Powers Unite, The Past Of Queen Irene

         *Bonous Book* Powers Unite

                                The Past Of Queen Irene

 

                “I’m leaving now!”Irene called to her mother, Opal.

                “alright! But be sure to come back before dinner!” Opal called back, Irene gave her mother a shy smile before heading out the door.

                Irene was thirteen, she had just become a teen that year. She thought she had a wonderful life… But there was one problem. She had a grey Galaxy. She twined one finger around one of her her braids, clutched her bag’s strap, and walked down the path to her school.

                Irene dosed off into her thinking wonderland, completely ignoring what the mentor before her was explaining about. She had no magic classes, for she had no power, according to the queen, and every pixie she knew. They always said she was a powerless girl, and with no power she was friendless. Because pixies don’t care about looks… they care about how powerful you are, Irene thought, heaving a sigh.

                “look! It’s the powerless girl!”the other students whispered as Irene walked down the halls to her locker.

                 She tried to ignore them and hide her feelings as  much as she could, but sometimes she would burst and make a scene. A girl with a pink galaxy walked up to Irene, a younger girl followed.

                “well look who it is everyone!” the girl announced, “Irene ‘Gray.’ Oh. Why are you looking so sad?” she teased.

                 “Oh! That’s right! Because you’ll never be like everyone else!” she confirmed.

                Irene’s eyes went directly to the floor. She started fiddling with her braid, a nervese habit, when the girl grabbed her braid, yanked it, and shoved her. “Oh! What’s this I’m reading? Fright? Aww, is Irene ‘Gray’ scared?” the girl said, a bit loudly.

                “Stay out of my mind, please…” Irene whispered. The girl laughed, then Irene felt this weird feeling, a strange, power hungry feeling. She longed to just reach out and take the girl’s power away from her, make her know what it was like to be powerless. But what was strange was she was acting like she COULD take that power… Irene couldn’t think, it was like her mind wasn’t her own… then her hands shot outward, the girl then screamed, and so did Irene. She screamed with terror as magic filled her body, the frightened girl trembled. Clutching her head as her galaxy slowly disappeared, filming over some of Irene’s galaxy like water being pored into a cup, until the girl was left with plain black, star speakled hair. Then thoughts of the other frightened students filled her mind like needles scraping on metal, as the principle and several teachers scrambled into the hall.

                “WHAT’S HAPPENING!? HELP MEEE!!!” the girl screeched.

                 Irene tried to pull away from the girl but she couldn’t move! The thoughts that was booming into her mind was too much, it felt like they were chipping away her own thoughts! She screamed and tears fell down her cheeks, the teachers and the principle ran over and pulled the girl away from Irene, Then the girl fell on the floor motionless, and Irene struggled back on her feet. The teacher started yelling things like “What is that magic?!” “Give her her galaxy back!” “What have you done?!” and it was too much for her. She ran.

 

                                *seven years later*

 

                Irene pulled the hood over her face more, the pink galaxy had disappeared a couple minutes after she ‘absorbed’ it, and the queen had banished her from her school, or pretty much anywhere. Her life had been rough since that day. She had gotten her hands on a cloak that she used to cover her galaxy, when she had to go to the market. She was practically homeless too, every now and then a shop owner would let her sleep in their shop. Opal had just left her on the streets in fear of Irene’s power, and her life was the worst. Irene walked up to a building, pulled out several rare crystals she had scavenged, and stuffed them back into her cloak pocket. She would spend them on food and clothes, and maybe a tent too. A bell rang as she entered the store, and a girl who was stocking the shelves purked her head up.

                “Hello and welcome, feel free to look around if anything interests you” the girl said with a smile.

                Irene sighed and carried on with her dozing, she would get a whole different greeting if the girl knew who she was.

                While Irene searched she heard commotion, it was over at the jewelery counter. She walked over to the direction and saw three masked pixies, yelling demands at a male gemstone polisher.

                “I-I don’t know what your talking about!” the polisher bravely stated. “We have Star Stones-“

                “I don’t care about Star Stones!” the male masked pixie yelled in a whispery way, he had a yellow mask on, a matching yellow suit, and black short hair with a yellow galaxy.

                “what I want is a black Moonian Star! And I know you have a secoret stash somewhere!”

                The polisher gulped, and ran for the emergency crystal- a crystal that sent the location of where ever it was to soldiers- but the blue masked pixie encased the crystal in a blue tanslucent force field.                    The pixie had a little shorter then shoulder length hair with high pigtails, her black hair was more of a very dark navy blue, with a sky blue galaxy. A sky blue mask, and a matching sky blue suit.

                Instead of touching the emergency crystal the polisher slammed into the force field falling to the ground.

                “Dad!” Someone screemed, and the girl who was stocking the shelves ran up to the pixie who was recovering from the blow.

                “Leave him alone!” the girl yelled, but the three masked pixie’s attention went to the front door where a female pixie carring her daughter and son opened the door. The bell had rung.

                “No one leaves until I have the star!” the yellow masked pixie yelled, he turned his hands in a rhythm and the door handles melted together, gluing the door shut.

                Irene couldn’t just stand there, she had to do something! Without making a plan she stepped out of the safety of the shelves and pulled her hood down.

                “Let them go…” She growled.

                The women who tried to escape screemed, then fainted. Irene didn’t know pixie’s were that scared of her, she turned back to face the thieves. She couldn’t tell what they thought about her because their expressions were covered by their masks.

                “Let. Them. Go” she repeated, hoping they would scurry out of the shop. But they didn’t. “Fine then.” Irene said, she unclasped her cloak, rased her arms, and outstreached them toward the pixies.

                The blue masked pixie squeled, outstreached her arms, and a force field appeared. But it did nothing. As far as Irene knew, her power cannot be blocked in any possible way, but the pull directed at the yellow masked pixie instead of the blue one. It was the beginning of disaster.

                Screeming. Fright. The thought of power. The thought that she COULD have all that power. It all came rushing into her mind once more as the yellow galaxy drained from the pixie. Irene felt a twist in her stomache as the thought came crashing into her mind. It all happened so fast, the smell of melting iron, the screeming of pixies, the heat, the melting, oozing, crystal building, the collapsing ceiling.

                Irene didn’t know what happened, but she woke on the same spot she was not too long ago standing on, but instead she was on the floor. She peeked her head up and found that she was trapped in a force field! She stared out of the blue force field and saw two of the three masked pixies, the blue one and the pink one, but they didn’t have their masks on, and there were gaurds everywhere. The third masked pixie who used to have a pink mask was sprouting filmy magenta strings out of her palms, the magic was going into all the pixies minds that was crowded next to the now melted crystal building that Irene had destroyed with the absorbed magic. It was even going into the minds of the gaurds -who all had teal galaxies, which meant they were probably Levatators-, who were levitating the crystal buildings remains away from the kingdom. Irene didn’t know what they were going to do with it, neither did she know what was going on.

                When it was all done, the two masked pixies, the whole crowd, and the soldiers all turned toward Irene. “She did it!” The pink masked pixie said.

                 Now that Irene got a closer look, the pixie had jet black, elbow length hair, she had magenta eyes, a pink galaxy, and wore a pink suit with short, furisode-like sleeves.

                “She tried to steal the shops stash of rare black Moonian Stars! She even already had crystals in her cloak pocket! The same crystals that you would have seen at the store front!” the pixie continued.

                That wasn’t true! She had found those crystals herself! Irene’s face was painted with fury. “That’s not tru-“ one of the gaurds held up their hand, asking for her to stop talking.

                “Save that for when you have a talk with the queen” the guard said, who appeared to be a Gear-Turner. Irene was terrified, everyone was so sure it was her! That’s what I get for being the outcast and fear of the kingdom, she thought. All the pixies murmured their aprovels before shouting things like “put her in the dungeon!” “No, send her to Vengence!” “she’s too dangerous! Just get rid of her!”

                Tears brimmed Irene’s eyes as the force field was lowered and she was dragged away, when she looked over to the two ‘masked pixies’ she saw two wicked grins appear on their faces.

                                *Two years later*

                “She’s getting away!” a guard yelled, his voice echoing through the dungeon halls.

                Gaurds stomped through the hall ways, chasing a female pixie. The pixie had knee length hair and side banges the color of raven feathers, and a orange galaxy with white speckles- like all galaxy pixies. She wore a orange suit and a orange mask, and had daggers lining the edges of her sleeves. The pixie suddenly stopped, her hair swayed when she turned around, the gaurds ran right through her, it was as if she were a ghost. Then she ran. Down the other hall way, she had to find cell 25, the cell that held probably the most dangerous pixie in the world of myth.

                The pixie turned a corner, the gaurds were gaining on her. Then she brought out a gadget, pressed a button, and disappeared. But what the gaurds didn’t know was that she was really invisible, and going strait to the most guarded cell.

                She walked up to a black room, it had four gaurds, an obsidian door, and another door the pixie assumed was on the other side. The walls were made to block the prisoners power, but only the prisoners type of power.  The pixie walked strait past the gaurds, through the wall, and into the room. There in the cell a pixie sat, she had long black hair, a grey galaxy, and eyes that sparked with a revengeful glare.

                “I know you’re in here, I can sence you…” the pixie taunted.

                The orange pixie turned visible and the prisoner stood up, she walker closer to the orange pixie and started circling her. “What do you want from me?” the pixie pressed a dagger agenst the orange pixies throat, the pixie looked down and saw an empty slit where one of her daggers used to be, she laughed. “You have talent. But what I want is defferent from what I’m here for” the orange pixie replied in a whispy voice, she walked through the prisoner and turned to toss her a grey mask and suit.”You’ll need these, if you want to escape, I mean” the orange pixie told her. “I’m fine if you want to stay and rot in this cell-“

                “Why do you send me to this cell three years ago only to come in here and ask me to join you?” Irene asked in a growl. “Like I said, you don’t have to come, but we could really use a pixie like you on our side” the orange pixie said, ignoring Irene’s question.

                Irene grabbed the suit and mask, “what did you do to the crowd that day” she asked.       “that, I will only answer if you prove your loyalty to The Half Moon” the orange pixie replied. The pixie tossed Irene a gadget and said “that device turns you invisible if you turn it like this-“ she turned the gadget in a series of angles and then disappeared.

    She reappeared on the other side of the room “That suit is fire proof, non tearable, and that cuff lets you go through walls for a short amount of time. The mask blocks mind reading, the royal Illusionists, technecly all mind tricks, it also makes your voice sound like mine to further hide your identity” she continued. “Any more questions? No? Good. Now put on the suit, the mask, and lets get going!” The pixie commanded in her whispery voice, then turned invisible and said “don’t worry, I’m leaving the room”

                                * * *

 “What took so long?” the orange pixie said as Irene stepped through the wall, “Where are the gaurds?” Irene asked ignoring the pixies joke, the mask made her voice all whispery like the pixie had said. “I already delt with them. But one got away so some palace gaurds are going to be here soon” She tapped on the gadget reminding Irene to turn invisible.

“Oh and I forgot to tell you, the mask also lets you see anyone who’s turned invisible with the gadget” came the pixies voice, she was right. Irene could see herself and the pixie even though they were invisible.

                                   * * *

“There they are, they’re blocking the exit!” The orange pixie said, letting out a growl. Five gaurds were blocking the exit, along with one guard who looked more like a soldier then a guard. “Who’s the sixth one?”  Irene asked. “The general. I can’t believe he actually came down here, normally royalty lets all the soilder’s do the dirty work” she growled.

The general was telling the soldiers to prepare, he asked one of the gaurds to see where they were. Oh no, Irene thought. The guard opened his eyes “General, watch out!” he yelled. Daggers turned visible, aiming at the generals neck. The general turned around, and with one swift kick the deggers clanked on his aramor and went the other direction, hitting the wall. “I’m just warming up!” Irene heard the orange pixie growl.

The orange pixie threw more daggers, when those failed to hit the general she charged him with two more. Irene senced a person- something she learned to do when she was stuck in the cell- coming from behind her. She turned around and her fist met with the armor of a guard, she gritted her teeth as her knuckles smashed the steel. The guard grabbed hold of her mask and ripped it off. Then pressed his hands on her face and whispered a word, a warm feeling swept through her mind, she wanted to fall asleep… She started to sway. But she fought it off, and pretending it was still working, took the moment to kick the guard in the face and he fell to the floor unconscious. A light blue beam of light that came from her mask startled her, she stood frozen watching as a white staff that curved at the top formed inside the blue beam, then a voice in her mind that wasn’t her own said “take it, it’s yours now.”

Gaurds caught her by surprise and she took the staff. One of the gaurds threw a device at her and it latched onto her neck, electricity zapped her and she ripped it off with a yell. In the midst of all that the second guard- who had a pink galaxy- grabbed onto Irene’s arms and pulled them behind her back. She twisted and struggled to get loose of his grasp but with her mask off he was able to read her thoughts. She consontraited all her energy on the one unconsous guard and magic poured into her body. This time there was no sence of blackness, no power hungry thoughts, and no blur. It all came like it was supposed to. Then she murmured “Sleep” and the gaurds fell to the floor.

The magic left her body and she grabbed the white staff and ran out from behind the corner. The orange pixie was struggling with the general and the last guard- the Heat Wave -with her last two daggers. Irene then consontraited on the general, he groaned and ripped his helmet off, pressing his hands on his head as his magic began to leave him and come to Irene. She gasped as it came to her, and she poured it all out like exhailing a breath. Then the general, guard, and even the orange pixie fell to the floor, eyes glowing hot pink. “Oops” Irene mumbled, she had sent illusions to all of them, including the one who was trying to break her out.

   * * *

“I just want to thank you, that was a very generous thing you did to me back there, a true sign of friendship” the orange pixie told her, sarcasticly.

 They had made it out, thanks to Irene, and was going to, as the orange pixie had stated, one of their abanded hideouts. Irene was just going to leave the soldier and general, but the orange pixie said that it would “give the Half Moon some leverage” if they took them with them. “Your welcome for helping you” Irene answered sourly.

 “I could have handled them on my own!” the pixie exclaimed. “Whatever” Irene mumbled, apearently no one appreciated her help.

Later on, they walked toward an empty facility, it looked like it had been abandoned for years. “It was a gemstone storage facility” the orange pixie said, pushing open a door, which let out a sqeek when it slid across the metal floor, that probably would have been a striking silver if it wasn’t covered in dust and grime. Spiderwebs could be seen stretched across the boards near the ceiling, and scittering sounds could be heard in the deathly silent building. Irene fallowed the orange pixie as they walked through pathways of tall shelves, some were knocked over and few were even smashed, and the crushed remains of the gemstones that used to be in boxes littered the floor. The orange pixie stopped suddenly at a shelf, then digging through one of the boxes she pulled out a unique looking purple crystal, and scanned it with her mask. A passage way from under the shelf slid open, and the orange pixie walked in, slowly asending down the stairs. The orange pixie had been carrying the General on their back, while Irene carried the other guard. “I don’t understand” Irene said “why did you abandon this place?” “You’ll find out soon enough” the orange pixie replied, not even looking back. Irene was getting eritated, she was sick of pixies not taking her seriously, she growled and continued to follow the pixie in silence.

After walking through a dark, ery passage way, they came to an opening. However Irene couldn’t see anything, the only provided light was one little candle flame, perched on a small silver table with intricate swirled designs along the edge. A swoosh of wind could be felt to the side of Irene, she turned around as her mask was wisked off her face, the weight of the guard lifted from her back, and the small presence of the orange pixie disappeared in thin air. She clutched the staff and with the swoosh of her arm it slide down her hand, making a loud clang as the tip smashed against the metal floor. She gritted her teeth, she had walked right into a trap. Irene calmed herself, listening for the sound of suddle breathing, the shuffling of feet, it was a trick she mastered during the three years of her silent confindment. She whipped around when a pixie began slowly clapping, “very impressive, your smarter than I thought” the whispery voice of a pixie said. The slow clapping ceased and a male pixie slowly assended toward the little candle, as if the shadows were pealing around him and disappearing with each step toward the glob of light. A shadow jumper, she thought, one stretch of her arms and she could snatch the ability from him and get herself out of here, just one, small swipe… “tsk, tsk… Now, now, no need to be so hasty” the pixie said, tracing his gloved finger around the candle, barely avoiding the flame.

“You’re a very powerful pixie, are you not?” he continued, pulling his finger away from the candle and tucking it inside his cloak.

When Irene stayed silent the pixie let out a small laugh, “now what makes you so sure this is a trap? Surely you can understand all the consealment?”

So he’s a mindreader too, Irene thought, so no plans of escape for you, another voice said in her mind, but it wasn’t her own. “You’re a talented mind reader” she said, but he just laughed “so that’s what you think?”

 He picked up the candle and started walking toward her, and for the first time Irene noticed with every step he made there were purple ripples on the dark shadowed floor like rocks skipping on water. He’s good at hiding his powers, Irene gritted her teeth. “What do you want with me?” she asked, and a wicked smile spread across the pixie’s face, who was now inches away from her. “Simple. We want you on our side” he explained, “why else would I have sent my best phaser to break you out?”

He paused to let Irene ponder, then said “think about it, you can take any power you desire, you are the most powerful pixie in the world of Myth, and yet you cowered in fear over your own tribe? You were misunderstood, abandoned, and imprisoned just because you’re better then the rest of them.” Now the pixie was right infront of Irene, and she could see purple foaming off of him like whisps of steam. “But here” he continued “you can be free, use your power as you please, do whatever you want, and no one will judge you.” He turned around and began walking back over to the small silver table, pausing, he turned and said “I’ll give you a day to think about our offer, if you choose to join us, come back here before the sun casts it’s last ray, if you’re a no-show, we’ll just assume you decided otherwise.” “But remember,” he smirked “you’re a fugitive, wanted for the crime you were born with.” The pixie blew out the candle, and before Irene could do anything her mask was shoved back onto her face, and as she tried to pull it back off the last thing she heard was the murmur of “sleep…” And this time she couldn’t fight it.

“Master, how can you be sure she’ll come?” a pink galaxy pixie asked, she had shoulder length hair tucked behind her pointed ears and a matching pink suit with short furisode-like sleeves. “She’ll come” the male pixie said calmly, his hands folded under his cloak, “she has nowhere to run.” Then the cloaked pixie turned toward a tall male pixie with a red galaxy and suit, “watch her” he commanded, “yes master” the red pixie replied. The cloaked pixie tweaked his hand and a shadow opened below, the red pixie jumped in and the shadow foamed back over, closing the void. “All we have is time.”

          Irene gasped when she awoke, tucking her long elbow length hair behind her ear, she began to look around the area. Memories of the morning flooded back into her mind, they must have dropped her off in an alley way close to… she groaned, a ways across from her was a sighn that said “Diamond Decore” followed by a few other shop names. Diamond Decore, her mother’s shop. Irene growled, what was their point! To bring her to the place she hated the most, and show her how unwanted she was, that even her mother left her on the streets when she was a child. I don’t need the Half Moon, I don’t owe them anything, I don’t owe anyone anything! If anything everyone in this stupid city owed her respect, and that’s what she was going to get, without anyone’s help! She stepped forward, and her foot landed on a folded cloak and a letter, the stalf she used in the dungeon was there aswell. She growled and picked it up, the letter read:

Keep it, it’s yours now. When you’re ready, well be there.

Irene crumbled up the letter and chucked it at a wall, growling she pulled on the cloak and grabbed the stalf, walking down the path way, away from the sign.

After about two hours of walking Irene stopped to catch her breath, she sat on a bench, pulling the hood over her face more and looking down. She sat like that for a while, and one mistevious tear slipped down her cheek. “Hello miss” a man around her age greeted, he sat down next to her and she scooted away, one look at her face and he’d surely be calling for gaurds. “Oh don’t be like that” the man said, smiling, although it wasn’t a very friendly smile, he had an orange galaxy and short, messy hair. “So what’s a mysterious gal like you doing in Moon Stone city?” the man continued, “just please leave me alone” Irene said, trying to pull her hood more over her face and turning away. She tried to walk away but the man grabbed her arm through her cloak, “now hold on a second” the man said “what’s a guy gotta do to be polite around here?” he continued but was interrupted by a girl with a pink galaxy, who walked up to them. “Thanks for waiting Moon- eh- who’s this?” the girl asked starring Irene in the face. Oh no, Irene thought, of all the girls. Irene could tell she was the teenage mindreader from highschool, the one who’s galaxy Irene accidently absorbed when she was thirteen. The girl had the same confidence and flare, and she could tell her and the man were together. “Is this girl bothering you?” she said, “’cause if she is I’ll-“ “no no, it’s alright Galaxy, we were just talking. Weren’t we?” he said, smirking at Irene. “Leave me alone wont you?” Irene growled, and pulled her hand away from him. However Galaxy seemed to get defencive and said “hey! Don’t talk to him like that!” and pushed Irene, who fell backwards into the bench. Irene became terrified when the impact knocked her hood down, exposing her galaxy. Galaxy and Moon gasped, “I-It’s you!” Galaxy studdered, petrified, “gaurds! Hurry!” she yelled, and gaurds who were down further on the other side of the street began to dash over, pulling out weapons. For a second time seemed to slow as the cloaked pixie’s words ran through Irene’s mind  “remember, you’re a fugitive, wanted for the crime you were born with.” If that’s who everyone saw her as, she decided, that’s who I’ll be!

         Irene acted fast, grabbing her staff, she pushed Moon out of the way and before she could run Irene grabbed Galaxy by the arm, pulled her close and pressed her staff across Galaxy's neck. Galaxy screamed and struggled but Irene ignored her, holding on to her with an iron grip. "No one move!" Irene yelled, turning swiftly at everyone around her and pressing her staff closer to Galaxy's throat, who gasped and tried to kick Irene, but none of her struggles worked. The three guards stopped suddenly and Moon froze with fear, the other citizens around her gasped and some screamed, pulling their children closer. Now they see me, she thought, the real me. "No one moves or I- I will kill her!" Irene yelled, part of her couldn't believe what she was saying, but she continued anyways, if she didn't act now she'd be tossed right back in prison anyway. Irene kept turning frantically in different directions, and when she saw a guard with a blue galaxy reaching behind his back she yelled "Don't move! I mean it!" And pressed the staff against Galaxy's throat a lot harder, and when the guard retracted his hand she stopped pressing, but started walking backwards. "Stay where you are!" Irene commanded, she hoped she didn't sound as terrified as she felt, she heard one of the guards whisper for backup, and that's when she really started to panic. Galaxy gasped when Irene began to walk further away, pressing the staff harder, Galaxy kicked and pried, and Irene gave her a small warning squeeze before yelling once more "Don't move! Ill do it! Ill KILL her!" Turning swiftly at everyone in fear of what might happen, she really didn't want to do anything, but what choice was anyone going to give her?

           She held Galaxy tighter and ran into the nearest alleyway, she could hear screams of horror and terrified gasps mixed with the guards frantic commands for her to go back. She ignored the chaos around her and pushed through a door, into a shop. She quickly looked around and spotted a light purple Galaxy pixie, a Disappearer, and pushed her hand out toward them. The same feeling she got every time pressed into her mind, the power hungry feeling that wanted more, and this time she was tired of fighting it, she let it take over, and the light purple galaxy poured into her. Somehow she felt a little more relaxed, and she ran up a flight of stairs, pulling Galaxy with her and plowed into a room, shut the door, threw Galaxy onto the floor and pressed a chair against the door, it wouldn't hold the guards off for long but it would give her enough time to think. Galaxy sat up, shaking "Just kill me already you monster!" she yelled, and somehow it hit Irene hard, a small tear ran down her cheek, she grabbed the chair from the door, and tossed it at one of the windows that was in the round upstairs building. Shattered glass fell to floor below and Irene could hear guards rushing up the stairs as she turned invisible, and jumped out the window. She spread out her long raven-like wings and flew away. She waited until she was far enough away and dived into a group of trees, a nice quiet area where no one was around. She sat on the floor, processing the event before she couldn't take it much longer. She had waited too long to cry.

              After about an hour of waiting in the group of trees, Irene found herself walking toward the abandoned gemstone facility. Somehow, the pixie's galaxy still hadn't returned to them, so Irene was able to travel invisible for a while, however she could feel the ability weaken, she probably didn't have much longer until it disappeared. Luckily she was almost at the facility. She could see the long building ahead of her, and she let out a breath as the galaxy left her body, she never realized how much energy it had taken her to keep it under control, so letting the galaxy go was a big relief. Soon enough she was in front of the facility's door, and when she entered she was startled by a tall, male red galaxy pixie leaning against one of the dusty shelves, however she wasn't very alarmed, because he wore a red suit and mask. "There she is" he greeted, "gotta say, you put on quite the show back there" he said, "with a bit of work you will be a great member." Irene thought for a moment, then said "you were watching me?" "Well, word flies when the most feared pixie takes a hostage. And yes, I guess I was," he replied. He stood up and said "ready to go?" Irene nodded, she had nowhere else to go. She just hoped these pixie's understood her for who she was.

             Irene followed the red galaxy pixie through the dark tunnel she was in before, however they turned into a different tunnel, not the same direction Irene knew about. She stayed silent, listening to the click clacking of their shoes on the cold stone floor. They passed a few other tunnels before turning into a candle-lit room, it was warmer then the tunnels and had a shabby appeal to it. There was five small beds, a metal table next to the entrance, a wall panel with daggers and other mechanical devices- that Irene could tell was created by a gear-turner. There was blankets for warmth, and Irene noticed a bow and arrows leaning against a wall, followed by a desk with more mechanical devices and a box with small medal beads. "Well, Ill leave you to it" the red galaxy pixie said, "wait, what am I supposed to-" Irene began, but he was already gone. 

            "Ugh!" Irene growled, how was she supposed to know what to do! He couldn't just leave without telling her anything! Irene pushed her anger aside, and decided that she should look around, she walked over to the desk and picked up one of the medal beads, what could they possibly use these for? She thought. Irene dropped the bead when she was startled by a voice from above "I wouldn't touch those if I were you" they said, "Merge doesn't like it when other pixie's touch his stuff." 

             A pixie swung from one of the metal rafters Irene hadn't noticed was there and jumped down, landing with one leg bent down and the other straight up, she immediately bounced back up and quickly stretched her arm out "I'm Mira! Er- that's my name I mean, or not really-" Mira started babbling on about code names and such, and how no one knew each others real names "you might as well forget you're birth name, no one's gonna call you it anymore" she said. 

            Irene could tell right off the bat that Mira had a very bubbly personality, very talkative and didn't care what others thought about herself, or she just never paid attention to what others thought, Irene couldn't tell. Since Mira's mask- a normal for the Half Moon to wear masks, Irene noticed -was on the side of her head, Irene could see that she had a light skin complexion, big light blue eyes, and a wide smile. She had short frizzy hair that was more of a very dark blue than black, her hair was a small length away from her shoulders, with some hair down, two short pigtails on the top of her head, and thick bangs covering her forehead. Her look was completed with a sky blue suit to match her mask, and sky blue galaxy, which meant she was a Reflector, a pixie who was able to create light blue, translucent force fields.

 

            "So" Irene began, shaking Mira's hand, "you're one of the pixie's who sent me to prison, correct?" she continued, remembering the Reflector who was at the shop two years ago. Trying to get a, what was it, Irene thought, a Moonian crystal? "Black Moonian Star" someone said from behind, Irene growled when she saw a pink female galaxy pixie in the door way, "stay out of my mind" Irene said, glaring at the pixie, "my apologies, I know how you feel about Mind Readers, but I'm afraid I cannot, not until you prove loyalty to the Half Moon" the pixie replied, walking over to Irene and Mira. 

            The pixie had shoulder length hair tucked behind her pointed ears, a nice, deep tan, and pretty pink to magenta eyes. She had short, furisode-like sleeves on her pink suit, and her mask was on the side of her head. She was overall very young and pretty looking, with a slim body, and her hands were folded together as she walked with composure.

            "My name is Thought, nice to finally meet you, Irene, it's good to see you out of bars" Thought greeted, the bars you stuck me in, Irene thought bitterly, still glaring at Thought, who gave her a respectful glance. "You didn't give us much choice" she replied, looking at a wall thoughtfully, "you could have let us get the gemstone and be on our way, and no one could have gotten hurt," she paused and looked back to Irene.  

            "But instead you interfered, and by doing so you melted a shop, nearly killing everyone in it, including yourself. No, Irene, you are the one who sent yourself to the prison." Mira whistled, she had sat on one of the beds while Thought was talking, and Irene stood speechless.

            Thought said no one died, but that doesn't mean anyone hadn't gotten serious injuries, she had been so terrified and caught up in her getting sent to the dungeon that she hadn't thought about the other pixie's well-being.

            "Uh oh, only a few minutes in and Thought has already pulled one of her 'responsibility' speeches" an orange galaxy pixie sneered as she entered the room, she was swinging a dagger on one of her fingers and with the flick of her wrist the dagger went flying, landing perfectly on one of the hooks on the wall panel with the other weapons.

            The pixie walked over to the desk, pulled open one of the drawers, and grabbed a small square, that Irene didn't notice was gum until the pixie stuck it in her mouth, fell onto one of the beds, and blew a pink bubble. 

            Irene recognized her as the Phaser who broke her out of prison, her long, silky raven black hair, paired with an orange suit and mask. She was a bit taller than the others but they all looked like they were around Irene's age. And now that her mask was on the side of her face like everyone else, Irene could see small, yellowish orange eyes, and a stern, freckled face.

            "Where's Merge?" Thought asked, ignoring the pixie's jeering comment, "he's still in dagger training, he'll be out though" the pixie replied.

            She blew another bubble before saying "and since we apparently have to introduce ourselves, my name is Phase, but it would be better for you if you just called me Fay." Irene nodded, not knowing what to say.

            "So, tell us more about yourself!" Mira called, hopping off the bed, "I'm dying to know more about your ability!" she pleaded, "don't you all already know about me? I'm sure your Mind Reader has already searched my mind" Irene replied, crossing her arms.

            "I'm not 'searching' your mind, Irene, I'm simply making sure your not planning against us in some way" Thought corrected, "not that she's not capable of searching it" Mira added in, then yelped when Fay threw a pebble at her.

           "Besides" she continued, "our team isn't very high ranked, when we met you, that was our first mission, a way to prove our loyalty. You'll have to do one soon- my point is, we don't know very much about you, and I'm very, super curious!"

           They really don't know much about me? But surely everyone knew what she could do? "You really don't know?" Irene asked, Fay sighed, blowing a bubble she said "take a peek, gray, what she means is we don't know the details, everyone knows about the Gray Galaxy Pixie who steals abilities, who's only goal is to rid Moon Born Forest from all power."

           Is that what everyone thinks? Irene thought, she gritted her teeth, hardly anyone had met her and pixie's had already thought up crazy theories? "Don't call me grey" Irene said sternly, glaring at Fay, who only shrugged.

           "What ever you want, your majesty" she replied, smirking at Irene. "Don't listen to Fay, show us your awesome ability!" Mira begged, "it's not as cool as you think..." Irene said, Fay rolled her eyes "oh please! we can handle a little show boating, we all know you can use whatever ability you want."

           "It's not what you think-" Irene began, but Mira budged in "then show us! So we can stop trying to imagine how you do it!" "It's just you, Mira, Thought and I couldn't care less." Said Fay, who's arms were positioned behind her head, she blew another pink bubble.

           "Say, Thought, you've been awfully quiet, what do you think?" Mira budged, Thought had been pretty quiet, but she shook her head and said calmly "Irene will get the chance to show her ability in Ability Training, for now we shouldn't budge, not until she has better control" Irene growled, I have perfectly fine control! She thought. "Do you?" Thought pushed, looking at Irene, "ugh! stop doing that!" Irene yelled at her, Thought sighed "if it makes you feel better I guess I could" she replied, then began walking over to the entry way. 

          "I have to go. Don't do anything while I'm gone" Thought told them, then turned the corner, Irene could hear the soft clicking of her soles on the floor as she walked away.

          "Don't worry, you'll get used to it" Fay said, whose eyes were now closed, "yeah" Mira chimed in "Thought gets to have private mind conversations with Master all the time, and do we even know when it's happening? No! I bet she was even having one the whole time she was silent! It's so~" Mira started babbling on about other things Thought could do that they couldn't, and how she was so close to Master, Irene assumed "Master" was the cloaked pixie she met when Fay first brought her to the hideout, wait now that she thought about it... "I thought you said this hideout was abandoned?" Irene asked, remembering Fay telling her they abandoned the hideout for a reason she didn't explain.

           "Not quite" Irene heard from the door way, she had expected the answer to come from Fay, but instead it came from a yellow suited male pixie, who, however, still wore his mask for some reason, does he not trust me? Irene thought, was she really not that trustworthy?

           "The facility is abandoned, and the second hideout is abandoned, which is in this same facility" he continued, his voice was whispery from the mask. 

           "It was found by guards and one of our youngest members got captured" "poor kid" Mira added, "we've been trying to figure out how to get him back, and by 'we' I mean group one and two" she pointed out.

           "What's group one and two?" Irene asked, how young is the boy who got captured? She wondered, would the guards really capture such a young pixie? "Group one is the first created group, they've been around since the Half Moon was first created by our master, and they're real good at what they do" Mira explained.

           "Group two is- as you can probably guess, the second created group, they just about as good as group one, it really depends on the pixie. Each group has six pixie's in it, and welcome to group three! That's us" Mira smiled, spreading her arms and gesturing to everyone in the room.

           "Didn't you say there were some younger members?" Irene asked, noticing how the yellow pixie said 'one' of the youngest members, "we have three teenagers in training, they're not in a group yet because they're too young to perform full missions." The yellow pixie said, "I'm Merge by the way" he added.

          Irene was about to ask another question when Thought walked back into the room, "ability training" she said, and walked back out. 

          "Finally!" Fay said, dragging out the word, "your whole question spree was boring me to death!" Fay hopped off the bed and tossed the gum into a small bin, pulling her mask down over her face and walking out with her hands behind her head.

          "See you there" Merge said, picking out some medal beads and shoving them into various pockets on his suit, then walking out of the room. "Oh don't listen to Fay, if you have any questions feel free to ask me!" Mira told her, and Irene followed her out the door way.

                      *  *  *

          The room they trained in was a long, tall stone room that was sectioned off into eight different rooms with half walls, some had pads, dummies, and targets, while other sections were bare. Irene followed Mira as they walked past multiple rooms, then suddenly Mira stopped by a room, it had a pad on the floor. Fay was standing by the pad, along with another pixie, she was tall and thin, she had a pastel blue galaxy and suit, meaning she was a Future Seeker, her black hair was short and cropped, shorter in the back and longer in the front, and she had baby bangs on her forehead. "Mira you will be sparring with Fay today, Irene you can come with me," the pastel blue pixie explained.

           Irene watched as Mira and Fay stepped onto the pad, and not long after Fay charged Mira, nearly landing a punch that was blocked by a small round force field in front of Mira's arms that were crossed over her face. Mira slid across the pad and Fay charged Mira again, but this time phasing through her and kicking her in the back. 

          "Come along Irene" the pastel blue pixie told her, and Irene turned to follow, watching Mira and Fay fight each other using their abilities. "Wouldn't they hurt each other?" Irene asked, "that's life" the pixie replied "hurts you 'till you're driven mad." 

          Okay.. Irene thought, interesting perspective. The pixie stopped at a room two rooms behind Fay and Mira's. "My name is Vision, I will be training you with your ability" she said, "wait" Irene said "my ability isn't what you think-" "I can assure you, I know very well what you can do, the questions are, can you control it? Use it on command? Or use it without hurting your self or the person you're borrowing from?" Those were some valid points, Irene thought, A bit annoyed. 

          "Now" Vision began "use your ability," Irene froze, she couldn't use her galaxy against the pixie's she was working for! "Stop thinking and do it, the more you let negative thoughts take over the harder it will be to control it!" Vision started walking around Irene, "do it, don't be afraid of your power! Use it, let it take over!" No, Irene thought, I can't! "Use it!" Vision yelled.

          Irene covered her ears as Vision continued to yell commands "do it! Let it out!" She continued to yell, the power hungry feeling began to claw at her mind like a monster crawling up a crack, and this time it was as if it had a voice, let me take over, it said. And Irene sighed, it was like a step back allowing the monster to step forward, Irene yelled and stretched out her arm. Vision let out a sigh, almost as if she was relieved as Irene began to strip her from her Galaxy, Irene sighed as well as the Galaxy entered her body, the galaxy didn't make her feel much different, but she could here a slight hum, something she assumed Future Seekers had all the time. How does it feel? The voice said, it feels... Nice. Irene answered, yes, the voice continued, power does feel good, doesn't it? 

         "Just as I thought" Vision said, interrupting Irene's conversation, she stood up from the floor and walked over to Irene, observing her. 

        "You're ability kicks in when you're under pressure, like a Phaser and Disappearer you're ability takes time for the body to adjust, and even more so when using another ability. So, how does it feel?" Irene stood there for a moment, "how does it feel for you?" Irene asked, Vision let out a calming sigh "don't worry about me, I feel a little burnt out, but I never knew it could be so quiet." 

         Vision walked around Irene, and Irene yelped in surprise as Vision poked her in a couple places, grabbed Irene's hand and examined it, tracing her figure around it then poked it with a needle. "Ow!" Irene yelped, pulling her hand away from Vision, who stuck the needle in a small cylinder. "You're still very weak though, both in you're ability and your strength, as well as your trust. But don't worry, Master will make sure you toughen up."

And with that, Vision left the room, before Irene could ask her what to do next.

              *  *  *

         "I thought I'd find you here" Merge said, leaning against the wall by the door way, Irene was still waiting in the training room that Vision had left her in.

         "Left you without further explanation? Don't worry, happens to us all" he continued, then tilted his head in the direction out, "c'mon, you have no other reason to be here."

         Irene followed him out, "why do you always wear your mask?" She asked, then wondered if she had said something wrong, for he stayed quiet. "Don't you trust anyone?" "-Trust blinds you and only makes you weaker, I wear my mask because no, I don't trust anyone" he replied, turning toward Irene, who stood silently, fixated on his mask as he stared at her through it.

        "I like you, you're straight to the point" Merge said, turning back around, "but I encourage you to do the same, don't trust anyone. If you don't trust, it won't come as a surprise when the world turns it's back on you."

             *  *  * 

         Days past, and Irene was beginning to get tired of being left in the dark, she went through the daily routine like the rest of her group, except her routine only included training, and a few classes with Vision on interrogation. She was getting sick of watching the rest of the group leave and enter the room when she just got to sit on the bed waiting for the next training session. I need change, she thought, I'm sick of this repeated pattern. She stood up from the bed, walking over to the small desk, and pulled open a drawer, inside the drawer was a big handheld mirror she had seen Thought use. Irene stared at her reflection, picking up some of her long hair, frowning. Maybe it's time for a change, she pulled out a pair of scissors from the drawer, and sliced off the first bunch of hair.

        "Nice hair" Fay said as she walked into the room, looking at Irene's short pixie cut, "when did you decide to go short? I personally like my hair long" Fay tucked her hand behind her long, silky hair, flipping it over her shoulders. "Aww, don't pay attention to Fay, it looks good on you" Mira said, walking in behind Fay, who was soon joined by Merge. "I never said it looked bad, did I Mira?" Fay rolled her eyes. "Where's Thought?" Irene asked, probably at another meeting with their Master. "She was stopped by Purity on the way back" Mira said, "something important came up." "Yeah, because I know who that is" Irene said, "right, sorry" Mira cleared her throat, "Purity is a reflector, she's from group one, so she was one of the first. Her specialty is close combat, but she's also very quick on her feet. I've always wanted her to train me" Mira stared off into the distance, "but she has better things to do then that..." Mira sighed. "Right.." Irene said.