The Origin

Chapter 5

Change of character view for a bit!

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Crystalline opened her long eyelash rimmed eyes in a split second, as she heard the door close . She couldn't sleep, and guessed that whoever that was, couldn't sleep either. She quietly slipped on some jeans , a jacket and some boots, before stealthily making her way across the kitchen. That wasn't too hard for her; she had had years of training. She moved her hand along the kitchen counter, grabbing hold of the keys to the house. She rolled her eyes. Whoever left the house must have been extremely stupid, as they had no way to get back in. Then, Chase's bedroom door opened. Crystalline froze. He had obviously got up to get a glass of water, but she didn't want him to follow her. 

He started moving towards the kitchen, still in a state of utter sleepiness, but Crystalline still needed to get out of the way. She moved around the kitchen counter, hiding underneath the kitchen table. She held her breath as he seemed to be a metre away from her. After what seemed to be forever, he walked away. She only lifted herself from the floor when she successfully heard his bedroom door closing. 

Then she leaped quickly to the door, eased it open and slipped through.

She studied the alleyway for a second, before she saw two figures. One of them was unmistakably Elixir. Crystalline rolled her eyes in frustration. Did this ditsy girl just lock herself out of a house to see her boyfriend. Wait...did she even have a boyfriend? She closed her eyes and tried to focus on what they were saying. She cursed under her breath. She couldn't hear a word. If she was that interested, she would have to get closer.

As much as Crystalline detested having her fashionable clothes pressed against rubble and dirt from the vile brick walls, she would have to if she wanted to find out who this boy was. She winced from the hideous stench of alleyways as she edged herself towards the two people. 

She was about ten metres away from them, hiding behind a dustbin, when she heard the voice of a boy she new oh so well. 

Archer.

She tuned in to their conversation just in time to hear him say.

"I'm the fifth data holder."

She groaned. Now Chase wasn't going to be happy. This was her time to come into the scene she decided. She stood up, causing the old tin rubbish bin to rattle.

"Archer, Archer, Archer, how are you? Still trying to scare people as they exit their houses I see." She smirked. Archer smiled one of his cool, calm, charming smiles.

"And to what do I owe this pleasure Crystalline." He bowed down with a grin on his face. He suddenly his facial expression melted. "I see I am still a no-body in your little organisation. You do not ever talk of me, but you know that without me, it is not possible to carry out what you need to do." He stared sternly at her. Elixir seemed to be standing between them, looking completely confused. She tried to open her mouth to say something, quite a couple of times in this tense conversation, but then she gave up.

Crystalline had been caught off guard with his smart remark. As awful as she had to admit, all of it was true. She sent him an icy look before her head turned to Elixir.

"What were you doing out here?" She demanded. "It's dangerous. You know how those two men tried to attack you for that!" 

Archer's eyes trailed over to the Storm Amulet, then he raised his eyebrows, impressed.

"You'd better hide that." He said, not daring to touch it, as he didn't want another punch in the face. Elixir looked surprised. Her hand flew to her collarbone, where the Storm Amulet rested. She then pulled the necklace over her head, and placed it in her pocket.

"Does everyone hide their gems then?" She asked, disappointed and reluctant to take it off. It seemed that the amulet had given her a sense of security. She felt like something was missing from her now.

Crystalline fished around in her pocket, before bringing out a brilliant sparkling green jewel, attached to a delicate chain. Archer brought out a amber gem on a silver ring. These two actions seemed to answer her question.

Archer turned his blue eyes back to a penetrating gaze locked on Crystalline. She stared smoothly back. She wasn't going to let him make her feel uncomfortable.

"How's Chase? Still hating me?" He asked, a slight hint of sarcastic humor in his voice. Crystalline scowled at him. Elixir broke the steely tension as she chirped in to the conversation.

"Uhhh....what's going on exactly. I'm sick of knowing half of the story, but then realising that there is just so much more to it." She cried frustratedly.

Archer smiled at her. It wasn't a sarcastic smile, or a lofty smile, just a friendly one.

"Well, I'll be heading off now. Crystalline can tell you the whole story if you bother her enough." He shot one last amused glance at the platinum haired figure, before taking an abnormally large leap up onto a railing of one of the apartments above, scaling up the wall, and disappearing over the rooftops.

Crystalline sighed, then turned to Elixir.

"Okay okay, I'll tell you the whole story." She started walking towards the house "But first, we are getting back to the hideout."

The keys rattled in the door, and the two girls creeped through. Crystalline gently closed the door behind her, before heading towards her bedroom. There, she and Elixir sat.

"Why do you hate Archer so much?" Elixir asked pensively. Crystalline shrugged.

"He refused to stay with us. He's like a jackal, not to be trusted all the time. He prefers to be in the action, making close escapes from the X. He enjoys the action. The adrenaline. We used to work together, we made the plan together..."

"What plan?" Elixir butted in.

"We are planning to break into the X's base. Capture all of the pieces of data back. And Skylar. She was so defensive about her data, so well trained, that in the battle where the X had tracked her down, they captured her, as they couldn't just retrieve the jewel. But we need to train. The X aren't as stupid as the two brainless morons that they sent to capture your necklace. They sent them because you weren't trained. But we will train you. I'll tell you more in the morning, when Chase is filled in on the little party tonight." She yawned. "But for now, just get some sleep."

And with that, Elixir trudged back to her room. But that night, she actually mannaged to fall into a deep sleep.