Chapter Number: One
Rating: T
Date/Takes Place: Mere days after Prologue.
Anything Else: Elliot Knight is Kyd Wykkyd.
Author's Note: And so the story begins! Please read and leave a review down below! ^.^
Elliot Knight awoke in a cold sweat, clutching the bed sheets with his eyes squeezed tightly shut. When he finally managed to pry them open, he was greeted by five other staring faces.
Jinx was the first to speak.
"We — we heard you thrashing." she explained, shifting uncomfortably, her gaze locked on her shoes.
A smaller, floating boy snorted, wiping the sleep from his tired eyes. "Do you have any idea what time it is? I thought you were supposed to be mute!"
See-More brought down a hand quite harshly on Gizmo's bald head. The younger flinched and moved away.
Blinking up at them with half-terrified eyes, Elliot soon realized the faint look of concern on each of their faces. They could say what they wanted, but the reality was they did care. No matter how much they denied it.
He sat up straight on the mattress, shaggy raven hair brushing by his ears. Mammoth, Gizmo, See-More, Billy Numerous, and Jinx all swarmed near his bed, wondering what exactly was wrong.
"Bad dream?" Jinx guessed, situating herself near his feet. Elliot answered with the slightest nod of his head.
After grumbling their share of "go back to bed" s, most of them cleared out of the room, leaving Jinx still eyeing Elliot worriedly. Once See-More left and pulled shut the door, she asked him once more for confirmation.
"Are you sure you're okay? You've been having a lot of weird dreams lately. And you've been running off a lot. It's not like you, Knight, so what's wrong?"
Elliot felt a bit like he was suspected of murder, and so he settled for a halfhearted shrug. Jinx heaved a defeated sigh and stood.
"OK, fine, I get it. Go back to bed for now." Jinx tossed a pillow at the raven's face, turned, and strode out the door, murmuring something about his stubbornness.
When Gizmo's piercing call for breakfast (in not so many nice words) interrupted Elliot's dreams, he groaned internally, but managed to pull himself from his rest and shove a cowl over his ears. If he didn't get up soon Jinx would force him to, and that couldn't possibly end well.
He trudged lazily into the Kitchen, which doubled as the Dining Room. Jinx, Mammoth, Gizmo, and See-More were already present; though he could've guessed that on his own. Numerous had never been much of an early riser, and no one seemed to mind but Jinx when she was in a particularly bad mood. There was no snapping to clean messes or dish towels thrown, and so Elliot assumed all was well in their leader's train of thought.
The male turned towards the members currently scarfing down cereal, eggs, toast — and, in Mammoth's case, the entire fridge. By this point, an eruption of bickering had usually uplifted to fill the air void of conversation. Today everyone seemed to be content enough; but Elliot feared this scene wouldn't last very long as chaos was sure to follow when Gizmo opened his mouth to complain about the quality of his Fruit Loops.
He pushed the upbringing of multiple complaints to the side and began spreading shortening thickly onto a burnt bagel. Halfway through lifting his gaze upward, Numerous came stumbling into the Kitchen; yawning and cracking his spine. Elliot nodded his greeting and returned to the bread product smothered in butter.
Breakfast cleared quite quickly. Elliot resolved to cleaning the left-behind scraps while Jinx began the dishes. She hummed softly as she do so and, though he quite enjoyed the tune, Elliot couldn't help but allow his mind to wander through the recent nightmares he'd experienced. Most of them centered around a male bearing a close resemblance to himself, thought small differences in set them apart. The details were nearly unrecognizable . . . but Elliot had always held an eye for all the small things.
The disturbing realization at how clearly he could picture each dream always bothered him for some unknown reason. Quite often he thought to mull over the possibility of the night terrors to be reality, but these thoughts were always extinguished as childish. Eventually he decided they were only strange fantasies created by an over-active imagination.
Hovering over this, Elliot finished his cleanings and glanced up just in time for Gizmo to excitedly call the team members over towards the main system's screen. Pinpoint choice locations were marked with bold red dots, alongside them icons of what the place represented. In the center was a large green cash symbol, announcing a local bank recently receiving a sum of money. Billys swarmed near the monitor, calling southern cries with identical lop-sided smiles.
Jinx was more than pleased. "Yes! We can use this a training opportunity!" she exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air. Mammoth and Gizmo just stood with equally wicked grins plastered on their faces, nodding in agreement, as See-More's eyes switched to that of a cash symbol.
"Hive Five, rob 'em blind!" the pink-haired leader ordered, directing her attention towards the doors.
As the team members happily obliged and began clearing out, Elliot paused for a moment, the crease of a frown quite apparent, his eyes cast downwards in thought.
Jinx turned to shoot him a worried gaze just as she was leaving. "Wykkyd? You coming?"
Elliot jerked to attention, looking towards Jinx with a forced smile and a nod of his head. With that, Jinx begrudgingly let it go, and turned to follow the male through the exit.
A thin wine glass dangled between the maiden's fingers. The liquid sloshed against the rim, nearly spilling onto the carpeted, well-kept floor. She paid this no mind.
"V'ell?" Rogue began thickly, prompting for an answer. She sat in a lush, purple armchair, a leg crossed superiorly over the other. The features of her face played into an impatient, though bored expression. "V'what do you plan to do?"
The digitalized, crackling voice fed her its reply piece by piece. "You are certain it is him?" It sounded like a statement. Not a question.
The Madame emit a dry, humorous murmur. ". . . Of course."
"We will contact his current residence . . . and track his location."
Rogue sniffed distastefully. "That is not v'what I mean. What do you plan to do with him for his sins?"
The Brain remained silent for a short moment of time. Again he spoke. ". . . His face will be ours and the boy will re-gret his act-ions . . . Kyd Wykkyd . . . will fall."
With a shadowed smirk the Madame rested easily. She liked the way it sounded; coming from the Brain himself.
Yes . . . Kyd Wykkyd will fall to his knees and beg for me to take his life.
Madame Rogue raised the trembling glass to towards herself, shaking from excitement. She parted her lips only slightly to whisper in the lowest tone.
"Because that is what he deserves."