By the time Mika turned 10 years old her name had appeared on billboards and screens an immeasurable amount, and in her four years on the streets of Tibet, she became the most wanted person in the North-East continent. The bounty on her head towered the tallest temple. There wasn't a single scavenging varmint that didn't know her name, and the whole city was a forage for her.

She ferreted for months on end until the government had scheduled guards wandering the streets at night, all over Asia. Their flashlights lit up the night, and her shadow added to the darkness. Until she had slowly become it.

:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:

Dark eyes, dark clothes, dark gun - all flashed where the blue-eyed man sat stiff in the front seat. He was stuck in the freeze-frame of shock.

She desperately wanted to let out the scream of rage resting in her throat, but she knew she wouldn't win in a fight against this man and the gun that rested in his lap, nor the man in front. But maybe...

Mika reached for the gun, but he was faster. He took her arm in a sweet, merciless grasp, twisting it to force Mika against the back of his seat. She whimpered, no so much in pain as irritation.

He whipped around to meet her head-on.

"Don't you try me."

Looking past his, she caught the black eyes of the man standing in front of the car. Her eyes flickered with realization when he raised his gun in both hands, sights lined with her.

Bang.

Blue eyes rolled to the back of his head and his stern hand grazed Mika's arm as it slunk with his body. It landed with a thunk and Mika scrambled to the back of her seat, pushing as far away from the corpse as possible.

A moment passed of silence and a quick glance told her that the black-eyed man was nowhere to be seen, his bullet killed her captor.

Clack Clack.

Mika whipped her gaze to the window the sound was coming from and saw the black pits of a man.

The man.

He had taken everything.

He threw the door open and put a taut hand around her wrist, both of their skin turning white. He threw his hand to her mouth. In another world, he could have been a discipline professor.

"I'm here to help you," he rasped. His hand slowly drifted off her mouth, a touch away from being bitten as she tossed her head at his fingers.

"You!" She spat.

"Alright. Let's go." He tugged on her wrist. For a curious reason, his brows raised instinctively when she pulled back.

"You killed my Mother." She said through clenched teeth.

"Oh for God's sake."

She let out a scowl, unsatisfied. "You killed my Father," she grunted. His grip tightened.

"That's too bad. You'd think a girl would be a 'lil nicer to her savior."

"Ugh! You killed my brothers!"

Mika kicked his gut and pushed him out of the door, opening the other one. The man groaned in pain as his eyes caught her sprinting from the open door into the bushes. "Dramatic much?"

The lush forest loomed ahead, stars peeking through the cool leaves. Her breaths evened out when she slouched behind ferns, eyeing the man tentatively from the distance. He clouted his forehead with his palm with a loud sigh and turned into the green thicket to run after her. She ran back towards the car.

The man stopped, hearing her insensitivity to sound and watched as she scrambled over bushes, cringing at the lack of experience and agility. They both reached the car at the same time, and he slammed his palms into the slick black vintage electric.

"Come with me. Now!"

"Not a chance!"

She swung around the car and nailed him again in the knee. He yelped in pain as she turned again, but he grabbed her wrist. She pulled, but it was no use. A strange darkness crept at the corners of her vision until her eyesight faded and her senses dimmed into the pure abyss of white noise.

:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:

She woke up in the back seat of the car.

"What the -"

"You just woke up." His fingers hovered over her face as if he had just snapped.

"Yeah, no crap. From what exactly?"

"My power."

"What?"

"I can control people's minds. Reach the darkness and bring it forward to make them black out."

From the proximity, she got a better look at his features. A smooth jawline cradled pink lips and the yellow undertones of his cheeks. His lashes were short and scrawny, and eyebrows the same muddy brown of his shaggy hair. His ears were almost too big, and she almost laughed. Mika scrambled past the man and stepped out of the car.

"Where are we?"

"Our next stop. Gotta go by foot from here on."

"What do you want with me?"

"It's not safe here."

"Not a chance."

Two gunshots sounded and a bullet hole appeared in the car a few inches from her face. The man pointed up, as if indicating the sound waves emitted from the source of the shots - the surrounding woods.

"Your loss!"

He turned, shag flopping, and his feet carried him around and through the bushes.

Two armed men appeared on the other side of the road, inching closer with guns raised. She had to make a choice.

Her weight shifted on her toes as she ran through the pros and cons of each outcome.

If she stayed, she would be shot.

The men inched closer.

If she left, she could be killed like her family.

They were just around 15 meters away now.

If she stayed, she would never know why her family died.

Close enough for an accurate shot.

If she left, she was putting herself in the arms of a dangerous man.

One more step and she could be dead.

If she stayed... Screw it.

Mika stopped mid-thought and ran after the bouncing tufts, curious but careful. Bullets screamed past her ears and her hands tightened in fists. She finally caught up to him when he slowed, his upper body bending into a crouch-like position in the brush. Suddenly he whipped around and grabbed Mika, his hand covering her mouth again.

She bit it and he flinched away. "Will you stop doing that, Shaggy? You could have at least some respect for me, aces." Her brows were in a permanent crease of frustration at her final decision.

"Shaggy?" He roused quietly.

"Shut up, they're coming."

He glared at her with a finger over his lips in a signal to hush. She raised her brows and glared at him from the top of her vision. Her eyes flared with anger, but still sparked with curiosity.

Two more gunshots sounded, and just as fast as he had pulled her down the man lifted Mika and ran, his fingers curling, whitening around her wrist once again. Annoyed, she stole his wrist in a threatening grip and tore it off her own, digging her nails into his soft skin.

He spared her a glance before looking ahead again and picking up pace.

She stumbled a little as her center of gravity shifted unwillingly, still moving from his momentum, but soon she reclaimed her balance and followed in the man's footsteps, making their own trail through the forest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to read the next chapter!

<3