(A/N) This fanfic was literally made so I could design souls… Well that and I kept getting different ideas for characters, and I was having a lot of fun combining color palettes… But, anyways! Point is, you can read this, you can love it, hate it, not really care about it, call it cancer, whatever! But don't expect me to finish it… as much as I'd like to, I'm not super consistent… But, since these are my characters, I might be better at it, I finished the first chapter without writer's block, so who knows! Anyways, you can read this now.

1: Adele: The kidnapping.

IT WAS WEDNESDAY, which meant my parents were going out to their weekly meeting and I had to babysit the CEO of their company's child.

I heard the doorbell ring.

"Adele, get the door." My mother demanded.

I quickly ran down the stairs and to the front door.

I opened the door to be greeted by two friendly faces, the CEO's wife and secretary, Jane, and their child, Farah. The CEO, Mark, was most likely already at the building.

"Oh, Adele! Hello, how have you been?" Mrs. Ricks gave me a big, beautiful smile.

I heard my mother speeding towards the door, and my father's heavy footfalls behind her.

"She doesn't want to answer that." My mother said, fake smile plastered on her face.

My father, solemn as ever, gave me a warning glance.

Jane's brow furrowed. "But she didn't-"

"Come on, we're going to be late for the meeting." My mother while ushering Mrs. Ricks outside, managed to get a foot behind Farah and push them in.

Farah gave a little cry of shock, and my father followed mother outside and nearly closed the door on Farah's heel

"Oh!" They exclaimed.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little shaken." Farah picked up the heel that almost got crushed as if to see if it was still there. "But I wanted to tell you something! Come on!"

After Farah quickly took off their light brown boots, they ran into the living room, I followed at a slightly slower pace.

I came into the living room to see that Farah had already plopped themselves on one of the two leather couches. I went and sat next to them.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" I asked as I folded my hands in my lap.

"Oh, just this really weird experience I had yesterday!" Farah looked up at me excitedly, I looked back at them, they were wearing the same clothes they had all the time, a reddish pink shirt under green-teal overalls. Their brown hair was tucked behind their ears, revealing a pair of clay orange eyes on a pale yellow face.

"Mhm? And what was that?" I gave Farah my full attention.

Farah took a deep breath. "Well, yesterday I was biking on the mountain when I found a strange cave, I obviously went to check it out. Inside the cave there was a strange red light, I probably should've turned back at that point, but curiosity got the better of me, but then the next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground, the light was gone, and a whole hour had passed! I sped home but I was still late for dinner, when my parents asked me where I'd been, I panicked and said that I ran into a friend and lost track of time, the result of that was I wasn't allowed to go biking today." Farah gasped. "Looking back, I don't even know why I lied, it probably would've been better if I hadn't."

"Wow, sounds like you had some day yesterday." I thought over everything Farah had just said. "I wonder what that red light was about."

"I know right? And why did it make me pass out?"

"I don't know, how about we discuss it some more over food?"

We had a dinner of rolls and some leftover soup from the other night.

We didn't end up talking much more about Farah's "experience", we mostly just shared school stories and our weekends.

With permission, I had baked cookies earlier and we had those for dessert.

We talked more, as we usually did since I had no access to games or electronics besides the TV, and the only channels on there were news and sports.

Jane showed up earlier than my parents, who usually stay out later after these meetings.

Mrs. Ricks gave me a big hug before saying that she hoped I was doing okay and payed me, then took Farah home.

After she left, I swept the dining room and the kitchen, and wiped down the counters, hoping not to get yelled at for leaving the place a mess.

I walked upstairs to my room, changed into my pjs, and was once again reminded about the scars on my back.

Whenever I had "complained" about needing a break, or being overworked, I would be brought into a room and told to take my shirt off, then either my mother, or my father, would pull out a big whip and whip my back hard three times sometimes four, then send me back to work.

I put my hand to my left ear where an earlobe used to be.

When I was 12, I had asked if I could get my ears pierced, my mother was furious, she responded to that question by cutting my earlobe off, she said that if I ever asked again I could say goodbye to the other.

I felt a smaller scar at my side.

I was ten, and was instructed to make my brother, Jason, a sandwich. When I was taking too long, Jason came and threw a butter knife at me, he was three years older than me and a great shot, he managed to puncture my side, when I burst into tears, my mother came and shunned me for being weak and taking too long on Jason's sandwich, she then proceeded to calmly tell Jason not to throw knives at people, but she didn't yell, because Jason was her precious boy, and oldest son, and she wouldn't hurt his fragile soul.

But now, thankfully, Jason, being 19, went to college. That was the second best thing that had ever happened to me, the first being able to babysit Farah.

Wow, what a great time to think about how much my life sucks, right before I go to sleep.

I tried to think about something else as I layed down in bed, and I wandered upon Farah's experience, I wondered about it as I slowly drifted off to sleep.

I woke with a start as a hand with a stone grip yanked me out of bed, my fathers.

I looked outside my window groggily. Still dark.

"You didn't wipe down the table." My father's deep monotone voice bellowed.

"I-I'm sorry. I'll do that right away." I really felt like I couldn't get myself up off the ground, much less go downstairs and wipe the table off, but nonetheless, I forced myself too, knowing the consequences would be worse if I didn't.

After I did, I collapsed back onto my bed, hoping to the world that I wouldn't get punished.

I quickly fell into a dreamless sleep, not knowing what was in store for me tomorrow.

THE NEXT AFTERNOON I came home from school, which was uneventful.

I walked inside to see the TV was turned on, all that was on it was ads though.

I went to my room to put my bag away, and walked back toward the stairs, I had only gone down two steps when I heard the TV had been turned up on the news.

"Hello, this is Jonathan on Ebbot news." I heard a male voice come from the TV. "Today we have received some alarming news about a mysterious kidnapper who has taken a handful of kids, none over the age of 18, and only over the span of a few hours. Some say it is more likely to have been multiple kidnappers, and some are even blaming the monsters that live beyond the border. Caroline is at one of the schools where one of the children have been kidnapped, over to you Caroline."

I only took a step or two more before stopping to listen.

"Thank you Jonathan. Yes, there have been multiple kidnappings in the past two hours, we have questioned a few people here, but they have no idea who or what the kidnapper is, they say the child disappeared after they left the school, we certainly have a mystery on our hands. Some of the missing children include Mark Ricks, the CEO of a child care company's child, Farah Ricks. A popular teen magician…"

Caroline continued, but I was already back in my room, I grabbed a backpack and stuffed some clothes and the money I had saved up from Jane since Jason wasn't here to steal it.

I wasn't sure exactly what I was doing, only that I was doing it, and I would probably kill myself trying.

Nevertheless, I would try, I had to.

Farah was in trouble.

I ran down the stairs and swiftly walked to the door, when I put my hand on the doorknob, I heard my mother yell.

"Where do you think you're going?" She called after me.

I heard her and my father approaching me, I panicked and shot out the door, somehow managing to close it behind me.

I ran to the garage and swung it open, there on the left wall, was Jason's bike, untouched since it was first bought for him, I yanked it off the wall and hopped on, cycling up the road.

I was vaguely aware of my parents yelling and cursing at me to come back, but I was too focused on getting away from them to listen to them.

I had learned how to ride a bike from a good friend I had in elementary school, though he had moved and I never saw him again.

AFTER A WHILE of cycling, my parents had apparently not followed me, I made it to a gas station right before the border that separated us, and the monsters. By then my legs were overly sore, I seriously had to use the bathroom, and I was starved.

I parked the stolen bike outside, and went in.

There was a little ding as I opened the door. It seemed I was the only one there when I heard what sounded like a laptop slam shut, I jerked my head in that direction and saw a cashier putting a laptop away, there was awe in his eyes, but discomfort in his smile.

"A-a customer…?" He looked at me up and down, still seeming a bit uncomfortable.

I was suddenly very aware of my appearance, and how much I probably looked like a runaway.

I was drenched in sweat, my blonde on brunette hair was a tangled mess, I was wearing a light-ish green sweater with two hot pink stripes on it, jeans, that were also pretty dirty from when I accidentally sailed through a muddy puddle, and black tennis shoes, that were also partially brown. Not to mention the fact that I had parked a super nice bike outside without a lock, and I wasn't wearing a helmet.

I walked up to the cashier, keeping my face as straight as possible.

"Where's the bathroom?" I asked, keeping my tone mono.

"A-ah, in the back and to the left." He pointed in the direction of the bathroom. I got a better look at his face before I went to the bathroom, his hair was light brownish, but with a strawberry tint, his skin was pale, and his eyes were a stunning sky blue color.

After using the surprisingly clean bathroom and rinsing my face, I came out and looked for something to eat.

There was mostly dry, and canned food, so I just grabbed some trail mix and a water bottle.

I came back to the cashier, bought my things, and almost left.

I instead, asked a question. "Is there any news on the missing children?"

"Ah, I don't think so? I… haven't checked." The cashier said.

"Dang… Well, thanks anyway…" I looked at his name tag, but it was smudged. "What's your name?"

"Oh! I'm… Arthur! Arthur… Odette." He still looked uncomfortable.

"Huh, that's a nice name." And a nice last name. "Well… thanks, Arthur."

"Uh, no, thanks for buying something." Arthur shook his head. "I mean your welcome, and thank you, and have a great evening."

Evening.

I looked outside, the sun was setting.

"Here, have a tip." I gave him a few extra bucks. "I really have to go now."

I sped out the door, hopped back on the bike, and got back on the empty road.

When I stopped, I really wasn't that far from the border, I probably would've kept going, but I realized I hadn't eaten anything.

I stopped the bike on the side of the road, it was on the edge of a wood. I grabbed one of the trail mixes and could hardly help practically shoving it down my throat, it was a little stale, but I honestly didn't care.

After I finished, I walked the rest of the way down the road, the road went straight into the barrier, but it didn't look like it could open.

The wall was only about six feet tall, but I don't think I could throw the bike over, so I bid my stolen bike farwell.

I jumped to try and grab the top of the stone wall, and succeeded at my second try. I managed to awkwardly climb the wall, and ended up falling on the other side.

The first thing I realized was that I was on grass, not concrete.

The second thing I noticed was that I was no longer next to a forest, but I was in a field.

I stared up at the clear starry sky.

It was a chilly autumn day, but I probably could've fallen asleep there, and I really wanted to, my whole body was sore, I was extremely tired, and I had just eaten.

I felt myself drifting off when I remembered why I went on this expedition in the first place.

Farah.

I forced myself up, I was exhausted, but that didn't matter. I had to keep going.

I so very wanted to lay down and sleep, I didn't even know what I was trying to accomplish, I was working towards an invisible goal with no leads but wild assumptions.

I'd probably end up getting myself killed.

Despite that, I stumbled on, working blind to something that was probably very far away.

Anything I'd do for my only friend I guess.

I continued on the grassy plane, it was dark, but the moon was full, and though dim allowed me to see in front of myself.

Not like I did anyway, I was so lost in thought that I wasn't really focusing on anything but my central vision, and even that I wasn't really paying much attention to.

So I was basically just walking in a straight line.

Then all of a sudden, I think I ran into a big, fluffy thing that was shorter than me, and then my environment was changing and there was a little heart in front of me.

There also seemed to be a white humanoid dog wearing a dark green shirt with a dark yellow stripe, and had dark yellowish tangled hair in front of me.

"Don't hurt me!" It spoke with a female voice. Their eyes were closed.

Next thing I knew, there was blue fire flying at the heart. I somehow moved the heart with telepathy or something and dodged the fire.

"Why would I want to hurt you…?" I said. "I literally know nothing about you."

The dog almost opened her eyes, then jammed them shut again. "But… my souls..."

The fire came at my heart thing a little slower this time.

"Your souls? What are you talking about?" I urged.

"Do you knows abouts your soul?" She asked, squinting very hardly.

The fire was gone.

"I don't know! I guess not, what are you talking about?"

The dog relaxed and opened her eyes. "Hn.. your a human?"

"Yeah?"

The dog looked at the little heart in the box where blue fire had been thrown at me, then pointed at it. "That's your soul, the very culminations of your beings."

"Huh? Really?" I looked at the dog quizzically then I stared down at my soul, the very culmination of my being as the dog had said, it was dark red almost black in the center, but it slowly got brighter as it went outward. "Is it supposed to look like that?"

The dog shook her head. "No...that is very bad…"

"It is? Why?" I was very confused.

"We shoulds go somewhere elses first."

The environment changed back to normal.

"What just happened anyways?" I asked, utterly confused.

The dog looked at me, brow furrowed. "We should gets out of the opens."

We walked over to a big rock and sat behind it, I wasn't sure why we did, but it seemed to make the dog feel better.

The dog took a deep breath. "There could've been betters than little me to tells you this."

"Wait, before anything what's your name?" I asked.

"Feeby, with an F… and two e's and a b and a y. Feeby Tomtom Wylie...Dog..."

What an interesting name… "I'm Adele." I didn't mention my last name. "So, earlier, why did you think I'd hurt you because of your soul? And why is it bad that my soul is… the way that it is?"

"Oh, no, I don't know if it's bads or goods, it's just not normals." Feeby looked at me with her brow furrowed. "And because it's not normals, they want it."

"Who?"

"Everyone says it's the humans, but I don't thinks it is."

"Who?"

"The ones that everyone's talking abouts, the kidnappers! They took some of the monsters."

I straightened. "What do you know about them? They aren't the monsters?"

Feeby shook her head. "I don't knows… maybe it's both… I only knows that they took monsters, and they only took ones with not normals souls."

"So, is your soul not normal?" I was taking everything on, this information was better than the incorrect assumption I had followed, though now I'm glad I did. "Is that why you were scared?"

Feeby looked all around then back at me. "Can you keep this a secret…? Like… friends do?"

This caught me off guard. "I just met you five minutes ago." I said. "And I don't have any friends...except one… but they got captured."

"Oh," Feeby looked confused. "I haven't had any friendships either… I can be your seconds friend! And you can be my firstest. We can find everyone together!"

"Wait, you weren't friends with any of the people who got kidnapped?"

Feeby shook her head. "But I needed to find the peoples who takes them, because it's not nice to be captured."

"Okay? Well, I can keep a secret for you, I don't necessarily have anyone to tell."

"Okay." Feeby looked around again, then produced her soul in front of her.

Her soul was strangest thing I had ever seen, it was an upside down heart, but it had cracks all over it, a chunk of it was missing, a chunk of it was white, and a chunk of it was red, but it was mostly hot pink, and it was engulfed in an aqua blue flame.

"Woah," I looked at it before it disappeared. "That… do you know how it got like that? Or has it always been like that?"

Feeby frowned. "I don't knows… all I remembers is waking up on a stone tables."

"Huh, strange…" As I said this Feeby's eyes got wide. "What's wrong?"

And then I realized she was looking behind me not at me, and before I could turn around I felt a cold metal hand on my shoulder, and I saw someone come up from behind Feeby, but before I could warn her, the metal hand squeezed tight and something was shoved into my face.

The world went black.

Adele, 16yrs

Farah, 11yrs

Feeby, age unknown

Adele's soul

Feeby's soul

(A/N) Whelp! This has been fun! This story has also been me experimenting with a new format. I probably would've made this into a comic, but my drawing sucks, which is really too bad cause I have pretty good ideas for the characters and the scenes. Come again, or don't! Not gonna tell you to do anything. WHELP! Bye! (Actually, I'd like to know if you got any of my hints, I am known for how terrible my hints are, but I'd like to know if you got any of them!)