"Things will never be the same again."
Gneiss Underwood never thought that he could have a shot of a normal life.
Growing up in an environment where everything defied sanity, guns and loneliness were his normal companions, if not danger and Death h...
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"She distanced herself to save herself."
Number One
"00! There you are!"
A tall blond girl with restless hazel eyes exclaimed with relief at the sight of her superior.
"I've been looking for you for over an hour."
Even though the girl's approach was a noisy one, 00 didn't acknowledge her presence, seemingly lost in thought. Sitting under a tree, the numbered agent looked like an ethereal being lost in the human world – a spirit, a fairy, an angel, you name it. Her green eyes matched the forest, and her long, luscious mahogany hair mixed well with the woods. If she weren't wearing her black overalls and had contrastingly pale skin, she could have easily blended with the trees.
"Master wants you in the Command ASAP," the girl, just-turned-sixteen Denna, announced as soon as she halted in front of the small brunette. Denna didn't bother with the formalities – even though she was younger, even though her rank was lower because she knew that 00 would rebuke her otherwise.
Her effort was not wasted. 00 gave her an appreciative smile, and Denna returned it at once. It's one of the rarest things in their place of no smiles and happily ever afters.
"Thank you," 00 responded in her soft lullaby of a voice.
This gentleness and this warmth were what put 00 above everyone else. Everyone could see it.
00 did not belong.
Denna snorted as she tried to dispel the cozy atmosphere that talking with 00 always bring. She might not be an Equation, but she was a Higher Base. That was pretty much near the top of the hierarchy. She must be as tough as nails. She had to play the part.
"Thank you my ass. They're gonna skin me alive if you don't appear in ten minutes!"
As far as the history of the organization is concerned, 00 is the most lenient Equation who has ever existed in the planet. Denna could only speak that way to her and her alone. Using those words and that tone to the other Equations would... well, easily result to punishment, if not immediate death.
That was why even though she was one of the Higher Bases, the rank immediately after Equations, she was the one assigned to search for 00. Everybody else was afraid to go. If only they knew how nice the real 00 is.
"Don't I have the right to be fashionably late?" 00 pouted, her expression very childlike as she stretched like a cat. It was as if time was slowing down for her, and it was agonizing for Denna who was used to the fast pace of the other agents.
