She was running down the street. The cops had seen her again. Known to everybody as an enemy of the state. She wondered how it had come to this. She never had done anything wrong, for as far as she knew. It almost seemed they hated her for her existence. She had always tried to not do anything wrong and be a good girl, as her mother and father had told her to be.
"She's over there! Shoot her!"
She looked around for a few seconds, seeing two cops aiming at her. She then leapt to a wall and ran up. The cops looked at her with a dazzled look for a few seconds, when one of them pulled the other.
"We need to get to the hovercraft. We can catch her this time."
They quickly ran off. As soon as she had seen the cops running off, she ran back down again. She had outsmarted the cops once more. But she wouldn't last forever. One day they would get her. And that day, she wouldn't be able to escape. She sighed and wandered off. She only used alleys. If she would go to the main street, everybody would recognize her. And all because of that one white spot, right above her belt.
She was wearing jeans, with a black belt, and a blue shirt, with a black jacket over it. She was wearing small black shoes. She didn't like them very much. She had long black hair which ran to her waist and she had green eyes. She had three small scratches on her left cheek. But out of all things she had, she had never liked that white spot. She had a white spot right at the end of her spine. She reached out for it. As soon as her finger touched it, she regretted it. It felt like fur. And as soon as she had touched it she got a headache.
"Not again." She put her hand against her head. She heard a voice in her head.
'Find the extraordinary ones. With them, you will find friends, those who you can trust. And those friends will help you unravel your past. And your future. And help you, and me.'
She collapsed on the ground. She was breathing heavily. She knew that would happen. Why was she so dumb to keep touching it? She slowly got up. Her knees were still shaking, but she kept going. She slowly walked through the alley. She saw the door she had been longing for. She knocked on the door, and an eye looked through the lock. She showed the white spot. The door opened. She quickly went in and the door closed behind her. It was dark. A switch was heard and the light went on. She was in a living room. A television was standing in the middle of the room. It was a very old one and it ran on batteries. In front of the television was a couch and a chair. There were 3 beds. That was pretty much it. Nobody would sell anything to her. Simply because it was her. She sighed at the sight of where she lived. But she did not live alone.
"Sis! Are you alright?"
"You're looking a bit pale."
The twins. Her little brothers, Jack and Ezreal, even though everybody called him Ez. And everybody was just Ahri, Jack and Ez himself, since nobody else liked them. She herself was around 16 years old, but her brothers were but 7. She often left them to get food. Nobody cared for them, so she had to care for them. Since their parents were gone. Forever.
*Flashback*
She turned in her sleep. She thought it to be very hot. Hotter than normal. She heard a voice.
'It's not safe here. You must run! Leave!'
She tried to ignore it and turned again. But she couldn't take heat so well. It would usually take a long time for her to get warm. But to compensate for that, she almost never was cold. She opened her eyes slightly. A red sea engulfed her. She opened her eyes in shock. Fire was licking at her books. Her computer was melting. She quickly got up and ran to her parents' room. But the fire had blocked the entrance. She felt helpless. She didn't know what to do.
'I can help you. Please! Trust me!'
She didn't know if the voice was telling the truth. But she had to risk it. She would do anything to save her parents and her brother. She quickly closed her eyes.
'Where are you?' She thought. She saw a blue ball. It had a slight shine. She reached out and touched it.
At that moment, she opened her eyes again. A slight blue aura was seen in her normally green eyes. There grew nine white tails out of the white spot she normally had. She stretched out her hand for the door handle. She used a psychic blast to push back the fire and she opened the door. There she saw the most horrifying thing she had ever seen. She saw the fire eating its way through everything in the room. And her parents were in that room too… She quickly left. She couldn't save her parents anymore, but perhaps she could save her brothers. She opened the door, just to notice that the fire hadn't reached this part of the house yet. She quickly woke her brothers up and took them out of their beds. They then quickly went out of the house. The house was now engulfed in flames and both the firemen and the police appeared. The firemen went to get out the hoses, when they saw the girl standing in front of her.
"You." One of the firemen said. She turned round, only too see two terrified men. She saw her nine tails and stroke them.
"And this is why people don't trust you. You set fire to the house you yourself were living in."
Her eyes grew larger. "I could never do such a thing! And what do you mean? People have always trusted me!" She felt anger rising. How did they dare to say that she would have killed her own parents by setting the house on fire? The anger boiling inside her made growl. A fox-like roar was heard. Her teeth were sharp. The men stared at them and they thought that with just one bite, she could bit through their arm.
"Not you! But her!" The firemen tried to tell her.
She created a blue ball in her hand and threw it at the fire truck. All the firemen quickly jumped away. The fire truck exploded and rolled over.
Suddenly, she got scared. If she could do this, she could have also set fire to their house. She quickly picked up her brothers and ran away. The police ran after them. She threw a blue ball in the ground, creating an explosion. She got even more scared.
"You monster! Perish in the depths of Hell!" She heard through the smoke. She was crying.
*End Flashback*
"Sis? Take a seat, you're not looking so well." Her brothers said, guiding her to her chair. She had been dreaming. It wasn't happening again. She had sealed the blue orb in a place in her brain she would never visit again. She would never use its powers again. Every night, she prayed she wouldn't set fire to this house as well. Otherwise, she might lose the only people she cared for now. She had lost her parents three years ago. Her brothers couldn't really recall the events of that time. She was glad they couldn't. It meant they didn't see her as a horrifying monster, like she herself did.
"Thank you both, Jack, Ez."
They both smiled at her. "Do you want some meat, Ahri?" Ez asked. Ahri took Jack on her lap.
"I'd like that."
Ez got some raw meat for Ahri. She had always told her brothers to cook it first, but to give it to her raw. For some reason, she couldn't eat it anymore if it was cooked. She put her teeth in it and teared a piece off. It was how she had always eaten meat. She didn't know any other way. Her parents said it wasn't her fault. It was simply her nature.
Her parents had always protected her. Cared for her. Forgiven her mistakes. She had often wondered why. But she had found out. One day, she had tried to talk to the blue orb. She had tried to find out what it was, why it was so destructive.
It had answered.
'I…I…I am truly sorry. I cared for them as much as you did. They did not deserve this. But, for the first question. They call me the Nine-tails. They say I am destructive. That it is my nature. I try not to be like that. But because I have a bad temper, I can get mad easily. And then I destroy a lot. I am sorry. For all the pains I have given to you, and am going to give you. Please understand. It are not my intentions. Trust me.'
She had answered too.
'I will lock you up for a while. So that you can't destroy. I'm sure there will be a time when we meet again. When I need you. Or you me.'
So, she had locked her up in the darkest part of her brain. But she was never going to release her. Ahri sighed. Why did she have this burden? Why did she deserve this?
Ez looked at her with big eyes. "You thinking again?"
Ahri looked at her brother and smiled.
"Yes I was, Ez."
Ez smiled back.
"About what?"
Ahri's smile faded. "Nothing."
Ez was surprised. "But you just said…"
"It's nothing, Ez. Really it's nothing." Ahri got Jack off her lap and rose. "Could you leave me alone for a while, please?"
Ez and Jack nodded. Sometimes Ahri withdrew to a place only she knew. When she came back, she would be a bit weary, but that would soon wear off. Ahri left the house. Ez walked to a drawer and took out a weapon. It was a small glove. It often surprised enemies. But with your thoughts you could make a bow grow out of it and shoot mystic arrows at people. Mystic arrows were arrows formed by energy. They could only go straight forward and would penetrate the first thing they hit. Ez often looked at it. It had been his father's glove. It was the only artifact off their parents they had.
Ahri was sitting on top of their house. She sighed and went to lay on her back. She watched the clouds pass by. Most of them were grey. It was going to rain tonight. She heard a siren somewhere in the distance. She wondered who they would come to get this time? Her father had always said that the cops were good persons, trying to keep the city safe. But in her eyes, they had always been her enemies, which were trying to hunt her down and kill her. And then who would protect her family? No-one. They'd find her brothers. What would they do with them? She often wondered about this when she was sitting on the roof. But, she had one day concluded that this could've been avoided. It could've been avoided, if the Nine-tails didn't exist.
That evening rain poured down on the roof. Ahri and her Brothers were sitting on the couch, Jack in Ahri's lap. Out of her two brothers, Ez was the hero, while Jack was the sidekick. Ahri turned on the television.
"If you've seen this person, please call 911 as soon as possible. She is highly dangerous. Do not approach her alone." A picture of Ahri was shown. Ahri quickly switched channels. She had seen that search message often enough. As she didn't find any channel worth to watch, she switched the television off again. Ez and Jack went to bed and Ahri sat alone. She was thinking again. When Ez and Jack were finally sleeping, Ahri was crying.
The next day, Ahri went out again. She had stolen some food from a butcher, a baker and a greengrocer. While she was walking down the street, an old woman recognized her.
"It's her! It's the Nine-tails fox!"
Immediately, all people gazed at her. Ahri immediately felt uncomfortable.
"There's only her! We're with more. Let's take her down now!" Some old man yelled.
As a response, most of them immediately ran towards her. Ahri quickly turned and started running. As they passed more people joined the crowd, as they seemed to know it was her. Then the cops arrived. "We'll take it from here!" Their hovercrafts went after her. She knew there was only one way of being faster than the hovercrafts. To go into alleys. She quickly turned into the first alley she saw. The cops got out of their hovercrafts and quickly ran after her.
"Requesting assistance! Bearer running down Chound Alley. We have her in our vision. She's running towards the north-east exit, Jaon Street. I repeat, the north-east exit of Chound Alley, Jaon Street." One of the cops yelled in his headgear. The cops always had a microphone close to their mouths so they could immediately request assistance. Ahri could, however, outlast the cops. Her stamina was greatly boosted due to the Nine-tails inside her. As the cops started to get tired, she increased her speed. Suddenly, she saw a man waving at her from behind a door.
"Quickly, in here! Hide!"
Not thinking twice about this offer, she ran to the man and went into the house. The man closed the door and then put his hand against it, making it disappear. They watched through the window as the cops passed by. Ahri was looking at the man who had given her a clean escape.
"Who are you?" She asked. The man bowed.
"Greetings. They call me Morgan Johnson. I am the keeper of the Brotherhood."
"The Brotherhood? And what may that be?" Ahri asked.
"All shall be revealed to you, Nine-tails." Morgan said.
"How do you…" Ahri started.
"Who you are? Come on, Nine-tails, everybody knows who you are. But I guess you don't want to be called Nine-tails, do you? Ahri?" Morgan said.
Ahri looked down. "No, I don't."
Morgan took her chin and made her look at him.
"It's alright, Ahri. You won't be abused here for carrying the Nine-tails. Here, at the Brotherhood, we all have our secrets and curiosities. You just happen to be chosen to be the bearer of the Nine-tails. It was not your choice. Neither was it my choice to be born with the gift to hide things from others, like the door you just saw. But I have learned to accept that. And now, I can use it as I want." Morgan said, trying to comfort her.
Ahri took his hand away and turned her back to him.
"But that's different. Yours is just a gift to hide things from others. Mine…mine is not a gift, mine is a curse. The Nine-tails is destructive. If I were to release her…"
Morgan placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Ahri, you are the bearer of the Nine-tails. Your parents chose you for a reason. They know something. Something greater. I can show you. But, only if you want to. So, for the time being, think of that. Make your own choice. But you're special, Ahri. Your parents chose you, most likely knowing you could be able to control the Nine-tails."
Ahri shook his hand off and turned to him. She was very angry.
"Oh, really? Did they know that? Then why were they burnt to ashes by it if they 'knew' I could control it! Oh, that's right! Because I can't! Nobody can! The only thing the Nine-tails does is destroying things, you know that. It's destroyed my life, and I'm not letting it ruin any other persons' lives."
She went to the door, and then realized it wasn't there anymore. She turned to Morgan with an angry face. Morgan sighed.
"Just think about it. But, come back one day. I want to show you something of your parents."
He then made the door appear again.
"Right. As if you know more about my own parents than I do." Ahri said, and with that she left.
The next day, she was sitting in her chair again. She had been thinking of her chat with Morgan for the entire night and hadn't slept. Ez and Jack had said that she should rest a bit, but she couldn't. She was haunted by the chat. How did Morgan dare to claim he knew more about her and her parents than she herself did. She knew that would be impossible. But still, she kept getting a feeling that he might know something. And that was what was bothering her. Normally, she never doubted herself. But now…For some reason, this Morgan had given her a thought she couldn't let go. And she would eventually be drawn to him, to have him tell her the secret. She had figured it all out. But she wouldn't let it go his way.
She kept ignoring the voice inside her that told her to go talk with him for two weeks. But during those two weeks, she hardly ever slept. She couldn't. In her dreams she kept being tormented by Morgan. She constantly relived the chat and saw his face. And to stop that torment, she didn't want to sleep. But the less she slept, the less her defenses and reaction time became. She had nearly been caught one day when providing food for her brothers. She now had to trust her brothers with the burden of getting food. In her mind, the lock she had placed on the Nine-tails place was weakening. She simply was to exhausted to keep it up. She heard the Nine-tails cries. The Nine-tails was trying to talk to her again. But she refused. She was already being tormented by one thing. She didn't want to be tormented by another thing too.
Then, in the third week after the chat with Morgan, Ahri got sick. The lack off sleep and the constant pressure on her mind had exhausted her to her limits. Due to the Nine-tails strength she had held off sleep for three weeks, but now she was unable to control herself anymore. Sometimes she would suddenly roar or scratch out to Jack or Ez. She had been breathing heavier and she was sweating. She knew there was only one cure. She then resigned. She couldn't break down. Who would take care for her brothers if that were to happen? There was only one thing she could do to cure herself.
In one of her more clearer moments, she told Ez to go and find Morgan.
"Go to Chound Alley. Search the entire place twice if you have to. Take dad's weapon with you, but keep it hidden. Do not let yourself get caught. Be patient and cautious, Ez. I trust you can do this. Now go…"
Ez had left, while Jack was taking care of her. Ez was gone for three days, in which Ahri's situation had worsened. On the third day, Ez came in, with Morgan on his heels. Morgan saw Ahri. He quickly kneeled next of her and put his hand against her forehead. She was hot. Very hot. Ahri opened her right eye for a moment and saw Morgan.
"Morgan," she whispered. "This is your fault, and now you're going to solve it. Tell me, tell me everything. You've tormented me long enough. Tell…me…" Ahri was constantly shifting between asleep and awake.
"This can't keep going on, we have to take her to the Brotherhood." Morgan said in distress.
Jack looked at Ez with fear, who was nodding at Morgan. If you would've been there, you could hear the change of attitude Ez suddenly had. He was now more of a leader, trying to save his sister, whatever the cost could be.
"Alright, we'll take her there. But she may not be seen." Ez said. Morgan nodded.
"That would be bad."
"Very, bad." Jack said. "But why does everybody hate her?"
Morgan smiled at him. "Patience, young one. I'll tell you and your sister after she's better again." He looked at Ahri with a sad smile. "If I knew this would've happened I would've never said all of this. But, that can't be reverted anymore. We must get her out of here. Let's go."
Ez and Jack made Ahri wear a cloak so she wouldn't be recognized as fast. They then quickly ran to the hideout of the Brotherhood.