Prologue:
She barely heard it, the faint sniffle among the carnage. It was barely more than a whimper but it was still there. Her ears, as fine tuned as her other senses had pricked automatically. This was no threat though, her instincts told her. Carefully, with silent footfalls, she made her way towards it, eyes flicking through the undergrowth. There, half hidden by the bush. A boy. She dropped into a crouch.
Flinching, he pulled in on himself as if he wished it would absorb him. Dropping her sword to the floor, she raised her hands, a universal sign of peace that traversed all languages. The same instinct that had handled her blade mere moments before drove her now, as she raised a finger to her lips and smiled, tentatively, maternally. She could see know that he had barely passed childhood. He should have been in school, learning, playing, anything but forced onto a battlefield. Blue ink was etched across his forehead, fresh. It was the sign of the warriors she hunted. No survivors. Her commander's voice echoed through her mind. He was meant to be her enemy; she should kill him. But...she couldn't. He was a boy. A child! Why should he be made to pay for his parents crimes? No. She wouldn't kill him, couldn't kill him. She looked around, quickly, furtively, well practised eyes taking everything in. Nobody else had seen him. Her team were all busy with the many gruesome tasks that always followed a skirmish. No one would know.
If anyone found out... The consequences would be so severe. She had finally found some haven, some peace on this planet. She had finally run far enough away. Was she really willing to through that all away for a stranger?
She looked deep into the tear filled eyes of the boy - saw the innocence there - and made her decision.
Moving swiftly, she moved the branches to cover him more effectively. Panic filled his eyes when she made for the dagger at his side but she didn't have time to reassure him. In one fluid motion, she rose and made her way to the assembled soldiers.
"Johnson! What'd ya find?" shouted Hans, the hard hearted man who took too much pleasure in the power he had been given.
"Nothing Sir. Just a dagger one of them must have dropped sir," she smiled at the team, " careless buggers aren't they?" They had laughed at that then, some forcing it from unwilling throats. She knew the feeling. Sometimes it was hard to stomach what they did. They were trying to help, to protect but that didn't mean it was any easier. A part of her wondered what her life would have been like if she hadn't fled all those years ago. But going home, knowing what she did, wasn't an option.
And she was good at what she did. A life behind a desk wasn't for her. She needed to move, to be kept busy and more importantly, she needed to do what she could to make things right.
To pay for her mother's mistakes.
A/N: Please review :)
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