Dark, cold, boring...

'What I'd give to be on the surface again.'

Skye heaved a massive sigh as she rose from her lying position on the bed. It was around 1.30 in the afternoon; and she was awake and dressed since 8.00. The bluenette just didn't have the will power to drag herself up to face the day. She had been stuck in Deepground for a few days, or maybe around a week now. She couldn't place how many days exactly; things went by so slowly there. It's as if time itself had stopped. She had been on the hunt for Genesis, convinced that he wasn't dead after the fight with him and her brother. She wanted to finish the job, her travels leading her to Deepground. There she was forced into battle with some colossal thug. The spectator of the battle, whom Skye now knew as 'restrictor' had taken a liking to her skills and so now she was stranded there with no escape, no freedom. With another giant puff the female forced herself up into a sitting position on the coarse mattress and thought it best to go and do something practical.

'Maybe I'll explore a little bit.'

With a brief nod Skye pushed herself off the bed and into the shadowed hallway, going wherever her feet took her. She just had to focus to remember the way back in case she got lost; her sense of direction was less than impressive. There wasn't really much to see, training arenas, science rooms, and employees rooms, et cetera.

'Well, this is boring.'

She sighed again and continued onward, there just had to be something in this dump to entertain her with. A shrill sound suddenly caught the woman's attention, forcing her to freeze in place. She used her keen hearing to pin-point where and what exactly it was.

'Are...people wailing? ...Over there.'

She turned to the rusted steel door where the wailing was located. The sound make her feel cold as a shiver made its way down her spine; maybe an experiment was going on? It wasn't uncommon here. She just had to look and find out. Dainty hands pushed the old door open a crack, peeking in only to see nothing. A simple empty room. She pushed the door open fully and took a step into the chilled area, no, it wasn't empty. There was a boy in the centre, she assumed. It looked kind of human. Delicate eyebrows furrowed lightly as curiosity got the better of the blue haired female, causing her to walk in further and shut the door, just in case she wasn't supposed to be in there.

'It is a boy. He's chained up...'

Skye was up close to him now, but not close enough to touch the strange swirling clouds that floated around him. They looked dangerous, and were giving off the cold feeling in the room. She took her Mako green eyes away from the black puffs of God knows what and had a good look at the boys features; what she could see of it anyway. A white mask covered most of his face, black hair poking out here and there, cascading down his back. He wore the typical Deepground uniform of the Tsviet's but those metal appendages on his back stood out to her the most.

'He's like a dark angel. Is he even breathing?'

She blinked and tilted her head, looking a little closer at what she assumed must have been an experiment of some kind. People didn't look like that naturally. A skittish hand reached out to touch his face, maybe he really was dead? But then what would be the point of chaining him up like an animal? She had to know.

'Just a little closer...'

Leaning in further, Skye skimmed the inky black clouds that danced around the macabre boy lightly. It must have done something, for her touch on the clouds caused his eyes to shoot open, startling the young female and forcing her backwards a few steps. Harsh ruby catlike eyes stared into her own frightened emerald ones, almost boring into her soul. "What are you doing?" His voice was thick with a Kalm accent, was he originally from there? Was he taken from his home too? His speech had an icy bite to it, physically making Skye cold. "I was just... I thought you were dead." She sounded more fearful then she intended, causing the boy to chuckle in that icy tone and turn away. "In a sense... I am." Skye tilted her head confused, before walking around to where his gaze was directed, forcing him to look at her again. There was indeed something dark about this boy, but she couldn't help smiling at him. Maybe he was just lonely cooped up here by himself? "I'm Skye." He didn't answer, just stared at her with those piercing cat like irises. His gaze unnerved her slightly, but she didn't waver. "Uh, that's you queue to give your name." He closed his eyes briefly before opening them again, half lidded. "My apologies, I am Nero the Sable."

'So, it's not just his appearance that's dark...'

"Okay, now we're on a first name basis. Pleased to meet you Nero." Her smile widened as she sat on the floor, looking up at him. His gaze followed her movements like a hawk. He was tense she could tell, he obviously didn't get many visitors. She couldn't help but wonder why though. "Why are you chained up?" It was a straightforward question, almost as if she were asking about the weather. Nero seemed a little taken aback by the woman's forwardness, but regained composure quickly. "I am considered dangerous." Skye blinked a few times before straightening her tiled head. "Oh? You don't look it." He chuckled as his eyes seemed to zero in on her, causing an icy reaction to pass through the female's soul. He was indeed frightening, but maybe he was just misunderstood. "In this position I don't think I would." She gulped a little, thinking about how he would have reacted to her intrusion if he weren't chained up. Would he have killed the soldier? That Rosso had tried before, but she now seems mediocre compared to this guy. Skye shook her head of those thoughts before smiling again. If he's as dangerous as he says then she just needed to keep her distance. He appeared to not have many friends, and she also had yet to make a friend in this musky old dump; so with him chained up and unable to walk away or hurt her... Skye pounded a fist into her other hand, having a marvellous idea, causing Nero to raise an eyebrow in question at the sudden action. "I've decided, you're going to be my new best friend!" Nero's eyebrow rose even further, disappearing into the top of his mask before he closed his eyes and shook his head. "Are you always this over-stimulated?" The female beamed at how friendly that almost sounded. "Are you always this ambiguous?" He reopened his eyes in a mild glare; but the ecstatic woman paid no heed. "So that decides it, you're my new best friend. So every day I'll come and visit you for an hour, okay?" She giggled loudly and clapped her hands together, happy to have made a friend. Even if it was by force. The base of Nero's eyes had upturned slightly, the bluenette wasn't sure if it was from frustration or a smile since she couldn't see if his mouth was in a sneer or a smirk, but she liked the think that it was the latter.

Skye was running through Deepground base, on a route course to Nero's room, she had just gotten back from a 3 day mission she was sent on. She had told Nero and Weiss about her little 3 day absence beforehand so they wouldn't wonder where she had disappeared to. A small smile graced her ivory features;

'Not like they'd worry.'

It had been almost 6 months since her first meeting with Nero, yet she still hadn't learnt very much about the macabre angel, not like she minded. Skye kind of liked the enigmatic air about him. Whereas he had heard her entire life story, being the 'over stimulated' person that she is. He always said that she was incapable of shutting up. He was right. Her thoughts then travelled to Weiss. It had been 3 months since she had met the immaculate man. Nero had told her he had a brother, but she had never expected them both to be so diametric. It was very unusual.

Skye entered Nero's room only to stop dead in her tracks; shock ran like ice through her veins. The place was completely abandoned. Nero's chains were on the floor, but no Nero. The cold air his darkness brought about the room wasn't there either. He had obviously been gone quite some time. Eyebrows furrowed as the soldier wondered where he could have vanished to. It frightened her, thinking about him on the loose.

'I know; I'll go see Weiss, see if he knows anything.'

Her grin returned as she ran for Mako reactor 1 where Weiss was confined to, Nero was his younger brother. If he went anywhere, Weiss would be the one to know where. "Weiss?" She burst through the doors to his room and quickly stepped inside; what she saw caused her breath to hitch, there was a corpse on the floor near the reactor, but no Weiss. What was going on? Skye hesitantly stepped in a little further, looking for anything, anyone.

'Now that I think about it, I haven't seen anyone at all today...'

Panic begun to set in her system, why was she the only one around? She took one last look at the corpse in front of her before turning and racing out of the reactor, she kept her guard up, what if an enemy had gotten in? She continued to search for the yin and yang boys, although...No one was around. Nothing. Nothing but corpses... "What's happening?" Tears pricked at the corners of emerald eyes realising she was all alone in the ample base, had something happened and she arrived too late? Had something happened to Nero and Weiss? The thought struck a sensitive chord in the soldiers system as she forced herself to run through the entire base searching for them, alive hopefully. Gasping for breath she checked the last room, her lungs screaming for air, they weren't there. She panted heavily, knees buckling beneath her form, forcing the female to the dirty ground. The tears finally broke through their glassy barrier and spilled out over ivory cheeks. She was afraid. "There you are."

The hairs at the back of Skye's neck stood on end, the voice almost deafening being the only one other than her own all day. She shot around in a blind panic throwing a dagger at the intruding voice. A swift hand reached out and grabbed the blade before impact as glassy, tear-stained eyes widened in realisation, it wasn't an enemy. "N-Nero?! I'm so sorry, are you alright?!" Her eyes wandered to the small trail of blood oozing from the wound where the blade had sunk. He didn't say anything, just looked at the woman silently before throwing the blade to the ground with a clatter and folding his arms. Skye gulped as she had only just noticed they weren't in the strait jacket like confinements like they usually were. This made her a little nervous. She had never been around Nero when he's been able to move around so freely. He could do anything he wanted now. "Don't be so nervous, Skye. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so already." She relaxed, but only by a miniscule. Nerves having the better of her form. "Then, why are you here? Did you do all this?" She motioned to the sea of corpses and blood surrounding them, Nero's predatory eyes never shifting from her own. "Yes, I and the other Tsviet's. As to why I'm still here, I'm here to collect... I knew you would be back today." A lump formed in the bluenette's throat, forcing her to swallow hard to clear the blockage before questioning the dark man once more. "So you got your freedom? But, why risk coming back here for me?" Nero turned to her and tilted his head lightly, red eyes burning through her form. They seemed more confident and deadly now he was out of his chains. His movements feral and intimidating. "You're a Tsviet, are you not?" Skye looked down and started to fidget, trying to look anywhere but his fiery gaze. "What does that have to do with anything?" An icy chuckle rumbled through his chest as he stepped in front of the small being before him. "My dear brother has a plan for the world above. All the other Tsviet's are with him, waiting for us. You're welcome to come with us if you so wish. But if not, well..." Nero narrowed his eyes at you and straightened his arms out to the side, his darkness expanding the slightest little bit. Yet it still had a massive intimidating effect. The screams erupting from the black abyss intensified; making it all the more fearful. "Why are you trying to scare me to go with you? If it's the outside world you're all going to, then doesn't that mean freedom? Why am I so important that you have to threaten me to follow you? You know as well as I do that I'm not nearly as strong as the rest of you." Nero averted his eyes for a brief moment before turning back to Skye's with a hint of amusement within their depths. "Were best friends, are we not?" The sarcasm dripping from his sentence caught the woman's undivided attention, a solid glare carved onto her face. "You don't really believe that." Nero chuckled once more before raising his hands in a dismissive manner. "Like I had a choice to listen to you all that time." Skye snorted and turned away from his crimson gaze, her heart tightening within her chest. "You could have just told me to go away!" Her voice was rising in anger, causing the tears to gather in the corner of her eyes once again. "I'm not entirely sure why I didn't. There was just something about you." He grabbed her delicate face harshly and snapped her head up to look at him. A distinct click in her neck made the soldier seethe in pain. She had never touched Nero before, and this close proximity made her heart tighten even more. She was frightened, yet also relished being so close to him. She could feel his warm breath leaking through the cloth on his face onto to her. His cold fingers holding her head in a vice grip. His darkness flowing through her, freezing her form to the core. "I do not consider us friends, I never will. Although, there has always been something alluring about you, Skye. It was not Weiss' wishes for you to join us, but my own." He grazed his thumb along her pale lower lip, causing it to tremble slightly. He appeared to smirk at this, but it was impossible to tell for sure. She was frozen in place, his eyes captivating her. He closed the small space between them both pressing his lips to hers gently. She could feel his mouth behind the cloth and it made her heart thump dangerously against her chest, threatening to break out. Nero pulled away and looked at her with an unreadable expression. "Interesting...Let's go." Skye merely nodded, unable to find her words as she followed him to wherever the others were hiding out. Where he would go, so would she. The female smiled, watching his back as they walked and even though she couldn't see it, the sable man was smiling too.