A/N: Argh, I'm so hungry… so hungry I can't even type, so I'm going to post this and then go poke my mom to find out when she's making dinner. I hope you enjoy this, please R&R!

Coming Home

Yrid, 5 years before the Dollhouse Incident, year X780-

The guild had been as usual, rowdy and excessively loud, even that late at night. A guild run by fifteen year olds wasn't shutting down when it got dark, no sir, that guild worked around the clock. It was helped by the fact that the guild had already been built an added on living quarters, so that the 'night walkers' of the guild, or the people who only took jobs at night because it was their preferred sleeping schedule, could come and go as necessary.

Shade and Shine were still awake, as were Wish and Finny. Nova and Kova had already been put to bed, and Kazin was snoring on the table top. Jair was playing cards with fourteen year old Kuma and totally taking advantage of the fact that the kid wasn't all that great at poker. Galice was shamelessly taking Azriel's abuse as she threw a sort of mini-tantrum because he was leaving on a trip the next morning.

The core of the guild was seated in the very center of the room, talking about funding.

"We've got plenty of money, the proceeds from all the jobs done give a ten percent cut to the guild…." Shade muttered, scribbling on some paper before throwing down her pencil in frustration. "I'm no good at math!" she shouted.

"Here," Wish said, holding his hand out for the writing implement. She gave it to him, grumbling, and watched as he solved it flawlessly in seconds. "We have enough to expand the guild, with about half a million jewels left over from the guild savings of one year."

"Wish is almost as good at figures as me!" Shine smiled.

"Hmph," Shade pouted as Finny giggled at her.

An older man who didn't live in-guild had decided to go home for the night, and was headed toward the door. He turned, smiling, and waved at Shade and Shine. The girls stood up to wave back, but found the man to be gone.

The door had been thrust open as if by a force of nature accompanied by the laugh of the devil himself. A blade had flashed in the air, cutting the man down from where he stood, spraying blood high into the air. Stepping through the fog and smoke and blood that hung on the air came a skeletal boy dressed in an overlarge black jacket, eyes crazed. He raised the blade and licked the blood off the edge with an insane smile on his face as he planted a booted foot on the back of the man he had nearly killed.

Pandemonium broke loose in the guild as the boy started laughing manically.

"Hey, Midnight bastards! Play with me for a while, yeah?"

Another knife went whizzing through the air, pinning Jair's hand to the table. He cried out in agony and Kuma grabbed his sword, only to be hit with a grazing blow to the arm. He collapsed in seconds, unable to move. Jair felt sick, like he was going to throw up; the blade had been poisoned, and he communicated it to the rest of the guild by collapsing. Panic rose.

The boy finally moved from his place by the door, jumping onto a table and placing his hand over his eyes like a sailor on in the crow's nest. Blood was spattered across his face and stained the soles of his boots, leaving red footprints on the wood.

"Ah!" he cried, swinging is knife through the air joyfully to point at Shade, "You," and now at Shine, "And you! Right? Of course, you must be!"

He walked over the tabletop until the furniture tipped; he rode the descent smoothly to the floor, walking straight off without missing a beat.

"The masters, right? I hope you'll entertain me… See, I need to get rid of you, or she'll get rid of me!" he started snicker again, eyes showing a total and utter disconnect to reality, "And really, this place needs color…" he raised a hand to show them a crimson palm, "like red! I think you would both look great in red. Everyone does!"

The boy lunged forward. He was fast, and agile, the very picture of rampant insanity.

Wish was the first to act, freezing time zones around himself, but he was unable to catch Shredder.

"Too bad," the boy laughed, sticking his tongue out at Wish, "I already know about your ability, Wish Moore!"

As he spoke, a ball of black fire and a ball of white fire flew at him from both sides; he leapt straight into the air, drawing his knees up to as the flames exploded beneath him. He landed on his toes and prepared to throw another knife into the clearing smoke.

The scent of blood and fear was driving him mad and the sound of screaming, the coppery taste in his mouth… he lived for it.

He drew back his throwing arm and exhaled, only to find himself unable to breathe. As the smoke cleared, Shredder fought with the water that covered his mouth and nose like a gasmask, not allowing air through at all. He tried to tear it away, but his hands simply sank through the liquid. He resisted the urge to gasp, knowing it would be fatal.

He fell to his knees as spots danced before his eyes; he was far enough gone that he inhaled out of desperate reflex, only to find icy water sloshing in his lungs. He had been through hell and back, but this wasn't a physical enemy. He couldn't get away, there was no air, no air….

The boy's eyes rolled back into his head and he fell face forward to the ground. The water mask splooshed onto the wood and soaked the attacker's bronze hair and black jacket, the bottom rims of his color-wheel eyes showing beneath hooded lids and his mouth was half open.

He wasn't breathing.

"Oh God," Finny whispered, running forward, legitimately praying for both forgiveness and a miracle, "I didn't mean… I thought… I only wanted… Oh, God, I killed him! Oh my God, oh my God!"

That maniacal smirk had crept back onto the boy's face again as he coughed, spitting up water, and he rolled onto his back, looking at the shocked girl from upside down, much as Kirai had not so long ago. She was pretty cute, he thought, obviously a beach goer, with quite a nice tan…. But she would have to die… and somehow, he thought she would look better in blue than red. No, definitely better in blue.

"What's wrong with killing me?" he asked, his laugh hollow as he grabbed her ankle with his empty hand. His knife was on the floor next to him, but within easy reach. No one moved, knowing that with his speed he could be up and have killed Finny in a matter of seconds.

"Killing is wrong," Finny squeaked, still utterly stunned by his sudden revival.

"But why is killing wrong?" the boy asked lazily, "Because someone will be sad? If that's it, then it's okay to kill me, no one will be sad. Because you'll be punished? Look around, no one here will punish you if I die. Because I myself don't want to be killed? That would be a lie, I wouldn't mind at all."

"Wha…?"

"Do it," this time, the smile fell from his face and his eyes were simply the empty, soulless, haunted eyes of someone who doesn't have a reason to exist beyond superficial movement, a clockwork toy that went about business without purpose.

"N-no!" Finny cried, "I don't want to be a murderer!"

"Fine then," Shredder grunted, gaining his feet, "guess I'll have to motivate you!"

With the last to words he swept his arm upwards, a hidden blade popping out of his sleeve and humming toward the girl's face. At the last second, he found himself unable to move. Chains made of black, white, and gray links bound his body in place. Shade and Shine brought their wrists together and the chains drew Shredder's arms to his side. His knees buckled, and he was forced to kneel before the twin girls.

"A three stranded rope is not easily broken…" Shade said.

"…But in your case, we needed a chain," Shine finished.

"Why are you here?" they asked together.

Shredder snorted, and then threw his head back with a veritable cackle.

"Like I'll answer that!" he shouted. Finny noticed that though he was smiling, his eyes seemed to be screaming. "Like I'll tell you what the hell I'm doing this all for! None of you will understand, you stupid bunch of goody two-shoes guild rats!"

Shade bent over and stared the boy straight in the eyes, nose only inches away from the attacker's.

"I'm going to ask one more time. Why are you here?"

"And I hate repeating myself, so maybe this can answer for me," the boy ground out, spitting in the girl's face. Shade wiped it off distastefully before she planted her foot in his chest, knocking him to the ground so that he laid face up, arms trapped beneath.

"Who are you working for? Will you tell us that at least?" Shine asked, walking over and kneeling next to Shredder's head. The boy simply craned his neck to the side, the white mark showing clearly on his dark skin.

"White Noize; what is a guy like you doing in a guild like that?" Shade asked, prodding her captive's chin with the toe of her boot.

"Dying," he answered flatly, "killing, stealing, hating, hurting, hoping, praying, wanting."

"What?" Shade murmured.

"I think we need to take this one upstairs." Shine said.

…

Shade, Shine, Wish and Finny all sat, staring at the captive before them. Rather, Shade stared, Shine examined her nails, Wish snuffled in his sleep, and Finny avoided looking at Shredder.

"So Ai sent you?" Shade asked lowly.

"Kill me."

"Why would she send you? She must have known that someone of your level couldn't take on a pair of masters…."

"Kill me."

"Why would you serve her?"

"….." Shredder actually opened his mouth to answer that one, taking a breath. He knew he was caught. If he went back to the guild like that, she'd kill him, or throw him out. If he gave info, Ai would send a sweeper to wipe him out. If he remained silent, the group before him would turn him in to the council.

"She saved me," he heard himself say. He hadn't given consent for that! Stupid mouth! Stop saying things on your own! "Robin did. She took me to Ai, and Ai gave me something… even if I knew it was fake… even if it was a lie, I wanted to think that someone needed me… that I had more purpose than to die starving and weak in the gutters, bleeding for a man who never wanted anything from me but for me to stand still and take his beatings! I wanted," his voice had risen to a shout, "to think that even if my father left me behind, even if my mother died for strangers but left her own son, even if I am a screwed up, bleeding, undead, monster of a human being, that I had a place to belong! And now you've taken everything away from me! Failure means death because Ai never loved me. Either you kill me or she will. And her way will definitely suck more."

"So all you wanted was a home?" Shine asked.

"Does it matter?" Shredder gritted out, "What I've wanted has never mattered."

"But you did want a home, correct?" Shade queried.

"Yes, damn it! Yes, I wanted a home."

The twins gave him a grim look.

"Welcome to Midnight Sun. This will be your home," they said in unison.