As Eiden entered the shopping mall, he made sure to pull down his face cap. He stood next to the sliding glass door in case he needed to escape, and quickly glanced around at the store's inhabitants.
"No, Eric, we can't get you this toy," a woman said a couple aisles from him, her eyes filled with tiredness as she sighed down at her son. The boy, who seemed to be around ten years old, stomped his feet on the ground. He was holding a toy of Ultrum, the hero of Sorna city. Fire bloomed to life around the boy, and his hair started glowing as flames licked at the ends.
"No!" he yelled. "I want it now. Please, mom!"
"It's too expensive."
No matter how the woman tried to calm down the literally hotheaded son, nothing worked. Eiden glanced away from the scene, scanning the other inhabitants. There was a girl with nearly crystalline skin who was perusing some beauty products, a boy using his telekinesis to move produce into his basket, and various others.
Nearly all of them were using their Variances.
None of them were looking at him.
'Okay,' he thought, relaxing as he exhaled. 'No one's watching. That's good.'
"Would you stop blocking the road?" a voice spoke up from behind Eiden, making him turn to see a fat young man glaring at him with watery eyes under a sweat drenched forehead.
The stranger continued; "There's a traffic here, dude, and there's a whole lot of places you could be standing instead of right beside the door."
Eiden didn't say anything; he simply stepped aside, out of the stranger's way. As the stranger walked past with a derisive scoff, Eiden's hand twitched with a violent impulse. He used his other hand to catch it and glanced away, trying to dismiss the thoughts of wringing the stranger's fleshy neck.
After the stranger left, Eiden walked briskly towards the food sections, taking a trolley from where they were kept. He selected all the essential things that he and his sister would need. Occasionally, his eyes would slide over delicious looking products. But then, he would notice his reflection on the mirror; a thin, almost malnourished looking boy with tanned skin and lusterless white hair, with pearlescent eyes that almost looked sunken into his skulls.
And then the sweet things would promptly fade away from his memory. They weren't needed. Want is the first death; he was not here to want things, but instead to survive.
When he had selected everything he needed, he slowly approached the checkout counter, his eyes darting at every corner, trying to spot any hidden cameras. He kept his face pointed down, avoiding the ones fixed to the ceiling.
When he reached the counter, he started to unload the items when the person manning it suddenly spoke up.
"Oh, you don't need to do that," a sweet, airy voice spoke up.
Eiden, unable to help himself, looked up. A girl was standing behind the counter. She was roughly about his age – not that he really knew how old he was – with smooth porcelain skin and round, soulful black eyes. A curtain of black hair fell over her shoulder, and when she smiled, small dimples appeared in her cheeks. Eiden swallowed and looked away.
"You don't need to unload your purchases anymore," she said, pulling up some kind of sleek, rectangular device. "Your trolley has already calculated everything you put in it, so your total comes up to about…300 Voss."
Eiden reached into the pocket of his black, tattered hoodie and pulled out a small hard drive. The girl looked at the hard drive, looked at him, then accepted it without saying a word, making Eiden sigh internally in relief. Instead of inserting it anywhere, she simply waved it over the terminal she was holding in her hands.
As Eiden waited for the payment to process, he felt the weight of a stare on his neck. He stiffened, then subtly glanced over his shoulder.
A woman was perusing the aisle closest to the counter. She was wearing an all-black ensemble, with a cap to top it off. Eiden's stomach fell to his feet. The woman paused her perusing to glance up at him; their eyes met, and Eiden immediately broke the gaze and tapped at the table to get the girl's attention.
"Can you hurry up?"
"Hey, don't blame me," the girl said with an irritated shrug. "Blame VON for the slow –"
Eiden didn't wait for her to finish speaking; he flung the cart away and pivoted on his feet, running towards the glass door.
"Hey, wait up! You left your purchase!"
Eiden didn't listen. He surged out of the shopping mall, gasping as the cold air of the late month hit his lungs. The noise of the city hit him at full force. Without wasting any time, he continued running, pumping his legs on top of the pavement and roughly pushing away people walking on the curb.
"Hey!"
"Watch where you're going, dipshit!"
Eiden ignored them. He glanced over his shoulder.
The woman in black stepped out of the store, and immediately glanced at her side and met his eyes, even through the crowd. She didn't run. She didn't act hurried or urgent. She simply pivoted on her feet…and started walking.
'Mira,' Eiden thought hysterically. 'I have to get to Mira!'
Eiden ran through the shortcuts he knew, glancing over his shoulder at regular intervals. The woman was always behind him, never further than ten meters behind.
Always following him with slow, steady steps.
'Why…why is she always behind me? Does she have a super speed Talent or something?'
Eiden saw an alleyway up ahead. He ran into it…then stopped.
He stood there, gasping. Holding his burning, tightening chest.
'Mira…I'm sorry.'
When he heard the sound of footsteps leisurely stepping on pavements behind him, he turned. The woman appeared.
She was tall, wearing a nondescript shirt over plain jeans, with a jacket thrown on top. All black. Her hair was long and silky, parts of it packed into the cap she was wearing. She looked at him with a calm, expressionless face, as if she were a statue devoid of life.
"Why did you stop running?"
Her voice was cold and emotionless as they echoed through the alleyway. Eiden glared at her, gritting his teeth as he spat.
"You think I'm stupid, huh? You're obviously playing with me. If you wanted to catch me, you could've used whatever bullshit ability you have a long time ago!" he barked. The woman's expression didn't change. She just stood there, still, arms at her side. A cold wind blew into the alleyway, ruffling her hair. The noise from the bustle of the city seemed to fade.
Eiden settled into a fighting stance, his hands balled up into a fist.
"You want me to lead you to my sister, don't you?" he demanded. "You sick fucks will never get your hands on her. I won't let you."
If the words affected the woman, she didn't show it. She tilted her head, something that looked almost like amusement passing through her face.
"We are not incompetent, subject GX-02," she said, and the way she enunciated those words made Eiden pause. Sweat beaded on his brow, and a cold feeling permeated his skin. Dread. "We do not need you to lead us to your sister. We already have her."
"Brother."
Eiden froze. No. This couldn't be happening. Slowly, almost mechanically, Eiden turned.
The first thing he saw was the business end of a gun; a hollow nozzle, pointed straight at his head. And the one holding the trigger… was his sister.
"Mira," he whispered.
"She won't hear you, 02," the woman from earlier spoke up, her footsteps echoing through the alley as she approached them. "She doesn't know you."
Even as she spoke, Eiden knew it was true. His sister's eyes were empty, devoid of emotions. Those brown eyes that used to be so warm…were lifeless.
"Mira!" he yelled, lunging towards her, trying to catch the gun, until –
"That's enough. Kill him."
BANG!
Eiden's head snapped back with violent force as pain bloomed in his forehead.
As he collapsed down to the ground, the last thing he saw was his sister's pitiless gaze.
'Mira'.
He died.