A/N I'm on a roll with this story y'all

Stellaluna awoke to the sound of things falling out of the fridge and hitting the floor with a variety of smacks, clangs, and whams.

"Sorry, sorry-" Crystal apologized when she realized she'd woken Stella up.

"Nah, whatever..." she rubbed her eyes.
"You paranoid or something?"

Crystal turned around, away from the eggs she was carefully removing from the egg carton.
"Why do you ask?"

"Oh, maybe because when I got home last night our bedroom door was locked?!" Stellaluna said,
"Seriously kid, what was with that?!"

Crystal took a long pause. She cracked the eggs against the counter and as Stellaluna watched her it became very apparent she did not usually make eggs.
"Yeah, paranoid..."

Stellaluna had slept on the couch with no blanket and this...was an experience she didn't care to relive.
"Don't lock it again."

"I thought you were staying at Axel's." Crystal shrugged.

"I didn't even tell you I was with him!"

"Well, you made it obvious when you left ASAP with no explanation."

Stellaluna grunted, heading over to her room. Crystal was back to her eggs already.
Stellaluna opened the door and jumped back.
"Crystal!" She snapped.
"The robber's still here?! In my bed?! And I had to sleep on the-"

Crystal waved a hand, dismissing the statement altogether.
"She didn't attack me. It's fine."

Stellaluna scowled and decided to ignore that. Everyone here was a huge idiot.
She crouched down next to the bed and gave the woman's shoulder a tap.
"Hey."
Nothing.

She gently shook her and the woman took a sharp breath in before speaking in a drowsy but firm voice
"Mistress! Apologies-"

Stellaluna wanted to snap at this annoying lady but she spoke softly in hopes she'd calm down too.
"I'm not your mistress. It's breakfast, you should get up."

Midori didn't say anything for a second.
"M-Mordecai..?"

Stellaluna growled
"No! Get up! You're in my bed and I had to sleep on the couch!"

She opened her eyes, rubbing them with the back of her hand.
"Oh, wow. I assumed I'd be killed in my sleep. Lovely to see you." She said sarcastically.

"You're awful snarky for someone who could have been." Stellaluna said.
"What do you even want?"

The woman got out of bed drowsily, standing up to her full height. She was a lot taller than Stellaluna had guessed, and the woman looked down on her.
"I hope we can get along, but I know we can't. Midori Korudo, your name is Stella, is it not?"

Stellaluna left the room so that she wouldn't punch her right then and there.

"Hey," Peggy said, sitting down at the table.
"You look...disgruntled."

"I don't know what that means." Stellaluna groaned.
"Did I tell you about the werewolves?"

"The what?"

Stellaluna cleared her throat, gesturing towards her room.
"Midori is a werewolf. She tried to kill me. I was out almost all night looking for her, and then I find out she's living here. She could have hurt Crystal!"

Peggy sighed.
"Stella I...we can talk about this later. I'm going to ask her why she broke in, and where she lives, and then she'll be gone."

Stellaluna didn't seem convinced. She looked to Peggy who responded with
"She had every chance to hurt Crystal. She didn't."

"You're all crazy." Stellaluna said.
"Even if you don't believe me she still broke in through your window. Why are you letting this freak stay?!"

Midori came into the room with her usual serious expression. She sat down in the fourth chair.
"The only reason I'm still here is because I know I'll have another shot at X. It's not because I need a place to stay or I'm lonely. I just can't go back empty handed."

Peggy looked up at her.
"Let me get this straight. You got sent away from home to kill Amabilis?"

Midori nodded, though she'd hardly call it home.

"And what happens if you don't?"

"Why do you need to know?" Midori growled.

Peggy quieted.
"It's okay if you don't want to say anything."

"Morgue." Midori finally said.

"What do you mean morgue?"

Midori spoke steadily but quietly, Peggy reached behind her ear and turned up her hearing aid.
"Six hours, no food, no water, no fighting. I sit in the morgue and think about what I have done, surrounded by the bodies of others who have upset the mistress."

Peggy folded her hands in her lap looking disturbed.
"That's...are you...serious-"

"Eggs!!" Crystal called out, bounding up to the table.

It was so loud Peggy's hand shot to her hearing aid, which she quickly turned down.

Crystal leaned down, proudly placing her 'eggs' on the table. They were far from what any egg should be.
"So! Midori! How are you liking it here?"

Midori didn't look like she wanted to talk, she never did. She folded her arms and stared down at the breakfast.
"It's way too small. And you children are way too loud and annoying."
She shot Peggy a look.
"I like her." She said, pointing towards her.

Peggy smiled softly.
"Aww, I like you too! Maybe you should stay for a while, get to know us-"

"No." Midori growled.
"I'm not getting to know anyone."

Crystal looked disappointed as she sat down.
"When will Amabilis be back?" Asked Midori, looking at Peggy.

Stellaluna braced her hands on the table. In a low tone she said
"Maybe never. We're not actually friends. I think it would be stupid to fight him after he made a total idiot out of you. You should just leave him be."

"I don't care what you have to say." Midori growled, she picked up the egg with her fingers and waved it around in a confused state before rejecting it and dropping it back on the plate.

"Well I think you should, leave Amabilis alone."

"I don't have to listen to you!!"

"You're in my apartment!"

"Why do you care about someone like him?!"

Stellaluna looked down and Midori folded her arms again.

Stellaluna...didn't know why she cared about Amabilis. She supposed it was because now, she had the chance to save him, and if she just let this freak kill him...she'd be an accomplice. She fought, sure, but she didn't kill.
Oh and he was a sort of cute guy who didn't hate her yet.

In fact, Amabilis was just what she wanted to be.
He truly didn't care what anyone thought of him.

"It's none of your business why I care about anyone! You don't even know what it's like to care!"

Midori stood up from the table, throwing her chair to the floor. She yelled
"You don't know anything about me!"

Midori ran out the apartment door into the hallway and Peggy and Crystal stared at her chair on the floor.
"Why are you such a jerk to her?" Peggy asked.

A...jerk? No, no, Midori was the one who-
"You guys let a freak show robber stay with us like it was nothing! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! What's your excuse?!"

Peggy looked Stellaluna dead in the eye.
"Can't you tell? She's very clearly been abused or something, I think she's a runaway...we should at least try to help her until she finds somewhere else to stay."

Stellaluna stood up and left into her room without another word.

Half an hour later the door creaked open and Midori was forced in by the two other roommates.
"Bond! Bond with eachother!" Crystal said, before closing and locking the door again.

"I hate this." Midori groaned.

"Me too." Stellaluna agreed, there was a silence until Stella asked
"So, what's so bad about Amabilis? Like, why do you want to kill him?"

"I..." Midori brought her hands up to her necklace which Stellaluna had noticed she did a lot.
"Don't want to. I've been told to kill him, because he...ruined something my superior worked very hard on."

"Do you always listen to your boss?"

Again with the necklace! Midori clutched it tighter.
"I...guess so..."

Stellaluna had nothing in common with this girl other than a desire to stay away.
"So you just follow the rules? All the time? What about what you want?"

"I want water, and food. And if I follow the rules I can have what I want!"

Oh. Peggy was right...oh no...

"Is that all you want?" Stellaluna asked.

Midori looked conflicted. Eventually, she shook her head.
"No. But I can't be unrealistic."

Things got quiet.
"Midori, who do you live with?"

"My Mistress."

Stellaluna knew Peggy and her were right. Uncomfortably she continued
"Does she hurt you?"

Midori rolled up her sleeves, and pointed to a scar that was almost fully healed.
"Only a little bit. When I do something wrong. But that's my fault."

"Well maybe...you could stay with us for a while. While uhh...your scar heals..."

Midori touched her scar, it was almost completely healed and she was great at scar care considering she had so much experience. She didn't need to sit with strangers until it healed.
"You hate me. You only want me to stay longer to hurt me. Just like you keep having meals at weird times."

Stellaluna but her lip. Was she starved too?
"That's...not true. I just-"

"You have a soft spot for people who have been hurt." Midori said.
"That's a deadly flaw."

"Don't you want to stay instead of go back to your mistress? I'm not offering again. But...if you promise not to hurt Amabilis I'll let you stay- but only because I don't want Peggy to kick me out."

Midori didn't seem upset, or happy.
"I love my mistress, she's like a mother to me. I appreciate your kindness and I...how about I just talk it out with Amabilis?"

Stellaluna's eyes widened.
"Talk it out? You'd really do that?"

Midori nodded firmly.
"Lets go over to his house, I'll talk things out with him and then...I'll go."

Stellaluna opened the door.
"Peggy! Crystal! We're going to Amabilis'! Wanna come?"

Peggy and Crystal looked up from the TV.
"Are...are you going to kill him?" Peggy asked, concerned.

"No." Midori said.
"I'm going to have a civil conversation."

"Shut up!" Amabilis yelled.
"You can't tell me what to do!"

"Thats the only way neither of us get hurt!" Midori hollered back.
"Do you think I want to hurt you?"

"Yes!" Amabilis screamed.

Stellaluna, Crystal and Peggy sat on the couch, watching the fight a few feet away.

"I don't think the instruction 'talk it out' was clear..." Peggy mumbled as Midori snapped her jaws at Amabilis.

He pulled back quickly, his hand over his heart as if dying.
"You're just trying to kill me like usual!"

Midori nodded, her hair falling over her green eyes.
"Yeah, I am. Do you know how many times I've been hit and kicked just because I let you live?!"

"Oh, because you've never hurt me! Because I've never been hurt because of you! You ruin everything!"

"Well I'm sorry I was ever born!"

Amabilis stormed out of the room and Midori growled as she tightened her fists.

"I want to go to my mistress." She said, dead serious.

Peggy stood up, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"You don't have to. Your home doesn't sound like a great place -you know that's one of the reasons I let you stay, and you can continue to stay if you want!"

Midori grabbed Peggy's hand and pushed it back towards the young woman.
"I shouldn't be here!" She said.
"Trust me, if you knew me..."

Midori ran only a few steps before Crystal grabbed her by the hand.
"Don't...don't run away again..."

Midori gave her a firm push causing the much smaller girl to stumble back.
She ran through the doors, navigating the large house as if she'd been there many a time before.

The woods weren't too cold in the early summer months, despite the windy day, but they were colder than the apartment where Midori had spent the night.

Midori ran fast enough that her new jacket caught on a few low branches and they sliced right through, but she didn't mind.

She ran, hardly thinking about where she was going until a boy with long scarlet red hair appeared in her path.
"Midori!" He exclaimed.
"You're back! What...what are you wearing?"

Midori looked down at her seemingly bizarre outfit.
"I stole it." She said. It was the truth.

The boy smiled. Eight -or Crimson as he liked to be called.
"Nice steal. Where'd you get them?"

"I don't remember." Midori lied.
"But I'm not going back...horrible customer service."

Crimson chuckled.
"Welcome back! So, how'd you do it? Kill X I mean?"

"I didn't."
Midori said.

Crimson gave her a concerned look, about to say something when Four came running out of the old, abandoned hospital.

"One!" She growled.
"Where were you?!"

"Fighting X. Where were you? Oh right, you don't go on missions."

Four lunged at her but Midori threw her off quickly.
"Mistress is going to beat you to dust!" Four hissed.

Midori's chest constricted. Four -November- was right.

November's lips -or what of them wasn't melted off- curved into a sinister smile.
"And when she sees...this!"
November grabbed the necklace around Midori's neck.
"Oh, she won't be happy."

Midori's blood boiled. She violently tore the jewel from November's hands.
"Don't touch my stuff. I'll kill you."

"What if Mistress touched it?"
November asked her with a dark grin.

Midori spoke in a low serious tone.
"Well then I'd kill her."

Midori walked inside the hospital, headed to her room to get changed before anyone else brought this up.

Her footsteps must have attracted the other mutant's attention because several doors opened at once and a boy with platinum blonde hair stared at her. As usual, he didn't say a word.

A young girl next to him with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes also stared.
"M-midori?"

Midori grunted in response.
"What do you want?" She snarled, bearing her teeth.

The little girl let out an eep, wrapping around the blonde haired boy.

Midori slammed closed the door to her room, Before she even changed she tried to conceal her necklace under Peggy's blouse. She left her usual hospital gown with the idiots. Dang it. Midori opened her small, near empty closet, and grabbed her other outfit. The sleeveless gray spandex turtleneck all the mutants had. It was like a symbol...she was back, and she was settling in already.

Midori didn't have time to change when she heard heeled shoes click against the hallway floor.

"So," came a voice from behind her door.
"You're finally back."

Midori froze.
Her doorknob clicked and the door swung open.

The eloquent Mistress strutted up to Midori, lifting her chin with her gloved hand.
"Please dear, tell me it's all over."

Midori looked her in the eye, then her eyes wandered to the woman's scar that ran up from her lip and behind her wavy black bangs.

Better to be hurt for the truth than killed for a lie.
"He isn't dead."

Doctor Korudo chuckled.
"X...isn't...dead? Oh, well..."
She lifted her hand and slammed it against Midori's face.
"Maybe you should try harder next time!" She barked.

Midori looked down, trying not to let her anger or fear reach her eyes.

"So you were just out there stealing 'pretty' clothes the whole time?" Korudo asked with her hands on her hips.

Midori shook her head.
"I was right there, I just...missed."

"You just missed. That's almost worse than not trying at all. You should be ashamed of yourself." Korudo said.

"I am sorry. I am ashamed of what I did."

Korudo grabbed Midori by the wrist.
"You should be ashamed of yourself not just what you did."
The mistress scowled.
"Pathetic. Now, let's hear the full story this time."

Midori wished she could disappear. She spoke quietly, avoiding her mistresses eyes.
"I successfully found him. But Five tricked me before I could attack. X knocked me out and kept me captive, but I escaped."

It wasn't a lie. It wasn't a lie at all.

"I don't think you're telling the truth!" Korudo yelled, reaching out to hit the girl again.

"I am!" Midori cried.
"Mistress, I am! I'd never lie to you!"

Korudo raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? That in itself..." she scowled, pushing the girl backward.
"Is a lie. If you escaped from him you should have been able to at least throw a punch at X, yes? So why didn't you?!"

Korudo mumbled as she left the room, closing the door and locking it behind her.

"Mistress?" Came Midori's meek voice.
"Did I...do something wrong? Because I think...I did everything just fine..."

"I don't trust you out there. Next thing I know you'll be running off with some boy you hardly know."
Korudo grunted before her expression softened.
"Dear, you can't blame me, I want- I need you to be safe. Today I'll let you have your meal."

Really?
That was so kind and forgiving of her!
"Thank you for the mercy, moth-"
Midori hoped Korudo didn't hear that. She quickly corrected her mistake.
"M...mistress..."

Midori sighed as she dropped onto her hospital bed, staring up at the ceiling. Everything was gray, and black, and white. She was no exception, the perfect puzzle piece in a monochrome puzzle where nobody broke the rules, nobody left, and nobody lied.

Number one. The golden child, the eldest mutant, the one everyone was supposed to look up to.
But she doubled as the biggest disgrace.
Mistress' favourite, but also the one she never took her eyes off of.

The world outside was so colourful. So confusing, too. Midori wanted to understand.

She remembered the last time she tried to understand.
In her memories Korudo's voice rang out
"There are some things in this world people like you,"
The woman straightened, wiping the blood off her hands.
"Could never understand."