do at a time like this.

Once again the two guards moved to take ahold of Izumi, this time their efforts proving successful as she had nowhere to go with her back against a wall. But that didn't mean she was going down without a fight, and she immediately began struggling in the guards' grips.

"Come on kid, don't make this more difficult than this needs to be," she heard the red-haired man lazily call out to her from farther down the hallway.

Izumi ignored his comment and continued to struggle, managing to kick one of the guards hard in the side of his knee, only to have the other slam his fist into her gut. Mentally cursing the guards, Izumi gagged as the impact left her winded, her vision blurring as she doubled over, making consciousness all the harder to hold on to.

This is bad…she thought to herself as the guards began to drag her down the hallway towards the others. I can hardly feel my limbs anymore, but my insides feel as though they're going cold.

Lifting her head as high as she could, she watched with heavy lidded eyes as the red-haired man and the other guards came closer. Stopping inches before the group, the red-head bent down to look at Izumi's poor state – though she could barely keep herself conscious enough to notice.

Reaching out, he patted his hand firmly on Izumi's head, noting with a grin that despite her fading consciousness, she still flinched at the touch. Then, moving his hand to the back of her head, he buried his fingers deep into her hair for a moment and frowned, grabbing a fistful of hair by the roots and giving a harsh tug, causing Izumi to let out a pained gasp, tears brimming in her eyes.

"That explains a lot." The man let out a sigh of disappointment and straightened back up, barely paying attention to the blood on his hand as he pulled it away from Izumi's head. "Man, I thought Tamaki said she was going to put up more of a fight. Lying bastard… Should've told me the kid was already half unconscious."

He shifted his attention to Izumi's captives. "You two: you're coming with me to take her to see Takashima," he instructed. "I doubt the kid will be able to do much in her current state, but if she tries anything, I'll be the one to put her out first – you just hold her still."

Without another word the man turned his back to them, and it was then that unconsciousness finally overtook Izumi; the twisting red flames printed on the man's robes the last thing she saw before she was swallowed up by the darkness.