Take Two

Teamwork, Am I Right?

(Trigger warnings: mentions of death, guns)

The first time I died, there wasn't a lot of fanfare about it.

"Eat lead, scumbags!"

It took the only other person at my house a full day to notice her one-year-old was missing, then ten minutes to decide I was dead. My aunt told me the story when I was older, how it had taken her all of half an hour of asking around to find me. I was in a crate that had somehow made its way to the Voicecatcher bazaar, in a discount jewelry stall. She returned me to my mother, and that was that.

Death. Interesting, isn't it? The only constant in life. It's always there. Like a sword hanging above your head. If you make one wrong move, it falls. Maybe it's a wraith. Clinging to your soul instead of your breath. Waiting for you to slip up and let it in.

It's surrounded me ever since I was born on the Isle of the Lost. I grew up in the central south, Ursula's turf, property of the Voicecatcher. In that place, you can't walk 5 meters without seeing a corpse.

Sounds morbid, but I'm used to it. If you're willing to listen, you'll get useful advice. If there's dead people in an alley, you know to dodge that one. Dead rats near some trash means it's probably not the best food source.

In a battle. To avoid death is an effective strategy when fighting.

It was the second time I died that shit hit the fan. 11 years later.

"Out of the way!"

Everything began the same. I disappeared. But now, someone cared.

Well, lots of people, if you count the ones who kidnapped me. And the one who caused it all.

Mal.

That's right folks, you heard me. The perfect, edgy, compassionate, soon-to-be queen of Auradon. The one who everyone loves and thinks is such an inspiration. I hate her more than anything.

She is great at what she does. I've met no one superior to her at being a sadistic, reckless moron. She is so conniving that she does whatever she wants, yet somehow she makes everyone think she's the purple-haired Messiah of 'The Auradon Ideal of Goodness' or some bullshit.

If you told me you know one person better at that than Mal, I'd hire them on the spot. My social skills aren't great. That's probably the reason this is getting excessive.

"Get your head in the game!"

Back to the whole kidnapping thing.

I'll be honest, it sucks. I won't pretend my life was perfect before, but at least I had a constant place to sleep. And friends who cared if I stumbled off the streets with too many burns, bruises, and cuts to walk straight.

Hey, my life isn't all awful...

Damn. I was hoping I'd come up with something to finish that sentence. And "VK Day" is coming up soon. Which only makes my job that much harder.

Oh. Yeah, I forgot that I've explained very little here. Told you my people skills are bad.

However, dealing with people is a major part of my job. Well, by "job", I mean "things I'm forced to do by my powerful captors". And yes, I mean "dealing with people" in the darkest way possible. However, according to almost everyone, being great at killing people does not qualify as people skills.

"Iraia, what are you doing?"

Oh, right. I'm on a job right now.

"Stop shouting so much, Pyre!" I whisper harshly.