A Threat to All

Chapter 1. An Investigation Into The Past

    "We met when we were 8 years old. I was never very liked school or the people there, preferring to listen to the voices in my head over the voices in the world around me. So, naturally, I didn't have any friends. But one day he just started hanging out with us. He was the popular kid at school, you know, the one that gets good grades in every class but seems to spend all of their time playing sports.

Sona sat on the bench out in the school yard, looking at the high wall surrounding the garden. The artificially grown trees and flowers arranged in neat rows and geometric shapes almost as unnatural as the bright moon hanging low over the city as a replacement for the moon that was destroyed during a nuclear war not even 30 years ago. The concrete grey synthetic materials the uniforms are made of seemed to make the student body a rush of water beneath a sky black with clouds.

They're sick, you should kill them. Imagine the feeling of blood on your hands. Imagine how sweet it would be.

A boy walked up to the girl as she was contemplating, and sat down beside her. Her gaze abruptly switched over to him at the movement of the bench and he smiled big and bright.

"Hello! I'm Axis!'

"I-i know. You're the... the one who answers all the questions. In class."

"Yeah! You're the one who always sits in the back and never speaks! Some of the other kids say that you're a witch and that if they talk to you then you'll eat them. Do you know what death tastes like? I think it would be kind of salty, but also very cold. I think-" The girl starts to tune him out, although her eyes remain fixed on his wildly gesticulating hands and the wide grin adorning his face.

"-So do you wanna be friends?"

She blinked in surprise as she suddenly heard what he had been saying.

"I... Sure"

***Time Skip, 3 years later***

"Children, everyone line up in the front of the classroom, and go into the room when your name is called remain silent until asked to converse, and answer the mens' questions as truthfully as possible," a robotic voice echoes around the bare room filled with desks and children, all with hard edges and cold eyes.

All of the children, none older than 12 line up at the front of the classroom, all with backs ramrod straight and faces blank. One by one, each child is called into the store room of to the side of the classroom, and one by one they are let out. All bar 2 children came out of the room, some looking confused but quickly amending their expression.

Eventually, it was Axis' turn, and he walked over quickly before entering.

He was out swiftly, his face blank and eyes staring straight ahead.

Sona entered the room, quickly scanning to find the other inhabitants.

"At ease. Feel free to take the seat. We are just going to ask you a few questions, and then we will send you on your way. Please be honest with your answers." The man speaking gives an empty smile, his head tilting slightly to the side and making his shoulder length black hair sway over his face.

She took a seat on the other side of the table from the men, sat with her legs pressed together, her back straight and her hands in her lap.

"Right well, let's get started. First of all, do you often feel down or have trouble sleeping or eating?" a note is made of her head shake. "Do you have thoughts of hurting yourself or have trouble concentrating." Another head shake. "Do you procrastinate or find most of your tasks such as schoolwork boring or repetitive. Does it ever feel like there is someone else controlling your thoughts or feelings? Do you ever feel paranoid or see/hear things that aren't here?"

Don't tell them, don't betray us.

Kill them, they don't deserve to live.

"No sir."

The questions continued, with every answer being a shake of the head. The men finished their questions, and released her to go home.

***

The next day at school, 5 children in their class didn't return. No explanation was given.

***Time Skip, 1 year***

"What do... what do you think happened to them?" she asked, staring up at the ceiling of her room with her friends hand held in hers.

"Who?"

"You know, the people who disappeared last year. We were never told what happened to them."

"Ugh, it doesn't matter. They probably broke one of the rules, you know the punishment for that is to be forfeit. Don't worry about it, i'm sure they're all fine. Just roll with it and make sure you don't follow in their footsteps." He rolled over and draped an arm over her chest, promptly falling asleep.

***Time Skip, 3 years***

"Meet me at the tree out the back of school okay! I'll be there after school, and you better be too!"

***

"A...Axis? You-you said to meet you here? Hello? Are you here?" Sona sighed and walked over to the tree, puting her back against the tree sliding down the smooth trunk behind her. She waited for what felt like hours, just sitting there listening to the voices in her head tell her that she shouldn't have come, slowly growing more and more restless the longer she sat, fighting the voices just to stay and not run.

"Sona? Is your name Sona?" Her head jerked up at that, her eyes jumping to meet the gaze of the man standing over her. His dark brown eyes were squinted slightly, suspicion making a sharp light shine bright in his eyes.

Don't trust him, you don't know what he might do to us.

"Yes sir?"

You shouldn't have done that, now what are you going to do? Kill him, he's a liability.

If we are caught it will be all your fault.

"Come with us and we will have no issues. Resist and you will find we aren't afraid to fall on force." His two henchmen step out from around the corner of the building, evidently having been waiting for the signal.

She stood up abruptly, letting her eyes flick between all three men, and taking a small step back so she was pressed up against the tree.

"Lady, just stay there and everything will be good."

She took a jerky step to the right, quickly breaking into a run and racing away from them as fast as she could, the voices in her head telling her to run, run, RUN. To defend herself from the unknown men, kill them if she must, just GET AWAY AT ALL COSTS.

A few steps forward and a heavy body crashed into hers sending her flying to the ground. She struggled to turn over, to protect her face and stomach from the feet all around her. A foot the side of her head, sending it bouncing of the grounds an instant before another foot crashes into sona's ribs and then her chest.

It seemed to go on for hours, a constant cycle of pain and misery, until, at last, she was handed over to a man named Brock and his co-worker and thrown into a van that promptly took her away to a run down mansion far away from all society.