Fionn blinked as he observed the new Trial. It looked… like a civilized time. From the looks of it, people came in skins of only two sets of color. Males had an uncanny blend of aquamarine blue skin, while females had a cute blend of taffy pink skin. Their appearances looked oddly like polished video game background NPCs to Fionn.

  Each male had different variations and styles of azure blue hair, like it was trying to match real human hair, paired with different colored outfits that looked painfully plain and uncreative. The women were no different. Each female had different watermelon colored hair styled in different ways too, matching dull and boring clothes, and even the same geometric face as the males. It was like looking at the first blueprints of a utopia with people in it

  Fionn thinks for a moment, squinting his eyes at each person. He didn’t want to be disrespectful, but didn’t think much of people like this. That was, until Julius looked back at his Division. His voice was low now, almost as if he was talking to himself yet it held that commanding vibe

  “Don’t talk to anyone. Don’t interact with anyone unless given my permission. These are Trick Anomalies. If engaged, they’re incredibly hostile and dangerous,”

  Fionn’s eyes widened, now realizing why they looked so peaceful and unintimidating… because that’s how they lure people. False hope. Most would think something so comically stupid about them that they wouldn’t think much of it, let alone being a threat. Clever. As scary as the idea sounds, that’s really creative. Fionn grins slightly, catching Shakti’s and a few other member’s glances. It stretches wider, from ear to ear

  “What’s with that kid’s weird grin?” muttered a Division 2 member

  “What is his problem? None of what Captain said was funny,” said another

  “Weirdo,” came another quiet jab

  Fionn cracked his neck, loosening his shoulders. He calmly turned around and grabbed the collar of the first guy

  “If you have something to say, say it with your chest. I don’t want to hear barking from bitches.” Fionn snapped at the Division 2, making them freeze.

  That shut them up quickly

  Julius smirks slightly, but hides it by turning away. Even Shakti covered her grin with her sleeve.

  Fionn let him go with a dismissive shove. “Pussy,”

  Julius and Shakti moved on, starting to assign people certain roles and positions. One woman from Division 2 steps forward intentionally. She gazed over at Fionn, who was idly day dreaming like he was tired. She then glanced back at Julius and Shakti

  “May I take the rookie?” the beautiful woman asked, her tone soft as usual

  “He’s already assigned to be under Shakti’s supervision,” Julius replied flatly

  She leaned in, whispering low into his ear. “That’s Fionn. That little kid way back when Aisling was still a tiny girl in training,” she whispered

  Julius’s blindfold twitched. Behind it, his blind eyes widened in surprise, recognizing why the name sounded distant yet familiar. “Ah… that’s why he seemed so recognizable,” he murmured under his breath, then realized how it’s really pronounced. “Fyun..? Sounds like a weird way to say fun.”

  Meanwhile, Fionn, still looking at the Anomalies that were acting as if they weren't death traps, was thinking about which form he should take to find the end goal. Something cool? Mythical? Horrific? Or maybe something stupid? It always worked on enemies. The people he saved before he thought of joining Chrona Riftworks Protocol all thought he was idiotic, yet would think he’d make a great captain of a team

  As soon as he turned around, still lost in thought, he immediately bumped into her

  Ann

  His eyes widened in recognition, his breath slowing. He remembered her to be much shorter than now. It was definitely Ann. She still had beautiful and soft umber brown hair, but instead of hanging down to just above her hip, it’s much shorter now, barely passing her shoulders. Her bangs were swept to the left side of her face, held by a black hair clip. Her lavender eyes were still as sparkly and bright, full of life and adventure. She was wearing an open white jacket with the words “Chrona Riftworks Protocol” colored in black and outlined in white on the back, a plain black shirt with the words “C.R.P.” in bold white on the front, a white panel skirt, black leggings, and black calf boots with white laces. She still looked incredibly beautiful, not a day over thirty in his eyes. Still radiant. Still full of untouched youth

  Fionn’s cheeks light up, getting both nostalgia and fondness. She was still cute after everything. Almost immediately, Fionn clapped his cheeks with hands, focusing. Ann noticed, but brushed it off, thinking it was just him getting flashbacks of his younger years with her

  “Look at you, Fionn…,” she started, a warm creeping onto her face. “So much older. So much stronger than that scrawny kid I used to know.” Her tone was soft and motherly, like she’s speaking to his younger self. She signals to Shakti to ask permission from Julius to wander off with him. Once she gets the approval, they walked around the village, keeping their heads low to not provoke any of the Trick Anomalies

  No interaction

  No engagement

  No talking

  Once they got to the edge of the village, near a forest, Ann put her hands behind her head. Fionn could tell she didn’t change much. Still laidback. Still beautiful. Still Ann

  “...Hey, Ann. It’s been a while.” he said quietly, his voice going slightly low, almost like he’s hesitant on talking

  Ann noticed his distant voice. She nudged his side with her elbow. “Jeez, don’t sound like you don’t want to talk to me. What’s there to be nervous about? I’m still Ann, you know,” she said, giving off her signature smile. Age didn’t do much to her, especially for personality. She looks around, making sure neither an Anomaly nor Division member was around to hear her. After clearing the area, she looks back at Fionn, her footsteps coming to a stop in front of him

  “How’s my favorite Demi-Anomaly doing?”

  Fionn remembered the first time she found out. Demi-Anomaly is a term for fifty percent Anomaly, fifty percent human… zero percent normal. One hundred percent different. “...Fine, I guess,” he muttered, sounding detached. His eyes drifting back to the scenery

  “You aren’t,” she shot immediately. Her tone sharpened as her eyes narrowed to a slight pout with his dishonesty. “Don’t lie to me, Fionn.”

  That pierced him straight through the soul. Still, instead of frowning, he grins slightly. “You’re still great at reading people, hahahaha!” he said, faking that small laughter and he knew it. Ann raised an eyebrow at how he tried to deflect the confrontation immediately. When he cracked a fake grin, she was not at all convinced by it

  “Ugh… I don’t want to pry too much and overstep onto something you don’t want to talk about, but…,” she looks away for a moment to think of what to say. “Where did you go after running away? I’m really concerned, Fionn.”

  Fionn’s grin stayed, but his gut sank to his feet

  “Holy shit, she’s good…,” he thought

  Ann wore a concerned face, taking his right hand into hers. “Look, I can tell when someone’s faking their expressions and tone. So, I just want to understand. Did anything happen…? Did someone find you when you ran away?” she asked, hoping to get an answer. “I want to know, sweety… I want to know who took care of you when you left us.” Her voice was much quieter now, as if she was going to cry herself

  Fionn didn’t want that. He didn’t want to talk either. Ann deserved to be happy. Deserved peace. She deserved more than what he’s giving her–not be shunned away

  “F-fine…,” he started, his eyes avoiding eye contact. “After what happened, I was found by a stripper… her name was Rosie.” he said, looking off to the trees around them. He didn’t like talking about her. It was a really sensitive topic for him

  Ann didn’t even think wrong of it. “Was she great? …A great mother?” she asked, intertwining her right hand with his

  “Yeah… even with how she earned money, in a more ‘bold’ way, she never once thought to try anything with me. She had great principles. All she really wanted was to be happy. Never did she try to molest me, force me to do something, or even try exploiting me. She willingly and happily kept me fed, even knowing I could spawn it myself at will. Actually… she didn’t like me using my ability. It was like a cheat code and she didn’t want that. She knew it would make me something I’m not.” he explained

  Ann’s eyes softened in joy, her face lighting up with a small smile. “Really? Even while being a stripper…,” she said, trailing off to search for what words to say next without offending him. Her smile widens, finding what to say and continuing. “She sounds like a great mother! Even if she has such a lewd way of getting money.”

  Ann thinks for a bit, letting go of Fionn’s hand to think. She clasps her hands together in front of herself, her smile stretching from ear to ear. “I want to meet up with her after this!” she said, sounding as excited as a child meeting their favorite hero

  “She’s dead,”

  Her smile fell to a frown immediately. The tension tightened between the two, thick enough to be cut with a knife

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Her voice started to break as she spoke, her previous joy evaporating immediately. “O-oh, honey… I-I’m really sorry to hear that,” she said solemnly. Even without knowing Rosie, Ann’s tears started to well up in her eyes. Fionn reached out and gave her a comforting hug, letting her hide her face in his chest

  “It’s fine, Ann,”

  “How… how long ago?” she asked as slight tears fell from her eyes, her voice muffled by his shirt

  “January 31st. Two years ago,” he answered

  “That’s-!” she abruptly stopped her sentence. Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes widened in sorrow. “That was two months before your birthday!” She immediately looked up at him, her hand flying to cover her mouth. “What… what did you do in those two months, honey?”

  He said nothing–only looking away

  Even in that silence, Ann could get a hint of what he did. He was angry–he was hurt

  She understood it. She didn’t blame him

  Not at all

  “Anyways… how have you been?” he asked, trying to change the subject, even though it sounded forced

  Ann didn’t respond for a couple seconds, hesitating to speak. She thinks to herself about what to say. She knew Fionn and Aisling didn’t have the perfect relationship, so talking about it would just drive the wedge deeper. She loved and cared deeply for the both of them with all of her heart, seeing them as children of her own. So when Fionn left Division 2 that morning, it left a hole in her heart. It took her longer than normal to find her voice. When she did, she spoke much quieter

  “I’ve… been doing pretty well. I was hoping I would see you again before you hit the double digits,”

  “Sorry,”

  She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “It’s okay, sweetie… everyone goes through something that changes their lives. Some people leave, some people break down, some even try to do something stupid like drink or smoke to get a quick fix,” she goes silent momentarily, finding another response. “Some cling to hope, whether it comes true or not.”

  Fionn could hear it in her voice. She was trying to hide both, her relief of seeing him again and her sorrow for hearing what he’s been through. Fionn puts a hand on top of her head, grinning from ear to ear. Ann’s eyes light up at seeing his grin

  She remembers a time he grinned that wide at the age of five. He ran face first into a door from playing around. Even while his nose was leaking blood like a faucet, he grinned happily like it meant nothing. Aisling yelled at him to be careful, while Ann was carefully tending to his nose. Even with the tissues in his nose, worried faces from the other members, and his own blood dripping, Fionn’s casual grin was enough to make Ann smile. Whenever she was down, frustrated, or annoyed, his sweet smile was enough to push herself out of it

  Ann comes back to her senses, smiling with cheerful tears in her eyes

  “You’re so adorable, Fionn! Hahahahaha!” Ann said with a laugh. Her tears started to fall from her eyes, dropping with glee. Fionn panicked slightly

  “Hey, what happened!?”

  “I’m not crying, silly… I’m happy,”

  “R-really? Why?”

  Ann gives a grin of her own. “Because you’re back, honey,”

  While Ann and Fionn were still away, Julius and Shakti were surveying the area

  No interaction

  No engagement

  No talking

  “This place is so creepy… it’s like watching silhouettes moving,” she said, glancing between the Anomalies

  “Having vision must suck, hahahaha!” Julius teased

  Shakti pouts. “Shut up, you blind bat!” she huffed

  Julius laughs, patting her back. “Must suck seeing these Anomalies move. I can’t even imagine,”

  “Keep talking and you won’t be able to walk either!”

  They continued to walk around the village with a playful tension in the air. Julius was reading the aura of the Anomalies, getting different reads per Anomaly. He didn’t segregate between them. Some were pure and sweet, others were violent and ruthless. Some could be redeemed… others weren’t so fixable. Julius, despite himself, hates fighting Anomalies. He’d rather convince them to be nice. He saw them as people, not just monsters. Shakti as well. She hates having to put them down, as they’re sentient, living, and come in different shapes and forms. Just like people

  Shakti broke the silence between the two, her voice low. “Hey, what do you think of that rookie with Ann? She seemed like she knew him or something.”

  “Oh, Fionn. By the way, it’s pronounced “F-yun”, not Finn. But, believe it or not, he was in my Division thanks to Ann. She took in Aisling and Fionn after she found them walking on the side of the street, dirty and tired. Aisling, for as young as she was, was a great sister to him: always making sure he was fed, cleaned, and happy before she thought of working on herself,” he explained. “I remember a time where she would eat half of her rations during Trials just to give the other half to Fionn back home. They were inseparable.”

  Shakti raised an eyebrow. Were? Why was he using past tense?

  “What do you mean ‘were’? If she was that great of a sister, why did you use that?” she asked

  Julius visibly hesitated, thinking of how he should word his sentence. “It was just days after Fionn’s sixth birthday. Aisling was talking to him about enlisting into Chrona Riftworks, and… he didn’t really like that. He was worried about his sister and wanted her to stay with him,” he said, tilting his head away for a moment. “From there, they got into a really bad argument, yelling at each other and saying some really messed up things. Ann was furious at both of them and demanded they apologize to each other, but neither of them would budge–they meant it. It made Ann’s heart hurt so much… And the next morning, Fionn ran away: no letter, no note, and no trace. We urged Aisling to teleport him back here, but she always said no. We knew she was internally hurting but didn’t even let anyone know.” Julius paused a bit, thinking back to that event

  “Since then, Aisling always harbored so much internal anger that it even showed when she was fighting in Trials. She would start to brutalize them and not listen to their mercy. I will admit, most of them didn’t deserve it, but she didn’t care about crossing lines. Ann cried more often, and my Division as a whole started to crumble. Luckily, we got new members, but… Yeah,” he finished

  Shakti was speechless. Fionn came off as someone average that just so happens to be part Creation, not a run-away child from C.R.P. She looks to the direction Fionn and Ann disappeared to, then back at Julius

  Her breath was shaky a bit. “T-that idiot really went through stuff like that? Why does he seem so calm then? Like nothing’s wrong?” she asked

  Julius shrugged calmly. “Beats me. Maybe someone found him when he left. I can’t imagine what that kid went through at such a young age,”

  They continued with their patrol, watching closely to the Anomalies present

  “I hope this one goes smoothly. I’m already stressed enough with how the last one ended.” Shakti said

  “It’s not your fault… Entirely,” he teased

  “Shut up, asshole!” she pouted

  Julius laughs, patting her head. “Don’t go stabbing me now. I don’t think your team wants to heal me because of you,” he said, his tone was right back to joking

  The day went on with Division 2 and Division 5 patrolling while Ann and Fionn reconnected together. Once night came along, both Divisions set up camp a bit away from the Anomaly village. The campfire they made crackles with warmth. Division 2 was in their own section, Division 5 in theirs. Fionn was allowed to go sit by the river

  Some Division 5 soldiers looked over to see what he was doing. He was just… Staring at the river, watching its calm flow. They each cracked jokes, comparing him to a fish and a lost puppy. Laughter erupted between them, catching Shakti’s attention, but she didn’t say anything

  Fionn softly smiles at the river. “Rosie would love to be here right now. She loved watching the stars by any kind of body of water.” he said nostalgically. He looked up at the sky, counting the stars… Then smiles wide. His left ear twitched when he heard footsteps approaching him from behind

  It was Ann–of course. He snaps his head back to look at her to confirm his thought

  “Oh, it’s just you.” he said, turning back to the stars

  “Who else would it be, silly?” she said, her voice happy again

  She followed his gaze, looking up at the stars with him. She crossed her arms behind her back, smiling

  “Feeling inspired by something?”

  “Kind of, yeah,”

  “Mind telling me?”

  “Something as bright as a star.”

  Ann’s smile turns into a smirk. “A star? I don’t think I’ve seen one up close without being burned,”

  Fionn turned to her, holding his left hand up, palm facing the sky

  “Want one?” he asked casually

  Ann’s eyes widened in slight surprise. “What do you mean?” she asked confusingly

  A bright white light spawned from his palm. Ann had to close her eyes, shielding herself with her arms. Division 2, Division 5, Shakti, and Julius all turned their attention to the bright light from Fionn’s hand. The white light started to dim into a glowing white star, all five corners shining brightly. Ann lets her guard down before cheeks lit up with a slight pink blush. Although it wasn’t a real star, the fact it was as beautiful and shiny as one meant a lot. She hugs Fionn tightly, jumping up and down

  “Thank you, honey! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” she cheered. She happily takes the star into her own hands. It was slightly heavy, but felt real enough to her. She looks back at Fionn, smiling wide. His own cheeks slightly changed to pink, but he grinned just as wide nonetheless

  Members of Division 5 were a mix between amazed and jealous

  “Great, another Anomaly.” a male said

  “Probably a Sight Creation one.” another male added

  On the other hand, Shakti was impressed. “If Julius was right… Then that little bastard really can fix Division 3…,” she said softly, a happy grin spreading from ear to ear across her face. “Looks like Logan owes me some money.”

  Division 2 was talking about how lucky Ann was. After Julius explained to them about what Fionn was, they were in awe. Ann being the caretaker of two Creation Anomalies? One could only imagine how amazing it must’ve been to witness one of them fight

  Mind Creation Anomalies were known to be incredibly creative with how they fight, especially the younger they are

  Ann skipped back to the camp like a child being rewarded. She placed the star in her tent. Fionn didn’t leave with her. He stayed by the river. Being around people who clearly don’t like him made him feel sick. When Ann returned to him, she raised an eyebrow. Why hasn’t he moved yet?

  “Sweetie, have you eaten yet? I have some spare food if you want it,” she said, encouraging him to join in “Come, sit with me.”

  “Oh, right…,” he said sheepishly, turning to her. “I hate socializing.”

  Ann was quiet for a couple moments. He hated socializing? That was strange to her. Back then, he would talk to everyone in Division 2 like he knew them. That youthful voice of his made everyone laugh, even Julius

  “Aww, are you sure? I’m sure you’re just nervous. Division 2 is my family, trust me, they’ll find you interesting,”

  “Just tell them I’ll be over here. Being in a group just feels… weird to me,”

  Her face turned a little strained. “But you want to be a Division Captain… how does that differ?” she asked, not trying to sound rude–after all, the last thing she ever wanted him to do was shun her away

  “It’s like you said… your Division is your family. Wouldn’t it be awkward to not be able to talk to your own family?” he asked. He internally bit his tongue after saying that: the ironic part about that was his relationship with his family is anything but healthy

  Ann doesn’t respond for a few moments. She liked his point that he made. Although there was some irony in his sentence, she could agree with him. A smile crossed her face as she turned on her heel. She looked back at him to say one more thing. “Smart boy… I hope you don’t stay up too late,” she said. With that, she walked back to her Division. Fionn stayed there, thinking to himself. “She is right though… this habit of mine doesn’t make sense, especially with how I act,” he thought. “Especially knowing that me and Aisling would kill each other if locked in a room together. And my mo-!”

  His thoughts go quiet. The memories of what his mother has done to him came flooding in again. A rush of anger crept into his fist as he clenches them

  “No… That bitch made it Hell for me specifically for a couple years,” he thought, looking up at the sky again. “On the other hand, it’s an act that I do to get around–not who I am. Everyone puts on a mask when they go outside from somewhere private… Ew, acknowledging makes it feel worse.” He stands up, floating over the river and exploring on his own. After getting some distance away from everyone’s eyes, he relaxes with a sigh. He quickly started to erase trees to make an open area. After making enough room, he spawned several rubber human-like fighting dummies of varying sizes. He spawned a polished and smooth wooden spear with an iron and sharp spearhead

  “Haven’t used this in a while,” he thought

  He twists the spear from hand to hand, getting into the flow. He stabbed it into the ground. “Yeah, I remember.” He glances over at the rubber dummies before animating them to stimulate real opponents. The rubber dummies looked around before locking onto Fionn

  Fionn looked at them blankly. “Swords, staff, or spear… or maybe I could just use my bare hands,” he said, looking down at his hands, then back at the dummies. “Hands.” The spear started to fade away into bright blue dust

  Y-you… You m-monster…