Fiction. That's the word I like to use to describe the world I live in. But that morning was different than usual. That morning, when it all started. Way before the test, way before the introductions, and way before this whole thing started. The first morning the 6 of us didn't have that nightmare but still woke up in a cold sweat. Let's go back a bit.

.....

The world isn't fair. It never has been. Even more so now after the test. See, in this world, everybody living in this world, even people in the slums, have to take a test at age 13. A test to discern how many extra lives and what your force is. People tend to have between 1 and 5 extra lives, the higher the number, the better for that person. The real discerning factor in society is your force, though. It doesn't matter what it is, it matters what people judge it as. Some might think you're weak because of what force you're presented with. Some forces are common, and some are rare. The more 'rare' the better you get ranked in the government, and the more they keep their eye on you. Forces can be used for anything, so the government developed a way of surveillance to keep order. They're dangerous, and some people can literally spit fire, fly, or manipulate ice, fairy tale stuff like that.

But of course, there are special cases and exceptions.

Avoided like she was a disease to be caught and one of said special cases was Akuma. Akuma Woods, to be exact. Getting off the bus to go to school in her city, ignoring the whispering and the strange stares from others along with the giggling. A straight walk to the entrance of her school, or as she refers to it, a gateway to hell. The laughter attacks her head again and she winces, never pausing her walk, though. Seven in the morning. It was too early, in her opinion. So, so close to the school door, she had hoped that she'd walk into the school normally like she was able to a few months ago. Her eyes were glued to the ground, focused on her walking and noticing the drizzling of rain starting. "Ah." Shoes stopped her march towards the door. She could see the arch of the door in the corner of her eye. So close. She sighed before looking up.

See, here's why she was the special case, the disease, the freak, the psychotic idiot, the weakling, the outcast. She was the only known person to present with no force and no extra lives. Her dark brown eyes met the eyes of the shorter, red-eyed discipline committee leader. Akuma was taller than most girls her age. She stood at a sturdy five foot seven, or 173 cm, and hadn't grown since 7th grade. "Where are you going? You know you cause an uproar or make it awkward for everybody else when you walk through the halls." Hands-on her hips and all, Akuma had to stifle a laugh. To think that this five-foot-one, or 156 cm, girl in front of her was known as The Fire Fairy or Akuma's personal favorite, The Roaring Phoenix. It fit her description down to a T, her cut slicked-back red hair and the way she yelled were fitting of it.

"It's not my fault the immature hormone-hungry teenagers in there titled me as an 'inferior' person and like to gawk at me. No need for the escort, I'll take my usual route." That was all Akuma had to say before spinning on the heel of her new gym shoes, heading to the side of the building, giving the students who gave her a dirty look one back, and running up the old emergency exit stairs. These weren't the stairs they used currently to escape from her hellish high school, these were the old stairs before the renovation four years ago. They were metal and creaky. Laughter, louder this time. An actual stumble in her trudge up the stairs to the third floor. She shook her head, sighing and cursing her life, wishing the day was over even if it had barely begun. She'd made it. To the roof of her four-floor school building, that is. Now she had to walk down two staircases to the second floor and to her first class at the end of the hall. If she ran, she wouldn't be late. There was another inconvenience at the roof door, though.

"Let's not do this today, Nyli." Her best friend, well, ex-best friend and chief of making her school life a pain in the ass. Nyli loved attention more than anything, so when Akuma didn't present with either a force or any extra lives and asked her to keep quiet about it, she did since she thought she'd be the more popular one. Despite Akuma's best effort to wear long sleeves, somebody saw how there was no number signifying her extra lives on her arm. For the first month, Nyli let her have the disposition of the mysterious girl who wouldn't tell everybody what her force was. And then she got sick of it, so she told everybody, spreading rumors she was insane, using the constant laughter Akuma heard as fuel to the fire. Thus, Nyli got the attention of the person who pitied Akuma enough to be friends with her but just couldn't do it anymore, and then she stated her rare force, giving her more attention to bathing in.

Akuma and Nyli became friends in second grade when Akuma found Nyli crying about how some boy knocked her lunch box over. As typical and cliche as it was, Akuma shrugged and gave her lunch to Nyli. From that point on, Nyli stuck herself to Akuma's side and Akuma was fine with it, a person she could depend on finally, a source of relief, a friend. A friend that had now turned into a frenemy. A sound that signaled a plane or maybe even a helicopter landing not too far away, probably in the richer areas' private airstrips. "You're a disturbance to the learning environment." Nyli had somehow made it to be student body president of freshman within the first semester, so with it being January now, she was official. She could say that, supposedly. "Move out of the way, you know I hate being tardy. I'm not going to say it again, I'll just move you myself." A mood swing. Her foot tapped against the ground in annoyance and a full-body shiver. She didn't feel like going through this today. Due to some miracle, the bell signaling that they had five minutes to get to class rang. With that, Nyli clicked her tongue before opening the door and running down the staircase herself.

Akuma still couldn't fathom how she made it up here earlier than she did just to be a bother for a little while before going to the same class as her. If she had that much time on her hands, shouldn't she be practicing her skills or something? A groan came out of Akuma involuntarily as she made her way down the stairs, and she hummed on her jog down the stairs and through the halls. Pushing her thick, black hair out of her face in annoyance a few times before she made it to her classroom and let out a large sigh. A carton of milk with a sticky note on it and a smiley face on her desk. She had to give them an A for creativity this time, she thought sitting down. Milk is a sign most people tell their kids to drink to grow or strengthen their bones. A sticky note that states 'Maybe you'll grow a force if you drink it.' She threw the carton of milk with the note on it to the person who wrote it. She didn't remember names, but she recognized the faces, laughing, the handwriting, and the way they pick things up. She memorized all the right and wrong things somehow.

A slow first period, an even slower second period trying to learn a second language, and a third period of her learning math that she'd never use again in life. At least all her classes were advanced so she didn't see kids her age often except in some classes, not that it made it much better. The boys were bigger and taller, and the girls were more developed. Insecurity and anxiety tried to settle in with depression, but she refused. She refused to drown or crumble in front of these people because of these people. It wouldn't, and she would never allow that to happen. She, in fact, was usually a playfully violent person, but they didn't make her want to be playful. They made her want to inflict pain on them, to hurt them. A pang. Laughter. Dizziness. A deep breath and a refocus on what was happening. It happened for a split second and nobody ever noticed when it did occur. A sigh came when she heard the familiar bell signifying it was time for lunch or as she liked to call it, her hour free of horror. She grabbed her lunch from her bag since the school food was absolutely appalling to her, a 15-year-old with a specific palate and high food expectations. She climbed the old stairs back up to the roof instead of sitting in the lunchroom alienated. She sat down against the door on the roof and released a sigh, relieving tension. It was fast. She blinked and closed her eyes, getting comfortable against the door and getting ready to eat. Then there they were.

A group of three individuals were standing in front of her, and she had to wipe her eyes at what she was seeing before looking up again. She'd never seen such good-looking people so close before, especially twins. Unruly, blonde hair on both of them, while one was mean mugging her, and the other twin had a playful grin on his face. Pale yellow eyes on them, almost icy looking, too. "I really can't use it? This is just more of a chore, then." The mean-looking one said while looking at the woman in between them. The grinning twin looking at her smiled, holding his hand out. "Hey, I'm Axe- Woah there!" She pointed her fork at him, although it was still covered with the spaghetti she'd saved for her lunch today. She was assessing her situation. Two twins, one named Axel, and another twin, name unknown, were accompanied by a drop-dead gorgeous woman that looked dangerous; like she could make people literally drop dead. Long teal hair, black stilettos, a white dress with a slit in it with a deep V cut to it, and a black blazer over her shoulder. Was that a gun and knife holster on her thigh? Danger. She was in danger, that was for sure. Axel, the twin in front of her, was dressed casually, hair tousled with sweatpants, a graphic t-shirt, and gym shoes on. The dangerous-looking twin, however, had on a white button-down tucked into black dress pants with black dress shoes scowling. "Can you come with us? We just want to talk for a while. Your parents agreed to this."

So her parents had sold her off to pay for their debt? No, they didn't have any debt. Something wasn't adding up. The scowling twin was staring her down, deadly looking. "Archer quit it! You're scaring her! God, how can we look the same but you're somehow soooo ugly?" So the other twin's name was Archer, noted. She felt a chill go down her spine and her head whipped around to meet silver eyes staring down at her. Silver? She didn't know eyes could be silver, but the woman before hers was. She was the most dangerous, she could be sure of that. The look in her eyes was telling her something and was looking at her like she was some sort of prey. Amusement. Akuma must've scowled at her unbeknownst, she hated that look. "Oh my, feisty." her voice was smooth, velvety, intoxicating. You could drown in her. She was a walking honey trap. "Come with us, brat. Get up." Archer spoke to her and she weighed her options. She took a deep breath and stood up, cursing under her breath. This is why she felt this day would be different, she guessed. She would get kidnapped. Not without some fun or a fight, or both. That simply wasn't her style. She put on a more defeated look, walking towards them slowly. She side-eyed the one spot that was open to her. If she wanted to run, she'd have to jump. Axel was standing near the stairwell. She walked towards Archer, seeing as he was the closest to the staircase. Axel nodded. "Good, good. See, it wasn't that bad-" Akuma had taken a deep breath and mumbled "Oh why the hell not." before she jumped off the roof. She caught herself on the edge of a window, somehow, relishing in the other student's surprised faces, before slowly making her way down to the ground. Looking up at the trio and smiling, she started running. They'd have to work to catch her. "This one's mine. I want her, I can tell she'll be the most fun already." A bit of bloodlust was floating around in the air due to her sudden provocation before it was retracted. Leaving the twins to catch her heels and blazer before jumping off the roof, running after Akuma grinning.
...….

And with that, the chase began.