FSE

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Looks like my girlfriend knocked some sense into me, after all this time. I kept on telling her about all these ideas I had for this story, and she told me to get a grip and write. So here I am, writing again. I've missed it, to be honest, and since the day after tomorrow is our second year together, I figured I'd write what I have, thus far.

This chapter could be considered filler, yes. But in my opinion, it is necessary. I got a few questions about who's who, and how, and what, so I figured that a chapter where at least some questions are answered, would be good. So, if people actually have questions they'd like answered in the next few chapters, go ahead and ask. Doesn't matter which character, or what question. I'll find a way to answer it ^^ (Unless of course I can't answer it due to the plot and all... Or if it's totally inappropriate.)

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"No, no, no... You're understanding me all wrong!"

I glared at the jackal's scarred face, and demanded an answer.

"Then explain to me, how, exactly, is it that you know my father?"

Graverobber sighed, then gave me a menacing grin. It was full of madness, and he wasn't shy to display it.

"I made him. I already told you this."

That's what I didn't understand. We had been on constant move for a whole week now, and Graverobber hadn't budged from the crystalline prison Zach had created for him. I also decided to stay in the mess-hall, to keep an eye on this... Creature. River came occasionally to check up on him as well, but the shark seemed to trust me with things thus far.

"How do you go about that, exactly? Creating a man." I asked, though I knew that all I would get was a repetition of the same bullshit story I had heard on previously.

"Okay, well. How 'bout yall go and call me one, too? I've got a name too, ya know? 'Graverobber's' just something you came up with. Not me."

"Fine, professor Isaacs." I spoke with some disdain. Right after we had enclosed him into that crystal, he had introduced himself as "Professor Isaacs." None of us bought it, though Jack seemed somewhat too fast in disregarding his name as fantasy.

"Now that's more like it, boy!" He laughed and slapped his hands on his thighs. "I do think I have enough time for storytellin', before the lessons with Zach, don't'cha think?"

"Humor me." I urged him to go on, knowing he was just trying to drag this whole thing on.

"Alright, well. Since you ain't all too familiar with the history, given your... Primitive upbringing, you really oughta ask your buddy, Jack about all this. But, to go on... Back in... What was it, 2010? I was 'bout twenty nine years old. I had worked with a few projects for the D.O.D., and a few... Events brought me to a certain organization. At the time, it was called 'Project Serenity'; A small research group working for the armed forces. Their headquarters were downtown New York, and-"

"See, that's where I don't buy it. 'New York'? What's that? I checked the world maps over and over again, and the only mention of it is-"

"Yeah. And in case you didn't quite notice it, the year's 2442, innit? So shut yer trap. We're talkin' bout the 'Old World', here. Back when the only sentient critters walkin' about were human. 'Sides, ain't I the one tellin' the story?"

"Just curious about these facts." I adjusted myself in my chair, letting both of my tails wrap around my legs. This talk about the 'Old World' made me feel uneasy. Back at the dojo, before all this insanity, I had been brought to believe that there were no hybrids. Just humans, like this man claims. And more on the same matter, Graverobber was a hybrid himself. There were too many contradictions here.

"And curiosity is what brought humans down to where they're now, right? It's all right to be curious, but too much... Too much'll kill ya. Anyways." He took a deep breath, and puffed out a longer trail of sickly white smoke. "Anyways. Project Serenity was about creating super soldiers for the military - You know, the whole cliché about splicing animal and plant cells with humans. Problem was, none of those morons knew enough of genetics to even begin understanding the process. So they called me. I had a few... 'Questionable' lines of research, that got me kicked outta the armed forces, ya know? Back then, magic wasn't even in existence, really. But I was smart enough to notice the small weavings of it, and they went and called me mad! So I learned to shut my mouth 'bout it, and carry on like a good chump."

"Okay, well, what of this super soldier program? You accepted it, right?" I pressed on, as he kept on straying from the subject.

"Sheesh. Gimme a breather, boy. History's hard to recall, and harder more when a little kiddy's constantly urging."

"We are pressed for time, and you know it."

"Fine. So, I accepted the project, yes. It was a beauty, too. Serenity was more than just a small branch of tiny research stations. It was massive, and better yet, the government had no clue. See, a long time ago, they found a... What do you call it? A wreckage. But it wasn't from earth. It was from somewhere else. Before the government got to it, Serenity managed to pick up all the working tech, and cover the rest up as a hoax. Thanks to that, Serenity was now decades - maybe even centuries - ahead of all technological research of any state in the world. They started developing everything, from weapons to medical cures, to anyone with a large enough amount of cash. The United States weren't all too happy 'bout it, so they made Serenity sign a contract with the military, and they got full rights to all their inventions.

That also meant that Serenity was now obligated to do research for the military as well, which included this super soldier program. They weren't dumb enough to just make any regular super soldiers, though."

Graverobber smiled smugly, before he continued. "They knew of my special research. They wanted supernatural soldiers. So I promised them a few, with a condition: I would be the only one to do the research and development, and nobody interfered. I got what I wanted, after all. Full funding, with nobody poking their noses into my business. It worked, too. In just ten more years, I had developed six specimens, though the first one died before he was technically born. We'll get to him later. Call him the 'Prototype' for now.

The other five were unnamed. I just called them by their numbers, or how old they were. Though they were 'born' just minutes from each other, to be honest. Their numbers were from one to five, obviously. All five were hybrids. I had used a special animal in the development, a lizard. All other animals seemed to clash violently with the human cells, except for one strain of DNA, which was located in a fossil.

They were all Dreichoon. Nobody believed me, but in the end, I was right. They were the ancestors of dragons, though... Well, frankly, nobody believed that dragons existed either.

Now, going back to the Prototype. I saved his cells, and when Serenity asked for proof that my project was working, I didn't really have much choice. The children I had created were all still young. Only five at the time. So, being a man of science and tests, I decided to bind the cells of the Prototype, into my own body."

The jackal flexed his neck and leaned against the crystal wall behind him, puffing more smoke out between his lips.

"A day later, I find myself in a hospital, dying. Doctor says I've got 'til the end of the day, and I'm pretty damn down, after hearin' that. Can ya blame me?" He chuckles, attempting to make me crack a smile. I didn't.

"Anyways. I thought that since I was going to die, I might as well take a drag. I took my favorite pack of cigarettes, and stepped outside. 'Soon as I took a breath in, I was knocked cold. For a moment, I thought it was the cigarettes that killed me. Only... They didn't. They made me stronger. Turned out that my lungs couldn't exactly process regular oxygen, and whatever junk was in the smoke, kept me goin'. It's like my personal little heartbeat, ya know? So, the docs let me out, and I started taking notes. I only needed one cigarette a day, and I'd be fine for a week.

But then I started noticing some funny stuff in my lab. The tests I conducted on the children... They reacted just as I had wished. Two and Four showed signs of telekinesis, whereas One was capable of reading my mind. But what really blew my mind... Was number Five. He told me that I was one of them, and not entirely human. It surprised me at first, but then he showed me how to manipulate the smoke I breathed. It became more than just part of me... This white shit I smoke is me.

The military tests that I was supposed to show up, were delayed into next month from there. I showed up on my own, and showed them just how advanced my research was. I took three bullets to the head, and two directly into my heart. After that, I took down two squads of heavily armed men, on my own. Whatever I injected into myself, had made me stronger and faster. 'Twas pretty damn sweet! With that amount of confidence, I managed to find myself a girl, and got married just five-six years later! We had a baby girl then, too... Alice."

His expression darkened for just a split second, and that was new. He hadn't mentioned that before. Graverobber had a wife? More than that; A daughter?

"Another few years later, they were already adults, and I was going to demonstrate to the general their progress. I had kept them in growth tanks for the five years before that, and as I released them, and the bosses shoved them into the practice grounds with a whole tank-division... Something went screwy. I had always known that Two and Five had had something of a fling, but I had strictly told them not to get too close, because they were soldiers, and nothing more. The military wanted grunts, and grunts ain't allowed to have hearts. Turns out, that's where I went wrong. Somewhere, sometime, Five had gotten pregnant with Two's kid. And it wasn't quite so obvious, but she definitely had a belly.

So when the tanks rolled in, and Five was in danger, Two lost it and pretty much obliterated the tank. Though the general was pleased enough with that, Two didn't stop. He kept on killing, until it seemed to become part of him.

The rest of them were just as bad, or good. Depends on how you look at it.

One. Everything around him simply... Withered. He was standing next to flowers and grass, and it looked like he sucked the life out of them. No. He didn't even seem to be doing it, but it was obvious that he was the cause, since it was only around him that it happened.

Two. He went a step further. He didn't just wither everything. That man killed everything he laid eyes on, except his brothers and sister. All the military folk that he even glanced at... They just dropped dead.

Three? He was kinda funny, I admit. All the guys who surrounded him, just started shooting at each other, whereas number Four replaced the soldier's memories with those of a nearby duck. Amusing, yes.

Five... Now she was a piece of work. Everyone in her vicinity was too scared to shoot at her. Later on when we questioned them, they didn't even know why. I had the ill fortune of talking with her, after that event, and her aura... That was something else.

After they escaped, everything went downhill. They declared to the world their new names. One was Famine; Two called himself Death; Three and Four were War and Pestilence, respectively, and Five was Fear.

In short, they started World War Three. 'The war to end all wars, permanently'. Most called it the apocalypse, thanks to the names those morons chose." He sighed again, and stopped. This is where he always stopped.

"So?" I asked, hoping that he'd go on.

"So... What? You think you'll squeeze more out of me?" He asked, seemingly amused.

"You're leaving way too much unanswered."

"Well, fine. To sum it up, I created hybrids, gave your kind magic, and doomed all humanity. Satisfied?"

"No? You left out the part where you somehow became a jackal, and how you know my father!" I sprang up, smashing my fist into the table next to me.

"A-ha... So that's what it's about. You wanna know yer daddy?" He got up within his crystal fortress, and stared daggers at me.

"Your father was my second creation. And your father is the reason I didn't die of age. Your father is the reason I bloody well CANNOT fucking DIE!"

Graverobber yelled and headbutted the crystal wall with so much force, that I could feel the shockwave travel throughout the ship. More on, he actually... No...

The jackal smashed the Crystalline, and in the blink of an eye, his scarred arm was at my throat, lifting me up in the air.

"I killed your mother, Fear. And I thought I killed you too, but she had already given birth to you. Your father retaliated, and took death away from me. He took my ability to die, when he brutally gutted my wife, and lobotomized my DAUGHTER right in front of ME!"

I couldn't believe what he was saying. I imagine my face had an expression to fit my sudden shock and disgust of what he was describing to me.

"But turned out that your mother was a bloody good mage! Ha-ha! She threw you into a portal that she had made for herself and Death to escape in! She threw you into a safe place, only... She didn't know when it was that you'd pop up! That singleminded bitch threw you in time, not space!"

I felt his grip getting tighter, and his claws digging under my scales. "Then why don't you kill me right here?!"

My question seemed to upset the jackal, and he took a moment to think, before he set me down and pinned me into the chair with the white smoke.

"Why, you ask... Your mother was a strong mage. And so was Death. You are the firstborn from the first generation of mages. Which means, you are one of the strongest mages around. But you can have all the power in the world, and it won't do you shit, unless you have the knowledge to use it. No... I want to enjoy ripping you, little filthy scale by scale. Inch my inch..." I saw the gleam of madness returning to his eyes. "Oh no... I want to enjoy it. And killing you like a little whimpering babe won't do me any satisfaction, after centuries of waiting.

I want you dead. I want to kill you, so your 'daddy' comes to the rescue. I want to piss him off so bad, that he'll try to kill me. Because no matter what you do... You won't be able to match up to me. It's him I want to slaughter. You're just a stepping stone."

"Close!"

The Crystalline wall returned and wrapped around Graverobber, this time with half the original space he had, and twice the thickness. I saw Zach in the corner of my eye, as the tendrils of smoke released their grip on my body.

"I-I don't know what happened. As soon as the crystals shattered, I came here. How did he-"

"I don't know."

I looked at the jackal, who still, after all this time, held the upper hand. I knew so much more of the past he claimed to come from, yet I knew nothing that mattered. Not even why he claimed to be able to help the Virtues. None of us knew what to do.

"I honestly don't know." I repeated, as if doing so would've somehow helped our current situation. It didn't. Somehow, I could hear the drums of war, beating, mocking our every desperate move. We were only getting started, and this was just the first dark cloud on the horizon.