Warning: Violence
...
Opening up about her brother made her feel a sense of calmness, despite Ash being terrible at comfort, she enjoyed the fact he tried his best.
Stella glanced over at Angel and the boy she was talking with, Stella found his accent interesting, she assumed it was British, or something like that. That's what was interesting, what brought someone from that part of the world over here?
Angel apparently also loved the accent.
Stella felt embarrassed by the very obvious flirting. She wasn't embarrassed for Angel, it was just so awkward to watch.
Some of Stella felt sorry for Angel, but the boy in front of her didn't seem to reciprocate anything Angel felt. His face was red, sure, and he acted nervous but he never flirted back.
If Stella could get a nickel for every time Angelica ran her fingers through her hair, she'd probably have two-quarters worth of nickels.
Ash had caught on to what Stella was doing, "That's Toxin." Ash said, referring to the boy with black hair and bright green eyes. "You don't gotta worry about your friend, Toxin is nice."
"I was worrying about Toxin." Stella joked she wasn't worried about either of them. Ash smiled, and he turned around his sketchbook again. Stella looked down, it was a drawing of her. Stella's fingers graced the page, she looked back up at Ash. "Ash.. This... it's beautiful."
"Really?"
"Yes! I love it." Stella smiled, no one had ever drawn her before. Not except her sister, except hers were way more detailed and realistic.
Stella frowned. The thought of her sister ruined her mood, but she didn't want it to ruin Ash's so she smiled again. Stella originally lost all care for how others felt, but something about Ash's niceness has her thinking about Yvon.
Yvon.
Stella wondered where he was, he wasn't in this room. She's looked over everyone more than once, he just wasn't there. Stella found Phoenix sitting at a table alone with the creepy girl. They were talking silently.
Stella told Ash she'd be right back and stood up from the table. Stella noticed the first time she stood up that some of the kids looked at her, this time most of them watched her at Phoenix's table.
Stella didn't sit down, she just stood by their table until Phoenix looked up.
"Stella?" Phoenix was the only one to speak for a few moments.
"Have you seen your brother?" Stella asked, Phoenix held eyes with her but she didn't respond. It was clear she was thinking about what to say, which didn't make any sense since she knew the answer.
"No. Not once."
"He's my age, why isn't he here?" Stella asked, Phoenix sighed putting her fingers to her forehead.
"I don't know."
"Is he not grouped with anyone? How dangerous even is he?" Stella asked clear irritation shined through Phoenix's tone with her next words.
"I don't know, Stella." Phoenix dropped her hand, her eyes were like daggers piercing Stella's skin when she stared up at Stella.
Phoenix gave off the same energy now that Lana did when Stella first met the girl. Stella always felt uneasy and scared around Lana, she felt that now, but not as much since she wasn't as scared to hurt anyone anymore.
"Why are you always acting like such a bitch?" Stella blurted, Phoenix sat up straight, she took clear offense.
"Excuse me?"
"Hey, who do you think you are?" The girl beside Phoenix asked, Stella stared at her void-like eyes. She raised to her feet, Stella was taller than the girl, by a lot. "Do you have a problem?" Stella didn't feel intimidated, her eyes narrowed down at the girl.
"Back off, Iris," Phoenix said, the girl glanced back at her before shooting Stella one last glare before walking back to her original seat. "Stella, he's a sensitive topic."
Stella wanted to apologize and tell her she should have asked differently. But she didn't, "Okay." She turned around and went to walk away but was stopped.
"Hey, Stella?"
"Huh, what?" Stella looked back at her, Phoenix thought about her next words before she huffed and said them anyway.
"Me and Iris have a plan to escape, at tomorrow's lunch, get everyone at your table or anyone you want out of here and bring them here, and then we'll talk," Phoenix said, Iris glanced at Phoenix like she was asking if she was sure. Phoenix nodded at her before meeting Stella's gaze.
"Got it, okay." Stella then walked away, she knew who she'd tell. Stella glanced up at the boy whom she originally wasn't able to look away from, he wasn't looking up so Stella was drawn in.
Should I talk to him?
Stella returned to her seat, she didn't sit down though. She tapped on the table to get Ash's attention. "Hey, how'd you feel about talking to Mystery Boy over there?" Stella nodded her head towards Ginger's supposed brother.
"Uh, sure." Ash slowly closed his sketchbook, tapped on Pierce's shoulder, and scooted the sketchbook toward him. "I'm gonna go talk to someone over there."
"Cool," The purple-eyed boy didn't look up, he just grabbed the sketchbook and welcomed himself to the drawings. "Have fun."
Ash smiled slightly before he stood up, Stella watched his smile fade but rise back up when he looked up.
"Ready?" Stella asked, Ash breathed out and then nodded. "As long as we don't look at him we'll be fine. He can't be that bad."
"Okay," Ash glanced over in Mystery Boy's direction, "Okay. Let's go."
Stella barely brushed her arm against Ash as she started walking, "I have something I want to talk to you about, with him I guess." Ash hummed, Stella stared at the top of his head. She found that she liked being taller than people, she never really was taller than anyone. "Essentially, Phoenix and Iris, I'm pretty sure, have a plan to get out of here. You in?"
"Oh, um... I don't know." Ash mumbled, Stella's expression changed to shock, genuinely shocked that he didn't want to escape. "I'm quite comfortable here... Me and Pierce didn't have a good life out there."
"Ah, I get it." Stella sighed, she didn't get it. Maybe Ash and Pierce didn't get treated as badly as Stella or anyone else did, she assumed Ash was well-behaved, so why would he be mistreated? But Pierce had a vibe about him that just made it seem like he would be hurt. Also, he had bruises all over him. "Could you help? But surely if Pierce leaves, you'd go too?"
"I don't think he'd go if I didn't." Stella nodded, from the small details she'd picked up, Ash and Pierce's relationship was odd. Pierce didn't seem interested in his brother, but Ash hadn't said one bad thing about him. They were also opposites, they reminded her a lot of her and her sister.
Stella shook that thought away, it was never against her sister to crawl back into her mind. Stella hated her, it was obvious, but what she hated even more was that she wouldn't get out of Stella's head.
In due time, the two were standing right in front of a long table. Which was mostly empty. Stella fake coughed to grab the boy's attention, when he looked up he immediately glanced away and put an arm over his eyes.
"What?" He growled, and Stella smirked. The tone was familiar, he was trying to sound tough.
"Drop the act." Stella sat down in front of him, Ash quickly took a seat beside her. "So, are you Phantom?"
The boy slowly uncovered his black eyes and his undeniably distraught frown. "Yes.." He muttered, keeping his eyes lowered and his head tilted down.
"I know your sister." Phantom quickly raised his head, but he put his hands over his eyes with a gasp, he forgot about his abilities. Stella smiled slightly, it's happening again. She was here, yet again, smiling at a random kid because of their energy. It wasn't unlike younger Stella to do this, but this Stella, it's weird.
"Ginger?"
"Mhm," Stella watched Phantom's eyes flick around the table. Stella didn't like how he was forced to never look at anyone, it was sad.
"Hey." Ash reached his hand forward, grabbed Phantom's chin, and raised his head. They met eyes, and Stella watched as they held it. Stella could feel the energy radiating off the two, specifically Ash, she slowly smirked, it was kind of cute. "U-um." Ash dropped his hand and looked away first, Stella wasn't sure how, maybe it was because of his blinking that kept the effect from working fully but the first time Ash looked at Phantom, his blinking stopped.
"Oookay," Stella said, drawing both of them away from their moment. "So, Phantom. What do you say about a plan to get out of this place?"
"Oh! Oh..." Phantom seemed excited about it, Stella wasn't surprised, Phantom was covered in scars and bruises which were much bigger than Pierce's. Stella found it odd how he was so beaten up despite being Mr. White's son. "I actually can take those bracelets off."
"Really?" Stella was taken aback, that was really good news.
"My powers already mostly power through the serum, if I stare at the bracelet long enough, it snaps right off." Phantom explained, "I'm not sure why. They all know that, that's why I used to be blindfolded all the time."
"Oh, I am... Sorry."
"It's okay. At least I could face wherever I wanted." Phantom shrugged, "When are we discussing it?" Phantom asked as a buzzer went off from above the door.
Stella stood up as everyone else in the room did. "Tomorrow's lunch, bye, Phantom." Stella turned away, Ash walked with her back to their table where Angel and Pierce were still there waiting, Angel sitting on the table and Pierce stood beside her. They were talking, at least Angel wasn't flirting with this guy.
"Bye, Ash" Stella watched him wave to her as Angel got down off the table took Stella by the arm, and walked to the door.
"So, you and Ash?" Angel asked, Stella huffed to Angel's laughter.
"I said no boys," Stella grumbled, elbowing Angel away from her. "And I'm pretty sure Ash is gay."
"And you thought I was straight, one cannot assume." Angel smiled, Stella didn't share her enthusiasm for the thought of getting with someone here.
"Fuck off," Stella rolled her eyes. "You can thirst after some guy but I'm not. I choose to be single."
"Okay, but don't cry to me when you die sad and alone." Angel shrugged as she turned around, she then disappeared into the mass of people. Stella paused and stopped walking, maybe she should have continued.
A mask was pushed over her face, one of those masks they put you to sleep with when getting your first cavity filling or going under surgery. Stella's eyes fluttered, she tried her best to fight it off but she took another breath of the gas and her eyes closed.
~
Stella's eyes opened and she jerked up, everything was dark. That's when she realized the room wasn't dark, she was blindfolded.
Who am I? Phantom? What the fuck is this?
Stella lifted her hands to take off the blindfold but found her hands bound to the ground. Stella flinched when she felt whatever she was sitting in begin to fill with water, she knew what this was, so when she felt a hand on her head, she didn't jump.
As the water got higher and to her waist, she wasn't expecting the hand to shove her head down. She gasped as the back of her head hit the water, she closed her mouth quickly when her head was completely submerged under the water.
Stella's head hit the bottom and something connected around her neck so when the hand let go, she stayed stuck to the floor.
Her mouth stayed clamped shut, the pain started building up in her eyes.
She remembered the last time they did something similar, that time they didn't try to drown her, they only put her in water. Her eyes closed, and she waited for five seconds.
When they opened, she found herself in the ocean. The same ocean, with the glowing water. She could move this time, she ran her fingers through her slightly shorter light blue hair. When she swam forward, she fell out of the water and hit the hard ground.
"Stella," There was a mumble in her ear as she slowly got herself up to her feet, at first she tried to ignore it. But it screamed her name again.
"Fuck- Shut up will you!?" Stella yelled, in response, she felt a kick to the gut and fell backward. She rolled over onto her stomach and pushed up with her hands.
When she looked up, she saw two feet wearing familiar shoes.
Shoes owned by her sister, Stella looked up to see her sister's face glaring down at her. "You think you can just move on and get with my friends—" The girl grabbed Stella by the throat and lifted her, "After what you did to me!?" She yelled, the scar over her eye got more and more prominent until it ripped itself open.
Stella shoved the girl away from her, but she ended up falling to the floor. She hissed when a hand grabbed the back of her hair, a head was leaning itself over her shoulder, the person was Cherri. Stella's eyes widened, Cherri was missing an eye and her face was charred.
"You're a monster." Cherri's voice echoed the last word, Stella didn't push her away, instead, she let the girl throw her to the ground.
When she hit the ground, she stayed there for a moment before she pushed herself onto her knees. "You did this to me," Cherri growled, the pink-haired girl dropped down beside Stella, and her hand grabbed Stella by her horn.
"No! I-I didn't!" Stella knew it wasn't her, but just seeing her once best friend so... destroyed, killed her.
"You're dead to me," Cherri growled when she put both hands on the girl's horn.
"I didn't do anything!"
"Oh, but. You did." The voice of Cherri changed as it snickered, Stella was dragged forward by one horn. She pulled on the arm that held it, her eyes were full of tears, and couldn't see who it was. "Or maybe it was me. But, oh well, it's your fault."
"It's not!" Stella yelled, she pushed off the ground with her feet and tackled whoever the voice was coming from. Shockingly enough, she landed on someone. Stella couldn't wipe her eyes fast enough and was thrown off by a kick to the stomach.
Stella hit the ground with her back, she recovered quickly but not as fast as the other did. Stella was on her knees when the others stumbled on their feet.
Stella stared at the girl, she had black hair, but the bottom half was purple and there were two red streaks in the front of her hair. Her veins ran up through her arms and started glowing.
"Oh, well." The voice blew her messed up hair out of her face, "You found me." She laughed before she raised her hand, Stella felt herself float off the ground when the girl jerked her hand down, and Stella smashed into the floor.
The air in Stella's lungs left as she wheezed, it was just a dream but it hurt so bad. The heel of the other foot shoved itself onto her throat, she choked and tried to push it off. "This is what they wanted, but they'll see this was a bad idea." The girl grinned, she shoved her foot down harder before she lifted it and walked off.
Stella gagged and rolled over, she was choking on not only her sobs but also her inability to breathe. "Why are you doing this?!" She yelled as she lifted herself to her knees, "What are you?"
"Aw, you asked me before... What am I, Stella?"
"I'm anything and everything... The only limit is fear."
Stella's eyes widened, she used to have dreams of this person. She would put her through hell and back, at the time, she didn't think anything of it. But this girl, this was that person.
Back then, the girl looked different. She was always changing forms, but now, it seems, whatever form this was, was who she was.
Perhaps, she was too young so she had to be in an older form. The girl looked about a year or two older than Stella. "You might be thinking, why are you only now coming back? Well, what if I said, I was never here? I was living my own life in this shit hole."
"What?"
"That thing that haunted you? We call that a spirit." The girl explained, "They feed off fear, similarly to me. I am the most powerful bitch you will ever meet." The girl grinned, Stella didn't realize how close she had gotten til she put a hand on Stella's chin and her thumb brushed over Stella's bottom lip. "They give me power, somehow, you were the perfect match to give me the most power."
Stella turned her head away, "You have the biggest set of fears." The girl smiled, Stella met her dark red eyes full of malice and slapped the girl's hand down. "Damn, Stella."
Stella's eyes widened as the girl in front of her shifted into... Her.
She stared at the light blue hair and yellow streak and her blue eyes. "You're not so scared of who you are, more so who you can become. What you're capable of..." The girl shifted over and pointed her arm behind them, she pointed to an opening in the darkness. "Your fear is what is holding you back. Now, I don't mind it, but, what can I do when we're stuck in this place?"
Stella stared at the opening, it led to outside. Stella met eyes with the girl, "No. No, not yet." Stella turned away from her, she wanted this to end. "I can't leave them."
"Wow, so noble." The girl mocked. Stella's eyes closed as she heard the girl quietly snicker. "If that's what you choose."
Stella glanced over as the girl walked up beside her, she rested her head on Stella's shoulder. "If that's the path you choose, who am I to deny it?" The girl smiled and then clapped her hands.
"Wait, what'd you do?"
"Oh, nothing." She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly as she walked around Stella. "Have fun." The girl waved with her fingers, Stella opened her mouth and barely got the word "what" out before the ground beneath her shattered and she fell through it.
Stella's scream was cut off when she fell into the water, this was the end. A few seconds ago, she wished it was here, but with the girl's words that could mean anything, Stella wanted to talk to her.
Then she was lifted out of the water, the blindfold was removed as she coughed out the water in her mouth. When she opened her eyes, anyone who stood near's face was covered in shock.
She didn't know if it was because of how long she was under the water and didn't drown or how they could see everything that happened in her "dream" on a screen.
Damn this country for having so many technical advances.
"Sir... Was that...?"
"Martinez..." Stella stared at the man when he met eyes with her, true fear shined through his eyes. "Put her in a containment cell. I need to think." The man ordered as he turned away, his fingers pinched on his nose bridge.
Stella flinched when two guards grabbed her, "No- wait!" Stella shook herself as they held her arms, she couldn't go back to that room. "Stop! I've not done anything!"
"She's right." A voice picked up, a figure appeared above the screen in the room. The girl from Stella's dream was sitting there, legs crossed, a long demon-like tail swaying back and forth as she stared at her nails. "Ohh... You're all so fucked." She laughed as she swung her legs down, her laughter cut itself off when she jumped off and disappeared.
Stella blinked, and black liquid started pouring out of her eyes. She raised her hands to her eyes, her mouth opened for air as she was grabbed again more roughly when Mr. White yelled for her to be taken away again.
She was dragged by her hair and an arm out of the room, for some reason it was the quickest way to pull her with her constant hitting.
Stella swung her head forward, she did the last thing she wanted to do and sank her teeth into one of the guards. Using this as her moment, she used her free hand to grab the guard beside her by the head and slam them face first into the wall and finally, she wiped all the black from her eyes.
You're lucky for that helmet, asshole.
Stella only turned her head towards the guard running at her, she prepared herself to fight but suddenly a red light slammed into the guard and blasted them through the wall.
Well, he's dead.
Stella looked at where it came from, the same girl stepped through the doorway and wiped blood off her face. "I may not be your favorite person, but I'm not that bad." She smiled as she took a few steps back, she walked backward into a black portal that opened and closed when she walked into it.
Stella watched as Mr. White rushed out of the room, "What are you doing? You made such good progress..."
"I..." Stella couldn't say a word more when a syringe pierced into the skin on her neck. Her vision got cloudy and her body went limp until she collapsed forward onto the floor.
"Stella, Jesus." The voice chuckled, "That didn't take much, huh?"