~ Life is a foreign language: all men mispronounce it. ~
Christopher Morley
~Venice, Italy - 11:38 pm~
The streets of Venice gave a new definition to the word 'silent.'
Everyone was sound asleep after the celebrations of yesterday. The Carnival of Venice had just ended and, after much partying and drinking, everyone was catching up on some much-needed rest.
Well, almost everyone.
A lone figure walked across one of the many bridges. The figure wore a long, black cloak that billowed around them in a way that made it impossible to see the face or gender of the person. The person walked without purpose or hurry, seemingly just another Italian out for a nightly stroll.
Well, one who was about to be robbed, that is.
"Do we need to go over the plan, boys?" a greasy-haired man whispered to his two cohorts standing behind him.
"We go in, grab the money and run. Easy enough," one of the men answered.
"Right, and if this person tries to put up a fight we…?"
"Use this," the other guy whispered, holding up a big butcher knife that glittered menacingly in the light of the half-moon.
"Exactly," the leader said, grinning widely as he turned to watch the cloaked-figure turn down an alley-way. "Let's go."
The men ran after the figure.
~Alleyway~
The cloaked-person walked to the end of the alleyway, already seeing clearly that it was a dead end. The person sighed and turned around, not even remotely surprised to see the thieves at mouth of the alleyway. The figure sighed again, knowing that it was going to be a long night.
"Hand over your money and we might not hurt you," the man at the front said. He was holding a large knife out in front of him.
The cloaked figure cocked his/her head to the side, as if confused.
The leader sighed in annoyance. "Just give us your money."
The person reached into the outer-folds of its cloak and came out empty handed.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" the thief on the right mumbled. He turned to his leader, "What do we do now?"
The man frowned and shrugged, "Kill him and let's go."
"You should leave. Now," the cloaked figure said in a sweet, feminine voice.
The three men stared at her in shock. "It's a chick," the one of the left mumbled, sounding stunned.
The man in the middle smiled taking the knife and walking towards her, a wicked grin plastered on his face, "Looks like this night won't be for nothing after all."
The female sighed; she really didn't feel much like fighting. She just wanted to go back to her small, cozy apartment before the early-morning people started to rise.
'I probably shouldn't have gone out this late…' she thought.
"Then why did you?" a voice asked.
The girl looked up and saw another man floating slightly to her left. His head was level with hers and she could easily see his snow white hair, gray skin and his smirk. He looked like he expected her to be shocked, maybe even scream and ask how he was floating in mid-air.
Instead she calmly answered his question. "I didn't feel like sleeping and, besides, I like the city better when it's quiet. It's more peaceful," she said with a shrug.
"So, instead, you go out by yourself, at night, in a city known for its thieves," another voice stated from behind her.
She turned her still cloaked head to her right and saw a man leaning against the brick wall of the alley. He was tall with deep violet, almost black hair. He wore a long black suit and top-hat. She noticed that he also had the same golden eyes and gray skin of the man still floating beside her. He raised an eyebrow, waiting for her response.
She shrugged again. "Basically."
The man sighed and stood up off of the wall. "Something tells me you're going to be a handful."
"Oh, Tyki, be nice to the 15th !" an overly cheerful voice exclaimed from the mouth of the alleyway.
The girl looked in front of her, past the forgotten thieves at ten people and…a very odd looking…person?
"Yeah, be nice to my new sister, Tyki!" a teenage girl with violet hair shouted back at the man she assumed was…Tyki?
'That doesn't sound right…' the girl thought to herself as she looked at the man who had moved to stand directly beside her.
He noticed her staring and looked at her more closely. "Hey, what's with the hood?" he asked, reaching forward, as if to remove it.
The girl felt panic immediately rise in her chest and she took a step back, causing the man to frown. "Hey, what's wrong wi-?"
"What are you people?!"
Everyone turned to the three thieves standing in the center of the alley. The man with the knife looked panicked as he turned from the mouth of the alleyway to the end, seemingly surrounded by these gray-skinned people.
"How crass…" a female in her early twenties with long deep-violet hair held in a ponytail said, sounding disgusted.
"Is that anyway to address someone?" asked a man with long, curly dark blue hair as he glared at the now-noticed thieves. "I swear, humans have no manners these days."
"Can we just get this over with?" came the whining voices of two teenage…guys? One had messy dark-purple hair and the other had long blond hair. She wasn't quite sure if the blond one was a guy though. She noticed that there were three other males behind them, all with the same gray skin and gold eyes.
"L-look, how about w-we j-just g-g-go and s-say this n-never h-happened...alright?" the one thief on the left asked in a terrified voice.
"Hee-hee !" the…thing in the center laughed, sounding much more intimidating then his wide grin suggested, "We can't let you leave !"
"C-come on! W-what did we d-do to you?!?!" the man with the knife shouted.
The thing looked over his spectacles, glaring menacingly at the three, "You threatened a member of the Noah family ."
'The Noah family?' the girl wondered to herself, 'Is he talking about me? A member of their family?'
It was strange, somehow, the thought felt…right.
The thing at the entrance of the alley raised a gloved hand holding a pink umbrella to the sky. Suddenly, a dozen monster-like creatures appeared in the sky. They all appeared to have large cannons attached to them on all sides.
"My darling Akuma, attack !" the thing shouted, pointing at the thieves.
The cannons all turned towards the thieves on his command.
Tyki glanced at the innocent-sounding girl. "Miss, if I were you, I wouldn't look. It's not a pleasant sight."
He saw a flash of gold from under her hood before she spoke quite simply, "Why should I turn away? They don't deserve life."
This caused Tyki to blink in confusion and not pay much attention as the Akuma started firing at the thieves. He ignored their screams of pain and asked, "Don't deserve…?"
The girl's head turned back in the direction of the thieves who were now nothing more than ash on the ground. "They take the lives of others, thus they misuse the lives that are given to them. Those who waste their lives do not deserve life."
"Very well put, my dear !"the same too cheerful voice said from behind Tyki. He turned to see the Earl and the rest of the Noahs. They had apparently ignored what was left of the thieves, choosing instead to come and greet the new Noah.
The girl felt a sharp spike of pain in her head that quickly turned into a pounding headache.
'Not again…' the girl thought as she started to shake slightly from the pain.
"I am the Millennium Earl !" the creature in the front said gleefully. "What do you call yourself ?"
"Something's wrong…" she vaguely heard the man floating to her left mutter as he gave her a questioning look.
"I-I'm -" the girl felt her mind go completely blank at that moment.
Then all she saw was darkness.
-Chapter 2 End-