A week later, her diploma had arrived in the mail. Things were tense in the house, even a month afterwards. Somehow, Allina's mother always managed to hold grudges. Long ones. She was still mad at the girl over things that had happened back when she was eleven. Allie had just yesterday celebrated her eighteenth birthday, and today was wandering in the mall. Alone. A few of the people who knew her either turned and walked the other way, or they ignored her. Some of her old schoolmates stuck out their feet as they passed, intent on tripping her. They almost did once, making her stumble, but she was so used to it that she simply placed another foot in front of her while throwing her arms out and regained her balance, continuing her stride like nothing happened.

She hated the whispers, the giggles. Her plans for after high school hadn't been so much concerned with college as they had with simply getting away. Out of this town, out of this state, out of the country. Off of the continent even, if she could manage it. But she found she was still stuck at home, with her parents. Her parents, who were vastly disappointed in her. She either wasn't smart enough, or didn't try hard enough, or didn't think enough, or didn't do them enough favors. She didn't care for them enough, and that was fine by her. She hated them. She hated everyone. The religious fanatics, who needed something to cling to. Needed some wild explanation for the existence of all things, needed something to run crying to every time something went wrong in their lives. Needed a scapegoat for it. Had to have some great being to thank for every inkling of good that went on in their little worlds. Gave up any semblance of great enjoyment for mediocre lives, only doing for others in fear of what would happen if they didn't. They should do for others simply because they wanted to, because it made them feel like better people…they were…feeble. Weak-minded. Disgusting.

She hated people, always feeling the need to take more than they deserve. Desiring what was not theirs, honestly believing they existed to control everyone. Constantly at war because no one could decide whose fairy tale to believe and felt the need to force their beliefs off on others. Constantly looking down on others as less, bigoted. Afraid of anything different, unable to accept it. Wanting to destroy it. Such a sick, hopeless race, full of violent, greedy fools.

I hate them. I hate them all.

She had a normal pair of blue jeans on, black sneakers, a plain white t-shirt and a black jacket. Every so often, she saw strange things. Such as a random person with a sword at their side, held on by a white strip of cloth. This one, like all the others she'd seen, wore black robes, had dark short hair, and a blank expression. They were…empty. That was the only word she could come up with to describe these people, so unimpressive and seemingly unimpressed. Adding to the oddity was the fact that no one seemed to notice them. Children did not change their paths when accidentally bumping into them, simply believing they'd tripped. Oddly enough, she'd seen some people pass right through, and that actually had been rather creepy.

Allina reached into her purse, pulling out her phone and checking the time. She still had an hour before she needed to start heading home, to get ready for the upcoming family event. Tomorrow they were all driving out to Dallas. Not her idea of a place for meeting, she would have preferred it if they'd gotten some place in Austin, but…oh well. She had to pick up tomorrow's outfit from the Dry Cleaners and get home to shower and eat. And then, go to bed since it would be an early morning. And by early, she means she'd be up by four. They were putting a ridiculous amount of time into this.

She turned, walked into an electronics store. Ran her fingertips along a few gaming consoles, glanced at their prices, and kept walking. Looked at a computer or two, checked out some games. When she straightened, she caught something dark standing next to her out of the corner of her eyes.

When she looked, she found herself staring down the barrel of a gun. Beyond it, a man with blue eyes glared at her. He had on a turtleneck, and the top of it covered his face. A few strands of black hair stuck out of the hood of the jacket he had, which was tugged up over his head. It was unzipped, and she could see he had on a dark green shirt. Baggy pants completed his look. "I'm going to ask you to come with me."

Finished looking him over, she met his gaze. Then, letting out the breath she was holding, she turned and walked away with a roll of her eyes. Her body was stiffening, muscles twitching, and adrenaline was pumping through her veins. That was it, though. Her body was experiencing fear, but she was overlooking it. She simply didn't care, one way or the other. She heard a click behind her. An order to stop. One of the people working in the store walked by. Gasped, dodging back behind a counter. A few other customers came into view, but they screamed and ran the other way. She took a few more steps, and then a loud noise filled her ears.

Something hit the back of her head, and it snapped forward as she stumbled. Something crashed to the floor in front of her, people screamed. More loud sounds erupted, and she realized they were gunshots. Something shoved past her, and she found herself looking at the man's back. She glanced down and found herself looking at a young woman's body. Her shoulder-length black hair was strewn across the carpeted floor, head turned to the side, and she could see some of her lightly tanned skin, a mouth that was slightly open. Her purse laid on the ground beside her, and she was limp. As Al watched, blood pooled around her, predominantly around the head, and she couldn't help but notice there appeared to be a hole in the back.

People fell around her as she walked forward, but the shooter didn't turn his gun on her again. When security came, they didn't notice her either. She heard the ringing of a chain, glancing down and seeing one hanging from her chest. Nothing was attached to the other end, and she pulled on it, expecting the thing to come off. It didn't, instead causing her pain. When the shooter was finally brought down, she watched as cops ran into the room. Pictures were taken, numbered frames placed around the bodies. People wrote on clipboards, and a few people ducked out of the back room and had to talk to an officer as well. She followed one of the officers back to the black-haired female and watched them finally start lifting her up. She was placed on a gurney, and when the brushed her hair away, Al found herself looking at a girl who was her mirror image. What the hell? She tilted her head to the side, watching as they lifted the sides of something black that they'd put her on. Zipped it all the way up, until she could no longer see the body, and then wheeled the gurney away.

She walked out of the shop, and no one tried to stop her. She looked over her shoulder and saw the strange person with the sword wearing all black running that way. She walked the opposite direction though. No one looked at her, no one stopped her to see if she was okay. It was kinda like she didn't exist. She was…used to be ignored, though. That was normal. She looked back one last time to see that the person in black was still being ignored, allowed into the shop without a word from anyone, and then Allie stepped onto an escalator. Stepped off at the bottom, walked along the mall's first floor, out the doors. She walked out into the parking lot, wandering until she found the sidewalk, then turned onto it and started walking.

A few dogs barked at her, but that was it. A cat hissed and ran away, a very small child pointed at her while leaning against his mother's leg before being patted on the head and told she didn't exist. That kinda made Allina mad though. "I do too exist!" She snapped. But, the woman kept walking, pretending to be oblivious to her presence. The whole time, that chain hung from her chest, swaying with each step and jingling. That was getting annoying pretty quickly, and after a bit she started tugging on the damn thing again. Though she eventually realized it wasn't coming off, and with a sigh she let it fall out of her hands again.

She stopped at Awa's house, knocking. After a few times, the door opened, and a teary-eyed woman just a little younger than she was opened the door. Wordlessly, she motioned her in and shut the door. Al said hi to Brennan and Thea, but they didn't respond. One was walking into their bedroom while the other sat on the couch, head in his hands. Al walked through the kitchen and dining room, then into her friend's bedroom without another word.

After a few minutes, she heard the door open and shut again behind her. "You're dead, you know."

She looked over her shoulder, waving her arms. "Obviously not. I'm here, aren't I? That not alive enough for you, LuLu?" She walked forward and sighed, twisting her legs as she turned and sat down on the edge of the bed, looking up to her. Luna Articune Awa, the first person she thought to go to when something strange and violent happened. Said something of their friendship, at least. Didn't it? She couldn't be sure, since it kinda seemed like their friendship was one-sided at times. As she'd seen over the years, her and her friends were all two-faced with each other, and she wasn't sure what was real. Probably never would be.

After a moment of staring at each other in silence, she sighed and walked to the wall. Pushed right through it, and after a moment of shock at the fact she'd actually managed to do so as though the structure was as insubstantial as air, she began walking. Out into the back yard, through the fence, into the pasture behind it. A strange whirring sound filled her ears, and as she turned around, she saw someone towering behind her.

He had shoulder-length pink hair, and orange eyes that peered down at her from behind glasses, strange white rims that almost looked sort of like bone, in a way. He had a sword strapped to his side, and the guard kinda looked like an assortment of purple grapes. There was a white shirt on him, with black lines running along it, and a white hakama that reached his ankles. It ended in strange black shoes with white lines on it. He had a strange smile on his face, tapping his chin with a gloved finger as he tilted his head to the side, looking down at her. Her immediate thought? Total weirdo.

"Can I help you?" She couldn't help snapping at him, since he creeped her out. A slow smile spread across her face, her usual reaction to such a thing. Just like how she cried when she was mad, or sometimes when she was happy as well. The responses seemed weird to her, even though she'd had the same ones for as long as she could remember.

He raised a brow, small chuckles emerging before he started slow strides around her, looking her over. She growled lowly, hands fisting, but when he came full circle and then stepped to her, grabbing her chain and holding it up to look at it, she stayed still. The urge to hurt ran deep in her bones, but over the years she'd been beaten down enough that she didn't actually have the will to raise a fist to anything. Well, unless it was in defense of one of the few friends she'd had over the years. Even her hesitance to act in any way hadn't been enough to dampen her will to protect those she cared for. But, Pinkie wasn't threatening any of her friends, at least not yet.

"Let me introduce myself." He said as he released her chain and turned his back, walking away. "My name is Szayel Apporo Granz. I don't know that you can help me, really, I'm simply looking for test subjects right now…but since you are already dead, taking you along for one wouldn't really be as much of a bother as selecting a random human to rip the soul out of." He turned and leveled a crazed grin on her, and next thing she knew he was… gone? She felt something on her cheek, like she'd been touched there lightly, and a little wind disturbed her hair. Hearing a few more chuckles coming from behind her, she turned - and immediately fell, body going limp and giving out on her. Allina could see Szayel again, merely a dark figure against moonlight now.

"Good that you agree. Well then, we're off." He stepped forward and crouched beside her, slipping an arm under her shoulders and another under her legs, then fitting his hand against the back of her head as he moved the other arm until it was at the back of her knees. She shouted at him mentally, but her mouth never opened, and her voice never escaped. Then he stood, picking her up and walking. She heard screams and tearing, and then the light of the moon was disappearing as he stepped into something, darkness consuming them. He walked in silence, steps echoing even though she saw nothing. Her head lolled slightly to the side, and she still couldn't see the floor. As they walked, Szayel spoke of his plans to use her to test some new device. It was supposed to create a hollow, and quicken the pace with which they morphed into a Menos Grande, Adjucha, and finally, Vasto Lorde. Whatever those were, since she'd never heard of any of them. She shut her eyes and simply listened, hoping that he'd continue to explain. This was apparently some attempt to generate a higher number of Vasto Lorde to convert into Arrancars. Great, another word she didn't know.

Almost as though he could sense her growing confusion and irritation, he chuckled and explained the branching terms he'd used…and as he did, her dread grew. Everything sounded…painful. And she didn't have a particularly high pain tolerance. Somewhere in all his droning, she fell asleep…