It was a quiet night on the L2 Colony Cluster. However, it was broken by a child's cry. "Shh Mari, please! Ya wake Seth up!" A movement and a snort silenced the cry as the figures watched in fear of the man on the bed awakening. The man was Seth Satanas, Lisa Waldeburg's boyfriend and father to their child, Mari. After a few minutes of tense silence, the females relaxed slightly and Lisa thanked Valdís for small favors. Looking down at the bundle in her arms, Lisa sighed and a few tears escaped out from tightly closed lids.
Mari made a small noise of inquiry, watching her mother closely. Lisa smiled grimly. Knowing that her daughter would understand her, she started talking. "Seth is makin' me get rid of ya, says he don't want 'nother mouth ta feed. But, somehow, I managed ta plea ta his logic, sayin' that ya won't be needin' solid food for while now." She scoffed. "Gives me plenty a time ta teach ya what ya need ta know ta survive." She glanced at the clock. "It's past midnight, time for ya ta get ta bed missy. Up ya get."
After putting Mari down in her rickety crib, Lisa slipped in between the sheets and planned out what she was planning on teaching her daughter. Looking up at the ceiling, she grasped her locket that hung around her neck, an intricate Celtic cross that had been passed down from mother to daughter of the Waldeburg family for generations. Pressing the hidden button on the side of the cross, she stared at the picture of her parents holding her hands before going to sleep and dreaming of happier days.
The next morning, after Seth went to work, Lisa started teaching Mari. Like her mother before her, Lisa made sure that what was being learned was being memorized and would be remembered. This became a pattern. Every day, like clockwork, when Seth got up and left, Mari was learning everything Lisa taught. Over the next three years, Lisa taught her how to emulate people, such as copying accents or a person's posture. She taught Mari Japanese, Chinese, French, and Arabic along with history, math and science. Mari learned engineering and thieving. She learned when to be silent and when to be loud. But all good things never last, whether one wants them too or not. Mari left, neck bearing the weight of a cross and the sound of gunshots in her ears.
That was three years ago and Mari locked away her emotions, becoming an assassin who, if you leave the name of the person who you wanted dead in the hands of the stone angel in the Graveyard, would take any job, not matter how hard. She knew the risks, knowing that she would be dead if she was caught, but she always plowed through and came out victorious, her faithful weapon by her side. She renamed herself Raven, after the two messengers of death and battle that would visit her after particularly gruesome missions that left her covered in blood. It was after one of those missions, that she met Solo. The boy sought her out for his gang's health, begging her to protect his gang. Seeing this young man begging on his hands and knees brought a crack to the wall she had hid her emotions behind. She agreed and was introduced to the rest.
Two years with the passed with the gang that Raven was starting to think of as her family. However, disaster struck. Solo had been infected with the sickness that had plagued L2 for months. Being in second in command behind Solo, Raven sent the most able-bodied members, including herself, to find and steal the cure, but it was too late. Solo had passed on, along with the majority of the youngest children. After spending the rest of the week digging graves, she gathered the remnants and headed to the nearest orphanage, the Maxwell Church, and pleaded with the Father to take them in. He did and the group had a home again. Once more, Raven hid her emotions behind a wall, but only letting them out when she was with her surrogate family.
A year hadn't even passed when what Raven considered her 'curse' struck again. A group of rebels challenged the occupying United Earth Sphere Alliance and used the church as shelter. Raven begged the rebels to let the Father, Sister and children go but they ignored her. That is until one rebel had the bright idea of sending a group of children out to steal a mobile suit. The group of said children, led by Raven, saw that as their chance to free the Church and agreed. They managed to steal one, but were once again too late to save anyone. The Church was destroyed and its people were tallied in the Maxwell Church Massacre. Raven prayed for Valdís to watch over them.
Not knowing what to do with herself, Raven watched as the other survivors were either adopted or ran away to the streets again. Finally deciding to return to her old job, she once again became an assassin. Four years later and Raven was somewhat happy. Her latest and last job was to take out the rebel base and discovered that it was the same rebels who cost her her third family. She finished it job on the anniversary of the Massacre.
Raven smirked as she killed the last rebel, and high-tailed it out of there. 'Poetic justice.' She thought as she ran down dirty alleyways, trying to escape her pursuers. 10 minutes later, she shook them off at the spaceport. Looking around at the shuttles, she made a split-second decision. 'I think it's time ta leave L2 for now.' Sneaking past the guards was no easy feat and hacking into the spaceport's mainframe was no picnic either, but Raven managed it and found a shuttle that was leaving in 30 minutes. Sneaking back past the guards, she made her way through the hanger and, once she found her shuttle, hunkered down behind some crates that were in that shuttle's cargo hold.
"What do we have here?"
Raven cursed under her breath as she whirled around to face the origin of the voice. It was a man with a spade-like nose and hair like a mushroom with a scar running down his left cheek.
"You must be the one that hacked into the mainframe and made it past security. I'm impressed. What is your name?" 'Shroom-man asked, hands clasped behind his back.
Raven closed her eyes and saw her past flash through her mind like a movie. She opened violet eyes and fingered her braided chestnut-brown hair before smirking. "Duo. Duo Maxwell."
MARI: Welsh form of Greek Maria, meaning "obstinacy, rebelliousness" or "their rebellion."
WALDEBURG: Old High German name composed of the elements wala "dead, slain in battle" and burg "help, protection, salvation," hence "salvation of the slain in battle."
SETH: Greek form of Egyptian Set, possibly meaning "one who dazzles." In mythology, this is the name of an ancient evil god of Chaos, storms, and the desert, who slew Osiris.
SATANAS: Greek name of Aramaic origin, corresponding to Greek Satan, from Hebrew satan, meaning "adversary." In the bible, this is the name of the inveterate enemy of God.
VALDÍS: Old Norse name composed of the elements valr "the dead, the slain" and dís "goddess, woman," hence "goddess of the slain in battle."