Chapter I: Kidnapped

"When you experience loss, people say you'll move through the five stages of grief: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. What they don't tell you is that you'll cycle through them everyday,"

Aella woke up to the sun beaming down at her through the white curtains of her room and the chirping of the birds outside. She was covered in cold sweat and panting heavily. She propped herself up on her elbows, taking deep breaths to even out her breathing and slow down her racing heart.

"Just another nightmare," The girl muttered, rubbing her face. She got out of her bed, stretching, and went to her closet, taking out underwear and a bra along with black jeans and a light pink, tight fitting turtleneck. She entered the bathroom and opened the faucet of the showerhead, stripping then waiting for the water to warm up.

As soon as it did, Aella stepped under the water and let it wash away the sweat, sighing in satisfaction, then applied some shampoo, thoroughly rubbing it in her silky silver hair. She soon washed off the shampoo then put some conditioner in her palm and spread it on her hair.

When she was done, she filled the bath tub with hot water and took out a bath bomb from her stash. She lowered the scented sphere into the water and watched as it fizzed and dissolved, letting herself relax in the bubble bath she prepared.

After the murder of her family two years ago, she frequently had nightmares about it. The culprit was never found, and the police closed the case because there were no more leads for them to pursue. She had been living with her uncle and his wife ever since, and even though he was the one to help her through the ordeal, she sometimes felt... weird around him-especially when he would subtly ask about her mother's last message sometimes, about what it meant. She supposed he was trying to avoid reopening the wounds (that had never quite healed) but was still curious as to what his elder sister's last message was.

'Protect the crystal'

That was exactly what she had been doing these last couple years. Whenever he asked what crystal she meant, or if it was a metaphor, she would answer with, "I don't know," which was a lie. She knew exactly what her mother had meant, and she didn't trust anyone with that secret, and she would die to protect it; she was the one entrusted with the task.

Aella's mind wandered back to sometime during the last year, when an incident had occurred.

She was walking out of the kenjutsu club, drenched in sweat, with the early winter wind blowing against her, her silver locks whipping across her face. She pulled her hood further down to shield herself from the chilly winds and adjusted the duffel bag on her shoulder, sipping from a chocolate Frappuccino she had just gotten from Starbucks.

She headed down the empty streets, putting in her earphones and turning on the song 'No Time to Die' by Billie Eilish. Just as Aella was rounding a corner, a hand covered her mouth from behind with a cloth, and she foolishly inhaled.

The teen thrust her elbow back into her assaulter's face, twisting her body to use the momentum as extra strength. The man who attacked her was then kneed where no man would ever want to be hit. Hard. Before she could do anything else, however, Aella felt drowsiness take over and she fell unconscious.

When she opened her eyes again, she found her wrists were tightly tied to the arms of a wooden chair with ropes and her torso was tied to the back while her legs were secured to the legs of the chair. Her eyes widened in panic as she processed her situation but forced her mind to remain calm; after all, panicking wouldn't help with anything. Even though she would never show it or admit it out loud, she was scared; Aella was only human, after all.

She took a shaky deep breath from her nose and let it out. First, I need to know how many people there are. If it's just the man from earlier, then getting away unscathed should be relatively easy. If there are more than that, though, then I'll need an actual plan. So, how many are there?

As if on cue, the door opened and in walked six people; four men, two women, and they all seemed to have some kind of weapon on them. Well, shit.

"You're awake?" A brown haired guy asked, looking at her closely.

She had to resist the urge to spit in his ugly mug. "No, I'm asleep with my eyes open. What do you think, dumbass?"

One of the women chuckled, putting her hands on her hips. "Well, she's a feisty one. You just woke up earlier than expected, sweet pie, that's all."

"What the hell do you want with me?" Aella growled, glaring at her kidnappers coldly. Her unrelenting stare caused one of the men to take a step back, intimidated by the young girl.

"Well, that's easy. Just tell us where the Mystical Gem is, and we'll let you go unharmed. I don't particularly want to mess up your pretty face, but I won't hesitate to do so." The first man answered.

How the hell do they know about that? It's a family secret! She kept a cool, nonchalant mask on the exterior, while on the inside, Aella was ready to pounce at them... Scratch that, she tried to lunge at them, and if it wasn't for her tied up state, someone would have definitely earned a broken nose or jaw. "What the fuck is a Mystical Gem?"

"It's a special stone that has mystical properties," another man answered, observing her body language carefully.

"No, shit, Sherlock. I definitely didn't deduce that from the name." The teen scoffed, rolling her eyes. "And why would you even assume that I know where it is?"

The second woman, who had been silent up until now, spoke. "The Cassidy family, your family, has been keeping it for centuries. And with you being one of the few remaining members of the clan, you must know where it is."

"Well, believe it or not, I don't. Besides, I don't even believe in m-" Aella's head whipped to the left, a stinging sensation on the right side of her face. The man who was analyzing her stood in front of her.

"Don't lie. You know where it is, so spit it out, or you'll regret it, girly."

She ignored the pain, as she'd had worse before, and turned to glare at him again. "I said I don't know what that gem is, nor where it is, so just fucking let me go!"

"If you're that insistent, you're staying right here with no food or water until you tell us what we want to hear." The first man said, sending a punch to her stomach. "That was for your stunt earlier."

She couldn't help but smirk at that. She knew that the kick she landed on him before passing out hurt like a bitch; after all, she had been training for, what, eleven years now? The girl just hoped she'd have the chance to put some of what she learned to good use. "Oh, yeah. Real sorry, do you think you're still able to reproduce after that? I sure hope not,"

Hearing the smugness in Aella's voice, he sent another punch at her, this time at her face. She spit out the metallic blood from her mouth as all but the leader of her kidnappers left the room. "Here's what will happen, for every time you lie or refuse to answer, you get hit. Now, what do you know about the gem?"

"Nothing,"

"I love it when someone messes with me; that means I don't have to be nice anymore."

The man left the room where a roughed-up Aella was, still tied down to the chair. Her body was littered with painful bruises and small cuts, a line of crimson blood trailing down her left temple. She didn't know how long it's been since she was first kidnapped, but she figured it must've been a while; judging by her growling stomach and dry throat.

As soon as the door closed behind the bastard, Aella, though extremely tired, started formulating a plan. Her multi-coloured eyes darted around the room, taking it in for the first time since she woke up here as she never really had the chance to do so yet, having been too focused on her assailant.

It looked like some kind of an abandoned storage unit with concrete floor and walls, only the door was metal.

Conveniently enough for her, her duffel bag was near the wall on her right and the chair was made of wood. These guy are definitely idiots; don't they know that escaping from a wooden chair is relatively easy for anyone with a brain and some strength? Well, good for me, I guess.

She started moving in the chair as best she could towards the right wall quietly. The chair legs scraped against the floor, the ropes rubbing harshly against her wrists. When she was close enough to the wall, she gave it her all and slammed the chair against the cement. The piece of furniture broke -most likely alerting the two guards outside; judging by the distant scrambling Aella heard- and the ropes around her loosened. She wriggled out of them and immediately opened her duffel bag, taking out a black sheathed katana before running to stand beside the the door, pressing her body to the wall.

Just as Aella caught her breath, she heard a click and the metal door slammed open. A man and a woman walked inside and were confused to see a broken chair but no silver haired teen. Aella swung her sheathed katana right at the man's face, taking him off-guard, and he fell to the ground with a bloody, broken nose, unconscious.

The woman's eyes widened and she took out a knife from her back pocket, ready to charge, which she stupidly did. She left a lot of blind spots in her posture. Aella swiftly side-stepped and slammed the hilt of the sword into the back of the woman's neck harshly, effectively knocking her out.

The teen ran to her bag and took out her phone, calling the police. She quietly informed them of her situation and hung up quickly, hearing footsteps in the hallway outside.

"Finn, Nancy, your shift's ov- Everyone come here quick!"

Aella's eyes widened, cursing under her breath, and she prepared to fight. The four remaining people rushed into the room and took in the scene. They all pulled out weapons, pointing at the girl. "Dammit, just when I thought my day couldn't get any better." She muttered sarcastically.

"How did you get out of the ropes?!" The leader of the group yelled angrily.

Is this guy blind or what? One look at the broken wood and anyone with would know what happened. "Oh, I thought it's obvious. I just turned my body into air and slipped out. No, better yet, I teleported." Aella responded, voice dripping with sarcasm. She held her sheathed blade and got into a well-practiced fighting stance: feet staggered and placed slightly wider than the hips with the weight distributed evenly between both feet, which were angled slightly to the side, knees facing in the same direction of the feet. Her now unsheathed katana held securely in her right hand.

"Oho, what's this? You want to fight, girly?"

"I would suggest you don't underestimate me, but I suppose you won't listen."

The enemy closest to her, the second woman, aimed her gun and pulled the trigger. The silver haired teenager twisted her hand, letting the bullet hit the flat of her blade and fall to the ground. The force at which the bullet hit, though, made Aella stumble back a little, but she didn't let that hinder her.

She launched herself towards the woman, turning the katana in her hand so that the blunt side was facing outward and slashed horizontally. The strength behind the attack was unanticipated, which was the older woman's downfall as she fell on her but ungracefully and was swiftly kicked on the head, rendering her unconscious.

Hearing someone running towards her from behind, Aella turned around and side kicked the man in the middle of the torso to knock him back when a sharp, piercing and burning sensation came from her left arm right after a loud bang.

A pained cry escaped her throat, her right hand instinctively clutching the wound with gritted teeth as red blood seeped out, her sword clattering to the ground. Trying her best to ignore the pain for the time being, she delivered another kick to the back of the man's head with her heel to knock him out.

Her breathing heaving and labored from pain and blood loss, Aella jumped to the right in order to watch her two remaining enemies simultaneously. She noticed that the one who shot her was the only one with a gun at the moment. Her eyes flickered to the gun that had fallen when she neat the woman and lunged towards it.

"Stop, you bitch!"

Just as she reached the weapon, the two men ran at her, the leader aiming his own gun at Aella. With a grunt, she swipes his feet from under him to buy herself some time, then aims her borrowed gun at him. His expression twisted into one of panic, as his own gun had fallen from his hand when Aella tripped him.

"D-don't shoot! Please! I'm sorry,"

"What a coward," Aella uttered, wincing when she accidentally moved her injured arm the wrong way. A battle cry from behind her gained her attention and she loaded the gun. She turned around quickly and aimed the weapon, pulling the trigger.

The bullet buried itself the man's leg, causing him to shout and stumble. He still held his knife, though, and he turned out to be faster and more resilient than she had expected. The knife lodged itself into Aella's side, making her let out a scream. "Take that, you little bitch!"

She could hear sirens in the distance and the men's eyes widened. With the remainder of her strength and using the almighty adrenaline in her veins, the teen punched the injured man's throat with her left fist to take him down. She bent down, despite the sharp stinging and uncomfortableness from her side, and picked up her fallen katana, turning towards the leader with a murderous look.

The bastard looked on with wide eyes, waving his hands in front of him as Aella slowly drew closer to him, black spots dancing in her vision. "No, stop! Please don't kill me, I'm sorry!"

Said girl ignored his pleas and plunged her blade down into the cement, a mere centimeter from his face. The wimp fainted from fear.

The sirens came closer and closer as Aella collapsed to the ground from exhaustion and blood loss.

Footsteps could be heard rushing about the building as the police tried to find the kidnappers and the victim. Finally, a young officer in his early twenties arrived at the door and stopped in his place, gazing at the knocked out men and women then at the injured and passed out silverette.

"Eh? Did... did she do this?" He muttered disbelievingly. Shaking himself out of his stupor, the man rushed to the teen's side, pressing two fingers to her neck. A relieved sigh escaped his lips when he found a pulse before shouting, "In here! Get the medics!"

Coming out of her reverie, Aella stood up from the bathtub and pulled out the plug. She squeezed the water out of her hair and wrapped a fluffy purple towel around her naked body, eyes trained on the mirror. She stared her left arm. The bullet wound had left a small scar, but that was now unnoticeable due to a tattoo covering it.

Back then, she hadn't quite appreciated getting scarred, so she opted to cover her two scars with tattoos.

The one covering the bullet scar was a tattoo of two feathers that dissipate into a flocks of ravens, a bunch of them flying towards her collarbone and the other bunch towards her shoulder blade. The marking symbolized the freedom she was aiming to achieve, outside of the chains of death and grief binding her, and the wide worlds she was hoping to travel around one day.

The other tattoo masking the stab wound scar was one of a tribal design, resembling wings. She didn't regret getting the tattoos, really, she liked them. They reminded her of her main goal in life.

Aella was saving up a bunch of money in hopes of using it to travel the world and see what it has to offer, but she would still need more if she wants to survive alone out there.

After drying herself and getting dressed, she walked over to the now drained bathtub and pressed on a certain area, where if you looked close enough, you would notice that it could be removed.

She removed the piece of porcelain enameled steel and pushed her arm through the hole until her hands found what she was looking for. She grabbed the object and pulled it out, staring at the one of a kind, colorful stone in her hand intently.

"And I still have no idea how they found out about it,"

Author's Note:

Hey, everyone! Hope everyone's doing well. I'm quite proud of this chapter. It was originally supposed to be two chapter but I ended up merging them; I personally like long chapters, they feel more fulfilling.

Aella's katana sheath is black with light pink cherry blossoms. She has two of them; one shorter than the other. The taller one would be strapped to her back while the shorter one is at her hip.

Tell me what you think of the chapter (specifically the fight scene) and don't hesitate to give constructive criticism, or any comment or reviews, really. Have a nice day/night and stay safe!