Hey guys! Welcome to my first upload in years! Five years to be exact.
I've been gone rather a long time and in all honesty wasn't sure if I'd return or not, but I've had this storyline going round and round in my head for weeks and wanted t get it out of my head and onto 'paper' and figured if I was going to write it down it made sense to share it too. Unlike any of my previous stories I've actually got pretty much most of this one mapped out, so I shouldn't have the same problem I usually do where I write myself into a corner. Anyway, that's enough from me, on with the story!
Summary: When what should have been a simple theft goes horribly wrong a young scrapper finds herself forcibly enlisted into the Planet Trade Organization in exchange for a pardon from King Cold. She is placed under the supervision of the young prince and as they slowly learn to work together a couple of stolen engine parts soon become the least of her worries..
- Prelude -
The sun was low in the sky, casting a deep red glow over the wreckage of the small town. Kenta dropped his pack as he begins to sprint towards the house of his sister. He dodges burning heaps of buildings, tying his best to ignore the stench of death, potent on the air around him.
"Please be alive, please be alive" he repeats over and over again as he reaches the partially collapsed building. The front door is absent, the charred marks around the frame serving as evidence that it has been hit with some kind of blast. Kenta spares no time and is through the doorway in a second, desperately looking around the open plan room for any sign of his younger twin.
He knows she's here, he's close enough that he can feel her now, her Ki, her life-force, but it's faint. His sensory powers were never particularly strong, but he'd always been able to feel her presence. He feels a huge surge of relief that they were at least strong enough to detect her now. She felt so weak he doubted even a Scouter would pick up her presence.
His senses guide him to the collapsed side of the room, and its there that he finds her. She's partially face down on the ground, her body covered in blood and dust from the collapse of the ceiling above her. Her legs are trapped under a large beam, presumably part of the structure that supported the roof once. As he carefully turns her slightly he realises that the large pool of blood on her back was the result of a Ki blast that had punched its way through the upper right side of her chest. It was clear that whoever had done this had left her for dead. Given her injuries it was amazing that she wasn't.
Kenta set her back on the cool ground, rising to his feet and grasped the underside of the beam with both hands. He braced his feet as best he could and pulled with all his might. It was a hard effort, their kind were no where near as strong as many of the other creatures of the universe, but after 10 minutes of desperately trying he eventually managed to haul the beam off of his sister.
"Mina" He whispered as he pulled her limp, barely conscious body clear of the rubble. She looked awful. Her orbital had clearly been broken or fractured, the angry bruising sealing her right eye firmly shut and the swelling spreading down her face. She had cuts and bruises all over her body, and her right arm, the same side as the blast to her chest felt colder than the rest of her, indicating that some level of nerve damage was present. The blast radius had caught her collarbone and much of her shoulder, but fortunately whatever had hit her seemed to have quarterized her wound on the way through, sealing the wound and helping to stem the bleeding.
Of all of the injuries that covered her body the most harrowing was evidenced by the blood staining the insides of her thighs. Kenta tried not to ponder on what horrors his sister must have been through as he hauled her up onto her feet. Barely conscious and unable to support her own weight Mina's knees buckled, as her silver hair, matted and dirty with dried blood fell across her face.
"Come on Mina, stay with me, please" Kenta begged just as he heard a vehicle screech to a halt and land somewhere outside. The medical unit are here... a surge of relief washed over his body as he carried the lifeless body of his sibling outside where she was quickly removed from his arms by one of the many medics. They didn't need him, of course, but the moment he had heard of an attack on the rural village he'd rushed to join them, fearing the worst for his only remaining family member.
"We need to take her back to the city!" the medic yelled as the rest of her team rushed past her in search of more survivors, "her injuries as far to great to treat in the field."
Kenta joined his sister in the back of the medial vehicle as the engine roared back to life hoping and praying that she made it to the city.
- 6 Years later -
Steam rose up steadily from the dented old pot as the water within was slowly brought to boiling point. Mina moved around the small kitchen slowly as she cut various vegetables using her one good hand. Her other arm had never recovered in all these years and she usually had it held securely to her chest in a sling so it didn't get in the way.
The small girl on the floor suddenly diverted her attention from the blocks she's been playing with and turned to stare at the door. "Ken-ken's home!" she squealed excitedly causing Mina to flinch and grit her teeth, her back still turned to the child. Sure enough, Kenta had arrived through the door within a matter of minutes, cold air whipping past him as he fought to close the door behind him.
"Sorry to surprise you guys, I'm home early" Kenta chirped happily, his tired eyes looking down at the excited face of the small girl who had run to meet him, grabbing at his leg in a tight hug.
"It's not a surprise at all" Mina responded "It knew you were home" she finished, throwing a sideways glance at the child, who was too excited at the sight of her Uncle to have noticed the comment.
"Don't call her that Mina," Kenta chided, his voice tired "she's your blood, your child."
"She's half monster" Mina hissed, turning her head to glare at the small child who stared back as her in wide eyed confusion. Mina sobbed, her hands covering her face shamefully as she turned away.
Kenta sighed, looking down at the small child who remained prone in-front of him, still staring at her mother. He could practically see the cogs in her brain working and knew it was only a matter of time before she worked out how much her mother hated her. Odds were she knew it already. Her dark silver hair was clearly in need of a brush, the long strands tangled and matted - it was clear that Mina had made no effort to look after her while he'd been gone. She stared up at him with large eyes, their blood red colouring the tell tale sign that she was a sensory. A strong one at that, even at her young age her detection abilities had far surpassed his own. She was also physically strong, far stronger that any child her age should be. He would even go so far to say that she was stronger than any adult of their kind he'd ever met.
Mina had never divulged much about that horrid day 6 years ago, but Hana had been the result and Kenta had been determined to give the poor child as good a life as he possibly could. Her conception aside, she had the misfortune to be born to a planet in tatters. Ever since the Cold's had taken over several years ago things had fallen into complete disarray, where structure and laws were but a distant memory. Killing and stealing had become ingrained within the lives of many and the districts of the Dead City like the one they lived in had fast become a survival of the fittest. Which for a weak species did not make for an easy life.
What little remained of their government had tried desperately to restore order. Implementing enforcers to keep those living in the city in check. They had even gone so far as to ban the use of Ki within the city, setting up sensors to detect those breaking the rules. All it has resulted in was nefarious groups switching to more creative and physically aggressive methods to cause harm.
"I did wrong?" the small girl asked, looking up at him confused and snapping him from his turbulent trail of thought.
"No, no, you go back and play" Kenta told her, placing a gentle hand on her head as he gestured with his other towards the toys she had been contentedly playing with before he arrived home. She didn't move and instead turned her head back towards the closed door, her eyes filled with curious confusion and fixated on somewhere or something beyond the door.
Each of them jolted as a heavy, pounding knock sounded on the door. Kenta eyed it nervously as he moved towards the door, pausing briefly before pulling it open ever so slightly.
Hana's eyes widened and she backed away as the figure at the door quickly shoved forwards and thrust a large dagger forward into Kenta's lower chest. He staggered backwards as he clutched desperately at the gushing wound, before quickly falling to his knees, blood pooling around him. With a sickening gurgling sound he slumped onto the floor as three males entered through the doorway, the middle of the trio looking carefully over both Hana and Mina in turn.
"That ones damaged," he gestured towards Mina and her arm securely held in its sling "she won't be worth anything like that."
His snake like yellow eyes turned back to Hana, his reptilian green skin glistening in the dim light of the room as the two smaller males of the same species as him advanced towards Mina, long tails swaying from side to side behind them.
Mina let out a scream as she grabbed the handle of the pot boiling away on the stove and flung it as hard as she could into the face of her closest assailant.
Boiling water connected with his face causing him to clutch at scolded skin face screaming in agony and dropping to the ground as the second lizard like male quickly sprung forward. Hana saw the glint of a much shorter blade as he forced his hand up and into Mina's good shoulder just below her collarbone, her back colliding heavily with the wall behind her. Before Hana had time to even register what she'd seen a strong hand connected hard with her face causing her body to crash to the ground, a foot quickly planting itself firmly in the middle of her upper back, keeping her pinned face down on the ground.
"Is she worth anythin'?" The smaller male questioned as he wiped his blade clean on Mina's worn shirt, turning his head away from the slumped and shaking figure of Mina, whom he had pinned to the wall by the throat, to glance over at the shaking terrified of Hana.
"Look at 'er, you seen many of these 'round here? We'll auction 'er off. Lobos 'as been lookin' for one of these. She should fetch a reasonable price." The larger male stated plainly as he flipped Hana onto her back with his foot and slammed his heavy tail onto her chest to keep her pinned where she was. Neither seemed at all bothered at the screams still being ripped from the lungs of their burned comrade, who was still rolling around on the floor in agony.
Desperately trying to draw in air despite the crushing pressure on her chest, Hana moved her head slowly to look at the pain stricken face of her mother. She hadn't so much as glanced at Hana and seemed to be trying to aggravate the group as little as possible by complying with them. Hana's attention was quickly diverted as the lizard like man removed his foot from her and lifted her off the ground, keeping a tight grip around her throat with his powerful tail.
Clawing desperately at him Hana heard the voice of her mother shouting "Just take her! I won't say a word, you can have her!". Her ears were buzzing and the sound felt distant, as if underwater to the point she couldn't make out the words after that. Mina had never been the most loving of parents, nothing like Kenta, but to hear her so readily giving Hana up to these men, to do Kami knows what to her ignited an intense stab of pain in Hana's chest. Her view was a haze, and she watched helplessly as the smaller reptile turned, taking a swipe at Mina with his tail and knocking her to the ground but not silencing her as she cried something incomprehensible.
With all patience lost at her constant noise the smaller lizard turned back towards Mina, dragger in hand, as Hana felt the grip around her throat tighten as her body was lifted further from the ground. The pain she felt ripped through her chest, intensifying as she tried and failed to hold back tears.
She couldn't see, her vision was going hazy, but as she stared at the body of her Uncle and felt the life of Mina extinguish something inside her finally snapped. For the first time in her short life uncontrollable rage bubbled inside her, feeling like a mounting pressure within her body. It built and built, until it felt like the immense pressure had no where else to go.
With a scream she felt it hit its busting point as Ki exploded from within her body, a fierce explosion of red, fire like energy. None of the three reptiles knew what was coming as their bodies were engulfed in angry black and red flames, powerful enough to rip flesh from bone and obliterate the entire lower section of the apartment complex. the explosion and the collapse of the building heard for miles, and yet, not alerting a single Ki detector in the vicinity.