Ivory: Well Xen left upon assuming that I was going to turn his life into a "sob story". So here with the disclaimer is Silasyr.

Silasyr: She owns nothing but the plot, me, and Xen.

Ivory: Brief, but it works.

Chapter Two:

Why Not?

The Baron had shut the schools down, replacing them with a types of "academies". You'd choose a profession, join the academy that taught it, and continue going to those classes until you -- if you made it through the classes without failing -- graduate. I didn't want to be anything, so I'd stay at home and watch the ceiling, or sleep, or sit in the middle of my small room and wait for dad to get home.

When dad would finally get home he'd stagger into the bathroom and throw up. I don't know why, and when I asked him, all he'd tell me was: "Had a rough day."

He wasn't the ecstatic and loving father I remembered. I began to ignore him, he complained, and began to get on my nerves. Then he asked me to join the Guard, or go join an academy.

"No." I'd tell him each time he asked.

"Why not? All you do is sit around at home, you don't even bother to go to an academy." he'd respond with this every time.

"'Cause all the Krimzon Guards do is walk around in their bulky red armor, wave their guns around, and yell at people. The academies are no better, from what I've heard, most of the people don't even graduate from them."

Then he'd mumble some incoherent words and suddenly take interest in that days news.

I got tired of hearing that I didn't do anything, that I should join the Guard, or join some damned academy…So I began to spend days walking around Haven City alone, sometimes Silasyr would come with me, though he was almost always busy with training for the Guard.

"You know, Xen, it's really not so bad." Silasyr would tell me, the once bright eyes were now shadowed by his heavily tattooed face.

"You sound like my dad." I'd mutter.

"So? I mean the tattooing doesn't hurt as bad as most people think, and the chance of an infection is pretty slim…"

"It's not that." I'd tell him. "It's just, what exactly do they do? Besides "keep the peace"."

He'd normally stop and think for a moment, then shrug.

"I'm still just training."

With Silasyr becoming more and more caught up with his training, I had nobody to talk to, and soon I stopped going for my walks altogether. Dad still asked me why I didn't go join an academy or start training in the Guard, and I still gave him the same answer. Seeing that the repetition of his question was having no affect on me, he changed his tactics. He told me I had to pick one of the two or he'd sell me to the Baron to do what he wanted with me. Personally, I'd rather join the Krimzon Guard than go to an academy and make a fool out of myself by failing. But then again, I'd rather rot in some cell than join a group of egotistical bastards. I told him so, too. And, as promised, he sold me to the Baron.

I have got to have the best dad in the world.

Like I said, I'd rather rot in some cell than join the Krimzon Guard, and so rot I did. I heard screams echo off the metallic walls of the prison, I assumed that some new type of torture had been discovered by the Commander of the Guard…Or the Baron…Whoever's in charge of that stuff. I, thankfully, wasn't introduced to this, instead, I was the guinea pig of the doctors. I got to take the brunt of the side effects some of the new medicines and such had, like fevers, colds, vomiting, paling of the face, temporary blindness, hell, even short-term insanity (which, made my decomposing more enjoyable).

I didn't get to meet the Commander of the Guard, and I guess I was lucky for that. Though in his stead I got to meet some very interesting individuals…Most of whom were irritable, depressed, or just pathetic. And this was basically how my years in prison went, I survived through some medicinal defects, shrugged off the Guards' jeering and insults…Though the beatings weren't as easy to get over. That heavy armor hits hard, and being under weight due to lack of nutrition, it would knock me into the cell wall.

I spent about two or three years in prison, the doctors lost interest in me and moved onto other prisoners, I guess my immune system worked up defenses against their medicines. I hadn't heard much about anybody, though I managed to catch something about Silasyr joining the front…Or some other military term. There were also some rumors about a group of renegades that would break into the prison and free some of the prisoners. This I found funny, because it seemed to have the Krimzon Guards in my sector worked up, I guessed it was because they were afraid to meet someone that would gun them down. I wasn't stupid though -- those pills and injections hadn't melted my brain -- I knew that if I laughed at them or pointed out the fact that they were scared, I'd get my scrawny little ass kicked.

The beatings became more regular, everybody needs a way to vent their anger and frustration I guess, I took mine out on the cheap, thin blanket I got. After awhile though, the Guard became more confident in their ability to break anybody who managed to get thrown into their sector. Some of them were probably pretending to have given up, some of them weren't. Me? I was between the two. I think the Guards noticed this and decided that it was their duty to make sure every single one of the people in their boundary screamed, or cried, whichever came first. This meant that the abuse got more severe, and lasted a lot longer on those who didn't give in so easily. Some of the "sessions" lasted a lot longer after the victim had screamed, you could hear them beg. My own punishment was moderate in length, most of the time it consisted of being kicked, hit, mentally tortured, or being thrown into various things. Sometimes they would even think out of the box and come up with new ways of abuse.

It was sometime later that year that I heard the red sirens go off, blaring out the alert: "Breach in the prison. Look out for intruders." The Krimzon Guards on duty in my area instantly became alert, they had been sharing a conversation about the Baron's new "Dark Warrior Program." My ears perked at the sound of gunfire, some instructions being yelled, and then more gunfire. I watched the taller of the two Guards near my cell fall to the metal floor with a loud thud, and the second grimacing as he felt the floor become slightly sticky with blood, as he began to back up, he managed to loose his footing and fall back into a wall, knocking himself out. I heard more shouts and the sound of boots hitting the ground hard.

I soon saw one of the renegades pass by my cell, checking both Guards' pulse before taking a security pass from the one that had been shot. He appeared satisfied with the discovery of the pass and walked to the cell left of me. There was a was something muttered through the security system of the cell and I assumed from the sound of metal scraping against the floor that the door had slid open. I watched the man walk to my cell, and he repeated the process, I muttered a light "Thanks" and he shrugged saying it was "Nothing new" before he walked to the next cell and continued from there.

The siren was still blaring I thought it best to navigate my way out of the prison, of course, I didn't have to. It seemed that the group had planned that out as well, as there was about five of the renegades near the entrance to the sector, each of them was gathering some of the prisoners and leading them out of the building. I wasn't about to wait for some person to tell me to follow them, so I joined a group and let the "leader" guide me out. Once back in the open air, there was a series of different vehicles, and map that held directions to different empty apartments or homes, most of which were some distance away, so a security pass was included with the map.

The renegades began to tell people to get onto a vehicle and follow the directions on the map, that there'd be various sizes of clothes, some food, etc. at the building they were going to. I hadn't learned to control one of the zoomers, so I resorted to taking a quick lesson from a nearby person. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, and soon I had reached my destination, after dodging through various alleys, and taking roundabout roads to loose the Guards that had been hunting the escapees down…This wasn't that easy of a task either, I almost wrecked my vehicle about half way there. I did manage to loose them though, eventually, and when I got to the deserted home I found some decent clothing, I had to cope with attire that was slightly big on me, not that I cared. It was better than what I had been wearing.

I assumed the place wasn't a permanent dwelling service, so I ate quickly, and managed to get used to being back in the city. I was just beginning to grow accustomed to the security the small home offered when the sound of shooting and some yelling reached my ears, dammit, I had just began to get used to the hum of engines outside, too.

Ivory: Erm…About the renegades, it's not the Underground, I don't know if they held raids on the prison, in fact, I don't think they did…In my opinion they'd be careful about who they release, this group obviously wasn't…I think they just like to piss the Baron off. ::shrugs:: As for the schools and stuff in the beginning, I assumed they didn't have actual schools (after eighth grade, 'cause everything you learn through grades one-eighth is pretty basic), but instead academies, and that's why I wrote them to be shut down. As for the whole escape vehicles, I don't remember what they're called, I think it's zoomer, but I'm not entirely sure. And no, not all of the escapees made it to the buildings they were headed, I think about 7-9 of them did. ::shrugs:: So…Give me feedback…Please? ::big puppy eyes::

Silasyr: That doesn't work.

Ivory: Shut up. So, suggestions on stuff, questions, anything? Ah well, I don't know when I'll get the next chapter up, but, maybe if you review, it'll motivate me to type faster!