Chapter 6 - Bygone

SIX YEARS AGO

"Try it again Daeus," his brother said.

"Goddamnit Caido!" he answered, repeating the move for the millionth time, and not getting it right.

"Being pissed off with knives in your hands doesn't get you anywhere..." Caido said.

"Well bumping me up from normal sparring to fighting with knives isn't the best idea either..."

"Just trust me, okay? Calm down, start from a sprint and try it again."

Daeus took a deep breath, the deepest breath a 16 year old could take, and walked backwards to get some distance. When he was far enough, he focused on his brother, who seemed to be a little dot in the distance. He broke into a sprint. Reaching a reasonable distance, he lunged forward, his right arm following his movement, nearly tearing the fabric of Caido's short. With the other, he brought it up to his stomach sideways, with no intention of hurting him.

Finally, he used the momentum he had created to raise his right arm to Caido's neck, the blade supposedly stopping inches from it.

But it didn't. Caido dropped to the ground, clutching his neck, blood pulsating from his wound, spraying everything around the siblings.

"I think you got it..." Caido half whispered with a chuckle.

All Daeus could do was stare. Blood seeped from in between his brother's fingers, spurting with every heartbeat. Ripping himself away from Caido and dropping the knives, he sprinted to get some help.

"DAD!" he shrieked as he ran. "DAD!!!" He found his father in the house, busy with something or another.

"What!?" his father spat.

"Caido's hurt dad, and we need to help him!" Daeus rushed.

"I'm not helping you," he answered coldly and plainly.

"WHAT?"

"I'll go help him when I'm finished..."

"HE'S GOING TO BLEED OUT!" Daeus was already crying. That was all it took for his father to jump out of his chair and run past the child that he didn't care about. This simple action reminded Daeus of why his life was s****y.

His mother didn't survive his birth. Her body wasn't capable of having more than one child, and if she were to have one, it would have a defect of some sort, and she wouldn't make it through. He was technically a miracle. Luckily, his defect, which were his eyes, weren't extremely obvious. But sadly, he was a hated miracle.

He turned around and sprinted after his dad. When Caido was in his sight, his father was already trembling.

Caido, his son, his only son, was dead, his neck sliced open. He fell to his knees, caressing his son's head, tears pouring down his cheeks. Little did he know that Daeus was close behind, crying as well, hating himself.

His father turned to him, a death stare in his eyes. "Leave us. Leave, and don't take anything with you. Don't even try coming back."

Daeus's heart, already twisted with agony, was violently ripped in half at those words. He stared at his father, horror swimming in his eyes. Did his father just kick him out?

Breaking down more that he though was possible at the time, he turned around and ran. He didn't know where he would go. Crashing into the house, he went straight to his room, grabbed a bag and stuffed a change of clothes in there, cramming in his phone as well.

He charged out, the image of Caido's body burning into his mind. He could have sworn he saw his father keeping an eye on the house.

After a good while of running, maybe about half an hour, he slowed down, knowing that going any further wouldn't help.

Nearing dusk, he noticed that the number of officials in the city were suddenly increasing. Then, he got a text. It was from his father.

'What I've done is for your own good.'

He pondered the message, running his hand through his currently short, somewhat wavy blonde hair. He decided to put it aside for now and focus on finding somewhere to sleep.

EIGHT DAYS LATER

Over the week, Daeus realized that his dad had alerted the cops for what he'd done, rendering him a fugitive. Over the week, he decided to grow out his hair. Over the week, he had texted a friend at school, telling him that he had dropped out.

That day, they caught him. After eight successful days of staying hidden, they had managed to find him under the impression that he had killed his brother and ran. He had obviously struggled to get away, not wanting to go to juvenile, but he was outnumbered.

During the interrogation, he felt as if they were accusing him, and he knew that it wasn't a murder. That got him to flip, doing his best to convince the officers that it was an accident. The cops eventually made their decision.

They closed the case, knowing it was an accident, but threw him into juvenile since it was still a murder, and to top that, he was showing signs of severe mental trauma, rendering him extremely unstable.

A MONTH LATER

His time at juvy only made matters worse. He was becoming more and more aggressive, and was getting into more and more fights. Soon, he was known as 'the crazed blond kid' amongst everyone. They all mocked him, mostly for his eyes, which was why they labeled him crazed in the first place.

All but one, who called him by his first name. She was the only one there who admired his eyes.

"You should be proud of them you know," the fourteen year old girl told him one day. "You see the world differently..."

The girl's name was Rhea, but she's rather be called Arsenic, or just Sen for short.

She and Daeus became great friends very quickly. In a matter of about three or four months, he was pretty sure he had fallen for her. But there was one thing that wouldn't let him make a move.

Her childhood was way worse than his. When Rhea was twelve, her body was violated. A group of sick b******s had managed to drug and kidnap her. And every single one of them got a turn at raping her.

This screwed up trauma rendered her insane, to the point where she would enjoy killing people. And that's what got her into juvy. Her trauma also made her extremely self conscious, getting her to hate herself, and getting her to hate everyone around her.

She would seem cold to everyone, but she only did it to protect herself. The only person she ever opened up to, was her purple-eyed friend. He was the only one who respected her for what happened to her.

FIVE MONTHS LATER

During his sixth month in juvy, Daeus got into a fight with another teenager. An official stepped in to break the two teenagers apart, but Daeus was already consumed by rage. Somehow, he managed to disarm the guard, and was about to use his weapon against him, when someone addressed him.

"Amadaeus, I believe that's enough for the day, don't you think?"

Daeus turned around to see who had just used his full name, letting the official go, and was somewhat surprised. A tall man, almost his height, with short blonde hair and hazel eyes was staring at the two, almost as if he was evaluating them.

"Come with me... I've got something to talk to you about..." the man told him.

Daeus put down the weapon and followed him hesitantly, getting a few stares from everyone around him. The man brought him outside to sit with him before starting the conversation.

"Daeus, my name is Franz, and I'm here to offer you a job..." he said.

"Why would a crackpot like me need a job?" Daeus answered.

Franz crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair. "I know what you've been through, and I believe that what happened will be a great advantage to you..."

"You can't possibly know what happened..." Daeus said coldly.

"I have my ways kiddo, I know exactly what happened."

"Then what do you want?"

"I need you to join my team."

That was all it took to capture Daeus's interest. "Where?"

"In the CIA." Franz received a look from the kid. "I've recently been granted permission to branch out, and I'm looking for recruits. I saw the way you handled the guard, and I believe that you could be amazing after your training."

A pause. "So, you want me to join the CIA?"

"It's not just the CIA Daeus... What I'm trying to create is some sort of vigilante group. One that kills for justice if that makes sense..."

"You want me to be an assassin?"

"If that's how you see it, then yes."

Another pause. "Do I have to give you my final opinion now?"

Franz smiled and pulled out a card from his pocket. "Call me when you've decided. Shaft is yes, no shaft is no."

Daeus took it, nodding, and stood up with Franz. As he walked away, Daeus could have sworn he heard Franz talk to someone.

"The bait has been taken. Denver is now established."

A WEEK LATER

Daeus stared at the phone in his hand. He was going to use his only call today, and he was going to call Franz. He picked it up and dialled the number, not bothering to pull out the paper, for he had memorized the number and shredded it.

He answered almost immediately. "Hello?"

"It's Daeus..." the kid said.

"Shaft or no shaft?"

"Shaft." he answered with confidence.

A pause from Franz's end. "Your situation has been acknowledged Daeus."

"Huh?"

"I'm going to have to pick you up if you want to go down the shaft..."

"O-okay..." With that, Franz hung up.

An hour later, Daeus was sprinting down the hall, Franz by his side, ready to cram him into a black minivan. They made it outside, hopped in and drove off as fast as they could.

His ride didn't last long. He had asked Franz if he could get a tattoo when they got there, and his mentor told him he could do anything he wanted to when they arrived.

ABOUT A YEAR LATER

Daeus turned out to be just as Franz had predicted: flawless. Hacking into the juvenile that had kept him there a little over six months, he went through the list of prisoners. It was that day he learned that his only friend there had been released not too long ago.

He desperately wanted to see her again, so he decided to ask Franz if he could add her to the group.

He was hesitant to let her join, for the simple purpose that she was only fifteen, but when Daeus had informed him about what had happened to her, he decided to put her age aside, knowing that she'll end up as flawless as Daeus, and maybe even more.

After all, every single one of them was severely traumatized, and that could be a good thing.

THREE YEARS LATER

Daeus was now 20 years old, and had just gotten a large tribal tattoo across his shoulder blades. He had insisted that the artist made it trail up his neck, wanting to make it in honour of his older brother.

Sen was now 18 years old, and was the best in the group - so far. She had managed to get a falling feather tattooed behind her right ear, something to symbolize her freedom, or the freedom she always wanted to have. To help her calm down, Franz had suggested she start meditating, and it worked wonders for her.

Two new people had joined the group over those three long years.

One of them was driven crazy by his parents. Ever since he could remember, he was abused, physically to the point of turture, and mentally to the point of insanity. When he was a teenager, his father had forced him to screw his mom, not once, but multiple times, resulting in self harm.

All of this made him lose it. He had a bit of difficulty keeping in his hysteria, and the only way he could do that was to be indifferent about almost everything. But when it was let out, he was transformed, a demonic smile crossing his face, followed by a psychotic laugh and unstable violence.

Getting a tattoo sleeve on his left arm helped remind him of the new life he had adopted, but also helped hide the scars that his knife had left behind. You could even say that Arcangelo, or Arc for short, had a dual personality, but that wasn't the case.

The other one to join had lost his little sister to Americans when he was a teenager. Shunsuke, the boy who wanted to preserve the Japanese culture, the boy who refused anything western, the boy who saw them slaughter a little girl, the boy who was an orphan from the beginning, the boy who had survived.

When his little sister was born, his parents had both practiced hari-kari, since they wanted another boy. He wasn't able to figure out why her name was a western one, but Eli seemed to suit her. That was the only reason he let people call him Shawn, for the simple purpose of having to spell out Shun for them, and for Eli's sake.

TWO YEARS LATER

Another member was taken in, not because he was crazy, but because he wanted to do some good to the world. Unfortunately, what he wasn't quick to pick up on, was that the only way to survive was to fight, and only the insane were able to fight to the standard. And that's what got Toni killed.

The final member to be taken in, was a beautiful college girl that seemed to be capable of everything, despite having seen her parents die violent deaths. And her name was Cala Brogs.

PRESENT DAY

"Oh my god..." she said, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.

"I'm sorry, but it's the truth, and I felt the need to let you know..." he answered, somewhat regretting what he had just told her.

"What?" Cala wasn't sure if Franz was implying something, or if he knew something he wasn't supposed to.

"I felt that I should warn you not to get too close to him, since he's still pretty unstable..."

She didn't know how to answer to that. Did he mean that she should keep a distance from Daeus? Or that she shouldn't get personal with him? What about those times when her heart would start pounding at the sight of him? What was all that about? Why didn't she freak out to what he had done the night before?

"Okay..." she said, standing up. "Thanks for the warning..." She said lamely. Then she walked out of his apartment without anything else.