Leondra sat alone within her empty bedroom, her mind lost within the beauty of a poem she had been sculpting into perfection. She placed the tip of her brush into the black ink she had spent the last five minutes making into perfection. A single black streak crossed the paper, it's contrast striking as it formed the first words of her poem.

"What do you need, little sister?" Leondra asked, her eyes never leaving her work as she acknowledged Anise; who had been sitting quietly in the back of the room.

"Is it wrong to want only the best for your family?" She asked in her small childish voice.

Leondra smiled, shaking her head softly which caused her curled bangs to tickle her forehead. "Not if it's for the right reasons. You know that."

"How do I know if it's for the right reason?" She asked again.

Leondra sighed, ready to repeat herself for what felt like the millionth time. Anise was always coming to her with these questions. "If you're heart tells you, 'you must do this.' Then you must. Always listen to your heart, it will guide you and never lead you astray."

"I've been listening to my heart for a long time, sissy," Anise said, standing up from the edge of the bed and walking closer to Leondra who dipped her brush in her ink again.

"And what does your heart tell you?" Leondra asked, her face blooming with a bright smile as she stared at her finished masterpiece. When she didn't hear an answer from her child sister, she sat up and turned around to ask her directly.

"It says I have to protect Neo," she answered, her silvery hair bouncing in it's small ponytail as she nodded firmly.

Leondra smiled. "Is that all? Neo will be fine-"

"It says that you're bad like the others."

Leondra wasn't allowed a chance to scream, the blade which Anise had stole ran right through her vocal chords and silenced her. Permanently.

Anise watched as Leondra's face panicked. She listened to her mind, listening her cry out all sorts of accusations.

"Neo needs to be kept safe. He's the only one left. Without him, who else will lead Valaria? You can't. Sissy couldn't. Daddy couldn't. Yuria couldn't... Jacquelyn won't be able to do it either. So I'll be the one who helps him. Only me."

Anise released the hilt of the blade and allowed her sister's body to fall with a heavy thud to the carpeted floor. The ink from Leondra's brush flew from her hand, splattering black ink across Anise's face as it fell by her feet.

"I'm sorry it had to be like this Sissy... You and Melissa were the only ones who helped me. I won't let your deaths be a waste." Anise knelt down beside her sister's corpse and pushed her bangs behind her ear, petting her as she sighed.

Her small virtual link chimed, making a giant smile sweep across her face. "Oh yay!" She cheered.

She hopped to her feet, brushing her pink dress off. "It's time to go play!" She sang as she skipped out of the room, letting the door shut quietly behind her.

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

The palace fell into a silence so deep, even the wind dared not breathe onto it's grounds. Heads were hung low, only whispers were dared uttered by the servants.

The news of both of her daughters being murdered within such a short amount of time left Neo's mother in a great depression she was sedated and tucked into bed. Her life only hanging by a thread as it was began to wither away, threatening to snap any second.

Darius was saved only barely, by the quick wits of Jacquelyn and the cunning knowledge of poisons by Tamara he regained his ability to breathe on his own. Under Jacquelyn's orders he was held in bed and was not allowed to leave it save for when he had to use the bathroom.

Stephen helped keep the peace among the people who worked and served within the Palace, helping fill in holes for the remaining security, and assisted with the clean up.

Jacquelyn was left to herself, her mind running wild with all sorts of worries and stresses. Her heart ached whenever she thought of Neo or when she thought of Darius.

She had been crossing of the few addresses that hadn't had anything in them when she heard a soft knock on her door.

"Come in," was her exhausted reply.

When there was no noise from the door Jacquelyn turned to see a small pink slip waiting for her on her floor.

Not thinking about how she should have been cautious, or anything of the sort. Like an obedient sheep she stood and walked to the note. In bold letters, allowing her to read it without having to pick it up it read:

Meet me within The Forest of the Dead if you wish to see Neo again.

Emotions of all kind flooded through her body, her knees shook as relief and fear battled to overwhelm her.

In her body she was flooded with relief upon hearing any news related to Neo's whereabouts.

In her mind it screamed with fear. What if he was dead? What if she went, only to find his body like with Leondra?

I can't think like that, she told herself.

She grabbed the letter and thought of only two people who would be able to help her.

Tamara and Darius.

Darius...

She shook her head, knowing that Darius in his condition would be no use to her. It would have to be Tamara. She considered going to Stephen but knew his hands were full enough as it was.

It would just have to be them.

Grabbing the small note from the floor, she raced down the hall to where she last saw Tamara. She had only turned the corner to run face to face with a body much smaller than her own.

"Owie!"

"Ah!"

The two bodies fell in a heap of pain; one rubbing their head in pain, the other rubbing their rump that had hit the floor too hard.

"Anise?"

Upon hearing Jacquelyn's voice, Anise lowered her hands from her head and through a small pout looked up at her. "What's the hurry?" she whined.

"I'm sorry. I was just trying to..." Jacquelyn decided it best not to tell her and let her voice trail off. "I'm sorry. Here, let me help you." Jacquelyn stood to her feet and offered her a hand only to be coolly rejected.

Anise pushed her hand away and stood up on her own.

"It's fine," she muttered.

Jacquelyn only lowered her hand and sighed internally. I don't have time for this..

"Why were you running?" Anise asked again.

"I was..." Jacquelyn quickly thought of an excuse. "I was looking for someone."

"Who?"

Jacquelyn suddenly felt a small chill run down her spine but she shook it off. "Tamara actually."

Wait... why did I say that?

"Oh!" Anise chirped, clapping her hands together. "I can help, I can help!"

Jacquelyn gave a weak smile. "You saw her?"

"Yeah! She said she was going to head into town to that tavern place. She said you'd know where that was."

Jacquelyn nodded. It sounded like a typical Tamara message at least.

"Thanks Anise! I owe ya one!" Jacquelyn smiled and waved her a quick goodbye. She only made it a few steps away however when she suddenly turned around. "Hey..."

Anise hummed a response, looking over her shoulder at her.

"Where did you go that day? When we were suppose to be playing Hide and Seek?"

Anise pouted. "I should be asking you that! You left me hiding in a bush to go play with that guy, Dari-meanie!"

"I didn't leave you to- ... Dari-meanie?" Jacquelyn asked, a brow raising in curiosity.

Anise nodded firmly. "He's a big meanie!"

Jacquelyn couldn't help but laugh. "He's not so bad once you get to know him."

Anise stared at her for a while before shaking her head and walking off.

Jacquelyn decided it best that she hadn't said anything about the flock of crows that had attacked her that day, knowing that the kid was most likely stressed out enough as it was. With another shake of her head she continued her original path and raced down the hallway, her destination: Tamara.

Down the hall and around the corner, Anise watched as Tamara helped Darius move around in his bedroom.

Jacquelyn huffed and panted when she reached a fork in the road. She had been running since the palace and mentally cursing the fact Valaria wasn't big on cars.

I should have stolen a horse. She scolded herself.

She rested her upper weight on her knees as she tried to make out the signs in the dim lighting. It had to be close to 3AM by now. It was always around this hour where things tended to freak her out a bit more than usual. It was almost instinctual for her to be on more alert when the hour struck.

She closed her eyes only for a moment when she heard the familiar hiss of a blade being pulled from a scabbard. Her body froze, her breathing forced itself to correct itself. Her hand moved slowly to her leg where she kept her dagger.

When she opened her eyes she was greeted with a flash of silver. A loud screech of metal on metal clanked and echoed around her.

She pushed back her attacker, forcing them to stumble a distance away. It's body was cloaked in only black, the only thing Jacquelyn could make out was the whites of it's eyes.

"Not bad," it hissed. Male, Jacquelyn confirmed. She watched as he made a motion with his arm. She knew a signal had been made.

Five more cloaked warriors came forth from the forest around her, each wielding a sword of their own.

She gritted her teeth knowing full well that she was out-matched and out-strengthened.

"You can come quietly, or painfully," The man in front of her hissed. She recognized him to be of a reptile breed and smirked.

"The only group I am aware of the hires your kind is The Sonar or The Ancord..." She watched as his body hissed. "Since I know for a fact you're not Ancord. You must be The Sonar."

She watched his eyes narrow he studied her.

"So what the hell do you want?" She growled, her grip on her dagger tightening.

"It doesn't matter!" Another reptile snarled from the side-lines. "We were ordered to kill anyone who came down this road, Weisan or not!"

Jacquelyn felt something snap inside her when she heard the reptile man mention Tamara.

I'm so tired of this... she thought to herself.

She thought to when Darius said he had wished there was an easier way to simply leave this type of life. To go back before you're body knew what it was like to be soaked in someone else's blood, before it gained the muscle memory required to wield a blade.

When the first warrior lunged to attack she felt the older version of her thrum with life within her. She moved with a dexterity so high, to the other Sonar members she appeared to have only moved her arm, perhaps changed her stance.

The sound of a dying body falling to it's knees made the remaining members roar with rage.

Jacquelyn had thrown her dagger into the skull of the first warrior.

When she moved again she felt part of person she had worn as a mask shatter, however slight. When she ripped her dagger out of the head of the dead Sonar member, she broke just a little more. A dull ringing in her ears got louder every few seconds and soon began to pound away in her head.

She felt emotions that could have only been regret, perhaps sorrow, flood her as she danced across the ground towards her next victim. He had been fast to dodge her first blow but too slow to recover. She killed him with only two strikes.

The remaining three screamed and rushed towards her all at once.

She thought she felt a tear fall from her eyes and saw it land into the dusty ground below when she turned again.

She had stolen the dead man's sword who died closest to her and used it to strike all three down.

More men rushed into the scene, apparently back up that had arrived too late.

Stop fighting me... she willed them. If they stopped. If only they stopped... Please stop.

She eventually lost count of how many men and women she killed, she only knew the familiar stickiness that covered her like a second layer of skin. Their cries echoed in her ears as one by one they fell before her blade. Her eyes burned, she knew she had been crying.

Each tear that fell was another fragment of her mask, she feared what would happen when they stopped.

"Someone shoot the bitch!" She heard one cry.

She reached out to the nearest soldier she had just lethally maimed, he had yet to bleed out and die when she used him as a human shield.

She was so close to reaching the last one, there was only one.

She felt something yank on the base of her skull, something that could never have reached her physically.

With a sudden scream she stopped her attack short and fell to her knees.

The survivors of the skirmish huddled together, helping one another, trying to rebuild their formation as she sat paralyzed.

She heard what she thought was a radio beep and buzz from somewhere, the pain in her head made it difficult to even see in front of her lashes let alone hear anything properly.

"Tie her up. Boss wants her alive." She heard someone say as she stared up at the inky black sky.

She felt them yank her arms behind her back, felt her bones strain and pop against it. The first sound of gun fire made her think that it was over, someone was angry enough to put her out of her misery.

But the pain never came after the sound.

Maybe the sudden paralysis took pain away too.

More gun fire sounded and she easily recognized the screams of her captors, her old self rising to the surface with delight as she heard their bodies fall.

"Jacquelyn!"

Hearing Tamara's voice made her smile. Her old self was temporarily caged and defeated. She was back. The slight ringing in her ears quieted to a dull hum, finally allowing her to think.

"Holy shit..." She heard Stephen further away, she could only bring herself to smile.

From somewhere further away she thought she felt the rage of another explode out in their direction but as soon as it happened it dispersed itself and with it, the sudden feeling of paralysis on her body.

She reared forward, taking in gulps of air as she did so, her ability to breathe normally having been hindered while she was frozen.

"Are you hurt? Is this..?" Jacquelyn knew without having to look that Tamara had been referring to the blood that stained her skin red.

"It's not hers. I can promise you that."

Darius.

"Why'd you leave like that so suddenly?" Tamara asked her. "If it wasn't for Darius seeing you run out the front gates we never would have known."

Jacquelyn remained silent, her arms shaking slightly as they supported her weight. She stared at the red mud under her palm as her mind began to turn, the only thing that she could really make out was Anise.

Anise...

Jacquelyn would never have suspected anything wrong with her. Jacquelyn sat back on her knees and made a sound that sounded like she was laughing and crying at the same time. "I'm so stupid..." she breathed out.

"We already knew that babe," Tamara said.

"It was her. The whole time... I'd been looking at everyone else. I even doubted Melissa. I doubted Leondra. But it was her. "

Darius and Tamara shared a look, silently asking each other their opinion of Jacquelyn's mental state when she suddenly laughed.

"That bitch!" She cried, her mask slipping off. "Neo was right all along wasn't he? It was just the wrong sister... It all makes sense now."

"Jacky... baby? I think you need to calm down. You just went through hell." Tamara tried to reach down and take her dagger away from her but she froze when Jacquelyn's eyes shot towards her, blazing with a side she had never seen from her before. "Jacquelyn?"

"You don't see it?" She asked, her voice one that could have scared Death himself into the grave.

Stephen stepped closer and put himself between Tamara and Jacquelyn.

"Honey... Listen, I know you've been through a lot. I think it's time for you to come back and get some rest."

"No!" Jacquelyn roared, confusion clouded her brain. "How can you not see that she was the one behind it all!?"

"Who Jacquelyn?" This time Darius spoke, his eyes watching her every move carefully.

"Anise." She spoke the name with a venom so toxic it made Tamara and Stephen take a few steps back.

"Anise did this? Jacquelyn she's just a little girl..."

"Has it ever occurred to you that that's only what she wants you to think?"

Jacquelyn stared at them long and hard, trying to force them to see reason. They had to.

Tamara sent Stephen a look for help, a silent plea that was noticed by the royally pissed off Jacquelyn.

"You don't see it." Jacquelyn rose to her feet, her body stiff, the blood having dried on her skin and clothes.

Tamara went to try and speak but Jacquelyn shook her head. "I'm going to get Neo. With or without you."

"We don't even know where he is!" Tamara cried.

"I do." Jacquelyn smiled. "She wanted me to get there so she could kill me. Her first trap failed and I'm sure she'd wanted to use you to stop me... That failed to."

"Jacquelyn wait!" Tamara tried to stop Jacquelyn's retreating figure but was pulled by Darius.

"This isn't the Jacquelyn you remember," he said coldly. "She's shed too much blood. The Jacquelyn you know is drowning in it. This Jacquelyn.." he squeezed her shoulder, a vain attempt to comfort her. "This Jacquelyn lives to kill and she won't think twice about killing even you if you get in her way. She was trained to be this way. That's why The Ancord is so feared.

We turn normal killers into living weapons."