Outcasts
Chapter One: Exodus
Loosely fitted shoes scrabbled on the pavement as the monster escaped from the upper districts, sprinting without direction, only haste. Shattered glass and the roar of fire still rung in her ears, driving it onwards, away from the disaster site. Away from the chaos she had caused and the family that had been destroyed in the aftermath of her rampage. They hadn't deserved it. They hadn't even seen the monster coming until it had been upon them, burning down the house and breaking the father against a wall in a fit of rage. But still she had come, and now, ashamed of what she had brought, ran as far and fast as she could.
Already sirens were starting to blare as the emergency services scrambled into action. Daddy had always said that if they needed help, it would be with them faster than it took to click her fingers. She had spent the day practising the motion over and over, just in case they needed to be summoned super-quickly to save someone. Never once on that lazy afternoon could she have dreamed that she was the one that they needed to be saved from.
The monster slapped hands over her ears, eyes screwed up tight as it dove into a park and threw itself against a tree, trying to blot the memory out. It did little to help. This had been a favourite place to visit for both herself and her mother, and even without the fresh punishment of another bitter recollection on top of the one she was desperately trying to flush out, Neo Domino's parks were rarely the sanctums of peace and tranquillity away from city life that the government proclaimed them as. The sirens cut through the cool spring air without stopping, and in their echoes she could make out the faint cry that had tried to prevent her escape. Her mother, begging her to stay.
She was still half-blinded but surged into motion once again, scrubbing tears from her eyes as she went. She had to go away. Where to she did not know, but so long as it was far, far away, that would be good enough for her. To someplace where she might cease to be a monster, to someplace where the screaming in her head and the burning in her arm might stop.
She'd never had a birthmark before. One of the girls in her class had often boasted about a mole upon the back of her neck, proclaiming it to be in the shape a star. No-one else in the class could make out any sort of shape for any amount of head-turning and squinting at her neck, but it had made for wild conversation as everyone imagined cool symbols for themselves. She had drawn a rose, a picture still hanging on the family fridge.
This birthmark was nothing like the make-pretend ones she and her classmates had dreamt up. Vicious claws burned along her forearm, pulsing red with great beats of pain, growing cooler and less frequent as she put distance between herself and the house. In her shock and fear, it provided enough of a plan to continue guiding her feet.
She broke free of the park and back out onto the roads, knocking into someone and squeaking out an apology as she bounced off of them, turning on her heel and carrying on. Despite the late hour, Neo Domino never slept, and so it was that she kept having to duck out the way of tired-looking adults as she staggered aimlessly down street after street, clutching her branded arm close and avoiding staring at anyone. Bright lights from the skyscrapers lit the way, until there, in the middle of the latest road she was escaping down, she saw them.
Security.
Three officers, dressed in standard gear and chatting idly amongst themselves, highlighted by the neon glow of a burger restaurant. Every child in Neo Domino was well-acquainted with the uniform, raised to recognise a patrolman on sight and bring up concerns about the city's well-being. On any other day, the three of them would have been a welcome balm, a promise that the adults of the world would make everything right. She'd never been taught what to do in the event she was the evil one.
Paralyzed on the spot, the heated pulsing in her arm was little more than a dull warmth as her limited understanding tried to find a solution. Then one of them looked up from his dinner, and she bolted, some deep-buried instinct sending her rushing at the nearest dark space. An alleyway, a closed concrete corridor that took her out the line of sight. Metal bins and industrial dumpsters flanked the sides, the thick smell of day-old grease hitting the back of her throat like a swift rabbit punch. Clutching her nose and mouth, she pressed on, bursting out the other side into a road less travelled.
Following the darkness seemed a solid plan. Monsters hid in the darkness, after all. She knew that from years of hearing them under her bed, from watching them creep about in the shadows of her bedroom. A broken streetlamp granted her access, and she slipped away, down into another alleyway, this one thankfully not as rotten. She dared to breathe again, and found herself able to so without losing her dinner as she feared she might.
The lights were dimming as she made her way outwards, the city noise now joined by the gentle crash of waves against the piers and harbours of Neo Domino. More industrial noise, of course, for the docks never truly ceased doing business, and the harsh grind of metal at work almost put her off proceeding further. But the dark places were growing deeper and thicker, and that was where she belonged.
The ache in her legs caught up with her all at once, demanding that she find a place to settle down and take a breather, just for a moment. It was a request she followed gladly, exhaustion tugging at her thoughts, the world starting to slow, her movements becoming more stumbling and awkward.
There was a dark place ahead, nice and pitch-black within. She tucked herself away around the side of a shipping container, waiting for the yellow-jacketed men milling about it to disperse. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, they finally wandered off to look at something else. A quick glance about found no more of them incoming, and so she dared to dart forward, climbing inside the dark place.
Inside were a great many boxes of differing sizes. Some reached up to the roof of the dark place, while others were far more sensible. It was these she climbed over, guided by the dull red glow from her arm, which continued to dim as she made her way deeper in, further and further into the dark until it solidified in front of her. Tired, sweaty and scared beyond belief, she finally let herself collapse, resting her back against the wall of darkness. The claws upon her arms gave one last burst of light, and then guttered out completely.
She was glad for it. Someone might have found her otherwise, and she really didn't want to be disturbed right now. She just needed to close her eyes. Just for a moment. Just to recover, and then she'd figure out what a monster was supposed to do from here. Cuddling her duel disk close to her chest, she surrendered to sleep almost immediately.
Deep within the bowels of a routine supply drop bound for the Security forces posted upon Satellite, the monster formerly known as Aki Izayoi rested, oblivious to the sound of a metal door slamming shut and sealing her within.