Chapter One I can't see. It's too dark and I daren't look anyway. I can hear them, though. They're still here. I hope they leave soon. It's getting hard to keep quiet. I think I heard father speak before. He sounded angry. How long ago was that? It's hard to tell. I wonder how long I've been waiting here. What am I waiting for, anyway? I can smell smoke. It's scary. Father taught me to stay calm, though. Don't worry, I remember what you told me. It's okay. I'm finding it hard to breathe, though. I'm thirsty. I think I heard a scream. Where is mother? I'm frightened, father. I'm very frightened. --- "It was my father's." I'd been looking at his cape curiously for the last couple of minutes; I guess he noticed. He seemed to be a little more at ease than when I first introduced myself, which I was glad about. He wouldn't tell me much about his planet, or his family, but that was okay. Pasts have darkness in them whether you're human or not. "I've not committed any of those crimes, you know." I thought it was impolite to ask, but I was wondering. I was inclined to believe him; I still am. We're both here without a reason. I wonder if our two instances of being framed are related? I was just passing by the planet and I needed to stop for fuel, then...I don't think there's much point putting a lot of thought into it, honestly. We're here now. --- Are they gone? Mother, are you sad? What's wrong? Where's father? You're holding my wrist too tightly. Why are we running? Oh, I think I see father! No...it's one of them. Did he burn those houses too? I hope my friends from the school are okay. Why has he got father's cape, mother? He's making me nervous. Mother, is that father's sword? Why hasn't father got it? He needs it to protect us. The bad men are still here. Wait, mother! What are you doing? He looks angry. Please don't get burnt. It's okay, mother, you won. Mother, he's on the ground already. Please, mother, you don't have to hurt him more. He looks very sorry. He isn't moving now. --- A couple of people came to take me in for 'questioning'. It was kind of worrying. My friend, or acquaintance, stood up and asked them for answers. "Why are we here? What do you want?" They just hit him with something blunt and he fell down. I didn't think I could fight them, but I thought violence like that was wrong. So I did what I could and went quietly. It meant they left him alone, at least. He tried to tell me not to go with them while he sat down there covering the left side of his face. I think I saw a little blood. I smiled at him and told him I'd be fine, though. These guys won't do anything. There'd be an uproar if anyone discovered people were being framed for crimes they didn't commit. I think I'll try my luck at finding out what they're trying to accomplish here. I'll tell the Hylotl about it when I come back. --- I'm glad this ship is okay. Are we going somewhere? We shouldn't leave without father. He's not here yet, let's just wait a little longer. Oh...I suppose he can catch up. I like to watch the stars zoom by out the windows. Did our home burn too much after we ran? I hope father can fix it when we go back. Please stop crying. It's been a long time, mother. We must be going very far. --- "We've got a difficult human in questioning." "And?" "We...don't know what to do about it. He doesn't seem to know anything, he just keeps asking why he's been framed and what we're all up to." "He could be bluffing." "Yes, sir." "You should know the drill by now. If you find that somebody knows something, kill him. If somebody won't cooperate...kill him. Everybody aboard this ship is expendable. Even you. We'd just prefer to keep the corpses to a minimum." "Sir. Forgive me, sir, but...he was kept in a cell with a Hylotl." "Did they arrive aboard the same vessel?" "No. The Hylotl was captured as a survivor from an old planet." "Then why were they kept together, you fool?" "Sorry, sir. A bit of a mix up." "Interrogate that one too, then. We can't risk that they've shared information. I trust that I can leave this to you to sort out?" "Yes, sir." "Good. Now try not to mess up, I'd rather not have to execute another of my men." --- We've lived here a while now, mother. We're the only ones on this little planet. Father's still not here. He isn't late. He's never coming. Is he, mother? It's okay. I know what happened. I didn't want to believe it. I saw him run to them before we hid. I heard the fighting. I'm not much of a child now, mother. That happy ignorance is gone. I understand. Please, stop crying. --- I find it hard to decide whether he was an idiot, or brave. Perhaps it was both. Soon the same two men arrived to take me as they'd taken him, but this time I was ready for them. When they opened the door and stepped inside I hopped up onto it, then dropped behind them. With a swift kick I knocked one of the men into the other, then closed the door allowing for the auto-lock to activate. I had to meet up with Dario again and maybe save that human, although I could somehow sense it was too late. While I ran through the corridors I carefully avoided confrontation, hiding in dark corners and wherever else I could hope to remain unseen. At one point I came across a bored looking man dragging a body bag, but my main focus was the nice-looking gun at his belt. Nobody seemed to be around, so I approached him with caution and promptly rendered him unconscious by whacking his head into the wall. It occurred to me that I'd been brazenly ignoring the possibility that I could've been spotted by security cameras, although I'd done my best to avoid those that I could see. However, there was no point in worrying as long as I continued trying to be stealthy, I reasoned with myself. I snatched the gun and took a deep breath before peeking into the black bag. The cold eyes of the human male I had shared a cell with stared through me, frozen looking upwards. I sighed, shut his eyes and closed the bag once more, then stored him and the man I'd disabled in an empty cell. If there was any doubt before, I realised then that my life was in danger. I had to find Dario soon. Chapter Two Of course they'd detected me; I was on their ship and I'd already beaten up three of their men. Space pirates – that's what I'd reasoned they were at the time, at least – have never been the most organised group in the cosmos, but they weren't stupid. They certainly weren't behind in terms of technology either, thanks to the common practice of looting their defeated enemies. I ducked around a corner to my right as two security drones whizzed by, staying low to the ground to minimise my figure. Over the obnoxiously loud alarms I could hear shouting in the distance as multiple enemies attempted to hunt me down. Footsteps were approaching from the left and I saw laser pointers littering the floor and walls. Time to go. I dashed out of the corridor in the opposite direction of my pursuers only to narrowly avoid a grenade. Behind me I could hear panicked exclamations followed by an explosion while I ducked under the punch of my attacker and delivered a pistol whip to the jaw. Tripping the man with a kick to his legs, I continued running while he was distracted by the pain. I had no idea how I was going to find Dario in this commotion, but I trusted his capability and knew he would be long out of his cell by now. "CATCH." The voice rang out clearly from a path to my side and I looked towards it in time to see the sheathed sword hurtling towards me. With a hurried reaction I caught it in my arms, the wind slightly knocked out of me by the impact. The man who threw it had slipped through a door and I had every intention of following him. I spent a few seconds catching my breath and made sure the door was locked, although he insisted we hadn't been seen. "You can never be too sure," I said to him. He rolled his eyes and began removing the soldier uniform that had allowed him to wander around so freely. "How'd you find me, Dario?" "Are you kidding? You weren't exactly inconspicuous; they've got men everywhere trying to find a 'Hylotl in a red cloak'." His eyes had that 'I told you so' look. I didn't like it. "You know how important it is to me. As is this katana...thanks for picking it up, I was starting to worry I was going to have to leave it behind." He waved his hand dismissively. Dario was always so calm about everything. He was confident and collected, traits that I strived for but could never quite reach. He even managed to refrain from alerting the ship of his escape, far contrasting my poor attempt at stealth. I'd always felt highly second rate in comparison, although he assured me of my skills regularly. It took me a long time to develop true pride in myself, and the past holds a long record of inferiority complex as a result. Alas, I digress. We had a quick tactics meeting and decided our priority should be finding our ship and getting out of there. I attached my katana to my obi and made sure it was secure; I had a feeling I'd be needing it. "We should get moving," Dario said as he stood and unlocked the door. I nodded and we stepped out, he with his stolen gun in his hands and I with my right hand resting at the sword's hilt, the handgun I acquired previously in my left. I've got to say, I always thought he and I worked well as a team. It was beginning to become clear that this ship was too large and too filled with soldiers for space pirates, yet we were beating down small numbers that got in our way and outwitting the larger groups with relative ease. We were nearing the bay our ship was being kept in and everything was looking up. But then, of course, it all started to go downhill. The alarms stopped blaring and there was an eerie silence in the docking bay; our vessel was nowhere in sight. It must've been in another area, so we turned to leave...only to find that the doors had locked themselves. "Well, well, well." The voice, cloaked in static from the intercom, was accompanied by a hologram which flickered into place behind us. "Trapped like rats in a cage." A couple of defence turrets descended from the ceiling and locked onto us, ready to fire on command. We were in trouble, that much was obvious, but the magnitude of the situation didn't hit me until I took a good look at the hologram. My eyes widened as unwelcome memories shook my mind. Dazed, I blurted out my thoughts. "You were there." --- Years in the past... The Hylotl and the human battled fiercely in the dancing shadows, the noise of colliding metal blades and gunfire filling the smoky air. One fought to protect his village, his family, his child; the other for sport and for profit. It was a clash of honour and greed, but the honourable side -- a swordsman to be feared in his day -- was growing weak. He began to regret the village's decision to live above water, for this fire would not have been a threat in the old days. Nobody could have expected this act of terrorism, but he blamed himself nonetheless; it's difficult not to when you've witnessed your neighbours and friends slaughtered, their homes burnt, yet survived yourself. Of course, a one-on-one battle with the opposing leader is exactly how a prideful Hylotl is suited to fighting. However...the enemy was not inclined as such. A Novakid, hired by these humans for a share of the bounty on the village, ambushed the Hylotl with the sword of a fallen villager. Locked in combat with the human, there was nothing he could do but brace himself as he received the fatal wound. A light trickle of rain began alongside a flash of lightning, illuminating the trio as the Hylotl fell to his knees and took one last longing look at the home he built with his own hands. Through a space in the wall he met eyes with his precious child. To his horror, he saw soldiers leave the house as smoke began to slither from within. The Hylotl mouthed 'I'm sorry' and 'run', knowing not whether the young boy would understand, then collapsed onto the dampening earth. The human wore the fallen warrior's cloak and katana as trophies, but these would later be reclaimed when his back was turned by a devastated widow fuelled by rage. The Novakid who dealt the killing blow, however...he'd disappeared, caring only for his reward. The Hylotl child who witnessed the event was rescued by his mother; his subconscious smeared the clarity of his memories, but memories have a tendency to resurface. One way or another.
the end is a bit rushed but I can picture you like that and why did you steal my idea to write a lore of your own oc? ...nah haha it's fine Keep it up with the writing I'll be watching
Well, it ends abruptly because it's the first chapter. I didn't steal your idea; I'd planned to write something for a while and had not gotten around to it yet. I appreciate your vigilance.
This sucks Sebby! Fufufufu~ Nah, it's actually really good, I like it. It's the first thing I've seen you write since quite a while now. Hopefully you'll get arround to continuing it soon! Fufufufufu~
Thanks a lot, you three. The next chapter should be coming either this weekend or over the next week, if I don't get too sidetracked or (gods forbid) lose motivation. --- 15/06/2013: I lost motivation. I uh...I'll write more at some point, probably after my exams are out of the way for good. I hope.
Chapter Two added to the OP! Everything will be spoilered from now on so the story doesn't clog up the thread. I'll always just update the OP with it and do a regular post like this to say that I've done so! I've been without motivation for a long time, but I found the drive to write today so I just sat down and did it. It always takes me a while to write, but the main thing is that I enjoy it (and hopefully that you guys do too, of course) and I did. So, I hope it's alright and feel free to give constructive criticism if you'd like.
