~It's a tragedy. It's terrifying, the horrors.~

Isolated

Elise

"Ah!" Something bad happened to the world. That's the feeling I have. Nothing can explain my current state of mind. That feeling was so ominous, so frightening...

My family, Varus, Michael were all busy with their own packing of the house when we returned inside. I restored what was made by the crater when I came to my parents' rescue.

My Protectors, they were on guard duty, making the defensive wall covering the parameter of the house stronger, invincible. At least we can attack them without having to always defend ourselves.

"I'm going to get supplies. Who's coming with me?" Michael stopped working on the defence parameter and strolled over, securing the place.

"I'll go. It's my duty." He steeled his voice and kissed me on the forehead.

"Uhm... thank you." I don't know what to say - it was an unexpected kiss. We headed on our way, out of the defensive parameter, into the darkness beyond.

Michael

Walking with Elise made me think, always. She gives that contradictory feeling every time I'm with her...

I can't leave myself in this state of confusion. I have to do something about it.

"I wonder how did you allow yourself to be this normal." Elise faced me as I stopped, in the middle of the empty street.

Which was not supposed to be empty.

"You do know we can't stop, right? What if we get attacked, Michael? This street was not empty before - now it is. Something is off. We can talk about that later." She trudged onward, and I was left to follow her, and face nothing but her black blazer and pants.

We both found an open convenience store - that was oddly the only shop open in the vicinity. It's as if it was there, for us.

Was it a trap? It could. I had to be more alert.

"Who are you!?" The shop owner took out a shotgun and threatened to shoot us if we don't identify ourselves.

Wasn't it obvious that we were customers?

"Michael, Knight Form..." Oh. I reverted to my human form and took a pair of Ray-Bans from the rack nearby to wear.

"MICHAEL JACKSON?! Are you fucking joking?! Aren't you dead?!" That was true though...

"He's apparently alive... And kicking." Elise rolled her eyes. Must be thinking, I knew that since day one.

"No, I don't believe you. Are you related to those two bastards that came by earlier finding this girl that - hey, it's you they're looking for!" He pointed to Elise, and I instantly realized about his previous visitors.

"Thank you for helping us, Boss." A voice echoed from behind the shop owner as a shadow emerged.

"Elise Taylor... you're found. You will return with us. Meanwhile, we will take your Protector into custody." An invisible hand covered my mouth and bound my hands together.

"You forgot something, boys." Elise channelled her power to teleport her and me back, but she failed.

"But you forgot me... future sister." What?!

"Lupus... I refuse to be Fallen. Leave me alone. Your actions are worthless." I pushed the Fallen soldiers away from Elise, but they came back for me and her, this time trapping us both.

"Now, can you refuse my invitation?" Lupus argued. I wrestled against the chains, trying to find a weak link so I can make a crack. However, this set of chains was different from a normal chain. It felt like it was forged in darkness, and that same evil aura forced me to feel despair and my inability.

"What... what is this?!" I cried out, as Elise strove to break free from the masked men.

"Didn't I tell you whatever you do with your mask on is known to us, halfbreed? You do know that you're lying to everyone, aren't you? But you can't lie to us. And stay out of the damned conversation, Protector, besides... I thought Protectors know enough about manners not to interrupt?" The man in a white half-mask, who I supposed was Lupus, glared at me intently, his lips curving into a snarl.

"Like I will let this stop me from being who I want to be." I retorted, standing up. Another presence then pushed me downward, giving me the pain of being suffocated by gravity.

"I can't possibly miss the fun." Lex. Does he really want to see our demise?

"Why are you being so gentle with him? Why don't we just end him? It's Protector blood. It's going to boost our powers!" A girl appeared beside Lex, holding him dearly as Lex allows his scythe to drink his blood.

"Mira... this Protector is special. We must keep him alive." Mira's eyes glazed over as they refocused on me, scrutinizing me.

"He really is special. How about we taste him?" She licked her lips, her claws emerging.

"I won't let you... Knight form." I commanded ever so intently, never feeling so different in how I activated my armour. I broke the chains easily, blocking the imminent claws with my shield. Pulling out my sword from the shield's inbuilt sheath, I parried with her strikes, Elise in a seemingly forced daze, unable to snap out of it.

"Your parents won't want to see you like that, Elise! Show them you have the power to protect!" Her head raised up, ever so slightly, and faced me. Even behind a mask, I know she has refound her purpose.

"Why aren't you focusing on me?" Mira. I almost forgot about her. I dodged a close slash to my neck, whereas Lex decided to join in the 'fun'.

"C'mon, Fallen couple, this ain't fair. You should give me a handicap." I half-joked in the battle, finding a way to keep myself positive.

"Like we would fall for that trick, Protector. You are strong enough to kill a Fallen of the High Court. Oh, and we have another guest for you." Lex snapped his fingers, and at the entrance of the shop appeared a glowing white and dark figure.

"I am disappointed in you, Michael." That voice... Wayne?!

Hovering over the ground, he floated into the store with Elise still held and in her own world, when my fight with Mira came to a pause at his arrival.

"I am your leader. I taught you everything. So when a Protector's leader goes somewhere, everyone goes with him. But you and Varus didn't. Do you intend to betray us?"

"This is the wrong path, Wayne. I'm the Seventh Captain of Heaven, yet you never asked me for a part in this? What about Jitra, what about Ophir? What about Odin?!

"Did you just turn them without even a single opinion from them? You're incorrigible, Wayne. We elected you because of your Protector values that exceeded boundaries, but you betrayed us, all in a single night. You brought all of us down with you. What is the point of calling ourselves Protectors if we can't protect our world from an invasion, let alone join the enemy?!" Wayne shut me up next, standing back on hard ground.

"I have never doubted your ability to follow orders, Michael. As my apprentice once before, I will let you go. But Xandor wants her. Convince me why I should let both of you go." What... he's being fair?

"By the sheer amount of duties I have carried out for you, and the innocence of the halfbreed. Protectors and Fallen brought her into this. She shall be spared today."

"Always as touchy as ever, Jackson. But I will warn you... pack up for the long run. The new world is just beginning." Wayne floated over to Lupus, where he was holding his hand over the shocked shopowner, a dark aura making its way into his body.

So... that's how everyone loses their freedom. This is an act for domination, not for freedom.

I felt the first waves of anger crush me like a tsunami, consuming me. The subsequent waves after...

I didn't need an explanation. I let my fists, and my sword, do the talking. I had Fallen blood spilt onto my armour. I didn't care. I slashed through them with full knowledge of where I hit. They moved too slow for me. My sight focused on Elise, I swiped her from her captors in a swift move of my hand.

"I got you, baby. Let's go home." I held her bridal style, as I resheathed my sword, and flew back to her home, where I would report the current situation.

We had to leave.

Elise

I'm in a dream. I can hear my thoughts echoing. The shadows lurk in every corner, their scarlet eyes fixated on everything that's part of who I am.

They turn their heads, their hooded faces making me unable to make out a single feature.

But their voices would remind me, make me remember.

"You're trapped. We will free you. You're doing the wrong thing."

"Stop hanging around with Protectors. They're all just going to bring more destruction than we do."

"Take off the mask and be free... be who you really want to be, isn't that what you think, deep in your heart? Didn't your behaviour in school showed that you were once like this? Hiding behind a mask, trying to hide who you really are to be normal?"

"Hey, you're spacing out. Are you alright?" Michael placed his hand on my forehead, trying to feel around if I was having a fever.

"I hear voices, Michael. It's... not normal." I see Varus, who was accompanying us, as well as my parents, who we now have all left our house, in search of a place to hide, were thinking whether I had gone insane.

But, of course, given that I'm different... They can't possibly think that.

"What did I miss?" I realised I'm in a different place from the shop.

"They just turned another innocent person, with too much ease... they tried to do the same to you."

Silence.

It doesn't last long. Everything went dead quiet, as an onslaught of citizens stagger towards us in a daze, blood oozing out from their lips as their eyes were bloodshot, their bodies and limbs seemingly abnormal.

Oh no. Not a Fallen outbreak, not the apocalypse...

"Run." The word escaped from my lips so softly, yet we all knew what we had to do. All of us started sprinting, our thoughts focused only on running away.

I don't want to be who I am. I don't feel safe, even with the voices coaxing me, even with everyone knowing I can bring imminent death to them, either in my dark side or in my mask. I imagined hoverboards lifting us all off the ground and directing us to a safe place, hoping air supremacy was not taken away by Fallen.

Flying in the sky was no longer a feeling of luxury. The scenery down below was horrifying.

Parts of the city was destroyed, while some parts were still in such great shape. It's weird what they retained their normal state. My house was one of them. The Parliament building, and the temple that was a place I so loved to visit.

I don't have the power required to actually reverse this apocalypse to what it was, is it? Can I bend time and space?

Why am I the centre of the universe?

"We need to find a safe house," Varus broke the silence, although the atmosphere was pretty much filled with the sounds of fire, the hoverboards droning, and explosions, it wasn't much.

"It is probably not possible. Fallen is everywhere... except us. The war has started." Father stated the obvious.

"Judgment Day. The day of our doom." Michael blurted. All heads turned to him, and he was holding his head together, trying not to feel that the weight of the universe was on him.

Just like me.

"We have to find a place to settle. I don't think my hoverboards last forever." Two bars left.

"Approximately another seventy nautical miles," I answered monotonously. I bet no one understood that.

"Uhmmm, darling, I think we got company!" Mother was staring at a dark ominous dot behind us, gaining quickly.

"HARD TO PORT!" Varus yelled. I can feel the red eyes and lasers from the thing. It's Fallen tech. I directed the hoverboards to the left and hope I shook them off with the slightly evasive manoeuvre.

They've even got their own set of technology. Incredible.

But screw them. They will never take away my family, my idol. Whoever is with me now, is family.

My focus was interrupted from piloting the hoverboards, however, and we all crashed in the Parliament building, making that Captain Obvious hole in it.

"Ah, that son of a bitch." Varus cursed our current situation.

"Language, Varus." Michael stopped him. Why hasn't anyone realized the fact that we actually landed in the Parliament Building, that isn't destroyed a fair bit, unlike the other buildings?

Ah, screw that. They realized a bit too late to leave before we gathered attention.

"MORE FALLEN INBOUND!" I can see Xandor's influence on every one of them. These were serious Fallen, that were not turned from excessive Fallen desires.

Their flowing black robes, I wore once. Their variety of masks, I have one of my own forced onto me by him. Their powers... were also sought after by him. Their lives were also mistakes, like me.

I'm Fallen in body, but he's creeping into my soul. Will I lose myself? I stepped forward, my palms raised...

And exhaled. I felt his presence, so specifically his. I don't know why, but I know... it's him.

"Alright, Xandor. What do you want?" Speak of the devil, the person I addressed strolled in with the aura of a tyrannic king, the Fallen troop making way.

"I see you can even sense my presence without any doubt." His black suit, in a gloss shine, revealed the hard, almost impenetrable armour he wore.

"I wanted you, but you never came to me willingly. I feel that I have no choice but to do it, by force." Trapping the others in a seemingly invincible spell, I was pulled by an invisible force to him.

"Why can't you be a good girl and come with us...? I wanted to show you your second family... but you could only choose one, and you chose them, over us. Just like Jeanna." My mother was insulted. She hit the almost invisible wall but was greeted with a force exactly the same as what she exerted.

"I'm sorry, Jeanna. You and the rest shall not leave." He took out another mask, where I tried to move away, but I was stuck. Hands, and feet. Lex and Mira were holding me.

"This is my gift... to you. You will be fully Fallen in physique, once you wear it. The other mask, you can keep." His hands outstretched, he handed over the new mask.

"I can see the possibility of you switching between your three forms... in the near future. Will you use it to save your next oncoming threat I pose to you? Or will you not even use it?"

"What have you prepared for me, scumbag?" My words seemed like a cue. The platoon of soldiers split again, and two boys glared at me.

Both boys were dressed differently from everyone. It was as if their bodies were on fire, like Human Torch from Fantastic Four, just that their clothes that the fire engulfs, don't... burn.

"Don't you recognize them?" Xandor tapped into my mind.

"You... I know them. You turned my classmates into monsters like these?! Bloody hell, Xandor..."

"Now tell me their names, Taylor." Why does he have to force me....? The two boys' eyes... they weren't even eyes. It was the holes in the eye socket's position in the skull. It was so dark, they seemed to be my next nightmare, my next regret.

Created from something I never knew, but I realised through the blaze emitting from them, I see timid, controlled boys.

"Shane... Joshua..." Lex and Mira held in in place even tighter. I didn't even know I was unconsciously trying to move away. My thoughts were all over the place.

"Who else did you turn into your loyal servants?!" A hand turned my head in an angle so extreme, but I saw the face.

"I thought you remembered me, Elise..." Mira cooed.

I turned to her, shaking my head in utter disbelief at her words, which seemed to sting my heart, "Why you? Why choose them? You could have chosen another way. Join me."

"Lex saved me, Elise. You will never understand that feeling of finally being able to do anything you want. That feeling is just one you want to experience... over, and over again." Utterly blinded - that's all I get from her response.

So I decided to continue talking, "You're a vampire. Every Fallen race has different ways to reach this goal you talk about. How do you know every other race is something you'll enjoy being with or being one even?"

Now, Ash was getting on to me - he held Mira back as he glared at me, "Mira is smart. You, try to sway her? Don't forget, my score with you is yet to be settled." This time, he was not holding a scythe. He unsheathed a sword from its hilt, let his blood drip on it where it absorbed, and placed it to my neck.

"Now I'll draw blood from you, no matter what you try." My skin felt like it was being torn apart... I felt the blood leave my body at my neck. I lost my ability to breathe, yet I felt the recovery, from my innate regeneration working itself.

And then I had teeth sucking my blood away. Mira...

"I... I had the best meal in forever!" She exclaims, as she removes herself from my body, running over to Lex, who embraced her.

"You did well. It's my turn now." Mira, whose claws were still out, stabbed them through my chest, holding me in place. My vision was turning from colour to pure red, to pure black and white, and grey, and repeat. At this rate, I'll see the whole colour spectrum - and I'm sure I'll be in deep shit by then.

So I decided to retaliate, for words had failed me.

"Leave... me... alone!" I felt the Gods support me in my little endeavour. This surge of overwhelming power was all due to that feeling of justice. Mira and Lex were pushed back, puking out a mouthful of blood, three times in quick succession.

I felt my halfbreed self emerge. I moved my limbs with pure ease, and I smiled at the new achievement I had.

Control over who I am, and the last laugh.

"T'was es karma, and I will have the last laugh. Now, who wants to try me?"

Author's Note

Yay! A long chapter! I really really felt that this was gonna be great. It originally was to be a filler finding a safehouse, but landing in the Parliament Building (which was already odd of how its not in ruins during a apocalypse) WAS A SEEMINGLY AWESOME IDEA!

And then you start placing the pieces together to find that shocking reality and get captured... and then failure, but you stand up again!

'T'was es karma, and I will have the last laugh.' - Elise Taylor

Hope you enjoyed! (Oh please, hope you don't think Taylor's my last name, thank you :D)