'My life basically went without incident. I never considered anything in my life "bad" or "traumatizing". I guess this was my own mistake; as an adult I found it hard to do basic things, like communicating, asking for help, admitting when I messed up. Etc, if you can think it, I probably did it.
My home life wasn't bad, just... boring. Nothing ever really happened, my father took responsibility for me. He was a very responsible man, he understood that I was a mistake he made, and he had to at least raise me right. I wouldn't say he succeeded, but... he definitely raised me. My stepmother was like my father; she understood that he made a mistake and needed to take responsibility for it. I was an affair baby, and my mother couldn't afford me. She dropped me in my father's lap and called it a day... or life, I suppose. My father and stepmother had my younger brother. After he was born, everything became a competition. They rewarded whoever got the best grades, whoever became team captain to their sports team, whoever got recognized for their artistic talent. It was tiring, I was never good at sports so that was a natural fail. I did enough to pass my gym class, and didn't play on a sports team. My brother got extra points for that.
He was the golden child, and began collecting awards, money, whatever my father and stepmother would give him really. I should've given up and seen that I would never measure up, but I tried so, so hard. I wanted them to love me, I wanted them to praise me. I went up and beyond, in arts, literature, mathematics, but somehow... every time... my brother beat me to it. It wasn't really fair, admittedly. We weren't even in the same grade, so how could they possibly compare our academics?
And yet they did, and I hated them for it. Despised them. But at the same time, I wanted even a fraction of the attention he was getting.
My father and stepmother's coddling of my brother eventually came to a head though, when once he turned 26, he gambled all their money away. It really was their own fault though, they raised an entitled brat. Whether he had to work for it or not, he grew up believing only he could do the right thing, no matter how wrong it was.
He was harassed, bullied, targeted. Those people are invisible to the world now because my lawyer stepmother drove them into the ground. Millions of dollars in dept.'
When Annie came to, she wasn't blindfolded like she expected to be. This really was an anime plot, because how idiotic are these goons? Annie looked around, and saw Anya tied up next to her. This was when she realized she was restrained, she wiggled her hands a bit to attempt to get free, but to no avail.
"What's the deal with the kids?" A voice rang through her ears, she glanced up and saw him. The man who wanted the toupee pictures. "Don't tell me they're Twilight's...?"
"Don't know, but they were in the apartment the transmission came from." One of his goons replied, the man looked at Annie specifically.
"... Why is that girl in a towel?" He asked, looking back at his goons.
"Ah! Well, she had just gotten out of the shower when we took her." The goon replied, looking over at his boss who nodded seemingly understandably.
"Well, maybe we can use them as a hostage to turn Twilight." The boss started, thinking as he turned to face his goons. "We'll make him tear off the Foreign Minister's hairpiece personally."
"Boss, I think it's time to move on from the hairpiece thing." One of the goons responded, good on him! Nobody is going to stop following someone because they wear a toup-... Suddenly, the boss pulled out a pistol and shot the man in the face. It was so quick that Annie barely had time to even register what had happened, she just stared on in horror. There wasn't a gunshot sound, only a the sound of air forcing the bullet out. Suddenly, the entire situation got significantly worse... Does this mean, she could die?! This is a revelation she wasn't exactly prepared for, after all... what would she do in the off chance she did die!?
"Transparency is essential in the government, toupee's are a no-go." The man stated, she glanced over at Anya, who was rightfully trembling. She would've been too, but she was so out of it she didn't really have time to think about it. "Also, the minister is a traitor who's been secretly backing the West. Anyone who advocates for a traitor is themselves a traitor." He finished, pacing around slightly. She needed to do something to get Anya and her out of this situation, she closed her eyes and began focusing very hard. She hear some things beginning to jiggle before a voice cuts through her concentration.
"Boss, Nguyen and his guys are back from the apartment!" The voice said, and her stomach dropped. What if they had actually somehow hurt Loid? So many things had changed from the original, what if all three of them die here?! She couldn't help but question everything, staring in fear as the group drags a man in and drops him on the floor, limp.
"Looks like they caught the guy." One of the goons said, and they all turn their attention towards the limp person and Nguyen.
"Nice work." The boss said, looking down at the man with cockiness.
"Urgghhh... Guy moved like a pro. I think it's really him!" Nguyen said, and listened when one of the other goons told him to go lay down. He staggers past the girls, but then suddenly is able to rapidly untie them, and grab Anya. Running away while Annie got the hint, and stood up and followed quickly. They needed to get out of here, this could end very badly. The man that she knew now was Loid handed her a t-shirt, she had no idea where he got it from, but it was better than the towel. She pulled it over her head, and let it fall over her body before dropping the towel. They ran out into the street, and Loid handed Anya to Annie. And then began writing a note.
"Listen girls..." 'Nguyen' started, and began jotting something down on the paper.
"It's Anya and Annie!" Anya stated stubbornly.
"Okay, listen. Anya, Annie..." He went on about 'tag' and how he and the other men are 'pro tag players'. He then handed the note to Annie, and began to walk away while explaining she should take it to the police station. 'When they see this... they'll put her in a better orphanage. I'll rework the mission, find out a way to do it that doesn't include children. Not fit to be a spy? The mistake was endangering those children in the first place.' He thought as he shooed them off. Annie began to leave, but Anya begged her to wait, so they picked a spot, and they did just that. They waited, they weren't entirely sure what went on inside, but Anya randomly stood up.
"Anya!?" Loid exclaimed out in surprise, blinking in surprise as he looked at the girls. "Annie?" He asked, expecting an explanation but before he could get one Annie stood up and ran towards him.
"Papaaawww!" She cried out, running over and attaching herself to his leg. Annie stood up and followed suit. Giving Loid a hug, but this was mostly out of worry.
"How did you... I mean, uh... What're you two doing away from home?" He asked, and Anya looked up and smiled softly.
"We were playing tag with strange men..." Anya responded, and Annie scooped her up.
"We want to go home." Annie stated, looking down Loid.
"With you, papa!" Anya cut in, intending on returning home.
"Are you two... sure about that?" He asked, concerned about them.
"If you leave us again... I'll cry." Anya threatened, it was just then Loid remembered something Frankie had told him. Anya, she had been returned to that orphanage several times.
"All right... Let's go home." Loid said, patting Anya head and then began walking. "But we need to move... I found a poisonous snake in the apartment."
"I don't like snakes." Anya admitted, and then expressed wanting to live in a castle. When they found their new apartment, Annie instantly went back to finishing her hair. She wished she had time to finish it at the other apartment, but... for obvious reasons, that didn't go well. Once she had finally finished it, this process actually took a few days time.
She actually had to use bleach to completely strip her hair down to a blonde color, which was strange to her... She looked awful with blonde hair. Black hair suited her much better than the blonde, she wondered what she'd look like with pink hair. And well, she found out in two days. After several rounds of dying, her hair looked identical to Anya's. Now she just had to keep the appearance up.
"Ta-da!" She announced as she stepped out of the bathroom, showing off her newly pink hair. Anya cheered in excitement, and Loid nodded approvingly. It was nice to finally get it, especially considering she spent the last few days in a bonnet. She was glad that her hair had finished when it did, because it was the day before testing. Annie quickly sat on the other side of the coffee table, pulling out her books and beginning to study. Prompting Anya to do the same. From reading Loid's thoughts, Annie had found out that although extremely rare, Eden Academy will accept admissions from older students for certain situations. The excuse Loid came up with was that Annie and Anya's biological mother, his ex-wife, passed recently. He moved the girls away for a fresh start, and now that they were in close enough proximity to Eden Academy, they wished to enroll.
This was great for Annie, for obvious reasons. If she could quickly become an imperial scholar, then the story's natural conclusion can't be far behind.
Night came and went, and although Annie had difficulty sleeping, she was not tired. It was around 5AM now, so she decided to cut her losses and just stay up. She arose from her bed, and began making breakfast. She didn't feel like cooking anything too dramatic, so she went for eggs and bacon.
Anya and Loid eventually woke up, they ate, and then they headed straight for the school for the exam. Annie and Anya were separated as Annie was lead to her own room for her exam. The examiner handed her the test paper, and stared down at her... She felt uncomfortable, she couldn't help but feel as if this person was looking down on her. 'This girl is definitely going to fail. Her parents should cut their losses now, before they get embarrassed.' She felt irritated after that, and she flipped through the pages at the examiner walked away, sitting at the desk in front of her. Flipping through the pages, Annie realized that the curriculum on the test was unbelievably easy. She blinked a few times, before lifting her hand.
"Yes?" The examiner asked, a look of irritation all over her face. 'Dear god, what does this girl want? Is she going to ask why it's so difficult? Well, because this is a prestigious academy!'
"Oh... Uh, I just wanted to make sure that you gave me the correct exam." Annie said, feigning the appearance of nervousness. This lady was getting on her nerves, who the heck has thoughts like that about a child!? 'Of course I gave you the right test paper, you dumb little brat!' The woman thought, and this only made Annie's irritation grow. The woman walked over and looked over the test paper.
"Yes, this is the correct exam." The woman replied, struggling to prevent herself from rolling her eyes at Annie's 'idiocy'.
"Oh! Well, thank you!" Annie said, and the woman nodded in acknowledgement, she began walking away when Annie finished. "I was just confused because of how basic these questions are." The woman stopped in her tracks, she couldn't help but smirk, she looked down and wrote her name. 'Annie Forger' she heard the teacher read her name in her thoughts 'I'm going to remember that name when I fail you.' Annie couldn't help but snicker as the teacher sat down, and began working. She finished the test in an hour and a half, faster than the majority of the other students. 'So quickly? She must've rushed though the questions to save herself from the embarrassment.' Annie snickered again as she left the room.
She then walked up to Loid, who was waiting outside of the building with the other parents. She felt eyes all over her, no doubt it was due to her age. She saw some kids her age, they probably tagged along for their siblings' tests.
"How was the test, Annie?" Loid asked, as she approached. She smiled softly and then nodded, although Loid could tell something was off.
"The test was fine, but... I couldn't help but feel like the examiner was... looking down on me." Loid's face fell, he couldn't believe someone would go out of their way to make a child feel bad. Annie sat down on the chair next to him, sitting properly as to appear as if she is elite, or even a fraction of. 'It's so hard!' 'I don't get it at all!' 'Eeny, Meeny, Minny, Mo...' 'Mommy!' Thoughts of various children rang through her mind, and she brushed them off. She had began to space out, when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.
There, standing sheepishly behind a brick wall was a girl. She had short, but thick shoulder-length brown hair, and brown eyes. She wore modern clothes, which was strange. She wore a black hoodie, and jeans. Her converse were black like her hoodie. Annie couldn't explain it, but the girl gave her goosebumps. Her stomach sank, and she felt this looming dread.
"Papa! Annie! I finished!" Anya came out, cheering as she ran up to Loid and Annie. Loid responded to her, but Annie didn't. She was frozen in place, just staring at this girl who was looking over the corner. Her face had paled, with a dark shadow hanging over it. It had looked as if she had seen a ghost.
"... Annie...?" Anya asked, reaching over and putting a hand on Annie's. Annie snapped out of it, she turned and looked at Anya.
"Oh, how was the test?" Annie asked, trying to erase the image of the girl from her mind.
"It was great! I thought it was going to be hard!" Anya exclaimed, gaining the attention of many of the nearby parents and children, some began crying at Anya's remark. Annie reached down and picked up Anya as they began to leave, Loid walking right next to them. If Anya didn't think the test was hard, that probably has something to do with Annie's studying with Anya, using Bondman as a starting point, making studying fun.
"What do you guys want for dinner? We have to make a stop at the store anyways."
Exactly 10 hours, 45 minutes and 52 seconds later... Yes, she knew because she timed it. They were standing where the test scores were going to be announced, Annie knew she passed, she knew Anya passed too. They looked a long time too, because they were all insecure enough to start from the bottom, which proved to be a mistake. There, clear as day at the top of the board was K212 - 100%. They stared blankly, Annie hadn't expected Anya to get such a high score and then they moved on to the 'Middle School' board. Annie got the highest score, proved by the K001 - 100%. Before Annie or Anya could think, Loid had scooped both of them up and swung them in the air cheerfully.
"You did it!" He cheered, but right then all his anxiety, nervousness, and fatigue caught up to him all at once. He crashed right there.
"Papa! Don't leave us!" Anya cried while shaking Loid worriedly, luckily they got help from another family getting Loid home. Annie somehow got Loid onto the couch, and they sat down. Just then the door rang, and Anya got up to answer it, although Annie beat her to it.
"Yes?" She asked, and the man at the door held up some envelopes cheerfully.
"Is this the Forger residence?" The man asked, and Annie nodded in response. He dug through his bag and handed her the envelope.
"Thank you!" Annie exclaimed, and closed the door. Walking over to Loid and Anya, she waited for him to wake up before showing him the news. She knew that this letter would inform them of the Interview, and how the children must attend with both parents present. Annie and Anya waited patiently as he read the letter aloud.
"Information of the Secondary Exam..." He started, his face becoming grim. "Three person interview, child must attend with both parents. No exceptions." He stated, and put his hand over his head.
"But... there is no ma!" Anya said, looking over at Loid with horror.
(Sorry for the short chapter, things have been hitting the fan lately. I have had to begin taking full-time care of my mother as her health has been rapidly declining. I will still work to post chapters every week, but I can't guarentee that I'll be able to. Thank you for reading, and have a good day/night/evening!)