Chapter 1: An Inception

Another blast of wind punched against the school, splattering raindrops against the windows as if it were blood sprouting from a newly carved body. The raindrops poured down like blood on a white canvas, dripping as gravity pulled each drop down, creating gruesome lings that went in every direction, some combining with their partners.

Mars' repositioned a thin strand of inky black hair out of her eyes but it continued to shift back into her obscured vision in an annoyingly repetitive manner. As if that simple strand had nothing better to do then make her day just a little bit more vexing. Sighing in defeat over her hair, Mars stared out the window, her vision glazing over as she did.

Everything around her simply faded, like dull noise, it was there but not enough to be dwelled on. Her eyes blinked as the wind worsened outside of the warm classroom and she feared for a second that the glass would shatter, glass spitting off in every possible direction. This fear wrapped around her in a tight grip and she watched the rain pouring in to create numerous flood waters that rapidly creeped up Mars' legs; fear flew into her vision as the cold waters reached her kneecaps. The cold dismay was pounding inside Mars' mind in a way that caused her to jump from the desk and try and rush to the door; the water curled angrily around her feet causing the swiftness she'd been exerting to slow, and before she knew it Mars was drowning. Water caught in Mars' throat, cutting off her precious air supply as the black water churned and encircled the top of her head. She looked wildly around, her dark hair swishing around the pitch-black water. Wasn't there something? Anything that could give her the air she needed. There was nothing; her legs were no longer working as they should. Panic settled deep within her bones and she felt herself sink further into the deep.

Was this the last moment of her life? She didn't want it to be. She wanted to live, but the constriction of her lungs and the dizziness in her head said otherwise. The dark, murky water writhed around her, the vision was darkening into nothing… was she going to blackout, death by drowning, was this to be her unsatisfying end?

-WHACK-

Mars legs escalated into the air, slamming into the bottom of the metal desk before gravity pulled her back to the firm wooden chair that squeaked crossly at the impact. Any normal student would have instantly winced at the agony spreading out into their kneecaps, but not Mars. Instead she looked wildly around.

Swallowing, Mars realized that she wasn't drowning! She was going to live!

Her realization and instantaneous relief was short lived however.

"Mars, this is the second time today. Get up to the board and finish that geometry problem!"

….

...she was going to die.

A mental scream ran around and around Mars' mind echoing in the depths of her thoughts; the teeth that bit into her lip slipped roughly and brought a metallic tang of blood spilling across the tip of her tongue, she did not recoil at the taste.

Trying with every muscle not to tremble and show the weakness within her, Mars walked to the white-board, timidly staring at it as if it were the grim reaper himself come to execute and harvest her soul. Cupping the thin marker in hands that were slick with nervous perspiration and were beginning to shake, she began to write underneath the neatly written problem.

Mars would agree that she had a vivid imagination, for one who was a senior, this was quite rare. If she wasn't doodling on the edges of the papers given to her, then she was off in her own mental imaginings. Had she told her parents about this?...no. Had she told the school...hell no! She loved being able to escape from the dreary life people called reality, the only thing that could darken these visions were those that concerned the water; Mars had a vivid fear of water, the look, the touch, and the feeling she got at the very sight of it caused her stomach to begin to turn. Water was a tremendous fear….or as the professionals called it: Aquaphobia. Mars forced herself not to imagine anything as she wrote the answer she had conducted from the work she had begun to try to do in her already occupied head.

Her sneakers squeaked as she turned to face the teacher, her throat closed up as she swallowed the iron taste of the small amounts of blood that still seeped out from the bitten she done the problem wrong? She hoped not, but her mind worked in too many directions for her to be able to tell; Mars' mind was her own personal maze that even she couldn't figure out. Mars quietly waited for either the axe to come down, or to be set free.

The teacher gazed at the board, his shiny bald head cocked to the side as his small beady eyes scanned the board; Mars smiled a bit as she imagined him as a vulture, eyeing a rotting carcass, judging if it was worthy of being picked apart by his long, sharp beak that was already stained with dried blood of past killings.

"Mars… check your answer please." The hope that that she had been correct and could leave, that had slowly been edging up inside Mars, died as if it had been torn up by its roots and burned in the furnace of hell. All traces, scorched and dissipated. She had tried so hard, what was wrong with it? Mars' bright gray eyes flicked over her answer, it seemed fine. As she realized her stupidity, her mind finally registering the weight of the entire class' eyes on her back. Her shoulders dipped a bit as if truly weighed down by that tremendous burden. The lack of air caused Mars hand to freeze and red stroked across her cheeks like a paintbrush dipped in cherry red. Everyone was watching, waiting for her ultimate failure; they were all a bunch of sadists. They felt the need to ridicule her, it was an addiction to them.

Erasing the answer, Mars placed the correct one, somehow she had written a different number than the actual answer; it seemed as if in her own mental maze, she had run into, yet, another dead end.

"Good, maybe another few years and you'll finally know how to count in your head." The teacher turned away from Mars. Embarrassment melted like snow in the beating sun, turning to rage as her hand curled into a fist; the skin turned white from the intense grip.

"Hey," Mars took a step forward with clenched teeth; the teacher turned back towards her with a small smirk that was curling over his older face. "Why don't you just shut up? How does insulting your students help in any way?" The teacher only laughed at her statement, tapping his marker to his forehead before full turning to Mars.

"Why should I care for these weak mortals? They're all stupid and simple-minded." The teachers smirk grew larger as his teeth began to sharpen, lengthen themselves right before her eyes.

Mars smiled taking a defensive position, a burst of adrenaline pounding through her. "Good thing I'm not a human then."

"Says the one who couldn't even do a 'simple' geometry problem." The simple-minded students jumped out of their seats, shock and silent screams coming from some of them as the teacher's body ripped apart to reveal a large endowed vulture-like bird. His beak slammed open to show sharp teeth as he raced forward, bearing those inky black talons towards Mars' face.

Insane excitement flashed through Mars' veins, a dramatic laugh came from her throat before flashing out her sword that slithered out of her own pasty skin.

"Time to die." Laughter came once more as she bent back on her left leg and jumped to the side, turning to face the monster that had shot past her. The sword swirled through the air in a fancy arch before it was brought down on the neck of the thing that had once been a school teacher.

"Mars, you can take your seat now."

Mars blinked her eyes, she was standing at the front of the class; the marker still in her hands and the teacher was still looking at her finished problem. "You fixed it, I'm sure you'll understand this by the end of the trimester." The teacher gave her a small smile, his vulture eyes shifting away as he slowly erased Mars problem from the board, taking away the entire memory.

Mars rubbed the bangs that cascaded down over her forehead, dampness caught onto the ridges of her fingertips at the light touch.

Sitting back in her desk Mars sighed, maybe it was possible that these visions were getting too vivid and they were coming more and more frequently...but was that a bad thing? People used to think of Mars as a great child because of that very same imagination, but now it was no longer deemed a good skill for her to possess.

Having an imagination couldn't be bad, right?

Mars shook her head with determination. No, imagination was a good thing, she had to believe that.

For the rest of the hour Mars couldn't help but look over her shoulder at the teens that were whispering all around her and began to wonder to herself if she was the main topic today. Mars hated being the 'main' of anything, least of all gossip; it also wasn't helping that they all kept sending glances her way. Couldn't they all just leave her be, what was so great about her anyway? Maybe it wasn't how great she was, they just thought that Mars was weird; she knew however, that they would have thought her even weirder if she told them about her imagination that was still running rampant around her head.

Unlike everyone else, Mars was used to her visions, she'd had them for years. They were an extension of herself, something that she treasured more than anything because it was the escape hatch. This world was so full of issues containing everything to do with hate and evil that Mars was just sick of it all, bad times was just like a bad penny, it kept coming back no matter how much you tried to fend it off. Ever since Mars had become old enough to throw aside her childhood look on the world, she had seen how truly dark and horrid the world actually was. It wasn't the fairy tale she had been led to believe, you had to work and fight for everything you ever wanted in life and Mars was never sure who was a friend or a foe.

For as long as Mars could recall, she always loved to visualize herself as the bad guy; being the sadist one who was so mysterious that you just had to like the bad person that she was. But, ever since her child eyes had been opened to the world around her, she wanted nothing more than to save it from the devastating destruction that it was already constructing around itself. To cut away the cocoon of evil that was embedding itself around everyone that she saw and loved. Mars still loved being the bad guy in her mind but on the outside she wanted nothing more than to help, to be the good guy-the hero- to those around her.

However, the evil was slowly seeping into her own vision, she could feel it corrupting her own mind and soul and yet she still continued to fight it. When everyone else fell around her, she'd still be standing.

...But vanquishing that evil would have to wait until she finished high school; the question remained if she would be able to do anything in this dank world. Being someone that is neither rich nor poor would not help her any, what did someone like her have to offer? Certainly not her imagination, definitely not her plain looks and blank expressions.

Mars sighed, she'd cross that dark daring bridge when she got to it.

Author: So I am in the middle of five other stories but I had this idea and I'm in a series Skyward Sword phase that I just had to post this. Well, lets see if anyone like it.