"Never, ever, trust anyone else, you got that? Just in case they betray you," The man told her, tugging on her ear sharply. His big demeanor, even sitting in a wheelchair, scared the small girl, and she nodded nervously.

"Now, what have I taught you in the last few days?"

"U-Um, to be strong, and t-to never trust anyone, and t-to-"

"STOP STUTTERING!" The big man, known better as Mr. Curtain, yelled commandingly, and the little girl flinched.

"I-I'm very sorry, u-um," The young girl shuddered violently, and Mr Curtain sighed annoyedly, setting down the girl roughly onto the pavement. She coughed loudly, and held her head in her hands.

"End of lessons today," He said, "make sure to practice using the weapons. Just in case. And make sure to REMEMBER THE RULES!" his loud voice thundered and vibrated around the prison floor, and the young frightened girl gave a big nod.

"Very good," Mr. Curtain nodded, satisfied, and disappeared into a room close by, sliding his wheelchair loudly across the pavement.

The girl fell to her knees in terror, breathing rapidly. Her pale skin glimmered with beads of sweat as she practiced into the night.

She was unable to walk back to her room, however, so at 3 in the morning, she slumped over her skinny legs and slept on the cool floor.

The next day she was forced to do labor around the prison camp.

"This is for some future guests! DO IT QUICKLY! You there, girl! Go faster!"

"Yes, sir!" Her light voice squeaked as loud as she allowed it to.

Mr. Curtain nodded, delighted that the young fool could listen and adapt quickly to instruction. She was given a shoe full of food, and a bottle cap full of water everyday. Locked in a tiny room in the very top attic, her only friend was the moon, and on most days, she would chitter to it in her quiet voice as softly as she could until a fellow ten man heard and beat her until she couldn't see.

This was to continue for years and years, and though the little girl didn't know why, she was bound to Mr. Curtain forever. Even with her anger and annoyance, her longing to run away at first chance, she was bound to follow his rules. She didn't know why she was.

But now, staring the answer in the eye, she could see why. The reason why she had suffered so many years, training for a future she hadn't asked for. Why she had been tortured and erased and bruised and...

She couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. But she forced herself to look into the eyes of the man standing in front of her.

Her father.

Years after her first day at the prison of the ten men, Rena, who was aged 12, started her missions across the Institution. She wasn't much of a learner, nor a teacher, but she had been made Messenger, perhaps because she had won favor of the headmaster. Not to say that she was liked in the school much, even by the very man who had appointed her as a Messenger, Mr. Curtain. One could call it luck, what she had, but at a second glance, she was indeed one of the unluckiest children in the world. You see, young Rena had become a ten man from a very young age, though she secretly liked to refer to herself as a ten woman. Though most of these middle aged men were recruiters, Rena herself had become a student at the very school Mr. Curtain had taken over. She was to never call herself a ten man or woman, though, and instead was labeled as a "helper". Mr. Curtain had told her bits and pieces of his plan to the girl, and she had heard him mention that they would soon be called ten men (and woman, as Rena sometimes reminded him) once his first plan failed. Which was not likely, he said, but just in case.

"Just in case" was a phrase he loved to use about, well, almost everything. Just in case, bring an umbrella, and Rena would have to sprint across the bottom of the constructed Institution and dig into her suitcase for a umbrella, and sprint back, just to see the sun shining brighter than ever. Just in case, bring sunscreen, and again, Rena would have to sprint across the school, only, she would most likely get distracted thinking and accidently bring her whole suitcase, which for some odd reason, annoyed Mr. Curtain to no end. Wasn't sure why, because he loved to be so prepared, but he in fact seemed to hate it so much that he would beat her afterwards, a common scene to those who didn't know the young girl.

Her months of being a Messenger were quite boring, in fact, but she wasn't allowed to quit, nor was she allowed to fail. She just simply had to endure the calming but frightening machine that seemed to make her feel sick. It was boring and brutal.

A few days ago, however, she had seen a young boy with average brown hair and average brown eyes walking along with a short, young girl. When inspecting the two students, the small child looked up into the eyes of Rena, sending her a shock that she felt for days, and even now, she could recall the strange feeling through her bones as she met eyes with the strange student. Quite short, too, she remembered. Didn't even come up to her hip.

Rena herself was an relatively thin girl, with a tiny figure that she had to keep in order to sneak in and out of tight spaces easily, something similar to her speciality. Her arms were quite toned, however, thanks to the labor she was forced to do around the school. She was around a average height, 5'4', and had long black hair and thin, sharp, brown eyes. She was a korean child, and, had it not been for the crash of the plane that led her to American and into the hands of Mr. Curtain, she would still be in Korean at this very moment. She sometimes dreamed of a curly haired woman and a nice man who looked similar to her, though she couldn't tell exactly why, she felt close to them, as if she had seen them before. Which was quite odd, of course, as she had never seen them before.

Anyways, she had immediately told Mr. Curtain about the strange shock, and he told her to wait it out, to see if the odd feelings would go away. It didn't, however, and she sat quietly in the corner, waiting to meet the headmaster.

"Sorry, coming through," said a voice, and she craned her neck to see who it was.

Breathing heavily, she saw the boy who had been with the short girl. Only, he was wearing the same uniform as her. A messenger banner slid across the side of his body, and he stood there, looking quite nervous, despite the fact that she knew he was about to be "rewarded", and she could tell he also knew this. Next to him was another boy who had a slick, bald, head and wide rimmed glasses across the tip of his nose and the front of his face. Rena herself had less than average eyesight, but wasn't allowed to wear glasses. Instead, she was to squint at everything and make out a good enough picture of what she saw. It had been that way for years, and Mr. Curtain insisted it was for her own good. "Beauty is everything to a little girl like you, isn't it?" He had said, but he ignored her answer, partially because she would heavily disagree, and partially because always squinting had given her a deep wrinkle between her eyes, which was anything but "beauty".

"Sorry," She replied, masking her confusion perfectly and stepping aside for the two children to walk past her, then walking in behind them. The door closed shut automatically behind them, with a loud 'click'.

"Welcome to the Whispering Gallery!" Mr. Curtain said, addressing the two children in front of her. Upon seeing Rena, his face contorted slightly at her being in the room, but not wanting to show his bad side to the two children in front of her, remained calm as he beckoned the boys forward with a crook of his finger.

The Whispering Gallery was quite a sight, with a single desk, two cushions in a corner, and in the center of the room, a strange contraption that slightly resembled a old-fashioned beauty salon hair dryer. It looked so full and empty at the same time that sometimes Rena's head hurt just by looking at it.