"What are those things the Humans wear?" Aslilin was huddled in an alleyway, facing the dark and perfect form of her brother, pressing her hands against her sides, afraid to let them touch anything. Her hands were hands of death, hands that took what wasn't hers. She could not allow anything to touch them, for once it did it not only broke away, but became a part of her. There were things in this world she did not want a part of herself.

Cloths, Dark Brother provided. If you're thinking we need some, you're most likely correct. I have always wanted them...

"NO!" Aslilin's voice was shakey, snappy. For some reason things were getting blurry in her eyes, a very gradual loss of her sight, but she did not know this yet. "No, the things they wear on their hands." Her voice was more controlled again and she forced herself to stop shaking.

Gloves? The feline cocked his head to one side and regarded the humanoid girl. Why do you feel you need gloves, Ta Bahata?

She spoke nothing more, simply stood. The wind was funneled in this place, it whipped down at her and against her legs, which were unfurred and ugly. She felt the cold, the thin gown they had given her in the laboratory gave no protection against the bite of this weather. Clasping her hands under her armpits, she glanced around the fuzzy alleyway, wondering again why her sight was failing. It had never failed her in the laborartory, it had been nearly perfect there. Much more perfect than that of her creators..."What is happening to me?"

I don't know, Ta Bahata. The large feline rubbed his muzzle against her bare, cold leg, the fur feeling soft to her. I don't know.

"Well, well. What do we have here? Where'd you come from, girly?"

With a gasp, Dark Brother whirled around on his paws and stared at the newcomer. Aslilin slitted her eyes and growled in her throat, hugging her hands close and hunching over. The shape was blurry around the edges, but it was unmistakably a Human. If the shape wasn't a give-away to her, the smell deffinitly was. Aslilin felt a deep fear now, from what Dark Brother had done.

What are you doing here! Dark Brother shouted, and the Human blinked twice in surprise. Aslilin continued to snarl, backing away.

"The hell was that? You just talk in my head? What the hell are you?"

Leave us alone, we didn't do anything to you. The black feline backed towards Aslilin, glaring now. We're only trying to pass through, don't make us fight you.

The Human was a male, about fifteen and had dark hair. His eyes glinted dangerously, sunk a bit into his head. Obviously he had no idea who they were, or what they were, simply that one of them could communicate with him without speaking. That didn't seem to matter, though, as he began to move forward on feet that crunched loudly in the dirt, focusing on Aslilin, who had backed into a doorway and was snarling. "Think I know you, girl. Think you're that freak child the papers are talkin about..."

"Keep away from me," Aslilin hissed, pressing her hands tighter still to her sides. She wanted to fight him, but refused to let her power touch him. She didn't want part of this creature within her.

"There's a reward out for you, you know." The Human's tone dropped a notch, became lecherous. He began to reach slowly towards her, not knowing her real age was much younger than she appeared. "Course nobody has to know..."

TA BAHATA! In a flash, Dark Brother had launched himself into the air and leapt upon the human, pushing him down with feline grace and standing atop his chest. These creatures created us but they do NOT control us!

Eyes flashing brightly, Aslilin looked down at the Human that was pinned to the ground. His stench filled her nostrils and she wanted to turn away in disgust, but was far more ready to destroy him now. To rip him to peices and send him through the very fabric of reality. Moving her hands free of her sides, they gathered a dark light in her palms, concentrating. The Human started, stammering.

"D...DEMON! DEMON! What the hell are you, where did you come from, you freak? Demon! HELP! DEMON!!"

The doorway behind Aslilin opened and she wheeled, expecting another face to fight. Instead, someone slightly shorter than herself stood there. With a hiss, she stepped backwards, tripping over the Human as she did so and falling against Dark Brother. The person in the doorway cocked his head to one side, a cascade of cinnimon hair, straight and long. He had large green eyes and an innocent air.

"What's going on here, now?" Looking down at the older human in the dirt beneith Aslilin and Dark Brother, his eyes grew darker. "Tim." He sighed disgustedly and shook his head. "Get out of here, this isn't your territory. You know that."

"Fuck you, freak! Anyone who don't belong here's fair game for anyone-"

Aslilin's hands glowed a little again, she hardly had noticed she'd landed with them placed on the Human's back. The Human named Tim inhaled sharply, his spine spasaming in pain as Aslilin leapt back, alarmed, and quickly held her hands tight to her sides again. The cinnimon haired Human just turned his head a bit more to the side like an owl as Tim twitched on the ground. Dark Brother pressed against Aslilin's legs until she began to move again, but the younger human in the doorway held up his hand.

"Wait a moment, please," He said with a soft smile. Waiting for Tim to regain his breath, he pointed down the alleyway. "You, get out of here. Maybe that'll teach you the difference between 'fair game' and Human beings." Scrambling quickly to his feet, Tim ran off down the alleyway and out of site, glaring over his shoulder.

"SHE ain't no human," He shouted back at the cinnimon haired boy. "She's a fuckin demon!"

The younger human shook his head softly and looked at them with a smile. "Hi there. My name's Ejo."

Taking a cautious step forward, Dark Brother nodded to Aslilin that it was all right. My name is Dark Brother, he said in the Human's head. She is my Ta Bahata.

"I am Aslilin," Aslilin said, staring mechanically straight ahead and clutching her hands claw-like against her own sides.

The human Ejo didn't seem the least bit surprised to have a voice speaking to him in his head. "Aslilin and Dark Brother, hmm? Well, you're in dangerous territory. Come in for a bit."

Not knowing what else to do, and sensing the danger all around them especially with Aslilin's failing eyesight, they followed Ejo into the warm darkness that rested beyond his alleyway door.

The house behind the alleyway door was filled with warm air and dusty smells that tickled Aslilin's nose. Looking around herself, she began to wonder if she was dreaming. Such places did not exist. She felt worried, and growled deep in her throat. Dark Brother padded ahead, following Ejo through the maze of shelves, pipings and boards.

It was an old building, a warehouse that had at one time been converted to an office building. Now it lay in ruins, its original occupants long since having left for farther and better lands. Ejo was obviously not the only one living in this place, for as they walked, shapes in shadows stirred and smells of other beings filled Aslilin's nostrils.

I am surprised, Dark Brother stared about in awe. He had never seen so much freedom for so many creatures. Surprised that you've taken us in like this...without judgement...My Ta Bahata and I...we..

"No need to explain," Ejo waved a hand cheerfully and lead them onward through the adjoining offices, some with holes knocked through their walls for easier access. "We get all types here. Aliens, Humans...creations. It doesn't much matter."

"Creations..." Aslilin looked up at the high ceiling and blinked as fluttering peices of falling insulation came down in a light cascade, moving like feathers. Her eyes were bad enough now that if she squinted, they appeared almost as birds.

"Yeah, like those two over there." Ejo stopped and turned, pointing through a hole in the wall to where two strange creatures huddled against one another. One, black with four legs and a long tail and snout, had gleaming plates of metal grafted to its body. A red diode in the center of a silver dome replaced its eye and the top of its head, and the diode swivled to regard the newcomers staring in. The other, something which could only once had been human, grunted at them as they passed. Its skin was burnt and cracked, stitches across the gap that had been its mouth. A thought crossed all their minds, an unmistakable telepathic greeting. Ejo shook his head.

"Those two showed up a lot like you did. The Myche, he had that done in the lab that just went down. Guess he volunteered, just goes to show you can't trust Rulerists. The other one..the Human...a bunch of aliens did that. One of them, I guess, was a psychic and after what they'd done, he cursed and gifted him with the ability to read our thoughts and talk back."

Is there no one in this world to trust? Dark Brother sounded crestfallen. He had come to expect a better place beyond the barriers of the laboratory, a world where his creators ran things fairly and justly.

Ejo shook his head as they walked on. "Not really. You trust yourself, most of the time."

"Then we can not trust you," Aslilin glared at the Human's backside, hunched over as she walked to keep her hands from touching wall or body.

Ejo made no reply, simply pointed ahead to a place where it appeared the creatures had collected enough objects to fairly furnish a room. In a large chair sat a shape which was as small and frail as a corpse left from starvation. Wails and soft eerie sounds from around the place filled the ears of the two siblings as Ejo spoke.

"That's Rune, he decides if you stay or go for now. Rune's parents were Human, but for some reason he came out strange. So they left him. But he's smarter than anyone else you'll meet for a very long time, so respect him."

Dark Brother inclined his head slightly and twitched his tail. Let's go, Ta Bahata.