Chapter 1 - Dreams of New Beginnings

The sun was shining through the cab window, brighter than he had ever seen before. In fact, he hardly ever saw the sun; his thick bangs where always in the way of at least one of his eyes. Maybe that’s why everyone thought he was ‘emo’. It was too bad on his part though; he didn’t know what the word meant. It was becoming increasingly agitating to hear the word escape from onlookers lips every time he passed by however. His troubled sigh was interrupted as the seat he was sitting on suddenly jumped, throwing him to the floor along with his backpack. The car stopped immediately while the driver’s voice yelled out, “Oh sorry! You alright?” Just as fast as the vehicle halted, he sat up quickly on the floor. The driver was a woman. He honestly didn’t know women drove cabs. “Um..yeah…I’m fine.” He replied while getting up to sit back on the seat. [br]
[br]

The woman heard a bit of anxiety in his speech. Before pushing the gas petal again, she adjusted the rear view mirror towards the direction of her passenger. An animal, in short summary, was what she saw. But his species was more common to her, since many of his kind were always running around the place. He was a hedgehog, a very spiky one. His ruddy brown spines spread out against the back of the seat, letting little barbs stick out just about everywhere. Even his tail had spines on the end of it, a new detail for the species. She noted his ears where also larger than regular and the left one was actually chipped. What she was most interested about was his choice of fashion accessory. A steel collar with a couple of metal links hung snugly around the hedgehog’s neck. The links clinked lightly as his white gloved hands began to fumble with them. “Someone’s a bit edgy…” the driver chuckled as she finally stepped on the petal.[br]
[br]

The cab thrust forward. The hedgehog’s hands left his chains, since the woman was no longer looking at him. Being stared at wasn’t the most fun of times and was really nerve-racking to him. Letting the thought slide, he noticed his bag was still on the floor and he went to go reach for it. Upon picking it up, a small paper slipped out. He reached for that too, being that he was already close to the ground. Now sitting up again, he placed the backpack next to him and examined the paper. It was a letter, plus the reason why he was in the cab anyway. His fingers flipped the paper over to its front side. It didn’t have the usual address, stamp, and other letter-like markings on it, just his name, which was written in its full form. “Axeleros the Hedgehog…now what the hell were my parents thinking!?” quickly popped into his mind. “That’s not even English! Yeah, sure, Axel is, but the rest is like some drunken slur!” He stuffed the letter back into the bag, too disgusted to even read its contents again. With agitation, he turned towards the window for a second time. The view was nice. Clouds as far as the eye could see. Trees just barely visible due to the motion of the car. The grassy fields, rolling on forever until they formed into hills, then into mountains that touched the sky. It was so unreal to the hedgehog. Where he came from, there was no such beauty. He felt as if he were looking at a painting instead of out a car window. Just as he blinked, there seemed to be a blue flash racing across the current meadow. Axel rubbed his eyes and took another glance. The sudden blur was gone, like nothing happened. “Yippee. I’m seeing things too.” he muttered to himself, but his comment was a little loud. The driver began laughing and her short auburn hair seemed to bob rhythmically along with it. She looked at the rear view mirror again to see Axel’s face. “You’ve never heard of the wind?”[br]
[br]

“Yes, I know what that is…” he retorted confusedly. The driver laughed again, this time with a little more cheerfulness. Her hazel eyes met his bang-hidden face through the mirror. “No, I mean a different wind. I can’t really explain, but where you’re headed, you’ll probably meet him soon anyways.”[br]
[br]

“Meet who!?”[br]
[br]

“You’ll see! Just go back to what you were doing. The city skyline will be out your window with in enough time.” The driver smiled sweetly, and then returned her eyes back to the road. Completely dumbfounded, Axel sighed. His chauffer wasn’t making things any easier. So he simply did as she said and glanced out the window again. The previous view was still there, no city, or random colored blurs for that matter. He wasn’t so awestruck by the scenery now and began to shuffle around in his seat. The hedgehog had been sitting down for hours, starting with two plane rides from his home country to the region of this present moment. Never had he sat for so long or even been awake for so long. Both planes were noisy, giving no peace for a quick nap, and the cab ride was filled with potholes, also providing no tranquility for sleep. He sighed again, more loudly and miserably plus slid down in his seat so he was slouching. If slumber didn’t come first, boredom took the opportunity of invading. He leaned to the side and snatched his backpack, preparing to arm himself with the weapon of occupying his wandering mind. The first thing his hand grabbed was the letter from before. Not bothering to think of what was written on the front; he opened the envelope and extracted the sheet of stationery within it. Again, Axel stuffed the envelope back into the bag; he wanted to keep his mind on the paper, not the title he was presented with on his birth date. His paws quickly unfolded the tiny sheet. There wasn’t much to read on it, but it would have to do for now:[br]
[br]
Dear A. T. Hedgehog,[br]
[br]

You, and two others, have been selected to participate in a confidential internship at our administration. This subject matter will remain unspoken of until you arrive in a secure location. You are to tell no one of this, for if you were to do so, the consequences will be grim. Do not worry about reaching this destination; transportation will be provided.[br]
[br]



















A.V.W.A.[br]
[br]

To him, the text was very aggressive with it‘s usage of the word ‘will‘. He wondered how they were so sure he was going to accept the offer also. “Well, I am here, so they pretty much know what they’re doing…” he reflected. Still, the hedgehog couldn’t help but to try to guess what the abbreviations stood for. Every time he thought he found a match, it was rejected, because he forgot to include a word beginning with ’v’. “These people really know what they’re doing. I can’t even name at least ten words that start with the letter ’v’!” Axel opened his bag once again to slip the letter in neatly. He then paused, and flipped the bag to its side. There was pocket with a zipper which he slowly opened. After slipping his hand inside the compartment, the hedgehog pulled out a pack of chewing gum. He yanked the last strip out of the now empty pack and returned it to its proper storage. [br]
[br]

After unwrapping the gum and placing it in his mouth, he found a problem; there was no where to throw the wrapper away. Without much thinking, he turned to the car door and pressed the button for the window to go down. Now a small gap between the glass and door frame, Axel released the button and stood up on the car seat. The opening was far above him, so standing in the automobile was the only way to get to it. He poked his hand out and watched as the wrapper fluttered in the wind. A moment later, he let it go. The vehicle then jumped for a second time. The hedgehog heard the tires screech as he hit his head on the roof of the car. He fell backwards onto the seat, but not before biting his tongue. Everything stopped, including the cab. His eyes slowly opened and locked with the driver’s. She had turned around in her seat, and wore a sorry expression on her face. “A-are you okay?” she spoke quietly while covering her mouth with her hand, as if to hide an on coming laugh. Axel carefully sat up turning away from her stare. “Yep. I feel awesome.” he answered sharply. His ears flattened against his head as the woman quietly snickered. Noticing his growing irritability, the driver turned back around. The cab started up yet again, causing the hedgehog to ponder whether he was going to get to his destination at all. Another thought came into his head; where did his piece of gum go? Thinking it over, he remembered it disappearing after biting his tongue, which was now throbbing. “Oh god, don’t tell me…” He frantically initiated a search of the backseat. The gum was nowhere to be found, not on his backpack, not on the seat or on the floor, not even in his hair. This led him to only one more explanation. Axel rubbed his forehead under his bangs as he mouthed, “….I swallowed it.” Feeling a headache approaching, he threw himself backwards, but lying down didn’t help his cause. The humming of the car engine steadily comforted him though. In an instant, his heavy eye lids closed ensuring in an undisrupted slumber.[br]
[br]
~
~
~
~[br]
[br]
“Hey, wake up.”[br]
[br]
“…nmmf……go away…”[br]
[br]
“Don’t give me that! Get Up!”[br]
[br]
“…five minutes…..or die….”[br]
[br]
“But we’re finally here!” With those words, the hedgehog’s head shot up and turned to the source of the voice. His eyes would barely open, a practically blinding light was shining directly in font of him. What he could make out wasn’t too pleasing either; it seemed to be the driver, and she was tugging on his leg through an open car door. After putting the pieces together, Axel concluded he was asleep for an extensive amount of time, but had at last reached his objective. Before being able to sit up, the woman’s patience got the better of her and she dragged him out of the backseat. This action fully awakened him, forcing his hands to automatically cling to his backpack and begin to yell heatedly: “HEY! I can get out myself!” The driver released him, but a bit too late since he still fell on to the curb. He quickly stood up and brushed himself off then glared at his chauffer with disapproval. The woman paid no attention to him and simply looked to the sky with a wide smirk on her face. The hedgehog’s own expression faded as he checked his surroundings too. They were standing in a nearly deserted city avenue. He saw now the light that was disabling his vision before was made of many single streetlights. The glow from the lamps made it appear like it was still early in the afternoon, but the sight of the stars and moon peeking out from behind dark clouds confirmed the correct time of day. [br]
[br]
Axel started rubbing his eyes and afterwards yawned. He was still sleepy and was hoping to find some place to settle down for the night. Abruptly, the driver placed her hand behind his left ear and began scratching. Instead of protesting, the hedgehog said nothing; if he were a cat, he surely would’ve been purring. The woman giggled happily and bent down to his eye level. “You do know where you’re supposed to go now, right?” she questioned interestedly. He stared at her, modestly shook his head no, and then quietly spoke: “I don’t even know where I am…” For a fifth time, she started laughing. When she was done, the driver softly poked him on the chest. “You, Mr. Hedgehog, are in Station Square. A lot of things, mostly crazy things, happen here. Always keep a look out, cause you’ll never know when something’s just gonna pop outta nowhere!” Even though her speech sounded quite silly, she was very serious. Axel wasn’t really sure what she was trying to do, scare him or cheer him up, but it didn’t help at all. He shifted his weight to his right leg and held his backpack behind him. This stance showed just how unsure he was and made the woman chuckle again. “Oh don’t worry” she cheerfully spoke while pointing her finger to something in front of the pair. “You’re supposed to go in there. I guess your little letter didn’t tell you that!” The hedgehog looked in the direction of her pointing hand. Ahead of them was a tall white building with dark tinted windows and glass doors. He could see shadows slowly moving around behind the glass as if nothing important were going on inside. The floors of the tower seemed to go on for ever. Few levels had lights off, so something had to be happening. He looked to his side at the woman who was eagerly grinning at him. She placed a hand behind his back and pushed him forward. Shocked at this, he turned towards her. “You’re not even gonna walk me to do the door?!” he said, rather loudly. If his bangs weren’t hiding his face, anyone could’ve saw anxious written all over it. The driver stood up and shook her head no. “My job was to get you here. You’re a big boy, I’m sure you’ll be fine!” she stated while walking to the other side of the car. “But…Hey! Wait a second!” he called out again. The woman stopped and stared at him questioningly. “How did you know about my letter, or even that I was supposed to go to this building?”[br]
[br]

“If I told you, it’d ruin your surprise!”[br]
[br]

“…Surprise?”[br]
[br]

“Oh shoot!” she exclaimed as she brought both hands to her mouth. “I’ve said too much already! Look, just go inside; they won’t bite.” Before opening the car door, the driver smiled and winked. Then she climbed into the vehicle and turned the ignition. The cab started up for a final time and pulled off into the night, leaving Axel alone on the street. “I’ve got no choice now. Might as well go in...” he calmly whispered after sighing. His feet slowly walked towards the door. Hopefully this experience would be the highlight of his life, after what had happened to him so far. The hedgehog placed his hand on the door. He hesitated to open it, but eventually did. Stepping inside of the structure brought his hands back to his eyes. The tinted windows hid how bright it was on the inside. Once he was used to the lighting, the room it self seemed to glow. Marble white walls and tiling added to the luminosity. His dark fur coloring was very out of place here. His mind pushed these thoughts to the back of his head as a faint conversation became louder in the room. A few feet in front of him was a small reception desk. A woman with brown hair wearing a pink dress dotted with pale white sunflowers was talking on a phone while scribbling something in a notepad. She repeatedly said ‘yes’ into the phone’s speaker before hanging it up and closing the pad. Next, she stared at the hedgehog standing in the doorway. Feeling a bit awkward, Axel fully moved into the room and smiled sheepishly. The woman giggled and stood up. “You must be Axeleros.” She declared while walking around the desk and up to him. Immediately his ears fell back and he leaned his back against the door. The woman cocked an eye brow at him. “Hm? Am I wrong?”[br]
[br]

“No, no, it’s just…I prefer Axel over, well, uh, that…” The whole time, his eyes never left the white carpeting. The woman saw this making her a little curious of his introverted actions. She bent down to his height and brushed his bangs away, revealing bright spring green irises. His eyes appeared to be shocked at what she was doing. “It’s okay.” She softly whispered. “My little brother has the same dilemma.”[br]
[br]

“Really? What’s his name?”[br]
[br]

“Pistachio.”[br]
[br]

“…You’re kidding…right?!” Axel responded, even more distraught than before. Without warning, she laughed in his face which further discouraged him. “Yes! I don’t even have a brother. But you know the girl who just brought you here correct?”[br]
[br]

“Yes, all to well in fact…”[br]
[br]

“Well, she’s my older sister!” The hedgehog was just about to repeat ‘you’re kidding’ but the woman interrupted him by putting her hand to his mouth. “Not this time Axel.” She said after winking at him. “So much for being the highlight of my life…” he thought as she stood up straight and smiled widely. “My name is Miki Natsuko and my sister is Kita. She’s five years older than me; I’m nineteen, so you can do the math. We both work here at the A.V.W.A., so you’ll be seeing us around a lot. In the meantime, since it’s so late, I can take you to your room, that is, if you want.”[br]
[br]

“Uh, yeah, that’s fine with me…” he said quietly, barely audible enough for Miki to hear. She smiled again and walked over to the desk and sat down on the chair behind it. Axel waited as she went through a couple of drawers. Finally, after searching for a few minutes, the woman found a brown box. She flipped the top open and inside laid a round yellow button. With a soft poke to the small switch, the lights dimmed and the wall behind the desk began to shift backwards and open. The hedgehog was baffled, but realized that was possibly the reason why there were no other doorways in the room. The wall finally lifted up wide enough to allow an average-sized human to walk through and a light brighter than ever shined from it. The young woman stood up behind the desk and walked over to the opening. She stood next to it and held her hand out, as if to coax the hedgehog into following her. Reluctantly, he did and with a quick treading motion while she stepped through. Even before he reached the gap in the wall, it began to close in on itself. Axel broke out into a run; there was no way he was getting left behind. Just as there was only a little open space left, he dropped to the floor and tucked himself into a tight ball, swiftly rolling under the falling wall. The gap finally closed up and he stared at it while trying to catch his breath and train of thought. Now the two seemed to be standing in some sort of elevator shaft on a single platform. Dim lights aligned in arrows pointing up decorated the wall. “What is going on?” his confused mind began to question. Suddenly there was light giggling coming from above him. Axel looked up at Miki’s smiling face. “You’re a jumpy little guy aren’t you?” she spoke cheerily while twirling a lock of her hair with thin fingers, “That’ll help you a lot here, since everyone is on the edge too!” Right at the end of her sentence, the floor shifted upward. The rapid motion made the hedgehog lose his footing, and drop his bag. Upon picking it back up, the surrounding area made a drastic change once more.[br]
[br]
They were now inside the opposite of an elevator shaft: a massive open-space filled with noise and people. Many people. All of them human and most were dressed in pale coats like those of a scientist or doctor. The hedgehog looked up and almost came to believe the place had no ceiling. This square plaza towered upwards seemingly forever while numerous gated levels climbed all four-sides of the area. The four columns of levels were color coded: one white, another gray, the next black, and the last appeared to be not a color, but some type of metal. Axel’s best guest was that it was platinum since it shined greatly. The human next to him finally started an introduction on the setting. “This is the center of A.V.W.A. headquarters. Our veteran operatives have dubbed it ‘The Pit’, the case being when you’re on the higher levels and look over the side of the gate, it’s like looking down into skillfully dug out ditch,” The girl quickly flashed a smirk, “but the newer members prefer to use ‘I’m lost, can you tell me which hall goes to the bathroom?’” Miki giggled as her hands automatically lifted up to her face. Her companion wasn’t as amused, since he probably would have ended up being one of the few who asked the same question. He decided to walk off of the platform to solid ground and find someone else to guide him to a dark room with a bed. Just before he marched away, a hand firmly grabbed onto his shoulder. Axel looked up to the brown-haired female as she waved a finger at him. “Silly! We’re not getting off here!” her voice rang with a light tone. “Then where exactly are we getting off at!?” The hedgehog was getting impatient. He was tolerant of most humans, but this was just ridiculous to him. The girl began to answer him back: “We are going to level 107B.” she stated while pointing to the upper floors of the black column and then towards the others. “Black is for sleeping quarters, grey is for novice/advance weaponry and combat training, white is the medical center, and the metal is classified.”[br]
[br]
“Why?”[br]
[br]
“Don’t know. Only our top members are allowed. No use in trying to fake your ranking either, apparently you need a special ID to gain access.” The two shared a glance at the ominous metal wall. The hedgehog now noticed the gating of the floors to this column were mirrors. Miki saw him staring curiously and began talking once more. “They’re one-way mirrors; the people on the inside can see us but we can’t see them.”[br]
[br]
“Doesn’t it bother anyone that unknown things could be happening behind there?”[br]
[br]
“No, probably because no one has ever been that pessimistic before! It can’t possibly be anything bad; this place is too good for that.” Her expression afterwards contradicted her words as it seemed that she was contemplating Axel’s question. Not enough time past for her to go into deep thought as her frown switched to a wide smile. “And that’s pretty much the basic tour for now. You’ll get the premium package when the other two arrive.” The young woman then ginned wider and looked down at the hedgehog’s wondering face. “Ready to go up?”[br]
[br]
“Wouldn’t we need an elevator for that?”[br]
[br]
“You’re already on it.” Before being able to bring up more inquiry, the room surrounding area blurred as the floor under them thrust upwards. Everything flew by with unimaginable speed, sending the young male into a state of panic. His heartbeat raced as he latched onto Miki’s arm. Without thinking he looked up to see if she was distraught as well. Her reaction was contrary to his, in fact she didn’t seem mind at all; the same charming smile was still plastered on her face. The hedgehog couldn’t help but think she was mocking him. Suddenly, a large blur zoomed past them arguably at the same speed they were moving. Axel concentrated on it enough to find that it was another platform with a few people riding on it. As the seconds went on, more platforms came whizzing through the air. Up, down, left, right, and all around they went, just enough to make one curious about what powered them. “What the hell happened to taking the stairs?!” the hedgehog thought out loud while shutting his eyes fearfully. This experience was a bit too much too take in and their platform had many stories to go. However, that did not take long as his ears perked up to the voice of Miki shouting, “And…we’re here!”[br]
[br]

“No, she’s lying…,” was his first thought, but upon opening his eyes, she was indeed telling the truth. In front of them was a gate, and behind that was hall with few people walking through. Still in a state of shock, the hedgehog did not move. His human counterpart had to struggle in order to get him to release her arm. When he did release his grasp, she began rubbing her arm on impulse. “You have a tight grip.” She said with an annoyed expression looking down on him. “S-sorry…” replied the hedgehog as he visibly shook with tension. Without the human’s arm to cling to, he hugged his backpack like it was filled with gold and someone was threatening to take it. The young woman began to show some sympathy; after all, it was her fault for not giving a warning. Slowly, she walked towards the gate and gently pushed it open. She stepped into the hall, hoping the hedgehog would follow. She turned around and saw that was not the case. His trembling figure was still glued to the platform. Miki then decided to take a try at ‘Plan B’. “You know,” she started. “If you stay there, it’ll take off again with you still on it.” No other words were needed; the hedgehog darted off the floating object and into the new area. Just as she said, it took off immediately once he left. The female began laughing despite the hedgehog’s nervousness. She finally stopped and winked at him. “Was that fun or what?”[br]
[br]
“Please, can we just go?” begged a tired Axel. He wanted nothing more to do with this strange girl and hoped he wouldn’t have to deal with her sister later on. “Oh fine, come on, just a couple doors down the hall.” The female responded as she turned on a heel and began a casual stroll with the hedgehog close behind. If weren’t for the crazy elevator ride, the young male would have believed he was in a normal building. The corridor could be described with the word ‘bland’ and possibly nothing else. Just wooden doors and white walls. Black carpeting for flooring was a reminder on which column they were in. Soon, the girl stopped in front of a door. The hedgehog almost walked into her from not paying attention. He too halted in front of the door and looked up at her. “Is that it?” He quietly remarked. “Yeah, pretty much. The rooms on this level have been refurbished, so it might smell like paint too.” She placed her hand on the knob and twisted it, then pushed the door open. The room was just as plain as the hall. The walls and black carpeting supposedly decorated it along with a bed and dresser that followed the same color scheme. A small lamp sat on the dresser, but it gave off enough luminosity to light the whole place up. “All the rooms look like this to keep people from randomly trading with someone else,” Miki’s voice echoed in the space. “And the door locks from the inside, so individuals like me can’t get in.” The female smiled sweetly then proceeded to walk out the doorway. Axel hesitated as he watched her leave. “You’re leaving?” he finally spoke up with the same anxiety from the beginning of the day. The young woman turned towards him and showed a puzzled look. “What, you want me to tuck you in?”[br]
[br]
“Wha--No!” He unknowingly shouted. A guilty look filled his eyes as he noticed the volume of his voice. “Then yes,” she grinned. “I’m leaving.” This time, she continued out the room without interruption. The hedgehog’s mind was blank. The first thing he did was lock the door; no one was going to wake him up tonight. Next he emptied his belongings from his backpack to the bed. There wasn’t much that was in his possession: his empty pack of gum, a pair of dark grey, cotton pants that were usually worn to bed, and the letter. He kicked his shoes off and slipped the article of clothing on. Sometimes he felt cold at night, so the pants were helpful. After picking up the gum-pack and placing it on the dresser, he glanced at the white letter contrasting with the black sheets of the bed. His hands gradually lifted it without command. This one little package of paper started this whole encounter. Since receiving it, he met new faces and traveled more than ever. Hopefully it would mean not going back to the life he had before this. That life was a time of blood, cruelty, murder, and a number of other depressing events. It happened so long ago, but it still felt like yesterday. “It’s probably why I’m so screwed up now…” whispered through his lips as he opened the dresser and placed the letter along with his backpack inside. “Maybe I should have given in…,” he went on while turning off the light and throwing himself onto the bed. “Maybe I should’ve let him…let him…kill me…” The white-walled room was fairly dark, the same as his memories. Seconds flew bye as his eyelids grew heavier. In an attempt to let his thoughts go, Axel rolled over onto his side, letting three last words out before dreaming of better days…[br]
[br]
[br]
“I’m sorry, mother.” [br]
[br]
[br]
[br]

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment