PROLOUGE

"Years ago, the world was a beautiful place, full of laughing children, and happiness that you could feel.

You never worried about what was in store for the future of the planet, you never worried about going outside, you never feared your own government, your own ruler. The birds were abundant, the flowers bloomed wherever they pleased, and the animals were everywhere. You ate what you desired, watched what you desired, said what you desired. In a world as lovely as this, where did we go wrong?

Haricor, the man we never see, the man we never know, the man we all obey, and he was our mistake. He grew up with ambitions; ambitions that we all should have destroyed. He grew up with a demon inside his mind, someone telling him so many lies. He destroyed the freedom we had, and turned the world into a dark, cruel place. He destroyed the nations who dared to oppose him, he killed the women who dared to fight against him, he killed world who dared to tell him no.

He didn't worry about those who tried to help him, he refused any advice, and he took whatever he wanted. He had one wife: but a thousand mistresses. He had three sons: he probably had a thousand more unknown. He was a dark, frightening man, and he got whatever he wanted. So, what does one man have to do with the world we see thousands of years later?

His youngest son, Aragran, created an empire. Aragran was small and weak, he was the one who the other brothers laughed at and hit. Maybe had he not grown up full of hatred, he might not have destroyed our lives, our chances at freedom. He did it out of spite to show everyone he was strong. He killed his brothers, and he killed his wife. He raised his son in a world of hatred and power, and now he has started a dynasty of dictators, a dynasty of fools. The son he gave the throne to was more benevolent; he sought neither the approval of his father nor the approval of the world. He did what he thought was best and followed through any actions he began. He gave birth to a daughter and a son, and gave his thrown to the boy. The girl was sweet, and spent her days out with the people she had hoped to rule. She wanted to fix the broken world her lineage had created, and she had hopes of restoring the balance of happiness and freedom as there had once been. Her father saw that she wanted to return the world to a place of crime and freedom, and so he gave his life to his son. His son was dark and careless; he was cold and sought to keep everyone on a leash. He wanted to create a utopia, a world where he was supreme and all obeyed him. And so, the fate of us all was given to the men who desired power and blood. We were given to the men who we all would hate.

And thousands of countless years later, here we are: Never leaving our homes, never speaking our minds, never telling our children the past beyond Halicor, never feeling happiness. Can you understand the pain we've all grown up with, Alistair? You may have the day when the world changes, but I am left in the dark past of when change is not possible. Make that day happen, and hold me in your heart. Sorry to leave you, but I can't stay here any longer. Remember my words, and remember my face. Remember the dream I've passed on to you. Create a new empire, create a new world. "

And so, I never saw her again. Mother… You left me alone in a house full of pain and hatred. You left me alone in a world where I could not survive alone. What was I supposed to do without you? If maybe I hadn't met Lilugen, I might have died full of spite as well. Mother…

I wish I could tell you how much I desire you to die again.

Chapter one

At night, the asylum was quiet. Lilugen slept with all the other men there, and Alistair had her own little room full of white walls and white sheets. She had her own TV, where she watched about the world under rule by Carivin. She never slept, she never spoke. The nurses never smiled at her, the patients never approached her. No matter who you were, you never looked at Alistair. Alistair was a demon.

And demons did not deserve kindness.

Lilugen remembered when he saw Alistair first come into the rooms at the asylum. He was eating his soup as always, and he was in the front room so he could look out the window. He always sat there until it was time to bathe and then sleep. He wanted to be able to see the world for forever, he never wanted to miss a second, always anticipating the changes someone might bring. He always expected a lovely girl to destroy the empire that she had lost her mother to. He always expected to see her on TV, saying she was going to save the ones who needed her. He never saw her, he never heard her name. He was deep in thought when someone got out of the hovercraft. He looked up when he heard screaming and cursing, men yelling and the clack-clack-clack of nurse's shoes. He saw the commotion and watched in curiosity at the struggle of three giant men covered in white scrubs and five little nurses with needles and chains. He tried to see who was attacking the system and not obeying to what the higher authorities was telling them to do. He jumped, a loud crash erupting as one of the big men and a nurse fell into a window. The man was bleeding from his head, and so the nurse began bandaging him up before attempting to attack the person once again. He heard a thud, and jumped again. One of the men moved, and Lilugen saw an amazing sight. The men had a small girl, maybe sixteen or fifteen. She was bent over the counter, her entire head under the hand of one of the men, holding her down and another had her arms. She was screaming and yelling profanities like a man from the ghettos would. She had long, thick blonde hair, a few strands of blue and a few of green in it. Her eyes were black and cold, not wavering the slightest under the pressure and pain that the men were causing her. She had long lashes that batted like fans or butterfly wings whenever she closed her eyes. Her skin was awkwardly pale, showing she was lacking any nourishment at all. She was pretty, and Lilugen watched her. She looked his way once, and it was almost like her eyes were saying "You piece of shit. You're just going to sit there and let them do this to me? You're not a man. You're not anything." Lilugen looked back at the window, watching the situation from the corner of his eye. He would not be done in by some child trying to go against the law. Finally, one nurse had gotten the needle into the girl, who got an arm to escape and tore it out her thigh, blood spewing all over the short leather skirt she was wearing. Her shoes were torn, and the leather was faded. If she didn't stop squirming, she would lose a lot of blood. Maybe that's what she wanted? Rather than give in, would she prefer to die? He wondered as he watched, and saw the nurse shove another needle into the girl's side. The girl screamed, and the nurse injected the blue liquid inside her. She stopped moving slowly, and the men strapped her onto a stretcher and the nurses took her away. The men were being checked over when one called to Lilugen. "Hey, why didn't you help? "

Lilugen looked at him lazily and replied "Why couldn't you handle a little girl?"

The man spat at him, and then came in close to let him in on the news.

"That girl is Alistair of Hypocrisy. She was caught after murdering the King, Carivin."

Lilugen smiled slightly. So, he needn't be watching the world at all; Alistair had been working behind the walls of his limited sight.

Lilugen woke up in the mornings at 7:22 exact, and he had exactly one bowl of white rice and pudding, and then bathed for twenty-three minutes, then sat in his chair at the window. Alistair had yet to awaken from the shot they gave her, so they must have used either too much or a strong one in order to get her to sleep. She was small and lively, but her hatred fueled her to the strength of three body builders. It was hard to believe someone had kill Carivin, the almighty ruler who put Lilugen in this insane asylum to await his death. He hadn't done anything truly deserving death, but crime in this world all had the same punishment: Death.

Some of the people who were titled "insane" were sent to an asylum to wait the age of thirty before being killed. Lilugen was in his twenties now; Alistair was probably given a short time before her death. Lilugen had a dark past, one he didn't care to share with any except Alistair.

Lilugen sat at his window, wondering if maybe the world had changed overnight. He didn't suspect a place of total freedom or for criminals to be released, but with Carivin out of the way, he wanted to see happiness flowing abundantly from the humans who were free. He saw nothing, not a smile nor heard a laugh. He understood not where the world he had desired for years was, why the children were not singing like his family had told him of. Where was the past of years ago? He sat at the window, pondering his world; pondering why the death of a dictator was not celebrated by the people he destroyed the lives of. He sat quietly. No one told him what was going on, no one told him about what was happening out there.

"You're really dumb. Sitting at the window wondering about things isn't going to save you, ya' know?" He looked over, and saw Alistair.

"Of course I know nothing will change. But what can a man in an asylum do? Nothing. I sit here and wait for a young child to dethrone the ones who destroyed her mind. Where is that child now? The one so passionate about equality? The one who desired to bring her mother back with one push of a trigger? Of course; she sits right next to me." He glanced at her quietly, her face reading emotions he could not tell. She sat lightly in the still white chairs they supply for the patients, her legs crossed, and her hands folded in her lap. How lady-like could a girl be after murdering a man only weeks before? It amazed Lilugen that she could think rationally about the future and about him after spilling blood and having needles shoved into her body.

"Lilugen, you should grow up and stop remembering the me of the past. I was ten years old that day; now I'm fifteen. To think you cling so tightly to a little girl of memories past when you yourself were seventeen. How disgusting and disturbing you are. You tried to steal from someone and wound up here? And yet I kill one of the most important historical figures of our time and I'm still alive. How can that be fair? Oh, now I see," she paused for a moment and threw a pompous smirk towards Lilugen, "You weren't even important enough to make it to the news feeds. Grow up, I'm already the hardworking, thinking, murdering adult you were supposed to be." She looked ahead to the white walls surrounding her now, her smirk gone, having been replaced by a sour face that even Lilugen had never seen before. But she was right; she had been ten, and he had been seventeen. She thought so clearly and differently about the world that Lilugen never wanted to forget the little girl he had given food to in the allies. Now he was twenty-three. Why was he here, in this asylum? He had only killed a man and taken his food, even though the man he killed was abusing his daughter, the fact he killed him was wrong. Saving the girl was not his job; that was the job of the police. But no police were there, only Lilugen. The girl had saw him and cried for him to save her, so he did. He hadn't meant to hurt the man, just get him away from the girl. But the police saw what had happened, and they took him here. He's been here for six years, waiting for Alistair to come and save him.

Alistair stood up and walked away from him. The nurses were watching her closely, armed with tranquilizer guns. Of course, it would be difficult for Alistair to cause any harm when she was always in a straight jacket. She sat in front of a TV, and used her toes to work the buttons. She flipped the channels to the news, wanting to see if the death of Carivin had reached the public.

"Today we were informed of the death of our beloved King, Carivin. It is said in the investigation reports that he was murdered at eight in the morning four days ago. The information was not released to the public until now because we needed to find an heir" Alistair yawned a little, and lay down on the cold white tiled floors. She sat there for twenty minutes until she heard her name. "Murder was conducted by Alistair Havery, also known as Alistair of Hypocrisy from the old ghetto that was destroyed four years ago for having the largest crime rate in all of Satu City. Investigation has been done on the girl who killed the King, and we have found that she was indeed alone during the attack and break in of the castle. She single-handedly killed fifty-two bodyguards and the King himself with no more than a kitchen knife. She-"

Alistair looked around her to see every nurse and patient watching her intently. Maybe to some she was a hero, and to others she was a monster. But really, how could they hate her for trying to bring the world back to peace? No one understood her motives, and no one dared to ask. To everyone, she was some crazy little girl who was going to die in twelve days. She sighed, and lay back down on the floor. It felt nice on her back. She was sent to her room soon after, since many patients were complaining about having a killer so near them.

Little did the nurses know, that's what she wanted; to be left alone for hours on hours to start digging.

Lilugen was still sitting at the window when a nurse screamed. He looked back towards her, and sighed. A new nurse was worse than a new patient. They always screamed about when someone had a seizure or died. They needed to get used to the death. He stood up for once, and walked into Alistair's room. He saw her lying on the bed, her face distorted from the taste of hospital food. He laughed, "You know, the ghettos sure don't have this much food." She didn't acknowledge him, but said "I know. That's why I stole from the rich and murdered them. It was fun to watch them in fear for their lives against me."

"What are you planning, Alistair?"

"Planning? Now you sound paranoid. Don't worry, you won't get hurt… If you stay away from me. It already looks suspicious since you're the only patient who will confront me, let alone speak to me. I would suggest you back away and keep your distance." She looked at him, her eyes were conniving and she smiled sourly. Lilugen didn't know that look, either. Had it really been years since he had last seen her smile? Where did the cute hopeful smiles go? Of course; they had been replaced by the eyes of a woman who knew the darkness of the world. Her smiles had been replaced by the frowns that murdering and stealing had engraved into her face. Alistair had grown up; Lilugen was still stuck in the past. And now it was time for him to move forward or die without salvation. He had a difficult choice to make. He had to decide whether to wait seven years until he dies, or risk all that time he had left to go with a mentally disturbed girl on her journey to freedom. The decision wasn't that hard in the end. He wanted to stay next to Alistair and watch every emotion she knew now, and see all the things she could do with this struggling, frail body.

"I'm going with you, Alistair, so you better have a workable plan I can be useful with." She looked at him blankly, and nodded her head. "Come here, Lilu." She stood up, and walked towards the TV. "Move the TV." He pushed the TV slowly to the right, the TV only budging slightly. He finally moved it enough to see a large, dark hole filling the wall. It had food, water, clothes, weapons, and gasoline inside. "… Are you going to catch the hospital on fire?" He looked at her warily, and she smiled grimly. "I catch the hospital on fire, lock myself in here, and crawl out. No one will find me; they'll all think I'm dead. This will be fine with them all, I can just kill someone and put the straight jacket on them and throw them in here." He pondered how she would do that. If she was locked in her room, how was she going to pull this off? "Don't worry, Lilu. I have a key." She twirled said key on her middle finger, and he noticed the lack of straight jacket. "You can get that thing off?" She nodded her head. "Yeah, I swallowed the knife I used to kill Carivin. They got me in here and I learned to pick the locks with it. Amazing, huh? When they come to find me after the fire, I'll be out of here and in the sewers.' She smiled and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, there's enough room for you. I can kill someone about your size and throw your scrubs on them." Lilugen was uncomfortable about the idea of killing someone to gain his freedom, but he saw that Alistair was not bothered by the idea. She had killed plenty of people in the past six years; there was no way killing a helpless insane man would bother her at all. Maybe that was her problem; she was bi-polar and schizophrenic. She never had a fit on Lilugen, but he's seen what she can do when she starts to have a breakdown. She's been convinced for years by her mother that the voices she hears are her ancestors, the ones who support her and vouch for all she does. Maybe now she was finally starting to think for herself, though. Luligen only hoped the girl would have enough sanity to pull this off.

Or maybe, what she needed was her insanity. Not every girl could kill and escape an asylum.