Old Dreams

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Chapter One:

Shade's Ved

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A tall figure sat in front of a computer screen, typing away, putting in programs, stopping viruses, anything to keep busy, and to keep people from talking to him. Not that the last part really mattered, it was so late he was practically the only one up.

Looking at him, you'd say he was somewhere between the ages of seventeen to nineteen, but for some reason, the way his face looked, you could have mistaken him for someone older. You could practically tell that he had seen things that no one should've.

Peroxide blond hair, up in spikes, an old look to some - out-of-date a few years (not that anyone really knew), but the boy didn't care. It was practically a lifeline.

The computer next to him began to boot up on it's own but the boy didn't look at all surprised, just kept working on the one he was at. When a face showed up on the screen next to him, the boy turned slightly, nodded at it, then went back to working on whatever it was now.

"Up late again, Ved?" The computer man asked. The boy, Ved, just nodded his head, still typing away at the keyboard. "You should get some sleep - big mission tomorrow!" The computer guy practically giddy - or at least as giddy as this guy could get.

"I'll go to sleep once I figure out who-" A clucking sound came from computer man.

"Ved, Ved, Ved! Don't worry about this! Let the new recruits handle this type of work! You need your rest!" Ved ignored him and kept on typing. After a few minutes, the computer guy spoke up again. "Ved, really, you should go to sleep - and…I believe the rodent-"

"Mouse?"

"Yes, her, she seems to be writing letters to that Salene character again. You know, Chloe and you have never really told me about her, or any of the others." Ved turned sightly, after just turning off the computer, and looked at the one beside it.

"Shade, I don't know where Chloe came from, so I know no one there." The computer man - Shade - nodded his head.

"Yes, yes, yes, I understand that but what about where you came from, what about those people?" Ved shrugged, getting up, he stretched his muscles, not knowing that they were so out of joint.

"I didn't really know any of them Shade." He answered. Shade was nodding his head in the screen.

"I understand that, I understand that, but - didn't you have a sibling? An older brother? What about him." Ved shrugged, beginning to walk over to the early teen hall area to check on Mouse.

"He looked like me." Was all he said, turning his back to the screen. He knew Shade was gone when the light from the computer turned off. Ved walked on for a while until he was in front of Mouse's door, knocking on it lightly.

"Knock, knock?" He whispered silently, knowing that only someone awake would hear it. Just as he thought rustling of papers could be heard and Mouse's tired voice coming back to him saying, "Just a second, just a second! I'm not done yet!" He heard the pencil meeting the paper for a while longer but then it stopped, more paper rustling, lick and then Mouse walking back over to her bed.

He walked over and began to tuck her in. She looked up at him, slightly annoyed.

"You know I'm not a baby or a toddler or anything, right?" He grinned at her.

"That's exactly right, you're an adolescent - good for you. Now go to sleep." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm eleven years old you know…"

"So?"

"So…oh never mind. I'm not a baby anymore." Mouse complained weakly to him. He nodded slowly.

"No, you aren't a baby anymore, are you?" he rubbed her hair lightly, and waited until she fell asleep before he got up to leave the room. When his hand touched the doorknob, Mouse's voice reached him one more time.

"Ved?" He turned to her.

"Yeah, Mouse?"

"Do you still think your brother's out there? Do you think that he's still alive…or do you think that the, the Overlords got him?" He was silent so long that Mouse actually fell asleep in it, so she couldn't hear his answer, not that he gave one.

Ved closed the door behind him, happy that the three other girls Mouse had to share the room with didn't wake up during any of that. It was one reason Mouse hated the place, she couldn't do any of her regular rituals that they made when they first joined 'Shade's Children' without looking like a 'Baby', like the tucking in thing. She needs to grow out of that anyway. Ved actually winced at the sound of that word. For some reason, the thought of anyone growing up scared him, as far as he was concerned, it seemed growing up was bad luck.

It took him a while to get to the 'Late Teens' area. Unlike the children, preteen, and early teens, which takes up six halls. these halls weren't divided up into sexes, taking up only one. And unlike the others, each 'Late Teen' gets their own room.

He put his hand up to a little scanner on the wall, waiting for the regular five seconds it took to work, then practically falling into his room when the doors slid open. Guess I really was tired. He thought to himself. He took off his shirt and pants, leaving him in his boxers as he stumbled across the floor and plopped onto the bed, not even caring enough to put the covers on first.

A moment after he fell asleep, another figure walked into the room, looked at him, shook her head and then went to the closet, grabbing an extra blanket from it, she aired it out silently and put it over him, moving his bangs away from his eyebrows for a moment to get a better look at his face. She shook her head silently before turning back around and leaving the room.

-fin chapter-