Hello! Welcome to the first installment of Eleven's Mercy! In case you didn't know, it is written by two people, instead of one. We're so glad you took the time to look at it and hope you enjoy it! Please leave a review so we know how it was. We don't really have any dates set for chapters, but we try to post them as soon as they are done! Please enjoy!

A little girl tore off down a busy street, dodging bicycles and bystanders as she ran. She held onto a black baseball cap, pressing it onto her reddish brown hair stubbornly, refusing to let it go. Her bare feet slapped down onto the rocky concrete, a pair of baggy overalls and a filthy white shirt clinging to her as she ran.A jagged red blotch ran from her right shoulder to elbow, where her arm had been cut by one of the Nobbler's. She struggled to keep her old blue backpack slung on her shoulders without hurting the wound.

Yelling followed her from a little ways off, coming from the Nobblers who were chasing her. What did I ever do to you? She thought. It's not my fault I don't have a family! Some unlucky bystanders didn't move away fast enough and were pushed into the bike-lanes, causing some equally unlucky bikers to crash into each other, creating a big mess as the 'natural' balance of Eden was disrupted. After all, when you were running for your life, some courtesies (like not shoving people into the street) were ignored.

The girl turned a sharp corner, ducking underneath an electrical fence with ease, avoiding the painful zappers with what looked like practice. The Nobblers began to fall behind, cluelessly trying to find a way around the fences. A few of them actually tried climbing the way she had, and comically ended up electrocuting themselves. The girl ran around another corner, trying not to laugh too hard at the yelps ensuing behind her.

She ducked through alleys, getting deeper and deeper into the older parts of London, to the less reflective, darker parts of the city, ignoring the "KEEP OUT" signs posted everywhere. The lousy government only wanted to keep the illusion of peace, boxing in it's citizens instead of destroying the older parts of town completely. Besides the occasional movement from the corner of her eye, this place seemed completely deserted. There was more than meets the eye to London, however.

The people who live there call this run down, neglected part of town the Underground. Society moved on, creating a new city, which the people from the Underground mockingly labeled "Eden" after the garden in the Bible. Those who didn't jump on the Eden train fast enough got left behind, forced to scavenge for most of their needs, unless they were lucky enough to get a job, but that didn't happen much. So much for Ohana.

Figuring she'd outrun the Nobblers by now, the girl stopped sprinting, stopping for a little while to rest her hands on her knees, gasping for air. With the numbness in her arm fading, she straightened after a few minutes, tucking her hair back into her baseball cap absentmindedly. The girl took in her surroundings, quickly figuring out where she was on her mental map, and making her way to an abandoned building about half a block from where she was standing.

She ducked into shadows and stayed close to walls so that she wasn't seen. It was more a force of habit than an actual precaution. She wasn't necessarily "safe" here persay, but the people who lived here were not the type to start a fight. After all the fighting that had already gone on in the city, more just seemed useless. They all were on the same side here, whether they wanted to be or not.

It didn't take long at all for the girl to reach her destination, and when she arrived she was greeted with exclamations of worry and relief. Lot's of "We all were so worried!"s and "Where didja go!?"s. The abandoned building was full of hammocks and children, ranging from 5 years old to 13. The oldest kid there, motioned for everyone to be quiet. "Where in the heck have you been, Mercy? We've been worried sick that the Nobblers had finally got to ya." His stare was cold, but she could see the concern in his eyes.

"Well, as you can see, I'm fine. Isaac, I'm capable of taking care of myself, thanks. I saw that supplies were low an' I went to get more. Thanks for worryin', but it's no biggie." Mercy shrugged indifferently, opening her backpack to display the supplies stored inside.

"No biggie?!" Isaac exclaimed, "One of the Utopians could've arrested ya, Nobblers could've taken ya to the Orphanage, ya could've been hurt, any number of things could've happened!" Isaac was obviously glad she wasn't hurt, but being a softie wasn't what made him leader of this band of misfits. He was a skinny kid with messy hair (though that was a given when you lived in the Underground) that was blonde, and freckles dotted his nose. Mercy rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.

"Go easy on her, mate." A dark skinned boy said from behind a quarter of a year older than Mercy (with a bad habit of pointing that out) he was wearing the same thing as her, just a pair of tattered jean overalls and a dirty white shirt. His messy black hair was also hidden beneath a worn baseball cap, though wasn't tucked up inside of it like Mercy's. Isaac glared at him sternly. "Mercy was just tryin' ta help out, is all. No use preventin' something that already happened. Lay off a bit, will ya?" Isaac stared for a moment before giving a sigh and relenting.

"Dang it, Leo. Why do ya have to be right all the time?" Isaac mumbled, crossing his arms with a slight smile. He only ever smiled when Leo was joking. It was hard not to. Leo grinned, brushing off his filthy white shirt mockingly before bowing deeply towards Isaac, stirring giggles from the whole crew.

"It's a habit of mine, sir. I'll not do it again, your highness!" He teased before straightening back up. "But seriously, we really could use that food Mercy brought. You can't deny it." Isaac rolled his eyes.

"I guess you're right. Sorry Mercy, we were just worryin' over nuttin, apparently." It obviously pained him to say it, but it was good enough for her. She slipped her backpack off her shoulders, unzipping it and distributing it's contents all around. Canned goods and bread mostly, a few cheeses and about seven water bottles. The whole crew's faces lit up with smiles as they dove for the food, pulling apart the bread and sharing it around.

Living in the Underground with no money, no resources, and no family was rough. It brought a group together, tighter than most relationships. They might act like little brats sometimes (ok, maybe a lot of the time), but they had a bond that couldn't be easily broken. It was almost like having a family, but, more reckless, and perhaps even with a stronger bond. Though Mercy couldn't say for sure, never having been in a family.

Excitement over, the kids dispersed to do whatever they were doing before. Some, mainly the younger ones, had been taking a nap. Others were straightening up around their "rooms", which were pretty much just hammocks hanging from rafters on the ceiling. Pretty soon it was just Mercy, Leo, and Isaac.

"I'm glad you're alright." Isaac mumbled, trying not to sound too mushy as he walked away, sulking slightly.

Mercy playfully punched Leo in the arm. He flinched, his short dreadlocks bouncing. "Ow! What was that fer?" He asked, smiling jokingly.

"I could've handled Isaac by myself, ya know."

"Hey, friends stick up fer each other! It's what they do." He punched her lightly back in her injured arm, spiking pain up through her shoulder. Mercy winced, sucking in a breath. Instantly his playful manner dissolved into one of worry. "Woah, whatdidja do ta yer arm?" He asked worriedly.

Mercy held her wound loosely and looked at the ground, "One o' the Nobblers got me." She confessed quietly, so Isaac wouldn't hear. "It's nuttin. Really."

"Sure it isn't," Leo stared at her with his eyebrows knitted together. "Come on, Mercy. You gots ta be more careful! I can't have ya gettin hurt all the time. I don't want ya to get caught again." Mercy looked back at him, defiance sparking in her eyes.

"I'm fine Leo! It's just a scratch. I'm not gonna die!" She kept her voice relatively low, glancing over her crewmember's shoulder at Isaac's retreating form. He was speaking to Chloe, an eight year old with short blonde hair a habit of wandering off. She didn't get away with it nearly as much as Mercy though. Hence many, many discussions with Isaac.

"Mercy, that looks like it's not gonna last long without gettin' infected. Yer gonna haveta get that looked at soon ya know." Leo said. She appreciated the fact that he never threatened to tell. Mercy and Leo were the tightest crew members in the Underground Southies, unless you counted the twins, Oliver and Olivia, but they were only 5 yet, and didn't quite understand all what they were going through.

"Leo, it'll heal on it's own. Buzz off, will ya? I'll be fine, ya big baby." Leo tried to say serious, but couldn't help cracking a smile.

"Gosh darn it, Mercy. One of these days you're gonna get in big trouble, and ya still wouldn't be able to help mouthin' off to anyone who bothered to disagree with ya."

Mercy was going to argue even further, but was hit with a fit of coughing and instead just waved Leo off with a hand. He sighed, picking up a water bottle off the ground and handing it to her, which she took gladly. She drank greedily from the bottle, until the tickle in her throat subsided.

"Dang asthma." She said simply, slightly out of breath. Leo just shrugged.

"Not like it hasn't happened before. Nuttin we can do about it." Mercy silently agreed.

The rest of the evening was uneventful, with the occasional card game or sporadic bits of fights that ended in less than four seconds, and everyone crawled into their hammocks for bed. The older kids tucked in the smaller ones, then headed to bed themselves.

The next day, Mercy's arm was stiff and sore, and had stained her shirt a crusty brown while she slept. It hurt to move, and felt warm to the touch. She hoped beyond all hope that it wasn't infected like Leo had suggested it might. None of the crew knew anything about medicine. If you were hurt, you either lived, or you didn't. She winced while putting on her boots, but did her best to suck it up and appear no different than normal. She let out a groan when she remembered that she was on breakfast duty that morning.

Begrudgingly, she walked toward the makeshift kitchen that consisted of a card table, some crude silverware in one crate underneath the table, various plates and bowls in another. The rations were small, a scrap of bread, maybe some cheese, some fruit if they were really lucky. It was a good thing she had gone to get the food yesterday, because it looked like they were almost out of supplies. Carefully and quietly, as to not wake up the other sleeping crewmembers, she began to set out silverware and plates, placing out eight of everything and setting them in various places on or near the table.

One by one, everyone crawled out of their hammocks, rubbing sleep out of their eyes as they sat down. Jessica was the first one up. She was 9 years old but almost 10, with massively curly hair. She blew it out of her eyes as she sat down, not saying a word before she helped herself to a slice of bread with cheese. She wasn't a morning person, and only spoke when spoken to before at least noon usually.

Next up, not surprisingly, were the olive twins. Oliver and Olivia. They were both five and were up and moving constantly. They were nearly identical, if it wasn't for Olivia's long hair you wouldn't be able to tell the two apart. They were small and had brown eyes, as well as light brown hair and slight tans. Neither one of them spoke much, though. They lived at the orphanage their whole lives, before the Southies came to get them out. Haven't spoken more than around six words since they joined, but stayed silently cheery.

Then came Jack, who was the same age as Jessica. He had floppy black hair that hung in curls around his face. He only showed up about a month and a half ago. He was clearly the thinnest of all of them, and ate close to nothing. Jack was frightened a lot and cried often, but Mercy did her best to console him. She rather liked the kid, and hoped he'd learn to survive in the Underground.

Then came Chloe, with her blonde strands sticking up at odd angles. Then Leo, who yawned and sat down beside Mercy with a grin. Lastly Isaac, as grumpy as he always was in the morning. He held a tattered blanket around his shoulders and his blonde hair hung in his face. Mercy shifted so her shoulder was hidden from view. Leo gave her a meaningful glance, but didn't say anything.

The crew ate in mostly silence for a few minutes, until they weren't nearly as exhausted as before. A broken clock on the wall read it was about ten AM, and the sun was barely beginning to peek over the horizon... hidden from view by the tall buildings around them. Conversation was beginning to perk up and Mercy looked up from her cold bowl of canned bean soup, holding it away from her as she coughed into her arm. Sometimes it was hardest to breathe in the mornings, but she didn't exactly know why.

"How has the patrolling gone, Leo?" Isaac was asking. Leo shook out his dark hair and shrugged, taking off his baseball cap to put it in his lap.

"Well enough I s'pose. The Nobblers are creepin' in ta the Norther's territory, though. They haven't got in ta ours yet, which is a good thing fer us." He stated with a yawn. Isaac was nodding at Leo's quick report and he took a bite of a piece of cheese thoughtfully.

"So there's more of 'em than there were before?" Isaac asked.

"Yessir. More than ever. An' now they're nearly at our door." Leo had returned to eating, but Mercy wasn't feeling very hungry. She put down her bowl, the bean soup in it half finished. Jessica spoke up, having been awake long enough to hold a pleasant conversation.

"So, does that mean we're goin' ta have ta move again?" She wondered aloud, looking towards Isaac for support. He thought for a moment.

"I think it's our best move at this point." He said smoothly. Mercy glared at him.

"We don't need ta do that, Isaac!" Isaac glowered back at her.

"It is our best option!" He said, purposefully slipping into Utopian speak to annoy her. "And this way, we will be farther from the threat and you would have a harder time wandering off and risking all of us!"

Everyone knew how to speak properly, that's one of the first things you learned at the Orphanage. The Northers and Southies just hated it, and what it stood for.

Mercy matched Isaac, slipping into Utopian grammar as well. "If we move now, we'd be at a greater risk than before! Not to mention we'd lose our resources and be farther from getting them! It's not my fault we're almost starving in the first place, because you're too much of a chicken to go out and get the food yourself!" Mercy banged her fist on the table, startling the younger kids in the crew, leaving Isaac, Mercy, Leo, and Jessica (who was completely unfazed) still at the card table. They scattered, quickly scurrying back to their respective hammocks.

Mercy winced, unable to hide the fact that her arm throbbed with pain from the hit. She held her injured arm in her other hand, then quickly returning her glare towards Isaac. Isaac looked concerned for half a second, then his face flashed back to anger.

"Why didn't you tell me you was injured?!" He shouted. Mercy cringed, partially from pain and partially from embarrassment. Leo looked no better.

"Ya wouldn't have understood!" She yelled. Leo tried to calm them both down, and Jessica just sat there, watching the drama unfold.

"Guys, guys! This is no time ta be yellin' at one another!" Mercy rounded on him furiously.

"Don't get in ta the middle of this, Leo! This isn't yer fight!"

"Well he seems ta got more sense than you do, Mercy." Isaac retorted. Mercy whirled around, forgetting about Leo for the time being and stomped towards him till she was less than a foot away from his face.

"I got four times the sense of you, Isaac." She had her finger jabbed into his face, pointing at him fiercely. "An' don't ya ever doubt it." Isaac had his jaw clenched, and he glared down at Mercy's considerably shorter form. She backed up, turning around to go cool off, but he had to have the last word.

"You wouldn't last a day without me, ya temperamental kid!"

Mercy whirled around and punched Isaac in the jaw, sending him reeling into the dirt. Her shoulder stung from the impact but to her, it was worth it. Isaac's eyes were wide and he put a hand to his lip, where blood was beginning to flow. His cheek was quickly turning a nasty shade of yellow, and the whole room was deathly silent.

"Don't you ever, ever, tell me I can't handle myself. I don't need ya. I don't need any of ya. I'm done with you." Leo's eyes were the size of dinner plates, and even Jessica looked a little surprised, her last bite of soup hanging in the air before her mouth.

"Mercy, ya don't mean that..." He started, but Mercy didn't answer, instead snatching up her near-empty backpack and running out the door. She could hear some of the crew crying behind her. She didn't really mean it; she just needed to cool off for a little bit. She would come back later.

Mercy had been walking around for what seemed like ages, not really sure where she was going or what she was doing anymore. She felt numb. Coughs occasionally wracked her lungs, but she didn't really register it much. She wondered if Isaac had calmed down now. She wondered if he regretted what he had said. Did she regret what she had said? Probably. She couldn't feel much of anything right now so it was hard to tell. Leo probably felt terrible. The way she had snapped at him... that was uncalled for. Even for Mercy. Looking back it all seemed like a fight over nothing. Why had it even happened? She wasn't sure.

Mercy looked around as she walked, noticing the almost immediate change from the Underground to Eden. Two separate worlds, only a few paces apart. One lived in exile and the other was completely oblivious to the harm it caused. Mercy hoped someday it would all end. Maybe if everything could be okay in the city, she wouldn't have to fight Isaac so often. Things would get better. Even if it was a little far fetched, Mercy still hoped that someday, everything would be alright again.

Mercy was so caught up in her own head that she wasn't paying attention to where she was going. She had abandoned sneaking around and was walking down the middle of the road.

Suddenly without warning, a bolt of electricity shot past her head, narrowly missing her by and inch. She was instantly snapped out of her reminiscing and her survival skills kicked in. She dodged another shot and bolted down the street. She could hear yelling behind her as the Nobblers got even closer. She was fortunate that these particular Nobblers were not great at aiming. She turned a sharp corner into an alleyway, running back and forth along the walls so she would be a harder target. A shot skimmed her shin and her foot went numb as blood seeped from the wound. She hissed, turning another corner and losing them for a little while. She knew that the longer she ran, the worse the cut on her leg would get.

That's how the Nobbler's guns worked. They shot concentrated electricity at the runaway, in such a particular way, that when grazed, the target's skin would be cut and whatever limb that was hit would instantly go numb. The longer they used that particular limb, the farther the numbness would spread. If hit directly in the torso, the target would lose consciousness or become paralyzed. If hit in the skull, the target would die.

Mercy looked around desperately for a dumpster or something to hide in. She couldn't run forever, and it was exceedingly difficult running with a numb foot, and soon her knee would go numb as well. It didn't take her long to figure out that she was too close to Eden to find any dumpsters, and the alley was mostly clean anyway. If she couldn't outrun them, she would be doomed to more months working in the Orphanage. Or if she was unlucky, even years. Adrenaline urged her on.

The Nobblers were falling behind, but Mercy was also slowing down. Her best chance was to lose them by making sharp turns down various alleyways, hoping they'd get confused. Sharp turn to the right, sharp turn to the left, another right and she had almost lost them. The numbness was creeping up past her knee know, and she was stumbling more often.

Almost like a miracle, she spotted something. Something she'd never seen before, but it didn't really matter to her at this point. It was big, and it was blue, but more importantly, it was open, and she took that chance, rushing inside and slamming the doors behind her, sliding to the ground. Her eyes closed as she heard running, and her heart thumped in her chest sporadically. She heard fists pounding on the door behind her, and her back rattled along with it.

"What?!" The male Nobbler was saying rather loudly. Mercy held her breath, hoping they couldn't hear her. "The brat just ran in, I saw!"

The girl one responded with just as much surprise and contempt. "Let us in! You can't hide forever you know! Come out and save us the time!" Mercy kept her eyes shut and her breathing shallow. She wasn't sure why, but she felt... safe here in the wooden blue box, like she was protected.

The banging continued on the doors, and finally the girl huffed in frustration. "It's locked you big lug. There's no way she could have gotten in, and there's no way you're going to get in either."

"I saw her! I did, she ran in and shut the door!"

"Sure, and my mum is last in line for the old crown. Come on, we lost her. Let's get out of here."

Mercy heard the footsteps grow fainter as they walked away. She let out a faint sigh, and slowly opened her eyes.

END OF CHAPTER ONE

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