My vision was red. I looked left and right, wondering what was going on. I then realized I had to open my eyes. I pulled my eyelids open and immediately wished I hadn't. It was so so bright, they slammed down again quickly. I felt something hard on my back and legs, and it was heavy, but it almost immediately disappeared, crumbling to dust in the sunlight. I planted my hands on the ground and lifted my cheek from the ground where it had rested for-

How long had I been sleeping? I knew my name, my powers, my companions, and a few of my first decades, but then nothing. It was as if something had come by and plucked the information straight from my head, leaving no trace except for the nagging feeling in the back of my head insisting something was missing.

I climbed to my knees and then my feet, shading my eyes with my hand. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I stretched my arms high above my head and cracked my back, wincing at the sounds. I rolled out my neck and stretched my legs, pulling my heels to the backs of my thighs, testing all my muscles and bones to see if they worked. Everything was perfect, albeit stiff.

I stepped forward, away from my resting place, and I looked it over. It was a shallow depression on the ground, rotten remnants of wood surrounding it and dug deep in the ground. I shivered, remembering the crushing weight on my body only moments ago.

I remembered being able to fly, and I knew I had large feathered raven wings. I instinctively knew which way was my home, my tree, and I climbed up the nearest already-dead tree, to the top. I jumped off and tried to spread my wings.

Key word: tried. My wings wouldn't unfurl right, and a crippling pain shot through my back, making me fall to the ground. I caught a branch as I fell, almost popping my arms out of the sockets. I dropped to the ground and looked over my shoulder at my wings. They were bent and twisted, as if they had been broken and healed wrong. I assumed that was what had happened.

I pulled my skateboard out and stood, boarding out of the forest and into a city. I stayed on the sidewalk, but not for long. Someone walked right through me and started coughing, and I quickly skateboarded away, out to where there were no people. I put my board back and braced myself. I walked into an alley and dug my fingers into the brick, climbing higher and higher until I reached the top of the building. I stood on top, not even out of breath, and stared at up the midday sun overhead, shielding my eyes. I could just make out the moon in the distance, defying the norm and showing up in the afternoon. "What's going on?" I whispered, staring directly at the moon. "What is happening?" I didn't expect him to answer.

He didn't.

He just hung there in the sky, making me scoff. "Stupid, stupid, stupid. Talking to the moon as if it would talk back. Idiot." I continued insulting myself as I climbed back down. I hopped on my skateboard and was about to ride away when I caught a glimpse of myself in a reflective shop window.

Oh my god I look like a hobo was the thought that immediately ran through my head. My clothes were ripped, cut, torn, slashed, bloodstained, dirty, sweaty, gross rags hanging off my body. They were also antique, faded and yellowed as if they were very old.

I ran into the store, unused to walking, and looked around. It was a clothing store, but the clothing was nothing like what I was wearing. It was all loose-fitting, flowing garments and skintight clothing, like morph suits. There were these large guns on the wall that blasted lasers and odd goggles. There were protective metal breastplates, most of them chrome, and they were really more like vests, with bright colored lines in them. There was a ton of orange and pink and almost no blue, tucked away into a back corner, as if nobody bought it anymore. There were pants like that too, and boots with large glowing circles on the soles. There were oversized aviator goggles and wraparound sunglasses, gloves and kneepads and elbow pads and other plates that went over your shoulders and across the breastplate and back with a hood attached-

It was all totally awesome, and, as I discovered long ago, I'm not above stealing awesome stuff.

I ran around snatching stuff from the racks in the darkest corner and ran into the dressing room.

I came out, completely outfitted with everything I needed, well, wanted. Black metal boots with blue stripes and glowing blue circles on the bottom. Black skintight pants, black skintight long sleeved turtleneck. Bright blue, almost turquoise kneepads and elbow pads, a black blaster with the same color stripes along the barrel, black gloves with blue glowing spots over the pads of my fingertips, black and blue metal vest, blue plates and black hood, oversized goggles with glowing blue circles where the eyes were and black everywhere else. I unclipped my scythe from my ear. It expanded, and it...

It had an upgrade. It was just as hi-tech as any of my new gear, with blue glowing spots for my hands. There were buttons just where my fingers would wrap around. The whole shaft was black and the blade was almost chrome, glowing the same color as my fingertips.

I pulled a ponytail holder off my wrist, but the old rubber snapped. I huffed and walked to the checkout counter, grabbed a pack of black bands, ripped it open with my sharpened teeth, loaded every band onto my wrists, and whipped my hair up into a very high ponytail, tearing a scrap of bright blue ribbon, the same color as my glowing accents, from my old clothes. It had been on the inside, pressed against my body, and it was in very good shape. I tied it around my ponytail, keeping it as a reminder of my time lost. I didn't even know how much had passed. I put my scythe back in my ear and checked my other holes. They were fine, but the earrings in them had apparently crumbled. I took new pairs, all black rings, and they looked rad. The infinity sign was fine.

I ran at the door and burst through them. I jumped, like for joy, because I had fresh clothes and a chance to start over, but I went much higher than a regular jump. I touched the top of a three story building. As I fell, I examined my boots. The circles on the bottom must be boosters, enabling me to jump higher and farther than normal.

I leaned and slid my goggles into a pouch strapped onto my leg and zipped it closed, drawing out a pair of sunglasses with glowing blue lenses and I gasped. My vision was instantly enhanced, and I could see very very far away. I reached up to the arm and pressed a button. Crosshairs popped up in my vision and I aligned it with the sights in my blaster. Cool. I pressed a different button and it switched on night vision, almost blinding me. I quickly turned it off and messed around a bit more and adjusting to my gear. I boosted myself to the clearing I woke up in, recently, and brought up the crosshairs again. I aligned it with my gun, aiming for an imperfection in a tree trunk. I squeezed the trigger, keeping my eyes open, expecting recoil that didn't come. The beam stayed on as long as I held the trigger down. It was smooth-firing and charged in the sunlight, so I left it to charge temporarily on my back, unfolding the solar panels and reflecting the light. The flashing was making me wince with the thought of being seen, but I tolerated it.

I bounded back to the metropolis, kicking off of trees and the ground, defying gravity slightly.

I touched down on the sidewalk in a different area of town and did a double-take. The men here were all wearing the suits, only a few in other clothing, and there were no women in gear. The ladies were all wearing old-fashioned dresses, with massive skirts and tight corsets making their tiny waists even tinier. They rarely spent any time outside, bustling from place to place as quickly as they could without pausing or looking at the men. What was going on here?

I followed a young woman, who looked to be my physical age, and when she was on a street with only one man, rather a boy only a year older than us, she cowered in fear and scurried by as silently as she could, but he heard her and turned. He flirted with her a little, twirling his gun casually, but when she said something snippy, he trained it on her and pulled the trigger. I almost screamed, but I clamped a hand over my mouth. He moved the beam closer to her, touching the edge of her sleeve, and she was so terrified she didn't realize he had backed her into an alley until he clicked off the beam. She stepped back again and hit the wall of the alley.

The boy stepped closer, pressing the gun into her ribcage with one hand and stroking her face with the other; then he rested his hand on her minuscule waist and I snapped.

I stepped out of the shadows, gun in my hands and raised. I pressed the trigger and the beam shot just inches between their faces, making him freeze. I got the sense that behind the shades, his eyes were wide with terror and anger. I stepped closer, though I doubted they saw me. "Step away from the girl," I said, my face blank and my tone flat.

He pulled away and spun towards me. "Look man, I don't care who you are, but she's my catch. I got her, fair and square, now back off. Or I'll shoot." He leveled his gun with my head and I stopped shooting, shifting my weight to one hip and planting my hand on my waist.

I walked forward, swinging back and forth a little, playing on my femininity. "Oh, but you wouldn't shoot a girl, would you?" I put a finger to the corner of my mouth.

His sunglasses fell off his head. "H-how do you have that gun? Women aren't allowed near the weapons stores!" His hands shook as he pointed the gun at me.

"Well, I guess that makes me all the more dangerous, doesn't it?" I walked closer until there were ten feet between us and the girl was good to go. I made a tiny jerk to the side with my head and she ran for it. The boy went to chase after her, but I moved between them and jabbed my gun into his head. "One more movement and I'll shoot. Don't think I won't."

In a desperate move, he stuck his gun against my side and fired, shooting a hole through my side and the beam came out of the other side of my body, touching the brick.

I laughed at his feeble attempt to kill me. My voice became low and husky as I spoke. "Did you really think that would kill me?" Filaments, like a spiderweb, shot across the gaping hole, reforming my organs and sealing up my skin and even my suit. I reached up and pulled my sunglasses off, folding them up with a smart snap and drawing a gasp out of him. I gripped his hand on the gun, still holding mine to his head, and my nails elongated, digging into his hand. He screamed in pain and I just chuckled, making him drop the gun and crushing it under my boot.

The girl came back into the alley, looking as if maybe she thought I screamed, but she looked shocked by our position.

There were thundering feet and I yelled at the top of my lungs, "RUN!"

She nodded and sprinted off, lifting her skirts above her knees and running.

I turned my attention back to the boy. "I'm wondering if I should spare your life."

He almost nodded, but my finger tightened on the trigger. "Yes," he breathed.

"Why?" I whispered. We were now almost in a sort of embrace, almost touching. I was close enough to whisper in his ear. "Give me a good reason."

"Because I have a life to live."

"Wrong answer." My tone was steely and I peeled off my glove, raising my hand to his face as if to caress it. I touched him and he withered to ash, leaning no trace except for a splattering of blood from his hand and his gun. I jumped to the top of the building and surveyed the land. Men were running to the alley I had just left, but they wouldn't find anything. He was a pile of dust.

I jumped to the next building, my ponytail flying behind me. My hair was longer than I remembered, a little past my shoulder blades. "Where am I?" I asked out loud.

As if responding to my question, a street sign twirled to show me a town name. I squinted at it, then used my long-distance glasses. "Burgess, Colony of Pennsylvania," I whispered.

[UNFINISHED CHAPTER (?)]

[STORY WILL BE PUT UP FOR ADOPTION]

[STORY IS UNEDITED]