'The classroom was lit perfectly, despite the light being kind of dead and leaving a dim shine. The sun lit up the room the rest of the way, no doubt because it was in the middle of the day. Early morning and noon were the best times to be in this classroom, any time after these made the classroom somewhat eerie and uncomfortable. At this time though, it was lit perfectly.
I sat in the front second seat from the window, quietly eating my lunch. I'd usually bring it here and eat with the teacher since I didn't really get along with many of my peers, and the ones that I did had club activities or meetings today. I stared down at my mac and cheese, and began shoveling the peas I had into it. Strange, I know but I liked it. Seemed more normal to me than ketchup in mac and cheese. I'd seen a girl do that before, her name was Eliza. She was allergic to just about everything, apples, oranges, peanuts. You name it, she was probably allergic. On top of that, she had horrible asthma too. Kind of feel bad for her, it flared up at random times and more than once this year she had to be taken out of our school in a ambulance. I finished eating my mac and cheese, and was just about to drink my milk when I heard giggling from the end of the hallway. Hopefully it isn't anyone unsavory. I opened my milk and chugged it, once it was all gone I placed it back on my tray.
A few minutes passed, and the giggling got louder and louder until a group of girls walked in. I recognized them, unfortunately I do not really get along with them. I hung my head and stared down in an attempt to avoid grabbing their attention. Of course, this didn't work.
"Oh look at this!" One girl, the one I recognized as Ava. She was pretty as a painting, but her personality was awful. I honestly couldn't fathom the idea of someone wanting to date her, especially not my foster brother. Of course, I guess he was just as equally awful as she was. "Glad you graced us with your lonely presence, are you?" Her voice was annoying, and I wanted to talk back but I held my tongue. I didn't want to make the situation worse, but... as always I didn't need to do anything to have them continuously harass me.
"Seriously, what are you even doing here?" Emily, Ava's personal informant spat out. "Don't you have a hole to crawl into or something?" She sneered, it was an expression I was all too familiar with. I clenched my fists, closing my eyes tight as I tried to maintain my composure, of course this never really helped.
"Maybe if you put as much effort into making friends as you did shoveling food into your mouth, you'd have more!" mocked Zara, Ava's back-up friend. In case Emily ever decided to ditch her. I thought it was funny, the fact that Ava's friends could leave her at any moment. Drama wasn't far from these girls, and it wasn't going to be long until they're at each others throats instead of mine.
"Or! Or! Maybe if you didn't eat so much, your parents wouldn't of left you!" The girls began with another barrage of insults relating to my family-life, some of them bringing up the fact that my foster brother barely even notices my existence.
"Did you even have a family? I guess we'll never know, the only family you have now is that foster family... but not even your brother will accept your existence!" Ava, as usual had a malicious smirk lacing her lips, it made me unbelievably angry, I just... had to say something.
"Seriously? 'A hole to crawl in'? 'your parents left you'? 'Your foster family won't accept your existence'!?" I made whiny face, and then rolled my eyes. "Can't you guys think of anything else to say to me?" I asked, annoyed while looking over at Ava, Emily and Zara, who's faces were twisted in surprise as they hadn't expected me to fight back.
"... Oh little orphan, I think you need to cool down." Ava said, her smirk widening as she opened the milk she had been carrying, and then dumped it over my head. Emily and Zara followed suit, emptying their milk cartons onto my head. I sat there, drenched and surprised. I felt tears beginning to well up in my eyes... I hated it, I hated it... I hated HER... I'm going to...
Suddenly, Three's eyes fluttered open and she sat up, looking around confused. She was no longer where she was before, and Seven, Nine, and Ten were nowhere to be found. Upon realizing this, she stood up quickly and began frantically looking around fearfully. She began walking around, desperate for even a glimpse of them. Suddenly, she felt some tugging on the hospital gown she was wearing, and she turned around in a panic. She stopped when she noticed who it was. It was Seven, who stood there worried.
"... T... Three..." She said, walking up to her and Three leaned down and scooped her up. "N-Nine and T...Ten went to go find food... B...Because was hungry... Don't know where they went..." Three nodded, and then grabbed the piece of fabric that she had been using to carry Seven and began putting it on, just as she was about to instruct Seven to get in, someone called out to her.
"Three!" It had been Nine's voice, and she and Ten were walking back to where they were, Ten was carrying what seemed to be a heavy bag, filled with some stuff. As they approached, Three set Seven back down.
"You guys shouldn't of left while I was unconscious." Three scolded, causing Nine and Ten to look off to the side nervously.
"We're sorry... but Seven was hungry so we had to go get some food..." Ten explained gesturing to the bag that they had been carrying. Three nodded, and then reached out, gesturing for the children to hand her the bag. They did, without even a second thought and she began looking through it, removing anything she knew was poisonous. This left them with leeks, lettuce, carrots and wild strawberries.
After thoroughly going through the food, Three handed Seven some strawberries. This is all they have for now, and who knows what'll happen. Three looked up, and then began standing up.
"We cannot stay here; we can not stay in one place for too long. Maybe if we're lucky we'll be able to find an orphanage or something in a nearby city... Honestly though, I have no idea where we are." Three admitted, putting the fabric sash back on, and tucking Seven back onto her back. Seven looked over her shoulder as they began walking, Ten carrying the food.
It had been only a few minutes until Three noticed how badly Ten was struggling with carrying the bag. It made sense, after growing up in a lab only focused on their mental abilities, their motor skills aren't very... high. She looked around, curious as to if there was something nearby that may make the bag easier for him to carry. There was no luck though. Three then reached down and ripped a long thick strap of her gown off, thanks to the fact the gowns were pretty long there was plenty of fabric for Three to work with, however Three's gown was running low. She brushed it off and then turned around.
"Ten, hand me that bag." Three said, although to be honest calling it a 'bag' was already very generous. In reality it was a sack, it resembled a potato sack, but hey it allowed them to carry food. Ten obeyed, trusting Three wholeheartedly, despite just meeting, they really did only have each other. Nine glanced around nervously, worried that someone was going to get them. Three quickly used the fabric to make a make-shift backpack, and made it closeable, of course that's only by tying a extra piece of fabric around the top. "This will make it easier to carry." Three said, leaning down and helping Ten get it back on his back. She'd carry it herself, if it weren't for Seven who was strapped to her back.
"T... Thank you, Three." Ten said, beginning to walk with each other again.
"That reminds me, where did you guys find that bag?" Three asked, turning to Nine and Ten with curiosity.
"We found it floating upstream, we don't know where it came from." Nine confirmed, shyly. Three nodded, it wasn't the best answer, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been. She was just glad they didn't say they plucked it off a corpse or something.
"Okay, on that note, if either of you see any kind of food, show it to me and I'll confirm whether it's safe to eat or not." Three said, wrapping her hand around Ten and Nine's hands, so they don't wander off. They nodded in agreement. "Also, lead me back to that 'stream'." She said, and they set off in the direction of the stream. It wasn't a stream though, it was a waterfall connected to a very small river. But it was something she could work with. She looked around and then placed Seven down onto the ground, Ten placed the bag down and sat next to her. "Keep an eye on Seven, I'll be back." Three said, the children looked worried for a second. Three could see their faces fall as they mumbled in agreement. They had no issue listening to her before, what's the problem now?
Three thought for a few moments before it hit her, she stared at the three children with sadness in her eyes. They thought she was going to abandon them. Logically speaking, ditching them would be Three's best bet... but she couldn't possibly do that. She walked forward, and wrapped her arms around the three of them.
"... I will never abandon you... So don't worry..." She whispered, tears welling up in her eyes as she turned around and then walked away. She was only away for a few moments before she decided it was best to turn back. She just needed to get a feel for the surroundings. But now she has to return to help the kids make some kind of shelter. When she returned, the children sat calmly on the ground, almost sadly. A twig snapped, and the children looked up and their expressions just lit up. Three had returned, and they were no longer worried.
Three walked over and began instructing Nine and Ten on how to make a makeshift-wooden shelter using broken wood branches, twigs and leaves.
It took a few hours, but they had somehow managed to build it. It wasn't anything fancy, it was just to protect them from the elements. They all piled into the make-shift shelter, and laid down close together, Three brought the children closer to her to keep them warm. Luckily, it wasn't too cold, but she wasn't taking any chances.
"So you guys... I've been thinking..." Three said, looking down at the children. "We can't call ourselves numbers forever, people will eventually think it's strange... We should make up some names." Three said, smiling as she moved to make herself more comfortable.
"Anya!" Seven suddenly called out, causing Nine, Ten and Three to look over to her. Three was confused, after all... Anya didn't have a name yet... Did she? Did she really just come up with that name on the spot? It was strange; but she didn't think Nine and Ten caught on. They were obviously too young.
"Your name is Anya?" Nine asked, and then looked up with a slight frown, she was clearly deep in thought. "Then... I'll be Anna, so we kind of match!" The newly named Anna proclaimed, causing Anya to look up with happiness and smile brightly. Ten took the show next by exclaiming loudly.
"Oh! Oh, I can be Arlo!" He said, smiling happily. It was crazy to think about the fact that these children had never know themselves as anything but a number. It made her sad, and just as she was thinking she noticed all three children staring at her, awaiting her choice of name.
"Ah..." Three said, and sat there thinking for a few moments... "Well, I don't see why I can't continue the pattern, I'll be... Annie! That way we're all A's!" She exclaimed, smiling brightly at the children. It was then that she realized just how tired she was, and after she was sure that the children were asleep, she herself also fell asleep.
In hindsight, this was probably a bad idea.
"Are they alright?" Three heard an unfamiliar voice, and she stirred slightly.
"Yeah, they're fine. This shelter protected them." Another voice said, and Annie's eyes shot open. She sat up, and noticed that Anya and Anna were crying, while Arlo was blocking the path to them. She quickly grabbed all three of them, and clung onto them protectively. She glared intensely at the man who had been looking inside. He was wearing a uniform... she couldn't quite place where she had seen it before. But she didn't care, she quickly began grabbing their stuff, Anna helped Annie tie Anya to her back, and Annie quickly scooped up Arlo and Anna, and she quickly exited the shelter through the other side, where the people who had found them stupidly left unguarded.
"Wait!" The man that had been glancing inside said, before ordering everyone to run after them. She could hear the sounds of the people running as she ran throughout the forest. But unfortunately, she took a wrong turn and ended up surrounded by people. The man caught up, and walked forward. "Calm down... I just want to help..." He said calmly, and Annie prepared to use her telekinesis again, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't. She felt her knees beginning to wobble, as if they were going to give out.
"... What kind of help?" Annie asked, looking up with skepticism and distrust, it was clear to the man that wherever these children came from, they were not able to trust people easily.
"We... want to find you four a safe place to go..." The man said, backing up slightly to ease the children. They clearly weren't comfortable, especially with being surrounded by police officers. And that's when it hit her, the men... they were all wearing the State Security Service uniforms, and that's when her stomach dropped. If they went with them, surely there would be no chance at Annie and Anya ending up in the care of Loid. Especially if Anya begins acting as if she knows what they're thinking... Or even tells them where they are from. Annie's guard went back up, and she quickly glanced around.
She initially didn't spot anything, so she knew she was going to have to feign cooperation until they could find an easy way out of this situation.
"O... Okay..." She said, her head hung but she kept the children close to her. She had Arlo in her left arm and Anna in her right, and Anya was of course, tied onto her back like a living back pack. In the hurry, she had just slung the bag of food over her shoulder, but she knew she would ditch it if she had to. "B-But don't come too close!" She requested, earning and understanding nod from the man.
"Alright then, come along children." The man said, walking just a bit ahead of them. "Just so you know, you can call me Marcus." The man said, and she nodded in agreement as she glanced around for a clear exit.
As they walked through the forest, she held onto the children tightly. Soon they reached a large clearing, which was a miracle in itself. It seemed as if the forest would've gone on forever, and ever. As they walked into the clearing, she noticed an unused path nearby. It led back to the dense forest, but it'd be better than being in the custody of the SSS. She kept a careful eye on the men who were meant to be watching them, and when they got distracted, Annie leapt into action. Literally, she jumped several feet onto a thick tree branch. She quietly settled in the leaves, and waited for the SSS guards to notice they were gone.
"Wait, where did the children go?!" One of the men exclaimed, causing Marcus to turn around in surprise.
"... You lost them?! How did you lose them?!" He yelled, Annie sat as comfortably as she could on the tree. Thinking about it, she had no idea how she was able to do that. Is it possible that the experiments done on them caused them to have more than just a power? Advanced strength and agility? That was the only logical explanation. After this situation though, Annie acknowledged that she couldn't take care of these kids herself... She needs to lead them somewhere safe, somewhere someone could help her look after them...
She thought for awhile, while they waited out the SSS. They looked around for awhile, but were ultimately unable to find them. After the SSS guards left, Annie carefully climbed down the tree, Arlo and Anna following close behind. Once they set foot on the ground though, Annie scooped them back up. She couldn't explain it, but she felt unreasonably protective of these children. Maybe it's because of their past? Or that they all shared a backstory with Three. Either way, she fully intended on finding them a safe place to be. She ran down the path she saw earlier, and noticed that it lead to a small cottage. It was damaged from time, but there was probably something inside they could use. Annie entered, slowly, checking to see if there was anybody else in the building. She put the Arlo and Anna down, and then pulled Anya off her back, placing her gently onto the floor.
"Okay guys, lets look around for any supplies. It can be anything, food, clothes, bags, whatever." Annie stated, and then began to look through the belongings in the home. She was unsure if Anya had come through here in the original timeline, but she honestly didn't really care. She found clothes of all kinds of varying sizes. She couldn't help but wonder who had lived here, before abandoning it. Of course, there's a chance the original owner perished. Especially since there was a lot of war going on the last few years.
"Anya, Anna... come here." Annie said, and turned around, and they walked forward. "Arlo, you should turn around for now." Annie said, nodding as Arlo obeyed, turning around and facing away from the group. After he did, Annie began helping Anya and Anna change into different clothes. It was time to ditch the hospital gowns.
"Okay, Arlo. Your turn." Annie said, and Arlo walked over, Anya and Anna walked away. Annie gave him some clothes that would vaguely fit him, and then nodded and turned around.
"O... Okay Annie, I'm finished." Arlo said, and Anya and Anna ran over to him, smiling cheerfully and talking. Arlo was dressed in a black t-shirt that was just a little too big for him, and some jeans that had somehow been the perfect size. Anna was wearing a white t-shirt that was much too big for her, it was more like a dress on her. Anya was in the same boat, wearing a brown t-shirt that was dress-sized on her. Annie, however was still dressed in her hospice gown. She walked over and began digging through the clothes. She settled when she found a pair of jeans that just barely fit, and a t-shirt that was too big. She couldn't help but wonder who lived here, and why did they have so many different types of clothes? She didn't have time to ponder this, as they kept looking for supplies. They eventually found a better bag, since it was made to sling over the shoulder, so it'd be easier for Annie to carry the food and the kids. Before they left, Annie went through the non-perishable food that was in the counters. She didn't have much time to think, she just took it all.
After they gathered everything, Annie took the leftover fabric from the hospice gowns, and piece by piece somehow made a sling, it was made to hold Arlo, Anna, and Anya. They were still just young enough for Annie to carry them all on her back. It was going to be rough, but she wasn't taking any chances. While digging through everything, she found a hairbrush and some hairties. She very quickly took the hairties and called Anya over. Anya's hair was in her recognizable triangular buns, but Annie took them out, to Anya's dismay.
"B-But, Big Sister Annie... I..." She began protesting, but Annie decided it would be a good idea to just spit it out.
"If you have the same hairstyle, it'll be easier for the people to find you." She admitted, Anya nodded to signify that she understood. Annie began gently brushing the knots out of her hair, once her hair was knot-free, she braided her hair into two braids, and then moved onto Anna. She pulled Anna's hair into two golden ponytails, and then looked towards Arlo.
"I can either style your hair, or we can cut it." Annie said, gesturing to the scissors she had found while digging around. Arlo seemed to think for awhile, before sitting in front of Annie, gesturing towards the scissors. "Are you sure? It might take awhile for it to grow back." Annie admitted, but Arlo nodded.
"If I still have long hair, they might find us. I should cut it." Arlo said, with a determined expression. Annie nodded, and then began chopping his hair off. All things considered, it actually looked pretty good. After doing so, Annie pulled her own hair into two loose low pigtails that fell at her shoulders. She quickly swung the food bag over her shoulder. She then put the children in the sling-backpack hybrid, and put it on her back, preparing to leave.
They walked for a long time, before they began hearing the sounds of cars. The children were terrified, as they had never heard the sound before, but Annie calmed them. She gently explained what a car was as they continued on, and soon they reached the top of a small hill, finally in sight was a large, bustling city. She had no idea where they were, but she could only assume that they were in Ostania, as that's where the manga takes place, but with everything going on, Annie didn't really have a clear answer.
After thinking on that for a few moments, Annie shook off her thoughts, she was just about to begin heading down when...
"Big Sister Annie..." She heard Anya's voice speak up from behind her, so she turned to acknowledge her, and awaited her to continue. "... I really need to pee."