I ran across the stretching desert, three of F.E.A.R's henchmen chasing me, somehow, I'd managed to make it out of that hell hole where they were supposedly keeping us safe, but I had to leave everyone else there, now, I had to run for my life and find someone to help me. If F.E.A.R was protecting us, there was obviously somebody out here, I just had to search for them...
Too late.
Both of my arms were grabbed and I was pushed to my knees, the third henchman raised the staff they carried, F.E.A.R's emblem on one end, a sharp blade on the other, I looked down, closing my eyes, bracing myself for the pain that would enter my body, I waited, but heard a thud, my arms were released and I opened my eyes, remaining on my knees, I watched as a man was fighting the henchmen... so there was somebody else out here.
After the three henchmen were finished, the man walked over to me and held out his hand.
"I'm The Deviant."
I remained quiet, he seemed nice enough, I mean, he just saved me from my death. I reached slowly for his hand, when I touched it, I felt slightly more safe and assured that he wouldn't hurt me.
"Do you have a name?" He asked as he helped me to my feet.
"Yes... it's Ivy." I quietly spoke.
"Okay then, where did you come from?"
"F.E.A.R."
He took a few steps back, releasing my hand. "F.E.A.R?"
"They had me imprisoned."
"Get down!"
I ducked as he swung a punch, thinking it was going to hit me, I covered my head, it didn't though, one of the henchmen was standing behind me. The Deviant helped me up again, then images flashed through my head... there were more after us.
"We have to get out of here." I told him. "There's more coming."
"But how do you know?"
"Just trust me! Please, we have to leave."
"Alright then, the Rebel camp isn't that far from here."
"The Rebels?"
"Yeah, who are you with?" He asked.
"I... don't know..."
"Join us, we'll bring F.E.A.R down."
He took me by the hand and we started running through the desert, I wasn't sure where the Rebel camp was, or who the Rebels were, but I'd find out. It wasn't long before the other henchmen caught up to us, they rushed in front, blocking our path, The Deviant pulled me behind him.
"What do you want?"
"Her." A rough voice spoke from one of the henchmen.
"You'll have to go through me first." He growled.
"No, please." I begged. "Let me help."
"I can't let you do that."
"But I can help."
The Deviant began fighting, all five henchmen attacked at once, he fought most of them off, but I knew I had to help. I raised my head, reaching my hands out to the sides, my feet lifted off the ground, which began to shake, black smoke emerged from the henchmen, and they fled. I slowly floated back to the ground, but fell instead, hitting it with a large force.
"Ivy? Are you okay?"
I couldn't answer, I wasn't supposed to do what I just did, but it was for a good cause. The Deviant picked me up and carried me the rest of the way, we stopped at a camp, three figures walked out of one of the old buildings, where was I? Was this the Rebel camp?
"Another body?" A deep voice spoke. "That's two this week."
"No." The Deviant answered. "She's alive, but she's not very strong."
"Then what are we waiting for? We have to save her."
"I don't know how though... she's... different."
Different? What? How am I different?
"What do you mean?"
"She's like The Mystic, but different." The Deviant explained. "He could save her."
What are they on about? Who's The Mystic? What's going on here?
Nobody gave me time to speak, I was carried into one of the buildings, where another man waited.
"Mystic, we need your help."
"Is she alive?"
"Only just, but I don't think she can be helped the normal way."
"Put her on the bed, I'll see what I can do."
I was placed down and I closed my eyes, still able to hear, I listened to what they were saying.
"She's different, that's easy to tell... but I'm going to need more information on what happened."
"Well it's not easy to forget, but you can see for yourself." The Deviant explained.
"You're giving me permission to look into her thoughts?"
"If it's going to help, then yeah, go ahead..." He paused. "Just make sure that she's going to be alright."
"Of course, I'll just make sure she's asleep first." The person's hand touched my forehead and I blacked out.
I groaned, the sun was so bright, opening my eyes, I looked around, The Deviant was sitting next to the bed, and another figure stood at the door. I quickly sat up in shock, not knowing who this stranger was.
"It's okay." The Deviant told me, holding my hand. "This is The Mystic, he saved you."
Slightly relaxing, I stared at The Mystic, his bright blue eyes had a mysterious shimmer to them, they were so captivating, so... different... why did he save me?
"You're Ivy... right?" He spoke.
I nodded, not knowing whether to trust him, but if The Deviant trusted him, so did I.
"How were you able to do what you did?"
"I... I just can..." I stuttered.
"Then what are you?"
"I don't know..."
"Are you with F.E.A.R?"
"I don't know..." I repeated, holding my head. "I was imprisoned there, but I don't know."
"You must know something."
"Mystic, relax... she's only just woken up, didn't you find anything from her thoughts?" The Deviant asked him.
"Not really, there wasn't much there... it seems that F.E.A.R erased some of her memories, or they've been blocked off. All I could see was F.E.A.R's base and when she was being chased." Mystic explained. "There was also something about us Rebels."
"And that would be?"
"I'm not sure, it wasn't exactly clear. Anyway, she has to go and see The Prophet so she can gain acceptance into the Rebels."
"Isn't my trust in her enough? The camp won't like her... you know that."
"Well if it's not, you can add my trust to it."
"We'd better go now then, before it starts to get dark."
The Deviant and The Mystic accompanied me to the centre of the camp, where everyone was waiting for us.
Everyone stood around three figures, the same three figures that were there when The Deviant brought me here, except now, I could have a better look at them. All three had black hair, one wore a headband, another had two black lines on his cheek, and one was taller than the rest, I'm guessing that he was The Prophet. His long hair partly covered one of his blue eyes, his extremely bright blue eyes, and I couldn't imagine what he'd say about me.
We stood in front of everybody, all their eyes watching me, wanting to know if I was to be trusted or not, either way, they'd all have their own opinions.
"Deviant, what do you know about her?" The tallest one asked.
"She was a prisoner of F.E.A.R."
"That's it?" The one with the headband spoke. "What about her being different?"
"We're still working on that part Destroyer."
Destroyer? If they don't accept me... will he...?
"She's a demon!" One of the crowd yelled.
"Let F.E.A.R have her!" Called another.
"Quiet!" Mystic snapped. "She is not a demon... she was being chased by F.E.A.R."
"If they want her so bad, give her back! Let her die!"
"No! I will not allow her to perish by F.E.A.R."
"She doesn't belong here, she'll kill us all!"
Yep. They all had their opinions, and they were all the same.
"Prophet, please..." Deviant begged. "She's not with them... she can be useful."
"How?" The man with two lines asked. "What good is she?"
"She can tell when the enemy is coming."
The crowd gasped.
"When I saved her... she had a vision that more were chasing us, then she saved me, I owe her my life just as much as she owes me hers." Deviant replied. "We need someone like that Mourner."
"I don't think we do."
"But I can help!" I exclaimed. "I want F.E.A.R gone just as much as you guys! Let me help, I can be useful! I know that you don't trust me... but I can earn your trust, please..."
"We'll think it over." The Prophet spoke.
"Come on Ivy." Deviant told me, grabbing my hand.
He and Mystic took me back to the building where they left me alone so they could talk to The Prophet without the others there, including me, I just thought about what the Rebels had said. Am I a demon? If I stay... will F.E.A.R kill these people just to get to me? They were right though... I don't belong here.
As the sun set in the distance, I made my way through the desert. The Rebel camp had vanished from behind me, and F.E.A.R's base wasn't anywhere in sight, good, at least I knew that those people will be safe now.
Darkness arrived quickly, but I didn't sleep, I couldn't knowing that F.E.A.R would return for me... but it wouldn't matter, I'm supposed to die, that was for sure, and I wasn't afraid, if it would protect people like The Deviant and Mystic, I'd do it.
When the sun began to rise, I knelt on my knees and prayed.
"Dear Father, I am grateful for everything that I have been given, but now I wish to give back... as I am sacrificing myself, I would like you to protect the Rebels, let them stop F.E.A.R, give them the courage to stand up and fight for their freedom... amen." I quietly spoke.
Standing up and turning around, F.E.A.R's henchmen were waiting... I smiled as I knelt to the ground again without needing anyone to force me down, and continued smiling as I watched the five henchmen all raise their staffs, ready to finish me off for good. I closed my eyes.
No pain.
As I opened them, I noticed that the henchmen were no longer focused on me... they were focused on five figures walking towards us, one walked out the front and punched the ground, the henchmen went flying and I was knocked over.
"Need some help?" A hand reached out.
I looked The Destroyer in the eye.
"I'm not going to hurt you."
Grabbing his hand thankfully, he pulled me to my feet, the rest of them gathered around. Deviant put his jacket over my shoulders.
"You alright?"
"Yeah... why did you come after me?"
"We agreed to let you join the Rebels, we couldn't just leave you stranded."
"And we went back to find you... but you'd left without us knowing." The Destroyer added. "Mystic then had some weird thing happen where he could see where you were, so we followed you."
"You don't have to die Ivy, there are other ways."
"But what about the Rebels? They don't trust me..." I started.
"We'll deal with them." The Prophet told me. "They just don't know you, and with F.E.A.R trying to get rid of us so they can poison the future with their lies, they're only more uneasy with unfamiliar faces."
"What about those who think that I'm no good to the Rebels?"
The Mourner stayed quiet, looking away.
"Mourner?" The Mystic asked. "Do you have anything to say?"
"No."
"Really? Alright then."
Mystic lightly touched me, and visions flew through my mind... F.E.A.R... his henchmen... the Rebels... those who I left behind... I opened my eyes wide in shock as they finished, I usually only had one vision, so why had all these come through at once?
"Those were some harsh visions." Mystic spoke.
I looked at him. "You saw them too?"
"Yeah, when I touched you... those images flew into my mind."
"It seems you two aren't so different after all." Prophet smiled. "This could be an advantage."
We headed back to the Rebel camp, where everybody else saw me, but instead of yelling out, they whispered between one another until The Prophet began speaking.
"I know what you're all thinking... why is she here? Both her and Mystic can see things, things that we can't, they can keep us safe, they can warn us about F.E.A.R, therefore... she stays, no arguments."
Nobody said anything, but we walked away from them into one of the buildings, where The Prophet asked me some questions about F.E.A.R.
"What did they do to you?"
"Nothing really, I was kept inside, I hadn't seen the sun in years." I explained.
"Were there any other people?"
"Yeah, but I had to leave them behind, I didn't have a choice... if I had of tried to save them, I wouldn't be out here."
"How many?"
"I don't know... about forty?"
"We're going to have to rescue them, F.E.A.R can't keep them imprisoned."
"There's nothing we can do yet, we need to prepare and keep watch for F.E.A.R's henchmen." Mystic told us.
"I'll take first watch." Mourner added. "Spend some time alone, away from people... and things." He trailed off, glancing at me.
"Don't be like that, we accept her for who she is, not for her powers."
Rolling his eyes, Mourner left to go and keep watch, I didn't think that he'd be back for a while, he wouldn't want to be around while I was here.
As night fell over the desert, I began to grow weary, but I wouldn't get much sleep, Mystic was asking some questions about our powers.
"What else can you do?"
"I don't know really."
"Can you teach me how to make the ground shake, like when you were saved by Deviant?"
"No, you don't want to learn that."
"Why not?"
"Because it can kill you."
"What?" He gaped. "Then why did you do it?"
"To save Deviant, he saved me, so I owed him my life." I explained. "There was no other option."
"So you almost sacrificed yourself to save Deviant?"
"Yeah."
"Wow, thankfully you didn't die."
"Shouldn't you be on watch? I think Destroyer's waiting for you." I told him.
"Oh right, thanks for the reminder, I'll go now."
He left and I finally was able to get some sleep, but it wasn't very long before something came up.
A masked girl was running through the desert... black lines down her face looked like blood... she carried a charm, a star with circles attached, making them look like it said BVB around it... one of F.E.A.R's henchmen was chasing her... she ran, but no luck... the girl fell to the ground... the henchman stabbed her with the blade on his staff... blood spilled on the sand... the charm in her hand... the girl closed her dark eyes... the henchman returned to F.E.A.R...
I gasped as I sat up quickly, was it just a dream... or a vision? A familiar face walked into the room.
"Mystic! Did you see it?"
"See what?"
"The vision..."
"What vision?" He asked.
"I saw a girl running from F.E.A.R... but she didn't have any luck..."
"You'd better go and see Prophet then."
Getting up, I quickly walked over to the building where he usually was.
"Destroyer, where's Prophet?" I demanded.
"Um... I think he's on watch..."
"I need to talk to him."
"About?"
"A dream I just had."
"Dream or vision?"
"I don't know, it could be either."
After explaining what happened, Mystic entered saying that Prophet was back.
We met up with Mourner and Deviant, all five of us walked to the centre of the Rebel camp... I saw Prophet carrying a masked girl. He placed her on the ground, removing the mask, he looked up at us.
"She's been attacked."
"My dream..." I started. "She's the girl from my dream, one of F.E.A.R's henchmen killed her."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"I only just had it."
"There's nothing we can do then." Prophet told us. "But we can't just leave her like this."
We tied cloth around her body, then at dusk, Mystic conjured up a flame and lit the cloth, we stood and watched, because I'd seen her die in my vision, I began crying into Deviant's chest, he put his arm around me as the flames burned brightly, dark smoke rose in the air, shading the sky a dark grey. As it turned to night, I stared at the charm, turning it over and over in my hands, the moonlight reflecting off the points of the star.
"You alright Ivy?" Destroyer asked, walking up from behind, taking a seat next to me.
"I'm fine." I quietly replied, fighting back the tears.
"There's nothing you could have done."
"But what if there was?"
"There wasn't, believe me, but there is something we can do now."
"What's that?"
"Put an end to F.E.A.R." He told me.
"Thank you... but there's something I have to do... F.E.A.R wants me dead for a reason, and I have to find out why."
"You don't have to do it on your own though, we'll help you, you've earned our trust."
"Not everyone's."
"Don't worry about Mourner, he's just had a lot taken from him by F.E.A.R, there was a girl who he took in, but she was a spy for F.E.A.R... she almost killed him, Mourner just doesn't want that to happen to Deviant."
"But I wouldn't do that... at least I don't think I would..."
"Can't you remember doing anything good?"
"No... a lot of my memories are gone, F.E.A.R must've erased them."
"That's too bad, I wanted to know more about you." Destroyer replied. "Do you know what's inside F.E.A.R's base?"
"Yeah, I know the inside like the back of my hand."
"Then you'll have to tell us about it, because we're going to free those people in there."
"We are?" I asked, shocked.
"Yep... what's that?" He was pointing at the charm.
"That girl had it, I saw it in my dream."
"Do you know much about it?"
"Not really, but if you look at it this way... it looks like a backwards B, a V, and then another B..." I explained, showing him.
"BVB? What's that?"
"I don't know... but I think it means something, something like being yourself, or stand up for what you believe in..."
"Not letting anyone tell you who you are." Destroyer finished. "That's what we're all about, being free."
"Then I guess we've found something to stand for."
"Yeah, let's become the BVB army and take down F.E.A.R, Prophet will be keen to hear this idea."
We explained to Prophet our idea, and so, the BVB army was created, made of Rebels, we would conquer F.E.A.R and win back everybody's freedom, black flags were painted with the charm's shape and masks like the girl's were made, as well as the Rebels sporting the same design underneath their mask, we trained them how to fight and kill. Now... we were ready... ready to face up to F.E.A.R...
After we walked through the desert, we finally made it, the base of F.E.A.R now towered over us, but to get inside, we'd have to get through the henchmen out the front first... Destroyer did the same thing as when they saved me, only much harder, his punch shook the ground, the henchmen burst into smoke, and the heavy doors of F.E.A.R's base flew far away from their original position.
Running inside, we set to work, I'd explained the layout of the base to the Rebels, so rescuing the imprisoned wasn't going to be hard. Destroyer and Deviant were watching everybody's backs, Prophet was ordering and keeping watch while Mystic, Mourner and I helped the rest of the Rebels free everyone. I watched as Mystic easily got through chains and carried the people to safety, but out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mourner struggling to get a cell door open, rushing over, I touched the lock, hoping to see if it could be picked, but my hand went through it instead, the lock melted at my touch, kicking the cell door, it swung open freely, Mourner just stared at me as I began to carry people out, but he quickly got my message when I looked at him and helped.
After I helped Mourner, I headed to the other end of F.E.A.R's base, where my old cell was, all the others were empty, the doors were all closed, all but one, mine... stepping inside, I saw the markings and pictures that I had drawn on the wall, then I saw the one that influenced me to run.
'We Are The Wild Ones, We Run Free'
The door of the cell slammed shut, I span around and rushed over. Locked, great, how did I get out last time? Oh, right... I had to get one of the henchmen to unlock it, that wasn't going to happen now though, they were all either dead, wounded, or had run off, and my powers wouldn't work on this door, why now?
I could hear breathing, somebody was on the other side of the door.
"Hello?" I called through the heavy cell door. "Hello?"
No reply.
"Hello? Please, I need help!"
"Ivy?"
"Mourner! Help me!"
"I can't... you don't belong..." He spoke quietly.
"Nobody does! Nobody belongs! Please!" I begged. "I know what happened between you and that girl, and I promise you... I won't do that to Deviant or any of you! Just help me!"
He didn't say anything.
"Mourner?"
I could hear steps fading...
"Mourner!" I yelled. "Mourner!"
Silence.
"Mourner!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "Help me!"
My scream echoed loudly, but other than that, it was silent... why did Mourner refuse to help? I know he said that I don't belong, he still doesn't trust me, even though I helped him. I screamed out one last time, but it wasn't words, just a scream of anger and distress, I'd already had to spend years in this cell, did I really need to spend any longer in here?
As I sat on the floor and cried, I held the charm that we had used as an emblem for our army, then I remembered what Destroyer had said: 'Not letting anyone tell you who you are.' He had explained to me. 'That's what we're all about, being free.'
Free...
Freedom...
I wanted my freedom...
"Ivy?"
I looked at the door, did someone just say my name?
"Ivy?"
"Destroyer!"
"So you are in here... let me just get this door open, better move back." He told me.
I moved to the corner furthest away from the door, and with one hit, it fell to the ground, Destroyer stood there, dust swirling around him.
"There you are." Destroyer smiled. "I wondered where you went off to."
"How did you find me?"
"Well I had some help..."
The dust went away and I saw another figure next to him.
"Mourner!" I exclaimed, getting up. "But why...?
"I thought about what you said, when you told me that nobody belongs, and your promise, I trust you enough to know that you aren't like her, and that you won't betray us."
"Thank you."
"Alright, you forgive her, you forgive him... let's get out of here." Destroyer interrupted. "We need to get back to the Rebel camp."
We rushed out of the base and met up with the others, carrying the prisoners back to the Rebel camp, I looked over at Mourner, for the first time, he smiled at me.
"Good job everybody." Prophet spoke when we were back at camp. "We saved everyone from F.E.A.R, and I think a few of us learnt a couple of things, things like teamwork, trust... and most important of all, not giving up."
"The only trouble is... this isn't going to be the end of F.E.A.R." Destroyer added.
"Maybe, maybe not, but either way... we'll be ready, we'll be stronger than before." I said. "The bonds between us will be unbreakable, nothing will be able to tear us apart."