Disclaimer: I do not own OP or any of the characters involved.
A/N: I swear I will continue my other story as well (eventually), but this idea plagued me too long to ignore. All will be explained eventually. I promise. Also, I plan on making the chapters in this story much longer than my other one.
There is always an order to things. Survival depends upon a hierarchy of living things. The strong survive and prey upon the weak. Remove a key species from an environment of tamper with the prime predator and the ecosystem falls to pieces around them all. Without a leader there is nothing. There is no order, no nature, and certainly no chance for survival.
Survival of the fittest.
Why are humans not the same?
In nature it is the gifted that rise above the others, creatures born with innate gifts that set them apart from the others. Human kind does not work in this fashion. To be different is to be alienated. Cast out or killed. In this day and age, it is the wealthy that lead. Blue Bloods, the elite of their kind- They are the only ones allowed that pedestal of pride.
And as with all humanity, there are classes set upon birth. The Blue who are born into the high class, the Mid who crawl their way up in social standings through sheer will or determination, and the Scum who are born into poverty or fall from a higher class to low.
If you're not Blue then you're Scum. If you're not Scum then you're dead.
Such is the law that governs their being, for it is those lower than Scum class that are feared and hunted like little more than a fox by hounds. Unlike their animistic kin, humanity fears difference and 'gifts.' Those gifted are those Scorned. And those scorned are those sentenced to death- or worse.
It's seen as a plague among the Blue and even those lower. Standing has nothing to do with it, though the Blue Blood's would argue that the plague began with Scum, a sickness infesting all near. It strikes in any family, the Scorned revealing their talents at different times throughout life. Each infant born (whether blue or low town) is feared. To breed is to risk everything. Impossible to resist such an innate urge though, and so their numbers grow.
Most gifts are small, barely noticed until a later age. Some rear into life within moments of life. It is the logia's and zoan's that are feared upon all else. Easy to control a youth with a metal working gift or light creation. Harder to control those that changed their very forms into another. Those were the ones hunted. Those are the ones doomed.
A special league of forces was brought to being shortly after the plague began. The Hoods. Soldiers, their sole purpose to protect the peace. That was the story spread from authorities. The Hoods were seen as a force of good by most, the general public unaware of the darkness that lurked beneath each move and mission. For a Hood was brought into the Order with one mission and one mission alone. The annihilation or capture of each and every Scorned. Their forces spread in number, multiplying like a flicker of flame dropped upon a field of grass. They spread and they devoured all in their path.
When once there was peace, now there was fear.
Long before the Hoods, those with gifts fled the scenes. It mattered little what family you originated from. No one would risk sheltering such a threat within home or mind. Children were tossed into the streets, youth's abandoned at the slightest sigh. That was where the Resistance stepped in. A band of ruffians that rapidly grew in response to the Hoods. They banded together, slinking into the shadows of Low Town and the crevices in High Town. Anywhere and everywhere. The lasting hope for those with no one to turn to. But even they could not save everyone.
Death or slavery. Those were the only options available for those unfortunate enough to be captured by the hoods. Rebel and you were shot, specialized bullets designed to cripple even the most ferocious of Scorned. Though, it was only The Blue and Hoods to call them by that name.
To all else they were known as only the Gifted.
Those that survived an onslaught were doomed to far worse a fate. It did not take long for a weakness to be discovered among those 'blessed' with power. A specialized stone, forged by the very hands that feared it. Weaponry or materials forged from this substance would render the wearer weak and powerless. It pulled and ripped at one's abilities, stealing them for the duration of their contact with said stone. This was where the Blue Blood's took advantage. Easy to control a rebellious Scorned one when they were powerless to defend themselves. The Black Market thrived upon the realization, slave markets exploding with the sudden flow of goods. Special toys for the privileged.
To be caught by a Hood meant certain death- Whether mentally or physically.
And so they ran.
They ran.
They hid.
They survived.
Some lived their lives hiding their true talents, lurking in the shadows and pretending for their entire lives. Other fought, joining the Resistance with open arms. Those that did neither either perished or wasted away another the hand of another.
Anyone can become a Gifted- Whether from a family of high standing or low. Anyone can become a member of the Resistance, Scorned or no.
Even stranger are the ones that choose the path of a H o o d.
A/N: And so it begins anew. More of a prologue. The actual story will begin next. Should post the first chapter tonight or tomorrow. I'm planning on releasing a chapter every other day so as to avoid periods of inactivity.