Chapter 1

Always dark...never light. No hope...you're worthless. You are nothing more than a tool.

An echidna snapped her dark violet eyes open, abruptly sitting up on her bed. The thing wheezed upon her quick movement, but quieted down when she laid back down. She shut her eyes tightly for a moment, and sighed. Her vermilion orange, blue tipped quills were damp with a cold sweat, making her uncomfortable with the feeling. She sat up again, this time sitting at the edge of the bed. She took a glance at the night sky for a moment and her barren room, before reaching for the side table near her bed where she grabbed a dark-grey headband with an icy blue symbol and placed it on, activating the retractable helmet built into it.

'Good morning, Crystal the echidna.' The helmet displayed, going on with its usual routine of displaying all of her statuses, before showing the time: 5:55.

"Good enough," she muttered as she deactivated the helmet and placed the headband onto the bed.

Rising up, she stretched, fixing the sleeves of her black jumpsuit and looking at the faint blue, glowing crystals on her wrists. Waiving her crooked tail to get rid of the soreness she felt, Crystal looked to her closet across the bed. Walking across the cold, creaking wooden floor, she opened it, revealing all the pieces that made her outfit, dark grey armor. She placed them on the bed, before taking a worn-out, ripped towel and stepping across the hallway to a small bathroom. She stepped into the bathtub, twisting the cold water knob. The pipes groaned for a moment before giving a steady flow of water from the shower head. The echidna closed her eyes, letting the comforting cold feeling pour onto her and the jumpsuit. She turned around to scrub her quills down with the little soap she had. The girl couldn't feel the water on her back, pieces of armor were there that didn't come off, the reason why she couldn't take off her jumpsuit.

After scrubbing herself down, Crystal dried herself off before hanging the towel on the small rail in the bathroom. She then turned to the sink, taking the worn brush by the faucet and brushed her quills out. They were long, down to where the echidna's tail was, she never thought of cutting them off... And why should she? Three shorter quills fell by her left eye, sometimes they covering it completely, but not always.

Exiting, she stepped back into her room and quickly placed her armor on. It clicked into place easily, the helmet was tuned in with it to decide when it was needed to take it off. As soon as she was done, an uncomfortable tingling sensation went through her spine, making her hiss slightly. She then placed her matching medium length boots on and the headband, before stepping out of the room once more. This time, she silently walked down the dark, short, hallway into a near empty kitchen. She came up to an old fridge by a rusty stove and pulled it open, earning an audible creak from it. Peering inside, she grabbed a half of a foreign fruit she had been saving and sat on one of the two foldable chairs by an old square table. The echidna ate the fruit in total darkness, enjoying the sour, bitter taste.

When she finished, she scooped the seeds of the fruit up and placed them into a pile by the kitchen sink, knowing a better use for them.

Washing her hands and drying them, she placed on a pair of dark grey gloves, specially designed to tuck under the crystals on her wrist. Sitting back down on one of the chairs, Crystal activated her helmet and began checking on her things to do for today.

A door opened and closed, the sound of shuffling feet could be heard. Another echidna came to the kitchen, wearing a lighter shade of grey armor. He had three thick tangerine colored quills and two smaller ones just above his eyes, all tipped with green. As he turned on the only source of light in the room, a flickering lightbulb, he yawned for a while. Crystal looked at his left eye silently through her helmet, a blue scar could be seen on the eyelid, the ends of it visible when he had them open. His eyes were a lilac color, though the left one had a bluish tinge to it.

"Mornin sis!" He smiled at her before reaching for a teakettle settled in the oven under the stove. "Would you like some tea?"

"Sure, Ivan," she said as she turned her helmet off.

Pouring water into the kettle, he set it to boil as he looked over to the seeds.

"Good thing I told you to save them," he said as he picked one and placed it into a small worn out cup with some soil in it.

Covering the seed, he concentrated and exhaled slowly. A small plant sprout bloomed out of the pot, growing until it had several leaves on it. Crystal raised an eyebrow in surprise at how quickly he performed his little stunt.

"Not bad," she passed a hand through her quills.

"Thanks," he beamed. "I think I've practiced pretty well."

She nodded, examining her gloves. The kettle began whistling, Ivan turning off the stove and taking out two blue colored cups. Placing some of the leaves of the quickly sprouted plant onto the kettle, the boy waited before pouring the liquid into the cups. The smell of a bitter sweet herb spread into the room, the two enjoying the smell.

Handing a cup to Crystal, Ivan sat at the other chair across the small table, taking a careful sip. Crystal looked at the semi dark liquid, narrowing her eyes at it. A thin layer of ice formed on the hot drink before it broke away quickly. She sipped, enjoying the sweet, fruit like taste it gave.

By the time they finished the last of the tea, it was around 7:15.

"We should probably get going to the training grounds." Ivan tossed the cup into the sink.

Leaving to place his shoes, gloves and headband on, Crystal moved to the living room. It consisted of a barren room with only a worn out couch with several springs jutting out of its sides and a ripped recliner, the two having a complete mismatch in fabric.

Ivan came back, wearing everything he needed. Crystal walked to the door, gripping the handle and feeling how weak the wood was. There wasn't a lock at all on the door, as if there was anything to steal in the small house.

Closing it behind her, Crystal looked to the sky. It was dark as always, a large void. Violent swirls of violet and indigo gas danced by at a distance. She considered it the closest thing to clouds, but it wasn't the same.

Ivan glanced at the empty void, his eyes scanning past the dull, lifeless land around them to the steep edge of the large floating landmass they lived on.

"How long has it been since we've been here?" Ivan muttered, seeing the abyss so close to them.

"I'm not sure," Crystal began walking towards the center of the land mass. "Who knows how time flows here in the Twilight Cage. For all we know, Nocturne could've disappeared from the real world ages ago."

They made their way to the training grounds located under the large fortress at the center of Nocturne, called The Citadel. The barren landscape they lived in slowly transformed into a more technological state as they moved closer to the center, many stone houses and buildings coming into view. Many residents were passing by, minding their own business. No one socialized with one another, an armored echidna could be seen every now and again, heading to the center as they were. A large glow could be seen from the citadel, a reminder of how far the clan had gotten from being 'primitive'. Ivan always looked with awe at the mysterious glow, Crystal mentally frowning to herself as the large gates that surrounded the fortress like building came into view.

Two yellow and white robots stood at the gates, standing motionlessly before turning their heads to them. Giving a quick scan at them, they were able to open the large gates and allowed them in. Making their way around the fortress to a separate area that led underground, they spotted other soldiers ahead of them as they reached the stairs leading underground, it split into several hallways.

"I'll see you at home," Ivan went ahead, entering the one at the far right.

Crystal nodded wordlessly, heading to a different hall. Reaching the end, she was met with an empty room, a shielded balcony was above the opening she had just came from, several silhouettes could be seen on it. The lighting was low in the large room, allowing anyone to use the darker spaces to hide in.

"You were almost late," a disapproving voice came from an intercom.

Crystal stood motionless.

There was another opening at the other side of the large area, a tangelo and white robot emerging from it. An immediate frown appeared on her face.

"Hello Crystal," it said, a smile in its masculine voice.

"Scylla." She responded.

"Now come on," the smile grew wider in its odd, not-so-robotic voice. "We shouldn't keep things so formal."

The echidna sprouted small icy needles at her fingertips, waiting for Scylla to make a move.

"You've gotta admit I make a better challenge than anyone else here." It brought out a half-circle shaped blade, getting into a fighting stance.

Without warning, Crystal fired the needles, Scylla quickly breaking them away. In turn, it sent out a ball of fire from the other hand, Crystal casing her right arm in ice and shielding herself from it. The heat melted away the ice, steam coming off of her arm. The robot had already begun to move, trying to strike her from the right flank. Bringing out a half-circle blade of her own, she clashed it against the other. She low sweeped the robot to knock it off balance, but the thing jumped away. Sending blasts of fire at her feet, Crystal had begun backing away to prevent a possible injury. One blast went for her face, which she extinguished with a frost coated hand.

Scylla began laughing madly as the fight continued, enjoying the feeling it got of taking Crystal off guard by the many attacks. Though she blocked and retaliated well, the machine's strange way of fighting was hard to predict and anticipate, making her do a few mistakes.

Scylla was able to slash at Crystal's cheekbone, a small stream of blood flowing down her muzzle.

"I'd hate to scar that pretty face of yours," the robot's voice never faltered.

Wiping the blood quickly, Crystal dropped her blade and did a fast slash in the air with her arm. A wave of ice flew off of her, freezing it's left forearm. She then leapt at it, intent on kicking the arm off of robot, when an electrical surge went through her spine, she froze up and fell hard on the floor, wincing in pain.

"You cannot break the Gizoid." The intercom said. "The battle has gone far enough."

Scylla's glowing blue eyes shut down, a transport machine dropping in to take him away. Crystal growled at the feeling, straightening up.

"Now for an assessment of your battle," the voice continued. "Form, poor. Defense, poor. Speed, needs improvement."

As the voice continued to berate her, Crystal's thoughts went to Scylla calling her pretty. She mentally scowled at the thought. She wasn't here to attract anyone and the Gizoid knew it. He merely used it to get her electrocuted, truly a cunning robot till the end of a battle.

"Move onto the other room,"the voice said.

Without another word, she walked towards the entrance Scylla had come out of. As she walked down the grey, well lit hallway, her helmet turned on on its own, displaying where she needed to go. Following the directions, she entered a much smaller room with a group of five young trainee soldiers, judging by the jumpsuits they wore.

"There she is," the instructor of the class grunted, a scarlet echidna with chopped off quills. "About time."

Crystal only gave a chilling glance at the students, all breaking eye contact with her quickly.

"Students," the instructor began. "This is Agent Crystal, one of the few assassins in our entire military. This class is kept under wraps and since you five are the top ranking of your class, you are entitled to know about it."

If she could roll her eyes, Crystal would've, her rank wasn't anything special. The only reason she was placed there was for the fact that her abilities could kill surrounding allies. With the forces spread thinly throughout the twilight cage, a small group was assigned to tie up loose ends. This class was kept to keep enemies in check and kill of anyone secretively if necessary.

"Don't think this class is considered amazing," the instructor assured. "They're usually unstable outcasts, and we always need to keep them under control, observe."

A small port at the right wall of the room opened and dropped off a remote with a knob and a couple of buttons.

"This device is linked to an electrical system inside Crystal's spine, with a simple push, I can have her writhing in agony."

"But wouldn't that kill her?" a hot pink echidna questioned.

The instructor glared at the student for a moment before merely saying, "It depends on the amount of volts. Not that she should worry about it, as long as she does what she is told to do."

Oh how Crystal would've enjoyed to end the guy right then and there, treating her as he was now. But she knew better, the students would've seen it as an act of insanity and quickly report her, where chaos knows what would happen then. As much of an outcast she was now, she did not need anymore problems between herself and high ranking officers, such as Procurator Shade, the one who suggested she live outside of the city.


Authors note: I decided to rewrite this cause I didn't see the same vision I wanted in the previous one. With senior year being a hassle, it sorta messed me up... But I feel this one's better :3

Whatcha think? Review pleaze!