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Prologue
Paperwork. Pictures. Passports. Histories. Age? Gender? Location? Question upon question. Why did each person within this fortress need to have some sort of history? A better question being, why couldn't they make their own history instead of her having to do so? She didn't have a past. The last time she'd tried to live a normal life it had ended in utter disaster. "Don't get involved with humans." A philosophy everyone could do well to live by.
Sighing heavily, Emily picked up the first of the mountain of papers. Sarah Wiscot, born 1982 in Scotland. Small, petite girl with long brunette eyelashes and large innocent eyes. Changed at the age of twelve. Every year they were changed at a younger age. Eight year olds would be next.
"Miss Firi, Miss Swanson would like to see you please," a messenger cautiously approached Emily during her grumbling over the "mound of paperwork everyone else was just too stupid to do". His lean body bowed deeply, hiding his grim eyes. This was getting so old. Formalities meant nothing anymore. Most of these incompetents hadn't even been around when formalities were required. The time when if you didn't they…well it was just better to do it. And these, children, definitely didn't understand how to use formalities correctly. To them it was just some stupid rule to follow.
Standing lightly with an air of natural superiority, Emily strode pass the little girl with barely even a glance. Brisk steps echoed off of the gloomy gray arched walls and ceiling, muffled just barely by her long dress. Everyone scattered like bats in the path of a flashlight before her stern gaze. No one dared to even speak in her presence anymore. She didn't care. Nothing really mattered, it was all just some game someone had come up with for their own personal pleasure. Everything was already pre-planned, so why try and change it?
Emily silently slipped into Elizabeth's study. Felt by all, noticed by none. "I'm going to assume by the sudden silence only death may bring that that is you my dearest friend," Elizabeth exhaled quietly without moving an inch. Not even her eyes. Emily awaited what was to come. Probably a new job to undertake that someone had either failed at or had left behind on their venture to the outside.
Only silence ensued. Followed closely by Elizabeth's shaking head. "You're not the same girl I used to know. Upon retrieving you from the miniscule town you once resigned. Brook's Ridge I believe it was?" Emily continued to listen to Elizabeth's old English and wait. She didn't trust herself to speak.
Silence enveloped them. A battle of patience. Specks of gold flecked Elizabeth's iris's, offsetting their pale blue color as they bore into Emily. Silvery blonde waves of hair roused themselves with the second shake of Elizabeth's head. "Fine," she said, dropping all attempts at being nice or formal. "I'll get straight to the point then. I need you to go back out there. You're the only one that can do this one, otherwise I wouldn't have even considered throwing you out again after the last time." Elizabeth waited a few more seconds before finally giving up all hope that Emily was going to show whether she cared in the least about what she had to say. "More specifically I'm sending you back to Brook's Ridge. You will pack everything you will need immediately. You'll practically be moving back. Robert will be here to pick you up within the hour, Miss Firi," she ended coldly. Then her eyes melted into a look of pleading. She took a few steps forward, placing her pale hand on Emily's shoulder. "Please Emily, come back. This isn't you. This is some stupid fake you I hate. Not the caring girl everyone loves. I don't want you to turn out like one of the hunters. You know this is how they all started out." Once again, Emily refused to answer. This time under more pressure. She wanted to succumb to any order Elizabeth gave to her. But that was the good thing about having lived so long. Learning to disobey.
The next second, Elizabeth was gone, leaving Emily alone to dwell on her new assignment. The crystals iced over her heart matched the cold look she was sending at an undeserving cross hanging behind Elizabeth's ornate maroon sofa. Torture. That's all this was. The outside world was just some place for people like her to be tortured while others around them felt secure at the same time, and she wasn't going to just play along. Going back to Brook's Ridge would be just like any other life she'd lived. A little more simple since she didn't have to set up a new background. No one would remember her anyway. It'd already been two years since she'd "left to search for a better future".
A quick spin ending with such preciseness that the snap could be imagined clearly, sent her off again. Walking down the halls of the fortress this time was different than usual. Instead of everyone just growing silent and scattering, there was no one. Not one person crossed her path on her way back to her room. That was probably the best. Anyone who had would have caught her wrath without remorse.
The sapphire encrusted key clicked within the door's lock, opening into Emily's intense, yet simple, room. Red like rubies and just as mysterious. After digging under the bed for a moment, she withdrew a black handbag with purposeful patches of red stitched across the surface and a very plain black suitcase.
A white-hot anger overtook her violently. Ripping clothes out of the closet and out of drawers to toss them haphazardly into her suitcase. Throwing things across the room to shatter against the wall. Hearing the tinkling of broken glass falling to the floor, calming her. Her glass heart jewelry box breaking just as her long frozen heart was. Was her life ever going to be normal?
No. Of course not. She'd left normal behind (however many) years ago. Now was the time to get a hold of herself and wake up. This wasn't life. Living in this dungeon day in and day out couldn't be counted as actually living. Just the acts of living. Emily belonged in the real world. She was the only one allowed after all.