Wow, I did not expect this good of a reception for this story! You guys are awesome, and it was only chapter one! Geez! (and I don't think the first chapter was even my best work!)
I mean, 8 reviews, 28 favorites and 34 follows… that's gotta be a new record!
~Song of the Caged Bird~
Flashback:
In a moment, I realized that there was one sole reason why I existed.
There was one thing that I needed more than anything else.
The reason that I had been given a second chance.
The meaning behind happiness and sadness; the separation between success and failure.
Money.
Chapter 2: Missing Identity
It wasn't long before some idiot decided that it was really freaky to see some kid in a silly cloak, laying down in a cemetery. An old man came shambling toward me.
"Hey, kid! What do you think you're doing?"
I looked up to see his wrinkled and worn face, and he must have been well in his seventies. His pants were dirty and his hands were worn, and I connected the pieces together:
Must be the guy who takes care of the dead people. Not that they would need any taking care of, I hope.
"I've just escaped from my tomb." I attempted to scare him, but the man only gave me an exasperated look. "Like hell you have! Your clothes are torn and a mess and all of your fingernails are broken! What kinda parents you got, kid, letting you walk around scaring people with your hood up like that?"
I looked down at my small body to see my clothes ripped and torn. I looked like an abandoned paper bag, for Christ's sake. The hood on my head felt thin; like it wasn't even there, so I needn't bother to take it off.
"What's a little kid like you doing in a place like this, anyway? Your parents must be worried sick; and with all of the crime skyrocketing…"
"Crime?" My eyes sparkled with interest as I stood up, hardly batting an eye at how the dirt that I was covered in slid off of my cloak and back onto the ground. "What kinda crime are you talking about?"
The man gave me a weary look. "You're too young to know! Look at yourself; you must be hardly even fifteen!"
"The hell are you talking about? Fifteen year olds know about everything from strippers to condoms and even how to catch somebody from behind… maybe even how to hide a body. You're here telling me that I'm not allowed to know what kinda crime's going on?"
The old man's face scrunched up and he wiped his forehead with his already-worn shirt.
"Don't get smart. Respect your elders!"
I huffed, bringing my hand up to my face to wipe it.
"I'm not being 'smart'. I don't respect people who don't respect me. Just because you feel entitled to something doesn't mean that you are."
I half-expected the old man to get angry with me and call me something under the term "spoiled brat", but he only gave me a stern glare with the icy eyes of his. The wrinkles underneath his eyes seemed to increase in number and he shrugged.
"Unless you want to stay out here, girl, then you follow me. I think I have a place where you can stay."
"The hell's he askin' me for?" I grumbled to myself, but I only received another glare back.
He heard me…
"Make yourself at home, but don't touch a thing."
I rolled my eyes. The thirty minute trek from the ominous graveyard to a shack that could probably hardly fit one person inside didn't even seem worth it now. I was drooping from the effort.
"You're expecting me to fit in there with you? Crazy ol' man." I asked, snorting just a little bit.
The man shambled ahead, hardly looking back at me. "Do you want to stay out here, then? I'm not going to take responsibility for you when you get eaten by coyotes and bears."
Now that he mentioned it, I shivered as the sun was beginning to set. The outlook on the situation that I was in was beginning to get dull and freaky, so I swallowed my pride and followed him inside.
I was welcomed to the warmest setting that I could imagine: there were animal skins throughout the walls and the ground, and there was a wonderful stone fireplace surrounded by worn chairs.
If he's the only one here, why does he need multiple pieces of furniture?
"Stove's on…" The old man huffed as he hurried into the miniscule kitchen, turning some dials and he left me to my own devices.
My bare feet touched the skin of what I assumed to be a bear and I cringed at how tough it was, but I walked across the room to the fireplace. The stone was surprisingly flat as I ran my hand over it, and whatever wood was still inside of it was merely reduced to black ashes.
"Hmm… what's your name, little one?"
The old man had come up behind me and leaned against a cane that he picked up next to a nearby recliner. His posture looked as though it was beginning to take a turn for the worst as I shrugged.
"I suppose I don't have one. What about you; I heard that it was polite to give your name before asking for someone else's."
"Everyone just calls me Hiro. That's all that you need to know, nosy one." I wrinkled my nose and watched him attempt to remove the hood from my head. "What have you got to hide?"
I smacked him away, pulling my hood farther over my head.
"Quit it! What's your damage? Geez!"
Hiro only smiled at me and pointed to a makeshift door. "Go clean yourself up; we're about to have supper."
"Which is composed of…?"
"Squirrel. I caught it earlier today, so it's pretty fresh."
I stared at myself in the small, cracked mirror and watched as a spider inched closer to my reflection.
My eyes… they were so… different. They were dark and lifeless, but when shown in the light, I could see the faint blue hue inside of them.
I thought that the upside-down purple triangles had been drawn onto my face or something, but they were tattoos. Imprinted inside of my skin, they stood out against my fairly pale skin.
"Weird."
I muttered, playing with my deep purple hair. It had a very silk feel to it and I basked in it for a moment before the man came in and stared at me, bewilderingly.
"Yo, old man, how's dinner comin' along?" I asked as I stepped out of the small bathroom and back into his cozy living room.
Hiro turned to me and the smell of cooking meat filled the room.
"Get some manners-"
He stopped mid-sentence as he glanced at me, and I realized that I had never pulled my hood back up. Hiro struggled to turn off the stovetop where the squirrel was cooking, and when he finally did, he came up to inspect me further.
"I've seen you before. In the news."
I watched Hiro clumsily search around in multiple drawers for the supposed newspaper that he had seen me in. His hands flailed and he knocked multiple books off of a nearby shelf and onto the floor.
"It's gotta be you! They've been searching for you for weeks, and there's even a bounty on your head!"
"Don't be daft," I snapped, putting the hood back over my head. "There's no way anybody's looking for someone like me, you crazy ol' geezer!"
"Here!" A bent and nearly-torn newspaper flew out of the cabinet that he searched. "Here it is! You're front-page news!"
I picked up the newspaper doubtfully. "Are you sure it was me, not some other punk-kid with a sailor's mouth?"
"It has to be you. I'd stake my life on it."
"Of course you would," I retorted, reluctant to look at it in the first place. "Your life's almost over!"
When I finally brought the paper to my face so I could read it, it was obvious that the person pictured on the front of this paper was me. They honed the same tattoos and cloak, not to mention the shape of my jaw.
"See? You've got a bounty on your head for your safe return to people claiming to be your friends! To think you've been hiding out in the graveyard the whole time… and you even have-"
I tuned out and started reading this paper, noticing that the date read June 24th, 20XX. I frowned; it couldn't be that late into summer… if it was even summer at all. It had to be autumn at best.
"What's today's date, old man?" I looked up to see Hiro turning the stove back on, whistling a joyful tune.
"Who would have known that my kindness would finally pay off one day?~" Hiro shrugged in response to my question after I growled at him for it, tapping his chin gently with his bare hand. "Last time I checked, it had to have been mid-September. That was the date on the newest grave installed, which couldn't have been no more than a week ago."
Close enough.
I stared at my picture and the caption:
Esper Mammon (also goes by Viper) is approximately 5'0 ft. tall (152 cm) and has been missing for a total of thirty days. Little is known about her and her last-known location was at a bar on Mildred Avenue.
"Hmm…" I glanced around the paper, skipping the commentary until I found an address that I was supposed to be taken to if I was found, rather than calling the police.
That's odd… I'm not even sure if that's legal.
"Oldie, mind taking me down to this address? That's where you've gotta go if you want to collect that bounty on my head."
I supposed that he was only in it for the money. Not that there was much to do with it at his point in life. I half-wished that he would give me the money, but he had found me fair and square.
I could steal some of it from him… I could take it right out of his hands, or even ask for a handout. Getting my hands on some of that…
It made my mouth nearly water at all of the things that I could do with the money that was on my head. Twenty-five thousand. Do you have any idea how much that is? I might be able to buy myself a place to stay for that much (given that it'd be a pretty shitty place) but I wouldn't need to stay with some old man who eats squirrel.
I hope.
"Oh, that? Hmm… alright, then. I could take you there now, if you want. I can just put the squirrel back in the fridge."
I rolled my eyes and snorted. "Will we have to walk there?"
"I have a truck, nosey one. Well, now that I know your name, what do you prefer to be called?"
Hell's he talkin' about?
It took a moment to get through my thick skull, but when it did, I glanced back at the newspaper that had identified me.
"Um… I suppose you can just call me Viper if you must."
That's a cool name... snakes freak people out. If I was approaching someone with my name, I think I'd be at least a little intimidated.
I groaned and moaned until Hiro finally put his damned squirrel in his small, disgusting fridge and finally I was able to leap into his gigantic, rusty truck. The seats were torn and the foam was spilling out of them, not to mention there was a dead wasp on the ground.
"Here's the address."
I handed over the newspaper, and he held it up close to his face just so he could read it.
"Hmm!" Hiro grunted before starting up the truck and handing the newspaper back to me. "Your friends must be high-rolling if they're to live up there. That address is probably one of the mansions on that Avenue."
I narrowed my eyes as I swung back and forth in the truck, struggling to put my seatbelt on.
A mansion. I'm not sure what that means, but it's either a very good thing or a very bad thing. I just can't wait to find out and get away from this dirtbag.
I casted a sideways-glance at Hiro, who smiled jollily. He had to have been in it only for the money.
I guess we'll find out when we get there.
It was roughly a 45-minute drive to this supposed mansion, but I was in awe when I spotted it. It had to have been nearly the size of a college campus, with all of the marble and the huge gates.
We finally got through all of this security, and Hiro gave me a brief smile.
"I'm glad that I found you. I'm sure your friends were very worried about you; you've been missing for quite a long time."
"Oh, please." I waved him away, giving away a light smile. "You're only happy because they're giving money out for my 'safe return'. If I wasn't worth so much, you probably wouldn't have even looked twice."
"Not with your attitude."
We stood at the front of this mansion, and were escorted in by a tall man who led us through spiraling hallways adorned with paintings and spotless floors. He didn't even speak to us (which I thought was kind of rude) until we reached a large door that reached for the ceilings.
"We will determine if you are who you say you are, and if everything checks out, the money is yours."
Hiro smiled and nodded. "I'm certain it's her."
I was still doubtful, no matter whose picture was in the front of the stupid newspaper that I still held.
The man, who wore an odd uniform, and I gave him a semi-polite nod as he opened the doors for us.
Multiple men sat at what looked like a conference table, talking to each other in calm voices until Hiro and I entered the room.
"Ushishishi, is that who I think it is~?"
I'm not too sure about this semi-cliffie…
I'll hopefully make the next chapter pretty long; I've got some stuff planned :3
If you can't already tell, this is sort of an AU (so don't rage that 'omg this isn't following canon' because it kinda isn't supposed to xD)
You know, this might turn into my primary side-story (replacing Evelyn). I'm really starting to like the way this one is going.
Don't forget to favorite/follow/review! It really means a lot to me! :D
Also, I started yet another SI!OC story (I know… "get a life, Tea-san"), but this one is to be quite different, considering that it's for Yamamoto. Check out Tranquility! :D
~Teafully~
