Chapter Two: Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya.

Lyssa awoke, but kept her eyes closed. She might have been unconscious, but she could still sense the jarring minds all about her. Slowly, warily, she looked about with her mental eye, discerning several minds a distance away from her. One mind, in particular, stood out like a sun among candles, blazing bright. It had purpose about it, purpose Lyssa could not discern. This skill of hers was frustrating, revealing bits and pieces but not enough to assemble a picture of a person. Then there was a collective sense of... Lyssa couldn't put a word to it. Gratification? She didn't put much more thought into it as the fiery mind started to approach her.
“Wake up, scum.” Her eyes snapped open with fear as he grabbed her hair and pulled her up roughly as she yelped in pain. “Don't bother pretending to be asleep.”
She stared wide-eyed at him and took notice of her surroundings. She was in a cold, concrete room, an interrogation room and prison cell of sorts. An opaque glass panel beside the metal door told her how they observed her. The floor was dusty and cold, causing her to shiver slightly.
“Don't try looking so innocent. I know your kind.”
“I don't.. I don't understand.” Lyssa stuttered out in fear. “What do you mean? My kind?”
“Of course, you would be the newly awoken one. It took us a few days, but we have you at last.”
“I don't know anything!”
“Your kind cannot fool me. I know what you scum do upon awakening. My own parents were murdered when one of you woke.” His voice was full of bitterness and hate; Lyssa could at least discern that clearly as well from his mind. It was overwhelming.
“I didn't do anyth-”
Her words were cut off as he slapped her.
“Shut up, worm. I saw the remains of your classmates. You sucked the life right out of them, didn't you?”
Lyssa found those words to be quite interesting. Had she sucked their life out, or merely extinguished the candle flames of their lives? If she had sucked their lives out, then did they in some way dwell within her own-
Her thoughts were interrupted as the man hit her again and yelled at her.
“Look at me! You are a parasite, a leech, a cancerous tumor upon humanity. You and your kind will die, but as all diseases, we shall study you first.”
The man kept on talking, but Lyssa was more concerned with his mind. Was that a hint of panic mixed with guilt? Something to do with the man's past. Was it someone he loved? His lover?
“I didn't kill your parents!” Lyssa croaked out, surprised at how rough her voice was.
Surprise bloomed in his mind, she could feel that clearly. Outwardly, his face was thunderous.
“No.” The man's voice was low and hateful. “You didn't kill my parents. Your kind did. And your kind killed my sister.” The man's composure cracked slightly and he glanced away for a moment. “Your death will only be another payment of this blood debt I owe to you monsters.” He seemed as if he wanted to say more and his conflicting thoughts confirmed it. However, after a moment's hesitation, he left the room, slamming the door loudly.
“And I don't even know his name.” Lyssa sighed theatrically and coughed violently. Her throat hurt much more than she had expected.

The man made a conscious effort to calm down as he stepped out of the room, but his fellow Guardian saw through it instantly.
“Karl. That girl-”
“That is not a girl.” The man Karl replied icily. “That is a threat to humanity.”
The other man shrugged. “Yeah, it reminds you of her, doesn't it?”
The man Karl kept quiet.
“Nadia was about her age when-”
“Don't ever compare Nadia to such beasts!” The man Karl's voice rang out, hard and filled with loathing.
“Let's talk somewhere more private.” The other man pulled him aside, noticing the stares of their fellow protectors of humanity. “Karl, you're not the only one who misses Nadia.”
“Then you ought to recognise my hate; it should dwell in you too!” He accused.
“Karl, I loathe them too. But I loathe them for their acts against humanity in general. Let go of this vengeance, Karl, it's poisoning you. Our duty to humanity is clear; we must eliminate them wherever they threaten mankind. But you-”
“When they threaten mankind? Tobi, their very existence threatens mankind. We have to exterminate them and prevent them from ever taking root on our Earth ever again, not eliminate whoever threatens.”
“Karl, I'm speaking to you as a friend. I'm appealing to your humanity, man. Let go of this vengeance. It poisons you. A duty of protection gets corrupted into an all-out genocidal impulse. Stop this before it goes on further, Karl. We can't afford to lose our humanity in the process of defending it.”
“I'm willing to sacrifice my humanity, and more, to see them wiped off the face of this Earth.” Karl's eyes blazed with self-righteous fury.
Tobi shook his head. “Karl, you're my superior and we've been friends since childhood. You know I'd follow you into Hell and back again if I had to. But Karl, this is a corruption of our duty. We can't let personal emotions get in the way of our duty. Honour and duty is everything.”
“You don't understand me, Tobias Albans. You don't miss Nadia as-”
“I don't miss Nadia as you do?” Now it was Tobias' turn to flare. “I loved her, Karldon Grave. I still do. Your sister Nadia Grave was what my life revolved around, before she was taken from us.”
“You don't seem to place that much of an importance on her.” Karl retorted.
“I still love her, Karl. I still miss her. Every night I think of her, as I know you do. But I remember what she always said, how she always believed in morals and ethics. We have principles to stand by, and her memory is what holds me to my principles.”
“And my principles tell me to kill each and every one of those beasts.”
“If you so say, Sir.” Tobias replied stiffly, knowing that his stubborn friend would not be convinced. “We have spoken many times of this.” Tobias turned about and went back to observing the girl who looked so much like his dead, lost love.
Karl looked long and hard at his friend's back. Poison. What an ironic word choice. Karl looked down and pulled up his left sleeve. A limb of necrotic flesh, withered and foul greeted his sight. He clenched his good hand into a fist. If he ever saw that boy again, that boy who had tried to protect his siste- no, it was a beast. If he ever saw him again, he would make him pay for this.
“Sir?” A female voice roused him from his dark thoughts of vengeance. Karl turned to see an apothecary.
“What is it?”
“Sir, the results are out. There is no other choice but to amputate.”
Karl didn't reply and his eyes looked into the distance.
“Sir? If it matters, I'm sorry.” The apothecary lowered her head in respect and quickly made her way.

“No.”
Ren stopped her pacing abruptly.
“No?” She narrowed her eyes. “Psycho, what do you mean by 'no'?”
“It's not worth it. We don't have to get that girl out.”
“You would abandon her?”
“Yes.”
“She is one of us, one of our kind. She is as much our relative as any other Child of the Moon.”
“She's mad.” Psycho said, as if it settled the matter.
“I don't think so, Psycho.” Now she glared at him venomously. “You remember how it was like for you at first. I would have thought that you of all people would sympathise with her.”
“Look, I'm trying to provide the voice of reason. She's likely dea-”
“She's not dead.” Aco interrupted softly.
“Okay, fine, if you say so. Even if we somehow locate the Guar-”
“I seeded that one Guardian with a poison. I know where they are.”
“Look, stop interrupting me. Even if we can somehow break through all their defenses, the three of us alone, I think we wouldn't get out without injuries. Chances are, that girl's too weak to run by herself, so if Aco carries her again, that means there's only two of us. We are putting our lives on the line for a crazy girl who is likely to go on a killing streak at the slightest trigger.”
“We are more than a match for them, Psycho.” Ren pointed out. “They are just... human. Only human. And we are... much more. Lyssa is strong, Psycho. Her powers may come in handy when we make our escape.”
“Okay, assuming that we are even going to go and rescue her, if we hit the Guardians in the day, we would be weakened and our exit would be compounded by so many problems. But the Guardians aren't fools, I'll bet they have additional security in the night. Only complete idiots wouldn't.”
“Which we can still take on. It's not as if they have guns. You know that now for some reason the Guardians take captives. This chance will tell us what exactly they are doing.”
“C'mon, Ren, don't do this.”
Ren ignored him and started planning with Aco. After a few minutes of watching them uncomfortably, Psycho reluctantly joined their discussion.

Lyssa was cold. They had left her alone in the bare prison for... She could not tell how long it had been since she had that meal Ren had cooked. Thinking about it only made her hunger pangs feel ever more aching. The worst thing was that she couldn't shake off the presence of minds just outside the room, more than likely observing her like an animal. She had enjoyed probing the minds of the people outside- technicians of some sort, she decided- but after a while, the novelty had lost its charm and then the minds became an irritance, a torment. She didn't like the minds. She didn't like the sensation. It felt like a large crowd all around her, muttering inane things that she couldn't make out clearly, things on the verge of being shown and revealed, but frustratingly vague. In the end, Lyssa just crawled to the corner and curled up, trying to keep herself warm as best as she could. She covered her ears with her hands, but it didn't keep out the sound of their subconscious. She started crying, but it didn't wash away the feel of their emotions. She started screaming then, screaming till her voice grew even more ragged and she pounded her fists against the grey concrete wall over and over.
When Tobias opened the door, he saw her limp and shivering, lips bloody from where she had bitten them in an effort to drown out the muffled voices with pain. Her hands were bruised and her skin was pale. When was the last time she had eaten or drank anything? A day? Two? While Tobias could sympathise, having starved for several days on end as part of his training, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt towards the girl. Despite her nature, she still appeared as a perfectly normal human being.
Lyssa looked up at him with swollen, bloodshot eyes.
“I.. Help.. Cold...” She chattered out through shaking lips.
Was it really that cold? Tobias removed his right glove and reached to take her pulse. She didn't draw back, evidently too weak to even respond in the slightest save for the slight look she gave him through glazed eyes. Tobias recoiled instantly upon touching her wrist; it was freezing cold. Not just the temperature of her body, he had noticed slight wisps of shadow curl towards his hand where he had touched her.
Tobias quickly strode out of the room, still silent. As he shut the door behind him, he asked the technicians, “Why has she not been given food and water? Her temperature is far too low for her to be healthy and-”
“Sir, Captain Grave told us to wait for a while more before we took her blood for testing. Nourishment is only to be provided after the blood has been drawn.”
“That's inhu-” Tobias stopped speaking and took a deep breath. He realised that it was Karl who had given the order. It would not do to appear as if he was going against his friend's commands. “When exactly will nourishment be provided?” He asked, forcing his voice to keep level.
“Not too long, Sir.” The man checked the clock on the wall. “Actually, I believe we just missed the timing, Sir. We shall see to it now.”
Karl's hate had reached many of his men too. It wasn't too unexpected; each of them had lost someone close to the darkers, as the Children of the Moon were colloquially known. This level of vehemence was rather regular, Tobias supposed. Yet, it was still startling. Had they intended to let her starve, if he had not said a word? Were the protectors of humanity losing sight of the very thing they were trying to save?
He shook away the heavy thoughts and saw that his fellow Guardians were taking their own time in bringing water and food for the girl. He decided to bring it in to her himself.
“I'll take that for you; I don't have much to do right now.”
“My thanks, Sir, I have no wish of being in the same room as that darker.”
Tobias did his best to ignore the comment and took the tray. The food was meagre; a small bun and a cup of water.
“Wait a moment, Sir, I'll go in first to take some blood samples.” Another man called out.

Lyssa was so weak that she did not even lift up her head to see who was coming in. When the needle pierced her arm none too gently, she didn't even squeak. The only indication that she was still awake was her half-open eyes.
“Girl, here, have some water.” A warm voice suddenly came from in front of her. She did not react and Tobias slowly lifted her head as she just looked at him lifelessly. He put the cup to her mouth and let her sip a little. The warm water seemed to give her a slight bit of strength and she slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position against the cold wall.
“Cold...” She murmured as best as she could through her parched throat. “Cold...”
As if realising that the person feeding her would be warm, she slumped forward onto Tobias and weakly lay her arms around him. He froze, unsure of whether she was going to attack him or not. She just continued letting him support her and after a period of time, her eyes closed in slumber. He slowly pulled back from her embrace and placed the food on the floor at a side; she could feed herself when she woke. He was just about to turn and leave when her eyes snapped open and her mouth curled weakly into a grin.
“They're... coming.. for.. me.” She somehow contrived to force the words out and she started laughing softly. Darkness started to bleed from her, gathering as a black mist about her. Tobias started to run for the door, but found that he could not move. The black mist entwined itself around his limbs, apparently inducing paralysis. Tobias knew fear then.
This must have been what Nadia felt like. The thought went through his head unexpectedly and brought with it a storm of emotions. Guilt, hurt, anger, hate. Abruptly, his limbs were free once more and he stumbled backwards unsteadily.
He saw the girl buoyed by the mist, standing up. Tears glistened in her eyes and she mouthed to Tobias a single word. Run.
The command seemed to echo in his mind and he obeyed without thinking, throwing open the door and realising that the alarms were blaring loudly. He hadn't heard a single thing while in the room because the room was soundproof to prevent the captive from hearing anything. There was no one in sight and he ran out of the building unthinkingly.
It was all that saved him from the ensuing death that came sweeping through the halls of the Guardian's base of operations.

Something like savage joy appeared on Ren's face as she and her shadowy twin cut through the Guardians, her with her knives and her shadow absorbing the life force of the personnel manning the posts. She did not know where Lyssa was being held, but that did not matter. She would kill as many of them as she had to before she could find her. A stun baton caught her arm and the limb fell limply after spasming for a few moments, her knife clattering on the floor. She snarled even as a Guardian kicked her harshly, pain blossoming in her abdomen. Abruptly, the Guardian collapsed. She quickly stood her ground once more, just in time to see Psycho dispatch the last Guardian by forcing the Guardian's blood to burst out of his own skin.
Psycho turned to her.
“See what I mean? If I hadn't saved you there, you would have been caught and nothing would have been accomplished.”
“But you are here and that is what matters. Aco, done yet?”
“Yes. I've found it.” Aco had been rifling through the bodies of the dead, taking access cards. He looked up and his eyes widened in concern. “Mother, you're bleeding.”
Ren lifted a hand up to her brow; the hand came away with sticky crimson fluid.
“No matter. We have to keep moving. They might decide to kill Lyssa rather than let us save her.”

As the trio raced around the corner, they suddenly started hearing screams. Picking up their pace, they saw a man thrown from a side corridor and hit the wall with a sickening crunch. Black fog followed after him slowly, entwining around his torso and the tentacle of black suddenly solidified, crushing his spine.
“Lyssa?” Ren called out.
“Ren...” They heard the reply come softly, followed by a wracking cough. They turned into the corridor and saw Lyssa sprawled on the floor, surrounded by unmoving bodies of Guardians. The black smoke covered much of the corridor, but Ren could clearly see that Lyssa was still weak, especially from her apparent exertions in taking out these Guardians.
“Lyssa!” Aco rushed to her side, lifting her to a half-sitting position.
“Aco...” She gave a short laugh. “I knew... I knew you would come for me... Thank you..”
“Don't say any more.” Aco carried her into his arms and looked to Ren.
“Well, now that we have what we came for, let us depart, swiftly.”
As they ran towards the exit, there was nobody to stop them. In Aco's warm hold, Lyssa sank into pleasant unconsciousness.

A/N: Heyo, this one is distinctly shorter. Still too long perhaps. Anyway, if it seems a little rushed, with all the events happening all at once, I apologise. Anyhoo, read and critique! Oh and if you didn't get the title, go google it and click on tvtropes. But do that at your own risk, for I hold zero responsibility in the event that you waste a large portion of your life there. Just saying. I'll be away for CCA camp from 10th to 13th, so uh, even though Chapter Three is semi-done, don't expect it to be posted. In fact, I probably won't post it until Chapter Four is done. Yes. Yeap, have fun this holiday (which, incidentally, does not appear to be a holiday due to extreme time constraints and... other stuff.) and enjoy yourselves wherever you may be!
-Agoraoptera.CerebrateBen