Eleven: The Sequel of AlterMyth

Paint It Black

Prologue

Pale moonlight flooded the garbage disposal bay beside the maintenance building of the Occidental College for Young Ladies. There, nestled between the campus' large dumpsters, three nondescript white vans idled softly with their headlights switched off. Moments later, the bells of distant Big Ben rang and startled crows perched nearby. Then, the metal doors of the Maintenance Building swung open loudly.

Clover Gosling, the ditzy student wearing the uniform of the Occidental College, marched out of the door and hummed the overture of The Sound of Music. All the while, she carried a peculiar, strangely-shaped black garbage bag over her shoulder.

Even though the bag was much larger than Clover herself, the student walked with a spring in her step and let her white twin drills of hair bounce by her ears. Not once did she skip a beat in her step or hum out of tune.

In her mind, she was on the stage of the Palace Theater, carrying an aromatic, albeit unwieldy prop. She pressed forward to center stage where the white van was waiting for her.

When the moonlight illuminated Clover and her cargo like a spotlight, hooded men and women emerged from the van. Clover playfully twirled around and passed the garbage bag to one of the black hoods. Another black hood opened the back door of the van.

"Hooey~! What a workout!" Clover exclaimed, stretching arms up to the air before she bent down to touch her toes, "Set her down in the back, friends. Make her nice and comfy - she's gonna have a rough ride ahead of her!"

The hooded folks obliged and did as they were told. When the bag was safely in the back of the van, they pulled back the plastic and revealed its contents: an unconscious Dr. Fauna Ceres with her hands bound behind her back.

Fauna's favorite wide-brimmed hat followed soon after and fluttered like a feather.

It landed on her shoulder.

That gentle brush of fabric roused Fauna from her unnatural slumber. She opened her eyes groggily and started to stir - only to feel the cold metal bed on which she lay and the resistance of the ropes that bound her hands.

"I'm not... in my office anymore?" Fauna stammered.

Slowly but surely, the gravity of the situation dawned upon her. More than that, the hat that she always wore was on her shoulder - not on her head. Fauna's face soon turned paler than the moon.

Clover hoisted herself onto the back of the van with Fauna and snatched the hat from the helpless doctor.

"Looking for this, Dr. Ceres?" Clover skillfully twirled the hat like a ragtime entertainer from the roaring twenties before she put it on her head of white hair, "I was always wondering why you wore this thing rain or shine - day or night." She tilted the hat on her head playfully and continued, "When I ran into you this morning, you'd rather fall on your ass than let this hat fall off your head! Now I can see why!"

Fauna recoiled from Clover's sing-song voice. She wanted to cover her head, but the rope that bound her hands wouldn't budge. That left Fauna's head of silky green hair - and the unusual budding Kirin horns that crowned it - unveiled for all to see.

The black hoods whispered amongst themselves while tears started forming at the sides of Fauna's eyes.

"NO! DON'T LOOK AT ME!" Fauna begged, pleading with Clover, "PLEASE! JUST LET ME GO!"

Before Fauna could say anything else, however, Clover pulled out some cloth from her pocket and gagged Fauna's mouth.

"Shhh! Shhhh...!" Clover playfully hushed, "Don't you know it's against the rules to shout in the campus? Especially at night? You faculty members really oughtta practice what you preach!"