She can hear them, louder and louder. Her mind is working against her again. She predictably finds her friend in his room playing a game, and she signals to him that she's going for a walk. He gives the all-clear, and she quickly leaves the walls of the foster home behind.

Walks help clear her mind. It gives her something else to focus on other than her thoughts. The people, the animals, the trees and the buildings of the city—they all provide a much-needed distraction when she has nothing else. She takes note of the overcast sky above her, dimly glowing with the sun's radiance. She's indifferent about the rain, but she wishes for some sunlight after nearly a week of constant downpour. Hopefully it will warm up soon so she can stop wearing her large black jacket.

Instead of going to the heart of the city, she decides to go the opposite way to the forested edge. It's a nature preserve protected by people with Nature-grouped Mutes, and the trees bloom beautifully this time of year before they bear fruit—at least, that's what she's been told. One time, she collected fallen petals and placed them in her curly ginger hair. If she does that again, though, she'll have to shake them all out before returning home, or else she'll be scolded again for making a mess. She still finds petals here and there. It's like they play hide-and-seek. Maybe petal hide-and-seek is her Mute?

She opens her mind to the outside as she continues her walk through the nature preserve. The winds rustling the different shades of green leaves serve as new white noise for her mind while the scent of apricot and sweet cherry blossoms help distract her. Perhaps when these fruits ripen, she will pick some. Patients in the hospital are always happy to receive fresh fruit during their stays—then again, that's what she's been told, at least. The dirt, grass, and fallen twigs make soft crunches under her shoes; the grass has been brightening in colour now that it has been freed from its snowy prison.

Wandering away from the path, she picks up her pace as she follows the breeze and birdsong wisping through the forest. Getting lost isn't an issue, as her phone is traced to the group home so she can find her way back, and the staff to her. All it takes is the press of the emergency button, and...

She gasps as she lays her eyes on a grim sight: a person laying on their side with their back against a tree, unconscious and dirty. It's a boy, likely in his teen years, and she nearly stepped on his head! Walking around to get a better look, she realizes that his black shirt and pants are torn beyond repair and are stained with mud and some other dark liquid, his black shoulder-length hair is filthy and matted in places, and his pale skin is torn and cut in many places. Around his neck is a clear teardrop-shaped pendant on a chain.

She was taught once by the hospital staff how to check for a pulse, so she gives it a try, and after a few failed attempts she finds one! He's alive! She hits the emergency button on her phone and waits for the home's staff to rush to her location. Hopefully, he can still be saved.

>>>>>>

Machines beep and hum as she looks down at the sleeping boy, now safe in a hospital bed in a lone room. Across the room tapping on a keyboard is a nurse donning the standard white and baby blue scrubs, logging data as her luxurious jade hair wisps gently from the nearby air conditioner. Also in the room is the friend from the group home, who is watching the boy with similar curiosity under a head of reddish-blonde hair.

"How's he doing, Nurse Rosa?" the boy asks.

"Well enough, Reed. He needs lots of rest, but he should pull through," the nurse briefly responds as to not lose total concentration on the task at her hand.

The quiet girl shifts her weight from her left foot to her right. She's worried about the sleeping boy in the hospital gown, but something about him puts her on edge. Did one of the city's gangs do this to him?

The boy mumbles something in his sleep, but the only thing they can make out is: "Yal...ow..."

"So how'd you find him?" Reed asks the girl.

Unable to respond, she tilts her head slightly and looks out the room's moderately sized window.

"Did you stumble into him on your walk?"

She shallowly nods her head as a brief room-wide silence ensues.

"Illia?" Nurse Rosa says, sharply catching the girl's attention. "You can resume your walk if you'd like. It will likely be a while until he wakes up. Just make sure to be back home before it rains."

"If you're going out again, I'll let Mabel know," Reed volunteers. Illia nods her head in recognition and slinks out of the room.

Illia thinks to return to the forest, but her feet choose a different path as she leaves the hospital sector in the direction of the city's centre. She isn't much of a people person, but the hustle-and-bustle of city life gives a kind of awe-inspired feeling in her, as dangerous as the city can be sometimes. Poverty has led many down the path of criminality—most just secret thieves or drug dealers hoping to scrounge together enough change for another meal, but there has been a recent and steady increase in armed robbery, kidnappings, and even murder; the Invictus gang in particular have gotten a steady increase in notoriety lately with their newfound brutality. As she's overheard a few individuals saying: 'ransom is all the rave, nowadays'.

She plans on sticking to the main streets, as back alleys tend to invite the worst kind of trouble, but she ends up taking a detour to a quiet pond in a separate residential district. It's too full of green to swim and it's slightly flooded by the rain, but along with the song of resident frogs, the pond's namesake breeze invokes a feeling of calm to those who rest at its shores. However, that calm had been interrupted recently. As she passes a memorial of pink flowers and decor and steps out onto the wooden dock, Illia's mind drifts uncontrollably to visualize that unfortunate event.

A random passerby with their dog visited the pond a week ago and saw a pair of shoes left neatly at the end of the dock. They thought nothing of it until their dog started barking at the water. It was then that they found the body of a girl in the water, camouflaged by algae. After the body was recovered by police, it became clear that there was no foul play involved, and that she had thrown herself in.

Illia breathes a deep sigh and she closes her eyes. What does it feel like to drown? To have your body scream for air, but all you breathe is water? Do you claw at the surface until you fade? Or do you find peace in the blue and let yourself go? Illia sighs deeper now; she believes that this fate is the most terrifying of them all, and she hopes to never have the misfortune of experiencing it. A breeze kicks up and blows her curled hair back, and she takes this as a sign to leave. She could use a noisy distraction from what her mind drew up.

Out of all places in the city, the Heartstone Market is among her favourites, both for its sights and its significance. Located in the heart of the city, it's a large pedestrian-only street crammed with colourful shops and stores from cultures all over the world. Back when this place was only a small town, merchants from all over would convene and sell their wares and exchange cultures, and over time the town grew into a city; the Heartstone Market grew a Soul City. Though nowadays the city feels soulless more than anything...

Illia walks steadily down the centre of the marketplace with her hands in her denim pockets, taking in the sights of the people and the smells of the restaurants. The cloud-covered sun casts faint shadows on the people walking by, and she imagines what secrets they might be hiding. She doesn't remember when she told this or by whom, but she remembers hearing that a person's shadow is where their darkest demons hide. What could these people be hiding? Domestic abuse? A gambling addiction? Suicidal tendencies?

She shakes the thought out of her head. She went on this walk to clear her mind, not fill it. Perhaps the effect of finding the boy is the cause. Picks of rain draw her attention upwards, and she notices that the people around her are also reacting—it's time to return home. Illia turns off from the Heartstone Market while crimson eyes burn from within her shadow.

>>>>>>

The automatic doors of the hospital hiss quietly behind her as she steps in from the rain. It wasn't a downpour, but she was out long enough for her hair to become damp, and soon fuzzy. At least her yellow shirt underneath is dry.

"Hi Illia," Nurse Rosa greets from behind the main counter. Illia takes a step closer while brushing the droplets of rain off of her arms. "The boy you found is still in the same room and unconscious. Reed is still with him." Illia gives a nod in thanks and heads for the stairs.

The number of questions in her head ascend as she ascends the stairs. She wonders how long it will be until he awakens. What's his name? Where did he come from? Why was he in the forest? What happened to him? She reaches the third floor and walks down the hall towards the room.

And then her nerves ignite.

She's two feet away from the room's door, and her feet have planted themselves in place. Why? What's with this sudden burst of unease? It feels like she's being watched, but the surveying eyes are attached to her skin and clothes. The familiar stench of antiseptics and cleaners is starting to make her feel nauseous. She takes an unsteady breath to calm herself down and muster up the strength to continue.

As soon as she turns the handle to open the door, it rockets open and she's dragged in by an unseen force, and the door swiftly but silently closes behind her. Standing at the foot of the bed is the boy, fully awake and glaring at her down the sights of an impossibly black handgun. To Illia's left is Reed, trembling but standing his ground. The air around him is hot from his Mute on standby, ready to fire if a chance arises. It reeks of garlic—white phosphorous.

"What is this place?" the boy questions Illia, his somewhat deep voice causing a deep-seated fear in her to bubble up. Her face and hands are tingling from fright, and she feels as if she's about to pass out. Reed protectively raises his arm out in front of her.

"Leave her out of this, man. She doesn't talk," Reed says in a shaky voice, trying to take as much attention off of her as possible. The gun-wielding boy narrows his eyes, causing Reed to reiterate: "She's mute. She can't talk."

He glares at them with cold brown eyes trained down the sights of that pitch-black handgun. She remembers reading once that brown hair and eyes are the most common colours of their respective features. How can such a common appearance impose such fear in her?

"L-look," Reed begins. "I already told you. This is Soul General Hospital, in the city of Soul. We found you unconscious out in the woods, so we brought you here to fix you up. You got your info, you got your pendant, so can you please put the gun down?"

It's from Reed mentioning it that draws Illia's gaze to the glass pendant around the boy's neck. However, there's something strange about it. When she first saw it, it was completely clear. Now there's a small black dot within, just barely visible enough for her to see from three metres away. Did it get damaged? Is that why he's upset? And how did he even get a gun in the first place?

A burst of rain pelts against the room window, drawing the boy's attention to it. He casually looks back to them, then the window flies open on its own as he walks towards it. Then in what seems like a puff of smoke, he vanishes through to the outside. Reed bolts for the window after him.

"What the hell?" he exclaims before darting for the door. As soon as he disappears around the corner, a thud and a crash are heard.

"Ah! Reed, watch where you're going!" Nurse Rosa exclaims, now surrounded by dropped items.

"The boy escaped!" Reed blurts out.

"What?"

"He jumped out of the window and ran!"

After picking up the dropped items, Nurse Rosa makes for the room and sees that rain is pouring through the open window and that the boy is nowhere to be seen.

"That's... unfortunate," she says in a calm demeanour before shutting the window.

"We have to find him!" Reed exclaims.

"Reed, we can't."

"What? Why?"

"We can't just drag someone back here against their will, even if they need medical attention. I'll have to do some paperwork, but that'll be all that happens."

"But he pulled a gun on us!"

"...What?"

"He pulled a gun out of thin air and pointed it at us! He asked me where he was and where his pendant was, and then he turned into smoke and disappeared out the window!" Reed explains. A horrified look quickly grows on Nurse Rosa's face, and she scans Illia's, who nods in confirmation with a frightened expression of her own.

"W-we still can't get involved, but we can certainly call the police," Nurse Rosa stammers.

"I'll call Dwayne," Reed says as he pulls his phone from his pocket. He then looks at Illia. "Let's go down to the lobby." She nods her head in agreement.

Dwayne manages the Soul Children's Home efficiently as its head. A generous and charismatic man, he quickly garnered respect from his subordinates and the children when he first took over, and he's easily recognizable from his large stature and grey goatee.

"I've never heard of a Mute like that, but I can't describe it as anything else..." Dwayne woefully says.

"As soon as we find this person, we'll let you know," a police officer says to Dwayne.

"Alright, thank you."

As officers take their leave, a girl with dark skin, black braided hair, and a light blue spring dress approaches.

"I heard what happened. Are you two okay?" she says to Reed and Illia.

"We're fine, just a little shaken up," Reed responds as Illia gives a slight nod.

"Back from seeing Arron, Lydia?" Dwayne asks.

"Yes," she responds. "The rain was quite refreshing as well."

"We've had too much rain lately," Reed states.

"Alright kiddos, stay inside for the rest of the day, okay? The last thing I want is for any of you to run into him again," Dwayne says.

"Are you going to go look for him as well?" Reed asks.

"No. I'm leaving that job for the police to handle, and I hope you do too."

"I'd rather not be shot by a weird Mute, so I'll stay inside," Lydia says.

"Yeah, I guess we should," Reed shallowly admits. "It is raining pretty hard..."

"Good. I have a few errands to run, so I'll be back at around supper," Dwayne says.

After a short word of acknowledgment from the kids (or a nod in Illia's case), Dwayne leaves the hospital. Lydia furrows her finely shaped eyebrows as she looks at Reed.

"Seriously Reed, don't go after him," she says sharply, knowing full well that he may be planning to do just that.

"I won't, okay? This guy is actually dangerous," Reed responds in kind.

An hour passes and everyone is in their rooms—at least, that's what Lydia thinks. She goes to check on Reed and sure enough, he's missing again.

Rather than be inside like he's supposed to, Reed is out in the nature preserve where Illia found the boy with the strange Mute. Based on their previous interaction, he assumes the boy may have nowhere to go or is lost, so to evade the police he might have returned to the forest. He shouldn't be too hard to spot in a hospital gown, that is if he's still wearing it.

Reed slinks around the soaked forest; he figures being quiet is better than calling out in case it spooks the boy into hiding further. While the spring rain and wind bring a sharp chill, the crackles of asphyxiated white phosphorus from his Mute help keep him warm, though the garlic-like smell helps little with the fecal stench of the mud. The boy has to be here, right? Unless he hid in an alley dumpster or something, a hospital gown doesn't go unnoticed—

"Why are you looking for me?"

Reed spins on his heels and realizes the boy is right behind him, soaked to the skin and gun drawn. Sure enough, he's still in the hospital gown, though it's already torn in places and covered with muck. The pendant hangs from around his neck free of dirt, though a tiny black speck can be seen within. Reed dared to come out here to offer him help, but now, that courage has faded almost entirely.

"Why are you looking for me?" the boy repeats, his voice sharper than before. The sights of his pitch-black gun are trained on Reed's forehead.

"D-do you have anywhere to go?" Reed manages to eke out. His voice is cracking under the pressure of the gun. The boy glares silently at him, choosing not to answer. "The home brings in kids who can't care for themselves or who don't have anywhere to go. We can help you—"

"I don't want your help," the boy retorts. "The only help I want is for you to leave me alone. I have no problem with killing you."

Reed gets it now, or at least he thinks he does. The boy is scared and is putting on a front to chase him off. That Mute gun might just be for show, then. If he was going to shoot, he would've done it already before Reed even knew he was out here. Reed steels himself and decides to call the boy's bluff.

"Yes you do," Reed says. "If you were going to kill me, you would've done it already." The boy's expression turns from serious to furious. "You're trying to scare me away because you're scared yourself. Please, let me help you, dude."

Without hesitation, the boy pulls the midnight trigger. A bullet rockets out of the barrel with a snap as loud as a strong cough, and Reed braces himself with crackling phosphorus; with enough power, he can melt and stop a bullet mid-flight. But to Reed's surprise, the bullet slips right through his defences—and stops on its own right in front of his forehead.

"Congratulations. You called my bluff," the boy remarks with a trickle of fury in his voice. The black bullet fizzles away into nothingness, and Reed drops his guard ever so slightly. "I don't want to kill you, but..."

Reed watches in shocked awe as the gun crumbles into smoke and orbits the palm of the boy's hand like a galaxy, then hardening into a wispy black baton. It grows and curls at the top, forming a large, thick sickle.

"...I will hurt you."

"Don't take me lightly," Reed retorts as his Mute ignites around his shoulders and arms with angry pops. "I'll knock some sense into you, and then I'll get you the help you need."

After a brief stare-down, the boy rushes in as Reed prepares a retaliatory blast. But just before the two meet in the centre, the rain around them explodes into a choking mist.

"Reed, you dumbass!"

Appearing from the mist behind Reed is a fuming Lydia, followed by Illia, and both dry as a bone. After registering the two arrivals in his mind, Reed looks back at the boy and sees that he's fighting against shackles of ice holding him up and his limbs out like a star. The sickle is nowhere to be seen.

"You were told not to leave!" Lydia barks. "Not only did you disobey Gabriel and Dwayne again, but this time you put your life at risk trying to find and help someone who pointed a gun at you!"

"Because he needs help!" Reed barks back.

"The only help he needs is help into a jail cell!" Lydia shifts her attention to the bound boy and tightens the icy chains further with a wave of her hand. "And you! Nobody threatens them and gets away with it!"

The boy thrashes against the cold restraints. Due to the layer of water and ice on his skin, he can't slip out without brute force. He lets out an angered shout and he's immediately silenced by water.

"How about I muzzle you?" Lydia says almost sadistically, forcing water into his mouth and up his nose. "I won't kill you, but you'll be out long enough for me to take you to the police station!"

"Are you effing nuts!? Stop it!" Reed shouts as the boy is choking on water.

"Don't get in my way, Reed! He needs to be punished!"

"You're killing him!"

Illia looks frantically at all three of them, too frightened to do anything until she notices something the other two don't: the veins on the side of his neck have turned black. Not only that, but many other veins are turning black too, making him look scarred with midnight. She finally rushes over to Lydia and tugs on her shirt and points, but Lydia pays her no mind as she bickers with Reed.

Suddenly, a loud bang and shatter ring out. With an explosion of dark power, the boy has broken out and is now slouched over as he recovers his lost breath. Now with a new sense of horror, Lydia tries binding him again, but this time the ice shatters before it can touch him. Illia lets out a terrified squeak as he raises his head and reveals a crazed fury in his eyes. Lydia takes a step back in fright.

With a guttural roar, the vengeful boy sprouts black chains from his back and uses them to leap forward. He pulls back a fist steeped in darkness aimed straight at Lydia's head. Reed quickly steps in to protect Lydia, though unsure if he can stop such an attack. The punch lands and triggers an explosion of dark smoke that envelops the immediate area. When the smoke dissipates with the rain, Illia realizes that a giant tree root has blocked the attack.

"I'm very disappointed with all of you," a deep voice resounds from their left.

"Dwayne!" Lydia cries as they spot the older man standing off to the side, his right hand sparkling with green energy.

"There was no need to go as far as you did, Lydia. And you disobeyed me again, Reed," Dwayne states with a mix of anger and disappointment in his voice. "And you..." he says to the boy, now doubled over with sheer fatigue, "...will be coming with me."

Despite the fatigue, the rage still burns on in the boy, and he quickly forms and fires two shots from a dark handgun. Dwayne draws the raised root over to him, and the bullets explode like paintballs on impact. Reed takes immediate notice of this severe reduction in power.

"Dwayne!" Reed calls out. "The kid's lost, and he's got nowhere to go! I don't know why, but he's scared of people, and he's putting on a tough act to scare everyone into leaving him alone!"

"What, so you want to take him in? Hell no! Not after what he's done!" Lydia barks. Both Illia and Reed notice the boy flinching violently at her words.

"Dwayne, there's something going on with him," Reed continues with a calmer voice. "His weird Mute, how scared he is... There's something more going on."

Dwayne considers Reed's words as he steps towards the boy, now fallen onto his rear and weakly shifting backwards away from everyone. The gun in his hand slowly crumbles away at what looks to be against his will, and despite what seems to be his best efforts, he can't reform it again.

"Stay away from me..." the boy hisses, his voice barely more than a raspy whisper. The verdict is clear to Dwayne. He kneels to the boy's level, letting the knees of his jeans become muddy and sodden. He notices that the boy is trembling.

"My name is Dwayne," Dwayne says in a calm, gentle voice. "I run a Children's Home, where we take in and care for children who don't have a place to stay. My wife Phoebe runs the nearby hospital, the one you were brought to earlier. While I don't appreciate what you did to these children, I can't turn a blind eye to a child in need. If you don't have a place to stay, we can lend you a room until we get things figured out."

The trembling boy says nothing, though his teeth are chattering from the cold rain. Dwayne holds a warm hand out to him.

"Come with me to the hospital. It's a safe place, I promise. You can recover there. We'll talk more about your situation after you feel better."

The boy still sits there, unwilling to accept or deny, unable to run and hide. Dwayne doesn't retract his hand.

"It's okay man, you can trust us," Reed pipes up. "I mean, Lydia may be scary at times but when you get to know her, she's really nice."

"Hey!" Lydia hisses. Dwayne gives Reed a disapproving look, but the boy's expression softens ever so slightly, which Reed takes as a success. A small smile forms on Illia's face.

Reed guesses that the boy is on the brink of giving in to them and that one last thing needs to be said to convince him. What can he say? He walks over to the boy's side and crouches down.

"Hey, I forgive you for pointing that gun at me, and for fighting with me." The boy's eyes seem to light up at this, and a feeling wells up inside Reed like he just struck gold. "So now that the hatchet's been buried, wanna come to the hospital with me? You look like you could use a good rest."

The boy sits up a little straighter; he's willing to go now. Lydia uses her Mute to clear and keep the rain off of them as they help him up, and Illia watches on in silence. Is this for the best? She hopes so, but a gut feeling still leaves her uneasy. Just who is he?