"Happy birthday to me...happy birthday to me..."
A bored Number sang to himself at midnight on the day of his 100th birthday. He was sitting on the windowsill of the second story of his house. His left leg was swinging freely outside, and he had a piece of hard candy in his mouth. Candy was hard to come by these days, but he managed to get it.
The voice in his head sent soothing vibes in his mind as it did every year. It hummed along with him.
Number 96 Black Mist had just entered his teens years. He had grown more mature than when he had been a kid.
"How does it feel to almost be an adult?" the voice asked him.
Black Mist shrugged. "Not much more different than reaching 99 years."
The voice chuckled. "Ah, how much you've changed. When you were a child, you were so afraid."
"Yes, I remember." He yawned and bit down on the candy, breaking it and swallowing the chunks. "I'm gonna go to sleep now."
He went to his bed, which he made himself and kept adjusting as the years went by, and laid down.
~.~.~
Black Mist looked at his reflection in the mirror. He noticed a change happening over the years. When he was a kid, he looked more childish and afraid.
He tilted his chin to the side. He hadn't grown masculine like the other males. Instead, due to his ways of getting around through tight places, his body adjusted accordingly. He was thin with slight curves, like a girl. While he wasn't happy about that, it helped to get around. His face was angular, his hands were delicate, and everything about him was feminine. Oh, well. It would make people underestimate him, thus giving him the advantage. People tended to go easy on ones who they underestimated.
Black Mist ran his snake-like tongue over his new fangs. He noticed them growing when he was a kid. Thought it was strange.
He stepped away from the mirror and went to the training doll. It was still intact after all these years. He hadn't been able to break it just yet, but he had come close.
Black Mist stared it down. The doll didn't have any eyes, though. He would fix that later. Now, however, he would fight it. Try to break its armor.
~.~.~
He waited for Hope that afternoon, as he did every year. Hope or Sam. Sanaji or Mint. None of them came.
Black Mist frowned. What's going on? They said they'd visit.
Black Mist had tried to visit the orphanage on a few occasions, but he had forgotten where it was. So, he always held on to the hope that his foster father would find him.
No such luck, though. No one came. It made him frustrated.
There was a knock on the door. Black Mist huffed. In his childhood, he had encountered the "Number One Gang." Ever since he had started going out and training with the other kids, they started collecting what they called "taxes." Pretty much, that meant they beat the shit out of the person.
Black Mist always managed to dodge the taxes because no one was able to get in. Who knew that boarding up the only entrance was gonna work.
Still, they had been persistent. They kept knocking and knocking. Black Mist had enough of it. Maybe it was time to shut them up.
No, not yet. He would wait a while.
Black Mist looked out the window to see the people go about their business. The knocking eventually stopped, and a fight soon broke out.
It was between two rival gangs. One was that gang he encountered when he was a child. They seemed to be fighting over territory. Black Mist huffed and crossed his arms. Such a ridiculous reason! Who would fight for something so trivial?
"They are stupid," the voice said. "They believe that the tougher of the two is the one who wins in a battle. In truth, it is the one who has more will not to risk his life in a pointless battle."
Black Mist nodded and continued watching the battle. The ones fighting were the leaders of the gangs.
The one with the orange bandana was a Number named Seo. He was a toned teen with wild hair. His eyes were wide and wild with a hint of insanity. His bandana was wrapped around his head.
The other one was the girl Gaia. She seemed pretty calm for something like this.
They had weapons, swords and clubs and all that sort of jazz. It wasn't as amusing as the other fights, but he would at least have something to do.
The Gaia her struck the butt of her sword on the boy's head harshly, but the boy didn't care or didn't notice. He just grinned and swung his club at the girl.
She dodged expertly and swung her sword again and again and again. The boy blocked with his club, backing away, giving the girl an edge.
Black Mist was tempted to go in, but he knew he wasn't strong enough yet. Though, he would be strong if he used an overlay unit. Still, he didn't want to fight for a stupid reason.
The Gaia grinned and snapped. Immediately, her gang fell in, blocking the boy from all sides. He looks around for an exit, but found none.
Checkmate.
Black Mist closed the window and went downstairs. He crawled out through the hole and wriggled through the backs of the houses out to the forest.
In the forest, he was free. No one could tell him what to do. He could do whatever and hang with the Darklings.
Black Mist liked the Darklings. They were friendly with the Dark Numbers. They didn't mind letting them ride them.
He was especially friendly with a Darkling named Yoru. He was like Black Mist's friend.
YOU ARE READING
Teen Years
Fanfiction(Sequel to Number Childhood) Black Mist has grown into a teen, and he strives to be the best. While he trains himself vigorously, the gangs are getting worse. He vows to himself that he would beat those gangs into submission. He starts getting issue...
