Breathing was beginning to become an issue. The pipes were nasty. And I had been to some pretty disgusting places. The last time I had used the underground pipes, years ago, they had looked a significant amount better. Now, dark sludge, with the ugliest of colors, clung to the walls and the floors. Tiny lakes of brown water laid in puddles, collected in the dents of the interior of the spacious pipes.

I wrinkled my nose, but continued on my way. The yells that had erupted as soon as the Keepers of Peace realized my disappearance had now faded. The world around me had descended into silence.

I was almost a mile away now, and I could see the rusted ladder and opening ahead.

But suddenly, it swung open and the underground pipes erupted with sound again. I knew as soon as five shotguns were aimed at me. Check mate.

___

Kacen stumbled forward, face wet. "I'm sorry, White Shadow. I-'

"Quiet, boy." A familiar, gruff voice snapped as a man forcefully pushed himself in front of Kacen.

"White Shadow." General Macarthur greeted me with my assassin's name.

"Mariel," I replied with his first.

Soft snickers came from the dozen of Keepers of Peace surrounding me and the Keepers holding the exit's door open above.

The general's face reddened completely, but he spoke smoothly, pretending to ignore the chuckles echoing in the pipes and the words I had just spoken. "I see you're still up to your disastrous, criminal activities."

"Whether or not they're disastrous or criminal is a matter of opinion."

"And how many people agree with my opinion? Oh right. The entire city. Well, except for your disgusting, murderous friends." He smirked, revealing yellow, rotten teeth from the money soaked treats he, no doubt, gorged on on a daily basis.

"Who says they all do?"

In the corner of my eye, Kacen tensed behind the general, eyebrows drawn as he stared at me.

Macarthur's smirk disappeared. "High Ranks, especially the Elrods, are our leaders. Every intelligent person follows them."

"Or maybe every person who fears them follows them." I replied calmly.

A vein bulged on Macarthur's forehead and his left eye twitched. "Lies." There was warning and alarm in his tone.

"Are you sure about that?" I shot back immediately.

"Yes! The High Ranks are our most precious and prestigious people!"

"Free to do what they choose with their power, however horrifying it is." I answered.

The general was practically a ticking bomb now, dangling from the edge of blowing up. But he took a deep, visible breath, and signaled to the Keepers behind him.

"Take this disgusting criminal to the dungeon underneath the courtroom, and call the city's Leaders." He smirked, no longer as upset as a pleasing thought entered his mind. "It's time the White Shadow faced trial."

___

The Keepers definitely weren't the talkative type. Silence followed us the whole journey to the courtroom. I tried to talk with them, interact with them and convince them to let me go, but they never reacted, only marching forward with their heads and eyes directed straight ahead.

After hours of walking, we entered a part of the city I had never seen before, an area I was never allowed into. I heard of it though.

It was called Prestville. It was the place every 18 year old went to enter the process of becoming a full fledged citizen and, later, to receive the letter that told them their new Rank. It was the esteemed village where every law had been created, every decision that leaders had decided had been made, and the place where the courtroom stood, the one countless of my past companions had been given the consequence of execution.

I suppose now it was my turn.

Huge, white gates opened for the general and soldiers around me. A beautiful place was revealed. Tall, green trees and nature to its fullest beauty. Architecture created with only the best talent was built on rolling lawns. An intricate fountain stood in the center of it all. The clearest of water, almost like wet, invisible air streamed across the ridges. The statue built in the middle of the fountain, surrounded by the mesmerizing water was the only thing that made my moment of awe stop right in its tracks.

The sign of High Rank.

A lion. As detailed as beauty itself. With a great mane and an authoritative expression. Meant to show the High Ranks can slay even a lion. The top of the food chain.

It was a dark sign, a sign that's meant more than to symbolize the High Ranks. It's meant to show their power, their control over us. How they're the ones at the top, and we'll never have a chance of freedom.

It's not just a sign. It's a threat.

___

The judge spoke slowly, almost bored, as she read off my list of charges. "... murder, kidnapping, and lastly, hundreds of acts of disobedience against our law system and our leaders." she finished, placing the paper on her desk and looking down her long nose at me. "Now having heard your charges, do you plead guilty or innocent?"

I began to speak, but my damn lawyer got there first. "My client is innocent, Your Honor."

She sighed, looking goddamn bored out of her mind.

How many people has she sent to execution? How much blood is on her hands? I'd rather kill the murderous, criminal enemies of my clients as an assassin than be responsible for the deaths of families who never had the chance to be happy because they so much as breathed the wrong way. It was tyranny. And the worst kind. And yet she was bored.

The judge looked down at the packet of information about my case. "Now it seems we are still waiting on our accusers. They seem to be late-"

Suddenly the grand, wooden double doors were thrown open, and the Elrods walked in, heads high. Rose and Helmer Elrod, in their extravagant silk outfits, march in, with their son Kacen and their daughters, Violetta and Charity, right behind them.

"On the contrary," Helmer Elrod spoke, though I was sure he couldn't have heard the judge from outside those double doors. "We are right on time."

"Five o'clock on the dot," the judge agreed without checking her gold-lined watch.

The Elrod's all sat, except for one.

He had blonde hair, slicked back with gel, and his eyes were hardened emeralds, as durable as diamonds and shined like moonlight reflecting on the waves of rough seas. But the fierceness in his eyes reminded me of Violetta and the demand shifting in his posture reminded me of her father. How could two people, who are so different in many ways, be a part of one person?

He spoke eerily, using a tone with a particular boredom and carefulness. "We have a completely liable witness and solid evidence against this horrendous criminal." He looked at me, and what dwelled in his eyes flamed with fear.

The most horrible misery, a call for help from a prison of helplessness. But the flame soon was suffocated until extinguished, and the many emotions dwelling in his eyes disappeared into the mask of boredom and ruthlessness.

That moment was so precious, and seemed so important. And he was one of the many.

But I kept the memory to dwell on later. For now, I was facing death itself.

___

Violetta, Charity, and Kacen had started staring the moment they noticed me.

I still felt their eyes on the back of my head as Helmer Elrod strode over. I stared straight ahead as he growled in my ear.

"You might be a young girl. But I will not hesitate to bring you down. You have attacked my family on numerous occasions. And, in doing so, caused uproars that have damaged my reputation and my companies."

"Your son was kidnapped and your daughters barely escaped an assassination attempt and you're worried about your reputation?" I replied emotionless and with utter calm.

He didn't react. "You have barely a right to talk to me, let alone judge my intentions. And let me promise you this, Selena Osiris Gray. I will never stop defeating you. You will be lucky if you escape this case with three life sentences to jail." His voice was deadly. I could tell he meant what he said.

I spoke, voice tight. "You know my name?"

He smiled. Except, it wasn't a kind smile, or a warm one. In fact, it was anything and everything to do with awful. His smile was cold, a promise for the hell I no doubt had coming.

"Of course I do. I know everything. You used to be Middle Ranked, a normal, disgusting little girl. You got straight As, spent holidays with your family, had crushes on boys... and girls." He added with a smirk. "You had so much. Not by my standards, but still. And then. Death. You found your parents dead. You became a sad, little orphan and have been running from the law ever since."

I let out a low laugh. "You don't know the half of it."

He raised his eyes. "Pray tell."

I turned and glared directly at him, into his unyielding eyes. "On my tenth birthday, everything was perfect. My family didn't have much, but we also celebrated when we could, and never took it for granted. The birthday cake was there, my family was there... I was happy. Then there was a knock on the door. Rough and sharp. My mother and father exchanged a look I still remember. It was one of fear, more fear than I had ever seen in either of their eyes. They told me to run. They thought I did. But I stayed back, curiosity being my downfall.

"My parents opened the door and, almost immediately, they were pushed back. Dark-clothed men entered our home. I couldn't hear the words they exchanged, but it ended with a bullet in my father's head and a dagger directly in my mother's heart. I forced myself to run. But before I did, I caught a glance of a symbol on one of the men's sleeves."

I stood up abruptly. A few pairs of eyes glanced over nervously. Helmer straightened and towered over me, but I didn't care. I glared up at him. "It was the symbol of a company that is owned by a particular High Rank. It was your symbol, Helmer Elrod."

"And who will believe you? You're just a low life criminal."

I forced a smirk onto my face, selling the lie. "No one will know it was from me. Gossip is a powerful tool. And rumors only grow."

"We'll see," he said and walked away.

The judge banged her gavel. "Alright, alright. Let's begin. Accusers! Call your first witness!"

Helmer Elrod's lawyer stood up with a disciplined expression.

"The White Shadow has been terrorizing this city for almost a decade, long before these chain of events were directed against my client. With that said, I will call up my first witness. Amania Barlowe."

I stiffened, alarm ringing in my mind, giving me a slight headache. How had I not noticed her?

Amania stood up in the midst of the rest of the audience. She made her way to the stand. Even with the distance between us, I could see her hands shake and the fear and stress in her eyes.

She stood behind the stand and placed her hand on her chest and repeated the vow. "I solemnly affirm that the evidence that I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

Helmer Elrod's lawyer asked his first question. "How do you know the defendant?"

Amania's eyes met mine, but I couldn't quite decipher the emotion and meaning they held. "We met years ago. L - The White Shadow is a friend of mine."

I ignored the sting of the word "friend." Telling the law their romantic history will only cause more damage, and Amania knew it. She was trying to protect me, even if it hurt.

"And what do you know about her crimes against the city?"

Amania took a shaky breath. "I knew that she was involved in some... dangerous things. And I knew she sometimes crossed the thin line of the law. But she never told me any details, never told me where she went or what happened." Amania tilts her head slightly and catches my eye again. "I think it was to protect me. The White Shadow might not follow the law, but she certainly is not a bad person."

"Well, that's not for you to decide, now is it?"

Amania shrunk under the lawyer's disapproving gaze. An anger burned in my throat at the lawyer, for making Amania feel small.

"Let's get back on track," The judge interrupted.

Helmer Elrod's lawyer nodded, and asked Amania another question.

"As explicitly as possible, what was your relationship with the defendant like?"

I inhaled sharply. Did he know-

"Well, we haven't been too close for a while now. And our relationship is purely platonic, if that's what you're implying," Amania said with a tight smile.

I smiled, forgetting for a moment where I was and what was happening.

Amania might not be out physically fighting like me, but that never made her weak. In fact, she was one of the strongest I've ever met.

___

It had been back and forth for some time now. Both lawyers were fighting with law and logic.

It was so different from the life of the streets, where all the fighting was purely physical.

I met Amania's eyes from where she was sitting across the room and knew she was thinking the same thing.

"I call up The White Shadow to the stand."

I stiffened all the way to my bones, but still rose, heading to the stand as I forced myself to keep from shaking.

I pursed my lips, and repeated the vow Amania had spoken only around half an hour ago.

Helmer Elrod's lawyer asked his first question. "Every single person we've managed to find that knows you doesn't really seem to know you. So how about you tell us a little about your past, White Shadow?"

I bit my lip, but held my head high. "Why not? But I have to warn you, my story..." I caught Amania's eye, as she sat amidst a handful of strangers. "It's not exactly all rainbows and glitter."

"Please. Enlighten us." The lawyer looked down her nose at me.

I began. "I'll try not to get into the grotesque details of it all. But what you need to know is, everyone has a reason for their sins. Like many others, my reason was survival. And it all started when I watched my parents get murdered on my tenth birthday. From then on, I had to make some hard choices. Either take... or be taken from." I smiled spitefully at the lawyer. "You see, there is no other option, no secret way to be better. Regardless of your stature, your level in society, whether you're rich or poor, you are forced to be ruthless. The only difference is who pays for it."

___

By the time the lawyers were done, my body was sore from spending hours of sitting tense and stressed. Everyone filed out of the room, and I quickly headed to where Amania stood near a wall, looking awfully uncomfortable at the scene of talking lawyers and sideways, searching glances directed at her.

Before I could reach her, a steady hand grabbed my wrist and spun me around.

"White Shadow. Just hold on a minute," Kacen said. Violetta and Charity appeared on either side of him. "Did you really mean what you said in there?"

"Here's one thing you should really learn about me, rich boy. I always mean what I say," I replied, not ruthlessly, but not particularly kindly either.

Violetta intercepted, "That's not true. There are good people in the world, White Shadow-"

"Damn it, Violetta!" I snapped, a few heads turning at my slightly raised tone. "Don't you see? No, there are not! Everyone has been hurt far more than you realized. You, me, your siblings. We're all completely screwed. And there's no use trying to fight it." I tried to calm myself and spoke normally again, yanking my arm from Kacen's grasp and spinning around, heading towards Amania.

She looked up when she heard my approaching footsteps. I said softly, "Hey..." She swallowed. Hard. "Can we talk?"

She nodded quietly, and we were about to head out of the room, when the doors to the courtroom swung open. Dark clothes, dark brown haired pixie-cut, dozens of piercings, and a smirk greeted the room. The entire Elrod family looked incredibly alarmed.

"Lizzy?" Charity murmured a few feet away, taking Violetta's hand.

Apparently, Elizabeth Elrod had decided to make an appearance.