They said that while I was in school he killed her in cold blood. The fight was likely started by an argument that turned deadly. They said I was lucky to be alive, that if I had been home only an hour earlier as I had planned to be, I would not be here. I watched as strangers put my mother's lifeless body in a long black bag. We had never been a rich family so I did not have money to pay for the funeral. Because of that, my beautiful mother was cremated and placed in an urn that some stranger handed to me with pity in his eyes. That is when I started to hate.

I hated those people who put my mother in that black bag. I hated those faces of the adults, whom not hours before would have spat on my mother for being a single mom, cooed their fake sympathies and comforting words. I hated how I could not bury my mother. I hated that I could no longer see her smiling face every day. I even hated my mother for a moment for not being strong enough to fight back. But most of all I hated that man-no! That animal…that monster for ripping my mother away from me and causing me to live in this world alone.

After everything that had happened to me, it seemed that only hate could fuel me now. One day I would kill that man for killing my beautiful mother. Even as I became a faceless orphan, passed along from planet to planet trying to find a new home, I dreamed of how satisfied I would feel when I could watch the speck of life drain from his eyes. Funny the ways a kid can learn to kill just by watching others do it. Guess there was at least one advantage to being rather small even as a teen.

My first kill...I hated it, but it was either me or the man wanting to rape me. Dunk as a fucking bat, the man had started to feel me up before I shoved the sliver of metal into his jugular. I hated that blood, how it smelled, how it clung to my skin. It wouldn't be the first time, however, that I took a life.

/~~~~~\

Cold wind swept over an icy, dead mountains. Their rough, ragged edges were covered with thick, never melting, ice, jutting out like fingers trying to drag you down to your death. Snow covered the rest of the mountains, ground, and heck! The whole damn planet! Nothing but ice, rock, and whatever crap crawled below the surface.

The mercs had one mission right now. Find these shit headed rebels, bring most in, kill others, and get paid. That's just what this crew of eight men, were there to do. Heck some empire of some planet was willing to pay half of their fortune in order to silence these rebels so that the King could continue to do whatever they felt like to the planet's people. But, hey! What do they care about those people? They just wanted their paycheck.

Though one thing puzzled a few of them, how did they last so long? 'Who knew' was the only answer they came thought up. They probably just hide like little cockroaches, staying off the grid for a while, or something. After all, they were just some stupid group of people fighting a pointless war, and that they would soon be either dead or captured. Maybe they could even, heh, 'relieve' themselves if you get their meaning. Not that those bastards paying them would care. Why not have a little fun while they were at it?

Oh, how wrong they were when they thought that these...'shit headed rebels' would surrender without a fight….

/~~~~~~\

Two silvery, pupil-less eyes watched from afar as the spacecraft landed with a loud THUMP! Shaking their head, a shadowed figure stood, pulling out a bone shiv from their belt. The figure stepped out slightly into the light, revealing shoulder length white-silver hair, and a feminine face. The girl looked to be about nineteen, and had a nice, well-trained body although covered in thin, silver scars. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, then returned to their normal places, only now they were a dark sapphire blue. She wore a white fur lined coat and white pants that clung to the curves in her legs; Both tattered and smudged with dirt from being worn so many times. On her feet she wore boots that were, again, a white color, smudged with dirt. This allowed her to blend in, hunt without being seen.

Behind her, a young boy slid between two frost covered rocks hiding a well-lit tunnel. A tunnel with warmth that she only vaguely wished to return to. The boy was a small, ten year old, shell of a boy his age. He was thin, too thin. If someone were to pull up his rags of a long sleeved shirt, they would be able to see his ribs. His skin that was not covered had bruises, cuts, and packed on dirt. His short dirty blond hair, which was kept mostly under a dull gray wool hat, slightly hid his sky blue eyes. In his hands, the boy held a tray of food and a cup of water. Life was hard on this godforsaken planet. What food they had cast many lives to obtain.

"M-miss Sarrina..." the boy let out a ghost of a whisper, "I...I...brought food...and...w-water."

Sarrina smiled slightly to herself as she turned to face the boy. She liked him. He had such shyness to him that made him timid around her, yet he was the only one who would talk to her about things other than attack plans. If she could, she would get the kid out of this place.

"Thank you, Ben, but I can't right now. Mercs are here and I need you to go back and tell the others." She replied, placing a gentle, yet deadly hand softly on Ben's cheek.

Ben frowned, knowing that Sarrina never joke about things like this, especially turning down food and water. It was dangerous to go without a meal here in this icy hell, so that meant that he would have to watch as the older rebels seal up the tunnel way leading right to them. Sarrina would be left to fight the mercs alone, with only a shiv and her body. He hated whenever this happened. Everyone else was too scared to help, and Sarrina rejected any and all help offered. She worked alone.

"What are you waiting for, Ben? I said to go warn the others!" Sarrina growled harshly. She did this to anyone who didn't follow her orders. Her way or death. Most already knew this, but then again, those that ignored it, learned the hard way.

Ben, whom remained un-phased by the older female's change in mood, gave one last at look before turning and slipping through the rocks. He knew she would never hurt him, well, at least nothing more than a hard tap of knuckles against his head. Ben had felt worse before in his life. His old mother had shown him that kind of pain. Sarrina put a stop to that. He wished he could stop the men as they pushed past him after he delivered the message. They weren't going to help. All they cared about was getting to the entrance to seal it up.

Once she heard alarming gasps and cries come from deep inside the tunnel, Sarrina slid up a mask to cover her nose and mouth. Reaching into one of her packets, she pulled out a white pair of goggles. After slipping the goggles on and pulling the hood of her over her head, she made her way unnoticed down the icy mountain. Having followed the path for so long, the layers of ice that clung to the rock no longer hindered her. Just like her new life style: repetition, repetition. Take a life to save a life.

Time to play who's the better killer...