The way everything was...

Chapter 1-The Beginning of the End

Ragna, a young man in his early twenties, was sitting on a bench in the park. His normally spiky, white hair was matted down and his once bright, red jacket was now closer to a maroon color than anything else. He had seen better days. He was homeless, he had betrayed his friends, and all he wanted...was a second chance to make things right again.

"Everyone...forgive me..." He lamented to himself as he closed his eyes and thought of the events that had occurred to lead him down the path he is now on. As he sat there with his eyes closed, he listened to the wind around him. He could swear he heard the laughter of his friends again...but he knew that was impossible...he lost himself in his thoughts as the bustle of life went on around him.

"Maybe if I just close my eyes and think back to then...I can be with everyone once more..." He whispered to himself. As he said this, a single tear rolled down his cheek. He was too lost in his own thoughts to notice the old woman set a bag of chips next to him, smile weakly, and walk away.

Ragna was sitting in his room at his apartment which he shared with his friends Nu, Noel, and Rachel. They all worked for the same company and were on the same team as well. They weren't just room mates, they were partners...and best friends.

Nu was an energetic girl with a penchant for making people smile no matter what with her goofy demeanor and bubbly attitude. She was a specialist when it came to her role on the team though. She knew every point on the human body that could shut it down completely. Noel was a small, blonde girl who was kind of shy around people, but was one of the most reliable girls you would ever meet. Her specialty was sneaking and espionage. Nobody even came close to her when something needed to be done unnoticed. Rachel was a girl who looked as if she was just a child, but her wisdom and character showed otherwise. She may have been small, but she was a fierce fighter. Nobody would guess that she was a master of 6 different martial arts. Last, there was Ragna...codename Bloodedge...he was the only one who could rival Rachel in hand to hand combat and his specialty was information gathering, and computer spiking.

The company they worked for was the Novus Orbis Librarium, the government for our world, and we were a small, but efficient, task force charged with protecting the peace of certain "secrets" that would be devastating to us if they fell into the wrong hands. We were the best of the best. Nothing was too hard for us to accomplish when we worked together as a team. At least, that was what he thought. Until they got the call that would change his life forever.

"Sir? Could you repeat that?" Ragna said as he spoke into his cell phone. He was speaking with his director. He and his team had just been assigned a new mission. After hearing the details, though, he did not like the sound of it one bit.

"You and the girls are to go immediately to the frozen city. It is dangerous there and they do not like outsiders. It is very likely that you will be in imminent danger the moment you step from the plane. You are to find the base of the terrorist group led by a man known only as Hazama. You will need to be very careful. He is dangerous and has no qualms with killing innocents to get what he wants. Once you locate the base, you will need to recover the information on their servers that was stolen from a convey that was delivering a certain "project" to us." The director said in his usual monotone voice.

"Sir, what was this project? What are we going into hostile territory for if it will be that dangerous? Shouldn't you send someone else other than a four person team?" Ragna said uneasily. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach ever since this morning and now he knew why.

"Let's just say that you will know when you get there." The director said with a click as he hung up the phone. Ragna threw his cell on his bed and punched the wall leaving a hole where his fist was.

"Damn...there is no way I could put everyone in danger like that...especially Nu..." He said to himself. He had yet to tell her how he really felt about the white haired angel. He had been in love with her since they had been assigned to the same team. He heard footsteps bounding down the hall to his room. Within seconds, the door flew open to reveal a half dressed Nu and Noel. They had obviously just woken up. Nu was taking a fighting stance while Noel was rubbing sleep from her eyes. Ragna chuckled to himself at the sight of the two girls in their half asleep forms.

"Ragna, we heard a boom. Are you alright?" Noel asked yawning. Nu was still in her fighting pose, but something was a bit off. They both turned to look at Nu and noticed that she was snoring softly and her eyes were closed. The girl had fallen asleep standing up.

"Everything is fine. Go wake up Rachel. Take Nu with you and get your things ready. We have a job. A dangerous one." Ragna said sternly without even blinking. Noel looked confused and tilted her head.

"Huh? Ragna, what is it-" Noel was cut off by Ragna yelling

"NOW!" He screamed.

"EEP!" Noel squeaked as she grabbed Nu and ran down the hall to do what was asked of her. Ragna sat down on his bed and buried his head in his lap.

"Hazama...just how dangerous are you..." Ragna said to himself. He looked at his phone at the clock to see it was not even 9 AM yet. He was already feeling exhausted from the morning so far and just wanted to crawl back into bed and go to sleep. He knew that he had a job to do though and nobody else was going to do it for him. He had to lead his team through this and get them back. He just told himself this would be another routine info gathering mission just with a bit more danger than usual. Usually, the people they had to get info from weren't leaders of terrorist groups and hardly were they well trained enough to be too much trouble. He just knew that this time would be different and they would be lucky to get out unscathed.

"I guess I better get everything ready." He said to himself as he began packing what he knew he would need. He heard the girls laughing with eachother down the hall and the sounds of them packing as well. At least, they seemed to not be suspicious of the way he was acting earlier...yet anyway. After he was finished packing his things, he decided to take a small nap before they had to leave. As he shut his eyes, he thought of the one thing that made him happy no matter what was going on in his life. He thought of the bright, smiling face of his beloved Nu. He would protect her at all costs and when they got back, he would finally tell her how he felt.

"Nu...I'll be here" He said as he drifted off into slumber. The man who was destined to lead this team would forever change with future events. He just had yet to realize it.

END

Hey guys. I have been gone quite awhile and am now getting back. Many things have happened and I am sorry I have not been here to write my stories for you. I am sure I am quite rusty so let me know if you enjoy this so far. I really hope you guys have a great weekend.

-Echoesofmercy