--A poem for her--

A feather pen flew a cross the paper as his light green eyes watched carefully in the darkness as words formed 'Some people talk and talk and never say a thing. Some people look at you and birds begin to sing. Some people laugh and laugh and yet you want to cry. Some peo-' The door flew open, flooding the unlit room with light.

The silhouette of a tall figure stood in the door way. After the boy let his eyes adjust to the light he could see that the figure at the door way, his father, had a half empty bottle of Vodka in one hand and a pistol in the other. The man pointed the gun at him jokingly and laughed then walked forward. The boy slowly closed the book and slid it under his pillow only to have the man grab it out a second later.

He opened it up and paged threw then started to read it out loud one of the entrees. "Head over heals I've fit in before... now I don't want to do it no more... I've held it in with blood on my face... built it up so bad you can taste-" His father threw the book to the ground then grabbed the boy by his silver hair and pulled him to his feet then threw him to the ground.

"I waste money to send your lazy as to school and this is what you do with your damn education!" The man took one last drink from the bottle then threw it to the ground. It broke in to hundreds of pieces as it hit the hard wooden floor, many of the small shards of glass flew into the boy's eyes. "Damn it Judecca! I never want to see one of those damn poems or songs again! You hear me boy!"

The boy looked up with bloody red eyes at his father. "I'm... I'm sorry... I-"

"Shut up!" The man bent down and punched the boy hard in his face sending him in to the near by wall. The man picked up the book and walked out of the room. The door slammed and darkness fell over the small cold room once more.

Judecca sat in silence and fear for a few minutes until he felt blood funning down his face like tears. He didn't light a candle to look at his face, instead he simply pulled his legs up close to his body and put his arms around them then laid his head against his bed and painfully drifted in to a nightmare filled sleep. His eyes hurting in pain as the glass dug into them.

--

When he woke he found it to be morning, he slowly opened his eyes and found his exhausted little sister sitting next to him on the floor. Next to her was a small pile of bloody glass.

"You OK now Judecca?" The girl ask sleepily as her big green eyes stared at him.

"I'm fine, did you?" He looked down at the glass.

"...I was talkin' ta Randolph last night in my sleep and he told me that ya needed my help. So I sneaked over here to your room without daddy seein' me, and I found ya asleep. You had blood all over your face and under your eye lids. So anyway I got all the glass out and made ya better..." She waited for a minute then handed him some berries.

"No Caina you eat those, there the only thing left in the house that we can eat with out dad seeing us."

"You sure? I'm fine right now, and if I need I could just steel something fro-"

"NO! I don't ever want you to steel anything. If we need food I'll get it, not you. Keep those, your to damn smart to be wasting away."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes until Judecca got up and walked over to the broken mirror on the wall. "So what did he do to my book?" He said as he started to look at his now blood red eyes.

The little girl looked down at the ground, her long silver hair covering over her face. "I think he burned it...I'm sorry Judecca. I would have stopped it but I don't know how to use all of Randolph's power yet. I'm sorry."

Judecca didn't respond he just kept on looking at his reflection in the mirror.

Caina jumped to her feet and joined her brother by the mirror. "Randolph said that your eyes are going to stay that way. I'm sorry."

"Not your fault. Besides I like the red better."

"How good can ya see?"

He turned to his sister. "Not to bad, why?"

"Randolph said that the glass might have messed up ya site..."

"I'll be OK..." He walked over to the corned of his room and grabbed his few school books. "I have to go to school or dad'll be mad at me. Will you be OK?"

"Course."

"OK I'll see you later tonight..." He walked toward the door of his room but stopped and leaned down and gave his sister a hug he stood up and kissed her on her head then left. He walked down the street and made it to the school house. He walked in the room and sat down in the far back.

His teacher stopped talking and looked at him. "Your late again Judecca. Why!"

"...I'm sorry, I slept to long. It wont happen again."

"It better not happen again. Do you have your assignment done?"

"...no ...I didn't I didn't have time last night..."

One of the kids turned to another and whispered quite loudly. "Bet he was righting those stupid poems again and forgot. hahahahahaha..." The other kids started to laugh at him.

Their teacher looked around the room. "Quiet now! Why didn't you have the time last night, it was simple."

"..." He looked down at the floor.

"Don't look away when some ones talking to you!" The teacher pulled his head up and looked at his eyes. "Why are your eyes red?"

The kids started to whisper things again. "Probably his dumb sister and her stupid magic." They all started to laugh again.

This time Judecca stood up. "Don't call my sister dumb you fuckin' asshole! She's smarter than any of you'll ever be!"

Everyone in the room went dead silent. His teacher grabbed his arm and spun him around. "What did you just say? Come with me!" His teacher pulled him out of the room and they walked down the hall way to an other room. When they entered there was a man sitting at a huge desk. His teacher let go of his arm and walked over, she whispered something’s to the man behind the desk then left the room.

"So Judecca is it? I hear you can't get along with your class mates very well?"

"..."

"What don't want to talk? From what Ms. Smith says you had a lot to say just a minute ago in class."

"..."

"Fine if you don't want to talk... I've seen many kids like you before... little punks that have no manners." The man got up and walked around the desk. "All you need is discipline, and punishment for what you do!" He grabbed Judecca around the neck and threw him across the room.

There was a loud thump as he hit into one of the wooden chairs. He put his arms up in front of his face when the man lashed out at him again. He felt himself be pulled to his feet by his arm and once again be thrown. This time however he didn't make an attempt to get up, or to block the kick in his stomach.

The attack stopped for a minute and he almost thought it was over completely, but then he heard the belt of the mans pants being slid out and he felt strong hands push him down before he could retaliate.

The pain was more then he could contain and eventually he tried to cry out but was stopped when a hand was placed over his open mouth. "Don't try it..." The words were hissed into his ear. Finally he stopped trying to scream and laid limp on the floor to let the man finish what he was doing to him.

When it was over he laid there for a few minutes and waited for something else to happen. "Get up!" Was the command and he did so right away, he pulled back on his clothes quickly and took a step back. "Go on and get out of here." He didn't need to be told twice about that as he turned to the door and ran.

After he left the school his pace slowed and he walked back to the house and slid in the door. He looked around, seeing no one there walked to his own room and sat on his bed. After a wile there was a knock at his door. "...who..."

The door slowly opened and Caina walked in and shut the door behind her. "I..." She looked at her brothers new marks from latest beating, and quickly walked to him and sat next to him on his bed.

"It's nothing that you need to know about."

"But..."

"I don't want you to know about more then you have to."

"...I'm sorry he beat ya and... but... thank you Judecca..."

"huh?"

"Ya got introuble for defendin' me didn't ya?"

"...how did you.."

"I just know." She looked back at him her green eyes piercing his heart. "I know what happened I was there with you... not there but I still felt it all just as bad as you do all the time..."

Judecca put his arms around her and pulled her close. "I don't want you to be there... I never want you to be there when anything happeneds to me... just as long as it's not happening to you I don't care... but I don't want you to ever be there..."

"But I don't want you ta get hurt..."

"Its OK... I can get hurt its OK for me to get hurt just so your OK..."

"...but..."

"Shhhh..." He pulled her close to himself and closed his eyes.

"Hey Judecca. I got somthin' for ya..."

He let go of her but still kept one arm around her shoulder. "What is it?"

"Here..." She pulled out some burnt pieces of paper from her pocket and handed them to him. "I got them from the fire place today."

He looked down at the bits and pieces of the poems he had written. "Thank you..."

"Aunt Lucy is cooking diner for daddy right now. You want to go out and see if she'll give us anything?"

"..sure..." He got up followed by his little sister and they walked out of his room. The 13 year old and 7 year old mayed their way to the kitchen and sat on the table. After a little wile the door to the house opened then closed and their father walked in. Judecca started at him with his now Ruby like eyes.

The man seamed not to notice the boy looking at him. Instead looked at how they were siting on the table. "The hell you to think your doing your going ta brake the damn thing!" They both slid off the table. "That’s better. Now get the fuck out side and go play with your friends or something!"

Judecca started for the door then turned to see why Caina was not coming. "But daddy I'm hungry, me and Judecca didn't eat today." Judecca quickly grabbed his little sister and ran from the house. Just as they left they could hear something hitting the side of the wall as their father screamed at them.

Judecca walked down the one long narrow street of Quartly with Caina close behind. They walked in silence for a few minutes until they got close to the edge of the town. "Hey Judecca where we goin'?"

"Don't know... you hungry?"

"Yes..."

"OK here." He handed her the loaf of bread he had taken from the table just a few minutes before.

"Thanks..." She began to eat but then looked up at him. "What are you going to eat?"

"Don't worry about me."

"You sure?"

"Yep..." They walked out of town and into the open land. He sat down next to a rock and Caina quickly joined him as she finished up the last of the bread.

"I talked ta Randalf again to day."

"What'd he say?"

"Nothin' really he just taught me some new skills."

"What were they?"

"Demon summoning... but he told me never to use it unless absolutely necessary... and teleport he showed me how to use that..."

"..." Judecca got up and started to walk away.

"Where ya goin'?"

"Don't know..." He stopped and looked off into the distance.

"What ya lookin' at?"

"...the sky..."

"...?"

"...ya think it ever just... stops?"

"Don't know..."

"I hate it..."

"Why?"

"Cuz its so happy looking everything is, the sky, the trees the grass, birds, flower, all the other people... everything’s so happy... I hate it all..."

"..." Caina stared at her brother blankly.

"I wish I could just burn it all down and show everyone how bad life really is..."

"...but its not...it can be better... some day it can change... we could go someplace where there are no other people and live there..."

"...we should get back..." Judecca turned around and walked back in the direction of the city with Caina naturally close behind him. When they got back home the house was dark. A single candle was lit on the table. They saw the silhouette of their father beside the table.

"Where the hell have you to been!" There father asked, his tone even more deadly then they had ever heard before.

"We were walking around outside."

"Did I say that you could leave the city!"

There father turned toward them and walked forward.

Judecca moved in front of Caina in fear of her getting hurt. Their father pulled one pistol out. "I feed you take care of you, cloth you, and this is how you repay me? With disobedience!"

He started to loud the gun. "The hells wrong with you to!" Judecca pulled Caina close to himself. "I give you every thing and you to still disobey me!" He shut the chamber of the gun. "I sent your sorry ass to school and you don't even show your thanks to me!"

He then pointed it at Judecca. "The only reason you to are still around is because your lucky. So why don't we test everyone’s luck right now!" He laughed lightly, then glared past the boy. "Caina come out here!"

Judecca's eyes got big he pushed her toward the door still holding her close. "Caina run."

"Don't think so!" Their father lunged for them.

"Use teleport!"

"But I can't take you with me."

"Just go." Judecca pushed her to the side as their father jumped on top of him and hit him.

"Judecca I don't know where I'll go."

"Just go I'll find you I promise!" Just after he got the words out his father hit him again. After several punches, out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of light and heard Caina say good bye.

He looked back at his father and kicked him in the stomach. The man was hit back but quickly got up. Judecca looked away and saw his fathers shot gun sitting on the book shelf he grabbed it then turned back.

He raised the gun and shot at his father. The man was only inches away from the barrel and went flying back. Judecca quickly got up and walked over to his father who laid dead on the ground.

"..." He reached down and grabbed the to pistils and all the money the man had. He stood back up then he looked to the ground. "...Caina please be all right..." After a minute he walked from the house knowing others would be coming soon to see what the gun shot was.

--

There was a flash of light and the young girl appeared in the middle of a forest. Caina looked around at her new surroundings. "Rendalph were am I?" A bright light appeared in front of her, it flashed a few times then a key came out of the tunnel of light.

"We are in a forest out side of Baskar." A deep unearthly voice said in a tone and Language only she could hear or understand.

"What should I do. Is Judecca going to come?"

"No there would be no way for your brother to get here."

"Should I go to the village?"

"No come with me back to my dimension, you will be safe there."

"OK." There was more flashes of light and they were transported to a bright world that seamed to be made of crystals.

---6 years later at Damzen City bar---

A young man with silver hair, Ruby red eyes, and glasses sat at the bar. To pistols were at his sides and his shot gun sat on the counter of the bar. He looked somewhat nervously around the bar, his eyes scanning the group of men that just entered the bar. Hoping none of them would recognize him he turned and looked away.

"Judecca!" One of the man shouted.

Judecca took one last drink of the brandy he was drinking. He took a deep breath in to calmed himself, then grabbed his shot gun and put it away. "...?" He looked at them half turned to the group, his eyes stained from the death and pain he had seen and dealt out all his life.

"Your the one that killed my three brothers in that shooting competition!"

He tilted his head as if he were thinking then looked back to reply. "...sorry I don't remember all of the unskilled gun fighters I kill." Came his soft monotone voice.

"Asshole!" The man advanced a foot and glared at Judecca.

But he cut him off before he could comment any further. "Witch ones were they again..." He asked no really caring, as he picked up his drink again and took a sip.

"You fought them in a gun fighting contest a week ago in Maria!"

"Oh yes now I remember now..." He said setting the drink down and paused. "I blew there brains out before they could even draw..." He remarked finally his voice even colder than before.

"Now its your turn boy!"

Judecca smiled at the man one last time then nodded. "..." He quickly pulled out his pistols and shot taking out the man he was just talking to and one of his friends. He shot 7 more times and all the other man fell to the ground. He spun his pistols on his fingers and then out them back in the holsters then he sat down and started to drink again.

"Are you a Merc?" Someone that was standing at his side asked.

"Who wants to know?" He turned and looked at the man. He had long silver hair and was caring a long sword. Behind him stood another man, he was darker and had a weapon with three sharp sides to it.

"I'm Vinsfeld Rhadamanthus... are you a merc?" He asked again.

Judecca stood up he noticed he was slightly shorter than both of the men. "I'll do most anything for money... and if you want someone specific dead I'll do it for free."

"Can you always shoot that good?" He looked down at the nine corpses that laid on the ground all with chest or head wounds.

"Better, I just needed them dead now. So what, you want someone killed?"

"Hahahahahaha... I need to kill the hole world. And I need a few good fighters to help me."

Judecca's cold red eyes lit up at the sound of destroying the world. "..." He smiled for the first time in over 6 years.

"Would you like to join us?"

"...just as long as I get to kill as many people as possible and have a world of pain to play in."

"Fine I promise you a world you can play in..."

"..." He smiled again at the thought of killing so many people. "OK I'll help you."

"Welcome to Odessa then... this is Ptolomea one of the other members of Odessa and Cocytus..." He looked to the man standing behind him then looked back to Judecca and nodded.

"...names Judecca..."

---

"This is where most of the Odessa soldiers stay during the day when they aren’t trying to find others to join us. There bunks are over there threw that door." He pointed to a door on the side wall. Vinsfeld kept walking until they got to a door in the very back. He said something into a panel on the wall and it opened up to a hallway with a few doors to other rooms. He walked down to one of the end rooms and opened it. There were to girls siting in the room. One was working on a computer, she had long red hair. The other was reading a very old book, had short shoulder length silver hair and light green eyes. She stared at Judecca then looked to Vinsfeld as he talked. "This is Caina and Antenora." The red head turned away from what she was doing she stood up and walked over.

"So who are you?" She asked Judecca as she was looking at his appearance.

"...my name is Judecca..."

"Hi..." She sweetly smiled at him then glanced over to Vinsfeld who was clearly annoyed, by her attempt at flirting with the new comer.

"Whatever..." He looked away from her and to the girl that was siting in the chair at the other side of the room and nodded. "..."

"I'll show you your room now." Vinsfeld said now somewhat pleased that his newest member was more interested in the summoner girl then his assassin and front-line strategist. They walked down the hall to another room Vinsfeld opened it and let Judecca in. "This is your room for now... in a short time we will be getting a ship and starting ower attack." Vinsfeld then left, and the door slid shut.

Judecca walked over to the bed and sat down. "So she's still alive... Caina..."

--later that night--

Judecca sat down against a rock out side of Odd HQs and looked at the pitch black sky. Until he heard someone walk up from behind him. One of his hands slid down and pulled a pistol from his holster at his side. He quickly lowered it when he saw the girl standing there. She looked at him with her light green eyes. "Can I sit by you?"

"...sure..."

She sat on the ground next to him, and watched as he put his gun away. "...so what happened..."

He looked back at her. "... told you before you don't need to know about that stuff..."

"Judecca I'm not a kid anymore!"

"..." He looked away not knowing what to tell her.

"Judecca come on, its been 6 years... I understand now and I want to know come on tell me!"

"..."

"Judecca!"

He reached over and put his arms around her and pulled her close to him. "...shhhhhhhhh..."

First she was a little scared from being caught off guard but then she shut her eyes. "I was scared with out you..."

"..."

"...I was alone..."

"...its OK now... its all OK..."

"...but there's so much that..."

"shhhhhh just don't worry about it... it's all going to be OK now..." He held her close and sat with her as she fell fast asleep. “I’ll take care of you now…”

Fin