Changing Fate

Reunited

Ash ran, leaving the sickening sound of snarling and bones breaking behind.

She ran just like Oren had told her, straight ahead as fast as she could.

Twigs and stones cut at her bare feet as she stumbled through another unfamiliar stretch of forest.

Then the sun began to rise, and Ash dared to look back.

That's when she saw it.

The wall shining bright in the first rays of the sun.

She never really had to make a decision. She just went home, and the wall was always visible through the dwindling autumn leaves.

The forest is beautiful at sunrise painted in gold and red, but for the first time ever, Ash wanted the familiar grey of the Edge.

As it turned out, even climbing the wall was easier than she thought.

Maybe if she hadn't felt so exhausted, the scars on the massive structure would have bothered her.

Huge claw marks and bullet holes, evidence of the struggle that went on to keep their corner of the world separate.

Today, though, they'd just been convenient hand holds.

Ash had tried for two days to forget Oren, his eyes shining in the darkness. 'I will find you.'

Unlikely, Ash was back behind the wall now, and she wasn't going anywhere near the top.

Trevor knew something was off. He just wasn't sure what. His shift had only just begun, and already, things were going wrong.

He'd joined the Midnight ravens the same as his brother but he wished he hadn't, the other boys didn't take him seriously, thought he was just let in, but he'd gone through the hellish initiation same as them, he'd taken his beatings.

Still, he didn't want to go raising any alarms, and it turned out to be nothing. He'd never live it down.

With a gulp, he clutched his knife in his sweaty hand, walky talkie at the ready as he looked out into cold night through the loading bay door.

Something moved in the dust, it swirled lazily in the breeze, but if he squinted, it kind of looked like there were shapes .

He passed through the door, stopping at the top of the ramp, nervously looking back at the safety of the warehouse.

'H-hello?' His voice half a whisper.

Damn it, he was a midnight raven now. He couldn't be scared of shadows in the dust.

Trevor cleared his throat. His brother hadn't gotten to second in command of warehouse management by being meak.

'Who's there? Come out now.' He broke the silence again.

This time, he knew he could see something. A small child sized shape in the alley.

'Are you lost?' Trevor approached the child.

As he reached out, the shape grew until it was as big as him, his outsretched hand frozen in place, still holding his walkie-talkie.

's**t' Trevor pressed the button on his walkie-talkie, but something hit him from behind, and he crumpled to the ground.

'Ouch, it looked like that hurt.' Ash commented, stepping over the unconscious guard.

'he'll be fine.' Weasel replied, like her, he was barely visible in the evening light.

Even in daytime, they'd be hard to pick out, covered in concrete dust as they were, their armour masked in powdery grey.

They slipped inside, the ravens were always lax on security, they thought that their stash houses were safe being in the middle of their territory but it had been easy for her Shadows to get here by rooftop.

Tonight, there was a meeting between the Midnight Ravens and the Brass rats it was a big deal. Since they had been at war for ages, they'd taken most of their muscles, neither side actually expecting the other to stick to the ceasefire.

Which meant the sentries they had posted were fresh recuits, not much of a challenge.

The next one went down even easier, Ash walked right up behind him and hit him with her baton.

Weasel gave the signal, and the team moved in, leaning against the massive generator they tilted it enough to force some metal poles under.

They soon had ropes round it and were loading it on to the back of a cart as Ash took a look around, quickly assessing what was the most value and worth the effort of carrying out of here.

Silently, Weasel flashed his torch. They were ready.

Ash handed a small crate of dehydrated rations to a recuit. The slender boy took it, and Ash positioned him nect to the cart, his brown skin smudged with thick grey paint and his chocolately eyes wide. She didn't know his name. She wouldn't even bother trying until he earned his armour. That's just how it went.

Still, he looked no more than 12. Next to the cart would be the most protected position. All he had to do was keep his cool and walk.

With four more recuits in place, Weasel produced a tarp from inside his coat. They covered the wagon, recuits, and all, taping the ends together to form one large bubble.

After that, she stayed just long enough to paint a crude rendition of a fat on top of knuckle dusters on the wall.

Then they moved out, tapping the recuits to guide them as they manuvered.

Two shadows went ahead. Their job was to wave the large fans to stir up the concrete dust.

As soon as they were all out in the open, Ash scrambled up the side of the building, pulling herself quickly onto the roof. She didn't need to look to know Weasel had done the same on the other side of the alley.

Crouched low, she examined the rooftops for any sign of the enemy. They'd covered a wide path on their way here, clearing out anyone they found, but she wasn't in the business of taking things for granted.

The bunkhouse now had electricty, of course, they were under strict instructions not to use any electric lighting that would be too much of a giveaway. They didn't need the Midnight Ravens knowing where to really look for their generator.

But for the first time in ages, she could have a hot shower.

After it had been all connected up phase two of her plan came into effect.

Ash and the other girls had ganged up on the boys to monopolise the hot water while it lasted, it had involved swift and brutal violence to intimidate them in to submission, she made a mental note to re-set Barrels nose for him later.

Clean and happy Ash dressed in soft leggings and a t shirt, she walked with Nightshade through the candlelit corridors back to the warehouse.

'You've changed your hair?' Ash offered, Nightshade had been one of her first picks when she'd taken over the shadows. The girl had earned her name poisoning varios gang members and guards alike under the enforcers but she'd been keen to poach her, Tall and willowy with a stinning face and long dark hair, smooth as satin she was beautiful but in a way Ash could dress up and down to suit.

She could fit in anywhere and had long proven her worth.

Ash didn't know anything about her more than that. She seemed to remember she hadn't had a fringe before, but it could easily have been someone else.

'Yes, a little while ago' she flushed the warmth, only serving to highlight her beauty.

'Looks nice.' Ash felt awkward. She rarely spoke to her Shadows outside of training or missions.

'Thank you, yours looks nice too.' Nightshade beamed

Ash nodded, examining her hair. It had gotten longer than she usually kept it, and the tips brushing her lower back, still damp the water, had teased out her natural waves.

Usually, she kept it tied back hidden away under her hood.

They walked in awkward silence, Ash felt relieved when they got to the main room and took a seat with the other round the fire.

Ash insisted they eat together but rarely joined them. Thankfully, them seemed happy enough to leave her be as they sat, making quiet conversation over their meagre portions of pidgeon.

She waited only long enough to avoid being rude to leave after she'd done eating excusing herself.

The conversation picked up immediately, as much as she hadn't really wanted to be there it stung.

Ash decided to take a walk, pulling on her trench coat and new boots she opted not to put her armour back on.

Even if she did run into trouble, she was deep in Spectre territory, and she still had her knives. Besides, these were her streets.

The weather was getting colder by today, the freezing air hitting her face as she stepped out the warmth of the bunkhouse.

Each breath misting in front of her face, since she had been avoiding the wall Ash had taken to patrolling their border when she felt restless.

Nodding to a sentry as she started her familiar route.

It wasn't until Ash found the next two posts empty that she began to get suspicious. It wasn't uncommon for the sentries to slack off or take breaks, but two was a pattern. Either she needed to instil some disciple in the sentries or something had gone wrong, it occured to her that this would be identical to whoever discovered their raid on the Brass Rats would have found.

Ash schooled her expression. If this was an attack and they were clearing the area, she would likely be next.

'Hello Stan.' his voice came from the darkness.

Ash felt a thrill of excitement pass through her. She ignored it.

'Hmmm, I thought you were Stan?' Ash released her newest blades from their sheaths inside her coat.

'No, you definitely know my name,' his laugh sounded incredible, but as Ash examined each side of the street, she still couldn't see him.

'Sorry I'm not very good with names, and you're not that memorable.' Ash checked the roofs, but they appeared empty.

'Do you remember me now?.He breathed in her ear, Ash whirling swung her axe up.

Oren barely dodged.

'Well, that's charming,' he pouted,'Are those new?'

'Yeah, thanks to some asshole I lost my favourite knives, so I promised myself I'd plant one of these in his dumb head.'

'How...very aggressive of you, you know I really don't like you carrying such dangerous things.' Oren said, slowly backing down the street away from her, suddenly hesitant.

'They're only dangerous to you.'She growled stalking towards him.

'Kinda my point.' his eyes twinkled. He looked so normal dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, although the t-shirt clung to his chest in a way you didn't get from the half starved men of the edge. Ash wondered if his kind felt the cold as for a second time he wore no coat and Ash realised no shoes.

'Any chance you want to just put them down?' he asked, still relaxed, which was majorly pissing Ash off.

In answer, she charged, twin axes reassuringly heavy, the well weighted blades had cost her a small fortune, so she was determined to put them to good use.

It was that moment that a bag came over her head, dropping down to her elbows.

'The f**k' Ash growled trying to swing the axe, the bag tightened around her arms. The rough canvas sach had a chemical citrus smell.

'Sorry little one but I don't like fighting you.' Oren said next to her ear, his arms wrapped around her.

He'd just been standing 10 feet in front of her, damn he was too fast.

'Get off.'Ash demanded anger over riding the sparks his close proximity had brought.

'Shhh, go to sleep.' he cooed picking her up as she thrashed in the bag.

'Put me down you bastard.' Ash's heart raced, furious that Oren had so easily gotten the drop on her.

'Shh shh shh.' Oren hushed her as one might do a baby.

Pissed off Ash decided to do the one thing left available to her even though it wounded her pride and let out a high pitched blood curdling scream.

Oren dropped her and as she wrenched free from both her coat and the bag she could see her strighten back up hands at his ears.

Feeling dizzy Ash swung, still holding her axes.

Oren blocked her but she escaped his grasp, he was distracted as his eyes flicked to the foor tops and either side of the street in turn.

Although there was a faint hope Ash doubted anyone would come running, screams and fights were commonplace here.

'Im gonna gut you like a pidgeon.' Ash snarled, Oren c****d his head at the expression confused, she started towards him but was overcome with a wave of drowsiness.

Ash stopped short taking deep breaths to try and clear her head.

Orens handsome face faded in and out, dimly aware she was being cradled, Ash found it odd he looked so concerned.

'Bitch.' She croaked as her eyelids dropped and she fell in to a deep sleep.