Topic: Black Angel, Broken Cross

Remenis Crux

Date: 2009-06-28 14:20 EST
There was something to be said about crossroads. Something to be said about the grace and nature of gift and talent. Five years old and far too mature for her age. It was a beginning. The Boss had heard of the little orphan girl that could raise the dead and could sight down a gun if need be and let the bullets go without remorse.

Now she stood there, panther dark eyes terrified as she was tossed into what felt like a guardian battle ground admist all the other children that the Boss had taken in to 'train.' There was only a few girls and they were sneering creatures, rough around the edges in comparison to the soft delicate figure of Remenis. The rest were boys. Boys of all ages and the majority with hungry, wild eyes.

One such boy came to her with the nature of a ring leader. A Boss in the making. There was the nature of a question for fight or flight when it came to her at that moment. Like them all she had been given an alias. No longer was she the girl that she used to be. Now Remenis Crux. Remember the Cross, the Boss had said once he laid eyes on her. The kneeling figure of a broken girl beneath the shattered remains of a cemetary cross with a smoking gun still in her hand with tears that streamed down her face.

"Well now if it isn't fresh meat."

His voice was a whip through her soul and she stared at him with wild eyes. She would not flee. Holding her ground as fingers curled into fists.

"You'll learn, girl, what it is to be broken..."

He couldn't be anymore then a teenager and yet his voice seemed to know all the cruel violence and hatred of the world. His fist was curling in her hair and pulling her to her feet before she could even scream. There was no way to fight the living when there were no weapons to fight with. She would not fight as a girl. No scratches no screams no tears.

None of it but she didn't know what to do. She would not be Broken. A sound like agony broke through her lips as she waited for the first blow to be struck. She flinched in anticipation but it never fell upon her flesh.

There was a wall of muscle between her and the other boy. He couldn't be anymore then five years older and yet the boy was strong, marked with muscles of a life that raised one to fight.

His voice was gravel and ice that poured through her.

"Leave her alone"

It was enough. There was no moment to say thank you. The words were enough. He stepped away from her and the one that threatened to break her. His eyes were frozen and yet the edges held a shadow of tenderness for the small girl.

He walked away and perhaps as she watched him leave, she felt broken for an entire different reason. A piece of her went away and followed the one she would come to know as Blaque.

Mr Blaque

Date: 2009-06-28 16:14 EST
The ten year old Blaque held far too much of an icy edge for a child his age. Even then, that head was shaven, those yes were cold, and his voice was biting. Even so young, he wasn't one to be trifled with, he could make people hurt, it was a skill he developed under the intense scrutiny of the Boss.

He was taught never to care, to be emotionless. Beatings came at regular intervals, he never lashed out, took them. At first, when he was younger, he cried, he whimpered. But as they went on, the assassin in training never made a sound, never flinched. He accepted those blows willingly, fueling the fire, strengthening the resolve, stirring the hate.

He was taught to be cold, emotionless. That to be so would make him invincible to the world. He was young, he believed them. Even so, he often failed he was just a child after all.

The smaller, newer children that were brought in always were bullied by the older, experienced, and hate filled ones. And Blaque was always there to put those older ones in their places.

One small, sniveling boy was crying out for his mother when a ginger haired boy, a few years older than Blaque decided to greet him with a hard jab to the gut, sneering spitefully down at him.

"Quit cryin" for your mommy, she's not gonna help you here!" the boy shouted as the smaller one doubled over, and grunted with a kick being placed to his gut as he fell to the ground.

Whatever the boy would do next was cut off when his vision was suddenly white around the edges, and he was sent face first to the ground from a hard blow to his head. Blaque stood there, kicked him roughly in the side several times, and then walked away. He knew he was in trouble, always ended up that way.

Sure enough, he was snagged by the older ones, and dragged off for his punishment. The Boss" men didn't like it when he defended the other children he needed to be ruthless, not caring. They beat him, he took it, they kicked him, he took it, and they insulted, degraded, and humiliated him.

He took it.

Blaque soon came to realize, that in a world so cold, there was only one way to survive.

You had to become colder.