★𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒔 𝑭𝒍𝒚 ༄ 𝑲𝒂𝒛 𝑩𝒓𝒆𝒌𝒌𝒆𝒓★

1: Mortal

"Spirits take me through the straits
Closed my eyes to stop her vexing
Still the burning of the blue-eyed hexe"
-The Pixies-

"Not again, Theo? How many times am I going to have to repeat this to you?" I grumbled, massaging my tired eyes. "You're their to listen. Not to gamble, not to chat, and especially not to get into fights with patrons!"

Theo cast his eyes downward. "I got carried away," he muttered.

"This is the fifth time, man," I sighed, shoving him onto the wooden seat. "Now, let's get this nasty thing stitched up," I remarked, eyeing the gash that ran down his arm, a shard of glass buried into his skin.

"So, before you got decimated by Karl Johansson, did you hear anything useful?" I said, ignoring Theo's cries as I dug into his skin with a needle.

"There's... ow... never anything to hear... shit," Theo flinched, a rogue tear running down his cheek. "Can you not?"

"Shut up and stop complaining. There's worse pain in the world than getting a couple stitches." I retorted firmly, snapping the thread and tipping the forward.

Theo stumbled to his feet, refusing to meet my gaze. He sighed. "I did hear that Angi's working for someone else. Rollins, I think."

I walked over to the sink, rinsing the blood off of my hands as I stared in the grimy, fractured mirror at my distorted reflection. "Fetch her for me then, any idea how long this has been happening?"

"Very recent employment, I believe, less than a week. She's probably only spoken a handful of words to Mr Rollins." Theo frowned.

"Good. Bring her up, now." I dismissed him.

Angi's face said a hundred things. One included the stinging fact; she knew what was about to happen, and why.

Angi, a kind faced girl no older than I, had a fear in her eyes I was all too used to seeing.

"You sent for me?" She said, failing at concealing her nervousness.

"I did. Sit down." I said.

It was a large, empty room, bar the measly broken sink in one corner and the wooden chair in the middle; a few tools and medical supplies scattered across the cold floor.

I watched her as she did as told, hands shaking as she clasped them together.

I stood directly in front of her, gaze held above her head. "Tell me what you have done."

"Beg my pardon, Ada, but what are you talking about?" Angi asked, lip quaking.

My expression remained blank. "You know why you're here."

Angi broke into a rack of tears, crippling over double. She relaid the tale. She looked up with small pupils as she finished, final words tripping off her tongue unsurely.

"Did you tell him anything about the Mortality?" I said quietly, unmoving.

Angi shook her head vigorously. "No, Ada, I know the rules! Rule number one, you do not talk about~"

"Quiet. I don't need to be reminded of my own rules. Get your ass out of here,"

"Oh, thank you Ada! Your kindness, oh thanks!" Angi wept, clawing past me. "Mortality, immorality, and ceaseless self." she almost shrieked as she scrambled for the door.

I sighed as she flung it open, flicking open a small boomerang shaped dagger. I did not turn around as I flung it, such acute precision in the exact direction I twisted my wrist and released it.

"You just had to break the fourth rule?" I hissed.

Angi collapsed. I heard the thud.

"Oh, sorry to interrupt, Ada~"

I turned toward Theo's voice. He stood rigid in the doorway above Angi's limp body, avoiding the pool of blood.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, gesturing for him to move as I stepped over the body. I frowned. The door wouldn't close with it in the way. Oh well.

"Rey heard a whisper, she thinks it's worth your own pursuit." Theo reported as I strode along the dark hallway with him. An old factory. Empty.

"Where did she hear it?" I prompted, hands clasped together firmly.

"She refused to tell me. She said that it was for your ears only." Theo replied, brushing dark tendrils of hair from his face.

"Exciting," I glanced at Theo. "Will you be able to get someone to dispose of the body?"

Theo nodded. "Her family will believe it was a mistaken attack, just like the others."

"Just like the others..." I muttered, stopping as we reached the window overlooking the bustling street below.

"Mortality, immorality, and ceaseless self." Theo recited, before disappearing down the stairs.

"Mortality, immorality, and ceaseless self." I repeated.

My own words, spoken by how many others clandestinely?

The shadows in the streets. The disembodied footsteps of the dead. The blind to false liberty.

Those who's hearts ached so much they couldn't feel a thing.