DISCLAIMER: We all know that 07 Ghost was not written by me. However the plot of this story, minus some elements, and the characters Versuch Tamemshi proctor, newbie, and Lieutenant Ann are mine.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So I'm probably going to stick to updating on Fridays on a three weeks period basis. I will inform you guys about breaks if I take them. On a more chaptery (is that a word? probably not.) note, we get to see a bit of Versuch's past. :) Had so much fun writing this chapter!

Zaiphon is a gift provided by God that is mainly controlled by the hand. It enables one to convert a life source into various forms. The term indicates a special type of human being. Everyone's capabilities are different and in many cases reflects their nature. -07 Ghost Kaptiel 1

There was the silence of the early morning that I always enjoyed. That emptiness was so comfortable and accepting of me that I had grown rather fond of the moments when the sun was just rising and students were still in their dorms. I would always rise early and sit on the bench outside of my first class, watching the scene through the glass pane. Watching as the darkness was beaten back by the light of the sun. Then with the light of dawn came the rush of the crowd, hectic and seemingly never ending.

Ever irritating.

I had never understood how people could enjoy being surrounded by the noise of other people, of themselves; so, I always waited till the last moment, the seconds before class begins to enter. It was an attempt to savor those last few moments of silence after everyone had headed to their classes. At 5:59 I stood up and turned around, about to head inside and was bowled down. The world shifted sideways and I snapped an arm out. My forearm hit the floor as I switched my fall into a shoulder roll away from whatever knocked me over. I stayed low and turned to face my assailant. A young man, probably the same age as I was, was lying face down in a tumbled heap on the floor, his papers strewn about from the fall. He groaned and raised his head. "Hehe, sorry about that," he said with a grin. I stood up and looked about for a moment. My internal clock set off its alarms telling me that the classes had already started and I would be late. I glanced at the clock. Sure enough, 6:00. I stared back down at the guy lying on the floor. I recognized him now. He was the 2nd oldest son of the Celestine family whom have a proud history of stewardship to the Oak family.

The boy, unaware, scratched his head as he glanced about him. Still on the floor, he swept his papers into a messy pile and rolled himself over. I stared at the heap, pieces sticking out and wrinkled from his rough handling and wondered absently if I should help arrange it. I never got the chance to. He glanced at the clock, eyes bugged out of his head, did a haphazard nod to me, and dashed away. I saw a flutter as he dashed off and heard the click of plastic hitting marble. I glanced at the white ID on the floor. I looked back up for the owner but he was already gone.

…

I looked back at the offending piece of plastic on the floor.

…

I sighed and picked it up, pocketing it. I headed into my class, 5 minutes late.

I really dislike people.

After a garnering a disapproving look from my teacher he dismissed me to my seat with no spoken lecture. That earned me several nasty glares from my classmates but I had grown too used to the looks to let it bother me. Teacher returned to teaching the class, continuing the unfinished sentence on the board. I didn't bother getting a writing pad out. The class information was something I had already learned but I required "official credit" for me to graduate with honors.

My instructor knew I was a special case as well, which is perhaps the only reason I escaped without a lecture.

I pulled out the ID from earlier and rubbed my fingers on the thin plastic. There was several nicks, chips, and scratches in the card indicating he was rather clumsy with his stuff. I stared at his photo, his energy exuding from it even though he wasn't physically here. He looked as if someone had given him enough caffeine to last him a week. I frowned slightly as I noticed his collar was bent improperly and his hair was sticking up.

Hmm. Undisciplined and clumsy it seems. Though considering his tardiness this morning this shouldn't have come as a surprise to me.

I flipped the card over to read his course scheduling. He was currently in Intelligence Course: Introduction to the History of Barsburg (IC:IHB); that explained all the papers then. That must have been the 7-page report on the war between Raggs and Barsburg that was due today. His next class was Practical Training Course: Zaiphon Imbuing (PTC:ZI).

Which means he'll be rushing to the courtyard after this class.

If you've been trained to look for them, small quirks can speak volumes about a person's habits. He was no different. I could see it now.

I imagined him running about, his uniform coat half-hazardously on and most likely wrinkled. His lack of care for his items was displayed with his manner of collecting his report papers and his treatment of his ID. I envision that he would be rushed because he forgot something or was held up talking to another cadet; his ready smile and rushed demeanor this morning marks him as the sort of person to do as much.

I spent the rest of the class testing the limits of the ID's flexibility, bending it in my hands till it would almost break and letting it snap back into formation.

Step, step, THUD!

I sighed as I felt the vibration of my classmate's shoes slamming into the floor. I just never had understood why they felt the need to broadcast their presence in such an ostentatious manner. Perhaps they thought it was intimidating. I thought it made them look stupid, but to each their own.

Without warning, a hand shot out towards me, the fingers open in a claw. I snapped the card into the arm, reflexively defending myself before realizing it had been reaching for the object I had been carrying not my wrist. I heard a yelp of pain and the hand retracted quickly. I looked up into violet irises and perfectly coiffed hair. She was called Violet Oak, a girl with a nasty habit of attempting to make my life miserable. I don't know why she bothers me, but she does. People might have mentioned something about the first time we met but I hadn't done anything considered improper by society…at least I didn't think I did. The first time I met her I had commented it was imaginative of her parents to name her after her eye color but for some reason she didn't seem to appreciate this comment. She had turned red and stomped away in the same manner she had stomped towards me earlier.

"What the hell Versuch?! I didn't do anything yet!" She shrieked. Her two lackeys looked at me with a glare. I sighed again.

"What the hell" was neither proper nor appropriate in this setting. Nor was it an expected response from a decent human being. She also indicated her malicious intents through the usage of the word yet. How lax...

The training guidelines indicates that responses to unexpected stimuli- I didn't finish my thought as I saw her reach down again for Celestine's ID. I warily eyed her as she studied it. "This isn't you."

...how astute. She can state the obvious.

"YOU STOLE THIS!" Her voice raised several octaves and volume in an attempt to garner attention and make me look like a common thief. Though if she took the time to use her head she would realize no sensible thief would steal an ID if they already have one. Nevertheless, she had a triumphant grin on her face as she waved the card in front of my face. "Stealing is punishable by lashes you know."

My eyebrow raised as her cronies repeated the phrase in a singsong manner, "Lashes, lashes for Versuch."

...Why was it that she felt the need to explain to me the rules if I already knew them? Why was it that her "backup" felt the need to repeat things?

I sighed.

Why was it that Violet kept coming to irritate me?

"Return that please."

I held out my hand expectantly.

"YOU DIDN'T DENY IT!" By this point Violet's loud tone had attracted several onlookers. Scandalous gasps came from Violet's followers.

I took a moment to process why it was such a big deal to Violet (which by the way is to fulfill her petty desires) and finally decided on the response 'Why must I deny something we both know is false?'. I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off by Violet. "Thieves must be reported to the high-ups. Thievery isn't allowed in the Barsburg military you know."

...this is why I don't like noisy people. They only listen to what they wish to hear.

"Why must I deny something we both know is false, Oak?" I finally snapped out. I beyond annoyed, I was incensed. Not only had I been late for some bumbling fool who didn't look as to where he was going, I also had to put up with Violet's painfully poor acting. I felt my Zaiphon starting to feel Violet out as a target, yearning to devour the human core of power before me. The midnight blue tendrils curled itself around its target and began crawling its way to Violet's heart. I stared at my Zaiphon, knowing I should pull it under control before it caused damage to Violet… but I decided to let it out for a moment. A brush with death would do her and I some good. For it had been bothering me about its hunger for days and Violet just looks so delicious to it right now…

Violet paled as she tried to yank her arm out of the inky Zaiphon curling about her but it stretched to hold on to her. It had just found its dinner and it wasn't planning to let it go so easily. Her movements got more erratic as panic set in. She futilely tried to claw the zaiphon away. It crowed triumphantly at the smell of her fear; it knew it would win, and I couldn't help the small swell of pleasure in me as well. The contentment at the knowledge she was helpless to be nothing but food for my zaiphon was intoxicating.

"What use would an extra ID provide for me? What type of idiot would steal something they already have?" I snarked. My voice was low and taunting, the voice of a predator. I knew who was in power here and Violet knew it too. She cowered before me, trying to retreat but my zaiphon acted as a glue latching her to me. Her eyes were darting about to look for help but her cronies had already long ran away, for cowardice was something they had in abundance. For humans were all-

"What's going on here?" A threatening and severe voice came from the front. The teacher was taking notice and that's when I knew play-time was over. I sighed and bit down on my lip, the pain would give me the focus I needed to retake control of my zaiphon. It bemoaned the loss of its treat and fought to continue to consume Violet. It was not happy with me nor I with it but I was ordered by my superiors to obey society's customs. My teeth sank into my skin until I felt blood seep through my teeth. I took a deep breath and then feigned a smile at Violet, as I pulled my Zaiphon back. It slithered back from Violet and curled into my fingertips, out of sight. She was trembling and pale, looking as if she had seen her worst nightmare. In a way, perhaps she had.

Either way, I was feeling slightly less tense, and didn't care by what it was her feeble mind was confounded by. I held out my hand again. Violet looked down at the card numbly and placed it in my hand. I nodded and left the room, heading off to the start of today's troubles- Mikage Celestine.

My arm shot up to block the hand reaching towards my face and shoved it back.

"AWWW, you're already awake," Major Hyuuga whined. I ignored him and glanced around. All the other soldiers in my dorm were still asleep. "Anywho, Aya-tan wants you up bright and early for your training."

Even if the dreams were my own memories, remembering things this way hurt. I rubbed my eyes, digging the palms into my sockets to force the remnants of the dream out of my head.

"Why did he send you? Ayanami-sama already informed me of my assignment yesterday when I delivered my mission report." I leapt off the bed and landed on the pad of my feet, lessing the sound emitted from my jump. I looked at Major Hyuuga who had taken a sudden interest in looking everywhere but at me.

He shrugged, "Who knows what Aya-tan thinks?"

I sighed and shook my head. "He didn't send you to wake and remind me did he."

It wasn't really a question but Major answered anyway. "I'm just having fun with Kona-chan! It's a game of hide and seek!"

I snorted. "I'm sooo sure Beigletter Warren sees you escaping your duties that way as well." I opened my dresser and pulled my uniform out.

"Ohhh are you gonna give me a show?" Major Hyuuga gave an obnoxious wink and wiggled his hips. A large part of me wished to unsee the scene but unfortunately it was burned into my memories.

"What show would there be to give?" I snapped.

He slid over to my right hand side and pinched my cheeks; much to my irritation he was still slightly faster than me so I wasn't able to block him. "You could be very pretty you know that Ver-chan? You've no blemishes on your skin except this long scar right here-" He tugged on my cheek and used his pointer finger to slowly trace the wound that extended from my eyebrow to the hollow in my cheek. "Golden blonde locks that would be like a model if they weren't cut with your switchblade every week." He gave a pointed look at the ebony handle switch blade resting on my dresser.

I glared at him best I could from the corner of my eyes and snarled, "Point is?" Problem was with his hold on my cheek the words didn't form properly and came out sounding like "Foin ish?"

He snickered a little and continued, "And! Mysterious evergreen eyes that would be super pretty if they didn't look like they were going to kill meeee-?!" Suddenly Major Hyuuga was yanked backwards. Beigletter Warren had snuck up on the Major and had a firm grip on the Major's ear using his leverage to drag Major away from me. Normally, I would've appreciated Major being disciplined by Beigletter Warren but this time Major Hyuuga had a hold on my cheek and had stretched my cheek as far as it would go before letting go. I rubbed my cheek. Helvette that hurt.

"MAJOR DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT HARASSMENT IS? DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU CAN GET REPORTED FOR THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOR?" Beigletter Warren all but yelled in the Major's ear.

"But Kona-chan-" Major Hyuuga started but stopped once Beigletter Warren threw a venomous look at him. He turned towards me but immediately looked away, a slight coloring to his cheeks.

"Kona-chan's blushi-OW!" Beigletter Warren twisted his ear viciously and effectively silenced Major Hyuuga.

"Sorry about that Versuch. You can get dressed in peace."

"It wasn't your fault Beigeletter Warren."

He nodded awkwardly and dragged Major Hyuuga away. I turned back to my clock to see I was five minutes behind my usual schedule and sighed. I would have to rush to make it to conditioning on time. I know Mikage said people were good for me but I never fully understood his fascination with them. Most of the time they only seemed like hindrances.

At 6:30 I simultaneously opened the door to the conditioning area with my foot and buttoned the collar of my uniform closed. I practically had to dress as I walked to just make the cut-off time for conditioning because of Major Hyuuga's interference this morning. As I set foot inside the first thing I heard was the dying cry of a prisoner at the hands of one of the other "special wards of the military". A step up from slave status, wards were guaranteed survival until the age of 18 so long as they repaid their debt to the nation, however it was seen fit. Often times we were used to fight either through the military or through assassination, but they needed an area to test and hone our skills. The scientists and military personnel took over a section of the prison and train us by pitting us against death row inmates. Even now ever so faintly you could feel the walls thrumming with the wards ever repeating cry, "NO JUSTICE! NO ESCAPE BUT DEATH! EXTERMINATE THE POISON OF THE NATION!"

No justice and no escape but by death were the words the wards were told once being taken in. Exterminate the poison of the nation in return for your life. That was our duty. Until the end.

"Beigletter Tameshi. You have one measuring session in exam room 3 and two real combat training conditioning sessions in cell 10 to complete," a quiet voice came from my left hand side. A slim young woman with rust colored hair and horn rimmed glasses read my assignments off from a clipboard. She must have been new. I could tell because she referred to me by title not by number.

"Understood." I nodded stiffly to her and headed towards the examination room. Brilliant white lights assaulted my eyes as I stepped into the empty room.

"Step into the center Ward 3971. Then summon your Zaiphon for as long as you can control it. Your previous examination states your current abilities is three minutes of extended use. Four minutes is today's target."

I took a deep breathe in and let it out slowly, reminding myself of the ward's life motto. No escape. There's never going to be an escape from this. So just bear with the pa-

"BEGIN NOW," the proctor's voice was laced with irritation at my delay. I saw his hand inch closer to the punishment switch and I knew I couldn't delay any longer.

Focusing as hard as I could I tapped into the power within me. The moment I did, the whispers began. It was irritated for being awoken without a clear enemy before it and it was doing all it could to make this fact known. I extended my hand and a thin tendril of zaiphon slowly crawled out, still trying to cling to me as best it could. I ordered it to go in a figure eight pattern and I heard the scientists start the clock. The beep signaling the start to my four minutes of hell echoed off the walls of the small chamber.

I could feel the power wearing down on me, slowly draining me. The whispering got louder, trying to drown out my focus on moving my zaiphon in the ordained pattern. I ignored them and just imagined drawing the figure eight above my hand with my zaiphon. Up and down repeatedly. I needed to focus on my duty not the whispers.

At the first minute it was always just whispering and it was only slightly difficult. At the second minute things got harder, the whispering became speaking. Breathing became desperate, pained gasps for air and my lungs burned like I had just ran a marathon. This didn't matter to the scientists, only the controlling of the zaiphon mattered. That and the time. Time.

But that wasn't what I was supposed to focus on. Up and down. Focus on the mission.

At the third minute the voices began yelling, screaming at me to stop. Making it impossible to think of up and downs. Breathing was difficult. It felt as if someone had shoved glass down my windpipe and every breath I took was burying it deeper into my flesh. Darkness encroached on the edge of my vision making it hard to see the zaiphon following its pattern.

Have...to…follow...orders...

I barely heard his command the voices were so loud. "STOP!"' The proctor's yelled and I yanked my zaiphon back to me. A sickening sensation filled me and darkness covered my sight.

The blinking red number 3:55:04 was on the clock, seeming to almost mock the examination proctors. "Mark the test as a failure and schedule the next testing. Also, bring in the source." Two soldiers saluted the proctor and moved to complete their orders.

A small sound of confusion came from behind the proctor and he looked back to see the newbie staring at him from beneath her horn rimmed glasses. "What did you mean by source? Also, what did you mean by Ward? I've never heard of that title."

The proctor sighed and rubbed his eyes, "Didn't they inform you of what this is?"

The newbie flipped a page up on her clipboard, "Yes, these files say this cadet's name is Versuch Tameshi and we are conductin-"

A bark of laughter escaped from the proctors lips interrupting her mid-sentence. "This cadet's name is! She just said-They really didn't tell you!" He turned away from the slim woman towards glass pane where Versuch lay collapsed on the floor. "See how you feel calling it a her after you see what she does."

"Sir?"

"Just watch," was all he said. They both watched as the door on the right opened and the guards shoved a shackled prisoner inside the room. The door closed quickly after with a dull thud and the prisoner turned to the door confused. He was a burly man nearly seven feet tall with short cropped hair, and he looked like he was capable of putting up a fight but the proctor knew none of this would matter. Young, old, tall, small, quick, or strong. It didn't matter. They were all just food for its power.

The room was still for a moment with the prisoner scanning his surroundings.

He didn't have very long before everything erupted into motion. With an earsplitting scream the body launched itself off the floor shot towards the prisoner, inky tendrils of zaiphon oozing from it. It thrust its hand into his chest gripping the core of the prisoner's power, his soul, and the black zaiphon stretched out consuming the man. All you could hear was the man's tortured dying screams as his skin turned charred and shriveled away, exposing bones.

Just as quickly as it began, it was over with Versuch Tameshi standing upright and a barely recognizable stack of blackened skin and bones at her feet.

The proctor turned away from the gruesome sight to look at the pale faced scientist next to him.

"Do you still feel like calling it a human?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE 2.0: As always! Rate and review! Comments, follows, and favorites greatly appreciated!